captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the coronavirus conundrum-- the widespread relaxing of restrictions continues as new hot spotemerge and the death toll in the united states tops 90,000. then, the diplomatic angle-- china makes strong moves on the worlstage, pushing to aid the global coronavirus response while derailing investigations into the early stages of the pandemic. and, covid and college-- the pandemic highlights inequities in aptitude testg for college admissions and hastens a nationwide move away from them.

>> many students today take the s.a.t. during the spring, during the school day. that's about 700,000 students who missed that chance. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> life isn't a straig line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. major new developments in the covid-19 pandemic. the united states reaches 90,000

deaths out of 1.5 million cases, as more of the country loosens restrictions. there is potentially promising news about a possible vaccine. and president trump drops his own medical bombshell. john yang begins our coverage. president trurch played a startling disclosure. he has been taking the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive against covid-19 . >> i'm taking the two, the zinc and the hydroxy. and l can i tell you is so far i seem to be okay. >> the president's use of the drug outside a hospital setting goes against the food and drug administration's warning about the risk of heart problems. mr. trump has long touted the anti-mall ar why medication's potential even though its effectiveness sun proven. he made the disclosure amid possible signs of progress on a vaccine. drug maker moderna reported that

limited data from early human testing suggests the experimental product is safe and triggers an immune response. this all comes as the nation takes tent tiff steps toward reopening. the before dawn in michigan today, ford auto workers returned to work for the first time since this plant closed in mid-march due to covid-19. >> at least for now, everybody is going to have to take their temperature daily and fill out that screening. and they'll have to go through the me screening process every morning when they come to work. >> yang: michigan recorded 11 new deaths sunday, the lowest since march 24. governor gretchen whitmer said that in coming weeks some counties could lift restrictions. i want to encourage everyone to stay smart and to stay safe. >> states like florida and massachusetts are meanwhile, states like florida and massachusetts are issuing their own guidance on a gradual reopening. florida governor ron desantis announced gyms and fitness centers can resume operations. and, restaurants can open at 50% capacity. san francisco took a small step

today, allowing retailers to reopen with curbside pick-up. but, in the epicenter of the country's outbreak, new york city mayor bill de bsio warned that lifting safety measures too quickly will lead to more infections. >> we cannot have a boomerang. we cannot have something where we have to shut down again. so we're going to be really but across the country, some are defying measures meant to stop the spread of coronavirus. several protesters stood outside a new jersey strip mall this morning in support of a gym that opened in defiance of state guidance. gym co-owner ian smith insisted it's safe and proper safety precautions were in place: >> the gym has been sanitized top to bottom by a professional cleaning crew, everything in the gym is six feet apart, erything will be marked, there will be masks. >> alcindor: covid-19 is taking center stage at the annual assembly, held by video conference this year, of the 194-member world health organization. china's president xi jinping

today pledged $2 billion over two years to support recovery worldwide efforts. in washington, the whiteouse dismissed it as a 'token' to distract from china's failure to 'warn the world of what was coming' and, the w.h.o. is facing questions about how it handled the pandemic. the european union, along with countries like the united kingdom and new zealand are pushing for a probe into the response. new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern: >> this is one that does not seek to lay blame, it seeks to learn from an experience that i think every citizen around the world would know we would need to learn from. >> yang: across hard-hit italy, signs of new normalcy as churches, shops and even venices' gondolas reopened today. a nun and priest, both wearing masks, entered st. peter's basilica today, open to the public for the first time in nearly three months. and, in denmark, for this first time in months, some enjoyed a cup of coffee brewed outside

their kitchens as cafes and restaurants resumed service. the country was the first in europe to enter a lockdown in march, and was the first to being easing those rules last month. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: reports of positive results from an experimental vaccine boosted wall street today. so did oil prices, closing ave $30 a barrel for the first time in two months. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 900 points, nearly 4%, to close near 24,600. the nasdaq rose 220 points, and, the s&p 500 added 90 points. today the world health organization hosted an annual summit, designed for world leaders to coordinate in their fight against covid-19. but the world health assembly was dominated by tensions between the u.s. and china, and criticisms by the rest of the world, of a vacuum of global leadership. nick schifrin joins me now.

soo nick, what is this is central tensi between the u.s. and china? >>udy, the world health assembly basically became a proxy battle for the political tensions between the u.s. and china. what we heard today was much of what we heard over the last few months, tensions between these two countries over the origin of the virus, over the worldwide leadership of this crisis and of course whether the who itself did a good job. now xi jinping was the first world leader to, he promised to share any chinese vaccine, he pledged 2 billion forth entire world for covid-19 19 and defend the who and china's efforts. >> we have acted with openness, transparency and responsibility. we have provided information to who and relevant countries in a most timely fashion, we have released a genome sequence in the earliest possible time. >> xi is really respond towmpleght. is criticisms that in the early

days of this outbreak local authorities silenced doctors and beijing authorities cenalized or even destroyed some of the vy rugs samples. so what did we hear flt u.s. that was lead by alex azar, secretary of health and human services. he gave a short speech but right out of the bat blamed the who and china. >> in an apparent attempt to conceal this outbreak at least one member state made a mockery of their transparency obligations with tremendous costs for the entire world. we saw the who failed at its core mission of information sharing and transparency when member states do not act if good faith. this can not ever happen again. >> woodruff: so nick, we know based, listening to secretary azar just now, the u.s. has been talking about reform so that this doesn't happen again. have any of those reforms been adopted? >> in a word, no, judy, at least not yet. the u.s. shas wanted tie want to become the own observer at the who and the u.s. has want

fundamental reforms to the who, allowing it to enforce countries reporting their outbreaks early on that the u.s. says china did not do. both of those efforts were shelfed even before this assembly began. u.s. officials telling me that they are going to try again later this year. and this wasn't really the ideal venue in order to do that. but what the u.s. believed it succeeded was to get china to agree to an investigation into covid-19. but judy, this is important. in order to get that resolution passed, it was watered down, it does not mention the word china. it does not mention the word wuhan nor does it call for an investigation into the origin of the disease, instead all it calls for is the international community to identify the animal source of the virus, determine how it entered humans and to create a kind of lessons learned project but only after the pandemic ends. >> woodruff: and nick, outside the u.s. and china, what other countries say? >> many other countries defended

the who and called for global solidarity including u.s. allies, countries the u.s. will need to pressure china, namely frangs and ger annie-- germany. now there was a real battle over global leadership, gli jinping mf side the money, solidarity. what the u.s. officials i talked to say look, we have already pledged $2 billion to the world, on top of $10 billion that the u.s. pledges every year, a $100 billion that the u.s. has been given to africa, but none of that was highlighted today. so china might not give more money, judy but even u.s. officials i'm talking to admit that it advertises better and prioritizes events like today much more nan the u.s. ever has. >> woodruff: and nick, a different subject but also the u.s. and china, and that is tensions between the two countries over the tech giant w.

how has the u.s. in the last few days been increasing pressure over this? >> it is really at the technological battle, st a hundred billion dplor phone and technology's jugger nawtd and the u.s. took the most aggressive step that it has against wa-wei as much of a mortal blow to the company as the u.s. is capable of delivering. basically any supplier whether foreign or the u.s. that makes chips for wa-wei measures chips for them, sells any technology at all, if that supplier has any u.s. intellectual property, even like the software that runs the machine that prints the chip, that company will now not be able to sell to wa-wei unless it gets a u.s. exemption. the experts i talked to say this will set wa-wei bark about 18 months and cost them a considerable amount of money. they add politted today if would set them back but also said beijing wouldn't sit back and let the u.s. destroy the company, judy. so expect some kind of retaliation from china, perhaps

against u.s. companies that still rely on chinese supply chains in what really has become a technological cold war. >> woodruff: a lot gng on, between the u.s. and china right now, nick schifrin, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, federal officials say a saudi gunman who opened fire at a u.s. naval base in pensacola, florida, had ties to al-qaeda. the saudi officer killed three sailors last december, before being killed himself. f.b.i. director christopher wray says data recovered from his cell phone shows ties to the al- qaeda branch in yemen, known as "a.q.a.p." >> he wasn't just coordinating with them about planning and tactics, he was helping the organization make the most it could out of his murders.

and he continued to confer with his a.q.a.p. associates, right up until the end, the very night before he started shooting. >> woodruff: wray and attorney general william barr sharply criticized apple for not helping to unlock the gunman's phone. f.b.i. agents finally managed to break the encryption, after four months. attorney general barr also says he does not expect criminal probes of former president obama or former vice president biden. president trump has claimed they may have committed crimes related to launching the russia investigation. barr dismissed that claim today, as he discussed u.s. attorney john durham's review of the investigation. >> as to president obama and vice president biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information i have today, i don't expect mr. durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man.

our concern of potential criminality is focused on others. >> woodruff: president trump said later that he's surprised that barr is not planning criminal probes of obama and biden. democrats say the friday night firing of state department inspector general steve linick may be linked to a saudi arms deal. representative eliot engel, chair of the house foreign affairs committee, said today that linick was investigating the $7 billion deal. president trump said he does not know linick, but that secretary of state mike pompeo wanted m fired. we'll explore this, later in the program. a federal prosecutor who oversaw cases against two trump allies, could be getting a big promotion. it's widely reported that u.s. attorney tim shea will take over the drug enforcement administration. shea helped push a lighter sentence for roger stone, a

trump friend and adviser, and for dismissing criminal charges against michael flynn, the former national security adviser. in israel, a jewish extremist was convicted today of murdering an 18-month-old palestinian boy and his parents. the court found the defendant threw firebombs into the family's west bank home as they slept, in 2015. the boy's grandfather welcomed the nviction. >> ( translated ): the trial will not bring my family back. but, i don't want there to be more children to go through the trauma that we went through. we went through this trauma for fiveears, a whole year at the hospital, and i don't want another family to go through this. enough already. >> woodruff: defense lawyers claimed police used torture to force a confession, but they offered no evidence. back in this country, disabled and minority voters in wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit over the upcoming august primary and

november general election. they want more poll workers, plus absentee ballots for all voters, among her things. wisconsin held its presidential primary last month, despite corona-virus fears. and, the year's first named storm in the atlantic swirled off the coast of north carolina today. tropical storm "arthur" brought heavy rain and rough surf to the outer banks, before turning out to sea. hurricane season does not officially begin, until june 1. still to come on the newshour: public health concerns remain as most states continue to relax restrictions on public gatherings. the trump administtion fires a state department watchdog, t latest in its dismantling of oversight. how the pandemic hastens a nationwide move away from often- unequal aptitude testing for college admissions. and much more.

>> woodruff: in all but two states, stay-at-home orders are being lifted. many states are still restricting how widely they will re-open and only will do so gradually. but there's no doubt questions are increasingly focused on how that can be done, while minimizing risk to the public health. dr. atul gawande is focused on that and it's the subject of a piece he wrote for the "new yorker" website. he's a surgeon at the brigham and women's hospital in boston and the chairman of haven, a joint health care venture created by amazon, berkshire hathaway, and j.p. morgan. he joins us from boston. dr. gawande, it is so good too have you with us again. you are reminding people that

even as we moof a ahead it is important to keep the basics in mind. so tell us again what are the basics? >> well, i think the basics come from the fact that there have brn a group of workers who have been going to work right through this epidemic and those are health care workers. and we have managed in the united states to manage so we can go to work and not spread the virus. and there are four components to what i have called a combination therapy. the components are ones you all know. but each of them are flawed. but when you put them together it stops the virus and we are demonstrate thrag in health care. so what are they. number one is hygiene. number two is distancing. number three is screening. screenk people for even very mild symptoms so they stay home rather than go into work. and four are masks. and the main value of the masks is that we can spread the disease. we now know, before we have developed symptoms. and the best way to keep from infecting other people is a mask beuse it is our respiratory

drop lets, when we talk, when we breathe, when we cough that we have the ability to spread the virus. >> woodruff: assuming they can get the test and have access to the test. but as you look around the country, dr. gawande and you see how these states are opening up, and as we said most of them are now trying to open up to one degree or another, what do you see that gives you hope, that makes you feel reassured. and what do you see that is worrying you. >> so the things that give me hope, inch one, we are finding that we have managed the lockdown successfully enough that we did not exceed the hospital capacity. and in most parts of the country there is enough hospital capacity for the cases to open. number two is that we have testing capacity actually has increased significantly in a lot of parts of the country. reports are flow coming out in many states that we haven't used up the capacity enough. people aren't coming in for the tests and we need to call up your doctor or go to one of

these drive thru spots. dbscvs, rite-aid, walgreen, and get tested, if you have even the slightist symptoms. those are what gives good flus. we are finding that and it is getting better. now what am i worried about? what i am worried about is we're having this debate about our culture, of what we're going to do to secure safety for one another. it's a did he bait that is about safeties and freedom, right, keep me safe, leave me alone. we are putting too much mf soins the minority that are refusing to participate. the reality is if the vast majority of, if he wetted just 60 pergs wearing masks that are 60% effective, that is to say there is double layer coton at least and fits well, then we can avoid spreading infection to other people. the lue is i protect you, you protect me. and we don't have to all be perfect. you don't have to be vigilantes about it, but we do have to

build a culture where we feel my job is that i never want to be the the one to put you in the hospital. i never want to be that person. that is the culture of health care that we have built, that keeps us safe. when we go into work a place that has risk and we have managed to avoid turning hospital into places that spread wrz and even as we are keepingure selves safe, we need to constantly remember how important it is to keep others safe as well. dr. ga waned, i also want to ask you about the news today that has given investors hope. we see the markets going up today because there are reports that progress seemso be made in the very early stages of a vaccine. put that in context for us. what are you seeing? how much hope should we have? at there point about a vaccine and when? >> well, first i have to say it is extraordinary to see the progress that happens to this point. u are absolutely right, this is just the first step on a multistage journey.

but you know, the fact that you have stlee companies now. you have chinese, a chinese vaccine, an oxford varks even and this one from moderna here in boston. and all three have not only been produced, they have gron ino trial and already have some early results in the first few weeks that is an indication, not that they work yet but that would have taken, in previous times, three to five years, this happened in weeks. i mean that's stunning. now the entire varks even process from concept to finish, my vaccine colleagues tell me, you know, never been done in less than 20 years before. so the fact that we have this front end already at this stage and we will have others coming out into the summer, a hundred vaccines that are coming out into tests, it does give a lot of hope that within a couple of years, we could be in to production. is this a matter of jrsz months away, no. i think we have to be ready for

that. and being ready sphor if means being ready to understand. we all have to take seriously really learning how to take what works and if we are going to come out and work together and be with one another, we've got to be able to do those safe steps and work together on this. >> woodruff: one other thing i want to ask you,nd that is we just learned today president trurch says for the last-- trump says for the last week and a half to two weeks he has been taking the drug hydroxychloroquine i guess typically prescribed for mall aria but taking it prophylactically. what do you make of that. >> there are v been multipl studies that have so far slow no ben flit from hydroxychloroquine and one has shown there are serious heart risks from the drug. so as a f mi notdvertising to patients that this is a good idea. there will be better ials to come. but right now there is no evidence it works. and in fact it could be harmful.

>> woodruff: so important to hear because in some quarters people are starting to believe this is going to be here by the end of the year. so it is really important at this point to put it in that kind of context drvment atl wande, thank you very much. it st always goods to have you with us. thank you. >> glood to be here, thank you. >> woodruff: president trump has fired three inspectors general in the past six weeks. that includes the watchdog of the state department, steve linick, last friday. today, chair of the house foreign relations committee eliot engel said linick was investigating the trump administration fast-tracking weapons sales to saudi arabia last year.

engel and democratic senator bob menendez are reviewing linick's firing. yamiche alcindor takes a closer look. >> alcindor: some see the firings as a threat to the independent government watchdogs. the president says many of the people he removed were too partisan. the most recent firing comes after the president removed or replaced inspectors general for the intelligence community, the defense department and the department of health and human services. joining me to talk about the role of inspectors general is joel brenner. he was an i.g. for the national security agency under president george w. bush. and, from 2006 to 2009, he was the head of u.s. counterintelligence under the director of national intelligence. he also serv under president obama. thank you for being here. i want to first play what president trump had to say at the white house when he was talking about the state department ig and talking about the fact that of course he was fired after there were reports that surfaced that he was looking into an arms trading

deal with saudi arabia as well as serving state mike pompeo's personal conduct. here is what he said. >> i don't know him at all. i never even heard-of-him. but i was asked to by the state department, by mike. i offered most of my people, almost all of them. i said these are a obama appointees, if you would like to let them go i think you should let them go but that is up to you. because st my right to do t i said sure, i'll do it we have gotten rid of a lot of inspector jenners, every president has. >> how concerned with you about the president firing these ig and how unusual is it for him to remove these inspectors general. >> i'm very concerned. these are people who were appointed under statute without regard to their political affiliation solely on the basis of demonstrated ability in law or auditing or similar areas. and the idea that it is typical that these jobs can turn over

when a new administration comes in saul wrong. what we are seeing is not only an attack on particular ig's quho are uncovers exactly what they were meant town cover, we are seeing an attack on the institution of ig itself. and that is, we've neer seen before. the institution of ig's in the civilian government is 42 years old. it was a post watergate reform designed sto uncover mall feesance in the executive branch of the government. the president appears to believe that the congress has no authority to inquire or interfere with how he does business in the executive branch. i think this is the closest we've come to a leuses 14th theory of american government which is i am the state. no supreme court has ever agreed

with that. >> well, you are talking about the fact that these removals are unusual. secretary of state mike pompeo also said that he has no idea what the inspector general at the state department was looking into. how credible is it that a target, a potential target of an inspection wouldn't know about that investigation? >> well, an investigation that it-- is possible. but i think it's fundamentally incredible that the secretary would know this. the investigation according to accounts in the media have been going on for some time. when you do an inspection-- an investigation, you interview people, you find out things, you ask for documents. it is inconceivable to me that those story was not have percolated up to the secretary's office on the top floor of the state department. absolutely incredible. >> some lawmakers are already looking at this latest removal. what role if at all should

congress play when it comes to these dismissals and should congress change the law so that inspectors general are maybe more insulated from political appointees and more insulated from getting fired by presidents? >> well, they aren't political appointees and they have to be. this is an executive branch, congress has created a position but st a position in the executive branch. and congress can't direct how that person is going to carry out his or her function. that is spg for the head of the agency to do. but what we have had is again an attack on the common understanding, the norm if you will, about how the government should be conducted that is what the president is breaking and attacking, that if we have a president who is determined to undermine the law and if we have a congress that will not stand up for its own institutional prerogatives, then our public is

in trouble. and right now we have a majority in the senate that is firmly on the rung under president trump's couch. and unless theget out from under that couch, you've got a problem. nothing is going to happen, in my view, until we have a change in the government. >> we only have about 30 seconds left here but i want to ask you, the president says that he is defending himself because these are o obama holdovers, wh do you make of president trump's defense. >> well, as suggested, that isn't a defense. the idea was that you would put in persons who were noted for their nonpartisan expertise. stlo has bfn a position that these jobs do not turnover every time there say new administration. that the idea that the president has simply thought to be changing ig's because he has the right to do it is exactly the opposite of what the statute contends. >> thank you so much for joining

us, joel brenner, a former ig himself. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: springtime for juniors in high school usually marks the beginning of the college admissions processwith s.a.t. and a.c.t. tests and advanced placement exams. more than two million students took a.p. exams last week, but a glitch prevented thousands from submitting their exams, which moved online. all this is raising questions about what to do with testing for the class of 2021 and beyond. stephanie sy looks at how the coronavirus is changing the calculus for college hopefuls. >> reporter: schools are closed. classes are online. students around the country have been forced to make adjustments. one unanticipated change during

this pandemic? cancelled college admissions tests. >> it's given me a lot of anxiety, not knowing that i can take this test or when i'll be able to take it. >> reporter: in alexandria virginia, bridgette adu-wadier had planned to take the s.a.t. for the first time this spring at her high school. now she worries rescheduling the test won't be easy. >> my family doesn't have a car, so figuring out public transportation and bus routes and train routes, especially when the testing location is in a different city several miles away. it's really complicated and the costs do add up. >> reporter: annette rooney, from salt lake city, was hoping to take the a.c.t. a second time to improve on her score and have a better shot at top-tier schools. >> i am a person that likes to get things done ahead of time. and so i wanted to get my college applications done by the end of summer. and now that i don't have scores that i feel good about, it's like when am i going to be able

to send in my applications? >> reporter: new s.a.t. testing dates and sites have been added in the fall, according to david coleman, c.e.o. of the college board, which administers the test. >> many students today take the s.a.t. during the spri, during the school day. that's about 700,000 students who missed that chance. we've also said that if school doesn't reopen, that we will provide an s.a.t. at home just as we're providing the a.p. exams at home. >> reporter: the college board re-designed its advanced placements tests so students could take them online this month, but critics argue that an online format for the a.p.'s and s.a.t.'s will only exacerbate inequalities. david coleman acknowledges the challenges. >> some students have lost family members. some students are in cwded homes. this is not a time to simply look at a measure and judge someone. it's only part of the puzzle. >> reporter: tamir harper founded the non-profit urb-ed in philadelphia, and says schools should stop relying on the s.a.t.'s and a.c.t.'s

altogether. >> the test was not made for black and brown students and students of lower economic status, it is 100% unfair. >> reporter: do you view this pandemic in a way as a wakeup call to these institutions of higher learning to see the inequities that have been laid bare? >> i think it's highlighting inequities across the board from health care to work, even to education. while it's very tragic, it's doing something that will hopefully change the way we look at education. >> reporter: now dozens of colleges and universities, like cornell, williams and the entire university of california system- are going test optional for the first time. michelle mcananey is a college admissions specialist and founder of the college spy. >> a test optional admissions policy allows a student to apply to a college without submitting their a.c.t. or s.a.t. scores. and the way that works is the college looks at the other parts of their application to evaluate whether they'd be a good fit for campus.

>> reporter: she says going test optional can also be beneficial for the schools. >> they get a lot more applications. so then they reject more students because they have a certain number of places in the freshman class. and then they also appear more selective because they have a high rate of rejection. >> reporter: seattle university provost shane martin says the school was already considering going test-optional, but the covid 19 pandemic accelerated their decision. what reasons drove your college's decision to go test optional in these times? >> there's evidence that suggests that these tests are biased towards certain groups and that they're not entirely predictive of success in college for high school students. >> reporter: martin believes test optional schools will eventually be in the majority. >> when you see institutions with strong reputations like the university of chicago moved to test optional, that's a game changer for higher education and we're going to see more

institutions following suit. >> reporter: for now, mcananey says the tests are still critical for many students, including those that are hoping for scholarships. >> students really shouldn't be saying, you know, i don't have to worry about this because the schools i'm interested in are test optional. if your schools are test optional and your scores are great for that college, you should be submitting your scores. it could help you get in. and it could help you get merit aid. >> so many people are smart or they have the grades that they are comfortable with because they work hard. and just one test that you take on a saturday doesn't really measure that. >> reporter: john barnes, of arlington, virginia, says the tests are an unreliable indicator of student achievement and create too much pressure on students. >> i got my score back and it went down 20 points. so i just started freaking out. i went outside and then this security guard comes out. i cannot believe that this test has driven me to go this insane, that a library security guard could come out of the library while i'm having a nervous breakdown. >> reporter: david kang, a

junior in austin, texas, feels the opposite. >> i moved here from korea like right before high school started. so i just jumped right in here and i really had a rocky start. so my g.p.a. isn't all that great compared to my s.a.t. scores. >> reporter: coleman says the evidence in favor of the s.a.t. is "overwhelming." >> if you put a strong score together as strong grades. admissions officers have more confidence about your background. so it is a good thing to have a measure that allows you to better compare people if used humanely in the context in which people live and learn. >> reporter: and while some students disagree with the emphasis on testing, they recognize the importance of a good score in the current system. whether to get into their dream school... >> a number does not determine your future, which is something that i've tried to accept, but it's hard because it still determines your future kind of. >> reporter: or to earn financial aid... >> my parents are not at the highest income and i'm really worried about them taking on debt.

so i want to make sure that it's not as big of a burden for me. and the s.a.t. was really something that i was counting on to help me. >> reporter: the class of 2021 looking for clarity for their future in the chaos of a pandemic. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. a post script to her report there is more criticism to how the college board has handled the ap exams taken at home, the board says less than one pefers students were not able to submit their exams. students can take a makeup next month. the board also says it tried to lay out specific guidance before the exams began. but some parents and critics have said the board has not been transparent enough about just how many students were affected. some are angry about students having to take a makeup exam. >> we are posting a fuller response from the college board on our website. 6

>> woodruff: president trump has intensified his attacks on former president obama in recent weeks, on issues ranging from pandemic preparedness to the f.b.i.'s investigation of michael flynn. on saturday, president obama hit back during his address to high school graduates. >> doing what feels good-- what's convenient, what's easy-- that's how little kids think. unfortunately a lot of so-called grownups witfancy titles and fancy jobs, still think that way. which is why things are so screwed up. all those adults that you used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing? turns out they don't have all the answers. a lot of them aren't even asking the right questions. so if the world's going to get better, it's going to be up to you.

>> woodruff: here to look at the political motivations behind both presidents' behaviors: amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." hello to both of you. so here we have the two presidents. but i want to preface this, amy, by saying today attorney general william bar stated and we aired th earlier in the program, that he does not expected there to be criminal prosecution of either former president obama or former vice president joe biden, presume bleef over the russia investigation and yets that is what one of the main things president trump has been going after president obama, vice president biden over. any idea why right now president obama appeared to pick this moment to respond? >> well, it is interesting, judy, you're right that president obama using the one

time we have seen him on this platform as you said for graduates to make a not so vailed swipe at president trump. but it was also, i thought interesting this weekend, we saw a story in "the washington post" that said the biden campaign is working very hard to baiferl turn the other cheek. they don't want to fall into the trap that so many other politicians since the rise of donald trump's candidacy in 2015 have fallen into which is they try to engage him in these twitter battles and they almost always lose. and at the same time you have a lot of democrats, we saw this in the primary, judy, so many democratic voters who are desperate to see their candidates go after donald trump in the way that donald trump goes after their candidates, goes after president obama, goes after joe biden. joe biden doesn't want to do this. he knows that his brand essentially is empathy, compassion, turning the other cheek, doing the the right thing. that doesn't mean that other

candidateses, i mean other politicians can't do it for him. so in this case president obama can be that person, can play that bad cop. i think you are going to see that a lot from whoever the vice presidential candidate of joe biden will be. the person who can take the attack directly to the president. but it's not coming from joe biden. the person who says he wants to restore decency to the white house. >> woodruff: so pick up on that, tam, how smart is it for joe biden to be staying away from a fight, if you will? >> well, it is the path they are taking now. certainly covering hillary clinton's campaign. they fell into the trap a lot of fighting that fight with donald trump and it didn't work. the people didn't know what she stood for because there were so many, you know, snarky tweets back in the trump campaign, thinking that donald trump doing

the trump thing, you know, being a brat and upsetting people, that that was hurting them. and they wanted to focus attention on it. and it didn't actually help her. so the biden campaign is trying to avoid some of those traps. you know, president trump is in some ways, i mean he has never stopped going after barack obama. his political careereally got going with birtherrism. and now you have from birtherrism to obamagate, it is just continuing. so you have the president of the united states attacking the former president. you have the former president sort of in a thinly vailed way, i mean in some ways, president obama, could have said a lot of things that no matter what he said would have been taken as a swipe against-- against president trump. >> woodruff: for sure. and it is, i mean, just this week you said a minute ago, interesting that the attorney

general himself is now saying he doen't expect there to be criminal prosecution of president obama, former vice president biden. but we'll see whether that flow slows down the president trump's use of the term obamagate. in addition to all of this, we saw the president, president trump's son ramping up thrair criticism this weekend. eric trump, the president's son essentially saying that he thinks democrats are behind the move to prevent opening up the country, that they are all behind the efforts to keep people to to stay at home because they want to prevent president trump from campaigning. they said they think the day after the election democrats are going to admit that this whole stay at home business and the coronavirus was just really about nothing and everything is fine. >> so what is that saying, judy, when your hammer, everything looks like a nail. that has been the trump campaign and the trump presidency.

everyone in trump orbit away of thinking constantly. stay campaign of constant grieveance. there is always somebody or something that is out to take out the president, undermine him, yunld mine peoe who support him or wear his gear. and so this is what they know and what they will continue to do. but i think it sls speaks to-- speaks to what we have been seeing now forth last couple of months, the real divide opening up between democrats and republicans on how serious they think the coronavirus is. and pu-w has been-- pe-w has been tracking this back in march, a 26 point gap between democrats and republicans on how serious do you think this is as a health crisis. st now up to almost 40 points. when they ask people how well they think certain groups are doing, tackling coronavirus, republicans put the news media at 25%. they put donald trump at 77%. so again it fits right into that

it mindset of many republicans. but the president, as we've seen from the very beginning, his ability to generate enthusiasm from his base, that is not a problem. to get more voters including those who are ambivalent about him to vote for him in 2020, that's a bigger problem. >> woodruff: and this device of saying, there saul part of the democrats plan, conspiracy, to keep the president from getting out and campaigning, that they are sinically using this coronavirus as an exclues-- execution. >> it is a wild plan but hey, guess what, there have been a lot of wild claims that have come from the president's sons on social media. and you know, broadcast media as well. the president's sons are often willing to say things that the president approximate doesn't say quite as overtly. will tip toe up to it. and you know, for the trump campaign sort of having

conspiracy's swirl out there, works for them. they are creating an ecosystem for the president's support for an app, through social media channels. creating an ecosystem of information. there are no alternatives to the information that is coming from trump ang his surrogates. and you know, and he says that it doesn't expand the base, clearly the trump campaign's theory of the case here is they aren't really trying to expand the base. they are trying to just find people who were already part of the base that didn't vote last time. >> woodruff: a all in the middle of a pandemic that say deadly pandemic that is now killed as you said more than 90,000 americans. tamara keith, amy walter, we thank you both. >> up's welcome. >> you're welcome

>> woodruff: finally tonight, singing the coronavirus blues. jeffrey brown revisits a musician who has met many challenges with song in the past, and now confronts one that is quite personal. the story is part of our ongoing "american creators" series on rural arts and canvas. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: outside the citadel nursing home in salisbury, north carolina, an uplifting one-woman performance. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the singer: 63-year-old blues musician, pat "mother blues" cohen. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> there's been like a huge outbreak of the coronavirus and everybody's in their rooms and everybody is afraid.

i want to do something that's going to brighten up somebody's day. and in brightening somebody else's day it brightens my day al. >> brown: the nursing home is the scene of one of north carolina's worst outbreaks of covid-19. health officials say the 160-bed facility has had more than 150 confirmed cases among residents and staff. one of the residents: pat cohen's 59-year-old brother, george. he first went into the home two years ago after suffering a stroke. he's not been diagnosed with covid, but is mostly confined to his bed and watches his sister perform through the window. >> my brother used to help me with my equipment. he would bring it to wherever i was performing. he would set it up and he would break it down for me, he would carry it to my car for me. i could always depend on him.

>> brown: we first met pat cohen in 2014 at a gathering in durham of the music maker relief foundation, an organization that's supported more than 400 blues musicianaround the south, mostly african american, often rural. people like ironing board sam, who briefly reached the spotght, but never made it big and eked out a living playing small clubs and busking on the streets. music maker helps these musicians meet basic needs and, for some, has gotten them back to performing paying gigs. now, founder tim duffy says, the shows have stopped, the fear is real. >> they're scared. the loss of, when you live, like the average check, it's like $600 to $800 a month, sometimes as low as $400 a month. and all the artists that we work with, a lot of them are between 75 and 85 and have diabetes.

and so like they'll tell me, ¡if i make a mistake, i might die. if i touch the wrong thing.' so they're being very, very careful. but that's a lot of pressure to live under. >> brown: a lot of artists and arts organizations are now looking to new models like streaming. is that sort of thing possible for you and these artists? >> it's possible, but there's a great digital divide. they're elderly, they don't know how to use the devices. a lot of places in rural communities don't have the best internet. so we can't do that. >> brown: pat cohen was once a regular on the new orleans scene. she lost her home during hurricane katrina, along with her professional connections. music maker helped her relocate to north carolina and pick up her career. she was scheduled to perform at jazz fest earlier this month, in fact, and in portugal later on. but now all the gigs are gone,

the money not coming in. >> and so you don't know exactly what you're going to do, especially if all you do is sing or play an instrument or whatever it is, you don't know what you're going to do. you wonder if it's ever going to be over. you don't know how things are going to change. and, you know, it's going to change. will there ever be live concerts again? >> brown: she used to be paid to perform inside the nursing home. now, there's just singing outside, to lift up her brother and others. music maker's tim duffy says it's another example of why the musicians he's worked with for 25 years deserve our respect and help. >> she just keeps on going. and now she literally has very little money. and she gets up the gumption to go out and sing for em and do something to help others with what she has. she has joy in her heart. she has music. and i think in times of crisis,

we look for our folk musicians to guide us and that's their role, they're bards. >> brown: pat "mother blues" cohen puts it this way: >> everybody has a currency and everybody's currency is different. my currency is my voice. you don't have to do what i do, but do something nice for somebody else. and that's contagious by itself. >> brown: blues both sad and joyful: now comforting others in a time of ndemic. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in washington. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, when an alaska park department had to shut down local hiking, they didn't want to give their information hotline the boot. instead it's now a joke hotline, and a source of smiles around the country. read more on our w site, pbs.org/newshour.

and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> 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 puic broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> we're gearing up on the assumption that we'll have in the near future, relatively near future, a vaccine. >> a real promise or raising unrealistic hopes? top health reporter ed yong of the atlantic brings his expertise to connect all the coronavirus dots. then -- >> what we found was our tribalism became more important than facts. >> the death of expertise. the harvard professor tom nichols tells about the war on knowledge. plus -- germany gets the virus under control and gets europe's first soccer