JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight:
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We will be doing something very rapidly having
to do with the security of our country.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Blocked by the courts, President Trump considers next steps for his controversial
immigration policy.
Then: taking on U.S.-Asian relations.
The president welcomes Japan's prime minister to the White House, while dodging a potential
rift with China.
And it's Friday.
Mark Shields and David Brooks take on the week's news.
Plus: From his beginnings in Motown, to receiving the prestigious Gershwin Award, hit-maker
Smokey Robinson sits down with Jeffrey Brown to talk about a lifetime of music.
SMOKEY ROBINSON, Musician: We were not just some artists who recorded for the same label.
We were actually friends.
We were like brothers and sisters.
We hung out.
We have what we call the Motown family, and we have always had that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: President Trump now says that he may sign, in his words, a brand-new order
on immigration as early as Monday or Tuesday.
But he also says he still figures to win the court battle over his initial attempt to bar
travelers from seven mostly Muslim nations.
The federal court of appeals in the Ninth Circuit upheld a freeze on that ban in a Thursday
ruling.
John Yang reports that all of this unfolded as the prime minister of Japan visited the
White House.
JOHN YANG: President Trump made clear today he's ready for the court fight about his immigration
order to be over, but he's not waiting for the final ruling.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: It shouldn't have taken this much time, because
safety is a primary reason.
One of the reasons I'm standing here today is the security of our country.
So we will be doing something very rapidly, having to do with additional security for
our country.
You will be seeing that some time next week.
In addition, we will continue to go through the court process, and ultimately I have no
doubt that we will win that particular case.
JOHN YANG: Mr. Trump gave no details of just what that additional security will be, but
said the dangers are clear, though he wouldn't give specifics about them either.
DONALD TRUMP: While I have been president, which is just for a very short period of time,
I have learned tremendous things that you could only learn, frankly, if you were in
a certain position, namely president.
And there are tremendous threats to our country.
We will not allow that to happen, I can tell you that right now.
We will not allow that to happen.
JOHN YANG: This morning, the president took to Twitter to call the appeals court decision
not to reinstate his travel ban disgraceful.
Three judges, two of them nominated by Democrats, one by a Republican, upheld a restraining
order put in place by a federal judge in Seattle one week ago today.
The appeals court said the government didn't provide adequate due process to affected travelers,
and provided no evidence that anyone from the seven countries in the order has been
responsible for U.S. terror attacks.
The judges also concluded the administration is unlikely to prevail in a trial on the merits
of the case.
Within minutes of the decision, the president told reporters it was political and tweeted,
"See you in court."
Washington state's attorney general, who filed the suit, said, bring it on.
BOB FERGUSON, Washington State Attorney General: We have seen the president in court twice.
And we're two for two.
That's number one.
And, in my view, the future of the Constitution is at stake.
JOHN YANG: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted that the president should see the
writing on the wall and abandon the order.
Hillary Clinton tweeted simply "3-0," a reference to the unanimous decision.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he asked Mr. Trump in a phone call to lift
the travel ban for Iraqis.
Some have worked as translators for the U.S. military and their lives might be in danger
if they stay in Iraq.
For now, with the ban on hold, refugees and others from all of the seven affected nations
are free to enter the United States.
And in addition to the appeals court ruling, the administration faces dozens of other legal
challenges from around the country.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang at the White House.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Late today, there was word that the Trump administration may be leaning
against appealing the restraining order to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the White House chief of staff said that it may still be possible.
In the day's other news: Ohio Governor John Kasich delayed eight executions in the face
of a court fight over the state's lethal injection process.
A federal judge found that process unconstitutional, but the state is appealing.
The governor's decision pushes back the executions to May, or later.
From Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, an apparent gesture to President Trump.
He has told Yahoo News the U.S. is welcome to send troops to Syria to battle those that
he called terrorists.
But he also said in the interview that his permission is contingent on Washington respecting
his government's sovereignty.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, President of Syria: If you want to start genuinely as the United States,
to do so, it must be through the Syrian government.
We are here, we are the Syrians, we own this country as Syrians, nobody else.
Nobody would understand it like us.
So you cannot defeat the terrorism without cooperation with the people and the government
of any country.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Assad said he shares the priority that President Trump places on fighting terrorism,
but he rejected the idea of establishing safe zones for refugees inside Syria.
In Australia, temperatures soared to 117 degrees in and around Sydney today, as an extreme
heat wave grips the country.
Major industrial energy users shut down in order to help prevent blackouts.
Beaches were packed with people looking for relief, while zoo animals cooled off with
a hose-down and frozen treats.
Forecasters expect Saturday could be the hottest February day ever recorded in Australia.
Back in this country, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced protesters in her first
visit to a public school since a bruising confirmation fight.
Several dozen people tried to block her from entering a school in Washington.
She said later that she respects peaceful protest, but -- quote -- "will not be deterred"
from doing her job.
DeVos has drawn fire for her support of alternatives to public schools.
Wall Street finished this Friday on a high note.
Mining and energy stocks led the way, as prices for oil and copper jumped.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained nearly 97 points to close at 20269.
The Nasdaq rose almost 19, and the S&P 500 added eight.
For the week, all three indexes gained about 1 percent.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": President Trump shifts his approach to China; new revelations
in National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's relationship with Russia; changes the newly
confirmed health secretary could make immediately; and much more.
As we mentioned earlier, the prime minister of Japan was at the White House today, the
beginning of several days of talks with the president.
The visit comes amid growing concerns in Asia over trade, over North Korea's missile and
nuclear programs, and over China flexing its military muscle.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: The bond between our two nations and the friendship
between our two peoples runs very, very deep.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The two leaders presented a united front, despite differences that have
emerged in the early days of the Trump presidency.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had pushed hard for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership,
but President Trump has officially abandoned it.
DONALD TRUMP: On the economy, we will seek a trading relationship that is free, fair,
and reciprocal, benefiting both of our countries.
SHINZO ABE, Japanese Prime Minister (through translator): I am quite optimistic that good
results will be seen from the dialogue.
Now the free and fair common set of rules will be created for free trade in the region.
That was the purpose of TPP.
That importance has not changed.
I, myself, believe that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Abe also talked up Japanese industry's contributions to the U.S. economy,
after Mr. Trump blasted Toyota last month for planning a new plant in Mexico.
Defense is another potential flash point.
During the campaign, candidate Trump suggested Japan and South Korea could pay more for their
own defense, up to and including nuclear weapons.
DONALD TRUMP: North Korea has nukes.
Japan has a problem with that.
I mean, they have a big problem with that.
Maybe they would in fact be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea.
QUESTION: With nukes?
DONALD TRUMP: Including with nukes, yes, including with nukes.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, however, the president appeared to step back.
DONALD TRUMP: It is important that both Japan and the United States continue to invest very
heavily in the alliance to build up our defense.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Some 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, the largest American outpost
in Asia.
Last week, Secretary of Defense James Mattis made Asia his first overseas visit.
In Japan, he reassured Abe that the U.S. will maintain its presence there.
The U.S. military also serves as the main counterweight to China's increasing aggressiveness
in the South China Sea.
Today, Abe said that must continue.
SHINZO ABE (through translator): We need to maintain the freedom of navigation and rule
of law.
Such international order there must be maintained.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Hours earlier, President Trump spoke by phone for the first time with China's
President Xi Jinping.
During the call, Trump retreated from earlier talk of disregarding the one China policy,
which officially treats Taiwan as part of China.
DONALD TRUMP: It was a very, very warm conversation.
I think we are on the process of getting along very well, and I think that will also be very
much of a benefit to Japan.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Abe didn't comment on the Trump-Xi phone call.
Later, the leaders flew to the president's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where they will
spend the weekend and play golf.
We take a closer look now at the United States' relationship with Asia under the Trump presidency
with Evan Medeiros.
He served as senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff during
the Obama administration.
He is now a managing director at Eurasia Group.
It's a business consulting company.
Evan Medeiros, welcome back to the program.
EVAN MEDEIROS, Eurasia Group: Thanks.
Great to be here.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, let's start with China.
The president telling President Xi Jinping, at President Xi's request, that the U.S. does
go along now with the -- want the continue the one China policy.
Why is that so important to the Chinese?
EVAN MEDEIROS: Well, it's important because the one China policy is at the heart of the
U.S.-China relationship.
It's the issue that Kissinger first negotiated with Zhou Enlai about in the early 1970s.
It goes to the status of Taiwan and the U.S. position that it acknowledges China's view
that Taiwan is part of China.
So, it's sort of a foundational leg of the U.S.-China relationship.
And absent recognition of the one China policy, it would have been very difficult, if not
impossible, for Xi Jinping or any Chinese leader to do anything else in the U.S.-China
relationship.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How much of a concern was it to the Chinese that President Trump state
this, given what he had said during the campaign, a lot of anti-China language, rhetoric coming
from candidate Donald Trump, then that phone call that he had early on after the election
with the president of Taiwan?
How worried were -- how concerned were the Chinese?
EVAN MEDEIROS: Well, the Chinese were very concerned.
Recognizing, acknowledging the one China policy was essential for Xi Jinping.
It was the primary concern of the Chinese leadership, and they didn't want to talk about
anything else, trade and investment, North Korea, the South China Sea, until the Trump
administration reaffirmed the one China policy.
So, in many ways, the phone call last night removed the source of an immediate crisis
in the relationship.
And now they can move on to talking about and working on other issues.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And one of those issues, of course, is China's increasingly aggressive
stance -- we referred to in the report just now -- in that region, especially the South
China Sea.
Other countries in the region, and Japan, which I'm going to ask you about in just a
moment, have been increasingly concerned about what they're seeing China do.
There is also concern about whether China's role if the North Koreans should try to do
something else in a nuclear direction.
So, how worried should the U.S. and other countries in the region be about China?
EVAN MEDEIROS: Well, we should be worried because the Chinese have been increasingly
active in the maritime area.
They have been more assertive in the economic area.
They have been nationalists and mercantilists.
So, there is a variety of Chinese behaviors that we should be concerned about.
And the question for the Trump administration is, what are the policies that they're going
to adopt to address these challenges?
They're not new challenges for the United States, but they are very difficult to figure
out how to shape China's behavior, because China's a big economy, its leverage and influence
is growing.
We need Chinese cooperation, but that certainly shouldn't be a barrier to pushing them on
areas where we think they need to change their behavior and recognize U.S. interests.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, let's turn to Japan.
Of course, the president met today with the Japanese prime minister.
They're going to be spending the weekend at President Trump's place in South Florida.
How would you describe, Evan Medeiros, the state of U.S.-Japanese relations right now?
EVAN MEDEIROS: Well, the state of U.S.-Japanese relations right now is great, because Trump
is giving Abe a very robust, you could say even lavish, visit to the United States so
early on in Trump's foreign policy evolution.
I mean, he's essentially putting Japan at the center of his Asia policy and putting
alliances at the center of his Asia policy.
And he's doing it in such a robust way, I mean, not just the Oval Office meeting, the
lunch, but this weekend in Florida.
That's normally something that you would do after several years of developing a relationship
after another leader has demonstrated their willingness to work with you, bring economic
deliverables.
So, this is a big deal.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But it also comes after President Trump has pulled out of the Trans-Pacific
trade deal, the TPP.
This is something the Japanese, that Prime Minister Abe had put a lot of effort into.
So, how much of a complication is that going to be?
EVAN MEDEIROS: It's a complication.
I think Prime Minister Abe and many Asian leaders are concerned about the withdrawal
from TPP.
They're concerned about Trump's support for protectionism and the impact that might have
on a lot of export-dependent economies.
They're worried about Trump's broader approach to Asia.
How engaged is he going to be in Asia?
Is ISIS going to get the priority?
So the engagement with Japan early on addresses some of those issues, but not all of them.
And then, of course, the big issue on the table is whether or not Abe and Trump are
going to agree to eventually negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement.
That's what Trump says is going to replace TPP.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And is that something the Japanese are likely to find to their liking?
EVAN MEDEIROS: I think it is going to be hard.
The U.S. and Japan have tried this in the past, and it hasn't worked.
I think now it's too politically sensitive for Abe, since he just got his legislature
to ratify TPP last fall.
It's probably too early for him to initiate bilateral negotiations now, but I could see
in a year or so willing to go down that road.
But the challenge is, is that a series of bilateral trade agreements doesn't replace
the region-wide effect and the positive strategic effect of TPP.
It's sort of because TPP was meant to change the rules of the game, potentially influence
China as well.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And now it's not happening.
EVAN MEDEIROS: And now it's not, that's right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Not from the U.S. standpoint.
Well, there is so much more to talk about, big, big part of the world, huge, hugely important
relationship.
Evan Medeiros, thank you very much.
EVAN MEDEIROS: Thank you very much.
Great to be here.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: new revelations about contacts between a top aide to President Trump
and Russia during the transition between administrations.
Earlier this evening, Hari Sreenivasan recorded this conversation.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Just after Christmas, the Obama administration levied new sanctions
against Russia for its alleged role in meddling with the 2016 election.
In the days surrounding that move, Michael Flynn, the incoming Trump White House's national
security adviser, spoke several times by phone with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.
The Trump team claimed, after this was first reported in January, that Flynn was trying
to arrange a phone call between Mr. Trump and Russian President Putin.
Now The Washington Post reports there may have been other motives for the calls.
For more on all of this, we turn to Greg Miller, national security reporter at The Post.
So, first of all, what was said in these calls?
GREG MILLER, National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post: So, we know now that
these calls covered the subject of sanctions.
We have multiple sources telling us that Flynn actually conveyed a signal to the Russian
ambassador that the sanctions that the Obama administration was imposing, that the Russian
government shouldn't overreact to them, didn't need to worry about them, that there would
be time soon when they would be able to revisit these policies.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Now, you have nine different sources in your story.
How do we know this is what took place on those phone calls?
GREG MILLER: Well, these are phone calls which involved the Russian ambassador to the United
States.
U.S. intelligence agencies monitor a lot of the communications of Russian officials who
are here in Washington and in New York.
So these are calls that were all picked up, collected.
There are transcripts of these calls.
They were recorded, and there are intelligence reports on these calls.
HARI SREENIVASAN: But the White House has said repeatedly that this is not what took
place, that sanctions were not discussed.
The vice president even went out on TV and said that, per his conversations with Mr.
Flynn, that this wasn't discussed.
GREG MILLER: That's right.
And you had several senior White House officials, starting with Vice President Pence, who went
out on a very big limb for Mike Flynn on this, and that limb has been cut off now.
They insisted categorically that the subject of sanctions had not been raised in these
conversations, and that's not the case.
HARI SREENIVASAN: But let's assume for a second Mike Flynn doesn't know that this phone call
is being listened to by anybody else than the person he's talking to.
Is there anything illegal that he did in the phone call itself?
GREG MILLER: Yes, possibly.
The difficulty here is that the statute that applies in these cases dates to 1799 and,
in over 200 years, has never been prosecuted.
It's something that the FBI just doesn't really want to investigate or prosecute.
Nevertheless, that statute exists.
And it bans unauthorized U.S. citizens from negotiating with foreign governments when
they're not in power, when they're not yet in a position to do so in the United States.
And every indication to us is that Flynn did just that in this conversation.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Is that the reason that Vladimir Putin didn't retaliate once those
sanctions came out?
It seemed that there was about a 24-hour gap or so there.
GREG MILLER: Yes, I mean, that was this huge source of concern and surprise and mystery.
I mean, in the history of U.S.-Russia relationships, there have been lots of retaliatory measures,
diplomatic sanctions, economic sanctions, expulsions of spies and so forth.
It's almost always reciprocal.
But in this case, Putin surprised everybody by saying, you know what, we're not going
to do anything this time, we're not going to respond, we're just going to wait and see
how this plays out.
And that led to a lot of suspicion in the government.
Was there a signal sent?
That led to further investigation and scrutiny of these calls between Flynn and the ambassador.
HARI SREENIVASAN: If now Congress or anyone decides to take actions against Mike Flynn,
is there the possibility of a chilling effect?
Diplomats talk to each other all the time.
They have relationships that span beyond administrations.
They meet each other in different conferences and so forth.
GREG MILLER: Absolutely.
So, that is an issue.
And that probably helps explain why this law has never been prosecuted.
Authorities, U.S. authorities, do not really want to discourage people who are supposed
to be communicating with officials overseas from doing so.
However, you're not supposed to send signals like this that undermine the existing government,
that are contrary to the U.S. policy.
And in this case, it was particularly egregious, because this was at a moment when the United
States was just coming to the grips with the fact that Russia had waged a cyber-campaign
to upend the 2016 election and try to help elect Trump.
And here his top national security adviser is communicating with the Russian ambassador
in that very moment in time and apparently sending a signal, don't worry about this.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Greg Miller of The Washington Post, thanks so much.
GREG MILLER: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, after Hari recorded that conversation, President Trump was asked about
the story while flying to Florida.
Mr. Trump said -- quote -- "I don't know about it.
I haven't seen it.
What report is that?"
National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was among the passengers on Air Force One.
Stay with us.
Coming up on the "NewsHour": Mark Shields and David Brooks' take on the week's news;
plus, Smokey Robinson reflects on his lifelong contribution to music.
But first: The president gets a key member of his Cabinet confirmed, a right-hand man
who will take aim at the Affordable Care Act, and will serve as the country's top health
official.
Lisa Desjardins has the story.
LISA DESJARDINS: He is, after his swearing-in today, the nation's 23rd secretary of health
and human services.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Georgia Congressman Tom Price in the wee hours this morning on
a party-line vote of 52-47.
Secretary Price is a longtime opponent of the Affordable Care Act.
To Democrats like Maria Cantwell of Washington State, that is the problem.
SEN.
MARIA CANTWELL (D), Washington: My view is, this vote is the first vote in the repeal
of the Affordable Care Act.
LISA DESJARDINS: But to Republicans like Tom Cotton of Arkansas, that's Price's appeal.
SEN.
TOM COTTON (R), Arkansas: You could say his chief qualification for the job of replacing
Obamacare is, he had the good sense to oppose it in the first place.
LISA DESJARDINS: Price is also a retired doctor, the first physician to lead HHS in nearly
25 years.
But in confirmation hearings, he faced tough questions over his relationship with health
care companies, and his investment in some which were affected by his actions in Congress.
Now Price is responsible for a more than a trillion-dollar health agency budget, for
a department that oversees food and drugs, biomedical research, public health threats,
and, of course, a large portion of U.S. health care.
That includes Medicaid, which covers more than 74 million people, and Medicare, over
55 million.
His theme?
A smaller role for the federal government.
In Congress, Price backed a proposed cap on Medicare spending per person.
Price also supported giving states fixed amounts, in block grants, to cover low-income people
on Medicaid.
But his new boss, Donald Trump, said on the campaign trail he wouldn't touch Medicare
or Medicaid.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
without cuts.
Have to do it.
LISA DESJARDINS: Mr. Trump has not commented since becoming president, but he has stressed
an area of agreement with Price: repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
This was today at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
DONALD TRUMP: Obamacare, as you know, is a total and complete disaster.
So, we're going to end up with tremendous health care at a lower price, and I think
people are going to be extremely happy.
LISA DESJARDINS: Meantime, the Associated Press estimates some 12 million Americans
have signed up for the Affordable Care Act for the next year, and Republicans are feeling
the pressure from many concerned about a replacement.
Last night at a town hall advertised as focused as health care, Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz
was bombarded by angry constituents on a variety of issues.
And, in Tennessee, a similar scene for Representative Diane Black, as health care policy and politics
collide.
Now that Secretary Price has been sworn in, let's take a closer look at what he may try
to do, more quickly, and over the long term.
Julie Rovner covers this for Kaiser Health News.
She's a friend of the "NewsHour."
And she joins me now.
Thank you, Julie.
JULIE ROVNER, Kaiser Health News: Thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: Let's talk with Republican agenda item number one, the Affordable Care
Act.
In Secretary Price, we have a man who literally authored a bill to repeal it.
We have both reported that Republicans see him as a major part of their repeal effort.
But what can he actually do?
What is he likely to do on the Affordable Care Act?
JULIE ROVNER: Well, what he can actually do and what he will likely do are two different
things.
What he can actually do is quite a lot.
For as long as the Affordable Care Act was, there are a whole lot of places where it says
the secretary shall or the secretary may.
So he has a lot of power to determine the details around what happens to the law.
And he can take apart a lot of the details that the Obama administration added to it.
Now, what will he do?
There's an issue here with whether or not the Republicans want to make sure that there
is still an individual insurance market next year in 2018, while they're figuring out what
to replace it with.
Insurers need to know that really by later this spring.
And so some are expecting him to, on the one hand, try to take some things apart, on the
other hand, try to make sure that the insurance industry stays in, and so to give them some
security about what might be coming.
LISA DESJARDINS: And as he has to deal with the insurance market, which is one issue,
he has to deal with, of course, all of us and our health care.
And Obamacare has some preventative services in it.
Included in that, contraception, screenings.
What kind of say does he have over whether those will continue to be cost-free?
JULIE ROVNER: Well, he can change that if he wants to.
Now, some of it was done by regulation.
And in order to change regulations, there is a process that even departments have to
go through of notice and public comment.
And it can take several, many months sometimes.
There is also something that's a little less formal called guidance, and guidance, he can
undo pretty much whenever he wants.
So, he has the power both ways.
It's just whether some things will be faster or slower.
LISA DESJARDINS: On contraception, a lot of people paying attention to that.
That is one that could take a few months, but he could still do it?
Is that right?
JULIE ROVNER: Yes, well, he can make it easier probably for religious organizations, employers
to opt out of providing contraception.
That's been a huge issue.
In terms of keeping it cost-free, that would have to be changed through a regulation.
That would take a little bit longer.
LISA DESJARDINS: Another one, Medicaid.
Republicans on the Hill, I know, tell both of us that that is one of the biggest puzzles
for them.
They have to deal with how to expand it or not expand it, what they do.
But, Secretary Price, you report that he can change requirements for the poor who receive
Medicaid?
JULIE ROVNER: That's right.
Well, he can't change the law, but he can change some of the regulations that have to
do with who gets it, with who gets much.
Of course, Congress is talking about turning Medicaid into a block grant, which would limit
how much money states could get, although they would have much more flexibility.
He could through his own power give states a lot more flexibility than they have now,
which is what many are expecting him to do.
So things like requiring people on Medicaid to meet a work requirement, that's something
that the Obama administration resisted, but that new Secretary Price might not.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's an old debate over welfare and work.
Republicans have long been on one side and Democrats on the other.
These are just -- these are major things we have touched on, but they just barely describe
the reach of this agency.
Can you talk about sort of the profound abilities or the profound areas that now Secretary Price
oversees?
JULIE ROVNER: People forget just how big the Department of Health and Human Services is.
Its budget is more than $1 trillion a year.
It oversees not just Medicare and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, but the Food
and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes
of Health, the Indian Health Service.
It touches, it's said, almost one out of every two Americans.
So, it is a wide, sprawling agency.
And the secretary, as I mentioned, has significant power to interpret how laws are implemented.
LISA DESJARDINS: Quickly, you have been covering health care for 30 years.
How pivotal, how historic could this moment be in terms of American health care?
JULIE ROVNER: Well, we will see.
It's not clear, as I said, exactly which way the secretary is going to go.
We know that, from his congressional career, he's been very conservative, would like to
remake Medicare, remake Medicaid, repeal the Affordable Care Act.
That's not exactly what President Trump ran on.
He said in his confirmation hearings he will do what the president wants.
We will have to see how that goes.
LISA DESJARDINS: All right, Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for Kaiser
Health News, thank you so much for joining us.
JULIE ROVNER: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.
That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks, who
joins us tonight from Chicago.
And we welcome both of you.
So, before we talk about the immigration -- the president's immigration order, Mark, which
the court, appeals court, rejected the administration argument on last night, we have a short clip
of what President Trump has just said a little while ago on Air Force One as he was flying
from Washington down to South Florida to Mar-a-Lago.
Reporters were asking him what he plans to do now.
Here's that clip.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We will win that battle.
But we also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand-new order.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
DONALD TRUMP: Could very well be.
But I like to keep you -- I would like to surprise you.
We need speed for reasons of security.
So, it could very well be that we do.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Mark, he says, "I like to surprise you."
How big a setback is this for the president?
MARK SHIELDS: It's a significant setback, Judy, in large part because it was self-inflicted.
They made mistakes, including green card holders, which weakened their argument completely,
and made them vulnerable to the court's decision.
And it reflected, more than anything else, a sense of chaos and a sense of incompleteness
and a sense of lack of thoughtfulness in the administration on an enormously serious issue.
JUDY WOODRUFF: David, how do you see it?
DAVID BROOKS: Well, first, on that last clip of Trump on the plane, his staff is briefing
reporters in somewhat of a chaotic manner in just the last few minutes.
People are saying, oh, they are going to just take it to the Supreme Court, they're going
to rewrite it.
And the two different briefings are contradicting each other.
And that's something The Times reporters have been talking and tweeting about publicly,
which is some of the White House staff is in a high state of misery because of the general
lack of -- chaos.
On the larger issue of the travel ban, our friend Charles Krauthammer of The Washington
Post I think put it pretty well.
I'm not sure it's illegal, but it's extremely stupid.
I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of judges overruling presidents on national security
matters.
Nonetheless, so whether it's unconstitutional or not, I leave to others.
But it certainly has sucked the wind out of two or three weeks of this administration
for no good reason.
There has never been evidence that people from these countries are disproportionately
likely to commit terrorist acts.
We have sent chaos to the airports.
We have offended the world.
We have derailed the administration.
We have done it in such an incompetent way, the administration has, that people with perfectly
legal residence have been widely inconvenienced.
And so it's just been a screw-up from beginning to end, and so it's just been a running derailment.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Mark, it's only three weeks in, and it's already this way.
And David referred to the, frankly, mixed signals coming from the White House today
about whether they were going to appeal or not and how they're going to -- what they're
going to do going forward.
But I want to ask you both about what the president has been saying about the judiciary,
calling judges disgraceful, the arguments before the appellate court disgraceful, saying
the country has been put at risk by the decision.
How much should -- what should we think about that?
MARK SHIELDS: It's a real surprise, Judy.
I mean, Judge Gorsuch, the nominee for the Supreme Court, said it was disheartening and
discouraging to have judges attacked for their independence and their integrity.
I don't know if Judge Gorsuch was living in a bubble in Boulder during 2016.
This is not an aberration on the part of Donald Trump.
He did it to Judge Curiel.
He said Judge Curiel was a total disgrace.
JUDY WOODRUFF: This is the judge...
(CROSSTALK)
MARK SHIELDS: The federal judge in the Trump University charge -- case, because his parents
had been born in Mexico and because I'm going to build a wall.
He manages to personalize everything.
He brings chaos.
He will not admit that he's ever made a mistake, that he's ever been wrong.
That's what this whole thing is about whether they're going to have a new order.
A new order, a new executive order would be an admission that the first order had been
flawed, imperfect, illegal, unconstitutional and rejected.
So he can't have that.
So you're going to kind of do a double -- to me, it is reflective of this administration.
It's three weeks in.
People in the White House work hard, whatever administration.
They get rewarded in psychic income, a sense that they are involved in something bigger
than themselves, that it's important.
And the people in the Trump White House right now are just fighting, fighting basically
to stay above water.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And there is a sense of conflict, David, virtually every day.
But what about -- is there a strategy to criticizing the judiciary, the judges, the courts over
this?
DAVID BROOKS: No, I don't think there is a strategy.
There is world view.
And Donald Trump's world view is that it's a dangerous, miserable place, people are out
to get him, and he needs to strike them first.
That's been the world view from the beginning.
And it's the world view.
To me, the big event of the week is not one thing.
It's the whole agglomeration of things.
It's the rising tide of enmity in the country, Donald Trump attacking judges, Donald Trump
attacking John McCain, Senator Blumenthal, the town halls, the riots in Berkeley.
You have got the incivility on the floor of the United States Senate.
You have got just a rising tide, every single story.
Every time Kellyanne Conway goes on TV, there's another fight with whoever's interviewing
her that particular day.
And so what you have is this just succession and a rising tide of conflict and incivility
and the breakdown in the moral norms that usually govern how we talk to each other.
Marco Rubio gave a pretty good speech on the floor of the Senate this week sort of acknowledging
this fact.
And so it's not one thing.
It's every day.
It's the barrage of hostility that seems to mark our politics emanating from the White
House, but not only in the White House, from his opponents as well.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Which raises a question, Mark, in my mind.
Is there any historical precedent for something like this?
And what do the Democrats do?
Because they are getting -- a lot of Republicans are saying the Democrats are holding up President
Trump's nominees for the Cabinet.
A number of them have been confirmed, but a number are still waiting to be confirmed,
that they are accusing the Democrats of creating a logjam.
I mean, conflict at the White House, conflict on the Hill, who comes out on top of all this?
MARK SHIELDS: Judy, I mean, it's a Cabinet that wasn't vetted, that wasn't prepared,
that the papers weren't prepared for.
Democrats have to make the fight.
If you only make fights that you're going to win, there would be no women's vote in
the country, there would be no civil rights laws in the country.
So, they came within one vote of denying the confirmation to Betsy DeVos as secretary of
education.
She was unprepared.
And so unprepared was she that Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the committee, the former
president of the University of Tennessee, the former secretary of education, limited
questioning of her to five minutes, so to deny exposure to what she didn't know.
So, you vote -- are you going to vote for her, you're going to vote against her?
Two Republicans crossed ranks, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, to join the Democrat.
Andrew Puzder, the secretary of labor, a multimillionaire, who eight weeks after he was nominated discovers
that we, my wife and I, had for years somebody working on -- undocumented in our home who
we didn't pay taxes for.
Zoe Baird, the nominee for attorney general, her career foundered on this.
Kimba Wood withdrew nomination on a far less serious charge.
And so did Linda Chavez.
Is there one standard for women and another for men?
Men aren't responsible, multiple millionaire men who deal in minimum wage jobs, who deal
in undocumented immigrants working for them at reduced wages?
So, I think these are fights worth making.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, what about that, David?
Because some people are looking at Washington and saying, oh, it's just more of the same,
the wheels are not turning in the nation's capital.
DAVID BROOKS: Well, that's patently true.
On the various nominees, I generally think the president should get his Cabinet picks,
unless they're egregiously out of the range, either ethically or intellectually out of
the range of what's acceptable.
And I have to say a lot of these nominees are not necessarily my cup of tea, but I think
they're clearly within the range.
Jeff Sessions has some problematic spots on his history, but he has been a pretty normal,
respectable senator, more conservative than a lot of us, but a respectable senator for
a long period of time.
So, one could -- I think the Democrats are right to protest, but I don't think he's so
far out of the range of normalcy that he shouldn't be confirmed.
Betsy DeVos is not the most informed person on education policy, but I have seen her present
a few times, and she presents as a pretty respectable, intelligent person who has cared
passionately about education and cares about charter schools.
The teachers union may not like her, but she's clearly within the range of Republican policy-makers.
As for multimillionaires, a lot of us hope to be a multimillionaire some day.
Again, spotty records, but it seems to be not without the range.
I don't blame the Democrats for fighting.
They have got a very energized base.
And there is a lot to complain about a lot of these nominees.
But I think, if you are actually going to turn someone down from a president's own Cabinet,
it better be a lot more egregious than the cases we have seen.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, that's my question, Mark.
Where draw the line?
Where should Democrats say no?
MARK SHIELDS: Well, they have drawn the line, Judy.
They have confirmed -- Tillerson is confirmed.
They backed Mattis.
They're not going to fight Ben Carson.
I think these -- I disagree with David.
I agree with his assumption and his premise that a president is entitled to a Cabinet,
obviously, but it's not a rubber stamp.
And I don't think anybody could watch the confirmation hearings of Betsy DeVos and say
that this is somebody qualified to be secretary of education.
Ninety percent of children in America go to public schools.
She knows nothing about public schools and apparently cares less.
And her position on guns in schools, got to -- for potential grizzlies, we should have
guns available in schools?
And Andrew Puzder, this is somebody who basically has just broken the law, and he's going to
be held to no standard at all, whereas women nominees have been rejected in the past.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I think even Republicans are saying Puzder may have a problem.
David, what about the point that Mark is making?
DAVID BROOKS: Well, in some cases, I agree.
On the Puzder point, I do agree there has been a double standard.
On the DeVos case, I agree that the gun -- her gun position is kind of weird, kind of crazy,
but I do think she does know about public schools.
The reason the Betsy DeVos case was the centerpiece case for the Democrats wasn't about her weakness
as a knowledgeable person on education policy.
She does care about charter schools, which are public schools.
She does care about choice, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to care about.
It's because it's the one issue where the Democratic donor base was really energized,
which was the teacher unions.
People ask, quite legitimately, why DeVos and why not a lot of the others?
But it's because it has to do with the special interest groups that run a lot of Washington.
Would she be my first pick?
No.
Is she someone who has dedicated her life to education policy?
Yes, actually, she has.
I have seen her present a few times.
I don't really know her.
But I have seen her present on education policy, and she's not a stupid person.
She's quite a smart person, capable, pretty sophisticated in subtle thought.
And so to me, that puts her in the realm of policy.
But we're in a climate where, as today, she tries to visit a school, and she can't even
do that because protesters are blocking that.
And that's what I mean about the rising tide of incivility that's sweeping over politics.
MARK SHIELDS: That was wrong.
She should have been allowed to go in a public school.
It would have been a novel experience for her.
(LAUGHTER)
MARK SHIELDS: And this is not about the teachers unions alone.
That's a very convenient punching bag, to say that Democrats are just jumping at strings.
Yes, the teachers unions opposed her, and for good reason.
They don't think that her commitment to public education exists.
So -- you know, but they're not simply responding.
They have confirmed all sorts of Republican secretaries of education in the past who favored
choice, including Lamar Alexander.
JUDY WOODRUFF: David, you want a final 20 seconds here?
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID BROOKS: No, I'm willing to respect Mark's disagreement.
We're not going to be like the rest of the country.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, well, we have a little bit of comity in the United States
tonight right here, right here on the "NewsHour."
MARK SHIELDS: What is Donald Trump going to give President Putin for Valentine's Day?
I'm interested.
(LAUGHTER)
MARK SHIELDS: Maybe David's got an idea.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We will know by next Friday, because Valentine's Day is Tuesday, in case
the two of you have forgotten.
Mark Shields, David Brooks, thank you.
Finally tonight: Motown legend Smokey Robinson and the music he's made popular for decades.
He is the focus of a special tonight on PBS.
Jeffrey Brown sat down with him on the eve of getting a major honor to see how he continues
to make what is old new again.
JEFFREY BROWN: He was a huge hit-maker, 26 top 40 songs in the 1960s, at one of the great
hit machines in pop music history, Smokey Robinson, his group, the Miracles, Motown,
and a string of classics, like "You Really Got a Hold on Me."
Decades later, the 76-year-old Robinson was feted at a concert of his music at Washington's
DAR Constitution Hall, as the winner of the Library of Congress prestigious Gershwin Award
for lifetime contributions to popular song.
It's been, Robinson told me, a long and amazing journey.
SMOKEY ROBINSON, Musician: From the time I was probably 6 or so, I wanted to be a singer.
JEFFREY BROWN: From the age of 6, huh?
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Yes, I always imagined myself.
I would stand in the mirror, sing with the hairbrush and all, because I always wanted
to do that.
And I always watched all the variety shows that had entertainment.
So, it was always there for me.
I just didn't think it would be possible.
I never dared to -- from where I grew up, I just didn't think that this life, for me,
would be possible.
JEFFREY BROWN: At the Library of Congress, he toured an exhibit of Motown memorabilia
and the place where he'd come from, Detroit's North End, where, quite literally, the stars
aligned.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Diana Ross grew up four doors down the street from me, Aretha Franklin right
around the corner, you know, and the Temptations right across the area, I mean, right across
the avenue, and the Four Tops.
We had Berry Gordy.
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: We had a guy who had the dream.
JEFFREY BROWN: Gordy, still a friend all these years later, founded Motown, where Robinson
served as singer and leader of the Miracles, songwriter and producer for other top acts,
including the Temptations and Marvin Gaye, and as a record executive.
I read about how you were a precocious songwriter, and you brought 100 or more songs to Berry
Gordy, and he rejected almost all of them, right?
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Yes.
JEFFREY BROWN: Somehow, that didn't discourage you.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: No, it didn't discourage me whatsoever, because Jackie Wilson was my
number one singing idol as a kid growing up in Detroit.
Jackie Wilson was from Detroit.
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: And I had all of his records.
And all of his songs were written by Berry Gordy.
And he listened to my music and critiqued it for me, and started to mentor me on how
to write songs and make them songs.
JEFFREY BROWN: And what was that like in those early days of Motown?
SMOKEY ROBINSON: It was highly energetic.
It was so energetic and competitive and loving and wonderful at the same time.
It was all that, because we were not just stablemates.
We were not just some artists who recorded for the same label.
We were actually friends.
We were like brothers and sisters.
We hung out.
We have what we call the Motown family, and we have always had that.
JEFFREY BROWN: Some songs come quickly, Robinson says, written at the piano in 25 minutes.
Others, like the 1979 hit "Cruisin'" have to simmer.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Took five years.
I'm not exaggerating that.
It took five years.
JEFFREY BROWN: So, if I say the difference between 25 minutes and five years, I mean,
what does a song have to have, what does a Smokey Robinson song have to have for you
to feel you have got it?
SMOKEY ROBINSON: It has to be a song.
JEFFREY BROWN: Which means?
SMOKEY ROBINSON: It has to be a song.
I mean, if I just gave you a piece of paper with the lyrics written down on it, it would
mean something to you.
It would tell you a story.
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Without you hearing a melody or music or anything like that, it would say
something to you.
So, that's what a song is to me.
Now, you have a lot of songs that come out, and the beat carries them over there, because
of the beat, and because of some other factors and so on and so forth.
But I want mine to be a song, if you read it, it's going to mean something to you.
JEFFREY BROWN: At one point in the late '70s, Robinson took a break from singing, even thinking
he might retire.
But it didn't last.
And through the years, he's continued to record and collaborate with a variety of artists.
But the music business he was such a part of has changed dramatically.
I asked if he looked back with a certain nostalgia.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: Yes, I look back on it all the time.
I looked back on it a few minutes ago.
(LAUGHTER)
SMOKEY ROBINSON: I look back on it because it's a whole 'nother game now.
The music business has made a 360.
It's a whole 'nother game.
It's not nearly what it was.
And I fear for it, because, you know, with the advent of the computer and online and
downloading and all these things, they have destroyed -- that stuff has destroyed the
record business, not the music business, but the record business.
The music business is well, and it's alive and thriving.
JEFFREY BROWN: And the songwriting business, I guess, still...
SMOKEY ROBINSON: The songwriting business is alive and thriving, man.
You have got some wonderful young kids out there writing some great songs.
So, it's alive and thriving.
Now, I hope something happens to turn it back around to the point whereas it's -- you're
earning a living from writing your songs, from your work, you know, because it's not
like that anymore.
JEFFREY BROWN: And you just told me that you're going from here.
You're going back out on the road to perform tomorrow night.
You're still doing this.
And people want to hear those classic songs, right?
Does it ever get old for you?
SMOKEY ROBINSON: I still perform because it's a necessity for my innards.
You know what I mean?
And those songs, some of those songs, I have sung, I don't know how many thousands of times.
And I promise you, every single solitary night, they're new to me.
They are brand-new to me that night.
And it kills me to see people think that, you know, show business is sex, drugs and
rock and roll.
And I have what you call a meet and greet.
I do it before the show.
But when I was doing it after the show especially, there would be people who would come back
and said, OK, Smoke, where's the party?
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.
SMOKEY ROBINSON: I just had the party, man.
I just had the party for two-and-a-half-hours or however long.
I was partying.
I said, now my party is, I'm going back to my hotel room, and watch me some TV until
I fall asleep, because I just had the party.
And it is every single solitary night.
JEFFREY BROWN: And for the happy crowd at the Gershwin Award concert, Smokey Robinson
performed several of his greatest hits.
From Washington, D.C., I'm Jeffrey Brown for the "PBS NewsHour."
JUDY WOODRUFF: Great music.
And "Smokey Robinson: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song," it airs
tonight on most PBS stations.
And on the "NewsHour" online right now: a look at a different major music event this
weekend: the Grammy awards.
Each year, the awards ceremony remembers legendary musicians who have died.
How do they pick which artists to honor?
We take a closer look.
Plus: One way of measuring advances in artificial intelligence is through games, like when a
computer beat a world champion at chess.
You can read a short history.
That's on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.
And tune in later tonight on "Washington Week: A reporters roundtable examines critical tests
President Trump is facing over immigration policy and White House personnel.
On "PBS NewsHour" Saturday: the battle between states to lure companies and create jobs.
Here's a preview.
NARRATOR: In a June 2015 e-mail to staff, GE CEO Jeff Immelt had complained about Connecticut
raising its taxes five times since 2011.
Immelt told employees, the company had formed an exploratory team to look into the company's
options to relocate corporate headquarters to another state with a more pro-business
environment.
Massachusetts offered GE $145 million in incentives to move.
GOV.
CHARLIE BAKER (R), Massachusetts: We're in a competition, and we know that, with lots
of other folks.
I mean, we have had governors come up to Massachusetts to make a pitch to companies here about why
they should be in their states.
JUDY WOODRUFF: That's tomorrow night on "PBS NewsHour Weekend."
And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
Have a great weekend.
Thank you, and we will see you soon.
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