Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20171030

Preyed upon that we could be judged. I internalized a lot of that. Woodruff 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. Babbel. A language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. Babbels 1015 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. More information on babbel. Com. 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. Woodruff the first charges in the russia investigation speak to the size and scope of special counsel Robert Muellers probe into moscows meddling in the 2016 u. S. President ial election. Lisa desjardins begins our coverage. Desjardins today indictments for former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy rick gates, for charges unrelated to the campaign, and a guilty plea from former trump advisor george papadolopoulous, which is related to campaign work. First, manafort and gates. Both pleaded not guilty today in court. There is no evidence that mr manafort or the Trump Campaign colluded with the russian government. Desjardins the charges include, laundering millions of dollars, tax fraud, failing to register as Foreign Agents and conspiracy against the United States. All of that stemming from their work consulting for foreign politicians for the last decade. Manafort of course is best known for his three months as the Campaign Chairman for donald trump. We presented the exact messaging we were trying to do. Desjardins those were pivotal months, manafort navigated trumps primary wins, the selection of mike pence as Vice President and he oversaw last summers convention. Manafort was forced out shortly after that convention, following the release of a ukrainian ledger alleging millions of dollars in payments to manafort. Manafort called the document a fake and insisted no wrongdoing. Months later, the then White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tried to downplay manaforts role. Obviously theres been this discussion of paul manfort who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time. Desjardins politifact found that statement to be false. President trump defended manafort in august. Ive always found Paul Manafort to be a very decent man. Desjardins manafort is a longtime political operative advising Ronald Reagan in 1980 and three other g. O. P. Nominees. He also made millions consulting overseas, including ukraine, and for ukrainian leader viktor yanukovych, manafort is credited with his political makeover. As ukrainian president in 2014, yanukovychs prorussian moves led to unrest and he is now in exile in russia. In 2015, manafort bought an apartment in trump tower. A year later, he was working for the Trump Campaign. Republican leaders like House Speaker paul ryan today acknowledged but downplayed the charges. Its big news but this is desjardins rick gates is manaforts longtime number two. I need to mention here that i have personally known gates since we were students in college together. The indictments today allege that both manafort and gates hid millions coming in from overseas to avoid taxes and secretly acted as agents of foreign governments. Also today, democratic lobbyist tony podesta resigned from his namesake firm, following news that his ties to manafort, and work on ukraine issues, is also under investigation. A potentially more revealing case involves George Papadoupolos who now appears to be a cooperating witness in the investigation. He was a Trump Campaign Foreign Policy advisor. In papers unsealed today, papadoupolous pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with three people who were russian or connected to russia. The plea agreement lists pages of contacts while he was part of the campaign, including about possible russian dirt on Hillary Clinton and efforts to hold direct meetings between russian officials, and trump. In the plea, papadopoulous said he brought up that idea to then candidate trump and others at a march 2016 meeting, shown in a photo tweeted out by trump himself. White house House Press Secretary sara sanders responded today. I dont think the president recalls many details of that meeting. It was a meeting that only happened once. Desjardins as for papadopoulous role. It was extremely limited, it was a volunteer position, and again, no activity was ever done in an official capacity on behalf of the campaign. Desjardins sanders insisted none of this is related to the president at all. The president responded himself on twitter, writing that the events involving manafort were years ago and that there is no collusion. We know this prosecutor muellers team has entered its next, highstakes phase, of the investigation, with the end game still unclear. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff lets breakdown what is clear from todays indictments with carrie johnson, justice correspondent for npr. Carrie, thank you for talking with us. You have been watching what Robert Mueller has been doing at least as closely as a journalist can. What if we learned about his work from these indictments . That hes working slowly, methodically and, in fact, five months o three people with wrong doing. One of them George Papadopoulos has agreed to cooperate and has already been meeting with department of investigators to tell them what he knows. For the last several months, Robert Mueller has been able to keep that a secret from members of the press and the campaign and the white house. Also today,cn the charges agait Paul Manafort and his righthand man rick gates uped the ante against manafort. We know mueller has been putting fresh on manafort at least since july when the f. B. I. Raided his home in f. B. I. Manafort faces many, many years in prison on conspiracy charges and charges he failed to register as a Foreign Agent if he doesnt cooperate. Manaforts lawyer said he didnt engage in any wrongdoing. Woodruff among the reporters who follow or try to follow what Robert Mueller is up to, was this expected or was it a surprise . It was a bit of legal shock and awe, judy, because while Paul Manafort had been under the sights of the special counsel for some weeks now, and rick gates as muellers righthand man was as well, this guilty plea involving George Papadopoulos had flown completely under the radar. In fact, papadopoulos had met with the f. B. I. On a couple of occasions this year. He was actually arrested at Dulles Airport in july, and no wordcztt that leaked until toda. Hesp what he knows, and i dont think we know exactly from these charging documents absolutely everything he has toll the special counsel. I think there are a lot of investigative avenues opening up today that we didnt know before. Woodruff is there a sense, carrie, from looking at this of where mueller depends to go from here or are more surprises in store . Well, i think more surprise may be in store, but there are clues from the charging documents. One is both Paul Manafort and rick gates were charged with failing to file as Foreign Agents operating inside the u. S. That charge has been little used. In fact, manaforts lawyer said used only six times since 1966 and that is the charge that could be deployed against other members of the Trump Campaign. Michael flynn belatedly filed Foreign Agent papers earlier this year. Secondly the papadopoulos charging documents reference conversation he is had with supervisors in the campaign, highranking people involved in the Trump Campaign last year, and investigators looking at what those people knew and whether they can come under some kind of scrutiny from the f. B. I. And the special counsel team moving forward. Woodruff we heard the white house spokeswoman say today that its their information that the Mueller Investigation is going to be wrapping up pretty soon any idea where thats coming from and is it accurate . I have heard the White House Press secretary say that and ty cobb who is special counsel with the president dealing with and managing cooperation with the special counsel. As something whos been doing this a long time, i see no evidence this investigation will end this year and may go well into nexv ÷ year. Fa at this point, Paul Manafort and rick gates are contesting the1 charges and are prairpg for trial which wouldnt happen till mid 2018 at the earliest. This is a cloud that could hang over the Trump Campaign for many months to come. Woodruff carrie johnson, justice correspondent forw thank you. Fa woodruff now, a deeper look at the legal details here with two former federal prosecutors experienced in handling high stakes investigations and prosecutions. John carlin ran the Justice Departments National Security division, from 2013 to 2016. Before that, he served as chief of staff and senior counsel to then f. B. I. Director Robert Mueller. And Peter Zeidenberg, whose 17 years as a federal prosecutor included time as deputy special counsel, in the investigation into the leak of c. I. A. Officer Valerie Plames identity. Gentlemen, welcome back to the newshour. To both of you, john carlin, whats most significant about todays indictments . Well, two things that happened today, we have the indictments and then the release of a plea agreement and the statement of offense. Taking each in turn, so the indictment, what we see today, at least according to the allegations, is that the Campaign Manager of a major candidate who is now president was secretly taking millions and millions of dollars from the Ukrainian Government that was one of putins russias closest allies. Just to explain who yanukovych is, this is someone who was not only so close to russia that when he was deposed he fled there in 2014, but it was him being overthrown that caused putins russia to invade and seize part of the ukraine that led to the still in effect sanctions. So thats a significance there. With papadopoulos and the plea agreement today, we now know there is an individual who has been cooperating for months and that there is someone who is on the campaign and, while on the campaign, was talking with someone he knew were in touch with russian officials to get damaging information about the opposing campaign include of hearing all the way back on april 26 according to the statement of offense of 2016 that they had thousands of emails from clintons campaign. Woodruff Peter Zeidenberg, youve had a chance to look at the plea agreements and also the im sorry the plea agreement and the indictments. What do they say to you . It says to me theyve got a big problem at the white house. The papadopoulos plea agreement suggests that there are at least three individuals that were involved with the campaign that were fully aware of mr. Papadopoulos connection with russia, and he was advising he sent an email saying russia updates, and this was after the campaign and the administration has been saying for many, many months, no connection with russia, no collusion, no cooperation, no connection of any kind. And now we know that at least three people besides papadopoulos were aware that he was trying to reach out and, in fact, had reached out to russian government officials. Woodruff and the whitecoi house, and more to talk about here, but i was struck that the white house today was emphatic, john carlin, in saying, well, but this happened in terms of what mr. Manafort and mr. Gates did, well beforeb.  the Trump Campaign. Didnt have anything to do with what the Trump Campaign was doing. Just saying, according to the document that weve seen today that, while he was the Campaign Manager for the Trump Campaign, the whole point of the statute that these allegations say that manafort violated and his aid, the Foreign Agent registration act is to be transparent when youre receiving money from a foreign government. So if youre acting on their behalf, the American People know, and the problem is that he wasnt, he wasnt transparent and, in that sense, its a big deal. Woodruff and we heard Paul Manaforts lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg say, well, this has only been used a handful of times in the last many decades and only once successfully. That is true, as rarely used statute. If youre going to use it, this is the case to use it for. Here you have an enormous amount of money from a country that is trying to influence our election. I mean, this is like a paradigm of why the statute is written, so that if you were going to bring a case, this is the case to bring. Woodruff so lets come back to George Papadopoulos and the plea agreement, john carlin. The white houses reaction, they said, well, this is somebody with an extremely limited role, he wanted doto do things for the campaign, kept being turned away. So theyrec putting as much distance as they can between the campaign and anything he,um did. Well, not commenting ton us who, but looking at the statement of the ascents, it wasnt just that papadopoulos, while working as a member of th1 statement of offense takes pains to point out that he attended a meeting with the president of the United States while working on the campaign in march, but it was reported what he was doing backn up to Campaign Officials, as peter points out, at least three officials, they were not named, but it says they were Campaign Officials and hes emailing them while talking to the representatives of the russian government, so there is definitely more to find out there. Woodruff what does that tell us, Peter Zeidenberg . Are we closer to knowing whether there was collusion and remind everybody what it would mean the to prove collusion coordination between a campaign . Well, theres no legal term of art for collusion. The crime, if there was one, would be conspiracy, and this is all the hallmarks of a conspiracy. Its not charged as a conspiracy but it certainly wouldnt be a stretch to say there is coordination and a goal of getting this information to the campaign. He was encouraged by one of these officials to take the meeting in moscow, and hed explained reporter by woodruff by the Campaign Officials. By the Campaign Officials. The dots are lined up. All you have to do is take the pencil and draw the line. Woodruff what does this sayto you, john carlin, about how i mean, were not able to talk to Robert Mueller. I mean, hes been operating very much behind closed doors, but what does it say to you about his approach to what he has and may have Going Forward . Well, i think the one thing thats clear as we knew is he was going to take the facts where they led and, if anyone could act quickly and assemble a team and bring charges quickly, its him. These are serious charges that are actually a relatively short period of time to bring as substantive an indictment as you see and, when you have someone whos pled guilty and continuing to cooperate, you can tell there is more work to do in the cooperation. We talked about where it might go, but to just take a step as to where we are before we start changing our expectations as to whats normal and not, this is more information of historic importance that we just havent seen before about a russian campaign, and here another government as well, that ends up influencing our president ial election, our core of what it is to be a democratic country. Thats not part of it. Thats a problem that needs to be addressed across party lines. Woodruff and Peter Zeidenberg, what do you say to those listening and watching out there who are saying, well, its just an indictment, a charge, none of this has been proven . Actually, papadopoulos is not just a charge. Hes pled guilty and will be cooperating, and it sounds like these are you know, theres an email trail that goes on, and i guarantee you that the three Campaign Advisors have been interviewed, and they may be cooperating as well. They may have corroborated this as well, and if they contradicted it, they either will be charged or may already have been charged. So there are a lot more shoes to drop here for sure. Woodruff Peter Zeidenberg, john carlin, just the beginning. Thank you both very much. Thank you. Jf woodruff in the days other news, nearly 1. 5 million homes and businesses across the northeast are without power, after a severe storm barreled through the region. In some areas, wind gusts topped 100 miles per hour, downing trees and power lines. Torrential rains left some cars stranded in flash floods. And in milford, connecticut this tree was split in two, jolting residents awake. I just heard this big crack, boom and then an explosion, a big burst of light, a big fireball. I wondered what was going on, got out of bed, ran downstairs, powers out. Woodruff there were no immediate reports of serious injuries. A federal court in washington today barred the Trump Administration from enforcing a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. The u. S. District judge blocked parts of a president ial memorandum issued in august that banned transgender recruits. But she did not block a portion that halted the use of government funding for gender reassignment surgeries. The Justice Department is reviewing the decision. Defense secretary jim mattis and secretary of state Rex Tillerson today downplayed the need for a new war authorization. The deadly ambush on u. S. Troops in niger earlier this month ignited bipartisan talks on the need for a new resolution in congress. Lawmakers argue the dynamics on the battlefield have changed since the 2001 authorization was put in place. But mattis told a senate panel he supports the current authorization for the use of military force, or a. U. M. F. Article ii of our constitution and the 2001 and 2002 a. U. M. F. s provide sufficient Legal Authority for us to engage and defeat the current threat which we are doing by working by, with and through our allies and partners. Woodruff the current authorization for use of force was put in place after the 9 11 terror attacks to hunt down al qaeda. But its now being used to justify attacks on other militant groups like the islamic state. U. S. Special Operations Forces captured a militant believed to be instrumental in the 2012 attack on a u. S. Diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. The strike killed u. S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other americans. In a statement, President Trump said mustafa alimam was taken into custody on his orders, and will face justice in the u. S. Kenyas Election Commission declared president Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of last weeks repeat election. The main opposition leader, raila odinga, insisted the re run was rigged, and refused to take part. His supporters also boycotted. Election officials said kenyatta won 98 of the votes cast. He was also declared victor of an august election, that was nullified for irregularities. Oscarwinning Actor Kevin Spacey has apologized for alleged Sexual Misconduct with a minor. Actor anthony rapp accused spacey of making a sexual advance in 1986, when rapp was 14. Spacey didnt remember the encounter, but tweeted if he did, he owed rapp the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior. Spacey also publicly acknowledged hes gay, a move that drew backlash from activists for conflating the incident with coming out. Netflix announced spaceys series house of cards will end after its upcoming season. Carbon dioxide levels in the earths atmosphere have surged to a record high. The United Nations World Meteorological organization warned its the highest level recorded in 800,000 years. In geneva, the organizations secretarygeneral said the impact of that steep rise is already being felt. We have seen not only warming, but we have seen changes in the rainfall patterns, drought, flooding, and we have also seen a change in the amount of the most intense tropical storms like the recent Hurricane Season in the caribbean was demonstrating. Woodruff researchers attribute the record rate in emissions to a combination of human activities and a strong el nino. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost 85 points to close at 23,348. The nasdaq fell two points, and the s p 500 slipped eight. And native American Civil Rights leader dennis banks has died. His family said he passed away sunday night in minnesota after developing pneumonia. Banks was a cofounder of the Advocacy Group the American Indian movement, and led protests over the treatment of native americans in the u. S. Dennis banks was 80 years old. Still to come on the newshour the swift political response to charges in the russia probe. Spains crackdown on catalonia after the regions vote for independence. A journalists firsthand account of sexual harassment, and much more. Woodruff as the russia investigation continues, President Trump and conservative Media Outlets are drawing attention to two stories that allege Hillary Clinton in fact colluded with russians and should be investigated instead. But whats the truth behind those allegations . Our William Brangham is here to put them in context. And you look at whats happened with russia and you look at the uranium deal and you look at the fake dossier. The Clinton Campaign and the d. N. C. Paid 12 million for a dossier to connect donald trump to russia. Brangham the president and much of the conservative media is arguing that these two stories, about the infamous russian dossier and the so called uranium one deal, are evidence that not only is the russia story a hoax, but that Hillary Clinton should be investigated, not President Trump. So lets look at these two stories first, the dossier the socalled russian dossier was compiled by this man former British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele. He got his information from various russian contacts, some of whom he paid for their info. Steele was working for a Company Called fusion gps. In january, Buzzfeed News released a copy of the dossier. It contained as yet unproven allegations that the russians had wanted mr. Trump to win the election, that russians had shared valuable information about Hillary Clinton with the Trump Campaign, and that russia had compromising, sexually explicit video of mr. Trump that could be used as blackmail. The conservative news site the free beacon initially paid fusion gps to gather material against mr. Trump. It was gathered for marco rubios president ial campaign because the beacons largest funder was a big rubio supporter. That funding stopped when mr. Trump clinched the republican president ial nomination in july 2016. After that point, marc elias, a top lawyer for the Democratic National committee and Clinton Campaign, continued paying fusion gps, and thats when the steele dossier was compiled. Its these payments that the white house says proves the Clinton Campaign was behind the whole russia story. They seem to be arguing that because Christopher Steele got his information from russian sources, that means the Clinton Campaign was colluding with the russians and creating a false narrative. Heres how White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders put it today there is clear evidence of the Clinton Campaign colluding with russian intelligence to spread disinformation and smear the president to influence the election. Brangham the white houses theory ignores the broad consensus shared by u. S. Intelligence agencies that the russians did try and influence our elections, in part by hacking emails from the d. N. C. And Clinton Campaign chair john podesta. The second story is about the socalled uranium one deal, which President Trump has called this eras watergate. It dates back to 2010, and the sale of a controlling interest in uranium one, a Canadian Mining Company that partly operates in the United States, to a stateowned russian corporation, rosatom. The sale involved control of about 20 of the United States uranium reserves, and the sale required a review by the u. S. Government. The claim is that Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, approved the sale in exchange for 145 million in contributions to the clinton global initiative, her familys foundation. Hillary clinton gave them 20 of our uranium, gave russia for a big payment. Brangham lets break this down. First, secretary clinton did not have the authority to approve the deal several different u. S. Agencies had to sign off on the deal, all of which did. There is no evidence that clinton was informed or involved in the sale. Second, the uranium never left the country its not legal to export uranium produced in u. S. Mines. The Clinton Foundation did receive 145 million in contributions from individuals connected to uranium one, beginning at least a year before the sale. And in 2010, the year of the sale, former president bill clinton received 500,000 from a russian bank for a speech he gave in moscow. For now, those all have been deemed legal transactions. But still today, mr. Trump once again stoked these stories on twitter, suggesting now that even the Obama Campaign mightve been in on creating the dossier. For the pbs newshour, im William Brangham. Woodruff and for more on the political fallout of todays developments, we are joined by our politics monday team tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the cook political report. Politics monday. Good to see both of you. I want to ask you about William Branghams reporting, but tam lets start with the news today, that is the two indictments and the plea agreement. Is there a sense from the white house, from the hill, from capitol hill that this is a big moment politically or just another day in the life of this Ongoing Investigation . The white house is treating this sort of like theyve treated other big rev regulations saying, oh, this pop dop russ guy, he was just a volunteer for the campaign and, hey, look, the charges they announced, he just pled out to misleading the f. B. I. , that doesnt have anything to do with the campaign. As the legal experts you had open made clear, thats means hes cooperating and theyre in these in these documents, there were all kinds of connections, emails, various documentation of him clueing in top leadership at the Trump Campaign. As for the hill, republicans have been relatively quiet. Paul ryan earlier in the day said Something Like hes not going to let this thing get in the way of doing the work for the American People, taxes, and there were a couple of republicans late in the day who said that mueller should be allowed to continue to have this process carry out. Woodruff so saying he should go ahead. Amy, we were just talking about this, it was senator grassley and senator hatch, senior republicans, saying the judicial process should move forward. Right, and i think laying down a marker early on to say, if there is any indication that the president is going to try to dismiss mueller or to try to dismiss these allegations, were letting everybody know thats not okay. They didnt come right out and say that, but it seems its clear theyre laying the parameters here to tell the president this has to keep going, do not try to shortcircuit this. The white house did say President Trump is not considering getting rid of mueller. Thats right, and there was a lot of speculation about that. But, amy, does it feel like weve turned a political corner here . We have been talking about the Mueller Investigation, the Mueller Investigation. Now we see real tangible evidence of what he may have. Does it change things . Thats a really good question and i guess we have to start with in what context. The first is does it change things, as we talked about on capitol hill, does it derail the republicans and president s agenda. They are moving full steam ahead on taxes. As we discussed last week, they have other challenges in getting a tax bill Going Forward, but is this going to derail them more Going Forward . They will have to answer more questions about this, the president will be distracted if hes tweeting about russia and instead of focusing on taxes is number bun 1 00 and the second is does it move voters. Like so much else in this country people are polerrized on this questions about russia and interference, there is one group who are convinced, not matter what, there was collusion between trump and russias, another Group Believes this is all fake and nothing there, and a big group in the middle that says im not paying much attention, i dont know what to believe. Well watch in the next two weeks whether the two groups who believe there is nothing there or who dont care because theyre not paying attention to it, is there anything theyve seen that moves them. Its too soon to tell. The one thing thats important is this week, before we started with the indictments, the president was already in a deep hole politically. The wall street journal nbc poll came out this weekend, the president at 38 approval rating, this is the lowest of his presidency, in fact in all nbc wall street journal polling this is the lowest of a presidency in his first term. So hes already starting at a very low point. Having your Campaign Officials indieptd isnt going to make it that much better. Woodruff and yet, tam, when you talk to republicans, they point out that, well, hes still doing well among Republican Voters an thats what republican members of congress who want to be reelected are focused on. Well, and the other thing theyre focused on is getting this tax system overhaul done. Woodruff right. Because they feel thats existential at this point, its life and death. If they cant do that, many of them feel their chances of getting reelected are even worse, their chances of holding onto the house and the senate, and President Trump may have people that are associated with his campaign and people with close ties to him who have some legal problems and all of those things, President Trump is still a man with a pen who can sign a tax overhaul if one gets to his desk. Woodruff well, and we dont know when and if other indictments are going to come down. Were pointing to this day as is this a turning point, but you dont know any day whether something els else, when another shoe will drop. It makes it difficult as a strategist or a person on capitol hill to map out anything, week by week or months out. Woodruff the press secretary and president himself with his tweets pushes forward the idea that no, this investigation should be focusing on Hillary Clinton, the uranium deal and other conspiracies. And the press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders saying look at the real collusion, its Hillary Clinton and the dossier, which is an interesting argument and one that gained a lot of steam last week right before the news broke that there were going to bin be indictments. What weve learned about the Republican Base is they may not all be completely unified around the president or the president s agenda but the one thing that unifies them more than anything else, Hillary Clinton. Bring up Hillary Clintons name, you will get the base coming around to support that contension. I worked in the 2016 campaign, its clear its going to work here and for the people in the middle who arent paying as much attention, maybe dont know what to think, is that really going to cloud it enough for them that theyre not going to woodruff thats the question because theres no one singular name on the ballot that will be in all these elections. In the virginia governors race in which well talk about next week or in the races next year, tam. Thats it. If anything, what it does is impacts enthusiasm from the Republican Base. If they feel disillusioned, dispirited, they may not feel the president has done anything wrong but may not feel as energized to come out and vote and supportups. And energized amy walter and energized tamera keith. Politics monday. Thank you both. Youre welcome. Woodruff spains Central Government moved to take full control of the government of catalonia today. The province declared independence this past friday, after a referendum to leave spain earlier this month. But the leader of that secessionist move was missing in action today amid tough charges leveled by spains top Law Enforcement official. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from barcelona reporter the police guard at Catalan Government headquarters was in a relaxed mood as barcelona waited to see whether independence leader Carles Puigdemont would turn up for work on the day madrid laid down the law on his provinces divorce attempt. In the main square, independence supporters like student joan correa, were trying to be defiant. Im here with hope, with hope that we can become an independent state. I think we are. Reporter but at the high court in madrid, spains attorney general Jose Manuel Maza triggered the start of a prosecution that could lead to long jail sentences for the leaders of catalonias independence movement. translated as state attorney general i inform you that the states attorneys office, adhering to its and the public interest, has filed charges for rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds and other related charges against the main members of the Catalan Government that with their decisions and their actions over the last two years have caused an institutional crisis that ended with the reporter forewarned of the prosecution, Carles Puigdemont, seen outside his headquarters earlier this month, flew to belgium where its reported that he may seek political asylum or try to set up a government in exile. Unaware that the now deposed catalan president had left the country, francesc munoz, a die hard activist, struck up the movements anthem that decries spains fascist past under general francisco franco, who ruled spain from 1939 to 1975. translated as long as there is a catalan alive the dream of independence will be alive. Its a desire for justice that we are able now to achieve. Reporter two belgians with secession dreams of their own came to offer solidarity. Kevin delaed says what happened here is bad news for other independence movements across the continent. I think weve basically seen the limits of democracy in europe here and the European Union. Weve seen a crackdown on an elected parliament, on an elected government, weve seen people put in jail for expressing their opinions here, for organising peaceful manifestations. Reporter only a handful of people in favor of union with spain ventured into the square outside the government headquarters. But yesterday, hundreds of thousands catalans opposed to independence occupied the streets, calling for the imprisonment of the provinces leader. Long live spain, they chanted. And long live catalonia. Its something thats destroying our lives. And barcelona has always been a city open to the world. We dont want to be forced to live in a new country, bankrupt and destroyed and only thinking about the people who want to become independent. We want to be part of the world. Im spanish, and i dont want anyone to tell me that im not. Because i was born in catalonia, i shouldnt be spanish any more . And, intellectually, it doesnt make sense. Were living in a world where were destroying frontiers, were becoming one. And now someone wants to build up barriers, it makes no sense. We are much better together. We are stronger. Spain is a country with more than 500 years of history. So what is the issue, why should they get independence after so many years together. Reporter these protestors yelled their support of the constitution which permits spains Central Government to take control of catolonia. The mayor of barcelona has criticized the unilateral declaration of independence. She says it has been conducted with what she calls kamikaze haste. And the reason she says that is she believes the numbers just dont stack up. If you look at the referendum conducted on october 1, 90 may have voted in favor of independence, but only 43 of the population participated. And some political analysts who believe that the number of people in favor of independence in catalonia is as low as 30 . I wake up today and say, we are part of an independent country . I didnt vote for that. We didnt vote for that. This is unbelievable. Reporter todays legal moves have done nothing to bridge the gap between the two sides in spains worst political crisis in four decades. But political scientist Gabriel Colome believes that there is room for compromise. The only way, he says, is to reform spains constitution to allow for greater catalonian self rule. translated we have a constitution that is 40 years old, it is a constitution that was written when spain was still under francos influence. If Pro Independence catalans could participate in these reforms, they would feel good, and consider that this constitution and country is theirs, which is not the case at the moment. Reporter but with the European Union and the United States refusing to recognize catalonias independence, madrid sees no reason to compromise, but it has to tread carefully to avoid violence from erupting. For the pbs newshour, im Malcolm Brabant in barcelona. Woodruff now, we continue our series of conversations about sexual harassment, and what can be done to change the workplace environment. Last week, the spotlight turned to political journalist and author Mark Halperin, who had become a wellknown name for his work at abc, nbc and bloomberg. Five women came forward to cnn alleging he harassed them while he was at abc. That number has now grown to at least a dozen and several have said he assaulted them as well. Halperin has denied any assault, but he released a Statement Last week saying in part for a long time at abc news, i was part of the problem. I acknowledge that and deeply regret it. My behavior was wrong. It caused fear and anxiety for women who were only seeking to do their jobs. In subsequent jobs, i did not engage in improper behavior with colleagues or subordinates. I conducted myself in a very different manner. One of those women, lara setrakian, wrote about her experiences at abc for the washington post. Shes now the executive editor of the digital site, news deeply, and she joins me now. Lara setrakian, welcome to the program. It was 2006, you were working at abc news in new york. What was your job and what was your working relationship with Mark Halperin . I was one year into my job at abc news as an offair reporter, entrylevel, getstarted position. We were assigned toy 6 cover the Midterm Elections based in new york and mark was overseeing that election, sort of a boss for a season of election coverage. Woodruff and what happenedt< e were working very hard on that Midterm Election and i started getting emails from mark complimenting that work which meant a lot to me. I was really earnest and cared  lot about journalism. He suggested coming up to his office to talk politics over a diet coke and, while i was there, he sortaa of lunged at , kissed me, touched me inappropriately, still very uncomfortable to describe,ef< sort of felt his body on me, and it was very uncomfortable, to say the least. I sort of froze, left, went and told a few colleagues that i trusted and tried to put it out of my mind for the next eleven years. Woodruff you were in your early 20s. I was 24. Woodruff and you find out then whether this was happening to orthoyoung women, and did you go to anyone at abc news . My colleagues told me that there were multiple cases of this happening and that it was sort of understood that its best not to be alone with mark. I was so embarrassed. I thought it was my fault. I thought i did something wrong. I was so young. He was a giant in our field, already, and i just didnt feel comfortable making noise, honestly. Woodruff so, when you talked to someone at abc news, did you get the sense management was paying attention . I liked to think so. I sensed that it was going to go wide enough to make an impact to be one of the cases among the many that i felt had already occurred. Thats part of what gave me the courage to share it even with those few people, but i dont know where it went from there. Woodruff but you were hearing it was going on with other women, and there was, what, kind of an agreement among women not to be alone with him . It was just talked about that way, like, oh, hes kind of creepy, you know, dont spend too much time but i only heard that after it happened, so it was not it almost relied on this telepathic understanding among women, which is hardly a way to know what to do and not do. Woodruff over the years so this was 2006 this was over 2e7b years ago. How often have you had a chance to think about it, talk about it with other women, with others . I tried to forget. It was embarrassing, but also i hated what it said about our industry, that we could be preyed upon, that we could be judged. I internalized a lot of that, this idea that youre only going to get the opportunities that come to you when certain people in our industry find you sexually attractive, and once youre no longer sexually attractive to them, you face a certain decline. That was really hard to swallow. A few times over the years, when his name would come up, i would shudder. I confided in a few more friends, political reporters who would mention his name, i said dont say his name around me, and they would ask why. So in the wake of this all, they all reached me to express their support and say, remember that time . Remember that time . I knew something was wrong and you werent talking about it, im so proud of you for coming forward. I never thought i would be telling this story much less in the page toffs the washington post, but when cnn called and asked if it was true, i wasnt going to lie or stifle my response. Woodruff why do you think other women have not been able to go public as you have . I think theres a generational shift, a mindset shift. Theres a lot of fear coming out with these cases. Personally, i dont feel that much fear. Im 35 years ol. I wasnt around at the time of the anita hill hearings set a new standard for transparency, honestly. I know there are a lot of women who have experienced this with mark. They worry about repercussions, counterattacks being smeared, but i havent found any of those things to be true. My grandpa was big on common sense so i tried to look it through papa setrakians lens. If anyone would want to not work with me or not hire me because i came clean, theyre not people i would want to work for, so the choice to me was clear. Woodruff you were saying earlier theres a problem in the tv news business. We know theres a problem in whole, theres been so much attention to harvey weinstein. What is your sends of that . You still work in the news field. Yep. How do you see that . There are more male allies than we could imagine. There are incredible male men force who stood up for us all along, supported us all along and i think they are also having their day in the sun and stepping out as greater force. But you are right, more women in more industries are having more of these stories buried than exposed and most will never have the chance to come on your show and share what happened. Woodruff do you think we have reached some kind of a turning point . Absolutely. I think the culture is shifting, the norms are shifting. This understanding that this isnt okay. At the very least, we deserve to expect ahme meritocracy. What bothers me about the Sexual Assault and the sexual objectification of women in journalism is it pushes weapon out of the feevmentd there are incredible Women Journalists pushes women out of the field. There are incredible Women Journalists who left the field completely. Other women, ive said in the piece, feel terrorized by this pressure to be perfect looking otherwise they have no place in the newsroom. That means women who have so much to give to the National Conversation just arent there to give it. And what Mark Halperin and, theoretically, others have been doing, youre saying, is an outgrowth of this expectation that women be perfect. Absolutely. These are linked. What we experience at abc and many newsrooms goes beyond a physical attack. Its the comments some people and men feel they can make. Thithere was a producer at abc o controlled a lot of careers and who turned in front of everyone and called one of the up and coming journalists a sexy kitten and we just shivered, did he just call her a sexy kitten . First that felt wrong. Second for all us jung Women Journalist in the news< what does that mean . That he has to think that about us for us to get in the field, to get an opportunity, to get a chance . Were there to explain whats happening in the world, and to feel like we had to meet someone elses standard of physical beauty forevermore or we would be banished from tvland was really hard for us to get around. Woodruff what is your advice . I asked this question of Sheila Nevins when i interviewed her last friday, head of hbo documentaries, what is your advice to young women who experience Something Like this . How do you give them the courage to speak up when theyrer sure theyre going to be supported by management or whatever field they work in . One reason i was able to speak up is i was surrounded by great mentors and colleagues around me. Not all the women felt they had that. So i wont pretend everyone has someone they can turn to. But my advice would be to find someone you can trust in or out of the workplace, who can help you figure out the right next step. Its very hard. I know women in every field are facing this. Women who dont feel they have the socioeconomic power to say something, who dont feel they can risk their jobsconr by sayig something. I wont pretend its going to be easy for them, but find someone you can them. W3 woodruff lara setrakian, thank you very much for coming to talk to us. A pleasure and an obligationd woodruff and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by collette. Celebrating 100 years of tra babbel. A language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, 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. Org steves the dramatic rock of cashel is one of irelands most evocative sites. This was the seat of ancient irish kings for seven centuries. St. Patrick baptized king aengus here in about 450 a. D. In around 1100, an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this Monastic Community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. It looked out then, as it does today, over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale because its rich soil makes it irelands best farmland. On this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. Patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland. Rose welcome to the program. We begin tonight with our look at politics with al hunt and mike allen. Well, charlie, its the republican partese and were seeing more clearly on the National Stage the split that we have been seeing in the house for a long time that we looked at so carefully during healthcare. Rose we continue by looking at momentous changes in china and the upcoming visit by President Trump in november. David ignatius joins us. He now owns china. He is responsible for every bit of its economic, foreign, security policy. Theyre all his people. There is nowhere else to turn. Once upon a time it was collective blame and credit were shared, not anymore. The point of my column this morning was thats a little bit dangerous. When you own responsibility for a couny