captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >>f iran does anything the eouldn't be doing, they'r going to suffer the consequences and very strongly. >> woodruff: the u.s. and iran trade threats, as more than 50 people die in a stampede during a funeral procession for slain general qassem soleimani. then, an iand shakes. a deadly earthquake strikes puerto rico, the latest in a wave of powerful tremors that has destroyed homes and left people in the dark. and, speaking with senator bernie sanders about his presidential campaign and iran. plus, everything old is new again. heading to the italian alps, where a surval expert teaches urban dwellers the lost art of

caveman living. >> ( translated ): hunting is anone of those things thato well, but can also go bad. you might not eat anything one day and have lots the next. every morning you have to think how you are going to make it to the evening. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbsewshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪se >> on a crith american cruise lines, you can experience hestoric destinations along the mississippi river,olumbia river and across the united states. ameran cruise lines fleet of small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud

sponsor of pbs newshour. >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plans give you as much-- or as little-- talk, toxt and data as you want, and our u.s.-based cusr service team is hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railwa >> fidelity investments. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation.fo ering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: presidentrump is being pressed for proof that killing a top iranian general saved american lives.ie hend his topenants all underscored that point today. meanwhile, at least 56 people were killed, and more than 200 were hurt in a crush of people at the general's funer foreign affairs correspondent nick schifrin begins our coverage >> schifrin: a day in iran meant for mocong a military ander will now lead to the mourning of many more.e the stampede cring the funeral procession of major general qassim soleimani through his hometown. all that remained was a pile of shoes. standing before hundreds of thousand the commander of iran's revolutionary guard promised vengeance. >> ( translated ): i say to our enemies, we will take revenge. but if they ta another step in response, we will set re to the places they love.

and they know where these places nge. >> schifrin: that ge was echoed by iran's top diplomat, foreign minister javad zarif, anwho also shut the door t future prisoner swaps. >> ( translated ): the united astates is bound to recei definitive and certain response for its outrageous act, at a time and in a place where it would feel the utmost pain. >> schifrin: the "new york times" reported that iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei wants retaliation to be a "direct and proportionalam attack on erican interests,"y and "openlrried out by iranian forces." that's a contrast to many previous attacks, conducted by iran's network of proxy groups. iran's parliament today voted to designate the pentagon and u.s. army as terrorist organizations. at the pentagon, secretary of defee mark esper said the ba was in iran's court. >> the united states is not seeking a war with iran, but we are prepared to finish one.ng we are see diplomatic lution. but first, this will require ayan to de-escalate.

>> schifrin: yestethe u.s. military said it mistakenly gent a draft letter to the iraqi government sing the u.s. was withdrawing troops from iraq today, iraq's caretaker prime minister said he was treating it as policy,ut esper said there had been no change. >> we are not leaving iraq. a draft, unsigned letter does not count as a policy ange. >> schifrin: secretary of state mike pompeo said today the u.s. policy of ximum resistance would continue. and he reiterated, without . idence, that the intelligenc that led the u.s target soleimani suggested an imminent attack in the days after the siege on the u.s. embassy. >> if you're looking for imminence, you need to look no further th the days that led up to the strike that was taken against soleimani.

>> schifrin: on capitol hill, lawmakers continued their clashe overresident trump's iran policy. top senate democrat chuck schumer. d the president has promi that he would not drag the american people into another endless war in the mide east. the president's action wever, have seeminglye accreased sk that we could be dragged into y such a war. >> schifrin: senate majority leader mitch monnell. >> he enforces his red lines when he takes real action to counter lethal threats against americans.>> chifrin: administration officials are providing classified briefings to congress todaand tomorrow, trying to increase bipartisan support, as tensions with iran remain high. for the pbs newshour, i'm hck schifrin. >> woodruff: we wie more on that later in the program.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, russia's president vladimir putin traveled to syria, as the u.s. confrontation with iran roiled the middle east. syrian state media released images of putin meeting with president bashar al-assad in damascus.e n also met with military commanders. russia intervenein the syrian war in 2015. in the u.s. senate, majority leader mitch mcconnell announced trat republicans have agreed on rules for presidenp's impeachment trial. he said he has the votes to delay a decision on calling witnesses until atter opening ents. that same process was used in president clinton's impeachment trial. >> what was good enough for president clinton in an impeachment trial should've been good enough for esident trump. and all we're doing here is saying we're going to get started in exactly the same way that 100 senators agreed to 20 years ago.

>> woodruff: democrats say the situation is different now because the trump white house blocked key officials from testifying to house investigators. and, senate minority leader chuck schumer sayse is not giving up. >> i am not only hopefulbut i think there's a pretty decent chance that we're going to get enough republicans to vote for witnesses and documents during this trial. there's no witnesses and documents, we will have the ability at the beginning of the trial and as we go through, tot tes, and we're going to get them. >> woodruff: house speaker nancy pelosi has refused to se articles of impeachment to the senate, in a bid to press forwi ess testimony. the u.s. justice department called today f michael flynn, esident trump's former national security adviser, to serve up to six months in prison. in a court filing, federal ppprosecutors said flynn s

cooperating in the russia investigation, and has attackede them i. he faces sentencing in three weeks for lying to the f.b.i. puerto ricis und a state of emergency after an early-morning earthquake. the tremor shook the u.sit territory anthree million people, with substantial damage along the southern coa john yang has our report. >> yang: cars crushed under llapsed garages, churche reduced to rubble. scenes of devastation after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake jolted puerto ricans before dawn today. >> ( translated ): i was sleeping when the house began falling down, bit by bit. i grabbed my bag i hadrepared and ran outside and jumped off the balcony. man, it was terrible. i don't wish that on anyone. >> yang: a series of quakes along three fault lines has shaken puerto rico since christmas. this morning's was centered just off the southern coast near ponce, and did its heaviest damage in that region. one man in ponce died when a wall caved in on his house.

large swaths of the island were left without power, and some 300,000 customers lost wat service. the iconic beachside "punta ventana" rock formationd collapto the sea. governor wanda vazquez declared an emergency and said thee earthquake dam the worst since 1918. >> ( translated ): we are talking about a situation that puerto rico has never en exposed to during the last 102 years. so, were talking about mething for which we could not prepare. weon talking about a situa that happens without notice. >> yang: and, with after-shocks rippling across the island d throughout t, many puerto ricans are unnerved. >> ( translated ): whaw i want to do leave. i want to leave, and not stay there anymore, because i no longer live in peace. if i want to go in a room, i have to think about it twice. if i gto the kitch, i am concerned. i don't want to go in there.>> ang: officials are warning of more tremors to come, on an island still recovering from the

devastating hurricane maria in 2017. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruf in australia, firefighters tried to take advantage of cooler, rainy conditions today, before temperatures heat up again. scores of fires have killed 25 people and destroyed 2,000 homes in recent weeks. in new south wales, some 130 fires are still burning, and 50 of those are out of control. crews say there's only so much they can do. >> eher when the good lord opens up the heavens and gives us weeks of rain, or it burns to the coastline. it's really the only options. it is too large to put out. anything that we're doing just isn't working, and thath all the rcraft as well. can slow it down, but, yeah, very hard to stop. fi woodruff: latest estimates put damage from ths near $500 million.

in this country, facebo has announced a ban on sophisticated, doctored videos known as "deepfakes. they use artificial intelligence and other tools to generate false-but-realistic viips. the company says it is par fof an effort ht online disinformation. the trump administration todayop ed rescinding a rule against racial segregation in housing. the obama-era standard mandates local plans to address the proble the department of housing and urban development said today that the rule is overly rdensome. and, on wall street, worries about iran welled up again, andu ed stocks down. the dow jones industrial average lost 119 points to close at 28,583. the nasdaq fell about three points, and the s&p 500 slipped nine. still to come on the newshour: we speak with democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders just weeks before thewa aucuses. the standoff between senator

mcconnell and speaker pelosi over trump's impeachment trial. and much more. >> woodruff: democc presidential candidates have been speaking about iran as they seek to contrast their foreign r-licy visions against that of the currt comman-chief. in new york city, former vice president jobiden said that president trump's decision to strike outt qassem soleimani was dangerously incompetent. >> so the question is, was the reward of removing a bad actor worth the risk of what comes next? we don't have evidence to suggest th trump or anyone around him thought seriously about that calculus. >> woodruff: meanwhile, in an

interview with abc today, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren expressed again her own doubt that the president made the right move. >> he is part of a group that our federal government has designated as a terrorist. the question, though, is, what's the right response? and the response that donald trump has picked is the most incendiary and has moved us right to the edge of war. >> woodruff: a joining us now om burlington to discuss the soleimani attack and more, democratic presidential candidate and independent senator from vermont, bernie nders.to sesanders, thank you very much for being with us again. let me ask you first about iran. you criticized president trump for targeting the killing of general soleimani. you called it a assassination. but if the administration is able to produce hd evidence that he was going to attack americans, would you then say

this is justified? >>hat's a hypothesis. we haven't seen that evidence. frankly i doubt that evidence is there. judy, what is going on right now feels to me exactly what i saw in 2002 and 2003, and that was the lead-up and th justification for the war in iraq. i opposed that wa vigorously, and it turned out to be one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the history of the united states. a war with iran would likely be even worse so i will ll that i can to make sure that in this instance and in othnstances we solve internationaconflict diplomatically and we try to put an end to endless war >> woodruff: senator, you've said that this was in violation of intsonational law. oes that mean you believe president trump has violated... has committed a war crime?

>> look, whe go around assassinating leadership innt govern you are setting a precedent which says to any country on earth, hey, l we got to do is name these people terrorists, call them what you want, and we cn assassinate them. i think the world and this country is sick and tired of endless wars that have cost us trillions of dollars while our infrastructure is collapsing, our healthcare system is dysfunctional. we have to deal with climate change and investly in transforming our energy system. judy, in my view we do not need to snd trillions of dolars more in a war. >> woodruff: very quickly, on iraq, you hae called previously for removing u.s. troops from iraq. as you know, the iraqias parliamentaid u.s. troops should leave. would yu as president have u.s. troops pulled out? >> look, i want u.s. trops out of iraq. i have wanted that forme a long

but you bring them out in a measured, intelligent way, torking with the iraqi government and wh our international allies. what's happened here after the loss of 4,500 american lives, hundreds of thousands of iraqi lives, triions of dollars, essentially we are being booted q.t of ira so do i want to end the war there in iraq and bring mesh troops home? absolutely. that is what i'll do as president. it's a sad state of affairs to see after all of thisas ifice, to see our troops booted out of the country. >> woodruff: senator, a couple of questions on domestic policy. there are pls now that show most voters are prpared to build on obama care rather than go to a single-payer system, which is what you advocate. >> well, dep polling that you look out. the vast majority of people inde thocratic primary absolutely support a medicare for all single payer system,

because they understand that when we are spending twice as much per capita as the people of any other country and yet 87 million americans are uninsured or underinsured, 500,000 people go bankrupt because of medically related bills, all at the same time as the healthcare industry and ug companies made $100 billion in profit last yea people understand this system has got to change. and any own view after 100 years of talk in this country about the need the guarantee healthcare f all, now is the time to take on the greed and corruption of the drug companies and the insurance companies, expand medicare, and provide a medicare for all single pay system for all. it will cost the average american substantially less than what he or she is paying tosday. thathe direction we've got to go in. >> woodruff: well, in connection with that, senator, you recently acknowlged that a lot of people would lose jobs in a transition to medicare for all. you talked just recently abo a

prram to provide jobs and job training to people who los their jobs under the program. are you guaranteeing that people who lose their jobs under this new system would have a job? >> we have built in a very generous transition period. onof the reasons we're spending twice as much per person as any other country on healthcare is we have enormous administrative waste. we have all kinds of people in the bureaucracy administerg thousands of separate health insurance plans. we need more doctors, nrses, psychologists, psychiatrists, councilors. we need ople to deal wih the crisis of opioid addiction. we don't need more people just arguing representing the insurance companies, telling us that we're not covered when we thawing we were. so we have a very generous transition period, b the bnd of the day, medicare for all will create more s in

healthcare than we will lose, because when you open the doors to healthcare for all americans, we're going to need more rack tiggsers, more people providing healthcare, not just filling out forms and having a massive bureaucracy. >> woodruff: something else, senator new york recent day, you've been saying you n't believe joe biden can win this id heion, because you would bring a lot of baggage. you said you don't think he would create the excite ofn excitementeney that's needed to defeat president trump. are you saying absolutely he would lose to president trump? >> no. no, no, no. .'m in the saying that at all i think that any of -- i happen to believe it will not sho you i am sure, that i am the strongt candidate to beat trump. but i think other democrats, including joe biden, can d it, as well. here's my point: to beat trump, you're going t need a massive voter turnout. the on way you do that is through a campaign of energy, of excitement.

you've got to bring working people. you have to bring young people in the political process. the truth is i think most people know, joe biden voted for the war in iraq. joe biden for disastrous trade agreements like nafta and tmcr which cost us millions jobs. joe voted for a bankruptcy billa which really hurt working-class families. joe was on the floor of the senate talking about in his view the need to cut social security, medicare and medicai i do't think -- trump will have a field day with that. and i just don't think the biden campaign can create the energy and the excitement we need to defeat the worst president in the modernistory of this country. >> woodruff: i know you believe you would win theas nomination, buou said, if you didn't, you're prepared to support mr. biden? >> absolutely. >> woodruff: i want to ask youof about onhe other candidates, because you have talked a lot about the billionaye class. woulu be prepared to support

michael bloombg if he was the nominee? >> look, as i have said many time, i thk that in trump we have a pathological liar, the ader of a corrupt administration, a racist, a sexiest, a homophobe, a xenophobe. i am ori will suany democrat who wins the nomition. hopefully i will be supporting myself. >> woodruff: senator bernie sanders joining us frinom buon, vermont. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, weurn back to the impeachment standoff on capitol hill, a clash that features two familiar figus: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, and speaker of the use nancy pelosi. for more on all this, lisa desjardins. >> desjardins: the impeachment

process against president trump remains, essentially, stuck in w neutral tonighh still no official word on when a trial might begin. to make sense of the between speaker pelosi and leader mcconnell, i'm joined by pitol hill veterans who previously worked as their top aides. nadeam elshami waselosi's chief of staff from 20 2017, when she was house minority leader. steven law was mcconnell's chief of staff from 1991 to 1996. that's before mcconnell became majority leader in the senate. law currently runs the senate leadership fund. thank you. two chief of staffs.h no one thosese two leaders better. nadeam, i want to start with you. speaker pelosi is g to do something unprecedented here, use timing to change th shape of the senate trial to, get more witnesses as we reported. what is the strategy here, and how do you think she looks at any riskings of that strategy? at's she doing? >> well, i think what she's doing here is very important. we have take a step back.

it took five weeks for the impehment artles of president clinton to be ansmitted to the senate. >> i think it was three weeks, but i hear you. >> so we're cse at the moment what she's focusing on is the constitution. this is absolutely critica issues before our country. the house did vote on aricles of impeachment. however, the president and the white house demanded that none of the witnesses that the house wanted that know rectly from the president to come before congress and testify. now the point is what kind of pressure can she put on leader mcconnell? we've seen over the past fes,w wembassador bolton said he's willing to testify if he's subpoenaed. more evidence has com.e out and the president continues to say some pretty intesting things. >> steven law, do you think lead mcconnell is feeling any pressure? to some people he's an enigma.k

what do you th going on by hide the scenes with him right now? is he feeling any pressure? >> i don't think he's feeling pressure particularly. one of the things about the utnate is that it is not just leader mcconnell,here is a sense of institutional prerogatives. you look at the constitutn, which governs think, and it doesn't say a lot, but it says some very simple thgs first of all, the house has the sole power to impeach and te senate has the sole power to try the case. the operative word in both of those is "sole." each one has its own respecteddive role. you can't try to dictate the aole of the other. i think tht speaker pelosi made, in my view, a miscculation trying to thi she could force leader mcconnell's hand or the senate's hand to do something he was not inclined to do, at least with rpect to agree to somebody else's process being put on him. i think that is actually no starting to fall apart. >> we're talking about these two leaders, but i want the hear fro them. i wantlay some sound of what speaker pelosi and leader

mcconnell have said abo impeachment in the last few months. >> we want you to defend thatti cotion which has a republic in it, as benjaminkl fr said, a republic if you can keep it. we see that as ourli responsi, keep the republic instead of an attitude of article 2 says, i can doat er i want. >> we exist because the founders wanted an institution that could stop momentary hysterias and partisan passions from damaging our republic. >> article 2 reference to the president's constitutional powers. these are both students of history, both of them, however, they also have an urgt goa keeping their majority. the political goal. i want to ask both of y, ho do both of these leaders look at the politics, how important is that in their thinking? nadeam? >>ur right now we are sitting here discussing witnesses by democrats. democrats are demanding that leader mcconnell provide an opportunity fonethese wites to come before the senate and

say what they know. >> but could pelosi look like she's obstructing the process i she waoo long? could that hurt some of her vulnerable democrats? >> there is nothing in the constitution as my frilaend sten said here that says that the house has to transmit thse articles in a certain amount of time. so clearly the is using this time to make the case. we are protecting the constitution. we are protecting the institution, an are trying to make sure the erican people get chance te hear from those witnesses. if i was leader mcconnell, i would thinto mysf, i want to make sure that the predent's fully exonerated, and i have the opportunity to bring before the senate these witnesses who the prident says will exonerate him fully. i would do it ineartbeat >> steven law? >> sure. a couple things on that. it's important to point out tha the rules that are now likely to be adopted in the senate to

direct the trial are identical to the rules that were agreed upon on a unanimous and partisan basis to control the trial in the senate of the impeachment of william jefrson clinton. under those rules, there niece exclusion of additional evidence, xnoclusion of seeing witnesses and taking their testimony, but it sts out on the front end with just receiving the articles and having thepr casesented by both sides. then at that point there is an cessarynity, if deemed ne by the senate to, call witnesses to have additional testimony some the idea that the senatis against any potential for witnesses testifying is simply construct of the other side. the key issue here is simply: does the senate get to decide its rules versus other thrusting that upon them, and do we have a procedure that works. o d you asked a minute out the politics. i think most people outside of hot house that is washingtonju are probably viewing impeachment as a piece of overchewed gum..s fthey've heard about itor a long time. a lot of democrats hve been

talking about it since the president was inaugurated. and i think they would like a process that works expeditiously to bring this to whatever conclusion needs to b brought to. and i think the speaker made a miscalculation, deciding to try sort of a theatrical exercise. i'm going t hold back the articles of impeachment until i get what i want out of the senate, and now at i think that's starting to fall apart, i think that move is starting to look smaller and more political than i think she wanteit to be. >> we have just one minute left. both of yourormer bosses are very good vote counters. they don't seem to cra the chip so much as they spend a lot of te knowing and working with their memcubers. ently the votes right now are not there, nadeam to, remove this president. yi want to ask both ofu, how much do you think this could impact the election in november, what's happening with impeachment now? >> i don't think they're thinking about how it's going to impact the election you that for a fact. i think what they're thinking

about is how this will impact a fair trial in the senate. and that's why the spear did what she is continuing to do. she's making sure that theas senate trial that is fair, that presents all the evidence. and putting some pressure on m leadonnell to move forward. >> steven? >> it is partly my job to thiabk t the political impact in the elections. i do kind of doubt that impeachment is going to be thedo nant issue in senate elections next fall. but i do think there will be house members, democrats wo ran in districts that trump won who promised they would try works with tesident who are largely now going to be running mostly on impmeea. for some of them i think that's going to be a difficult thing to explain to their constituents. >> they're taing about other issues now, but i think we will talk about this more. thank you, nadeam elshami and steven law. appreciate it. >> thanks so much. woodruff: stay with us.

coming up on the newshour: the latest from e sexual assault trial of hollywood mogul harvey weinstein. and, getting in touch with your inner neanderthal. political turmoil deepened today venezuela, as supporters of president nicolas maduro tried to open a new session the national assembly-- without opposition members, or their leader, juan guaidó. the u.s. recognizes guaidó, not maduro, as the rightfulof presidenenezuela. special correspondent marcia biggs reports from caracas, wit supporfrom the pulitzer itnter. >> reporter: opposn leader juan guaidó tried to force his way again today into the parliament he is supposed to be ruing. when we arrived, opposition mmbers were stuck outside, and supporters of president nicolas maduro had taken their seats. on the agenda, major items for n y in economic free fall: raising the roughly $5-a-month minimum wage. addressing the gasine

shortage. and, what to do with political prisoners. at the helm was luis parra, who on serday was elected as speak in what many believe to be a sham vote. "this is a farce, they don't have a quorum, they've paid people to sit in our seats," this opposition m.p. shouted. "we are 120 members of riparliament who have the ght to be here," shouted another. members of parliament have been stuck outsidwhile the new parliament started the session without them. óat includes an guaido. suddenly, guaidó breached another entrance behind us, arriving at the gate and pulling his supporters inside. national guard troops tried to fight him back, but he remained defiant. >> ( translated ): the leaders of the national assembly are here. this is the session. did you see a person running? running to hide because he can'e nyone, not the people, not anyone? the leadership is here.r: >> reporteroops then tried to block the door to the

assembly. but the crowd pushed through, making its way into the hall and then taking a victory lap. ♪ ♪ members were just begithe sessn when all of a sudden the lights went out. juansidó and his support have now stormed the nationalac assembly pand taken what they believe to be their thghtful seats. as you can see be empty seats, the government supporters have all left. the session began and ut the lights, cut the mics. they're now having to shout to be heard. undeterred, they continued on, swearing in guaidó as the new speaker of parliament.an >> ( ated ): today, over this constitution, we want to live, to be born, to speak no more of death, but instead of life in venezuela. >> reporter: back in washington, secretary of state mike pompeoai congratulatedó on his defiance in the face of maduro's supporters. >> the maduro regime's campaign of arrests, intimidation and bribery could not derail

venezuelan democracy, nor could its use of military forces to physically bar the national g.sembly from accessing the parliament buildin >> reporter: but after guaidó left, maduro's backers regrouped and reentered parliament, to have their own session, and take their own victory lap. ♪ ♪ all this leaving the venezuelan people to wonder, which one of these dueling parliaments, and leaders, is actually in power? and which one will address thetr cos dire economic problems? for the pbs newshour, i'm rcia biggs in caracas. ur>> woodruff: and now a rto one of our top stories.

the u.s. killing of one of iran's top military s has provoked the question: does the trump administration have an effective strategy for iran, iraq and the broader middle east? foreign affairs rrespondent nick shifrin has that. >> schifrin: judy, at that hour tre are developing onreports of rocket attack u.s. base in iraq. the iranian revolutionary guard corps says this attack is in retaliation for the killing of qassim soleimani. as we follow that story, we also want to zoom out to talk about the overall strategy toward ira in tddle east with two people who know the region well. mara karlin worked at theon penturing the george w. bush administration, and was appointed to a senior position during the obama administration. she's now director of strategic studies at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. and, michael doran was senior director for the middle east on the national security council during the george w. bush administration. n he a senior fellow at the hudson institute, a think tank in washington, d.c. mara k you. let me start with i guess i have to get your response. the iranian revolutionaryauard corps isng credit for these attacks and saying that these

are rocket attacks from iran into iraq at u.s. bases. could we get youe?r respo >> yes, this is probably the first event that we will see of a slew of others, nick. the u.s. set a new bar by killing qassim soleimani, who we can all agree was a horrific human being, who was democrat stroffic for u.s. nationa i securierest, but in killing him, it's a new bar, and now the iranians are starting to retaliate, and i suspect we will see a lot more in and around the region over the coming days, weeks, and potentially months. >> schifrin: michael doran, some critics of this attack, as you know well, were worried out cycle of escalation happening after this attack. you have that worry, especially now as w see as mara karlin said, perhaps the first of a few attacks from iran.l >> w it didn't start with the attack on qassim soleimani. the iranians had been escalating in a very deiberate fashion

since last april, deliberate but incremental. and that escalation ended up k with tlling of an american. now we have a new level of escalation where they're attacking us from iran. we have no choice now whatsoever. we're under attack. this is war. we have no choice but to win the escalation ladder. >> schifrin: mara karlin are you worried about, as michael alationust said, the esc ladder, and do we have no choice? do we have to simply keep climbing the ladder so to speak? >> it's profoundly concerning. this has been ing on for a while. both the u.s. and the iranians have take an wide variety ofte escalatory, but hitting someone so senior in the iranian national security apparatus is an entirelfedifnt ballgame. it is still unclear why the u.s. hit soleimani where they hit him and when they hit him, and i fear tot we are ging to spin further out of control without a whole will the of clarity as to

why. >> schifrin: michael doran, do you believe the trump administration has clarity as to why they hit soleimani and to why this escalation is okay? >> absolutely. the iranians had made a decision. qassim soleimani wa implementing it, to throw the united states out of iraq. that's why they were attacking our bases. that's why they attacked the embassy. we saw with our own eywhat was happening. those lishas on the ground in iraq are armed, trained, equipped, and controlled by iran. k everyows that. what trump said to the iranian is we're not going to play this game anymore where you hit us with militias and we respo against the militias. we know you're doing it. we'll respond to you. this is not somethingnahat trump brought on the united states. ue iranians have been fighting this war again now since last april. >> schifrin: mara karlin wht t abat, the idea that by president trump by killing leimani has restored deterrents on iran and this was iran's escalation long before the u.s. escalated? >> look, this is a ory that

lasts years, to put it lightly, but it is pretty cle that the u.s. and the iranians are now in a tit for tat escalatory spiral. it is hard to imagine how thistu s out well. frankly, soleimani is probably spinning with delight is gave. if one of his goals was to push the u.s. military out oq,f ira it appears as though he may be getting that wish sooner rather than later. >> schifrin: michael doran, you arguebefore that irn was controlling a lot of these militias in aq, but of cour the u.s. military has great influence over the iraqi military. it is training the iqira military and fighting alongside the iraqi military with isis, but at this point right now the prime minister of iraq is suggting that the u.s. ave. are you concerned that the prime minister has said the u.s. shouave iraq in response to the u.s. decision to kill qassim soleiman >> well, the prime minister is a lame duck, and until there is a nstitutional crisis in iraq right now.

until we have a new government in place, the statements that he's making don't really matter. anthe key question not whether we stay in iraq or not. we're under attack as we speak from the irgc, firing missiles wfrom iran at an americys. the question isn't anymore what the prime minister of iraq is saying, what the half of the particle is saying. the questi is what are we going to do about this direct attack on american forces from the iranians? and there is no choice here whatsoever. if w're to achieve any of our goals in the middle east, then we have to demonstrate to the world and to the iranians that they cannot treat us like this. >> schifrin: mara karlin, is that how you see it?po is the re from the iraqi prime minister less important right now and does the u.s. similarly need to respond again back where we wed e, kin raising up on that escalatory ladder? >> nik, the conversation is completely changed because of

this attack. the u.s. and iraq are divided. the u.s. is divided from its european allies. iran has been facing the largest protests in 40 years. that is off theeadlines. the fight against the islamic state is now on hold at bes it is a little bit hard to figure out how as mike is saying any sort oft deterruld be restored. >> mike, what about that? the alition in irdid acknowledge that the fight against isis was on hold.ve there been other side effects of qassim soleimani's death. are you worried about all of that affecting things as the u.s. decides how to respond tonight? >> the gretatest strategireat that the united states has faced in the middle east for the lasdt de is the rise of iran across the region, the proliferation of these across the arab world, the distribution to those militias of precision-guided weaponry, and the effort of iran the use tose new positions to undermine the american security system in the region. if we're going to stay in thi region and if we're going to

lead this region, then we have to demonstrate that we cannot be pushed around by iran in this way. if we're ever going to achieve an iran without nuclear weapons, which four presidents have sai is absolutely unacceptable, then we have to win this round and we have to win it deisively. there is no other choice. >> schifrin: mar ikarli the 45 seconds or so that we have left, michael doran brings up that iran has been spreading missiles throughout the region. this is a response, apparently, from iran itself, from the revolutionary guard. explain that significance and how important and how fraught. this moment >> absolutely. we are in probably the most tense moment that the u.s. hasdl been in the meast for decades to put it lightly. easily since the iraq invio what's particularly ironic, however, is that the trump administration has continued to be like previous administrations before it, embroed in middle east purgatory. its strategy of focusg on china, a focus on the real

geopolital challenges, on great power competition are invariably going to mel away as the middle east continues to surge to the top of theriority list. >> schifrin: michael doran, can you respond to that, please? >> the united states is much more perful than iran. iran is like a puffer fish. it look powerful because of these milits with these precision-guided weapons and because of its boldness. it's suffen unprecedented crisis of legitimacy at home. its position in iraq has been challenged by protesters on the ound who want iran out of iraq. it i tbehaving is aggressive fashion in order to look much stronger than it is. we can best this adversary with relative ease. >> schifrin: michael doran, mara karlin, thanks very much to hayou both. >> you. >> thk you.

>> woodruff: the long-awaited niminal trial of harvey weinstein began york city this week.he amna nawaz hasetails. >> nawaz: more than 80 women have accused weinstein of sexuaa harassment, ult or misconduct, going back decads. but the new york trial, where jury selection began today, is based on charges brought by two men. weinstein faces one count of rape and one count of criminallt sexual assau. he has maintained his sexual encounters with the women were consensual. ju hours after the trial began, a separate rape charge was brought against weinstein in california, one of two allegations in a criminal complaint filed there. jodi kantor, along wh "new york times" report megan twohey, first broke the y instein story more than two years ago, and t-authored w e book, "she said." she joins me from rk.nd joe i welcome back to the newshour. so many women came forward with allegations against harvey weinstein.

why is this one case based on stories of two of those women? >> well, remember, so many of inst harveyions aga weinstein, if you think of a kind of ocean of complaints out there, are not auaty eligible for criminal prosecution. when you apply e stute of limitations that ocean gets smaller. when you talk out ats that are not just sexual harassment, i mean, many of the allegations against weinstein ar very disturbing. there are tales harassment as abusive behavior, but those alygations aren't necessar criminal. anu can't go to jail for them. so the oceets smaller them. if you talk about women who are willing to come forward and participate in the process, the ocean gets even smaller. so what we'rer'ei left with is s very narrow case that stands in contrast to them huge nuber of allegations against him.ar that'sof why the news from los angeles is so significant. because it means that harvey

weinstein is now fighting these kinds of charges on two fronts at the same time. >> nawaz: jodi, what about those two cases in new york and los angeles? could they have an impact on each other? >> they obviously significantly increase harvey weinstein's legal jeopardy. even if he gets off in new york, heel face a trial in l.a. what's ieresting is that there's a woman, an alleged weinstein victim, who is actually involved in both cases. she is part of the charges in l.a., and she's supposed to be a supporting witness here in new york. >> nawaz: tell me about that jury selection. lawyers have to pick 12 judge, six alternates from a pool of hundreds of new yorkers, especially for a case like this, how critical is that process? >> really critical, really complicated. first all, remember that conviction requires unanimity from a jury. so the questioof the selection of jurors is essential, both for

the prosecution and the defense. the prosecution wants people who will believe these charges, the defense wants people who will be sceptical, who they can create doubt and question. on the one nd, thdefense i think especially will have a preference for people who have not read a lot of the news of this case. on the other hand, given the way it's dominatedhe news for two years, it seems like that will be almt impossible. >> nawaz: jodi, you been outside of the courthouse, some of your colleagues have been reporting from inside that courtroom. weinstein has already run afoul of the judge in this case, the judge got quite angry with him today. tell me about what you can share about his conduct both the way he entered the courtroom and what's been going on inside? >> you know, i was standing yesterday morning with a group of alleged weinstein victims who were waiting outside courthouse. ey wanted to not confront him verbally, but thy wanted to look him in the eye as he came into the courthouse. one of them even said that she had not seen weinstein since the d violation years

beforehand. so they were waiting, and he sort of swept io the courthouse without giving them a glance. he was surrounded by his legal team. he was sort of hobbling with a walker. t the judge, who justice burke, who is a very exacting judge, he's a former prosecutor, has a reputation for being fair ugh, he has already admonished weinstein in the past, they had a cell phonein problehe courtroom several months ago. today apparently weinstein did it again, and thege was very tough on him. he said to him, feels lie it could have been a line in a movie, he said to him, "mr. weinstein, is this how you want tgo to jail, for using your cell phone in a courtroom?" he was esstially threatening to remand him to jail unless weinstein played by the rules. >> nawaz: a dramatic beginning to a trial that's sure take several weeks to unfold.

jodi kantor, thank yofor being with us today. >> thank you. >> wdruff: in the italian alps, going back to nature is taking on a whole new meaning. a survival expert is teaching men and women to learn to live ke neanderthals. special correspondent malcolm brabant left his own mancave to watch a couple of guys try to become cavemen. >> reporter: guido camia used to be a pastry chef, but has traded his kitchen for the riverbank. camia is at ho here, teaching his charges how to rig a primitive fishing net from twigs.

>> ( translated ): hunting is one of those things that can gou wellcan also go bad. you might not eat anything one daand have lots the next.yo every morninhave to think how you are going to make it to the evening.r: >> reporis students are daniele bernocco, with the beard, a chemical engineer in automotive industry, and luca bernardi, in the glasses, who works in a tire factory. both have a silar motivation. >> i work six days a week in e,a dark, gloomy, noisy pl where tension grows on you, completely opposite to these natural places. >> they can't be certain that neanderthals walked the ground 400,000 years ago, but traces of their existence were found in a nearby valley. as they were no mads, may might have treated this very landscape as an allou-can-eat buffet. here in the italian alp is real

caveman territory. some people will be disappointed i ven't dressed up in an e animal skin. i want to prese dignity, but there is no way a neanderthal would reach my advanced age ani'm two three times the size of the average neanderth. neanderthals needed an abundance of protein. the river offeers on-stop & shoping. guido fashions a fishing line with a cricket obone ast.ai this is primitive ingenuity, a fishing net woven from tution and leaves. >> ( translated ): let's look far peaceful place the fish. >> butted a guido layshe trap, the chemical engineer is not feeling so macho. >> ( translated ): going in the water is cold. i know i should go in to get my food. it's a strange feeling. i feel powerless compared to primitive man. >> but when they check the lures a few hours later, dw uido

discovers their efforts were in vain. >> ( translated ): we're scared of the wood. mankind isfraid of this environment as it's no longer hisful living in cities, we hav lost total contact with nature. >> early ma required a fusion of intelligence, muscle power and friction to gnerate combustion in sawdust and then to nurture the tiniest of sparks. it takes a coue of attempts before guidoucceeds. the would-be neanderthals quickly learn how vulnerable they are. they fd it ossible create fire. but there's in shame in that. guido took months to perfect the skill. >> it's not difficult. it is interesting. >> in the neanderthal's world, there was a gender distinction. men would hunt while women performed chores. ey required a siilar calorie intake to that of a modern athlete.

the gs poduced by guido come from his farm, organic, of course. next up, crickets and otherbs gr >> ( translated ): insects are 80% protein. they're easy to catch. they taste like popcorn. cereals and hay. >> dusek signals tnd of the day and the novices edurce. the terrain has taken a toll on their bare feet. they put their shoes back on as they help prepare supper alfrco. this is early an italian fixed menu. after bugs, bunnies. >> ( translated ): i have learned wh my limits might be. i am now aware what i would avoid as most probably be i would be a ilure. >> i have a lot to learn. i have had confirmation that iir like this ement, also as a way of having fun out of it. i fool relaxed. >> guido prepares a flatbread. he admits this par is soft and offers tougher

adventures where participants go hung if they il to catch supper. >> ( translated ): it's all hard work, which we're noo lnger used to doing, all manual jobs. >> at last the rabbit is done. > ( translated ): my grandfather used to say, if you'as starving, anythingtes good. >> ( translated ): it's good, but it's missing salt. >> if nothing ills, daniel and luca now fully appreciate the mforts of modern convenience. their deprivation didn't last long. after we left, theyoeaded the nearest bar, as cave men arh fopbs newshour i'm malcolm brabant piedmont, italy. >> woodruff: some of us won't be joining them. updating our top story tonight: iran's military says it launcher missiles at an bases in iraq, in raliation for the killing last friday iranian general qassem soleimani.

it is unclear if there have been casualties. the white house says thees ent monitoring the situation with his national security team. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. in us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank u, and we'll see you soon. >> ajor funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> before we talk about your investments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins!re >> grands. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me ess, change in plans? >> atidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> american cruise lines. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.>>

arnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in educion, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoinsesupport of tnstitutions and dividuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporatn for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ng sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.orgaccess.wgbh.orgg

♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. the new decade begins with a dangerous escalation in the most volatile region on earth. attempthe middle east to atde-escale a we get thedeiew from insi, and backlash already in iraq. parliament there vot to expel u.s. forces. the former prime minister ayad allawi joins me. plus, we get t amerin perspective from stephen hadley, national security adviser to hrident george w. bush, and democrat senator murphy. then. >> this is our war.ir th f is australia's war. >> an uncontrollable blaze consuming australia. th