And that the white house tried to cover it up. On thursday, the acting director of national intelligence, joseph mcguire, testified before congress about the complaint which he called quote unprecedented. It centers president held with the ukraine president in july where he asked him repeatedly to open a corruption investigation into his 2020 president ial rival, hoe biden. On tuesde Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the start of a formal impeachment inquiry against the president accusing him of betraying his oath of officepresident trump is called impeachment inquiry quote a credility and character of ujoining us now via skype from washington dc is political reporter jessica taylor. And here in studio the editor politics and government, scott shafer. Jessica taylor and scott shafer, thank you for fobeing here. Scott, of course given californias representation and congressional leadership, we are pl ing a prominent role in this. Nancy pelosi today accused william barr of going rogue. She yesterday accused the whe house of trying to cover up the president s alleged abuse. She is all in, and shwas not all in on an impeachment inquiry a ek ago. So give us some insight into her change of heart. I think it is personally speaking nancy more tha to impeach donald trump and he has offended her ic politically, ely, and every way in terms of his style and politics and everything, but she isinan rently political person. She understands in order for something as serious as impeachment to go forward, there has to be something that is tangible, understandable, and provable. I think the caucus was really be nervouuse pelosi wants to preserve and grow her majority in the house. There were some new members of congress who just got elected and knocked off republicans and pue le districts. And s worried and they were worried that pursuing impeachmentas, at using it after the mueller report, would not go over well in those districts. She worried about those candidates losion for reelec everything change this week with the whistleblower report and the testimony from the acting National Security intelligence director. This is something th is a real smoking gun and easy the key is that seven of these moderates wrotd oped piece in the washington post, seven people with National Security and military background including gil cisneros of Orange County and said now is the time we have to act. In the meantime, republicans wa to paint nancy losi as caving to the more progressive elements of the democratic party. Is that fair . I think that as moderate members who a hese backgrounds or military backgrounds wrot this oped, this felt like where this sort of wall that had been sort of protecting this began to fall. When you have these more moderate members at were willing to stick their necks out, it seemne like things were y that she could not ignore. I also thing for democrats too, this is a much easier case to prosecute to the public than the whole russia scandal was because thatwas very convoluted. People are thinking, okay, this is in the past, but now you have a presidt who is soliciting help from a foreign government. I have this whistleblower. They have this pathial readout of call. So i think we can see public sentiment shifting as well. We d our own r pbs news hour poll that came out this we with the public is split on impeachment. I caution that polling in the heat of the moment, it is always a bit tricky. I think in the coming weeks we can see how this moves. But before puthink the ic was more against impeaching trump. I do think there is sort of evidence of public sentiment shifting as well as whlo you at the things that okare laid out before them and it sort of felt like mocrats had no choice other than to act if they were going to follow what was in the constitution, really. Ce maybe there is evidof public sentiment shifting, but is there evidence of sentiment shifting in the Republican Party . As usual, they are rallying arou the presidrat, but e you noticing anything different in the way that they might be defending him or any cracks at all . A lot senators yesterday were sort of declining to comment, saying they did not that had been declas when ort it is less than 10 pages long. I read it in 10 or 15 minutes and less. They are on ress now for few weeks. So we will see what kind of pressure could build up in their districtsaninstates and things too. But yohave a lot more people either say no comment or avoiding it. The people who are sort of republicans and have come out agntnst him or more answers are the ones who have agitated the president in the past like mitt romney and ben sasse nebraska and will heard th who sits on Intelligence Committee but he is a republican who not only sits in ua swing district but retiring and also a former cia ficer himself. What are the risks then to ngmocrats for purs this strategy as you see it . There are considerable risks. First of all nancy pelosi knows the reason she knis in charge f speakers the midterm elections went well for the democrats in large measure because they were focused on things that voters cared about, namely, healthcare in particular. So the risk is, if democrats ifare seeing is ng focus away from something and voters dont care so much about it, that was what happened with the mueller lyport. It never recapture the publics imagination. Voters just did not care about it and e democrats were smart in the midterms not to focus on it. The risk is going into an Election Year where your have this sense of gridlock of course and partisanship. Trump already blaming democrats for keeping the do Nothing Party even though the house has been passing all kinds of legislation on gun control and n her things. This could sort of be nta mo where the voters look at everything in congress and sort tribes and and sort of say like a pox on all your houses. I think that is the risk for democrhas. I think pelosicome to the conclusion that you cant let the risks stop you. This is the job of congress, oversight, and e details of this case are so egregiou that they felt no real option but to act. Jessica taylor, what you think about the risks to the tion . We talked a ttle bit about e risks for the democratic party. But there is a cost to pursuing something as volatiand plunging washington into crisis mode. There is a cost to the public. I think where weare with our politics is so divided. I think it is hard to see how uin a way. Et even more divided but i mean, there is certainly part of the puic that is bl calling for this that we have seen democrats for a long time. I think you know, the rule law being under assault. If you see trump, he sort of is built to this in a ilway, doing things outside of rms of what a president would do. It is okay. He let this slide and what else could happen in a wa c tainly saw there was back lash to republicans when they pursued impeachment against president clinton in 1998. So i think there are risks in that. Ou nation is also at a very differenplace than we are, and certainly there will be people like we have seen most republicans in congress that still continue to defend trump. I was going to y also the nature of this incident with the ukrainian president , if you read the whistleblower complaint, it is verylowel written and very cautus. It is icvery spec i think what we are seeing behind the scenes and jessica can speak about this for being in dc more than i am but many people the national secuenty law enforcapparatus who are career people who have served under republican and democratic administrations see the president reaching out to a foreign country to get help with the political adrsary in this country. I think there are many people who are offended by the notion of the u. S. President doing that, irrespective of their own clinical persuasion. Jessica, who are we goinseto testifying sebefore congress . I think we will see the ai house subpoena cey rudy giuliani. They want to hear from attorney general william barr who is also named in this complaint as volved. That could have been possibly people that were in the room for this. I want to hear quickly from both of you. Your guess on if democrats will vote to impeach. If so, by one . Jessica . I think ey probably will move forward. Honestly, with the timing that we can expect, it could be right as voters are voting in iowa and New Hampshire next ok year. I to congressman congressman eshoo and she said she expect articles of impeachment to be voted on by december. Scott shafer and jessica taylor. Thank you to both of you. Ns kyla jon trammell is the superintendent of Oakland Unified School district. The districts top administered her, e oversees 83 public scols serving 87,000 children. Go in march it retiated a contract with the teachers who went on a weeklong strike to demand higher wages and smaller class sizes. The district is also facing funding deficits of millions of udollars, which lahas prompted ffs, School Closures and mergers. With us now as superintendent Kyla Johnson Trammell to say that you are dealing with a lot is an undetatement. So tell me, given those ar challenges, whatyour priorities . We have three main priorities aligned to our mission and vision which i hold steadfast to which is creating a fullservice Community District in our believe is really that we have the best chance of serving all children by olrving the child. We do that by really focusing on ngtanding partnerships to make sure that we can use all the resources that we have within the city serve the nearly 37 thousand students and families in our city. To get to that and realize our mission and vision, we have three priorities, which are around improving and having high quality and sustainable hoschools n every neighb, fiscal vitality, and organizational wellness. You made a hard decision that one way to reach her goalsl is to e schools. So what you say to parents that are having a hard time understanding that this is the way to go. You heard at board meetings, frustration from parents who have been very tense attimes and children has been in tears. How do you respond to concerns that this may not be the right disaction . I woulone thing through the citywide plan, it is actually kind of three lovers. One of those is some of the decisions arouidations and closures. But also, within that plan, it is a focus on mergers and expansions. So even within our first dicohort, although that include a painful closure, which is not something i take lightly or the board e take slightly and that anyone on staff take slightly. But it also included an expansion of one of our ccmore sful high schools that already has a 90 graduation rate. We expanded it for that reason. Students and fa are y, what are seeing is that we want more polity options within our hi system. Sosmall school actually is one of our high demand high schools and the model is really around kids having an internship experience built into high school. So within tharplan, we also looking at where we have quality programs that are smaller in size that we can expand so we can offer more of expand shose seats to s student ita blend of both. For parents who are scratching their heads say it shutting down a Successful School like kaiser ely entary, what you to them . That is not so much around shutting down the school the relocating the school in an families so that more of our families have access to e program. Is this move about saving money as well . It is a bit more nuanced than that. As most schools in california, the root issue is dowe simply t have enough money in the state of california, regardless of the criteria that you look at. We either fall 46, or 47 or 48 compared with inour fuof others in the state. That is the root. We have many in our mmunity and across the state of california that are really advocating for more money. But in addion to that, every district has to look at the number of students that you have in a district and the number of schools. There is a tohuge cost run any school, whether the school is fully enrolled or under enrolled. So within our system, and we do have many hools that ols, are under enrolled. So what that means is that we are not able to resource each want them. He magnitudthat we we believe a fullservice community school. We believe that our students and families have support around mental health, have ta support around electives. This is what i hear when i talk to students and families. We want to make su that we have arts in our schoo make sure we have sports. What that means from a financial persctive is is even the schools we have, we need to resource them even deeper so they can really realize on the vision. So having to consolidate is not bank but being able to piggy redistribute in the most effective way so that each school gets more resources to create a Better Program so that we have more families coming to not ju a Certain Group of elementary, a Certain Group of middle and high schools, but all of them. You say the state needs to what communities . Bo more. Los angeles soundly rejected a ballot measure to raise property taxes to help the district, and thatatwas something district officials were hoping would get past and hoping to pay for teacher raises. So what does that tell you about your abilityoto be able to afford the raises say that the teachers need in oakland and also just about voters willingness to put in a little more to help their distrihas . We actuallya pretty solid parcel tax history in have measure g which actually provides us some support around murforming arts, c, and libraries. We have g won which was recely passed, so that actually hping us with the ray es and it goes partia our middle schools to help electives anthe other part goes to salaries. And then we have measure m which is another parcel tax. All of parcat is just for our high schools to support the pathways in lening. And then wehave measure j in the past which is around facilities. So i think there is a tension point. I think piece just around the cost in the bay area leaving la ase and the bay areaand how expensive it is, people are looking at that additional cost around taxes. But people are also seeing vi without to variety in a public hool system that that has effects on anybody when we think about having a strong democracy and when we inthink about wato have a strong and thriving city. The financial problems of the district have been well documented. What have you been doing s to addre things that were called out in the Alameda County grand jury report around mismanagement of funds, waste around contracts, and thin like that . What are some of the ways that you are addressing that with the Alameda CountyFinancial Officer that is with the di rict right now . Mber one ki would say that Alameda County is actually a decision i made to actually have a oser partnership with our Alameda County of education, and actually, my three priorities were me coming into this role and being a product of this district where i was the teacher when we first went into state ceivership. I was e teacher who had a pink slip because we had a make massive cuts. I became a principal and had toy lay ofclass of five staff because we had to beve a massive cut. So for me, the grand jury only substantiated what i was able to see and experience actually being an employee inthe system on systemic issues. Yes. But one thing you can point ac is anmplishment. One is an increase in our reserve. When i took over the position, we were at. 67 in our reserve. Y that is actubelow what you are required to have as a district of our size. Your are supposedto have a minimum of 2 . That is important because when you drop down below the minimum, it means you are at risk of state takerier shippen at of running out of cash. Now we are at about 3. Fe, which s like a lot when we think about the amount of money we have overall, but it just means are in a slightly better stable place. So super intended Kyla Johnson Trammell. Thank you. For decades National Geographic explorer and as photographertraveled the world documenting cultures and traditions indanger of disappearing. His latest book, mask, is a collection of stunning images. You spent more than 30 years capturinthese across Six Continents from remote villages in new guinea to cedar forests in british columbia. He hopes his portraits not only help preserve mass rituals but also remind us of our shared connection with the world and the sties we tellabout our place in it. Joining me now is photographer and author chris regnier. Thank you. How would you describe the po r of masks . Ever since i traveled to new guinea about 30 years ago in the mid80s, i was mass, mask and the spiritual e energy of them. When these ancient traditional becomes something else, the the spirit of the forest or the spirit of the land and the ocean. It is absolutely remarkable to see. So the minute i started seeing these remarkable ma rituals and dances starting first in new guinea, i knew i would spend most of my life, the rest of my life really following the tradition of the sk rituals around the world. It was amazing. What do these rituals tend to be about . How are they used . Good question. Multiple purposes around the world, but i the k the reoccurring theme th consistently see is a disability to be a part of an initiation ritual from childhood into adulthood or adulthood into a warrior like status and not only for men and in many cultures women wear the masks llas and then also, the kind of connection and Spiritual Connection to the afterworld and to the otr world and if there is a disease or a drought going on d they will put the masks on and make some sort of connection with the spirits of the forest, the animal spirits and try tospirbalance out the problems within their communities. What is the uimportance of seeing these masks where they are used . You photograph them being ed, so how does that compare to them hanging in a museum for example in the message sent to their . Precisely. I think that is crucial. We have all seen many of these many hanging in the great and new york and paris. But wh that does is ally kind of disconnect people from the spirit and the purpose. So my whole role to go. To these cultur to see the dances and in the still photographs to evoke the sense of what it is and why it is here. It is very important for me when i set up doing a photo shoot is to scout the location, and the location speaks about that mask as much is the mask. So often i will use ofe moodinescloue or sunsets in sunrise. That bit of information that the viewer in getting the al essence and the sense of spirit. A museum can often send the t message thatis something from long ago. What were some of the most recent images you took . As ealy as this january, we were in europe, in and around christmas time. Festival a wonder. That happens up in the high mountains of austria and switzerland, bavaria, eastern germany and the masks that go back to prechristian and pagan and when christianity arrived and these pagan rituals as of if the children did not behave if the children had done poorly in school, ese evil mask would run around the village and sort of chase the kids and pu the fear ofthe devil into em. And then slowly, ever so slchristianity came in and the whole concept of saint nick and father christmas an santa claus came into being. But still in modern europe today, you have these festivals that are ale and thriving up in the mountains of europe. Ere some of the hardest communities to gain the trust of . I imagine is a white man going in tryinto access some of these rituals, there were me suspicionssolutely. I think each culture had its particular set of challenges, if you will. But i think the most important thing for me is to have time and to build up a level of trust. A lot of the north American Communities and up in canada, and some of the cultures in sri inherent and rightly ed as an sense of suspicion. I needed to prove myself. Ny of these projects take 10, 15, 20 years. This one has taken 30 years. It is meet with the community an dont even bring mycamera. Meet them and express what im doing and maybe show em some of my other books and build up that level of trust, so with the native american community, it took five or 10 years of communication, patient understanding, to get to the point where i said, okay, we are interested in talking, and especially with the mmunity uin canada on alert bay which is in the whnorthern part of Vancouver Island on the west coast. We went. We met, and they agreed. Once they agreed, then i was free to come into their incredible cultuwil center and work them on picking the masks, taking them out of the center, and again putting tothe ontext with the ocean in the forest. How do you account r your own lens so to speak . What i mean is the cultural experiences that you have had that will evitably influence at you find that is worth photographing or publishing or even beautiful . Exactly. I grew upoverseas and my father had a job where i lived in australia, africa, england. Especially when i was a young child, my father would go out into these isolated area australia, working on the sol rigs. I was hanging around with aborigine children at 6 to 10 years old. I began to realize the power of their voice, their traditions. Somewhere along the way, i knewo i wantedbe a photographer. I really committed myself to a lifetime of putting on film traditional cultures that on the edge of mething. Maybe it is the end their culture in the sense of many of the children are moving to the city, but i found that there was a ge revitalization going on. This burst of energy that so many of the younger generations uthe kia po in brazil, they wan to do the dances. They want their culture to be alive and well into the 21st century. What is myur goal . Goal for masks is to show people who are interested in looking at it that e rituals are alive. Ey are in danger, but they are not dying. And there is a vibrancy and a huge burst of Cultural Energy going around on the edges of the frayed map of the world. That there wocultures out there still doing the dance deep in the forest. Thank ar you. Youvery welcome. You can meet chris and hear more about his book, masks, tomorrow at 4 00 p. M. It book passage. Fookmore information visit passage. Com. That will do it for us. As always you can find more of our coverage at tran03enewsroom. I am nina kim. Thank you for joining us. Captioning sponsored by wnet sreenivasan on this edition for sunday, september 29 the whistleblower fallout continues. In our signature segment chinas super rich and the growing wealth gap. And the power of music on the brain. Next on pbs newshour weekend. Pbs newshour weekend is made possible by bernard and irene schwartz. Sue and Edgar Wachenheim iii. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. The j. P. B. Foundation. Rosalind p. Walter, in memory rof george one. Barbara hope zuckerberg. Corporate funding is provided