♪[music] >> a missing journalist up-ends the u.s.-saudi relationship in the middle east. i'm robert costa. how will president trump and congress respond? plus, the midterm battle grows fier. tonight on "washington week." >> this is a very serious situation and it's something we're taking very seriously in mounting questions surround the disappearance of journalist jamal khashoggi, forcing the trump administration to investigate. despite new reports that the saudi govnment killed the washington post columnist, president trump is so far resisting pressure from a bipartisan group ofma lrs, to pull out of a multibillion deal to sell weapons to the saudis. ofi would not be in favor stopping a country from spendin0 illion and letting russia have that money and letting china have that money. >> in the united states, we

stand for the free press. we do nothing, what do we stand for? >> all this as the president prepares to say goodbye to a memb of his foreign policy team. >> it has been an honor of a lifetime. >> plus... after a volatile week on wall street. >> under republican leader,a amer is booming, america is thriving and america is winning like never before. >> president trump goes on the warpath against democrats. >> the radical docrats have turned into an angry mob. >> some democrats say they will fight back. >> when they go low, we kick. that's what this new democratic party isndbout. >>ith the new supreme court justice sworn in, voters in both parties arenergized, just weeks ever the- midterm - before the midterm elections. those stories, next. ♪[music] >> this is "washington week."

funding is provided by... ♪[music] >> kevin! >> kevin! >> advice for life. life well plannedn lear more at raymondjames.com. >> funding is provided by newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own food products tois charity and nong the common good. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the ethics and excellencouin journalismation.th corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! >> once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. >> good evening. president trump fac looming diplomatic crisis due to the

disappearance and possible murder of a saudi journalist and washington post columni who vanished after visiting the saudi consulate in istanbul earlier this month. per reporting by the post whe i work, jamal khashoggi was last seen on october 2, when hnte walked the saudi embassyo collect papers for his upcoming wedding. he never walked out. the turkish government has told officials that it has aud and video proof that khashoggi was tortured and killed. there was also evidence that the action was ordered. that's putting pressure on the president and hisw, son-in- who had personal relationships with them. and is raiew questions about that multibillion deal on the table to sell weapons to the saudis. >> spending $110 billion on milinry equipment and o things that create jobs, like jobs and others, for this country. i don't like the concept of stopping an investment of $110

billion into the united states because you know what they're gonna do? ake that money and spe spend it in russia or cp or sce else. >> joining me tonight, katty kay, anchor b f news america. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for the new york times. vivian salama, white hou corresponden for the wall street journal. and brian bennett, senior white house correspondent for time magazine. katty, you've been on the phone with your sources in saudi arabia all day. when are we going to get a clearer picture of what exactly happened here? >> they're obviously inviting caution and to wait for thee facts to c out. they're also cautioning that the turks have their owngenda in this. what we know so far of what's being alleged so far, andhat we should treat that with some heepticism. i've asked about conference that's being held in saudi arabia in about a week's time and whether there is learn in

riyadh about the number of people who are pulling out of that conference. een told that the conference is secondary and cosmetic at the point and the important issue is to get to the bottom of what happened to jamal khashoggi. >> and y think about this whole episode, peter, revealingn about sa salma, his whole international project. >> it has two faces to the world. there's the outside face to thee west, you have very modernized, libenl-minded west seeming leadership and executives who, like bin salman, andnew crown prince, americans and europeans, you know, enjoy doing business with them. then you've got the inside saudi arabia, which is in fact one of the most autocrac places in the world, where there's no dissent and where there's no toleration of the kind of things that jamal khashoggi was hiiting. and i that this brings home, again, to the west and particularly to president trump the real trade-offs to the

policy of friendship withhis kingdom. >> when you think about the friendship, what are thens uences for the region good this u.s.-saudi relationship got rattled? >> this case is potentially really destabilizing. it's going to put a lot of pressure on the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia. there's going to be a lot of pressure on trump to take some sort of punitive action against saudi arabia, which he is resisting. more than that, saudi arabia and israel have taken a quiet alliance against iran and have been cooperating behind the scenes. and so that has been changinth dynamics of the region. and if saudi arabia becomes isolated, because of this case, that could upset that balance that has started to emerg in that region. also with turkey. turkey is trying to take advantage of the swrieghtsow. they just -- right now. they just released the pastor, andrew brunson, to try to cozy t thisthe united states a moment where they've been estranged, and try to push a

wedge between saudi and the united states. >> are they thinking about this at all on capitol hill, republicans who control the congress, when they talk about possible sanctions, knowing the disruption sanctions could there to be an apposite in eecause? the g.o.p. to take action. >> it's weighing heavily on republicans, especially on the hill, who believe that they really canno justify any kind of deals, political, business deals, whatever you want to say, with the saudi government, if this indeed proves to be the worst case scenario, which many are fearing. so right now, there is a lotf pressure internally with the hill. a lot of discussions, trying to find out exactly what took place and whether or not the saudis were involved. obviously they see the saudis as a veryn strong ally the region. someone that they can useor political stability in the region, with the palestinian issue, with the syria issue, to get the turks to come to thee ta the syria and iraq issue. so many different factors. of course, the big one, which is iran. if that element, like brian was

just saying, if that element disappears, then so many things are in jeopardy. obviousl so muchressure on capitol hill. there's also the business element. defense contracts. youno a boeing contract. so many different things that could be inig jeopardy now. >> it's a reminder for themp, and for rest of the country, that when you become close toat auto like saudi arabia, you run the risk of finding yourself in the position of being on the wrong side of an event like this. >> playing with fire. >> this is not new. america has wrestled with its relationship with saudi arabi throug multiple presidencies. there's always been this attention of needing the saudi whether it was because of oil reserves, whether it was because of the relationship with iran, whatever the issue was, and having to deal with the more distasteful side of saudi politics. you've had people on capitol hill who have been concerned for a while about the war in yemen and the civilians being killed

there and america's role in supporting saudi arabia in that war in yemen. i think when nbs came i this new crown prince, there was a hope that there would be a breath of fresh air. but actually you don't have to scratch far to see that he hasn't been that much of a reformer. he smooths people in hollywood and the saudis love that. they let women drive, on the front pagesve of paper. a week before, they locked up a bunch of women activists. i think there's been skepticism about whether this was really e reformed saudi arabia that policy makers would have hoped ri was, because it would have made a's relationship so much easier with saudi arabia. going is this president ha handle it? his son-in-law has m iny ways embraced the crown prince. but the whole world is watch hg, an rights and other fronts. >> you saw the body language in the clip. what was t president doing? he was like this.

right? doesn't want to deal with this. he doesn't want t get in the middle of two allies, turkey and saudi arabia. he doesn't want to mess things up. >> and you were with him i saudi arabia. >> i was with him. it was the first place he went to visit outside of the united states as president. he meant that as a statement. he told them specifically we're not going to tell you how to live. in other words, human rights is not going to be our number one priority, even our number three or five priority. as katty said, we' been dealing with this for years. plenty of presidents have made trade-offs when it came to saudt arabia, becausy are good with us on intelligence and terrorism and iran and energy. but rarely have you seen a president be so overtly willing to say human rights doesn't matter to us. he's not evend bothe to pay lip service to that. and he says -- what he said day about, inhe last few days, about arms sales. other presidents wouldthave ght the same thing. they wouldn't have said it out loud, quite so openly. they would have said,we well, l take a look at that. they would have played it off, put it off until later.

they wouldn'tave been so candid the way president trump is about it. >> we talked about diplomatic showdown. also a crisis for journalism. a washington post columnist at the center of this. urnalists throughout the middle east, you've all reported, lived in the middle east. u understand globa politics. you've seen it up close. what does it mean for journalists as they watch this all? >> i can speak for i was based in the middle east for 12 years as a reporter. fearing for our livesot is something unusual. throughout the arab spring, we were alwaysooking over our shoulders, worried that someone could come after us, that we would be targeted because of the work we were doing. however, this has a totallyt differynamic in the sense that this happened on foreign soil, in a casual way that we've really never seen before, where they essentially just walked to theaudi consulate and then he allegedly disappeared. that ishat we're grappling with now, is just the casual nature of this allegedncident. and the mystery surrounding it

where we just don't have thes answet and no one is really coming forward. >> and other autocratic regimes are watching the u.s. reaction. erere are plenty of o countries like china that crack down on the press. they're gonna be watching how e world reacts to this case, as a guide post for how far they can go to crack down internal dissent and freedom of speech. >> to come extent, this is more than the case of one journalist and one man, and even more than human rights in i thistance. it has become a test for american leadership in the trump era. and for the past 70 years, america has led the world in a way that was not transactional. of course, they did things that were transactionut too, there was some sense that america w led by example, led by moral values. good the president is only going to put -- if $110 billion worth of defense contracts is what it is, that is change of america has led the world for the last 70 words.

>> nikki haley, u.s. ambassador to the united nations, surised many officials when she announced she'd be leaving her ost at the endf the year. the u.s. moved its eassy to jerusalem and u.s. conducted t historic nucleks with north korea. haley said she was not planning to run for office in 2020. but she did have high prais for the president's family. dina powell, the former deputy of national security, bowed out of the process here. s but w with the departure of haley, an establishment republican, talking about those norms katty jtit med, now leaving the administration. what does that mean? >> she's a fascinating figure.sh has managed to straddle a really tough line where she has from time to tim spoken out in ways that seem contrary to the prident, yet stayed more or less on his good side, seems like. redmber, she tal about tough on russia. he didn't do that.

he actually undercu her at one point. but she was never in the doghouse the wayex tillerson was or h.p. mcmaster and so forth. the timing allows it to be on her terms, not after the election, when it might be lumped together with a post-election bloodbath if the voting goes blad -- badly. she's managed to leave a lot ofn options oo her. >> nikki haley may be one of the people able to leave this administtion in a clean way. she's leaving with high approval ratings. she's popular.he and leaves her political ambitions intact. >> but she also found herself crowded out with secretary of state pompeo. >> whether the next american llbassador to the united nations actually will s have a cabinet post, which i suspect both mike pompeo and john bolten

wod be quite happy it didn't. >> bolten, former u.s., ambassadvising the president, maybe this whole role of u.n. ambassador to be pulled back. >> both have tried to streamline and size down essentiallyhe operations around him especially. and so this wouldn't be a surprise, if he wanted to have someone reporting to him versus a ki t of separate element it. but in general, nikki haley has been -- was someone that wanted her own voice in the early days of her term as the ambassador. and she really spoke out as peter was saying, sort of opposite to what the president was dng in a lotf cases. and it really made her stand out and have her own voice ch she she was trying to establish herself on the international stage. she kind of checked tt b with this job. now it's time to move on. >> even at times saying is, i don't get confused. a rare moment of somebody pushing back against the wte house and surviving.

>> and if she does want to run for president some day, she has this foreign policy experience. >> and most people are talking about people who would be more subordinate to the whiteou. >> let's shift from foreign policy to the campaign trail. president trump was in ohio, this friday night. that was the fourth campaign event for the president in less than a week. brn wrote in thi week's time cover story that the elections will test the strength of president trump's hold on his party and show just how lasting an imprint his unique mix of populism and nationalism will maca on the repub party and america for years to come. we're just weeks away, brian. he's on the trail. he's in iowa. peter and i were in erie, pennsylvania, with the president this week n a rally in-to. can thein kavanaugh n come back to 2016 levels? republicans and donald trump are banking on it. donald trump has made this midterm about h, a referendum on him. he's embraced that. the polling that the republicans

are doing are showing that unlike the thinking a fewonths ago, that the economy would be mobilizing, no. what they're finding is that talking about kavanau and the audicial nominations, that's mobilizing the kav fight and talking about democrats potentially obstructing donald trump's objectives and policy decisions going forward, if they get to control one branch of the house. that also is mobilizing t base. that's why you hear donald trump talking about the democrats being a mob and using words like obstruction and bringing up the kavanaugh fight. >> he said that brett kavanaugh actually did a service to the republican party, because of the controversy surrounding his confirmation. >> i'm sure kavanaugh doesn't see it that way. >> i'm sure he doesn't. but he sai that he did a service and he's mobilized republicans likeever before. that is something that he's going to be using in the next couple of weeks, to say get out there and voto the mob, in

his words, doesn't come out. >> pol tell a complicated story. in erie, we saw a congressman running in the keystone state. republicans in wisconsin, running behind the democrats. you see the enthusiasm at the rallies, but polling shows that in the state the president won in 2016, republicans aren't exactly having an easy time. >> and you see abe disparity een the house and senate. if the house were to go democratic and the senateot onot go democratic, it could even pick up republican seats, because the way the sea are peranged this year in the senate, there hto be more democrats who are vulnerable than republicans. but you're right, the energy ha been for many months on the democratic side. the president is trying to duplicate that on the republican side. but people go to the polls because they're angry, because they want to protest secething, notse they want to say thank you. they would go the polls a say, hey, we don't like brett kavanaugh, we're going to go and

prott. he's tryin to get them to look at this as a protest against the left-wing mob. it's hard to see if you can maintain that kind of anger for that many weeks. >> how long is three and a half weeks in american politics? >> it's a year! a rican politics n the trump i'm trying to remember what happened three and a half hours ago. rats ares what the dem banking on. you take mccaskill and t confirmation process, for her, a crisis. amongstoval ratin independents went from plus 10 to plus 4. she said e thatn after kavanaugh was confirmed, she already started to see them pick up again and stabilize. so democrats are desperately hoping that three and a half weeks is a long time. m >> at of the networks now are not covering these rallies anymore, which is so fascinating, including fox news, who apparently it's a ratin issue, where there have been so many. it's just not getting the pull that i used to. obviously this hurts the local

candidates that he's going there tondorse. but also makes you question whether it's gotten to the point that it's too much. this is something that the white house is now grappling with, trying to figure out how -- what the strategy should be moving forward to keep people heteresting. >> he's out everywhere. he's on 60 minutes this interviews.ing >> he's making it a referendum on him. what about suburban men and women, especially suburban women? where are they tilting, based on the data? >> it's really interesting to go out and talk to people who are supporting trump andt thinking aboting for trump. we found a really interesting avmosaic. you people who love his harsh rhetoric and love what he says. then you have people who like his policies and are uncomfortable with his harsh rhetoric but are willing overlook that. that interplay is playing out in the suburbs, h amongher educated, more wealthy voters. you have more people who le his policies, like the judicial nominees and the deregulation

and it's just whether they're willing to overlook that destabilizing and harsh -- >> are they catching on wit thos voters? the democrats are playing health care hard now in the closing chapter. >> they fee like it mobilizes their base. we're going to have to see if that pans out. >> the president and republicans are trying to push back on that, trying to make the case tha the democrats will actually destroy medicare, not strengthen it. you hear them say, i'm going to protect preexisting conditions, because he knows they're vulnerable on it. >> when you talk about sugar high for the democrats, a congressman in texas raised $38 million this quarter. yet the polls show he's still nine point back. >> i think there's only been one poll- am i right -- that has actually shown him ahead of ted cruz. there's been a huge amount of interest in him, not the least from amongst us.s and t unicorn idea of the fact that texas may switch from

being red to blue. my sense would be that it's still a couple of cycles out. it may be that the press has been more interested and is also looking for somebodyor020. i'm sure if he were to win, he would very quickly be talked abou in theress as somebody who is a potential contender for 2020. but the polls just don't bear out that he is somebody who is gonna flip that sea from red to blue at the moment. he could do it and maybe this money will help, but there's also a lot of other money coming in on the republican side. >> what matters is who goes to the polls oion ele day. and if he can get the momentum and come from behind, that's what his campaign is banking on right now. >> and i wonder about that thusiasm, because down -- up in erie, pnsylvania, some i spoke to said trump hasn't gotten theunng he deserves from congress. you just wonder, are they actually going to come out for the republicans? >> thes is the question, in next couple of weeks. president trump is ultimately making this a case abo him,

that you need to support me. votingu're going to be for members of the house and senate, which will ultimately carry out my legislation, but this is ultimately about getting me re-elected in 2020. a lot of it is if you want your wall and you want all these other issues that i have struggled to get through with a fragile majority in thed senate house, you need to come out and vote. .hat's what they're really pushing right n >> it's complicated by trade. the democrats are echoing the president on tradenstead of countering him. >> trade is one of those issues that just crosses lines all over the place. what's interesting, he has had expeence in these special elections, most of which have moved more democt in the last two years. yet he's gone in, at the last minute, clearly made a difference for republican candidates who w otherwisee in trouble. so he does have an ability to shift things in sect places. he's not going all over the map. it's still a very select map for him. he's going to erie, pennsylvania, not philadelphia, not pittsburgh, right? >> well, he's also getting back to the trade issue.

he's coming and tryingo deliver these accomplishments, i just signed a deal with canada and mexico and i'm bringing you all these deals. but we also have tariffs in place which also hurt a lot of the farmers. sot's a mixed bag. >> we had interesting discussions with farmers, particularly in missouri, wt doike the tariffs or are already anticipating the tariffs areoing to hurt their bottom line, maybe by 10% or more in xt crop season. but some of those teamers, they like his -- farme, they like his deregulation, environmental rollbacks. >> and theconomy is relatively strong, but he's nervous about how the interest rates are. movi >> he's clearly nervous, because his barometer, his favoriteat is of the stock market. it closed up today. but we've seenke stock m declines of about 2% during the course of this week. that doesn't play into his narrative of all the things he has achieved. it's unu tal for president to bash the fed.

but clearly, a strong stock market is something that the president has usedhi throughout term. >> i mean, it's dangerous if a president wants to use the federal interest rates for political purposes and that's why that fnewall has been i place for so long and trump, like all these other conventions that he's shattered as president, he's shatter now -- >> ha ha! >> we gotta leave it the w. when i on air force one as a reporter, the president made su he came andalked to reporters about the federal reserve to wag hr. fin before we go, we want to send our heartfelt thoughts to everyone affected byricane michael. the pictures of the devastation are incredible. tr wish yougth as you rebuild your lives down there. i'm robert costa. thanks for joining us. ♪[music]

>> funding is provided by... financial services firm raymond james. newman's own foundation. donating allwmrofits from 's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in journalism fouation. the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in ourommunities. the corporation for public broadcasting. and byonibutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! >> you're watching pbs.

crew: okay, turning over, please. action! and i suppose i've made my living out of writing about fictionacountry houses that are occupied by fictional characters. now we're to be turned out of downton. cut, thank you. julian fellowes: but britain's great houses are real, and inhabiteby real people. "charlie, i have been very wicked "with lord cole, sir frederick johnstone, the prince of wales, and others." in this series, what i'm trying to find that's great. i love jews, actually. presumably that's not the countes (laughing) the real bates, the real anna. my eyes absolutely fill at the thought of this.