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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  December 5, 2019 3:00pm-4:01pm PST

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodrf: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> i a proceed with articles of impeachment. >> woodruff: ...one step closer. speaker of the house nancy draft formal charginstts to president trump. then, broken justice. a conversation with ricky kidd. the focus of the lest newshour podcas freed after 23 years of incarceration for a crime he didn't commit. and... >> ♪ people try to put us down talkin' bout my generation ♪ >> woodruff: ...more than 50 years after starting the who, legendary guitarist pete townshend shows no signs of ending the tour. >> i feel very, very lucky to have what dohey call it? a patron.
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and the patron is my audience. what i do has worked for them and continues to work for them. and i want to keepoing it if i can.uf >> woodr all that and morebs on tonight's p newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economi pe literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new supporting innovatn education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org.
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>> and with the ongoing support of these institution and individuals. >> this program was possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woouff: the nexe of the impeachment process against president trump is at hand. word came today that t presentation of evidence will ta place on monday, with the formal crafting of articles of impeachment to follow immediatel congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: at a capitol podiumeserved for the most formal, or profound, moments,
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the house speaker made her announcement. >> the facts a uncontested. the president abused power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of national security. sadly but with confidee and humility, with allegiance to our founders and heart filled with love for america, today i am roasking our chairman to pceed with articles of impeachment. >> desjardins: speaker pelosi said the president's actions have left lawmers no choice. but hours after returning from a nato summit in europe, president trump had just a few words about impeachment... >> it's a big fahoax. >> desjardins: he was more loquacious on twitter, writing earlier in the day, "iyou are going to impeach me, do it now, a senate trial. want and on the senate flr, a key player in any future trial, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell join the president in lashing out at democrats' process.mi >> american es deserve
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better than this partisande paralysis whercrats obsess over impeachment and obstruct everything else. >> desjardins: house republican leader kevin mccarthy said democrats ve not proven their case. >> that this is so divisive, you need something overwhelming, you need something compelling and it doesn't meet the crite the party means more to them than the country. >> djardins: republicans hav pushed the idea that democrats are acting out of anger, leading nother remarkable moment today. as pelosi left her weekly news conference, a reporter asked ifs she hates the ident. >> i don't hate anybody. >> desjardins: she stopped in her tracks and firmly said impeachment is not personaut >> this is ahe constitution of the united states and the facts that lead to the president's violation of his oath of office.
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as a catholic i resent your using the word hate. so don't mess with me when it comes to words like that. >> desjardins: partisan lians powerful sentiments will keep mounting. committee plans a hearing monday to look at the evidence for impeachment, and the 300-page report about that evidence from the house intelligen committee. at woodruff: and now to help walk us through next for congress and its impeachment inquiry, lisa joins me. so lisa, as you said, they're moholding this hearing onday. how is it going to be different? what do we expect? >> let's talk about this. this could be the most substaial hearing that we se before articles of impeachment comeut. to see. the presentation of the democrats impeachment report from the house intelligence committee. there will be tnesses who will be staff counsel, republican and demoweatic counsel. on't know yet how many or exactly who. and both sides, repcrlicans and des, will both be able to question those witnesses. essentially, judy, it's as if a
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prosecuting team, the counsel for the democrant, will pre their evidence that charges should be brought, impeachment fcharges, and thethe ense te, the republican counsel, will try and present their arguments that, no, there's not enough evidence for impeachment. >> woodruff: so do we know, they're going to move ahd, so do we know the timing of when the full house would vote? >> no, wbue don'tt i am told that the announcement today doesn't change the timing. they still seem to be on track for a possible committee vote op articles of ichment as soon as next week and a possible full house vote the following week. i don't know that it ist in stone yet, but that seems to be the track that they remain on. one big question of course, judy, is whether the president will participate. if hedecides to, and he has until tomorrow night to makeec thation per the democrats' deadline, thatill change the antime line. heask for witness, all of those things. will he want the participate? i spoke to kevin mccarthy to ask him personally, will the
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president participate? mccarthy doesn't usually say yes or. no he indicated to me hesn't think the president should participate. to me that's a strong signal at the president is leaning toward no. >> woodruff: perhaps he's >>commending it. e didn't say that. i know he's talking to the president. so i don't know who is remmending what, but he's certainly gauging the >> woodruff: what about theuse democrats? how unified are they on this? we assume republicans are still all against it, but what ut that? >> that's ght. if you talk to democra, theng most interesroup are those moderates. there are 31 democrats who are in districts that the president won. i spoke to several of those offices today. where they're at is trehe waiting to see exactly what is in these articles of impeachment, multiple offices told me it is very possib that they could vote yes on some articles of impeachme, those moderate democts, and no other articles of impeachment when they hit the house floor. nancy pelosi needs 218 votes for any article of impeachment.
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we'll have to see how they draft themo see if she wl get those votes on all of the arties that they present. republicans i'm watching closely, too, we'll see. if public opinion cha nges,some republican votes could peel off, as well. >> woodruff: what she needs is a simple majority? >> that'ctcor at this point the standard in the senate is much higher. at this point it's a simple majority. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, a federal prosecutor hased repo undercut claims that an f.b.i. investigation of the 2016 trump campaign an alleged ties to russia was a set-up. "the washington post" and others found no evidence that u.s.am intelligence agencies planted illse leads. attorney generalam barr had hand-picked durham. a separate review, by the general, has also edlynspector
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found the f.b.i. probe was justified. it is due out monday. president trump appealed today to the u.s. supreme court to shield his financial records from congressional oversight. u.s. house committees subpoenaed the records from mr. trump's accounting firm. court to keep his turnssking the the united states charged today that iran may have killed more than 1,000 people in a crackdown on protests. the special u.s. representatr e an, brian hook, cited reports from inside iran anden intell analysis. at the white house, president u trump met wi. security council ambassadors, and called for international pressure on iran. >> it's horrible situation. it's something tt is going to be a big scandal throughout the world very soon. th're killing a lot of people. and they're arresting thousands
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of their own citizens in a brutal crackdown in recent weeks because they're protesting. >> woodruff: the president would not confirm y reports that he might send thousands more troops to the middle east to counter iran. the u.s. justice department is accusing a russian cyber gang of stealing at least $100 million from banks and other institutions worldwide. a 10-count indictment today charged two alleged leaders of a group known as "evil corp." they remain at large, but officials announced a $5 million reward for o of the men-- the most ever for an accused cyber- criminal. in france, union worrs staged one of their biggest strikes iny decades, larringing travel to a standstill. tens of thousands of people turned out in paris and elsewhere. they protested president emmanuel macron's move to standardize more than 40 isting pension plans.
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>>translated ): i think the majority of people are against macron pensions scheme, which l willotd us anywhere. we will end up with a pensio that is equivalent to at of someone beginning their career, even when having worked 40 years. that does not make s >> woodruff: some of the paris demonsators set fires and police answered with tear gas. it was unclear how long the strike might last. global resurgence of measles. the world health organization says nearly 10 million people were infected last year. more than 140,000 died-- most of them, young children who had not both figures were up sharply from 2017, and the w.h.o. says year.umbers are far worse this it cites opposition to vaccines as a main faor. back in this country; republican congressmanom graves of georgia has announced he will not run for re-election.
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he said he wants to spend more time with his family. the six-term lawmaker will be e 21st house republican to retire after the current term of congress. on wall street today: the dow 28 points to close at 27,677.ed the nasdaq rose four points, and the s&p 500 also added four. d, the holiday season is officially under way in washington, with the lighting of the national christmas tree. the president and first lady dis the hohis evening, in front of thousands of guests and a line-up of musical performers. the annual tradition dates back to 1923. still to come on the newshour: lawmakers respond to house speaker nancy pelosi's direction to draft articles of impeachment. legendary guitist pete townshend on having the same gig for more than 50 years. broken justice-- sitting down with ricky kidd, an incent man
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freed from prison after more than two decades. and comedian nick kroll gives his brief but spectacular take on animating adolescence in the show "big mouth." >> woodruff: ithe span of two- and-a-half months, the house impeachment inquiry has taken egstimony, produced a report, and examined the grounds for impeaching a president. drafting charges againsttoward president trump, we get two more perspectives tonight on what to expect next. first, i spoke with d representatig collins of georgia, the judiciary committee's ranking republican.
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congressman doug collins, thank you very much for join us. now that we know that democrats in the house of representatives are going to dratft icles of impeachment, they're in the majority, do the republicans have a plan for stopping this? >> well, i don't think we have plan for stopping it. i think this is a culmination today, and i'm not sure why there was such a production by speaker pelosi that now they're going to write articles of impeachment. w anyoo has been following this knows this has been the plan all along. the big question now is how do they do it in the judiciary committee? do they speed it up? do they bypass a lot of the rules? and frankly, sad to say, judy,m tting here on this night telling you i don't know where the past forward is. we kw there's going to be couple of presentatio of reports on monday, but past that we really don't know. oso it's a coprcerniness for us to be ppared, but this has not been a surprise. going to be aboesenting theis evidence, but what i want to ask you is do you dispute the cts that the democrats have laid out, and i'm asking you because yesterday the law professor, the
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republicans called on the judiciary comittee, jonathan turley, said that president trump's calls to the ukrainian president, and i'm quoting"was anything but perfect and to scrutinize it."itimate reason >> well, tt's jonathan turley's interpretation. he was our witness. i find it diffethnt. i don'k there was anything wrong with the call. i think that was brought out in the hearing er and over and over again. at best mr. turley said it was a paucity of errors. there was not very much. there "wafer-thin" was the word i think. what we're sing is there was nothing wrong with what went on and how it went about. we don't have a problem talking out the substance of the issue and how it wynn about. i think that's going to be the problem for he democrats going forward, because remember, judy, iney can do what they want to the house of representatives. they have to votes to manipulate, that but when it american people, they have to convince the american people that there is a crime, that there was somethinglly committed. tangible in real-world term, not in philosophical terms of actat
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tempe knicks a meeting. >> woodruff:9 impeachment of a president about how congress sees the oath of office, whether there's been abuse of power, what the framers, what the founders put in the constution? >> well, it is, and what was interesting is yesterday, again, this shows you how... the acts are in dispute. this will be first impeachment in which, if they go forward, whe there was notreement on basic facts. democrats and repus, thereuck was a commitment on basic facts. it came from the report at was issued on this. we don't have agreement on facts. we have an agreement. they say there was actual quid pro quo, there were wnesses. no, there wasn't. they have witnesses who say we believe or presume thathe. >> given to us because i heard it second-hand was that he was holding back because of a meeting, but we havhers with direct knowledge who said. no we also have five direct meetings after the aid was put on hold, five meetings in which
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zelensky with the president, one with a phone call, three with ambassads, and one with a senator and one with vice president pence in which twtho, last two meetings, with the senators and with vice president pence is after they found out money was being held and there was never a connection between aid and doing something. fact.ve very much a disputed k in the past congresses have relied on actual crimes. clinton lied, nixon committed the crime of conspiracy for a break-in. e is nothing there that they can put their hands on that was part of the problem yesterday in the hearing. >> woodruff: but when there are as many dots as there are, if you want the use that analogy, you know, isn't the conclusion going to be that if there was discussion about withholding aid and aid was withheld for several months and there had been conversatns, which the president himself acknowledges, sainng to the ukn leader, i want you to investigate the bidens, what are >> well, what he said was again, we go back to this, this was a day after, remember, this
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telephone call happened the day after the mueller r here on the hill. at that time you and i actually spoke abt that whole report. there was very much of a frustration. the conversation was can you help us investigate this, what just happenet whatore our country up for so long. i appreciate what you're saying about trying to cnnect dots, but if you do, you become like one of the law professors who say, well if you see all these facts and you infer there is a problem, or you infer, then yu go forward on impeachment. that's a very slipperyrg slope to stand on because this country, the average american outside of d.c.nderstanding dew point. -- due process.er they uand fairness. they don't understand i can infer you may have done you of it.wrong so we'll convi >> woodruff: let me ask you about something else. we heard from the democratsth yesterda they are considering widening this impeachment inquiry to include the article, the second parof the mueller report having to do with obstruction of justice. in that we saw episodes they laid out where the president may have, could have obstructed
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justice. and again, the repnot t tprsi.ors it says ethe decision is up to congress. does that strengthen what the democrats are trying to do or not? >> no, the two partto tt, one, i believe most democrats are ready to move on from the mueller report. it was painful experience for them. they put everything in and it didn't turn out as conclusive as they wanted. to but i think it's interesting, go back to the mueller hearing, and the democrats tried to walk throh each of these points that they showed, that they saw in part two, ndt thef it, mr. mueller would agreeith arious parts, at thend he wod say, i donree with your conclusion. i don't agree with your outcome. he made that statement over and over and over again. it's going to be very rd to walk back mueller's ownords when he disagreed with the end of the conclusion of obstruction. >> woodruff: congressman doug collins of georgia, thank you >> glad to be here, judy. always good to be with you. >> woodruff: now from ae perspectom a democrat on the judiciary committee, we're joined by representative madeleine dean of pennsylvania. congresswoman dean, thank you
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very much for joining us. are you confident at this point given what speaker pelosi has done is charged the judiciary committee committee to go ahead and craft articles of impeachment that there is enough evidence there, enough proof that artles of impeachment are warranted? >> im. i'm sad but confident that we havevnough. the eidence is undeniable. you'll notice it's alsoni un, and it is damning. the prsident coerced a foreign leader to try to intervene in our election for his own personalnd political gain. there could be nothing more grave than that kind of an assault on our election integrity. as the prosfessor said rday, it will make us all less free some there is plenty of evidence. int i find it puzthat the republicans or the administration say, oh, you don't ve enough evidence. in the face of the president not answering multiple subpoenas,
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extraordinary obstruction by this president and everyone in his administration, so ithe republicans want more evidence, they ought to go over to the white house and sthe president, answer lawful subpoenas, leton evetestify, clear your name, be part of the e ocess. you notice theyt doing any of that. >> woodruff: at this point there is no evidence new york sign that they will do that, although they have time certainly to come forward before this process works its way forward. >> woodruff: congresswoman dean, we just heard again congressman collins, the rank stpublican on the judiciary saying, as you oted, the evidence is not there, that it's l conjecture, that it's assumption in so many worho. is it that democrats see clear, compelling evidence and republicans say it just doesn't exist? >> i think they'rnot saying it doesn't exist. they're not speaking to the evidence. you have seen themund the table over process, process,
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process, due process. infact, thiis ofering the president due process. he's not taking advantage of it. and so there's plenty of evidence. and so i don't understanwhat mr. collins is talking about. you notice they don't want to ta abo that phone cal they don't want to talk about a president holding up $391 million of congressionally appropriated aid to a country that is under attack,ssault, and invasion by russia. you'll notice that what happens here is that it wkens their national security and our national security. who benefited from that attempt to withhold aid and e fact, the witdhholding of ai? putin. putin's russia. that's what this is about. americans should have a chill from the horrifying obstruction by this president. and the use of his ofice, the abuse of his office for personal political gain. >> woodruff: well, it is not just congressman collins and now, the people whpport the
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president, who are listening to that argument, who are saying they too don't hear solid evidence. ocrats de can the dem to put a compelling case together that the republicans and their supporters say they don't see? >> well, i thk they jut need to go back and look at the testimony of the publicwi esses. you know, intelligence committee had 100 hours of depositions that were notblic testimony, but we have a report on that. then we had i thi it wa 12 witnesses who were publicly testifying. heroic, patriotics folks who came forward to say, what was going on was crazy, was irregular, was a separate line of diplomacy for rudy giulianiy working literawith russians to try to figure out how the dump dirt on a political foe. the evidence is there. i think the american people were very impressed with peoe like dr. hill. she had no interest in coming
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forward. she's a career-long diplomat. administrations and democratic administrations. this isn't about politics. this is abtout pariotism. this is about upholding our constitution. if we tua blind eye on this, it is as though we said theen impeacclause does not exist. and therefore the president can we simply cannot have that. >> woodruff: congresswoman, what is your view of expanding e articles of impeachment to include obstruction as it wase outlined in mueller report? >> we know there are mny considerations in terms of what articles will be drafted. as a member of the judiciary committee, i think it would be inappropate for me to speculate on the article, but certainly the events surrounding ukraine, before and after, the seeking by this president of interference with our elections, puicly, who called on russia to interfere, publicly who called on china to intderfere, privately, by record of the call that he released, it's the
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only document he's released thus far, he asks ukraine interfere. so i think i'm not going to speculate on the articles beca te i'll be part at conversation as a member of the judiciary committee. what i hope is that our articles are very concrete, specific, thoughtful, and rooted in the law. >> woodruff: so if i were to ask you, do you think it rengthens your case to d an article that encompasses obstruction and the mueller report? >> i don't know if thatre thens our case, and i'm not interested in the mueller report. i'm interested in the behior of the president as revealed either publicly by him, privately by hsm, or a revealed in the investigation by the special contsel. i'm not ested in the mueller report. i'm interested in the corrupt behaor ofthis indecent president. >> woodruff: last question. what are you hearing from y constituents about this? are they raising the issue of the president behavior, of
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impeachment, or not? >> they are. i serve suburban philadelphia, montgomery county, pennsylvania, and berkes county. my constituents are gravely concerned. they're fearful for our country. ey come up to me in the barbshop or at the grocery store, and they say, what e you doing? i'm worried for our country. u'm worried for our precious constitution anddemocracy, and i'm tired of being so agitated. i'm wored about our leadership and our standing in the world. the vast majority of myut it. constituents say please, you have to take this seriously and, sadly, you have to k this extraordinary step to impeach and remove the president.r don't get meong, there are certainly a number of my constituents who do not support this action. but the majority do. >> woodruff: congresswom madeleine dean of pennsylvania, thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you, judy. thank you.
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>> woodruff: our economics correspondent paul solman talks to an older rker of some note tonight, about his music, his life traumas, his reer as a rock star, and why he still feels the need to recordew albums and hithe road. all at the age of 74. it's part of our "making sense" ¡eries, "unfinished business." ♪ talkingbout my generation ♪ my generation >>eeporter: a, maybe th , generational anthem of the '60s, with a line for the ages, and age-ists. >> ♪ i hope i die before i get old ♪ talkin' 'bout my generation >> reporter: but pete townshendh who wrote ose lyrics, doesn't live by them. 55 years after co-founding thean rock the who, townshend, is still at it. you're famous for the line. i hope i die before i get old. yeah. so you didn't. >> it was a song i wrote when i was 18 years old. i was living in london and getting pushed around by rich
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women in fur coats.ha d them all. they hated me. let's just shot down that conversation. y i knr show's about old people. well, i'm happy to be here as an old person. i've actually come to realize that this time of life is probably the best. when you hit 75, as i will next birthday, you realize that, you know, that you're definitely on a shorter leash and you tend to kind of settle with the present. anmyin a sense, for people o generation who went through the l.s.d. era of trying, in a sense to find out who is god, you know, who am i? all of that stuff, you know? i have weeks, months, years, maybe. and i should live in the present. so it's a very beautiful thing. >> reporter: how much of what you're feeling in terms of gratification is because you are continuing to work? >> if i'm absolutely honest, i'm
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reallynly working as hard as i am at the moment for money. >> reporter: now unlike so many his age, townshend can continue to work. and, as a high-living rock sta"" money" to him means yacht racing. one of his boats a classic from 1906. >> the average for running a boat is about 15% of the rebuild cost. let's say you tried to build it today, it would cost about a million dollar maybe a million and a half dollars to build. so it's $200,000 a year to run a tiny little boat that i go racing in twice a year. >> reporter: townshend and the other surviving member of theng who, lead sier roger daltrey, have hit the road again, heuring. for townshend, t's another economic incentive to keep dependents."izable retinue of" >> my daughter menta, for ecexample, has got a full um autistic boy, and when wmuworked out ho it would cost to get him through education, it came to a llion pounds. and i employ people and the band and it's great to be the person
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who kind of decides whether that happens or not it's a m>>ent of power. reporter: well, isn't it a moment of power to go on tour to have all those people sticking a with you f these years, your fan base? >> hmmm, that isn't me. i don't feel excited.he i feel i'm to do a job. there's no thrill. indeed, i would say that ion't i limuch. as i said to my wife, now, rachel, i id, you know, i must be a really brilliant actor. i ook like i'm enjoying it because i really don't enjoy it. i it as a job and i find incredibly easy. so easy. i don't even have to think about r . >> reporter: ovethe years townshend brought energy aplenty to the stage. the who's lyricist and lead guitarist became known for his windmilling and tilating his instruments. doou still jump? >> you know, i try. i don't get very high, but i
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knill try. you know, i don' why i'm in good shape. i certainly, i don't exercise. i don't eat well. >> reporter: well, you do exercise because you exercise >> that's true. i wore my apple watch for one gig and it turned out i walked eight miles. og reporter: townshend and daltrey have been performing together since the 1960's. >> he los doing it and i think he will do it until he drops. i don't think that's my story. you know, one of us really, really, reallyanants to go on. then there's me who really i know, you know, i prefer to just go sailing and read a book. >> reporter: and write one too; he calls his new novel, "the age of anxiety," a "extended the dark art of creativity." he plans to turn it into an opera, like previous wor" tommy" and "quadrophenia." the who also have a new album out, called "who"-- about, among other things, aging. >> i wrote the songs for roger. so dealing with his perception
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of what aging is and hoping, funnily enough, he didn't connect with, i sent him about 15 songs. he didn't connect with any of them. d he didn't respond for five months. nothing.g. i had noth and then when he did respond, he said, these are songs for you, pete., and i sa, roger, these are songs for you!or >> rr: because he doesn't want to face the aging the way you do. >> maybe, maybe.. i don't kn >> reporter: one song townshend penned for the new album: "i don't wanna get wise." >> i aligned the idea of the wisdom of aging, t wisdom of experience, the wisdom of suffering, the wisdom of psing through life, being something which is a mark of aging. y and therefor know, in a sense, that the song i don't want to get wise is another you know, i don't want to get old! >> reporter: in 2003 townshend
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was arrested on child porn charges. but he's always said it was part of his own sting operation. >> we were just trying to demonstrate that banks needed to stop taking money for this. it's not like buying pyboy magazine. it has consequences, >> reporter: townshend himse says he survivedhildhood abuse. >> i had been damaged. i always used to say, you know, i'm like a diamond with a flaw and the flaw is that period of abuse. it was brief in my case. i was only with my grandmother for two years. that was pretty rrifying. and, you know, at 74 years old, oh... you know, it's still here. it's not something that' gonna go away. and i should use the word sexual abuse, i shouldn't shy away from that.so me of the abuse that i suffered was sexual. >> reporter: from your ygrandmother? h. and friends of my grandmother. my grandmother was off her trolley, unfortunately.or >> rr: "tommy," the film and broadway hit rock opera about a boy struck deaf, dumb
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and blind by trauma, turns out to have been an alpegory of that ence. >> in tommy, i completely unconsciously use this idea as a vehicle for exploring my own reallyuite tragic story. roger daltrey waed do a tour of the complete tommy and we did a test of it, and on t first night, i had a nervous breakdown on the stage. this is too much, a celebration of my dileiculties, a ation of my childhood suffering >> reporter: in the end, though, townshend believes i and its ability to reinforce not sufferinbut hope. >> and my method as a musician is to try to create events, to try to get musical moments where people gather, where they unify, and where they realize that just standing together and understanding that we all understand is very, very important.
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>> reporter: so are you in pt working at your age because you feel that you are a source, as indeed you are, of people cominr toge >> as an artist, i... i feel very, very lucky to have what do they call it? a patron.th anpatron is my audience. what i do has worked for them and continues to work for them. and i want to keep doing it if i can. >> reporter: so ste townshend ll on the road, rocking for a living. for the pbs newshour, this is paul solman in new york. ti woodruff: now, the story behind the exone of a wrongly convicted man in missouri who spent dades in prison, and the lens it provides on larger problems with thin cr justice system. amna nawaz explores these questions. >> nawaz: over the past five weeks, our original podcast series, "broken justice," has en telling the story of missouri's overloaded public
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defender system and what that tells us about justice in america. the series fuses on w that stem failed one man in particular, ricky kidd. in 1997, kidd was convicted of double homicide and sentenced to life without parole.he as always maintained his innocence. in the final episode of this series, whicow out, we share that kidd, after 23 years in prison, was exonerated and released. that is in large part due to pro bono legal efforts of an o'brien, a law professor at the university of missouri, kansas city, who has spent decades working to overturn wrongful convictions. with us now to discuss all of that are ricky kidd and sean o'brien. thank you so much to both of you for being here. >> thank you. thank you for having us. >> nawaz: ricky, let me start with you. it's an incredible story to the rest of us. it is your life. it's impossible to cn full due here in this conversation. t how do you even begin explain to people what it was like tbe incarcerated for two
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decades knowing you didn't do what you weraccused of doing? >> it was a nightmare. it was like going to sleep and not being able to wake up. you know, often we do that right. we go to sleep and wwake up and say, hey, i had a bad dream and it's over in a matter of seconds. or however long that lasts. but for me, that nightmare was 23 years. and so that's the best way i can explain it. was a living nightmare. >> nawaz: did you ever think that you wouldn't get out? did you ever think i'm give up hope? >> in the far back of your mind, you do. you know the stats. the less than one perce ever successful on appeals after conviction. but the other or rather the larger part your mind is, i can't i can't afford to think that i won't get out because n there would bereason to fight.
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>> nawaz: so, sean, let me ask you about this, because ricky was defended by the public defense system in his case. they are the frontline lawyersic we chr in our podcast. we should mention you worked as a public defender for years ine the '80s befaving that line of work. when you saw ricky's c he and what hpened, what did you see that said to you, this deserves a second look? >> well, first of all, d grothaus, the lawyer who brought the se or the investigator w brought the case to me, he had looked into the case and made a very compelling case. then i went and met his alibi witnesses, ricky's alibi witness. and they were solid. absolutely solid. and then, of course, you know,os the utor is someone who is herself a red flag for wrongful convictions. so when i saw the whole picture, i couldn't not step in at that point. >> nawaz: ricky, help us you connected with sean.ike when and for the first time someone is telling you, i believe what you're saying. i think there's something here.
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what was that like for >> it was it was amazing. i worked hard for 10 years trying to get somebody to pay attention to my case. and when sean, who we are, a lot of us knew to be a good lawyer, a good advocate for those who are innocent and on death row. it was exciting. i felt like he was my super hero out of the marvel co and i say that all the time that today's super heroes wearan dressesuit coats and notes tights and c mental picture.rtnt that >> he nly is my hero. he certainly is my hero.i ank him so much every day. and the rest of the team who fought and worked and never gave up. it's easy not to give up on yourself when others have not given up on you. so, yeah, definitely super hero.
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>> naw: sean, i got to ask you too, because we hear obviously i guess the question everyone has is why does it take so long for those kinds of convictions to be undone once they're done? >> i'm still asking that question. you know, it was way too easy to convict an innocent person, and it's way harder than it should be to prove that he's innocent and get him released. you know, if you're innocent, you should never quit. you know, your innocence will get you free someday. and it's the some day part that was hard in this case. nawaz: but you know this syem inside and out. are there things are there reforms that could be put into place ght now that would prevent things like this from happening to people like ricky? >> yes. lkd there are too many to about. but the first starting point is a decent public fender system. if we put public defenders onpa ty with prosecutors, then we wouldn't be having this discussion today. if public defenders had the resources, the saries, the
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caseloads of the prosecuto they're up against, we'd have a level playing field and it would make a ton of difference. this case is a good example because ricky's lawyer is not a bad lawyer, but she was butgunned by a prosecutor who was unscrupulousknew that because of her overworked opposition, that she cld get away with things that she couldn't get away with if there was a well staffed defender system on the other si. >> nawaz: ricky, you are a free man. >> i am. >> nawaz: you have been out r about over three months now. >> 111 days now. >> nawaz: not that youe counting. how are you? what are your plans? what do you want to do? >> i'm great. i'm great. i want to add my voice to the cry for justice reform. pportunities to touch six states now since i've been home. and most of those travels have
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been advocacy work, speaking out on the behalf, trying to be the voice of those who are voiceless. >> nawaz: you are not turning away from the last two decades of you it sounds like you are leaning into it. you're not angry about that time? >> no, not angry in a sense of where it can be destructive. and so i've learned how to turn my anger into passion. we should be angry becse to me, what's synonymous to that is being fed up, not destructively angry, well, we should be angry that taxpayers are spendingdr billions and hs of millions of dollars keeping the wrong person in prison. e d so i don't want people to misconstrue becam happy and i'm full of joy and excitement today that the anger has dissipated, it has not. it's turned into passion for mee >> nawaz: wellre so happy to have you hereoday to have both of you here today. ricky kidd and sean o'brien. and all five episodes of broken justice are out.yo u can listen on our web site or wherever you get your podcasts.
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>> woodruff: and we'll be backtl shwith a brief but spectacular take on turning mortifyingdolescent experiens into comedy today. but first, take a moment to hear from yr local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations staying wi us, a unique program started in wisconsin helps build bridges between farm employers and migrant employees. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro begins our encore report in the mexican state of veracruz. >> reporter: they are hard to distinguish from thoands ofme americans who up in mexico, headed to its beach resorts and a ite from winter.
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but this group of wisconsin dairy farmers had a very different stination, as they headed inland and up steep, gravel mountain roads. the views are breathtaking but these are places wre tourists rarely go, and where locals say it's hard to stay and earn a living. it's become an annual ritual for the midwesterners-- getting together with families their mexican employees left behind as they traveled north to find work. their earnings sustain the families here in mexico, even if the bread winners themselves, most of them undocumented in the u.s., caot afford the cost or risk of a quick visit home. john rosenow, was on his ninth trip in recent years, visiting the families of his ten mexican workers. first stop: the parents of marco rosales.er >> is any message you'd like us to take to marco? >> tell him that we are well and
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tell him to behave. >> reporter: does he mostly behave? >> marco behaves a lot, because he works all the time. marco at times works 12 hours a day and right now it's 10 below. >> reporter: on a frigid early january morning, i got to seema o's routine, which begins at the crack of dawn in the milking parlor. >> we run this 24 hours a day. >> reporter: how many gallons of milk? >> today we'll ship probably 5,000 gallons. >> reporter: families like rosenow's, he's fifth generation on this farm, helped give america's dairyland. but the unrelenting routine of milking, biring, feeding and eaning is one rosenow says americans long ago stopped wanting to do. for years,osenow says he's tried to recruit for jobs that pay between 32 and, 42,000 a yearus on-farm housing if needed. >> i've gone to farm supply
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stores locally, asking people that work there and i've never got a response, ever. >> reporter: and you would pay more these big department stores? >> yes. and so, i don't understand why americans don't do it, but they don't. >> reporter: about 20 years ago, left with no choice, he says he hired a mexican immigrant he found through a farm magazine ad. >> he came, and milked 54 days straight here was somebody that worked as hard as i do. i thought, wow, this is the answer to the biggest problem that i had, was labor. >> reporter: migrant workers mae olved the labor problem for some farmers here but also a revealew one: communication.xt so, a countysion agent asked shaun duvall, the local high school spanish r to start language classes. >> i thought, pfff, they're not going to learn enough h. they're not going to learn about the culture or why people do whathey do in a 20-hour spanish class, so i thought well, let's do something more. >> reporter:he and rosenow
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founded a non profit called puentes bridges,ntended to offer language immersion trips to mexico, spanish lessons for dairy owners; english for their workers, as well as a dairy technician training program, trying to help two very different cultures better understand each other. >> reporter: roberto tecpile who is 39, agreed to share his story. inhehe 20 years he's been in u.s., he's returned home just four times. returning to the u.s. is treacherous and expensive. >> i walked two days and two nights in the desert. >> reporter: did you have to pay people to get here? >> yeah. >> reporter: the trafficker's fee was $10,000 dollars. 32-year-old armando tecpile, who is not related to roberto, endured the same expensive ordeal; driven, he says, by dreams of earning enough to build a comfortable home in his village. >> ( translated ): my house, i thank goit's already three floors and complete concrete.
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it's not finished yet, still in construction but all ton outside is d >>eporter: back in mexico, armando's home was the next stop for his boss. >> ( translated ): i'm really grateful armando found you as a place to work because it's hard to find a good job >> reporter: here and everywhere they visited, the wisconsin fsitors found expressions appreciation and warm hospitality. many cases lurked pain ofes in long separation for the host families. after her guests left, armdo's wife lourdes ramos told me she'd pleaded with her husband not t go to the u.s. to stay home with their sons, now 10 and five. >> ( tranlated ): i said i'm not asking you for anythg i'm not asking you foroney. we don't need such a big house if it's just two of us and the two boys and really, it's nicer to have a smaller place.
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>> reporter: rosenow talked with roberto's father about the new prosperity-visible acros villages here in new construction, in small enterprises many families have started. his wife and mother reflected on the price they have paid, particularly the children. aaron is their middle child. >> i miss my papa, i love him a lot. >> reporter: when was the lastti you saw your papa? >> ( translated ): i was five years old. he used to carry me an gwe used toand see my grandma far away. >> reporter: his younger sister, megan was barely month old when her father left. we miss him, we really do miss him. >> reporter: but it erto and veronica's 15 year old son, who was away when we visited, o most worries his mothe >> ( translated ): he just wants to gand work with his dad an is waiting to be able to do that. i'm not going to let my son go becae the border is very dangerous. >> reporter: whether she'll prevail against thstrong tug of economic opportunity up north is a big question. a generation ago, her mother in
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law remembers pleading similarly all four of them rin thethers. united states. for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in zongolica, mexico. >> woodruff: tonight's brief but spectacular features comedian nick kroll. he mined the hilario and mortifying experiences of adolescence to create the animated netflix series "big mouth." although it is a period of life some of us would prefer to forget, kroll says it has been healthy to revisit his past. >> "big mouth" is my animatetv ow on netflix. it is about my journey trtough puwith my best friend, andrew goldberg. it's based on our childhoods. andrew became a writer for family guy and i became a comedian and then we came back
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together 30 years after we met to create this show. we knew from the beginning that we wanted this to be animated. we felt like we wanted adults to voice the kids. i think i voice over 30 characters on the show. so there is the voice of nick. there is the hormone monster who is maurice, andrew's hormone monster. there's coach steve. hey, what's up everybody? i'm coach steve. there is the jansen twins. they are two twi. there's a ladybug, and ladybug will tell you what's what on a daily, daily. and, i don't know, there's like 25 more voices. the tone of the show is very dirty. but i think it is equally weighted with an incredible warmth and sincerity.
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i just physically matured a lot later than most of my friends. i didn't hit fine feet until high school. andrew was the earliest bloomer. it didn't take much to realizes that andrew tting puberty. and beard in sixth.ow a mustache >> whether you were a late bloomer or an early developer, a yolone and you felt like you re different. >> seasotwo of "big mouth," we introduced the character called the shame wizard. and in writing thehow we realized how much shame played into the adolescce and puberty itself, because your body is changing, you're having theses
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different kindof urges, sexual urges, emotional swings, and what comes with those emotional swings is the feeling of shame. i was lucky in my family that we did talk about sex and we ha these books called what is happening to me. the most gratifying thing about making the show has been hearing from kids and parents and teachers saying that they've watched the show, and it has ven them a platform and a vocabulary to talk about what's happening to them. the show at its core is about making people feel not so alone, as i have made this show, the experience has been incredibly therapeutic in helping me understand who i was and how what i was going through has affected the manhat i have become. my name is nick kroll, and this is my brief but spectacular take on characters of different ages brout to life.
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>> woodruff: and you can watch additional brief but spectacular episod on our web site, pbs.org/newshour/brief. and on the newshour online right now, protests have rocked haiti for mo than a year, part of a global wave of uprisings triggered by economic inuality and dissatisfaction with government. we explore the specific factors driving unrest in that country on our website,ho pbs.org/ne. and a news updatubbefore we go. says that it has recorded more than 3,000 sexual assaults in rides with its drivers in the u.s. last year. a long-awaited safety record released by the comny this evening also detailed murders and fatal crashes that happened on its 1.3 billion rides in to 018. it is theide-hailing company's first safety study since it has faced pressure to incase transparency. n and that's tshour for tonight.
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i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbsas newshoureen provided by: r >> all rightichard. we might be able to clear your name. say, "there is a bomb in n tallal park. you have 30 minutes. >> my son is not the bomber. he saved people's life. >> i want to help y'all. there is a bomb in centennial park. you have 30 minutes. >> f.b.i. is looking at richard jewell. >> he's getting railroaded. >> i think your client is guilt as hell. >> you ready to start fighting back? >> "richard jewell," a clint eastwood film, rated r. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions
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and friends ofhe newshour. >> this program was made possibley the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc ca ioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org
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♪ to "amanpour & co." and welcome >> here's what's coming up. >> i think nato is stronger than it's ever been. >> president trump turns fromat bashing to celebrating it. can the london meeting keep thed 70-yea alliance on track? i asked america's no ambassador kay bailey hutchison. >> never before in the history of the republic hav we been forced to consider the conduct of a president who appears to have solicited persona political favors from a foreign government. >> new congressional hearings kick off the critical next phasi of theeachment inquiry. i ask author michael lewis about the fifth risk and not leaving national security to the experts. >> inus, any we say can be ke