Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170220

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. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at 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. Woodruff the president has a new National Security adviser tonight. He named Army Lieutenant general h. R. Mcmaster today, a week after retired general Michael Flynn was forced out and a few days after the first choice for a replacement turned it down. Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg will serve as the Security Councils chief of staff. Mr. Trump made the announcement at his maralago resort in florida hes a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience, i watched and read a lot over last two days, he is highly respected by everybody in the military and were very honored to have him. Id just like to say what a privilege it is to be able to continue serving our nation, im grateful to you for that opportunity, i look forward to joining the National Security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interest of the american people. Youre going to do a great job. Woodruff for some background on h. R. Mcmaster hes 54 years old and currently a threestar general in the u. S. Army he graduated from west point in 1984, and later got a phd in military history. His doctoral thesis, about the failures of military and Political Leadership during vietnam, later became a well regarded book, called dereliction of duty. During the first gulf war with iraq in 1991, he lead a tank unit that prevailed against iraqs powerful republican guard. He also lead American Forces in iraq in 2005, and successfully brught stability to a city that had been rife with ethnic conflict. For more on all of this we turn to the washington posts greg jaffe. He has known mcmaster for years. Greg jaffe, welcome back to the program. You were just telling me youve known him 14 years . Yeah, i think 2002. Woodruff what should we know about him . Fiercely opinionated, very, very smart, hes passionate, hes funny. He understands the media, i think, and talks to reporters, interestingly. I dont think he views them as the enemy. You know, i think the one knock against him is when he believes hes right, he passionately argues that point and he doesnt stop. I think after a while, that can be too much for folks. Woodruff tell me about his military career. We were just reporting a very successful career during the first iraq the gulf war. What made him so successful. During the first gulf war, he was involved in the battle of 73 east wing, so he was a Tank Company Commander and his tank company prevailed against a much larger unit of the iraqi republican guard. His real fame, though, came later in iraq in 2006. Woodruff and what made him so successful . You know, his group, i can the new yorker described his unit in iraq as rebels against an incoherent strategy was a great line from the new yorker. At the the strategy in the u. S. Was well stand down as the iraqis stand up. He was training the iraqi forces. He went against that and said, look, we cant train the iraqi forms until we stabilize the situation. So he pushed his troops into the city of tel, and then establish. Woodruff how is he viewed by the rest of the military . In many cases with great admiration. H hes so frank and smart. Its interesting, though, when he was promoted from colonel to onestar, he was passed over to onestar general twice and i think thats a reflection on how frank he can b. He doesnt hold back his opinions and sometimes that rubs folks the wrong way. Woodruff is there a political philosophy there, or are you talking about a philosophy of war and fighting . A philosophy of war and fighting. Hes not a i political guy in ay way, shape or form. He wont bring very sharp political instincts on the down side. On the upside, hes not a political ideallog. He has strong opinions on war. Woodruff we weric look today at the web site for the hoover institution, a conservative think tank. A lot is about military strategy, leadership, he writes about. And from the New York Times begins which a quote that you dont normally hear from a u. S. Army officer. Woodruff based on what you were saying about him. You were also saying he hasnt spent a lot of time in washington. How do you see him fitting into the city and smack to the middle of power in the white house . Yeah, i think that will be interesting. He has dealt a lot in telifar and afghanistan, he ran an anticorruption pass for general petraeus in 2010. He had to deal with the state department, the intelligence agencies, all of the things you have to deal with as a National Security advisor. He hasnt spent a lot of timetying and worrying about politics in washington and i think thats going to be a challenge and a stretch for him because the National Security advisor job has to take d. C. Politics into account. Woodruff hes going to have a military man as his chief of staff, Keith Kellogg and dealing with a retired general at the pentagon. Were seeing a lot of military people in this administration. Thats right. It will be interesting thats an interesting dynamic. Woodruff its not a position that requires confirmation by the senate. So this is the president s choice and sounds like hes very different from Michael Flynn. He is. Flynn was widely respected in the army but hes seen as a more steadying figure than flynn, much lesser racquet. Woodruff greg gre jaffe with the post. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Woodruff in the days other news, thousands of antitrump protesters turned out in cities across the country. They called it not my president s day. Demonstrators marched, chanted and carried signs in new york, chicago, washington and los angeles, among other places. They challenged trump policies on everything from immigration to abortion. British lawmakers debated today whether to rescind an invitation to President Trump for a state visit. An online petition against it has gathered more than 1. 8 million signatures. Thousands protested against the president outside parliament today, as lawmakers held a non binding debate. I cant imagine a leader of our own country, of whatever political stripe, behaving in that manner. And it is for that reason that i think people are offended and concerned that britain should abandon all its principles. I certainly dont like some of the things that he has said in the past, but i do respect the fact that he stood on a platform on which he is now delivering. He is going to go down in history as being roundly condemned for being the only politician to deliver on his promises. Woodruff since the 1950s, only two other american president s have received the full pomp and pageantry of a state visit to britain george w. Bush and barack obama. The Russian Ambassador to the united nations, vitaly churkin, died suddenly today. Russian officials said he fell ill at his office in new york, and passed away later at a hospital. He was a wellknown figure in russian diplomatic circles, and had been u. N. Ambassador since 2006. Vitaly churkin would have turned 65 years old, tomorrow. In iraq, Government Forces advanced into the southwestern outskirts of mosul. Its the second day of a new offensive to drive Islamic State fighters from the citys western half. Police and army troops engaged in gun battles as they closed on the citys airport. They were backed by iraqi helicopters that rocketed a village on a key hill. Back in this country, officials in Northern California kept a close eye on swollen creeks and rivers as the latest in a series of huge rain storms rolled over the region. San francisco reported record rain totals, surpassing the normal amount for its wet entire season. To the south, in santa cruz county, they counted nearly three inches of rain in 24 hours, and could get eight more. And, political circles are abuzz after Milo Yiannopoulos was disinvited to address the conservative Political Action conference. The planned speech by the highly polarizing Breitbart News editor had already triggered a social media backlash. Then, video clips resurfaced in which he joked about pedophilia. He called it sloppy phrasing but cpac organizers said thats not enough. Still to come on the newshour, mixed messages about american support for nato. Searching for migrants who dont survive the treacherous journey to the u. S. Border. Our politics monday team on the latest political news, and much more. Woodruff top members of the Trump Administration have been traveling overseas to calm some raw nerves among u. S. Allies. The main source of the concern comments from President Trump that led to worries in europe and beyond about american commitments to longstanding alliances and institutions. John yang has that. Yang Vice President pence spent his Holiday Weekend hard at work, trying to reassure nervous leaders in europe that the United States has their back. Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and above all, the same purpose to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Yang in brussels, the Vice President underscored american support for nato, and for the european union. President trump has called nato obsolete, and praised britains decision to abandon the e. U. At a campaignstyle rally in florida this weekend, mr. Trump seemed to soften his tone a bit, even as he called again for greater burdensharing among the allies. Im a nato fan. But many of the countries in nato, many of the countries that we protect, many of these countries are very rich countries. Theyre not paying their bills. Yang today European Council president donald tusk welcomed the Vice President s reassurance, but appealed for unequivocal american support. Too many new, and sometimes surprising, opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations and our Common Security for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be. Yang separately, the head of nato said he doesnt believe America First means america alone. Republican senator john mccain issued his own critique at the munich security conference. Without naming the president , he wondered aloud what earlier leaders would have said. They would be alarmed by an they would be alarmed by the growing inability, and even unwillingness, to separate truth from lies. Yang meanwhile, defense secretary james mattis made a stop in iraq today. President trump set off alarm bells there last month, with if we kept the oil, you probably wouldnt have isis because thats where they made their money in the first place, so we should have kept the oil. But, okay, maybe well have another chance. Yang today, mattis walked it all back. All of us in america have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and im sure that we will continue to do so in the future. Were not in iraq to seize anyones oil. Yang mattis also promised continued u. S. Support for iraqs offensive to retake mosul from the Islamic State. We turn now to steven erlanger, the London Bureau chief for the New York Times. Steve, thanks for joining us. I should warn folks, i think we have a little satellite delay here. Steve, how reassuring were these visits from the Vice President , the secretary of defense, the secretary of state to the european leaders . Well, they were reassuring up to a point but not that reassuring because, after all, the president of the United States has very different views, and what when the president of the United States says words, words matter, and you have this strange image of is major Security Officials and cabinet officials rung around telling everybody, actually, dont listen to the president of the United States, and then two seconds later the president tweets something or had that strange, rambling press conference, and everybody gets nervous once again because everything seemed to be you could turn everything upside down in a minute. So this is really the problem. I mean, trump has surrounded himself with a lot of basically sensible, traditional security figures. Hes just done it again with mcmaster. A lot of them are either businessmen who dont likely know diplomacy, or theyre generals who have a strict notion of diplomacy which usually starts with a gun, and theyre dealing with a whole network of european officials who are used to American Leadership beginning from the top and american support for the idea of a europe which is free, which has shared sovereignty, which is in americas interest. I mean, trump seems to talk, as far as theyre concerned, about every alliance being transactional, that its a debt to pay or a bill. Americas part of n. A. T. O. Because its in americas interest, and america does pay quite a lot, but it has asian interests, it has lots of other defense interests, and, in fact, the europeans are paying more. The price is less of an issue than the efficiency of the spending and the way its actually used, particularly in the face of new threats from russia and trumps bromance with Vladimir Putin shakes peel a great deal. They dont like to talk about it. They dont understand it. In the face of more aggressive russia, cyberwar fair, fake news, the use of social media to undermine allied leaders like Angela Merkel or the British Government or the european union, these are troubling things for people. Its great for Vice President pence or jim mattis to come and iss the platitudes that most leaders in this administration have rarely had to do. But even those platitudes were greeted with some relief by people, though they do wait for the next trump statement about some terrorist attack in sweden that actually never happened or how n. A. T. O. Is somehow about paying bills and not about mutual defense. Yang steve, as you look a across the european capitals, what nations are more concerned than others about whats going on now at the with the Trump Administration . I would say its germany because germany is in the middle of an Election Campaign that will climax in september, and Angela Merkel is running for fourth term, and she has been weakened by the migrant crisis and simple fatigue, and, yet, she is the person who is most seen as the strongest figure in europe, not just in terms of the power of germany and the economy of germany, but in standing up to moscow and putin over ukraine and crimea. Shes been crucial in keeping the sanctions against russia over its annexation of crimea and current activities, and there is a sense in germany that trump, for whatever reason, doesnt care for her. Hes very much a lover of brexit. Theres a suspicion that somehow his real sympathies are with the alternative right and not with the people who are keeping europe strong. Yang steve erlanger, the New York Times. We have to leave it there. Steve, great to see you again. Woodruff perhaps the Biggest Campaign promise President Trump has taken action on is building the wall along the u. S. Mexico border. As jean guerrer of Kpbs Fronteras reports, a group of immigrants patrol vast swaths of desert from california to arizona, searching for those lost on a dangerous journey. Reporter Marco Antonio garcia vanished crossing the border weeks ago. Maximo garcia shows me a text message from a drug mule with a crucial clue about his missing grandnephew. It reads in spanish look for him in the coyote arroyo, near the border, where theres some fencing. A drug mule using garcias phone said hed found the young mans body and phone in the arizona desert. These men have volunteered to search for him. We are now starting our search for Marco Antonio. We drive into the desert, on our way to hike along one of the most dangerous smuggling routes near the usmexico border. translated if we find him, its bad news for me. If we dont find him, well, its bad news either way. Reporter the volunteers prepare their gear for hours of walking in 100degree heat. They stock up on water and ice. They pack extra batteries for they call themselves aguilas del desierto, or eagles of the desert. Roque raul jose cesar reporter theyre plumbers, farmers, construction workers. Most are immigrants who live in san diego. They spend their weekends rescuing migrants or recovering their bodies as far away as arizona. translated so their relatives will stop having uncertainty about what happened to their relative. To give them that peace. Reporter founder ely ortiz started the group after his own brother, rigoberto, disappeared trying to enter the u. S. Through here in 2009. His coyote, or human smuggler, confessed hed abandoned rigoberto during his last breaths. translated i would think, wheres my brother . What happened to him . How did he die . A thousand thoughts went through my head. And i told myself, im not going to leave my brother lying out there. Reporter ely ortiz called the mexican consulates, Border Patrol and other agencies. translated i asked everyone for help, and nobody would help me. Reporter so he went out on foot, with the help of a human rights activist named rafael hernandez. Together, they found his brothers body. It was closure for the ortiz family. Inspired, ortiz launched aguilas del desiert. He chose the name aguilas because of the eagles powerful eyesight and wingspan. His volunteers walk into the desert. Some stay with the cars to rescue us if necessary. Ortiz reminds us not to lose sight of each other, for safety. Along the coyote arroyo, the earth is unusually fertile for a desert. Its one of the most transited border routes precisely because theres so much vegetation for cover. But that means its almost impossible to follow ortizs mandate to keep an eye on each other. Theres people to my left inside of the brush and to my right. Signs of migrants are everywhere tossed red bulls, backpacks, dolls and drug mules shoes with carpet strips on the bottom to cover tracks. There are black gallon jugs, which smugglers sell as a sort of supernatural, strength inducing water. As you can see, these are all over the place. Im following a volunteer named jose genis. He says its hard to spot bodies in this area because of all the foliage. Dying migrants often crawl beneath trees seeking shade. It makes it difficult for us to find them because they blend in, especially after the body has been decomposing, and dust reporter genis is a navy veteran and a licensed e. M. T. On previous searches, he has found dehydrated migrants trying to enter the u. S. Illegally. He has helped save their lives, treating them until Border Patrol could come take them to the hospital. I feel american, but at the same time, i have my roots from mexico, so i try to help out as much as i can. Reporter the heat is oppressive, even through the trees. There are snakes and scorpions and cattle skeletons. We keep losing each other. We repeatedly have to stop and regroup, finding each other by blowing whistles. We have to make it out before sunset, when smugglers inhabit this terrain. But were not covering nearly enough ground. Weve moved one mile if anything, one and a quarter. Reporter we press on. Genis and i find a bible crawling with insects. I wonder if the person who dropped it made it out of this desert alive. Hundreds of people die crossing the border each year, from things like dehydration or hypothermia. In arizona alone, the death count is astounding. Official figures exclude countless bodies that are never found. Ev meade of the Transborder Institute said border deaths since the 1990s range as high as 10,000. This is the kind of number we talk about when we talk about an Armed Conflict or a war. Reporter he says the deaths are linked to u. S. Border fence construction. Border crossing deaths were almost unheard of until the u. S. Built long stretches of border fence in the 1990s. Today, about 700 miles of the 2,000 mile border are fenced, mostly around cities. This forced migrants onto remote, dangerous routes through the desert, with its extreme temperatures. President donald trump has vowed to expand current fencing along the border. Build that wall reporter meade says trumps wall could increase migrant deaths. Some are dying on the way. We just really havent had a serious policy discussion about the humanitarian consequences of the building of the wall. Reporter back in the desert, we pass barbed wire fencing. Could it be the fencing referred to in the text message . Someone finds something. I scramble up a hill, following genis. First, i see the skull. A few meters away are the legs, clothed in pants. The body has been torn apart by coyotes or some other animal. Genis says the body looks like its been decomposing for about a month. Marco antonio disappeared a month ago. translated unfortunately, we just found remains of a human being. Were going to investigate to see if its him. Reporter garcia calls his relatives to tell them what weve found. The aguilas get to work. They cant touch the body; it could be a crime scene. They note the coordinates of the remains, which theyll share with local police. Officials will pick up the body and take it to the medical examiner for d. N. A. Analyses. The aguilas improvise a marker out of a balloon they find, to help officials spot the body. Back at the vehicles, garcia thanks the aguilas for the search. He says they were the only people willing to help him. For the pbs newshour, im jean guerrero, along the u. S. Mexican border. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour, fighting disease in the most polluted city on earth. And why 20foot tall busts of former president s are sitting in rural virginia. Today, february 20th, is one month into the new Trump Administration, its an early moment to pause and ask where things stand. For that, we turn to our politics monday team tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the cook political report. And welcome to both of you. It is monday. With we are already a month, as we just said, amy and tam, into this administration. So lets take a little bit of stock. Tam, you have been looking at the president as appointments for the president s appointments for big positions that have to be confirmed by the senate. What are you seeing . How is he doing compared to other president s at this point . In terms of getting them confirmed, he is behind schedule. Thats not entirely his fault. Senate democrats have been slowwalking the nominations in part because they say many of these nominees are sort of out of line with the main stream. Mitch mcconnell said the other ar day this is the most conservative cabinet hes seen, democrats take that as validation of their feelings. In terms of broadly, beyond the cabinet, the senateconfirmed positions, President Trump named 34 people so far, that is just slightly behind pace of president obama and ahead of the pace of president bill clinton and president george w. Bush. So hes not actually behind many stories. You were telling us 515 awaiting confirmation, the 34 theyve named and 20 of them are still waiting. Right. Woodruff there is a lot of focus on these numbers. How much does it matter . I think there is the story about the process and then about the perception, and i think as we learned from tam, the process, hes not that far off, if you look again, but academic studies, president obama but his first 100 days had only about 17 of his appointees in. Its not the pace thats the problem, its the perception of chaos. Its about some of the people hes chosen with views different than the president s. Ideologically, we dont know where his north star is on a lot of issues. As you pointed out today you had the secretary of defense go to iraq and said i know the president said were going to come take your oil, dont worry. Thats another reason for that. Also the talk of loyalty tests for people who want to be in highlevel positions. Every president wants something loyal to them. There is nothing wrong or different about that. It seems to be taken to a level we havent seen before. If youve written or said anything during the course of the campaign critical of donald trump, you are not going to be appointed or you may lose a job that you have been appointed for once they find out what youve actually said, so i think thats what lends this idea that this is sort of a cabinet or a process in chaos. And there were so many people in the socalled establishmentser or the people who would be if line for these sorts of positions that spoke out against trump during the campaign. Theres a lot of material to work with. He said during his news conference, ive gotten more accomplished in my office than some president s did in their entire term. I think some people thought it was hyperbole and let him get away with a little of that, but what has he accomplished . Weve seen a few executive orders. Legislations not there yet. Legislation is definitely not there yet, and at least one of those executive orders is on hold pending court action and, now, President Trump with the travel ban is planning sometime soon to do a new one that would get around some of the legal challenges. But, yes, things he has done, the keystone xl pipeline and Dakota Access pipeline, he signed that legislative order. Its something on hold and moving. As president , he is able to do something by being there and not being barack obama. Woodruff and . And there is still a legislative process to. This he wants to build a border wall, we have to pay for it. It has to go through a legislative process to appropriate that money. You want to get rid of obamacare, there is a process legislatively thats involved with that. Hes setting the ball rolling but you still need congress and, of course, the courts to go along with your procedures. The other piece of this, and i feel like a broken record, judy, weve talked about this almost every time woodruff we dont think youre a broken record. But part of it is the reason were not talking so much what hes done in three weeks is he steps on his message more than anybody else. A more traditional message would spend every single morning waking up and talking about the two or three or four issues they want to talk about. Instead, its attacks on the media, its tweets that go above and beyond simple attacks on the media calling them an enemy of the people. So the issue is if he wants to talk about what hes accomplished, he has to have the discipline, the president needs to have the discipline to focus on those issues day in and out and let the people around him not put out fires but actually focus on talking about and pushing ahead on this agenda. Woodruff so he pulls out of the Transpacific Partnership trade deal but were not hearing he says im going to do bilateral deals, okay, lets see what they look like. Woodruff one thing you could argue hes done is stir up the anger and frustration of a lot of democrats or at least people opposed to him, we dont know if theyre democrats or republicans. There was another one of those sets of protests today. We have a map, in fact, around the country there were a number of protests in cities. People called it the this is not my president s day. How much antitrump energy is there out there . And can we tell if this has legs . Will it last . Clearly there is antitrump energy. There is energy showing up at town hauls members of congress are having. We dont know whether its real, whether its the new tea party or whether it sticks. We dont know whether the Democratic Party will be able to capitalize on this energy because at the moment there is not really a leader of the Democratic Party, theyre in the middle of an election. Woodruff how do you see it . We have to watch and see where this energy goes and for those folks who watched in 2009 these raucous town halls and said, well, its probably not going to be much of anything. Proven wrong. All the tea party emerged in 2010. Donald trump, all his rallies, oh, well, maybe theyre not a big deal clearly, under it there was a great deal of energy for donald trump we were able to physically see. But i agree with tamara, we have to see where this goes. The challenge for democrats is they dont have energy, they have a geography problem. The states they need to win in order to take control of the senate or in order to win seats in the house, maybe in the control congress, are red states, in the senate side, and districts that are really republican. Were with seeing two sides really fired up. That doesnt help democrats. What democrats need is to see republicans become depressed and fall out of love with donald trump. That hasnt happened. Woodruff the geography problem, youve written about this. Yes. Woodruff amy walter, tamera keith, great to see you both. Thank you. Youre welcome. Woodruff indias capital, delhi, now outranks beijing as the worlds most polluted large city. And its taking a toll on its residents health. But as special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports, there are efforts underway to make the citys air less toxic. Its part of his ongoing series agents for change. Reporter he murmurs and he gasps, waiting for a spot to free up, for a chance to just breathe. As nebulizer treatments open up the lungs of a handful of patients, dozens more await their turn at the chest clinic in a Delhi Government hospital. This is the scene outside of the doctors office. Clinic hours are from 9 00 a. M. Until 1 00, and on a typical day the doctor will see 120 patients whove been here before and 30 brands new ones. Three to four patients are seen at the same time, in the same room, by dr. Raj kumar and his team of Junior Doctors and residents. The most common complaint simply change of season the winter, which brings dust and tiny carbon particulates into the environment when there is a change in environment or increase in the particulate matter and everything, these asthmatic and c. O. P. D. Patients do get exacerbation of their symptoms. Reporter they get exacerbation of their symptoms . Yeah. Reporter dr. Kumar can do little more than check on their medications and advise them to avoid some of the most polluted outdoor air on the planet. Weather and wind patterns are blamed for trapping pollutants over indias capital carbon dioxide, ozone and fine carbon particles. Dirty fuels are the culprit from several sources, automobiles the major one. On average, 1,400 new vehicles are added to delhis streets every day, most now burning a highly polluting diesel, long outlawed in europe and the United States. By 2021 diesel fuel here will meet european standards. The government has also promised to shut down old coal fired plants and restrict new ones. And wood and coal burning brick kilns has been moved farther away from the city. But the pollution continues. To get an idea of how polluted the air is, we went to one of the cleanest places in delhi the American Embassy school. It serves the children of american and other expats and diplomats. Many don face masks but only until theyre inside says the director ellen stern. We have an air system that goes all the way through the school and we now have four different kinds of filters on it that filter out various kinds of things. Reporter Barun Aggarwal showed me the elaborate system his company, breathe easy, has set up in the school, pulling out the first layer of filter, thickly coated with a grimy soot. If you were to walk outside today this is what is coming into your lungs . Absolutely. Its most of the black carbon actually passes through a filter like this. This is mostly dust and the black carbon will get trapped in the finer particle filters. Reporter so how old is this accumulation . Less than six days. Reporter the fine particle filters also show stark before and after evidence of the harmful air outside. Youd think such systems would be in strong demand, but aggarwal says aside from a few buildings mostly occupied by expats, its been a hard sell. Among indias growing middle class, he says hes theres denial or indifference, a sense that pollution is the price of indias rapid economic progress. The number of myths that are there with regards to air pollution in india is incredible. The first one i get by mostly indians is that if i breathe clean air for eight hours then my immunity will come down and when i go out i will fall sick. Completely wrong because if you believe that then you should be giving your children two packets of cigarettes to smoke every day. Reporter the problem, like cigarette smoking is except for those with lung disease, the Health Consequences of pollution such as lung and Heart Disease and stroke come later in life. Itll happen in 2030 years. So if you ask a 20 year old, is this important, they say no, no, no, its not important, i need to make money, get ahead in life. Reporter Kamal Meattle is an environmental activist, an also designed the Embassy Schools filtration system. It works well, he says, but is no panacea for a city of 20plus million residents purifiers and filters for the people who can afford them. It has to be for the people on the road, in slums and they have to be dealing with people who go on motorcycles, busses, metro, theyre the ones who are exposed most to the pollution. Reporter meattle, who trained at m. I. T. , has developed lower cost ways to cope with the pollution, which we measured just outside an Office Building he owns in central delhi, using an instrument used to measure fine carbon particles. 290. 288. Reporter what is the w. H. O. Standard . It is w. H. O. Is 50. Reporter so what you have outside your building is an air quality thats six times worse than the w. H. O. Standard . Thats right. Reporter can we step back inside and see what its like inside . From 290, the level dropped to 9, thanks not just to filters and air purifiers but to plant thousands of them on this rooftop greenhouse. This greenhouse produces clean air and each floor is pulling it in as needed. Yes. And there are plants on each floor also. This is the central air cleaning system for the whole building reporter plants do more than produce oxygen, he says. They are natural air purifiers, their roots eat bacteria and fungi and they absorb chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene produced by office products. These are areca palms for the day time, bamboo palm. Reporter most importantly, he says, these are common, fast growing species and should be in every home, for clean air benefits to both lungs and brains. Harvard and the university of california at berkeley have done studies that show your cognitive abilities improve in such an environment. Reporter theyre small steps people can take indoors but he acknowledges, theres a huge complex problem outside these clean air bubbles, not easily solved in indias chaotic democracy. I think its politicians anywhere in the world think the same. They will only act when its a very straightforward solution. Then they will implement it and take credit for it but until they find they dont have a clean straight solution they will keep the matter confused. Reporter but environmentalists say years of lobbying seem to be yielding some results, helped by prodding from Indias Supreme Court which has compelled Government Agencies to act. One group claiming the credit says it distributed pollution gauges to prominent delhiites. Its leader, Sunita Narain says Campaign Targets included the court. We took the machine in, put the machine there and the chief justice said this is unacceptable. So i think slowly that sense of unacceptable, this is not right, this is not fair, its increasing the burden of health on our children, we have to change it, thats happened. Reporter but in the meantime, for years to come, indias capital and for that matter most of its major cities will continue to be among the most difficult places on earth to breathe. For the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in new delhi. Woodruff freds reporting is a partnership with the undertold stories project at the university of st thomas, in minnesota. Woodruff the oscars are this sunday. One of the best picture favorites is a comingofage story thats been honored for its approach to dealing with Sexual Identity and race. Moonlight grabbed its latest award last night best screenplay from the Writers Guild of america. Its up for eight oscars. Jeffrey brown sat down with the filmmakers this fall. Heres a second look for our series beyond the red carpet. Reporter its a life we dont often see portrayed in commercial films. A comingofage tale of love and anguish. A movie thats garnered critical acclaim for the story it tells and the beauty and power of its telling. In moonlight, we watch chiron growing up in the liberty city neighborhood of miami as the crack epidemic is taking hold in the 1980s. He is young, poor, black and coming to terms with being gay, quietly and painfully wrestling with these identities. The story is based on the life of tarell alvin mccraney, who first wrote it as a play and then the screenplay for the new its a story that i still feel like i have to tell, but that i also feel i have to explore and to understand. I mean, its a story rooted in events in my own life that im trying to make sense of. And make sense of the world out of. And i think, for me, i always am interested in trying to get a group of people to have the same conversation. Reporter director Barry Jenkins who also grew up poor in liberty city at the same time, and with a mother fighting addiction presents the story in three separate acts, using three Different Actors to play chiron. At the new museum of African American history and culture where the film was recently screened he told me he purposely kept the actors from watching one another. One of the themes of the film, for me, is about the way society is shaping these young men, from our communities, though positive reinforcement, negative reinforcements. This is what masculinity looks like, this is what it sounds like. And so much time passes between each story that i feel like the world has shaped this character into a different person. So i wanted to cast different people to play the same person, and i wanted them to be different. Reporter we watch chiron grow through high school, tormented by bullies and his own insecurities living with a mother played by Naomie Harris who sinks more and more into addiction. Whats wrong . Nothing. Reporter this is a young man who speaks more loudly in his looks and silences than in words. The power of cinema is that we get to watch people, you know . And we get to watch people like, in close up. Of the power of the feeling in a persons eyes, you know, they can be doing active they can be less active and yet, revealing so much more. I think of moonlight of like an iceberg film. You know the hemingway phrase, you know . 10 is above water, and 90 is below . We flip it upside down. You know, we want to show you that 90 , below water, but its moving very, very slow. You know, its a patient film, you know. But the characters revealing himself, you know, by these terms, you know, and his expressions. Reporter the adult chiron is played by trevante rhodes, a onetime track and field star at the university of texas who only found his way into acting his senior year. I think the beauty of the scene is he didnt know. Reporter an outgoing and gregarious man, he told me how he approached playing a character so different. It was really just about Walking Around l. A. With the three weeks i had prior to filming feeling as if feeling as if i had a secret to hide from everyone, you know . Reporter you were Walking Around feeling. Walking around feeling as if i had this secret, feeling as if i connected with someone, they would be able to see through me. They would be able to see my insecurities. They would be able to see this mask that i was putting on. Feeling as if i couldnt love myself because chiron had this selfhate and because of that, he couldnt love others. I feel that all of us really relate to shyrone in a sense that we all at some point are insecure about something in our life, you know . And im someone who i try to make sense of everything and i feel like chiron tends to do the same thing, just in a different way. The context is a bit different whos here . Nobody. Reporter another compelling character is juan, played by mahershala ali, a drug dealer stepping in as a father figure to the young chiron. Juan was based on someone mccraney knew as a child. It often pains me to know that people sort of see him, and go, oh, thats unusual. When i think, when i think back over my life, i think, oh, but there have been many times ive run into many people like him who are reflections of him in my mind. And i hear other people go, no, i had a person in my life like that, too. So, i keep thinking, well what what are we doing . What why are we silencing that story . Why are we what is happening to us, that were not seeing him more often . Reporter do you feel this is a film that could have been made five years ago . Ten years ago . I mean, the one thing i can, i can stand up on is, i couldnt have made it five years ago, or ten years ago. I dont think i was intellectually or emotionally capable at that point. Im shaking my head because i had it ten years ago. And it didnt get made. I do think that right now, theres a time in this country, when i think people are they want to see beyond the barriers of their own experience, you know. And i think a part of that is, i think this country is a place where many voices, you know, are, are, are being sought, you and then they go, and they see the film, and they go, that voice is kind of similar to mine, you know. I kind of relate to this guy, even though i dont want to sit next to him on the subway, you maybe i will next time. I think were, were in a moment where everyone has to understand that authenticity work is key. Because when you come to the table truthfully, then we can kind of we see that theres actually we illuminate that theres actually more room for voices, rather than that just one voice that we heard previous. Reporter moonlight is for the pbs newshour, im jeffrey brown. Woodruff now to our newshour shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. Some people collect stamps. Some coins, or in the case of our founding coanchor jim lehrer, anything to do with buses. But one virginia man owns dozens of giant sculptures of our nations commandersinchief. To mark president s day, the newshours Julia Griffin paid his collection a visit. Reporter cracked and crumbling. Battered and broken. These are the former residents faces of the president s park. The tenacre Tourist Destination outside of Colonial Williamsburg opened in 2004. The Main Attraction . 43texassized busts of president s past by houston artist david adickes. Utility contractor Howard Hankins helped build the original park. The eyes look like theyre staring at you, just gazing at you. Its incredible how big they are and lifelike. Reporter the statues are big, but attendance was low, and the venture went belly up in 2010. When the president s park went bust, the president s heads were destined for a landfill. Rather than let that happen, hankins decide to bring them here, to his family farm in virginia. But the steel and concrete sculptures weigh between 15 to 20,000 pounds, and moving them wasnt exactly an easy lift. I climbed up and knocked a hole in their head and rocked them loose from their frame with about a 70,000pound machine, and picked them up and put them on my lowboys and brought them here. Reporter abraham lincoln, in particular, took a bashing beating. Lincoln over there we dropped him on the back of his head. We had tires to cushion him and the chain broke and we dropped him. Reporter the busts can be repaired. But for now, hankins lets the elements take their toll. Being out of concrete, water gets in and freezes and cracks them. They kind of have character the way they are. I mean a little mold and moss on them, crack here and there. Reporter and even though its private land, intrepid explorers, selfie sticks in hand, still flock to the farm for a glimpse of the stonefaced leaders. I have to tell them, this is not a site you can visit and ill be as nice as i can be, ill let them walk around and look and they try to climb on them and i say no climbing on the statues. Reporter rather than relegate the busts to an unofficial tourist attraction, hankins recently started raising funds for a new park outside of richmond, one that will include two additions president S Barack Obama and donald trump. Until then hell keep a close watch over his commandersin chief. These guys all seem to get along right here i dont see anybody fighting. Reporter its all bipartisan once you retire . Theyre good people. They all listen to me. Reporter for the pbs newshour, im Julia Griffin in croaker, virginia. Woodruff and on the newshour online right now, we test your knowledge of all things president ial with our president s day quiz. All that and more is on our web site, pbs. Org newshour. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. 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. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org hockenberry welcome to the program. Im John Hockenberry sitting in for charlie rose. We begin this evening with russia and talk to investigative journalist and author tim weiner. Mr. Flynn lied to everyone in the white house up to and including the president. The president concealed those lies from the Vice President. Mr. Flynn got caught in a lie about what he said or did not say to the Russian Ambassador, mr. Putins man in moscow, and he was shown the exit. This is the reverse of the normal procedure in washington. We know the coverup, its lying. Whats the crime . This is what the f. B. I. Wants to know very, very badly. Hockenberry we continue with russian scholar kim martin. Possibly it is putin just trying to test the