♪ judy: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. putin's ploy. the kremlin orchestrates a sham referenda that aims to force on occupied parts of ukraine to join russia. >> i am against the referendum. i think my town and my region fully belong to ukraine. this is all very hard and i reckon there is no place for russians on our land. judy: former president trump embraces the unfounded theories of the extremely far right qanon community, raising concerns about future political violence. david brooks and karen told multi way in on president

biden's speech at the united nations and the tenuous state of republican politics. all of that and more on the pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon. a volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well lived. >> and with ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour including jim and nancy holgren. >> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org.

>> and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. vanessa: we have news from the west and will return after the latest headlines. a selloff swept wall street as rising interest rates in the u.s. and many other countries are intensifying fears of a recession. the dow jones industrial average hit its low of the year to close at 29,000 590.

the nasdaq fell nearly 200 points and the s&p 500 lost 64. all three stock indexes were down 4% to 5%. voting has begun in russian occupied regions on whether to join russia proper. moscow went ahead with the referendum today despite western opposition. others charge the votes are illegitimate and preordained to go russia's way. hurricane fiona blew past bermuda with the driving rain and wind gusting up to 100 miles an hour. the storm turned up rough seas and knocked out power as it passed to the west. fiona will begin lashing the atlantic provinces late tonight. watches extend from nova scotia to newfoundland. 60% of puerto rico's homes and businesses spent the day with no

electricity. counter protesters marched in support of the islamic regime today. that followed a growing unrest over aoung woman's death in the custody of the so-called morality police. several thousand demonstrators turned out, waving iranian flags. they accuse antigovernment protesters of being guided by foreigners. >> the protesters and rioters that took to the streets are not ordinary people. definitely, we won't allow this to happen. >> the government claimed the counter protests were spontaneous. a disaster grew even worse today. the victims were lebanese, palestinians, and syrian refugees likely bound for europe. survivors were brought on shore

and taken to hospitals. it is the deadliest incident yet in an exodus driven by lebanon's economic collapse. an arizona judge ruled today that a state ban on abortion is enforceable. this mean clinics will have to stop pviding the procedure to avoid potential criminal charges. an exception remains if the woman's life is in danger. an appeal of the ruling is likely. new details have emerged about the death of elijah mcclain, and unarmed black man killed in police custody in a denver suburb. maclean died from an overdose of a powerful sedative ketamine injected by paramedics. the cause of death was undetermined. a local prosecutor declined to prosecute first responders. a grand jury indicted police

officers and paramedics last year. still, david brooks and karen to multi analyze the political news. a nasa engineer is recognized for his look overseeing the launch of the web telescope. a new move seeks to make hiking trails more accessible. we examine the legacy of the late author and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour. judy: as we reported, moscow today launched with the u.s. calls illegal votes or referenda in four regions of southern and eastern ukraine that are currently occupied by russia. the u.n. said today it has found

new evidence of war crimes and many russians appear to be fleeing the country instead of signing up for a new military draft. >> in the city shelled now looms the threat of russian annexation to fill out what the russians call balance. do you want to join russia? the outcome is not in doubt. state tv showed scripted and staged celebrations and some retail politicking. this is the reality of what u.s. and allies called a sham. a poll worker carries a box of ballots and the occupied literally voting at gunpoint. dennis portrayed the vote as self-determination and annexation inevitable. >> the referendum is a historical milestone not only

because we are certain this will be positive but because this is the culmination of a difficult journey. >> the ukrainians insisted is their home and call the russians unwanted guests. and those who escape russian occupation remained defiant. >> i am against the referendum. i think my town andy region fully belong to ukraine. this is very hard and direct and there's no place for russians on our land. >> you and officials say that they found preliminary evidence of russian atrocities. >> based on the evidence gathered by the commission, it is clear that war crimes have been committed in ukraine. >> a you an independent commission of inquiry on ukraine briefed the human rights council today. >> sexual violence, torture.

there are examples of cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes. the age of victims of sexual and gender-based violence ranged from four to 92 years. >> and those that committed those atrocities will be joined by hundreds of thousands more as russia mobilizes the 300,000 additional forces. these recruits are east of the ukraine border. >> the most difficult thing is to say goodbye to the kids. >> others are reluctant to head off to war and unconvinced. >> of course already, but not now. i think it's not my war.

>> there are signs the call up is more widespread. but many seem to lack faith. the newly mobilized fight amongst themselves and another, the drinking apparently begins far from the front. this recruiter tells his forcibly captive audience to be quiet and listen. they will be shipped to training in three days and won't come back until the war is over. others are not waiting. the line at the russia-finland border is double from last week. some russians are driving away instead of being driven into putin's war in the ukraine. judy: former president donald

trump is back on the campaign trail stumping for republican candidates who will be on the ballot this november. on the nevada has more. -- amna nawaz has more. amna: lisa is there and joins me now. it is good to see you. see the crowd behind you and i know you have been talking to some of the attendees so give us a sense of who is there and what brought them out. >> we are waiting under this carolina blue sky. and when you ask them why they are here, the first thing they will tell you is becau they love this country. that they are devoted to former president trump. more devoted to him than the republican party he represents and leads. they expected a very large crowd and this is not the stadium-sized draw he had when he was running for president or

was president but it is still one of the larger types of crowds we will see in the midterm election cycle. we asked the people here why they support president trump, what they make of the investigation underway and what they think of how president biden sees them. >> he is calling us all extreme radicals. we are not extreme. we just love our family and our country and we want what's best. i don't do that to democrats. i don't group them all in one category. i have family and friends that are democrats. they are just good people. we just think differently, but i don't call them names. >> what we are going through with high gas prices and food prices, i wonder how the poor people feed their children, clothe their children. i'm not happy with it at all.

and i think trump would make a lot of difference. he did back then. we weren't in the recession we are in now. >> how many times are they going to investigate the poor guy? despite the investigations and the headwinds against him, it is all ridiculous. if the guy did anything wrong, it would've come out by now. >> get up off the chair and get involved in volunteer. that's what i've done for the first time ever in my life. >> for these midterm elections? >> exactly. i called up my local elections and said i want to be a poll watchers. th said ok and they are making me a judge. >> we know that steve bannon, foreigner -- former senior advisor among others has called

for what he says is the precinct strategy for trump allies to become election officials across the country. republicans and democrats appoint judges at the local level and this is something that trump forces in particular want their people to do. while that man i spoke to is doing it out of what he says is a personal sense of public service, it is part of a political strategy from former president trump and his allies. amna: you are in a key state in the battle control for congress. he's not even on the ballot. >> we have a 50-50 u.s. right now. north carolina is one of 10 states that could determine if republicans or democrats control that chamber going ahead. the north carolina open senate seat, we have representative ted

budd, the republican. achieve justice from the north carolina supreme court, both parties like their candidates here. president trump has endorsed ted budd. i should say former president trump. talking to those involved in this race, this is the place where joe biden running in 2020 underperformed. this was a place hard-hit by covid. this is also a place where there are a lot of rural voters nearby and republicans say they have to get out to win in november and they are hard to reach door to door. something like a rally from a former president is a way to reach thousands at a time. amna: i heard you ask about the investigations and headlines we see at the national level. what did other people say it

when you asked if they cared about the headlines of the new york attorney general suing mr. trump for fraud into his handling of classified materials? does any of that matter to them? >> there are two schools of thought. for some, they are enraged. they are motivated to get out because they believe those investigations are political as the former president has alleged. others have said i want to move on. they will say i'm not a perfect person and he's not a perfect person. if they were going to charge him, they should have done so previously. of course we know why that hasn't happened. but i will say something that is universal and every person we talked to, none of them believe the results of the 2020 election are legitimate. they doubt it to different

degrees but none of them except as we know it is legitimate, the election of joe biden. there is still conspiracy here and the fraudulent idea that there were problems with that election. >> the presence of qanon supporters, are you seeing any signs of that in wilmington tonight? >> they have rejected it. one woman believes there is something to the qanon conspiracy theories and she believes president trump is promoting them. we also saw bumper stickers. it is a dark conspiracy theory that is part of this crowd but it speaks to what this event is. it is an example of the contradictions in american politics.

a crowd talking about how much they love this country and throughout this crowd are woven conspiracy ideas, even rejecting an election we know is legitimate. >> lisa, thank you. good to see you. for more on the president and his more overt embrace of qanon, we turn to the author of the book the storm is upon us. how qanon became a movement, cult, and conspiracy theory of everything. that overt embrace that some people say they are seeing, what do you see? from the messaging to the merchandise, is it a more overt embrace of this dangerous conspiracy theory? >> what i have seen is absolutely an embrace of qanon. it looks almost like a church service with the swaying and the

music and the two-way worship. his back is really against the wall. and when your back is against the wall, you turn to the people that have always been in your corner. and for trump, this is the qanon movement. every loss has reaffirmed their faith in his greatness and eventual victory. trump sees a group of people that look at him as an almost messianic figure and he is reflecting back to him the love he has been given by them. amna: there is a song that seems to be associated with qanon and trump has used it in a video and it has played in rallies like this one and ohio. >> we are a weapon -- a nation

that has weaponized law enforcement against an opposing political party like never ever before. a federal bureau of investigation that won't allow bad election changing facts to be presented to the public. amna: the trump team says this has nothing to do with qanon but tell me what you are seeing online. how is this music perceived and received by people who believe in this conspiracy theory? >> there are two songs. the first is the piece the trump says they have been using, a royalty-free piece called mirrors. the second song is by richard feel good and it stands for where we go one we go wall, the key qanon catchphrase. trump says they are not using the song and the qanon people say this is him acknowledging us

and patting us on the head. what this really is is a messianic stance, looking at them as this savior figure and trump looking at them saying these people love me, i'm going to give it back to them. it's a two-way relationship of everybody patting each other on the back and giving a thumbs up. amna: we have to say that we are talking about a baseless and dangerous conspiracy that fueled the january 6 insurrection. because of potential violence from members, help us understand why this overt embrace now. are we talking about a significant and powerful voting block? >> it's important to separate q

believers from the mass of republicans. a lot of republicans, even very trump devoted republicans will say i'm not one of those queue people a i don't believe in that stuff. but they believe the election was stolen and that violence might be necessary to get trump back in office and believe the pandemic was a hoax. ultimately the branding and the iconography doesn't mean as much ast used to because this is a movement that has violent tendencies based on a bedrock of mass arrests and executions embraced by the mainstream republican party even if they have dropped the branding and catchphrases. these people have embraced what qanon stands for. amna: when you have someone with the power and platform overtly embracing this conspiracy theory , how do you respond to it?

how can companies and authorities and officials respond to it? >> we have to take it seriously. this movement revolves around violence. they want nothing to with this. the president has now thrown his hat in with a very violent fringe group and it has to be taken seriously. we can't write it off as some crazy internet stuff. this is now mainstream politics, the leader of the republican party and presumptive nominee of 2024. mike, thanks for your time.

judy: president biden rebuked russia and vladimir putin in notable remarks at the united nations general assembly all while investigations around president trump picked up steam. to break down the news and more, we turn to the analysis of new york times columnist david brooks and karen to multi-. jonathan kay part away. so i want to start with ukraine and what we have seen this week. major setbacks on the battlefield for russia. vladimir putin is calling up hundreds of thousands of young and not so young reservists. he is orchestrating a sham elections so they can annex parts of ukraine. what more can the west and the

u.s. do at this point? >> he has suffered all the setbacks on the ground and he is like a wounded tiger, reacting by saying it's time to attack. so what the u.s. government is trying to do is to help the ukrainians push him out of ukraine and that is a very fine line to walk through. i think the u.s. government is doing what it has been doing, to supply ukrainians with the weapons they need to win the war in ukraine and not supply them with weapons that they might need to attack moscow. they have the antiaircraft material. they have the antitank material

and so they are better trained and they areoing to keep plodding along. the pacing is key and escalates in a way that could involve attacking a nato country and a whole variety of ways he can escalate. judy: it all depends on vladimir putin and if he wants to end this. is that how we should see it? >> i think so. and it's important to remember that china is watching as well and so they will be looking at western resolve in the face of a nuclear threat and as they try to decide what they are doing with taiwan. the main thing the west has to do is stand firm. continue supplying aid. it is incumbent on europe to

me up with alternative supplies of fuel to get them through the winter as russia cuts back because that is where vladimir putin also has leverage. >> and i think he has done a pretty good job of building up their stockpiles. and i think putin has done every thing possible to make it easy for nato to stay together. the speh this week, the mass graves. giving a warning that he was going to cut off you'll, he has hardened resolve around the world and kept what was going to be a tricky job of allies together. >> his biggest problem might be domestically. people are fleeing for the

border, men who are being drafted. he's got big problems at home. judy: we mentioned president biden's speech at the u.n. general assembly. you have other countries that are contributing to the war effort, but you get the sense that there is an effort to how much difference this can make. >> it does make it harder to do a mass offensive because it gets muddy. the hope is that putin says i ed to do some negotiation. and the hope is that the ukrainians say we have done fantastic but actually pushing russian troops is kind of hard and maybe we should go to the negotiating table.

that would be one where they negotiate a solution. the ukrainians are the heroes here. but their passions are high and they are filled with indignation and talking in a maximalist way. maybe the ukrainians will just -- it is their war and maybe they will keep pushing a little faster than some of the allies would like. judy: let's turn to politics in this country as we saw in the report, midterms are getting closer. today, house republicans and minority leader kevin mccarthy made a speech and went out of his way to outline what he sees what the republican agenda would be if they take majority in the fall but i want to show up clip of some of what he said and how president biden responded. >> we want an economy that is

strong. that means you can fill up your tank. you can buy groceries and have enough money left over to go to disneyland and save for future. we have a plan for a nation that is safe. that means your community will be protected. your law enforcement will be respected. criminals will be prosecuted. pres. biden: house minority leader kevin mccarthy unveiled what he calls a commitment to america. that is a thin series of policy goals with little or no detail for a few of the things we didn't hear. we didn't mention the right to choose. we didn't hear him mention medicare or social security. >> normally a midterm election is a referendum on the president. but this one is different because people are looking at

what the republican agenda itself can be. in part because of the abortion decision and in part because donald trump is in the news constantly. so house republicans are looking for something to talk about that are not those two things. but this package unveiled today and meant to be an echo of the 1994 contract with america was not specific at all. it was basically aunch of talking points. it reflects how fractured republicans in the house are. getting a majority of them to agree on anything is not only difficult in a campaign but it is going to be difficult for kevimccarthy or whoever the speaker is if the republicans get the majority again in this midterm election. judy: how fractured are they? >> and 2020, they have no

platform at all. >> anything donald trump wants. >> the party is in an interesting transition. it used to be a business party and it is becoming a working-class party. it's becoming a party much more hostile to corporations and much more welcoming of social security and medicare and that sort of thing. much more willing to use government to hp working-class folks but it takes a while for the party to migrate. there are some very fine people, paul ryan was part of the old party. and within the house he of people part of that business party and you have the working-class party and they don't seem i to i. they are changing colors and rapid form. -- in rapid form. judy: is this what we will watch until the election?

>> i think so but one of the problems is that donald trump keeps creeping back into the news. judy: this was a tough week for him. not only a court ruling against his side and what to do with those papers that the fbi seized , but also the new york state attorney general who is accusing him and his family and his business of fraud. and yet as we just watched, he's drawing big crowds. >> the civil suit amused me, claiming that his apartment in new york was 30,000 square feet when it's only 11,000 square feet. that is classic donald trump. it's not the most politically important because it will take years to run through the courts and even if he lost everything,

his organization can afford it. the georgia case and the mar-a-lago cases more serious. the judicial decision seems plain common sense, two out of three judges were trump appointees. if we are going to investigate the documents, investigators have to see the documents. it means the investigation of those documents will speed up. judy: how does this bad news affect his prospects and ability to sway the results? >> we know what the playbook is because we have seen donald trump in legal trouble so many times. delay, deflect, bluster, play the victim, and counterattack. but what does feel different now is an accumulation of legal problems. not only being accused of a quarter billion dollars worth of

fraud in new york and having the fulton county georgia d.a. figuring out what kind of pressure he was putting on local officials to swing the election but the january 7 committee and the justice department looking into his actions before that. and the fact that he had classified documents in his personal possession. it's so many things going on at once. judy: and he's drawing big crowds. his believers still believe and they still think the election was stolen. >> and they think these elections are politically motivated which is not 100% wrong. i ran into a guy last week or so, a big trump supporter, but supporting ron desantis for the nomination because he thinks we should nominate a guy without baggage. if there are enough republicans

that make that calculation, some non-trump person would have a chance. i wouldn't bet on it. and i thought before the mar-a-lago search, they have drifted away from trump. judy: how much influence will he have on these races? is the list coming off of donald trump? >> within a republican primary, his word is almost everything. but as a result, there are a lot of very weak republican candidates running, particularly for the senate. judy: we will leave it there. karen, welcome to the table tonight.

tuesday night saw a rare celebration of our nation's public servants. the service to america metals -- this year's winners come from all corners of government and education specialist to the state department team that coordinated the largest resettlement of refugees in u.s. history. nasa's greg robinson walked home with the flagship award federal employee of the year. now sending back the spectacular images of our solar system and beyond. gregory robinson, welcome to the newshour. >> i'm honored to be here. judy: what did you think when

you found out you are the federal employee of the year? >> looking at the finalist, it is across government. judy: you were with the government for decades and have now retired. to take us back to 2018. you were deputy associate minister for programs, you were overseeing performance of over 100 programs have the boss said we want you to run the progr. >> i tried to run as well but he wouldn't let me go. i enjoyed the job and thought i was making a difference. i really loved what i was doing so i did not want to take the other job. he finally convinced me to take it.

judy: they doubled yourally? -- salary? >> no, just made a convincing case that how important web is an asset in the world. so after reluctance and a lot of time talking with my wife and a few mentors, i agreed to take it all. judy: it was described as having a lot of problems, off-track, delays. really shot through with problems in a way. what did you do to turn that around? >> the flagship missions are very bold. one was making sure everyone was alive. one personal the team all the way through nasa headquarters

and stakeholders in congress, making sure everyone was looking at things the right way and asking the right questions. and responding appropriately. they were not working on web. and having those people come in and helping out a little bit is important. >> they have not been given a lot of credit over the years. bureaucrats, lazy, wasting taxpayer dollars. what should they know about the people he worked with at nasa? >> people get up in the morning and their job is to get that thing done. even though we went through challenges. they met every challenge, got it

done and an amazing workforce. judy: it goes without saying that you are one of the very few black men working at a high level at nasa. you could say that across the federal government. to what extent has race been an issue for you? >> there were times i felt resistance to advancement. and different parts of the organization, major programs. i had a of that. mine has been a lot less than others. doing a program with howard university, the question came up, i had my comms team with me

and no one could answer the question. i think that is something we really need to work on. i've had this conversation with others. >> your parents were tobacco sharecroppers. you are one of 11 children. who do you think they would be saying if they were here? >> what is this boy doing up here? they would be proud, no doubt about it. they worked extremely hard to get as educated and to try to raise us. times were tough. i started out in segregated southern virginia.

even after it is desegregated, they have their own challenges and opportunity and exposure, things like that. they would be quite proud. judy: there is a good reason for that. we want to add our congratulations. >> think you so much. judy: -- thank you so much. judy: outdoor benefits, but for many people, there are a lot of barriers even to taking a simple hike because of a disability or difficulty with balance. as jennifer reports, a new grassroots movement aims to

change that and make trails assessable -- accessible to all. >> just north of portland, volunteers are nearly finished building the 11-mile multiuse westside trail. this section will be accessible to those with disabilities. >> the boards are my favorite part. >> they are first-time volunteers here with their grandfather. >> we are building a bridge for people that have a wheelchair or need help walking. >> engineering and design details matter. there can be no wide gaps between the boards and the teen has chosen cedar because it is less slippery than pressure-treated lumber. the grades interns are gentle. -- and turns are gentle.

it is one of a handful of new projects around the state designed to be universally accessible. they are part of a growing national movement known as outdoors for all. one of the biggest proponents is not waiting for special new trails to be built. one of the biggest proponents of the movement here in maine is not waiting for a special, new trails to be built. he is out there now. meet enoch, born with spina bifida, he goes everywhere in a wheelchair. for a year, he has been traveling all over maine, testing trails for the app mean trial finder. >> is in cumberland, maine. >> over my head, different obstacles like this or a hole behind us or a rock to get me

up the hill or groups in the road or roots. that's a big thing. lots of roots and trees. i take note of all this things in my mind and take pictures and video. >> when he gets home, he posts the pictures and writes a blog. he likes this trail and rated most of it expressible -- accessible or, quote, wheelie easy. might not take much to make your trails significantly more accessible. >> look at the trails that we arty have, the easy ones and look at it from the perspective of, if i was in a chair right now, what any of this stop me? if you do find something that would, how can we fix it and then just fix that and fix the next thing and the next thing. pretty soon, you have an accessible trail.

>> zach stegen and of the adaptive outdoor education center it says outdoors for all means all ages and abilities. >> i think we are approaching a tipping point. >> how far do we have to go? >> as far as the trail goes. we've got a long ways to go. it doesn't have to be every trail. but it sure would be great if we looked at just about every venue with trails having one that is accessible, where someone with a physical challenge navigating some uneven terrain or perhaps a traumatic brain injury and some balance issues or visually impaired, whatever the challenge is, that they can still get outside and access that beautiful space. it does not have to the be the summit. just somewhere along the way. >> meanwhile, volunteers will keep showing up. >> it's incredibly good work. it results in a good product

used by hundreds and hundreds of people for decades. what's not to like? >> and enoch will keep trying new trails, inspired by the people he is helping. >> a lady walked up to me and asked her was. love your blog, you have pointed out so many places that me and my mother can go together. that's really why do that. >> for the pbs news hour, i am jennifer rooks in cumberland, maine. hilary heller him and tell authored 17 books. it was her historical fiction based on the life of thomas cromwell and king henry viii that brought her worldwide acclaim. she died yesterday aged 70 at a stroke near a

hospital at her home in exeter, england. we sat down with her and 2015. at the time, she had published the first two novels of the trilogy. the formal is being adapted for a pbs television series and for the broadway stage. here's an excerpt of the conversation. part of our arts and culture series. >> reporter: her historic characters are seemingly everywhere. >> the ever-expanding henry viii with his six wives. no one else has a ruler with six wives who cuts the heads off two of them. so, you're off to a fun start there. >> reporter: her novels and its sequel have been international sensations. more than 4 million books sold in 37 languages. she won the prestigious book award twice. is a familiar story in many ways.

a momentous reign of the 1500s tutor king henry. played on television by damien lewis. basking in power, but needing a male heir. cutting was one life in favor of the young and bolan emma only to cut her head off when no son was produced. but she told the story in a new way. >> what did you just do? >> i had him, only with one finger. >> cromwell has been cast as the heavy, shadowy, cruel schemer. especially compared to his great rival, thomas moore. certainly clever and scheming but also charming and urbane. >> son of a blacksmith. he rose to be the king's right- hand man and eventually earl of essex. my question is simple, how do

you do that? what kind of a man in a hierarchal, structured society can break your all the social layers, all the factors stacked against him and the climb so high? and what is the price? >> you looked at the history and said, this is wrong, the way he has been portrayed? >> i thought it was a lot more complicated and nuanced than the depiction. i wanted to put the spotlight on him and i wanted to ask my leader or audience, well, what would you do if you were him? just walk a mile in his shoes and then see what you think. >> she says she grounded her fiction in years of research. >> i think that an imaginative writer still has a responsibility to the reader.

the responsibility is to get the history right. >> you want to do that. >> absolutely. it's the absolute foundation of what i do. i begin to imagine at the point where the facts run out. but like a historian, i am working on the great, marshy ground of interpretation. >> which historians do, but also, you are saying novelists? >> exactly. we all share the same sources and facts. the question is, where do we stand to view them? i sometimes think back to the day when i began. it is very vivid in my mind. reading the first paragraph and having the feeling, by the time i was halfway done with the page, this is the best thing you've ever done. i was walking around with a big grin. you want to see my first page?

>> from the first page to the very last one, valerie completed her fame trilogy in 2020 with the novel, the mirror and the light. now something that we have to share. one of our viewers let us know that her son, benjamin, is a big fan of the news hour. especially the theme music. he gets very excited. in her request, we sent benjamin a gift -- a clip of our music. his mom programmed it into one of his toys. >> how cool is that, benjamin? yeah, you can play it any time you want. play it again.

judy: [laughter] it doesn't get any better than that. thank you, benjamin. he >> it doesn't get any better than that. thank you, benjamin. just 18 months old. his mother says he has been watching for a long time. he reminds us how grateful we are for fans of all ages. thank you. this evening, joining our moderator and her panel on tonight's washington week here in pbs. tomorrow on pbs news weekend, the latest on the ground in puerto rico. the island works to recover from hurricane fiona. that is the newshour for tonight. i am judy woodrow. for all of us at the pbs news hour, please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding has been provided by -- ♪

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♪ >> and friends of the newshour. and friends of the newshour. the by the corporation for public broadcasting and from contribution this program is made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is the pbs news hour from washington and in the west from the school of journalism at arizona state university.

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