captioning sponsory newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, congress takes on the president: the u.s. house moves to block president trump's national emergency, and mr. trump's former lawyer, michael cohen,lo presentsd door testimony on what he knows about russia and more. then, the second sum ahead of the president's face- to-face meeting withth korea's leader kim jong-un, a look at the symbolic significance of holding the nuclear talks in vietnam. plus, meg wolitzer, author of "the wife," our newshour/"newbo york times club pick inswers your questions. >> i was interestehe different ways that the world has treated men and women, and i wanted to lo at that in the context of a marriage. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonht's pbs newshour.

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consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teacheco real-lifersations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: presidentrump is being challenged tonight on both sides of the u.s. capitol. first, to the u.s. hse of representatives and the border battle. majority democrats passed a resolution this evening to terminate the president' national emergency declaration. it came after arguments over mr. trump's plan to divert other funds and build a southern border wall.

>> the emergencies act is for genuine emergencies. it is not a get out of the constitution free card, for something that presidents want that congress won't give them. >> i'll be voting today for our president, for his constitutional legal authority to defend this country, to protect our borders and our citizens. i'll be voting for thecan people today, and the safety for our communities not just in west texas, but throughout this country. >> woodruff: the resolution nowh goes tsenate, where the focus today was president trump's former personal atherney michael he testified in a closed session with the senate intee.igence commit tomorrow, he testifies publicly . a house oversight heari late today, florida congesssman matt gweeted a warning to cohen, saying his wife is about to learn a lot about "your girlfriend."

later gates insisted he was not engaging in witness intimidation. our own lisa desjardins has been keeping track of this entire swirl of news today on capitol hill. it doesn't get any busier than this week. let's talk about the emergency declaration. they're talkinabout it in the house. they're about to vote. >> i'm watching my phone. that vote should happen any minute. this is a vote that would terminate this rgency declaration, and congress does have that power. this is first step in trying to brock that declaration. it is believed this will pass.il and itpass easily. the question is how many republicans will be on board, judy, and many republicans are a haviery difficult time with this issue. i spoke tone from kentucky who said he is now going with democrats and saying hthinks this is an overreach by the president, however, i talked to another, fresh denver riggellman of virginia said he walked in thinking he too would agree with democrats then we received a briefing about t situation at the border and after that briefing he felt that it was enough of a crisis that he is struggling but he is now going

to vote with the president in trying tkeep the emergency declaration going. this is important because ultimately we ttwhino-thirds of the members of the house will have to agree in order to actually override a likely veto. >> woodruff: a likely presidential veto. so all but certain it pas se house. >> yeah. >> woodruff: what about in the senate? >> that's an interesting question, because right now, of course, there are 47 democrats who are planning to vote to try and terminate this emergency declaration. that means four republions are neededo alongside with them to just pass this resolution. right noju, dy, we have three republicans who say they agree with democrats, susan collins of maine, tom pelliso north carolina, lisa measure cow sce. veose last time, tillis and murkowski, they he largest number of military construction projects which the president could freezn take moey from, in order to build his wall. they alssay they hae constitutional objections largely to what the president is doing. soe think that it's likely

another republican will probably side with them. i spoke to eight republicans today who are deciding, but vice president pence was in the senate today trying to tll republicans, side with the president. keep this emergency declaration going, we dot know when tha vote will be. we got information from publicans that it may ben two weeks. it could be sooner. we're in the sure. >> woodruff: not right away, but it looks like it's at least delayed for a few days. >> they have some chois to make on that. >> woodruff: let me ask you about the other big story everybody is watching, and that's the president's former personal attorney, michael cohen, went behind closed doors talking to the senate intelligence committee. the information has trickled out, and now we have this tweet that has gotten everybody's attention from the florida congressmaow what do we about him? >> right. matt gates is seen as one of the press ent's strongest all congress. he is a conservative firebrand. he also importantly, judy, sits on the house jud committee. that's not the committee that is meeting with mr cohen tomorrow,

however, it is the committee where impeach proceedings wou begin, and matt gates is seen as someone who would be one of the most adent defenders ofe president should impeach proceedings happen. more importantly i think we're seeing what republicans will do tomorrow wheifmr. cohen tes publicly. they are going to assail him as a witness with no credibility. and as much as democrats ask questions about the president's publicans will be going after mr. cohen about his personal life as we hav seen today and also it's interesting to see, is this a mr. cohen by a member of congress? that's still being debated >> woodruff: that's the house oversight committee where he will be testifying tomorrow many blic. cameras will be there, but we don't know what more he's likely to say, do we? >> we have some reporting thatos ur great yamiche alcindor. she's speaking to a source cltoe ohen who tells her that, in fact, confirms other repor m th. cohen will speak to what he sees as criminal

activity by the president, that he will also talk about the president saying racistem stts to him and indeed he will speak, yamiche is told, tot financiaements from the president. these are all very serious allegations. so i think we have two things happening. one, an intense political atmosphere where we see both sides ready to perhaps exaggerate what's happening, and then we have very serious, dramatic testimony tat may not need exaggeration. and then it's going to be very difficult and we have to be very careful in figuring out how to weigh all of this in a very frenzied atmosphere. it could be quite circus-like tomorrow. >> woodruff: enormous attention on what mr. cohen will be saying torrow. all this while the president is out of the country. lisa, thank you very much. in the day's other news, president trump and noh korean leader kim jong un arrived in vietnam, for a sequel to their ucstoric 2018 summit. air force one tohed down in hanoi, late in the day, local time. mr. trump was greeted by vietnamese officials on a re carpet.ki

arrived earlier, and spent the day driving around hanoi in his armoured limousine, drawingc crowds aers at times. in australia, a court hasnv ted cardinal george pell of sexually molesting two 13- c year-oirboys. he was the highest ranking cleric to be charged in the scandal engulfing the roman catholic church. pell is on leave from his post as top financial adviser to the pope. today, a vatican spokeaid he is barred from serving in the church, pendinhis appeal. >> this painful news that, as we are well aware, has shocked many people, not only in australia. while awaiting the definitive assessment of the facts, as is the norm, cardin is prohibited from exercising public ministry. >> woodruff: the australian jury delivered its verdict in december. the court barred publication of the outcome, until now.rs pell is 77 yld. he could face 50 years in prison.

the status of iran's foreignmi ster javad zarif remains up in the air. a spokesman says president hassan rouhani still considers zarif the country's foreign minister, despite his resignation yesterday. zarif was a key figure in securing the 2015 iran nuclear deal with the u.s. and world powers. he has come under increasing pressure from hardliners since the u.s. withdrew from the deal. british prime minister theresaed may ophe door today to delaying britain's exit from the european union.sh asked parliament to vote for her brexit deal, or vote towi leav no deal. if both fail, may proposed delaying until june. >> our absolute foculd be on working to get a deal and leaving on 29 march. an extension beyond the end of june would mean the u.k. takinge part in the eu parliament elections.

what kind of message wld that send to the more than 17 million people who vot to leave the e.u. nearly three years ago now? >> woodruff: delaying brexit would need the approval of all of thether 27 e.u. member states. back in this country, another major winter storm socked parts of the western u.s. flooding rain swamped roads in nortrn california, and officials urged evacuations along sections of the russian river. meanwhile, relief came for or3 passengers, stuck on an amtrak train in thegon mountains. fallen trees blocked their way on sunday night. agthey finally got moving ain eay today. former vice president joe biden says he has cleared a rdle to running for president in 2020. he tells "the washington post" that he needed to decide if he could put his family through a tough campaign. but he ss they now want him to run. but, he says, he has not made a.

final decisi in north carolina, republican mark harris says he will not run again in a re-do election for a ngressional seat. his apparent victory over democrat dan mcready was thrown out st week over allegations of ballot fraud. harris says he has surgery scheduled r next month, so he won't run again. a federal appeals court washington has cleared the way for at&t'sakeover of time- warner. a three-judge panel rejected thi trump administ's appeal to block the merger, arguing it would limit competitd hurt consumers. the takeover is valued at $81 billion. fiat-chrysler announced plans day to invest $4.5 billion in the detroit area, and create 6,500 jobs. a new assembly plant would be the city's first since 1991. and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 34

points to close below 26,058. the nasdaq fell five, and the s&p 500 slipped two. still to come on the newshour: whether vietnam can serve as a model for the future relationship of the u.s. and rth korea. india launches an air strike in new details on immigrant children separated from their families by the u.s.much more. >> woodruff: returning to president trump's visit to hanoi, for his second suit with north korean leader kim jong-un. u.s. officials have en suggesting that vietnam, a communist country that reconciled with thu.s. after a deadly war, could serve as a del for north korea. as nick schifrin reports from hanoi, vietnam has coma very long way since the war, as has hee u.s./vietnam relationship.

>> schifrin: for.s., the uyetnam war ended 44 years ago. but 14-year-old thuy linh is still fighting it, in every letter she tries to trace. her and all these children's deformities are because ofox , better known as the toxin agent orange, dropped by the u.s. on their grandparents' villages. they are the second generation of their families born with physical and intellectual disabilities. tran thi nguyet thuong looks and thinks as a 3-year-old. she's actually 17.wh will these children's' fu nguyen thi oanh is their teacher. >> ( translated ): for them to become normal would be very difficult. they're still learning basic functions, like washing their face, washing their hair, and to teach them even that, is a big thing. me of them wouldn't know how to get home themselves. >> schifrin: during the vietnam war, known here as the "american war," the u.s. dropped more than seve three times what it used in

wod war two. the violenceilled 3 million and drove millions more fromei r villages. and u.s. pnes sprayed agent xporange, to kill trees toe fighters and affecting four million vietnamese, including damaging their gen. a but rican troops were the culprit, some became the redeemer. this place is known as friendship village, established by vietnam veterans. >> so much what we were doing, was actually part of an institutional lie. >> schifrin: chuck sercey deployed to vietnam in 1967. he says he witnessed u.s. forces commit terrible acts, but didn't speak out. and so he and many veterans returned in the 1980s to turn former enemies into partners. over the next decade, americans and vietnamese worked together to find remains of soldiers missing from the war, clear unexploded ordnance, known as u.x.o., and clean up some of the agent orange left behind.

or>>any of us, being able to come back and do something that's positive and constructive at helps with the rebuildingco and tructing, is very gratifying. d for many of us, it's the closure that's been needed for a long time. >> schifrin: and that closure, gave the two countri an opening. >> once you have a model of working effectively with each other, manother things could become possible. that's why i strongly believe it set the foundation aned so many doors. >> schifrin: thao griffiths is the former vieam country director of the vietnam veterans of america foundation, where she worked with veterans and the vietnamese military on projects like de-mining. she says confronting the war's legacies led to people-to-people exchanges. she worked with champions of reconciliation, including senator patrick leahy. and she became a fulbright fellow, introducing hillary clinton. today, the fulbright program extends to government leadership.

foreign minister pham binh minh is a fulbright alumnus and met with secretary of state mike pompeo today. >> some added punch for uncle sam for south vietnam. >> schifrin: and relations between the militaries has dramatically expanded. a coast guard ship the u.s. once used against vietnam was transferred in 2017 to the vietnamese navy. and last year an aircraft carrier docked off the coast for the first time since t. such a comprehensive engagement that the u.s. isng han vietnam. not only defense to defense, but also dlomatic, economic, education, cultural, people-to- people. it's really a comprehe relationship we have. >> schifrin: and thatsh relati has helped produce an economic boom.rt garco 10 is rn vietnam's largest garment company. textiles have helped make vietnam asia's third fastest growing economy, behind india and china.ad and since a embargo was lifted in 1994, the u.s. has become v tnam's number one export market. than duc viet is garco 10's deputy general director.

>> after embargo lift, the important thing, like, we're not thinking about the past. we're not thinking about the war anymore. >> schifrin: garco 10's employees get to stretch twice a day. they also get to own more than half the company. that's a transformation. like many companies, garco 10 used to be run by the army, and then the government, but now, it's 56% private. vietnam still has a communist government. but the economic opening has transformed the country from one of the world's most insular and poor, and transformed its people, too, says member of parliament and vietnam chamber of commerce president vu tien loc. >> (anslated ): in war time, the soldier is the center of society. but now in peacetime, developing the economy is the priority. that means the entrepreneur is the peacetime soldier, and our young generation would like to be entrepreneurs.he >> schifrin: t is another communist country that once fought the united states and isn

now g asked to reconcile, as pompeo pointed out last july, after meeting vietnamese leaders. >> in light of the once unimaginable prosperity andne pahip we have today, i have a message for kim jong-un. president trump believes you can reicate this path. it's yours, if you can seize the moment. the miracle can be y it can be your miracle, as well. >>chifrin: vu tien loc, wh met presidents trump and and china's xi jiping, as well as kim jong-il, the curre leader's father, believes north korea and vietnam can have a shared past and future. >> ( translated ): the journey of change between the u.s. and vietnam, from enemies to partnership and friendship, can be a suggestion for the future of the relationship beeen the u.s. and north korea. and we are willing to share our experience with north korea. >> ( translated ): i would like the u.s. to start with having

korean trained in the u.s., like us, 25 years ago. >> schifrin: 63-year-old ho dang hoa is a former vietnamese soldier. he won an emmy for helping find vietnamese characters for ken burns' recent series, "the vietnam war." here's how he grew up. >> we were trained, weere told that americans were brutal, imperialists, and invaders of our country, and we have to learn how to hate american invaders. >> schifrin: but after the war, he too studied in the u.s. as a s.lbright scholar. and he says the hould offer the same opportunities to north koreans. >> you will have the first batch of korean learning, going to the u.s. they will understand about american and they build the bridge between the two nations. >> schifrin: during the u.s.' last major offensive aroundho christmas 1972and his

family fled hanoi to escape the bombing by b-52s, li one that crashed into this hanoi lake. the next year, he joined the military unit that targets planes. how have the u.s. and vietnam come from that moment? >> in 1972, nobody thinks that someday, vietnam and us could be friends again, because of the atrocities both sides committed during the war time.oo webecome very close friends today. very close friends today. >> schifrin: a friendship theld u.s. wike to create, with an even older adversary. for the pbs newshour, m nick schifrin. >> woodruff: last night, indiarr d out a bombing raid in pakistani territory, claiming to target a terrorist group responsible for a deadly attack m indian forces two weeks ago.

as william brangports, this is the most serious escalation in years between the two nuclear-armed adversaries. >> brangham: indian officials said they successfully destroyed a training camp for the group known as jaish-e-muhammed, o j.e.d. that group claimed responsibility for a massive suicide bomb attk two weeks ago that killed 38 members of india's security forces. today, indian prime minister narendra modi, standing before photos of those killed two weeks ago, celrated this retaliatory strike. >> ( translated ): i will not let the country bow. i take an oath upon this soil that i won't let this country be erased. >> brangham: that earlier attack occurred in kashmir, the highly disputed region between india and pakistan that's been a source of conflict for decades between the two nations. for more on all this, i'm joined now by sumit ganguly, diinguished professor of political science at indiana university in bloomington. professor, thank you very much

for being here. before we get to this most recent escation, i wonder if you could just explain for those people who have not been following this, why is it that kashmir, that regioween the two nations, is such an open wound between them? >> this is anat issue th was not resolved at the time when the british re withdrawing frm the subcontinent in 1947, and both india and pakistan laid claim to this border state, which abuts both the two countries. india wanted to claim kashmir because it's a muslim-majority and wanted to demonstrate that a significant minority could thrive within aredominantly hindu country. pakistan, by the same token,e which had n created as a homeland for the muslims of south asia, felt that angi adjoining had to be part of pakistan, otherwise pakistan would be imc it's this sense of incompleteness that has driven

pakistani policy and helped drive pakistan's claim to kashmir, but since india controls two-thirds of the state, which is what it maaged to hold after pakistan launchedv an iasion shortly after the british departu, it refuses to concede ground, and pakistan holds on to the one-third that it does. there have been multiple wars trying to resolve thiis ssue, and a series of negotiations, but they have l ultimately run aground. >> woodruff: so given that a lorimony, how do you see this most recent escalation unfolding over the next few days? >> this is a somewhat fraught tuation, particularly since this is the first time that the indian air force has provedac ss what is called the line of control, which is the de facto international borr

between indian and pakistan in this disputed state.th is first time that india used its air force across the border since the 1971 war. and consequently, sentiments in pakistan i suspect are quite raw at the moment, and prime minister kahn will feel compelle ito respo some fashion. so the next few days and weks are really a time probably laden with considerable tension. and we could see artillery barrages take place along the line of control. >> brangham: let's say that pakistan does respond with artillery barrages or more, what india do in response to that? >> the indians probably will return fire, especially in the form of artillery barrages. i doubt thathe indians would try to mount a secrond strike, because by now pakistan's air

defenses are probably on a state of high alert an ld areikely to remain in the foreseeable eture. fact that their air defenses were penetrated by indian aircraft is obviously a source of considerable distress to pakistani decision-makers, and particularly the overleaningta pakistani mi establishment. >> brangham: the u.s. for many, many years has played something of a brokering role between these two countries. what role do you imagine the s. playing in trying to diffuse this situation? >> ideally, the u.sr. wouldy and step in and try to broker some sort of a peace, but at this moment, i thithe u.s. were to simply urge retraint in both slam bad and new deln hi, gie sent. s in new delhi and in significant parts of northern india, that would not be received very ll. i think at this point new delhi

would want washington, d.c., to exert considerable pressure on pakistan, as it has a few times in the recent past,ul partly during the 1999 cargill war, but suggesting that both sides exrcise restraint probably would not be very well received in new delhi, though that is exactly what islamab would want under the circumstances. >> brangham: all right.mi ganguly, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: among the many events on capitol hill today, the debate over the administration's "zero tolerance" policy came to a head, as lawmakers questioned immigration officials on the separation of children from their families at the border. amna nawaz has the story.

>> nawaz: with t gavel now in their hands, democrats on the house judiciary committee grilled government officials from multiple agencies on the trump administration's family separation policy. democrats repeatedly decrying the policy as inhumane and un- american. >> deliberate separation of families is immoral and is not justified and cannot be justified by good or bad policies, good or bad intentions. >> nawaz: committee republicans, like arizona's andy biggs, lamented separating families, but insisted something must be done to address what thecall a crisis at the border. >> our policies don't provide deterrent, they actually provide incentives to come into this country, which is why you are >> nawaz: but the panel of witnesses, from the many agencies behind the so-called "zero tolerance" policy of ring 2018, faced some tough questions seeking accountability. commander jonathan white, of health and human services, repeated previous testimony that he'd warned senior officials of

tential harm before the policy was in place. >> best available evidence is that separation of children entails very significant andli potentialllong risk for harm. >> nawaz agency caring for migrant children, scott lloyd, was asked about ose warnings. >> when commander white, as awe chilare expert, warned you about the cruel consequences of family separation, were you concerned? >> i acceptewhat he told me. nawaz: but when pressed by democrat sylvia garcia, lloyd and officials from justice, ice, and border patrol said they never voiced concerns in any other meetings. >> did i? no. >> i did not say anything along those lines. >> i did not voice in that exact term. many of my officers are parents too. of course its difficult. >> this is a difficult situation. but as law enforcement i our job to enforce law. >> i see the policy as designed to deliver a consequence for

violating the law. >> nawaz: lloyd, who has since reft his post for another h.h.s. role, also denierts he stood in the way of reunification efforts. d >> lloected his staff to stop keeping a spreadsheet tracking separated families. is that true? >> no it is not. >> nawaz: e biggest question, that remained unanswered: just uahow many children were ay separated. >> you do not know how manyen chilere separated beginning with the time that the policy was implemented in el paso in july 2017 and when the policy was officially announced in april 2017. is that correct? >> i don't have thatr with me. it is a number i can get. >> nawaz: a number democrats will continue to pursung with other questions about the policy. the house oversight coe today ordered bpoenas for atrney general william bar h.h.s. secretary alex azar and homeland security secretaren kirstjen nieor further answers over the policy. >> woodruff:nd amna joins me

now. >> woodruff: an amna joins me. now you were following thy hearing all ng. a long time coming. democrats with a lot of questions. they're looking for r countability. what stood out u. >> number-one headline to me, judy, was confirmation from border patrol that familyco separationinue, and not just where we'd expect them, if there is a danger to the child or a vilent criminal history, also if the parent is illegally reentering. the first time it's a misdemeanor. ahe second time it's a felony. so that's stillpening. we've heard anecdoteses about that. confirtion from border patrol. also striking to me, though, is how many of those key questions weren't ayswered tod there were hours of questions, multiple repeated questions to those officials who still don't know who conceived of the policy. we still have no idea why it was implemenotd in the cha and messy way it was. and we still don't know how many kids were af it's a stunning thing. because for the last year we've been trying to figure out answers to those questions. chairman nadler said you haveen not orthcoming with the

documents. they only submitted to the socuments to the committee last night. till a ton of questions remain about the policy. >> woodruff: but there were a number of agencies, almost half a dozen agencies represented. what questions kid they answer? >> well, we got some numbers. h.h.s. official in particular, commander white had a lot of reformation. that's child welxpert. we know there has been an ongoing effort to reunite the separated families. let's dok at the numbers w know. we want that tick stot facts. the government identified 2,816 separated children under zero-tolerance. they say they havtreunited wih the parents 2,155. another 580 have been placed th family sponsors. 76 of those children are still in government custody. they can't be reunited because it would be unsafe to do so, and five children in their custody, they still have not reunited. they said they're working figure out if they can, but judy, keep in mind, this is at least ten mons those kids have now been in government custody.

>> woodruff: and you were telling us, amna, there was a partularly troubling part of the hearing line of questioning from ted deutsch, the congssman from floda, saying there are h.h.s. documents that indicate a number of these children were sexually abused. what is known about the validity of that? s line of questioning got a lot of attention on social media too. he shared the docts with us. what they do outline is a disturbing number of allegaterns he four years from 2015, '16, '17 and '18, almost 1,000 allegatis each year of sexual abuse or assault, many of them against the staff. we knowthere's reason to be concerned. we have had reporting in the past even here on e show where there have been handful of staff at shelters who abuse their power and who di sexually assault or act inappropriately with children. we know that in a handful of cases. commander white also said every allegations isnvestigated, every single thing we looked into shows us most of those claims are unfounded. the biggeraluestion in of this is all the things we still don't know at the end of this

da what's the government doing to try the figure out how many kids? nothing unless it looks li ake peop asking them for answers. how are border officials deciding who to separe? we haven't seen any written policy or guidelines. at the end of the day what we know, all the new information we get, the administration decided to put an immigration agenda ahead of the well-beinof the children. >> woodruff: well, it's a s disturbi of questions and answers. i know the questions are going to keep cohing. >> will indeed. >> woodruff: amna nawaz, thank you. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: health costs remain a key pocketbook issue and rising dg prices are a key pert of that. people in the u.s. more on prescription drugs than any other country, about $1,200 a year per person. insurers and the government pay the largest share.

but it costing consumers more in premiums and out of pocket. anger has been building over affordability and specialty drugs that cost tens of thousands of dollars. that was the backdrop as leading drugmakers testified befe a senate committee for the first time in many years. john yang has our report. >> yang: today's senate finance hearing markedhe first time in decades that this many drug company executives faced lawmakers. politicians from both parties were eager to criticize the companies, their profit margins and tory pulling back the curtain on rising drug prices. >> all of you that are here today are here because the way you do business is unacceptable. >> yang: senator cha grassley, the committee's republican chairman who warned executives to answer questions directly, set the tone.>> nother yes or no question: when you're company prices its drugs do you take into account that a key player is the federal government?

>> all channels are taken into account. >> so that obviously includes federal government? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. to yang: all executives said they were willing o more to increase aess. but there were few new proposals to do so. the c.e.o.s hit middlemen for their role in prices and insisted the cost of developing medications is high, requiring billions of dollars in research >> dedicated to science and innovation in 2018 donated billions. >> we're proud to have given 70,000 doses of ebola vaccine in the congress owe. >> we focus on creating

hmedicines fore most complicated cases including h.i.v., schizophrenia, and crohn's disease amongst other. janssen developed $ billion in research and development. >> reporter: one senor pressed whether the government could bring prices down. >> i'm asking a basic queion, the v.a.'s ability to negotiate on drug prices. t do yoink the states having that same ability drives down price. >> i would say the v.a. would get a lower price and the states would get a lower price if you're willing to go into an environment where that could be imposed by states. >> or the federal government. >> the hearing comes as president trump targets drug costs. he's proposed ending medicare and medicaid rebates to middl men and cutting the price medicare pays for some drugs. >> at long last the drug companies in foreign countries will be held accountable for how they riggedhe system against american consumers. >> today senators threatinged

congressional action. several zeroed in onichard gonzalez, c.e.o. of abdi, the maker of humira, the bestselling drug in the sorlded for rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. yely sales nearly $20 billion. over the last six years, theri drug's has doubled to $38,000 a year. more than 100tents and deals with other drugmakers mean that lower-prmpetitors will not hit the u.s. market before 2023. >> how many patts? 136. >> 136 patents on one drug.>> emember, humira is like nine different drugs or ten different drugs. >> i thought you said to senator etabenow it was the sam molecule. >> it is the same molecule, but it treats different condition, if you look at patent portfolio. >> so you use the samlee mole to treat different cnts you can get a patent on that? >> certainly.

>> mr. chairman, this topic is within the jurisdiction of the finance committee, but those ofn us like yome who are also on the judiciary committee thato has jurisdiover the patent system, i think this is an area that we need to look into our judiciary committee authority. >> senator ron wyden of oregon, the panel's top democrat, asked gonzalez if his compensation, which was $22 million in 2017, is tied to humira sales. >> would you make a smaller bonus if you dropped the price of humira? >> humira was >> humira was one elent of a set of financial factors evaluated as part of my compensation it's obviously a very significant product for us, of cberse, so it's clear it'd part of that evaluation. >> i'd like that in writing within 10 days. >> yang: some c.e.o.s like ken frazier of merck said they were willing to take some measures l to do thine eliminate discounts that protect their market share, but overall companies defended their

practices. >> no one company can unilateral p lower lirices without running into financial and operating disadvantages. >> by the hearing's end, widen and otr lawmakers said they were far from satisfied. >> i've heard a lot of happy talk this morning. >> today's hearing featured more bipartisan criticism than in the past, but it is fa from clear what action congress will take e drug prices conti rise. for thw pbs neshour, i'm john yang. >> woodr experts sounded the alarm on capitol hill today, warning lawmakers that the rise of a authoritarianiund the world is a threat to global securi. in testimony before the house intelligence committee, anders afogh rasmussen, who serv nato secretary general froin2009 to 2014,ed out russia and

china as "hostile geopolitical riva" because of their effor to undermine democracy in the united states and eu and mr. rasmussen joins me now. welcome back to the newshour. >> thank you. >> woodruff: so you spoke inbo your testimony the critical need you said for the world's democracies to prese a united front. what are you most worried about? >> i'm woried about the weakness among democracies because we don't have a clear american global leadership. and when the u.s. retrench, the u.s. will leave behind a vacuumf that will led by the bad guys. that's what we're witnessing right now. >> woodruff: filled by the bad guys and could lead to what? are you worried a war down the road? at worries you? >> it worries me that we seewe conflictee aggression from

russia against ukr waine,e see how china is treating its ighbors. we see how assad in syria has clamped down on people who just wanted freedom. so all in all we see restricted freedom. we also see challenges to global trade. >> woodruff: and what does it mean? is this mainly an economic worry? is it a true security worry that freedom could be lost as a result of althis? >> it's a security worry. it's a worry about human rights, rule of law, and, of course, it's also at the end of the day, it's an economic challenge. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about a particular arms control issue that's arisen recently, ao probably know. the trump administration pulled out of the intermediate nuclear forces agreement, the so-called sn.f. treaty. does this nowell to you the possibility ofn arms race

between the u.s. and russia? >> of cours i technically a race that we will now see a renewed arms however, i do understand the american reactio from my time in nato, i do know that the russians have violated the i.n.f. treaty, and the u.s. must react one way or another. i hope this threat from the u.s. could force the russians back to th t negotiatile with the end to negotiate a more robust and updated treaty. >> woodruff: of course, all this is happening as there is focus on the u.s. divisions with nato. president trump has been ry critical of nato. he says they're not paying their ofir share of the cost defense. we just saw in a meeting last week vice president pence spoke at the munich security conference. how serious is this split right now between the u.s. and the rest of europe and europe and

nato? >>it's very serio, but i also have to say, militarily, nato has been strengthened. we have seen more american troops deployed to eastern europe to defend the alliance. we have seen incedreuropean defense investment to protect against the possible threat from russia. so militarily, nato has been strengthened. but polally, nato has been weened because the arican president has raised doubts about his commitment to article 5. that's the famous article that we will help each other if an ally is attacked. >> woodruff: how much of a concern is that? god forbid russia were to go into estonia, how confident are you that the u.s. would come to estone yes's dense? >> i think when push comes to . ove, the u.swill, of course, help estonia or any other ally need, of course.

but ae fact tht somebody has raised doubts about the american commitment to article 5 might tempt putin to test our resolve. an you should neer ever define such temptations. he has desm -- demonstrated in ukraine that he's willing to use the vacuum left behind when the west does not fulfill its obligations. >> woodruff: i want to ask yoube about security, as well. there's a report today in the "washington post" that the united states military blocked internet access to this infamous entity in russia that interfered in the 201ection, was trying to interfere in the u.s. election in 2018. is it your sen that the trump administration is pushing backnt suffic on these russian efforts to disrupt not just elections and democcy here,

but in europe, as well? >> well, i think mocod be done, but, of course, the american administration learned lessons fro 2016 and has done a lot to counter such meddling in our elections in the future. but this is also the reason why i have established a bipartisan transatlantic commission. we call it the transatlantic commission on electinn grity. the purpose of that commission is to monitor eleion campaigns, to detect whether we see foreign meddling, and also to develop new technologies to prevt, for instance, these videos and audios and thin like that. so i think we all have a responsibility to do much mor >> woodruff: you think president trump takes the russian efforts to disrupt u.s.

elections serusly enough? >> well, i don't know if the president himself personally, how strongly he's engaged in this, but i have no dou tat his administration and not least e intelligence community in the u.s. are very much engaged in this, a uanimous dtelligence community sta that the russians meddled in the 2016 elections,nd from my pastce experis secretary-general, i can say that i have fultrust in the american intelligence community. >> woodruff: anders fogh rasmussen, the former secretary-general of nato, thank you very much. >> you'reelcome.

>> woodruff: now, it's a story about the complexities of a modern day marriage. jeffrey brown talks to meg wolitzer, author of more tn a dozen novels including "the wife," this month's pick for "now read this," the newshour and "new york times" book club. the bo was the inspiration for the recent film of the same name, which earned glenn close an oscar nomination for best actress. the conversation is tonight's editioof our arts and culture series, "canvas." >> congratulations to you, as well, joan. i don't think people give theno spouseh credit. >> i give my wife credit. i give her plenty of cret. >> brown: in the wife, both film and noveljoan castleman accompanies her famous writer husband joe as he prepares to accept a major literary prize. the story takes us through decades of their marriage and into some surprising behind-the-scenes secrets to hic ess. author meg wolitzer joins me now

to answer questions from our readers. welcome back to you. >> hapepy to bee. >> brown: so first tell us, especially for those who are not in the balk club, not our readers, what were you after here? th well, i was interested in the different ways thaworld has treated men and women, and i wanted to look at that in theco ext of a marriage. >> okay, so let's go to some of our questions. >> sure. >> brown: let's look at the firs one. >> where did you get your research and ideas for writing your book, "the wife"? >> the story really came from the imagination. i mean, i love the invention side of writing. that said, i am a writer and i live in the world. i'm also the daughteof a writer, and my mother is a novelist, hilma wolitzer. she's 89. this wasn't her experience at all, i want the say that off th top, however, when she had her first novel published, there was a review tat said, "housewife turned into a novelist." she's made the joke that it's as

if she was clark kent going enter a phone booth and there was a condescension in thatli headne. i was interested in that. >> brown: our next questionth goes tt time period. >> why did you choose the '50s for joe and joan to marry. >> i was interested in it having read sylvia plath and he letters from smith and her journals. i sort of felt that i had a sense of what it was like to be a young woman then, at least to some degree i had. it's from other things that i read, and i wanted to givit my own pass. but beyond that, everything, if you set it in the50s, everything you're trying to say could be set into relief. it's really happening in a big way, that kind of condescension toward a woman who was trying to write. >> brown: you know, one thing i saw in the facebook discussion a lot of queions about, you know, the difference between a film and a novel. in the novel, it's narrated by the wife, right? first person.

>> right. >> brown: theleilm, close. >> i know. it's so different. it's first book i think i wroter in firstn in a voice like this, and it's a sort of strong, angry, funny voice. so when you have an adaptation ma, you know, you kind of -- i, at least say to the filmmaker, go do your thing, any eally did a different kind of thing while being faithful to the book. glenn close who such a wonderful, brilliant actress i think, so much of what she doest you just areching it, whereas i'm saying it. >> brown: okay, let's go toti our next qu. >> what research if any substantiates the idea that the wife would not have been able to have been published onw her on in the 1950s due to her gender? >> i don't know that everyone would ree that she couldn't have been able to be pubn lishe. you e the difference in the ways male writers and female writers arabe talkeout. women get published, of course,

but they were treated differently. the big important ones for the most part were men., i meat was the way it was. >> brown: you mention your mother being a writer, so that goq to our next stion. >> sure. >> brown: look at that. >> glenn close spoke eloatquenty he golden globes about "the wife" and how it related to her own mother's life. what would you mom say about the book and the response to it? >> i'm thinking of my mom, who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life. >> my mother has only been supportive of me since i was young. nde didn't have that same of support from her parents. she grew up in a different era. i grew up when i did, and, in fact, i used mething in a novel of mine that had happened in real life. gave a reading somewhere, and ooding the q&a, my a woman up and said, "my daughter wants to be a playwright. what should i tell hew i know hrd it is."

i said, is she talented? she said, yes. i said, is she willing to work? she said yes. i told her to do it. the world will try twhittle you down, but my mother never let it. that's why i wrote is balk and all my books. >> brown: congratulations on your novel. we'll continue our questions online. for now, meg wolitzer, thank you ve y much. >> thau for having me. >> brown: let me announce our march book pick. returning to a genre we haven'ta led yet, science fiction. and to a nov that tackles gender politics where young women have special powers. it's called "the power" by british writer nay owe my alderman. this is our book club partnership with "the new york times."

>> woodruff: and a news update before we go tonight: this evening the democratic-nt lled house passed a measure blocking president trump's border emergency declaration by a vote of 245 to 182. separately, delegates from the united methodist church voted late today to maintain the faith's bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of l.g.b.t. clergy members. stay with pbs tonight, frontline partners with pro-publica for a special investigation examining a court-ordered effort in new york city to move mentally p disablple from troubled adult homes into independent apartments. watch "right to fail" on your local station. and that's the newshour for tonight. w i'm judruff. join us online, where we will be live streaming michael cohen's testimony starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern, and again here tomorrow eveng. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian,nd more. >> the fwod foundation. ing with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations inn, educatemocratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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hello, everyone. welcome to amanpour & company. here's what's coming up. >> i think we can have a very good summit. a big week for president trump. he has a second meeting with the north korean leader just as his former personal lawyer testifies before ngress. we take stock of what's to come. plus -- >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> diversity wins at the academy awards. i speak with oscar nominated actor about his directorial debut. and removing the stigma from schizophrenia. finding success and happiness living with mental illness. she sit