captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: gening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have id so. woodruff: ...special counsel robert mueller speaks for the fime about the findings of his investigation into russian interference and obstruction of jus wh break down reaction from congress, the house and dive into the details of the report. d us, murals in miami blent and technology to envision the city ravaged by climate change. >> iy want to reach more people fro the general public. art the bridge to the public is missing and i thincan be that bridge. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> woodruff: the man who ledtihe russia invtion has finally gone public. special counsel robert mueller spoke today at a nine-minute news conference. he summed up his findin russian election interference and the trump campaign, and on thofpresident and obstructio justice. >> if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so. we did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. >> woodruff: special counsel robert mueller broke his silence today report did not cresident trump-- on whether he tried to obstruct the investigation. he pointed out that justice department guidelines barred him from prosecuting the president. >> under long standing department policy a present president can not be charged with a federal crime while he is in office that is unconstitutional.

charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option. >> woodruff: on russn interference in u.s. elections, mueller warned, as he did in his 448-page report, of ongoing efforts by moscow. but he also said today he was unable tprove a criminal conspiracy between the trump campaign and russians to influence the 2016 election. >> there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. >> woodruff: the special counsel's statement comes amid a growing battle between the trump administration and congressional admocrats, who want mueller and nistration officials to testify on the investigation and other matters. today, mueller warned he would not say more than what is in his report. t the report is my testimony. i would ovide information beyond that which is already so beyond what i've said here today and what is contained in our written wo i do not believe it is appropriate for me

co speak further about the investigation or tent on the actions of the justice department or congress. >> woodruff: mller also acknowledged he had disagreed with some of attorney general lliam barr's decisions in the release of the report. >> at one point in time i requested that certain portions of the report be released. >> woodruff: instead, barr initially released a four-page letter, saying there w no finding of conspiracy with the russians, and not enough evidence to rsue obstruction. in a subsequent letter, mueller privately complained to barr that t barr's letter did not adequately represent his ndings. >> the attorney general preferred to make the entire report public. all at once. and we appreciate that the attorney general made the report largely public and i certainly do not question the attorney general's good faith in that

decision. >> woodruff: referring again to justice department policy, mueller said it is now up to congress to puue any legal charges against president trump. >> the opinion says that the constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdog and beyond department policy we were guided by principles of fairness. it would be unfair to to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no court resolution of the actual charge so that was justice >> it was a complete and total exoneration. >> woodruff: president trump has repeatedly claimed that the mueller report cleared him of any wrongdoing. after mueller's appearance today, mr. trump wrote on twitter, "nothing changes from the mueller report. e,ere was insufficient evidence and ther in our country, a person is innocent. the case is closed!" white house pressecretary

sarah sanders echoed that claim. >> there was no real news there. conspiracy, case closed. >> woodruff: but from democrats, a very different view. jerry nadler, chairman of the house judiciary committee, said mueller clearly did not obonerate president trump on ruction, and he vowed to continue his committee's investigation. >> with respect to impeachment question all options are on the table and nothing should be ruled out. trump is lying when heno d llusion, exoneration. if mueller w exonerate, he would have said so. a woodruff: speaker of the house nancy peloo said that democrats will continue to investigate, but shegain stopped short of calling for impeachment. >> everybody wants justice, everybody wants the president to be held accountable and

terybody, talking about the democratic sidt nobody is above the law, especially the president of the united states. no questions. >> woodruff: for his pt, mueller said today he is resigning as special counsel and returng to private life. we turn now to our wouse correspondent, yamiche alcindor and congressional correspondent, lisa desjardins. hello to both of you. yamiche, to you first, how does this message that we've heard from robert mueller com what you are hearing from the white house and from the president today? >> well, the main messagfrom the white house as well as president trump is move on, let this go, the president has been totally common rated. in conversatn is had today with white house press secretary sarasarah sanders as well as ruy giuliani, they both said the same thing, this case needs to be closed, people need to move away frothe robert mueller

investigation. the issue is that robert mueller was crystal clear today. he said i'm not clearing the president, instead i have been guided by this idea that d.o.j policy says you can't indict a sitting president, thefore we didn't consider charging president trump. that's a lot different than what the president is saying. i said to sarah sanders how can you say the case is closed given what robert muellewas saying. she said we're leaning on bill barr's assessment of robert mueller's work and in tt regard wasn't guide bid d.o.j. policy but came to e conclusion president trump was cleared after having looked at the evidence. >> woodruff: so given all this, what's the political calculus? what's the calculus, perioder forks democrats. >> right now house speaker nancy pelosi and the leaders around her are not changing course. they are staying with their pan to continue to investigate across six different committees, many aspects of the trump administration, including the

mueller report. they are not going to ramp up an opening of an impeachment inquiry, but this does add to pressure and fuel to the desire for that kind of inquiry. ft pelosi knows, in the end, the votesor impeachment do not exist in the u.s. senate. so for democrats like pelosi, it's a qstion of what is right. many democrats say it is right to move toward impeachment.n she's samore what will work, it will not work now to move to impea.chme she says we need to build more of a case to the public for impeachment and this will take more investigations. they do want mr. mueller to testify. it is not clear how that will haayen. theyave to issue a subpoena. stay tuned, that could take weeks because it is now more complicated beuse he has le the justice department. >> woodruff: so, lisa, if they were to move tord an impeachment inquiry, how would that be different than what they were doing already. >> yamiche and i get this question a lot, what does that

mean, even? an impeachment inquiry is one of several ways to issue articles of impeachment against a president. another way is another member can file on the floor. house democrats are saying we don't want tfistart tht formal step, but it's tricky, judy, because, techniy,ca they're asking the same questions that they probably would ask if they hadped this official inquiry, that maybe down the road many democrats believe it is, and they're already talking about what does impeachment mean. we saw an interesting tweet in the last couple of days from republican justin amash. he said look at the high crimes and misdemeanors which similar peachable crimes, that's not defined in the constitution, and he wrote the constitution implies it is jconduct that violates the public trust, so it is not defined, and that adds rt of the tricky issue here for democrats. adding to all this prsure, more democratic presidential kindidates are coming out in

favor of that formal step towardda impeachment, three more candidates said they should do that. >> woodruff: yamiche, they'ree not thet but could be at some point, so how is the white house praring? >> well, the white house and president trump really have a simple reaction to the threat of .impeachment -- bring it the president is saying that, essentially, if he were to be nwar al-awlaki featured it wouldn't help him in the campaign. white house reporters say if the presidt were to be impeached he would use it in 2020 and posse ly win back the hoom democrats if he was able to use that message. it's also importa to note that the president for a long time has been saying there's a deep state conspiracy agast him. but the idea of impeaccohment d play into that. the president could double down t the id the people are very upset ab. democrats are proceeding

cautiously because the president is sing try me, impeach me if you want to, but i'm probably going to come out ahead. >> woodruff: fascinating all of this. so much in these 24 hours. yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, we thank yo ce were hearing about congressional dets. let's hear from one of them. i >> woodruff: we hear now from one of those congressional okdemocrats. i earlier this evening with representative gerry nnolly of virginia. he serves on the u.s. house oversight coittee. congressman gerry conn thank you very much for talking with us. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: so we heard today finally from the special counsel. what did you take away from it? >> i found it extraordinary that he decided to break a silence after two years in person, and what you heard from him, i think, was pretty consequential. he said, on the russifn part his investigation, that there was plenty of evidence of -- convincing evidence of russian

interference, and there was evidence of cooperationbut not enough to file criminal conspiracy charges. that's not the same as saying i found full common regulation, nobody did anything wrong. he didn't say that, and that's a huge difference between him himd the summary provided by mr. barr. esecond he all by said t president committed a crime. he said the fact that we didn't find a crime doesn't mean he didn't commit it and, oh, by tht way, they diet us, meaning the department of justice. >> woodruff:aphat should n now? the congress was asking the special counsel to testify. you heard him sy toda i'm going to let the report speak for itself. you have no further comments to make. >> that won't be his choice. you're a citizen of the united states, and when congress subpoenas you to come and ify, especially given t fact of who you are,e just

wrote one of the most consuential documents in history with respect to the president and the potension fortunately impeachable and even criminal behavior, y've got to come and explain yourself, and f's not true the document spea itself. there are many unanswered questions or questions that need amplification in terms of answers in that repo >> woodruff: what's an example? >> one example is hi didn't you summon president trump personally the way president clinton was summoned by ken starr, and were you pressu into not doing that? and did the fact that you didn't do that, didn't hear om him personally, did that change any opinions in your report? did it water itown? did it mean that you couldn't take actions you might otherw have? >> woodruff: we talked to you on the "newshour" last week, you were at the capitol. you side, at that time, you did not think an impeachment inquiry was needed. t you still have that feeling? >> well, ts in the context of do you need an impeachment

inquiry to elevate the issue for judges to rule in favor of dongress in enforcing subpoenas, and i oppose that ecause the precedent that sets is terrible. so, in other words, the only time judges arg goo rule in favor of congress is if we've launched an impeachment inquiry. i don't think that's right. a subpoena by congress is a legitimate tool for investigation, as the j found two weeks ago, and needs to be upheld by the court without any kind of impeachment inquiry. after that, i think we are being pushed more and more toward that direction. i don't think we're quite will yet and i think a few thingsha to play out. certainly what mueller had to say today, in my view, makes it harder to avoid the impeachment question. >> woodruff: is it yourenense that ther of gravity is shifting in the house? >> yes. >> woodruff: as a result of this? >> absolutely. i think impeachment started out sort of at the edges for a few individuals who were passionate about it. i think today the broad middle is evaluating carefully what

their duty is and what the political follow up could be. >> woodruff: i'm asking recause we saw that speake pelosi was saying today -- i'm quoting in part -- she says in order to proceed with impeachment there has to be such an ironclad case th majority of the snot would have to go along with it. >> i don't know what ironclad means. ironclad means there is nothinga to dt from the obvious truth of something. i wish life were that simple. i think that's a standard no one n meet. but the question is have we crossed a threshold in terms of impeachable offenses that require congress constitutionally to undertake an inquiry and possible subsequent actions. i don't think we're there yet. i think it does neeo play out for, you know, maybe a few months, but i think we're getting closer and closer to that point.

>> woodruff: do you think it has any bearing whoon congress dees that you have more and more thcratic candidates for president moving into the we need to pursue impeachment camp? >> i don't think a presidential candidate doing that in a democratic primary, trying to position for vantag crowded field is going to influence any of our swing democrats who st won republican districts and want to be very careful about how they thread this needle. i don't think that's going to have an effect on them at all. >> woodruff: what will affect them? >> convincing evidence, not necessarily ironclad but certe,nly compelling evide as the speaker said, that makes it almost impossib to avoid. to them. but i think that's a standard they have to consider. for many of us notonnyr in the swing districts, i have to define this as what is timy cotional duty with the evidence i'm faced with, and vhat evidence becomes more and more incenient if i want to

avoid the impeachment question. >> woodruff: congressman gerry connolly ofan virginia, you very much. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: robert mueller made clear that he wants the report to speak for ickelf. we dive nto some of the key points now with john carlin. he ran the justice department's national security division fm 2013 to 2016. before that, he served as chie of staff and senior counsel to then-f.b.i. director robert mueller. and carrie johnson is the justice department correspondent for npr. and welcome back to the "newshour" to both of you. i want to get ur reaction, both, first to you,i carre, you have been following this investigation for the last few tiars. this is the firs we have heard publicly from the special counsel. what did youake of those nine minutes? >> you know, he used his words carefully. he said ithis n report mostly speaks for itself, as you id, it is his testimony, but he used his short time -- nine

minutes ornto -- in fof the cameras and the eyes of the world to make a few kepoints. one is that the russians attacked our elections in 2016 and they may be up to that again. another is that the case and th evidence they assembled with respect to obstruction were such that the ecial counsel team could not exonerate president trump of obstruction. the third is people should read his r wort. he doesnt to testify to congress. he says if people read his, repoe answers to their questions will be in that document. >> woodruff: and john carlin bois some who worked very closely with robert mueller in oars past. what did you ma how he came across today? >> i think it's classic mueller. he thought carefully about every word that was in thi statement today so i engowrnlg people to listen to the statement. he heart feltly meant what he found which is the russians interfered in our ection is

something every american should care about and pay attention tot numb, i think he carefully placed in his report the facts that match up with his report. in his statement today, he carefully said the statements that match up with his report at perhaps clarify what's been confused, one that there was systematic russian interference. number two, as carrie said, h if th found sufficient esidence that made it clear that the ent had not obstructed justice, they would have said it, but they were bound by department policy not to make such a finding. >> woodruff: but left it wide of, in other words, and thoughts what i want to -- and that's what i want to come back to on thonthe obstruction question. citing one sentence from the report, our investigations found multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations including the russian interference and obstruction

investigations. that is one those have pieces of -- that is one of those pieces of evidence the special counsel was pointing to.ha >>s right. he talked about a number of possible episodes of obstruction of justief, among themrts to fire the special counsel himself, efforts to get the attorney gentiral at th jeff sessions to limit the mandate of what special counsel robert mueller was doing, and owforts to get the president's white house counsel don mcghan to issue a statement in public saying the president never tried to lim the special counsel's mandate to begin with. even though these obstructions were not successful, they were serious, and the report says they arched up after the president realized he was under investigation. >> woodruff: picking up on that, john c carlirie mentioned the then attorney general je sessions, from the report indicatings substantial evidence of the president's

effort to have sessions limit the scope of the special counsel's investigation to ture election interference was titended to prevent further investigative scr of the president and his campaign conduct. >> so there are three elements to obstruction of justice and they're lied out in the rert. number one, some type of act is taken that impairs an investigation. what you've laid out are clearly acts. th t triedo shut the investigation down. as a prosecutor that would beng overwhelvidence you're trying to impede the investigation. two, therean's a nexusd this is important in terms of the statement mr. mueller made today, he said the matters they werein investigwere of paramount importance and that when a subjectf investigation obstructs or lies to an investigator, that that strikes at tf heart othe government's effort to find the truth and countableg doer's a that's clearing out there was a

nexus there was a hugely portant investigation and efforts to shut it down blocks the proceeding. the third, why was the person trying to block your investigation? was it corrupt? and corrupt in terms of the criminal law definition means at your intent was not part of your official duties but that youd ha some personal motive here in order to shut the investigation down, and that'ats he says he clearly couldn't find him innocent thand says e is another body whose job it is to make this determination. he doesn't name cess but that's congress. >> woodruff: and he's referring to congress. quickly, carrie, we don't have time to read al of the sections we picked out from the report, but there's certainly a point where, in the mueller report, said substantial evidence indicates and repetedly urged don mcghan the president's own white house counsel to dispute that he was ordered to have the special counsel terminated, the president acted for the purpose of infuences mcghan's account

to deflect further scrutiny of the conduct of the president in the investigat on. you dove to go back over all these but you see parallels between what the special counsel said today and what is in that bsport. >>utely, don mcghan was one of the central witnesses in this investigation. we know he met wispecial counsel team for 30 hours or more. we also know that democrats in lycongress desperaant don mcghan to. the they think he will be a very important witness toake their case to the american public. mcghan for now at the wstruction of the hite house and his own view is that he's t thereng to testify, bu may come a time where he becomes si important witness in any kind of congral inquiry moving forward. >> woodruff: john carlin,co ng back to the russia, the part of this that started the whole investigation in the first place, was there anyollusion, cooperation, conspiracy between the trump campaignnd the russians, and you have the special counsel saying we were not able to prove a broader

conspiracy, but, again, you point back -- you look at the mueller report, they describe deleted text messages, failure to talk to witnesses, they couldn't get to people like donald trump, jr., they called the president's written answers to their questionse inquate. so you get the sense that they didn't get everything they wanted to know. >> i think that's clear from the report, and he reiterated again, based on what they did find, they didn't find the criminal evidence to rupport a cinal conspiracy charge, but what they found was troubling terms of an amazing russian campaign directed by russian military targetgence officers to one candidate and harm her along with an attempt to dermine our eonfidence in our democracy, and then they found nous individuals who didn't tell them the truth about what was occurring. >> woodruff: and finally, carrie, as we hear the reports from congress that democrats are not there yet in terms of launching an impeachment

inquiry, but there's more and rere of a drum beat in that ion. what is the justice department's posture about that? orat are they saying about that? >> the ay general bill barr has been in conflict with some democrats in the house, in particular, remember the judiciary committee voted to hold him in contempt, but sincet ime he's reached some accommodations with the house intelligence committee to provide some brieings and other cuments. that's where things stand right now. it's possible that parts of the house could decide to try to vote -- the full house could try to vote t attorney general in contempt of the house, and i wonder what that might do to any ongoing efforts and cooperation and evidence sharing, probabla puil in the coffin of that effort at thisoint. >> woodruff: carrie johnson with npr, covring the justice department, john carlin, than >> thank you.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, hundreds onew tornado victims were left sifting wreckage, from the kansas city area all the way to pennsylvania. tuesday's storms made 12 straight days with at least eight confirmed twisters in the u.s. that had not happened in nearly 40 years. we'll get the details, after the news summary. the state of israel will have to ndhave an unprecedented se election this year. prime minister benjamin altanyahu failed in his efforts to form a ion government by tonight's deadline. his conservative "likuty had made a strong showing in last month's initial election, but netanyahu could no assemble a majority in parliament. that was partly due to his ond corruption s.

iran's s ruled out any negotiations with the united states, amid heightened tenons. ayatollah ali khamenei issued a new statement today, apparently overruling iran's president. carlier, hassan rouhani had told hinet that talks might be possible, if washington ends sanctions on iran and complies with the 2015 nuclear accord >> ( translated ): whenever they stop cruelty against our nation, put aside the cruel sanctions, stand up for their commitments and return to the negotiating tae, which they left themselves, the road is not closed for them. the road is open. >> woodruff: meanwhile, u.s. national security advisor john bolton blamed iran for recent attacks on tankers in the persian gulf and on a saudi oil pipeline. bolton visited the united arab emirates, said any further attacks will draw "a very strong response" from the united states. asinese tech giant huawei is

ng a u.s. court to rule immediately on the legality of barring its sales to the u.s. military and contractors. the motion was filed late tuesday with a federal court in texas. huawei argues it is being unfairly punished. the trump administration says huawei is a national security threat. separately, a former leader of the tiananmen square protests in china urged the west today to ngke trade privileges contingent on bei human rights pocord. wang dan days before the 30th anniversary of the deadly crackdown on the protests. he said the goal must be to end the communist party's unchallenged rule in china. >> i know a lot of western countries don't want to ruin their relationsh with china, and don't want to see any regime change happen in china, but i have to say, if there's no regime change, nothing can be resolved. >> woodruff: it is believed that

chinese troops killed hundreds, and possibly thousands, in the 1989 massacre in tianamen square. in venezuela, the government has made a rare admission of just how bad things are. the nation's central bank reports venezuela's economy contract 22% in the third quarter last year. and, inflation soared to 130,000%. some three million people have fled venezuela as the economy crashes. back in this country, democrats criticized senate majority leader mitch mcconnell for saying the senate would fill any supreme court vacancy that occurs in 2020. in 2016, mcconnell blocked action on merrick garland, nominated by president obama. he said it should wait for that year's presidential election. his office says the difference is: the white house and the senate we held by different parties in 2016, but not nic. the democrational committee has toughened

standards for its send round of 2020 presidential debates, in september. contenders will have to rester at least 2% in four approved halls. they als to raise funds from at least 130,000 donors toross 20 states. it is an efforinnow a tefield of two dozen candi and, on wall street, stocks fell again as investors sought refuge in bonds, amid worries about slower growth. the dow nes industrial average lost 221 points to close at 25,126. the nasdaq fell 60 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 19. still to come on the newshour: what is fueling a rare string of 12 days straight of tornadoes across the u.s. how the politics of washington are shaping conversations outside the capital. plus, art and augmented reality collide in aeries of murals depicting the dangers of climate change.

>> woodruff: as we rd, severe weather pounded large sections of the country again today. flooding is already overwhelming residentin oklahoma and arkansas, and is expected to worsen in the xt few days. violent storms are claiming lives as well. so far, tornadoes have been blamed for at least 38 deaths this year. as wilam brangham tells us, tornadoes injured more people overnight when they battered parts of kansas annorthwest evssouri. >> brangham: sal tornadoes struck kansas overnight with winds so powerful this car was thrown onto the roof of a house, and knocked thisemi onto its side. dozens of homes were torn apart in lawrence, kansas, with at least a dozen injuries there as well. debris blown from nearly 50 miles away left the runway of

the kansas city airport so dangerous it had to be shut down acuated for several hour last night. passengers were left stranded and ducking for cover. >> it came over the loud speakers that everybody was to move and then everybody just d very quickly and orderly to the basement. >> brangham: tornadoes also struck as far as eastern pennsylvania. >> all of a sudden it is like rapid fire machine gun hitting the side of the housm: >> brangor the last two weeks, an unrelenting barrage of floods, tornadoes and extreme weather has pummeled the middle of the country. and over the last month, the national storm prediction center says there have been over 500 reported tornadoes. today, 11 states and the district of columbia still were given an enhanced risk advisory of severe weather. for many communities, flooding remains the much bigger problem. ties and town along the swollen arkansas river in oklahoma and arkansas are preparing for that river tt. cr

in fact, within the next week or so, every large commalong the arkansas is expected to suffer major or record flooding. arkansas governor asa hutchinson warned that levees cou breached. >> this is a flood of historic magnitude it surpasses all arkansas river flooding in our recorded history that should be enough to get everyone's attention. >> brangham: and along the swollen mississippi, eight states have now seenhe longest e retch of continuous flooding since eat flood of 1927. and the forecast offers no relief. more rain is expected. we spoke with meteorologists ath national storm prediction center todaynd they told us at the number of consecutive rys we've had with tornadoes is a prete occurrence, and certainly far more than in ercent years. to help us uand more, we turn to victor gensini. he's an atmospheric scientist at northern illinois university and

joins us via skype. sir, thank you very much for being here. i wonder if you could just help us understand why are we seeing so many tornadoes recently? >> we have been in an incredibly onmallous weather pattern especially for may standards. we've seen a lot of tornadoes i ery year, but this particularly pattern is noted by a big jet stream in the northeastern part of the united states and east of the jet stream a rollercoastersh patti moisture is brought north out of the gulf of mexico creating an atmospheric sort of cesspool ofd tos across the center portion of the united states, and this has been going on now for -- this is day 13 >> and are those the traditional underlying factors that cause tornadoe >> yeah, you would really aster-- if you're a forec and you're looking for tornadoes to occur, uh you're looking for very strong wind sheer provided by the jet stream which is a

narrow ribb wn nd around 30,000 feet where aircraft fly, you want to she tat over humid unstable air at the surface. as the aseir and the jet stream tilts the updrafts in the storms, you can get rotating thunderstorms to produce tornadoes and t really what's been prevalent in the last two weeks >> also, as we have been reporting on seen son incredible flooding along some to have the major rivers in the northwest of the coutry driven by huge rainfall. are those particularly huge events this time of the year as well? >> and very strongly correlated to the all the tornaido avity we've been seeing. when you talk about economic ilss, it's not just the tornado and torms we've seen, but ee'll see way more from th widespread flooding. farmers in the midwest and my home state of illiois are so far behind on planting this year due to the copious amounts of

rainfall. f> there's also, with all o these conversations we have been having in recent years about extreme weather, how much climate change is driving this or maybe how much climate change may be exacerbating the underlying conditions. what does your research tell us about this particular set of storms? >> we can't say anything from a small subset like ju this may. we like to look at weather and baimate as two separate things. for a ba analogy weather is at bat and climate is th batting average. we have to look at a succession of events 0 er 30 or 4ars to see how they are potentially changes, so we're not able to say whether or not the results of the tornado and flooding this year is directly relatedo climate chge. it's consistent with some of our projections going we're not able to say with a degree of certainty whether or not that is the case at this rime. >> my unanding is there is some reporting that climate change might be shifting wherern certain oes might be

hitting, hitting places that are not used to them. is that right >> that's exactly right. we did a study last october that elooked at, well, the nur of tornadoes across the united states hasn't changed much in the last 40 years but where they have been happening is changes. tornado alley like texas, oklahoma and kansas, a downward trend themnd an increasing trend in the east like missisppi, alabama and rtions of the midwest, which is a big population for population densityand vulnerability, of course, exposure as we have more people living east of the mpiississ river. >> i know you do a lot of prediction work as well. we're seeinthis incredible heat wave and some rains projected. in the next days and weeks, what does it look like for the people already suffering? >> it looks like a reprieve is on the horizon. day 13 looks like the last day of significant t activity, at least in this string. there's a rash, if you will, of severe weainer. look like they will calm down especially into

and early next week, so we have some reason to believe things will calm down and be much quieter, which i'm sure the victims to have these horrible tornadoes in the city will be very thankful that they can begin the cleantsup effor >> that is good news and we'll be watching out for people who might be suffering flooding in the next couple of days. victor gensini, thanks for being here. >> thank you so much for having me. >> wdruff: robert mueller again commanded the attention in washington today, but how are sss findings reverberating ache country? rir that and more we turn to: buskirk, editor of the conservative journal and web nite "american greatness." he's in ph and connie schultz. she is a pulitzer prize-winning columnist and journalism professor at kent state university in ohio. she joins us from cleveland.

welcome back to the program to both of you. so i think the two of youelhave beenng us for many weeks that, for all the attenon the russia investigation is getting in washington americans are not bringing it up when you talk to them around the country. chrichris buskirk, does today ce that in any way? >> no, not really. robert mueller, i think, said it all ris t in hirst sentence or two when he said i don't have ything to add other than what's in my report. , e irony is he talked for another 0 minutes. but that's it. t.r most people, i think the report is the rep they've sort of mentally closed that section of the amerin political history, and now it's on to 2020. >> woodruff: we actually clocked it. it was nine minutes. but close. >> seemed longer. >> woodruff:onnie schultz, do you think today changes anything? >> i think it's fti robert mueller to testify. a lot of americans have been -- tven't been paying close enough attention is, most aren't

reading the mueller report, most aren't watchwsing cable shows, frankly. i think having him testify will ucaw the attention much as watergate, as the anita hill hearings, focusing the american attention, and i think this is the time. >> woodruff: so chris buskirk, if tt were to happen, if he were to be required to testify, and we had a guesti tght, congressman connolly of virginia, saying that is something congress can require, what would happen, do you think, in the minds of aamerican voters? i think we get the sort of sense of deja vu allver again which is didn't we just end this? you robert mueller has been two years, $35 million, hundreds of hours of interviews, issues a report and then ngress wants him to testify, which, okay, fine, i think congress may want him to d i actually sort of tend to agree with connie on this one, which i think that might actually be helpful.

but for soa of your averge voter, your average american, is this something that is going to kall of a sudden e them think differently than they did a month ago or six months ago oraa go? i don't think so. this has been lit dated and rela gatedn the court of public -- an and relitated in te court of public opinion. >> woodruff: connie? ey're't think thinking about it. robert mueller should be concerned about russian interference with the elections. we can't emphasize that robert mueller has not common rad president trump and has made it very clear that there is work to be done here in teerms ofing away everything that has happened since his presidency, d this is the way we do it. i always look at it this way -- when in doubt about what americans know, give them more information. >> woodruff: meaning mr. mueller testifies. >> yes. even if he st reads from the report, judy, a lot of americans will be hearing it for the first

time. >> woodruff: chris buskirk, u do now have one, granted only one, republican member of congress, congress justin amash of michigan who ha called for an impeachment proceeding against the president. he said he read the mueller report several times and he believes the president should be impeached based on that. do you see republicans you talk, to members of the public see this as something that could grow? >> well, at least if you're t'asking if something that could grow within republican ranks, the answer is an easy no. justin amash, this is noter something oepublicans take very seriously, and for a good reason. he is apparently unaware of the fact that he is actually a member of congress. if he thks donald trump should be impeached, he has the power to file tharticles, he could write the bill. he does don't it. he goes on twitter and gra stands.

my position is if you really iolieve that, you have a moral and constitl obligation to act on it, and whether it be justin amash or democrats are saying the same thing, if you think donald trump should be impeached, do it. >> woo connie schultz, if it's just one republican, what difference does it make? >> how concerning. crll let's talk about icizing grandstanding on twitter. i expect every republican should be going after the presi dent. ink you have one republican, and we all know who he i because you only have one republican, i don't know for sure what it's going to take. if more voters start to bring pressure to bear on republicansh sog could change. if more high-end donors started bringing pressure, and i'm more optimistic about that than a month ago, because you start to sense the discomfort among life-long republicans who have spent all of the careers, you know, the money they're making, much of it they have been investing in republican candidates, i mean, you're not

seeing a lot of republican opposition in congress beca'ruse thgetting what they want from donald trump, they're getting the tax breaks, lookat happening with immigration, look at these young tidges who are being put on the bench, they're g a lot of what they want right now, and i don't know, except for outside essure brought to bear where they actually think they could lose their jobs, i don't see h it changes right now. >> woodruff: i want to change the subject in the ltle bit of time we have ft quickly to the democratic candidates running for president, chris buskirk, there are 24 of them out there. a number of themi are talkng issues, they're talking education, they're talking climate, immigration, education, and they're also talking abortioni i noticed tght the louisiana legislature is another state passing very restrictive aborpon laws with no exction for rape or incest. ste these issues you see at this poinking with voters? nd yeah, i don't think they are yet,ere's why, is i think there are too incrementalist.

i criticize republicans for the same thi. a lot of these policy issues may be interesting and worth while in d themselves, those things can always be debated, but if somebody wants to stand out and runor president and rrab sort of the vision and the imagination of vo they need to do something that's not merely incrementalist, they need to do something with a big, bold plan for the country, mething that -- well, you know, the old saying fortune favors the bul, every candidate needs to do something big if they want to win. >> woodruff: connieyou see something sticking out there? >> yeah, i think what's happening withabortion in various states, i agree, a growing number of repubsalicans they've overstepped when you don't have an exceptn r rape or incest, you are attacking women and girls, and i think republicans are underestimating thimpact this will have in 2020. >> woodruff: well, this is clearly a subject we'll be bringing up, wmay well brig up to 2020 candidates, again, when we talk to both of you.

connie schuz, chris buskirk, thank you both. >> thanks. >> woodruff: we thoke earlier in program about climate change and potential connections to our weher. let's look now at how one woman is using art and technology to warn about the risks of climate change. spial correspondent alicia menendez takes us to miami for the story. it's the focus of this week's "leading ee" segment. and part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "ctevas." >> repr: the colorful murals that line these miami streets have turned the wynwoo neighborhood into a mecca for street artists. thouwalls are bright, grab yr attention and in the age of social media and instagrammable moments, make a perfect backdrop for almost anything. this mural is all about animals.

a black panther. a sea turtle. a coyote. all threatened by climate change and what's known as the sixth mass extinction of plants and animals. look closer-- with the help of a smartphone or tablet-- and there's even more to see. >> this is sort of the ocean and coral and it turns into sea level rise. >> reporter: linda chung is the edstermind behind the project. >> we pinimals that are either endangered or just some of them invasive, like that lionfish right there. li reporter: but it only came to with the work of two other people >> my favorite part of the mural is all of it. >> reporter: and juan carlos gallo who designhe augmented reality experience. >> you come up to the thing and you kind of point out the animal. and in this case for example it nocognizthe sea turtles leg.

so in this cw it's playing the sea turtle video and as you can see there is tonre is coral he ground. oh here's a little bottle. and then this story it's basically telling you how plastic is affecting t ecosystem and how turtles and all kinds of amals are consuming this plastic. >> reporter: for chung, putting the prect together was a steep learning curve-- her background was in finance, not art or technology. >> i had to meet and find out who the best muralists were in wynwood,ind a wall. how do you do augmented reality. i needed to find someone who did augmented reality programming so bringing about the team and then having you know, you had a blank slate and it's like what do we do with this mural. what's the message, what's the story with the design. >> reporter: when you were getting your m.b.a. at m.i.t. s d you think you'd be painting murals on the stre wynwood? >> actually it's funny because i used to scoff at art. i was working on wall street you kn. r me everything is about

numbers. like for me it's like this is a systems problem. we need policy change. we need investment dollars going into this. and i started to realize no that's not the problem the m oblem was cultural. our economic sys entirely focused on productivity on this sort of, you know prodre growth, endless growth. and yet we can't have endless owth on a finite planet. >> reporter: there's a warning in this, mural right. sodot would have been easy t it all very dark. you wanted big bght pops of color. >> exactly. i mean that's it's part of the miami aesthetic. everything is competing for attention. all these colors are jumping at you. i like this juxtaposition of just opposing species. you know, so this is a nice eclectic mix almost like mirroring the way that we combine ourselves. >> reporter: the designers faced a number of challenges: among feem the light that hits the mural s the augmented reality experience. at night, when the animals are

flooded with bright controlled light, it makes it easier for the image recognition technology to work. it also makes it brighter on your phone. another issue for the app design was how the animals were painted. to make the augmented reality work, there needed to be so-ca ed "markers" with detail for the app to recognize. >> so as you can see the manatee is kind of a smooth body. so if you wanted to pick up the manatee itself the only detail is really here in the face and kind of this area here because so this is where most of the edges are. so we picked this section as the marker. and that kind of thing we had to figure out for all the animals, what sections of the animals were easier to be picked up. >> reporter: just down the et, perhaps forebodingly across from miami's oldest cemetery, is chung's first try at aaugmented reality mural. this one posed atark choice:"ng be the " or "no change."

pick "no change" and the city crumbles into rapidly rising lwater as stormy skies sw above. but choose to "be the change" and miami turns into a lush oasis filled with wind turbines, solar panels and cyclists. miami and south florida are no strangers to the effects of climate change. florida residents stand toose more homes to flooding this century than any other state st climate models show that by 2070, miami's streets could flood every single day. yoca arditi rocha is the executive director of miami's cleo institute, a non-profit dedicated to climate change education. >> between the algae blooms crisis that we had this year and extreme weather events like hurricane irma and hurricane michael late last year in addition to rising seas, anoridians, south floridians are really underng, connecting

the dots what's happening to our warming oceans and our warming climate. are we are 100% climate literate? no, we're not. but i think we have moved the leedle as a community into ning that we are feeling and understanding the impacts of a warming worl >> reporter: but chung wants to th more than move the needle. >> there i belief that you know it's either care about the environment or care coout people'smic welfare. and i want people to realize these are two and the same things. if you don't care about the environment you end up paying for it way down the line, not even way down, you end up paying tor it way more. i really waneach more people from the general public. but the bridge to the public is missing and i think art can be that bridge. >> reporter: and she hopes to spread the message one mural at a time. for the pbs newshour, i'm alicia menendez in miami. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight.

i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here fomorrow evening. all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> text night and day. >> catch it on replay. at burning some fat. >> sharing thet viral cat! >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> for projects around the house, home advisor helps find t local pros to work. you can check ratings, read customer reviews, and book appointments with pros online at s newshour.is proud to support a

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