captioning sponsored by newsngur productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: tumult at the top. ational security advisor john bolton is oer clashing with the president, the third person to leave that critical post in the trump administration. then, back in session. just weeks before the government runs out of money, congress returns to washington, and guns andes ov impeachment are as fierce as ever. plus, rats to the rescue. many cambodians live in nstant but now, speciallyinedlandmines, rodents are sniffing out the explosives. >> rats have number of advantages compared to human metal detectors, whereas these

tys are trained tsniff t.n.t., which is the explosive in most mines. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> you can do e things you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> bf railway.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for blic broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: exit john bolton. the white house national security advisor is out of that job tonight.t presidump made the surprise announcement earlier today, that he asked bolton leave, in the late turn of a long washington career.reign aft nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> schifrin: for decades, ambassador john bolton has been one of washington's leading hawks. >> the overthrow of saddam hussein, that military aunion, was a reng success. >> schifrin: from defending the war in iraq, to threatening iran, bolton has long advocated the u.s. military as the best way to deter adveres, and change countries' behavior.

>> the iranian regime mu be made aware, that if it continu down the path of international isolation, there will be tangible and painful consequences. >> schifrin: and today, a career of controversy continued, wheny he was firedeet. president trump wrote, "i informed john bolton last night that his services are a longer needthe white house. i disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions." shot back, "i offe resignlton last night, and president trump said, 'let's talk about it tomorrow.'" that talk apparently never happened. today, theresident's allies dispute as normal washingtone turnover. >> i appreciate at john has atne for country for a long time and i think the president will get to pick a national securitso adhe has more confidence in. >> schifrin: at first, bolton did enjoy the president'sce confidn major foreign

policy issue >> i am announcing that the u.s. is pulling out of the iran nucelar deal. >> schifrin: two years ago, president trump withdrew from the iran nuclear deal, which foe years had beenf bolton's top targets. >> the iran deal was in fact the worst diplomatic debacle into american h. >> schifrin: they also agreed on leaving the reagan-era intermediate range nuclear forces, or i.n.f., treaty, with russia. should say to vladimir putin, you either bring russia back into compliance with the i.n.f. treaty, or we're gofng to get ouhat one too. >> schifrin: but administration officials tell pbs newshour, over time, bolton's positions emerged as too aggressive to a president who campaigned on ending wars. >> we will stop racing to topple foreign-- and you understand this-- foreign regimes that weth know nothing about, that we shouldn't be involved wi.

>> schifrin: president trump has negotiated with north korean leader kim jong-un. bolton has long called that kind of negotiation "appeasement."t.> chifrin: on venezuela, the administtion has launched a pressure campaign to remove president nicolas maduro. but, administration officials tell pbs newshour, president trump felt backed into a corner after bolton repeatedly hinted about military intervention. >> i will say again, as thes president id from the outset, and that nicolas madurot and thossupporting him, particularly those who are not venezuelan, should know, is, all options are on the table. >> schifrin: just last week, thpresident and his national security advisor disagreed over how to end the u.s.' longest war. the u.s. has been leading peace talks with the taliban, and the president wanted to try d seal the deal by inviting the taliban to camp david. bolton opposed that. and even over iran, the two diverged.

when iran sh down a u.s. drone in june, bolton pushed for a military response.pr ident trump called it off at >> john bolton's priorities and policies just don't line up with the president. >> bolton was president trump's third full-time national security advismi. sted only five weeks. lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster served for just 13 ltmonths. lasted 17 months. by the end bolton clashed even with those who agreed withim h idealogically, including secretary of state mike pompeo. >> many times ambassad boltbaon and i disagreed, that's to be sure. >> a senior official describes mike pompeo as a trum whisperer. he has won this internal fight, buheven he said todaye administration policy wouldn't change, judy, because thisan administration is dominad even more by one man, the president.

well, along with nick, we are also joined by our white house correspondent, yamiche alcindor. so yamiche, we know it's been reported john bolton did have differences with the president over time,t but wha ultimately led to this decision by your porting? >> sources close to the president tell me this ultimately came down to theen presnot seeing john bolton as someone who was putting on a united front.m the president told likes people that disagree with him. he lik to have spirited discussions about national security or immigration or trade, and he's okay with people sagreeing with him, but sources close to the president the president make a decision, then everybody needs to fall in line andbo essentially johton was not seen as falling in line. most recently that came about because there were reports that john bolton and vice premident pence disagreed with president trump on his decision to try to hold a meeting with the taliban leaders at camp david. john bolton thought it was not a

place that taliban leadersd should come, a that became public, and the white house and people arounthe president were concerned that thre were leaks and thei leaks comng out of the white house and that possibly john bolton was the source of that. so what you saw was a long time coming with the president becoming more and more frustrat with john bolton, but this really came to a head today. >> woodruff: and nick, how much do we know about how much in the end john bolton affected policy and affected the process? >> i think there can be no doubt that he affected policy. previous presidents trieanto keep irnside the nuclear deal. bolton helped push the president out of theran deal. the two agree on the i.n.f. treaty.ey ven agreed on the use of twitter. but ultimately the president did not follow through on bolton's policies. the president chose not to strike iran. the presidt chose not to use the military in a more visible way as part ovenezuela policy.

and the president wants to negotiate, not only with north korea, which ambassador bolton opposed, butlso with iran, nd there could still be this month a meeting between president trump, and iranian president rouhani. that relates to criticism i heard all day. bolton tries to persuade the president, rather than present options thaall of the agencies have as the national security council is designed to do.o other le say, no, there was some proper procedures followed, especially on on topics like china, but this was not only policy but personality. a former senior official told us today that bolton would travel alone to try and, you know, kind of stay out of sight of the president, because the president simply didn't like bolton on a personal level very much. and that means while bolton d have a huge impact initially,t especially with iran, the present at the end of the da did not follow through on bolton's policies. >> woodruff: a yamiche, as both you and nick have been

reporting, this is the third national security advisor to leave this administration. what is the white house saying today about the criticism outis there that thi a white house again in chaos, inurmoil when it comes to national security? s are reallyse aide pushing back on the idea thate the white ho in chaos, even as democrats and with the idea thahave seened record turnover in the trump administration. now, white house sources i was talking to all day told me that john bolton was continuing to prs the president even after he made a decinsion on thigs like north korea, on things like venezuela, and as a resultththis was sog they saw coming, but the fact is that at 10:55 a.m. this morning, white house staff put out a press release, a press schedule that said that ambassador john bolton was going to be briefing report esat 1:30 p.m., and then an hour later at about 11:55 a.m., the presidentd tweeted that john bolton was, in fact, no longer going to be with

the administration. so what you have is within an message coming from the white house, and that in some cases people will say is the chaos of this white house. it's also noted that the when, in fact, with other medi people, including nii haley, the former ambassador to the united nations, she had a formal sitdown oval office departure and saidat things about her some what you saw is a love losi with the pnt and john bolton. so while the white house is pressing and stressing that this was not chaone that everaw this coming, there are people who say this is the white house once again having a revolving door that's spinning and quickly. more wildly and more >> woodruff: not to mention you have the president saying he asked john bolton to leave. john bolton says he offered to resign. so you havtwo cpletely different stories. so this is one that isot yet yamiche alcindor, nick schifrin, thank you both.

>> woodruff: so now, let's get two views now on wt this turmoil means for u.s. foreign policy, with wendy sherman, who held a number of senior foreign policy positions in both the obama and clinton administrations. she now director of the center for public leadership at prvard university's kennedy school of government. and, michael doran was senior director othe national security council staff focusing on the middle east during the george w. bush administration.he lso served in the departments of state and defense. he is now a senior fellow at tho hudson institute, a conservative washington think tank. and welcome to the newshour to both of you. want to ask both of you, and wendy, i'll start with you, what was your reaction when you hed this, and what is the reaction you're hearing from others? >> well, the reaction initiallyl was not r a great deal of surprise, maybe on the time, but not thefact of j bolton's departure. i think many of us thought this was going to b comi down the road at one time or another, and i think a few weeks o many of us thought it was going to

happen then. as i have said before, john a bolton inner s war he didn't want to wage. president trump wanted to get americans out of conflict, wanted to take americans out of afghanistan, out of the middle teast, didn't want too g war, wanted to negotiate directly at high levels witleaders of countries, and john bolton had d different apprhech. on the or hand, as both nick and yamiche pointed out, bolton in some ways provided guardrails for the presidjt. he couldn't go his merry way. s, both in the case of president trump and of john bolton, process is not what isimportant here. each of these are very strong men who believe their point of view and their way forward is the right way forward. one, howevepens to be the president of the united states, and he does get d tecide. >> woodruff: and michael doran, what was your reaction, fd what are row hearinm other people you talk to today? >> my reaction was little different. it was a combination of... a

little bit of diensappoin but like with wendy, i wasn't all that surprised. i was sappointed because i like a lot of john bolt's policies, in particular i like the effect that he's had on the iran deal. and i tend to agree with himi . bus always a little bit surprised by the choice of him as national security advisor, because that job is really best done by someone who is a master of process rather than content. they have to obviously understand the content and they have to have a deep awareness, a deep knowledge of foreign policy, but the job is a coordinating role really. you have to bring all of the other principals together in the national security council, make sure the president undersnds e views of those principles as those principles want them to be

undetood. and then to help the president come to a decsion. and as your reporter said, you have to implement the geesident's decision and not pursue your ownda. >> woodruff: but it sounds like you're saying, michael doran, that you don't think that was john bolton's strength, coordination, keeping the trains running on time in effect at the national security council? >> exactly. i mean, we although he's -- ied woith him when i was in the bush white house. he's an extremely talnted and intelligent person, and he's also a professional, but he's av man wiy strong views. that's not what you look for in an a national secdvurityisor usually. >> woodruff: wendy sherman, what ultimately do you think is john bolton's fect on u.s. foreign policy? where did he make the most difference? >> i think his effect has been quite dise strous, beca don't have a resolution to any front ofny problems us.de the pre, of course, left the iran nuclear deal, but iran

is now headed back toward getting a nuclear weapon, and we don't have any less ste sponsorship of terrorism in the middle east. we don't have a resolution on venezuela, even though john bolton took a very muscular approach toward vezuela, and the president i think quite frankly just lost interest.es we don't havelution on orth korea, and as we all know, famously, john bolton got sent the mongolia in the process because of his disagreements with the president. we don't have resolution in the china tariff trade deal, and i would say ee only plac where john bolton's hand has really shown is that he did get the president to withdraw from the i.n.f. treaty, the treaty with dussia around missiles an indeed i think the psident didn't much care about that and was glad to let bolton take the lead. >> woodruff: michael doran, do you want to react to that? where do you see john bolton having affected u.s. foreign policy the most? >> i don'at think t resolution

need the looat, because the we united states is going to have enems by virtue of who it is and what it has done historically. iran is an enemy of the united states. that's notecause of anything the united states has done. it's because iran wants the drive the united states from the ddle east. and so bolton helped the president put together a containment policy of iran, a policy of competing with iran, unlike the obama administraon, which basically opened up the doors to the r igion to letn do whatever it wanted. very good role there.n pla iyeda no do you think, wendy sherman, leme put it thi way, do you think it will make a big difference, wendy sherman, that john bolton is go? where do you see it making a idifference? hink president will feel that he has a completely free hand now to dwhatever he wa to do. we have seen mick mulvaney, the

chief of staff, take a vry different approach torevious chiefs of staff by letting trump simply be trump. the president nts to make his own decisions. he believes he's his own best advisor. he believes in photo opportunities an flai he isn't someone who very much likes process. he doesn'tant to rely on experts. he doesn't want the deliberative process that michael s outlined. so i think we will see the president have a more engagemt with leaders at high level, try to take some creative approaches to various issues of concern, but those approaches are not going to get us an oucome that protects american national security because they won't bell repared. there won't be a deliberative historyious undetanding,n bring expertise, and ideas to the table. >> woodruff: and michl illan, what do you think change? what will be different without john bolton?' >> i think s mainly one of

tactics. i think john bolton wanted to have a hard policy against l actoe iran, and he wanted it to be constantly hard inwa ever i think the president wants to start out with hard policy.an he to have leverage, but then he wants to have tactical alexibility with how he d with the iranian, including meeting them perhaps at the u. general assembly. so i think we're going to see ae lot mo tactical flexibility, but i'll be surprised if there is a very significant change in the main policies of the government just because people like mike pompeo, who has a very good relationship with the president, doesn't have a world view tha's significantly different than john bolton. no michael doran and wendy sherman, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you, swriewdy. -- judy. >> woodruff: and in the day's other news, secretary of state mike pompeo dismissed news accounts that a c.i.a. informant was rescued from russia. cnn and the "new york times" reported that the kremlin moled was extrac017.

he was said to be in growindanger after exposés of russian meddling in the 2016 u.s. election. pompeo insisted today that the reports are wrong-- without saying why. >> as a former c.i.a. director, i don't talk about things like this very often. it is only the occasions when puts people at risk, or theink reporting is so egregious as to create enormous risk to the united states of america, that ateven comment in the way i just did. and i won't say anything more about it. i know the c.i.a. put out a statement. suffice to say, the reporting there is factually wrong. t >> woodruf reports said that the informant worked for eventually gained to thendes highest levels of the kremlin. officials in the bahamas said today that the death toll from hurricane dorian has risen to search teams recovered more bodies from the wreckage,at largely on gbaco island, and they continued looking today.

evacuations on abaco are also continuing, as thousands try to get out to nassau. the head of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration has joined the furor over president trump's claim that hurricane dorian threatened alabama. neil jacobs defended noaa today for criticizing a birmingham- contradicted mr. trump. that but,e also thanked the forecasters for "good intent." the "new york times" has reported that u.s. commerce secretary wilbur ross had threatened to fire top offials at noaa over the issue. in iraq, at least 31 people were killed ia stampede today, as shiite pilgrims marked the holy day of ashoura. officials say a lkway collapsed and touched off chaos. it happened during an annual pilgrimage that drew hundreds of thousands of worshippers. they marked thdeath of the prophet mohammed's grandson hussein. in addition the dead, at least 100 people were injured.

the british parliament was officially suspended today for one month amid the brexit chaos. prime minister boris johnson forced the suspension, but strst, lawmakers voted aga without a formaleal. union they also opposed calling new elections. today, labour leader jeremy corbyn dueled with johnson at long distance over the elections issue. >> no one can trust the word of the prime minister, who is threatening toreak the law to force through no-deal. so, a general election is coming, but we won't allow hnson to dictate the terms. >> what a load of nonsense. we were very, very clear that if people wanted a democratic moment, if they wanted an labour opposition and,to the mysteriously, they decided not to go for it. so we're going to get on. >> woodruff: johnson has ved to deliver brexit by the

halloween deadline, with or without a dene.ou in north carolina'wling ninth congressional district headed bk to the polls for a redo of a 2018 mid-term race. hrownnitial results were out over evidence of fn the republican side. president trump rallied voters in the disict last night, in an race s a small bellwether for the 2020 elections. the percentage of americans without health insurance rose in 2018, for the first time since obamacare was passed in 2010. the u.s. census bureau says that 27 million people lacked medical coverage, or about 8.5% of the population. at the same time, the poverty rate fell to its lowest point since 2001. california now has two new laws aimed at doctors who write fraudulent medical exemptions from school vaccinations. governor gavin newsom signed the

legislation on monday. the bills passed amirge of measles cases this year, and yspite emotional protests hundreds of vaccine opponents. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 74 points to close at 26,909. the naaq fell ree points, and the s&p 500 added one point. still to come on the newshour:un preventingiolence and debating impeachment. members of congress return to washington. g iffing out danger. rats find a ll the detection of land mines. d, much more. >> woodruff: with the augu recess now over, members of congress scramble today to prioritize their agenda items.ap asol hill correspondent lisa desjardins reports, there's a lot to choose from.

>> desjardins: their first full day back from summer break, house democrats wanted to talk guns and gun violence, holding a forum on the issue. >> we will fight on every front: in t courts, and in the congress, and in the court of public opinion, to make sure this issue is too hot to handle for the g.o.p. to block. we're not taking "no" for an answer. i isesjardins: speaker pel particularly touting a bill the house already passed, to expand background checks to include most private sales. that idea has gained new attention after last month's mass shooting in odessa, texas. offials say seven people were killed by a man who failed a background check, but got a gun r through a private sale where no background check is required. that violence, along with attacks in el paso and dayton,o ohio led t deaths. and all of that is leading democrats to pressure the senate to vote on more background checks. senate democratic leader chuck

schumer: >> a debate on gun safety should be our first order of ss, and the place to start a debate is a vote on the house-passedan bipartackground checks bill. >> desjardins: but in the senate, one vote matters most-- that of republican leader mitch mcconnell, who has said for a t gun biget a vote, the president must back it first. >> we do, in fact, await word from the white house about what the president is willing to sign. >> desjardins: this, despite polls showing nationwide, overwhelming support for increased background checks. an npr/pbs newshour/marist survey out today shows that 83% of americans supportinaws requbackgroundhecks for gun show purchases and private sales. this puts enormous pressure on vulnerable republican senators up for re-election next year, like susan collins of maine. >> over the august recess, i had exynsive conversations with

colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and wite white house, and i'm optimist that we could ach an agreement on a package that would pass the senate. >> desjardins: as senators struggle to vote on anytng, house democrats are voting on more and stepped-up ideas, today, moving bills through committee to limit high-capacity magazines and support more red- flag laws, allowing law enforcement to take weapons from anyone thought to be danserous. some hemocrats are pushing to return to an all-out ban on assault-style weapons. but, with congress divided, the deciding voice may be presidentr p's, who met with republican leaders about gun violence today. but he has indicated both an openness and opposition to gun legislation in recent days. therein lies the cllenge, says democratic senator chris coons of delaware. >> i'm sure he'll take a position.po

the question is, will he hold it? if he does, he will be able to lead us forward to makingre pr on guns. if he doesn't, i think we will all be once again disappointedk at the l progress. >> desjardins: democrats aregu hoping for morvotes in the house in coming weeks. and i spoke late te ay with snow nchin, who is one of the people involved in negotiation, and he told me that he hears from the white house that staff the plan to present a appropriate dal to the president this week, but judy, it is notea if the president is going to say a clear yes or no on that proposal. manchin and others hope, so but we will wait and see. woodruff: so much to keep track of, lisa. the other big cloud hanging over expectations right now has to do with whether there's going to be a move towa proceeding with an impeacent inquiry of the president. what are democrats saying aboowt that right morning in the houn theis judiciary committee, that they actually want the move past or

expand past the mueller report r wiards to impeachment. they will now investigate other things involving the president. as fars impeachment goes, though, they will change the process and they're going to allow themselves some mor w powehin the judiciary committee. they were king a vote on that procedural idea on thursday. it's important because it would allow jerry nadler, the democratic chaif rmanat committee, more ability to link any hearings to impeachment if he wanu. his staff have more poer, perhaps attorneys to do behind closed doors quelling, and we do expect a slu of important witnesses coming up. now, is it an official impeachment inquiry? a court might say no. democrats are trying the say ees, but the majority of democrats want o. it's in the clear if they have t one or not. >> woodruff: so yet another issue. trade, democrats, congress figuring out what to do. the president is phing the democrats to ratify the u.s.-mexico trade agreemen meantime, you have this trade war escalating between china and the united states. where do you see that moving?

>> i think first thing to focus on is that u.s.-mexico-canada trade deal u.s. mca.em houseocrats, the pressure i on them from many businessin interestludg agricultural interests and n swing districts for vulnerable democrats. th want to get this through. but house democrs are not sure they like the deal. they're not sure it has enough protections for workers in it. these next few weeks will be criticalmy eporting from talking to democrats today, they're not quite sure what their strategy is on this yet. >> brangham: okay. very quickly, last thing i want to ask about, clock ticking on t coming up with a way to fund the government. >> oh, just that, let's fundhe government. >> woodruff: quickly. >> quickly,he hope is, and it look like both the hoe and senate, both parries are moving toward a continuing resolution toind of puptd this down the road, fund government at the end of this month for maybe another month or two while they try to work out a more detailed bill. but today there were many signse that that xt debate is going to be worse than this one for

two reason, on, the topic of abortion has come up again, and what funding is restricted or not for abortion, and also president's decision to divert that funding from military projects for the wall, that's a hot issue and it's hard to figure out how they will get past it, but theyill try and delay that harder debate if the can until around thanksgiving. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, you had have your track shoes on. >> i did. i wore flats today. >> woodruff: so, the congressional agenda depends in large part on president trump' own priorities. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor is back. so yamiche, let's talk about some of leis. the president melt -- met with republican lawmakers today. what are you learning about what, if anything, they agreed on how the proceed? >> well, the big priority of this administration is i'm told to come up with some sort of gun law legislation. i'm told ha the president is t thinkiough exactly what that's going to be. the white house wants to release a plan as early as late this week or early next week, and i'm

tot that the presidnts to focus on mental health issues some he's interested in either changing the law so that the background checks that people go through now eght include som sort of mental health welfare check. there is also this idea that the whithouse might come out with plan to strengthen and make it harder for people who are havinm a possibtal breakdown to get a gun or keep their gun. but white house officials haveea not been very about what the president believes and republicans on the hill are really waiting for theident to give them a strong sort of direction about where he wants to go on gu legislation. so the other thing of note is that as lisa was talking about impeachment procedures, this white house is gearing up for a fight on impeachment. they feel as though the impeachment procedures that are being possibly voted on in the house judiciary commithee, 's going to be an affront to the president, and they're ready the fight on that, they're alsoh readfight on the idea that the president's white house hdes and his allies may be called up to thl. they're thinking through whether or not they're going to have they're going to assert there. so there is a lot the white

house is struggling with, but the number-one thing is on guns and impeachment. >> woodruff: yamiche, i want to ask you about the administration andhacience. therbeen this controversy over the last nber of dayshi about how drawing appeared on a map of the weather of t hurricane dorian, how bad it was going to hit the esunited stat whether it was going to hit the state of alabama, whih appeareda indrawing that we saw in the white house. what are you hearing at the white house right nowt these questions about whether the white house is interfering in the prep rat role of agencien that conduct sciee? >> well, this is an issue that started off small that people thought was gointo go away and that the president has essentially dragged on and on and on. the white house says the president was right and people are making too much of this, but the head of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration came out and said the weather should not be politicized. and theris this idea that the commerce secretary, wilbur ross

was threatening employees atni noaa to fall in line with the president and not talk about the fact nthat alabama was going to be impacted by the hurricanef >> woo so much for you to keep track of, yamiche,jo betwee bolton and all of this. yamiche alcindor at the ewh house, lisa desjardins at the capitol. thank you both. >> woodruff: they are lethal legacies of war.mi las present a constant, hidden threat. special correspondent fred de same lazaro reports fromia cambwhere the danger is part of daily life. bu an unlikely battalion of animals is ming a difference. this is part of fred's series,ra but, these african giant pouch their cages, are called heroom

rats by their handlers. they have names like harry potter, godiva, and, er... frederick-- no relation. geteg ttr crsuind eensne headed out before dawn to a former battlefield iiarural camb their task: sniff out landmines. >> everyone was surprised, even me before i came to apopo, i heard that the rats were detecting landmines. it was like somethin unbelievable to me. >> reporter: mark shukuru is head rat trainer in mbodia for the belgian non-profit apopo. he is from tanzania, where this species is also native, and he halearned early that they some of the most sensitive noses in the animal kingdo each comes out of a rigorous program in tanzania, shown in this promotional video, that trains them to distinguish explosives from other scts. each time they sniff out t.n.t. buried in this test field, a trainer uses a clicker to make a distinct sound, and they get a treat. >> so, t.n.t. smell, clicker,

food. t.n.t. smell, clicker, food. t.n.t. smell, clicker, food. >> reporter: the drill can take up to 12 months before handlers are confident that when the animal scratches in place, an explosive is buried below. >> we have never msed ything with the rats. so they're doing good. >> reporter: rats have a number of advantages compared to human de-miners, who must rely on metal detectors.t they detlot of scrap old battlefields., afterll, they are litter, but they don't always contain explosives. whereas these guys are trainff to s out the t.n.t. specifically, which is the explosive in most mines. since 2016, apopo's hero rats have found roughly 500 anti- personnel mines and more thanpl 350 uned bombs in cambodia. they're the second anil to be deployed in mine clearance. dogs were first. animals can work much faster than hans, although when the land is densely mined, metal

detectors are considered more efficient. thuch ly, who leads the government's de-mining effort, says there's plenty of work to go around. the ministry has exhaustive maps of areas it calls "contaminated." >> we come out with the numbers that are around four to six million anti-personnel landmine, in this couno still have a long way to go to clear all of them. >> reporter: that translates to a lot of contaminated land in this largely rural agrarian country, an economic and exisntial threat. >> we have more than 26,000 people killed and injured over the years-- 30% of them are women and children. c reporter: it's the legacy ofr three decades ofonflict that ended in the late '9. in cambodia's west, landmines were buried by the genocidal khmer rouge regime, and by the vietnamese army that drove them from power alongside the new cambodian army. in the east, near vietnam, lie millions of tons of unexploded

american bombs dropped during the war.e this maye only country with a landmine museum. it was started by aki ra, who waconscripted as a child to fight for the khmer rouge. h laid mines himself, and spent much of his adult life trying to remove them.tr hesisarmed many of the devi on display here himself, and says his goal is to raise awareness of what mines can do. >> (ld translated ): the cn during my time all went through it, but it seems like the young, the children growing up during this generation, they're not aware of the danger orsuhe ties of landmines that still occur today in cambodia. >> reporter: tens of thousands of cambodians live in close proximity to the dormant killers. this school was just steps from the minefield we visited with the apopo rats. >> people are forced to enter these contaminated areas quite simply because they don't have a choice. becae their livelihoods depend

on it. >> reporter: rebecca letven works with the british mines advisory group, one of several aid agencies working in cambodia. 27 years into the collective effort, they've freed up some 18,000 acres. that's less than a tenth of the terrain considered contaminated. >> it's important that we don't forget what happened here in caodia, and we don't forget that the country itself is still very heavily contaminated. >> reporter: this year's toll so far-- 11 killed and 51 injured. at this regihoal prosthesis ital, a steady stream of victims arrives each day to bett fitted or refied with artificial limbs. >> ( translated ): the old one was getting real tight, especially around my thigh. >> reporter: 39-year-old sna him stepped on a landmine in 2002. like many patients here, he's a small farmer, growing rubber and cashew nuts with his wife and three children.

>> ( translated ): i am ulways very carhen i walk in the fields, because i am worried it could happen to my other leg. i feel very upset that i lost a part of my body, because it prevents me from doing other activities that normal people are able to do. >> reporter: meanwhile, the various de-mining teams continue inch forward with the tedious, dangerous work. there's little evidence anore of the hostility that drove the shattering conflict. old combatantsave moved on over time, but, nister thuch laments, so has the world's >> i think there'soral obligation for everybody involved in war in the past. i think that it was the cold war and then small nations like cambodia are the victims of this. >> reporter: apopo plans to bring in 40 more rats, to expan the force anplace retirees. each animal works about eight years, and then lives out the rest of its days alongside

fellow heroes. all, working toward the day when they can broadcast to the world that cambodia has destroyed the last unexploded bomb. the government wants that to haen by 2025. its big task is to convince enough donors to help with the cause. ( three whistle blows ) ( explosion ) for the pbs newshouris is fred de sam lazaro, near siem reap, cambodia. >> woodruff: harvey weinstein was a titan of the film industry, the prolific and powerful hollywood media mogul behind oscar-winning pictures like "shakespeare in love" and "pulp fiction." but on october 5, 2017, all that came crashing down. on thaday, a "new york times" investigation, led by reporters jodi kantor and megan twohey, was published.

it exposedor the first time a decades-long trail of alleged abuse toward actors, forr gaployees and others. this included alons of sexual assault, harassment and a coordinated campaign of intimidation meant to keep women silent. kantor and twohey's reporting on weinstein marked a milestone in the cultural ment known as the "me too" movement. in their book, "she said," whica is out todayor and twohey their investigatioorkings of jodi kantor and megan twohey join me now from new york. thank you to both of you for joining us. ratulations on the book. jo, i'm going to start with you. the two of you did help chae nge ndscape, the cultural landscape in this country when it comes to howomen are treated in terms of sexual misconduct, but what i want to ask you is why do you think women before now have not been willing to talk about theofse kind things? so to be honest, in our

experience, womeetimes still have a really hard time talking about these things. even though "me too has certainly changed things and certainly some of the sigma is gone, women still have a pretty tough time coming forward, and there are two stories we tell ia the bout this. one is about a recent stories.e the figures in our book is a woman who is a central weinstein viim, because the was so much cover-up in her particular allegations. we approached rowena in the summer of 2017. she wouldn't answer our messages or phone calls. we had to show up knock on her door. we reached only her husband, who knew nothing about these allegations. it turned out she had never told her husban for two years we kept in touch with her behind the scenes. she wouldn't even k to us until a few months ago. finally she went on the record in our book, and it took two

years of discussion to get ther t and thenink the other story we tell ihat's sodicative is the saga of cristine plazay ford coming forward and the behind-the-scenes testimony, which is a difficult story fullt gh decisions about whether or not to come forward publicly. >> woodruff: i want to get to some of the vestigative reporting you did. u two knocked on hundreds of doors. you sent hundreds of e-mai and texts, megan, what did it take? what did you do, do you think that broke thistory open when others hadn't been able to? >> another one of the real challenges in doing thisg report that many of the women who had been victimized by harvey had also been legally silenced by him through these secret settlements. these have applied to not just victims of harvey weinstein but victims of sexual harassment and sexual aseault across country. so when a reporter comes story, there with was a woman

who had worked for weinstein in 1990 and haa been egedly sexually assaulted by him and we tracked her down to a family home here in new york, just outside new york, knocked on her door. she opened it.e d a young daughter bygh her an she said, i hve been waiting for this knock on more door for 25 years, and yet b oecau this secret settlement that she had been required to sign, she was terrified of speaking out. so this was one of thees challehat we face in the course of our investigation. but we also reat zed thaese secret settlements that have been used to cover up misconduct for so many years is that if 're able to ece together the financial trail of payoffs, itul actually help illuminate the misconduct. >> woodruff: well, the inork that goeto investigative reporting comes through loud and clear in your writing in the book. jodi kantor, what did it take to get progminent ures like

gwyneth paltrow, movies stars, i'm assung wihout them, without their talking, it would have been much harder to get t other peop talk. what did it take to get them? >> the first step was to try to figure out how to even reach these women privately. we couldn't go through agents. we couldn't go through publicists. and then there's the question of, if you do get um taurman or ashley judd or gwyneth paltrow on the phone, what do you tually say to them in the first 45 seconds of the phone call the try to earn that trust. but actually, things ended up workina little diffe yntly th describe, which is essentially we realized that the hollywood silence over harvey weinein was holding. we were accumulating this stack of off-the-record disturbing hotel room stories, but all of these actresses we very afraid to go on the record, so what we started doing was building a mountain of other evidence, and that mountain consisted of

internal records, the legal and financial tra the settlements, a very important internal company mem and it was really being having thatce evid that we were able to make the casase to hley judd to get on the record, because w said, we're not putting you into a he said/shsaid situation where you're standing here alone. we have 25 years worth of that becomes a basat you can stand on for coming forward. >> woodruff: i saw thatas part of the argument you were making to so many women, you were saying, we owe ito these other women, because of what they have gone through, tok tal now.ga twohey, what about harvey weinstein himself? how tough of a character are we talking about going up against? >> when we broke this story in 2017, it was just the beginning. we had been able to connect some of the dots aut his alleged spreaddation going back decades and how he had been able to

cover it up, but with the additional reporting for thisep book, we started to pull back t the curtain e machinery that was in place that harvey het many place to silence his victims and try alt our investigation. that included amassing like teav y high-powered attorneys, inf uding lisa bloom, onee most prominent feminist attorney, in the country who made the rekable decision to cross sides to work for him in 2016 and 2017 as he was trying to fight back this sto ary. so included black cube, i this privatnvestigative firm made up of former israeli basically promised a $300,000 bonus by weinstein if they cou succeed in stopping our investigation.o >> woodruff:i, how much do you think things have changed for working women as a result of your reporti and the reporting of others on harvey weinstein and other prominent men who have been accused in the last few years? >> what's so confounding is that nothing has changed at the same

time. like we alved through ally feels seismic social shift. and there really is lots of of kind of mass accountability after the story broke where all of these men were fired of had the leave their jos, the ft that there are so many state laws to the fact that corporatio taking this much more seriously. we read in-depth about the weinstein company, because we try to show how this organization was trying to protect itself instead ofot ting women, and in the process it basically destroyed itself. so on the one hand, ere is all of that change. on the oth hand, if you go into th eveday workplace today, especially for low-income women, does anything feel really differene federal sexual harassment laws are still really weak, and i think that tre's alsnow a

lot of controversy about "me too," which can sometimes seem like a really productive debate and sometimes feel like just this huge argument that's not really going anywhere. so i think the question remains to be seen, what areee all of us collectively going to do with this period that we live through. what are we going to tll our grandkids about this era? are we going to say, are we going to be able to say, i was there when things really shifted, or are they going to be telling us, oh, yes, that still happens at my summer job. >> woodruff: very good question. an megan, finally, you know, jodi just mentioned the controversy. you are e starting to har conversation more and more ab ut whether me too has gone too far, and whether men have gotten swept up in this who shouldn't have been. how does one know whis too far? >> well, listen, i think there is absolute agreent by both accusers and the accused that there has not been the typof substantial reform that can guarantee that there is a fair system by which complaints can be madend vetted and by which

people can determine gui or innocence and alswhat accountability looks like. and so list, there is no question that there still needs to be a lot of systematic change movingorward to make sue that everybody is adequately protected, but was reporters feel like you can't really sonle wproblem that you can't see, and soe really consider it our job to just continue unearthing the facts and helping to bringt. them to li >> woodruff: well, remarkable to hear you say you are still rerting onis day after day after day. again, congratulations on the " booke said." it's jodi kantor and megan twohey. thank you both. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, celebrating a unique lens to see life. amna nawaz remembe one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, part of our

"canvas" series. >> you know, you're a hunter. you're hunting for a good nawaz: he was best known for vividly capturing america's quirks and spotlighting theco try's social divisions in everyday life. robert frank was born ind switzerl a wealthy european jewish family, but he was decidedly an american, one m who managed ntain an outsider's point of view-- as he documentary about reer,15 "don't blink." >> i tried not to talk to them, and i didn't want them to talk to me. >> nawaz: frank emigrated to new york in 1947, and started work at "harpers bazaar," but he soon came aware of many of the stark contrasts in american society. that perspective was a driving force behind his most celebrated work, 1957's "the americans." starting in 1955, frank criss- crossed the country, snaing 28,000 photos in just two yearsg ultimately culhem down to a collection of just 83. his workas in sharp contrast

to more traditional, optimistic photos of the time. frank reflected on that work in "don't blink:" >> when i look at the 83 photographs i chose for the book, i think i really got the essence. >> nawaz: like this shot of a trolley car in new orleans.. and a political rally in chicago. of photography at the nationalr gallery of art in washington, d.c. she knew frank, and says "the americans" revealed a country that was plagued by racism and consumerism. >> he looked beneath thein surface, sthese ills in american society, but he also photographed novel areas of beauty within the country.ec su that other photographers haven't previously looked at, such as cars, diners, and even the road itself. >> nawaz: greenough says the book also made frank's unique tistic style influential

>> many of them have a sort of fast, seemingly intuitive look,s as if heturned around and captured the image. they're often off-kilter, which gives a great sense of dynamism to them. the book, "the americans" was itially reviled by the critics, but it very quickly became embraced by a younger generation of photographers, and then others. >> nawaz: frank's work featured her cultural icons of thday. he befriended "beat" writer jack kerouac shortly after compiling "the americans," and kerouac later wrote the book's forward. and, frank's black-and-white photos were featured on the cover of the rolling stones' critically-acclaimed 1972 album "exile on main street." later in his career, frank continued to shoot photos and film, largely focusing his lens on america's least privileged, rather than the powerful.nk robert fied monday, in nova scotia.

he was 94 years old. >> woodruff: and there's more online, where we take a closer a loone of frank's most enduring images from his book "the americans."ou that's owebsite, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the net.hour for toni i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, a 'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs rovided by:ilbeen p >> bnsf ray. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services fi raymond jame >> the ford foundation. n working with visionariese frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of n york. supporting innovations in education, demratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and

security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the rporation for public broadcasting. pbsfr contributions to yo statio viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

>> pati narrates: los cabos, m mexico. down at th tsouthern tip baja peninsula, one of mexico's most popular tourist destinations is also one of its newest cities. but there's a unique history here that dates back centuries. >> the pirates used to come and hide right there in the bay of cabo san lucas. >> i'm following this chef and food historian off the beaten path to find traces of that european pirate influence still alive today. it's the same technique as pizza! i'm taking that european influence into my kitchen too with a mouthwatering, cheesy, veggie-loaded mexican lasagne. look at all those layers! and a crispy and plump shrimp salad topped with the tastiest roe.ted vegetable vinaigrett