How she went from a federal bureaucrat to a household name as one of americas beloved cooks. I taught myself how to cook when i worked in washington, using julia childs cookbooks. Sreenivasan 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. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. 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 moving and shaking today, in the White House Communications staff. Sean spicer resigned as press secretary after just six months, saying the president needs a clean slate. But it was widely reported that he objected to the naming of wall street financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. At a white house briefing, scaramucci sought to play down talk of any discord. For me, as it relates to sean, it speaks volumes to who he is as a human being, who he is as a team player. Okay . So his attitude is, if anthonys coming in, let me clear the slate for anthony. And i do appreciate that about sean, and i do love him for it. But i dont have any friction with sean. Sreenivasan scaramucci also named spicers deputy, Sarah Huckabee sanders, to be the new press secretary. In a statement, President Trump praised spicers work, and said, just look at his Great Television ratings the spokesman for the president s legal team, mark corallo, also resigned today. That came amid reports that the lawyers are hunting possible conflicts of interest by special counsel robert mueller. Mueller is investigating russian meddling in the 2016 election. The white would neither confirm nor deny the reports. The president s lead lawyer did deny a Washington Post account that theyre examining whether mr. Trump could pardon relatives, aides and even himself. Well take a closer look at all of this, after the news summary. Israelipalestinian tensions erupted into street battles today between police and protesters in jerusalem and the west bank. At least three palestinians were killed, and nearly 400 hurt. Exploding stun grenades drowned out friday prayers in jerusalem, as ambulance sirens wailed. Palestinians called it a day of rage, protesting israels installation of metal detectors at a holy site revered by both sides. translated this place is made for worshipping god. They cannot prevent muslims from entering to pray. They are acting against god. Sreenivasan the israelis installed the metal detectors after arabisraeli gunmen killed two Police Officers last friday. It happened at the complex known as the temple mount to israelis and the noble sanctuary to muslims. Inside alaqsa mosque, the third holiest site in islam, and the dome of the rock. Theyre bordered by the western wall, the holiest site in judaism. Tensions have been building ever since the shooting. Overnight, the streets of jerusalems old city were filled with protesters throwing stones and Security Forces firing back with grenades. Today, police refused to remove the metal detectors, and barred muslim men younger than 50 from entering the holy site. Security checkpoints also blocked busloads of muslims traveling to jerusalem. The security measures will continue in and around the area of the old city and the temple mount, in order to prevent any further terrorist attacks. Sreenivasan but the grand mufti of jerusalem rallied thousands of muslims to pray outside the gates of the old city, under the watch of israeli forces. He predicted a long test of wills. translated we reject all we do not accept any restrictions on the door of the alaqsa mosque. Therefore, all the Palestinian People reject these gates and refuse to accept or enter through them. Sreenivasan the violence broke out after prayers, and spilled over to towns across the west bank. Later, the day of rage turned to grief, as mourners held a funeral for one of the palestinian dead, amid fears and, a palestinian stabbed three israelis to death, in a west bank settlement. Tonight, palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced hes freezing contacts with israel on all levels. In afghanistan, the u. S. Military confirms that a nato air strike mistakenly killed afghan troops today. Officials say it happened during an operation against taliban fighters in helmand province, in the south. The provincial governor says at least two afghan commanders died. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson is urging gulf nations to lift their economic blockade of qatar. Saudi arabia, bahrain, egypt and the u. A. E. Have imposed sanctions on qatar over charges of financing terror groups. Today, tillerson met with the omani foreign minister and commended the oil states efforts to comply with an agreement on curbing terror financing. They have been very aggressive in implementing that agreement. So we are, i think, were satisfied with the effort they are putting forth. I think they also have indicated a willingness to sit with the four parties and negotiate, discuss the demands. Sreenivasan meanwhile, qatars emir denounced the blockade as a smear campaign, but said hes open to dialogue. President trump is demanding that iran release the american citizens it is holding. In a statement this evening, the white house warned of new and serious consequences unless tehran frees all unjustly imprisoned americans. At least three u. S. Citizens are currently jailed in iran. A powerful earthquake shook the coasts of turkey and greece early today, killing at least two people. The quake was centered near the greek island of kos, and the turkish tourist hub of bodrum. Nearly 500 people were injured, and the tremor caused heavy damage to buildings, roads and historical sites. Thousands of tourists were forced to sleep outdoors. Some tried to leave, but got stranded. translated we were woken up at 1 30 in the morning. We were wondering what happened, everything was shaking. We panicked and didnt know what was going on. So we quickly gathered our stuff and went out of the hotel, because as it was several floors high, we did not want it to fall on our heads. Everyone was out in the street. It was a massive panic. In the hotel lobby, vases and lamps were upside down. Sreenivasan the two People Killed were identified as tourists from turkey and sweden. The state department has announced a ban on americans traveling to north korea. A Statement Today cited the serious risk of arrest and long term detention in the north. The move follows the death of College Student otto warmbier. He was jailed in north korea on a charge of stealing a propaganda poster, then sent home in a coma. He died last month. And, on wall street, stocks ended the week in retreat. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 31 points to close at 21,580. The nasdaq fell two points, and the s p 500 lost about one point. For the week, the dow was down a fraction of a percent. The nasdaq rose more than 1 , and the s p was up half a percent. Still to come on the newshour multiple white house shakeups press Secretary Sean Spicer, and the president s legal team. The partisanship thats plagued efforts to revamp the Nations Health care. Mark shields and david brooks analyze the weeks news. And, much more. Sreenivasan White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer abruptly announced his resignation earlier today, the same day the administration announced it has tapped businessman Anthony Scaramucci to serve as communications director. As the staff shakeup reverberates through the white house, the administration is also contending with more questions from special counsel Robert Mullers russia investigation. For more on all of this, were joined by rosalind helderman, political enterprise and investigations reporter for the Washington Post. Thanks for joining us. Whats the trumps Legal Team Strategy to deal with this investigation. Well we reported today that the legal team is copyin examina broad array of options that would lead to the restraining or restricting of the special counsels investigation. At present, they say they are cooperating with special counsel bob mueller but we understand that they are doing research into possible conflicts by bob mueller himself, conflicts of interest or members of his staff that he is assembling. Keep in mind that conflict of interest is one of the only things in the regulations establishing the special counsel that can be used by the attorney general or in this case the acting attorney general, rod rose stein to dismiss the special counsel. So they are looking at that and a number of other things that would try to curb this sort of scope of this expanding investigation. Sreenivasan did any of these conflicts of interest come up when mueller was originally assigned to the task . Did Jeff Sessions or anyone else give him a pass on these . Thats a good question that we dont entirely know yet. We do know that President Trump himself has said that he interviewed bob mueller to be f. B. I. Director very shortly before his appointment as special counsel. One of the conflict that we reported today, the whitehouse has been examing is of all things bob muellers membership at the Trump National golf course in northern virginia. Apparently whitehouse advisors tell us there was some variety of dispute over his membership fees at that club. Now muellers office has told us thats not true. There was no membership fee dispute so were continuing to try to learn more about that. But whatever happened at the golf club, President Trump clearly did not see it as an impediment to potentially appointing bob mueller to be f. B. I. Director so its interesting theyre now returning to that autopsy i been. Sreenivasan lets thank you a little bit about the legal team it seems to be changing. Thats right. We saw the resignation of mark koralo who was the spokeman for the team. He was the spokesman for mark mc kazowits. Hes a new york base attorney who worked for trump on various matters who has been until today the leader of this team. There have been some reports that he is leaving the team altogether. Our reporting is that cast witnesse kasowits is taking at role. A washington letter had been involved in the investigation of pete rose of baseball fame. Also familiar to Television Viewers remains on the team as sort of i sreenivasan the individuals you mentioned, mr. Dowd actually came out in the wall street journal and questioned this reporting that the Washington Post had done and said its not true that President Trump and his team were looking into the act of possibly pardoning his aides or himself. There are multiple lawyers, just the lawyers you spoke to with mr. Dowd. We feel very comfortable in our sourcing for our story. When he said that this morning we did add those comments. Theyre on the record to our story to reflect his denial. We feel comfortable that our story was accurate and accurately reflecting conversations that have been going on amongst this large legal team. I would note mr. Dowd gave an interview to the wall street journal in which he said that in fact the legal team is not at all interested in the topic of conflicts of interest. Jay was quoted in that very same story as saying they are looking at conflict. That any reasonable lawyer would do so. So there was a conflict right there in the same story from two different lawyers for the team. Sreenivasan if im a lawyer representing somebody like the president , wouldnt it be normal for me to say lets look at the tools my clients have if one of the tools includes a president ial pardon shouldnt i just investigate what the parameters of that pardon are. Yes, absolutely. As we reported, we do believe that this was a conversation about Legal Options that this was not the president saying that he plans to pardon himself or that he believes he is ultimately going to need a pardon which is to say he believes hes going to be accused of a crime. This is a conversation about Legal Options and the powers of the presidency. How does the president go about or whats the breadth of his authority to pardon staff, to pardon family members and indeed what does the constitution say and the law say about a president pardoning himself which actually is a question of rather distinct dispute in the legal community. Sreenivasan finally briefly in the courses youve spoken with is the shake up or at least the change over in the legal team as well in the Communications Department part of something bigger. I think theres a sort of sense of the whitehouse on edge right now. Theres a lot of turmoil. I certainly would not guarantee that weve seen the end of the changes. Of course well all note that the president had those very harsh words for attorney general Jeff Sessions earlier this week in an interview with the New York Times. Were told that people in the whitehouse were quite surprised that those comments did not result in Jeff Sessions resigning. He instead came out and said he planned to stay on the job. So thats in the air. The chief of staff Reince Preibus, theres been many rumors that hes on his way out. So i dont think that the team is settled by any means. Sreenivasan all right. Wrawroz lind helderman from the washingtotheWashington Post. Sreenivasan from the white house, to capitol hill. For seven months, Congressional Republicans have taken a sharply partisan route on health care. They have made several attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act, which have failed. But why did republicans go partisan in the first place . Its part of a cultural shift in congress, years in the making, for both parties. Our Lisa Desjardins explains. Reporter congress these days has an obvious theme. I should think that every republican should be embarrassed. Our democratic friends are trying to make it more difficult for President Trump to do his job. We urge our republican colleagues to change their tune. Reporter . More blame than legislation on the floor. Veteran g. O. P. Senator Susan Collins of maine has long been considered one of its most bipartisan members, but she admits its becoming harder. We are in a time of hyperpartisanship that is unlike any other that ive seen in my time in the senate. Reporter some examples this year . Republicans going it alone on healthcare, with a partisan house vote and a republicanonly closeddoor process in the senate. Democrats forcing symbolic latenight sessions and boycotting committee hearings, slowing the legislative process to a near stop. And this month, republican Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell blamed democrats for his decision to postpone the senates august recess. Due to this unprecedented level of obstruction that weve been experiencing, we will be in session the first two weeks of august. Reporter all just five weeks after this gunfire a gunman opening fire on a republican baseball practice, leaving House Majority whip Steve Scalise initially in critical condition, and still recovering. The attack triggered a chorus of calls for bipartisanship we are not one caucus or the other in this house today. We are united. Reporter later that day, the managers of the republican and democratic teams urged an end to the sharp divide we have an r or a d by our name, but our title our title is United States representative. Reporter we caught up with representatives joe barton and mike doyle again, and asked if things have changed. Theres no cure for this. And its not just our responsibility. Bipartisanship either gets fanned or, you know, encouraged by outside forces, too. Reporter but both say too many members get attention now with sharp words. At the end of every 2 years, do you want to go home and say, man, i gave a heck of a press conference. Or do you want to put Something Else on your wall, that youve got a bill signed into law . Reporter barton admits he was once a young bomb thrower, and accepts some blame for his party. When i got elected, i joined the gingrich group. So i was a part of the problem at the time. Reporter in the 1994 republican revoluton, thennew speaker gingrich made partisan battles a central strategy. Years later, in 2013, democrats upped the partisan ante, changing senate rules to push through some nominees with no republican votes. Outside the House Chamber when you can still see the blood sustains from the newspaper reporter shot a former member of congress in 1890. Mr. Sullivan, aye, mr. Rono, no. But divide can have a purpose, says amy walter of the Cook Political Report i dont think partisanship in and of itself is a bad thing. I think the challenge is when that alone is what prevents people from working together to do other things. Reporter part of the trouble fewer moderates. Data from the Cook Political