captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, resurgent virus-- as covid outbreaks continue to spike amid widespread misinformation, get the latest from dr. anthony fauci. then, cyber threats-- the global battlefront is ever more clear as chinas blamed for a massive microsoft hack and surveillance software is used against dissidents and journalists worldwide. and, the pandemic in england-- a war correspondent reports on his own hometown-- witnessing how s fellow villagers see the push to drop restrictions. >> people have worked very bravely through this last 18 months. and i feel like it's a massive

slap in the face for everybody that we're now saying, "oh it's okay, you can open up." we can't open up. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: investments-- what's new? >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. >> all right, let's see what we can adjust. >> we'd be closer the twins. >> change in plans. >> okay. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidity, changing plans always part of the plan.

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possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: fears and concerns grew again today over a surge of covid cases. wall street had its worst day since may as investors worried about rising infections and whether it could lead to new restrictions. covid cases shot up almost 70% in a week in the u.s. it's been significantly higher in some southern states, but los angeles county recorded 10,000 new cases in one week; the highest since march. unvaccinated americans are the hardest hit, accounting for more than 95% of hospitalizations. on friday, the c.d.c. director warned of "a pandemic of the unvaccinated." we turn to doctor anthony fauci. he's the director of the national institute for allergy

and infectious diseases and president biden's chief medical adviser. dr. fauci, welcome back to the news-- newshour, so a direct question, how much of a threat is the delta variant right now? >> judy t is a significant threat. it clearly has the capability and the efficiency of transmitting very readily from person to person. which makes it a considerable threat. and if you look at how it's becoming dominant in this country, it went from a couple of percentages points of the variants that were in circulation to now it's close to 80 plus percent and in some regions of the country, up to 90 percent of the variants are the delta variant. so it has already shown its incredible ability to be able to efficiently trangs mit from person to person which makes it

very dangerous. >> woodruff: so for those americans not vaccinated and we now know only about half of the country is vaccinated, and not including many young children, how vulnerable are they, people who have not had the shot yet? >> considerably vulnerable, judy. and that's the reason why if you look at the cdc recommendations, they really emphasize things that we have known for some time. if you are unvaccinated, you really should be wearing a mask indoors for sure. and even under certain circumstances outdoors. but definitely indoors. unvaccinated people are vulnerable and those are the ones, if you lack at the statistics as you show there just on one of your charts, 95, 99.5 percent of the deaths in this country are due to unvaccinated people. 99.5 percent of the covid deaths are among unvaccinated people. >> woodruff: and in addition the risk, the dang thary they

are spreading it to others? >> well, there is no doubt about that, in fact we're seeing that right now, when you see the clusters of cases of individuals who get infected. and since u're dealing with such a highly efficient virus and its ability to spread from person to person, that is the reason why we are seeing unfortunately, an yup tick in cases in several regions in cases and the uptick in of cases corelate with the level of vaccination. so if you have a very low level of vaccination like 30% or so, in a particular state or a city or a county, that is where the uptick in infections are occurring. they are not occurring in those areas that have a high percentage of the population vaccinated. >> woodruff: but to be clear, even among those who are vaccinated, we are hearing, we are reading more about so called breakthrough infections where people are coming down with the virus even though they have been

vaccinated. how much at risk are they? >> well, first of all, vaccines protect very well against infection and ver very well against serious disease. but not completely protective against infection. in fact, if you look at the data, judy, from thclinical trial that showed the 93, 94 percent efficacy, that was against clinically recognizable disease. it was not against pure infection, even if the infection was without symptoms. so it is not surprising that you are seeing breakthrough infections. this becomes particularly prominent when you are dealing with a virus that is very efficient in going from person to person. the good news is that the people without do get infected, namely breakthrough infections among vaccinated individuals, againly have either-- generally have

either no symptoms or mil symptoms as opposed to going on and developing significant disease. that is the good news about it. and the sobering news, where a lot of people are getting infected. >> woodruff: but at the same time we know even tor those who are vaccinated, they are getting the message. for example if you live in los angeles county, the most populous county in the country, they've imposed new masking guide lines indoors and outdoors. people are beginning to wonder, wait a minute, even if i have be vaccinated, should i now continue to wear a mask if i'm indoors. should people-- are there guide lines that work now across the country or should people continue to just listen to their local authority? >> well, the local authority is very often get it correctly. if you look at the old rule recommendations from the cdc, they say overall, if you are vaccinated, you don't need to wear a mask outdoors or indoors.

but there is a big however with that. and the however is you should also pay attention to what is going on in the area where you are living. so if you live in an area where you have a high dynamic of infection, and that's usually in an area where there is a low level of vaccination, if you happen to live in that area, you may want to go the extra mile and get the extra degree of protection of wearing a mask even though you are vaccinated for a number of reasons. to protect yourself, but particularly for example if you have at home in your own home, vulnerable people like the elderly or people who have underlying conditions. you might want to make sure you take that extra step of protection. that is what is going on in los angeles. they want to go the extra mile to show that you can protect yourself more even if are you vaccinated. >> woodruff: and just quickly you mentioned underlying

conditions. and you are saying that applies even if those individuals have been vaccinated. they still need to be concerned. >> yeah, i think people who are vaccinated and go into an area where there is infection, if they have unvaccinated people who are vulnerable at home or even people who might be vaccinated but are imuno suppressed where they may not have a very good response against the vaccine or with the vaccine, you have to be careful. that's the reason for the extra mile of care. >> and we know that, we're beginning to hear more ang more about the need for booster shots for those individuals who may be as you say imunosuppressed. >> that is correct, judy. and those data are being collected right now. we're doing studies to look at the effective boosters, how high you can get the response up, particularly in those people like transplant patients who are on immunosuppressive regimensk people with underlying disease that ruire medication that

might suppress their immune system. >>oodruff: dr. fauci, we've been talking about this virus as you know very well, since early 2020. we are now a year and a half into it. we, many americans thought it was getting better. now the delta variant. a lot of worry right now. do you, are you beginning to think that we will not get this virus under control when you've got half the american people who have been told repeatedly about the dangers, but they still are not vaccinated. >> that is the big problem, judy. we will not get complete control over this, and not be able to fully get back to where we want to be, what we are calling normality until we get many, many more people vaccinated. we've done very well, you know, we have a substantial proportion of the population, particularly among the elderly. the elderly in general have done very well. people over 65 at least 85, 87 percent have received at least

one shot. we're doing well there but as you mentioned correctly, we still have a substantial proportion of the population who is not vaccinated. and as long as you have that, the virus has places to go, people to infect and the capability to continue to propagate itself. the only way you're going to crush this virus is by getng the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated. and we are not there yet. but we've got to get there if we want to get this under control. >> woodruff: quickly dr. fauci, you know many of them are saying i am not going to get that shot no matter what. >> that is true. and that is the reason why we'll try anything and everything we can, particularly getting trusted messengers, people not government officials. but people in the community who they trust. their physician, their health-care provider, clergymen, community representatives, people they trust, to convince them why it is is so important for themselves, for their family

and for the community, for them to get vaccinated. >> woodruff: dr. anthony fauci, we always appreciate your join joining us, thank you. >> thank you for having me, judy >> woodruff: in the day's other news, as we mentioned, stocks tumbled over worries that renewed covid restrictions will slow the recovery. the dow jones industrial average lost 725 points, 2%, to close at 33,962. the nasdaq fell 152 points. the s&p 500 slipped 68. president biden has toned down his claim that facebook is killing people by letting lies about covid-19 stay up. he made the accusation on friday, and the company quickly rejected it. today, the president said it's the users posting the false claims who are doing the damage. >> anyone listening to it is

getting hurt by it-- it's killing people. it's bad information. my hope is that facebook instead of taking it personally, that somehow i'm saying facebook is killing people, that they would do sething about the misinformation. >> woodruff: later, the white house said it is not in a war with facebook, but with the virus. all remaining pandemic restrictions ended in england today, for the first time in 18 months. party-goers in london ditched their face masks and flooded dance floors at midnight. british prime mister boris johnson defended the move, even though infections are growing by 50,000 a day. >> so we have to ask ourselves, if not now then en. though both deaths and hospitalizations are sadly rising, these numbers are well within the margins of what our scientists predicted at the outset of the roadmap.

>> woodruff: johnson himself has been forced to quarantine after being exposed to covid again. meanwhile, in japan, with four days before the tokyo olympics open, infections increased for the 30th day in a row. the u.s. and its allies formally accused china today of a sweeping hack of microsoft's e- mail software. it affected thousands of computers worldwide. and, a media consortium report a nuer of governments have used spyware to hack the phones of journalists, activists and officials around the world. we'll discuss all of this, after the news summary. fire crews in southern oregon faced dangerous winds today, battling a wildfire the size of los angeles. the "bootleg fire" is the largest of at least 70 burning in the western u.s. thousands of people are under evacuation orders. more than 200 fires are burning across siberia, in russia, amid extreme heat. heavy smoke has blanketed

the city of yakutsk and dozens of smaller places. more than 2,000 firefighters are battling the fires, including one that's burned 100,000 acres and threatens a power plant. the floods that ravaged western europe last week he killed at least 196 people. the clean-up, and search for victims, continued today in western germany. authorities said the number of dead is likely to climb even higher. >> ( translated ): we are experiencing an inconceivable tragedy these days. this is an exceptional situation which, even with all our efforts on the ground, can only be overcome with a great national show of strength. >> woodruff: german officials promised an investigation, but denied they were slow to issue warnings about the flooding. in haiti, officials say interim prime minister claude joseph will step down, apparently, in a bid to avert a power struggle. he has led the government since

president jovenel moise was assassinated on july 7th. his successor, ariel henry, has international support. 15 nations and nato have renewed calls for a cease-fire in afghanistan. taliban fighters have seized much of the country as the u.s. withdraws. weekend talks between the taliban and the afghan government failed to produce any agreement. back in this country, a florida man was sentenced to eight months in federal prison in january's attack on the u.s. capitol. paul hodgkins is the first of the rioters sentenced in a felony case. his penalty could set a guideline for others. and, the u.s. justice department has formally barred federal prosecutors from seizing reporters' phone and e-mail records to investigate leaks. it follows disclosures that the trump administration secretly obtained records on journalists and members of congress. still to come on the newshour: the biden administration moves

its first detainee away from guantanamo bay. a war correspondent reports on lockdown life in his hometown in the british countryside. tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political news. plus much more. >> woodruff: the global spike in cyber crime and attacks is forcing the u.s. to confront this growing threat. nick schfirn is here to explore two updates today that help expose this dangerous digital landscape. with a lot of reporting, so nick, first on china, tell us what it is that the u.s. and its allying are saying. >> there is an unprecedented

international naming and shaming of chinese hacking and chinese espionage, for the first time nato along with the eu, japan, australia, new zealand joined the u.s. in accusing china in working with cybercriminals in order to conduct hacking and formally accused china of that big microsoft exchange server hack from earlier this year fa theacted more than 100,000 servers worldwide. so i talked to james lewis from the think tank the center for strategic and international studies earlier today about the scope of the challenge posed by china and also today's announcement. >> they are the most aggressive espionage component we have in the world. more aggressive than russia. this is a huge step forward because we've got many countries now joining the u.s. in condemning china for this really rampant cyberespionage. and the fact that you have nato, eu countries, australia, it is a significant effort that the

chinese are probably shocked to find there is such consensus about what they are doing. >> schifrin: but what it did not include was any punishment on china. i talked to a senior congressional aide about that, a frequent critic of china. this aide praised the administration for getting allies on board but said that the response was weak because it didn't include punishment. because china only listens to actions and not words in this age, and that china will continue attacking without paying a higher price. now as for the administration officials, they say look, this is a first stage, and quote, no one action can change chinese behavior. >> woodruff: now nick, separately from this you had today the department of justice issuing a new indictment against chinese hackers. >> schifrin: so this is a grand jury indicted chinese intelligence agents for a worldwide hacking, a worldwide cyberespionage, economic espionage campaign. the department of justice says

it was designed to aid chinese sponsored and chinese owned companies inside china, to give them stolen technology so the companies themselves wouldn't have to create it themselves. a kind of short cut to good technology. and this is the fbi notice for the four hackers. they say these hackers targeted trade secrets, intellectual property, other high value information from companies, universities, and governments across multiple secretariers from the nih to natchee submarines to ebola research. and this wa all over the world, judy from the u.s. to the u.k. to cambodia, to south africa, exactly the kind of action that the u.s. and its allieare calling out today. now when it comes to china we took a look at the chinese nationalist tabloid global times response, they accused the u.s. of stirring up a new geo political dispute by turning cyberfriction into major conflict. >> woodruff: so as you mentioned, there is another hacking story today.

so the question is what is peg sus and what has a con sor shus-- consortium of media companies uncovered here. >> schifrin: it this is a winnow into technology that can turn your phone into a spying tool. and the government's willing to use it so what is peg sus, it is a soft-- pegasus is a software created by an israeli company called nso group and the company says it is designed to attack terrorist and other criminals but the investigation reveals government all over the world use this software to target opponents. whether journalists, opposition politicians, business executives, even activists. and it is all over the world. take a look at this map from mexico to morocco, to rwanda to the uae, to india. this map was produced by the nonprofit forbidden stories. they are the ones who speer headed this alongside 17 media organizations. the technical capacity was provided by amnesty international whose secretary general spoke to me earlier

today. >> that technology is a weapon. and we, what the investigation is showing is that the spyware is used to such an extent that we see a weapon that could blow up at any moment. it is undermini democracy. it is undermining human rights. it is undermine judicial system. it is undermining fact finding, it could be a threat to peace and security it must be regulated, a complete moratorium. >> in a statement a group called "the washington post" version of this story flimsy and said quote nso group technologies have helped prevent terrorist ak task, gun violence, car explosions and suicide bombings. nso group ask on a lifesaving mission and thcompany will faithfully execute this mission unde terred despite any and all continued attempts to discredit it on false grounds. >> interesting.

and nick, we note that most of those targeted are in mexico. >> this was interesting. so up to 15,000 phones in mexico were targeted by a mexican client. who employed peg sus to target as many as 15,000 phones. and one in particular belonged to a journalist named d-- that is him right there. we wanted to bring him up because back in 2017 he was investigating local plises, local politicians, colluding with a drug car tell. that is when his phone ended up on the target list for pegasus twice, again by a mexican client, using pegasus, shortly after he was shot and killed. now mexico is the most deadly country in the world for journaluses. there is no confirmed connection between pegasus and his murder. but the people who are calling on the nso group to stop exporting this software, people are calling on israel to not allow it to be exported and for governments not to employ it,

say this is a matter of life-and-death. >> woodruff: this is so disturbing, even without the proven link, the picture is so disturbing. nick schifrin, thank you. >> schifrin: thank you. >> woodruff: today the biden administration released its first detainee from the u.s. detention camp at guantanamo bay naval base in cuba. as amna nawaz reports, it's an effort to decrease the population, and eventually shut dow the prison complex nearly two decades after its opening. >> nawaz: judy, the biden administration says its goal is to close the u.s. military prison in guantanamo bay. today, they began that process by releasing abdul latif nasser. he was never charged with a crime but remained detained for nineteen years. today he was repatriated to morocco, where he will remain under tight security measures.

nearly 800 prisoners have passed through guantanamo since detainees first arrived there in early 2002. now, 39 remain. to discuss this move, i'm joined by thomas durkin, the lawyer for abdul latif nasser. welcome to the newshour and thankers for making the time. tell knee, what was your reaction and his when you learned he was going to leave guantanamo today after nearly two decades? >> well, i can't speak for him, yet i did speak to his brother who was absolutely ecstatic. i am told he has been released in morocco but i haven heard from him yet. he probably has more important people to see than me at this moment. i was just tremendously relieved it is like getting a boulder off your shoulder is the best i can say it. it is just awful whahappened

to him. >> nawaz: now he was cleared for release, i should say, back in 2016. do you know why this happened today? >> i don't know why it happened today. i do know why, i have a theory on why it happened in the last few weeks. because we have a pleading that was due in the federal court. and we had filed aya long with bernard har tz court at columbia law school to help with some law students there, an amendment to a mask petition for 11 people who were labeled forever prisoners. and i pleef he was released because the biden administration had the integrity not to file a pleading opposing his release, that they didn't believe him, unlike the trump administration. >> nawaz: so what can you tell us about his situation in morocco. because you just mentioned his family said to you he has been released but moroccan

authorities did sayhey took him into custody and they were going to investigate him on suspicion of committing terrorist acts. so what is his current status there? >> i don't know exactly i do know that the family was told that there was not going to be a lengthy investigation, which is not uncommon. i had two other detainee released in the past. one in the sudan and oneo algeria and those investigations aren't usually very lengthy. they're generally to get agreements from him that he will bied by certain conditions, what you have. >> so tom durkin we should remind folks,-- he had was just in may of this year a number of republican senators isn't a letter to president biden urging him not to release any more prisoners from guantanamo say the men that remained there including your client are all high risk.

do you believe that your client still poses a security risk? >> that is an absurd hyperbolic statement that they've been using to justify guantanamo for years. it is simply false. it sarted with bush's statement that they had the worst of the worst there. a periodic review board found him not to be a risk. as well as department of defense people, they are not bleeding heart liberals. he was found not to be a risk. rass the 11 others who are dubbed the forever detainees, they should be released immediately. none of the low value detainees should still be there. military commissions are a different discussion. >> nawaz: that prison remains open despite the effor and stated intention of a number of presidents. i have to ask, do you think that president biden will be the one who actually succeeds in transferring out the remaining detainees and closing guantanamo bay. >> only if the democrats maintain control of the house and the senate.

it's become a political football it is an absurd political football. i blame the judiciary for keeping it open. the judiciary has no spine when it comes to guantanamo. and it is sad. i never thought i would say that about the federal jud you werary but when it comes to an issue like guantanamo, they are spineless. they have bentd over backwards to give executive authority unfed erred limits, no limitation whatsoever. and guantanamo is a classic example of that. and it is difficult to say you can still believe in the july of law, and participated in guantanamo. it is a mockery of the rule of law. >> nawaz: that is tom durkin, lawyer for the now former guantanamo bay detainee abdul latif nasser. thank you for being with us. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: with all covid-19 restrictions lifted today in the united kingdom, even amid a major surge of infections, we look now at how life has been lived in one small, english town. for the last 16 months, conflict journalist will wintercross has been quarantined there, like so many of us unable to travel. in partnership with the global health reporting center, he sent us this look at the pandemic's effect from the town of holmfirth, nestled in the hills and valleys of northwest england. >> reporter: as a foreign correspondent, i've spt my career covering everything from wars in the middle east to ebola outbreaks in africa. but in march 2020, as covid 19 took hold britain, i went back to my home county ofest yorkshire as the country went into its first lockdown. little did i know that i'd be covering this story for the next year and a half.

found approximately 30 miles east of manchester, the area is dominated by victorian woollen mills, row houses, she farms and beautifully bleak moorland in the beginning, residents of my village and indeed up and down the valley, sprung into action, forming support groups to help the most vulnerable as young and old adapted to a new normal of life under lockdown. dr. angela nall operates a local care facility. we spoke last march. >> i run a 75-bed hospice. we don't have any face shields and the masks that we have been given so far are just the moisture masks. luckily, my husband has got some fantastic skills, making skills with 3d printers. >> angela's staff, of course, needed the masks and here i am with all these machines, and there i could make them.

>> reporter: emergency physician jayanth savanth was like so many in medicine: bewildered, scared and, quickly, exhausted. >> everything is new for us. we have not dealt with such a two cases, now we have come up to 30 to 40 cases per day, including about three to four deaths. yeah, it is quite a risky time at the moment but as we are medical people, patients come first so we are dealing with it. >> reporter: just as dr. savanth said this was a new situation for him, it was for me as well. ordinarily i report the stories of people in far flung places, but here, i wasn't just reporting from my home country, but my home town, where there are no frontlines, yet frontlines are everywhere and the enemy is invisible. in my work, there is a real risk of death or injury, however, being at home, i could have been the agent transmitting the virus to my own parents with whom i was staying for seven weeks this in some ways forced me to be more careful than i have been in syria or the congo. i was also acutely aware that unli every other story, i couldn't simply get on a plane and leave it all behind.

allowed me to empathize with those i had interviewed elsewhere in the world like never before. keely edge, a school teacher, talked of her worries for herself and her two young daughters. >> we don't know whether we're safe or whether we're not safe. we don't know if we've had it, or we haven't had it. >> i won't be able to see people that i usually see on a regular basis. >> reporter: doris earnshaw was a working shepherdess until last year, but at 87 has finally decided to retire. she has lived in the holme valley her whole life. she remembers world war ii here. >> i was seven when the war well, this, this i feel is more scary because we don't know where it is, when it's going to happen. whereas during the war we just carried on >> reporter: not unlike her neighbor, dora earnshaw, dora green is also a retired shepherdess and pub land lord. she still lives on the farm with her son. >> we're fighting bugs now; we were fighting bombs then.

you know, we're all in this together. >> reporter: over a year on, we went into a third lockdown meaning i was not able to cover the pandemic beyond this town, or stories like the global fallout from george floyd's murder or the recent war in gaza. i was still in west yorkshe, covering the pandemic at home. the pandemic has already claimed the lives of 129,000 people in the u.k., and the national health service has been stretched to breaking point. >> my biggest worry was when is it going to end? few of the nurses were even crying during their shifts. actually, even i was breaking apart. but i think the vaccine came like a big weapon and stopped all this and that actually was a >> reporter: and survivors like georgina parkinson, like many britons, gives much credit to the national health service. my breathing quite a lot. they put me on full oxygen. i honestly didn't think that i'd come home because of how i felt.

>> well, it's been very quiet, i miss my friends but i'm waiting for my second injection. >> i have sort of learned how to do zoom. it's a bit of a strange way of doing it though because i'm never sure when i can speak and when i can't. >> reporter: local artists residents were keen to show their appreciation for the national health service. >> since we've managed this pandemic, i think we can go through any kind of situation next time. i have that confidence now. >> reporter: as of today, july 19th, or freedom day as some are calling it, all lockdown restrictions have been lifted here in england. however, cases of the delta variant, which has also been dubbed the johnson variant after the british prime minister, are rising exponentially, making up 95% of infections. the government here has been accused of sending mixed messages about dangers still posed by coronavirus, and the sage committee, which is similar to the c.d.c., has said covid

deaths will likely rise to 200 a day and hospitalizations will "reach at least 1,000 per day" following the easing of restrictions. like the rest of the country, here in the valley people are divided on this decision of opening up. >> it makes me feel really quite anxious, because the different variants are spreading, particularly the delta variant, spreading very, very quickly. >> reporter: as a medical professional, what would your advice be to boris johnson? >> if i dared to advice a prime minister, i'd say slow it right back down. he's being premature. i understand the pressure he's under-- politically and economically, i really do. as a hospice, we have very vulnerable people, there are many in the staff group that are very vulnerable as well. people have worked very bravely through this last 18 months. they've worked tirelessly, they've been incredibly selfless, incredibly brave. and i feel like it's a massive slap in the face for everybody

that we're now saying, oh it's ok you can open up-- we can't open up. >> my son and daughter-in-law came over today. brought lunch over for me and it was the first time i've actually seen them for such a long time. i've really, really enjoyed it and what a good day to do it in, it's given me a real lift today and i'm looking forward and hoping that the world is going to change, i know it is. it's bound to change. i might even go to the football match, you never know. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm will wintercross in west yorkshire, england. >> woodruff: as we begin another busy week in washington, lisa desjardins checks in with our

politics monday team about the political calculations around immigration, vaccine misinformation and even polling accuracy. >> desjardins: judy, for all that, we turn as always to amy walter of the cook political report. and tamara keith of npr. ladies, our first in-person reunion, very happy to do this, complicated times though. high stakes and i want to turn to an issue that might get lost but is part of this large budget reconciliation package democrats are talking about, immigration, democrats are talking about attaching immigration reform to that. they don't know the details yet, they are working it out. but tam, i want to go to you. how does the biden administration handle is idea of perhaps adding some legal status, pushing for that for some undocumented illegal residents and on the border more and more undocumented residents entering. >> right, 188,000 people were

apprehended on the southwest border. that is a 21 year record so the numbers are very pblematic for the biden administration. and polling reflects that. but in terms of the reconciliation bill, the budget bill, what happened is a federal judge in texas said that daca, the dreamer program that was put in place during the biden administration,. >> the obama administration. >> yes, sorry, the obama administration, that, that program needs to pause and may dpet thrown out. and so president biden in his statement saying that they would appeal. also they don't have a lot of options left. and so he said yeah, congress should do something. well congress has been trying to do something for 20 years. so then he adds they should put it in the reconciliation bill. today he was asked about it and he essentially said, and it's true, whether it can actually be

put into that bill or not depends on whether the senate parliament arian deems that this is related enough to the budget. and the same thing happened with the minimum wage, in a way president biden is essentially saying congress, please do something. but you know, he isn't putting a lot of his personal political capitol into it. >> amy, the poll tucks here. >> the politics are very interesting. and you are right, the administration is in a very tough place. they are not only trying to move beyond donald trump, president trump, administration, their policies and their positions on immigration, which they argue was too harsh. at the same time, they're advocates, especially on the left, are pushing the administration to go farther than barack obama did, right. they want to see a very different kind of democratic administration handling immigration. remember there is a lot of criticism of the obama administration and what they thought were-- was too punitive

on immigration. so as tam pointed out, you have this reconciliation bill, you have a lot of pent up demand it has been since 2009 since democrats had full control of congress, there is a lot of stuff they will try to put on the train. the train is leaving the station, this is the shot to put it on. >> but as you know better than anybody, the person who decides what baggage can get on, is somebody who is not elected. >> right. >> whos a parliament arian and that is going to be a little more complicated. >> i know they are having talks about it now. i think this is not the last time you will be talking about that issue. >> yeah. >> another quawngdly-- quawndly for the biden administration is vaccine. and it say real issue right now in this country. president biden had to walk back something he said about misinformation. he said facebook is killing us. he walked that back today, he said he meant people on facebook, spreading misinformation, is a problem. tam, what is the biden administration doing here? and is it tworking? >> so they have-- a message in

the last few days that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. now part ofhat is to try to convince people to get vaccinated. but part of it also seems to be a distancing. as if they have tried all of the things, and they are will keep trying all of the things they can to get people vaccinated bu there is this large welof hesitancy or resistance or whatever you want to call it and they are quite frustrated with the misinformation that is at cross purposes with this effort that they are trying to do. >> just one little thing, july 4th, the president had a goal, 70% of american adults would have their first vaccine shot. there are 68 percent, it's been two weeks since july 4th it-- varks nation rates are stagnating and you talk to people trying to get folks vaccinated, hospital directors and others and they constantly reference things that people tell them that they learned on facebook. >> how is biden-- . >> he is trying to use it to

sort of shame. not necessarily the unvaccinated although there say little piece of that. but also to shame the facebook and other social media companies, to basically take people off more quickly who are spreading this information, to basically say you all should be doing more to police misinformation. but i think the realities is we've hit a plateau and a big piece of it is there are very complicated reasons why people may not want to take a vaccine it is not simply about politics. it is not simply about conspiracy theories or misinformation there are a lot of folks who really feel like i don't really know what is in this and i don't want to try it. >> in about a minute or so that we have left, there was a new report out in the lat day about polling and the last election, guess what, it didn't go so well. the report found really this was some of the worst results in terms of what the actual election told us, in decades and in fact overall nationally polls were off by four points in terms of underestimating for former

president trump. tell us about what happened and pollsters can do to fix it. >> the short answer is we don't really know how to fix it but the one thing we know that happened in 2020 was we had a record turnout. when you have record turnout it means a whole bunch of people are coming into the system who may never have voted before, maybe voted 20 years ago, this is the first time they voted in a long long time, that adds a lot of uncertainty. and so even though the samples that the pollsters were getting on paper looked great, they looked accurate, the kinds of people who fit into those demographic categories were actually different because many of them were very new to the process. we're making a sump shuns about voters based on how past voters had voted. but these were new voters. the other thing very quickly is the two toughest times for polling, also happen to coinside with the two times that president trump was on the ballot. so the question we're all watching for is what happens when he not on the ballot. and in 20189 the polls were good, 2017, the polls were good. let's see about 2022.

>> quick reminder how long until the congressional mid terms, either 16 month or we are already there, i don't know. >> we are always already there. >> you make it engages ing every time, thank you so much tamara keith, amy walter. >> you're welcome. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: the opening ceremonies of the olympics are just four days away, and competitions in soccer and softball actually begin tomorrow night. but the specter of covid hangs over these games. more than 50 people in tokyo connected with the games have tested positive. that includes contractors and staff. it also includes some athletes, among them an alternate on the u.s. gymnastics team who tested positive while training outside tokyo. olympics officials say they hope to put on a compelling games despite it all. with that in mind, we have a preview of some of the americans to watch. i spoke with christine brennan of "usa today" just before she

left for tokyo for her 19th olympics games. christine brennan, good to have you with us again. let's start with an athlete who brings highest hopes: simone biles, the gymnast already won so many gold medals. tell us, what are the expectations for her this time? >> judy, i don't think i have ever seen an athlete more discussed, hyped on more covers, the tip of everyone's tongue social media than someone by going into an olympic games. i mean, we've had great, great stars going into the olympics before from the united stes and from around the world. nothing like this. and that's well deserved. absolutely well deserved. the greatest gymnast ever coming back for another olympic games, trying to recreate what she did in rio five years ago, which was four gold medals and won bronze and maybe even went off five gold medals. she is the strong favorite to

win the all around competition to lead the u.s. to the team competition and then to win a couple of gold medals on various apparatuses in the and those and those competitions. so she's a survivor of the worst sexual abuse scandal in the history of sports, a survivor of larry nassar, the absolutely tragic and horrible sexual assault and sexual abuse of hundreds and hundreds of young gymnasts by the former usa team doctor, the usa gymnastics team doctor and some on biles is the one who was calling out the organization, the national governing body, time and again saying being that voice for the survivors. and she's also the greatest in her sport ever. truly remarkable. >> woodruff: truly remarkable. a lot of anticipation, christine, also around swimming. tell us who to look for there. >> katie ledecky is the other huge name to watch going into these olympic games and then on the men's side, caeleb dressel.

he's not michael phelps. first time women will be able to swim the mile, well past overdue, judy, men started swimming it in 1904. so only 117 years later t is ridiculous it took that long for the international olympic committee to add the women's mile in swimming but katy ledecky is favored to win that, to win the 800 t will be tough for her in the 200 and 400, her signature eventss well because australia has got a couple the men's side, caeleb dressel. he's not michael phelps. he's not going to win seven or eight olympic gold medals, but he will probably win. i think he's favored to win three individual golds and he'll be on several relays. and dressel also is a name to watch for the americans. >> woodruff: such high interest in swimming. and then there's track and field. and christine, there's probably more being said now about who

isn't going to be running. and of course, that's sha'carri richardson who was taken off the u.s. team. but it does appear to be, what, starting a conversation that wasn't had before about about the role of marijuana in these games? >> that's right, judy. and it's an important conversation to have. richardson, of course, was destined for greatness, was going to be the gold medal favorite in the women's 100 meter dash, the marquee event of track and field, and would also have been on the relay team for the u.s. and because she said she ingested marijuana not long after finding out that her biological mother had died, she went into an emotional tailspin and that's how she reacted because she tested positive for marijuana, which is a banned substance, even though a lot of us think that's ridiculous. to her great credit, despite the controversy and despite the questions about whether they should or should not be banned, she accepted it. she didn't try to lie or get out of it.

she with dignity, with grace, with class sha'carri richardson, i think really well is holding herself in good stead, judy, for the fure. but perhaps this will lead that conversation and move the world anti-doping agency to take marijuana off its banned list. this is obviously that kind of high profile case that would lead to that conversation. >> woodruff: sha'carri richardson will be missed. and, christine, the other part of the women running story is how many mothers there are who are going to be running this year. >> that's right, and this is judy, just as is the fact that 54% of the u.s. olympic team is women for the third straight time, more women than men on the u.s. olympic team. this is all about title nine. this is about the law signed by richard nixon in june of 1972, almost 50 years ago now that opened the floodgates for women and girls to play sports.

her fifth olympic game, track and field star for the u.s., as a mom she has been leading the way in this conversation about pay for nike, if you are pregnant you should still get your money and your contract, and also for granters for women athletes who are also mothers. then you throw in the pandemic and what happened was over the last few months, thankfully, the jeez olympic organizers have relented, but they weren't going to allow women who were breastfeeding to bring their babies with them. so competitors, athletes wouldn't let them actually have their babies. thankfully they changed their mind. the kids can come. the moms can do what they are doing on the field, and they can be moms off >> woodruff: and a reminder of how many of these women's teams are being so closely watched. >> oh, that's right. i mean, you know, we tend to talk about basketball, we think about the man, right? the dream team and all of that. well, we really the dream team is women's basketball. and going back to the u.s.

women's olympic basketball team has not lost judy since 1992. barcelona, 1992. this is the most dominant team in the history of sports. they just simply do not lose and the odds are that they will win again. they've got some great stars. sue bird, diana taurasi, long time olympians are back. this is a professional team, mostly w.n.b.a. stars, and they will be favored to win the gold medal again. >> woodruff: and we also will see some history made in that there will be, for the first time, some openly transgender athletes competing. >> this is something that its time has come and it's a conversation that i think many people are having, whether it be the high school level, college pro and also at the olympics. and back in 2015, judy, the international olympic committee mandated that transgender athletes could compete. transgender women in particular could compete, as long as they met the testosterone levels in the body, that they would have to be lowered than what they would for men. and so in the case of the new

zealand weightlifter laurel hubbard, she has been taking the testosterone suppressants or whatever she has done to be able to be in the competition, and as a man, she competed in weightlifting and now will be competing as a woman. obviously, transgender rights are such an important topic. and this is the obvious fruition of that, that the greatest competition on earth, the olympic games, would allow a transgender athlete and transgender athletes to compete, >> woodruff: well, there's always so much excitement around these olympic games. we are so glad to be able to look ahead with you, christine brennan, at games that are going to be historic one way or another taking place in the middle of this pandemic. christine brennan, thank you so much. >> judy, my pleasure. thank you. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.

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[upbeat music] - hello everyone a welcome to amanpour & co. we're looking back at some of our favorite interviews. so here's what's coming up. [boom explosion sound] the victims of violence, israel robi damelin and palestinian bassam aramin share their devastating stories of losing a child and why they are working together for peace. then. [humming and chest thumping sounds] - come on. [humming and chest thumping sound - [christiane] megastar, matthew mcconaughey takes his talents off screen and onto paper writing "greenlights", a collection of personal stories. plus. - i see value in myself and i hope others see value in me. - [christiane] rhodes scholar jory fleming gives walter isaacson a glimpse into his mind