captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh pad the woman who accused him of sexual assault p to testify before senators tomorrow. then, president trump meets with leaders at the u.n. to discuss nuclear proliferation, zeroing in on iran. plus, one on one with the president of turkey on his country's role in the world and its nse relations with the u.s. and, the plastic problem-- innovative efforts are underway to re-use existing plastics and to find alternatives for the future. >> the only plastic that does not need to beisposed of is plastic that was never made. so even recycled materu can't cycle it forever. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> suppotring social enepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems--n. skollfoundatiog. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org.

>> supported by the joand catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at nd.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program bs made possibthe corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: it's the eve of a crucial united states senate hearing on allegations of sexual assault against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. but now, there's a new claim of misconduct. congressional codeespondent lisa ardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: the day med fast starting with president trump at the united nations, renewing his defense of his nominee and fellow republicans. >> the republicans could not be nicer could not be more

than the way that they're handling this. they could have pushed it through twand half weeks ago and you wouldn't be talking about it right now, which is frankly what i would have preferred. >> djardins: at that point, the conversation was about two accusations: christine blasey ford's charge that kavanaugh sexually assuaed her in high school, and deborah ramirez' account of him exposing himself in college. he has adamantly denied both. but before noon, attorney michael avenatti disclosed information about a third accuser. julie swetnick, a current submitted a sworn affidavit to the senate judiciary committee. she told of attending over ten high school parties with kavaugh and his friend mark judge, and said she witnessed kavanaugh "drink excessively at many of these parties and engage in abusive and physically aggressive behavior toward girls."ed that "inclondling and grabbing of girls without their consent." ge said kavanaugh and judge also tried to drls' drinks so that "they could then be "gang raped" in a side room or beusoom by a "train" of nume

boys ... these boys included mark judge and brett kavanaugh." swetnick said she was raped at one party attended by kavanaugh and judge, but she does not allege either was invoed in the attack. in a statement, kavanaugh responded by saying, "this is ridiculous and from the twilight zone. i don't know who this is and this never happened." kavanaugh's lawyer also responded, and said he will not withdraw his nomination. >> he's outraged as you might imagine by this most recent allegation. he has never met this woman, he doesn't know ms. swetnick, he i'dn't go to parties with her and we've already- received calls myself from women and men who went to high school with him-- no one knows this woman, no one remembers seeing her at any of the parties they attended. >> desjardins: president trump fired back, too, targetingni sw's lawyer, avenatti, who also represents adult film star stormy daniels, who claims shed affair with the president. >> if you're look at this

lawyer, he repped democrats. its a horrible con game. i think the people are finding out. >> desjardins: the new accusation brought new chaos on capitol hid new republican allegations of a smear campaign. senate judicary chairman chuck grassley said the committee is looking into the latest allegations. but he said tomorrow's heari will proceed, with only kavanaugh and christine blasey ford as witnesses. >> we're doing everything we can to make her feel comfortable so she's been waiting for 10 days now to appear so why would we want to disadvantage her from doing what she offered to do a long time ago. i feel like i have a definite responsibility to hold a horring not onlyer but for judge kavanaugh. >> desjardins: but senate minority leader chucschumer called for republicans to halt the proceedings. >> i strongly believe that judge kavanaugh should withdraw from consideration and the president should withdraw this nomination if kavanaugh won't do it

voluntarily. if he will not at the very least the hearing and vote should be postponed while the f.b.i. investigates all these very serious and very troubling allegations. >> desjardins: some republicans, including jeff flake of arizona, are voicing doubts about proceeding. 'm however this vote goes, confident in saying it will forever be steeped in doubt.s this doubt ithe only thing i'm confident about in this process. >> desjardins: south carolina's ntndsey graham: >> this is gettingthe twlight zone you're talking about brett kavanaugh being a scserial rapist during higol i have a hard time bitieving you dihen and never done it before. i do believe it's important to invite mr. avenatti's client to come to the committee and be interviewed bytaff that should

happen right now. te desjardins: grassley has scheduled a commvote on kavanaugh's nomination for friday. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me here, and from new york our i want to say just within the our, a lot of fast-moving pieces here. the president continues to hold sway at a news conference in new york at those u.n. meetings. this news conference is now into its second hour. we can tell that you no long ago, he was asked, of course, about th aeselegations by these women against judge kavanaugh. d he said atrst that these are all false allegations. but then he went on to say that he wants to hear from the woen. here's part of what he had to say. >> republican senators have delayed this for weeks now. they're giving the women a maj chance to speak. now, it's possible i'll hear that, and i'lly, "hey, i'm changing my mind."bl that is pos we want to give them a chance to speak. l reporter: do you think three should have a chance?

>> well, whoever is given a hance. we've delayed ilong time. but they're going to have a big shot at speaking and making their case. and, you know, what? i could be persuaded, also. >> woodruff: president trumpal acknowledged, lisa, that he has a particular perspective on all th becse he said, he acknowledged, that he himself has been falsely acused of sexual misconduct. here's how he commented on that. >> i've had at of false charges made against me. i'm a very famous person, unfortunately. i've been a famous person for a long time. but i've had a lot of false charges made against mey rea false charges. i know friends that have had false chaes. people wnt fame. they want money. they want whatever. so when i see it, i view it differently than somebody sitting home watching televisios where thy, "oh, judge kavanaugh this or that." it's happened to me many times. >> woodruff: now, the president, lisa, and othreer blicans we've been hearing are pretty dismist of these

newest set of f allegatiom the woman julie swetnick, but these are serious allegatioo . what know about them? >> these are incredibly serious allegations. we covered some o them inur report at the beginning of the story. she is saying not just about the role of mark judge and mr. kavanaugh, she said she witnessed party where's there were lines of men waiting outside bedroom doors to molest a woman who enderstood to be inside. so, incredibly serious allegations. right now, the committee says it is looking to speak to her, which is a process they've used before with the other accusers in this case. there will be no f.b.i. investigations are say reblicans, not at this point. democrats, of course, would like misswetnick to apar in a hearing which she and her attorney eattorney have said she is willing to do. >> woodruff: i mentioned some republicans, the president being very dismissive of what she' saying. what are republicans and democrats saying about this? >> right. the president seemed to go backh and fo he said he didn't know a lot about these accusations yet, but he did at one point say he

thought they were false. thertiwere confl statements. we have seen just in the past hour, new letters school supporters of mr. kavanaugh, 60 of them, men and womenying they do not recall anything like what mis swetnick stated. they signed a letter weeko support be mr. kavanaugh. republicans, judy, areti questioning thing of this accusation, both because of the hearing, and they also questio how old miss swetnick was at the time. they're also questioning a bitra of her chaer and saying, "if these things happened to you, if you witnessed these parties, wh did yntinue to go to these parties? democrats, on the other hand, say this is ang mounvidence of a culture they believe brett kavanaugh was aart of. what miss swetnick talked about matches an account inthe new yorker" this weekend by a former ex-girlfriend of mark judge.

this ex-girlfriend said judge confided in her that he did get inebriated and he had sex with women who may not have been fully conscious at the time. that is her claim. it is obviously part of a very large debate. >> woodruff: my unerstanding is shiez reconfirmed that statement today. >> that's right. and that ex-girlfriend saidg she's will testify as well. >> woodruff: so to get back to the orir ginal reason fois hearing, christine blasey ford. what do wean, lisa, at this point about w this hearing is going to unfold? >> this is what wean, the finite univer for tomorrow. t's talk about the hearing. first, we expect about two hours for each witness. it will be about five minutes per senator, but the republican senators are expected to pool that time and yield it all t prosecutor rachel mitchell. she is the prosecutor fromma copa county, over 20 years'ce experi >> woodruff: arizona. >> maricopa county, penix. most of it with sex crimes. this will be a much smalleran

hearing room te've seen before. for example, the number of seats for the press are abo quarter of what they were. i suspect the seats for the public and potential protesters will also be shorter. but it will be a shorter and smaller hearing that repubgncans have de. >> woodruff: so, lisa, what do we know from-- there is some polling that's been dthne about public and how the american people are viewing our taking in all this. what do we see there? >> well, i think it's no surise, like on alost every controversial issue these days, americans are divided. there is a plurality who generay oppose judge kavanaugh's nomination right now-- 43%, 38n say they're favor of it in general. but we found there were more interesting highlights when you drill down. the party divide here is vast, fot a shock. when we asked, he charge by christine blasey ford is true, should judge kavanaugh be confirmed?" now, that's if it's true. democrats, 12%, said yes, he should be confirmed. over half of republicans say if that c carge isonfirmed he

should be confirmed.at there is a dee we haven't talked about much, if they are true, what does the americanou public think happen? all of that right now is lofts in a kind of chaotic political situation. >> woodruff: and, of course, the whole question of whether we will be able to ge to truth tomorrow because many people are saying what we're going to come away with when impressions, and not knowing because wdon't have final evidence-- we don't have evidence that dates back to 1982. >> that's right. any there's a real challenge for democratic senators. there are 10 on this committee. if you're a democratic senator and you have five minutes toqu tion judge kavanaugh, a lot hf these senators -- i'm not joking-- it takesm three minutes to get out a question.dr >> wf: right. >> so their questions must be short, and judge kavanaugh could also have longer answers. it's going to be very difficult to have questions and follow-ups in this set. >> woodruff: thens republi will be presumably more focused because this practiced prosecutor i rachel mitchell is going to be asking all of their

questions. >> that's right.e ols all of her time. she can have a direct line of questioning throughout entire timing, versus each senator may have different lines of questions that they want to ask. >> woodruff: we are going to be covering every moment of it, and you're going to be there for us. >> i'm getting there earlyf: >> woodrou're going to be there early. lisa desjardins, thank you. >> and you are going to want >> woodruff: to talk about what to expect from the senate judiciary committee tomorrow in the questioning of judge kavanaugh and professor blasey ford, i'm joined by julie goldscheid. she's a professor of law at the city university of new york, where she teaches classeon gender and law. she is one of several law w professo wrote a letter today urging the judiciary committee to further investigatm the claie by blasey ford and other women. professor goldscheid, let me just start by asking, the letter to the committee. what was the point you were making in that letter which is critic how the committee is

structured tomorrow? >> thank you. the point of the letter is really tosk the senators to do what we would exptny fact finder to do, which is to pause, to get a full invtition, and to assess all of the evidence in the context that's before the committee. this is not a criminal case. it's not a civil case. it's not about evidence that's going to be assessed based on a preponderance of the evidence, or beyond a reasonable doubt standard. this is a question about whether or not shoul somebody should be nominated and appointed to the supreme court, the highest court in the country. and for that there are many complex questions i think the senators shoulbe interested in. they should be interested in assessing the very serious allegations that have bee made, and hrgt nominee's reflection on those-- on those allegations.

not only do they raise very serious concerns, but they so raise complex questions that are of the type of-- that reflpet the tf issues that the court deals with all the time, and the senators should be interested in hothe nominee reflects on that kind of complicated allegation and complicated dynamic. >> woodruff: and i kat you and the others who were signing this letter were calling for an investigation to take plac just as dr. blasey ford and her attorney were calling for it. but we know that there will be-- there has been and won't be an f.b.i. investigation. they have been talking to her. what will be missing then?a i mean, wht is it-- what is it-- what will be the rle of rachel mitchell, who will be asking questions for the republicans, and then of the democratic senators in getting to the bottom of this as best they can, when there has not been an f.b.i. investigation? >> right. well, your point is a very good one. without a full investigation for

backgroundhand without all te witnesses who can speak to the allegations, there's really an incomplete picture that will be painted at thhearings, by definition, unless the senators decide to open up the hearings to more witnesses who can talk about their, e accounts that they heard about the allegations before the-- before these hearings. so the task for thiong frs tomorrow is to paint as clear and as complete ad as neutral a picture as possible about what dr. ford experienced and what the nominee, judge kavaugh, experienced, and to hear his reflections on these ver delicate, detailed, and difficult allegations. >> woodruff: so we've been-- her opening statement, christine blasey ford's opening statement, s been released. we know-- we've been able to

take a look at that. she's pretty much giving thesc same dption of what happened that night at that party in 1982 in that summer, that we've been told, with a little more detail. given that and given that judge kavanaugh is saying he wasn't at the party, do't know her, how-- how does-- how does a questioner get to some evidence, some information, that's going to advance our understanding of what really happened? >> yeah. well, one thing that the questioner can do is can ask about both witnesses' understanding of some of the sother information that ome to light. so, for example, if judge kavanaugh says he has recollection, he can be probed about some of the other aounts that have come forward about the details of some of the parties d the atmosphere and theur cu that at least many

people think took place at the school at the time tahe was there. so she can get his reactions to those accounts of what was going on at the time. >> woodruff: are quensst about, you know, how much drink dignitdrinking did he do, how mh partying, are those kids of general questions going to bring us closer to understanding whether this happened or not? >> you know, ihink part of t task is to come to as clear of an asassment of whatpened as possible, and we know that in many cases like this,here are competing versions, competing accounts of what happened. so the task for the senators is really to listen very carefully and closely to the answers to hear how mucsth concy or inconsistency there is in the respective witnesses' reports, and to make their own assessments, both about what happened, but but how the nominee's responses bear on his ability to serve as a supreme

court justice. because i really canco't unde enough that that's what's at issue here. this is more akin to a job interview, than any kind of civil or criminal proaleding. it's about his qualifications for this very, very important position. >> woodruff: professor goldscheid, finally one more question, if you were asking questions of judge kavanaugh tomorrow, what's the most important thing you would want to know from him? >> yeah, good question. i might want to know hi view, if the allegations were true, what his views would be about them, and what he would think about thly. i would rewant to hear his thoughts about the seriousness of sexual assault. we know sexual assault is pervasive. it continues to be pervasive, defight all the gains and progress that has been made. and i would want to hear what his assessment is of those

accounts. >> woodruff: yuli julie goldschy goldscheid, she's a professor at the city university of new york, thank you. >> suny school of law. >> i'm sorry, thank you very much. >> woodruff: and a reminder, we will have full, live covere of the senate judiciary committee hearing with brett kavanaugh and christine blasey ford tomorrow, starting at 10:00 a.m. stern. check your local pbs station listings for more information or watch us live streaming online at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: back now to preside dnt trump at the united nations, where the focus was heavily on iran.ig foreaffairs correspondent nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: one day aftern declaring disdr global governance, president trump walked into the u.n. security

council, and the world diplomats hushed thr voices. but in a room defined by e corum, a president who doesn't always stick to ript, showed respect to tradition and stuck to the script. >> the security council is called to order. >> schifrin: this was mr. trump's first security council briefing, and he iedediately targran. >> the united states will pursue additional sanctions, tougher than ever before, to counter the entire range of iran's malign conduc any individual or entity who fails to comply win these sanctis will face severe consequences. schifrin: the u.s. is trying to pressure iran to curb itsc bassile program, and regional proxies such as hezbollah that attack iran's enemies. to do so, the u.s. is pressuring europeans for help. but europs top diplomat this week announced new ways for iran to avoid s. sanctions. and european leaders are criticizing the president's

decision to withdraw from the iran nuneear deal they tiated together, known as the j.c.p.o.a. french president emman macron:an >> ( ated ): the serious crisis of confidence was opened by a reimposition of sanctions by the united states, but tehran continues to abide by its nuclear obligations. we need to build together a long term strategy in order to manage this crisis, and it cannot boil down to just sanctions and containment. >> schifrin: and british prime minister theresa may. >> for many years, the scale and nature of iran's nuclear program raised serious international concns. the j.c.p.o.a. was an important step forward in addressing these. it remains the best means of preventing iran developing a nuclear weapon. >> schifrin: iran promises to abide by the deal's nuclear limits. and today president hassan rouhani said tit u.s. isolated lf from its allies. >> ( translated ): we're not d.olated as a matter of fact. america is isola at the general assembly america was isolated. at the security council america was isolat.

>> mr. president, donald. thank you. >> schifrin: on iran, the u.s. is alignedith israel, the president met with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, but he suggested moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem will al require israeli accommodations in peace talks. and for the first time, he declared support for creating at paian state next to israel. >> i like two-state solution. that's what i think works best. i don't even have to speak to anybody. that's my feeling. you may have a different feeling, i don't thinksto. but i thinate solution works best. >> schifrin: mr. trump said his diplomatic approach to northrk korea is also g. in a meeting with japanese prime minsiter shinzo abe, he pulled out a letter from kim jong-un and said it was a sign that kim, who has overseen a nuclear program and vast human rights abuses, is changing his stripes. >> north korea, under the leadership of chairman kim has tremendous economic potential, tremendous.

and i think that chairman kim sees that better than maybe anybody. >> reporter: and today,te secretary of sike pompeo announced he would go to pyongyang next month with the intention of setting up a second summit between president trumpn and kim un. and the president was asked why he would hold a second summit. he said, "well, kim asked for it." led he said thatter that he got, judy, is a sign that the two sides are making progress. >> woodruff: so, nick, one of the things the president made news on today is heid china-- china is meddling in the u.s. 2018 elections. tell us more about what he saidp >>ter: yeah, he hasn't said this before, certainly not on this scale and at this platform at the you u.n. and he said it in the security council and a press conference. he said chine afs meddling inio the ele because in his words he was being tough on china. he gave no details, and we asked administration official

about that, and he gave a few details, and we should tell you ethese are not th kind of interference in the election that we saw in 2016 at all. onexample: china courting politicians and farmers in states that vot for trmp. now, i should say, judy, china has invested in swing sta swing districts long before trump because the president in order to have some political influence. second example, rewardingan journalistthink tanks who are nice to china. again, they've done that before ump became president. intimidating people who are critical of china. again, they have done that before trump became presdent. and ltly, using state media for propaganda against president trump. again, they did that before trump became president. and what present trump didot mention today, judy, is russia, which, according to the intelligence community, in 2016 launched a hacking campaign into president trump's opponents, distributed that information, and launched a disinformationl campaign as and the intelligence community says that

is ongoing in 2018. president trump did not mention that at all today. >> wdruff: no mention of i a lot to keep track of. nick schifrin covering the united nations general assembly for us this week. thank you, nick. >> woodruff: in the day's other president trump said he does not want to fire rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who oversees the russia vestigation. at his news conference todad he noat rosenstein has denied that he talked of recording the president, or trying to remove him from office.pr >> i would mucer keeping rod rosenstein. much prefer. many people say i have the right to absolutely fire him. he said he did not say it. he said he does not believe that. >> woodruff: the two men had been sc mheduled t tomorrow, but the president said he may postpone it, so hcan focus on the senate hearing with supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh.de the l reserve raised a key orshort-term interest ratehe third time this year, to two and

a quarter percent. it serve as enchmark for many consumer and business loans. fed chair jerome powell said the economy is strong, b he did warn against a drawn-out trade war with china and other nations. >> i think if this perhaps inadvertently goes to a place where we have widespread tariffs thatemain in place for a long time in a more protectionist world, that's going to be bad for the united states economy. >> woodruff: fed policymakers also signaled that one more rate hike is likely this year, and three next year. president trump now says he will sign a sweeping spendinbill to prevent a government shutdown, come monday. the senate already approved the bill, totaling $854 billion, and the house moved to follosuit today. it funds the military and manyme ic agencies for the fiscal year that begins october first. it does not fund the president's border wall.al

there are sml signs of hopeto ght for towns in south carolina facing floodwaters from hurricane "florence." officials today lowered their flood predictions for and georgetown, where several rivers erge, but it could chang again. >> all three river syste were flooded not only fro sthe water frth carolina but that that came in the second wave from north carolina. so this is unprecedented a we are still in full battle mode or town county and horry county. >> woodruff: the hurricane is blamed for 47 deaths in the carolinas and virginia. pope francis urged china's roman catholics today to trust him, after reaching an agreement with beijing on naming chinese bishops. he acknowledged that some chinese catholics feel abandoned by any deal with china's communist gornment. but he said the goal is to unify the chinese church, after decades of division.

>> ( translated ): i decided to address the chinese catholics and all the universalmehurch with aage of fraternal encouragement. with that, i am hoping that china can open a new phase. one that helps to heal the wounds of the past, and re- establish and maintain the full communion of all chinese catholics to take up with new conviction the message of the gospel. >> woodruff: china's "underground" catholics have long been persecuted for refusing to join a state-run catholic association. and, on wall street, stocks sagged late in the dfe, after thral reserve raised rates. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 107 points to close at 26,385. the nasdaq fell 17 points, and the s&p 500 slipped nine. still to come on t newshour: an interview with turkey's president at the united nations. inside the innovative efforts to combat the plastic problem. and a brief but spectacular take

on writing about people. >> wdruff: ties between the u.s. and turkey, longtime nato lies, are deeply straine the turks accuse the u.s. of the u.s. hopes to get an american pastor out of jail. the turks accuse the u.s. ofll harboring fe gulen, an exiled cleric whom turkey blames for a failed coup. then there are syria, russia, and broader regional issues. amna nawaz spoke with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan earlier today and you'll see but first, she begins with some background. >>awaz: the decades-old alliance is now under increasing tension finding new lows. one flash point:amhe fate of erican evangelical pastor andrew brunson, held for nearlyr two years in tkey. he was swept up in the crackdown after the july 2016 coup attempt against erdogan. vice president pence had this ultimatum for erdogan in late

july. >> i have a message on behalf of the president of the united states of america: release pastor andrew brunson now or be prepared to face the consequences. >> nawaz: president trump levied sanctions on turkey,onnd ankara red in kind. the dispute accelerated the declinof the turkish lira. it's lost 40% of its value this year. yesterday erdogan clearly had mr. trump's economic policy front of mind: >> ( translated ): none of us can remain silent to the arbitrary cancellation of commercial agreements, the spreading prevalence of protectionism and the use of onomic sanctions as weap because the negative effects of these twisted developments will eventually affect all of us. >> nawaz: erdogan became prime minister in 2003. then in 2014 and again this year he was elected president, a position he has converted into turkey's preeminent power center.jo one machallenge to his government: the grinding war in syria that has forced more than

three million refugees across turkey's southern border. tens of thousands more were sure to have moved into turkey, if the assad regime, backed by russia, made an all-out assault on idlib province in northwest syria. it's the last major stronghold of islamist and rebel fighters. but erdogan struck a deal lastss week with n president vladmir putin to forestall that attack: >> ( translated ): we believe that turkey cleared the way for peace and political so in syria, especially in the idlib province. our goal is tolear the syrian territory, all the way from manbij to the iraqi border, from terrorispresence. er>> nawaz: that broad refce to "terrorist presence" also refers to america's kurdish allies in syria, one more flash point tween allies. ankara considers the so-called y.p.g. and its political wg, the p.y.d., terrorists allied to turkish separatist kurds. u.s. forces are training, equipping and fighting alongside the syrian kurds to defeat isis. i sat down with president erdogan earlier this afternoon.

mr. president, thank you so mu t for making tme to speak with us. >> thank you. >> i want to begin bysking you about syria. last week you signed an agreement with russia, specifically with regard to idlib, the last rebtelronghold in syria. and as part of that agreement, you pledged thalt al radical terrorist groups would be removed froidlib by october 15. i wanted to ask you how you begin to figurt who is a radical terrori 3. >> ( translated ): as to whoth e groups are, we had already identified those groups together with russia, anyway. .e already know who they are with our intelligence organization in turkey, we are now working towards that. as we, speings are progressing well. it is about removing heavy weapons from thagt ren. as we do that, the people of lib living in idlib will again have peace. >> reporter: there was a time you advocated for a regime change in syria. and it's fair to say that you've had a bit of a policy shifwhen it comes to syria.

last week you signed this agreement with russia. yesterday, in your speech at the uniteda nations, you lid the alliance with russia in working towards efforts in syria. russia is the chief backer of bashar al-assad. so is it fair to assume that you believe bashar al-assad has won the war in syria?t >> nslated ): if we were to create such a suspicion against russiaahat would be wrong thing to do. the assad regime has never ben an interlocateature for us. as turkey, our interlocateature are the people of syria, and they are our brothers and sisters. weave to come up with a result as soon as possible. we are now working on two sings. first preparation of the constitution, and second is a political process, and opening up the polital process to the people of syria because the people of syria expect the politil process to become functional as soon as possible,

and for that process to be functional, a constitution is needed. >> reporter: i'd like to ask you about the relationship between america and turkey. this morning, you published a very strongly worded op-ed calling for a larger reform to take place at the united tions. but in that piece, you named only the u.s. you said that this administration has undermined the world order. do you still consider the u.s. to be an ally for turkey? >> ( translated ): we are strategic partners with the u.s. within nato. for any country that is our strategic partner, it wouldn't be suitable to talk about possible sanctions against one's strategic partner, and so far, turkey has always fulfilled is duties of being the strategic partner and we will continue to do so. we are together wit under nato. we will act with them under nato, and turkey has already defended the outpost of nato. imagine you intervening in

raqqa, and while doing that, imagine you don't work with your stragic partner, but with a terrorist organization instead. who are those terrorist organizations? the p.y.d., and y.p.g., who happen to be expengzs of the p.k.kitchen terrori organizations. this is what we told the u.s. we said, "you're not ing the righ thing." now, seeing our strategic partner working hand in hand with those terrorist organizations is not something we could accept, had a hard time accepting. do you know how much weapons the u.s. sent to the north of syria? more than 18,000 big truck loads of ammunitions and weapons were sent. who will those weapons be used against? because those are places which are closest to our border, and there is this tet rroriscorridor there and took it apart. now think of our strategic partner engaging in such acts. that is sad for us to see. it is wrong. >> reporter: i'd like to move on to another issue that has come up between the u.s. and turkey, and that is the issue of pastor brunson, andrew brunson,

who as been detained in turkey since 2016 now. the u.s. has asked that he be released. he has been charged with terrorism and espionage, but recently pastor brunson was moved to house arrest. there was a new prosecutor appointed in the case as well, and he has a hearing coming up o tober. the u.s. has signaled they'd like him released by then.ul you intervene to release pastor brunson, an american citiz, ck to the u.s.?t >> (ranslated ): now, in international law, using political pressure to free those people who aonvicted or detained, would that be possible under international law? asu joalist, you have ever seen this? you could have that only in totalitarian or authoritarian regimes. you would not have it in a country like turkey, where there is the rule of law. now, as we speak, there is fethullah gulen in the u.s., and he has been in this country 1 sinc99, and he was head of an organization which attempted a coup in our country. 251 of oucizens became

martyrs. in 2000, 191 of our people were injured. he lives in pennsylvania. we ask for him. we asked for extradition, and we signed all the necessary documents and paperwork. they could have deported him with an administrative decision, but, unfortunately, the u.s. did not extradite him. >> reporter: are you saying if the u.s. agrees to extradite gulen back to tury, you would be willing to release the americans in custody in turkey right now? >> ( translated ): now, i told you am not talking about any reciprocity. i am talking about law. fethullah gulen is not part of i al process right now. brunson is an entirely different he is being tried in court as we speak, and we sent all necessary documents about fethullah gulen to the necessary authorities. >> reporter: amteesty ational estimates pastor brunson is one of 15-20 american citizens currently in turkishst y. is that correct? >> ( translated ): the number

cannot be that high. >> reporter: do you know how many american citizens are currently in tursh custody? >> ( translated ): currently, as far as i know, six or seven nernz either are in custody or detained. >> reporter: you, yourself, have come undereavy cricism from some human rights groups, particularly after you mentioned that failed coup attempt in 2016. i have to put these numbers to you because theg.y're strik it's estimated one had been,000 people were dismissed from public secto jobs, more than 50,000 arrested and imprisoned. your contribution have a purge of your political opposition. are you purging your political opposition? >> ( translated ): one cannot accept such information, of course, because you talk based on information you get from different press andedia. currently there are people behind bars. it's true. numerically, yes, the high numbers of people behind bars. there are 32,000 detained people who have been arrested. it's not hundreds of thousands. those trials must and i hope will bcompleted by thed of

this year. >> reporter: setting aside your potical opposition, specifically when it comes to journalists in turkey, turkey has been called the biggest jailer of journalists. back in disrnlg you held 73 journalists -- >> ( translated ): how many? you can give me the figure? >> reporter: in december the figure was 73 journalists held in prison, according to the committee to protect journalists. >> ( translated ): all of these things you have said are wrong, and the sources are not right. those are lies. the number of people who are behind bars and who are journalists, real journalists, maybe 20 or 30. some of these people have committed terrorism crimes, but they have badgesf journalists. we're not talking about actual and genuuine jornalists here. >> reporter: president recep tayyip erdogan, thank you very much for your time and speaking wi us. >> thank you, thank you.

>> woodruff: now to our series p on the plastblem around the world. as we said last night, one of the biggest problems is actually recycling the material. in the u.s., the rate of recycling plastics is just 9%. that compares to 30% in rope. amna is back with a report that took her to three states, exploring innovative ideas aimed at reducing plastic waste. it's part of our breakthroughs reporting on invention and innovation for our series, the leading edge of science. >> nawaz: for over 40 years, 'vis is one of the ways we tried to tackle our growing plasc problem. sorting, weeding out, and sorting some more,ike in this seattle facility. every day an estimated 750 tons of material flow through this process. and every stop along the way, just like this one, is designed to remove one more material. for an ultra-durable material like plastic, the goal of this system was tget us to use

less, by re-using what we'd already made. plday, new innovative ways of recirculating outic are being road-tested. literally, in this case. this is the very first plasticu. road in th, on the university of california san diego's campus. toby mccartney is behind" macrebur," a british start-up that mixes recycled plastic pellets into asphalt to make longer lasting and cheaper roads. >> theownside to waste plastics is it lasts for so long. a bott will last for maybe 500 years. what we're using is the ability of those plastics, because theya st so long, but in our roads. we want our roads to last ef long be they need any maintenance. >> nawaz: but are re-using all recycling rmaking a difference? >> i would say that the way we recycle plastic at the moment is not part of the solution. i would even go as farying it's part of the probl. >> nawaz: roland geyer is an industrial ecologist athe university of california santa barbar

he says that in the 70 yearsti plass been around, we've created nine billion tons of it, most of which still exists. >> the only plastic that does not need to be disposeof is plastic that was never made. so even recycled material you can't cycle it forever. >> nawaz: becca fong, of seattle public utilities, walked us through the city's impressive and growing recycling effort. still, she says, the process isn't perfect. >> it's geared to capture certain types of plastic of certain sizes and if it doesn't fit into those categories it's not really recoverable. >> nawaz: speaking of certainhi sizes, som like this. a tiny little plastic straw. where does something like that straw fit? >> the fact that it made it here is pretty impressive but the vast majority are going to fall through the machinery and not be able to be recovered to be recycled. >> nawaz: so seattle started small, and in july, became the first major city in the u.s. to ban all plastic straws >> it is that piece of material

that is so small and so nuanced and actually kd of an extra for a lot of people that it actually makes people stop and think, "do this straw?" to have >> a straw that i use today in seattle can end up in the pacific ocean and last there for thousandof years or can return back to your plate in ten years as micro plastics embedded in so fish. >> nawaz: mami hara heads up seattle public utilities.be fore her team could implement and enforce the straw ban, which also includes plastic utensils, they had to get local businesses on board. >> for a lot of businesses it hasn't been a hard sell. for those who are concerned about the price point, we try to work with them to find viable alternatives tt don't impact their purse too much. >> we'll buy about a million straws this year and the cost of straws has tripled. >> nawaz: bob donegan is the president of ivar's, an 80-year- old seattle seafood institution. >> we don't routinely put a straw in a drink. e

we arybody would you like a straw and they can always have one.ne these are the w compostable straws, they are made om plants. >> nawaz: but the compe straws don't work for him in other ways. >> challenge you to suck a milkshake through that straw and see if youan make it. >> nawaz: that not easy. so he spent more money and ordered bigger straws. since the ban, costs have gone up. but donegan says he budgeted around them by buying goods i early, abulk. so there's no use, he says, in bmplaining. >> put on your b pants and get used to it. everything the government does isn't fair. but our customers expect that of usnd we want to do what ou customers want. >> not only are we saying that the environment is important to us, this ia way for us to put our money where r mouth is. >> nawaz: wes benson at taco time, another area food chain, says they took sttle's straw

d utensil ban one step further. today, every single item they give customers, from utensils and cups to plates and bowls, is fully compostable, meaning ey're made of natural materials, and can be turned into compost aer being tossed. >> one of the nice things about being 100% compostable is you can make it a part of your story. we're a local compan the vironment is important to us and we're willing to pay five times as much for our packaging. e's efforts to cut back on plastic extendur beyond rests. behind the scenes at safeco field, wget a look a the stacks of compostable items they now require food vendors to uset ear, the park managed to recycle or compost 96% of all waste. aevor gooby runs operatio the ballpark. >> it definitely is more work to sort through the trash that we have afterhe game and to do these type of thing but again we feel it's really important forur business. and it's important because our fans are asking us to do i

>> nawpo: all those cable items end up in piles like these, at facilities like this, run by jason lenz and his family outside of seattle. for what you guys do, how much of a problem do plastics present? >> i would say it's, it's not insurmountable at the same time it's definitely a problem. nawaz: even here, bits of plastic need to be sorted out. lenz has been in this business since 2008, after expanding his sand and gravel company. without the city asking this of you, or showing there was a demand for this you guys wouldn't likely be doing this? >> that's correct. seattle is a big pusher of organics for composting. and so that's why we have this business. >> nawaz: lenz's company now churns out hundreds of thousands of tons of compost a year, and sells it to everyone from soil companies, to local governments, to home gardeners. what is in here? >> so these are bags of dirt that i collected from various

sites around the houston area. de>> nawaz: reed college s morgan vague had a hunch. if plastic really is everywhere, ybe, in heavily polluted areas, bacteria have eed to eat it. and maybe the bacteria could take a bite out of our plastic problem. so she collected samples from some of the dirtiest places around her hometown of houston, texas, like sites of past oil spills, and sites deemed contaminated by the e.p.a., and brought them back to the lab. so you identify the bacteria you want to take a closer look at, put them in these test tubes and the only food you give them is plastic. >> exactly. and we're fortunate to find some that d a pretty good job. >> nawaz: but vague found that the bacteria works much too slowly to be useful just yet. >> what lot of our research has focused on, is sort of like how can we speed up this process a bit, how can we kind of scales p and get it to an applicable kind of stage. because you know right now it's

just bugs in a tube. v nawaz: vague says yes, it's just one study, y early stages, but she's excited for where it could lead. >> you know all little girls want to change the world when they grow up, right? i think we need more of these kind of grassroots efforts and kind of thinking outside the box or outside the plastic bottle and kind of saying what sort ofn solutions weind. >> nawaz: without meaningful e lutions, experts warn, our trajectory means md more plastic, on our land and in our water. according to one study, if current production trends continue, by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. geyer says one way to fix it: get rid of all single-use packaging-- things like bags, straws, and bottles-- that make up 40% of our plastic. >> that would make a huge difference and i think that's really doable. lots of people are at the point where they don't like what they see. that there is real willingness to, to change behavior to do things differentl and i think there are many, many ways we can do it that you know

still allow us to have the good life.>> awaz: to do that, experts say it will take governments, companies, and individuals working together, each taking small steps to bring about big change. for the pbs newshour, in santa barbara, california, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: tomorrow, we'll take a look at the obstacles to >> woodruff: tonight the president held a press conference in new york, that lasted nearly 90 minutes. we played some excerpts from that at the top of the program but we want to take a moment to listen to one more bit. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor was there and eked the president about was addressing the united nations general assembly

yestery. >> yesterday, you were talking about youratadminisn's accomplishments at the united nations, and a lot of thegh leaders la. why do you think they laughed. >> well, that was fake news. anit was covered that way. so i said that since my election, our economy has become the hottest ithe world. tax reducons, regulations, confidence levels are the highest in 18 years-- really soon to be historic.oy unemnt is the lowest in the history of our country. as i said, the country is now stronger than evfore. it's true. i mean, it is true. ind i heard a little rustle. and i d, "it's true." and i heard smiles. and i said, "oh, i didn't know there would be that"-- they weren't laughing at me. they were laughing with me. we hadn. >> woodruff:ia meesh joins me by phone. the president wanted to set that

e cord straight. much of thws conference was about brett kavanaugh, tomorrow's hearings, the accusations about judge kavanaugh. we heard the president say he orally wants to hear the woman, christine blaseyd, testify. >> he did say that, and he said that he reserve the right to pull his nomination anwithdraw the nomination of brett kavanaugh if he hears something tomorrowhat moves him. d this president, of course, is someone who goes with his gut, who is vervey impult times. so there is an opportunity there for the president to possibly say that he does not want brett kavanaugh to be his nominee. but the president said in this country are you guilty unl proven innocent. and he said that, because he said, "i myself faced false allegations from women who say i acted sexuay inappropriate." of course there are a number of women who said that about the esident. and he's saying he feels for brett kavanaugh, that sense ofki hip, and that is somewhat coloring his view of tomorrow's

hearing. >> woodruff: it's interesting, because eay on in the news conference, i heard him say s, not only from christine blasey ford, but the other women who have come forward the last day or two said they are false accusations. t he also said we should hear from these women, so there is a bit of a contradiction goi here. >> there was definitely a contradiction there. ohe president said he wants remain open but he also said these women are not essentially telling the truth. was asked over and ov again, "are these women lying? and why he wouldn't sa, "yes, christine blasey ford is lying, ins, deborah ramirez, is l" he said this is all part of a con and the democrats waiteti the last minute to do this. >> woodruff: it was quite a tour de force. 90 minutes. yamiche alcindor reporting for us from new york. thank you. >> thanks, judy. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. don't forget to join us tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern on your local pbs stations and streaming line for the senate hearing

with brett kavanaugh nad hristine blasey ford. and of course, we will be back tomorrow night. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshouras been provided by: >> consumer cethular understands not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> a with the ongoing suppor of these institutions and individuals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshourroductions, llc captioned by media access gup at wgbh access.wgbh.org rrrrates: there's a t of talk

about borders these days. the city of tijuana sits right on the border ofit the states. the only thing that separates it from san diego is this wall. with over 10,000 people going both ways everyd, this is one of the busiest border crossings in the world. people come from all over mexico and latin america in search of something new, something better. or some cross ther, but others find opportunity right here in juana. and when people move, they bring their food, and that's the beginning to my favorite kind of story. in my kitchen, the border experience is an inspiration. first i'm going to recreate one of mexico's most popular tortas, sweet and succulent carnitas piled high on crusty bread,