cnewshour produions, llc ve >> nawaz: goodng, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, on the record. the first transcripts of teimony from the impeachment inquiry are released, as four white house officials refuse to appear before house investigators. then, ukraine in the crossfire. a report from the eastern frontr the battle against russia grinds on. >> ( translated ): if for example america and europe don't help, i think russia will push forward, they won'just occupy this area. they'll invade. >> nawaz: plus, amy walter and tamara keith are here to break down what those state races mean for the presidential election and what's next in the impeachment inquiry. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> and with the ongoing support of tse institutions: and individuals. possible by the coion for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank yo rs >> nawaz: the transcripts from closed-door depositions at the heart of the ukraint. scandal are house impeachment investigats today released almost 500 pages of testimony from a former u.s. former adviser to secretary of state mike pompeo.

newshour correspondents lisa desjardins and nicavk schifrinbeen digging through both of them. welcome. >> thank you very much. >> nawaz: 500 pages! your incredible "newshour" team have been digging through this all day. nick, start us off. what if we learned from e depositions? >> one, we learned more details of what became an unofficial foreign policy toward ukraine president's attor allegedly for business reasons. number two, we learned how secretary of state mike pompeo was repeatedly asked to defend foreign seice officers, specifically that former ambassador to ukraine you just mentioned and how he rei fused. number thre l werned more details about how giuliani really led a smear campaign, how he did that and with whom against that ambassador. let's talk about thatam ssador, marie yovanovitch, and her transcript was released

today. she's the forme ambassador to ukraine, she served as a foreign service officer for 33 years across both republican and democrat administrations. let's frame somef her testimony. she led trump administration's administration's president trump's policy on yurk, two aspects, one, g ukraine lethal weapons in order to deter russia and, number two, try and debt g at endemic corruption inside ukraine. that was the official policy. she rainto a buzz saw really led by rudy giuliani, and that was the unofficial foreign policy. at one point she was asked aboue that differe by new jersey democrat former state department official tom malonovsky. he said parallel policy started to trump the official policy at that point, answer in retrosuspect, yes, and that is the core her testimony. >> nawaz: rudy rudy, the president's personal attorney, comes up allot here.

learn from the depositions? he >> we'll try and build what this told u about theorld today and giuliani is at the center of all of this, as nick said. anambassador yitch's testimony gave i sight into what the reasons were she thought rudy giuliani was doing this. two reasons, the first, business. she pointed to two of hi foashts, lev parnas and igor girkin. she testified to congrhos,se two associates had business interests, their business interests in ukraine through is energy company, and they needed a better ambassador to sort out or facilitate those business interests. now, the second reason that we found in her testimony today s th believes she was pushed out aams u.sbassador to ukraine was the interest of a specific powerful ukrainian, a we're going to show hims urey losinko, former prosecutor general just until august 29,

just a few months ago he left office. she is a fascinating character, he's a man who hadeen jailed and beaten for being a reformer in trpast adminions but now has come into power. yovanovitchh testified thate was pushing back because he was not actually reforming that,un r him, his office was not becoming a place of reform aniud thatani and he had connected and that he was going through giuliani to try to push her out. that's her testimon now we have a special correspondent in ukraine, of course we do, from "newshour" and we'll hear more from them later. simon has been text ago man who plays a big role with lusenko. he responded and said i don't comment on fantasy and lies, he says there's lllies and more to watch. will yo>> nawaz: whado we learn

about why marie yovanovitch was fired? >> she talks abou how there was a campaign, in conservative media, by the president, by thte presidson, and led by rudy giuliani to get her fired. and that came as a surprise to her because she really testified about how she was really in the dark throughout that entire campaign and, at one point, she says, hey, look, it would be great to get a litte bit of backup, a little bit of defense. how can we quiet this campaign? she was told it wasn't going to be the state department to quiet that campaign, it was going to iv the president's allies in conservmedia, specifically one. this is part of her statement, the secretary of state, mike poeo, or perhaps somebody around him was going to place the call to mr. hannity on f news to say, you know, what is going on? do you have proof of these kinds of allegation or not? if you have proof, tell me, an d if notstop. that call was made to mr. hannity, according to this testimony, and the allegations did stop for a couple of days,

and they came back. that's where we get two examples of mike pompeo asked to defend this woman of 33 years experience and he refused. state tedeclined a snt she asked for defending her because ey feared president trump would tweet something and pull the rug funrorneath the state department. after it became clear that president trump dispassenger her during the july 25th call with president zelensky of alukraine, hes about her with zen zelensky, zelensky disparages or. mike mckinley, the second testimony released today, former senior advise to po pompeo, ambassador to fr cints awe cross democratic and republican strappings he asked pompey to three times to defendia vanovich

and he refused, mckinley resigned. there is the resentment in the senior ofhe state departmentia vanovich talks about. department attacked and hollowed she went through, she says, int such circumstances, the only interests that are going to be served are those of strategic adversaries like russia wosho spread cand attack ibs institutions and norms the.s. create. >> those are strong words, wow, this is thetime before congres help put this into context. how does this fit into pee hment inquiry? >> this is about the impeachmen inquiry. one, she touched on the idea of these investigations the president wants, one, the invetigation into wheth ukraine itself was behind the 2016 meding. she said, no, republicans continue to ask that. to be credible. found that never then the other idea, this idea of an investigation into the

bidens and the energy company that joe biden's son is on, she also said that s was not part of that, but she said, listen, investigations like that in ukraine, you should know, are used as political leverage. they'ru kept open so yn keep your thumb on someone involved. she said something impornt to the president including he had been conceed about corruption in ukraine in a long time. >> nawaz: fascinating detailsfr m the first 500 pages. we have more testimony coming out tomorrow. thank you to you both. >> nawaz: for more on how the president and his allies are reacting to all of this, our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor joins us. she's been reporting on both sides of the border and is in on assignment.re she is yamiche, good to see you there. i want to asyou about we heard the president just a little while ago react to some of the news of the day. to ake a listenhat he had to say. >> was marie yovanovitch the target of a smear campaign by -- >> i really if you look at the transcripts,

the president of ukraine was not a fan of hearse either. he did not exactly say glowing things. e'm sure she's a very fin woman, i just don't know much about her. >> she told lawmakers she had concerns about ru giuliani. >> you have to look at the president of ukraine because the president of ukraineas not favorably inclined. >> nawaz: what o you make of what he had to say today. >> well, president trump with us fiercely defending himself on the whn e house ling a largely misleading claim. in f you look at the july 25 call memo released by the white house, the presidentof ukraine vladimir putin -- sails thanks for telling me marie yovanovitch was bad ambassador, i agree with you 100%. you see the president is a person who told ukraine that was a bad ambassador. it's important to note what the allies of the president is

saying. jim jordan, a republican on to have siht committee said this today about thesecr transtriptts. >> the two individuals whose transcripts were released today ankly have not much towith the underlying issue. ambassador -- mr. mckinley had nothing to do with the situation heat is sort of the basis for whatemocrats are doing and ambassador yovanovitch habe alread recalled and was no longer in ukraine when the call took place when the, a, questi was even president. >> he went on to say that the process was unfair and that democrats are not following due process for the presiden now, i had a long conversation with another ally of the president matthew gates, a e publican who sits on the house judiciary commitd he told me he thinks these transcripts released today is part of a orchestrated effort by6z to negatively impact the president. he also says that the process wasn't fair and republicans should have mosay in how things are going and that the

involved more in the impeachment inquiry. >> as you heard from nick and lisa, these depositions are people at the heart of the impeachment inquiry with a lot of details about what we didn't know before. what can you share that's interesting in terms of how the president operates? >> these transcripts were really a window into how president trump and this white house allegedly operate. onu have fox news men more than a dozen times, twitter mentioned more than a ndo times and marie yovanovitch, former ambassa ukraine, said first she was encouraged by gordon sondland, e.u. ambassador, to praise president trump via twitter. she was also told she needed to leave raine because president trump might tweet about her. so we talk a lot about presid but this is really twitter sitting at the center of our foreign policy. theyou also have the president allegedly being on the phone call with a president uoaine

talking about our u.s. ambassador essentiallyaying she's not someone who can be trusted and the president of ukra se ising you're the person encouraging me not to look hat this ambassador in a positive way. then you have the president allegedly getting on the phone with his personalney rudy giuliani and mixing foreign policy with his own personal interests, alleged, and democrats say this is an unorthodox and unfair way for the white house to operate. president trump, of course, thinks he did nothing wrong. >> nawaz: that's our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor joining us from >> nawaz: democratic congressman jamie raskin is a member of the house judiciary committee and he attended the closed-door depositions with ambassadors marie yovavitch and michael mckinley. represenative raskin joins us from capitol hill. welcome back to the "newshour", sir, and thank you for making the time. let methask you about decision to release those two transcripts today. those st two of many that house investigators have

collected, hours worth of testimony so far, why were just lethese two ed today? why not released all the transcripts? well, we want to see althe depositions released to the public so people can read for themselves the really explosiv statements of these lifelong panublic se. so they're all going to come out. it takes a while, as your statue knows, to digest everything in there. so we'll do that in the week.g >> nawaz: in releasing the two transcripts from just those witnses today, your republican colleagues will say that you're trying to orchestrate th narrative rather than being transparent about the testimony you alhave. what do you say to that? >> the republicans are interested in anything but transparency. you notice how they middle east want to stract the conversation away from the substance of what peopleaid to the question of what day are you releasing this and thatpt

transcnd so on, this coming from people who are defending president's effort to obstruct the testimony of multiple witnesses today so they've got some gall saying we haven' at released the depositions yet when they're trying to prevent any testimony from anybody about what the president actually ndid. az: you said earlier today in an interview "i think we have established an overwhelming case." if you believe you already have the case tased onhe depositions you have, how into public he? move forward >> well, you know, serious prosecutors want to try to nail down ery detail, and we want to, of course, give the opportunity for all of the relevant witnesses to come forward with material evidence and material testimony. it's scandalous that t president is trying to stop people from testifying before the united states congress about a matter of this seriousness. >> nawaz: you mentioned those people, sir, who, also, four officials today refusing ainnd

declthe invitation to testify on the hill. do you believe you need to hear om nose people before you move forward with public hearings? >> well, look, the smoking gun in this case appeared on day one. this is not exactly agatha christie novel. we know precisely what the esident did, he tried to organize a shakedown against the ukraian government to get th to essentially corroborate a false story about the 2016 campaign to say it was the ukrainiansnd not the russian who interfered in our election, and th to get essentially false evidence or concocted evidence for the 2020 campaign against the bidens by getting them toabricate or to manufacture new invensigation agthe bidens. that's what they did, and it's right there in the white house's own memorandum con tem contempos with the phone call. >> nawaz: many including the president said maybe these transcripts can't be trusted,

that they manipulated before being released. what do you say to that? >> i'm not quite sure what the president is refeing to because i saw extremely little redaction if any, and i think they're afraid people are going it, they will be blown away both by what anoassador yotch has to say about the campaign the preside's recall of the in ambassador from ukraine and then, also, to read amssador mckinley's extraordinarily brave statement about why he felt he hto resign after three and a half decades of serving both rican and democratic presidents. >> congressman, before you go, we know gordon sondland returned to capitol hill last week to review some of his earlier testimonafter other testimonies following his seemed to contradict what he purportedly said. did ambassador sondland alter or change any of his prior testimony? >> i'm not aware of any of that.

i invoke mark twain who said if you always tell the truth, you never have anything to remember. ve a lot of these witnesses ha come forward very bravely, very courageously and ve patriotically like the two whose give honest testimony and i'veo not seen them come back to check out their deposition ao since then. but the white house has been tying to stop allse people from coming in, and, so, i do want to identify our appreciation and our gratitude for these long-time public officials who've come forward to tell the truth against and over the threats to have the white house. >> congressman jamie raskin, democrat from maryland, thank you very much for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> nawaz: for the record, the newshour reached out to all 47 lawmakers from the three house commit permitted to attend and participate in the depositions. none of them were able to join us tonight.

>> nawaz: in the day's other new york ruled that president in p's tax returns from 201 must be turned over to state prosecutors. it's part of an investigation into payments to two women who claimed to have affairs with mr. trump. the president had argued he has total immunity from stat incriminal law, while he i office. his lawyers said today they will now appeal to the u.s. supreme cour the government of iran announced today it is running twice as many advanced centrifuges as before. it is tehran's latest violation of the 2015 nuclear deal, since president trump renounced t agreement a year ago. and, it came as the u.s. imposed new sanctio on high-ranking iranian officials. separately, demonstrators in tehran burneican flags and chanted "death to america" outside the former u.s. embassy. protesters took over the site, 40 years ago today. in iraq, fresh violence erupted least five people.ing at

protesters closing in on keyon government buiings. ds scrambled for cover, ambulances raced through streets. in the south, funerals were held itin karbala where securforces killed three protesters last night, after violence outside the iranian consulate. >> ( translated ): our son is hero, he was carrying only the iraqi flag nothing else. the brazen militias attaed us and killed our son. so many iraqi young men are jobless, they have no job. sthis government will nevve the iraqi people. >> nawaz: protesters have called for an end to government corruption and to iran's influence the regime. iran and its allies have, in turn, accused the u.s. of omenting the trouble in iraq. protesters in lebanon closed major roads today, in a new show of discontent over economic hardship and corruption. people used sit-ins and debris to block streets in beirut. the proteft cars stuck in traffic jams, and, for a third

week, forced schools to shut .o demonstrations had quieted after the prime minister resigned last week, but they flared back to life over the weekend. thd ick smog shroudia's capital city today, as pollution levels soared to a threeear high. the air quality index in new delhi was at "severe- nine times the recommended maximum level. it was csed largely by smoke from burning off farm land and fireworks set off during the hiu festival of diwali. >> ( translated ): the pollution erin delhi is very bad andat the airport, we are facing difficulty breathing and there is a burning sensation in our eyes as if someone has put chili powder in my eyes. >> nawaz: officials responded by limiting cars with odd or en- numbered license plates to using the roads only on alternate days. the trump administration itformally notified the nations today that the u.s. is quitting the paris climate accord. secretary of state mike pompeo sent a letter that starts the one-year pull-out process. the 2015 accord calls for nearly

200 nations to set their own emissions.curbing greenhouse gas the environmental protection agency hasroposed rolling back limits on wastewater from coal- fired power plants. the obama administramposed the restrictions on discharges that contain coal ash avy metals. the e.p.a. said today the rollback would save utilities $175 million annually and encourage voluntary clean-ups opponents said it will harm public health. firefighters up and down california now have the upper hand, after a weekend of lighter winds aner temperatures. the "maria" fire, outside los an 8geles, w contained today after burning more than 9,400 acres. and, a blaze that charred 120 square miles in northern slifornia's wine country also 80% contained. more than 460 state prison inmates oklahoma went free today, after their sentences were commuted. st was the largest single-day release in u.s. ory, and it

siled to scenes of joy o prisons. republican gnor kevin stitt addressed one group, in taft, oklahoma. >> chance for each and every one of you. and i want to challenge you, because you knowughere will be times ahead. but your kids, your family your future depends on you getting tough and making surthat you get the help that you need so that you do not come bachere and make the same mistakes that have happened in t past. >> nawaz: oklahoma has had the nation's highest rate of incarceration. but a new state la retroactively converted many low-level drug and property crimes to misdemeanors. apple is pledging $2.5 billion to fight california's shortage of affordable housing. the money will go to build atlow to modincome homes and create a fund for mortgage help. google and facebook have alrea promised $1 billion each. workers flocking to tech jobs havehousing prices soaring in the san francisco bay area. trand, on waeet, a new week

broughrecord closes on three major indexes. the dow jones industrial average gained 114 points to close at 27,462. the nasdaq rose 46 points, and the s&p 500 added 11. still to come on the newshour: bluegrass battle-- will the closely-watched kentucky governor's race provide clues for 2020? amy walter and tamara keith analyze the latest news from the impeachment inquiry. and ukraine in the crossfire-- where the battle against russia grinds on. >> nawaz: there are ree major governors races underway right now, each offers a ctical early test of republican strength in advance of the 2020 presidential election.

one of those races is tomorrow in kentucky, where president trump tonight is campaigning for the incumbent, matt bevin. william brangham went the bluegrass state this weekend to see what's motivating voters in this very tight race. >> hello kentucky! >> brangham: ahead of the president's arrival, the vice president kicked off the final few days of the campaign, rallying supporters in rural kentucky. >> once we re-elect governor matt bevin for four more years, we can make it clear we're going trump for four years!donald >> brangham: the ft t that presidump and vice president pence felt the need to rally supporters here, state that donald trump won by 30 points in the last election. that is not a good sign for the g.o.p. in the state. the incumbent, republican matt bevin, is in a neck and neck race with this man, kentucky's attorney general, democrat andy beshear. but at friday's rally with the vice presided elsewhere, we heard a lot of confidence that governor bevin will win.

>> i support him wholeheartedly. i like his character. i like w like the platform.d i >> you're prising things for which you have zero plan to come up with the money. >> i'm promising vision and leadership. >> you have none othe above. >> brangham: the latest polling shows bevin and beshear in a virtual dead hea which has turned this into a nasty and expensive campaign. >> socialists in washington want to impeach trump. >> brangham: ads supporting binevin routinelybeshear to events back in washington d.c. >> send socialists a message. defeat andy beshear. >> we treat everyone with respect. >> brangham: beshear ads, on the other hand, tend to focus almost entirely on local issues. >> he's tried to rip health care away from our families and he's cutting public education. we can't take four more years. >> we're going to make it happen. that's right. a>> brangham: there'sew reasons why the race is so one, andy beshear has strong name recognition. his dad, steve beshear, was

kentucky's last governor. t vernor bevin has also hurt himself with some key groups in kentucky. nd>> united we sor schools and teachers. >> brangham: ipr2018, teachers ested education and pension funding. govern bevin suggested that with schools closed because of the walkout, some children risked being sexually assaulted. he also called protesting teachers "selfish" and" ignorant." it's all me bevin one of the most unpopular incumbents in the nation. >> this is about making sure they show up on tuesday. >> brangham: is driven many teachers and other state employees to work hard to unseat bevin. this gathering, largely made up of educators in the len area, were getting ready to canvass voters forndy beshear. >> they are trying to make it ow, andye that, you is a socialist. let me tell you, if you can fi a socialist, a full, like, you know, like through-the-core socialist in the state of kentucky, i will kiss your hind end. >> brangham: these volunteers,

mostly democrats, but also a few republicans, said there was a host of issues on their minds. claire batt, thales her on the t, is a democrat. denise finley, on the right, has been a lifelong republican. both are retired schoolteachers ngtime friends, and they spent much of saturday trying to remind likely beshear voters to turn out on tuesday. >> brangham: what do you guys think is most at stake in this election? >> our children, our children. i'm emotional, but the education of our children. : >> branghamboth women say that if this race is fought on local but they worry that the enormously popular president trump, and the impeachment battle, will energ republicans to show-up in droves f bevin. if you could have told the de,cratic party in washingt d.c., would you have liked them to say, hold off on this impeachment stuff for another

week? let us have an election without stoking thfires? >> in a sense, yes. anati sort of hate to say th because i think they have to it unrolls.investigation and how but i think it really has caused issu us here in kentucky, because they use it. and that's why trump is coming, to >> brangham: some republicans, like mark williams, a veteran and retired firefighter, agrees that impeachmevo will fire up rs, but on both sides. >> i see it as a political scam. nt>> brangham: the impeach process? >> yes. ti think it's just a way to sway voters in 2020. >> brangham: so do you think that that's going to have any impact on people's votes here? >> think it will, yes. yes. especially with the whole united states sort of divided right now. and i think it will help give fuel to the other fires.

>>ha bra williams has one of his neighborhood's only matt bevin signs in his front yard. he likes the governor, and president trump, for a trait they both share. >> i think more politicians should go traight talk, simply because you can understand matt bevin. he'll tell you what he wants and how he wants it. you don't have to follow a riddle to get to the answer. >> brangham: for republicans, this rac president's popularity, combined with outrage over impeachmenus is enough toan unpopular incumbent across the finish line. for democrats, they say this race is the ultimate test: if they can't win the state house under these conditions, it spells serious trouble for the for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in kentucky.

>> nawaz: just how critical are those gubernatorial wins fort presidump, as he faces an accelerating impeachment inquiry back here in washington? for answers, we turn to our politics mono. that's amy walter of the cook public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith from r. she also co-hosts the "npr politics pcast." and welcome to yh. before we jump into some of those governor races and other state issues, tam, i want to get your take on this, because it was such a big news day when it comes to the impeachment inquiry, what have you pulled away from the tions and what they mean for the larger process? how this really is becoming a more public process. these depositions coming out is sign -- another sign. those four people who were called to testify, who were subpoenaed who didn't show up, you know, the house committees are notlg tawlg dpieeople to testify on a single day if they expect them to actually showp

they're now going through the list of people whom they don't exthct to testify sy can move it into the public testimony. >> that's a good point to make. back to illiam brangham was talking about there. take a look at this graphic. these are three states that do have governor's races coming up, two tomorrow, one later this month. these were also trump's strongholds 2016, he won them by significant margins. gubernatorial races right now? >> well, there's a saying that all politics is local, andt until it's not, and now we are seeing now even local race become much more nationalized. it wasn't that long ago that places in the south had democratic governors, had democratic senators, had ic members of congress and were voting for republicans for president, but we have seen now the distinction that vmaotes between voting for their local capt. and voting forhe presidential candidate, have completely disappeared and people are now voting, sometimes even for really local races,

like legislative races. in virginia, ere's an opportunity democrats have to take control of the house delegates and state senate in virginia for the fime since the mid 90s, and they're going to do it by nationalizing politics in the northern virgin suburbs d the richmond suburbs and in and around the newport news and tidewater area. so what 're likely see after an election is the candidates who are in places that are not good at the top of the ticket, trying to localize a rice, and those -- race, and those where the top of the ticket is more pular, where the party is popular, they try to nationalize it. >> tam, when you look at the three races, becau a lot people are saying it's going to be a referendum on the president, is it fair to ok at it that way? >> well, certainly, some the republican candidates are tried to hug as closely to president trump as they can, so, i mean, i think that if a

democrat wins in mississippi o kentucky, then that is really, really big news. if a republican wins, that is kind of what ou would expect, just like he did with the, midterms, the midterms was sort of a mixedheerdictis going in to these places and making it about himself, tryinort of prove how he can boost turnout among his core voters and trying races.d a signal with these , you mentioned that virginia legislature, we should be keep an eye on all 140 seats are forrabs, they've seen a bit of move toward the blue in rent elections. is that issue driven? >> wel, it is a lot o the trump effect and as we're seeing in the suburbs all across thehe country,uburbs that once octed republican now moving toward dt, but the issue of guns is a very big one in areas where it's been a very --n it's a top issue.

tmember, it was down in the tidewater art you had a massive shooting not long ago. so the issue set, that would probably be it, but again it also mergesy with the national issue divide between the suburbs and more rural areas over the issue of guns. >> nawaz: tam, when you look at where the president is going where he thinks he can make a difference, he was in mississippi friday, kentucky today, he's going to louisiana later this week, i don't believe he's been in virginia. correct me if i'm wrong. >> i don't believe he has been virginia. (laughter) vice president mike pence did campaign in virginia and, yeah, president trump is not the most popular figure in virginia so it makes sense he's going in place where is he can boost turnout, particularly in virginia and inu the s where the places are coming down, to president trump would potentially have the opposite effect. nawaz: let's take a look at some of he other larger picture

here. when you look key battleground states, fascinating numbers to pull out. the focus at the state level rather than the national polls we sometimes look acts but these are the survey resultfrom the "new york times" and siena recently that looks at key battleground states in 2016, arizona, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina and florida, these are all places that were close in 2016, three in particular wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania had a margin of victory for president trump of less than 1%. something very interesting is happeninenbecause prestrump is very competitive there which isn't necessarily reflected at the national level of those polls. >> they're called battlegrounds for the reason, and we learned they pick the states. theye the most competitive in 2016, will be the most competitive in 2020. what's remarkable is how little

hamoved in the 2020 election and perceptions for the president or likel to vote for the president or a democrat, still feels like we're locked in, n many ways, to 2016. the three kebattleground states in the midwest that voted democrat 20 years, michigan pennsylvania, wisconsin, the ones you noted trump barely won, they do have a benefit to the president in that they ve an above-average number of white voters without a college degree, over 50% in all of those states, and they continue tse types of voters continue to support the president by the same the poll showed us. >> nawaz: when we look at the hypothetical matchups, there is an interesting picture at play thert tell me about. >> i would caution if we're looking at head-to-head mashups this far out from an election that we shouldn't look too closely at head-o-head matchups this far out from the election

because it's a long way away. it's too early. >> nawaz: so the fact some the are showing very close races between some of the top democrat candidates now, biden, waen, sanders, versus the national polls where there are widers leads and margins there, 'tu dutt too much weight into those now. >> it's very early. i would defer to amy who is our polling expert here, but i urge caution. >> no, we should definitely urge caution and that's why you look at the underlying numbers, right, where trump continues to do well with that same core constituency of voters, not doing well with the suburban voters, ite suburban voters, so they'll watch out for that. >> when y look at these states, fair to y these will g central to president trump's campaign movrward? >> fair to say i'm going to get frequent liar miles going to these states in the few weeks and months ahead. >> nawaz: tamera keith, amy walter, thank you very much for your time. >> you're welcome,. .

>> nawaz: we've heard much tonight about the central political importance of ukraine to the impeachment inquiry. but that cntry is also at war with russian-backed separatists. it's been five and a half brutal years of conflict. so how does the political frontlines of europe's only country at war. special correspondent simon ostrovsky went to the frontlines to find out. >> reporter: while the stakes of the bitter political fight being fought over impeachment in washington may seem high, here on the outskirts of donetsk, where ukraine is fighting an actual shooting war the stake are far higher. the war in ukraine has dragged on for five years and killed more than 13,000 people. it is fought in trenches like this one that stretch for the country's eastters through but this war was largely thrgotten until it emerged as

backdrop to the impeachment inquiry into donald trump. til mr. trump took office, ukraine enjoyed unwavering bi- partisan u.s. support in its conflict with russia, which invaded and annexed ukraine's crimea pla in 2014. the annexation was the biggest land-grab in europe since world war ii and sparked a war in eastern ukraine itere russia and separatist allies have taken control of parts of the country's eastern dustrial heartland, known as the donbas. kyiv only barely managed to prevent pro-russia forces from totally overrunning the cotry thanks to the u.s. and its allies, who imposed an economically damaging set of sanctions on moscow. >> we're united in our support for ukraine. we're united in our determination to isolate russia and impose costs for russia's actions.

>> reporter: fast forward to 2019 and several top u.s. officials are alleging that president trump blocked crucial military aid to the country over the summer to try to get kyiv to open investigations into his hoerican political rival. thro its campaign against russia's occupation of the lands way, ukrainrelied on the that ups. for both military and diplomaticrt. n july, the white house suddenly suspendrly $400 million in aid causing its a'rainian allies to qu americs resolve. e aid included night vis scopes like this one, and first aid kits whichraembers of uke's 92nd separate chanized brigade showed newshour. but the scope of the assistance is much wider and seeks to modernize ukraine'armed forces

by providing more capable small arms like new iper rifles and grenade launchers, radars, vehicles and tactical communication equipment. it also pays for advisors and high tech training simulators >> ( translated ): here, take a look, a flag. look a the hill, behind the lake. it stands out in the light. that's the d.n.r. flag. might be the russian flag. >> reporter: and though the white house eventually did release the aid to ukraine under congressional pressure in september, the political damage was felt both in kyiv and here on the frontlines. who's served in ukraine's army as part of the 92nd brigade for three years, worries that the diplomatic support his country has relied on is disappearing. >> ( translated ): under obama

they pressured them with sanctions. as soon as something happened, the pushed sanctions. it anymore. no opressuring russia with sanctions and russia is 100% using this situation. trump has just let russia off the hook a bit. >> repter: the scandal has damaged ukraine's interests in another way too. after winng a landslide election with 73% of the v ye earlier thr, ukraine's new president, volodymyr zensky, entered negotiations to de- escalate hostilities with russia from a position of strength. but as president trump and an array of associates leby his personal lawyer rudy giuliani began making political demands of zelensky's administration, cracks in the u.s.-ukrainian alliance started becoming apparent. >> there is a load of evidence that the ukrainians created false information. >> reporter: in his meeting with zelensky at the united nations, trump responded to a question about military aid to ukraine by

telling zelensky it was up to him to figure it out with russian presidadimir putin. >> i really hope that you and president putin get together and can solve your problem. that would be a tremendous achievement. >> reporter: state television russia jumped on the comment, interpreting it as a signal that e e u.s. was throwing ukraine under s. >> ( translated ): aaner his "trium meeting with donald trump, in quotes of course, the ukrainian president had to lie back ano enjoy it. wewhat happened in the united stahes. you have n left to go. >> reporter: on the frontlines the soldiers of ukraine's 92nd are skeptical russia till hold to tms of any agreement. do you think that without the strong support of the united states, ukraine can get a fair peace deal with russia? >> ( translated ): i think not, no. if for example america and europe don't help, i think russia will push forward, they won't just occupy this area.

it'll be like crimea. they'll invade. >> reporter: zelensky has nevertheless pushed forward with troops away from the frontlines in certain sectors. the idea is that if soldiers can't see the enemy they'll be ss likely to engage and casualties will drop. veteran groups see the plan as capitulation to russia and thousands have marchedreet protests to oppose it, illustrating the challenges for zelensky on the domestic front. but the biggest challenge is not only the toll in lives lost but in lives ruined. serhiy shevchenko showed wshour how he's reinforced the windows of his home which were ecblown or the eighth time, in at mortar attack. >> ( translated ): it used to be called forest street, now call mo dead street. this is th ruined street in avdiivka. >> reporter: although u.s. has not coributed any troops to ukraine in combat roles it

continues to train the ukrainian military at exercises like this go, go, go! >> reporter: ukraine, on the e,her hand, has sent its troops to fight and to n the u.s.-led mission to iraq. it's somethinghat u.s. army lonel david jordan of the 45th infantry brought up at a ceremony dedicated to members w ukraine's 92 were undergoing a u.s. training course in 2017. >> like the 45th, the 92nd has served in combat in iraq. our shared experiences will help us form a bond of trust. >> reporter: i asked this member of the 92nd serving in a trench on the frontline if he felt that that bond of trust had now been broken. >> ( translated ): we value the u.s. support and hope that it continues. whatever happens, we will continue to defend our lands. our morale is high, so we're not feeling down and we won't fall and that's that. , reporter: on the frontlines

in eastern ukri'm simon ostrovsky for the pbs newshour. >> awaz: nashville, tennessee, is called "music city" for good ntason. john yang here to take a look at a program that connects the city's musicians with its older residents, and brings benefits to both. coverage of arts and culture," canvas." >> yang: it's morning at nashville's east park community center and the seniors are getting in the groove. kyshona rmstrong leads a rousing chorus of old favorites. she's a professional musician with a background in music therapy. when not on the road touring, she sometimes plays gigs like this for a nonprofit group called music for seniors, which connects nashville's talent with its older residents.

>> out on the road i'm meeting people all the time and it's about me right. and when i come to the community groups or any group that music for seniors has assembled, i feel like it's my oprtunity to feed into others. it just feels good to really kind of root into the community and to see a difference in the people that i'm there to sing for. >> yang: it was sonny collier's first time at a music for seniors session. >> it kind of surprised me how i could rattle them off, at the age i am. >> yang: former elnger/songwriter sarah martin mcconnstarted the program in 2007, combining her love for music and her degree in social work. >> music for seniors really is a hybrid of music and the social services, because every program that we do is about taking music out to the community. >> yang: there are free daytime

concerts eveth and local musicians lead sessions at nursing homes and community centeracross middle tennessee. now, music for seniors is teaming with researchers here at niversity to see if the effects of their programs can be measured. studies already show that exposure to live music can improve seniors' mental function, emotional we and geen mobility. carrie plummer, atric specialist at vanderbilt's nursing school, is designing the research. plummer says the music for seniors prograulcould be partly useful for dementia patients. >> one of the things that we're really having to think about are there are other ways for us to improve their quality of life. e more you have patients with better social networks and are able to socialize that there seems to be a reduction in their risk for dementia. >> my mother loved music. wi yang: mcconnell's experience her late mother, who had alzheimer's was at the root of music for seniors.

>> i, being a musician, decided that i would start going to her adult day services program. i would go and bring my guitar my dulcimer and we would sing together. >> yang: the sessions, she said, struck a cho w. >> they juld light up and they were a different group as i .as leaving than they were as i was co >> yang: and if it helped them, mcconnell thought, why wouldn't it help others, whether they have an imirment or not. >> a light bulb went off that this should be aorganized effort to connect all of the ith thens in nashville isolated older adults. >> yang: musician matt bridg helped designed the program. he lead this drum circle at second presbyterian church, the same adult day care program where mcconnell and her mother once sang and danced together.

>> once we give it aonce all of us typically trust starts to come down and we're able to really express ourselves. and that really the beauty in these programs and these sessions is that we're trying something new. >> yang: somethi new, that brought back memories for shirley green. someone in my house was always singing, someone was always playing music. and as you get older you get more and more in the background, and you list to others, but i enjoy music. >> yang: music for seniors also offers the chance to learn a new instrument, like the ukelele. feudents in this class, ofred by nashville's adult education program, strummed classics they'd spent months learning. their teacher, todd elgin, is p songwriter ays in a ukelele band called "the ukedelics." >> they're not being forced by

their parents to come in and take lessons. they're there because they have either wanted to me music their whole life or used to make atsic and maybe there was a . >> yang: and they're hoping many more older people will soon be singing their tune. last year, mcconnell won a $50,000 grant from the company" we work." that helped the program expand to knoxville, tennessee, where the first free concert launched in august. >> i would like to see there be a music for seniors in every city. every place has talented musicians and evoly place has ed underserved older adults. >> it's been a long time coming but i know, a change gonna come. >> yang: that change, as simple as an favorite song, can make all the difference. llr the pbhour, i'm john yang in nash tennessee.

>> nawaz: on the newshour online right now, what does google's decision to y fitbit, the health tracking device company, mean for users' personal data? we asked privacy experts how the tech giant could use that data, and just how well current laws protect consumers. find that on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for uenight. onay, more transcripts from the house impeachment inquiry. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow eveng. 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 financ literacy in the 21st century.

>> supported bthe john d. and therine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. do you think mitch mcconnell will have to resort >> i'm hopeful he doesents.on. are you questioning whether there's a movement in this country who are white nationalists? >> i haven't seen them. how much a dentecycling is making. >> the way we recycle plastic at the moment is part of the

problem. >> today the western government accused of waging a hybrid war with the new kiiend of so, hackers. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

is ♪ hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> people don't read the koran. they recite it. reading scripture is very like reading the opera. >> karen armstrong, the former nun, who has becomet our mos important interpreter of religion. i speak with her about her new" book lost art of scripture." >> then -- >> it's a trauma for him and that what drives him. >> a new biography brings fresh relations about adolf hitler's rise to power. what the it means in our current era of nationalism. i speak with the author brendan simms. and -- >> he used the first order