Its going to take a lot of work. 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. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff more for defense, less for most domestic programs. Thats the message from the white house as it works up a spending blueprint for the coming year. John yang begins our coverage, from the white house. Yang meeting with the nations governors today, President Trump outlined a spending plan to fulfill his Campaign Promise to dramatically beef up the pentagon. This budget will be a Public Safety and National Security budget. And it will include an historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of america at a time we most need it. Yang the president wants to hike defense spending 10 , to 603 billion, for the budget year beginning october 1. Budget officials said mr. Trump will also seek increases for Law Enforcement and First Responders and money for the border wall. Were going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable to the people. We can do so much more with the money we spend. With 20 trillion in debt, can you imagine that . The government must learn to tighten its belt, something families all across the country have had to learn to do unfortunately. Yang to avoid adding to the deficit, mr. Trump wants to cut domestic spending by the same 54 billion he wants to boost military spending. Officials said virtually every federal agency will see cuts along with major cuts for foreign aid. White house budget director Mick Mulvaney yes its a fairly small part of the discretionary budget but its still consistent with what the president said. When you see these reductions youll be able to tie it back to speech the president gave or what the president has said previously. Yang budget officials said proposals for taxes and entitlement programs like Social Security and medicare will come later. Mr. Trump met today with Top Health Insurance executives to talk about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care act. We must Work Together to save americans from obamacare, people know that and everyone knows that at this point, to create more competition and bring down the prices substantially. Yang that was echoed by republican governors like rick snyder of michigan. This is a time for reform, to broaden the issue from beyond coverage to how do we do better quality, better Cost Containment for the long term and ultimately its about compassion. Were talking real people here. Yang democrats, led by National Governors Association Chairman Terry Mcauliffe of virginia, warned that ending obamacare would create major funding gaps for medicaid. At this point we have not been provided any information that we want, other than we want everybody to have health care. We want to make accessible and affordable to all. The devil is in the details. I think the rhetoric of the campaign has hit the reality of governing. Yang the president promised his address to Congress Tomorrow night would include a big statement on rebuilding the nations roads and bridges. White House Press Secretary sean spicer said the president would talk about solving real problems for real americans, like creating jobs and ending urban violence. In addition to the 10 reduction in Pentagon Spending next year. Mr. Trump will ask for 30 million more for the pentagon this year. Not clear how they will pay for that. Judy . Woodruff john, 30 billion is not church change, where will they come up with that . Not only that, theyre in the supplemental appropriations request will ask money for the first down payment to build the border wall with mexico. If they dont want to add to the deficit which they say they wont, theyre going to have to find offsetting cuts somewhere else because the president says hes not raising taxes. Woodruff we know, as you just reported, there were concerns among democratic governors to the changes to obamacare, but over the weekend concerns express bid republicans, too. Thats right. This is one of the complications the president talked about. A number of republican governors like john kasich of ohio used obamacare to expand medicaid coverage, medicaid, the program that takes care of healthcare for the needy. In ohio, he added 525,000 uninchiewrd meme to the medicaid role. If the medicaid goes away, they will either have to find the money elsewhere or push people off medicaid roles neither which is politically palatable. Woodruff john yang reporting for us from the white house. Thank you. In the days other news, the senate moved to confirm the president s nominee for commerce secretary. Billionaire investor wilbur ross has said the administration will work quickly to redo nafta, the north American Free trade agreement. Meanwhile, the nominee for navy secretary, philip bilden, withdraw last night. He cited trouble in separating from business interests. The Army Secretary nominee, vincent viola, withdraw earlier this month over similar issues. More bomb threats were called in today to Jewish Community centers and day schools in at least 11 states. All appeared to be hoaxes. The threats follow the weekend destruction of more than 100 headstones at a Jewish Cemetery in philadelphia. Interfaith leaders in the city called today for unity. Every time we are attacked by hate in the cemetery or beyond, we come together in solidarity. We will not only defend our particular group. Too many are vulnerable. Woodruff a white house spokesman said President Trump condemns the vandalism and bomb threats in the strongest terms. In the philippines, the military confirmed today that islamist militants linked to the Islamic State group have beheaded a german captive. Abu sayyaf had been holding the 70yearold hostage on a Southern Island since last fall. They demanded 600,000, but the ransom deadline passed sunday without payment. Dozens of shops were ransacked overnight in johannesburg, south africa, the latest in a wave of violence apparently aimed at immigrants. Theres been similar looting in pretoria this month. On friday, hundreds of anti immigrant protesters marched in pretoria. It comes amid claims that foreigners are fomenting crime and taking jobs from locals. Back in this country, theft of opioid drugs has become a major problem at veterans hospitals. The Associated Press reports more than 11,000 cases since 2010. But it says v. A. Staffers were disciplined in only 3 of the cases. A top v. A. Official, dr. Carolyn clancy, told a house hearing today that most of the missing medicine is being lost in the mail. Republican neal dunn of florida was incredulous. Somewhere between once the v. A. Has the drug and once the v. A. Passes it off to another part of the v. A. , the drugs are being diverted . Is that the system . No, this is outside the v. A. s system. So i have to tell you ive just 35 years ive never heard this kind of accusation. Woodruff clancy did say the department is adding inspectors and expanding employee drug testing. Japanese air bag maker takata pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge today in detroit. The company also agreed to pay 1 billion over faulty inflators. Theyre blamed for at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries worldwide. Meanwhile, in miami, plaintiffs in dozens of lawsuits charged takata and five automakers knew the inflators were dangerous but kept using them because they were cheaper. On wall street today, stocks had a relatively quiet time, but the Dow Jones Industrial average did hit a record close for the 12th session in a row. It gained 15 points to close at 20,837. The nasdaq rose 16 points, and the s p 500 added two. And, theyre still trying to figure out what caused a mixup for the ages at the oscars last night. Presenters Warren Beatty and faye dunaway mistakenly announced la la land as the best picture winner after being given the wrong envelope. Moments later, came word that moonlight was the actual winner. P. W. C. , the company that tabulates the vote results, says its investigating just what happened. Still to come on the newshour, congress grapples with questions over whether an investigation into the trump administrations ties to russia have been tainted. Hospitals brace for big losses if obamacare is repealed. A look at the democrats choice of a new party chair with our politics monday duo, and much more. Woodruff we turn our focus now to claims the Trump Campaign was in contact with russian intelligence officials, and new concerns over how they should be investigated. We still have not seen any evidence of anyone thats from the Trump Campaign or any other campaign for that matter thats communicated with the russian government. Woodruff house intelligence chair devin nunes met reporters this morning, and responded to questions over his committees investigation into whether President Trumps associates had ties to russia during the president ial campaign, or after. Nunes drew criticism after a Washington Post article revealed that the he agreed to talk to a reporter at the white houses request about a New York Times story that alleged Trump Associates spoke with russian intelligence. That story was a little odd, i thought, because if you ask me to contact the white house and said, hey, could you set me up with somebody at d. O. D. Or the intelligence agencies, i would say sure. Woodruff c. I. A. Director mike pompeo and the republican chair of the Senate Intelligence committee, richard burr of north carolina, also made calls regarding the times story, at white house request. Nunes acknowledged the investigation was still open, but said he wanted to be careful not to jump into a witch hunt, comparing it to the red scare of the 1950s. We cant have mccarthyism back in this place. We cant have the government, the u. S. Government or the congress, legislative branch of government chasing down american citizen, hauling them before the congress as if theres some secret russian agent. Woodruff white house Spokesman Sean Spicer echoed nunes, declaring there was no story. Weve heard the same people the same anecdotes and weve heard reports over and over again. And as chairman nunes very clear today, he has seen nothing that corroborates that, so at what point you got to ask yourself, what are you investigating . Woodruff among those still not convinced former president george w. Bush, who told nbcs today show that the questions about links to russia need to be answered. Amid growing calls for an independent investigation into russias attempts to influence the u. S. President ial election, i spoke earlier with senator mark warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee. I asked for his reaction to the white house enlisting u. S. Intelligence Community Leaders and Congressional Intelligence Committee chairs to help counter news stories about the Trump Campaigns contacts with russias intelligence officials. Is my reaction was of grave concern and an awful lot of frustration. We are at the early stages of our investigation. We have bipartisan Intelligence Committee staff, today, working over reviewing basic intelligence. We have been at this now a couple of weeks. Were making progress. For anyone to try to interfere at this early stage of an investigation just makes no sense. Lets take for a moment, even if the white houses position was correct, by asking these figures to interfere and lobby, they then potentially color the results of this investigation. I have no idea why they would try to interfere at this point, when this investigation is ongoing. The good news is, judy, though, that we have heard, ove over the last couple of days, from a number of the members of the committee, democrats and republicans alike, folks like senator rubio and senator collins, who have all said very strongly they continue to support an investigation thats bipartisan, that will follow the facts wherever they may lead, that wont allow outside interference like the white house and others, and as long as weve got a Strong Majority of the committee thats committed to that process, i think were in the best place to go forward. Woodruff what the white House Press Secretary sean spicer said today was this is simply in response to the request from the reporters. The reporters were asking for the white house version, the white house said, in order to give you any corroboration, it was the only way they could do that was to send them to these other officials. One of the things about an Intelligence Committee investigation is that you dont talk about the ongoing processes before you have a finished product. Were really still at the early stages. There are enormts amounts of information that has to be gone through. Weve seen massive russian intervention in the election, weve seen hacking, weve seen a number of indications of individuals affiliated with mr. Trump whove had contacts with russian officials. We need to find the extent of those contact, the content of those contacts. So somehow asking folks to interfere on a press story before this investigation is completed, to me is both inappropriate, improper and, frankly, weakens the white houses case dramatically. Senator , that sounds different from what devin nunes, the house intelligence chair, said today. He said there is no evidence he knows of now of contacts between the Trump Campaign and russian intelligence officials. Judy, the one thing that i think has been made clear is there are ongoin investigations. Anyone that jumps to a conclusion while there are ongoing investigations and tries to make a definitive statement does a great disservice to the american people. There is nothing to more important when we have the potension of a foreign nation not only interfering in our election process but lord knows what else. Woodruff chairman nunes went on to say this should not become a wish hunt. Is that a legitimate concern here . Listen, what the chairman of the house has done by trying to interfere in the investigation really raises huge concerns. As somebody who has to go back and continue to make the case to my democratic colleagues that this investigation is going to be done straight up, in an honest and straightforward way, obviously, chairman nunes actions dont help that cause. You know, if this ends up defaulting into some kind of partisan food fight, at the end of the day what happens is the American Public dont get the answers they deserve. Ive said from the outset, judy, theres nothing ive done in my Senate Career thats more important than this investigation. It has to be done right, it has to be done bipartisan, and it has to follow the facts wherever they lead, and when youve got, particularly, an Administration Like this one which has, unfortunately in the president , disrespect Intelligence Community so many times, its important that the intense Community Feels someone has their back and they can do their job in an honed ant truthful way. Woodruff senator durbin said there needs to be an outside independent commission looking into it. If i find we cant get access to the information we need, yes, i will be willing to call for that. But lets remember, if we were to pass an independent commission, it would require passage of the house, the senate and a significant by this prms dent. Who would say that that independent commission would truly be independent . We would also take thatco commission literally month to get up to speed. We have people working today in a bipartisan fashion, trying to get the facts to get to the bottom of this. I think the American Public deserve answers sooner than late, and my theory is the independent commission, one, would it truly be independent, would it truly get passed and be signed by this president and then it would take literally months to get it set up and established. I think as long as we can continue to do this with the majority of the Intelligence Committee committed to doing this bipartisan, independent, and making sure we get the facts, this is still the way to go. Senator mark warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence committee. Thank you. Thank you, judy. Woodruff for the record we reached out to every republiccan member of the Senate Intelligence committee. They either declined or did not respond to our request. Now, more on the events and actions in russia and the u. S. That led us to this moment. Thats the subject of a lengthy article in this weeks new yorker magazine, and to william brangham. Brangham so what is known, and not known, about russias involvement in our recent election . Im joined now by evan osnos. Hes a staff writer at the new yorker and one of the authors of active measures, a deep look into russias actions, thats in the latest edition of the magazine. And im also joined by john sipher. He spent 28 years in the c. I. A. s clandestine service, including assignments in russia and eastern europe. Hes now at a Consulting Company called crosslead. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Brangham evan osnos, really a wonderful primmer in the new yorker you wrote and several of your colleagues. Can you bring us up to speed, what do and dont we know about russias involvement in the election . This was a collaboration and an attempt to say lets clarify what weve learned. Than extraordinary moment. We know three things happened. The first thing, as you know, the d. N. C. Was hacked. John podestasni email was hack. Thats the one americans know the most about. Second thing, we know there was an influence campaign, an attempt to change what it is people believed about the candidates. The director of National Intelligence said this occurred, and its not a fake news, as a term thats become politicized in its own way, but from the Intelligence Committee perspective this is a known fact. The third piece is whether or not and to what degree there were contacts between russian representatives and elements of trumps campaign, advisors or his associates. And thats where the center of gravity is moving in the investigation. Brangham you spent a quarter century in the n. S. A. Do the allegations against the russians ring true to you . Oh, absolutely. This is what the russian dos. Whats interesting about this is what fertile soil it took place on. The fact that these type of things, some of it quite sloppy and open cause the problems. Brangham you mean fertile soil in the United States . I do. The fact they broke in and stone d. N. C. Emails, im surprised, and the effect that had. What i find interesting is there is a lieutenant of concern at the Trump Campaign saying they did not have improper contact with russians during the campaign, and my question would be what is proper contact . Did they have contacts with germans, indians, japanese . Why the russians . Why would a campaign in the United States need to have any contact with the russians . There could be innocent explanations if members to have the Trump Campaign or his entourage were talking with russians. Couldnt there be innocent explanation force those . I think thats the reason we need a robust independent and thorough investigation. We needed to understand this as best we could. We spent months on. This i consider it the beginning of chapter one. We are in a position where the legislative branch, the executive branchch has the ability to say what was the full universe of the contacts and the nature of the contacts and were they serving the interest of the American Public . We did that for 9 11. We established a bipartisan independent commission composed of five republicans, five democrats and we know a huge amount about what happened, as a result. We dont know about this yet. We are trying to decide what are the right investigative tools and who will do it. Brangham lets see the evidence bears out the russians really were trying to put their numb on the scale here. What were their ambitions . What would they be trying to do here . Not much of a surprise. Vladimir putins interests has always been to divide the United States from europe. He has a zerosum view of working with the United States, so anything that causes chaos or creates problems here is a win for him. We see the same in frarntion germany, the balkans, working with the taliban in afghanistan. Their goal is theto essentially create fissures in our alliances. Anything that creates chaos and tries to provide some sort of moral equivalence between his regime and the west, he likes to say that, oh, this is no different than you guys messing aroundnr in libya and egypt and syria and these types of things. One thing that surprised me is to discover the United States was susceptible to this kind of operation. I spoke to people in the state department who said a couple of years ago we were worried moldova would be susceptible to. This this was an intelligence operation discovered our politics were so divided, people were already open to a highly propagandaistic form of communication, that we were a soft target for this kind of influence operation. One of the things i was struck by in your article is towards the end of your piece you wrote where you describe some of the intense agents think this was more improv on behalf of the russians not a strategic campaign. Speaking broadly of the impression people have who are focused on this issue, if you look at the dossier of unverified claims submitted earlier to the f. B. I. And was then presented to the president , one of the claims in there was this was a longstanding five, six, seven year operation to cultivate donald trump. I think at the moment what you find is more people who are focused on this issue are inclined to believe this was an improvisation that was changing. Elements were brought in at different points, meaning it may have started as a hacking operation, may have started as an influence operation. But the idea that this started six, seven years ago with a discreet, fullyformed plan with a clear objective is hard to defend at this point. I think thats one of the reasons we need to learn more because we dont know exactly when and how it started. Why would the rungs have been interested in donald trump now . He was a reality tv star. He had no intention of seemingly running for office. I dont know if they were interested in him. They are interested in nine one who visit russia, whether they would have videotapes in hotel rooms or collect compromising information on people, this is what they do. How does what were seeing today compare to what the soviets used to do back in the u. Su. S. S. R. . They have new tools. They have mr. Snowden who gives them a lot of information about the kind of things we have and where to attack, and talented computer programmers and hackers in russia. Brangham evan osnos, john, thansipher, thank you both very much. Woodruff now, what hospitals fear about the possible costs of repealing and replacing the health care law. Efforts by President Trump and Congressional Republicans to unravel the Affordable Care act are unnerving Hospital Executives. Theyre worried about big changes to their bottom line, particularly after they overhauled how care is delivered in response to the health laws rewards and penalties. While republicans try to figure out their game plan, special correspondent sarah varney reports on how hospitals are bracing for the unknown. This story was produced in collaboration with our partner Kaiser Health news. Reporter driving to work amid the barren Winter Fields in northern illinois, Cathie Chapman is worried about the future. She lost her job after a nearby rural hospital closed, and as republicans work to dismantle the Affordable Care act, she wonders if it might happen again. Now she runs the pharmacy at perry memorial in princeton, illinois. And shes watching the republicans repeal efforts warily. I think everybody who works in healthcare now feels a little uneasy. We dont know whats coming around the corner, and how it will affect us. Reporter rural hospitals have long struggled to stay open they have far fewer patients and thin margins. Dozens have closed across the country in recent years, mostly in states that didnt expand medicaid. But in illinois, which did extend medicaid to nearly all poor adults, patients at perry memorial have gained coverage under the Affordable Care act and many hospitals have found firmer footing. But annette schnabel, the hospitals c. E. O. , says if large numbers of people lose their insurance under the republicans replacement, the hospitals finances and its patients would be at risk, especially after the hospital has invested so much money and time in complying with the health law. We have spent the last six years gearing up towards everything that we were responsible for doing in the a. C. A. , and the, the idea of we might have to totally go a different direction or how will we do that . Its going to take a lot of work. Reporter and for some hospitals to survive or break even, it will require congress to restore billions of dollars in funding that kept hospitals afloat before the law took effect. Hospitals across the country made a highstakes trade when they signed on to the Affordable Care act. They agreed to massive cuts in federal aid that defrayed the cost of caring for the uninsured. In exchange, they would gain tens of millions of newly insured customers. Now that deal is in jeopardy and many Hospital Executives are anxiously waiting to see what comes next. Stroger hospital of cook county, in chicago, is one of the busiest hospitals in the nation. Its emergency and trauma teams have inspired shows like e. R. And chicago med and handle most of the citys gunshot victims. The vast majority of patients here used to be uninsured, and the countyrun hospital struggled to take care of all of their medical and Mental Health needs. Those patients now have medicaid coverage because of the Affordable Care act, and the cook county Hospital System has gained 200 million in new revenue to cover their services, breaking even for the first time ever. We have no interest in slipping back in what weve been able to do. Reporter dr. Jay shannon is c. E. O. Of the Cook County Health and hospitals system. Were not able to do the kind of work that we do today with good will alone, our staff are not a volunteer staff, we cant get i. V. Fluids and medical equipment on credit and a wink and a nod. Reporter two hospital trade groups, the American Hospital association and the federation of American Hospitals, have warned of an unprecedented Public Health crisis if the law is hastily scuttled. They say if Congress Repeals the law entirely and 20 Million People are kicked off their insurance, hospitals will lose 166 billion dollars in medicaid payments alone in the next decade. And face much steeper losses if certain medicare cuts that were part of the law arent restored. In chicago, limo driver jerold exson is one of those patients who could lose coverage and have his hospital bills once again go unpaid. As of now the hospital helps enroll lowincome adults like exson into medicaid. In 2014, he was shot nearly a dozen times in a case of mistaken identity. His medical care is covered now and, the hospital can provide followup surgeries, physical therapy and Mental Health treatment that were often off limits to the uninsured. I used to be like real antsy. Reporter exson sees clinical psychologist natalia ruiz to manage the after effects of gun violence. And i had that episode where i was driving that time, and the low rock hit the window, and it kind of sent me into a tailspin. Reporter the health law also shifted the Business Model for u. S. Hospitals. It offered them financial incentives to move away from expensive e. R. Visits to primary care and managing chronic conditions. Earl williams senior has finally brought his diabetes under control. Hes diligent about exercising, taking his medication, and seeing his doctor. I had high sugar levels, i due to the teaching of my doctors and the staff here in the hospital. Before the Affordable Care act, hospitals had reporter before the Affordable Care act, hospitals had little incentive to reduce er visits, especially from medicare patients who generate a lot of revenue. At university of chicago medicine, an academic medical center, dr. Kenneth polonsky says if those incentives are rescinded and patients forgo preventive care, theyll clog up already strained emergency rooms. Well go back to a very frustrating time, where people had limited options for healthcare, because of inability to get health insurance. Reporter the uncertainty is also roiling county governments which often Fund Medical Care for the poor. The burden on local taxpayers to fund the Cook County Health system has dropped by 300 million since the health law went into effect. President of the cook county board of commissioners Toni Preckwinkle says repealing the law could force local governments to raise taxes. Its a 300 million hole in our budget. So, there arent a lot of options other than raising more revenue. Its a nightmare for us. Reporter she says the county and the country have been making progress and repeal is a step backward. In waukegan, illinois, near the wisconsin border, vista health what were entering here is our new open heart surgery suite. System c. E. O. Barbara martin says with more insured patients and additional reimbursement from the health law, shes invested in new equipment and hired hundreds of new employees across vistas two forprofit hospitals. She says if the 900,000 illinois residents who gained insurance under the law lose coverage and hospital revenue drops suddenly, Hospital Executives estimate 95,000 jobs could be lost. And that could just be catastrophic to the state and catastrophic not to only vista, to all hospitals across the country. Reporter but edmund haislmaier, a senior fellow at the heritage foundation, a conservative think tank says u. S. Taxpayers already spend too much on health care. Haislmaier, who was a member of President Trumps Transition Team on health policy, says, communities, and states and local governments, shouldnt rely on hospitals to create new jobs and fill their budget holes. Hospitals in particular, have become Economic Development projects. If youre paying tax dollars for medicare or medicaid, treating that as an Economic Development reporter more than a dozen Top Republican lawmakers declined to be interviewed for this story. But a spokesperon for senator lamar alexander, chairman of the Senate Committee on health, education, labor and pensions, said in a statement that he is listening to hospitals, doctors, patients, state insurance commissioners, governors and others as they draft the replacement plan. Reporter questions doctors are struggling to answer. You know, you and i have been knowing each other for a long time, and im going to give it to you straight. And that is its likely that its going to change. Its not going to be the same. Reporter with President Trump and Congressional Republicans now saying a final replacement plan may not be ready until later this year, the uncertainty is likely to linger. For the pbs news hour and Kaiser Health news, im sarah varney. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour reshaping our view of africa and its central role in human civilization. But first, from the president s budget signals to a new democratic leader. Its time for politics monday with tamara keith of npr and joining us tonight from miami, amy walter of the cook political report. Welcome to both of you. Happy monday. So the white house is talking budgets and healthcare today. Amy, were going to hear whats in mind, but theyre talking big increases in military spending and cuts in Discretionary Spending. Whats the reality . The president is trying to fulfill a campaign pledge. We saw him talking about immigration, passing executive orders and now wanting to pass legislation restricting immigration. Were getting to the party we make sure the defense spending is increased and well cut budgets domestically. The question is how you do that without running up the deficit, his o. M. B. Director said we can do this if we make the cuts on domestic spending. The reality is its going to be really tough especially when you add into this discussion that the president also had today about increasing funding for Infrastructure Spending and then, of course, how well pay for that wall and all of the extra agents are supposed to be patrolling the border. This is a party that for years talked about reducing the deficit, not spending more money than you have, this could be a big budget buster. Woodruff its tougher to execute the things than to talk about the outline of what you want to do. Yes. Over, president ial budgets are vision documents. This is not what congress will ultimately end up voting on or putting into place. The other thing to point out is the president wants to vastly increase defense spending and cut it from Discretionary Spending but there is a law that says you cant do that the budget control act of 2011, so they would have to find a way around that law. So its more complicated than it seems and this is just a blueprint. This is early in the mo seases. Usually the white house doesnt even talk about these kinds of things at this time in the process. Woodruff the democrats chose a new party chair over the weekend, tom perez, former labor secretary. Hardfought contest. What does this say about the Democratic Party right now and what do you look to tom perez to do . Wel, whoever was elected d. N. C. Chair was coming into a pretty rough position. Look, whats not talked about that much is despite the big loss for democrats in 2016 of the white house, they have been losing seats, especially at the state legislative governors and at the congressional level, ever since proive was elected in 2009. So tom perez is coming into a deep, deep hole. The most important thing he can do, i know the candidates talked about philosophy, we heard a lot during the campaign for d. N. C. Chair about this being a proxy between the bernie sanders, Elizabeth Warren wing and the Hillary Clinton wing. The number one challenge for tom perez or any d. N. C. Chairman is to get the party back to winning especially at the legislative level. Redistricting comes back up in 2020. If democrats want any shot getting control of congress, getting a better map, if they want to be able to start controlling some of the state legislative bodies, theyve got to start winning on the ground. So unless and until democrats start to do that, all this discussion about philosophy and direction of the party dont mean very much. Woodruff got his work cut out. Absolutely. Also, just to note, this is an organization that the d. N. C. Itself was hacked in the last year and was completely rocked by that hacking, and is simply an organization that is backon its heels and needs to recover simply as an organization. Never mind the Democratic Party more broadly. Woodruff we are talking about the democrats and republicans tonight. Amy, you wrote this week about what you called divided america, and you looked at how different groups of voters see President Trump differently. Give us a taste of that. Judy, usually, when a president comes in, hes only been in a month, he has something called a honeymoon period. This president didnt even get a weekend at niagara falls. We went from a polarized candidate for president to being a very polarizing president. But to be fair, i looked and said where was president obama in the last month of his presidency, and we were almost as polarized then by race, by gender, by education, and what weve seen with President Trump is the same fault lines we saw on the campaign trail. If you are white, if you are male, if you did not attend college, you have a stronger Approval Rating than if youre female, nonwhite, if you attended college. Theyre a little bigger, these gaps, than when president obama was in office, but donald trump didnt invent polarized america, but it is certainly as polarized if not slightly more than where we were a years ago, or less than year ago, a month ago. Woodruff and it seems like a hundred years ago or a minute ago, i cant tell which. Both. Woodruff tam remarks you got a closeup look at this. You were on the ground in st. Louis, missouri, this week talking to voters. Yeah, i talked to a range of voters. What really stood out to me is i interviewed three trump voters and they have three sort of different views of prump, already. You have sort of a base poor President Trump, already. You have a base, poor worker, a factory worker who lost his job a decade ago. He loves everything donald trump is doing, cant get enough and loves the bad headlines because he thinks donald trump must be doing something right. But wife, on the other hand, feels President Trump moved too fast on the executive orders. Another trump voter i talked to said he figured the president would be more president when he came into office and he wants him to have a thicker skin and stop tweeting. He says, you know, were looking up to you with our eyes hoping youre going to help us. We need to see more from you. I talked to one other voter who voted for Hillary Clinton, and she feels like hes not her president and that shes invisible. Woodruff so its interesting that, already, these voters are forming clearer impressions of this president. Yes, in that first month woodruff its not fuzzy, in other words. Its not fuzzy. They have strong views of him and its already sort of setting in after just a month in office. Woodruff tamera keith of npr, amy walter on the road in miami. Thank you both. Youre welcome. Woodruff and looking ahead, please join us tomorrow night for special pbs newshour live coverage of President Trumps address to a joint session of congress. It begins on twitter at 7 00 p. M. Eastern and on your local station at 9 00 p. M. Woodruff next, a preview of a new pbs documentary series africas great civilizations. Audie cornish of nprs all Things Considered has our look. The history of the african continucontinent, home to the 1f the worlds population remains a mystery. Henry gates admits it was a place he rarely considered, now he has a new series that considers great moments in precolonial history, called called africas great civilizations. Welcome to the program. Thanks for having me on. Youve tackled all kinds of africanamerican history but this goes back to cave painting. What was the genesis of this idea . I wanted to do a comprehensive history of africa, and this is it. I have been thinking about it five years. Took us a year to shoovment we went to 12 african countries. Its exhilarating. 200 years of african history. When i was growing up, africa was a place to be avoided even for black people. Our images of africa came from tarzan and we were embarrassed about africa. You talked about the effort to distance. It was used as an insult within the community. You black african, that was like the n word. It began to change in 1960 when i was ten years old and 17 african nation became independent and had a very smart geography teacher, mr. Mckinle mr. Mckinley, our only male teacher. He was very much into current events, i was very much into being a good student. A lot of the events featured new african countries. So i mesmerized romantic sounding names and i became fascinated with africa. Slowly but surely making my way to africa when i was 19 years old. I think we can hear that in your introduction. I want to play a clip of that. Okay. Africa is the home worlds most ancient civilization. Far to too too often, africa han thought of as isolated and static but nothing could be further from the truth. The roots of every family tree trace here to africa, and so does the history of civilization. In this series, we will be going on a journey through 200,000 years of history. Great cities built along africas extentive trade network. Discover art of unparalleled beauty, technical brilliance, and marvel at thousands of years of breathtaking architecture. What struck me is you use words Like Merchants and trade and engineering. It seemed like you were trying to stress the achievements here. Mmhmm. Why do you think the achievements have been observe secured. I think first of all because of slavery. 12. 5 million africans were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean between the 16th century and the 19th century. 12. 5 million africans shipped to enslavement in the new world. After 1884 was the conference in berlin when european powers sat down, looked at an empty map of africa and carved it up like pizza pie. Youre spain, what do you want . Italy, what do you want . England, what do you want . King leopold personally got the congo. So you have a picture of africa as a static place full of primitive people stuck in time those were ostensibly our ancestors. But the precolonial world knew all about africa. There wasnt a moment since the ancient egyptians that northern africa, the mediterranean andatlarger world was not in touch with african civilization, with some part of africa. The red sea was a highway, the nile was a highway, the sahara was a ney, particularly after the domestication of camels, and the indian ocean, a highway. The emperor of zimbabwe, eight of porcelain planes plates that came from china. Most of europes gold between 1,000 and 1500a. D. Came from west africa. All our history was stolen from us. We were robbed of the history because europeans wanted to justify an economic order which depended upon our ancestors exploitation. Its almost as if you are taking these stories out of the footnotes of history and elevating them. Thats an excellent metaphor. We need for the facts of africa and africanamerican history to be a normal, naturalized part of the curriculum, to be moved from the footnotes into the text. Black History Month is great. We need every day to be black History Month. What does that mean . When you take a course in history and civilization, africa should be there as well. Im not talking about mythic claims that wont stand scholarly scrutiny. I mean facts about the history of the world which every educated person should know hath about. Knowing your history is empowering and africa stands poised on a birth of resurgence and new renaissance. As you said, 15 of the worlds population lives on the great african continent, and knowing about this rich and splendid history will be crucial to the individuals selfesteem of every african and to the collective sense of itself of the african people. Henry louis skip gates, jr. , thanks for speaking with us about this project. Thanks for having me on the program. Woodruff the series runs tonight, tomorrow and wednesday at 9 00 p. M. , 8 00 central on most pbs stations. Woodruff now to our newshour shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. February is hockey is for everyone month in the National Hockey league, and one woman traveled all the way from abu dhabi to join the celebration. The newshours Julia Griffin caught up with her on the ice. Reporter though you wouldnt expect it given her countrys climate, Fatima Al Ali is an ace on the ice. The 27yearold is from the United Arab Emirates and is shattering preconceptions of what a hockey player looks like. Al ali picked up a hockey stick for the first just six years ago, but her puckhandling skills have already earned her a spot on the u. A. E. s Womens National team. In november, those skills caught the eye of former Washington Capitals star peter bondra. I play the game professionally for 23 years and if i try to do the stuff that she does, i have to learn and im not sure how much would be accomplished, just to be honest. Reporter bondra was so impressed by al alis abilities that he posted a video to twitter, saying she has better hands than me the video went viral, and a few weeks later, he surprised al ali with a dream trip to meet the caps coincidentally, thats her favorite n. H. L. Team. February is a month for hockey is for everyone and i think youll be a great ambassador for this. Reporter for softspoken al ali, taking the ice with the team was a thrill of a lifetime. Its not expected, its just unbelievable reporter over the next hour, the rink was a level Playing Field and she wasted no time sliding into drills and scoring goals. Al alis idol, capitals captain alex ovechkin, praised her talent. Shes going to be famous and shes going to be a star. Reporter but al ali doesnt just impress her male counterparts here in the u. S. She also holds her own back home as a mens games referee. I had two fights before coming here. The first one ended up bad. I got punched in the face with, but i kept, i finished the game. And then the second fight, they told me how to break the fight, so i was just pulling them from their pants. Reporter no matter what side of the puck she is on, al ali hopes she can be a role model. I hope that i can inspire enough people, or at least women. Have a dream and just go make it come true. Reporter fitting advice for pursuing goals, from a woman who excels at scoring them. For the pbs newshour, im Julia Griffin, in washington, d. C. Woodruff on the newshour online right now, we take a look inside the secret process thats supposed to prevent mishaps at the Academy Awards like the one that occurred last night over the best picture award. We also have a trove of conversations with the filmmakers and artists behind the award seasons most acclaimed movies. Find all of our coverage in our beyond the red carpet series on our web site, pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, a reminder well have special coverage of the president s speech to a joint session of congress. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. 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. Org hockenberry welcome to the program. Im John Hockenberry sitting in for charlie rose. We begin tonight with a question what would Christopher Hitchens do and say in this unprecedented Political Climate . I talked to a group who knew him well, his widow carol blue hitchens, martin amis, Douglas Brinkley and leslie cockburn. Yeah, i think he probably would have something to say every time he wrote a column or came on tv and, sadly, we have to try to infer what he might have said and really only he could say it. But there you go. Hockenberry we look ahead to the Academy Awards airing sunday. A. O. Scott of the New York Times talked to film critics david edelstein, Josh Horowitz and aisha harris. Whether this is a watershed moment, is this a begin og offa new norm