captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: pushed out by the president. the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine testifies that mr. trump pressured the state department to remove her. based on false information. then, one on one. former national security advisor susan rice on conflicting messages from the current white house. plus, following the winding trail to tippet rise, a sprawling, open-air arts center tucked away in the shadow of montana's beartooth mountains. >> it's my hope that somebody from a ranch nearby may come and hear this lyrical response to

these his, to this land that is their home, and go back out and hear it and see it a little differently. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the turkish incursion into northern syria, n and the president's tumultuous week, as the impeachment inquiry charges ahead. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years.

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station from viewers like you. thank you. >>oodruff: focred out. the former american ambassador to ukraine tells lawmakers that president trump pressed to have her fired. lisa desjardins breaksown how her testimony is the latest twist in the escalating impeachment inquiry. >> desjardins: from her first steps on capitol hill today, former ukraine ambassador marie yovanovitch entered, and added to, a political drama. the career diplomat arrived even after the state department told her last night she was not permitted to speak to lawmakers voluntarily. the solution? house democrats quickly ised a subpoena, allowing her to say she was legally compelled to attend. yovanovitch was recalled from her post in may, amidst charges from rudy giuiliani and in conservative media that she had spoken against the president.

she blasted back at those ideas in her opening remarks, which have been obtained by multiple news outlets. she said her removal was based on "unfounded and false claims." yovanovitch's ousting was cited' in the whistleblower's complaint at the center of the house's impeachment inquiry. during the july 25 phone call that triggered that complaint, president trump spoke against her to ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. he said, ""the woman was bad news," and added "she's going to go through some things." and according to an indictment handed up yesterday, also working to remove her were igor fruman and lev parnas, two men who say they were working for rudy giuliani and the president. the federal indictment charges, "parnas' efforts to remove the ambassador were conducted, at

least in part, at the request of one or more ukrainian officis." also today, news that gordon sondland will testify next week. sondland is the ambassador to the e.u., and text messages show he was involved in discussionsis the president wanted fromnd wh ukraine. last night, mr. trump campaigned in minneapolis, leveling more criticism at his opponen i congress. >> these are bad people. my phone call, for example, with the president of ukraine, was perfect. >> desjardins: the president rallied supporters, telling them their views are at stake. >> they want to erase your vote, ke it never existed. they want to erase your voice, and they want to erase your future. the president is holding another rally tonight in louisiana. >> woodruff: and lisa is here with me now, along with our own yamiche alcindor, who has been tracking today's developments from the white house.

so, lisa, let's go back to former ambassador yovanovitch. tell us, again, who she is and what more do we know about what she said today. >> well, she is still with the state department, so, in doing this, she was kind of bucking the high command, although getting a subpoena to her gave her a legal reason for showing up. we're going to come back to that.s extraordinary on a few levels. she also fired back and said she has never, for example, met hunter biden, she never advocated on behalf of hillary clinton or president obama, as some of her critics have alleged and, judy, she went on to lay out her suspicion that the reason she was being pushed out by some, i think she's implying rudy giuliani's associates, was for their financial interests. she says she wasighting corruption in ukraine and that was a problem f r some who were trying to make use of that corruption for their own financial gain. judy, she's also said she's incredulous over the fact she was removed at all. this is important for two other

reasons -- one, she's laying out a case for corruption potentially within the trump administration. two, she submitted to this subpoena, she complied with the subpoena. the more trump administration officials gotten do that and the more people like her comply, democrats will try to willed a case for obstruction of justice for that. >> woodruff:ia niche, you have been talking to folks at the white house, what are they saying in their defense and what do they see as their strategy going forward here? >> well, president trump is really pushing back on the ambassador's claim that he personally was pushing to have her removed from her post. today on the white house lawn, the president said i don't know this woman, i'm sure she's wonderful, but i have nothing to do with her. so the president is trying to put distance between himself and the ambassador's claims. stephen miller, the president's senior adviser, was speaking to reporters today and told us he believes this is part of partisan hatred toward the president. their strategy is saying the democrats are doing this because

they want to overturn the 2016 elections, with a lot of messaging from the white house on that front. but the democrats pushed back and said it's about getting to the truth. add to that stephen miller, when asked over and over again whether or not he would personally comply with a subpoena to testify before the house, he refused to answer. when the president was asked what do you make of ambassador sondland coming next week andia vanovich coming together, he kind of shrugged and said i don't like anybody testifying, i don't want anybody testifying. so the white house strategy is to block people from testifying and try to not comply with any document requests. but the president ise stuck in the position where ambassadors cacome and say they are likely obligated to come before the house. >> woodruff: so, lisa, what are the next steps for the democrats in congress? >> democrats in the last hour got off conference call, talking about their messaging. congress comes back next week,

so the dynamics will be critical when the lawmakers from both parties return. they will have a serious look at impeachment. they are trying to get out they're working on other issues. they want that to be part of the narrative. it's going to be difficult when talking about impeachment but they will try. what's going on today, i learned house republicans have a new concern about the president and are moving on it and it has to do with turkey. house republicans are joining with house democrats on the foreign affairs committee to propose legiation to sanction turkey, beyond what the president and the treasury secretary have been talking, it would be much sharper sanctions, a rebuke of the president's policies. we are weight for that legislation. >> woodruff: and speaking of turkey, yamiche, we saw that the treasury secretary steven mnuchin said they are putting in place sanctions they could impose on turkey down the line. what do we know about that, the thinking that went into this?

>> well, steve mnuchin and the president both say these are authorized sanction bus are not actually issuing the sanctions. so this is really the trump administration and president trump himself responding to the bipartisan criticism that lisa is talking about. the president feels as though his heart party is definitely making noise about this and sustaining noise about this. he wants to say, if turkey gets out of line, we have something to do that. the president said i'm ready to wipe out turkey's entire economy if needed. that said, when the administration is pushed and asked how is this going to help the kurds and the foreign allies who fear for their lives. they say it's complicated and we can't answer the question. so the president is trying to deal with the criticism, but most people are saying these do not go far enough and obviously, as you can see in the house and in congress, lawmakers themselves are banning together to do even more than the president is doing. >> woodruff: again, so much to follow. it has been an extraordinary week.

yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you both. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. has reached a partial trade deal with china, after a 15-month-long trade war. president trump agreed to suspend a $250 billion tariff hike on chinese goods that was set to go into effect tuesday. in turn, c >> this is a closed captioning test. >> this is only a test. please stand

the dow jones industrial average jumped 320 points to close at 26,816. the nasdaq rose 106 points, and the s&p 500 added 32. more than 100,000 people are under evacuation orders as a wildfire rages in southern california. so far, 1,000 firefighters have been deployed along the northern edge of los angeles. at least two people have died. the saddlebridge fire started raging overnight, fueled by strong santa ana winds. planes dropped fire-retardant chemicals on the flames. officials urged residents to heed orders to leave. >> this is a very dynamic fire. the public can help us by listening to police officers and

firefighter directions, especially when we're talking about evacuations. do not wait to leave. if we ask you to evacuate, please evacuate. >> woodruff: southern california utility edison turned off electricity for about 20,000 people. it warned that thousands more could be affected. meanwhile, in northern california, the lights were back on for more than a million people impacted by planned outages. but pacific gas and electric said that more than 300,000 customers were still without power. fire officials report that a man who relied on oxygen died 12 minutes after losing electricity. the casualties are mounting on both sides, as turkish forces advance farther into northeast syria. turkey claims to have killed more than 300 kurdish fighters. about 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee. meanwhile, two car bombs

exploded in the kurdish- controlled urban center of qamishli, a city that has been heavily shelled by turkish troops. lindsey hilsum of independent televsion news was there today, and filed this report. >> reporter: qamishli was calm until this week. the war was over. people dared to think peace might last. this was the scene today, after a massive explosion in a different part of town. at first, people thought it was another mortar. there have been three days of attacks now. we arrived about an hour later, as the smoke began to clear and the damage became evident. this was not a rocket, but a car bomb. the vehicle that carried it was utterly destroyed. this is right in the middle of qamishli. people don't know exactly what happened. it was an explosion, they said. and you can see, it must have been huge. see all the damage that's been done?

qamishli was peaceful, but people are now afraid of the turks attacking, and they're afraid that there may be sleeper cells of the islamic state here in the town. the car bomb was most likely planted by fhters from i.s., daesh as they call it, who went underground when the caliphate was defeated earlier this year. now, kurdish forces are too busy fighting the turks to track and catch terrorists. >> ( translated ): we want europe to hear our voice. and trump, who abandoned us. we fought daesside by side with his soldiers, and now he just pulls out his troops and left us alone. let trump hear us. >> reporter: they know they cann defeat turkey alone. >> woodruff: that report from lindsey hilsum of independent television news. the pentagon announced today that it will send nearly 2,000 additional troops to saudi arabia to help protect against iran. that is in spite of president trump's recent pledge to reduce

the u.s. presence in the middle east. the u.s. will also move several dozen fighter jets, and other air defenses. u.s. defense secretary mark esper announced the deployment. >> iran's attempts to use terror, intimidation and military force to advance its interests are inconsistent with international norms. saudi arabia is a longstanding security partner in the middle east, and has asked for additional support to supplement their own defenses and defend e international rules-based order. >> woodruff: the troops will join more than 10,000 american service members already deployed across the middle east. a super typhoon is barreling towards tokyo, japan, today, threatening to dump as much as 30 inches of rain. it is expected to make landfall south of tokyo tomorrow.w. in the meantime, grocery stores in the capital city were packed as people stocked up on last minute supplies. elsewhere, residents on oshima island boarded up their homes and shops. in ecuador, anti-government

protests against a fuel price hike ground the capital city to a standstill for another day. at least five demonstrators have been killed in the last week of unrest. protesters in quito threw rocks at police, who then fired back with tear gas and rubber bullets. one demonstrator insisted their strike will continue until their demands are met. >> ( translated ): we are not going to stop until we reach our goal. but right now, we are being repressed. they are killing us with these weapons. these are not rubber bullets, these are real bullets, bullets that kill people. >> woodruff: government operations have been moved outside of the capital, but ecuador's president has refused to step down. the gunman who attempted to attack a german synagogue wednesday has now confessed to carrying out the shooting, and he acknowledged being motivated by anti-semitic views. the rampage happened on yom kippur, judaism's holiest day. the attacker was unable to enter

the synagogue's locked doors, and instead he fatally shot two bystanders outside. he faces two counts of murder, and seven counts of attempted murder. a new report out today has found that boeing withheld key information about its 737-max plane from pilots and safety officials. the panel of international aviation regulators also found that the federal aviation administration lacked the expertise to review the plane's automated flight control system, that is linked to two deadly crashes this year. the 737-max is grounded while boeing works on software updates. vermont senator bernie sanders said today that his recent heart attack has made him more aware of the need for quality, affordable health care. sanders, who is seeking the democratic presidential nomination, suffered a heart attack last week. the 78-year-old spoke to reporters today outside his vermont home, where he's been recovering.

>> my recent heart attack has made me think even more about health care. this is america, and you have millions opeople today who are sick, that have symptoms, who are not going to the doctor because they are fearful of the incredible medical bills they're going to receive. >> woodruff: sanders said he will attend next seek's democratic primary debate in ohio. it will be his first public event since his heart attack. and, the washington mystics are celebrating today after winning their first-ever women's national basketball association championship. they defeated the connectit sun 89-78 on thursday night, in a winner-take-all game five of the finals, as their fans erupted into cheers. congratulations. still to come on the newshour: how ethiopia's prime minister made peace with his neighbors, and won the nobel prize.

one on one with former national security advisor susan rice. plus, mark shields and david brooks break down a week's worth of impeachment news. >> woodruff: now, to an inspiring story that won the nobel peace prize. in their official announcement today, the nobel committeey, listed a series of accomplishments for ethiopian prime minister abiy ahmed, all achieved in his first 100 days in office. amna nawaz has the story. >> nawaz: that's right, judy. but his most significant accomplishment was in making peace with neighboring eritrea soon after he became prime minister last april. the two countries had been at war for two decades, in a bitter border conflict that drove hundreds of thousands of people into exile or internal displacement. they now have diplomatic relations, and many families kept apart by war were reunited last year after the first

commercial flight between the two nations in 20 years. prime minister abiy has a doctorate degree in peace-making, and served as a u.n. peacekeeper in rwanda after the 1994 genocide. for more on who he is, i'm joined by salih booker. he's the president and c.e.o. of the center for international policy, and he served as director of africa studies at the council on foreign relations. welcome backreo the "newshour". >> thank you for having me. so, prime minister abiy is 43 years old. tell us about him. >> he is the youngest head of state in the african country. he was the child of mixed marriage. his fatheras a muslim and his mother an orthodox christian, so at a very young age he learned the value of tolerance and understanding across religious and ethnic divides and later socioeconomic divides. he joined the rebellion against the autocratic marxistegime as

a teenager. he got formal training and game a soldier in '93. as you mentioned, he served as on peacekeeper in rwanda after the genocide. he did his first deee while still in the military and went to london, got an m.a., came back, entered politics, but continued studying and eventually earned his ph.d. only in 2017. so his rise has been medioric and he became prps only in 2018. >> this conflict he'credited with bringing to some kind of peace accord, walk me through the heart of the conflict between the two nations. >> the short is ea ethiopia an d eritrea in 1962 and began an

arms struggle to topple the monarchy and the regime that followed. so when the eritreaian's people's liberation front and ethiopia's regime in '91, the eritreans pushed for independence. they had a referendum in '93. the country splirkts stayed on good terms but five years later were at war. at the time, the people said this is a ridiculous war, the equivalent of two bald men fighting over a comb. it wasn't about strategic resources, it was very much about the egos and the national pride of these two leaders who had been friends and allies during the struggle but were trying to assert who was goi to be the primary new generation of african leaders. >> reporter: and the two nations stayed in the state of not really at war or peace, but with the peace accord that prime

minister abiy was able to bring forward is not without criticism even with the prize today. some people say across the border there is still oppression. does the peace prize come too early? >> i don't think it comes too early. i think it's deserved and aspirational to encourage the peace process. 100,000 people died in the first two years of the conflict, then it was a cold war. the stubbornness prevented resolution. prime minister abiy in the first 100 days, traveled to eritrea, returned territory to eritrea and created an incredible restoration of peace and ties between the two countries. he cannot be held responsible for the internal reforms that need to happen in eritrea. what he's dope is removed the rationale for the eritrean government to continue its oppressive and restrictive rule. the people of eritrea are going to be demanding the reforms they

say happening in eat open under prime minister abiy now. >> reporter: this hopefully continues to path toward peace for both nations. >> yes. >> reporter: salih booker, always good to have you here. >> thank you. >> woodruff: susan rice is best known for serving in high-profile roles in the obama administration, first as the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, and then as the president's national security advisor. but her new book, "tough love: my story of the things worth fighting for," reveals her personal side-- a working mom, raising young kidsnd caring for her parents, all while navigating some ofhe country's toughest foreign policy and national security issues. and susan rice joins me now. welcome to the "newshour". >> great to be with you, judy. >> woodruff: i do want to ask you about the book, through but there's a lot in the news that relate to an area where you

spent a lot of time and that's the white house, and i want to ask you about what's going on in syria. president trump spoke to president erdogan of turkey, essentially agreed that u.s. would in northern syr get out of the way. turkey saw that as a green light. they've come into syria, but now the trump administration is saying, well, we are going to put sanctions on you if you go too far. what do you make of this strategy? how do you think the turks will respond? >> first of all, i'm not sure what our strategy is, judy. i mean, it's quite disturbing. we have sold out the kurds, who fought on our o behalf against i.s.i.s. with our support. this was a very unusual and economic arrangement that we made where the united states' contribution was very low in terms of personnel on the ground. we provided training and advinie and support to the kurds who were taking the fight to i.s.i.s. quite effectively. the president's decision to pull out those american servicemen and women in northern syria was

more than a green light. it was a red carpet, and we've seen what the turks have done. they're wage ago relentless fight. 100,000 people displaced now for the administration to turn around and say, bu we really didn't mean it, strains credulity. >> woodruff: i interviewed this week secretary of state pompeo, after previously saying the kurds were u.s. allies, is now saying, yes, they are a threat to turkey, they are terrorists. that's the administration's position now. >> you know, think about that. 11,000 kurds gave their lives fighting i.s.i.s. with the expectation and the promise from the united states that we would be there for them. we have not viewed these elements of the kurdish s.d.f., the syrian democratic forces, known as the y.p.g., as people that we believed pose add terrorist threat to us or others. they were, on the contrary, fighting i.s.i.s. when the turks wouldn't.

the turks allowed thousands of i.s.i.s. fighters to flow through turkey into syria, and now to hand over the fight to the turks and pretend they're going to take totally i.s.i.s. and secure the prisoners isn't credible. >> woodruff: one of the other big stories we're following, the impeachment inquiry into trump, as part of that inquiry, the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine is testifying today, part of a subpoena by the congress, and we know that she has said that her firing, she said, was after president trump wanted her out of that job for many months, and she said it was all based on false claims, she said, by people with questionable motives. my question, though, is don't presidents have the right for whatever reason to he the ambassador they want? >> well, yes, of course, the president appoints ambassadors and they serve at his pleasure, but you know well and many of our viewers know that the car kr ambassadors, the apolitical ambassadors, and that is what

ambassador yovanovitch is, are rarely the subject of political scrutiny by the white house. so this raises a lot of questions and it sggests that whatever concern the white house had aboutia vanovich or that rudy giuliani had was not about her job performance. it had something to do with whatever interests, business or political, that the president was pursuing in ukraine, and apparently she stood in the way of them. >> woodruff: you wrte in the "tough love" book, about failure. you wrote, we did fail, we will fail, our aim has to be to minimize the frequency and the price of failures. how do you contrast the failures of the obama administration with the trump administration. >> i was speaking about the business business of making foreign policy broadly, not talking about any particularly

administration, but i'm candid about where we succeeded and failed in the obama administration. i think the obama administration is positive, weighed in the aggregate. the president of the united states helped write the global economy in the wake of a financial crisis. he took the fight to osama bin laden. heothe paris climate agreement, the iran nuclear agreement, but we had difficult challenges in places like syria and elsewhere. so i don't know of my administration's record where they bat a thousand. but i think the lesson is we have to be willing to serve to the best of our abilities in the interest of the u.s. government, and what i'm still concerned about is i look at this administration as no we're seeing every day more evidence that the actions coming out of the president and the white house are not serving the national interests, however well guided or misguided, but rather serving fernl interests of the president. >> woodruff: you at one point -- you, of course, write about the 2016 election. as reno, the intelligence community has concluded with

great confidence russians did interfere. meanwhile, the trump administration is pointing fingers at the obama administration saying, frankly, you folks should have done something to stop it. you do write that your administration, and i'm quting, substantially underestimated the severity of russian social media manipulation. how bigamy stake was that? >> it was a mistake in the sense that we didn't have that information at the time. it came to light, as you will recall, beginning 2017, the extent to which their social media farms, the bots, the actions they took on both sides of contention issues including rails, immigration, guns and gay rights, we didn't see that. it wasn't as visible as the hacking of the e-mails, the efforts to infiltrate the election system and the activities that were more transparent of russian television and sputnik and the like. so if you look at the intelligence community's assessment that came in january 2017, it's notable

because it doesn't mention the social media influence as we understand it now. so that was a gap in our understanding. now we know it, and i think the challenge is what more can we do about it? i think there's more that congress can do, quite frankly, there's more that the social media companies can and must do. >> woodruff: you write with candor in the book about your family, both your parents and your two children, your husband, and one of the things that struck me is, in writing about the country's political divisions, you write about how they exist in your own family. you have a son who is very conservative in his political beliefs. how do you navigate that as a family and what advice do you have for, i'm sure, people whopl are watching who have deep political divisions in their own family? >> well, i appreciate the question. we have to kids, the older one is quite conservative, the younger one is a progressive closer to the views of her parents, and we have robust

discussions. we raised our children to think independently and to be confident in their views, and for better or worse, that's what we got, but we're quite proudf both of our kids, they have the courage of their convictions and are not afraid to be engaged on issues that matter. so what is my advice? my advice is we have to listen to each other. we have to respect each other's views. we have to search for common ground and not close one another out. we are a family that despite our differences are very tight. we love each other, and we decide very deliberately that that love and our commitmento the family will override our political differences. that's what we need to do on a national basis. we can't take a view that you and i disagree over politics or religion or whatever it is, that we're dismissing each other as americans. if that happens, our country is going to fall apart, and there are people who are benefiting politically from pulling us apart. we as americans can't allow that

to happen. we've got to have the same sort of fierce love of our country and touglove, as i like to say in the book, that we try to apply in the family context, challenging as it sometimes is. >> reporter: susan rice, the book is, as we say, tough love, my story of the things worth fighting for, susan rice, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: it is not easy to keep up with all the twists and turns of another turbulent week in the trump presidency. but to help make sense of it all, joining us are shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. >> hi, judy. >> woodruff: it's been a tumultuous week. as the beginning of the week, sically says to turkey, we're getting u.s. troops out of the way in syria, the turks have gone in, they are going after

the kurds who were american allies, but just in the last day or so the president has said, but don't go too far, to turkey. what are we to make of all of this? >> yeah, welcome in, but we don't want you there. it's complete incoherence. i think the logical thing is donald trump spoke to somebody on the phone, he made a decision, it was a terrible sion, amoral decision and just bad for our foreign policy. who's going to fight i.s.i.s. when we're out, who's guarding the 10,000 prisoner prisoners? they're going to turn to russia and iran for strength. it's a terrible designatures. they get bad publicity, the administration does, and mnuchin and others come out and say this is terrible. it's a foreign policy but what trump's latest emotion is.

>> it's incoherent. i would add he did it after being played by mr. erdogan, the president of turkey. once again, he succumbed to either the brandishment or muscles of strong men. he cannot stand up to strong men. he did it without any warning to the kurds. the turks knew about it, but the kurds didn't, 11,000 of whom gave their lives, shoulder to shoulder, with the united states against i.s.i.s. you know, it's rather remarkable. then the president, in probably a new flight, said the kurds hadn't been there at normandy. so today we sent 3,000 american troops to saudi arabia, and we find out -- >> saving private ahmed. that's exactly right. but it isn't incoherent, it is

foolishness and it is dangerous and reckless and i feel for the country. >> woodruff: and, david, in terms of the congressional reaction, it's not just democrats but republicans who are really upset about this. how do we read this political reaction? >> lindsey graham, mitch mcconnell pretty much down the line. it's easy to pa rt with donald trump on something like kurds, it's a lot different on impeachment. it doesn't arouse the tribal passions of red versus blue. second, it may help donald trump in the long run when the time comes to whether or not to stand with trump on impeachment, republican sators say i'm perfectly ent of trump, didn't you just hear what i said about the kurds? so it may make it marginally easier for some republicans to side with trump when it comes to

the impeachment. >> events are happening so fast it might be a tough vote to vote against impeachment. certainly, if we have another week like this week, republicans who are back in their district coming back to washington next monday, and i don't think there's any question that the president's position has deier glad it that week. >> woodruff: quickly, in terms of turkey -- >> in terms of the republicans, i agree with david, it doesn't involve his behavior, hisio character or his conduct. that is our ground. mitt romney made a criticism of the president's position as far as china was concerned in asking them to investigate joe biden, he called him a pompous ass. that's a way of saying the base will come after you if you criticize me, and i agree. he depersonalizes the criticism of the kurds. >> woodruff: well, you both

are talking about impeachment. you know, it's the thousand-pound gorilla in the room right now. david, a lot of events this week. you had the behind closed doors testimony, the former ambassador yovanovitch, who said the president was personally trying to get rid of her. you had a number of subpoenas go out and request basically the administration is saying no to. yesterday you had two associates of rudy giuliani, the president's lawyer, arrested for campaign finance law violations. does this impeachment process look stronger, as mark is saying, at the end of the week, or what? >> yeah, for sure. it doesn't look weaker. every day it's a blizzard of something. the yovanovitch thing today made me think of how many other people are involved? the state department has to be involved in the firing of a

crible, competent ambassador for political reasons. how often does that happen with no resignations? in a normal vegas you get a bunch of resignations, without which it would never happen. but to me it directed our attentiono the right thing, the blizzard. it's like a blizzard of things, and how does that affect the mood? does it affect the mood as clearly solidified democrats behind impeachment, it's clearly moved independence toward it, has it cracked the red wall and affected republicans? so far, i don't see that. so far, when you look at the conservative press, the polls, the republicans are not moving, and they have to move because you have to lose 20 republicans. so you would really have to have a very split republican party, 50/50, on impeachment, and so far i don't see that happening, but that's not to say it couldn't. >> woodruff: we can quickly show a couple of polls. mark, the shift in support overall is within the margin of error, 49-52 over the course of

two weeks. but when you look at independent voters, as david was suggestings, it's a 10-point shift toward inquiry. we're not talking about impeachment, we're talking about the inquiry. what does it look like to you? is this significant? >> the polls can't keep up witht the events. events are very much in the saddle. i mean, we started -- you recall what the defense was of the president's call to the president of ukraine. the president turned out, we didn't know, was a closet reformer. he was out to dig out corruption. you know, the corruption that's turned up now are two of rudy giuliani's associates in this whole scenario, which is significant because the diement was announced by a republican, jeffrey berman, southern district of new york and the director of the f.b.i. william

sweeny in the new york office and the u.s. attorney went out of his way to congratulate and thank each of the f.b.i. agents. why is that significant? because one of the criticisms from stalwarts of the president off and on from ron johnson of wisconsin is somehow the f.b.i. and the c.i.a. are faulty in this whole thing. judy, i don't think there's any question that we've gone from that to the president was just kidding about china. we know he's renowned for his one-liners which you could write on the back of the first-class stamp, the totality of them. i mean, it's a tissue of lie s, all of which is collapsing, and as one leading republican said to me just before the show, there is nothing in here that's good news, and what i'm worried about now are retirements. you will start to see retirement among republicans as they come back in the break. >> woodruff: and there have already been a number. >> but doesn't mean they're

breaking. senator from tennessee is not breaking. >> woodruff: on the question of the inquiry? >> i'll be willing to bet a number of republicans in the house will vote for it. >> that could be, in the house. but you've got to have mass defection, and you've got to have basically two things -- one, it's got to really penetrate into the popular mind. a lot of these things are very little things that are in d.c. that's people who are normal human beings are not paying this close attention. >> i agree. then you have to undo the basic part like a lot of republicans did, this guy is a safe, but my life and the community is going bad, he was a snake, is still a snake, but my essential bargain still holds. so far i don't see many republicans saying i'm going to undo that part. >> woodruff: there is a race for democratic nomination for president, mark. you still have almost 20 democrats in the race. thrls going to be another debate next week. we've learned in the last week

bernie sanders is still not out on the campaign trail after the heart attack he had and he is arting to talk to the press a little bit. but does all of this focus on impeachment? does it work to the democrats' benefit or not? because we still don't know who the democratic nominee is. >> no, we don't know and we don't know what influence this will have on it, judy. the democrats better just confront the reality that they're about defeating donald trump, and the old saying the republicans fall in line, democrats fall in love with the candidate. historically republicans have nominated the next in line, next whose turn it was, and the democrats can't afford just a flight of passion in 2020. they better pick somebody, if they're really interested in defeating donald trump, someone who is not goingo become the issue himself oris herself in tt campaign, and i think that's a

concern for democrats at this point, especially as impeachment becomes larger. >> woodruff: who would that be who you're referring to? >> far be it from me t say. i would say bennett bullock, if you're picking people who have good records and have won in purple or red states. >> ihink impeachment overshadows e campaign in the extreme. we're barely talking about the campaign in the last few weeks, and this impeachment is going to go on through h.p. new hampshire and iowa and south carolina and maybe california, so it's going to overshadow the campaign and i think benefits the frontrunners, the bidens and the warrens because it's hard for the frontrunners to get attention. if you're in the middle of the pack, kamala harris or pete buttigieg, it's super hard to get attention and makes it much hard tore shake up the race. >> the only nominees that finish in the top three in iowa or the

top two in new hampshire, that's how important the two states are. i don't think there's any question about it. i think that's central to this as far as those are political universes unto themselves, and i don't think it really does freeze the race there. i think it dominates the dialogue and the debate certainly nationally. >> woodruff: in less than a minute that we have left, how do these democrats distinguish themselves from one another? >> think about when we were talking about three weeks ago, single payer versus oth things. we were having the debates the democrats were having on policy and that the all been suckedup with the democrats.

>> donald trump put at risk his own presidency, he risked impeachment because he was so worried and scared that he went to the president -- >> do you think it helps biden? if biden plays it right. you have the evidence there, donald trump was terrified of joe biden that he wants to find information. he's trying to go to china, sending bill barr out of the record, has rudy giuliani talking to everybody at good fellas. so that's the case he ought to be making. >> woodruff: biden helps? i think it freezes the race, he's on top with warren right now. >> all right, we'll leave it there, david brooks, mark shields, thank you.

>> woodruff: let's now take a trek to a destination for art and sic, in rural montana. the tippet rise art center, which recently wrapped up its fourth summer season, is home to stunning sculptures, architecture, classical music, all surrounded by wonders of nature. its visitors are a mix of locals and art lovers from around the world. jeffrey brown has that story, part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." >> brown: underneath a wooden pavilion, a violinist draws her bow. nearby, kids marvel at a sculpture called "daydreams," where willows twist around an old schoolhouse. and all around, hikers and bikers follow miles of trails. this is the tippet rise art center-- unexpected, hard to find. from tiny fishtail, in southern montana, a dirt road cuts through the hillside, passing ranches and farmland, the beartooth mountains in the

distance. it's just four years old, but tippet rise is an ongoing experiment in bringing together nature and art, a place where the world-class sculptures and the music become part of a spectacular rural setting. the center was founded by philanthropists cathy and peter halstead, globe-trotting art lovers who searched high and low for a property that felt just right. >> we love museums. we've spent our life going to museums. but art is, in some ways, a prisoner of a museum, whereas here, it's, it's liberated. it's freed. >> the land is very emotional, and there is something about being on this land-- the first second i was on it, i could feel it viscerally, and really had a sense that it was, you know, almost like a trembling. >> brown: the art centerhey've created is on a 12,000-acre working ranch. it's home to eight large outdoor

sculptures, including "satellite #5: pioneer," a web of yellow cedar and steel created by stephen talasnik." beethoven's quartet," a 25,000- pound piece by mark di suvero. and works by the ensemble studio: "inverted portal" and" beartooth portal," featuring giant formations leaning against one another, and "domo," which was poured into the land and which was designed" acoustically," to host outdoor concerts. but most of the music is performed here, at the gorgeous olivier music barn, with a high pitched roof and windows that overlook the beartooths. ♪ ♪ on this day, pianist aristo sham played works by robert schumann and johannes brahms. originally from hong kong, sham has performed on five continents.

is this normal as a setting, or unusual for you? >> yeah, this is quite unusual. even summer festivals in ski resorts are more urban. >> brown: right. >> yeah. and for this to be like literally in the middle of nowhere, it's quite unique. it's like, where do you even find an audience? but, everything is sold out. >> brown: in fact, seating here is so limited-- just 150 for a concert-- and the price of a ticket so low-- just $10-- that demand quickly outstripped availability. determined to stay small-scale, the center now doles out tickets throh a lottery system. it's part of the paradox of" tippet rise:" offering a sense of exclusiveness, but being open to all. a destination for well-off art patrons from around the world, while also welcoming in locals. >> it's the opposite of elitism. it's really, it's open to all who are clever enough or lucky

enough to somehow get a ticket to our to our performances. >> we had a student, it was his very first time at tippet rise. and he just said, "wow, am i in montana anymore?" >> brown: beth korth is the art education coordinator at tippet rise. the center hosts youth groups ranging from college honors students to elementary age children, such as this group from rural carbon county, who toured the sculptures, got an up-close look at instruments and made their own lanterns out of jars. clara bernhart is from nearby red lodge. did you like coming here? >> yeah, i like all the music. >> brown: you like the music? >> the piano, and the fort in the houses, that was super cool. >> having a world class art center with these incredible sculptures from world-renowned artists, bringing in incredible classical musicians, having some

structures here built by some of the most incredible architects i know and heard of, and being able to bring in rural children to come and experience this even for a couple of hours one day out of the summer, i think is tremendous to this community. >> brown: that same weekend, pulitzer prize-winning composer john luther adams debuted a new work, "lines made by walking," performed by the jack string quartet. ♪ ♪ he composed much of the piece, a commission from tippet, while in residence here last summer, inspired, he said, by long walks on the grounds. >> in recent years, i've been making music intended from the get-go to be experienced out of doors. and i've come to understand, especially those outdoor works,

as a kind of echo-location or g.p.s., a way of-- music as a way of helping us hear and feel more deeply, and more broadly where we are on this earth. so it's my hope that someone from a ranch nearby may come and hear this lyrical response to these hills, to this land that is their home, and go back out and, and, and hear it and see it a little differently. >> brown: jim mandeville, fr columbus, montana, is one local who heard the call. >> the tickets are hard to get, you know, so... it's kind of like it's exclusive, but it's not exclusive. >> brown: as to all the out-of- towner he says this: >> if they're from california and they get into the lottery, like everyone else, can get their tickets and plan their vacation around coming to tippet rise. i think that's marvelous. it brings them into our country. and they get to see it. enjoy it and then go home. ( laughter )

>> brown: and for those who can't or won't make the trek here: state of the art recordings of the concerts, free online, offer easier access. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the tippet rise art center in fishtail, montana. >> woodruff: jeffrey brown gets to go to all the best places. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:p >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org.

>> and with e ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> 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 sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. [ crowd chanti ] turkey charges ahead in nort irn llria against u.s. allies. presidenestrump's decision to remo troops has caused a revolt in his own base, just when he needs them to fight impeachment. i talk to veteran u.s. foreign nceldoey. ficer retired diplomat plus -- >> i think it is possible for us to come to an agreement to have a treaty. the clock is ticking on brexit with three weeks to go. boris johnson's last-ditch attempt to make a deal with ireland. we hear from a formeirish prime minister, john bruton. and -- >> said you'd be terrified if you knew how much they know about every.