captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the jussie smollett case takes a turn. the actor has been arrested, with chicago police charging that he staged an attack on himself, designed to look like a hate crime. then, a coast guard officer is taken into custody. his writings reveal plans for a white supremacist terror plot against democratic politiciansbl and ca tv journalists. plus, i sit down with former acting director of the f.b.i. andrew mccabe to talk about his dealings with president trump, and his new ok, "the threat." and, a program to bring u.s. farmers to mexico to meet the families of their workers builds bridges across language and cultural barriers. >> i thought, well, they're not gonna learn enough spanish. they're not going to learn about the culture or why people do

what th do in a 20-hour spanish class. so i thought well, let's do something more. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight'sbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs nehour has been provided by: c >> on ruise with american cruise lexines, you can perience historic destinations along the the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines fleet of small ships elore american landmarks, local cultures and american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour.

>> babbel. a language app that teaches reew-life conversations in a language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economnd performanceinancial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic ment, and the advanceme of international peace and security. at carnegierg. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: north carolina's state board of elections hasec ordered a new on in a contested congressional race. the decision came today after a four-da accusations.ote fraud state investigators said a political operative illegally collected absentee ballots for the reublican candidate. mark harris narrowly edged democrat dan mccready last november. but today, he asked for a new election,onhile denying gdoing. >> through the testimony i've listened to over the past three days, i believe a new election should be called. it has become clear to me that the public' 9th district's seat general election has been undermined to an extenthat a new election is warranted. >> woodruff: the eltion board

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the actor jussie smollett accused of lying when he sd he'd been the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack. chicago police said today he organizeimd the attacklf, in a bid to boost his salary on the tv series "empire." later, smollett was released on bail of $100,000. mean cwhile,st guard lieutenant, christopher hasson, appeared in federal court in greenbelt, maryland. he is accused of stockpiling guns for possible attacks on leading democrats and media figures. federal prosecutors said they found an arsenal of weapons, plus white supremacist writings and a hit list, in hasson's home. >> the sheer number and force of the weapons that we recored from mr. hasson's residence in this case, coupled with the disturbing nature of his itings appear to reflect a very significant threat to the safety of our community,pa icularly given the position of trust that mr. hasson held with the united states vernment. >> woodruff: for now, hasson

faces guns and drug charges. we'll take a deeper look at this story an case, after the news summary. a feinderal judgashington imposed a full gag order today on roger stone, president trump's longtime confidan j he could go l if he violates the order. stone had posted a photo of judge amy berman jackson with what appeared to be crosairs of a gun, in the corner. jackson is presiding ove stone's case in the russia investigation. he is accused of lying to congress, obstruction and witness tampering. pope francis opened a landmark vatican summit today on the catholic church's crisis of clergy sexually abusing children some 190 bishops and other leaders listened, as the pope offered 21 proposals for specific action. >> ( transl of the scourge of sexual abuse by churchmen to the detriment of

minors, we hear the cry of the little ones who ask for justice. the weight of church's responsibility weighs on our meeting. the holy people of god look at us and expect from us, not simple and obvious connsdemnatbut concrete and effective measures to put into place. w>> woodruff: victie there, too. marek lisinski, of poland, showed the pope a picture of himsoyelf as a baround the time he was abused by a priest. the pope kissed his hand and offered his blessings. some 3,000 teachers went on strike in oakland, california today. ey are demanding smaller class sizes and a 12% retroactive raise. the strikers complain they are among e lowest paid educators in the san francisco bay area. meanwhile teachers in west virginia returned to wory after a two-rike. in economic news, u.s./china tre talks resumed in washington. the two sides are trying to reach a deal by march fir, before more u.s. tariffs take

effect. and on wall street: the dow jones industrial average lost 10points to close at 25,850.e nasdaq fell 29 points, and the s&p 500 slid nine. and, peter tork, of the 1960's band the monkees, has died in los angeles. he was cast as a member of the made-for-tv group in 1966, and became an overnight sensation. two years later, he left the band, but joined in reunion tours over the years peter tork was 77 years old. still to come on the newshour: a turn in the jussie smollett case and the arrest of a coast guard officer. my conversation with former acting director of the f.b.i. andrew mccabe. bridging the ltural barriers between american farmers and mexican farm workers, and much more.

uff: there was a turn of events today in the alleged hate crimes case involving entertainer jussie smollett. amna nawaz details the dramatic developmts playing out in chicago. >> nawaz: nearly three weeks after claiming he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack"empire" actor jussie smollett appeared in a chicago court after turning himself in, accused of staging the attack himself. chicago police superintendent eddie johnson. >> empire actor jussie smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. this stunt was orchestrated by smollett because he was dissatisfied by his salary. >> nawaz: smollett, who is black and gay, said he was beaten by two men on a downtown chicago streeh.t on january 2 he said the men yelled racist and homophobic slurs, and told him "this is maga country," referring to president trump's "make america great again"

slogan. smollett said they loop noose around his neck, and threw bleach on him. a wave of sympathy and outrage quickly spread in response, from lee daniels, "empire's" co- creator... >> hold your head up jussie, we're with you. >> nawaz: ...activists like al sharpton... ha it is extremely appalling for people like mefight hate crimes all over the country. >> nawaz: ...even presidential ndidates. new jersey democratic senator cory booker called it a "modern y lynching." but, chicago police said they indrviewed over 100 people reviewed 55 surveillance cameras. last week, thedetained and questioned two brothers, abimbola and olabio osundairo. they were held for nearly 48 hours, then released without chars. on saty,urolice said the brothers provided information that "shifted the trajectory of the investigation." meanwhile, on february 14th, smollett addressed those doubting his story, in an interview on "good morning america." >> listen if i tell the truth.

then that's it cau it's the trh. then it bekecame a thing of "oh how can you doubt that? like how do you not believe at? it's the truth. and then it became a thing of like, "oh. it's not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth. you don't even want to see the truth." >> nawaz: chicago police now claim the assat was staged, carried out by the two brothers, who were paid $3,500 by smollett. superintendent johnson said his department wasted resources, and that smollett ould apologize. >> i just wish that the families of guenn vi in this city got this much attention. >> nawaz: smollett is now facing a charge of filing a false police report. the 36-p year-old faces three years in prison and could be forced to repay the cost of th investigation.ong for his pa attorneys have denied that he played any role in the attack,

and promised to mount a strenuous defense of their clie. for more on the apparent unraveling of smollett's case, and what some of the potential reverberations might be, we turn to derwhrick cliftoncovers social and cultural issues for nbc news and others. he joins us now from chicago. derrek, welcome to "newshour". i've got to ask you, when the ory first came out, the details were so specific and horrific, they led to the outpring of support and sympathy. why do you think there was such a rush for people to step up, call for justice and want the to believe the story as it was laid out? >> part of the reason there was such an outpouring of empathy is, me often than not, when situations like this hapwipen in the black lgbt community, there's often not as much as news coverage even extending public support to people who are alleged victims and that's something where, quite often, you have people within th

community that have to rally to justice and hold law enforcent can'table and even raise awareness that justice can be found for victims and even, within the community, twhrst enough interd support to not only rally folks to action but also to make sure that we're addressing the root causes of the problem, thinking about theo ideologithe policies and the actions amongst our peers and our heterosexual unterparts, and others who are not people of color to tandke actionare. so there is the premise to support but also to believe people when they domeoorward with reports like this, but also to verify and hold them accountable if, indeed, rarely, if it's some kind of hoax and >> reporter: some of the statistics we don't get to talk about that often, a report from the national coalition of anti-violence programs that

advocates for the lgbtq community in the united states, they track homicides of the lgbtq community and 2 in017, they reached an all-time high in beenyears they have tracking those numbers and disproportionately carried out among black members of the community. so the stats are there. but i guess for all the people who rushed to want to support jussie smollett in this moment, as the details are coming out, as what looks to be an unraveling of the story sets in, how are people reacting? >> well, part of the reaction is utter disbelief and in many ways disappointment with the legations, especially since jussie smollett has a sizable platform within the community, he is, you knoaw, part of surge of increased representation andi visib of black lgbt people in entertainment ad television within the last few years and even outside of that has been

advocating for h.i.v. awareness esd historically black coll and universities. so when someone with a platform of thisature is wrapped up where they may have been the center of an alleged violent act cke this, people feel it is a disservice to tmunity. the other side of that is there is this palpable frustration that there's only an attention fr, you know, some law enforcement and even the public to hate crimes in the com when there is a celebrity factor, when there is somebody that's hiligh prat the center of it, but quite often, you know, the situations are going on without any attention, any care, and that's likely what's underneath all of this is how can weedirect the energy from an alleged hoax to the many other incidents that are happening all around us, even within the last few weeks, even

months surrounding, you know, this alleged incident, there are black trans women who havle been d and quite often those are lye people disproportiona impacted within black and lgbtq ople in this issue. >> reporter: we do not know what the ultimate outcome will be and jussie smollett continues to deny the charge. his lawyers says they will defend him. we need to consider even the allegation that this is a hoax, all the evidence as has been laid out so far will have some kind of an impact boton people wanting to come forward and on people wanting to believe them. what do you think that impact could or might be? >> well, you know, it couldust make people a little bit more skeptical to, you know, believe, victims when they do come forward, though it is important to remembethat more often than not, people aren't make this stuff up, and they deserve the support and empathy from their

peers, from the community and, of course, again, you know, we have to, you know, trust but also make sure verify. >> reporter: derrick clifton joining us from >> nawainz: in another unfo story, a self-proclaimed white supremacist is facing firearm and drug charges, with more charges expected. in court documents filed thi week, the government said coast guard officer christopher paul hasson planned to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country."e prtors say he was plotting to kill prominent journalists and democratic politicians, among others, with the intention of sparking a race war. oren segal is the director of the anti-defamation league's center on extremism, and joins me now from new york. oren segal, welcome back to the "newshour". you've had a chance to go through these court documen related to christopher paul hasson. help us understand how much of a threat did he actually pose? >> well, you know, the courtum donts outline somebody who clearly had fantasies of

violence, whether it was, you know putting biological weapons in the food supplyit, whether's killing everybody on earth. he's somebody who is creating a traitor's list of politicia, newscasters, and also was defining himself as a white supremacist who wanted to create a white nation.on that combinatf factors plus stockpiling weapons suggest that he was ae ral threat. >> reporter: we saw, as you noted, pictures of the cache of weapons, of 15 firearms, r thousands ofunds of ammunition. the names are, prominentancy pelosi, blumenthal, gillibrand, warren, booker,s oth. there's a huge leap from making doing and actuall something about it. what else do we know about what hasson had done to prepare that made authorities act right now?

>> again, re's somebody who was influenced by another extremest out i norway, anders brievik, and that individl wrote a 1,000 page manifesto which hasson appeared to have read carefully. he aarently bought steroids is sort of outlined in brievik's manifesto to beef himself up. the stockpiling of weapons, the gole searches on where sme of these politicians live, these are all indications of somebody who may have been willing to s t. >> reporter: there trend i want to point out when we talk about folks who self-as white supremacists, southern poverty law center tracks these reports, and there has been a documented rise i those groups to what they say is a now-time all high, over 1,000 such hate groups, many white nationalists and white supremacists. what is inflewsing that rise?

>> well, you think some of theal critiumbers, and this is what we have at a.d.l., is extremist-related murders. when you look at the past ten years in this country, 73% of extremist-related murders in this country have been carried out by right-wing extremists and the majority by prwhite acists. so over 2700 people killed by extremists. at the same time you see an increase in other white supremacist activities, so whether flyering, putting white supremacist banners, stickers d fly rps around the country, a 2,000 increase from 207 to 2018. so white supremacists have been emboldened and ound different ways to carry out and promote their messages and in some cases consequences. >> reporter: the government's documents say the defendant is a domestic territories bent on committing acts dangerous to

human life intended to affectme goveal conduct. when we talk about terrorism, we think at extremi islamic terrorism. there's actlly a differt threat that's great tore americans right now. >> americans do not have a xury to ignore any ideological or political threat. these attacks happen from all types of different extremists, if you will, but thedata bears out simple facts. even last year, we recently issued a report on extremisted related murders in 2018, 98% of those. all but one were essentially carried out by those who are right-wing extremists. the discussion between what is terrorism and the threat, we need to keep the nbers in mind, because that will make sure we're putting our resources and focus in the right ple. >> reporter: help us put this case into context is christopher paul hasson an outlier in some way or a

representative of somethingshlse that wld be worried about? h> i mean, he is very muc representative of a threat that we have been seeing. look no further than uritt just a couple of months ago. i think we need to thank federai authes for demonstrating that they take homegrown extremism seriously and the job that they diteto poially stop another attack from happening in this country. >> reporter: oren segal of the anti-defamation league, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, the election board will set a new election after charges of fud in the vote. r more, i'm joined again by miles parks of npr, in raleigh, north carolina. miles parks, hello again. so tell us what happened today that led to the elections board making this decision. >> so it was a pretty incredible

y over all and that's saying something considering eve single day since monday at the .earing has had one or two incredible momen today is the today we were supposed to hear from mark harris who took the stand early in the morning and testified ant out this absentee ballot fraud that investigators have been laying out over the past few days centered on a political operative named mcraeo dowless wh was hired to work on upping the absentee totalsn the eastern part of the district. more evidence has come out that suggests dowles was using tactics illegal in north colina, collecting ballots. one woman testified she filled in ballots for some voters who left them blank when they turned in their ballots to her. e's more and m clear the results were tainted and we had a bipa 5-0 unanimous vote from the state ofec eons

today to hold a brand-new vote and throelout thtions from november. >> woodruff: so harris is now calling for a new election,bu up until now, he has denied wrongdoinh isn't that r >> he has, and he still didn't say anything today that indicated he knew about the illegal behavior by dowless ad people dowless was paying, but it became clear in the past few months that he was not warned about dowless tactics is notin to hold water. we heard from john harris, an assistant attorney in north carolina, he testified he warned his father, he had done dada analysis on the election and looked at the candidate paid by dowless and had a hunch dowless w a shady character d gaged in illegal activity, his own son warnem. >> woodruff: harris'

contention is that he knewno ing about what was going on even though he had been warned by his son? >> right, he's arguing he didn't know anything about the illegal behavior. ehs son was telling him he thought illegalior could be happening based on some public available data hewas looking at. he was looking at how ballots were being turned into the local elections board. they were coming in in batches, as john harris said. he said he suspected something but mcrae dowless who was guaranteeing the ballots said, no, ner touched the ballots, that the illegal, i would never do that, and harris said he took the word of the political operative over thise words ofon. >> woodruff: we don't know the date of the reelection. we assume it wille held over the next several months. any sense of whether voters will going to start from scratch or which side has an advantage going i tn? biggest thing right now is actually looking at the primaries.

north carolina passnt a law a few ago that said if you hold a new election for a statewide race you have to hold a new primary as well. so we're curious as to whether mark harris is going to run again.n he h't said because the election was just called recently. the question, s even if hdoes run again, will he get the support of republicans in north carolina with all of this baggage from the week-long hearing, will he be able to gather that statewide support to even run ain against democrat dan mccready. >> woodruff: big development in north carolina calling for a brand-new election. miles parks of npr, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, our conversation with former f.b.i. acting director andrew mccabe. first, some background on the t man who direct f.b.i. to investigate president trump.

andrew mccabe was thrust into e spotlight, and before thena te intelligence committee, in may 2017. two days earlier, president trump had fired f.b.i. director mes comey, making his deputy, mccabe, the acting f.b.i. chief. he pledged support for the bureau's russia investigation he now oversaw. >> you cannot stop the men and women of the f.b.i. from doing the right thing, protecting the american people, and upholding the constitution.>> woodruff: the same day mccabe testified, president trump told nbc news he fired comey in part because of the bureau's probe into the trump campaign's ties with russia. in his book "the threat",ccabe says the f.b.i. then launched a counterintelligence investigation into the president. >> is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection

between this president and our mostearsome enemy, the government of russia? >> wobeodruff: mc said this week he told the so-called "gang of 8" congressional leaders including senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, then house speaker paul ryan and their democratic counterparts about the investigation at the time. >> ne o jected. not on legal grounds,tuot on constitional grounds and not based on the facts.f: >> woodr the investigation was eventually taken over by special counsel robert mueller, who was appointed eight days after comey was fired. over the summer of 2017, president trump repeatedly accused mccabe of a conflict of interest. mccabe's wife, jill, had run unsuccessyefully tws earlier for a virginia state senate seat, and had received donations from a hllillary clinton mccabe himself had overseen the investigation into former secretary clinton's use of a

private eil server, but not while his wife was running for office. then in march 2018, days before his retirement, mccabe was fired for allegedly lying to federal investigators about improper media disclosures unrelated to the russia probe. mccabe contends he did nothing wrong and that his firing was retaliation for the investigation into the president. and andrew mccabe joins me now. welcome to the "newshour". so your book is titled "the threat: how the f.b.i. protects america in the age of terror and trump." is o more of ahreat than the other? >> i think they're both significant issues that the f.b.i. s to confront in this modern age. i think terrorism is hreat that we have grown to in the-9 po/11 world. the wayry much modifi

that we approach our role in counterterrorism investigations and how we mitiga the threats posed by terrorists. i think the f.b.i. is now going through that same sort of adaptation understanding how to work in this era under a trumpra adminion. >> woodruff: as we sit here, i'm sure you know there is incrhaeasing speculationthe mural report is just about to be finished, transmitted to the department of justice. based on everything you kn, do you think the president could well be implicated in it? >> it's hard to ime a report that doesn't talk about the president, obviously. of course, i don't know will be in the report. i have incredible faith in director mueller and hiseam's toobilities deliver honestly and independently the results that they 've cometo. >> woodruff: and you say you will accept what the findings are, eesn if the ent is common rated? >> absolutely. absolutely. >.>> woodruff: do you think it's more likely the presiden simplecated under collusion

coordinations with russians or obstruction of justice? >> i don't know i could identify a likelihood of eitheresult. i can tell you we were concerned about both in may 2017 when we initiated the case on thepr ident as a part of overall connection into russia investigations into his campaign. some of the information we're all aware of is higy concerning. the shfeer number interactions and contacts between folks in and around this administration and people nected to russian intelligence is truly remarkable. it's not like anything i've ever seen before. additional people trying to affirmatively conceal or lie about those coacts an, through the course of the investigation, is something that should also give us paus>> oodruff: it came across pointedly in the book at one point, you said, in your last days at the f.b.i., you had been investigating the russian gofeernment's intnce in the

2016 election, possibly with the knowledge and involvement of that electios winning candidate. you didn't say campaign. you said candidate.t >>hat's right. that was on decis in may is we felt we were at the pointy we had to focus our investigative efforts on the president himself, not just on the campaigbe which we had doing that work since the end of the summer of 206, but it was time to start looking in earnest at the preside himself. >> reporter: so, in connection with all this, we know that only hours after that infamous access hollywood tapes were released, that was octoberf 2016, just hours after that, there was a hugeak of damaging e-mails about hillary clinton, from hillary clintoand from her then campaign manager jo h podesta, whi been stolen by wikileaks. do you think what was a? coinciden >> it's hard to say. i will say this, though, it's extraordinary the number of events just like

that that we now know about and look back over the cour of that period of time, as those, events add t becomes harder and harder to explain them as sure coincidenc or unrelated events. te president's own callsthe russians to find the e-mails and continue, you know, to find hillary clinton's e-mails, and the now activity that director mueller's team has exposed of russian intelligence individuals doing exactly that. i mean, these thgs are so close in time, they seem to be responding to each other. we don't kctw that for a fa, but it's truly curious. >> woodruff: you ridote extensively in the book, andrew mccabe, after you became the idting director of the f.b.i. after the prt fired james comey, that the president was aggressively seekingurances of personal loyalty from you, and you also write he is tmohe

prolifi prolific liar you've er encountered. that's saying something from somebody like you who has spent your career dealing with notorious criminals and terrorists. >> it is. it's remarkable. it's the kind of thing i think people should by thin about more often as thereassess and evaluate where we are as a nation, the fact the presidentf himseands before this country on a daily basis and says things that many of us kno t true is just -- i don't remember ever living through a time like this. it's just incredible. >> woodruff: of course, he calls you a liar. >> he does. >> woodruff: and has been very, very tough on you >> he does, as recently as yesterday, the president gave, you know, me remarks to the press yesterday where he continues to perpetuate this falsearrative about me, about my wife, about her campaign for

state senate in virginia in 2015. you know, it's sad that we have, as afamily, had to not just endure these attacks but we are starting to expect them, and that's a truly ad commentary on the state of the presidency. >> woodruff you've described how deeply concerned people were inside the. after director comey was fired, even conversations about whether the president could be removed from office. the "wall street journal" editorial board wrote this week habout what call elites in washington who far overreacted after president firing james comey, and i'm quoting they said, this elite panic was a bigger threat to constitutional norms than anything mr. trump is known to have done. >> well, they're certainly entitled to their opinion. i see it very differently. as the acting director of thet f.b.i. person responsible for investigators, my

sponsibility at that t was to determine what the investigators should be doing, and the f.b.i. guidelines givene to us byttorney general are very clear -- when weave an articulable basis to think a federal crime has been committed or a credible thread to the cunational sety, we roble gated to investigate, whether that's the president of the united statet the n door neighbor or somebody else. we don't investigate because we like or don't like somee or because they are on one direction or the other on the ic political um. we investigate because the information calls us to do so an that's what we did in 2017. >> woodruff: former chairman of the house congressional oversight committee trey gowdy is, this week, criticizing you for revealing th may 27 briefing of the so-called gang ofi eght congressional leaders about the fact that you had

opened investigation into president trump. you said that, in that briefing, the republican leaders in the meeting didn't raise concerns, but mr. gowd is saying you know that congressional leaders just cannot talk about classified briefings like that. able to putbe your version of what happened out there, and they're not able to respond. >> wel i think there's already been duss cogs. that -- discussions. mentions of that briefing have already been in the public spheres. years of reacting with leaders on the hill and different committees, my experience is not that they're reluctant toth discusr business, but, nevertheless, i simply related myer ence and my observations. and, to be clear, it asn't just that the republicans didn't ask questions andcr the des did. it was that the deputy attorney

general and i convened the group, provided an ex defense detailed briefing, the status of our case, and we did not receive any questions or pushback or yesistance or concern from an of the membership or staff in attendance about the steps we're taking. >> woodruff: you're saying they should be able to speak about it? >> no, i'm sayg that's the reaction i would expect from people who thought that we had dob the reasole and necessary thing. that's what i took away from the briefing that nobody objected because we had take an step that was clearly called for by the facts in our a possessiot that time. >> woodruff: last thing i want to ask, the inspector general said in so many words that you were not candid, you didn't tell the truth oa number of different exchanges with the inspector general's office about

sharing information with the news media. your attorney said today thate vestigation in all this is still underway, and i think the question is why is this investigation still underway? investigation?s where does this stand? i know you've disputed that version of ee nts, but tct that it's still going on, help d. understand what's happe >> well, it's maybe a little bit more nuanced than that. at the conclusion of their fvestigation, the office inspector general referred the matter to have the d.c.s.u. attorney's office for hevestigation and that'se it's still being pursued. so that's what my lawye referring to, i think, in those comments. you know, whatever work they're doing continues. my attorneys are in frequent and regular contact with them. i really can't say much more about it. n>> woodruff:you said you plan to sue the justice

department? >> i'll bring a civil action against the department challenging the circumstances around my termination. you know, judy, i'll tell you that i have deep disagreements and i completely reject the conclusions drawn in that report, the inspector general is well aware of this.we e made our position clear to him in the past. i can tel tl yhat at no time did i ever intentionally mislead yone, not in his office and not in the f.b.i. i have been consistent about that. the process that i was pu through both during the investigation and after the conclusion of the report is not like anything i had ever seen in my time serving in the f.b.i. i had, you know, oversaw numerous matters that were handled, you know, investigations of allege employ misconduct, so i will be challenging that process as

well. finally, you know, i don't think it's a surprise to anyf us that the result delivered by the insp eector general ctly the one that the president was calling for public. a president who, long before i had anynteractions wi the attorney general -- with the inspector general's office, had made it clear both to director comey and others he wanted me gone. when you add those circumstances together, all things igred in the inspector general's report, i think you will see a very different side of things. cc>> woodruff: andrewe, the book is "threat: how the f.b.i. protects america in the age ofterror and trump." thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruf a unique program started in wisconsin helps build bridges between farm employers and migrant employees. special correspondent ed de

sam lazaro begins our report in the mexican state of veracruz. 's part of fred's serie agents for change. >> reporter: they are hard to distinguish from thouannds of americ who meet up in mexico, headed to its beach resorts and a ree spitom winter. but this group of wisconsin dairy farmers had a very different destination, as they headed inland and up steep, gravel mountain roads. thviews are breathtaking but ouese are places where tsts rarely go, and where locals say it's hard to stay and earn a living. it become an annual ritual for the midwesterners-- getting together with families their employees left behind a they traveled north to find work. theirarngs sustain the families here in mexico, even if the bread winners themselves, most of th undocumented in the u.s., cannot afford the cost or

risk of a quick visit home. john rosenow, was on his ninth trip in recent years, visiting the families of his ten mexican workers. first stop: the parents of marco rosales. >> is there any message you'd ke us to take to marco? >> tell him that we are well and tell him to behave. >> reporter: does he mostly behave? >> marc bo behaves a loause he works all the time. marco at times works 12 hours a day and right now it's 10 below. >> reporter: on a frigidarly january orning, i got to see marco's route, which begins at the crack of dawn in the milking parlor. >> we run this 24 hours a day. >> reporter: how many gallons of milk? >> today we'll ship probably 5,000 gallons. >> reporter: families like roses now's, he'fth generation on this farm, helpedive wisconsin the bragging rights as america's dairyland. but utthe unrelenting roe of milking, birthing, feeding and cleaning is one rosenow says

americans long ago stopped wanting to do. for years, rosenow says he's tried to reuit for jobs that pay between 32 and $42,000 a year, plus on-farm housing if needed. >> i've gone to farm supply storases locallyng people that work there and i've never got a response, ever. r orter: and you would pay more these big department stores? >> yes. and so, i don't understand why americans don't do it, but they don't. >> reporter: about 20 years ago, left with no choice, he says he a mexican immigrant he found through a farm magazine ad. >> he came, and milked 54 days straigmeht here was dy that worked as hard as i do. i thought, wow, this is the answer to the biggest problem that i had, was labor.>> eporter: migrant workers may have solved the labor problem for some farmers here but also revealed a new one: communication.

so, a county extension agent asked shaun duvall, the local high school spanish teacher to start language classes. >> i thought, pfff, they're not going to learn enough spanish. they're not going to learn about the culture or why people do what they do in a 20-houran sh class, so i thought well, let's do something more. >> reporter: she and rosenow founded a non profit called puentes bridges, intended to offer language immersion trips to mexico, spanish lessons for dairy owners; english for their workers, as well as a dairy technician training program, trying to help two very different cultures b understand each other. >> it's politically a conservative area but all of a sudden there's this presence of peop sle who donre your culture, and they needed somebody who knew something. and i didn't know much but i knew more than they did. >> reporter: today, wisconsin's daduy ry says a majority of workers are immigrants, an arrangemerent that endespite rancorous debate about immigration.

for their part, the immigrants keep a low profile. roberto tecpile who is 39, agreed to share his story. in the 20 years he's been in the u.s., he's returned home just four times. returning to the u.s. is treacherous and expensive. >> i walked two days and two nights in the desert. >> reporter: did you have to pay people to get here? >> yeah. >> reporter: the trafficker's fee was $10,000 dollars. 32-year-old armando tecpile, who is not related to roberto, endu ordeal; driven, he says, by dreams of earning enough to build a comfortable home in his village. >> ( translated ): my house, i thank god it's already three floors and complete c fcrete. it's nished yet, still in construction but all the outside is done. >> reporter: back in mexico, armando's home was the next stop for his boss.

>> ( translated ): i'm really grateful armando found you as a hace to work because itd to find a good job and sometimes >> reporter: here and everywhere ey visited, the wisconsi visitors found expressions of appreciation and warm hospitality. but just beneath the smiles in many cases lurked the pain of long separation for the host families.st after hleft, armando's wife lourdes ramos told me she'd pleaded with her husband not to go to the u.s. to stay home with their sons, now 10 a five. >> ( translated ): i said i'm not asking you for anythini'm not asking you for money. we don't need such a big house if it's just two of us and thea two boys andy, it's nicer to have a smaller place. reporter: she fears they'll wind up like roberto's fily, who have endured his absence over much of the past two decades. >> reporter: rosenow talked with roberto's father about the new prosperity-visible across villages trre in new couction, in small enterprises many families have started. his wife and mother reflected on

the price they have paid rticularly the children. aaron is their middle child. >> i miss my papa, i love him a lot. >> reporter: when was the last time you saw your papa? >> ( translated ): i was five years old. he used to carry me and we used to go and see my grandma far away. >> reporter: hiyounger sister, megan was barely a month old when her father left. we miss him, we really do miss hi. >> reporter: but it is roberto and veronica's 15 year old son, who was away when we visited, who most worries his mother. ): he just wants go and work with his dad and is waiting to be able to do that. i'm not going to let my son go because the border is very dangerous. >> etreporter: whr she'll prevail against the strong tug of eorconomic opportunity up is a big question. a generation ago, her mother in illaw remembers pleading sly with roberto and his brothers. all four of them remain in t united state for the pbs newshour, this is

fred de sam lazaro in zongolica, mexico. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories projecat the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: with u.s./china tradnegotiations now in high gear, president trump recently sugg tested he might del latest round of tariffs on china, scheduled to take effect march 1st. so are we in a trade war with china or not? our economics correspondent, paul sol our weekly series, "making sense," which airs every thursday. >> i love tariffs but i also love them to negotiate. >> reporter: in any negotiationt as the presi book "the art of the deal" stressed, the key questi: who's got the power?

america, trying to suggest it does, has trted out a major onomic weapon, tariffs, imposed on chinese products -- c taxes on gooing into the country from china, that is. tari effs make chinesexports more expensive by raising their pricses here, which prote american manufacturers from cheaper competition, punishes the chinese and their economy. china responded to the trump tariffs in kind: it retaliated withariffs on american exports, targeting u.s. products from trump stngholds: like ybeans, for example. >> i've been in the news lately because i'm caught in theiddle of a tade war involving the two powerful countries of china and the united states. >> reporter: the result, in both countries: higher costs for consumers and businesses which use imports. which is why most economists hate tariff wars: the total costs, they insist, far outweigh the total benefits, short term and long. or as chinese internet

billionaire jack ma put it: >> trade war is the most stupid thing in this world. >> rep tariffs, china does the same. but is it an even tit-for-tat? yasheng huang is a professor at the m.i.t. sloan school of management. >> china at a disadvantage for two reasons. one is that the total share of trade with chinese g.d.p. is much higher than it is for the united states. secneondly, c economy is slowing down and the chinese exporting industry employs a massive number of people, so it's actually quite big in terms of the chinese economy. >> reporter: so china is not going to win the tariff game. what other moves does it have? how abo a bond dump? china holds more than a trillion dollarworth of u.s. debt. if it sells off u.s. bonds, the market would be flooded, and the u.s. would have to offer higher

rates to lure investors to buy the d new bonds we n keep issuing. to cover ourowederal debt, ng at a rate of about a million dollars every 30 seconds or so. and higher interest rates would cost us a pretty penny. but what would the effect be on china?bo d dump has a huge downside, says huang: >> first of all, there will be other people who come in dying to get ao piece of thatat's not going to hurt the u.s. secondly, chinese are going to get hurt beca they have remaining in their holding of the u.s. treasury is going to decrease in value. >> reporter: okay, another move: squeeze u.s. firms now operating in china. 400 plus walmarts do business ther00e, more than 5.f.c.s, more than 3,300 starbucks. in f. act, the uade deficit with china nearly vanishes once you include sales by american firms there. but how would pressuring u.s.

firms or discouraging chinese tizens from buying american affect the chinese economy? >> if you go after foreign companies you are going to increase unemployment in the country. the chinese manufacturing industry is already experiencing problems, the private sector of the chinese economy is experiencing problems. during an economic war solve economic problems this is a very, very stupid thing to do because you're hurting yourself. >> reporter: and other retaliatory options pose the same ris pull back on the number of chinese coming here for education? devalue their currency? hurts the chinese more, right? okay so finally, it's been suggested that china might make sweetheart trade deals with other allies., including our cozy up to the rest of the world economically, th o is, leaving . but again, not so fast, says professor huang.

look what happened after the recent u.s. crackdown on chinese telecom company huawei as a national securusy threat. >>alia now is restricting huawei, the latest news is czech republic is restricting huawei. i don'think they want to take on the trump administration on china and ally wit china againse united states. >> reporter: and so at last we come to the bottom line: china seems at first to have quite an arsenal of economic options. but in the end, they all seem more likely to backfire. we know it; they know it. no wonder they are willing to negotiate.r fothe pbs newshour, i'm economics correspondent paul solman. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, a new study outlines a connection between the high level of salt in our diets and one of the most common

inflammatory diseases that affects the skin. learn more on our web site, pbs.orgewour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm jujody woodruff. us online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and r vid brooks. ll of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> american cruise lines.

>> babbel. a language app talt teaches re-life conversations in a new language. >> the william and flora hewlett foundthion. for mor 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. po this program was made possible by the ction for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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