captioning sponsored by wnet >> alcindor: on this edition for saturday, december 21: an historic impeachment of the president and a government shutdown averted; nationwide protests in india over a new citizenship law; and democratic presidential candidates devalic paand julian castro. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family.ro lind p. walter, in memorye of geoneil. barbara hope zuckerberg.

charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and invements. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, yamiche alcindor. >> alcindor: good evening, and thank you for joining us. this week, president trump became the third president in u.s. history to be impeached. then, yesterday, he signed bills approving nearly $1.4 trillion in spending, avoiding a government shutdown.pr thident left the white house for the holidays last night. he first stopped at joint base andrews to speak to oops and to sign the 2020 nat

defense authorization act. the $738 billion act includes a 3% military ise; 12 weeks federal workers; and creates a new branch of the military, the space force. >> for the first time since ent harry truman created the air force over 70 years ago-- thinof tt-- we will create a brand new american military service that's such a momentous statement-- 70 years ago, the air force. with my signature today, you will witness the creation of the space force, and that will be now officially the sixth branch of the u.s. armed forces. ( cheers and applause ) >> alcindor: the preside signed the additional spending measures that will keep the government funded through next september on board "air force one." nine protesters were killed in northern india today during violent demonstrations against a

controversial new citizenship law. 23 pple have died during protests against the legislation. it excludes muslims but allows members of other religious groups who are in the cototry illegallpply for citizenship. >> this is a disiminatory act, and this discriminates betweenze ns based on religion. and therefore, they want to divide the indn society based on religion.do >> alcin during today's violence, the government deployed an anti-terror squad to dozen vehicles on and set a burned down a police station. indian prime minister ndra modi and his hpadu nationalist y continue to defend the law, calling it a humanitarian gesture. the united states is monitoring a warning from north korea of "" ristmas gift," which may mean a missile launch or test. the "new york times" reported that military and intelligence officials are tracng north korea's actions by the hour. officials say any icintercontinental ballist missile launch or nuclear

weapons test by north korea would significantly raise tensions and halt diplomatic efforts in the region. keeping north korea at the negotiating table until it vows to dismant its nuclear program is a priority of the trump administration. earlier this month, north korea said the u.s. was running out of time for negotiations and that there would be a "christmas gift" if sanctions are not eased. in australia, one person was killed today in ush fires that governmentfficials are calling" catastrophic." near sydney, firefights battled flames in high winds and temperatures exceeding 104 degrees. two firefighters died thursday d several other people have died as a result of the than three months ago.n more more than three million acres have burned, destroying 700 homes and injuring more than 20 firefighters. new south wales remains in a seven-day state of emergency with 2,000 firefighters battline 100 wild to read more about the $1.4 trillion spending package

signed by president trump, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> alicindor: the pbs newshour political democratic debate on thursday had the smallest number candidates so far. one of those who made it into earlier debates but not this week's date is former secretary of housing and urban development, julian castro. he joins us w from seattle, washington. thanks so much for being here. americans remain deeply divided over the impeachment of president trump this week. there are polls in somswing states that show that more than half of voters actually oppose removing president trump from office. why do you think democrats haven't convinced more americans that president trump should be removed from office? >> well, i think that's going to continue to happen as the evidence now in the senate trial continues to be examined and is

there for americans of all different backgrounds to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears. and so, i actually have confidence that... as this process continues to move along-- because we're onlylf y through it-- but as the process continues to move along and people see and hear the, evidenat there is going to this president froce.emoving the other thing we have to acknowledge, though, is, you politically polarime, and this president has tried to do evything that he can to fa the flames of that division. so, it's not surprising thatse you're going tnumbers like this. but as people see the evidence e and hear tdence, i believe that you'll see more folks support his removal. >> alcindor: mm-hmm. do you think there are too man millionaires in the race right now? >> what i believe is tmet too often money talks in politics, whether that's the money of somebody who's able to self-fund and reach these thresholds by artificially boosting their poll numbers,

pumping in tens of millions of dollars into tv ads and facebook ads; or, as was discussed on the debate stage the other night, it's the money of special interests where essentially you have people that may be >> the wine caves. >> and to superpac. >> the wine cave, you know, candidates, where essentially, you have people that may be influenced by the big special interests behind the both of those things are problemati n d a democracy that belongs to the people. i'm very proud that the averaget bution to my campaign is just under $20 and that i have one of highest percentages of small-dollar donors. p it's tple out there giving, their $10, $5 that are making up my campan. i'm proud of that. mm alcindor: vice president joe biden would not to serving two terms if elected president. what do you make of that? and would you commit if you were elected to serving two terms? >> well, i would say that tom goin. if i'm elected

president, i'm going to work very hard on behalf of the american people.e and i beliat we're going to make real progress in thisto countroost prosperity for everyone. so, i believe that i'd be in a good position to run for re- election. but, you know, what i agree with is that none of that is certain. you never know how anything is going to go in your first term as president. >> alcindor: mm-hmm. >> so, i understand it. i understand his answer. r me, i believe that, yok know, if i wrd as president on behalf of the american people and we do well in this country, then, you know, of course, i would run for re- election. >> alcindor: mm-hmm. you're sticking in this race though you have struggled to gain some traction. what's keeping you going? wh.. why stay in? >> throughout this campaign, i've been doing things edifferently from everyboe. i haven't been afraid to speak up and to go places in ways that other... other candidates won't. i've been speaking up not only for strengthening middle-class but also for the poouse, somewhere along the way as democrats, we forgot to fight as

intensely fopopeople who are . just a couple of days ago, i was on skid row in los angeles, visiting with people who arele ho, to understand the changes that we need to make in our country so that everybody has a place to live. i visited a storm drainage tunnel in las vegas where people are living there underneath the las vegas strip. they have nowhere else to lay their head anight. i want to make sure, as we, that no tter who you are, your background, that you're able to succeed. and my campaign has been about the most vulnerable people, people that are often cast aside and marginalized so, more and more people have found this campaign, a, especially with young people out there, we have gainedome traction that we could feel. and we're working as hard as we can to capture that, to harns it, and to beat expectations in iowa and then spriboard from there. >> alcindor: well, thank you so much. julian castro running for president, i appreciate you joining us.>> hank you.

>> alcinr: seven democratic candidates for president took the stage at the final debate of 20 this week. one of those who didn't qualify, based on poll numbers and fundraising, was former massachusetts governor deval patrick. he joins us now from the campaign trail in manchester, new hampshire. thanks so much for joining me, govern. ,>> i'm glad to be with y yamiche, but, come on! really? that's the introduction? "he's the one who wasn't on the stage"? come on! >> alcindor: well, you're here now with us. >> i'll get there. >> alcindor: you gotn this race just last month. what do you see is your path to the nomination, given that some people think that maybe you entered too late? >> well, it's... i'm later but not late. and i... i thank you for the chance to make that point because, until the voters vote. and what's quite clear even if you do trust the polling that's out there is that thnde are other ates who have been in for a long time, spent a lot

of money and a lot of me, and it's still a wide open race. large, large proportions, majorities of undecided voters in all of the early states. so, we are respectful of the calendar. we will compete in all of the early states. we're spenng a lot of time in new hampshire and southca lina, in particular, because primaries are just... they're different in terms of how you organize them. if it's intimate in new hampshire, it's granular in... in iowa, if you know what i mean. and... and we will... we will be present in iowa, but i think you'll see a lot more time spent here in new hampshire and in...n anouth carola. >> alcindor: the democratic national committee has raised the threshold again for the next debate. it's going to be january 14. this debate, andrew yang was the only candidate of color on stage. what do you make of that? and are you worried about the democratic national committee

continuing to raise the bar? >> well, i think, look, i... i has to be some winnowing process. i will say, i'm not sure that the debas-- and i say this respectfully, ving complimented you and your colleagues before y went on air r conduct of the last debate-- i am hoping that the format changes not jusf to expose alle candidates but to create a... a betr vehicle to communicate with the... withi the voting pbecause with recent debate, manhem have most felt more like a cage fight where they were... they were nd of alst, well, small differences fuss about among the candidates instead of the larger question. ich, to me, is not about the s-characteof the candida democr or the incumbent president-- it's about the character of the country. and one of the reasons, indeed, the reason i'm in is because i think we see a moment right now,

yamiche, where the anxiety and frustration and even anger that people are experiencing about their economic and social lives is so widespread, there is an opportunity through solutions to unite the country. and my own leadership experience atth in the public sector and in the prsector has... has been successfully to get people to turn rather than on each other.nk and... and i tt's a moment we shouldn't miss. >> alcindor: the headline from the last debate was - raiser in a wine cave. yove had very successful career in the private sector. what do you make of that being the headline? and this is a problem for the democratic party? >> well, i'm sorry that a... that a debate that was so substantive otherwise had a i don't think i've ever been in a wine cave. but i think it's kind of beside the point. you know, i think many, many

americans agree with me and i think many of the candidat on the stagthat we need a better way to fund our politics and our campaigns, that there's too much money; it is too influential especially the dark money; and that we need to get this out of our... out of our politics. but, you know, beyond that, i think that the... the fact is that if we're going to unite the country, then we need to focus on what the real problems ale. there are roblems around... around climate change, around criminal justice reform, around healthcare. and the issue when folks talk billionaires is not wealth, it's greed. and we have created a systemat nables people to hoardll the benefits among a few on thes theoryedited by the way that it would trickle down to everybody else.ur and we have tothat around. so, i regret that headline for a whole host oreason, to

, it's sort of beside the point. ere are bigger issues before us, and my campaign is aboutbi those biggerer issues and how we make the american dream actually work for everyone everywhere. >> alcindor: well, thank you so much. duval patrick running for president, former governtt of massachu >> good to be with you. ta care. >> alcinr: one day after the u.s. house of representatives approved two articles of impeachment, democrats hoping to take on president trump next november were on stage, debating. and on that same nig, at a campaign rally in miigan, the president spoke for more than two hours. he angrily blasted democrats and attacked the impeachment process. joining me now to discuss all of this are chris buskirk, editor and publisher of "american greatness," who is in phoenix, arizona; and karine jean-pierr

chief public affairs officer atg moveonn washington, d.c. she's also the author of "moving forward: a story of hope, hard work and the promise ofam ica." thanks to both of you for joining me today. karine, i'm going to start with you. house speaker nancy posi is now indicating she may delaye sending ticles of impeachment to the senate. who benefits from that potential strategy? >> you know what, yamiche, right now we're in a constitutional game of chicken. i don't think our founding fathers ever thought that we would b in a situation where you have one body, the senate, who seems to be wanting toll e with the executive branch-- that is, mitch mcconnell, who has basicallyg said he's goo work hand in hand with the trump and with all of the guidance that we've received in the constitution, we're kind inform a gray area. and what i think is happening, what seems to beappening is that speaker pelosi is essentially saying she wants a fair trial in the senate and is using her leverage at this moment take sure that

haowens. so rightthis is just where we are. we're in-- we're in the holiday seknon. we won' exactly what's going to be happening until after january 6, when t and the senate comes back from the holiday. >> alcindor: house speaker nancy pelosi is saying she might withhold those articles of impeachment from the senate. what do youake of that? karine says we're in a game of chicken here. >> yei mean, i've got to tell y, yamiche, this has got to be one of my favorite stories e year.entir sort of tickles me because it demonstrates what a broinn itution congress in general is. that's not so much a hit on deerms republicans. it's just here we are, we're talking about the impeachment of the president of the united states, democrats habe been talkint it, you know, basically since the beginning of 2017. they finly passed the articles, but thy don't want to send them to the senate. hien i think about this, i think, you know,is just sort of degenerated to the point where congress has become like an artists' collective performing for the relative constituencies and thei patron we all know how this ends up.

this eventually goes to the senate. there's going to be aial. donald trump is going to be acquitted, and then we're going to have to talk about the election. and so to the extent that this delays talking about the actual election that's happening in november, whether abolikes it or north i just don't see how this helps demoats. so i wouldnk thi that nancy pelosi would want to get this over to mitch mcconnell and to the republicans sooner rather than later. >> alcindor: chris, ticking with you, "christianity today" lical magazine came o in support of removing president trump from office. ehe editor wrote that president trump is ample of someone who is morally lost and confused. what do you make w f that? and e republicans talking about that magazine coming out with is that stce? >> yeah, so, ihought this was a totally interesting ory and you actually keyed in on the language that i thous most interesting in the whole editorial by mark galli, the departing editor of "christianity today." he said president trump shou be removed from office. but he uses as a predicate for

that, he calls him morally lost. the thing that jumped out o me that language, "lost," in aex christian cois a very freighted term. christians talk about the sved and the lost. it just struck me what galli iss doinetting up this sort of dichotomy where you have to think he's either saying on the one hand he's morally los- meaning donald trump isn't a christian and, therefore, ought not to be in office. so i he saying christians ought not to be president? erhope not. on the oand, what he's trying to do is wrap his political opinions in chrbuistin vory, in order to try and basically trick the readers of "christianity today" into believing him. and either way, i think that's super cynical. >> alcindor: turning now to the democratic debate, karine, what do you make of how this iowa caucuses.ate might impact they're just around the corner. if you want to you can talk a little bit about wat chris just

said. caucuses and the debate. iowa >> first of all, congratulations to everyone at pbs. you guys did ica fantaob. it was a very good-moderated debate. so congratulations to you, yamiche, as well. lo, i think it wasl in all, it was a good debate last week. nobody-- nobody did great and nobody did terrible. i think that having less people on the deba ste really allowed a real conversation about vision, about whatop 's plans are. soone like klobuchar really was able itake advantage of having less people on stage, while warren and others, like bernie sanders, i think it was a fine debate. as far as iowa, we're less than 50 days to iowa. we're in the holiday season. i think everything is kind of frozen into place. wee not going to see much movement in the polls until after january when we geet closr to, clearly, the caucus. and, honestly, i mean, the pollh have beee polls. the top three, the top four, that tiesr one basically been

what we see. i think when you think about owaaucus and the history of it, andhow it goes in the someone that's kind of-- that breaks late that wins the iowa caucus. so i actually think i was wide. op anyone can take it. and so it's going to be-- it's going to be a wild ride come januar so buckle . >> alcindor: and, chris, i spoke deval patrick, and hiewli castr both still running for the democratic nominati, neither one got on stage. what do you think they might do about this? s showingel bloomberg support, going up, even though he's not going to be able to make the debate stage, he is pouring millions of dollars of ads into tv. >> i mean, past rick ,nd cast look, what they, i think, are probably best sued to do i align with one of the other candidates. i just don't see an opportunity for them to sort of break out and all of a sudden win iowa or new hampshire or something. mike bloomberg is sorfftave ent and in a way more

interesting story because he just has the ability toet blank the airwaves, to hire staff in every state, and basically to su up a ton of oxygen just by virtue of the fact that he can self-fund to the extent-- he can literally spend more money thane every candidate combined, and that means something. i'm not sure what it means, but it means he can buy a lot of measure of support.y some and, yet, it still seems like n he that interesting or charismatic of a candidate. i wched the debates the other night, and i kept thinking, everybody except bernie sanders sort of represents some flavor of the neoliberal. bernie sanders i found fascinating because he is who hb always hn-- this is me as a conservative looking at him, this is somebody i fod pretty interesting and really differentiating himself from the others. alcindor: thank you so much chris buskirk and karine jean-pierre. >> thank you, yamiche. thank you, yamiche. >> th is pbs newshour weekend

saturday. >> alcindor: christmas trees are a sign of the season, and those trees-- fromhe biggest and most spectacular to the smallest-- all need decorations. some of the most pzed come from a mexican town where the art of making hand-blown glass ornames is the source of economic success that lasts all year long. newshour weefend's ivette liciano has the story. >> reporter: the handmade glass christmas tree ornaments from githe town of tlalpujaa production over a more than 1,30degree flame. expert artisans transform long glass tubes into shaat are tourists from all he worldrated. visit local shops filled with the shiny and unique decorations.>> translated ): the good thing for us is providing happiness to people with the products that we make for

christmas. it's happiness, a feeling of satisfactionto know that we are giving joy to all families. >> reporter: the town, northwest of mexico city, once thrived on income from gold andilver mines, but a 1937 mudslide shut down most mining. the business of making hand- crafted tree ornaments here began in the 1960s and now supports 10,000 full-time workers. >> ( translated ): i think that about 60%, 70% of the population works in this sector. it's the breadbasket of the people. >> reporter: mexico's ministry of economic development reports that 50 million ornaments are made each year in the town, with half exported to countriesud ing the u.s., japan,ia maland europe. >> ( translated ): they are beautiful. it's impressive. price. you don't find them at just any above all else, thety, they're really beautiful. u never get tired of seeiny.so much beaut

>> alcindor: and finally, winter ficially begins tonight in the northern hemisphere. that means both today and sttomorrow will be the lon nights of the year. on the bright side, the tays get longering monday; and if you're in the southern hemisphere, it's summer! that's allor this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm yamiche alcindor. thanks for watching. have a good nigh captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media acss group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein

family. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. rbarbara hope zuckeg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking carof tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public badcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs. pbs statsts stat