Sotimes its go, and we cannotnd take shower, actually. Woodruff all that and more,s on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by my moving our econoor 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Fidelity investments. Consumer cellular. American cruise lines. Collette. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most presng problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Te cod to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And develong countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Commted 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 t pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. President ial candidatesatic face off tonight in las vegas, and for the first time, Michael Bloomberg will be on ththdebate stage. Former new york city mayor is not officially competing in a,turdays caucuses in nev but he has been surging in tional polls. We will have a report from las vegas, after thee ews summary. S. Justice department is denying reports that attorney general william barr might quit over frustration with President Trump. The president has nored barrs plea to stop tweeting about ongoing investigations and court cases. But, a spokesman at justice said last night that barr has noig plans to r and a white house spokesman said much the same today. A the preside the attorney general actually do agree that there have been some federal government. Roughout e attorney general barr will do whats right to make sure that justice is served. Woodruff the president said tuesday that he will go on speaking his mind, and using social media to do it. A top pentagon official is resigning the latest to be purged since President Trumps impeachment trial. John rood issued a certificati last year to allow the release of military aid to ukraine. But, mr. Trus delay in sending the aid triggered the impeachment inquiry. In his resignationetter, rood said that he is leaving at thet presidrequest. Former illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was back home today after presidump commuted his prison sentence. Supporters cheered as walked out of his home in chicago, with f s wife and daughters. He declared himsfreed political prisoner, and a trumpcrat. How do you properly thank someone whos given you back a freedom that was stolen from you . He didnt have to do this. Hes a republican president. I was democratic governor. Help his politics. S nothing to woodruff blagojevich served eight years of a 14year sentence. He had been convicted of trying to sell an appointment to the u. S. Senate seat vacated by president obama. Hi inna, Health Inspectors finished doortodoor spections in wuhan, the epicenter of a coronavirus tbreak. s the ospitals are still full of patients, with china nationwide, and 2,aths. But, the number of new cases has fallen. And in japan, officials ended a twoweek quarantine of a cruise ship, while confirming 79 more cases. We will return to this story, turkey issued a new warning to syria today, to stop attacks that are drivingophousands of toward the turkish border. It followed failed talh russia. Moscow is backfeg the syrian ive in idlib province, the last rebelheld stronghold in syria. In ankara, turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said time is running out for the syrians to stop. translated we areas entering thedays for the Syrian Regime to end its offensive in idlib and retreat to the boundaries of the existing agreement. We are delivering our final warnings. The operation in idlib is imminent. To he regime and those who encourage it, who havent this subject we wt leaveion on idlib. Some 900,000 syrians have fled to meshift camps at the turkish border, in bitter cold. U. N. Officials said today that scores are being killed byru ian and syrian air strikes. Back in this country, a federal Appeals Court found today that florida has wrongly barred former felons from voting unless they pay their court fees. That upholds a lower courts ruling against a law pby the republicancontrolled legislature. But, the republican go plans to appeal. A state referendum in 2018 to 1. 6 million exconvicts. Ights on wall street today, stocks again shook off worriet the Virus Outbreak in china. W the nes industrial average gained 115 points to close at 29,348. The nasdaq rose 84 points, to a nerecord high. And, the s p 500 added 15 points, also hitting a new high. And, today marked 75 years since the battle of iwo jima began, in world war ii. U. S. Marines landed on the pacific island, touched off 36 days of savage fighting. Nearly 7,000 americans and 22,000 japanese troops were killed. The battle is best known for the image of victorious manes raising the u. S. Flag on mount suribachi. Still to come on the newshour a look at the high stakes that candidates face tonight on the debate stage. Wh is Michael Bloomberg . The billionaire businessman and former new york city mayorg shakinup the democratic race. E latest on the worldwide spread of the deadly coronavirus. And, much more. Woodruff ix democrats, vying for their partys president ial nomination, areto seace off tonight in las vegas. Former n york city mayor chael bloomberg will make his debate stage debut, afterre qualifying as lt of the latest pbs newshour npr marist poll. With just three days to go before the nevada caucuses, amna nawaz joins me now from las vegas for a preview. Hello to you, amna. So this is the third contest in the season. This is the most Diverse Group of voters yet to be w. Ighing what are they saying on the ground there . Well, judy, you know, the candidate so far has been disproportionally focused on iowa and new hampshiich are two small white states. For the first time, they havto address a state and voters in the state that looks more likeca what ameis becoming. You look at the Democratic Caucus electorate from 2016, 19o la13 black, 4 asian. Nonwhites made up 41 of that electorate. So youre hearing from the tailor their message from before and garner the message. Ne are room by room hand salt lakg politicking. Ey have to deliver a bigger message to some of the communities. From what we saw, my colleagues have been following some of the candidates on the ground, andey e having voter events to target the communities. For example mayor buttigieg spoke specifically ta black Student Group yesterday. Former Vice President biden spoke to an asianamerican Pacific Islander group, and irly voting is going o some of the communities. So you see some of the events set up next to the early voting locations, trying to get some of the diverse ters out early. Right now what youre hearing from the candidates is a much b bigger messacause they know to show and prove they can compete in other placein america, t can do it in nevada first. Woodruff about the caucuses this weekendhe National Poll that we mentioned earlier, newshour npr marist, 72 of the eople say they think caucus process will be fair and but there were prowith the Iowa Caucuses days ago. What are democrats in nevada saying is their level ofb confidencet what will happen this saturday . High but, again, the proof is going to be in the actual caucus tally results. There are a lot of firsts unfolding in this caucus process. Its the first time theyre trying to incorporate early voting into the process. The early voting wrapped yesterday. So for the first time theyre using this one specific tol, which is a preloaded secure form on ipad thats handed out to all the precinct chairs. They developed that in response to what happened in iowa because they were supposed to use the exact same appw the ioa caucuses used, they scrapped that plan after ey saw the chaos there. But they have high confidence in that theyre running train also, there are more trainings available for people who feel theyre not comfortable with the tool theyre using now. Sp ke with d. N. C. Chair tom perez and asked him about the message he had to voters who might feel uneasy about theoc s, he said we took less sons learn from iowa, applied them here and have every confidence the process will go smoothly. Woodruff tonights debate is the ninth president ial debate. For the first time formerluding new york sta bloomberg. Ichael what is their team saying is their expectation and what do we think the other candidates may do because hes there . We know the official from the bloomberg camp is basically connect more with the audience, something he hasnt had to do before. Right now hes sort of messaging through his ads and surrogates across the country, but i think he should be prepared for a the president s former mayor bloomberg is aneasy foil for senator sanders who long railed against the disproportionate power that billionaires in amica v but he could also take fire from moderates, people like biden, ttigieg and klobuchar because hes basically fighting forin supremache same moderate lane they all currently occupy. So a lot to w ftor on the debate stage tonight. Woodruff a lot to watch for. Amna, u and the team will be there. Well be talking to you later in the week. Thank you, amna nawaz. Thanks, judy. Woodruff and now, Lisa Desjardins dives into bloombergs complicated and at times controversial record. Desjardins activt, billionaire, big city mayor, g d occasional subway rider, Michael Bloomber many things at once including, now, both disrupter and established politician. The momentum in this city is the legacy were really leaving. Desjardins bloomberg began his 12 years as new york city mayor as a republican in january, 2002. So help me, god. Thank you. Desjardins . Mere months shook the citys heart. S he is definitely what new york needs, as far as after september 11th, we need more business, me commerce desjardins 18 years later, that image of a deliverer is one bloombergs running on. Rebuild america. He took charge, becoming a threeterm mayor who brought a city back from the ashes. Desjardins by the end of the bloomberg era, more th half of new yorkers polled saithe citys economy was doing good, an quality of life was better. There was wide approval of some of his initiatives, like banning smoking in restaurants, and adding miles of bike lanes. But other bloomberg policies stirrediscontent, or outright protest things like his failed proposalo ban large sodas. His extension of stop and frisk police ctics, which targeted mostly black and latino me was deeply divisive, bo then and now. Bloomberg renounced stop d frisk late last fall, but just five years ago defended his approach as appropriate. 95 of your murders murderers and murder victims fit one m. O. You can just take the description, xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16 to 25. S desjardupporters point out that bloomberg has spent millions aiming to lift upmu marginalizednities, but critics say words like those belie a deeper problem. And yesterday, Buzzfeed News reported that last year, bloomberg seemed to scold democrats who campaigned for transgender rights. He said, ifour conversation during a president ial electionbo is a some guy wearing a dress, thats not a winning formula for most people. Above all, bloomberg s messes he is a who knows how to get things done one of the worlds most successful businessmen. But, here too are questions. Multiple news stories, including a recent Washington Post report, have highlighted profane, sexist comments he made while leading his namesakea ial data company, oomberg l. P. Bloomberg denies that, and told the hosts of abcs lathe view month, women thrive in his workplace overall. You talk most women in the company, they would say equal pay, equal promotion, equal opportunity. Its a great place to work. Did i ever tell a bawdy joke . Yeah, sure i did. And do i regret it . Yes, its embarrassing. But, you know thats the way i grew up. Desjardins his company is also under scrutiny because the bloomberg l. P. News operation has a policy of blocking any indepthnvestigations of bloomberg or his primary rivals. He told cbs this people have said to me, how can you investigate yourself . And ive said, i dont think you can. N but eur own News Reporters have complained. They think its unfairhey cant investigate other democratic candidates, because their boss is in the race. You just have to learn to live with some things desjardins bloombergs primary rivals have not held back theirriticisms. Well, ive got news for mr. Bloomberg, and that is, the American People are sick and tired of billionecres buying ons. Desjardins bloombergs team rejectand defends him as someone doing the hard work. Hes visited 25 states so far, and 60 cities, and he is campaigning on his past, national activism, especially on ns and climate chae. His biggest pitch . Maybe the biggest question for democric voters does past accomplishment guarantee success in november . For a closer look at the man shaking up the race for the white house, im joined by eleanor randolph, whcovered bloombergs mayoral career as a member of the New York Times editorial board, and is the author of the many lives of chael bloomberg. Thank you for joining us, eleanor. Ill just ask you right away, why do you think Michael Bloomberg is running . Well, hes always wanting to be president and he even talkedu running for president when he was in college and looked at the races, 2016, he loed very seriously at the race, and then he didnt run, and i think, tually, in march, he decided he wasnt going to run. He decided thaet, you know, t numbers werent there. And then his people came back tn hisaid, you know, whats the blue states, you know,wall, michigan, wisconsin pennsylvania . Trump is winning. So why dont we get out there and go afterim. So bloomberg decided that he should be the one to do that. Ls ta about how Michael Bloomberg is running. He spent a lot of money. I spoke to hi campaign and they confirmed he has 2400 Campaign Staffers in 43 states, spent upat least 400 million accoing to the recent analysis, likely a good deal more than that, and that in a handful of months that hes actually had a president ial campaign. Can you talk about how bloomberg rev rajs his resources, money and personal alliances from being ea hop dmocratic donor . First of all, hes worth over 60 billion. Many of the ads that people have seen have been antitrump ads, and what bloomberg is trying to do is sofn trump up for whoever is the democratic nomie to run against him in november. Reporter im curious, what do you think he thinks of the optics of him running asa new york billionaire at a time when democrats are tryg to take out another wealthy man from new york and him criticizing President Trump as being out of touch because he i a man of such wealth, how do yol bloomberg regard those optics as he sees himself . He sees himself as a fferent kind of billionaire and businessman. Also, hes brome ised that hesw going to givy his money ldfore he dies. I dont think dorump has come anywhere near that. So, i mean, blobergs philanthropy has been vast, and its bee very pointed, even more than the political money that weve started to see now. So i think blomberg sees this money as a way as a way to deal with some of the problems of the world, like Climate Change and gun control, an nald trump. So, you know, hes spendng whatever he can to try to get trump defeated, and hed, sai no matter who on that stage ends up support him. Minee, hes going to reporter what do you think is michael bbergs biggest challenge . Hes not a great speaker, hes probably not going to do exceptionally well in this debate tonight, and there are some other ones. Theres one in south carolina. And he doesnt, unlike trump or bernie sanders, he doesnt connect withn audience. He haso sort of explain to people that hes mr. Fixit. He likes toget things done. If he were i president would be a quieter presidency, and opmaybe theres some pe that want that. He doesnt hes an exengineer well, you know, hes trained as an gineer. He doesnt show his emotions dont see him hammering the you podium, you dont see him sort he raising his voice to the crowd. L never be that person. Eleanor randolph, biographer, urnalist, thank you fo joining us. Thank you. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour a greek migrant camp where inhune conditions are growing bleaker by the day. The doomsday glacier. A melting block of ice the size of florida thats threatening the worlds sea levels. And, novelist Kevin Wilsons satirical look at the complicated relationships between parents and their children. As we reported earlier, china is still struggling to contain the coronavirus, officially known as covid19. The virus has now killed more an 2,000 people worldwid William Brangham has the latest. Brangham there are still many, many questions researchers have about this viral outbreak. But, we do have new information from thehinese government about the virus mortality rate, and other important concerns. Th dr. Y fauci is the director of the National Institute for allergy andis infectiousses at the. Ii. H. , and he joins me again tonight from the. Campus. In a case they will go down, so myself and other of my colleagues are figuring that it is likel1 or less when you and do a calculation for a fatality rate. We also know that thiss a fairly contagious virus but there has been some question as to whether or not people e contagious before they show symptoms. What do we know about that . Well, we certainly know that there are a lot of people who are infected without symptoms. There have been anecdotal cases that i think are pretty solid, that there has bisen tranon from a person who has no symptoms to another person. I think thats going to turn ou to be a real phenomenon. The question that still mains unanered is at is the ent of that asymptomatican smission . Is it a minor component of the outbreak . Or is it a substantial component. If it is a substantial component, that thn becomes problematic because tha