captioning sponsored by newsho productions, llc uf >> woo good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshoutonight... >> i can truly be independent. >> woodruff: ...confirmation hearings begin for att general nominee william barr. he faces scrutiny over his views ou the mueller investigation, which he oversee if confirmed. plus, prime minister theresa may's brexit plan loses a critical vote in britain's parliament. then, iowa republican congressman steve king is stripped of his memmittee assis, after the latest in a series of remarks seen as racist. and, we travel to florida, to see how the government shutdown is affectiou people living ide of washington. >> i have a 15 year old and a 10 year old. and it's h that i'm not getting a paycheck

cause they see you go to work. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been ovided by: >> our fleet of small cruise ships res american landscapes, seaside villages, and histocri harbors, where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines: proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> text night and da r

>> catch it lay. >> burning some fat. >> sharing the latest viral cat! >> you can dthe things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and elta. consumerlar. learn more at nsumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutis: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionso your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: parts of the united states government remain shut down tonight, after 25 days. president trump met with congressional republicans today, but the white house said democrats declined to attend. at the capitol, a group of

bipartisan lawmakers said they are trying to work on a compromise. >> there's a group. everybody's talking. everybody wants to find a way out of this. last night, i can just tell you, when they walked out, i think unanimously everybody said, "let's get back. let's open up government. let's basically talk about our differences. i'm not asking the president to stand down on his priority for asborder security, but i ang e m to recognize that in order for him to get s a portion or all of what he is asking for, he is going to deal with a congress that is now led on the use side by democrat-led congress >> woodruff: meanwhile, democratic freshmen membmas of the horched to the senate side of the capitothis afternoon. they demanded that republicans pass bills to reopen the government. also today, the federal aviation administration called another 2,200 aviation safety inspectors back to work. and, the i.r.s. recalled to work

46,000 furloughed employees, 60 percent of its work rce, to handle tax returns and refunds. none of the workers in either agency will be paid. president trump pointed today to a new caravan of migrants from honduras, toolster his demands for a border wall. at least 600 people carrying backpacks started out from a bus station late monday. some were on foot, others boarded trucks and buses. the british house of commons, tonight, has defeated prime minister theresa may's plan for thaving the european union. outcome of the vote was overwhelming: 432 to 202. it sets the stage for a vote of no-confidence in may's government, tomorrow. we'll have a report from london, later in the program. in kenya, explosions and gunfire rocked an upscale hotel and office complex in nairday,

killing at least 15 people. the islamist group al-shabab, based in neighboring somalia, lity.ed responsi the attack left cars burning and sent hotel workers fleeing for their lives. kenyan security forces rushe in, hunting the gunmen, and survivors told of terror and confusion. >> by the time we reached the last entrance to come en gunshots are being aimed at us, so we could not tell where they are coming from, who is shooting them, so we just retreated and went back. >> woodruff: just yesterday, a kenyan magistrate dered three men to stand trial for killing 67 people at a nairobi mall, in 2013. al-shabab carried out that attack as well. in southern africa, a second day of violent protests erupted, after the government doubled toel prices. soldiers intervene disperse crowds in harare, the capital. demonstrators burned tires and blocked roads.

trouble broke out in at least one other city as well. "amnesty international" says eight people were killed in monday's violence.ve the ment says the number was three. the international criminal court acquitted the former president of ivory coast today, of crimes against humanity. 73-year-old laurent gbagbo was accused in the deaths of more than 3,000 people, after he refused to accept defeat in the 2010 election. teis was the court's first t to prosecute a former ouesident. back in thisry, a string of storms has prompted evacuations for partalof southernornia that were burned bare by wildfires. officials fear heavy snow and inin across the los angeles area and surroumountains could trigger mudslides. area residents say they're doing their best tget ready. >> i am going to put my sandbags

directly, probably a line by the driveway and then the side of my house where mud came through la time. >> are you in the order? >> i am, yeah. right in the red. right in the heart of it. >> woodruff: a year ago, ecdslides killed 23 people in the city of moo, and destroyed more than 100 homes. a federal judge in new york has blocked the 2020 census from adding a citizenship question. a coalition of states and cities had argued it's a deliberate attempt to discourage immigrants from taking part. the judge, today, found the question is constitutional. but he said commerce secretary wilbur ross added it arbitrarily, and was not candid about white house involvement. the u.s. supreme court is slated to address the issue in february. there's word that the u.s. environmental protection agency hit a 30-year low last year for prosecuting pollution crimes. the 166 casereferred to the justice department was the

fewest since 1988. ind statement, the e.p.a. s it is focused on the most significant case and, on wall street, stocks rallied after china announced plans to cut taxesnd boost its economy. the dow jones industrial average gained 155 points to close at 24,065. the nasdaq re nearly 118 points, and, the s&p 500 added 27. still to come on the newshour: confirmation hearings begin for a new torney general. britain's prime minister theresa may suffers a key vote on her brexit plan. congressman steve king loses committee appointments after much more. >> woodruff: william barr, eresident trump's nominee to be

attorney g, testified before the senate judiciary committee today. h's hoping to win confirmation for a job he fird nearly three decades ago. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports on the questions he faced about ongoing investigations intthe president. >> alcinr: william barr wasted no time declaring independence from the president who nominated m. >> i will not be bullied into anything that i think is wrong. >> alcindor: barr vowed not fire without just cause special counsel robert mueller. he also pledged not to interfere withigueller's inveion into russian meddling in the 2016 election. >> if confirmed, i will not permit partisan politics, person interests, or any other improper consideration to interfere wi this or any other investigation. i will follow the special counsel regulations scrupulously and in good faith, and on watch, bob will be allowed to complete his work.

ec>> alcindor: barr also rd president trump's repeated claim that the investigation is all a hoax. >> do you believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt against anybody? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> alcindor: he also went one step further. in contrast to the president, he praised both mueller personally and the d.o.j. at large.>> ob is a straight shooter and should be dealt with as such. i love the department and all its components including the f.b.i. i think they are critical institutions that are essential to preserving the rule of law which is the heart beat of this country. >> alcindor: barr was already as attorney general once under president george h.w. bush. pl confirmed again this time, barr will e jeff sessions, who, right after the mid-term p ections, was fired. mr. trs livid with sessions for recusing himself from the russia investigation. ul attorney general, barr oversee the special counsel's pobe. today, democrassed him about his decision last june to send to the justice department an unsolicited memo.

it criticized mueller's focus on president trump's alleged obstruction of justice. >> my memo was narrow in scope, explaining my thinking on a specific obstruction-of-justice theory under a single statute that i thought, based on media beports, the special counsel mighonsidering. >> alcindor: barr admitted that he'd had reservations about accepting the a.g. nomination. he also said he turned dn an offer to join the president's own legal team dealing with the russia probe. >> i didn't want to stick my head into th meat grinder. >> alcindor: meanwhile, barr faced other questions about the "first step" act-- the recently ndgned law cutting back on ory minimum prison sentences. he once opposed sentencing reforms. but today, he promised to enforce the new law. ba so will you commit to me mr. , that you will appoint cople to that independent revimission who are honest brokers to decide which ogfenders should be eligible and which ms should be eligible to participate? r: yes, senator. >> alcinn immigration, barr expressed support for the

trump administration's policies. >> i feel it is a critart r security that we need to have barriers on the border. >> alcindor: the once anib po future attorney general will be back before the committee tomorrow, for a second day of questions. for the pbs newshouri'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: amy klobuar is a democrat on the senate judiciary m mmittee and she questioned willrr earlier today. she joins us now from capitol hill. welcome back to the newshour. your overall impression mr. barr? >> well, i think, first of all, he clearly has the experience from the past of being theen attorneyral, but the question is not just that experience what's he going to do with that experience? and that's why i was so focusedn he fact that he wouldn't cally commit to follow the advice of theer ethics lawyers in the department about whether or note should recuse himself from supervising the

independent counsel's investigation on russia. and, in fact, i asked him that a number of times, and so didpe othele, and he said, well, you know, i will-- they can give me their opinion, but i'm in the going to say if i'm going to rollow it." and it'sic, because he fotually commended attorney general sessionfollowing the advice of the independent counsel and recus.ing himse so that's very concerning to me. >> woodruff: so en though he said at one point-- or maybe at other points as well-- that he will not be bullied by theid prt, he said, into doing anything. he talked about being independent of the president. you're saying that was not enough forou. >> no, but i will say that it was positive that he said that he wouldet the investigation run its course. that was really important. ofourse, the devil's in the details in terms of a budget and the scope of it. and, also, that he said that he uld relase whatever he could to the public. again, he equivocated some of o that, both in my private meeting

with him, as well as publicly today, in terms of what he would allow to be released. and so there are questions that stmain. i'm going to be looking at the transcript, but the overall demeanor, at least he answered our questions.th k there are a number of senators that still want to meet with him who he hasn't met with yet what are on the committee before the hearing. i d convince him meet with me through a series of tweetsri of hot coffee because he wasn't going to meet with hardly any of us.ev but i thinyone should be able to meet with him before making a decision. >> woodrf: so let me just ask you, if he were to serve and not recuse himself from overseeing the mueller investigation, could you be comfortable that he would independent of the president? >> i am very concerned about it because of the 19-page memo he wrote back in june where he literally undermined an important pa, a part of t investigation, and that is obstruction of justi and today i went through with

him a number of things that he did say was obstruction of justice, but he said the firing of someone like jm comey was not obstruction of justice because it was an official act and, again, this concerns me, because i believe you should let director mller do his job. >> woodruff: did you come away with an understandinhy he wrote that memo? it was not a solicited memo. he wrote it on his own. >> yeah, he has said t me personally that he just wrote this memo on his own, 19ages. i noted that most people just don't do that as private citizens, send a memo of 19 pages with legal citations. but one of the things we learned last night that was very encourage because senator grairm got a all ght that explained this and that is he sent this to an amazing number of people it'r lafor the president-- partial lawyers-- the federalis

society. to me it looked like he was doing an essay for a job application. >> woodruff: do you think that's what it was? >> yes, i do, but i haveo ono proof of it. it was just a hunch. >> woodrf: you asked questions about voting rights, other issues-- immigration. did you come away satisfied or not on thoses qtions? >> well, on the voting issues, i'm glad that he wants to work with us on the secure electns act to build it-- we talked to you about befe, senator lankford and i-- that we really need to get backup paper ballots going, as well as audits. and thenn the voting rights issues, i wasn't as convinced. i'm going to ask more questions on the record.st the e department has been, you know, flip-flopped a number of positions, including the texas ting righ case. so that is a problem. and then, also, you have on tin cr justice bill, he did assert in his opening and in some discussions with senator booker that he was going to implement that bil that's good.

but when you look at his past record, he was the opposite of that bholl. soe are things. and then i think the final they think bothered me and a lot of the members was just hs general rhetoric when it came to immigration, when we're dealntng at a momn time when immigrants are getting attacked every day by the white house, i whrkened back to his first boss he was attorney general, george h.w. bush, who once said that immigrants wereour path to the past but also to the future, who said that sen- and eight-year-olds shouldn't live in this country in fear of being deported. so tinse are things that i we're going to ask more about. but again, i didn't like his answers on immigration. >> woodruff: bottom line, yes or no-- are you still open to voting for him? >> i have serious conc i want to look at the record one more time but as i said i have serious concerns based what i heard today. i do appreciate that he said hel allow the investigation to be completed. that's a good thing. and he also has kids that have

worked in the justice system and seemed devoteed to the integrity of the justice system. or>> woodruff: senatmy klobuchar, thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: now, for a perspective from a f justice department official who used to work closely with the nominee. george terwilliger served as william barr's deputy attorney general, and w in the hearing om today for barr's testimony. george terwilliger, welcome back to the program. >> thank you, judy. it's good to be with you. >> woodruff: you heard some of senator klobuchar's concerns, in the end, immigration. but her concern whether bill barr could be an indpendent overseer of the mueller in dstigation? wh you hear? >> i heard the same things that aenator klobuchar and other senators heard t in the hearing room, judy, and i think they should be very much reassured about his independence. made it very clear that he would follow the law based on the facts owhatever the situation was in front of him. on this issue of recusal, i

think it's a red herring, ascause nobody's pointed out any reals upon which bill should recuse himself. and all he said about that was, look, at thend of the day, it's the attorney general's decision whether or not he should recuse, becauset's a different alleged type of reason for recusal tn jeff sessions, whose recrewsal was almost automatic. >> woodruff: because os-- >> involvement in the campaign. >> woodruff: he was involved in the campaign. at the same time, he did-- mr. barr-- did send this memo, unsolicited, to a number of individuals, including the justice department, justice department officials, saying there were certain grounds on which he thought the mueller investigation were unfounded, in particular, pursuing an obstruction of justice case. how do you thrad? again, you heard senator

klobuchar expressing concerns. >> first of all, let me say, i think the hearing today was refreshingly civil. there were tough questions asked. there were probing questions but the entire atmosphere was civil in the way nmy view, those hearings should be. 's that particular issue, judy, i think ery clear that we-- maybe we separate that into-- into twso part. first, lots of lawyers have eroughts about the muell investigation and aspects of the nuclear investigaon. lots of lawyers discuss those thing among themselves. i'm onof the people named in bill's letter with whom he discussed these matters -- not the mo per say,ut the subject matter. the fact that bill took his thoughts a put them into a memo and then sent them to the people who he thought might be interested to hear them, to whom they might be relevant, i d think that-- there was anything really unusual about that or disqualifying? >> woodruff: that wasn't a job

signal that he was interested i. the >> i can tell you that was definitely not. the furthest thing from his mind was the tea that he migh take any job in government again, let alone be attory geneal. it had nothing to do with it. >> woodruff: the big question people have, of course, for any attorney general, is w independent from the white house, from the president, that that person can be? what gives you confidence thatul bill barr not be subject to influence from the white house? >> very simple: bill barr's integrity, his professional integrity, his personal integrity. and he said it today. he said, "i'm not going to be bullied by anyone." i've worked very closely withn bill very difficult circumstances. he will not be bullied by everyone. the thing that i thought came through today in the hearing and the bill they know is his commitment to the rule of law and to the prns importance to te american people of the integrity of the justice department is

paramount to him. >> woodruff:ne other thing want to ask you about is immigration. he said in a series of question-and-answer exchanges that he essentially supports the pretty position, that more needs he be done to shore up the southern border ofunited states. >> yes. >> woodruff: do you know-- i mean, you know him well w far do you think he's prepared to go on that? do you think he agrees with the government shutdown, that the government should dtay shutn until there's more money for a border wall? >> well, he pressed tay, a great deal of consternation with the shutdown, and the effect t that it has men and women in the justice department and elsewhere in government. i don't know what his view is o how far it should go in terms of the length and so forth. on the question immigration generally, i know exactly what he thinks. we both went to the border when he was the attorney general and i was the deputy attorney general. thwas an important part of putting to an immigration eyitiative during his tenure as

attoeneral. there is no doubt-- and it's just common sense-- that barriers ofnarious types--d i think this is exactly what bill said today-- technological barriers, physical barriers, human barriers, are important to securing the border. the fact that the rhetoric hasth devolved t wall, i'm not sure how much bill sort of buys in that and how unfortunate it is that it's come can to that. but the most important point he made today was he believes in the importance of immigration and legal immigration and separating that fro-- we just cannot have the chaos of people letting them in-- letng themselves in, as he put it, lrough the back door, while people wait ne to come in through the front door. >> woodruff: one more in aes serif truly important issues that came up today. >> indeed. >> woodruff: geo te terwilligenk you very much. >> thank you, judy.

>> woodruff: as we reported earlier, british prime minister theresa may's plan for brexit, the united kingdom's withdrawal fromhe european union, was soundly rejected in parliament today. now, the prospect of the u.k. leaving the e.u. with no deal in place becomes more real. and tonight, amid political chaos in the u.k., the leader of scotland's government has called for a second brexit referendum. special correspondent ryan ilcote reports from london. >> the ayes to the right: 202, the no's to the left: 432, so ve no's have it. >> reporter: te came just 10 weeks before britain is due to leave the european union. but despite the overwhelming rejection in parliament, prime minister theresa may vowed to press ahead. li i believe we have a duty to r on the democratic

decision of thbritish people and to o so in a way that brings our country together. >> reporter: today's vote, g bbed "the meaningful vote," came after two lars of bitter negotiations in brussels, the seat of the e.u. ow's also another major blo may's leadership, one of the bigget defeats a british prim minister has endured in modern history, and comes just a month after her own party tried but failed to oust her. she had postponed this vote from decemberto try to drum up more support; but, the month didn't matter, in the end. critics from may's own conservative party argued the divorce agreement falls short of implementing britain's 2016 vote to withdraw from the bloc. >> people voted to leave. they didn't vote for a deal; they voted to leave. and this deal doesn't actually make us leave cleanly. >> reporter: the main sticking point of brexit has been theo- called irish "backstop." it aims to prevent the reintroduction of border controls between northern

ireland, which is part of the united kingdom, and the republic of ireland, which is part of the e.u. right now, vehicles and goods can cross freely. arlene foster is the leader of northern ireland's democratic unionist governing coalition. >> the backstop was something th we could not accept. it does violence to the union. it separates us from the rest of the united kingdomn a very, very obvious way. >> reporter: there are also fears may's brexit deal could actually bind britain to the e.u.'s trade rules indefinitely, and constrain it from forging its own bilateral deals. >> i wish there was a political declaration that actually did point a way to a future that secured our economy, our jobs and our futures, and wasn't the meaningless text, the leap in the dark that it actis. the country deserves so much better than this totally inadequate agreement! >>eporter: passions ran hi

during today's debate in the run-up to the vote. >> all they're doing by causing me to intervene is taking time away, not necessary, totally >> reporter: following the vote, labour leader jeremy corbyn filed a no confidence motion. >> the people need to be able to take back control and a general election would give them the opportunity to decide who their m.p.s were, who their government was, and who was negotiating on their behalf. md it would give that new governmentdate, a mandate that is needed to break deadlock that has been brought to this house by this government. >> reporter: if britain leaves the e.u. on march 29th without an agreement, many worry it uld plunge the economy into recession, or worse. supermarke across the u.k. are already stockpiling goods and raising pric amid the growing uncertainty. anu. leaders insist they will not renegotiatpart of the

darly 600-page exit deal. after the historbbing, prime minister may again said it was parliament's job to make good on brexit. l i ask members on all sides of the house ten to the british people who want this issue settled and to work with the government do just that. >> reporter: prime minister may now has until monday to devise a "plan b" proposal to bring back to parliament. but that would appears -- unlikely to happen as >> woodruff: so, ryan, does she have a plan "b"? not really. i think going into this vote, her idea was to push through lois, go back to brussels and say,k, they didn't support this. let's ke-- make some concessions." het given the margin of defeat here, maybeon't race back

to brussels. she's talked about after-- after the vote, sheked about reaching out to the parliament, to all parties in thrle ment, to see what could be done-- done-- ie ybe real revising her proposal from what it is now to selething ent different. maybe a norway-style relationship with thopean union. so the answer real quickly is, no, she doesn't. ?> woodruff: so what is the alternative th so she comes-- is she going to have to scramble then and come up with something to present? is that what it adds up to? >> well, the very first thing she has to do is keep her job because the leader of the opposition has tabled this motion of no confidence, and if se doesn't survive, th is no longer prime minister. she has to spend the next wetwo s trying to keep her job, and if she fails that, there could be a general election. she couldn't even go brussels, if she wants. the alternatives after that aren't good ones. she can try and forge a new deal. given the margin, again, not so

easy. or she could-- but a lot of people have really advised --ainst within her own governmehe could suggest a referendum, a second vote, fut to the british people and say, "okay this is the deal on the table. do you suppo this? that would be a really risky move, but that would be one way to find out what the british people support, and possiy a way to break the deadlock here in the parliament. >> woodruff: well, ryan, is it known what a ma jompt british publicould support? no, we don't know what they want. we know that two years ago, they voted to exit the ropean union, but we don't know how they feel about this particular deal or what they wouldike to see? we know that they don't like what was put forward to thetom y. there have been polls that showed that if this was put in ont of them, then they, too, would vote it down. parliamentt the doesn't like it. but what they're for isn't

clear. what's one of the reasony people say there should be this second vote, where people have an opportunity to weigh in on what's in front of them. >> woodruff: well, it is quite a spectacle, andi know youe going to continue to report on it. ryan chilcote, outside the parliament in london, thank you >> thank you. >> woodruff: republican congressman steve king has been a fixture in iowa politics for nearly two decades, but he has come under new scrutiny after he questioned, in an interview last week, why the term "white nationalism" is offensive. est this afternoon, the "des moines register'torial ssard called on king to resign. congnal correspondent lisa desjardins reports on how the publican party is distancing itself from a representative with a long history of controversial statements.

rdins: this morning, at a house republican news conference... >> open it up to questions. >> d were mostly about leader kevin mccarthy's decision to strip committee membership from 16- year-congressman steve king. >> we believe the base of our country is fundamentally different an what he talks of. >> desjardins: the rebuke comes after king told the "new york times," as part of a lengthy einterview last week, "wh nationalist, white supmacist, western civilization, how did that language become offensive?" on the hou floor friday, king said his thoughts were misrepresented and cherry- picked. >> the "new yorkimes" is suggesting i'm an advocate for white nationalism and white supremacy. i want to make one thing abundantly clear: i reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define. >> desjardins: but republicans y re not swayed. too.p. conference chairwoman liz cheney said king should not just be penalized, he should go. >> his language questioning whether or not the notion of white supremacy is offensive is absolutely abhorrent.

it's racist. o not support it or agre with it. and as i said i think he should find anoth line of work. >> desjardins: this after nearly two decades of controversy from king, with a history of comments the critics see as anti- immigrant, anti-minority and anti-muslim. just one example: in 2013, the anngressman argued illegal immi were "undermining" american culture.on >> for evewho's a valedictorian, there's another 30100 out there that weigh pouds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because ofthey're hauling 75 pound marijuana across the desert. >> desjardins: but republican presidential hopefuls have long sought king's endoerement. in octpresident trump showed his support. >> we are thrilled to be joined tonight by aumber of terrific publican leaders, iowa congressman steve king >> desjardins: on monday, he refused to weigh in on keag's latest hine. >> i don't-- i haven't been following it. i really haven't been following it. >> desjardins: last night

however, majority leader mccarthy clearly was paying asattention, and said king shown a pattern. >> these are not the first time we've heard these comments but it's not the party of lincoln, it's definitely not america. all people are created equal in america and we want to take a very strong stance abo that. >> desjardins: for more on the fallout over the controversial congressman, we are joined by o. kay henderson, news director at radio iowa. and asma khalid,ho covers the intersection of politics and demographics for npr. kay, i want to start with you. tell us, how do voters and politicians see king's remarks, and also the actions again him by republicans? >> this is a split decision among republicans. there are republicans among the conservative base that very much think steve king is beg thrown under the bus. those were the words that were used by the former republican national committee woman from iowa on twitter this mning. whereas, there are other republicans who have sort of run

out of pairks. in the word of one, they're just weary of defending congressman king. the reason this is sort of risen to the fore is because heid not perform as well as expected in the 201 election, and looking forward to 2020, republicans here on the grod are worried about their prospects if he is on the ballot. >> asmarx of course, late today, the house of representatives passed a resolution that recognized or talked about steve king's comments, and then condemned white supremacy and white nationalism-- though didn't specifically coemn him. my question to you is these are not the first controversial remarks he's made, not even the first controversial remarks about the phrase "white supremacy." why, politically, do you think this is happening now? >> i mean, i think that kay is correct in sort of pointing out the political realithe ground there in the district of iowa that made this rise up. i also think toe s degrees

there are republicans in the party increasingly frustted with the tone the party standard bearer donald trump has taeyn, and an't continuously call him out on things, nor do they feel like that's a political plea lee expedient thing to do so it's easier to publicly rebuke and reprimand a sittico ressman. >> interesting. way, which i have been reporting on politics in iowa, voters tolerate. some said he questions smulticulturalism, is ne mixing cultures is a good idea. why is itoters keep electing him? what do they see in him? >> i talked to a well-known conservative in e district today, and the word they used is "loyalty." steve king has been loyal to him and the district and hey feel if return they should be loyal to him. newscast, when king has been

rebuked as he was by jown boehner for comments king made about the so-called dreamers, resides in that district rose up and defended him. i think one of the things that steve king has said that may be resonating with his base in that district is that this is an attack on him by the establishment of the party. and back to my first point, when you look at tt district, donald trump won that district by 27 points the 2016 election. so there is a largewath of voters in there who are anti-establishment, and so that is going to resonate with them. >> asma, let's take a bigger viewcahow is the repub party generally dealing with race right now? is this a sea change today? it something less? what is this? wher tare they? >>nk that's an excellent question. >> and don't know what the answer is entirely npart because if weook at the party's standard bearer, it's donald waump. and, you know, kaytalking

about how well he did in steve king's district. i mean, a l of the sort of quantitative analysis that we've seen since the 2016 election really does show that a number people who were president obama supporters who then became donald trump supporters did switch because of identity politics or racebased issues. this is not just me talking off the cuff on anecdotal interviews we've done. we have researchers who havloe ed at this really analytically and have found that a number of people, sort of one of the most consstent reasons we saw the shift was largely because of people who identified with what we call a white grievance, right, this idea that folks feel thathite peopl have it worse than anybody else in society. and so when yad have the r of the republican party as it is, in the form of donald trump right now, who is really capitalizing on that sentiment, i think it's really hard to assess what's happening below, whether it's in the form of congress or even at a local republican club member that's

different because what we're araring from the president doesn't necey support the idea of a sea change. >> asma let me stay and f with you and talk about the stake here's. i'm curious, we seem to have ope y that believes racism is a core and significant problem in our society. we have another party that believes that it isge exagted and racism is being used as a political foil. what are the risks of that divide? what's at stake in thi debate? >> oh, gosh. i mean, i think that as s we both parties really identify more with sort of race-based ideologies or identity politics, as you could say. that's kind of dangerous, because to some degree then what ends up happelng is peope feel far more personally attacked when their party loses. and there are sentiments that we saw among some folks who reay identified more with a white nationalist vision, who felt that way when president obama was elected. and we certainly saw that many folks of diffrent minority groups felt personally attacked when donald trump was elected. i mean, i thin that th

difficulty both parties have as we move forward is it's reallyy hard, it's v difficult to discuss public policy issues, independent of race or culture because that's just become a part of so much of this conversation at this point. >> and it' a conversation we will continue. asma khalid of npr, o. kay henderson of radio iowa, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: 25 days andnt countingthe government shutdown, the impact is being felt far and wide. in florida, john yang found the ripple effects reaching the swamps of the everglades, the tourist packed airports and even future weather forecasts. >> you guys are okay to get a little wet? >> yang:or 17 years, nature guide garl harrold has been urmaking a living leading through everglades national park.

>> it's dropping three inches a day, if you look on the trees you can actually see the watermark. >> yang: ...taking people from around the world, like this couplerom germany, slogging through cypress swamps for up- close encounters with alligators, snakes, and an array of other wildlife. >> we got red shouldered hawks up here, there's actually a nest around the corner. >> yang: but the government shutdown is king a big bite out of his business. >> it's slowing down. it's really slowing down. >> yang: how slow? >> pre i mean our numbers are down and we're getting cancellations. especially in europe and abroad because they don't want to come here. >> yang: while the gates are open, there's no one to collect entry fees, d some apparently believe the park is closed. as a result, business is drying up for harrold and other guides. ncw squeezed are you right now filly? >> pretty tight. very tight. actually, i've gone through most a my savings to just make my mortga the car payments

and insuranc >> yang: it would likely be even worse if it weren't for people like peter campbell. he does the daily chores that national park service workers dibefore the shutdown: staffi the main visitor center's information desk, taking out the trash, even cleaning the men's roo >> being a former school principal, it's not unusual for s. to have to clean restro >> yang: campbell's work is being funded by the non-profit flora national parks association. jim sutton runs the group. he says it's literally paying to keep the lights on so you're paying for the electricity. >> yes. >> yang: who's paying for the toiletaper? >> i am. >> yang: who's paying for the ap? >> i am. >> yang: some of the money comes from the park's gift shops, where business has also dropped during the shutdn. spending more to maintain the park now could mean tough decisions in the future. but sutton doesn¡t see any other choi. >> my logic is it's much easier

to maintain it now than it is to catch up later whenever the government does reopen to pick me yang: this couldn't come at a worse or the everglades and the businesses around the park that depend on tourists. this is when they make their money. ved once it's lost, it's lost arrer. for garlld, it's the second bad season in a row. last winter, the park was recovering from category five hurricane irma. how much of what you make in a year, how much do you make in this period? >> most of it. >> yang: so if you lose business now... >> then it's hard to catch back up. we're already suffering om irma. >> yang: how worried are you? >> pretty worried. >> yang: worrys something cassandra blackmon knows well. she's a t.s.a. officer at the sirt lauderdale airport, a le mom who's not getting a paycheck. >> i have a 15 year old and a 10 year old. thd it's hard to explain to them

i'm not getting a paycheck ncause they see you go to work. >> yanionwide, 51,000 t.s.a. agents are on the job without pay during the shutdown. miami international airport is one of several where officers are calling out sick. so many that, this past weekend, one concourse closed early. blackmon says morale is so low that some of her t.s.a. colleagues may quit. if president trump or members of congress were here, what would you say to them? >> what do i say to them? you know, i don't even think i n say that on tv. it's disgusting. it's very immature of the whole it's like, "i'm not getting what i want, so'm going to whine about it and make poor people suffer more."bl >> yang: erie's family is zawn to one paycheck-- his wife, 's. ca's a meteorologist at the national hur center in miami, working without pay.

if he misses anothr paycheck, thnancial forecast is bleak. >> right now i'm stat a host of christmas bills, not really knowing how to pay them. i pay the minimum on all my credit cards. esve cut the non-essential purp >> yang: blake's work is considered essential, but arly 200 scientists who would be preparing for the next hurricane season are furloughed. ak we really focus our efforts ong better hurricane forecasts for intensity and track. we really pride ourselves on it. and right now we're juble to do it. to have a list of dozens of things we're tryino. we're not going to doing any of them. >> yang: and theenter has had to cancel the first of three training classes for emergency managers from hurricane prone eas. the other two are in doubt. is it too much of a stretch to say that the furloughs the s seeing now could cost lives in the hurricane center later this summer? >> it's really not that much of a stretch. you know, if i were moving to

florida i would want my emergency manager to have the best possible information to aike their decision and without the ng and outreach that the hurricane center does with fema, it just isn't possible. >> yang: while blake worries about the hurricane season ahead, cassandra blackmon, the t.s.a. officer, is jusng to weather the shutdown. >> i think it's crazy, it's it's ridiculous. it's class and the poor people. lecause a lot of federal employees are milass you don't qualify for anything. you make too much or you don't make enough. so we're stuck in the mile. >> yang: andature guide garl harrold is slogging through, one step at a time. >> just keep in mi, if it wasn't for the volunteers that are keeping the bathrooms clean and doing the stuff they're doing, we wouldn't have been able to do this. >> yang: as he and others search for ways to survive the government shutdown.

for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in everglades national park. >> woodruff: idaho republican james risch is the new chair of the senate foreign relations committee. nick schifrin sat down with him today to discuss how he views >> schifrin: mr. chairman, it's a pleasure. thank you very much. let me start with the news. the president felt compelled sterday to come out of t white house and say, "i am not a russian agent." the president's rhetoric is often defensive of president vladimir putin, and the president of the united states often reflects russi priorities. rhetorically. do you believe the president of the united states acts in ways that hel russia? >> you know, i really don't. he has a list of things that he's done, as far as russia is concerned. these are not good people that we're dealing with, and we know we're dealing with, and we know

it. the president knows it. we put sanctions on them. we're going to continue to do at. so as far as russia is concerned there is no feeling in this town by anybody that i know of that we're dealing with human beings that can be trusted or that we should be embracing. >> schifrin: president trump has parroted russian propaganda about the soviet iasion into afghanistan, about montenegro, even calling the u.s. military exercises asia "war game" exercises asia "war games," which is what vladimir putin calls them. >> i've talked to the president about russia on number of occasions, and he's fully aware of the issues there and the kind of people that we're deali with. we're spendi an inordinate amount of time now talking about russia simply, simply because of the factors that they have done lately. the largest concern of ours should be china. if they continue to go down ways that are not in keeping with the rule of law, that is a serious, serious problem that we've got to counter. thgood example of that, the

poster child oat, is probably the south china sea. hemean, that's a very aggressive by china to expand geographic influence and control. the way that they have wmisappropriated everythive got, from patents to artistic talent andverything else, uses you to have to rethink the kinds of things that you're eaing. >> schifrin: i wasng a story by the "post register" about idaho potato farmers and the story said potatluexports and have dropped because of retaliatory tariffs imposed in responsto president tariffs. so is the president's confrontational stancen trade worth it if it causes short-term pain for your constituents? >> well, there's always sht term pain when your elbowing to get a leg up on the opposition. look, my fily is on the ag business. we're in the same position.

and the markets in agriculture hix and wane. inparticular case, the pain that's being felt is significantly more in china than it is in the united states right ifw. >> sn: i want to move to the middle east. should the united states withdraw from northern or northeastern syria? i think the rollout of this was done on twitter as opposed to a deep, in-depth paper on the position. >> schifrin: should it have heen done differently? >> but-- look, t president understands that we can't leave e kurds behind, and he's been very vocal on that in recent ays. o understands that in syria, we're going to have situations we very well may have to respond t we have to have platforms to respond to it from. and weave those platforms-- >> schifrin: outside of syria. >> in adjacent countries, that's correct,nd that will work. >> schifrin: the number one goal has been to destroy isis. >> correct. >> schifrin: andhe withdrawal plan requires turkey to go in and help with that effort, or complete thatffort. turkey has called syrian kurds,

the u.s. partner whom you mentioned, terrorists. is turkey focused onestroying isis, rather than attacking the syrian kurds, and is it capab ju doing that by itself? >> the turks, in mment, are not as sophisticated as they should be in dealing with the kurds. thigh paint all the kurds with the same brush. with the turks, they are allies of ours but we cannot condone ngr will we condone them going in and dtrocities against oe kurds >> schifrin: othe administration's goals in syria is to evict iran. that doesn't necessarily have to happen with u.s. troops, but do you worry that the removal of u.s. troops from northern syria reduces the leverage of diplomatic efforts and economic effort to try to evict iran from syria? >> i would doubt that you can are, 2,000 troops there we could get that job done.

>> schifrin: secretary of state pompeo delivered a comprehensive criticism of president obama's middle east rolicy last week. obama pivoted awaysaudi arabia-- >> he tried to-- ro schifrin: tried to pivot awaysaudi arabia and toward iran. do you fear atll that the administration has gone too far in other direction and defended saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman despite questions about the war in yemen, which has lled tens of thousands o civilians, and despi jamal khasggi's murder? >> you've touched on the pioblem in the r and the problem in the region is iran. every time we have a problem in the region, they've got their fingerprints in it. is not a regime to be embraced. the great hope there is e iranian people. they're a proud people wh a long history, they don't want what they've got going in there either, and we ought to do everything we can to help them get to where they want to be. >> schrin: but does confronting iran require backing a young crown prince in saudi arabia? >> i think what you need to focus on is iran. that whole thing in yemen could end tomorrow if iran would just wash their hands of it and step away. >> schifrin: you're an ally en the pres your predecessor was more

critical of the president. do you see your role as conducting oversight on the president's foreign policy or enacting some of the president's agenda? >> look, i want to work with the president. if the president is successful, america will be successful. everyone in america should wish the president success. like all tngs, some things we agree on, other things we don't agree on. when you have issues on these kinds of things, thebest resolved one on one, and not arguing on the front page of the newspaper.ea now, your coes in the sudia would disagree with that. but we've been veressful in idaho, as far as operating itour state, and we've dony trying to resolve things personally, and i will work on that with the president of the united states. >> thank y t very much. nk you.

>> woodruff: broadway legend carol channing passed away ely today, in rancho mirage, california. channing won fame as "dolly levi" in "hello, dolly!", and performed it more than 5,000 times over the years. at the 1971 tony awards, in character,he sang "before the parade passes by." >> ♪ before the parade passes by i'm going to get some life back ♪ into my life i'm ready to move out in front ♪ i've had enough of just passing by life ♪ with the rest of the them, with the best of them, i can ♪ hold my head up high for i've ♪ot to go again 've got to drive again i've got to feel my heart coming

♪ alive again before the parade passes by ♪ >> woodruff: "hello, dole." carol channing was 97 years old. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow eveni 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 languagepp that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support ofhese institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionsur pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by nehour productions, llc captioned by a access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ hello, everyone,nd welcome to amanpour & company. here's what's coming up. >> it's beautiful. >> extraordinary times, the fbi on investigated trump as a possible russian agent. and, is he really going to bomb iran? we digest these latest headlines as the longest government hutdown in u.s. history continue i'm joined by the former chair of the house intelligence committee, republican mike rogers. then -- >> ladies and gentlemen, the enemy is committed to detonating a nuclear device in an american city, unless we act now. >> a political thriller on the silver screen. hollywood legend jamie lee curtis onew her movie "an acceptable loss," plus,