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This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contribuons to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Stephanie stephanie syg, i am Judy Woodruff will have more after the headlines. Ao development ie conflict between the u. S. And iran playing out in iraq tonight. Ke u. S. Airst struck targets on the road to Baghdad International airport. According to iraqi state tv, killed one of the highest ranking iranian commanders. Also reportedly killed, the commander h of kabollah, and iranian m backeitia operating in iraq. I want to bring in our rrespondent makes shrift, joining us from washington, d. C. If these deaths are confirmed, and there are multipleews outlets confirming these deaths, there are two big players in iran and iraq, especially solo money soleimani. Nick its i impossible to overstate how significant this is to what iran does both inside iran and across the region. As you said, we do not have knnfirmation of his death, nor that the u. S he was in this convoy or struck it from y u. S. Officials. Lets make sure that caveat is said. Who soleimani . A military comm most powerful military commander in the region because of what he does. He is a powerbroker. Hes rlitant groups across four to five Different Countries around the region. Helpediplomat who negotiate the government in iraq where he was during this strike. He is one of the single most powerful people in iran will respond and context, he is the top military commander. The way iran works around the region is using proxies, weather has bola in lebanon, hamas in gaza, the houthis in yemen. All of them are run by soleimani and soleimanis lieutenants. Irill certainly respond if it is true soleimani has been killed. Stephanie there have been previous reports in prior years of soleimanis death, that is how big of a fish he is in iran. , unconfirmed report reuters is reporting insignificant detail, quoting Iraqi Militia officials, that the iraan backed militia leader reportedly killed was going to the wrport to meeh soleimani and as soleimani descended from the plane, that is when the airstrikes hit. That is being appointed by reuters. Is this a maj escalation in the u. S. Approach toward iran and what does it meanoing forward . Ck we are still not sure if the u. S. Knew it was targeting senior officials, so we should be careful on what this means about u. S. Strategy, but weid hear from secretary of defen mark esper torning. He warned iran not toonct any more attacks toward u. S. Soldiers and he said the u. S. Could launch a preemptive sike against any kind of iranianr proiranian officials and he did make that warning a few hours before the strike. He did give a hint about tha larger conte owhat is going on, detention has been increasing. The u. S. Has been trying to attack iran economically through sanctions, leaving the iran nuclear deal. Thato pushed iran t respond in Military Form in iraq, that was targeting u. S. Bases in iraq. We saw one american servicemember killed over the weekend. That led the u. S. To launch five strikes against a particular militia that is proiranian in iraq and killed more than two dozen people. We saw an unprecedented attack on the embassy in baghdad and now we have this. This is a very quick escalation d between the u. S. An. Stephanie we have not heard a comments yet from the u. S. No, i reached out to white house, defense, state Department Intelligence officials. Nobody is willing to talk yet about what has happened in baghdad as you say, iraqi state tv reports are reporting about this. The u. S. Has been sayingd t worike iranian targets or proiranian targets. Even the president warned iran that the u. S. Would inflictag lot of don iran if it did cause any damage. That redline was crossed this past weekend whentiroiranian mikilled a u. S. Servicemember. We should also point out tresident trump says he does want a war if this is true, iran will ve a very violent response and a lot of fear that will leadhe u. S. To respond and we could have a cycle of escalation. Stephanie we expect more fallout fromheeports. Nick schifrin, joining us from washington, d. C. , we know you will stay on top o thank you. Moving ono oth news, a vast swath of australia burning tonight with forecasts of worse to come. Thousands order evacuate. A record summer fire season charred 12 million acres, destroyed 1400 homes and left 17 people dead. Fires are burning across the rest of the country. Dan rivers of independent televisi news reports from New South Wales where whole communities are in ashes. Dan on new years eve ili felt the world was ending. Not justr. The yea wildfires swept through in minutes. A local resident films as the fires approaches neighbors house. This is all that is left. Hpetere did not survive either. I jumped in the car. It was so hot, i cannot describe it. The ferocity and speed of this fire. Anyone who thought they would beat this fire were taking life into their own hands. Dan he has not experienced fea like this si escaped the war in lebanon. You could hear trees, bottles exploding. It was leica war zone. I have lived in a war zone and that is what it rded me of. Dan for those who losty everything the owned, the only comfort is knowing family and friends survive. This is what hpens when a fire storm collides with the community. This is all that is left of the park where at least 89 homes have been destroyediln one persond. It was literally hot enough to meltars. Dowying, just a few miles the coast, other places facing the same prospect. The princess highway isy the oy wat and it is closed. A 200 mile traffic jam as the clock ticks down. I would like to home, not sleep in my car tonight. T i know there are others who do not have water with them. Dan the Australian Navy have been evacuating people where 4000 were stranded on the beach. Exposed to choking smoke and doing what they can to protect vulnerable lgs as they leave. The town may be cut offek for wewith Water Supplies out, being brought in by boat. The smoke means it is too dangerous to fly. A state of emergency has been declared as australs prime nister fends off accusations of failing to helphis crisis. Residents refused to shake his hand, hedkling him as he visit the devastated town. Our town does not have a lot of money, bute have hearts ofgo , mr. Prime minister. You saw the strength of that says everything about australia, the spirit that will get them through this t weeke rebuild. Dan some already blaming Climate Change for the three year drought that preceded this, reeling from their lost. There might be more to come this weekend. Stephanie that was dan rivers of independent Television News reporting. Back in this country the democratic president ial priedry field narr with Julian Castro dropping out. The former obama secretary failed to make headway in the polls m in raisingey. He was the only latino still in the race. We will return to the president ial campaign with the latest fundraising reports after the news. Top democrats stepping up demands for full disclosure atme senate impea trial of President Trump. They said today claims by the online forum just security prove is hiding something unredacted white house emails show mr. Trump directlordered a hold on security funds to ukraine and later ordered their release. The trump administtion today announced a ban on most of the flavored ecigarettes. Cartridgebas products, but does exempt menthol and tobacco flavors and large tanktype devices that cater to adult 39 of the 52 republican u. S. Senators asked the Supreme Court to overturn roe v. Wade, the decision that le. Lized aborti more than 160ou republicans assigned the brief supporting a it requires doctors performg abortions to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles. The court will hear arguments in march. Rtcarolina will have the largest ash cleanup and history. Duke energy will dig up ash a six sites andove it to live landfills to prevent leaking. The leak ctaminated 70 miles of the dan river. Major indexes surged closes after china centralbank announced economias stimulus es. The dow jones gained 330 points. The nasdaq rose 119 points and the s p 500 added 27. The only man to pitch a perfect baseball game in world series has died. Don larsen passed away last night in idaho. He had esophageal canc. His moment came in the 1956 series with the u. S. Lankys. Lars beat the brooklyn dodgers , retiring all 27 batters in order. The inkys went on to win the yetle. Don larson wass old. Nt trump, can presi hold onto his support for evangelical voters . Losing their religion, the compcated relationship between Young Americans and faith. Follow the money, what is included in the 1. 4 trillion federal bill. And much more. This is the pbs newshour from ashington and from the Walter Cronkite university. Judy 2019 was a year of dramatic changes in new trends in campaign finance. Some president ial candidates spend big money getting donors to meet new Democratic Party debate criteria. Amllionaires bankrolled their ownign while other candidates struggled to raise enough money to keep their campaigns running. To talk about this and more, i am joined by the washington post. Good to see you. Thank you for joining us. First of all, how does this year in fsing generally compare other election years . Remichelle there ajor new trends in political fundraising. One of which is the rise of small dollar donors and the power of giving at really had to be harnessed by democratic candidates. Bespecialause the Democratic National committee made a oonor thresho of the qualifications for making it onto a debate stage. So we saw democratic candidateso arying degrees of success, be able to build online donation programs, rehing out to donors, grassroot supporters, just to even ask for a dollar or 5 at a time to help show momentum for their candidacy. Its been especially important because it was such a wide field to begin with, and still is quite large, with so many competitive candidates, that one two or a handful, really, rise to the top by being able to tap into that online donor momentum. Judy interesting, because we have seen in the past some candidates raising big amounts of money tough Political Action committees, socalled, super paper Political Action committees. Those are still around, but thy just dont function the way they used to. Michelle theyre still around. But we have seen in the imdemocratic president ial y that there is almost a vilification of the participation of such donors and people who have ties to special interests. Increasingly, democrats have begun to distance themselves from cporate pac donations, fossil fuel money, you know, saying they wont take money from pharmaceutical executives. So there have been almost these purity tests that have been t each other in terms of the type of money that you should and can raise from. Some candidates still continue to raise money in thesefu highdollaraisers, private events that cater to more wealthy donors. Judy right. Michelle othiss are stl g lots of money from a healthy small dollar base. Judy lets look atome of the numbers. We had the reporting just in. Leading off,mp president t raised 40 6 million, overshadowing any one of the other democrats but not so far behind him, bernie sanders, 34. 5, joe biden he came in third among democrats at 22. 7 million dollars. What do we learn about these numbers . Michelle these are early looks at the most flattering figures. Once public filings are revealed, we will get to see exactly how muchoney they have to spend going into the early stages. Mbthese s show there is a lot of donor energy forming on the left that a lot strategists hope will coalesce around the nominee. Meanile, President Trump is just rolling on forward with a very, very powerful reelection mache that raises a lot of money from both small donors and wealthy donors. Hae top fundraisers so fa pretty much stayed in that place over the past over e previous quarter too. And theyre the toppolling candidates as well going into the early states. They reflect just how unsettled the democratic primary field still is and could be for another few weeks. Judy money has eliminated some of theseandidates. Day Julian Castro annoced he is dropping out. He hasnt been able tomoaise y, get his numbers up in the polls. On one hand money matters, but it makes a difference for these candidates. Michelle icould drive up momentum. For example, the sanders campaign, when they came out. 5 with illion today, that was eyepopping. Thats not only the biggest thats not only the biggest quarterly haul this year, its one of the top quarterly hauls in an of election. President ial that was especially remarkable compared to the previous quarter, when he was kind of stagnating in the polls. And then on the first day of the fourthquarter fundraising period, he had a heart attack, and people were asking how viable his candidacy was going to be, how this was going to grfect him. But he really had t revival and raised a ton of money. Going into the next few weeks,es cially before the nittygritty details are made public about the money itself, this is going to help him generate a lot of new donors and donations. Judy o a lotf interest in these numbers. Still waiting to hear from elizabeth warren. Michelle ye hee lee,hank you very much. Chelle thank you. Judy there areofigns emerging deepening rift among one of presiden trump biggest voting blocs, white evangelic. Christia the effort, he will be in miami to kick off the evangelicals for trump coalition. Lisa desjardins pickp. A recent editorial published in christianity today founded by billy graham started aate during the height ofhe impeachment calling for trump to be removed from office, saying his actions in ukraine were profoundly immoral and said President Trump abused his constitutional oath. To explore how the president support might be shifting or not, i am joined by richard land and executive esttor of the chn post. And collin hansen, thank you for joining us. Dr. Land, aesponse for that call to impeachment in another publicatiodefending your president and his christian supporters. Tell us how you see this. Dr. Land first of all, we are this close to an election, we ought to let people decide whether mr. Trump should be removed from offic most evangelicals feel the president , despite misgivings they have about his language or some of his behavior, believe ifat hes the most pro president in the modern era, that hes done more religious liberty through the appointment of conservative judges and through speaking out for religious liberty around the world, for muslims, for christns, for jews, his statements against antisemitism and his actions against antisemitism, that he is, at the very least, at the ver ast, the lesser of two evils against mrs. Clinton and also against thcurrent crop of democratic candidates. And so i find that most evangelicals still support him. They dont condone everything he does. He was my last choice in the primaries. I know a lot of evangelicals that he was either their second, third, fourth, fifth or last choice in thprimaries, but once it became a binary choice between mrs. Clinton and mr. Trump, we decided that mr. Trump was the better choice. And most of us have been pleasantly surprised that hes done bettethan we thought he would. Lisa clin, why didnt you vote for President Trump and why do you think he shouldnt be president . Does he represent . Christian valu collin well, he is our president , and i havent taken any positionn the peachment proceedings. I do not think i am qualifiedo speak to that. What i have seen with President Trump is silar to what dr. Land talked about. Many evangelicals, like myself, who had been skeptical of him, actually saw hes actually turned out to be, in some ways, better than we expected. nd, at the same time, many of the things that were discouraged by, some of his racially charged comments and some of his well, basically his constant twitter presence, t are things tre well known to everybody who voted for him last time around. In that sense things havent changed. I do not oppose him in that regard. I think the bible very clearly calls us to vote excuse me, not to vote but to pray for , those people in office, whoever they might be, and ultimately to trust them for the outcome. My main concern is the perception of white evangelicalp as a sort tisan part of the Republican Party, essentially the Republican Party at prayer. I think thats a problem for the church going forward. Lisa this is a president who does not tk about asking god for forgiveness. Hes not known as a churchgoer in general, hadnt been before this. And hes someone who right now is accused of using his political power for his own personal gain, which clearly is something that jesus was against. Jesus was the opposite. Use your power to help people richard, i want to ask you, then, how do you justify this president , who some people question how he reflects chstian values or not . Dr. Land f welst of all, i would share some of those concerns. And thats why he was my last choice in the primaries. But when it mes to trying to save the lives of the 1,150 babies a day that are being aborted in the united states, which i think is a moral issue, mr. Trump is on e right s