tv PBS News Hour PBS September 14, 2021 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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start to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, moment of crisis-- a new book details the extraordinary steps a top u.s. military leader took to keep former president trump from sparking a war. then, taliban takeover-- the militant group tightens its grip amid protests and rumors of the death of a senior leader, as the u.s. secretary of state faces senators to defend the u.s. withdrawal. then, recall-- california voters head to the polls to decide whether or not governor gavin newsom keeps his job. and, fentanyl frontier -- we take an exclusive look inside mexico's sinaloa cartel and its
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widespread production of the deadly opioid. >> we've been advised to wr a respirator and goggles because fentanyl is very, very toxic. and many of these cooks have died just by inhaling it. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funng for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you liveour life. life, well-planned. >> consumer cellular offers no-contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv
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>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.
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>> woodruff: stunning new revelations tonight about how concerned the nation's top military officer was by former president donald trump's behaviors and actions around last year's election, and the january insurrection. they come from a yet-to-be- released book by bob woodward and robert costa of the "washington post." and they raise serious questions about the end of the trump administration; the perception of the former president's fitness for the job; and civil- military relations. here to explore all of this are white house correspondent yamiche alcindor and foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin. so, nick, to you first, what steps have you learned that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, jr. mark milley, took around the time of the election?
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>> in january, chairman chief of staff called his counterpath, chung, a picture of thein beijing years before. what i'm about to report is from three former senior defense officials, a former trump administration official and a senior congressional official. at the time, milley was extremely concerned about what president trump was capable of, esper had been terminated. the january 6th attack had just occurred and senior pentagon officials replaced with trump loyalist it is. milley talked every day with secretary of state mike pompeo. they worked together to try to ensure there was continuity right at the end of the trump administration and truly no surprises on national security, and part of that was reassuring adversaries that there was going to be continuity from trump to biden. that call was what milley made to general lee that there were going to be no surprises. the context for the call was back in october. that's when the chinese -- u.s.
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believe that the chinese feared some kind of u.s. attack, some kind of october surprise, so senior civilian pentagon officials called their counterparts and reassured them that, no, there was no imminent u.s. attack. as part of that reassurance, general milley called his counterpart back in october to reassure him from that same thing. we have words of that call thanks to the woodward kosa book. general lee said -- general millie said we've known eat other a long time, if we attack i will call you ahead of time. that's extraordinary. the emphasize what the core message milley was trying to say, there's not going to be an attack by the u.s. on china, that was wrong and that message of reawe insurance was the same thing that the pentagon civilian leadership wanted. >> woodruff: remarkable. now, to yamiche, from your
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reporting, who else have you learned that general milley called? >> well, general milley was taking extraordinary steps and having extraordinary conversations with a number of people chief among them house speaker nancy pelosi. this is of course at the time on january 8th when a call was made from speaker pelosi to general milley saying i want to know what you're doing to make sure that former president trump is not allowed to misuse the nuclear codes or not allowed to get us into some st of military action that is not wise. during that call, we want to put it out for folks, during the call, speaker pelosi said this of former president trump, he's crazy, you know he's crazy. he's crazy and what he did yesterday, referring to the capitol siege or attack january 6th, what he did yesterday is further evidence of his craziness, and remarkably, general milley replied i agree withou on everything. those are sources on capitol hill confirming those exact words to me tonight.
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what this shows you is someone by general milley who is not seen as a democrat or republican, here he is on the phone with a democrat who is a target of former president trump's anger saying i agree with you. i also want to point out another conversation that general milley had with g gina haspel said and she reportedly told general milley we are on our way to a right wing coup, going back to the idea of january 6th really shaking people up. extraordinary conversation requests underlying the idea president trump was seen as someone who was a loose canon in his own administration. >> woodruff: remarkable. nick, back to you, you've told us you have an understanding now of what it was that general milley did with regard to u.s. policy toward deploying nuclear weapons. >> right, so this is a routine meeting, even though the context as yamiche just explained truly was extraordinary. in january, there was a
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pre-scheduled quarterly check in with nuclear command, and defense official confirms milley reiterated the reporting process included him and that he should be called in the event of any nuclear order from the president. he me sure even that the participants at that meeting confirmed that they would call him. technically, that is not the process. nuclear authorities designed to be fast, the chairman to have the joint chiefs is not in the chain offcommand, even the secretary of defense isn't in the chain of command when it comes to the launching of a nuclear weapon. there is an understanding many senior officials will be informed in the event of any kind of nuclear order and that's what milley reit raid in january during that meeting. >> woodruff: now, given all this, yamiche, tell us what your sources inside the biden white house and in the former trump administration are saying to you about all this. >> reporter: officials inside the biden white house are being very tight-lipped about this, though a couple of them are telling us this underscores the idea that president biden needed to run and defeat former
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president trump because he was unstable and not someone trusted even within his own administration among military officials. talking to a number of trump allies and former trump officials they are very, very angry and thinks this in some ways prove the idea of a deep state, people working inside the trump administration trying to undermine president trump. you even have senator marco rubio, a republican from florida, now calling on president biden to dismiss immediately general milley saying he undermined the commander-in-chief. i also should point out that lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, not a trump ally, she's someone who testified in congress on the first impeachment of president trump when he said he overheard the call between president trump and the president of ukraine saying he was trying to dig for information against joe biden. he was alarmed and really reported that call to use national security council where he was working. he is now saying general mark milley should resign because he
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broke the chain of command. it's not just trump allies. it's also military officials who found the actions of former president trump to be unstable. he feels he went through the chain of command by really saying to his officials and higher-ups this is what i'm concerned about. this is in some ways an extraordinary moment where you're seeing people not usual out loud on a message saying general mill was taking a step too far. this happened because general milley according to democrats was trying to save the country from a president who at the time they believe was unstable. >> woodruff: we thank you both for this important reporting. yamiche and nick, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, covid-19 numbers in the united states hit their highest levels since early march. thnation is now averaging more than 170,000 new cases a day and more than 1,0 deaths.
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meanwhile, the african union called today for vaccine manufacturers to ship more doses to the continent. just 3.5% of its population is fully vaccinated. the u.s. poverty rate rose slightly last year amid the pandemic, but stimulus aid cushioned the blow. the census bureau reports 11.4% of americans were living in poverty in 2020. at the same time, stimulus payments moved 11.7 million people out opoverty. tropical storm "nicholas" crawled past houston, texas, today, knocking out power to more than half a million homes and businesses. the storm made landfall as a minimal hurricane overnight, with more than a foot of rain in places. but, mayor sylvester turner says his city escaped the worst. >> quite frankly, we were blessed last night. i'm not gonna even say "lucky"-- the good lord just smiled on the city of houston. kind of needed a break.
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>> woodruff: houston got more than six inches of rain from "nicholas,", compared with 60 inches during hurricane "harvey", four years ago. but southern louisiana could get 20 inches through tonight. voters in california are in the final hours of deciding whether to remove democratic governor gavin newsom from office. more than a third of voters already cast mail-in ballots before this election day. conservative larry elder is the leading republican candidate. we'll have details on the recall, later in the program. four men pleaded not guilty today to federal civil rights charges in the death of george floyd last year. the former minneapolis police officers include derek chauvin, who is already in prison for floyd's murder. the other defendants are asking foseparate trials. federal agents will have to scale back their use of no-knock warrants. new rules issued today also bar the use of chokeholds in most cases.
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racial justice activists have protested both techniques. in afghanistan, the taliban's acting foreign minister pledged again today to bar islamic militants from using afghan territory as a base to attack others. but, he dismissed questions about elections and women's rights. instead, he urged other nations to end sanctions. >> ( translated ): we want good relations with the international community. our demand from the international community is not to put any further pressure on the afghans. the policy of aggression has not yielded any results in 20 years, it will not do so in the future. >> woodruff: elsewhere, thousands protested in kandahar after 3,000 families were evicted from a district that's home to retired afghan generals and security forces. and, in washington, secretary of state antony blinken faced a second day of congressional questioning over the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. we'll return to this, after the news summary.
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the u.s. justice department is investigating the state prison system in georgia. today's announcement focused on alleged violence against prisoners, and on sexual abuse of gay, lesbian and transgender inmates. the state department of corrections denies any systematic violation of prisoners' rights. in economic news, consumer prices rose 3/10ths of a percent last month, but that was the smallest increase in seven months. still, wall street was down across the board. the dow jones industrial average lost 292 points, nearly one percent, to close at 34,577. the nasdaq fell 67 points. the s&p 500 slipped 25. and, former "saturday night live" star norm macdonald has died after a long battle with cancer. macdonald joined the "snl" cast in 1993 and stayed for five years. he was known for a wide range of impressions, and for anchoring
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the "weekend update" segment. norm macdonald was 61 years old. still to come on the newshour: republican senator john barrasso discusses the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan, and more. california voters decide whether orot governor gavin newsom keeps his job. c.d.c. director rochelle walensky on the latest surge of covid 19. plus much more. >> woodruff: secretary of state antony blinken was on capitol hill today, appearing again before a congressional oversight panel with many and hard questions about the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. today, before the senate foreign relations committee, blinken was peppered by both democrats and
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republicans about the biden white house strategy and planning. john barrasso of wyoming, is a member of the foreign relations committee. he questioned secretary blinken senator barrasso, thank you very much. we appreciate your joining us again. right before i get to that, i want to ask you about the revelation we've learned about today in the bob woodward and robert costa book that the chairman to have the joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley, contacted his chinese counterpart in the final days to have the trumpdministration -- days of the trump administration to reassure the chinese that there was not going to be a military strike, that he was so worried about president trump's instability. what is your reaction to this news? >> well, i haven't seen the book, irvet read it. i know from the beginning to have the "newshour" tonight on your show you've had some folks commenting on it. i don't know how much is hearsay
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or what is true or not true, so i don't really feel cmfortable to make a decision about a book that i haven't read, haven't seen and don't know really what's in it. >> woodruff: well, we can respect that. i do want toask you, your colleague republican colleague senator marco rubio of florida is already calling for general milley to resign, are you prepared to do that? >> well, not on this matter, but i tell you, based on what happened in afghanistan, the american people want accountability, and that's from the military, it's from the state department and it's from the president, and that was a lot of what we talked about today in the hearing after this disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan. >> woodruff: and i do want to ask you about that, senator, because, as we reported, very tough questions today and yesterday for secretary blinken. your own comments have been, frankly, blistering in criticizing the administration. but as you know, the secretary is saying that they inherited a timetable that was negotiated by president trump.
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the secretary said "we inherited a deadline, we did not inherit a plan. well, a couple of things. first, this is the first time in american history that we have left peoplbehind. we can never again say america will leave no one behind because, based on the testimony today from secretary blinken, we still have 100 american citizens behind enemy lines in afghanistan at the mercy of the taliban and they are not known for showing mercy. president biden on national television said he would extend the time that the military would stay in afghanistan to make sure we got out every american, and the president went back on his word. now, president biden has had a number of things that policies that came out of the trump administration that he has reversed, like the iran deal, the paris accord, the world
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health organization and rejoining that, the remain in mexico policy at the border. he's reversed all of those things. he could have done things with regard to afghanistan if he wanted to, but i'll tell you, i think the president has een wrong time after time. he said very little chance afghanistan would fall to the taliban. he said under no circumstances would we see helicopters on the roof of the embassy, but all of those things turned out to be the president was wrong. >> woodruff: how long do you believe the united states should have stayed in afghanistan and how long do you think 2500 troops, which is what the u.s. had there at the end, could have held off the taliban? >> well, 2,500 troops is a very light touch, and we hadn't lost any soldiers in combat in over a year in afghanistan, ad, yet, just a couple of weeks ago, we had the biggest loss of american life at war in afghanistan in, what, for a single day in over a
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decade, and one of those soldiers, riley mccollom from wyoming, 20 years old, left behind a pregnant wife gigi. i was with her and the rest of the family on the tarmac in wyoming on friday when we brought home to wyoming for the last time riley's remains in his flag-draped coffin. so the price of this decision by the president to act which i believe was a reckless matter he's called a huge success, an extraordinary success. he called it, i believe, it was an epic failure and america is paying a price for the decisions of this administration to be more focused on the calendar on the wall than the condions on the ground. >> woodruff: with regard to americans left behind, as you mentioned, we think less than is hundred, the administration is pointing out but we did evacuate thousands of americans, perhaps
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as may sac -- as many as 6,000, and the u.s. also evacuated as many as 120,000 afghan citizens. is your state of wyoming prepared to accept some of these afghan refugees? >> a couple of things. one is i asked secretary blinken how many of these refugees were vetted before they were loaded on planes in afghanistan. he said he didn't know. sounded like anybody who could get to the airport, terrorists or whatever, could get on to planes and be flown to another location. so they were not vetted. you've got to make sure people are actually vetted. when you talk about the fact almost in a cavalier manner that there are still 100 americans behind enemy lines -- i mean, america was held hostage in iran by the ayatollah khomeini with h 1 hostages being held hostage. so this is more than twice that
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number. the american people want two things, i've heard this in wyoming and all around the country talking to people, american people want to know what are we going to do to get our hundred citizens out and hoy are we going to make america safe at a time when the taliban have taken over the country of afghanistan and it is now, once again, a safe haven for terrorists? >> woodruff: two other quick things i want to ask you, senator, but i just want to clarify, are you prepared, do you think it's a good idea for wyoming and other states to accept afghan refugees? >> people need to be 100% vetted. we need to make sure these are people who helped our soldiers while they were on the ground. people i talked to at the university of wyoming, lived in afghanistan, worked there, trying to get folks b out, we still don't know who's gotten out, vetted, we have a long way to go. >> woodruff: different subject, a big one president biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill which is moving is way through congress right now.
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as you know, the democratsre looking at ways to pay for this, and among other things they're proposing raising the top individual tax rate, the top capital gas rate, though still less than it was before, and to add a surtax on those earning over $5 million a year. what is your take on this? >> every republican is going to stand together in the house and the senate and vote against this reckless tax and spending blowout that the democrats are proposing. we think it will harm the economy, it will add significantly to the bt, it will tax just about everyone. we wt through a list today a our conference lunch, looks like there were about 30 different taxes being proposed. you mentioned a couple there. the d.m.s haven't decided how they want to do it. the concerns the republicans have and we're standing united is this is not the right move right now for our country. more taxes, more spending, more big government. we need to get our economy which
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is recovering coming out of covid to recovery fully. this is the wrong time for the kind of taxing and spending when inflation is running rampant, prices of food is up, prices of fuel, gasoline, heating owl, all of those things are up, so they're going to need every democrat in the senate. i talked to joe manchin this afternoon and it sure doesn't sound like he is etch on board for this $3.5 trillion blowout. >> woodruff:? a couple of words, senator, the argumentby democrats that there is now massive inequality in this country that's been made worse by the pandemic. the top is% earns far more than the -- the top 1% earns far more than the bottom 92%. >> we need to get the pandemic under control, the economy growing. joe biden, right before the pandemic hit, we had the best economy that we've had certainly in my lifetime as a result of republican tax cuts, regulatory relief, u.s. energy dominance as opposed to right now where joe
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biden is goingo hat in hand to saudi arabia and russia saying please produce more oil because i've shut it off in the united states and prices are going up and my poll numbers are going own. >> woodruff: senator john barrasso, wyoming, thank you, senator. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: over the past two decades, tens of thousands of afghans rose to the occasion and took jobs in the public sector to help their country and their livelihoods. now that the u.s. has pulled out, many say they feel abandoned. one particular group who say they feel let down and now appear to be targeted by the taliban is former police women. we have this report by lindsey hilsum of independent television news. >> reporr: all over this city women are in hiding, concealed behind dark windows and walls. th did what western countries wanted: worked for government, aid agencies, the security sector. the taliban says they can carry on, all the while sending goons to threaten them if they do.
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fatima is alone. a former policewoman, a single mother, divorced from the man she was forced to marry at the age of 12, all crimes in the eyes of the taliban. >> ( translated ): now i'm being threatened from all sides-- from the former government, from the criminals i caught when i was in the police, from the taliban, from my relatives. so i'm living hidden from the world with my kids. i have moved three times in a single month. >> reporter: she thinks constantly of her fellow policewoman negar masumi, eight months pregnant, who was murdered last week. the taliban say they're investigating. in the last few months, at least six policewomen were killed in taliban-controlled areas before the capture of kabul.
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last year, fatima released on social media a video of herself destroying her police i.d. in protest about sexual harassment by her male superiors. shamed by her behavior, she says, her own family then tried to kill her. now she fears both them and the taliban. the personal and political are intertwined. western countries spent an estimated $100 million training women for the afghan security services. but most afghan male police officers rejected them, and now the western missions who encouraged the women to blaze the trail have vanished, leaving them to their fate. >> ( translated ): why have they abandoned us to the taliban? nce they were supporting us,
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surely, they should ask what's happening to us now? what is our crime? our crime is that we were policewomen. for this crime, they kill us in the most brutal way. why is the international community not asking about us? >> reporter: a demonstration this weekend showcased the taliban ideal of womanhood-- entirely covered and utterly obedient. a job lot of identical niqabs appears to have been acquired for the occasion. this is not traditional afghan dress. the women proclaimed their support for segregation in education, which is now the law. at ghalib university, they've started educating women and men on alterte days, as this private university they have enough facilities, but public institutions are struggling. women are meant to be taught only by women or very old men, but there aren't enough female
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teachers and lecturers. far fewer women are showing up to class, but those who've come are determined. >> women are very important in the country. so, we afghans, we have the right to be like women in veloped countries. >> reporter: fatima used to be proud of her uniform, but now, penniless, unable to earn a living and with no family protection, she feels that all she can do is speak out. >> ( translated ): they will kill u whether or not we raise our voice, and talk in fro of a camera, the taliban will kill us anyway. that's why i raise my voice. if i talk in front of the camera, at least after i'm gone, maybe other policewomen will not be killed. >> reporter: in afghanistan's cities, many women embraced the western project to liberate them.
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some have managed to flee, but most can't. they're left with a new set of beliefs, for which they may end up paying with their lives. >> woodruff: that report from lindsey hilsum of independent television news, in kabul. >> woodruff: it's election day in california, where democratic governor gavin newsom is facing a recall effort in one of the bluest states in the nation. stephanie sy has this report from orange county. >> sy: california is at a crossroads. in these final hours, the stakes and emotions couldn't be higher. >> california needs a change. >> sy: the decision up to 22 million voters: should they keep or remove their governor, democrat gavin newsom? >> the people are fed up. >> sy: james mai organized this
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pro-recall rally in orange county. he and other republican party activists helped collect the nearly one and a half million signatures required to trigger the special election, only the second in the state's history. >> have you been to l.a. lately? it looks like a third world country. >> sy: their concerns range from rising crime and homelessness to high taxes. but supercharging their zeal-- the coronavirus pandemic and newsom's strict public health measures that shuttered businesses and schools at the height of the pandemic. while covid-19 cases are down in california and many schools are reopening, mai says his 10-year- old son is still reeling from the loss of a year in the classroom. >> allow us to have a choice. don't close our businesses, don't close our schools, don't close our churches. >> sy: newsom's critics seized on this moment last november when the governor was captured in photos dining at a fancy restaurant, while the rest of the state was in lockdown. >> he kept prolonging it and prolonging it.
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but yet he went out and had dinner with friends. his kids were going to private school and not wearing a mask. so it was like kind of hypocritical of him. >> sy: while these recall supporters in orange county are fired up, orange county is traditionally a more conservative area in much of the state. it's an uphill battle with democrats outnumbering republicans in california by almost two to one. just to the north in los angeles county, democrat fatima iqbal, a candidate for state assembly, is knocking doors. >> look, i'll be the first as a progressive to criticize newsom where i can. >> sy: she doesn't agree with newsom on everything. >> the alternative is awful. >> sy: but ickbal zubair is doing everything she can to help turn out voters for him. she says she's working to protect her seven-year-old son aydin and others she believes will be harmed by the policies of a republican governor. >> it's awful for kids like my son who have special needs, who
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might have funding cut to the programs he needs in school. to immigrants, to the undocumented community. it really scares me that if when i think about if we lose it, we lose governor newsom. >> sy: and while the most recent polling suggests newsom is likely to hold on, the democratic party is worried enough, it's brought out its big guns. >> we need science. we need courage. we need leadership. we need gavin newsom. >> sy: that includes visits by president joe biden and vice president kamala harris, a former california senator. the only other time in state history californians held a recall election was in 2003, when voters ousted incumbent democratic governor gray davis d republican arnold schwarzenegger got the most votes to replace him. >> vote yes on the recall. >> sy: but politics have changed since and the trump effect is a wildcard. >> women exaggerate the problem of sexism. >> sy: conservative radio host
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larry elder, who is leading the g.o.p. pack of more than 40 candidates vying to replace newsom, has been speaking to trump's base. >> i'm gonna have a declaration for a state of emergency for the absolute ridiculous other mandates that this man has imposed. >> sy: elder's controversial remarks could be a liability, says scott shafer of kqed. >> really, is in some ways christmas in september for gavin newsom, because larry elder has said some very outlandish things about slavery and reparations and women in the workplace. and it's coming back to haunt him and the republican party. >> i feel like everybody that's running on the recall is kind of a joke. >> sy: at this l.a. area farmers market, voters expressed concern about newsom's possible replacements. >> i would be horrified if, you know, the vote was split and we got someone who didn't know what they were doing and walked into office and just messed things up for everyone. >> sy: mike netter, another
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conservative radio host, who helped launch the recall, believes the trump base will be crucial for turnout. >> if elder stimulates people to come out to vote, it's good for the recall of gavin newsom, if it turns off some democrats, i guess it turns off some democrats. >> sy: but those same voters, trump and elder himself, are already questioning the legitimacy of the special election, that is, if newsom wins, echoing the former president's false claims that the 2020 presidential eltion was fraudulent. >> if he wins it would be fraud. >> it does us, no good, zero. good to say, “oh, there's fraud. oh, don't vote” absolutely not, we want people to vote. >> sy: are you worried about that, though? because there is that sentiment among some republicans-- >> yes, i am. >> sy: republicans will need massive turnout on election day in order to overcome the sheer number of california's
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democratic voters. >> all right, so you guys are voting in the recall too right? >> yes. >> sy: more than seven million votes have already been cast by mail. >> so you don't need this then, since you already returned your ballot? >> yeah i already-- i already mailed it in. >> sy: but turnout among democrats has been a concern as well. fatima iqbal zubair is working to ensure enough democrats actually vote, after july polling showed many were apathetic to the recall outcome. >> yeah, the good news is, we don't need every registered democrat in the state to vote. right? we don't. we do need a percentage of them to get out and vote. and to answer your question, do i think the young people are as excited to go out to vote? honestly, probably not the 18 19--? >> sy: does that worry you? >> it does not, because i think that we have enough of the voters that are energized from what i'm feeling now. i was concerned if you asked me this a month or two months ago, i was like, man, like, what if what is the party doing to get the word out on the recall? >> sy: while the math appears to be in newsom's favor, both sides are pushing for every last vote, hoping to leave nothing to
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chance. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in southern california. >> woodruff: with just hours left until voting ends in california, we check in with scott shafer, politics and government editor for public media station kqed in san francisco. he also hosts the "political breakdown" podcast. so, scott shafer, welcome back to the program. in these final hours of campaigning, tell us what they are saying, each one of the campaigns, what are they worried about and what are they saying about turnout? >> well, governor newsom was in san francisco today thanking volunteers, and i have to say, judy, he had a bit of a bounce in his step, very energetic. and the polls back him up. i haven't seen a single poll that shows this recall passing. republicans, on the other hand, i think, are very concerned about turnout. the early votes really have favored the democrats in terms
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of ballots returned, and you've got the head of the republican party saying things like, well, even if the recall doesn't succeed, we really sent a message to dpav gave. that's not the kind of things you say if you think you're about to have a big victory. privately, both republican and democratic republicans think there's going to be a win for newsom tonight. the question is how big especially the margin he had in 2018 when he was first elected. >> woodruff: people have been voting, there has been a mail-in ballot, how has that affected the tenor of this race. >> all registered voters got a ballot in a mail about a month ago. a lot of concern, as stephanie said, the democrats weren't very engaged. but we have not seen that. the ballots are tracked by a firm in california and more than half of the ballots returned, 9 million now it's up to, over that, in fact, were sent by democrats, and there's 5 million more democrats in the state than
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there are republicans. so if republicans are going to catch up, they have to have a really massive turnout today on election day in person, and we're not really seeing that in talking and hearing, listening to what's going on around the state. there are polling places are busy, but they're not overwhelmed. it's not the kind of surge you might see if it was going toe a huge republican turnout. >> woodruff: finally, just quickly, are republicans, is larry elder saying anything to o back up this claim that the election may not be legitimate if newsom hangs on? >> there is nothing to back it up. it's totally fabricated. governor newsom called the comments by him and former president trump shameful. so it's really just something that can't be proved because it's not true. >> woodruff: scott shafer with kqed in san francisc watching until all the ballots are counted. thank you, scott. >> thank you.
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>> woodruff: covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have risen substantially in the u.s. from low points earlier this summer. in some states, i.c.u.s have been overloaded as the delta variant keeps its hold on much of the country. the biden administration has said booster shots may be available to eligible groups a week from now. but that timing is uncertain. scientific advisory committees still need to meet in the next several days. earlier today, lisa desjardins spoke with c.d.c. director dr. rochelle walensky about many of these questions. it was part of a special forum hosted by research america, a biomedical advocacy group. >> desjardins: one of the items that is a major discussion for scientists and for you right now is the idea of booster shots. the biden administration is planning to roll out a major booster effort within just days. i wonder if you can tell us
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exactly who you think should be getting those booster shots, what the plan is right now. what does the data support here? how do you see this? >> we know that among the things that we need to do as we're planning a lot for booster shots is to really focus as well on the unvaccinated. so i really do want to highlight that while we are focusing on booster shots, we cannot take our eye off of making sure that people who are not yet vaccinated get vaccinated. so let's say that, but also turn to the importance of the data that we are going to need to collect to understand who and when booster shot should be given. we have we at c.d.c., i'm really pleased and proud to say, have been following a group of cohorts of selected people across the country to follow the question of how are vaccines working. now, we have many of these cohorts, tens of thousands of people, four thousand health care workers that are getting a test every week, regardless of
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symptoms that can tell us about asymptomatic spread. we started to see that there was some waning with our vaccine effectiveness. just with regard to infections, people weren't getting that particularly sick just with regard to infections. and that foreshadowed we may be seeing this soon with regard to hospitalizations and severe disease. and that's really, where we came together and said as a country, as a government, we are planning for this. we know that this might happen. we're starting to see the data that might happen. and we are now planning for this. >> desjardins: and will that with those booster shots begin later this week as planned? >> so, i'm not going to get ahead of the f.d.a.'s process, but we are planning and i'm hopeful for the timeline that's been mapped out. >> desjardins: you also are a global infectious disease expert. and you know that there's been so much pushback from around the world from the w.h.o. saying this is like giving a life jacket to someone who already has a life jacket. your counterpart in africa said it's not fair and you've worked on infectious disease in africa. i wonder how you respond to that criticism.
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>> i think it's a false narrative to imply ty're mutually exclusive. my job as the c.d.c. director is to protect our country. i do that by making sure that the people of this country are safe, and i do that by making sure that the rest of the world is safe so that people don't bring other things into this country. other variants, other diseases like we have already donated 130 million doses of vaccine into 90 countries. and when i think about what the impact of boosters will be here in the united states over the rest of 2021, we anticipate perhaps about one hundred million doses of booster's being given in the next three months. during that period of time, we will have donated two hundred million more doses internationally. so i don't necessarily think it's a fair discussion to say either/or. i think we have to do three things simultaneously. we have to work to vaccinate the
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world and we are doing so. we have to work to boost people here in the united states so we can maintain a good level of protection. and we need to work to vaccinate the people who are not vaccinated. and we can't focus on any single one of those parts. we have to do them all together. >> desjardins: i know that you want americans to be confident in your organization, but how do you respond to criticism that still americans feel they're getting conflicting messages? >> yes, i came into this position and an agency that was being challenged at the time and in a public health infrastructure that has been that's had a hard 18 months. my job as the director of this agency is to protect the public, the public health, and to make sure that i have a strong twelve thousand team to do that on behalf of the public. it has been hard to convey rapidly channg science.
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i think that that people want the answer today and they want it to stay the answer and delta changed things for us in this country. and the science for delta evolved. and my responsibility was to review the science, review it carefully, update the science to protect the american people. and that's what we did when we put masks back on. and in fact, i will say that we did it in pretty record speed. we did an outbreak investigation with colleagues in massachusetts that that demonstrated that you could transmit if you happen to be a breakthrough infection with a vaccine. we corroborated that within a week and we published the data within a weekand the guidelines had changed that week. 300 million people through to convey that science. but that's what we needed to do. we are actively following the science and that that the science, that science as it
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evolves, is resulting in our evolution of guidance. and that's what i was asked to do as director of this agency. >> desjardins: dr. rochelle walensky, thank you so much for your time and for joining us and thank you for your work. >> thank you so much for having me. >> woodruff: tonight, we begin a three-part look at the production, and devastating of effects, of the drug fentanyl. illicit use of the synthetic opioid painkiller has ravaged the united states; and mexican drug cartels now see huge profits, and an addicted market for the drug. with the support of the pulitzer center, from sinaloa state, in mexico, special correspondent monica villamizar and videographer zach fannnin report. >> reporter: a handful of dirt is thrown into the wind, to gauge the way its blowing. it's important work, because one gust in the wrong direction and
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any mistake in this delicate process could lead to death. >> ( translated ): your life is at stake, an experienced cook knows to look at the direction of the wind, and to turn around when the wind turns, and he knows that is vital. there are people who get sick. this process starts very toxic, but the toxicity fades. an expert knows towards the end you can get close to the pot, if the toxicity was high at that point you could not even get near to empty the pot. that is when the black goat made. >> reporter: heroin is usually called black goat, but these drugmakers aren't using poppy plants as their raw materials. instead they start with this synthetic powder which is cooked over an open flame. the drug is called fentanyl, and we're at the heart of the industry, inside the western mexican state of sinaloa. we've been given rare access to one of the sinaloa cartel's fentanyl labs. it's quite ingenious because they've set it up in the middle of thoseows and because there are so many police operations right now in the area, the cows provide a perfect cover.
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we've been advised to wear a respirator and goggles because fentanyl is very, very toxic. and many of these cooks have died just by inhaling it. these cooks work without protective equipment and they believe in a myth here that drinking beer will disable the high that comes along with being close to the heated substance. this man, who we are calling pedro, is one of the first links in a chain that sends fentanyl from mexico to the united states. this package of fentanyl, which is sold as a competitor to heroin, weighs 11 pounds and sells for $15,000 in sinaloa's capital, culiacan. the further the product travels, the more valuable it gets. y the time it arrives in america, 11 pounds could sell for $100,000. fentanyl has proven to be a diabolical game changer for the cartels. its inexpensive, it can be mixed into drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and other opiates. >> ( translated ): right now as fentanyl is stronger than
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anything. a little fentanyl, can make 11 pounds of black goat and it is stronger than the poppy flower, that's why people gave up on heroin, it's way cheaper with fentanyl. >> reporr: so many people are dying of fentanyl overdoses in america. do you feel responsible since what they are consuming is made here? >> ( translated ): well, it is something that the one who consumes decides on his own. drugs are bad and addictive. consumers are aware that the effect doesn't last long but they cannot go without it, although they know that it is wrong, it is addictive. >> reporter: have you had any of your friends die making it? >> ( translated ): so many died for a few pesos. we all like money, there are people who aspire to have better things, but the big money is not made by us, it's made by others. many workers have no other job. it's a hustle. >>eporter: many in the region are self-taught chemists working in a low-tech multi-million dollar operation. these men used to be farmers until their home state became the stronghold of the powerful sinaloa cartel, once run by this
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man joaquin guzman, nicknamed el chapo; he's now serving a life sentence in an american prison. writer ioan grillo explains that fentanyl and synthetics are easier to produce than crop- based drugs like heroin or cocaine. >> you don't have to care about protecting those from the military, you just buy some precursors, mix them up in a lab and you've got your drug. so the profit margins are massive on synthetic drugs. also, you can do this anywhere. so this has really changed the geography of organized crime as well. we can find labs all over the country. you can see labs for synthetic drugs on the outskirts of mexico city in peaceful towns. you can see labs right on the border with the united stes. >> reporter: with el chapo serving life, his three sons, know as the “chapitos” or little chapos were left to run the criminalmpire. back in 2019, the mexican military arrested one of them, but was forced to let him go, after the sinaloa cartel
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barricaded the city of culiacan and overpowered the soldiers. >> mexico has a dysfunctional justice system, and that not only means that criminals can get away with murder and you have some states we have a 98% impunity for murder, which means the cartels develop this power as the alternative version of offering security. >> reporter: we reached out to mexico's department of justice, but we were not granted an interview. some of mexico's biggest drug bosses were from sinaloa state. the capital city, culiacan remains a safe space for criminal families to live in peace. this is not an upscale neighborhood, it's actually a cartel cemetery in culiacan and a reminder of the deadly cost of the illicit drug business. many who lie inside these tombs were once top players. their final resting places are equipped with party rooms, security systems, surveillance
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cameras and air conditioning. the drug business has generated so much violence that there is a cult of death here. its icon is santa muerte, or saint death. saturnino losoya takes care of is shrine in sinaloa state. >> ( translat ): some people say that they are afraid of her, that is why some don't get near here. i have never been afraid of death, i know that i am going to die one day, and she is going to take care of me, i know she will take me away but i don't know where to. >> reporter: sinaloas also home to narcos that manufacture fentanyl pills inside homemade labs that are run by chemists like this n. he says he is always alert as too much exposure to fentanyl, even in pill form,an be deadly. the chemist says he kes 150,000 pills on a good day, which are worth about $90,000 in sinaloa. the same pills can fetch about 10 or 20 times that price when they hit the streets of america.
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the pills are marked m30, m20 and m10. >> ( translated ): m-30 carries 30 milligrams of fentanyl. the other has 10 milligrams, some inferior pills aren't clearly marked, but these are the good ones, the m-30. >> reporter: a few years back he made oxycontin pills, another opioid painkiller. but today he only makes fentanyl, which is much stronger and deadlier. since fentanyl is added into almost every drug in the illicit market, it helps explain why there were over 90,000 overdose deaths last year in the united states. the cartel chemist says the spike in overdose deaths is the fault of local dealers in america who change the original dosage. >> ( translated ): look, it has been known that there are many problems in the u.s. people are dying. what happens is that people take our product and they put more stuff into it, then they modify it, our formula does not kill. but if you change the product then there can be a big problem.
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>> reporter: the pills are wrapped in carbon paper and tape. the tape protects them from sniffing dogs, the paper hides them from x-ray machines. before they are exported, they are tested. a pill that has the right amount of active ingredient has a faint smell of popcorn. the chemist gave us a peek at how they hide drugs in the back of cars that are sent north, to america. >> ( translated ): and this car could cross the border. >> reporter: this same car, or are the drugs transferred to other vehicles along the way? i asked him, will this car cross the border? or, will the drugs be transferred to another vehicle? >> ( translated ): sometimes, it depends, it depends on movement across the route. >> reporter: the chemist tells us we have to leave. the presence of our camera risks his operation. according to the u.s. customs and border protection, the vast majority of fentanyl goes into the u.s. through ports of entry in vehicles. nobody knows how much fentanyl, in both gel and pill form, is successfully crossing the southern border. but as long as there is demand,
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chemists and illicit cooks like these men will keep up the supply. for the pbs newshour, i'm monica villimazar in culiacan, sinaloa, >> woodruff: tomorrow we look at the price of addiction in arizona, in lives and livelihoods, as fentanyl streams across the border. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruf join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:
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>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org kwa hello, e.
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and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. we will not be silenced! we will not be silenced? >> anti-vaxxerk and the covid culture wars. >> then -- >> police. we're here for a welfare check. >> a new film details the horrifying police shooting of an elderly black man. morgan freeman, and kenneth chamberlain jr. join me. >> plus -- >> china is actually moving backwards.
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