PBS NewsHour - Segments

On Monday, President Trump denied being a Russian agent after The New York Times reported the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether he was acting on Russia’s behalf. He called the FBI officials who launched the inquiry “scoundrels” and “dirty cops.” But questions remain about his interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nick Schifrin reports.

The New York Times reports that the FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation into whether President Trump was working on behalf of Russia after Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Today, the president denied being under Russia's influence. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., tells Judy Woodruff whether he believes Trump and what we still don’t know about Trump’s meetings with Vladimir Putin.

Questions remain about President Trump's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as about Trump's broader ties to Russia. To analyze why the corresponding counterintelligence investigations are 'unprecedented,' Judy Woodruff sits down with Andrew Weiss, a former National Security Council staffer, and David Kris, previously the Justice Department's top national security official.

On Monday, President Trump said he is hesitant to declare a national emergency to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that Congress should resolve the "simple" disagreement that's keeping the government partly closed. He also said he had rejected a proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to reopen the government temporarily. Yamiche Alcindor reports on the shutdown's latest impacts.

In our Monday news wrap, federal court rulings blocked employers nationwide from refusing to provide no-cost birth control. Trump administration rules allowing employers to opt out of the coverage would have taken effect today. Also, the government of Turkey complained about President Trump’s promise to “devastate” the country economically if it were to attack Syrian Kurds.

President Trump promoted his trade policies Monday at the American Farm Bureau Federation. But the government shutdown has hurt farmers seeking loans needed for upcoming crop seasons, and certain provisions in the newly signed Farm Bill cannot be administered until USDA offices reopen. Farm Aid’s Joe Schroeder joins John Yang to discuss how the shutdown has come at a "tough time to be a farmer."

The government shutdown has affected Native American tribes who rely on federal funds allocated by treaty rights. For the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin, funding goes towards services like public safety and elder healthcare. Now the tribe is awaiting more than a million dollars owed by government. Marisa Wojcik of Wisconsin Public Television reports.

Tens of thousands of teachers in Los Angeles went on strike Monday after months-long contract negotiations stalled. It’s the first strike in that huge school district, which extends 700 square miles, in three decades. Special correspondent Mary MacCarthy talks to Judy Woodruff about the teachers’ demands for more staff and higher pay and how schools, students and parents are reacting.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter from the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest polling on the government shutdown, which indicates that a majority of Americans blame President Trump for the stalemate, but an increasing proportion favor building his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

For decades, restaurant kitchens have been spaces dominated by men. Award-winning chef Edward Lee is trying to change that, founding the Women Chefs of Kentucky Initiative to diversify the culinary industry and train more female chefs for leadership roles. Renee Shaw of Kentucky Educational Television reports on how Lee is trying to cultivate "great activists for the next generation" of cooking.

Nearly eight years into Syria's civil war, President Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw U.S. troops from the region has many worried about far-reaching repercussions, as Syria and its allies, along with the Kurds and a remaining international coalition, volley for control of the territory and resources. Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss.

The Native American tribe Tohono o’odham in Arizona has a significant stake in the ongoing conflict in Congress about whether to fund President Trump’s $5.7 billion border wall. The tribe’s reservation, about the size of Connecticut, spans both countries, and a border wall would run through their land. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Christopher Livesay reports.

While conflicts about immigration policies and safety are at the core of the showdown over President Trump’s proposed border wall, private property owners, environmentalists and other groups are raising other issues, too. Texas Tribune reporter Julián Aguilar joins Hari Sreenivasan to talk about varying conflicts playing out as a federal shutdown continues into a fourth week.

U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the discrimination of trans people, either by banning them from the military or firing them because of their sex, have much more at stake than is often perceived. Chase Strangio, an attorney at ACLU’s LGBT and HIV project, spoke to NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano, explaining that they can lead to stripping people of fundamental civil rights.

A recent documentary "TransMilitary," follows four trans troops in their military journeys as the federal government flip-flops on whether they should be banned. As the battle over the ban continues in federal courts, NewsHour Weekend's Megan Thompson talks to a former soldier featured in the film and the film’s director about the soldiers' fight to end the ban and the risks they took speaking out.