PBS NewsHour full episode April 20, 2018

Friday on the NewsHour, the Democratic National Committee sues Russia, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks for meddling in the 2016 election. Also: James Comey’s memos released, The UN human rights chief on crises in Yemen and Syria, students stage another walkout to protest gun violence, Shields and Salam analyze the week's news and a blind poet details life with his guide dog.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.
I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: The Democratic
Party sues Russia, the Trump campaign, and

WikiLeaks for meddling in the 2016 election.

Plus: We see James Comey's memos on meeting
with the president.

Then, I sit down with the U.N. high commissioner
for human rights, Zeid bin Ra'ad al-Hussein,

to talk about ongoing conflict in Syria and
Yemen.

And it's Friday.

Mark Shields and Reihan Salam are here to
talk about the Comey memos and what the passing

of Barbara Bush may teach us about politics
today.

Then: a poet's best friend.

Author Stephen Kuusisto writes about his relationship
with his guide dog after a condition left

him legally blind.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO, Author, "Have Dog, Will
Travel": As I'm writing about what Corky and

I did together, right, I began to realize
this is about my opening up and becoming a

larger, more courageous, open, curious, and
outgoing person.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's
"PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK)

JUDY WOODRUFF: The claim that President Trump
stole the 2016 election is going to federal

court.

A Democratic Party lawsuit today alleges a
conspiracy and seeks civil damages.

It comes as the president is also doing battle
with former FBI Director James Comey.

Yamiche Alcindor begins our coverage.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: The list of defendants in
the Democratic National Committee's multimillion-dollar

federal lawsuit reads like a who's-who of
Trump associates.

The president himself is not among them, but
the DNC is suing the Trump campaign, the president's

son, Donald Trump Jr., the president's son-in-law
and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, longtime

associate Roger Stone, and the indicted former
Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

It also includes WikiLeaks, and the site's
founder, Julian Assange.

Russia, and the country's main military intelligence
unit, the GRU, sit at the top of the list

of defendants.

The DNC's central allegation?

That people close to President Trump and Russian
entities conspired to spread documents that

were stolen from the DNC, and bolster then
candidate Trump's presidential bid.

Russia and its co-conspirators, the lawsuit
says -- quote -- "must answer for these actions."

The Democratic Party set off a similar legal
battle decades ago, after the Watergate break-in.

Back then, the DNC sued President Nixon's
reelection campaign for damages.

The party ultimately won a $750,000 settlement
on the same day that Mr. Nixon resigned.

There was also continued attention today on
the Comey memos, James Comey's first-hand

accounts of his interactions with President
Trump while he was still director of the FBI.

There are seven memos in all, 15 pages total.

Thursday, after pressure from some Republican
lawmakers, the Justice Department handed over

the notes to Congress.

They detail discussions Comey had with the
president and White House aides about his

first national security adviser, Michael Flynn,
as well as the president's fixation on the

so-called Steele dossier.

Comey had publicly discussed some of what's
in the memos previously.

JAMES COMEY, Former FBI Director: Sure.

I created records after conversations, and
I think I did it after each of our nine conversations.

If I didn't, I did it for nearly all of them,
especially the ones that were substantive.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: President Trump today lashed
out at Comey again.

"Flynn's life can be totally destroyed," he
lamented, "while shady James Comey can leak

and lie.

Is that really the way life in America is
supposed to work?"

Meanwhile, three House GOP committee chairmen
argued that Mr. Trump would benefit from the

memos being released.

"Rather than making a criminal case for obstruction,
these memos would be defense exhibit A."

Congressional Democrats disagreed.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted
that the memos proved Mr. Trump's -- quote

-- "contempt for the rule of law."

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Yamiche Alcindor.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Late today, the Trump campaign
responded to the lawsuit, calling it frivolous

and completely without merit.

We will hear from the chair of the Democratic
National Committee right after the news summary.

In the day's other news: Russia says President
Vladimir Putin is still waiting for President

Trump to follow up on an invitation to visit
the White House.

The offer came in a phone call with Trump
last month.

In Moscow today, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said Mr. Trump had also talked of visiting

Russia.

SERGEI LAVROV, Russian Foreign Minister (through
translator): We proceed from the fact that

the U.S. president said that he would be glad
to see President Putin in the White House,

that he would be glad to meet in a return
visit.

President Trump has returned to this topic
a couple of times, so, of course, we assume

that he will make it more specific.

JUDY WOODRUFF: There was no immediate response
from the White House.

In the Middle East, violence erupted again
at Gaza's border, and Palestinians said that

five were killed and 150 wounded by Israeli
fire.

Thousands of Gazans turned out, and some burned
tires and sailed kites carrying Molotov cocktails

toward the border fence.

Israeli officials said they defended the barrier
with live fire and tear gas.

There is word that North Korea will halt all
missile and nuclear weapons testing as of

tomorrow.

That word comes from the state news agency.

Earlier today, North and South Korea took
another major step today.

The rivals installed and tested the first
ever direct telephone hot line between Seoul

and Pyongyang.

Their leaders hold a summit next Friday.

Several people were publicly caned in Indonesia's
Aceh Province today, despite international

condemnation.

Some unmarried couples were punished, under
Islamic Sharia law, for public displays of

affection, along with two women accused of
prostitution.

A crowd of hundreds, including Malaysian tourists,
looked on.

Many jeered and recorded the scene on their
cell phones.

And some objected to plans to move the public
canings indoors.

WOMAN (through translator): This caning is
carried out in public because it can be witnessed

by everyone, so it will give a deterrent effect
against others.

The caning shouldn't be done in prison for
that reason.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Human Rights Watch says caning
amounts to torture, and it has demanded that

the provincial government abolish the practice.

The state of Alabama executed an 83-year-old
man overnight by lethal injection.

Walter Leroy Moody Jr. became the oldest prisoner
put to death in the U.S. since capital punishment

was reinstated in 1976.

Moody was convicted of mailing four bombs
that killed a federal judge and a civil rights

lawyer in 1989.

The casket of former first lady Barbara Bush
lay in repose in Houston today for a 12-hour

public viewing.

Her husband, former President George H.W.
Bush, greeted some of the first people to

file past.

A private funeral will be held tomorrow.

Mrs. Bush died Tuesday at the age of 92.

A warning today to avoid eating all romaine
lettuce from Southwestern Arizona.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
expanded an earlier alert over an E. coli

outbreak.

At least 60 people across 16 states have fallen
ill so far.

The CDC says the best advice is, if you don't
know for certain the source of lettuce you

bought, don't eat it.

And on Wall Street, interest rates rose, tech
stocks tumbled, and the market gave ground.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 202
points to close at 24462.

The Nasdaq fell nearly 92 points, and the
S&P 500 slipped 23.

For the week, all three indexes gained about
half-a-percent.

And Britain's Prince Charles will be the next
leader of the 53-nation commonwealth.

Member states met in London today and unanimously
chose Charles for the largely symbolic position.

He will succeed his mother, Queen Elizabeth,
when she dies.

The queen turns 92 tomorrow.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": why the DNC
filed suit against the Trump campaign; the

U.N. human rights chief on the crises in Yemen
and Syria; students stage another walkout

to protest gun violence; and much more.

We return to the lawsuit filed by the Democratic
National Committee today against President

Trump's campaign, several top Trump advisers,
WikiLeaks and the Russian government.

The DNC alleges a massive a plot to interfere
in the 2016 presidential election, in part

by hacking the Democratic Party's computer
network and by releasing stolen e-mails.

I spoke with Democratic National Committee
Chair Tom Perez a short time ago, and I started

by asking why they filed the suit when the
investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller

is still under way.

THOMAS PEREZ, Chairman, Democratic National
Committee: Well, there are three reasons,

Judy.

First of all, we don't know when Director
Mueller will finish his investigation.

And he should take all the time he needs to
do a thorough job.

We have to file within a statute of limitations.

And so, if we sit and wait and wait, then
we're frankly committing legal malpractice.

A year ago, when I came to the DNC, it was
clear to me that we had been hacked and we

had been hacked by the Russians.

It was less clear to me a year ago whether
there was a conspiracy between the Russians

and the Trump campaign.

It has become abundantly clear to me that
there is that conspiracy.

And because we have done our homework, we
have filed this suit.

And then, finally, Judy, I'm very concerned
about the upcoming elections.

Civil lawsuits have an important purpose of
deterrence.

And I hear from so many people across this
country, they have hacked before, they interfered

in 2016, and they're going to do it again.

What are you going to do about it, Tom?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I hear you, but to get
back to the point about conspiracy, this is

something that we know, again, the special
counsel, Robert Mueller, is looking into it.

We don't know yet, the public doesn't know
yet if that actually happened.

It may appear to some people that it did,
but until the dots have been connected and

there is some legal basis for that, are you
at risk in a lawsuit of getting ahead of what

are known facts?

THOMAS PEREZ: Well, I'm very comfortable of
where we are now.

I feel we have ample evidence to demonstrate
in a civil proceeding what we're doing.

And we have a different burden of proof.

It's a lower burden of proof in a civil case.

And so I have dealt with this from the criminal
side as a DOJ prosecutor, and I understand

and I have great respect for the work that
Director Mueller is doing.

And we have great respect that they will continue
to do the independent, thorough job that they

need to do.

But we also have -- we were hacked.

And they tried to cause chaos in the DNC and
in the Democratic Party, and we need to seek

justice in a civil case, and we need to deter.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask.

You won't be surprised to know that there
has been a full-throated response from the

Trump campaign.

I'm just quoting their campaign manager who
said: "This is a sham lawsuit about a bogus

Russian solution claim filed by a desperate,
dysfunctional and nearly insolvent Democratic

Party."

THOMAS PEREZ: Well, I think they had their
greatest hits of conspiracy theories.

And, Judy, for your viewers, I think it would
be interesting to go back to the Watergate

era, because the DNC filed a lawsuit against
the Nixon campaign back then.

And the response when that lawsuit was filed
was almost identical to what we saw today.

So it seems like the Trump folks and the Nixon
folks, once again, there's yet another thing

that they have in common, which is these false
denials of involvement.

JUDY WOODRUFF: One last question, and that
is, it gets back to the Mueller investigation.

Does your lawsuit, though, run the risk of
politicizing something which Mr. Mueller has

for the most part managed to keep away from
politics?

THOMAS PEREZ: This isn't partisan.

This is patriotic.

Making sure our elections are free and fair
with no foreign interference, there is nothing

more important than that.

You look at what General McMaster said on
his way out from his service in the Trump

administration.

He said, we haven't -- they have not paid
a cost for their misdeeds, referring to Russia.

You look at what John McCain has said.

He referred to the hack as an act of war.

And the absence of deterrence right now, I
think it's incredibly important that we move

forward.

And the civil proceeding is something where
we will be in an Article 3 court.

We're not going to have a trial of Twitter.

We're not going to have Devin Nunes presiding
over the trial.

I believe in the federal civil justice system.

And that, is I think, a really important vehicle
moving forward for us to have the truth out

there.

And I'm confident that the truth is going
to show that there was an unholy alliance

between the Trump campaign and the Russians
to interfere with our 2016 election.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Tom Perez, the chairman of
the Democratic National Committee, we thank

you.

THOMAS PEREZ: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And now William Brangham is
here with more on the legal implications of

the DNC lawsuit.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For that analysis, I'm joined
by Susan Hennessey.

She is the executive editor of Lawfare and
a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

SUSAN HENNESSEY, Brookings Institution: Thanks
for having me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, you heard about Tom
Perez.

He's alleging that the Russians, the Trump
campaign, WikiLeaks all conspired to steal

the DNC's e-mails and then spread them around
to make Hillary Clinton look bad.

From a legal perspective, what do you make
of their suit?

SUSAN HENNESSEY: So, Perez sort of notes that
there is ample evidence.

There's certainly quite a few allegations.

Some of it is really well-grounded.

It relies on things like this intelligence
community assessment of Russian interference.

But a lot of it relies on things like news
reports, including a single source or anonymously

sourced reports.

So the challenge in this suit is going to
be translating those essentially news reports

into evidence that is going to be admissible
in court.

Now, what's relevant right now is not necessarily
whether they can do that, but whether or not

they can survive a motion to dismiss, whether
or not they have a well-pleaded complaint

on the face.

It does seem likely that this lawsuit, at
least some defendants, at least some claims

are likely to survive a motion to dismiss.

This is most relevant because it means that
they will move to the discovery phase.

That might end up becoming a really, really
powerful tool for the DNC to actually unearth

new information.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, the tricky part for
their case, it seems to me, that while there

might be discrete evidence of the WikiLeaks
release, the DNC being hacked, some members

of the Trump Organization indicating that
they would like to get dirt on Hillary Clinton,

they have to tie all of those things together
as a connected conspiracy, right?

SUSAN HENNESSEY: Right.

So what they are alleging is this broad conspiracy.

They're alleging that there was an actual
agreement between Russian actors, the Trump

campaign and their associates to hack the
DNC and an agreement to distribute stolen

materials that were to help Donald Trump and
harm Hillary Clinton.

That is a very, very high bar.

That certainly is ahead of the public record
that we have seen thus far.

That's going to be a difficult showing for
them to make in court.

That said, there is another case going on
in the district of D.C. on a different -- on

a different theory, actually an invasion of
privacy theory.

There is going to be a hearing on their motion
to dismiss just on Monday.

So, we do have another case that is going
to provide a little bit of a road map as to

whether or not these legal claims are going
to be sufficient.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There's also, of course,
the elephant in the room is the Mueller investigation,

which is undergoing constantly right now.

What does this do vis-a-vis the Mueller investigation,
because, theoretically, the DNC suit touches

on some of the same people, some of the same
evidence, some of the same events?

Is this a conflict?

Can they go on at the same time?

Help me understand that.

SUSAN HENNESSEY: Well, I think that they are
fundamentally unrelated.

We don't know very much about the Mueller
investigation, but it doesn't appear to be

particularly reactive to things like this.

This, the DNC suit, both relies on the Mueller
investigation, because it uses some evidence

that actually comes from those court filings.

It also gets quite a bit ahead.

Right?

It is alleging this actual conspiracy.

But we haven't seen Mueller make that showing.

It does involve -- they are related to the
extent that they're talking about the same

events and the same people.

And so I think there's a way to think about
it as a kind of alternative.

We don't know how the Mueller investigation
is going to end.

Even if he found evidence of serious wrongdoing,
that might be included in a report that remains

within DOJ, a report that goes to Congress
and isn't distributed to the American public.

And so this is an alternate vehicle by which
the DNC might unearth some of those same -- the

same or similar facts, but actually in a fashion
in which they can conduct their own fact-finding

and in a fashion in which they can make these
things public.

So, I think the best way to think about it
is sort of parallel tracks, the same subject

matter, but not necessarily related.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This, of course, also comes
when the president is juggling so many other

legal cases.

There's the Mueller case.

There's the Stormy Daniels case.

There's the Michael Cohen case.

There's the emoluments lawsuit.

I mean, this is an enormous amount for a White
House the Trump Organization's legal team

to be juggling.

SUSAN HENNESSEY: Right.

It's also only a year-and-a-half into his
term.

This is an amazingly complex legal landscape
that they're working through.

And we're starting to see some of the peculiarities.

In the Southern District case against Michael
Cohen, we actually have the president's private

lawyers arguing on attorney-client privilege
against Justice Department attorneys.

That means Donald Trump's individual private
attorneys are arguing essentially against

his institutional attorneys.

And so I think that really illustrates sort
of the strangeness of the situation we're

in and the potential conflicts there.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lastly, let's just shift
gears to the release to these Comey memos.

These were the memos that James Comey contemporaneously
wrote down after different meetings with the

president.

We have heard about those memos for a long
time.

Now they have been released and we have been
able to read them specifically.

Do the details of those memos tell us anything
germane legally with regards to the Russia

investigation?

SUSAN HENNESSEY: So, they don't really offer
much new information, sort of, when we consider

what Comey has already said in his book and
actually in his congressional testimony as

well.

So I don't know that it advances the ball
forward legally at all.

That said, it certainly does corroborate Comey's
account.

It goes to sort of his credibility.

And it sort of knocks down this notion of
Comey as a disgruntled employee that's recounting

these events sort of in a way that's unfavorable
to Trump after the fact.

These are the memos he wrote while still FBI
director, while he still presumably wanted

to have a good relationship with the president,
had every incentive to sort of not make a

mountain out of a molehill.

What we're seeing in these memos is really
a profound degree of concern and a concern

that he has remained consistent about, about
the way President Trump was treating the Justice

Department and his inability to understand
the importance of sort of maintaining those

institutional norms of independence.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Susan Hennessey, thank you
so much.

SUSAN HENNESSEY: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. State Department released
its annual global accounting of the state

of human rights today.

The report blasted Russia, China, Iran and
North Korea, specifically for being forces

of instability.

It also accused Syria's Bashar al-Assad of
indiscriminate attacks on civilians, on hospitals,

and of employing torture and using rape as
a weapon of war.

Criticism of Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally,
and its intervention in Yemen's brutal civil

war was more muted.

For an international look at these issues
and more, I spoke a short time ago with the

United Nations high commissioner for human
rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein.

I began by asking him about the brutal Syrian
civil war.

ZEID BIN RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN, United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights: Well,

for the last few years, there's been an absolute
disregard for the most minimal standards of

principles in law.

And we have seen every conceivable atrocity
being committed by most parties to the conflict,

but most particularly the Syrian government
and its allies in terms of scale.

That's not to say that the armed groups, and
particularly the extremist movements, the

terrorist movements, haven't themselves been
complicit in the most and perpetrated the

most awful atrocities.

But the lion's share of the alleged crimes
against humanity and war crimes that are almost

certainly to be proven by a court of law in
the future fall at the foot of the Syrian

government.

One must not forget that this whole crisis
began with the torture, the abuse of children

in Daraa, and it started from a severe violation
of human rights and respect of the rights

of those children.

And from there, we have a crisis that is almost
breaking the world in a very real, real sense.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, we're reading about another
aspect of this crisis in Syria, today, The

Washington Post reporting on Raqqa, which,
of course, occupied by ISIS for so long.

This report talks about the destruction of
something like 11,000, 12,000 buildings or

damage under U.S.-led airstrikes, and it goes
on to say that the sentiment there is increasingly

that the U.S. took part in this destruction,
but is not taking responsibility for fixing

it, for cleaning it up.

ZEID BIN RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN: Yes, in all
such operations, basic principles that govern

the conduct of military forces, principles
such as distinction, proportionality, have

to be observed.

And whenever you see actions like this, you
expect there to be inquiries and investigations,

such that you can then explain to the people
why it is that civilians have fallen to the

rockets and the bombardments.

Otherwise, you're fighting a losing battle.

Basically, as Nietzsche once said, if you're
not careful when fighting monsters, you yourself

become one.

And that's the point that has to be driven
at every time we sit with a particular government.

Don't make it worse.

You are there to protect the civilian population
from armed extremists that have run amok.

Don't, through criminal negligence, or even
in certain cases, it could be deliberate -- one

doesn't know -- don't make it worse.

Investigate.

And make the investigations transparent.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, another crisis zone in
that connection, of course, is Yemen, where,

again, terrible human suffering, civilians,
women, children.

What is your understanding of the situation
there?

ZEID BIN RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN: Well, likewise.

I mean, it's been this horrific humanitarian
catastrophe, and ongoing.

We from the human rights side have been tasked
by -- from the Human Rights Council in Geneva

to put together a group of eminent experts
to investigate these attacks that have led

to civilian casualties.

There was a reported attack today of 20 people,
civilians being killed just outside of Taiz.

And this investigation will be made public
in September.

And one hopes that all sides to this horrific
conflict in Yemen, the coalition on one side,

the Houthis and the separatists in the south,
that they understand that, one day, if they

continue, or even if they don't continue,
one day, they may well have to stand before

a judge and account for the alleged crimes
that have been committed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Of course, all this is happening
at a time when we are seeing voices, leaders

around the world who are showing disrespect
for human rights, in parts of Eastern Europe,

in Hungary, the Czech republic, the Philippines.

How do you, in your role at the United Nations,
speak to them?

What's the role of the rest of the world when
we see these kinds of forces arising?

ZEID BIN RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN: Well, this
year, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

And it's a document that was put by those
who really suffered in two World Wars and

the Holocaust.

And in the second line, it says contempt and
disregard for human rights contributed to

the suffering of humanity.

What we see now is exactly that on the part
of many of the world's leaders, who should

know better, that, as I said in respect of
Syria, you have a conflict that has destroyed

not just one part of the world, but maybe
two.

And it began with a severe human rights violation.

And, eventually, all human rights violations,
if they're not curtailed, they can turn into

conflict.

And it behooves us to pay much more attention.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, words for all of us to
think about.

The high commissioner at the United Nations
for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, we

thank you.

ZEID BIN RA'AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN: Thank you,
Judy.

Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Stay with us.

Coming up on the "NewsHour": Mark Shields
and Reihan Salam analyze the week's news;

and from the "NewsHour" Bookshelf, a blind
poet details his life-altering connection

with his guide dog.

But first: Thousands of students walked out
of schools nationwide this morning in the

latest mass protest against gun violence.

The events marked the 19th anniversary of
the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado

that killed 13.

Lisa Desjardins reports on this day's events.

MAN: So, now pause for a moment of silence
to honor the victims of Columbine.

LISA DESJARDINS: The scene was repeated across
the country, moments of silence in places

like Indianapolis.

Students and teachers in a Houston high school
forming a paper chain of names of people slain

by gun violence.

And everywhere, as in New Haven, Connecticut,
protests and appeals for action to stop mass

shootings.

STUDENT: We as a nation cannot afford routine
mass murders.

We need action now.

We need to remind our politicians that this
is us.

These are our children who are dying.

LISA DESJARDINS: In Washington, D.C., students
staged sit-down protest in front of the White

House.

STUDENT: All of these are Columbine victims.

We stopped saying their names a long time
ago.

So, until the end of this moment of silence,
I will continue to repeat their names, so

you guys don't forget them.

Rachel Scott, Daniel Rohrbough, Dave Sanders,
Kyle Velasquez.

LISA DESJARDINS: From there, they marched
to the Capitol and demanded action on gun

legislation.

VERONICA GOULD-SCHULTZ, Student: Because I
think the people of the United States really

do deserve that.

They deserve to live in a place where you
don't have to be worried about going to CVS

or going to school or walking down the street
just because of what you look like or because

someone had a bad day.

LISA DESJARDINS: Students from Parkland, Florida's
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where

17 were killed in February, also walked out.

They have led a push for stronger background
checks and bans on bump stocks and assault-type

rifles.

That push is national, again today up to the
steps of the Capitol.

Shortly after the last student walkouts in
March, Congress did pass two gun measures.

They were to shore up the current background
check system, and also get more funding to

states.

But neither of those changed current law,
and there is no expectation that Congress

will return to the gun issue any time this
year.

President Trump has said the mental health
system needs improvement, and he's supported

the idea of letting teachers carry guns at
schools.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States:
This would only be, obviously, for people

that are very adept at handling a gun.

You would no longer have a gun-free zone.

Gun-free zone to a maniac, because they're
all cowards, a gun-free zone is, let's go

in and let's attack, because bullets aren't
coming back at us.

LISA DESJARDINS: The president also formed
a school safety commission, led by Education

Secretary Betsy DeVos.

But students at the U.S. Capitol today demanded
more concrete action to address their generation's

fears.

CALIYAH RILEY, Student: We want people to
have that sense of comfort again and be able

to walk around the street and not have to
put your hands up all time because you see

a cop car.

Enough of violence, enough of killing, enough
of being scared.

LISA DESJARDINS: This, as today, in Marion
County, Florida, another school shooting left

one student wounded.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And one postscript to Lisa's
report.

Students at Columbine didn't walk out today,
since classes are never held on the anniversary

of the shooting.

But they are encouraged to participate in
a day of service.

And let's finish our look at this day with
the story of a student who survived Columbine

19 years ago.

The "NewsHour"'s Student Reporting Lab at
Legacy Early College High School in Greenville,

South Carolina, interviewed physical education
teacher Lindsey O'Donnell.

She describes how she came to see mental health
and mindfulness as the keys to healing.

LINDSAY O'DONNELL, Teacher, Legacy Early College
High School: My name is Lindsey O'Donnell.

I'm a physical education teacher at Legacy
Early College in Greenville, South Carolina.

I was 17 years old during the Columbine shooting.

It was my senior year of high school.

My initial reaction was, I thought it was
a fire drill.

Someone might have pulled it.

I thought it might have been a senior prank.

We really didn't know.

JIM LEHRER: High school shooting in Littleton,
Colorado, a Denver suburb.

At least 20 people were wounded.

LINDSEY O'DONNELL: It was just chaos, people
running, just crying, hysterical.

It was shocking.

It was just unheard of 19 years ago.

I coped with the Columbine shooting mostly
through the support of my friends, my family,

and also through fitness.

I became a physical education teacher and
a soccer coach.

When I was at Columbine, I wish I would have
known a little more about mindfulness, not

only for me.

My friends would have coped with the situation
differently.

A lot of them coped with it through drugs
or alcohol.

Columbine was, like, the first big mass shooting.

Nowadays, we have to practice lockdowns.

And with that, students are stressed.

They come to school scared.

They're anxious.

Every single day with my students, we start
our day with a five-minute mindful moment.

And by practicing mindfulness, it's not going
to eliminate school shootings.

However, fitness, mindfulness, and mental
health can help.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It was another news-packed
week.

In fact, it's still going on.

And we have Shields and Salam to unpack it.

That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and
"National Review" executive editor Reihan

Salam.

David Brooks is away.

Gentlemen, welcome on this Friday.

So, Mark, I want to point out, we have just
learned there is a Washington Post story just

moving that the attorney general let the White
House last weekend that, if the president

were to fire the deputy attorney general,
Rod Rosenstein, that he, Attorney General

Jeff Sessions, would have to step down.

I guess the language is, might have to leave
his job.

So it looks as if there's still worry, concern
about the president's intentions, even though

he said he doesn't plan to fire these people.

MARK SHIELDS: It's a happy, productive place
to work, the Trump administration, a feeling

of conviviality, trust, congeniality, and
mutual sense of mission.

I mean, as a personnel director, the president
is unrivaled as a disaster in the profession.

People who work for him work so in terror,
anxiety, unsure of what he wants to do and

what they're supposed to do, and whether they
will be there two weeks from now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Reihan, it's just another element
in this ongoing saga.

REIHAN SALAM: I can't say we know exactly
where the story is here.

Were we to actually hear that there was some
move to fire the deputy attorney general,

that would be very big news.

There would be very intense resistance from
many Republican lawmakers, as well as many

other figures in the senior ranks of the White
House.

So I'm not sure there is a story yet, but
certainly it's a sign that there are many

people in the White House who would strongly
discourage the president from taking such

a step.

And he himself said that he had no intention
of pursuing it.

So, we will see what happens.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

I think this was probably in the wake of that
-- it was in that several-day period when

we were hearing the president was very upset
and was thinking about or talking about firing.

But, as you said, nothing's happened yet.

So let's move, Mark, to the story today.

Democratic National Committee announces it
is filing a lawsuit against the Trump campaign,

against high Russian officials, the Russian
government and WikiLeaks for hacking into

the Democratic National Committee e-mail system
and essentially for stealing, they're saying,

corrupting the election in 2016.

We heard Tom Perez a few minutes ago, the
chair of the party, say, well, one of the

reasons we're doing this is the statute of
limitations; we think there is evidence to

believe there was a conspiracy.

Is it a smart move on their part?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, we will find out if it's
a smart move, Judy.

Part of the problem is that it does have echoes
of Watergate, and without, right now at least,

the persuasive proof that the same set of
facts operated, where the president was intimately,

deeply involved in a criminal act.

I would say this.

Part of it is, I think, politics has become
litigation.

Politics has become lawyers and depositions
and whether you're going to testify.

And, you know, in that sense, it's not, at
least initially, exhilarating to those of

us who care about politics and policy and
legislation and righting wrongs and bringing

justice.

But, you know, I can honestly say, I don't
know.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you make of it?

What's the significance?

REIHAN SALAM: Well, politics is becoming litigation,
certainly, but politics is also fund-raising.

That is especially true if you're the chair
of the Democratic National Committee.

One thing that is important to understand
is that American politics is very decentralized.

Typically, candidates raise their own money,
they have their own networks.

For the Democratic National Committee to be
influential and important, it has to raise

money.

And one way fort DNC to raise its profile
is to do things along these lines that really

fires up the base and the small-dollar donors,
many of whom are very passionate about the

Russia story.

Susan Hennessey earlier on this program explained
that they are setting a very high bar for

themselves.

It's hard to see that they're really going
to prove these allegations in court, but the

litigation is definitely going to get the
DNC and DNC Chair Tom Perez in the news.

And I think that it's going to fire up a ton
of people to open up their checkbooks.

So, in that sense, I think it is a very shrewd
move for the DNC.

For Democrats more broadly, we will see.

I'm skeptical.

(CROSSTALK)

JUDY WOODRUFF: Excuse me.

I wanted to let you finish your thought.

All this coming, Mark, in a week when we're
hearing so much about James Comey, his book,

and then today -- or last night, I guess,
the -- after urging by Republicans on Capitol

Hill, the Comey memos that he wrote after
his conversations with the president before

Comey was fired have now been made public.

You have had a chance -- both of you have
had a chance to look at them.

Do they change anything?

MARK SHIELDS: I can't -- other than perhaps
your opinion of the three chairmen who pushed

for their publication.

They in no way conflict, at least in my reading
of them, with James Comey's own testimony.

They reinforce what he has said and what he
has written.

Now, I think Congressman Gowdy has said that
they're exhibit A for the defense for the

White House for any case of obstruction of
justice on the part of the president.

They're certainly not complimentary of the
president.

They're not inspiring.

But they do reinforce what Comey has said.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you see there, Reihan,
and also with the book -- coming out the same

week as the book?

As Mark said, most people are saying they
are affirming what's in the book.

REIHAN SALAM: I agree with Mark's remarks.

I think that, basically, this is entirely
consistent with what James Comey had said

before.

Clearly, James Comey had serious misgivings
about President Trump long before he was elected.

And, also, it's -- now openly campaigning
against President Trump's reelection.

He's telling people that he wants American
voters to throw him out.

And the trouble here is this.

If you are James Comey and you really want
to convince folks that President Trump should

be voted out of office, et cetera, the thing
is that you have to find persuadable people.

You have to find people who might be favorably
disposed to the president and persuade them

not to be.

And the thing is that I'm not sure why he's
really doing that.

What we know now is that he's always had misgivings
about the president.

So, I think that that tends to reinforce this
narrative that he wasn't favorably disposed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How do you see this?

MARK SHIELDS: I will say this about James
Comey.

And he's certainly gotten criticism from a
number of quarters.

And I think he's earned it by including the
rather snide remarks about the president's

appearance and suntanning and hair color and
all the rest of it, which was petty.

It was mud-wrestling, getting down where Donald
Trump mud-wrestles.

But his statement uncontradicted in any way,
before the election, he revealed that Hillary

Clinton's personal e-mails were going to be
reopened, at a time when he and virtually

everybody in shoe leather and a majority of
people in the Trump campaign firmly believed

that Hillary Clinton was going to win.

And he put that election in some suspense.

The Clinton people blame him for it.

The Trump people acknowledge what he did.

And I have to say, it certainly wasn't -- it
was an act of some integrity, professional

integrity, for him to do that.

The safe thing would have been to not say
anything at the time and, in fact, let it

happen and be reappointed.

He was certainly putting at jeopardy his own
position, if, in fact, Hillary Clinton did

win, that he had tried to sabotage and submarine
her chances in the last week of the campaign.

So I think, right now, Judy, what we have
seen in the first week is that the two tribes

have formed, on the one side those who don't
believe James Comey, and those who do.

I don't know how many people are persuadable
on this issue at this point.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to ask you both, finally,
about former first lady Barbara Bush, who

was a remarkable figure, somebody with a sense
of humor, passed away this week.

Her funeral is tomorrow.

Reihan, why do you think there's been such
a -- it seems to me -- there would have, of

course, been a lot of attention, but why do
you think there is particular attention right

now?

REIHAN SALAM: Well, I have a little theory,
which is that a lot of us have women in our

lives, particularly mothers and grandmothers,
who came of age at a time when women's contributions

weren't necessarily all that valued, and the
way that women made that mark was in part

by serving their families, putting others
ahead of themselves.

And I think people looked at Barbara Bush
and see a very formidable woman, a very sharp-tongued

woman with an acid wit and also a lot of warmth,
who really helped build a political dynasty,

was an incredibly important part of that,
who didn't necessarily get all the spotlight

that she would have gotten otherwise, maybe
had she come of age at a different time.

So, I think that that resonates with a lot
of folks.

They see that this was a major talent who
had really a pretty big and deep effect on

the country.

JUDY WOODRUFF: She was a -- Mark, she was
a wife and a mother, a mother of a president,

the wife of a president.

MARK SHIELDS: That's right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We followed her over decades.

So, she played the traditional role, as Reihan
said, but she did it with very much her own

identity.

MARK SHIELDS: She did.

And her death has, I think, touched something
in the nation that has surprised me.

I think the response has been national.

I think there's a couple of factors, Judy.

At a time when the debate about character
and fitness for office and the president rages

and continues to rage in the country, she
reminds us, as does her husband, of a time

when noblesse oblige, that sense of moral
obligation of those of advantage, those of

privilege to act generously and compassionately
toward those not so gifted, not so blessed

was central to our national leadership.

At the same time, I agree Reihan's points
about she was -- she did have an acid tongue.

She was capable of that.

But I remember the act of courage, a time
when the AIDS epidemic we had -- we were seized

in this country by ignorance and by fear,
if you shook hands with somebody with AIDS,

you could contract the illness.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Back in the 1980s.

MARK SHIELDS: That's right.

And her predecessor, Ronald Reagan, the Reagans,
had been more than arm's length on this issue.

And, in fact, she left the White House and
went to a Grandma's House, which is a hospice

for infants afflicted with AIDS, and held
and caressed and comforted children.

And it was an act of just enormous courage.

But I just think we yearn, there's a yearning
for what they represented, the marriage, the

family, that sense of duty, the sense of responsibility
that each of us has to our country.

And I think she just touched it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we have gotten away from
that, haven't we?

REIHAN SALAM: We certainly have.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we certainly think of
her, we think of the entire Bush family at

this moment.

Thank you both, Reihan Salam, Mark Shields.

MARK SHIELDS: Thank you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight, a story about
the power of man's best friend.

In a new memoir, poet and author Stephen Kuusisto
details his life-altering connection with

a guide dog.

And, as Jeffrey Brown discovered, it was a
change that affected him both as a blind man

and as a writer.

It is the latest from our "NewsHour" Bookshelf.

JEFFREY BROWN: On the campus of Syracuse University,
a brisk wind and a very brisk walk.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO, Author, "Have Dog, Will
Travel": You know, most of my friends, even

my wife, who's very athletic, they can't keep
up with it.

(LAUGHTER)

JEFFREY BROWN: It's a perfect match of man
and dog, 63-year-old Stephen Kuusisto, poet

and professor, and Caitlyn, a 4-year-old yellow
lab trained as a guide dog.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: University campuses in general
are easier than strange cities.

JEFFREY BROWN: Kuusisto was born with a condition
that left him legally blind.

He describes his vision as having Vaseline
smeared on a lens.

The author of two volumes of poetry, his new
memoir, "Have Dog, Will Travel," traces his

own path, one that began as a child whose
mother wanted his blindness hidden.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: My job was to really just
live without the kinds of assistance and accommodations

that I needed and to make it seem OK.

JEFFREY BROWN: But the way you write, it at
least came off as a little worse than that,

as in, she made it feel shameful.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: She did.

And you can't emerge with a good sense of
self-regard and become your own self-advocate

in that kind of dynamic.

"The kid who couldn't see, he flew right up.

His parents came.

They banged on pots and pans.

They hoped to get him back to earth, but they
were far below, and the boy was in the sky

of verities."

JEFFREY BROWN: He describes a limited, small
life, a fear of anything new, including new

places.

It wasn't until his late 30s, after losing
a job, that he came to a realization.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: I'm not going to make it
in the larger world unless I know how to actually

navigate the larger world, and this is really
a crisis.

JEFFREY BROWN: The opening came through a
New York-based training school, where Kuusisto

was introduced to his first guide dog, Corky,
and embarked on a weeks-long process of learning

to work together.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: At first, I thought, well,
this will be easy.

You show up, they give you a smart dog, and
it's like picking up a car, and then you leave,

right?

That's what I thought.

And I didn't realize that you learn more about
dogs than you ever knew possible, one, and,

two, they are building you up, the trainers,
to feel not only that you can do this, but

that this was the life you were always meant
to have.

JEFFREY BROWN: As Kuusisto writes in his book,
the benefits of guide dogs arose from the

horrors of war, the First World War.

Think of the famous John Singer Sargent painting
"Gassed," showing a line of soldiers, their

eyes bandaged.

A German doctor, Gerhard Stalling, seeing
how dogs had performed under pressure on the

battlefield, began training them to help blind
soldiers.

The first guide dog school in the U.S., The
Seeing Eye, was started by Morris Frank in

1929.

The movement transformed many lives, including
Kuusisto's.

You describe the first time, when you were
just getting Corky, your first guide dog,

going into Manhattan.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: Right.

Yes.

It was amazing.

That defied my capacity as a writer to fully
explain.

That feeling was so immense, to be able to
go to a jazz club, hop on the subway and go

see the Mets.

JEFFREY BROWN: All things that you would not
have been able to do.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: No.

And I felt secure.

JEFFREY BROWN: In the harness, Caitlyn is
all business, but the moment it comes off

at home, she's all play.

Look at this.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: Get him.

Get him.

JEFFREY BROWN: In addition to his writing
and teaching, Kuusisto is also a strong advocate

for disability rights, working at Syracuse's
famed Burton Blatt Institute.

He regularly meets with other faculty and
students to discuss issues of the day.

MAN: People with disabilities doesn't mean
they're not capable of doing something.

JEFFREY BROWN: One topic during our visit,
the terminology associated with disabilities.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: But this is why I don't
believe in the term assistive technology.

It's not just technology for the disabled.

All technology is assistive technology.

JEFFREY BROWN: Kuusisto himself uses a computer
program when he writes.

A voice reads his words back to him.

And he recognizes a clear connection between
his poetry and the new world he found with

guide dogs.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: We all know, I think, those
of us who read and love poetry, that one of

the things poetry does well is to chart awakenings.

There's that spiritual aspect to poetry that
is slowing down and a coming to real clarity

about something.

And, as this book proceeded, as I'm writing
about what Corky and I did together, right,

I began to realize, this is about my opening
up and becoming a larger, more courageous,

open, curious, flexible, and outgoing person,
a person who I didn't know existed.

JEFFREY BROWN: Caitlyn is Kuusisto's fourth
guide dog.

In "Have Dog, Will Travel," he writes movingly
of the death of Corky, his original four-legged

companion, who died at age 13 in 2005.

STEPHEN KUUSISTO: This is one thing I'm proud
of, that when she was lying there on the gurney

in the vet's office, and it was the final
moment, and I was about to burst into tears,

I realized this is a dog who has cared for
me and been concerned for me at every turn.

And I held her, and I sang to her our favorite
little walking song.

So, she died while hearing that.

And then I fell apart.

JEFFREY BROWN: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Jeffrey Brown in Syracuse, New York.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Oh, my.

Thank you.

And before we go: Missouri Governor Eric Greitens
has been charged with felony for computer

data tampering during his 2016 political campaign.

Charges filed today allege that Greitens used
the donor list from the charity The Mission

Continues without its permission.

Greitens is already facing trial for invasion
of privacy for allegations that he took a

nonconsensual nude photo of a woman with whom
he was having an affair.

Later tonight on "Washington Week," Robert
Costa will be in charge.

He and his guests are going to discuss another
wild ride of a week in politics.

And that will be followed by "In Principle,"
where President George W. Bush recalls his

mother, Barbara Bush, and discusses his ongoing
work against AIDS in Africa, as well as whether

compassionate conservatism still has a place
in today's Republican Party.

Tomorrow, on "PBS NewsHour Weekend": the wave
of women running for public office, many of

them as Republicans.

And, finally tonight, we want to welcome a
new addition to the extended "NewsHour" family.

NPR's Tamara Keith, part of our Politics Monday
team, delivered a newborn son early this morning.

Welcome to the world, Gibson.

We cannot wait to meet you.

Congratulations to Tamara and the whole family.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Have a great weekend.

Thank you, and good night.