PBS News Hour - Politics

After months of speculation, former Vice President Joe Biden officially entered the 2020 presidential race. In his announcement, Biden characterized the Trump presidency as existential “threat” and said he felt compelled to try to prevent it from lasting an additional term. Judy Woodruff reports on Biden’s long, occasionally controversial political career and the personal tragedy that shaped him.

How will Democrats respond to Joe Biden’s campaign announcement, and can he move past the persistent questions about his treatment of Anita Hill and women more generally? Judy Woodruff talks to Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., who endorsed Biden’s candidacy Thursday, and Aimee Allison, president of She the People, a group that advocates for women of color, about Biden's past, present and future.

Although the Mueller report concluded Russia intervened in the 2016 election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion," the Trump administration has at times downplayed the interference, as well as 2020 election security. Judy Woodruff asks former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem and Thomas Rid, author of a forthcoming book on influence campaigns, about what has and hasn't been done.

The Mueller report continues to make headlines in Washington, as some Democrats talk impeachment and battle the Trump administration over additional investigations and subpoenas, but how prominent is the subject among voters outside D.C.? Judy Woodruff talks to Chris Buskirk of American Greatness and Kent State University’s Connie Schultz about reactions to the report and election security fears.

Nearly half of the Mueller report focuses on whether President Trump obstructed justice. Though it does not reach a definitive conclusion, it makes clear that Trump was sometimes protected by his advisers’ unwillingness to yield to his demands. Yamiche Alcindor talks to The Washington Post's Carol Leonnig about who in the president’s orbit pushed back and the pressure they felt when they did.

Democrats in the House and on the 2020 campaign trail are divided on whether to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Trump. While many feel his actions warrant impeachment, there is concern that public sentiment wouldn't support it. But Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., thinks refraining from impeachment would violate a fundamental responsibility of Congress, as he tells Judy Woodruff.

Although Congress is currently on spring break, there continues to be plenty of political activity in the wake of the release of a redacted version of the Mueller report. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi circled Democrats in a conference call Monday, to survey their opinions about how to react and potentially head off momentum around impeachment. Judy Woodruff talks to Lisa Desjardins.

The 2020 Democrats were on the campaign trail over the weekend, unveiling new policies and positions. Though Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was the only contender to call for impeaching President Trump, Pete Buttigieg agreed that Trump “deserves to be impeached." Meanwhile, Rep. Seth Moulton entered the race, and former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to. Yamiche Alcindor reports.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including how much appetite there is among House Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings, whether the findings of the Mueller report will affect public support for President Trump, the new candidacy of Democrat Seth Moulton and Sen. Warren’s proposal to cancel student debt.

As Sri Lanka reels from a series of deadly Easter Sunday attacks, the problem of violent extremism enters the spotlight once again. How can the U.S. and the world anticipate and counter the threat of terrorism, which experts agree cannot be addressed by military means alone? Amna Nawaz talks to former diplomat Farah Pandith, whose new book “How We Win” outlines a strategy for keeping us safe.