captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the "newshour" tonight, negotiations remain d bye thwall-- 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 adnistration, it is unclear whether the u.s. will be calling troops as fast as the president first ind. plus the oldest orphanage in the middle east-- an inside look at how the civil war in yemen is affecting the country's mostln able. >> ( translated ): before the war therwere many more boys here, but because our location is between two military areas that were targeted extensively some students got scared and left for their villages. >> nawaz: all that and more on

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thank you. >> nawaz: 17 dayin and neither side is budging-- yet-- in the showdown over the government shutdown.e but esident 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 announcements-- he will addres the nation about border security tomorrow night and visit the u.s.-mexico border on thursday. is after vice president pence led talks with democratic staffers over the weekend, but made no progress towd ending the shutdown. white house communications director mercedes schlapp today blamed democrats. >> the democrats themselves have said the importance of securing the border. i heard nancy pelosi. i ard chuck 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 billion dollars for a border barrier, but he indicated on sunay that he'd be flexible the wall or fence design. >> it'll be made out of stitl. l be less obtrusive, and it'll be stronger.or >> repter: the president says he still could declare a national emergency to build his wall. but at the border today, house democrats rejected the idea thal the president act on a barrier without approval from congress. 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. >> rorter: in a letter last night, the white house outlined its latest demands for the border: $5.7 billion dollars for construction of a "steel barrier." $800 million dollars for "urgent humanitarian needs." $563 million dollars for 75 new federal immigration 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-starter. senate minority leader chuck schumer spoke today in new york. >> 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, many fedel buildings remain close and the shutdown effects continue to spread.in the departmeterior has announced that it is shifting money to keep some national parks open and collect trash and human waste. and, some 800,000 federal employees are entering a third week of being furloughed orin workwithout pay. that's led to longer security nes at airports, as some employees with the transportation safety administration call out sick, rather than work without pay. >> nawaz: lisa is here with me, along with our white house correspondent yamiche or. you. the president's never been shy

about publicly making his case for why this wall or barier is necessary, but you were invited to a very private briefing today at the white house with other reporters. vice president pence was there, homeland security nielsen, what was theirsa mes? >> their message is this white house believes there is a humanitarian and national security crisis at the border and as a result the government cannot be open because of that. the president wants this wall keep out drug traffickers and human trarsffic i pushed secretary nielsen on 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 makg. the secretary said there are territories crossing the border and operating in the region. she wouldn't say how many terrorists were stopped at the physical border.rt our repg is most territories stopped are stopped at papers and most othe drugs are smuggled through cars in legal ports of entry. so what we have isdemocrats and

republicans not really agreeing on the facts here. add to at vice president pence over and over said democrats are not going to negotiate with the white house. he said senior staff were negotiating with them but lawmoers were not in the over the weekend. >> congress isn't in session till tomorrow. what do congressional democrats say this?y >> ty they never expected the talks to be at a higher level and they say one of the problems is they don't think vice president pence can do the negotiating because they say he made an offer a couple of weeo at the white house rescinded hours after the vice president madthe 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 thmoey're addinre funding requests for more items. so democrats sa they are still confused asto what the president wants. isdemocrats tomorrow and teek in the house will pass separate appropriations bills to opf n up moste agencies that are

closed one by one, that will give the senate thosens opt and the president those options. but right now republicans say they're not interested. >> yamiche, the president and members of his team continued to say there's a crisis, a nationar security it despite the fact neither claims are supported by evidence that we've seen yet. is there where they're digging in? wiy we continue to th -- to heas this me? >> we will. vice president pence was asked the question is he undermined by the president, and he said everything we've offered has been directly approved by the president.hi he also addedis not about politics. he said the president isn't thinking about the politics. he said i hate the word base. he said the president some thinking about the arican people. however, the president is having a 9:00 p.m. address tomorrow. some people are seeing it as political because it's apr etime address. the other thing they're thinking is the wall is a political >> yamiche, hang with me for a second. we'll take a bit of a turn andhe

take a look atmpact of that shutdown in it's 17t 17th day.ve yoeard from folks across the country who are making tough choice >> there are folks making tough choices out there and one is lisa jackson, somne living in louisiana. i want you to hear what she has to say. e's a federal worker. >> i'm a single parent, so i have one income, and i have to pay all thi'bills. had to postpone a surgery that was scheduled for nex. we i was holding off till after the holidays to do it, but now being furloughed, i'm worried mply 30 cost for the surgery will be money that i will need later this mon. i also am in graduate classes. i'm waiting another week to make a decision on spring classes. if we don't go to work soon, i will havroe to dout because i won't have to kford due afford d

fees i pay out of talked. >> he's trying to have the office of management mitigate the impact of people but he said his primary concern is the crisis on the uthern border. >> not just the impact on individual workers, bu their families, too. >> right. this is a widespread empact. our team put a callout, one 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 that's been affected by th shutdown. my daughter's day care is closed but a it's located inside a federal ilding. still have to pay the daycare bills because the daycare workers are not federal employees and, so, they wouldn't get back pay. i don't mind paying for their

salaries because they derve to get paid during the shutdown, but it isfrustrating my daughter won't be able to go to daycare and play with her friends and learn. >> now, what's interesting here is he will misa pacheck on friday. if there is no resolution of rrow, and thattomo is the case for most of the federal workers, one more thing, the people who control thean payroll fory of these agencies on this work for theco department oerce, and they themselves are not getting paid, but they will be putting outfo e payrolr anyone who gets paid. >> we're seeing individuals and is there a wider ripplele effect of any kind? >> there are many economic we're going to focus on just one here. there is a small business owned by a woman named chelsea bunch and she says she is trying to get her business to be an llc. d that, you need the i.r.s. to give you an identification ntnumber. she s a video about the problems she was having because the i.r.s. is in shutdown.

>> we can't get a bank account. we can't gt deposits into a bank account. we're operating entirely inso cashwe had to do payroll on friday in cash. we're probably going to end up doing it again this friday in cash, if the government doesn't open up gain. it's inconvenient to run a construction company in cash. >> she's doing home remodeling in tampa. she can't get anmployer identification number from the i.r.s. because it's shut down. late today, the wte house announced the president is ordering the.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 alcindorgood 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 the arrest of a chinese tech executive in canada. chinese officials also

complained that a u.s. warship had violated its territorial waters in the south china sea. the trump administration has saidt will impose new tariff on china if a trade deal is not reached by march 1. the resumption of trade talks lped wall street rally again. the dow jones industrial average gained 98 points to close at 23,531. nde nasdaq rose 84 points, 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 downower lines last ght, affecting 90,000 customers and, in the south, heavy rains caused mudslides near malibu, ib areas burne by wildfires. 13 miles of the pacific coast highway remained closed for cleanup today. in western afghanistan taliban attacks killed 21 police and mittia members late last ni the militants stormed two checkpoints in badghis province near the border with turkmenistan.d taliban s. officials are

set to meet this month to agscuss a possible cease-fire. a saudi arabian te will be allowed to stay in thailand-- for now-- after fleeing her family over alled abuse. over the weekend, 18-year-oldha rahaf ed al-qunun barricaded herself in a bangkokn airport hotetweeted pleas for help. f e said she renounced islam and feared retributione were sent home. today, al-qunun left the hotel with thai immigration officials. they said the u.n. refugee agency will evaluate 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 la the human rights principles under the rule o >> nawaz: the saudis denied they had tried to force the teen to returnome. her case is the latest to highlight saudi arabia's strict guardiship laws that force women to have a male relative's consent to travel or marry. in france, the trial opened today for a roman catholic

cardinal accused of coveri up sexual abuse by a priest.hi cardinal pppe barbarin is among the most powerful figures in the church. his lawyer says barbarin admits he made mistakes, but that he did not violate the law. back in this country, actor kevin spacey was arraigned in nantucket, massachusetts on charges that he groped an 18- year-old busboy in 2016. lawyers fospacey entered a plea of "not guilty" to a charge of indecent assault and battery. the judge set thnext hearing for march. the governor of tennessee has anted 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 night's golden globe awards. glenn close scored a surprise win as best actress for her role

in "the wife." she plays the wife of a nobelwr prize-winning er. close said it brought to mind her own mother. >> i'm thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life and in her 80s she said to me, "i feel that i haven't accomplished but we have to find personal fulfillment. we have to follow our dreams.ee ( and applause ) we have to say "i can do that and i should be allowed to do that." >> nawaz: sandra oh became the only woman of ian descent 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 bader ginsburg missed arguments today for the rst time in more than a quarter century. ginsburg is 85, and is recuperating after having cancerous growths removed from her lungs last month.wo a court spokesn says, for

now, the justice is working from home. still to come on the "newshour," national parks and immigration changing timeline for troop withdrawal from syria; tge oldest orphan the middle east is imperiled by the civil war in yemen; and much more. id >> nawaz: prt trump has several times said that if congress won't appropriate the billions he wants for the construction of a wall on the southern border, he can declare a national emergency to secure the money. as william brangham reports, while presidents do have sweeping powers to declare emergencies, it's not clear if it would be legal in this case. >> reporter: with me here to w unpare 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 brennan center for justice. welcome to the "newshour". >> tnk you very mh. >> brangham: so before we get to the president's proposal, can you just walk us through the basic rules of this? the president has the authority simply declare a national emergency. tell us a little bit about thath >> the lawt governs national emergencies is the national mmplions act passed by congress in 1976 and, under that law, the president has almost unlimited discretion to declare a national emergency. sciously notse con to include a definition of national emergency, not to include any particular requirements or criteria or to require the presidemake any kind of showing. so rea really all the presidents to down deer the act is issue a declaration he science saying he thinks there's a national emergency, and, at thatponent,

he then gets access to special nwers that are contained more than 100 different laws passed over several decades. >> brattngham: pstriking individual powers, right? can you tell us what the president can do under this? >> many of these powers are quite gnar owe, quite reasonable, but some oem seem like the stuff of authoritarian regimes, so there arpowers that would allow the president to shut down communications facilies and to freeze americans' bank accounts or to deploy the military domestically. so these are some of the powers in there that the president has access to simply with the stroke a pen. >> brangham: help us understand what's the rationale. why would coming pass a law that seemingly gives the president this kind co ditatorial power. >> the idea behind emergency powers is the law that might ordinarily apply might not be sufficient in the case of an emergency, and if you have a true crisis unfolding so quickly that congress doesn't have time to react to it, then you might need to have some stand-by

authorities that givthe president more flexibility. the trick is to make sure that there are enoughks and balances, that the president can't actually abuse these authorities to give himselfen trus powers in situations where there is no true emergency that sort of bringus to the present day. >> let's talk a little bit about that. the president has said there is an emergency on the southern border and he said, if he wats to, if congress can't do what he eynts and appropriate the mon that he wants, he can declare this an emergency and secure th funding. is that true? can he conjure up $5 billion through this act? >> so there are two questions, the first is can eheclare the emergency? as we discussed unde national emergency act, it's very easy for him to do that. and if there isn't a real emergency, there are very fe judges that will actually look behind that determination. but a natioenl eme doesn't mean he can do anything he wants. he is still limited top those

specific -- limited to those specific pers congress has specified and, granted, a lot of different laws. the estion is are there specific laws in there that would allow him to build the law. and there are couple of laws that do allow the president to move money around within thent departf defense for military construction projects or civil defee projects, and i'm sure those are the powers hat the white house lawyers and the department oferefense laare looking at very closely right now. >> brangham: we sw before the midterm elections the presidentd deplome members of the military to string up barbed wire and sort of reinforce the dnce. could he actualloy the military to do actual construction of a wall? >> yeah, i think construction of a wall doesn't necessarily,in depeton circumstances, but, on its face, it doesn't necessarily oss the line tha is a law that's no in the

constitution, it's a statute that says the military can't be used for law enforcement activities. but the way the courts have looked at that, they've looked at traditional law enforcement activitiesike search and easier and arrest, and things like conducting survllance, things like constructing infrastructure, those kinds of things probably don't actually rise to the level where they're going to cause the problems. >> brangham: let's say the president makes theeclaration, the shutdown goes on, the president is tired of where the negotiations are not going, ands he mhis declaration. what do you imagine legally ould happen? we've heard a l leading democrats say the president doesn't have this authority and if htried to do it, we could drag down on our right-of-way in the courts andhe congress. what do you imagine happening? d absolutely congress co act, under the national emergencies act, congress can terminate a state of emergencyn by a jot declaration. >> brangham: house and senate would have to declare that?

>> it's basically a regular law that would have to be signed and pass by the prsident that says congress would have to have a veto-proofajority. the simple majority would pass it and we can assume these ent would veto it. that's the difficult with that approach. of curse, there would be al challenges within the courts, and i think there are some pretty good gal arguments to be made that the specific provisions of law the president would probay relay on really probably shouldn't apply here, but it will be a fight and it won't be a slam-dunk on either side. so it's a sticky situation, say the least. >> brangham: you argued a ally fascinating essay in "the atlanticothat congress shuld take a better look at this and try to define these incertainties you have described. what would you argue congress would try to delineate?st >> ff all, i think congress should not leave it entirely open with the prsident

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 shouldt be entirely up to the president not just to declare an emergency but to keep it going year after year after year. most emergencies last for years .n en we have 31 states of emergency in effect today, including one -- >> brangham: on the books permanently. >> one on the books since 1979. so while ike may sense for the president to be able to 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 doi kong to actually renew the state of emergency going forward. >> brangham: elizabeth goitein, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: last month the president announced he would withdraw.s. troops from syria. secontroversial decision. the

secretary of defnd the official coordinating anti-isist strategy both n protest. since then, the president and his allies have seemed to push pause on that withdr and in the last day, the president's top advisors have suested the delay could last months or longer.t to talk abis i'm joined by our foreign affairs and defense correspondent ck schifrin. so the president's national security advisor john bolton is in the region now, le the midd of a trip to turkey and israel. what does he have to say abo this? >> there's no different on the top line. john bolton said yes the u.s. will wopthdraw trofrom sir e.u. but put conditions on th withdrawal that could take months if not years let's gisten to john boltonen to what he had to sayyesterday. >> we will discuss the president's decision to withdraw east syriaso in nor

in a way to make sure i.s.i.s. is defeated and to make sure than the defense of israel our other friends in the region is absolutely assud, and to take care of those who have fought with us against i.s.i.s and other terrorist groups. e> so those are thre conditions. one, the defeat of i.s.i.s., that's been consistentut throug two, defense of israel, that means countering iran. were ing about iran before the sound byte. he said all u.s. troops will stay in syria till iran leaves syria and a white house oflic says that is still part of the strategy today. three, taking care of those who have fought with against i.s.i.s., a reference to syrian coalition rces, really have been the ground forces with the u.s. against i.s.i.s. andr. i can't one, those goals will take time, months if not years, especially the one abou iran. and two, the conditions, the president said there are no coitions, the u.s. could withdraw because we defeated

i.s.i.s. those are the goals and it will take time, h does withdrawing u.s. troops get us there? >> it's not clear that the is an answer to that question. it's a product of what senior official tells me is strategy incoherent. it's also the infighting witn the administration like we've had in the past. strategy requires having goals and matching them with means. the bottom line isth, if e are these three goals that ambassador bolton laheid out, means withdrawing troops, it's s.ing to be impossible to achieve go >> 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 help usea defi.s.i.s. and that's what it's all about. bolton is going to speak with turkish officials tonight. the sealor offiays 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 the request bycork is so much that it might be more u.s. troops required to helatp turkey to the feet i.s.i.s. than are currently i in syria to defeat i.s.i.s. >> what about the syrn kurdish torces? >> they are lookinwhere they need to protect themselves. they are afraid as turkey because turkey sees them as the enemy. they think the u.s. is going toe withdraw bechat's what the u.s. says, so they turn to the syrian regime, so the people we have allied with against i.s.s. are looking to the syrian regime as an alliance friend. boltonays that's not our real friend, rely on us, we are still with you. but the kur are saying, look, we don't know what you're doing so we're loking to the syrian regime. >> this isn't the first time the u.s. has struggled with the syrian policy or shifted the

c. nkthia>> b weapons, so this is a struggle that crossed ltiple administrations. but from 2014 to 2018, there was a consistent strategy, using ground forces. syrian curr s ans are our allies in order to counterrer.i and defeat i.. that changed this past september where it wassent only at thein fei.s.i.s., ambassador bolton said the u.s. had to stay till iran left and create a permanent political momtum. those two things are very difficult by themselves, andki what tursh president erdogan heard in that and said, you know what? you're going to say there forever and be therforever countering iran, i don't like that. erdogan creates a crisis, calls president trump and president trump declares i don't want anything to do with this,wi i'hdrawing troops, and took to twitter in mid december and made this announcement. >>ur boys, our young women, our men, they' all coming back, and they're coming back

now. .e w >> we won, no conditions, mid decemb, until yesterday, when ambassador bolton created the conditions. president trump today took to twitter and said this was alway part of the plan. he tweeted, we will be leaving at a pr opace while statement continuing to fight i.s.i.s. and doing all else that is prudent and necessary. that the end of is, you can understand why a lot of people in the region are worried about messages from the united states. >> and evolving strategy. thanks for sopping by and explaining it to us. ni schifrin. >> thank you very much. >> nawaz: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," how fresh faces in congress could change how washington works; and a new documentary sheds light on recordiist r. kelly's history of abuse. thoncivil war in yemen will

enter its sixth year.th tens of sands have been killed amid fighting between houthi rebels and yemen's government, backed by a saudi-led coalition that is supported by the unitestates. disease and an acute hunger crisis have kisaed untold ths more. and for children in yemen, thesp war hitsially hard. their losses can be profound-- none more so than the deaths of, or abandonment by, their own parents. from the rebel-held capital, sana'a, special correspondent jane ferguson reports. >> reporter: as the winter sun ris over yemen's ancient capital, sana'a, boys at this orphanagplay 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 happh toe it. the littlest boys eat separately, one of them sent to collect the bread each morning. the children break the breador together bit gets cooked on an outside stove with milk.

it's not much, but in this city many children have mucless. dar riayat al aytam is the oldest orphanage in the middle east. it opened its doors to orphaned cys in 1925, and moved from sana'a's ancient oy to this spot in the 70s. now, around 400 boys call it home. some sent here by extended family, others abandoned by their destitute taken in from the streets. little mohsin douma's father was killed i 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 ednt to do when you grow up? >> ( translat ): doctor. >> reporter: mohsin is lucky. gets to go home to his mom after term ends.

in the arab world, children are often nsidered orphans when their father dies. s yemen, impoverished by the war, single mothn rarely cope alone. some are forced toe-marry 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 t 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 air plane. >> reporter: like many of the boys who have mothers still alive, they live for the promise of visits back home. >> ( trslated ): we are goin io have exams soon and the can go back and see her. >> reporter: but ahmed hasn't been spared the experience of war.

he, like so many of the children re, has seen too much already. >> ( translated ): fighter jets ed to bomb and farms wer exploding. and next to our house there was bombing. things were exploding and burning. >> reporter: the other boys here tell me of theriimes the air s hit near the orphanage ked they were terrified. "when the air stcome we pray and ask god to save us," e of 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 re boys here, but because our location is between two military areas that were targeted extensively so students got scared and left for their villages. >> reporter: yet, as t 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 some cases, it's because divorce happens and a mother has remarried. but it's also because

of poverty. >> reporter: of all the different groups of people in yemen, it is children who are by far the worst affected. in the chaos and cruelty of yemen's war, boys are being recruited to fight in it. the houthi rebels 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, t too, li 40 killed last august when a coalition bomb wan droppe bus full of little boys. and then there is menace of. starvation millions of yemenis are on the br'sk of famine as the count fragile economy has collapsed in this war. 85,000 children have already died of malnutrition and preventable diseases, according to the chari save 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 fhting chance at life when they have to leave

here. and the boys love their studies. but they have also lost souch, and it's still an ordeal for the newest arrivals. >> ( translated ): when the students first arrive at the orphanage they feel shy and t don't tespeak, but after a while they get used to the other boys. they are sad at firs- grieving-- and they isolate themselves, sitting alone. but they then get used tit 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 ne help surviving this war. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jane ferguson, in sana'a, yemen.

>> nawaz: and back in this thuntry, today is day 17 o government shutdown, with neitheside showing signs of backing down. john yang has more on where things stand and the new faces influencing gotiations. >> reporter: amna, a new congress is at work even if some of the federal govnment isn't. and the new members include some progressive democrats who are calling for big changes. cs break all this down, i'm joined by our polionday team. that's amy walter of the "cook political report" antamara keith of npr. the shutdown is in day 17. we're essentially ere we were day one. tam, let me start with you. the president, for tw years of his administration, has been saying he wants this barrier, he wants this wal on the border, but he's signed spending bills without any money for the wall, until now.

why is he digging in now? >> there are a lot of reasons why he might be digging inow. the official reason that we got from vice president pen today is that this is a crisis along the bored that didn't exi earlier, that it is more of a rian anda humani security crisis. that is the administration's argument. the other argument woulde that the president is looking at the tion has begun, and 2020. this is a key central, very important omise of his campaign that he hasn't been able to keep, and if he folded one morme, and his last best chance, then what?fr and, so,m the administration perspective, that's why we're here. from the demra' perspective, they just waged a campaign where president trump, in the midterms, went and held rallies that wereall about border security and the wall, it was such a big focus, and dmocrats won the house, and not by a litt bit.

and, so, their voters are tellg them an polls are telling them why move, don't move on ths, don't fold to the president. they feel it would be a really bad precedent to s at the beginning of a new term for congress. >> amy? so n have anything to lose, right? 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 y it seems that the folks who are in congress will feel the pain is they're either their constituents come to tell them or polling suggests that voters are blaming them. it's really different this time, too, from back when we were talking about these issues in 2016 and 17 and 18, not just that the house changed control, but look at mae senatp. the senate map in 2018, it was tilted very much infavor of republicans. it was red state democrats who were on the ballot, and, so, there was a lot of political calculation from folks like

chuck schumer, the minority leader, ability protecting those vulnerable incumbents. well, guess what? in 2020, there's on oned re state democrat on the ballot. there are a number of blue and purple state republicans on the ballot. how many of them? we've already seen a number o them come out and say we would like to see the shutdown end. it's going to te a lot more than a couple of them, but they're certainly much more vulnerable -- republicans are more vulnerable on this issue than they were, at least in the senate, back in 2018.f >> onee 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 ballo in 2020? lindsey graham, who is linds linde more worried about a primary or general election? a primary. >> this is a rude awakening for about 100 freshman lawmakers in both the house and the senate,

although casua observers the be forgiven if they only think there's one freshmen, rexaesentative aleria cortez, who has been given a lot of attention. she got something this weekend that senior members have never gotten, a full- own profion "60 minutes." >> what you are talking about this big picture is radical agenda compared to the way politics is done right now. >> well, i think that it only has ever bees radicat have changed this country. abraham lincoln made theadical decision to sign the emancipation proclamation. franklin delano roosevelt made the radical decisioo embark on programs like social security. >> do you call yourself a radical? >> if that's what a radical ngans, call me a radical. >> proudly embrathe term radical. what do you make of this, amy?

>> there are republicans who are happy to se her embrace that title, they'd like to putthat n every democrat, they would like to e 2020 campaign on the message that democrats are too radical. but i think we're seeing a beginning of a significant generatial divide within the democratic party and it's not just about the age. it's about style and priits and approach. compromise versus consultation. she talked in the int well about the fact that democrats have compromised too much in the past.we hear folks likie elzabethrn warren, sanders, talking about not only confronting trump himself buwhat they're talk about is confronting the policy agenda, more aspirational, more aggressive. >> freshmen talking about too

much compromise. could speaker pelosi, tam, facing the same problems speaker boehner and ryan did with the tea party with these osortf younger progressives in the democrats in the house and how this is affecting what sh's 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, the votes at havebeen taken have been basically she got what she wanted, deocrats dwell nell line. so it's not clear that she has that oher hands. but seating on the wall does her no good. it does her no good with the democratic base at all, and is one of the first actions, that's why we're stuck. that's why congrs and the president have hit an impasse on this. i this scriesum between

pragmatics and progressives, for lack of a better phrase, is ths also going to shape the democratic primars of 202? >> exactly, i think that's the battle lines 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, prressive agenda. spend too much time apologizing as democrats, they argue, an theu have folks over on the more moderate or compromised side of the ledger, like joe biden, who would argue we need a comeback from the ledge. we've had four years -- over four years of confrontational isproach. what voters wan return to the middle, a return to compromise. if p you look alt pong that's been taken since the election, there is a versional divide among democratic voters, voters over 50 much more willinto compromise even on issues that are really important to them

like imration. voters under 50 say, no, we want our elected officials to 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 keith, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> awaz: a documentary is shedding new light on the life s of rger r. kelly, whose real name is robert kelly.he and as yamlcindor tells us, it documents in graphic ttail allegations of a predatory pursuit naged girls over two decades and accusations of sexual mionduct and abuse. a warning: this story contains seitive and explicit subje matter. >> reporter: in the six-part documentary airing on lifetime,

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

then in 2002, a video surfaced that appeared to show r. kelly having sex with a different teenage girldend committing ading acts. kelly was indicted by a chicago grand jury on 21 counts of child pornography. the trial was delayed and in 2008, kelly was found not guilty on all counts after the victim in the video refused to testify, last y there were more accusations that kelly was trapping women in a "sex cult"-- taking away their phones and limiting contact with eir families. r. kelly has denied all of the allegations in the documenta and in other investigations. last year, his representatives issued a statement that said in part, "black men and women have been lynched for havinfosex or being accused of it. we will vigorously resist this attempted puic lynching 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 songs from their platforms. but spotify and others still

stream h music. in fact, his numbers grew on that service after the documentary aired. r. kelly, who has ld 40 million albums, is still listed as an artist on his record label, rca's website. >> reporter: we turn to jim derogatis, ahicago-based music journalist and critic who first started reporting on this story 18 years ago, after reiving an anonymous fax claiming that r. kelly was sexually exploiting rkderage girls. his rovided some of the foundation for the lifetime documentary. thanks, so much, jim, for joining me. you have been reporting on rblicanr. kelly for close to two decades. how has heeen able to thrive as allegations of sexual abusehi followed? >> i can't answer that question. i think it'sn uprecedented a mas o in demand in the music

industry while leaving this trail, really, literally unecedented, of dozens and dozens of young women whose lives have been ruined. it has noteen a secret, you know, for 30 years now, and, yet, he continues unhindered. >> and as noted, the mute r. kelly movement as grown. how much traction has that movement gained and do you feeli we're at aple point because of this documentary? >> yamie, i could say we were. i thought when the videotape that got him indicted on # 1 counts of child pornography showed up in myx mailb home one day -- go to your mailbox, was the phone call, and there was thitas pe. i thought that was the tipping point. it wasn't. it took six years to go trial, he was acquitted. the trial was limited to one girl and oneeotape and not

what we reported in our first sty in the sun "times" december of 2000, a paern of predatory behavior of using his wealth and fame to pursue underage girls. even as we're speaking, about five miles from herth, nowe are these two young women who their parents say have been separated from their families for three years now. that's happening now. >> that's happening now. it's disturbing the u just described that. now that we're thinking about this, some argue thelat r. has been so successful because some of the women he's abused have, frankly, been african-american women.yo what dmake of that that some say african-american han't valued as much other races? >> i'm echoing only dozens o young black women i've spoken to when i say, yeah, nobody seems to matter less in our society than young ack women.

mark anthony neil, the chair of african-american studies at duke university, we did a panel now, i don't know, 15 years ago, and ie aid one white girl from wanetka, and s would have been a different story -- wanetka is a very exclusive iighborhood in cago. bui18 years of reporting, the sentence that people have said to me more than any other again and again, literally ndreds of sources, brother needs help, he needs to stop. no one h said, i want to destroy this man. they've said he's got a problem and he needs help.ls >> youmentioned that the trial in the 1990s whereel r. was found not guilty of the child pornographycharges, some say because he hasn't been

convicte this is much to do about nothing. d whyou make of people who make that argument? >> well, i've spoken, to you know, re than a dozen brave women who have put their namesd faces to the accusions they have made, in buzzfeed in july 2017. the big story that has revitalized interestsn thi tale got 8.5 million hits online. it is at a tepal point -- tipple point in the sense that we are tike cosby, it took those two dozen women who their names and faces on thecover of "new york magazine" before people said bill cosby has been merting people for a very long i have enuclear missile president for dream hampton, what sheh as done witthis six-part series has given the viewer, the experience i'vhad for 18 years, of sitting with a woman doing the hardest thing imaginable, telling her about

her sexual abuse, going on the rerd, crying on my shoulder, yamiche. i meane i've seen thscars on women's wrist where is they've attempted to kill themselves after relationships with r. kelly, a man who is selling 100 million records, a man who is recording with lady gaga and justin bieber, andwhere is the music industry, his peers, the cord company? as of today he's still signed to rca records and his con certainties are still promoted." "mute r. keas been trying to raise the level of awareness. th e areack women activists, and there have been black women activists protesting since his trial in 2008, since his indictment in 2002, since my first story in decber of 2000. i really can' think -- you know, i'm a student of rock history, a music jornalist, 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 and that's 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 ben reporting on r. kelly for close to two decaddies. we appreciate you joining us. >> it's my pleasure to talk to you, yamiche. >> thank you. gh >> nawaz: now on the pbs newshour online, one effect of ing shutdown: a possible boom in urban rat populations, especially in the district of columbia and other areas withow overg or neglected trash. read more about the problem and other consequences of the shutdown on our web site, pbs.org/newshour.

and that's the newshr tonight. i'm anma nawaz. 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 newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online.on more informatin babbel.com. >> bnsf >> consumer cellular. >> american cruise lines. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

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♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," bridget and elle give deviled pork chops a makeover, jack challenges julia to a tasting of dark chocolate chips, dan uncovers the secret of non-newtonian fluids, and lan makes julia the ultimate thick-cut oven fries. it's all coming up on "america's test kitchen."