Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170712

Trip to the countrys southern border, where isis propaganda has taken hold. Theres been a local insurgency here in the capital of dagestan, makhachkala, for years, targeting both local authorities and symbols of the national government. 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. 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 President Trump is heading back to europe tonight, this time to france for its independence, or bastille day, celebrations. But, he leaves behind a swirl over his sons efforts to get damaging information about Hillary Clinton, provided by the russian government. John yang begins our coverage. Reporter across capitol hill, the big question was what the bombshell revelations in donald trump jr. s emails do to the russia investigation. At his weekly news conference, House Speaker paul ryan did his best to avoid commenting directly. We have a special counsel thats doing an investigation over at the Justice Department. We have an investigation here in the house. We have an investigation in the senate. I think its very important that these professionals in these committees do their jobs, so that we can get to the bottom of this. Reporter mike conaway, the texas republican leading the house investigation, didnt say much, either. Reporter are you concerned about the meetings that he took with the russian lawyer . Were going to pursue every lead that makes sense to pursue and every clue that needs to be pursued. Reporter does this need to be pursued . Were going to pursue every lead that makes sense pursue. Reporter in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow on the christian broadcast network, President Trump said russian president Vladimir Putin wouldnt have wanted want to help him in the first place. If hillary had won, our military would be decimated. Our energy would be much more expensive. Thats what putin doesnt like about me. And thats why i say why would he want me. Reporter last night, donald trump jr. Offered his first public defense, to fox news channels sean hannity. In retrospect, i probably would have done things a little differently. Again, this was before russia mania. This was before they were building it up in the press. For me, this was Opposition Research. Reporter this morning, mr. Trump gave his eldest son a rave review he was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest witch hunt in political history. At his confirmation hearing to be f. B. I. Director, Christopher Wray was pressed on that point. He had a different view of the investigations including special counsel Robert Muellers probe than the man who nominated him. Im asking you as the future f. B. I. Director do you consider this endeavor a witch hunt . I do not consider director mueller to be on a witch hunt. Reporter meanwhile, the president s legal team tried to distance their client from his namesake. The president was not aware of the meeting, did not participate in the meeting, did not attend the meeting and was only made aware of the emails actually reading the emails, seeing the emails, was yesterday when they were released. For mr. Trump, the russia story has become a burden he cannot escape, no matter how hard the tries. Every time he appears to be moving in a different direction, another disclosure puts it right back front and center. Today, Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov seemed to sympathize. translated today i turned on the tv again, and all the western channels are discussing only this. It is amazing how serious people can make a mountain when there might not even be a mole hill. Reporter theres sure to be more discussion next week, when the Senate Judiciary committee wants former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort to testify about his role. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff later, the president told reuters that he only learned of donald trump jr. s meeting with a russian lawyer a few days ago. But, he said, i think many people would have held that meeting. He also said that he asked russian president putin last week if he had meddled in the u. S. Election, and putin said, twice absolutely not. We will explore the legal implications of all this, after the news summary. In the days other news, Federal Reserve chair janet yellen affirmed that shortterm Interest Rates are likely to rise again in the coming months. But she also left the door open to changing those plans. Yellen told a congressional hearing that a recent slowdown in inflation might make the central bank recalculate. Monetary policy is not on a preset course. Were watching it very closely, and stand ready to adjust our policy if it appears that the inflation undershoot will be persistent. Woodruff separately, yellen said the fed could begin unloading its massive Bond Holdings this year. It bought government bonds during and after the recession to lower longterm Interest Rates, and boost economic activity. Wall street took heart from yellens talk of going slow on rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 123 points to close at 21,532 a new record. The nasdaq rose nearly 68 points, and the s p 500 added 17. One of brazils former president s, Luiz Inacio Lula da silva, was convicted today in a sweeping corruption probe. A judge sentenced him to 9. 5 years in prison, but for now he remains free, pending his appeal. Silva served as president from 2003 to 2010, and is still widely admired in brazil. In saudi arabia today, u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson held talks, but made no apparent progress in ending a boycott of another persian gulf nation, qatar. Tillerson met with king salman, and later the saudi crown prince, in the city of jiddah. Later, he flew to kuwait, and returns to qatar tomorrow. The saudis and other arab states have accused qatar of financing terrorism. In turkey, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected any talk of lifting a state of emergency. He imposed it last july after rogue soldiers tried to overthrow the government, killing more than 240 people. Erdogan visited graves of the victims yesterday, and he told International Investors today that the government is still rooting out disloyal elements. translated what are we supposed to do with all this happening . They say lift the state of emergency. This wont happen. I had an interview with an International Media organization. They asked if the state of emergency will finish. It will finish when this business is completely out of the way. Woodruff erdogans opponents say he has used emergency rule to quash dissent. There is word that chinese political dissident and nobel peace laureate liu xiaobo is now in critical condition. A hospital in shenyang reported today he is suffering multiple organ failure. Liu has latestage liver cancer. He was released from prison on medical leave last month. Back in this country, the royal bank of scotland has agreed on a settlement with u. S. Regulators, and will pay 5. 5 billion. It involves claims that the bank sold billions of dollars of toxic, mortgagebacked securities before the 2008 financial meltdown. And, President Trump lost his nominee today to lead the federal deposit insurance corporation. James clinger cited family related obligations that prompted him to leave Government Service earlier this year. He said they have grown more challenging in the interim. Still to come on the newshour the legal questions surrounding donald trump jr. s meeting with a russian lawyer. President trumps pick for f. B. I. Director faces the senate. An iceberg the size of delaware breaks off from antarctica and, much more. Woodruff now, back to the controversies swirling around donald trump jr. And the president s top campaign aides. The email Exchange Published by donald trump jr. On tuesday reignited a legal debate about whether members of the Trump Campaign engaged in unlawful activity. We get two perspectives, from bob bauer; he served as white House Counsel to president obama, from 2009 to 2011. He is now a lawyer in private practice in washington. And, Jed Shugerman. Hes a professor at Fordham University law school. Gentlemen, we thank you both for being with us. Bob bauer, to you first, we know the president s son was told that the russian government had incriminating information on Hillary Clinton that i wanted to share with him. Did he break a law by pursuing that . In my view, we have some evidence, we dont have all the evidence. I would suspect the Congressional Investigating Committee and the special council will continue to dig into questions raised by the facts disclosed by the New York Times and by donald trump, jr. Himself, but this is highly suggestive of a potential violation of the law on two counts. Number one, it demonstrates the companincampaign as a whole hadt to solicit support from a Foreign National source, in this case, russia. Second, the meeting could constitute illegal solicitation of a Foreign National under Campaign Finance law. Both have broad significance and on the specific issue of liability, a more concrete significance. Woodruff youre tying it to Campaign Finance. Im talking about a statute on the books for many Years Congress tightened in 2002 that prohibits receiving and soliciting contributions from a Foreign National or providing the Foreign National with substantial assistance in trying to influence a u. S. Election. Woodruff Jed Shugerman, listening to this, and i know you have been looking at the laws with regard to this today, does this sound like something that fits under that Legal Definition . Yeah, i have been looking at this quite a bit and reading bobs work. Bob, generally, hes a terrific expert on this. I think i disagree with him and how far to apply Campaign Finance law. Im very sympathetic to his perspective here. However, i think were getting into some dangerous territory with applying federal election law too broadly at this stage. News keeps breaking every day, so im just saying, knowing what we know now, to argue this meeting itself is a violation of the Campaign Finance law raise as couple of questions. First of all, it raises the danger of applying and criminalizing contacts between anyone in a campaign with a Foreign National. Let me give you a hypothetical. Imagine if there was a web site that published what purported to be the birth certificate of president obama from kenya, and an obama staffer went and met with kenyon nationals to find out about the veracity of that document. Under this interpretation, that would still be a thing of value, but would we criminalize the Obama Campaign for checking and, similarly, would we say the romney campaign, you cant do Opposition Research by investigating. Woodruff let me go ahead. Woodruff let me stop you on that point. What about that, bob bauer, that theres a danger in making this cover, any kind of information shared by a campaign by a foreign entity . Thats not the case at all here. Were not talking about a casual conversation with some information that the campaign is looking for it sort of acquires by talking to a Foreign National. Were talking about an operational link between a Foreign Government and a campaign, one in which the Foreign Government is stating its intention to provide ongoing support, dispatches one of its emissaries if were to understand the facts as so far presented in the news, dispatches one of its emissaries from moscow to washington, d. C. And, on top of all that, not only does the campaign indicate its anxious for the help, but, as you recall, donald trump, jr. Even snughts one of his emails that he would like to discuss timing, that if the information is as good as advertised, he would like to see it released later in the summer. The Company Finance laws distinguish between the kind of specie that i think professor shugerman is legitimately concerned about than this kind of information. Woodruff judge shugerman, it is the case that the email to donald trump, jr. Said the russian government wants to help your campaign. All of this is indicative or suggestive of what we might find out later. I think if we carefully read the emails, i think its hard to make the leap that this is like a coordination. There are indications there. I understand where bob bauer is coming from. I think we have to be careful, though, because if you read the email from a little bit of perspective of how can this be applied in the future and can we have line drawing here, its hard to see where this email doesnt immediate lead to some effects of applying this to any kind of contact between governments. Woodruff let me asking both of you, and to you Jed Shugerman first, the word collusion, colluding has been thrown around a lot in the last few weeks about whether the Trump Campaign was colluding with russian officials, is there some legal issue there . Is that an issue . Word collusion is more political than legal. There is no statute against collusion. I think the word we might turn to in the law is conspiracy. This is where were headed. There is a lot of other information coming out day by day that points to this conspiracy. We may have conspiracy. I think were getting closer to a violation of 1986 law of computer hacking because i think, if you look at the timing, there are too many coincidences about what the Trump Campaign was doing before or after this june 3 email about President Trump himself. My point here is i think we need to be careful in analyzing each step. Woodruff right. I think there is evidence thats pointing towards crimes, but i think we need to be careful when we make interpretations of these statutes. Woodruff we certainly want to be careful here and we know were speculating but we do think its important to ask these questions. Bob bauer, quickly on the conspiracy question. I think there is a basis here, and i continue disagree with professor shugerman, this is going to be an ongoing investigation. This is not the only evidence that will be taken into account and certainly, if, in fact, there is apparently a violation of the Campaign Finance laws and the evidence is beginning to point in that direction, then, yes, the prosecutors could certainly develop a conspiracy charge or aiding and abetting charge based on that. If i could just add one more point. This is not a statute that is subject to the same free speech considerations professor shugerman outlines that apply in the domestic u. S. Context. Today, for example, it was clear from the testimony of f. B. I. Director nominee chris ray who was asked about this that, in his view, this sort of communication between the russian government and campaign is a National Security matter, and he said any meeting like that should not have been taken unless the campaign hat consulted with what he called its legal advisors. So i think it was clear from the f. B. I. Directors remarks here this is a National Security issue, the free speech considerations are different and the implications are legal. Woodruff all right, gentlemen, well have to leave it there. Bob bauer, Jed Shugerman, we thank you both. Thank you. Very much. Woodruff as we noted earlier, the issue of russian meddling figured into todays confirmation hearing for Christopher Wray, the nominee to be the next f. B. I. Director. But there was another focus as well whether wray would withstand the political pressures of the day. Lisa desjardins takes it from there. Reporter hes worked 25 years as both as a top federal a prosecutor and as defense attorney. Do you affirm that the testimony youre about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, god . I do. Reporter but Christopher Wray faced few questions about his experience, and, instead, a long list of them about his independence as a potential f. B. I. Chief. If the president asked you to do something unlawful or unethical, what do you say . First, i would try to talk him out of it, and if that failed, i would resign. Reporter it was one of many references to the last f. B. I. Director, james comey, fired by President Trump. Comey claimed the president asked him to let go of investigating former aide michael flynn, and demanded a loyalty oath. The white house disputes all of that. But wray, as the f. B. I. Nominee, was asked about his allegiance. My loyalty is to the constitution, to the rule of law, and to the mission of the f. B. I. And no one asked me for any kind of loyalty oath at any point during this process, and i sure as heck didnt offer one. Reporter and about his conviction. I believe to my core that theres only one right way to do this job, and that is with strict independence. By the book. Playing it straight. Faithful to the constitution. Reporter wray spoke about his 2004 pledge to leave the Justice Department over the bush administrations use of warrantless wiretaps, which he believed were illegal. He was following the lead of comey then, the acting Deputy Attorney general and robert mueller, who was then the f. B. I. Director, and the man who is now the man in charge of the special russia investigation. I worked closely with director mueller in my past Government Service. I view him as the consummate straightshooter, and somebody i have enormous respect for. And id be pleased to do what i can to support him in his mission. Reporter wray also worked on counterterrorism at the Justice Department, and was asked today about torture. My view is that torture is wrong. Its unacceptable, its illegal and i think its ineffective. Reporter and, about protecting Muslim Americans from backlash. I think the f. B. I. Director and the f. B. I. Needs to be the f. B. I. And the f. B. I. Director for all americans, including Muslim Americans. And my experience in terrorism investigations has been that some of the best leads we ever got were from members of that community. Reporter he stressed the need to fight terrorism, including cyber terrorism, and protect classified information. In the end, senators of both parties seemed assured. Thank you very much, mr. Wray. And im looking around, im feeling that youve had a good hearing today. And best of luck to you, sir. Thank you, senator, that means a lot. Reporter if confirmed, wray would be eighth permanent director of the f. B. I. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour why so Many Russians from the countrys Southern Region are joining isis. A view from both sides of the political aisle, on the russian controversy plaguing the Trump Administration. And from dirt to shirt bringing the business of cotton back to the u. S. But first, researchers have been watching for months, waiting for a huge iceberg to break away from an ice shelf in antarctica. That break was confirmed today. And just to give you a sense of the size the volume of the iceberg is said to be twice as large as lake erie. Miles obrien has been watching all this and digging into the larger questions about the ice shelf. Its part of our weekly reporting about the leading edge of science. Reporter this fastgrowing rift in the antarctica ice just created one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, about the size of delaware, weighing more than 1 trillion tons. The event had been anticipated for months. Finally, some time between monday and today, the larsen ice shelf became 12 smaller. Weve known about this quite a while, right . Weve certainly known about the bulk of this rift for a while. Reporter kelly brunt is a glaciologist at the university of maryland and goddard space flight center. She used a wall of monitors to show me the growing rift fueled in part by rising air and sea temperatures. If the glaciers in west antarctica all dropped into the water, global sea level would rise by more than 15 feet. Brunt showed me a composite from several satellites. This is how the glacier ice flows. From the center of the continent to the edges much like syrup on the center of your pancake flowing toward the edges. There are areas where its moving pretty cloal and areas where its moving very quickly, and those quick places are generally in our areas of ice shelves. Reporter so when we think about ice, we think about something static. Its not static, is it . Not at all. Its highly dynamic. You can see from this image it looks, to me, a lot like a river system. Reporter ice shelves are connected to the glaciers that sit on land, but they are also floating like ice cubes in a glass of water. If you had a drink with ice cubes in it, as those ice cubes melt, they dont add to the height of the water in the glass. So when ice shelves break down and collapse, they do not have a direct impact on mean Sea Level Rise, yet they have an indirect effect. The ice shelves buttress the flow of the ice upstream, the ice flowing into the system. When you lose the buttressing force you allow the upstream glaciers to flow faster so thats similar to putting more ice cubes into the glass and letting those melt. Reporter ice falls off the edge of glaciers all the time, its part of a natural process called caving. Kelly brunt says it is important to judge the size of the piece that breaks off relative to the size of the glacier behind it. She says your fingernails offer a handy model. If you break your fingernail inside the white part of your fingernail you probably dont think much of it. If you break it below the white part you put a bandaid on it, think about it and keep an eye on it. If you lose your whole fingernail, i dont know what happens, its pretty catastrophic. This represents losing the whole fingernail. Reporter like so many features in antarctica, the larsen ice shelf is named for a famous 19th century explorer and it isties appearing section by section, identified by letters. Larsen a disintegrated in 1995, and in 2002 a series of satellite images captured the end of larsen b in dramatic fashion over the course of six weeks. The piece that broke off was the size of rhode island. Losing this much ice, losing ice that represents roughly the state of rhode island in a month and a half far exceeded anybodys expectations of what could happen and the time scale it could happen in. Reporter so we have to rethink things. This is a wakeup call. This is absolutely a wakeup call. Reporter scientists tracked the ice using a half dozen u. S. And european satellites including land sat which gathered these images. But some of their best data came from a satellite called ice sat. Launched in 2003 and ceased operation in 2009. It measured the glaciers using laser beams. This is quite a few years of ice data merged together to get a good sense in meters per year how our ice sheets are changing. Our ice sheets are changing when they are in contact with both the warming atmosphere and warming ocean, so basically along the frin of the continent. When it failed, nay is a tracked the ice using lasers on lowflying aircraft. The ice Bridge Program is n. A. S. A. s largest air campaign ever but still couldnt match the eye above the sky. It goes without saying you would view the satellites capability to look at this as essential. Were talking about a calving of an iceberg the size of a state. You would need a satellite to see it all in one shot. Its function of scale and repeatability to go back andni look at the area again with the satellite that makes these the perfect tools for looking at the largescale change were seeing in this region. W3 reporter thats precisely what kelly brunt and her colleagues will be doing now, using satellite data, data from the scant weather stations on the surface there, and additionally with bouys in the water itself trying to make definitive statements, definitive in quotes because its science, whether this calving event is linked to Climate Change. Judy . Woodruff is there a definitive answer the that at this point . Looks like youre saying no. Reporter not just yet. Larsen b, the previous big calving event, Scientists Say there is a strong pile of evidence indicating it is linked to Climate Change. Larsen a, they have practically no data at all. One of these things, as kelly brunt put it, this is where it gets exciting for scientists. They will try to determine if its Climate Change that actually caused this to happen and also looking at the stability of the ice shelf behind it. Does the flow increase . What about the the glacier behind the ice shelf itself . Looking at all that will give them clues about what this will mean ultimately for Sea Level Rise. Speaking of that, do they know the effect this is going to have on sea levels in the area and around the world. Reporter thats the big question. Larsen c, even though called a shelf, is kind of misleading. It was already in the water. Like an ice cube in a glass of water, it had already done its displacement and made its impact on Sea Level Rise. If it had fallen off, scientists estimate it would have increased sea level across the world by 3 millimeters. That the gives you the idea of the size of this. Now the situation here is to see whether the increased rate, if theres an increased rate in the flow of that ice shelf into the water, what impact that might have on Sea Level Rise in coming years. But, again, judy, this is longterm science, and well just have to watch it for years to come. Woodruff finally, miles, what happens to this gigantic piece of ice now that its broken off . Reporter it will probably break up over time. Fortunately, its not going to be in the way of any shipping channel. So it shouldnt be a hazard to navigation, but thats a big part of what will happen along with the other research. They will track to see how the iceberg breaks up, but it will be a big iceberg to start and over time get smaller. Woodruff all right, our iceberg man, miles obrien, thank you very much. Reporter youret judy. Is woodruff now, we continue our series inside putins russia, and travel to the countrys southernmost border. The republic of dagestan is in the north caucasus near the caspian sea. Over the last two decades, a brutal separatist insurgency has fought the russian state, and violence has spilled over from neighboring chechnya, where russia fought two wars. Americans may know dagestan the Boston Marathon bombers were from there. But now, a new problem. By one estimate, as many as 5,000 dagestanis are fighting for isis. Again, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on crisis reporting, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer zach fannin examine why. translated it is no accident the youth are tempted to go to syria, because today there is a revival of islam. Reporter Kazim Nurmagometov is 62 years old, and his son fought for isis. He was never tempted to go to syria, but he and his wife rashida understand why their son marat was. translated the islamic call i was talking about, the one in every muslims soul, is hidden, deep down. Its like a light in someones heart. Reporter nurmagometov lives deep in the Caucasus Mountains where nearlydriedup rivers meander through 1,000foot high cliffs, and beyond ancient rock formations, isolated dirt roads connect secluded villages. One of those villages is karata. Official population is 4,000, but residents say its half that size. This area is nearly 100 muslim. Before friday prayers, men greet each other in the small town center. There are few young people, in part because this small village sent as many as two dozen to isis, al qaeda, and the wars in syria and iraq. Thats her . Thats your daughter. Da. Reporter Amina Kondakova is a muslim convert. She shows me photos from a happier time. She says they grew up traditional and comfortable. And then, two years ago, her daughter miryam and her son ali askhat told her they were going on vacation. Instead, they traveled with miriams husband to mosul, iraq, to join isis. translated they lied to me about going there. I was so disappointed. And then, i became afraid about what can happen to them. Reporter she says this town is pious, but wasnt religious enough for her daughter. Did she feel judged by people in this society . translated yeah, they gave her looks. They didnt like how she was dressing. They wanted her to dress like everyone else. She wanted to dress the way its written for a muslim woman to dress. Reporter kondakova believes that judgement drove her daughter away. She reluctantly admits that in mosul, her daughter is happy raising her first grandson. translated she said, mom, i feel like i was reborn here. I regret all those years i spent in dagestan. Dont you want to come here too . I want to live with you, want you to see my boy growing up. Reporter nurmagometov gets to see his grandson. When his son marat left for syria, he abandoned a pregnant wife. Alexey is now 3 years old. They look at photos of marat as a boy, and a young marat clowning around with his older brother, shamil. When you look at these, does it make you wish that your sons could all be here with you together . translated i am a realist. I know theres no return. Life isnt a book where you can tear out the pages if you didnt like what you wrote, and write new ones. Reporter the dagestanis who fought for isis continue a decadesold legacy here of radicalism and militancy. Theres been a local insurgency here in the capital of dagestan, makhachkala, for years, targeting both local authorities and symbols of the national government. Their most prominent attacks targeted civilians in larger cities. In moscow in 2010, militants allied with al qaeda blew up the subway. In 2013 in volgograd, they blew up a bus station, and then a commuter bus, as seen on russian media. translated there was no social or physical protection. Every day there were bombings, terror attacks, that cost peoples lives. Reporter Habib Magomedov is a former Police Lieutenant colonel and member of dagestans antiterrorism committee. He says conservative islam has combined with high rates of unemployment and poverty, to inspire radicalization. translated its the living conditions, absence of possibilities, absence of social mobility, which creates waves of anger and distress. There has to be some sort of history that sets the person on a certain track, where you only need to light a match for the fire to start. Reporter that match is often a brutal security crackdown. In january 2013, Russian Special forces flooded into dagestani villages. Locals say Security Services have practiced colleive punishment against entire families, torture, even extrajudicial executions. Magomedov admits they went too far, but he tries to explain their motivation. translated if keeping people safe requires limiting rights and freedoms of certain individuals, its probably worth it. My brother died in 1998 when someone threw a grenade in his house. You know, the freedom of one man ends where the freedom of another starts. Reporter today, the violence has diminished. But the people whose freedoms are most often restricted are still religious muslims. This mosque preaches an austere and aggressive form of islam. It also rails against government policy, and that makes it a police target. After prayers, police set up a checkpoint. Officers must meet a monthly quota of arrests, leading to what many call indiscriminate detentions, including of journalists trying to tell the mosques story. We were filming that scene from across the street, just standing on the sidewalk for only about 90 seconds, when police came up and arrested us. They threw us into their car, they drove us to the precinct, they refused to tell us why they were arresting us. And when we were in the station, we saw dozens of men who had been in that mosque before, also arrested. That is simply how people here act. 33yearold Mogamet Mogametov is the mosques spokesman. translated as you saw yourself, they arrest people not because theyre suspicious, but only because they came to a mosque. Reporter do you think that the tactics the police use can help to radicalize young people here . translated of course. This is the thing that provokes people. Since literally everyone can be arrested, not on the basis of actual cause, but something totally subjective, then of course that irritates. Reporter and that helped lead so many to isis. The group exploits the abuse. Russian language propaganda says russia oppresses muslims, and presents syria and iraq as a pious paradise fit for families. And as isis recruited dagestanis, russian Security Services showed some the door, exporting extremism by facilitating their travel to syria. translated it was the right thing to do. Since the moment these people left dagestan for syria, local terrorism dropped dramatically. If they had stayed, there would have been terror attacks, there would have been human casualties. Reporter who helped you leave . Who facilitated your departure . One of those who was pushed is this 27yearold dagestani, who now lives in turkey. We agreed to hide his face and alter his voice. translated people who were on the federal wanted list could somehow get a passport and leave the country. Some Security Officers said to them, well either kill you, or you can leave the country. The way i was helped was that every time i went to my local government office, i was taken by the police and interrogated. But when i went to get a passport, nobody stopped me. Reporter and after the dagestanis left, russia made sure they never came back. translated they simply said that if i come back, theyll do bad things to me. So i wont ever go back. Reporter many dagestanis who fought for isis have died in syria, and theyre celebrated by isis propaganda. But some managed to escape, often to the port city of odesssa, ukraine. Former isis fighter marat agreed to talk to us if we didnt show his face. translated the majority went to syria with the notion of jihad, that assad was repressing muslims and we needed to help them. Reporter weve actually already met marat. Hes the son of Kazim Nurmagometov. Kazim is often in odessa to visit. translated we consider our family lucky. He is back alive and healthy, and realized that where he ended up, wasnt what he thought it was. Reporter when his son left for syria, kazim didnt sit back and let him die. He traveled to the outskirts of aleppo and saw the destruction. He helped convince marat he made a mistake. Marat finally left, when he thought about his own son. translated i was thinking about him constantly, hoping that i could get out of there and see my child. I was always thinking about what a big mistake i made. Thank god i was able to leave there alive, because practically everyone i knew there, no one is left alive. They all died there. Reporter marat will never return here, to dagestan. And thats what inspired kazim to speak on camera for the first time. translated there are thousands of isis fighters in syria who want to leave. I feel it. Maybe my story will be a lesson. How to do it. What obstacles to expect. I feel some sort of responsibility to use my experience to help get others out. Reporter people like kazims neighbor, amina. She fears her daughter is dead. She hasnt heard from her in four months. What would you say to that mother in america, whos listening to your story . translated dont let your children go anywhere. Look after them. Look after their every step, but dont let them leave you. Ever. Reporter but their children have let this place. And most will never return. For the pbs newshour, im Nick Schifrin in karata, dagestan. Woodruff our weeklong series, inside putins russia, continues tomorrow with a look at what happens to those who dare to stand up to the kremlin. Woodruff we return now to the top story of the day. Donald trump jr. s decision to release emails showing he met with a russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign in hopes of gaining damaging information about Hillary Clinton. For a closer look at the political fallout of all this, we turn to karine jeanpierre, a Senior Advisor to moveon. Org and a veteran of the obama administration. And, matt schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union and the former deputy political director in the administration of george w. Bush. And its great to have you both back on the program. Thank you for being here. Karine, to you first, how damaging is all this information about the donald trump, jr. Meeting . I think its pretty damaging. The emails were actually delivered, released by don, jr. Saying he and paul solman and Jared Kushner met with a Foreign Agent in the sole, sole purpose of trying to get information given by a foreign adversary, intelligence from a foreign adversary, and i think thats pretty damaging. I think for a long time republicans have been moving that goalpost, right, they have been saying, oh, theres no meeting. Well, if theres no meeting, theres no proof of collusion. Nobody on the campaign have any russian connections. Now were at a point where, yep, theres a meeting, looks like there potentially could have been collusion, now what do republicans do. Woodruff matt, how do you see the damage . What i have said continually is that my guess is, in the president ial campaign, they will have emails or phone conversations or meetings with people who are trying to be helpful to the campaign. So this doesnt come as a big shock to me. I think the big mistake theyve made is whenever youre involved in these investigations, and i was in a white house that had a special counsel, you search your emails, go through your phone logs, look through your information and you fully comply and are completely as transparent as you can be and the reason we know this is because Jared Kushner and paul solman updated the disclosure to the government and much more fulsome in the information they gave, which is the right thing they could do, but it would have been better if it were sooner. Its the drip drip drip that gives the press another opportunity to write another store and another store, but the facts prove no criminality. Woodruff no criminality . We have had a discussion about this with the other two lawyers. We dont know. Looks like textbook collusion, Campaign Finance violation, for me as someone who worked on campaigns and in the white house you were never under investigation. No investigation, eight years obama, no investigation. laughter but i think this is the problem, if they want true transparency, the Trump Administration, why dont they put it out there . Thats why donald trump, jr. Did this, because its the right thing to do. The only reason is because you have the Washington Post and the New York Times doing the work and putting out the information in piecemeal. Or maybe theyre being leaked inside the white house or the apparatus. Thats Donald Trumps problem. Can we go to the fec violation, because i saw this in a conversation. Woodruff the federal elections commission. Right, they said the idea you could prove criminality unless cash went directly to a candidate is almost impossible to prove, so i think the fec violations are absurd. The idea this is treason, the idea this is taking up arms against your country is absurd. Then you have the question of collusion which isnt a legal term and the potential collusion, and i dont know where you go on that. The bottom line, did anybody on team trump do anything illegal with the putin government that somehow subverted the elections . Thats a pretty big charge but an easy charge to eventually answer. I think we all want to get the answer and close the books on this. The American People are fair, and lets move on. Woodruff is the standard of legality, karine, going to be the only standard that matters here. I think that meters as i think that matters as well, but we cant forget the russians actually attacked our country and tried to undermine our democracy. That actually still is happening. A the Washington Post recent reporting showed russianser are currently trying to hack into our infrastructure. So this is not why im understanding why republicans arent just standing up and saying something and keeping the Trump Administration and associates accountable. I agree with this. I think what russia tried to do in this most election and previous elections is wrong. I think its wrong what the d. N. C. Was doing with the government of ukraine to try to help Hillary Clinton. Not the same. Well, but not the same. Matt, thats not the same. Woodruff if you shouldnt deal with a Foreign National, you shouldnt deal with a Foreign National. Theyre a foreign adversary. Woodruff what struck nee is the comments from conservative commentators in the last day or so about whats happening. Charles cryheimer says i have been defending this administration for months now found out what they were doing and im basically left hanging out to dry. Are you seeing some republicans, some conservatives feeling as if the administration hasnt been straight with them . Of course. What youre seeing from republicans and conservatives, when you see the drip, drip, drip, and with the revelation that there was a meeting, it does get people concerned. They say, well, i didnt think there was going to be a meeting, i thought i would have learned this by now, thats why getting all the information out is awfully important. Get it all out. My advice is get the emails and calendar items out. If you have nothing to hide, put it out there. I think thats what they had done with the refiling of disclosures which is why they know about this meeting. It is their disclosure. Donald, jr. , yes, he put out the emails but the media had already gotten them. Having full disclosure will calm people down. All conservatives care about is was there wrongdoing. Woodruff karine, in poll after poll, since this latest information came out, Donald Trumps voting base are sticking with him. Theyre saying we dont care about russia for the most part yep. Woodruff im making a bit of a blanket statement but theyre saying we want to see something done about healthcare and jobs. I think thats exactly right, but heres the thing voters didnt care about watergate until they did, and the issue that i have with that is these elected officials on the hill have a duty, a responsibility, regardless of regardless if voters care or not, they took an oath to protect the constitution, to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign or domestickenned and, so, therefore, they should care if there was an attack on our country. That is what is really kind of getting under my skin is this is truly, truly important. Woodruff and you do have the committees doing the investigation. Yeah, i would say what russia tries to do with Cyber Security and our society on a daily basis with espionage is a big problem. I agree with that. The obama administration, he was in charge during this time, he left us vulnerable. Theyre making the charge they were doing something with our election sirnlings he was the sheriff in down, the d. N. C. Was hacked. We need to work in a bipartisan way to make sure they cant do these things. Republicans are making this a partisan issue. There was a little bit of that to go around. Mitch mcconnell and paul ryan need to stand up and speak. Woodruff all right. We may have another chance to talk about this again. It may not be the last chance. Sorry, judy. Woodruff its all right. Karine jean pierre, matt schlapp. Thank you. Im hopeful for a new topic. Woodruff i bet you are. Thank you. Thank you. Woodruff check that label inside the collar of your cotton shirt. Chances are, it doesnt say made in the u. S. A. , even though the cotton its made from was probably grown in the u. S. A. Now, cotton farmers in North Carolina are trying to change that, teaming up with local textile mills to produce garments that are truly home grown, with around a Dozen Companies now producing clothing that can be traced back to local cotton fields. From pbs station wtvi in charlotte, jeff sonier shows us how carolina textile towns are bouncing back, after years of mills closing down and jobs moving out. Reporter inside this North Carolina Textile Factory, its the sound of survival. Or maybe, revival. When nafta hit, they basically said textiles in this country are dead. You either go overseas, or you go out of business. Reporter that was the hard choice facing Textile Factory owner eric henry. The same hard choice that killed these other carolina textile mills along with the textile jobs they provided for generations. Time was when cotton was king of the coastal plain. There would be over 100 people working in here. Our customers were tommy, nike, gap, polo, adidas. High level branded companies. Within two years, we laid off 80 of our staff. The brands could not get overseas quick enough. And thats when i realized theres more to business than the bottom line. Thats when i realized we wanted to be a different business. Reporter and for henrys business, being different means not just made in the u. S. A. , but what he calls dirt to shirt products sewn here in the carolinas, from cotton thats grown here in the carolinas. Yeah, you know, with all the struggles that Carolina Cotton mills have been through over the past couple of years, youd figure Carolina Cotton farmers would be struggling, too. But actually, its just the opposite. The farmers say that much like this cotton field were standing in right now, their business is, you know, growing. Well, i think its great. Were blessed to be able to grow a crop like this. Reporter butch brooks grows his cotton on a 100yearold family farm, picking it from behind the wheel of a half Million Dollar harvester. Cotton experts say the crop itself is high quality, which translates into high demand. This is the cotton that textile companies want. Absolutely. Textiles want this quality cotton for expensive garments, for high quality clothing. Reporter problem is, after its cleaned and baled and barcoded for sale, most of this local cotton winds up in the same place those local jobs went overseas. This area of North Carolina was the center of cotton in the world, at one time. People wanted to be able to go to the store and buy a shirt made in the united states. Well, right now theres almost none of that. Could we get that again . Could we have something completely made in the carolinas . We just believe theres more to a tshirt than just the cost of a tshirt. Where its made. How its made. The impact it has on the people. The impact it has on the planet. We grow cotton here. We can make apparel here. Reporter in fact, the home grown, homesewn shirts here at henrys factory even have special colorcoded threads in the hem and the sleeves, so you can track back your shirt to the very beginning. If you take those two colors, and go to a website where, where, whereyourclothing. Com. You put in these two colors, a map pops up, and from that map it will introduce you to the farmer, the ginner, the spinner, the knitter, the finisher, the cutsew, and t. S. Designs. We make our supply chain. Completely transparent, all the way back to the farmer. Reporter henry admits his dirt to shirt concept isnt all that different from those popular farmtofork restaurants and thats no coincidence. Offering people alternatives, something that they can support their community and have a better product, and know where it comes from. We have had great cotton in this state for a long time. And all were doing is reconnecting that cotton to jobs and textiles back in our state. Reporter with a goal of not putting the cheap overseas shirt makers out of business, but maybe growing and sewing a whole new business. For the pbs newshour, im jeff sonier in stanly county, North Carolina. Woodruff what a promiising story. On the newshour online right now nasas juno spacecraft recently got its first upcloseand personal view with jupiters great red spot, and today, the space agency has released photos from the flyby. The images reveal many tantalizing details about whats happening in jupiters giant storm. You can take a closer look at these gorgeous pictures on our website, www. Pbs. Org newshour. And dont forget tomorrow and friday, correspondent Nick Schifrin continues his indepth series, a look inside Vladimir Putins russia. In russia today, resurgent nationalism. Its organic, not artificial. Built by and around one man. Russians told pollsters that suddenly they felt like a super power again. But for putins opponents people who have tried to leave the putin family voluntarily have not fared very well. A rare look inside putins russia all this week on the pbs newshour. Woodruff thursday and friday. And thats 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 g welcome to the program. Im jeff glor of cbs news filling in for charlie rose. We begin tonight with the continuing coverage of the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. We talk to do Shannon Pettypiece of Bloomberg News and ed okeefe of the Washington Post. We have not heard much from the president today. His twitter feed has kind of been eeriely quiet. He was a bit quiet yesterday as well. And Sarah Huckabee saunders spokesperson to the Deputy Press Secretary put out a statement from the president , a very short brief statement calling his, complimenting his son and saying i admire his transparency. I typically would expect the president is not