captioningnsored by s newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm ghdy woodruff. on the newshour to how controversy and ceremony continue to define presideo trump's tripe united kingdom. then, one day before the milestone anniversary, remembering the invasion that thshaped the modern world those who stormed the beaches. plus, the heartland under water. as the central u.s. recovers from historic flooding, farmers dependent on dry soil for anting face a crop crisis. to if you walk across mud, just trhink about running a tractor or a planter across it and see how far you get. you just, you can't touch it. there's nothing you can do with it. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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about many tics in an interview. our yamiche alcindor is in b england, and hn following it all. >> alcindor: a d-day commemoration with president trump and other world leaders. today in portsmouth, england, they gathered to mark the legendary invasion, and thhe beginning ofiberation of europe. it was here that allied forces boarded landing crafts to storm the beaches of normandy and fight the nazis. the president along with members the british royal family spent antime greeting d-day vet mr. trump had this to say of queen elizabeth: gr great woman. t, great woman. >> alcindor: he then flew briefly to ireland to meet with irish prime minister leo varadkar. the president said he was optimistic that the u.k. could work out one of its biggest brexit challenges. the question is whether varadkar's repubc of ireland can work out a border deal with northern ireland, which is part of the u.k. neither couny wants to reinstate a hard border. >> big thing is gonna be your border. i thinit will work out a lot

>> alcindor: before he left lond, mr. trump sat down wit british journalist piers morgan. morgan questioned the president about whether he wished he would have been able to servhe vietnam war. the president received five deferments from the draft. one was for having bone fours. the othe were for education. >> i thought it was a terrible war, i thought it was very far away, nobody ever, you know, you're talking about vietnam and at the t of the country.heard this wasn't like, i'm fighting against nazi germany. we're fighting against hitler >> would you have liked to have served, generally? >> i would have beened. but i think i make up for it right now. l >> alcindor: another topic: transgender americans morgan pressed him on why he had banned transgender pple from serving in the military. mr. trump gave reasons which are not based on facts. >> because they take massive amounts of drugs, they have to, and also and you're not allowed to take drugs. yo you're not allowed to take any drugs. you tad an aspirin. u would actually have to break rules and regulations in order to have that.

>> alcindor: some military leaders and members of congress have said that transgender service could affect troop but, contrary to mr. trump's ohibited.n drug use is not, lling toesit down withe about ent hassan rouhani. >> are you prepared, if it comes to it, to jaw-jaw with president rouhani of iran? >> you're talking about talk? yeah of course, i'd much rather talk. >> alcindor: the iranians have refused to talk for no the united states is the only nation wch has withdrawn from the agreement. iran recently threatened to resume high-level uranium enrichment if the u.s. does not lift its sanctions. president trump plans to photo island in one of his gulf resorts, judy. >> woodruff: yamiche, hi. the interview the with the british journalist piers morgan, were there other claims the president made that are being qd?stio >> the president said a number of things that were simply not based in fact. he wou not say that climate

change is a clear and preent day. >> that is the conclusion of scientists all over the country as well scientists working with the trump administration. he said he talked to prince charles for 90 s about this and prince charles stressed to him he was concerned about future generations and climate change but the president was not convinced. he said the former british prime minister winston churchill did not hal to d with nuclear weapons. that's not true. china was thinking of buildin nuclear weapon in the time of churchill. that was something again not based in fact. >> woodruff: the president met with british officials this week. he's, of course, been with the royal family. is it thght that all this could have some bearing on the brect negottions? >> the president's visit here likely will not have a big imct on the u.k.'s brexit negotiation. do not like the idea of a u.s. president medaling in

keenine politics. the american president was a supporter of the brexit politics before. so what we see really the president coming here to say that the u.k. and the u.s. are very close allies and will remain that way. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor, following the prident's visit from london. thanks, yamiche. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the trump administration held talks with mexican officials at the white house, as the u. considers a 5% tariff on all imports from mexico. president trump has demanded mexico do more to stop illegal immigration or else the tariffs will go into effect next week. in ireland today, mr. trump said he thinks mexico wants to find a compromise. >> mexico can stop it, they have to stop it. otherwise we just won't be able v do business. it'sy simple thing. and i think they will stop it. i think they want to make a deal, and they've sent their top

omople to try and do it. >> woodruff:republicans in the senate are already lining up against the president's tariff proposal, while others say they support his push to address migration now. di the direct and virtually ime effect once they go into effect is higher prices for consums from all kinds of products that we buy from mexico. the next order of risk is a risk of retaliation. it's hard for the mexican government not to retaliate, so then we t a decline in sales. >> the pain you're going to suffer to fix the border is t it now or doter. if mexico doesn't change their behavior they'll keep coming. if we don't change our laws, theyl keep coming. so what's the president supposed to do, just throw up his hands and give up? >> woodruff: house speaker nancy pelosi warned new u.s. tariffs on mexico would be "punishing" for both countries. also today, the u.s. border patrol reported its officers

apprehended more than 132,000 migrants at the mexican border last month. that's the highest level in over addecade. the trumnistration is canceling english classes, legal aid, and other programs for unaccompanied children at some u.s. migrant shelters. it was first reported in "the washington post," citing a strain on the department of health and human services' budget due to the rise in border 00ossings. pre than 40naccompanied children have beced into h.h.s. custody this year, a 57% increase over last year. the trump administration also said today it is ending medical resech by government scientists using human fetal tissue. the move is a win for abortion stponents, but it was opposed by some scienwho said there is no other way to study some health problems. government-backed research at universities can continue, but will be bject to additional scrutiny. the policy change does not

affect privately-funded research. in sudan, the death toll from a three-day crackdown on opposition protesters surpassed 100 people today. at least 40 bodies were pulled from the nile river in khartoum. the clashes began monday when security forces stormed a pro- democracy protest camp. today, the country's military iolers offered to resume talks on transng to civilian rule. >> ( translated ): we are sorry for what happened. we pray for the souls of the martyrs, and hope the quickest of recoveries for the wounded. the general prosecutor has been directed towards investigating these events. the necessary legal measures will be taken as soon as possible. oodruff: sudan's opposition leaders rejected the offer t t resuks, and vowed to keep protesting.is a bipa group of u.s. ngnators announced 22 joint resolutions bloceapons sales to saudi arabia and the united arab emirrees without coional approval.

that's after the trump administration invoked emergency powers to push through $8 billion in arms sales last month. it's unclear wheer the resolutions will have enough alpport to overcome a likely presideneto. youtube announced today it will remove thousands of videos and channels with white supremacist and neo-nazi content from its site. the vide also bar any videos denying well-documented events like the holocaust ever happened. the ve comes amid growing criticism that online services allow, and sometimes fuel, hate speech. and, stocks rallied for a second day on walstreet. the dow jones industrial average gained 207 points to close at 25,539. the nasdaq rose 48 points, and the s&p 500 added 23. still to come the newshour: the veterans of d-day share their stories 75 years after the historic invasion.

sitting down with democratic presidential candidate, colorado senator michael bennet. how american farmers are coping with unprecedented flood waters and a trade war. an in-depth look at robert mueller's investigation into whether the president obstructed justice, and much more. >> woodruff: utah, omaha, juno, gold. names that will live on in history, given tthe beaches in normandy, france, where american-led allied trneps landed on , 1944 to begin the liberation of europe. of the 16 million americans who served during world war ii, an estimated 500,000 remain alive. only a few have returned on this 75th anniversary of d-day and it

me a large last woup veterans of that epic battl gather. special correspondent malcolm brabant spoke with a group of them in normandy. >> reporter: at a chateau in normandy, the soundtrack of the greatest generation, here to remember the defining moment of their lives and of world war ii. ♪ ♪ et ♪ artilleryman pshaw landed at icah beach, thus began nearly 300 days of combath earned him four bronze stars. >> i wanted to come back for the 50th anniversary but my wife was diagnosed with cancer. so i didn't come.

but i wanted to come so bad. that's why i never turned down this opportunity to .me for the 75 >> reporter: this is what th came for-- the beaches where the allies gained their first foothold in german occupied france. staff sergeant george mullins crash landed on utah beach in a glider. what's it like to be back? >> feels good. >> reporter: at the omaha beach memorial, german soldiers surprised ranger roy huereque by thanking him for liberatinthem from hitler's nazi regime. >> well you don't want to hear my story of germany. >> i think it's a good story because you freed us. >> reporter: how far out was the tide when you came in on june 6? er it was way out. >> reporter: deitch was in the initial wave on utah beach.

, for six months, we had a job to do and we did i i didn't have any time to be afraid or anything. >> reporter: his mission was to blow up obstacles and anti tank mines while under fire. >>nother of the decisive battles of world history has been joined. his is the day for which free peope long waited. this is d-day. >> reporter: french children paid tribute as the veterans saluted in front of the omaha beach memorial. a group of polish re-eors were awestruck by at being in the presence of the real deal. deitch, who served in the forebearer of the navy seals, recalls men were dying all around him, before he was knocked unconsciigs. he woke up days later in an english hospital. >> the ones that went into omaha

beach because of the cliffs that were there, the germans were dropping everything on the l they had a 7s out of 50 people. utah beach we were fortunate, we had a 20% loss. >> reporter: such selflessness securing the beachhead enabled servicewomen like nurse leila morrison to come ashore later on. >> every day is memorial day. all of them were injured and suffered. rtd i try not to remember that pa. then i want to remember the courage that they showed; remember that they never complained, and they re there for a reason. and if all of them would say if i had to do it all over, i'd do it again. >> reporter: prite brad freeman was a member of easy company immortalized in the hbo tv series "band of brothers." >> well we knows what we come for. we waseady. we were all just ks. aratroopers landed in normandy behind the coastal defenses.

>> we were used to it. i mean we practiced it. knew whenever we stepped out that plane, we didn't have a way back. and we'd better do something if we wanted to live. >> reporter: at the american metery above omaha beach lie some of freeman's brothers in arms. private earl williams from california. private donald macmillin from new york. many were picked off by the germans after being droppein the wrong place. george mullins is now 94 andas just written a book detailing how he fought across europe, was wounded, patched up, carried on, ,d reached hitler's redou eagles nest, in the german alps. >> i'm proud of the outfit i represent, 101st airborne. they're special men to fight with. they, you know what you have when you fight with them. and i did the best i could. >> reporter: russell picket was orrying a flame thrower in the

first wao omaha beach. he was wounded and had to use life preservers from those killed to save himself from being pulled out to sea by the tide. >>tepending on how you look it, my eagerness to go and do, i was proud of that. but what i got done i wasn't proud of it. if i could have burnedut the pill box within the 30 minutes that i was supposed to have burned it out, there wouldave been hundreds of people saved. i criticize myself all theime even though i couldn't help it. i know i couldn'help it, i got sense enough to know that. but if i had my choice i would go on definitely knowing that i was doing a suicide j. >> reporter: but he's regarded as a genuine hero. in villages like colleville sur mer, they are paying homage to the men who liberated them from four years of nazi occupation. at the moment it's like being on

a giant film set in normandy. there's a really festive atmosphere as tens of thousands of people celebrate the sacrifices and courage and sacrifices of those wh participated in the longest day 75 years ago. certainly there's solemnity. but the overriding sentiments that will be the legacy of this anniversary are gratitude an respect. there's intense grat eude in st meise, the first village to be fully liberated. ouyor jean quetier studies the bell tower whereed paratroope hours, suspended by his chute. he only survived by pretending toe dead. like many of his comrades, steele w mistakenly dropped inre anbristling with germans. >> maybe it's the last anniversary with veterans, because they are old m. but it's necessary we remember the sty. it's a very expensive price for fredom and democracy.

>> reporter: medic gene kleindl landed at utah beach. this time he had a different reception. >> they treat me like a rock star and pictures and not realizing that all these many many years, i still can't believe it. >> reporter: today's american paratroopers are naturally drawn fo st mere eglise. for thosowing in their footsteps the greatest generation has a simple message. >> just don't let it happen again, that's the advice i've got for the world. don't let it happen again. o, reporter: at this moment 75 years 50,000 men steeled themselves for the landing, and the assault, not knowing that by the end of the longest day, an estimated 10,000 would be killed, wounded, or listed as missing in action. for the pbs newshour, i'm eamalcolm brabant at omaha.

>> woodruff: with the first democratic presidential debate just three weeks from tonight, we hear now from senator michael bennet of colorado. he's one of 23 candidates vying to be his party's pick to take on president trump in 2020. he's also the author of a new book, "the land of flickering lights-- restoring america in the age of broken politics." senator michael bennet, welcome to the "newshour >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: maybe not the most optimistic title for a book, but what i want to ask you is why mfichael bennet, out all the other candidates who are running? >> by the way, it is, in the end, an optimistic book. it is, i think, a love letter to this democracy, and i think

we're in incredible jeopardy. i think the country reachbred a k point and during this last government shutdown i reached a break point and reised just how far away we were from the priorities of the families i used to work for when i was avperintendent of the denver public schools who real concerns for their kids and the world in they wii they will grow dup, and we're not haven't been addressing it for the last ten years, which is what "the land of the flickering lights" is about i believe it's because the tyranny of the freedom caucus in the last decade and the way mitch mcconnell has used that to stop progress on anything he can from healthcare to guns to climate change. >> woodruff: and what i want to ask you about is, right now, about the democratic field because what you have is joe ofden has surged into the lead. we know a lohat is name identification. >> right. >> woodruff: b unseating an incumbent president, taking the presidency away from another party usually is about the future, who represents the

future. >> i agree. >> woodruff: does joe biden represent the future? >> no, i don think so. i think it's time for a new generation of leadership, and i'm not surprised he's leading the polls because he has more name recognition, certainly than i do. but are going to have a prgorous competition of ideas in this democratiary, and i think we need to do that because i don't think the country, especially the part of country i come from, you know, colorado, i don't think we have any idea what the national democratic derty stands for, and that has to be tood by the voters so that we can take on donald trump and beat him. donald trump is vulnerable. he hasotten into the white house by dividing americans. aur job is to speak with an agenda to the b swath of americans that are out there and overcome not just him but also these other forces that have made it impossible for us to get our work done. biting him is essential but it's not enough. we have to govern the country again. >> woodruff: given what we see in this democratic race, do you

have concerns that the left in your party may pull whoever is the nominee, whether joe bid, you or anybody else, too far to the left on issues whether it's healthcare, college tuition, whatever? >> from point of view, i thought there was room to get in this race because i thought american people needed somebody to tell them the truth. that's not a campaign book. that's a bo about whati believe about america. it's not a book about me either. and i think the successful candidate in the d. j. party, and i suspect that it will be me, will be somebody who levels with the american people through the primary through a general election. that may sound naive, but i k the american people are tired of this game of pandering at the beginning and finding your way later. i think they're going to nominate somebody who tells them how hard this is going to be and what we need to do together to get there. and i'll finalnly say, hag spent a lot of time in iowa and new hashire and a little bit of time in south carolina, i

don't think the base of the democratic party is anywhere tnear where twitter base of the democratic party is and i think those are two different things. >> woodruff: let me askeou about a pi of that. i mentioned healthcare. you're not in agreement with many of you ever peers runni for president on medicaid for all. you're for medicare x. why is thatr? bette >> it is better. i think it's better because we all agree we want universals coverage, and i think it's absolutely shameful in this country we don't have universal coverage and shameful mitch mcconnell has pvented us from doing it and donald trump ios taken insurance away from mi of people. i believe giving people an option so that if they want public insurance they can get it, mine is calle d medicax administered by medicare, and if they don't want to switch to a public option, they can keep their private insuranth. i don'k it's plausible that we'll take insurance away

from 180 million people in america, some of whom who like their health insurance, and it's so important foro mnnell to demonize, here comes the ldemocrats with their b she vick plan. no, we need to bege strat about what we're sproazing and i think medicare and my climate plan and others meet the living room test which is when you're away from the cameras and the craziness in washington, is this something people in their living ith. would agree >> woodruff: let me ask you about the u.s. economy and foreign policy and that is the president's threat now to impose tariffs on mexico over their failurmato rein igers. you and others in the democratic and republican party y be against tariffs, but what do you say to those americans who feel they've lost their job, their velihood is worse off because of jobs that have gone to places like me >> i don't think it's an either/or proposition. i thek you say to people wh

jobs went to mexico that we have to do a much better jobf negotiating trade agreements to preserve the jobs that are here. we've let much too much of our supply chain, manufppacturing chain go overseas, and i think the president was right to call china out, i think he was totally wrong in the way that he did it, but th american people need to know that we are tghting on their behalf. so i thit's all likely important. i think the way he's tied the tariffs to the crisis at the border, some of which he provoked, is really unfotunate. farmers and rampers all over this country have been hamme ard esult of the tariffs that he's put on other countries. it is a tax on our farmers, it is a tax on our workers, a tax -- it is alson attack but it's a tax. woodruff: last queion, president trump's visit to great britain and irela assess this trip. what would you do different as a u.s. president?

>> i think i wouldn't be cheering for brexit, which is what he's doing, and i think that european alliance has been so important to this country since the end of world war ii tomorrow marks the 75t 75th anniverry of-day, that alliance has been critical to us, it is critical to us now from an economic and national security perspective, and any president -- i hope it will be pl -- but any president who es donald trump is going to have to rebuild those alliances is one of the first things he does. >> woodruff: senator michngl bennet runor the democratic nomination for president. thank you. >> thanks. thanks for having me. >> woodruff: it's been almost three months since massive flooding washed over parts of nebraska, iowa and missouri, but for many farmers, recovery has been slow. the region is expected to get

more rain this week. lingering high water has delayed planting for many growers can't afford to miss out on a good crop this season. jack williams from pbs station nebraska net reports, there's not much some fadoers can >> reporter: for scott olson, who farms around 3000 acres of corn and soybeans near the small town of tekamah in nst nebraska, getting a good look at his land these days takes more than just a pick-up truc a farmer, but he's also a pilot and uses his small plane to check on eas he can't access because of high water from the nearby missou river. >> coming down this road down here, the road that goes into this farm, you can't en get into the farm to get to it. the water's high enough now, it's covering over the roads. the other entrance into this field to the north us also under water, so at this point in time right now i can't even get into

my farm ground down here. >> reporter: olson has been able to plant in some areas, but about 500 acres of his land still looks like a big, muddy lake. losing that flooded land this season could cost him more than $150,000 dollars in income. this year's flooding has hit h harder than floods in 2011. tr if you walk across mud, just to think about running a tractor or a planter across it and see how far you get. you can't tough it. there's nothing you can do with it. >> reporter: a story repeated all across the midwest. >> in a two-week ped, the ground needs to dry otherwise the crop willing greatly depleted. it's so doggone wet, continue see how we're going to get it done. >> reporter: as farmers fight high water and taxes and a strayed standoff from china, they're getting help from the trump administration which armounced $16 billion in aid last month.

but he prefers trade. >> i hope the government can help us out and get policies put together and trade deals putwe together san get a decent price for our commodity. >> reporter: most growers who haven't been affected by flooding have already planted corn, soybeans and othe crops, but for those who have fad crop land lost to high water rain, planting hasn't ban option. the u.s. department of agriculture sa that at this time last year 90% of the corn cr in the natin's 18 biggest corn producing states have been planted. this year just 67% of corn is in the ground. the planting rate for soybeans this year is even force. >> when you look at some of ts residue, the soil arountd it is wet underneath it, it's straight mud. >> if farmers can't get into the ground soon, crop yields will likely fall off sharp limit most

farmers have crop insurance that covers losses during a bad growing season, but delayed ans drastically reduced insurance payouts. >> we reach a point in june where your expectations for your average yield have to go down because you don't have enough calendar year get the crop mature. soybeans are different than corn in that you can plant soybeans into the 10th or 15th june be no yield penalty. >> dave haspl acresit between coy and soybeans. his land shirring and didn't flood in march but has been a challenge to plant be of the wet weather. the rain washed away parts of his fields. >> we'll have terraces that get potholesfall of ter but mainly erosion is what we have problems with when we get heavy rain. >> reporter: nielsen has been one of the fortunate ones. s corn and voib -- voib crops

will be okay but he would like to sell them and the trade war with china is testing his patience. >> you have to rebuild the connections. the sellers and buyers have to reconnect. there's going to be long-term effects. this isn't we drop the tariffse and ext day we're shipping as many beans as a year ago, that's notn.going to happe >> reporter: back at scott olson's place in northeast nebraska across the river from an equallyoaked iowa, a little good news and good weather would go a long y. corn and soybean prices have rebounded a bit, but it's still a tough way to make a living. this is a challenging year. what keeps you going here? >> well, just like any other business, i guess you have good years and you have some bad years, but it's something we've always done, it's always been a way of life. i don't want to give it up. >> reporter: olson says farming is all about patience and perseverance, and he says he and a lot of other midwest growers have an abundance of both. for the "pbs newshour," i'm jack

williams in tachamen, nebraska. >> woodruff: we continue our look now at what is in the mueller report. the last two nights we looked at volume i -- russian interference and outreach to the trump campaign. given that most americans don't have time to read the entire 448 page report, we're trying to help explain its key concepts. tonight, we turn to volume ii on rdstruction of justice. lisa dess and william brangham are our guides. >> brangham: did president trump tmmit obstruction of justice? that question that takes up the final, roughly 200 pages of the mueller report. last week, mueller made headlines sayinghis about the president's actions. pr if we had had confidence that thident clearly did not commit a crime we would have

said so. we did not, however, make a determination aso whether the president did commit a crime. >> desjardins: that conclusion, with no conclusion oher the president is guilty or innocent, is where mueller starts this part of the report. he explains his lack of action by invoking an overriding questioncan a sitting president be indicted? on page one, h answer is no. mueller points to justice department policy th "the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting president would... undermi the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions." he put this in more plain language when he spoke last week. >> under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that, too, is prohibited. >> brangham: so then, why

investate? the report states that a president can be indicted after leaving office. in his report, the special counsel is thinking of the future, writing: "we conducted a thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available." >> desjardin mueller says the job of assessing whether a sitting president broke the law, grd what to do about it, belongs to cs. >> brangham: so, as mueller does in this sectioleof the report, s move on to the case for and against obstruction. >> desjardins: the report sees fte president's actions in two phases, before and one key orent: the firing of f.b.i. direames comey. >> brangham: so let's look at fiw the report examines comey's ring. mueller makes a case that the president peatedly wanted assurance that comey was the president's ally, and he didn't get it. at a private dinner withi.omey, the f.irector says the president asks for his loyalty. in february, the predent clears out the oval office to be alone with comey, and asks

him to let go of the investigation into michael flynn, the former national security adviser. mueller's report states comey felt these were direct orders. >> desjardins: tension builds quickly. on march 20, 2017, comey publicly tells congress that the f.b.i. is investigating russian attacks on the election, and any thnks to the trump campaign. mueller report shows the president immediately starts contacting or relaying messages to the acting attorney general, intelligence officials, and repeatedly, comey himself, asking for public declarations that the president is not under investigation. ng may 3, comey testifies before ss and does not say what the president wants. >> brangham: the president fires comey six days later, on page eller writes that, w the night of comey's firing, "the white houted to put out a statement saying it was acting attorney general rod rosenstein's idea to

comey." but rose not participate in putting out a 'false story.'" >> desjardins: that same week, e president says this to lester holt of nbc news: >> and in fact, when i decided to just it, i said to myself, i said you know, this russia a thing with trump and rus a made up story. >> desjardins: many held that interview up as a clear admission the president fired comey to obstruct the russia investigation. but mueller's report says the full nbc interview showed the opposite: "the president stated that he understood when he made the decision to fire comey that the action might prolong the investigation." >> brangham: mueller's report concludes that "the evidence does not establish that the termination of comey was designed to cover up a conspiracy betwe the trump campaign and russia." ceeller says there's¡ substantial evidthat the catalyst, the thing that pushed the president to do it, was comey's unwillingness to tell

the public that the president was not under investig >> desjardins: but of course comey's firing led directly to e appointment of the special counsel, and an investigation of the president. tomorrow nightwe'll look at more of that obstruction investigation. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shtly with a look at a but first, take a moment to hear from y

>> woodruff: singer r. kelly is due back in court tomorrow, facing more charges of sexual rause. feinvestigators are

ikighing charges as well. it's all a sg change in fortune. remiche alcindor is back with a conversation wntly recorded with a journalist who has long pursued thiy. it's our latest installment of our "bookshelf." >> reporter: for years there have been allegations and rumors about r. kelly's behavior. there was a trial, acquittal and more accusations. then this winter concerns intensified. in january a six-hour documentary detailed allegations of r. kelly mistreating and sexually abused women, many minors, even as his career thrived. in february the star was charged with aggregate criminal sexual abuse involving four women, three under the age of consent he the time of the abuse. urned himself into chicago police and was eventually released on bail his record company dropped him. kelly has been repeatedly denying committing any criminal behavior. a nesow book,ess: the case against r. kelly," chronicles

the singer's history and the lives of his accusers, a culmination of two yrs of journalism by jim derogatis, a co-host of the publiradio show sound opinions and with the "new ark times." almost two decad you got an anonymous fact that changed the course of your career saying robert hasa problem with young girls. tell me how you got intove igating r. kelly and what sources told you about his behavior. >> as a pop music criic the chicago sun-times, i got a lot of hate mail a officially tossed this on the pile of press releases and hate letters i was going to throw away, but it was a single-spaced page-long facts tha had a lot of names and details and dates certain tone, robert needs help, robert needs to stop, he has to stop hurting young girls. and i didn't think that a random hater would show that kind of

compassion. yamiche, i had alwa been a reporter first and foremost, i spent five years at the jerse journal covering crooked politicians and mobsters. i threw myself into this story ngcause young women were telli me they were being hurt, and i stayed on the story for 19 years because those calls never stopped coming and, as a and i think as a human being, if a young woman is calling you and saying i nve been hurt one will listen to me, the courts, the cops are not taking me seriously, can i tell you my stothy, that'e job you and i do, isn't it. >> reporter: you write that rhe lives of 48 women were either damaged destroyed by r. kelly. you also write that you think thousands of pele knew. how could r. kelly have gotten away with these alleged crimes r so long? >> well, r. kelly was, you know, if he earned a quarter of a billion dollars as my sources say, jive records earned a full billion and clive coulter and

barry weiss were the executives runninrunning this label, they a very poor record of their artists being treated horribly or their problems ignored, an they know about r. kelly because young women name them as a party to the lawsuits. the music industry had no interest in shutting him down. he was making way too much money. then the book is a unique chicago story. in chicago is churches failed, the schools failed, the journalists failed, the courts failed, ter on the police failed, everyone failed these young black women he preyed on. you noow, i have said one matters less in society than ioung black girls, and when say that, i'm saying it because eozens of young black women h said that to me, and i'm just trying to amplify what they're saying as a journalist. >> reporter: ho r. kelly being black and most of hiss victimobeing black women fac

into the way these alleged crimes were viewed? i e always wrestled with that question because, you know, people would throw at me and another white journalist i was working with you are trying to down a successful black man, and yet we have talked to so many young black women whose lives a were hund ruined, i say, some attempted suicide, according to court, documen according to what they told us, according to the scars on the wrists that i've seen. i've never understood why those blackesomen mattereds than this black superstar. it's not a book i wanted to writ yamiche. it's a dark and horrible place to live, but i thought it wasbe necessaruse, above and beyond the case needing to be made that this is the wort predator in the history of popular music -- and i know that sounds hyperbolic. you know, men have been treating women badly in the music world way before sinatra and way after

chris brown. nobody, i believe, has wrapped up the body 8 count ofung women's lives ruined. and that's not h hyperbole. many dreamed of being singers, their careers destred. >> r. kelly sat down with gayle king, he was angry a emotional. how does that square with what you've seen from sources? >> kelly is a master manipulator of the media and he was delivering an oscar-worthy performance. i'm not the only one. there were people on set who told me the same thing in that interview. he believes he can spin his way out of troubndle. he's indictment in illinois on very serious charges, ten charges originally, 11 more additional charges were added, but there was a federal investigation, three federal investigations, the f.b.i., the nd securityof home and the i.r.s., that are looking at obstruction of juste, tax evasion, sex trafficking and transporting underage girls across state lines formoral

purposes. >> reporter: do you think people are takinthese alleged crimes more seriously this time around? and if so, why? >> i think that people still don't realize the scope of thes e crimes, that they start in 1991 and they are continuing even as you and i speak. at's why i thought this book was necessary. but when i sat with dominic gardner and tell her story the first time in the book, and i asked her, you're a smart, beautiful young woman, a talented poet, why did you spena nine with him? i loved him and he loved me and, yes, he beat mwith an i tension cord and choked and starved me butved him. i said, but, dominick,hy? and she pulled up his mug shot on her cell phone and said, it was them eyes, jim, it was them eyes. there's the power of the music, the cebrity, the fame, there are young girls who believe they will be the next aaliyah, and there's this other thing i think

we'll be trying to pars for years to come. >> reporter: thank you. e book is "souless: the case against r. kelly" by jim derogatis. thank you. >> thank you, yamic >> woodruff: on the ne online right now, officials from u.s. and mexico are working in earnest to come up with solutions on illegal immigration, in response to proped tariffs by the trump administration on mexican imports. we examine possible areas for common ground on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon.

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