captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, january 31: the c.d.c. orders comprehensive new next on “pbs newshour weekend.” >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard and norma klorfine

foundation. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. a small group of republicans say they are willing to negotiate on president biden's top legislative priority, a new

covid relief economic package. ten republican senators proposed a pared-down package costing about $600 billion today. that's less than a third of the biden administration's proposed $1.9 trillion plan. >> we are very targeted. we are targeted to the needs of the american people. treating our tax dollars as if they are our tax dollars, not just money to spend and putting it where we need to put out of the pandemic. >> sreenivasan: louisiana senator bill cassidy said the group's plan matches the biden administration's proposal for vaccine funding, but offers less in stimulus payments: $1,000 compared to $1,400 with an income cutoff below the administration's limit of $75,000 for individuals. in a letter today, the group asketo meet with president biden about its framework, and urged him to work with republicans on covid relief. the biden administration's top economic advisor said today that the president is open to negotiating, but that the package needs to be passed quickly.

>> we're certainly open to input from anywhere where we can find a constructive idea to make this package as effective as possible, but the president is uncompromising when it comes to the speed that we need to act at to address this crisis. >> sreenivasan: the republican proposal comes as congressional democrats say they are set to start working on a budget reconciliation process that would allow them to pass the biden administration's proposal on a party line vote in the senate. >> we hope that we can move forward in a bipartisan way with our republican colleagues cooperating, but we need b bold action and if we can't move forward with them, we'll have to do it on our own. >> sreenivasan: senate majority leader chuck schumer also said he's continuing negotiations with republicans over former president trump's impeachment trial, which will begin the week of february 8. there are reports this weekend that two south calina lawyers who were set to lead mr. trump's legal defense team have departed, in what is being

called a “mutual decisio” the split comes as a written reply to the impeachment charge of incitement of insurrection is due tuesday. we'll have more on what that charge means later in the program. despite the bitter cold, tens of thousands of russians were out in the streets again today protesting the continued detention of kremlin critic, alexei navalny. police arrested more than 4,000 demonstrators across the country including more than 1,000 in moscow alone, where protesters gathered outside the prison where the political activist is being held. in saint petersburg, police used tasers and batons to break up a rally. this marks t second straight weekend of protests calling for the release of navalny. the opposition politician was arrested earlier this month after returning from germany where he was treated for a nerve agent poisoning. navalny accuses russian president, vladimir putin of ordering the attack, a charge putin denies. for more on the protests, the russian response and what the biden administration may be facing, i spoke with newshour weekend special correspondent ryan chilcote who joined us from

london. so, ryan, given what the russian government was trying to do to tamp down the protests today, what do you make of what happened? >> i think it was pretty extraordinary. i mean, you hit the nail on the head there. they did a lot even before these protests today began. in fact, they started a week ago when the opposition announced they were going to have these protests. they detained a lot of navalny's closest allies, at least those allies that weren't already detained, were already in prison. they searched their homes, their offices, and they warned people that if they participate in these illegal unsanctioned protests, then they will be punished and could face up to even 10, 15 years in jail. and yet, hari, you still had tens of thousands of people turning out at these protests. more than 4,000 arrested, more than last week, despite all of these warnings. and in some cases and this is something that i thought was really interesting, you could

even see that the protesters were battling the police themselves. in other words, a protester would get detained by the police. they would actually go after the police and actually free some of the detained people. that's not the kind of thing that the kremlin wants to see. >> sreenivasan: you know, this also reminds me, just several weeks ago, a couple of months ago, we were talking about persistent protests week after week in belarus. what does russia do in this case when it's coming much closer to home, right, in moscow? >> yeah, and the thing is at when those protests were happening in belarus, which is just to the west of russia, russians were watching them. and even russians, i think, were more than a little surprised at how seriously, how brutal the belarusian government crackdown on those protests. because, in the past, the kremlin, i know from the outside it looks like the kremlin has been very tough on protests, but generally speaking, it has not been as difficult, asevere as the belarusians have. but clearly, what we're seeing now today and what we saw last week suggests that the kremlin

has changed their mind and they are very intent on crushing these protests. >> sreenivasan: so what are the important dates? are there a timeline, moments, things that you're watching out for as this perhaps progresses? >> yeah, there are. so, we can expect protests again on tuesday. that's because that's when alexei navalny wilappear at a hearing in moscow, where he will be told whether his month that he's now been sentenced to prison will be extended to as long as perhaps three and a half years. if he gets any more jail time, and he's certainly likely to, then you could see more protests. the thinking really is that the kremlin will keep alexei navalny in jail until at least beyond some very important parliamentary elections that are set to take place in september. and then, of course, in 2024, when president putin, in theory, because he's changed the constitution, could run for another term. so, it's possible we could see protests right up until 2024. >> sreenivasan: all right. we've got a new president. we've heard so far about a

difficult conversation between him and vladimir putin. what is the biden administration capable of doing? what can they dabout matters on the ground? >> well, president biden already used his first phone call to president putin to call for alexei navalny, for him to be freed. he could impose sanctions. in fact, navalny himself, through his surrogates, has asked president biden to impose sanctions. those would be targeted sanctions against people within president putin's government, but also some of russia's wealthiest oligarchs, if you will, including some who live here in london and very famous people that own soccer teams and whatnot. so, that is possible. you know, there's support for that in congress. just as important, i think you need to watch europe because interestingly, president biden, before he called on tuesday of last week, phoned a number of european leaders, the prime minister of the u.k., the chancellor of germany and the

president of france, to kind of get on the same page. that's something we haven't seen in american foreign policy for a while. and europe has a much closer relationship business-wise to russia. so, if europe imposes sanctions, that's much more painful for the russians. one thing i will point out about sanctions, we'veeen the west imposing sanctions against russia since 2014, at least as far as i can tell, they haven't had a huge influence on president putin's behavior. >> sreenivasan: all right. ryan chilcote joining us from london. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: the global coronavirus pandemic continues with new cases rising faster than ever. according to the "new york times" database, an average of half a million new cases are reported every day. as of this morning more than 2.2 million people have died. today, a team of world hlth organization scientists investigating the origins of the virus visited a now-closed market in wuhan, china, where the virus was first detected. there were more protests against covid-19 restrictions in several european countries today.

thousands of demonstrators thered at the site of a banned far-right rally in vienna. in belgium, police arrested about 200 protesters at an unauthorized demonstration in brussels. and there were dozens of arrests in amsterdam where police tried to prevent a repeat of the protests that turned violent last week. lockdowns and restrictions remain in place as vaccine distribution gets underway around the world. the "new york times" data shows that many countries have not yet administered any doses. israel currently has the highest vaccination rate-- more than 19% of the population is fully vaccinated, but that does not include the more than five million palestinians who live in the west bank and gaza, which have their own governments. for the first time today, israel's defense minister said the country will send 5,000 doses for front-line palestinian health workers. for the latest on coronavirus vaccination efforts and more national and international news,

visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: former president donald trump is facing his second impeachment trial and the charge this time is incitement of insurrection. for more on the ongoing investigation of the attack on the capitol on january 6 and the former president's role that day and before, i spoke with new york university school of law professor and co-editor-in-chief of "just securty," ryan goodman. ryan, where are we at in terms of congress trying to get a handle on what happened january 6, and also the climate that we seem to be in now post- january 6? >> so, congress is two tracks, it looks like. one track is the impeachment process and the trial that's going to take place in the senate. and then the other track is a bunch of congressional investigations that will try to make all sorts of determinations, including the

>> sreenivasan: here we are with mo and more evidence that there was coordination, that there was plning and then there was an attack. and yet the capitol police were completely caught flatfooted. >> it's an incredible failure in so many different levels. the f.b.i. and d.h.s. did not issue what would be a routine threat assessment. they produce those kinds of threat assessments for george floyd, protests like black lives matter protests. so, it's really an incredible situation in which concerns about whether or not there were biases within the ways in which these agencies operated with respect to these particular types of groups or something more concerning with respect to political pressure that might have been placed on the agencies. but no doubt, there is very serious concerns about the preparation and then also how they actually handled the events on that particular day. >> sreenivasan: what about the

recent warning by the department of homeland security that we are to be vigilant throughout the country, not just in one specific location for more actions like this? i mean, that's pretty unusual. >> it's very unusual. it should alert everybody that something very serious is afoot. the last time they issued a bulletin like this was about a year ago dealing with potential threats from iran. and the time before that was about a year ago, dealing with potential threats from al-qaeda or isis. so, the fact that they would at this time issue a national terrorism advisory alert across the country, that there is a concern that domestic extremists were still motivated by the same motivations that led them to the insurrection on january 6 are now a thre across the country is something very unusual, and it's certainly something that is

a flashing light. >> sreenivasan: a lot of people say the phrase "domestic terrorism," but is there something on the books, so to speak, where we can charge people in the ited states with that? >> one school of thought says there are plenty of resources currently available to charge these individuals and especially charges that include conspiracy that would apply to them in terms of when they're organizing as a group. seditious conspiracy looks like it's on the horizon. the department of justice has suggested that those charges are likely coming in. another school of thought is that there should be domestic legislation passed for "domestic terrorism." but civil libertarian groups are very concerned that that would have unintended consequences in the ways in which that would generate excessiveuthorities. their answer to this is that there are ample authorities that we don't need to go down this path and we've avoided going down this path for those kinds of concerns inhe past. and it looks like there are no

shortages of domestic criminal law, authorities and other authorities for the f.b.i. and the d.h.s. to address the threat. they've been constrained, unfortunately, in the past few years with the trump administration from being able to coordinate and really address the threat head on. >> sreenivasan: what should the threshold be on figuring out whether a member of congress or whether a member of the administration or the president's lawyer took part in an act of sedition or conspiracy towards that? >> if there was any aiding and abetting or planning with respect to these groups that then attacked the capitol, that would potentially be aiding and abetting criminal liability, part of the seditious conspiracy. certainly, there's also a question of incitement to insurrection, federal criminal law, incitement to riot under d.c. law. and the d.c. attorney

general has stated, in fact, that he is looking at incitement to riot with respect to the president's speech on january 6. this is not to say that it was all preplanned that these individuals would have foreseen a commission of violence or killing of a police officer and other people. but if they planned and intended for individuals to go into the pitol to disrupt the business of congress, those very words are the words of a federal criminal statute, which is the one that's probably been most widely applied to the individuals that is currently being charged for the events of january 6. >> sreenivasan: all right. n.y.u. school of law professor ryan goodman, also co-editor in chief of the "just security blog." thanks so much. >> thank you.

>> sreenivasan: last week, the international monetary fund projected that the increase of covid-19 vaccines would help fuel a global economic recovery in 2021. long before the coronavirus outbreak, there were already structural econoc fractures across the globe that have added to the economic fallout from the pandemic. for a look at thrisks and potential for resilience, i recently spoke wh dambisa moyo, global economist and author of the book “edge of chaos: why democracy is failing to deliver economic growth and how to fix it.” miss moyo, when we look around the world, it seems that covid halaid bare some of the existing inequalities that in a way we've chosen to avoid. what is our potential here as we recover out of this pandemic? >> well, i think the most important thing is for people to understand that the structural inequalities, whether it's in education, in health care, in income, have been an erosion in

the us in particular, but more globally for many decades. and indeed, if you look back to before the covid crisis, a lot of economists were worried about not just income inequality and inequality in general, but also the low growth environment in which will likely persist for many decades to come. looking ahead, what can we do about this? and i would argue that government's role, not just in terms of debt and deficits, is going to become much more important as an arbiter of capital and labor. so, really in the economy, but also in terms of taking on a much bigger responsibility for what traditionally we would call as welfare. >> sreenivasan: why is the government necessary to pull us not just out of the pandemic, but to address some of these structural inequalities you're talking about? >> so, it's not just about partnership with government, which is crucial. so, if you look back in american history, the government was very much an important partner in the development of silicon valley,

in the manhattan project, et cetera. but it's also about making sure that the public sector, it can view the private sector as a partner for solving some of the big challenges that the world faces today, not just inequality, but healthcare, education, infrastructure. these are areas that traditionally were the purview only of the public sector. but just look around the world, governments are now relying on and corporations are stepping up in these places in a much bigger way. >> sreenivasan: what's also interesting is being a plic and private partnerships is how quickly the vaccines were able to be developed and in some places rolled out, what kind of potential do you see here on how this particular case has taught us about how drugs can be develope how they can be delivered? >> enormous. it really is a huge signal, as you know, it usually takes 7-10 years with the development of a vaccine. we've been able to do that in

less than 10 months. and technology has really shown itself to be important, not just in terms of consumerism and social media networks, but really as a platform and as a catalyst for getting to these answers around health care and vaccines, et cetera, in a much faster way. and so i'm very optimistic about not just government and not just the private sector, but really the fact that that technology is shown itself to real provide an impetus and a way for us to address some of these very challenging problems. >> sreenivasan: when you look across the landscape, what had happened in the united states over the past four years and increased nationalism is not in a vacuum. it's happening in parts of europe and parts of asia as well. what does the way that the world is responding to the pandemic show us? are any of these policies going to soften? or are nations going to find a different solution? >> it's impossible for us to

address something like a pandemic, as i think it's become clear in a sort of every nation for itself approach. we need cooperation. these are problems that pervade borders. they are global by their very nature, and they throw up an enormous array of challenges that require not just individualized thinking, but much more sort of everyone come to the table and think about these in a much more strategic way. so, i am optimistic that we will see a reset in this space. but we have to understand that people rightly are frustrated by globalization and its disappointments and also the lack of economic performance by many around the world. >> sreenivasan: one of the key drivers in, at least in the united states, dysfunctional response to the pandemic has been misinformation and disinformation. social networks that are, regardless of nation states, are able to inject doubt into vaccines, into government pronouncements.

how does the world deal th, say, a company that is almost more powerful than the united nations would be in terms of disseminating information? >> i think fundamentally the fourth estate and really the importance of the media, a cornerstone for democracy and for society to function. i think that rather than look for short term solutions, i don't think people are very attracted by the proposition of regulation, etc. but i think we need to go back to basics. and part of that is education, civics education, making sure our citizens as a global citizenry really understand the functioning of our governments, whether it's the legislature, the executive or the judiciary, but also really understand the workings of the economy. otherwise, i think we will be in for more trouble if we're not able to get ahead of this. and education is ctical as far as i'm concerned. >> sreenivasan: dambisa moyo, thank you so much. >> it's been a pleasure. thank you.

>> this is pbnewshour weekend, sday. >> sreenivasan: in the latest installment of the storycorps animated series “what matters,” u.s. army private first class roman coley davis tells how a care package from georgia, lifted his spirits while stationed in a remote u.s. outpost in afghanistan. >> one day a black hawk helicopter flies into the valley and they kick off bright yellow u.s. mail bags. the sergeant calls my name is peach. my radio call sign was peaches, it was this box from home and i cut it open and there was this big huge thing wrapped in aluminum foil and so i take offs this layer of aluminum foil and there is more layers, 30 layers of aluminum foil and plastic

wrap. this home made pound cake. i've seen my memaw bake the cake for mothers whose children have died. she takes its to mothers who grieve. here i am, in a hostile environment and that same pound cake is now sitting in front of me and my 12 man team is there and i pulled out a k br combat knife and i hack into this thing and i cut it into like 12 massive chunks and i ate mine first. and i cried. and eryone got a chunk. and for that one moment, i felt loved. even though i wos of was lon lonely -- was lonely. the pound cake was clean even though i was so dirty. it was cold, and that pound cake warmed me. it was just like memaw was in.

-- was there. >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, the northeast is about to see some serious snow in the next 24 hours. the national weather service is predting blizzard-like conditions, with a foot to 18 inches of snow in much of the region tonight and through the day tomorrow. that's all for this edition of“ pbs newshour weekend.” for the latest news updates visit pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media acce group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard and norma klorfine foundation.

we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you'

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