With paralysis. Its very liberating to be able to utilize a portion of my body that has not worked to actually cause and effect is great fun. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And our tradition has been to take care of mother earth because it fed us, gave us water that gives us life. The land is here for everyone. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention. In the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. 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. Woodruff shortterm Interest Rates are going up again, for the second time in three months. The Federal Reserve announced another quarterpoint increase today. Policymakers suggested in a statement that Economic Growth is improving, and fed chair janet yellen said that makes it more likely there will be two additional rate hikes this year. The simple message is the economy is doing well. We have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience to shocks. Its performed well over the last several years. Woodruff the fed is predicting growth at a rate of 2. 1 this year and next. President trump has talked of four percent growth. Well have more on the potential economic effects of the rate hike later in the program. Two russian Intelligence Officers and two cyber hackers now face u. S. Criminal charges in a yahoo data breach that compromised 500 million accounts. The acting assistant attorney general, mary mccord, announced the action today. Its the first to implicate russian officials directly in cybercrime. We will not allow individuals, groups, nation states or a combination of them to compromise the privacy of our citizens, the economic interests of our companies, or the security of our country. There are no free passes for foreign, state sponsored criminal behavior. Woodruff one of the hackers is in custody in canada. The others remain at large, and its not clear if theyll ever see an american courtroom, since russia has no extradition treaty with the United States. In syria, suicide bombers killed at least 31 people in twin attacks in damascus. This as the country enters its sixth year of civil war. The state News Agency Says the first attacker blew himself up in the main judicial building, as police started to search him. A second bomb went off inside a nearby restaurant. Meanwhile, in afghanistan, the death toll from an assault on a Military Hospital rose to 50 today. The attack, a week ago, was claimed by the Islamic State group. Officials said a suicide bomber blew up his car, and gunmen disguised in lab coats stormed the hospital in kabul. Investigators have detained 24 people, including medical staffers. A disaster at a landfill outside ethiopias capital has now claimed 113 lives. The toll rose again today as search and rescue efforts continued. The mountain of garbage collapsed saturday, and buried makeshift huts at the site. Voting has ended in the netherlands, and exit polls show dutch voters have rejected a bid for power by an antiislam party. Geert vilders and his farright followers did worse than expected against centerright Prime Minister mark rutte, whod wrned against electing wilders. Having a political leader wants to take away the koran from muslims in the netherlands, and to close our mosques. The wrong sort of populism is not addressing the real issues of the people, only making them bigger, instead of solving them woodruff wilders acknowledged hed lost, but vowed hed be back. Back in this country, the Senate Confirmed former indiana senator dan coats as director of national intelligence. Hell oversee 16 intelligence agencies, and could be a key player in probes of russian meddling in the election. President trump moved today to dial back federal rules on auto fuel economy. Just before president obama left office, the e. P. A. Finalized a standard that auto makers reach an average of 54 miles a gallon by 2025. Thats double the current standard. The industry strongly objected, and today, in ypsilanti, mr. Trump said the e. P. A. Is going back to the drawing board. The assault on American Auto industry, believe me is over. Its over. Not going to have it anymore. If the standards threatened auto jobs, then common sense changes could have and should have been made. Woodruff environmentalists have argued the higher standard would promote use of hybrids and electric vehicles and cut Carbon Dioxide emissions. The white house signaled again today that its open to changing the republican replacement for obamacare. A spokesman said the president is working with House Speaker ryan and other leaders. There was also word that more than 12 Million People signed up for coverage this year under obamacare and enrolled on federal and state exchanges. One of the president s income tax returns has surfaced, for the first time. The leaked document shows that for the 2005 tax year, mr. Trump earned 153 million, and paid 36 million in taxes. He wrote off more than 100 million in business losses. The white house criticized the leak, but did not challenge its authenticity. In a tweet today, the president called it fake news. Reports of Sexual Assault rose at two of the three u. S. Service academies this year. According to the associated press, they were up at the Naval Academy and the military academy at west point. The air force academy saw a sharp drop. The a. P. Says a separate, Anonymous Survey found Sexual Misconduct is actually rising at all three schools. And on wall street, stocks took the latest Interest Rate hike in stride. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 112 points to close at 20,950. The nasdaq rose 43 points, and the s p 500 added nearly 20. Still to come on the newshour what lawmakers have and have not found in their ongoing russia investigation. A key u. S. Ally, turkey, is set to decide whether its strongman president should have even broader power, and much more. Woodruff russias role in last years election, alleged contacts between the trump team and moscow, and President Trumps allegation that he was wiretapped by his predecessor were front and center on capitol hill today. John yang reports. I dont think that there was an actual tap of trump tower. Yang leaders of the House Intelligence Committee cast fresh doubt today on President Trumps claim that then president obama illegally wiretapped trump tower. President obama wouldnt physically go over and wiretap trump tower. So now you have to decide, as i mentioned last week, are you going to take the tweets literally . And if you are, then clearly the president was wrong. But if youre not going to take the tweets literally and there is a concern that the president has about other people, other surveillance activities looking at him or his associates, either appropriately or inappropriately, we want to find that out. Yang the Committee Gave the Justice Department until last night to produce any evidence to support the president s claim. Instead, the department got an extension until next monday when f. B. I. Director james comey is to testify before the panel. Adam schiff is the committees top democrat i do think its incumbent that if we get to march 20th and we have the testimony i think we all expect from the director, that there was no substance to the allegation that barack obama illegally wiretapped trump tower, that the president explain himself. You cant level an accusation of that type without either retracting it or explaining just why it was done. Yang senator Lindsey Graham wants to know if a theres a warrant for a wiretap. Congress is going to flex its muscle here. Well issue a subpoena to get the information. Yang f. B. I. Director comey was on capitol hill this afternoon to brief leaders of the Senate Judiciary committee. Chairman Chuck Grassley and top democrat Dianne Feinstein want to know about former National Security advisor Michael Flynns contacts with russian officials. Flynn is one of several Trump Associates under scrutiny for dealings with russians during the campaign. Onetime trump adviser roger stone said today he thinks a special surveillance fisa Court Warrant uncovered his contacts with a russianlinked hacker who claimed credit for the cyberattack on the Democratic National committee. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff and late today came word that in an interview to air tonight on fox news, the president was asked again about his wiretapping accusation, and said wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think youre going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. Back on capitol hill, lawmakers from both parties expressed frustration with f. B. I. Director james comey, and what they say is an unwillingness to provide them with critical information. Joining us now, democratic senator joe manchin, a member of the intelligence committee. Senator, thank you for being with us. Are you getting the cooperation you need from the Intelligence Community . Well, judy, first of all, its good to be with you spp and we are going to be able to get that. We have been speaking to them. Weve been out to the c. I. A. Were looking at all the documents, and theyre providing those to us. The intele committee is able to get indepth, if you will, with all of our different intelligence agencies. I have great confidence in them, and weve got to get to the bottom. Theres an awful lot thats going on here. Flower two different paths. You have one with the russians involved in our election process. To what extent we know they made an attempt, they made more of an attempt this time than ever before. Wean outcome of the election. They were not able to intervene or interfere with that or disrupt that whatsoever, but their desire was there. We must prevent that from ever happening again. And, also, to help our allies. Then you have the other russian intervention, if you will, how much of an association is there . Is there any type of with associates, from President Trump during the campaign, his people, himself, his family, whatsoever . And is there any intertwinement . So i think the American People want to know. We need to get through this and get come to the conclusion, and do the business of this great country. And right now, thats our thats the hot topic. Woodruff well, at this point, do you think youre any closer to knowing whether there was any as you call it intertwinement or collusion between the Trump Campaign and russian officials . I can only say what we have seen to date, i dont see any evidence of that whatsoever. But were just in the start of this. So it would be premature for me to say anything definite, yes or no. Were going to look at everything. Were going to turn over every stone that we possibly can. Were going to make sure we interview and bring people in. Names have been mentioned that you mentioned on your newshour, and were going to make sure that we get the facts. Intelligence is to provide the fact be to us. The facts will usually take tout truth. And when we get to the truth we need to make the decisions and do whats best for this country. Woodruff . Aergt senator, lee stop you there and ask you, President Trump saying in the interview that we just mentioned that were going to see more, in his words, in next few weeks, come to the forefront about the wiretap that he accused president obama of being behind. What do you know at this point about that . Well, the only thing i can discuss and what i know about that is what you all have been reporting on and what has been reported in the news today. Jeff session said he didnt sales are and didnt say a thing about a wiretap and knowes of now of no wiretap, and theres no evidence of showing any wiretap to date. If theres other evidence to come forth, well be happy to look at that and evaluate it and investigate it, but as of right now it has not come forth. Woodruff is it up to the white house, for the president , to provide whatever evidence he has . Well, i would think that if he has evidence that the Intelligence Community does not have and its not being brought forth and he wants to make sure thats considered into this whole process, then i would hope that they would. Woodruff let me turn you, senator, to the other issue that were covering right now on the hill, and that is, of course, health care of health care reform. The republican relationship legislation, seems to be running into more opposition from republican members of the house and the senate. Where do you think that stands right now . Well its over in the house, and i guess if they put the powive, they can push that out and send it over to the senate. I dont see a receptive audience. I dont know of one democrat that would vote for the process theyre sending over for the piece of legislation. Im not voting to repeal, judy. Ive been very clear. Im told President Trump this many weeks ago. Theres no way i can vote to repeal and throw people off when i know the political toxic atmosphere that we have in washington, thinking that we can come back and repair it. They can get rid of it with 51 votes. They dont need a democrat. But they cant fix it unless they have eight of me, eight democrats who are willing to sit down and work and fix some of the market dhans we have that make it so really costly and very hard very much a hardship on a lot of people that did not get the expansion or the subsidies or any of that. So i understand where the problems are. But no one seems to want to fix it. So i said this. I said why dont we vote and sit down, have a work group voting on the market repairs that we could do, and see if you can get 60 votes before you throw the baby out with the bath water. Woodruff and have they responded affirmatively to any to your suggestions or anything like it . Ive only had one one of my colleagues, republican senator, bill cass deerks has come over and see wee sat down twice to see if there was a pathway frpd he had a piece of legislation. We looked at it. We told him our qrnz it, but we had a dialogue going. But basically, the house has gone off on their own, and the things we, bill and i, were talking about, didnt materialize so nobody seems to want to do anything. Woodruff im sorry to interrupt, but just quick leash at this point where do you see the legislation headed . I dont see it moving on this side, i really dont, on the senate side right now, unless there are some tremendous changes made. Judy, let me just tell you, state of west virginia, 172,000 people got expansion. That means the people that were not on medicaid but within the 139 percentile. 172. Another 36,000, 38,000, got basically subsidies. That means because of their income they were subsidized by 388. We had the donut hole fill for our seniors. We have a poorer population. All of a sudden now, all of of a sudden, theyre going to give the wealthiest of the wealthiest in the country 575 billion tax credits, 575 billion dollars. And thats going to be on the backs of the poor, the elderly, and those who have been addicted and in Treatment Centers or being able to get treated for addiction, which is a horrible problem for my state. So i get hit three ways. The poor get hit harder, the elderly pay more, and the people that are addict read not gog get treatment thats needed. Woodruff senator joe manchin of west virginia. We thank you. Thank you, judy. Woodruff for more on questions about the Trump Campaigns connections with russia, the battle over healthcare and the president s newly leaked tax return, we turn to matt schlapp. He is chair of the american conservative union. And karine jeanpierre, she was a Senior Adviser to moveon. Org during the 2016 elections. And we welcome both of you to the program. Matt, im going to start with you. Its been more than 10 days, i think, since President Trump tweeted that president obama had wire tapped him. Right. Woodruff during the campaign. So far, no evidence of this, investigations under way weapon where does this stand . Well, first of all, this term wiretap is kind of an oldfashioned term. What we have been readin read an most of the respected newspapers across the country, back before want election, through the inauguration, and afterwards, was that there were people in the trump team, on the trump team, who were under investigation for inappropriate ties with russia. There were phone calls that had been intercepted. All of this was reported. The question is was something done inappropriately . And i think thats what inge thats what the president wants to know, and i think a lot of other people want to know as well . Woodruff how much urgency is there around this question, karine . I think there should be a lot more urgency than were currently thinking. I think at this point its up to the f. B. I. To step in and let