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 that goes beyond russia, to examine the president'sna

es. mr. trump said it was presidential harassment. the exchange after the state of the union speech, where the president warned against, quote, a ridiculous partisano investiga the house intelligence committee met this week for the first time in the new congress, and voted to share transcripts from the ssia investigation with special counsel robert mueller. joining us now is congressm adam schiff, nice to have you back with us. withank you, great to be you. >> well, we'll talk about the t vestigation you're heading up in just a momt first i wanted to ask you about the acting attorney general matthew whitaker, his testimony before the house judiciary committee today, what do yo me of his answers to questions related to the russia investigation? are you satisfied with them >> no, i'm not satisfied, because on some of the most s, important poie is still refusing to answer. the american people have a right to know ether the acting attorney general, someone who auditioned for that part, by e saying how could privately cripple the investigation, is taking any action th would

undermine the investigation. he's already publicly talked about the length of the nv tigation, when it might come to a close, it is something he shouldn't be discussing. and there are a lot of unanswered questions about why he was picked for the position, and whether he has communicated to anyone on the president's legal defense team, for example. facts of the investigation that would prejudice that investigation. >> he has said that he hasn't cut funding to the vestigation, he hasn't interfered with the investigation. >> well, he has made certainly those top line claims.it butut being able to determine what conversations he's had, and with whom,ut and a what, it is impossible to test those representations.e and one thing have learned the hard way, during the russia vestigation, is there a a great many times when people, including the, presidemply say things that are flatly proven false, you know, without much time elapsing between the statement and the proof.

so the attorney general needs to answer these questions, needs to answer them completely, and not ttempt to stonewall the judiciary committ any way. >> moving on now to your panel, the house intelligence committe you announced this week that you are expanding that investigation. what additional areas are youw ooking into? >> well, the number of areas that we were not able to fully pursue when the republicans were running the committee, they made the decision really to act as more of a legal defense team for the president than objective investigators. and i hope that that changes this session. we have invited them back into nte investigation. but we will cue to pursue issues involving the conduct and s between trump associates and wikileaks, or the publishing arms of the military that had hacked these documents. we're going to continue topu ue the facts around that trump tower meeting and what the president may hav known about the trump tower meeting. or other efforts to obtain dirt

on hisom opponent f the russians. we also need to look into the president's business, because what we've already seen is deeply alarming. and that is during the campaign, at the time he was denying any business dealings with the wa russians, h attempting to make the most lucrative business deal potentially of his entire career, a grand tower in moscow, something worth hundreds of millions of dollars to him, and to his family, and at the sa time, the russians were seeking his help in doing away with sanctions on >> are you concerned about money laundering? you looking -- you're basically saying that you want to see if any of the decisions he'ski in office is prompted by financial interests. am i correct?> at's exactly right. and money laundering is one part of that. there have been continual and credible allegations which we only scratched the surface previously, with the republican majority. that the president may he been, or his businesses may have

been laundering money for the russians. there were times when the trump family, by virtue of their questionable business copractic, dn't get loans from legitimate american banks. and in fact, the only bank that would lend them money was deutsche bank, a bank that has a histo of laundering russian money. but there was also a time when evenb deutschk apparently wouldn't lend to the trump organization. and yet, they were buying golf courses, spending lots of cash, flipping properties, and all those, as potentialof hallmark money laundering. if this is financial leverage that the russians hold because, if they were on the ot end of these transactions, they would know it, then obviously we need to find out. >> other democratic lawmakers are also pursug additional lines of inquiry, including trying to obtain the'spresiden tax returns. the president is clearly unhappy about all of this. what effect do you think all of

these probes will have on efforts to reach an agreement on border security before the government runs out of money again on february 15? >> even before we formally took the majorit there were greements on what to do on border security between democrats and. republica in the last congress, we voted to fund border security on a bipartisan basis. theeason we ended up in this shutdown was the president, in agreeing to these deal, incurred the ire of, you know, the ann coulters and the rush limbaughs of the world, a he shut down the government for a period of time. that was aisaster for the country. i don't expect that that is going to happen again. but wonetheless,don't know where we're headed here. i think this committee that's been formed to reach a compromise will in fact, reach one. but whether that satisfies the president, or maybe morely importawhether that satisfies rush limbaugh, i don't know. and that shouldn't ber the stan i am concerned that the president may declare an emergency, which tnk is

ultimately, would be struck down by the courts. >> what will you do if he declares a national emergency? >> i think there will be a resolution of disapproval on the congress. and they're already public reports that mitch mcconnell has privately warned the president that he will lose likely a lot ofhis members in those votes, if he takes this action, which is i think anti-thetical to our democr system. if in a ten-year debate over immigration, and a situation with congress has considered a president's request, but refused it, were to be considered somehow an emergency, we would be in a constant state of emereency. tould be no need for a congress. so i think it is about the poorest case you could for an emergency. >> i also wanted to ask you about president trump's nomination of daviburnhart, a former energy industry lobbyist, to be the interio department's next secretary. we replace ryan zinke who stepped down amid ethics scandals. what would his likely

confirmation mean for caelfornia? >> i think it would be a disaster for california. disaster would be a for people around the country and around the world who care about the environment. this is a president of course who campaigned on draining the swamp. and if you look at th department of interior, it is hard to find a bigger swamp than at the department of interior, here zinke as you pointed ou was, you know, enmeshed in all kinds of ethical scandals. and now, his deputy, who they're seeking to elevate to the new secretary, is a former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry. he will continue and be in a re powerful position to push for offshore drilling, off the shore of california, as well as elsewhere, to minimize and dumb down safety standards on drilling, to sell off public lands, and open them up to greater mining operations that will pollute the a, and pollute the water. >> i also wanted to touch on the green new deal that was

announced this week by liberal democrats. there is a very sweeping resolution and one of the most sweeping elemen calling for the u.s. to convert to 100% clean renewable en sources by 2030. about 60 democrats, both in the house andna , have signed on to this. where do you stand on that bill? >> well, i stand on the bill as well, and i think it take, makes a powerful statement where we stand in the country to wee ourselves off fossil fuels and investment dramatically in we are all too aware that we may be approaching, and faster than we ori tnally thoughs tipping point, where it may be too late to deal with the problems of climate change. and so there is a real sense of urgency among democrats that's reflected in this green new eal. and you can see the contrast between the parties in the green new deal, which is, you know, a very aggresve effor to move ourselves in the direction of

renewable neergy, and a gop which is ready to confirm an oil and gasobist. so in this area, more than perhaps any other, can you see the dierence between the parties. >> congressman adam schiff, we thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. now, to education. this week, oakland teacher voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike that could take place later this month. they want that 12% pay raise over three years and redu class sizes. the oakland unified school district is facing a potential short faln budget next year and is offering a much smaller raise, 5%. meanwhile governor gavin newsom has directed the state superintendent of education, for a look at how charter schools affect thee finaof school districts. joining me, janelle scott, t associate professoruc berkeley college of education and vanessa, kqed education reporter. hello to you both. >> hi there. >> vanessa, you have been covering the oakland situation, the teachers can go on strike

any reach an agreement. >> so if the teachers walk out, what is the district's plan? rat should parents and students know? ht, they haven't said a whole lot about it, but they are going to try to keep schools open. they say that they will callin substitute, administrators from central office will be on schooe sites in s cases and they will probably hold fairly big classes in audoriums, things like that.

that's what happened in 2010 the last time there was a strike. >> janelle, you were a teacher in oakland yurself at one point. so you're very familiar with the district. in what waks arend's issues similar to those that we see in other teachers' strikes around the country, like los angeles and last year in west virginia? >> and oklahoma, right? we're seaeingy a growing movement of teachers walking out. i think theem mts in west virginia and oklahoma are yolked to very traditional bread and butter issues that unionss have alw been very interested in, so salaries, pensions, benefits, and the like. but they are also yoked to these issues of general support for public education in the state, d really looking to increase the supports for counselors and rses and things that have really been, resources that have bee decimated from public schools, and oakland, and most recely in los angeles, you're seeing those same issues, but you're also hearing very much in

e public debate the question of charter schools, and how charter schools are playing into the fiy al pi vitalof these districts. >> and vanessa, theres are tensiver charter schools as you say. can you explain what ach charter sls and why are so many publ school officials and public schoolteachers upset about them? >> soar cr schools emerge in our country, the first state law passed inf1991, cania's law passed in 1992, and you know, charter,he ideal behind charter schools have always beet somewhaension with one another, so on the one hand reformers hoped that charterou schools provide opportunities for parents to have greater choice and freedom, for teach torious have greater power over decision making, culum and the structures of their schools. >> how has it o workedt? >> well, sort of all over the place. there are some wonderful charter schooms that haveged. i think the broad middle is that

most ofhe are just as quality, or maybe slightly belra tional public schools, and then another subset are quite worse, right?so they are all over the place if we just look at student achievement on standardized assessments. >> and so around the fact that these schools are drawing students and resources from traditional public schools, right? so in oakland, for instance can really see a drop, a downward trendsin district ool enrollment and upward trend in charter school enrollment and they line up pretty clearly and that's a lot of the complaints that you hear from the union about charter schools. >> and that hurts the finances the public school districts. they get less money if there are few people. and so is there a movement of sorts, vanessa, in oakland, among the public educators there, to try to get california lawmak do something about the charter school law? >> very much. on wednesday, there was a press conference with school leaders, and that's something that theyo talked a lot.

they have a lobbying effort under way to try to getovernor newsom to put a moratorium in pce on new charter schools and on charter school appeals. >> and how likely will that happen, janelle? >> so it is looking more likely that some sort of change will happen than in the recent past. governor newsom has asked the state superintendent of instruction, to convene a commission, to look at the fiscal effects of charters. we are really talking about not just the presence of charter schools in california but particular districts w dre there isp concentration of charter schools. so oaklandor example has the greatest concentration of charter schools in the state. >> how many charter saools are inand? >> so there are about 34 charter schools in oakland and that bo amounts to 30% of students enrolled in public schools in oakland. >> how does that compare to neighboring school districts? >> so berkeley unified has one charter school. >> just one?

>> one. gap?y the big >> so there are different explanations for the big gap. one ex planning fr the charter school community in oakland is there great pa fntal dema options. another explanation is that there has been deep donor and philanthropic support to grow thete ch in particular school districts as sort of proof points for the chartol sch movement so oakland charter schools have support from donors, from flan pifrts and from the california charter school association. >> and are there certain guidelines, charter schools have to abide by, in terms of what is their level of accountability? what are the metrics for success? >> i mean i think you're in a better position to talk about that, but that's part of the argument, right, is in oakland, ct instance, as the distr moves to close a number of their schools, to shore up their finances, they say they don't have very much control at all

over what they do with charter schools. thir there are very few cases in which they can deny a charter school application. >> so the law t holdst districts evaluate their charter schools every five years, and chartersn come up for renewal. what we know, not just in california, just in acoakland, t ss the country, that it is very rare for our a charter school to belosed for underperformance. it does heam but it is rare. >> almost a rubber stamp of approval when these renewal come up. >> yes, what we do see in terms of charter school closures, that it is more likely to be closed for fiscal impropriety rather than lack of student performance onstandardized tests. >> janelle, you talked earlier about gavin newsom's call on the superintendent's panel for charter schools and the impact they're having statewide. what would you like to see coming out of this study? >> it would be gre if we could establish some consensus. i hink the debate is so charged, with one side saying, nope, there's no effect on

traditional public schools, and if public schools would just imisove, we wouldn't have problem. on the other side, there is, deep concern, andof criticis the growth of charter schools, nd it would be good to have party that's perceived as somewhat neutral, to take a look at the numbers. one of the things that districts have, that districts have raised, as a concern, is that the law does not allow them to deny charter applications on the basis of fiscal impact. so even if the district is aware that opening another charter hool will further destabilize its finances, those aren't grounds to deny it. and so this is somethi that i think the state really does need to take up. fos districts like ngeles and oakland, that are really struggling financially. >> and on a broader level, los angel teachers, right, got an agreement last month, as part of that, as a resolution calling for a ten-month moratorium, so it does seem like this is part of a broader movement sweepinge nation. thank you both, janelle scott, with uc berkeley, and also vanessa, with kqed, nice to have

you here. >> thank you for having us. now, to the 75th anniversary of a bay area disaster that changed the nation. in 1944, african-american sailors were loading munitions ono a ship at the port chicago naval magazine, on su sune bay, they had no safety training and told the munitions were not live but it turned out they were. a massive explosion ripped through the pier killing 320 servicemen. sever weeks later, 50 black sailors reversed to load munitions in vallejo, out of concern or their safety. all were found guilty of mutiny. but the episode galvanized a movement to desegregate the navy, a eventually the entire military. now, a new exhibit at e treasure island museum sheds light on the port chicago explosion and its impact on the owght for racial justice. joining meo discuss all of this are the president of the treasure islandmuseum, walt balonski. and mary redel, chief officer at the university of san francisco. welcome to you both.

>> thank you for having us. re also the president of the san francisco public library commission and the ve been working wit treasure island museum on this exhibit. ake us back to that day in july, 1944, when the explosion happened. what was the scene like? >> wwal, the scene a terrible tragedy. in so many ways. you had these very youngmen that were working in an environment that they were not prepared for. and they suffsted the wo type of tragedy that you can ever imagine. and so the survors of the port chicago essentially had said, we are not going to go back. at least 50 of them, that was. and these wereou ordinary men, they were between 18, maybe 21, 22 years old. >> so young. >> so young. they were already in a segregated situation. over 200 of the individuals that were lost were african-american sailors. and other individuals. and so these 50 young black sailors who had everything to lose, if they went back, thfr wered for their own

safety, the w their mates with dismembered bodies, were ordered to go back mmediately, while the white officers wereth giveproper grievance time off and somehow or another, they were able to muster the courage, and the solidarity, to say we will rather go and face court martial with the uniates navy, which also meant that they, at that time, they could have been sentced to death. >> take us back to that. e why were tasks like this, loading live munitions, on to ship, why were those types of tasks assigned primarily to black sailors? >> well, the navy was segregated, and fr it was racist. these sailors had joined the navy to go fight t enemy. and they were put to work doing manual labor loading these munitions. they were supervised by white officers who were under a lot of time pressure. they pushed the crew to wo faster and faster. and then they bet with each other on which cr could load

the most ammunition. and punish the men if they lost the bet. it was a terrible .situati >> and so mary, how did this proefrt, by the 50 men, eventually iavluence the and eventually the entire military to desegregate? >> well, thiss the story. this is a civil rights story thatabegins infrancisco bay area, that i don't think that people know oout. weten think about atlanta, and other parts of the united states, where the civil rights was born, but this 50 young men were really the ones that set the early precedent to the modern civil rights movement that we knew. and so essentially, the navy moved forward, through this trial, and after the trial, toh be first branch of the military to begin desegregation. and under president truman, he ordered there, by all of the u.s. armed forces followed, and so essentially these 50 black sailor, ordinary young men, facing all loss, gave an

extraordinary contribution to racial justice and social justice in the united states, and it happened here. >>th dimilitary desegregate err altruistic reasons in the beginning, orthey frankly a little scared of seeing these 50 young black men band together? >> the thing is i'm sure there was publicity that was going on to the time and this is a precursor the modern civil rights movement. but at the same time, these, the tragedy was so significant, ime that's one thing that we cannot deny, it was so horrific, here had never bee that type of incident happen on the u.s. il, that i think that even then, they knew that there was something that wt not ri about it. >> there were two things going on really. one was the publicity. you know, the naacp was involved. thurgood marshall was a young attorney, the counsel for the naacp, he came out to assist with the trial. and so there was a lot of publicity and a lot of attention

aftesowards. but a the navy realized that if they segregated black sailors into black uy ts, tre creating black unity. and they realized that was going to be a problem if they kept doing that. >> is that why, by splitting them up and desegregating, that would actually weheir resolve on a lot of things. >> yes. >> and what happened to the sailors who were convied of mutiny afterwards? how did that affect their lives later on? >> well, they received about seven-year prison sentencem, most of t after the war those were reduced to about two years, and they wereur rd to service, and discharged. >> were they able to find work? were they able to live normal lives after that? >> not really. i believe they were receiv they received general discharges and it was a black mark on their records that fo most of their lives. which is one of the reasons why the port chicago storyok so song to become well known, because this wathing they were ashamed of. sometimes their families didn't know about they didn't want to talk about

it. and eventually, the families learned, professor robert allen atel be, found out about it, and wrote a book in the 1990s, and that really helped make it more widely known. >> and mary, of all of the convicted, only one received a pardon from clinton.nt bill and some of the men said a pardon implied they were guilty and instead,ey t wanted exoneration, they wanted their names cleared. is there any effort under way to ation for them.on ration fexon i believe there are some exoneration efforts going on right now, and the things, under presidentam there was not a successful empt con exoneration that happened? >hdo you know why is that? >> do you know the specifics? >> i don't really know about that. i know maybe the president was reluctant to push race issues on too many fronts, but there is an organization, the friends of port chicago national memorial, which is working to to clear the

nas of the sailors and working for the families, and exoneration is one of their priorities. >> mary, what's the connection between those 50 men, 75 years ago, to what you're seeing today? >> you know, one of the things is that justice does not happen vacuum. the arc of moral justice was really a long andays bends towards righteousness and these 50 men were essentially banded together, and this a of solidarity, and it's connected directly to what we h w wit rosa parks, connected directly to what we see today, in black lives matter, and even more recently, what we're seeing with colin kaepernick. you know, this whole idea of how do you stand up at a time when the society doesn't believe that necessarily what yo believe is right. these 50 young men are directly connected to the young people that are here in the bay area, that are in florida, that are all throughout the united states, that are saying particular issue is not right.

>> certainly the story still resonates today. mary, and walt,th thank you for being here. >> thank you. and to learn more about port chicago and its impact on the civil rights movement, you can attend a lectureoderated by mary, tomorrow, at treasure tr island, visisure island museum.org/port chicago, to make a free reservation for the talk. space is limited. and that will do it for us. as always you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thank you for joing us.

>> in this divided government, is compromise possible? i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." >> flynn, manafort, gates, pap drop loss and dozens of indictments including 13 ssian nationals, three russian s compand roger stone. are you overseeing a witch-hunt? robert: acting attorney general matthew w the latest showdown between the trump administration and congress. >> at no time has the white house asked for nor have i provided any promises or commitments concerning any investigation. robert: democrats are launching new investigations of the president's finances. president trump: it'sal