captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. on the newshour tonight: under fire. oesident trump responds to mounting criticir syria, the site of the , and an escalating impeachment inquiry.y then, on the ground in iraq. we have a firsthand account of the impact of the withdrawal of u.s. forces from syria on refugees and the fight against isis. rus, one on one with sena bernie sanders. the democratic presidential candidate discusses the cost of his medicare-f-all plan, the difference between him and elizabeth warren and more. and, food for flint. new programs work to battle the adverse effes of lead-laden

water in flint, michigan with focused nutrition for children. >> nutritions like a foreveror medicine. children need to always have great nutrition to limit the ongoing kind of potential exposure from lead release. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economyor 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects

us. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting world.utions to promote a better at www.hewlett.org. >> andith the ongoing support ofhese institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for nsblic broadcasting. and by contributo your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump is

wall of support, as urgingis his allies to get tough and fight. he spoke for more than an hour at a cabinet meeting today, and condemned the drive to impeach him. white house mirrespondent e alcindor reports.do >> alc at a white house cabinet meeting, president trump again lashed out ahedemocrats. >>want to impeach and they want to do it as quick as possible. and th's pretty much the story. >> alcindor: acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, who has fueled the impeachment fire, sat beside him. last week, mulvaney acknowledged the president did withhold military aid to ukraine. he saithe move was aimed at involving u.s. democrats and the 2016 election. later that day, mulvaney insisted there was no quid pro quo. and, on sunday, he walked it back again. >> it's legitimate to tie th aid to foreign aid to other countries. can i see how people took that the wrong way? absolutely. but i never said there was aau quid pro quo b there isn't. >> alcindor: in his own sunday interview, secretary of state

mike pompeo would not defend mulvaney's original comments. but he saihe knew of no wrong- doing. >> i never saw that in the decision-making process that i was a part of. the conversation was always around, what were the strategic implications? would that money get to the right ple, or would there be corruption in ukraine, i will leave to the chief of staff to explain what it is he said and what he intended. >> alcindor: today, president trump repeated his own denials of anything improper in his dealings with ukraine. >> i haven't heard one ukrainian-- not one-- say there was pressure of any kind. there haven't even been reports of it to our people. nobody's even said it. and the reason you haven't heard it is because there is no presre. >> alcindor: still, growing cracks have appeared in the president's republican support. in an interview with "axios" on sunday, republican senator mitt indictment of prestrump.broad romney, a long-time trump critic, al refused to take impeachment off thtable. >> i'd like to learn the full i just want to get as much information as we can, make an

assessment consistent with the law and the constitution. >> alcindor: republican criticism of the president is building behind closed doors, too. a number of reports say he faced intense "private criticism from republican lawmakers" over hosting the g7 summit at his doral resort in florida. late saturday, he gaved reversed his decision. but today, he was still defending the idea. >> i was willing to do this for free, and it woulde been the greatest g7 ever. i don't think you people with this phony emoluments clause-- and by the way, it cost me anywhere from 2 to 5 billion dollars to be president. a lcindor: the emoluments clause is a provision in article one of the u.s. constitution. it is also unclear how much money president trump has lost or gained since taking officehe causas not released his tax returns. own party comes asemocrats areis still methodically working through their impeachment inquiry. tomorrow, acting u.s. ambassador to ukraine william taylor will testify in a closed door session, as part of the

investigation. for pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodrf: yamiche joins us now to help make sense of all that happening. so we just heard the president refer to this clause in the constitution having to do with emoluments, he called it phony. ll us a little bit more about what the clause refers to and how itits into the pressure now on the president. >> the president at the white house is lashingt utl his critics who said it was wrong for him to host the g-7 at his property in floridand caled this clause phony. article 1 section -g9 paragraph 806 the constition says no person holding any office should accept any st of present or gift of any kind from a king, prince or foreign state. the founders were thinking they didn't want ameasrican ambdors or lawmakers to have influence to come from european powers.

there are several lawits that today president trump is violating that clause by having those hotels and propeies and foreign dignitaries are staying there and givg him gifts. trump the pushing back saying hotels are priding a service and they're not fts but this is a big part of the trump presidency.ki lawsuits are w their way isrough the courts, but the emoluments clauseal and not phny. >> woodruff: and his offer to use the doral hel to host the next meeting which he pulled back hs raised the issue all over again. today nancy pelosi put out a fact sheet on impeachment. how the democrats e whitems of house are navigating thishm impet process? >> democrats and republicans really understand that messaging when it comes to the impeachment inquiry. today ncy pelosi and hou democrats viewed this fact sheet

up on the screen. it's called truth exposed. it's trying to make the case to the american people that theis presidennvolved in shakedown, a pressure campaign and coverup. they're using the words to message the american people, what the whole ieachment inquiry is about. the president at the white house is going his own messaging. he said republicans need to be tougher and that democrats are being vicio and stickin together. he said they don't have a mitt romney in their midst saying my party ought to stick with me and he should be an anomaly and all e other republicans shouldn't publicly credit size him. y >> woodrufmiche, you put it all together. this has been a f rouw days for the president. you have the president's acting chief of staff mick vaney having to walk back what he said at that briefing last week, you've had the change offposition on whether to use the president's own hotel poe this meeting of world leaders you've also got repubcans

breaking with the president on syria. of its effect on the president? >> the president is looking at a season of wea weakness. "the washington post" is using that phrase. it's a perfect way to describe what president trump is going through. his own party is criticizing him abouthe g-7 and syria, and he's investigate reverse himself. we haven't seen this president reverse himself oything. mainly he's stuck to his guns on family separation and the shutdown. that's concerning to the white house even though republicans overwhelmingly support the presiden >> woodruff: the respect president is saying we'll get through it? >> he says i'll still be reelected and democrats are just still angry about t6 2 election >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor, following it all. thank you very much.

>> woodruff: american troops began leaving syria today, as a tense ceasefire held between turkish and syrian kurdish s rces. where the americre once hailed as helping the kurdssi defeat today many in northeast syria jeered and pelted american convoys with tten vegetables and stones. and specl correspondent jane ferguson, reporting tonight from northwestern iraq, near the, syria bordcountered some of those evacuating u.s. forces. >> reporter: u.s. forces left the northeast syrian town of tal tamr under the cover of darkness. but protesters with signs blocked the convoys. one ad: "thanks for u.s.fo people, but trump betrayed us." in the kurdish-held town of qamishli, on the turkish border, residents hurled potatoes. as they follow the president's orders and drive away, america's troops are leaving behind men

they fought side by side with against isis. this weekend, u.s. defense seetary mark esper said mo of the 1,000 troops leaving northeast syria are headed to iraq to press the fight against remnants of isis. it came despite a tweet from president trump saying he was "bringing soldiers home!" today, he added some u.s. forces will stay in syria to protect kurdish-held oil fields from isis, and to fight isis. in kabul, afsaanistan, esper the move would be deliberate: >> this withdrawal will take weeks, not days, until that time our forces will remain in the towns that are located near the oil fiel. >> reporter:ut we witnessed a withdrawal that appears to be well on its way. arriving across the border in iraq, a massive column of u.s. icecial forces, on their way to a new base, amer flags flying, as iraq's kurds watched from the street.

in washington today, president trump modified his earlier explanation that all troops were coming out: >> welthey're going to be sent initially to different parts, get prepared, and then wetimately we're bringing them home. e bringing our troops back home. we never agreekuto protect the s for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: the u.s. brokered a five-day ceasefire last thursday after nearly a week of bloodshed along thborder. it ce amid widespread panic over possible war crimes committed by turkish-backed arab militias and the threat of ethnic cleansing against the kurds. as part of the deal, the kurds agreed to withdraw from within 20 miles of the turkish border in areas where fighting is underway. over the weekend, there was some fraying of the fragile ceasefire, with shelling across the turkish-syrian border. each side accused the other of si aggr. kurdish leaders said shelling from the turkish army killed at least 17 people in the town of ras al-ayn.

>> ( translated ): the turkish army and its mercenarin't stop their intensive attacks, aiming to wipe out everybody, and even now the shelling continues. >> reporter: in istanbul'soday, turkeyoreign minister said it was the kurds who id tiated. he se kurds were still honoring the pact, but added that turkey would resume its operations if the kurds don't leave the border areas. >> reporter: amid the upaval, not just fighters are fleeing, but terrified civilians too. the united natio says more than 176,000 people have been uprooted from their homes in northeast syria including 70,000 children. some of them end up in camps like this, in bardarash in north

west iraq. here we met kasuma abdul, one of many mothers who now fears she may be forced to raise her children as refugees. when will yoreturn to syria? >> ( translated ): when will it become a settled country, how we need it to be?ai we are ato return - there is shelling, war planes andhe soldiers t. >> reporter: more like her arri at the camp every day from their hes in syria. for people here theruch an incredible degree of uncertainty and that's because their lives pacted by a foreign poli that changes by the day. one thing everyone we spoke with was certain of, was wh blame for this crisis. ): we hold trump sponsible, he betrayed the kurds. children have died, people have been displaced, all these people in these tents-- it'p's fault. he took the decision. he sold >>t the kurds. reporter: kurds like kaniwar abdul hamid told us they believe strongly the american soldiers

don't want to ave. >> ( translated ): it's not the was the president'sion.t, it the military has to follow orders. >> reporter: tomorrow the ceasefire between turkey and the kurds is set to expire. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in dohuk, iraq. >> woodruff: ithe day's other news, the government of lebanon approved reforms aimed at easing economic chaos and stopping mass protests. c vawds filled central beirut over the weekend in a revolt against the ruling elite. and today, demonstrations shut down banks and businesses for a fifth day. meanwhile, prime minister saad today, then announthes cabinet reforms and hailed the protesters. >> ( translated ): you have nt the lebaneional identity back in its place above all

yectarian or religious identity and this is the biggest national victory.ki i'm not you to stop protesting or expressing your anger. that is a decision that you take, and no one can give you a deadline. >> woodruff: the economic package promises to dealith massive debt by cutting salaries of top officials in half and closing some ministries. in hong kong, new protests late today brought new street clashes. heavily armed police fired tear gas to break up groups who tried to block roads.a that came day after riot police mistakenly sprayed a mosque with blue-dyed water, as massemonstrations turned violent. today, city leaders apologized. hundreds of people in santiago, chile defied a curfew day, after the city became a battleground over the weekend -- with at least 11 dead. on sunday, protesters angered by growing inequality and a transit fare increase torched buses and

vandalized subway stations. soldiers fired tear gas and water cannons, and president sebastián piñera denounced the protests. >> ( translated ): we are at war with a powerful, relentless enemy that respects nothing or anyone and is willing to use a violen crime without any limits, even when it involves the loss of human lives. >> woodruff: piñera has suspended the transi hike, but he imposed a state of emergency in santiago and other cities israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu annound today he has given up on forming a national unity chvernment. hif rival, former military chief benny gantz, will now take a turn. h too, fails, it could lead to israel's thd election in less than a year. meanwhile, british prime minister boris johnson was dealt another blow in his efforts to get a vote on brexit plan. the speaker of the house of commons said parliamentary rules do not aliow a vote, because lawmakers had refused to act

saturday on the same question. but he said the prime minister has other options.th >> igovernment has got the numbers, the government can have their way. and it's not for the speaker to interfere. the judgment i've made is about the importance of upholding a very longstanding andwh ovmingly observed convention of this house. >> woodruff: britain faces an october 31 deadine to leave the ropean union. canada held a national election today with prime minister justin trudeau's job at stake. he has been hurt by an ethics scandal, and by his admission that he wore blackface, years ago. trudeau was joined by his wife and children as he cast his vote in montreal. he is vying to remain a leading progressive voice on the world stage. his ma opponent is andrew scheer, leader of the conservative party. back in this country, the three largest drug distributors and a major drugmaker reached a

settlement with two ohio counties in the opioid edemic. it totals $260 million, and it could lead to a broader, national settlement of more than 2,600 lawsuits. we'll take a clo tr look later program. the governor of texas has declared a disaster in 1 counties after severe storms including a tornado roared through the dallas area overnight. the twister touched down near the main airport. it moved eastward, tearing through trees, rippi off roofs and left thousands in the dark. but the dallas mayoraid it could have been much worse. >> considering the path that the storm took, it went across a pretty densely populated part of our city, i think we should consider ourselves very fortunate that we did not lose any lives. no fatalities and no serious injuries in last night's storm, so i think we should all be grateful for that. >> woodruff: the same weather

system killed one person inee arkansas and tn oklahoma. the trump administraon is moving forward with a plan to collect dna samples sylum- ekers and anyone who enters the u.s. illegally. the justice department issuede oposed rule today. it said the biometric records d uld be traferred to an fbi database and user criminal investigations. on wall street todaythe dow jones industrial average gained 57 points to close at 26,827. the nasdaq rose 73 points, and the s&p-500 added 20. and, after 166 years, new yorkil central parkhave a monumento famous women. a city cmission voted today to erect a statue of three pioneering figures. they are: women's suffrage icons susan b. anthony and elizabeth cadytanton, and sojourner truth, an escaped slave who

became a leading abolitionist. central park already has 23 statues, all of men. still to come on the newshour: the latest from the campaign trail and a one-on-one interview with senator candidate bernie sanders. tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest on the impeachment fight in congress. four drug companies reach a last-minute deal in a high stakes ooid case. and, healing flint: how focused nutrition programs battle the effects of lead-laden water. >> woodruff: we turn now to the democratic presidential race. candidates spent theeekend working to drum up enthusiasm among primary voters in the crowded contest.

atan saturday rally of more 20,000 people in queens, new york bernie sanders had a clear message: >> i am more than ready to assume the oice of president of the united stat to put it bluntly, i am back! >> woodruff: less than three weeks after suffering a heart attack, the vermont senator got a big boost: the endorsement of new york freshman congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. as sanders is seeking to establish the legacy of his "political revolution," >> over the next few weeks, i'mn to be putting out a plan >> woodruff: his progressive presidential rival, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, is fending off criticism. it is over how she'd pay for medicare for all, sanders' signature health care plan, which warren suppos.

>> i've been working on this for a long time now. it's still got a little more work before it's ready to roll out-- >> i think youhiave to show how re going to pay for things. >> woodruff: meanwhile, centrist candidates like minnesota senator amy klobuchar and south bend, diana, mayor pete buttigieg spent the weekend building on the gains they've made in the race after clashing with warren on health care in the last debate. klobuchar enjoyed large crowds in iowa while a new "u.s.a. i today" poll a caucus goers put buttigieg within striking president joe biden, warren and sanders. >> american teachers deserve a generous raise, and i'm going to make sure they get one. >> woodruff: with teacher strikes ongoing in chicago, biden this weekend promised better teacher wages if he's elected president, at an event in new york with 1,000 union teachers.

today, warren released a new $800 billion k-12 education plan, that she says she'd fund with a wealth tax. >> but there are a lot of them in the yang gang... >> woodruff: elsewhere on the campaign trail this weekend, democratic presidential candidates still trying to break through in the crowded field held events from south carolinar to alabama to iowa. and one of those presidential candidates, senator bernie sanders, joins us now. senatosanders, welcome. senator sanders, welcome back to the "newshour". it's good to see you back on the campaign trail. congratulations. >> thank you very much. >>oodruff: and first question, has this heart issue slowed you down at all? >> not at all. i mean, i took some time off. i'm feeling great right now. we had a wonderful rally on saturday. we're going to be in iowa in a few days. we'rback and running. >> woodruff: let's talk -- i want to move from your own

health to your healthcare plan, senator. you wou eliminate private insurance, require no co-pays or premiums from patients, from people. you would give eve coverage, but the nonpartisan urban institute -- and we just looked at the study they put out last week -- is estimating that over its first decade your plan would cost $34 trillion, more than the total cosof social security, medicare and medicaid combined. >> well, two responses, judy. first of all, if we do nothing in terms of the helthcare, i think the estimate is we'll be spending as a nation $50 trillion. we have by far the mostth expensive here system in the world, we're spending twice as muc per person as the canadians and most countries in the industrialized rld, and yet we still have 87 million uninsured or underinsured, 30,000 dying, we pay by far the

highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and00,000 people a year go bankrupt as a result of medical debt. we have a dysfuncti sal bureaucrattem whose main goal is to make huge profits for the insurance companies and the drug companies, and that has got to end. healthcaan is a hight not a privilege, we don't have to spend twice as much per person as any other mainly country. >> woodruff: well, senator, as you know, a lot of peop are saying that $34rillion figure is just a shocking number. this reporting we've seen in "the atltic," ron brownstein, a reporter you know, he's sayint this would lally require more tax increases than anything the country's seen since world war ii. >> you know, judy, we are taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies, we're take on the republican establishment, we're taking on them deocratic establishment. we are the only major country on earth that does n guarantee healthcare to all people.

whatthese guys kep forgetting is that we are eliminating -- you're paying, as is not uncommon, $1,500 a mon premiums, $15,000 a year or more, that's gone. if you end up in the hospita with a bill for $50,000, $8000, that's gone. to-payments are gone. all out of pocxpenses are gone. for the average american -- you know, what republicans do is they do these 30-second sound bytes and they say, oh, you'ra going toy more in taxes. they forget to say, you're going to pay less for healthcare than you currently are. right now the average family of four spends $28,0 a year on healthcare. they were spending a lot less -- they'll be spending a lot less under medicare for all woodruff: that is an analysis by urbannstitute nonpartisan not by republicans. you voted for obama -- n look, i'm not deying we're

going to spend a lot of money, stt they cannot deny that we're saving people stial sums of money by eliminating all premiums. i talked to a wom in new hampshire, $1,700 a month in premiums, huge prescription drug costs. under our bill, nobody pays more than $200 a year. the average american will pay less foralthcare under medicare for all. but to clarify, you vot for obamacare. >> yep. >> woodruff: but you're now saying it is flawed enough or inadequate enough that it should just be thrown out and replaced? what i'm saying is, over a four-year period, we should expand the mosrt popu health insurance program in this stuntry which is medicare. so in my fiear we expand medicare to cover hearing aids, eyeglasses and dental and expand

it over four years. that is the most cost efftive way to guarantee healthcare for everyone in this count y. >> woodrufr world view, we've talked to d. j. strategists who say to us, look, it's either going to be benders or elizabeth warren when it comes down to finealists for th nomination, that's the view out there. and you yourself, yibu des yourself as a democratic socialist, she says she's a capitalist to her bone. so for people wo are out there looking at these two wor views, what is the difference? >> well, first of all, elizabeth is a good friend of mine, we work together in the senate on so many issues. i think thathe only way w bring about real change in this country is not within capitol hill. what ielieve is we need a political revolution like the labor movement did in the 30s, like the women's movement, the civil rights movement, the gay movement. millions of people have got stand up and fight for just.

our campaign about twofold, number one, i do believe i am e strongest candidate tr beat the worst, most dangerous president in this country, second of all, what i know is that no president, not bernie sandbos or any else, can do it alone. so what this campaign is about, it's not just winning the i election, about building a movement of millions of people who, in fact, will stand up to fossil fuel industry, the drug companies, the insurance companies, the military industrial complex, et cetera. that is the only way that i now as to how we can bring about we are the only campaign i think who is going forward in that direction. >> woodruff: senator, question about asreign policy. ou know, president trump this month pulled out. 1,000 troops from syria, from northern syria. he has beeocriticized by peple in both political parties as selling out the kurds. you, in the past, have been

someone who has been, to put it mildly, skeptical of the value of u. troops road. what would you do if yu were president right now about syria? would you put those troops back in? >> judy, you're certainly right, i woulsay th word "skeptical" is an derstatement. i helped lead the opposition to the war the iraq and much of it endeup takg place i will say this, i think trump's betrayal of the kurds, people whlost 10,0 soldiers fighting against i.s.i.s. is one of the worst foreign policy anda mi decisions ever made by any president in the history of this country. its outrageous andeth going to haunt us for a long time because our allies all over the world are going to say, can we really trust the united states of america to stand withs? now, syria, as you well know, is an normsly catmpl issue. you've got a president there whe

usedcal weapons against his own people, but our job now is to work with the iinternational community,h our allies, to prevent further russian gains and iranian gains in that region, bring stability to that area and do everything we can to create la peace situation in terms of what's going on there rightow. >> woodruff: would you put the troops back into northern syria? >> you're asking me how i woulde undoamage that trump has inflicted on us inhaont re it's something that i think as a nation and as a community, as allies, we and our allies are going to have to work together on that issue. but what trump did is unforgivable in terms of hisbe ayal of the kurds. >> woodruff: you would have left the troops there? >> yes, i would hae. i think when you deal with troop withdrawal, when you deal with trying t (end of event) less wars, you dono't -- when yu

try to end it on enodless wax yu don't do it true a teet. we want our troops home. i will do everything i can to end or involvement in endless wars but you don't do it just based on a phone call with the president of tury. >> woodruff: senator sanders joining us today fromnt ver thank you very much. >> thank you. good to see you, judy. >> woodruff: a now we turn to litics monday. with amy walter of the political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith from npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics pcast." hello to both of you. it is politics monday. tamara, you were listening to senator sanders. what did you think?de >> senator s did what many of the democratic candidates have done, pretty much all of them, which is cri the

president's decisions, criticize the way president trump handled syria and the relationship with the kurds, but didn't really offer much clearer view of how he would fix the problem, and that's essentially been what all of the democratic candidat have been doing beause it's much easier to criticize the president than to get into the nitty gritty detls ofni how you solvwthe morasch is syria. >> and the fact most democrats like bernisanders argued shouldn't have gone into iraq in the first place, want to bring troops out of the middle east. elizabeth warren in the debate the other nigntht said i o get all the troops out of the middle east. to answer your question, what do you do about syria, that gets rite little complicated, which is what being president is about, it's complicated. >> woodruff: he went on to say, i was trying to ask him to elaborate theifferences between him and elizabeth

warren, the most prssoge candidates in the race and he's been reluctant to talk about it. this time he stressed he wants i revo, she would do it through capitol hill. distips between them is berniee sanders has auld talked about a revolution, and she talks about big structural bong but within the structures that exist, 14e79s to keep the huse and tear down the guts, and he wants to blow things up an something different. that is how they've approached the campaign. that said, he has been veryca ious about really trying to attack her in any way. that i think, in part, because he knows that she is the candidate in this ray race other than him that is most likely to go toward his vision. >> well, plus, he doesn't necessarily have tgo after her.ot everer candidate is doing that for him which we saw in the debate last week, right? there was a big target on top of her headand all the candidates

were coming at elizabeth warren, most spefically, as you mentioned in this interview with bernie sanders, about how she pays for hr medicare for all plan, which she said this weekend that she's going to have more details, finally, very soon, and work out all the details. >> woodruff: in coming days. so do we agree on how much of a threat she is to him right now? >> she is absolutely a threat to him. she is also absolutely a threat to vice president joe biden, and you can sort of see how much of a threat she is in this rachoe, she has gained in the polls by looking at what the democrats on stage did wither. they were going after her, and it wasn't just that they were going after elizabeth warren. many of the moderate candidates were, in a way, trying to show themselves as, well, you know, if this biden thinl thingrk doesn't wout and he slips a little bit, it would be i'm

auditioning to be the moderate alternative. e> woodruff: and they've don that and continue to play off that. >> that's what you've seen this weekend, pete buttigieg getting a lot of media attention. new polls from iowa showing buttigieg moving into third place in iowa. he has been trying -- we have been talking about tis for a while now -- to be this bridge candidate between biden and sanders-warren saying a little bit too old, too establishment, this idf returning to normalcy is pa say, not going to work. these case too far to the left. i'm going to be more progressive but not as far to thleft her you're seeing amy klobuchar who also, for the first time, reamey ut and stood her ground as the moderate in the race.d what wn't know yet is if hiere's enough room for all of those folks in race.

joe biden has really sucked up that lane all to himself. he really wisll need, tam pointed out, to slip in order for one of the other counties to move in an dd potentialminate that piece of the debate. >> reporter: particularl striking, tam, that buttigieg took over third place, beating out and knocking benders back to fourth in iowa, which has to have the sanders folksr wory. >> well, and, also, pete buttigieg has a lot of mo. we got all these campaign finance reports out last week, and buttigieg has moe cash on hand than vice president joe biden. in fact, a loeof people hav more cash on hand than vice president joe bidooen. >>uff: let's talk about the president, amy, rough few dayss we were talking with syria, the continued blowback over that. now the discussion that hasn'ty gone awaout his using his

own hotel to host world leaderss ill out there. is this another blip we're rolling through or are we -- >> we're waiting to see if there's a lating set of problems and this president's approval ratings just do not budge. good times and bad. if you look at the average where he is right now, it'ews somre around 41%, 42%, which is whe f it's ber the past four, five, six months. what we really don't know as we're moving along, it seems to me, is where we are in impeachment and how, if anything new is going to change in the way amerans view this. is there going to m soamount of information that could blow this open oneay or the other, either the majority of americans saying let's not impeach or theo majoriamericans saying overwhelmi happen.ment should i don't see that happening now

which means we have an impeachment vote, the senate doesn't vote to convict and fo e first time in history we have a president impeached runninfor reele wion. odruff: but it's dragging on. it's going to last for weeks and weeks. >> yes, there are th mile markers of christmas and new year's and whether it slips past that or wrecks erybody's holidays. you know, iis -- right now, it's allh happening ind closed doors. all of these various interviews e happening. there are going to be transcripts maybe that will be leased but it's not happening out in public. there aren't big flashy public hearings and, as a result, it's hard for this kind of thing toc move pubinion. it's getting this story started out very simple. it is getting increasingly more complicated. you need more lines and circles and things on your chart to try to understand who all the players are and what all the characters are in this growing drama. >> woodruff: although speaker pelosi is trying to keep us

focused on thre ukaine transaction. >> but even the ukraine transaction has gotten more complicated. >> woodruff: a lot of players. but there looks as ifthere's a deliberate effort on the part of .he democrati democrats in the o keep this focus >> i think the longer it drags out and we get into 2020, the president in an election year becomes tougher for democrats te . thus far at least they have a benefit on the process argument, with them on this idea of having an inquiry, fewh ifis drags out and we're five or six month away from the election, are americans still going to be approving of this nquiry? >> all right, politics monday. so much going on. >> always. amy walter, tameraeith, thank you. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: today was supposed to be the start of a landmark trial against drug companies and distributo respective roles in the opio epidemic and the devastating toll it has left across e country. but just hours before a jury wa hear arguments, several companies announced a settlement with a pair of counties in ohios this trialxpected to set the benchmark for more than 2,000 other suits against the companies. as william brangham tells us, thd reckoning has been dela >> brangham: today's $260 million settlement covers just two of the roughly 2,400 cities, counties, states and native american tribes that have suits pending against the major corporations involved in ioids. "big three" distributors:e mckesson corporation,er

ource-bergen, and cardinal health, as well as teva .harmaceuticals, which is an israeli drug mak but thousands of government officials around the country are watching to see whethech bigger national settlement can $50 billion.ossibly as high as let's look at how the deal took shape, and what comes next. lennbernstein of "the washington post" has been covering this caserom the beginning. he's in cleveland where the settlement was announced. welcome back to the "newshour". before we get tosahese other ths of cases that are still pending, some form of an agreement, tell us what was settled late last night betwe these two ohio counties. >> t counties and the drug companies have agreed ope, o tht instead of going to trial, the big three distributors will provid$215 million in cash and teva will provide anotherin $20 millio anti-addiction drugs. that money goes as quickly as

possibleo the people in cuyahoga and summit counties who need it for treoratment, law enforcement to take care of foster children, for all the needs created by the opioid epidemic. >> reporter: and my watched this case to see it as something as a bellwether. j how would thury react to the evidence presented and the counterarguments, is that right? >> precisely. this was chosen by the federal judge dan pollster as a bellwether, a litmus test, of how other communities might fare at trial. well, you didn't have a trial,ry so t ju did not get the numerous questions that the plaintiffs were going to put before them in an effort to say thnie drug com are culpable for the epidemic, what u got instead was a negotiated settlement. that gives us a reference point

but doesn't give us an up or down on the dru og companies' behavior. >> reporter: to bring peopleup o speed, can you remind us briefly, what are the plaintiffs arguing, what are the defendants arguing in these multi-t-- multitude of cases? >> startintwith this one, he plaintiffs argued that the drug companies created a public nuisance -- that is, they endangered the health of residents of cuyahoga anda sumt counties by pouring all these puioids into thic domain where, inevitably, some portion of them would be diverd to illegal use. they also accused the drug companies as acng as a cartel, almost as a drug rtel, by working in concert to spread the message that these drugs were not that addicti and that they could be used for a wide variety of aches and pains. they're actually only intended for cancer pain, end of life care, certain diseases that are

extremely painful. so many of the other plainti have adopted similar arguments. in fact the public nuisance argument i referred to carried today in oklahoma where a state judge agreed johnson & johnson created a public nuisance and order that company to pay $573 million. >> reporter: and th companies said we were operating in ad regularket, the f.d.a., d.e.a., and they werpoe supd to beooking out for all of this and we were not really ilty in all of this. help me understand, if a jury trial was not he and this settlement was a bellwether, what are we do read from this assessment, from all the other cases? >> it's fuzzy but more information than we've had before. thousands of other communities are looking at this settlement right now as well as the drug companiethemselves. they're looking at this settlement and everybody is tryinto assess the strengths and weaknesses of their relpoive

tions. there's also the attorneys general who have sued the drug companies in state courts and they want in on the action as well. so everyone is trying to assess e strength a weaknesses of their position in this sort of global negotiation, which isve fluid, and trying to come up with where they might position themselves to gain the mo. now we know that the drug companies are not going to hand out 280 -- im sorry -- $260 million to thousands of counties, there's just not enough money for that. so how do we negotiaso? people are going to have to come up, some will have to come down, some ll have to change their time frames if a deal is going toget done. >> reporter: my understanding a bit of a dviding line amongsts litigants in the case, that some attorneys general are pushinger for a touight an others

are more ready to rettle. is that how you read it? >> yes, but that's largely in the purdue pharma case. as your viewers may rmember, purdue pharma is also trying to craft a huge nationwide settlement to get rid of all the litigation against theover 0xycontin, and the attorneys general are divided roughly along party lines. more rteublicans are inter in settlings with purdue. more democrats want to push for more money particularly from the sackler family who owns the company. all that is playing out in bankruptcy court, a totally sprt venue from ones we've already talked about. >> reporter: this judge in ohio said he wants to bring all the parties together and force the settlement. is there any chce, from your reporting, that a grand settlement may not actually come to pass? >> well, the alternative is really sort of untenable.

imagine if 2,400 cities and counties, one by one, went through lawsuits, or right up to the edge of a lawsuit, as cuyahoga and summit did today,ai again and and again and again agait various dru g companies, some against the pharmacies, some against th distributors, some ainst the manufacturers. we would ewe would be at -- w would be at itor decades. so i think there is lite alternative to some kind of a widespread global negotiated settlement, but right now we're not there. >> reporter: all right. nny bernstein of "the washington post." ank you very much. >> my pleasure. s >> woodruff: ien five years since the flint water crisis first rose to national attention. while it's not over yet, it has

given rise to initiatives that encourage good nutriti t combat lead exposure and improve overall heal s. t john yang to michigan to take a look. p >> yang:fessional chef leads a cooking class for kids in a kitchen at the farmers't, market in flichigan. they're not just learning how to make pot pies, tacos and bakedos cheese sticks, they're learning healthy eating with foods that doctors say help limit the amount of lead their growing bodies absorb: milk, dried fruits andreen leafy vegetables. it's called "fnt kids cook" and it's one of a number of programs that started or expanded after the city's public health crisis, which was triggered by high levels of lead in the drinking water. pediatrician mona hanna-attia, who was among the first to sound the alarm about lead in the water, explains that the metal is stored in bones and can re- enter the circulaty system.

ple,n periods of, for ex repoor nutrition in the fur stress or pregnancy it can come back out of your bones into your bloodstream and cause that neurotoxicity all over again. >> yang: but research, she says, shows that certain nutrients decrease lead absorption: iron, n und in lean meat, spinach and beans; vitamin cmatoes, citrus fruit and peppers; and calcium in milk, cheese and yogurt. >> that's why nutrition is like a forever medicine. children need to always have great nutrition to limit the ongoing kind of potential exposure from lead release >> yang: the six-week "flint kids cook" course is an outgrowth of the nutrition city's two big pediatricthe clinics, including one run by hurley medical center in the same building as the farmers' market. every child who comes here for an office visit gets a food prescription: a voucher for $15 worth of frus or vegetables. and because it's right here at

the farmers' market, that prescription can be filled right away. the three-year-old program of one-time vouchers given at every office visit is among the first of its kind geared toward children. michigan state university's amy saxe-custack had the idea of adding cooking classes as a way to introduce kids to me kinds of produce. >> virtually everyone told us that the kids were choosing fruits because they weren't familiar with vegetables, and wouldn't it be nice if we could find a way to get them to sort of accept and eat vegetaes more often? >> yang: nikki bormann works at steady eddy's veggies in the market and has seen the effects. >> there's a lot of kids that come up. eir parents will bring them in and, like, actually let them pick out fruits and veggies for themselves. that's pretty cool, instead of parents coming in like "maybe my kid will eat this, or maybe this today."eat that, we'll try >> yang: food stamp recipients can also get a nutrition boost with double up f a national non-profit called the "fair food network" operates the ogram in more than 25 states. for every dollar spent onuc

prodor milk products, participants get a dollar to spend on more fruits, vegetables or milk. shirley triplett used her benefits at the farmers' market. at did you buy today? >> i bought broccoli and apples so far. >> yang: and you used ur uble up bucks with this? >> yes, i do. i love that program. >> yang: merchants like it, too. marvin kattola is co-owner of landmark food center. >> i keep encouragncg my staff torage and teach the customers about it. it's good for the customers, it's good for the business. >> yang: double up had already been in flint since 2009 when the water crisis hit. oran hesterman is founder and c.e.o. of fair food network. >> we went to work and really expanded the program fm one location to now about a dozen locations throughout the city.g: >> yn 2015, 9% of the city's food stamp recipients usedouble up. now, 60% are doubling their money on fruits, vegetables and

milk. or they could get healthier by growing food themselves gardens, where, experts say, usinlead-contaminated water has little effect. that's the idea behind a 10- year-old group called edible flint. last year, this demonstration plot, roughly the size of three city house lots, produced nearlo 2,00ds of kale, tomatoes and other produce. >> sometimes people willal ac drive up with requests ke "do you have green tomatoes today?" >> yang: julie darnton is on edible flint's leadership board. >> the demonstration garden grew out of a desire to have a learning laboratory for people and learn about dit wayshniques of growing food. but since the water crisis, we ally have had a focus on connecting what we're doing here with people's health. >> yang: health is also the there's evidence tids take what they learn home. michigan state's amy saxe- custack. >> since the class, they're wanting to write the grocery list and they're running through the grocery store and saying,

"we need this, we need this. >> yang: and at the end of their six-week session, the young cooks proudly serve dinner to their families. a tasty lesson in good nutrition d good health. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in flint, michin. >> woodruff: so heartening. and th's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. ns and with the ongoing support of thesetutions

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public brocasting. and by contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access gacup at wgbh ss.wgbh.org

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