y captioning sponsored b nehour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evdying. i'm oodruff. on the newshour tonight: an elusive deal. congress struggles to pass a long-awaited pandemic relief bill as millions of americansom deal with econ stress. then, getting the vaccine. the challenges ahead for distributing the shots in the u.s. amid ever-increasing infections and deaths. plus, an uneven impact. los angeles goes into lockdown as frontline workers and communities of color bear the brunt of the coronavirus surge in california. >> the deaths are just tragic. and both in black and brown communities, you have higher death rates.

>> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks break down congressional negotiations, president-elect biden's cabinet picks, and the trump campaign's continued efforts to undermine theon elec all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular.in >> fcial services firm raymond james. >> johnson & johnson. >> the john s. and james l. f knightoundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: nd and frof the newshour. >> this progm was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersyou. thank you.

>> woodruff: the u.sn the verge of rolling out a covid-19 vaccine, as the number of daily infections shattered records this week. but as the food and dr administration prepares to approve pfizer's inoculation for emergency use, there are repor that the white house ordered the agency's head to authorize it today-- or to resign. f.d.a. commissioner stephen hahn later played that down, calling it an "untrue representation" of a phone call he had th white house chief of staff mark meadows. in other developments, new yk governor andrew cuomo again suspended indoor dining in new york city, beginning on monday. >> in new york city, you put the c.d.c. caution on indoor dining together with the rate of transmission and the density and the crowding-- that is a bad situation.iz the hospitions have continued to increase in n.y.c. we said that we would watch it.

w the hospitalization didn't stabilizwould close indoor dining. it has not. >> woodruff: we will have more on the vaccination effort later in the program. the u.s. senate approved a sweeping defense funding bill today. it'sorth $740 billion, and includes a 3% military eny raise. the bill receivegh support to override the president's veto threat over liability shields for social media companies. soon after, senate lawmakers also passed a one-weekxtension of government funding to avoid a shutdown. that will buy them more timeo negotiate covid-19 relief. we will have more on this after the news summary. present-elect joe biden introduced five more of his picks today, and emphasized their diversity. in wilmington, delaware, ohio congresoman marcia fudge pledged to curb racial inequity at the department ofousing and urban development.

she would be only the seco black woman to lead the agency. >> the crisis of injusticehat has forced communities of color to make it in america with one dream tied behind their back. each crisis chips away at their hon., at the promise our nat but i believe that hope is on the way. >> woodruff: former obama national security adviser p susan ridged to expand opportunity as head of the president's domestic policy council. she noted her own history being the granddaughter of jamaican immiants, and a descendant o enslaved people. >> for far too many, the americ dream has become an empty promise, a cruel mockery of lives held back by barriersol new an that is not good enough for any american. >> woodruff: meanwhile,he

president trum no public events today, but continued to dispute the elecon results on twitter, without evidence. aye trump administration t is set to carry out the second federaexecution this week. louisiana truck driver alfred for abusing and killing hish two-year-old daughr in 2002. three more federal executions before president-elect biden takes office. european union leadersd today to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by5% by the end of this decade. the european commission president said that the deal will put them on a pattoward climate neutrality in 2050. she spoke at their summit in brussels. >> now that we have secured the funding, we have the means for our actions. all e.u. countries should benefit from the transition. with economic growth, a cleaner

environment and healthier citizens, the european green deal will be our growth strategy. >> woodruff: however, some environmental groups, like greenpeace, have warned that least 65% to sufficiently tackle climate change.g hong kdia tycoon and democracy activist jimmy lai has been charged under the city'sit national seclaw. local media reported that lai was charged on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security. if convicted, lai could face up toife in prison. and, trading was light on wall street today. the dow jones industal average gained 47 points to close at 30,046. the nasdaq fell 28 points, and the s&p 500 shed four. still to come on the newshour: congress struggles to pass a long-awaited pandemic relief bill. covid vaccines in the u.s. could

begin as early as next week, amid ever-increasing infections and deaths. los anges county goes into lockdo as the pandemic surges. plus, much more. swirl of activity ins a washington, d.c. today, from the capitohe supreme court, and there is a lot on the line. here to help us understand the latest are our lisa desjardins hello to both of you. so, john, i'm going to start with you first. tell us what the state of texas is trying to do in ling a suit before the supreme court. judy, texas wants the court to say that the elections in four states tht joe biden flipped from republican to

democrat, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania and georgia, that those elections were unconstitutional and bar the stat from using thet outcomes, the results -- the outcomes, the results to decide their electoral votes. instead, they want the state legislators, they want t court to order the state legislators in those states, all controlled by republicans, to ecide the electoral votes. this is because the aumentt here is e about fraud, it's about how the rules were changed. they say tha because the constitution says that state legislatures control presidential elections, that the atedministrators changing to election law because of the covid pandemic are unconstitution. now, the constitutional also says that, in order to file a suit in fedal court, you have to have suffered a real injure, and the four states say that their election laws have not injured texas.

>> woodruff: and, john, they have a pretty considerable support now from16what, 17 others states, plus a lot of support from washington, from the congress. >> that's right. they've got about two-thirds of the house republicans, including the two top republican leaders, kevin blaistone an steve scalise, but the republican support is not universal, the republican governor of utahed critichis own attorney general's role in the case saying that it is a waste of taxpayer money and that the attorney general of ohio, dave yost, a republican, filed a brief saying that what texas wants would undermine a foundational premise of our federalist system, the idea that states areovereigns, free to govern themselves. >> woodruff: and, of course, we have thelieutenant governor of georgia on the program last officially opposes this lawsuit. so, john, given all this, what

is next? supreme court to d and when? gi well, it would take five justices t texas what its. the supreme court could rule at anytime. n course, they march to their ythm, but i expect that they are aware that the electoral coege meets in the various states on monday. are expecting, d court observers expect, a resolution to this before monday, and the longer we wait, the more it aseems likely that at st one of the justices is writing an opinion. very important st yang on this and, now, lisa, i want to turn to you. we just heard john say members of the house oflican representatives have signed on, they are supporting this lawsuit. what does that say that they are doing this and how are they justifying it? >> that is 126 house republicans signing on to that lawsuit and there are two main arguments you

hear from them. one is on substance, what john talked about. i spoke to some of them saying they believe the election officials in these states overrode the will of the state legislature, which they say election process.ge of the the other argument is not asnt subse, it's more about clarity. these republicans say they want the supremcourt to rule, to clarify the results of the 2020 election, mo for all, sort of a final look to make sure that there isn't something that's msing in the process. but, of course, as john has pointed out, those w signed on to this lawsuit signed on specifically in support of what the plaintiffs, the states are arguing which is overriding the vote of the people. >> woodruff: mean whie, lisa, withssegard to congnal business, we did report that congress has voted to fund thern gont for another week, but does that mean a shutdown isly

entiff the table here? >> i wish i could say it wre. no, judy. those who had threatened shutdown, including senator bernie sanders, said they will do so again next week wheis deadline runs out, so we could be talking about this again, judy. th woodruff: and meantime, lisa, we know thg that so ny americans are waiting to see is whether congrs is goin relief.nything about covid what do you see there? >> i have to say it's a frustrated and fractured congress. evw both the house and senate have left town,n though they know that money for food aid, money forunemployment, those extensions are running out within weeks. now, here's the thing, there are a lot of places where we know that both sides agree. let's look at where lawmakers agree, first of all. u can see house and senate leaders, mitch mcconnell, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer all

agree on small business payments and money for vaccines along with manother things, but there are big disagreements that are h problems heree, those over money for states which is something that demochink there needs to be more of and then money to protect businesses, thus the liability questi that mitch mcconnell himself has really stuck to and, judy, thatiability question is probably the biggest one here. it's an issue of how do you protect businesses versus how do you protect workers who may suffer harm fkiom wo on the job? an example of where they've tried to find compromise, maybe they could come up with something like a protection for 2020, fo different standar this year, or a freeze in lawsuits for the first six months of next year. they have been trying to figure out a dealnd they cannot get there, it is a real problem for overall covirelief. >> woodruff: a lot of people ask why they cannot compromise after all these months, and when the need is so great out there. lisa desjardins, john yang, we thank you both, appreciate it.

>> woodruff: the expected approval of pfizer's new vaccina stirred excitement about the first shots being delivered next week to a select number of people.es it cs multiple news organizations reported that president trump's chief of staff threatened to fire the f.d.a. commissioner, if approval was t granted by the close of business. rethe f.d.a. denied those s were made, and late today, the will buy 100 million more doses of a vaccine by moderna. but for all of the interest around these first vaccines, we've been learning about delays with other vaccine candidates. william brangham looks at those realities. >> brangham: judy, the speed of

vaccine development has been unprecedented, but there have been some setbac. today, sanofi and glaxosmithkline said the launch of their potential vaccine will be delayed, after it did not generate a sufficient immune response in older peop the u.s. and other governments had expected that vaccine to be part of their arsenal. that news follows confusing results recently with astrazeneca's potential vaccine, boand amid other questions whether the federal government missed an opportunity to buy enough doses of the pfizer vaccine. matthew herper is a seni writer who covers this field for matthew, thank you very much for being here. let's start off, first, with this sanofi and glaxo news. these are two companiesitha wng track record of developing vaccines, so the some surprise about these hiccups but are these just to be expected in the normal process of vaccine

development? >> absolutely. this is what we have been expecting all along when it evelopment.ccine d you have to remember, in drug development, it's, like, 90% oft project fail, it's the norm. thisould normallye a small hiccup becauseormally drug companies don't have to deliver on these kind of time frames. it's impressive that this didn't happen with the other vaccines, either pfzer or moderna. >> reporter: theres trouble with astrazeneca and initial doses were used they've given out to patients in their trials and they might have to redo som at. is it likely they will have to do a whole other set of trials before that can be ready? >> we'll have to see. the maalin tri in the u.s. of the original dosing scheme is still ongoing. it's not clear whether those results e statistically different or wheth it was the amount of vaccine or how long, but, yes, it's a potential delay. the effect cassie of the koas --

the efficacy of the dosthat was originally being tested was a little more than 60%, which would have been good if we nadn't just heard about the pfizer and modesults. >> reporter: so i guess it mentioning, delays should be expected, that's a normal part of the process, but there had been incre ble hopes someof these vaccines might be available sooner than now, mayb in reality. the ones that are most effective are not the easiest vaccines to make and that's going to be a real problem, and they're also not the easiest vaccines to distribute. the pfizer one has to be kep super cold and that's going to make it hard to get those from one place to another and hard to make enough. wassanofi glaxo vaccine going to be the bigumger nr of

doses. it was the easiest one to mak and without profit distributedhe aroundorld. so it's not great news tat those are moving more slowly than the mrna mvaccinerna and pfizer. >> reporter: what might be confusing to some watching, if we have moderna and pfizer more or less in hand and they seem ty be ffective, why do we need all the other ones? >> the simest answer is w don't have enough, even for the u.s. you hear the s numbend bigger because you need two doses of each and you shuldn't assume every dose that's made will make its way into an arm. like anything else, there will be things lost in transport. so we need more voluerme. also may be advantages to some of these other vaccines in terms of who they work for and how, which is one reason to develop more of them. but the big ansatr is just t we don't have enough. >> allwight, matt herper of

stat news, thanks for helping us wade through all of those. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: let's turn to the impact of covid's resurgence in mat states, and take a look how it's hitting california hard, despite the state's success. california broke new records with the virus this week, leading officials to order new restrictions in more than 90% of the state at least until december 28. stephanie sy reports that in los angeles county, frontline workers and communities of color are bearing the brunt of the pandemic's toll. >> sy: at the olive vi u.c.l.a medical center, covid-19 patients are often first seen in the emergency department where dr. greg moran works. >> most of those people, we do a swab on them, we check them out, check their oxygen level, and w. send them home

>> sy: but too many have ended up in the i.c.u. where dr. nader kamangar sees patients. >> in my 20 years of being an intensivist, and an i.c.u. pulmonary specialist, this is the worst i've ever experienced. >> sy: this man had pneumonia, brought on by coronavirus. he was placed belly-down, a technique doctors have learned can help oxygenate blood in covid patients and save lives. >> it's room after room of critically ill patients with covid. by the time they make it to the i.c.u., they oftentimes require being placed on mechanical ventilator.ca >> sy: a critishortage de experts who can operate ventilators and ver high-flow oxygen is a bigger problem than physical capacity. >> in certain types of disasters, like if there's an earthquake here, we can bring in people from outside who can help out and provide some of that care. this is a disaster that's happening simultaneously all

across the world >> sy: compared to a month ago, l.a. county now has five times the rate of hospitalizations and nearly four times the number of daily deaths. at a briefing earlier this week, grief overcame the health director, barbara ferrer. >> over 8,000 people-- --who were beloved members of are not coming back.ew >> sy:estrictions began this week in most of california. all restaurant dining, even outdoors, is banned. so is non-essential travel.is beach-goinkay, and now also playgrounds, but only after an outcry from pariots. some quethe lockdown. >> for him, his school shut down and he started puttia lot of weight and just getting bored. e and it's like, okay,ve things to do, but what about the kids? so it's very consing. >> sy: where there was an existing gap between how covid affected people ofolor and white people, the latest surge

shows a chasm. dr. deborah prothrow-stith is university of medindr. drew sciee in south l.a. >> the latinx community in particular here in los angelesll is rexperiencing this third surge, if you will, but the deaths are just tragic. and both in blacand brown communities, you have higher death rates. >> sy: l.a. county repor that it's seeing new covid cases among latino residentst more than double the rate ofwh ite residents. >> i lost my job. i lost my housing. >> sy: the pandemic has torn apart 30-year-old jacqueline gonzalez's life. >> due to the point of the covid, i had reduced hours. little by little, reduced days. schools were closed, the kids were unable to go. i didn't have nobody to lee my kids. s >> sy: says she was forced

to leave her job at mcdonald's and now she's homeless and chliving in a shelter, whiakes her and her four children even more vulnerable to contracting the viru >> there's a pandemic within the pandemic.ra >> sy: barappos is the executive director of the east los angeles women's center. >> for my of our families we're working with, they don't have the rent to pay, adding t thwhatever hardships they had before.ca and now e of covid-19, this has multiplied. >> sy: all these probl ts will continget worse, unless more people follow prevention guidelines, say officis, which is why outreach workers armed with informational flyers are fanning out to hot spots from shopping centers, to streets.uc >> we hope to e people, and get them to practice better behavior. >> sy: some outreach workers, n have had an easy go of it. jazmine flores said one of her colleagues was spat on. >> he just turned around and spit on his face. like, coughed really hard. and then just left.

>> sy: is there a trt issue between some of these communities of color and government? >> there are trust issues for generations. and i think surveys of latinx and african american communities make it very clear that people are very skeptical of the vaccine. >> sy: long-standing inequities in health and education, and tha undertow oemic fatigue, have culminated in a perfect storm raging in hospitals. >> i don't want to be an alarmist, but we are struggling, and i see this on a day-to-day basis, on the faces of our nurses, our staff, our youngct s, our residents, who really are grappling with this. not only the burden of the number of patients we have to take care of, but just the sheeu of time that we've been under this stress. >> sy: surgeries have been cancelled, and if things get

much worse, the next suld be rationing care to those deemed most likely to survive-- a crisis mode thatot so long ago was unthinkable in the golden state. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. attacks on americaspies and diplomats. it is a medical mystery that the age-old and high-stakes in spy games between the u.s. and russia. here's nick schifrin. were sudden and sh:the symptoms sleeplessness, headaches, inability to walk, memore loss, across two years aleast three continents, dozens of intelligence officials and

diplomats suffered medical conditions that derailed assignments and their careers. last weekend, the national academies of sciences released the first authoritative government report, concluding the victims were most likely hdi by "rected, pulsed radio- frequency energy." the lead author s stanford microbiology and immunology professor david relman.mi >> that form oowave radiation is really not terribly common in the world around it. it's sometimes used, example, in radar systems. it sometimes is used in clinical medicine for tatment of certain ailments. but it's not common in the home around us or in the in the world that we normally frequent. ald that's what makes it a little bit unuand the, sort of, the message behind it a little bit different. >> schifrin: the message? someone may have pointed a non-lethal weapon at u.s. togovernment employeesarm them. and some former intelligence

officials believe the perpetrator was likely russia. to discuss this we turn to marc polymeropoulos, former clandestine c.i.a. officer who was in moscow in 2017, when he perienced these symptoms. mark ploymeropolous, welcome to the newshour. what did the attacks feel like and how long did they last? >> it was a night in a hotel room in moscow i'll never forget. it was-- it was frankly terrifying. u know, i didn'tear an noise, but i did wake up to something which-- which turned out to be, right away, feelis of intense vertigo, ringing in my ears, incredible nausea. i couldn't stand up, i was falling down on the floor. and look, i spent a long time in war zones in iraq andgh istan, and this was clearly the most terrifying moment of my life. >> schifrin: wt's happened to your career since? >> that s december 2017. july 2019, i had to retire, and certainly retire. you know, i was in the senior intelligence service, i had a highly-decorated career as an operations officer, and i think i had, you know, a lot more left the tank. but frankly, by that point, i and i missed four s of workrk

and so i was compelled to retire. shape as some of ter as bad a individuals who have been afflicted by this. but i have a headache that never goes away. it's 24/7. i've had it for literally three years, at about a three or four level. and it's chronic pain. >> schifrin: do you believe that this was perpetrated by russia? >> there is certainly historical precedent for the russians kind of doing nasty things to u.s. officials. so kind of put that, you know, chalk that up. but number two, there has come to be a strong circumstantial case that it was the russians-- kd i have to be careful on here d of honor my secrecy agreement, so i will just say that it's been reported in the press that c.i.a. conducted an investigation using some techniques-- which, you know, we call geofencing-- and in essence found that as other officers later, after me, have been affected by this in different parts of the world, that they saw the travel of russ intelligence officers very close to tse locations. so, ultimately, a strong circumstantial case, bothst

ical and with some investigative techniques, i think has beve made. and th least, just warrants further investigation. >> schifrin: do you believe this is ongoing, and do you believe it's ongoing in multle locations, including perhaps here in the united states? >> i do. i do. you know, from individuals i talk to, you know, the several cases that had occurred after myself, i'm aware that these are still ongoing. reportedly, did ocso inparently, the united states. and so, i have no doubt that this is still occurring. >> schifrin: what's the connection, as far as you can tell, between the initl victims of this, you and these other alleged victims, in terms of what kind of work you were all doing? >> so let me just start with the recent cohort, myself and others. we were all very senior c.i.a. officers, most of us in the senior intelligence service,

most of us traveling overseas. i think that that lends some credence to that, that the idea that the russians would know that we would be traveling, they could anticipate this. >> schifrin: a bipartisan group of senators have pusr not only the release of the report but for the victims to get, medical attention. do you believe the administration has blocked the medical attention that some of you have been asking for? >> i would say on, you know, within the c.i.a.'s operations directorate up until-- up to the top levels, everyone has been, you know, first ofll, believed that something occurred and has been very helpful. i think, though, in bome in the depa of state and certainly in the c.i.a., senior medical officials have been have been less than stellar in their reaction to this. there have to be reforms so that officers who are afflicted by this get proper medical careso we're not told, as i was, that i'm maki this , and that >> schifrin: i should note that there is an on-the-record

stement that the c.i.a. se me." c.i.a.'s first priority has been and continues to be the welfare of all of our officers"" the state department also says it takes diplomats' health seriously. do you believe that the u.s. government has taken your health seriously? and going forward, are you going to get the medical treatment that you've asked for? >> so, the answer to your first question, no, they did not. i think with the cohort that w was-- th hit in both havana and china, from all thfferent agencies, i don't thin were treated with either respect or the proper and i certainly waas well. it took me, you know, with a rath unprecedented step, aswh someonlived in the shadows for so long, i went public with this. and to do that was a veryon difficult deci but i had to do it because ultimately i needed to get proper medical care. now, i think in the future, you know, i do see even-- even now, you know, the tide turni, but it's because of the publicity. you know, for example, i am going to walter reed, which is a world-class t.b.i, traumatic brain injury progr. that is what i really requested

had ultimately, the agency granted me >> schifrin: the fact that we're talking about this, and the fact that this happened to you and to others, do you belulve that that affect c.i.a. recruitment in the future? >> oh, no, i don't think so. t think this should stop anyone from-- from wanting to undertake public service. in fact, the opposite. i think you just get people angry. we have adversars out there. so, you know, reaction to this would be, you know, please join the federal govnment, join the intelligence services, so we can go back and take it to our enemies. >> schifrin: marc polymeroplous, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. >> woodruff: and now to the >> woodruff: tects of mass incarceration in this

country are felt by many more d people than those convic crimes. student reporting labs-- our journalism training program-- explores how the crimi justice system can create obstacles for kids and families. d >> reporter: it's estimaat nearly half of all u.s. children have at least one parent with a criminal record, and for the families, the negative effects of incarceration continue far 17-year-old xcellence glenn's father was released from prison in 2005, following a conviction from drug and firearmst possession, e family had a hard time finding a home last year. more than once, they were all set to move, only to find out their rental application was denied. how did it feel pack up all that stuff and then unpack, repack and figure out your living situation? >> it was kind of hard because whnde we was before, it was of packed together, since we was a big family, and we were hoping to move somewhere bigger. >> reporter: xcellence's mom, sheena meade, was hesitant to tell her kids the real reason things weren't working out. >> we met all the financial requirements. credit was great, we always paid our rent on time, but there was

from getting the homes we wanted. >> reporter: that sothing was her husband desmond meade's criminal record. >> on the application it says, "have you ever been arrested or convicted of a felony nviction?" and you have to check that box. >> reporter: but by this time, desmond had become a successfula lawy a prominent activist. last year he was named as one of "time" magazine's "100 most influential people in the world" for leading an effort in florida to restore voting rights to over 1.4 million people with past felony convictions. sheena says the whole has been part of that work, thadvocating for reforms t criminal justice system, but their rental applications kept getting denied. >> and so we would come home and have to tell the kids, "well, this housdidn't go through," after all the excitement, "or this house didn't go through." the ironic thing about it? it was right after myself and desmond had got hiday.elebrated, the mayor and the commissioner had deemed orange county

is"desmond meade day" whic september 10. >> reporter: looking back on that and looking at the work you do, how does that feel like? are you angry at that? >> yeah, i mn, it always gets me ups. it makes me more upset when i not as fortunate on't haveho are take all the time and keep going back and forth. >> reporter: sheena says they finally got approved for a place she went directly to the owner of a home they were interested in and shared a tter about the family, along with press clippings showing all their accomplishments. >> no one should have to have to do that to have affordable or safe housing, but that was our reality. >> reporter: xcellence wants r kids to know there's n shame in having a parent with a criminal record. >> some kids, they don't really want to talk about it. they think it's bad. some kids feel embarrassed. but it's not something you b shouembarrassed about. >> not only are people prevented from finding homesousesevented

and living where they want freely, because of a sysm. i thk that could have been a missed opportunity to really talk to our children. and that's what i'm hoping that others will hear from this. it's like, "let's not miss those opportunits to inform and educate families, instead of shying away from it." >> reporter: for the pbs i'm mary williams.orting labs, >> woodruff: as another week of this devastating pandemic comes to an end, we take a moment to honor some of thoswe've lost to covid-19. guadalupe perez had an entrepreneurial spirit and a knack for cooking. he spoke little english when he left mexico for the united states in the '90s. he started a business selling "raspados," or frozen ice.

every summer, the 62-year-old greeted long lines of customers in chicago eager to try his bold flavors. generous and thoughtful, guadalupe always sred whatever he had with others, his son said. he offered food or jobs to friends in need. worked tirelessly and spared no .pense to help them succe han sim hildebrand loved to laugh and be silly, especially with her children and grandkids. her son said she made it easy for people around her to rkeax. a hard wwith a green thumb, han turned her successful business, and was a founding vendor at the columbia .farmers market in missou she was also a leader in her church, and even at 71, woke upr at 5:30 day for the morning service.

77-year-old paul j. foesy jr. felt aonsibility to give daughter said.untry, his he was a lieutenant in the army and served in the korean demilitarized zone. most recently, he worked as an elections judge in chicago. family was the center of paul's life. he taught his kids the importance of service, and it was important to him that ewaveryone's voicheard. his loved ones knew him as a risk-taker who loved to be silly and greeted everyone with a smile. pharmacist ed mcfall spent more than a half-century fighting to bring better ewalthcare to small towns like the one he p in. his work took him to oklahoma city, where he served on the bored of the oklahoma health authority. a former governor, david klters, said he was struck by edwledge and "compassion for rural health." his careerlso brought m to

his wife. the couple reconnected at a pharmacy conventn and were thgaged within a week. the 76-year-old er and grandfather spent his fr time fishing, traveling ir.v., and driving his boat on the lake. 64-year old keith jacobs had an artistic eye, s son said. keith was a photographer who loved capting human emotions, and would tell everyone to "have a picture-perfect day." funny, witty, and kind, he was dedicated to his family above all else. known by his loved ones as a llmple man, keith would often is daughter, "make sure you're a good person first, then catch your dreams." and as always, we want to thank family members for sharing these

stories. our hearts go out to you as they t to all those who've l loved ones in this pandemic. >> woodruff: and now to the analysis of shields ooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "neyork times" columnist david brooks. hello to both you have. this evening, the sungeme court sathey do not have standing to take this case filed by the state of texas challenging, david, the election results in four states that voted for joe biden over donald trump. this is a case gotten a lot of attention -- or thsuit, i should say -- because there were 17 states, many states' attorneys generals signed on, two-thirds of the republican members of the house, but now the supreme court has thrown it out, with dissent, we should say, by justices alito and thomas. but, david, what does this say

arout the state of our politics right now with rto this election result? >> well, the court system has hung in there and i should pointed out all three trump-appointed justices sided with the majority on this one and it's sily written in the constitution that state legislatures get to control their own elections and the state of texas doesn't get to tell micahigan and pennsylva and other states whether their elections are firm or not. it w an outrageous suit fr the beginning, one to have the desperate price trump has e tri. ameful thing is 126 house republicans signed on to it and a bunch of attorney generals. it's a party that has just lost any touch with democracy. somebody said on ttew today,ia trumty is a very strange religion and unfortunately, theb judicianch has stayed faithful to the meaning to have the constitution. >> woodruff: mark as you watch this drama unfold, what do you make of it now that the supreme

court has weig td in? >>nk we're in the final chapter, judy, at least i hope so. i don't ever ask that people on the otr sidgree with me. i do ask that you believe in what you say and the position you take, and this was anpl exof, i think, base hypocrisy on the part of house republicans. there are 153 safe republican house seats in the how was housr entatives, and they're terrified the members are primary, being primaried by a donald trump supporter sayingdn you stand with the president. the republicans are in a terrible position at this point. they desperately want the 11 million trump voters he brought in years ago, but they desperately want donald trump

gone. the last thing in the world they want to do is in any way incur his wrath for fear he will do what he d to rk sanford, jeff sessions in alabama and that is punishing them for not being 110% trumpists. >> woodruff: are they doing damage to o democracy? >> immense damage. ey're calling an election o millions and millions of people into question. 70% of trump backers thinkt was a fraudulent election, so where do we go, going rward? they're trying not to alienate the trump voters, but the 126 thousands members including people like kev mccarthy, leaders, are basically telling his story and his comeback story. they're giving him every pretext to win agin in 2024 and continue to make this donald trump's party. so if they wanted to get rid o donald trump, this was, in my view, the worst way to do it becathe they've signed on te

gospel and now they're more or less stuck with it. >> woodruff: mark, do you see long-lasting damage here. >> yes. >> woodruff: is this something that the country can get through?be >> yesnd the politics of it, judy, the position taken is undemocratic, it's hypocritical, it's jus itndefensible, and when you're talking about ulelections -- i mean, i d assume that all the republican house members from michigan and wisconsin and georgia and pennsylvania who signed on to this suit would summarily resign from the house because they're saying they we electein a crimin election. certainly this illegality that they allege out of thin air wasn't limited just to the presidential vote. so i just find it beond -- when i say that they want the tump voters without donald trump, they can't wait for donald trump to be gone.

i mean, they quiver and fear about him. they just they' terried of him. it's not born of affectior anything of the sort or a high regard, it's born rank fear, and,haou know, tha to be demeaning for every republican in the house who signed on. liz chaney, the third member tos have the hoe leadership from wyoming did not, and good for >> woodruff: david, let me ask you both about something else the congress is doing, in this instance, and that's findinpa way to come with relief, help for people suffering in this pandemic. it's been months and mon'vs thcome down to the wire. they've figured out a way to fund the government another few eays but they still don't hav covid relief. what is the holdup here and do you see them getting through

this? >> this is a foundational problem, too, you know. if faith in god collapses, then the church collapses. if fah inour institutions and in others collaes, theation collapses, so undermining the election is one piece of that. but the unwillingness to recognize the legitimacy of views on the other side is another piece of it, and we'ved ve months of people unwilling to recognize the legitimacy of their views and t comeet them halfway. finally last week we had a legislature behave the way it was supposed to where eight snrtsz created a compromwie alonh problem solvers caucus in the house and created to me a vee y reasonad good compromise on how to get covid relief. co their great credit, nancy pelosi and chuckumer said this is our framework, mitch mcconnell won't go there, and, so, he's not willing to do the work of legislation. he says that that copromise will not work with republicans. well, mitch mcconnell's sition won't work with democrats, so that's what politics exist for.

so is just another piece of a fundamentally broken political system. >> woodruff: mark, do you see a way through this? >> i do, judy. i think it's unthinkable to me that they will not pass a covid. relief bi i mean, we're talking about americans on the eve of christmas without the resources to fed their children, to heat we're not talking about some giveaway to weybody. e not talking about a major stimulus. survival and human dignity, and i just can't believe that the republicans, mitch mcconnell who was threatened by this, tthey're all consumed the february fifth election in georgia, and if you're kelly loeffler and david perdue running in the senate elections

and you hae to defend the republican senate was a stumbling block to sending need to american families at christmastime, i don't think so. political survival willcy and intervene. what threatens mitch mcconnel the republican majority leader, is a leader has to be able to deliver his troops. right now, he's got a problem because he doesn't have a majority of his caucus on this side, and david's right about the bipartisan group meetprg, leadership, and i give speaker pelosi credit for accepting the act of the bipartisan negotiation, but mitchl, mcconnf the leader is going to be held hostage by bipartisan groups negotiating a fair deal, then, oh, my goodness, there goes your power because, in washington, the perception of power is power.av if i think you power, you

do, and if enough people think you have power, then you do, and once the doubts about your power, and i think that's where mcconnell finds himself right now. >> woodruff: david, in the time we have l i do want to ask you about president-elect bide b hen introducing more of the top people in his administration, the people that he wts t serve. i ess the one who's getting the most criticism or attention that has been critical is lloydn authe retired army general to be secretary of defense, but there are others. it's interesting a number of familiar faces from the obama ministration, what do you make of some of the senior picks he's made so far? >> joe biden's picked ple he knows well. inent time with lloyd austin iraq when it was president. picked dennis mcdonough, a fundamentally decent people in

life. very familiar people. susan rice at the domestic side. knso there are people hews, he trusts who will be ready on days one, an it is really obama i also share some of the concerns with lloyd austin, not for anything having to do with lloyd austin's performance, but there's a reason we have a rule and a tradition that you don't have generals switches right over to the defense secretary. it's about civilian control, it's about picking people who have distance from the current military brass, and that is a very solid and sensible rule,ji where we also had anse, exemption, that's wortbreak the rule. now there must be a lot of very qualified people like michelle micheleflournoy who could be secretary of defense.

>> mark, what is your assessment of some of the main biden pics so far? >> well, judy, i think in dramatic contrast to his predecessor, joe bden was knocked by his political opponents for having spen 47 years shington. he knows these people, he's worked with them, henows their strengths and weaknesses. it's because joe biden picked them, not because they were imposed upon him. and, so, you know, i really think that the strength of the nominee is if joe biden certifies them, validates theme and that's t accommodation of a presidential leader. on the whole, i remain impress by them. i would point out that any money that's left over from the stimulus -- the original bailout of covid will be in the

stewardship of janet yellen as secretary of treasury, and i think that's somebody who will spend it wisely an l and quite humanely. >> woodruff: and on that ote, we thank you both, mark shieldsv david brooks,a great weekend. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and monday on the newshour, we begin a new series exploring an under-reported public health crisis pting america's children at risk. >> reporter: in a country upended by a pandemic, fears of another growing crisis. childhood trauma impacts millions of americans. and the consequences can be fe-changing. >> i just fell into the deepest, darkest place that i've ever >> reporter: the pbs newshour takes a closer look at this silent epidemic, in "invisible scars: america's childhood trauma crisis." pbs newshour.ight on the

>> woodruff: some important reporting. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, please stay se, d good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> before we talk about yourat investments-- new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> grandparents. >> we want to put mone, aside for th, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer to che twins. nge in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial services firm

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hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpo & co." >> it's like providing a bridge across very troubled water. eme pandemic. >> the fale factor in these perilous times from the imf to th european central bank. christine lagarde was the first woman at the helm. now she's unleashing another half trillion euros to keep the economy afloat in a global pandemic. then -- >> we are going to be vainating over the next few months significant numbers of people. >> scottish prime minister nicola sturgeon leads a new push for scottish independence. >> there are five in american food that are directly linked to the