May 8, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The showdown between the White House and Congress over the Mueller report is escalating even further. House Democrats took initial steps to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt Wednesday, with House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler calling the decision "grave and momentous." Lisa Desjardins reports and joins Judy Woodruff and Yamiche Alcindor to discuss.

Congressional Democrats are expected to decide Thursday whether to go to court to obtain President Trump’s recent tax returns. Though there has long been curiosity over Trump’s taxes, which he declined to release in 2016, interest in them resurfaced after a New York Times investigation uncovered past tax records and large business losses. William Brangham talks to Times reporter Ross Buettner.

A year after the Trump administration withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Iran itself warned that it will stop complying with the agreement unless it receives promised economic benefits. Judy Woodruff talks to Ambassador Wendy Sherman, who served as lead U.S. negotiator for the nuclear agreement with Iran during the Obama administration, about the impact of recent U.S. policy toward Iran.

The first person to declare his candidacy for the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination, John Delaney has been running for president for nearly two years. The former Maryland congressman now faces a crowded field and the challenge of taking on some well-known figures, but he remains confident. Delaney sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss health care, the Mueller report and more.

In our news wrap Wednesday, elections were held in South Africa, where the ruling African National Congress faced strong challenges after 25 years in power. The country is contending with corruption and surging unemployment, but voter turnout appeared to be low. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 migrants were caught at the U.S.-Mexico border in April, the second month in a row to hit that milestone.

Iran announced its partial withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear treaty on Wednesday, citing the failure of other member nations to deliver promised economic relief after the U.S. pulled out of the deal a year ago. What does the development mean for the relationship between the U.S. and Iran, already tense? Judy Woodruff talks to Brian Hook, the State Department’s special representative for Iran.

It’s been six months since the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history, the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and burned 19,000 structures in November 2018. But even at the peak of the inferno, some scientists moved toward it, in an attempt to understand more about the intensity and spread of the flames. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien has the harrowing inside look.

May 8, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode