judy: on the newshour tonight, a strong report, the minister of numbers show the economy's unexpected resilience in the face of the omicron variant. we speak with the white house chief of staff about the president domestic priorities. then, zero covid. the chinese guy -- government continues its pandemic policies with a quarantine system to try to keep the virus out of the olympics. >> they used to toportal, and i, that is tantamount to admitting ey have failed. judy: it is friday. jonathan capehart and gary

abernathy consider the president's nominees to the federal reserve board and efforts to combat rising crime rates. that and more on pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by ♪ ♪ >> consumer cellular. >> the knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support

of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the u.s. labor market proved far stronger than expected last month, despite the omicron surge. employers added 467,000 jobs as the economy picked up momentum. the labor department said there were a total of 700,000 more jobs created in november and december than initially reported. wages grew 5.7% last month compared to a year ago. a good gain but below the rate

of inflation. the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4% as more people return to the job market. president biden noted the gains this afternoon and i spoke with ron klain, the white house chief of staff, short time ago. welcome to the newshour. this is a day of good news about jobs. these are numbers the administration has to be happy about, not just last month but november and december. how much of this can the president take credit for? mr. klain: it is an accomplishment of the american people. the president talked about their resilience and their ability to take everything the past few years, the omicron variant has thrown at them and be back at work and fight on and grow the economy, our business sector, our workers, everyone coming together to do this, but he deserves credit for the policies we put in place that made this recovery possible. the rescue plan in march that

got the economy off its back and going. buy america, made in america policies that have restored our manufacturing strength and a bipartisan infrastructure plan that has a lot of americans willing roads, airports, all these critical things. it has bn strong's economic policy that has unleashed the power, creativity, and energy of the american people. judy: there is speculation this could lead to higher than expected rate increases by the federal reserve in march. how concerned is the white house about that and as you know, the american people say they are worried about inflation. mr. klain: the fed is independent and do what they think is best for maging the netary supply. he said five distinguished nominees to the federal reserve, to the u.s. senate.

i hope they will be confirmed shortly to add those voices. some are continuing to manage the issues the fed manages. you heard t president talk today about understanding the pain the american people feel when they go to the back -- cost pump -- gas pump. he talked about his agenda on capitol hill to bring down the everyday costs americans face, to cut the cost of childcare, to cut the cost of prescription drugs, to cut the cost of health insurance, to cut the costs of elder care for people taking care of elderly relatives and family members. there is an agenda on the hill to reduce the everyday prices the american people face. i'll let the fed do its job. we will do hours. judy: as we know, it appears the number of cases of omicron is receding, but at the same time, the united states is approaching 900,000 deaths from covid, half

of those since president biden took office. to what extent is that aesult of the delay, addressing the need for more tests on covid, and frankly, just understanding the severity of omicron? mr. klain: judy, i don't think anybody has or hasn't perished from covid because of the lack of tests. they perished from covid because they have not been vaccinated. vaccinated people, particularly the fully vaccinated who have been boosted, which we made available for many months, those people have a very, very, very small chance of severe illness or death from covid. the people dying now are overwhelming late the unvaccinated. that vaccine is available at tens of thousands of locations nationwide, free of charge, almost always without a wait. same thing for booster shots. we need to continue to do the work of getting more and more americans vaccinated.

we have made it as available as possible. it is free and safe and fda-approved. we need more americans to get vaccinated. judy: i'm sure you are aware of the commentary and criticism in the administration for mixed signals on boosters in the last part of last year, and mixed signals frankly on who is in charge when it comes to covid policy and what the american people should do. how do you answer that? mr. klain: judy, i think that is ridiculous. the director of the covid response has been there since the early days of the transition and his leadership has been exceptional. less tn to mimic -- million americans work fully vaccinated and that number is over 210 million. there were zero at home tests in america when we took over. other countries had them. we did not. we now have hundreds of millions of tests available for people for use at home, available everything a month.

we made tremendous progress on the booster shots. they were approved here this fall. almost 90 million americans now have got a new booster shot. we have done our jobs in terms of advancing the covid response, making the tools available for people to manage the covid response. we have 75% of adults fully vaccinated. the last 25% needs to get over the finish line. they need to take advantage of the resources we have provided, these free vaccines, available within five miles of the homes of 92% of americans. we have made the vaccines available in the boosters available. we need the american people to take advantage. judy: turning to the supreme court vacant seat with the departure and the retirement of justice stephen breyer, you probably would not get their votes anyway, a number of these republican senators, but many are saying, ron klain, the fact that the president has said he promised he is going to choose a black woman for this position,

that it has become an affirmative action pick. would it have been better for the president to simply not make that promise and then appoint a black woman? mr. klain: what would be best is if senators waited to see the presidents nominate, to hear who she is, what her credentials and qualifications are, before they say they will vote against her. that seems fair. give someone a fair hearing bencic that person on what she has put forward to the senate. the president's commitment is in the same push as ronald reagan to put the first woman on the supreme court when he nominated sandra day o'connor and when president trump put amy coney barrett on the supreme court. presidt biden will select a credentialed, outstanding woman, of great character and achievement and knowledge of the law. she will come before the u.s. senate and i think that she will earn a lot of boats -- votes

based on the fact that she will be incredibly well-qualified for the supreme court. judy: so many things to ask you about. i have two final questions, one to do with ukraine. the president of ukraine was told with 100,000 troops on the border there is a distinct possibility they will invade in the month of february. is that still the president's view? mr. klain: well, it is certainly possible they will invade. the troops are massing on the border. only vladimir putin knows if he will send them across the border and when he ll do so. we are certainly wanting the ukrainian's to be prepared for that possibility, sending more aid to them in 2021 and early 2022 than this country has since 2014. we have done a lot of work with allies to be prepared for that possibility, deploying troops to eastern europe to make sure our allies are secure. we are rallying the allies

around the possibility of sanctions if president putin makes this historic and tragic mistake. we are ready for whatever president putin does. we are engaged in active diplomacy to private desk tried to prevent this tragedy from unfolding. judy: you know him number of news reports in recent weeks about the role you played as chief of staff. such a visible role. they are not just republicans but a number of democrats saying that it is you who has pulled the president to far to the left. that has hurt his agenda. they say that you have harmed the president's relationship with and irritated meeting democrats on a hill. speaker pelosi, senator joe manchin. how much personal responsibility do you think you shoulder for where president biden is today? mr. klain: i am proud of my role at the white house helping the president exceed the successes.

he has passed more legislation than any president in history thanks the close work with speaker pelosi, an outstanding legislative leader. we have gone in senator manchin's vote on the rescue plan, the infrastructure bill, and every one of the record number of federal judges we have confirmed to the bench this year, so i think we are producing results for the american people including the jobs report we talked about today. i'm proud to play a role in that and work with an amazing team. there is way too much focus on me and a lot of incredibly talented individuals up the white house, delivering for the american people everyday along with the leadership, first and foremost, of the president and vice president harris. we are delivering for the american people and will be judged by our results. judy: ron klain, white house chief of staff, thank you for joining us. mr. klain: thank you for having me, judy. ♪

stephanie: we will return to the full program after the latest headlines. the republican national committee centered to gop members of congress for taking part in the investigation into the january 6 assault on the capitol. liz cheney and am kinzinger are the only republicans involved in the congressional probe. the rnc accused them of "participating in a democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse". the former president and his writing matere clashing over the legitimacy of the 2020 election results. mike pence insisted he could not have blocked congress from certifying the results in his role as president of the senate. he rejected mr. trump's false claims to the contrary in florida. vp pence: president trump is wrong. i had no right to overturn the election. the presidency belongs to the american people and the american people alone. frankly, there is no idea more

un-american than the notion that any one person could choose the american president. stephanie: the former vice president's remarks were his strongest rebuttal yet of mr. trump on the events of january 6. the giant winter storm sweeping across the u.s. dumped more than a foot of snow across the northeast and new inland today. airlines have been forced to cancel over 3900 flights. new york governor kathy hochul warned ground travel is not safe either. gov. hochul: it is treacherous, throwing everything at us. we have snow and freezing rain and sleet. we have icy roads our biggest concern is ice on the roads right now. stephanie: ice also took down trees across the south and central united states, and more than 370,000 homes and businesses lost power from texas to new york. the u.s. death tl from covid-19 has reached 900,000, based on account by johns hopkins university.

it comes as no infections are falling and 49 -- in 49 states. russia denied it is planning to fake an attack by ukrainian forces to justify invading ukraine. the russian foreign minister called the u.s. allegation "an absurdity". president putin met with chinese president xi jinping in beijing. they affirmed support for each other's agendas on taiwan, ukraine, and other issues. we will get details after the news summary. the winter olympics are underway in beijing. president she presided over the opening ceremony today. u.s. officials and others boycotted over china's authoritarian policies. the birds nest stadium hosted the spectacle, but attendance was limited by covert restrictions. a man suspected of being the 20th hijacker in the 9/11 attacks has been recommended for transfer out of the guantanamo bay military prison. our u.s. official confirmed to the newshour this evening that

the parole review board is recommending mohammed al khatami he handed over to sabri -- saudi arabia. he was tortured while in u.s. custody. a report by a navy doctor indicated he is too mentally impaired to pose of future threat and could not receive necessary medical treatment at guantanamo. in this country, democrats in the house of representatives pushed through a bill to funnel billions of dollars into the u.s. some conductor industry. they said the measure takes on china and its repressive policies, but republicans argued it is toothless. they spoke on and off the floor of the house. >> congress will show the american people and the world with clarity of purpose and the courage of our convictions that we do not take and we will not s the opportunit to strengthen american industry and create jobs of the future for our workers. >> passed a bill before this house that has literally no

chance of checking china, or holding them to account, ensuring that they no longer continue to carry out the atrocities that they are carrying out. stephanie: the senate passed its own bill last summer. the two measures have to be reconciled. a georgia man and his son convicted of chasing and murdering ahmaud arbery have withdrawn guilty pleas to a federal hate crime charge. greg mcmichael gave notice of his decision last night. his son travis did the same today. a federal judge rejected their plea agreement earlier this week. a federal jury in new york convicted attorney michael of a knotty today of wire fraud and identity theft. he was accused of cheating adult film actress stormy daniels out of $300,000. the money was for writing a book about an alleged affair with former president trump. still to come on the newshou the leaders of russia and china for?

closer bond, raising eyebrows in the u.s. another police shooting in minnesota proms calls for reform and must more -- much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studi in washington and in the west from the walter cronki school of journalism at izona state university. judy: the presidents of russia and china, as we reported, met today and reaffirmed their desire to have closer ties. it comes as russ and troops continue to mask -- russian troops continue to mass on the border with ukraine and after negotiation between russia and the u.s. and nato, we have the story. correspondent: both countries said they opposed further enlargement of nato and called on the alliance to abandon its " cold war approaches," saying china supports the proposals by russia to create long-term,

legally binding security guarantees in europe. what does all this mean? we turn to elizabeth, a senior research scientist at the center for naval analysis, a navy funded think tank. she has written extensively about russian-chinese relations. welcome to the newshour. elizabeth: that joint statement earlier had some thinly veiled swipes at the u.s. and its allies. correspondent: step back for a moment and tell us what is this? what are we seeing here? what is driving the strengthening of russia and-chinese relationships? elizabeth: thetrengthening of the relationship has occurred over the last several years. even prior to the russian annexation of crimea in 2014. we saw this trend after the financial crisis in 2008 when russia and china saw there were real problems in the

international order in the economic order. they hope to create alternatives. they began to expand their partnership at that time. certainly, there has been a deepening of the partnership over the past eight years. correspondent: what does this mean at this moment in real-world terms? do we know what china would do if russia invaded ukraine? elizabeth: let's look what it did the last time. in 2014, china was in a tight spot because it has long-standing positions, supporting territorial integrity and against the splitting of territories and so forth, and so when resolution came up in the un security council in march 2014, china abstained and instead of supporting russia on that resolution.

i think china will try to thread the needle carefully this time, as well, should that situation arise, and i think a war in ukraine is not in turn its interest. they have economic ties to ukraine and other connections to ukraine with the belt and road initiative, their transit initiative wants to connect china to europe and ukraine is one of the hubs and it hopes to use that for that. i think xi jinping hopes there is a peaceful outcome to the crisis. correspondent: in a time of rising tension between the u.s. and russia and nato, what does china get from this? what does president xi get from showing a strengthened bond between his country and russia? elizabeth: apart from russia, china does not have friends in the international arena. russia is the main partner that china has, and so it shows china

is not isolated internationally in the un security council. russia has provided key weapon systems to china that improve china's position in the indopacific region. both of them, they use one another to reinforce their understanding of the global norms they would like to see, so norms that allow more space for authoritarian states and the ability to define some of the rules of the road they think would benefit them. correspondent: are those that look at this moment and say it is very dangerous in a lot of ways? they see two autocracies who are ideologically aligned, who are attempting to create a dual crisis for the u.s., that the u.s. cannot fight on two fronts against two large powers? like that one analyst said the greatest threat to u.s. has seen

since the beginning of the cold war. do you see it that way? elizabeth: i certainly see this as a precarious moment with more than 100,000 russian troops poised on the border with ukraine but i don't know that we are going to automatically see a two front crisis here. the comment refers to the prospect of chinese action against taiwan occurring while the world is distracted by the threat to ukraine. china has long-standing interest in what it because the reunification of the timebomb, a renegade province. this is such an important interest for china, and tying it to putin's more opaque plans for ukraine, china and russia do not walk in lawns -- lockstep on the

issues that concern them, even though they have the same interest in changing some of the rules of the international system they feel work against them. correspondent: that it's elizabeth from the center of naval analysis joining us. thank you for your time. elizabeth: thank you for having me. my pleasure. ♪ judy: this a of minneapolis is once again at the center of controversy after a young black woman -- man was killed wednesday by the police as the executed a no-knock warrant. this killing is raising further questions about the particular tactic, and police policy more broadly. willm brangham has our report and a warning, there is disturbing video in this report. william: early wednesday morning, the minneapolis tpete

-- police department swat team executed a no-knock warrant as part of a homicide investigation. police entered the apartment, announced their presence, and approached a 22-year-old who was sleeping under a blanket under a couch. he did not live in the apartment and he was not even named on the warrant, but he had what his family says was his permanent handgun with him and when police saw it in his hands, they shot and killed him. the event took a few seconds. body cam footage was not released late until last night. some people may want to turn away for 10 seconds. >> no-knock warrant. >> police. >> get on the ground. >> [expletive] william: at a press conference, the interim police chief, amelia hoffma, described how she interpreted the video. chief huffman: there was a

couch as you saw in the video, and you can see there is a form under a blanket or comforter that begins to rise up. the officers were approaching. they were giving commands to show your hands, show your hands, and as they got close. you can see, along with an individual, emerging from under the blanket, the barrel of a gun. william: separately, distraught parents describe their son as a law-abidingitizen, of legal gun owner, and somebody who had deeper extract -- deep respect for law enforcement. his mother spoke about her heartbreak and what she wants to see happen. >> i should not have to be here. i should be able to facetime my son, like i did last friday. i should be able to tell my son that i love you and he says i love you too.

at the end of the day, i believe that he was executed by the mpd, and i want the police officer that murdered my son to be prosecuted and fired. william: for more on this case, i am joined by a reporter for the associated press based in minneapolis, andhe has been following this piece closely. amy, thank you for being here. could you tell us what else we ought to know, what weo and do noknow about this tragedy? amy: there are many unanswered questions at this hour. a development recently, the search warrants in this case that were being executed are now filed in court. that is not something we will have immediate access to. william: his mother said she wants the police officer who shot her son to be arrested and prosecuted. i know there is an ongoing

investigation. state attorney general is involved. what is that looking into specifically? amy: well, that investigation will look into whether the officer was reasonable in his use of force, whether he perceived a threat, and as the police chief said yesterday. the officer made a split-second decision perceived a threat, and made the decision to shoot. that is what they are looking when they try to assess when officers should be charged. they are allowed to use deadly force if they had reasonable reason to fear. william: the police do not have to identify themselves until they are inside the building. it seems to run headlong into the second commandment -- amendment which grants rights to

people -- defend themselves. it seems to be a real conflict there. amy: one rights group, the minnesota gun owners caucus, released a statement saying that he would've done what any gun owner would do in that situation. he legally had a gun, was allowed to have it, was awoken from a deep sleep, someone kicked the fa, there was confusion, shouting all around, he grabbed a legal means of defense, and assessed the situation, and they say he had every right to do that and it's something any gun owner would have done in a situation like that. attorney for his family say unfortunately, in cases when gun owners are black, it ends in tragedy like this. william: we see other instances where these no-knock warrants have turned deadly, and i know there was talk about trying to

reformat practice, but it seems there is certainly more to be done on this front. amy: right, and that is another thing that has come up. the minneapolis police department did update its policy on no-knock warrants after the may 2020 death of george floyd. they updated their policy to say, when they execute a no-knock warrant, they have to announce their presence at the threshold and continue to announceheir presence as they are searching a residence or an apartment. they also have to give people time to respond to the fact that they are there. statewide, in minnesota, there were limitations and restrictions on no-knock warrants but today, the governor and many other activists and lawmakers are saying it is time to revisit that. william: this terrible tragedy is happening in minneapolis, where the second trial of the police officers inlved in the killing of george floyd is going forward.

there is the daunte wright case. that just happened there. . now, this tragedy happens. i'm curious, how is the community responding? are people worried about unrest? amy: protests and unrest are always a possibility. there are some protests planned and by all accounts, those are likely to be peaceful. activists who have spoken out already are saying that there is an overwhelming sense of anger right now and a feeling that police are lying to the community yet again, and they say in this case, because of the narrative that came out initially when police announced that this killing happened. there news release called him a suspect at first, and they gave a narrative where they said he was pointing a gun in the direction of officers. when you look at the body camera video and the still image released alongside, activists

are saying it does not look like he was pointing a gun at anybody. the lice are saying the officer who he was pointing a gun at is not in the frame of the video. for many people impacted, that does not seem enough. judy: moments ago, the mayor of minneapolis imposed a moratorium on no-knock warrants. ♪ the beijing winter olympic's began today, the second games during the pandemic, and hosted by the country where coronavirus originated. their policy in containing coronavirus has included vest lockdowns and severe restrictions for citizens.

how measures designed to keep athletes safe are also silencing beijing's credit -- critics. correspondent: the olympic mascot may be a man in a hazmat suit. all hletes are greeted covered head to tote, and -- >> it is called the closed loop and we do hope it is fully closed. correspondent: by athletes combined cross-country skiing and shooting and embraced chinese covid restrictions known as closed-loop. they sent us video of their welcome wagon. police escorted bus ride to their hotel. finally, seeing the slopes inside the olympic bubble where -- >> we are ok with getting the obnoxious pcr tests that hurt our brains for a whole day.

police escorts are different but they are trying to keep us safe and healthy and that's all we can ask for. correspondent: they spent three months isolated from their families and within their team bubble, they have their own mini bubble. >> we can take our mask off in front of our mini bubble and only them. we want to close our bubble and make sure absolutely no chance of getting covid. correspondent: the olympics closed bubble means wire fences separate events and the athletes village from the rest of the city. inside the loop, athletes can check out anything they like but never leave. a canadian journalist posted a photo of him inside her room of packing tape blocking the exit for 30 minutes until the airport test came back negative. anyone who tests positive is immediately quarantined. >> not sure i can handle 14 more days.

correspondent: a belgian skeleton athletes at her second tap -- test came back negative but she was denied permission to isolate in the village. >> we are not sure we will be allowed to move to the village. this is very hard for me obviously. correspondent: after the video, authorities relented. >> we have been taking effective measures, and everything is under control. without safe games, there will be no games. correspondent: it is not only inside the games. the country maintains one of the world's strictest text -- testing schemes and markdowns. just last month, 20 million chinese were ordered to stay in theiromes. >> they simply do not want to give up what they already have achieved. correspondent: the council on foreign relations senior fellow for global health says china's gift -- six to the zero covid policy because it has kept cases low and for politics. >> they use that to showcase the

severity of its political system -- seniority of the political system, chinese model, and if they give up, that is tantamount to admitting they have failed, in their system is no better than the u.s. correspondent: the system requires harsh lockdowns. last month, in a city of 13 million in central china, this woman was refused care for two hours. she was eight months pregnant and miscarried. in another video, a woman said her father had a heart attack and died and was blocked from all city hospitals. anyone infected or deemed a close contact was forcibly bused to quarantine facilities are from the city center. >> there are reports and social media about zero covid. people increasiny feel this is like excessive. correspondent: china used its covid controls to further restrict for nearly two years.

they need to green codes on health trapping -- tracking apps to travel. yellow or red means you cannot travel. it tracks everyone's movements in beijing to protect -- prevent outbreaks. it is used to control critics of the communist party. >> from october to december, during that period of time, i was unable to apply for a help declaration, even though i did not go to any high-risk aas. correspondent: she represents persecuted minorities and government critics. she was the first of 200 activists and lawyers arrested in what became no -- known as the 709 crackdown. do you think beijing is manipulating covid to prevent you from traveling because of the nature of your work? >> when i encounter restrictions, i ask if there is a legal lead to these restrictions. because you asked so many questions, we will change the

color of your health code yellow or red --this is how they threaten you. using the codes is how they make you feel under control. correspondent: the government has long controlled long and other critics' movements but it has gotten worse under covid. >> because of the pandemic, peopleave even more restrictions on liberty. even if most people do not agree with the lockdown, they do not say so. you should all know no one has freedom of speech. if you say something against government policy, you will be suppressed or persecuted. ♪ correspondent: for athletes training all their lives, today is a dream come true,ut some of the steps beijing is taking to keep them safe from covid are also used to keep beijing's credits silent. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick scherrer. ♪ judy: we now turn to the

analysis of capehart and abernathy, jonathan capehart and gary abernathy. both columnists for the washington post. david brooks is awake. it is good to see both of you on this friday. i want to start with news that former vice president pence made today. he made a speech that a lot of people watched to see what he would say. what caught our attention is he said president trump is wrong to say that he could have overturned the results of the 2020 election. he said it is time to turn the future. what does this say about the state of the republican party and you have the republican national committee centering liz cheney and adam kinzinger, the only republicans working on the january 6 investigative committee? jonathan: judy, to me it says the republican party is still undergoing a huge identity crisis.

you know, former vice president ke pence has been saying what he said today in various forms over the last year, with less heat then he did today, but saying flatut that donald trump is wrong and that he had -- and that then vice president pence had no ability, no power whatsoever to overturn the will of the american people, is the clearest rake we have seen between the t itw says, to me,o. --it says, to me, the former vice president has decided whether i decide to run for president or not, i cannot win over donald trump or his people and so the focus is stay in the party and do everything i can to shore up that side of the party. it is that side of the party adam kinzinger and liz cheney, who were censured by the national party. it is the pence's, the cheney's, and i'm sure a whole lot of other unnamed folks, versus

donald trump and all those people within the republican party who are taking it down a very dangeus road, not just for the party but for the country. judy: gary abernathy, an identity crisis as jonathan said? gary: i agree with most of what jonathan said. i think that is right. you know, there has been a lot of talk lately about, what does the republican study -- party stand for? i wrote a piece last week saying you don't need to figure that out this year, except that it needs to spend 2020 two divorcing itself from donald trump, slowly but surely. i think pence, i have always admired him for saying what he has said. he said very strongly today, i think the party is wrong to try to discipline liz cheney and adam kinzinger. i think that is a mistake. i think that the party is slowly but surely trying to -- there

are more and more people -- i disagree with jonathan on one thing. i think they have a chance to peel away some folks, you know? from people have to give mike pence a lot of credit for the role he played in helping donald trump in his successes as president, but yeah, there is no doubt the republican party is trying to figure out what it is going to be going forward, and i think as time goes by, they will come to the conusion, painfully for a lot of people, that it can be the party of trump is a -- trumpism, but not with trump. judy: this does not end questions about what the republican party will do with donald trump. jonathan: no, and the fact that there are still arguments within the party over whether -- or what to call the january 6 insurrection -- just goes to show high relief what this

identity crisis is. you have the kinsinger's and the chaney's who are making it clear that what happened january 6 was affront to the constitution and american democracy, and that of functioning, national party should have -- give it any quarter. should not give anyone who subscribes to that any comfort. the fact that we are even having this conversation just goes to show how far gone the republican party is. judy: gary abernathy, turning to something else we watched is past week, president biden a few weeks ago nominated three economists to join the federal reserve board. this, at the same time, there is so much attention to who he may appoint to the supreme court to succeed stephen breyer. the president said it will be a black woman. he did a .3 economists. we will remind you who they are. sarah bloom raskin is one. lisa cook is another.

philip jefferson. they are all economists with a string of credentials but republicans in the senate have gone after all three of them, questioned their qualifications, and especially gone after lisa cook, western whether she has her -- questioned whether she has the credentials to be a member of the federal reserve board. what does it say about the ability of the president to argue i want diversity on the federal reserve? gary: it is ok to question people. these are high profile positions and it is fine to ask tough questions. i don't think that implies or insinuates anything other than differences political ideological that republicans tend to have with whoever president biden is going to nominate. judy, i would like to get back to a place where, you know, partisanship is ok when it comes to -- when you win elections. you also win the right to do certain things.

you win the right to make appointments to boards into the courts of people who you want. i would like to cs get back to the date where the opposition party respect that and says even though that is not who we would appoint, that is not who i would like to see there, i respect that you won the right to make the appointment of whoever you want and i would like to cs get back to work you don't have to worrif this is a 50-50 senate when it comes to approving appointmts. you respect the process and the fact that joe biden won the election, so he can make the appointments that he wants, and i would like t see a republican president where democrats say we know you will appoint conservatives to these boards in the courts, but you know what? you nt and we will respect that and vote for that. judy: that is not where we are. we are watching a lot of criticism of these three nominees and as we said, especially lisa cook. jonathan: yeah, why is it, judy,

that whenever a person of color is nominated to on of these prominent positions, the immediate first question is, are they qualified? where their qualifications are questioned. when that person of color, and particularly lisa cook, are overwhelmingly qualified, it is galling and ridiculous. these questions start to morph from, are they qualified to serve in these positions? to questioning there -- their humanity. we are talking about somebody with a ba from spelman and oxford and a phd from university of california berkeley, the obama white house council of economic advisers, on the federal reserve board in chicago -- i mean, this is someone who is imminently qualified, and yet when we talk about someone's qualifications, it is focused on her. i don't think -- it is not

coincidental that she is black and it is not coincidental that she is also a black woman who is being put through this. i just have to say, as an american and certainly as an african-american, it pains me to see someone who works so hard, who is given so much, to the people in the institutions she has worked with but also to her country to sit before members of the senate who question who she is, what she has done, and what value she brings, how the folks, anyone who sits before these confirmatio hearings, is able to sit through that and not just lose it to defend themselves and defend where they come from and who they are is a testament to why they should be confirmed to the positions they have been nominated to. judy: the last thing i want to turn both of you too, and that is the subject in the news this past week, rising violent crime

in the country, especially homicide in new york city. mayor eric adams had president biden come and meet with him and talk to him about what is going on and what to do about it. here is an excerpt of what president biden said in new york city this week. pres. biden: you know, mayor adams, you and i agree, the answer is not to put more men on our streets. the answer is to come together. police in communities building trust and making us all safer. the answer is not to defund the police. it is to give you the tools, the training, and the funding to be partners, to be protectors, and community needs you. judy: after the death of george floyd, a lot of conversation about the need for police reform. mayor adams is coming from it with a different approach. where are we headed on this

issue? gary: i thought president biden said the right thing yesterday when he said we don't need to defund the police but i thought it was sad that he had to say it. president -- the main thing when it comes to this is setting the tone, and you need to say we support our police departments. when somebody calls 91 one, we want somebody to come. the fact that there were members of this party calling for defunding the police a few years ago, both in congress and at the city level, and he has to come out and say, to his credit, i have never heard -- he has always said we don't need to defund the police but it is a shame that he is in the position to do that. he talked about gun control. i don't think guns are the problem. people using guns are the problem. guns have never walked up and

killed anyone. it is the people who use them for violence and we need to look at the root cause of that. we have a drug problem. i was looking at an article about federal coming across the border. we need to shut that down. that leads to gun violence. president biden said what he said yesterday. i think it is unfortunate he has to say we shouldn't defund the police because that should be obvious. judy: it is a big subject with 30 seconds left to talk about how the debate has shifted. jonathan: it has shifted in that on defund the police, no one is serious who wants to defund the police. what the president and the mayor are trying to do our walk the line of supporting the police but also communities who have serious concerns about how the police do their jobs in terms of protecting the community. the two of them want to make the

community police partners. in a lot of places, they are, but tonight in minneapolis, there are serious issues. judy: i know we are going to be coming back to the subject. jonathan capehart and gary abernethy. for 30 years, he was a primary care physician in rochester new york. he offers his brief but spectacular take on living with als. >> the first winter after i was diagnosed with als, i was admiring the snow-covered pines near our home and recall

wondering how many more times i get to enjoy that. as seasons pass in years past, i realized i was not dying from als. i was living with it. ♪ >> i am a retired primary care physician. i was unfortunately forced to return early, because of my als diagnosis. six years ago. people inevitably lose the ability to walk, move, eat, speak, and breathe. unfortunately, there is no known cure. truly, after my diagnosis, i

knew i wanted to get involved in the als community. i liken als advocacy to a long-distance relay. they know they are working for the same goals. after my diagnosis, i could feel myself internalizing the identity of a disabled person. i look at people in wheelchairs and i feel this connection to them. and -- i think about the things that i know my grandchildren get out of seeing me with a physical limitation. i know that there watching me --

there watching me giv them a respect for people who have physical differences, so even though i cannot run around with them, i am giving them something that is less tangible. after i'm gone, i think that the way i have lived is what i want my kids and wife and family to remember. my name is joel and this is my brief but spectacular take on living with als. judy: what a gift, not just to people with disabilities but to all of us. thank you. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and here again on monday evening. for all of us, thank you and

please stay safe and have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ♪ ♪ >> consumer cellular the william and floraewlett foundation, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world for more than 50 years at hewlett.org ♪ >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems, skoll foundation.org -- skollfoundation.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions ♪ >> and friends of the newshour ♪ [speaking foreign language] --

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributis to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you! ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west, from w eta studios i washington and from our bureau in thelt crf journalism at arizona state university. ♪

♪ tonight on "kqed newsroom," we talk with special guest oakland mayor libby schaaf about what she has accomplished in her two terms as leader of a diverse city of nearly half 1 million people in the work still left to be done. and we'll talk with our panel of reporters about this week's news, which includes the end of death row. single payer health care legislation. and how reducing positive help a baby's brain developed. we embark on a nighttime safari to discover animals glowing in the dark in this week's look at "something beautiful." coming to yofr