By mutual of america designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why we are your retirement company. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From the tisch wnet studios at Lincoln Center in new york, Hari Sreenivasan. This is pbs newshour weekend. Sreenivasan good evening, thanks for joining us. The war of words between republican president ial nominee donald trump and the parents of a decorated Muslim American soldier who died in combat escalated today. The father of the u. S. Army captain who was killed in iraq in 2004 and who denounced trump at last weeks Democratic National convention criticized trump again today. He is a black soul, and this is totally unfit for the leadership of this country. The love and affection that we have received affirms that our grief that our experience in this country has been correct and positive. Sreenivasan at the convention, khazir khan, father of captain humayun khan, addressed trump directly, saying you have sacrificed nothing and no one, and asking if he has read the u. S. Constitution. In an interview on abc, trump rejected the accusation. Ive made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. Ive created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. Ive done a lot. Sreenivasan trump also took to twitter today to respond to the controversy. Captain khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about radical islamic terror and the weakness of our leaders to eradicate it i was viciously attacked by mr. Khan at the democratic convention. Am i not allowed to respond . Hillary voted for the iraq war, not me trump also has questioned why captain khans mother stood silently at her husbands side at the convention. Today, she responded in a Washington Post opinion piece, saying in part without saying a thing, all the world, all america, felt my pain. I am a gold star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart. Meanwhile, in another simmering controversy, democratic president ial nominee Hillary Clinton has laid direct blame for the recent hack of Democratic National committee computers on russia. We know that russian intelligence services, which are part of the russian government and under the firm control of vladimir putin, hacked into the d. N. C. And we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that donald trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up putin, to support putin. Sreenivasan the Clinton Campaign is wrapping up its rust belt bus tour today in columbus, ohio. Donald trump will campaign in ohio and pennsylvania tomorrow. Muslims throughout france attended catholic mass yesterday and today to pay tribute to a priest killed by islamic radicals in a knife attack earlier this week. Father jacques hamel, an 85 year old catholic priest, was killed in his church near rouen in normandy by two men who had pledged their allegiance to isis. The killers were shot to death by police. The french Muslim Community council had urged muslims throughout the country to join catholics in solidarity as they pay tribute to the slain priest. Meanwhile pope francis wrapped up a five day visit to poland with a massive Outdoor Service near krakow. The pope encouraged hundreds of thousands of young people gathered to mark world youth day to believe in a new humanity. Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved today to further tighten his governments control of the armed forces following this months failed military coup. Erdogan fired 1,400 soldiers, sailors and airmen, including his own chief military adviser, for suspected links to u. S. Based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by erdogan of masterminding the abortive coup. Erdogan also abolished all military academies, stacked the top military council with civilians, and said he and the Prime Minister will have direct authority over the armed forces. Just how far will erdogans crackdown go . Joining us via skype from istanbul is wall street journal reporter dion nissenbaum. This shake up in the military is happening at a time when nato allies are wondering, wait, who is actually in charge, who do i have a relationship with that i can trust. Thats right. There is actually two wars going on on the border with turkey. You have turkeys own war with kurdish militants and one of the cuop plotters, was actually overseeing that war. And then you have the war against Islamic State and the general at the air base which is the main base where the u. S. Uses to carry out strikes against Islamic State he was arrested as well. There are tankers used from that base to refuel some of the jet fighters used in the coup plot. You have u. S. Military saying, how much is this going to impact our fight. They are seeing an impact already, but its a little bit too early to say, if they will be a measurable or longterm impact. Sreenivasan weve heard different reports, weve heard some detentions, weve heard some arrests. Weve heard some people release understand they are out if theyre not detaineds there a possibility that they decide to kind of group text each other and form the equivalent of, you know, a movement against erdogan. Its difficult to tell, were under a state of emergency here in turkey up to three months maybe longer depending how it goes. The crackdown here has been widespread, 10,000 people arrested. Up to 70,000 people have lost their jobs, suspended or dismissed. There is, id saya broad fear right now about this crackdown, journalists have fled the country, passports have been cancelled. There isnt a lot of space here, i would say, for political opposition against president erdogan there was some space before the coup, now that its been put down its given president erdogan to suppress forward with what he really wants in this country which is an executive americanstyle presidency, putting all of the resources under his control. As you mentioned at the beginning, doing that now, today with the military. Sreenivasan what about these Different Military acadamies, why are though so important to try to purge or to retain under his control . Its an interesting question. The notion here by the government is that the people who plan the cous led by the cleric as you mentioned. And hes known for essential she feeding people throughout the government. So, i guess the suspicions with the military academy is that its filled with these people that are loyal not to turkey but to Fethullah Gulen they must feel like they must wipe the slate clean and start again. Its just happened today so we dont have a lot of the rational for why their closing the acadamies. That would be my guess. Sreenivasan joining us via skype from istanbul of the wall street journal. Thanks so much s. Thank you. Sreenivasan this election season, ohio as always figures to be a key president ial battleground; a diverse state that swings back and forth between the two major parties. No republican has ever won the white house without winning ohio, and neither has any democrat since 1960. With the stakes so high, a series of legal skirmishes reveals both parties maneuvering for maximum advantage at the polls in november. Special correspondent chris bury reports from columbus. Reporter larry harmon, a lifelong ohioan who has lived in the same house near akron for 16 years, never gave his voting registration a second thought. Ive been voting since 1976. A couple of times i didnt vote. If i felt i wasnt up on the issues or i couldnt really decide who was worse of the two candidates, i just wouldnt vote. Reporter harmon voted in the 2008 president ial election, but sat out the 2012 race. Then, last november, the 59 year Old Software Engineer and navy veteran arrived at his polling place this high school to vote on a Ballot Initiative that, he worried, would allow monopolies to control legalized marijuana in ohio. I went down tre to vote against it, and my name wasnt on the list, and i couldnt vote. Reporter harmon was removed from the rolls of eligible voters in 2015, because he had not voted in the previous six years. When it comes to the right to vote, ohio is a use it, or lose it state. Just last year, ohios 20 most populous counties purged more than 200,000 inactive voters, according to research by pbs newshour weekend. In ohios largest county, cuyahoga, with heavily democratic cleveland, nearly 52,000 voters were purged. I thought, well, jeez. You know i pay my taxes every year, and i pay my property taxes, and i register my car. So the state had to know im still a voter. why should we fight for the country if theyre gonna be taking away my rights . I mean, im a veteran, my fathers a veteran, my grandfathers a veteran, now they arent giving me my right to vote, the most fundamental right i have . I just cant believe it. Reporter in ohio, the secretary of state sent out this form warning voters who have not cast ballots in two years to confirm their eligibility or risk having their voting registrations canceled. The practice has been state law under democrats and republicans for more than 20 years. Ohio secretary of state jon husted, a republican who served two terms as speaker of ohios statehouse, has increased enforcement of the practice. As secretary of state, is it your mission to ensure that as many people as possible vote in ohio . My goal is to strike the balance between making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Reporter husted says its his legal duty is to make sure voting rolls stay up to date and dont become bloated with voters whove died or residents whove left ohio like college students. Dont i have the right to vote whenever i choose . If i dont want to vote for 20 years, isnt that perfectly fine . Its perfectly fine if you dont. But you just have to re register. Reporter husted says the state maintains the accuracy of its voting list in two ways. First, by using the National Post office database. But many people dont register their new addresses when they move. Thats when the second process known as purgingkicks in. Youre inactive for two years, meaning that youve not voted, youve not done anything, we send you a card to say, hey, are you still registered to vote . And, are you still living at this address . Reporter to stay on the voter rolls, residents have four years to respond to the letter and confirm their address, or simply vote, or they can sign a petition the kind that requires signatures from registered voters. Harmon says he doesnt remember receiving the form in the mail. So after being turned away from his polling place last year, he joined a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties union and the Public Policy group demos against secretary of state husted, challenging ohios purge process. Attorney dan tokaji, whos a co counsel on the lawsuit, says ohios law violates the National Voter registration act of 1993, better known as the motor voter bill, which requires states to improve opportunities to register to vote, such as when applying for a drivers license. If the state has other reasons for believing somebody has moved, for example, if they get information from the post office indicating that that persons address has changed, it can initiate the process for removing voters. What neither ohio nor any other state can do is to initiate the purge process solely because of a registered voters failure to vote. Reporter but ohio did. Six other states alaska, montana, south dakota, tennessee, georgia, and West Virginia also consider voter inactivity when striking names from lists of registered voters. Do many of these folks not know that they have been purged . Many of them will not realize that theyve actually been removed from the rolls until they go to vote. We think that the biggest impact is going to be felt in urban areas, especially places where youve got less affluent voters. Ohio has removed infrequent voters off the voter roll. Reporter Community Organizer andre washington is spreading the word about ohios voting rules at triedstone baptist church, one of columbuss largest predominantly black churches. He has also joined the lawsuit against the secretary of state. Most of the people that they purged look like me and you. Reporter washington fears ohios purge practice will disenfranchise africanamericans who have not voted since 2008, when they helped elect the first black president. So, after sunday services, these volunteers helped congregants check the secretary of states public records to see if theyre still registered. Its very important that these people that were purged get put back on the rolls so that they can exercise their right to vote. Because one of the jobs of the secretary of state is to make sure that the ballot box is accessible to all citizens of ohio. And make sure its easier for them to vote, not harder for them to vote. Reporter does this policy disenfranchise poor African Americans . It actually has no race, gender, ethnicity component to it, because it treats every single voter exactly the same. And remember, if you receive one of these cards, its because you havent voted. Reporter you dont think its an unfair burden, requiring people who havent voted for a while to make some kind of affirmative statement . The law says its six years. The federal Court Agreement says its six years. I can understand people who have policy disagreements. If you want to make it longer, change the law ill follow the law. Reporter ohios purge of inactive voters is among several election rules under fierce legal attack here. In may, a federal judge reinstated seven days of early voting when same day registration is also allowed, known as golden week. The Republican State Legislature eliminated it two years ago in a law signed by ohios republican governor, john kasich, reducing the number of early voting days to 28. But the judge found the early voting rollback discriminatory, because black voters are more likely than white voters to cast ballots early and inperson. In june, another federal judge struck down laws allowing ohio Election Officials to use trivial errors to disqualify absentee ballots and provisional ballots the ones voters fill out when their registrations are challenged at polling places. For example, a voter registered as William Thomas smith could have his absentee ballot rejected, because he wrote the abbreviation w. T. Smith or bill smith on his envelope. Civil Rights Groups had argued those rejections amounted to an unconstitutional literacy test. If you take these together, your opponents would argue that the intent is to suppress democratic votes. Well, thats nonsense, and they know it is. Many of them have actually voted for the same policies that i am enacting. I adopt the same directives that my democrat predecessor was using, but democrats now call that voter suppression. Its almost in the history of the world never been easier to vote anywhere than it is in ohio today. Reporter ever since the bitterly contested 2000 president ial election, where lawyers fought over floridas disputed ballots all the way to the u. S. Supreme court legal maneuvering over voting rules has intensified. For example, 17 states have laws now in effect requiring photo identification in order to vote, all but two of those states led by republicans when the laws passed. The number of lawsuits nationwide over voting practices and results has also dramatically increased, from only 80 cases in 1999 to more than 300 in 2014, a trend Ohio State University professor edward foley calls the voting wars. The voting wars is to use the tools of the legal system to try to get one side or the other a little bit of an advantage on election day in the counting of the ballots. And it can be through lawsuits, or it can be through creating new laws that you think might be favorable to your side. Reporter foley says both parties are constantly fighting over what he calls the margin of litigation legal skirmishes that could change outcomes in close races. In battleground states, the chances are that the election could be really close 1,000 votes could tip a state. So the rules for how you count disputed ballots, really matter. Could determine who wins a state like ohio. Reporter and the stakes are high here. Stakes are the white house. Reporter in the voter purge case, last month a federal judge ruled in favor of secretary of state husted, saying, the purge process does not violate the National Voter registration act. And the Public Interest is being served by the procedure. Lawyers representing larry harmon and other ohio voters have appealed. And two weeks ago, the department of justice asked the court to reverse its decision. Knowing the stakes in ohio, harmon has already re registered. Are you planning to vote in this novembers election . Yes, i am. Reporter hear from young voters about the issues that matter the most to them this election season. Visit www. Pbs. Org newshour. Sreenivasan the political fallout continues following the cyber attack into a program used by the Clinton Campaign, along with a related hack into the emails and voicemails of the Democratic National committee. But it does raise concerns over other aspects of the election as we head toward november like the security of Voter Registrations, voting locations, and donor lists. Politico National Security reporter bryan bender has been looking into this and has found a patchwork of security measures across the country. He joins me now from washington, d. C. You and cory bennett had a piece look at this hacking beyond just the specific incident