captioning sponsored by newshour productns, llc >> woodruff: good evening. on the newshour tonight: australia burning. newshour's miles o'brien is on the ground, reporting first-hand on the country's devastating fires. en: >> ( translated ): i want an urgent solution for my country.t i o stop seeing children suffering in venezuela. >> woodruff: the man who would be president. venezuelan opposition leader juan guaidó talks about his continuing fight against nicolas maduro. ♪ ♪ record label is trng return to the forefront of southern rock when you hit the right note, man, that magical feeling that you get when you are cutting a song, that you feel like, wow, this has a chance to be a hit. and we've cut a lot of hits in

this room. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to analyze the opening of the impeachment trial of and the democraticace, with just over two weeks until the iowa caucuses. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. newshour has been ided by:bs >> consumer cellular offers no-contr are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photograp er, or a bit rything, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railway. >> american cruise lines. >> fidelity investments. t

>> john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made public broadcasting.or and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: prede trump's legal defense team for his senate impeachment trial is taki it was widely reported that it will include ken starr, the former indepdent counsel whose

investigation led to president clinton's impeachment, and retired harvard law professorow alan derz. white house counsel pat cipollone and mr. trump's personal lawyer jay sekulow are during oral arguments beginning on tuesday. separately, secretary of state mike pompeo said that he wille investiglegations that the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine was under surveillance before president trump had her fired. but, pompeo said he thinks the .legations will prove fal they came from lev parnas, an associate of mr. trump' personal lawyer, rudy giuliani. the u.s. supreme court added two more cases to its upcoming docket today. the court agreed to hear a dispute over whether electoral college voters are required to back a presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in their state. it will also consider an appealt by tmp administration

seeking to enforce a new rule that allowsome employers to claim a religious exemption and avoiproviding health insuran coverage for contraceptives. nationwide injunction is currently blocking that rule. ayatollah ali khamenei, lashedte out at the ustates today, amid new unrest. protests erupted across iran after the government admitted to shooting down a ukrainian khamenei addressedy prayers for the first time in eight years. he told the crowds that u.s. officials are lying when they claim to support the demonstrators. >> ( translated ): these american clowns who falsely and despicably say that "we are standing with the iranian people," can see who the iranian people are. you are lyin if you do stand with the iranian to stick your poisoned dagger into the chest of the iranian

nation. >> woodruff: this evening, president trump tweeted that khamenei should be "careful with his words." earlier, in washington, the state department's special representative for iran, brian hook, id that increased threats can only backfire. >> as long as the regime threatens the world, it will become further isolated. until iran behaves like a normal nation, this isolation will only deepen. >> woodruff: hook urged britain, france a germany to join the u.s. in trying to fashion a new the pentagon today denied downplaying or delaying information about u.s. troops being injured when iranian missiles hit a base in iraq. members suffered cions.ice president trump and defense secretary mark esper initiallyno said there werasualties in the january 8 attack. in china, officials announced

that the population grew again last year to 1.4 billion, even though the birth rate actually fell for a thirdtryear. meanwhile, the working age population declined, but the numb of those over 60 grew. they now make up 18% of the total chinese population. millions of chinese began heading home today i world's largest annual human migration. travelers crowded train stations and airports, bound for reunions with family, so they can celebrate the lunar new year together on january 25. a journalist and leading activist in china's fledging "me too" movement was freed today after three months. "human rights watch" said that sophia huang xuequin had been detained on a charge known as "suspicion of provoking trouble." toe had reported on the "m movement, on sexual harassment in the chinese workplace, d on the protestsn hong kong.

back in this country, a jury was selected in the sexual misconduct trial of form movie producer harvey weinstein. seven men and five women were chosen, after complaints tt the defense was trying to exclude young women. weinstein faces charges of rape and sexual assault involving two women in new york. testimony will begin next week. and, stocks edged higher on of the main indexes closed atee new records. the dow jones industrirage gained 50 points to close at 29,348. the nasdaq rose nearly 32 points, and the s&p 500 added almost 13. still to come on the newshour: australia burning. a continent is engulfed, and a nation struggles to recover. changing menus-- new rules for school lunches. venezuelan opposition leader juan guaidó on taking control of his country. and, much more.

>> woodruff: firefighters in australia are finally getting me help this week from nature, in the form of rain and thunderstorms. but many fires are sti burning. millions of acres have been area as large as the state of virginia. and, the brushfires have done tremendous damage to australianc ystem and wildlife. our science correspondent, miles well as for the weather app, myradar.us heles joinow from the southern part ofountry in sarsfield, australia. >> reporter: miles, hello to you. first of all, just bring us up to date. what is the latest on the

situation there? >> well, judy, the weather is a litt bit better here. there's been a little bit of rain, humidity is a little higher, the temperatures haveha fallen, they'vjust record heat here, so there is a bit of a respite we're now 55 days into this epic fire season. it's by no anover. there are 17 fires still uncontained in the state of victoria where i'm standing just to the north of new soth wales, another 30 fires.'s thwo sections in est australia. there are fires all across this country. it has damaged and destroyed 25 million acres. jue look at the scenere, judy. it's almost like i'm standing at the the bottom of a barbecue at the end of a night. yeah, all the koroma kind of removed, it's alst a moonscape. multiply thaover the scope of this at 24 million acres and you get just a slight idea of how epic this fire season has been,

already. >> woodruff: it just looks like a wasteland of ash. miles, we have been hearing so much about the loss of not just human life -- i guess 28 or 29 people have died -- but the loss y wildlife in australia, where there are so maecious animals andthers. what have you learned about that? >> well, that's an important point, australia being a continent and island is home to many species that are nowhere else on the planet, and many of those species are really facing an onslaught. we've seen just those gut-wrenching pictures ome of these marsupials, koalas, in particular, are very vul they're very slow moving and finicky eaters. when a fire comes to the foresta what's their ntural instinct? not a good place to be. by some estimates, 30% of the koala population in this country

may have already belled. one scientist in sydney ventured to guess there may haveeen a billion animals killed, already. that's a difficult number to uarify, obviously, and this is a very dynamic sion, but the scientists i've talked to remind us that you have to remember what we'aling with right now is just the beginning. after all, these animalsave come back to this -- their home, their food, the food system, th ecosystem, the foodhain has all been disrupted. so the deaths and injuries they're dealing with now they fear may bejust the beginning. >> woodruff: and, miles, you were telling us you were also talkinto the sentists who are experts in climate change, looking at what hap australia. >> yeah, it's a complicated picture, it's never simple, but yermate change is a big pl in all of this. there are significant owns oents. it's of like el niño, la niña, they call it the indiao

which has exacerbated drought conditions in austraa. another factor, there was warm weather over antarcticahich changed wind patterns, causing it to be much widier. but at the base oft it all is climate change. as the temperatures rise, these forests dry out. the dries get dryer, the wets get get the wetter. this is compelling evidence that climate change sat root hre and factors into a political debate which ragrees on s well as in the united states. >> woodruff: and you were also telling us you were looking at how public opinion may have been shifting, you have been talking to folks who may be advinoc for more public awareness. >> yeah, this is a country who is a huge follows fuel explorer, coal and oil, the number three exporter of coal and oil behind russia and saudi arabia, in the world. when you talk about climate

change, it immediately gets into a conversation about jobs and the economy, so this is a country where the political leadership, the prime minister has been a climate denier, moving to a climate skepticism. but through all this, given thep trendoust all of this has d, the emotional impact and the devastating lsses, mr. morrison is now saying his views are evolving and that is a significant moment for australian polf itics. muchhe news here is dominated by the news corporation, run by rupert murdoch, strictly -- almost strictly anti-clime change views, climate denial views, but etch that is changing. some of th tabloids are starting to address this issue and, of corse, very blicly the other day, the son of rupert murdoch, james murch, open pli split with his family and said the news corporation should be addressiis issue more directly. on top of this, what is troubling, judythis is really just the beginning to have the traditional fire season

here. february and march are oftentimes when the real fires begin. >> woodruff: miles o'brien reporting from victoria state in australia. so hard to believe until you sei it up close. this thank you, miles. >> you're welcome, judy. >> woodruff: when michelle obama was first lady, one of her key initiatives was to push for healthier nutrition and food choices. that translated into a change for public school lunches around the country. but the trump administration has some state officials have argued that the obama administration went too far, and this administra has been rolling back some of those moves. as amna nawaz tells us, today, the u.s. departmt of agriculture proposed additional changes. >> reporter: that's right, judy, the trump ministration already changed the obama standards for whole grains, sodium and non-fat milk.

today it appached new rules that will role back the amount of fruits and vegetables s required ahool breakfasts and lunches. these programs feed nerly 30 million students around the country. some advocates are worried about the changes. crystal fitzsimons is among them. she's the director of school and out of school programs at the the food research d action center, an arkdzy group thathu targeter and undernutrition. welcome back to the "newshour". >> thank you for having me on today. eporter: the justification for the administration is, look, the obama era rules led to low participation from schools and a lot more food waste. the agrie secretary sonny perdue said this is common sense flexibility that these programs need to continue torovide nutritious school lunches an breakfasts.wh do you say to that? >> i think that's not right. i think we need to be providing thmost healthy meals possible, but changes made under the obama admini aration really didot to help improve the nutrition quality of the mea being served, and we know more than

30 million kids are relying on school lunch each day f healthy lunches, and we should be providing the healthiest lunch as possible. >> reporter: was there low food waste, do we know that? >> we kw there is participation,ut participation has been remaining pretty strong, and we know there are lots of things that contributet to kids no eating the lunches. kids really do need to have enough time in order to eatan their lunches too many schools actually do not provide enough time during the lunch hour, and we know that there's millions okids who live in useholds that struggle against hunger, and we know that we have a huge obesi epic and we need to work hard to make sure we're providing fruits and vegetables, healthy food, low grains, low sodium, all the good thingslhat are going to alow the kids to get the nutrition they need to learn and be healthy. >> reporter: previously, ard stanreakfast under the previous rules, they had to

provide one cup of fruit. what would be different now under thesnew rul? >> now they would be required to provide half a cup. thso less fruit o tray. and the flexibility -- we want kids to be eating fruit. we want the schools to be offering healthy fruit.te we w them to be introducing fruit to kids and different kinds of fruit, and we want schools to be working hard to make sure they are priding appealing meals. >> a lot of the headlines are talking about burgers and french fries, as well.un r previous rules, schools had to provide at lunchtime at least sort of a variety of vegetables. what's new? what would be diffent is this. >> there's more flexibility ing providgetables so we expect to see more french fries on the lunch tray. >> reporter: you are sthiemg will take the lower nutritional value option if given the option here. i want to put to you the statement from the school nutrition association, the organization of cafeteria workers, all the businesses that

provide the food to the schools, they welcomed these changes and said the upgraded standards for nutrition for school meals have been welcomed buthen others say reduced participation and hiring cost. might they uphold the sameit nunal standards even if they are not required to? >> there are plenty of schools that are not going to roll back the standards. there are a lot of schoolio nutrdepartments and schools who are committed to want to make suat kids inbut we oregon have as healslthy mas kids in illinois and kids in alabama need to have as healthys mealids in california. it's a national program, we need national standards, and we need to make sure that kids area getting lthy food. >> reporter: when you look at the student population you know who partirepates and whoies on a lot of these programs. who are you worried ll be mostaf cted by the potential changes and how? >> the vast majority of the kid who participate in the school

lunch program are lown icome and receive free or reduced priced lunched we know the meals are often the meals they will be relying on and their only meals, so we want to make sure they're t althy and thaey have access to them, and schools can do a lot to reduce plate waster by making se they have enough time to eat. so there are strategies. you know, schools ardoing salad bars, farm-to-school, there'really wonderful, creative ways that schools across the country are making sure kids want to eat their fruits and vetables and we want to make sure that's happening in every schools and we don't want to see this rolled back to school nutrition standards. >> reporter: do you see this as done deal? do you think there's any way the rules don't go tough? >> i think it's not a doe deal if everybody responds. t ere's a huge opportunity to weigh in on this, t let people know tt we don't want to see

these standards rolled back, and people should really take that step and take the time to let the administration know that they want healthy meals in their school breakfast and lunch programs. >> reporter: such aportant topic. crystal fitzsimons of the food research and action center, thanks forineing with us aga >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: earlier, we showed you the imct of wildfires in australia. from wildfires to floods, the changing climate is affecting this past decade in fact was the hottest decade since data was first recorded. scientists and activists have long been sounding the alarm. this week, a new voice joins the chorus-- big wall street money.m william branxplains how it might ange the way america does business.r:

>> reporhe investment firm black rock manages $7 trillion, making it the largest asset manager in the world. the firm announced that environmental sustainability will be a core goal. in hi influential yearly letter to companies, black rock c.e.o. lauren cynic said climate risk is invtmt risk and every government company and shareholder must confro imate change. he went on to say that the climate crisis will likely force "a fundamental reshaping of finance." the firm indicated it will begin to move money away from havily polluting industries like coal and into others with a greater focus on sustainability. ryan deese ishe global head of sustainable investing for blacki rock and j me now. thank you for doith. because of the enormous ssze of your firm, you have been under a lot of pe to push companies to take a more active stance on climate change, and i know that there's a lot of

environmentalists that have celebrated your recent move. help us understand why, now, why did you guys decide to do this? >> well, what we communicated this weekris reallyiven by our increasing conviction around the investment risk that climate change is posing, and, you know, a lot of the way that, traditionally, people have approached investing has assum that the climate was going to stay relatively stable. but if you look at what's happening, whether it's the wildfires in australia or california, floods in the midwest increed, hurricanes and flooding at w've seen across the country, it just isn't viable to assume that stability going forward. and when we loosek clo at it, we increasingly recognize those risks are not fully appreciated in financial markets, andso, we believe that we are going to see a massive rellocation ofpi l, and weant to be ahead of it and make sure that we are kstaking those risnto account when we're delivering investment

solutions. >> reporter: so when you're doing that, how will that actually look? what is it you're trng to get companies to do? >>at will you guys actually be doing? ell, the first and most important thing is being able to actually measure this risk, and we're talking both about the physical risks, so increased inooding that would affect the value of a buior the value of a company, but also the ris of the transition. and, so, we know tht society is going to move toward loweris ons solutions, and that means that companies that are reliant on -- that wee the business rodles reliant on fossil fuels are going to face pressure and, on the up side, companies that are competing for new carbon-efficient technologies are going to, win and, so, we want to understand those risks and we want to integrate them into how we're going to deliver an investment solution, whether that's in somebody's 401k or whether it's for a large pension plan or

college endowment. >> reporter: so you wa companies to think about this starting today and going forward. they're a carn footprint, their own climate exposure. what if a com ipa your portfolio doesn't do that? how do you exert pressu to get em to do what you think they ought to be doing? >> in portfolios where we havewe discretionan implement by buying or selling the copanies' security. so, for example, we announced that we intend to exit companies that rely on thermal coal mining for a signifimount of their revenue. in those portfolios wheree don't have discretion, we can engage directly with those companies and communicate our expectations in terms of how they're going to change their business model and how they' going to plan for this coming transition. >> reporter: i'm curious, would black rock ever consider phasing out some of the biggest polluting companies out of your

portfolio entirely?i mean, that, would be the true market ignal that it's time to change. >> well, we're focused on this from the perspectivof investment risk, and, so, in some cases, like, for example, coal, we believe the risks to that business model are so pronounced, it doesn't make sense to bear the risk. more broadly, we're really focused on understanding that position with respect to thean tion, and this will be a transition across time, but i think the most important thing for us is to renforce that these risks are more pronounced than financial markets currently understand, and that we want to get better and better at measuring those risks over time, and, over me, as we do so, we're going to take action in our potfolios as well. >> reporter: again, we talked about this a little bit about at the beginning, but how much of this movement comes from the hundre of thousands of people that we have been seeing marching in the streets, pressuring governments,

citizens, governors, presidents and corporations to try to address climate change. was that part of the decision-making process? >> well, it's interesting, as we actually think about investment risk, that pressure and society's frustration and expectation on companies is pari of dng us to believe that we argoing to see this big aallocation of cpitol. it's both those physical risks soat come from climate change but also that ciety has different exe expectations of companies and, going forward, the future savers and the future investors are the young pe ale todad they have different expectations and they are going to speak with their capital. and that's another reason we believe why we really ar seeing this fundamental reallocation of itself in some companies fest performing better and some companies performing worse, so that actually has investment implication, and we believe reases only going to inc across time. >> reporter: briandeese, head of sustainable investments at

black rock, thank you so much for doing this. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour:el mark s and david brooks break down the week at saw the start of the president's impeachment trial. and, the rebirth of "capricorn records." a symbol of southern rock is back in business. and now, to venezuela, a nation suffering through both economic meltdown and political crisis. one year ago, opposition leader juan guaidóronounced president nicolas maduro "illegitimate," and said that he was thesi rightful pnt. guaidó won the support of nearly 60 countries around the world, including the u.s., but president maduro remains in power. with support from the pulitzer center, special correspondent opposition leader juan guaidó in caracas. >> reporter: members of parliament aligned with

opposition leader juan guaidó hadn't even reached parliament on wednesday when theiconvoy was attacked by supporters ofco president nis maduro. guaidó lashed out at what he said was a naked power grab and campaign of intimidation by maduro. >> ( translated ): they are announcing the military takeover of the palace and, right here, i they are using military andld. paramilitary groups armed by the dictatorship, civilian groups armed by the dictatorship, to violently attack the federal palace. >> reporter: in caracas on tuesda national assembly palace to deliver his state of the union he criticized guaidó as a puppet of the u.s., and called for new legislative elections this year. >> ( translated ): the people lishould decide on this co with their votes, with their conscience, with their political will. parliamentary elections in 2020. >> rorter: the conflict madu is referring to-- who actually

controls parament. last wee national guard troops under government order blocknd guaidó ais supporters from entering the national assembly for a leadership vote. inside, maduro supporters elected their own speaker-- an opposition member willing to neotiate with maduro. but two days later, guaidó rerned, broke through the gauntlet, and was sworn in as speaker by his supporters, leaving the venezuelan people to wonder which of these dueling parliaments-- and leaders-- is actually in power.il mean the country remains crippled. a failing economy, soaring food prices, and a gasoline shortage, all made worse by u.s. sanctions, and many of this country's most vulnerable cizens left on their own. i met guaidó at his office in caracas yesterday to discuss alf his. i want to start with the question that's on everyone' mind. what is going on with the

national aembly in venezuela? >> ( tranated ): as you may know, venezuela today suffers from a dictatorship, a dictatorship that incarcerates people has generated the most severe humanitarian crisis in the region. seven million venezuelans in a complex humanitarian emergency, as determined by the u.n. 5.5 million migrants on the continent, mainly in south america, only surpassed by syria, in terms of the refugee cres around the world. that is what we venezuelans are facing today. the national parliamenhas become a beacon of resistance, of democratic struggle, of defense ofhe rights of venezuelans, and it has not been exempted from persecution by the regime. and that is why the dictatorship is attacking us the way they do. i was ratified on january 5 as so, that is our great struggle, which i lead from the national parliament. i must say that i enjoy remarkable international recognition and support. and that, in short, is what is happening today in our nationalb as. >> reporter: okay, but in the last two weeks, there have been an incredible series of even

where now you have essentially two bodies of parliament, that each one believes thatt is the legitimate national assembly. >> ( translated ): there is only one parliament in venezuela.ex what we arriencing at the moment is a brutal repression, and a militarization of our rliament, the use of arm paramilitaries, called "colectivos" in venezuela, and a fierce and defense by our parliamentarians. despite the dictatorship'sts atteo seduce them, including e use of blackmail, the use of money from venezuelan funds, they have not en managed to gain an artificial majority, because the world continues to recognize us, and uemore importantly the venn people. and by the way, there are not two countries, either. there are not two coun fighting against each other or polarized. instead, 90% of the county is in favor of a change. >> repter: okay, who is running the country? >> ( translated ): that answer is noty?asy, either. because today it is the dictorship, today it is the criminality, today it is the irregular groups on the border that exercise control the country. there is a generalized anarchy in the country. today, the common and prevailing situation is that of hunger, o

migration. it is a context of drugtr ficking proliferating in venezuela, and we are fighting precisely to bring order back, e-to recover normality, to establish the rule of law, so that human rights can be respected in venezuela. >> reporter: it's been a year since you declared yourself president. maduro remains in power, parliament is now split, and meanwhile, as you described, a very bleak picture of this country, a crisis of hyperinflation, hunger and failing medical system. tell me, how do you movet forward, w your strategy? >> ( translated ): several things to clarify. the first thing is that i didn't declare myself president. article 233 of the venezuelan constitution states that the acting president, since as the presidential election was not in venezuela in 2018. today, i am the acting president of venezuela, while a ulpresidential election is organized. also, i must reiterate my previous answer-- our parliamen. is not spl our parliament maintains a solid majority, which the worldes recognand that the dictatorship tried to tear it apart, resorting to bribery, and

did not succee and then decided to use military and paramilitary groups, and did not succeed there, either. in spite of that, athe risk of our integrity and our lives, we managed to assert the rights of venezuelans, not just the majori of the parliamentarians, who cast their vote that day. in order to go to work, i had to ercome gunfire, jump over walls, and confront paramilitaries. in spite of all that, there is a parliament that is recognized by venezuelans and by the world, even though the diatorship is hijacking power. well, because the orship? still has part of the support of those who hijack the weapons of the republic, and i think that that day that we managed to enter parliament, where we all pushed a door that was held by a few military soldiers, is the metaphor for what is happening in venezuela. >> reporter: last year, the u.se gove imposed new sanctions on venezuela's oil industry, the government's largest source ofr revenue, in or pressure maduro. are you in favor of these sanctions? >> ( translated ): venezuelan oil production has been decreasing for nine years as a result of corruption, a product of the bad management of the industry.

it has nothing to do with the imposition of sanctions. last year, it remained at approximately 700,000 barrels throughout the yea which has not changed. that is to say, it has nothing to do with the sanctions. and the dictatorship sntinues l that oil they manage to extract. sanctions implemented, we must seek even more efficient mechanisms of pressure this type of totalitarian regime. >> reporter:ould you want a s. military intervention? solution, i want ant want a solution for my country. i want to stop seeing children i want to stop seeing mothers saying goodbye to their children at the airport, or wor the cemetery, and with them, the hope of justice, because they were either executed or robbed. violent country in the world. caracas is the most violent capital of the world, if you ke into account the rate of murders per 100,000 inhabitants. so, it is my responsibility to evaluatell the options to end this tragedy, to end once and for all this suffering of our people. and, of course, we must have all options on the table.e' >> reporter: already seen so much political violence, and your supporters saw it this week. are you worried about a civil

war? >> ( translated ): i have no doubt that's what the dictatorship wants. now, we are not in favor, let's say, of pittinpeople against people. we are determined to put an end to this situation in the best possible way, as i was saying a few moments ago, evaluating l the options. t but toda dictatorship has a monopoly on weapons. in any case, what we could see is genocide, a very severe genocide. and why do i say very severe? because the "faes," the national police tactic special force, has already illegally massacred 18,000 venezuelans in three years. that was also raised by the u.n., the human rights report. they want to shoot us. they are going to do ithey did a few days agoto prevent thats why i was tingliament, and minutes ago, we must evaluate all the options to put an end to anthis tragedy that venezu south americans, and all the inhabitants of the continent are suffering, in short. >> reporter: juan guaidó, thanka you for ng with us.

>> woodruff: for just the third time in u.s. htory, the chief justice of the united st ues has sworn . senators to conduct "impartial justice" in the impeachment trial of a siing president. the trial is set to begin next tuesday, keeping four 2020 democratic primaryen cors who are also senators in washington, while other candidates continue their i campaigns a ahead of the first primary contest of the year in just over two weeks. here to help us make sense of these historic times are shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to botof you. >> hello. >> woodruff: let's tpek about the hment trial, mark, that's almost here. house speaker nancy pelosi waited almost a month to transmit the articles of impeachment over to the senate. did that turn out to be a smart move? >> i think so. i mean, the political graveyard of dead ambitions is littered with the corpses of those who

underestimated the spk aker. i th's fair to say that the case has been strengthened against the esident a the call certainly -- the evidence has been strengthened in the intervening four weeks we've learned ambassador john bolton, former natiol security advisor is now willing to testify if subpoenaed. we've learned further runss hacking of the gas company in ukraine. we've learned at least allegations about the president's more deep involvement all the way to the point of charges that operatives friendly to the trump campaign, a candidate for congress was physically surveilling in ama hostilner the united states ambassador to ukraine andme sendinages of the sort that -- foapprise we can get something done. i mean, so i n't think there's

any question that this builds ui the case for edence and for new testimony. >> reporter: >> woodruff: so the case is stronger, david? >> i think so. i think all that mark said is true on the negativside and i think both are true. if you review the polling over the last month, the number ofh peoplethink trump should be opmoved has gone down slightly, the number of p thinking he should not be removed has gone up by four or five rcentage points, so, now, a slight plurality of americans think he shou not be reviewed, very slight, pretty much 50/50 basically, so if you're looking for i politicalnressure o republican senators, you certainly don't see it so far t there and if anything i think the psychology of the moment is that that stuff is a little old news, we've got this exciting election campaign, i think ere's more interest i that than impeachment. woodruff: so the delay you're saying may have hurt? >> hurt and helped but i don'tsp see any weling of public support.

>> sadly, not disagreeing with david, but sadly we've leasrned fand hard evidence mean nothing to this president in hia utteranc his tweets or in his rally statements. the question is do the facts and hard evidence mean anything to the united states sen oatare we in a new era where fac and hard evidence areed to be ign i mean, i think if you're playing donald trump's side and you have been an uncritical supporter, your position is weakened politically four weeks later and you're not quite sureh and k you can look forward information.eeks of not good the information coming forward is not going to exculpate the president, it's not going to vindicate the president, it's going to further implicate the president. bdon't have any questionut it, and i think they know it at this point. woodruff: do you think more information is going to come out? is there a question, david -- i mean, what do we expect of this because there's a question of whether there will be witnessese whthere will be evidence. >> opinion neer underestimate

the ability of trump to within hours thay be morek that will continue to come out. frankly, when we saw the phone call transcript of day one on this deal, to me, he was 99% guilty at that moment and now he's risen to 99.9% guilty and it's a marginal difeerence and it to me that the republicans are going to say bad but not worthy of removal and it seems th argument sean hannity is making on fox. it's not an evidence argument, it's what the constitution would have and our standards argument, and i think that's what they're going to stick with. i'm frankly struck by the number of people who join e defense team, alan dershowitz and ken starr. whatever you think of trump, not a lot of goguments on your side. why would you go to a mvie where you have nothing but badne

i think it will hurt them. i think they'll get through it but they're not career enhancers. >> woodruff: do you think because they will say things will hurt the case? >> schiff will walk all overth because the evidence is on his side. it's not a debate nyou wat to have if the evidence is on his. si >> the debate about sort coaching, no "i" in team. this team has a lot of "i"s in it. alan dershowitz and ken starr, recently deposed at bayloriv sity for athletic andal and former judge. it's the toughesjob in the world managing it. i don't see it as ecohes unit and the democrats are in a stronger position with adam schiff and his team, i think'r thfar more cohesive, for one thing. and we had exposed, juy, thi

week, and then we even heard on this show by one of t president's supporters that it was all about corruption. the president was alays looking for -- he was actually the jane adams of william lloyd garrison, the former of or time seeking corruption. >> woodruff: little history lesson, thank you. carol rennic's book stable in genius, that the president goes to the secretary of state and ys we have to get rid the foreign practices act because that's unfair to countri because we have to be able to bribe. this is the asjenging angel of anti-corruption, so that one's sort of exposed. >> which is weird because every c.e.o. you talk to they love that act because itgives them an excuse not to bribe andhe don't want to do it and they love the law. we're learning more and the boog tting a lot of attention. we look to be interviewing the authors in a few dys. while this is all going on,

david, by the way, there's a ntest of the democratic nomition for president, and we mention iowa caucuses coming up in a lilt over two weeks. there was another debate this week among six of the democrats. what do we learnut abhe contest from this and the candidates? >> we had a spat at the endbe betweeie sanders and elizabeth bernie and had a strong warren peformance. strong biden performance in that he got through it. woodruff: not a high standard. through it.he needed, toget (laughter) it's like your first date, oh, i got through it. but, so, warren is not doing well in the pol, and if you look at the iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, the first four or five states, she's, like, and that's not good, and, so, you think candidates -- you always think, okay, try something new, and i thought, a, she tried something new with the

sanders' direct challenge. i'm not sure it will work, and then she was more aggressive on a lot of issues. so i think she's making as good a case as she can make to be relevant in the top two or three. >>oodruff: what did you ta away from it? >> i don't disagree. the only sense of urgency in that debate was elizabeth warren. she realized where she was and i thought she ited bernie anders into the trap 48 hours before, got upon the stage. >> woodruff: this is where she says that he told her a fewo years at he did not believe a woman could be electer ident? >> even though in his defense he had urged her to run in 2016 and said he would support her if she did but prior to his own running when she decided not to, so he obviously must have thought a woman could win then. but there's nio question shed it, she framed it well, and that was it. what surprised me was joe biden is leading in the national polls and nobody went afer him, and

nobody wated to build that catte or whaver phrase you want to use, so he came out of it w unscathed, whi not a spectacular performance. >> woodruff: you tho somebody would go after him? >> i thought buttigieg would take him on, i thought klobuchar would. klobuchar was energetic and busy moment wshe forget the nameerry of her good friend the governorn of kasas, laura kelly. i bernie sandebernie sanders, and he doesn't change. everything is through the prsm. if y said sunday schooldo attendance iwn he'd say it's because amazon is not paying any amazon is not pa taxes and maybe there's no direct causation but you can count onrn to deliver his message. >> with six or eight candidates, all th non-biden candidates, it's in their intest somody take on joe biden, not in their

intest to take him on you want to be the beneficiary of the assassin. i hhink they're leavim alone fort that reason. i wonder if the final moment when she refused to shake bernie ssanders' hand was apur of the moment or anger, it came the televised moment to have the debate. >> woodruff: after the dlate, he wked over, extended his hand and she didn't accept it. but we earlier heard her on the microphone say you called me a liar on national television. but quickly, david, the dispute between her and bernie sanders is over, whether a woman can be elected president. are we still having that discussion? >> yeah, so i thit's -- a, bernie sanders denies saying it, b, i don't believe he believes that for the reasons mark said,i s picking up on an issue which i think is an attempt for her to cast hiasm ide. i don't think it's a particularly relevant issue because i think his record is one of respect toward women and i doink we're having

that -- >> it is still an open question. >> woodruff: whether a wom can -- >> it's a little bit of the al smith, jckk kennedy. ennedy had to win the primary in west virginia which% was 97 non-cholic or 97% protestant to provet a caholic was electable or at least nominatable in 1960, some 30 years later. hillary clinton's defeat raised the doubt thapeople don't want to say it openly but whether a woman and especially against donald trump -- >> woodruff: why? that donald trump is the alpha male and is going to tough enough to take him on. i i think ththe lingering doubt in some democrats' minds. >> it'in a doubt but it's projecting an ugly thing on to people that you don't know. >> i agree. every time the american public is faced with this, we can't elect a catholic, a bl guy, they do. and hillary clinton lost the electoral vote, i don't think it's because she was a woman,

it's because a lot of other reasons. >> woodruff: but no woman on the debate stage are shrinking vie lets. >> no. >> woodruff: neier elizabeth warren n amy klobuchar i someone who retreats. >> you wouldn't call them a shrinking violet.h i'd called a rose. >> woodruff: i don't know what name. 30 seconds, michaeler bloo $2 million in ads.n he's 5ledge some national polls. >> he's a gift. he doubt a $10 million spot for the super bowl. donald trump is terrified of michael bloomberg. he's doing a great service for for the party, he will not be the nominee. >> woodruff: we will expand on that next friday. mark shields, david brooks thank you both.

>> woodruff: now, celebrating the sound of southern rock, andt a new effo to restore the place that helped create it. jeffrey brown visits macon, georgia for our "amecan creators" series, and part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." ♪ ♪ >> brown: "dreams": a classic song of the rock era. it was made famous by the allman brothers band, and performed a recent night at macon city auditorium by musicians from then and now, as part of a celebration that looked both to the past and future. ♪ ♪ keyboard player chuck leavell helpedut together the concert. he's been travelling the world for decades as music director for the rolling stones.on but, he live tree farm near here-- and back in the day, was a member of the allman brothers band.ma >> it's in, and it reminded me that that was one of

the cool things about it, because you were tight, you were right there together with your fellow musicians, when you were working. >> bwn: he often recorded he at macon's capricorn sound studios, newly restored to its formerlory. >> my memories are so strong of making great music in th room. and so many other musicians would tell you the same thing, that were here during those days. it's just such a special feeling. it's really hard to describe the magic of music. you know, when you hit the rndht note, man,hat magical n feeling that you get wheyou are cutting a song, that you feel le, wow, this has a chance to be a hit. and we've cut a lot of hits in this room. ♪ ♪ >> brown: the story actually begins earlier, with a an international superstar: otis redding. along with his maner, phil walden, redding dreamed of building a musical hub here in macon. >> i think his sound came from w dehin his soul, from what he was taught in the church.

>> brown: daughter karla redding-andrews today runs the otis redding foundation, which offers music education programs to children. >> this was going to be where he would be able to be home and record, and be able to go back to his ranch and fish and hunt and swim, and bring other artists toacon, and really this snd that's cial toon, to our community. otis redding died a planehen crh at age 26 in 1967. but, two years later, phil walden and his brother alan unched capricorn records it would become home to a soulful southern rock, with acts including the marshall tucker thnd, bonnie bramlett, elvin bishop, and manys. there were ten years of hits. but, the music industry changed, capricorn ended up in bankruptcy, the studio building was abandoned, and eventually

fell into disrepair. ♪ oh mr. tailor man >> brown: now it's back, with a performance by jimmy hall, former singer for wet willie, another capricorn band, and a grand opening in december, where the public had a chance to check out the facilities. a developer had bought the p buildings t of a growing downtown renaissance here, including new loft apartments, and then donated the studio buildings to macon-based mercer university. with outside funders-- including the knight foundation, for the record, a newshour urcerwriter-- has turned the space, now called "mercer music at capricorn," into a non-profit incubator for local musicians,g alth a small museum >> this project wipel the renaissance. >> brown: mercer president bill underwood says he grew up loving bouthern rock, but this is something else.

what does mercer get out of this? >> mercer gets a vibrant community. one thing i've learned is that dying, decaying communities are not attractive to people. the more vibrant, interesting and exciti your community is, e better able you are to attract talented faculty talented students and staff. so anying that's good for this region is good for our university. >> brown: so five, ten years down the road, what do you see? >> i see lots of creativ talented young people with tattoos and nose rings running all over downtown macon. >> brown: that sounds good to you? >> yes. as long as it's not my daughter. >> brown: the new dream is that macon on again becomes a musical hotspot, with therestorn anchor. ♪ it's only just >> brown: that would suit who grew up here bmovingoe,

to nashville to pursue a music caer.>> f the history and the music here in macon coinues to grow, and label pops up here, i would be the first person to come back a he show nashville and show spa. and new york that macon really could be where it's a music hub. >> brown: i asked otis redding's e ughter karla what she hopes to see in macon in ming years. >> the nt otis redding to come out of here. >> brown: that's no little thing, by the way. >> but you know what? it's possible. because they haveverything they need right here to make it happen. great engineer, great recording there's no reason why it can't happen. ♪ ♪ >> brown: and why not? all it takes is some hard work,e comm, and support, and, as the great otis redding song tells us-- sung on this night by taj mahal-- a little "respect." ♪ ♪

>> brown: for the pbs newshour i'm jeffrey brown in macon, georgia. >> woodruff: tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend examines why italian olive trees are facing a spreading epidemic. and we'll be back, right here, on monday, with an update on the impeachment. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend.th k you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pbyrovide >> fidelity investments. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> american cruise lines. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. www.hewlett.org.

>> supporting social enepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.or >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ecaptioning sponsory newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh

hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. new insider accusations link neesident trump to the ukr dirty tricks campaign. but ukraine's foreign minister ells me, he doesn't trust t man pointing the finger. >> frankly i never spoke with this individual and again, frankly, i don't trust any word he is now saying then, as deadly fire and smoke sere the australian bush i ask a major mining magnet about his dotions and conscious. plus. >> one way to address your own erasure is to unerase ur ancestors. >> and then henry gates jr. reveals why we're all obsessed with our own family ory.