Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240622

Complexity and diversity is just going to be amazing. Ifill those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the world woke up today to the news of an agreement aimed at curbing Irans Nuclear weapons program. It was the fruit of marathon talks between iran and a group of world powers the United States and other permanent members of the u. N. Security council, plus germany. The weary Foreign Ministers gathered after 18 long days and nights of talks in vienna. Today is an historic day. Its a great honor for us to announce that we have reached an agreement on the Iranian Nuclear issue. Woodruff within minutes of that formal statement, president obama addressed the nation, from the white house. We have stopped the spread of Nuclear Weapons in this region. Because of this deal, the International Community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of iran will not develop a Nuclear Weapon. Woodruff the agreement followed more than two years of talks, including the first direct u. S. Negotiations with iran in more than 35 years. The president said it met his standards for a good deal. This deal meets every single one of the bottom lines that we established when we achieved a framework earlier this spring. Every pathway to a Nuclear Weapon is cut off. And the inspection and transparency regime necessary to verify that objective will be put in place. Because of this deal, iran will not produce the highly enriched uranium and weaponsgrade plutonium that form the Raw Materials necessary for a nuclear bomb. Woodruff the main terms include still, harking back to president reagans trust but verify, mr. Obama said the u. S. And its five partners will not simply trust iran to comply. This deal is not built on trust, it is built on verification. Inspectors will have 24 7 access to irans key nuclear facilities. Woodruff in return, iran gets phased relief from sanctions that have crippled its economy for years, but there are provisions for a snapback of those sanctions if tehran violates the agreement. Even so, irans president , hassan rouhani, insisted today its not the sanctions that got his country to bargain. translated it was the resistance of our people and their opposition that brought the other side to the negotiating table in the best way. If today some of the p5 1 countries want to announce that they deterred iran from making atomic bomb. Iran has never pursed an atomic bomb and will never pursue that. Woodruff later, state t. V. Reported Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei thanked rouhani and his negotiators for their honest and diligent efforts. But in israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted no time in denouncing the deal. What a stunning historic mistake. The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday. The leading International Powers have bet our collective future on a deal with the foremost sponsor of international terrorism. Woodruff netanyahu relayed his concerns directly to the president in a phone call. Hed lobbied hard against the deal, even addressing Congress Last march, at the invitation of House Speaker john boehner. The deal that we have out there, in my view, from what i know thus far, is unacceptable. Woodruff boehner today left little doubt as to where he and most House Republicans stand on the pact its going to hand a dangerous regime billions of dollars in sanctions relief while paving the way for a nuclear iran. If, in fact, its as bad a deal as i think it is at this moment well do everything we can to stop it. Woodruff Senate Republicans were likewise skeptical, including Foreign Relations chair bob corker. Ill have to say that when we passed over with the interim agreement from dismantling their program to moving towards agreeing that there would be enrichment, then over time moving to what i would call managed proliferation, we really crossed the rubicon. Woodruff leading democrats promised to examine the agreement closely, as congress now has 60 days to vote up or down. And the president fired off a warning shot this morning. I am confident that this deal will meet the National Security interest of the United States and our allies. So i will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal. Woodruff the matter was immediate grist for the president ial campaign. Republican senator marco rubio on the Foreign Relations Committee Member blasted the deal in a statement, saying another leading republican contender, jeb bush, ended his denunciation saying the democratic frontrunner former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was on capitol hill today, meeting with democrats. I think we have to look at this seriously, evaluate carefully, but i believe based on what i know now, i support. Woodruff but before the matter arrives on capitol hill the United Nations will debate the deal in the Security Council. Later, there were small demonstrations in tehran cheering the expected end to sanctions. People held flags and chanted thanks to irans president. Well hear from president obamas National Security advisor and several former u. S. Officials, after the news summary. Ifill if wall street hoped for a big boost from the Iran Nuclear Deal, investors were disappointed. Instead, worries about corporate profits kept gains in check. The Dow Jones Industrial average added 76 points to close above 18,050. The nasdaq rose 33 points and the s p 500 added nine. Woodruff greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sought to rally his syriza party today to back a new austerity bill. The Greek Parliament has 24 hours to pass tax increases and pension reforms, as the price of a new international bailout. But as paul mason of independent Television News reports, syriza lawmakers and voters arent so sure. Reporter if you want a vision of greeces troubled future, start here. It needs to raise 50 billion by selling assets. This container port was sold, five years ago, to the chinese for five billion euros. Now the whole waterfronts for sale after the far Left Party Syriza agreed to rush through privatization worth 50 billion. The problem the syriza supporting dockers who work here. This man is their leader. And he wants the government to reject the deal it just signed. You could say one thing to tsipras, what would it be . So far he has to continue with this and to listen to the people to grow favor and reject this agreement which is not an honest agreement. Reporter as syrizas leaders arrived, tight lipped, at a party meeting, their right Wing Coalition partner was not tight lipped, he called whats happening a coup, blackmail. And its this pressure that has spurred up to 30 miles per second from the ruling party to rebel, including the m. P. For the area where the privatized port is. translated syriza can only stay united if it sticks to the program it stood on at the election. And thats what it needs to do. Theres no growth, and no solution for greece within the eurozone. Reporter athens tonight a city whose economy is subdued. Its corridors of power buzzing with anticipation of an answer can the most far left party ever elected in europe, summon the nerve to do austerity on this scale. Woodruff tsipras and his party were voted into power in january, promising to end years of spending cuts and other austerity measures. Ifill this was the day for closing arguments in the trial of james holmes, almost three years after he opened fire in a colorado movie theater. Prosecutors argued holmes was sane and intent on mass murder when he killed 12 people and wounded dozens more. Defense attorneys say holmes should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial has lasted 11 weeks. Woodruff relatives of a new york city man who died in police custody, vowed today their fight is not over. Eric garners family reached a 5. 9 million settlement on monday. He died last summer, when a white officer put him in a chokehold. Garners mother called again today for federal civil rights charges. This settlement that we get, people are walking up and down the street, theyre saying congratulations. Dont congratulate us. This is not a victory. The victory will come when we get justice. Then we want to have a victory party. Woodruff a state grand jury has declined to indict the police officer. Ifill a Boston Police captains son was ordered held without bond today, in an alleged bomb plot. The f. B. I. Says Alexander Ciccolo planned to set off Pressure Cooker bombs at a university. His father alerted authorities that ciccolo had a history of Mental Illness and wanted to join the Islamic State group. He was arrested in a sting on july fourth. Woodruff president obama called today for reforms in prison sentencing aimed at elimination Racial Disparities and cutting costs. He spoke at the n. A. A. C. P. National convention in philadelphia and criticized mandatory minimum sentences. Weve also locked up more and more nonviolent drug offenders than ever before for longer than ever before. And that is the real reason our prison population is so high in far too many cases, the punishment simply does not fit the crime. Woodruff to underscore his point, the president yesterday commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders. Ifill a New Discovery lit up the world of physics today. For the first time, scientists detected a subatomic particle, called the pentaquark. Its existence was first predicted in the 1960s, but it took the Worlds Largest atom smasher outside geneva to confirm that its really there. Researchers say the discovery will help explain the fundamentals of matter. Woodruff and the last of bostons record winter snowfall finally melted today. At one point, the snow was heaped in a massive pile along part of the citys waterfront. Now, all thats left are puddles and tons of garbage that got swept up by snowplows. Still to come on the newshour after 20 months of negotiations digging into the landmark deal over Irans Nuclear program, an interview with republican president ial candidate, louisiana governor bobby jindal and unlocking the mysteries of pluto. Ifill we return to the news that dominated today the nuclear deal with iran. A short while ago i spoke with susan rice, the president s National Security advisor. Ambassador rice, thank you for joining us. One of our leading allies Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of israel, today called this deal an historic mistake. Why is he wrong . Well h hes wrong, gwen, because this is actually a very strong deal that, when implemented will cut off all of irans potential pathways to a Nuclear Weapon in a fully verifiable fashion. Well have very intrusive 247 presence at all elements of Irans Nuclear supply chain and all of its declared facilities. Well have the ability to inspect facilities about by there are suspicions. We will reduce irans stockpile of enriched uranium by 98 . Twothirds of the centrifuges will be dismantled and stored under international observation. This will be the most comprehensive and Effective Nuclear transparency regime ever implemented. In fact, that is not the case. I think its worth recalling Prime Minister netanyahu was equally critical of the interim agreement that we announced in november of 2013. He called that also, an historic mistake and said the sanctions regimeould crumble. Now he and many others are arguing we shouldnt take the comprehensive deal we just negotiated, we should stick with the interim agreement he criticized almost two years ago. So i think as time passes if this is effectivelyismmented and we believe it will be, then he will in due course see its benefits as we do. But the important thing to understand gwen, is that iran will not receive any sanctions relief under this comprehensive deal until it has taken all the necessary steps to meet its nuclear requirements. So until it has dismantled the centrifuges it is required to dismantle, until its shipped out its stockpile of enriched uranium, until its dismantled the core of the plutonium reactor, there will be no sanctions relief. So we dont lose anything for going down this diplomatic path. Ifill but, ambassador rice, if for some reason iran does not keep its promises, if it does not grant access to these suspicious sites, this whole thing goes back to a joint commission on which iran service as a member. Isnt that a huge loophole . No, let me explain how this works. First of all the joint commission is not the last word. The last word is the United Nations Security Council, and weve constructed this deal in a unique and very effective fashion where, if one permanent member to have the Security Council, if the United States of america finds iran is in material breach of its obligations under this agreement, we can go directly to the Security Council, and in a time bound period, snap back unilaterally all of the sanctions under u. N. Auspices we have today. And we can snap back our national sanctions, the e. U. Can do the same. We dont be stopped by china russia or iran if there is a material breech. Ifill lets talk about the the sanctions. Even by lasting them for a short period of time, you stopped the flow of money to iran that could go to our enemies, some of who are trying to take out syrian president assad. How do you justify that. Lest recall why we have the sanctions in the first place. I was the ambassador of the United Nations when we implemented and negotiated the toughest and last of the sanctions resolutions. The whole purpose of the sanctions regime and the reason why we got the entire International Community not just to support them but to implement them faithfully, was because the aim was to use the sanctions pressure to bring iran to the negotiating table so that we could prevent iran from acquiring a Nuclear Weapon. This was never about human rights, terrorism, it wasnt about irans destabilizing activities in the region, all of which we remain deeply concerned concerned about but it was about preventing iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon at the negotiating table. If we succeeded in doing that the deal was if and when iran mutt its Nuclear Obligations and the world could be satisfied it wasnt able to develop a Nuclear Weapon the sanctions would be lifted. So the sanction under this scheme would be lifted but only after irans taken all the steps and we have verified its taken all the steps its committed to take and then even after the sanctions are suspended, we will have the ability at any point over a 15year period if iran violates its obligations to snap these sanctions back into place swiftly and effectively without iran, russia or china getting in our way. Ifill was there any discussion at any point about releasing u. S. Hostages as part of this deal . Not as part of this deal, but we have been in discussions with the iranians about the americans that are being imprisoned in iran. This is a source of very very grave concern for all of us and in particular president obama. Those talks continue and were not going to rest until they are released. But we never wanted to link them to the nuclear deal because obviously, up until the last minute, there is every possibility there wouldnt be a nuclear deal. So were committed to getting our americans home safely in any event and we will continue to work to do everything we can. Ifill finally, ambassador rice is the president s veto threat open to discussion or negotiation . Didnt sound like it did it . No, gwen, seriously no. Because we have negotiated a deal that is good for the United States, its good for israel its good for world peace and security, and if the United States were the sole country out of the International Community to blow up a deal that we had negotiated that we believe satisfies all of our requirements, then what will happen in well, in the first instance, the sanctions regime that weve worked so hard to maintain will fall apart because the rest of the world will say, what is the point . Countries like japan and india that have paid an economic price to implement these sanctions would no longer feel the obligation to do so. Iran would say, look we signed up for the deal, were ready to do our part burks now, since theres no prospect of sanction res leaf, were going to pursue our Nuclear Program unconstrained, that would be a loselose situation. So it would be very unfortunate if the United States were the one to abrogate and, therefore blow up a very good deal and so, when the president said he would veto efforts to undermine this deal he meant it. Ifill National Security advisor susan rice, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me, gwen. Woodruff so how effective is this deal at preventing iran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon . We hear from four people with extensive u. S. Foreign policy experience. Sandy berger was National Security advisor to president bill clinton, retired general Michael Hayden was director of the c. I. A. During the george w. Bush administration, dennis ross served in republican and democratic administrations as a middle east peace envoy and jim woolsey was director of the c. I. A. During the clinton administration. We welcome you all to the program. Let me just start by asking you all what do you make of this deal . Does this prevent iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon . Jim woolsey, to you first. I dont believe it does. I think there is no elastic, essentially, in the snapback sanctions. They really depend upon russian and chinese cooperation, and i think that reporter woodruff what do you mean . In order to take action based upon something that we perceive the irannians have done unless the iranians agree and say oh, yeah, we did that. You have a situation where we have to try to force discipline on the system and were not going to have russian and Chinese Support mostly, in order to do that. Woodruff how strong is that agreement, sandy berger and do you see a weakness . I think its a strong agreement. I dont think it depends on trust. I think its verifiable. If they cheat, we can go to the u. N. I think jim is wrong about the way we imposed the sanctions. The way the agreement is written, russia china and iran cannot stop us from reimposing the sanctions. If we or our allies believe iran is cheating and we go to the u. N. , we cannot be blocked by russia, china and iran alone or in combination. Thats a pretty strong provision, and i think its essential to the fabric of this agreement. Were not relying upon anything other than our own judgment as to whether or not theyre cheating on this agreement. Woodruff general hayden how do you see this . Actually a combination of the two views you just heard. I think it does do some really good things for a period of about a decade burks it does legit mate an industrialstrength Iranian Nuclear program. As we get to the sunset years, even assuming success across the board for the agreement, as we get to the sunset years, iran is very well positioned to break out if they choose to do so. Reporter Dennis Woodruff dennis ross why isnt that a concern if it does wind iran down for a period of years and when it is over iran can wind back up again . I think it is a source of concern. I think the key is for 15 years you really are basically deferring what they can do when it comes to a Nuclear Weapon. But come year 15, they are a threshold Nuclear State and unless we establish a clear deterrent to understand if they move from threshhold to weapons status the price will be unbearable, meaning the use of force, thats the only deterrent to make sure they dont become a weapons state. Woodruff is the deterrent strong . Not now. We have to be more blunt, we have to be clear all options are on the table that we will take whatever steps necessary to ensure they dont become a weapons state. Woodruff senator berger youre shaking your head. The president has said we will not permit iran to develop a Nuclear Weapon. Its a commitment of the United States, doesnt expire. He should reiterate that and make it clear. The agreement restricts iran for 15 years but the verification provisions go on much longer, so well have transparency under the system for a very long time and if the president reiterates that view that were not going to prevent iran from developing a Nuclear Weapon, well have a lot of access to what were doing. Woodruff why doesents that give you confidence, jim woolsey . Well, in the first place russia and china are members to have the city council and one can do little under the agreement without having to Security Councils support. I think the real problem is that by paying tens upon tens of billions of dollars to iran in the near term which we will do as a result of the sanctions being lifted, were creating a situation in which iran is the leading terrorist country in the world, has a lot more Resources Available to it to buy what they want via hamas and other terrorist organizations they front. Woodruff and gwen asked National Security advisor susan rice about that. Mile mile, is Michael Hayden, is that a concern to you. It is. Lets say it works for the ten year period weve got the sunset problem. Also look at what weve just done, weve legit mated a program that until this morning that was illegal, that was in violation of u. N. Security council resolutions. Weve let iran back into the family of nations its no longer a renegade state, the sanctionings end they become rich, and none of the other activities about which we are very concerned iran has been conducting, none of those have stopped. Exactly. I think two things. First of all iran is a nuclear threshhold state and they have been since they started building centrifuges in the middle of the bush administration. The question is what are we going to do about it . Roll it back or let them have this program and go forward . So i think thats where we are at this point. I absolutely agree. This agreement was not solve the iranian problem in the region. Iran is a country that is destabilizing the region, a country that we have to be concerned with. I dont see this agreement as solving that problem. I think this agreement is useful not in spite of that but because of that because all those conflicts, all that ambition will be more dangerous if iran were emboldened because they had a Nuclear Weapon. Woodruff dennis ross is someone who worked on the conflicts in the region. How do you see that aspect of it . There is no question that with sanctions relief they will get to what amounts to windfall. True, it is their money, but you have close to 150 billion that are in frozen accounts now. They dont get it for about six months. What susan rice is right, they have to implement the major Nuclear Obligations in the deal and it will take about six months to do that. I think the key here at this point is for the iranians to understand two things one, we need to reestablish deterrence not only at the level of them not moving from threshhold to Nuclear Weapon state status but also we have to raise the cost of them of what they do in the region. We have to be prepared to compete with them. They have to realize that if we see them giving a lot more money to hesbollah, to hamas, to the houthis or to the group in iraq, they will see much greater competition from us. We should be talking about the europeans about targeted sanctions and Contingency Planning with the israelis and arabs so deal with increased activity by the iranians throughout the region. Woodruff i saw the president was trying to reassure Benjamin Netanyahu on these points. The president on inspection, said 247 access. But then later we see its something called managed access. How comfortable are you with whatever inspection arrangement there is . Not at all. If we point out a violation or the need for inspection, you have two weeks, then goes to a committee, then the committee looks at it for a while and this has all been very elaborately constructed in such a way as to give iran a lot of leeway in order to deal with this, and they do not have to have, ultimately a huge industrial structure that they cant hide. They can hide the relevant parts of being able to make a few weapons in a relatively small space and can move them. Woodruff where do you come down on this, general i hadden . Pretty much where jim is. The inspection of the past spell as suspect of agreement. The only way we get a verifiable agreement is that the i. A. E. A. Gets to go where they want to go. Fundamentally i think thats a technical question. This International Group should have the freedom to move. Will this move into a political process. Just fearful that will make it much more difficult to verify. Woodruff how do you respond . I think the agreement is clear. If the iranians there is a process of several weeks. If were not satisfied, we and our allies can go to the Security Council and have the sanctions reimposed. The russia and china is screaming and the iran is screaming, they cannot block that. Thats crystal clear. One other point on the sanctions. Theyre international sanctions. They include the indians and the South Koreans and japanese and a lot of countries that arent terribly threatened by iran. They imposed sanctions because they wanted to bring iran to the table and believed we would negotiate seriously. If we dont follow through on that, the sanctions will unravel, iran will get its money without any nuclear controls. Woodruff and that raises the question about what happens if this falls apart. For the critics who are saying this is a wrong deal whats the alternative dennis ross . I think there is a burden on the critics to explain that. I think the point sandy made is right. There is a reality here. You have the International Community embracing this agreement, certainly the members of p5 1. If this were to be blocked, the iranians would say we implemented. The European Union commits, if the iranians do their part, the union is committed to lifting the sanctions. I am concerned you wouldnt be able to sustain that. The critics are convinced the best way to deal with this is to block the sanctions. They have to explain why the outcome isnt going to be sanctions collapse, the iranians get the windfall theyre really not restricted. From my standpoint, the administration has issues it has to address including how you deal with the suspect sites. We have 247 access to facilities like natanz. When it comes to suspect sites that becomes more problematic and then youre talking about what could be a 3035day period before you actually get access. Woodruff youre saying the critics also have a question to answer. Jim woolsey, what is the answer . Why didnt the sanctions regime collapse iran and move toward complete Nuclear Program that it wants . I think it will come very close to doing that anyway. We have to realize what weve got here and what were dealing with. I led once negotiations and participated with the soviets. The soviets was a different situation. Theyre far from lovely folks to deal with, but with iran were dealing with the leadership that are theocratic totalitarian genocidal imperialists and i think each of those words can be supported. They have a word which says lying to inphi des, its recommended lying to infidels, its recommended, we are not dealing with an audit contract state we have to be careful with. Woodruff my question is, if this doesnt work, whats the alternative . Isnt the alternative, Michael Hayden, iran has a clear path to do what its . It depends on american leadership, it depends on how clear we state our reasons this is not a good enough deal. And good enough might be as good as it gets. But if you push that logic too far you dont have a plan b. You actually back yourself into a position where any deal is better than no deal and i dont think thats a sustainable position. Woodruff well leave it there. Its just day one of debating this nuclear agreement. We thank you for being here, jim woolsey, Michael Hayden, sandy berger and dennis ross. Thank you. Ifill the Iran Nuclear Deal is just one of the many issues that could be turned inside out by the next president of the United States. We turn now to another of our periodic conversations with the candidates running for the job. Republican bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana. Welcome, governor. Gwen, thank you for having me. Ifill you said today this would be a dangerous deal this iran deal the president announced today. Have you had a chance to study it . Why do you feel that . I have, gwen and this is why i think it is a bad deal for the United States, for israel and our allies. Several details that are troubling. If iran keeps thousands of centrifuges, we dont truly get 247 inspections, theyre not cutting off ties with hamas and other terrorist groups. I worry, under this president s deal, we could end up with a Nuclear Arms Race in the middle east. You could see sunni countries trying to buy this technology from pakistan. I hope secretary clinton whos been the architect of this president s Foreign Policy will oppose this deal and say its time for america to stand with israel. There is still time for america to say we will not allow iran to become a nuclear power. When they first started negotiating this deal, the president said we would get anytime anywhere inspections they wouldnt be allowed to keep any enrichment capacity, unfortunately thats not what this deal does. Ifill the current secretary of state said people who criticize it dont have an alternative. As president not as a candidate, what would you do to roll this back . I have a lot of leverage by falling oil prices. The iranian economy is in deep trouble. With tougher sanctions, every ongs is on the table. We will stop this iranian government from having a nuclear capability. This is a country where theyre still chanting death to america death to israel. They still havent released the american prisoners they still havent rejected cutoff ties to terrorism. Secretary kerry said they are state sponsor of terrorism, saying recently they are one of the largest state sponsors of terrorism in the entire world. This is a country we cannot afford to allow them to become a nuclear power. Every option needs to be on the table. We need to negotiate from strength. This president said too often what he wouldnt do, not would do. I hope secretary clinton and others in the Democratic Party will come out and say, not justrooms, but a bipartisan, this is bad for the region. Ifill assuming you have to get past 14 other republican candidates before you get to secretary clinton, you said among orthothings you dont like the idea of hyphenated americans. You where obviously, of Indian Heritage. What do you think people of italianamerican heritage who think youre asking them to set that heritage aside. Were a wonderful melting pot. Folks can be proud of their heritage. I think the hyphnations and divisions are keeping us apart. Were not italian indian, asianamericans rich or poor americans, were all americans. My parents are proud of their Indian Heritage but they came here 40 years ago to search for the American Dream and wanted to raise their kids as americans and thats why they came here. When i look at europe, you have second and third generations who dont scar themselves parts of society. If immigrants want to come, come, roll up sleeves, adopt our values and get to work. If you come here, you want to be american, otherwise why are you coming . We can embrace our heritages but we should stop the hyphenated americans. Ifill Donald Trumps been sucking a lot of the air out. Theres a small poll showing him at least by name recognition doing fairly well. Do you agree with his approach and the words in particular that he used to describe tim congratulations problem . No, gwen. Ifill tonight. I dont agree with his h comments. I dont view people as members ofette mick or economic groups. People in d. C. Need to calm down. Every time they attack donald, i think he enjoys it and gets the best to have the exchanges. I think there is Political Correctness run amok. You saw the one bill where a congresswoman trade to stop the use of the names husband and wife. This is a free country. The voters will get to decide. I think trying to tone him down is a mistake. Let folks debate it. Obviously, i think im Better Qualified and people should vote for me. But this is an open and free debate. Let the voters decide. Obviously he enjoys the controversy and i think he benefits from it. Ifill im sure thats true as well. Speaking of debates. How do you get on to a debate stage which is so crowded and at least in the first two instances theyre saying only the people who rank the top ten will make it on to that stage . How do you get your message out if you dont make it on to that stage . Thats a great question. You talked about name i. D. The polls is really a beauty contest. At this point if youve reason before, have a famous last night name, in d. C. , in front of cable cameras every day, you have more name i. D. If tom brady got in the race, he would be first in terms of National Polls now. The voters will decide. Im spending my time in iowa, in new hampshire, in other states talking directly to voters. Were getting a great response at every town hall getting hundreds of people to come out, answering everybodys questions. I think voters are saying we want somebody to embrace our principles, not just give a good speech. Jeb bush said you have to be willing to lose the primary to win the general. I dont believe that. I think voters want us to secure the border and stand up so radical islamic terrorism. We have talked to voters. Weve had a great response and well continue to do that. Ifill governor bobby jindal, republican candidate for president. Well be talking again. Thank you for having me. Woodruff its been a once inalifetime journey and today nasa believes its new horizons spacecraft finally made a successful flyby of pluto. Once considered the ninth planet in our solar system, pluto is billions of miles away. Confirmation of the spacecrafts arrival is expected tonight. But there were celebrations earlier today at Mission Control as all signs pointed to success. Science correspondent miles obrien fills in the picture of this mission. This story was done in partnership with nova, which airs chasing pluto tomorrow night. Reporter ready or not, it is finally time for plutos close up. Once a fullfledged planet, now considered something less, it remains an intriguing mystery 85 years after its discovery. But not for long, the picture is growing clearer as a fast moving spacecraft arrives at the Solar Systems underdog. It was always the planet with the little question marks everywhere. We didnt know anything. And because its the last in the public mind, it takes a special place. Reporter pluto has taken a special place in planetary scientist alan sterns mind since 1988. Thats when he first began pushing nasa to send a spacecraft to what was then the ninth planet in our solar system. The three billion mile journey of the new horizons spacecraft began in 2006. It left the earth faster than any spacecraft ever making a beeline for pluto getting a gravitational kick from jupiter as it bulleted past, snapping pictures all the while. And now after nearly a decade in space, new horizons is finally there. I like to call this a mission of delayed gratification because it takes nine and a half years to get all the way out to pluto but were almost there. And the opportunity to transform pluto from a little pixilated blob into a world with complexity and diversity is just going to be amazing. Reporter hal weaver is the new horizons project scientist. He admits to some nerves here in the home stretch. Oh, yeah. Im somewhat nervous because in the space business, youre only as strong as your weakest link. And weve put so much effort into making sure that we squeeze as much as possible out of this mission scientifically. Reporter and that scientific todo list is a long one. Despite what we may imagine, pluto is no simple icecovered rock. Although with a surface temperature of 387 below zero fahrenheit, there is plenty of ice. Ice made of Carbon Dioxide methane, ethane and nitrogen also the main ingredient of its atmosphere. Besides cold, the pluto weather can be cloudy, hazy and windy the sun is so distant that high noon on pluto is like dusk here on earth. It appears there are mountains and valleys. And, yes, it is red. Sorry mars, youre not as special as we once thought. So we think that the color of the surface is a direct byproduct of a process called, space weathering where the radiation from the sun and cosmic rays generate trace constituents in the ices that have color. Reporter no less interesting than pluto is its largest moon, charon. It is covered with plain old water ice. They will be onthelookout for cracks in the surface, which could be telltale signs of liquid water below. So id be surprised if we see evidence of some liquid water underneath charons surface, but i wouldnt say its out of the question. If we see cracks on charons surface, and especially if we can see some venting from charons surface, that would be really cool. Reporter Clyde Tombaugh would heartily agree. In 1930, he discovered pluto at the Percival Lowell observatory in flagstaff, arizona. Tombaugh named his quarry pluto for the roman god of the underworld, conveniently the first two letters are Percival Lowells initials, and coincidentally, about that time, disneys cartoon dog of the same name first appeared on the silver screen. Underdog indeed, and yet the ninth planet just the same. But the dogged march of scientific discovery set pluto up for a cosmically unpopular demotion. As we had been discovering larger and larger and larger objects, that i in my opinion, it made no sense that pluto was called a planet, and it shouldnt be a planet. Reporter thats astronomer and pluto killer mike brown appearing in the pbs nova program chasing pluto. Starting in 1992, he and his colleagues discovered a region of large rocky, icy planet shaped debris at the outer edge of the solar system. Its called the kuiper belt leftovers from the formation of planets 4. 6 billion years ago. But the debris really hit the fan for our beloved underdog in 2005 when brown and his team discovered this object eris. Its more massive than pluto. I had to make a decision what we were going to call it . Is it a planet . Is it not a planet . Is it the tenth planet . Is it the 52nd planet . Is it is pluto not a planet . I knew that, that no matter what i said, it would be debated for a long time. Reporter eventually, astronomers decided to call pluto and the other big kuiper belt objects dwarf planets. Whatever pluto is called, new horizons is well poised to understand it much better. The grand piano sized spacecraft is brimming with seven scientific instruments. Spectrometers that measure infrared, ultraviolet, plasma and solar wind. A student built dust counter. A radio device to characterize the atmosphere. And of course camera visible, infrared and the one that should make the pluto screensavers lorri, short for Long Range Reconnaissance imager. Ultimately lorri will allow us to map the surface of pluto well enough that if we flew over new york city at the same altitude and look down with lorri, we could count the ponds in central park and the wharfs on the hudson. Its a very detailed imagery at closest approach. Reporter by and large the spacecraft has run well these past nine and a half years, despite a brief scare on july 4th when the computer crashed causing the probe to go dark for a while. The team says it is ready regardless. Weve done dozens of operational Readiness Test over the past several years. Reporter Mark Holdridge is the encounter Mission Manager for new horizons at the Johns Hopkins applied Physics Laboratory in laurel maryland. One of his key jobs has been to lead the team through numerous dress rehearsals, staying sharp for the big event. So weve been really careful about timing the operational Readiness Test to make sure that the last one doesnt happen too soon before the actual encounter because we will forget things. Reporter they cant afford to forget because new horizons will not orbit pluto. It is supposed to whizz by 18 times faster than a speeding bullet, 7,800 miles from the surface, taking pictures and hoovering up data as quickly as it can. The spacecraft will not be transmitting while it gathers its science, leaving the team hanging for 13 hours before they even get a phone home the postcards are supposed to come in the next day. We have no idea what were going to see. Were going to be surprised, im positive of that. Reporter assuming all goes well, nasa and a. P. L will aim new horizons toward another kuiper belt object for a flyby in 2019. But for now, all eyes in the world of Planetary Science are focused on pluto and the end of an era as they finish the first forays of exploration into our celestial neighborhood. People will look back on this time from the 60s to 2015 in future centuries, i think and say, that is when the solar system was first explored. Reporter the underdog at the edge of our understanding may be the last, and the least, but perhaps that is why unlocking its mysteries seems so worthwhile. Miles obrien, the pbs newshour, laurel, maryland. Woodruff online, you can find more videos on pluto and follow novas live tweets on the flyby. Thats on our homepage pbs. Org newshour. Ifill tonight on frontline an inside look into the plight of yazidi women and children who are a religious minority in iraq, targeted by isis. According to survivors, women and children are held for months and girls as young as nine are subject to rape. One man is leading an underground railroad to rescue those who have been taken captive by the terrorist group but part of the operations success depends on women fleeing their captors. Narrator the rescue operation begins. Khalils contact tells the family to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and meet him in a car waiting outside. The contact will then guide them out of isis territory through a series of safe houses along the border of turkey and iraq. Abu shuja heads toward the border to meet them, hoping that this time, they make it. Narrator after two hours the contact calls abu shuja, saying theyve arrived. Narrator the women and children snuck out while their captor was asleep. crying narrator medinas two daughters are nine and ten, the age when isis says girls can be forced into marriage. The girls havent seen their family in seven months. crying crying ifill frontline airs tonight on most pbs stations. Woodruff finally tonight, to our newshour shares of the day, something that caught our eye which might be of interest to you, too. The Central Intelligence agency recently has allowed a peek into its vaults of historic spygear. Posting photos of spy artifacts to its website each week, like this miniature camera that can fit inside a pack of cigarettes or this radio receiver hidden inside a smoking pipe. Other artifacts of the week . This hollowedout silver dollar, which concealed messages or film and this cold warera ladys compact mirror with a secret code hidden inside. Calling james bond. Ifill i have one of those. No, i dont. On the newshour online after a 55year gap, fans can finally read a new harper lee book. Go set a watchman continues the story of one of the most beloved characters from her first book. So we decided to look back to see what critics were saying about the 1960 release of to kill a mockingbird. Find those reviews, on our homepage. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Woodruff tune in later tonight on charlie rose more analysis of the Iran Nuclear Deal. And thats the newshour for tonight. On wednesday, well continue our Running Series of extended interviews with president ial candidates. Next up gwen talks to republican senator ted cruz. Im judy woodruff. Ifill and im gwen ifill. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. 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 and. 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 this is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own Foundation Giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, Kovler Foundation pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs, and mufg. Build a Solid Foundation and you can connect communities and commerce for centuries, that is the strength behind good banking relationships, too. Which is why at mufg, we believe financial partnerships should endure the test of time, becau