♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the "newshour" tonight... boosting the vaccine -- the f-d-a debates which, if any, americans should receive an additional shot. we breakdown the latest recommendations. then, on the border a crowd of over ten thousand migrants awaits u.s. processing while sheltering under a texas bridge plus, it's david brooks and friday. jonathan capehart discuss politics at the border, and tensions between the u.s. and france. plus an extraordinary man -- the , remarkable life and career of muhammad ali as told by ken burns. >> there's so many layers and subtexts to him. he is an epic, almost mythic figure in which his life and his flaws and his strengths play out on a world stage.

amna: in all that d more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- a key advisory committee of the -- ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that can access. ♪ >> johnson and johnson.

financial services firm raymond james. >> fostering an informed engaged communities. more at calf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. th program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: a key advisory committee of the food and drug administration overwhelmingly rejected vaccine boosters for the general u.s. population for now. but it voted unanimously in favor of giving boosters to those 65 and older -- and high risk individuals.

the recommendations mark a pivotal moment in the debate around boosters. president biden and other federal health officials had originally said they believed boosters would be available to the general public later this month. while today's vote is not binding for the fda or the cdc, it is a big blow to the president's original plans. william brangham has been monitoring the committee's deliberations and joins me now. it's good to see you. >> hi. >> of the panel weighs a bunch of evidence, they decide know for general boosters for everyone. older americans,igh-risk individuals, yes for now. what was the evidence they looked at? >> the evidence they heard was mixed. again, as you mentioned of the beginning, the whole overarching question here is -- delta is surging, hospitals are full, deaths are a. are those of us who are vaccinated losing some of the critical protection we think of when the vaccines are giving us and the evidence as i mentioned

is mixed. the cdc put out a bunch of day-to-day and presented it to a panel. that was mostly good news. they pointed out that while delta was 99% of the ces, all the approved vaccines gave high protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death. this is really important. the shots we've taken are keeping for the most part people healthy, alive, and out of the hospital. the cdc did note there was some slippage and protection against infection meeting the breakthrough cases, those who have been vaccinated. some of those cases are people are getting sick and although most of them are mild and a symptom attica and this is partly what has been worrying the biden administration, that although these cases are mild, they do get sick, they run high fevers. they have to be at work. this is evidence that the good vaccines are great job, that made critics boosters that are protecting us. >> it doesn't sound like there

is a lot of urgency around general boosters but the panel also heard data from israeli officials. >> israel in some ways is a look into the future for us. they started their vaccination project for weeded, so we can sort of look at what their experience has been and imagine that could be a soon. what is really data that was presented today said was there is even more distinct waning of the vaccine. they were showing that the longer it has been since her shot, the more likely that you are to get infected. the older you wear, the chances grew as well. so israel launched a big booster camping back in july based on this data and their same the results were incredibly strong, a 10 full boosting protection for that third shot. israel is all pfizer, they gave it there does to people and seeing this really strong protection with no adverse events. they did for 60-year-olds and up and 50-year-olds and then on down. they are very confident about it. >> what now, here in the states? for anyone eligible, when they

can expect third shot? >> this fda panel submitted to the fda, then they have to decide this is something i want to do. then the cvc ways in and says, ok, here's how we roll this out. so as you mentioned, this is a little bit of a dent in what biden had wanted to do. he wanted the general population to be able to do this. but right now it seems that at least those people who are considered most vulnerable, 65 and older, people who have comorbidities, obesity, disease, immunocompromised. and perhaps frontline medi-cal worker, they are most likely to brush up against a virus, they will start getting boosters she still in. >> what about this global fairness argument, the fact that americans will be getting booster shots before millions around the world have even had their first vaccine shot. what about that? >> this is an incredibly thorny issue that the who, the africa cdc have been arguing. one to be ho official likened this to us giving lifejackets to

people who already have lifejackets while you lve other people to drown. that argument has been raid -- has been made repeatedly and it came up today in this panel. the den administration argues we can do both. we can give boosters to americans and help get vaccines to the world. in fact today they announced 500 million new doses that were purchased by the demonstrations to give out. but this is no doubt an issue going forward. there are something like 45 i believe it is million americans who might get these boosters. we have enough of those doses already here. while this is been a concern that is been raised for now the argument to not win the day and older americans will start getting boosters pretty soon. >> i expect hear more this very soon. nice to see you. >> nice to see you. ♪ amna: the u.s. military today

acknowledged that a drone strike in kabul they initially said killed an isis suicide bomber, in fact killed only civilians. the strike took place three weeks ago as the u-s and allies were evacuating following the taliban take over. the head of u.s. central command, general frank mckenzie, spoke to reporters this afternoon. >> having thoroughly reviewed whom having thoroughly reviewed the findings of the investigation in the supporting analysis by interagency partners, i am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike. moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died or associated with isis or were a direct threat to us forces. i offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed. amna: and we turn now to our foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin. >> the military got the

intelligence horribly and tragically rotting -- tragically wrong. general mckenzie said following the attack that killed him was 200 afghans and 13 service members, the military had 16 pieces of intelligence, both intercepts and human intelligence that indicated imminent attacks including with a white toyota corolla with a car bomb. that morning of this attack, it white toyota could -- corolla pulled up to what the military believed was an isis say faust and pratt -- in fact the next day isis rockets were fired nearby. mckenzie provided this map to reporters. he said the military followed the car up and down those lines for six hours with six drones, watch the driver put drugs in the truck and park less than two miles from the airport. mckenzie's of the strike was not rushed rush, they chose it location he thought was isolate and even of the missile time to try to minimize civilian capital

-- casualties. and yet despite all those safeguards with a thousand right target was the wrong one and they missed the fact that there was an entire family nearby. we now know the driver was 43-year-old -- was a 43-year-old, a longtime worker for u.s. funded a group. u.s. military says it is considering preparation. >> beyond tragedy. what does this say about the future of these kinds of air shot -- airstrikes? >> these are the so-called over the horizon airstrikes, counterterrorism airstrikes the u.s. has been talking about. mckenzie said the strike was about and in -- imminent threats. and that future strikes and have more time that the drones would have more time to surveilling establish what the military calls a pattern of life. senior u.s. official say that these strikes will have a very high bar. they will only target people inside afghanistan planning attacks on the u.s. and its allies. the fact is, previous

counterterrorism airstrikes, with that extra time, with what the military believed at the time of the strikes was the established pattern, they believe they were hitting terrorists, even those strikes have caused civilian casualties. some intelligence officials are joking to me that what the military calls over the rights and is in fact over the rainbow. and the fact is the end of this, the investigation reveals the final action that the u.s. military took offense of l in afghanistan after 20 years of war killed an aid worker, u.s. funded aid worker trying to develop afghanistan. >> incredible reporting. thank you for making sense of it all. nick schifrin. ♪ amna: -- >> i'm stephanie sy

with newshour west. we will return to the full shot the latest headlines. a "qatar airways" flight left kabul with more than 170 people on board -- including american citizens. it's the third such flight sinc the u-s-led airlift ended at the afghan capital. meanwhile, the taliban ordered classes to resume for grades 6 through 12 but only for boys and male teachers. workers also hung a banner renaming the women's ministry as the new home of the morals police. former female employees of the ministry said they have been locked out. france is recalling its ambassadors from the u-s and australia in a fury over a submarine deal. australia has canceled a huge contract for french subs in favor of nuclear-powered subs built in the u-s. it's part of a new pacific alliance involving the u-s, britain and australia. late today the white house announced the u.s. will try to resolve differences with friends. the biden administration announced late today is planning massive movements of haitian

migrants who have congregated at the del rio port of entry in texas. the associated press reports that the government will begin flying migrants to haiti starting sunday. we will have more on this later in the program. u.s. capitol police warned today that there have been threats of violence ahead of tomorrow's rally by trump supporters. it is being staged to support more than 600 people charged in the january six this all on the capital. capitol police steve thomas manger says it's unclear how many people will show up -- or just how serious the threats are. >> we would be flish not to take seriously the intelligence we have at our disposal. how credible it is, how likely it is, people can make those judgements but the fact of the matter is that we are hearing some chatter and i think it would be responsible for us to plan the way we've been planning and put the precautis in place . >> the national guard has placed 100 unarmed troops on standby,

in case there is any trouble. we will return to this later in the program. the top u.s. military officer general mark milley has offered his first public defense of his actions at the end of donald trump's presidency. he has faced a firestorm chinese over news that he called his chinese counterpart, twice, to assure him the u-s would not attack. he spoke today to reporters traveling with him to europe. >> these are routine calls in order to discuss issues of the day, to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability. and these are perfectly within the duties and responsibilities of the chairman. >> milley said he'll have much more to say at a us senate hearing later this month. a newly released un report finds greenhouse gas emissions worldwide are set to rise 16 percent by 2030 fr 2010 levels. that's despite commitments by

the us and other nations to cut emissions by the end of this decade. the report came as president biden met virtually today with world leaders ahead of a climate summit in scotland. firefighters in northern california are working tonight to save some 2,000 giant trees in sequoia national park. crews have wrapped the base of the general sherman tree the world's largest in a fire-resistant aluminum blanket. they've also cleared out brush that could act as fuel. at least 2 fires could reach the area within days. last year, a fire killed up to 10-thousand sequoias. the bureau of land management is relocating its headquarters back to washington dc. the trumpet ministry should the agency to colorado in 2019 but almost 300 employees resigned and/or retired rather than relocate. deb haaland said grand junction will become the western headquarters. state judges in north carolina today struck down the latest version of a voter

identification law. republicans pass the measure in 2018 to implement a photo id requirement. the panel of judges found the law was motivated at least in part by bias against black voters. starting tomorrow, the famed arc de triomphe in paris comes an art exhibit for the next three weeks. crews have covered the napoleonic arch in blue and silver fabric and visitors will be able to view and touch the installation. conceived by the late artist decreased. still to come, u.s. capitol police prepare for tomorrow's far-right rally and supported january 6 insurrectionists. russia holds a parliamentary election amid an unprecedented crackdown on opposition. david brooks breaks down the weeks political news, and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour. from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter

cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> over the last several days a crowd of migrants awaiting u.s. processing outside it texas border community has grown to more than 10,000. the migrants, are mostly from haiti have been sheltering under a major bridge there. while the biden administration trying to speed up processing officials are also expecting the crowd to grow further in coming days. for more on this very joined arelis hernandez, who's by arelis hernandez, who's reporting on the ground in del rio, texas for the washington post. welcome to the newshour. thank you for making the time. if you're following your reporting and oths thereafter -- horrific conditions on the ground. describe what you're seeing in del reporter: reporter: rio, texas. i'm in the car because i just got a glimpse of what the improvised encampment looks like. you cannot see that much, but you see people huddled beneath

this bridge because it offers some shade from the sun out here. there is thousands of people there, some people have made shelters out of the chain that lines the river. people have brought blankets over and tried to make little shelters. just overcrowded, human refuse i am told, by people who've been closer to the situation. the sheriff here in the county did not take us closer because of what he described as it hagel's words, world country conditions. and that it would be pretty dangerous. >> is a top border patrol union leader call this a logistical nightmare, we know customs and border protection says they are searching for urgent -- personal to deal with it. can you tell from your reporting and what you're seeing what is needed and how much support as i should be given for this community. >> at last count i just heard from border patrol there are 13,000, 700 people there and we have no idea where -- if they

have been tested for covid, whether they have had any interactions with the virus. so that is one thing, a public health thing. they have portable toilets. they are passing out water. it looks like dhs is clearing out some land to create some sort of processing center. in terms of the needs, people are hungry, they need shelter from the sun. bathing facilities to keep clean. in that environmt. just space, honestly. its sort of a confined space and there be being relegated to it right now. they're pushing themselves into her now. >> it is been reported they are mostly from haiti. can you confirm that based on what you have seen? what else can you tell us about why they have come now? >> when i spoke to some of the migrants yesterday on the mexican side, the people are crossing back and forth pretty regularly to get things that they need. but it is a mix of folks to have

left in recent months or recent weeks from 80. in other countries. other people who have been migrating for years, and spent years in south america and central america deciding to make the trip north now. they're allinds of different reasons why they are coming theyre hearing the opportunity is there. for their own community networks. some of them have run out of money or have finally built enough cash to make the trip. the conditions in their home countries have reached a head which impulse them out. maybe the end -- maybe the urgency was at much greater. there are all kinds of reasons and when if spoke to this one father who is a computer engineer back in haiti, he crossed over to the mexican side to cry. he did not want his wife and his three-year-old daughter to see them crying. he went over to mexico to do that because the sittion has been so overwlming and is

reason being that he has family in the u.s. and the opportunity he seeks is here. >> is there any sense of what happens next withhese thousands of migrants? >> it looks as though federal authorities are ramping up the amount of personnel and resources. all day we've seen trucks come in and out of this area. with food, portable toilets, more troops. to figure out a way to quickly process these individuals, some of which with might be eligible for release with the country. you've also seen deportation flights begin. some of the fights had started in the nearby air force base you and we will probably see those ramp appear in the next several days. >> that is hernandez of the washington post reporting from del rio texas. thank you for your time.

♪ amna: it's been a little over eight months since the january 6th insurrection rocked the nation's capitol. tomorrow, conservative protesters will gather again - not far from congress - to rally in support of those charged with crimes from that attack. we turn to our congressional correspondent, lisa djardins. capital officials remember last time were roundly criticized for how unprepared they were for january 6. how are they preparing this time? reporter: it helped me focus that there is a difference in strength, and the numbers of people they will have at the ready. there is a difference in strategy. they have been briefing police officers in a way that is different than last time and there is a clear different structure. the capitol police have erected the fencing around the capital. this is something that was just put up in the last 24 to 30 hours. they're proving they can do this

quickly. this is something of course i was up for months and months after january 6. they hope to take this down the next couple of days but this is the main barrier between the capital itself and this process. there something else i want to make people understand, where this is happening. let's look at a map, this overview of the capital. the area in love -- in yelw comment that is the area just to the left of the last, reflecting po. as we look at this to help orient people the washington monument is to the left. the mall goes all the way down to the left. it is very close to the capital. the security fence is a tight fence. it is not the wide perimeter. it hugs the capital exactly. so they feel i think that they do not have reason to do a wider perimeter. that is the sign of the securities stance and i also want to point out at the top of the photo is the supreme court which is a separate fence from the capital. >> so they are exciting some kind of violence.

what about the threat level? >> there is chatter and officials are making it clear that there is chatter from some who want to threaten the capital and some people there but capitol police are signaling that they do not think it is at the level that we saw on january 6, but they are being careful. they do say that they think perhaps one of the things they are mostoncerned about is the interaction between protesters and counter protesters. we reached out to talk to people who know about the militia community and i want to play this. >> what we're hearing is, the rules and attack from generous six is around just a resounding come almost uniform discouragement of their followers and supporters to attend the rally on saturday. a lot of them are fearful that

by doing so people will put themselves on the radar of federal intelligence or law enforcement. >> that's one reason they are hopeful that people will knock on but of course people are perhaps in the shadows and do not want to communicate right now so we will have to wait and see. >> this is a rally in support of the people who lead the insurrection on january 6. ma of them have been arrested and tried. what is the latest on them? >> a good time to update. let's look at all the arrests. first of all, there have been 40 misdemeanor guilty pleas, nine guilty pleas for felony cases largely involving assault on a police officer. so far there've only been six trials. six have gone through sentencing. all of this will move slowly. we will so many months, perhaps a year of learning more of those

involved. >> hard to believe it has been eight months. >> quite quiet day. thanks for being here. ♪ amna: today russians began 3 days of voting to determine their next parliament, or duma. the outcome is largely preordained. but there was an unexpected development today, when google and apple blocked russians from downloading the main opposition party's app. nick schifrin is back with how this is just the latest successful attempt by the russian government to silence its rivals. >> in russia's far east today, it looked like a parliamentary election. candidates on a poster, voting booths, ballot boss it -- voting booths, ballot boxes. in moscow, the patriarch

consided his options and used a ballot box for one. even president putin himself voted from his office. but what preceded today. months of unprecedented crackdown. the authoritarian state targeted dissent, banned protests, and labeled the chief opposition party led by alexei navalny, the equivalent of al qaeda. to evade government censorship navalny's campaign created an app that endorsed independent candidates. but today apple and google removed the app from their russian stores. the kremlin had pressured the companies and labeled the app “extremist,” as the leader of the pro-kremlin liberal democratic party said today -- it's dictatorship and extremism. they do not have it's a a right to interfere. it's a manipulation. you violate th democracy, you should be arrested. >> we've been very disappointed. and indeed, i have to admit that it's quite a blow to to our campaign. >> leonid volkov is navalny's

chief of staff, and a mainstay of his online campaigns. we first met him on the campaign trail in 2017, when alexei navalny was running for president. >> what happened today is that google and apple for the first time caved to censorship demands from the russian government. the only thing that the application does, it actually delivers alexei navalny's endorsements about the candidates in the upcoming election. so it's a re censorship because, i mean, there is nothing that could be extremist about that list of endorsements. nick: what does that say about american tech companies adhering to or as you put it, caving to russn government demands? >> they have been blackmailed by state terrorists. so putin reportedly was demanding them to delete our application from the stores, threatening like physical harassment, like arrests of google and apple's employees in russia. you just can't appease terrorists this way. so only that the appetite of the

terrorists will grow and their next demands will be even more ambitious >> putin's critics accuse him of manipulating the election to ensure he can control parliament when his term expires in 2024. if he decides to run again, or if he decides to, to choose some, some puppet-- his so-called successor-- [9.5] it will be very challenging for 2024. so he needs the duma, the parliament, be completely like sterile, completely under his control. this is not a fair election, this is not an election at all. still, it's some procedure which allows us to put stress putin to create problems r for united russia, his party. nick: what is your message to the west, to the biden administration, to european officials who are watching this election and trying to decide how to respond? >> putin is playing the game of chicken with you, and this

situation with google and apple has shown that he once again outplayed you. the world needs those technological platforms don't become regime's little helpers. >> navalny's campaign has documented what they call putin's secret wealth, and urge the west to target his billionaire loyalists. >> you could hardly find a bank account labeled vladimir putin anywhere. but we pretty much know and we have a lot of proof that the bank accounts of those 35 people are actually effectively putin's accounts. >> but the west hasn't agreed to target putin's riches. and there's little preventing the result of a preordained election. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.

amna: u.s. southern border crossings are at record highs. a rally to back insurrectionists is about to take place in our nations capitol. and there are new questions about america's place in the world. there's a lot to unpack. luckily, we're joined by brooks and capehart to do just that. that's new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, columnist for the washington post. good to see you both. jonathan, let's start with you. i want to talk about immigration. we have a reporter on the ground there in del rio where there is any reason to focus attention at the border where there have been challenges for years. i just want to look at biden's approval on immigration. if you look at some of the latest poll numbers we have not surprisingly there is a huge divide between democrats and ly 10% of republicans back howt the president is handling immigration.

is this the kind of issue, because it is knocking fixed, that will come back to haunt him again and again? >> this is what, the second surge on the border or third since he has been inaugurated? the fact that this is an issue that h bedeviled president trump, president obama, president bush, that this is something that is bipartisan in terms of the inability to do something about immigration. but let's not just focus on the presidents. let's focus on congress. let's focus on the house and the senate and their inability to get anything done about our immigration policies, doing anything that would make it a minimum what is happening down at the border move faster. at is one of the problems. so i think those numbers are coming out before folks have focused on what is happening down at the border right now. and if there's anything covid,

but if this keeps going, immigration is going to factor into his disapproval rating. >> it is a political football. again and again it comes up. will this be a main republican talking point? >> for sure. trump won on immigration almost more than any other issue. and i pick those numbers are pretty bad for biden. 10% of republicans is expected. 65% of your own party is bad. 30% of independence is bad. these are negative numbers for him and i guess the question i would ask is -- trump had a strategy. i did not particularly like the strategy, but there was a strategy. it was a strategy of cruelty and deterrence. do not come here, we will treat you badly. i do not particularly think it was in line with our values but it was a strategy. what is the biden strategy? the strategy has been we welcome you, no, don't come. so the strategy has been hodgepodge. when you look at the pictures

you seen, over and over again when we see these images -- and granted, it is a long border, but why does it always seem like we are trying to play catch up and people are just jammed under a bridge? it seems like there should be facilities, procedures, not like, let's adapt when we can. >> biden didn't say safe, orderly, humane. what's really changed? that's why i think he stands to take a big hit in the overall poll numbers. t other thing we have to keep in mind is this. and this explains why, no matter the president or congress, people keep coming. even if the president says don't come. and that is, america remains a beacon. people want to come here. because they see it as a pce of opportunity. and in the washington post today the story out what is happening on the border, there's a key quote from this person from haiti who said i have many dreams and do not give up easily. he said holding a ticket that by

his estimation but his family 2000 in line to be processed by border control. this is a person for whom america is a destination because he wants a better life and you know quite frankly, as an american, i am happy people see this as a place where people can live out their dreams. unfortunately we do not have a government that can keep up. or a government that has the political will to fix the problems that make it possible for people to come in legally and safely. >> you mentioned where this fits into the overall picture. i want to take a look at the overall jobs approval number. when you look at those, i'm going to turn to you. here's where he is. 44% approve overall of the way president biden is doing his job, 50% disapprove. what feeds is numbers. >> covid's number one. that's not really in his control. this in the people who gets vaccinators control. i think the borde is a strong

one. i think pulling out of afghanistan the way they did -- not the pullout itself but the way it was done -- a lot of americans felt a little ashamed. but the underlying issue is to -- is jimmy carter. the underlying issue is incompetence i thought these guys were the pros, the experts, but in case after case they do not seem to be as professional as i thought they were. so to me the danger for biden is is a little ideological, but it is effie gets a reputation that these guys can't pull off things , that can hurt you among independents and people are not ideological. if i were a democrat and look at my president with a 44% approval going into midterms, that is u want them to be up to at least 40%. >> is this about a failure to live up to expectations? >> i think it is a concern about the evacuation afghanistan but overall it is covid. we started the summer with -- we are free, we can take our masks off, we can get together for the fourth of july.

the delta variant comes in and says no, put your masks back on, you've to put them on inside, and it belies with the president had promised. but on the approval ratings, one thing i take from president trump is that he was so focused on his support within the republican party, nothing else mattered to him, and so i am going to do the reverse, let's see where democrats are with president biden because democrats are naturally skittish about everything but his approval rating in that same poll ismong 81%. that's not bad for a democratic president who wants at support for his party. however, covid, immigration, and the economy, those are the three things that, to david's point, the president needs to be mindful of how will hit and send the 44% even lower. >> what about this question of america's place in the world? afghanistan is the other big issue. we are on the day when the french just recalled their

ambassador from the u.s.. they are hourly and openly mad. are we ok with our allies? >> no. i saw on twitter a reporter saying i can't believe i'm writing this, the french just recalled their ambassador. " we did it, saying lol, what? it seems like overkill, but we have to understand something. this is happening. almost three months to the day, when french president macron and president biden were sitting together at the g7 and president macron said, america is back, and now -- look where we are? i would love to hear what david has to say about this, because i do not know what any of this means. >> you know, first about the deal that what's setting us off in our do with australia. i think it is a good deal. it is a strong against china, hit some on the week in spots, submarines, increase a strong

american presence in the pacific. for people saying we are our declining power, i don't believe that for a second. i don't think the chinese particularly believe it. again, the way it was done, why not call france? they are really our strong allies. i had a friend who was there just friend and a republican demonstration, really right wing guy. when he got to work with france together on issues, he was like, these guys are great. it's good to have these allies. so we don't call them. we didn't call them before the afghan pullout. i read in fareed zakaria's column it germans matt saying the trump administration consulted with them more than the by demonstration. what's that all about? that seems surprising to me given all we know about tony blinken and jake sullivan. these are globalists and yet somehow they are not behaving that way right now and i'm mystified by the. >> i have to ask you about another big story regarding the republican party. congressman anthony gonzalez announcing he will not run for reelection. he was one of the 10 how supra-public and sue voted to

impeach president trump. former president trump very happy. will there be other republicans who follow his path? >> possibly or could get beaten. liz cheney said bring it on. it still trumps party. if you're in a republican area there are a lot of voters to santa follow my president. we are at a role -- or any war with those lefties and i follow my president. it is a politically courageous vote gonzalez took and he paid the price. it is still trumps party for sure. the fact that he is endorsing people who are running for staten island borough president, he he's going after people up and down the pallet. >> it still trumps party but look at how republicans are treating this weekend's rally in support of the people who storm the capital in support of then-president trump. >> this is donald trump's party. the fact that there are not more people like congressman gonzalez who are willing to stand up, one, and called trump what he is, which is a cancer on the

country, if not the republican party, and when it comes to this rally tomorrow in support of the january 6 insurrections, i am still bewildered by the fact that the house minority leader kevin mccarthy, republican leader in the house, has not come out and said something about this. speaking of members of congress running away from this, you know where congresswoman marjorie taylor greene is it? she's on her way to italy. a friend of mine was on the flight entered a picture and tweeted out in first class. >> excellent reporting. >> here's a person who is spending her entire career railing against elites and railing against aoc for wearing a dress that says tax the rich and yet, there she is, sitting in first class on her way to rome. >> percent co-populism. >> are you surprised other republicans if handled the rail? >> i wish they would disdain it.

i think it is a nothing from what i have read and from what lisa was reporting to the proud boys do not want their people to go. they regard this as a third rate group. they are hoping to get seven or people. if they get 500, 400, to me it is just publicity. i hope it will turn out to be a nothing. >> we hope for quiet, a quiet weekend. david brooks, good seo. ♪ amna: now, a behind-the-scenes look at how documentarian ken burns makes his films, and a look at the place where he's been doing that work for four decades. jeffrey brown visited burns at his studio to talk about his latest documentary-- “muhammad ali” which premieres this sunday on pbs and airs over four nights and conflicts now in -- and larger contacts and conflicts now in telling america's story in a time of racial reckoning. this report is part of our arts and culture series, canvas.

>> 42 years -- was the original idea just to go someplace? >> goomeplace where i could live for something. i thought becoming a documentary filmmaker in american history on pbs was taking a vow of anonymity and poverty. >> it's worked out a bit differently for ken burns. many years later, he is still at work in his work -- in his home office production house rural new hampshire. it's typical day here includes a walk with dog chester, on the state joined by willa and lily, the youngest of his four daughters. in pandemic times, most of his staff is remote, working on multiple films, an ever- growing story of american history and culture. >> here he comes. >> at 10:26 p.m. on january 20 eighth, 1974 >> the latest: a major 20th century figure who not only changed sports history, but transcended it in ways few

if any athletes ever have -- muhammad ali. >> there so many lawyers and subjects. he is an epic, almost mythic figure in which his life and his flaws and his strengths play out on a world stage. and it's als not so bad to die the most beloved person on the planet. >> mr. clay? >> muhammad ali sera. >> mr. muhammad ali. when you appear before this commission. they said you were the people's champion. yes terry? do you think you are like a people's champion. >> yes sir. >> what does the subject have to have for you to want to take it on? >> all of the subjects have been in american history but i am only a filmmaker. i'm interested in stories. sometimes it takes me 10 years to go, yep, to something i'm thinking about. something like muhammad ali it is a nanosecond.

>> the louisville childhood o caches clay and almost accidental introduction to boxing. >> i'm tired of waiting for this fight. >> the brash young man talking, talking, talking with his of his looks and talents. >> he was an amateur. i leaned back, i'm still pretty. >> the champion joined the nation of islam, refused to fight in vietnam, was stripped of his crown, and faced jail until the u.s. supreme court overturned his conviction for evading the draft. >> it can be hard to remember how despised he was. >> it's important to understand what a devisive character he was. c muhammad ali was not behaving the way a black man was expected to behave.

>> including at times his treatment of women and cruelty to several of his opponents. but he is here, as he called himself, the greatest. not only a boxer fighting epic battles with joe frazier and george foreman but as a religious man and citizen deeply engaged in the aubissue of his . for his daughter, rasheeda, the key was capturing her father in full including his he evolution. >> this was a documentarian who wanted to really address his whole entire life. and those features as a father, as a muslim, as a civil rights activist, as a humanitarian, those were important to me, because those are the features that are going to -- that are going to transcend into history as part of my dad's legacy.

>> muhammad ally was an activist who fought to reach us a certain way and to move america in a certain way and to move individuals in a certain way. i'm going to take this path. i believe that i'm right. and even if i'm not right, i'm still me. >> that sense of ali being tied to complex issues of american life is clearly what most appealed to burns. >> it is hard to wrestle a complex story to the ground. in fact my editing house, which has been closed since covid, i have a knee on sign in cursive lower case, saying, "it's complicated." there's not a film wmaker on eah who when a scene works, you don't want to touch it, leave it alone. but we find contradictory information. >> one of the many complexities in ali's life, his faith and loyalty to the nation of islam. >> the nuances of his joining the nation of islam, trying to

distinguish it from islam, see it as a sect, understand his relationship to it, understand its flaws, the things that were attractive to him, sort of focused on integration and expansion of rights rather than separation and kind of do for self. and these are nuances of just one of the many threads and storylines that operate in his life. >> his success in the ring, and outspokenness beyond it, had won him an enormous following. >> in muhammed ali, race is part of the story. many of the on-camera scholars and commentators as well as members of the production team are black. >> muhammad ali was a figure of liberation. >> the three lead filmmakers, burns, his daughter sarah, and her husband david mcmahon, are white. >> we are in a time, as you know, where people are questioning who tells the stories, what stories get told.

can a white man, you in this case, tell a black story? muhammad ali or others? >> i have been interested in american history since i was a little boy, passionately interested in it. and i have been trying to investigate all of its aspects. inevitably i come upon the question of race. i can't avoid it. it has to be part of the story. but let's also say that what we have to do is set up a situation in which there are lots of different perspectives, lots of different voices get to tell lots of different stories. and the more stories we have, i mean, think about the reverse of that. if you were to proscribe that, then that would also resegregate the telling of stories in a way that we wouldn't want to do. >> but the critique has gone further. last year a much-publicized essay by filmmaker grace lee called for more diversity of stories and storytellers at pbs, citing its dependence on, quote,

one white male filmmaker and the amount of hours, financial support, and marketing devoted on one man's lens on america. a prominent group of filmmakers supported lee with its own letter to pbs this spring, again highlighting burns' prominence. >> i think it's because the films we've done have been so popular and so visible, we also agree with the intentions of that protest. and we know our network does too. and we want to work with them and have worked within our own team and the network to help. we all have to do the task, we all have an obligation to be better. and i want to be part of that. and let's just remember that when you look at me, you're looking at a team, that, say, for the muhammad ali film, is 43% african-american and 50% women, on the team that's made this film. >> has the criticism bothered you?

>> not at all, i didn't take it personally at all. i understood it was a "for example." given that the portion of pbs money in my budgets is relatively small, i'm making room for them to be able to fund others and that i go out and fund from individuals and corporations and foundations, all of whom are helping us now address that situation. so this to me has been a network that's always been a little bit better than any other place, and can get even that much better. and i want to be part of that effort to be better. >> for her part, pbs ceo and president paula kerger told the television critics association in august, pbs has fallen short in some aspects of diversity. she announced the hiring of a new executive to oversee change and unveil a multiyear, $11 million commitment to, quote, support the work of underrepresented filmmakers. this is draft 11. at 68, burns and his team are

currently at work on seven films on the pbs schedule through 2027. he showed us the script for a work in progress on ben franklin. >> my corrections are in red, finally. and then you're getting to the place where there's very few things. and then you look at each other and what's so nice is you usually hand the youngest intern the bell. and then you ring it after each reel is done. >> actor mandy patinkin is the voice of franklin. >> either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing. >> on a sunny march afternoon in 1933. >> also in the works, the holocaust and the united states. that's burns' voice at this early stage of production. >> jews, hitler charged, were parasites. >> i'm greedy for the experience of working on a film. if i were given a thousand years to live, which i won't, i would never run out of topics.

i cannot not be rushing, as i approach my 70s, to make films about not just the u.s., but about us, that is to say, the lower case, two-letter plural pronoun. all the intimacy of that and all of the majesty, the complexity, the contradiction, and the controversy of the u.s. >> when you're looking at this long arc of your own career, where does muhammad ali, where does that story fit into it? >> he's the guy i want to go out to dinner with. >> he is? >> i would take maybe abraham lincoln, i love elizabeth cady stanton, ida b. wells, obviously harriet tubman, louis armstrong. but i just added to that ever-expanding dinner table muhammad ali. >> that's a good dinner party. >> oh, my god. and you just shut up and listen. >> muhammad ali, who battled parkinson's in his last decade, died in 2016.

a new series on his life and legacy premieres this weekend. for the pbs news hour, i'm jeffrey brown in new hampshire. ♪ on the news hour online right now, we visit a small louisiana fishing village where hundreds of homes were destroyed by hurricane ida, leaving residents to take shelter in tents and cars when the next tropical storm hit. read more about the growing housing crisis there on our website. that's pbs.org/newshour. stay with pbs tonight. how the white house is navigating covid and divides among democrats while pro-trump supporters rally in washington. join yamiche alcindor and her panel tonight on "washington week." that's the new hour for tonight. join us here on monday evening.

from all of us at the pbs news hour, thank you for joining us. please stay safe and have a great weekend. >> announcer: major funding has been provided by -- >> consumer . johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. financial services firm raymond james. the william and flora hewlett foundation. >> for more than 50 years supporting cetaceans to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skoll foundation.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. this is pbs newshour west from wec a studios washington and from our hero at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

lung transplant is by far the hardest of all the transplants, when it comes to outcomes. it's tough, but i love what i do. i love using my hands directly. i have small hands. i can get into chests without causing too many hemodynamic compromise compared to my male counterparts. so i think it does come in very handy. even after 15 years of doing this, when i finish putting organ organs in, i'm holding my breath until the patient takes their first breath. i cannot compare it to anything else because it's such a unique feeling. you get satisfaction out of seeing people after a lung >> ucsf health.s just priceless-

redefining possible. here is a classic movie quick. "shine" from 1996 stars geoffrey rush as a brilliant pianist with mental illness. nominated for seven academy awards. what oscar did the film win? geoffrey rush for best actor. you provide the popcorn, the couch, and the tv. we'll provide great movies like "shine." an inspirational story. saturday night at 8:00. i think my grandma has this dress. >> i feel like harry potter. >> too librarian. too bono? >> no. >> big no. >> yes. >> i look a little bit like a bumblebee. >> how long have you been in these parts? >> blah. >> if sadness had a color. >> your honor, i object. >> this is so much like my dad. >> that is the ticket.

kqed thanks our members and community partners for their support. to reduce the risk of wildfires, pg&e may proactively turn off power when severe weather is forecast. update your contact information at pge.com/mywildfirealerts so pwe can reach you. plan for needs like medications that need to be refrigerated or devices that require power. ensure backup power sources are safe to operate. xfinity home helps customers

keep their homes protected, from 24/7 live recording video to control their home devices. learn more at xfinity.com/xfinityhome. ♪ tonight on "kqed newsroom," republican strategist matt schoop. plus our panel of political reporters dissects this week's news. and we take a stroll at the lovely land's end. coming to you from kqed headquarters in san francisco, this friday, september 17, 2021. hello and welcome to "kqed