good evening. -- geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, former president trump and president biden close in on their parties nominations despite voter concerns about a 2020 rematch. geoff: the long-delayed boeing starliner finally lifts off from cape canaveral, beginning a new

era of crewed space flight. amna: and we travel to france to meet veterans of d-day as they prepare to mark the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of normandy. >> we'd known for some time, of course, what was going to happen, and we knew that we were making history. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has provided by -- >> consumer cellular. this is sam. how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions,

and the way you bring people together. life well planned. >> the judy and peter blinkova foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with us, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's white star service. >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together.

supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.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. ♪ geoff: welcome to the newshour. there was a dramatic shootout at the u.s. embassy in beirut today. the lebanese military says a gunman fired shots at the facility. he was then wounded during an exchange of gunfire with troops, and taken to a hospital for treatment. amna: the army described him as a syrian national. lebanese officials believe he was acting alone. a guard was also wounded in the shooting troops were deployed to -- shooting. troops were deployed to secure the area and set up checkpoints. witnesses said that gunfire lasted for nearly half an hour.

>> we were at work. we heard gunfire. it didn't take a lot of time but we heard around 15 to 20 rounds of gunfire. we ran here to see what's happening, and suddenly, the army blocked us from going up. >> officials say the gunman's motives are not clear. but lebanese media have published photos that appear to show a suspect wearing a black vest with the words "islamic state" written in arabic, and the english initials "i" and "s." the state department says the embassy will re-open for business tomorrow. thousands of ultranationalist israelis took part in an annual parade in jerusalem today to mark israel's capture of the city in 1967. massive crowds marched through a palestinian area of jerusalem, some chanting anti-arab slogans. some clashes between demonstrators and police broke out. authorities say 18 marchers were arrested. meantime, prime minister benjamin netanyahu visited israel's northern border with

lebanon. it comes a day after hezbollah rocket attacks sparked large brush fires in the area. during a tour of a military base, netanyahu addressed calls to ramp up israel's response. >> yesterday, the land was burning here, but the ground was also on fire in lebanon. whoever thinks that he will hurt us and we will sit idly by is making a big mistake. we are prepared for a very strong action in the north. one way or another, we will restore security here. amna: israel and hezbollah have been exchanging fire for months. the fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. hunter biden's ex-wife and his former girlfriend took the stand at his criminal trial in delaware today. they testified to their experiences, witnessing drug use by the president's son, including the moment his then-wife found a crack pipe in an ashtray at their family's home. hunter biden faces three felony charges related to his buying a

tended every day of the trial. so far, but she will travel to meet the president in france later today. separately, house republicans sent criminal referals to the justice department today, accusing hunter biden and the president's brother, james biden, of making false statements to congress. this is part of a broader impeachment inquiry trying to tie the president to his son's business dealings. so far, republicans have presented no evidence of wrongdoing. on capitol hill, the senate rejected a bill this afternoon a at protecting women's access to contraception. the right to contraception act fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass with just 51 for and 39 against. regardless of the outcome, senate democrats were keen to put their republican colleagues on the record when it comes to reproductive rights, ahead of the november election. majority leader chuck schumer said the vote acheived that goal. >> today was not a show vote, this was a show us who you are vote.

senate republicans showed american people exactly who they are. amna: a similar vote over protecting access to in vitro fertilization is expected as soon as next week. the planet is on a 12-month streak of setting new heat records. every month for the last year has been the hottest month ever recorded. that's according to the european union's climate monitoring service. it comes as the u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres says that a target of "limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius is hanging by a thread." >> we are playing russian roulette with our planet, and we need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. amna: guterres took particular aim at fossil fuel companies, calling for a so-called windfall tax on the industry's profits. he referred to them as the "godfathers of climate chaos."

on wall street today,stocks rose across the board on growing hopes that the federal reserve will cut interest rates later this year. the dow jones industrial average gained 96 points to close at 38,807. the nasdaq jumped 330 points, to close above 17,000. the s&p 500 added 62 points, closing at a new record and the -- at a new record. and the first banknotes featuring king charles iii entered circulation in the uk today. people queued up outside the bank of england's headquarters in london today -- yes, i said queued -- to be among the first to get their hands on the notes. the portrait of the king will appear on all five, 10, 20 and 50-pound notes. he's only the second british monarch to appear on britain's currency. the first of course was his mother, queen elizabeth ii, who died in september 2022. still to come on the "newshour", current and former employees warn open ai is not doing enough to prevent its systems from becoming a danger to humanity . veteran negotiator mickey

bergman discusses his new book on the shadowy world of international hostage rescue. and an airline attendant gives his brief but spectacular take on the miracle of flight. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: while joe biden and donald trump earned enough delegates to win their respective party nominations months ago, the primary season is only now officially coming to a close. while joe biden and donald trump earned enough delegates to win their respective party nominations months ago, the primary season is only now officially coming to a close. the two men swept the handful of states that voted yesterday but both still saw some opposition from some primary voters. we now turn to our regular contributors: democratic strategist, faiz shakir and republican strategist kevin madden.

if you look at the results from just one state in new mexico, on the republican side, this is two weeks after nikki haley said she would support trump. we are still seeing her pull votes in primaries. you see mr. trump with 84% of the vote, nikki haley with nine, and uncommitted, getting 3%. for the democrats, mr. biden with an overwhelming win. 84%. but uncommitted getting 10% of the votes and marianne williamson getting 7%. what does this say to you right now about the level of discontent with these two major party candidates and whether or not it is going to change, early voting -- change come early voting? kevin: the voters out there who have -- we don't like either one of these candidates. the other thing that we have learned is that there's still a lot of unfinished business. joe biden still has a problem with his base. he has a lot of younger voters, a lot of disaffected progressive voters that have not yet come

home. donald trump on the other hand still has a nikki haley voter problem. he is three months after the republican nomination has essentially been decided and he still has a hard time uniting the party. if those voters stay home in november, that is going to make or break whether or not donald trump is able to win the election. so these candidates have very clear challenges ahead but neither one of them have really come up with a strategy or a message to confront and solve those problems yet so that is what the next couple of months are going to be all about. faiz: picking up on that point that kevin raises, i see joe biden trying to address what he knows to be concerns within his base so if you look at the efforts of the last week or two, saying to back g -- black voters, hey, i need black voters to stay with me. here's the problem with donald trump. on gaza, are we going to talk about israel? here's how we are going to do it. he's not unaware that he's not a

problem. you can see the uncommitted vote is down from before. you can see a bit of consolidation. he needs that number to be well up over 90%. that base has not to come in very strongly. the number of voters that are going to show up in the general election way outnumber the ones in the primary but if he can fix this problem, it suggests can also try to bring back the enthusiasm he needs to win the general election. amna: in new jersey after last night, democratic congressman andy kim is officially the dictum -- democratic candidate. bob menendez is now in the middle of his corruption trial and is now running as an independent, making it a three way race between kim, curtis, and menendez. how should democrats be handling this right now? faiz: his independent campaign is an effort to maintain costs. amna: could he still siphon

votes? >> if he stays on the ballot. he will have to see whether he resolves that. he has to go through that whole process. that said, he's going to win this race he will be contributing to a diverse class. maryland has a good chance to win. rochester right up the road. asian american males. that is what you look forward to in the democratic house and the senate. kevin: it is a strong democratic state with a conventionally strong nominee, in new jersey, yes. and look, this is the republican nominee that emerged last night, someone unknown. he has some time to get known and som money that will help him get known he is still running up against taking a strong new jersey democratic machine and he is running -- and

kim is running against two inferior brands in the sense that republicans in new jersey are not as organized as they need to be and the menendez brand, which is essentially an indicted, you know, someone who is under indictment right now, those provide a pretty good contrast. amna: what about montana? you take a look at the results from last night and republicans now have their nominee to face janitor and jon tester. there is a trump-endorsed entrepreneur, former navy seal, tim. kevin tester is the last democrat standing in a deep red state. is here the right candidate to unseat him? like he is handpicked by the other senator from montana who also happens to run the national republican senatorial committee. he is going to make sure he has all the montana republican support as of and resources to take on a pretty well entrenched incumbent democrat in tester. chester is running one of -- one of the problems he has as an incumbent, is below 50%.

any time you are running for reelection and your below 50%, you are very vulnerable. that is his best opportunity right now. amna: tester is outrunning biden at this point in time but are there enough split ticket voters to make a difference? >> he is one of the most popular democrats in the senate. he is a very good campaigner. it is interesting to watch how he campaigns. he is talking about postal consolidation, right to repair, independent farmers who are getting screwed by china owning farmland in america. the issues he's talking about should send a message about how do you appeal to conservatives and trump online voters and get them to potentially look at you as a suspicious of baldwin and casey, all running in places where they are going to need to win trump style voters to win in the general is interesting to watch him do it pretty well. amna: a lot can change between now and when early voting against but in the minute or so we have left, give me your big picture take away his sense of when you look at this point, which party is better positioned

to take control of washington this fall? kevin: i think the senate right now, i feel bullish about the republicans chances. i think they have the fundraising in place. trump in many of these states where, you know, the margins are really going to matter, trump is running sometimes 20, 15 points ahead of biden and those type of coattails i think are going to be very helpful for a lot of republicans. faiz: i am uneasy with the politics of the moment. i remember kevin and many other people saying red wave of 2022 and when it came down to it in november, common sense voters with decency and character on the ballot understood that is joe biden and the democrats who offer a better direction in the country. amna: not necessarily the politics of the future. we will talk about it some more. always great to see you. thanks. ♪

geoff: it was a picture-perfect morning for a space launch. >> and liftoff of starliner and atlas v, carrying two american heroes, drawing a line to the stars for all of us. geoff: boeing today successfully launched its new starliner space capsule, carrying two astronauts , marking only the sixth inaugural journey of a crewed spacecraft in u.s. history. the launch comes after several delays due to technical issues. yet today's launch occurred smoothly and on time. and it comes four years after elon musk's rival spacex launched its first mission with astronauts into orbit. the starliner will dock at the international space station tomorrow morning and nasa astronauts barry "butch" wilmore and sunita williams will spend a week before returning home. for the latest on all of this, we're joined again by our science correspondent, miles o'brien. always make -- tell us more

about these astronauts and what their goal is. miles: they both had a lot of time in space. butch, 170 eight days on one long space station mission. sonny, 322 days on the space station. with of them naval aviators. sunny, a proud gduate of the naval academy. test pilots through and through, good people to have on a mission like this because they are ringing this vehicle out. they will be testing the thrusters, the control systems, the spacesuits themselves, the docking capability. they will try to find a -- fly it manually. there's been a lot of bugs along the way so it's probably likely they will find a few as well. they also have some important cargo on board. the urine processing system on the space station which converts urine into drinking water. yes, folks, that's what they do up there. it really is how they drink

their water, how they get their water. it has failed and so, they are carrying the spare part to fix it. i guess you could say that is their number one priority. geoff: [laughter] miles o'brien. the star lennar program has been beset by technical problems, delays, as we mentioned, cost overruns. why? what happened? what accounts for all of that? miles: it is hard to say. it is a boeing project and you have -- we have been talking about bowing a lot, you and i. it is a separate division. it is space systems. whether there is some commonality between what is happening with the airliner enterprise and the space enterprise, hard to say from the outside looking in but it has been quite a scenario starting in 2019 with software failures that caused the thruster fires to fire so long, did not have enough gas to get to the space station. it was, you know, kind of a medium black eye for boeing, but today, they are on their way to the space station.

geoff: this startling omission is a test flight required by nasa before nasser can certify starling or for routine astronaut missions. as we mentioned, this is also the spacex program. why is nasa basically finding and supporting these two space missions by two different contractors? miles: spacex has kind of laughed them. they have done a dozen flights and flown 51 people to and from the space station. the program has gotten much more smoothly than the star liner program, but i will remind you that there was a nine year gap between the last shuttle flight and the first flight of a dragon crewed flight to the international space station. what did nasa do? it bought flights from russia. and in today's geopolitical environment, the idea of re-engaging with russia on a new set of contracts to purchase rocket flights for nasa asked rast does not seem very tenable,

so it's about redundancy. if one of those rocket systems fails in some way, if there's some sort of problem that grounds it, nasa will not have any means of getting to the international space station. so like any good space program, they like to have redundancy. geoff: you mentioned russia. let's talk about china as well because they are very active in space, too. what are they up to on the moon? miles: it's very exciting that china flew to the far side of the moon and just 24 hours or so ago launched from it after scooping up some samples and rocks. that spacecraft is on its way back to earth and will land in mongolia on or about june 25. no people on board, but china has expressed clearly its goal to do so, to plant footprints and flags on the moon by 2030. nasa administrator bill nelson has been very vocal in the past

months, saying that the u.s. is now engaged in a space race with china and that the chinese program is militaristic at its core, and as a point of fact, the military does in fact run the chinese space program, but there is a close alignment between the u.s. military and nasa as well as many levels. after all, the two test pilots flying to the space station right now are both navy veterans. but it is heating up a little bit. i will say this -- space race is generally are good for funding of space programs. when you hear this rhetoric, keep that in mind. geoff: all right, that is miles o'brien, our science correspondent and also an amateur comedian. miles: i'm here all week. ♪ amna: 80 years ago tomorrow, the liberation of europe from the

horrors of the nazis began with operation overlord. the allied invasion of normandy. nearly 200,000 soldiers, principally americans, brits, and canadians, landed on june 6, 1944 across five beach sectors. utah, omaha, gold, juno, and sword. malcolm is in northern france and met some of the veterans of d-day, now all around 100 years old, to begin our coverage of this 80th anniversary. ♪ >> the bodies in the water, they look like logs floating in the water. malcolm: the sergeant had perhaps the best view of d-day, flying -- sergeant mel jenner had perhaps the best view of d-day, flying in a top secret mission, photographing the invasion. >> i couldn't believe that all of all those young guys down in the water give their life for their country and the world, to be exact.

malcolm: east of omaha, british beaches also have their ghosts. >> one of the great things about the war was the comradeship. you were really comrades with your mates. malcolm: bill wright on the far right, and his sherman tank crew, came ashore at sword beach near where a norwegian destroyer was sunk on d-day. >> we'd known for some time, of course, what was going to happen, and we knew that we were making history and that was a terrific boost to morale, as you could imagine. >> i was just 20 years old. at that age, young man don't want to miss out on anything. -- young men don't want to miss

out on anything. i was so pleased that i was there. malcolm: sub-lieutenant john roberts had already seen action, escorting convoys across the north atlantic. on d-day, his ship's big guns battered german defences. >> the noise was quite fantastic. there must have been 100 warships bombarding the coast. >> from the skies, hundreds of planes provided air cover for the seaborne invasion below. >> i was flying p-38 lightnings. we were given the mission to protect all the shipping from england to normandy. there were 5000 boats out there, and we expected the luftwaffe to really hit them. what an opportunity. and we didn't see one. i mean, there was actually a boring sort of mission for us. malcolm: jim kunkle still possesses a certain all-american swagger, that sometimes during the war, aggravated the less flamboyant british.

how old are you, sir? >> 101, shooting for 102 in october. malcolm: what does it mean to you to be back here? >> well, lots of memories. you never forget. malcolm: paratrooper henry langrehr was among the first into action, aged 19. >> we took a shell off the corner of our wing, and shrapnel came through the plane and killed one man on one side, and he on the other side. so, there was a lot, a lot of flak, just like the 4th of july. malcolm: and how glad were you to get out of the airplane? >> i wanted to get out right away. didn't want to be in that plane, no more. malcolm: the 82nd airborne's target, the nazi occupied town of st. mere eglise where private john steele is immortalised. after his chute snagged on the spire, steele played dead for two hours until the germans

captured him. >> john was taken prisoner and we took the city and we freed all of those guys. malcolm: st. mere eglise is a shrine for paratroopers like sergeant andrew kadick. >> there's a reason why in the united states we call that generation the greatest generation. the idea of jumping out of an aircraft with all of your equipment just to land under hostile fire, and then put your own weapon into action to fight the enemy, an experienced and seasoned enemy in a foreign land, is something truly remarkable. malcolm: but there's a warning from claire horton who leads britain's commonwealth war graves commission, after a survey revealed that less than half of all young people know what happened on d-day. >> it's a worry if we have young people who are just not understanding why things happened and the fact that we all live actually pretty free lives here. there's a problem that history might repeat itself.

♪ malcolm: if anyone symbolises the purpose of d-day, it's 86-year-old leon malmed from california, now back in his native france, travelling with u.s. veterans. >> i feel that i owe my life 100 plus percent to america. malcolm: five-year-old leon and his older sister rachel lived in the town of compiegne with mother chana and father saul, when in 1942, their parents were taken away by the nazis, because they were jews. at great personal risk, neighbours suzanne and henri ribouleau stepped into the breach. >> so at that time, henri ribouleau said, do not worry, mr. and mrs. malmed, we will take care of your children until you come back. not knowing that they would be gone forever. so that was the -- that was the last time that we would see our parents.

malcolm: three months after landing in normandy -- >> our beachhead to berlin was established. malcolm: american troops liberated leon's hometown, ending three years of terror. >> the windows of the street were just covered with flags. and people were absolutely -- it was the best day of my life for sure. malcolm: this anniversary is tinged with mixed emotions, pride, respect, and that often misused word, awe, that so many veterans have returned to the beaches that were part of what history acknowledges as the longest day. but there's also sadness that in all probability, this will be their last big hurrah. >> when anybody wants to talk

about somebody being a hero, i always tell them the heroes are still over there. malcolm: naval cadet bridget sheridan paid tribute, taking hallowed sand and offering a silent prayer. >> i come from a military family. just being here with the veterans and everyone here, it's it's a blessing, an absolute honor. i have no words. malcolm: because their deeds speak for themselves. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in normandy. ♪ ♪ geoff: a group of current and former openai employees has issued a public letter warning that the company and its rivals are building artificial intelligence with undue risk and without sufficient oversight.

they're calling on leading artificial intelligence companies to be more transparent and provide stronger protections for whistleblowers. this comes after openai disbanded its team focused on aders of that group resigned. we're joined now by npr technology correspondent bobby allyn who has been covering all these developments, and more. thanks for being with us. tell us more about who is behind this open letter and what specifically they are asking for. bobby: it's a number of current and former openai employees. i asked he spoke to one of them just today and what they are saying is really loud and clear. they think openai is to aggressively in search of profits and market share in that they are not focused on responsibly developing ai products. remember, this is really important because openai started as a nonprofit research lab whose aim when it was founded

was to develop ai products different than meta or microsoft or amazon, which are these huge publicly traded companies that are competing with one another. openai was supposed to be a nonprofit answer to big tech and these employees say, look, it looks like you are operating just like big tech, pushing out products to quickly and society just is not ready for them. geoff: the letter lays out a number of risks and warnings including "the loss of control of the tana ai systems -- autonomous ai systems, potentially resulting in human extinction." what do these folks know that we don't and how seriously should we take this concern? bobby: it sounds pretty dire and it goes back to this nerdy phrase that ai researchers like citing. p doom. they like bringing this up because, you know, the theory is if ai gets really smart, if it becomes super intelligent, it

can exceed, you know, the skills and brainpower of humanity, maybe one day, it will turn on us. this is a theoretical academic exercise at this point that these sort of killer robots would be marching around cities at war with humanity. i don't think we are anywhere near that. they are underscoring this. that is a hypothetical race but we are seeing real risks play out every single day whether it is the rise of deepfakes, whether it is ai being used to impersonate people, whether it is ai being used two supercharged interest misinformation around the web, there are real risks that according to these former employees, openai does not care enough about and is not doing much to mitigate. geoff: in other openai news, the media world seems to be split over whether to partner with the company. the part me -- the company offered paid deals with the associated press and box media which allows them to gain access

to the content to help train their ai models. meantime, you got the new york times suing openai over copyright infringement. how do you see this all shaking out and what are the arguments on both sides of this debate over whether tapley work with openai? bobby: openai has publishers by the scruff of their neck. systems were trained on the corpus of the entire internet and that includes every large broadcaster and newspaper you can think of and as you mentioned, there are two camps emerging now. in the one camp are the publishers who said let's try to bring some revenue in. let's play nice with openai because we have no choice. this is the future. openai is going ruthlessly towards this direction. let's try to make some money here. you have those who have chosen the other direction which is no openai. you took all of our articles without consent, without payment and now, you are making lots of money off of the knowledge and

reporting an original work that goes into gay new york times article, we don't want to strike a licensing deal. in fact, your systems are based on material that was stolen from us so you owe us a lot of money and we do not want to play nice. the way it is going to shake out is some publishers are striking the seals and others will join the new york times crusade to go after openai but it's a really interesting time because no matter what, they have this material. right? chatgpt, every time you ask it a question, it is spitting out answers that are based in part on new york times articles, and pr articles, you name it, so that is the future. do you strike a deal or do you take them to court? we are seeing different sort of strategies here. geoff: that is bobby allen. thank you so much for being with us. bobby: thanks.

amna: today, a russian court sentenced a russian-american to three and a half years in prison. he was charged with rehabilitating nazism and showing disrespect for society and he is part of a worrying trend. over the past decade, there has been a historic number of u.s. nationals detained by foreign governments abroad. one of the leading negotiators for detained americans who usually works in the shadows, has now stepped into the limelight and written a book. nick schifrin has his story. nick: nearly 60 americans are believed to be held overseas, some 90% of them labeled wrongfully detained by the state department. their possible release is handled by countless american government officials. but sometimes, when hostage families want another advocate, or the relevant government might not be communicating particularly well with the u.s. government officially, mickey bergman, alongside the late governor bill richardson and their team, answered the call in

north korea, myanmar, moscow. bergman has helped bring americans home, including brittney griner. and now he's written a book, in the shadows: true stories of high stakes negotiations to free americans captured abroad. and mickey bergman joins me now. mickey, thanks very much. welcome to the newshour. you call yourself a fringe diplomat. how does a fringe diplomat bring americans home? mickey: well, i think, the fringe diplomacy is made of two separate types of actions or activities. the first is engagement. the second one is intervention. and intervention is basically ends up in my world being the negotiation, the release of political prisoner or hostage. and intervention is great. it's quick, it's tangible, it's sexy. and you get a special on tv for it. but the real work, you cannot succeed in intervention unless you spent time and invested in engagement. and the way we do it is that we engage with the local population and the local community and leadership, ask them what is their priorities, what are their what is their vision for their community? nick: a little empathy.

mickey: yeah. yes. exactly right. nick: i want to go through some of your achievements over the many years you've been doing this. but i first want to ask you about the possible hostage deal that we're talking about in the news right now. why do you think president biden made details of a possible deal between israel and hamas public? why do you think he made that step? mickey: i think president biden realized that there's a double talk going on with what -- what the israeli prime minister is telling him privately, and then what he says publicly. and at least one time, we know last month that cost us the deal when everybody was ready to sign. there's a saying if you're a negotiator and you want a negotiation to succeed, publicly, you talk about what is common. netanyahu publicly is talking about what is -- what are the gaps? so that means that he actually was trying to derail the process. and i think by outing it, president biden is pushing him into a corner. nick: --mickey: making sure that

if hamas -- and we're all waiting to see, if hamas accepts those terms -- then it'll be up to netanyahu. if he walks back from it, bergman there should be a plan b in which president biden and the administration is seeking, through the mediators, to say, can we have a humanitarian indirect channel that will address humanitarian aid and will address the release of the american citizens that are kidnapped nick: -- kidnapped. nick: you've got some history, with the israeli government, multiple israeli governments. you're also a former israeli soldier, as you point out in the book. in 2006, you conducted some of your first backchannel diplomacy. you tried to end the war between israel and lebanon back then. you also helped establish the parameters of the deal between hamas and the israeli government that would lead to release of gilad shalit in exchange for more than 1000 palestinian prisoners in 2011. do you think there's something unique about how israel approaches hostage negotiation? mickey: there's a mismatch. my work on the gilad shalit negotiations in 2007, 2008, taught me a lot about how hamas

thinks. hamas doesn't negotiate the way israel does. for israel, it's about the transaction. what is the actual exchange that takes place? for hamas, it's about the end picture. hamas early on has basically established a certain picture of what it looks like at the end of this deal for them, when all the israeli hostages are back home, the idf is outside of gaza, and they have the the palestinian -- and they have the palestinian prisoners released. israel is looking at it, like oh, okay. , well, let's see if we apply more pressure and we take more pieces of gaza, or we we we make -- or we make some conditions harsher, we can definitely make the price lower. but all you did, you added to the list of demands in order to get to the end picture. nick: let's talk about brittney griner. in the months leading up to the hostage deal between brittney griner for convicted arms

smuggler viktor bout, you describe how you, mickey bergman, were the first presented the name of a second russian detainee who would have been swapped for paul whelan. and you deliver that name to john finer, the deputy national security adviser, and he says, why are you, mickey? why did you get the name? so i ask you, why do you get that name? mickey: it is sometimes awkward for people in government to understand why we're able to actually get some of these deals articulated to us. and there's a lot of skepticism. when it came to brittney griner, when the russians also gave us two options, one for one or two for two, we actually told the russians we're not going to deliver the one for one option because we also work on paul whelan. when i delivered that message to john in that breakfast, it was a two for two message. unfortunately, and i know that he tried really, really hard to get that, just didn't work. nick: you described three occasions where paul whelan was left behind. why do you think paul whelan is still behind bars? mickey: first of all, let me say

the person who's holding him behind bars is the president of russia. i think there were several, miscalculations in the united states. there are two cardinal truths that i know. i've been doing this for 18 years about hostages and political prisoners. the first one is the deals never get better over time. we always think they might, but they never do. and the second rule is that time never plays well for the hostages or the prisoners themselves. and so when we stepped into this , before there was trevor reed, before there was brittney griner, there was only paul whelan. we actually worked with the russians. a little bit of a tit for tat kind of thing. if you have konstantin yarashenko released for medical reasons, humanitarian release because of the pandemic, it will be reciprocated. and we passed it to the trump white house. there was no interest. then trevor reed was taken. and you know, there's an argument always, oh, when you make those deals, you incentivize the taking of more americans. i argued that what we've seen in russia was exactly the opposite.

our refusal to negotiate led to more americans being taken. nick: what do you say to the critique that negotiating hostage swaps leads to more hostages being taken? mickey: i believe it's intellectually lazy and morally bankrupt. intellectually lazy, because there is no data that suggests at all that there's a correlation between how we resolve cases and how many americans are taking after that. -- taken after that. the moral bankruptcy part of it is that it is true that we have to do deterrence as a country. we have to solve this problem. but doing it on the back of the people who are being held is morally bankrupt, because we're strong enough to do what is needed in order to bring them home. nick: at one point, you admit in the book that your work and your schedule "almost destroyed your family." why has this work been worth it? mickey: my work doesn't impact millions of people. it doesn't impact hundreds of thousands of people, but the people that it does impact when it works, the 10 people around

the immediate family that you know -- and it's funny, by the way, nick, i very rarely know the prisoner on the after to come back, but i know their family. their family becomes part of my family. the same empathy that i apply to the captors when i do these negotiations that's my m.o. , i apply the same thing with the family every time i spend time with them, meeting with them on the phone, i take on that pain for myself because that's what motivates me. so it'very, very personal work. nick: mickey bergman, this the book is called in the shadows : true stories of high stakes negotiations to free americans captured abroad. thanks very much. mickey: thank you. thank you. ♪ nick: and we'll be back shortly with an airline attendant's brief but spectacular take on the miracle of flight. amna: but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air.

♪ geoff: for those of you staying with us, special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has the story of an effort in minnesota to remember the holocaust by preserving and honoring the music performed by prisoners in concentration camp orchestras. his encore report is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ ♪ fred: this is a concert about music and jewish identity. in particular, my own. fred: an unlikely theme in minneapolis lutheran church but coming just days after october 7 as violence erected in the middle east, a violist said -- erupted in the middle east, the vilest said a time -- violist

said a timely one. ♪ fred: the works performed by the minnesota-based ensemble ranged widely. a beaulah and piano duet of the prairie willful -- a viola and piano duet. the string quartet by felix mendelssohn, for instance, with a classic jewish folk song embedded. then there was one medley that did not quite fit in, or did it. here's how it was introduced. >> this music you are going to hear is utterly shocking. it is charming cafe music. ♪

fred: banal until you realize it was arranged by members of the orchestra at auschwitz, performed by prisoners for the entertainment of nazi ss guards at the camp, guards apparently briefly setting aside their loathing of the person or musicians. >> let's put it aside for a sunday afternoon and we will pretend that we have this relationship that isn't based on ethnic cleansing. ♪ fred: to provide more context or perspective during the performance, it was punctuated by testimonies from the diaries of the prisoners. this entry was read by a cellist. >> the smoke by the crematorium

annoyed my colleagues. it was polluting the air. it was hard to see the notes. fred: the original manuscripts used by the ensemble reside permanently in the museum at auschwitz today but they were first brought out into the world a few years ago here at the university of michigan school of music. >> i personally could not write a manuscript that is as neat as these are. fred: patricia hall is a professor of music theory. in 2018, she discovered hundreds of manuscripts at the auschwitz museum, popular german songs of the 1930's and 1940's arranged and adopted by prisoners for the camp orchestras. >> this prisoner took the time to create this symbol of a bird out of musical symbols. fred: in nazi death camps, being selected to play music was a much preferred assignment, an alternative to backbreaking labor. still, it was a precarious existence.

>> there was a particularly sadistic guard at the camp who would take prisoners out of the orchestra and take them to block 11 and shoot them so there is one anecdote of one of the musicians estimating that up to 50 musicians were executed in this way. fred: he selected a representative selection of 10 to reproduce for modern-day performance. trying to stay faithful to how they would have sounded in the camp. with the university ensemble under the conductor, the music was performed and recorded here in ann arbor. >> i could not believe how beautiful they sounded. i was completely surprised. fred: another surprise, audience

reaction. she had originally planned to simply archived these recordings in the university's music library, figuring they would be too painful to hear. but hall says there was a strong interest and subsequent concerts , including one at new york's museum of jewish heritage. and it piqued the interest of musicians like ken friede and the ensemble. >> a lot of people, i think, were almost reluctant to applaud. >> i felt that, too. until we stood up and it was like, i guess we should. but what are we clapping for here? fred: in the church basement post concert, friede saw how the music had taken the audience to a new dimension. >> i just have chills.

>> playing the music would have been one thing but really putting those in it so you really did imagine yourself as in the camp. >> that is kind of the reason i did today's concert, to provide context, because you feel music before you start to think about it. ♪ fred: music drawn for this concert from the historical breath of jewish tradition, offered as menaces -- medicine in a world wrecked by a conflict. for the pbs newshour, i am in minneapolis. ♪

geoff: derrick fennell is an entrepreneur, an author, and for more than 14 years, a flight attendant. many of his passengers know derrick for his in-flight poems reflecting on his time in the skies. tonight, in an encore broadcast, derrick shares one of his poems and his brief but spectacular take on the miracle of flight. >> i've been a flight attendant for 14 years. we're all used to the flight attendant. make sure that you have all your bags underneath the chair in front of you. make sure your seatbelt is buckled, make sure your seatback is upright. how many times have you heard a poem at 36,000 feet? today again, we fly. we enjoy the energy of the people at the port, the hustle and bustle and excitement of going without thought, moving from city to city amongst the skies, observing the beauty of nature. as we fly, people from all around the world, we meet, sharing unique and interesting

conversations as we speak, seeing smiles again. without a mask, you begin to realize just how much covid-19 has put us all to a task. today, again, we fly. clear clothes and ready to go. we shout as we bring the world together. without a doubt. up, up, and away, we go. as the mighty jet engines begin to roar. today again, we fly, cruising at 36,000 feet in our office with wings and special guests such as you, can't be beat at 36,000 feet, where the air is thin and only for those who can handle the heat. today, again, we fly. i usually say this poem as we're making our final descent. the enjoyment that i get from the humanity of sharing that poem with everyone is when they break out in applause.

it's an amazing feeling you find , that people really appreciate it that much. if all i do is serve you a drink, you had a really good flight because what i'm trained for, you don't want to see. my name is derek finnell, and this is my brief but spectacular take on the miracle of flight. amna: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. join us back here again tomorrow night for a special report from the beaches of normandy where world leaders are converging to mark the 80th anniversary of d-day. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett.

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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't ss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. . ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> translator: we are working in countless ways to return our hostages. i think about them all the time. >> political pressure on netanyahu ramps up as four hostage families find out their loved ones are dead. so what's holding up the long-awaited deal between israel and hamas?