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the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" s michigan amid uncertainty abouts his reelection bid. as a cease-fire talk to a roadblock as the latest round of talks in egypt ends without a breakthrough. in an explosion in nigeria kills dozens of people, including children. ♪ welcome to world news america.

president joe biden is back on the campaign trail a day after his high-profile press conference at the nato summit in washington. he is speaking in michigan, a critical battleground state that could swing either republican or democratic. notably absent from today's rally are prominent michigan officials and biden allies, including the state's democratic governor, gretchen whitmer, who has been floated as a possible alternative to biden for the 2024 race. the governor's office says she is at a tech conference in idaho. the auto union president will not be there either. i'll he expressed concern about biden's candidacy, he is reportedly still backing him. the importers -- the endorsement of the uaw is seen as critical to letting biden win in swing states, and it is headquartered in michigan, a major car manufacturing hub. today's rally in detroit will be closely watched after the president's nato speeches were overshadowed by his gaffes. his performance doing little to move the needle for democrats,

who are divided right now about his prospects for reelection. we can go to our north america correspondent in detroit for that rally. what are we expecting from this event in michigan, and how important is it? nada: it is no coincidence that president biden is surrounding himself with his staunchest allies and supporters here in detroit. he will be speaking just behind me in a little over an hour. teleprompter there to help him, a scripted speech for his supporters. he is trying to show voters across the country that not only is he mentally fit but he does have support from key members of the democratic base. joe biden has remained defiant, hoping to try to get past the

controversy that has, ever since that devastating debate performance. i spoke with some voters in the room, and many of them, his staunchest supporters, also hope that with time, if he keeps doing events like these rallies and does not have any stumbles, that it will help the party unite and get past talk of replacing him. carl, on the way in, press and attendees were greeted with the site of a 69-year-old man from michigan who held a sign, a white banner that said "pass the torch, joe." that is a message that is increasingly coming from members of the house of representatives, nearly 20 at the moment. one senator who are saying it is time for joe biden to make good on that promise to be the bridge to the next generation. that bus driver in michigan with that banner said he wants to see an open convention where the best democrats can compete, to

get excitement back in the party. biden knows he has to be out and about, but with every event, that friend of his appearances being under more scrutiny. carl: that will be closely watched for sure. a poll conducted before the nato summit by bbc news had about 67% americans believing mr. biden should drop out of the race. at the same poll showed about half of americans believe donald trump should drop out as well. at the same time, president biden supporting hollywood has been dwindling. on friday, the actress ashley judd, previously a delegate at the democratic national convention, wrote an op-ed in "usa today" titled "i'm calling on biden to step aside." earlier in the week, george clooney reggie similar peace in the new york times titled "i love joe biden, but we need a new nominee."

the new york times reported friday that some major democratic donors are threatening to put $90 billion in pledge donations on hold if president biden stays in the race. contrarily, a biden campaigns mcpherson in michigan said that donations to the camp and exploded during his high-profile press conference on thursday. let's get more on the state of the democratic party. joining me as a democratic strategist who has previously served as a senior advisor to john kerry. i want to flashback to last night and that highly anticipated press conference. what did you make of joe biden's performance? there were some gaffes, weren't there? >> we would not really have noticed any of them but for the debate performance. that is the challenge. even if he had substituted trump's name for kamala harris's, everyone would have laughed it off except for what happened at the debate. for the next 115 days, for joe

biden to continue in the race, he will have to meet tests like that every day. when you think about the fact that there is only 115 days left, 65 days until states like minnesota and others start early voting, you start to understand how little time there is left. the performance itself probably relieved some people's nerves. it probably stopped some people from calling on him to leave, but not all. but you are starting to get the sense in the wake of that press conference not because of his performance, but i think more than that timing, there is more of a campaign going on to try to put pressure on him to make a different decision. carl: part of that pressure now coming from donors. we have heard there is a group of democratic donors that say they will freeze $90 million in donations if the president stays in the race. what kind of impact could that have on his campaign and may be similar top donors, like someone like george clooney saying they may withdraw their support?

>> i think we pay too much attention to celebrities and not enough to voters. i would put donors in that class too. they are all important, but no one entity should have veto power over our democratic process. we went through a democratic process. i am not saying joe biden is not going to make it through, but millions voted for him on the ticket with kamala harris. there is a convention coming up. there are hurdles. that is part of the normal process. but i think biden has to start taking the fight directly to donald trump. the republican convention is next week, and you want the focus to be on the republican convention to make clear to american voters as they are starting to tune in to hear what donald trump would do if he would return to the white house, and what it would mean to them and their children and their lives. instead, the risk is we will still be trying to figure out as

democrats how we are going to get through the next 115 days, and i hope that does not happen. carl: we know the president did meet with the top democrat in the house, hakeem jeffries. we have seen more lawmakers withdrawing their support. seemed like there were getting the send button right after that nato press conference. how many emma kratz in the house and senate do you think it will take to really get the president's attention? >> i think it is more the drip, drip, drip pressure that is coming on. this week is the week -- i think we will look back on this week as the week that determined joe biden state, one way or the other. it was nancy pelosi's appearance on "morning joe" that seemingly opened the floodgates for other members to come out and ask him to step aside reviewed she requested to be done after the nato summit. to a degree, that was the case. but to your point, hitting send

before joe biden walked up the stage, but it was the lee jeffreys meeting last night with joe biden that caught my attention, because first you have the former speaker making those comments on "morning joe." then you have, if democrats win the house back, the next speaker of the house meeting with him to tell joe biden what other democrats in the house feel like. you get the sense that there is this increasing turning up at the gas burner on all of this. i don't know what the point is, where joe biden makes a different decision or makes it clear he is staying in, but you start to see other people weighing in and the pressure really is mounting. carl: it feels like we say this every week, but it looks like it is going to be another crucial week for the biting campaign. thank you very much. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin spoke with his russian

counterpart over the phone on friday amid continued tensions over the war in ukraine. believers discussed preventing security threats and reducing the risk of possible escalation, according to the kremlin. the pentagon said that secretary austen stressed the importance of maintaining lines of communication with russia. that comes after the three-day nato summit right here in washington where were western leaders boosted military aid for ukraine against what they call an increasingly aggressive russia. blonde near zelenskyy asked his allies for permission to strike targets inside russia. mr. zelenskyy said that could help prevent russian attacks like this one. earlier this week, more than 40 people killed in a wave of missile attacks across ukraine. our correspondent sent us this report from kyiv. >> [speaking another language]

james: on monday, in a matter of hours, missiles overwhelmed ukraine's normally well defended capital. and it is what they hit which made this one of the worst areas also in this war. this is kyiv's children's hospital, where some of the patients were being treated for cancer. it is a site that drew worldwide attention and western condemnation. russia denied targeting civilian areas, but evidence to the contrary is mounting. this was an attack not confined to one place for one hospital. cities across central and eastern ukraine were targeted. 14 people lost their lives here, and it took three days to find them from under the rubble. lives exposed by -- exposed by blown away walls. the country is paying a mounting human cost.

five doctors in a kyiv clinic died in one of the strikes this week. as nato leaders gathered in washington, president zelenskyy could not contain his emotion. >> it is so difficult to those children. you see people, you see parents, and when their children are dying or dead. you want to kill putin at this moment. james: in the absence of battlefield progress, highlighting russian atrocities is kyiv's most potent weapon. offerings have followed, including delivery of f-16 fighter jets and much-needed air defense systems. but ukraine got only a fraction of what it was after. in the center of the capital, thousands of flags mark ukraine's former.

it is long wanted nato membership, and after years of promises, no one has ever said win because of russia's ongoing invasion. that takes us to the heart of ukraine's unknowns. can it withstand attacks on its infrastructure? are the current levels of military aid enough to carry it to victory, or will enduring defiance get it through? all questions brought to the fore by missile strikes that shocked the world. james waterhouse, bbc, kyiv. carl: gary and prime minister viktor rohrbaugh met with former president donald trump in mar-a-lago on thursday. the two discussed the possibilities of peace as invading russian troops continue to push for territory in ukraine. mr. orbach has angered western allies over the past two weeks with trips to moscow and beijing. the hungarian leader also made a stop in kyiv, claiming he is working towards a cease-fire. john bolton is mr. trump's

former national security advisor the ambassador to the united nations. i spoke to him earlier. i want to start by asking you about this nato summit that just wrapped up. do you think the alliance did enough to put ukraine on a path not just to defend itself, but to win this conflict against russia? >> i don't think so. i think there were good expressions of political support. i think some progress in the delivery of additional military assistance. the fact is neither the united states nor nato have approached this conflict effectively, strategically, for two years now. i think that is one reason why we have military gridlock on the ground in ukraine. the 800 pound gorilla was the upcoming u.s. election for president and the uncertainty about who was going to win. i think there is good reason to be concerned and worried about a trump fishery, because i do not think this is going to be in the long-term interest of the u.s.

or ukraine or nato. carl: let's talk about it. there was a lot of discussion about what some are calling trump-proofing nato and support for ukraine. what do you think a trump presidency would mean for nato, and how would that affect the alliance if the u.s. were to back away from it? >> i think it could be more than backing away. i think trump is serious about withdrawing from nato. he could be distracted for four years. he could weaken it in other ways. he likes the idea of doing something dramatic. he said to me in 2018 in brussels, do you want to make history today, and by that withdrawing from the north atlantic treaty. he has made it clear he things he can solve the russia-ukraine war. that sounds dangerous to me, because -- carl: do you believe him when he says that? >> no, he can't solve that in 24

hours, but i think his inclination is to support his buddy vladimir putin. if i were zelinski and the ukrainian government, i would be very worried. carl: there is also a whirlwind of speculation about the current president, joe biden, and whether he is fit to run for office. do you think he is, and do you think he did enough during this nato summit to prove he has the capacity to lead the largest military presence within nato? >> i do not think he is fit. i do not think trump is it either. i think we are in a bad patch for the united states whoever wins, but that is part of the problem. we will see if biden some drives -- if biden survives this level of concern. on the democratic side, if they are worried that biden has publicly demonstrated the problems in september or october, there was no turning back for them at that point. it is too late by the time you get that close to the election. if they are going to do anything about joe biden, they've got to do it in the next few days. carl: getting your concerns you

laid out, which are stark, about what donald trump would mean for nato, would you be throwing your support behind joe biden or a democratic nominee come november? >> know, in 2020, faced with this and choice -- i live in maryland where you can write in other candidates -- i wrote in dick cheney, because i wanted to vote for a conservative. carl: who was not running, by the way. >> that's right. it is a protest vote. i will vote for dick again if it is these same candidates. polls in recent months showed over 70% of the american people did not want a rematch of 2020, and yet as of today, that is what they are going to get. carl: sticking with donald trump, he has been meeting with hungary's leader, victor rohrbaugh and. -- orban. orban met with not only vladimir putin, but also xi jinping. what do you think the meeting between trump and orban signals?

>> it is disturbing. i remember thinking back to hungary when they were one of the first countries that wanted to join nato from the warsaw pact. because they did not want to be a part of the russian orbit, i think orban has defended the russian revolution of 1976, and his affinity for putin and xi jinping is a bad sign. but his meeting with trump gives some indication of where trump's leading czar. carl: if you look at what came out of this nato summit, dado accused china of enabling russia in this war. it also warned iran of supplying ballistic missiles. both countries deny involvement, but how do you see the role of russia and china in this ukraine conflict, and how do you believe the alliance should be attacking that? >> both roles are significant. china has been laundering money through its opaque financial system, increasing their purchases of russian oil and gas

despite nato sanctions. and generally providing political cover for russia. but i think this is a part of an emerging china-russia axis. it has outliers like north korea, iran, belarus, venezuela. i think for the european members of nato, these statements of dismay about china's involvement, iran's involvement, and what it may mean for the future are very important. i think europe in the u.s. have to come to a better appreciation of the threat china poses not just in its region, but in the north atlantic area as well. carl: so much focus on ukraine at this nato summit. briefly, if we get to a point six months down the road or another year and this conflict is still raging, do you anticipate some sort of negotiation happening between the two sides? >> i don't see that there is any negotiation that could be fruitful as long as the russians

hold the positions they do, which is why the military balance on the ground is important and why it is disappointing that western aid has not been deployed strategically enough to give the ukrainians more of an advantage. we will have to see how the u.s. election turns out. but i am worried that putin is simply waiting to see if trump wins, and then he will announce they readiness to negotiate from a much more advantageous position. carl: talks to reach a cease-fire in israel between gaza -- in gaza between israel and hamas have failed to come to an agreement. a palestinian official told the bbc that hamas was willing to abandon its condition of a permanent cease-fire, but that israel officials would sabotage the negotiations. israel has not yet commented. president biden has said both sides have agreed to a basic -- he said six weeks ago i laid out a comprehensive

framework of how to achieve a cease-fire and bring the hostages home. there is still work to do, but that framework is never agreed to by both israel and hamas. my team is making progress, and i am determined to get this done. our gaza correspondent has been following the developments from istanbul, and he gave us this update. correspondent: cease-fire talks which took place in doha high-end cairo has ended without a result. according to a senior palestinian official, the talks have failed. they have spent a lot of time trying to bridge the gap between the two sides and nine months of war, but the effort tonight will be hamas officially told the bbc they accuse israel and benjamin

netanyahu of sabotaging the cease-fire talks. this is in his own interest. he has not held back from the israelis yet, but this is what hamas are accusing israel of, sabotaging the cease-fire talks. this news was very sad and frustrating. news that about 2.3 million people in gaza who are suffering from the last nine months from this war, and they were hoping that an agreement that could put an end for the war, but not this time. carl: a school in central nigeria collapsed on friday, killing at least 21 people and injuring several others. witnesses say people could be heard crying out for help under the rubble. the country's national emergency management agency said the collapse happened as the students took their exams at the saint academy in plateau state.

our african correspondent has been following those developments from the nigerian capital. >> it is a big tragedy here in nigeria. it is hard to imagine what many parents who lost their children in that collapse would be passing through at the moment. the numbers of casualties still not fully confirmed because we are hearing that as officials go out to help more bodies that are trapped, more bodies are being pulled out among many injured and taken to the hospital. medics are calling for donation of blood to help those who have been rushed to the hospital. we understand that what happened today, there are two things, they were writing their exams in class when the building came crashing down and falling on top of the children. many of them, including their

teachers, lost their lives in the process. earlier in the day, many parents who rushed to the place to try to identify their children, some who saw the bodies of their children on the ground, were devastated. some also who could not find their children decided to go to the hospitals to try to locate them. it has been more of confusion and a lot of people are in shock over this unprecedented tragedy that happened in central nigeria. carl: before we go, nasa's webb telescope has captured a pair of galaxies intertwined in a cosmic hub. they are nicknamed the penguin and the egg. the galactic duo joined together by a blue haze of stars and gas. the two galaxies will be involved in a cosmic cans to emerge into a single galaxy

hundreds of thousands of years from now. this is the second anniversary of the telescope, taking those amazing pictures. thank you so much for watching world news america. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: president biden's press conference fails to ease doubters, but the new polls show his potential replacements might not fare better. amna: a look behind the curtain of the months long campaign to seize on his missteps. >> they are making the viral internet venues they have been turning out, they are all