Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170724 : comparemela.com

translated we came here, left our homes, rice, we came here to save our lives, if we have no peace, then its better to die. 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. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. 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. Woodruff denial and defense. The president s soninlaw offered both today, in the russia investigation. He spoke privately, for senate staffers, and publicly, for reporters. Our coverage begins with john yang. Yang outside the white house west wing, Jared Kushner did something he rarely does speak to reporters. Let me be very clear i did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign i had no improper contacts. Yang he dismissed the idea that his fatherinlaw benefited from russian meddling in the election. Donald trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him. Yang kushner took no questions from reporters but said he had answered all questions from Senate Intelligence Committee Investigators in a twohour closeddoor session. His 11page prepared remarks gave the first public explanation of four meetings he had with russians during the campaign and transition. He said he did not know the purpose of the june 9, 2016 meeting donald trump, jr. Set up with russian attorney natalia veslenitskaya, Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and others in hopes of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton. Kushner said he arrived late and quickly determined that my time was not wellspent. It was, he said, a waste of our time, a judgement his brother inlaw has also expressed. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame. Yang less than a month after President Trump won the election, on december 1, kushner and National Security advisor designate Michael Flynn met with Russian Ambassador sergei kislyak. According to kushner, the envoy said he wanted to talk about syria and convey information from his generals. Kislyak asked if there was a secure line in the transition office. Told that there wasnt, kushner asked if the russians had an existing Communications Channel at his embassy we could use. The ambassador said that would not be possible. On decmeber 13, kushner met with sergey gorkov, the head of a russian bank that is under u. S. Sanctions, at kislyaks insistence. He said gorkov told him he was friendly with president putin and expressed hopes for a better relationship in the future. Kushner said he has not been in contact with gorkov since. As for the matter of kushners original security clearance application, not including any of his foreign contacts, the president s soninlaw said it was an accident it was submitted prematurely due to a miscommunication with an assistant. Its been updated at least three times. Limit merchandises abilities to lift the penalties. We will continue to work with the house and senate to put tough sanctions in we support where the legislation is now and will continue to work with the house and senate to put those tough sanctions in place. Questions raised by the russia investigation which has now entered a new phase. Kushner will be back on capitol hill tomorrow for a private session with members of the kushner will be back on capitol hill tomorrow for a private session with members of the house intelligence committee. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff well go deeper on this after the news summary. In the days other news, President Trump directed new criticism at his own attorney in the days other news, President Trump aimed new fire at attorney general Jeff Sessions over the russia probes. In a tweet, he called sessions our beleaguered a. G. And asked why he and others are not investigating Hillary Clinton. Last week, the president sharply criticized sessions for recusing himself in the russia matter. A diplomatic standoff between israel and jordan ended this evening. It had begun sunday, when an Israeli Embassy guard in amman, killed two jordanians after one stabbed him. The jordanians said they wanted to question the guard, but israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted he has diplomatic immunity and must be returned home. translated i assured him that we will see to bringing him back to israel. We are also Holding Contacts to end the incident and to bring our people back to israel. And we are doing this determinedly and responsibly. Woodruff later, the guard and other Embassy Staffers returned to israel. The dispute added to tensions over new security measures at alaqsa mosque in jerusalem. They sparked protests on friday, and several palestinians were killed. In afghanistan, at least 24 people were killed today when a suicide car bomber rammed a bus carrying government employees. The taliban said it was behind the attack, targeting a kabul neighborhood thats home to leading politicians. At least 42 people were hurt. Separately, in lahore, pakistan, a suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, many of them police. The Pakistani Taliban claimed that attack. Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte insisted today hell continue a drug crackdown thats claimed thousands of lives. In a state of the union address, he called the victims beasts and vultures and he vowed hed go to prison first before giving in. The fight will not stop until those who deal in it understand that they have to cease, they have to stop because the alternative are either jail or hell. Woodruff as duterte spoke, thousands of leftwing protesters marched in opposition. He met with them later, but warned hell order police to shoot anyone who causes disturbances. The president of poland broke with his party today, and vetoed two bills aimed at curbing the independence of judges. The legislation had triggered mass demonstrations. Diana magnay, of independent television news, filed this report. Reporter for days and long into each night they protested in cities across poland against judicial reforms they felt might snuff out whats left of liberal democracy here. Its not a phrase the ruling law and Justice Party had much track with. Certainly not Party Chairman jaroslaw kaczynski. But the man he cherry picked for president last year, andrzej duda, just broke with party ranks. translated poland badly needs reform of the judiciary and i fully support this reform. But i support a smart reform which would guarantee an effective functioning of the judiciary and improve the sense of justice in poland. Reporter cue an emergency meeting of the ruling party. No comments from the press but expect the president , who till now has signed pretty much everything thats crossed his desk, to put his stamp on any new piece of legislation, likely some form of compromise on reforms his party says they have a mandate for. So far the judges in poland had no responsibility at all. We as members of parliament can be put on trial or lose our mandate or just People Revolt and decide our future. So we wanted to have very equal rights for everyone. For member of the parliament from the judge to the man on the street. Reporter some on street today felt their president havent gone far enough. Blocking two pieces of legislation but not a three, which grants sweeping powers to the Justice Minster including the right to appoint the heads of lower courts. This evening another demonstration outside the president ial palace by those whose notions of law and justice are entirely different from kaczynski and his ruling party. Woodruff that report from diana magnay of independent television news. The parents of a critically ill baby in britain have dropped their legal bid to keep him alive. Theyd been trying to move 11 monthold charlie gard to the u. S. For experimental treatment, but british doctors argued it wouldnt work. Today, the father, chris gard, said theyve made their decision after new tests showed the childs muscle damage is now irreversible. We will have to live with the whatifs which will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Despite the way our beautiful son has been spoken about sometimes, as if he is not worthy of a chance of life, our son is an absolute warrior, and we could not be prouder of him and we will miss him terribly. Woodruff the case has garnered International Attention with both President Trump and the pope offering support to the family. Back in this country, President Trump called for Senate Republicans to begin debate on a health care bill. Party leaders say they will try advancing a measure tomorrow, but its unclear which one a version that repeals and replaces obamacare, or a repeal only bill. The president said, theres been enough talk. Now is the time for action. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost nearly 67 points to close at 21,513. The nasdaq rose 23 points, and the s p 500 slipped two. Still to come on the newshour Jared Kushners statement, put in context. What led to the deaths of 10 migrants in san antonio. A controversial plan to relocate ones of the worlds most persecuted minorities, and much more. Woodruff at the start of this week, the focus of the russia investigations, on Jared Kushner, has exposed new details of the president soninlaws dealings with moscow. We breakdown what we know and the key questions that remain with Nick Schifrin. So, nick, youve spent today talking to a lot of people. What new dud we learn about Jared Kushner and his dealings with the russians . I think the new narrative is that this is the Senior Advisor to president who has questioned whether there was any influence by russia last year detailing russia influence on him and perhaps on trump policy. Nobody in this administration has really done that before. You have three examples of that laid out. One is ambassador kislyak, the former Russian Ambassador to the United States, asking for a direct line between the Trump Transition Team and russian generals on sir. I cant this is very unusual. Kislyak could have asked the Obama Administration, could have used the u. S. Government to do so and would be expected to do so and didnt do that. He tried to circumvent the Obama Administration and use kushner to do that. Secondly, sergei, the banker, shows up with two gifts, art and dirt, and many of the people i spoke to today, that metaphor of dirt is not lost on them. The idea, according to the intelligence officials i spoke to and former diplomats is to prove that russia has a connection to kushner. This is dirt from kushners grandparents home in belarus and to suggest kushner does hit homework. Kushner is the brotherhood with businessmen with intelligence ties who keep the ties and could represent the russian government to kushner and reach out to someone close to the Trump Campaign or President Trump himself on behalf of the russian government, again using kushner to do that. Thirdly the meeting we have been talking about for a few weeks with nat nat the lawyer who reached out to kushner, drrnlg, we have three officials trying to geto into the trump family. Woodruff this on top of what we learned before this is all related to whats happening in congress, the senate, even republicans coming together with democrats to impose these new sanction on russia. Its very clear that republicans are helping lead this effort, certainly bipartisan effort, but certainly republicans fearing the president s rhetoric on russia, responding to the president s rhetoric on russia and frankly handcuffing the president on his ability to lift sanctions on russia imposed by ukraine, eastern ukraine, crimea, as well as the 2016 elections. The first time u. S. Has penalized anyone the u. S. Believes was part of the Campaign Last year to influence the elections directly. Not designed to hit ordinary russians. Designed to send a message to russia the u. S. Intelligence knows whos doing these things and will make it harder for banks and other companies or countries, rather, to do business with russia perhaps in the future. Woodruff nick, you talked to a lot of people today. Any queens sens that as Jared Kushner says hes a babe in the woods and doesnt know american diploma circumstances that he was an unwitting figure in all this as he says he was. Some of this is described to me as normal, whether sergei kislyaks reaching out to someone who is a neophyte, reaching out to a campaign or Transition Team that was brand new to washington, and some people say, look, this is what any diplomat, any country would cowith a new administration, but what is not normal is that the president has questioned his intelligence communitys findings about what russia has done. What is not normal is not to report some of these meetings that were set up with russians as kushner admitted that he failed to do initially. And whats not normal is not to report ambassador kislyaks attempt to circumvent the u. S. Government and administration to try to get to the Trump Campaign, so thats why there is so much focus on this. Woodruff russian reaction to all this . Whats interesting is their focus is on sanctions. They havent replied to request for comment on kushner. They say the sanctions are extremely negative, if the sanctions go forward from congress. That is their focus, they dont want the sanctions to go forward and trump himself questioned whether the sanctions should go forward in the past and, if they do, that may be one of the legacies of 2016, turning congress against russia at this point. Woodruff Nick Schifrin doing a lot of reporting on this. We thank you. Thank you. Woodruff now, the latest on a human smuggling case in texas that has left at least 10 people dead after they were packed into a sweltering tractortrailer. And again to john yang. Yang the truck driver, james bradley, was charged in federal court today with knowingly transporting immigrants for financial gain. The tractortrailer was discovered in a walmart parking lot early sunday when someone from inside the trailer approached an employee asking for water. Nearly 20 others are still hospitalized. Bradley says he made a stop to get the truck washed, but did not know anyone was hiding in the trailer until he parked near the store to use the bathroom. Migrants described a horrific scene insides the rig and said they took turns breathing through a hole. Jason buch is covering the story and reports on border and immigration issues for the san Antonio Express news. Jason, thanks for joining us. Today, whats the latested too and what did we learn from the Truck Drivers appearance in court . There wasnt a lot said in court this morning. Hes going to be held for a bond hearing thursday. The u. S. Attorneys office signed off on a complaint by immigration agents that detailed what they learned with interviews with the driver and immigrants. This jowrn from the border in an overheated container with a very limited ability to get air from one hole. Yang the charges are federal. Whats the maximum penalty. Most smuggling charges come with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison but because people died in this case, he faces up to life in prison or the Death Penalty. We had another incident 15 years ago in which 19 people died after being abandoned in a trailer. The Death Penalty was overturned and the driver got 34 years. It would be difficult for the u. S. Attorneys office to prove up a capital case here. Yang how widespread are the smuggling operations . What can you tell us about them . People come across the border in south texas every day. The Border Patrol in laredo where these folks crossed reported in the last couple of months an uptick of people using tractortrailers t get through the Border Patrol checkpoint and reach cities to the north. Its been a long time since weve had a fatal incident like this involving a tractortrailer, but certainly a number of incidents reported by roared Border Patrol recently of dozens packed into trailers. Yang some survivors say they crossed the river on a raft and were taken farther north in the truck. How do they work in general . What they described is paying a smuggler in mexico to bring them across the border, most likely involved stash houses on the u. S. Side, then when it was time to load the truck, it appeared people smuggled by different groups were brought to where this trailer was parked, loaded into the trailer and then driven to laredo and, in f