tonight on kqed "newsroom," with less than th weeks to go to the november elections a look at key california congressional races and how silicon valley ise being t by the saudi crisis. plus we'll hear from state senator kevin de leon, the man trying to win dianne feinstein's seats in the senate.og and the photapher who brought us an intimide view of pent ama's whitehouse, 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 with politics. round the state some high-stakes congressional races are turning nasty. in san diego county republican representative duncan hunter'as campaign h sought to portray his opponent as a muslimro terst. meanwhile, in the central valley represent stiff devin nunes is attacking his hometown paper

calling the "fresno bee" a left-wing ragamor its exination his business interests. plus the trrap adminion's latest foreign policy challenges, from immigration to how the disappearance o a journalist is putting pressure on a wrica's relationshith the saudi government. joining us now to discuss all these issuesa area marinucci, senior writer with politis,. john myer sacramento bureau chief for the "los angeles times." he joins us via skype. and sean ubwalsh, a rcan strategist with wilson walsh consulting. welcome to you all. t's start with the saudi crisis. president trump now says he believes thi the sa journalist jamal khashoggi is dead but is n holding yet the saudi crown prince responsible. yesterday we also saw treasury secreta m steveuchin after much pressure saying he will now pull out of the investment nference cominup. sean, what kinds of challenges does t ps casesident for the trump administration? >>ge they're h huge. they're our largest arms

purchaser. california is actuallyon dependt audi oil coming here because we're a bit of a fuel island. the economy and the stock market can very spooked. so right now the economy's thriving. this is all coming right before the midterm ection, to huge implications. >> this story's been going on for more than week. intelligence sources say today that it's innceivable that the saudi prince did not know what was going on in that consulate. at this point there are ripples in. californ when you have $6 billion in saudi investments in silicon valley and huge pension funds and universities that also have investments here, there's going to be pressnoe for people to say do we want -- doe represent what california's about, to have investments with is 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 saudi sovereign wealth fund owns stakes in companies like er, tesla. billions of dollars of investment in silicon valley and the tech industry as a whole. >> i think they have to be -- they, a, have to get all their factsstraight. and he's not the king. he's the crown prince. there's other folks there. so how do you take appropriate measures against the people who perpetrated it? i'd go a little bit slower, get row, don'tucks in a shoot from the hip, and then when you do it the united states freedom.t for it has to act for journalistic integrity. and it has to act in ier insts. but it has to act smart. >> let's move on to -- >> shooting from the hip. you i was just going to say shooting from the hip is what happens during an election season. e are right before an election day, and this kindio of internl crisis to carla's point has ramifications to campaigns everywhere else. people being consistent on a message is hard to see at this time of yea >> also another issue that's been big, as we approach the midterms, is immigration, john. we're also hearing a lot this week about how irate preside trump is over the caravan of

migrants traveling from honduras to our southern border. also yesterday we learnedna tha onal security adviser john bolton and white house chief of staff john kelly got into a huge argument, a loud argument over immigration. at does this say about how the trump administration is executing itsio immigr policies right now? john. >> policywise i think that's a tough one to answer. certainy from my perch here. i mean, i think that there have been so many questions throughout all of these months about hashe policy been consistent, has it been communicated clearly, does the administration have a plan in advance forn w families and children have been coming to california. but the politics of, this again, i get batk to w i said a moment ago. election day is around the corner. is is a live wire, it would seem like to me, especially for republicans running forte cont house seats in california. every step the trump

administration makes yo are going tied to i think by your democratic challengers. >> i think, john, you'reoff insofar as i think this puts attention to the fact that we have failingies at the border and we do not have border control. so i actually think this motivates republicans to come to the polls and votend conservative democrats. i think this undermines the democrats when they talk about family separatn. when you have the family separation policy change, you had 30,000 more people come to the borr in one month. so this is a big political issue and it's a big potential positive for republans. >> b i think -- listen, president trump in the videos he's putting tup, i tweets he's putting up, pictures of these caravans have -- i we've seen this movie before in california. they keep coming. 187. we know how that played out for the republicans in california. and i'm wondering, as much as it may energize some of president trump's base, will it also energizeno lat voters, democratic voters who e 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 point, because they keep coming, i think that's why we see this frustration now. right? and these twets andow irate he is over the caravan. and there's also much speculation out a new white house proposal to continue pursuing a family separation policy, basically offering parents now a choice. you can stay in family detenti with your children as long as your immigration case preeds. it could take years. or you allow your children to be taken to a shelter, to -- so that other guardians can seek custody. carla, why is is issue coming up again now? and wasn't it settled by the court? >> i mn, this issue, it's just kind of amazing that considering the kind of press that he nhe first round on this family separation, we how it plays with women voters, suburban women voters particularly who argoing to be very, very influential. the immigration policy of the trump administration right now

is just kind of amazing in terms of the way it's grabbing headlines not only o family separation but on h-1b visas whe the idea of letting spouses of h-1b holders now no longer. d that can really affect silicon valley also. on both these issue i thi the trump administration is playamg a risky with regard to immigration policy. >> that's what i was going to say. i just think it's a live wire. i think sean made a reaiy good a moment ago, and it could certainly play well for republicans. it's just a e.ve wi no one really knows where it's going. you're talking about a presidenh who works t a safety net. and i think a lot of people are going to have to watch every zig and za out of washington. >> and speaking of live wire and midterm elections, john, let's talk about some of the congression you brought them up earlier. some key congressional races are getting very nasty. specially the duncan hunter race. the republican duncan hunter was over the summer indicted for

campaign fraud. and as this race goes tight e he is stepping up his attacks on his democratic chaenger amar campa-najjar. tell us what he's been doing. f>> this is one those efforts where the candidate is trying to distinguish himself from his opponent and he's saying his opponent's too liberal. that would be the most charitable version i of what congressman hunter has said. the less charitable version is he's suggesting his opponent has ties to extremist groups e acro untry -- across the world i should say. certainly linking back his opponent's grandfather who was involved in things in the past in terms of the kidnapping of olympic athletes decades ago. it's an ugly race. and what i find really teresting is that the duncan hunter race wasn't on the radar of battleground races in california until the indictments came down. and that's a solidly republican district down there in southern

california. and you wouldn't think someone could lose it but an indicted congressman in these circumstances who knows? >> and then also he called him a radical muslim. and campa-najjar is christian. >> yeah. exactly. and think all of that raises some really fascinating questions about wherehe line is on campaign strategy. and to your point, thuy, accusions that it is wayver the line. but duncan hunter's probably in theis race ofife right now. i mean, certainly the best case scenario is that he winshe orst case scenario is that -- the best case scenario is he wins. and he's further prosecuted in the courts. th worst case scenario he loses and he's prosecuted in the courts. i think he's fighting for his political life in this raise. >> another contentious race, sean, devin nunes, the repelican chair of the ho intelligence committee. we saw him in the headlines a lot with the russia investigation. he's now at war wi his own hometown newspaper, the "fresno bee." he's attacking it for harsh editorials. for running investigative

articles on his business interests. is he taking a page out of president trumybs pk? >> i just think that the entire election cycle here is about as ugly as we've seen icouple 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 ds run throu california. the democrats were feeling very, very good about three, four weeks ago.as everything narrowed. you have from kavanaugh to izabeth warren to hillary clinton, kind of floating a rial balloon she's going to run again. you name it. >> adrenaline to the gop? >> to thegop. and the democrats have now turned it on. they have 10-x fund-raising advantages in these races. republicans were very depress a few weeago. now they're in the fight for their lives. and the person who makes the mistake last is probably the person who's going to lose. mimi walters is in much better shape today. even dana rohrabacher is looking better. i will call it out. duncan hun r even though's indicted is probably going to

win. there are other races in more u te. but republicans are looking a lot better today than they did three weeks ago. >> fund-raising advantage for the democrats has been amazing. but seanis right democrats have made some strategic mistakes in the way eley brought up different issues. abeth warren being a good example. so at this point he's right, it's all about gettin out the vote. and the democrats are energized there but so is the republicans at this point. ing on, a lot to watch. i want to thank you all for being with us. marinucci, also carla and john myers from sacramento. nice you have to you on. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and now a look at t senate race. this week california's candidates for senator sat downy for their oublic face-to-face conversation in this campaign season. incumbt senatorianne feinstein and her challenger, state senator kevin de leon, discussed thtr differences forum hosted by the public california tute of in san francisco. feinstein has represented california since 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 senate. he says his top priorities in w washingtld be immigration reform and single payer health care. as part of our election coverage, kqed politics senior editor scott shafer sat down th kevin de leon earlier.na >> r de leon, welcome. >> thank you. >> you are runng against a 26-year incumbent in dianne feinstein, and i'm wondering, are you saying essentirsly to vothat she has been ineffective as a senator? >> letme say, scott, that i think these are very dangerous, consequentiatimes in our 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 think strongly it's time wd stopg our time and biting our tongue while 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 sue of i.c.e. agents who have been pursuing mothers and e fa, betraying american children, on the issue of health care and medicare for all, thest values are being represented in washington you see today. and that's why i waa to be new voice. i think it's time for a new approach and a new change today in california. >> so senator feinstein is known asis a cen center-left senator, somebody who reaches across the aisle. where would you put yourself on the potical spectrum? >> to me it's not so much about being more to the left or being more to the right butbo it's actually moving forward with policies that are common sense, policies that i've accomplhed here in california. 100% clean energy. sanctuary state. equal pay fowomen doing equal work. >> why not say those are just liberal policies? >> i don't think they're liberal policies. to me these are policies that improve thean condition for all individuals. to me it doesn't matter if you

voted for trump, bernieanders hillary clinton. elevating the minimum wage to $15 while the inaction in washington is 5,$7 that improves the economic life of all families in california.es >> so what m you say -- because you're telling the voterslook, don't hire her again, hireme. why would you be better at being u.s. senator representing california than she is? >> because it's time to have someone who's going to fight for the values tt we care deeply about on the issue of health care because i strongly believe that it's not a uversal right for the wealthy. i believe in medicare for all, me. medicare for on the issue with regards to climate change, which is an existentialhreat to o humanity and to our planet, let's put this country on a track to 100% clean energy like i did here in california. >> senatfeinstein has a lot of seniority and our other ,nator, kamala harr does not. if you were to win, we'd have two senators, you know, freshman senators. ty would the state want to throw out allat seniority and all that experience? because that's how the senate works, right?

,s seniority. >> but sco let me say this, that seniority means nothing you don't use that seniority. it's justha simple. what we witnessed with kamala harris as well as cory booker and other senators during the hearings of brett kavanaugh before the judiciary committee, you saw them be assertive and make motions for adjournment. d dn't see that from the ranking member of the judiciary so seniority means nothing. whether people agree or disagree with elizabethwarren, i will give her credit in that she elevates the positions she carpl dabout to a national level. >> one of the things senator feinstein has been criticized for is holdinon to the letter that brett kavanaugh's accuser christine blasey ford gave her, that she h g on to too long. what would you have done if you'd been in the senate if that ctter had gone to you? >>arly i would have made sure that her confidentiality, her privacy were protected. the unfortunate part about the judiciary chammittee is the no process. no processes that exist to deal

with the confidentiality of a citizen who comes before the judiciary committee to say hey, i was sexually assaulted by this individual but i fear for my life. i wuuld have made we could protect her d her confidentiality, her privacy, and then i would engage gu coll on the judiciary committee and say we have this before us and turn this letter over to the fbi. it was the leadership of the other members of the judiciary e commi other democrats, who insisted and implored senator feinstein toen turn the doc over to the fbi. >> so there are currently just 23 women in the u.s. senate. fanne feinstein is onethem. is it really a good time to remove one of those senators e from the senand replace her with another man? >> i can tell you, this is that strong ays been a supporter of women in politics. and being in positions of power to impact life for all californians, for all bericans, i'n inspired and motivated by someone like my mother and by women janitors an home care

workers and nurses who have overwhelmingly endorsed my candidacy. ultimately, this specific race is not aboutgender. this specific race is about values and the valuesthat we ant represented in washington. you see my campaign manager, all of m senior staff are all women un my campaign for the u.s. senate. imately it's not about gender. it's about having the right california senti in washington. >> you have championed immigrant rights, both legal and ordocumented immigrants. you au sb-54, which is now known 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 concern you at all that that issue is being used against your fellow democrats? >> thiss ab issuehat's personal to me, obviously coming from an immigrant family. but this is about authenticity andt's about the values you adhere to, not political short-term gain. thiss another example of a

huge contrast between me and the senior senator back in 2015 the senior senator floated seriously the idea in the u.s. senate of outlawing the sanctuary ent of cities. had that bill passed back in ru2015 when donald started attacking and undermining our ng immigrants i ia andhard-work would not have been able to pass the state law. f >> some ca the abolishment of i.c.e. do you agree with that? >> let me say this on the abolishment of i.c.e. because i think some folks areg takt very personal. i.c.e. lost its way. instead of focusing on terrorism, on drug traffickers, weaponstraffickers, violent criminal felons, they have focused on mothersn the mission district, in east san jose or in fruitvale in oakland selling tamales or fruit. instead of dealing with the real issue, which is normalizing the legal status of millions ofd-

harking americans throughout the country, they have weaponizedis t police agency to terrorize young children and their mothers. >> if you're successful in november, if you're elected and you go back to washington what's the first thing you want to get done? >> severas. thi i think health care for all. i believe in medicare for all, not for some. the existential threat of climate change. i want to put this nation on a track for 100% clean energy by introducing a national clean energy plan. andmmigration reform. we need to lead the rest of the country be largest number of immigrants in the united states right here in california. we need to be that leading voice. those are the three main ithues i want to move forward, that i can grow this economy, ut people to work and bring prosperity to all californians and to all americans. >> state senator kevin de le. thanks f being here. >> scott, thank you. one footnot we have an interview with senator dianne feinstein scheduled for next week, and we hope you'll tu then. moving on now to politics in pictures. as chief official white house photographer for president

obama, pete souza spenot a l of time with him and took a lot of pictures. roughly 2 million of 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,qu es, and news from president trump. souza has compiled those photos into a new book titled "shade, a tale of twon presi." pete souza joins me now in the studio. nice to have you here. >> thanks for having on. >> first off, for those who may not know, it the title of your book "shade" pys off the phrase "throwing shade." can you ex >> it's making snarky comments about an individual or individua 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. just didn't know it was called

throwing ade. >> and why did you feel a need to do that, to put up these photos with caption that define the contrast between the obama administration and the trump administration? >> i mean, i saw how difficu a job it is to be president and how serious presidentok obama t it. he respected the office oy the preside much. and we don't see that now. and that was the reason why. mean, if mitt romney or john mccain or marco rubio had been president, i wo be doing this because they -- i would have respected the office of the presidency. but now we've got a guy that lies every day, he bullies people. he's disrespecting the office. i felt had a voice to speak out. >> and as a private citizen now you feel like you can? >> i can. absolutely. >> and i wan to show a picture here. one of the pictures from your book. it's from your instagram account. it's a picture of president obama talking with female aides.

and you added a new ction that says "respect for women." rlnow, cl this photo took on new meaning for you more recently given current events. how often does that happen when th your photos in that your perception of them changes over time? >> well, think it does. the interesting thing about my instagram feed is sometimes 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 i'm referring to and they have to go google to find 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 tweetn andhe other page you see my response. >> when you first took th photo, though, what was your thought then? just another meeti? >>it was just another meeting. and presidentbama had a lot of women in top positions. in his last three years the top three national security aides

were all women. which is extraordinary. >> and now of course in light of the "me too" movement and current events and theurrent administration that's changed for you, what is it like to flow president obama around and attend all these trips with? >> well, it was very hard on your personal life. but no, it was a great privilege. it was a great way to see the world. oftentimes president obama would try to go and visit a cultural site when he was in a countryhae 't been in before. those were the best trips, when we got to do something like that. and did you get to see another side of him that we on't? >>well, i mean, the great thing about my job too is i saw him om allrtments of his life. i mean, i'm in the situation room with him. but then i'm often withn him the girls, him and the whole family. so i saw all the aspects of his life. and he's not any different than we perceive, than most people

perceive. he's probably funnier than people realize an he's more disciplined than people realize. but he's not like really different behind the scenes. >> ando aswere photographing him, did you try to be a fly on the wall? did you develop more 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. and there were some days where i might not say anything to him and then other days we might have a conversation about family or the ball game, the latest ball game, that kind ofthing. >> were there thingsyou decided not to photograph or perhaps were told you can't photograph? >> no. i pretty much had access to everything. every single photograph th i made, 1.9 million, every single photograph is now in the national archives. >> i find that so amazing.

that's a lot of photos.n rly 2 million. how can you go about finding the right picture when you want to st something? do you have a special system of organizing your photos? >> no, it's pretty much just up here. >> a? 2 milli >> no, not all 2 million. basically, i'm choosing photos fromf onee ones we had made public while he was in office. we made -- given his level of transparency, we madelo of pictures public on flickar, instagram, facebook, wh tehouse.gov. all those pictures are stored in my head. so oftentimes when trump makes i twe know exactly which photo i want to post. >> you were also an official white house photographer for president reagan. what was it like working in the reagan white house? was different. i mean, reagan was in his 70s, and i was in my 20s. i was notefhe c photographer. so my level of access was not as good. itt i did get to know president

reagan a little and he too respected the office of the presidency. you know, politics aside. he was a decent human being. so i sort ofel i can make this case now and not be called partisan because i've worked for both a democra and a republican. >> and you feel like they handle the presidency in ame way or in a similar manner despite their policy differees? >> i mean, i think president reagan was more of a big picte y. and you know, just because of his age he wasn't as active. but he respectedce the of and as much as president obama did. ng i know this is like as someone to name their favorite child, but do you have a favorite photo from your obama days? >> you know, there are so many. i an, my main goal was to create the best photographic archive that's ever been done on apresident. and i'll let other people choose which they think are the favorites or the most important.

>> well, you created quit an incredible archive. pete souza, it's been such a pleasure to talk to you. your new book istitled "shade, a tale of two presidents." thank you for being hthe. >ks for having me on. ? and that will do it for us. as always you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪

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