captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, crossing the line-- as tury sends troops into syria, i sit down with secretary of stateke ompeo about the latest international flashpoints,nt including chinukraine, genesis of the impeachment inquiry. then, a constitutional clash-- cooperate with conin theto impeachment inquiry, creating a test othe balance of powers. plus, we return to the bahamas to see how life on the islands is recovering d the future threats oflimate change. >> what we're already seeing is a greater incidence of t really strong hurricanes, just more strong storms. and more rain, more floong

from tropical cyclones. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. us.f, the engine that connects

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the erhn d. and cae t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information amacfound.org >> and with the ongopport of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: turkey unleashed its military offensive in rtheastern syria today, by air and on the ground.

turkish forces have now crossed the syrian border, hours after their warplanes carried out air strikes targeting u.s. allied kurdish forces. a syrian war monitor reported a leven civilians have died. siobhan kennedy of independent television news narrates our report. >> reporter: within days of president trump announcing u.s. troops would withdraw fria north east s, turkish jets began taking off.th eir targets: kurdish consrolled syrian border tow president erdogan had given the order to launch the attack. >> ( translated ): i wish success to our heroes and i kiss each of them on their forehead. >> reporter: he tweeted, "our

mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to tharea." today though he brought firepower against kurdish forces, and panic to civilians. since the defeat of daesh, or isis, kurdish forces he controlled the part of syria east of the euphrates, backed by a limited number of u.s. troops. in august, a three-mile buffer zone was agreed, running along the turkish border, to be jointly patrolled by turkey and the u.s. wanted to go further, 20 milesys inside the border, to push back e y.p.g. who he considers terrorists allied with a kursh insurgency in turkey. towns of sari kani the border explosions rocked raz al eyen, kurdish led forcesarned of humanitarian catastrophe.t th no u.s. support, generals called on civilians ton

move to the border to fight >> ( translated ): send a message to the whole world again. inwe are ready to face anyof attack. >> reporter: as kurdish forces engage in battle, the worry is no one will be left to guard the prisons filled with more thanis ten thousands isis fighters. donald trump has long said isis is defeated. and today said the u.s. did not endorse turkey's aack, calling it a bad idea. familiesave begun to flee their homes in the worst hit towns, panicked and confused. but turkey, is certain, determined that now is the time to strike >> woodruff: that report from desiobhan kennedy of indep television news. meanwhile in washington, president trump said he has spoken to turkish president

erdogan. but he remains committed to taking u.s. troo e out of the ast. >> we've been talking to turkey for three years, they've been wanting to do this for many years as you know, they've been fighting each other for centuries.g we're gettt of endless wars we have to do it. and eventually someone was gonn have to make tcision and frankly we are getting a lot of praise for that decision. >> woodruff: we'll talk to u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo about turkey's operation in syria, and other things, after the news summary. democrat presidential candidate joe biden said today president trump must be impeached for abusing his power. mr. trump faces an impbychment inquirouse democrats following a whistleblower's account that he asd the ukrainian president torobe biden, and his son. the former vice president told supporters today in new hampshire mr. trump is "shooting holes in the constitution." >> donald trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts. to preserve our constitution,

our democracy, our basic integrity, he should be impeached. >> woodruff: mr. trump responded to biden in a tweet, calling it "so pathetic." president trump is facing new accusations of sexual assault today. "esquire" magazine published an excerpt of a new book, entitled "all the president's women," that details 26 claims of unwanted sexual contact. that includes one woman who we r ord to describe an instance at mar-a-lago in the's early 20hen mr. trump groped her and forcibly kissed her. ims.trump has denied the c california's largestty provider shut off power to more an a million people toda it's the biggest planned outage ec the state's history. pacific gas and ic said it hopes to stop its equipment from sparking wildfires during the

hot, windy weather. about 800,000 customers will eventually be affected across 34 counties in northern and central california. officials warned the blackout could last days. >> as long as those high winds are there, the power will be out.t pg & e will gin restoring power until those wind conditions are down, and then at that point it can take up to five days for the last customer to be rested. we will be working with them to increase the velocity of that restoration and restore as quickly as possible, but it is in theirands and their infrastructure. >> woodruff: pg & e came under increased scrutiny lastcr november, after california's deadliest and most destructive fire was determined to be ignited by the utility's transmission lines. that fire killed 85 people and destroyed more than 10,000 the f.b.i. arrested an official at the defense intelligencecy agoday for leaking classified information. d the justice department se 30-year-old was charged with

disclosing top secret data abou a foreuntry's weapons systems to two journalists, including a reporter h dating. no further specifics were provided. montgomery, alabama, known as the birthplace of the civilci rights movement, has eleed its first black mayor in the city's 200-year-history. steven reed, a 45-year-old probate judge, made history after winning tuesdas run-off election. he celebrated the victory at a rally last night. >> this election has never been about me; this election has never been about just my ideas. it's been about all of the hopes individuals and covely ins this city. >> woodruff: prior to this election, montgomery was one of only three cities in the deep 100,000 or more to hver of elected an african-american mayor. in economic news, stocks rebounded on wall street, ahead

of a new round of u.s. trade talks with china. the dow jones industrial average gained 182 points to close at 26,346 the nasdaq rose 80 points, and the s&p 500 added 26. in ecuador, thousands of protesters, led by indigenouss groups, held a nationwide strike today, amid a week of unrest ann anti-goverdemonstrations. president lenin moreno has refused their calls to step down over fuel price hikes, and has moved government operations out of quito. alday's marches in the cap .ty were largely peaceful but down some streets, protesters rolled flaming tires at security forces, who fired back with tear gas. and, three scientistwere awarded the nobel prize in chemistry today for their development of lithium-ion batteries. they laid thfoundation for the commercially rechargeableco batteries now powering o

smartphones, laptops and electric cars. one of the winners, 97-year-old john goodenough, a professor at the university of texas, is the oldest person to ever win a nobel priz e >> i didn't ever lobby for or look forward to this particular day but i'm very happy that it's arrived. it's very nice to receive a recognition. >> woodruff: goodenough shares e prize with a british- american chemistry professor and a japanese scienti. still to come on the newshour: one on one with secretary of state mike pompeo. a return to the bahamas after the storm.e ite house refuses to cooperate with congress, what ti know about tconstitutional clash, and much more.

>> woodruff: last week we concluded our ten part series on china. earlier today i state down with the secretary of state mike pompeo to ask him about a number of things we reported on in our china series. i also aed him about turkey's invasion of syria, and his role in president trump's controversial telephone call thth the president of ukraine. secretary pompeok you very much for talking with us. >> judy, it's great to be with you. thinks very much for hame on. >> woodruff: i want to turn to sir. i can't turkish armed forces crossed the border into syria with the mison in essence of wiping out the ypg, the syrian kurds. right now, it appears we don't know where this envision is going to end up. does the u.s. take responsibility for whatever the outcome is because the u.s. ha

given turkey a green light? >> yeah, wel that's just false. the united states fadn't give turkey a green light. >> woodruff: president trump spoke with presiden erdogan and, after the call, the president said that turkey would moving in, u.s. forces were withdrawn from the ar. so there was a change in u.s. policy, one you had supported. to the y.p.g., the syrianh lose kurdlies that helped in the fight against i.s.i.s. >> remember the mission, judy. the mission was that when we came intore office, tere people being beheaded, people being burned, people in cages. president trump made the decision that we would begin a campaign that would take down the caliphate.su we'vceeded in that. on the phone call sunday night, it became very clear that there were american soldiers that were going to be at risk and the president made a decision to put them in place out of harm's way.

that's whoat we'vee. president trump has been clear that this administration will take islamic radicalism seriously and i think the success we've h in defeating numbers of countries in the doze, i am confident we willec prthe people from that terrorist threat. >> woodruff: have you personally changed your thinking about viewing the y.p.g. as u.s. lies? >> the turks have a legitimate security concern. we've talked about that, i've talked about that reatedly. they have a terrorist threat to their south. we have been working to make sure we did wat we could to prevent that terror threat from strikerring the people in fork while trying to achieve what is in america's best interest, threat from radical islamic terrorism emanating frosyria, we'll continue to do that. >> woodruff: a striking republican opposition to.is ot just the seate majority leader, republican

leader mitch mcconnell who said it was a mistake, in essence, lindsey graham has called ate stain on our american honor. this morning he said this will reinsure the reemergence of i.s.i.s. >> i don't believe that will happen. i love sem,ator grae's a friend, but remember where we were when this administration came into office and now just judge by ouresults. we have achieved a good outco there. we have taken down the liphate, there are i.s.i.s. recommend upnantz that remain, we'll continue to do what we need tedo to kep the american people as sa as we can from this threat. but this is not only syria, it emanates from iraq, there are a dozen other countries ere the threat from islamic terrorism continues, and we have to make sure we position our resources appropriately to reduce there to the united states. that's the mission set, judy. >> woodruff: but just as aa quick rification, you're saying the u.s. does not take responsibility for whatevethe

outcome here, casualties, r i.s.i.emergence and so forth? >> we're going to work to make sure that i.s.i.s. doesn't have the caliphate that extends across a broad swath of syia and iraq which is the place where we found ourselves when this president took office. >> woodruff: china, e "newshour" just completed a series of reports on china and i want to ask you about what thest admition is doing with regard to china. just yesterday, the state department has been -- and this week -- is stepping up sanctions on chinese officials, chinese firms that have ben involved in repressing muslim minorities in china, t uighurs, the kaks and others. how complicit is china's top leader xi jinping iof this? >> xi jinping leads the countryh just likleader of a tank platoon.small business or counte responsible for the things that

happen in your name. we've watched this week with the n.b.a. but this problem etends far beyond this. the desire and actions have been taken on the ground to take down the muslim faith or destroy the uighur ethnicity. in the west in china is something that the department has spoken out about loudly. we hope china will change its direction. we think this is not only an enormous human rights violation but weinon't thit's in the best interest of the world or china to engage in this kind of behavior. >> woodruff: wll mr. xi himself be held accountable in the end, you think? doing everything we can to reverse the course of action that's been chosen there. we've now put 28ew countries, list, comnies that werengenty enabthe repression. the state department placed visa restrictions, we're going to continue to talk about these wman rights viehraitions.

the president said in another context in hong kong, we want to make sure the issues are handled in a way that is humane. woodruff: hong kong, and you mentioned what's going on with regard to the n.b.a.r the chinese now retaliating against americans who speak out in favor of the protesters inhe hong kong,anager of the houston rockets, professional basketball teaems, they a now pollin-- they won't air couple of the n.b.a. games in china, as a result. how appropriate is thi what does it say about china, what they're doing there? >> yeah, i think american businesses have the right to make the decisions they make as long as they're lawful, they have to make their own business decisions. i think american businesses are waking up to the risks that attend to their company. it may seemt makes roft in the short run but the reputational costs to these companies will be higher and higher as beijing's long arm reaches out to them and destroys their capacity for

em, the employees, in this case n.b.a. managers and team ayers to speak freely about their political opinions, something we value to deeply in the united states. >> woodruff: there has been talk about whether the hong kong authorities will have the chinese army involved in dealing with the protesters. does the u.s. have a man on what it will do if that hppens? >> the president's made clear our objectives there and the way we want to make sure this proceeds. china made a commitment, with the united kingdom, then submitted to the united nations, they've madepr a series of ises. the world watching beijing to see if it will live up to the commitments they made. they made promises to the people of hong kong and to the world about their one country two, systems. our expectation will continue to live up to that. the president said they ned behave in a way that is humane. >> woodruff: our reporter nick

schifrin when in china did extensive reporting, talked to officials about chinese exporting their suilnce technology to many other countries so they can surveile obseeir own citizens. is it too late to stop the spread of chinese technology for those kinds ofurposes? >> judy, the world's got to maka some decision every country will make its wn. i have been talking about this for a year and a half now. the chise exhaust party has access to information that runs across chinese networks, it's in their basic laws. i don't think it's in the best interest of any country to take the m ata froeir private citizens and place it in the hands of the chinese communisti that the world will see thateve built on western values ofare opness, transparency, rule of law, contracts, property rights, all the things we've come to r

know aly on for our capacity to communicate around the world, i think the world will see the and thy will demand that every network, every system comply with those rules. so, no, i don't think it's remotely too late. >> woodruff: the so-called belton rd initiative, china exporting its infrastructure expertise around the world, it's clear now, nick schifrin talked to a number, again, of officials who say the chinese are everywhere with this, and they say the u.s. ust not on the aying field. >> yeah, china is free to have their companies come compete around the wndold, we want tha we encourage that. if ty show up with ans straightup trtion and a chinese company beats another country, so be it, that's fair and reasonable. but what you have seen and what ink against and 0 will concede that, for years, the world underreacted to this, not only ttehe united sta but all of the west, what you're

beginning to see is an acknowledgment of this challenge where these transactions aren't fair. they're showing up with money in brown paper bags, putting debt on nations they t cassibly relay parkway so th can ultimately exrt political influence,i think the world is waking up to these threats and risks and i am ca confident over time this will not prevail and to say america is notnt pres just inaccurate. >> woodruff: in the short time you were on the phone call between president trump anden preszelensky of ukraine. did you think at the time when you hea it that what the president was asking for at the time was appropriate. everybody is asking what thewh tleblower talked about on the phone call. somebody said st night they heard what was on the call and was frightened. we have what we could to put aet transcript tr about the call. i know what the administration

has done with respect to ukraine. we've worked diligentlyon this, i'm proud of ths. obama left ukrobaine 80% of the size it was when he came into office, and vladimir putin hasn't done that. i think theost imortant reaction to the call -- because i was on the call, i listened to it, it was consistent with what president trump has been trying to do to take corruption out, i found thahto be wolly appropriate to try to get another country to stop being corrupt, but the most important reaction is from president zelensky himself who said, no, i didn't feel pushed or pressured. everyone keeps suggesting there was undue pressure. i assure you countries around the wrld every day cll me to try to get america to behave in way that's in the best interest apply pressure on me, and weo work on it for good oucomes for the american people and i think what the presidents trying to

achieve with ukraine will stand on its own, with the statepa ment and what this administration has been done. >> woodruff: just so you know, there has been nothing wrong with the bidens. >> you keep saying that. the u.s. embassy in kiev, the international moneta fund and other international organizations felt that prosecutor was corrupt and thought he should be removed.v there's nodence that what vice president biden was doing was corrupt in some way. so my question is where is the rationale behind this? >> there is no one who has stared at ukrainian activity over the last years that doesn't understand the risk of at govigernment. chs behaving in ways that are deeply inconsistent with basic fund mental refusal, ples, private property, one disputes that.

for a nation to seek help from another cotry to say, did you mess around in our elections? was there coruption engaged in? that is completely appropriate activity. >> woodruff: have you decided just finally that there will be cooperation with the house impeachment? >> i've made clear i think the white house has made verclear we will ensure that we do everything we're required to do by the law and the constitution every time. >> woodruff: secretary mike pompeo, thank you very much. >> thankou, judy. oo >>uff: it's been five and a half weeks since hurricane dorian devastated the bahas. the complexities of the storm and the recovery are in someys ust beginning to reveal themselves.po science corrent miles o'brien went to the bahamas for the weather mapping app, yradar.com."

he reports on the resiliency ofa thmian people and what research tells us about the linds between climate change the increasing ferocity of hurricanes. it's the latest in our science e ries "leading edge." >> reporter: at nd memorial hospital in freeport, ythe damage is not instanma obvious, and yet it is utterly complete. thprognosis for the 59 yea old facilitys uncertain, little more than a month after hurricane dorian arrived. four to six feet of water. health services administrator sharon williams hasorked here for nearly 40 years. she walked me through the one story facility. wards, the intensive care unit, and the recently upgradeder ing suite, all ruined by the salt water flood.

does it break your heart to see all of these? >> very much so. it is heartbreaking. it is very much heart-wrenching. this has been our second home for years. >> reporter: it could have been so much worse. on the day dorian hit, there ore than 200 patients here, 28 of them bedridden. t sharon williams had a plan. each staffer was assigned and l of patients, charged with getting them out, quickly obd safely. >>y panicked. no matter the fear they werebo feeling, eve was contained and calm so the process was orderly. >> reporter: were you scared? >> yes, i can tell you there was a bit of fear. if you don't have some fear to ma, you second guess someti then you make stupid mistakes >> reporter: and you didn't lose a patient? a i didn't lose a patient and we did not lose a staff during that time. >> reporter: right now, they are

providing ca here thanks to help from u.s. aid and relief organizations like samaritan's medical corps.international its volunteer doctors and nurses are taking patients in tents at the site of a destroyed clinic 30 miles away in high rock. here the acute phase of open wounds and broken bones has evolved into the chronic concerns of interrupted prescription medications, andon mental health. this woman collapsed after discovering some clothing thato belongedr two grandchildren who were swept away in the storm. physician scott lillibridge is the medical coordinator. >> we're trying to get ahead of the chronic disease cycle of now.etes and hypertension right and if you focus only on the acute phase, you're going tomi all these layers that need to happen. what i am really worried about at this point is that we keep our eye on the long game. >> reporter: scientists say theo

long gamthe bahamas as a whole is also very uncertain, as the certainty grows linking climate change and a greater frequency of strong hurricanes. kerry emanuel is a professor of atspheric science at mit. >> what we're already seeing is a greater incidence of the really strong hurricanes, just more strong storms and more rain, more flooding from tropical cyclones, bothte fresh because there's more rain and the salt water from the storm surge beuse of two things, the storms are stronger and the sea levels are coming up. >> reporter: the bahamas archipelago, about 700 islands and 2400 cays stretching 760 miles from florida to cuba sits low in the water, mostly just a few feet above sea level. >> you raise sea level by half a foot, it's a big deal. you can get a lot more flooding for the same storm than at the sea level back wre it was 100ye

s ago. >> reporter: are we at a point where we have to think about whether the bahamas is an unsustainable place to continue living in? >> unfortunately, and that's actually happening in the western pacific. r orter: these island nations are cannon fodder in the relentless invasion spurred by climate change. the first casualties in a war they did not start. >>hen one storm, can a obliteraisland state or a number of states in one hurricane season, how will we survive? >> reporter: bahamas prime minister minnis clearly had this on his mind when he addressed the united nations general assemblyn september 27. >> so i urge i add my urcrnt plea to ths and voices of many other leaders urging the nations of the world here assembled to treat the globa climate emergency as the greatest challenge facing

humanity. >> reporter: mr. minnis and u.n. secretary general antónio guterres toured the largestri shelter for evacuees in a nassau gymnasium two weeks earlier. many of the 700 or so people here are undocumented immigrants from haiti, squatters, living on abaco island in what was a slum called the mudd, now a flattened field of debris. nevertheless, shella monestime is among those longing to return >> because that's why. so automatically we'll go back. home is home. home is home.. i really don't want to be in there. but i don't have no choice to be there.s therwhere else to go. w >> reportehout deeds or papers, for them the path back to abaco is littered with obstacles-- indeed the government is threatening

deportation. they are refugees, first from oppressive politics and poverty, and now perhaps from the force of nature itself. for the pbs newsur, i'm miles o'brien in the bahamas. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: betting on nevada-- how democrats are courting a key voting block in 2020. plus, say it ain't so? new details on the black sox scandal 100 years later. it is clearer than ever: the impeachment process has put this country's legislative branch and executive branch in direct conflict.he yesterday,hite house sent out a strongly worded letter to house democratic leaders refusing to comply with the house's impeachment inquiry.

william brangham has more. >> brangham: in the letter, they emphatically laid out arguments as to why they were rejecting the house's requests. to help us decipher the legal footing for e white house's guments, i'm joined by jamil jaffer. a professor of law at george mason university, jaffer served as white house counsel for president george w. bush. jaffer joins me now from raleigh, north carolina. profsor jf jaffer, thank y very much for being here. let's talk a little bit about the arguments put oua in tht letter. one legal argument that's made is that this is simplt a because the full hse has notry voted to authorize theze impeachment inquiry. is that laid out in the constitution as a requirement? >>ell, william, there are no for how the house is supposed to but prior praice suggests that, the house should take a full --

a vote of the full hou to initiate the impeachment inquiry. you can imagine, th a huge issue. it's a conflict between two coordinate, co-equal branches of the government, one investing in another. somewhat outside of the normal purview of what the house does. sypically the house doe legislation and oveight. this is not a requireme t for have a full vote of the house before beginning an impeachment inquiry. >> there's precedent but no requirement for it. let's say the house were to hold the vote and formally call in an impeachment inquiry. is there precedent for the white house to say imnot participating? >> the challenge is typically in this scenario when they vote to pass a resolution to initiate impehment inquiry, there are procedural rules in place to provide a certain amount of due process to the potential target

of the impeachment, in this case the president of the united states, including the right to rll witnesses, the right to cross-examine, tht to have counsel present at hearings and the like and that's normal the process and the process, by the way, procedural rights to the minority, pically so the majority is not accused of partisanship or doing something inappropriate yacht. so you see these white hou saying this is illegitimate and imappropriate but they're basing thatn practice and not legal requirements. h reporter: the other argument the whiuse has been making is you're not letting us do all the things we think ofs traditional due process. but in the normal procedure, thwouldn't those happen ie senate, meaning that the house votes to impeach or notnd then, if impeached, the speak, to the senate, where the due process practices would occur? >> that's wall exactly right, william. it's a point a lot of people have been making out in the

media in the last 24 hours a after saw th letter that, iook, the impeachment proceeding in the house ise a prosecutor doing an investigation and bringing charges before the gnd jury and eventually the trial comes where you have a jury in this case 100 senators presided over th tchief justice andhat's where the target presents their case. analogous proceedings in ae the criminal proceeding, but an impeachment isn't a criminal proceeding, it's a quasi judici proceeding, a political matter and because political and involves two co-equal branches of the government going to head to hea it's been the practice of the house to give unusual protections in the charging process to the target because tht, recognize thaif, in fact, the house is to vote on articles of impeachment, even if the president isn't convicted, that has hue effects on the

president itself so they givewo rights theldn't otherwise haveo to the other side ando the target of impeachment, in this case the president. >> reporter: we say this is an inherently political process and sometis, in washington, d.c., especially, that can be used as somewhat of a slur, but tht's really by design in this case. the framers could have said judges only handle impeachment, but in this case they said they're going to let the political actorin the senate deal with this. >> that's exactly right and the reason we're likely noto see judges get involved. process go the forward. people say what happens if the president doesn't comply, can the house go to the courts to try to get an enforcement of subpoenas? that may happen. but what if the president is refusing to do neg and refuses to comply with the currentir in one might say well the courts want you to stay out of it because this is a quintessential political question, that is a

question that the constitution textually commits to the coordinate branches, the political branches of the government bec constitutional founders and framers didn't intend for the processes to be in e courts, they intended it to be in the hands of the house on the onen hand ande senate fortrial and the ultimate decision on the other. they didn't define whey meant by high crimes and misdemeanors. it's a trm of the cstitution. it had a meaning at the time they wrote it but it wasn't defined and there's no standard in the constitution by which the house or the senate must judge the president.ep >>orter: jamil jaffer of george mason university, thank you so much for being here. >> thanks, william. >> woodruff: we turn now to the mocratic presidential race. the state of nevada is third in line to vote ithe primary contest next year. y that gives it a key role in cking the democrats' presidential nominee. as john yang reports, a union

dominated by women and latinoshe could decide tinner. >> yang: susana loli's quiet neighborhood is eight miles and a wod away from the crowds a clamor of the las vegas strip, but 23 years of clning hotel rooms there has allowe tthe peru natibuild a life she's proud of, thanks in large part to her union-- culinary workers local 226. >> i can have a bett, better pay, better health insurance. i have a house and a car my live's changed. kids went to the university. and, for me, was the best. >> yang: 60,000 nevada hotel and casino workers are represented by the culinary union, by far the state's largest and most politically influential.

the majority-latino, majority- female union reflects the changing face of u.s. organized labor, and nevada's increasingly ardiverse population, now 30% latino. the union has negotiated generous employer-paid benefits, including top-tier health insurance. han 140,000 workers and dependents get free cathe tion's clinic and pharmacy.nd loli has relied ont for her family, and for herself when she needed surgery after an on-the- job injury. >> i was moving something and push with my leg and i feel a popping. the next day it was swollen, my knee. and i cannot work like that. it's expensive thousands of dollars. >> yang: and for youf you don't work you don't get paid, right? >> yes. >> yang: like loli, fellow union member mirtha rojas works at a tel on the strip and is naturalized u.s. citizen. >> i'm from cuba.

>> yang: she came to america in 2000, with her daughter nancy, who now has a three-year-old son of her own, juan. jobs in las vegas. non-union what were the differences? between the job-- what you were getting from you employer at the non union hotel. >> hah! >> yang: and what you were getting with the union? >> for example the health insurance.pa i need tfor me, for my daughter. very expensive.ev y month. so in the union, don't pay nothing. >> yang: last year, she was part of the union's political organizing, considered the state's most effective latino ter turnout operation. about 250 culinary workers took leave from their jobs ahead of the midterm elections, knocking on some 200,000 doors and10 registerin00 new voters. >> we got it. we win. >> yang: on election day, democrats won up and down the ballot. >> our union is a lifeblood of

r community. >> yang: including jacky rosen, to blue.pped a red senate seat rosen joined the culinary union during a summer in college. >> the acceptance speeches, everything was acasear's palace and that's where just about 40 years ago i washat summer waitress. >> yang: rojas says she'll be back at it next year. >> yeah. and i'm ready, because this is importt. we need to stay together. >> yang: the nevada democratic presidential caucuses in february will be the first big petest of the candidates' to latino voters. and that's why the support of the culinary workers is so coveted. jon ralston is editor of the nevada independent, a non-profit online news site. >> i know it's a cliche but the culinary union is the 800 pound gorilla of nevada politics. and by the way both sidesep recognizes thelicans are afraid of what the culinary can do and the democrats want the >> yang: former hotel workero.

geoconda arguello-kline is the top official of local 226.he >> tealth care issue for the member is number one. >> yang: that could be a bigr problem fomocratic presidential candidates pushing >> the time is now >> yang: progressives argue that if health care was out of contct negotiations,nions could press for higher wages. local 226 members aren't buying it.>> don't think that's the solution for them. i don'think the members would listen to me aut that. >> no i want to continue with mn health ins. the same plan. for , work perfect. >> i love my health insurance because it's the best. so i love-- i want my health insurance. >> i'm not going tlet anyone, publican or democrat, take it away. period. >> yang: moderates like former vice president joe bid oppose

medicare-for-all. it's an issue with organized labor beyond the culinary workers. >> other unions here like afscme and maybe even seiu their members love their medical plans. i think the prospect of losing that is going to weigh on their minds especially if another candidate, the most likely one of course is biden if he-- if he sticks around, to keep pointing that out you could lose your insurance with warren or sanders. >> yang: while union leaders and rank-and-file members like rojas and loli are still deciding which candidate to back, they n ve a clear message about what it will take to eir support. >> they have to know about the h nefits that we have. we have good heasurance, good pension, good pay. it's very important. >> we need somebody working tother with the union. immigration is important for me becae when somebody's coming here somebody'having dreams.

>> yang: the faces of what could be crucial support next year when nevada helps pick presidential winners and losers. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in las vegas. >> woodruff: tonight marks the 100th anniversary of a notorious moment in baseball's history, the white sox losing to the cincinnati reds in the 1919 world series. the scandal that follo stained the sport's reputation, and is still talked about to this day. as our correspondent stephanie sy discovered,ew research has called into question much of what baseball fans long thought they knew to be the scandal's underlying narrative. >> reporter: it was 1919-- rld war i wasn't far in the rear-view. race riots were engulfing the nation. o anthe south side of

chicago, the white soxere" battedg a thousand" --fav to win the world series. so when they lost to theth cincinnati red year, even with shoeless joe jackson slugging it out withts, baseball fans were shocked. was this play that firs alerted baseball insiders that something funny might be going on. the ree-second clip shows th white sox botching a chance to turn a double play against the reds. eight white sox players were later accused of conspiring with gamblers to throw the world series, including shoeless joe, whose exact role is still disputed. he and the others were banned for life from professional baseball. for decades, eliot asinof's bo"" eight men out" was viewed asfi the tive account of what happened. as was the movie adaptation, which told the story of a miserly team owner charles commiskey-- known for spending on erything but his own talented players.

the resentful players were led by ruthless gamblers to throw the game. but 100 years since the 1919 world series a very different story is coming out.. >> the 1919 white sox were one of the higst paid teams in baseball.ac >> reporter: job pomrenke chairs a committee whose solee purp researching the black sox scandal. its findings have been compiled in aonline article titled" eight myths out" and examinedin new podcast-- "infamous america." >> this idea that the sox players conspired to fix the underpaid because eltthey were resentful toward their salarie or their poor treatment by their owner doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. all basell players in the early 20th century were paid better than typical american workers. >> reporter: was it ulti dtely greed thve those players? >> yes greed is i thinthe primary motivation for how the black sox scandal happened. i think the black sox plays

saw a high reward for what they were doing. they could make as much as their yearly salary in one week for fixinghe world series. and i think they saw very little risk of getting caught or getting punished. >> reporter: the scene in eight men out when pitcher eddie cicotte is denied a bonus by the team owner? completely made up, says pomreke. and that's not all. it was originally believed that it was the gamblers that approached the players about the fix. >> this is another one of the myths about the black sox scandal, is that the players were kind of conned into throwing the world series but it >> reporter: and hyou know that. was that through testimony that was later revealed.t >> yes tis through the grand jury testimony of eddie cicottej and shoele jackson and some of the other play >> reporter: jeff kisselhoff,

eliot asinof's literary executor and frie maintains that inof's conclusions about thepl ayers' motivations for chting still hold up. he shared asinof's research notes and letters from pla wrs from the 1hich backup asinof's thesiabout poor pay. in an email, kisselhoff said "it should be pointed outhe bulk of what eliot wrote more than 50 years ago... holds up to a remarkable degree...ould be paid respect for his enduring and pioneering work."pa for hi, pomrenke doesn't cast aspersions on asinof, who >> i had no ideahen i started researching this story that there would be so much new evidence that has come to light. a lot of the new sourc information such as the contract cards at the baseball hall of atfame, the legal documenthe chicago history museum, and even the film footage that you can now watch on youtube of the 1919 world series. all of that stuff is new in the 21st century. >> reporter: another common refrain when people describe this scandal is that it was a singular event.

>> this is one of the most important aspects about understanding the black sox scandal is to know just how rampant gambling was in the seball culture at this time. we don't actually know i any other worlowseries were fixed but it's possible that some other world series were fixed before 1919.r: >> reportehe lasting impact of the black sox scandal was itat the players' harsh punishment servepurpose-- not since 1919 has there been a major fixing scandal in baseball. but the sport has had other andals-and jacob pomrenk wonders if the times aren't becoming ripe for a repeat of histor sports gambling has again become big businessith a supreme court ruling last year allowing states to legalize it, opening the door to a multi-billion dollar industry. >> i think baseball has to take great precautions to protect t integrity of the game because as we saw in the black sox scandal it's very easy for people to get caught up in the gambling and possibly altering the outcome.

>> reporter: do you think america wants to hear this version of events? >> it's certainly a more complex story but most history is, right? most history is a lot less simple than kind of the myths that we all want to believe. >> reporter: the filmmaker of "eight men out," john sayles, wrote in an email that he "was aware at the time, as was eliot [asinof], that most of his information came from participants and observers who had their own agendas." but he pointed, "the new revelations are only somebody's else's version, and you have to decide what to believe." r the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: last e brought you a story about some teof the top adaptive athin the world, who play professional tennis while using wheelchairs.

toght we bring you the sto of an amateur athlete, minda dentler, who hasrflso found po strength through sports. >> i take the subway to work, i can see people or notice people know when i go up the stairs in the subway, people will like pat me on the backnd say "oh good job," like as if like i've achieved something by like going to work. i was born in bombay india. when i was about six months old i contracted polio, it's a disease that affects your nervous system so my legs became paralyzed. and my birth mother, she realized that she couldn't take care of me, so she decided to leave me at an orphanage. i was adopted by an american family at age three and a half, and i moved tolfpokane washington. and i have a sister the exact same age as me, i was crawling in the ground and my sister was running around, a typical toddler. able to walk, i had to undergo a

number of surgeries to basicallt ighten out my hips and my legs, so i could use leg braces and crutches twalk. all of the kids around me, they were able to runu nd jump and ow, recess time was the worst for me because i wouldn't be able to do much of anything.w when in business school, one of my friends was training for a marathon. one day she was like, "hey minda i think you should check out this organization, it's called act'lles international and i a club for athletes with disabilities." took me probably like three or four months to get the courage to make the phone call. fortunately the rson who answered the phone was dick traum, who is actually the founder of achilles and he said hey you know what, whave practices on tuesdays and saturdays, "why don't you just show up at 6:30 on tuesday and sdll loan you my bike." i showed up on t, he loaned me his bike and that was the first time that was able to feel the wind in my hair and man, i went really slow, i went t like maybe 100 yards buts the coolest feeling to ride a hand cycle for the first time. to train for the ironman world

championship it was about a nine month endeavor and this way dayt in day out doing the workouts, um my husband was super involved in my journey and the preparations. i made the swim time limit i made the bike time limit and finally when i was on that run, i was ecstatic, i knew like i had a marathon to go but i knew that i had it in the bag, and bm the timee that, that final right-hand turn on to lee drive i realized how much it really meant to me to finally get it done. a >> you an inspirion minda dentler. you are an ironman. >> i was so excited but i was in a lot of pain too, because i had been exercising for a whole 14 hours and 39 minutes, but crossing that finish line was something else. by completing the ironman world champion and just being successful in, in my lif rrving a full time job, having a family, getting d, having a degree, i think, gives me that confidence, knowing it doesn't matter who i am, what i look like, you know i'm able to be

successful. is my brief but splar takethis on living with my disability. >> woodruff: you can find more episodes of our brief but spectacular series at pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshoufor tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you ansee you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> and with the ongoing support of these institutivis

and inals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning spoored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." the american people have the right to know if the president is acting in their interests. >> the white house blocks a key witness in the impeachment inquiry. i'll speak ith theen t's unofficial spokesman. hishi friend, media mogul chris ruddy. plus we get the impact of the president's policy overas. what does it mean for ukraine to politics?nt domestic american syribandoning allies in who will answer the call when seeing people go to these events or become what, in my view, wasce a p of radicalizationro