ptioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> no president has ever used his office to compel a feign nation to help him cheat in our elections. >> woodruff: ...the second day for the prosecution: abuse of power. the democrats continue to make their case for removing donald trump from the presidency. and, we mourn the death of our founder jim lehrer. we look back at his life, legacy and how he touched the lives of so many. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbsur news has been provided by:

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> 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: we gin with sad news: jim lehrer, our founding co-anchor, died this morning. we are heartbroken here at the newshour. jim's remarkable legacy of journalism is with us every day. we want to send our love and deepest condolences to kate, jim's wife, his three daughters and his grandchildren. we will look back at jim's life sharon rockefeller and supreme court justice stephen breyer

later in the program. this program actually got its start when jim a robin anchored coverage of the watergate hearings gavel-ts gavel in try studio. nu know jim would want us to honor him by cong to do our work. and we lead with the impeachment trial. nick schifrin begins with a look at the case for limits to the actions of the commander in chief. >> schifrin: on their second day of arguments, decrats-turned- prosecutors laid out their definition, of abuse of power. d president trump has pla his own personal political interests first. he has placed them above our free and fair elections, and above our system of checks and balances. this conduct is not america first. it is donald trump first. >> schifrin: house manager jerry nadler and a half dozen other democratic congressmen focused today on their first article of

impeachment-- that "president hetrump used the powers of presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the united states." >> hbetrayed vital national interests, specifically our national security, by withholding diplomatic support and military aid from ukraine, en as it faced armed russian aggression. >> schifrin: ukraine is the onlp country in eure at war. for fiveears, ukrainian ldiers have faced off against russian-backed separatists and,s at timrussian soldiers. they have fought in farmland, and in muddy trenches that are throwbacks to wars of 100 years ago. most of ukraine's weapons are american or u.s.-funded, and its soldiers are u.s. traimo decrats today accused president trump of "extorting" ukine's government by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid, and a white house meeting with ukrainian president vodymr zelensky, to pressure ukraine to announce investigations into the 16 election, and demoatic presidential candidate joe

>> since washington in 1789, no president has abused his power in this way. let me say that again: no president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections. >> schifrin: president trump has largely responded on twitter, tweeting more than 150 times in the last day and a half. today he criticized the house investigation and called the process the "mostr and corrupt hearing in congressional history!" that was echoed today by new oyork republican and memb the president's impeachment team, elise stefanik. >> this is the weakest case for this country.n the history of we continue to see how flimsy this case is which is wh was bipartisan opposition in the house. there was partisan no votes when it comes to impeachment. >> schifrin: and whity house deress secretary hogan gidley said when the president's lawyers present their defense, the facts would be on s esident trumde. >> all the evidence all thede

material the ee to prove the president has done nothing wrong and get a complete and total exoneration. >> schifrin: the democrats tried but failed to force new witnesses at the trial's beginning, so instead they used video clips-including of one the senators listening, lindsey graham, talking about president clton's 1999 impeachment: >> high crimes doesn't even have to be a crime. it's just when you start using your office and you're acting in a way that hurts people u've committed a high crime. >> schifrin: before that cli was played in the chamber, graham told reporters he thought democrats were doing a good job, and that president trump wanted to go on the offense to examine, biho led ukraine policy during the obama administration, and his sohunter, who served on the board of a ukrainian energy company widely considered corrupt. >> why are you paying hunter biden. you can say they're corrupt, but they're not stupid. does it make sense to hire the son of the guy in charge of thet lio for the american government? i love joe biden. i can tell you, if theame was trump, there would be a lot of

questions asked. >> schifrin: democrats spent conserable time today describing biden's pressure on ukraine's previous government as at one point they even referenced a poll showing bide as the democrat with the best chance to beat president trump. texas congresswoman sylviarc : >> the president asked ukraine for this investigation for one reason and one reason only: because he knew it would be damaging to an opponent who was consistently beating him in the polls and therefore it could help him get re-elected in 2020. president trump had the motive, he had the opportunity and the means to commit this abuse of power. >> schifrin: this trl's jurors are the senate's 100 members. it would take two thirds of the president from office.eme they can't speak inside the s ial. outside, delawarris coons

urged senators next week to vote to hear from witnesses. >> we ought to be able to hear from the folks who actually know what had happened. president clinton, even president nixon directed folks clearing themselvepes of if the president isn't willing to make a defense, he can't claim to have been exonerated. it schifrin: democrats admd today they were repeating many of the arguments they'd already made. but they said the threat required it. >> he poses a continuing threat to our nation, to the integrity of our elections, to our democratic order. he must not remain in power, one moment longer. >> schifrin: democrats are expected to conclu their opening arguments torrow. president trump's defense teamhr begins up toee days of arguments, on saturday. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.>> oodruff: and we are joined again by yamiche alcindor at the white use and lisa desjardins

at the capitol. hello to you. another long day. lisa, you look at the democrat -- this is their second ll day of arguments from afar. it might loolike there's a lot of materiato absorbs but they had a specific strategy today. >> that'right, they did. as nick reported, they were focusing on abuse of power, but they were also sort of laying out how they arrived at that conclusion, specifically, judy, adam sc whiff said thereere ten points of evidence that proved the president's intent was his own self-interest or corruption. so we've kind of summarized these ten points, essentially, tcording to adam schiff is the first onehat the president focused only on the bidens and the 2016ing elections as to the investigation he wante also, schiff said, he defied ths prev.s. foreign policy with regards to ukraine and, also, that they require he look to outside the regular channels to try and get done sort of his bidding. brought up, that the ukrainians

saw what was going on as political from president trump, the argument schif is making, and trump's own words in hispr call with esident zelensky and the white house's attempt in schiff's words to bury that call all prove the president had corrupt intent. what there democratsoing today, judy, is to try and lay out n organized case in front to have the senate. they're also using a little bit of humor we ven't seen so far. a few minutes ago, representative jeffries ma a joke about derek jeter and how he didn't get one vote in the hall of fame bid and that was ag ou so they're trying to bring more humanity and organization intont their argutoday. >> woodruff: and that raise as point, yamiche, that what we're now in is the phase when thena house rs bring their case, their arguments before the senate. they have 24 ho, three days to do that, but this is a time when the president's legal team, basically,as to sit and

listen. how are they using this time? what are you able to learn auto how they are beginning to build their case? >> the president's legal team is building their case by playing very close attention to thway the democrats are explaining their cases. the democrats have been very visual, playing videos, putting up signs on polls, and the president's lawyer, jay sekulow, personal lawyer now on the impeachment team, sathere are going to be multiple schools of thought in the way the republicanlay out their case to defend the president, but essentially will come down to fact tt the president did no violate the constitution. also important to note jay sekulow said they will be aggressive in the way they defend the president and thaket sense because the democrats were aggressive in the way they were bringing their p case against tside. at one point representative jerry nadler said that the constitution is not a suicide pact and that america does notck have to be stith president trump. so those are the kind of words that president trump's legal team are reonally honing is they get ready to have to make

meir case. they're sayingght not be as visual as the democrats', but they're also going to hav defend the president's own words because so much of his words are being played during the senate trial, already. >> woodruff: and, lisa, you're in the senate chamber for so much of thesproceedings. you have a chance to look at the senators. how are they taking allhis in? >> today is fascinating because so much of the demrats' argument today was not just about charging president trumpab but the defense of vice president biden and sayingt that there was no -- nothing to thedea of a possible corruption from vice president emden. as theocrats were pursuing that case which is something that many republicans want to see investigated on its own,pu watching the ricans, most of them were stone-faced, a few of them were kind oughing to emselves, smiling in aso dismissive of rolling their eyes, saying i can't believe democrats are making this argument, dismissing it, some waving their hands like nator tom cotton. lindsey graham, one of the president's strongest allies,

rned his back to the reen as some of the sound bytes were being played on this issue. joe biden, he said, is a friend of his, bute wants this investigated. one other note, senator lindsey graham, as nick reported,ap ared in the democrats' case, that 199sound byte of him. he was not in the chamber when that sound byte was played. i think he may have actually known that was coming if he looked at the packet of o terial. hardy if it was a cones den -- coincidence or not. he was not there to see his 1999self say something very different than his present self. >> woodruff: yaiche is tweeting, the president has been tweeting up a storm, it's been reported he set a record. what is he saying? >> theresident has been tweeting out vigorously to his 70illion followers, all of his ideas about the senate impeachment trial. i wnt to read two tweets, tweets where he was quoting other people. the firsis a tweet that said,

this is all about undermining the next election, talking about the 2020 election. the second tweet sae democrats have now conceded that president trump has not committed a crime in that tweet he was quoting ari fletcher, a frmer white house press secretary under former president george w. bush. democrats have conceded. instead, they have been making the case very methodically as both nick and lisa ha reported that he violated h constitution, abused his por and is obstructing congress. but what we see is the president not only using his wor but paying close attention to other tvnetworks and quoting pple he's seeing on tv on twitter. >> woodruff: lisa, playing a t of ping-pong here, but back to you in terms of the senators. what about decorum in terms of ying attention. are they sitting inheir seats, staying in the chamber, and so forth? >> largely, when you look at the chamber at any one moment, the majority of the senate is sitting in their seats. however,t any one given moment, judy, i would say

something like 20 to 25% of the nate is still t of the chamber. some leaving for more extended t periods me. it depends on the senator. but a lot of senators are also takingo standing in the bk of the room. some of them stamping. you can see they're trying to t the bld moving. they want to stay alert. i will say that today senators seem far mlre aert and attentive than on any day i've watched them. it could be theort of getting into the routine, they're starting to get used to the pacii of th but i also think there might something to be said for going into modern device withdrawal, as crazy as that sounds. think about this, the cnton impeachment trial happened the same months thelackberry was launched. there were not mobile devices in the senate before. now all of these senators are plugged in, addicted, some of them, toheir devices. they can't have them. instead, what can they do in the chamber? they can listen, write, read something or drink a glass of

water. a few of them are drinking milk. so there really is very little for them to do. we've seen nd paul with an we havseen senator burrer whool. has a finger fidget devices to keep his attention.th 're finding better ways to be attentive today. there are more conversations, a chattering and whispering, it is to some degree like a high but i think senate nor attentive today than the past two days. >> woodruff: may hain someto do with the democrats' presentation. none of us would know anything abouwithdrawal from ou electronic devices. ntickly to you, yamiche, at the end, the presion his way to florida today. what more do we know about how he's spending his time as this trial goes o? >> well, the white house is really making the case that the president is continuing to do e business of the people here. so i want to put up a really quick tweet which is the

president tweeted me today, he talked about the fact, i tweeted abouhethe fa tha's going to be having a rally in new hampshire just a day before ree democratic primary th he tweeted true. i of course tweeted back inviting him to intervw here on the "newshour". but essentially what the white house is doing is making a long shedule for the president. he's going to bigning that new trade deal from thesmca, they're saying he's going to be wedging the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, and may be going to iowa and new jersey to hold campaign rallies. so essentially the president will have a pretty packed schedule even as the senatees trial n. but we should all expect the president to be paying veryio close atteto the senate trial and tweeting up all about it. >> woodruff: both payingst attention anying very, very yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you both so

much. >> you're welcome. and you can you join our ongoing coverage of the senate trial for the remainder of the evening, check your local listings for that, and online on our website or youtube.ag ann tomorrow, friday, when the trial resumes at 1:00 p.m. eastern. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, china closed off wuhan, a city of 11 million people, in an unprecedented effort to contain a deadly virus. officials also annouwore other cities a being closed tomorrow. ain stations in wuhan were usually calm and streets empty. medical staff said they take extremprecautions, after leaving isolation wards full of >> (ctranslated we need to remove the protective suits layer by layer. hand disinfection islly required before we remove each layer. ter that, we would comee outside to reme shoe covers, the cap and the mask,

disinf come here to wash our hands before entering the potentially contaminated area. then, we havinto get changed o our own clothes to walk into the hygienic area. >> woodruff: the death toll from the virus is now a18, with more than 600 infections. the international court of justice ordered the governnt of myanmar today to protect rohingya muslims fm acts of genocide. despite myanmar's denial that its military carried out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing. rohingya leaders hailed the ruling, at the hague, in the netherlands. >> i feel that this is a very, very strong and mileste and community.esult for our as a rohingya myself, as i grew up in the raine state, we have seen that so many decades, rohingya been facing genocide, intentionally destroying oury, communo today this result give us a kind of much encouragement for our community. >> woodruff: the court could take years to rule on whether

myanmar already committed mass killings, arson and rape agains hingya. more than 700,000 have fled the former burma, to neighboring ngladesh. israel today marked the 75th t anniversary liberation of the event in jeruseaturedwitz. world leaders, including russian president vladimirutin and u.s. vice president mike pence. isneli prime minister benja netanyahu warned that anti- semitism remains a force, and that iran is the worst culprit. netanyahu and his main polical rival, benny gtz, accepted invitations today to travel to washington. they will meet with president trump, amid speculation that the white house may release its long-delayed middle east peace plan. in australia, an air tanker fighting wildfires in crashed today, killing all three american crewmembers on board. an oregon company had sent the

effort.o help in the fire authorities in new south wales said the accident underscores the risks that fire crews are taking on the ground and in the air. >> today is a stark and horrible reminder of the dangerous conditions that our volunteers,c our emerservices personnel across a number of agencies undertakon a daily basis. consider just the circumstances people are facing every day.>> oodrf: the fatalities in the crash bring the overall death to at least 32.dfires back in this country, the trump raadministration lifted fe protections for many of the nation's waterways. the changes narrow which ones u qualify coer the 1972 clean water act. the administration said it's about easing burdens on farmers and businesses. environmental groups warned it means more pollution.so oday, the state department proposed new curbs on so-called "birth tourism." women will be denied visas if

they travel to the u.s. mainly to give birth, giving the child automatic american citizenship. instead, they will have to show legitimate medical reans to visit. harvey weinstein's accusers began testifying today, at his rape and sexual assault trial. actress annabella sciorra told jurors that the former movie producer overpowered her and raped her in her apartment, more than 25 years ago. sciorra is one of six accuserss calledtnesses. the u.s. surgeon general has issued a new report king, the first in 30 years on getting people to quit. it finds that nearly 40% of smokers are not advised by their doctorttto quit. cigasmoking remains the death in the u.s.preventable and, on wall street, the dowjo s industrial average lost 26 points to close at 29,160. the nasdaq rose 18 points, and0

the s&p ipped three. still to come on the newshour: we'll spend the rest of thein program remembthe life of our friend, jim lehr. >> woodruff: there is no way to quantify jim lehrer's influence on this program, on american journalism, on presidential t debates and lives of so many of us. jeffrey brown begins with a look back at jim's life, and the extraordinary stories he told with his unique voice. good evening. thm jim lehrer. on the "newshour wednesday, it was another heavy day of news on the middle east -- >> jim lehrer always told those of us privileged to wok with him it's not about us.

but night after nig, jim yourself, journalist, writer, mily man, citizen, can be a high callingndeed. for 36 years as an anchor of the "newshour", jim reported the news. are guidelines in our practice of what i like to call macneiller journalism. well, yes, there are. >> he did it with a clear sense of purpose, even though the world of media canged around him. >> do nothing i cannot defend, cover, write and present every story with the care i would want if the story were about me. assume there is at least one other side or version to every smart and as caring and as good a person as i a, asume the same about all people on whom i report, assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story absolutely mandates otherwise,

carefully separa opinion and analysis from straight news stories, and clearly label everything,er do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. no one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously. and finally, i ameot in th entertainment business. >> jim lehrer was bon in 1934 in wichita, kansas, e son of lois, a bank cle, and harry, a bus ation manager. he attended victoria college in texas and then studied journalism at the university of. missou his father and brother before him enlisted in the marines, ani served three years as anf infantry oficer in the late '50sincluding time in the pacifi he saw no combat but spoke often of how the experience shaped him. including at a 2010 parade the

court put on h in his honor. seldom a day goes by that i don't know that i am doing something because of something i learned in the marine corps, d i only have onfavor to ask of all of you here tonight, particularly all of you marine marines -- forget all thallt seyon stuff for the next hour or two and do yot ur bes think of me only not as anld man in a dark blue suit with a red tie, but think of me as lehrer, jam c., first lieutenant, usmc, ser number 071278moso302 infantry, executive ficer, bravo company, first battalion, ninth marines, third marine division,

thank you and semper fi dlis. >> in 1963 jim mared life long partner and love jane. stapl he joined the "dallas morning news" and the dallas times herac reporting on loal politics and serving as city editor. he covered his first history-making story, the assassination of john f. kennedy in dallas in 1963. m and robert macneil who covered the assassination for nbc news spoke of it on the >> and it was just disbelief, what took awayk and have en away and it still overrides everything that i have done in journalism since. what thekendy assassination did for me was forever keep me aware of the fragility of

everything. that at any given mont, something could happen -- i mean, my god, if they could shoot the president -- and when i later became city editor of that same newspaper, i had a rule that evry phone that rang in that news room got answered because you never knew who was on the l otherne. >> either one of you school board members want to comment on that recommendation? >> reporter: jim's television career was launched in dallas at kera. >> i'm jim lehrer, this is a program of newan his cyst and opinion. >> reporter: his move to the national stagemeith pbs cas a correspondent for what was then called the national public affairs center for television or he joined macneil to cover another watershed moment. >> from washington impacbrings you gavel to gavel videotaped coverage of today's hearings by senate --

>> reporter: in 1973 the macneil-lehrer teabroadcast watergate and with analysis late into thesight, some 250 ho in all. >> so unless those tapes are made public or some other revelation comes our way, the senators and the rest of us who are interested may have to eventual make an ultimate choice between believingjon dean orb bob haldeman. that's the way it looks to me, at least, at i 3:00 or sn the morning. feel free to disagree. >> reporter: jim and bin talked with me about it on the 40th anniversary. >> remember, we broadcast i live during the daytime as it happened and then copletely repeated it gavel to gavel, so it was a double hit tere, and that was a huge commitment for public broadcasting to make, tnd the reashey made it was because this premise that prthe idency of the united states was at stake. >> reporter: some 70,000 letters poured in, praising the

team and its work. jim, in his own words, picks up t.e story of what happened nex >> we began live in october 1975, as the rober macneil reports. >> good evening. said today --vernor hugh cary ths laterer: and mon became the macneil-lehrer report >> jim? used to be just two basic wys to buy a house -- >> in those daydealt with one story for half an hour. >> expanded from the present half hour to a comprehensive one-hour program.ti >> that tran to the macneil-lehrer "newshour" happened in 1983. good evening. yes the soviet union shot down the korean airliner and we didn't know it was a civilian plane and completely justified. >> 12 years later robin macneil retired and became the "newshour" with jim lehrer. jim introduced mahegaret thatc and yasser arafat inhe

1980 south korean president kim dejung and chinese leader in the '90 jordan's king abdullah and hamid karzai in the 20000s. >> on the "newshour" tonht the global financial storms. >> reporter: he examined major turning toints nation's life and pressed expfrerts om thpropaganda world, military brass. >> recent opinion polls ranked the tomato among the least lovee of allgetables. >> reporter: on the occasion he turned to tun conventional to explainssues. most notably, of course, he interviewed arican political figures. >> the news of this day is that kenneth starr, independent counsel, is investigating allegations that you sub borden perjury by encouraging a 24-year-old woman, form white house intern, to lie under oath in a civil deposition about her having had an affair with you.

mr. president, is that true? >> that is not true. that is not true. i did not ask anyone to tell anything other than the truth. there is no improper relationship, and i intend to cooperate with this inquiry. but that is not true. >> another day otinfamy for united states of america. >> reporter: hewas calm and careful in moments of crisis. >> president bush issued an ultimatum to president saddam hussein of iraq tonight, leave power and your country in 48s ho face military action. said this of his long-time nciend and partner. >> jim's intelliis so laser-like, no matter what he's applying it to. in the interviewing, i learned a lot from him because i sort of have come out of the school of an interviewer carrying on lie the secretary of state in waitin well, mr. secretary, we all know ruthis situation with thesians have been intolerable for a long

time and that u.s. policy has been, ever nce senate resolution 304, that we should do, la, la, la, so what are you going to do about it, something like that, and jim alws cut through all that crap and says, what are you going to do about all this or what does this mean or i don't understand so explain to me, an i learned a lot from his manner of very direct ainterview, and not beiraid to say you don't understand or you don't know. >> reporter: perhaps nowhere was this seeetter than onest stage of allup with ards of 60 million viewers, moderator of 12 presidential debates, more than any her person in u.s. history. first in 1988, his last 2012. and in 1996 and 2000, he moderated all the president dl baits, the first to do that. >> what are you going to have to give up in terms of the priorities that you would bring

as president of the united states? ,>> reporter: for america jim would say the debates are the one chance to take the measure of candidates side by side. and the stakes are incredibly high. >> none of us have any idea what jim lehrer intends to ask. >>eporter: one person o usually did know what lehrer would ask was his wie kate who served as his main debate preparation sounding board. in 2012, she shared what hat was like. >> as soon as this process really gets uerway, it's i'm alice in wonderland goingn the rabbit hole praying to come out on the other de. reporter: it's safe to say this is pretty nerve racking. >> it's very nerve raking. it's fairly surreal. >>he debate in 2004 -- >> reporter: the occasion for the caulk was jim's book "tent city" reflection of hiole in presidential debates, what he called walking down the bla of a knife. >> is not a lot of fun but

when you get to the other end it's reallexciting. you've made it when the debate is over i moderate, i want everybody to say, okay, here you have seen and heard the candidates for president of the united states on the same stage at the same time talking about the the nme things, and you c judge them. i mean, do you like this guy? is this person -- you is he telling the truth? all that kind of stuff. well, you can't andou've seen them right there together. it's a huge test. >> cast iron toys. so my collecting is kind of a mixed -- >> reporter: but it wasn't allwo tension anldly affairs. one great passion on display in his basement at home his office at work, the intercity bus memorabilia jim collected over the years, a reminder of his father's career and his own early kansas childhood. >> as my brother says, we kind of have diesel smoke in us. >> reporter: over the years, jim would delight many crowd with his bus call. >> may i have your attention please? l

this is yourst call for continental trailways 8:10 p.m., silver ditch through liner to houston. (applause) >> reporter: there was also author of some 20 novels,riter, drawing on his life as a news politics and, yes, buses. he also wrote plays and tree memoirs. >> i write a little bit on myn fictery day. it's just what i do. yes, i have my day job, but i do both things every day. >> jim lehrer. >> reporter: enm earned doz of journalism awards and honorary degrees. >> jim lehrer is a modern man of letters who has left us a gift p fessionalism and civility. >> reporter: he was gen the national humanities meddle by president clinton, elected as a fellow of the american academy of arts and sciences, and with

robert mcfeel, inducted into the television hall of fame. although insisting on not beingf the centerttention when reporting the news, at one important juncture in his life, jim di tell a deeply personal story of the major heart attack that almost killed him 9in83. >> mr. lehrer, you just had a heart attack. >> reporter: the documenta my heart, your heart captured how the scare led to a change in diet and lifestyle. among other things, he would become a committed aernoon napper. there was no disturbing jim between 1:00 and 2:00. one priority never changed, hisy fa jim and kate, hertself the auhor of a novel, had three daughters and six grandchildren. jim lehrer stepped down full-time anchor of the "newshour" in 2011. late in his tenure, he closed as speech to pbation managers this way -- >> we reallyre the fornate

es in the current tumultuous world of journalism right now. when we wake up in the morning, we only have to decide what the news is and how we're going to cover it. we never have to decide whwe this is the way it has been for these nearly 35 years, and w forever.ay it will be for the "newshour", there will always be a forever. i'm jim lehrer, thank you and >> woodruff: on th he died, we want to take some time for personal memories of jim as a journalist, writer, collaborator and friend. robert "robin" macneil, of course, is the co-founder of this program with jim. and his lo time friend and former co-anchor. he joins us from new york. sharon percy rockefeller is the president and c.e.o. of weta, the public television station we

are broadcasng from. her work with jim and robin goes back to the very earliest days when they covered e watergate hearings. and supreme court justice stephen breyer is a long time friend of jim's. and we welcome all of you. we know it's hard on this day. it's hard for all of us. so wepecially appreciate your being here. robin, take us back to the ely days when you and jim first got to know each other. he came from his innerrinner -- newspapering in texas and you came fromour background in network television news to worke er tell us about that. >> well, it was amazing how quickly, within a day or two, we became friends. then we discovered we each had a tiny daughter in the same kindergarten in bethesda, and that friendship grew so was rather astonishing.that it it grew to the point where, within a year or so, we put it

in our willst if anything happened to either of us, the other woullilook after the le children. well, time moved on and we didn't need to observehat. but jim was just instant friendship, and our backgrounds were sohifferentt they melded in a very curious way. and i remember very well in his beaten upd ol volkswagen driving back from the watergate hearings every night and each of us turning to the other and saying can you believe we're getting paid to do this? anyway, he was. and as i said earlier, jim taught me a lot. i grew up in a television browned where you kind of loaded up your queistionsh enough information on foreign affairs as though you were a secretary of sta in waiting, and jim just said, well, tell me about it, or why doesn't it work, or what does that masn, and n't

afraid to ask very simple questions. arned a lot from him. >> woodruff: and, robin, what was it about hisal joum? i mean, for people -- i mean, there are folks -- youngerto generationy who maybe didn't see a lot of jim or know a lot of jim.o what was it his journalism? >> well, i think he came, as i did, from a generation where the role, if you were going to be a rious journalist, if not overserious journalist, where you paid respect to the facts and respect for the institutions that you werevering, whether you disagreed with the way they were being run or not, andr respect e people who gave their lives to government service and the armed forces and everything else, that has changed normsly, and i thinkim was the kind of personification in the way he observed these values in his journalism of sony hings that are being

mocked or trashed today in our current political and journalistic situation that he is truly of another generation. >> woodruff: it does feel like a different time.a but, sn, you got to know jim and robin, what, in the 1970s, when they were working on the watergate hearings. what was it about th time and about jim? >> -- about the team and jim. >> ias asked to go on the wie wa board of trustees. they said come middle easwa thrgate hearings were just starting and we had a community board which didn't w that much about politics. my dad had been a republican, mb d a democrat, so they thought i knew something about politics, well, i did, but i didn't know anything aut presidential impeachment hearings. so it was the very early days when no one knew where it s going, and i don't think robin was in washington at that time,

but i talked to jim -- and both of them over the years, we got to be good friends, because we believ in the same mission, we knew this was utterly importanth newspapers were doing a good job, but people were watchinon televiand they were riveted, they were hooked. as it was unfolding, history was being made and wet didve a clue what was going to happen the next day. we aligned ourselves as team and we saw that our place in the rld of journalism was important, and we were going to do it right and get it right, and i would figure out how to pay for it. >> woodruff: and those arell things we stelieve today. >> right. >> woodruff: what was it about jim lehrer, though, that you saw in this team. >> well, he lovedashington, he knew a lot about washington. we were both very directly-spokepeople.et i'm quick with words and jim was quick with words. so wear sortf get to theint fast. we always just got along because we believed in the same values.

>> woodruff: justi breyer, you've known jim lehrer as a friend. he, obviously, was covering you over the years. tell us about youenr frihip. >> he was a good friend. i was thinking today, what is it about him? mean, you've said he was a marine, and he was, and you saw it. i mean, he was definitely, he was strong, he was patriotic, he was a builder, you've said that. he built this oranges organizatd i think ar central idea, which is so much him, and the central idea is what other people say, not what the newscaster says, and our job will be to bring out from them different points of view whatth they'rnking, and he stuck to that. he was interested in everything. i mean, did you know when he was young, in fact, he memorized all the train schedules from kansasu >> wo: we used to hear him recite some of them.

>> the bus hedules. , the train scntdules. he wasested in everything and everybody, and you could draw him easily into a conversation about anything at all. he did not y this is about me. >> right. always it was about something else that drew himd out, ane had a comic side. i mean, it was kindf subtle comedy. when we were in italy one time visiting, we were visiting some he and kate, and i said, what -- and he saii was caught riding up and down the ease calculators and i couldn't figure out how to get off the escalator. was that something he made up? (laughter) he was a kind e rson,s generous person. w joanna, e, wrote a book about her profession which was working with very sick children, and e was going to appear on

television, and she didn't like public speaking. he spent time and rehearsed her and rehearsed her and said be natural and normal and above all appear as if you've never been rehearsed. >> woodruff: and, sharon, having known jim all these years, his family, you've known his tcmor, you've wad him in action, great with people, withd fr >> absolutely, in ever every wa. starting with his wife kate, aer ful novelist. they had a terrific partnership, three daughteul. but you ctell they were a happy couple, devoted to eac other. she helped him with his writing and he held her. maybe she didn't let him help her too muh. but he was a very well-rounded human being. he ws all buiness at work, and i don't mean tough or mean, but i an to th point, concise, laconic in a way, but let's getd

this jne because the mission is so important that we need to do it right without doing self-righteously. >> woodruff: and picking up on that, robin, that's really jim. jim gave work his all when he was at work but he had a very full life outside of television and the "newsho>>". eah, we talked a lot back and forth from new york to washington when we weren't on the air, andy mos didn't talk about the news, we talked about the books we we writing or hoping to write at the time. jim is annaxtraorly intelligent man. i think he's the brightest man i ever worked with, and he had not only a penetrating intelligence but also moral intelligence. he had a way of cutting throug to the moral equation in any situation, political, inerms f iendship, and the kind of man you trusted, as i trusted him, i could tell him anything, and did, things i wldn't tell

other people, and he and i -- i don't know what secrets he had for me, but he had very few secrets from him, and it was really a remarkable thing. that moral intelligence gos to the central part of jim, which think is exemplified and it's pretentious, by the advice that palonius gives, to thine ownself be true, you can't be false to y man. an if that isn't a good motto for today, i don't know what is, and jim embied that. >> woodruff: jim is one of those people who could spot a phony a mi awa he had a kind of a radar in terms of reading what was right and what wasn't.e you know, talk about the marines and how that matter in t s life, thaobably had something to do with it. what about his kansas roots?

buses, we talked about that.of >> he wrote a very good crime novel about somebody who liveda in, i think its a train station, wasn't it, somewhere in kansas. >> he also wrote a most moving memoir call "we were dreamers." in fact, his first book after the novel he pubshed first of all. but "we were dreamers" is an account of his brother and he with thetwo parents running a small feeder bus line in kansas during the second world war that connected with the main trailways stations. it is all jim, and it's very honest and very moving. when there was enough money in the ticket box on the bus, they'd stop at a restaurant, anw his dadld say, okay, the sky's the limit. twhenever jim sat down wus at dinner or family or couples, jim

uld sit down and say, okay, the sky's e limit. >> that says something because it's hard to communicate how much fun he wato be with. >> yeah. and it's partly because he was so interested in everything and he did have a great sense of humor.d >> woodruff: ae was surprising in that way. he used to tease me about having left pbs for a wh go to work at one of the cable channels. he would teasme that i had gone to work for the home shopping network. he never let go of that one. >> judy, he was the best man when i was married in 1984, and in his toast he said, it must be love, who else would mar a 54-year-old man with braces? (laughter) >> but look at how each of us, when we're thinking about himto y, is smiling. >> exactly. and it's a sad day, and we're smiling cause we're thinking of him and his personality.

>> and for all that fun and humor, he had a very serious responsibility with robin, and they created the half-hour show, en the hour show, which the stations didn't really think they wanted, until we convincedd them they ned it, and, basically, it was a very important enterprise to run, to lead and to keep the respect for. so, when the day came he finally decided, i think, to just no longer be on the air, he came over to see me in my office and i i'id, jimll come to you. i always go to his office, he doesn't come to myffice. he said, no, no, i'm coming to you. i had no idea what it was abouts he saiaron, do you want the "newshour"? i said, yes. this is a five-second transaction but i knew what that meant. you're going to care about it as much as we do. you're going to put your heart and soul into it, you're going to be an advocate, you're going

to be a fender, no matter wh goes on, you're going to carry he didn't say those words but that's exactly what he meant and i hopea'm doing th >> woodruff: it mattered so much to him. and there is the legacy. we're talking about the great love of life that jim lehrer had but he does lead a pround legacy, the man who monitored presidential debates, 12 debates, who lact a legof journalism that endures and will endure forever. >> i hope people watch the recordingsf those debates, and they watch how he did it. i mean, he left. i think he contributed a lot. he contributed to his family h whloved. he contributed to his friends and associates, which is obvious, and i think he contributed a great deal to the united states of america. >> woodruff: and he cared about this country, robin.

maybe that goes backs being a marine. he loved this country. he would almost get teary when he talked about what it meant to >> it took me -- it tok me, as a canadian, a long time in this country to finally come around to becoming an amcaecitizen. canadians kind of identifiedwe themselves as, we're not americans, but we're great mfriends oferica. i think the america i became a citizen of was one thai knew through jim lehrer. >> woodruff: well, there's no greater compliment than that. >> what a tribute. >> woodruff: what a tribute. thank you all. it means so much at you're here m robert "robineil, justice stephen breyer, sharon percy rockefeller, thank you. and that's the newshour for tonight. we will continue our special covege of the impeachment trial of president trump throughout the night, ain tomorrow starting at 1:00 m. eastern. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs

newshour, thank you, and as jim letters and emails-- onward! ng >> major fundior the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> what's new? ell, audrey's expecting. ins. grandparents. we want to put money aside for them. so change in plan. >> all right, let's ae wht we can adjust. >> the twins. change in plans. okay. mom, are you pai?nting again you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at delity, a change in plans is always part of the plan.

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