newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> i refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the ukrainian government is a u.s. adversary, and that ukraine, not russia, attacked us in 2016. >> woodruff: ...two more pressure campaign for anthe investigation of the bidens and forcefully rebuke the conspiracy that ukraine interfered in the 2016 u.s. election. we examine wu need to know on this week's final day of hearings in the impeachment inquiry. then, indicted-- amid unpreceduncertainty over who will lead the country, israel's primeinister benjamin tanyahu is formally charged with bribery. plus, out of the classroom and

into the street. a husband and eam up to tackle poverty, and win the nobel prize in economics along the way. >> i think over time i started to realize that what i was doing could be connected with my previous life. >> woodruff: all that and re on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the st century.

ew carnegie corporation of york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: dividuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionsur pbs station from viewers like you. thank u. >> woodruff: pressure on ukraine for investomations was a stic political errand" that would "blow up." that is what we heard in the final day of public impeachment it was another fulwith a lot to absorb. here againo breakdown the

highlights and what they mean: lisa desjardins is at the caand was in the room. yamiche alcindor is at the white house. and nick schifrin ist the table with me. hello to all of you, a le. to unpack h let's start by listening to one of today's two witnesses, he is a diplomatvi, holmes. he came to talk about his firsthand sighting, what heaw at a moment that has received so much attention in these hearings, and let's listen to part of what david holmes had to say. the four of us went to a nearby restaurant and sat on an outdoor terrace. i st. sat directly across from ambassador sondland, and the two staffers sat off to our sides. at first, the lunch was largely social. ambassador sondland sected a wot of wine that he shared among the four of us and discussed marketing strategies for his hotel business. during the lunch, ambassador sondland said he was going to call frump to give him anda

. sarmdz sondland placed a call on his mobile phone. i heard him announce himself several times along the lines of gordon sondland holding for the president. it appeared he was transferred through several layers of switch boards and assistants. ticed ambassador sondland's demeanor changed and i understood he had been connected to president trump. t ile ambassador sondland's phone was on speakerphone, i could hear the president's voice through the ear piece of theon the president's voice was loud and recognizable, and ambassadoo land held the phone away from his ear for a period of time presumably because of the loud volume. i heard ambassador sondland ingreet the president and explain he was calling from kiev. i hea esident trump clarify he was in ukraine, ambassador sondland clarified yes he wain ukraine and went on to state your ass. zelensky, quote, loves i heard plump ask so he's going to do the investigation.

bassador sondlandeplied he's going to do it, adding that president zelensky whether do anything you ask him to do. ev though i did not take notes of these statementshad a clear recollection that these statements were made. i believe that my colleagues were sitting at thele also knew that ambassador sondland was speaking with the president. i took the oppounity to ask ambassador sondland for hi candid impression on the president's views on you can. in particular i asked ambassador sondlath if it was true president did not give an expletive about ukraine. president did not give and the expletive about ukraine. i asked why n. ambassador sondland stated the president only cares about big stuff. i noted there was big stuff going on in ukraine like a war with rusa. ambassador sondland replied that he meant big stuff that benefits the l presidene the biden investigation that mr. giuliani was pushing. the conversationthen moved on to other topics. >> woodruff: so let's go to you first, lisa, on this, we've

sad david holmes, and he is referring to gordon sondland,sa the u.s. ambr to the european union. we heard from ambassador sondland yesterday. how does this fit in with what sondland said yesterday? >> this is very important testimony because there are gaps in ambr sondland's memory, and this also is important connective tissue about a key moment in time. remember, judy, this all kind of starts with that july 25t july 25th phll between president trump and ukrainian president zelensky. so let's think about that phone call like this -- zelensky and trump on the call, what we've learned from david holmes is what happened to the two different players. zelensky, the next day after sondland, in ukraine, andholmes told them that, after the call, he felt like there h been some very sensitive issues raised on thatall. he said it three times, according to holmes. this is what zelensy was think speaking about, sensitive issue,

feeling pressure, cautious, worried about sensitive issues. a couple of hours after that, president trump, ambassador sondlandakes the phone call that david holmes overhears and what does he say? president trump middle east says, is he going to do the investigations, meaning zelensky, ambassador sondland, according to david holmes says, yes, he's going to do the investigations, completely contrary to what zelensky just told that group hours earlier, that there are sensitive issues and he could only follow up in person with the president. now, in between those two chings, zelenskya closed door meeting -- or zelensky's aide had a closed door meeting with mr. sondland, that's where others d.v.d., in order to get the aide you have to do these investigations. the president exactly, it's getting closer in the testimony the idea tht right after te phone call president trump wanted to know about the

investigations, president zelensky was worried about the investigatf:ns. >> woodrhat brings us to you, yamiche. you're at the white house. whereas the white house saying about this? >> first, it's critical to lookt a david holmes' testimony. remember that we learned about him and learned about what he overheard when the current u.s. -- top u.s. diplomat in ukrainwilliam taylor said he had an aid who overheard his rnversation. so this has beelly burke lating and people have been thinking about this for a long time. so the white has been having a long time to prepare itself to say, hey, look, the president has not been directly implicated, and thatat the white house did today. in realtime the white house was saying a lot ovef people lot of things to say about what the president did or didn't do, buat the end of the day no one has directly linked the president as saying to anybody i needtin invation into joe biden and hunter biden in order ukraine to fete this military aid. i want to read to you a white house atement that sums it up. stephanie grisham, the white house press secretary said, these two witnesses, just like e rest, have no personal or

direct knowledge regarding why u.s. aid ways temporar withheld. the democrats are clearly being motivated by a hatred for president trump and rapid desire you also have the attorney for mick mulvaney, the actingwhite house chief of staff, his attorney put out a statement saying fiona hi was essentially misguided and misrepresenting her relationship with mick mulvaney. e essentially saying merk mick was not any part of this. that's important because even though we haven't heard from fiona hill yet in the sound we're playing, whau have is fiona hill saying the white house is directly involved, essentially bolstering david holmes' testimony. but the white house is sticking to the fact thethink this is a partisan attack, all about people being mad about the 2016 election. >> woodruff: let's listeno a little of what fiona hill had to say, a former white house national security advisor and expert on russia. here's part of that. >> fortunatelyunfortunately haap

with ambassador sondland, one in june8 when i actually id the him, who put you in charge of araine, and i'll admit i was bit rude, an that's when he told me the president, which shut me up. >> the other meeting, maybe it was about 15, 20 minutes, exactly as he depicted it was, i was actually, to be honest, angry with him, and, you know, i hate to say it, but often when women shownger, it's not fully appreciated, it's often pushed on to etional issues, perhaps, or are deflected on t other people, and what i was angry about is he wasn't coordinating with us. i actually realized, having listened to his depp circumstances that he was absolutely rt, that he wasn't coordinating with us because we weren't doing the same thing thwas doing. so i was upset with him that he wasn't fully telling us abot all the meetings he was having. and he said to mehat, i'm briefing the president, i'm

briefing chief of staff mulvaney and secreta pompeo and i talked to ambassador bolton, who else do haveto deal with? the point is we have a robust inter-agcy process as deals with ukraine, which includes mr. hoes, ambassador taylor the chargeé d'affaires of ukraine, includes whole lo of other people. but struck me yesterday when you put on the screen ambassor sondland's e-mails and who was on the e-mails, he said these are the people who need to know, that he was absolutely right, because he was being involved in a domestic politicnl erd, and we were being involved in national security , reign polind those two things had just diverged. >> woodruff: so, nick fiona hillying here?icant what >> this is the heart of what you and i have been talking about, judy, the divide between national security policy of president trump and the trum administration and that of trump's confidants led by rudy giuliani and ambassador sondland. hill actually apologized because

she admitted sondland wasn't operating in the regul channel as has been done. he was talking to the president of the united states. the president wasn't talking to urity councilational s aff or wasn't listening to the official channel. the implation of that, of course, the implication of what was looking for a domesticent political errand, in her words, because she says that biden and burisma where the same thing. brined, burisma, burisma the energy company in ukraine that had hunter ben on the board, she's saying they're the same thing. rudy giuliani is saying the same thing, president trump used the word biden in context of burisma on the call, she says it's not credible that ambassador volcker and others didn't know about it. for 55 days, fiona hill says there was a triumph of next cs over national securit >> woodruff: so separately, we know fiona hill, in fact, in her opening statemets, hasome

very strong words contradicting what she id she felt were republican points that republicans have made about ukraine d its role in the 2016 election. let's listen to this from fiona hill. >> the impact of the successful 20816 russian campaign remains evident today. our nation is being torn apart. truth is questioned. ional expertrofes career foreign service is being undermined. u.s. sport for ukraine which continues to ferratout russian aggression is being politicized. the russian government's goal is to weaken our country, to diminish america's global role and minimize. >> the u.s. foreign policy objectives in europe including ukraine where moscow wants to realert political dominance. ansay as a realtyist as republicandemocrats agreed for decades, ukraine is a valued

partner of the united states anp plays an tant role in our national security. as i told the committee last month i refuse to be part of effort to legitimate a narrative that tainian government attacked us, not russia, attacked us in 2016. >> woodruff: i want n to you, lisa, and put this in coext with what republicans on the committee have been saying about this. >> this is an interesting situatio t judy, because e one hand a narrative that rudy giuliani was pushing fort that the ukrainian government itself as we heard from ona hill was trying to manipulate the election and wheard more of that today from republicans than in the past.d they poin an op-ed from the ukrainian ambassador in h the ukrainian ambassador sort of brought up the idea candidate trump was saying he could consider allowing russia take over the crimea. the ambassador in that op-ed

pushed back against the idea, never fully said shde oppose candidate trump, just said this would be a national security risk. thatop-ed to republicans is evidence that ukraine had reason to have aias against the president and that's why they they also point to sort of theories that th weere cyber activities in ukraine that were targeted against the president. this has not been proven, and they're putting forth the theory more than i've seen recently, so 's something to watch. meanwhile, it does seem that thalso spending more time on the bidens and looks like, perhaps, the president will get some kind of investigation of the bidens because, today, judy, in the senate, trump ally senator lindsey graham who is the head of the judiciary committee in the senate sent a let tore the state department asking them for documents about hunter biden, about burisma, out joe biden while he was a

vice president. it is not yet an investigation. so far i information from the senator. this is clearly something the president still cas about and his allies are still pushing for. pushing back at the same time at the the idea that they don't believe that russia was ever meddling. i want to show a picture. this is representative mike turner of ohio, he held up a report. wh is that? that's the report from the house inteenchouseintelligence commitd find russia was trying to meddle in the elections and he said republicans did, in fact, sign so republicans are trying to shore up the idea that they believe russia was a factor, while pointing to ukraine. they wre trying tok some difficult lines here, especially with the ukraine theories, th e broad onve not been proven. woodruff: and we saw a photo of that report held up by the r rkingublican on the committee, devin nunes. but i want to come to yamiche and hok youdoes this fit

in with the narrative we have been hearing from the white house which has still held out, skeptiout russia's role inbeen the election? >> well, there are two big things to look at, the first is president trump's relationship with critics of the president said there was foreign policy and public statements that again and again he has bolstered the anding of russia, that he's played into russia's hand and in helsinki, when he was standing ne to vladimir putin, he wakes about the idea that russia meddled in the 2016 election, and he, aid, wei asked poobt about it and he says he didn't do it, so he didn'to it. that was contradicting multiple intelligen agencies within the trump administration itself, so the president has been someone who has been skeptical of the idea that russia interfered in the 2016 election, but there really hasn't been anyone else questioning that. the other thing to note is president trump has also felt like talking about russ meddling in the 2016 election

seems to delegitimize his win so he doesn't like talking about what they could have done in the 2016 election because that would mean he is not duly elected athd e have been people that cast doubt about whether or not the president was actual legitimately i elected. there's no evidence e russians changed voting totals, most say he was elected fairly. the president likes to have personal relationship , foreign poli likes to have bilateral meetings with leaders. in this case, he decided earlyt on traine as a whole did not support his 2016 presidential election. as a result, he was telling officials again aagain that ukraine tried to take him down, he was again thinking about t fact that ukraine was somehow helping democrats into trying to defem. some people, witnesses who have that reaas coming from rudyat giuliani, his personal attorney. but, for whateverreason, president trump was very, very negative on ukraine, and the warnedans were very about that.

so you have the president essentially continuing to hold on to these, in some ways,de nked claims that ukraine was overall.ainst him >> woodruff: so this one other chunk that we want to py for you, fiona hill, the expert working at the white house, and this has tdo with the role rudy giuliani, the president's good friend, personal attorney, has playedin ukraine. let's listen. >> andmbassador bolton basically independence dated with body language there was nothing mu we could do about it. then in the course of that discussion he said that rudy giuliani was hand grenade that was ing to blow everyone up. >> did you understand what he meant by that? >> i did, actually. what did hi mean? he meant obviously what pretty explosive in any case. ma was frequently on television ng incendiary remarks about everyone involved in this and was clearly pushing forward issues and eas that would probably come back to haunt us

and, in fact, i think that that's where we areay. >> so, nick, what is it do we take away, last daof televised hearings? >> a real divide between administration policy, we've talked a lot about this. what was the policy? strong support f ukraine and ukraine combating corruption overall. for 55 days, what was president trump's policy? holding mitary support for ukraine, investigate two specific things, 2016 and biden. the whole apparatus scrambled during those 55 days. president, state n.f.c., asking if lie changed, is there a memo? no, there is no memo because ere is notructure or traditional process. what's the process in the white house, gordon sondland, mike pompeo, rudy giuliani rocking to the presidnt and when it comes to the process, the people know best. giuliani, pompeo, mulvaney, chief of staff, secretary perry, heard from at all.e haveot >> woodruff: yamiche, at the white house, they're feeling how as we come to the end of this

public hearing? >> white house aides feel likpre thident is in good standing because no one directed specrder to withhold aida in exchange for investigation ine joe biden. ite house also continuing to not comply with any sort of subpoenas and contuing to tell officials working both current and former not to comply with this impeachment inquiry. so the president will continue toisefend himself and say is unfair. >> woodruff: finally to you, lisa, button it up for us. >> you got it. we had nine witnesses in three days, judy. this is now going to move forward, demrats feel confident about their case. republicans say they're ready to defend their president.te are going to talk a lot about it over the whole day, i have a feeling. >> woodruff: cominup thanksgiving week. lisa desjardins at the capitol, yamiche alcindor at the white house, nick schifrin here in the studio, thank you. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: let us step back and take a broader look of the testimony we have heard this week in the public impeachment hearings. we turn to leon panetta. he was president bilton's chief of staff and later served as director of the c.iy . and secret defense for president obama. and former florida representative bill mccollum, who was a republicber of the house judiciary committee and served as one of the house managers for presidenton's impeachment trial. welcome h of you. leon panetta, secretary panetta, i'm ing to start wityou. taking everything we've heard so far in the last week and a half, have the ats strengthened their case, have they weakened it where do they stand? any question but that, when you look at all of testimony that's been provided, a lot of

it by people w are professional and civil service, who are committ to their jobs, but if you take all of the testimony, i don't think there's any question but that the weight of the evidence makeslear th the president, as president, president, the president of ukraine, to conduct an investigation into a political opponent, joe biden, and, inul exchange, get a visit to the oveal offic and the $400on in foreign aid and military assistance that was i think those points were emphasized today, again by fio hill, who i think made an excellent point that what the president did is, rather than

focusing on the broad national security issues that are avolved with the ukraine what russia is trying to do to the ukraine and the assistance that we need to provide in order to defend them was involved in a domestic political errand, which was to try to get an asking into a political opponent. >> woodruff: setting aside the impeachment question, would you agree with leon panetta that the crats did build the case that the president, as he said, tried to get the president of raine to investigate the bidens in exchange for what was just described? >> well, secretary pen netta and i are old friends but we have a different perspective on thtiis plar matter. i believe that the president has been trying for a long time to find out what happened with regard to ukraine and the -- or the 2016 presidential election. he was very concerned, as he shouldave been, with the corruption that was going on there, with the fact that there

were peoplerl, cl evidences exist though not brought forward in these hearings because the democrats denied republicans and devin nunes expressed what tha was, opportunity to bring forward witnesses that would have corroborated thats the fact ithe oligarch that controls the primary interest in brees na was corrupt, i think everybody understands that, and hunter bievn, according to nunes, i don't know any more than that, may have made as llmh as $3 n on a side deal that went into some organization he had. we don't know the answers to that, but it's enough for me toi e, and i believe most republicans think this way, that this wholprocess has been in search of an impeachment for quite a while, er nce the president got elected, and in this case they've landed o this particular instance and suggested that the whole siinvestigation that the pnt was seeking, which i do believe he was seeking, was to get dirt on vice president biden, where i don't believe that was his

primary motive. i think it's sufficiently in doubt that i don't think there's a chance in the world anybody would find bribery or high crimes and misdemeans to convict and remove this president from offi. i don't think tt's at all the case. >> woodruff: leon panetta, w don't the comments the president made that he felt ukrainian offimicials were out to get and that dercuts the democrats case? >> well, you know, i think you have to look at the fundamenhatl charges involved here, and the arge is that the president of the united states was trying to get a foreign leader to get involved in anes igation of a political opponent, whether it was burisma, the main point as all the witnesses pointed out was to go after joe biden, and in order to ensure they wo ould get al office meeting and

to get the military aid which was held up, that theyould have to make that kind of announcement that they were going to conduct thakind investigation. i mean, that is the abuse power that i think everybody is focusing ooln. bill mm would not want a democratic president to engage with a foreign leader to investigate a political -- a republican political opponent. that jt is not done and it is an abuse of power. that's the bottom linse, and i confirmed, very frankly, by the transcript of tpresident himself, that he released, in which he asked for the favor and makes very clear what he wants the president to do is to conduct an investigation of joe biden. >> bill mccollum, if it's proven, whether or not yoagree e democrats were able to prove it with these witnesses over the last week, t tha grounds for impeaching, bringing ahmn impet charm against a president? we can't think of another

ne somethingo's do exactly like this, can we? >> well, i, first of all, believe that ty will impeach the president, the democrats will go forward with articles of impeachment. i, however, do not believe that it's sufficient ground, i wouldn't find him to be somebody i would wantto remove for office for. this i don't agree with all the policies of president trump. in fact, i suspect secretary pen netta and i if we sat down would find a lot of areas where we woulddisagree on some of the foreign policies of this president. d but whether yagree with his policy, how he conducts himself, his temperament, or how he handledhe question of ambassador yovanovitch, those are all things that go o temperament and questions that should be decided by the american public in the next of the election, they don't go to removing a president ied any of his term when 63 million keericans voted for him and li his style. my question is there was no quid pro qu they t the aid at the

end of the delay, the 55 days was in some paperwork authorization an heard testimony yesterday from witnesses yterday that said it didn't cost any of the military aid or anything else, was being processed in the same fashion as normalyed only in paperwork. prop.think this was blown out of if it wasn't for a viewpoint of a lot o fpeople that they don't like his policy or personally, always wanted to see him out o office, we wouldn't be at this point. when we did presidenint n's impeachment trial, it was almost the flip side of that. for each of you, leon panetta, is this something the mocrats should go forward with if it's only the democrats favor it if they don't have republicans on board? >> well, i really think that th democrats ought not toush to judgment here. there are som issues that i think need to be looked at.

at is john bolton's testimony, what is mick mulvaney's testimony here,t is mike pompeo's testimony. i think thereis an urgent need to get thisn additioal evidence presented before anybody comes to any kind of final conclusion. >> woodruff: and, bill mccollum, i guesshe expectation now is that won't be fohcoming. >> well, i don't know what's going to happen in this regard, because the president, assuming this goes the judiciary committee, presumably will be given some opportu sty to presenething, maybe the democrat -- >> woodruff: they will. -- the democrats on tha committee will allow some testimony and, if that's the case, who knows at comes fort in that regard. my hypothesis to you about what the president might be going -- doing or his motives is equally of value as secretary panetta. we'll see whaens in the future. i'm open minded, but i don't see this rising as the same type

thing as president clinton where he knew he committed crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice, but the public didn't want to seeim removed from office and that was the will. in this case a lot of people would li see him removed from office because they don't agree with him, but i don't think you have the actual crimes and i don't think you have the use of power to the degree you should remove him or go forward with this. >> woodruff: you are right, we're in the middle of the process. gentlemen, thank you both, we appreciate it. bill mccollum, leon panetta, thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was indicted in three separate bribery and corruption cases. it came as israel faces unprecedented third election in

less than a year, with no party able to form a governing coalition. unthe y's attorney general announced the charges against netanyahu, in jerusalem. >> ( translated ): i made the decision to issue an indictment againswith a heavy heart. but wholeheartedly, with a feeling of deep commitment to the rule of law, to the public's interest and tthe citizens of the state of israel. law enforcement is not a matter of choice. this is not a matter of right or left. th is not a matter of politics. >> woodruff: netanyahu has been s.prime minister for 10 ye he went on national tv today, and claimed he is the victim of a cons by police and prosecutors. >> ( translated i won't let the lie win, i will continue to lead the country according to the law, exactly as writn, i will continue to lead the country with responsibility wi dedication. and for the rule of law and for justice, we ne to do one thing, we need at last to investigate the investigators.

>> woodruff: some of netanyahu's political rivals called today for him ton. we'll take a closer look at israel's political crisis, after the news summary. president trump insisted today that a u.s. navy sea not be dismissed from the elite force for crimes i. edward gallagher was acquitted of murderi an islamic state militant, but convicted of posing with the corpse. he was demoted, but the the navy had announced a review of gallagher's status, but the president overruled that decision. in iraq, security forces killed at least eight more people in ti-government protests i baghdad, in some of the deadliest clashes yet. medical workers said the victims were hit by live fire or tear gas canisters aimed at the head. the fighting focused on demonstrators barricading key bridges leading to a government center inaghdad.

dozens more were wounded. chna demanded today that president trump veto two bills s med at human rights abu hong kong. the bills won final yesterday.nal approval among other things, they mandate sanctions on chineseials who violate protesters' rights. rejected the measures out of hand. >> ( translated ): such a detestable action of the u.s. not only underminechina's interests but also the u.s. interests in hong kong. china sternly urge theto see clearly the situation, stop its wrongdoing before it's too late and immediately tasures to prevent this act from becoming law. >> woodruff: meanwhile, more than 20 presters, some wearing masks, surrendered at a hong kong university besieged by police. others were taken out by medical workers. some 1,000 protesters have surrendered or been capted at the campus since last weekend. an epidemic of measles in congo

w has lled nearly 5,000 people this year, despite a recentnation campaign. that word today, from the world health organization. it says moretwice as many people have died from measles in congo than from eber the last 15 months. drnearly 90% were young ch. back in this country, a federal federal executions in 16 years, at least, until a lawsuit over the issue is decided. the ruling was issued last night in washington. it suspends four executions, the justice department announced in july that executions would resume. the u.s. senate today approved a bill fundingrnhe federal gont through december 20th, and avoiding a shutdown. the legislation now goes to president trump, wul has said he sign it. a fight over funding a border wall has blocked progress on a long-term spending bill. rn california's largest

utility began restoring power today to some 120,000 people. that ended the latest planned blackout by pacific gas and electric, to prevent fires during high winds. criticized.ave been heavily and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 54 points to close at 27,766. the naell 20 points, and s&p 500 slipped about five. still to come on the newshour: indicted-- at a moment of political turmoil, israel's prime minister is charged with bribery. analysis of the key moments from last night's democratic presidential deb plus, what works, what doesn't, and how we know the difference in the fight against poverty.

>> woodruff: as we mentioned earlier, prime minter benjamin netanyahu became the first sitting leader of israel to get indicted. the announcement came just a day after opposition leader benny gantz lost his mandaform a unity government. now israel is entering a new phase of pol uncertainty. william brangham examines the fallout. >> brangham: in israel today, two major political events converged: the sitting prime minister gets indicted at the moment his main challenger misses his deadline toa new government. now for the next three weeks, any member othe israeli knesset can try his or her hand at forming a coalion government. if that fails, israel will face its third election in less than a year. for more on these developments, i'm joined by david makovsky. he's a distinguished fellow at near east policy.stitute for he's also the co-author of "be

strong and of good courage," a book about israeli leaders who made historic decisions. david, welcome back to the "newshour". foviously, a tremendous day israeli politic. this indictment against u has been threatened for months, but today it drops. can you remind us, what is t allegation against him? >> there's actually three cases against him, and each one of the cases as components. e third case, the most serious one because it includes bribery, is that there wod be regulatory favors of about 00 million to the be ks ek utility, like th oe at&tf israel, in return for the bezek web site, you know, giving netanyahu basically the keys to the web site. >> reporter: netanyahu says these are lies, it's a political t, and it's time to investigate the investigators, which is rhetoric we've heardid stat is the etched against him

strong? is this a legitimate case? i >> loothink the public thinks so. you've got 46% of the public calling on him to resign and they've heard a lot of this. i think it's one day a ry sad day for earls that a sitting prime minister is being indicted. at the same time, i think it's a really important day that israel's legal law enforcement institutions had proven to be resilient despite a lot of partisan attacks. that something that re resonates in our own country. >> reporter: th comes at an incredible moment in politics. mes rival has failed to create a coalition gove of his own. netanyahu who has now weakened. what what do you foresee happening in the next weeks and months? >> all right, if israeli politics was a football game, we're now entering overtime. there's by law a 21-day period that any party can put together a gornment, and, basically, e therve been a lot of talk about a power-sharing

arrangement between gantz's centrist government and those on the right. the two sticking points, we don't know whether he goes first in the power sharinggreerntle and in terms of the composition of that government, will it include ultra orthodox and t settlers ttanyahu insisted upon? what we don't know is i today shiftse political dynamic towards gantz enforcing netanyahu to concede those two key points in the next 21ays and, if that is not the case, then there will be, believe it or not, a third election. the israelis like to see themselves as being th democracy in the middle east but having three elections-t baback is a little ridiculous. >> reporter: a lot of people lost a lot of money trying to bet against beto o'rourke. do you think if you were a betting man, he survives this? >> look, he is an extraordinary politician. he's a master communicator, and

it's hard to completely bet agnst him, butif he would run for a third time as his way out of this, he'd be now running -- it would be a much steepercl b. if i did bad, i would think the netanyahu era as we've over certainly the last ten years is coming to an end. limps along in a power sharing agreement for another year, okay, but it's not under the terms that netanyahu has comenated israeli politics over st decade. >> reporter: david makovsky, thank you very much.ig >> ded to be with you. >> woodruff: ten democratic candidates hoping to replace pres office met on stage last night for their fifth debate of the amna nawaz reports on how the

candidates tried to stand out. nawaz: nearly 1,000 mil from washington, dc... >> we have a criminal living in the white house. >> nawaz: ...the impeachment inquiry was still the first in atlantae five of the debate candidates on stage would have a vote in the senate on removing president trump from office if it got to that point. >> we have to establish the principle no one is above the law. we have a constitutional responsibility and we need to meet it. >> what this impeachment proceeding about is really our democracy at stake. >> sadly we have a president who is not only a pathological liar, he is likely the most corrupt president in the modern history of america. >> nawaz: foer vice president biden, who, along with his son hunter, is central in the republican pushbac impeachment, weighed in on the week's hearings. >> i learned something about these impeachment trials. i learned, number one, the donald trump doesn't want me to be the nominee. >> nawaz: for pete buttigieg, gaining ground in some early state polls, wednesday night was the first time the 37-year-old

faced direct questions about his experience to be president. >> there i than 100 years of washington experience on this stagand where are we right now as a country? >> nawaz: it'sience minnesota senator amy klobuchar said she respects but also took issue with... >> women are held to a higdar st otherwise we could play a game called name your favote woman president which we can't to be commander-in-chief, >> nawaz: the sharpest critique on buttigieg came from fellow military veteran, hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard. >> i think the most recent example of your inexperience in national security and foreign policy came from your recent careless statement about how you as president we willing to send our troops to mexico to fight the cartels. >> i know that it is par for the course in washington to take remarks out of conte but that is outlandish even by the standards of todays politics.

>> are you saying that you didn't say that? >> i was talking about mexico cooperation. >> nawaz: in atlanta, a city that is more than 50% black, the cedidates also tried to st their case on who would best serve democrats' most reliable demogrhic... >> they show up when it's you know, close to election time, show up in a black church and-- and want to get the vote but just haven't been there before. >> i welcome the challenge of connecting with black voters in america who don't yet know me. >> i have a lifetime of experience with black voters; i've been one since i was 18. >> i hadpeople supporting me in the black community than have not for me because they know me. the only african-american woman that ever elected to the united states senate. a whole range of people. my point is-- >> no, that's not true. s >> that true. >> nawaz: new jersey senator cory booker also questioned biden's stance on criminal justice reform that disproportioaftely affected can americans. >> this week i hear him literally say that i don't think we should legalize marijuana. i thought you might have been

u high when yoid it. >> i think we should decriminalize marijuana, period. >> nawaz: the candidates debated kitchen table issu. like taxes... >> doing a wealth tax is not about punishing anyone. >> the wealth tax, i'm sorry, it's cumbersome. it's been tried by other nations. it's hard to evaluate. >> nawaz: ...and h much paid family leave should be required. >> i'm not going to go for gs just because they sou good on a bumper sticker and then throw in a free car. i would pass paid famil leave as one of the first things we do. >> nawaz: with less than three months before the first votes are st, the candidates are running short on time to introduce themselves to voters, for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz in atlanta. >> woodruff: the democrats will share the stagagain one month from now in los angeles as the newshour partners with politico to host the final debate of the year. that's thursday, december 19. mark your calendars.

>> woodruff: this year, a trio of economists were awarded the nobel prize for their work to alleviate global poverty and their research helped more than five million children in india benefit fromemedial tutoring in schools. sotonight, paul lman talks with two of those winners, a husband and wife duo, about how they it's part of ours, "making sense." >> reporter: m.i.t.'s abhijit banerjee and esther durro, the first d couple to win the nobel prize in economics. duflo,7, is also the youngest economics laureate ever and only the second woman to receive the prize. they met in the mid '90s, when duoko, then a grad student, bannerjee'se on economics and poverty. and, she says... >> i was going to study development no matter what happen. >> reporter: development to help poor people with data. careful thinking.ink sort of

not go with your intuitions. because our intuitions are often wrong. >> reporter: or they've been taught to you in economics classes. >> by authority figures. >> reporter: bannerjee was such a figure. but economic theory, his forte, was totally divorced from the mumbaiborhood in which he grew up. >> and i played with the kids .from the slum all the ti and i think over time i started to realize that what i was doing could be connected with my previous life. >> reporter: previous life as an >> no, previous life as a little boy playing with other littl boys who didn't go to school. a little bit conscious of theys fact that the economics that i practiced was not necessarily always deeply connected to the >> reporter:hus began their gorous approach to combating poverty: testing policy solutions through randomized controlled experiments, the way new treatments are tested in medicine.

>> it's not the middle ages anymore. it's the 21st ntury. randomized controlled trials evolutionized medicine by allowing us to distinguish drugs that don't work.and and you can do the same randomized control trials for cial policy. >> reporter: how to improve the tadreadful s of schooling in india, for example, at the lowest cost. >> so you could think of any number of solutions to address this problem: giving more textbooks, cutting class size, ging incentives to teacher >> once you take in the scale of the indian scol system, these are massive resource implications. schools, so that's not cheap. so you want to figure out what exactly you need to do. can it be done within the school thstem with normal teachers in >> reporter: and what emerged from the experiments was a simple cost/benefit conclusion: teach students what they don't know in dedicated classes, rather than one size fits. none.

the team isn't known only for finding out what works, but what doesn't. in a word, debunking. >> one of the places where we partiay debunked was microcredit. microcredit was kind of the flavor of 2000. >> reporter: was it ever! and well before 2000, i did a newshour story in 1994 in pine bluff arkansas, entrepreneurs like hair weaver vissie pearl jackson were trouble getting bank loans. >> here you have to have money et money. then you don't need the money anay. so i don't understprd the bankiness. if you don't have it, you don't get it. >> reporter: instead, she d for, and got, a $7000 loan and business advice from a on the idea sed nobel peace prize winner mohammed yunus. >> to create a job, i need money. and banks will not lend me money. once you have a micro-enterprise coming up, you are allowing a person to show his work and r

work. >> reporter: it sounded great, looked great. but this was anecdata, based on a tiny sample. the randomized controlled trials in india were anything but. >> these were 104 neighborhoods in the city of hyderabad. 52 were going to get microcredit now. 52 will get it in two years. and we compare the places which got microcredit with ones which didn't. and we found that on average, it did nothing for the earnings of the people who lived there. didn't getr. >> reporter: you realize of courrse that for me and for audience, this is an extremely depressing result. >> yes. it was extremely depressg for us too. >> but for the few people who already had a business before, there is actually a positive effect. >> i think this presumption that it's going to win, win, win, he problems what wa it was oversold. orter: also controversial

are the economist couple's randomized trials on local politics. >> with the focus on the question of how do we get voters to be responsive to the fact that this politician isn't doing his job. >> reporter: all they actually did: publicize politicians' voting records in local newspapers. >> when you ask poor people in poor neighborhoods, 2% say we want roads. just 2%. 57% say we want drains, sewers, etc. >> reporter: i see. so this politician voted for drains and sewers. this one voted for rds. now you know, and in fact people begin to vote for the drain pe. >> over the roads person. >> reporter: once they see in a newspaper which way ey voted. >> exactly. >> reporter: another intervention, the one we teased top, was just to let th locals know that what politicians do matters: informational theater. >> street plays. street actors. of the intervention, peoplee deciding to, hey i'm going to

try this out. >> reporter: more candidates for office in the places where the play was staged ased to the places where it was not. >> exactly. and the second consequence is that the incumbent got fewer votes. >> reporter: the incumbent got fewer vote >> and more, even more importantly, the worst incumben completely clobbered.t completely clobbered. >> reporter: clobbered. >> they get zero. so the next intervention we did is we told people two years from now, we're gng to put out a port card on you. and indeed, en you do that, they start building those drains >> reporter: who would have. guessed? but that's what the duflo/bannerjee research iouall trying to reduce the guesswork of economic development policy by seeing what seems to work, and what doesn't, at least in its current form. for the pbs newshour, paul solman in boston, massachusetts.

>> woodruff: for more than three decades, one of the highest honors in the world of arts and humanities have been national medals awarded by the president annually. but those awards have not been given out since president trump took office. jeffrey brs a look at this year's winners. >> brown: among the honorees in star, alison krauss...country best known for her fiddle playing and ethereal voice, krauss heen the winner of 27 grammy awards. aghnd actor jon v best known for "midnight cowboy" and his oscar-winning pence in the 1978 film "coming home." voight has been a longtime supporter of the president, and

celebrated his arrival to washington on the eve of his inauguration. since taking office, president trump has had a strained relationship with the arts. for three years in ahe proposed a budget seeking to eliminate both the national endowments for the artand humanities. itin 2017, members of his e house arts panel resigned eno masse, testinmr. trump's response to the violence at a white nationalist rally in charlottesville, virginia. and the president and first lady kipped events like the kennedy center honors, attended by every president since 1978. today he had this to say. >> each of today's recipient has made fantastic contributions. >> brown: and among the honorees rockefeller, president of weta, w.'ashington, dpublic

television and radio station, and home to thhour. she was recognized for her work and philanthro in the arts. >> sharon rockefeller has been a irong advocate for the ar public broadcasting. she's currently chairman for the board of trustees fo national gallery of art and has helped the institution acquire some of the best works of beauty, better than anywhere in the world. >> brown: the finaarts medal went to the musicians of the u.s. military. best-selling author james patterson, a champion for literacy and books. chef patrick o'connell. texas philanthropist teresa lozano long, and the claremont institute, a conservative think tank. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for t.

i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thanyou and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoing suort of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporatioadfor public bsting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned ss media acroup at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> everyone was in the loop. >> ambassador gordon sondland, the witness everyone has waited for, points the finger t athe president and hisea whole will this be a game-changer? we askme f white house counsel robert bauer and former deputy assistant secretary of defense evelyn farkas. plus -- rt >> actually s before the american evolution. >> theistory of impeachment. legal as scholar cass sunstein on how and why america's founding fathers sght to otect the people. >> wouldn't it be great if comp ies like shell mined in renewables. >> fighting climate change from the inside, activist investor mark van val at