captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: another covid vaccine shows promising results, though it is less effective than others. i'll speak to dr. anthony fauci about what hope it offers. then, the biden agenda. the president suggests he is willing to push through the $1.9 trillion covid relief package without republicans. we speak to his top negotiator with congress on the bill. desperate journey. a chance new york encounter reunites one of our correspondents with an asylum seeker she met on one of the world's most dangerous migration routes. >> then i looked at nadja's face

for once. i have this face in my memory that i saw her in the jungle of panama. we were together for three days there. then, i asked nadja, are you nadja? she replied, yes. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart analyze president biden's first full week in office. 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. >> johnson & johnson. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> 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. >> woodruff: the drive to get more coronavirus vaccines into more arms is gaining more momentum tonight. findings on two new candidates could accelerate the effort. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports. >> aindor: today, all eyes on covid-19 vaccines. johnson & johnson-- a newshour funder-- announced that trials show overall its vaccine is 66% effective. that's not as strong as its moderna and pfizer rivals. both of them are more than 90% effective. but at a white house task force briefing, the president's chief medical adviser on covid, dr. anthony fauci, said the johnson & johnson vaccine showed very encouraging results in the worst cases. >> overall, in the united states, in south africa, and in brazil, the overall efficacy for severe disease was 85%.

there were essentially no hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccine group, whereas in the placebo group, there were. >> alcindor: fauci also noted that unlike the other vaccines, johnson & johnson's requires just a single shot, and it does not need to be stored in super- cold temperatures. that could cut storage costs and help vaccinate more people, in a shorter amount of time. in early february, the company intends to request from the food and drug administration an emergency use authorization. but there is a growing concern about how well any vaccines stand up to the new coronavirus variants. they're emerging around the world-- including those first seen in britain, brazil, and especially, the one first found in south africa. overall, the johnson & johnson vaccine tested 72% effective in the u.s., but against the south african variant, that number dropped to 57%. also today, early findings showed that a fourth vaccine, this one from novavax, is nearly

90% effective overall. but against the variant identified in south africa, it was only 50% effective. all of the variants are now spreading across the u.s. and today, andy slavitt, the senior white house adviser on covid-19, said that means passing the president's $1.9 trillion covid relief plan is more critical than ever. >> i couldn't urge people-- people in the congress, to be more focused on the american rescue plan, given the state of the variants. >> alcindor: the president's the u.s. is now vaccinating more than one million americans per day. so far, the nation as administered 26 million doses. at the same time, world leaders remain concerned about the vaccines' equitable distribution. the secretary general of the united nations, antonio guterres, is calling the problem a global emergency. >> more than 70 million doses have been administered, less than 20,000 of these on the african continent. a global immunity gap puts

everyone at risk. >> alcindor: and today, the head of the world health organization warned that hoarding vaccines will only make the pandemic worse for everyone. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: let's understand more about the latest on vacces and the strains of the virus. dr. anthony fauci is the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the n.i.h. he's also a top adviser to president biden on the pandemic. dr. fauci, welcome back to the "newshour". so let me ask you about this new vaccine that was announced today by johnso& johnson. it is one dose, it is more easily stored. how much of a help do you expect it to be? >> i think it's going to be value added for sure, judy, both in the united states but also in developing nations because of the fact that it has good efficacy. you know, it isn't as much as

the 94% to 95% of the two vaccines that have emergency authorization. it is 72% effective against mild to moderate disease, but against severe and even the mutant set we're seeing in south africa, it has pretty good protection against severe disease. so it will be useful in keeping people out of the hospital. and if you look at the severity effects the data that we just examined today that, in the vaccine group, there were essentially no hospitalizations or deaths. so it protected pretty well against severe disease, which is good news. >> woodruff: but the fact that it's lessffective against the variant in south africa, how much does that undercut its value? >> that's a good point. it undercuts it a bit if you

want to have equivalent efficacy against what we call the wild type strains circulating here and the south african strains. but in severe disease of the south african strain, it has about an 85% or 88% efficacy. so when you're dealing with a serious situation like that, that is not bad. what it will trigger us having to do, judy, though, is to upgrade the vaccines we have now to make it in a form that would directly address mutant strains, be they in south africa or any other place where they emerge. so right now we've already started the process of making upgraded vaccines to address it. but given the fact that against severe disease this particular candidate did pretty well, all in all, that's good news. >> woodruff: and you raise the next question which is on the minds of so many, can you keep up with these new violators, these new strains that are

occurring brazil and south africa and other places? how worried are you that new vaccine will keep up with all of this? >> that's an excellent question and an excellent point, judy, and one of the best ways to prevent the further evolution of mutants is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible and the reason is viruses don't mutate unless they actively replicate. so when you have a lot of disease in the community and a lot of infections the way we, unfortunately, have had in the united states over the last several months, then you give the virus a lot more opportunity tto mutate. if we can implement our vaccine programs with the vaccines we currently have and bring the level of virus recommendation and dynamics in the community to a very low level, the virus will not mutate as efficiently as it

does when you have an explosion of infections. >> woodruff: dr. fauci, i know vaccine distribution is not the area that you're in charge of, but it is stark that, what, more than 48 million doses have been sent out to the states, but only 21-some million americans have received at least one dose. do you have any better understanding of what's gone wrong? >> well, i think one thing, not an excuse, judy, but one thing people should realize is the actual counting of what's gone on into people's arm lags a bit, so there clearly is more that's gone into the arms than has been recorded. because if you do it today, it may not get recorded for a couple of days or longer. having said that and not having an excuse, what going on now as president biden made it very, very clear, he's going to be doing everything he can within his strategic plan upthat he put out last week to be able to get

the implementation of the program as efficient as possible. community vaccine centers, getting the pharmacies much more involved, getting mobile units, trying to get more doses out of a vial by getting deaspace syringes associated with the needles. those are the kind of things. so we're recognizing that we have work to do, but it is really taken very very seriously, particularly with regard to the plan that the president has just put out. >> woodruff: and one other thing everybody wants to know, when are we going to get back to some semblance of normal. you are a big baseball fan. when do you think fans will be able to go bark to the stadium again? >> you know, i hope that we will have some degree of participation of spectators at some time this summer. you know, when you talk about getting back to some form of normality, you generally talk about approaching what we call herd immunity. we have enough people vaccinated that the level is so low and people areenerally protected

as a group, as a cohort. i believe that will be somewhere between 70% and 80% of the population. if we rev up the vaccinations between the months of march, april, may, june, july, i believe, by the time we get into the summer, we will be approaching that. i can't guarantee it, judy, but i to hope, as we get into the summer, that we will see spectators in the stands. >> woodruff: we're all looking for any shred of good news. as you know, dr. anthony fauci, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> good to be with you as always, judy. thank you. >> woodruff: as a way to address issues related to vaccine distribution, the biden administration wants their $1.9 trillion covid aid plan passed by congress. president biden indicated today

he is willing to move forward without birtisan support. >> i support passing covid relief with support from republicans, if we can get it, but the covid relief has to pass. there's no ifs, ands or buts. >> woodruff: the president's plans come as financial markets are very much in the news. wall street closed its worst week since october. major indexes were down again, roiled by concern over new strains of the virus and the frenzied trading of several stocks that impacted investors. the most widely watched volatility index is up by 37% this month. brian deese is president biden's lead negotiator with congress on the covid deal. he is also the director of the white house national economic council. and he joins us now. brian deese, welcome to the "newshour". we thank you so much for joining us. this covid relief package, as you know, comes after the congress, last year, spent,

what, $3 trillion in covid relief. you're asking for $1.9 trillion. even people who think, yes, there should be more money spent are saying this is just too much, it's more even than what the economic growth shortfall was in the last quarter of last year. how do you explain the dollar -- the amount? >> well, judy, we're in the middle of an unprecedented economic crisis. it's connected to the public health crisis that dr. fauci was just talking about but it is unprecedented in scale. we just found out yesterday that last year the economy fell more than in any year since the demobilization after world war ii. we also know that this crisis is uniquely affecting millions of people across the country, 30 million people didn't have enough food to eat last week. the unemployment rate among the bottom quarter of households, people working out there, is over 20%.

so this is an unprecedented crisis, and it requires a decisive response. and that's really the theory behind the president's plan, it's about getting the resources we need to get shots in people's arms, to get the schools open, to get parents back to work, and to provide a bridge of support to families, to businesses and others that are really struggling in this economy. >> woodruff: well, in that vein, one of the criticisms and comments one hears as much as anything is why not target this aid more to people who are at low-income levs, the people who are most likely to spend this money, according to the analysis that's been done. it is reported, it's believed some of this money would go to people, families earning as much as $300,000 a year. >> i really appreciate the focus on targeting, and it's important to look at wht's in the president's plan. unemployment insurance extended out goes directly to those

people who've lost their jobs, those people in need and who are likely to spend it the most. assistance to prevent evictions, assistance to prevent hunger, an additional credit to families with children. kids have been really hurt in this crisis educationally otherwise. these are ways to actually provide that kind of assistance and target it to those in need. support for small businesses, we've done a lot to help cushion small businesses, but we've seen in the last several weeks a number of sectors like restaurants and bars, these are businesses, smaller businesses, less well connected businesses, they knead a support, a bridge so we can avoid that kind of economic harm. so this is an approach that is targeted at those areas of economy that really need help and, also, is underscored by the economic research that says actually failing to make these involts will mean slower growth, it will mean a longer trajectory

back to a stable labor market, and will all pay for this in te end. so this actually is a targeted response to the particular economic challges that we face right now. >> woodruff: you mentioned small businesses, but, in fact, this big package, $1.9 trillion package includes an increasin the minimum wage, something many small business owners arguably have taken a big hit during this pandemic don't want at this moment, they say this is the wrong time to do that. are you prepared to peel off some aspects of this package that are meeting real opposition, especially from republicans? >> well, look, on the minimum wage, you know, the academic evidence suggests that what you do with the minimum wage is you can actually give a raise to almost 32 million workers, and you can do so in a way that doesn't have a substantial impact on employment, and a lot of those workers are actually people out there providing services in our economy,

delivering food, cleaning buildings out there, putting themselves in harm's way. but the president has been very clear, we are soliciting input, we are listening, we are trying to work and understand people's points of view. the one thing that he has been clear about, though, is the urgency of action. we do need to move and move in a holistic way, because if the last ten months have taught us anything, without decisive action, this is not a self-correcting recovery. this is not going to get better on its own, which is really why the impetus for the urgency here. >> woodruff: two other quick things, brian deese, one is we heard the president say he's prepared to move ahead even without republican support. if you go to the budget reconciliation process requiring a simple majority, that would presumably take more tame to do -- time to do. what cost does that mane in terms of getting the aid needed for the pandemic, for vaccine

distribution and so forth? >> well, pitts a great -- it's a great question. we need to move quickly for vaccines, unemployment insurance, school reopening for a number of reasons. so we're going to work with congress to find a pathway to allow us to move quickly and the right budgetary process to do so. but as part of that process, under any scenario, opportunities for members of congress, democrats, republicans to express their views, raise issues and move forward and ultimately the question will be are people actually ready to vote for a package that would get the virus under control and put a floor under the economic crisis we're in. >> woodruff: finally, very quickly, brian deese, you've worked on wall street, you know what happened during this past week in the financial markets, a lot of volatility, big inverts affected by what a number of smaller traders were doing. the bottom line is, is it time for the kind of regulation that senator elizabetwarren and

others are calling for? is the biden administration looking at imposing some kind of regulation on this kind of -- to reduce this kind of volatility? >> look, the treasury department, the s.e.c. are monitoring activity in the markets. i think our focus now is in the real economy where we're seeing on main street and across the country more than a million people filed for unemployment insurance this week. as i mentioned, there are millions of families struggling to put food on the table. so that's really our focus right now, and our focus in passing this rescue plan is to try to address the crisis we've got on main street and hopefully bring this economy back. >> woodruff: brian deese, thank you very much. the chair of the president's national economic council. we appreciate it. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, as we just heard, wall street slumped again, as a war raged between hedge funds and small investors. the dow jones industrial average lost 620 points to close at 29,982. the nasdaq fell 266 points, and the s&p 500 slid 73 points. for the week, the major indexes lost more than 3%. the u.s. capitol police are boosting protection for lawmakers at travel hubs around washington, d.c. the security chief for the house of representatives says that officers will guard airports and the city's train station. that comes amid fears of further violence after the january 6 attack on the capitol. anti-abortion forces held their annual march for life in washington today, but it was

small-scale, due to the pandemic and the recent violence at the capitol. leaders did hold a procession to the u.s. supreme court, after hearing virtually from speakers, including republican congressman chris smith of new jersey. >> some day, future generations of americans will look back on us and wonder how and why a society that prides itself on human rights and empathy could have effectuated and enabled the loss of so many defenseless babies. >> woodruff: the annual event protests the 1973 roe v. wade decision that legalized most abortion. in india, opposition parties boycotted the opening day of parliament's budget session. it was a show of solidarity with farmers protesting new laws that they say will hurt their incomes. elsewhere, fresh clashes bke out in new delhi between farmers and pro-police groups. police used batons and tear gas to break up the fighting. back in this country, president

biden visited wounded soldiers in one of his first forays outside the white house. he helicoptered to walter reed national military medical center in maryland, where his son beau died of brain cancer in 2015. the president called the doctors and the patients "real heroes." a former f.b.i. lawyer was sentenced to a year's probation today in a probe into how the russia investigation began. kevin clinesmith admitted doctoring an email used to justify surveillance of the trump 2016 campaign. he is the only person charged so far in the special counsel's probe. and, one of the nation's leading black basketball coaches, john chaney, died today in philadelphia. he spent 24 seasons at temple university, and was twice named "national coach of the year." along e way, he mentored dozens of players from disadvantaged backgrounds.

john chaney was 89 years old. still to come on the newshour: a correspondent's chance encounter with an asylum seeker she met on the migrant trail. david brooks and jonathan capeheart on president biden's first full week in office. and, a look at "one night in miami," the first feature film directedy oscar-winning actor regina king. and much more. >> woodruff: now, a surprise reunion last weekend in brooklyn, and the long and dangerous road to that moment. here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: last august, special correspondents nadja drost and bruno frederico brought us the extraordinary

stories of people so desperate to improve their lives, they headed through one of the world's harshest places: the darién gap, that connects south and central america on the border between panama and northern colombia. along that desperate and dangerous journey, nadja and bruno met migrants from latin america, africa, the middle east and south asia, most fleeing privation, conflict, political persecution, or a combination of all three. and one group in particular-- men from bangladesh. fast forward to last weekend, and those stories intersected with a food delivery in new york city. and that's where we bring in nadja, who joins us from new york to pick up the story. so, nadja, what happened last weekend? >> so, i was at home and i heard my doorbell ring, and i poked my head outside of my window. i live on the second floor of a house, and i saw a delivery man below. and i figured that our downstairs neighbors must have ordered food. so i sent him on his way there. and as he turned to go downstairs, he kind of looked

back up at me, did a double take and-- and said, "nadja? filming the journey of migrants from all of the world as they trade to cross this jungle from colombia to panama, and i asked him about that moment when he recognized me. >> then i looked at nadja's face for once. >> ( translated ): then i looked at nadja's face for once. i have this face in my memory, that i saw her in the jungle of panama. we were together for three days there. then, i asked nadja, “are you nadja?” she replied “yes” nadja asked me back, “who are you?” i replied, i was with you in the jungle of panama for three or four days. after seeing her, i felt good. that day was extremely amazing to me. >> schifrin: now, your first meeting in the jungle came after he'd already traveled an extraordinary distance.

where did he start? >> so, he crossed the land border from bangladesh, where he's from, to india, and took a flight to ethiopia. and then he went to brazil, to peru, was not allowed out of the airport in peru, got sent back to brazil, and eventually made his way via land up through south america. when i had met ripol was actually on one of the most kind of vulnerable and extreme parts of his journey. and he told me about one of those harrowing experiences where armed bandits robbed him. >> ( translated ): one of them hold a machete that day. it seemed to me, i was supposed to say goodbye to the world. the truth is that someone held something here, and it was this size sword. one of them held my hands, when the other one said, “chop it.” but someone within them said “don't chop”. everyone with me started crying. they begged “don't kill him.” at that time, my feet were wounded, and i suffered lot in

the jungle of panama. i could not believe that i would be able to reach america. >> for the next three days, we were walking with over 30 migrants through the jungle until we reached a settlement in panama a few days later. and that's the last time that i saw ripol, until over a year later here in w york city at my doorstep. >> schifrin: so ripol is in new york now. what's the situation and what does that say about the larger question of the state of asylum in the u.s.? >> so, ripol is working as a delivery man in new york, and he's trying to get by while he awaits his asylum proceedings. he came to the united states in a very challenging moment for a lot of asylum seekers, not only because of the pandemic, but over the last few years, the asylum system has really been gutted. and so, what a lot of asylum seekers right now are hopeful is that with the new administration of joe biden, that there may be

a lot of dramatic changes that could allow them to settle into a life more qukly and easily in the united states. of course, none of these changes are going to happen overnight. so it may be months or even years for us to start seeing really substantive changes to the asylum system. >> schifrin: nadja drost, thank you very much. >> thanks, nick. >> woodruff: and now it's time for our friday analysis with brooks and capehart. that is "new york times" columnist david brooks, and jonathan capehart, columnist for the "washington post." very good, as always, to see both of you on this friday night. david, i'm going to start with you. president biden's been in office, what, all of nine days,

now, maybe nine and a half. a flurry of executive orders, almost several a day. what do you make of all this? what stands out to you the most about what's happened so far? >> i'm sort of struck by the fact that donald trump didn't do a lot of legislating and, so, he did a lot of stuff by executive order leaving the paris climate accord and keystone pipeline on the border, so what trump signed in, biden is signing out. this strikes me as mostly standard democratic policy. some of it i think is quite good, a lot of the racial equiy stuff he's put throughout the government. i was struck that my newspaper, my colleagues on the editorial board, which i'm not part of, wrote an editorial saying they were overrelying on the executive orders and they should ease up a little. i notice every single of the biden administration down to the people who opened the door went on twitter to argue back against the editorial.

and i think they were thrilled to be accused of moving too fast. they loved having that fight, that was my impression. i think, you know, as i said last week, i don't care of executive orders because what gets signed in can get signed out, but they're going what any democratic president would do right now. >> woodruff: jonathan, overrelying on executive orders and executive actions? >> i don't think so. i think president biden made a lot of promises about what he was going to do on day one, two, three and now fine or ten and is following through. igree 100% with david. what president biden is doing is canceling out the executive actions and orders put in place by president trump. but in a perfect world or, actually, in a functioning world, congress would be making laws, and one of the things i took issue with with the "new

york times" editorial saying president biden should ease up on the executive orders is they used the example of daca but didn't go to the extra step of saying why president obama used this executive action in the first place. it was because years of trying to work with republicans in congress to get comprehensive immigration reform done failed, and, so, with people in the immigrant community, latino community saying, hey, do something, use executive action, and president obama coming back and saying, no, i can't do that, and then in 2012, doing it and trying to do it again in 2014, that's what got that particular ball rolli. if the house and the senate were to actually start legislating, then chief executives, whether president trump or president biden, wouldn't have to rely, to use that word, on executive actions to actually do something to help the american

people. >> woodruff: well, speaking of legislating, david, we're hearing today from president trump and i was peeking with brian deese who chairs is national economic council, it looks as if they're prepared to move ahead on their big covid relief package, $1.9 trillion, through this -- without getting into the weeds -- budget reconciliation, basically meaning they could do it without republican votes, if necessary. is that -- are they giving up too soon? what do you think? >> it's hard to read. there's certainly a lot of republicans who like a lot of parts of what's in there. probably no republicans like the $1.9 trillion price tag. i think he han a unity campaign, and i think if that means anything, he has to give it every single shot. part of what they're doing is threatening republicans saying, hey, we're leaving without you if you're not on board. what's shaping the democratic party is how much the echo of

2009 is here. a lot of democrats look back on the obama stimulus and think obama paid too much attention to republicans, tried to work too much with republicans, and he didn't go big enough. so what they're going to do is they're going to go big, and it's a gigantic fiscal experiment. economists have always worried about overheating the economy, pumping too much federal money in, so you overheat the economy, you get inflation, you may spark an up and then a crash, and they've decided that those rules, too much fiscal stimus will create inflationary pressure, they've decided those rules are off. maybe they're right. jerome powell, the federal chairman, seems to think they're right, but it is a gigantic fiscal experiment where i don't trust anybody knows what's going happen if we spend this much on top of 900 billion in december. >> woodruff: how risky do you think it is they're doing,

jonathan. >> two things from the interview with mr. deese -- one, i think the biden administration is working under the pressure of deadlines in march, when it comes to unemployment insurance and also moratoriums on evictions. so that is a forcing mechanism. the other thing i take away from this in terms of not ruling out using reconciliation, it goes back to a conversation that we all had last week about whether president biden was ready to or willing to fight, whether he had it in him to fight to get things done, and i think, by dangling -- as david said -- threatening republicans by using the reconciliation tactic, that that is showing that president biden is unity and kumbaya and working together will only take you so far. so when you sake the willingness to fight and the pressure of the

march deadline that's there for millions of american people, i think that is what's pushing and driving the biden administration to at least not take reconciliation off the table. >> woodruff: meanwhile, let's talk for just a few minutes, david, about the republicans and what's happened to your party. president trump's been out of office nine or ten days, you've already seen the house minority leader fly down to palm beach, apparently to make nice. the former president trump invited to speak at the republican national committee coming up. you've got all this -- just a lot of anger and frustration and, worse than that, flying around between democrats and democrats over -- republicans and democrats over security, over marjorie taylor greene, what's going on inside the party. >> if it was my party i would be running it a hell of a lot better than they're doing right

now. (laughter) what's happening, there were a couple of days after the januart that i thought the party was going to shake off a bit of trump, not obviously all, but at least have two wings that says trump was one thng but we still have our conservative beliefs and we'll work with the other wing. the other wing collapsed. it's easier to be a republican and mary taylor greene than liz cheney. so a normal republican has her job threatened and another is taking over the publicity wing. you see the trumpy guy running against liz cheney, where rob portman, a normal, smart and good human being, a senator from ohio, decides to retire because he can't get anything done. then you see madison cawthorn, a

young freshman republican who says he writes an email to his staff saying i'm putting all my staff into communications not into legislation. and a lot of these trumpy republicans, they run for office so they can get on fox news, not to pass things. so what we're seeing is a party that is, as one person said, on fire and going, in my min in the complete opposite direction, which makes life pretty easy for joe biden. >> woodruff: what does it look like from where you are, jonathan? >> well, you know, i don't know if it makes life easy for joe biden. sure it is, if all he wants to do is executive actions. but in order to make lasting policy change, you have to pass legislation, and the only way you can pass legislation is if democrats and republicans can work with each other to get bills passed out of their chambers and on to his desk to sign. but as you have, as david described, an interparty warfare

among republicans and then, with democrats, you have lots of democrats who feel unsafe working with some of the republicans who are there on capitol hill, i wonder how anything is going to get done. i mean, we talk all the time about partisan gridlock in washington stymieing beingble to govern this nation. i don't know what to call this now. i don't know what you call it when american legislators are fighting with each other or fearful of each other, where does that leave governing? where does that leave the ameran people, in the end? >> woodruff: david, what's it going to take to fix this? >> yeah, well, i'd like to see an end to party warfare. the problem is the normal republicans are taking this lying down and laying low. some are afraid of death threats, some just don't want to get in the way to have the trump

train. but you look at people like john thune, susan collins, romney -- who has been a tower of courage, by the way, over the last several months -- somehow, that wing of the party has got to get itself together so it can stand against the wing that is very proud and loud right now, and if we don't have some sort of rivalry over the soul of the party, it's not only the rob portmans of the world who are going to leave it, it's suburban voters, there are a lot of voters on that side who do not like what happened january 6th r long. so the survival to have the party depends on the rallying of what we used to think are normal republicans, and they have stuck their head up here and there, but no rallying, no organization, not much of a caucus, so there has to be at least the fight to defend the party. >> woodruff: in ten seconds, jonathan, anything democrats can do as all this is going on? >> i have no idea, other than stand back and watch.

>> woodruff: on that note, friday night, jonathan capehart, david brooks, thank you both. >> thanks. you. >> woodruff: and now, as we do every friday, we take a moment to share the stories of five extraordinary individuals who have fallen victim to covid-19 in this country. for decades, dave schmitz was known to people in wheaton, minnesota as the man behind "dave's bar and arcade.” he loved talking to his customers, and would quietly lend a helping hand to those in need, his wife said. dave was the youngest of 15 and grew up on his family's farm in wheaton.

after a brief stint in the navy, he spent the rest of his life in his hometown. he loved hunting, fishing and watching his grandchildren play sports. dave was 80 years old. wanda kay johnson was the matriarch of her family. everyone called her "aunty kay," and she loved spending time with her five grandchildren and many great grandcldren. wanda grew up in kentucky and pennsylvania, before moving to wheeling, west virginia in her 40s. her family told us she had recently battled several health issues, but she still made time to volunteer at a local homeless shelter and food pantry. she was 63. charlie barr was always joyful, his sister said. he played sports all his life and won a gold medal in swimming at the pennsylvania special olympics three years ago.

after graduating from high school, he worked at a nonprofit with other people who have intellectual disabilities. his sister told us charlie's favorite pastime was walking the streets of his hometown of bradford, making friends with the local community along the way. he had an encyclopedic knowledge of the buffalo bills, and loved rock bands like kiss. charlie was 45. 98-year-old laura miller was known for her wide-ranging group of friends. raised in missouri, she settled in boston, where she opened her home to international students from harvard and boston university. her daughter said ev after her mother lost her husband, john, and her son, kirk, she still managed to find the joy in life. a dedicated unitarian universalist, laura was passionate about countering racism and making newcomers to the united states feel welcome.

diane fillmore's house was always full of music. her daughter said she loved listening to old-school r&b as well as contemporary and country artists. diane spent six years in the navy, where she received a good conduct medal. she left the service to raise her three children in dayton, ohio. diane was strict but kind and seen as the "cool mom" among her childrens' friends, family told us. she changed course at 50, gaining an associate's degree and working in medical data management around dayton. diane was 59. and thank you so much to family members who share these stories with us. our hearts go out to you, as they do to everyone who's lost a loved one in this pandemic. >

>> woodruff: and now, an historical closed door meeting leads to a big screen reimagining. renowned actor regina king, directing her first film, showcases the meaning of the moment with resonance for this moment. jeffrey brown takes a look at "one night in miami," now streaming on amazon, as part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> yes, cassius marcellus clay is the new heavyweight champion of the world, boys! >> yes, he is. >> brown: february 25, 1964: 22-year-old cassius clay-- soon to be known as muhammad ali-- has just defeated sonny liston to become heavyweight champion of the world. after the action in the ring, clay and three famous friends get together in a motel room for the real action: deeply personal debates over their work and

responsibilities as black men. >> and that is why, brother sam, this movement we are in is called a struggle. because we are fighting for our lives! >> i immediately felt that the dialog was the star. >> brown: for renown actress regina king, making her debut as a film director, “one night in miami” was irresistible-- the words, issues and emotions alive then and now. >> it is a representation of men that i know and love, and the type of conversations that they're having, and that they don't get an opportunity to see themselves in cinema that often, look and feel the way they feel in real life. >> brown: the 1964 gathering actually took place. and what a group! ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time, played by eli goree. jim brown, legendary n.f.l. hall of fame running back, played by aldis hodge.

sam cooke, singer, songwriter, producer extraordinaire, played by leslie odom jr of "hamilton" fame. and, malcolm x, the charismatic black nationalist leader and minister of the nation of islam, played by kingsley ben-adir. one photo exists of malcolm and ali that night. it was used for a scene in the film. what actually happened that night, though, was imagined by writer kemp powers, first in his 2013 play, "one night in miami," now as the film's screenwriter. >> they were significant then. they're significant now. and, one can't help but wonder what a group like that might discuss if gathered together in a room. i mean, who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall? >> brown: all were at personal or professional crossroads, having reached unimagined heights, but facing doubts about the way forward. >> when the play was first produced, i was actually older, at 40, than all the men in that room.

and that really struck me, because we think of these men doing amazing, transformative things with the benefit of age and wisdom. but the reality is, they were young and, in many cases, they didn't know what they were doing, and they were often taking leaps of faith and believing in themselves. >> brown: also challenging each other-- does economic success bring personal freedom? at what cost? in this scene, malcolm x takes on sam cooke for pandering to white audiences, in his view. >> pissed off, brother sam? you know what's going on around us, it should make everyone angry. you bourgeois negroes, you're too happy with your scraps to really understand what is at stake here. what, you think cass being the champ is going to protect him from the devils that harassed him from the first day that he got here? >> brown: regina king herself is known for powerful performances, including an oscar-winning role

in "if beale street could talk," and for speaking out on giving women more positions of power in hollywood. >> 50% women! it is actually something that a lot of artists have, a conversation like this. and even just an inner conversation. >> brown: did this have a personal connection for you? >> absolutely. for me, reading this script the first time it was just a great, again, confirmation that, all right, you are figuring it out, how you're going to use your platform. and there is not a specific way. and it was a wonderful reminder >> brown: for writer kemp powers, who's also co-written and co-directed the new pixar film “soul,” this was also personal. >> the debate they're having, that's a debate me and my friends would have. i'm just reverse-engineering it into the mouths of the men who inspired that way of thinking.

>> brown: but those things aren't normally seen in the theater or in the movies, right? >> well, they are seen in the theater, just not as often with black characters. it strikes a chord because, again, how many plays have i seen where i've seen middle-age white men struggle through their mid-life crisis? stuck in a room? but no one's ever questioned if we've had too many of these stories! ( laughs ) so, i mean, that's a question to the industry. >> brown: within a year of that night in miami, two of the protagonists were dead. malcolm x, assassinated at age 39, after his bitter split from the nation of islam. sam cooke was shot in a los angeles motel, under suspicious circumstances. he was 33. muhammad ali had his title stripped for refusing to serve in the vietnam war, won it back, and achieved a level of global adoration rare in sports history. he died in 2016 at age 74.

only jim brown, who went on to a film career, remains alive. ( protests and chants ) regina king finished her film even as the culture was again convulsed by protests over racial injustice. >> as much as we love being americans and love america, you know, just, even what's going on now and, i think i've heard president-elect biden say, "america, this isn't us." it is us. it is a part of who we are. the question is, how are we, are we going to change what we write in history to come? >> brown: king says she enjoys the different rhythms of acting and directing, and will continue to alternate between them. the film, “one night in miami,” is now streaming on amazon. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown.

>> woodruff: last night, regina king sent out a tweet, saying, "'queen' somehow just doesn't capture ms. tyson. she paved a way that created a space for girls like me to feel the light." "ms. tyson" was, of course, the great cicely tyson-- a towering and transformative actress who died yesterday at age 96. vice president kamala harris today tweeted, she inspired the world with her art, activism and altruism. from her harlem roots, she went on to appear in more than 100 film, television and stage roles. jeffrey brown is back with our look. >> look at me. >> brown: it was a career notable for powerful performances, and a refusal to accept roles that demeaned black people. cicely tyson began acting in the 1960s, but her breakout came in the 1972 film, “sounder,” as the

wife of a louisiana sharecropper. two years later came the tv movie that won her widest fame“" the autobiography of miss jane pittman.” tyson won the emmy for best lead actress, the first african american to capture that award. in a 2008 abc interview, she spoke of her resolve to avoid characters she considered ugly stereotypes. >> i remember going home and thinking, “my god, cecily, you cannot afford the luxury of just being an actress.” there were so many issues that i felt that i had to address, and i used my career as my platform. >> brown: among her many on- screen roles: kunta kinte's mother in "roots." she returned to the stage in 2013 after a three-decade absence from broadway, in a production of “the trip to bountiful,” winning a tony award.

and in 2015, at age 90, joined james earl jones, a youngster at 84, in “the gin game.” the following year, she received the presidential medal of freedom from barack obama. and in 2018, an honorary oscar. >> mom, i know you did not want me to do this. >> brown: she recalled her religious mother, who didn't want her to go into acting. >> but i did! >> brown: just this week, tyson published a memoir, "just as i am," the story of an extraordinary life, that left a mark. >> woodruff: simply extraordinary, she was. and a reminder to tune in to "washington week" here tonight here on your pbs station. our amna nawaz is moderating te discussion there tonight. and that is the "newshour" for this friday night. and that is 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. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> 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 sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello everyone. welcome "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> that all four of them, all four accused be released forthwith. >> in pastan the man convicted of beheading american journalist daniel pearl after 9/11 are set to walk free. i talked to pearl's father about justice and the family's grief. then as president bide continues rolling out his build back better agenda, i speak with the economist about the moon shot model for tackling the biggest issues of the day. and internal strife at the gop. to support or not to support trump? form republican strategist stewart stevens joins me. plus -