Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. 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 americans have spent this day honoring the life and legacy of dr. Martin luther king, junior. It comes amid an open conflict between another iconic civil rights figure, and the nations new leader. President elect trump marked the king holiday by inviting the civil rights leaders son to his new york tower. Martin luther king iii called it a very constructive meeting, and quoted the president elect saying he wants to reach out to all americans supports i believe that thats his intent. But i think also that we have to consistently engage with pressure. Public pressure. It doesnt happen automatically. My father and his team understood that, did that and i think that americans are prepared to do that woodruff king steered clear of the trump feud with a civil rights hero, democratic representative john lewis of georgia i think that, in the heat of emotion, a lot of things get said on both sides. Woodruff the war of words began friday, with lewis telling nbc that trumps election was not legitimate because of russian meddling. The full interview aired sunday. I dont see this president elect as a legitimate president. Woodruff lewis also said hell boycott fridays inauguration. All told, more than two dozen members of congress now say theyll do the same. The president elect fired back at lewis over the weekend, tweeting that he should spend more time on. Helping his district and calling him all talk, talk, talk no action or results. On cbs this weekend, Vice President elect pence also pushed back to make a comment that he did not consider donald trump to be a legitimate president , i think is deeply disappointing. I believe inaugurations are a moment when we should come together around that individual who has been elected to be president of the United States of america. Woodruff today, at a king Day Breakfast in miami, lewis ignored the trump criticism. Instead, he issued a call to action to his listeners you must have courage. You must be bold. And never ever give up, when you know that youre right. Woodruff for his part, mr. Trump canceled an early plan to spend the holiday in washington and visit the National Museum of African American history and culture. But the vicepresident elect was in washington, at the Martin Luther king, jr. , memorial. President obama, in his last week in office, took part in a Service Event at a d. C. Family shelter. In the days other news, there was no sign of a letup in another confrontation this one between mr. Trump and the Intelligence Community. It started when outgoing c. I. A. Director john brennan said sunday that the president elect must do more than talk and tweet about National Security. Do you think that mr. Trump understands the threat from russia . I dont think he has a full appreciation of russian capabilities, russias intentions, and actions that they are undertaking in many parts of the world. And thats with the obligation and responsibility of the Intelligence Community is. Woodruff later, on sunday, mr. Trump fired back on twitter. He criticized the c. I. A. s record on conflicts in syria, crimea and ukraine, and he said then, referring directly to brennan, he asked, was this the leaker of fake news . The president elect also raised hackles across europe with critical comments about nato and the european union. Well turn to that story, right after the news summary. On the domestic front, the incoming president now says he means to replace obamacare with insurance for everybody. Hes told the Washington Post that his plan is nearly complete, and that it will offer much lower deductibles but he offered no details. In turkey, theres word that police have captured the man suspected of killing 39 in an Istanbul Night Club during new years celebrations. The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the new years eve attack. It triggered an intense, nationwide manhunt. Turkish media reports say the Uzbek National was taken into custody during a raid in an istanbul suburb. A turkish cargo plane smashed to earth today in kyrgyzstan, wiping out half a village and killing at least 37 people. The boeing 747 was trying to land in dense fog, near the capital city, bishkek. There was no immediate word what caused the crash. Theres a startling new report about wealth inequality around the globe. The antipoverty Organization Oxfam reports that the eight richest men on earth own as much as the poorest half of the worlds population, about 3. 6 billion people. The report says the gap has grown from what it was just a year ago by quite a bit. Weve seen countries in the last 10 years that have bucked the trend and that are going in the other direction, and are reducing the gap between rich and poor. One thing they do is they get the rich to pay their tax. Weve got a situation where billionaires are paying less tax often than their cleaner or their secretary. Thats crazy. Were seeing wealth channeled upwards. Woodruff the report was released ahead of the World Economic forum in davos, switzerland. 10 more longterm detainees have left the u. S. Prison at guantanamo bay, cuba. The persian gulf state of oman announced today it accepted the 10. That leaves 45 prisoners still at guantanamo. President obama has pushed to close the prison. President elect trump has vowed to keep it open. Conservative commentator Monica Crowley has backed out of a job with the new administration, amid a plagiarism scandal. Its widely reported that shes decided against serving at the National Security council. Crowleys accused of plagiarizing parts of her doctoral dissertation, and her 2012 book. The world series champion chicago cubs were feted today by the white sox fan who calls the white house home. The cubs were the last Championship Team that mr. Obama will greet while hes in office. They presented the 44th president with two special jerseys. The cubs won the series last november for the First Time Since 1908. And, former Astronaut Gene Cernan died today. He was the last of a dozen men to walk on the moon. A handful of others still survive. Cernan commanded the apollo 17 mission to the lunar surface in december 1972. In later years, he urged congress to approve a return to the moon. Eugene cernan was 82 years old. Still to come on the newshour our politics monday duo previews inauguration week. Lessons on race from a city that once forced out its black residents, and much more. Woodruff beyond his social media statements over the weekend, the president elect had much more to say in and interview with two european publications. He opined on the usefulness of nato and the european union; on the stability of germany under chancellor Angela Merkel; and on brexit. John yang begins our coverage. Yang as hundreds of u. S. Marines touched down in norway today in a move to reassure nations nervous about russia, european officials were digesting president elect trumps latest comments about nato. He told the times of london and the german newspaper bild that its obsolete because it wasnt taking care of terror. And the other thing is the countries arent paying their fair share. Which i think is very unfair to the United States. In fact, the only time the alliances mutualdefense provision was invoked was to help the United States after the 9 11 terror attacks. Hundreds of nato troops died alongside americans in afghanistan. Mr. Trump had made similar statements during the campaign, but this latest barb came just days after his nominee for defense secretary offered a starkly different opinion. From my perspective, having served once as nato supreme allied commander, is the most successful military alliance probably in modern World History maybe ever. Yang the kremlin agreed with the trump assessment and said natos main goal is confrontation. But it said little about the president elects suggestion that he might drop u. S. Sanctions on russia in exchange for nuclear arms reductions. Mr. Trump also said hes indifferent about the European Unions future in the wake of britains vote to leave it. I personally i dont think it matters much for the United States. Look, the e. U. Was formed, partially, to beat the United States on trade. So i dont really care whether its separate or together. The president elect had special criticism for german chancellor Angela Merkel. He said she made a catastrophic mistake in taking in thousands of migrants and refugees. And, he said hell start off trusting merkel and russian president Vladimir Putin equally, but said that may not last. The chancellor answered today in berlin translated i think for us europeans we have our fate in our own hands. The president elect made his points again. Once he is in office, which he is not at the moment, we will of course Work Together with the american government. Then we will see what sort of cooperation we can achieve. Yang outgoing secretary of state john kerry went further in a cnn interview. Well i thought frankly it was inappropriate for the president elect of the United States to step into the politics of another countries in a quite direct manner. Yang the secretary said, ultimately, its for mr. Trump to explain himself, because, as of friday, hes responsible for that relationship. We get reaction from two people with extensive experience in managing u. S. European relations. Nicholas burns was a career diplomat and was u. S. Ambassador to nato during the Obama Administration. Hes now at harvard university. He is joining us from london. And Heather Conley was Deputy Assistant secretary of state in the bureau for european and Eurasian Affairs during the george w. Bush administration. Shes now director and senior fellow of the Europe Program at the center for strategic and international studies, a think tank in washington, d. C. Thank you both for joining us. Mr. Burns, let me start with you. Former ambassador to n. A. T. O. Donald trump says n. A. T. O. Is obsolete because it doesnt take on terror unfair to the United States. Whats your take . Hes completely wrong about that. I was ambassador to n. A. T. O. For president george w. Bush on 9 11 and on 9 11 when we were attacked from al quaida and afghanistan, the n. A. T. O. Allies came to us and said they wanted to invoke article 5 of the treaty, an attack on one of us is an attack to all of us. They came to our defense big time. They all went to afghanistan and bled and died and were wounded for us in afghanistan. Theyre still in afghanistan. We fought the terrorism of cal kid and the taliban and other terrorist groups in afghanistan and, so, donald trump is wrol. I tell you from being in london today people are flabbergasted by this interview in the times in london. To castigate Angela Merkel, our strongs friend in europe, weve not seen an american president be so openly critical of our allies if 70 years, and yet he doesnt criticize our adversary Vladimir Putin. It is mystifying. People here are uncertain about american leadership. Its a very poor and unwise way to start his term in office. Yang Heather Conley, your take on the remarks and specifically on n. A. T. O. He says its unfair because the other countries arent paying their fair share and that the financial burden falls on the United States. Well, its a bipartisan comment to get European Countries to increase their defense spending and thats something n. A. T. O. Countries pledged two and a half years ago to substantially increase their defense spending, and theyre doing that. The challenge is the United States is safer because n. A. T. O. Exists. When we join war allies to with our allies whether defeating the taliban in afghanistan, supporting those in iraq to beat back i. S. I. S. , to protect n. A. T. O. When russia invades a neighboring country, it makes america stronger. Its a part of u. S. National security. So when youre criticizing n. A. T. O. And saying its obsolete, youre degrading u. S. National security and that the what has us all so confused about mr. Trumps comments. Its oka okay to say europe is t spending enough and we need to increase the spending, but we get an enormous benefit out of the n. A. T. O. Alliance. Yang ambassador burns, what about this idea of lifting sanctions on russia which were put in place for the annexation of crimea in exchange for an agreement on arms reduction . Its hard to see the logic in this agreement. Everyone, of course, wants to see Nuclear Stability between the United States an russia, its the highest priority, but we can achieve nuclear arms stability and reduction based on the interest of both sides. For donald trump to say i will reduce Nuclear Weapons with russia and give them sanctions relief, russia crossed the brightest red line in International Law by invading and an exing crimia and dividing eastern ukraine. And has been threatening our allies the baltic states. Those sanctions are in place by europeans, canadians and americans as leverage against russia and they cant be lifted until russia lifts its for from ukraine. If russia gets away with grand larceny the european leadership will be furious with the United States, Angela Merkel specifically, she negotiated the sanctions with putin directly. So its very unwise. It gives away american influence. It will be a weak policy by the United States, not a strong policy. Yang Heather Conley, is this sort of singsly sort of offering to accept the annexation of crimea in exchange for Something Else . Was this a business deal . Exactly. Were talking about two separate things. The sanction relate to the annexation of crimea and the invasion of eastern ukraine. A nuclear arms agreement, lets step back a minute, russia has been in violation of the i. M. F. Treaty many years. Steps have not been taken to address those violations. We have seen announcements of russian tactical weapons near n. A. T. O. Borders, now near u. S. Troops. We do need to address this but were mixing apples and oranges here. Again, Nuclear Stability, i agree, is very important, but right now, and i thought president elect trump mentioned he wants to strengthen Americas Nuclear arsenal, perhaps i misunderstood, so are we reducing . Are we increasing . But we have to watch very carefully russias military modernization. They are actually increasing their Strategic Nuclear deterrent. They may be at a point where theyre accelerating the program. We have to be extremely mindful. This is protecting u. S. National security, and russia as general mattis noted really is a nearterm threat, could be an existential threat, so lets keep our eye on the prize and not start conflating to very different things. Yang talked about innovating Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel, whats your take on that . To be honest yang go ahead, mr. Ambassador. I guess the time delay. I just wanted to say Angela Merkel is our strongest ally, Vladimir Putin is our greatest adversary. To equate them is an insult to Angela Merkel. Europe sour largest trade partner, largest investor into our economy and largest allifetime europe likely matters. Donald trump says were indifferent to the future to have e. U. The e. U. Is formed to put aside war between france and germany, unit europe in peace, its done that and we should support it. Yang less than a minute left. Mr. Ambassador, overall, what does this say about whats ahead for u. S. European relations . A very rocky start for the administration of donald trump. I have to believe that Rex Tillerson u the new secretary of state incoming, jim mattis, the new secretary of defense, they understand the value of n. A. T. O. , they understand that were the leader of the west and i hope very much donald trump will agree with them and shift these positions. Yang whos speaking for the administration . Thats the question and well need clarification on that. To underscore it, european solidarity, unity, it is an incredibly trade and Investment Partner to the u. S. We cannot want europe to be divided, to fall apart. Theyre too important to u. S. National security. 70 years a