captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good eving. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: president trump publicly urges china and ukrainto investigate the bidens, doubling down on actions at the heart of the impeachment inquiry. then, a return to flint. five years after lead contaminated their water supply, the people of the michigan city fight a difficult battle to keep hope from running dry. >> we need to get the help that we deserve, so we can have aso fu recovery. and for some, that full recovery, you know, we don't know if it will come. if you've lost a loved one, if you have a child that's been damaged, you're going to deal with that for the rest of your life. ingwoodruff: plus, an expa canvas. ke demand for original works of chinese art skyr, artists and collectors reinvigorate china's fine arts market. >> ( translated ): people have

loved to collect art since the collections or prir it was royal collections. china was a country which favored art, but we had a break in our history. we are restoring it, this respect for art and culture. >> woodruff: all that and more,s on tonight's p newshour.on >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> cnegie corporation of new york.

supporting innovations in education, democratic eagagement, and the advancement of international andof at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. rsd by contributions to your pbs station from vieike you. thank you. p >> woodrufsident trump is already under fire for alleged abuse of power, annow, he faces a new firestorm of his own making. it erupted today, in front of white house reporters and tv cameras. white houscorrespondent yamiche alcindor begins our covege.

>> alcindor: first, ukraine. now, china. on the white house lawn, president trump set off awh e new controversy with these words: >> china should start an investation into the bidens. because what happened in china is just about as bad as what happened with ukraine. >> alcindor: without evidence, the president renewed his claim that china letunter biden openma a r equity fund in 2013, in return for a "sweet3,art deal" on trade with e obama administration. >> you know what they call that? >> alcindor: president trump said he has not requesina to pursue an investigation into former vice president joe biden d his son. but moments earlier, he said he believes he has the upper hand in trade negotiations that resume next week. got a lot of options on china, but if they don't do what we want, we hamendous power. >> alcindor: the comments sparked new outrage from top democrats, including adam schiff, chairman

house intelligence committee.ce >> the president of the unitednc statesraging a foreign nation to interfere, again, ton help his campa investigating a rival, is a fundamental breach of a president's oath of office. >> alcindor: a spokeswoman for presidential campalled president trump's statements "a grotese choice of lies." she also accused him of "desperately clutching for conspiracy theories." last night in reno, nevada, joe bifired f his strongest denunciation yet of president trump. >> like every bully inistory, he's afraid. he's afraid of just how badly he may be beaten in november. nov i'm not going anywhere. you are not going to destroy me. you're not going to destroy my family.ut >> alcindor:oday, president mike pence reinforced president trump's calls for a probe into the bidens. >> i think the american people

have a right to know ivice president of the united statesps or his family profited from hisi po as vice president during the last administration. >> alcindor: meanwhile, on from a key witness in theearance rapeachment inquiry. former envoy to e, kurt volker, was interviewed behind closed doors by members of three house committees. he resigned last fridaer the release of a whistleblower's complaint. it accusedresident trump of pressuring ukraine's president to investiga the bidens, in it is now the focus of the the complaint says volker "provided advice to the ukrainian leadershna about how togate' president trump's demands." itlso says he met withwi ukranian president volodymyr zelensky and other ukrainian after the july phol. kiev a day volker is one of five current or former state department officials that demrats want to hear from. but republicans said his

appearance today d not advance the democrats' impeachment agenda. >> not one thi he has said comports with any of the democrat's impeachment narrative.on nothing. >> alcindor: congressman jim jordan, ranking member of the house oversight committee, also accused democrats of unfair investigation procedures. house republican leader kevin mccarthy raised the same concerns, in a letter to speakes nancy pelosi. he called for a suspension of impeachment proceedings until the full house votes on ordering an impeachment inquiry. pelosi responded with a letter of her own. she said "the constitution doe t require a house vote before proceeding with an impeachment inquiry." tomorrow, the inspecneral of the intelligence community, michael atkinson, is scheduled to go behind closed doors with the house intelligence committee to discusshe whistleblower's complaint. ho woodruff: for more on this, i'm joined by ne white house correspondent yamiche alcindor.sh and by "gton post" investigative reporter michaoi kranish also us, from the

"post." thanks to you both. yamiche, i'm going to start with you. now that out in the open the president iasking for china a well as ukraine to investigate joe biden, his son hunter bihun, you have been talking to people inside and otside the administration, what are they saying are the implications of all this? >> well, t president was doubling down the idea that he thinks it's ethal and within his rights to have a foreign leader investigate a political rival. mike pence is out defending the president and the presideng sa'm not going to face consequences because i believe that this is the right thing to do, i believe that investigating joe biden and his sonte h biden is essentially in the best interest of the united states. of course, there are politic opponents of the president who say that's not exactly what the president should be doing, instead they assume that the president and say that the president is really ying totryi normalize this idea that foreign leaders should be helping him in s political pursuits and the.y

's also important to note that the head of the feder elections commission tweeted today, she said it's sti sll illegal for a u.s. naonal to solicit information or to get any sort of help f a u.s.ti el from a foreign national. so after the president -- as for the preside saying this is within my right, we have federal offials saying this is actually not true or the way things should be done. >> woodruff: mhael kranish, en it comes to hunter biden, you have been reporting a long time and looking for a long time into hunter bien's ativities in china. we heard what the president is alleging. what is at the source of ts? true? p sident trump alleged hunter biden walked away wih $1.5 billion for an investment fund. the evidence of that is not there. what happened was, once er 4 of 2013, hunter biden went on air force two with his father joe bidena who ws vice president. joe biden led with the leader ox

chin jinping, for about five hours, and during this two-y trip, joe biden was introduced by his son hunter to with an investment matter that hunter biden was involved with. hunter biden did become a member, unpaid, of an advisory group that was inviesing an investment group that wanted to 5 ise $1.5 billion. so this day, hunter biden's lawyer has said hunter bien actually hasn't made money fr i vestment that took place in 2017.nt biden owns a percentage of a company that has been h involvre and a lawyer said no money has been made. hunter biden has repeatedly o us.ned to talk there are questions about why he joined this board, wha dt heid, why he did this in the wake ofe ip by his father to beijing. so some on al sides would say potentially put h father up

for questioning later. just as huntebiden ned a gas company in ukraine at a time when his father was shepherdingn policy that country and talking about gas policy. so a patrn has caused issues for even members of the vice presint's staff. former staffers said they're concerned but didn't think laws were broket but l the matters pass but they were concerned about appearance.ic >> woodruff:el kranish, you also reported president tried to git get the finan year steve schwarzman involved in the allegations around chinas remind us whve schwarzman is and what the prmasident was asking him to do. >> well, predent trump said st week at a meeting with the u.s. mission at the u.n. in remarks that later were observe stained by the post in the video, he said he talked to steve schwarzman head ofe blackstone, one to have the world's largest invtmt companies based here in the u.s., he talked to him about hunter biden.

steve schwarzman wrote in a recent book that he had spent a lot of time helping the administtion on the talks. he made eight trips in 2018 alone. he wrote, onehalf of the administration, in our efforts to deawith trade maters in china. so schwartzman, i wrote a story about schwarzman lastr eaen i talked to him about the whisperer. he's the person closest to the chinesr leadership. ump to say this, is schwarzman's spo said schwarzman never never talked to trump ant hunter bideneo two disagree on who the conversation took place. w druff: fascinating. yamiche, we know the former envoy to ukraine kurt volcker was on the hill today having private briefings with the house members, waff we learned about m wh. volcker had to say? >> according to a number of different sources and mber of different reports, kut volcker was eager to share information with lawmakers today.

he said a number of things including he was not personally involved with president trump trying to pressure ukraine toe investigate den. he also said he tried to warn rudyuliani, the president's personal attorney, ast using any information coming from ukraine. he said none of that is trustworth and you shouldn't be usin athat. o said it was an un-- wasn't unusual for ukraine's military aid to be held up evena though evereleased. so it's interesting to follow and look at whether or not kurt volcker's statements are going to gel with what democrats areo look for andthat will impact the impeachment inquiry.a it's imp as i was saying in the first answer about president trump talking about china, next week we'll have chinese negotiatoting with the u.s. and the president is oaying i'm going to use the military -- the nomic might, rather, of the u.s. to pressure china possibly to oking into joe biden. so you have kurt volcker part of any of that and you have the president saying i'm actually looking at a new country toinind mortoormation

about joe biden. >> woodruff: so many strands to follow today and now and yamiche alcindor, michael kranish, thank you both. >> thanks. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, security forces in iraq shot and killed at lea 12 more protesters, raising the death etoll there to 33 over th days. the government also cut off internet access, in a d to calm things down. still, crowds in baghdad defied a curfew, and troops opened fire with live rounds and tear gas. but, the protesters insisted they would not be cowed. >> ( translated ): even with the curfew, i swear to god we will not retreat. we are demanding our simplest rights.s it ie simplest rights that we ask for. i view this gas canister as if it had been given to me by a lady.

we sacrifice ourselves for our country. spread to southern wheres have at least ten people were killed overnight. demonstrators are demandin jobs, better services and an end to corruption. a hong kong teenager who was shot by police on tuesdais now charged withioting and attacking officers. he is the first person wounded p byice gunfire in months of pro-democracy protests.ne rallies tonight demanded accountability for the shooting. police fired teas and peer spray to disperse the crowd.ar in, at least four people were stabbed to death today at the city's police headquarters by a civilian co-worker. the assailant was finally shotst and killed by an officer. france's interior minister said the man had worked in computer support sinc2003, with no apparent problems. >> ( translated ): this man was knowside the computer department. he worked alongside his colleagues and never presented any behavioral difficulties,

never any warning signs. and this morning, he went onad a rampage. >> woodruff: the attack came one day after thousands of s paris poliged a protest over working conditions and an increase in officer suicides. the european union'sourt ruled today that facebook must move or block unlawful content, worldwide, if e.u. i courts ord the case had begun with an tstrian politician who su remove a news item that she considered libelous and insulting. fabook and industry groups warned that today's decision raises critical questions about freedom of expression. back in this country, m.g.m. resorts will pay up to $800 million to families of the h 58 killed, adreds hurt, in the las vegas mass shooting of 2017. the gunman opened fire fro his m.g.m. hotel room on an outdoor music festal. it was the deadliest mass

shooting in u.s. history. today's settlement resolves hundreds of lawsuits. the number of people with severe lung conditions linked to vapin. the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention reported a total of 1,080 confirmed and probable cases since march, in 48 states. officials have not yet identified a definitive cause for the lung injuries. more than 45 million people across 14 southern states of the u.s. are now suffering through a so-called "flashth drought." government and university researchers reported today that the dry conditions came on ddenly, and worsenedte throughout ser. the drought has parched farm land, ied up ponds andth increasedanger of wildfires. on wall street, stocks bounced back from two days of losses. the dow jos industrial average gained 122 points to close at 26,201.87

the nasdaq rosoints, and ths&p 500 added 23. still to come on the newshour: did president ump violate his th of office before tv cameras today? on the ground in flint, michigan, where sidents still grapple with the water crisis five years on. and, much more. >> woodruff: returning now toin our tory, the president, urging another foreign power, china, to start an investigation into a potential pol rival. what are the implications ofth , as a matter of law and national security? michael mukasey was the u.s. attorney general under former president george w. bush. and, carrie cordero served in both republican and democratic administrations, in nationalmi security roles at the u.s. justice department, and at the office of the director of national intelligence.

welcome to you both. thank you for joouing usta i'm going to with you, attorney genleal mukasey. me ask first, before we get to oath of office, and askn't the law.t is wresident trump is doing and asking another country to investigate a potential political rival, does that break a law? >> no. i think the justice department has already opponent on thithe a request at the scene to ukraine to investigate biden as if that was a sitolion of value, i think it is not. presidents have been conducted h prforeign relationssidents running and hoping for reelection have been conducting foreign relations for as long as a country -- the country has been around to get elected. a hypothetical, if a president running for reeleion asks a

foreign power to finance the construction of a hospital in a state where hisumbers were not very good, that would not be a thing of value. it would be -- it wou benefit the state. as to politically wise, that's something again. but i think the prnciple is essentially the same. >> woodruff: carrie cordero, is this in any reard a olation of law what the haesident has done? >> well, i thinkformer attorney general mukasey is getting at is respect to a thing of value has to do with whether or not we're applying the specific statutoryprovisions of but the situation heance law. country is in right now with president trump's activities as revealed by the conversation that he had with the ukrainian president and then even his public stablictements today goer beyond thnical violations of specific statutory provisions and, instead, the problem has to do with whether or not he is inf

violatioh constitution and of constitutional principles of whether or not he is fulfilling his oath of office, whether or not he is abusing his constitutional authorities to conduct foreign afairs by usinga thcess to foreign leaders to basically work in his own personal interests. and, so, the fundamental question is the president, when gnffairs,ucting for acting in the united states' interests, or is he using that tbposition to work in thnt of his own -- in the benefit of his own personal political ambition, and that's not an apropriate use of his authority. >> woodruff: michael mukasey, what about tha >> that, it seems to me, is up to the voters. authority in a way that hurts the country, they can express you don't simply a difference of opinion with what somebody is doing in office and use it as a basis to remove him.

that said, this is obviously a political process, e standards are political, and t house is not barred from considering his statement today or statements during that conion, if they choose to do so, as a basi mpeachment. ean that it is't properly so considered. >> woodruff: let me quickly follow-up on that because what i hear carrie cordero saying is it is not in the interest of the united states of america for foreign leader to assist in his reelection campaign. >> well -- the question is whether he's asking a foreign leader to do something that'stin the intef ththe united states, i.e., investigate potential dishonesty by a former vice president. the fact that that may serve his political interest is also true, but the questn then becos whether he is asking for something that is in the

interest of the uted states or not. again, i think that's up to the voters. >> woodruff: carrie cordero. yeah, i'm fraly surprised to hear the former attorney general make these aruments. the president should not be usinhis authority to dig up political dir spurious claims against political opponents. that's the stuff of opposition research, perhaps appropriately conducted at least lawfully conducted by his political united states. here in the but by the president's statements and by this opeemenn admissn that he thinks it's okay to use hisosition to seek foreign assistance in elections, he jusmade the job of the u.s. national security communitytheee exponentially harder by them trng to protect the country against foreign influence in oua

election it was just last week that the acting director of national intelligence, mr. maguire, said that, in hi judgment, the most pressing national concerns today in the seat that he sits in now is the integrity of our election. woodruff: so given that, within the purview of thes president to do this, to, again repeating mysein,but to ask a foreign leader to take steps that would help his reelection and then, by the way, as the president said soday, toay, i'm going to be meeting with the chinese next week and, he sai w, if they don't do what we want,e we have ndous power? >> that, as i said, is a matter for the voters. presidents have been engaging with foreign leaders in aid ofee their reelection campaigns for deedes. they mayxplicit about it, they may be implicit about it.

if he's saying he's going to use the power of his office against ede interest of tin un states in order to bring about a result, that's a wholly different thi, that's a muse of his office. it may not be a violation of law, but it may be something to be considered by an impeachment inquiry. but once airain, simply using or asking for a foreign c tunt conduct an investigation that may be waranted is not unlawfu unlawful. it may be something people find distasteful but it is not unlawful. >> woodruff: a you saying president george w. bush did that when he was running reelection and if so how? or>> oh, come on, i'm not saying ything of the sort. when i say presidents conducted foreign retions, i do mean that they necessarily asked in this way for this kind of thing that's whyid it may be distasteful. but the principle about

presidents being able to conduct foign relations in their interest, as long as it serves the country's interest, theh same. >> woodruff: carrie cordero. yeahi just fundamentally disagree with the position thato ther attorney general is popoiting that a legitimate exercise of the president's reign affairs powers includes asking a foreign government to interfere in our elections when it comes to chi. i mean, it's basically an open invitation for for eign intelligence services now to do whatever activity they want to do if they think it will dig up political information that donald trump wants,d that's not -- that's not an apropriate use of the president's foreign affairs policy.ne it undernational security. it means that, when foreign gornments are dealing with the american president on issues of

tariffs, on issues of foreign aid, on issues of defense, they are now in a posion where they have to calculate whether or not they shoulde providing t assists theha iesident in hs political ambitions versus what is actually agitimate exchange between two countries. so there is a difference between public official acting in their personalnterests and potentially holding out leverage of what th u.s. government might be able to provide to them versus an appropriaercise of constitutional presidential authority. >> woodruff: well, we're going to be -- a very quick response. >> yeah, there a lot of syllables in there, but not a lot of substance. the fact is, as i said, that e presidengage in activities that help their reelection. if this activity is offensive,

then the voters can reflect that at the ballot box.th 's all i'm saying. >> woodruff: a lot of questions here, and we're going to continue to report on all of it. michael mukasey, carrie cordero, k you both very much. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: since 2014, flint,s michiganeen synonymous with tainted water. five years on, city officials are still itruggling to make the water safe for all its residents. john yang went back to see what's changed, and what hasn't. >>ang: a typical thursday morning on flint, michigan's north side. cars stretch for a full mile, some in line for more than five hours. the goal of this weekly quest: bottled water. ray ducham comes once a month. this crisis started years ago. >> yeah. still be doing this now?

>> no. i thought maybe they'd have the water clean by now. >> yang: after the state stopped distributing water last year, urchgreater holy templ, of god in christ stepped up. latrece davis, who coordinatessa the effort, ys they start each t week with moren 1,700 cases , of water, and every weekthe demand is greater than that supply. how many cars, how many families each thursday? >> we run probably about 1,500 to 1,700 cars. you' looking about 700, 600 800 families. >> yang: forive years, water has dominated the lives of many in this city, where more than a 55% of residen black, and more than 40% live in poverty. in april 2014, state-appointed officials tried to save money shifting the source from lake huron to the flint river. but, the river water was more corrosive than the lake water. the city failed to treat it properly, and it damaged flint's

aging pipes, causing l leach into the system. the city switched back to lake water in october 2015, but pipe and so are concerns. >> it affects the way that we cook, the way that we brush our teeth, the way that we just use water in general. >> yang: in 2016, ariana hawk's second-oldest son, sincere, then two years old, was on the coverf time" magazine, after developing painful blisters and rashes. >> his thing was just the fear the water. even him as a six-year-old, he still says, like, the water is dangerous., likehe don't le it. he avoids it as much as possible >> yang: despite officials' assurances back then that the water was safe, hawk blames herself. >> i'm his mom. i should have been protective. should've knew better.sh i should have i should have been edtated more and this would have happened. >> yang: although she doesn't have symptoms,lood tests show

r daughter, four-year-ol aliana, has hi lead levels. >> it's devastating. it's very hard to deal with on a daily basis. it's hard to even just deal with as a pent, because sometimes i feel like i can do better but it's not my fault that the water is like this. it's not something that i asked for. it's not something that i chose for my kids.i >> yang: across town, maxine onstott's seven-year-old s, max, was diagnosed with autism in the midst of the crisis. >> with max, i can't say that's what caused him to have the exposed.ty he has, but he was we drank it. we bathed in that. we used it every single day. we cooked with it. yang: max is among the growing number of special education students in flint public schools. since 2013, before the crisis, it's up 56%, according to state figures. a group of flint parents is suing the school system, saying it is not meeting those students' needs. what would recovery mean for you? >> recovery for me would be myor city recovering. there's nothing more that anybody can do for me and my family at this point. f

>> yannt pediatrician mona hanna-attisha was among the lead in the drinking water.t >> we can't take it away. there's no magic pill. there's no antidote. we can't-- we can't press rewind and pretend that thididn't happen. >> yan now she's deeply involved in the recovery effort. >> we've invested in the critical period of early ildhood, with home visiting programs and medicaid expansion, school health services, a massive expansn of early literacy programs. o've turned this crisis i almost this model public health program of recovery and hope for the people of flint. >> yang: a project called the flint registry tracks the effects of ld exposure anden connects res to those programs. >> flint was ahriving city, and it can be a thriving city again. >> yang: flint mayor karen weaver beat the incumbent at th at the height of the crisis. >> we need to get the help that

we deserve so can have a full recovery. and for some, that full recovery, you know, we don't know if it will come. if you've lost a loved one, if you have a child that's been damaged, you're going to deal with that the restur life. >> yang: she expressed frustration that this summer, pecriminal charges were dr against officials, including manslaughter for at least a dozen deaths from legionnaires tdisease believed linked water evisis. the new michigan attorney geadral said her predecessor botched the investigation, so she was starting all over againd >> if iteen a shooting, ngople would be locked up. well, we had kilthat took place here in the city of flint and no one has looked at it that noy. >> yang: the citonger takes its water from the flint ricer, and it's begun to rep its lead- and galvanized-steel water pipes. but rebuilding the shattered public trust is lily to take some time. it is a wound that seems to run deep. >> you're supposed to beble to

trust these people in power. and we were bamboozly them. >> yang: are you angry? >> oh yeah, of course i'm angry. i'm a-- m more upset and hurt than anger. it's hurting becausehese are people who we trust everyday, these are the people who say that this was okay. >> one of the things i did promise was that i would give them the information, whether it was good news bad news, because we had bad news that people kept from us. and had they sred that bad news with us, we could have protected ourselves better. >> yang: for residents like ariana hawk and maxine onstott, it may be too late. i mean, it almost sounds like just don't think you canthat you recover. >> we wake up, we brush our teeth with bottled water. we drink bottled water. we're out of bottled water. it's "pack back up, let's get in the van and go get some more bottled water." >> we're still fighting for us to have a healthy and safe life. like, things in flint are not better. nothing has lianged for us. , this is this has become our reality, which is not right. >> yang: a reality for them, o that no amoupipe

replacement or reassuring words for the pbs newshom john yang in flint, michigan. >> woodruff: speaking of flint, roit is one of many placesd the country dealing with the rkpact of a national strike by the united auto s. it is now the 18th day of the strike agast general motors affecting more than 50 sites and 46,0orkers. william branam takes a look at the big stakes for both sides. it's part of our regular repoing on business and economics for "making sense." >> brangham: judy, the two sid were still talking today, and there have been reports ofrt progss in recent days. but, as the strike continues, there are a number of key issues still to be resolved. among them: wage increases. how much workers have to pay toward their heah care costs. converting temporary workers who are paid at a lower rate into permanent workers. and, a push to move more g.m. production back to the u.s. micki maynard is a journalist who follows the automotive stry in detroit, and has written several books on the

subjec she joins me now from ann arbor, michigan. micky, thank you very much for being here. i laid out some of the details of the contwflict n the union and the automakers. what is the essential conflict there? >> there's two parts t it. one is that the auto industry is ner.nother cor the auto industry is looking at a future that's extremeai unce if you even think about ten years ago to the bailout, essentially, americans, they wanted to get somewhere, they had to buy a car. if you lived in a big city, you might have access to transit, but other than that, carrs owp was what you were looking at, and fast forward ten years, we have all kinds of choices. even in place like ann arbor, where i live, i can choose fom zip car, from lyft and uber, i could get a scooter if i wanted one, we have rental bikes, we have a terrific public

transportad, oh, yes, i can own a car. aten yearns agtio, weonem diyde that. so that's the future facing the industry. then what the u.a.w. is looking at is they would like a guarantee from general motors that the job levels right now will at least stay at this level. right now the u.a.w. is about one-tenth the size at genel tors that it was at its peak in 1978. there were about 550,000 workers then, there are about 50,000 hourly workers now. jobs and you can't blame them, there has been an enormous amount of shrinkage. >> reporter: a ten times decline of the number in thatht union. with regards to the strike, it has been goingn a long time. why do you think this has been such a protracted fight? >> a couple of things. i think that emotions andd tempers got very high towards the end of the period before the strike deadline and, you know, sometimes you st get angry and

walk out of the room, but the other issue that's facing g.m. is that they have an excess amount of cass. right about this time of the year, car dealers ned about 65 days, so two-months' supply worth of cars. general motors went into the strike wh at about 90 days' of cars so about 50% re than what they've needed. i looked at sales figures, they've only lost eight or nine aays' worth of cars, so they could let the stike go another couple of weeks without dealers really feeling the pinch, and this is a time of real uncertainty in the manufacturing sector, not just autos but a lot of companies are faccing exess inventories and a decision must down some of these inventories and, you know, maybe then we' talk. >> reporter: you touched on this before about how the auto-buying population, the people who might be goi int

dealerships and dropping money for cars has certainly changed. yo iwrote a veryteresting piece in "the washington post" that touched on some of the other ways that the industry, the car-buying world, is shifting. can you explain arelittle bit bout how the world is changing under our feet that >> well, thanks for mentioning my "the washington post" ttory. i thiat the focus on labor and the foc fus on general motos is simply differenthan it was over the past couple of decades. on oneof the major issues that s come up time and again are suv's and pickups. so if you thi back to about 1990, most people still owned cars for their regular usage, but rightround 1990 was when people started to drive suv's, not just to go, you know, upin the mountains or anything, but to dri them for everyday purposes. and we've had kind of three waves of tsuese big's and pickups, and we're in another so while the general motors,

ford, chrysler hte talked ab thbfuture as electric cars, tssibly self-driving cars, much the arem emoerican public are big vehicles that a very profitable for them.e the averagice of a car nocew is $37,000. that's not j, st a carat's an suv and a pickup. and loans are jgest tting longer and longer, six years, seven years, eight years for people to afford to pay for them. so if you look at oing a vehicle, you're going to spend a lot of money, and you're going to have it for quite a while. so people are weighing that nto the equation as they make going to buy a vehicle at all. the other thing i wanted to mention wathe focus on electric vehicles because general motors, one of thes propos's made to the union, is that it would take tws plt was planning to close, put batteries in one and put electric -- i think electric trucks in the other one but, again, the union has

watched g.m. kind of lurch around on electrics. they had the little e.v.-1 that they killed. they had the volt which they told congress was going toe its future. the volt is gone. now they're talking electrics again. in a sense you can't blame the skeptical about whether this is its future. >> reporter: such a fascinating backdrop to th strike as its ufolding. cki maynard, thank you very much for being here. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. an inside look at rwshour: president trump has been willing to go to keep migrants out of the country. and, chinese ats tis tory their work. the american civil liberties union filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of parents and children separated at the u.s.- mexico bordeunder the trump administration's controversial "zero tolerance policy."

in "border wars," a new book out next week, we get a glimpse into how the administration put that controversial policy in place and looked for otherto keep migrants out. amna nawaz has more. >> nawaz: that's rigor, judy, "newtimes" reporters michael shear and julie hirschfield davis coosrote that exe new book, "border wars." and michael joins lc now. e to the "newshour". >> happy to be here. >> reporter: family separation was one of the more punitive measures you dek.tail in the boo it's when the idea was first floated by then secretary john kelly, had a lot of heat and backlash. what did you finout about why the administration pushed forward with it, anyway? >> well,>>ohn kelly was, i think, cognizant of the political implications and the moral implications of what was going to happen to the children, and i think he recognized when it was first floated that at was -- the damage to the administration early on at the

time. but inside the administration, allies of stephen milho has always within the president's architect of his immigration agenda, and allies of jeff seions who was the htorney general at the time, never let the idea go. they continued to believe, and i think still believe today, that it wou be the most effective, it was going to be and would be the most effecti deterrent. essentially their idea was ifi you make coming into the united states as miserable and horrible as possible, people will stop doing it, and it percolated in better part of a year until the summer of last year, essentially, when they finally pushed it through first at justice, declaring a kind zero tolerance policy that the attorney general announced, and then what waey needed to doed to have the department of homeland security decide we're going to push all families over to justice to be prosecuted, even if that means that thewill be separated, and that's after much kind of

deliberation, that's finraally what they did. reporter: that was applied across the u.s. sor border as we saw unfolded that summer. you've reported here, though, there are actually people in the administration arguing it shoulv be spread wider than that, into the interior of the u.s. . right. tmean, there is a part oe administration that lieved that just doing it at the border wasn't enough, that you had to apply a kind of zero lerance policy across the border in the interior as well. that never carried the dayat an, in fact, what we'll never know is if the president hadn't of doing it at the borderwe whether that would have been tht tep. >> reporter: more than any other issue, immigration has message, right. this pre what is it about this one issue that draws his si where does that come from? >> that's a really good the pren. sident didn't -- you know, when he was campaignng for --tially thinking about campaigning for the white house,

it wasn't the first thing that came to mind. trade was the first thing that came to mind. and when he talked oub immigration, his advatisors woud see what the crowd -- what that would do to the crowd, and, ultimately, they kept trying to get him to come back to immigration, ty didn't want him to forget about it. the wall and the idea of building a wawas a knewmonic device for him. they knew he was a builder andto likeuild things and they figured if they could get him talking about wanting to build a wall he uldn't forget to talk about immigration. but thidea of running on it and pushing it through as president, there's a part of him that just instinctively kind of tends to the archie bunker likev sort of bigotew of wbio should be in this country, who should be part of this country's and i think tht root what drives him. >> reporter: that wall has become sort of the physical embody meant of his picies and view on immigration. you quote him in one of those meetings discussing whe wall should look like, what it

should have around it, saying i want these peoplinto be horrible shape if they climb up. you reported on andg suggest mote around it, alligators, esakes, electrng it. what is the obson with the wall, and also making it as harmful andiolent as possible. >> i think there are two things, part of it comes from his belief more people coming in, he really firmly believes that. but also the extreme seasu that he kept reaching for were part of a growing frustration e over thst threyears in which each time he sw a polls polls -- poly not woing, he would be told by his advisors you can't do this or that, it's either illegal, mr. president, it's immoral, it's practical, got more and more frustrated. he and what we saw when he talkedou 150 people for the book, inside and outside the of them told us, it wasn't like he would raise an idea once and

be convinced it wasn't possible, he came back to it again and again. so whether it was the idea of the wall with pointy spikes or migrants in shootin the legs, you know, those were ideas that he would be told n and he would come back to again and again. >> reporter: you detail one ofe thments of frustration inside of one of the white house meetings where he's being tol no and he's got a list of these numbers in front of him. he starts ticking do them and you anjulie first reported this for the "new york times" and broke the store back inf decemberst year and he basically launches into a racist rant calling everyone from haite saying y all have aids, saying nigerians go back to ceir hutlling people terrorists, when you look at the details of the book, what is it about the president and this administration when it comes to, immigratoes he just not want black and brown people to come into the dismount. >> i don't think we could sort of come to a final conclusion on

this. a question a lot of people ask is is this president a racist, a xenophobic person? i don't know that even aftt er own't knthis book, after a yeao that i'm qualified to sort of look into his soul and know that. what you can say is trooper e veral times, that was them, calling them s-ole countries. another one, numerous mes he expressed racist language as well as policies that essentially, in practice, do play out against, you know, brown, black people that areo coming from other parts of the world. and, so, we asked him, we met with him in the oval office just this past jun we asked him pointedly, do yourr that you are going to be remembered as a xenophobic president.his first answer was,i don't think so. he said, i hope not but maybe you're right, maybe that's how willmembered. i hope that's not. and i think you could see in that both, you know, sort of a desire not to be called a bad

name but alo a recognition that he kind of understands the way people view him. >> michael shear is the co-autr along witiejul the book is "border wars." m's out next week. thank you souch. >> thank you so much. >> woouff: for the past week, we've been reporting on china's explosive growth and development as a world power. tonight, wlook at how chinese artists are recreating what they call the country's" cultural aristocracy" by producing original art.rt.fr that is a shif recent years, when china produced 75% of the world's a knockoffs the story is part of our ongoing arts and culre coverage "canvas," and also part of our series "china: powernd prosperity," produced with the support of t pulitzer center. special correspondent katrina yu begins her story in the village of dafen.

>> reporter: artist zeng muquanr has never set foot outside china, but he knows a lot about the streets of paris. from his studio in the country's southern guangdong provinc he's painted tens of thousands of european scenes. the 44-year-old eas ving duplicating paintings, and has world's most famous artists, including van gogh. >> ( translated ): you know i used to paint th fivet?" copies per day. every year, i preruced 3,000 to 5,000.or >> rr: artists here used u to producep to 75% of thees world's duplic these were ordered by a souvenir hiop in amsterdam. each canvas earnjust $5, though he knows they're sold for much more. he often spends 14 hours a day, seven days a week painting duplicates. >> ( translated ): people say paintersere in dafen village are no better than copy machines. we started before things became digital, and the quantity was huge.

every copy was almost the samene as if y machine, but it's not. it's done by hand and there's a process. and by this process, we become better artists. >> reporter: he lives in dafen village, and dreams of making his mark on china's art scene. his timing could be just right. once notorious for forgeries and fakes, china's art market is now forging ahead. this isn't a mad dash on black friday. one of the country's mosteat at prestigious auctio mhouses, china guardian. last year, the firm says it closed $822 million of sales. one-third of all art global sales are now made in china. and, the country's new wealthy class are a hungry market. here, ink paintings, paper fansn calligraphy can sell for millions. with traditional works commanding such high prices, chinese buyers are starting to

see art as a more reliable investment than the stock market. oldest auction houundedountry's with the mission of recreati acchina's "cultural aristo" >> ( translated ): we are now ling in a flourishing age. we see more people visiting exhibitions,useums and collections. this shows tthe level of people's artistiappreciation and cultural quality are improving. >> ( translated in china, we say our nation has 5,000 years understand chinese society and ndmanity through our a culture. >> reporter: beijing-based artist hao liang says china is slowly restoring its artistic legacy, something lost during hee cultural revolution of 1960s and '70s, when many artists were condemned as counter-revolutionaries. >> ( translated ): chinesepe le have loved to collect art since the olden days, whether it was royal collections or private collectis. china was a country which

favored art, but we had a break in our history. we are restoring it, this respect for art and culture. ink paintings have sold to the likes of new york's metropolitan museum of art, and the centre georges pompidou in paris. t, contemporary paintings, such as his, aren't as sought- after in a chinese market dominated by traditional art, where some consider moern work heretical. ( translated ): i think it's fair and normal for people to criticize.oi after all, i'm what i want and don't think too much about cultural tradition or what's popular accordg to the current climate. >> reporter: but that climate is changing, thanks to younger buyers.yo beijg gallery mwoods is popular with millennial art lovers, and often showcases collections by western artists, inuding british artist dav hockney. visitors to this gallery reprent a new generation of educated abroad and increasingly interested in western work.

but, they are the urban elit minority. the majority of chinese art buyers are middle-income, middle-aged, and buying their art in places like dafen village. here, art dealer jack serves a man looking to decorate his home. ten years ago, most of his customers were foreigners looking to buy copies of european paintings. today, he says they're mostlydd -income chinese looking to buy original chinese art. c he says the change is thanks in large part to a government push to shed china's copycat label. >> ( translated ): a decade ago, artists here specialized in copying. highly-skilled painters or art school graduates were d and encouraged to create original work. artistic taste and education isi improving, athe future it will be even better. >> reporter:evt's that future that zeng muquan looks forward to.

when his copies are completehe works on his own art, a fusion of western and chinese styles. zeng says china's etowing art maeans it's now more profitable for him to be original. >> ( translated ): these days when custors are interested in my work, they're more generous in what they're willing to pay. as an artist, i eam of producing excellent art of my own, and leaving behind influential work for the next geration. >> reporter: as china's art market develops, artists like zeng muquan are producing art that's more reflective of themselves, and hoping for a life spent copying less, and creating more. for the pbs newshour, i'm katrina yu, in den village, guangdong. >> woodruff: wonderful report. and on the newshour on china will soon surpass the u.s. as the number one film market in the world. but, unlike hollywood, its film industry is heavily controlled

by the communist party. we look at how the country leverages its actors as a formpo of sofr, and what happens when these stars find themselves in the crosshairs of chinese authorities. all that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour forth tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again hereni tomorrow e. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> and with the ongoing supporti of these instis >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour & co."" this week we' dipping into the archives and looking back at me offur favorite interviews of the year, and here's what's coming up. >>t's a gruesome murder th haened outside authorities. 's saudi arab minister of state for feign affairs joins me. his response to an independent investigatioat blaming his countrfor the murder of journalist jam a.g. khashoggi, and then as relations betwe iran and the united states go downhill, europe is gettingng squeezed in th middle. we speak to the former french ambassador to t united statesst and the united nations. ♪-us >> the greatest violinist alive. itzhak perlman is on the program. on fam