tonight o kqed "newsroom," with lehan three weeks to go to the novemberlections a look at key california congressional races and how silicon valley is being tested by the saudi crisis. plus we'll he from state senator kevin de leon, the man trying to win dianne feinstein's seats in the senate. and the photographer who brought us an intimate view of president obama's white house, his visual commentaries on president trump, has made him an instagram star. hello and welcome to kqed "newsroom." i'm thuy vu. we begin tonight wh politics. around thetate some high-stakes congressional races are turning nasty. in san diego county republican representative duncan hunter's campaign has sought to portray muslim nent as a terrorist. meanwhile, in the central valley represent stiff devin nunes is attacking his hometown paper

calling the "fresno bee" a left-wing rag for it examination his business interests. plus the trump administration's latest foreign policy challenges, from immigration to how theisappearance of a journalist is putting pressure on america'selationship with the saudi government. joining us now to discuss all these issues are carla marinucci, senior writer with politico. john myers, sacramento bureau es ef for the "los ang times." he joins us via skype. and sean walsh, a republican strategist with wilson walsh consulting. welcome to you all. let's start with the saudi crisis. president trump now says he believes that the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi isde but is not holding yet the saudi crown prince responsible. yesterday we aso saw treasury secretary steve mnuchin after much pressure saying he willnow pull out of the investment conference coming up. sean, what kinds of challenges does thiscase president for the trump administration? >> they're huge. huge. they're our largest arms

purchaser. california is actuallynt depen on saudi oil coming here because we're a bit of a fuel lad. the economy and the stock market can be very spooked. so right now the economy's thriving. is is all coming right before he midterm election, to huge implications. >> this story's been going on for more than a week. intelligence sources say today that is inconceivable that the saudi prince did not know what was going on that consulate. at this point there are ripples incalifornia. when you have $6 billion in saudi investments in silicon valley and huge pension funds and universities that investments here, there's going to be pressure now for people to say do we want -- does this represent what california's about, to have investments with this government when the contention is that they dismembered a journalist for the "washington post" in a consulate? the outrage has just been i think worldwide. so where do they go from

here? because again, the saudive ign wealth fund owns stakes in companies like uber, tesla. billions of dollars of investment in silicon valley and the tech industry as awhole. >> i think they have to be -- hey, a, have to get all the facts straight. and he's not the king. he's the crown prince. there'rother folks t so how do you take appropriate measures against the people who perpetrated it? i'd go a little bit slower, get all your ducks in a row, don't shoot from the hip, and then when you do u theted states has to act for freedom. it has to act for journalistic integrity. and it has to act in its interests. but it has to act smart. >> let's move on to -- >> ooting from the hip. you i was just going to say shooting from the hip is what happens during an electionse on. we are right before an election of and this kind international crisis to carla's point has ramifications to campaigns everywhere else. epeople being consi on a message is hard to see at this time of year. >> also another issue that's been big, as we approach the midterms, is immigration, john. we're also hearing a lot th week about how irate president trump is over the caravan of

migrants traveling from honduras to our sthern border. also yesterday we letned t national security adviser john bolefn and white house chi of staff john kelly got into a huge argument, a loud argument over immigration. what does this say about how the trump administration is execing its immigration policies right now? hn. >> policywise i think that's a yough one to answer. certainly from perch here. i mean, i think that there have been so thny questions oughout all of these months about has the policy been consisnt, has it been communicated clearly, does the administration have a plan in advance for when families and children have been coming to california. but the politics of, this again, i get back to what i said a moment ago. election day is arocd the ner. this is a live wire, it would seem like to me, especially for republicans running for ontested house seats in california. every step the trump

administration makes you are going to be tied to i think by your democrallic cgers. >> i think, john, you're off insofar as i think this puts attention to the fact taiat we haveng policies at the border and we do not have border control. so iua aly think this motivates republicans to come to thean polls vote and conservative democrats. i think this undermines the democrats when they talk about family separation. when you have the family separatio policy change, you had 30,000 more people come to the border in one month. so this is a big politicala isse it's a big potential positive for republicans. >> but i think -- listen, president trump in the videos he's puting up, in the tweets he's putting up, pictures of these caravans haveh -- ik we've seen this movie before in california. they keepcoming. 187. we know how that played out for the republicans in california. and i'mwo ering, as much as it may energize some of presiden trump's base, will it also voters, latino democratic voters who see this sort of same theme?

president trump is trying to play this caravan as some kind of national security threat. it's not. >> and to your bpoint,ause they keep coming, i think that's why we see this frustration now. right? and these tweets and how irate he is over the n.cara and there's also much speculation about a new white house proposal to continue pursuing a family separation policy, basically offering parents now a choice. you can stay in family detention with your children as long as your immigraion case proceeds. it could take years. or you allow your children to bt en to a shelter, to -- so that other guardians can seek custody. carla, why is this issue coming up again now? an't wat settled by the court? >> i mean, this issue, it's just kind of acozing thasidering the kind of press that he got the first round on thiss family aration, we know how it plays with women voters, suburban women voters particularly o o are going very, very influential. the immigration policy of the trump administration right now

is just kind of amazing in termf he way it's grabbing headlines not only on family separation but on h-1b visas where the idea of letting spouses of h-1b holders now no longer. and that can really affect silicon valley also. on bh these issues i think the trump admin a risky game with regard to immigration policy. >> that's what i was going to say. i just thi it's live wire. i think sean made a really good point a moment ago,ul and it c certainly play well for republicans. it's just a live wire. no one really knows where it's going. you're talking about a president who works without a safety net. and i think a lot of people are going to have to watch every zig and zag out of washington. >> and speang of liv wire and midterm elections, john, let's talk about some of the congressional ra you brought them up earlier. some key congressional races are getting verynasty. especially the duncan hunter race. the republican duncan hunter was over the summer indicted for

campaign and as this race goes tight er e is stepping up his attacks on his democraticma challenger campa-najjar. tell us what he's been ioing. >> th one of those efforts where the candidate is trying to distinguish himse from his opponent and he's saying his en opps too liberal. that would be the most charitable version i think of what congressman huer has said. the less charitable version is he's suggesting his opponent has ties to extremst groups acr the country -- across the world i should say. certainly linking back his opponent's grandfather who was s in the pasthin in terms of the kidnapping of olympic athletes decades ago. ac's an ugly and what i find really interesting is that the duncan hunter race wasn'ton the radar of battleground races in california until the indictments came down.at and a solidly republican district down there in southern

california. and you wouldn't think someone couldose it but indicted congressman in these circumstances who knows? >> and then also he called him a radical muslim. christian.najjar is >> yeah. exactly. and he think all of that raises some really fascinating questions about where the line is on campaign strategy. and to your point, thuy, t accusations t is way over the line. but duncan hunter's probably in the race of his life right now. i mean, certainly the best case scenario is that he wins. the worst case scenario is that -- the best case scenario is he wins. and he's further prosecuted in the courts. the worst case scenario he loses and he' prosecuted in the courts. i think he's fighting for his political life in this raise. >> another contentious race, sean, devin nunes, the ai republican of the house intelligence committee. we saw him in the headlines a lot with the russia investigation. he's now at war with his own hometown ewspaper, the"fresno bee." he's attacking it for running harsh editorials. for running investitive

articles on his business interests. is he taking a page out of president trump's playbook? >> i just think that the entire election cycle here is aasut as ugle've seen in a couple of generations. so let's take a step back. the entire california pathway forward for nancy pelosi to take the speakership, again, a lot of it does run through california. the democrats were feeli very good about three, four weeks ago. everything has narrowed. you have from kavanaugh to w elizabetren to hillary clinton, kind floating a trial balloon she's going to run again. you name it. >> adrenaline to the gop? t the gop. and the democrats have now turned it on. they have 10-x funt-raising ades in these races. republicans were very depressed a few weeks ago. now they're in the fight forve their and the person who makes the mistake last is probably the person who's going to lose. mimi walters is in much better hape today. even dana rohrabacher is looking better. i will call it out. duncan hunter even though he's

indicted is probably going to win. there are other races in more trouble. but republicans are looking a lot better today than they did three weeks ago. >> fund-raising f advantagr the democrats has been amazing. but sean is right. some ats have made strategic mistakes in the way they brought up different issues. elizabeth warren being a good example. so at this point he's right, it's all about getting out the vote. and the democrats are energized there but so is the republicans , this point. >> a lot going lot to watch. i want to thank you all for being with us. sean walsh, also arlarinucci and john myers from sacramento. nice you have to you on >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and now a look at the senate race. this week california candidates for senator sat down for their only public face-to-face conversation in this campaign season.t incumbent se dianne feinstein and her challenger, state senator kevin de leon, discussed theirifferences at a forum hosted by the public policy institute li crnia in san francisco. feinstein has represented californiasince 1992. de leon says it's time for a new

way of thinking in washington. he served for 12 years in the state legislature and was president pro tem of the state henate. he sas top priorities in washington would be immigratione reform and sin payer health care. as part of our election coverage, kqed politics senior editor scott hafer sat down with kevin de leon earlier. >> senator de leon, welcome. >> thank you. >> you are running against a dianne incumbent in feinstein, and i'm wondering, are you saying essentially to voters that she has been ineffective as a senator? >> let me say, scott, that i think these are very dangerous, consequential timesour nation's history and we're engaged in a battle for america's soul against a president without -- i would say the status quo in washington is either unwilling or incapable of fighting back. so i thin strongly it's time we stop biding our time and biting ourwhonguee this president unravels california's progress.

>> when you say you're not afraid to fight back, like what do you mean by that? >> well, i think that on the issue of climate change, on the issue of i.c.e. agents who have been pursuing mothers and fathers, betraying american children, on the ieaue ofh care and medicare for all, these values are not being representeh in wgton you see today. and that's why i want to be a new voice. i think it's time for a new approach and a new change tay in california. >> so senator feinstein is known as a centrist, center-left senator, somebody who reaches across the aisle. where would you put yourself on the political spectrum? >> to me it's not so much about being more to the left or being more to the right but it's about actually moving forward with policies tt are common sense, policies that i've accomplished here in california. 100% cleanrg en sanctuary state. equal pay for women doing equal work. >> why not say those are just leral policies? i don't think they're liberal policies. to me these are policies that ve impthe human condition for all individuals. to me it doesn't matter if you

voted for trump,ernie sanders or hillary clinton. elevating the minimum wage to $15 while the inaction in washington is $7.25, that c improves theomic life of all families in california. >> so what makes you say -- because you're telling the voters, look, don't hire her again, hire me. why would you be better at being s. senator representing california than she is? >> because it's time to have someone who's going to fight for the values that we care deeply about on the issue of health care because itngly believe that it's not a universal right for the wealthy. i believe incare for all, not medicare for some. on the issue with regards to climechange, which is an existential threat to our humanity and to our planet, let's put th a country on track to 100% clean energy like i did here in >> senator feinstein has a lot of seniority and our other am senator,a harris, does not. if you were to win, we'd have two senators, you know,freshman senators. why would the state want to throw out all that seniority and all that experience? because that's how the senate works, right?

is seniority. >> but scott, let me say thisth seniority means nothing if you don't use that seniority. it's just that simple. what we witnessed with kamala harris as well as bcoryker and other senators during the hearings of brett kavanaugh before the judiciary committee, you saw them be assertive and make motions for adjournment. we didn't see that from the ranking member ofhe judiciary committee. so seniority means nothing. whether people agree or disagree with elizabeth warren, i will give her credit in that she elevates the psitions she cares deeply about to a national level. >> one of the things senator feinstein has beenrriticized s holding on to the letter that brett kavanaugh's christine blasey ford gave her, that she hang on to it too long. what ould you have done if you'd been in the senate if that letter had gone to you? >> clearly i would have made sure that her confidentiality, her privacy were protected. the unfortunate part about the judiciary committe is they have no process. no processes that exist to deal

with the confidentiality of a citizen who comes bheore judiciary committee to say hey, i was sexually assaulted by thii individual b fear for my life. i would have made sure we could protect her and her confidentiality, her thivacy, and i would engage my colleagues on the judiciary committee and say we have this before us and turn this letter over to the i. it was the leadership of the other members of the judiciary committee, other democrats, who insisted and implored senator feinstehe to turn document over to the fbi. >> so there are currently just 23 women in the u.s. senate. dianne feinstein is one of them. is it really a good time tore ove one of those senators from the senate and replace her with another man? >> i ctell you, this is that i've always been a strong supporter of women in politics. and being inositions of power to impact life for all calif,nians, for all america i've been inspired and motivated by someone like my mother and by womenme janitors and hare

workers and nurses who have overwhelmingly endorsed my candidacy. ultimately, this specific race is not about gender. this specific race is about values and the values that we want represented in washington. you see my campaign manager, alo of my s staff are all women in my campaign for the u.s. n e. ultimately it's not about gender. it's about having the right values representingalifornia in washington. >> you have championed immigrant rights, both legal and undocumented immigrants. you authored sb-54,which is now own as the sanctuary state law. and many people, republicans in particular, are criticizing pointing to that law and local sanctuary laws as well as a battering ram to beat up democrats that they're running against. does it coern you at all that that issue is being used against your fellow democrats? >> this is abssue that's personal to me, obviously coming from an immigrant family. t this is about authenticity and it's about the values you adhere to, not political short-term gain. this is another example of a

huge contrast between me and the senior senator. back in 2015 the senior senator floated seriously the id in the u.s. senate of outlawing the establishment ofy sanctu cities. had that bill passed back in n 2015 wnald trump started attacking and undermining our ws in california andhard-workin would not have been able to pass the state law. >> some call for the abolishment of i.c.e. do you agree with that? >> let me say this on th abolishment of i.c.e. because i think some folks are taking it very personal. i.c.e. lost its way. instead of focusing on terrorism, on drug traffickers, weapons traffickers, violent criminal felons,hey have focused on mothers in the mission district, in east n jose or i fruitvale in oakland selling tamales or fruit. instead of dealing with the real issue, which is normalizing the legal status of millions of

hard-working americans throughout the country, they have weaponized this police agency to terrorize young chldren and their mothers. >> if you're successful in november, if you're elected and you go back to washingtofi whats tht thing you want to get done? >> several things. i think health care for all. i i belie medicare for all, not for some. the existential threat of climate change. i want to put this nati on a track for 100% clean energy by introducing a national clean energy plan. a immigration reform. we need to lead the rest of the country because w the largest number of immigrants in the united states right here in california. we need to be that leading voice. those are the three main issues that i want to move forward, that igrow this economy, put people to work and bring prosperity to all californians and to all americans. >> state senator kevin thanks for being here. >> scott, thank you. one vefootnote, we han interview with senator dianne feinstein scheduled for next week, and we hope you'll tune in then. ming on nowto politics in pictures. as chief official white house photographer for president

obama, pete souza spent a lot of time with him and took a lot of ictures. roughly 2 millio them. souza became an instagram celebrity by documenting the white house. lately he's become even more famous for using his pictures to take digs at the current president, posting photos of obama on instagram with captions that challenge tweets, quotes, and news from president trump. souza has compiled those phos into a new book titled a"shade, tale of two presidents." ete souza joins me now in the studio. nice to have you here. >> thanks for having me on. >> first off, for those who may not know, it the title of your book "shade" plays off the hrase "throwing shade." can you explain what means? >> it's making snarky comments about an individual individuals that maybe are not so positive. >> was that your intention when you started posting nostalgic photos of president obama on instagram with your own captions? >> that was my intention. i just didn't know it was called

throwing shade. >> and y did you feel a need to do that, to put up these pho tos with captionsat define the contrast between the obama administration and the trump administration? >> i mean, i saw how difficult a job it is toe president and how serious president obama took it. heespected the office of the presidency so much. and we don't see that now. and that was thehy reason i mean, if mitt romney or john mccain or marco rubio hend been pres i wouldn't be doing this because they -- inow they would have respected the office of the presidency. but now we've got a guy lies every day, he bullies people. he's disrespecting the office. i felt i had a voice to speak out. and as arivate citizen now you feel like you can? >> i can. absolutely. and i want to show a picture here. one of the pictures from your book. it's fromyour instagram account. it's a picture of president obama talkingeith female a

and you added a new caption that says "respect for women." now, clearly this photo took on new y meaning for more recently given current hevents. often does that happen when with your photos in that your perception of them changes over itme? >> well, i thindoes. the interesting thing about my instagram feed is sometimes i post something in a reaction to something he's tweeted or a news story and post it on instagram and people don't know what ir erring to and they have to go google to find out what happened that day. in the book i make it very clear what i'm referring to because on one page you see a trump tweet and on the other page you see my response. >> when you first took that photo, though, what was your thought then? just another meeting? >> it was just another meeting. and president obama had a lot of women in top positions. in his lastrs three y the top three national security aides

re all women. which is extraordinary. >> and now of course in light of the "me too"ovement and current events and the current administration that's changed for you, what is it like to follow president obama around and attend all these trips wit him? >> well, it was very hard on your personal o,life. but it was a great privilege. it was a eat way to see the world. oftentimes president obama would atry to go and visit cultural site when he was in a country he hadn't been in before. thoses, were the best tr when we got to do something like that. >> and did you get to see anoer side of h that we don't? >> well, i mean, the great thing him iny job too is i saw all compartments of his life. i mean, i'm in the situation room with him. but then i'm often with him and the girls, him and the whole family. so i saw all the ascts of his life. and he's not any different than we perceive, than most people

perceive. he's probably funnier than people realize and he's more disciplined than peoplerealize. but he's not like really different behind the scenes. >> and as you were photographing him, did you try to be a fly on the wall? did you develop mo of a close relationship with him? a conversational relationship? >> yeah, i had a conversational relationship with him. but you know, my job was to be an observer, to be a recorder of visuals. andhehere were some days i might not say anything to him and then other days we might have a con frsation aboutily or the ball game, the latest ball game, that kind of thing. >> were there things you decided rhaps photograph or were told you can't photograph? >> no. i pretty much h access to everything. every single photograph that i made, 1.9 million, every single photograph is nown in the ional archives. >> i find that so

that's a lot of photos. nearly 2 million. how can you go ab finding the right picture when you want to post something? l system of a spec organizing your photos? >> no, it's pretty much just up her >> all 2million? >> no, not all 2 million. basically, i'm choosing photos fromon of the ones we had made public while he was in office. we made --iven hisevel of transparency, we made lots of pictures publ on flickar, instagram, cebook, whitehouse.gov. all those pictures are stored in my head. trump makes a when tweet i know exactly which photo i want to post. >> you were also anfi oal white house photographer for president reagan. what was it like working in the reagan white house? >> it was different. i mean, reagan was in his 70s, and i was in my 20s. i was not the chief photographer. so my lasel of access was not good. but i did get to know president

reagan a little bit. and he too respected the offic e presidency. you know, politics aside. he was a decent human being. so iort of feel i can make this case now and not beis call pa because i've worked for both a democrat and a republican. >> and you feel like they han le tesidency in the same way or in a similar manner despite their policy >> i mean, i think president reagan was more of a big picture guy. and you know, just because of his age he wasn't as active. but he respected the office. and as much as president obama did. >> i know this islike asking someone to name their favorite child, but do you have a favorite photo from your obama days? >> you know, there are smany. i mean, my main goal was to eveate the best photographic archive that's been done on a president. and i'll let other people choose which they think are the favorites or the most important.

>> well, you created quite an incredible archive. pete souza, it's been such a pleasure to talk to you. your new ok is titled "shade, a tale of two presidents." thank you foreing here. >> thanks for having me on. ? and that will do it for us. as alfys you can find more our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i' ythuy vu. thau for joining us. ♪ ♪

>> a showdown with the saudis, who just confirmed the death of a i'm robert costa. president trump faces challenges and choices.gh tonit on "washington week." we made clear to them that we take this matter with respect to mr. khashoggi very seriously. >> the trump administration calls for patience amid the fallout over the disappearance of dissident journalist jamal khashoggi. the alleged killing by s operatives continues to command the world's attention. plus -- >> this will ben election of kavanaugh, the caravan, l and order, and common sense. that's what it's gonna be. >> president trump rallies his base, attacking democrats. >> democrats produce mobs. republicans produce jobs.