captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodrf: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, still no concession. despite repeatedly losing court challenges to election results, president trump contues to deny his defeat. then, fired: the president terminates the leader of the top u.s. cybersecurity agency following his rejection of claims the election was compromised. and, the recount continues-- with senate runoffs approaching and political pressure increasing, officials ineorgia undertake the painstaking task of re-tabulating the votes. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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250,000 dead from the coronavirus. the number is risi by an average of 1,100 every day, with roughly 160,000 new infections daily. and, president-elect joe biden warned today that a potentialai vaccination ca is in jeopardy, because thtrump administration won't start t transition of power. that we just don't haveof things availablto us which unless it's made available soon we're going to be behind by weeks or nths being able to put together the whole initiative we have. to the biggest promise >> woodruff: the wave of covid-r 19 infectionpted new york mayor bill de blasio today to ose the nation's largest public school system, again.fe ive tomorrow, more than one million students go back to online-lrning only. president trump is mounting new challenges to his election loss to mr. biden.

the trump caaign asked today for recounts in two counties in wisconsin. meanwhile, michigan certified its statewide results after republican canvassers in detroit initially refused to certify. that drew fire today from detroit's democratic mayor. >> american democracy cracked last night. but it didn't break. we are seeing real threat to everything we believe in. what you are seeing in this country right now is an effort to say we only want to count the votes of the people who agree with us. >> woodruff: president-elect biden won michigan and wisconsin, plus georgia, which is due to finish a hand recount of its votes tonight. the united states has imposed still more sanctions on iran. today's announcement targeted the intelligence minister and a charity that's allegedly agi

slush fund. that came as a u.n. agency reported that centrifuges at iran's natanz nuclear site are now enriching uranium. it's been reported that president trump sougions last week for a military strike on natanz. reports of heavy damage and deaths are now coming in from central america, in the wake of hurricane "iota." nicaragua today raised its official death toll to 16. homes were left in ruins along the country's caribbn coast, and downpours triggered heavy flooding and landslides there and in honduras. >> ( translated ): the hurricane came, it knocked over my house, my daughter's house, it knockedi over five houstotal. so i'm homeless. where am i going to live? i haveo take care of so many young men. i don't know where i'm going to live. >> woodruff: the hurricane smashed ashore monday night in the same area where anotherm

category 4 sit, two weeks earlier. back in this countrya federal judge in washington ordered the trump administration today to stop deporting migrant children who cross the u.s.-mexico border alone. nearly 9,000 unaccompanied children have be expelled since march. the administration has used an emergency measure citing the onndemic as justification. the federal avia administration has cleared boei 737 max jetliners to resume deliveries and airlines.l flights for u.s. that ends a 20-month ban after two crashes that killed 346 people. ngday's order calls for bo to update key software andnd computers,or pilots to receive new training. and, on wall street today, worries about surging covid-19 infections outweighed optimism about new vaccines. the dow jones industrial averagn lorly 345 points to close

at 29,438. sdaq fell 97 points, and, the s&p 500 slid 41. still to comon the newshour: despite repeatedly losing court challenges to elprtion results, ident trump continues to deny his defeat. the ader of the top u.s. following his rejeof is fired claims the election was compromised. orelection officials in gegia undertake the painstaking task of recounting the votes. and much more. >> woodruff: the next president is set to be sworn in nine weeks from today. though the associated press and

other news outlets say that wi be joe biden, president trump and his allies continu contest the results. hello to both of you. are now more than two weeks since election day. the president, as we have beenre rting, still insists that he has not lost. he is continuing to mount these challenges. what do we know right now? >> well, the president is continuing his long-shot bid to wrestle back this election from president-elect biden, and today that wrestling back took form of a partial recount. the trep campaign isanding a $3 million partial recount wisconsin focusing on dane county and milwaukee counties. critics say these are democratic strongholds that are not going to at all be overturned even if you recount the tes. the trump campaign could have asked for an $8 million statewide recount, but they're

not doing tht, saving some of that money, but they want to show they're st in the fight. campaign sources say the esident feelke he can still win the election but critics say it's theatrics. to mount legal challenges anding continuing to have lawsuits go in a number of states including in nv, in pennsylvania, in georgia, and similar arguments being made that there's massive voter fraud. again, no evidence at. another thing to note is the shifting rhetoric that we those close to president trump. today the white house chief of staff mardok m went to capitol hill, spoke to senators. senators describe it as aches manied message, a gooe dbye mess some thought but also a message to say fight on. he said in president trump's term it could be 45 days or fou yend 45 days. trump campaign so sayingith the mood inside the trumpem campaign is alized, people feeling the president is a sore

loser, feeling it's a lnshot and almost impossible for him to win this.uf >> woo meantime, lisa, at the other end of pennsylvania avenue, them deocrats in the house of representatives they know they will be looking at a smaller majority in january.e what hey doing? >> right. eclipsed by all of the attention, understandably, on the presidential race, are some really interesting changes happening in the house. something not changing, who will be leading house democrats.ts house democoted by voice nancy pelosi will retain the speakership. she still needs 218 votes in january. we'll get thre later, judy, but democrats said she will be theie er. the top three leadership positions are unchanged for right now. the fat of the matter is something is different for house democrats, something dramatic, their margin will be smaller coming into it. let's look at where the house balance of power stands right

here's the fan gr i love to show amna and ewere talking about on election nigcht so h. right now democrats have 0 seats, one in this year's election. the majority in the house is 218 seats. there are 11 seats still uncalled. now republicans lead in about three or four, depending on how you want to look at it, that theyould take from democrats. there are fascinating races in nwa, 400,000 voter race d to 47 votes. but the point here is that democrats have soe things that they need to focus on for next year. one where you talk about h democrats, they will have fewer moderates, a smaller margin. pelosit as said thaat agenda won't change for them because of it, but a when you talk behind the scenes, you know there is unity on a few things -- astructure, voting right for democrats -- but this smaller margin could spell problems for other agenda items like climate and spending, judy. it is going to be difficult for mocrats, in so instances, to

pelosi has done i better thanker anyone. natural for them to focus on next year, but they still have time this year to get some ings done. what are they saying about thate >> ts one major priority that must get done, that is keeping government funded. the deadline for that is december 11th. so that might seem like it's a few weeks away, butct, ually, thanksgiving break today and tomorrow and won't be able to address that in the meantime. when they come back they'll have two weeks to deal with that december 11th fundin. deadli democrats and republicans are getting closer to a deal amongst themselves, but th parties and both sid of the capitol told me today they'r worried about president trump, he needs to sign any funding deal or an a an

ttension of funding. the lame democrats came into the house after election we had the lo shutdown in history because president trump would not get on board. >> woodruff: we remember it well. yamiche alcinr, lisa desjardins, no shortage of things to cover well after the eltion, thank you both. the latest president trump firing, the top cybersecurity official at the department of homeland security, christopher krebs. it comes after krebs, whose job it w to cure u.s. election systems, pushed back on false claims of fraud. william brangham reports. >>his new agency will ensure that we confront the full range of threats from nation states,

cyber criminals and other malicious actors, of which there are many. b>> reporter: ngham: in 2018, president trump signed legislation to funt the cybersecand infrastructure security agency, known as cisa, within the department of homeland security. its goal: to protect critical frastructure, including the nation's election systems. the president named cybersecurity expert christopher krebs to be its director. krebs had been serving within d.h.s. last month, just days before the election, krebs told the newshour cisa had come a long way. >> we have just de remarkable progress. the evidence supports that. the security of these systems has improved. but, most importantly, the resilience of the system has dramaticly improved. >> brangham: the consensus among election officials and agencies across government is that: despite ongoing threats of disinformation, foreign interference, plus the pandemic

20 election was the most secure in u.s. history. >> director krebs deserves an enormous amount of credit for his efforts, for his leadership in the space. >> brangham: ben hovland is chairman of the u.s. election assistance commission. he, too was nominated by president trump. hovland's commission studies and helps disseminate election system best practices. >> one of the things that makes working election issues difficult from the national level is, is the decized nature of our elections. and dictor krebs, i think, did a great job empowering his team to recognize that the 50 states each run elections in their own unique way. and so it was important to listen, to hear what their needs were and try to provide that. >> brangham: dmitri alperovich is a co-founder of the cybersecurity company crowdstrike. he worked with krebs to improve the capabilities of local election officials to detect and withstand cyber tacks.

>> one of the things that chris was very passionate about is in stateinstrumentatio systems and local municipalities that are running these election systems so that we would know if they're being attacked by foreign actors or domestic actors. and we worked very hard in the private sector to help them gain that level of instrumentation. so he would know and the rest of the federal government would know if those systems are beinga attack would be able to respond accordingly. >> brangham: most republicans on capitol hill chose not to comment on the krebs firing, but a notable few were critical here's g.o.p. kingressman adam inger of illinois, on cnn: >> chris krebs said the election was secure. that's his job to say that, his job is to make sure that they're nding the elections and of course that is counter to what so i think that als intoto say why he's out there and there's like a loyalty purge going on in the last month at the white house. >> brangham: and texas republican senator john cornyn: >> it's the president prerogative but i think it just adds to the confusion and chaosh we knoe were people who

tried to influence the electione the irony is wly did a much better job in 2018 and 2020. >> brangham: many beeve krebs was fired because of his agency's continuing effort to push back on false claims and run,rs surrounding the elect some of which were created or repeated by president trump. and to fight the disinformation, cisa ran this webse called" rumor control," batting down myths and lies about things like computer hacking, duplice ballots, and compromised voter rolls. but it was this int statement, put out by cisa six days ago, th seemed to seal his fate it read, "the november 3rd election was the most sere in american history," and later, in bold directly contradicting the president and his lawyers, it read: "there is no evidence tt any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." last night, the president tweeted, "the recent statement

by chris krebs on the security of the 2020 election was highly inaccurate... therefore, effective immediately, chris krebs has been terminated."ad a much b look at this moment for the president and the country, i'm joined by ron ron, litzer prize winning writer and reporter. great to have yo >> great to be here. >> reporter: you have been covering this president since the get-g we have now seen christopher leadership at the oneen the locked off and replaced. help us understand how we ought to be seeing these events. >> what you're seeing here is trump executing his loyalty tesa thaty has been active since around since 2013, where heeally realized in a moment of clarity that loyalty was his key word. he had lots offficials who would not take an oath of personal loyalty. he took an oath to the

constitution and thenid temperature have to get rid of all of them. krebs and others are the last of the array of officials populating different parts of the government that wou not take this oath of loyalty to trump and trump's interests, however he defines them. >> reporter: you recentlyot a terrific piece in the nimmed opinion piece based on a loof deep reporting wih several dozen former and current high-level administration officials, and the concern expressed was at happens after the election, and many of the things that you reported, they worried about have come to pass. refusal to concede, allegations of faud, lawsuits. i know you have continued to talk with many of those same people. what is it that they're worried about happening from this point perward? >> they saw thiiod between the election and the inauguration as the most dangerous time, and what they're

specifically fearful of most pointedly is trump activating hiloyalists. remember, he has an enormous army, if you will, of people deeply committed to him in a way that i don't think we've seen in modern political history, epecially a core of th core, maybe half of the half. that's where much of their concern is focused. trump is not -- hasot been back meeting with them since the election. it's almost like lovers separated from one another. he will at some point, no one doubts that. at whicpoint yo're going to see the nature of power that he possesses outsidof that that the article 2 powers of theti cotion give him until the 20th of january, that community is, in a way, waing for direction from their leader for whom they have really a deep bond and a love. >> reporte so let's tk specifically about how that .ight play out you've got the powers of the

presidency and the powers of a devoted, deoted base of followers. these are military intelligence administration people, how does that play out in a way that troubles them? >> you know, think ofs it a a left hand and a right hand. with his right hand he has the powers of the government. that means federal forces to quell demonstrations, that means bringing law and order andaybeev activating national guards in various states, article two powers. on the other hand, he has real direction over an enormous array of people who might be at the source of a significant amount of chaos, demstrations, protests, and all sorts of things that may changthe landscape of states. ,or instance, if trump goes out as people are expecting, to do stadium shows in the next couple of weeks, 0,000 people, 50,000 peopleip cheering, whd into a frenzy by their leader, who then

has the option to say either i will cut you loose o'll tell you to stand by or stand downb and stan that's an enormous amount of power he tains. e> reporter: devils advoc here. i hear all the concerns you're expressing and the people e expressing, but is it possible we're not seeing somethinger laoing on, that this could simply be the tail-end of an administration head bid a man who simply doesn't want to give up power, he's firing some people, and that it may not end up being anything more than just that? >> it could be, but one thing that i think is important ton keep focuseds that those folks deeply committed to lddo trump, some portion of that 72 million who voted for him, he is taking that withm hi. he's not giving them up. we could be in a sietuation wre the biden presidency is in a

day-to-day conflict for ratings with a man w i uld not fight on a ratings landscape in any y, i would not wish that on my worst enemy. is a master of that terrain. that's what i think is going to be so interesting, and maybe what's, frankly, so unsettling about the years that we certainly will have ahead of us, what will trump do with the power he's already acced and is likely not to be giving up? all those people are sing he's my guy, and i don't see anyone necessarily replacing him in the republican array. he's got a special bond tha he's developed with them, and i don't see anybody esysentia taking that from him. it's his to own and his to use. how will he use it? that's what we're allching. >> reporter: all right. ron suskind, always good to have

you. thank you very much. >> great to be with you, william. >> woodruff: as president trump presses forward with legal challees and false claims that he won the election, georgia has been the cenr of national attention with its statewide recount. recount is midnight anding the president-elect biden's advantage and apparent win of the state is holding. miles o'brien reports on the largest hand recount in u.s. history. >> biden, biden. >> reporter: barely more exciting than watching paint dry... >> trump, trump. >> reporter: ...the manual audit of every ballot cast for president in georgia on november 3rd methodically marchesrwd, aso

intramural political feud. >> emotions are high. the president's going to continue to fight. his supporters continue to fight. >> reporter: gabe sterling runs elections for georgia secretary of state brad raffensberger. both are died in crimson wool republicans fending off an elephant's helping of wrath from president trump and several other party comrades, all of them questioning the integrity of the contest that made joe biden a whisker thin winner >> there's a lot of stuff flying around on twitter and facebook that touches fact, but doesn't necessarily have all the facts or the evidence. and that's what we're trying.o get >> reporter: it's an arduous path that began th a pre- election plan to conduct a scientifically random check of the ate's new 106 million dollar voting system. it's callea risk limiting audit, or r.l.a. >> an r.l.a. is signed to determine whether the nner won

without any chance of a machine problem happening. and it just takes the machines completely out of the equation to do that, which is what we'v done here. >> reporter: monica childers is with a non-profit called voting works hired by the state. we first met h in september in brunswick georgia as she schooled election officials on how to run these audits. if there is ample cushion in the margin between candidates, r.l.a.'s can validate the bytcome of an election with grt confidencehecking only a small sample of ballots. but no such luck in this race, inparated by less than a third of a percentage >> when you do a risk limiting audit on a race with a very small margin, your sample size is going to expand because the avrgin is what determines how many ballots youto look at. presidential race ry, very small, and that's why we're looking at all the ballots. >> reporter: nearly five million ofhem. it is the largest hand count of ballots in u.s. history, and it appears to be going pretty smoothly. the atlanta based carter center deployed a veteran t

observers who earned their spurs watching sketchy elections run despots all over the world. it is their first domestic assignment-- a sad sign of the times. paige alexander is the c.e.o. id i believe that we're in a place where eachhas riled up the other and we're not going t get over it easily with people listening to each other. and so as long as you can share shed a lig on it and you can show people how the process works and people are willing to listen, then there's hope. >> reporter: but listening may be a losart in this age of partisan hyper polarity. first the state's senators, both republicans, demanded raffensperger resign, citi unspecified failures. then, outgoing republican congressman doug collins accused raffensperger of caving into democratic pressure. and president trump called him" a so-called republican," and then made baseless claims the state didn't properly verify

signatures on mail-in ballots.ue that irompted republican henator lindsay graham of south carolina to callecretary. on cnn, he was asked what >> well, asked that the ballots could be matched back to thevo rs, and then i got the sense it implied that then you could throw those out for any... denies he asked that votes be tossed. meanwhile, election workers counting ballots found some fuel for the fire. in three red counties they foun ab500 ballots that had not been scanned or uploaded. it reduced bidens' margin of victory by about 1200, to just >> we've seen nothing that indicates that there is a high percentage or such a high percentage that it would change the outcome of t vote. our goal is to have the cleanest possible election. >> reporter: in the trenes ofll this epic count, the assignment to deliver on that promise fallto election directors like kristi royston in

gwinnett county, an atlanta exurb. are you exhausted? >> you know, i'm tired, but i really think when it comes to kicks in.e sort of adrenaline >> reporter: true to her profession, she is a process loving perfectionist, and proud of it. so all this paper going back and forth over, absolutely nothing gets lost? >> we have really good tracking it's check and recnd then documented so that we can go back and see where we are. scrutiny, but is growing weary of the accusations. it rigged? >> i do not believe it's rigged. i've been doing this for twenty three years. and for what the checks and balances and the security and t ere are with things. you know, i trusthe system. things are worth questioning, things are worth making sure that there's accuracy in it. but, you know, i do think that

sometimes you have to have faith anhetrust in the process and people who are running it. audit verifies the outcome, it does not carry the le cal authority ange the actual final tallies afterhe sta certifies the election and that's supposed to happen on fray. the trp campaign has business days, that puts it into tuesday of next week, to request a formal recount, and that would be a rescan of the ballots, and that would put those election workers work going into the thanksgiving holiday because the margin here is so close, judy.u >> woodruff:t fascinating, miles, taking us inside that process. so, myles, one of the many other areas of your interest in expertise as a reporter is aviation. so i have some questions about that. today we know that the f.a.a. cleared the boeing 737 max to fly again.

right now we have one airline ying it may be ready to do that by the end of december. other airlines saying it may take more months than that. what will it take for these airlines to comfortable flying this plane that has had problems in the past? >> yeah, forhe airlines and the regulators, judy, they've got a fair amount of work to do and that's why you're not seeing this happen instantly. there's a 115-page air worthiness directive which is kind ofhe law to have the land for the f.a.a. which gives a whole series of changes to the aircraft. there will be two so-called angle of attack sensors feeding in to the computer system, which has that piece of softwareo designedep the aircraft and stalling, which was at the root of those two crashes.e there will whole bunch of maintenance to be done always, after all, these aircraft have

been sitting on the ground in desert locations, and an entire training regime for the airline pilots who, originally, in therl days didn't know much about the system of this problem.er an will go first, then united then southwest. >> woodruff: meantime, we're hearing from family members of those who perished in the crashes saying they are concerned this is maybe moving too fast. they're raising questions about whether the culture that allisod o happen may not have changed enough. >> reporte yeah, it's hard change culturet at huge organizations of any kind and, in particular, complex systems like you see with aircraft manufacturing such as boeing. but i did speak wi one of the attorneys representing some of these families just a little while ago, and the families are very upset about the fact that,

despite all the public relations side of this and what boeing is neesenting to the general public, the att are still trying to blame the pilots for the two crashes, not accepting any blame on the part of the corporation, on the part of boeing for the crashes. that might be a good legal position, but it leaves the families very upset about what'p ing right now, and they're expressing great concerns about the sety of the aircraftism and finally, miles, f.a.a. saying anything about notou ing the 737 max after the first fatal accident? >> reporter: yeah, this has b been tgest tragedy to me. after that first stent, you knew ayou had systemwide problem with catastrophic consequences and the f.a.a. chose not toou the aircraft. today the f.a.a. administrator stephen dixon told m -- and he's actually flown the max, the

improved 737 max, is an airline ycaptain -- said,es, in retrospect, they probably should have done that but says at thed time they din't have enough information. he said as time gs and there are more regulations that require streaming of data fromil aircraft, wehave the kind of information we need to make these decisions more quifuly in thre and that's something to push for in the future, judy. >> woodruff: all o'brien on two major stories today. thank you, miles. >> you're welcome, judy. c >> woodruff: tonavirus is showing no signs of slowing down or disrupting lives as americans prepare for the holiday season. thanksgiving is just a week away and millions will be gathering in new ways.

ere have been a number of warnings and caveats given about how to approach the holiday. amna nawaz is here to get more insight about what we should keep in mind.he >> nawaz: judyth officials have been warning that other holiday gatherings during the pandemic have been followed by spikes in new covid cases.na still, a natsurvey by ohio state found that nearly two in five americans said they will a likeend a thanksgiving gathering with more than 10 people. here with re information on what you should consider before making your plans, is dr. ranit mishori. she's a professor of family medicine at georgetown inuniversity school of med and senior medical adviser for physicians for human rights.el dr. mishori,me back to the "newshour". thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. people are hearing the ten number from officials, limit the gatherings to ten people. people say we have been quarantining, etch some tested negatig . what's wrth gathering with a bigger group this holiday? what do you say plo those peo >> i think, unfortunately,

there's the only way to prevent the transmissionf the virus is by limiting the number of people you interact with. ten is sort of a random number that people me up with, but the smaller the number, the better. part of it is that people aretr eling in order to link up with their family members, to see their friend, and the travel is a very problematic issue. you can brim disease fro counties an states where the epidemic is raging, etch if you don't have symptoms, and we know a lot of people can be asymptom mack. you bring it to your small households, sml community, and it's enough to have one person who is infected to infect a whole host of other people. the number ten really is just, o think, a p to say limit the number of people. ten peaple in a ll apartment or a small house is -- could be very, very problematic. so don't focus on the number

ten. >> reporter: you mentioned travel. college students will want to go home. people who live in cities will want to see families. what should people consider and answer before deciding whether to hit the road or stay in place?>> i think the best advicn give anybody and everybody including own family members is not to travel. we made the tough decision for home for this holiday and for us to not see other faily members and just keep to ourselves. it's a sacrifice, but everybody has to make a sacrifice soha the disease does not spread, and then winter and certainly the christmas holiday could look much worse. so if you decide to trvel and, again, i can't emphasize how much i nould recommendt traveling at all, i think you need to consider ok at th testing protocols for the state that you're traveling to. think about your mode of transportation, driving is safer than flying, than taking a bus

or taking a train whre you're cramped together with a lot of people. of course, you need to think about quarantining before leaving, so to make sure that you don't have exposures yourse, that you can then develop the disease and move on and go on tonfecting the people that you are visiting. and, of course, taking all of the public heah measures, wearing a mask at all times, wearing it correctly over your nose and your mouth, washing ping at leastd kee six feet apart from anyone else that you come in contact with, and that's very, very important. the distancing isncredibly important. >> woodruff: what about best practices for those gatring in whatever small number that they are? should they wear masks when not eating, increase ventilation, space out seatingy >> the best think to do it would be, number one, if you can have your meal outdoors, and know some places will be very cold, do it outdoors, if you

can. if you have to do it indoors, space yourselves at least sixt feet apom one another, wear a mask indoors with anyone who's not a member of you usehold. ask everybody to bring their own food items, to bringheir own utensils. don't share utensils. don't eat off a buffet-typesetting. try to sit apart as much as possible, especily if everybody brings their own plate and meal, that would be safer ventilate, ventilate, ventilate, open the windows and doors, take a reak, go outside, come back in, don't stay seated in a small, unventilated room for long periods of time. holiday but hopef safelong one. dr. ranit mishori, thank you so much for taking the time to answer these yes questions. >> thank you so much.

>> woouff: german prosecutors today asked for life imprisonment for a rightwing extremist charged with killing two people last year outside a synagogue in germany east. that comes as calls grow to investigatthe extent of neo- nazi infiltration of the country's security services. 1400 cases of far right extremism among soldiers, police officers and intelligence agents have been documented over the past three years, a frightening echo of germany's past. from berlin, special correspondent malcolm brabant reports. >> reporter: back to the future in a bleak east berlin suburb.ma right wingered 30 years of german reunification with a up went a chant from a bannedes. gneo nazi song, predictin ultimate victory.is throup has sprung from an

outlawed extremist party, the third path, that shares ideology its logo contains a nod toups. hitler's third reich. >> ( translated ): the last three to four years have clearly shown that multiculturalism has failed. and it's our job to d it. we have to rely on our own people for our future, for the safety of our children and grandchildren. >> reporter: the command?,¡ advance on berlin.' alarm bells are riing about the far right's surge. these protestors wantetoeo confront theazis. the police kept them apart as an anti fascist anthem played. militaristic displays are outlaw in germany. the police ordered them not march, but to quote "saunter casually". the instruction was ignored.

these people are some of the most extreme neo nazis in germany. and there are many groups like this.ut but what therities are worried about is not these people so much who're out inbl pu; it's those neo nazis who're hiding in the establishment, in the shadows. this video by the bundeswehr, the german military, eulogizes ede prowess of an elite special forces unit call the k.s.k. but today it's in disgrace. one company has been disbanded because of a right wingcu extremist ure, more may follow. a cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives was found buried >> (htranslated if you'rer. looking for a special unit who chancellory or the mostman important ministries within berlin, then this was the st importt unit to do so. >> reporter: timo reinfrank's mission is to counter right wing violence. he heads a foundation named after amadeo antonio, an angolan

immigrant murdered by extremists in 1990.in ank worries that neo nazis have infiltrated other branches of the german military. >> ( translated ): the problem abouthe army is that we don' know anything. this is a more or less closed shop that we only hear about ithe public from special incidents but we know igthat the majority of theht wing scene is full of trained people from the german bundeswehr. >> reporter: these concerns are shared by germany's highest echelons. last month's celebrations, muted by covid-19, were supposed to toast the 30 year long marriage the iron curtain disintegrated. but president frank walter steinmeier was compelled to call for vigilance against neo nazis. >> ( translated ): they wanthe anstate, an authoritative state that aggressively excludes parts of society. they see themselves asof a doesn't stand for,hat haslic

nothing to do with our democracy.ou >> reporter: hrs after that a eech, a man in military fatigues attackewish student with a shovel, inflicting grave head injuries. germany's anti semitistsar felix klein. >> ( translated ): nobody can deny the deadly dimension of anti semitism and right wing extremism inermany any more. right wing extremism is a big threat of democracy in germany. >> reporter: the german police are not immune either. confidencen the police was rocked after 30 officers were suspended for sharing extreme material in online chat rooms that included images of adolf tler and depictions of a refugee in a gas chaer. >> reporter: heike kleffner ads a non profit that supports victims of right wing violence. she's one of hundreds of people named on right winath lists >> ( translated ): we have

police officers who supply right wing terror networks withat infon from police data base on political enemies. and we have police officers who spread anti semitic and national socialist propaganda. >> reporter: ferat kocak, a left wing pitician with turkish heritage almost lost his life because of police collusion or negligence. a police inquiry admitted officers knew neo nazis were planning an arson attack on kocak, but failed tonform him. >> ( translated ): the fire spread to the house and it was luck tt we survived with my family. i get a lot of messages wi death threats and i'm not the only one. so a lot of friends also get these death threats but they always say we will wait for the right time to kill you. >> reporter: the government

insists that 99% of police officers are anchored in the lan and only aity are rotten. a view echoed by berlin police spokesman thilo calblitz. >> ( translated ): for us as police officers, it hurts because we join this profession with a certain idealism and we stand firmly on the grounds of our liberal, democratic constitution. and if there are people within our ranks who call themselves police officers, but who do not share our common understandingd anr oath, then this hurts us endlessly. admissions of culpability from police, activists e there is not enough transparency. >> ( translated ): we have a lon is in authorities, and it's important to start tos change tw. >> ( translated ): one thing that absolely needs to happen is an independent scientific

research on the perc of hard core racists and anti semites within the german police force. >> reporter: germany's main concern is the neo nazis' ambition to launch a violent upring one day in the future. >> ( translated his situation is precisely our chance to excite people again for a real alternative; to completely change the system so that the german people can once again live in a country worth living in. >> reporter: although he doesn't believe the third reich cod be resurrected, president steinmeier warned against complacency. >> ( translated ): the colors of this democratic history are the colors: black, red and gold. freedom.rs of unity, justicend we will not allow them to be driven away, misused orap opriated >> reporter: the anniversary celebrations culminated at the

brandenburg gate that once marked the division between east and west. beneath its neo nazi cloud, y is a long way from bei truly united. for the pbs newshour, i'mlc m brabant in berlin. is a cultural icon, but one that is disappearing, fast. in port austin, miigan, an art project aims to draw attention to these structures and maybe, along the way, save some of them. jeffrey brown has this report as part oour "american creators" series, and ongoing arts and culture coverage, canvas. >> brown: what looks like a giant ark rises out of acres of surrounding soybean fields. >> people who drive by their initial confusion starts with, "that's a weird shaped barn."

>> brown: a few miles away, what seems a working barn, in reality has a slice cut out of it. >> so from this angle, you can start to see that the slice is not just a cut on the face, instead actually turns into a whole space itself. brown: and on one side of this barn: a painting of a on the other, a mural styled after the famous "american gothic" by grant wood, with a twist. they're wearing gas masks. >> i want em to come and do this to my barn. >> brown: on this day passersby had a chance to ask artists c steve and doro what it means. >> i was thinking it was the farmers that sold out to bigg farmmpanies with the chemicals and ld out the farm. it's multi-layered but yeah that is the point.ro that is an artct that my wife and i started and so we thought we would cri corporate culture and society. >> for me, it's ways been about the people, you know, i i love the people roit..

>> brown: and this project, the idea of jim boyle, is a meetin of the two. boyle grew here in port austin, at the tip of the thumb of michigan. he's lived and worked in detroit for decades, but has strong ties to rural life here. >> why are these structures going away? it's really complicated. sometimes they're just, you know, they're not utilitarianan ore. and the farm equipment doesn't fit. sometimes it's, you know, more of the smaller farms getting swallowed up by larger by larger farms. so what are the economic implications? and detroiters can relate with all of those issues. >> brown: the city is 120 miles away. and after boyle cobbled together grants and private donations, he launched the project in 2013 with detroit-based artists. >> a lot of people ask the question why you're painting an old barn thanna fall down. so. >> and we barely had an answer for that that made sense. >> brown: dorota and steve coy's work typically focuses on deserted urban spaces. but what's happening in detroit, even a crumbling facry around e corner from their studio,

has similarities to economic and other changes in rural michigan. >> the parallels are so strong. i mean it's almost like the same rce is causing both of those things to happen. and we're nohaving the broader conversation about why those things are impacting both of us. maybe rather we're looking at each other to kind of point point the finger. >> we don't want to just show up in the community and be like, here's an art piece that we've created for you guys i think there was a dialogue so between the community and making sure that they wld be proud and behind what we were putting up. >> brown: dairy farmer mark ziel owns the still-operating barn, and takes real pride in its transformation >> every once in a while i'll stop in and talk to people who take pictures of it and they say "boy, it's fading a little bit, is?"here anything you could i could probably drum up some cash to get it done.

>> brown: and for the local mmunity, these "art barns" are a potential jumping-off point. the head of economic development for huron county, carl osentoski, sees room for a thriving arts scene.m >> fr perspective, it's a renewable resource. artists will always be making new art. people will want to either buy that or view that art.an it's kind of a cycle that can be self-sustaining over time. or>> it was very importante to respect the place. i think maybe the large initial concept to figure out how to keep that iconic form of the >> brown: catie newell is a detroit-based architect and artist whose work deals with thi concepts ot and dark. ror barn is an engineering feat, cutting a slice h it required an enormous amount of shoring up on the inside to make it hol >> i was interested in figuring out how to, in a way, make stit of a subtr in the barn. that instead was adding a large opening for the sky. eso what was changing in barn? and in essence, what might be delicate or impermanent in thiss projecctually just the constantly changing sky, the

seasons, sunsets, very dramatic here. >> brown: you're doing that by subtracting, as you say, by cutting into it but that also adds to the structure somehow? >> you're right that the suraction of sort of making a void and a big light well also became an addition of making a new space. and the barn in essenc literally, literally been split t.to two barns at that mom >> brown: detroit sculptor scott hocking did something else with his barn. he tore it down. >> taking a barn that already exists that's kind of decaying, dilapidated and rebuilding it as something else just so that as people driving on the road migh slow down ve a moment of "what the hell is that? what's going on with that barn?k >> brown: g re-used the old boards to make what his and from the inside, there's an entirely different feeling. i >>my mind, there's almost something cathedral-like about it. it's like the light coming through windows. there's something very beautifun when theoes down.

the sun kind of sets and gleamse through these so trying to create something that i saw in actu old barns by making gaps in between the boards. >> brown: the artists, all friends in detroit, recent got together here for the first time. the ho is that more art barns will follow-- art for michigan's rural thumb, and a creative way to draw attention to these laperiled icons of the american scape. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. 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:

>> bnsf railway. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the ontlines of social chang worldwide. >> 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. captioning sponsored by captioned byductions, llc media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

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