captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: after the storms. families and businesses begin picking up the pieces in the wake of devastating tornadoes that left scores dead, including several children. then, investigating the insurrection. text messages from former president trump's chief of staff provide more insight into the january 6 attack on the capitol. and, casualties of war. new details emerge about the widespread deaths and injuries caused by u.s. air strikes against isis in syria. >> the fact that we've seen thousands of these strikes, and we see recurring problems, creates a questions about, okay, who really should be accountable?

>> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. >> bnsf railway. >> fidelity wealth management.

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: search teams, utility crews, and property owners have spent another long day in the tornado wreckage

that was strewn across five states last weekend. the confirmed death toll remains at 88, most of them in western kentucky. william brangham is there, and begins our coverage again tonight. >> brangham: the power's still out in much of mayfield, kentucky, so volunteers fold the tide of clothing that's been donated to victims by candlelight. teresa rochetti-cantrell was the mayor of mayfield for many years, and now works at this local charitable foundation. >> we're still wrapping our heads around it. you know, you stand there-- i stood there last night, where city hall was-- and i've been up there before... >> brangham: was? >> was, yeah. and i look across, and there's such devastation, that you can't even picture what was there. but, going forward, i can't honestly wrap my head around what the challenges are. >> brangham: elsewhere in mayfield, at the candle factory where at least eight people

died, veral factory employees told nbc news that they wanted to leave before the tornadoes arrived, but said supervisors threatened to fire them if they did. the owner of the factory, mayfield consumer products, said that was "absolutely untrue." kentucky governor andy beshear said today they'll get to the bottom of what happened. >> everybody's expected to live up to certain standards of both the law, of safety, and of being decent human beings. i hope everybody lived up to those standards. you can expect a state agency to be taking a look. >> brangham: meanwhile in illinois, osha-- the federal occupational safety and health administration-- is investigating the collapse of an amazon warehouse in edwardsville that killed six people. osha will look into whether workplace safety rules were followed. it'll have six months to complete the investigation. president biden has now declared a federal disaster in that state

as well. back in mayfield... >> front door was right here. >> brangham: so, where was your office? >> right there. that's my desk right there. >> brangham: local attorney chuck foster set up his law practice on this downtown corner 25 years ago. it's completely gone. he said a small army of people keep showing up, helping him clean up and sort through the wreckage. >> at one time, we had 25 volunteers here, moving stuff around here, cleaning stuff up. we had two or three groups come by and offer sandwiches and water. so, everybody chipped in and tried to help out. >> brangham: that's a beautiful thing. >> it is. kind of gives you a sense of pride and a sense of community, to see everybody pick up and try to help you out. it's people you didn't even kn-- i met a lot of people yesterday, for the first time. >> brangham: brand new friends. >> oh, yeah. >> brangham: former mayor

rochetti-cantrell says the outpouring of love and support and donations are so appreciated, but she's worried about the deeper, long-term impacts. >> i think there's going to be a i think that's going to be a huge issue. just, people who are down on their luck to start with, and then this. wrapping your head around what's happened. i mean, i just think that's going to be a big deal. all the things you have to do, some of these people don't know how to do that-- and are incapable of doing that. >> brangham: all the paperwork, the bills, all the loans, the taxes, all thastuff. >> yeah. i predict suicides. i do. i hate to think that. but there's just some people that can't handle this. there are some people that just cannot mentally handle this. and i think we're going to be dealing with some of that in the coming days, months, years. >> brangham: as daunting as it may seem, the clean-up and rebuilding after this disaster may be the easy part.

it is this deeper trauma that the former mayor is describing-- that could be a scar this tragedy will leave on this community for years to come. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in mayfield, kentucky. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, a new disaster has struck haiti. at least 60 people were killed and dozens injured late monday when a fuel truck overturned and exploded. it happened in the northern city of cap-haitien, burning cars and scorching buildings. the mayor toured the scene as daylight showed the extent of the destruction. ( translated ): i'm here to see the aftermath of last night's unfortunate event. i received many calls, and sent the firefighters and police an alert so thecould intervene. unfortunately, many people died. we couldn't save them.

>> woodruff: haiti has already seen its president assassinated this year, and an earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people and destroyed thousands of homes. back in this country, the u.s. house of representatives moved to advance criminal contempt charges against former white house chief of staff mark meadows. he has refused to testifying about the assault on the u.s. capitol last january. the u.s. justice department will decide whether to prosecute meadows. we will return to this, after the news summary. congress is also on the verge of raising the national debt limit by $2.5 trillion. republicans in the evenly- divided senate passed 50-49 with a simple majority, and send it to the house. the u.s. treasury had set tomorrow as the deadline for

action. as of tonight, the covid pandemic has killed 800,000 people across the united states. that's out of more than five million worldwide. the milestone came one year since vaccinations began. new data today suggests pfizer's covid vaccine is 70% effective in preventing hospitalizations from the omicron variant. findings from south africa also indicate the two-dose vaccine is less effective at preventing omicron infections. meanwhile, the world health organization warned today that omicron is spreading faster than previous variants. >> surely we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. even if omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems. >> woodruff: also today, pfizer reported that its experimeal covid treatment pill works against omicron, reducing severe symptoms in high-risk adults by

nearly 90%. a federal appeals court has again rejected president biden's attempts to end a policy keeping asylum seekers in mexico. the latest ruling came monday night. a trump-era policy has required thousands of migrants to remain in mexico, until their u.s. asylum cases are resolved. there is new evidence that the arctic is still getting hotter. the u.n. weather agency certified today that temperatures reached 100.4 degrees in siberia last year-- the highest ever recorded in the arctic. and, the u.s. national oceanic and atmospheric administration reported that growing ice melts are altering ecosystems. on wall street, stocks fell again, on news that wholesale prices jumped nearly 10% in november, from a year ago. the dow jones industrial average lost 106 points to close at 35,544.

the nasdaq fell 175 points-- 1%. the s&p 500 slipped nearly 35. and, this year's inductees into the national film registry are out, and they range from the "star wars" film "return of the jedi," to "a nightmare on elm street." the library of congress announced 25 honorees today. others include "lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring;” cicely tyson's "sounder;" and pixar's "wall-e.” still to come on the newshour: new details on civilian casualties oversease wrought by u.s. air strikes. political gridlock in washington hamstrings the diplomatic presence abroad. a food blogger-turned-social media celebrity mixes korean recipes with personal history. plus, much more.

>> woodruff: as we reported earlier, the u.s. house of representatives today took up a contempt of congress charge against mark meadows, the former white house chief of staff. this comes after meadows defied a subpoena from the select committee in the senate investigating the january 6 attack on the capitol. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> reporter: on thhouse floor today yet another rarity. >> just a handful of people like mr. bannon, like mr. meadows who somehow think that they're above the law. >> reporter: democratic congressman jamie raskin and other select committee investigators argued for a contempt of congress charge for a second very high profile trump advisory, mark meadows. the former chief of staff to president trump, who just two years ago was himself a house member. on january 6 as attackers

smashed and punch their way into the capitol, me doice was at the white house with trump making him a pivotal hub of information from both ends of pennsylvania avenue. now he is a flashpoint over the push for his testimony and trump allies insistence that it's political. >> mark meadows has to testify, he has to come in, like 300 american citizens have patriotically and lawfully done. what makes him special, the fact that he knows a former president of the united states? i'm afraid not. >> the mem members of the january 6th commission have turned this body into a star chamber, using the powers of congress to persecute and bankrupt their political opponents. >> reporter: the back and forth is complicated. meadows did turn over 6600 pages of e-mails and around 2,000 text messages. notably, he also sent so-called privilege longs enumerating hundreds more documents which he

claimed could not be shared because of separation of power. then he did not show up for a deposition last week. >> whatever legacy he thought he left in the house, this is his legacy now. >> reporter: last night, as it recommended contempt charges, the select committee also read some of the meadows textst has out loud. >> donald trump, jr. texted again and again, urging action by the president, quote, we need an oval office address, he has to lead now, it has gone too far and gotten out of hand, end quote. >> reporter: the committee also wants to ask meadows about an email in which meadows wrote that on january 6th the national guard would, quote, protect pro-trump people. meadows responded last night to all of this on fox news. >> let's be clear about this, sean, this is not about me holding me in contempt, it's not even about making the capitol safer, this is about donald

trump and about actually going after him once again -- >> reporter: meadows and trump are both suing the select committee over its requests. judges have so far ruled against trump. today senate republican leader mitch mcconnell who blocked a bipartisan commission but blasted trump for january 6th had notably open words about the committee's work. >> we're all watching as you are what's unfolding on the house side, and it will be interesting toreveal all the participant who were involved. >> reporter: all this as the attorney general for the district of columbia announced a first of its kind lawsuit seeking civil finds for individuals and two groups, the proud boys and the oathkeepers for their role in the capitol attack. for the pbs "newshour", i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: meadows' refusal to cooperate, and the committee's recommendation to hold him in contempt of congress, raise questions about executive privilege and about

what information the committee is owed. for some answers, we turn to jonathan shaub. he is a professor at the university of kentucky college of law, and a contributing editor at lawfare. he previously served in the office of legal counsel at the department of justice. before i come to you, jonathan shaub, i want to clarify, i said the issue was taken up in the senate. it was in the house. the house select committee, of course, where this investigation is underway. but let me just ask you about mr. meadows. he is yet another witness who won't testify before this house select committee, but they have received documents. they have received some information. so is the committee being stymied or are they making progress? >> well, i think they're being stymied with respect to the information that meadows has that maybe nobody else has. you know, what was going on that day in the white house, what was president trump doing, and meadows is probably one of the only sources from whom they could get that information. but they have a ton of other

information. they revealed yesterday they had interviewed i think over 300 witnesses, they have a ton of documents including some from meadows himself. so seems like they will be able to piece together what happened and what was going on for the most part, but i do think there's probably certain pieces of information relating specifically to what was happening in the white house that they may not be able to get as long as meadows and others who may have that information continue to refuse to provide it. >> woodruff: so when mark meadows'attorney talks about executive privilege, referring to president trump, what exaly does that mean and how and where would it apply in a situation like this? >> so executive privilege has a long history, and it's generally the doctrine that the president has the authority to withhold information if the disclosure of that information would harm the public interest, if the

president determines that. so it's a power belonging to the president. it's typically invoked for, you know, private conversations of the president, for national security information, attorney-client information. so here we have a former president who's asserting president trump and the biden white house has said very clearly there's no privilege claim here. the events of january 6th are extraordinary. the committee has a need for them, and, so, we're not going to assert privilege over related documents, and president trump has sued to contest that determination and, so far, he's lost with the d.c. circuit and has a chance to appeal to the supreme court. but generally, it's a presidential authority, to it's very hard to see why a former president would get to make a determination about what's in the public interests as opposed to the president currently serving in that office. >> woodruff: and that's what we're trying to understand, whether this claim or invoking of executive privilege is going to hold up in court

>> well, so once you go to contempt, meadows is going to defend himself and his lawyer has already done this by saying even if i'm incorrect about privilege, i was operating in good faith, and the committee is really no longer going to be able to get information from meadows. he's subject to criminal prosecution, but that won't take place for potentially a year or several months, so it's very unlikely that, at this point, they will get meadows to cooperate once they've held him in contempt. i think they basically said we've got as much information as we can from him, he's now adopted this total defiance stance and we're going to refer him for contempt to congress and use him for other witnesses who we do want to comply. >> woodruff: jonathan shaub, as you look at the big picture of what the select committee is trying to get, trying to get to the bottom of what happened on january 6th, what is standing in their way, mainly, and what do you think is working in their favor? >> well, i think the fact that

the department of justice moved forward with the prosecution of steve bannon showshere are serious consequences to defying the committee's subpoenas. if they indict mark meadows, that will be further evidence, because mark meadows was in the government and if he can be prosecuted that will serve as a warning to other government officials. i think they will be able to get a lot of information about the day and reconstruct what was happening going up to january 6th and on the day itself, but i do think they probably won't be able to force people made very loyal to president trump to comply. >> woodruff: meaning that they will be able to claim executive privilege and hold out for courts to rule in their favor. >> yeah, i mean, they'll cite executive privilege and defend themselves in a criminal prosecution but the court actions, even if the committee decided to pursue a civil action, it takes time. from what i've upped, the

chairman said they wanted to be completed by spring or at the very latest the end of 2022 when there's another election, so i can't imagine the court resolution of issues involving executive privilege would occur before that time frame. >> woodruff: still a lot of questions out there about what the committee will be able to get. jonathan shaub, university of kentucky law school, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: during last night's hearing, committee vice chair, representative liz cheney, read text messages sent to mark meadows on january 6th from some of president trump's closest allies. the text messages showed concern and an urgent request to the president to stop the siege on the capitol. some of those allies included key fox news personalities, like sean hannity and laura ingraham, who later that day, however, suggested the crowd was not made up of trump supporters. >> quote, "mark, the president needs to tell the people in the capitol to go home.

this is hurting all of us. he is destroying his legacy,” laura ingrham wrote. >> earlier today, the capitol was under siege by people who can only be described as antithetical to the maga movement. now, they were likely not all trump supporters, and there are some reports that antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd. we'll have more on that later. >> woodruff: to talk us through the role fox news plays in this, i'm joined by npr media correspondent david folkenflik. david, welcome back to the "newshour". so as you listen to and read about these text messages and then what these fox news anchors said in the aftermath, what does it all add up to, in your mind? >> well, it tells you the central role that fox news played throughout the trump presidency. it tells you in a sense that they don't see any distinction between advising the president, trying to champion his

reputation, champion his standing, champion perhaps his aims and goals from their own supposedly journalistic endeavors. they may be opinion hosts, but if you work for a news organizati, you're supposed to acknowledge even as opinion journalists fact that go contrary to your rooting interests. they seem to have done that in what you've seen on brief clips on the air and throughout. it tells you they knew this was a problem, was serious, represented a crisis in the sense of a challenge, a violent challenge, the peaceful transfer of power that was supposed to be ceremonially certified open that day from president trump to his successor then president-elect joe biden, and it tells you yet they nonetheless were willing to say something quite different to the millions of viewers who turn to them and rely on them on a daily basis. i think that tells you they don't see the loyalty to the truth and their viewers need to understand the facts as they are

but perhaps serve their appetites d their political rooting. it's a very different journalistic mission than you and i embrace, i don't thinketh a journalistic mission at all. >> woodruff: in the past they've spoken favorably of former president trump for years, but does this take it to a different level, do you think? >> it shows you how there's no wall, no membrane separating fox news at its prime-time lineup and political opinion stars from the president trump's closest circle of advisors. sean hannity was an advisor from the outset of the trump candz si into the white house. laura ingraham, tucker carlson whop doesn't appear in this roster of text messages as sent to mark meadows. nonetheles i think it sharpened the disconnect between what we know the fox news stars know when they're purveying

conspiracy theories, supporting the former president's most outlandsh claims, in fact,. fy'ing, projecting, embracing lies corrosive to american's understanding of their own civil society, that they know better, that they knew the person they turned to was the chief of staff to president trump because he was the person best situated to try to diffuse this incredibly tense and violent situation, even as, hours later, you know, laura ingraham and others are on the air blaming antifa, claiming somehow there might be deep state clamps of f.b.i. informants for which there's been no credible proof in any meaningful way. so i think what you have here is a question of fox news having that new appended to its name but not operating like a news operation, you're not seeing -- brought to bear, yes, they are starting more than 24 hours after this was released by liz cheney on the committee to address this in their own

coverage on the news side and sean hannity talked about it on his radio show today but not in a way that keeps faith with the viewers and the public and the audience to say the truth comes first even if it debts against what we want to happen. >> woodruff: the consequence, you said earlier it's different than the kind of journalism we do at the "newshour" and many of the journalistic organizations we're familiar with. why does it matter? we know we are in an era of opinion. there's a lot of opinion out there in news coverage and news reporting. i mean, what affect does something like this have, do you think? >> listen, fox has always played an outsized role in republican politics, increasing over the years, ever since its founding in 1 1996 and the leadership unr rupert murdoch and roger ailes. three-fifths of registered republicans claim they believe

joe biden won the election. the reason they do that is an echo chamber is provided by fox news and sort of its lesser peers, and it gives amplification and ballast to not only former president trump but those around him and those who seek to ride his coattails to power and office by having him say this is a message that will wok for us and we'll lie about things, mislead the public, raise concerns and, by the way, deny, deflect, dismiss or denounce claims of any involvement of people in the trump circle or people with loyalty to president trump or support for him with what happened on january 6th even at the same time that they claim what happened january 6th isn't meaningful, they're claiming it was a terrible hoax perpetrated by people in the deep state or antifa.

>> woodruff: david folkenflik, who covers the media for npr. david, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> woodruff: in the aftermath of last friday's deadly tornado outbreak, federal emergency officials say they are bracing for more severe and more frequent weather disasters. as john yang reports, that is raising questions about whether there is a link between climate change and tornadoes. >> yang: judy, while scientists are confident that global warming is driving an increase in some natural disasters, in the case of tornadoes, they say it's a bit trickier. victor gensini is an associate professor of geographic and atmospheric sciences at northern illinois university. mr. gensini, thank you so much for being with us.

help us put this interperspective. how major of an event was this? >> it's very likely to be historic. the national weather service right now is still surveying the longest tornado that started just north of little rock, crossed into the boot heel of missouri, into northwest tennessee and finally into kentucky where it did its most prolific damage. we think the tornado right now has a path linked somewhere near 250 miles. that would put it at the first place, if you will, the most historic tornado path like in history only to surpass the infamous tri-state tornado of march 8, 1925, a path length of 219 miles. >> reporter: to put that into perspective, a tornado track, a long one could be 50 miles. tornadoes generally lose their energy pretty quickly. >> most tornado are under five miles. it's pretty hard to get a tornado 50 miles, let alone

talking about one on the ground for 200 miles. as i was watching this tornado unfold friday evening, i had a pit in my stomach watching radar, i knew what was happening at the surface and it was a matter of time until we saw the devastating pictures saturday morning. >> reporter: help us understand, what do we know and, more important, what do we not know about the link between climate change and tornadoes? >> right now the link is still muddy. there have been study that have shown a mean increase and overall severe weather in the future but also an increase in the variability. i think the best analogy right now is honestly major league baseball during the steroids eria. we couldn't say for certain if a home run was due to steroids, but when you look at the batting averages and number of home runs in the season it's clear steroids was having an impact in the season. i think the same thing can be said for tornadoes, we're just not sure right now if something like friday evening was the direct result of climate change.

>> reporter: why is that? why don't we know yet? >> it's mostly due to the small scale. tornadoes are actually at a very small scale relative to things like hurricanes or wildfires or drought, and that link, when you start to go down really small to the storm scale versus the large climate scale system, makes, you know, these types of questions very very hard to unpack from a scientific perspective. >> reporter: when you talk about looking backwards to figure it out, what changes have we seen in tornadoes in recent years? >> great question. really the only thing that we can hang our hat on righnow is a pretty significant downward trend in the great plains to have the united states. so you think of texas, oklahoma, kansas, colloquial tornado alley, they've seen a decrease in significant tornadoes there in the last 40 years, and a significant increases in the mid south like kentucky, missouri,

tennessee, mississippi, alabama, some of these areas that have been hit hard recently, and i think that's a really important thing because we have a lot more assets, a lot more people as you get east of the mississippi river due to the increased population density. >> reporter: any idea of what that tells us or what that suggests, why that might be, that shift? >> we think it's due partly due to climate change and partly due to natural variability. to what extent, what percentage of that shift is being caused by climate change? these are all questions that are really good and research groups like us at n.i.u. are still trying to unpack. >> reporter: what are the implications for the future and what you're learning from your research? >> two things, i think we want to understand what the future holds for the extreme events like those of friday evening and, on the flip side, we also want to understand the changing footprint of society. both of those go hand in hand in understanding the future of tornado disasters like what we

witnessed last week. and i'll tell you, looking ahead, even here tomorrow, looks like another significant weather event across the sioux land area. it only takes one tornado event to make your day a very bad day, and i think there are going to be a lot of questions about what happened to the amazon warehouse and the candle factory on friday evening. >> reporter: victor gensini of northern illinois university, thank you very much. >> thanks, john. >> woodruff: the u.s. military has been facing questions this week over how it conducts air strikes, and whether it is doing enough to prevent killing civilians, and to report those casualties when it does. nick schifrin explains. >> schifrin: the last known

air strike of 20 years of war conducted before u.s. troops left afghanistan did not kill its intended isis target. instead, a drone missile killed ten civilians, inclung seven children. yesterday, the pentagon said it will change procedures, but would not discipline any troops for the strike in kabul. >> what we saw here was a breakdown in process and execution and procedure. not the result of negligence; not the result of misconduct; not the result of poor leadership. there was not a strong enough case to be made for personal accountability. >> schifrin: secretary of defense lloyd austin endorsed that move, based on a recommendation from the commanders of central command, whose responsibilities include afghanistan and syria; and special operations command, whose personnel ordered many of those strikes. in the last few weeks, i have asked both commanders whether these incidents expose structural issues, including in how service members call in air strikes. both said no.

are they too quick to call in air strikes? >> categorically no. there'structure in place with commanders that take it via a step-by-st process. you're looking at where-- what the potential strike is, you're talking about what type of effects you're trying to achieve, what type of munitions you're going to use. >> we've gone to elaborate lengths to prevent civilian casualties. i cannot tell you in every case that we have been able to achieve that goal. i can tell you that when we know about it, when we have an opportunity to-- to learn that civilian casualties may have occurred-- may have occurred, we do investigate it. >> schifrin: your response does not sound like you think that there is some kind of systemic problem, whether it's a climate or whether it's special operators calling in air strikes? >> combat, and particularly close infantry combat, as occurs in a lot of these things, is an inherently messy, imprecise, bloody business. and we would like for it to be antiseptic; we would like for it to be perfect. it often is just not going to

reach those standards of excellence. >> schifrin: there was another incident on december 3, when a drone over syria targeted an al qaeda commander. the military says it killed him, but acknowledges it also killed civilians. a family posted this video of the strike as it hit, and told us in an interview, they were innocent victims. >> ( trslated ): my son mahmoud's head was broken. my wife's leg was broken. all of us were injured and full of blood. we went from happiness to devastation. >> ( translated ): we don't have anything to do with the people in power, and had we known that was a motorcade in front of us, for someone that was in a powerful position, we wouldn't have driven behind it. >> schifrin: to discuss these incidents, and the larger issue of civilian casualties, i'm joined by larry lewis, who has worked with the defense department for more than a decade to prevent civilian casualties. he was also the state department's senior adviser on civilian protection, and is now research director at the center for naval analyses. welcome back to the

"newshour". thanks very muchch what's your reaction to the military not holding anyone accountable to the august drone strike in kabul? >> first of all,eth not prize -- it's not surprising. we often see a lack of accountability and discipline for these strikes, but, in my mind, there's a different question, you're not only holding individuals accountable for those that were involved in that strike but the fact that we've seen thousands of these strikes, and we see recurring problems. it creates a question about, okay, who really should be accountable? not necessarily the trigger pullers, but the senior leaders that have overseen these processes that have systemic problems. >> reporter: you published an essay in which you wrote the kabul drone strike was not an isolated mistake but part of a systemic pattern and called the strike nelson. why? >> so negligence is defined as a lack of care, and that the exactly what we see. so, you know, analyzing thousands of strikes, literally

thousands, i've seen the same patterns that occurred in that strike over and over again. >> reporter: and yet you also have heard the military say again and again that they do care, and you just heard the central command general mckenzie and the special operations command commander general clarke say there are structures in place, and we've gone to elaborate lengths to prevent civilian casualties such that there are no systemic issues causing these incidents. you disagree? >> i disagree. what does the data say? clearly, the u.s. military has processes in place, they have an infrastructure in place. the problem is that infrastructure has flaws. there are a number of implicit assumptions and there are a number of systemic problems that weaken the care that they give, and, so, you tend to see these patterns again and again. >> reporter: in all to have the study you've doe, are there

specific examples you can remember that are particularly indicative? >> a prominent airstrike in afghanistan in 2010 where there were special forces on the ground and they knew there was enemy combatant forces out there and along the line of bearing, so they kind of looked out with their drone and found the nearest thing along that line of bearing. it was three vehicles, so they follow the three vehicles, and they struck it with air power and i have to three civilian vehicles and dozens of civilians were killed. >> reporter: tubal there are lessons the military have identified but not learned or implemented? >> absolutely. the military seems to have amnesia because we've identified a number of these problems before but then they don't stick. you know, for example, in the drone strike, there were a number of different things, there were civilians right outside to have the frame, but what you need to do is kind of step back and say, okay, have

things changed right before i make this engagement decision? >> reporter: do you think this is a question of leadership? >> absolutely. i mean, and what we've seen over and over again is when senior leaders are very clear that protecting civilians is part of the mission and something that they're watching and prioritizing, we see improvement, and when there's not that clear message from the top, then we see basically what we have been seeing the last few years. >> reporter: i want to ask specifically about a "new york times" report this weekend on a special operations task force named talon anvil, that during the height of the war against isis, quote, circumvented rules imposed to protect non-combatants, that's what the "times" reported. you have worked with these special operates for years. do you believe that during the height of the war in isis they circumvented the rules? >> i have been following the unit quite a while and seen quite different behavior over the years.

so there are times where the care wasn't as great and i include syria in that part. i've also seen times where they tube great care. the difference was they had command emphasis that said this is important, and when that emphasis was there, they did a fabulous job. >> reporter: finally, what practical steps do you urge the military to take in order to reduce civilian casualties? >> i think first of all i has to start with leadership. there's no leadership on this issue, and, in addition to that, there are no resources. so if we're going fix this problem, and we're not going to have amnesia, and forget about these things that we do over and over again, we have to devote resources and we have to have leaders that are committed toic- to actually solving these problems. >> reporter: larry lewis, thank you very much. >> okay.

>> woodruff: nearly one year into office, the biden administration is still lacking ambassadors in key parts of the world, including india and pakistan. the senate foreign relations committee considered candidates for those two posts today, marking a step forward in what has been a painstakingly-slow process to fill u.s. embassies. amna nawaz has more on what this means for u.s. diplomacy. >> nawaz: of the 80 ambassadorial nominees president biden has put forward, the senate has so far confirmed just 12. secretary of state antony blinken this week blamed a slow senate confirmation process. >> as of last week, only 16% of our ambassadors have been confirmed. at this point in the last three administrations, the number was between 70% and 90%. >> nawaz: for more on all this, i'm joined by eric rubin. he is the former u.s. ambassador to bulgaria, and is now president of the american foreign service association.

welcome to the "newshour". thanks for being here. to fill these ambassador posts to things have to happ, the president has to nominate people, the senate has to confirm them. where in the process is most of the backup right now? >> well, both of those problems are very real right now, the biggest backup is the fact we have blanket holes in the senate, that means almost all of the nominees have been blocked from being considered on the floor of the senate. this has never happened before to anyone's knowledge. in addition, the administration has been slow to nominate candidates, so we still have about one-third of the jobs without nominees, put that together, and we have an astonishing number of vacant ambaambassadorial posts around e world. >> reporter: why that is the administration been so slow? is that unusual? what could be causing that? >> eth a good question and we have been asking that question. i thi part of it may be holding back nominees because they already have such a backlog

in the senate that they don't want to add to it. i can't speak for the administration, but we think they should nominate every candidate they have to get them on the table so also the world knows we're serious about getting ambassadors out to our embassies over the world. >> reporter: ambassadors have an intense vetting process. eric gar set is nominated to be u.s. armed to india facing a number of tough questions because of previous record because of concerns of conflicts of interests and relationship with hunter biden and a top aide facing allegations of xual harassment by a los angeles police officer. is it hard today to find good nominees to put forward? >> i think the vetting process has gotten more complicated over the years. i can't comment on individual nominees, but i can say definitely people confirmed before the hope can be confirmed

the second, third, fourth time. in reality, it's like starting from scratch each time. >> reporter: what worries you about a lot of the posts not being filled. >> we need to have ambassadors in the field. we need ambassadors representing the country and the president. when an armed is confirmed by the senate, the person goes out with the endorsement of the prate and the united states senate. that's powerful. that has a lot of strength for everybody who's involved in the process. if you're a foreign government, you know this person represents our country, two branches of government, but also we've got a lot of diplomacy to do in this messy world now. without an ambassador, we don't have access to the senior leaders, we don't have the coordinating function the ambassador has to play so we're tying both our hands behind our back. >> reporter: let me ask you about blocks and holds on the nominations from the senate. there's a notable one from

senator marco rubio holding up confirmation of ambassador burns to go to china. but at the forefront of the republican pushback are josh hawley of missouri and ted cruz of texas. hawley's concerns are he wants to see secretary blimpgen resign after the afghanistan withdrawal, and cruz's concern is he wants to see sanctions against a natural gas pipeline between russia and germany. they're not objecting to the qualifications of the nominees, though, and i wonder how usual that is in the process. >> well, that's actually the strongest argument for moving forward is obviously senators have policy concerns, that's the wholeeason the senate has the right of advice and consent on nominees. so individual concerns, individual holds have always been part of the process. it's this concept of saying nobody's going to be confirmed that we're not going to send anyone out or in a few cases we have senators, spouses, a few

people have been confirmed but as secretary blimpen said in his statement the numbers are unperes tentedly low, and our argument is not with any specific concerns, and we don't get into policy issues, we just think america needs strong diplomacy and representation overseas and to do that we can't not fill our ambassadorships, and no other country, important to say no other country does this, and the days when america could simply assume that whatever peculiarities that we have in our process would just be understood and accepted by the world, i think those days are past. we need to get our game up and get ambassadors out into the field as soon as we can. >> reporter: that is eric rubin, former ambassador of the u.s. to bulgaria and president of the american foreign service association. ambassador rubin, thanks for making the time to be with us. >> thank you, amna. pleasure to be here.

>> woodruff: during this holiday season, as people spend more time in the kitchen, we look at a twist in cuisine that is taking social media by storm. jeffrey brown explores the magic behind "the korean vegan," as part of our arts and culture series, "canvas." >> this is my grandmother, who taught me how to tie my shoes, who taught me how to swing while standing up, who taught me the importance who taught me this very kimbap recipe i'm making right now. >> brown: it's not your typical cooking tutorial. joanne lee molinaro, a.k.a. "the korean vegan,” does offer up exquisite dishes. but her popular specialty? "story time" videos that have attracted nearly four million followers on social media. >> i thought it was a great vehicle to sort of share a little bit of insight, in what i hope is a very palatable way, if you will, about the

immigrant story in the united states, because i think it is a beautiful story. and i think it's one that hopefully can be celebrated. >> brown: molinaro's stories tell of her grandmother's harrowing escape with her infant son, joanne's father, from what would soon become north korea... >> my mom made it very clear to me that she was embarrassed about certain aspects of our culture. >> brown: ...and what it was like for her to grow up in america, where her family's culture-- and food-- weren't always accepted. we joined her for shopping at a manhattan hmart-- a korean grocery chain. she's not a trained chef. she is an attorney, working full-time until very recently for a high-powered chicago firm. but joanne lee's life changed when she met and married anthony molinaro, who convinced her to go vegan in 2016. she decided to adapt the food she'd grown up with. and social media-- instagram, and then tiktok-- became her way

to reach people with her new passion. >> i did see how social media could be used to bring people together, and that's really the point of the "korean vegan," is-- is bringing people together, you know? bringing families together, bringing colleagues together, friends together over some really delicious food. >> brown: now, she's collected her stories and recipes into her first cookbook, "the korean vegan: reflections and recipes from omma's-- or mom's-- kitchen." all plant-based. but even she was uncertain in the beginning. >> i was very skeptical. can you even be vegan and korean at the same time? >> brown: it's a real question, right? >> yeah. if i can't eatorean food and be plant-based at the same time, then it's not a choice. so, the question that i set out to answer when i started cooking more was, is there a way to adjust the ingredients, the recipes, tweak them here and there, so they still taste like the food i grew up eating, but don't have any animal products, and it is a little bit healthier.

and that's really how it all started. so, i'm chopping some carrots right now, to add to our tteokbokki... >> brown: we got a demonstration, and taste, of what it became. >> tteokbokki. so, "tteok" means rice cake-- yes, right here. --and "bokki" is kind of a reference to booka, which means fried. a little bit of gochugaru, which is korean pepper powder. we've got gochujang, which is the main sauce that you're going to use for this particular sauce. we got here just a lot of vegetables. we also have the aromatics, and onions and some garlic. >> brown: then this came together quickly. >> so, i've made you a bowl of food, which has the rice, right? yes. every korean meal starts with rice. and then we have some braised potatoes, or gamja jorim. we have some dooboo jeon, which is like tofu pancakes. and then we have the star dish, that you helped me prepare...

>> brown: yes, i stared intently while you made it. >> and that's why it's going to taste so good. >> brown: we did a good job. >> you did an excellent job. it turned out perfect. >> brown: and in the family history, there's more. like many immigrant families, the lees didn't speak much of the past, and only as an adult did molinaro learn some of what her parents had experienced as children in the aftermath of the korean war-- as when her mother one day exclaimed that her favorite food is baked sweet potato, because it had sustained her as a refugee living in south korea. >> i was like, i've literally never heard you say the word "refugee" in my life before. what do you mean, you were one? she said, "oh, i was born in north korea." what!? ( laughs ) >> brown: what's the larger story that you're telling us through these videos? >> i really wanted to honor my parents through these stories. that is, i think like my heart's

passion, is sharing the stories of my mom and dad and making them feel like their stories matter. these are stories that i think are so beautiful. but i also think they're stories that show everyone, no matter what color you are, how old you are, what your background is or what your food looks or smells like, that there are some things that we all share in common. >> hate crimes... >> brown: she's also ready and willing to mix it up, pushing back hard when she sees anything smacking of bias against koreans or asian-americans generally. >> i still feel that some people look at me-- they look at my food, they look at my hair color, they look at the shape of my eyes-- and say, "foreigner, she's not american." you know, i've been told so many times, "go back home, to where you came from." well, that's chicago, illinois. ( laughs ) i was born and raised there. so, there is that sort of thing that i still have to contend with, i feel like. and on the other side of that

is, as you say, you know, this mainstream acceptance--“ squid game.” everybody's talking about "squid game," the korean drama. i love that. i love that people are opening their hearts and their minds and their palates to things that, like i said, might be outside of their normal experience. i think what i'm trying to convey is, i am american. these are the foods that i eat. i spoke korean, you know, when i was growing up, with my grandmother. i spoke english when i started going to school. this is very everyday life in a korean-american household, and while it may seem a little different, it's still just as american as anything else. >> brown: you're saying, "this is an american food." >> for me, it is, because i'm korean-american, and i made this food and this is what we ate in america. >> brown: in chicago, illinois. >> ( laughs ) in chicago, illinois. >> brown: and now, with a "korean vegan" twist. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: and i'm hungry after that!

and on the newshour online, we check back in with sandra lindsay. she is the new york nurse who-- one year ago today-- became the first american to receive the covid vaccine outside of clinical trials. you can hear what she says about our progress against the virus and the omicron variant on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is 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. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic

engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> the target foundation, committed to advancing racial equity and creating the change required to shift systems and accelerate equitable economic opportunity. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up -- >> there is a tidal wave of omicron coming. >> the worst week yet for the british prime minister, as the covid crisis converging with scandals at number 10 downing street. i ask politicians on both sides of the aisle whether boris johnson has any credibility now when he needs it the most. and -- >> this was my home until last night. >> calamity in kentucky. a look at the deadly tornadoes and the big climate question -- how much do warming temperatures have to do with this? then -- >> it's your sense of who you are, if it is tied to a scific story about this country, and then people begin to tell a different story about this country, it is an