Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170726

Nearly all professional football players. 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. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. 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. Woodruff from President Trump today, an abrupt announcement he is reinstating a ban on transgender troops, and reopening the debate on who gets to serve in the u. S. Military. Word of the military policy reversal came not from the pentagon, but from the president on twitter. He said the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the u. S. Military. And, he went on our military must be focused on victory, and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Candidate trump had promised to protect the rights of transgender people. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders was asked about that today. Hes also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy, and based on consultation that hes had with his National Security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion, and made the decision based on that. Woodruff socially conservative groups welcomed the decision, but it drew quick condemnation from many democrats, including new york congressman sean patrick maloney. Weve been here before, and w have heard every tired every tired, discriminatory argument before, and theyve always fallen away over time in the face of reason and decency and equality. Woodruff some leading members of the president s own party also rejected the new ban, including senators john mccain and orrin hatch and joni ernst, who served in the u. S. Military in iraq. Im announcing today that were ending the ban on Transgender Americans in the United States military. Woodruff all of this comes more than a year after the Obama Administrations secretary of defense, ashton carter, announced that transgender people would be allowed to serve, openly. The rand cooperation estimates there are up to 6,600 transgender troops on active duty, with possibly another 4,000 in the reserves. Carter gave the Armed Services until this month to adjust. But his successor, james mattis, recently delayed implementation by another six months. The joint chiefs of staff said they need to determine whether transgender recruits have medical issues affecting their ability to deploy and meet physical standards. Republican congresswoman Vicky Hartzler of missouri has unsuccessfully proposed legislation to bar medical services for transgender troops. The bottom line is, do we need to spend any of our precious tax dollars on these surgeries, when we have soldiers that are having trouble getting body armor and bullets. Woodruff Brynn Tannehill is a Transgender Former Navy pilot, and director for an Advocacy Group that fights for Transgender Service members. Whats extraordinarily disruptive to unit cohesion is taking people who have unique, valuable skills within their units, and yanking them out of those units. Ones that are often only one deep in their units. And you cant replace that. And thats what affects mission and mission accomplishment. Woodruff the white house indicated today that the military will take the lead on deciding what becomes of transgender people already serving. Our own William Brangham has reported on transgender people serving in the military. He joins me now to further explain todays move by the president. Woodruff in the days other so, william, first, something about the term. We are talking about people who are transgender. The term transition or transitioning is also used. Help us understand the distinction. I understand this can be confusing for a lot of people. Basic facts. To be transgender means your gender identity doesnt match your birth certificate. Youre born as female but you feel male. To transition can mean a whole spectrum of things. It can mean its not just the surgery people tend to think of, and certainly not every transgender person has that surgery. It can simply mean taking hormones. It can just mean changing your clothes, your name. Transitioning can be an entire spectrum from medical technologies to just changing your personality a little. Woodruff we heard Sarah Huckabee sanders citing the president s concerns, and he tweeted about this. He says its expensive, the cost, the disruption. He talked about readiness, unit cohesion. Are those factors that the pentagon is concerned about . As far as we know, theres no good evidence that the pentagon has ever been concerned about those two things. On the issue of disruption, the rand study you cited in your report, they did a study that looked at whether or not having Trans Service members would cause this disruption and surveyed 18 countries, including u. K. , australia, isr all of whom have Trans Servicemembers, and those countries reported no disruptions whatsoever, no need to change their policies. On the issue of cost, the president said this is i think hes implying somehow this is going to cost a fortune for the budget. The rand study indicated the rough costs per year are about 2 million to 8 million, not a lot in 6 billion pentagon budget. Lets say the numbers are even more, the pentagon spends ten times that amount on cialis and viagra. So just as a point of comparison. Woodruff another kind of medication. William, why is this happening now . Is there a sense out of the blue the president tweeted about this this morning . It seemed to come out of the blue. We reached out to the pentagon this morning to ask how much they were caught flat footed about this. They referred us back to the white house, with nothing to say. My sense is two reasons. Ever since the Obama Administration introduced this change, conservatives, mike pence, for instance, have been resistant, they have fought it. Today, specifically, there was a fight in the house among the g. O. P. They were trying to getting a spending bill passed with goodies the president wanted including money for his border wall. Some deficit and defense hawks said we need to put in a piece of legislation that bans transgender sex reassignment surgery. That was pushed back on by the leadership and, apparently, some of the members went to the president and said help us out with this policy, and he then went 10, 50 yards further down the line and announced the outright ban. Woodruff again, divisions inside the Republican Party over this. Exactly. Woodruff finally, william, what does this mean for active duty members now who are transgender whether serving in this country or overseas . Thats the great unknown. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said were working out the policy, the pentagon has no comment on this. I talked to people today in touch with Trans Servicemembers right now and he said there is an incredible feeling of fear and panic. Uncertainty. You might be be deployed overseas, you look at your phone, the president tweeted your position in the military is over. Big unanswered questions. Woodruff a number of questions here. William brangham, we thank you. Woodruff and in the days other news, the Supreme Court of South Carolina ruled samesex couples deserve the same protections from Domestic Violence as heterosexual couples. The court said the states existing law is unconstitutional. Several other states have already changed their laws on the issue. Activists expressed hope that todays decision encourages more to do so. The u. S. Senate voted down a proposal today to repeal the Affordable Care act two years from now, while it works on a replacement. It was the latest sign that it is going to be tougher to win passage of a Health Care Reform bill, than it was to get the votes yesterday to begin debate. We will have a full report, after the news summary. President trump took a new verbal shot at u. S. Attorney general Jeff Sessions today. On twitter, he complained that sessions ought to fire acting f. B. I. Director Andrew Mccabe for allegedly being too close to his fired predecessor, james comey, and to hillary clinton. Even so, white House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders left open the possibility that the president may decide to keep sessions. Hes obviously disappointed, but also wants the attorney general to continue to focus on the things the attorney general does. Look, you can be disappointed in someone and still want them to continue in their jobs. Woodruff in the last week, the president has subjected sessions to daily hectoring for recusing himself in the russia probe. But at a rally last night, he rejected criticism of his own behavior, saying it is so easy to act president ial, but thats not gonna get it done. In afghanistan, taliban gunmen killed at least 26 Afghan Soldiers today after storming an army base in the countrys south. The attack took place near kandahar, afghanistans second largest city. It came as the taliban has made significant gains across the country. Back in this country, a bit of good news republican congressman Steve Scalise has been released from a Washington Hospital after being shot and critically wounded last month. He will now begin what the hospital called intensive rehabilitation. The louisiana lawmaker was one of four people shot by a gunman during a baseball practice. He has had several surgeries. The Federal Reserve is keeping its standard Interest Rate unchanged. The central bank today cited solid job gains, but noted that inflation remains below the target level. Fed officials already raised rates twice this year. President trump today announced that the Taiwanbased Foxconn will build a 10 billion plant in wisconsin for liquid Crystal Display panels. It could mean 3,000 jobs, if its built. Foxconn has not always followed through on new projects in the u. S. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 97 points to close at 21,711. The nasdaq rose ten points, and the s p 500 was up a fraction. Still to come on the newshour whats next after another failed health care vote. President trump signals he will pull out of the iran nuclear deal. Revenge killings in iraq the aftermath of the fight against isis. And, much more. Woodruff republicans faced another challenge today in their efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care act. Lisa desjardins has more. This certainly wont be easy. Hardly anything in this process has been. Reporter the whirlwind process ticked on in the senate today, but republicans found themselves no closer to passing a plan to repeal or replace the Affordable Care act. Two key g. O. P. Ideas failed by large margins in the past 24 hours. First, last night, nine republicans voted against the latest senate plan, including senator ted cruz proposal plan to allow insurance plans with almost no regulations. Then today came an idea backed by conservatives like kentucky senator rand paul a straight repeal in two years with no replacement attached. Paul said obamacares regulations mean options are far too limited. Do you think that the that every american should get to choose . That every american gets to choose whether they have insurance or not, and what kind of insurance they have. This is what its about. Its a freedom of choice. Reporter but his straight repeal lost, 45 to 55. Seven republican senators rejected the plan. Republican leaders instead focused on a longer game, reminding their party of its pledge to repeal obamacare. We made a commitment to the american people. Its time to make good on that promise. Reporter and it appears the senate g. O. P. s best shot at a bill is whats known as skinny repeal, repealing the individual mandate, and not much else. That is expected to be one of the last votes this week and so begins the jockeying for what goes in it. Lindsey graham wants more block grants for states in the plan. And if it cant do that, im not voting for it. Reporter all this, a day after the senate barely voted to begin debate. Today, President Trump singled out alaskas murkowski for her vote against starting debate yesterday, tweeting that she really let the republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad murkowski defended her vote to the Alaska Dispatch news, saying, i didnt think that we were ready for the debate, and i have said pretty consistently that process really does matter. As it does to democrats, like oregons ron wyden, calling for fixes rather than repeal for obamacare. We all agree that the Affordable Care act is not perfect. Were going to take steps immediately to stabilize the private insurance market. Reporter the clock is now ticking on the 20 hours of debate required for any bill. After that, any amendments not already passed can be tacked on in a process known as voterama. Senate republican whip john cornyn well conclude one way or another, late thursday or friday morning. Reporter that means the senate, and americans watching, have two days to weigh in on this critical draft about the future of health care. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff it has been just over two years since the Iran Nuclear Agreement was signed, under the Obama Administration. But President Trump may very well be on the way toward pulling the United States out of the deal. John yang has that. Candidate donald trump ran against the agreement but President Trump has twice followed the state departments advice, and certified that iran is complying with the deal. Now, in a wall street journal interview published today, mr. Trump indicates hes willing to overrule the state department when the next certification is due in october. Weve given them the benefit of every doubt. Were doing very detailed studies. And personally, i have Great Respect for my people. If it was up to me, i would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago. Reporter do you expect them to be declared noncompliant next time . Personally, i do. Reporter what would it mean if mr. Trump said iran is not complying . Whats at stake . We get two views. First, rob malley is here in the studio. As special assistant to president obama, he was lead senior white house negotiator for the iran nuclear talks. He is now a Vice President of the International Crisis group. And, joining us from toronto is mark dubowitz. He is cheif executive of the foundation for defense of democracies, a washington, d. C. Based think tank. He writes frequently about iran. Let me start with you, rob. Whats your response to what the president said . I should pointed out that, in that interview, he went on to say that he thinks iran is taking advantage of this country. He said, theyve taken advantage of a president named barack obama who didnt know what the hell he was doing. Ill respond to that but lets get the facts straight. Since President Trump has been in office, weiss the Administration Certified iran was in compliance with the deal. Twice the administration waived the sanctions, which is a way of indicating that its mutually reciprocal. This is the administrations response to the fact that iran is doing its share, we do our share. Twice the International Agency thats responsible for deciding whether iran is in compliance with its nuclear restrictions, the International Atomic energy agency, twice since trump has been in office it has said iran is living up to its deal and twice the joint commission formedly all the member countries that negotiated the deal, including the United States, twice, including recently, have said iran is in compliance. So maybe the president has information he hasnt shared with anyone else. But its clear that from every objective observer has said iran is in compliance. I dont know where he comes up with saying that he knows but others dont know. Even his cabinet disagrees, but he knows that iran is not in compliance. That would be breaking our own obligations under the deal and breaking with our allies which will put us in a very difficult position. Yang mark dubowitz, you are advising the administration. I presume you wouldnt want to make that advice public. What do you think the president should do when this next certification comes up . So the president should make it very clear that iran is not in compliance with the deal. Its been very clear in secretary tillersons letter to congress made it clear there are incremental violations of the deal. The president actually didnt certify that iran is in full compliance with the deal. He merely said iran meets certain conditions laid by ngress which didnt require full compliance. My advice to the president would be stays the facts, which iran is incrementally violating the deal, but unless theres a material breech of the nuclear deal, dont go to the joint commission, dont snap back the u. N. Sanctions but use that noncompliance as a predicate to roll out a much more comprehensive iran policy that deals with all forms of iran maligne behavior across multiple fronts. Thats a full, comprehensive policy and gets us away from the myopic focus on the nuclear deal which i think paralyzed u. S. Iran policy under president obama. Yang rob malley, myopic focus on the nuclear deal . Should there be consideration of things, a broader consideration, as he says . There should, there has been and there will continue to be. I mean, what president obama did was take one issue, a critical issue, not only in interNational Security experts but israelis and others said if iran were to rush to a bomb we would be in a difficult situation. The case of north korea, we wouldnt want to see a north korea in the persian gulf. That was a priority at that point was not to give up on the other issues. Lets at least make sure iran is mott in a position to get a bomb. At the same time, lets push back on the original activities, see what we can do about the Ballistic Missiles, but the deal itself was about this issue. It wasnt a case of my opennia. It was a case of well deal with the issue, solved it, and work on the other issues. There is nothing in the nuclear deal that would prevent us from taking action against iran if p it engaged in terrorism, Ballistic Missiles and human rights violations. The question at the heart of what the president said is are we going to continue to honor our part of the deal to make sure iran honors its part not to rush to a nuclear deal bomb. So we dont have a north korea. In north korea we have a country with a nuclear bomb and we have no visibility. In iran we have a country who country dont have a nuclear bomb and we have visibility to their promise. Yang what about working within this agreement and knowing what iran is doing. Im glad rob brought up the fatally flawed north korea agreement because the iran agreement is similarly flawed. It contains sunset restrictions where Irans Nuclear program go away over time and iran can emerge with an industrial sized Nuclear Program with near zero Nuclear Breakout capability with an easier covert sneak out capability and with increased regional hegamony. So rob is right the deal temporarily pushed the iranians further in terms of breakout but over the medium term iran will emerge wealth thing it wants by faithfully complying with the deal. We dont want another fatally flawed Nuclear Agreement like with north korea. We need to deal with this flawed agreement. The president made it clear he thinks this is a terribly deal, a fatally flawed deal and i think my advice to him is dont certify compliance and begin to lay the predicate for a massive Pressure Campaign and get the iranians back to the table to negotiate nuclear deal number two that addresses some of the fatally flawed elements of the deal and give us inspection rights into military sites which we have in theory but in practice the iranians arent letting us into military sites where theyre likely to engage in Nuclear Weapon activities like in the past. We better rectify this deal or iran will have necks, icbms and have the ability to dom made. Yang what are the consequences if the president says iran didnt live up to the deal. Is the argument that the deal is fatally flawed and we should walk away and renegotiate, which would be one path very dangerous and i wont get into that or is the view the deal is okay for now but in 12 to 15 years as some provisions expire and we should think of whether to negotiate what happens afterward, in which case well give something to the iranians. The iranians wont accept to negotiate more restrictions in exchange for nothing. We need to clarify. Right now were in a much better position than at the time president Obama Took Office because we have these restrictions and according to every inspection that has been done, every report by the i. A. E. A. , iran is in compliance. If tomorrow the president were to decide iran was not in compliance, first of all we would have a deja vu . Terms of iraq. I think most people in the International Community would believe were fabricating evidence because we havent shared it and were the only ones claiming iran is not and that would put us in a strong position. If we continued to honor the deal, it would be a pickup and significance tall to the world that we have a erratic administration. To reimpose sanctions that were lifted on Irans Nuclear program, we would be in breech, and either in breach and either iran would say were not only bound by our own commitments and have a possibility of iran trying to acquire a nuclear bomb or be isolated in the International Companies because everyone would say its on you, its not on iran. Why would we want that . Yang mark dubowitz, i want you to respond. What practically would happen p the president said they werent complying and what should the next step be . Well, actually, practically speaking what robs not telling you is if the president says theyre not complying but doesnt say theyre in material breach, actually nothing happens. We dont go to the joint commission, dont snap back u. N. U. S. Sanctions. We merely say iran is engaging in incremental violations and we know the iranians violate incrementally not egregiously yet over the time the sum total is always egregious. What robs not telling you is he and we know the iranians have been incrementally violating the deal. Theyve exceeded heavy water caps, the essential water you need for a plutonium bomb. Test morgue advanced centrifuges than permitted under the Nuclear Agreement. Theyre suring Nuclear Missile technology from germany according to german intelligence and exceeding the cap. Theyre incremental violations. The president should state that, certify that and say iran is not in full compliance. The second step is to say whether its a material breech, andeth not. Its not a material breech and he should move ahead with the maximum pressure. Yang mark dubowitz, rob malley, well have to leave it there. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you so much. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour the former government ethics director, who resigned after clashing with the Trump Administration. Striking new findings linking brain injury directly to football. And, a profile of Trump Supporters living in a place known for being liberal. The battle to retake mosul from isis is nearing its end. And yet a new, Deadly Campaign is underway by some iraqi forces of revenge and retribution, against those suspected to have fought for, or aided, isis. From northern iraq, special correspondent marcia biggs, and videographer Alessandro Pavone report. And a warning images and accounts in this story may disturb some viewers. Reporter it starts at dawn here in west mosul. Members of Iraqi Special forces, going door to door in search of isis sleeper cells. Clashes continue in a small pocket of the old city, but for most of mosul, this is where the fight against isis stands. In some houses, we find the remnants of life under isis. This was a daesh prison, he says. So this was once the home of a local politician. When isis took the area, they turned his house into a jail. Isis put in prison anyone who didnt pledge loyalty to them, who didnt join them and stick to their rules, this lieutenant says. They considered them outlaws. After several hours searching, they come across this man, who they believe may have escaped the current clashes in the old city. He is arrested immediately. Do you believe he is an isis fighter . translated i think he is. He is not from this area, no one has ever seen him here. People here dont know him. He is very thin and the i. D. Card is fake. So probably he is isis. translated for no reason, the militias took my son five months ago, this man told me. We dont know where. We are not isis, my son is a shepherd. If we were isis, you could come and kill me. Ask anyone. Reporter and theyve all seen the videos. Isis suspects paraded through the streets, beaten, tortured, even killed. Theyre posted on social media, where, after three years of isis and its brutal reign, vengeance is bragging rights for those who suffered. This video appears to show iraqi soldiers throwing a man off a cliff, and then shooting him. Human rights organizations report a shocking number of extrajudicial killing, mass detentions, and forced displacement. Last week, this photo emerged of suspected isis fighters rounded up and held in a small dark room, in the 120degree heat. An eye for an eye, as the captors become captive. Tom porteous is with human rights watch. Dr. Mansour maarouf mansour was working in qayyarah General Hospital when this video was taken last spring. The hospital was inundated with unidentified bodies coming down the tigris river. The morgue could barely handle the grim deluge. A local resident described the what he saw at the riverbank. Men handcuffed and blindfolded, shot to the head. You received a lot of bodies that looked to have been victims of execution . translated yeah. Reporter what was the state of those bodies . translated most of them were killed by shooting to the head. Its very little in compared to those who, who, who were killed by the liberation process, through the mines, landmines, or the bombs, mortar bombs, or airstrike. Reporter the number of civilian casualties has been staggering. Former kurdish deputy Prime Minister Hoshyar Zebari says at least 40,000 dead, many of them at the hands of coalition airstrikes, which include both iraqi and american firepower. As residents return home to a mosul depleted of isis fighters, the new campaign may be one of collective punishment against possible isis sympathizers. We traveled to a village just south of the city, where many of the residents collaborated with isis. We had heard reports of socalled revenge death squads coming for them in the dead of night. Um nazims husband was a taxi driver, and she says he just joined the group to survive. He was later killed in an airstrike. She was too scared to let us show her full face. translated they told us, if your sons and husbands do not declare loyalty, we will bring back the religious police and we will behead them. He was an old man when we were threatened, so he was scared. He thought it would be better to declare loyalty. It is better than being killed. Reporter what happened here . Since the liberation of her town from isis, she says, local militias have threatened her, demanding that she leave, even shooting up and raiding her home. translated weve lost our minds. Every night when we sleep, we dont know if we will be alive in the morning. What is our life . Everybody was throwing their clothes in bags, but we dont know where to go. We dont have money to leave, or even to rent a car. I dont know what to do, where to go. I was pacing back and forth in the front yard. I told them, kill me. Its better than this. Come on and kill me and end my suffering. Reporter the Iraqi Government maintains that any abuse is being dealt with in due process, and iraqi commanders admit the mistakes. We dont lead eagles. We lead humans. I mean, our soldiers, our police, they human, not eagles. Maybe someone, make some bad thing, but the majority, the general of our forces, deal very good with the people. Reporter so what do you do when you find out one of your men has been part of this abuse . translated we put him in the jail, and we send him to the court. Even isis fighters, when we reporter do you worry about revenge attacks creating an atmosphere that would make iraq vulnerable to another isis . Yes. I worry about that, but i think we try to push the government, local government, the tribal sheikhs, to put some solution to these things. Reporter human Rights Groups say this its not enough. The Iraqi Government sometimes responds to our reports and our advocacy by making the right sort of noises and right kinds of statements, but its never followed up with a proper procedure to secure accountability for the abuses that we document. You can win the war militarily against the islamic states, but if you continue to commit abuses with impunity, then you are simply sowing the seeds for the reemergence of radicalism in iraq. Reporter like many sunni arabs that lived under isis, um nazim feels she is under siege by the shia dominated government, and militias that fought and won the battle against isis. Do you hope that isis will come back . translated i dont hope that isis will come back, but there was peace and no one interfered in the life of anyone else, no one oppressed anyone. The situation was calmer. Reporter for you. But for those who werent part of isis, they were very scared, life was very difficult. translated no, no one in iraq was scared. Everybody was living in peace under isis. Not just us, because my husband was with isis. Reporter how can you say that . Weve heard so many stories of people who were killed, people who were repressed, who couldnt go to school . translated i dont know, i didnt go out, i didnt see anything. I dont know what happened outside, i didnt see, im only responsible for myself, not for others. I didnt see anyone kill anyone else in front of me, or beat someone else. I heard people say that others were killed, but no one knew who killed them. Reporter what do you say to the children whose parents were killed by isis suicide bombers . translated i dont know, i didnt see. I wasnt with isis to know anything about that. Isis became a state and a government. Who can say anything to them under their rule . Reporter like many under occupation, um nazim turned a blind eye in order to ensure her own safety. The dust is beginning to settle in mosul, but revenge can be a dirty game. The battle may have ended, but a new war in iraq may be just beginning. For the pbs newshour, im marcia biggs in and around mosul, iraq. Woodruff earlier this month, walter shaub resigned as director of the office of government ethics, a position hes held since january 2013. In the final months of his tenure, shaub clashed with the Trump Administration on a number of ethics issues. Currently, he is senior director of ethics for the nonprofit, Campaign Legal center. And mr. Shaub joins me now. Thank you for being here at the newshour. So you had been you were just telling me you had been at the office of government ethics for what, 15, 16 years . Right. Woodruff leading up to your decision to resign. You had another six months to go as director of the office. Why leave . Why not stay till the end, next january . First of all, thanks for having me. I started at o. G. E. In 2001 and served there continuously except two years when i left. Ivein o. G. E. Operate under three different president ial administrations including the strags of president bush bush and president bush obama who were incredibly supportive of the ethics program. Both of those administrations really supported o. G. E. In absolutely every way they could and our work functioned very smoothly. In the past eight months, weve at the parted from ethical norms and the program is under significant pressure from the white house that has set a tone there the top that ethics doesnt matter and, so, i did all i could, and i reached a point where i thought there wasnt more i could achieve from inside but, by leaving, i would actually have more freedom to continue to try to push for the restoration of our ethics program. Woodruff and you have been speaking out since then. Give us an example of the way or ways that this administration, as you say, was putting stress on the ethics procedures. Well, in one way, it really began with the president declaring that hes not going to divest his financial interests, and that means there is a cloud over all government decisionmaking that stems from the president because you cant know whether his decisions are being made on the basis of policy aims or on the basis of financial interests, and when he travels to all of his properties on a frequent basis, hes giving each of them free advertisements and he speaks freely about those. He could have, instead, divested his interest and told his administration to stay away there his properties, which would have kept some of the foreign governments or charities or businesses that have booked his properties to be closer to the president not to do that. I think a lot of things happen on a daytoday basis as well. I fought a battle that took over a month to get them to release some waivers that they had been issuing, and o. G. E. s collection woodruff to individuals. To individual appointees. O. G. E. s collection of waivers and other ethics documents has been a routine of o. G. E. s program dating back to its beginning. O. G. E. Is by statute the supervising Ethics Office. When i finally got the waivers, i was shocked to see a number of them, most of them, actually, were unsigned, undated either explicitly, implicitly retroactive and two of them issued by a council of the president to two people woodruff you know the white house said since you left. They say you have been talking to the news media. One quote said you were grandstanding, that youre trying to give additional powers to the Ethics Office that it never had before. Well, i do think that, based on recent experiences, the Ethics Office needs more power than its had before because its functions depended on a white house that wanted to support the ethics program. So when they threw road blocks in the way of the supervising Ethics Offices ability to again access to routine ethics documents, that was a clear signal o. G. E. Didnt have enough ability to carry out its mission. Woodruff recently, walter shaub, youve spoken out about the person who has been named acting director of the Ethics Office since you left. Why the concern there . So, you know i want to make clear that i think that individual, dave apal is an excellent attorney. I hired him because he has a different idea of what o. G. E. Has had because i wanted diversity of opinion. It worked well when i was in charge because i had two see senior officials who had differing opinions and we could have robust debate. Dave was always respectful when a final decision was made. I am concerned he has a particular outlook he would wind up loosening the ethics rules and o. G. E. s interpretations. I would have no problem if they nominated him so the senate could vet these viewpoints but i think the administration did an end run around the natural succession of the chief of staff to appoint one of her subordinates as acting director in order to avoid the Senate Confirmation process and have someone in the office who is sympathetic to their views. Woodruff quickly in the time that we have left, you are trying now as we said to beef up the office of government ethics, working with members of congress from both Political Parties to do this. In a nutshell, what do you think needs to be added . So theres a number of pressures im proposing to try to get o. G. E. A little more independence including the ability to gather records and information if necessary by issuing subpoenas. I also think there are a number of tweaks that can be done to the ethics rules and, ultimately, i would like to see accountability for resolving president ial conflicts of interest. That last one might be a tougher sell, but some of the proposals are technical enough they shouldnt be controversial. Woodruff i hope we can stay in touch with you as you work on this. Walter shaub, former director of the office of government ethics. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Woodruff now, a new study raises Even Stronger concerns about the risks of brain injury from the countrys most popular professional sport. Its the focus of our weekly segment, the leading edge, and Hari Sreenivasan has the story from our new york studios. Sreenivasan weve known about the dangers of hard hits and concussions from football, and that many players are suffering from c. T. E. , or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. But yesterday, the largest study to date concluded that 110 of 111 former n. F. L. Players who had died and donated their brains had c. T. E. These included former greats such as quarterback kenny stabler and linebacker dave duerson. Researchers also looked at the brains of 202 former players, including high school and college players. 87 were found to have c. T. E. The n. F. L. Released a statement. It said in part we appreciate the work for the value it adds in the ongoing quest for a better understanding of c. T. E. The n. F. L. Will continue to work with a wide range of experts to improve the health of current and former n. F. L. Athletes. Michael alosco is a coauthor of the study from the Boston University c. T. E. Center. Michael, tanks for joining us. You and your researchers point out this is not a random sample, that the group of brains you were studying either came directly from the athletes or from members of their family who thought there might be something wrong. That said, what does this information tell you . What does this data point to . This is the largest case series study to date of c. T. E. You know, its among football players. The sheer numbers, the sheer size of the individuals ho had c. T. E. Is really concerning. Its suggesting a link between prior participation in football and c. T. E. Its going to serve as a foundation, as a rich data source Going Forward to really study this disease and figuring out what causes it and identifying the risk factors and to really better understand it. Sreenivasan help us understand what c. T. E. Does to the brain. Its a neurodegenerative disease similar to alzheimers but distinct from alzheimers disease. What we see in c. T. E. Is this protein called tau. It helps stabilize the cell but in c. T. E. Becomes abnormal and starts to collect around the blood vessels. Its located at the base, right below the bottom of the tissue of the brain, and its a really unique presentation. Sreenivasan so, michael, i know you sent us a slide. Were going to put it on the screen on the lefthand side. You see a Cross Section thats almost why. On the righthand side you see a lot more dark ellens. That i suppose is where the c. T. E. Is. How does this affect a players behavior . We see a lot of different types of symptoms in c. T. E. A lot are nonspecific meaning that, you know, we see these symptoms across various conditions. However, in c. T. E. , were commonly seeing behavior changes, so were seeing aggressive behaviors, violent behaviors. Were seeing changes in mood like depression and were also seeing changes in thinking and memory. What we need to identify is what symptoms are specific to c. T. E. And, by doing that, it will help us diagnose c. T. E. In life and really characterize it. Sreenivasan i found it interesting you found this in high school players. That means this wasnt just the bigtime 1 2 superstars hitting each other with tremendous force, but does this have a cumulative effect . That was actually really surprising to us as well as were finding c. T. E. Across the levels of play going from high school to the people who play professionally, as you mentioned. But we dont know how much is too much yet. You know, we dont know what it means, if you just play high school football, we dont know what that means in terms of risk for c. T. E. We did find it in three individuals, but we need to, you know, identify those people and follow them over time to see what happens to them. Sreenivasan speaking of that, while this is obviously the gold standard, you have someones brain to work with, but thats, unfortunately, posthumously. Is there anything hines zions is doing to detect, diagnose and intervene while a player is still alive . Right now we can only diagnose c. T. E. After death, as you mentioned. Our work at Boston University is also, though, studying living subjects and were trying to identify tools that look at the brain, that look at different proteins in the blood, trying to identify these tools that can detect c. T. E. In life, and were really hopeful that, you know, in the next five or seven years well make a lot of progress on that front. Sreenivasan its important to point out youre not just focused on 1 2 players. You have the brains from athletes from other sports as well. Right, the paper were talking about is all about football players. To brain bank for all individuals who had some type of exposure to repetitive head impacts. Sreenivasan one of the questions parents wanted to know is should i pull my child out of football . Thats the milliondollar question we always get. Its a very tough question, and the reason being is we know theres a lot of benefits associated with playing sports and participating in sports, but this study and our findings raise a lot of concern, but we need to do more future research. We need to know more about the disease, more about the risk factors for the disease before we can really make any informed recommendations about policy or about safety. We need to learn more. All right, michael alosco, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Woodruff we turn now to the second half of our series on political divisions in unlikely places. In may, newshour producer Elizabeth Flock wrote about a group of women in a conservative West Virginia coal mining town, who spoke out against President Trump and received backlash from their neighbors. Her new piece, out this week, is an indepth look at a group of conservative women, trying to find their voice in a city known for its progressive politics portland, oregon. And liz joins me now. Liz, welcome back. You were in portland for several days and just got back. Why dud you choose that city . In part, i chose portland just because it was a progressive city and i was really interested to see what is it like to be a trump supporter in such a liberal place. But there had also been a number of recent protrump rallies even after the election in portland in the surrounding area, and those ended in some violent clashes between the left and the right and i was really interested to see what was going on there. Woodruff we actually covered some of those. How did you find these women . How did you get in touch with them and how easy was it to get them to trust you and talk to you . I saw them all online on protrump facebook groups, women for trump. It was hard to gain their trust. A lot had no interested in speaking to me. There is a perception the media is very liberal, bias, produces fake news, some said theyd speak to me and later made the decision they didnt want to. One woman i met in a public park because she said im concerned about meeting you, i dont know what youre going to do when i meet you, maybe you will try to hurt me, so maybe we should meet in a public place, so theres a lot of fear of the media and how theyre portrayed. Woodruff tell us about what its like for them, what do they go through as their express their political views . They certainly get a lot of pushback from their for their beliefs and some do have more extreme beliefs, others hold more moderate views, but theyre clumped together and called racist and bigots regularly. Theyre attacked online. Told they should go die. One woman said when she was walking her dog and wearing a trump hat one man stopped to say your kind isnt wanted here, you should leave. They go to the rallies, even a more extreme reaction. Many people in portland in the Pacific Northwest come out to counterprotest these rallies and some are more liberal portlanders who say i dont agree, but others are militant leftists who show up and say were unapologetic about using physical violence against these Trump Supporters. And certainly violence happens on both sides, but the militant leftists are very unapologetic and open about it. Woodruff for people who didnt realize it, its eye opening. One of the women you talked to i transgender. Her name is athena brown. Athena switched parties from being a democrat to being a republican in mid 2016 just before the election. She became fed up, she said, with what she saw as Political Correctness on the left and in the liberal lgbt community, and she told me, you know, when i came out as transgender, i lost two friends. When i came out as republican, i lost 100 friends on facebook. So she really saw that as an example of the lefts intolerance to people who do not share their views. Woodruff how do these women keep going . In that environment where they are such a minority, what keeps them going . How do they deal with it . I think theyre actually invigorated by the pushback theyre getting. I think they feel its important to go out and defend what they see as an attack on free speech and, you know, one of the interesting things i saw is, as the left tried to shut down what they had to say, these Trump Supporters, these women were more determined to go out and to speak. They just wanted to get more active and became more trident in their beliefs. Woodruff so in a way it was a mirror image of the antitrump women you talked to in conservative West Virginia. Absolutely. In both places, i think as people tried to shut down what they had to say, these women just wanted to speak out louder. They wanted to get more involved and more active. But in both places, it felt like people on opposite sides to have the political divide were not speaking to each other. They were speaking past each other and there was no interest in really hearing what the other side had to say. Woodruff discouraging, but some great reporting. Liz flock, thank you very much. Thanks. Woodruff and you can find lizs full reports on our web site. Thats pbs. Org newshour. And that is the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and well see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at www. 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. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org youre watching pbs. Rose welcome to the program. We begin tonight with President Trumps ongoing criticism of attorney general Jeff Sessions. We talked to Jonathan Swan of axios and Peter Beinart of cnn and the atlantic. There is a story that sessions, and i can imagine this is true, tried to resign or went in and offered his resignation. Yeah, thats accurate. Thats accurate. He did. It wasnt quite as dramatic as has been reported. Sessions basically said to him, you know, if you feel its the right thing to do, you know, im happy to resign. It was very much out of a sense of honor. Although ive talked to people close to sessions and they say, since his resignation, hes really enjoying the job and doesnt want to leave, but even they wonder how much longer he can sort of withstand the public humiliation of the president f