captioning sponsored by newsur productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, turmoil on two fronts-- a new allegation of sexual assault throws into further question the confirmation of supreme courte nomiett kavanaugh. then, an uncertain fate for deputy attorney general rod rosenstein after reports he considered wearing ato record the president and discussed invoking the 25th amendment. plus robert redford reflects on leaving the orreen after a d career. >> i just felt that i had been doing it for so long it was time to maybe et on a good note, on a positive note. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newsur."

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>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutio world.omote a better at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: an uncertain fate for two men in the spotlht: first supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh and his alli in the white house are pushing

back against a new allegation of sexual misconduct. senate republicans are pressingh forward lans for the nominee and one of his accusers to testify thursday, as theirat demo counterparts call for a delay. >> judge kavanaugh will be voten on herhe senate floor. up or down, on the senate floor, this fine nominee to the supreme court will receive a vote in this senate in the near future. >> there is simply no way, in good conscience that, no way that the united states senate can vote on this nomination of brett kavanaugh thout a full, fair investigation, without anpo unity to be heard for these sexual assault survivors. >> woodruff: and on a second front, questionswirled about the uncertain future of deputy attorney general rodstein. our capitol hill correspondent

lisa desjardins and white house correspondent yamiche alcindor have been covering both stories and join me now. a note, this andhe next conversation will contain some explicit language. hello to both of you. lisa, i'm going to start with you. summarize for us what these new allegations are against brett kavanaugh. >> it appeared in the new yorker last night and these are from a woman who deborah ramirez. she says she went to college with brett kavanaugh and at a party at a dorm. this is a quote.er she remekavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory rty thrust his penis in her face and caused her to touch it without her consent. that is her accusation in this article. now there are no eye wit wnesses the able to corroborate that story. there is one person that weok with who said he remembers hearing about this incident. but the "new york times" after the new yorker is reporting came ry. with its own sto

and the "new york times" wrote, quote, the times had interviewed r veral dozen people ohe past week in an attempt torr orate ms. ramirez's story and could find no one with first hand knowlage. this iew acquisition but there are no eye witnesseses. the new york time said it did not report because it did notha feel i enough information. >> woodruff: i'm going to be talking in a few minutes with ronan farrow who is one of the authors o of the new yorker's story. the white house has been dealing over a week with accusations noom one woman and now come accusations fromer woman. who are they defending. what are they saying. >> brett kavanaugh is defending himself which is why the white house is sticking by him. brett kavanaugh says he did not do this nor is there anything in his past that would suggest he would do something like. he revealed somtohing personal y when he sat down with fox news to do an interview with him. let me tell you a little bit what he talked about with fox news. >> i never seually assaulted

anyone. i did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. >> through all these years you are saying you were a virgin. >> that's correct. >> nevehadexual intercourse with anyone in high school. >> correct. >> and thr ough your yeain college. >> many years after. i'll leave it at that. >> but brett kavanaugh is saying that because he was a virgin that should be part of his defense a painfessor forward ford. he's saying these are falsee' acquisitionsnot going to address. he's saying he has a good a reputati he's not going to fall back on that. of course, professor ford ist alsoanding her ground. she's saying this did happen and impacted her life. i nt to read a letter she wrote to senator grassley who of course is on the senat judiciary committee. she writes quote mr. kavanaugh's actions while many years ago were serious and has had a lasting impact on my life.

ile i'm frightened please know my fear will not hold me back from testying. ask for fair and respectful treatment. you have two questions reveing personal things about things about themselves. it's vfoy hard of cours people to weigh these two things. while all that is happening, the white house is on fore.d's sid they praised him from the united nations in new york.e esident acted on this. let me tell you what the president said today. >> it would be s indeed if something happened to reroute that. tha fine man and we certainly hope rees h's going te confirmed. his family has suffered. his family has suffered. what's going on is not somhethig thatould happen. brett kavanaugh is an absolute outstanding person.he hopefullill be confirmed quickly. >> agaa the president'sling brett kavanaugh a fine person.

i've talked to people who professor ford and sayg e's a fine and credible woman. there's information e-mailing reporters on a daily basis saying we are standing by judge kavanaugh. there's the "new york versus the new yorker and this new allegation and the white house is capitalizing on at. ey sent out an e-mail that said look the "new york times" isdn't want to print th woman's story that should mean something to the people trying to assess this. >> woodruff: lisa, you're talking to people on the hill, capitol hill, republicans democrats. there were protests today, what are you hearing. >> first of all protesters have sworn all aroe senate office in particular.re last week the are even more today. there's a new sort of tactic. look at some video here. in some cases liks,e thiudy more often what i saw today was protesters going into offices ird women telling the individual stories on sexualen assault toate staffers one

at a time. so that is taking up more offick itace, taing longer amounts of time. taking up more hallway space and certainly rising tentions on the hillel. s get down to the bottom line. tonight it does look like thisn thursday's heag is going forward. both republiran and demc sources on the hill tell me they expect this to happen. the onlyng chais if there isn't a final agreement on details especially asking questions to dr. ford or she for other reasons is not able to come. i also think republicans feel the new yorker article may hae helped and do not feel that is as strong as the previous allegation andhey think it raises questions about the accusations in general. that's just republicans. >> woodruff: if that weren't enough news, we're also dealing todayamirechporting. throofs speculation he was going ere was speculation he was going to step down. where does that stand.

>> where that stands accordingen to the preswe'll see. the president was asked whether or not he would fire deputy attorney general rod rose stein and he said i talked to him but we'll see on thursday how iee fl and whether or not there is something i'm going to move forward w the president subpoena thbacking down. e are a lot of times when we hear things about jeff ses tsios e attorney general they are reporting where the president's about to fire him and the president says i'm not going to do that. he didn't say that in this kaissments case.that didn't hap. republans all across the country they want to be talking about the tack cuts they want to be talking about how great the economy is doing. instead they're having to answer all these questions. on the hill it's going to be h rd because when the president wants to pumething forward the republicans have to answer all these questions about what's going on in the political spheres. then you go to the mid terms and there are cadidates want to be talking about thing that aren't political scandals. also i was told republican donors have a problem because

when you have tension you don't know whether or not the deputy attorney general is going tbe fired. how do i get to this party if i don't know things are going to be seted. all that and there's some talk that john kelly personally walked out onrosen stein today and actually seen with him. there at e people thy the signal this white house is sending maybe he's going to be okay but really as with this admiestration we'll have to what happens on thursday. >> woodruff: we'll save the big day working in the ca thank you both. well now for more about that specific allegation that's been made about judge calf's conduct kavanaugh'sg conduct during his college years it was reported he exposed himself to deborah ram nez while they were both fresh monnths the 1980's. kavanaugh has categorically denied this sty as well as the

earlier allegation of misconduct. ronan farrow reported on this for the new yorker along with his colleague and he joins now from los angeles. welcome back to the newshour. i want to go right back to the allegation being made by did not raw ramirez. howe crtain -- deborah ramirez. vaw certain is she that she said it was brett kaugh who exposed himself to her while she was a freshman at yale. >> she is certainly certain. judy, one thing i want to highlight is in cases of trauma d cases which there has been heavy drinking very often we see exactly what we saw in ramirez's case. which is she took her time and was extraordinarily careful and really thoht carefully about this. this was already being veed on the hill and something -- investigated on the hill and something that prompted our reporting and she kew this would be a significant issue and would command a lot of attentiou rather thanp how the ahead of it and say something incahe

sciousurned every piece of evidence and considered this carefully and decided yes, she was certain and decided it was important to speak about ths. >> woodruff: you talked to all of the people who she remembered were present when this happened. and none of them was able to remember it, is that right? you were able to speak with someone who heard about it in e next day or so. >> so this is corroborated by more than just one person, judy. there's a number of people including people on the record who learn board of director this at the time. the individual you mentioned who was told right after and independently of ram nez not someone in touch with her happened the exact fact pattern down to small details. that's a very credible person. there's an individual who saw an woman crying recounting the sam pattern again soon after the incident that ms. ramir remembers. we had a number of individuals in the yale community saying this was known and discuss the before dr. forward' ford's alleo came to light.

as to the people who were present. i want to point out sompohing ant that is often lost in the conversation. the individual present who denied that this happened are individuals who debah ramirez said were involved in the alleged misconduct who egged on kavanaugh and taunteder we included the statement in full saying they didn't recall this e vefnt and they thought judge calf va to be an individual of good character. woodruff: you're saying they would have a motive not to acknowledge what they knew. >> i thinkimit'portant context to note the statement of support is signed by three individuals who do have a clear stake in the allegations and are not impartial bystanders and one other classmate that he rllied. there were two uth who initially supported judge kavanaugh in that statement whome forward today and with true their names from that. >> woodruff: as youw the new york time is saying they talked to two dozen people about ms. ramirez allegation. ahey were not able to get anyone to drawinge icorroborate it ando

know the republican and the white house is saying that's the reason to susthey can this may nodobe true. hoou answer. >> i want to correct the correspondence what she said earlier. the "new york times" did not pass on this story. they did not decline to runhis story. they've come out publicly and said that. this is a case as is very often a case with big stories a lot of publications cmesed it. the was among the ones that aggressively pursuedhi deborah raan ramirez to speak ae she wanted to work with a reporter she trusted. thth's whyy couldn't corroborate that. clearly we found oth rroborators. we also say we made dozenses of calls and there were many people who didn't recall this or didn't respond for comments. we have been extremely careful toisclose all of that up front. >> woodruff: you mention the senate found out about this democratic senatorpublican staffers in the senate.

d you know the state of the investigations they are doing? are they pursuing these s legations? >> understand it, several of these offices are pursuingr them fther. at least two are investigating dnd i know at least one has ha ongoing contact with ms. ramirez and her counsel since the story ran. >> woodruff: is she prepared to come forward and speak liclicly to make a pub appearance, go on television to talk about this? >> as you've seen with dr. ford and as you no ww seeth many attacks on ms. ramirez and her credibility, this is incredibly taxing personal decision to make. how and when one comes forward. ms. ramirez has just made the difficult decision to speakth publicly ifirst place. she readily admitted she would be attacked in exactly the way she has been. and she has big disions to make about what comes next. she has said she would like to see an fbi investigation. >> woodruff: ronan farrow withhe new yorker.

we thank you. >> thank you judy. >> woodruff: in the day's other news: the united states formally imposed 10% tariffs on $200 billion in imported chinese goods. beijing accused the united states of "trade bullyism" andpo d levies of 5% to 10% on $60 billion worth of american goods. in addition "the wall street journal" reported china rejected overtures for a new round of trade talks. russia says it will supply syria with an advanced air-defense missile system. today's announcement came a week after syrian gunners accidentally shot down a russian plane. b they hn aiming at israeli war planes. the united states warned the new russian missiles will onlyil worsen a volsituation. secretary of state mike pompeo spoke at the united nations. >> we're trying to find common ground every place we ut in many places russia is working against american interests. we're trying to hold them accountable. w druff: moscow said it's going ahead with the missile

transfer, regardiass. the rudefense minister said it's aimed at preventing "impulsive actions" in syria. in southwestern iran thousands turned out today at a mass funeral for the 25 victims oan attack on a military parade. mourners filled the streets of ahvaz, chanting "death to america". the dead included a dozen members the country's elite "revolutionary guard." arab separatis claimed they carried out saturday's attack. the heavy rainthat hurricane florence dumped on the carinas brought new flooding today. ouver levels kept rising through the weekend and nds of people in south carolina's georgetown county were told to be ready to leave. >> if they live in areas that may well be flooded, we're encouraging them to visit the maps, asking them to

continuously monitor conditions, as they see rising water to seek refuge outside flood zones.co we highly age them to take action sooner rather than later. >> woodruff: there was some good news in north carolina. the governor announced that interstate 40 has now reopened all the way to hard-hit wilmington. on wall street the tariff battle with china weighed on stocks. the dow lost 181 points to close at 26,562. the nasdaq rose six points, but the s&p 50slipped ten. and, from now on, it's okay to use "ok" as a word in scrabble. merriam-webster released an updated scrabble players dictionary today, adding 300 words to the list of approved words. in addition to "ok" they include "ew" and "emoji." still to come on the "newshour," president trump meets the south kore president at the u.n. a chicago police officer faces murder charges in the death of a teen. we take an inside look at a key election in minnesota and much

more. >> woodruff: the world converges on new york this week, at the annual united nations general assembly. president trump will be therel unursday, meeting with other world leaders. he addresses the assembly tomorrow.et today heith south korean president moon jae in, and others, and our foreign afesirs condent nick schifrin is there. hi, nick. so fell us abo -- tell us about the trade agreement that the two leaders talked about day. >> yes. this is one of the only times that president trump has actually followed through on his promise to renegotiate a trade deal and he's trying to help u.s. aut auto manufacturers theb those manufacturers can

sell u.s. safety standards to factory language on environmental standards that help the manufacturers. also lengthens the period of time that the u.s. truck industry can protect itself by tariffing south korean trucks. now on the sde south korea gets new language on exports. administrately the south koreans have agreed to reuce steel exports and for that they areem getting from steel tariffs. i talked to many experts today and they say this does not help u.s. car manufacturers but it is a far cry frowhat president trouble called redoing thist. agreem these changes are modest and they build on changes that were already done a couple years ago. but judy, it giv both presidents a win and allows president moon to go back tod seoul y look the u.s. alliance is on track and thatm gives olitical maneuvering to keep working with north korea. >> woodruff: nick you were telling us the two leaders were

sounding positout recent moves by the north koreans? >> yes. they areed uni in public and sounding positive together in publices first with ent trump and then president moon. >> we're making tremendous progress. chairman kim has been really very open and terrific fra i think he wants to see something happen. so we have done i think, mutually we've done very well with respect to nornth koread we'll be discussing that for the next couple days. >> thanks to your bold decision and new approach, we are in the blemess of solving a pro that no one has been able to solve in the decades past. i would like to thank you fr this, mr. president. and chairman kim also repeatedly g trustd his unwaiverr expek peckations for you. while expecting to meet you soon to clear the denookization

process with you because you are indeed the ly person who can solve this problem. >> now that is theublic happiness on both sides but in private the u.s. official say there o a lotconcern from the u.s. side that president moon is going too far too quickly in trying to deal with kim jong-un in north korea. i tha reflection point because both south korea and north korea are asking the u.s. to declare an official end to the korean w whended in armistice and not a peace treat. they are saying they want to end the war and bing our boys homeo from seul. there is some administration who don't want any daylight between the u. ad south korea. the majority of officials i'm talking to are much more skeptical. theyave to take more steps toward due nuclearization before any end of the car ca be declared. there's debate what north korea has to do right now before thel u.s. wiive north korea the concession of ending the war.

for example does it alow inspectors to come in and verify the closure of sites. give over couple nuclear weapons. is there a list of inventory anw some dont to give them anything in regards to the end of the war until there is total do nuclearization. there's skepticism is very high judy but the presidencies thi as a moment of opportunity and that is why he's talking about a second summit with kim jong-un >> woodruff: there's a number of things unsettled. the general assembly goes on the rest of the week. so many world leaders there. what else do you expect? >> a modest focus on iran from the u.s. side. the president will beaking about iran and security council. the secretary of state asks theu ty advisor who will speak to a group who advocated for iranian regime chand will meet with the family members of political exiles being held in iran. the you're means are trying -- europeans are trying to res that. the evident trying to get aid to palestinians the u.s. has cutbi

half llion dollars of humanitarian ad and european countries are trying to fill that in. the u.s. says they are going too talk athe words sovereignty tomorrow in president trump's speech. a lot of critics of that word here unilateralism you will not only hear from donald trump the populous you will hear from multipe populists her the united nations from the general assembly and that led to secretary-general of the u.n. to say there's a war on multilateralism going on. the u.s. ambassador to the.n says we're not against untie lateral position but we will not support them in a way thatge infron our sovereignty, judy. >> woodruff: words matter. nick schifrin covering these important meetings. thank you, nick. >> woodruff: defense attorneys

in chicago began making their case today in the trial of a white police officer accused of murdering an african-americante ager in 2014. four years after the shooting, the trial and case have taken on huge importance in the chicago,a a city a grappling with far too much gun violence and too many homicides. as amna nawaz tells us, two parts of the story have particularly stood out: the policeman fired 16 times and many say the video of that night's shooting undercuts theit heedibily of the police. >> nawaz: it's tirst time in decades a chicago police officer has been charged with murder in an on-duty shooting. jason van dyke shot aned laquan mcdonald-- a black 17- year-old-- in october 2014. van ke has pleaded not-guilt to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges. his defense team has said mcdonald was threatening van f dyke, who fear his safety. >> a out of control individual

who didn't care about anyone. not citizens, not armed police officers, not himself. >> nawaz: van dyke and his partner were responding as backup to a 9-1-1 call on chicago's south side. the caller said someone-- later identified as mcdonald-- was breaking car windows in a parking lot and had a knife. dashcam video of the shooting shows van dyke aiving, getting out of his car and firing 16 shots at mcdonald as he appears to walk away. van dyke's attorneys have said he was acting in self-defense. last week, prosecutors called officers who were on tcene to testify. the first officer to confront mcdonald said he had a knife, and was questioned as to whether mcdonald was a threat. >> did he threaten you with the knife at all? >> he held it out, but he didn't say anything verbally, no. >> the question officer is: did he threaten you th the knife? >> no. >> nawaz: his partner that night-- joseph walsh-- testified that mcdonald moved like e was going to attack with a knife.ed "i was convihat officer

van dyke took necessary action to save himseland myself," van dyke's partner said. he requested his testimony notde be rec prosecutors argue that van dyke was never in danger. they have repeatedly played the dashcam for jurors and showed diagrams of where the bullets hit mcdonald. >> the defendant continues to pull the trigger of ovs gun over an until he empties the entire clip of t gun. >> nawaz: for 13 months after thshooting, city officials refused to release the dashcam video-- citing an ongoing criminal investigation-- until a judge ordered them to release it. the video release sparked protests in chicago, a city wite a history essive police violence against african- american residents. chicago mayor rahm emanuel fired police superintendent garry mccarthy amid calls s own resignation. earlier this month, emanuel announced that he will not seek re-election in february.

three officers are now being prosecuted for allegedly covering up for van dyke and lying about the events of that night.as he trial continues, it remains unclear if van dyke himself will testify. >> woodruff: let's take a look at some of the important moments of this trial so far-- and therg impact of this case. jennifer white is with wbez,ic o public radio/media. she's also the host of a podcast done in conjunction with thetr chicagune about this case, "16 shots." jennifer white, lcome to the newshour. i want to ask you, the defense today began to lay out their case for however van dyke buta for 11s before that the prosecution's turnr aying out thgument. what was the thrust of the case they were making? >> the crust of thee is that the shooting wasn't justified. that jason van dywas not reasonably in fear of his life or reasonably in fear that mcdonald was a danger to others before he fired his weapon.

that's really the central question. also worki as part of their case is none of the otherth officers o scene fired their gun and of course there's the video that setoem show incommcdonaldmoving away from on dyke. >> he felt he was in danger at the time about the encounter. how have the other testimony from the other police officers that you mentioned how hathat impacted the case do you think? >> well, it's hard to say whatju rs are taking in. jason van dyke's partner thitin evof course testified that he too felt laquancdonald was a danger. that officer's evidence no given to the jury is being charged in a separate case as a conspiracy to cover up the truth the shooting. so it's hard to say what jurors are taking in. but what's clear is that

officers who were on the scene that night seemed to be holding a pretty strong line in supportv of jas dyke. now the other experts that were brought in, f., b.i. expere of force experts say the shooting was not justified. they went through a process ofsh ing how long it takes to fire 16 shots from the type ofgu jason van dyke was carrying that evening and that it was a deliberate motion. you have to take time to fire each shot. so you have really two different law enforcement groups testifying against each other. and what the juror decides we'll have to wait and see. >> let's take atep back here and note this trial was a year in the making. a lot of people are paying very close attention to it. one official actually called this a watershed momenfor the city. to you agree with that? >> it's hard to call it ahe watemoment because we're not through it yet. right now the city of chicago is

in te process of obtaining a consent de cree that will re chicago police, the chicago police department being enforced by a federal judge. this is a story that very much in motion. i think once the verdict comes down, thilrebe a sense, some people in the city that either juste was done or justice was not done and depending upon where you stand, they'll have that sense. ry'sit feels like the sto been very much in motion. the build up to this moment was decades in the making. i don't think that a single moment is going to rsolve the tension between tpd and chicago's black community. >> we're also have this conversation and tis trial is unfolding against a national back drop. filet of other high pro police shootings in which those officers were either acquitted or there were mistals in several other states across the tuntry with the recent exceptions of courir the dallas case last week, right. i wonder how you think chicago fits in to that larger picre.

we're talk big a city where we mentioned earlier no chicago police offer has bee convicted of murder for an on duty shooting since 190. is chicago different in some way? >> i don't thigonk chis different. i do think that chicago is in the spotlht right now however. the current administration talks a lot about chicago and it talks a lot about gun violence in the city. and unfortunately, this binar has been created, that police cannot police unless they are able toolice freely. and then you have community members that are saying no police are accountable to us. and so the moment we're atig now is chicago becomes a case study for whether or not police e can effectively do their job and also th community they seven. it's all rapid up in the verdict ane consent dect as i said before this story plays out it's goeg to play out over th week, months and years to come. >> less than a minute left herek

i want to you, the trial continues, are we going to hear from officer van dyke himself? is he expected to testify? >> we don't know. the defense hasn't said whether or not he'll take the stand. they have said they expect to call witnesses into next week which is longer than many of us were epecting but we'll see if that plays out. whether jastaon van dyks the stand we'll have to wait and see. ll we'll wait and see and we' continue to follow it on your podcast called 16 shots. jennifer white, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," amy walter and tamara keith break down the latest political news and robert redford discusses his legendary film career.th ess than 50 days until the

midterm elections, democrats are hitting the campaign trail, hoping to pick up 23 seats to take control of the house of representatives.e adblock could be in minnesota, where early voting ts already started. the state is home only two democratic-held seats rated a toss-up by election analysts. mary lahammer of twin pbs reports on the case both candidates are making in one of those districts. >> reporter: minnesota's first congressional district is an agcultural area with rich, rolling prairies which produce abundant crops. >> i'm jim hagedorn. >> nice to meet you. running for congress here. >> reporter: polits is always prominent in a state that leads the nation in voter turnout. this season even more so. with some of the country's most- watched congressional contests near the top of every list is cd-1, the candidates know control of congress could be determined here.

>> more money, more attention. yeah. well, you're here aren't you? so, yeah. i guess so. l if yk at this district, basically southern minnesota, for 150 years its beenep republican efor two 12- year stints. but they also have to hold to what you have. >> this is one of the few seats in the country in which there's a very high need to do just that. >> reporter: this congressionaln seat in soutinnesota is a classic competitive district. president bush won here twice followed by president obama and most recently president trump had the best performance of any presidential candidate in the last decade. >> did you vote for hillary? damn right i did. >> okay, ma'am. thank you very much. i hope you have a good day. sorry to bother you. >> you better get that dhen trump out re. >> i think you can put her ditn as a definmaybe. >> reporter: the republican candidate jim hagedorn has a father who represented the district in washington. >> we like to support the candidates who sre our values. >> reporter: he has run and lost twice before, but he believes three times is a charm.

>> sometimes in a big district, and this one is a big strict, it takes a little time, especially against an incumbent i get your name out there. >> reporter: theumbent had been democrat congressman tim walz, who's now running for governor. now, dan feehan is the democrat in the race. he's one of a record number of veterans running for office this falls >> what'ing on, brother? you were just at the table over there. >> yeah, corporal. >> four years active. g two years in trd myself as an officer. this is where i learned the value of public service. a value that i've carried with me throughout my life. i served two combat tours in the army after i joined after 9/11. i was a middle school math teacher after, which in many ways was a lot more difficult. >> repter: both the candidates have roots in the region andor each has wd in d.c., but they have very different views about what's happenin washington. >> are they good republican dogs or democrat what do you think? >> they're kind of a mixture. >> are they? independent dogs. i'm the conservative republicane that wants t moving the country in what i say is the right direction. so we offer the opportunity to p

stand with osident and stand with the issues we believe. the other time, well, ant to resist, they want to replace, they want to move us back to obama so it's a clear . >> we're trying to present a pretty clear choice. you can vote for an extension of the ump administration here you can vote for an independent voice that's not beholden to party leadership or corporate pac money. >> reporter: two issues appear to be dominating the district: health care and agricuure. >> bad government likeac obe, extra regulations, extreme energy costs, those things really hurt farmers and riculture and makes it tough for them to be sustained in tough times. >> i'm not someone that wants to go backwards. ntwant your family, i want every family, frankly i very family in the country to be able to have affordable hh care. and the fact that soy bean and pork farms have worked for generations to open up markets around the world, it's been on their backs that that's happened. right now we have inew what is a government intervention that has taken that market away from them right now. >> reporter: the last ongressional race here was decided by less th percentage point.

this looks to be another one to tch. for the pbs newshour, i'm mary lahammer in mankato, minnesota. >> woodruff: and now for more o how dterm elections are shaping up, as well as how the allegations against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh impacts republicans, it's politics monday. we're joined by tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." amy, light let's start with this minnesota congressional race usa a way to look at what's going on out there on the campaign trail. let's talk about healthcare to begin with because it's an issue here. how much ithat coming up into this conversation? >> democrats have been talking about healthcare on the campaig trw really since the 2018 campaign started.'s he overwhenning number of ads democrats are running about healthcare.

this is true in the senate races in red states like montana an id wejure where democrats are talking joy west virginirewhe democrats are talking about preexisting conditions. they are running in some cases of attorney generals who are signed on to the lawsuit that wants to overturn obamacare and specifically overturn obamacare you get rid of good andot so popular provisions like the preexisting condition. the great irony of all of this is the 2010 election was a referendum on obamare and backlash the obamacare. 2018 is shaping up to a backlash to republican attempts to dismantle it. >> woodruff: it's reallype sl hasn't it tam. >> you have josh holly running m inissouri. he has an ad up now. he's the republican talking about his son who has a preexisting conditionic repus see this as enough of a problem that they're having

to go out and proactively message about their views on healthre and they're not tak big repealing and replacing obamacare anymore they are now talking about we're going to protect your preexisting conditions. meanwhile democrats prsly hid from the affordable care act didn't want to talk about it, certainly did not campaign on it and now they are proactivelyca aigning on it. >> obamacare is more popular now than it ever was. >> woodruff: it's turned up side town. >> in large part beause it's about protecting, voters don't like to lose something that they already have versus the fight over its existence in the first place. >> woodruff: the other thing, tam, being discussed in this race and minnesota sight and other parts of the canountry the tariff issues how much of an impact do we see that having in races. >> what we know is a couple weeks ago we haan npr pie that came out that showed sciggant erosion in support for president trump and sort of the

generic ballot, generic democrat versus the generic republican that erosion happening in the upper mid west. those states thapresident trump won or nearly won in the upper mid west have been affected by the these trade policies. >> woodruff: so at this point amy, we're seeing there may be some effect. >> some effect of saying this isn't what i necessarily bargned for when i was supporting the president. e heard from some groups who were involved in d industry a couple months a the feeling i don't love these tariffs they are hurting my bottom line but i trust the president will duty right thing eventually. the questi is how long is their patience. how long of a rope do they give the president on this before they say you know what it doesn't look like we're getting any better deal itoesn't look like the thing with china is getting fixed. they may not be supportive of democrats but they are not turning out in support of republicans. >> woodruff: okay. the thing we are watching, tam,

this week and we've been kital about it at the lead of the program is brett kavanaugh his confirmationnd now the second woman coming forward with allegations. know it's early, the hearings are three days away, hearing on thursday but what do we see at this point in terms of how republicans are playing this. they have to be concerned because they're worried out women voters in particular. >> certainly. and though if you look at sort of the way this has progressed the way the white houserend blican allies approached this, early on, they were verrey l, they wanted to seem as respectful as humanly possible. they didn't want to qstion the accuser. and now they have gotten to the etedt, the president has twe a few things and sort of the proactive white house messaging is this is a left wing smear campaign. has moved a long way. they are taking a different tact w. and as one republican told me, president likes a good fight.

and they are now taking the fight to this nomation. >> woodruff: are they taking a risk by doing that amy, or do we know. >> i reached out to some of my campaign strategist sources today and they had the same impression i did too which is it's really hard to know where this thing goes.u st say i don't know where this will go especially if there is a heang, what reonse the american public is going to have to what christine ford tou jdge kavanaugh to the questions being asked and the way those i think it does, it is worth waiting maybe a little bit to know how this plays. i do think e problem that republicans have with women is about as intense and the gender gap is b asig as we've ever seen before we had these hearings.t i don't know tpublicans are going to be able to repair that or make it any worse withe thesearings. i think the bigger question is

what itst in terms o does in tef btensity and the issues the candidates want talking about going into the midterm elections. >> woodruff: initially when the second round ofegations came out there was quick speculation that maybe his nomition was going to go don but they are doubling down right now, tam, the white house and brett vanaugh himself. they're saying we are going to fight. >> but i would say that histo tells us that they're all in until they're not all in. and who knows, maybegot wil through the hearing and they will go to a floor vote but it can be like flipping a swih. you just don't know until it happens. go woodruff: last thing as if there's not enougng on. the swirling speculation around the deputy attorney general rob rosen stein. normally we don't pay attention to the number two person at the department of justice but this is the person overseeing the robert mueller special council

investigation. right now -- >> a lot is still swirling around. of course it's happeni thursday someone tweeted out t thursday fse of us in politics will feel like directly looking into the sun. that'ssihe int of the political news. they have those glasses. but look, if you were a republican right now, you have five weeks until the election we're in a very competitive race. who would you not wnt to be talking about for the next five weeks. chaos in the white hou what is going to happen at the doj. do the voters trust thepr ident will handle this appropriately. shouldn't congress be passing something to protect mueller. mueller is still more trusted in handling this issue than, the issue of the russian investigion than the president. the intensity level this is a piece that just cam out todayil shows republicans are very supportive of the president are they're not intensely supportive of the pre on this issue as democrats are intensely not

supportive of the president on this. >> woodruff: 20 seconds. >> thercr for deic voters at least healthcare is their number one issue but so is cuppion in washington which is sort of a stand in for concern about how president trump handling these things. >> woodruff: we may have something to chew on later this week. tamara keith, amy water.thank you bo >> you're welcome. ff>> woodruff: on friday, y brown brought us a look at a new film, "the old man and the gun" featuring veteran actors sissy spacek and robert redford, who's declared this will be his last role. jeff continues the conversation now with a look at redford's remarkable career, on and off the screen.

>> this is a robbery. >> reporter: in what he says will be his final role, robert redford turns back to the kind of character he so wonderfully played in earlier classic films- - the "good d guy."e inold man and the gun", he plays "forrest tucker," a charming, aging bank robber who just cannot quit. >> when you're thinking about leaving, when you're thinking about having the end of a career in terms of acting, you'd like to think that you waout on an upbeat note, you want to out on something that's upbeat and fun. fun to do. >> reporter: redford, now 82, joined us at the torontona internatfilm festival, alongside co-star sissy spacek, to talk about their new film and his decision to call it quits. >> i just felt that i had been ooing it for so long it was time to maybe exit on anote, on a positive note.ee i've bn doing it since i was 21.

you know the first, the first project i ever did, i'll tell you how my beginning was, was a "perry mason" tv show back in 1959. >> put up a fight. >> and the title was "the case of the tortured toupee." i still don't know what that meant. but, anyway that was my first job. >> reporter: you remember that? i mean-- >> how can you forget something like that! >> reporter: his first triumph came on broadway in 1963 in neil armon's "barefoot in the pk," a role he reprised opposite jane fonda in the film adaptation in 1967. >> paul? let's kill each other. >> like rll we will.

orter: the real jolt to stardom came two years later as the "sundance kid"-- an early version of his "charming bad- guy" persona opposite paul newman's "butch cassidy." >> whoa! >> reporter: from there, film fans can reel off favorites. among them: "the way we were" with barbra streisand and "the sting," again with newman. both released in 1973. >> bob woodward. >> reporter: "all the president's men" with dustin hoffman, came in 1976. "the natural" in 1984 and many,y ore. recently "all is lost" a survival at sea drama and "ours so night," teamed once more with fonda, just last year. >> can i talk to you? o reporter: in 1980, he a launched a directing career-- and won an oscar for it-- with "ordinary people." otr directorial projects include "a river runs through it" and "quiz show."

he tces it all to his southe california childhood. i rew up in a lower class neighborhood. and so the only entertainment we had-- there was no television at time, it was radio-- that you would walk to a local theater and see a movie. and so what i remembered was the joy of leaving this life you ddre forced to lead and go into a room that was ly dark with a lot of peop that you knew sitting there with and all the lights would go down and then something would come on the screen that was fresh and new t thk you out of where you were. and that had some impact on me, i think. i think that made a strong impact on me-- the value of that which i think is why i was eventual drawn to film. >> reporter: i don't know how introspective you are in thinking about your life at different times-- did you make a decision that this is the right moment, you've done enough and-- >> i don't spend a lot of time thinking back. don't spend a lot of time thinking about whether it's going to be right or not for a career. what happens is you just feel an impulse and the impulse tells

you, this is something i want to do. you know, you don't ofend a lot ime thinking beyond that. it just feel-- >> like, i should, or-- >> yeah, yeah.st you o forward. >> reporter: both redford and his current co-star, sissy spacek, saw fame come early-- she in the 1976 hoaror classic, e"-- and both have taken ins to make lives outsid hollywood. spacek and her husband raised theichildren on a farm in virginia. >> after "carrie" it felt like nne whole world went whaaat! and then it was soving that i just needed a place to go and kind of-- i call it, i went to ground. it was very important to me and to raise my children in a rural environment. >> i felt the same way about raising a family and not having my life dictated entirely by career choices. because thers another life to lead. and if you, if you submit yourself to only one dimenon in your life, like, "i'm going

to be an actor and that's all i'm going to think aboat's all i'm going to do," then your life narrows, narrows down. >> reporter: are there things oru still want to do? >> one thing's fure whatever i do, i want to spend more time in nature because that's played such an important role in my life, the value of being in nature and respecting nature and then being a part of it. >> reporter: outside acting, redford'most important legacy may be his creation of thesu ance institute in utah-- which began as an environmental effort to preserve lan aand then becaind of lab for training and fostering independent filmmakers. and home of one of the world's leading film fesnovals. >> youthere are other stories out there to be told and they're not being given a chance. how about starting sng that you create a mechanism for people to come and not only develop their stories en have alace to go? >> this guy's done more for independent film than anybody that i've ever heard of and he's given young writers a platform

and a place to work. and it's just been great. >> well, thank you. i think the idea is that if you're lucky enough to have some success, what are you going to do with ? are you just going to sit there and try to repeat that success or are you going to take that success and try to do something else with it? >> reporter: you're clearlyha prout you created. rd i am. >> reporter: redays he will continue to direct and produce projects. "the old man and the gun" will be his last film as an actor-- unless, like his character, he really can't stop. for the pbs newshour, i'mje ffrey brown at the toronto film festival. on-line you can watch president trump's speech before theon unid nageneral assembly tomorrow at 10:15 eastern. that's on m.r live str you can find kurnlg at our

website pbs.org slash newshour. take a de dive how we use and what becomes of plastic. >> plastic isall around us and we use it every day. from our cars and phones. it doesn't jueast appr. in fact most of what we've made over the last 70 years is still here on our land and in our water. we'll take a closer look where it is, how it got there and what we can now do to break our plastic addiction. >> woodruff: that's this week on the newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff join us on-line and again heng tomorrow eve for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs nehour has been provided b >> bnsf ilway. >> financial services firm raymond james.

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hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. former senator barbara boxer calls republicans interrogated anita hill back in 1991 torturer w some of those same senators are revving up to take on dr. christine blaze s z blasey rdfo then, robert mugabe has been ousted. how will t he turns country around? an also african-amerin sees africa for the first time. comedian. with.