our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor iback. so yamiche, let's talk about some of this. the president melt -- met with republican lawmakers today. what are youearning about what, if anything, they agreed on how the proceed? >> well, the big priority ofdm thisnistration is i'm told to come up with some sort of gun w legislation. i'm told ha the president is thinking through exactly what that's goinge o be. the whuse wants to release a plan as early as late this week or early next week, and i'm told that the preident wants to focus on mental health issues some he's interested in either changing the law so that the background checks that people ge throh now might include se sort of mental health welfare check. there is also this idea that the white house might com with plan to strengthen and make it haer for people who are having a possible mental breakdown to get a gun orn eep their gun. but white house officials have not been very clear about what the president believes and republicans on the hill areor really waitinghe president to give them a strong sort of direction ab

and lisa desjardins joins me along with yamiche alcindor to help keep up with this fast moving story. thank you, an it is fast moving, these developments just in the last few mnutes. lisa, i'm going to start with you, th. you have been talking to democrats. what should we expect them to do inoming days as theove this inquiry forward? >> i don't know that we've had a pbusier day or i've eve on a more complicated story at thestr top of the newscast as now. this is what's crystallizing what's happening this week. we're going to have three major depositions or days for the house intelligence committee. we're going to have wednesday, former ambassador mario vanovich, the ambassador of ukraine asked to leave and still works at the state departmt. after that thursday, house intelligence committee will be hearing from ambassador volcker who used to be u.s. envoy to ukraine for president trumphe stepped down last friday, that is the dedlin secretary of state pompeo to hand over documents thhouse inlligence committee is seeking. also friday is when the house intelligence coittee will hear from

warren has the edge among whites, liberals and younger voters joining me now, yamiche alcindor mark murray. and sam stein. mark, you've studied this poll take a look back at your analysis of where these shifting positions leave us today >> yes, andrea, you look at who looks good in this poll, there are really only two people, it's joe biden and elizabeth warren who have gained ground since the debate that ended up occurring they are both building some formidable coalitions but very different coalitions too joe biden is doing very well with moderates and conservatives, small change democrats, older democrats, african-americans. elizabeth warren, liberal democrats, younger voters. and so to me, i have no idea how this actually is going to play out over several months but right now we're looking at the makings of a potentially very competitive election season with the idea that our poll also shows that only 9% of democrats have fully made up their mind. so there is still fluidity i do think this gives us a snapshot of where things stand in september >> and yamiche, let's talk about the primar

pretty striking given what's happening. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor, a lot to follow from the white house, as usual >> thanks. yamiche. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo said syrian government forces used back in may.a chemical weapon dhe said the attack happe during a battle with insurgents in idlib province. pompeo spoke to reporters along the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly in new york. >> the assad regime is eresponsible for innumera to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity. today, i am announcing that the united states has concluded that the assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon on may 19 in latak province, syria. >> woodruff: pompeo also said the u.s. will provide $4.5 million in additional aid to investigate other suspected chemical weapons attacks.th death toll from a severe ieng illness tied to vaping hase now to 12 people. the centers for disease controla and preventio reported the number of confirmed and probable cases surged to 805. rthat is a 52% increase oth the 530 illnesses reported just last week

shermichael singleton, and white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. let me go to you first, yamiche. we've not heard any of the republican leadership, lawmakers, senators and house people coming out with blazing guns as we've had in questions of the past around this whistle-blower story. does this mean that this is one that even the republicans are having a hard time putting their arms around or their defenses up for the president? >> i think it shows that republicans are at least still thinking through what they're going to say and what their messaging is going to be around this. the president has really set a pattern here where he's invited foreign leaders to give him information. he told abc news a couple months ago that if a foreign leader gave him dirt on a political opponent, he would welcome it. of course during the 2016 election, he said, russia, if you're listening, please get the emails of hillary clinton. >> right. >> and now we, of course, have him looking at ukraine reportedly and asking and pressuring the president there to launch an inv

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coe alge. >> alcindor: a historic week. and, at the end of it, both sides sounding off. house speaker nancy pelosi summed up the tuation from her point of view like this: >> the impeachment of a president is as serious as our congressional responsibilities can be, apart from declaring war or something. and so we have to be very prayerful and we always have to put country before party. the clarity of the president's actions is compelling, and gave us no choice but to move forward. >> alcindor: on monday, president trump started the week in new york upbeat. he was looking forward to lding on the wtage at the u.n. general assembly. but, that visit was quickly upended,hen news broke that there was a whistleblower complaint from the iunelligence coy against him. onefocused on a july 25 phone call with ukrainian esident volodymyr zelensky. the complaint alleged that president trump pressured ukraine to investigate democratic rival and former vice president joe and his son hunter. and, it accused the president on temporarily withh

. >> woodruff: and our white housd correst yamiche alcindor has been following the day's events. ya thank you so much. a few minutes ago, as you know, i was talking with kellyanne conway. it's clear that she and theitpr president aretty defiant in the face of all this publicly. how are they ocessing it internally? s beinge the president defiant and saying there was really nothing wrong when it came to thecamell between him ad the president of uy aine, privat is lashing out and saying he wants to know the entity of this whistleblower. y tonight the "nk times" is reporting that a whistleblower was a man, a c.i.a. officer who was deailed this white house ome time.ere for they also say th person is now working back at the c.i.a. there's little else known about the person. but when it comes to how the white house is processing is, the white house is trying to unterprogram. today ere was the director of immigration and custom informant who was doina briefing at the so-called sanccities atut the very moment the director of national intelligence was saying that te greatest challeat the u

. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor reporting for us all week frorkm new thank you, yamiche. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: and in fact-- just days after global protests calling for action oanclimate -- there was a special u.n. climate summit today where a number of leaders gathered to hammer out specific s from their nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. william brgham is he to look at some of the pledges and the realities of wre things stand. lliam, remind us of thehe o, william. so remind us again of what is the climate science that the driving all this? >> the u.n. put science very prominent in advance of this meeting. in fact, they put out a new report yesterday that tried to summceize all of the sci that we know today, and none of it is really good news.oo let's take aat the key fiends here. the world is quickly getting we just had the warmest five-year period in recorded human history.w the planet nrmed over 1 degree celsius din since the industrial area and the climate impacts are hitting harder,e duner -- ger and longer droughts, intensified storms, crop failures, species threa

again, yamiche alcindor reports. >> alcindor: the president's tone may have been subdued... >> if you want freedom, take pride in your country... >> alcinr:t his talk was still tough, as he pushed his "america first" approach.ur >> the fdoes not belong to globalists. the future belongs to patriots. >> alcindor: in his address to the united nations general assembly, president trump targeted familiar foes. in particular, he called for allies to help count iran. >> all nations have a duty to act. responsible governments shou subsidize iran's bloodlust. a >> alcindo, he called out chinese trade policy. >> it has embraced an economic model depeent on massive market barriers, heavy statema subsidies, currency manipulation, product dumping, forced technology transfers and the theft of intellectual property. and also trade secrets on a grand scale. >> alcindor: the president also used the world forum to make his case for his domtic agenda. he praised u.s. employment res and highlighted his tax cuts. and, he was uncompromising on illegal immigration. >> if you make it here, you will not be all

yamiche alcindor begins our coverage of this fast-moving story. >> alcindor: a mysterious whistleblower, and a president d ense. today, president trump was insistent-- any communications between him and foreign leaders are strictly above aboard. >> i have conversations with many leaders. they're always appropriate. always appropriate.he at the h level, always appropriate. >> alcindor: sitting next to australia's prime minister in the oval office, he dismissed an compby an intelligence community whistleblower reportedly aimed at him.th >> it's just aer political hack job. that's all it ishe >> alcindor:washington post" and "new york times" have reported the complaint involves the presidenmmunications with an unspecified foreign leader, and other actions, and ceers on ukraine. it is public record that on july 25, the phone with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. that was two wee before the wawhistleblower complaint filed. today, new reports that president trump repeatedly pressed zelensky to work with his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani. the president wanted hunter biden's alings with

t >> alcindor: f pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor at united nations in new york. >> brangham: mudslides andt ower outages e u.s. virgin islands today, as tropical storm karen arrived. the storm also broht heavy rain to puerto rico, and winds of 40 miles an hour. hourearlier, an earthquake shook the island, but caused little damage. farther north, tropical storm jerry could reach bermuda on wednesday. it had sustained winds tay at 60 miles an hour. in northern california, threats of wildfires brought blackouts for more than 24,000 homes and businesses. pacific gas and electrt off electricity in parts of the sierra nevada foothills overnight, amid t, windy conditions. in the last two years, downed power lines have sparked huge fires in the state. as a result, p.g.& e. is now in federal bankruptcy proceedings. u.s. health officials say there have been hundreds more cases lung illnesses affecting e-cigarette users since last week. in all, nine people have died in recent months, and hundreds have been hospitalized. at a u.s. house hearing today, dr. anne schuchat of the centers for disease c

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> reporter: increased calls for impeachment. and, president trump, at the united nations, seeming unsereatened.ly >> how seriore you taking impeachment?ot >>t all seriously. we had a perfect phone call with the president of ukraine, everybody knows it. itkn just a democr here we go again. >> reporter: it's a claim he repeated throughout the day >> it's 'sgreat call. very honorable call. a very nice call. >> reporter: it's at conversation, and the white house refusal to share with congress an intelligence community whistleblower's concerns about it, that is pushing some democrats wary of impeachmt closer to the brink. the acting director of national intelligence, joseph maguire, has refused to transmit the complaint to congress. speaker of the house nancy pelosi-- in a weekend letter-- urged the trump administration to hand over that complaint by thursday. she sa if the white house does not comply they will be entering "a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation." yesterday hous

yamiche alcindor from nbc. nancy gerstman, philip rucker from "the washington post." a and abby livinonton. uldess pasa background check bill? about >> i would sayt is highly unlikelya i put ou cal to a friend in midland which is where part of thehooting got start. i said is there any change of the sentiment of the people on the grod who felt this? he said absoluty not. on the flip side you go to t state of texas and you go to houston, theuburbsf houston is where these elections are being fought. and democrats think they have a real shot of luring republican women to vote for theirid caes. and so i just don't see it happening. i think several members of my delegation have been in a mass shooting at th basebl practice. if that didn't move the on the issue, i don't see how a other mass shootings where. texas. more mass sotings three of them so far. has that changed the views of the texas delegation in any way? by: they're not out wardly getting in front of it this week. senator john cornyn who's an tremely powerful member of the senate. sutherland springs and it seemed

joining me tonight, yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for the pbs nehour. philil rucker, white house bureau chief for the washiton post. nancy cordes, chief congressional correspondent for orcbs news. and kaitlan collins, white house correspoent for cnn. let's begin with speaker pelosi decision. here is what t she saidrsday. >> it's a sad week for our country. very prayerfully andate oticly, we had to -- pat patrioticaey, we had to c to a decision to move forward with an impeachment inquiry of the president of tf united states. this is nothing that we take lightly. we wanted to have a fuller understanding of the facts. >> why was this complaint the breaking point for house democrats? nancy, you've been ohipitolpi all week. i've seen you in the hallways. why now? for speake pelosi? >> a couple of reasons. number one, this complaint, this ise, democrats feel, is easier for the america public to unrstandhan the russia issue. it goes to the hrt of t president's actions, wreas the mueller investigigion that we all lived through for two years had to do with a lot

. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now, along with our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. so, yamiche, the decision by the hite house to release this memo bad onat phone conversation, why didhey do this? >> well, that question is really at the heart tofoday. why would the white house take the risk of releasing at least some tails of this call between prent trump and the president of the ukraine? there are o answers to that question. the first is the president obviously thinks that this call hewas him in some y. the second answer is that there was public pressure to release this call, and the white house had no-- no choice but to release this call. the president at his press conference today said he hated to do thi he said he felt he had to doer this because s a lot of "fake news," and he felt like democrats were lying about himho the white i've-- the white - house aides i've been talkingo all day say this reall exonerates the president. they say it's okay for the president to bring up the bid because it's perfectly part of his role as president. but democrats are really pu

. >> woodruff: a lisa joins meou now, ang witwhite house correspondent yamiche alcindor. so, yamiche, the decise n by the whuse to release this memo based on that phone this?rsation, why d they do ll, that question is really at the heart of today. why would the white house takef the risk releasi at least me details of this call between president trump and the president of the ukraine? there are two answers to thate question. esidentst is the p obviously thinks that this call helps him in soe way. the secnd answer is that there was public pressure to release this call, and the white house had no-ce- no chbut to release this call. the president at his press conference today said he hated to do this. he said he felt he had to do this because there's a lot of "fake news,land he like democrats were lying about him. the white house i've-- the white house aid i've been king to s reallysay thi exonerates the president. th say it's okay for the president to bring up the bidens because it's perfectly part of his role as but democrats are really pushing back on that. but this is a c

orite house correspondent yamiche alcias our report. >> alcindor: today, democrats call the process, r what you possibility of impeaching president trump is still on their minds. >> some call this process an impehment inquiry. some call it an impeachment investigation. there is no legal difference between these terms, and i no longer care to argue about the nomenclature. >> alcindor: in a party line vote, the house judiciary committee passed a resolution setting rules for fut re impeachmeninvestigion hearings. they allow committee staff to question witnesses for an hour. lsey also let the president's lawyers respond to testimony only in writing. committee chairman jerry nadler says the move was an important step to an effective impeachment investigation of president trump. >> let me clear up any remaining doubt: the conduct under investigation poses a threat to our democracy. we have an obligation to respond to this threat. and we are doing so. alcindor: but house republicans called the resolution a political scheme. >> so which is it? are you starting an impeachment proceeding, or n

joining me now, yamiche alcindor and steve kornacki. we understand from mike memoli that joe biden is expected to say for the first time today at 2:30 that if the president doesn't comply with congressional demands for the whistleblower complaint, that now impeachment proceedings should start. that's a big step, warren had said it early on but joe biden had not said it. >> yeah, and that feels like it mirrors what we're seeing in the democratic party, people who like joe biden, in the last 24 hours their tune is changing on this. >> john lewis, yamiche, has been someone we've all looked up to and gone to at critical moments in american history because of his unique role, having survived the beating in selma and havihaving seen so much history unfold. for him to take the floor today, following the series of events, for him to take the floor and call for impeachment inquiry, i interviewed congresswoman elissa slotkin, i don't know if you saw, she and six other moderate democrats writing in "the washington post" that it's time to begin an

for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> nawaz: the trump administration began enforcing a new asylum policy today, after the u.s.upreme court allowed it to take effect nationwide. the change effectively bars most central american migrants athe southern border. they first have to seek asylum in a country they passed through. immigration activists denounced the court order as a "death sentence" for thousands, and mexico's foreign secretary also deplored the ruling. >> ( translated ): the court's on is astonishing in the papact that it is going to have, a court of the united states. so what do we have to do? o eate alternatives so people do not haveke on those risks. we are concerned about that. tweeted that the high court's order was a big win. but, it is also temporary, pending the ultimate outcome of the legal battle over the the environmental protection agency announced plans today to revoke an obama-era regulation on protecting wetlands and small streams. the agency said extending federal authority beyond large bodies of water amounted to a "power grab." evironmental groups

late last year the newshour's yamiche alcindor went to hamtramk and spoke to one auto worker who said her job was herw ticket to the middle. >> i never made this much money hourly before in my life. ali never had these great benefits before in my life. >> rorter: in a statement, g.m. said it's had offered new investments in plants ths, "improves waenefits and grows u.s. jobs in substantive ways." the strike comes as top u.a.w. leaders-- including current president, gary jones-- are under federal vestigations for allegedly misusing union money. the auto industry remains crucial to the u.s. economy, with some 220,000 people making cars and many more making the parts that go into them and working in other sectors of the auto industry. nathan bomey is a business reporter with "usa today" and previously covered g.m. for the "detroit free press."es he's author of "detroit resurrected: to bankruptcy and back." thanks f joining me. >> tnks for having me. >> reporter: every three or four years, the bigsz auto mai negotiate new contracts. r'sadly speak, this yea negotiations, what were the goal

our yamiche alcindor has the latest. in alcindor: today in riyadh, the saudi case a iran was on full display. defense minister turki al-maliki showcased pieces of missiles and drones. he said they were from last weekend's attacks on critical oil facilities. he also played surveeed video that pportedly showed aon flying in from the north. he spoke in english, overlayed with arabic translation. >> the attacwas launched from the north and was unquestionably sponsored iran. >> alcindor: houthi rebels in yemen, south of saudi arabia and aligned with iran, insist they launched the attacks. the defense minister dismissed that claim. he stopped short of directly accusing iran, but said the evidence points to tehran's islamic revolutionary guard corps. >> it's not coming from yemen, the houthi militia and the proxy are just folwing the order of the i.r.g.c. >> alcindor: iran has repeatedly denied anyd nvolvement. day, an adviser to iranian president hassan rouhani tweeted that saudi arabia "knows nothing." rouhani also met with h

newshour white house correspoent yamiche alcindor has more. >> alcindor: in 2017, the u.s. intelligence commuty released an assessmenthat russian president vladimir putin directed a campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. the assessment said they made that conclusion "with high confidence"-- a qualification reserved for the most solid intelligence. that led to years of speculation about what, or who, led the intelligence community to that assertion. this week, a sies of reports emerged about a high-level russian asset whom the c.i.a. recently ericated. the "washington postrted that the source is living in the washington, d.c. area. to discuss these revns, i'm joined by andrew weiss who oversees russia research at thet carnegie endowor thanks so much forng me, andrew. what do you make of the fact that all of this information about this russian informant has been made so public?o >> there'sething here that doesn't add up. first off, it's a problem to see this kind of information being talked about publicly. it goes to the heart t of whaour intelligence community

yamiche alcindor, presidential historian doris kearns goodwin whose book "leadership in turbulent times" comes out in paper book this week and mark leibovich, chief national correspondent for "the new york times" magazine doris, leadership in turbulent times. we did some voter -- we talked to a few voters in new hampshire yesterday just to see how they're responding quickly take it with a grain of salt, but the comments were interesting. take a listen. >> a lot of people like trump, but they're too scared to say anything because we've got some wackos that want to punch you in the face if you say you like trump. >> i think we should go through the process, whether it messes with the outcome of the 2020 election, i think that's its own kind of ball of wax. >> i think that we're divided so moving anyway, right, so moving forward with potential impeachment procedures i think is not going to really do anything different. >> give us your sort of that historical view. what's happening >> well, you know, when i look back at the three impeachments that i've lived through, i really was only there

white house correspondent for pbs news hour yamiche alcindor. and a former director of strategic communication for hillary clinton's presidential campaign, adrienne elrod. she's an msnbc contributor and she and susan have a great piece on knowyourvalue.com right now which we'll talk about later. residents on the north carolina coast are being told to shelter in place. the top concerns at the moment are isolated tornadoes and flash flooding. right now, 3 million people remain under flood watches and it's still pouring in many areas. we saw a series of tornados yesterday. this video is is from a mobile home park in emerald isle, north carolina. let's go right to meteorologist bill karins for the very latest. bill? >> good morning, mika. we're still watching the center of the storm pretty much over the outer banks of eastern north carolina. the windy conditions and the heavy rain has arrived in southeastern virginia and we have the threat of additional tornados today. the winds have not been that strong for a lot of significant wind damage. yes, 90