♪ judy: good evening, i'm judy woodruff, on the "newshour" tonight, it is biden agenda. the new president continues a flurry of executive orders with actions aimed at counteracting the economic damage wrought by covid-19. then, minding his business. former president trump leaves office facing mounting debt, devalued assets and a scarcity of willing lenders. >> he runs the risk of being cash strapped at a time when his banks and other businesses are turning their backs on him because of the january 6 insurrection. judy: it's friday, david brooks and jonathan capehart break down an historic inauguration. the biden administration's early

actions, and a looming impeachment trial. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> consumer cellular.

financial services firm, raymond james. johnson and johnson. >> the john s. and james knight foundation fostering engaged communities. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ >> and friends of the "newshour." ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: tackling the pandemic's devastating impact on the economy was top of mind for president biden today. he assured americans who were

struggling to make ends meet that help is on the way. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. yamiche: the president's second full day in office and a focus on the pandemic's economic toll. pres. biden: we're in a national emergencies. we need to act like we're in a national emergency. so we've got to move with everything we've got. we've got to do it together. i don't believe democrats or republicans are going hungry and losing jobs. i believe americans are going hungry and losing their jobs. yamiche: last week, 900,000 americans filed for unemployment benefits. today, president biden signed two executive orders aimed at delivering some economic relief. they include boostingood assistance benefits, improving the equal distribution of previously allocated direct payments, protecting unemployed job seekers, and raising the minimum wage for federal

employees to $15 an hour. the move comes as congress pushes biden to pass a $1.9 trillion covid relief package that would include an additional round of $1400 stimulus checks. at a white house briefing, national economic council director said the orders were not a substitute for congressional legislation. >> the single most important thing economically is to take decisive action. the risk of undershooting far outweighs of the risk of doing too much. yamiche: white house press secretary also said the biden administration would take sevel steps to fight domestic extremism, including requesting agencies to conduct a threat assessment and coordinating parts of the government to combat radicalization, coming after the january 6 capitol riot, president trump facing a second impeachment trial, accused of inciting that attack.

the trial is complicating the push for more covid relief. nancy pelosi announced the house would deliver the impeachment article to the senate on monday. chuck schumer stressed that lawmakers must balance the agenda with impeachment. >> we have three essential items. one, the confirmation of the cabinet. two, legislation to provide covid relief. three, a second impeachment trial of donald trump. the sawnt senate must and will do all three. yamiche: the republican leader, senator mitch mcconnell, pushed for delaying the impeachment trial until february. he said it would give the senate more time to give trump due process. >> that timeline would have provided the senate more time before we step up fully into the unknown of a trial, which, by the way, would have been a substantial benefit to the incoming administration and

allowed them to get more of their cabinet confirmed. >> the nomination is confirmed. yamiche: on the biden cabinet confirmation front, today retired army general, lloyd austin, became the first black secretary of defense. thursday, congress agreed to exempt austin from a rule banning recently retired military officers from heading the department. and the senate will vote on the confirmation of janet yellen to be treasury secretary. udy: yamiche joins me now. so much going on. give us a little more insight into these executive actions president biden is taking to address the economic crisis. yamiche: president biden today really wanted to focus on the economic toll of the covid-19 pandemic, talking specifically about americans who have gone hungry, americans who have lost

their jobs, americans who have been evicted from their homes. he said that america needed to do better and that these americans needed the help of the federal government. there are a number of biden officials today who told me there needs to be decisive action right now. when we look at these executive orders, in part what they do is increase the assistance to low income families, nutritional assistance. when we look at that executive order, i want to talk to people about what are the facts when it comes to food insecurity in this country so as a result 29 million americans face a hunger crisis in this country. 12 million children often don't have enough to eat. one in five black and latino households struggle to secure food when they need it. the white house sd this is really just a down payment, these executive orders, and that congress needs to pass that $1.9 trillion covid relief package that joe biden is getting pushback about especially from

moderates and some republicans. judy: yamiche, just backing up, looking at this overall, here we are at the end of the president's first few days in office. he only has a few cabinet members in place. what do we know about his priorities? yamiche: at the end of his first week as president, joe biden, it's clear, has a lot to juggle and that the top priority for him remains covid-19. it is true that he only has a few cabinet officials confirmed right now. he has two,ave avril haines, director of intelligence, as well as lloyd austin. anthony blinken is expected to be confirmed today and alejandro ma o'is may be confirmed as early as tomorrow as secretary

of homeland security. there are a lot of topics on joe biden's agenda and although covid-19 is priority, he talked about immigration this week and put forth plans on that and put forth plans on economic relief, racial justice, criminal justice. the other thing to note, all that is happening as the impeachment trial is looming and the biden administration doesn't want to talk about how they think former president trump should be held accountable for the january 6 attack on capitol. they are overhauling for the most part the way this country deals with domestic terrorism. they're really going to be asking federal agencies and intelligence agencies to look deeply at radicalization in this country and white supremacy in this country so that tells you where all of the things they're juggling is heading at this point. judy: a lot on the plate. yamiche alcindor reporting on the white house. thank you, yamiche.

and now we turn our attention to capitol hill and to our danush who is tracking the action there. dan, some late developments, late this afternoon, early this evening, on the timing for that impeachment trial. dan: that's right, judy. so much is fluid right now and has been changing by the hour. the "newshour" just learned that senate majority leader chuck schumer and the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell are nearing a deal to begin the trial the week of february 8. schumer is about to speak momentarily on the senate floor to provide more details. there is still much we don't know -- how long will it last, whether there will be witnesses or not. those details are being ironed out. democrats do want a couple of things, we know that. they'd like to split up the days to conduct other senate business, confirm president biden's nominees, take up covid relief, while they conduct the senate trial. republicans have pushed back on

that. we'll see where the deal ends up on that. one thing, in the last couple of days, i can say that support for conviction of president trump, former president trump, among republicans, has been going down. several republicans have been telling me that they just think that impeaching a former president is unconstitutional. so there's a lot of division both about the trial when it starts but even how it will get underway and we should see more details on that in the next couple of hours. judy: so you have that impeachment trial pending, dan. you also have thisery busy agenda on the part of the new president. what are the folks in congress telling you about their ability to do all of this at the same time? how confident are they they can get it all done? dan: right now all eyes are on the senate because mcconnell and schumer have yet to come up with an agreement for the rules for the new senate, how to do this power sharing agreement in a

50/50 split. because of that, essentially right now most work is on hold except for some confirmations. right now even republicans are technically still chairing committees even though democrats are now in charge of the senate. they have to work out how this is all going to function and the main sticking point is the legislative filibuster. mcconnell has requested that democrats ensure they don't do away with it. chuck schumer said on the floor earlier today that that is unacceptable and he won't accept it. democrats want to make sure essentially they keep that option on the table. this is a difficult moment for democrats. mitch mcconnell is essentially saying, accede to some of our requests. joe biden in his inaugural address said to have some unity. we'll see if that happens. judy: no question. it's all about how they work out the majority, whether it's 51 or 60. big question to be resolved. dan bush, thanks so much.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour" west. we'll return to judy woodruff and the rest of the "newshour" after these headlines. president biden has invoked the defense production act to ramp up the nation's supply of covid-19 vaccines, amid shortages as the centers for disease control and prevention quietly changed its vaccination guidance to allow patients to mix vaccine brands for their first and second doses, in exceptional situations. it also said that the second dose of the vaccine could be administered up to six weeks after first dose if necessary. meanwhile, in geneva, the world health organization hailed a new deal with pfizer to supply up to 40 million doses to help inoculate people who live in poor countries.

dir. ghebreyesus: vaccines are giving us all hope of ending the pandemic and getting the global economy on the try to do recovery. but we can only end the pandemic anywhere if we end it everywhere. and to do that, we need every member state, every partner, and every vaccine producer on board. stephanie: there's word nearly 200 national guard members sent to washington in the days leading up to the inauguration have tested positive for covid-19. officials fear they were exposed from working and taking rest breaks in close proximity with one another. about 26,000 troops were deployed to protect the u.s. capitol since the insurrection january 6. that comes amid outrage over news reports that u.s. capitol police ordered the national guard to leave the capitol building yesterday. they were temporarily relocated to rest in a nearby parking garage while congress was in

session but have since returned to the capitol. today, the acting capitol police chief denied they instructed the guard troops to vacate the capitol. lawmakers demanded an investigation. meanwhile, first lady dr. jill biden made an unscheded stop near the capitol to deliver cookies and thank a group of guardsmen for protecting her family. russia today welcomed president biden's proposal to extend the two countries' last remaining limit on their nuclear arsenals. the so-called new start treaty is set to expire february 5. it would remain in place five more years once the renewal is formalized. meanwhile, the first-ever international treaty to ban nuclear weapons went in effect today. the united nations treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was ratified by 61 countries who vowed to never develop or acquire such weapons. it doesn't include countries who already have nuclear weapons. back in this country, the national association of realtors

reported home sales in 2020 soared to their highest level in 14 years. it's largely due it a surge in existing home sales in december. overall, yearly sales rose to nearly 6.5 million. record low mortgage rates and remote work during the pandemic helped drive up demand. and henry aaron, one of baseball's greatest all-around players, has died. the hall-of-famer spent most of his career with the braves in milwaukee and then atlanta and held the home run record 33 years. he was a passionate civil rights advocate, after enduring rampant racism through much of his career. hank aaron was 86 years old. we'll have more on s life later on the program. still to come on the "newshour," former president trump leaves office facing mounting financial difficulties. general lloyd austin's nomination for secretary of defense highlights racial inequity in america's military.

david brooks and jonathan capehart look back on an historic week in washington. plus more. ♪ announcer: this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: one of the consequences of the chaos from the u.s. capitol on january 6, a distancing from banks and other businesses from former president trump. paul solmon for our making sense series looks at the economic hit facing mr. trump. >> i'm the king of debt, i'm great with debt. paul: in the early 1990's, donald trump als lost a fortune using debt. >> moment of his assets are tied up in easily.

he has debts north of a billion dollars. paul: journalist tim o'brien wrote "trump nation" in 2005. tim: he runs the risk of being cash strapped at a time when his banks and other businesses are turning their backs on him because of the january 6 insurrection. paul: famous hotels, famous golf courses, a $2 billion plus empire by estimates. but 60% of trump's wealth is held in just five buildings in san francisco and new york, says o'brien. >> the four buildings are trump tower, a retail space next to trump tower that used to be known as nike town but nike moved out. paul: then there's 1290 sixth avenue and owns 40 wall street, filled with offices. tim: he's very dependent on all of the spaces in that building being occupied and occupancy rates are at rock bottom levels.

paul: at the the moment the collaborate on his debt isn't worth what it used to be and if it were worth less than he owes on it. tim: it would be the same thing as a homeowner who has too much mortgage on their home and they have to sell for less than they paid for it. with him, he has a basket of properties stressed like that. paul: so the possibility is that he gets foreclosed on? tim: that could happen. it really depends on the timing of when each loan comes due, how strict the debt holders are about making him pay, whether or not he could find other properties to sell quickly. paul: or find new lenders, but, says nancy wallace. prof. wallace: donald trump has burned a lot of bridges in commercial lending. paul: professor wallace chairs the real estate group. prof. wallace: because of his behavior in those bankruptcies, most lenders won't work with him. paul: even deutsche bank has

severed ties, as have three other banks, including signature, on whose board his daughter once sat. prof. wallace: they closed his accounts. they don't want his bank accounts. paul: you mean a bank said, here's your money, we don't want your deposits? prof. wallace: that's correct. paul: because they're afraid of what? prof. wallace: there's huge reputational risk in banking and anything that's associated with significant lack of transparency is too risky and we haven't even spoken about the scottish assets. paul: yes, the scottish assets. several prominent golf courses and hotels. no outside loans on those properties, says reporter martyn mclaughlin in glasgow. martyn: not a single one of trump's properties here have turned a profit. they have yet to pay a penny in corporation tax and cumulatively

they have incurred losses of 55 million pounds. i've looking through some of the business the hotels are doing and in some cases single figure weddings over the course of a year. martyn: thus the question asked by authorities in scotland. where did the money come from? martyn: there's been a lot of speculation that the money is coming from somewhere like russia like azerbaijan or georgia and expected that individuals who may have family involved in money laundering. paul: if they determine money laundering was involved, could they take his properties? martyn: if the owner of the property can't disclose the financing, there is a mechanism for those properties to be seized. paul: purely hypothetical but if his properties were seized, he would have fewer assets with which to raise cash and even if he holds on to everything -- tim: private equity investors,

hedge funds, anyone who wants to get into distressed real estate, they want to wait until he has to sell so they can get it cheaply. paul: you're suggesting that the private equity cmunity or private capital in general basically is smelling blood in the water? tim: they all can smell when someone else is hurting and they're more than willing to watch that person bleed out until they can get something as cheaply as they possibly can. paul: but he was just able to raise a couple of hundred million dollars from people who back him. doesn't he have a tremendous source of financing there? tim: he can try to use those funds for non-political purposes but it's illegal. paul: there's a final financial specter point from trump. his taxes, says wallace. prof. wallace: given what looks to be a lot of shenanigans in terms of how he declares assets for tax purposes and how he declares assets for borrowing

purposes, there could be a serious problem there. paul: and the issue there is he declares a building worth a great deal of money so that he can borrow a lot against it and then when he files his taxes, he claims the building is worth a lot less? prof. wallace: yes, for the underpayment of taxes. paul: possibly a crime but even if not -- prof. wallace: he might have a huge tax bill to the tune of $100 million. paul: all this had me skeptical of trump's financial future and left me with one last question which i put to dan alexander. why can't he just declare bankruptcy? dan: the thing is, is that trump, his overall portfolio, is actually solvent. he's got valuable assets. he does have cash he could use. so he can pay back these loans. the question really is whether he wants to. paul: we asked the trump organization for comment and have not gotten a response but yesterday donald trump's son, eric, told the "new york times"

that the trump organization remains stable with steady cash flow and relatiely low debt. still, according to the company's own filings, the trump organization's revenues declined more than 35% last year. says dan alexander -- dan: you're either going to see new lenders or you're going to look at a trump organization that looks much smaller come about 2024 than in 2021. the irony of all of this is that if he had just done what everyone told him to do at the start, which was liquefy everything, take all that money and stick it into the s&p 500, he would be hundreds of millions of dollars richer today. paul: because the stock market is up nearly 80% since donald trump took office. for the "pbs newshour," paul solmon.

judy: the confirmation of lloyd austin as the first black u.s. secretary of defense is a milestone. nick schifrin reports on how it spotlights racial disparities at the highest level of the military ranks. nick: when lloyd austin arrived at the pentagon today, he broke through what's been called the brass ceiling. in a 40-year career, he was the first black officer to demand a division in combat, the first black officer to command an entire theater of war and now the first black secretary of defense. >> to hit every single one of those gates is incredible so to me that is much like hitting the lottery. nick: irving smith is former west point professor and he says the military provides opportunity for black enlisted troops to rise to positions like sergeant but to rise through the officer ranks like four-star general austin did, the barriers are systemic. he read a war college research

project, why black officers fail, and in 2010 he wrote a follow-up, why black officers still fail. >> there's a good old boy network, a system in the army that's like nepotism that exists there and as long as that persists, black officers will have a very hard time making it to the senior ranks. nick: in 1994, black soldiers were 27% in the army but only 11% of the officers. 2007, black soldiers were 20% of the army and only 12% of the officers. today, the problem persists. the pentagon provided "pbs newshour" data we analyzed for the entire military. black service members are 16% of the military but only 8% of its officers. white service members are 55% of the military but 72% of the officers. a major problem, the lack of black mentorship. >> most of the african american officers were coming out of

historically black colleges that weren't providing the mentorship up front, whereas the west point cadets were getting the very best officers to teach them from day one. and so they weren't necessarily being given the right guidance on the right assignments to take. nick: that's a reference to the military's combat units where black service members are 11% of the enlisted but only 5% of the officers. white combat service members are 64% of the enlisted and 78% of the officers. in fact, in combat units, as the percentage of white officers rises with seniority, the percentage of black officers drops from 8% of second lieutenants down to 4% for colonels. in combat support units such as logistics, the disparate remains but numbers get better. black service members are 20% of the enlisted and 10% of the officers.

smith says that's indicative of black soldiers self-selecting. >> i came into the army because i was going to do five years, get out and make a lot of money, right. i fell in love with the army when i was in the army and i found my calling when i was there. but my parents were like, why did you go into the infantry? that was the dumbest thing you could do. why didn't you go in the signal corps where you could learn to work satellites and get a job at some big satellite company afterwards? nick: smith says young black soldiers who choose support roles like signal corps limits the number of black officers who become generals. >> it's well known that the combat units, combat arms professions produce the senior leaders of the future. >> there is no justifiable reason for discrimination. nick: the military is proud of past efforts to fight racism, thanks to a president truman executive order, the military

was one of the first american institutions to integrate. black men have risen to its most senior ranks. colin powell, joints chairman of the chiefs. and last summer, brown. >> i think about the pressure i felt to perform air three, especially from supervisors i perceived expected less of me as an african american. >> we can't just lay this on a black leader and tell them to fix this. the caucasian leaders of the services have to fix this issue. nick: admiral mike mullen was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 2007 to 2011 and voiced criticism of successors. do you believe that the current leadership across the military has taken this as a priority? >> current leadership of the military has not taken it as a priority and the evidence is in the numbers. look at the lack of senior four

stars in particular who are black or hispanic. nick: mullen hired austin to be joint staff director. one day austin told his boss to come downstairs to take a photo. never before had so many senior black officers helped lead the joint staffs. >> i said what is this all about and one of them said this is history and every one of them was doing an exceptional job for me. nick: to increase the percentage of black officers, mullen says the old boys network has to change from the lowest ranks. >> i've had this theory forever on these promotion boards, there's a phrase i use, ducks pick ducks. and these are dominating -- these boards are dominated by caucasian senior officers, typically. it's hard to break that. and this is a long-term issue where you have to enlarge the pool there in order to expect to be able to promote people to admiral and general. nick: smith says commanders

should be judged by the diversity of their staff and the climates they create and that rotc programs must be improved. he's confident that secretary austin can do that. >> this is a great occasion not for black america but for america. nick: if the saying is, i cannot be what i cannot see, today, every young service member can see him. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪ judy: and now we turn to the first friday analysis of the biden administration with brooks and capehart, that is "new york times" columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, columnist for "the washington post." so good to see both of you. we got to spend wednesday together virtually but there's nothing like friday night. it's great to the have you both. jonathan, i'm going to start with you. we've had a couple of days to

absorb what inauguration was. what stays with you? what lingers? jonathan: judy, the thing that stays with me is the mood and the tone set by president biden. we talked about this on wednesday, how the poem by amanda gorman and the national anthem sung by lady gaga and her turning to the flag and singing "the flag was still there," just how stirring that was. but in the days since, the thing that i keep coming back to is that i felt like i was welcome in this country again. i had a feeling of welcome home and that we were being led by a person of empathy, of decency, of moral character, but also one who sees the country as it is and wants to lead all of us, not

just the 80 million people who voted him into office. judy: goes pretty deep. david, what about you? what stays with you? david: a phrase that didn't seem remarkable at the time but sums up joe biden pretty well. he said there's this thing about life is that sometimes you need a hand and sometimes you're called upon to lend a hand. and that's, of course, true about life, but it's also true about the kind of family joe biden grew up and the sort of town he grew up in and the sort of america he envisions, an interdependent america where we help each other out and help each other rise and succeed, it's a vision of america. when he calls for unity, it's not like consume eye kumbaya let's all come together, it's an america where we succeed with each other's help.

we've lived with large gaps between white and black and rich and poor. the country has had ravines open up and stay open that are ancient and now you get the image that somebody's working on the problem to bridge the ravines and i think that's why it's unity for something, not just for the sake of being united. judy: jonathan, he's followed up what he said on wednesday with a flurry of these executive orders and statements. does it feel like -- what is the sense you're getting from this in terms of his priorities, what message he's trying to send to the american people? and are these things that can make permanent change, even though they're executive orders? jonathan: the message that he's been sending since that picture was taken is that there's competence back in the oval office, there's action back in the oval office and that he meant what he said on the

campaign trail about what he was going to do as president and certainly what he was going to do as president on day one. a lot of those executive actions and executive orders are about reversing some of the more egregious things that president trump did, from the muslim ban, to pulling the united states out of the w.h.o.. president biden's priorities have been first and foremost covid, getting a handle on the pandemic, and the first executive order he signed had to do with the coronavirus pandemic. but then let's not forget that he submitted a $1.9 trillion covid relief package so that's not executive action, that's legislation. and if that gets passed by congress, that is law, and relief will come to the american people but i think with the executive actions and apparently there's going to be 10 days of this, he's trying to show that the absence of leadership that

we have seen certainly since election day from the previous administration, has been completely reversed in that he is focused le a laser beam on helping e country and helping the american people. judy: what's coming through to you, david? and what's to keep this from just being the ping pong, donald trump reverses what barack obama did, joe biden reverses what donald trump did? david: nothing. they could be ping pongs. lyndon johnsonsed to say that executive orders are just paper. you can sign them and four years later somebody can unsign them and that's why johnson emphasized you have to pass laws but when i think of these e.o.'s, they're strong but they're not overly ambitious. jonathan and i were on a couple of calls during the transition with joe biden and he said i do not believe in the imperial presidency. he believes in congress. if you look at these, they take actions but they don't take actions in a way that would

alarm somebody who thinks he's taking power he doesn't actually have. reversing trump executive orders, he clearly has the right to do that. the others, they seem pretty modest. making sure there's mask wearing within federal property. that's reasonably limited. raising food stamp benefits, that's a good policy but limited. so i think he's threading needles, doing stuff, but not overreaching in a way that would alarm members of his own party or members of the other party. judy: what about that, jonathan? do you get the sense that -- because you're hearing some welcoming comments but you're also hearing some push-back from republicans. do you get the sense that he's going to find cooperation? or a closed door? jonathan: i think the president biden has been operating under the hope that his calls for unity and let's work together and let's make washington work for the american people, that there will be some people on the other side of the aisle who will

join with me in getting legislation over the finish line. on one of those calls that david and i were on with then president-elect biden, i asked the question, look, mr. president-elect, yes, you want to work with republicans but what do you say to democrats who believe you are naive and don't see the sucker punch that's coming from republicans? and i quoted mike tyson to him saying, mike tyson once famously said, everyone has a plan until they're punched in the mouth. and so are you ready for the punch in the mouth that's coming? and he said, basically, you guys think i don't know what i'm doing. i have been around the block for a long time, i am not afraid of a fight. so i think what president biden is doing is rhetorically but also through actions, showing that he wants people to come in but time will tell at what point does president biden decide, ok,

enough of trying to work with these folks, now i'm going to lower the hammer and now i'm going to show them that i know how to fight. i suggest to anyone, or i would say to anyone who doubts that president biden has the will and the stomach for a fight, that they need to make a reassessment because i believe he is willing to fight. judy: he certainly, david, has the recent example of president obama and what happened when he tried to work with the congress. what do you think he faces? david: i thought jonathan's question got the hair on the back of his neck going straight up because he was angry, not at jonathan, just angry. he was feisty. and i would say it's worth giving it a shot that the republican party is very divided. i know many republicans in the senate who would like to work with him and they think there are issues upon which they can

work for him. there's a problem solvers caucus and common sense caucus, the bipartisan group that did the covid relief bill, they want to end partisan gridlock. i may be naive but i'm hopeful. republicans voted for $3 trillion in new federal spending over the last 11 months. that's a lot of spending they voted for and the problem is not over. and i think there is possibility. having said that, there's a big debate on whether democrats should end the filibuster and i've spent my entire professional life supporting the filibuster because i think it forces parties to try to work a little across the aisle. nonetheless, in this crisis, i don't think we can afford two years of government paralysis so if republicans do go into full opo mode, i do think democrats should end the filibuster. i think that will be tough because one senator has vowed he would never vote for it. but i think we can't have

paralysis and taking down the senate institution in which i believe in principle seems to be necessary. judy: we'll see what happens with that. we've got a little over a minute or so left but i want ask ich ich -- each of you about this impeachment trial. it looks like it may be february 9. what do you expect from that, jonathan? jonathan: i expect the trial to be brief, meaning not 20-something days. i wouldn't be surprised if that friday after the trial starts, which i believe might be the eighth or ninth of february, we could be talking about a potential verdict. we're talking about one article of impeachment and we witnessed what they're talking about with our own eyes so i don't expect the trial to last long. judy: david, do you expect conviction or not? david: i do not want to go on the record. i'd like to know if it's even

constitutional. the constitution says impeachment is about removal from office and it's not clear that they have the ability to move someone who's already been removed. if it does happen, i hope it's short. i hope it does not become a distraction. judy: february, a big month, coming up, just like january. but hopefully different certainly in a lot of respects. thank you both. david brooks, jonathan capehart. so good to see you both. ♪ judy: as we reported, one of america's greatest athletes, henry aaron, died today, at the age of 66. 86. i was privileged to know him a little. a few years ago he and his wife,

billye, accepted my invation to a press dinner here in washington where in a were mobbed by admirers and he received the longest standing ovation i think i've ever heard. he couldn't have been more gracious. it was typical of this man, who, as jeffrey brown reports, endured blatant racism through much of his life. >> and another standing ovation. jeffrey: atlanta fulton county stadm april 8, 1974. henry hank aaron steps into the batter's box, one home run away from passing babe ruth for the all-time record. >> there's a long drive. ball's hit deep, deep, it is gone! jeffrey: the moment, a capstone to a career that had already cemented hank aaron as one of baseball's best ever. >> i felt great. i felt like i had the world lifted off of my shoulders. jeffrey: a great moment in all

of sports history but also one tinged with the bitterness of american history as racism chased aaron as he chased the record, that would hold up for 33 years. >> i got threatening letters about kidnapping and things like this, viciously racist letters. i had to slip out of the back of ballpark with escorts and things like this. it was terrible, terrible, it was bad times for me. jeffrey: his perseverance and grace throughout would gain him widespread admiration and he became a trail blazer and inspiration for black athletes that followed. aaron was born jim crow era mobile, alabama, during the depression. he played in the segregated negro leagues and at 20 years old joined the milwaukee braves. he followed the team to atlanta and hammering hank became one of the game's most fearsome hitters. in all, aaron slugged 755 home

runs and amassed 3,000 hits. he was an all-star for 21 straight seasons and won an m.v.p. award and world series title. in 1982, he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame. today, tributes to aaron poured in. former president barack obama called him one of the strongest people i've ever met. dave roberts, manager of the world champion los angeles dodgers told us this over the phone. >> for me, even more so as a man of color, just to think about how he handled the adversities and personal hate towards him as he approached that home run record. and he always handled it with grace, dignity and there was never any resentfulness when he was talking to current players or peers of his. jeffrey: hank aaron died today at 86 years old. joining me now is howard bryant, sportswriter and author of "the

last hero: a life of henry aaron." thanks for joining us again. let's start with the player, first. we always talk about the home runs but he was one of the all-time greats in every way, right? howard: no question. let me just give you one example of how good henry aaron was as a player. when he came into the big leagues in 1954, his goal, his mission as a young player was to break stan musial's all-time national league hits record of 3,630. by the time his career moved forward, he began realizing that the braves needed more offense so he decided to hit more home runs so one day i said to him, were you so good that you were able to choose which all-time record you wanted to break? and he sort of laughed about it but it really is true that he had so much ability as a hitter that he started his career trying to break one all-time unreachable record and then

ended up breaking another one. jeffrey: it is impossible to talk about the achievement wiout looking at all the evil that he went through. i was reading about a 20th anniversary after he broke the home run record, when he told a reporter, it really led to turning me off of baseball, all that he went through. it really made me see a clear picture of what the country is about. talk a little bit about that, what he did experience. howard: wh he experienced is the american sto. he experienced what ameca tells you to do which is to pull yourself up by your boot straps, work hard and not complain, it tells you to give the best of your ability. and henry did all of those things. and when he got to the top, what did he receive? he received people trying to kill him, which undermined everything about this meritocracy that we have been told to believe in. and when you have an f.b.i. detail and you have kidnapping threats to your family, just

because you're swinging a baseball bat, it makes you look at things a very different way. he always told me this was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life and it never turned out to be that way. and that's really telling, it's a real indictment. i think people recognize over time that america caught up to henry. but he was far, far ahead of it back in 1974. jeffrey: yet he persevered, he went on to a career afterwards. what was he like as a person that allowed him to do what he did even after his career? howard: he had enormous amount of confidence in himself and enormous amount of pride. he understood that his ability was according to him -- affording him a life that was never going to be available to so many other african americans and he felt he had a responsibility to use that talent. one of my favorite stories with henry, i remember being at his house and we were talking and he was telling me about how he did

not want to move to atlanta when the milwaukee braves moved to atlanta after the 1965 season because he knew what racism was down there and what jim crow was all about and he had a meeting with ralph abernathy and ralph young and martin luther king jr. and they told him, when he said, i don't think i'm doing my part for this movement, i'm just a player and dr. king told my, you are as important to this movement as we are. you do the things that you do. we need you as much as the rest of the country needs us. and i remember him telling me that heouldn't imagine what life would have been like had he not gone to atlanta. it put him in the center of the civil rights movement and centered him as a person. jeffrey: i wonder what he was thinking of where the game is now. he talked a lot about lamenting that more blacks weren't going into baseball, the openings for managers still were fairly limited. where are we now? what do you think he thought?

howard: he felt all of those things, you're right. but he was far more concerned about where the country was at. i talked to him three weeks ago and he talked about surviving the trump era and how proud he was of georgia, that his state, and he and his wife were deep into democratic politics there, that they saw history and were in the center of change. i'm personally happy he saw this through. jeffrey: he saw history, he made history. the life and legacy of henry hank aaron. howard bryant, thank you very much. howard: my pleasure. ♪ judy: as we pass the grim milestone this week of more than 400,000 americans who have died from covid-19, we take this moment to remember another five of the extraordinary lives lost.

james glica-hernandez was drawn to the stage and became a fixture on the regional theater scene in california's central valley. as musical director of the woodland opera house for over two decades, he mentored generations of young performers. friends described him as “bold and unapologetic”, and someone who inspired people to live authentically. a self-described "family man", james was a loving husband, father and grandfather. he was 61. maude jones was known for her soft voice and positive attitude. her daughter said the sixty-four year old loved working as a teacher's aide for elementary school students with disabilities in gwinnett county, georgia. maude was born in liberia and moved to the u.s. in her twenties, but always maintained close ties to her homeland and culture. faith also played a big part in

maude's life. her family said she never missed her church's sunday service or wednesday bible study. richard means spent his life fighting for free and fair elections in his home state of illinois. born in champaign, richard settled in chicago. and represented local, state, and national candidates from all parties as a top election lawyer. he was irreverent and fearless, his wife said, and he advocated for many progressive causes outside of the courtroom. richard loved his grandchildren, cooking and architecture. he was 78. if you were friends with virginia roberts, you were friends for life, her daughter said. the new jersey native loved her community of lake parsippany - where she lived in the same cottage for fifty-five years and raised four children. she also rescued and cared for many animals.

virginia worked most of her life, retiring three years ago from her job as a school bus aide. she was 84. louis ayala loved cutting hair. it was his job for 75 years. he started young -- as a teenager -- working at a neighborhood barbershop in fort worth, texas. he went on to own his own shop on the city's main street. his nephew said he was a quiet and stoiman who would make house visits if customers couldn't leave their homes. an avid golfer, louis advocated for the redevelopment of an inner-city golf course -- a dream that came true in 2017. louis was 90 years old. and our thanks to all the family members who shared these stories with us. our hearts go out to you as they do to everyone who's lost a

loved one in this pandemic. and a correction before we go. yesterday, we mistakenly showed an image of damage from a volcanic eruption when we were discussing nuclear weapons. we regret the error. and don't forget to tune in to "washington week" tonight when "newshour's" amna nawaz leads a discussion of president biden's first days and the democrats' plans to impeach the former president. before we go, it's hard to believe, but tomorrow marks one year since the death of one of our two beloved founding fathers, jim lehrer. every day we think of him and we do our best to live out his journalistic ethics. we send our love to his wife, kate, their daughters jamie, lucy and amanda, and their families. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here on monday evening for all of us at the "pbs newshour," have a good,

safe weekend. thank you and good night. announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- -- >> consumer cellular. johnson and johnson. financial services firm, raymond james. bnsf railway. the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years, advancing institutions to promote a better world. supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

and friends of the "newshour." ♪ >> 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.] >> this is "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington and our bureau of from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

the presidential inauguration ushered in a new administration. the nation's 46th president stepped into office. is accompanied by