♪[music] >> good evening. judy woodruff is away on the nowz hounews hour tonight. hong kong prophet. then rules of war. how president trump's latt pardons raise serious questions about military justice. and our politics monday team breaks down the latest from the campaign trail and rults from key vernor's races from across the country. all that and more on tonight's pbs newsur. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by...

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♪[music] >> this program was made possible by the corporationor public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! >> police in hong kong tightened their seize of a university campus tonight where hundreds of protesters remain trapped inside. it's the latestnc bout of vio the city has seen in nearly six months of protests. in other parts of the city, protests fueled by the standoff ckcontinue. ni has the latest. reporter: overnight and through the morning darkness, the streets of hong kdg remai a battlefield. police pushed to retake the h campus oong kong's polytechnic university and students and demonstrators used any means necessary to hold their ground. throh masks that prote them

from tear gas, they plead for help. someonelly hope tha could give a helping hand. reporter: in a predawn raid, hong kong police arrested a student journalist andly repeatedsked the student to stop recording. so students fled on motorcycles. protestersripped over barricades and were tackled to the ground. this is the cscendo of six months of protests that startede against th law that would have extradited criminal suspects to mainland china. but today demonstrators are calling for fundamental reform and mainland china is threatening to escalate. for the first time since the protests began, this weekend chinese soldiers left their hong kong barracks and cleaned up debriswearing t-shirts and shorts. today china's ambassador to the united kingdomlamed the west for instigating the protests and warned the protesters. >> to restore law and order, violence must end.

and the violence perpetrators must be brought to justice. safeguard the interests of public and secure a better future for hong kong. and cement the foundation of one country, two systems. reporter: the two sides are on a cycle of escalation. police say they're defendingth selves and warn they could begin using live ammunition. protesters s they're responding to police brutality and demand the city give in to their demands. >> we wantl a peaceng kong to be back. but i think before that, theo government has listen to the people and the police have to stop whatever they're doing. and i hope that hong kong can go back to the previous hong kong as soon as possible. reporter: for more on what this a man who just spent 29 years in

the state department. he serd the from 2016 to july 2019. he's now a partner at the asia group, an internation business consulting firm. welcome to newshour. cawhat is the signie of what we're looking at right now, the standoff in this university? one of the fir times where we've seen protesters actually try and hold a little bit of ground. >> i think that's right. it's a departure in strategy by th protesters to establish essentially a situation where they're under siege rather thanh usinr old philosophy of move like water, have a protest and then leaveefore they can get arrested. i think it creates new risks both for t protesters but also for how the police handle it. >> so the police handling of not throughoutoment but this process, the protesters police brutality. things like that's the language that they use. we do see videos of police beating up protesters f sure. do you believe that some of the police actions over the last fee

months hueled the protesters? >> i think that's right. i think that the police have been under intense pressure. personally i don't think that they were particularly well-trained for this kind of circumstance. response to people coming atal them violently and in some instances responding inappropriately. inappropriate, responding violently in ways that they shouldn't have. that is something that the protesters are now calling for an investigation of. and that probably -- it is important to remember, at the same time, that the protesters have, if you will, taken first blood in terms of making this a violent situation. >> of course, behind the police, literally in a garrisonn the middle of hong kong are chinese soldiers. we saw them out in t-shirts and shorts. >> right.se >> in respo this in the last day or so. we talked to some people who

fear it could be some kind of test run of some sort. do you share that tear that, chinese military could respond in some wayhi if violence continues? >> the fact of the matter is that there is a significant military presence in hong kong, which is not designed for crowdl cont or for police activity. china, of course, h immense police resources across the border that are not, again, prepared for working in the hong kong environment under hong kong law. sohink that the options for the mainland in terms of direct intervention are limited and bad and so i don't anticate that happening. but they have, from time to time, for example, earlier this fall, they released a video of them practicing this kd of activity. >> and we've seen the rhetoric increase from chinese officials, including xi jinping. >> and that's intended to scare people. >> as a level of deterrence?hi you don't tnk it will go

beyond that? >> i certainly hope not. i think it would be a mistake if it did. >> the u.s. has in fact warned china not to go further than it has gone. we saw secretary of state mike pompeo today in the state department say two things. one, he endorsed the idea of that police investigation. and he a ao gav little bit of a reference to one of the protesters' key demands let's take a listen. >> we call on chief executive carrie lam to promote accountability byti supplem the review with an independent investigation into the protest-related incidents. as the united states government has said repeatedly, the chinese communist party must honor its promises to the hong kong ople, who only want the freedoms and liberties that they have been promised in the joint declaration. >> must honor its promises and police investigation. is that an adequate u.s. response? >> i think that's a good response. certainly i think what secretary pompeo said is right.

and, you know, we need to keep in mind that there are some limits t the reach of the united states to influence events within hong kong. bu certainly calling for a thorough investigation of what has taken place is a natural thing to do in this circumstance and an important thing do. and the reference to the 1984 is spot-on. i think it's really importanter for ne in this circumstance to really think carefully about what are we trying to achieve. what are they trying to achieveh are the protesters trying to achieve, what does china want, what does hong kong want, what does the united states want. >> and quickly, u.s. officials are weighing even more drastic options, for example, even removing diplomats from hong kong, some kind of sanctions.os would moves be positive, do you think? >> ihi that it depends on who the sanctions are on. removing diplomats i don't think is necessary unless it's unsafe. >> could it signal to remove

diplomats? it could, but would it be effective? i would question that. i think the biggeruestion here is, whatever the u.s. does, as a matter of u.s. policy, should be carefully designed to really has an impact onti sit in a positive way, not an emotional response to short-term xi gen sis but -- how do we reinforce this hong kong that's a part of the rest of china.different from to be specific, it's important that the united stes not do something that actually ends up hurting the hong kong people morehan the intended target, which in the case of a bad situation there, would be the beijing government. if hong kong is no longer -- if they no l hgere autonomy, we should treat it like it no longer has autonomy. but if it has autonomy, i don't think we should take away our recognition of that autonomy because of a short-term situation. it's a great place to doss busind a communication

point for dealing with china. seven millionple live, most of whom we like, and we don't want to take away their livelihood just to spite beijing. july, thank, until you very much. >> thank you. ♪[music] >> good evening from newshour west. i'm stephanie. an update to our top story. it is tuesday morning in hongng and beijing has taken two actions to try and regain control of the streets. it is of ruling hong kong's high court on the issue of whether protesters can wr face masks. the court had earlier ruled that a ban on the masks was unconstitutional. and now china's communist government says the court doesn't have the power to decide that. also today, a new hong kong

police commissioner appointed by beijing was sworn in.he in iran, powerful revolutionary gua warned protesters they will face decisive action if nationwide unrest does not stop. people occupied streets and set fire to cars, banks and other buildings over the weekend. they were angered by aar 50% hiery in gasoline prices -- hike in gasoline prices.he >> today situation was calmer. more than 80%, compared to yesterda only some minor problems remain. by tomorrow, and the day after, there will be n rise. >> the protests took place in dozens of cities. in iraq, anti-government protesters again seized a majori bridge baghdad, burning tires to block traffic. they also held a funeral procession for a protester killedy security forces. more than 320 demonstrates have been killed in recent weeks as they demand a new gernment and

reforms. the trump administration is softening its policy on israeli settlements in the west bank. mike pompeo announced he will abandon a 1978 legal finding that the settlements are w inconsisteh international law. pompeo said the finding had hindered the path to peace. >> we've had a long time with the policy, the legal interpretation announced the other way and it didn't work. that's a fact in evidence. we believe that what we've done today, is we've recognized the reality on the ground. we think in fact we've increased the likelihood that the vision for peace thats administration has, we think we've createdpace for that to be successful. series of trump administration decisions that weaken palestinian claims to statehood. north koreared today it does not want meaningless clear talks with the u.s. president trump had hinted at a third summit with kim jong-un but north korea's foreign

mistry says kim reject any summit unless he gets something tangible. a senio, official said, quo we will no longer gift the u.s. president with something he can boast of. kim has demanded that the u.s. offer acceptable terms by the end of the year in return for him e north korea's nuclear program. back in this country, aio congrel watch dog group says at least 60%f superfund sites are prone to flooding or other effects of climateng c those sites contain hazardous industrial wnmte. the govt accountable office called for theot environmental tion agency to state specifically that it will focus on the problem. seven people are deaer a two shootings in different parts of the country. in duncan, oklahoma, three people were killed today outside a walmart. shot twoy the gunman people in a car before killing himself. meanwhile, a manhunts i under way in fresno, california, for two men who shot andd kil four

people sunday evening. it happened at a backyard gathering. six more peoe were woundedn the shooting. >> they walked into the backyard. and began immediately firing into the crowd. 10 of those 16eople at that event. were hit, suck by bullets. the unknown suspects fled the scene on foot. what i can tell you is this was noa random act. >> supreme court chief justice ron roberts has -- john roberts has ordered a hold oetting house democrats see trump's tax records. a federal court had ordered in favor of subpoenaing thent docu there is an unspecified time to give the high court time to issue a dinitive ruling. president trump is backing away from a plan to bar sales of most flavored e-cigarette product. he said in september heould announce a ban to try and curb

teenage vaping but it was widely reported today that he changed his mind after being warned that a crackdown could cost jobs and votes. sttl to come, the lat on the impeachment inquiry and what to expect in the second week of public hrings. how president trump's latest pardons raise concerns about military justice. down the latest from thereaks campaign trail. plus, a new exhibit of paintings by winslow homer examines the artist's fascination with the sea. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school af journalismt arizona state university. >> the stage is set on capitol hill for the second week of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry tnto presidenmp. and as white house correspondene rts, there is word today he

may testify on his own behalf. >> on cbs's face the natio sunday, house speaker nancy pelosi invited president trump to testify. >> if he has information that is taking away culpa, blame, we look forward to seeing it. the president could come before the committee and speak all the truth, if he wants to take the oath of office, or he could do it in writing. reporter: today trump responded on twitter. he said, i like the idea and will stronglyonsider it. president trump is accused of with holding almost400 million if military aid fm ukraine in exchange for probes into his political opponents over the weekend, republicans continued to defend the prdaident. jim j of ohio, who sits on the house intelligence committee, said democrats don'te case because ukraine never followed through with any of the investiga aons. o appeared on face the

nation. >> the ukrainians did nothing a as farinvestigations goes, to get the aid release. quo that the democrats allid pro promise existed before president trump released the phone call. todayer: in an interview th judy woodruff at a cancer fundraisern san antonio, former secretary of state rex tillerson criticized the president's actions. proper in the role of ad diplomat? >> well -- >> andme incan foreign policy. >> clearly asking for personal favors and using the united states' assets as collateral is wrong. there's just no two ways about it. reporter: meanwhile, house democrats on saturday released two moreranscripts from closed-door testimony. they came from tim morriso a departing n.s.c national securiy council and jennifer williams, who was an aid to vice president pence.

both were on the july 25 call between president trump and ukraian prident volodymyr zelensky. on it, trump pressed zelensky to investigate democrats he also was concerned about how its release might affect the ukrainian perceptions of the u.s.-ukraine relationship but he said, quote, i was not concerned that anything illegal was scussed. williams testified the call seemed, quote, unusual and inappropriate. s she said itd light on possible other motivations behind a security assistance hold. in a tweet on saturday, esident trump went after williams. he called her a trumper and accused her and other witnesses of attacking him. williams and morrison plan to testify publicly along with army lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. national security council director for current affairs as well as kurt volker. they will all appear before the house intelligence committee tomorrow. >> now to break all of this

down, good to see you. >> great to be here. week.'s start with the 's a big one. we've got three days of public hearings. a number of officials coming before congress to testify. walk us through who we' going to hear from and why they matter. >> we have a packed schedule this week. democrats want to do this to make sure they're basically laying out their there are a number of officials who are serving in the trump administration or who hav served in the trump administration. there are three key people that i'm going to p tnt the first is lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. he is someone still working at the national security council. he's their ukraine expert and someone who has h purplert. he's the one that democrats point to and say, this is someone with very good character. they're going to point out that he is someone who had conceims in rea with the july 25 phone call between president trump and the president of the ukraine. vindman listened into that call, then went to his superiors and said, i have concerns awaut the that the president is asking for investigations into joe

biden and hishu soner biden. republicans, though, say that vindman has been inconsistent they also say he's someone who can't really speak to whether or that's impeachable he something shouldn't essentially be coming before congress in this way. that's o person they're going to be pointing to and kind of contrasting mentions between both parties. second is kurt volker, ati lo foreign services officer, a special envoy to ukraine from the u.s.o he's longer in that role but he's someone that democrats are going to point to and say, when that call came out andveone learned what happened on july 25, he said he was surprised and troubled. but republicans, again, are going to be making the case that kurt volkeraid he was never wrong.f requested to do anything also going to say, he thinks, is someone who ukraine didn't know in reatime t this money was being held up. essentially they couldn't be tibed, because they did know a bribe was happening. the third person is gordon sondland. he's the person everyone is

ining to be wat i'm going to be watching, because he is a euro -- european union ambassador, a close alley with trump. democrats say hne that president trump wanted these investigations before and after the call and that -- that he was pressuring for that. republicans are going to be making the case that sondland is someone maybe acting on his own but the president didn't directly say i need you to do this for me. >> and some of tho folks are going to raise concerns about the president's behavior and what they allegedly saw. president trump has already been tweeting about some of them.ou what are hearing from republicans, from his own party, about the president's actions? >> the sck of frida and the president going after ambassador yovanovitch, former ador to ukraine, in realtime during the impeachment inquiry has not worn off. they say, are you talng to white house -- are you going to

be -- a they going te able to control the president? no one can stop him from tweeting the republicans are hoping they won't be attacking a lot of the hewitnesses' character but president has already been tweeting, saying these are never we're going toe to watch closely president trump's twittesaccount because i likely going to be very active. piece, speaker pelosi had said the president is welcome to come before this hearing and testi g ane us his account. he has tweeted he might be open to that. what do wew about that happening? >> well, the president says, hey, you have questions for me. iant to give you answers, in writing. the issue is that the house is already looking into whether or not the president lie to special counsel robert mueller during the russia investigation. inadequate and he really was not happy with the fact that he couldn't have follow-up questions to the president. the other thing to note, president playinges here.lly the

the president, if he really wanted to come before congress, could sit before lawmakers andst answer qns. they also say he could provide people like acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, who has refused to come before congress, a come speak before congress. they also say he could tell john bolton to come before congress. they could provide dts at the white house to help this impeachment inquiry they're not really doing any of that. democrats are saying, we understand that the president wants to provide written answers but that's not just -- just good enough. >> a busy week ahead. you're going to be following it all. >> thanks. >> and you can join us for special live covage of the public impeachment hearings. we start tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. eastern. ♪[music]

>> late friday, president trump intervened in the legal cases of three u.s. service members, all of whom have been accused of war crimes, against the aice of the pentagon, the president pardoned two of theen and reinstated the rank of the third. these cases have iited a debate about justice in war and whether these moves underminemi thtary's own legal system. >> that's right. despite the objections of some senior officials in the pentagon, president trump believed these men had been wrongedy military justice and so he s in. in a statement issued friday, the white house said for more than 200 years, presints have used their authority to offer second chances to deserving individuals. have served our country.rm the first pardon went to army lieutenant clint lawrence, who in 2013 was convicted of second-degree murder ordering members of his platoon to shoot several afghan men approaching on motorcycles. lawrence had been sentenced to

19 years in prison. the second pardon was for army major matthew goldstien, a highly decorated offic who y ter admitted to killing and burning the bodof a suspected taliban bomb maker in afghoistan. he waso on trial next year. the third involved navy seal eddie gallagher, another highly decorated man w earlier this suspected teenage isis fighter. gallagher was dem though, because he posed with the dead boy's body in a photograph. joining me now are two people with very diffe views on the president's views. one is the c.e.o. of united american patriots, an advocacy group that supports personnel when they get into legalou e. and rachel vand landing ham had a 20-year career.

she treeche teaches criminal lad national security law. welcome to you both. rachel, the president his statement on friday said that these three men were of this pardon, deserving of mercy, as he said elsewhere inth statement. i know you have been very critical of the president's move. wh your concern? >> my concern, i think, i hope everyone is deserving of mercy, but by passwording these three --arning these three individuals, he undermines not just the military justiceystem but his own military commanders. in the military, it is senior level commanders that make the decision to bring charges against one of their subordinates. it's not lawyers. and guess what? in the military, it's also military members, those who understand and appreciate theat opnal complexities of the battlefield that sit in judgment of theireers. so by pardoning these individuals and saying they were

deserving of i mercy, whats he saying about the commanders and fellow military membed that fo that these three -- at least that -- excuse me -- that we had two convicted war criminalearlier this year that were pardoned. we had the lieutenant convicted and then we had goldstein's war crimes coutial that's been aborted. what message is president trump sending to the fks tha sat throughout all these processes? and what message is he sending to those individuals that are adhering to the commands ofea their seniorrship, that are adhering to the proper and honorable way to fight? i'm not this is about individualsing deserving of mercy -- individuals being deserving of mercy. >> there's aheot that she's arguing. one of the points is that these guys were tried by a military court,il byary prosecutors, by a jury theoretically ofheir peers or higher in rank. but you think that the president did the rigg thing mak this

pardon. give me the argument there. >> absolutely. the president stepped in. it's not about the commands. 's what happens after that call is made and it's about the individual eats rights -- individual's rights. we've seen across the board prosecutorial misconduct. we've seen investigato investig, unlawful command influence. we can go into detail -- >> you believe in all three of those cases, those type ofof nses occurred? >> absolutely. we can go into details with every single one, where we've seen exculpatory information that was not brought to bear. we've seen lies being told by senior officers to protect therc tion of the institution and also perhaps to protect their own careers where you've had appeals which should be identifying all these wrongdoings that were not even alloweto go forward. biometric evidence proved that the so-called civilia that we ordered to be kill by lawrence were not civilians. these were enemy combatants.

when brought to the appls court, they say they would not dive into the abyss of biometrics, which is bizarre. this is how we solve cases with d.n.a. and skin cells,omg off of improvised explosive vice's that have killed americans. same in goldstein's case where he ambus and killed an enemy combatant. next thing you know, he's being brought up on murder charges. in the investigation, they fou no evidence to support this allegation other than matt said he killed an enemy combatant, which many of us have done. that is not a crime.th so still didn't like it, the rumor of it, that he wasin taopenly about this. they stripped him of his army special forces tab, took his silver star and held him for nearly 10ears. they've had this over him and his family's head andly continuoaid, hey, we're going to get to this and they kept bringing him on. >> rachel, i'd like you to

follow up on some of this. david is making the point that in each of these cases, there was serious misconduct. you were a jag lawyer. c you prosecutes like this -- >> i defended cases like this. i was an aellate defense counsel as well. my heart is with the defense but my heart is also with the rule of law. and the rule of law involves process. there are numerous appellate cots establish to ensure that legal errors, if they do occur, are remedied. tonight lawrence's case garding exculpatory evidence that was suppose wyithheld, it didn't matter who those individuals were. that's what the army court of criminal appeals hrd. they said there was overwhelming evidence that he committed murder, obstructed justice and threatened individuals. those individuals that he killeb were fou overwhelming evidence, by the testimony of his ownte subordi to have posed absolutely no threat to his or to hiseammates. they were on foot, walking back

to their motorcycles, at the direction of the afghan national army, who commanded them to do so. yet lieutenant lawrence ordered them to be murdered, despite their lack of threat. he knew of no evidence at the time that they were any type of combatant. he was only giving the orders to ensure that he protected his troops against those who pose some type of imminent threat. all of his troops testified very iearly to other fellow military members that thoividuals did not pose a threat and they were gunned down. and eutenant lawrence created further taliban threats and created greater risk for the americans that were honorably serving there. you know w the third individual that he tried to murder actually wound uphen joining the taliban, because he knew americans were going to go after every innocent afghan as well, least according to lieutenant lawrence. >> again, i know it's very difficult and our viewers are probably sewhat confused by

the avalanche of details. i'd like to step back and look at a criticism that some people have mad veterans primarily, that in pardoningee these t gentlemen, again putting aside they've been accused of, that this gives free rein to t occasional bad actor out in the war zone and that the rules of war don'tly if you can exert enough political pressure and make c youre get thrown out. what do you make of that criticism? >> we've talked about in this situation that lawrenc killed civilians. the biometrics prove they wer not civilians. the next argument is he didn't know that. but he did act within accordance th the rules of engage. and he was found not guilt of violating the rules of engagement. his peers found that he did not act inappropriately. he acted, and all of his alive - came home

>> i hear what you're saying. but what about, the criticisman that veterans, people who have served in iraq, afghanistan, earlier combat missions, that this sends a terrible message, that the rules of war sometimes are not going to apply? >> no. the message it sends is that when you act in combat and you make the right decision, or even ou will be treated fairlyision, and you will receive your rights. and this is where ourarriors, they swear to support and defend our rights. yet they don't ge the s protection that perhaps an individual who would go into a school a gun down children with intent is getting. here we're seeing timend time again, where these warriors are being thrown under the bus for political reasons. what's interesting, we saw, right after lawrence's case, a patrol outside of afghanistan, they knew lawrence g put away for murder and a motorcycle came towards their patrol. they chose not to engage. our warriors shoul have to dead.

question whether or not they're going to go to leavenworth for pulling the trigger for doing the right thing at the right time. >> i realize there are so many complicated details. i'm sorry we can't get into more of these here. tonig david, rachel, thank you both very much for being here. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. ♪[music] >> we turn now to the democratic over the weekend, candidates still trying to break through in thcrowded field heade west. >> hello, nevada democrats! >> as impeachment news consumeso washington, a of force by the 2020 democratic candidates in nevada. >> this is a fight to end that national nightmare called donalm tr reporter: in las vegas sunday night, 14 of the 2020 candidatep made theirch to nevadans,

who will vote third in the party's nominating contest. the lineup included fmer massachusetts governor deval patrick, who entered the crowded race just last week. >> when we get that nominee, we're all gonna join together. reporter: former u.s. senate leader, harry reid, still a giant in the state's politics, made an appearance and a call for unity. [chanting] reporter: but beneath the surface, the struggle continued over what kind of democratic nominee should lead the party next. >> the risk of nominating someone who wouldn't beat trump, as a nationnd world that our children and grandkids won't want to live in. porter: or a progress i have like massachusetts -- progressive like massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, who often warns against what she calls a safe campaign. >> we're not going to change it here by a nibble here and there. we're going to change it with hange.ructural

reporter: it came a day after barack obama availed criticism of that big structural change. mr. obama said, quote, this is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is i interest improvement. the average american doesn'tyo thin have to completely tear down the system and remake it. he warned candidates to, quote, pay some attention to where voters actually are and tt, quote, we also have to be rooted in reality. i got something important really wrong. reporter: meanwhile, another potential late edition to the democrate, rac michael bloomberg, apologized for the stop and frisk policing policy he led while in new york. >> i spoke with many of the anocent people affecte listened to their frustrations and their anger reporter: the policy granting police broad authority to detain and question people overwhelming impacted people ofolor and is

largely seen with not in line with the democratic party.ro >> i was and i'm sorry. reporter: today bloomberg picked m a key endorsement from stephen benjaminor of south carolina and a black politician who applauded bloomberg's apology. is amy walter and host of public radio's politics with amy walter and tamara keith from npr. she cohosts the npr politics podcast. welcome to you bot we have some new poll numbers. shall we dig in? let's go to iowa first. take a look at some of these numbers. this is from a new poll in iowa for cnn and the des moines regists. look who i at the top. pete buttigieg leads with 25% of support in the state. there you see senators wren and biden and sanders. then you've got the rest of the field, basically everyone else polling below 10%.

that is in iowa. amy, start us off here. ng?what's happe >> what is happening here? that 16-point surge?it >> pretty remarkable, that of all the candidates, this is the one candidate who has gon literally from zero to the lead, pulling somewhere around 1% or 2%. what is remarkable about iowa, we've had four polls since march from the des moines register. and while it's ver volatile den --we've had four polls, thre different leaders. it's been of the pool of fourle pe huge field but the same four people are mentioned as either one, two, threer fourince march. what we're seeing is, yes, there's volatility here but it's not, at this point, opening a lane for somebody who is not in those top four. >> tamara, what do you see when you see these numbers?

the voters, dohey want someone who reflects back their values, someone who wil beat donald trump? what does this say to you? >> part of what this says t me is that pete buttigieg has a pretty strong ground game in iowa. an is a unique state. it has a caucus system. he raised a lot ofoney earlier this year. and he spent it. he's investing -- putting stanley custaffon the ground in. he just did a bus tour through the state. all of those, like being someone who is the mayor of a smallty and having time to meet a bunch of voters.th can actually matter in a state like iowa and can be reflected in this poll.nd >>t certainly helped elizabeth warren over the course of the summer when people said, why is she now moving ahead and she was in a june, september poll. it was that she had been building this ground game here. we spending so much time ony iowa? [lauter]

>> it has 45 delegt es. know that really, for the last 40 years, with an asterisk on 1992 -- and i'm not going to get into the details, noime -- the democratic nominee for president has won iowa, new hampshire or both. so those two states, again, fort the l 40 years have told us who the nominee will be, which is why iowa is so important.ls it sets the narrative. expectations.he media really for a good -- obviously for the next week before weto gt new hampshire. but it really does win over the field quickly. >> as iowa, though, i not perfectly reflective of the democratic party or america as h e. this is the criticism. >> iowa and new hampshire are super white. and it just is what it is. they're also highly educated. there are a lot of demographics that make iowa and new hampshire not your standard reflection of the broader democratic party,

which is where you get to south carolina, where we also have new poll andhere pete buttigie is in fourth place. but like barely registering. >> you can talk to these numbers while people look at them at home. this is the latest south carolina poll from -- >> and pete buttigieg kno he has trouble with african-american voters. he's been working on itch pretty ost of his campaign since the summer. but it continues to be a challenge.n you see that polling in south carolina. itle also not car how he's doing in nevada, the state tha comes after that. >> and you mentioned to our producer earlier, buttigieg now being on top in iowa. does that make him more of a target? een,ere's what we've cember through march, it was biden on top in iowa. scrutiny gets on to biden. then it moves over ton. war she's leading. scrutiny on warren and herre

medior all plan. she starts to dip. now we see buttigieg on top. remember, we have a debate on wednesday and i'm sure his friends and colleagues on the stage with him will have a couple questions for him to answer. >> that is prediction! >> you do bring me to elizabeth warren. i want to ask you about sort of on evolution on her medicare for all plan. this has been sort of the defining issue for her candidacy. she seems to -- i don't want to say evolved. it shifted a little bit. she's rolled out sort of a time line forow she plans to get there. >> it's that whole trying to have cake and eating it. however the phrase goes, which is she's been getting a tremendous amount of criticism. even from democrats, for a plan that would kick people off of their private insurance and institute a medicare for all, a single per system. what she has offered is to say, well, ok, for the first two years, i will be able to push through a publicption, which

is people can stay on their ivate insurance or buy into a medicare system, similar to what talking about, and many othere democrats are talking about. but then by year three and four, alleo of thosee who have gotten in the public option are going to say, this is so great. i'm saving so much money. the health care system has been so iredibly altered in the that we're gonnao thenmplemented medicare for all. >> but let me just say that i have covered presidents. and their third years and fourth years tend not to be when they pass most of their meaningful legislation. >> right. >> that's why candidates always talk about, on dayne, or the first 100 days. there's a reason for that. you know,idterms happen. things come screeching to a halt >> does this open her up to her line, linin up more withg moderate candidates? >> it has opened her up to criticism from both the bernie sanders side of the world and the peteuttigieg side of the world.

she's getting it from all angles, in part because she decided to go out there and says th had a plan and put it in writing. >> tim, i want to -- tam, i want to get your take. i was asking you about these three k southern states in which president trump campaigd very heavily forrn the guorial candidates there. louisiana, mississippi, ntucky. you said watching those races would paint a picture, at least gives an indication ofhat's ahead. what do we now know? >> i'll just say that president trump at aally said you've got to give me a big win, please. and said that the eyes of history would be watching, thatl people s send a meng -- a message to washington and the democrats in washington. two out of three of those ended up going to the democrat. he will say that the republican in kentucky is a good guy, but deeply unpopular. he will say, john bel edwards it was close, super close. the reality is that the

e.esident couldn't get them over the finish l you know, he went and did a bunch of rallies, put aot of political out there to -- politicahe capital out, to say i'm the president, i can drag them over the finish line. and heidn't do i >> if i am a democrat in the more moderate side of the equation, i looked at those and said what those two democrats did, the ones who won, they ran as a centrist. they ran on -- building on the affordable care act, not for medicare for all. the medicaid expansion is very popular in those states. ie, democrats stay toward the affordable care act and not moving to far to the left on health >> amy walter and tamara keith, always good to see you guys! thank you.[m ♪ic] >> finally tonight the

mysterious meeting of land, sea and sky through the eyes of 19th century american artist winslow homer. ecial correspondent jared bowen examines an exhibit. it's part of our ongoing series on arts and culture, canvas. >> many he heard the siren call of the sea. for winslow homer, it would change his life. >> we think of him today principally as a marine painter. until age 33, though, he had never shown a marine painting. >> until then, homer had been a who-known illustrator captured the civil war from the front lines. he was raised in cambridge, massachusetts, a was a new yorker by the time he found the sea as a painter in 1869. he washaed, says curator bill cross. >> the times of day, the times of tide, storms washing in and

washing out, the mysterious meeting of land, sea and sky was alluring to him as it is to us. >> we've within able to assembl 51 works by homer here at the museum. reporter: oliver barker is the director of the museum in gloucester, where homer at the beach commemorates the 1th anniversary of the artist as a marine painter. >> we know he came here on fou separate occasions. and so it wasn't accidental. reporter: homer initiall sought out the sea up and down the east coast. in new jersey, he found heavily populated beaches with crowds and wool bathi costumes like this one. but as he moved north, homer found vastly different vistas. he discovered industry, the gloucester shipyard and the solitude of rock-strewn beaches. >> he was very inspired byhe ordinary people of gloucester.

i think as time went on, he started to show some of the beauty of the surrounding areas. sunsets.e these glorious reporter: this is the first marine painting homer ever exhibited. inspired by singing beach in manchester. it went on view in new york. says curator bill cross, the critics hated it! >> he received a stain because he was ahead of his time. reporter: homer had embarked on his marine painting after a lengthy trip to fraps -- france ere he was exposed to all that was new in painting, photography and japanese prints, none of which had taken hold in america. >> homer was using diffuse light, little narrativeontent and the critics wanted lesssk chy paintings. they wanted a work that included figures. reporter: the hostile reviews continued with these two works called low tide. but here,ns homer's res was equally hostile and physical.

>> i know this is a trick question, but one painting or two. >> both! >> homer made hisost ambitious painting based on his visits to long brah, new jersey, in 1869. and exhibited to scorn. >> scorn from the critics. >> scorn from the critics. he removed the painting from the exhibition before the exhibition ended and took his own knife to it. dismembered the painting. and turned it int two works. only once before in u.s. history have these two paintings been brought together in this way. >> pt of the beauty of homer's works, the light, the glint of the sea and even aot of the landscapes are still as they were. ving on 10-pound island in gloucester harbor, homer painted some 100 water colors over one summer. today he's knowns one of the

best water corists ever. but he had a profound role model. his mother. >> she exhibited her water colors in new york before he did. and when he exhibited his water colors for the first time, she was in the same exhibitio >> cross says the 11 years of works in these galleries are process of self-discovery, one that would result in the most significant wos of his career. >> what makes them the greatest woass? >> he discovering these places in himlf through the application of three essenti lessons. travel widely, experiment boldly, and love deeply. >> for the pbs newshour, i'm jared bowen in gloucester, massachusetts. ♪[music]

>> in september, the trump aninistration proposed annual refugee cap of 18,000 people for theear 202 down from the low of 30,000 refugees this year. but what makes someone a refugee and another person a migrant? tonight, writer dina offers herb opinion onhat important difference. >> in 1989, when i was 10, iar ved in oklahoma as a refugee. threatened with execution for converting to christianity. so we were recognized a political dissidents and granted asylum. according to american law, refugees are entitd to asylum because they've suffered rsecution and face future danger, whereas economic migrants must pve their merit. the difference may seem obvious. danger to one's life. but in practice, it's anything but. when you apply forlu a

either at the border or in an embassy, often before you've had legal advice, you're given what called a credible fear assessment. let's say you're from central america and, again, demand -- a gang demanded money from you. you refused and they threatened to kill you. naturally, you fled. at the u.s. border, the officer will ask for the specific reason that you refused the gang. the truth is, there are many reasons you didn't pay. you don't have the money. it stinks to face extortion every day. but if you happen to say to the officer, because i didn't have the money, then you don't qualify for refugee statu but if instead you say, because i don't believe gangs should ben ru my country, that would make you a refugee. why? because you have a well-founded fear of future persecution based on your political opinion. that the country shouldn't be run by gangs.k thbout that for a minute. if you testify that the gang said, we'll kill you, you

cheapskate. you're just a migrant. if they said, we'll kill you, you traitor, you're a refugee. ses arbitrary, doesn it? to hang an entire person's fate on the gangster's insult of choice. f i come fromily of doctors and scholars. when we had our asylum interview, we knew that our christianity was the central. questi if my mother had been less educated about what she shouldn't say, she might have went about her marriage or a lack of money after w escaped iran. if she had, would our asylum ve been denied? would i be a writer now, or atr fred housewife, forced to live under a head scarf? i like to believe that would have been a waste. how meaningful is the distinction between migrant and refugee?y is this rea a useful way to decide how much people have suffered and what ce and protection we owe to our fellow man? oand how exactly d you define a life in danger? if a life is sure to be wasted

in poverty, without education, opportunity or purpose, isn't that a kind of danger too? >> and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. a.m. eastern for special live mentrage of the impea hearings. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. consumer cellular. >> and by the alfre p. sloane foundation, supporting science, technology and improvedconomic performance in financial literacy in the 21st century. ♪[music] >> supported by the john d and katherine t. macarthur foundation. commitd to building a mor just, verdant and peaceful world. he

>> and withngoing support of these institutions. ♪[music] >> this program w made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! >> this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios inashington and from our bureau at the walterronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪[music]

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "cook's country," christie and bridget reveal the secrets to perfect double-crust chicken pot pie. jack challenges julia to a tasting of peanut butter. and ashley makes a classic version of cowboy cookies. that's all right here on "cook's country."