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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  December 13, 2019 6:00pm-7:01pm PST

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: ( gavel ) a pivotal vote. j the u.s. houiciary against the president, clearing the way for the full house of representatives to impeach esident trump. then, after nearly two years of tariffs, the white house reaches the first phase of a deal with china, but how close does it come to ending the trade war? and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the news on impeachment, and the justice department's findings on the origins of the russia probe. plus: ♪ ♪ fighting bigotry with music. naw a city in north caroli
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made a band from acros rthe globe feht at home. >> ( translated ): music is one of those things in life where there are no barriers or borders. and as musicians, this is at gives us the courage to travel very far away from our sahara desert. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. p>> major funding for the newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects
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us. >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plangive you as mr as little, talk, text and data as you want, and seour u.s.-based customer ice team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> warner brothersictures. >> kf.org. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour.
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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersyou. thank you. >> woodruff: the stage is now set for the u.s. house of representatives to impeach the the latest moves came earliers. today in a matter of minutes, after long hours of hearings. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> ms. lofgren? >> aye. >> ms. lofgren vot aye? "ayes," democrats housering of judiciary committee took a t storic step on articles of impeachment agaiesident trump. >> your article is agreed to. the resolution is amendeand is ordered reported favorably to the house. >> desjards: the nine-page articles make two charges against the president: "abuse of power" and "obstruction congress." the committee decisions today came aer a marathon debate session yestery that lasted
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14 hours and went late into the night. the votes were straight along party lines, and quick, as were comments afterward by committee chairman jerry nadler. >> today is a solemn and sad day. for the third time in a little over a century and a half, the voted articles of impeachment against the president for abuse of power and obstruction ofco ress. the house will act expeditiously. >> desjardins: president trump, hosting esident of paraguay at the white house, railed against the vote. >> it's a witch hunt. it's a sham. it's a hoax. nothing was done wrong. zero was done wrong. it's a scam. it's something that shouldn't be allowed. d it's a very bad thing forun our y, and you're trivializing impeachment. >> desjardins: ts word "sham" republican theme, echoed by senate judiciary chair
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lindsey graham. he stated simply that ridiculous sham, ads to come to a quick end." ,an end, one way or anoth would come in a senate trial, if artics are approved by the full house. but some of thpresident's other republican allies in the house are hoping for a longer, more fulso trial. louie gohmert of texas. >> i really hope and pray e senate will not just pick it up and dismiss it. america needs to hear fr the witnesses. >> desjardins: a major voice in whether witnesseare called will be senate majority leader republican mitch mcconnell. he cannot determine trial rules on his own. essentially, a majority of senators does th. but last night, mcconnell told fox news about his planned approach.i >> everythin during this, i'm coordinating with the white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to t
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hands. there is no chance the president is going to be removed from office. >> desjardins: democrats on the bahouse judiciary committeed at that. pramila jayapal of washington state. >> t foreman of the jury, mitch mcconnell, the guy who decides all the rules, is actually going to coordinate with the defendant. that makes no sense whatsoever. it is an outrage, and frankly, it's a tremendous disrespect to the constitution and to our framers. >> desjardins: as to the political consequences, democrat steve cohen of tennessee said 's not clear, for either side. >> regardless, i think this is something we needed to do. i don't know if it hr hurts. >> desjardins: the articles of impeachment now head to a vote in the full house of representatis next week. >> woodruff: and congressional correspondent lisa desjardins joins me now. hello, lisa. so this vote by the judiciary committee was supposed to happen last night. they put it off until this morning. tell us what happened and why does that matter. >> first of all, i want to note this is something that is very
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detailed and is not something we bring up the timing of a vote, significant because of the friction happening now. republicans excted the vote to happen last night. they spent all day putting forth they could have gone all night, but they stopped, thinking a vote was imminena that there was al to move to a vote. listen to what happened as theyh ght the final votes of the articles of impeachment becoming, here's chairman jerry nadler. >> it has been a long two days of consideration of these articles, and it is w very late at night. i want the members on both sides of the aisle to think about what has haened over the last two days, and to search theirs conscienfore we cast our final votes. therefore the committee will now stand in recess until tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. the committee is in cess. >> chairman, mr. chairman, there was no consulting from the minority, nking member on your schedule for tomorrow, for which you've just blown up schedules for everyone. c you chose not sult the
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ranking member on a schedule issue of this magnitude. so typical. >> reporter: so typical, and i think that's whey thewanted to raise this. this kind of activity is actually unusual. usually the ranking member and the chairman talk about basic stuff like thi but, judy, here's where we are where they can't agree talk even about the closing time for the votes or when votes are happening, and this is just added tthis atmosphere of agoer. i talked to sheila jackson lee who's on the committee, from texas, she says she has empathy expectation that they would get poscheduling announcement, and said we felt it ant to take the vote in daylight. implication commokication has down. >> woodruff: indicating the divide in the commite. next the house votes and going to the senate. what have you heard about the senate and leader mcconnell and the plans. >> there has been a news from mr. mcconnell in the last few days about what he thinks
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the senate should do, and eaking to aides, to senator mcconnell, we kn he is utious about having a very long trial in the senate. he doesn't want every witness, perhaps, that the white house or other republicans may want to call. so what he's doing n is he's going to have a process whereea you will hessentially opening presentations by the house who will be arguing for impeachment and removed -- removal of the president and from the presihent and whoever elects to defend him. the plan now is to let the senateecide essentially case by case if they want witnesses at that point, or not. it will take 51 senao decide on any kind of rules going forward from tt. there's a chance there could be a bipartisan deal. no one expects that but, essentially, it's going to be a little unpredictable when we get to january. it's possible the trial could move quickly, it's possible it don't. >> woodruff: lisa, stepping, baur american presidents have faced impeachment, three in the last 45 years.
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you have been talking to people >> the hill about what that says. eporter: that's right, the three recentths who saw the house judiciary committee vote on articles of ieachment is significant to longer term staffers who look at the span of america's 230 years of having presidents and say this is happening mo frequently now. this is a tool that we see lawmakers on capitol hill inking about more often. there are, of course, still very relevant debates as to what is the standard for impeachment, what is impeachable. ere is just a very real conversation about the fact that it is uphappening more often ins thodern era. >> woodruff: and we are certainly thinking about it right now. e sa desjardins, thank you. >> reporter: youlcome. he woodruff: in the day's news, the u.s. and china confird that they have the beginnings of a long-awaited trade agreement. the interim deal cancels a new round of planned u.s. tariffs against china, and scales back
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some others. china, in turn, will buy more american farm commodities. both president trump and chinesi ofs talked today of what's next. >> chinaould like to see the tariffs off, and we're okay with that. and they'll be used as the negotiating table for the phase 2 deal, which they would like to start immediately, and that's okay with me. >> the consultation in the second phase will depend on the implementation of this phase 1 agreement.so he priority for us is to sign thiagreement and make use of the agreement to promote economic and trade cooperation >> woodruff: we will look at the tradannouncement in detail, after the news summary. the u.s. supreme courtill hear three cases involving s esident trumfusal to release financial records. a state prosecutor in new york ohas subpoenaed eight yea the president's tax returns. several u.s. hou commiees are seeking bank records. lower courts have ruled against mr. trump.
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in britain, prime minister boris johnson called f unity after to carry out brexit. new mandate his conservatives captured a commanding majority in parliament in tuesday's election. that clears the way for britain to quit the european union at thend of january. robert preston of independent levision news reports. >> reporter: sheer jubilation after the queen confmed he is staying as prime minister, celebrating the best election result for a tory leader sin margaret thatcher's in 1987. all the more remarkable because, just six months ag his party was wiped out in elections for the european parliament. and what is even more remarkable is that he won seats from labour that have never been tory in modern times.
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pr to repay your trust. >> reporter: whaelled him to victory was the slogan, "get brexit done." and today he begged a country torn apart by brexitme back together. >> after three and a half years, after all, an incrsingly arid argument. i urge everye to find closure and to let the healing bin. >> reporter: it was that famo bong -- >> it is now 10:00 and we can reveal the full details of the joint roll casters exit poll. >> an earthquake. >> reporter: labour seat after labour seat fell to the tories, starting with workington and blyth valley... >> 20,000. ( cheering ) >> reporter: ...all through the former industrial heartlandsf the midlands and north.
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>> i will not lead the party. i will discuss with the party, reflection on this result. it is over for jeremy corbyn, though he'll stay for a few months till a successor is chosen by labour members. w but she has k away, because she's no longer an m.p. quite a christmas present for him.ew just aeeks ago, he was the parliament's hostage-- not enough m.p.'s to govern-- and can be confident of ling here, and being our prime minister, for many years. >> woodruff: that report fonm robert pref independent television news. in algeria, a former prime minister has bidn elected prt, despite a boycott by pro-democracy forces. officials say abdel-madjidei tebboune recd 58% of the vote yesterday. they said turnout was 40%. today, thousands of ootesters turn in algiers and other cities. they charged that tebboune is
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beholden to the same my- backed elite that has ruled for decades. a asarch team in new zealand recovered the bodies of six of the 16 people killed in a lcanic eruption. they are believed to have been australian tourists. the volcano on white island was still spewing toxic gases today, making the search a high-risk operation. two people are still missing some 200 countries struggled today to reach agreement as a climate summit wou down in madrid. it appeared the so-called cop-25 gathering could put off action on key issues for another ye. meanwhile, in brussels, european union leaders pledged to make the bloc carbon-neutral by 2050. >> we want europe as the first climate-neutral continent. respect for many cs ofwith different countries because we know that it's important to take
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into consideration the different different starting points. also >> woodruff: poland was the only on to the agreement.sign on wall street, stocks managed minimal gains, as investors weighed the worth of the trade deal with china. the dow jones industrial average was up three pointto close at the nasdaq rose 17s, and the s&p 500 added a fraction. lld, veteran actor dny a died overnight, in new jersey, after brief illness. his breakthrough came in eroonstruck," in 1987, as jilted lover. he also played piz shop owner sal in spike lee's "do the right thing," and earned an oscar nomination. other movie credits included "fort apache, the bronx" and "once upon a time in america." danny aiello was 86 years old. still to come on the newshour: as the u.s. and china reach a
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deal, how close are we to the end of the trade war? mark shields and david brooks consider what brought congress to the precipice of impeachment. and, much more. >> woodruff: as we reported, the trump administration and china today announced phase 1 of a deal to de-escalate the trade war between the world's two largest economies. but the reement has produced many questions, and criticism. nick schifrin is here with that story. >> schifrin: judy, the trump administration portrays this deal as a major victory that could le by china, at little cost. a senior administration official said china had agreed to vitructural reforms" on be that's long concerned the u.s.:
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intellectual property theft; forcing u.s. companies in china to transfer their technology; and, currency and foreign exchange manipulation, among others. and china committed over the xt two years to purchase $200 billion in american agriculture, manufacturing, and energy products. in return, the u.s. dropped a to take effect on sunday, andd reduce a previous round of tariffs. all told, the changes would affect more than $350 billion worth of goods. to talk about this, i'm joined by mary lovely, a senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics. welcome to the "newshour".u thank ry much. >> thank you. >> reporter: we can't read the actual deal but the administrati describes it as how do you asez thificance of this deal? >> i think on that it's good thnews in the short run fo american economy. we have some lifting of the tariffs.
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we have a deal, and the longer it's going on, seems more it was a drag on business confidence. g.d.p. growth has been held back by really a major slowing down of business-fixed investment, and, so, we're hoping that businesses will see this as potentially a pathway to trade peace and begin to invest again. of coue, the tariffs have kind of thrown their plans for where they're going get their supplies and where they're going to sell, so at least a little bit of certainty on that is good. >> reporter: it's a look at some specifics. admistration is claiming chi agreed to fundamental restorms most notably intellectual property, transportation, things u.s. has long complained about. is there any indication china is willing to deliver fundamental reforms? >> well, china has been making changes in its law, and i think we're going to see a lot of s sort of packaged in this with a nice bow put on top.
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so, for example, intellectual property, it's been tightening both the law, the ability toce pot, how those things are adjudicated. an important step they took last year, we would think of it as an appellate court at the central government level because a lot th these concerns happen a local level, and one of the big complaints american businesses h ha is that, you know, we can't have the same guys at thei prov level who are part owners in the business that we say is stealing our stuff deciding whether or not that theft is actually happening. so now there is another level that those businessecan take these claims. so on that, china was ready doing things. on forced technology, they n created th foreign investment law last january, which clearly states that foreign investors need to be free of any kind of coercion on their technology. so a lot of these things were happening, at least on paper.
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>> the administration ys china is going to buy $40 billion to $50 billion of agriculture gds this year and next year. we've got a statement today from a group, farmers for free trade questioning that, hoping that "this is not an empty political promise." is there any indication that china can and wants to purchase that many goods for american farmers? >> well, frankly, i'm surprised that the totalare that high. the maximum amount of agriculture exports we ever sold china was in 2017, and it was about half of that, so it was 27,000. so -- 27 billion, i'm sorry -- but half of what the maximum act it's hard to see whey will put them. plus the chinese economy has been slowing which would slow the demandee >> there haspolitical criticism to have the deal. we can show a tweet by top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer. quote, president trump has sold
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out r a temporary and unreliable promise from china to purchase some soybea is the chinese promise temporary and unreliable? >> well, i think senator schumer belies this trade war woof l to better outcomes. i personally do not thinthat is true. this is not the way to get change in china. we are seeing dramatic changes in the political system in china, a massive increase in the role of the state, a lot of the investment going into state-owned enterpris, we're seeing political repression in many ways, those are the changes smart wah in a this blunt-force instrument wasn't getting us anywhere, i was hurting american consumers, hurting american businesses.at re we getting out of it? i'm not sure what senator schumer thinks about where we see this going anywhere in a't positive direction, so i'm happy at we at least called a cease fire today. s the hurdle for phase one has been high and phase two is
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even bigger, right? more fundamental reforms. how far are we away from the end of the trade war? i think very far aw what we packed into phase o industrial subsidies, ins -- particular, since thesesu idies are fundamental to chinese development plan, toward reorienting its econowards higher wage and higher capital intensities and erging industries like electronic vehicles. we left aside market access. having level playing ground for our tech and financial companies, those are going to be very difficult. they're going to move into other issues including censorship of the internet, chinese control of their own financial markets, and national security, and we know >> reporter: not af tough. progress before the election in the u.s., probably. >> i don't think so. >> reporter: mary lovely, from the peterson institute for
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international economics, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> wdruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: the author of "antisocial: online extremists, techno- utopians, and the hijacking of the american conversat and, from the sahara to the carolinas, the power of music in the fight against bigotry. abuse of power, and obstruction of congress.da as of those are the judiciary committee-approved charges against president trump. now, iis on the full house of representatives to decide whether or not to impeach him. important week, as always, are shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shids, and "new yorkum times" cst david brooks. he to to both of you. so these two articles of impeachment, david, how strong a case have the democrats made with this? >> well two, things.
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one, i think they made a strong case. i think there was clearly a campaign thave a quid pro quo with ukraine, and it's clearlyff an impeachablese. as for the articles of impeachment, i don't like them. abuse of power? what is that? that's not a criminal thing. it's a vague construct. same with obstruction of congress. these are both extremely vague constructs and i think they leah away fro actually happened, what crime was committed and what should the punishment be and they'll lead to a debate over these vague concepts. the concepts should hug closely to some sort of criminal concept that's in our court system, so we all have a history about it and know the structure of it, and these waft away from it. i think they make the case, but i don't like the way nay framed it. >> woodruff: mark, too vagueon and nooint? >> too vague? no. judy, i think the best case was
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made by a unique person in loughlin, in the nixon impehment, a member at the time of bill clinton's patienthe d inouse judiciary committee. i think she drew a distinction t compellingt richard nixon, no comporting with a foreign power, no attempt to bri foreign influence into our elections, that he tried to fluence the election improperly and tried to cover it up with the f.b.i. and the c.i.a. and paid for it. bill clinton, no foreign influence, no rigging of an election. he had totally and improperly and indefensively had sexual relations with a 21-year-old intern and lied about it. but this was a president trying to rig an election coming up in 2020. using a country, an ally under duress facing external threat to
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its survival from moscow and from russia in need of our assistance that has already been voted for and asking for exchange to get that, of meetine withresident to validate the new leader of our allyth there, tha spy on an upcoming election in the t's principal opponent. >> woodruff: you're saying >> i think it's quitee that? straightforward and clearly undetandable and clearly understandable by anybody and ij thiny, quite honestly, no republican i knowill be able t to explahis or her grandchildren why he or she voted against this, thatibhis was defethat this was acceptable behavior on the part of the president oesthe united st >> i i think they'll say, oh, i might have voted for censure, this doesn't rise to the level of impeachnt. i think that's the strongest argument aside from just throwing up smoke. >> woodruff: but are
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saying, david, there's a different article that they could have, should have come up with? >> i should have gone to law school and i would know. i didn't go to law school. i don't have the exact phrase. i just think the phrase of abuse of power means nothing and everytng to me. >> woodruff: and obstruction of congress? >> that's a little closer, but, frankly, so ny people have been accused and sometimes removed from office for that that we really undo an election over that one. i think something serious happened here but it w what mark just described, but somehow the way we're about to debate this doesn't seem to get to the seriousness of it. >> one side engaged. there wasn't an acknowledgment defenders that he had done wrong. with nixon, there had been a break-in. the republicans are tate of denial. they're sailing blithely on the river denial. nothing was done.
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mick mulvaney tells us wake up, grow up and accept it. >> woodruff:epublicans are calling it a sham, a waste of time. the president himself is doing the same thing, he's tweet ago lot. he was out on ththcampaign trail week. he was in hershey, peng ylvania, talkout the impeachment process, also singling out the chairman of the house intelligence committee, and schiff, and here's -- adam schiff and here's what the president sa. >> the president of ukraine repeatedly declarethat there was no pressure, but he didn't want to say that. we said, "say it." "say it, you crooked bastard,sa it." but he doesn't want to say it. we said, "say it!" i'd like to force m to say it. he'll walk up to the mic, "ladies and gentlemen." guy's a total corrupt guy. >> woodruff: so that well with trump supporters, doesn't it? >> she's a showman, and that's
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show business. i have to say, i had a friend who had been away in israel and came back to united states and he came up to me and said trump's really funny, and i don't always see the humor, but in hershey, pa, tens of humor and hundredsllionsthe or tens of millions of people around the country see the humor and they just think the guy is funny, and they like that. >> woodruff: it's work he's using tough language. >> it's not working.in he's bjoe biden and every other leading democrat. judy, just think of poans, lifetime, whether he your e city -- shining city on ll or the hope, you know, what we can do together, you know, what we owe each other, this is the antithesis of that. this is the politics agreements. this is not that we are surrounded by those with whom we can work, we c reach across
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the aisle, that my opponent -- my adversary is not mistaken or ill-informed. o onent is my enemy and it's evil and he hates this country and hates you, and if that didn't echo through jim jordan's words. donald trump has spawned proteges a knock-off version versions -- you know, they hate us, they're out to get us.re ly, it's a terribly bleak and dismal and dark america the president puts forth. o >> we're praisthe notion that we can have a conversation, so i stand up for those values as much as anybody, but in a time when people hate the one of trump's secs thereo much, has to be a stylistic way to havealking that seems different. even for those of us on our side have to find a stylistic way of talking that feels authentic to ople, and some of the ol communication styles that inndidates used to do, i think
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that's not resonwith people right now, and that's been true around the world, and you can get somebody who's conservative or progressive who doesn't exhaust everybody all the time and who actually talks in a normal tone and listens. but somehow, something that is to change and that's one of the things we've learned not onlyut from trumphe world politics. >> people are pointing to boris johnson. >> and i agree, but one point, judy, and that is, at point is there any celebration of at we've achieved in this country. i mean, the fact that we've cut the poverty rate of people over age 65 by two-thirds that would remove 85% of the lead from the air, all the things we'vdone and are doing, we've got a long way to go, but we have achieved. you know, there are good things that america does. >> woodruff: well, and ate comp different direction, two investigations, i want to ask you both about. one, david, is the inspectorge ralt othe department of justice went back and looked at
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the origins of the trump campaign russia investigations. the inspector general said hedn find political bias but a lot of mistakes. what's the takeaway. >> fiona hill and a lot of people testified we saw the federal got at its best and now we're seeing another side, incomcompetence. i take them at their word there was no political bias. carter page wasn't meting are russians and telling the c.i.a., i just want you to know,'m meeting with them, and the f.b.i. did not disclose that facthat he told the c.i.a., which certainly makes it look a lot less spicious than it otherwise would be, and, frankly, indicates a lot of the stuff devin nunes was saying, the how republicans and use intelligence committee, saying they weren't played fair. there wacertainla lot of incompetence and certainly people getting over their skis and trying to pursue a
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investigation maybe without as much cause as they pretended. >> woodruff: what do you take away from this? >> i agree with david, that there were serious mistakes made, and i think the f.i.s.a. process is open not only to scrutiny but severe criticism. but when christopher wray the director of the f.b.i. appointed by president trump said investigations were opened in a 2016 fhorized purpose and with the adequate federal predication -- predication is a word that is now in vogue -- but he gets lambasted by the president. it's like everybody got someing out of this investigation, except the president who wanted t coup, and there was no coup, that's it. i mean, i think there are a lo t of people haanswer what they did as far as the visa, but there was no coup. >> woodruff: and the other
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report, t so much the investigation official, but "the washington post" has reported, david, af ex extensive reporting going back years, asking for a documentund the afghanistan war, the decisions made by administrations going back to george w. bush, barack diama, through this administration, te that top officials were not telling the american people everything that knew, the truth, about was going on in that war. >> yeah, i found this series shocking.hi you always, oh, we've learned from the past, and one thing we felt we learned from vietnam is you don't lie about body counts, and it was disassembling about a lot of stuff over several administrations. some of this is inevitable. john hayes, lincoln's assistantn wrpublic statements ant how the civil war is going, the war is going great, we're going to win. then in his journal, at the same have no strategy. lose, we
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so some of this is inevitable.t e fact they didn't learn the single best lesson in 75 years, be straight. mind boggling. >> woodruff: vietnam was only a few decas ago. >> a few decades ago, judy. this is worse an vietnam. you think about it, since 2001, the country has just been unterested, disinterested the war, 18 years. the fact that the 150,000 hun beings have perished in this war, a trillion doars has been spent -- misspent, i think it's fair to say -- on mote pls that don't exist, supporting 200,000 troops that don'exist. it was a total fraud, scandal, criminal activity, and nobody blew the whistle. nobody called out. it was indefensible and all this
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time at home, what are we doing? $6 trillion in tax cuts. i mean, it just sort of leit go on. it is indefensible. we turned our back on the powell doctrine, which if anything we learned after vietnam that you go in with a limited objective,h verwhelming force, with clearly understood consensus of population, civilian and military, all of that's missing and it's terrible. it's a perverse way that helps donald trump because it's the government lying. i mean, we don't like to think that we lie to each other, our government lies to us, but this is a case of lying to the americaneople and lyg to themselves. >> woodruff: and your point is it's gone back a long time, this is not a modern phenomenon. >> and you see, you don't see. we all new afghanistan was a struggle. i was in kandahar once and i saw a joint american-afghan operatio, and the american soldiers looked awesome and fit
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and they were trng really hard, and some of the afghan soldiers, i could have taken them on. i saw that but i didn't see it. and when our leaders aren'tru telling us the about these things, it's hard to really know. you've got to trust your leader and lives depended upon it. >> fully two-thirds of afghans diagnosed with mental disorders in this war. that's a tragedy. >> woodruff: mark shields, david brooks, thank yo >> thank you. >> woodruff: on an average day,i over 125 m people use twitter. an estimed 2.3 billion use facebook. we know these remarkable communication tools are also used by a growing number of people as their main sources for news and information. but as william brangham reports, a new book shows us how "news"
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websites and apps can be harnessed to spread some very dark ideas, very quickly. it's the latest in our "newshour reokshelf." >> brangham: theors of online platforms like facebook d twitter and reddit all describe themsves at first as ving one overarching goal: creating a space for freewheeling, open connections over the internet. from all in the process, these silicon valleyntrepreneurs built some of the most powerful tools for spreading information that the world has ever seen. ret in his new book, "new yorker" writer amarantz shows us how these "techno- utopians," as he calls them, built these platforms full of unforeseen vulnerabilities, and how a group of racists and vandals have used those vulnerabities to "throw the whole information ecosystem into chaos." the book is called "ansocial: online extremists, techno- utopians and the hijacking of
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the american conversation." welcome to the "newshour".now. >> thanks for having me. >> reporter: let'salk about the platforms, the twitters facebooks and reddits of the world. >> the biggest strength of thefo pl is their openness, their tolerance of all points of view. i make an analogy to a big party, when you throw open the o or to the party you're hosting, one wayep it few and exciting and novel is to not be overly micromanaginot police everything. t turn the music down, do drink that, don't smoke here. >> yeah, that's not party, you want to let everything f and you want to be ideologically consistent and that's basically dnothing. a lot of the platforms started out as tech no utopian, ch
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no-libertarian and say we're n going to police. if we get told of specific law breaking we'll put that under control but everything else is we'll let it ride. tech no-utopians, the arc ofhi ory would bend toward justice, the more speech the better and in some cases, that s true. there were lots of useful social movements that were spard and helped along by social media, but there was also an antisocial side to quotthe title along with the pro social side and there was this halo effect where people didn't seem to talk about very much.al side of the media >> or acknowledge it existed. and our blindness camehi cr down upon us. bulk of the book with thegood members of the so-called
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alt-right. s it and what is it that they did with these platforms that's so troubling to you? >> i didn't go into this workipe for the worsle on th internet. i ended up finding them but i didn't go looking for that i was looking for an example of what's theorst that can happen. it started getting nonhypothetical when i started looking for open racists, misogynistenned propagandists, kiand i found what i was l for. we're focused as we should be on what the russians did to meddle in the 2016 electi, what they and the iranians and the chinese and others might do in020 election. i think, as i say, it's to the good that we focus on that, but in the 2016 election, there were americans who were not anonymous, who you didn't need a subpoena to go find, who were meddling in our election way more than the russians were, and
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when i went to go ask them how they did it, they showed me. they let me sit in their living rooms and watch as they did it. for instance, there was one guyo in orangty california who invited me in and said, okay, pull up a chair, today we're going to start a rumor about hillary clinton. >> reporter: mike sernovich. ight.le multimes a day he would say i want people to think hillary clinton has a mysterious disease she's not talking about or i want to talk about her e-mails or whatever th may be, and he could inject that inng the news stream by star a perisce, getting #on twitter, he had broken it down step by step a infiltrate the news cycle basicallylo where i copick up the newspaper the next day and say this is here because ofhat i watched one guy do by rallying his friends on twitter the day before. that's freedom and dcy but that's not a guy whosepr fingts you want on the
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national discourse. >> reporter: we've always had fringe characters in american politics. t your sense that these platforms amplify those voices and simply give us a better look at them, or is it actually creating more of them? is it eliciting new soldiers in their fight? >> yeah, so the platforms change things. i think sometimes the platforms take refuge in the true idea that there has always been racism and bigotry and misogyny but what they're leaving out is when you incentivize shock and fear and disgust and all these emotions, when you -- yeah, when you inczealgorithm. them, when you play points andal the moreious things you say the more points you get, t these things anted by the algorithm, when you ild a tool that's revolutionaryw people communicate and think. i think the informational crisis s is kind of as big a deale
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climate crisis or the city infrastructure crisis e if we don't know how to think and talk and learnow to arm ourselves with information, we can't address any of to the crisis we're facing. >> facebook in particular but twitter and reddit and many other platforms sac we get it there's a platform and we're trying to moderate and police this better, what do you make oi efforts and do you think they're doing enough? >> i think it's better they're ngdoing something than not for a long time they were essentially not doing any of this.'r thnot doing enough yet, and they need to be pushed to do a lot more. when you're someone like mark zuckerberg who built your life on do mo of what you're doing you will make the world a beer place, it's an article of faith at this point. it seems there is nothing that is really dangerous becauseich arese tools, you know, there are
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massive, massive that are being propagated on these tools every day.ki sp genosides in various parts to have the world, real tangible harms, and if we can't even acknowledge those harms without being told that, you know, that you don't respect free speech, it's not a good argument. i think freedom of speech is i'm a journalist, i love the first amendment, but there are e lots oonsibilities and rights to curb this stuff, they have the resources to do it and at this point they're art of using an excuse to not do it. >> rorter: the book is "antisocial: online extremists, techno utopians and the hijacking of the american conversation." andrew marantz, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: the band frnariwen hail the deserts of mali in north africa. its sound blends ancient saharan
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instruments with electric guitars, and has earned the band devoted fans around the world. during a recent u.s. tour however, the band members experienced a dark side of america-- before a north carolina show, they received a on social media.ophobic comments but as producer ali rogin reports, the city of winston- salem banded together to give them a warm welcome. the story is part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the band tinariwent may haveled far for this show, but it's on this stage where these musicians are moste. at h they hardly speak any english, but here in north carolina, they feel that their every word is unrstood. >> ( translated ): music is one of those thingthin life where e are no barriers or borders. and as musicians, this ts what gives courage to travel very far away from our sahara
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desert. ♪ te ♪ >> rep tinariwen's members are tuaregs, an ethnic group from all across e sahara desert. they're nomads who lay dow musical, rather than physical, roots. the band's music follows a rich tuareg lyrical tradition, gone electric. ♪ ♪ and they're rock stars in their own right, sharing stages with robert plant of led zeppelin, carlos santana, and u2's bono. the story of tinariwen follows the story of theuareg people. until 1960, the tuareg enjoyed tonomy in the north under french colonial rule. but then a series of dictators took control, and subjected the tuaregs to persecution, seizing their ancestral lands. many fled to neighboring countries. tinariwen's founders were among them.
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they met in anlgerian refugee camp in 1979. ♪ ♪ abdallah ag alhousseinays guitar.ed >> ( transl ): our music was born out of this reality of exile, hardships and suffering. >> reporter: they moved to libya to join a tuareg military unit led by then-dictator colonel muammar qaddafi,ho provided them some freedom. but tinariwen fought wittheir guitars, not guns. they sang about their people'sed struggle for f in their ancestral land, called azawad. >> ( translated ): we are from azawad, our identity is our tuareg origin, and our goal for our country takes precedence over absolutely everything. >> reporter: but none of that mattered to a few dozen people on facebook, who saw a post promoting the show and responded with hate. "any true american will not support this bunch of trash. let them perform in their own
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country," said one poster. "look like terrorists to me. no way," wrote another. one even threatened to bring his rifle to the show. ( laughter ) singer alhassane ag touhami responds to the hate with humor. >> ( translated ): have they ever seen a terrorist sing a song people who make music are not terrorists; they arectually persecuted by terrorists. ws reporter: tinariwen kno that firsthand. when islamist extremists took n control of theive northern mali in 2012, tinariwen refused to obey the extremist's music ban. one band member was briefly kiapped. >> ( translated ): we know that some people in the u.s. say wrong and negative things out us, but we do not feel anything about them, because they are ong. >> reporter: and most people in wake forest univerenioree. yasmeen shaltout grew up here, after her familyeft egypt when she was two years old. >> i'm constantly surrounded by
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people that are very welcoming. >> reporter: she'satched the muslim community grow just within her lifetime. >> they used to get together at a local house, and then the church space w bought and converted into a mosque when the community started growing out of that house. we've added new parking space, new building for a sunday school, so that expansion is even viewed in the physical expansion of space to accommodate more people. >> reporter: but that expansion in the tarheel state has created tension. in 2015, a man in nearby chapel hill murdered three college students-- all musms. shaltout said it was a reminder here is still some bigot in her backyard. >> i do feel that sometimes my mmunity is like a bubble, and it's been sheltered from all of these other terrible acts that we see going on so close by. >> reporter: but in this area, hate against a few is mourned by the many. after an anti-muslim terrorist killed 51 people in a new zealand mosque in march, non-
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erslims filled a local islamic ceere to show solidarity with their neighbors. and they did theame before the tinariwen show at the ramkat club. this venue typically doesn't have a police esencebut because of some of the threatening comments the band received, the ramk increased security for tonight's show. but that hasn't stopped people from ling upand management says ticket sales have been higher than usual. >> honestly, if you didn't buy tickets and you didn't give these people money, they have no reason to care about what you're saying anyway. >> these are excellent who have a long trn ofg people making music, great music. >> reporter: before the show, city council members join the managers of the venue to declare it "tinariwen day."th >> we are happ you are here, we are happy that you have chosen to be here with us tonight. >> reporter: democratigovernor roy cooper wrote a letter musicians like ryacleodal recorded cover versions of tinariwen songs.
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>> i think everybody hasri exced "outrage fatigue," where you don't know what to do. and so, here was something weul do, to show that this isn't who we are in this town. >> reporter: tinariwen has always believed in ter of musical camaraderie. their new album, "amadjar," atures american artists, including cass mccombs and micah nelson, the son of willie. >> ( translated ): there is this brotherhood, automatic friendship and acceptance between musicians, that make it e bond as soon as we mee each other. >> reporter: their album title means "foreign traveler." thsongs champion universal values: love, brotherhood, and freedom-- in their case, freedom for the tuareg themselves. all around the world, their songs of lging for a lost homeland have opened doors. >>ep translated ): we asking ourselves, how is it possible that people who do not unrstand us or our culture very far from our reality, can warmly welcome and support us? words can't possibly explain how great we feel about that.
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>> reporter: tinariwen's new album is named for a foreign traveler. but here, they were welcomed as native sons. for the pbs newshour, i'm ali rogin in winstonalem, north carolina. >> woodruff: what a great story. and a reminder to check out our new podcast, "broken justice." the series focuses on one state's public defender syst. stretched thin, missouri's public defenders struggle to deliver on the promise of justice foall. u can listen by visiting the "broken justice" link that's on our website.ca yoalso find epodes on apple podcasts, stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.d all thatore is on our.o website, www.p/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have areat weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:
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>> mr. jewell, we've got a few quesusons. >> i wasdoing my job. >> you have no idea who might >> no, sir.at package there? >> did you plant a bomb in centennial park? >> richard, this is capital crime here. >> my son is innoct. >> do you have any case against me? r >> iort the facts. >> you've ruined this man's life. >> i didn't do this. >> "richard jewell," a clint eastwood film, rated r. >> bnsf raway. >> consumer cellular.>> upporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.or >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting stitutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions
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and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for publ broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank yo captioning sponsored by newshour productions, l captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.
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tonight kqed newsroom, after a marathon session, the y house judicicommittee passes articles of impeachment against president trump. also, pg&e is offering more than $13 million toli wi wildfire victims are kqed arts looksback at th milestones, trends, and activists that have galvanized the bay area as the decade draws to a close. good evening and welcome to kqed newsroom, i am michael crosby. we begin tonight with the latest developmen the impeachment battle on capitol hill. friday morning the house ss judiciary committee two articles of impeachment against the president. abuse of power and obstruction of congress. democrats claim president trump abused his office for political gain when he tried to pressure

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