captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the "wshour" tonight, gotiations remain blocked by the wall-- president trump plans a national address and a trip to the border as the shutdown continues. then, mixed signals on syria-- with conflicting statements from the trump administration, it is unclear whether the u.s. will be pulling troops as fast as the president first indicated. plus the oest orphanage in the middle east-- an inside look at how the civil war in yemen is affecting the country's most vulnerable. >> ( translated ): before the war there were many more boys onre, but because our loca is between two military areas that were targeted extensively some students got scared and left for their villages. >> nawaz: all that and more onbs

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aank you. >> nawaz: 17 days neither side is budging-- yet-- in the showdown over the government shutdown. but the president is making new moves to make his case. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> reporter: at the white house, no public appearance by the president trump today, but two significant public announments-- he will address the nation about border security tomorrow night and visit the u.s.-mexico border on thursday. this after vice president pence led talks with democratic staffers over the weekend, but made no progress toward ending the shutdown. white house communications director mercedes hlapp today blamed democrats. >> the democrats themselves have said the importance of securing the border. i heard nancy pelosi.d i heuck schumer. they said it. they said yes, we agree we need to secure the border. they have yet to provide the definition of "border security." >> reporter: mr. trump's

definition remains more than $5 dillion dollars for a border barrier, but he ted on sunday that he'd be flexible on the wall or fence design. >> ill be made out of steel. it'll be less obtrusive, and it'll be songer. >> reporter: the president says he still could declare a national emergency to builhis wall. but at the border today, house democrats rejected the president could act on a barrier without approval fromco ress. texas congressman joaquin castro: >> he can expect a strong and swift challenge from all of us, and other members of congress, and from the american people. >> reporter: in a letter last night, the white house outlinedn its latest d for the border: $5.7 billion doltirs for constr of a "steel barrier." $800 million dollars for "urgent humanitarian needs." $563 million dollars forim5 new federagration judges. and, $4.2 billion dollars for tens of thousands of new beds in detention facilities.

democrats say funding for a wall-- in any form-- remains a non-stter. senate minority leader chuck schumer spoke today in new yk. >> if when every time president trump throws a tantrum and demands he get his way unless the government will be shut down, it will create disaster, it will encourage his worst instincts which are bad enough now. >> reporter: meanwhile, manybu federadings remain closed, and the shutdown effects continue to spread. the department of interior has announced that it is shifting money to keep some national parks open and collect trash and human waste. and, some 800,000 federa employees are entering a third week of ing furloughed or working without pay. that's led to longer securityat lines airports, as some employees with the transportation safety all out sick,n rather than work without pay. >> nawaz: lisa is here with me, along with our white houserr pondent yamiche alcindor. you. the president's never been shy

about publicly making his case for why this wall or barrier is necessary, but you we invited to a very private briefing today at the white house with other reporters. vice president pence was there, homeland secy nielsen, what was their message? s whitir message is thi house believes there is a humanitarian and national security crisis at the borderd a result the government cannot be open because of that. ththpresident wantsis wall to keep out drug traffickers and human traffickers. i pushed secretary nielsenn some of the numbers the white house was using buzz they were handing out a charge, a whole stack of papers for the arguments they're making. the secretary said there are territories crossing the border and operating in the region. shn'wousay how many terrorists were stopped at the physical border. our reporting is most territories stopped are stopped at papers and most of the drugs are smuggled through rs in legal ports of entry. so what we have is democrats and

republicans not rea on the facts here. add to thact vie president pence over and over said democrats are not going to notiate with the white house. he said senior staff were negotiating with them butwe lawmaker not in the room over the weekend. >> congress isn't in session till tomorrow. what do coongres democrats say this? >> they say they never expected the talks to be a higher level and they say one of the problems is they don't think envice president can do the negotiating because they say he made an offer a couple of weeks ago that the white house rescinded hours after the vice president made offer. they say only president trump is the one they can negotiate with, and even he, they say, changes his position, as they saw on this tape. now thy're adding more funding requests for more items. so democrats say they are still confused asto what the president wants.mo ats tomorrow and this week in the house will pass separate ap uopriations bills to ope most of the agencies that are

closed one by one, that will give the senate those options and the president those options. but right now republicans say they're not interested. >> yamichethe president and members of his team continued to sis, a nationalri security interest despite the fact neis er claimare supported by evidence that we've seen yet. is there where they're digging in? willntinue to the -- to hear this message? >> we will. vice president pence was asked e question is he undermined by the president, and he said everything we've offered has been directly approved by the he also added this is not about politics. he said the president isn't thinking about the politics.he aid i hate the word base. he said the presthident some king about the american people. however, the president is having a 00 p.m. address tomorrow. some people are seeing it as political because it's a primetime address. the other thing they're thinking is the wall is a political symbol. >> yamiche, hang with me for a second. we'll take a bit of a turn and

take a look at the impact of that shutdown in it's 17t 17thay. you've heard from folks across the country who are making toug. choices >> there are folks making tough choices out there and one is lisa ja lckson, someoing in louisiana. i want you to hear what she has to say.s shfederal worker. >> i'm a single parent, so i have one income, and i have tol pay all the ls. i've had to postpone a surgery that was scheduled for next week. i was holding off till after the holidays to dot, but now being furloughed, i'm worried m 300-plus cost for the surgery will be money that i will need later this month. i also am in graduate classes. i'm waiting another week to make a decision on sprin classes. if we don't go to work soon, i will havto drop out because i won't have to afford duke afford

es i pay out of talked. >> he's trying to have the igoffice of management mie the impact of people but he said his primary concern is the crisis on the southern border. >> not just thet imp individual workers, but their families, too. >> right. this is a widespread empact. our team put a callout, anyone affected. we heard also from family members. sam lives in the d.c. area, is a federal worker but is also affected by his child's daycare. here's what he has to say. >> i'm a furloughed federal employee, but it's not just me ehat's been affected by th shutdown. my daughter's day care is closed but a it's located inside adi federal bu. we still have to pay the daycare bills because the daycare workers are not federal employees and, so, they wougeldt backpay. i don't mind paying for their

laries because they deserve to get paid during the shutdown, but it is frustrating my daughter won't be able to go to daycare and play with her friends and learn. >> now, what's interesting here he will miss a paycheck on friday. if there is no resolution of this shutdn tomorrow, and that is the case for most of the federal workers, one more thing, trol thele who con payroll for many of these thencies on this work for department of commerce, and they themselves are not getting paid, but they will be putting outhe payroll for anyone who gets paid. >> we're seeing individuals anda lies impacted. is there a wider ripplele effect of any kind? nomicere are many eco effects. we're going to focus on just one here. there is a small business owned by a woan named chelsea bunch and she says she is trying to get her business to be an llc. to do that, you need the i.r.s. to give you an identification number. she sent us a video about the problems she was having because the i.r.s. is in a shutdown.

>> we can't get a bank account. we can't get deposits into a bank account. we're operating entirely in cash, so we had to do payroll n friday in cash. we're probably going to end up doing it again this fday in cash, if the government doesn't open up again. it's inconvenient to run a construction company in cash. >> she's doing home remodeling in tampa. she can't get an employer identification number from thei. s. because it's shut down. late today, the white house announced the president is ordering the i.r.s. to put ou out -- it's not clear how it will work. >> not clear how it will pay out. impacts seen across the country. lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, good to talk to you both. >> thanks. >> nawaz: in the day's other news: u.s.-china trade talks began in beijing, amid tensions over tariffs, and tharrest of chinese tech executive in canada.

chinese officials also complained that a u.s. warshvi haated its territorial waters in the south china sea. the trump administration hasll said it mpose new tariffs on china if a trade deal is not reached by march 1. the resumption of trade talks helped wall street rally again. the dow jones industrial average gained 98 points to close at 23,531.na thaq rose 84 points, and the s&p 500 added 17. parts of northern and southern california worked to recover today from a pair of winter storms. around sacramento, strong winds knocked down power lines last night, affecting 90,000 customersd, n the south, heavy rains caused mudslides near malibu, in areas burned bare by wildfires. 13 miles of the pacific coastma highway ed closed for cleanup today. in western afghastan taliban attacks killed 21 police and militia members late last night the militants stormed two checkpoints in badghis province near the border with turkmenistan. taliban and u.s. officials are

set to meet this month to discuss a possible cease-fire. a saudi arabian teenager will be allowed to stay in thailand-- for now-- after fleeing her family over alleged abuse. over the weekend, 18-year-old rahaf mohammed al-qunun barricaded herlf in a bangkok airport hotel and tweeted pleas for help. she said she renounc feared retribution if she were sent home. today, al-qunuwileft the hotel thai immigration officials. they said the u.n.ilefugee agencyevaluate her case. >> ( translated ): we will talk to her and do whatever she requests. we will not send anyone to their death. we won't do that, we will adhere to the hum rights principles under the rule of law. >> nawaz: the saudis denied they had tried to force the teen to return home.s her casee latest to highlight saudi arabia's strict guardianship laws that force women to have a male relative's consent to travel or marry. in france, the trial opened today for a roman cathol

cardinal accused of covering up sexual abuse by a priest. cardinal philippe barbarin is among the most powerful figures in the church. his lawyer says barbarin he made mistakes, but that he did not violate the law. back in this country, actor kevin spacey was arraigned in nantucke massachusetts on charges that he groped an 18- year-old busboy in 2016.ac lawyers for sp entered a plea of "not guilty" to a charge xt indecent assault and battery. the judge set the earing for march. the governor of tennessee has granted clemency to a woman convicted of murder-- whose case drew nationwide attention. cyntoia brown has said she was a victim of sex-trafficking. she was convicted of killing a man who picked her up when she was 16. brown is now 30, and has nearly finished her work for a college degree. she will be released in august. calls for female empowerment highlighted last nobht's golden awards. glenn close scored a surprise win as best actress for her role

in "the wife." ays the wife of a nobel prize-winning writer. close said it brought to mind her own mother. >> i'm thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father h whole life and in her 80s she said to me, "i feel that i haven accomplished anything." but we have to find personal fulfillment. we have to follow our drms. ( cheers and applause ) we have to say "i can do that and i should be allowed to that." n nawaz: sandra oh became the only woman of asscent to win multiple golden globes, after she took best actress for the television series "killing eve." and "bohemian rhapsody" won for best picture. and supreme court justice ruth t der ginsburg missed arguments today for the fime in more than a quarter century. ginsburg is 85, and is recuperating after having cancerous growths removed from her lungs last month.

a court spokeswoman says, for now, the justice is working from home. still to ce on the "newshour," national parks andmmigrationel changing te for troop withdrawal from syria; the oldest orphanage in the middle east is imperiled by theivil war in yemen; and much more. >> nawaz: president trump has several times said that if congress won't appropriate the billio he wants for the construction of a wall on the southern border, he can declare a national emergency to secure the money. ha william brangham reports, while presidents d sweeping powers to declare emergencies, it's not clear if it would be legal in this case. >> reporter: with me here to unpack where presidents get the authority to declare these emergencies-- and what powers presidents are able to exert-- is elizabeth goitein.

she's co-director of the liberty and national security program at new york university's brennance er for justice. welcome to the "newshour". >> thank you very much. >> brangham: so before we gehe toresident's proposal, can you just walk us througthe basic rules of this? the president has the authority to simply declare a national emergency. tell us a little bit about that. >> the law that governs national emergencies is the nationalio mmpl act passed by congress in 1976 and, under that law, the president s almost unlimited discretion to declare rgency.nal eme congress chose consciously not to include a definition national emergency, not to incle any particular requirements or criteria or to require the president to make any kind of showing so rea really all the presidents to down deer the acss is iue a declaration he science saying he thinks there's a national emergency, and, at thatponent,t

he then s access to special powers that are contained in more tha100 different laws passed over several decades. >> brangham: pretty striking individual powers, rign ht? u tell us what the president can do under this? >> many of these powers are quite gnar owe, quite reasonable, but some of them seem like the stuff of authoritarian regimes, so there are powers that would allow the president to shut down communications faciland to freeze americans' bank accounts or to deploy the mlitary domestically. so these are some of the powers in there that the president has access to simply with the stroke of a pen. >> brangham: help usta unde what's the rationale. why would coming pass a law that seemingly gives the president this kind ofo dictatorial power. >> the idea behind emergency powers is the law that might ordinarily apply might not be suffient in the case of an emergency, and if you have a true crisis unfolding so quic that congress doesn't have time to react to it, then you might need to have some stand-by

authorities that give the president more flexibility. the trick is to make sure that there are enough checks and balances, that the president can't actually abuse these authorities to give himself tremendous powers in situations where there is no true emergency that sort of brings the present day. >> let's talk a little bit about that. the president has said there is an emergency on the southern rder and he said, he wants to, if congress can't do what he wants and appropriate t money that he wants, he can declare this an emergency and secure the funding. is that true? can he conjure up ll n through this act? >> so there are two questions, the firsis can he declare the emergency? as we discussed under national emergency act, it's very easy for him to do that. and if there isn't a real emerncy, there are very few judges that will actually look behind that determination. buema nationargency doesn't mean he can do anything he wants. he is still limited top those

specific -- limited to thoses specific powngress has specified and, granted, a lot of different laws.ti the qu is are there specific laws in there that would allow him to build the upw. and there are a of laws that do allow the president to move money around witn the department of defense for military construction projects or ciprl defensjects, and i'm sure those are the powers hat the white house lawyers and ene department of d lawyers are looking at very closely right now. >> brangham: we saw before the midterm elections the president deployed some members of the military to string up barbed wire and sort of reinforce the fence. could he actually deploy theac military to doual construction of a wall? >> yeah, i think construction of a wallo dn't necessarily, depending ton circumstances, but, on its face, it doesn't necessarily cross the line at is a law tt's no in the

constitution, it's a statute that says the military can't b used for law enforcement activities. but the way the courts have looked at that, they've looke at traditional law enforcement activities like search andes easier and arr and things like conducting surveillance, things like constructing infrastructure, those kinds of things probably don't actually rise to the level where they're going to cause the oblems. >> brangham: let's say the president makes the declaration, the shutdown goes on, thees ent is tired of where the negotiations are not going, and he makes this declaration. what do you imagine legally would happen? we've heard a lot of leading democrats say e president doesn't have this authority and if he tried to do it, we could drag down on our right-of-way in hee courts andongress. what do you imagine happening? a olutely congress could act, under the national emergencies act, congress can terminate a state of emergency by a joint declaration. at brangham: house and s would have to declare thab

>> it'ically a regular law that would have to be signed anh passed b president that says congress would have to have a veto-proof majority.or the simple may would pass it and we can assume the president would veto it.f that's the cult with that approach. of course, there would be legal challenges within thcour, and i think there are some pretty good legal arguments toe be mat the specific provisions of law the president would proelbably ay on really probably shouldn't apply here, but it will be fight and it won't be a slam-dunk on either side. so it's a sticky situation, to say the least. >> brangham: you argued a really fascinating essay in "the atlantic" that congress should take a better look at this and try to define theseie incertaiyou have described. what would you argue congress would try to delinea? >> first of all, i think congress should not leave it entily open with the president

with no criteria or guidance to decide what's an emergency and not. there are criteria that can be specified, but i also think it shouldn't be entirely up to the president not just to clare an emergency but to keep it going year after year aftaer most emergencies last for years on end. we have 31 states of e in effect today, including one -- >> brangham: on the books permanently. >> one on the books since 1979. so while it may make sense for the pree dent to be ato declare a state of emergency for a very short period of time, i think after that short period of time it ought to be up to doing kong to actually renew the state of emergency going forward. >> brangham: elizabeth goitei thank you so much. >> thank you.on >> nawaz: last the president announced he would withdraw u.s. troops from syria. a controversial decision. the

secretary of defense and the official coordinating anti-isis strategy both quit in protest. since then, the president and his allies have seemed to push pause on that withdrawal-- and in the last day, the president's top advisors have suggested the delay could last months or longer to talk about this i'm joined by our foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin. so the president's national security advisor john bolton is in the region now, in the middle of a trip o tey and israel. what does he have to say about this? >> there no different on the top line. b joton said yes the u.s. will withdraw troops from sir e.u. but put conditions on the withdrawal that could take months if not years let's gisten to john boltonen to what he had to say yesterday. >> we will dis ss the president's decision to withdraw but to do so istn northsyria

in a way to make sure i.s.i.s. is defeated and to make sureth thatdefense of israel and our other friends in the region is absolely assured, and to take care of those who have fought with us against i.s.i.s. and other terrorist groups. >>o those are three conditions. one, the defeat of i.s.i.s., that's been consistent throughout. two, defense of israel, that means countering iweran. we talking about iran before the sound byte. he said all u.s. troops will stay in syria till iran leaves syria and a whi house official says that is still part of the strategy today. three, taking care of thoshae wo fought with us against i.s.i.s., a reference to syrian coalition air forces, really have been the ground forces with the u.s. against i.s.i.s.and sir. i can't one, those goals will take time, months if not years, especially the one about iran. and two, the conditions, the president said there are no conditions, the u.s. couth aw because we defeated

i.s.i.s. >> if those are the goals and it will take time, how does withdrawing u.s. tret us there? >> it's not clear that there is an answer to that question. 's a product of what senior official tells me is strategy incoherent. it's also te infighting within the administration like we've had in the past. strategy requines havgoals and matching them with means. the bottom line is, if these are these three goa that ambassador bolton laid out, the means withdrawing trs, it's going to be impossible to achieve goals. >> what about the u.s.-turkish alliance. the president said turkey could help us get to the goals is this. >> , yes, they said maybe turkey can he us defeat i.s.i.s. and that's what it's all about. bolton is going tspeak with turkish officials tonight. the senificial says turkey is not capable of defeating i.s.i.s. by itself.

a turkish official acknowledges that and asked the u.s. for resources in order to counteri.s.i.s. the pushback is that the u.s. has long known that and ther request by is so much that it might be more u.s. troops required to helrkey to at the feet i.s.i.s. than are cuently i in syria to defeat i.s.i.s. ku what about the syriadish forces? >> they are looking to where they need to protect themselves. they are afraid as turkey cause turkey sees them as the enemy. they think the u.s. is going to withdraw because that's what the u.s. says, so they turn the syrian regime, so the people we have allied with againsar i.s.i.s. looking to the syrian regime as an alliance frieth. bolton say's not your real friend, rely on us, we are still with you. but the kurds are saying, look, we don't know what you're doing so we're looking to the syrian regime. >> this isn't the first time the u.s. has struggled with te syrian policy or shifted the

policy. >> think bacto president obama creating the red line with president assad and his chemical weapons, so this is a struggle that crossed multiple odministrations. egt frm 2014 to 2018, there was a consistent str using ground forces. syrian curbs ander bs are our allies in order to counterrer and defeat i.s.i.s. that changed this past september where it wassent only at the feeding i.s.i.s., ambassador bolton said the u.s. had to stay till iran left andate a permanent itlal momentum. those two things are very difficult by themselves, and what turkish president erdogan heard in tha and said, you know what? you're going to say there rever and be there forever countering iran, i don't like that. erdogan creates asi cri calls president trump and president trump declares i don't want anything to do with this, i'm withdrawing troops, and took to twitter in mid december and made this announcem t. >> oys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back, and they're ming back

now. we won. >> we won, no cominditions, december, until yesrday, when ambassador bolton created the conditions. president trump today took to twitter and said this was always part of the plan. he tweeted, we will be leaving at a prper pace while statement continuing to fight i.s.i.s. and uing all else that is prnt and necessary. at the end of this, you can understand y a lot of people in the region are worried about the mixed messages from the united states. >> and evlving strategy. thanks for sopping by and explaining it us. nihifrin. >> thank you very much. with us. st coming up on the "newshour," how fresh faces in congress could change how washington works; and a new documentarysh s light on recording artist r. kelly's history of abuse.vi the war in yemen will soon

enter its sixth year. tens of thousands have been killed amid fighting between iran-aligned houthi rebels and yemen's government, backed by a saudi-led coalition that is supported by the united states. disease and an acute hungered crisis have kintold thousands more. and for children in yemen, the war hits especially hard. their losses can be profound-- none more so tn the deaths of, or abandonment by, their own parents. from the rebel-held capital, sana'a, special correspondentne erguson reports. >> reporter: as the winter suner rises emen's ancient capital, sana'a, boys at this orphanage play soccer while they wait for their breakfast. when it comes, it's a humble meal, just lentils and bread. but it's hot, and they are happy to have it. the ttlest boys eat separately, one of them sent to collect the brd each morning. the children break the bread together before it gets cooked on an outside stove with milk.

it's not much, but in this city lemany children have much . der riayat al aytam is the olst orphanage in the middle east. it opened its doors to orphaned boys in 1925, and moved from sana'a's ancient old city to this spot in the 70s. now, around 400 boys call it home. some sent here by extended ntmily, others abandoned by their destitute pa or taken in from the streets. little mohsin douma's fathermeas killed in s current, brutal civil war. he is 12-years-old and arrived with two older brothers. >> ( translated ): my grandpa and uncle brought us here to study. they told us that we have to study here until we finish high school. >> ( translated ): what do you want to do whe you grow up? >> ( translated ): doctor. >> reporter: mohsin is lucky. he still gets to go home to his mom after term ends.

in the arab world, children arer often cons orphans when their father dies. in yemen, poverished by the war, single mothers can rarely cope alone. some are forced to re-y and start new families. but mohsin also has ahmed ali, his best friend and neighbor from his home village. ahmed is 11-years-old and lost his father also fighting in this war. >> ( translated ): it has been four months since i came here, so i'm a new student. i was in the village and he was in a military camp. >> reporter: what happened to your father? >> ( translated ): an r plane. l >> reportee many of the boys who have mothers still alive, they live for the promise of visits back home. >> ( translated ): we are going toiave exams soon and then can go back and see her. >> reporter: but ahmed hasn't been spared the experience of war.

he, like so many of the children here, has seen too much already. >> ( translated ): fighter jetst usbomb and farms were exploding. and next to our house there was bombing. things were exploding and burning.te >> rep the other boys here tell me of the times the air strikes hit near the orphanage "when the air strikes come we pray and ask god to save us,"e them tells me. yemen's war has pitted iran- at times, the war outside the orphanage walls has come dangerously close. >> ( translated before the war there were many more boys here, but because our location eais between two military that were targeted extensively some students got scared and leftor their villages. >> reporter: yet, as the war grinds on, need surpasses fear here, and boys have steadily shown up at the gates. >> ( translated ): the majority have come here because their father died. and in se cases, it's because divorce happens and a mother has remarried. but it's also because

of poverty. >> reporter: of all the diffent groups of people in yemen, it is children who are by far the worst affected. t chaos and cruelty of yemen's war, boyare being recruited to fight in it.eb the houthi rels have child soldiers as young as 11 in their ranks, according to the united nations. air strikes by the saudi-led coalition have hit children, too, like the 40 killed last mbaugust when a coalition as dropped on a bus full of little boys. and then tre is menace of starvation. millions of yemenis are on theof brinamine as the country's fragile economy has collapsed in this war. 85,000 children have already died of malnutrition and preventable diseases, accordings to the charityave the children. at least here, the boys can have a meal and safe place to sleep for the night. the promise of an education gives them a fighting chance at life when they have to leave

here. and the boys love their studies. but they have also lost so much, and it's still an ordeal for the newest arrivals. >> ( translated ): when the students first arrive at the orphanage they feel shy and don't tend to speak, but after a while they get used to the other boys. they are sad at first-- grieving-- and they isolate themselves, sitting alone. but they then get used to it and make friends. >> reporter: friends like mohsin and ahmed ali. they showed me their beds in the dorm room, right next to one another. bed time is 9:00 p.m., they tell me. sometimes one of the other boys sings them to sleep. it's some comfort for these boys, who are just a handful out of the millions who need help surviving this war. for th"pbs newshour," i'm jane ferguson, in sana'a, yemen.

>> nawaz: and back in this country, today is day 17 of the government shutdown, with neither side showing signs of backing down. john yang has more on where things stand and the new faces influencing negotiations. >> reporter: amna, a new nmngress is at work even if some of the federal govt isn't. and the new members include some progressive democrats who are lling for big changes. to break all this down, i'm joined by our politics monday team. that's amy walter of the "cook political report" and tamara keith of npr the shutdown is in day 17. we're essentially where we were on day one. tam, let me start with you. the president, for twars of his administration, has been rier, hee wants this bar wants this wall on the border, but he' s signedspending bills without any money for the wall,

until now. why is ihe digginow? >> there are a lot of reasons why he might be diging in no. the official reason that we got from vice prident pence today is that this is a crisis along the bored that didn't exist earlier, that it is re of a crisis, a humanitarian and security crisis. that is the administration's argument. the other argument would be that the predent is looking at 2020. the reelection has begun, and this is a key central, verye important prom his campaign that he hasn't been able to keep, and if he folded e more time, and his last best chance, then what? and, so, from the administration perspective, that's why we're here. from the democrats' perspective, they just waged a campaign where president trump, i, the midtermsnt and held rallies that were all about border security andwahell, it was such a big focus, and democrats won the house, and not by a. little b

and, so, their voters are telling them and polls are telling them why move, don't move on this, don't fold to the president. they feel it would be a really bad precedent to set at the beginning of a new term for congress. >> amy? so no one feels like they have anything to losge, riht? and when you are in a process where you're not feeling any pain, you're not going to make any changes. and the only wayt seems that the folks who are in congress will feel the pain is they'reei er their constituents come to tell them or polng suggests that voters are blaming them. it's really different this time, too, from back n we were talking about these issues in 2016 and 17 and 18, not just hat the house changed control, but look at thenate map. the senate map in 2018, it was ortilted very much in fa of republicans. it was red state democrats who were on the ballot, and, so, there was a lot of politic calculation from folks like

chuck schumer, the minorityle er, ability protecting those vulnerable incumbents. well, guess what? in 2020, there's on one red state democrat on the ballo there are a number of blue and horple state republicans on the ballot. many of them? we've already seen a number of them come out and say we would like to see the shutdown end. it's going to take a lot more than a couple of them, but they're certainly mucmore vulnerable -- republicans are more vulnerable on this issue than they were, at lea ithe senate, back in 2018. >> one of the senators on the ballot in 2020 is mitch mcconnell, the majority leader who has been mostly absent from this. >> and he's much more worried about a primary challenge. guess who else is on the ballot in 2020? lindsey graham, who is linds linde more worried about a primary or general election? rprimary. >> this isde awakening for akers in0 freshman lawm soth the house and the senate,

although casual vers they be forgiven if they only think there's one freshmen, representative alexandria cortez, who has been givoten a of attention. she got something this weekend that senior members havere nev gotten, a full-blown profile on "60 minutes." >> what you are talking about this big picture is rad agenda compared to the way politics is done right now. >> well, i think that it only has ever been radicals that have changed this country. abraham lincoln made the radical decision to sigtheon emanciparoclamation. franklin delano roosevelt made the radical decision to embark on programs like social security. >> do you call yourself a radical? >> if that's what a radical means, call me a radical. >> proudly embracing the term radical.

what do you make of this, amy? >> there are republicans who are happy to see her embrace that title, they'd like to put that on every democrat, they would like to run the 2020 campaign on the message that democrats are too radical. but i think we're seeing a beginning of a significant generational divide within the democratic party and it's nbo just the age. it's about style and priorities d approach. compromise versus consultation. she talked in theinterview as well about the fact that democrats have compromised too much in the past. we hear folks like elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, talking about not only confronting trump himself but what they're talk about is onfronting the policy agenda, more aspirational, more aggressive. >> freshmen talking about too

much compromise. could speaker pelosi, tam, be facing the same problemspeaker boehner and ryan did with the tea rty with these t of younger progressives in the democrats in the house and how this is affecting wha't shes doing on the wall and calls for impeachment? >> it's not clear whether she has the left version of the tea party. because, you know, basically, h the votes the been taken have been basically she got what she wantoced, demts dwell nell line. so it's not clear that she has that on er hands. but seating on the wall does heo good. it does her no good with the democratic base at all, and is one of the first actions, that's any we're stuck. that's why congres the president have hit an impasse on this.

>> is this scriesum between pragmatics and progressives, for lack of a better phrase, is this also going to shape the democratof primarie 2020? >> exactly, i think that's the battle lin drawn. you're going to get elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, some of the folks in that world saying we need to go and have a full-throwed, non-apologetic,ss proge agenda. we spend too much time apologizing as democrats, theyth argue, andn you have folks over on the more moderate o compromised side of the ledger, like joe biden, whoar wouldgue we need a comeback from the ledge. we've had four years -- over four years of confrontational approach. what voters want is a return to the middle, a return to compromise. if p you look at polling that's been taken since the election, there is a versional divide among democratic voters,rsvote over 50 much more willing to compromise even on issues that are really important to themm

like iigration. voters under 50 say, no, we want our elected officialsto stick to their principles. >> i was going to have you tell us how this is going to end but we're out of time. till next time. amy walter, tamera keithrythank you uch. >> you're welcome. >> nawaz: a documentary is shding new light on the li of r&b singer r. kelly, whose real name robert kelly. and as yamiche alcindor tells us, it documents in graphic deta predatory pursuit of teenagedrl over two decades and accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse.in a wa this story contains sensitive and explicit subject matter. >> reporter: in the six-part documentary airing on lifetime,a

eight women life with one of music's most successful r&b artists. some say they felt trapped by him. >> mental and phical abuse. i can't be touched. and in hindsight in society, we maintain that. >> one of the allegations chronicled in >> reporter: one of the allegations chronicled in the documentary is what first brought the possible abuse to public attention. his marriage to aaliyah, a music sensation in her own right ine d-90s. in 1994, kelly, then 27, married aaliyah who at the time was only 15. but according to the documentary, on the wedding certificate, she was listed as 18. in 1995, their marriage was annulled. aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001, but accusations about kelly have never gone away. in a pair of lawsuits in 1996 and in 2001, the r&b singer was accused of having sex with two underage girls-- one 15, the t.her 17. both settled in co

then i that appeared to show r. kelly omving sex with a different teenage girl andtting degrading acts. kelly was indicted by a chicago grand jury pornography.of child the trial was delayed and inll 2008, key was found not guilty on all counts after the victim in the video refused to testify. last year, there were more accusations that kelly was trapping women in a "sex cult"-- taking away their phones and rlimiting contact with th families. r. kelly has denied all of the alletions in the documentary and in other investigations. last year, his representatives sued a statement that said in part, "black men and women have x been lynched for having for being accused of it. we will vigorously resist this l attempted publching of a black man." a protest campaign using the hastag "mute r. kelly" has grown. its is calling for a boycott of his music and for streaming services to remove his songsfr their platforms. but spotify and others still m

stream hisic. in fact, his numbers grew on that service after the documentary aired. r. kelly, who has so0 million albums, is still listed as an artist on his record label, rca's website. >> reporter: we turn to jim derogatis, a chicago-based music journalist and critic who first started reporting on this story in18 years ago, after recean anonymous fax claiming that r. kelly was sexually exploiting underage girls. his work provided some of the foundation for the lifetime documentary. thanks, so much, jim, for joining me. you have been reporting onic repr. kelly for close to two decades. ehow has he ben able to thrive as allegations of sexual abuse followed him? >> i can't answer that question. i think it's unprecedented a man is so in demand in the music

industry while leaving this trail, really, literallyed unprted, of dozens and dozens of young women whose n ves have been ruined. it has not ba secret, you know, for 30 years now, and, yet, he continues unh >> and as we noted, the r.mute elly movement has grown. how much traction has that do you feelned and we're at a tipple point because of this documentary? >> iyamichcould say we were. i thought when the videotape that got him incted on # 1 counts of child pornography showed up iny mailbox at home one day -- go to your mailbox, was the phone call, and there was this tape. i hought that was the tipping point. it wasn't. it took six years to go to trial, he was acquitted. the trial was limited to onegi and one videotape and not

what we reported in our first story in the sun "times" december of 2000, a pattern ofor predbehavior of using his wealth and fame to pursue underage girls. even as wre speaking, about five miles from here, now, there are these two young women who their parents say have been separated from their families for three years now. that's happeningnow. >> that's happening now. it's disturbing the way you just described that. now that we're thinking about this, some argue that r. kelly has been so successful cse some of the women he's abused have, frankly, bee african-american women. what do you make of that that some say african-americanva haven'ued as much as other races? >> i'm echoing only dozens of young black women ve spoken to when i say, yeah, nobody seems to matter less in our society than young black women.

mark anthony neil, the chof african-american studies at duke university, we did a panel now, e don't know, 15 years ago, and he aid on white girl from netka, and this would have been a different story -- wanetka is a very excluve neighborhood in chicago. buin 18 years ofreporting, the sentence that people have sai to me more than any other again and again, literally hundreds of , urces, brother needs helhe needs to stop. no one has said, i want to destroy this man. they've said he's got a problem and he needs help. >> you also mentioned that the trial in the 1990s whe r. kelly was found not guilty of the child poranography rges, some say because he hasn't beena

convicted ourt of law is this is much to do about nothing. what do you make of people who make that argument? >> well, i've spoken, t you know, moan a dozen brave women who have put their names and faces to thens accusatio they have made, in buzzfeed in july 2017. the big story that has threvitalized interest is tale got 8.5 million hits online. it is at a tepal point -- tipple point in the sense that we are like cosby, it took those tw dozen women who put their names and faces on thecover of "new york magazine" before people said bill cosby has been hurting people for a very long time. i have enuclear missile president for dream hampton, d what she hne with this six-part series has given the viewd, the experience i've for 18 years, of sitting with a woman doing the hardest thing

imaginable, telling her about her sexual abuse, going on the record, crying on my shoulder, yamiche. i mean, i've seen the scars on women's wrist where is they've attempted to kill themselves after relationships with r. kelly, a man who is selling 100 million record a man who is recording with lady gaga and justin bieber, and where is the music industry, his peers, the record company? as of today he's still signed to rca records and his con certainties are still.promot "mute r. kelly" has been trying to raise the levofel awareness. those are black women acivists, and there have been black women activists protesting since his trial in 2008, since his indictment in 2002, since my first story in december of 2000. i really can't think -- you know, i'm a studentrock history, a music journalist, i'm a rock critic.

we talk about jerry lee lewis, and we can talk about le led zepplin, and we can talk about marvin gaye. when the dust settles an thas an end to this story some day, i don't think anybody in music history or popular entertainment has abused his position of fame for so long to hurt so many people. >> thanks, jim. as i said, you have been reporting onr. kelly for close to two decaddies. we appreciate you joining >> it's my pleasure to talk to you, yamiche. >> thank you. >> nawaz: right now on the pbs newshour online, one effect ofin the onshutdown: a possible boom in urban rat populations,ci esly in the district of columbia and other areas with overflowing or neglected trash. read more about the problem and other consequences of the shutdown on our web site, pbs.org/newshour.

d that's the newshour for tonight. i'm anma nawaz. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. foall of us at the "pbs newshour," thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, alian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> bnsf >> consumer cellular. >> american cruise lines. >> and by the alfred p. sloan fodation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial ryliteracy in the 21st cen

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♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." during the holiday season, we are dipping into the archive and looking back at some of this year's highlights. so, here's what's coming up -- an extensive conversation with the most powerful woman in the trump administration.nw kellyanne coay opens up about s her personry, the president's tensions with the press, and her work stem the opioid crisis. then i speak to another powerful woman on the world stage. h ead of the international monetary fund, christine lagarde is at the helm of the global economy and in the cross-hairs of president trump's trade war. us, white fragility and ve racism we hidefrom ourselves. our michel martin talks to author robin diangelo. ♪