captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, populist upheaval in europe. the brexit vote faces an uncertain future as violent protests continue to roil france. then another staff shakeup at the white hous the search is underway for a new chief of staff following the resignation of john kelly. and we take a look at how factory shutdowns will affect thousands of general motor employees. >> we found out after the fact and that's not fair. you have to explain to us what's going on as much as you can and that's all that anyone can ever ask for is respect. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

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>> financial services firm raymond james. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.on and byibutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woo britain and france find themselves under severe litical pressure tonight

french president emmanuel macron promised lower taxes and a inhigher minimum wage toda bid to quell violence in paris. and, british prime minister theresa may postponed a vote on a "bret" deal to leave the european union. d faced near-certain defeat. we'll have a detaiok after the news summary. in the day's other news: wall street fell sharply in the morning, but fought back in the afternoon. doubts about the brexit deal, plus u.s. trade tensions with china, fueled the initial losses. the dow jones industrial average dropped 500 points before finishing ahead 34 points to close at 24,423. the nasdaq rose 51 points. and the s&p 500 added four. a major winter storm moved out of the deep south today after dumpg heavy snow and killing at least three people. some of the worst hit north carolina, dropping a foot of snow and causing widespread power outages. streets and highways in the

state were empty over the weekend. governor roy cooper warned today of flooding still to come. am this storm dropped staggering nts of snow, ice and rain across our state.a ar's worth of snowfall, or more fell in some places in little more than a d >> woodruff: theverall storm system stretched from texas to richmond, virginia. a u.n. clite conference in poland has entered its second and final week-- with pressure growing for acon. about a hundred protd ters disruptea u.s.-sponsored panel on fossil fuel today. they demanded that the trump administration do more to combat obal warming. on saturday, the u.s. along with russia, saudi arabia and kuwait d endorsement of a major scientific report on climate chge. some 164 countries signed a non- binding migration pact today aimed at ensuring safe movement

for migrants around the world. the deal caps two years ofbe detions among members of the united nations. in marrakech, morocco, the u.n.'s secretary general warned against demonizing migrants. >> all human beings must have their human rights respected and their dignity upheld. to deny this and to vilify any group of people is the road to dehumanization and horror. rr must not succumb to fear or false ives. >> woodruff: the united nations led a group of other western countries that rejected the agreemen back in this country, president trump today defended m huey payments to women who say they had affairs with him. a his formorney michael cohen claims mr. trump directed 16e payments ahead of the eltion. that could violate campaign finance law. on twitter, the president called "a simple private

transaction," not a campaign contribution. we'll look at all of this, later ind he program. russian woman accused of being a covert agent is now expected to plead ilty. maria butina will appear in federal court on wednesday. she previously pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and acting as an unregistered russian agent. butina alleged tried tohe natioe association and influence u.s. policy towards russi still to come on the "newshour," europe in crisis-- brexit faces an uncertain future as protests envelop france; the search begins for a new white house chief of staff; how the latest revelations from the mueller investigation are affecting the white house and much more. >> woodruff: these are nervous

days on both sides of the english channel.po as we ed earlier, british prime minister theresa may was w'forced to postpone tomor parliament vote on a deal to cement "brexit", the u.k.'som leaving he european union. and in paris, prescrent emmanuel promised to increase wages and implement reforms to try and placate devenstrators wheen protesting throughout france over the past few weeks. here's foreign affairs correspondent nickchifrin. >> reporter: paris is buing. and britain is consumed by brexit. >> the government has lost control of events and is in complete disarray. >> reporter: european leaders trying to respond to the forces of populism are now being consumed by them. they face serious threats to their power, and their countries face fundamental transformations. >> ( translated ): our enemy is not just macron.

this dates back 15, 20, 30 years, and it's been a long time since the anger has been growing. today it explodes. and i think it's not yet over. >> reporter: for the fourth straight week, on saturday demonstrators faced off with french police. in downtown paris they cated homemade barricades and had running clashes with armored vehicles and tear gas. ey called themselves the "yellow vest" protestors for the florescence every driver has to carry. at first they objected a, as tax-hikebut now this is france's biggest political --crisis in a half century ftrt of primal scream by citizens who feel ehind. in a prime-time address, macron tapromised to cut retireess, raise the minimum wage, and push tax-free, year-end bonuses. he tried to sound contrite. >> ( translated ): my only worry is you. my only fight, is for you.

our only battle, it's for france. >> reporter: when macron was elected in 2017, he was a barricade to growing anti- european populism, and faced off against president trump. >> we all she the same responsibility: make our planet great again. >> reporter: but macron was also an outsider with no built-in constituency. and now left and right grassroots anger are demanding fundamental changes that challenge macron's center-right policies. he declined to reinstate higher taxes on the rich, andse protestors proo keep fighting. >> ( translated ): instead of speaking on tv, he should just come and see us here. he should listen to us, that's exactly what we want, to be heard.te >> repor that sense of being ignored helped spark brexit. that vote blew up traditional british party politics.od that means t there's no majority support for a hard brexit, another referendum, ormi theresa may'le-ground. the controversy is over therd

between northern ireland, part of the u.k., and the republic of ireland, a separate country that's part of the e.u. today, cars can pass easily ncause there is effective border, and the brexit deal would keep northern ireland inside the e.u. orbit. may and the e.u. say it's the best deal possible. >> all the analysis shows that if you wish to deliver brexit, if you wish to honorhe result of the referendum, then the deal that does that, thatest protects jobs and our economy, is the deal that is on-- the government has put forward. >> reporter: but labour leader jeremy corbyn has helped guarantee the deal the government has put forward, would fail. >> people are in despair at the state of these failed negotiations, and concerned about what it means about their jobs, their livelihoods,nd their communities, and the fault for that lies solely at the feet of this shambolic government. >> reporter: today, theresa may promised to renegotiate the issue over the northern ireland/ireland border, and she

will travel to brussels on thursday, but top europe union officials say there will be no renegotiations. th talk about both sides o channel i'm joined from london by anand menon, professor of european politics and european affairs at king's college, andre n the studio celia belin is a visiting fellow at brookings and a former advisor the french foreign ministry. anand menon, can you started with you, theresacmay faed an automatic defeat today in parliament. did she have any other cho but to pull the vote? >> no, i don't think she di and it wasn't just the question of facing defeat. i thk the real issue acing the prime minister because in these weird times in britain, everyone knew she was ing to lose. i think what eventually made number ten scared was the scale of defeat they thought theywo d suffer well over a hundred t was that that made them delay te. because a defeat of that scale, the future of the prime minister is in dbt.

>> there is no majority support s r theresa may's version of brexit, there i majority support in parliament for having a serecondferendum nor of a kind of harder brexit, are weg look the more likely scenario of a crash out of the eu, and does she have any options? >> well, it is worth saying that there is absolutely no major support for a no deal brexit either, but this the nub of thep problem rliament and the country are profoundly divided. there isn't a majority for any outcome. i think what the prime minister hopes is if she waits until january, let's tempers cool, let mp's face the prospect that if they don't vote for is deal one will be a no deal, which might be profounding damaging,ht it m focus attention an help her win some of the votes she needs. >> if i could switch to france for a minute, president acron offered an increase in minimum wage today, tax cuts to thele miclass. he acknowledged the anger, is

that enough to assauge protesters that have no particular. >> there was a lot of exctation on this, emmanuel macron didt speak for the past three weeks. expecting people, mr. him it to make a dramatic or surprising decisions and to say the least, it nis totalt enough. they were not very impressive. part of the reason is that they are trying to enter an ang thary has been brewing for decades oss thee anger shared acr west, the anger dealing with underemployment, both here in europe and in ththe u.s., e anger about wage, you know, theo notion of age, the transformation of this economy from aindustry of economy to an information age. all of that has really hit very strongly lower middle class, working class and these are then people prote the arguments are very, varied.

d so it was very hard to actually provide an answer.>> ave those protestors, the middle class, the working class, have they fe he's been out of touch, that he has been tone def, that he hasn't l understood what they are talking about? >> it is what they have ben saying about him for the the past year and a half since he has been in power, is that he is out of touch the attitude is perceived as being arrogant, for a few littlesentences here and there, that seem to be showing a sort of distrust of lower middle class. so there is a class element behind it. but more generally, people have been saying that ths government has been blind to what was going on on the ground.ly mobecause it came out of a new party with very little local support, somimes a lack, a deep lack of-- may and a lack of understanding what is going on. and in many ways it has been

deaf to the demands of the st three, four weeks. and so one of the demands was also a demand on social juses tis-- justice, maybe reinstate the wealth tax which is mething that macron has been unwilling to do is he not questioning his own economic policy at this stage. >> professor anand menon, if i uld zoom out for you a little bit and talk blt future of europe. your mean officials have talked to me aut how they need to punish britain, basically, and make itdifficult for brexit to go through.si is the from some officials in the continent to hold the eu together and make sure no one else ies to leave the eu, is that preventing them fromsaiving theay some of the concessions that she may need? >> i think to aextent it certainly ask is, there is a gethral understanding nk monk the remaining eu member states that nonmembership has to look significantly worse than membership, because otherwise the dangers that others wouldt

lookitain doing well outside the club and say hello, why don't we try that. i'm not sure-- if is a particular strategy because i'm otherre there is any member state ready to take 9 position britd an has taken but that is thinking in brussels. >> and if we are talking about the people who are trying to hold the euogether, whether punishing britain or not, president macron was part of that group. and do his problems men a setback for him more globally and a setback for the people trying to resist somef these populist movements in both europe and united states? >> unfortunately, i think this ght have impact outsiof france as you point out, on the european parliamentad election that are coming up next year. macron had very much taken the lead of the progressive camp versus the nationalist camp that was lead by mato salvini, and in hungary. and is crisis weakens his

voice very much. but he might also have-- he might decide also to putforward his proposals regarding the europe that protects, a europe that is more protectionist in the world, it is something thath s touched upon previously in his davos speech a year ago, for example, saying that, you they, to perpetrate the system people need to take care the losers of globalization, of the people that have been forgotten. and the iny that in spite of the fact that he had correctly diagnosed the situation, did he not necessarily put in place those necessary reforms. he might be obliged to, he might come to the x election with a new platform, this remains to be seen. >> . >> thank you very much, to you both. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: we turn now to the white house and swirling speculation about who will replace general john kelly as chief of staff to president trump at the end of the year. yamiche alcindor joins me now with the latest. yamiche, hello, and remind us, why is john kelly leaving, he's president trump's second chief of staff. >> the revolving door at the white house kust ps spinning, judy. the idea thaket johnly was brought in to have order and brought in to have this kind of hierarchy, this sense of responsibility that generals have, president trumpanted to have generals around him. and what president trump found was that he didn't like the fact that there was order being placed there. he likthe free wheelingness of the white house. he likes the idea that the white house wants to function much ke trump tower. he wants ivanka and jared to be able to walk into his office, that of durse is his ghter and son in law. so what we really have is a president that just grew tired-of-general kelly's rules

and as a result made this announcement on saturday. rmpts-- reports are they were supposed to make this announcement on monday but the president went with his own iming as he often does. >> woodruff: theve bns several names floated and a couple appear to have publicly turned it down. so who is he talking to or think being at this point?e >> well,e really back at the-- the president has a big job and lots of names. the first nme was nik ayers, the vice president's chief of staff. is he someone that was a leading candidate for the jo. but bohim and nick could not get together and come up with an agreon how long he would keep the job. reports are that president trump want him to serve in this position for two years and nick auld not do that. result, nick ayers this weekend announced he was going to be going to a superpac dedicated to elect president trump, because nick is now out ofrehe running, you have a for all. i will list a whole bunch of names for you but let's start, the first one is david bos bossy, is he someone that is a former trump 2016 deputy campaign manager, he is a

loyalist to president trump. he might gel well with the president. the next up is randy will levine, president of the new york yankees yes, president of the .w york yanke he told fox news i have spoken to nobodabout the chiof staff job. have i great respect for president trump but am happy being president of theankees. right lighthiser, u.s. trade re tesentative. ld cbs news nobody one talked to him about it and is focused on trying to dot job hea and it is difficult enough. the other persons representative mark meadows a north carolina republican who is the chairman of the conservative house freedom caucus. he said quote serving as cheefer of staff would be an incredible honor. he is one of the few people on thlist who sound like tey want the job. you have steve mnuchin the fresh ree secretary and former goldman sax ecutive and mic mulvaney of management and budget. both of these men hav signaled to people close to them that they don't want the job. then mat whtaker who is acting attorney general, on friday

whitaker met with jared kushner who is the presideon in law who is an white house advisor, some see that as a conflict of interest becauser matt whitas likely overseaing the russian investigation and jared kushner kushner is seone that could be part of that investigation. >> you had to have a long list to keep track of the people whose names are being mentioned. >> it is not as if this is a white house going fie two year period with no challenges. there is a lot goion right now. >> the next chief of staff will have a number of challenges both messaging wise and legally so we have to think first on the legal side. house democrats now have control of the house, ey have spp power. they will be looking at the the prident's finances, opinionly looking at his hiring of ivanka trump and his sonl jared kushner. then you will have basically a chief of staff trying to keee ain going with all this legal issue. then you have robert mueller who could releasing report detailing kind of what his findings are of the russia investigation, that thll be anotheg where pem around the white house will be focused

on this. but this chief of staff will be focused on trying to get people to govern, trying to get the white house to just reall function as a good body for this country.fa add to that th that there is going to be a 2020 campaign to look out for and thees ent will be running for re-election. so this chief of staff will have the job of trying to get s staffers ow not coordinate precisely with the campaign but really have some sort of synergy there. so it wi be a big role and there will be a challenge there that this chief of staff will have that other chf of staffs didn't have. >> woodruff: as you said, the president himself likes kes to a decisions on his own. >> yeah. so it could be today or next week. >> woodruff: ear to the ground, every minute, not going let you slee ymiche, thanku. yonk >> t ne woodruff: stay with us. coming up on thehour," how major gm factory shutdowns affects thousands of workers; etthe troubling connectionen domestic violence and murders of

women; and our politics monday team breaks down the latest political news. but first, the legal jeopardy for president trump deepened last week with the many filingsm ederal prosecutors and from special counsel robert mueller's office. of particular concern arthe payments made to two women during the 2016 campaign to stop them from coming forward with allegations they had sexual relations with mr. trump. william brangh explains how prosecutors have now implicated the president in a possible felony crime. >> reporter: on friday, prosecutors added more detail to their case against michael cohen-- who was president trump's longtime lawyer and fixer. d thailed what they say was cohen's violation of federal election law. prosecutors accused cohen of intentionally trying to subvert the 2016 presidential election, writing, "cohen sought to the election from the shadows. he did so by orchestrating

secret and illegal payments to silence two women who otherwisem would hae public their alleged extramarital affairs with individual-1"ua "indiv1," of course, is president trump, whom prosecutors allege dd cohen and knew all about these payments. joining me now is rick hasen, he teaches at u.c. irvine law pahool, he's a scholar of election law and cn finance, and writes the election law og. thanks for being here again on the newshour. could you just start off by helping us understand, what is the crime that is being alleged here? how do two possible hush money payments constitute a possible campaign law olation? >> sure, so an individual is allowed to give up to 2700 dollars to ada can running for federal office like president, and you can either give tt money by writing check to the campaign or you might do it by giving something ods or services that are worth

that much. you can't give more than that. and if you are a cor,porati you can't give anything directly to a capaign. and so the allegations here are that cohen took out a loan ainst his house forer $130,000, used that to fund one payment, got "the national enquirer" which is a korpg to aund the other payment wit promise of repayment, and so you have both an individual makingx anessive in kind contribution to the president, a corporation making an illegal contribution, a personal loan that is not reported, and contributions and expenditures that are not reported. so all of these can potentially be criminal campaign finance violations if they are done willfully by the people who are involved. now the president has hd multiple different defenses for this, originally months ago he thid he didn't know about payments. he didn't know why michael cohen had made them, he didn't know where the money has come from. he has since changed that story some what. todae hiterated a defense he made many times which this was a

simple personal trans action is how he put it. what is he defending there? what do you make o that he is putting forward? >> i make two argues today thasa one of them, so one argument is that this was personal. it was not campaign related. d where the test is, is this a payment that would have been eade irrespective of th campaign, would he have been paying off these women anyway? and there is good circumstances evidence that he would not have been. and so one thing we know, with the stormie daniels paim is that stormy daniels was looking for payment for a long time and that payment didn't come until october 25th, 2016 just before the election when the lawyer says that daniels is about to go to a media outlte an her story. so it doesn't look like it's really personal, it looks like it's campaign related. and the other argument was about this is no different than what president obama has done. and there he was comparing kind of technical minor erors in paperwork that are quickly corrected with whasclooks like a me of over a year of trying to cover up and hide and

structure paymen to avoid disclosing that these payments were made in connection to the campaign. >> just touching on the prir point that you made-- prior point that you made, if then candidate trump had made these payments in order to shield as some have aued hisife from these embarrassing revelations, that would be considered legal, correct? or is that only if they are therto shield votersrom hearing about these allegations, that is when it becomes illegalw l, i think if it is totally personal strk an easy case to a it is not campaign related. if is completely campaign related, then of course it has to be filed. this might be one of these mixea motivees. so there are different tests out there to figure it out. we saw this with the john edwards case, you may remember, a senator running for president having his mistress getting paid by donors and there they couldn't prove that it wase intent was campaign related but here there might be documentary evidence, you certaive the potential evidence of cohen that could prove that this was, in fact, intended to help the

campaign rather than just to help trump perso >> and the filing on friy prosecutors seemed to acknowledge this point. i would like to read you something from a filing. they described how cohen worked th the trumppaign officials saying with respect to both payments, cohen acted witho the intent influence the 2016 presidential election. cohen ordinated histions with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls about the fact, nature and timing of thosn'payments. dothat, it seems to me, build the case that this was a campai election related? >> it absolutely does. the thing is though that in order for to prove a criminal violation you have sto prove that each person iolved in the conspiracy willfully violated. law. so that goes very much to trump's state of mind. so if we ever got to a point where the would be a trial or some kind of investigation into the question would be what do we know about what president trump was thinking. weprave etty good idea of what michael cohen was thinking. it is pretty good circumstance station evidence of what trump

was thinking. but just the fact that cohen has agreed to plead guilty to this alone doesn't mean that trump il necessguilty of this crime. >> you wrote in a colume today in "slate" that if the president was just an ordinary citizen, he would be in a lot more trouble than he is because he sits in the oval office, why is that? >> wel you know, there are both legal and political issues here. one is there is the question of whether a sitting president can be indated-- indicted. i understand long-standing department of justice policies is that a sitting president cannot be indicted so that is the question of where he could be in die and politically we know that it would be politically explosive to come after the president for committing a felony whether it is campaign finance or something else. it would b explosive for democrats to raise the possibility of optimismd peachment ba this. this would really be a ratcheting up of the politicalth warfar we have seefnltd tand is not clear even if there is a strong legal case, that ghere what be a strong enou

political role either in the department of justice which is ultimately under the control of the attorney generalho answer to the president, or to the democrats in congress, who might be worried about what the political ramatifns would be going forward with an impeachment based on these kiensd of charges. >> all right, rick hasen, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> woodruff: workers at general intors are facing an uncer future this holiday season. the company announced it'sng stoproduction at five factories. the move would cost some 14,000 jobs in north america. yamiche alcindor reports from detroit and lordstown, ohio-- two communities that depend on general motors. >> we just don't know for sure what's going to happen after june. >> reporter: peggy jones has worked at general motors for more than 20 years. the good pay and benefits support her and the five grandchildren she's raising.

>> it's kind of hard to think's about whoing on, and all. >> reporter: but in late november, gm announced plans to begin shuttering five plants in north america. they include peggy's plant, in hamtramck, michigan, which borders detroit. a gm executive came to make th nouncement. >> she told us, she said, "the a can't selling and we're going to be an unallocated plant.ca so, unald is supposed to mean we don't have any product in our plant. so, it didn't register at first. >> reporter: unless ngs in a new car, for hamtramck's 1,300 hourly employees, no product means no work. >> no oncame out and said, "no, it's not closing." ( crying ) i'm sorry. i've been trying to stay strong for everybody at the pla ds, because thend on me, but i'm a human being too. >> i was angry, and thas disappointed, and then i was

okay, what are you going to do? what's the next move?>> eporter: d'nitra landon works on the hamtramck assembly line. >> it brought back to when i was homeless before. yeah, it brought some shadows and some memories back. i'm in survival mode again. >> reporter: she and her family spent a year squatting in this house, until she got a job at general motors. that was almost four years ago. tr income helped her to b home next door. >> i've never made this much money hourly before in my life, never had these great health benefits before in my life. >> reporter: she thinks gm should have communicated better th its employees. >> we found out after the fact n and that's fair. that's just not fair.ts we're not rohat you can push a button and say, "okay, do this. now do that." you have to explain to us what's

n going on as much as you d that's all that anyone can ever ask for is respect >> reporter: gm is also idling a second plantn michigan, plus ones in ohio, maryland, and canada. the company is cutting pruction of sedans, which haven't been selling as well as crossovers and trucks. gm says it is slashing costs to invest in future technology, like electric and self-driving cars. in a statement to newshour, general motors said, "we are doing this while the company and economy are strong and address current market conditions." factory jobs aren't the only ones on the chopping block. the company also plans to cut 15% of its salaried workforce- that's 8,000 white collar jobs. last week general motors c.e.o. mary barra traveled to capitol hill to meet with lawmakers from states that will suffer because of the company's cuts. >> it's incredibly difficult to make these decisions.

>> the american consumer and taxpayer is not bailing out general motors again. everybody knows that. >> reporter: patrick anderson is the president of an auto industry consulting firm in east lansing, michigan. >> every auto executive in detroit remembers the '90s, the 2000s, the '80s when car companies like general motors built products even if they couldn't sell them, just to keep the plants running. that led, along with a bunch of other mistakes, to general motors' bankruptcy and >> reporter: for decades, gm has been the enginthat's powered lordstown, ohio, population 3,200. last month's news struck the town like a bombshell: it will no longer be he to the chevy cruze in 2019. the gm plant used toork around the clock manufacturing the cruze. but signs of trouble began almost two years ago when the company started cutting hours and laying off workers. >> i'll watch bella. >> rorter: tommy wolikow and his fiancée, rochelle carlisle, met while working at the factory. they both lo their jobs on the same day in that first round of

layoffs. >> when we walked out it was a surreal feeling, it was quiet as a church mouse. now still no one knows what's going to happen. it's like we've just been left to... left out to dry. >> i feel like its kind of corporate greed because gm's profiting more than they ever did in their history. >> reporter: rochelle has been supporting them and eir daughters by working as a waitress. l t friday, tommy finally got a new job as a diechnician. here in 2016, president trump turned trumbull county-- whiches inclordstown-- from blue to red. he vowed to keep and evens increase j auto manufacturing towns like this one. but now, some in lordstown say those words ring hollow. >> let me tell you folks in ohio and in this area, don't sell your house. don't sell your house. do not sell it. we're going to get those values up.'r going to get those jobs coming back, and we're going to

fill up those factories. or build new ones. >> he said to the crowd, he said, "don't sell your homes." well, i bought a house two miles away from where i worked. he said, "jobs are going to be pouring back in." i lost my job. it just kind of sounded like he was speaking to me, and i took him for his r:rd. >> report his new job, he's making $10 an hour less. he still hopes to work again at gm. >> the plant isn't just the heartbeat of lordstown. it supports the entire surrounding mahoning valley. >> we're tough, we're gonna persevere. >> reporter: lordstown's mayor, arno hill, says small businesses around the factory are suffering, too-- like ross's pub, the after-work watering hole just down the street from the plant. >> we're very small and a lot of othebusinesses and other communities are hurting just like us, if not worse. for every gm job, it's said that seven jobs outside can be rectly affected. >> reporter: but, he insists there's still hope that general motors will remain in the area.

>> they're n permanently shuttering it. so there's still hope that we may get another plant and hopefully life goes on. >> reporter: meanwhile, inlo detroit, ees like peggy jones are facing tough choices. they can apply for trafers based on seniority or wait for a new product that might never come. >> i can't sit around and wait for them to tell me that the plant's going to close. i can't si the last minute and then don't have any opportunities and just get laid off. i can't do that. >> reporter: d'nitra landon says the holidays won't be the same, with the threat of unempyment looming. but she's still trimming her tree, and hoping for the best. >> i w again, never.omeless not ever. and my children won't ever. you're taking a big chunk of what has kept me alive and brought me back to where i am. and now you're taking a big chunk of it away from me again. so now i gotta scratch, i gotta crawl again. >> reporter: for the "pbs newshour," i'm yamiche alcindor in detroit.

>> woodruff: police have long established the connection between domestic violence and murder. but, as john yang tells us, a new analysis by the "washington post" finds domestic violence plays an even larger role in the deaths of far too many women. the numbers are staggering: nearly half-- 46%-- of more than 4,400 women killed in the past decade died at the hands of an intimate partner. >> reporter: judy, "post" reporters analed data from 47 major u.s. cities. in a closer examination of homicides in five of those ciates, the reporters found more than a third of the men implicat in a domestic killing were known to be potential threats. they had a preous restraining order against them or had been convicted of domestic abusor a violent crime-- including murder. and police told the "post"hat

attempted strangulation is a strong indicator that an abusivi reship could turn deadly. katie zezima was the lead reporter of the "post" team whoo traveledd the country on this story and she joins us now. thanks for having me. >> were you surprised the atl al by the volume, just the sheer numbers thatou found in your reporting we were. i mean, it is a huge amount of womelewho are kilby their intimate partners. it is really reaching crisis level stsm nearly half, and you kn, as people have tod us, it is probably much larger than what we have already fou w. so whfound was 46 percent, that is just a huge number of women killed by their intimate partner quns and you told somer really hwing stories in this article. is there one case in particularu that standto you that typifies the issues you found? >> in the case of aan en fort worth, her name is mineras

sneros, she arrived at the hospital one day, she was eight mohs pregnant, she had strangulation marks on her lip, a busted lipand the authorities say that her common law husband abused her and sent her to the hospal. the case kind of languished for a little while and once it was picked back up, the police arrested the common law husband, minu everybodya had already given bitter to her third child by this point and she decided e did not want to pursue charges against the husbandthe case had been opened up which alleged that she. >> child protective srvices case opened up. >> db she decided not to pressch ges and a tbrand jury did not indict him, that is a few months later, onhristmas morning, their house is decorated for christmas t smelled like the bs kitt she had made the night before, and the mexican stew she had mae

the night before. their 911 call was put in, the common law husband saiwd you kno a gun went off, i done know what happened. the police got there, minerva was shot once in the chest dead, the baby was alive lying nek to her and police said the is husband shot and killed heren. >> sheto the hospital with strangulation marks around her neck. ying that is the leadi indicate thary this could turn dead leigh. >> police and prosecutors and people who work with domestic violence are looking atat mpted strangulation as a huge warning sign and say that within-- that boy frentds a tempted to strange el them had a much higher disibtd of being murded by tha partner. they are looking for warning signs of strangulation, you might think there is no outward signs that women might have a hoarse or blood shoeyes or might be confused because they lost oxygen to their brain so they are really trying to look for those signs right now,

prosecutors in the county know what they know now, they are trying tointervene earlier in these case, they believe a case like this one, she may have lived if they had intervened earlier. >> in the story you say that restraining orders are often, officials, police tell victims that the first step, but as you say, it doesn't sound like they really result in anything. >> yeah, so you know, it is the first step t is the most basic step that women are told to do which is file a restraining order but avenue intimes it creates a flash point in the relationship where the abuser gets set off and agitated-- agitated by the filing of this and can lash out inteiolence that can ofbe fatalment one prosecutor we spoke with said she tells women to file a restraining order with a backpack and a plan to get out of town, to leave once she files the restraining order. you know, one woman without works with victims said it pretty bluntly that is not a bulletproof vest, it can only protect you in so many ways. and really the only waat they are enforced is when the

abuser violates the rtrning order and that could be a case of fatal violence. >> you also say awe have n talking about so many of these cases, there are warning sig kaitions tepped it. why do these still happen. >>. >> a lot of times women don't t wareport their abuse for many reasons, they don't want to press charges, they love them ere is also the financial component, they could be the bread winner in the family. they might not want to lose custody of their children l is a myriad of reasons why women don't want to file abuse charges against their loved one. a lot thof timesese red flags also aren't in the public domain, they are behind closed doors, death threats, things, close people around the couple may know that may not be in thel record. >> you also talk about a injures oiction where they are trying t fix things, they are making starts,. >> one doing is prosecuting cases

without the victim's contented-- consent, victims will say i don't want to prosecute, we are thy say we will take the case forward, he they do that using evidence such as medical records, medical reports, witness interviews, that sort of thing and prosecute the case on the victims behalf even though she doesn't wangoto orward with it. >> katie zezima, thank youery much, a disturbing story but porn one as well. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: and if you or someone you knows the victim of domestic violence, experts suggest four ways to get help: co seek medical help. call a help line like the national domestic violence hotline at 800-799-7232. and a help line should be able to put you in touch with a domestic violence shelter in your area.

rn>> woodruff: now, let's back to the fallout from robert mueller's investigation and the st of a flood of recent developments. we're joined by our politics monday duo, tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." hello it to both of youso last week the ends of the week taken up with as we said a storm of filings, if you will, by the k.ecial counsel, by district attorney in new yo so pretty explosive material in there, tam. the democrats, the focus now is on democrats and what are they going to do about this as they begin to take over the house and have some more clout. what is your understanding of kind of the state of discussion ong democrats? >> they seem to be playing it cool at this point. really not-- they're trying not to use the "i" word of impeachment, rather the "ir" wod of investigation. they are kind of wanting to t

mueller, let that run its course and see where it stnds. there is not, you know, many candidates ran onimaching the president but not most democrats. most demoats ran on health care. and reducing prescription drug costs and po licon governing. and they are-- they see a cautionary tale in what the republicans did with bill clinton. they don't have enough democrats or republics in the senate to convict, so even if they have the votes impeach, tdon't have the votes to remove him from office. so they are very cautious, seeing where the political dynamics, whether those dynamics change. >> you saw it on display this weekend, if you watch the sunday shows and the various democrs who will soon-- especially in the house who will soon be blmmittee chair people, were definitely increcautious. i just want to highlight this

exchange that jerry, who wl be the incoming judiciary committee chairman had with jake tapper over the weekend where he said to jake's question, yes, if it is found that the president did knowingly, willingly vey late campaign finance law by paying these, agreeing to pay them off, then he said this is jerry -- that would be anabimpea offense. then he goes on to say whether it is important enough to justify impeachment is a fferent question. so that is really, i think where so many democrats are grappling with which is what doe know is going to be able to justify an impeachment, will we know it when we see it? it is going to have flashing yellow lights all ait or will we get pressure from the base, the long thegoes on and the longer we don't have a ller bsion from bob mue we have little filings coming ur once in once in a while like th. >> because that presh-- pressure is real, the base slooking at

it, and say wait a minute, we have been waiting for tw years. and we don't like what is happened. not everybody out there voted mocrat, but a lot of them. >> certainly there is a portion of the democratic ba that wants, just wants trump out by any means necessary. but yohave people like jerry nadler who is not a supercautious conservative democrat, who is saying well, let's see-- you they, this is-- . >> woodruff: new york city. >> rig, this becomes a political question more than a legal question. and the politics are, you know-- as long as this is purely partisan, as long as polling shows that, you know, republicanthink it is a witch-hunt and democrats think it is totally justified, then if democrats move ahead with something likimpeachment, then it becomes this wrenching political thing that just continues to push on the same di vietions that existed.

>> but keeping these things under control can be challenging. amy, let's talk about what i talked to yamiche, what i talked about, what is the president going to do you now, his second chief of staff stepping down, he and john kelly didn't get along so well the names we heard publicly, the president was interested in, have said they're g t interested but there are other names floatound. how important is the job of chief of staff in this white ihouse? >> yeaused to be a really important job. it used to be the kind of jb that everybodyn washington would want to have. you put that on your resume and you are prey much, you know, set for life in this town. this is not a job that anybody wants right now. they know what comes with the territory. it is an impossible job to actually be able to do correctly. and what you also haveitis a house that is still as we have known from the very beginning, it's being n the same way trump has run everything else in his life. it is pretty chatic. there is no real hierarchy of command. it is veofy sea your pants.

and the real chapping eng, and i think there are plenty of folks in the white house who kw this but can't do much about it, is en dem contracts take control of congress next year, this is a white house who is really belowfully understaferred at every level. there was a story in "the washington post" this weekend where an anonymous staffer was asked about whether in ia war room set up to deal with the mueller investigation. and democrats coming into power an potentially all these different investigations. and the source basically laugand said war room? you think we-- what makes you think we would have something as organizeds a war room. we just kind of go as we have alwane, with where the president is going, we follow. >> it is a different kind of white house. >> absolutely. it is a different kind of white house. president trump has embraced the chaos. that is how-- that is his natural environment that is what he wants. and he, he sort of returns it to the mean. you know, if john kelly was supposed to come in and bring structure and eventually

president trump found ways to have new people he blut brought on not report to kelly but report to him so thahe could get back to the sor of warring factions and structure that he,f or lac structure that he finds comforting.te this whouse is setting records for turnover. and i know we have talked about this before. >> woodruff: an we'll continue to talk about it. >> and we will continue. it is remarkable. >> woodruff: it is, just veyr quickly to both of you. we're watching in michigan and in wisconsin, efforts by outgoing reublicans in their state legislative and state house races, amy and tam, to hold on to power as democrats come in. is this something we watch, is this going to wash away? >> no, i think this is the kind of thing, a republican controlled legislature in michigan and wisconsin, incoming democrats at statewide level are trying to, republicans in those states trying to diminish the influence the executive branch

has had. it could have a short term positive impact but it may have a loerm negative impact, both on what demrats do in the long-term, right, they're not going to forget this, or what happens if democrats get back into control. >> come bacand bite them. >> and this is why you have democrats at a national level so focused on retris dicting and the 2020 census becausey got burned last time around and they don't want to get burned again. and redistricting and the control of sta legislatures are very much linked especially as democrats see it. >> republicansraked in after the last census and redistricting democrats don't want it to happen again 789 tamara keith, amy wall tor ank you, politics monday. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: it's winter, it's dark by 5:, and there are so many rabbit holes beckoning to you on your comput screen and your phone. yet, there's an alternative. many of you will recognize peter sagal as the voice and the hos n 's "wait wait... don't tell me!" tonight he shares his humble opinion on the joys of running. >> this is a strange thing to say from the other side of the screen, that you happen to be stairing at but go outside, right now. okay, wait until i'm done. so use these three minutendto your shoes and get a coat if you need one. we spend our me now starring at screens for our work, ourrt ennment, our news, when for whatever reason we can't look at a screen we put inon head and listen to mg, music, a podcast to wile away the otherwise unbearable time our eyes have to be focused on something else like the road we're driving down. there are people who falheasleep with ear phone nses listening to a podcast in order

to drifted off. sometimes my podcast or so they tell me and i don't exactly knof how 20 el about that. what that means is we hardly spend a minute of o wakg life without input. somebody else's thoughts undating our own. why? why what is it about our own thoughts that are so unbearable that we can't stand to spend a minute alone with them? there is one way to find out, turn it all off and go outside, run if you feel up to it oryo maybe even idon't. this is the primary reason i advocate running for everyone who is phycally capable. yes, you might lose weight and gain fitness and feelore alert and awake and even enjoy nature's best anti-depress ant, endorphins but that is really not the most important reason to run, what running really is, ise a way tove this digital dystopia behind if only forir little while and a few miles. humans evolved over millions of years, saped by our environment which historically did not include bluetooth ear bds why did some an shentd ancestor

of ours in central africa first stand on her back legs. it was to look around. it was to pay attention. itas to stocrawling and to walk and to run. andu when yo emulate her today, when you turn off the fire hose of in use 20 drown our own thoughts, when you simply move with nothing in yor ears but air, you are returning step-by-step to what we were ntd to do, and meant to be. go. >> woodruff: advice to live by. and that's the newshr for >> woodruff: all that and more is on our web site, shs.org/newshour. and that's the nr for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by: >> bnsf railwa

>> consumer cellular >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more st, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> 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 newshour productions, llc captioned by at wgbhccess gro access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

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