b captioning sponsored newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy wdruff. on the newshour tonight, a house divided-- president trump delivers his state of the union after the longest government shutdown and no deal in sight for a border wall. we talk with lawmakers, historian michael beschloss puts the address in context, and our panel previews what is at stake for the president. plus, mr. trump's plan to keep forces in iraq to monitor iran sparks condemnation in baghdad avd calls for the u.s. to all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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nal-life conversations in language. >> and with the ongoing support these institutions: this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. e woodruff: this is state of ion night, and the battle lines are drawn. the white house says president trump will appeal for unity, nden as he holds to his de for a border wall. newly resurgent democrats say the president himself is the proble the split was clear at the capitol today as mr. trump's supporters and opponents soued off. >> i think he's going to do a good job and i think he really is making an effort. he'll make some statements tonight that'll surprise a lot of people on the other side. and i'talking about

conciliatory things. and i think it comes from the heart. this guy is-- he has background that has shown him in differenti ts and he's always been successful. >> well the president hasn't been acting on unity for two years up and down the line. he's always criticizing, dividing, and so if he calls for unity tonight we'll have to say daat happens tomorrow and the day after and thafter. tecause in past he's called for unity and has forgabout it by the next morning. >> wdruff: the formal democratic response tonight will come from stacey abrams. she narrow lost her bid last year to become georgia's first black governor asi is now a star in the party. let's turn now to our sa desjardins at the capitol and yamiche alcindor at the white house. yamiche, to you first. i haveeen talking to folks at the white house, much of it off

the record. you've been talking to them, too. what do we know for certain, or what do we think the president will focus on >>night? he president will focus on unifying our nation and unifying both political parties, but some, of course, say there are some credibility issues there because of his political track record of rffeally ending and giving insults to his political opponents. the president is expected to talk about a number of topics, including illegal immigration, healthcare costs, including trade, and wars and foreign policy as well as infrastructure. he's supposed to be at some point pitching and asking congress to come up with some sort ofen fracture plan. the prssident's alsposed to be talking about h.i.v./aids and trying to end the@ of that deadly disease by 203r0. theident is also supposed to be talking about his ideas for a way for it's really important, though, to remind people that the president has been tweeting today and he's been saying that chuck schumer's mad that he didn't win the senate.he said in the past that democrats don't believe in border security, so while the prident puts forward this

unifying message, people are saying, ju look at what you tweeted today that will be hurting that unifying message. >> woodruff: lisa, we know the other party ways prepares for what the president is going to say. what are democrats saying about how they plan toha handle, t they expect the president to say and how they will respond to it? >>emocrats are more excited about this response than i've heard them in some time. stacy abrams to them represents a shift away from playing it safe. there is one long-time progressive who told me tonight, we've been playing it too safe as demsorats. we waneone who has a clear, aggressive agenda like stacy abrams, who talks about vote rights. she also represents some other important themes for democrats tonight, diversity in two ways. ge, she will be first african american woman ve a major party response. also, though, she will be the first non-elected official. she no longer holds office, rnatorialst the gu race last fall, she will be the first non-elected official to give this kind of response some a sort of outsider and also a core part of the democratic

base. this also sticks taeme we'll see visually on the floor, democratic women in the house aring all white. they say that is to show a sign, a reference to the suffer gets, but one of them told me it's smart visual cue. they want the hghlight the gives between democrats and their increased diversity this thisongress and republicans, who have less i diversity in ths congress. >> woodruff: lisa, staying with you, yamiche mentioned the president is supposed to talk tonight about border security. what do we know at this poiabnt t where the conference committee working on that issue for the layst several da they have a deadline facing them. talked today to speaker pelosi and minority leader chuck schumer. they saiprogress is being made. what are you hearing? >> my reporting is the same.t talking toher leaders and people who are on the conference mee. there is real progress on the staff level. they think they could come up with a deal if it is just left to the members of the appropriations committee alone. judy, the conference committee will have an unusual meeting morrow morning, closed door,

with career border patrol officials. now, it's not clearwhy that's closed door, but one staffer told me that they think it's because they want th questions and answers to be as forthright as possible. they are looking at trying to get a conference report by the end of the week or this weekend at the l iest. they thi's doable, but there are many x factors, one of being the president and what he says tonight about border security. >> woodruff: and finally yamiche, what do we know about how the president is planning a for tonigd also mraditionally the president has guests coe to the capital. who do we know those to be? >> the president is using national stage to make the case that the state of the union is great but that t would be better if there were concerns met and people paid attention to the concerns that he has. right behind me at the white house, the president has been preparing and really using ts speech as a way to prepare himself to talk on a teleprompter. he had a teleprompter actually brought into the white house, so

he's going to try the make sure he's reading properly. the other thing he's going to be doing is bringing in guests. the guests he's bringing in are one, family whose family member was murdered or killed by an undocumented immigrant. the president's ultimately bringing a little boy nam joshua trump who was bullied because of his last name, whicht he playsh the president, and the president is also bringing someone who was fre by the criminal justice reform act that was passed by both parties.pr thident says we wants bipartisanship. this person who came out of prison is emedying what w could be doing in the future. >> yamiche alcindor at the white house, lisa desjardins at the capitol. we will certainly come back to the two of you later tonight when we havealur spe coverage. thanks. we want the hear from lawmakers now. representative james clyburn of south carolina is the third highest ranking democrat in the u.s. house.om he joins us fapitol hill. representative clyburn, thank

yosvery much for joining. >> thank you. >> woodruff: what are you looking for trump to say tonight? >> well, the president is asking us to choose greanatness i would hope that we hear some greatness from him. but, you know, i have been reading a lot of "democracy inla america" oe. it tells us that america's greatness is not because we are more enlightened tha other country, but because we have always been ablto repair our faults. i would hope that the president tonight will demonstrate that kind of greatness. suppose some things that we can do to repair our faults. they have been highlighted quite a bit in the last several months, and i am hopeful that whatever he says tonight will bring us together as a people,

move us forward as a country, and make us really great. >> woodruff: where do you see there could be common ground? who white -- the white house sas we've tried the omakeertures to democrats on border security. they haven't met eye to eye with us. they tick off a number over issues where they say democrats haven't been able to meet them halfway. what do you -- where do you see potential common ground? >> well, i think that there's common ground to be hd on border security. the president seems to have backed away from hisoncrete, 30-foot-high wall and is now talking about more broader security. he's talking about barriers. and we too ve backed away from our positions of no money for any kind of wall. we are advocating a smart wall,

using 21st century technology to make this wall as smart as we have made our telouephones an televisions. so we can have a smart wall, one that will use drones to keep anybody from flying over it, use x-ray equip to keep anybody frou getting d it, use scanners to keep anybody from burrowing under it undetected. we can do this in a smart way. i just came back from brownsville, texas. we were at a port ofen try. -- port of entry. i saw a port in dire need of trofitting. i saw fencing that's already there in dire need ofepairing. i do believe that we can do what is necessary to secureur border, just do it in a smart way, not to build monument to anybody. >> woodruff: so to be clear,

you're saying democrats, you're third in line in leadership in the house, the democrats are prepared to support the money for some sort of physical barrier? >> so long as it's done smartly. i believe that we will vote for whatever that committee comes out. if they come out with a bipartisan aroach -- approach to get this done, irrespective of hothey put it together, i do believe you'll get extensive pport among democrats for it. it may not be unanimous, but there will be a lot of unity. >> woodruff: are democrats prepared to show respect to the president tonight? i asked that, because we remember under president obama there were state of the union addresses when members called out to him, one of them calling him a liar. how do you see tonight going? >> i think you'll see us being very respectful. you know, my dad used to teachim

us all the that the first line -- sign of a gooeducation is good manners. so i try to put my education on display every time i walk enter the halls of congress or the hous you may remember when that yell was made, i'm the one that led the charge to get a resolion of disapproval for what my colleague said that night, and it passed the house of representatives, and i think that we showed then that we disapprove of such actions, and we certainly are not going to do anything to violate what we did last year. >> woodruff: congressman clyburn, what oter areas do you see democrats and republicans and the white house working together on this year? >> oh, i think we can do a comprehensiven -- comprehenve infrastructure deal. i think it's necessary for us to develop our rural communities.

we need to be puttia in wter and sewers. we need to be repairing roads and bri we need to be building schools in our rural areas. we can do a comprehensive bill that would have broad bape deployment going into these rural communities. too many of them are being left we need to make this investment. it will pay off handsomely if we do, and i really believe it can be done in a bartisan way. >> woodruff: congressman james clyburn, the whip for the democrats in the house of representatives, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we heard, president trump is expected to double down inis speech tonight, calling on congress to fund a wall along the southern border. one option he hasn't red out-- declaring a national emergency to build the wall, is causing a split among senate republicans. senator lindsey graham warned yesterday there could be a war within the g.p. over the wall. we turn now to one of the

president's strongest allies in congas senator davgi perdue of ge senator, thank you very much for joining us. i think you were there. well, there you are. senator, how much of a divide is there still do you think between republicans and democrats, between democrats and the white house over what is going to happen with regard to a barrier, a wall at the southern brder? >> well, i hope that it's narrowina judy. this iituation where we're dealing with a topic that boast sides are making the sam argument i mean, this is the fifth president in a row that's asked congress for borfuder ing to build a wall. i mean, h.w. bush built the first mile. even barack obama built 135 miles of wall. both parties agree that this is a national security issue, andwe eed to do it now. the problem is the hypocrisy of politics have brought us to this point. i'm hopeful that this conferenc committee is going to get to a bipartisan solution here that we i'm hopeful that wil, judy.

>> woodruff: as you know, senator, during the campaign over two yearago, the president was talking about a wall. at times he spoke about a concrete wall. at times he spoke about sea to haining sea. the president hased what he's asking for, isn't that fair to say? >> tis is man who is, number one, trying to protect the amheican people. fighting for our national security. there are 2,000 miles of that southern border. 650 miles, judy, already have some sort of barrier on it. ngand he's asor a little more than 200 miles. so i think that puts it in perspective, but hi wants it to be put in positions where drug trafancking, humrafficking, and illegal immigration is happening the most seve manner right now. >> woodruff: from what you know, we just heard congressman clyburn say he believes there tan be success in tha conference committee. left to their own devices, they can come up with an agreeme. are yo optimistic that's going the happen, as ll?

>> i'm hopeful. i'm not sure i'm optimistic yet. we'll know tomorrow, because upese are non-political people who are comino give some advice to the committee. i'm hopeful tomorrow we'll hearc some statemenming out of that conference committee that will give us optimism about st this impasse. the other thing, judy, this is ridiculous. this is an appropriation issue at should have been dealt with before september 30th last year. we're in the fifth month ofur new fiscal year. so i'm hopeful that everybody t will gs done this week. >> woodruff: i think you know, senator, the president is still not ruling out the idea of declaring a national emergency in order to go ahead and build the waeyl, put monside to build the wall if there is no agreement in congress. but he has beeld by senate majority leader, your colleague senator mcconnell, mitch mcconnell, that that's not a good ide do you think the president still would seriously consider doing that? >> well, he has said he would, and i take him at his word, but

again, this is man, i thint toni the state of the union, you'll hear president trump offer a little moree, conciliatory tecause he's a dealmaker first and last, we all know that. he just wats to get border security moving in the right direction and both parties actually want that. so i'm hopeful that tonight we'll see a little more of thath an over the next week or so, we'll see something come ou of tnference committee that will preclude the need for the president to do something extreme. he certainly has the right to do it, but i'm hopeful congress will step in here and do its job.f: >> woodrenator, how does it change what the president cae do becemocrats have now won the majority in the house of representatings? he is deaith a different congress than he was last year. >> well, we have an historic opportunity. if you think about tip o'neill and reagan, you think about newt gingrich and bill clinton, when you had split government is when really big things did happen here, so the answer is ncy pelosi has a choice as the speaker. either she is going to work with

this president who has been proven he will make a deal, and he did an historic bipartisan bill just this past year, judy, that really helped smallbanks. i'm looking for more of that. so i think the speaker has to make a decision. is she gong to legislate with this president, who is more than willing to do, that or is she going to investigate going into the presidential election going into 2020. >> woodruff: my question: how does it change what the president is able to do? >> if they don't opere with us, it moves back in the senate, all we'll be focused on is the confirmation, and leader mcconnell has talked about being more aggressive aboutge ing the confirmation done this year and next. so we know we can do that. that's in thhands of the senate. i just implore the senate or the house members to put pressure on leadership there. let's get together and legislate, which is why the people in america sent us up >> woodruff: there is a report out in the last few days, senator, about the trump administration still not having submitted names fo hundreds of

empty positions inside thera adminion. do you have an explanation for why that is? >> yeah, we've had an historic level of obstruction first of all. >> woodruff: no, i'm -- >> no, i understand. the good news is we have confirmed over 85 judges, 30 o courappeal judge, and two supreme court justices. but this is an historic situation, judy, were this is the first time in u.s. history the minority party has in the waived the 30-hour rule in the senate. having said that, there are over 300 nominations at the end of last year waitinto be confirmed. we need to get down to business and get past this and stopg playrtisan politics. this president, if we don't change the rule and we don't move past is, this president won't even be able to put hiso full complemengovernment together. >> woodruff: i'm asking about those positions for which namese have notn been put forward yet? >> first of all, there are plenty of mes that have been been put forward that have not been brought forward because of the obstruction of the democrats

in the senate. when that happen, i can promise you, this president will line them up in terms of nominees waiting to be confirmed. >> woodruff: senator david perdue of georgia, thank you very much. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: so let's take a step back now and put this moment in tonight's address in context with prentsil historian and newshour regular michael beschloss. michael beschloss, wonderful to see you. >> wonderful to see you always. >> woodruff: thank you for being here. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: so you' looked at how presidents have handled times of stress,times when they are facing opposition, whether new or longstanding. that seems to bely certahat president trump is facing tonight. how have other presidents ha wled it? >>ell, oftentimes they've made a pivot. bill clinton, for instance, in 1996 was acted to run for reelection, and two years earlier he had lost congress to the republicans first time in 0 years. that was a very big event. so he said, we remember it now, the era of big government is over. that worked for him because

people knew that forye thar since the election, he had been moving steadily to the right oar east to the center for when he said those words, it has some meaning. it helped to position him to run successfully for reelection and also i was interested that senatoperdue was talking about newt gingrich and bill clinton. that state of the union set that up for clinton and gingrich by the summer of 1996 to do welfare reform together, to balance theg . it really changed the political atmosphere. >> woodruff: is there a precedent, michael beschloss, for presidents who have been loggerheads with the congress turning thcorner andetting the stage for there to be real -- ability to work together? >> absolutely. 1947, harry truman went to give the state of the union after he lo congress to the republicans for the first time in 16 years. he knew that there was a big necessity for him to make deals with the republicans, to prepare the nation to fight the cold

war, and the try to get some of the domestic laws he wante he failed at the latter. >> woodruff: do you sense agn, from studied history, studied so many presidents, that there is a willingss, a wl on the part of the two parties that have been fighting each otheror week after week, day after day, to come together? t >> ihink they know that an awful lot of americans would like to see that. that surely shows up in the polls. but there has not been much sign of it during the last month, ane we will if this speech changes the atmosphere i think rarely inistory does that happen. >> woodruff: and that's what i want to ask you about, too. how much differencene can speech, one granted -- this is a big deal, it's the state of the union, it's a whole lot of suadition wrapped around this. >> >>re. >> woodruff: can one address make a difference? >> if people have the feelingit that lurkinghin donald trump has been this deep desire to make deals with the o shide that has not expressed itself,

and he talked about it a lot during the campaign, 2016, a lot of people voted for truusmp, bethey said i know chuck schumer, i can make deals with him, and they feel in many cases that it hasn't been expressed, if we begin to see signs of that donald trump in the wake of this speech, things could begin to change. i'm not predicting that. woodruff: why not? >> because this speech wa preceded by an enormous confrontation, one of thet bigg legislative white house relations history, that led to atd shn and may yet again. >> woodruff: just very quickly, you have looked at the language this president use, the way he communicates with the american people.- do youw much do you expect him to stay in that lane, and how much might he -- >> not for long. he doesn't enjoy it. we haven't seen many instances of it. wif we did, the time would have seen it was during the inauguration when even the most partisan presidents give a

unifying speech. he would be first to say he did not. >> woodruff: michaos besc thank you. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: appreciate it. >> woodruff: now, perspective on the run-up to tonight's big address, from opposite sides of the american political spectrum: karine jean-pierre is a senior adviser for moveon.org. and chris buskirk is editor of the conservative journal and website "american greatness." hello to both of you. >> hi. >> woodruff: great to have you bath on the pr chris, to you first, chris buskirk, what do you expect the president to do tonight? >> i think what the president will do tonight is he i goi to do what he's done i think pretty well in some speeches before, which is going back to promises made, promepisest. here's what i've talked about in my campaign, here's what i'veed accomplio far, here's what i still need to do. here we are halfway through firs gterm. this h to be the pivot to reelection, to try to start to set the tone and sthe trajectory for a message that's going to carry him through november of 2020. i think thaneeds to be o big

unifying theme that says, on immigrion, on trade, on foreign policy, how are all these things linked together? what's tt unifying theme? i think that that theme has to be how do you rebuild the middl class. >> woodruff: that's number one. i think that's what he going to try to do. w>> woodruff: if that't he does, karine jean-pierre, how is that received by democrats? >> so i know that it's beenat reported trom the administration, from the white house that the president is going to give a speech on unity, on greatness, on bipartisanship, and that would be great i he was able to do that, but we have not seen that from thise president in ast now going on three years. and i just don't see thispeech only because of historical landmark try of his record being that ipactful so maybe, maybe he gets there and he makes the speech, but hours later, the moment he gets on twitter, he steps on it. ieve.'s hard to bel and let's not forget, a couple weeks ago he addressed the country in diplomatic receptione room we talked about

immigration, and that was filled with division. and then he did it weeks prior the that in the oval office behind the resolute dethsk. was filled with division and hate. so i just don't see how that's possible coming from this president. >> wdruff: in fact, chris buskirk, i had a chance today to spend a little bit -- a fewth minutes speaker pelosi and ucsenate minority leader schumer. senator chuck schumer made a point of saying, we hope the president will appeal the unity, but in the past when he's spoken at a moment, whether it's a state of the union address or another important speech, he's made promises or made declarations that he then turned around and didn't fulfill. so what makes you convinced that tonight is going to be different. >> well, i think part of that is in the eye of the behol what is unity. there's part of it that is the art of persuasion, which is tod talk about it to use the rhetoric of unity and to talk about how do we -- how are we americans together. how do we bill things togethe make this a better society. how that translates into

practice is i think where the president needs to be vey concrete. he needs the use the rhetoric iciesay, these are the pol we'll pursue in my administration the try to make this a reality. that's what everybody really looking for. this is a good speech. what are you going to do about it. >> woodruff: but you have a sense that now, chris buse kirk, esident is prepared to do that? >> i think he has to, and i think that's what he's going to do. >> woodruff: karine, you're? expressing dou >> he doesn't have a record-of-that, judy. he have not seen that. a year ago he talked about unity.g months later wt the zero policy situation when children ofocumented immigrants were being ripped away from their parents. that was devastateing to see. now we're hearing many of them will never be reunited. the year before that in 2017, in the joint address, the same thing, and what did we see? we heard about charlottesville. and what dhe do there? he said very fine people on both sides. . just don't see

>> woodruff: when you hear this, chris buskirk, what do you think? >> i thinkthat unity does not mean agreement on everything. and that's okay. that's what politics is for. i think what unity means is that donald trump says to speaker pelosi, whatever you want, that's fine. i think what t means is how do we identify thes proble country faces and how do we work together, and we can dagree on other things, but let's do that in a way where we at least set the table on comon goals. >> brangham: and i guess the flip side of that question karine jean-pierre, are democrats, are people like you, who work hard for the organizations that oppose so much of the president's policies russia you willing to give the president the bent.it of the do >> there are things that we can work on that's bipartisan, whic is daca, infrastructure, immigration for young undocumented folks who came here, you know, with the parents when they were really young.

and there is also the criminal justice. right? that was done in a bipartisan way. it was a first step. there is more to be done. the problem is, and what we sai earlier, he declares things in his speech, but then he doesn't stick to them. and i think democrats are ad to work on those things, but he doesn't stick to it. >> woodruff: i want to loothk at , step back a little bit, chris buskirk, because part of what's going on here is many of the people who support the president don't seem to want him to cooperate with the other e and, karine, i think you can say that about a number of progressive liberal democrats who don't want to se their party cooperate. what about that, chris? >> the best way for me at least to think about it is to use a con exreet illustration. so you think about the immigration issue. this is a place where pplo like speaker pelosi and minority leaderhuck schumer, ten years ago, 12 years ago, we need a wall, we need boarder security. i think what the president needs to do is explain why that's important and how that is something that protects, how border security protects working

families. american working families. why? because it protects their most valuable asset, which isheir asymmetric access to the american labor market. make that argument maybe in a more -- >> woodruff: in other words, immigrants take jobs away yofrom >> take jobs away, lower wage,re upply lowers prices. that's basic. you explain that to people and say, this is why immigration is important to mtr this is whyde policy is important to me. i want middle-income families to be secure economically, and they need to be able to prosper. >> woodruff: karine, the flipde liberal democrats don't want their party leaders to work together with the president. >> well, ty want democrats, in particular in the house now that it's the majory, to hold this president accountable. that's one of the reasons that we took back tus ho so that's really important. that looks in very different ways. that's looking at the mueller report.

it's also lookinat childre being separated at the border. puerto rico, 3,000 people died. but they also want toee democrats moving the country forward, right? and they've de that with voting rights and dealing with corruption, and so these are things they actuallt to see, but we need politicians os the othee to also be in there with us, too. >> woodruff: all right. we'll have chance to talk about all this again later tonight when we'eard what the president has to say. thank you so much, karine jean-pierre, chris buskirk. thank you. woodruff: for a roundup of today's other major headlines,na here's amnz. >> nawaz: in the non state of the union news this day, the white house played down a federal subpoena seeking a host of documents from presidentin trump'gural committee.ut federal prosecors in new york are investigating who gave the money and what they might have received in return white house spokeswoman sarah sanders called it "hysteria"at

over the fact r. trump was elected. >> this doesn't have anything to do with the white hoine and i the biggest focus and the thing that most americans care about has inaugural and it has everything to do with what the path forward looks like.st >> nawaz: inators are also onoking into whether any foreign donors illegallyibuted to the inaugural committee. one of president trumpee judicial nomvoiced regrets today for her past statements on rape, race and equals. neomi rao appeared before the senate judiciary committee. senators on both sides criticized her for writing, in college, that women bear some blame if they're sexually assaulted while intoxicated.lo >> to be honesoking back at some of those writings and r reading them i cringe at some of the language that i used. i've had a lot of experience t since the writing in college and i don't think i womed express myself in the way these are horrible crimes and i wouldn't write anything that would imply to blame a victim or make it less likelya

foctim to come forward. >> nawaz: rao currently leads the white house officeei over deregulation. if confirmed, she'd take the federal appeals court seat heldy rett kavanaugh, before he joined the supreme court. overseas, in afghanistan, taliban attacks killed nearly 50 people in two northern provinces. a pre-dawn raid killed 26 soldiers and police at an army base in kunduz province, on the outskirts of kunduz city. attacks in neighboring provinces killed 21 others. the taliban have kept up their offensive, even amid early stag of peace talks with the u.s. the top u.s. commander in the middle east says president trump did not talko him before announcing american forces will army general joseph votel testified at a senate hearing today, and was questio maine senator angus king. >> general, were you aware ofin the president'ntion to order the withdrawal of troops from syria before that was publicly announced? >> i was not aware of the a

specifouncement. certainly we are aware that he had expressed a desire and a intent in the past to depart iraq-- to depart syria. >> so you were not consulted before that decision was made? >> we were not-- i was not consulted >> nawaz: votel's remarks came a day after the defense department warned that islamic state fighters could re-surge in syria after the u.s. withdraws. pope francis has celebrated the first-ever papal mass on the arabian peninsula. some 180,000 people gathered today at a sports stadium in abu dhabi, capital of the united arab emirates. francis preached humility, in one of the world's ricst nations. >> ( translated ): for jesus, on the other hand, blessed are the or, the meek, those who remain just even at the cost of

appearing in a bad light, those who are persecuted. he taught us that greatness is not found in having but rather in giving. >> nawaz: later, the pope acknowledged, for the time, the scandal of priests sexually abusing nuns. he said he is committe fighting the problem. millns of people in asia and around the world marked the lunar new year today. in taiwan,housands gathered to pray at a buddhist temple. in the philippinespeople bought roasted pig, a delicacy, to usher in the "year of the pig." and all across china, crowds visited temples and took part in festivals. back in this country, texas lawmakers complained today the state still s not received hurricane "harvey" recovery funds. the storm did major damage in 2017, and last february, congress earmarked some $4.4 billion for texas, but no grants have actually been made. the state's republican senators, plus 10 house members from both parties, say federal budget bureaucracy is standing in the way.

an outspoken critic of the world bank, david malpass, looks like he'll be president trump's choice to lead the agency. it was widely reported today that the president will nominate him this week. the world bank provides loans for projects around the world, but malpass has complained it is piling up debt without results. also today, andrew wheeler won a nate committee's approval to be head of the e.p.a. his nomition now goes to the full senate. and, on wall street, a series of strong earnings reports gaveoo stocks another. the dow jones industrial average gained 172 points to close at 25,411. the nasdaq rose 54 points, and the s&p 500 added 12. still come on the newshour: reaction to the president's comments that the u.s. will use a base in iraqo keep eyes on iran. a rigorous program prepares black undergraduates to go on to medical school. plus, essayist rachel kaadzi

ghansah gives her brief but spectacular take on fearlessness. >> woodruff: as we reported, the top u.s. military commander for the middle east was on capitol hill today. in addition to the fight against isis, he was asked about recent comments by president trumpti sugg american troops in iraq could shift their mission. and asick schifrin reports, those comments about u.s. troops watching iran, have sparked deep concern in iraq. >> schifrin: near the iraqi- syrian border, an iraqi soldier, and his american advisor, lineup rtillery to strike isis. outside baghaderu.s. special ions forces train iraq's elite counter-terrorism servicee and iraqi so learn to fire american rifles, with oversight from anti-isis coalition troops.

p,these scenes of partners filmed by the u.s. military over the last year, show what iraq has invited the u.s. to do. 5200 u.s. troops train iraqi securi forces, and target isis fighters who lost territory, but resumed insurgent tactics. but this weekend, presidentma trump told cbsaret brennan the mission should expand. >> and one of the reasoni want to keep it is because i want to be looking a little bit at iran because iran is a real problem >> whoa, that's news. you're keeping troops in iraq beuse you want to be able strike in iran? >> no, because i want to be able to watch iran.al i want to do is be able to watch. >> schifrin: but even watching iran exceeds the tasks iraq has approved. he criticized president trump. >> ( translated ): i don't think such statements are useful. in fact, they won't help much. i hope he would back down from there. >> a n a sttement, first deputy

speaker repeated a vow tha parliament would pass a law terminating the security agreement with america, in addition to ending the presence of american military trainersv and ers and fort piercers on iraqi soil.-b in a lebaned tv network on sunday, a iraesan-backed spn hinted militias had the capacity to evict the u. s. >>translated ): all of our options are open in front of us. dwe have the ability resources to execute them. >> what the president remarks m have done e it more difficult for even america's closest allies in the iraqi political class to continue to advocate for the american presence in iraq. >> schifrin: feisal istrabadi is a form iraqi diplomat and directs indiana university's center for the study of the middle east. the iraqi parliament waslready debating a bill that would evict the u.s., in response to that momentum will increase and put pressure on prime minister adil abdul mahdi, who leads a government considered technically capable, b has no natural constituency. >> he was turned to by the political parties in parliament

and asked to form a gont. he is in that sense a relatively weak prime minister. you don't want the prime minister in a political battle with parliament because in the iraqi system, the prime minster will alwaylose. >> schifrin: today, the top commander in the middle eastss tried to re that the u.s. respected iraqi wishes. >> our military mission on the ground remains very focused on the reason that the government su iraq asked us to come there. >> schifrin: and hested the president's comments had not become a military order. virginia senator tim kaine: >> as far as you know there's not a change in the definition of the mission, at least as far as the pentagon is concerned? >> i have no additional tasks that have been given to me with regard to that.u. >> if th were to change its definition of the mission in n'aq, to be a mission about watching iran, wouit be pretty important to have iraq agree that that would be thesi focus of the m if we were to be having troops in their country to carry out such a missn? >> senator, we are in iraq at

the invitation of the government, so yes, i would agree. >> schifrin: abbas kadhim ip former iraqimat and leads the atlantic council's iraq initiative. he says president trump's order iran says they do now use the iraq i can constitution to argue against the u.s. presence, because it requires iraq to adhere to the principle of non-interference with other states. >> iran has morends inside iraqi parliament and also inside the government and inside even the public, and these friends are willing to indulge iran.th before sunda did not have the votes. now i am told by some parliament members at they have the vtes at least to have it pass through first reading. that is major shift. >> schifrin: iraqi leaders say they knew all along u.s. troops in iraq were likely conducting

extra missions, even wing iran. but until sunday, that wasn't made public. >> that veil of plausible deniability, or wille,l ignorahatever you want to call it, that's been lifted. the president has announced what his agenda actually is. >> schifrin: and that means there will be a fight over u.s. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: wle virginia governor ralph northam weighs whether to resign, reaction and anger keeps building ovethe racist photo in his medical school yearbook. one important part of that is how it serves as a reminder of racism in medicine historically. we've reported on the importance of training more african- americans to become doctors. and tonight we have a second look at a story on xavier university, a small historically black college that is helping to

le the way. hari sreenivasan reports on what sets the school apart for our education series, "making the grade." >> let's start with glycolysis. >> sreenivasan: on the campus o, xavier univers8-year-old chris webb leads a biology review the night before a major test. >> all you really need to know. >> sreenivasan: webb is helping fellow freshman who, like him, are enrolled in a rigorous pre- medical program. >> i want them to do as best as they can. >> sreenivasan: the scene is familiar one on the campus ofer xaan historically black college the heart of new orleans.>> hat do you think of aerobic respiration? >> sreenivasan: studenz each other on material from tough science classes, the kind of courses that often weed out premedical students. >> i don't want them to do better than me, but when they do, that just makes meze, okay, this competition is really serious. while we're having fun with it, it's alsvery real.an

>> sreenivwith a student population of only 3,000, xavien universityes to graduate more african americans who go on to become medical doctors than any other undergraduate institution in the country,in inclivy leagues colleges and elite public universities. that number is even more striking given a drop in black males applying to medical schools. according to a recent report from the association of american medical colleges, fewer black males are applying to medical schools now than in 1978. reynold verret is xavier's president. >> we do not compete to say who is better. it's almost like a relay race, the goal is to tsnish together. so our stud are truly embracing and encouraging each other to athieve. >> sreenivasan: urns on its head traditional pre-med programs. >> oh, yes, it does, it does. >> sreenivasan: which is look to the left, look to the right. >> one of you is gone, yes. we want to get through becauseth competition is actually after we leave xavier, not here. the point is to get out there together >> sreenivasan: call it

competitive collaboration. head of student advising quo vadis webster.oo >> at some s you say, "look to your left, look to your right, this person may not be here." here, we say, "loo, to your leftok to your right, you better help thperson next to u so that we can all make it." >> sreenivasan: the intense student advising starty. incomingreshman begin crafting medical school applications even before their first day as an undergraduate. >> before classes star we go over a different aspect of the process of preparing aiv competapplication to medical school. >> sreenivasan: you're starting before they actually walk in the door. >> have to. yu need six semesters at least, because that's six semesters before you aly. you need every last one of those semesters and summers to putin into myourself a competitive application. >> sreenivasan: the premed program also relies heavily on tutoring by upperclassmen. bradley dunn, says he could not have made it through his firstho semester w the free tutoring center. dunn's student tutor, chinyere

jones. >> basically whenever he had a break he wasn the tutoring center. i was like, jeez. >> sreenivasan: dunn believes students helping students comes in part from shared experiences about race. >> they understand the plight of african americans. it's more relatable, and it'sre ntimate, and we all know the pitfalls that we may face as people, and together, we're a unit.al and i'm ac taking pride in raat blackness. >> sreenivasan: is also an important factor for chris webb, who chose xavier over full scholarships to other univerties, including vanderbilt and tulane. >> seeing people that look like me, and getting to mro school, and h med school, it motivates me more competing with people that are li me. >> sreenivasan: one of those role models is dr. ryan jupiter. jupiter is a resident doctor in the emergency department of new orleans university medical center.

an xavier alumni, he visits campus regularly to tell students his own story athe first in his family to go to college. >> i wanted to make sure that i could look like i do and still be able to become what i want to be. >> sreenivasan: how important is that? do you thi that young black men don't see that enough? >> definitely. i don't think they do at all. it's also a long journey, and when you see other people who put in the time and the work and see the results of it, then it kind of helps with the long struggle that it takes. >> sreenivasan: when we met dr. jupiter, he had his monogrammed jacket on, which he took off for our interview. but he explained how he normally wears the jacket in the hospital because it is one more visual cue to patients that he is aia phys something he says people don't always expect from a young black male. have you been mistaken for something other than a doctor? >> all the time. it happens. i don't think it's intentional,t or would like nk it's not intentional, but it's very rare

that you can walk into a room as a patient, and when you see a black, african-american male with dreads in his hair and, you know, that thitiis my doctor you formally introduce yourself. oryou look at the comments "nurse," or "can you get this for me," or "are you here to clean the room," so to speak. those things have l, have all happened. >> sreenivasan: students at xavier hope to change those stereotypes. >> we all recognize that people don't truly see us for who we are. we use that to motivate ourselves, and to try to show people we're a lot more than what you take us for. >> as african-americans, we're known to be great in sports, but we can be so much greater in other areas, and i just feel like we need to be me represented. >> sreenivasan: there is a bright spot for minority trends in the field. the number of black women applying to medical school is on the rise. >> black women have somethinto prove. s >>enivasan: xavier sophomore rachels hitchens has already been accepted into the university of rochester medical school >> we've been objectified for so

many years. we have to prove that we can be more than video dancers, we can actually use our brain and ik that's the motivating force that's deep down within so many black women like myself. >> sreenivasan: and like hitchens, to at this small new orleans college had big plans. >> i want to be an orthopedic surgeon. >> i want to be a pediatricrd logist. >> i want to be a rural family p practisician. >> sreenivasan: paving the way for another generation of africaamerican doctors. in new orleans for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan. >> woodruff: finally, tonight, a generous journalism prize was awarded today by the heising- simons foundation. the american mosaic prize is given to two freelance journalistfor long form reporting that highlights underrepresented groups in the

american landscape. the two recipients this year are abe streep and rachel kaadzi ghansah, whose work also received the pulitzer price last year. ghansah was featured in our brief but spectacular series in 2016, and so we bring that to you again, and congratulate herp and abe stor this honor, and with encouragement to continue doing important journalism. >> i like writing about people and the people i know who don't have good pieces written about them, beuse we deserve it. i have written about jimi hendrix, electric lady studios, toni morrison, kendrick lamar,ot the watts trayvon martin, archel jeantel, dave chappelle. we don't always bout the people whoe know as legends the ways that they were very true to themselves. i'm more interested in the moments when they were compromising and they we fearless, because what i hope is that that fearlessness tells us

a little bit about hcan be fearless. what was interesting to me about dave chappelle is, here is a moment where typically walking away from comedy cenal, walking away from your career would be a bad decision, and anyone would tell you, don't do that. the common understanding of it is, is that he felt that the show had started to cross a line, and that it was actually becoming a source of embarrassment. and so walking away from $50 million was pretty heroic and pretty decent and full of inteity. well, you know, i couldn't read until i was 12. and maybe i wasn't 12, but i wal r. i think people start reading when they're five or something. and so books were kind of this phantasmagorical space that i e couldner because my mom could read. my dad was an academic. everyone was so intelligent. and i couldn't go there. and the moment i could, i just started to read ravenously. one of the books that i remember changing everyone's lives was "beloved." that was the first time peopleha

whbeen silenced, enslaved people, became human. and, at that moment, i said, this is what a writer can do. m and, so, f toni morrison doesn't exist on a human plane. she almost exists in this odd, spiritual, otherworld, in terms of her work. and when she won that nobel prize, what was interesting is that lot of prominent newspapers asked, does this woman deservit? so, when i had the moment to take the "new yo times" magazine cover, i decided i'm going to take that cover to lay flowers at the feet of ts woman and say, not only did you deserve it, but thank you. my name is rachel kaadzi ghansah, and this is my brief but spectacular take on fearlessness and black art. >> woodruff: you can catch up other brief but spectacular episodes on our website at pbs.org/newshour/brief. join us tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern for special coverage of

heesident trump's state of union address and the democratic response. we will carry both speeches live on-air and online at pbs.org/newshour, along with analysis and fact-checking. plus, you'll want to listen to a spstate of the union episode of our podcast, with the kind of smart insights and co anywhere else.on't get look out for the episode in our podcast feeds, or listen on our website when it's released pbs.org/newshour/podcasts. and that's the newshour for now. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you anyou soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> american cruise lines.

>> the ford foundation. working with visnaries on the ontlines of social changerl ide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in edn, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastg. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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hello, everyone. welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming u months after the brutal murder of the sawed journalist jamal nhashoggi, his death is still shaking up amerioreign policy. i speak to al qaeda expert and khashoggi friend lawrence wright. and to the former fbi agent, ali sue fan. a busy year for actor ethernet hawk who went behind the camera a writer and director of the country music biofilm "blade." >> a child sues his parents for bringing h into this world. the story behind the movie "capernum." uniworld is a proud sponsor