captioning sponsored by 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 tional emergency, and mr. trump's former lawyer, michael cohen, presents closed door testimony on what he knows about russia and more. then, the second summit, ahead of the president's face- to-face meeting with north 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/"new york times" book club pickur answers uestions. >> i was interested in the different ways that the world has treated men and edmen, and i wao look at that in the context of a marriage. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french german, italian, and more. >> and w of these institutions: >> this program was made by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump is being allenged tonight on both sides of the u.s. capitol. first, to the u.s. house of representatives and the border ttle. majority democrats passed a resolution this evening toes terminate the ent's national emergency declaration. it came after argument mr. trump's plan to divert other funds and build wsouthern bordl.

>> the emergencies act is for genuine emergencies. it is not a get out 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 the american people today, and the safety for our stmmunities not just in we texas, but throughout this country. >> woodruff: the resolution now goes to the senate, where theto focuy was president trump's former personal attorney michael cohen. he testified in a closed session with the senate intelligence committee. tomorrow, he testifies publicly at a house oversight hearing.id late today, flcongressman matt gates tweeted a warning to cohen, saying his wife is about to learn a lot about "your girlfriend." later gates insisted he was not engaging iwitness

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 dee aration. theylking about it in the house. they're about to vote. >> i'm watching my phone. that vote shou happen any minute. this is a vote that would grrminate this emergency declaration, and cs does have that power. this is first step in trying to brock that declaration. it is believed this will pass. and it will pass easily. the question is how many republicans will be on board, judy, and eany republicans ar having a very difficult time with this issue. i spoke to one from kentucky who yiid he is now going with democrats and sang he thinks this is an overreach by thes prent, however, i talked to another, fresh denver riggellsan of virgini he walked in thinking he too would agree with democrats then we received abo briefing the situation at the border and after that briefing he felt that it was enough of arisis that he is struggling but he is now going to vote with the preyisident in to keep the emergency

declaration going. this is important because ultimately we think two-thirds ofwihe members of the housll have to agree in order to actually override a likely veto. >> woodruff: a likely presidential veto. so all but certain it passes the house. a yeah. >> woodruff: whout in the senate? >> that's an interesting question, because right now, of course, there are 47 democrats who are planning to vote try and terminate this emergency declaration. that means four republicans are needed to go alongside with them to just pass this resriution. yht now, judy, we have three republicans who they agree with democrats, susan collins of maine, tom pelliso north carolina, lisa measure cow sce. those last time, tillis and murkowski, they have the largest nuer of military nstruction projects which the president could freeze, take monm,ey fro in ordero build his wall. they also say they have constitutional objec largely to what the president is doing. so we think that it's likelybl another rean will probably side with them. i spoke to eight republicans

today who are deciding, but vicc president was in the senate today trying to tell republicans, side with theen pres keep this emergency declaration going, we don't know when that vote will be. we got information from republicans that it may be in two weeks. ould be sooner. we're in the sure. >> woodruff: not right away, but it looks like it'at least delayed for a few days. >> they have some choices to make on that. >>oodruff: let me ask yo about the other big story everybody is watching, and that's the president's former personal attorney, michan cohen, behind closed doors talking to the senate sntelligence committee. the information h trickled out, and now we have this tweet th has gotten eerybody's attention from the florida congressman. what do we know about him? ht.rig matt gates is seen as one of the president's strongest allies in congre. he is a cservative firebrand. he also importantly, judy, sits on the house judiciary committee. that's not the committeehat is meeting with mr. cohen tomorrow, howeve it is the committee where impeach proceedings would

begin, and matt gates is seen as someone who would be one of the most ardent defenders of the president shld impeach proceedings happen. more importantly i thire we' seeing what republicans will do tomorrow when mr. cohen testifies publicly. they are going thio assaim as a witness with no credibility. and as much as democrats askt questions abhe president's activity, the republicans will be going after mr. cen about his personal life as we have seen today and also it's interesting to see, is this a threat against mr. cohen by a member of congress? that's still being debated. >> woodrf: that's the house oversight committee where he will be testifying tomorrow many public. cameras will be there, but wen' know what more he's likely to say, do we? >> we have some reporting thanks to our great yamiche alcindor. she's speaking to a source close to cohen who tellser that, in fact, confirms other reports that mr. cohen will speak to what he sees as criminale activity by tpresident, that he will also talk about the

president saying racist statements to him and indeed he will speak, yamiche is told, to financial statements from the president. these are all very serious allegations. so i think we have twohings happening. one, an intense political atmosphere where we see both sides ready tro pehaps exaggerate what's happening, and then we have very serious,mo dramatic tes that may not need exaggeration. and then it's going to be very difficult and we have to be vey careful in figuring out how to weigh all of this in a very frenzied atmosphere. itiould be quitercus-like tomorrow. >> woodruff: enormous attention on what mr. cohen will be saying tomorrow. all this while the president is out of the country. lisa, thank you very much. in the day's other news,p president trand north korean leader kim jong un arrived inm, vietnaor a sequel to their historic 2018 summit. air force one touched down in hanoi, late in the day, local time. mr. trump was greeted by vietnamese officials on a red carpet. kim arrived earlier, and spent the day driving around hanoi in his armoured limousine, drawin

crowds and cheers at times. in australia, a court has convicted cardinal george pell of sexually molesting two 13- year-old choirboys.he he wasighest ranking cleric to be charged in the scandal engulfing the roman catholic church.ea pell is on from his post as top financial adviser to the pope. today, a vatican spokesman said he is barred from serving in the churching his appeal. t s is 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 isca thrminal george pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry. >> woodruff: the australian jury delivered its verdict in december. the court barred publication of the tcome, until now. pell is 77 years old. he could face 50 yea in prison. the status of an's foreign

minister javad zarif remains up in the air. a spokesman says president hassan rouhani still considers zarif the country's foreign minister, despite hi resignation yesterday. zarif was a key figure in securing the 2015 iran nuclear deal with the u.s. and world powers. he casome under increasing pressure from hardliners since the u.s. withdrew from the deal. british prime minister theresa may opened the door today to delaying britain's exit from the european union. she asked parliament to vote for her brexit deal, or vote to leave with no deal. if both fail, may proposed delaying until june. >> our absolute focus should be on working to deal and leaving on 29 march. an extension beyond the end of june would mean the u.k. taking part in the european parliament elections.sa what kind of m would that send to the more than 17 millioo

peopleoted to leave the e.u. nearly three years ago nowy >> woodruff: dg brexit would need the approval of all of the other 27 e.u. member states. back in this country, another major winter srm socked parts of the western u.s. flooding raiswamped roads in rthern california, and officials urged evacuations along sections of the russian river. meanwhile, relief came for 183 ssengers, stuck on an amtrak train in the oregon mountains. fallen trees blocked their way on sunday night. they finally got moving again early today. former vice president joe biden says he has cleared a big hurdle to running for president in 2020. he tells "the washington post" that he needed to decide if he could t his family through a tough campaign. but he says they now want him to run. but, he says, he has not made a final decision. in north carolina, republican

mark harris says he will not run again in a re-do election for a congressional seat. his apparent victory over democrat dan mcready was thrown out last week over allations of ballot fraud. harris says he has surgery scheduled for next month, so he won't run again. a federal appeals court in washington has cleared the wayr &t's takeover of time- warner. a three-judge panel re the trump administration's appeal to itblock the merger, arguin would limit competition and hurt consumers. 1e takeover is valued at billion. fiat-chrysleannounced plans today to invest $4.5 billion in the deoit area, and create 6,500 jobs. a new assembly plant would be the city's first since 1991. d on wall street, the do 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 theewshour:r whetetnam can serve as a model for the future relationship of the u.s. and north korea. india launches an air strike in neighboring pakistan. new details on immigrant children separated from their families by the u.s., and much more. >> woodruff: returning to president trump's visit to hanoi, for his second summit with north korean leader kim-u jo u.s. officials have been sugg communist country that reconciled with the u.s. after a deadly war, could serve as a model for north korea. as nick schifrin reports from h hanoi, vietn come a very long way since the war, as has the u.s./vietnam relationship.

>> schifrin: for the u.s., the vietnam war ended 44 years ago. but 14-year-old nguyen thuy linh is still fighting it, in every letter she tries to ace. her and all these children's deformities are because of dioxin, better known as the toxin agent orange, dropped by o the u.s.their grandparents' villages. they are the second generation of their families born with physical and intellectual disabilities. tran thi thinks as a 3-year-old. she's actually 17. what will these children's' future be like? nguyen thi oanh is their teacher. >> ( translated ): for them to become normal wod 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. some 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 ven million tons of bombs, three times what it used in world war two. the violence killed 3 million and drove millions more from

their villages.d anu.s. planes sprayed agent orange, to kill trees to expose fighters and affecting four million vietnamese, includinghe damaging genes. but if american troops were the culprit, some became the redeemer.la this is known as friendship village, established by vietnam veterans. >> so much what we were doing, was actually part of an institutional lie. >> schifden: chuck sercey ployed to vietnam in 1967. he says he witnessed u.s. forces commit terrible acts, but di't speak out. and so he and many veteran returned in the 1980s to turn former enemies into partners. over the next decade, americans and vietnamese worked gether 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. >> for many of us, being able to come back and do something

that's positive and constructive that helps with the rebuilding and reconstructing, is very gratifying. and for many of us, it's the closure that's been needed for a long time. >> schifrin: and that closure, gave the two countries an opening. >> once you have a model of working effectively with each m othey other things could become possible. that's why i strongly believe it set the foundation and opened so ny doors. >> schifrin: thao griffiths is the former vietnam countryre or of the vietnam veterans of america foundation, where she arrked with veterans and the vietnamese militon projects like de-mining. she says confronting the war's legacies led to people-to-people exchanges. she worked with ncampions of reiation, including senator patrick leahy. and she became a fulbright fellow, introducing hillary clinton.da to the fulbright program extends to government leership. foreign minister pm binh minh is a fulbright alumn s and met withecretary 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 n vietnamey. and last year an aircraft carrier docked off the coast for the first time since the war. >> such a comprehensive engagement that the u.s. is having in vietnam. not only defense to defense, but also diplomatic, economic, education, cultural, people-to- people. it's really a comprehensive relationship we have. >> schifrin: and that relationship has helped produce an economic boom. garco 10 is northern vietnam's largest garment company. textiles have helped make vietnam asia's third fastest growing economy, behind indiaa. and ch and since a trade embargo was lifted in 1994, the u.s. has become vietnam's number one export market. than duc viet is garco 10's deputy general director.

>> after embargo lift, the most important thing, like, we're not thinking abo past. we're not thinking about the war anymor >> 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 compans, 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. >> ( translated ): in war time, the soldier is t center of society. but now in peacetime, developi the economy the priority. that means the entrepreneur is the peacetime soldier, and our young generation would like to be entrepreneurs. >> schifrin: there is another communist country that once fought the united states and is now being asked to reconcile, as pompeo pointed out last july,

after meeting vietnamese leaders. >> in light of the once unimaginable prosperity and partnership we have today, i have a message for kim jong-un. president trump believes you can replicate this path. y it's yours, can seize the moment. the miracle can be yours.an ite your miracle, as well. >> schifrin: vu tien loc, who met presidents trump and andin china's xi jipg, as well as kim jong-il, the current leader's father, believes noanh korevietnam can have a shared past and future. >> ( translated ): the journey of change between the u.s. and vietnam, from enemies toan partnershifriendship, can be a suggestion for the future of the relationship between the u.s. and north korea. and we are willing to share our experience with north korea. >> ( translat): i would like the u.s. to start with having korean trained in the u.s., ke 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, we were told mericans were brutal, imperialists, and invaders of our country, and we have to len how to hate american invaders. >> schifrin: but after the war, he too studied in the u.s. as a fulbright scholar. and he says the u.s. should offer the same opptunities to north koreans. >> you will have the first batch of korean learning, going to the u.s. they will understand about americans, and they build theen bridge bethe two nations. >> schifrin: during the u.s.' last major offensive around christmas 1972, hoa and his d hanoi to escape the bombing by b-52s, like the one

that crashed into this hanoi ke. the next year, he joined the military unit that targets planes. how have the u.s. and vietnam me 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. we soon become very close friends today. very close friends today. >> schifrin: a friendship the u.s. would like to create, with an even older adversary.ne for the pbs hour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: last night, india carried out a bombing raid in pakistani territory, claiming to target a terrorist group responsible for a deadly attack on indian forces two weeks ago. as william brangham reports, this is the most serious

escalation in years between the two nuclear-armed adversaries. >> brangham: indian offials said they successfully destroyed a training camp for the group known as jaish-e-muhammed, or j.e.d. that group claimed responsibility for a massive suicide bomb attack two weeks k ago thled 38 members of india's security forces. today, indian prime minister narendra modi, standing before photos of those killed two week, elebrated this retaliatory strike. w. ( translated ): i will not let the country 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 rion 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, distinguished professor of political science at indiana university in bloomington. y professor, tha very much for being here. before we get to this most recent escalation, i wonder if you thuld just explaiose

people who have not befo owing this, why is it that kashmir, that region between the o nations, is sucan open wound between them? >> this is an issue that was not resolved at the time when the british were withdrawing from the subcontinent in 1947, and both india a pakistan laid claim to this border state, which abutboth two countries. india wanted to cla kashmir because it's a muslim-majority and wanted to demonstrate that a significant minority could thrive within a predominantlyco hindtry. pakistan, by the same token, which had been created as a homeland for the muslims of south asia, felt that an adjoining region had to be part of pakistan, otherwise pakistan would be imcomplete. it's this sense of incompleteness that has driven pakistani poicy and helped

drive pakistan's claim to kashmir, but since india controls two-thirds of the state, which is what it managed to hold after pakistan launched an invasion shortly after the british departure, it refus to concede ground, and pakistan holds on to theone-third that it does. there have been multiple wars trying to resolve this issue, and a sries of negotiations, imately runve all ult aground. >> woodruff: so given that long acrimony, how do you seeo thist recent escalation unfolding over the next few days? >> this is a somewhat fraught situation, particularly sinceth is the first time that the indian airorce has proved across what is called the line al control, which is the de facto internatiorder between indian and pakistan in th disputed ste. this is first time that india

used its air force aoss the border since the 1971 war. d consequently, sentiments in pastan i suspect are quite raw at the moment, and prime minister kahn will feel compelled to respond in some fashion. sos he next few dayd weeks are really a time probably laden with considerable tension. and we could see arillery barrages take place along the line of control. >> brangham: let'shay tat pakistan does respond with artillery barrages or more, what does india do in response to that? >> the indians probay will return fire, esecially in the form of artillery barrages. i doubt that the indians would try to mount a second airstrike, because by n pakistan's air defenses are probably on a state of high alert and are likely to

remain in the foreseeable future. the fact that eir air defenses were penetrated by indian aircraft is obviously source of considerable distress to pakistani decision-makers, and particularly the overleaning pakistani military establishmenhe >> brangham:.s. for many, many years has played something of a brokering role between these two countries. whth role do you imagine u.s. playing in trying to s diffuse thtuation? >> ideally, the u.s. would tryst an in and try to broker some sort of a peace, but a this moment, i think if the u.s. were to simply urge straint in both slam bad and new delhi, given the sent. s in new delhi and in significant partof northern india, that would not be received very well.i i think at s point new delhi would want washington,.,.co

exert considerable pressure on pakistan, as it has done a few times in the recent past, particularly during the 1999 cargill war, bt sgesting that both sides exercise restrai probably would not be very well received in new dehi, though that is exactly what islamabad would want under the circumstances. >> brangham: all rig sumit ganguly, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: among the many ts on capitol hill today the debate over the trump 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 the gavel now in r hands, democrats on th house judiciary committee

ciilled government officials from multiple ag on the trump administration's familyy. separation pol democrats repeatedly decrying the policy as inhumane and un- american. >> deliberate separation of familiess immoral and is not justified and cannot be juified by good or bad policies, good or bad intentions. >> nawaz: committee republicanse rizona's andy biggs, lamented separating families, wht insisted something must be done to address they call a crisis at the border. >> our policies don't provide deterrent, they actually provide incentives to come into this country, whi is why you are >> nawaz: but the panel of witnesses, from the many agencies behind the so-called "zero tolerance" policy of spring 2018, faced some tough questions seeking accountability. vimmander jonathan white, of health and human ss, repeated previous testimony that he'd warned senior officials of e potential harm before the policy was in place. >> best available evidence is

that separation of children entails very significant and potentially lifelong risk for harm. n az: the former head of the agency caring for migrant children, scott lloyd, was asked about those warnings.>> hen commander white, as a child welfare expert, warned you about the cruel consequences of family separation, were you concerned? >> i accepted what he told me. >> nawaz: but when pressed by democrat sylvia garcia, lloydal and offifrom 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. mas of my officers are pare too. of course its difficult. >> this is a difficult situatn. but as law enforcement its our job to enforce law. >> i see the policy as designed to deliver a consequence for violating the law. >> nawaz: lloyd, who has since

left his post for another h.h.s. role, also denied reports he stood in the way of reunification efforts. >> lloyd directed his staff to stop keeping a spreadsheet tracking separated families. is that true? >> no it is not. >> nawazthe biggest question, that remained unanswered: just how many children were actually separated. >> you do not know how many children were 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.t? is that corr >> i don't have that number with me. it is a number i can get. >> nawaz: a number democrats will continue to pursue, along with other questions about the policy. the house oversight committeeor todared subpoenas for attorney general william barr, crh.s. secretary alex azar and homeland security ary kirstjen nielsen for further answers over the policy. >> woodruff: and amna joins me now.

ow woodruff: an amna joins me. now you were folg this hearing all day long. a long time coming. democrats with a lot of questions. they're lookinlifor accounta. what stood out for you. >> number-one headline to me, judy, was cnfirmation from border patrol that family separations continue, and not' just where wexpect them, if there is a danger to the child or a violent criminal history, also if the parent is illegally reentering. the first time it's a misdemeanor. the second time it's a flony. so that's still happening. we've heard anecdoteses about that. nfirmation from border patrol. also striking to me, though, is how many of those key quewestios n't answered today. there were hours of questions, mutoiple repeated question those officials who still don't know who conceived of the policy. we still have no idea why it was implemented in the chaotic and messy way it ws. and we still don't know how many kids were affected. it's a stunning thing. because for the last year we've been trying to figure out answers to those questions. chairman nadler said yo have not been forthcoming with the docunts. they only submitted to the

documents to the committee last night. so still a ton of queinstions rebout 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 ofat infon. that's child welfare expert. re know there has been an ongoing effort tonite the separated families. let's look at the numbers we do ckow. we want that tot facts. the government identified 2,8se rated children under zero-tolerance. they say they have reunited with the parents 2,155. another 580 have been placed with family sponsors. 76 of those chilen are still in government custody. ause can't be reunited bec it would be unsafe to do so, and five children in their custody,h they stie not reunited. they said they're working to figure out if they can, but judy, keep in mind, this is at least ten months those kids have now been in government custody. >> woodruff: and you were telling us, amna, there was apa

icularly troubling part of the hearing line of questioning from ted deutsch, the congressman from florida, saying there are h.h.s. documents that indicate a number of these children were sexually abused. idityis known about the val of that? >> his line of questioning got a lot of attention on social media to he shared the documents with us. what they do outline is a disturbing number of allegations over the four years from 2015, '16, '17 and '18, almost 1,le000 tions each year of sexual abuse or assault, many of them against he sta. we know there's reason to be concerned. we have had reporting in there past even n the show where there have been handful of staff at shelters who abuse eir power and who did sexually assault or act inappropriately with children. we know that in a handful of cases. commander white also said every allegations is investigated,er single thing we looked into shows us most of those claims are unfounded.bi ther question in all of this is all the things we still don't know at the end of this day. what's the government doing to try the figure out how many

kids? nothing less it looks like people are asking them for answers. how are border officials deciding who to searate? we haven't seen any written policy or guidelines. at the end of the day what we know, althe new information w get, the administration decided to put an immigration agenda ahead of thl- weing of the children. >> woodruff: well, it's disturbing set of questions and answers. i know the questions are going c to keming. >> they will indeed. >> woodruff: amna nawaz, thank you. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: health costs remain a key pocketbookrissue and ng drug prices are a key part of that. people in the u.s. spend more on prescription drugs than any other country, about $1,200 a year per person. insurers and t government pay the largest share. but it's costing consumers more in premiums and out of pocket.

anger has been building over affordability and specialty drs that cost tens of thousands of dollars. that was the backdrop as leadini drugmakers tes before a senate committ for the first time in many years. hn yang has our report. >> yang: today's senate finance hearing marked the first time in decades that this many drug company executives faced lawmakers.s politiciom both parties were eager to criticize the companies, their profit margins and to try pulling back the curtain on rising drug prices. >> all of you that are here today are here because t way you do business is unacceptable. >> yang: senator charles grassley, the committee's edpublican chairman who wa executives to answer questions directly, set the tone. >> another yes or no question: when you're companprices 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. >> yang: all executives said they were willing to do more ton ease access. but there were few new proposals to do so. the c.e.o.s hit middlemen forle their ron prices and insisted the cost of developing medications is high, requiring ns of dollars in researc >> dedicated to science and innovation in 2018 donated billions. >> we're proud to have given 70,000 doses of ebo vaccine in the congress owe. >> we focus roneating medicines for the most complicated cases including

h.i.v., schizophrenia, and crohn's disease amongst other. janssen developed $8 billion in research and development. >> reporter: one senator ernment whether the gov could bring prices down. >> i'm asking a basic question, the v.a.'s ability to negotiate on drug prices. do you think the states having that same ability drives down price. t >> i would se 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 coulbe imposed by states. >> or the federal government. >> the hearing comes as president trp targets drug costs. he's proposed ending medicare and medicaid rebates to middle men and cutting the price medicare pays for some drugs. >> at long last the drug companies in foreign ries will be held accountable for how they rigged the system against american consumers. >> today senators threatinged congressional action. several zeed in on ric

gonzalez, c.e.o. of abdi, the maker of humira, the bestselling drug in the world used for rheumatoid arthritis and other yearly sales nearly $20 billion. over the last six years, the drug's price has doubled to $38,000 a year. more than 100 patents and dea o wiher drugmakers mean that lower-price competitors will noh hiu.s. market before 2023. >> how many patents? >> 136. >> 136 patents on one drug. >> remember, humira is like nine different drugs or ten different drugs. >> i thought you said to senator stabenow it as the same molecule. >> it is the same molecule, but ondition, different if you look at that patent portfolio. >> so you use the sae molecule 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 of us like you and me who are aso on the judiciary committee that has jurisdiction over the patent system, i think this is are that we need to look into our judiciary committee authority. >> senator ron wyden of oregon, the panel's top democrat, aed gonzalez if his compensation, which was $22 million in 2017, is tied to humira sal >> would you make a smaller bonus if you dropped the price of humira? >> humira wass >> humira e element of a oft of financial factors evaluated as pary compensation it's obviously a very signi of course, so it's clear it'd be part of that evaluation. >> i'd like that in writing wiin 10 days. >> yang: some c.e.o.s like ken frazier merck said they were willing to take some measus to do things like eliminate discounts that protect their market share, but overall companies defended their practices. >> no one ilmpany can erally lower list prices

without running into financial and operating disadvantages. >> by the hearing's end, widen d other lawmakers said they were far from satisfied. >> i'vheard a lot of happy talk this morning. >> today's hearing featued mor bipartisan criticism than in the rest, but it is far from clear what action co will take as drug prices continue to rise. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: national security experts sounded the alarm on capitol hill today, warning lawmakers that the rise of authoritarianism around the a world hreat to global security. in testiny before the house intelligence committee, anders fogh rasmussen, who served as nato secretary general from 2009 to 2014, singled out russia and china as "hostile geopolitical

rivals" because of their efforts to uermine democracy in the united states and europe. owd mr. rasmussen joins me welcome back to the newshour. >> thank you. >> woodruff: so you spoke in your testimony about the critical need you sar the world's democracies to present a united front. what are you mt worried about >> i'm worried 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 vacuum atat will be filled by the bad guys. 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? what worries you? r it wories me that we see monflict, we see aggression fro russia against ukraine, we see

how china is treating is neighbors. se see how assad in syria ha clamped down on people who just wanted freedom. so all in all we se restricted freedom. we also see challenges to global trade. >> woodruff: and what does it mean? is this mainly an economic worry? is it a trursecurity ry that freedom could be lost as a result of all this? >> it's a security worry. it's a worry about human rights, rule of law, and, of course, it's also at the d of the day, it's an economic challenge. >> woodruff: i want t ask yo about a particular arms control issue that's arisen recently, as you probably know. the trump admintration pulled out of the intermediate nuclear forcesgreement, the so-called i..f. trea does this now spell to you the possibility of an arms race between a?e u.s. and russi >> of course.

it is technically a race that we will now see a renewed arms race. however, i doderstand the american reaction. from my time in nato, i do know that the russians have violad the i.n.f. treaty, and the u.s. must react one way othr ano. i hope this threat from the u.s. could force the russians back to the negotiating table 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 s to. president trump en very critical of nato. he says they're not paying their weir share of the costs of defense. ust saw in a meeting last week vice president pence spoke at the municysecur conference. how serious is this split right now between the u.s. anth rest of europe and europe and nato? >>it's very serious, but i also have to ay, militarily, nato

has been strengthened. we have seen more erican troops deployed to eastern europe to defend the alliance. we have seen increased european defee investment t protect against the possible threat from russia. so milarily, nato has been strengthened. but politically, nato has been weakened because the american president has raised doubts about his commitment to article that's the famous article that we will help each other if an ally is attacked. >> woodruff: how much concern is that? god forbid russia were to go into estonia, how confident are you that the u.s. would come toe estones defense? >> i think when push comes to shove, the u.s. will, of course, help estonia or any oth ally in need, of course. but the fact that somebody has

raised doubts about the american commitment to article 5 might tempt putin to test our resolve. an you should never ever define such temptations. he hasm -- demonstrated ine ukraine that willing to use the vacuum left behind when the west does not fulfill its obligations. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about cyber security, as well. there's a report today in the "washington post" that th united states military blocked internet access to this infamous entity in russia that ierfered in the 2016 election, was trying to interfere in the u.s. eltion in 2018. is it your sense that the trump administration is pushing back sufficiently on these russian efforts to disrupt not just elections and democracy here, but in europe, as well?

>> well, i thire could be done, but, of course, the american administration learned lessons from 2016 and has done a lot to counter such meddling in tureelections in the fu but this is also the reason why i have established a bipartisan transatlantic commission. we call it the transatlantic commission on election integrity. the purpose of that commission is to monitor election campaigns, to detect whether we see foreign meddling, and also to develop new tenologies to prevent, for instance, these videos and audios and things like that. so i think we all have a responsibility to do much more. >> woodruff: you think president trump takes the russian efforts to disrupt u.s.r elections iously enough? >> well, i don't know ife th

president himself personally, how streongly he's aged in this, but i have no doubt that his ministration and not least the intelligence community in the u.s. are very much engaged in this, a unanimous intelligence community stated that the russians meddled in the 2016 elections, and from my past experience as secretary-general, i can say that i have full trust in the american intelligence community. >> woodruff: andfogh rasmussen, the former secretary-general of nato, thank you very much. >> you're welcome.uf >> woo now, it's a story

about the complexities of a modern day marriage. jeffrey brown talks to meg wolitzer, author of more than a dozenovels including "the wife," this month's pick thr "now rea," the newshour and "new york times" book club. the book was the inspiration foh e recent film of the same name, whicearned glenn close an oscar nomination for best actress. the conversation is tonight's edition of our arts and culture series, "canvas."ul >> congrions to you, as well, joan. i don't think people give the spouse enough credit. >> i give my wife crdit. i give her plenty of credit. >> brown: in the wife, bothov film andel, joan castleman accompanies her famous writer arsband joe as he pre to accept a major literary prize. the story takes us through decads of their marriage a into some surprising behind-the-scenes secrets to his success. author meg wolitzer joins me now to answer questions from our readers. welcome back to you.

>> happy to be here. >> brown: so first tell us, especially for those who are not the balk clb, not our readers, what were you after here? >> well, i was interested in the different ways that the world has treated men and women, and i wanted to look at at in the context of a marriage. >> okay, so let's go to some of. our questi >> sure. >> brown: let's look at the first one. >> where did you gr you 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 dghter of 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 the top, however, when she had her first novel published, there was a review that said, "housewifet turned ia novelist." she's made the joke that it's as ifhe waslark kent going enter a phone booth and there

was a condescension in that headline. i was interested in that. >> beswn: our next quon goes to that time period. >> why did you choose the '50s for joe and joan to marry. >> i was interested in it having read sylvia plath anr 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, a least to some degree i had. it's from other things that i read, and i wanted to give it m own pass. but beyond that, everything, if you set it in the '50s, everything you're trying to say could be set into relief. it'seally happening in a bi way, that kind of condescension toward a woman who was trying to write. >> brown: you know, one thing i saw in the facebook di is a lot of questions about, you know, the difference between a film and a novel. in the novel, it's narrated by the wife, right? first person. >> right. >> bwn: the film, glenn

close. >> i kno it's so different. it's first book i think i wrote in first person in a voiceiike this, ans a sort of strong, angry, funny voice.so hen you have an adaptation made, you know, you kind of -- i, at least say to the filmmaker, go do your thing, and they really did a different kind of thing while being faithful to the book. glenn close who is such a wonderful, brilliant actress i think, so much of what she does, tou just are watching it, whereas i'm saying >> brown: okay, let's go to our next question. >> what research if any substantiates the idea that the wi would not have been a to have been published on her own in the 1950s due to her gender? >> i don't know that everyone would agree that she uldn' have been able to be published. you can see the difference in the ways male writers and female writers are talked abo. women get published, of course, but they were treated differently. the big important ones for the

most part were men. i mean, that was the way it was. >> brown: you mention your mother being a writer, so tha es to our next question. >> sure. >> brown: look at that. >> glenn close spoke eloquently at the golden globes about "the wife" and how it related to her own mothou's life. what 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. she didn't have that same kind of support from her par.en she grew up in a different era. i grew up when iddid, an, in fact, i used something in a novel of mie that had happened in real life. i gave a reading somewhere, and during the q&a, my a woman stood up and said, "my daughter wnts to be a playwright. what should i tell her? i know how hard it is." i said, is she talented? she said, yes.

i said, is she willito work? she said yes. i told her to do it. the world will try to whittle you down, but my mother er let it. that's why i wrote this balk and all my books >> brown: congratulations on your novel. we'll continue our questions online. for now, meg wolitzer, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> brown: let me announce our march book pick. returning to a genre we haven't tackled yet, science fiction. and to a novel that tackles gender politics where young women have special powerll it's c "the power" by british wrir nay owey alderman. this is our book club partnership with "the new york times. >> woodruff: and a news update beforee go tonight: this

evening the democratic- controlled house passed a measure blocking preside trump's border emeency declaration by a vote of 245 to 182. separately, delegates fromhe united methodist church voted late today to maintain thesa faith's bans o-sex marriage and the ordination of l.g.b.t. clergy members. stay with pbs tonight, frontlint rs with pro-publica for a special investigation examining a cot-ordered effort in new york city to move mentally disabled people from troubled adult homes into independent apartments. watch "right to fail" on yr local station. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. bein us online, where we will live streaming michael cohen's testimony starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern, and again here tomorrow evening. anr all of us at the pbs newshour, thank yosee you soon.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a langua app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. t ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic eagagement, and the advancement of international 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 by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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