captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: a pivotal week for the presidency. the impeachment inquiry intensifies, as a whistleblower's concerns are increasingly verified. then, the road tuence. china's belt and road initiative builds infrastructure around the world, but critics say the cost >> when you start borrowing huge sums of money and asking foreign countries to develop, and then you cannot pay, then oseiously, you're going to that part of the countuf. >> woo and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the breakneck fallout from the whistleblower complaint, and the opening salvos of the impeachment inquiry against

president trump. all that and more, on t's pbs newsur. >> major funding for t h pbs newshour been provided b ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular offers no-contract wireless plans that arredesigned to help you do of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, a texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our

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home for a break tonight, leaving a white house besieged by impeachment revelations. the disclosures-- and presiden trump's denials-- kept coming today, and the top democrat inya congress kept up the pressure. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: a historic week. and, at the end of it, bothsi s sounding off. house speaker nancy pelosi summed up the situion from her point of view like this: >> the impeachment of a president is as serious as our coressional responsibilities can be, apart from declaring war or something. and so we have to be very prayerful and we always have to put country before party. the clarity of the president's actions is compelling, and gave us no choice but to move forward.d. >> alcindor: on monday, president trump started the week in new york upbeat. he was looking forward wo being on tld stage at the u.n. general assembly. but, that visit was quickly upend, when news broke that thers a whistleblower

complaint from themmntelligence ity against him. it focused on a july 25 phone call with ukrainiapresident volodymyr zelensky. the complaint alleged that president trump pressure ukraine to investigatete democratic rival and former vice president joe biden, and his sor hu and, it accused the president of temporarily withholding military aid, to force ukrainook into the younger biden's business deangs in ukraine. the whistleblower did no personally hear the phone call, but said "multiple officials" relayed the facts. reports say the whistleblower is an unidentied c.i.a. officer. on tuesday, speaker pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry. she confirmed it wld narrowly focus on that call. >> the president of the united states used taxpayer dollars to shake down the leader of another untry for his own political gain. >> alcindor: initially, white house officials bloced release of a transcript the call, as well as the whistleblower complaint itself. but by wednesday, after both the house and senate demanded the transcript, the white house

gave in. d tributed a memo summarizing the call. it also sent the redacted whistleblower complaint toss cong and yesterday, the house intelligence committee made thei document p among the revelations, the whistleblower accuses president office to solicit interferenceis from a foreign country in the 2020 u.s. election." the complaint also said senior white house officials intervened to "lock down" all recf the ukraine phe call.e ph and, it alleged that "this was ot the first time'nder this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this ceword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive... information." today, reports surfaced that unnamed white house officials confirmed the attempt to "lock down" the zelensky call. minutes after the complaint was released on thursday, acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire testified before the house intelligence committee.

>> we consulted with the white house counsel's office, and we were advised thamuch of the information in the complaint was in fact subject to executive privileg haveivilege that i do no the authority to waive.ea >> alcindor:hile, yesterday, during a private event at the u.s. mission to the at the whistleblower and his out sources. "bloomberg news" pomlished video he event. >> that's close to a spy. you know what we used to do in the oldays, when we were smart, right?ea the spies and n. we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.diff >> alcindor: today, the president took to twitter, saying it's "sounding more and more like the so-called whistleblower isn't a whistleblower at all." back in washington, house democrats are forging ahead on their inquiry, even as they begin a two-week columbus day recess. >> the president of the united i statthreatening a whistleblower's life. authoritarian behavior, and we have to recognize and see it for what it is.

>> alcindor: but republicans, by and large, are still defending the president. >> he had no first-hand knowledge, wasn't on the call, and the inspector geral even told us that he had a bias against the president.mo and yethe ats are going to move ahead with impeachment? after reading that transcript? it's just ridiculous >> alcindor: speaker pelosi said today there is no timeline for the inquiry, but the chairman of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, said beginhment hearings cou as early as next week. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now with the latest. >> woodruff: yamiche, ine democrats g more specific about who they ant to come testify from the trump administration. what are you learningut who all may be implicated in this? >> the whistleblower's complaint focuses on president trump, but, like the mueller rept, it also outlines a number of individuals who are trying to mitigate president trump's alleged actions orelp him. so i want to walk through some complaint.ple mentioned in the rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer. the whistleblower calls him a

central figure in esident trump's alleged effort to pressure ukraine. he's said to met personally with ukrainian officials. johnolton is implemented because theational securityio council is accused of trying to bury the call. barr is accused of pressuring ukraine. president trump talks about barr on the call with th president of ukraine. state department officials are said to be othe call and rudy giuliani claims the state departmentalled and asked him to get involved with ukraine. kurt walkerais a u.s. notions, a u.s. ambassador to the european union. both are saying to have given advice tok uraine saying here's how teal with trump's action. so aot of people are involved. >> woodruff: you repord adam

schiff is talking about maybe moving as quickly as next week. what are yolearning about how the committee is going to move sorward? there'uch to cover and they want to move quickly. >> democrats have eid thy're going to move quickly with the impeachment inquiry expeditiously. they're doing thaat.e the hotelligence committee is basically coming back into d.c. friday and early nex at least, and having a hearing with inspector general michael atkinson. he's supposed to be testifying behind closed doorshibout basically the handling of this call. also three house committeesta subpoenaed sec of state mike pompeo for documents relate to ukraine, the house intelligencesiommittee, ovt committee and house foreign relausons commit where are saying you have till friday to produce the documents. npr surfaced an interview that happened in march where mitch mcconnell said if the house voted to impeach president trump the senate would have no choice

>> woodruff: so much going on. every week is high pressure atu the white . this one has been particularly. so how are they doling with thiso >> the whitee is in>> full defense mode and trying to geto help fthe trump campaign with all of this. the president has been lahing out but the trump campaign is launching millions of dollars is ads on facebook, social media and cable news outlets and are basically making the se the president has been unfairly targeted. the otherhing, some ways, the spin will continue from the white house, and that spin is, in their part, defense of the president. it's also imrtant to note there are 300 former national security officials who released a letter ani want to read part of the letter because all of this is going on as pesple are sounding the alarm. they say w the letter e consider the president's actions to be a profound national security concern.e they also say re's no escaping that what we already know i serious enough to merit

ent proceedings, so as the president is launching his impeachment defense, you have democrats and republicans bushing back on that. >> woodruff: the ads the white house saying they're going to run will starurt quickly. >> it's the trump campaign running the ad but quily starting this weekend. >> woodruff: thank you. thank you so much. will. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, democrats in the u.s. house of representatives challenged president trump on another front-- the southern border. they voted to end the national emergency declaration that allows military funds be divert to building a border wall. the senate already approved the resolution, but the president is expected to veto it. congress was not able toov ride a similar veto last march. today blocked the trumpangeles

administration's new rulesou that prevent indefinite detentions of migrant children. the judge said the rules violate the standards set by the 1997 so-called "flores settlement." it barred indefinite detention. the administration is expected toppeal. iran's president hassan rouhani says that the united states offered to lift all sanctions in exchange for renegotiating the d 2015 nuclel. rouhani returned to tehran today after atteing the u.n. general assembly in new york. he said european leaders there brought him a meage. >> ( translated ): they said america was saying it uld lift the sanctions. another issue under discussion was which sanctionwould be lifted. the americans had clearly stated that we would lift the entire sanctions. president trump med that iran asked for sanctions relief in return for a meeting, but,

he tweeted, "i said,urse, 'no!'" meanwhile, iran today released a british-flagged tanker that it had detained in july. iranian state tv showed th ip leaving port. it sailed to dubai so the crew could disembark and undergo medical checks. the vessel was seized after british authorities in gibraltar stopped an iranian oil tanker suspected of violating european sanctions. the british released that ship last month. in afghanistan, millions of people are preparing for tomorrow's presidentiaec on, despite taliban threats of violence. t in kabay, armed police were preemptively deployed to otlling stations. but, potential vers were taliban's wrath. to risk the >> ( translated ): if, likeed previous electiod , fingers wo chopped off, no security, i personally will not go to vote. >> (co translated ): at an, we will go to vote and elect our leader. we support the afghan security

forces ensuring our security. >> woodruff: president ashraf ghani is seeking re-el to a second term. his chief executive, abdullah abdullah, is his main rival. security forces in egypt moved today to prevent new, mass p protests against president abdel fattah el-sisi. popular demonstrations in recent ys targeted poor living conditions and corruption. police vehicles took up positions all over central cairo today. there were still scattered protests, but el-sisi dismissed them, and the claims o corruption. >> ( translated ): this is an image being painted as was done before, comprised of lies and defamation, and some media rking to present an image that isn't true. we're really strong. the country is really strong so don't worry about anything. >> woodruff: egyptiangy authorities have carri out mass arrests in recent days. human rights monitors say at least 1,900 people have been detained. hundreds of thousands of young

people marched in cities worldwide today in a second wavi of wwidete protests. the rallies began in new zealand, where demonst crowded filled streets outside the parliament in auckland. elsewhere, there were 180 protests in italy alone, with more than 10,000 people0,00 marching in rome. back ithis country, federal immigration judges accused the u.s. justice department of unfair labor practic a union representing the more than 400 judges alleged that a racist, anti-immigration blogpo appeared in a briefing. the union also said judges are sinking undehuge case loads, and that the department is challenging their right toaveth a union. president trump tonight hasdi sgned a sp bill to keep the federal government open. it will fund federal agencies through november 21. it gives lawmakers more time to

negotiate money for points of disagreement, like funds for mr. trump's border wall. and, on wall street, stocks finished the week on a down note. the dow jones industrial average lost 70 points to close 26,820. the nasdaq fell 91 points, and the s&p 500 was down 15. still to come on the newshour: "building the future." chinese construction and thegl al balance of power. 2020 democratic hopefuls vie for the crucial support of black idters in south carolina. mark shields and brooks break down a week that may be destined for the history books., an judy garland, back on screen. a new film depicts the last year in the life of the hollywood legend. >> woodruff: chi's belt and road initiative is the most expensive infrastructure project in history.

chinese companies building roads, pipelines, and railads but, the initiativ also building china's influence. with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schifrithe second installment in our series, "china: power an prosperity." he begins from a recipient of belt and road investments: indonesia. >> schifrin: in the middle of west java, indonesia, fishermen drop nets from bamboo poles,nd a tea plantation fills rolling hills that lead to a major highway anindonesia's fourth largest city. here on the outskirts bandung, the commuter train is old and slow. but now, cutting through the hills that lead to indonesia's capital, jakarta, there's a tunnel for a high-speed train, and the engineers and managers who lead this $6 billion project are chinese. they construct railway that will carry the fastest train in southern asia, able to travel 215 miles an hour. xiao songxin leads the

consortium of indonesian and railroad.panies building the >> ( translated ): the two countries' companies can complement each ot or, support eaer, and develop together. it's fundamentally a win-win project. >> schifrin: 2,000 years ago, the ancient silk road helped s china spread goods, idd culture all the way tourope. today, china aspireso recreate a "maritime silk road" of ports and an "economic belt" of ros, pipelines, and railways across 70 countries, including a network of railroads in indonesia. that's where, in 2013, president xi jinping debuted the belt and road initiati as a signature foreign policy. >> (th translated ): only high ambition and hard work can one make great achievements. we have the confidence, conditions and capabilities to obtain our goals. >> schifrin: for indonesia, the goal is to collaborate with china on belt and road projects to lift millions of its citizens out of poverty.

at this construction yard, many lower-skildosians, in the yellow hats, have been trained by chinese workers, in the white hats.th belt and road prects create jobs and spark development, says indonesian minister luhutpa jaitan. >> this benefit us very much, you know.re weoing to have also like a can sp out peo thes, so then we area, you know. >> with new industry, new employment, new production? >> yes, yes, indeed. >> schifrin: indonesia needs improved infrastructure. right now, the road from jakarta to bandung weaves through the edans of forest, where constofaf c means the 90-mile trip takes five hours. on the newailroad, the trip will take 45 minutes. luhut dreamsf innesians traveling like the chinese. w i experienced that when in beijing. you know, i nt from beijing to what name of the city. only one hour by speed train, you know. very comfortable. >> schifrin: like the train we rode from hong kong to the city

of shenzhen, on the chinese mainland. welcome to china! in 20 years, china has gone from no high-speed rail-- ( train whistle ) --to the longest higspeed rail network in the world, thanks to state-owned enterprises. the rails, the electricity, the telecommunications-- all produced by majority state-owned enterprises. and much of the steel comes from companies like the majority state-owned baosteel. the company is now so large, it has its own ports-- four of them on the outskirts of shanghai. m baosakes as much steel as the antire u.s. itually too much. excess chinese steel capacity the belt and road initiativeiati gives baosteel new markets. huan weiliang directs baosteel's strategic pnning and technology. >> ( translated ): for the steel dustry, the belt and roa initiative will generate direct demand for steel products.

with the economic development ia those belt andcountries, their people's livg standards will improve, and thus the demand for durable consumeras goods will inc >> schifrin: and china says the belt and road initiative also improves chinese living standards, by connecting rural, previouslynconnected areas, such as this future high-speed rail site in sichuan. aie government argues more access produces prosperity, and stability. >> ( translated ): we encourage chinese companies to go out of china to enhance their production capability. in return, we can e the increased government revenue to improve the income level of some poor areas. this is important. >> schifrin: xiao weiming leads the office in the chinese ministry that oversees the belt and road initiative. he describes the initiative as helping china to develop internally, and expand externally. ( translated ): china has entered a new era. the belt and road initiative iss the banner of china's new round well as a general plan of economic cooperation with

foreign countries. >> schifrin: but for some countries, that cooperation led to a loss of control. k atan, malaysia, a state- stned chinese developer was building this inal park and port. but the construction is frozen, stopped by an unlikely critic.sl >> ( tred ): china is a big power now. and big powers normally want to expand their influence. >> schifn: mahatir mohamad served as maysian prime minister from 1981 to 2003.es he used toibe the u.s. as "the colonizer." but last year, at e age of 92, he came out of retirement and was re-elected. his opponent was accusedf siphing off chinese money connected to belt and road contracts. mahathir called china the andw colonizer," and bel road procts "predatory." >> everything is imported, mostly from china. workers were from china. all of the parts and materials a were from china.

and the payment for the contracts were also to be made in china. that means that malaysia doesn't get any benefit at all. >> schifrin: the original mantracts called for chinese-- built ports alonysia's east coast. chinese-built pipelines. a $20 billion chinese-built rai. li and the malacca gateway, a chinese-financed development project on the malacca strait, through which almost all chinese oil flows. mahathir accused the chinese to taking advantage of a corruptnt >> the whole thingas done in a hurry, by the previous government, without due regardte for the st of malaysia. >> schifrin: in belt and road deals, countries can lose sovereignty and china can gain assets. sri lanka had to han a port when it couldn't afford debt payments chine t bank. to buis belt and road railroad with chinese loans, kenya agreed to apply chinese law inde kenya, and give up f st africa'largest portit couldn't repay its d fts. and to p south america's

largest dam, ecuador is selling 80,of its most valuing ass oil, to china at a discount. mahathir says he too feared that loss of control. >> when you start borrowing huge sums of money and asking foreig countries to devel, anthen you cannot pay, then obviously you're going to lose that part of the country. >> schifrin: that warning is echoed by the u.s.'s most senior officials. >> we don'own our partners in a sea of debt. we don't coerce or compromise your independence. the united states deals openly and fairly. we do not fer a constricting belt or a one-way road. >> schifrin: the u.s. argues, china's version of belt an ad fosters corruption. ste state-owned china communications cction company alone has been accused of bribery acr countries. ports could one dast chinese warships. last year, secretary of state mike pompeo warned that could lead to a chinese empire.

>> when china shows up wito bribesnior leaders in countries in exchange for p infrastructujects his idea of a treasury-r empire build is something that i think would be bad for each of inthose countries, and cer presents risk to american interests. >> schifrin: the urnted states gont describes the beltcr and road initiative as a way for chinese to exe control and to crease chinese power around te world. >> ( translated ): we chinese do not have what you callan ambition or a vision to change the world order. we only want to promre economic cooperation. >> schifrin: what's your response to that criticism, that the belt road initiativ contracts are debt traps and aren't transparent? >> ( translated ): chinese companies won the biing, andies other foreign companies did not win, and the reason is simple. foreign mpanies and workers are not as hard-working as the chinese. >> schifrin: but don't those chinese compies get advantages? not because they are just hard workers, but because they are

protected by the chinese state? >> ( translated ): i cannot say it's the chinese government's support. china's financial institutions will proiade financing only if they deem the projects are profitable. we do not make investment blindly. >> schifrin: and some of the countries with belt and road investments say they're notup either. malaysia renegotiated with china, and in late july--ai ( trhorn ) >> schifrin: --the constructionk of the rail liestarted, in a joint indonesian/chinese china agreed to rehe price tag for construction by 20%, anc rsallow more malaysian wor >> they are willing to listen to our views, and in the end, they accommodated our problems. >> schifrin: u.s. officials say they're trying to develop an alternative. leaders of a new $60 billion agency that will launch next month have been visiti countries where china is investing. the u.s. is pitching public- private deals to counter belttm and road invts.

panesehe u.s. advocate investment as an alternative. japan built jakarta, indonesia's local subway. but, the chinese deals are bett, indonesian minister pandjaitan told the japanese. >> i said to them, okay, look, your term, you know, on the previous project, you know, i think too tight for us. the chinese offer us now the term much better. >> schifrin: and countries that receive belt and road investmen isrump administra difficult to deal with, compared to the chinese. >>hey've got this belt and road initiative. does the united states offer anything like that? >> never, you know. to reach washington is ver hard, you know. k inon't know to whom to in china, we have so many peoplv there. >> ( translated ): the u.s. approach is always with a bigd stick ry little carrot. this has not happened with the chinese. that's not the chinese chiway.t >> schifrin:he chinese way is to increase its presence and ncnd allies all over the world to increase infl

the belt and road initiative is the engine to power thatio expa and it's full speed ahead. nifor the pbs newshour, i' schifrin in bandung, indonesia. >> woodruff: south carolina's primary is an early and critical test of support with black voters. that is why democratic presidential candidates have already held me than 400 events in the palmetto state. yamiche alcior is back to report on how the 2020 hopefuls still have a lot of voters to win over. ♪ ♪ >> alcindor: in north charleston, south carolina, royal missionary baptist church has seen its fair share of presidential candidates. >> some peopleay we need a change in the highest office.

amen! >> alcindor: reverend isaac holt he believes the best way to help his members decide who topp suort is to givem options. so, he's welcoming the candidates to show up in person and speak his more than 3,000 parishioners. >> good morning, royal. >> alcindor: today, california senator kamala haiarris is takig >> we must love thhbor. but let's define and be clear about who is our neighbo our neighbor is not just who livenext door. we learn and know everybody is our neighb, including that man by the side of the road who may be afflicted, who may have beene cted. >> alcindor: black voters, like those at church this morning, made umore than 60% of the south carolina democratic primary electorate in 2016. that means the path to the presidential nomination runs straht through communities like this one. lingharris is still stru

to break through here.e' stuck in single digits in recent polls. she trails former vice president joe biden, as well as senators bernie sandersnd elizabeth warren. but, she is ahead of south bend indiana mayor pete buttigieg and new jersey senator cory booker. w wer.do you make of the fact that there are tte male candidates, both joe biden and bernie sanders, who have more support in the african american community than you? >> a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are known, areand we are still introcing ourselves. and there is still a long way to go in this campaign, to be able to do that. >> alcindor: for a number of the senator's alpha kappa alpha sorority sisters, many sitting the front row of church, the candidate showing up here is an important step. >> you need to start gssroots, and i think her infusion into the community list this is the ay to go. >> alcindor: but she has some work to do? >> she has some work to do. she needs to interface more, be it in this community, the african american community, thei anic community, wherever. >> alcindor: the south carolina primary is just five m away. that gives candidates precious little time to make in-roads with the biggest voting bloc in

the democratic party here. coming to a historically black community like liberty hill in north charleston is a prime opportunity. after the civil war, freed african americans founded this neighbhood. today, it's holding its first annual reunion. hester mcfadden helped plan the celebration. >> we thought it was necessary to bring together folks so that they could learn about thest y of this community. all too often in this country, a lot of the african american communities are fading away form whatever reasons, gentrification and for a lot of other reasons. >> alcindor: in this neighborhood, politics and fellowship are intertwined. >> you got like 20 candidates running at this point. to read up on 20 different people, that's too many people at this point. >> alcindor: tell me a little bit about who you're thinking you like for the 2020 election? >> i likbiden. >> alcindor: why? >> i like biden because i think he'll still have a lot of what >> well, i'm hoping elizabeth

actually succeeds in he her bid for the nomination. you know, actually, i like quitf a fehem. i think we've got a great team.a biden is all rht, but i think as a little past, biden and bernie, a littlethe lifespan, you know. cory booker, he's, you know, i mean, he's, he's pretty good.an >> talking about harris, i'm just notonnecting with her at all. >> alcindor: some black voters said they don't trust harris because ofer background as a prosecutor. >> from what i've read so far rsout her, they were saying that she was kind of on african americans, especially drug charges and things like that. >> alcindor: so how is she trying to change that perception >> look, first of all, let's just back up, because here's the thing. i am the only one on the stage whdecided to jumin the fire j at a very young age in my life and do what i could to reform the system from the inside. >> alcindor: hester and her daughter, stephanie, represent a generational divide thats showing up in polls.

like most older black voters, hester is strongly in the joe biden camp. she likes his connection to former president barack obama. stephanie likes biden, but she also likes sanders, and her mind isn't quite made up ye there are times when african americans are given this message of criminal justice, i want to come to your church and talk about these other things. is there pandering that you worry about? >> absolutely, yes. most definitely. >> we don't need candidate to play on our emotions. th just want someone to ge job done. >> alcindor: as african american women, whaare your concerns when you think about your race and your gender? >> i'm concerned about equity in the joed arket, and housing, housing.hter said earlier, and to make sure that our children are not saddled with debt. >> alcindor: hester mcfadden thinkshe still-crowded mocratic field could learn from her reunion. >> the candidates need to sit down and say, look, let'ay, let's work together collectively, let's work together aa united front. >> alcindor: meanwhile, liberty hill has already started thinking about i next reunion in 2021.

that one won't be overshadowed by presidential litics. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor in north charleston, south carolina. >> woodruff: and now, to help break down historic week in washington, i am joined by shields and brooks.s an that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. so much going onek this ut i think we know where to start, and that is, davidlooking back at this conversation that took place in july between pres pent trump, theresident of uraine, the white house continues to say this is aec pey appropriate -- the president said perfect -- conversation with the leer of

another country. democrats are saying it's aol ion hoifs oathbl impeac >> they thought it was exculpatory. i don't see how they could thi that. the thing to do with th transcript is to look at the logic. trump says we have been generous to you, you haven't been jefferson to us,e have been more g, erous than othed that follows maybe youcan do us a favor and that favor is to look into the biden so the chain is we did thids for you, you owe us, here's wha can do for us. it's not explicit quid pro quoco bues close. >> are there shades of questions about what happened in that conversation, mark, or clear cut r you? >> it's clear cut, judy. what it puts at rest is the lie about the confidence of the trump campaign. we're leading in all polls where we're ahead. he was so terrified and ointimidate the preside the united states got on the e unphone with the leader of uke to get dirt on the one democrat

who, in every major poll, was beating him, and that candidate's son. this shows the terror, the a intimidati the false bravado. --'s totally exposed. its think david wa more than kind. it is totally explicit. this is ntcou, judy, that has a smaller army than that of srsri lanka. it is sitting on the doorstep os which hasnly shown bad impulses toward it, we're holding $451 million andthe president, it's e boss t the lowest employee. the power is totall disproportionate and anybody has to acknowledge that. >> woodruff: you have republicans saying entirely appropriate for the president of the united states to besaying to theer of ukraine, we

want you to clean up corruption in your country? >> that is appropriate, i suppose, to say, but the republicans are not going to break on this. as we look at impeachment, i vaguely remember watergates i ung, but i remember a sense of gravity and a sense of we're stepping outside our party lines. we did that, howard baker, and we're going to weigh the etcd and this is so serious we just can't play normal politics. th is not going to happen, this is feeling like normal politics, where the democrats are here, the republicans here and the idea of stepping outside your party for the sake of the uth is not here. >> woodruff: the real to have the whistleblower, we learned several days ago this was someone in the int community in the last few days reporting it's an analyst at the c.i.a. we're not supposed to have a name because this pern' identity is supposed to be

protected, but the president is calling this individual a spy, in effect, saying this is somebody who's disloyal to the country. >> last week, the president planned the person a partisan hack, it's gone to stretc trech. the person had to know what he or she was putting at risk.ng in the hhouse in which we mve in washington, the identity will eventually ade public, and i think it can only be revealed and described as an act of great courage to do so. >> woodruff: pulling in david, a number of other ainmtration officials which what's >> that's what i took away from the report is it's bigger than one phone call. it's probably the cverup, but he said over a series of months,

a lot of people are in nic about this. so it's not just the one phone call and he heard about it, but there is a process, people are freaked out about it, so it's more than justne person who will be involved. >> david's right, heu laid ot aa blueprint to investigation, to interview. >> woodruff: and the fact that this person sp four months, talked to a number of different people, didn't just rashly set is out there and throw it out. but the question them comes down to, is, david, the impeachment inquiry. e house is doubling down. we had adam schiff, chairman of the house intelligence on the prram last night saying this is more serious than the mueller report which they spent months and months. >> it's cleaner. you can understand russia was

much more complicated. to me the decision to do impeachment is a mistake. i agree he disomething impeachable, but there's no obligation toli prosecute. impeachment doesn't get donald ump out of the white hose. the chance you will get 20 republican senatorote donald trump out of office seems to be so remote it's min so the likely outcome of this is donald trump will be sayg, see, i was acquitted in the dnate, i was vindicated beat these people. so he'll get victory and both parties will go into revolt. sohat's the way it likely looks to end up. in the meantime you're trampling over your democratic season, you're not having the conversation voters want which is climate change and allnge t, you're focusing the attention on the democratic side to the congress, not to the

presidential candidates. position that has ery lowen a chance of succeeding o get him out of office and has huge risks. >> woodruff: do you think the democrats are doing the rig thing orot? >> democrats are doing to only thing they can. do what this esidt t has done is not outrageous or that's what he has done.al, and he has totallyd abicated abrogated and corrupted his oath of ofice. when it comaes to m this decision, i think the preeminent national, the american political leader of the 20th century is the speaker of the house more so handily passed the affordable care act, shes the one major figure of any other president caidate that opposed the debacle and tragedy of wa r in iraq, she put in her majority to

pass the affordable care act, covering 17 million persons, 2 million of whom who have lost their pollies due to donald trump's policies in the last year alone. she hasome back. she aborted the rush to join the pound of flesh club, let's get him for double parki outside on christmas eve. you can't turn yock on it. it may not be good tiing, expedift, it would be an act total irresponsibility not to act when you have the evidencegi rats.the dem >> there's the thing called the ethic of sponl rsponsibility. what's the outcome. e said i will not do ispartisan upswell of support for this and that will never happen now. i think she was forcedinto it by the pressure of her own party and her own caucus. but the house is not the central question, the senate is the central question and it's the senatehat's going to give

trump s victory and, in the meantime, i thk she's giving trump he fight hwantsich is against the congressional democrats, not about policy or things that actually affect people's lives, but just a personality reity brawl within side the beltway. to me that's the fight he wants. i don't know where it will go. it will spin out of control in the next several months, but the sihic of responsibility is what can i do to get donald trump out to have the white house and this is not the right path, in my view. >> i would say unlike david and perhaps president clinton, i do not believe peoplere unredeemable. we have seen just the beginning, this is the tip of the camel's no w thate've seen. >> woodruff: you mean in terms -- >> of what's gone on. i think when people testify, nk'll find more, and i thi

republicans are americans before republican and, yes, there's a herd mentality and silo attitude now, but i do think, when the evidence becomes overwhelming, which i think it will be, i think they'll act. >> woodruff: what do you think, dade, if not an impeachment inquiry, what should democrats do? they could have censured him and said we're in an election, let's have an election about this, and then they can investigate and lay before the american people everything that happened. think the inquiry is toqtally fine, but let's not have this process swallow up an election we have elections for a reason, we have an excxiting election fr e democratic party, and to overshadow that, to me, a lot of people are going to take a look at this and say, well, we could have settled this with 100 mindion voters arhe country or 100 millionaires in the senate. who should have the po er here? >> this is the question, judy, of he is asking if not demding

and coarsing an ally -- coarsing a subservient aly, let's be frank -- in the relation between the united states and ukraine, ukraine t subservient e united states, in all candor -- he's asking them to interfere in an american election, to spill dirt on an opponent. i mean, we can't have that. we can't pretend that's tolerable and we'll just wait till the iowa caucuses and new mpshire primary. it'sust too grave. >> woodruff: is there something, dvid, that would make an impeachment inquiry the right thing to do? or -i mean, is there anhing the president can do? i mean, are you sayg there's knotting? >> no, i'm not saying that, but i agree with mark on the severity of what he did. i'm not saying -- i think he did an impeachable offense, i'm just saying look at our context, an

the context is we're in the middle of an election year and we should not walk down the pate that wild to failure? 99%. i do not think that the republicans who hung with donald trump through charlottesville, moral turpitude and a thousand outrages on every friday, i don't think they'll break wit him and wrong the republican voters will brevo with him. >> i have more ca confidence in republicans than david, but i don't car do yo, it's totally disruptive to the process, david's right. t ally intrudes and puts everything else aside, but i will say if you're picking sides in the democrats, you want the intelligence committee, you want adam schiff against devin nunesu >> woodruff: 're saying it's worth it even if the gnat

does not convict? >> yes. happen.ot pretend it didn't what this president has done should be disqualifying. >> wdruff: mark shields, david brooks, thank you. e >> woodruff: we ill months away from awards season in hollywood, but one film already getting buzz is "judy," a bio-pic about legendary actress judy glegend. from the recent toronto international fi jeffrey brown takes a look at the movie and its star, aspa rt of our "canvas" series on arts and culture. >> brown: in the new film, "judy," we meet one of thetu 20th c's greatest entertainers, in free-fall nearl the end of he. >> i can't!

>> you'll be fine. >> brown: it's a study ofth hollywood agic and tragic. ♪ ♪ the girl who is fo "ver dorothy e wizard of oz;" the woman who dazzled with her singing and screen performances. ede great judy garland, pl by renee zellweger. >> it's impossible not to>> i preciate just how truly extraordinary she was. >> brown: what did she have? what did you see in her? >> hope, joy, tenacity, and just raw, god-given talen you know, she tse ascend. song, she breaks it apart. she lives and feels the content of whatever it is that's speaking to human emotion. and every person who sees her, feels that she's singing to me. >> brown: rupert goold directed the new film. he's besknown for his work in london theater. >> i spent my life in rehearsal rooms, and had the privilege of being incredibly close to all sorts of actors and singers. and i was just really interested in trying to capture what it i to perform, sort of intuitively

in the body, emotionally, psychologicall and, you know, garland was like an incredible performer, and in some senses, this film is a study of what that means. and the cost of that. >> brown: the film shows frances gumm-- her given name-- from a small town in minnesota, as she becomes the national darling judy garland of the star-making mgstudio chine. groomed for fame, but fed pills to staslim, others to stay awake for grueling 18-hour shoots, still others to sleep. >> judy garland literally grew up on camera. she was the first rson who had that experience. her entire life was in the public eye and she was iubated by the studio, and i'm sure thiu had lots of hs and joys. there were also a lot of very e wenishing difficult times fo her, particularly in her youth. >> brown: but the real focus here is much later, in 1969, the final year of her life, when all but broke, homeless,

and unemployable in hollywood,yw garland took on a series of stage performances in a london night club.we zer says that while much has changed in the film world, she found ways to connect. little bit of it, from personala experience. there's an awareness among most ople in our business, th we're lucky to be doing what we're doing. so there's a certain level of gratude that then translates to a sense of responsibility, that you want to hold up your end of the deal.fo ansomeone like judy, for example, who is made to feel t constantt she was lucky, but lucky and replaceable, andan that there's a million girls who wouldn't you do in order to hold onto your place, when this is your joy?ha >> brown: yo to make a decision about how to play her, an iconic person. did you end up coming to feel that you were impersonating her, playing her? >> oh, i hope not.

no, i hope not. no, it felt-- i don't know-- i just wanted to express what it was i was feeling. it was a search for finding that mollnt, that opportunity to that point of that emotional experience, and a celebration. >> it was funny. i remember in the early part of the shoot, we talked about whether we'd refer to "judy" or "renee" in between takes, or in the filming. and i think as it went on, which often happens with actors in ro, it just becomes a "she." "she's this," "she's that." and the "she," of course, is judy garland, but of crse, it's also what we're doing on the day, in the performance. and the "she" becomes sort of like a dream state which hepefully, if you've done they, work beforehand, is enough "judy" in there. >> brown: oh, goodness, were you in this dream "judy-renee," "renee-judy?" >> hopefully not cognizant of what's happening in the moment, in the surroundings.st but trying t connected to whatever it was that we had collected and discussed and

conjured. bring this energy, bring this emotion, bring this moment in the telling of her story. >> brown: some of the interest in this film, too, is seeing zellweger herself, now 50, return tstthe screen. since her 20s in films like "jerry maguire," "chicago," "bridget jones," and "cold mountain," for which she won an oscar for best supporting actress, she stepped away from the movies for six years, and has spoken openly ofhe emotional stress and depression she battled. part of it, she to me in toronto, was her own hollywood bubble, estranged from life itself. >> and i'd learned about this process, but i don't think that you can authentically telly stories when you don't have authentic exchanges with people. and most of my exchanges were as a different character, or talkinabout the character that i had played.kn

so, yo, where's me? and who are your friends? and what do you like to do now, and why don't you learn something new, and why don't you grow as a person? it just seemed essential to me, or i was boring myself. you know, i could hear myself speaking the lines. >> brown: "judy," one of today's stars taking on one of theea grtest ever, is quite a comeback performance.el and, zeger did her own singing and dancing.♪ ♪ >> that's his fault. >> brown: that's his fault? >> i wasn't the one singing! >> brown: what do you mean? he made you do it?el >> i didn't show up going, "hey, guys, i have a good idea!" ( laughs ) >> she's a great singer.yo >> brown: buwent for it? >> and then some.

>> you won't forget me, will you? >> brown: judy garland was just 47 when she died. the new film, "judy" opens this weekend. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the toronto international film festival. >> woouff: thall be quite a and on the newshour online, medicare for all has become a central tenet of some democrats' presidential campaigns. but 40% of u.s. adults say they still do not know enough about the insurance proposal to offer an opinion on it. that is according to a survey from the commonwealth fund, we take a look at where americans stand on health care, ahead of the 2020 election. all that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. our china series continues on tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend. nick schifrin and special correspondent katrina yu examine the trade war, and the winners and losers on both sides. and that is the newshour for tonight.

i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend.k thu, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for li. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting socialep enneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutionso promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions

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to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> i believe that the situation we have and why we're here ts morning is because this case is unique and unprecedented. >> condemnation of the president. the whistle-blower cplaint at the center of the impeachment investigation is out and it's is damning.s i ask what doeis mean for president trump? then -- people. e the enemy of the >> in the age of trump's assault on the free press, i talk to "new york times" cairo burchu f declan walsh about new threats reporters are facing. >> and -- >> ionsider patriarchy an occupying force. and journalists and actists behind the me too movement. mona eltahaw