Temples. Sreenivasan all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by love me tender love me true we can like many, but we can love only a precious few. Because it is for those precious few that you have to be willing to do so very much. But you dont have to do it alone. Lincoln financial helps you provide for and protect your financial future, because this is what you do for people you love. Lincoln financial youre in charge. You were born with two stories. One you write every day, and one you inherited thats written in your d. N. A. 23andme. Com is a Genetic Service that provides personalized reports about traits, health and ancestry. Learn more at www. 23andme. Com. Fathom travel, offering cruises to cuba and the dominican republic. Travel deep. Md anderson cancer center. Making cancer history. Bnsf railway. Genentech. 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. Sreenivasan president obama launched an electionyear effort today to undercut republican claims that the country is in decline. He said its not borne out by the facts, but he acknowledged americans are feeling stressed. He spoke in an exclusive interview with gwen ifill, at a pbs newshour town hall in elkhart, indiana. When weve gone through a tough time, and we went through worst financial crisis in our lifetimes, in most people here, then you feel nervous. A lot of times, its easy for someone to come up and say, if we deport all the immigrants, build a wall, or if we cut off trade with china or if we do x or y or z, that theres some simple answer and suddenly, everythings going to feel secure. Sreenivasan the town hall will air this evening in a pbs newshour special. And, well have an extended excerpt of our interview with the president , after the news summary. In the days other news, the president ial race was dominated by questions about Trump University, Donald Trumps defunct real estate seminar business. Two lawsuits charge it defrauded customers, and newly released Court Documents include instructions to trump employees to use highpressure tactics. In newark, new jersey today, Democrat Hillary Clinton charged its more evidence that the republican nomineetobe is a fraud. He is trying to scam america, the way he scammed all those people at Trump University. Its important that we recognize what he has done, because its a pretty good indicator of what he will do. Sreenivasan trump did not immediately respond, but he has said that most people who took the seminars were satisfied. Hes also accused the san diego judge who released the documents of being hostile to him. That judge now says some of the material was released by mistake, and must be resealed until sections can be blacked out. Flooding fueled by heavy rain swept across more of the texas countryside today. Several rivers surged over their banks, and evacuation orders went out to a series of towns. Houstons southwestern suburbs braced for the worst as the brazos river hit record highs and kept going. Very scary just watching the water rise so fast. I mean it was so fast. I couldnt believe it. Sreenivasan entire communities and their roadways are now submerged by the flooded river, and many homes have been turned into islands. Hundreds of people who live in them have been forced to flee, but others are cut off. Officials have carried out more than 120 boat rescues across fort bend county, including this one in rosenberg. Police in the nearby city of richmond warn theres more to come. This river is going to stay high throughout the rest of the week and into the weekend. So were going to have some um, this is going to be awhile. Sreenivasan at the same time, major flooding has paralyzed parts of north texas. The Trinity River is on the rise at dallas. Floodwaters have also engulfed granbury, outside fort worth. Now, with up to ten more inches of rain in the forecast, much of texas is under a flash flood watch. From flood to fire the people of fort mcmurray, canada began returning home today, for the First Time Since a wildfire roared through one month ago. A trickle of traffic brought evacuees back into the town in alberta today. They were told to bring up to two weeks of supplies, as basic services have yet to be restored. The fire destroyed 2,400 buildings about 10 of the city and forced 80,000 people to flee. A French Company says its search vessel has picked up black box signals from an egyptair plane that crashed last month. They came from deep in the mediterranean sea, near the planes last known location, north of alexandria, egypt. The flight disappeared on may 19, with 66 people on board. Search teams have found debris, but the cause of the crash remains unclear. The u. N. Childrens fund warned today that 20,000 iraqi children are caught in the fighting at fallujah. Theyre among some 50,000 civilians trapped there. The warning came as Government Forces ran into fierce resistance from Islamic State militants. Prime minister Haider Alabadi visited the front line, and said the military is trying to safeguard fallujahs people. The enemy has been denied most of the chances to flee. But many civilians are still there. Ed main target of the operation now is to reduce the number of victims among civilians and also to decrease losses among our armed forces. We may raise the iraqi flak inside fallujah in the coming few days. Sreenivasan despite that prediction, its widely expected that the fight for fallujah could go on for some time. In somalia, Islamist Alshabab militants stormed a hotel in mogadishu, killing at least six people and taking a number of hostages. The dead included two members of parliament. The attack began when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle in front of the hotels entrance, leaving burning wreckage. Several gunmen then stormed in. Its the latest in a series of such attacks. Back in this country, federal officials announced they wont charge two minneapolis policemen with civil rights violations, for killing a black man last november. 24yearold jamar clark was shot during a struggle with the white officers. It sparked weeks of protests, with demonstrators claiming clark was handcuffed when he was shot. But the u. S. Attorney says the evidence suggests he was not. Given the lack of bruising, the lack of mr. Clarks dna on the handcuffs and the deeply conflicted testimony about whether he was handcuffed, we determined that we could not pursue this case based on a prosecution theory that mr. Clark was handcuffed at the time that he was shot. Sreenivasan earlier this year, a state prosecutor also declined to file charges in clarks death. Meanwhile, in oklahoma, a former volunteer sheriffs deputy faces four years in prison for fatally shooting an unarmed suspect last year. Robert bates is 74. He was sentenced tuesday in tulsa, for Second Degree manslaughter. Bates killed eric harris during a sting involving illegal gun sales. He has said he meant to use a stun gun, but grabbed his handgun by mistake. Wall street struggled today to eke out small gains. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up just two points to close at 17,789. The nasdaq rose four points, and the s p 500 added two. And, an excavation in london has unearthed the oldest handwritten document ever found in britain. The roman tablet dates from 57 a. D. , just 14 years after the city was founded. It turned up during construction of a new headquarters for media giant bloomberg. In all, more than 400 wooden tablets were found, including one with the earliest written reference to london. The records refer to everything from beer deliveries to legal rulings. Still to come on the Newshour Gwen Ifill sits down with the president and we get the analysis of mark shields and david brooks; a nasa mission to create an inflatable space pod; why nearly half of americans dont have 400 for an emergency, and much more. Sreenivasan now, back to gwen in elkhart, indiana. Heres more from her wide ranging interview with the president people including probably some folks in this room think the deficits have gone up and the john its rate has gone up. And the fact that their lives have not improved. How in fact, we have the nominee for the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party saying, donald trump, saying america say third world nation. How do you persuade or how does your likely democratic successor, possible, persuade anybody thats not true. Well, its important you said my successor. Because michelle would be very upset if she thought i was running again. Look, you just look at the evidence here in elkhart, as you mentioned in the introduction. When i took office, this was its first city i came to. And unemployment about a month after i took office, month and a half after i took office was almost 20 . One out of ten people were behind on their mortgage or in foreclosure. Today the Unemployment Rate is around 4 . Its only about one in po people who are behind on their mortgage. Now the rv industry which is central to elkhart is on track to break records in terms of sales. And so that doesnt mean that folks arent struggling in some circumstances. And within of the things that i have emphasized is that there are some longterm trends in the economy that we have to tackle in terms of wages not going up as fast as they used to smrks some big costs like College Costs or healthcare costs that are still a challenge. People still worries about retirement. And so were going to have to make sure that we make some good decisions Going Forward. But the notion that some how america is in decline is just not born out by the facts. Ifill but it resonates. There are a lot of aggrieved people voting in big numbers for donald trump. Look, i think that what has always been true in the american politics is that when we have gone through a tough time and we went through the worst financial crisis of our lifetimes. Im looking around. And i think its safe to say that its been the worst in the lifetimes, or memories of most people here. Then you feeler in vowses. People lost homes. People lost savings. People were worried about whether or not they could make ends meet. And so even though we have recovered, people feel like the ground under their feet isnt quite as solid. And in those circumstances, a lot of times its easy for somebody to come up and say you know what, if we deport all the immigrants and build a wall or if we cut off trade with china or if we do x or y or z, that there is some simple answer and suddenly everythings going to feel secure. Ifill why dont you mention donald trump by name . You know, he seems to do a good job mentioning his own name. So i figured, you know, i will let him do his advertising for him. Ifill do you consider any of the attacks are backlash against you personally . Here is the thing i would saivment i just spoke about this at the local high school. I think trump is a more colorful character than some of the other republican elected officials. But a lot of the story that hes telling is entirely consistent with what folks have been saying about me or the general story theyve been telling about the economy for the last seven and a half, the last ten, the last 20, the last 30 years. Sreenivasan and, we pick it up from there with newshour regulars, syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. What struck me was the president was making the case for his eight years in office that the change had been improvement. Implicit is a recognition that Donald Trumps candidacy is not simply a rejection of president s obamas two years, it would be a repudiation of him. And even though with gwens baiting he wouldnt say his name or was very reluctant to say donald trump a name, i think the president recognizes that. And i think he is chomping at the bit to get in the campaign. First on the repudiation point, david axelrod, his former strategist made this point months ago, each election people have a psychological shift to the opposite personality type. So we went from george w. Bush, gut, to the head from obama and now from obama were going to from the whereever donald trump. So sa so there are radically different personality types. And i think there is something for axelrods point, people do look for something different. On the economic point, i think hes right and wrong. Hes right about the gross numbers that the Unemployment Rate is coming down, job creation has been pretty good. But it say two tier thing. If you look at manufacturing, especially over the last 19 months, its been hit by week demand, from abroad, so many Company Countries in recession, hit by the high dollar. Those sort of industrial places like elkhart, michigan, upstate new york, central pennsylvania, those manufacturing sectors have been worse off now than they were even a couple of years ago because of sort of weak manufacturing. Sreenivasan what about this idea there is a disconnect. We had it on the website from the different people in this townhall. That the president can lay out his case and hear all the economic numbers, here are the facts, here is what your unemployment was, here is what st now. But you had somebody stand up and say i used to work at the manufacturing plant. My job is gone. What are you going to do about it . Thats right, carrier air conditioning which donald trump played to a fairly well, quite honestly, and understandably, that they are leaving indianapolis and going to mexico and taking the jobs with it. I thought he made a better case. Its a sense of trying to remind people, but it comes down to how do you feel. I mean president obama has a surprisingly good job rating. David mentioned george w. Bush. George w. Bush in the fall of 2008 when john mccain was trying to win another term for the republican white house, had a 25 favorable rating. The president is over 50. I mean hes got a higher job rating. But people dont feel good about the direction. Country. And i think thats real. And thats partly washington. Its partly wall street. Things arent working, that nobody really cared that the top 1 percent i think there is a whole host of factors that contribute to that. But the president is, he is cerebral. He makes a cerebral argument. At a gut level. It probably isnt is persuasive. Its so regional. If you go to the industrial midwest, yeah, it feels like that. It feels bad. You go to the bay area, theyre adding jobs at a great way. You go to nashville, orlando is back, phoenix is back, houston is exploding. And so the sun belt is back. And the sun belt was so badly hit in 2008 but its back. The industrial midwest is almost in another downward hickup. Events like this, i mean there was a specific reason he chose elkhart . This was the first place he visited after his presidency began. He wants to, this is a kind of legacy solidifying look at how much this place has improved since i have been in office, right . But it almost feels like as mark said, almost a Campaign Style event to solid fie the legacy. Just reminder, i was pretty good for the country. Yeah. It is not the right moment for that, probably. This is a moment when pessimism is just in vogue. Hes got numbers on his side overall, as i said, but the country is not in a mood to think its heading in the right track. There is an almost near consensus that we are not. Those numbers are impressive. 19. 6 unemployment in elkhart when he first went down, down to 4 . It is, once again, as it claimed to be, the rv, recreation vehicle capitol of the world. The mortgage and people who are behind in their mortgage payment facing foreclosure t was one out of ten in 2009. Now its one out of 30. I mean those are all improvements. Those are all you could say well, it would have happened anyway. It could have happened in spite of. But he took some real actions that were controversy that cost him politically to do it. And you know, i think hes entitled to take some credit for the improvement. There were emails going around today saying you know what, the people of elkhart succeeded in spite of the president. I think that was governor mike pens up for election this year. The test to me whether the president is in good shape or bad shape is that joe donelly, the democratic senator was there at the event. Hes up for reelection next year, not this year. But i mean if you really think that somebody is tie foid mary, politically, you can think of greater reasons not to be there. There are some Committee Assignments that you will keep you busy. But the fact that he was there with the president probably indicated to me that he felt that the president would be a help rather than a hindrance to his own career. Despite the fact that the president would not prefer to name donald trump outloud, it is almost like he is like the harry potter character volumed mortgage or something. Voldemort or something. He is right in the news. Here we have a possibility that the democratic and Republican Committee nominees could have legal clouds hanging over them or at least an investigation hanging over them as they become the nominees and representatives of the party for the presidency. Trump, my newspaper had a good story on the Trump University. O we sort of had the outlines of the story but i think what was fresh in some of the new documents that we now have access to ised way that professors at Trump University were really pressuring people to get out their credit cards to get multiple credit cards, to max out their credit cards to give all this money to Trump University and give all these people high and dry and deeply in Debt Offering them little in return, so it was the machinations of scamming these people that we learned today. Sreenivasan fair that Hilla