Skip to main content

tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  December 12, 2023 6:00pm-7:01pm PST

6:00 pm
wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. >> good evening, i am amna nawaz. >> and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, ukraine's president makes his case to congress for more funding as soldiers persevere through brutal winter warfare. amna: president biden warns israel is losing support, the same day a majority of united nations member states call for a
6:01 pm
ceasefire in gaza. geoff: and, an investigation into china's global fishing fleet exposes how seafood that's sold in the u.s. is caught and processed using forced labor. >> there's a huge state-run labor transfer program, with thousands of workers that are forcibly removed from this inland province, xinjiang, and transported 2000 miles away to the other side of the country to work in the factories. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by. ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith.
6:02 pm
>> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> you don't need vision to do most things in life. but it is exciting to be part of the team driving technology forward. that is the most rewarding thing. people who know, know video. >> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering informed, engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪
6:03 pm
>> this program was made possible by the corporation for broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. a harsh winter has descended on ukraine as the war nears its third year. and ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy is here in washington, urging congress to unfreeze badly needed military aid. amna: that debate over aid comes as a declassified u.s. intelligence assessment details staggering losses for russia, nearly 90% of its pre-war force either killed or wounded in ukraine. lisa desjardins on capitol hill begins our coverage. lisa: a president at war, flanked by democratic and republican leaders. >> what does it mean if you don't get the money for the end of the year? lisa: for ukraine president volodymyr zelenskyy, this third trip to washington after the
6:04 pm
russian invasion has been the most complicated, as congress has slowed down talks over whether to send him help. he met with nearly all u.s. senators in the morning. >> it was a very powerful meeting. president zelenskyy made it so clear how he needs help, but if he gets the help, he can win this war. lisa: a different message from house republicans. speaker mike johnson, but not his full conference, met with zelenskyy. >> what the biden administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win, and none of the answers that i think the american people are owed. lisa: zelenskyy's trip comes as congress is divided over president biden's request for an additional $110 billion aid package that would include some $61 billion for ukraine, about $14 billion each for israel and border security, and more than $9 billion for humanitarian aid. senators told us zelenskyy was powerful and impressive. but for senate republicans, that
6:05 pm
is not the issue. migrant crossings into the u.s. continue to set new records, hitting more than 10,000 apprehensions per day by border patrol in the past few weeks. republicans say until there are significant policy changes, like dramatically curbing asylum and parole, they will not approve money for ukraine. >> an investment of u.s. dollars into ukraine defense is a good investment, but it doesnt change the context, the criteria. and that is that we have to defend ourselves first, and we can demonstrate that by securing the southern border. lisa: all this comes as ukraine's months-long counteroffensive that began in june is frozen in place as winter descends. and a new u.s. assessment says russia believes a military deadlock through the winter would drain western support for ukraine, and advantage moscow. democrats on capitol hill are the ukraine hawks, and warning that time is running out with congress scheduled to recess for the holidays later this week.
6:06 pm
>> we stand ready and willing to engage, and to provide assistance. but we also understand the timeline ahead of us, that the calendar is a concern. >> i'm willing to do significantly more. lisa: president biden has signaled he is willing to tighten border laws, but democrats and republicans are far apart on a possible deal. now, republican senate leader mitch mcconnell, openly saying biden must personally get involved now. >> welcome back to the white house. lisa: which made his meeting with zelensky this afternoon a potential pivot point. >> we want to see ukraine win the war. and as i've said before, winning means ukraine is a sovereign independent nation, and it can afford to defend itself today and deter further aggression. >> putin wants a prolonged war. we dream of a christmas in the peacetime, of course, and we are working to turn our battlefield success into peace.
6:07 pm
lisa: ukraine and those near it, waiting to see what the white house and congress do next. amna: and lisa joins us now from capitol hill. laura barron lopez is here in studio, and nick schiffrin is at the white house. nick, you were at the press conference at the white house as lisa ordered. president zelenskyy made a powerful case for continued support. what is the context we need to understand for the message he is delivering? nick: it is a hail mary. without border concessions congress will not pass tens of billions of dollars ukraine needs. ukraine is considering hunger is on the verge of blocking european age. ukraine says both of those packages are the difference between victory and defeat. ukraine thinks without the money, it will run out of air defense that prevents russian jets from flying all over the
6:08 pm
country. it is concerned it will not get enough missiles to threaten crimea, which zelenskyy said today was one way ukraine could win the war. ukraine is concerned it won't be able to pay its bills. the government needs $4 billion per month just to pay the bills. the u.s. aid director said without economic assistance, putin can win the war without russian forces firing another shot. it is important to note the pentagon says it has $900 million worth of funds it can use to replenish for weapons it can still send ukraine today even if congress doesn't pass the age. amna: president biden doesn't always host these press conferences. what is this moment, what does it mean for biden? laura: it is a big deal for the president. the president as well as the white house made clear that if additional funding is not passed
6:09 pm
by congress, the money they currently have allocated for ukraine runs out at the end of the year. aids inside the white house are frustrated. they are saying the president's key foreign policy mission of keeping nato unified in the face of russian aggression is at stake, and the president has promised that he is someone who can maintain u.s. leadership on the world stage, combat autocracy and authoritarianism, and if this doesn't happen, if this doesn't pass it is more difficult to keep allies united on that front. another big thing is that president biden is trying to make the argument alongside the ukrainian president. the pressure campaign on congress. the big messages are, putin will not stop here, we heard him say that tonight. he will not stop at ukraine. as well as helping an ally without having to commit u.s.
6:10 pm
troops, helping an ally degrade the military of one of the biggest adversaries, russia, could be a key priority for the u.s. and he hopes republicans would not listen, would not align themselves with russia and the propaganda coming out of russia. amna: take us inside capitol hill. republicans personally heard those pleas from president zelenskyy. are there demands on border policy the same? lisa: the big negotiations on the hill, think about that affordable care act, the debt ceiling, that is what is happening now. republicans are not changing their position. they point to the border and save the apprehensions, the border numbers, they feel like they are in the right and they have the momentum because president biden has said he is willing to make concessions. you bring all that down and you look at what exactly republicans are asking. that is where we have issues with democrats.
6:11 pm
three things they are asking for , first on asylum, republicans would like to block most, many at least, asylum-seekers from entering the country especially those from south and central america. they would like to make expedited removal a national program, meaning some immigration officers could challenge almost anyone in the country and if they felt like they were undocumented they could expedite removal. they would like to limit different types of parole including humanitarian parole. some of those programs, democrats think could be adjusted but they are worried what republicans are proposing could be a national dragnet that could sweep up people who have legitimate claims and legal status in this country. that is where the talks are now. amna: where does it go from here? what happens next? lisa: the ukraine aid, israel aid and border talks are hanging on the edge of a knife now. but tonight there is a slight reason for hope.
6:12 pm
i came from a meeting with the dhs secretary behind closed doors with three senators, a republican from oklahoma, jim langford, kyrsten sinema of arizona and chris murphy of connecticut, as well as staffers. kyrsten sinema walked out of the meeting on said they did make progress. we have heard that before but there is hope they can do this. they are running out of time. no one can get there more quickly than a member of congress before holiday recess. senator schumer asked leaders to stay in town but the house of representatives is leaving thursday. this next day will be critical to see if a deal could be made or not. amna: what about other democrats? what pressure are they putting on the white house as the white house gets more involved and where to the american people stand on the issue of more aid for ukraine? laura: democrats are putting pressure on the white house.
6:13 pm
they are concerned, based on what lisa outlined, the severe restrictions to asylum, to the parole systems republicans are proposing come of the white house may concede on that. they are hearing the white house is open to things like that and they don't want that so they will be applying pressure on the president, talking more about press conferences. as for where voters stand, we have a new poll released tomorrow and we asked voters if they believe the u.s. should authorize additional funding to support ukraine and israel. a total of 32% said yes, 41% democrats and 26% of republicans saying more support, and 32% of independents. for those who believe the u.s. should not authorize additional funding for either war, 30 6%, 24 percent of democrats, 39% of republicans and 38% of independents. our poll found 48% of americans
6:14 pm
support giving additional aid to ukraine but you see there is not a lot of support among republicans in particular. one thing that is key, mitch mcconnell said himself support among republicans has gone down because of the rhetoric from former president trump. amna: when you look at where the war is, a war you spent a lot of time covering come of the head of the ukrainian military is calling the war a stalemate. what does that mean for u.s. policy? nick: the administration publicly says there is no plan b and president biden reiterated his definition of victory. u.s. officials are beginning to say if u.s. support continues, what they want to see is ukraine holding the line even if as you say, that means a stalemate on the front. by the end of 2020 four, u.s., european, ukrainian, domestic arms production could come online to the point where ukraine could go on the
6:15 pm
counteroffensive in 2025. that is assuming biden wins reelection and assumes in 2025 ukraine could do more with the weapons that they haven't already done with the aid. amna: nick schifrin at the white house, lisa desjardins on capitol hill, and laura barron-lopez ino. thank you all. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. the united nations general assembly has overwhelmingly approved a measure calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in gaza. the u.s. was one of ten nations to vote against the non-binding resolution. before today's vote, president joe biden said israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu needs to change his hardline government, adding that israel is losing global support due to what he called its "indiscriminate bombing" in gaza.
6:16 pm
geoff bennett reports. >> president biden's off-camera remarks to democratic donors in washington today are the latest sign of increasing u.s. concern about israel's bombing in gaza, which has killed thousands of palestinian civilians. "bibi's got a tough decision to make," the president said of israel's prime minister. "this is the most conservative government in israel's history," said mr biden, adding that the netanyahu-led coalition "doesn't want a two-state solution," washington's preferred outcome after the war with hamas. the president also said israel is starting to lose support around the world. saying of netanyahu, "i think he has to change, and with this government, this government in israel is making it very difficult for him to move." earlier today, netanyanhu said israel enjoys u.s. support for its goal of destroying hamas, while he acknowledged differing views about a plan for after the war. >> yes, there are disputes about "the day after hamas," and i
6:17 pm
hope we will reach an agreement here as well. i will not allow that after the great sacrifice of our citizens and fighters, we bring into gaza those who teach terrorism, support terrorism, finance terrorism. >> it all comes as israel's siege on gaza today continued in all directions. >> the world's conscience is dead. no humanity or any kind of morals. >> from the north, israeli soldiers pushed their ground invasion further into the gaza strip, as hospitals struggle to keep up with the injured and often orphaned children now in their care. >> i wish the war ends, and we go back to our relatives and our home, and that's it. >> 10 year old razan shabat lost her parents, two siblings, and other members of her extended family in an israeli air strike. >> a lot of children who come to this hospital, we don't know their names, and we write "unknown" on their entry files until one of their relatives
6:18 pm
comes and recognises them, including the patient, you mentioned her name earlier, razan samir shabat. she was unknown for days and days in the cardiac intensive care unit until a relative came and recognised her. >> but the strikes keep coming, filling streets with smoke and debris and leaving palestinians without homes, and increasingly, hope. stephanie: in the day's other headlines, cheaper gas helped ease inflation in november. the labor department's consumer price index edged up just 0.1% last month, from october. on a year-to-year basis, the rate dropped slightly, to 3.1% from the previous november. the core inflation rate, excluding volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3%, a bit faster than in october. house republicans moved today to set a vote on formalizing their impeachment inquiry into president biden. the focus is whether he benefited from family business dealings, but so far, there is no evidence tying him to wrongdoing. republicans argued today the
6:19 pm
resolution would give stronger legal backing for subpoenas. democrats said it's all a political stunt. they spoke at separate briefings. >> to fulfill our constitutional responsibility, we have to take the next step. we're not making a political decision, it's a legal decision. people have feelings about it one way or the other, we can't prejudge the outcome, the constitution does not permit us to do so. we have to follow the truth where it takes us. >> the vote this week is the culmination of the extreme maga republican year-long agenda, exacting political retribution on behalf of donald trump. it's painfully obvious they're trying to hurt president biden politically to help president trump get reelected. stephanie: with a closely divided house, the resolution would need near-total republican support. the vote could come tomorrow. republican presidential candidate nikki haley gets a key endorsement in new hampshire tonight, six weeks before the state's primary.
6:20 pm
governor chris sununu is -- has come out for haley. he's been a vocal critic of former president trump. polls show mr. trump leading by wide margins in the granite state. claudine gay will remain president of harvard after a backlash over her congressional testimony on campus antisemitism. the school's governing body issued a statement today, saying, quote, "president gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing." at a house hearing last week, gay and other school leaders struggled to answer questions from republican elise stefanik. today, stefanik had fresh criticism. >> this is a moral failure of harvard's leadership, and higher education leadership at the highest levels. and the only change they have made to their code of conduct where they failed to condemn calls for genocide of the jewish people, the only update to the code of conduct is to allow a plagiarist as the president of harvard. stephanie: harvard's governing
6:21 pm
body says an independent review of plagiarism allegations against gay found no violation of school standards. in pakistan, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station today, killing at least 23 people. a taliban offshoot claimed responsibility. the attack in the northwestern part of the country was one of the deadliest in recent months. the force of the blast shattered windows, damaged nearby businesses and wounded dozens of people. pakistan's military said other militants triggered an hours-long shootout before they were killed. back in this country, google will appeal a federal jury verdict in san francisco that found its android app store operates as an illegal monopoly. epic games argued the system quashes competitors, and ultimately hurts smartphone users. the judge will now determine what steps google must take, but the appeals process could take years. still to come on the "newshour," the latest global climate conference faces criticism for its tepid progress.
6:22 pm
hip hop mogul sean "diddy" combs faces sexual assault lawsuits made possible by a new state law. how the israel-hamas war is affecting hanukkah celebrations in the u.s. and, what shohei ohtani's record-breaking contract means for major league baseball. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: as the united nations climate conference, known as cop 28, comes to a close in dubai, countries are racing against the clock. more than 100 countries, including the u.s., the uk, and australia, are pushing for a firm commitment to stop the use of coal, oil, and gas after earlier drafts advocated for eventually phasing out fossil fuels. michael mann has been among those climate experts critical of what's happened at this summit. he's the director of the penn center for science,
6:23 pm
sustainability and the media and the university of pennsylvania. his new book is "our fragile moment: how lessons from earth's past can help us survive the climate crisis." michael, welcome back to the newshour. >> good to be with you. geoff: yuko wrote an op-ed in the los angeles times saying not only has cop 28 failed to meet the moment demanding immediate climate action, it made a caricature of it. in what ways? >> the host country, the united arab emirates, is a fossil fuel state. the president of cop 28 appointed by the host is in fact an oil executive. so there are reasons to be skeptical from the very start, given just those facts. everything we have seen since, the fact that again, the president of cop 28 has been
6:24 pm
using language claiming that there is no science to back up the need to phase out fossil fuels when of course, the science overwhelmingly indicates we have to bring carbon emissions down dramatically to avert catastrophic warming, and he used climate denier tropes like we will all be back in the caves if we make a clean energy transition. the fact that we haven't seen much progress, we have seen other petro states like saudi arabia now saying there is no way they will agree to language to phase out fossil fuels, in fact they won't agree to language to phase down, what ever that means, to phase down fossil fuels. there is a lot of pessimism right now that a few bad apples are spoiling the possibility of a meaningful agreement. as this window of opportunity is closing, if we don't see progress now, it becomes
6:25 pm
increasingly difficult to see a way to keep warming below a catastrophic three degrees fahrenheit. amna: these summits are the only venue for global climate change negotiations. what is about their -- a better path forward? >> we resist calls to dissolve the entire cop process. it is the only multilateral framework we have for global climate negotiations. polluters would like nothing more than to see the u.n. conference of the what we need is to mend it, not end it. we argued that we can't allow a single country like saudi arabia to prevent the agreement from passing. there should be something instead, like a super majority, 75% of participating countries have to agree to a particular
6:26 pm
resolution for it to pass. but you can't have a system where one bad actor like saudi arabia can block any progress at all. that is where we are right now. there need to be penalties. in the past, the enforcement mechanism was called name and shame for countries who don't make a good-faith effort to participate in the negotiations. we called them out, try to shame them. some of those countries like saudi arabia have shown they have no shame. there need to be real penalties for bad actors. essentially, who are trying to prevent any meaningful progress from taking place. geoff: understanding that critics have made the point that oil interests have co-opted cop, any number of countries say completely phasing out fossil fuels hurts them economically and puts them at a disadvantage. do they have a point? >> well, we no longer kill
6:27 pm
whales for whale oil because something better came along that was fossil fuels two centuries ago. now, something else has come along, something better came along, clean energy. we need to provide the incentives for developing countries to leapfrog past the fossil fuel stage of their economic development. we can't afford for them to make the same mistakes we made. we have to provide assistance to help developing countries develop clean energy infrastructure. it is win-win, clean energy means a better planet, a better environment, more jobs. there are more jobs available in clean energy installation then there are in the largely automated fossil fuel industry. we also know that petro states tend to be authoritative states, antidemocratic countries. so all of the things we would like to see more widespread democracy, a cleaner environment, good jobs, clean jobs for people, all of that is
6:28 pm
favored by a proactive effort to transition, we are not talking about sort of stopping all fossil fuel production cold turkey. what we are talking about is a study transition, bringing carbon emissions down 50% this decade, down to zero by mid century and we have the technology to do that. renewable energy, solar, wind, we don't need new technology. we just need the political will to make the transition. geoff: michael, thank you for your insights. >> thank you. ♪ amna: an investigation into chinese fishing fleets and processing centers has discovered that seafood produced with forced labor is making its way to american dinner tables. that's despite a u.s. ban on
6:29 pm
imports made by workers from china's xinjiang province. the region in northwest china is home to muslim minority uyghurs, who have been the victims of well-documented human rights violations. john yang has more. john: if you buy frozen seafood at the grocery store, or order fish at a chain restaurant, chances are pretty good that it was caught by a chinese fishing vessel, or processed in a chinese plant. china runs what may be the largest maritime operation ever known. an investigation by the not-for-profit journalism organization called the outlaw ocean project has documented human rights, labor, and environmental concerns related to the chinese fleet, as outlaw ocean founder ian urbina tells us in this excerpt from the group's reporting. chinese fishing ships rely on forced labor. >> foreign journalists are generally forbidden from reporting in xinjiang. so, the team of investigators had to rely on a range of publicly available materials, including company newsletters,
6:30 pm
local news reports, trade data, satellite imagery and social media. but the real kind of key to our investigation became the use of the chinese version of tik tok, which is called douyin. >> videos posted by uyghurs from seafood plants show that many live in military-style dormitories, under the watch of security personnel. uyghur workers' dorms are often searched, and if a quran or other contraband is found, the owner may be sent to a reeducation camp. uyghurs' social media posts are also closely monitored by chinese online censors. posting anything critical of the regime could quickly land them in a detention center. but it appears that many uyghurs have found a way to include cryptic messages in their videos to convey their suffering, while also bypassing the chinese censors.
6:31 pm
♪ >> thousands of tons of seafood, processed in china with forced labor, continue to enter the united states and europe. importers sent their products to major supermarkets around the world, including walmart, kroger, tesco, and carrefour. the importers also send seafood to sysco, the global food service giant that supplies more than 400,000 restaurants in the u.s. alone. over the past five years, the us government spent more than $200 million to buy seafood from importers linked to uyghur labor, for use in military bases, federal prisons, and public schools. >> this investigation represents four years of work by ian urbina, the executive editor of the outlaw ocean project. how did you find that this this labor, putting the uyghurs to work in these processing plants, sort of fit in in the chinese
6:32 pm
overall strategy in dealing with the uyghurs? uyghurs are a muslim minority in china. >> yeah, i mean, you know, there's this general policy from the chinese government to try to relocate many of the uyghurs in xinjiang and disperse them elsewhere in the country to sort of pacify the population, if you will. so there's a huge state run labor transfer program with thousands of workers that are forcibly removed from this inland province, xinjiang, and transported 2000 miles away to the other side of the country to work in the factories. and it's all part of an effort to sort of bring this restive province under control. >> ian, you talked to about more than two dozen of the crew members, people who worked on these ships. what did they tell you about the conditions they worked under and the conditions of their employment? >> yeah, i mean, we found a lot of forced labor and trafficked labor. before covid, a lot of these workers were indonesian. after covid, largely rural chinese. they're pretty nervous to talk openly when we were on board, but you could see the conditions. there are a lot of reports of violence on board and
6:33 pm
neglect, severe neglect. >> and these ships often don't return to port for two years, stay at sea for two years. how did you manage to talk to these people? >> it was a process. typically it takes several days just to get out to the fishing grounds or on the high seas. once we're out there, we make radio contact with the captain. we try to warm the captain up and see if he'll let us on board. if not, oftentimes the ships would flee and we'd get on board a faster boat called a skiff and follow the fishing ships. and in those cases, we'd put messages in a bottle asking questions of the crew in bahasa, indonesian, or chinese and english, and throw the bottles onto the back of the ship and then follow them until the crew threw the bottles back with answers. >> and not only answers, but some of them asking for help, some of them giving you phone numbers. >> yeah, the most useful thing were the phone numbers, because then we could contact families back home in indonesia or china and ask those families how long they've been gone and sort of
6:34 pm
what they knew of their lost family. >> you also found violations of law in the way they fished, and also environmental violations. >> yeah. many cases of, you know, shark finning, of invasions of sovereignty. so this is a huge fleet. and often these vessels are aggressively going into waters where they're forbidden, argentinean, chilean, ecuadorian waters, where they're not allowed. so we documented those cases just to show how pervasive the problem is. >> and how were they able to escape enforcement, escape inspection and that sort of thing? >> you know, these vessels largely are the high seas. and this is an area that's very hard to get to. the vessels are in constant motion in most countries around the world don't have navies out there patrolling their own waters, much less the high seas. so these are working places that are largely out of reach of governments, and that's why they can do as they please. >> and there were also signs that these ships were doing more than fishing or fishing for other things in a way. >> yeah. i mean, china's fishing fleet is in many ways sort of a
6:35 pm
-- an arm of its geopolitical agenda. it's sort of a projection of power. and so if you look at places like the south china sea, contested waters in that area, the fishing fleet is essentially acting as a civilian militia. and you have enough fishing vessels there that they can crowd around other countries' vessels and crowd around islands that are in contested waters and sort of establish sovereignty and show muscle. >> it's an ambitious project. and you found some very interesting things. now, where can people read and see your reporting? >> it'll be with the new yorker on their website. >> very good. ian urbina, the founder and executive editor of the outlaw ocean project. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. ♪ amna: four women are now suing hip hop mogul sean "diddy" combs for sexual assault allegations dating back to the early nineties. previously, those lawsuits couldn't have been filed because of the statute of limitations. but most were filed under the
6:36 pm
new york adult survivors act, a new york state law that allowed survivors a one-year window to sue for past abuse. about 3,000 civil lawsuits were filed under the law before the deadline last month. joining me now, attorney mariann wang, who has represented multiple clients seeking justice for sexual crimes, both before and after this new york law, and npr music correspondent sidney madden. thank you both for joining us. so marianne, 3000 civil lawsuits before that legal deadline closed. tell us what you're seeing in your practice. as that deadline approached. what kind of inquiries you were fielding. >> we were fielding dozens and dozens in the final days, sometimes even in the final hours. but throughout the year as there was more awareness of the opening, i have spoken to probably hundreds of women, mostly women, who had been victims of very serious trauma and rape and sexual assault many
6:37 pm
years before and who were finally in a place when their cash in their lives where they had processed it, and we're actually able to speak about it to somebody and who wanted to do something. and that s precisely the importance of these laws, because the trauma that is perpetrated on women during sexual assaults, and afterwards, it really takes an enormous amount of time for people to process. amna: obviously, this got a lot of attention because of some of the celebrity names we're talking about here. but marianne, we know most of the women and most of the accused are not celebrities. paint a portrait of your clients and their circumstances >> yes. so many of them are very vulnerable people to begin with as young women or as women who don't have any resources who are preyed upon by those with a lot more resources or people in relative power. so employers, or members of
6:38 pm
institutions. there are people who suffered in foster care, or later in life, people who are incarcerated who were assaulted by guards and others. and those types of people are often the most vulnerable and have very little ability to even first understand how harmed they are, and then over the years understand that they actually might have the ability to hold somebody to account. and so it just takes a very long time before people understand that. amna: we know one of those lawsuits was filed by r&b singer cassandra ventura. she's known as cassie, the former girlfriend of sean "diddy" combs. why did this one case gets so much attention? >> the tidal wave of allegations really started with the case that was filed by as you said cassie ventura, who was diddy's not only long time partner, romantic partner, but also one of his employees at bad boy entertainment. and this was really big news in the hip hop space and beyond.
6:39 pm
for a few key reasons. first of all, the severity of the allegations were utterly shocking. in this civil suit that cassie filed, she detailed almost a decade of psychological and physical abuse. moments where he had complete control over her life, coercion. she even alleged that he raped her in her own home towards the end of their relationship, and that he blew up the car of a man who was interested in cassie. so the details of this case filing were absolutely explosive. no pun intended there, but then also another factor is the stature of diddy overall. this is a man who has been ubiquitous in the hip hop music space for over 30 years. at this point, he's credited with making the careers of people like notorious big and mary j. blige, and even now, he is one of hip hop's billionaires. he's someone who's skyrocketed in not only in
6:40 pm
the music space, but wine and spirits, restaurants, media with his own company revolt entertainment. and so he's someone who's one of the most well connected, influential and richest people, definitely a power player in the space. so to hear these allegations, and these indiscretions, was a big shock. amna: as you know, cassie's case was settled out of court relatively quickly, which she wasn't the only one to come forward. three other women have come forward, one of whom was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse. diddy is one of the most powerful people in this space. when you look at this is this a moment of a larger reckoning in the industry, or is that going too far? >> it's an interesting question and one that has been circling around a lot of hip hop spaces right now. as we were saying, this is one of many cases that have been filed. there were also civil suits filed against former record executive l.a. reid,
6:41 pm
another former record exact, jimmy iovine, also two very powerful people in the music space. so it is definitely bringing back to conversations of a me too reckoning, but there and it's a crucial turning point that we could be having right now. but i do think it is a bit too early to tell. so it's a yes and no. there are a lot of big events that are coming up that will determine where diddy and others lie in terms of their own cultural capital. things like the grammys which diddy is nominated in the 2024 ceremony. that's when we'll really see the power of his proximity. the power of his bank account and how people relate to him and align with him going forward amna: meanwhile, all these other many, many women are searching for justice in their cases that the deadline for this adult survivors act has now passed. so now what? what happens with those cases? what happens with anyone else who wants to come forward with the case from long ago? >> the most important thing to tell any survivor is that if they think they could have a
6:42 pm
case or they've been hurt, and they want to seek justice, they should learn their legal rights. the legal landscape is actually fairly complicated. and it depends on when the assaults happened as to whether or not you have a live claim. but the fact is, having a time limit to immediately file a lawsuit after you've either been controlled by and or abused for years, sometimes by a perpetrator, it is something that takes years to understand and get healthy from, and get to a place where you actually feel like maybe you can pursue something and can face this perpetrator again in court. it is not an easy thing, and i think the public and the legislators should understand that. and that should be reflected in extending or eliminating statues of limitations. amna: attorney marianne wang and
6:43 pm
npr music correspondent sydney madden joining us tonight. thank you to you both. we appreciate your time. >> thank you amna. ♪ geoff: while many jewish-americans are celebrating hanukkah this week, some of the festivities are being tempered by the ongoing war between israel and hamas, and concerns closer to home, of antisemitism. we spoke with people across the country about what hanukkah means to them and if they are celebrating it differently this year. >> i'm rebecca lowin. >> my name is david berenson. i'm from the cleveland area. >> i'm rabbi jill perlman and i serve as the senior rabbi at temple isaiah in lafayette, california. >> my name is gadi peleg and i'm the founder and owner of breads bakery in new york city. >> my name is marc baker. i'm the president and ceo of combined jew with -- jewish
6:44 pm
philanthropy is. the hanukkah holiday feels incredibly poignant and in some ways too relevant to this year. hanukkah, first and foremost, is a story about resistance. it's about our willingness to stand up and fight against people who would try to do us harm. and it's a story about the courage to overcome in the face of people who try to wipe you out. >> in our synagogue and in synagogues across the country we will be holding close the the -- the over 130 hostages that are still being held in gaza. we are hoping and praying for peace in the region and that all who are suffering, the innocent who are suffering in gaza in , israel, that that suffering is able to come to an end and we're able to find a solution that will be one in which all will ultimately be at peace. >> i run a jewish focus lifestyle blog. i recently had a post take off on instagram that was all about how to celebrate in this year given everything that is going on in the middle east and here at home with the rise of anti-semitism.
6:45 pm
>> moses said it best, "i have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, oh that you would choose life so that you and your children may live." so go ahead and host. celebrate. decorate. bake cupcakes with tiny potatoes on them. whatever you do just don't do it lightly. i think one reason why the video went viral is that people within the jewish community are looking for that permission to resume normal life and to celebrate this holiday that we all love so much and to do it with with some joy in our hearts. >> it is of course the celebration of the miracle of the oil. and that miracle is celebrated by eating sufganiyot, that are jelly donuts, and lot because. -- latkes. we are seeing a huge demand for all of our hanukkah items as people are eager to celebrate this holiday, which has particular importance and particular meaning this year. >> we need to come together as a
6:46 pm
community and publicly to say we're proud of who we are and nothing's going to get in the way of us celebrating our tradition and our past and our stories and also passing it on to our children. >> we have family coming in from out of town that we don't always have around hanukkah. i don't know what to anticipate with our family discussions this year. i'm kind of looking forward to it, even though it may be challenging at a time because you get ten people together in a room and you get 15 different perspectives. >> we can hold multiple emotions and and multiple reactions to what is happening at the same time. there is sadness and even some despair over the ongoing war in israel and in gaza. but we're also going to continue to hold on to hope and make sure that we are finding the joy of this holiday and the joy of of just what it means to be alive each
6:47 pm
and every day. ♪ amna: major league baseball's shohei ohtani is heading to the l.a. dodgers. his new home stadium is only about 30 miles north of where he currently plays with the los angeles angels. but that small move is coming with a big paycheck. ohtani's record-breaking $700 million, 10-year contract recognizes his value as a unique baseball talent, the likes of which we haven't seen in generations. stephanie sy looks at the ohtani phenomenon, his massive contract and what it could mean for baseball. stephanie: shohei ohtani's contract is the highest in professional team sports in america. he blew by a record set by the kansas city chiefs quarterback
6:48 pm
by $250 million. the 29-year-old dominates in pitching and hitting. he was the most valuable player or this past season. i am joined by a a sports writer and author of "why we love baseball." ohtani how great isohtani ohtani ? is he the greatest the sport has ever seen? >> it is early to call him the greatest to ever play but i think you could say that nobody has ever been like him. he is unlike anybody. we have never seen a player who is both a dominant header and a dominant pitcher at the same time. it has happened in the past, babe ruth started his career as a pitcher but when he hit he had left pitching behind. to see what shohei ohtani has done has been remarkable. stephanie: ohtani said until the
6:49 pm
last day of his playing career he wants to strive forward not only for the dodgers, but for the baseball world. why is ohtani and the deal so good for baseball? >> i think it is because he is so good for baseball. in that statement, you hear what makes them special. that is that he is not just playing for himself, not just for his team, not just playing for today. he is playing to be one of the great players who ever lived. and it is part of who he is. it is why he decided to try to hit and pitch. it hasn't been done. it has been something that has driven him to be not only a great player, but one of the greatest and one of the players who pushes baseball forward and obviously it is so good for the sport. it is exciting for the sport to have him with sort of a marquee team like the los angeles dodgers. stephanie: i want to get to the team for a second.
6:50 pm
you can't be the greatest without a world series title. with the angels ohtani has never made it to the playoffs. the dodgers have made it to the playoffs every year for more than a decade. is that what is in it for him? >> it is a big part of what is in it for him. you are right. i don't think you can be considered the greatest ever if you haven't played in the world series and thrived in the world series, done amazing things in the world series. it is sort of part of baseball. it wasn't happening in anaheim, with angels. he needed to go to a team where he could succeed. the dodgers have not only made the playoffs, they have won 100 games five or six times in the last few years. every year they are dominant. that has to be exciting for him and it is exciting for us. stephanie: between ohtani, mooki e betts and freddie freeman,
6:51 pm
they will generate excitement but there is pressure. can they handle that? >> they can handle the pressure. all of them, certainly betts and freeman have been there already. what is thought about the dodgers -- fun about the dodgers from an outsiders perspective he as they face this pressure every year. there is no year where it is good enough to win 100 games and make the playoffs. the intense pressure is on them to win the world series every year. they haven't really done that. they have won one world series, in 2020 the covid year. so it is a bit of a different kind of season. the pressure is always there. stephanie: i want to talk about this contract but also, the fact that shohei ohtani has had two surgeries related to his elbow and i believe has another surgery going in. he won't be pitching next year. he will be heading but not
6:52 pm
pitching -- hitting but not pitching. 97% of the payout in the contract is basically deferred until he is like 40 years old, about ready to retire. that is legal? doesn't that give the dodgers another advantage, to keep paying high salaries to other great players in the organization? >> that had to be a big part of it for ohtani. it doesn't feel legal to me. it is a $700 million contract that doesn't really begin until 2034. so it is a very strange thing, and it is hard to get your arms around what it. for the dodgers, it means they couldn't get more pitching, which they need -- they can get more pitching, which they need. the injuries had to be part of the decision process because you are right. as far as we know, he will not pitch this year. we don't know exactly what the surgery has been and where his
6:53 pm
elbow is from a health perspective. you would think the dodgers have a better perspective then any of us to come up with the thing that is amazing about shohei ohtani is how driven he is to get better, how driven he is to be part of baseball history. i'm sure the dodgers are betting on that kind of commitment from shohei ohtani. stephanie: joe, author of "why we love baseball," great to have you. >> great to be here. ♪ geoff: later tonight, a film about one of the biggest leaks of government secrets in u.s. history. the discord leaks focuses on the more than 300 pages of classified information posted on the chat platform discord, allegedly by 21-year-old airman
6:54 pm
jack teixeira. >> in summer 2020 jack graduates high school, the first year of the pandemic. he skips high school graduation because he is off to basic training at lackland air force base. he goes on to start taking the coursework he needs to become a cyber transport specialist. >> it was a low level i.t. job, but it required a security clearance and a background check. >> he was a little worried they were going to in the interview, bring up we found the discord account or the discord server. at that time he did become less active on discord and he was worried about keeping the things he was doing private and safe. >> what was he specifically worried that the investigation might turn up with regards to discord? >> there was a lot of racist talk on the server. there was a lot of talk of killing atf agents, killing
6:55 pm
different government officials. committing acts of terrorism. things that are probably not great for someone in the military to be saying. so i think that is probably what he was worried about. >> but he was investigated and ultimately approved for security clearance by the department of defense. >> one question we have right now is, how did jack teixeira get the security clearance? when we look at the things he posted online, the racist comments, the memes and imagery, the fact that he accessed classified documents, wait a minute. there should have been red flags along the way. geoff: the discord leaks repeat -- premiers tonight on pbs and youtube. amna: that is the newshour for tonight. geoff: thanks for joining us and have a good evening.
6:56 pm
>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> consumer cellular, how may i help you? >> a pocket dial. thought i would let you know you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪
6:57 pm
>> this is pbs newshour west from wbt a studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >>
6:58 pm
6:59 pm
7:00 pm
wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. pati, voice-over: when a young widow made an offer on this shack in allende, nuevo león, to open a business and support her kids, she was refused because she's a woman. but she was persistent. and 40 years later, dolores and her sister chiva have one of the most popular lunch spots in nuevo león-- las comadres.