Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170919

All that and more on tonights pbs newshour major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. 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. Brangham for President Trump today, it was the kickoff of his first United Nations General Assembly. As a candidate, he had roundly criticized the world body. Today, he spoke at a meeting on u. N. Reform, and said the us will work with secretary general Antonio Guterres to make changes. The United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. While the United Nations on a regular budget has increased by 140 and its staff has more than doubled since 2000, we are not seeing the results in line with this investment, but i know that under the secretary general thats changing and its changing fast. Brangham the president also met with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and talked again of trying for an Israeli Palestinian peace deal. Mr. Trump addresses the full General Assembly tomorrow. The president also spoke with chinese leader xi jingping by phone, about enforcing new sanctions on north korea. This came as the north warned that new pressure will only increase its drive to develop more nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, in live drills, the u. S. Military sent a pair of b 1b bombers and f35 stealth fighters over south korea. It was the second such flight in recent weeks. Hurricane maria has closed in on the Eastern Caribbean tonight, threatening the very same islands wrecked by Hurricane Irma. By this evening, the storm was near martinique with winds of 130 miles an hour, making it a category 4, and still growing. The Virgin Islands and puerto rico are in the projected path tomorrow and wednesday. There are new signs of recovery today in florida, a week after Hurricane Irma swept the state. Schools in miamidade and Broward County reopened for more than 600,000 students. Other systems, and some colleges, remain closed. In the hardhit florida keys, governor rick scott and u. S. Secretary of health and human services, tom price, warned today of potential dangers to those returning. There are mold challenges there are marine life and diseases that occur so they need to take precautions simple wearing of gloves. Making certain that when they are moving debris they they are being cautious and that they are not inhabiting a place that is uninhabitable. Brangham utility crews have restored power to the great majority of those who lost it during the storm, but nearly 800,000 people remained in the dark today. Interior secretary ryan zinke is recommending that four Large National monuments in the west be downsized. Its widely reported the sites are bears ears and grand staircaseescalante in utah they cover more than three million acres as well as two others in nevada and oregon. Zinke also recommended lifting curbs on logging and mining at several other sites. Environmentalists have condemned the proposal. President trump has said designating these monuments amounted to a federal land grab. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 63 points to close at 22,331. The nasdaq rose six points, and the s p 500 added three. And, some history was made at the 69th annual emmy awards last night. The handmaids tale, which was shown on hulu, won for best drama series. Its the first such award for a video streaming service. And lena waithe became the first africanamerican woman to win an emmy for best comedywriting, for the show master of none. Hbos political satire veep won best comedy, and saturday night live won nine awards, the most of the evening. Still to come on the newshour four Straight Days of protest in st. Louis. On the border of mayanmar and bangladesh, hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes. A judge speaks on the growing backlog of Immigration Court cases, and much more. Brangham anger over police shootings, and whether officers are being acquitted too easily in some cases, is boiling once again. For a fourth straight day, there were protests in st. Louis over a judges decision that was issued friday. Its at least the fifth case around the country since may where an officer was not convicted or found guilty in a highprofile shooting. Protesters were out early this morning, in downtown st. Louis. A racially mixed crowd marched quietly and carried signs denouncing fridays acquittal of jason stockley, a white former st. Louis Police Officer. Stockley had been accused in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar smith back in 2011. Stockley and his partner tried to arrest the 24yearold after a suspected drug deal, an incident that was caught on surveillance and dashcam video. Smith took off in a silver sedan, and the highspeed car chase ended with his being shot at close range. The dashcam recorded stockley saying he would kill smith, and prosecutors argued he planted a gun inside smiths car after the shooting. I did not murder Anthony Lamar smith. I did not plant a gun. Brangham in an interview friday with the st. Louis post dispatch, stockley insisted again that he acted in self defense. I can tell you with absolute certainty there was no plan to murder Anthony Smith during a highspeed vehicle pursuit. Brangham the notguilty verdict touched off a weekend of protests by thousands of people. Most were peaceful, but, smaller groups have turned violent after nightfall. A group of agitators stayed behind apparently intent on breaking windows, and destroying property. This is not acceptable. We have work to do here in the city. We need more and better opportunities for all of our citizens. But destruction cannot be tolerated. Brangham more than 80 people were arrested in sundays trouble, as police in riot gear confronted the crowd. Lieutenant colonel Lawrence Otoole is the citys acting police commissioner. These criminals weve arrested should be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Were in control. This is our city, and were going to protect it. Brangham its all reminiscent of another case in nearby ferguson, missouri in 2014, where a black teenager, michael brown, was fatally shot by a white officer who was also not indicted. And it comes on the heels of several other cases nationwide where black men have been shot by white officers. Now, st. Louis faces a fourth night of tension, with protesters turning out again, and police out in force for the record, we invited a representative from the Police Department on the program this evening, but they didnt respond in time. For more about the situation in st. Louis and whats fueling the protests, im joined now by tony mesenger. Hes a columnist at the st. Louis post dispatch and has been following these events closely. Mr. Messinger, i wonder if you could give me a sense, what is your sense of what is driving these protests . Is it this particular case or something broader . Its the combination of the details in this case combined with ongoing concerns both locally and nationally about Police Brutality towards blacks and specifically in st. Louis there has been a history of disparity between whites and blacks, blacks living in poverty and feeling like theyre not getting a fair share, that that feeling the nation saw in the days after ferguson continued over the last three years and is manifesting itself on the throats one more time. Brangham one of the facts of the case was the allegation that the Police Officer planted the gun after the shooting. The judge looked at the evidence and said it didnt meet the standard of guilt. I wonder whats been the reaction of that . I think what happens in a case like this is those details, regardless of whether or not the judge determines the prosecution met its burden, stick in the minds of black people who believe that they have been discriminated against by police, whether its st. Louis police or other local Police Departments growing up. So you have the a detail of the Police Officer caught on tape threatening to kill the person hes chasing as well as the allegation from the prosecutor that the gun was planted, those things add up to some details that really matter to the folks who wee protesting on the streets regardless of the judges determination of burden of proof. Brangham these were largely peaceful protests. There were a few instances of people causing destruction. Whats your sense of whats driving that particular slice of the protest . I think there will always b agitators, people hanging on looking to create trouble that arent necessarily correct connected to the protest. In each three nights of the protests, the organizers said its time to go home. One protest leader whos a state representative said lets leave as a family, but obviously not everybody left. One of the things im hearing from people and seeing in social media and other things is some of the violence is a reaction to the police militarizing, its a reaction to ana Aggressive Police stance with Police Officers in riot gear circling around and arresting anybody who gets in their way. So some of the reaction is, at least according to some of the protesters and folks on the street, a reaction to how the police are treating them. One of the pastors involved in organizing some of the more peaceful protests said that the goal of these protests were disruption, not destruction. Can you help us understand what that means . Sure. Disruption to the economy. Friday night when i was out there in the central west end, there was talk of disrupting the economy, letting the city feel their pain in the pocketbook, so to speak. So when they talk about disruption, theyre talking about the idea of u2 and ed sherren canceling concerts and the city saying we cant lose money. What are we going to do . The protests hope they talk to them, meet with them and hear their grievous. Thats where theyre trying to hurt the city is in an area that will get them to the negotiating table to talk about how are we going to fix generations of grievance from people of color who have been they have been discriminated against in this city by police. Reporter is it your sense those protests, the economic pressure on the city will continue and work . My sense is that its going to continue. There were High School Walkouts today. There are other protests planned tonight. There has not been, to the best of my knowledge, any discussion between community leaders, activists, protest leaders and elected officials, and my sense is similar to ferguson, until those discussions start to take place, that what we have been seeing on the streets over the last two or three nights is going to continue for a period of time. I know you have been covering this and ferguson and other types of protests for a long time. What is your sense about when does this cycle end . Seems like we have been having this argument. The communities feel theyre not trusted, theyre treated poorly by the police. These horrible incidents occur, police dont seem to be held responsible and the community erupts. How do we interrupt that cycle . If you listen to the protesters, one of the things they frequently chapter is no justice, no peace. So what they say is it will end when theres justice. It will end when police stop killing young black men. Thats what theyre telling us. The sense i feet three years after ferguson is that not a lot has changed in our community. There have been some efforts at reconciliation and education, but the poor black people that i talk to regularly, that i write about in my column on a variety of issues dont believe that they are a part of this economy, dont believe that they are full members of the community in some regard, and until that happens, until theres more trust between white and black, between police and the communities of color they serve, then this sort of cycle is going to continue. As we mentioned, we asked to talk to someone in the police force and they didnt get back to us in time. What is your sense of how did the police view all of this, the particular case but also the protest that followed . There is a split within the Police Department as well between black and white. There is a split between those quality Police Officers who believe in a higher level of training and some of those who give the Police Department in st. Louis or st. Louis county or the multiple municipalities that we have around here a bad name. So within the Police Department, there is somewhat of a split. But there is very much a divide between police and protester here. Last night, the interim police chief for st. Louis said that police owned the night, and last night police were recorded on video chanting themselves whose streets, our streets, after they arrested protesters, reporters, and other people. So that divide between protester and police is very stark still. Brangham tony messenger of the st. Louis post dispatch, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Brangham turkey has been an important ally to the United States. But in recent years, different views on how to defeat isis in syria, on human rights and on a number of issues, have driven divisions in the relationship. Judy woodruff is in new york and late today spoke with turkeys president recep tayyip erdogan. Woodruff william, yes. Im in new york and i just finished moments ago a lengthy interview with president erdogan on a number of subjects, why you but what i think but what i think may be of greatest interest is, when i asked him about the report today again, this is a moment of tension and a season of tension between the u. S. And turkey a report today that the Trump Administration has decided it will not go forward with selling guns and other weapons to president erdogans president ial guards. In a surprising twist, president erdogan said this didnt make sense because he claimed that the u. S. Has been giving weapons to terrorists in syria, and by that he was referring to the antii. S. I. S. Kurdish antii. S. I. S. Groups. Lets listen. We need to fight these terrorists with the United States and when we are not able to acquire those weapons from the United States, why are you giving those weapons to terrorists . Its a question we ask our friends in the United States and when these questions are not answered were feeling sorry as Strategic Partners to the u. S. Brangham pretty tough words about u. S. Foreign policy. I know a recent announcement last week turks purchased surfacetoair missiles from the russians, turkey being a n. A. T. O. Member, russia being a pretty strong enany my of n. A. T. O. Did you ask the president about what and what did he say . Woodruff i did. This raises the hackles, as you can imagine, of other n. A. T. O. Members in europe and the United States, questions about where does turkeys loyalty really lie, whether cutting the 2. 5 billion deal to guy surfacetoair missiles. President erdogans response said it was a logical thing to do. He said over time we have been asking other n. A. T. O. Cuntsz to sell them to us and they werent willing to. He said he had a number of requests in for drones over the years. He said it was only natural they return to the russians. I tried to pin him down about where his loyalty really lies, is it with n. A. T. O. And the west or russia, and his answer was essentially neither one both and neither, that we have to do whats best for turkey. As i said, we covered a lot in this interview, and were going to be bringing our newshour viewers, much more of it tomorrow night. Judy woodruff from new york, thank you so much. Brangham in the past few weeks, the crackdown on Muslim Rohingyas in myanmar has triggered a mass exodus. The united unions estimates that 390,000 rohingyas have fled to neighboring bangladesh after suffering what they say are Violent Attacks by Government Troops and others. The fighting is driven in part by an ongoing, yearslong conflict between rohingya militants and the government of myanmar. Newshour special correspondent tanya rashid has this report from along the bangladesh myanmar border. Reporter its a mass exodus, with no end in sight. They can barely walk or speak. Desperate and starving. Close to half a million Rohingya Muslims have fled to bangladesh in the past three weeks, escaping Violent Attacks carried out by myanmar troops and buddhist vigilantes. Hundreds of people are making their way into bangladesh right now. And its through terrible conditions of mud, rain and immense flooding. Its very slippery, the mud, to walk through this. You feel like you can fall down at any moment. I cant move. Take this. Get on my shoulders. Reporter her leg is broken. Get on my back. Really . Wont it be too muddy and hard . There is no other way, get on my shoulders. Reporter the military, the Myanmar Military, one of the members broke her leg with a stick and a relative is having to carry her through a muddied rice paddy field to the road. Give me your other foot. Im going to fall. I dont have energy. Reporter Anuara Khatun has been walking with her two children and husband for eight days, with little food or water translated they took us out of our home and lined us up at a school, and set our houses on fire. They tortured us, thats why were here. They didnt care whether they were shooting cows or people, they just kept shooting. They slaughtered old people. They tortured us and thats why we left. They stormed in and burned our homes. The military surrounded us, and killed any young men they could find, they killed four to five people in front of me, in lambagouna. Reporter this is the border. This is where bangladesh ends and across the naf river is where myanmar begins. For the past hour ive been seeing boat after boat filled with Rohingya Refugees coming in. The conflict was triggered by the Arakan Rohingya salvation army, known as arsa, an insurgency group. Its fighters attacked dozens of police and army posts across Myanmars Rakhine state on august 25th. Funded partially by private donors in saudi arabia, arsa accuses the Myanmar Military of acts of extreme violence against Rohingya Muslims. In response the Myanmar Military launched a major counterinsurgency campaign. The u. N. Human rights chief has called it a textbook ethnic cleansing. The rohingya are a stateless Muslim Minority group who have faced persecution in myanmar; they are denied citizenship and freedom of movement. For the past three weeks, myanmars de facto leader, aung san suu kyi, has come under immense International Criticism for remaining silent in the face of this violence. Last week, the Nobel Laureate cancelled her trip to the u. N. General assembly in new york to deal with the rohingya crisis. The rohingyas arrive in bangladesh hungry and tired and into utter chaos. Every scrap of land is being used by the refugees to make shelter. Since many of the refugee camps are overcrowded and such a large influx of people are coming in such a short period of time. People are doing what they can to make space for a home. Hasina begum fled her home five days ago. translated the buddhists burnt my village to ash. They shot my father dead in front of me. I traveled here through the forest with my family. Reporter she told me she was helped by two armed men from arsa as she crossed the border. translated the buddhists were killing us one by one before august 25th attacks. Thats why arsa launched their attacks, because they are killing us. We couldnt take it anymore, thats why we are fighting. Arsa is fighting for all the rohingyas in myanmar. Reporter bengali locals and religious charities have stepped up to provide aid. But distribution has been chaotic. Bangladeshs Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the International Community to put pressure on the myanmar government to let the rohingya return. The immense scale of the crisis means that International Aid agencies are the only ones equipped to respond. The World Food Program is giving each refugee a 55pound sack of rice. That has to last them and their family at least 2 weeks. translated there are so many people so many households they are not getting the rice because the support is not adequate for them. So more food, more wash facilities, more shelter they need. Reporter i spoke to women queuing for rice who told me harrowing stories of violence. translated i cant sleep at night, they take women like us to be raped. The military made a woman give birth in front of them without any help, while she was giving birth they stomped on her belly, nobody could help her. The military took a child from me and killed her in front of my eyes, i couldnt stop them. They beat me with a gun and still feel pain all over my body. They take women into the jungle to rape and murder them, i heard them screaming, which was horrible. They tie the men to a chair, pour gasoline over their head, and burn them alive. The army calls the children over to give them biscuits, then they kill them and dump their bodies in the jungle. Reporter bangladesh is one of the worlds poorest and most densely populated countries in the world. I met with mohammad ershadul haque, the local Council Secretary for the area near the one of the largest refugee camps. He expressed concern that many local bengalis share about the sudden influx of the rohingya. What has been the impact of the rohingyas coming in . translated the rohingyas arent developed. Their character is uncivilized. We are different from them. If they continue coming like this it will lead to destruction. Reporter do you see the large influx of rohingyas coming in being a threat . translated with this influx of rohignyas, us bengalis will become the minority. They will influence all the sectors of society. They might claim bangladesh to be rohingya territory. They built a makeshift camp on my land. They cut the trees from my garden to make their own homes. We arent able to say anything right now. It could be that they will rule over us here. Reporter do you see the influx of rohingyas coming in being a breeding ground for terrorism . translated attacks have already taken place in the official refugee camps, the rohingyas attacked the local security forces. Reporter next to one of the largest camps, i met two Rohingya Refugees who are members of the arsa insurgency group, and plan to go back to myanmar to fight. They agreed to speak to us under the condition that we concealed their identities. translated the other rohingya people support the arsa because they think that if arsa stand and take back the right of the rohingya they will be able to move freely from town to town, village to village. Reporter what do you think of the august 25th attacks, hasnt that sparked all this violence thats happening with the mass displacement of the rohingya people . translated the other superpower countries and the whole world, they still have not responded with any kind of responses. Arsa themselves thought that there is no one for us in the world to help. Its better for us to stand for ourselves, to protect ourselves, to save our people from the inhumane persecution of the myanmar government. translated we love arsa, we are willing to go to war for our rights. Rohingyas have rights. That is why we will fight with the myanmar government till we get rights. We dont want to live without our citizenship, and us rohingyas understand this, we are all united with arsa, we will fight for our rights or we will die trying. Reporter are you willing to die . translated of course, of course. Im willing to die. Arsa dont afraid of dying. Because the rohingya people have already died. Reporter as the violence continues in myanmar, the future for the Rohingya Refugees in bangladesh looks bleak. Stateless and displaced, the sense of desperation is increasing day by day, making the perfect conditions for insurgency groups like arsa to grow. For the pbs newshour, im tania rashid in teknaf, bangladesh. Brangham stay with us, coming up on the newshour Hillary Clinton explains why she thinks she lost wisconsin. And a grandma setting records, in weightlifting. But first, an inside look at the countrys overwhelmed Immigration Court system. John yang has that story. Yang william, for all the headlines and debates over how to deal with illegal immigration, less attention is paid to the nations Immigration Court system, the first stop for most people charged with being in the country illegally. The current backlog is at a record high more than 600,000 cases pending, and about 334 judges to hear them. The average wait time for a hearing is 672 days, or nearly two years. Earlier, i spoke with judge dana leigh marks, president of the National Association of immigration judges. Shes been a judge for more than three decades and is based in san francisco. Judge marks, thanks for joining us. Help us understand how immigration counts work. Who appears before you and what is it youre trying to decide or determine . Well, immigration is often compared to tax law in its complexity, but im fond of saying that Immigration Law is even more complicated than tax law because no one developed a turbotax for Immigration Law. Immigration courts are the triallevel courts that someone comes to if the department of Homeland Security asserts that they are in the country without proper status or that they somehow violated a legal status that they had such as being a tourist who worked or a student who no longer went to school. We try to decide if they are in fact here in unlawful status at this point, and then decide if there are any benefits theyre entitled to apply for under the very complicated immigration and nationality act. Act. Yang weve heard about the backlog overall. How many cases are pending before you and how long does it take one of these cases to get before you for a hearing . I have over 3,000 pending cases in front of me personally, and it often takes as long as four to five years to finally hear a case and make a decision on the merits. Yang for those thousands of people, whats the realworld implication force those people to have that backlog and take that long to get their case decided . Thats a great question. The backlog is extremely problematic for many people because evidence that they have become steal, they lose track of witnesses, sometimes they need to have certain relative as a qualifying relative in order to obtain a benefit and that relative can become ill and die, or the relative has to be underage and just by the passage of time that person becomes an adult. So there is frustration often from people whose cases are pending before the courts that is problematic to them that their cases are pending so long. In essence, were doing Death Penalty cases in a Traffic Court setting. We are already working at light speed and, yet, the stakes of the people who are before the courts can be a risk to their very life, particularly if they are fearing persecution or other harm if forced to return to their home countries. Yang do they have lawyers representing them . Deportation proceedings are civil. There is no right to an appointed counsel. So the only people who have lawyers are those who can afford to provide them or those lucky enough to find volunteers. Overall, approximately 60 of the people who appear before us are able to find lawyers, but if you look only at cases where people are detained, only 15 of those individuals are able to find representation. Yang this backlog started in the obama administration. What has the steppedup enforcement of the Trump Administration done to the backlog . What effect has it had . Whats been difficult for us is the backlog has been growing for over a decade. For various reasons the Immigration Courts have not been a priority for budgeting and the amount of money that has gone to Immigration Law enforcement has not included an equivalent amount of additional funding for the courts. So we have been struggling and, over the past few years, its just become dire. The courts are basically on the verge of being completely overwhelmed and collapsing under the case load. Yang President Trump rescinded daca for six months. Congress may plan to do something about it. If the program were to go away in march 2018, what would that do to the Court Backlog . The estimation of those here is 700,000 to 800,000. We dont know how many already had cases in Immigration Court, but if even 100,000 did, those cases could be immediately reopen and you can imagine what such action would do for the Court Dockets is we would be inundated with additional tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of cases to put on our dockets again. Reporter some judges have been moved to the border area and hiring more judges. Has hat helped at all . The moving of the judges to the border so far has been problematic because we have been taken from our existing home courts and moved on a temporary assignment to address cases at the border. The hiring of new judges eventually will be extremely helpful, but it is not a rapid process, and we also have a varitable tsunami of immigration judge retirements on the horizon. Last june it was estimated 39 of the immigration judgeons board were eligible to retire, so its going to be quite a while before we have enough judges on board to handle the existing backlog of current cases. Yang judge dana leigh marks, president of the National Association of immigration judges. Thanks so much for explaining the system to us. Thank you so much. Brangham on friday, Judy Woodruff sat down with Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and democratic president ial candidate to discuss her new book called what happened. We return to that interview now where judy asked about Clintons Campaign against donald trump and mistakes she mightve made in certain key states. Woodruff do you think your campaign was negligent or whatever word you want to use in not raising enough warning signs about the perils that could lie ahead in wisconsin and michigan . Those states, of course, turned out to be crucial to the outcome. Well, when youre in a campaign you, you look at the best information you have. And our best information from polling, from whats called data analytics, from people on the ground did not indicate that we faced what eventually happened in wisconsin and michigan and pennsylvania. We campaigned hard, we had more people on the ground working for my campaign than president obama had had. We were in constant communication, what do you hear . What do you see . Wisconsins a particularly interesting example because russ feingold, someone i served with was running again for the senate. His polling and the polling done by the Senate Democrats showed he was going to win. I ended up doing better than he did. There were all kinds of factors, and one of the biggest problems in wisconsin has been the well executed effort to suppress voters. Africanamerican voters in milwaukee, young voters particularly in madison and elsewhere. It proved to be very effective and we campaigned hard in pennsylvania, we campaigned hard in michigan, i was there the day before the election, so i, i just dont believe that those were the determining factors about how many visits, how many people may, i just dont buy that. Brangham judy also asked secretary clinton about the criticism of her campaign from within her own party, specifically from former Vice President joe biden. Woodruff you also had some comments about former Vice President joe biden, and i want to ask you about that, because he said after the election that he thought your campaign and democrats in general, didnt adequately communicate to americans who were economically strapped what democrats were prepared to do for them. Isnt that very similar, if not the same thing your husband, president clinton, was telling your campaign before the election . No, and, and look, im, im a, a friend of and a, and a big admirer of joe biden. He and i have worked together, we served together, and i point out in the book, you know, every, every day we were talking about jobs and the economy. Postelection analyses said i talked about jobs more than anything else and more than anybody else. We had really specific plans. I was talking about them endlessly, but they werent covered. When you get 32 minutes in a whole year to cover every issue and 100 minutes on emails, i dont fault voters for not knowing what we were saying. Joe campaigned for me. He talked about jobs. Everybody else talked about jobs and what we were intending to do. But you know it, it turned out not to be enough in that particular environment. Brangham and finally they turned to healthcare, which if you remember was one of the major sticking points during the democratic primary contest. Judy asked secretary clinton about her former opponent, Bernie Sanders, and his recent healthcare proposal. Woodruff in the campaign, you, on a number of occasions, argued with Bernie Sanders because he argues there should be a, more of a governmentrun Healthcare System rather than expanding obamacare. Now he has this new plan out to expand medicare, cover more people in the direction of single payer, and dozens of democrats are behind it. Are they making a mistake . No, its an aspirational goal, i believe in universal healthcare coverage that is affordable and high quality. There are a number of ways to get there. I think some are more likely than others. During the primary campaign, i did defend the Affordable Care act because for the first time in our history we had 90 of americans covered, and as i said over and over again, its a lot easier to get from 90 to 100 than ripping it up and starting all over again. But as someone whos worked on healthcare, to try to get to universal coverage for 25 years, it matters how much it costs, it matters what people feel about giving up what they already have, and half of america gets healthcare from their employers, it matters what kind of standards are going to be expected in whatever benefits there are. You know, the devil is always in the details. When it comes to universal healthcare coverage, so i think having a debate about the best way we get there and having people really lay their cards on the table so that it can be examined, is important. Woodruff i asked because some democrats are saying it is a mistake that this takes the focus, it in essence, seeds the fact that obamacare hasnt worked and that there needs to be another way. Well that would be unfortunate and i, i, it would al, that would only be true if democrats in large numbers in the house and senate stopped working to make sure the Affordable Care act continues. I think there still is a lot of Energy Behind that. Because the likelihood of us getting, you know, getting to a single payer system starting from where we are is, is quite difficult, so lets not throw the baby out with the bath, lets stay focused on how were going to deliver the highest quality, most affordable healthcare right now and then you want to have a debate about Something Better and different, go ahead and have the debate. Brangham you can watch the entire interview with secretary clinton online at pbs. Org newshour. Its the beginning of the week, and so we are joined now by our regular politics monday duo, amy walter of the Cook Political Report and tamara keith of npr. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Brangham before we get to alabama and policy, rest talk about sean spicer and his cameo on the emmys. For those who didnt see it, he comes out and seems like hes trying to poke fun on his first day of the job, President Trumps inauguration. He comes out, and all evidence notwithstanding, he said the president had the biggest audience ever in the entire history of the universe, then that was his declaration and he pointed his finger at the journalists and told them, report this. Last night during the emmys, Stephen Colbert was wonder about the size of his audience. Lets take a look at that. applause slnchts. This will be the largest audience to witness an emmy period both in person and around the world. Brangham what do you make of that is this. This is life imitating art. He was actually channeling Melissa Mccarthy who you see there making fun of him in her saturday night live skit. Look, to me, this is a sign about where we are more broadly as a culture, which is there is no such thing as having bad publicity or notoriety, you can always cash in on it, and its very short lived. So the name sean spicer is one most people know today. Its hard to know that its going to be the same a year from now. So take it while you can get it. Take it to the bank. A lot of other trump supporters, his former Campaign Manager for example got fired and ended up as a cnn commentator, as a lobbyist now. So people trying to use their cache while they can there in washington. Brangham is this us not being able to take a joke or is this us, as many argue, were being encouraged to chuckle at the idea its fine for the press secretary to lie to the American People . This is sean spicers imagery rehabilitation tour. He also went on the jimmy kimmel show and in an interview with the New York Times said he regretted the press conference where he came out and told reporters to report the facts that were not the facts, they were alternate facts, and that was sort of the original sin of his entire time as press secretary. He came out and said something unverifiably untrue and led to further questions about whether what he said was true, whether what was said from the podium at the White House Briefing room which typically had a connection to reality, whether that could be trusted from this administration. Brangham some connection to reality, i love that. Talking about the runoff, next tuesday in alabama, roy moore and luther strange. What is at stake in that particular race . These are two republicans challenging each other. Whats interesting here is it is the choice between which alabamians are going to like moore, or their choice is between loving trump more or whether they dislike Mitch Mcconnell more. That is what they get a choice between. Moore is the outsider. He is a former state Supreme Court judge, he has been kicked off the bench twice now, but hes running as the antiestablishment, antiwashington fire brand. Luther strange is in a strange position, which hes been endorsed both by donald trump and donald trump is coming down saturday to campaign for him, but he also has the support of Mitch Mcconnell and the leadership. So really were looking for how strong is the trump connection. Can support from trump, the president coming down and giving an outward, in this case rally, is that enough support to overcome what voters reticence in alabama, especially for the establishment, polling has shown him ahead, some larger, some smaller. Luther strange was the incumbent, the interim replacing jeff sessions, starts off as the underdog. The real question for republicans, whats at stake, two things. One, if roy moore wins and comes to the United States senate, the fear from republican establishment people like Mitch Mcconnell is hes another rogue agent. They have very few votes they can lose, they only have a 52seat majority, they cant afford somebody else who goes off on his own tangent. Second, if he succeeds, it may encourage other candidates to challenge sitting republican incumbents. Thats not something they want to deal with. Brangham the president can read the polls. He must know even if he prefers strange he may be backing the guy who ends up losing. Why is the president willing to risk capital on this . I havent quite figure it out to be perfectly honest. Its a big question. The other thing is President Trump is doing what Mitch Mcconnell wanted him to do which is endorsing strange and working for strange. But the flamekeepers of President Trumps, you know, agenda, the steve bannons, the sean hannitys, theyve all endorsed moore. So its this really bizarre fight for, you know, who is the really the true trump candidate . The guy who trump endorsed or the guy all trumps allies endorsed . I dont know how this is going to turn out and what it will mean for President Trumps political capital. The interesting thing is in this case, hes for the incumbent, whereas in some other states, hes talking about wanting to primary the incumbent republican. Brangham healthcare, quickly. The g. O. P. , it seems, are taking one last stab at putting the dagger in the Affordable Care act with the Graham Cassidy bill. Why are they pushing for this . Its about a deadline. Thats usually what gets people motivated in washington, they look and see they only have a certain amount of time. In this case, september 30 is the last day republicans can pass a healthcare bill with just 50 votes under the reconciliation deal, after that they have to get 60 votes. So this is really the time to do this. Talking to folks who covered this today, there is a great deal of skepticism this will happen. Its pretty clear that the folks that held out on the first version, john mccain, lisa murkowski, susan collins, rand paul, are not committed to. This rand paul already came out publicly and said hes not for it. Still, i would not say it is impossible, but the odds are longer. Brangham on the democratic side you see Bernie Sanders has been pushing his medicare for all plan. We just saw Hillary Clinton express skepticism about that, sort of implying it wasnt that realistic. We get a lot of democrats, many thought of as 2020 contenders for the presidency signing on for this, why are they risking capital for something that may not go anywhere . Bernie sanders says its not going anywhere. Its a way to send a signal that they care about health care. Is not about whats practical or pragmatic. Theyre at that stage. 2020 is a long way off. Brangham tamera keith, amy walter, thank you very much. Youre welcome. Brangham finally to our newshour shares, something that caught our eye that may be of interest to you, too. Staying in shape is difficult for many people, no matter their age. But one virginia grandmother is raising the bar, literally. The newshours Julia Griffin has this profile. Commissioner of revenues office. Reporter between the phone calls and family photos, youd be forgiven for thinking linda leightley is your average Government Employee easing toward retirement. But as her coworker becky mcnaughton at city hall in fairfax, virginia knows, leightley isnt the type to take anything easy. The first or second day i worked here, linda came into my office and introduced herself and she asked me to check out her butt haha because it was very, very solid and that is how i met her and found out she was a powerlifter and have been reporter at age 72, not only is leightley a competitive powerlifter, shes a record setting one at that. I have set several World Records for my age group and weight category, which im really proud of. Reporter lieghtley competes in 100 percent raw, a worldwide powerlifting organization that emphasizes clean, steroidfree competitions. Since 2014, shes garnered 12 World Records in her age and weight categories. 132pound leightley can deadlift 273 pounds, but she wasnt always so in shape. In 2006, after years of shuttling three children and six grandchildren to their athletic activities, she finally got her own itch to workout. I was 60, very sluggish and i said, you know, i really need to do something for me. Reporter blaine dulin is leightleys personal trainer and coach. And she was a disaster when i first got her. First time we exercised, she almost fell over doing a lunge. Reporter but leightley stuck with it, and within a year she lost 40 pounds and found a love for weightlifting along the way. And every once in awhile hed say, well do you want to stay here or do you want to lift higher . And id say, i want to lift higher. Because it felt so good. Reporter soon, her strength was getting noticed. One day i think she was lifting 220, 220 pounds when she was 68. And somebody mentioned, does she compete . And i looked it up and the world record was i believe 232 for her age and her weight. And i thought, well if you want to, why not give it a go. Reporter expectations and preconceptions were broken at that first competition. There was another gal from the gym there. And she says dont worry about it, whatever you do, its a success because you are here for the first time. Dont worry about it if you fail. and i looked at her and i said, i dont have any intention of failing. She set a world record then and at least one every other meet since. Reporter the key to leightleys sustained success, dulin says, is making sure each lift is done correctly and safely. I hate to yell at somebodys grandmother, but ive yelled at somebodys grandmother for picking up weight improperly. Because if she gets hurt, were done for months. Maybe indefinitely. So i go out of my way to make sure she does everything right. Reporter at most events, leightley is often the only person her age, or even close to it. That, says her daughters colleen and marybeth, is what crowds find so inspiring. To see all these young 20, 30 something year olds cheering for my mom who is in her 70s, that was just really neat. We always say shes the strongest woman that we know and its literally and figuratively. Reporter for her part, leightley is just glad to show that age is no restriction when it comes to physical fitness. Some of the younger lifters, female lifters come over and they say, you are role model to us. This is the goal wed like to have as we get a little bit older. thats really an amazing compliment. Reporter a compliment that might just top her long list of accomplishments. For the pbs newshour, im Julia Griffin, in fairfax virginia. Brangham on the newshour online right now, nominees for the National Book awards were named late last week, and among them were authors who have written essays for the newshour. You can watch their essays about reading challenging fiction, choosing to live without fear and reconciling with marriage after a parents divorce. On our web site, pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, well have Judy Woodruffs interview with turkish president erdogan and a look at President Trumps speech to the United Nations. Im william brangham. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public 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. 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