captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. wsm judyoodruff. for the ur tonight: after three years of trying, and failing, to lead the united kingdom to quit the european union, british prime minister theresa may steps down. plus, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to discuss the war of words between president trump and house speaker nancy pelosi, and the latest on the 2020 presential candidates. and, an unlikely part of hip hop history. members of the 1980s group the beastie boys talk about changes in music, and perspective. >> we all hope that, as we get older, we grow a little and we learn. right? learning from mistakes, learning

from friends, all we want to do is learn and grow as people. right? isn't that what we're supposed to do? >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsfthe engine that connects us. >> text night and day.

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public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: today, the trump administration took two significant steps to counter what it says is an escalated threat from iran. the s. will deploy additiona troops and military equipment to and, the administration went around congress to sell additional arms to saudi arabia. to put these moves into context, i'm joined by our nick schifrin. so hello, nick. first of all, what areabhey talking out deploying? >> they're talking about 1,500 addional troops in four categories, an additional fighter sqdldron to the me east, e tending the deployment of a patriot missienle, intell and reconnaissance -- drones to monitor iran and proxies -- and engineers o strengthen.

they looked around the region and they say they're actually at a lower posture than a few years ago and s iran vantages in the region, so they felt they had to rei anfor insist that this is defensive, that they are responding to iranian actions and that their goal is not to fight iran but, instead, to get iran back to the negotiating table. and you talked with senator tim cotton of arkansas -- tom cotton, sorry, of arkansas a few minutes ago and he echoed that statement. >> i believe it's the right steps to increase the force posture in the middle east. the intelligence coming from the middle east an threat iran might take imminent action against u.s. personnel or facilities has been compelling. >> so that's the argument by m cotton and the pentagon. iran says this is not defensive. a fighter squadron they say is not defanensive, and and congressional democrats are saying this is unnecessary and increases the chanc of some kind of conflict. >> woodruff: so, clearly, nick, there have been questions

out what's the intelligence, what's the provocation here. what did they administration sa today about what actions iran has taken that they're responding to? >> right. they went further today than they have and they said recent tacks by iran in the middle east "stems back to the leadership of iran at the highest lev" so they are accusing iran's leaders of attacking u.s. allies in the region over the last two weeks. democrats have said, well, w, t a minu actually have seen some of that intelligence. we're not sure it says exactlyt what you thinkoes, and some democrats are even saying, hey, this sounds like 2003, thi sounds like the runup of the war to iraq when, of course, the intelligence turned out b bogus. and we challenged the pentagon, that reporters from the roomve said pall this intelligence is the case and listen to what the director of the joint staff, vice admiral michael guild had say. >> what do you have to back up your case? th i'm not reverse engineering this. iranians have said publicly,

you know, we're going to do things. we learned more through intelligence reporting. they have acted upon those threats. >> that's what they said when we asked them, can we have more intelligence? they said, no, that uld imperil their sources. >> woodruff: very interesting. all this on the sameicay, as the administration announces it's selling more arms to saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and jordan. >> rig, so these are arms sales that have been blocked for months. what bob menendez said was he was worried saudi arabia would use these weapons in yemen in. yemen there are houthi rebels fight saudi arabia and backed by iran, but there are also tens of thousands of civilians who have been caught up i that war and there have been casualties in that war mostly because of these bombs dropped by the sdi-led coalition. what secretary of state mike pompeo saay todhe said, no, there's an emergency and we had to "deter thmalign influence

of iran, go around the block and sell these ms to congress. those who support these sales say, look, if we sell t weapons to saudi arabia, they will get better at targeting their targets in yemen and, therefore, will avoid civilian casualties. ait the critics say, w minute, saudi arabia has these weapons, we're replenishing more of them and more civilians whether die. that'shat weaw from senator chris murphy from connectic in a statement, he said president trump some using thse loophole beche knows congress would disapprove of the sale. there's no emergen reason to sell the bombs to the saudis to drop in yemen and doing so will only perpetuate the humanitarian cries there anddds this sets a dangerous precedent that future presidents can sell weapons without a check from congomress. boine, two decisions, deployment to the middle east and also arm sales from officers, by the way, that are ct usually coordinated and that irnected but the administration made these two

announcements almost simultaneously to ke a point we are going to continue to confront iran. they say it's affected the term >> woodruff: going around normal congressional prerogative in order to do this. >>oobsolutely. >>uff: nick schifrin, thank you. >> thank >> woodruff: in the day's other news, british prime minister theresa may has finallbowed to pressure, and announced her resignation. she had been besieged on all sides, after failing to push a brexit deal through parliament. her announcement today triggers a battle in the conservative party to become the next prime minist we will get the details, after the news summary. esident today defended a endecision to let attorneyal william barr release classified information on how the russia investigation began. lljust what gets released e up to barr, but mr. trump ordered intelligence agencies to cooperate with his investigators.

he discussed it before leaving the white house for a state visit to japan. >> erything that they need i declassified, and they'll be able to see how this hoax or witch hunt started, and why it started. itas an attempted coup or attempted takedown of the president of the united st it should never ever happen to anybody else. >> woodruff: the chair of the house intelligence committee, democrat adam schiff, called the president's decision "un-american." fellow democrat mark warner, chairing the senate intelligence committee, tweeted that barr "has no problem selectively releasing information in order to mislead the american people." in russia, a court in moscow today ordered former u.s. marine paul whelan toe held for another three months. he was arrested last december on suspicion of spying. he has denied the charges. today in court, whelan claimed that he has been mistreated, and

that he is being held as retaliation for u.s. sanctions. >> i have been threatened. my personal safety has been threatened. there are abuses and harassment that i am constantly subjected to. there's a case for isolation. i have n weeks. shower in two this is typical prisoner of war, chapter one isolation technique. >> woodruff: whelan could face up to 20 years in a russian prison, if he is convicted. to u.s. embassy inn oscow said agday that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by whelan. north korea is warning that nuclear talks with the u.s. will never resume unless washington backs off its demands. pyongyancharged today that u.s. is essentially asking the north to disarm. to trump administration says north korea is making excessive demands for sanctions lief in exchange for only partial de-nuclearization. back in this country, floodwaters kept ris tg in parts midwest and south, following days of severe storms.

in jefferson city, missouri, crews worked to restore power after a tornado carved a three-mile path through the city late wednesday. at the same time, the missouri river flooded reets in jefferson city. parts of kansas and western arkansas also braced for new flooding. a long-awaited disaster aidd package stalain today in congress. it includes $19 billion fo states hit by wildfires, hurricanes and floods. the senate passed it yesterday, after stripping out bo security money, but president trump said he would sign it anyway. earlier, though, texas republican chip roy blocked a final vote in the house, withlr most lawmakersdy gone for memorial day. >> if i do not object, congress will have passed into law a bill that spends $19 billion of taxpayer money, without members of congress being present here in our nation's capital to vote on it. secondly, it's a bill that includes nothing to address the clear national emergency andhu

nitarian crisis we face at our southern border. >> woodruff: house speaker nancy pelosi and other democrats blasted the move, calling it "sabotage." e house could try again next week. otherwise, it will have to wait untiit returns to work on june 4. there has been new action in the fight over a raft of tough new abortion measures. in mississippi, a fejudge today blocked a state law that bans most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. in alabama, opponents of a law banning nearly all abortions asked another federal court to strike it down. plus, the governor of missouriil signed ato ban abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. hollywood producer harvey weinstein has reportedly reached an agreement to reonlve sexual mict lawsuits against him. to "wall street journal" reports a $44 million civil settlement

lawyers for at least one of the plaintiffs disputed the rort. celebrity chef mario batali pleaded not guilty today celebrity chef mario batali pleaded not guilty today to indecent assault and battery. o she is accusforcibly kissing and groping a woman at a boston restaurant in 2017. it is the rst criminal charge against him after a series of sexual misconduct allegations. and, on wall street today, gains by financial companies helped the broader market.ow toones industrial average gained 95 points to close at 25,585. the nasdaq rose eight points, and the s&p 500 added three. still to come on the newshour: after three years without a brexit deal, prime minister theresa may steps down. protests and concern as some transgender americans a targeted in a series of ntllings. democratic presial candidate eric swalwell gives his pitch on why he wants to be president. and, much more.

>> woodruff: with prme minister theresa may's fall from power, britain now faces a central question: who, if anyone, can lead the country out of its morassver quitting the european union? to search for an answer began this morning in london. the prime minister emerged from 10 downing street, acknowledging that her time trying to deliver doexit is over: >> i hav everything i can to convince m.p.s to back that deal. i sadly, have not been able to do so. but it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort. >> woodruff: it was an emotional moment for the conservative party ader, stepping aside after less than three years as prime minister. >> i do so with no ill-will,

but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country i love. >> woodruff: may's turbulent term was defined by brexit, the deal she negotiated with the european union, and her ultimate failure in parliament. took over in july of 201 having opposed brexit, after her predecessor, david cameron, resigned. he had campaigned against leaving the e.u., but it won 52% of the vote in a referendum. >> the british people have made a very clear decision to take a different path. and as such, i think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction. >> woodruff: and when may began her brexit negotiations, manyer cotives had high hopes. >> there is no one who is going to be able to negotiate the right deal for britain better than theresa may. she is battling for britain. >> woodruff: last july, may and her cabinet finally reached a

deal with the spelling out the terms of brexit. >> mr. speaker, this i right brexit, leaving the european union on the 29th of march, 2019. >> woodruff: but leading brexit advocates, like secretary david davis and foreign secretary boris johnson, resigned over that deal almost immediately. they charged it could keep britain tied to the e.u. for years to come. despite may's pleas, parliament rejected the deal three times-- finally pushing back the bxit date to october 31 of this year. this delay is a matter of great personal regret for me, and of this, i am absolutely sure: you, the public, have had enough. >> woodruff: today, the opposition labour leader jeremy corbyn said, the truth is, supporters and opponents alike have had enough of theresa may. >> she clearly cannot command a majority in parliament.

she clearly has lost the confidence of her own m.p.s, and in all the discussionshe's been having with her m.p.s,id they've all one thing to her, that they don't support her strategy. >> woodruff: now, leading brexiteers in conservative party ranks are vying to replace may. former foreign secretary boris johnson is the early favorite. former brexit secretary dominic raab and former leader of the house of commons andrea leadsom are seen as likely contenders. >> woodruff: leadsom quit just this week, finally tippi the balance against may. moderate conservatives, like foreign secretary jery hunt, may step forward, too. but, aftel recent local tions saw heavy losses by the conservatives, the opposition is lling for a new, general election. >> there has to be anotherop rtunity for the people of this country to decide who they want to be in their thvernment, ho want the government to be run, what the long-term

strategy is of that government. i think we need a general election. we don't need another tory leader installed by tory m.p.s. woodruff: theresaay formally steps down as conservative party leader on june 7. but, she will remain as a caretaker prime minister, until the party chooses its new leader. >> woodruff: there is growing concern and fear about deadly attacks against transgender americans-- particularly trans women of colz . as amna nalls us, a seriesff of murders in ent cities in just one week has underscored a larger pattern of violence over several years. and yet it comes at a time wn trans celebrities are more accepted and more prominent in pop culture. >> nawaz: judy, the most recent killing took place last sunday

in north philadelphia. michelle "tamika" washington, 40 years old and a longtime advocate for the l.g.b.t.q. community, was shot several times. her death came one day after muhlaysia booker was found dead in dallas. booker was 23, and just weeks before her death, was attacked in a mob-like beating after a minor traffic accident. one week before those murders, 21-year-old claire legato wase shot in thhead in cleveland. she was killed after an argument between her mother and the suspected shooter. earlier this year, two more black transgender women, ashanti carmon and dana martin, were also killed. last year, more than two dozen transgender people were killed. and according to a 2018 human rights campaign report, there were at least 128 trans people killed in 32 states since 2013. 80% of them were people of color. let's take a closer look at this

now with beverly tillery, executive director of the anti-violence project, an anti-violence organization. beverly, welcome to the ewshour". thank you for being with us. i want to start by asking you about the recent state of killings. appened across the country, the circumstances are all very different in each case. do you know or believe they were targeted because they werane ender? >> you know, i don't know all of the specifics of each of theset murders, but w we know is, as you really just showed already, that we are seeing a tremendous number of homicides of trans women of color. over and over for the past several years this has bee consistent, and we need to pay attention as a society. this is something that's happening to our community ermbers who are constantly und threat, experiencing other kinds

of hate violence in our society, and we need to step up and come togeer and really do something to stop it. >> beverly, your organization tracks the numbers. you have been tracking them for 20 years. when you look at the numbers as we know them this year ased comparo last, there appears to be a reduction in the e olence. do you trust thmbers? >> well, what we always say is that, even whatwe report, we know is an underreporting of the viol tt's happening and the homicides that's happening. a number ofo hmicides, and, of course, we can't tell you how many, don't ever get reported for a number of reasons. in some cases, we know that transgender non-conforming folks are misged by the police. they may not have commmeunity ers who -- and friends and family members who will step up and say this is who thi person really was, and we just know that a lot of this goes under

the radar, unfortunately. really, we shouldn't get into a cgame of trying toompare this year to last year, when did the homicides happen. you know, it really doesn't matter. this is a huge crisis, and we have to take action now. we've known about this for years now, and we should have taken action last year and the year before, but it's not too late now. >> let's talk about the action we have seen. in dallas alone, right, there re three brutal attacks in the last several months, two fatal. >> yes. the mayor came out and said this is unacceptable. he calleit mob violence, the attack against muhlaysia booker. what you have seen in law enforcement in the response and are you satisfied with what you're seeing? >> well, we're not satisfied. we don't necessarily see a response this is saying this is -- this is more than just a

trend, this is an epidemic in our society that needs to bees add and taken seriously. frankly, yonou, more and more community members are relu tant n to law enforcement because members of the transgender non-cong community and members of the lgbtq community have experienced violence from the police. they don't trust the police. >> beverly, it's worth noting we are speaking on the same day the trump administration has rolled back some healtare protections for trans people earlier this week. another rule they put inlace allowing federal shelters receiving funds to turn away trans people seeking services there. there's also the efforts to push a transgmilitary ban here. what effect have all of these, even just proposa, had on the trans community? >> yeah. i mean, talk about a complete ap in the face. you know, the timing is rlly important to note here because, on the heels of these homicides

where the community is already reeling, for the administration to, one after the other, release these proposed guidelines and rules this week, it's clear that they do not care about the transgender nounconforming coy and, in fact, in the work that we have been doing in the city of new york and across the country, when we've brought together transgender non-conforming folks to talk about what are the ways we need our cities and our states and the nation to respond to this violence and to help prevent violence, people over and over again have told us we need housing, we need access to employment, we need better vealthcare so that we can put ourselin safer circumstances and so we're not as vulnerable to violence that's happening in anr community. what does the administration

do? seek to stripaway access to healthcare, to housing, to employment. you know, all of the things that people have actually articulated stat they need to address the violence, the admition is trying to take away. >> beverly tillery, executive director of the anti-violence project, thank you so much for being with us today. >> thank you smuch for having me. >> woodruff: there are now 23 candidates in the 2020 presidential race, and among them is california congressman eric swalwell.e at 38, one of the youngest candidates running in the democratic primary, and has made gun control the key issue his campaign. i spoke to congressman swalwell yesterday about his run for the presidency. so why should voters support a four-term congressman from the

state of california for president >> well, first, i know how hard people work and what they expect. i was the first of my family to go toav college, itwo kids under two i'm paying off studt loans, so i see the promise for many americans broken, you work harder, dream bigger and do better. i've stood firmly for the rule of law. veve gone to the war zones, met with foreign leaders and taken the classified briefing, so on day one, i'll be ready to ow who we need as friends in this world and who the threats are. but alo to bring generational optimism that's needed, fresh ideas on the issues oe,f healthcducation access and, of course, the centerpiece of our platform being se your schools and reducing gun violence. >>oodruff: you've emphasized youtand you are 38 years old. one candidate is younger, pete ttigieg, he's 37. he has executive experience,

mayor of a small city iindiana why. are you more qualified? >> i like mayor pete, tulsi, others in this millennial generation. it's being connected to folks, knowing why they work hard in mo gras. knowing healthcare is not just coverage but seeking cures to bring don cost. having college bargains. if you go to college, do work study, serve a community and adds up to a dt-free education. finally, the experience of being day-one ready while our deecracy has gone into a dark hole. i'm on the judiciary and intelligence committee we're not rolling the dice with someone who doesn't know how the kederal government works the last one. >> woodruff: gun control, you are making it the centerpiece of your campaign, but other candidates in the race have been on this issue for years. joe biden worked for years n a anti-crime bill, kamala harris, he'swork in california,

talking about using executive authority. how are your views in a nutell different from all the others? >> i was a prosecutor, worked in oakland as a prosecutor, so i saw what gun violence does to our cities. went to chicago yesisrday, similaues there. so from the cities, to suburbs to rule areas, it's access to firearms, investing in mental health services in our schools, ad i'm the only candidate calling for a bad buy-back of the 15 million assault rifles on our streets today. i came to congress when sandy hook happened and demoralized as we went from mass shooting to i sat for 26 hours on the floor after orlando in protest. i want t see the momentum that the moms and students and community activist haves done to take out 17n.r.a. endorsed members of congress. i want to see them negotiate up not down on the problem of gun violence. >> woodruff: and this is an issue you see to galvanize voters. in the past, it hasn't gotten

voters to energizenough to vote one way or the other. >> in fairfold, iowa,his week, i did a gun violence town hall, over 125 people showed up. i asked one woman, i said i kno m here, this issue i care about a lot. i said, in this safe community, why are you here? she said, i don't want ati sh to happen at our church. it's also about our kids. i took my son to his pre-school orientation last week and i thought abousomething i didn't have to think about when i was going school, is he safe in thig buil the issue of safety in our schools and churches and the places we gather it's top ofor mind voters. >> woodruff: turning a corner for something on people's minds, the trade war with china. you've said you don't thi the trade war is ben efficient. again, what would you do fferently from what president trump is doing specifically? would you go back to theob a-biden trade policy? >> i'd form a class action.

we're in a significant trade deficit with china. sithe way the prent is prosecuting it is incompetent. they're a bad actor on intellectual property, dumping steel and manipulating currbuen. the issue is can you ban together with australia, japsoa, h korea, other victims of what china is doing to prosecute the case against them. our presidlit hasated us from our traditional allies. i would know who our friends are and go to them to make the case against china to protect our s farmerelworkers and intellectual innovators. ds woodruff: and on the subject on the mf democrats and republicans right now, that is impeachment, a few nights ago, you said in an interviewsihat prent trump is giving congress no option, but if speaker pelosi is right, she's sayinge better to wait, see, when you get the facp ts, let's kudying and trying to gather information. do you believe she sin

evitablely going to have to change her position and that therwill be impeachment proceedings? >> i don't question the wisdom of senator pleasey. i think we are on the road to impeachment. she like myself believes y have to exhaust all other remedies to show the american people that you're following tha rule of law, t we're not going to do donald trump justice. the rst remedy was american people. they voted him in. we respected that. then we but a balance of power on his abuse o power in the midterms. he has not respected that. i think he's backing us into the only other most extraornary remedy which similar people. i want to make sure we do everything else first before we get the. i think we're pretty close. >> woodruff: do you think you're giving in some way the president a boost as democrats, the more there's even talk about impeachment much less moving to impeachment proceedings? >> honestly, i try not to think about it that way because that means i'm not looking at the evidence, and the evidence is you have a lawless president who is telling his administration

officials not to comply with the law. he's been characterized with double digit obstructer in the mueller report.ne no above the law in this country. he'se could get away what get away with and that's what i have to focus on. >> woodruff: speaking of president trump, you announced you have fambeily mem, your own parents, who are supporters of president trump. they have a magnet on the refrigerator that says trump-pence. is that still there? >> i hope it's not. i may have to go into the voting booth with my parents if i make it to the general election. my parents ar strong ronald reagan republicans, and i was raiss, in the ' and they wanted us to be strong in the world and not waste the taxpayers' dollars. i think i can win over people like my parents. i was born in the midwest, have that fisc prudence, american values, and we see a president who has rackxed up tauts for the wealthiest and alienated us in the world and drawn us closer to vladimir putin than the brits and the australians and people that we need.

i think theserump voters will need a place to go and the son of republicans might bt candidate. >> woodruff: you have no doubt your parents will vote for you? >> of course, they will. my wife is from southern indiana. we did an indiana town hall in columbus, indiana, over the weekend and saw hundreds of people show up there, many ren blicans. so b iowa, married to a hoosier, educated in the south, electe in a diverse part of california, i can add states in the general election. >> woodruff: congressman eric swallwell, running for the hamocratic nomination, we thank you. >>k you, judy. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new times" columnist david brooks. wollo to both of you. so we are trying t our way through a conversation with each one of these candidates. mark, there are, now, as we said, 23 of them. we talked to eric swallwell

tonight, kirsten gillibrand last night. i'm not gointo say they are one issue candidates, but in his case you heard him talk about gun contrd, kirsten gillibr emfa sighs women's issues. what are you hearing from?m the is it smart for them to easy on one issue or not?>> e'll find out whether it is. it just strikes me that abortion as an issue has been -- kirsten gillibrand is probably most prominently identified -- is an issue where those who seek serious and large change find themselves on the political defensive, and i think it's fair to say that it's hard to imagine anybody running a winning tional campaign on enlarging and making statutory abortion legal in all circumstances or,ha for matter, a democratic

party which is essentially unwelcoming to those people who are -- have reservations or are pro-life, but agree on every other issue. essentially bob casey in his term from pennsylvania, the united states senator, would not blce me and receive party backing, basically. >> woodruff: what do you think? >> i'm struck about h the self-esteem movement was very effective. when i look at the presidents, i've looked at the presidents since reagan and the one thing i come away with after every interview is i could never do that job. after eisenhower, i thought, i could run a war. franklin roosevelt was governor of new york, ronald reagan wasve or of california, george h.w. bush served in every position almost iminable, but why these people think they could be president is mistfying to me but maybe they're right. the second thing i look for is a unique selling proposition, like

an actual root to the white house, why your call i to run, not just you're famous. elizabeth warren has a set of policies and plans that are unique seling proposition, biden has broad experience, bernie sanders has outlook. with a lot of the candidates, i don't see a selling provesition or a root to victory. >> i don't argue with that. tjust say uneasy consensus on abortion in this country seems to me o be favor to have the status quo -- in favr of the status quo, which is in ndinstances of rape life of the mother. when you start to change that, when you have the republican national chair a disavowing the republican senate majority leader disavowing the latest change, the most zealous changes that the republicans are making, i think it tell us something about the politics then. >> it's weird that 50% of the country is sort o in e middle

on abortion, and gillibrand says no democratic candi get support if they're in the 50%, which is like a guar of a permanent minority. >> woodruff: let's talk about something that's consumed us for the last couple of days and that is what was a fight, battle between the president and democrats in the congress over subpoenas and documents and has turned into a personal feud between speaker pelosi and president trump, and here's a little of what e two of them have been saying about each other in the last two days. >> we believe that the president of the united states is engaged ina coverup. >> i don't do coverups. i'm the mo president probably in the history of this country. so get these phony investations over with. >> i pray for the president of the united states. i wish that hishi family o administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country. >> the white crying out for impeachment. that's why he slippeyesterday.

>> i'm an extremely stable genius. she's a mess, look, les face it. crazy nancy. i tell you what, i have been watching her, and i he been watching her for a long period of time. she's not the same person. she's lost i i think nancy pelosi is not helping this country -- >> woodruff: so, mark, it' s gottry personal. >> it has gotten very personal, particularly on the president's part. it just struck me when nancy pelosi used the te "intervention," that's a serious -- that's a collective, cooperative, collaborativear attempt on theof family and friends to intercede and to present to a pershion theynk is suffering from addiction or some sor of condition that that condition is out of control, and with the idea of seeking remedy and seeking repair. and i don't think she used t term lightly. and i would add tot, tha when you get general james mattis,

who has been totally silent- >> woodruff: former defense secretary. >> -- former defense secretary -- he left and is now cautioning this president onca iranioning the united states on the use of military power and arguing diplomacy is important. we have the former secretary of defense whom the president upbraided and insulted, rex tillerson, going to the congress iod really raising ser questions about the president -- >> woodruff: he testified -- -- testied that the president was unprepared, ill prepared for the summit i hamburg with mr. putin and let the united states at a disadvantage. i think there's larger message than just political back and forth. i think there's a serious concern about this esident and this presidency, and, judy, the first rule i learned governing american politics is beware to have the presidential candidate who does not have friends of his or her own age who can tell him when he's wrong and to go to

hell, and right now the are no grownups left in the white house. donald trump has mr. kushner and mr. miller as his two confidants. >> woodruff: how serious do you see this? >> it irks mey te both questioning each other's mental competence. you can question politics and a lot of things, but to say someone is basically in menta decline, it just strikes me as a little tooersonal. you know, donald trump is in tha hall o of the world wrestling federation and is take it to the world wrestling federation levels of confrontation. do i think he knows what he's doing? i think he does. whene confronted the democrats, is it him going crazy because he's self-obsessed? yes, but craftiness to it? yes. what's rising is hostility to elites around e world. modi gets elected, australia, brexit, netanyahu, it's just all over the world, and you can be

forgive an lot of sins if you oppose coaing and urban elites in our country, and he's riding that trainloand nancy si is good foil for that. politically, i think it's not crazy what he's doin cg. n i just disagree with ivid? okay, that's thion't think it is food -- >> woodruff: you don think -- >> i don't think it's shrewd or they were discussing the infrastructure of the united states. if there's one issue on which there is agreement that the country that was number one, all infrastructure, roads, highways, airports, ports, rail, justye 15 s ago, and is now number 9, and we're falling apart we have $836 billion back-load. we haven't raised ti gasne tax in 26 years, and there's somethng with the economy just maybe needing a boost very well next year.

i mean, this begs to be done. it's something the country december pat praty needs a he walks away from it and ignores it, when, in fat, he could have a political and public success. >> i would say, first of all, the fact he walked away from it shows he cares more about himself than the country. at i don't think it's wrong to think vote driven more by animosity than what you've done for me. if you can whip up animosity among some voters, off root to victory, rather than sayi i've done something good for you and you should reward me. those softplifting emotion as little alienated from ploik pols now. >> woodruff: the president tweeted a version of this. his personal lawyer rudy giuliani spread this on twittpur aned it back. this is a docketed and a real versioakof nancy pelosi spg this week. i want to show you a bit of it. >> -- and then he had a press

conference in the rose garden with all of this sort of vithsus obviously were planned, and then he had a press conference the rose garden with all this sort of visuals that obviously were plwoanned. >>ruff: so, i mean, we've seen this happen in social meesa, it's comatoing on right now, but to know that the president's lawyer, the president s pushing another another version of pelosi. they pulled together clips where pelosi was speakini in a sort of n foxng way and had it o business channel. i mean, what are we seeing here? >> we're seeing, judy, the lack of any moral center or cpass dency.sident and a presi look, when the grandchildren are going to ask what did you stand for, grandpa? what did you do? i mean, when rooselt brought a

country on its knees and we'll be right back to its feet, when ronald reagan won the cold war, when lyndon johnson brought civil rights to the country, this is what he's going to say -- i docketed up, made my ponents look bad, i put out phony tapes on them. i mean, this is an indigny to the office and it's a disgrace really to the country.ee >> yeah, i agith that, but it's sort of of the we're the old legacy media. the "new york times," "newshour", "the washington post," we're legacy media, but we have bc standards below which it's unimaginable to think, like making up stuff. and if you make an error, correct it. that's the normal part of our world. the internet comes in and there argssome thinn the internet that are great, that live up to the standards we're used to professionals, and some things are not, and you've got to make the distinction of those above and below the line. but that distinction above and below the line seems to get washed away on t internet and

it doesn't help that the president doesn't even seem to acknowledge e idea of the line. >> woodruff: it's the internet in sociamedia and work being done on cable news. i want to quickly finally come ba to what has apparently gotten under the president's skin, david, and that is the congress under pelosi, the house, she's saying we're not going to move directly to any sort ieachment breeding, ft we are going to continue to gatherts. are we seeing the train move evitably down the track? >> i think we are. i think she's right to slow walk it. if you look to the sft of where democratic voters are, the democratic voters in recent polls haso shifted much mor we need to impeach. that's certainly the basis of the democrats candidates, the presidential hopefuls in the fieldefield are moving that dir, so i think we'rerobably going to move in that direction. i worry it gives trump his onlyr argument theout to get me andist wrong and hyperpartisan. it's the argument he likes to have and i think he is building

to it. >> woodruff: can the house stop what's going on right now? i mean, are we inevitablyhoving ine direction -- >> i don't think inevitably. i think those o were sure were urinevitably moving, were that the mueller report were going to do it, that michael avenatti who has his own serio problems now was going to with b the witness that brought everything dn, thamichael cohen, god bless his soul, now in federal detention, correction, was going to do it. so i'm not sure the inevitability of the case ag i will say this, nancy pelosi's been vindicated by two cout decisions this week that required deutsch bank to turn over its financial records and, so, maybe those who say that the courts were too slow were wrong. you have new york state which

will make available tax returns to the u.s. house. so a number of frohents. ifresident, in fact, stonewalls these decisions and refuses to do it, then i thik he makes -- starts to make the case himself. >> woodruff: shoes are dropping. maybe more. >> maybe as many as imelda marcos' shoes. elds,odruff: mark s david brooks, thank you. >> woouff: the beastie boys: the rap trio sold millions of albums, and members have now written a book about their experiences. jeffrey brn spoke with th recently at this year's south by southwest festival in austin, texa o it's part ofngoing coverage of arts and culture, "canvas." ♪ ♪ >> brown: they're part of hip hop history.

an unlikely part: three white kids from brooklyn, teenagers when they rst met in high ck, rap,and combined ro and humor in a way thatowould speak illions. ♪ you gotta fight for your right to party ♪ >> i don't know how describe that feeling that you have or what that thing thing is, that reaches inside of you. it spoke to us as kids, just, it seem attainable. i think all of us just felt ♪ike, "wait, this is for us." ♪ >> one of the reasons i loved lsp music was because i knew nobodyat school would possibly mess with it. there was no way other kids at school were going to love it.bv which is oiously so contrary to existence now.♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: things certainly changed for rap, a oit moved frrigins in the south onx to an international phenomenon, and the beastie boys: adam "m.c.a." yauch,

ke d" diamond, and adam "ad-rock" horovitz, helped make that happen. ♪ ♪ >> brown: beginning in 1986 wi "licensed to ill", theymsade eight al that sold more than 40 milon records. ♪ ♪ in brown: the last came ou 2011, a year before adam yauch died of cancer at age 47. mikend and adam horovitz have now told the band's story in a book that takes us back to new york in the late '70s. >> it was this place where i feel like, if you were the weirdo in whatever part of the world that you were from, you could move to new york without having a plan. you could just have this ambition that, "okay, i'm going write poetry or i'm going to be a painter or i'm going to make some kindf weird noise, music that nobody's ever made or before." ♪ ♪ >> brown: rap music was still in

its early ars, but the three teens liked what they heard, and star d playing around-- literally. ♪ ♪ ng>> when we started rappiwe were terrible, like, really bad. we're having fun doing this. let's do it." ver thinking that anything would come of . >> brown: but they caught on. and soon enough, tg y were recordd performing, and then had a new realization. >> we were playing with all thher groups, u.t.f.o., it wasn't until we all of a sudden got on stage in a room like this, pdiked with an ce and we were-- i was like, "oh, wait. we're kind of like the only white people here."e we had no, wdidn't know that that was all sort of what that was leading up to. ♪ ♪ >> brown: early on, they recorded with def jam, one of the most important labels in

hip hop, along with groups like run-d.m.c., and they helped bring in white audiences as hip hop continueto grow. they told me of the good, and sometimes, bad ways that race came up. >> it's happened a lot of times over the years, where a white person will come up or be talking to us, a white person will be like, "you know, i don't really like rap music, but i oeke you guys." >> brown: whatthat mean? >> that means, like, "you know i don't really like those black people doing that thing, but you guys are white, so that's cool." >> like, so, yeah, somehow we're supposed to sign off on that racism. >> brown: and your reaction is? >> okay... >> yeah, what are you going to say, at that point? ex brown: another issue in their story: their own sism, misogyny and homophobi it was all over their early tiwork, in words, onstage and videos. the group, in fact, originally included a young woman-- kate schellenbach. she was kicked out, as the

so-called "boys," by their own reckoning, acted out in ways they came to regret. t early '90s, they were rhyming verses about respecting women. ♪ ♪ >> we all hope that, as we get older, we grow a little and we learn. right? learning from mistakes, learning from friends, all we want to do is learn and grow as people. right? isn't that what we're supposed to do? >> brown: not only did y stop doing that, but you even made a message in another direction, right? >> well, i mean, it's obvious, ngee the opportunity to ch and be the example of change, that's the opportunity that exists there and be open to that in your actions. >> we played in this festival a while ago. one of the bands on the bill was the band called the prodigy, and

they had a song called "smack my ( bleep ) up," which was a big song. and we had contacted them earlier before the show and was like, "hey, you guys, what would happen if you guys didn't play that song tonight? because we feel like we migh have to say something about that song, because we feel like that's a messed-up son right? the message it sends out there, right?" and they were likea "you guys arnch of hypocrites. look what you said in the '80s." and we're like, "okay, then we're hypocrites. but we're going to say something anyway. so maybe that reached a couple people. >> brown: the group got involved in other causes, including independence for tibet, but they were always about fun and friendship, even as they and rap music continued to evolve into a lasting international culture. ♪ ♪ >> as much as we never saw it going away, we also didn't see it being the absolute dominant pop music that it is now. >> rap's always going to be relevant, going to the future, because it's always evolng and changing. >> brown: you guys have been

friends, you're still together, and you've lost adam. how have you done that? i mean, its an honest story of friendship? >> yeah, we did make a kind of decision, sort of, in the '80s. we had the typal thing with a cord label in the '80s where n'erything fell apart. we dget paid, suing and all that stuff you hear about with bands. that happened to us. r d so, it could have gone this way, where we neoke to each other again. but we decided-- actually, we ndstarted this thing as fr so we're going to end this thing as friends. >> yeah, somehow it was a very adult decisions, and we weren't adults at the time. but we made that decision. t i think it served us well. >> brown: after the deatadof yauch, there would will be no new more beastie boy music, but mike diamond and adam horovitz are telling their story in a series of public appearancer this spring. e pbs newshour, i'm

jeffrey brown in austin texas. >> woodruff: that takeus back. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for tbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjam.com. >> brailway. >> consumer cellular. >> home advisor. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> this whole thg was a takedown attempt at the president of the united states. >> d.c. dysfunction. if a president flat-out refuses to work with congra's, can amers institutions work? and struggling to breathe. the epa's new plan to change the way air pollion deaths are counted. plus -- >> my notion of civic religion, of course, it is not godly religion, it's not worshipping a inity but it is about beli in democracy. >> urich loo delivers a sermon on service to engage and inspire the disillusioned citizen.