pnewshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff.r on the newshnight: the range of response. efforts to combat the coronavirus vary widely across the united states. i talk with a leading republican senator and a democratic governor on the different approaches to reening. then, the effect on children. nationwide stay-at-home orders raise concerns over child welfare, and a potentially dramatic increase in child abuse. and, hostage of the taliban. the family of a contractor kidnapped in afghanistan speaks for the first time, as peace talks deteriorate. l that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation.it cod to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> 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 instituon >> this program was made possible by the corporation forl broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs thank you.wers like you. >> woodruff: tensions over when, and how fast, to reopen, dominate american life tonight. states and cities are g their own pace as they weigh twoverriding factors:

economicevastation, and nearly 84,000 aths in the united states-- and counting. stephanie sy has our lead report. >> reporter: grabbing a drink at the bar may have never felt so risky. he we have the staff doing thing, with the cleaning. we're taking temperatures of the staff comi in. so, yeah, we've taken a lot of other steps that were predictable, ande got it done. >> reporter: in places like palm beach florida, more restaurants are reopening. other cities say they're not ready, including washington d.c. mayor muriel bowser: >> we're not there yet, and not quite ready to begin that phased new opening. so today, we will extend the district's stay-at-home order through monday, june 8. >> reporter: decisions on when businesses reopen are playing out nationwide, after the white diuse and the centers for ase control and prevention

disagreed on when and how that should happen. an unreleased c.d.c. document, obtained by the associated press, shows the agency called for a national guide to re opening, outlining "steps thatan all amerneed to take iner but the white houselved the guidance, instead leaving the proces officials.e and local senator chuck schumer called for thsrelease of those guideli on the senate floor today. >> the point is that america needs-- d must have-- the candid guidance of our best scientists, unltered, unedited, uncensored by president trump for s political minions. >> reporter: president trump spoke this afternoonith the governors of colorado and nort dakota, a day after the nation's top health experts warned against reopening too quickly. >> wants to play all sides of the equation.

i was surprised by his answer, actually, because, you know it's just -- to me, it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools. >> reporter: meanwhile, the chair of the federal reserve, jerome powell, urged washington to take more action to prevent a lasting recession today, but he said the u.s. is well-positioned to rebound after the pandemic. >> it'll take some time to get back to where we were. i have every reason to think we can get back there. the economy should substantially recover, once the virus is under control. >> reporter: many health experts have warned the virus won't come under control until testing is more widely available. a new house oversight subcommitteeheeld its first ing today on testing and tracing the virus. >> testing is critical. testintells us who has the disease and who doesn't, and testing is the cornerstone of controlling every single disease outbreak.

precipitated thtionalting that shutdown. >>eporter: the u.s. has conducted more than nine million covid tests-- more than any thher country-- but trails nations in per capita testing. germany now tests at a similar rate to the u.s., but made testing available much earlier in the country outbreak, avoiding a higher death rate there. that relative success is partly why masked passengers are checking into flights in frankfurt once again. the german governmenbegan a gradual easing of border controls this week, aiming to open travel across the e.u. by mid-june. and in turkey, playgroun filled with masked patrons today. after a drop in covid cases there, the government allowed children under 14 to leave the house, for four hours. istanbul local mehmet kahraman is graful to be outside, albeit briefly. >> ( translated ): i haven't been otwo months. they gave us permission today, but i don't know for how many

hours. no need to calculate that now. we're really happy and, god willing, the coronavirus will end. >> reporter: masks over smiling faces, short moments of relief in the long-haul push to end a pandemic. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodrf: worries about the risks of reopening, and about a slow recovery,ook a toll on wall street. the dow jones industal average lost 516 points-- 2%-- to close below 23,248. the nasdaq fell 139 points, and the s&p 500 gave up 50 points. senatolamar alexander is the chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. his hearing on capitol hill yesterday focused on the trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. he joins us now from tennessee,

where he is currently in self- quarantine. senator alexander, thank you very muc first of all, how are you doing and how is your staff member doing who had tested positive? >> he's fine. i just talked with him a few minutes ago. he lt his sense of smell, but that's it. you know, that's the symptom that alerted him. i'm fine, too. i was just exposed for a short period of time, and, so, under the protocol, it says two we>>e. oodruff: well, we're glad to hear both of you are doing well so far. let me ask you about yesterday's hearing. as you know, the senior health officials in the trump administration, dr. anthony fauci and others, tetified, essentially, that every state needs to be careful as it opens, up becaf it moves too quickly and doesn't have the adequate amount of testing in place, there could be more illness, deaths, loss of livelihood hood, but, senator,

this comes a day after we have metump sa the moment and prevailed with regard to testing. so who's right here? >> well, i think we have a way, to d i think we'll do it state-by-state like most thingsn ur country. for example, our governor bill lee is testing aressively every prisoner, every nursing home resident, drive-through testing on the weekends, anyone can get a test at the loal public health department. i talked to a reporter this morning in mcminnville who said he showed up twice and gotten his free test. the governor's mott o when in et a test. so, as a result, in our state, we will have, by the end of theo month, tested 7% of our sopulation, which will help u monitor what's happening as we sc back to work and, eventually, back tool. >> woodruff: let me ask you something else about comparing the united states to other countries like germany, like south korea, where testing started much earlier in south korea, they have been able to hold the total death number

to something like 300, compared to 8000 in the united states. what are lessons that u.s. should learn from these other -- other countries? s >> welth korea is certainly an example of one we should pay attention to because of they lower death number. the united states hadha glitch at beginning with a botched test from the c.d.c. any president would have been very unhappy with that. states has done has been very impressive, ice as many tests conducted today more than any country which is very good news for principals d chancellors who are thinking of students who will want to go back to school in august because it creates tha possibleyou could test whole classes or whole schools as part of a way of keepinthem safe. >> woodruff: one other thing, in connection with this, pressing some states that have

not been prepared to open early, like pennsylvania, and said that they're making a mistake. he said, yesterday, there just seems to be no effort in getting certain blue states to get back should he be pressing these states this way? >> well, he can do whatever he wants to, he's the president.he lso toured the state of of georgia they were going too fasa and thated state. i think most states don't want to be told by the president what do, they want to be able to have the tests, thschedules their way, e colleges thir way, and i think the president understands that, he's got a right to express his own opinion. >> woodruff: senator, we have -- we know that the house tf representatives is looking a legislation this week to provide aid to state and local governments, figure $3 trillion has been thrown out, a trillion of that, supposedly, for state have you decided where you stand on that? >> well, i haven't seen i.

i've decided that we ought to send the money that we've already approiated out, that's $3 trillion, and see how it works. most of it, muf ch oit, has not yet gone out. for example, all the money for hospitals hasn't gone out and the first thing we should do with states is givme t more flexibility on the money we've already given them. but no amount of money will solve the hurt that this is causing people. the only thing isting, tracking those exposed, isolating the sick, and then amoving ahead on very rapid pace with treatments and vaccines which is happening right now. alexander, chairman of the senate health committee. senator, thank you vernkmuch. >> tyou, judy. >> woodruf few states have been hit harder by the coronavirus than new jersey, which is second only to new york for the total number of deaths used by covid-19. and, while most other states in the country are reopening, the gardentate has been under

near-lockdown for months. earlier today, its governor, democrat phil murphyunced plans to allow some non- essential business to reopen. he joins us now from trenton. governor murphy, thank you very much for talking with us.he it is case that new jersey has had some of the worst numbers in the country, but you've also seen improvement, by all meewsurements in the last weeks in terms of cases, in terms of hospitalizations, and even deaths. you did make this announcement today to beopgin to en up some businesses. how do you make a deciiksion that? >> good to be with you, judy. u're absolutely right. we've made progress and, yetw, e are particularly, in terms of cases per 100,000 residents, fatalities per 100,000 100,000 resints, hospitalizations, we're number one in theion, so even more impacted than

new york on a perta basis. we have to balance it. we opened up oustate and cnty parks two weekends ago, imploring folks to keep ups social dincing, wear face parking spacat work quite and well. so, you know, our progress has e allowed us to take mor what i would call baby steps. there will be no day, at least that i can see, that will flip s big lighitch and a whole lot of things are going to happen all at once. we're going to take, i think, a series of steps that gives us a chance to evaluate them in real time, to see how things we tannounced, nonessential ail curbside pickup today, we expanded construction, we allowed drive-through, three steps we can monitor over the coming days. woodruff: so we were looking at other statistics, when it comes to new positive cases per 100,000 people, new jersey is still struggling, if you will, when youmpare to

other states. is this onof the reasons that you are holding back? because we know you, like er governors, are getting pressure from business owners, from others to open up. >> it is one of the reasons, you're absolutely right. so if you look at per capita numbers of all the american states per 100,000 residents, unfortunately, we're in the poll position on positive tests, hospitalizations and fatalities. having said that, your ope ang remarke also true -- we've made eormous progress over the past couple three weeks on hospitalizations, flattening the test curve, i.c.u. beds, ventilator use, the heat mapslo that wk at. so, essentially, we're in one of these moments,we're trying to balance the progress with still, in a grave, serious sitti and recognizing that while we've made a lot of progress, we're not out of the woods yet. >> woodruff: governor, i want

to specifically ask you about nursing homes because, as si wa looking today, you've had something like 5,000 deaths among nuing home, long-term care facility residents. re than half our state's fatalities have been nursing home residents, well over the national rate. the worst outbreak has been at a home from military veterans in paramis, over 90% of the residents there have been -- have tested positive, 72 deaths. what do you say to the fails of these people? >> it's awful. i mean, the trgedy within the tragedy is long-term care facilities. you know, we're the densest state ind america, an our density is a huge asset most days. and something like this, it's a huoss that we bear, frankly. it's a tragedy. there's just no other way to put it, and it isn't just vet homes, although it is certainly

our essed veterans we've lost. but we've got this running through our state as, by the well, but we're neption toas that. the performance by the operators has been etremely uneve this is a virus, clearly, that eats away at older folks, particularly folks with underlying heah conditions. we have thrown everything at this, more staffing, national guard, the v.a., our attorneyd general launc investigation, we've hired a nationally recognized firm to come in and plus- s ourtaffing and oversight. it is the tragedy within the tragedy. new jersey is no exception. but it is certainly the case here and, yo're absolutely right, it's over half the fatalities in our state today. >> woodruff: will there becy pohanges as a result of this? >> absolutely. absolutely. this is not unique to new jersen

enlystry which is very unev regulated, and the performancen is uneven,d that's being charitable, including the basic uff of communicate beived ones on the status of a residenh loved ones on the status of ant resi so the answer, is yes, there will be changes in our state and i would guess our country. the work you're saying you're going to be doing now involhas, as w been discussing nationally, contact tracing, of course more tesng, you were t.alking about t does new jersey have the financial wherewithato cover what it is going tcost to do the necessary testing and contact tracing? >> yeah, we will do what it takes in terms of testing and contact tracing, and we promise to at least double our testing by example by the end of this month. new jersey does not have all the resources it needs, and new jersey is not unique, and it's not unique st to ue

states either. this is a time for direct feral cash assistance to states. i applaud senat menendezand our state is going to bipartisan bill with senator cassidy ofa. louisi i applaud speaker pelosi with whom i'm speaking reg including this morning on the bill she came out with yesterday, that's exactly what the doctor orded, again, not just for my state but all states in the middle of this -- this is the most critical crisis any of us ever facede and, at this moment in time, we need thent federal govern there in a big way in terms of its financial support. >> woodruff: but i'm sure you know republicans from the adership on down areying they don't see a rush to do this, that a lot of these states asking for ney have mismanaged their finances and shouldn't bne gire money until they spend what they've got. >> yeah, i would say not all republicans. the good news is we're starttog ee republican governors and

republican members of congress also say the right things. i heard what senator mcconnell said afew weeks ago, and this has nothing whatsoever to do with our legacy issues, that's a complete myth. issue.n't a blue stat this is about our ability to continue to employ versus laying them off.n u imagine laying off firefighters, police, first responders, e.m.s., healthcare rkers, educators, we need them at this moment more than ever i the hist our country, we off if wen't get federaly them direct cash assistance and it's all states, t t jusblue states. >> woodruff: governor phil murphy of new jersey, we wish alyou the best withl you're working on, thank you. >> thanks for having me, judy.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. supreme court heard arguments on whether electoral college members must back the presidential candidate who carries their states. the electoral college dermines the winner of the presal election. president trump won the electoral vote in 2016, while losing the popular vote. weill take a closer look, after the news summary. a federajudge has now delayed a decision on dismissing criminal charges against michael flynn, the forr u.s. national security adviser. instead, he is inviting legal experts and outside groups to weigh in. flynn pled guilty to lying to the f.b.i. during the russia investigation. but, the justice dep ttment now sa investigation was flawed from the start. meanwhile, the president's one-time campaign chair, paul manafort, was released from federal prison. his lawyer says it was due to fears about the coronavirus.

manafort will do the rest of his seven-year sentence for tax fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy in home confinement. in afghanistan, the death toll rose to 24, after an attack on a maternity hospital in kabul. there was no claim of responsibility in tuesday's assault, but the taliban denied that it played any role. we will take a closer look later in the program. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo says that israel needs to consider a number of issues before annexing west bank settlements. pompeo spoke after landing in tel aviv today.ar he met sely with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and coalition partnny gantz. their politil agreement calls for moving ahead with annexations. ck in this country, two u.s. house races in special

elections on tuesday. california republican mike garcia is leading for what had been a democratic seat near los anles, with more ballots to count. and in wisconsin, republican tom tiffany easily won a seat in a pro-trump district. still to come on the newshour: the supreme court hears a critical argument that could affect future presidential elections. nationwide stay-at-home orders raise concns over a potentially dramatic increase in child abuse. the family of an american contractor held hostage by the taliban speaks for the first time. and, despite social distancing, musicians band togetr to create songs of comfort. >> woodruff: since the coronavirus closed schools wide, children are staying

at hom reports of child abuse and glect have declined dramatically. as william brangham tells us, advocates for child welfare are especially concerned about what this says about their safety. g:fore we continue, a warn this segment is focused on a sensitive subject. and, if the are younger viewers with you, you may want to take a moment to pause or opt out. >> brangham: that's right, judy, in normal times, child welfare and allegations of child abuse are a very difficult story to cover. that's even tougher now. we want to begin by sharing some of the concerns and experiences of people who are working to reeventhat abuse. some of what we heard. >> my name is kelly white. i'm the co-c.e.o. at the safein

alliance in autexas. we work across the issues of child abuse, child sex trafficking, sexual assault, domestic violence. we are particularly concerned because if children are at risk in a home, nobody is seeing them now. children's aid society.he with in new york city.e of our biggest concerns inring this pandemic is the safety and well-of children across new york city. the child welfare system relies heavily on schools and ysicians and other adults that are coming in contact with children on a regular basis to report incidences of child abuse and neglect. >> hi, this is jim dudley. i am in redwood city,an californiacurrently i'm a lecturer on faculty at san francisco state university.th when i was witpolice department, i was the captain of our child abuse prevention andve igation group. in covid-19 days, we don't get those reports. so, it's up to the offics to

be aware without those other sort of subtle hints that a child may be being abused. >> i'm leah fraley, i'm the executive director of stop child abuse now of northern virginia. reports are going down. there's less reports because the frt line of child protection really isn't in that child's life anymore. reports are going down. that doesn't mean abuse is going wn, right? so, just the reports. we are seeing minors making those reports, which is t typical.i, >>'m dr. don plumley, i am in orlando, florida, and i'm the medical director at orlando old palmer children's hospital. what we've seen during the we've seen a major increase of children presenting with major injuries. there's children coming with broken bones, head injuries, burns, and we've probably seen an increase of at least 50% to 100% of these cases in the last two months. >> i'm xanthe scharff. i live in washington, d.c.

i'm the c.e.o. and co-founder of the fuller project, which is a global nonprofit newsroom that's dedicated to doing groundbreaking reporting on issues that imct women. what we're seeing is that during coronavirus, there has been a spike of 230% inhe material online, which is child sexual abuse, which is being shared. and that's material thatbls on the accessible web. >> we had a call from a child prottive services worker because of a young woman that had been in our teen parent program-- that's a part of our children's shelter-- and had left to go back to with her child, to go back to her family. and now, someone from her family that had been sexually aggressive toward her was now sexually abusing her child. we got them into our fily shelter in a second. >> there has been a breakdown,

as far as the actors that are monitoring and taking down this child sexually abusive material online. we he found through our reporting that the instances of material being taken down has been reduced by 89%. >> in our two county areas, orange county and seminole county, florida, we'll see eight or nine patients a month. in the last two months of march and april, we've seen 19 and 15 children that required hospitalization. >> for a family who, prior to the pandem, was in t situation and stressed out, ovwhelmed, worried about, et cetera, all of the things that really do lend to diftscult environmthat's now worse, significantly worse. >> brangham: so now to understand a bit more coout theserns right now, i'm joined by dr. robert sege. he's a pediatrician at the tufts medical center who works to combat these problems. he's also a senior fellow at tuft's center for the study of

social policy. dr. sege, thank you very much for being here. we heard some, obviously, very alarming reports of injuries going up, of sexual abuse online going up, what concerns you the most? >> wt concerns me ise really don't know what going on that our states and most states around the country have seen a dramatic dechiline if c abuse reports. we know some of the risks factors are -increased families under more stress, fincial stress, the children are at home when they should be in school, and parents could be employed in essential businesses, could be unempcoyed, or thed be trying to work from home -- all of those things tend to increase family stress. one thing bewie know about child abuse is most people who abuse their childn are kind of at the end of their rope.

there aren't people who are really that did bad who wake up in the morning and sant to abuse and neglect my child. it's mostly gooparents that just lose it. >> what we would expect in aic pandhat would have been cooped up for this amount of time, this is in some ways maybe inevitable is not the right word, but this is not an unexpected event. >> you know, in natural disasters, there was an increase in child abuse in the great recession, an increase in the most serious child abuse, of head trauma in infants. this h never happened beore. se ssatar'ty dme wan onit'see terrible for every child, and we're concerned that, a we slowly begin to reemerge, when it's safe to do so, thse children have a place to go, people to talk to, and ways to talk about their experience,

particularly if they have been abused or neglectedn some way. >> reporter: i'm so struck by this idea that when thers a decline in reports of abuse that that sets off alarm bells for people like yourself. >> yeah, and think about child -- t thing about child abuse is most child abuse is not reported, and we know than all times, and that's done because, if you ask adults in many different ways, were you abused as a child, the numbers are much higher than the numbe of reports. so, in all times, and now the hiople who reportld abuse are their teachers, their early childhood educatorssometimes their neighbors, the children may confide in someone like a grandparent or a beloved aunt or e uh uncle, and things end up becoming reports in the child welfare system and, of course, physicians, when we see children, if they have bruises they can't explain or injuries or they appear to be neglected,

we're also required law to report. so all of those safety nets built around childn just aren't there right now. >> do you have any advice for hrents? i hear you're saying, that this isn't a chronic condition for the most part, people aren't inherently abusive to their children, it's often a situational stress that sets it off. let's say there are parents who are watching this who ae wheling those feelings o are feeling stressed and anxious and nervous and fri aghtenend angry. is there any generalized advice you can offer them? >> yeah, there are a couple of things we know. the first one is reach out for help. even though you can't physically join someone o tnelephone, video, any other way you can get a chance to vent those feelings and know that it's not -- u' not unusual. we're all feeling moments of frustration and pair under the circumstances, it's the way it is.ta secondly, unde that your children's lives are disrupted, also. so, if they are misbehaving or

having problems, take moment to ask them what's going on and what they miss. yet, they haven't been around long, and sometimes parents can help with some of the things and i think the opiece thatut. i just sort of wanted to make sure to say is no one's very efficient or productive these days. take some yome, enjoy ur children, build a fort, go for a walk, whatever it taes, just have some fun because this is really bad, it'really hard, but maybe, at the end of the day, we could look back and say it was really difficult time, but boy did we laugh. >> repter: all very, very important advice to take to heart.be dr. sege of the tufts medical center, thank you very much for your time. inviting me. very much for >> woodruff: very important, as we heard, and there are a number of groups and hotlines you can

call or find on the web if you know someone in need of help. we will include them on our site tonight. you n start with the childhe national child abuse hotline. it can be reached by phone or text at 1-800-4-a-chr you can go to inildhelp.org/childhelp-ho >> woodruff: president trump today reiterated that u.s.ust leave afghanistan, saying american troops are not a police force. but the horrors of that war wern again brough sharp focus with yesterday's cruel strike on a maternity hospit. and now, as the u.s. is withdrawing, the fate of one american held hostage lies in the balance. here's amna nawaz. >> nawaz: a solemn prayer, for

the lives brutally taken in yesterday's attack on a maternity ward in kabul. crews today hastily worked to dig fresh graves for the victims, including expectant mothers and newborns. >> ( translated ): i saw eight dead bodies of women in this ward and seven other dd bodies were in the other ward on thebe ds, and they were hit in their heads or faces. >> nawaz: as authorities were responding to yesterday'sab assault in, scores more re killed in the easte province of nangarhar. there, a suicide bomber attacked a funeral for a local police commander. the taliban denied involvement in either of yesterday's attacks, but afghan president ashraf ghani ordered his military to ramp up. >> ( translated ): for defending i order all thafghan securityns and defeforces to come out of defensive mode, back to offensive, and start their operations against the enemy. >> nawaz: yesterday's violence is just the latest cra in the already fracturing u.s. deal with the taliban. in late february, the two

parties entered into an agreement, led by president trump's appointed negotiator, ambassador zalmay khalilzad.s. the ould begin a troop withdrawal to end america's longest war, and in exchange, the taliban would stop attacks on u.s. forces, and deny otherro militant gs safe haven. the afghan government was not part of that initial agreement. but, the deal set the ground for further direct negotiations between afghanistan and the taliban. those negotiations have beend stal pt by disagreements over prisoner exchanges, and continued taliban attacks onfo afghan securites. and, the chaos and camity raise questions about the fate of american mark frerichs. the 57-year-old u.s. navy veteran was working as a commercial contractor in ghanistan when he was kidnapped at the end of january. u.s. officials believe he is held by the haqqani network, a faction of the taliban. earlier, i spoke with frerichs' family, from the home in lombard, illinois. his sister charlene is a retired her husband chris isor.

truck driver, working overnight shifts. in the family's first interview, exclusive to the newshour. so a lot of people will hear this story and will wonder, what was he doing ighanistan? >> he's been there over ten years, and he was doing construction work. he just enjoyed it and stayed out there and -- >> he could make very good moy, tax-free money, and they let him do the kind of work that he liked to do tha rt heeally couldn't find here. so he joined the environment and kept going back in and eventually stayed. so we're kind of a imazed att, but it's something that he wanted to do, so we supported him. >> reporter: tell us how you came to know that he had been dnapped. >> we found out sunday morning, groundhog day. we had a knock on our door, 9:0s

lombard police and the f.b.i. ca to our dor, and basically told us that they wanted to talk to us, and they explained to us that my brother, mark, had been kidnapped by the taliban, the haqqani group. >> reporter: what did you think at thaomt ment? >> i was shocked. i thought it was -- i couldn't believe i i basically kept sayingver again, are you sure? they were very sure. i really didn't come into reale y of it until they ca my house the following tuesday, and i talked to washington, d.c., and the whole big oup, and then reality set. and i just just still can't believe it and cry every now and then at night, and i jusk thbout what he's going through right now. is he bei basd? is he being fed?

is he cold? is he warm? does he have a pillow? i mean, i just can't imaine what he's gointhrough right now. >> reporter: have you been able to get any kind of update on his well being? >> they're letting us know, the f.b.i.nd when we talked to he is alive.sically are saying they're not saying he's well because they don't know, but they are saying that they don't have any reason to think that he's -- he's dead. so they feel that he is stil out there. >> reporter: and whe you mean te chief negotiate dealing directly with the taliban. last week the f.b.i. released a poster seeking information about the the release of your broever, reported u.s. forces raid looking for information on him d his ereabouts. do you believe, charlene, that the u.s. is doing everythingt they can to mark released? >> sometimes i think yes and sometimes i think no. i think i know is covid thing

has taken over, and i feel that the f.b.i. and the u.s. government is doing all they can do, but i really don't feel anything an he's the one with the power to get mark me safely. >> sounds like zal is more worried about doing a prisoanr ex of great numbers rather than looking at the importance of onsoe per and that's mark and getting mark home. >> reporter: let me ask you about what it is you'd like to see because you have the u.s. chief negotiate dealing with the talibasaying i have asked th to do everything they can, clearly he's working under the directn of president trump. so what else specifically do you want to see the u.s. governm st do to maure that mark is releoed? >> that negotiations go on about trading prisoners or anything in that regards until mark is brought hom then, you know, whatever they need to do, they need to do, but they need toput mark first. >> reporter: you'd like to see

the entire negotiation process stop until there's a pre-condition that mark is released. is that right? >> i believe that would be right, yeah. >> reporter: and if the process moves forward without that pre-condition, what are yop worried would n? >> that he would be forgotten, at --that's what he's going to do with or without certain accomplishments but our concern some for mark. >> reporter: we are talking about america's longest war. three presidents have tried to end this and president eump believedould be closer than ever to having some kind of a home.and getting u.s. troops are you worried that the commitment to that goal could mean mark gets left behind? >> very much so. yeah. very much so. i have a very fear, i think of every day, at i am going to wake up some morning and all this will be fine and clear and mark ist not home safely, and

the peace deal has been signed and done -- a done deal, and mark's still out there. and what are we going to do en? >> reporter: we've seen president trump get very directly involved to try to gotiate prisoners' relse in the past with different countries. mark's case if heto do the same in this situation? than harm at this point.e hel he's shown he's a prettywe ul guy, he's gone toe to toe against the strongest leaders in the world and come out okay. >> yeah, i really support doaldt he will bring my brother home efely. he's dt in the past with other prisoners, oth -- so i believe that he'll get my brother home. >> reporter: if you could deliver a message right now to president trump, whawould you say to him? >> i would say please bring my brother markome safely, and please don't do any moreigning

any more deals until my brother din clued in that deal an gettinmy brother home safe. >> reporter: charlene, l me ask you, because this is the very first interview anyone inil your fhas given,hy are you talking to us today? >> it's been long enough that i feel that we have to be a little stronger and move more forward i have to getore out there, more -- to get the word out, and maybe get presintrump a little bit more mentioning my brother mark's name and more motivated, and i think the more my brother mark's name is put out there, i think the more, you know, the power up there will do what they've got to do, because we are very concerned. >> rorter: if you had a way of getting a message straight to mark, what would you want to say to him now? >> i just want to tell him we're

doing everything weto get you home, i miss you and i just want you home safely. an i've ovorried about youer a decade with this, and we've felt so comfortable that you were doing okay and you were i guess we just let our guard down. but i want you home safe, and i'm doing everything i can to gemeyou ho safe. so just hang in the. he's my brother and i love him, my only brother. e and we only two years apart so we were always goes as kidng and ut. hisgh lch aool when i got picked on. he's always been there for me. so i've got to be here for him. >> reporter: charlene and chris are talking to us today from lombard, illinois. which wish your family all the best. thank you for your time. >> thank you for your time.

>> woodruff: can stes punish nncking a pledge to vote for in their state? thatn at the heart of today's supreme court asguments.st qg w johehn ys the story. >> i'm just a guy. i was just a regular person. i wasn't a pol hician. >> yanmay be a regular guy, but micheal baca was one oh just 538 peoplen to vote for president in 2016. that's right-- while more than 150 million americans headed to the polls on november 8, 2016, to choose between donald trump and hillary clinton, the presidency was actuallyecided weeks later by the 538 members of the electoral college. they're actually voting for..., >> yang: this indirect election of the president is established in the constitution.

each state has the same number of electoral votes as their representation in the house and senate. candidates need 270 votes to win, and most states are winner- take-all. in 2016, clinton won the popular vote in colorado, so all nine of the state's electoral votes were supposed to go to her. but baca-- one of colorado's electors-- voted for republican. john kas it was part of plan he hatched with other electors to try to prevent mr. trump from becoming president. >> it was to find more moderate-- a moderate republican.the popular vote winf colorado was hillary clinton. but the majority of people in colorado did not want donald trump. >> yang: jason harrow is baca'so ey. >> they were putting country over party. and there is a place for that. it's not to blow up the system. it's actually to further our constitutional democracy. >> yang: colorado invalidated baca's vote and replaced hime with an alterno did vote for clinton. >> electors are supped to go and vote. when i attempted to go a

exercise my-- my right to vote in the electoral college in 2016i was-- i was denied tha vote. >> colin powell, of the commonalth of virginia, has received three votes... >> yang: as th-vice president joe biden announced the results, seven so-called "faithless electors" were succeful, casting their ballots for other candidates. in washington state, four of them were fined $1,000 each. they-- and baca-- sued. and today, meeting once again by phone, the supreme court heard u pair of nts on the constitutionality of state laws punishing faithless electors. marcia coyle is chief washington correspondent fothe "national law journal." >> the court has ruled wayatack in 1952 tates can require electors to pledge to support certain candidates or political parts candidates, but the court has never said whether the states can enforce pledges. it is an unprecedented question for them.

>> yang: but just months bore the next presidential election, the stakes for the justices were clear. justice samuel alito pressed lawrence lessig, the attorney for the washington state el ttors. se who disagree with your argument say that it wouldh lead ts. do you deny that that is a, good possibili your argument prevails? >> we deny it's a good possibility. we don't deny it's a ssibility. we believe there are risks on either side. in the history of electors, there has been one elector, out of the 23,507 votes cast, who has switched parties against the majority party in a way that >> yang: rick hasen, an election law expert at u.c. irvine law school and autr of "election meltdown," explained the potential risk. >> these electors could be subject to pressure.ld they ce subject to bribes. they could vote in an independenway. and that would throw off the result.

imagine the election is very close and it just takes one or two electors changing their views. >> yang: during the arguments, washington solicitor general noah pcell defended his state's decision to fine faithless electors as a way to protect three million other voters. >> once the legislature has given power to vote to the public, the public now has a fundamental right to vote and have their votes counted equally, as this court has said in a number of cases. and so, the legislature can't then override that vote aftere ct. it would radically change how american presidential electionsy have aworked in our country. >> yang: but chief justice john roberts pressed baca'sat attorney on imits may be placed on an elector. >> so, the elector cide, "i'm going to vote-- i'm going to flip a coin and however it comes out, that's how i'm going to vote?"yo >> yes honor. that's the same discretion that u.s. senators have, reprentatives have, congressional electors have. these too are elected officials

and they have that same discretion. >> well, that sounds pretty >> yang: depending on how the justices rule, the republicans andemocrats may do things differently this fall. >> this is not an exaggeration, i expect there are going to be investigators investigating the lives of these electors to make sure that these are people who are those who would reliably vote for joe biden or donald trump. >> yang: presidential candidates and electors should have a better idea of their options before the party nominating conventions later this summer. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: finally tonight, our occasional look at the "songs of co world-renowned cellist yo-yo ma launched on social media. jeffrey brown looks at the anowing collaboration in these mini-perfos, as tough

times bring people together through music and technology. it's part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ (♪ irish national orchestra ♪) >> brown: in a time of isolation, a desire to connect, rough music. ♪ ♪ as the psychology of pandemih changes throe weeks, you can see that play out in the "#songs of comfortproject, through morend more collaborations. ♪ ♪ that includes the man whote stit all: yo-yo ma, who celebrated west african singer angelique kidjo.♪ ♪ and another with syrian-born clarinett, kinan a ♪ ♪

the urge to merge is often a family affr, as with this young mother and father in their berlin, germany living room-- their new baby adding a little percussion. ♪ ♪ in arizona, six women family members put the '70s song "i'd like to teach the world to sing" to multi-stringed accompaniment, joined by the whistling of the person capturing it all on camera. ♪ ♪t and a violinth the washington, d.c.-area national philharmonic sat dow hera. delightful "bach to the barre" breakfast scene created by musicians from the toronto symphony and dancers with the

cadian national ballet, pl two children, who performed their roles to perfection. ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day much older children at potomac, maryland'st. andrews episcopal school sang "oh happy day," joined by alumni a faculty. ♪ ♪ and 24 student cellists from around the world managed to get fgether for a performance saint-saen's "the swan." ♪ ♪ in houston, members of the symphony, used to playingge er on stage, created a virtual quartet. ♪ ♪ and while it can be a lonely me for many, technology allows another kind of "quartet," all the parts perfvimed by one inal. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪s played alone... ...songs played together... ♪ ♪ and, as we saw in that berlin living room, some things don't change-- the desire to share, and maybe inspire the next for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: songs of comfort. and tune in later tonight on pbs to watch the premiere of nova's the one-hour film follows scientists in the global race to develop a vaccine, and takes viewers to the frontlines in wuhan, china and new york during the height of the outbreak. that's "decoding covid-19," tonight onbs at 9:00 eastern, 8:00 central. you can stream it as well, across pbs's digital platforms.

and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us athe pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer ceular offers no-contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everythg, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to helpghou work throuhe unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the

frontlines of social change worldwide.nd >>ith the ongoing support of these institutions og >> this m was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wg access.wgbh.org

♪ hello, everyone. welcome to "ampour & company." re's what's coming up. >> there is no doubt, even under the best of circumstances, when you pull back on mitigation, you will s some cases appear. >> dr. anthony fci delivers a stark warning as he testifies a distance befthe senate. reaction from congressman and former health secretary donna an shd donald mcneil on the path to reopening. then, iceland has almost fully recovered. the prime minister on their viral success. plus -- fe the coronavirus pandemic is more oless a p storm to