♪ >> good evening. i'm geoff bennett. >> i'm amna nawaz. the defense prosecution make their argument in former president trump's criminal trial. >> israeli tanks reach the center of rafah as outrage and tensions intensify after the deadly strike on a refugee camp. >> sudan's brutal civil war

brings mass killing, torture, and looming famine to millions cop in the crossfire. >> the eyes are in ukraine and russia, but we have not a lot of help. people need food and medicine. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has 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. >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences.

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broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome to the newshour. in new york city, the prosecution and the defense made their final case to jurors in the criminal hush money trial of former president trump. >> prosecutors reiterated the allegation donald trump falsify business records to conceal news of an alleged affair that could have harmed his chances of becoming president. for their part, the defense team argued charges are baseless, that no laws were broken, and the prosecution's case relies on the testimony of an untrustworthy witness. william brangham has been following the trial from new york and joins us now. per new york law, the defense offered its closing arguments first and donald trump team has argued the charges are baseless. overall, how did they try to persuade the jury to vote not guilty? >> trump's lead lawyer todd

blanche leaned into what you just referred to. while we all call this the hush money case, it is about the falsification of business records. those that are meant to cover up the hush-money payments to stormy daniels that was by michael cohen. todd blanche leaned into it and said it is not a hush money case, it is a paper case. he argued donald trump had nothing to do with creating any of that paper. that is the 34 charges, 34 different invoices, ledgers, checks, and check stubs that are central to this case. blanche argued there is no evidence donald trump created those, orchestrated those, or knew anything about those. there is no evidence he did that with the intent to conceal anything. and no evidence he tried to do that to win an election. he argued the national enquirer

scheme, the whole catch and kill scheme set up in 2016, was not illegal, that the nondisclosure agreements aren't illegal, there is nothing wrong about them, in essence and they are quite common. he also stressed, the central witnesses here, stormy daniels partly, but michael cohen principally, cannot be trusted. and that they had personal and financial reasons to make up stories about donald trump and his alleged scheme in all of this. >> tell us more about that. michael cohen is clearly the prosecution's key witness. how did mr. blanche try and undercut his testimony? >> he spent a good deal of his time trying to do this and illustrated examples of michael cohen lying in the past and allegedly on the stand in this particular case. the critical part is there are

cases where michael cohen is the only one testifying to the centrality of donald trump's role in this alleged scheme. giving jurors a reason to doubt michael cohen is critical. that was a huge part of his closing. several times, blanche would bring examples of michael cohen allegedly lying and punctuate it saying that was a lie. blanche actually gave michael cohen his own special title for not telling the truth. he said you know how people call tom brady the goat, the greatest of all time, michael cohen is the gloat, the greatest liar of all time. >> as we said, the defense went first this afternoon. it was the prosecution's turn. how have they tried to recast their case to the jury? >> recast is the right word. while the defense focused on the financial records and how you cannot trust michael cohen, prosecutor john stein glass quickly sketched out a much

broader focus that he wants the jury to think about. that is how these efforts back in 2016, the catch and kill scheme with the national enquirer, and separately with stormy daniels and the alleged cover up of that, that those were all an effort to basically create a fraud on the american voting public. that hush-money payments deprive voters of critical information, that the prosecutors argue could have changed the course of that election. that is not what trump is charged with. he's charged with the falsification of records. and stein glass got into the granular detail of those. prosecutors want jurors to see this first and foremost as an improper, illegal effort to protect then candidate trump and now protect www.wdsu.com president trump. -- and now protect president trump. >> with the defense calling michael cohen the liar of all time, how did the prosecution

try to counter that narrative. >> stein glass spent a lot of time trying to do image rehabilitation today. he acknowledged he's a liar, he pled guilty to a lot of lies, but a lot of the evidence was backed up by cell phone data or other documentary evidence. in a particularly cutting moment, stein glass said, a common line that prosecutors use, is he said we did not choose, the prosecutors did not choose michael cohen, we did not pick him up at the witness store, donald trump shows him as his fixer. stein glass noted trump's team has said if michael cohen was in fact making these stories up, why didn't he make up better stories and tell a better lie that said trump told michael cohen let's definitely cook up the books? he said he did not see those things because he limited himself to what actually happened.

stein glass argued after 2018, michael cohen started telling the truth and that has not changed. >> in the time that remains, let's talk about the federal classified documents case against donald trump. jack smith, his office was denied a gag order on donald trump following an extraordinary allegation that donald trump made. >> again, extraordinary is absolutely the right word. last week, donald trump accused president biden of sending fbi agent's to his home with the intent to assassinate him. this goes back to the execution of the search warrant that the fbi did looking for the classified documents two years ago. they found many classified documents at trump's home. there were documents that were recently unsealed. in them, tru seized on language that was boilerplate language about how the fbi

executes these types of search warrants. even though they are completely routine, basic, boilerplate language, trump exaggerated what happened. he sent out a fundraising email. it says biden doj was authorized to shoot me. you know they are itching to do the unthinkable. joe biden was locked and loaded, ready to take me out and put my family in danger. there is no evidence any of that was true. special counsel jack smith asked for a gag order saying it was dangerous to federal agents, the judge denied it. william brangham, thank you. >> thank you, jeff. >> in the days other headlines, president biden will be formally nominated as the democratic presidential nominee through a

virtual roll call. that is instead of the usual process, which takes at the party's convention. this year's democratic national convention is scheduled to start on august 19, which comes after ohio's ballot deadline. in a statement, the dnc chair said this plan would ensure ohioans could exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice. the treasury department is easing some financial restrictions on cuba in an effort to boost the island nation's private sector prayed one of the biggest changes would allow cuban entrepreneurs to open u.s. bank accounts and access them online. a senior u.s. official told reporters "we are taking an important step to support the expansion of free enterprise and the expansion of the entrepreneurial business sector into your -- in cuba." there are about 1000 private businesses in cuba accounting for one third of the island's employment. violent storms swept through north texas this morning, leaving more than one million businesses and homes without

power. in dallas, strong winds blew the roof off of a hardware store and toppled trees, crushing cars and blocking streets. golf ball size hail pummeled the area late yesterday. it follows a weekend of deadly weather that killed at least 25 people across seven states. white house officials say the fema administrator will visit hard hit arkansas tomorrow to assess the damage. >> the federal government stands ready to support as needed. as we turns toward -- turn towards recovering, we expect areas to remain vigilant and continue listening to state and local officials. we also want to encourage everyone nationwide to prepare now for potential rare weather in your area. >> the extreme weather in texas has already the state's primary voting. roughly 100 voting sites in dallas county were knocked off-line due to power outages. a u.s. appeals court has fast-track the timeline for tiktok's legal battle against

the u.s. justice department. the social media app is challenging a law requiring its chinese parent company to divest its u.s. assets by january of next year or face a ban. the court said arguments for september after a group of tiktok creators joint tiktok and the doj in asking the court to expedite the process. belgium committed $1 billion in military aid to ukraine a day after spain pledged the same amount. the ukrainian president sealed the deal in brussels, where he toured an airbase. as part of its pledge, belgium will send 30 f-16 fighter jets. in the meantime, russian president vladimir putin warned european nations against increasing their involvement in the war. >> representatives of nato countries, especially in europe, especially in small countries, must be aware of what they are playing with. they must remember this is a state with a small territory and

a very dense population. this is a factor they should keep in mind before talking about striking deep into russian territory. >> volodymyr zelenskyy signed a100 $37 million security deal with portugal. that includes both military and financial aid. taiwan's legislature passed a package of bills seen as favorable to china because they limit the powers of violence president. the changes were pushed by the opposition nationalist party which supports unification with china. during a fiery session in parliament, lawmakers from the democratic progressive party, which support independence, protested on the floor and through garbage bags at the other side. outside of the may -- massive crowds gathered to protest the changes. it is unclear whether the bills will make it to the president's desk for final passage. on wall street, stocks ended mixed after consumer confidence rose in may following three months of decline. the dow jones industrial average lost 216 points to close at

38,852. the nasdaq rose nearly 100 points to close above 17,000 for the first time ever. the s&p 500 is flat. and we have a unique passing of note. the world's longest-serving flight attendant has died. betty nash spent nearly 70 years in the air. she began her career with eastern airlines in 1957. nash died on may 17 following a recent breast cancer diagnosis. she was still employed by american airlines at the top of -- time of her passing. the carrier wrote on social media nash inspired generations of flight attendants. fly high. betty nash was 88 years old. on the newshour, pope francis apologizes for using a homophobic slur. a look at president biden's plans to reform immigration if he wins in november. and how the reclassification of marijuana could change drug

enforcement policy. >> 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. >> israel kept up its operations in rafa in southern gaza. that is despite global outrage over an airstrike sunday that killed displaced gazans sheltering in tents. nick schifrin reports on the investigation into the incident and speaks to a senior state department advisor on the middle east as the violence continues. >> in southern gaza, another makeshift home to which gazans had led -- fled now ruined and riddled with bullets. in the shadow of a u.n. office with constant israeli drones overhead, survivors are exhausted and hopeless. little protection long ago pierced. >> i went into the tent and found the woman was bleeding and

the children were bleeding. all of the children in the tent were wounded. not one came out in one piece. >> a few miles north in what israel labeled a safer zone, the living felt outnumbered by the dead. gazan officials say this violence hit israel's humanitarian area north of rafa city. an israeli official told pbs newshour there was no israeli military activity in the area at the time. the israeli military said the sunday strike that incinerated a tent city, burning and killing what humanitarian organization estimates to be 200 civilians, also targeted and killed two hamas leaders. israel says it's initial strike hit 180 meters, almost 600 feet from the camp for the displaced and the fire was not caused by his weapon. >> we are looking into all possibilities. including the option of weapons

stored in a compound next to our target, which we did not know of may have ignited as a result of the strike. >> that was cold comfort to the toddler who would not flee without her prized possession. those fleeing rafah have nowhere to go, but say they cannot stay here. one million had fled in the last three weeks. as for humanitarian aid, the u.s. said it had to temporarily pause the military built. to gaza after waves had damaged it. u.n. says 200 t-rex entered gaza, the number as of yesterday, far short of the 500 plus gaza needs daily. in gaza as well as u.s. policy toward israel, we turn to david satterfield, senior advisor to the state department. he recently stepped down as special envoy for middle east humanitarian issues. he's also the director of rice

university's baker institute for public policy. thank you very much, welcome to the newshour. israel today said the fire that killed so many in a tent camp on sunday was caused by a secondary explosion. is this exactly the kind of incident you are warning israel about when you are warning it against a major operation in rafa? >> we were concerned in advance of the operation about two things. first, the effective displacement. again, because these people have been displacement. the civilian population. that displacement has in fact occurred. our second concern was about the physical impact of an operation. however confined on the ability to move humanitarian assistance from rafa terminal into gaza proper. and there we've had significant challenges since the operation began. >> when it comes to the

threshold of punishing israel for a rough operation the u.s. has warned again, jake sullivan said this last week. >> one of you asked me how i was going to judge this. i said there was no mathematical formula. we will look at whether there is a lot of death and destruction from this operation, or if it is more precise and proportional. and we will see that unfold. >> does the incineration of so many people in that camp match a lot of death and destruction? >> we continue to regard what is happening on the ground in rafa as a limited operation in terms of its scope. but the effect, heartbreaking as it is to see the images of civilians, women and children suffering in this, we are not in a position to make an independent judgment on what was responsible, who was responsible for that incident. >> even if you don't know who or what was responsible, the kind

of images we saw in the numbers we saw from the sunday incident, is it not exactly what the u.s. was concerned about? >> we are concerned about maximum efforts being undertaken by israel to protect as much as possible in this conflict which hamas brought about, the ability of civilians to live in as much security as possible. this is a very tough fight, we understand. we understand the need to address the hamas battalions that remain in rafa. but the manner of a dressel has to be done as carefully as possible. >> is there a particular military movement that would cross the threshold president biden has said that would lead to more weapons withholdings? >> it is not a mathematical question. there's a number that creates a threshold here. it is the totality of what is going on. and the president has made this, as have other senior officials,

that we don't believe a full blown ground maneuver campaign in central rafa is appropriate or can be supported by the u.s. we have not as of this moment seen such a campaign. >> yet according to the u.n., we have seen some one million people fleeing rafah in the last three weeks. did you warned the israelis that this kind of displacement would happen? have they prepared enough for it? >> we expressed two primary concerns. one was no matter how precise an operation in terms of its intent, or actual scope, the effect on a multiply displaced population will be a much larger exit from rafah than israel itself had expected are planned for. our second concern is such a displacement would need to have

adequate preparation in terms of shelter, feeding sanitation, medical support for those moving. we did not believe prior to the operation beginning that such incredible executable plans existed. we did not see adequate support for that population that moved on the ground today. >> zooming out, do you think hamas can be defeated with a military operation? >> the defeat of hamas requires two things. it requires military action. hamas has a terrorist army that started out at some 30,000 persons. only a portion of those numbers had been taken off the battlefield. military action is required, but political action is also required. you cannot defeat an idea without a counter idea. the administration has been very clear. we believe israel must outline. an outline clearly a commitment

to an alternate political vision, to an alternate horizon, then hamas' islamist extremist vision. that is an incredible pathway to a two state resolution. >> the u.s. approached netanyahu and offered a choice. you can either go down the current road of fighting endlessly in gaza, or you can take the so-called high road, the project the u.s. has been working on, not only visions of the future of gaza, but also normalization with saudi arabia. what happens if benjamin netanyahu does not take the choice? >> i will not comment on hypotheticals. but i will say there's an opportunity here for the region, israel, palestinians to move forward in a different way, in a more positive direction than in the past. it is essential gaza not return to what it was before october 7. that the people of gaza, the 2.2 million, not be held in rigid

control by a terrorist group. the palestinians deserve more. and all of us are working to try to hold out the prospect of more and better for them. >> ambassador satterfield, thank you. >> pope francis has issued a rare apology after broke he allegedly used an offensive and derogatory italian slur referring to gay men while reaffirming his position against their admission to seminaries and priesthood. the pope made the remark in a closed-door meeting with italian bishops last week. reactions have been divided over whether his use of the slur was intentional or a linguistic gaff . to discuss the implications, we are joined by the executive director of dignity usa, an organization that focuses on lgbtq rights in the catholic

church. thank you for being with us. in issuing the apology, a vatican spokesperson in a statement said the pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and apologizes to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others. how does all of this strike you? the use of the word, and there is debate about the intent, but also the underlying point that gay men should not be allowed to train in seminaries as priests? >> the reality is there are tens of thousands, if not millions of gay men who are priests, or who are in seminaries training to be priests. and our church and the service to the people of god that the church provides could not happen without those who serve currently and without the priests, bishops, and perhaps even the popes who were gay, who had served our church in the past.

so it is a reality, god calls whom god wants to call to ordained ministry's our church. the fact a slur was used, whether intentional or not, really points to the fact our church is still conflicted to a great degree about the issues of gender and sexual orientation, whether in the priesthood or beyond. and sometimes, that just comes to the fore as in this instance. >> yet pope francis has done more to make any catholic church more inclusive to lgbtq people. maybe not in terms of doctrine, but certainly in terms of tone regarding the church's approach and attitude. how do you reconcile that? >> i think the issue is it is not reconcilable.

it is a fundamental conflict. you cannot simultaneously want to welcome, affirm, and offer the full range of services to our church and at the same time uphold official teachings that say we are fundamentally flawed in some way in terms of god's vision for humanity. when you try and hold those things together, it does not work. and i think pope francis has become emblematic of the conflict that exists at every level of our church in every countr where the church is present. >> tell me more about that. i was thinking of the pope allowing priests to bless same-sex couples while making clear the church still views marriage as the holy union of a man and a woman. how does the church navigate the desire to be more welcoming while also skewing to traditional catholic doctrine? >> the church winds up itself in

knots with these kinds of issues. you may have seen the pope's recent clarification in a tv interview that he's not allowing the blessing of same-sex couples. he is allowing the blessing of the individuals in that couples. most of us understand that is a distinction without a difference. but in the catholic church, upholding that distinction still has some kind of theological importance. the way that most catholics live, certainly in this country and many other places around the world, is they have recognized the love that exists between two committed people of the same gender is just as holy, is just as sacred, and should be blessed in the same way that the love between a woman and a man decide to make that commitment. >> the united methodist church

recently struck down their long-standing anti-lgbtq policies. the episcopal church, the lutheran church, presbyterian church, have all removed their barriers to lgbtq camp participation in the pulpit and up the altar. do you ever foresee the catholic church taking a similar step? >> i think the reality is most catholics have already taken that step in their own consciousness. what is missing is for the leadership of the church and the dogma of the church to change. we see the ever widening golf between the people of the church and its leadership, and in many cases, that is leading people to diss affiliate from the institutional church. even as they hold their faith, and many of the primary teachings of catholicism very dear. >> the executive director of

dignity usa, thank you for your insights and time. >> the biden administration is preparing an executive action that will allow president biden to temporarily shut down the u.s. southern border. this comes amid pressure from both sides of the aisle to curb the flow of border crossings. our white house correspondent has been covering this and me now. what do we know about this expected executive order? >> it would use a section of u.s. immigration law known as 212f authority that gives biden the power to suspend entry of migrants temporarily. it will be expected to similar language used in the bipartisan senate border deal that failed. for example, if there is an average of 5000 migrants encountered each day over the course of seven days, the

authority would be triggered and president biden would be able to shut down the border until those encounters fall. a white house official told me no final decisions have been made about an executive action being considered. sources told me the executive action can come as early as next week after the mexican elections on june 2. >> when you look at who has been encountered at the southern border, who would this executive action impact? >> sources told me it is expected to apply to most migrants. but unaccompanied children often receive humanitarian exceptions in an executive action like this. the big picture is this is going to restrict who can seek asylum ultimately. when you look at the picture on the southern border, it is important to note since december of 2023, the total number of encounters by border patrol at the southern border has increased from almost 250,000 to

roughly 129,000 in april, and most are single adults. q you have been talking to immigration lawyers, democratic sources, how is news of this order going down? >> one advocate said the administration should expect legal challenges. i also spoke to melissa adamson who is an immigration lawyer for the national center for youth law who said that closing the border could ultimately end up being very harmful to children and families. >> what we saw in 2020 was closing the border exposes children to more exploitation, kidnapping, physical and sexual violence while they are stranded in mexico and way to cross the border. it also leads to increase family separation. because family units are not allowed to present, they may have a impossible choice of sending their children across the border alone as unaccompanied minors to seek safety in the united states.

we know if people can't cross at ports of entry and they are forced to seek more dangerous routes in mountainous areas and remote desert locations, and when that happens, we know it leads to more injuries and illness and death as people try and get into the u.s. >> when i asked the administration about concerns like that from melissa adamson, they said the president is trying to balance humane pathways of entry for migrants, as well as enforcing control at the border and border security. the white house spokesperson said they are constantly exploring policy options for the president to take. they specifically took aim at republicans for ultimately killing the bipartisan border deal. another expert i spoke to, who runs a nonprofit that helps migrants, helps refugees at the border so that no matter what, if this executive action isn't limited to, migrants will continue to come. and when she talks to many

migrants at the border, they are often not aware of restrictions that are put in place by administrations. this administration or prior ones. >> we know real immigration reform has to come through congress. the president tried to do that through congress, there was a bipartisan senate bill republicans backed away from. of us a sense on what kind of political pressure president biden is under in this issue. >> multiple hill sources told me members of hispanic caucus leadership met with president biden and vice president harris as well as white house staff last week at the white house. they talked about this coming executive order, they also pressed the president, saying they wished he considered other executive action that could essentially expand work permits for migrants already in the united states. they also raised concerns about the president's outreach to latino voters.

some lawmakers ultimately worry the executive order as well as linkage in the bipartisan border bill that a number of democrats supported in the senate would set a standard for future actions, future asylum actions, it can be more severe, more restrictive. again, the president is balancing those concerns with those of moderate democrats facing tough reelections who want to upper actions taken at the border. as well as facing attacks from republicans who are falsely claiming to stir up support among their base that violent crime has increased because of immigration, despite the fact thdata does not show that. for a sense of how voters rank it, a gallup poll from april 2024 found immigration was the top issue facing the u.s. for americans they surveyed, outranking the economy and immigration has repeatedly been a top issue for many voters. >> that is our white house correspondent.

thank you for your reporting. >> sudan's civil war has left tens of thousands dead and displaced millions over the nearly 14 months since the sudanese military and paramilitary rapid support forces plunged the country into a devastating war. the capital is a battleground as is its neighboring city. and it is from there that lindsay hill some of independent television news reports. >> they want to show they are on top. soldiers and police of the sudan armed forces in the center doing the sign of the falcon, we have seized our prey. the aim is to demonstrate to us that they are back in control and that the people are happy to see them. but such triumphalism is

premature. they may have driven the rapid support force militia out of this part of ondemand in march. but their enemies still occupies the twin city and much of the rest of sudan. we drive through a city of ruins . imagine the shopkeepers, the people who lived here, the lives destroyed by this futile war. families rescue a few belongings from looters. every 100 meters or so, new local recruits directed another checkpoint. everyone is nervous. the general per size over devastation. over a country that is coming apart. the legitimacy of his leadership open to question. the last battle was fought here in the middle of march.

this area was absolutely littered with bodies. the ministry of health came and removed hundreds. but the rsf is still just about four kilometers up the road. the battle for the capital of sue don is not over it -- sudan is not over yet. walls that remain intact hide the greatest horrors. this house was owned by a poet who fled to saudi arabia. the rsf took it over. but they did not just trash the place like elsewhere. they turned it into a torture or maybe execution chamber. they dug a pit and placed a pulley on an iron bar on the ceiling to hoist people up and suspend them. rumors of what happened here spread. after the rs f was driven out, the homeowners asked a neighbor to come and check. >> when i came here, i was shocked at what i saw in front

of me. what could have gone on here? afterwards, i told other people there was something strange in the house. from the site of the iron bar in the holes in the ground, it is obvious something terrible happened here. >> we find document listing names. 31-year-old omar oxman adam, a 31-year-old woman, 12 names in total, all accused of great betrayal. in other words, not supporting the rss. and amongst the debris, mementos of the happy family who once lived here who could never in their worst imaginings have predicted what would happen in their home. so there were really big battles here. i walked a few yards around the corner with -- who stayed at home here for four months into the fighting became too intense. outside his house, we could smell death.

makeshift graves. slogans have been graffiti on the walls. this is your car? >> it is. >> his house was badly damaged. a rocket hit after he left. but -- which is grandfather adorned the walls when he built the house in the 1940's, remains. >> happening to all of us. we hear about wars, not here. it is very bad. >> do you think you will live here again? >> sure. it is my house, my home. >> the children still play, even if they fled their homes after living in a school that doubles

as a center for the displaced. their mothers can't forget what brought them here. >> the rs f attacked our homes and try to rape our girls. we hid them upstairs, but the men killed the girl's aunts and uncles who were trying to defend them. now the situation is difficult. our men cannot find jobs. >> in the absence of international aid, neighborhood groups are pitching in. do you think the international community has let you down? >> yes, unfortunately i think so. people in ukraine and gaza have their eyes there, but we don't have help here. people need their medicine. >> as simple as that? >> because in war, you see the best as well as the worst of humankind. the best being people like --

who started a soup kitchen for displaced people funded by local shops and friends in the sudanese diaspora. >> you stayed here through the war, were you not afraid? >> no. not afraid. afraid of what? >> afraid of being killed? >> we will die once -- >> this family just escaped to the southeast, where the rs f recently seized control. all over sudan, people are getting hungry because they have lost everything. the economy has collapsed. armed men frequently stealing what little aid is available. >> the situation is very bad. they are killing civilians, looting them, and throwing them out of their homes. they took the livelihoods, crops, and everything they had. >> ruin upon ruin, row on row,

not a paradise lost, but a country. neighboring powers are fueling the war. the united arming the rs f, iran, and egypt. if the parties are not forced to negotiate, what would be left of sudan? nothing that can be reassembled. but a failed state a forever war, its people dispersed and destitute. >> that report was from lindsay hilson. >> this month, president biden announced the department of justice is planning a historic shift in the federal apart -- approach to marijuana, reclassifying it from a schedule one drug schedule three. it would make federal treatment of marijuana far less restrictive and consider it less

dangerous. putting it in the same category as tylenol with codeine and ketamine. it would classify it as a drug that has potential for abuse while still being acknowledged for its medicinal benefits. the president talked about the decision in a video posted on x. >> far too many lives have been upended because of failed approach to marijuana. i'm committed to writing those wrongs. you have my word on it. >> joining us is natalie for dig from politico. this is the next step in a reclassification process the president began in 2022. walk us through the timeline. where in that process are we now? >> we began a 60 day comment period where the doj said we now made our formal decision, issued a draft rule that we are going to reschedule cannabis. it started last week, and now this kid and five months from now or six or seven years from now, depending if there is legal challenges in that process.

>> still a lot we don't yet know. we don't see change when it comes to cannabis legalization in america over the past decade. if you look at the map, some 24 states have legalized marijuana possession for adults. some 30 estates established medical marijuana programs. more than half of all americans now live in states where marijuana is recreational legal at the state level. what does this classification change in a practical way? >> there's a lot of things it would not change. but the main difference it would have is on the cannabis industry in itself. in states where it is legal. it would change the amount of taxes they have to pay. meaning more money in the cannabis industry's pocket, which they could expand in legal states. >> there's 15,000 dispensaries in the country right now? tax changes? does it change how they interact with banks? >> it is not clear how the big banks will approach the change in schedule. that is one of the remains to be seen as is settled.

that would have an impact on the amount of taxes they pay. it has also been reported dispensaries would have to register with the dea like other pharmacies. is it true and how would it change the industry? >> under schedule three or schedule one, where they currently are, they need to register with the dea. they do not currently. one of the other questions of rescheduling his will the dea start to enforce some of the rules the cannabis industry is currently already breaking? like getting registered with the dea? >> this is something president biden mentioned in the video, the impact on the criminal justice system in particular. people who have already been convicted of marijuana related crimes. what would this change mean for them? either retroactively or people currently incarcerated? one of the biggest criticisms of his rescheduling movement is it does not have a big impact people of a criminal record. intro people who have criminal

rep are in the state criminal justice system. he did issue some pardons for people with low-level offenses, but that is a couple thousand people. we know the proposal needs to move through the dea. how are they likely to look at this? do we know if the proposal will move through and will we see that approval? >> yeah, so what we just saw recently was the dea and the doj coming out saying we have looked at the review that was sent to us by hhs, and we are recommending a reschedule. people get to comment on that. there might be some legal challenges. when the dust settles, there would need to be some big challenges for the dea to change its mind on that. it is likely to be a reschedule. but it is likely to get challenges in the courts, which means it might be up to the court system. >> it is fascinating looking at

america and how this is unfolding. there is a study published last month that showed daily alcohol consumption was surpassed by marijuana use. and americans have different views when it comes to pot. look at the latest gallup polls, it found some 70% of adults now support legalization. that is the highest number ever reported in that survey. what does your reporting tell you about the why behind all of this? why present abide in pushing for these changes? >> a big part of that has come from the younger generations. gen z and millennials are more likely to be consuming cannabis than generations before them, and more likely to poll in favor of it. biden is heading into a very important election. he's not necessarily doing as well among those younger voters as he would like. so there is some hope potentially amongst democrats, something like this with marijuana could push some of those voters that are skeptical or annoyed or frustrated with

the president to turn out to vote in november. >> we will see if it does in fact. great to have you here. thank you. >> there is a new original voice in the world of poetry. indigenous new zealander take tables poems about what it means to be a -- woman have resonated with audiences far beyond her home in the pacific. jeffrey brown up with the acclaimed poet as part of our arts and culture series canvas. >> my ancestors ride with me. they twerk on the roof of the uber as i'm late to the party. they get me full tank -- me in the mirror. >> indigenous ancestors, mascara, wants, and glitter part of her work.

a proud member of new zealand's native maori community. >> my ancestors ride

[swift tones] [eararnest music] - hello everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company". here's what's coming up. - this has been a slow motion mass murder of children five months in the making. - [host] the muslim holy month of ramadan begins with still no relief for desperate gazans or release for desperate israeli hostages. my exclusive conversation with queen rania of jordan. then, america's missteps on the road to war in iraq have been thoroughly picked over, but what did saddam hussein fail to understand about the united states?