Tide and their powerful coach etch their place in history. All that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by babbel. A language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. Babbels 1015 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. More information on babbel. Com. Funding provided in part by 20th century fox. The post, in theaters everywhere january 12. Bnsf railway. 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 we begin tonight with politics, and a striking look inside highlevel talks over how to reduce and reform immigration here in the u. S. Today, a group of both republican and Democratic Senators and house members met with President Trump at the white house to discuss this contentious issue including daca, the program that shields hundreds of thousands of young undocumented people from deportation. For more on that meeting, and what might come from it, im joined by our own john yang and lisa desjardins. And john, ill start with you. Thank you both for being here. John im going to started with you. Ive been in washington a long time, ive covered a lot of meetings, this one is different. Absolutely, very different. It was a remarkable series of events. In meetings like this usually the press is brought in at the beginning for a few minutes, the president speaks, then escorted out after five minutes. Not this time. They stayed for 50 minutes, about 55 minutes as the lawmakers made their laid out their bargaining positions. It all began with the president saying on immigration, Signature Campaign issue hes willing to seib whatever the lawmakers come up. Everyone agrees we need to have border security. Second, has to be a bill to end chain migration. Im he peeling to everybody in the room to put the country before party and to sit down and negotiate and to compromise and lets see if we can get something done. I think we have a chance to do it. I think its very important. Youre talking about 800,000 people. I think my positions are go willing fob what the people in this room come up with. I am very much reliant on the people in this room. I know most of the people on both sides. I have a lot of respect for the people on both sides and my what i approve is going to be very much reliant on what the people in this room come to me with. I have great confidence if they come to me with things that im not in love with im going to do it because i respect them. Reporter this was a reel peek behind the curtain. Two key lawmakers, senator Dianne Feinstein, top democrat and House Republican leader kevin mccarthy, both of california, proposing two very different paths forward and each trying to get the president on the record agreeing with them. What about a clean daca bill now, with a commitment that we then go into a comprehensive Immigration Reform procedure . I have no problem. I think thats basically what dick is saying. Were going to come out with daca, and then we can start immediately on the phase two, which would be comprehensive. Would you be agreeable to that . Yeah, i would like that. I think a lot of people would like to see that, but i think we have to do daca first. Mr. President , you need to be clear, though. I think what senator feinstein is asking here, when we talk about daca we dont want to be back here two years later. You have to have security, as the secretary would tell you. I think thats what shes saying. No, i think shes saying something different. What do you think im saying . Im thinking youre saying daca without security. Are you talking about security as well . Well, i think if we have comprehensive Immigration Reform, thats where the security really goes. I dont think thats comprehensive. Ithink thats dealing with daca at the same time. I think thats really what the president is making. Yang this went on for nearly an hour. Reporters in the room say there was no effort by white house aides to get them to leave until the final few minutes. After the closeddoor portion of the meeting, the white house said the group had agreed to negotiate legislation on four topics dreamers, border security, whats called chain migration the policy of allowing immigrants to bring family members into the country and the visa lottery. Woodruff john, thats what it looked like from the white house. Lisa youre at the capitol, was this unusual for members of congress as it seemed at our end . Perhaps even more unusual. They are used to dog and pony shows, members of congress go up to the white house, we see a littlability of conversation and exchange. What happened here, this is coming from multiple senators who were there, that there was a feeling that maybe this isnt just a dog and pony show. As more and more members started to act like it was ongoing, live negotiation, more and more members took it that way. In the end, what happened, the portion that was not on camera which was also about 45 minutes, that is where the negotiation happened to agree to four points that john was talking about. And one other note that was unusual about . We saw, this the public saw this, but Senate Staffers who are used to getting first information about these, they were in the cold, they were waiting outside, they had. Odonnell idea what was happening. Woodruff was something actually agreed to . We heard what john said the white house is saying. Reporter what exactly came out of this, this is about a daca fix and how do you tailor this in way that republicans can get on board. Decided on a narrow series of four things that they want to try to agree on, again something for some sometimes at that time us for dreamer kids, thats number one. Then some kind of agreement on family or chain migration, limiting it now or maybe in the future than . Kind of limit on the visa lottery program. And in addition something on border security. Now, those are seemingly narrow topics, but of core details are important and one dekey tail today that the president put out there that republicans are touting in the senate is that he indicated that he understands that a border wall may not go the entire border and mi may not in fact be a wall. Woodruff we know theres interest been conversation about the wall. About daca on both sides. You have todays meeting, where does it go from here . Now the Senate Bipartisan group, the brown and durbin group, both in the meeting today, is trying to meet asap to take this momentum and try to get actual outline or maybe a bill going in the next week and a half. Now that statement that john pointed to, where the president said, you guys come up with something, ill agree to it, whatever it is. Some of those are skeptical that are the case. A senator said that he thinks actually white house may negotiate or chief of staff, john kelly, former Homeland Security secretary john kelly. Is going to say what the white house wantish fact tonight we know they gave him a list of things theyre interested in on security. So, they have narrowed the scope, given themself a chance at a deal here but details are still undecided. Woodruff we also know, lisa, you covered this for a long time, the view in the senate among republicans on immigration can be very different from the views in the house of representatives. Reporter some of what Lindsey Graham said, most important thing about this meeting was the president weighing in saying i am behind this effort and he said it was important because the house members need the president to get behind this so that they can point to their conservative voters say, hey, this is President Trumps idea. Otherwise house conservatives do not want to pass a bill giving status to those who are undocument right now. Woodruff so, john to, broad then out, all this happens in a week when the president is frankly under a lot of criticism. This book has come out which paints a picture of him as someone who, at bests disengaged, doesnt follow policy maters is, gets bored when legislation is being discussed. So we look at what happened today in the context. Reporter shrewdly. We saw president in the cabinet room with the lawmakers engaged, he was calm, he was listening tl sides listening to the various positions. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked, why was the press allowed this front row seat to the negotiating process . She said they thought it was important, American People and the press see the cooperation and the conversation that happened in these meetings. Woodruff lisa. Allowed them toe negotiate with each other members of congress but he sort of forced them to bring their cards to the table with the camera there. Judy, all that said there is going to be some very tricky negotiations happening, take someone like family migration, how do you limit that just a little bit in an initial bill with the hope of having larger reform down the road. That is very unclear no. One is sure how exactly we do that first down payment on that kind ever issue. Woodruff this is in part what republicans refer to as chain migration. Reporter thats right. Woodruff but bottom line is, can yes it was quite a display, but can something meaningful come from it or not. Reporter good question. Democrats have to make a decision, decide if they want this to be weigh in now or if they want to push this deadline back to march which is when Daca Recipients see their status change. Democrats show they have leverage now, but wait until later. Woodruff quickly john, it does look like the president is invested in this issue. Reporter this is something the president has been talking about privately with aides and also sort of off the record conversations with some reporters. I think he really is looking for some sort of accomplishment, its going to be tough in a year with the midterm elections at the end usually second sessions of congress are not very productive. But hoping that will be different this time. Woodruff great reporting from both of you. John yang, lisa desjardins, thank. Woodruff now, to the days other news. Deadly mudslides swept through southern california, rippin homes from foundations and killing at least eight people. Heavy rain triggered flash flooding in hills where a huge fire burned all the vegetation last month. Crews used heavy equipment to clear deep mud from blocked highways just north of los angeles. Rescuers reached a number of survivors, whod been trapped in mud and debris. A lot of people believe that the mud and debris only flows when the rain is coming down. Well, thats not necessarily true. What happens is, when the ground get saturated, it starts giving. Its kind of like building a sandcastle on the beach as soon as that sand gets saturated with water, its just going to slough off. Woodruff the same storm also dumped more than three inches of rain on San Francisco last night. That broke a record set in 1872. A dossier about President Trumps former ties to russia is back in the headlines. The cofounder of the Investigative Firm that commissioned the dossier had been interviewed at length by the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Last august. Today, the senior democrat on the panel, california senator Dianne Feinstein, released the interview transcript, over republican objections. We will discuss what happened and what we learned from it, a little later in the program. President trumps former chief strategist, steve bannon, has stepped down as executive chair of Breitbart News network. The farright news site announced it today. Bannon drew heavy fire from the president and his allies for his highly critical comments in a new book about the trump white house. The nominee for secretary of health and Human Services defended his record on drug pricing today. Alex azar faced questions at his Senate Confirmation hearing. Oregon democrat ron wyden focused on his time at the pharmaceutical giant, eli lilly. Did you ever lower the price ever, of a lilly drug sold in the u. S. . Drug prices are too high, senator wyden, i said that. I said that when i was at lilly that is not the question. Did you ever lower the price . I dont know if there is any drug price of a branded product that has ever gone down, from any company on any drug in the u. S. , because every incentive in this system is toward higher prices, and that is where we can do things together, working as the government. Woodruff azar warned that allowing medicare to negotiate drug prices directly could restrict consumer choice. A panel of federal judges today threw out a congressional districting plan in North Carolina. The court ruled that republicans drew the plan to give themselves an unconstitutional advantage over democrats. A previous plan was struck down after a finding of racial bias. The government of syria is charging that Israel Attacked inside syrian territory again today. The Syrian Military says missiles hit an army depot in a suburb northeast of damascus early this morning. Israel would not confirm or deny the claim. In the past, it has targeted weapons shipments from iran, passing through syria to the hezbollah militia in lebanon. In iran, there is word that Security Forces arrested 3,700 people during antigovernment protests over the past two weeks. A reformist lawmaker offered the new figure today, and it is far larger than authorities previously reported. Meanwhile, in a tehran speech, irans supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei, charged again that the u. S. Fomented the protests. translated your excellencies, heads of the u. S. Administration, you failed miserably this time. In case you repeat this, be aware that youll fail miserably again. Woodruff at the same time, khamenei said, those with legitimate complaints about irans economy should be heard. And in the phillipines, hundreds of thousands of catholics joined an annual procession today, carrying a centuriesold figure of jesus christ through manila. In the annual dawntomidnight event, devotees pulled the lifesize, wooden statue on a carriage. Many threw handkerchiefs, hoping to touch the statue and receive a miracle. More than 6,000 police and military personnel guarded the procession. And finally, on wall street, banks and Health Care Stocks led the market higher. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 102 points to close at 25,385. The nasdaq rose six points, and the s p 500 added three. Still to come on the newshour broken silence new talks between the two koreas. Going public key testimony in the russia probe is released. Times up tv actor Tracee Ellis Ross on the Metoo Movement sweeping the country. And, much more. Woodruff after hours of meeting in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the koreas today, north korea agreed to send athletes to next months Winter Olympics in south korea. Senior officials from both countries also agreed to hold further talks to reduce months of military tensions. Todays talks may represent the first, concrete step away from confrontation. It was the first time officials of the rival countries sat for highlevel talks in more than two years. translated the relations between the two koreas are frozen up more than this winters weather. Despite the cold, Korean People express strong zeal for the improvement of interkorean ties. translated there is a saying in our country, that a start means it is half done. The talks have resumed after a but it is hoped that we hold this dialogue with such strong will and perseverance. Woodruff after meeting behind closed doors for 11 hours, the two sides agreed to hold military talks to ease border tensions. The north also said it is restoring a military hotline with the south, and it pledged to send a delegation to next months winter Olympic Games in south korea. People on the streets in both pyongyang and seoul said they welcomed the talks, and the outcome. translated every korean really wants relations between the north and south to improve. Its urgent. Anything that provokes either side or creates obstacles to reunification should completely stop. translated i think this is a chance for korea, the only divided country in the world, to relieve tensions. I hope the talks will bring peace and compromise between the two koreas. Woodruff but the wall street journals andrew jeong, speaking via skype from seoul, says one key topic wasnt addressed. The north appeared not willing to discuss the Nuclear Weapons issue, which is i guess at the heart of everyones minds when looking at north korea. And there was there was no specific agreement on when and if the two koreas would discuss the issue. So i guess that that was the one big elephant in the room that nobody really addressed. Woodruff the top north korean delegate did give this assurance to the south. translated regarding the nuclear issues, our strategic weapons, including atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and intercontinental ballistic missiles, are only aimed at the United States, not our brethren. Woodruff President Trump and north koreas kim have regularly traded threats and insults, but on saturday, mr. Trump suggested he would be open to his own talks with the north korean leader. Sure. I always believe in talking. Absolutely i would do that. No problem with that at all. Woodruff the state department called todays talks between the two koreas a good first step. That question came up again at todays white house briefing, with press secretary sarah sanders. The north korean participation is an opportunity for the regime to see the value of ending its