tv PBS News Hour PBS November 8, 2019 3:00pm-4:01pm PST
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captioning sponshoed by ne productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: a view from inside the white house. the latest transcripts in the impeachment inquiry link the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney to auid pro quo with ukraine. then, revealing the secrets of a master. explore the hottest new exhibit in paris at the louvre-- leonardo da vinci. >> he decided to base his art on science. so he took a long time studying geometry, mathematics, optics,
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anatomy, everything, to be able to reproduce it in h paintings. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. are here to analyze aks ntockbuster week of revelations in the impeachnquiry, and the likely entrance of former new york city mayor michael bloomberg into the 2020 presidential race. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.
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public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: threats, lies and raising alarm bells. two new transcripts today from those inside the white house national security council add to a week of testimony made public in the impeachment inquiry. all told, career diplomats and president trump's own appointees detail a coordinated effort to influence ukraine in irregular ways. lisa desjardins brings us up to speed. >> desjardins: this morning, at the white house, a president with fighting words for the anonymous whistleblower who first raised concerns about his ukraine policy. >> the whistleblower is a disgrace to our country. d disgrace. e whistleblower, because of that, should be revealed. worst things possible two years
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eao, he should be sued, and maybe for n. >> desjardins: this was a tfiant counter-punch, aft whistleblower's lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to the white house saying president trump is threatening their clnt. it warned: "should any harm befall any suspected named whistleblower or theily, the blame will rest squarely with your clie." that hit a white house unified in pushback, as acti white house chief of staff mick mulvaney rejected a house subpoena issued last night to y,stify today. legahite house lawyers gue, staff there is immune from subpoenas, but the president's ratione is more tactical. >> i don't want to give credibility to a corpt witch hunt. >> desjardins: within hours, the latest house deposition transcripts dropped, from lt. colonel alexander vindman of the national security council, n.s.c. earlier thi. left the this in a week that marked a new phase in impeachment... as house democrats led by the house
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sctelligence chairman adam ff moved to wrap up closed- door hearings, and move to public ones next week. wi>> so those open hearing be an opportunity for the american people to evaluate the witnesses for themselves. >> desjardins: as part of that 67ift, democrats released some pages of testimony given this week, from eight key witnesses, six with roles at the current and former ambassadors and foreign service officers, oud two from the national securityil. so what did we learn? inmocrats see a pattern. >> we are gean increasing appreciation for just what took place during the course of the last year, and the degree to which the prident enlisted whole departments of government in the illicitim of trying to get ukraine to dig up dirt on a political opponent, as well ra further cons theory about the 2016 election that he believed would be beneficial to
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his reelection camign. >> desjardins: democrats point by thesed testi ambassador to the e.u.gordon sondland, that he tied military aid money to investigations the president wanted. four other transcripts this week confirmed sondland raised those investigations as a condition for things ukraine wanted. all agreed on one thing-- president trump's attorney rudy giuliani ran an outside channel to the president, and the president was shifting ukrne policy-- ignoring diplomats, removing an ambassador, and risking key support for ukraine. giuliani himself has not kestified, and has not been to testify by the house. in the past, he has insisted he did nothing wrong and is being politically attacked. republicans sty in this primony, there's no direct link to thident for those orders about ukraine. they point out that gordon sondland testified the president specifical said "no quid pro quo," and that former ukrainert
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envo volker testified he heard nothing illegal from president's july phone call with the ukrainian president. republan jim jordan: >> those facts are consistt. those facts are clear. and ambassador volker, in his testimony as the special envho, as the guyas-- who is the professional here, the guy who has been focused othis, who is the special envoy to ukraine, tecked all that up in s imony. >> desjardins: and jordan himself became news today. in a highly strategic move, ceuse republicans moved him onto the intell committee, moving another member off, so that he can be part of questioning witnesses in public hearings that start next week. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now, along with our nick schifrin. hello to both of you. a lot of reading today, lisa. yet, again, you were saying almost 800 pages. tell us what are the main things that stod out. >> what was significant today is these are two people who worked and one still working on the national security council,
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ethese are folks who are long-time students of f ieign policy aelligence, so they really are experts on this subject matter, and these aretw agaimore voices very highly concerned about what was happening. so let's look at what we got from the transcripts from fiona first of all, they agreed that the acting white house chief of staff was linked to the idea that ukraine needed to come up with something in order to get something from the united taates. we'l about that mor in a second. al it speaks to giuliani's motivations. why was he pushing so hard in ukraine to oust a anassador normal process there for the united states? finally, they both talked about the united states nationalsk to security because it would be signaling that it is no longe as strong of a supporter for ukraine, they were very concerned. i also want toention one thing about these testimonies, strategically been putting forth the most damaging transcripts
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this week to the president. however, on the otherand, perhaps some who would defend the president have dided not to testify at all. >> woodruff: they have been asked. >> they have been ked but decided not to. >>oodruff: let's talk more about how mick mulvaney fits into all there tof. key is a july 10t july 10th meeting that fiona hill and alexander vdman, the two national security council staff members who lisa just talked about testified today or rather we got their depositions today. they were both in this meeting. anis was a meeting between u.s. and ukraifficials and there's actually a photo of that meeting or right after that meeting, u.s. officials, ukrainian officials, and the person second to the right, the ll one, the bald one, second to the right, is gordon sondland, u.s. aaments -- u.s. ambassador to thein the european union. fiona hill said "ambassador sondland was talking aut how he had an arrangement with chief of staff mulvaney for a meeting with the ukrainians if they were
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going to go forward with investigations, this is the first time that we know of of a government official making this explicit. ndraine's government had to t two investigations, one into the 2016 elections and one deto burisma, the energy company that hunter , joe biden's son, was on the board of, before ukrauld see or ukraine's president could meet president trump. that order, according to sondland, was authozed by mick mulvaney, and this is what alexander vindman says about the same meeting, he says, "ambassador sondland emphasize the imt rtance traine deliver the investigations into the 2016 elections, the bidens and brees marks this is the first time it emerged kind of with a government official discussing that." vennamen said before that it had been discussed by rudy giuliani in the media. after that snationurity john bolton turned to fiona hill and said whatever mulvaney and
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sondnd were doing, he called it a drug deal and he called giuliani a hand grenade. >> and the big question was, of course, if mulvaney was doing that, where did that come from? >> woodruff: and giuliani, you mentioned his name in the report, it's coming up again. lisa, we're not only looking at what he' doing but understanding why he's doing it. >> right, thnte has been a l question for me all week. fiona hill had a lot to say ebout this. she isn't just se from the national security council, she's a former intelligence officer. she worked in the field, around she's someone who looks at people's motivations and strategy for individuals, and she has something to say about this that i think stoodt. let's look at her quote here about giuliani and why the u.s. ambassador to ukraine was being forc out. she said the most obvious ngplanations seemed to be business deaof individuals who wanted to improve their investment positions inside of ukraine and also to deflect away from the findings of not just the mueller report on russan interference but also the senate report. so let's take those apartkl
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qu the business dealings, she mentions the name that i had not seen in testimony before, a man florida.n oil billionaire in she says he was funding giuliani's efforts i interest of the energy sector. she also goes on to talk about the mueller port and says she felt that giuliani was trying to distract from negative heinl about the mueller report as that was sort of taking up a lot of this space in american news coverage. >> woodruff: at that point and all of this raising s many more questions. so, nick, you follow national security, foreign affairs for the "nveshour". we ho ask this question, hearing so much about ukraine, out russia, implied here, what are the implications of all this >> we heard from hill, we heard fromindman, from all those whose lisa's piece laid out ts week unanimity. the official policy, president trump's, by the way, official policy toward ukraine was helping ukraine in terms of economic, military and
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diplomatic assistance and that was important to u.s. national security and deterrence to russia. and the regular policy led by gordon sondland and rudy giuliani wasi demental to u.s. national security and helpful to russia. fiona hill called the investigation that giuliani was advocating including about te 2016 election, she called them conspiracy theories and focusing on them meant the u.s. was let meddling.to preve alexander vindman said i realize that if ukraine pursued an investigation into the bidens and burisma, it would be interpreted as a parentsen play which undoubtedly would result in ukraine losing the bipartisan suppt as thus far maintained and this would undermine u.s. national security. president trump's policy was to support ukraine when security ace assistance was tempora he was going against the consensus of the entire administration of what e administration believed was in the interest of national
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security. i woodruff: important policy to kee mind. lisa, you said tomorrow, we'll learn from republicans. >> republicans have the chance to access their own witnesses, will lay out who they like. under house rules democrats passed, democrats must agree for some of the witnesses to be called. republicans want to call the anonymous whistlebli would be surprised if any democrat we'll see who republicans want to talk to i. >> woodruff: with the public hearings next wednesday. >> that's correct. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, nick schifrin, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and next week, pbs newshour will begin special live coverage of the use impeachment hearings on wednesday, november 13 at 10:00 a.m. eastern. and all of our coverage will also stream live on our website,
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and on youtube, facebook and twitter. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, a new book paints president trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief, and claims that senior officials considered resigning last year in protest. the author is the same anonymous administration official who wrote last year of internal the "washington poportsdent. that the book says mr. trumplu "stumbles,, gets confused, is easily irritated, and has information."esizing the white house has dismissed it former white houseegist steve bannon testified today that one of the president's long-time confidants, roger stone, was a"access point" to wikileaks. the anti-secrecy group released emailshat damaged hillary clinton's 2016 campaign. wnnon was subpoenaed to appear asness in stone's federal criminal trial. stone is charged with witness tampering and lying to congress.
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in iraq, the leading shiite cleric, grand ayatollah ali al-sistani, appealed for the government to stop using violence against protesters. but the day brought more chaos to the southern city of basra and baghdad, where security forces opened fire to disperse crowds. >> we call for reforms, cicurity, good living conditions for alzens in iraq. corruption is rampant everywhere. live ammunition.ces are firing >> woodruff: elsewhere, iraqi security officials said 17 rockets hit an air base that houses american troops, near nsul. there o reports of casualties. tonsions spiked in northeastern syriy when a turkish military vehicle ran over and killed a protester. he was among a group whod chased and peljoint turkish/russian patrol with stones. the patrol was aimed at keeping kurdish fighters away from the prrkish-syrian border.
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brazil's formeident luiz inacio lula da silva walked free out of prison today. the leftist leader's supporters greeted hioutside. his release follows a brazilian supreme court ruling allowing inmates to remain free while they appeal their convictions. da silva, commonly knownpps "lula," isling a corruption and money laundering case that put him behind bars 2018. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo challenged nato nations today to spend more on their common defense, in the face of russian and chinese challenges. he spoke in bein, germany, helping to commemorate tomorrow's 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. >> as we celebrate, as we take this victory lap, wealso recognize that freedom is never guaranteed. we spoke to this-- it doesn't ju happen. today, authoritarianism is just a stone's throw away. 's rising, and it's... if we're honest, it never really went away completely. >> woodruff: pompeo also
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unveiled a statue of president ronald reagan at the u.s. embassy in berlin. it overlooks the site of reagan's 1987 speech, demanding the soviets tear down the wall. th will return to the anniversary aftenews summary. there was new unrest in ntng kong today, after a university stuied of injuries that were sd during an anti-governmt protest. he h fallen from a parking garage early monday when police fired tear gas. it was a rare fatality in the tove months of protests, but activists rallieondemn police tactics and demand justice. later, thousands of urners gathered at the garage to pay their respects. back in this country, federal health officia report a possible breakthrough in vaping- related illnesses that have the centers for disease control and prevention says that a
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substance called vitam e acetate turned up in the lung fluid of 29 patients. it is used in vaping products sold on the black market. researchers may need animal studies to prove that the compound is actually causing lung damage. and in economic news, lingering trade tensions caused china's exports to the u.s. to fall 16% last month over the year before. meanwhile, u.s. sales to china were down 14%. stocks still managed modest gains on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average inched six points higher to arose at 27,681. the nasdaq rose 41 points, and the s&p 500 e ded eight. still to com the newshour: the wall came down, but what came next? the fall of the berlin wall, 30 years later. mark shields and david brooks break down the final week before open hearings in the impeachment inquiry. and, leonardo da vinci at the louvre. an inside look at the year's biggest exhibit.
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>> oodruff: as we reported earlier, this weekend marks the 30th anniverry of one of the most important historic events of the 20th century-- the tearing down of the berlin wall. the east german dictatorship collapsed, and shortly afterwards, so did other totalitarian regimes across the former soviet bloc. as the wl fell, so then did the iron curtain. but as special correspondent malcolm brabant reports from berlin, germany may have been politically re-unified, but in 0 ny ways, it is still divided. >> reporter:ars after its demise, just a few hundred yards mi the berlin wall remain, as a er.
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ti the berlin wall was not only a sepa between the two f ty halves, it was the separation orope. r as long as berlin wall was here, it dresent the dictatorship. so-called german democratice republic, a huge prison. >> reporter: nearly 2,000 people were killed by communist guards te they tried to breach the wall, erd in 1961 by the soviet-led easte bloc to protect their ideology from western values. alexandra hildebrandt runs the hichkpoint charlie museum, honors the courage of people like this czech family who crossed the iron curtain in a homemade hang glider. >> t wish of the people to b free is stronger than all the walls in the world. >> reporter: fmer soviet president mikail gorbachev was a lyst for change, with his policies of perestroika, meaning listen, and glasnost, meaning openness.
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in the autumn of 1989, gorbachev visited east germany and urged its hardline leaders to reform. anti-government demonstrations intensified, offering hope to east german historian stefan wolle, frustrated by his inability to travel outside the communist bloc. >> ( translated ): in the autumn of '89, we first of all wanted freedom, and the fall of the stll was a surprise that took place faer than most of us had s pected. >> my heart ating faster and i thought, "is this true? is is madness." >> reporter: oliver berlau became a historyagaker 30 years a former tank commander and foreign ministry official,nc berlau's exubee, and that of tens of thousands of east berliners, fashioned one of the cst important events of the 20tury. t all of a suen, people said, do you wan climb up? and hands stretched out and i was given a leg up, and i'm standing on top of the wall. and i thought, this is
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impossible, this can't be happening.and i jumped down on r side of the wall, and i said, i'm standing in the west. i'm in the west. >> this photo was done by the stasi when i became a isoner. >> reporter: vera lengsfeld's edentials as an east german human rights activist helped her become a lawmaker in angela rkel's centre right party ofter unification. >> i knoobody who thought that it mighbe able to get rid and to get rid of socialist system, so it was a victory of whh we had never dreamt. >> reporter: to reinforce that engulfed checkpoint charlie,as once a tense frontier crossing in the no-man's-land of mutually assured destruction, now an essential stop on the selfie bucket list. the berlin wall may have been a symbol of dictatorship, of repression, of communism, the
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antithesis of democracy. but for the west, it also bapresented certainty, because it defined gdivisions. >> for sure, during the cold war, the world was easier. everything was related to the conflict with the soviet union. and sometimes, that didn't ortually make sense. >> repr: peter neumann was born and raised in bavaria, in what was west germany, and lectures on security, terrorism and war studies. >> the wessupported the mujahideen in afghanistan because they were fighting byainst the soviet union. buoing that, we inadvertently created the people who are now fighting us as jihadists. we didn't realize that at the time because our only thought pattern, our only way of conceptualizing these conflicts, ass in terms of the cold war. so whilst itasier, that doesn't mean it was always correct. other experts, neuoesn'tith believe the reunification of germany has been a total success. the east german economy was
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moribund, and many of its labor-intensive industries collapsed once exposed to free market forces. author peter schneider has documented the changing fortunes of his home city berlin. >> i had thought that it would take one generation to unify the germans. it will be more than two people around 50, if they left nctheir job, they had no cto find another one. and their kids saw that. onny of them see unificatis an act of imperialism. >>ud translated ): andnly an enormous amount of people lost their jobs, and naturally theyere disappointed about i and said "so this is the unification? what good are frdom and democracy, if i have no job and cannot buy any of the nice >> reporter: successive german eavernments have spent heavily in the former to try to raise living standards, but peter neumann says financial investment alone can't counter
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divisions in outlook. >> east germany never really confrontedermany's past. in western germany, we were from the very beginning taught that we inherited the legacy of nazism, and that we had to make up for it. whereas in east germany, people were told, you are actually the naccessors of the people the s fought against. you are the successors of the communists. so there is nothinyou have to atone for. >> reporter: anti-semitism resurfaced last month in halle, the birthplace of composer george frederic handel. close to his statue in this eastern city, mourners honored two people shot dead by a neo-nazi after he failed to enter the city's synagogue on the jewish calendariest day in >> with our history, it's, like, a shame that now things like this can happen. >> reporter: at the synagogue, mammunity leader max provorozki feared g may no longer be pplace that jews can call home.
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>> we have ablem in germany, and i think it's not a question for the jewish community, it's a question foroliticians. it's very important that governments in all countries find the special micine. >> reporter: it isn't just jews who feel under threat from the hard right richard khamis came from sudan 35 years ago to study at leipzig's karl marx university. khamis was here when the wall fell, and settled in what was a welcoming country. now he's too scared to go out at night. >> they insult you simply because you are black. people are being beaten up, chased from places. you, as a black man, you can hardly go to a pub on your own to have a pint of beer, because you get so scared, you don't know what will happen to you. >> reporter: khamis says attitudes changed in 2015 after gancellor angela merkel threw openmany's borders to more
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than a million migrants. the influx appalled meel's rmer ally, vera lengsfeld. >> too many them detest the western way of life. pes rules. respect democracy and they don't resct women's ights. i fear this willthe long run destabilize our society. >> reporter: mass migration .fs fuelled the rise of the right-wing a.d., or alternative for germany, party in the east, where many felt unke second-class citizens after ication. the a.f.d.'s eurean affairs spokesman is hugh bronson. is the party's anti-immigrant stance responsible for inflaming racism? >> i don't think it's tr. we are just taking the worries of the people. we take them seriously, and we respond to tt. you can't even discuss issues about immigration in parliament. .mmediately you are branded a raci and this is a very unfair situation, just asking how much
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this country can accept, how ch can we take in. >> reporter: but after the fall of the wall, international borders lost their aura of permanence. >> the lesson is, there exists no wall which stays forever. the lesson is that everyone, every person in the whole world, can be free, must be free. >> reporter: but if the wall's specter means that east and west normans won't fully embrace for at leaster generation, inen immigrants have their own iron curo negotiate before this complex nation accepts them-- if indeed, it ever will. brr the pbs newshour, i'm malcolant in berlin. >> woodruff: as the impeachment inquiry continues to ramp up ahead of next week's public
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rastimonies, the race for the 2020 demc nomination continues, and another new york city mayor may throw his hat into the ring. to help us make sense oft all are shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. >> judy. >> woodruff: so we had a quiet week. you know better than that. there's a lot going mark, i can lisa desjardins added it up, almosst 2,700 pa released this week of transcripts,on testof adrrent and former nistration officials in the impeachment inquiry. the president says it's a witch hunt, it's corrupt, doesn't mean anything. others have different views. what does it add up to for you? >> it adds up to that the charge, level again the inquiry has been totally rebutted andkefuted and i thin republicans, quite frankly, on the chitty didn't lay a glove on any of the witnsses. it shows, more than anything
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else, toha me one person standing up, the whistblower did. gi emboldened, inspired, end people to his credit, and the whistleblower's initial statement has been fortified and ratified and certified by subsequent witnesses. >> woodruff: what does it add up to for you? >> new and improved guilt. we're learning the same story over and over again but with more evidence, strength and underlying that the quid pro quo , noty was a quid pro q just a phone call, not just a few meetings, it was a concerted campaign. the questions remaining to me are where did it al start. did trump think this conspiracy theory in his head, did somebody else direct it to him? how did it get in his head? second, how clear a rol did giuliani play? w ll the republicans try to thuliani under the bridge, the bus, whatever you throw people under ay it wasn't
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trump, it was giuliani and giuliani serving his clients? and, so, those are still otmaining. i think we learning dramatically knew, just >> i just add we went from noew. quid pro quo to quid pro quo, but no felony.ec >> woodruff:se the white >>use is acknowledging now -- cknowledging that there was. the lindsey grahams of the world who said there was no quid pro ayingo begin with are now i'm not going to pay any attention to anything. there's no coherent or blican defensp that has been mounted in any way, in part because i don't think there is one. >> yeah, and it's aecome much more clear that there are tensions in the white house over how to handle thishole situation between barr and trump, betweulvaney and trump. so people with different attitudes should he released the transcripts. should we have a press conference clearing the president? that.arr doesn't want to do so you're beginning to see tensions within the white house as people to begin to look over
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their shoulder and see who's going to take the fall herene. >>hing i would just add, judy, and that is the people have stood ut and tified put their careers at risk, let's bea very fraut it, and there have to be dozens of other re,ple who are just as a just as informed and just as alarmed who have remained fascinating the people who have itood up doing so at their own risk. a reminder that those who are not speaking that the hottest placs in hell are reserved for those in a time of moral crisis remain neutral and they have to be terribly, terribly comrtole tonight. >> woodruff: we'll see more next week about who is willing and who isn't. we'll have open public hearings starting wednesday. house that change the dynamic? we've already seen, as you said, a lot of material. how is that going to change things? >> well, this is more public n campaign. i would be very surprised if we learned much new. there's a private h so you
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can understand the case in front of you and a public hearings to educate the voters. voter who seems include to trum change their mindbout donald trump because of what's come out so far? i have not. people are locked in about this gun nothing changed their s in three years, i would be surprised if anything changed eir minds next week. >> woodruff: if that's the case, do you agree with di >> i would like to but i don't on this one. i don't think you can understand the impact until you see the face and hear the voice of the people making this case, and as i say, putting their own careers, their own professional lives risk to do so, and these are people with very impressive credentials, resumes of publicervice. david was too young. i recall wargate which was 45 years ago when, all of a sudden, there was a voice that said, yes, there is a taping system in
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the white house and pact that had on people, when john dean said, yes, i told the president that the president is a cancer on the presidency. and i don't think we can overstate -- >> the only thing isf you ask americans do you trust the a governmethe time, 60% said yes, but 19% now. people don't have hh views of what goes on in washington and are not likely to grant it legitimacy. secondly, thdemocrats and republicans didn't seem to be in different universes. now they're in different universes anthe cost of admit you can own party is wrong and potentially handing power the other party is ruinous and people don't want to make the call and that's why they stick to the party because they think the cost of their party losing is the end of their lives and that's the result of the politicization. >> woodruff: and we're in the bid miutdle of truly begin an election year. twe're geting closer he
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primaries in january. if the house votes to impeach and continues on, that would happen by the end of this yeari senate t in early 2020. but there is are psidential campaign underway and, today, or this week, the news is that, lowe and behold, the former mayor of new york city michaeloo erg is looking seriously at filing today in, apparently,u alabama, t. what does this say about the race that he's decided to get i at this late -- or seriously think about getting in at this late date? >> myelbloomberg thinks he should be president -- michael bloomberg. he's always thought he should be president. there's now, i his judgment, and those around him, an opening. i don't recall c oneontested primary in battleground states recently. he haa great personal
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achievement story. he's done great work on gun control and climate, but i just -- i look at the record of new york mayors in national politics, i remember the excitement that acc jompanihn lindsey in floreridaember rudy giuliani dying in florida, never going to iowa or new hampshire, and bill de blasio most recently, there isn't a national craving for new york maors. but maybe mike bloomberg will enjoy corn roast in iowa andir new hamp i haven't seen that side of him before. >> but he does have anotheren ty, multi-billionaire. >> $55 billion, yeah. no, give him much hiring chancey than i think mark does. i think there's anxiety about bin. the qustion is will michael bloomberg take on biden personally, i think he has to.in i there's going to be a
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direct challenge from bloomberg to biden.w we'll see at turns out. i do think there's room for people wo seem like the calm voice who can take trump without many questions asked. i think there's room for a candidate who says i'm not an ideologue, i just know how tos, run thio i think there's a market. so as long as the market lane is not held by a strong incumbent, there's room for buttigieg or bloomberg. having said that, i tink warren or sanders will be th nominee. >> he's suggested that the wealth tax, which basically is popular with voters, is unconstitutional. so the one thing to look forward earom, you know, because we cover politics lly fight promoters, is tis, while all
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politics is local or national, all politics is personal. if thers anything more personal in the feud and dislike between donald trump and michael bloomberg, i don't know what it would be. i mean, he said in the speech at that 2016 convention, the richest thing about trump is his hypocrisy. i mean, he just really skewered what to expect.us a preview oft >> wdruff: called him a con sn. , but maruld joe biden or the other moderates be worried about michael bloomberg? >> sure. judy, he's got $51 billion. joe biden has money problems. yes. you know, after south carolina, nevada, we go --oo >>uff: no money. -- and super tuedsday an california he can buy his way in, make no mistake about it. but, you know, is it going to be a connection point between mike bloomberg and democratic voters? you know, john lindsey was republican, became a democrat,
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rudy was a democrat but became a republican. new york mayors don't seem to come down on one side or ther. ot >> i think mark is right. i ink the way ran the gun control campaign was foolhardy to have a new york mayor telling own guns, i think that was at message bound to fail. but who knows, 's not a dumb guy, and he wouldn't run unless he thought he had real path because he had this exact choice four years ago and turned it down because he saw no path.dr uff: state and local elections across the country this week, people looking at virginia, kentucky, mississini, do we seething there that tell us something about next year? >> yes.virginia is now more demc than the country. it's amazing. blue state. hillary clinton's margin was twice as large in virginia as it was nationally, and that was reinforced when the democrats took over out in the legislature
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and now the governorship as well. kentucky, matt bevin, governor, abrasive, had gratuitous fights, accused people of all sorts of this with vicious attacks, and he st in state no republican should lose in. to andy brasher's credit, he rad a ace. >> woodruff: the democrat. yes. i thk the republicans did quite well in all the other races in kentuy, but tht said, what everyone is noictg about this, the suburbs are not republican territory anymore. the classicase was in pa where, since i was born, the swing area of pennsylvaniwas the philadelphia suburbs, delaware, montgomery, bucks and chester counties, and they me pretty democratic right now. republicans ardoing west in the suburbs or pittsburgh, but if you want tonow where the people are they're in the
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philadelphia suburbs and that looks demoatic, if that nd is repeated nationally, that's >> and the other thing was health care. dane brasher -- the afordable care act, expansion of medicaid, they wanted 2018 -- they wonre 2018 on rving the affordable care act, preimition conditions, extending medicaid coverage. >> woodruff: in a red state. in a red state as well. no question. >> woodruff: mark shidads, d brooks, thank you. thank you. >> woodruff: please do stick around for an inside l the year's biggest art show-- da vinci at e louvre. but first, tonight's "brief but spectacular" brings us some laughs.
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scott aukerman helped to launch one of the internet's most popular talk show spoofs, "between two ferns." a reminder, don't take much of what aukerman says here too seriously. his storis part of our ongoing "canvas" coverage of arts and culture. >> "between two ferns" started when i was doing a television pilot. it was a really funny sketch showith a bunch of different people. and i asked zach if he could do a small piece on it. and he said, "you know, i've always wanted to do a public access talk show called 'between two ferns'." you know, when you do public jaccess, basically you hat a black background. i'm not sure what this background is. b oh, you haveck one here, it's slightly nicer, 10%. whoa, are these-- i don't know that they're ferns. the tv show ended up not going forward.n so just asterthought, a couple of months later, we put it on a new website called funny and then millions llions
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of people watched it, and then s celebrities kept calling, asking if they could do it. >> my est today is justin bieber. was it really upsetting in "star wars" that you didn't have more scenes with chewbacca? does it make you sick when you look in the mirror to see how handsome you are?th and to know people are disfigured? >> president obama was someone that we wanted to land on "beten two ferns." we just thought it was the funniest idea. we did shoot it at the white house, and i wanteto prove that it was the white house. >> don't touch that, please. ( buzzer ) >> i actually loved the experience of doing the hillary clinton one way more, because we shot for over an hour, and just laughed a lo and with obama, it was all business.
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five minutes after he walked into the room, they whispered to me, "the president has to go." >> when i first started "comedy bang ban to do a very serious but funny, lighthearted interview show. but now, when yoen to the show, i'm basically jung a joke interview. >>ary! what do you have in your pocket there? >> oh, it's a little communicator.e >> it looks toke listerine breath strips, but-- >> of course, i disguise it to look like that! hey guys, call off the attack on the earth! in i'm essentially playing of a buffoon who doesn't really care about the answer, much like yourselves, prumably. and i don't know whether that's because that's my real feelings about when i'm talking to people, or whether i just think it's more entertaining.
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but i do think it's more entertaining. my name is scott aukerman, and thiss my "brief but spectacular" take on my life in comedy. >> woodruff: you've got to love it. and you can find more episodes of our "brief but spectacular" series at pbs.org/newshour/brief. >> woodruff: and now to the blockbuster exhibition of the year-- perhaps of many years.le a ation of leonardo da vinci, 500 years after his death. lines are long, tickets hard to come by, to see the work of an artist who was born in italy ann died in , and who came to define what we mean by "renaissance man." jeffrey brown of course got f ere before the crowds and has our report, partr ongoing "canvas" coverage of arts and dlture. >> brown: leonarvinci thought of painting as a sciee-- even the greatest
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science-- requiring constant research andxperimentation. how, for example, do light and shadow create a sense of movement, of life? t what's ben surface of bodies or rock formations? and how does that affect the way they appear to our eyes? how can human emotions emerge from the most subtle and nearly endls applications of paint? >> his contemporaries, and still today, when we have a look at his paintings, we are amazed, becae they look like nothing other. >> brown: vincent delieuvin is co-curator of an exhibition now at paris' louvre museum. >> he decided to base his art on science, but as he wanted to reproduce all nature, he had to understand all the nature. so he took a long time studying geometry, mathematics, optics, botanic, anatomy, everything on earth, to be able to reproduce it in his paintings.
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>> brown: on display, 160 works, including pages ofs noteboowing leonardo's endless curiosity. paired with a magntleonardo are sculpture by his teacher, verrocchio. there are drawings: the famous "vitruvian man," a study of human proportions. a swirling "deluge." a lovely and delicate "madonna and child." and then there are the paintings:.5 only aboutrviving paintings can be confidently attributed to leonardo. experts differ on the exact number. but nine of them are her all world-famous, even if not all finished. leonardo worked on his canvasses for years, experimenting with an effect he called "sfumato"-- the "smoky" shadings that create blended transitions between shadow and light, tones and colors.
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"vibrations," as in the late portrait of "saint john the >> on the face, it's absolutely wonderful. and please have a look at the wonderful lip, the nos and how the shadows are painted and give the impression of vibration toth smile and give life to the >> brown: a big reason the f louvre alone could pull is exhibition is that leonardo spent the last years of his life in france, and he brought with him several important paintings to a grand home about two hours from here. the loire valley town of amboise, we joined french writer grrge bramly, author of an acclaimed 1988 bhy of leonardo, that he's continued to update. >> leonardo was looking for a s.tron who had some ambiti the same ambition he had. >> brown: which wa wwhat? >> whi everything! ( laughs ) >> brown: the powerful patron, king francis the first, gave leonardo a chateaualled
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clos luce, a short walk stom the royal . by that time, in his 60s, leonardo sported his bearded, frhilosopher" look familia a portrait by a younger contemporary that's shown in the louvre. by all accounts, walking the gardens here and throughout his life, leonardo was outgoing and had many friends. he was gay and also a vegan, opposed to killing anima. how did people in his time see him? i mena, that even the king of france would want to bring him here? >> sure, they were astonished, just like we are. because they couldn't understand how one man could do so many things, and at the same time, be the most handsome, the most etty, good-looking man. incredible singer, musician,em ho. they called him "divino," for divine.
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>> brown: inside the chateau, a recreation of leonardo's life here, including a studio with reproductions of two of the paintings he brought with him and continued to work on. >>eonardo says that in his work, there are two steps. the first one he called "imitazione," to catch the exact image of something, like with photography. but that's notrt. mirrors do that, and mirrors are not very arty. and the second step is what called the idea, or "concepto," the idea, the concept behind it. leonardo wrote a lot his art. he says painting is a fiction. it's not reality. it's a fiction, t it's a fiction that tells great things. but also, you ve to move the viewer. if it's just pretty, it's not enough. it has to do something to your emotions, to your heart or your brain.
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you.as to move you and change >> brown: the greatest example of all, of course, is back at the louvre-- the "mona lisa." this is as close as any of us will likely ever get. given its enormous popularity -- some 30,000 visitors a day crowding and selfie-ing through, museum officials have kept it in its regular space. i but in the exhibition in an infrared, reflectographxp version thates the lines famous smile in arory--the most more insight into how leonardo worked. one painting not here? the ill-controversial "salvator mundi." after several leading expertsis decided it by leonardo... it sold at auction in 17 for a record $450 million. here, instead, a copy from the same period. and there were other curatorial
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dramas. including a last-minute lawsuit to keep the fragile "vitruvian man" from leaving its home in venice. the lawsuit failed, making curator vincent lieuvin a happy, if tired, man. >> well, everybody in the louvre is today absolutely conscious that that was the most difficult exhibition we ever organized. >> brown: this was the most difficult? >> the most difficult. clearly. you know, when you are a curator of an exhibition, you are ait littlerazy. you want everything.t the end, so, what we wanted to say on leonardo da vinci is already there andse exprwith the works we have here. >> brown: leonardo da vinci was 67 when he died in ambn 1519. t,tside the small chapel where he was laid to rerge bramly reflected on his lasting impact.
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>> it'a kind of model for today's man and woman, of a man so curious of everything that he understand life, t thele to creation. >> brown: the lore's leonardo exhibition runs through february 24, 2020. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in paris. >> woodruff: on the newshour online, art therapy has been used to help patients for decades. but now, researchers and physicians are looking at how it can also help health care providers who are at risk of severe stress and burnout. learn more on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and a correction note before we go. in last night's story about d.n.a. and law enforcement, we
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stated that brian dripps was charged and convicted e murder of angie dodge. he has been charged, but not nvicted. his trial is set for june 2021.r newsegrets the error. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pee newshour hasprovided by: >> bnsf railway. consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundati. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a tter world. at www.hewlett.org.h >> and we ongoing support of these institutions
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and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs u.ation from viewers like thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.
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hello, everyonto and welcome "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> that's why people e leaders, and that is to not maintain the status quo but to change it. >> a young african-american leader brings change to the cradle of the confederacy and the civil rights movement. i speak with montgomery, alabama's first black mayor, steven reed.it and "cen k," a documentary, tracks the journey of mikhail khorkovsky, from russia's richest man to putin's greatest nemesis. i speak to him and to the oscar-winning director, alex gibney. then -- they absolutely were out there to bring terror to people. >> a true believer breaks away
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