captioning sed by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the jussie smollett se takes a turn. the actor has been arrested, with chicago police charging ck onhe staged an at himself, designed to look like a hate crime. then, a coast guard officer is taken into custody. his writings reveal plans for a whitpre acist terror plot against democratic politicians and cable tv jonalists. plus,ow i sitwith former acting director of the f.b.i. andreutw mccabe to talk ais dealings with president trump, and his new book, "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, ell, they're not gonna learn enough spanish. they're not gog to learn about e culture or why people do

what they do in a 20-hour spanish class. so i thought well, let's do something more. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshou >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise l historic destinations along the the columbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures andcr americase lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour.

>> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life convsations in a new nguage, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financi literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and bpby contributions to you station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: north carolina's state board of elections has dered a new election in contested congressional race. the decision came today after a four-day hearing on vote fraud accusations. state investigators said a political operative illegally collected absentee ballots for the republican candidate. mark harris narrowly edged democrat dan mccready last november. but today, he asked for a new election, while denyi wrongdoing. >> through the testimony i've listened to over the past three daysti, i believe a new el should be called. it has bece ome clear toat the public's confidence in the 9th district's seat general election has been undermined to lection isthat a new warranted. >> woodruff: the election board

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the actor jussie smollett accused of lying when he said he'd been the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack. chicago police said today he organized the attack himself, in a bid to boost his salary on the tv series "empire." later, smollett was released on bail of $100,000. while, a coast gua 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 ho. >> the sheer number and force of the weapons that we recovered from mr. hasson's residence in this case, coupled with the disturbing nature of his writings appear to reflect a very significant threat to the safety of our community, particularly given the position of trust that mr. hasson held with the united states government. >> woodruff: for now, hasson

faces guns and drug charges. 'll take a deeper look at this story and the jussie smollett case, after the news summary. a federal judge in washington imposed a fu gag order today on roger stone, president trump's longtime confidant. could go to jail if he violates the order. stone had posted a photo of judge amy berman jackson with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun, in the corner. jackson is presiding over stone's case in the russia investigation. hecus d of lying to congress, obstruction and witness tpering. pope francis opened a landmark vatican summit today on the catholic church's crisis of clergyll sexabusing children. some 190 bishops and other leaders listened, as the pope offered 21 proposals for ecific action. >> ( translated ): in the face of the scourge of sexual abuse by churchmen to the detriment of minors, we hear the cry of the

little ones who ask for the weight of pastoral and the church's responsibility weighs on our meeting. the holy people of god look at us and expect from us, not lempnd obvious condemnations, but concrete and effective measures to put into place. >> woodruff: victims were there, too. mareofk lisinski, oland, showed the pope a picture of elf as a boy, around 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. they are demanding smaller class sizes and a 12% retroactive raise. the strikers complain they are amon pg the lowed educators in the san francisco bay area. mean iwhile teachewest virginia returned to work after a two-day strike. in economic news, u.s./china trade talks resumed in washington. the two sides are trying to reach a deal by march first, before more u.s. tariffs take

effect. and on wall street: the dow jones industrial average lost 103 points to lose at 25,850. the nasdaq fell 29 points, and the s&p 500 slid nine. and, peter tork, of the 1960's band thnke s, 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. andre w mccabe. bridging the cultural barriers between american farmers and mexican chfarm workers, and mu more.

>> woodruff: there w a turn of evts today in the alleged hate crimes case involving entertainer jussie smollett. amna nawaz details the dramac developments 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 courrnafter g himself in, accused of staging the attack himself. chicago police superintendent eddie johnson. >> empire actor jussie smollett took advaage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. this stunt was orchestrated by smollett becse he was dissatisfiedy his salary. >> nawaz: smollett, who is black and ga said he was beaten by two men on a downtown chicago streeon january 29th. said the men yelled racist and homophobic slurs, and told him "this is maga country," referring to president trump's "make america great again"

slog. smollett said they looped a noose around his neck, and threw bleach on him. a wave of sympathy and outrage quickly spread in response, from lee daniels, "empire'sco- creator... >> hold your head up jussie, we're with you. >> nawaz: ...activists like al sharpt... >> it is extremely appalling for people like me that fight hate crimes all over the country. >> nawaz: ...even presidential candidates new jersey democratic senator cory booker called it a "modern day lynchin" but, chicago police said they interviewed over00 people and reviewed 55 surveillance cameras. last week, they detained and questioned two brothers, abimbola and olabinjo osundairo. they were held for nearly 48 hours, then released without charges. on sat turday, police sa 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 cause it's the truth. then it became a thing of like "oh how can you doubt that? like how do you not believe that? 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." >> naz: chicago police now claim the assault was stag, carri o by the two brothers, who were paid $3,500 by smollett. superintendent johnson said his department wasted resources, and that smolletlot should aze. >> i just wish that the families of gu cn violence in thy got this much attention. g nawaz: smollett is now facing a charge of filfalse police report. ar-old faces up to three years in prison and could be forced to repay the cost of the nearlyonth-long instigation. for his part, jussie sllett's attorneys have denied that he played any role in the attack,

and prosed to mount a strenuous defense of their client. for more on the apparent unraveling of smollett's case, and what some of the potential reverberations might be, we turn to der social and cultural issues for nbc news and others. he joins us now from chicago. derrick, welcome to the "newshour". i've got to ask you, when the story first came out, the details were so specific and horrifictthey led o the outpouring of support and ermpathy. why do you think was such a rush for people to step up, call for justice and want the te eve the story as it was laid out? >> part of the reason there was such an outpouring of empathy is, more often than not, when situations like this happen within the black lgbt community, there's often not as much as news coverage or even extendblg support to people who are alleged victims and that's something where, quite often, you have people within the

community that have to rally to justice and hold law enforcement can'table and even raise awareness that justice can be found for victims and even within the community, twhrs enough interest and support to not only rally folks to action but also to make sure that we're addressing the root causes of the problem,g thinkinabout the ideologies of the policies and the actions amongst our peers and our heterosexual counterparts, and others who are not people of color to take action and care. so there is the premise to supprt but also to believe people when they do come forward with reports like this, but also to verify and hold them accountable if, indeed, rarely, if it's some kind of hoax and fabrication. >> reporter: some of the statistics we don't get to talk about that often, a report from the national coalition o anti-violence programs that

advocates for the lgbtq community in the united states, they track homicides of the lgbtq community and in 2017, they reached an all-time hi in the years they have been tracking those numbers and disproportionately carried out among black members of the community. so the stats are there. but i aess f the people who rushed to want to support jussie smollett in this moment, e details are coming out, as what looks to be an unraveli of the story sets in, how are people reacting? >> well, part of the reaction is utter disbelief and in many ways disappointment with the allegations, especially since jussie smollett has a sizable platform withincothunity, he is, you know, part of a surge oesf increased retation and visibility of black lgbt peoinpe entertainment and television within the last few years d even outside of that has been

advocating for h.i.v. awareness and historically black colleges and universities. so when someone w ha platform of this nature is wrapped up where they may have been the center of an all like this, people fe it is a disservice to the community. the other side of that is there is this palpable frustration at there's only an attention from, you know, some law enforcement and even the public to ha crimes in the community, when there is a celebrity factor, when the is somebody that's high profile at the center of it, but quite you know, the situations are going on without any attention, any care, and that's likely what's underneath all of this i how can we redirect the energy from an alleged hoax to the many other incidents that are has,ening all around uven within the last few weeks, even

months surrounding, you know, this alleged incident, there are ack trans women who have been killed and quite often those are theop ple disproportionately impacted within black and lgbtq people in this issue. >> reporter: we do n kw what the ultimate outcome will be and jussie smollett continues to deny the charge. his lawyers sa they will defend him. we need to consider even the allegation that this is hoax, all the evidence as has been laid out so far sll havee kind of an impact both on people wanting to come forward and o people wanting to believe them. what do you think that impact could or might bel? >> you know, it could just make people a little bit more skeptical to, you know, believe, victims when they do come forward, though its important to remember that more often than not, people aren't make thisf stp, and they deserve the support and empathy from their

peers, from the community and, of course, again, you know, we have to, you knowbutrust also make sure we >> reporter: derrick clifton, joining us from >> nawaz: in another unfolding story, a self-proclaimed white supremt ac facing firearm and drug charges, with more charges expected. in court documents filed this nmek, the govt said coast guard officer christopher paul hasson planned to "murder innocent civilians on a scale e rely seen in this country." prosecutors says 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, ins me now from new york. oren segal, welcome back to the "newshour". you've had a chance to go through these courtocuments related to christopher paul hasson. help us understand how much of a threat did he actually pose? e well, you know, the court documents outlmebody who clearly had fantasies of

violence, whether it was, you know, putting biological weapons in the food supply, whether it's killing everybody on earth. he's somebody who is creating a traitor's list of politicians, stnewss, and also was defining himself as awhite supremacist who wanted to create a white nation. tht combination of factors plus stockpiling weapons suggest that he was a real threat. >> reporter: we saw, as you ted, pictures of the cache of weaofpons 15 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition. the names are prominent, nancy pelosi, blumenthal, gillibrand, warren, booker, others. there's a huge leap from making a list and actually doinge sothing about it. what else do we know about what hasson had done to preparth made authorities act right now?

>> again, here's somebody who was influenced by another extremest out in norway, ander brievik, and that individual wrote a 1,000 page manifesto which hasson appeared to have read carefully. he apparently ut steroids is sort of outlined in brievik's manifesto to beef himself up. the stockpiling of weapons, the google searcheon where some of these politicians live, these are all indications of somebody who may have been willing to act. >> reporter: there is a trend alkant to point out when we t about folks who selfs white supremacists, southern povertys law center trahese reports, and there has been a documented rise in those groups to what they say is now-time all high, over 1,000 such hate groups, many white nationas std white supremacists. what is inflewsing that rise?

, well, you think some of the critical numbed this is what we have at a.d.l., is extremist-related murders. when you look at the past ten years s in tuntry, 73% of htremist-related murders in this counte been carried out by right-wing extremists and the majority by white supremacists. so over 2700 people killed by extremists. at the same time you see an increase in other white supremacivt aities, so whether flyering, putting white supremacist banners, stickers and fly rps around the country, a 2,000 increase from 2017 to 2018. so white supremacists have bn emboldened and found different mote to carry out and p their messages and in some cases with deadly consequences. >> reporter: the government's documents say the dendant is a domestic territories bent on committing acts dangeus to

ndman life intended to affect governmental t. when we talk about terrorism, we think at extremistslamic terrorism. there's actually a different threat that's great tore americans right now. >> americans do not have a luxury to ignore any ideologica or political threat. these attacks happen from all types of different extremists, if you will, but thedata bears out imple facts. even last year, we recently issued a report on extremisted related murders in 2018, 98% o 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 numbers in ond, because that will make sure we're puttir resources and focus in the right place. >> reporter: help us put this case into context. is christopher paul hasson an outlier in some way or a

representative of something else that we should beried about? >> i mean, he is very mucesh rentative of a threat that we have been seeing. look no further than pittsburgh just a couple of months ago. i think w need to thank federal authorities for demonstrating that they take homegrown extremism seriously and the job that they did tootentially stop another attack from happening in this country. >> reporter: oren segal of the anti-defamation league, thank you for your time. >>hank you. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, the electn board will set a new election after charges of fraud in the vote. for more, i'm joined again by miles parks of npr, in raleigh, north carolina. miles parks, hello again. so tell us what hap that led to the elections board making this decision. >> so it was a pretty incredible

day over all and that's saying something considering every single day since monday at the hearing has had one or two incr today is the today we were supposed to hear from mark harris who took the stand early in the morning and testified ant what he kew about this absentee ballot fraud that investigators have been laying outver the past few days centered on a political operative named mcrae dowless who was hired to work on upping the absentee totals in the stern part of the district. more evidence has come out that suggests dowles was using tactics illegal in north carolina, collecting ballots. one woman testifieshe filled in ballots for some voters who t lem blank when they turned in their ballots to her. it's more anld more cr the results were tainted and we had a bipartisan 5-0 unanimous vote from the state of elections

today to hold a brand-new vote and throw out the electionsrom november. >> woodruff: so harris is now calling for a new election, but, up until now, he has denied wrongdoing. isn't that right? >> he has, and he sti didn't say anything today that indicated he knew about the illegal behavior by dowless and people dowless was paying, but it became clear in the past few months that he was not warned about dowless tactics is not going to hold water. weeard from john harris, an assistantttorney in north carolina, he testified he warned his father, he had de dada analysis on the election and looked at the candidate paid by dowless and had a hunch dowless was a shady character engaged in illegal activity, his own son warned him. >> woodruff: hris

contention is that he knew nothing about what was going on even though he hadbeen warned by his son? >> right, he's arguing he didn't know a tthing about illegal behavior. his son was telling him he thout illegal behavior coul be happening based on some publicly available ata he was looking at. he was looking at how ballots were being turned into the local tions board. they were coming in in batches, as john harris said. he said he suspected something but mcs rae dowlo was guaranteeing the ballots said, no, we nev touched the ballots, that the illegal, i would never do that, andis ha said he took the word of the political operative over the words of his son. >> woodruff: we don't know the date of the reelection. we assume it will be held over the next sevel mont. any sense of whether voters will going to start from scratch or which side h an advantage going in? >> the biggest thing right now is actually looking at e primaries.

srth carolina passed a law a few months ago thad if you hold a new election for a statewide race you have to hold a new primary as well. we're curious as to whether mark harris is going to run again. he hasn't said because the election was just called recently. the question, is even if he does run again, will he get the support of republicans in north carolina with all of this baggage from tng week-lo hearing, will he be able to gather that statewide support to even run again against democrat dan mccdrady. >> woouff: 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 b.i. acting director andrew mccabe. first, some background on the man who directed the f.b.i. to investigate president trump.

andrew mccabe was thrust into the spotlight, and before thege senate intnce committee, in may 2017. two days earlier, president trump had fired f.b.i. director james comey, making his deputy, mccabe, the acting f.b.i. chief. he pledged support for thebu eau'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, ac upholding thonstitution. >> woodruff: the same day mcca testified, president trump told nbc news he fired comey in part because of the bureau's pre into the trump campaign's ties with russia. in his book "the threat", mccabe 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 most fearsome enemy, the government of russia? odruff: mccabe said week he told the so-called "gang of 8" congressional aders including senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, then house speaker paul ryan and their democratic counterparts about the investigatioat the time. >> no one objected. not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts. >> woodruff: 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 interest. conflict of mccabe's wife, jill, had run unsuccessfully two years earlier for a virginia state senate seat, and had received donations from a hillary clinton ally. mccabe himself had overseen the investigation into former secretary clinton's use of a

private email server,ut not while his wife was running r 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 cont hendid 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 titd "the threat: how the f.b.i. protects america in the agof terror and trump." is one more oft thrhan the other? >> i think they're both significant issues that the f.b.i. has to confront in this modern age. i think terrorism is a threat that we have grown to in the post-91 world. we've very much modified the way

we approach our role in counterterrorism investigations and how weitigate the threats posed by terrorists. i think the f.b.i. now going through that same sort uof adaptatierstanding how to work in this era under a trump administration. >> woodruff: as we sit here, i'm sure younow there is increasing speculation that the mural report is just about to be finished, transmitted to the department of justice. based on everything you know, do you the president could well be implicated in it? >> it's ha to imagine a report that doesn't talk about the president, obviously. of course, i don't know wha bt willin the report. i have incredible faith in director mueller and his teas toobilities deliver honestly and independently the results that they've come to. >> woodruff: and you say you will accept what the findings are, even if the president is common rated? >> absolutely. absolutely. >.>> woodruf do you think its more likely the president simplecated under collusion

coordinations with russians or obstruction of j>>stice? don't know i could identify a likelihood of either result. i can tell you weere concerned about both in may 2017hen we initiated the case on the president as a part of overall connection into russia investigations to his campaign. some of the information we'rear all e of is highly concerning. the sheer number of interactions and contacts betwe folks in and around this administration and people connected to russilan inligence is truly remarkable. ything i've ever seen before. additional people trying to affirmatively conceal or lie about those contacts and, through the course of the investigation, is something that should also give us pause. >> woodruff: it came across pointe the book at one point, you said, in your last days at the f.b.i., you had been investigating the russian government's interference in the

2016 election, possibly with the knowledge and involvement of that election's winning candidate. you didn't say campaign. you said candidate. >> that'atright. was our decision 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 campaign, which we had been doing that work since the end of the summr of 2016, but it was time to start looking earnest at the president himself. >> reporter: so, in connection with all this, we know that only hours after that infamous access hollywoodapes were released, that was october of 2016, just hours after that, ther was a huge leak of damaging e-mails about hillary clinton, from hillary clinton and from her then campaign manager john podesta, which had been stolen by wikileths. do youk what was a coincidence? >> it's hard to say. i will say thist though,'s extraordinary the number of events just like

that that we now know about and look back over the course of that period of time, as those ents add up, it becomes harder and harder to explain them as sure coincidence or unrelated events. the president's own calls to the russians to find the e-mails and continue, you know, to find hillary clinton's e-mails, and the now activity that director eller's team has exposed of russian intelligence individuals doing exactly that. i mean, these things are so close in time, they seem to be responding to each other. we don't know that for a fact, but it's trly curious. >> woodruff: you do write extensively in the book, andrew mccabe, after you became the acting director of the f.b.i. aftethe president fired james comey, that the president was aggressively seeking assurances of personal loyalty from you, and you also write he is the

most prolif prolific liar you'vr encountered. that's saying something from somebody like you who has spent your career dealing with notorious criminals and iterrorists. is. it's remarkable. it's the kind of thing i think people shou by think abt more often as they rsss and evaluate where we are as a nation, the fact the president himself stands behis country on a daily basis and says things that many of us know are not true is just -- i don'vt rememberliving through a time like this. it's just incredible. >> woodruff: of course, he calls yo a liar. >> he does. >> woodruff: and has been very, very tough on you. >> he does, as recently as yesterdaythe president gave, you know, made remarks t the press yesterday where he continues to perpetuate this false narrative about me, about my wife, about her campaign for

state senate in virginia in 2015. you know, it's sadhat we have, as a family, had to not just endure these attacks but we are starting to expect em, and that's a truly sad commentary on the state of the presidency. >> woodruff: you've described howpl deeconcerned people were inside the f.b.i. after directo, comey was fir even conversations about whether the president could be removed from office. the "wall street joual" editorial board wrote this week about what they call elites in washinton who far overreacted after president firing jes 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 opieeon. i s it very differently. as the acting director of the f.b.i., the person responsible for invests, my

responsibility at that time was to determine what the investigators should be doing, andhe f.b.i. guidelines given to us by the attorney general are veryar c- when we have an articulable basis to think a federal crime has been committed or a credible thread to the national security, we roble gated to investigate, wther that's the president of the united states, the next door neighbor or somebody else. i we donestigate because we like or don't like someone or because they are on one rection or the other on the it political spectrum. we investigate because the information calls us to do so and 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 that may 27 briefing of the so-called gang ofgh eicongressional leaders about the fact that you had

opened investigation into presidend trump. you saat, in that briefing, the republican leaders in the meetingidn't raise concerns but mr. gowdy is saying you kno that congressional leaders just cannot talk about classifiieed ings like that. so you have been able to put your version of what happened out there, and they're not able to resond. >> well, i think there's been discuss cogs. that -- discussions. mentions of that briefing have yeready been in the public spheres. s of reacting with leaders on the hill and different committees, my experience is noh they're reluctant to discuss their business, but, nevertheless, i simply related my experience and my observations. and, to be clear, it wasn't just that the republicans didn't aski qus and the democrats did. it was that theeputy attorney

neral and i convened the group, provided an ex defense detailed briefing, the status of our case, and we did n receive y questions or pushback or resistance or concern from any of the membership or staff in attendance about the steps we're taking. >> woodruff: you're saying should be able to spe about it? >> no, i'm saying that's the reaction i would expect from people who thought that we had done the reasonable and necessary thing. that's what i took aay from he briefing that nobody objected because we had take an step that was clearly called yfor the facts in our possession at that time. >> woodruff:ast thing i want to ask, the inspector general said in so many words that you were not candid, you didn't tell the truth on a number of th theent exchanges wi inspector general's office about

sharing information with the news media.yo attorney said today that the investigation in all this i stderway, and i think the question is why is this investigation still underway? who's doing this inveerigation? does this stand? i know you've disputed that version of events, but the fact that it's still going on, help us understand what's happened. w l, it's maybe a little bit more nuanced than that. at the conclusion of their investigation, the office of inspectogeneral referred the matter to have the d.c.s.u. attorney's office for investigati and that's where it's still being pursued. so that's what my lawyer wais refe to, i think, in those comments. you know, whatever work they're doing continues. my attorys are in frequent and regular contact with them. i really can't say much mooure t it. >> woodruff: and you said you plan to sue the justice

department? >>'ll bring a civil action against the department challenging the circumstances arounmy termination. you know, judy, i'll tell you th i have deep disagreements and i complete ty rejecthe conclusions drawn in that report, the inspector general is well aware of this. we've made our position clear to him in the past. i can tell you that at no time did i ever intentionally mislea anyone, his office and not in the f.b.i. i have been consistent about that. the process that i was put rough both during the investigation and after the conclusion of the report is not like anything i had ever seen in my time serving in th f.b.i. i had, you know, oversaw numerous matters that were handled, you know, investigations of alleged uemployee miscoct, so i will be challenging that process as

well. finally, you know, i don't think it's a surprise to any of us that the result divered by the inspector general is exactly the one that the president was calling for publicly. a president who, long before i had any interactns with the attorney general -- with the inspector general's, offid made it clear both to director comey and others he wanted me gone. when you add those circumstances together, all things ignorein the inspector general's report, i think you will see a very different side of things. >> woodruff: andrew mccabe, the book is "that: how the f.b.i. protects america in the age of terror and trump." thank yo >> thank yo judy. ramwoodruff: a unique pr started in wisconsin helps build bridges between farm employers and migrant employees. special correspondent fred de

sam lazaro begins our report in the mexican state of veracruz. it's part of fred's series agen for change. >> reporter: tare hard to distinguish from thousands of americans who meet up in mexico, headed to its beach resorts an a respite from winter. but this group of wisconsin dairy farme vrs had ay different destination, as theye headd inland and up steep, gravel mountain roads. the views are breathtaking but these are places where tourists rarely go, and where locals say it's hard to stay and earn a living. it's become an annual ritual for the midwesterners-- getting together with families their mexican employees left behind as they traveled north to find work. their earnings sustain the families here in mexico, even if the bread winners themselves, most od f them undocumentein 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 wke us to take to marco? >> tell him thatare well and tell him to behave. >> reporter: does he mostly behave? >> marco he works all the time. marco at times works 12 hours a day and right now it's 10 below. >> reporter: on a frigid early january morning, i got to see marco's routine, which bins at the crack of dawn in the milking parlor. >> we run this 24 hours a day. r orter: how many gallons of milk? >> today we'5, ship probably 0 gallons. >> reporter: families like rosetinow's, he's fifth ge on this farm, helped give wisconsin the bragging rights as america's dairyland. but the unrenting routine of milking, birthing, feeding and cleaninosg is oneow says

americans long ago stopped wanting to do. for owyears, rosays he's tried to recruit for jobs that pay between 32 and $42,000 a year, plus on-farm housing if needed. i'vem gone to farsupply stores locally, asking people that work there and i've never gotr. response, e >> reporter: 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 witno choice, he says he hired a mexican immigrant he found through a farm magazine ad. >> he came, and milked 54 days ht here was somebody tha worked as hard as i do. i thought, wow, this is the answer to the biggest problem that i had, was labor. >> reporter: 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. ey're not going to learn about the culture or why people do what they do in a 20-hour spanish 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 theiro ers, as well as a dairy technician training program, trying to help two very differencultures better derstand each other. >> it's politically a conservative area but all of a sudden there's this esence of people who don't share 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 dairy industry says a majority of workers are immigrants, an nt that endures despit rancorous debate about immigration.

for their part, the immigrants keep a low profilee roberto tecpwho 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, endured the same expensive ordeal; driven, he says, by dreams of earning enough to build a comfortable home in his village. >> ( translated ): my house, i than'sk god lready three floors and complete concrete. it's not finished yet, still in construction but all the outside is done. >> reporter: back in mexico, armando's home was the next stop for his boss.

>> (an trated ): i'm really grateful armando found you as a place to work because it's hard to findso a good job antimes >> reporter: here and everywhere they visited, the wisconsin visitors found expressions of appreciation and warm hospitality. but just beath the smiles in many cases lurked the pain of long separation for the host families. after her guests left, armando's wife lourdes ramos told me she'd pleaded with her husbt to go to the u.s. to stay home with theisons, now 10 and five. ( translated ): i said i'm not asking you for anything i'm not asking you for money. we don't need such a big house if it's just two of us and the two boys and really, it's nicer to have a smaller place. >> reporter: she fears they'll wind up like roberto's family, who have endured his absence over much of the past two decades. >> reporter: rosenow talked with robertboo's father a the new prosperity-visible across villages here in new construction, in small enterprises many families have started. his wife and mother reflected on

the price they have paid, particularly the children.ro aan 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: his younger sier, megan was barely a month old when her father left. we miss him, we really do miss him. >> reporter: but it is roberto and veronica's 15 year old son, who was away when we visited, who mosthe worries his m >> ( translated ): he just wants to go and work with his dad and is waiting to be able to do that.o i'm not goingt my son go because the border is very dangerous. >> reporter: whether she'll preva sil against tong tug of economic opportunity up north is a big question. a generation ago, her mother in law remembers pleading similarly with roberto and his brothers. all four of them remain in the united states. 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 project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodr/cuff: with u.na trade negotiations now in high gear, president trump recently suggested he might delay the latest round of tariffs on cha, scheduled to take effect march 1st. so are we in a trade war with china or not? our ecospnomics corondent, paul solman, explains as part of our weekly series, "making sense," which airs every thursday. >> i love tariffs but i also love them to negotiate. >> reporter: in any negotiation, " the president's book "e art of the deal" stressed, the key question: who's got the power?

america, trying to suggest it does, has trotted out a major economic weapon, tariffs, impose on chinese products -- taxes on goods coming into the country from china, that is. tariffs ke chinese exports more expensive by raising their prices here,hich protects manufacturers fro cheaper competition, punishes the chinese and their economy. china responded to the t tariffs in kind: it retaliated with tariffs on american exports, targeting u.s. products from trump strongholds: like soybeans, for example. >> i've been in the news lately because i'm caught in the middle of a trade war involving the two powerful countries of china and the united states. >> reporter: the result, in both countries: higher costs forco umers and businesses which use imports. which is why most economists hate tariff wars: the total costs, they insist, far outweneh the total ts, short term and long. or as chinese internet

billionaire jack ma put it: >> trade war is the most stupid thing in this world. >> reporter: so we impose tariffs, china does the same. but is it an even tit-for-tat? yasheng huang is a professot.at the m.loan school of management. >> china aa disadvantage for two reasons. .de is that the total share of trade with chinese. is much higher than it is for the unit secondly, chinese economy is slowing down and the chinese expor massive number of people, so it's actually quite big inerms of the chinese economy. >> reporter: so china is not going to win the taff game. what other moves does it have? how about a bond dump? china holds more than a trillion dollars worth of u.s. debt. if it ells 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 ne issuing. need to keep to cover our federal debt,t growingrate 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? a bond dump has a huge downside, says huang: >> first of all, there will be other people who come in dying to get aiece of that so that's not going to hurt the u.s. secondly, chinese are going to get hurt because whatever that they have remaining in their holding heof t u.s. treasury is going to decrease in value. >> reporter: okay, another move: squeeze u.s. firms now operatin in china. 400 pluss walma business there, more than 5,000 k.f.c.s, more than 3,300 starbucks. in fact, the u.s. trade deficit with china nearly vanishes once you include sales by american firms there. but .how would pressuring u

firms or discouraging chinese citizens from buyict american afhe chinese economy? >> if you go after foreigni comp you are going to increase unemploymenin the country. exe chinese manufacturing industry is alreadriencing problems, the private sector of the chinese economy is experiencing problems. during an economic war to solve economic problems this is a very, very upid thing to do because you're hurting yourself. >> r retaliatory options pose the same risk. pull back on the number h chinese comie for education? devalue their currency? hurts ghthe chinese more, okay so finally, it's been suggested that china might make sweetheart trade deals with other countries, including our allies. cozy up to the rest of the world economically, that is, leaving us out. ain, not so fast, says professor huang.

look what happened after the recent u.s. crackdown on chinese telecom company huawei as a notional security threat. >> australiis restricting huaweite, the news is czech republic is restricting huawei. i do wn't think tht to take on the trump administration on china and ally with china against the united states. >> rerter: and so at last we come to the bottom line: china seems at first to have a quitn arsenal of economic options. but in the end, they all seem more likely to backfire. we know it; they know it. r they are willing to negotiate. for the pbs newshour, i'm economics correspondent paul solman. >> woodruff: on the newshour e 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.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see y soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> american cruise lines

>> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. .hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by co station from viewers like you. thank you.

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