captioning sponsoredy newshour productions, llc d >> woodruff: gening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, these u.s. hudiciary committee votes to hold attorney general william barr in contempt of congress, a move the democratic chairman says amconts to a titutional crisis, as president trump asserts executive privilege over tr muelport. then, escalating tensions withte iran-- a year the u.s. pulls out of the nuclear deal, tehran signals it too will stop complying with parts of the landmark agreement. us, inside a megafire.n miles o'brieon the race to protect california from devastating wildfires. >> you really almost need to know every tree, every bush,ec every of grass and what pps state is to really predict what's going to haen. >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> 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,'snd more. babb0-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or line. more information on babbel.com. >> supporting social solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s.

an on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant d.d peaceful wo more information at macfound.org >> 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:here is an ancalating showdown between the two ends of pennsy avenue, and both sides are digging in u.eir heels. the chairman of th house judiciary committee says it has today taken a "grave and momentous step." lisa desjardins begins our coverage of the mounting clash t over access entire

mueller report. >> desjardins: todayr moves in an escalating fight between branches, house democrats called a rare hearing, the first step toward holding g the attorneral in contempt of congress. judiciary chairman jerry nadler pointed to refusals to testify or hand over an unredacted mueller report. >> the trump administration has taken obstruction of congress to new heights. >> desjardins: simultaneously, the trump administration made its own statement. the department of justice sent nadler a letter saying the contempt vote was unnecessary t and th president is exerting protective executive privilege over the documents democrats want, meaning the agency will not turn them over. that raised already heated temperatur at the capitol. >> i can only conclude the president seeks to take a wrecking ball to the

constitution of the u.s. the first time in the-of the united sta exerting executive privilege over every aspect of life. >> unfortunately, we have an administration that is choosing have a temper tantrum that is designed to accomplish e thing-- and that one thing is to never let the real facts of thee muellert come to light. > >> desjardins: republicans charged democrats e playing politics. >> what a cynical, mean- spirited, counterproductive and irresponsible step it is. >> my democratic colleagues have weaponized our oversight abilities. >> desjardins: republican jim sensenbrenner said theney general cannot hand over all of the mueller report, becausery grand estimony in particular must stay secret. >> i think it is absolutely shocking that the majority of this committee is going to askla the chieenforcement officer of the united states to

commit a crime. shocking. >> desjardins: democrarg rejected theent as hyperbole. >> no one is asking the attorney general toisobey the law. we're asking the attorney general to obey the law andel produce the mur report and the supporting documentation. >> desjardins: at the white house, hard pushbacke t the commitd chairman nadler. >> the attorney general is protecting information, grand jury information, confidential information at he cannot release. the fact that the chairman knows that and continues to ignore it is absolutely absurd. >> desjardins: charging contempt of congress is a power lawmakers ve held since the 1700s, but it is rarely used against nch,ers of the executive b and even more rarely against the attorney general. there was a sense of the stakes on both sides. >> i think people should recognize this is a deadly serious moment our democracy is being tested.

the rule of law in our basic institutions that have made our democracy the envy of the wo td are beinted. >> our democr >> our democratic colleagues seem to be on a mission. they're determined to destroy attorney general barr, or at least discredit him in the eyes of the american people. >> desjardins: the vote reflected the sentiments-- a party line split with democrats voting to charge the attorney general with contempt. the resolution now moves to the full house.uf >> woo this evening it is being widely report that republican-led intelligence committee has subpoenaed donald trump jr. they intend to ask, reportedly bhis meeting with a russian lawyer at trump tower in newark in 2016 and efforts by the trump organization to build a trump high rise in moscow. and lisa joins me now, ang with our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. hello tooth of yo. so, from your perspective, yamiche, wh are these per moves about that the white house is making?

and what is their rationale for claiming executive privilege? >> well, this really comes down to historic power plays between the white house and congress, each using tioheir constitl powers to really go head to head. so on the white house's side, e president is saying the democrats are bitter about the 2016 election, and as a result, they're carrying out partisan attacks. democrats, of course, say they're just going and doing oversight over the president that he should be held accountable. when it comes to exerting executive privilege,white house has two rationales for this. the first they say is the material congress want wants are actually illegal to rele tase. they sre are issues with law enforcement sources, intelligence sources, and also grand jury material. the other thing that white house aides have been telling me today other than the white house wanted to exercut exeve privilege before the hearing because they wanted to protect attorney general bill barr. they say that it's going to be harder for him to be held in contempt if the president is exergt executive privilege. so this is reay about the white house trying to have bill barr's back.

>> woodruff: and, lisa,ou're talking to everybody on the hill. what are they saying? what are democrats asaying this ll about? and why do they reject the president's claim of executive priv sege? >> that interesting about protecting the attorney general because democrats believe that the pdent already waived executive privilege here by allowing this testimony in the first place to robert muelthr. they had's when he should have claimed executive privilege, not now. so they y that that's not an argument that they can put stock in. they also say that is is about more than what's happening. increasingly, judy, i feel, n t junsion, but a larger concern from democrats. ey see a tential erosion of checks and balances. i talked to representative powell, and she was thinking about south american dictators and how one small erosionn checks and balances can hurt a democracy. >> woodruff: and so back to you,amiche. where does this go from here? and what is the whisa house ng about, you know, some of the democrats calling this a

constitutional crisis? >> well, the battle between white house and congress is just getting started. on the issue of contempt, the d.o.j. put out a very strong statement today saying that attorney general bill barr should not be bullied into releasininformation that he thinks is illegal. then you're moving on to the idea of executive privilege.th there's idea that there might be push-back between robert mueller an don mcgahn, the former white house counsel, to testifying before congress. the white house is sayhaing t separate issues and they haven't made a determination on whether or not they would allow that to go forward. a white house source today. that person said the white house has already told don mcgahn not to turn ov any documents to congress because of issues of executive privilege. then, of course, this idea broadening it out, don jr. being subpoenaed by the republican-led senate intelligence commit really goes to the heart of thie idea that co might now start having fights between the president's own party and his son. and then lastly, this idea constitutional crisis. i put the question directly to

sarah sanders today and said,at do you make of the fact that there are people saying that the president's edging the country closer it closer to a constitutional crisis? she said democrats are the ones overstepping and that the sprt on firm legal grounds her s 's back up the president, as democrats are, of course, sounding the alarm. >> woodruff: two totally different-- completely opposite sets of arguments. so, lisa, we see the congress movi closer to a full house vote on this question of contempt. orically, does that mean the house is likely to get what it mnts? >> it's icated, judy. what ends up naepg these cases, as i reported, executive branch contempt of congress is very rare. we've seen a couple of cases in recent years. one, whiteouse counsel harriet myers before george w. bush, and eric holder under president obama inspect both of these those cases, judy, it went to court. the courts took a long time to decide and it went through appeal after appeal. in the end, while the court

upheld the idea, the concept of congress having this power, the court does dnot want to enforce it, and the presidents at the time were sically able to run out the clocks. those documents were obtained by congress in both cases, but generally, not until a new president as elected. so running out the clock is very possible here for president trump. however, there's something exceedingly rare that some democrats are talking about. ey have a different power of contempt that they're not invoking now. it's called an inherent contempt of congress, which means congress itself can wedge-- can assess fines, and long ago, used to actually imprison people itself. some democrats are saying perhaps it's time for them toy d use that power, which has not been used since 1935. >> woodruff: i was going to say that has not been used for a very long time. >> there used to be a house jail. of course, no lonr. >> woodruff: well, it's-- it seems to me it couldn't get much more serious than it is now, but we're watching. you icd yam, thank you, both. yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, we thank you

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, iran's president declared his country will step up enrichment ouranium, if the 2015 nuclear deal is not renegotiated. he warned of action in 60 days, unless european nations help mitigate u.s. sanctions. the u.s. answered with new sanctions on iran's metals industry. and, in london, secretary of state mike pompeo called forns unity agtehran. >> they've made a number of statements about actions they threaten to do in order to get the world to jump. we'll see what they actually do the united states will wait torv obthat. i am confident that as we watch iran's activity that the united kingdom and our european partners will move forward together to ensuth iran has no y to nuclear weapons system. >> wdruff: the u.s. withdrew

from the nuclear deal one year ago. today, russia blamed washington's actions for iran's decision. but israel warned again that it will not let iran obtain nuclear weapons. we will delve into all of this, after the news summary. this was election day in southru africa, and thng african national congress faced strong challenges, after 25 years in power. voters lined up with a chance to anice their frustration with corruption scandalsurging unemployment. there were signs that overall rnout was low. in this country, a colorado teenag appeared in court a day after a school shooting that left one stunt dead and eight wounded. 18-year-old devon erickson kept his head down during the hearing. alongs arrested tuesda with a girl who is a juvenile. there was no word on the motive for the shooting. the border patrol reported today that more than 100,000 migrants

were caught at the southern border in april, for the s aond month ow. meanwhile, a federal appeals court agreed tueay to making asylum seekers wait in mexico for immigration heargs. the 9th circuit court in san francisco let the policy stand, pending a legal challenge. driverfrom ride-share companies uber and lyft protested their pay in ten major u.s. cities today. r smartphoneoff th apps, cutting their connections to would-be customers. driverargued they are getting poverty wages, but the companies they work for are earning billions in profits. >> all drivers, you know, everywhere in the country deserve a fair pay and fair treatment. are hoping that this wil make a big impact and make app- usbased companies listen t >> woodruff: the strike comes two days before uber's initial public stock offering. the company says it expects to

be vued at $91 billion. in oregon,housands of teachers staged a walkout today, to lobby state lawmakers. they demanded more funding for schools, and protested large class sizes and low graduation rates. it's the latest in a wave of her strikes that began i west virginia last year. tv ads for prescription drugs will have to start showing list prices of dications. the u.s. department of health and human services announced the rule today. it affects drugs that cost more than $35 for a month's supply. wal-mart is raising itmum age to buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes to 21, from 18. the world's largest retailer says the policy takes effect in july, at all oits 5,300 u.s. stores. the u.s. food and drug administration had put wal-mart and others on notice for selling tobacco to m on wall street, a late sell-off

wiped out a rally as inveswars ed for trade talks with china to resume tomorrow. the dow jones industrial average gained just two points to close at 25,967.el the nasdaq20 points, and the s&p 500 slipped four. and, britain's new royal baby now has a name: archieson mountbatten-windsor. the parents, prince harry and arhis american wife meghane, announced it today, and showed off their newborn for the first time. the baby is 7th in line to the british throne. still to come on the newshour: the president of iran says his nation may soon restart banned nuclear activity. new tax information reveals the scope of president trump's business losses, and much more.

>> woodruff: today iran announced it plans to stop complying with portions of the nuclear deal it signed with western powers in 2015. iran stopped short of withdrawing from the deal altogether. but as nick schifrin reports, the announcement increases already escalating tensions with the united states. >> schifrin: judy, the iran dent made a funda trade: iran restricted its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions reef. one year ago today, the trump administration withdrew from the deal, and has since re-imposed sanction today, iran said it would not abide by all the deal's restrictions. number one, the deal limits iran's stockpiles of low- enriched uranium, wh nuclear fuel, and heavy water, which is used to operate a clear reactor. today iran said it would no longerdhere to those limits. and if iran does exceed the caps, it will no longer be in compliance. and then iran threatened even more dramatic actions: to

produce a bomb, u need to enrich uranium at 90%. before the deal, iran enched uranium at nearly 20%, which u.s. intelligence said meant iran could break out and creat a bomb within a few months. after the deal, iran enriched uranium at 3.67% and removed most of its centrifuges, moving breakout time to more than one year. today, iran said if it doesn't receive economic befits allowed by the deal in the next 60 days, it not would adhere to "any" limit on uranium enrichment levels. and it would also take a plan to convert the arak nuclear reactor so it doesn't produce large amounts of plutonium, anotherfo of nuclear fuel, and cancel it. despite those threats, iranian president hassan rouhani said today iran was still in the deal. >> ( translated ): our nation should know that we have not withdrawn from the nuclear deal. they should not think that the nuclear deal does not exist anymore. today we announced a reduction not withdrawal. >> for more onhis we turn to iran's ambassador to the united

nations, maj takht ravanchi. ambassador, thank you so much for joining the newshour today. you've gone a whole year nce the trump administration pulled out of the iran deal without sponding in a major way. why respond today? >> over the last year, we exercised extreme patience in ordeto show that iran is ready, iran ias redy to take extra mile in order to show that it is sinceren its implementation of the nuclear deal. but,or unfnately, the u.s., of even its closest allies, we have not received the economic nefit that we were promised to receive based on the nuclear deal. and then, we were left with no other option than to say that for 60 days, we are going to stop implementing, or to ceasef

performance me of our obligations, voluntary obligations, based on the nuclear deal. and we will se what will happen during the next 60 days. the windoomof diy is not closed. we believe that iran will speak, will negotiate with thert rs, the remaining j.c.p.o.a., of the and we will see what will be the outcome of the negotiations. >> schifrin: ambassador, you say that were ft with no other option. but why do you need to enrich uranium at a higher level than 3.67%?en what's your inons by doing, that or possibly doing that? >> well, for the time being, e are adhearing to the j.c.p.o.a. on the limit of the enrichment, the level of enrichment. at we have said is for the next 60 days, we are going just to be free for our-- we are not

talking about enriching more than 3.67% for the next 60 days. >> schifrin: but president rouhani did say today that yo would enrich higher than 3 opinion 67, if you didn't get the economic incentives, that have not come so far. >> of course, we will. of course, we will. the reason is our partners have had more than enough time flafort year and a half or so, for the last year or so-- i'm sorrpe- to comate what the americans have done to the j.c.p.o.a. so if they cannot do i in the next two months, that means that the political will is not thre. and then we will act in accordance with our national interests. >> schifrin: today, president trp said that he still hoped to meet with iran's leadership. does irve any interest in meeting with president trump? >> there is-- i mean, there isit no utin meeting somebody who carelessly tear apart, you

know, an international agreement. it was not an agreement between iran and thenited states. other countries-- the european unn-- were part oit. so all of a sudden, we see that the president mes and says, " don't like it because of so many reasons," because the former president took the initiative to sign such an agreementith iran. so how can we trust somebody who carelessly and recklessly do something like this? >> schifrin: ambassador, quickly, in the time we havear left, thersome people who i'm talking to here who are experts on iran fear that the speech by president rouhani nersy will allow hard-li here in the u.s., and perhaps israel, a stronger case to argue that iran is not trustworthy. what's your response to that? >> i think the hard-liners, asor our eign minister has coinedne

itanyahu, bolton, they are doing whatever they can, no matter what iran does. so it doesn't matter how we are dealing with j.c.p.o.a. their agenda is toprovoke, their agenda is to agitate the their agenda is to prepare a war against iran. we are not trying to wagwar against anybody, but definitely we will defend ourselves not. matter w >> schifrin: ambassador majid vanchi, thank you so mur your time now with me for the trump administration's view isho briak, the state department's representative for iran. brian hook, thank you for coming back to ther. newsh you just heard ambassador ravanchi accuse the u.s. saying your real intention is to provoke iran and "prepare for war." is te u.s. intention? ca i didn't really hear what he said. just say today what we saw with the iranian regime ise

another examf nuclear blackmail. this is a strategy that they've used very efftively for ny years. they do it to intimidate other nations so that they then give iran th economic benefits that it think-- that they think they deserve. and, in fact, iran s not need to be enriching any fissile material at a level that isat above is required for a peaceful nuclear program. so we're very happy tb outside of the iran nuclear deal. we have a lot more freedom to deter exprawn prevent it fromer acquiring a nuclear weapon. >> schifrin: you call it nuclearl backmail. president rouhani said iran would no longer abide by the caps on heavy water and low-enriched uranium. he threatened in 60 days to do more when it comes a to enrichment. but they are in the deal. and as you heard the ambassadoro say, dcy is still an option. so, in some ways, is their response restrained? >> you know, i think-- as i said

earlier, i think this is the iranian regime, the world's leading spons of terrorism, threatening to enrich levels of uranium beyond what is necessary for a peaceful nuclear program. they have also used the nuclear program to-- as cover expand their range of activities, to run an esiist revolutionary policy around middle east. and it runs all the way fro lebanon to the houthis in yemen. so what we've done outside of the deal is to drive the costs of iran's very expansionist foreign policy, and also being outside of the deal th the enormous economic pressure that we're able to put on this regime. we're in a much better position to achieve our national security goals outside of the deal. >> schifrin: i think your critics would point out that it would be easier to confront iranian-maligned behavior while restricting thr nuclear program. >> well, iran is still in the iran nuclear deal. we're outside of it.

and so we' not under any of those restriction any longer. when we were in theeal, we weren't able to use any of our oil andnking sanctions against iran to chae their malign behavior around the middle east. we've now sanctioned almost 1,000 iranian individuals and organizations for a range of activities around the nuclear program, the missile program, the regional aggression, and the arbitrary detention of american citizen. we are seeing a dif hrence. ir had to cut its defense budget for two successive years its biggest client in the middle east, hezbollah, has been making a publ appeal for dations because the money from iran is running out. so we're very happy with the positive impact that we're having just in the one year. and today is th o-year anniversary of us getting outs of the iran deal. >> schifrin: brian hook we have about a minuteft so i want to ask you about the maximum pressure came caem. you talked about aost 1,000 people or entities.

today you announced new sanctions on iran steel, copper and aluminum. getting iran back to the table to renegotiate what you caled a bigger nuclear deal. is there any evidence that your maximum-pressure came caem is convincing iran to come back to the table? ell, we have a goal of getting to a new and better deal to succeed the existing iran nuclear deal, which is only limited to the nuclear program. we are interested in an agreement that would address the agclear program, the missile program, regionaression, human rights abuse, and the like. yecretary pompeo made that ver clear about a year ago. the ciewnd of demands that we-- that we have placed on the islamic repehublic to bave more like a normal nation and less luke a revolutionary case. putting in place that sort ofi clarity, we , has been very helpful for the international community and it's highlighted iran's regional aggression. and we're having more countries come our way oer the last year because of our diplomacy.

>> schifrin: brian hook, special reesentative for iran at the u.s. state department. let's leave it there, thank you so much. >> thanks, nick. >> schifrin: we now turn to ambassador wendy sherman. she was the lead u.s. negotiator for the nuclear agreement with iran during the obama administration, and is a senior fellow at the bell ford center at harvard. you heard me ask brian hook where the u.s. intention is to provoke in, to wage war, which we heard from the iranian ambassador. >> i hope that the u.s. intention is t to provoke iran to leave the deal or to provoke iran into a regional conflict. indeed, i think that president rouhani very carefully threaded the needle today, not leavi the deal, but beginning to take steps to say, "please, let's not escalate the situation." i wish theadrumpministration were as measured in its approach. and i would say to bryan hook that-- and to the trump administration-- what have they

gotten as a result of withdrawing from this deal a year ago? there is more maligned behavior in the mide east, not les. americans are still in prison e d missing in iran. the iranian peop not have more freedom. and the admistration hasset iran back on a path to perhaps working to obain nuclear weapons, exactly what we stopped from happening. >> schifrin: so you just said the u.s. has led iran on to that path. but as i asked the ambassador, whyshuld iran enrich more than 3.67? what's wrong with wre they are right now? and why isn't that criticism-- >> iran is very happy to staat 3.67% in its enrichment ofif uraniu indeed, the joint comprehensive plan of action, the iran deal, stays in place. and those limitations are for quite some time, and it is al about-- >> schifrin: although, as you ngow, your critics say not lo enough. >> i know they say it's not forever. it's at least lid for 15 yrs

that you cannot go above a certain stockpiles limit. you can't go abe 3.67%. but even after that, there are limitations on wht iran ca do, and there is the most extensive monitoring and inspection of iran of any country in the sarld. >> schifrin: irad, as you heard the ambassador, that we'll enrich beyond 3.67 if we don't get the incentives that theo. j.c.that the iran deal intended for iran to get. the europeans would be the ones to help deliver that. caethey deliver th incentives economically to keep iranwit this deal? >> i think it's very tough because, as i think you knw right well, the u.s. secondary economic sanctions s if you deal with the central bank of iran you can't deal with an american bank arncredibly powerful because, quite frankly, virtually every company in thewo world choose an american bank over the central bank of iran. and when you marry that with the g l sanctions, with the administration try go to zero exports allowed around thet

worley're very powerful sanctions. the u.s. has to be careful in what it does, t if we use these sanctions too much, people will begin to sayou that we no longer have the dollar as the reserve curnssy for the world. the thing i point out, nick nmy view, there are tactics re but no strategy, and certainly no consistent strategy. if we take a look at northwe korea, if ake a look at venezuela, if we take a look at how we're dealing with the chinese, we see a very different set of standards. >> schifrin: the u.s. deployed a carrier group to the middle east, as well as a bomrbe squadron, in response to intelligence, according to the officials i spoke to, in which an was planning to target u.s. troops and u.s. allies-- saudi arabia, the united arab emirates. doesn't that show the iran deal didn't improve iranian behavior? >> we never said it would improve iranian behavior in e region. what we did say it we needed to get the nuclear weapon off the table so it would not deter our

actions and our partners' an allies' actions in the region. and we could then use all of the on irans we still h to press them to the table to deal with their malign behavior, the state sponsorship of terrorism, their human rigs abuses, and their keeping americans in prison, and not bringing back missing americans to our home. >> schifrin: very quickly, i only have a few seconds left. iran's strategy seems to be wait owg the trump administration. if a democrat is elected in 2020, should he or she rejoin the deal and e/or try anxpand it? >> i think every democratic candidate that i've heard have ldid they woummediately rejoin the deal. but like in any arms control negotiation, you usually have a follow-on agreement. >> schifrin: wendy sherman, leadra.s. negotiator on the n deal, thank you very much. in >> schifrin: for a view from the streets of iran, we have more online where i talk po special corrent reza sayah in tehran.

that's at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: congression democrats are expected to decide tomorrow whether they will go to t to obtain president trump's recent tax returns. the president broke with modern tradition by refusing to release his returns. democrats and other experts have questioned whether there could be information about foreign investors, debts or other business arrangements in those returns. today, the new york state senate approved a bill that would allow the prident's state tax records to be turned over to congress. as william brangham tells us, this line of inquiry picked up new fuel overnht after a new york times investigation shed light on the president's past tax records and his large business losses. >> brangham: judy, the tes' investigation found that at the very moment donald trump waspo raying himself as the most successful dealmaker of the nineteen eighties and acneties, his al balance sheet told afe very dnt story. the times' analysis found mr.

trump lost more than one billio dollars betw85 and 1994. the report says, "year after year, mr. trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual american taxpayer." those combined losses, the article contends, enabled him to avoid payingncome taxes for eight years. the president and his legal team havealled the times' report inaccurate. i'm joined now by one of the reporters who broke this story: russ buettner of the times. russ, thank you very much for you have painted this really remarkable portrait of thides den donald trump's financial life. help us understand why w he losing so much money during this time? >> well, if you look back the records from that era, he was being things at extraordinarily high prices, and then taking on even more debt to build them out to his design. and the n thevenues that he brought in never supported that debt load. so with ch acquisition, he

would go further into the red ink, andhe losses just moued as the years progressed. >> brangham: and what were these ventures for people not that familiar with his history? >> hearriginally ted building apartment buildings. he would make a condominium building that would sell through and keep the ta space. then he branched out into a variety, eclectic collection of things. b bought an offshoot of the n.f.l. ght a football team. he bought an airline. he started openingasinos that were extraordinarily expensive. he bought landmark new york city hotel, and all of that just mounted up too abut $3 billion in debt he took on over just about a five-year period. >> brangham: and as your p reponts out hereby did have some successful ventures, but in any given year, seems, the losses from other ven swamped those returns. >> that's exactly right. he wou cld-- he'onstantly sort of changing focuses. there was a period of time that lasted about two yars where he

would by buywith borrowemoney large holdings in a public corporation, leak a news that he had boughathat, and t he might take the company over. and as soon as the stock went up, he woul. sel he made about $60 million over a couple of years doing that. and then the market figured out he was not going to take overan the companiethe stock reacting. that sort of ended. but like that, there were the ventures that he did make money on. but the losses from his company, his companies, hs other enterprises, would wash away all his tax liability for eve those extraordinary gains. >> brangham: the president, as you know, has said fit off, that everybody was doing this back in the 80s and 90s. and he also said your reporting was inaccurate. given that you don't actually have a signed copy of president trump's tax returns, how did you compile this data?an how do you know it is actually accurate? >> what we have is a printout t from presidemp's tax

transcript, which is a printout from an official dati.abase that th.s. has kept since the 1960s of every tax return that's filed by every individual every year. there are internaality controls on that data. it's used for a variety ofli setting reasons. they use it to target audits.e and bring printouts of it to audits. if you wanted to request yourself, you could file that request with the i.r.s. and they would give it to you as an official record the return you filed. nt's a very reliable record used for very imporhings for a long time. >> brangham: lastly, this is, comi course, amidst the fight of congressional democrats trying to get more recent tax returns from president. what might those returns tell us that we don't now know? >> we're guessing into a vacuum a little bit because we just really don't know. but we could certainly tell for the first time, maybe, if his claims of wealth are rea accurate. we would be able to see how profitable his businesses are. he's reported n hi disclosure

forms revenue figures, not profitability. and profitability has been a problem for dona trump throughout his career. we could tell what the sources of those incomes are. we could tell whether he has any properties that are in jeopardy. we could tell if he's got partners that he hasn't disclosed. we cld tell if he's got more debt than what he's allowed and who he's borrowed money from. c and ld look for conflicts of interest that might not be apparent now between his public policy and all the countries around the world where he has investments in money-earning properties. >> brangm: all right, russ buettner of "the new york times," thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: as the first person to declare his candidacy for the democratic party's 2020 presidential nomination, john deney has been running for president for almost two years. the businessman and former maryland congressman now faces a

crowded field and the challenge of taking on some well known nsmes. and john delaney je now. welcome again to the newshour. >> thank you for having me, judy. >> woodruff: so, decialg quickly on our ad story tonight. we're reporting on president trump exergt executive he will not turn over to congress the full mueller report. do you think, again, jus quickly, this moves the congress lny closer to impeachment proceed jootion i think it moveslemoves the congress closev having more tigations into trying to subpoena the reports and those things, as i think they should, as part of thir oversight responsibility. i wouldn't say it initially moves them closer or not to impeachment. i think what the congress and what speaker pelosi are going to focus on s makire the congress full fills its investigative and oversight responsibilities. and i think they're going to fowive get that report, as they should. >> woodruff: let's talk about you and your campaign. as we said, it's a crowded field, more than 20 peopleor running president, serious

candidates. ow does john delaney sta from all the others? >> well, i'm a problem solver by nature. and i think that's when we really need. our next predent needs to be a responsible president. expainl president would bring this country together, remind us that this notion of common purpose is central to who we ard actually start find something comoon ground and solving problems and bring some new big ideas. and that, in many ways, makes me a more centrid an moderate candidate. i'm probably the most moderate candidate in this fi>>eld. oodruff: really? >> yeah, i think so, because i'm very focused on problem solving. right, i really want to get things done. because that's what i think this country nes. think congress and the legislative process and the president have largely been absent in getting things done that matter to the american people. and i want to bring back this notion that we can actually tackle these pblems, and we can kind of achieve the potential that we have as a people, but we have to work together to do it. >> woodruff: well, speak of moderation, you have saiabt

some of your more liberal opponents-- or i should say competitors-- you've talked about medicare for all, which some of them advate, as a "half-baked socialist policy." you would support instead a publicption. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: medicare-like option for people under the age of 65. that wouldn't cover every american, though, would it? a weltually, i do have a universal health care plan that actually does cover every american. public option is something i would do right away. that's kind of first-100-day agenda that i think i can get done to improve health care for the american people right away. but then i would push for my an to create universal health care, where every american has health ce as a right. i just don't believe the way to universal health care is with a government-only program. that's why i think the mdicare for all proposal is in fact bad polie because it makes th government the only provider of health care. and we have ample evidence to suggest that if the government is the only payer in health

care, it will never pay enough. right now medicaid and medicare don't cover costs. if you take private insurance out of the equation, i think the >>wflt health care would go down. oodruff: so you would keep private insurance. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: but find a way to cover everybody. >> you can do tt. my proposal leaves medicare alone. it creates a new government plae that everyons from when they are born to when they're 65. we roll medicaid into that. that means everyone has health care from when they're born to the end of their life. but i also allow thetm to out, get a small tax credit, buy their own pln or do what medicare beneficiaries do, which is touy b supplemental plans. that creates a mixed model of government plans plus private health insurance. itives the american people what they fundamentally want, which is choices and options. >> woodruff: all right, let's talk very quickly. you spent a lot of time campaigning all over the country, early pritery sta your home state of maryland, big-city balt, has a lot

problems, city problems-- violence, tensions between the races, poverty. what would you do in the short run to help cities like baltimore? >> i think we have to invest inf them at the enhe day. i think nothing happens unless someone invests. and i think for many of these communities the's been chronic underinvestment in public education, in job creation,n transportation. >> woodruff: and where would the money come from? >> well, you've got to make it a priority. because i think if you don't make it a priority youll act spend more money. i think the cost of doing nothing is not nothing. ed we ar seeing firsthand with the state of maryland's failure to really invest in baltimore, the way they should have, that all citizens of maryland are actually now paying a much higher price. >> woodruff: there are so many things i want to ask you.ur campaign, you resorted to some pretty unconventional means to try to spread outnuheber of people donating to your campaign. you at one point i think 22 months ago, you would put in $2

of your own money for every charitable contribution to charity for anyone who contributed to your campaign. so how many more people did you pick up? >> we got quite a bit. you know, we got thousands and thousands of additional donors for it. it was smple, judy. we have to get 65,000 deernz. >> in order to participate. >> you don't have to. i have qualified for the debates because of my performance in the polls but this is anther way-- >> woodruff: but you still need to raise money from 65,000? >> it's an either/or. you either qualify through the polls or qualify with 65,000. but we want to get both. and i would ratheactually give money to charity than to give s ney to digital marketing firms, because thaind of what you have to do to get that many donors. >> woodruff: are you at? 65,0 >> we're not there janet yt, but we're making good progress. >> woodruff: we said you arers tht democratic candidate to announce. you announced back in july 2017. i think nobody has bee campaigning more than you have in the state of iowa. there have been hundreds of campaign events -- iowa, new hampshire, and other states. but are you still at 1% in the

polls. let me just say. the others who have gotten in the race, they're ahead of you y do you think you've struggled to get your identity out there? >> we're doing better in other polls. we just had a poll in new hampshire that had us doi better. we had a poll in iowa that had us at a higher rate. i thk we're doing great on the ground. thing race is wide open. we haveight offices open in iowa, as big of a campaign team as anyone ee. four county chairs of the 99 in iowa have already endorsed me. none of the othaerndidates combined have any endorsements from any county chairs, right. i've b n to all99 counties in iowa. i've campaigneverywhere. i thinthis race is wide open. they're not going to caucus in iowa for 10 months. and i just think we're in really good position on the ground there. and i think at the tend of the day, my ideas are better. the debates will, i think, start making that point grg on may 8, 2019, john delaney. >> it's so nice to be hee.

thank you. >> woodruff: it's been sixmo hs since the most deadly and destructive fire in california history-- the camp fire. night's edition of pbs's "nova" is a harrowing first person account of that disaster and whe it fits into a global trend toward more frequent massive fis. the documentary, "inside the megafire," comes from les o'brien. and he has a story for us tit to it abw researchers are breaking new ground in understanding the dangeroussp ad and intensity of wildfire it's part of our regular series on "the leading edge" ofe. scienc >> this has got the potential for a major incident. >> reporter: when firstiv responders a at the camp fire, the flames were already so fierce and the winds so strong they had trouble getting close to the fire. >> eyes on the vegetation fire.l got about a 35per hour

sustained wind on it. >> reporter: fanned by high winds, fed by drought stressed trees, the fire moved incrediblm fast, cog an acre of forest every second. a horrific scenario wa unfolding, that also presented an opportunity for scientists to better understand how wildfires spread. we're not going to get through, they are doing active suppression right there. lets go up and see what we can find. >> reporter: so meteorologist craig clements andis team from san jose state university sped .right toward the inferno in the crosshairs: paradise, lifornia. a town of 26,000 nestled in the sierraountains. it was the morning of no amber 8, 2018, everyone who lived there had to leaven a hurry. >> time to get the ( bleep ) out of dodge. this is tting heavy.

>> reporter: they were forced to run a gauntlet through flames. there are only four roads that lead off the mountain.al anof them were perilous. >> oh my god, there's fires everywhere. i don't want to die here.o i don't want te. >> reporter: with the frantic exodus still underway, we drove in the opposite direction, eventually meeting up with clements and his team close to the fire line.ad theyound a relatively safe vantage point to gather some unprecedented data. we are driving in a one of a kind custom rig. the scientists hope to use it to peer into the fire in a way thao else has before. >> we need to better understandn fire spreathe meteorological data is one of the key components.er and yet we neasure things el an active wildfire.

we usually use a ste. we see plumes in the radar, which is great. but we're not really seeing what's going on right here. >> reporter: plumes-- the columns of smoke and gas that rise from the flames-- are more than a sign of fire. they also create their own weather. and craig suspects that they actively spread the fire. but how? to understand, he aims aca sophisd lidar right at the plume.r li like radar that uses a laser beam instead of radio waves. it bounces off the smokeat partic as they are propelled by the wind and returns information about speed and direction. >> we've been able to slice through a plume with our lidar. and we've been able to measure ele rotation and the wind associated with the rotating column and so that's pretty exciting. >> reporter: the plumes at fires like these are complicated systems.

as hot air rises, cooler air rushes in. it's called fire-induced wind. >> we don't know how that fire- induced wind from the plume interacts with pushing the firefront. if the plume goes up, does any air or smoke come back down and if it does come back down, can that spread the fire in different directions? it's these interactions that we call fire atmosphere interactions and we dohat have a greale on how they propagate fire spread. >> reporter: a big fac the exponential spread of the camp mefire: spotting. hot embers, also called arrebrands, launched and cried by 50 mile an ho winds landed as much as a mile ahead of the fire front. new spot fires started again and again. rapidly, randomly. but exactly how spotting fuels the growth of megafires is one of the big unknowns in wildfire science.

craig clements hopes his workad might o some answers. >> this is a real strong low level jet coming down off the mountains. >> reporter: right now, wildfire prediction models are not sophisticated enough to factor f all of the complexities the atmosphere and terrain. and they don't account for spotti at all. e we are trying to forecast how many spot fires thll be and that's something no model right now can handle. >> reporter: at the national center for atmospheric research in boulder colorad they're leveraging their expertiseer modeling weand climate to give teams on the ground battling a wildfire a beofer senshat the future holds. >> fire is very challenging to predict because there are a lot of factors that are involved that are or traditionally atmospheric. >> reporter: atmospheric scientist william mashowed how the latest models can see trouble as it brews.

in this case, close to home. the cold springs fire happened 16 miles west boulder, in the little town of nederland in july of 2016. >> there was good data from this particular event in terms of hes the fire prod. the burned area boundary and that made for really good verification data for our model so we can then use that to fine tune the rate of spread and heat content and flame length information. >> reporter: the model is t designallow them to predict the rate of spread of the fire 18 hos in advance, and run "what if" scenarios for different moisture levels in the fost. >> we're trying to simulate the general characteristics of a fire but we will definitely not be able to say at this second and then in this location a tree is going to burn or a building is going to burn. you really almost need to know every tree, every bush, every piece of grassnd what its state is to really predict, what's going to happen. >> reporter: fire ecologis jennifer balch and her team from the university of colorado are

ying to find more precise, more efficient ways to assessst foealth so that the models can be more accurate.us she is f on eight 30 by 30 meter plots, my of which were avily damaged by the cold springs fire. their work begins on the ground, in the traditional way. >> all right, it looks like 3.8. >> reporter: oncecthe trees are isely measured and characterized on terra firma, balch and her team fly a drone 100 feet above each plot. the drone carries sensors that capture the same parts of the spectrum as those on board nasa satellites. by comparing these higher resolution drone scans with images from space she hopes find the dots and connect them. the holy grail: understanding how a forest is doing from space. >> my hope is that we can actually get away from the

intensive fieldwork and use drone-based observatio airborne, and satellite-based observations to understand what's going on across thousands of tes. >> reporter: to betternd understa the big picture, scientists who study wildfires need to explore them up close. ous. good day, it's labo pe a bad day, perilous. >> if anything h, we got to go and our escape route is this way. r orter: by the time it was over, the camp fire was the deadliest and most destructive in california history. de people died, nearly 19,000 structures were royed. for scientists, the stakes justify the risk. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'a.ien in paradise, califor >> woodruff: nova's "inside the megafire" airs on most pbs stations and streams online

tonight at pbs.orgova.an that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again hereni tomorrow e. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> ordering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for showo s. >> you cane things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life convsations in a new nguage, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> a with the ongoing suppor of these institutions

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