♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight -- >> it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said donald john trump be, ande is hereby, acquitted of the charges in said articl. judy: not guilty. the impeachment trial to an end. senators vote to clear president trump of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. -hen >> three years ago, we launched the great american comeback. tonight, i stand before you to share the incredible results. judy: the state of the union is divided. we break down a contentious night on capitol hill. plus, australia burning. after historic wildfires scar the continent, questions arise over how to manage the land. >> i said, "no, something

doesn't feel right." and i think it was only like an hour later that this all came through, and we are tunate that we weren't here, because you would not survive. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connts

>> fidelity investments. >> consumer cellular. american crue lines. supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skoll foundation.org. the lemelson foundation, committed to improving min through invention in the u.s. and developing foundations, on the web at levels in.org -- lemelson.org. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound. org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasti and i contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the united states senate has spoken, and president trump will remain in office. he wascquitted today on both impeachment counts, almost entirely down party lines. republican mitt romney was the sole senator to break ranks. amna nawaz begins our coverage. >> the president's the trail -- betrayal of his oath of office -- amna: it was fe months o,that house speaker nancy pelosi delivered these lines. >> today, i'm announcing the house of representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. amna: lines that opened an historic chapter in american history, the third presidential impeachment ever in the united statesto any, the final lines of that chapter were written. >>i will vote against both articles of impeachment. >> i will do my part by voting

to convict this lawless president. >> i'll be voting to defend this president's actions. amna: a conviction would've required 6votes, but the majority of the 100 u.s. senators voted to acquit president trump on both charges, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. >> i pronounce him not guilty as charged. amna: for most, this was no surprise ending.at during the strial, democratic house managers spent days arguing for the conviction and removal of mr. trump, claiming his pressure campaign on ukraine for political dirt on former vice president joe bidenn and his son,r, posed a national security risk. but republicans came to agree with theresident's attorneys, who argued that mr. trump's actions were inappropriate, but testimony from witnesses with firsthand information, like john bolton, wasn't necessary, and that to remove a president in an election year was undemocratic. convict or acquit, was expected

to fall along party lines. but still, all eyes were on a few moderate senators who had held their cards close until the last moment. among them, doug jones, a democrat running for re-election in deep-red alabama, who today stuck with democrats, voting, quote, "reluctantly" to convict the president. >> the evidence cleaoves that the president used the weight of his office, and thewe ht of the united states government, to seek to coerce a in our election for his personal political benefit. his actions were more than simply inappropriate. they were anus abof power. amna: west vginia senator joe sanchin also sided with his fellow democratsng in a statement the evidence clearly supports the charges against the president. and arizona senator kyrsten sinema announced she, too, would vote too convict, writing her highest duty and, quote, "greatest love" is to the

constitution. but it was utah republican mitt romney, who'd already sided with mocrats in their call fo witnesses, who became the first in his party to ca for mr trump's removal, voting to acquit the president on obstruction of congres but to convict him on abuse of power. >> the predent is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that i can imag amna: in a tweet responding to the senator, ronna mcdaniel, republican national committee , chair and romney's nieceid, quote, "this is not the first time i have disagreed with mitt, and i imagine it will not be the last. i, along with the @gop, stand with presidentrump." back on the senate floor, minority leader chuck schumer criticized his colleagues across the aisle, accusing them of overrting the preside the truth. >> the verdict of this kangaroo court will be meaningless. by

refusing the facts, by refusing witnesses d documents, the republican majority has placed a giant asterisk, the asterisk of a sham trial next to the acquittal of president trump, written in permanent ink. amna: majority leader mitch mcconnell hailed the senate for tamping down what he cald the partisan fires. >> whatever policy differences we may have, we should all agree this is precisely the kind of recklessness, the kind of recklessness that the senate was created to stop. amna: with the verdict behind him, president trump bthis post-impeachment chapter of his presidency with an approval igting of 49% in theatest gallup poll, hisst rating since taking office. >> the senate sitting as a court of impeachment stands adjourned. amna: p for t newshour, i'm amna nawaz. judy: and we again turn to our

alcindor.ardins and yamiche hello to both of you. at the whitell house, s how the president, the people around him, are responding to these not guilty vdicts and also, to the mitt romney being the one republican to vote against the president. che: the president has weathered all sorts of scandal and controversy, but impeachment and he is very happy now to put that behind him. saying he is vindicated.ap, he tweeted this video moments after the acquittal vote and it shows president trump might remain in office well past the constitutional imagesay- limits. it trump 2424 and trump forever. trump will be speaking tomorrow. we expect he will say impeachment was a hoax and a witchhunt and democrats were after him, but we have to note, the president can't say this was

a partisan vote because mitt romney voted on the first article with democrats so he became the first u.s. senator to vote to remove a president of his same party. thatas president trump and his allies angry, some calling for mitt romney to be ousy.d from the pa trump will have a lot to say about that. judy:ha lisa, ware you picking up about that? lisa: there are arrows within the reputican party aimed mitt romney, but not from his fellow senators. republican senators speaking to myself, daniel and sarah, our producer, said they respect mitt romney, respectfully disagree is what we heard time and again. we heard from chuck schumer, the democratic leader, that he thinkshat mitt romney did emma especially his speech talking about hiseasoning, reflects what he believes many republicans might believe, but dn't vote on. who knows what everyone believes but at the end, those who voted

to convict the president, like mitt romney, of any abuse of power, it seemed they feel this president feels he islo about te those who voted not glty, their argument was that the 'house's case didt rise to the level of impeachment. judy:ow that the president has been found not guilty, in the senate on both of these articles, how does the white house see this going forward? do they have plans or hw to deal wit it? what is their attitude? yamiche: the president wants to go forward and feels emboldettd by the acq. he feels he can do whatever is needed to win the 2020 election. he and his lawyers made it clear he is fine and feels comfortable reaching out to foreign governments, including turkey or china or ukraine, to look at political opposition research or political dirt on his opponents, possibly vice president biden or bernie sanders. we will seek a continuation of

him calling for -- calling foreign countries toe gm dirt on opponents. the white house said, the check -- the sham impeachment attempt ended in the full exoneration of president donald trump. one failed candidate, talking about mitt romney, voted for the manufactured impeachment articles. democrats are pushing bac on the idea that the president was vindicated because new witnesses were notle cin the senate trial and there were no new documents they say the president can't won't stop the president fromhat taking a victory lap that he has been eager to take ever since word of the whistleblower was he is happy to do that. judy: where does congress go fromere? lisa: we have just been through, since earl fall, we have had 17 witnesses in the impeachment proceedings, 3000 pages of their

testimony alone, nearly 70 hours of public hearings largely in october of last year, and we just finished 12, 13 days of senate trial. i think what we are le with is who may have wrestled withers principles but in the end, politics seems to rain large a e capital. the swing senators enhd up voting wheir party. some of them, that is a risky move. some vulnerable democrats like joe manchin voted to convict the president even though that imobably is more risky for we saw some exampleof moral courage and mitt romney, also doing that. the rest, we saw political wins perhaps helping philosophy and the divide growing dper. judy: a lot of examination to come over the votes. thank you both. inwe will co our look at the impeachment trial later in the program. we now move to the other end of the capitol, where in the u.s house chamber last night,

president trump addressed the nation. the deep political divisions of our time were on clear display. yamiche alcindor is back to unpack the speech. >> the president of the united states. yamiche: last night, president trump made history. hetoecame the second man eve deliver the state of the union as an impeached president. the night began with president trump seeming to decline a speaker nancy pelosi. with house it ended with the speaker ripping up her copy of the present's address. >> the state of our union is stronger than ever before. yamiche: throughout the night, publicans cheered on the president. they even called for his re-election with chants of "four more years." >> four more years! four more years! yamiche: democrats often sat silently in eir seats.t other times, they loudly voiced their disapproval >> h.r. 3! h.r. 3! >> jobs are booming, incomes are

soaring, poverty is plummeting, -- yamich president touted bipartisan themes like a strong economy and low unemployment. he also invoked the country's cuural and political divisions. presidt trump spoke at length about his signature topic, immigration. >> days later, the criminal alien went on a gruesome see of deadly violence. yamiche: he railed against so-called "sanctuary citie" he also recognized the brother of a man who had been killed by an uncumented immigrant. then there were the made-for-tv moments of the night. >> rush limbaugh, thank you r -- yamiche: presint trump awarded conservative radio host rush limbaugh with the medal of freedom. limbaugh, who was recently a standing ovation from republicans. but democrats and many others voiced outrage over the move. they pointed to the fact that the radio host for years pushed the racist conspiracy theory born in the uniteds. was not they also criticized limbaugh's history of derogatory comments about women, like this remark on his rao show in 2012.

>> what does that make her? ita makes heut, right? it makes her a prostitute. yamiche: in true trump style the speech was part campaign rally and part reality tv. >> janiyah, i have some good news for you. an opportunity scholarship has become available. it's going to you. yamiche: there w the bid to drum up support for school choice efforts. to do so, the -- >> your husband is back from deployment. he is here with us tonight. and we couldn't keep dem waiting any longer. yamiche: the pre also reunited, on live tv, a military wife and family with their father, sergeantirst class townsend william he came home after his fourth deployment to afghantan. but president trump's speech was also filled with false or misleading statements. >> we will always prect your pre-existing conditions. miche: he again claimed that republicans are protecting health care coverage foris pre-ng conditions. but his administration is currently urging federal courts to

dismantle the affordable care act, and protections for pre-existing conditions alon with it. o >> the yeaeconomic decay are over. yamiche: the president also claimed he pulled the u.s. out of a economic tailspin. but the u.s. economy has been expanding for a decade, and monthly job creation was higher undepresident obama's last three years in office than three years. ent trump's first one word the president didn't meion last night? impeachment.an with his party loudly behind him, the president made clear he's ready for his 2020 re-election fight. judy: and yamiche and lisa are back. let's talk about last night. lisa, you told me this morning what you saw in the chamber was even more divided than we typically see. lisa: the only context i can give is, it reminded me of e chamber for t kavanaugh hearings. it was that intense.

i have never seen from democrats that kind of luck, not just of anger but deeper personal offense at what theresident was doing. they were gritting their teeth the whole time when rush limbaugh was recognized and throughout and that exploded into some of their chance -- there -- their chanting. for approval was a wave i had not heard before. republicans love that but it seemed like it was reacting to almost anything this president said. speaker pelosi, a woman who runs on her own dignity, she is someone who thinks about that a lot. for her to take the step was a very big one. it tells me that now, is kind of governing by emotion is something that is dominating for both sides and it is and temporary. it feels likthis has gottende er for lawmakers. it was something i could feel physically in the chamber. judy: the president appeared to decide not to shake her handcl d

shrly tore up the speech. what more do we know about what you call the made-for-tv moments, where they recognized the 100-year-oldormer tuskegee airmen andth moments? yamiche: to understand this, one has to remeer trump has a deep history and reality tv and atar one point wasof a successful reality tv show. i am told by sources president trump in part came up with the idea to have these made-for-tv moments. t like the famous oprah wnfrey show where she saying you get a car, giving away cars to her guests. that ide what the pre was going for, this feeling of emotion. he wanted people watching to feel like he wasfooing something this country and that is why you have scholarships given away, a wifeni rd with her husband, a conservative radio host to someees racist and others see as a darling in the conservave movement given the metal dust the medal of freedom.

the president was going back to his roots in reality tv. i asked the white house about rush limbaugh because it was ntroversial to give him the medal of freedom. they say they understand he is controversial but the president of the medal of fr who is worthy rush limbaugh had a lotnt of versial statements to say the least, but tonight the white house is sticking with that decision. judy: coming back to what we were discussing, the move by the speaketo tear up the speech, the chanting, how much of that was planned ahead of time? lisa: we have reports, i have been reaching out and they passed one ldouse democrats this morning their private meeting. she told them she felt every page of th speech contained p.es and that is why she ripped it she told them, the understanding is she did that on the fly, she made that decision while she was standing her. she madeome interesting

comments that might help -- might have long-term consequences. she said she felt liberated by the speech, meaning this is the president saying things she knows to be false or she believes is false, meaning to me she feels liberated to be so openly at odds with him versus a speaker who is trying to work to compromise, a speaker who reached out her hand by the end of the speech. she felt liberated to be the speaker who ripped up the speech. a big change. judy: you referred in your report to what you call, what has been referred to as inaccurate or misleading statements the president made duringchhe speech. ya the president has been someone who has an china way from bending the truth if it suits his political will, a the speech was no different. he talked about lots of things that were misleading includin the fact that immigrants were committing a lot of crimes. stud after study shows undocumented immigrants don't commit more crimes than american citizens. he talked about the border wall,

it is clear all the president says he is building a border wall, only about a border wall has been built. the while he talks about is existing fencing where esting fencing was. the president leaned into that because he has millions of social media followerseho only belihat he says and that is part of what he has been doing. he has been able to galvanize his supporters to mak they believe what he says and to the media aemy of others who point out when he is wrong on the facts. judy: yamiche alcindor, lisaha desjardins, we you both. ♪ vanessa: good evening. i'm vanessa ruiz anewshour west, in for stephanie sy. we'll return to judy wodruff and the rest of thfull program after these headlines. delayed results from monday's democratic presidential caucuses in iowa keep trickling in, andti pete beg is holding on to his narrow lead.

tonight, 92% of precincts have reported, and the former mayor of south bend, indiana, has more an 26% support. vermont senator bernie sanders is running second in the caucuses with 25%. senator elizabeth rren of massachusetts and former vice president joe biden are running third and fourth. biden said today he is counting on new hampshire's primary next tuesday, but he acknledged that, quote, "we took a gut punch in iowa." the numbers in the coronavirus outbreak in china continue to grow. thursday morning in beijing,ci ofs announced the death toll there increased by 73 to 563. the number of cases grew in the last 24 hours by more than 3,600 to a total of more than 28,000. in geneva, the head of the world health organization appealed for $675 million to fight the virus. >> this is not a time for panic.

it's a time for rational, investment while we still have a window of opportunity to bring this outbreak under control. vanessa: meanwhile, nearly 3,700 ople are quarantined on cruise ship at yokohama, japan, for 2 weeks. some 3,600 others are ing screened on a cruise liner in hong kong. ro350 americans were flown china to california today, also to be quarantine case in the u.s.nfirmed a 12th there's word that 130 salvadorans were killed after being deported from the u.s.20 betwee and 2017. human rights watch says it also found at least 70 cases of sexual assault or other violence. the trump administration has taken a number of steps to bar central americans from seekingre ge in the united states.

israeli forces killed a palestinian teenager today, the first death amid protests over p u.ce plan. the 17-year-old was shot in the west bank ci of hebron.tr israel said oops fired at a demonstrat who threw a fire bomb. earlier, israeli planes struck has militants inaza, after rockets were fired into israel. in turkey, dozens of rescuers searching for survivors of an avalanche were kled in a second deadly snow-slide. the overall death toll reached 38. it happened on a mountain road, near turkey's eastern border with iran. soldiers and residents climbed to the site to dig victims out of the snow. they included the local emergency operations chief. >> we wanted to move the minibus, to rescue the lastwo people, thinking they could be under the minibus or near it. as we worked to pave a path, we were trying to direct the excavator to help, and then we heard a noise. and then, i was half-buried

under snow. i managed to get out on my own.t vanessa: at le emergency workers were injured, and officials said some are still trapped. the top u.s. military commander d in the middle east trave iraq today, amid calls for american forces to withdraw. marine general frank mckenzie arrived as news accounts said the iraqis have cut cooperation with the u.s. coalition. that follows the u.s. killing of iranian general qassem soleimani outside baghdad. the clock began running today on the last arms deal betwe the u.s. and russia. the new strategic arms reduction treaty expires one year from now. it limits long-range nlear rheads. the u.s. withdrew from a treaty on mium-range weapons last year, and has also begun deploying low-yield nuclear missiles. meanwhile, the governor of california hasardoned e late civil rights leader bayard

rustin, who was jailed for homosexual activity in 1953. rustin died in 1987, and the state law that he was convicted under is no longer on the books. goveor gavin newsom says he also wants to pardon others who were prosecuted under the statute. and also today, acting icon ki douglas died today. his son, actor michael dougla,s confirmed it, calling him a legend a star of hollywood's golden age, douglas appeared in more than 80 movies, from classics such as "spartacus" to the critically acclaimed "champion." kirk douglas was 103 years old. still to come on the "newshour" with judy woodruff, responseou from the white and a leading lawmaker on the analysis of the s's vote to acquit president trump of high crimes and misdemeanors. and, australia burning. the fires today, and the fires to come.

>> this ishebs newshour from weta studios in washington and cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: we return now to our top story, the impeachment trial. we start with the view from the white hous kellyanne conway is a counselor to the president. welcome let me ask you first, the president was impeached by the house of representatuies. he was aed by the senate. how does he read this? ms. conway: i was just with the president he sends his regds. the president is acquitted forever. 'it wast even close. the senate of the constitution need 67ot to convict and remove a president from office. it wasn't clo. he will be reelected. i think it is time for this congress, this city and this country to come together the way

the president made a call to action tsomebody mayor -- americans -- so many americans yesterday. yesterday's state of the uni was meant to paint a picture of growth, job rate, be-collar wage boom, but also celebrating figures in history that are still with us. the teske gi airman, -- tuskegee airman and his grandson, showing the arc of history, the little girl from missouri who was born at 21 weeks, a military family united, you have the president g on congress to celebra soleimani's elimination. i think one thing we are pleased with tonight a the white house is that the president has been acquitted. judy: but this that has been impeached.

bill clintonlaives with the l of impeachment forever. ms. conway: that is whatan the critic naysayers want to say. i think what is most important if we are going to talk about president clinton, he had already been a reelected so this is a different situation. the president's campaign said publicly that this impeachment trial and the protracted arguments are a waste of time and money by congress and has helped them raise money, helped the president's approval rating which is at an all-time high at 49% in that same paul -- in that americans reporte they are better off financially than a year ago and 74% per date it will beinancially better off a year from now. president cnton enjoyed similar numbers. people said the economy is doing great and i feel like - judy: let m ask you about one republican who did vote to convict the president, found him guilty on the article abuse.

that is mitt romney. what is the president's message to him? ms. conway: it is disappointing. maybe unsurprisingly disappointing. r senamney stands alone in that regard. i don't think you should be much of a headline today. he ran he got about 100 electoral votes less than president trump when he won. we have counted on senator romney'o's help. he with the president most of the time ande shouldajority recognize that when it comes to the agenda, mitt romney has been a solid yes vote for president trump's poenda for these cies. i will leave thato the people of utah to sort out. the senior senator from utah, mike lee, voted to acquit the president and is a constitutional scholar. i guess it was a little unsurprising and at the same time, irrelevant because it wasn't a squeaker, the vote wasn't even close.

judy: other republicans, while they voted to find the president, they ald they found his actions in reaching up to o the presideukraine asking him to investigate a political rival, they found it wrong, they found it inappropriate. susan collins said she hoped the president had lear td a lesson frt. e the the words of republicans who approve of what the president did. ms. conway: the are the words republicans who voted to acquit him the. -- acquit him though. it didn't misdemeanor level that is constitutionally warranted to take such a drastic and unusual, rare actioovto r a him a critically elected president from office at any time, let alone months before the next election. i respect their opinions and i respect their right to voice some of their concerns, but i am also happy i joined the president in the delight they

tofound a wa vote for acquittal. judy: will the president in the future, does he feel comfortable in the futurreaching out to her governments, as officials around the president are saying today, comfortable asking them to investigate a political rival? ms. conway: i don't see theeord investign the phone call transcript. i don't see 2020, i don't see the word election.th i don't se word demand. e ukrainian president an foreign minister confirmed they being made or aid was being held up. they had their meetings. president zelensky of ukraine met with ve president pence, which is like -- judy: i'm sorry to interrupt, you are saying the president inuld do this again and feel it was the correct to do? ms. conway: what i'm saying is, though there are senators that didn't see in this phone call and explicit demand to

investigate the bidens, if the president or liening to people like me, he wouldn't worry about joe biden. i think the president has every right to want to investigate corruption and the president of ukraine making good on his stated campaign promise that led the polls, to ben victory at anticorruption president, a corruption fighter. we don't choose who sits on the board of charism -- the board of burisma, and compromised company in ukraine, any more than we choose who is running on the democratic side. joe biden is struggling to hang onto fourth-place in the partial iowa caucus results. wean don't wanody to interfere in our elections and that includes the democrats, who em to interfere in their own elections in iowa, that includes the mainstream mia who said they had polling that showed donald trump couldn'n. i want free and fair elections and i don't want other countries

to be involved. judy: klyanne conway, advisor to the president, thank you very much. ms. conway: thank you, judy. judy: and now to a man who has been central to the impeachment of president trump from the start. in hisirst interview following today's historic vote, congressman adam schiff of california joins me now. he is the chairman of the house intelligence commitee, and was the lead house manageruring the impeachment trial. chairman schiff, welcome to the newshour. kellyanne conway says in effect, the president feels exonerated d all he was doing in his interactions with ukraine was seeking to root out corruption. rep. schiff: that is o tcourse bian basis.tors found on a we had many republican senators acknowledge that not only did the president do something wrong, but he held up hundreds of millions of dolla of aid in an effort toai pressure u into doing political investigations into his opponent

. i have to say, i was really, i found it breathtaking to listen ayto senatney today, to see that disf moral courage, to see someone put country above party. i said earlier in the week on monday during a closing arguments that a singl pson, a single vote could change the course of history. i think mitt romney did that today. mi know fy of us, we will look act on that vote, when we find ourselves in a situation calling for us to putoury first in ethical votes, we will be inspired by his courage. judy: at the same tim you put a lot of effort and energy into this process over the last several months and to see it, the articles of impchment fall, one of them 19 votes short, the other 20 votes short of convicting the president, removing him from office, what

rep. schiff: i talked about this early in the week. are at a place right n where one political party is willing to tolerate a level of misconduct in a president unsurpassed in history as long as it does a president of thr party. that is a dangerous trend for the country. the fact that so many senators of that party were not willing to fulfill their oath in same way mitt romney did is a really indictment of today's gop. notwithstanding, we felt in the house we needed to do our constitutional duty and appeal to that optimism, the founders put in our ability to have self-governance. i think mitt romney validated that faith of the founders. there were a numr of democrat senators from difficult states who made an equally courageous decision today, so i find myself at the end of the trial very optimistic about the future. judy: do you think there is

something you when the managers could of done differently, argued diffe to have a different outcome? rep. schiff: i don't. i think had we done anything differently than we did, we would nohave enjoyed the unanimous support of the demod atic senators en able to connce a former presidential nominee, the former leaderar of the republican, that his oath required him to convict donald trump for such an eg so we feel that we put the bes case forward possible. we appealed to the bt instincts of the senators. i'm tremendously moved that one of them displayed, several displayed such incredible courage. judy: two other queions. was this a fair trial? your side wanted there to be witnessesyomore evidence. didn't get that.

is this in the end, the process the american people deserve the aga rep. schiff: n the american people recognize that. americans wanted to hear from witnesses, they wanted to have 'ohn bolton testify, they recognized it w't a trial if you had an opening statement in a closing argument and nothing in between. made unfortunate impeachment history when the senators decided to have the first impeachment trial without w'esses. it wast fair. it makes it all the more show the courage that they did, as mitt romney did, as a number of democratic senators did. buto, i think history will record the sate did not live up tots constitutional responsibility, didn't try the case,ad insust heard arguments in the case and that is i think a dangerous precedent for the future. judy: where doethe house go from here? we are hearing there are calls

to subpoena johnidolton, the prt's former national security advice -- advisor. could there be more impeachment charges brought against the president in the house? rep. schiff: we made no decisions about next steps. completion, make tt caserial to possible, i think we did that, i ink we got the best results under the circumstances of a thtrial-non-tria we could. it is a bipartisan vote to convicde the pre, although it didn't meet two thirds threshold. judy: you areeaving the door en you can rep. schiff: i'm notr.aying one way or the ot we didn't look beyond the end of this trial. we will get together as a caucus scwith leadership and s what the future holds, but we were not epared to make any judgments about that. judy: chairman adam schiff, who was the leadse hou manager in the impeachment trial of president trum

thank you so much. rep. schiff: thank you. ♪ judy: we continue our look at impeachment on this closing day withwo political and legal experts. they are victoria nourse, formea spcounsel to the senate judiciary committee in the early nineties. she now runsge getown law school's center for congressional studies.d hn hart, who worked for congressman tom coburn, republican of oklahoma, during the impeachment of president clinton. he now runs the public affairs and communicions consulting firm, mars hill strategies. hello again to both of you. through this entire impeachment trial process. leme como you first, john. you just heard kellyanne conway saying president trump's exoneration,dam schiff saying

ven what they were up against, a sene with a party majority in the other direction, th feel this was the best they could do. how do you see this? john:wi don't see this as for republicans and democrats, .it is a loss for democra remember the clinton impeachment. reblican split -- paid a dear price for that in terms of the opportunity co, and the president's legal team warned against that. republican lost seats and president cl popular after the impeachment. we have seen president trump's poll numbers go upim after the achment. democrats especially is to do the soul-searching they should have done after president trp one that 2016 election. republicans did that and democrats have chosen resistance of her reflection. judy: sorry for interrupting, a tloss f country? victoria:ou have to look at

the alternatives. if thelternative is violence, this is better than that. it is the separation of powers working in some sense,ut i was sad when my son texted me and said the senate is bron. there will be too many young people who are going to say that this trial is not fair. the big vote here was not today, the vote was on witnesses. that vote will have enormous residence in -- resonance in how it will be understood by the american public me the days to nd how history will judge it. judy:ro what have we learned this process? hothe came out, you saw the house, with a very strong recommendation of ieachment by the majority. there were a couple democrats who voted against the majority, butth thesenate completely the opposite. john: i think we have learned the consequences of going against the golden rule of impeachment, that you don't move

forward on impeachment without the support the country behind you. if there isn't ay super major support in the country, it is be super my support in there to senate. at the beginning, we discussed which votes would be up in the r. in the end, there was one vote wthatt against party. i hope the warning is, we don't go down this road again without the support of the electorate behind us. judy: the one person who crossed party lines was republican mitt romney. so the vote that moved over was one of the president'he a member ofresident's party. victoria: the three former republican candidates for president, they have all come out against this president's style, if not policies. i do think that is importantn o noterms of the idea that we should have a bipartisan

basis for impeachment, but i that this incident is different than clinton and closer to in because the claim here is that the president was trying to interfere in an election, which is the bedrock of our system.th we saw chaos i iowa the country is on edge because it is true that the russians interfered, probly had nothing to do with trump's election but we know there was interference in our election. that makes ts impeachment, i agree with the bipartisan will. joe piatt -- joe biden agreed with itan years ago. the problem with electionsin i't to go away and would be better if the president didi't tweet like, i'm going to stay until 2040 and come out with an election security bill. judy: i asked kellyanne conway, beuse yamiche alcindor reported white house people are telling her the president may well reach out to other countries for help investigating a political rival, that they don't see anything wrong with

it. john: i don't frankly take that seriously. i think what this president does is, he is very effective at emotionally manipulating democrats. his state the union address was point after point designed to elicit a reaction. when he says thatome i don't take it seriously. his tweet moments after the vote pped, that trump would be in offi forever, that shows m being our satirist in chief, critic and political culture that doesn't accept humor. he is criticizing the liberalism of liberalism. judy: he was still impeached, the third president in history. victoria: i was proud of mitt romney for standing up. it was the most consequential event of his lifetime and this is a man who ran for president. him to abuse i those partisans of the president. mitch mcconnell, who said the fever has broken, strikes me as

being too optimistic. i don't think the fever has broken at all. you will see the fever mount up to the next election. john: i think there will be more animosity. the challenge is w, n't long ago republicans and immigrants were passing great legislation. to his credit, the president dis a good job ofibing his accomplishments. chris coons was in the oval office praising the president. americans want more of that. my bosphysically embraced president obama at his first state of the union. judy:ut you are saying that is not where we are headed. john: ihink t electorate wants that. hopefully there will be a reaction against, hopefullou there will bage fatigue in this country. judy: thank you for being with us throughout this process. john: thank you. victoria: thank you.

♪ judy: the australian bushfires are still burning in parts of that country. the fires have claimed the lives of more than 30 people, including three american tanker crash.who died in an air tens of millions of acres of s land have burnfar this season. the toll on the forest and the ldlife has prompted new conversations about how the land should be managed. that's the focus of miles o'brucn's latest piece, pr in collaboration with the weather app, my radar. it's for our "leading edge" series. miles: with help from an eager platoon of volunteers, noel and trish tler are taking the first steps back on a long road to recovery. the day they lost nearly everything is seed forever in their minds.

>> we did come out here a couple of hours before, maybe even one hour before to collect some more items. noel wanted to hose everything down again, and -- >> but you said, no. >> i said, "no, something doesn't feel right." and i think it was only like an hour later that this all came through, and ware so fortunate that we weren't here, because you would not surviv >> we'd never have got out of here. miles: before the fire, their now denuded vall looked like this, lush, green, home to some friendly marsupials. their little patch of paradise, and even more. noel butler is a proud budawang elder, a famous artist, teacher, d practitioner of aboriginal culture. their home was also a widely known educational center,ry focused on hisnd traditions that date back more than 100,000 years. with the fire approaching, they frantically filled this shipping container with artwork, tools, and ancient artifacts, hoping

they would be protected.t is is all that survived. is it kind of hard to fathom it all? >> it still is. i don't know, i guess it's still a bit surreal, tt we're here and we're looking at it. >> and we're alive. >> and we're alive, and we're very gteful for that miles: for noel butler, the loss is a poignant reminder of the lessons of ancient aboriginal history. fire is a part of a natural cycle in the forests of australia. >> this ole contint is designed to burn, and 80% of oud flora and benefits from crack the seed podte, the seeds, regenerate. his ancestors used that insight to their advantage, by setting low-intensity fires, prescribed burns, carefully considered and controlled. >> when you think, for 100,000na years, aboripeople have more than kept this in such perfect environment by managing it correctly by the use of fire,

by burning it when it needs to, and knowing when animals live where, you'll never interfere with the breeding cycle miles: as australia burns this horrible, historic summer, there much debate about land management, or mis-management. noel butler is among those who wonder if a return to the aboriginal practices might have deprived the megafires of fuel, reducing their intensity. rhaps. >> it's not the panacea people are hoping for. the trees all around you have. been plant miles: mike clarke is a fire ecologist at latrobe university melbourne. he says large-scale forest thinning and controlled burning is widely recognized as a good idea, but it is neither cheap or easy to implement. >> no, it's not. australia has changed profoundly. 've added another 20 million people to the landscape. we've got infrastructure all over the countryside of bridges and powerlines and reservoirs. we can't simply have large-scale

burning thatay have been possible when indigenous folk were in charge miles: the media here is dominated by rupert murdoch'sti news corpo. it usually omits or discredits . e impact of climate chan >> this is not chasing facts and applying rational scrutiny, this is ainsult to our intelligence. miles: instead, it focuses on arson statistics, and falsely leges environmentalists are to blame for blocking controlled burning. po they're not being constrained by some mythicalrful green movement. they've been constrained by climate change and the weather. the window in which you can do safe controlled burning has got shorter and orter. it's either too dry and it's dangerous to light a controlled burning, or it's too wet you can't get the darned thingteo ig and the window in which you can safely do it is down to handfuls of days in spring anmn. >> look, australia has been likely to suffer the worsthat is

impacts of climate change over any developed country. miles: david karoly is a climate scientist with the commonwealth ientific and industrial research organisation, australia's national science agency. >> 2019 was the hottest year in recorded history in australia, hott than any other year, an it was also record low rainfallt it didn't the fires, it didn't light the fires, but it environment for extreme fire miles: concern that facts like those are not getting enough public attention prompted sociologist david holmes to find communication, tvans of weathercasters. >> and w they are important is because not only are they orusted, but they also are skilled communic and they have access to a very big audice. you see them eryda on your television screens. are skilled with talking about climate change. they are the most important

people to communicate the science. mi s: holmes and his team from the monash climate change communications research hub are developing presentations linking weather events to climate change for 14 australian weather presenters, reaching a third of the nation so far. >> our average daytime temperature for september wases 24.9 degthis is an increase on the long term average which is quiteta suial when you look at our top temperature history trend, dated back to 1995. miles: weathercasters like paul higgins, of the australian broadcasting corporation, say the da alone speaks volumes. >> we just basically provide evidence-based scientific facts, peer-reviewed scientific facts, and present those to thece audiithout saying, "hey, this is climate change. look what's happening." we just simply show what has happened over the last, say, 50 years, and people can then make up their own minds. miles: it'an important message, and they are convinced this is moving the needle on blic opinion.

and in this hot, dry austral summer, filled with inferno afteinferno, people are looking for answers, while looking for the strength to start over. >> it certaiuny is really ng, and i have had moments where, it's not that i don't want to live on this land againe , on our property. feeling of how lon goingunting to take at that stage in our life. but i'm pretty sure that we can bring it back. i don't want to be negative about it. i think, that you know, we're positive and -- >> we'll build it er. can -- >> because we're still her miles: thiis a country on the front lines of the climate emergency. what's happening this summer could be a crystal ball to a future world. for the pbs newsho, i'm miles o'brien in southeastn australia. judy: that ishe newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.

thank you and we will see you soon. >> major funng has been provided by -- >> before wealk about your investments, what's new? >> audrey iwiexpecting. >>. >> we would be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> at fidelity a change in plans is always part of the plan. >> consumer cellular offers no contract plans that are designed to offer you what you enjoy. our customer service team is hereat to find a plan fits you. go to consumer cellular.tv. >> colette. american cruise lines. bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

♪ >> this program was made possibley the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank u. this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walks are cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

lidia: buon giorno. i'm lidia bastianich,

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