Woodruff and, bringing poetry to chicagos schools. How the nations first Mexican American poet laureate is urging students to find their voice through verse. The poetry is there, rumbling in what they see day to day. We want to bring all that out. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by 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 the Trump White House has spent this day fending off questions about ties to russia, relations with germany, and staff shakeups. All of this, as the president tries to move ahead amid the turmoil. John yang has our report. Reporter it was the first oncamera White House Briefing in more than two weeks, but topic a was still the russian connection. Press Secretary Sean Spicer brushed aside reports that president ial soninlaw Jared Kushner met the Russian Ambassador in december, seeking to set up a direct line to russian president Vladimir Putin outside normal diplomatic channels. I think that assumes a lot, and i would just say that mr. Kushners attorney has said that mr. Kushner has volunteered to share with congress what he knows about these meetings and he will do the same if hes contacted or connected with any other inquiry. Reporter the New York Times reported investigators are also looking into a meeting kushner held with the head of a u. S. Sanctioned, stateowned russian bank. And, cnn reported that during the president ial campaign, u. S. Intelligence intercepted russian officials saying they had potentially derogatory Financial Information about mr. Trump and some top aides. This morning, the president tweeted, russian officials must be laughing at the u. S. And how a lame excuse for why the dems lost the election has taken over the fake news. Now back home after his first overseas trip, mr. Trump traded tough words today with german chancellor angela merkel. After the two met at european summits, the german leader said, we in europe have to take our fate into our own hands. In turn, the president tweeted we have a massive trade deficit with germany, plus they pay far less than they should on nato and military. This will change. Today, spicer insisted the leaders relationship is unbelievable. They get along very well. He has a lot of respect for her. They continue to grow the bond they had during their talks in the g7. Reporter all this comes amid rumblings of a staff shakeup. White House Communications director Michael Dubke has quit after only three months on the job, and the white house may set up a rapidresponse war room to deal with the russia investigations. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff and well take a closer look at how all this affects work at the white house, later in the program. In the days other news, the u. S. Military announced it knocked a mock warhead out of the sky, in the first such test in three years. It targeted a longrange missile like the one that north korea is developing. An interceptor launched from Southern California hit the warhead that was launched from more than 4,000 miles away, over the pacific ocean. South koreas president charged today that the u. S. Delivered more antimissile launchers to his country without his approval, and he demanded an investigation. Moon jaein took office this month after his predecessor was ousted in a corruption scandal. Moon wants to review the decision to deploy the thaad antimissile system. Now, a Spokesman Says he wasnt told about new launchers arriving. translated president moon was briefed on such facts, and said it was very shocking. He ordered the defense minister he ordered his senior secretary for Civil Affairs and the National Security council chief to find the truth behind the unauthorized entry of the four rocket launchers. Woodruff both china and north korea strongly oppose south korea installing the antimissile system. The death toll in sri lanka has hit at least 194 in the wake of severe floods and mudslides. The disaster started last friday. Today, indian aid teams offloaded shiploads of goods as rescue efforts continued. Water levels slowly receded as the weather cleared. Almost 100 people are still missing, and more than 80,000 are still displaced and remain in relief camps. Back in this country, the portland, oregon, man accused of fatally stabbing two other men appeared in court today. Police say the victims intervened as Jeremy Christian was verbally abusing two young muslim women. The 35yearold suspect repeatedly shouted to the courtroom during his briefing hearing. Death to the enemies of america. Leave this country if your hate our freedoms. You call it terrorism. I call it patriotism. You hear me . Die. Woodruff the mayor of portland says he hopes the killings will lead to changes in the nations political dialogue. The city of cleveland has fired the Police Officer who fatally shot a 12yearold black boy, tamir rice. Officer Timothy Loehmann shot rice at a Recreation Center in 2014. It happened moments after loehmann and another officer answered a call about someone pointing a gun. It turned out, rice had a pellet gun. Clevelands police chief says that loehmann was fired for inaccurate details on his job application, and not for the rice shooting itself. Theres a 12yearold kid dead, so, i mean, you know, people on both sides are going to say it wasnt enough, it was too much. After, you know, over two years of investigation by our agency, the county Prosecutors Office and the sheriffs department, i think weve come to a, what we consider a fair conclusion to this process. Woodruff loehmanns partner on the force was suspended for ten days for a driving violation. Meanwhile, five people are dead and 44 wounded in chicago, after a wave of shootings over the memorial day weekend. The holiday has become one of the deadliest times of the year in the city. This years numbers are actually lower than last year, when seven people were killed and 61 wounded. Police in florida now confirm that golfing great tiger woods had not been drinking when they arrested him early monday. A Police Report confirms woods statement that alcohol was not involved. It does say the golfer was asleep at the wheel and his speech was extremely slow and slurred. Woods is still facing a charge of driving under the influence. He blames a reaction to medication. On wall street, a sevenday rally ended as Interest Rates fell and pulled down bank stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 50 points to close at 21,029. The nasdaq fell seven points, and the s p 500 slipped about three. And, former panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega died in panama city today. He grabbed power in the early 1980s and initially became a u. S. Ally, but a u. S. Invasion ousted him in 1989, and he served 17 years in a u. S. Federal prison for Drug Trafficking and money laundering. He later served time in france and back in panama, as well. Manuela noriega was 83 years old. Still to come on the newshour oneonone with the former director of National Intelligence. What effect are the russia investigations and turmoil inside the white house having on the president s agenda . Bombings rock baghdad at the start of ramadan. And, much more. Woodruff now, to my interview with former director of National Intelligence, james clapper. He served in that post for six and a half years under president obama, stepping down just this past january. We spoke earlier today. Former director of National Intelligence james clapper, thank you for talking with us. Thanks for having me, judy. Woodruff let me start with the news that was out this rning from cnn, essentially that u. S. Intelligence officials last year picked up from russian sources that russian government officials said they had derogatory information about thencandidate donald trump and people close to him, some of his top aides. Do you know anything about this . Well, i cant comment on specific reports, whether we have them or not or the content of them. I will say, though, that in general that there was concern that all of us had about these interactions, whether he had direct reflectses or indirect reflections based on discussions among the russians themselves. We didnt know the intent and we didnt know the content, but in the context of what else the russians were doing to interfere with our elections and the long history of what the russians have didnt and continue to do the undermine us, undermine our processes and undermine our system, there was great concern about what was going on. Woodruff let me ask you about another story that surfaced in the last week, and that has to do with the president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner. Essentially it was reported that he was trying to set up a secret back channel to russian government officials in early december, during the transition last year. Is there any rational explanation, any explanation you can think of . Well, i guess a benign explanation was simply an outreach to the russians, the russian government, so thats not in and of itself untoward, but again, not knowing the intent or the content, and whether or not the sort of time line or principle of one president at a time in this country, that did give rise, particularly given the attempts to mask apparently this dialogue. So that was certainly a concern to all of us. It certainly was to me personally. Woodruff can you think of a reason why it would be necessary to have a secret, a channel that was secret from u. S. Intelligence agencies . Well, if its true, and again, i cant confirm or deny, but if its true, the objective here was to use russian secure communications as the mode of dialogue or this communication, that is ill say curious. Why all the cloak and dagger secrecy . If the intent was simply to reach out to establish, to make acquaintance, one wonders if there was something worse than that or more nefarious than that. Again, we didnt know, i certainly didnt know before i left the government on the 20th of january. Woodruff im asking because yesterday or over the weekend, the secretary of Homeland Security, john kelly, said in an interview, he said its a good thing, he said, if there were attempts to open lines of communication, its a good thing. Its a positive thing. Well, it could be, and i agree with them, and again, this is not a new thing. Other governments have sought back channels and particularly as administrations change over, but there is an art form here to how this is done, and there is a line between reaching out, establishing lines of communication versus undermining the policies of the current administration, and again, we do have a principle here of one president at a time. Woodruff i want to ask you about two recent disclosures of classified information by the president himself, one was in the meeting with russian officials in the oval office when the president shared information about isis capabilities. Right. Woodruff that had all the earmarks of coming from israeli intelligence. And then separately in a conversation with the president of the philippines, when the president said that two u. S. Nuclear subs had been in the vicinity of north korea. Is this truly damaging information to share, or is all this overblown . Well, certainly i guess there are two dimensions to this. One, the public revelation of this, which, of course, was in both cases somehow leaked to the media, and leaks, i have to say, are bad. I know thats the lifeblood of the media business, but for the Intelligence Community, leaks are bad. They in some cases can endanger the lives of assets. So leaks are damaging. The other dimension, of course, is the revelation of these things to a foreign government. That kind of thing goes on all the time, but its also in due deference to protecting the operational equities or the intelligence equities. Its not something you just kind of wing extemp rainily extemp extemporaneously. Woodruff this must give some in the administration pause. Absolutely. And i think its important to restore or achieve a level of confidence that that flow can continue unabated. Woodruff what do you hear from your friends in the Intelligence Community about their view of President Trump . I think the view of the Intelligence Community, as much as i explained to him when i spoke with him we phone on the 11th of january after he characterized the Intelligence Community as nazis, that the National Intelligence community is a National Treasure and the immunity stands ready to support the president , whoever it is, particularly in his role as commanderinchief. Woodruff the terrorist threat. Over the last few days the secretary of Homeland Security john kelly has painted a frightening picture. He said at one point he expects a lot more attacks like the one in manchester, england, and he said, the Terror Threat is worse than most people realize. If people knew what i knew, they would never leave the house in the morning. He went on to praise the counterterrorism efforts that we have under way, very much of which the Intelligence Community is involved in. And weve gone the great lens and made great investments to try to ensure that we dont have a similar instance as happened in manchester. But i would point out that this may not necessarily come from outside. Woodruff do you share that level of alarm that people wouldnt leave their houses if they knew. Well, im here, so i left my house this morning. Woodruff north korea. Do you believe theres a realistic chance now that north korea could pull back from its Nuclear WeaponsDevelopment Program . I think its unlikely, and i certainly think its not realistic for us to expect the north koreans to give up their Nuclear Weapons. That is their ticket to survival i was taken aback when i visited north korea in november 2014 to bring out two of our citizens who were in hard labor then. And ive been a student of the Korean Peninsula for a long time ever since i served there as the director of intelligence and the u. S. Forces created in the mid80s, but i had underestimated the level of paranoia and the siege mentality that prevails in pyongyang. And as they look outward, all they see are enemies. And so theyre not going to give up their Nuclear Weapons. Woodruff youre going to be in south korea in the coming days. What do you think the best approach is for the United States . Well, i think dialogue. I know weve had a long history here of dialogue, which hasnt turned out so well with the north koreans. I attempted i myself. But i think thats a far better option than a military confrontation, which i think would be a disaster. Woodruff and how much does it matter what the president says and tweets . Well, it matters a lot. Words count. Its quite important what he says or doesnt say. Woodruff one final question about robert mueller. You know him well. Named special counsel to oversee russia. How confident are you that hes going to be able to get to the bottom of what happened . I think that was an inspired, brilliant choice to pick bob mueller for that function. In my opinion, hes cut from the same cloth as jim comey, two outstanding public servants, and bob will get to the bottom of this and he will not be intimidated by any outside influences. Woodruff james clapper, former director of National Intelligence, thank you very much. Thank you. Woodruff we return our focus to the white house, how the Trump Administration is responding to mounting tensions, and how that compares to past administrations, with gerald seib, executive washington editor for the wall street journal; and, Christopher Ruddy. Hes the c. E. O. Of the conservative newsmax media and a friend of President Trump. Welcome both of you to the program. Christopher ruddy, im going the start with you. You told the wall street journal for their todays edition that right now the white house is in a what you call perpetual quagmire on side issues. What did you mean by that . Well, the side issues are things youve been talking about, judy, on the russia issue, sometimes the president s tweets cause some of those side issues, and theyre not focusing on i think the big agenda items of the Trump Administration that are very positive for him, such as his jobs programs and efforts there, the fact that he is getting china to open up its markets for the first time in 30 years to american businesses, Incredible Movement on making the country more secure, and those things are not being talked about, and theyre focusing on personnel issues and other things that are not necessarily moving their agenda or making the president more popular. Woodruff how do you see the state of affairs right now in the white house, gerald seib . I think there is a danger in