Trip to the countrys southern border, where isis propaganda has taken hold. Theres been a local insurgency here in the capital of dagestan, makhachkala, for years, targeting both local authorities and symbols of the national government. 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. 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 President Trump is heading back to europe tonight, this time to france for its independence, or bastille day, celebrations. But, he leaves behind a swirl over his sons efforts to get damaging information about Hillary Clinton, provided by the russian government. John yang begins our coverage. Reporter across capitol hill, the big question was what the bombshell revelations in donald trump jr. s emails do to the russia investigation. At his weekly news conference, House Speaker paul ryan did his best to avoid commenting directly. We have a special counsel thats doing an investigation over at the Justice Department. We have an investigation here in the house. We have an investigation in the senate. I think its very important that these professionals in these committees do their jobs, so that we can get to the bottom of this. Reporter mike conaway, the texas republican leading the house investigation, didnt say much, either. Reporter are you concerned about the meetings that he took with the russian lawyer . Were going to pursue every lead that makes sense to pursue and every clue that needs to be pursued. Reporter does this need to be pursued . Were going to pursue every lead that makes sense pursue. Reporter in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow on the christian broadcast network, President Trump said russian president Vladimir Putin wouldnt have wanted want to help him in the first place. If hillary had won, our military would be decimated. Our energy would be much more expensive. Thats what putin doesnt like about me. And thats why i say why would he want me. Reporter last night, donald trump jr. Offered his first public defense, to fox news channels sean hannity. In retrospect, i probably would have done things a little differently. Again, this was before russia mania. This was before they were building it up in the press. For me, this was Opposition Research. Reporter this morning, mr. Trump gave his eldest son a rave review he was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest witch hunt in political history. At his confirmation hearing to be f. B. I. Director, Christopher Wray was pressed on that point. He had a different view of the investigations including special counsel Robert Muellers probe than the man who nominated him. Im asking you as the future f. B. I. Director do you consider this endeavor a witch hunt . I do not consider director mueller to be on a witch hunt. Reporter meanwhile, the president s legal team tried to distance their client from his namesake. The president was not aware of the meeting, did not participate in the meeting, did not attend the meeting and was only made aware of the emails actually reading the emails, seeing the emails, was yesterday when they were released. For mr. Trump, the russia story has become a burden he cannot escape, no matter how hard the tries. Every time he appears to be moving in a different direction, another disclosure puts it right back front and center. Today, Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov seemed to sympathize. translated today i turned on the tv again, and all the western channels are discussing only this. It is amazing how serious people can make a mountain when there might not even be a mole hill. Reporter theres sure to be more discussion next week, when the Senate Judiciary committee wants former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort to testify about his role. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff later, the president told reuters that he only learned of donald trump jr. s meeting with a russian lawyer a few days ago. But, he said, i think many people would have held that meeting. He also said that he asked russian president putin last week if he had meddled in the u. S. Election, and putin said, twice absolutely not. We will explore the legal implications of all this, after the news summary. In the days other news, Federal Reserve chair janet yellen affirmed that shortterm Interest Rates are likely to rise again in the coming months. But she also left the door open to changing those plans. Yellen told a congressional hearing that a recent slowdown in inflation might make the central bank recalculate. Monetary policy is not on a preset course. Were watching it very closely, and stand ready to adjust our policy if it appears that the inflation undershoot will be persistent. Woodruff separately, yellen said the fed could begin unloading its massive Bond Holdings this year. It bought government bonds during and after the recession to lower longterm Interest Rates, and boost economic activity. Wall street took heart from yellens talk of going slow on rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 123 points to close at 21,532 a new record. The nasdaq rose nearly 68 points, and the s p 500 added 17. One of brazils former president s, Luiz Inacio Lula da silva, was convicted today in a sweeping corruption probe. A judge sentenced him to 9. 5 years in prison, but for now he remains free, pending his appeal. Silva served as president from 2003 to 2010, and is still widely admired in brazil. In saudi arabia today, u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson held talks, but made no apparent progress in ending a boycott of another persian gulf nation, qatar. Tillerson met with king salman, and later the saudi crown prince, in the city of jiddah. Later, he flew to kuwait, and returns to qatar tomorrow. The saudis and other arab states have accused qatar of financing terrorism. In turkey, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected any talk of lifting a state of emergency. He imposed it last july after rogue soldiers tried to overthrow the government, killing more than 240 people. Erdogan visited graves of the victims yesterday, and he told International Investors today that the government is still rooting out disloyal elements. translated what are we supposed to do with all this happening . They say lift the state of emergency. This wont happen. I had an interview with an International Media organization. They asked if the state of emergency will finish. It will finish when this business is completely out of the way. Woodruff erdogans opponents say he has used emergency rule to quash dissent. There is word that chinese political dissident and nobel peace laureate liu xiaobo is now in critical condition. A hospital in shenyang reported today he is suffering multiple organ failure. Liu has latestage liver cancer. He was released from prison on medical leave last month. Back in this country, the royal bank of scotland has agreed on a settlement with u. S. Regulators, and will pay 5. 5 billion. It involves claims that the bank sold billions of dollars of toxic, mortgagebacked securities before the 2008 financial meltdown. And, President Trump lost his nominee today to lead the federal deposit insurance corporation. James clinger cited family related obligations that prompted him to leave Government Service earlier this year. He said they have grown more challenging in the interim. Still to come on the newshour the legal questions surrounding donald trump jr. s meeting with a russian lawyer. President trumps pick for f. B. I. Director faces the senate. An iceberg the size of delaware breaks off from antarctica and, much more. Woodruff now, back to the controversies swirling around donald trump jr. And the president s top campaign aides. The email Exchange Published by donald trump jr. On tuesday reignited a legal debate about whether members of the Trump Campaign engaged in unlawful activity. We get two perspectives, from bob bauer; he served as white House Counsel to president obama, from 2009 to 2011. He is now a lawyer in private practice in washington. And, Jed Shugerman. Hes a professor at Fordham University law school. Gentlemen, we thank you both for being with us. Bob bauer, to you first, we know the president s son was told that the russian government had incriminating information on Hillary Clinton that i wanted to share with him. Did he break a law by pursuing that . In my view, we have some evidence, we dont have all the evidence. I would suspect the Congressional Investigating Committee and the special council will continue to dig into questions raised by the facts disclosed by the New York Times and by donald trump, jr. Himself, but this is highly suggestive of a potential violation of the law on two counts. Number one, it demonstrates the companincampaign as a whole hadt to solicit support from a Foreign National source, in this case, russia. Second, the meeting could constitute illegal solicitation of a Foreign National under Campaign Finance law. Both have broad significance and on the specific issue of liability, a more concrete significance. Woodruff youre tying it to Campaign Finance. Im talking about a statute on the books for many Years Congress tightened in 2002 that prohibits receiving and soliciting contributions from a Foreign National or providing the Foreign National with substantial assistance in trying to influence a u. S. Election. Woodruff Jed Shugerman, listening to this, and i know you have been looking at the laws with regard to this today, does this sound like something that fits under that Legal Definition . Yeah, i have been looking at this quite a bit and reading bobs work. Bob, generally, hes a terrific expert on this. I think i disagree with him and how far to apply Campaign Finance law. Im very sympathetic to his perspective here. However, i think were getting into some dangerous territory with applying federal election law too broadly at this stage. News keeps breaking every day, so im just saying, knowing what we know now, to argue this meeting itself is a violation of the Campaign Finance law raise as couple of questions. First of all, it raises the danger of applying and criminalizing contacts between anyone in a campaign with a Foreign National. Let me give you a hypothetical. Imagine if there was a web site that published what purported to be the birth certificate of president obama from kenya, and an obama staffer went and met with kenyon nationals to find out about the veracity of that document. Under this interpretation, that would still be a thing of value, but would we criminalize the Obama Campaign for checking and, similarly, would we say the romney campaign, you cant do Opposition Research by investigating. Woodruff let me go ahead. Woodruff let me stop you on that point. What about that, bob bauer, that theres a danger in making this cover, any kind of information shared by a campaign by a foreign entity . Thats not the case at all here. Were not talking about a casual conversation with some information that the campaign is looking for it sort of acquires by talking to a Foreign National. Were talking about an operational link between a Foreign Government and a campaign, one in which the Foreign Government is stating its intention to provide ongoing support, dispatches one of its emissaries if were to understand the facts as so far presented in the news, dispatches one of its emissaries from moscow to washington, d. C. And, on top of all that, not only does the campaign indicate its anxious for the help, but, as you recall, donald trump, jr. Even snughts one of his emails that he would like to discuss timing, that if the information is as good as advertised, he would like to see it released later in the summer. The Company Finance laws distinguish between the kind of specie that i think professor shugerman is legitimately concerned about than this kind of information. Woodruff judge shugerman, it is the case that the email to donald trump, jr. Said the russian government wants to help your campaign. All of this is indicative or suggestive of what we might find out later. I think if we carefully read the emails, i think its hard to make the leap that this is like a coordination. There are indications there. I understand where bob bauer is coming from. I think we have to be careful, though, because if you read the email from a little bit of perspective of how can this be applied in the future and can we have line drawing here, its hard to see where this email doesnt immediate lead to some effects of applying this to any kind of contact between governments. Woodruff let me asking both of you, and to you Jed Shugerman first, the word collusion, colluding has been thrown around a lot in the last few weeks about whether the Trump Campaign was colluding with russian officials, is there some legal issue there . Is that an issue . Word collusion is more political than legal. There is no statute against collusion. I think the word we might turn to in the law is conspiracy. This is where were headed. There is a lot of other information coming out day by day that points to this conspiracy. We may have conspiracy. I think were getting closer to a violation of 1986 law of computer hacking because i think, if you look at the timing, there are too many coincidences about what the Trump Campaign was doing before or after this june 3 email about President Trump himself. My point here is i think we need to be careful in analyzing each step. Woodruff right. I think there is evidence thats pointing towards crimes, but i think we need to be careful when we make interpretations of these statutes. Woodruff we certainly want to be careful here and we know were speculating but we do think its important to ask these questions. Bob bauer, quickly on the conspiracy question. I think there is a basis here, and i continue disagree with professor shugerman, this is going to be an ongoing investigation. This is not the only evidence that will be taken into account and certainly, if, in fact, there is apparently a violation of the Campaign Finance laws and the evidence is beginning to point in that direction, then, yes, the prosecutors could certainly develop a conspiracy charge or aiding and abetting charge based on that. If i could just add one more point. This is not a statute that is subject to the same free speech considerations professor shugerman outlines that apply in the domestic u. S. Context. Today, for example, it was clear from the testimony of f. B. I. Director nominee chris ray who was asked about this that, in his view, this sort of communication between the russian government and campaign is a National Security matter, and he said any meeting like that should not have been taken unless the campaign hat consulted with what he called its legal advisors. So i think it was clear from the f. B. I. Directors remarks here this is a National Security issue, the free speech considerations are different and the implications are legal. Woodruff all right, gentlemen, well have to leave it there. Bob bauer, Jed Shugerman, we thank you both. Thank you. Very much. Woodruff as we noted earlier, the issue of russian meddling figured into todays confirmation hearing for Christopher Wray, the nominee to be the next f. B. I. Director. But there was another focus as well whether wray would withstand the political pressures of the day. Lisa desjardins takes it from there. Reporter hes worked 25 years as both as a top federal a prosecutor and as defense attorney. Do you affirm that the testimony youre about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, god . I do. Reporter but Christopher Wray faced few questions about his