♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on "the newshour" tonight. the state of the war -- inspectors disclose their findings from the nuclear power plant caught in the crossfire of the fighting between ukrainian forces and russian invaders. then, the investigations -- we examine the many legal issues surrounding former president trump following the decision to appoint a special master to review the documents seized by the fbi. and megastorm -- a new study , suggests climate change is increasing the likelihood of a destructive flood event in california. >> over the next 30 or 40 years, an extreme storm sequence like the one in our study, is more likely than not to occur in

california. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> 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 find the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and george anderson. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org.

♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz, we will return to the full program after the latest headlines. police in western canada are still searching tonight for the remaining suspect in sunday's stabbings that left 10 people dead.

earlier, they had a possible sighting of myles sanderson at the cree first nation reserve, where the attacks took place. officers surrounded a home with guns drawn and barricaded nearby roads. but later, they said they found no sign of the fugitive. the other suspect, sanderson's brother, was found dead on monday. electronic cigarette maker juul labs will pay nearly $440 million over allegations that its u.s. marketing triggered a surge in teen vaping. today's settlement is with 33 states and puerto rico. it includes a number of restrictions on the company's marketing of these electronic cigarettes. juul still faces 9 lawsuits in other states and hundreds of individual suits. in britain, conservative liz truss became prime minister today, as the country faces soaring inflation and labor unrest. she first met with queen elizabeth to accept the post, and spoke later outside her office.

p.m. truss: we shouldn't be daunted by the challenges we face as strong as the storm may be. i am confident that together we can ride out the storm, we can rebuild our economy. and we can become the modern brilliant britain that i know, we can be. vanessa truss has promised : action to lower energy bills. among other things. she's due to lay out her plan on thursday. south korea's most powerful typhoon in years left the country's southern regions reeling today. the storm struck with winds of 100 miles an hour and 3 feet of rain, killing at least six people. streets were flooded and buildings were badly damaged. rescue crews drove through the waters, pulling people to safety, and thousands lost power. back in this country, authorities in california warned of potential blackouts as a heat wave seared the state.

an emergency alert was issued tonight, urging consumers to cut back on energy use as demand reached record levels. highs were headed for 115 degrees in some places. and in colorado, extreme heat is also forcing the closure of four non-air-conditioned public schools in denver this week. an additional 28 schools will release students earlier in the day. the white house says covid-19 vaccines will remain free to the public. covid coordinator dr. ashish jha made the pledge today despite earlier warnings that federal funding for vaccinations would run out by january. jha also touted new boosters designed to work against the omicron variant. dr. jha: now we have a vaccine that matches the dominant strain out there. it is reasonable to expect based on what we know about immunology and science of this virus that these new vaccines will provide better protection against infection, better protection against transmission, and ongoing and better protection

against serious illness. vanessa: the boosters are expected to become widely available this week. also, a judge in new mexico today disqualified a county commissioner from holding office over the january 6th attack. couy griffin had been convicted of entering the u.s. capitol grounds. the judge found he violated the u.s. constitution's ban on holding office for anyone who engages in insurrection. he's the first public official to lose his job over the january 6th attack. still to come on the newshour, we examine the political landscape two months out from the midterm elections. also, students return to school in uvalde, texas amid unresolved questions following a mass shooting. one of the youngest survivors of auschwitz chronicles her life in a new memoir. plus much more.

>> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: today the united nations' atomic energy agency called for a demilitarized zone around europe's largest nuclear plant. russia has controlled the zaporizhzhia plant in southeast ukraine for 6 months. and a new iaea report today arrives amid increasing concerns about the plant's safety and security. nick schifrin is in ukraine tonight. nick: ukraine's president calls it a nuclear weapon -- an nuclear power plant occupied by an invading army. with russian military vehicles parked inside, and outside, remnants of shelling that u.s. officials blame on russia. today iaea director general rafael grossi told the security council the violence needs to end. dir. grossi: the physical attack wittingly or unwittingly, the hits that this facility has

received and that i could personally see, assess together with my experts is simply unacceptable. we are playing with fire and something very catastrophic could take place. nick: grossi and his team visited the plant last week, escorted by a russian nuclear official. today's iaea report called the situation unsustainable and warned of damage to a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel and a radioactive waste storage facility. and the report calls for a protection zone around the plant, an improvement of staff conditions, and the end of military activities that have damaged the plant's source of electricity. ukrainian and u.s. officia accuse russia of targeting the plant's incoming sources of power, as part of a plan to reroute the plant's output away from ukraine, and into russian controlled territory. but those incoming sources of power prevent what ukrainian

president volodymyr zelenskyy called a radiation catastrophe. pres. zelenskyy: russia is only interested in keeping the situation at its worst for as long as possible. nick: meanwhile in the southern district of kherson, kyiv continues a major counter-offensive, and says it is recapturing towns previously occupied by russia. pres. zelenskyy: we are liberating ukrainian territory from the russian army. we have already started or invaded everything that was destroyed by the russian terror. judy: and nick joins me now from ukraine. hello. tell us, what are ukrainian and american officials telling you right now about the zaporizhzhia plant? nick: the american officials we spoke to are worried about three principal thingsthe first is the staff. some were executed, some were tortured right after russia took over the plant. the worry is that a staff error

could create a nuclear incident. i spent today talking with a staff member from the plant and he downplays the risk a little bit. he says there are about 4000 two 5000 staff still working at the plant, down from 11,000. he said russian soldiers don't interrupt their work and would not feel the presence of russian soldiers if not for the shelling, which brings us to point number two, people worried about the physical safety of the plant. you heard grossi identify damage to a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel, and u.s. officials tell me that russia firea rocket that created a fire at a coal ash in the plant. overall, the u.s. says the structure is intact and they are not concerned about radiation. however, the electricity running into the plant could be cut. the plant needs the electricity

to cool the reactors and prevent any kind of meltdown. officials we are talking to say, and in addition the plant worker i spoke to said this as well, the russians are aiming their weapons at the sources of electricity, the lines of electricity coming into the zaporizhzhia plant as well as other sources of power. ukrainian soldiers have launched an offensive to protect those sources of power, but the power being taken away is dangerous. that is what led to fukushima. that is what u.s. and ukrainian officials are most worried about. judy: is it understood why the russians are targeting the electrical sources? nick: ukrainian and u.s. officials believe russia is trying to redirect the output of the zaporizhzhia power plant

away from ukraine and into russian held territory. to do that they are trying to physically destroy the electricity lines that go from the plant into ukraine. but they are taking the incredibly dangerous step of targeting the incoming electricity as well. that would require russia rather than ukraine to supply electricity to the plant, which we are told would be difficult. that's why control to the south is so critical. south of zaporizhzhia, the output of the power plant, to russian controlled crimea goes through there. the ukrainians recently blew it up. the russians now occupy it and they are trying to fix the electricity lines so the output can go down to crimea. that is one of the key targets in the counteroffensive ukraine is waging. judy: speaking of the southern

part of ukraine, is there an understanding of how the ukrainian counteroffensive is going? nick: ukrainian officials do say they are making progress. they seized at least two towns from russian control, and the goal they say is to retake momentum and stabilize the front before it simply gets too cold in a couple of months and i -- and they can't make any progress in the south. let's go back to that map. the goals of the counteroffensive are to seize the area around the city without going into the city, which would be a bloody fight. we mentioned the second goal, to make sure russia cannot export the power down to crimea. those goals are more narrow than some of the options ukraine had before the war. the u.s. and ukraine worked together including using wargames to narrow those goals

to the point where u.s. officials are mostly positive that ukraine can achieve those goals in the coming weeks and months. judy: all right, nick schifrin reporting for us from ukraine. thank you nick. nick: thanks. ♪ judy: former president trump scored a major legal victory when a federal judge announced she would be appointing an outside legal expert to review files seized by law enforcement from mar-a-lago, effectively halting the justice department's examination of the documents until the expert's work is finished. our john yang has more on the legal implications of the decision. john: judy, in addition to screening for documents protected by attorney-client privilege, judge aileen cannon took the unusual step of

ordering the outside expert to see if any of the materials are protected by former president trump's executive privilege. barbara mcquade is a professor at the university of michigan law school and a former federal prosecutor. barbara, thank you for joining us, especially minutes after you have finished lecturing, as we can see from the lecture hall behind you. having a special master screen these documents, this material, for executive privilege asserted by a former president -- is there any legal precedent for that? prof. mcquade: not at all and i think the order may be problematic in that it allows the special master to review for executive privilege without defining what that means. a special master doesn't make legal decisions, a special master does sorting work. you need things to be clearly defined so the special master can figure that out. is every classified document

created by an executive branch agency potentially protected by executive privilege? i don't think so, but the order is not clear in that regard. it is nonsensical to think that a former can assert executive privilege against the executive branch. we've seen some courts recognize a residual privilege by a president that can be requested and asserted by the incumbent president if he agrees, but only as to third parties like congress. the idea that you can assert executive privilege against the executive is illogical. it seems to me the justice department needs to either appeal this order, or it may be able to manage this question by getting some clarification when it submits is order defining the paramete on friday. john: you mentioned former presidents in the past having -- past have asserted executive privilege by asking the sitting president to do that.

is it clear legally that a former president can assert executive privilege? prof. mcquade: no, in fact, there is some theoretical preservation of privilege. the purpose is to protect candid communications and encourage candid communications between a president and his closest advisors while in office, and the idea that if this could be spilled out later, people might check themselves or it might have a chilling effect on communications while in office. but it is the incumbent president, one unitary executive, who gets to decide in the end whether to assert privilege. i think joe biden would take it under advisement and decide if he wanted to protect privilege, but he already said he was deferring this to the archivist, saying she was asserting the privilege -- waving the privilege, there is no privilege of the documents because belong to the united states government. i don't see how this piece of

the order can possibly take effect. as i said, whether that requires appeal or clarification in the order the justice department submits on friday, i'm not sure it is the best vehicle for getting that. at the moment, there is a ck of clarity by what she means -- of what she means by filtering out executive privilege materials. john: in her order, the judge made much of mr. trump's status as a former president. but is she in a way creating a different standard for former presidents by doing this? prof. mcquade: it's interesting, i think on the one hand it suggests she is violating the rule of law, the idea that no one is above the law. i also think the language might be there to prevent the case from being cited in other cases. so if someone in a garden-variety bank robbery case in the future said i wanted a

special master, the government could distinguish by saying look at this language. she says this is a unique situation, i think the phrase she uses is a league of its own. it's a unique situation to require the unique status. the rule of law does mean that the president is not above the rule of law because he has a special privilege the rest of us don't have like executive privilege. that does not exist for the rest of us. the fact that she has treated him differently doesn't bother me so much and in some ways i think it is an effort to safeguard the opinion from being used as president in a way that could -- precedent in a way that could harm law enforcement in the future. hn: some people have talked about judge shopping. if the justice department does appeal, it would go to the 11th circuit court of appeals, where six of the active judges are

nominated by trump. what does this say about the imprint trump has put on the federal judiciary? prof. mcquade: his influence is certainly vast. one of his probably greatest achievements was his ability to get judges on the court, especially at the circuit level. in i think he worked very hard here with the federalist society to find people who shared the ideology that he represented. i think that's one of the calculations that the justice department is going to have to go through here, who might they draw on the 11th circuit court of appeals and could it end up worse? one of the things the justice the permit was to avoid is making bad law. right now it is district court opinion so it doesn't have that value, but if they appeal to the circuit court, it could have be binding on other courts. they have to be thinking about the long game. john: barbara still in her lecture hall at the university

of michigan. thank you very much. prof. mcquade: thank you. ♪ judy: as lawmakers return from their summer recess, their focus is sharpening even more on the midterm elections. the future balance of power in congress will be decided in just 60 days from today. democrats currently hold a slight majority in the house of representatives, with the party holding 222 seats to republicans's 213. republicans are aiming to reclaim the majority, but a fluid political environment impacted by a confluence of social and political issues has tempered hopes of a red wave. earlier this year, election watchers at the cook political

report were forecasted to win at -- republicans showed republicans were forecasted to win at least 20 to 30 additional seats. that's now dropped to around 10 to 20. following this all closely is david wasserman of the cook political report. he joi me now. welcome back. this is a significant change in your forecast. how firm is it? david: republicans have some structural advantages in the house they didn't in the senate. they have gained 3-4 seats from redistricting alone. they were able to gerrymander more states than democrats. in terms of retirements, there are 38 house democrats not seeking reelection compared to only 27 house republicans. about 15 of those democratic open sea are vulnerable to republican takeover, and in terms of candidate recruitment, republicans have succeeded -- did succeed in 2020 by nominating a lot of candidates who look and sound like trump. they are trying to repeat that

playbook, but the environment has shifted since three months ago. democrats are more energized post dobbs. judy: the supreme court decision on abortion. david: right, and that has had an impression. recently we've seen immigrants -- republicans -- recently we've seen democrats on a special election hot streak where in five straight elections for the house, they have over performed the 2020 margin between biden and trump, including flipping alaska, which is probably attributable to republicans nominating an unpopular candidate, sarah palin, but still a string of those results forms a narrative that republicans cannot ignore it. judy: a mix of things in this political environment right now. we are 60 days out. typically, you see some connection between a president's approval rating and how his party does in midterm elections. what is that equation looking

like? david: if you put president biden's approval rating in historical context, democrats should still was the house, he is at 43% according to the 538 average. donald trump was at 41when republicans lost 40 seats and controlled the house in 2018, but what we are seeing is democrats succeeding in taking the spotlight onto republicans more and off of president biden. the abortion issue has done that. in addition, the fact that gas prices are down 23% or so since june, it has taken the bite out of the message on inflation. we've also seen primaries pulling republicans to the right. judy: meaning you have candidates further to the right running against democrats. that says -- what does that mean for democrats? david: it is not to the same

extent as the senate, where republican primaries have produced uniquely flawed challengers helping democrats prospects. for the most part republicans have nominated candidates that don't look like or sound like donald trump in suburban districts, but there are exceptions, like in round rapids, michigan, where a pro impeachment incumbent lost to a trump-endorsed challenger. that is a seat where they have a better opportunity to flip the district. in virginia's seventh district, abigail spanberger, a democrat, might have a better chance at winning reelection against a candidate from the freedom caucus who has held a 100% pro-life position. judy: a lot of interest in the effect of abortion on this. if you look at the most closely contested districts, do you see

the abortion decision affecting what voters are thinking and how fluid is that situation right now? david: it has handed democrats their full message, and democrats are trying to make the supreme court more of the incumbent than joe biden. when midterms are a referendum on the incumbent president it typically doesn't go well for their party. right now, we've got 213 seats that are at least leaning to republicans in our ratings, 190 seats leaning toward democrats and 32 toss ups. that means republicans only need to win five of the 32 win the majority but it might be small gains than we expected three months ago. judy: the other question is former president trump. clearly he is endorsing candidates and he is in the news every single day. what effect do you see him having? david: it is unconventional

because his goal all year has not been to get republicans the biggest majority, it's to purge the party of those who have crossed him in the past. that has pushed house races in democrats favor because in some of the suburban districts that trump lost, that is the battleground. those are the districts that will be deciding how large republican gains are, and if it is a very narrow majority in 2023, that will mean a difficult house for kevin mccarthy to manage. judy: very quickly, how much could the forecast change between now and election day? david: we are in a very politically fluid environment and this is one of the strangest midterm years we have covered because it is like whiplash. in the spring, republicans, aced -- based on 9.1% inflation, biden at 38%, it looked

like they would have a huge tail wind at their back. now we are looking at crosswinds. judy: very different. david wasserman, thank you very much. david: thanks a lot, judy. ♪ judy: students and teachers returned to school in uvalde, texas today for the first time since the massacre in may that left 21 dead, most of them children. amna nawaz has our update. amna: the first day of school in uvalde, texas. bus rides, backpacks, and kids back in the classroom. but the new school year here comes with new concerns. it was just over 3 months ago that 19 children and 2 teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman at robb elementary. today parents, teachers, and students worry are their schools safe? for veronica mata, whose 10-year

old daughter, tess, was killed that day, it was never a question of if she would return to teaching, but when. veronica: there was a question of whether i was mentally ready. but not to go back. but teaching was always something that i wanted to do. and i know that tess would have wanted me to go back. amna: but not everyone carries that confidence about returning to class. a number of students have opted into homeschooling or virtual learning. and since robb elementary will not reopen its doors, many students are attending new, and different schools in the area. one of those, uvalde elementary -- where veronica mata teaches -- unveiled new security measures like high fencing, security cameras, and more secure doors. kristy: so you'll walk this way, we have our buzz system right here. just press it there, hold it, and then i can hear it ringing, anthere we go. amna: and the texas department of public safety has committed dozens of officers to patrol uvalde school campuses. but many here are still angry

over the botched police response to the mass shooting in may. brett: i don't think that they've handled it at all. i think they just keep trying to put band-aids on a gunshot wound. amna: reminders of that day, and the trauma left in its wake are everywhere. but today, the children of uvalde returned to class and their new sense of normal. amna: joining me now is tony plohetski, investigative reporter for the austin american-statesman who has covered the massacre and its fallout since that tragic day. welcome back. first day back in school for these kids who survived the unimaginable three months ago.we school district has done and has not yet done to make sure kids and parents feel safe back in schools? tony: keep in mind that for most texas schools is started several weeks ago in mid august. uvalde officials intentionally delayed school in that community

to give them a chance to install safety measures they've been talking about after this happened, including cameras, fencing around schools, and locks on we've seen officials in social media videos give us a demonstration, but unfortunately, many of the measures they were putting in place were not in place when school started today for a variety of reasons. that only intensified among parents the sense of unease and anxiety as they sent kids back to school today. amna: do we know why some of the measures weren't in place? our calling here was in touch with one of the parents, a woman who has a third grader at uvalde elementary, and she said she was baffled, they've had all of these things -- all of this time to put these things in the place and i don't know why they haven't. do we ow why? tony: it is disappointing and we are still investigating some of the reasons, why some of the promises about security have not been fulfilled.

at this point, with the superintendent's office and school district have said is they were hampered by supply chain issues and not able to get some of the goods and materials they needed to shore up some of the campuses. we also know -- and this is an important note as well -- more than three dozen texas department of safety troopers have been on the ground in uvalde today helping control -- helping patrol some of the campuses. amna: the district also making available a virtual learning option for students who don't feel safe going back into classrooms. have you spoken to families taking advantage of that? tony: some families tell us this was an option they chose to pursue. the district confirmed that about 150 students have enrolled virtually, but it is also important to note that this is a community of largely working-class families, and so what many parents have said is that they simply did not have the option of enrolling their

children in virtual learning and so they had to face this dilemma of sending their children back to school. we also know that some families as a matter of fact have enrolled their kids in other schools and districts as well as private schools in the area. amna: we just saw how much anger and frustration is still on the ground, recall the townhome -- townhome meeting where anger boiled over. all of that frustration and anger, hasn't it led to accountability on the ground? tony: there are dictations it is -- there are indications that it is leading to accountabily on the ground. keep in mind that last month, school district, after three months, fired the school district police chief, said to be the incident commander that day, and just this evening, we are able to report that the texas department of public safety has confirmed five of its employees who were on the ground

that they have been referred to the state's inspector general's office for possible disciplinary action and possible termination. we are still learning what policy violations they may have broken that day but there is some movement toward accountability and that is something many people in that community have been demanding for some time. amna: finally, we know your colleagues at the statesmen have joined with other texas newsrooms, suing the uvalde officials for refusing to give you access to a number of records. what are you seeking, and what questions do you hope to answer? tony: this is a broad coalition of media outlets in texas and beyond, and given the amount of discrepancies from what authorities said in the first weeks after the shooting, based on what we know now, we believe the only way for the public to have a true and accurate picture of what happened that horrible day is for all of the information to be made public. there has been something of an

erratic release of information, including body camera video, the hallway footage from that day, but again, he are appealing to -- we are appealing to the state officials to release the entire body of information so that everyone, not only in texas but across the nation, can have a full and broad understanding of the law enforcement response that day. amna: no one deserves those answers more than the families on the ground. tony from the austin american statesman joining us today as kids in uvalde go back to school. thank you, always great to see you. tony: thank you, you too. ♪ judy: as we reported, california is still struggling to deal with record heat, and the electrical grid operator warning that there

could be oages tonight. the heat is particularly challenging right now. but the drought and the high temperatures could be putting california at higher risk for flooding and other complications from superstorms down the line. a recent study suggests the golden state must also prepare for a large flood event. for more on this, here's stephanie sy. stephanie: scientists call it a mega flood or mega storm, 30 days of continuous moderate to severe rain and snow covering wide swaths of land. they haven't had one of these in california since 1862. but a new study says climate change is increasing the likelihood of another one hitting the state. the study authors say californians could expect a month long series of storms that could flood parts of the state with more than 100 inches of precipitation. daniel swain is a co-author of the study and a climate scientist at ucla and joins us now. daniel, thank you so much for

joining us. just pnt a picture for us of what this would look like in different parts of california if this kind of mega storm were to strike today. what kind of havoc are we talking about? daniel: thank you for having me. as you mentioned the last time, california saw a weeks long storm sequence of this magnitude way back in the 1860s. so back then california was home to fewer than half a million people as opposed to nearly 40 million people today. so it's a very different landscape in which this sort of event would be unfolding. a lot more people and infrastructure potentially in harm's way. and so this would likely be very disruptive and destructive statewide event, affecting multiple major urban areas and most of california's major economic sectors simultaneously. stephanie: you know, daniel, i grew up in california, we've been preparing for the so called big one, referring to earthquakes, since i was a kid.

put into context how much californians should worry about this and prepare for it? daniel: well, coincidentally enough, one of the terms from -- terms for modern mega flooding california is california's other big one. literally the other kind of major disaster that would cause potentially immense destruction and harm for millions of californians. and i think that, you know, a lot of folks in california are focused toy on drought and water scarcity and things that stem from that like wildfires. and for understandable reasons. we've seen a lot more of that than water over flooding in recent years. but the reality is, this is a part of the world that is still intrinsically susceptible to systems is that the most extremely large events periodically and climate change is raising the odds. even though they've been rising somewhat quietly, and lately in the background is dealing with all of this water scarcity, we would ignore increasing flood risk at our peril.

stephanie: and according to your study, daniel, climate change by your estimates, increases the likelihood of a mega flood and by twice is as high of a likelihood. daniel: indeed, we did find that climate change has actually already increased the likelihood of an extreme storm sequence creating widespread flooding in california. so that's something that's essentially already happened with the warming that has already occurred. further warming is going to increase that risk even more potentially resulting in a tripling or even quadrupling of that risk relative to what it would have been about a century ago. so that's a pretty large increase in the odds and it means that over the next 30 or 40 years, an extreme storm sequence like the one in our study, is more likely than not to occur in california. and so this is not something that is in the far tail of unlikely probability this is something that is very plausible and very what could

happen sooner rather than later. so really we need toe thinking about this over the next few decades. stephanie: and beyond california, what should other western states expect? do they face a similar possibility? daniel: yes, i think it's quite likely that the risk of very large flood, extreme participation in flood events is increasing broadly, even in places that are currently experiencing a lot of drought and water scarcity. in fact, we even see hints of this this past summer, the desert southwest currently facing the multi decadal mega drought, as it has been termed, where they've seen extreme flash flooding on a localized basis during summer monsoon. so they're still in a very seve long term drought, but the short term, individual places have experienced very dangerous and destructive flash flooding right in the middle of that. so of course, that's on a smaller spatial scale than the mega flood that we're talking about in our own work. but it does indicate just how much this this risk is potentially widespread across the western u.s.

in this study, we're focused on california, but the risks are very broadly spread across the west, not just along the pacific coast, but also in the interior places that are typically thought of as being drier places. stephanie: is california and other western states prepared for this? daniel: i think that's the billion and perhaps even trillion dollar question. because the last time that there was an economic analysis done or -- done for a flood of this magnitude, it was estimated that it could approach a trillion dollar disaster in california. so this is a really important question. not just in the context of short term disaster response, making sure fewer people are harmed by this event when it inevitably does occur, but also from an economic perspective, this would be a hugely disruptive event. and i think there is, you know, this is something we're working to assess for the state of california and other regional and federal agencies, where the weak points might be. that's one of the purposes of the research.

that is just one component, we really want to do is be able to figure out where those weak points are, and hopefully address as many of them as possible before this event actually occurs in the modern world. so hopefully, california and other regions with similar risk will be more prepared, and not be caught by surprise when these sorts of extreme flood events do eventually arrive at our doorstep. stephanie: daniel swain, a climate scientist at ucla. daniel, thank you for joining us. daniel: thanks again. ♪ judy: a new book is out today that tells the harrowing story of one young girl's survival through the holocaust. i spoke recently with that once-young girl and her co-author, who's well-known to our "newshour" viewers.

tola grossman was a five-year-old jewish girl in 1944 when she and her parents were shipped in cattle cars to auschwitz. she would become one of the youngest survivors of the camp, freed as the red army swept across poland into germany in 1945. the depths of the horrors it inflicted upon the jews of europe it became apparent. she and her mother were separated from her father at auschwitz, not knowing his fate. they left the camp in april 1945. her mother uttered one word when they left -- remember. tola has written a deeply vivid and affecting account of her life then and since there -- and since. i's called the daughter of auschwitz. her co-author is our very own malcolm.

this book came about as a result of malcolm coming to report on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz and he was talking to you. how did the book idea come about? >> i told him for years i wanted to write a book about my lif. i started many times, but i am not disciplined and not a very good writer, at list -- at least not such a serious book. the first thing he did, he made a short program i think for your tv, right? and it was fabulous. >> we are here to uncover people -- to uncover people and that is what we are here for. tola: all of my friends said it was one of the best short programs about me because he combined music ibackground and my story and what he wrote was

appropriate. shortly after that, i think he called and he said something about maybe we should write the book you been talking about. malcolm: that's not how it happened. tola: how did it happen? we are not even married. [laughter] tova mentioned a year later -- we had stayed friends and been in touch. you said i really want to write a book, and i said i can help you do that. tova: right, sorry. malcolm: she wanted to write it for her grandchildren and i said i know some publishers and we can write this book for the grandchildren of the world. judy: the result is riveting, and the stories of how the nazis terrorized the entire jewish population of your town and of course they murdered many of them. and you witnessed this with your family.

tova: they murdered most of them, not some but most of them. i want to tell you, there were about 15,000 jews in this town at the beginning of the war. when the war ended in 1945, 3 hundred returned out of 15,000. all of these were murdered. some in auschwitz treblinka. many many children. five survived. in a sense, the entire town was destroyed. judy: malcolm, i think one of the rdest things for me to read about, of the many, was the complicity of the non-german, the poles and others, not nazis, but they went along silently or otherwise with what the nazis were doing. malcolm: this was one of the key lessons i think of the holocaust, was if you stand

aside and don't do anything, disaster and murder and genocide takes place. the worst thing of all is complicity. at the time there was a lot of anti-semitism in poland. not everybody there was anti-semitic, some people fought really hard, but in the town that tova came from, it was really bad. tova: i and my mother, the two of us, didn't know if anybody else survived, just the two of us walking into the town, and my mother met somebody she knew, a polish neighbor, and the neighbor was coming toward us, in my mother was so happy to see somebody she knew, and the polish woman said to her -- i remember very well -- what are you still doing here, i thought hitler's killed you all. so the war did not end for us, for many of us at the liberation. judy: this was not an easy book to get through, but it is so

worthwhile. one of the things that was hard for me was the impossible choices the germans imposed on the jewish people, t decision your mother had to make, a point when the nazis were choosing which family survived and which didn't, and she had to push away two of your cousins. tova: that is one thing that caused her early death, she died at 45 in america. she never stopped talking about it. she felt this guilt. she lost 150 people, brothers, sisters, cousins. not a single person survived from her family of origin, not one. and she thought to herself, and maybe she could have saved those two little girls, although it wasn't realistic. she could not have saved them. but she thought she could have, and her guilt permeated her life. malcolm: there were no good decisions, it was a bad one or a

worse one. and split-second decisions had to be made in order to somehow survive. survival itself was resistance against the regime. what we've tried to do is take the reader and immerse them into tova's story, so they fl they were walking in her shoes. it takes them all the way through what happened in the ghetto all the way to the camps, and you see these people being stripped of absolutely everything and the awful decisions they had to make. the question every reader should ask -- what would i do in those positions? tova: my story is not that unique except i survived to tell it. other children when they arrived into auschwitz were taken straight to the gas chamber. they never had a chance. nobody had a chance. somehow i had a chance so i have to tell it. judy: there is more than the book, you've done a tiktok story

about this. tell us about that tova: my fabulous grandson put me on tiktok because he thought his schoolmates don't know anything about it, and he knew they watched the platform and were comfortable with it. he said to me, it will only maybe be 10 or 15 people. maybe they will call you. if you have any questions at all, i would love to answer them. all of a sudden, thousands of young people who had never heard of the holocaust began to contact him and me with questions. at one point there were 50 million -- it is mind-boggling. that means they gave me a lot of hope. it means that young people, young people who know nothing about the holocaust, are listening, are watching, and

want to know. it is really fabulous for me. it makes me feel when i am not here, young people will remember. judy: the holocaust happened just 70, 80 years ago. do you believe it could happen again? malcolm: what you're talking about is human instinct, and over the past 20 or 30 years we've , seen genocide, in bosnia and rwanda. it is possible for large numbers of people to be murdered. and for wars and these kind of poker on -- pogroms to happen quickly. we need to be much more reactive and knock things on their head before they start. trouble can begin very quickly. it took 20 years for hitler to

write mein kampf. tova: like malcolm said, it took 20 years for the human behavior, first the books were burned, all the literature, everything was burned. somebody once said people who are capable of burning books are eventually capable of burning people. the laws against the jews, what they are allowed and not allowed to do. people have to somehow, i don't know, get into the side of their psyche where you want to be there to save the human race and not kill it. we are not there yet. judy: so important to tell these stories and remember. and to keep talking about it, keep talking about it to remind us about what humanity is capable of. the book is "the daughter of auschwitz."

we thank you both. malcolm: thank you for having us. tova: thank you. judy: a riveting book, please read it. and this quick postscript -- a source who will remain named malcolm brabant, advised us that tomorrow is tova friedman's 84th birthday, and we all wish her many, many happy returns! ♪ tonight on pbs, "frontline" looks at the 2020 election, the rhetoric that led to political violence and republican leader'' support of the lie that the election was stolen. here is a clip from "lies, politics and democracy." >> republican leaders made a critical choice. >> the republican leadership is

absolutely freaked out that if trump leaves, the party will fragment. there will be no hope for the republican party. republican leaders always had that in the back of their mind, that if trump walks away, he will bring millions of voters with him and you can kiss the idea of a republican majority goodbye for a long time. >> as trump hunkered down at his mar-a-lago compound in florida, it did not take long before he was visited by a special guest. they took a photograph. >> carthy says to trump, i want your help for 2022, help me win the majority. it was laid out on the table for donald trump to repair himself. >> it's like somebody is in cardiac arrest and you take out the paddles and bring them back to life.

trump's career was in cardiac arrest and mccarthy brought out the paddles. judy: that's on "frontline" tonight at 9:00 eastern on your pbs station. check your local listings. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live yourife. life, welllanned. ♪ >> 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 performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> and in the west state university. ♪

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