geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz here in chicago for the first day of the democratic national convention. on the “news hour” tonight, president joe biden prepares to speak not as a candidate but in

support of his replacement. how the convention has been revamped for the harris-walz ticket that's reinvigorated the democratic base. >> people are engaged. people are hopeful. people are getting involved. geoff: tamara keith and amy walter weigh in on former president donald trump's efforts to counterprogram the dnc, with a tour through crucial swing states. amna: and the u.s. calls this maybe the last moment to reach a ceasefire in gaza. a look at the efforts to at least pause the war, and stave off a broader regional conflict. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions,

and friends of the "news hour," including leonard and norma klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. >> two retiring executives turn their focus to greyhounds, giving these former race dogs a real chance to win. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your purpose, and the way you give back. life well planned. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting instituations to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. amna: welcome to the “news hour.” democrats will kick off their convention tonight here in chicago, a very different event than was being planned just one month ago. geoff: vice president kamala harris is set to formally accept her party's nomination for president later this week. but tonight will culminate with a speech from the current occupant of the white house, president joe biden, who ended his own campaign for re-election last month, clearing the way for harris. amna: laura barron-lopez is here on the convention floor and has been reporting on harris' surge in polling. laura? laura: amna and geoff, from business owners to college students, democrats have a new sense of hope around vice president harris' nomination.

i've been speaking to voters here in chicago to see if harris can maintain that energy from now until november. at the brown sugar bakery on the south side, a new item has generated a lot of excitement. this is 68-year-old showed up one hour over the bakery even opened to make sure he got a taste of what is called the kamala cake. >> i had to come and get this cake because my wanted -- my wife wanted it. >> on the inside is a traditional german chocolate cake but the inside has chocolate and carmel and it. laura: how did you feel about the selection when it was a rematch between donald trump and joe biden? >> scared. nervous. worried. laura: have the vibes changed in your community since the races

changed? >> absolutely. people are talking. people are engaged. people are hopeful. people are getting involved. laura: she created the cake based on what vice president harris ordered when she paid a visit to the bakery in 2021. >> i am so excited that we have a woman, that we have a black woman and that we have someone who can actually get into the ring and shut them the hell up. >> do we believe in the promise of america? and are we ready to fight for it? laura: free democrats, that excitement is now being felt across theountry. enthusiasm for harris among democratic orders has climbed dramatically. compared to before president biden dropped out of the race next month. trying to build on that momentum over the weekend, harris campaigned across southwestern pennsylvania with her vice presidential pick tim walz before heading to chicago. >> we will win. laura: silver recent polls have

shown harris now slightly leading former president trump nationally. and continuing to gain ground among voters and crucial battleground states. inside shenanigans on chicago's north side, the city's first bar to employ all-female bartenders in the 1970's, michelle says the historic nature of harris's candidacy is inspiring. >> i am really excited about this upcoming election because it is a testament for how far we have come. >> she embodies a couple different identities and with that comes a different approach. laura: another crucial demographic paris has made inroads with, young voters. a student at university of illinois chicago. >> it feels like ok, someone is in the running that looks like my neighbor or sounds like my aunt, or reminds me of one of the teachers i had when i was growing up. it is refreshing and empowering. laura: two issues that resonate

with her our lgbtq rights and women's access to abortion. she also says the harris campaign has done a good job of reaching young voters on social media. but the biden administration's handling of the war between israel and hamas has are concerned. >> because she is coming from an administration that was not very quiet about their support for israel that a lot of young voters don't see that changing unfortunately. laura: that caused thousands of protesters to show up this week to make their voices heard outside the dnc. >> this week i will be voting but not for a presidential candidate. laura: why not? >> harris, i believe she is still complicit. i am happy she is running but i am not happy with what she is doing. laura: this michigan voter is open to supporting harris if she changes her policy towards israel. >> i am a single issue voter.

the single issue in gaza and how the u.s. supports it ties into a lot of the problems we have at home. i can't ignore it. it is not something i can say, oh well, at least she will support gay marriage or trans people. laura: while protests were peaceful today, they still remember what it looked like here in 1968. >> there were helicopters overhead, jeeps with barbed wire on them. they came not to arrest people, but swinging clubs, firing tear gas. laura: he was one of thousands fighting for civil rights and against the vietnam war. scenes of violent clashes with police were broadcast around the country. and fights among democrats broke out on the convention floor. >> i don't think we will see that at this convention. it will be somewhat of a pep rally for harris. the party is totally unified and

ready to go. laura: back at the brown sugar bakery, stephanie says there's still a lot of work to do before november. >> i think it is important for us to not be fooled by polls. i am so glad she is up but let's not play any games. there is a whole lot riding on this and we need to make sure every day we are talking to somebody about what is at stake in this race, and get out and vote. laura: while protests were mostly peaceful earlier today, protesters have now broken through the security barrier just outside the democratic national convention. also as you heard, we spoke to two key constituencies, black voters and young voters. harris will need both in order to win in november. geoff: democrats have greeted the harris nomination with a lot of enthusiasm. what are those voters telling you about how they feel about the policies she has put

forward? laura: harris and her running mate have leaned into their middle-class credentials. harris has really been highlighting that she worked at mcdonald's during college, and tim walz has gone after j.d. vance and former president trump for their ivy league background. stephanie hart, that bakery business owner i spoke to in chicago, specifically mentioned harris coming from the middle class as something that really resonates with her. other voters said that as well. stephanie hart employs more than 40 people, many of them women with children. she said she really likes kamala harris's childcare proposals and justice past week harris unveiled more proposals on that saying she wants to expand the child tax credit to some $6,000 for parents with newborn children, as well as $3600 for the rest of their children's upbringing. geoff: you have spent the last

few hours here inside this arena speaking to delegates. give us a sense of the mood. laura: there is palpable excitement here. in many ways right now inside of the arena, despite what we know what is happening on outside, this is a celebration of the harris/walz ticket. because they have already been formally nominated and clinched the nomination. geoff: you have also been speaking to those uncommitted delegates. these are democrats who cast their vote in protest of the democrats's pro-israel policies. what have they been telling you? laura: there are some 30 uncommitted delegates, and they held a press conference this morning where they said they are happy with harris. they believe is more empathetic to their cause. but they are waiting for a clear policy change. specifically, they want to see an arms embargo and an immediate cease-fire. kamala harris has said she is

working towards a cease-fire with president biden and the administration believes they are close, but we all spoke to an uncommitted delegate in michigan and he said they are still waiting to hear from the dnc on whether or not they will be able to have a palestinian-american speak on the main stage this week. that is still an outstanding ask. they wanred they believe if kamala harris does not speak directly to them and if her policies do not change, she could lose the 100,000 voters in michigan who voted uncommitted during the primary. geoff: what can we expect tonight as the convention gets underway? laura: we are going to be hearing from some big names tonight in democratic politics. house democrats lick jim clyburn, alexandria conseil cortez, and jamie raskin. we'll also be hearing from first lady jill biden, hillary clinton, and of course the big keynote address is coming from president joe biden himself. he will be introduced by his

daughter ashely. this is a marking of his legacy. very different from what the president initially expected but tonight is going to be honoring his legacy and also a passing of the torch from him to kamala harris. geoff: laura, thanks as always. amna: long before chris coons became a senator from the state of delaware, he was a capitol hill intern for then senator joe biden. we spoke about their decades long friendship, the president's speech tonight, and more when we sat down earlier today. senator, welcome back to the news hour and thanks for being here. let's talk about your friend in this moment. because for someone who has spent 50 years of his life in public service it is fair to say this is a complicated moment. sen. coons: yes. amna: when you talk to him, how is he viewing this moment right now? sen. coons: he is optimistic. he is looking forward. he believes that kamala harris

and tim walz are the best chance we have to secure our democracy. when joe announced he was running four years ago at the democratic convention, when he kicked off the campaign against donald trump, he focused on restoring the soul of our nation. i will remind you we were in the middle of a terrible pandemic, it was a virtual convention. we were in the middle of an economic collapse. just two weeks before he took the oath of office there was january 6, an assault on our democracy. tonight you're going to hear joe biden look back a little bit on just how much he has had to pull us through. i am going to speak a little bit about how this man, who has been knocked down by life so hard, several times, helped us all get back up again. and how his courage, his belief in democracy and in all of us really is what underpins his incredibly selfless decision to step aside and let his trusted vice president carry the torch

forward, hopefully, god willing, to a victory. amna: you have known him for 35 years. sen. coons: i was an intern for him 35 years ago. amna: when he first made the decision to step aside, you got a little emotional as he talked about it for the first time. tell me what this moment is like for you, speaking before him, what you hope people take away from your remarks, and also understanding that this is not quite the speech he thought he would be given just a few weeks ago. sen. coons: i hope when joe biden comes into the hall tonight that he gets the longest, loudest, most sustained cheers and applause. people jumping up and down and shouting we love you joe, of any president in history. there have been more conventions here in chicago than any other american city. and he deserves to know that the american people, certainly the democratic party, loves this man for all that he has done. amna: is there any part of him that second guesses his decision

to step aside? sen. coons: everybody second guesses their decisions. but the last few times we have spoken he has really been focused on his future. he was excited about the cancer moonshot event he was doing into lane. dr. biden is focused on education in women's health. together they are focused on doing things for veterans families, military families. they have a lot more to do not just in the final five muncie is president and going forward. amna: we have seen this little -- this race shift dramatically and quickly coalesce around vice president harris it she set records for fundraising. you have seen battleground state polls now timed or her ahead with a narrow lead national ap it and yet it is still a tight race. where do you see the biggest challenge ahead for this ticket? sen. coons: the american people really need to look at who these two candidates are. donald trump has really been struggling to find his footing and he chose an odd colleague of mine, j.d. vance, as his running

mate. the two of them have some clear views. trump said this past week he wants to slap a 20% tax, a tariff, on every imported good. that would raise household costs by thousands and thousands of dollars with no clear benefit. and it would cost millions of jobs. kamala harris and joe biden just signed the announcement about 10 major pharmaceuticals coming down in price. things that we see a lot of ads for. $500 to $200 a month. caps on insulin and out-of-pocket costs. what you are hearing from democratic leadership, from kamala harris and tim walz, ideas on how to reduce housing costs, prescription drug costs for the middle class. what you are hearing out of donald trump and j.d. vance is a willingness to abandon democracy overseas and let russia take ukraine, and a lack of commitment to the middle class at home. i am hoping we get to have a

campaign this fall that is not just about personalities, but about substance. joe biden becausejoe biden ran on substance and delivered on substance. amna: i know we are going to hear more about some of those policies from harris and walz this week as well, but you are cochair of their campaign. you want to get them elected. to do so, do you think she needs to break with some of the policies of the biden/harris administration, especially issues like on gaza where we know there are hundreds of thousands of people who voted uncommitted in the primaries that this campaign needs to bring on board? sen. coons: one of the things president biden is working tirelessly on right now, where i am hoping for a breakthrough this week, is the cease-fire deal that he took to the u.n. security council, to the g7, and is applying all the resources he has got. from his diplomatic and national security advisors. i would love to see that happen while joe biden is our president. but frankly vice president harris has made it clear she will stand firm with defending israel against attacks from

terrorist groups either from iran or hamas or hezbollah, but has expressed serious concern about the humanitarian condition on the ground in gaza and the need for us to make real progress in rebuilding gaza. amna: president biden has five months left in office. he has a lot on his plate. a cease-fire deal potentially, continuing to get support for ukraine and their war, the cancer moonshot as well. what do you see ahead for him, for someone who has basically spent his entire adult life in politics and public service? what does the next chapter look like? sen. coons: he can be an incredible resource for future americans. i think he would like to be a mentor, a guide, an advisor to the next president, vice president, members of the candidate. equally, to people just getting started in national service. whether it is elected just public service of all kinds. amna: senator chris coons, good luck on stage tonight.

thank you so much for making the time. geoff: back in washington today, three house republican committees today claimed that president biden committed impeachable offenses, yet they stopped short of recommending impeachment itself. amna: their 291-page report is the result of a 1.5-year-long investigation. it contained few new details, but signals that the gop effort to impeach biden is now at an end. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins has been digging through the report and joins us now from washington. let's kick us off here. tell us, what does this report say? lisa: this report is focused on allegations that the biden family profited off of joe biden 's positions as vice president, and in specific, questions about whether joe biden himself profited and knew about the relationships being forged by his family. really, at the center of this are two other biden family members. james biden, president biden's brother, and his son hunter biden. they are known, they have said

openly they received millions of dollars in contracts from foreign businessmen for consulting including some in china who were connected with the state energy complex there. this is an attempt to connect about 13 dots republicans said they found suspicious. but when you read through it, there are allegations they were code words used to describe joe biden, but those are disputed. others around joe biden say no, those codewords were not about joe biden. in the end, there is no direct evidence in the report, and there was nothing new in it today, that connects joe biden to the idea that there should be profiting off of his position. nevertheless, the republicans say the circumstantial evidence they gathered was enough. here is the conclusion from their repose. they wrote, president biden's -- constitutes impeachable conduct. what are they doing? they wrote the committees present this information for

evaluation and consideration of appropriate next steps. what does that mean? we don't know. it means technically this seems to be at an end. democrats are responding as if this is an end. a white house spokesman wrote, this failed stock will only be remembered for how it was an embarrassment that their own republican members distance itself from as they only refuted their false and baseless conspiracy theories pre- democrats say it is no coincidence this report came out today after 1.5 years to the day that biden is speaking to the convention. amna: tell us more about the evidence republicans insist they have had all along. lisa: we spoke with a constitutional law professor at loyola university and she said in the end, this is just circumstantial evidence. >> even if president biden in some ways kind of indirectly or vaguely made it easier for james

and hunter biden to trade on the biden name, i don't see in the report any of that rising to the level of the types of high crimes and misdemeanors that the founders envisioned when they put that impeachment clause in the constitution. lisa: also notable what is not in the report. one of the key witnesses early on the republicans talked about was an fbi informant who was later indicted for lying about the biden family. one other thing, the political reality is republicans don't have the votes to pass impeachment on the house floor, and they know it. so this is the end of this investigation for now. amna: that is our lisa desjardins reporting tonight from washington. thank you so much. good to speak with you. geoff: let's bring in our politics monday team to tick through all we have talked about so far. good to see you both. this convention will provide kamala harris with such an introduction to the biggest audience of her campaign.

just looking at the latest polling there is a cbs news poll out yesterday that has her up 51% nationally, 51/48, then she is tied 50-50 in the battlegrounds. what more do democrats need to do and what can they do to sustain this momentum moving ahead to november? amy: that is why tonight will be very interesting in watching of course the president who was supposed to be accepting the nomination, actually coming here and endorsing his vice president. he wants to of course talk about his legacy. the reports are coming out, he wants to move forward, not just talk about the past but basically passing the mantle to harris. at the same time, part of the reason harris is doing as well as she is she is not seen as part of the biden legacy. in other words, she is not as closely tied to decisions the biden administration made. one of the most interesting data

points i have seen so far from recent polling, a washington post poll, how much influence do you think kamala harris has had within the biden administration on economic policy and immigration. only about one third of voters thought that she had significant influence on those issues. so on the one hand she wants biden to say nice things about her of course. on the other hand she is going to want a little, uh, maybe we can have a little distance here. but i -- i like you but we have to go our own way. amna: what about that distance? we cannot underscore how quickly enough this shift happened. it was just a month ago there was a different person at the top of this tict. we have seen some parent -- policies from the harris/walz campaign on the economy come out. we expect to see more of them. though she need to break more from especially problematic policies that have created issues with voters from the biden administration? tamara: i think she has been creating a tonal distance but

not actually a policy difference. we can see that on gaza-related policy where she talks a lot more about concern for civilian life in gaza, but she still has the same position in terms of israel and full support of israel as it pursues this. in terms of the economy, she says i know prices are high. you don't have to tell me prices are high. she talks about it in a way that is somehow more empathetic, or just emphasizes things differently. then just in terms of the tone of her campaign, and i think we will see this played out in the convention, tonally is a very different campaign than the one president biden was running. she is running a much more positive, forward-looking, even joyful, she would say, campaign. biden talks a lot about democracy on the line, a tipping point. and really, it was a darker campaign. hers is a more joyful campaign.

and that is another area of tonal separation from biden. though continuing to essentially the policies she has been rolling out on the economy are biden's unfinished business. they are parts of the build back better plan that just d not make it through congress. amy: that is such a great point about the difference within the messenger and the message. even on the economic message, what she has been talking about, about price gouging in particular, that is something we have been seeing down ballot democrats talk about for a while. senator bob casey from pennsylvania started running those ads in may. so i think that is a very good point, that the message is maybe slightly different. it's really much more about the fact that she can be seen as turning the page even though the policies are n goingot -- not going to be drastically different. geoff: tonight is president

biden's night. tam, building on your previous point, how closely aligned is the -- does the harris campaign want to be with president biden, and how do they use them effectively moving forward? tamara: biden is promising he will be out on the road and out campaigning. we saw them appearing to get a last week at an event about bringing down prescription drug prices, which is one of these things that gotten applause line -- things that always gets an applause line. but certainly she is a different person, she is running a different campaign. you talk to biden aides and they say the speech he is going to give tonight is not a farewell address. they keep saying it is not a farewell address, it is a call to action. part of that is that president biden, he has said goodbye before. he doesn't like saying goodbye in a way that makes it seem the end.when he dropped out in 1987, when he dropped out

in 2008. every time he said, i have more to say. this time is the last time, although he does have more to say and he will try to keep saying it for the duration. amna: i would love to get your take on the fact that obviously the trump/vance campaign has been counterprogram in and they will be this whole week. here is what former president trump had to say earlier when he was speaking in york, pennsylvania. >> very simply, kamala harris is an economy wrecker and a country destroyer. our country will be destroyed if she gets in. her radical liberal agenda ruined san francisco. it ruined california when she was the attorney general. it crushed our middle class, demolished our border, set the world on fire, and now she wants

to be promoted to the job-killer-in-chief. amna: what is the strategy here? amy: she is using this opportunity to define for herself. you talk about convention bounces. this is the chance to unify the party and they get a bump after the convention. i do not think that will happen here. instead it is so much more about speaking beyond this place we are sitting in right now in chicago. speaking to the independent voters who right now don't know much about her but what they have seen they do like. she is doing better among independent voters than biden. for republicans, they want to fill in the blanks. they want to be the ones saying she is telling you this, america, but let me tell you, this is who she really is. really tying her as closely as

possible to biden. that is why tonight is such a fascinating needle to thread for the harris campaign. it is notable this is happening on monday, which is not the highest profile night traditionally for a convention. and that this is not somebody who is going to be introducing her on her big night on thursday. amna: what stands out to you? tamara: this is quite possibly the most active week the trump campaign has had of the entire campaign. he is going to have rallies in swing states every day this week. he has been doing one event a week, or maybe last week he held one rally and a press conference. he has not been an active campaigner. he has not been going to swing states as much as you would expect from a very active campaign. this week is different. they are counterprogramming and

going to those swing states, many of which he has only visited a couple of times. so this is a shift. i do think in terms of the messaging they are still struggling to figure out what to make stick. part of that is the clip you played is very much that is the message trump's campaign advisors one him to stick to. however, every time i turn on one of his speeches he is talking about who is more beautiful, him or kamala harris. he is talking about tivo and random things. he is not on message. he is having difficulty figuring out how to talk about vice president harris. he has said he doesn't have a lot of respect for her and he feels it is ok to make insults on her intelligence. that is not really the best way to win over independent voters, including many independent or formerly republican women who are trying to figure out where to land. amna: we have heard republicans say to stick to the message. thank you both so much.

geoff: pennsylvania shaping up to be a critical state this presidential election, with both the trump and harris campaigns spending considerable time and money there. congresswoman madeleen dean represents the state's 4th district, a suburb of philadelphia, and she joins us now. great to have you back on the program. when we last spoke in early july you were among the democrats who was supporting president biden even as party leaders at the time were privately suggesting he exit the race. he said he defeated donald trump once and had the record to do it again. i wonder what you make now in which the way the party has so quickly coalesced around kamala harris. rep. dean: i do stand by joe biden. what a record of accomplishment, 50-plus years, and i'm delighted to see the kind of response he will get tonight. it will blow the roof off the place, i am certain. geoff: as they start the sound check. rep. dean: and all the lead up speakers before him.

i was also clear eyed about the challenges ahead of us and i expressed that to my caucus, as well as to the campaign. i stand by the president and all of what he has done. all the accomplishments. i will say alongside a democratic congress and a democratic senate, think of all the bills we have passed that he spearheaded and signed into law that changed our economy, group jobs. -- grew jobs. so i'm delighted where we are. the enthusiasm is palpable back in my district, suburban philadelphia. delighted to be here. this is my first convention. geoff: what you expect we will hear from president biden tonight as he makes the case for vice president harris is the party nominee? rep. dean: i think we will hear more of the accomplishments and the record they have set it you can talk about the economy. we have seen donald trump and j.d. vance try and talk about the economy. they have put forward 20 -- project 2025. they put forward the notion of

big tariffs and mass deportations. that would be incredibly inflationary, every economist tells us that. he will talk about the economy. he will talk about the accomplishment of growing 15-plus million jobs, bringing inflation down, bringing manufacturing back, bringing the safer communities act into law, which is actually saving lives from gun violence. it is such a stark contrast of going back to something that was incredibly dark and caustic to our democracy. as caps off by january 6 as you well known. just a very criminal, corrupt set of norms for the permanent -- for the former president. we are not going back. we are going forward for the american people, for my children, our grandchildren, for the economy, for the environment, for education, for women's rights, for freedom. geoff: all the enthusiasm,

energy, unity on the democratic side, is there a risk that that masks that this is still a competitive race? as one person told me today, this is still donald trump's race to lose. rep. dean: you are right, -- we must not become overly enthusiastic. pennsylvania will be the keystone state again. we have to dig in and do the work to protect our democracy and grow our democracy. and what better place to do it than in the birthplace of our democracy? i am also clear eyed about that. this is not just such enthusiasm that you in a presidential race this way. we have to dig in and do the work and tend to our democracy. geoff: are democrats in a better position to win the house with a harris/walz ticket than they were with a biden/harris ticket? rep. dean: i feel the enthusiasm. one of the worries was perhaps people would sit out the

election, particularly the congressional elections, not knowing the difference between a majority in a minority in the difference that makes. take a look at the difference it has made this congress as democrats went into the minority. we had six massive big bills in the majority. this year the republican majority cannot get out of their own way. you saw what they did in terms of having a speaker. use what they did in terms of passinbudget bills. they let us go home a week early in this incredibly crucial cycle because they could not get their own members to do the work of passing budget bills with a seriousness about governing. geoff: you represent a solidly democratic district, president biden won by some 24 points in 2020. in many ways what happens in your district is a case study for how democrats might vote across the country. how are they responding to kamala harris? rep. dean: i have been doing a number of canvas launches and helping people get their literature together, getting their signs together and

knocking on doors. i have met person after person, one man in particular walked up to me and he said, i am not even sure i know you but i know you are my congresswoman. i am 59 years old. i have never put a yard sign up. i have never contributed to a campaign. i have never knocked on a door for a candidate. i'm in. that is really the feeling we are getting in our district. people are in, they want to do the work of democracy because they recognize how important it is. geoff: democratic congresswoman madeleen dean, thank you for joining us. rep. dean: thanks for having me. amna: let's head back to washington now where william brangham has a look at the day's other news. william: thank you so much. secretary of state antony blinken visited israel today and said this week's talks about a ceasefire in gaza and a hostage release were quote, the best, maybe the last opportunity to release the hostages and at least pause the war. nick schifrin is here and he has been following this. nick: blinken said today israel

had accepted language designed to bridge the gaps between israel and hamas. this is blinken speaking earlier to reporters in tel aviv. >> the critical next step is for hamas to accept the bridging proposal that israel, prime minister netanyahu has now accepted, and then to engage with everyone else on making sure we have clear understandings of how each party would implement the commitments that it's undertaken in this agreement. nick: there is an overall agreement on the framework for the first phase, the six week cease-fire, the release of more than 30 hostages from hamas and 700 palestinian detainees from israel, and a humanitarian surge in gaza with a phased israeli withdrawal from gaza. officials told me the two sides remain far apart, especially over changes israel has demanded in the last six weeks, that this bridging proposal language is designed to overcome. that includes number one, israel

insists on control of rafah and the corridor between gaza and egypt. hamas called that quote, an obstruction to reaching an agreement. two, checkpoints inside gaza to screen gazans moving from south north. three, israel is insisting to more than 30 hostages released in the first round all be alive. that was not part of the last deal. u.s. officials do not believe there are enough female, elderly, or infirm hostages to make that number, so american hostages might be moved higher in the list. four, israel is insisting on being able to veto the release of certain palestinian detainees, something hamas called quote, new conditions and demands. overall the public statements from both sides really reveal that the gaps remain. here was netanyahu today. quote, i greatly appreciate the understanding the u.s. has shown for our vital security interest, but hamas yesterday said the new proposal response to netanyahu

whose conditions, an alliance with them tonight, hamas just gave an interview saying they already conceded what israel said was enough and they are not in the mood for any new conditions. william: so why is it making this deal, this week, so critical? nick: u.s. officials believe if there is no deal this week, iran and hezbollah are likely to follow through on their vow to attack israel for two high-profile assassinations. that attack would likely derail instantly any of these talks about gaza, because u.s. officials still believe the best way to forestall an iranian attack, and frankly, a war between israel and hezbollah, is a cease-fire. william: thank you so much. also today, officials in connecticut say at least two people have died after as much as 10 inches of rain caused catastrophic flooding over the weekend. eyewitness video caught water

raging down roads in the southwestern part of the state, submerging cars and stranding drivers. authorities rescued 18 diners at a restaurant that was suddenly engulfed by the nearby little river. today, connecticut senator richard blumenthal said some businesses will not be able to recover from the damage. >> they have no flood insurance, because who would have thought the little river would turn into a gushing torrent of destruction, which is what happened. william: separately, ernesto has regained hurricane strength in the north atlantic, bringing dangerous surf and rip currents along the east coast. it's due to weaken as it passes newfoundland, canada tomorrow. italian authorities say that one body was found, and six people remain missing, after a luxury yacht sank this morning off the coast of sicily during a sudden storm. british tech entrepreneur mike lynch is among the missing. his wife and 14 others were

rescued. today near palermo, divers searched the calm waters under blue skies, a sign of just how quickly conditions shifted from last night's storm. the british-flagged bayesian was known for having one of the world's tallest masts, measuring 246 feet, as seen here lit at night, before the disaster. russian authorities said today that ukraine has damaged a third bridge in the kursk region. it's the latest strike in ukraine's nearly two-week incursion into russia. president volodymyr zelensky said today that ukraine now controls more than 480-square miles of the region. he says the goal is to create a buffer zone to prevent cross-border attacks by russian forces. meantime, ukrainian civilians are fleeing the eastern city of pokrovsk, as russian troops advance on that area. authorities have ordered families to evacuate the city and nearby villages. back here in the u.s., a judge in wisconsin has sentenced a

woman to 11 years in prison for killing the man who trafficked her for sex. prosecutors say chrystul kizer shot and killed 34-year-old randall volar at his home in 2018, when she was 17 years old. he had been sexually assaulting her for over a year. kizer's lawyers had claimed she could not be held liable for the killing because of a state law that absolves sex trafficking victims of quote, any offense committed as a direct result of that trafficking. former new york representative george santos has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft in his federal fraud case. the disgraced republican left a long island court this afternoon, where he admitted that he had quote, betrayed the trust of his constituents. santos had been charged with stealing from political donors and using campaign contributions for personal expenses. he faces more than six years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution.

on wall street today, stocks built on their recent gains to start the week. the dow jones industrial average added more than 230 points. the nasdaq jumped nearly 250 points for its 8th-straight winning session. the s&p 500 also continued its winning streak, adding 54 points. and, a passing of note. phil donahue, known to many as the king of daytime television, has died. "the phil donahue show," later simply called “donahue,” first launched in 1967 in dayton, ohio. from there, it ran on national tv for nearly three decades. unlike previous talk show hosts, donahue would walk up and down the aisles of his studio audience, inviting them to weigh in. he would devote entire programs to one topic, including frank discussions on race, sexuality, the aids epidemic, and faith in america. sometimes they were scandalous, and sometimes cerebral, like

this moment, with nobel economist milton friedman. >> did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism, and whether greed's a good idea to run on? >> well first of all, tell me, is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed? you think russia doesn't run on greed? you think china doesn't run on greed? what is greed? of course, none of us are greedy, it's only the other fella who's greedy. william: his program racked up 20 emmy awards. and earlier this year, donahue received the highest civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom. donahue also met his future wife on the program, actress marlo thomas, who appeared as a guest in 1977. they were married for more than 40 years. phil donahue was 88 years old. still to come on the “news hour,” in a new book, the former u.s. ambassador to russia details his experience during the invasion of ukraine. >> this is the "pbs news hour"

from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. william: since ukraine's incursion into kursk, russia has postponed rare talks between the two nations that were scheduled for later this month. those talks were to discuss a possible halt on attacks targeting each other's energy infrastructure. meanwhile, the kremlin's allies warned that ukraine's incursion has increased the chances of world war. that sabre-rattling is a routine russian tactic, and one few people have seen as closely as the most recent former u.s. ambassador to russia, who has written a new book, and recently sat down with nick schifrin. nick: over the past decade, the u.s.-russia relationship has deteriorated to its lowest point

since the cold war, election interference, attempted international assassinations, cyber warfare, and the full scale invasion of ukraine. ambassador john sullivan had a front row seat to all of it, first as deputy secretary of state, and then u.s. ambassador to moscow for presidents trump and biden, and his new book is "midnight in moscow, a memoir from the front lines of russia's war against the west." john sullivan, thanks very much. welcome to the “news hour.” let's begin with ukraine's incursion into russia. how will it affect putin's thinking? mr. sullivan: well, it's already affected his standing within russia. and russia's strategic calculations with respect to ukraine. they were surprised by this. putin was embarrassed by this. it reveals some of his weaknesses. the fact that the russians were unprepared, that the russians were being slaughtered, in this area are conscripts who are not supposed to be sent to the war in ukraine. we've seen video of what's happened to them surrendering, killed and so forth.

the ukrainians have occupied, what, 1000 square kilometers of territory? it's a big deal. even the russians on social media and in state media who are pro-war and pro-putin, are asking, how could this have happened in our country? but putin can't admit to weaknesses like that. nick: let me ask about another big putin decision, that is to make a deal with the united states and european countries, the largest prisoner swap since the end of the cold war. you were in the middle of multiple discussions about how to get detained americans in russia released, including of course, paul whelan, who was part of that swap. let me first ask you, why do you think putin made this deal? mr. sullivan: the the key piece of the deal from putin's perspective, was this fsb colonel named krasikov who committed a murder. nick: in broad daylight, in germany. mr. sullivan: in broad daylight, in front of, children and families in a park in berlin,

under orders of the kremlin to kill an opposition leader from chechnya. this was an officer of the fsb tasked by the kremlin, i'm sure, by putin himself, to eliminate this individual. nick: why was he so important to putin? what do we really know about their connection? mr. sullivan: krasikov has relationships, the way i understand, it with the organization that provides putin'bodyguards. so this is personal. he knows this guy, or he's close to people who know this guy. he's one of them. fsb colonel. that's his group. so it's personal. it's professional in that it's important to for him to send a message to his security services. you get an order like this in the future from me or from the kremlin, you know we're going to stand by you, and we can get you out. nick: what were your negotiations like with the russians to try and release these american detainees?

mr. sullivan: well, the problem that we had, particularly with someone like paul, paul whelan when i was ambassador, and then subsequently with, evan gershkovich, the wall street journal reporter was that they were charged and convicted of espionage. the russians would say, we've arrested an american spy. you come to us with potential trades of cyber criminals, a fraudster here. nick: and those are the people that the u.s. ended up trading. mr. sullivan: but more than that, they got back krasikov. what happened before was we didn't have in u.s. custody someone that putin really wanted. in this case, it was. the germans had him. so the trick to the deal was broadening the scope to include the germans. nick: the book begins the night of the full scale invasion. you describe the scene where you end up going to the embassy in the middle of the night and staying there, living there basically. and you blame the fsb, the successor to the kgb, for their intelligence failure to think that russian invasion, the russian full scale invasion, would succeed and be welcomed by ukrainians. why did they fail so much at

that? mr. sullivan: there were two basic failures. first, the fsb didn't prepare the battlespace. you had thousands of fsb officers who had spent years with billions of dollars invested to weaken ukrainian resistance. and secondly, they failed to advise the russian president that the ukrainian resistance was going to be as strong as it was. nick: because they didn't know or they couldn't tell him the truth? mr. sullivan: it's a combination of both, i believe. there's a common phenomenon that that we believe that putin's larger circle of advisors are afraid to tell him bad news. imagine if you're a senior fsb officer. the fsb has been given years, thousands of personnel and billions of dollars to weaken ukraine. and your assessment is, hmm, now's not a good time to invade. i wouldn't like to be the person delivering that message. nick: you write that the only

suitable strategy for the united states and the west must be a form of 21st century containment of russian aggression. and, of course, russia must be stopped in ukraine. what does the 21st century of containment look like? mr. sullivan: well, first it's got to be based on an acknowledgment that putin is never going to surrender his war aims. the notion that the united states, anyone in the west, it's going to be able to negotiate a resolution to this war that doesn't involve complete capitulation by ukraine is wishful thinking. i've seen members of congress debating and, you know, aid to ukraine, and why are we supporting ukraine? why are we more concerned about ukraine's border than the southern border in the united states? it's not just about supporting ukraine. in fact, you can believe, as i think i've heard, the republican vice presidential candidate j.d. vance say, i don't really care

about ukraine. ok. but as a u.s. senator, you need to be concerned about russian aggression. that's what this is about. it's opposing russian aggression, which i believe is necessary for u.s. national security. nick: let me just ask you a few questions about donald trump. you were his deputy secretary of state before you were the ambassador in moscow. you write in the book that trump had a, quote, undisciplined style. the white house was chaotic, unpredictable, and that the president, quote, could not or would not draw a distinction between his own interests and those of the country, and, quote, trump has no interest in the ordinary duties of his office. what impact did that have? mr. sullivan: it made my job difficult as deputy secretary and stressful. so after three years as on a personal level, it made me think about getting off the hot seat. i was pretty burned out after three years of the unpredictability and lack of

discipline. it was just difficult to implement policy when the ground would seem to be shifting under our feet. nick: quickly, will you vote for him again? you vote for him last time? mr. sullivan: you know, i did not support him in the republican primary this time, i supported governor haley, whom i worked with closely when i was deputy secretary. but as i write in the book, i've been a lifelong republican. i cast my first vote for president in 1980 for ronald wilson reagan, who had -- he coined the -- i think it was he who coined, what he called this 11th commandment. thou shalt not criticize a fellow republican. i believe i will vote for the republican candidate for president this year, who is donald trump. nick: john sullivan, the book is "midnight in moscow." thank you very much. mr. sullivan: thanks, nick. my pleasure. ♪ william: let's return now to chicago where amna and geoff will be hosting special coverage all night at the democratic

national convention. amna: that's right. we'll be here bringing you live speeches from the convention stage, interviews with key democratic lawmakers, and in-depth analysis of it all. geoff: that starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. we hope you'll join us. and that is the "news hour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire "news hour" team, thank you for joining us. we'll see you back here soon. >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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