captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. tody woodruff is away. on the newshought: in the hot seat. house democrats, now in control of oversight, grill acting attorney general matthew whitaker about his rolin the mueller investigation. then, amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos accuses the "national enquirer" of extortion, claiming the tabloid threatened to publishfr intimate photo his extramarital affair. and, it's mark shields and david brooks join us to discuss the state of e union, the deepening political crisis in virginia, and the deadline to preventot r government shutdown. plus, changing sound. untry music artist kacey eksgraves is up for four grammy awards this wed. the singer has made waves in roshville with her unorthodox style, taking cuespop and electronic music on her new

album. >> i want to reach beyond country music-- and, not leave country music behind, i want to take it with me. i want to... i want to take my version of it to people who normallyould never even consider listening to it. >> nawaz: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 e years. bnsf, gine that connects

us. >> ordering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for showers. >> you cano the things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> babbe a language program that teaches language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> american cruise lines. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour.

y this program was made possiblee corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: acting attorney general matthew whitaker insisted today that he hasn't "interfed in any way" in special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. ch-anticipated testimony came during an oversight hearing before the house judiciary committee, nowolled by democrats. >>sa desjardins reports. ongresswoman, i am the acting attorney general. >> desjardins: the temporary head of the department of justice faced a long-building barrage from house democrats. >> congresswoman, i have not-- ( cross-talk ) gavel ) >> witness will... witness will answer the question as asked, ease. >> desjardins: the focus? special counsel robert mueller's investigation, and whether the department of justice ever tried to help president trump or tried to target him.

>> did you discuss or share yons private opinf the special counsel investigation with the chief of staff, trump family members and others? >> did rod rosenstein give the special counsel the authority to investigate specific aricans? >> desjardins: whitaker, who oversees mueller's investigation, insisted done it by the book. >> there has been no event, no decision, that has required me to take any action, and i have not interfered in any way with the special counsel's investigation. >> desjardins: democrats pressed on whether he's talked to the presiden.. >> it's a "yes" or "no" question: have you communicated anything you learned in that briefing about the investigation to president trump, yes or no? >> as i said today in my opening remarks, i do not intend today to talk about my private conversations about the president of the united states. but to awer your question, i have not talked to the president of the united states about the special counsel's instigation. >> desjardins: meanwhile, some republicans openly bristled. >> we started this hearing at 9:30 this morning. it's now 12:30 in the afternoon, and i haven't seen you field a

single question from the other side of the aisle about any of the enforcement priorities of the department of justice. >> desjardins: whitaker may no be in the hot seat much longer. the nominee to permanently run ldjustice, william barr, ce confirmed next week. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> nawaz: federal prosecutors are looking into whether the "nationaenquirer's" parent company breached a cooperation agreement in how it handled a story about billionaire amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos. bezos says american media inc. tried to blackmail him, after he started investigating how the tetabloid obtained his pri texts and photos. a.m.i. insists it "acted lawfully," and pledged to investigate. we'll take a closer look athe blackmail allegations after the news summary. the supreme court has temporarily blocked a louisiana law that would have required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby o spitals. in a 5vote late thursday, chief justice john roberts split with conservatives on the bench to join the court's four liberals. the court also ruled last night to deny muslimnmate domineque

ray's request to have an imam in the execution chamber with him in alabama. u.s. humanitarian aid meanwhile, headed for venezuela, has arrived at a colombian border city. the trucks, packed with much- needed food and medicine, have been blocked from en venezuela, amid that country's political crisis. but, opposition leader juangu do promised the assistance will get there. meanwhile, embattled president nicolas maduro insiste the u.s. is using the aid deliveries to topple the venezuelan slvernment. >> ( tred ): our national sovereignty is made vulnerable with a show called "humaniourian aid," anpeace is threatened by the government of mr. donald trump, who, last sunday in a levised interview, ratified his threat of a military invasion against venezuel >> nawaz: over 40 countries now recognize juan guiado as venezuela's interim president. back in this country, a second woman is now accusing virginia's democratic lieutenant governor justin fairfax of sexual

assault. heredith watson said fairfax rapein 2000 while they were both students at duke university. fairfax strongly denied the allegation. meanwhile, virginia's democratic congressional delegation is now calling for the state's governor, ralph northam, to resign over a racist yearbook photo and an admissionce wore blackface. the democratic lawmakers did not demand the resignation of rney general mark herrin who also admitted to wearing blackface once in college. instead, they asked that herring's conversations with state leaders continue. phoenix care facility, where an incapacitated woman was raped and later gave birthwill soon be closing. hacienda healthcare said keeping the center open was no longer but, state regulators opposed the closure, and warned against transferring its 37 rematsing patilsewhere. the nurse charged with sexually assaulting the 29-year-old woman pleaded "not guilty" earlier this wee another 1.7 million vehicles in

the u.s. are being recalled to replace faulty air bag inflators made by takata. this latest recall impacts models from subaru, lkswagen, b.m.w., mercedes, tesla, ferrari, and daimler vans. the defects blamed for the deaths of at least 23 people worldwide. hundreds more have been injured. stocks were mixed on wall street today. the dow jones dustrial average lost 63 points to close at 25,106. the nasdaq rose ten points, ande the s&p 500 nearly two. and, two people we're remembering tonight... british actor albert finney has died at his home in london after a brief illness. he burst onto the scene in 1963 as the lead in "tom jones"-- a role that earned him the first of five oscar nominations. finney went on to appear in a thde range of movies, from "erin brokovich" tjames bond film "skyfall." here he is as detective hercule poirot in the 1974 film "murder on the orient express. >> the actual murderer was

tried, sentenced and electrocuted. but he wasnly the number two, the subordinate of a boss whom at first he was too terrified to identify. only on the eve of his electrocution did he give the name of the boss, who by then had disappeared with ransom money. >> nawaz: albert finney was 82 years old. and john dingell, the longest serving member of congress in u.s. history, has also died. the michigan democrat passed away thursday night at his home in detroit. judy woodruff remembers the influential politician and his legacy. >> woodruff: born in colorado, but raised in michigan and washington, d.c., john david dingell jr. was the son of a 12-term ngressman. dingell joined the army following the attack on pearl harbor. he returned to washington to earn a degree in chestry and law from georgetown. but, after the death of hi father in 1955, 29-year-old dingell followed in his political footsteps, winning a special election to succeed

john sr. he became known as a deal maker, aairing the energy and commerce committe working on major pieces of legislation, from the d 64 civil rights act to the ctean air act e affordable care a. >> a bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by john dingell sr. in 1943. 65 years later, his son contins to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session. >> woodruff: by the mid-'90s, dingell earned the title of dean of the house-- the longest- smrving member. the michigan congr went on to serve for nearly 60 years elfore retiring in 2015. >> i put mto the test. r d i want to know, when the time comes, whetcan live up to my own personal standards

as a member of congress. i'm going to give the last that i can assuredly give and the last that i can proudly give to 's people. >> woodruff: din wife, trbbie, now represents his dearborn dt, after winning the election to fill his seat in 2014. for years after, dingell remained active on twitter, ere he developed a loyal following for his cutting witan d partisan banter. reacting to a number of white house resignations in 2017, dingell tweeted, "truman installed a bowling alley. irter tried solar panels. trump is fulested in a revolving door." ( applause ) and, for his life's work in the house, president obama awarded the dean of the house with the presidential medal of freedom in 2014. >> his life reminds us that change takes time; it takes courage d persistence. but if we push hard enough and

long enough, change is possible. >> woodruff: john dingell was >> years old. nawaz: still to come on the newshour: amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos claims he was the target of attempted extortion. more evidence linking the saudi crown prince to the murder of k journalist jamshoggi. a mother who lost her child to the opioid epidemic speaksut onthhe urgent need to solve crisis. and, much more. he nawaz: now, jeff bezos, the of amazon and owner of the "washington post," is going to war with one of the most well- known and criticized tabloids over what he says is blackmail. it's a most unusual showdown, and set amid a complicated political backdrop involving president trump. "extortion and black'sil." thhat jeff bezos-- the world's richest man and head of

the online retail giant amazon-- tiys he experienced at the hands of the "al enquirer" tabloid. in a blog post, bezos says that the "enquirer" threatened to publish nude photos of him, unless he stopped investigating how the tabloid obtained his prate text messages with a woman with whom bezos was having an extramarital affair. " zos's post includes emails from the "enquirat warned it "may publish the unpublished materials" if bezos spoke out. bezos who also owns the "washington post" acknowledges in his post that he's come under the ire of psident trump, who is often critical of the "post" and claims amazon is "scamming" american taxpayers. nd the post office is losing fllions of doll the taxpayers are payi that money, because it delivers packages for amazon at a very below cost. >> nawaz: last month, mr. trump beeven commented on news os' divorce. >> i wish him luck. it's going to be a beauty.

>> nawaz: days later, when the "enquirer" published some of the aizos exchanges, president trump appeared to the tabloid on twitter. he wrote, "so sorry to hear the news about jeff bozo being taken down by a competitor." bezos wrote that david pecker, c.e.o. of the "enquirer's" parent company, american media inc. or a.m.i., recently entered into an immunity deal with the department of justice. a.m.i. h told federal prosecutors that the company "coordinated" with the trump hompaign to buy and then bury a story of a womanlleges to have an affair with mr. trump in 2006. it's a practice often referred to as "catch and kill." in this case, to influence the 2016 presidential election. in his post, bezos acknowledges a.m.i.'s role in "the process on behalf of presidt trump and his election campaign." and he writes, "i also won't participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and l rruption." fedeosecutors are now

reportedly reviewing whether the "enquirer's" handling of the bezos story violated pecker's immus ty deal. bezoalso says the "washington post's" coverage of the murder of saudi dissident jamaal khashoggi last october "seems to have hit a particularly sensitive dsrve." bezos "mr. pecker and his company have also been investigated for various actions they've taken on behalf of the saudi governme." since bezos' post, journalists-- including ronan farrow, say they too have been blacailed by a.m.i., after reporting on the president's relationship with a.m.i. in response, american media inc. says it "acted lawfully" while reporting the story, and said it ould investigate the matter. for mothis, i'm joined by jim rutenberg, who is following all these delopments for the "new york times." jim, welcome back to the "newshour". you heard there jeff bezos has called t called it black mail. you have been talking to a lot t doeople reporting this ou which know if that's true? >> the truth is we don't really know whether that's true

it's a big deal. the allegations are quite serious. a.m.i.'s future depends on it. its officers ability to stay out of criminal hot wates dependent on that question. theyre definitely in an uncomfortable place here. they were seeking to trade something of value or something that could cause at least great harm to mr. bezos and that is these compromising photographs fod, in return, they were asking for somethin them, him to quit make these accusations against them. so that could fit under more than one statute that would coveortion, which can be prosecuted, >> nawaz: a course, the question being does that violate the terms of the immunity deal that they pviously had. but let's spend a moment here and just pull apart a little bit of this vin diagram of these overlapping personalities and relationships here.

let's start with donald trump and jeff bezos. lay out for us here what is the basis of the conflict between those two men >> the real basis of the conflict is mr. bezos owns "the washington post." "the washington post" has had a grt journalistic resurgence, that resurgence has come, at let in mr. ump's view, at his own expense, so attacking mr. bezos has been a go-to move for mr. trump. and what mr. trump has done is broughin amazon, which is not the owner o of "the post," so tr hp is attack business and melded the two together that amazon is on the take, not paying its fair share of taxes, all these allegaons. mr. becoz has phased into this thursday far by just stand bigna josm and the truth and sort of, you know, apple ply. ply -- pie. so this is a new recommend in this latest phase.

>> nawaz: what about the the c.e.o. of a.m.i.wh 's his relationship to donald trump? >> right now it's complicated beseuse to have the pcution deal you referenced. they go back several decades. i put myself in the camp that has been skeptical of the idea that they were in cahoos on this story against mr. becoz, but, a, i re nothing out ever with any of these characters, but, wb, it's quite conceivable and just speculation that mr. pecker may have seen thas storaving a fringe ben if the of signaling to president trump that he will still gofter his enemies. >> nawaz: why is it you're skeptical about that at this point? >> cooperationagreements hav way, when your testimony is being used against the other puttin has a way of rifts in friendships, and that pnvestigate continues. and mrcker's cooperation with the southern district of new york has been very important, it has confirmed a lot of the allegations tht have been made against president trump and his campaign

in terms of improper campaign spending, those allegations, of course, made by the president's former lawyer michael cohen who isn't exactly a choir y and can't really stand out there on his own as a credible witness without the very important backup mr. pecker at a.m.i. have providedre >> nawaz: bee go, we saw a lot of e-mails mr. bezo posted. how widespread is that practice? >> my reporting, fortunately or unfortunatela year in the making, finds that is fairly common, a.m.i. playsa really rough game and the question here is going to be did that rough game stray into criminality. i would predict, before this over, when you have someone like mr. bezos with thepeans to k going after a.m.i., we might be hearing more about these kind of tactics, involving people we hadn't heard from before.

so this still has some ways to go. >> and you will be following it all and we'll be following your reporting.of jim rutenberg he "new york times." thank you so much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: it's been more than four months since "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul. the u.s. intelligence community assessed the powerful crown prince of saudi arabia, mohammed bin salman, likely ordered the killing, which roiled relations n washington and riyadh, and between the white house and capitol hill. >> schifrin: last night, the "new york times" reported that before khashoggi was murinred, mohammedalman, known as icb.s., was recorded on intercepted commions saying he would "use a bullet" on khashoggi if the writer did not stop his criticithe saudi government. mark mazzetti is the paper's washington invtigative correspondent, and wrote the

piece. he joins me now. mark, thank you very mucte how did the ligence community record this and how >>d when did they find it? ell, it appears to have come in the routine monitoring that the national security agency does of a lot of foreign leaders. they record phone calls, they record e-mails, and a lot of the times the messages and the communications are just store for a later date, when a policy-maker wants information about a world leader or some other more urgent q. so the khashoggi murder created that where the intense agencies are going back on yearsf communications to determine leader culpability in the crime. it's my understanding that this conversation came up and was analyzed some time in the weeks after thkilling and was produced in a report in the last month or so. >> rorter: a few of us met eith the saudi arabian minister

of state for f affairs. we asked him about your piece. rt said "i can't comment on rebased on anonymous sources, many reports with anonymous sources have not panned out." asd then he kept saying, when oliver northngaged in iran contra, did ronald reagan know? , ese things happen, mistakes happis was done outside the scope of authority. what's your response to that? >> thought it was a curious analogy to use because, after years of invesgation, they g pretty close to become showing that reagaknew, it seemsut putting that aside, i mean, clearly the strategy from the laginning here is to protect the crown prince, i him from this what jay bare said today was a mistake, clearly it was a heinous crime and tarnished the image of saudi arabia. sogh althouhe saudi story has changed over final, it has been consistent in one efact, th crown prince knew nothing about

it. >> reporter: rashing rashing o -- mark mazzettiof the "new yd reporting. thank you very much. thank you. >> schifrin: now, for the reactionn capitol hill to the ongoing story of mohammed bin salman and jamal khashoggi, i'm joined by our congressional correspondent, lisa desjardins. thank you very much for being here. there was a deadline for the administration to report to congress on what io thinks at report and secretary pompey to sent a let tore the senate foreign relations committee which you just obtained saying the u. t was first nation to take action and designate 17 saudi individuals for sanctions and tht we've aggressively used the global program under which the sancterions enacted and that's about it. what's the reaction on capitol hill? >> that letter essentially is the report that the president was required to give this report was triggered by the onking and chairm senate foreign relations last fall, and they had 120 days to look into this idea of the khashoggi murder, and we now have a

two-paragraph response after that 12 120 days, and the respoe so fs furious. we have the first official responses from patrick leahy, democrat, he was one to have the ones that requested this.he oes so far to say if the olesident ignores basically the mandate ofng someone responsible for this murder, the white house will share the blame for atmpting to cover up the crime. we will hear from more republicans who requested this report or this letter. we heard from the new senate foreign relations chairman of idaho, he said he ac knowledges the letter and expects a more detailed briefing, and ledslation has been introdu on this issue, i expect more to come. speak of staff, they're not aware whathat legislation would mean. but the entire senate voted unanimouslthat the crown prince of saudi arabia was personally responsible for this murder. >> reporter: do we know what

is more to come? >> i think we know something nexteek. the house is expected to vote on a resolonutiohe related issue yemen, and we expect the house to pas a resolution requiring the withdrawal of u.s. forces from yemen, this is something the senate passed last year, so this isin someththat would be action and not just a lmbolic passing back and forth ters. it's something to watch. >> reporter: lisa desjardins, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> nawaz: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks examine the week in washington. and, singer kacey musgraves on her expansive view of what country music can be. we continue our coverage of theo crisis that has afflicted so much of the country, and tonight, william brangham looks at the frustration and anger of many family survivors who are not satisfied wi the national

response. it's part of our periodic series, "america addicted." >> brangham: the death toll from maioids is much higher tha americans realize. it truly is a public health estimates are that more than 400,000 americans have died nce the crisis began, and in 2017 alone, more than 47,000 people died of an overdose. but among the grieving mothers and fatherare living this crisis every day, there's a growing sense that ts epidemic isn't being taken seriously enough. that was the focus of a recent series by the associated press called "the left behind." it featured many of the parents who are now burying their children at an unprecedented rate in mode american history. as one mom in the series put it: "where is the outrage for us?" we're going to talk about that tonight. claire galofaro is one of the reporters on that series, and she's been covering this epidemic nationally for the a.p. and, cheryl juaire is one of those parents.

her 23-year-old son, corey, died of a heroin overdose in 2011. ever since, she's led a group of mothers working to call attention to this crisis, to reform addiction treatment and to pursue action against the drug-makers. welcome to you both. claire galofaro, i'd like to start with you first. in your series, you really documented this growing sense among paren all over the iountry that they feel that the country has of moved on from this crisis. could you just give us a sense of the reportg, what you' found? >> sure. thank you for having us on, william, i think it's aeally important story. you know, i think one father who is actually in cherys group told me a story that he thinks sort of symbolizes this growing sense ofr frustation. he was on a stage at a rally that was intended to kind of end the staying ma surrounding diction, he had buried his own son, and he looked out over the crowd and he recogized

everyone. there's joe's mom, there's kim's father, and he realized they were all parents of other people who had also died from opiateov doses, and he thought, you know, we already know this. we don't need to learn in aysson, we already learned it the hardwhere was everyone else? id that was sort of the sense of frustratiicked up from so many parents that this crisis is beingarort ofly overlooked by the general population, people are aware of it but they're not angry about it in a way that's really commiserate with the scope we're facingoftoday. a loeople have described it to me as sort of what we experienced in the '80s and '90s when we faced the aids epidemic, and that disease like this one impacted ver stigmatized people, it killed by the tens of thousands before an organized activist group "act

up" realey startmaking a lot of noise, made people angry enough to demand that the government, the medical bimmunity invest the tens of ions of dollars required to really turn back the tide and, you know, i think most public health experts would tell you that what we're facing today is just as daunting as that epidemic was then. >> rorter: shecialtion again, i don't know how to express how sorry i am for what you've been through, and it'sre rkable what you've done since that tragedy affected your family and the loss of yo son. i'm curious, claire is t describis sense of outrage parents feel. is that accurate? ishat how you feel? that's accurate. when i started to group "teen sharing" we were inviting in one mother and one father after another, and day after day, i would hear stories of their

children and how theyed, and most of them started with, as we know, in this epidemic, 0xycontin from a surgery of some sort, and they were outraged and they just don't know what to do with it because nobody's listening. >> reporter: and what is it that, if you have an opportunity to talk to the american public, what do you think that they need to acknowledge, to recogne? >> they need to acknowledge that our children were good chiren. edey got addicted to a drug that was pun them and eventually went heroin and eventually died from that -- from that drug. >> reporter: claire, in your reporting, when you were talking to parents who had lost their children, ifany of the had said their children were struggling with the addictions, they didn't know where to turn, felt adrift, eadn't know what ment to

pursue, that they were really wholeling with that process. >> so many of them described for me this moment after their child died where they reflected at stat they had been through and arrived at the qn of why was that so hard that our treatment system is so fragmented and so broguen? a itost impossible for these parents to navigate. there are detoxes, rehabs, treatment facilities, some of them costing tens of thousands of dollars, and, you know, these parents are desperate, they're killing to do anything. they think theid might die any day, so they mortgage their homes, they cash out their 401ks, all for a treatment that sometimes, a lot of times, does not meet what is considered the gold standard of treatent, medically assisted treatment. so their children relapse, and they start this whole crazy, chaotic cycle over again, eight, nine, ten times in some cases, and when they have a moment to

reflect on that, they wonder why our treatment system is as difficult to navigate as it is. even now, 20 years into this crisis. i think what a lot of these parents say is that, you know a wirisis this big, we need to think big. ehensive plan. this is going to take tens of billions of dollars to fix, to end long-term sustained funding, if we really want to start takingthis epidemic seriously. >> reporter: cheryl, i know that part of the work that you're doing is opeg up your phones and your home and your life to parents who have been through the horrible tragedy that you have been through, and i'm just curious how you do that. as at, i can't even imagine dealing with the loss of one of my own ildren, let alone trying to help carry the grief of so many other peopled . w do you do that? >> when my son died in 201, like i said, it was at the

beginning of the epidem, and i knew nobody who had lost a child, let alone to addiction. so for the nt couple of years, i suffered in my grief alone until, one day, i met a couple of other moms who had lost their child as well. because offhat sering, i knew what it felt like. i knew that deep feeling, and i didn't want anyone to haveo feel that as long as i did alone, and thatust -- that just makes me want to go out there and find them aem let know that they're not alone. >> reporter: cheryl, i know as part of your activism you are also now protesti agains purdue pharma, in particular, the manufacturer of 0xyconn, which was one of the originating factors in this entire epidemic. what do you want from purdue pharma? >> i want them held responsible for what they've done to this country. they created the opioid

arepidemic. risackler is a reckless criminal, as he called our children. they pushed their 0xycontin on everybody to try to get more money to make them addictloed er and to eventually die, is what happened to all our children. so, yes, we're fighting them. what i would like to see is i would like to see the sackler family in jail. they made $4 billion off 0xycontin, and, eventually, thlong term, i would like to the the death penalty given to family. >> reporter: all right, cheryl juaire and claire galofaro, thank you bothn for talkig with us. >> thank you. , william. >> nawaz: purdue pharma and richard sackler and a son of the

family have denied wrongdoing or malicious intent in the selling of 0xycontin. pharma says it's taken steps to stem the opioid isis and says there were multiple factors and parties that contributed to the cries. the company and family are embroiled in multiple lawsuits around the country. >> nawaz: virginia, and the country, weigh the transgssions of the state's top leaders in a moment of reckoning. in washington, democrats flex their new power in the house, starting with investigatg the president. bringing us to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks welcome to you both. happy frid i. let's stavirginia. i want to bring up a couple ofui tweets qck because we have had late-breaking news on this. there has been a second allegation of assault against

lieutenant governor justin fairfax leading to former governor terry mccul mccull lufo ll forhis resignation. he says he doesn't believe fairfax can effectivy serve the people. fairfax has also issued a statement response calling the allegations an obvious -- vicious an scoordinatedmear campaign orchestrated against him, and he says he will not resign, so, mark, start us off here. there's a lot happening rg ia, still. it's still evolving, what do you make of how it's handed by leader there so far? >> terribly. it's been wisely said when the mocrats organize a firing squad, they first form a circle, atand i would say s gone on. i think each of the cases has ho be treated separately. do think thaovernor northam

northam -- politics, to begin with, is not brain surgery. it's about addition, not subtraction. it's about a party that welcomes people to its ranks, that warmly embraces newcomers and accepts converts happily and finds common ground. a ling politcal party is one that spends time, energy and effort hunting down heratics and banishing them to t outer darkness because they continue subscribe totally to the perceived wisdom.i the democratn virginia played that second role. in ralph northam, a popular governor w had secured passage of medicaid for 400,000 virginians, mething lo promised, who had run against the n.r.a., gave them an f rating, he took them, universal background checks. a segregated day, sunday

orning, belongs t 60% african-american with an african-american pastor, and all of that is forgotten and tossed aside blithely because of one year book page which was hateful,urtful and indecember fencible. i thought the stampede on the part of national docrats and including democrats as honorable as tim kainee, the fo governor and senator of virginia, toss him out and demand his resignation is likely unacceptable. >> nawaz: do you think it's a stampede? >> i did. men have a lot of bad behavior. maybe we should have women leading our states, that might solve these problems. i think the justin fairfax case is suddenly looking to be the much more of the serious of the two to me. there's multiple women making allegations with some suggestion there is contemporaneous

evidence he assaulted them. that was the most serious one to me. he'sn the post perile might have done an actual crime. i'm always ready to call for resignations, it makes people feel god, buti really believe in investigating. someone should investigate that one. on the northam case, we spoke about it briefly because the news d just broken last week, because what he had done was appalling and hateful. i think in a lot of these cases, there should be a path to redemic. it should involvgan apoloy, a lifetime or decade of years of service in the call and northam's record on cights is quite good. whatever hateful thing he may or may not have done as a med student, i think he should get leniency and continue his good work. to me to destroy a reasonably goodareer over this thingis rpobably not -- we do not have a

s of good people in public life. >> nawaz: i wonder, though, mark, because the democrats rely on votes from minorityoters, african-americans, in particular, in virginia. when you have herring and northam admitting wearing black face and northam admitting in awkwardti conver, isn' there moral high ground somewhere. >> the out to be the real ace of the fek, but he demanded that the governor resig his year e ok picture then remembered photographic evide his doing something similar if not identical when he was at the university of viinia and he's been far more fulsome, articulate, almost ol' quint in his apology. so now it comes down to n the

act itself, and i agree with thvid, what the lieutenant governorallegations against the lieutenant governor, i mean, are potentially criminal. we're not talking about bad y.ste or insensitivity or racial insensitiv so i do think that they are very different charges.nd >>t should be said -- i mentioned the road to tdemption. franklbe honest, it's not white people who are in the position to offer forgiveness. the african-american community d, the one that was wronged by this, o, it's trying to work with them and sort of tmble oneself before them that ultimate court here and that would be a good role forgo anrnor in any state to do that. >> northam had the endorsement of every frean lawmaker in the -- every african-american lawmaker in the state when began, he's not unfamiliar with that constituency. >> nawaz: in the house, launching oversight

investigation into the trump organization, threatening . is it sustainable? what's going on? >> i wonder about the word investigation. are we investigating or having just television shows? matthew whitaker was in the hearings today. he guy is going to be out of office probably a few days because bill barr is going to become the actingttorney general, probably, so what was the purpose of that show? when you get a televised hearings, they're notve igations they're shows. i was reading exactly la harris' memoir last week and she deribes her senate career as a series of confrontational moments at a hearing that were televised and for a lo members now that is what being in congress is. so sometimes you get real investigations but i'mu dubios we'll see a lot of actual investigating. >> nawaz: lookng for answer just putting on a show, mark? >> both, both.

i will say this, i mean,ink the democrats won last fall because of healthcare, because d to repeal tr healthcare. i think the democrats ought to spend time, effort and energy trying to guarantee that that -everage be available and especially pisting conditions which the republicans were ready to repeal. i think they ought to be raising the minimum wage. cheging people's lives for better but guaranteeing that robert mueller continues unimpeded in his investigation and is given the resources an authority necessary to do it. but david's right, they can't resi the camera and lights, just like us. (laughter) >> nawaz: i want to ask you about the news yesterday, a couple of supremeecourtion came down. 'se that caught a lot of peopttention, one blocking t law that would have closed a abortion providers in that state.

i mentioned in the context of republicans having weathered the storm around brett kavanaugh thinking he would make the difference in decision like. this john roberts was the swing yote in this case. what dmake of that? >> the chief justice has been time and again sort of the ballast on the court. i don't think there's any question, we saw it he state of the union address as well, that the question is going to make abortion, particularly late-term abortion an issue i 2020. he was a convert, he was saul on the road to damascus in 2015 and became an arden pro-life candidate. he won 80% of the vote of white evangelicals along the way and, quite bluntly, late-term abortion, 1.3% of all abortions, is unpopular with amerians. it is not -- it's not unlikely immigration. if you think of immigration as grabbing children out ofheir mothers' arms, then everybody in

the world is on the sid the immigrant. but if you see it as a caravan mmaraudingd towar the border, there was all of a sudden skepticism about immigration. i think the same is true on abergs and the idea of a child full term being plucked from the womb and not being given life i think is an thissut donald trump quite bluntly wants to run on in 2020, and he can point that kavanaugh and gorsuch were on his side, the side of the angels, i guess he would call them, in the decision. >> nawaz: before we go, i don't have much time left. i want to give both of you anit opportto weigh in on this. we did lose johnl dingelis week and we don't have much time but i want to ask this theyo is anythinwant to share? >> my tribute is he was a gre tweeter. one year he wrote everything is a balance beam or a random thing.

for what it's wor i would watch a gorilla channel. i like the way an older guy adapts to a new medium. >> nawaz: what about you? he w a giant, truly was. they asked once what the jurisdiction of his committee was, where he held hearings and brought to heel captains of industry and malefactors in every possible activity and he said plen is any jurisdiction, but said h proudest moment was voting for the 1964 civil rights act. the air is cleaner, lives are richer and country the healthier because ofjohn dingell. >> nawaz: we are indebted, indeed. mark shields, david, brooks thanks very much. always good to talk to you. na >> nawaz: y tonight, this sunday, the 61st annual grammy awards kick off in los angeles.

e artist a lot of people have their eyes on is kacey musgraves, nominated for fouo awards and arforming at the show. jeffrey brown caught up with musgraves at a recent performance at the anthem in washington, d.c. ( ♪ "sl burn" ) >> brown: the song "slow burn" opens kacey musgraves' show on her sold-out tour and her new album, "golden hour." ♪ i'm gonna do it my way it'll be all right ♪ if we burn down and it takes all night ♪ it's a slow burn >> it's just kind of a musing on myself, and just, kind of... when i was making the album, hind of where i was mentally, justing that, like, it's not always about just getting to the end or getting the besgest, the fa it's about taking your time and really enjoying the journey there.

♪ ♪ >> brown: st 30 years old, the texas-born musgraves seems to be enjoying her journey in music-- and doing it on her own terms, making the music she wants while defying expectations for both f.untry music as a genre and for hersel ( ♪ "follow your arro ) >> brown: her debut studio album, 2013's "same trair, different park," included the hit single "follow your arrow," ssong that encouraged women to break the boundari by others. ( ♪ "follow your arrow" ) ( ♪ "merry go round" ) >> brown: "merry go round" found similar inspiration, and earned her a grammy for best country song that year, in aition to best country album. ( ♪ "merry go round" )

( ♪ "high horse" ) go brown: but with her new album, "lden hour," she's reaching for a new and broader audience, by expanding the sounds and expectations of a ghuntry music record... ( ♪ "hi horse" ) >> brown: ...with songs like "hrse," veering into pop and electronic music. and it's garnered huge critical and popular support. ( ♪ "high horse" ) >> definitely with this record, i was like, i want to reach beyond country mus, but i want to take-- and not leave country music behind, i want to take it with me. i want to... i want to te my version of it to people who normally would never even ahnsider listening to it. >> brown: why was that important to you? >> i kept imagining just reaching places that i've never been and reaching people that i've never... that've never heard of me. but at the same time, it was a very inwardly-focused album, and i was really thinking a lot about my feelings.

i was feeling, like, really open enough to share them. >> brownyou said you wanted to take "my version" of country music to people. what does th mean? what's your version? >> well, my version of country music is largely comprised of an inspired by the roots ofhe genre. i grew up singing, like, very traditional country and western music, like, literally yodeling, wearing fringe and cowboy hats. i mean, singing songs-- >> brown: which you did in the first few albums, right? >> i did a little bit, yeah, more so than this. and i've always been inspired by this huge range of other things. i grew up listening to sade and... oh my gosh, alison krauss d fleetwood mac, dolly parton, the bee gees. id i'm like, where can-- i love imogen heaove daft punk. like, where can these things all live together? you know, so i guess it is country music to me, in the sense that it's... it's storytelling. and ere are country instruments on it, but it's a different veion of country.

i don't know really even how t describe it. ♪ ♪ >> brown: so what does a song have to have for you, to work for you? >> that's interesting. a song has to have somelement of truth to me, rically, for do to be able to sing it. t just get in there and go, "oh, i want to write a song about a lady named debbie, and she's going through this and this and this." it starts with me. it's got to... it's got to come from here, or i can't sing it. it's not going to be believable. ( ♪ "butterflies" ) >> brown: new songs, like utterflies," reflect her newly happily-married life... ( ♪ "butterflies" ) >> brown: ...and also her own personal transformation,

facilitated in part by the use of psychedelic drugs, which, she says, help take her out of daily routines, for a wider view. ♪ ♪ for me the times i have experienced that in small doses, it's really done a lot for me ♪ ♪ i was hiding in doubt till you brought me out of my >> brown: one thing not much evident here: direct references to social issues or politics. >> you know, we're so beat over the head by everythingdaegative thes, and you know, just astonished by, like, just all this unbelievable stuff that's happening socially, politically. just, like, it's a tumultuous me.

>> brown: which you're part of, and you feel... >> i feel it, and i think a lot of the younger generations really feel it. and, i mean, everyone does. and i think that as an observer and as a writer, it could have been really easy for me to go that direction. but i just think that sometimes we need an escape from it. and it's weird because as the world was kind of turning in a 'vre chaotic direction, it's whensomehow finally found my own little bit of peace and happiness. and so that's what i wanted to share. ♪ ♪ >> brown: kacey musgraves is up for four grammy awards: album of the year-- a category comprising all genres; best country solo performance for the song "butterflies;" best country song for "space cowy;" and best country album. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown.

♪ ♪ >> nawaz: and we have more from kacey musgraves online, where she recommends some of the artists she grew up listening to. that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm anma nawaz. join us online, and here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, have a great weekend and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs y:wshour has been provided h >> on a cruise witamerican cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi river, the columbia river, and across the united states. american cruise lines fleet of alall ships explore american landmarks, lultures and calm waterways.

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tonight on kqed newsroom, house democrats are pursuing investigations into russian interference, and president trump's finances despite his call to end the i probthe state of the union speech. we will check in with the man leading many of those investigaons, the california congressman adam schiff. >> oakland teachers vote to authorize a strike. what it means for public education in cafornia. >> and a new exhibit shines a light on a bay area disaster that killed hundreds and led to desegregation in the military. we begin with the escalating battle over investigations of presi nt trump and his associates. on thursday, president trump lashed out on house intelligence adam schiff airma who had announced he would launch broad investigation