♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on "the newshour" tonight... political violence -- a man targeting house speaker nancy pelosi attacks her husband in their home, the latest example of rising threats against lawmakers. then... a new boss -- elon musk takes over twitter and immediately fires the company's top executives, promising to overhaul the social media platform. turning out the vote -- republican and democratic candidates in nevada make their last pitches to latino communities, hoping to earn the edge in close contests. david: it's still a really low participation state. there is an opportunity for both parties to grow the electorate here. judy: and it's friday... david brooks and jonathan capehart analyze the week's news. all that and more on tonight's

"pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well planned. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it is exciting to be part of the team driving the technology forward. i think that is the most rewarding thing.

people who know know bdo. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering 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. judy: u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi's husband paul was severely beaten with a hammer this morning when an attacker broke into their san francisco home. the speaker was not there at the time.

authorities said the suspect -- identified as 42-year-old david de peppy -- specifically targeted the residence. he shouted, "where is nancy?" before assaulting her husband. san francisco police chief william scott said officers checking on the home witnessed the attack. chief scott: our officers observed mr. pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. the suspect pulled the hammer away from mr. pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested backup and rendered medical aid. judy: paul pelosi suffered blunt force injuries to his head and body. he is in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. the attack comes as threats to american lawmakers are at an all-time high, two years after the january 6 attack on the capitol. lisa desjardins has been following all this and joins me now.

hello, what more do we know? lisa: we did get a statement a few minutes ago from speaker pelosi's office and they did say that paul pelosi did make it through surgery for a skull fracture as well as damage to a right arm in his hand. he successfully got out of surgery and is expected to fully recover. that is good news. we know he was assaulted with a hammer, we don't know if there were other aspects of the assault that happened before the police arrived. hopefully we get those details soon. the suspect is a 42-year-old, believed to have resided in berkeley california, nearby. we asked mary mccord, an expert on this, on what she has heard about an online presence for someone with his same name. mary: it's not confirmed that this is the same person, but a person with the same name as the attacker is connected to a couple of different online

platforms, one being a blogspot that seems to be espousing free speech and and, you know, decrying censorship by the government. and the other is a website that engages in antisemitism, anti- lgbtq rhetoric, qanon conspiracy theories and hate speech targeting women and immigrants. lisa: i was told by a source that was briefed that the suspect did ask where is nancy, that he went looking for the speaker of the house specifically. he has been charged with multiple counts, including attempted murder. police are working on the case. judy: a lot of questions obviously about how he managed to get in, where was the security in her home in san

francisco. what is known right now about threats against lawmakers and how they are being protected? lisa: we will be talking about this for a few days at least as we understand this event more. there was no police force securing the residence, there is not security at the speakers home when she is not there. this is the case for all of the protective ease in congress. as many of our viewers no, she is second in line to be president of the united states and yet no security and less it was private secured. this summer, house of representatives gave $10,000 for every remember of the house for first time to spend on personal security at their home, they were encouraged to get things like cameras. some are still working on that. but as you reported, threats arising still in both parties. we are coming up on two years after january 6 and still threats arising to an incredible level. i spoke to members of congress

on the phone and staffers who say this is not subsided, we are still getting these threats. it is to both parties, but more democrats getting threats, people in competitive races, or the venue a six the committee, they have to deal with them all the time, and women in particular getting threats. unfortunately, as there is more demand and need for security, there are fewer capitol police officers. there are 10% fewer capitol police officers today than there were before january 6. judy: so much has changed and yet the protection level has gone down. lisa: the number of officers has gone down. judy: so much to unpack and i know you will report on it in days to come. ♪ vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with "newshour west." we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines.

billionaire elon musk began his shakeup of twitter and faced a flood of requests to reinstate banned users. the tesla ceo has vowed to restore free speech to the platform. so far, his takeover plan has been short on details. but he says he does intend to form what he called a content moderation council with diverse viewpoints. we'll have more on this after the news summary. residents in a miami beach, florida condominium on the same avenue of a condo that collapsed last year were forced to evacuate last night after city officials deemed the building unsafe. engineers found a crack in the main support beam in the garage and other structural issues. the 14-story building is about a mile from the surfside condo building that collapsed, killing 98 people. a federal judge in arizona has refused to bar a group from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in maricopa county. he said banning them would violate the group's

constitutional rights. that comes amid reports of voter intimidation, including some involving masked and armed people closely watching the drop-off boxes. a colorado man was convicted in federal court today of defrauding donors in a campaign to fund president trump's southern border wall. timothy shea and co-defendants syphoned over $25 million in the we build the wall scam. steve bannon was charged in the same federal case, but was pardoned by trump. new york state has brought its own case against bannon. he pleaded not guilty last month. in the philippines, at least 42 people have died in flash floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. rescue crews helped the elderly into boats in a hard hit southern province. homes there were engulfed by floodwaters. the storm is expected to hit the country's east coast tomorrow. russia has announced an end to

calling up new troops to fight in ukraine. moscow ordered the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists last month after a string of military defeats, in a move that drew rare public dissent. in a televised meeting today, president putin spoke with his defense minister sergei shoigu. they acknowledged mistakes had been made. pres. putin: i want to thank everyone who took part. you yourself noted that there were certain problems and difficulties at the first stage. this was probably inevitable, given such events have not been held in our country for a long time. nessa: activists in iran say police shot and killed at least two protesters in the southeastern city of zahedan. demonstrators took to the streets, calling for the death of supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. more than 270 people have been killed since protests against iran's morality police began in september.

a new united nations report estimates more than 96,000 haitians have fled port-au-prince due to rampant gang violence. it spiked after the assassination of president jovenel moïse in 2021. gangs now control about 60% of the capital city. haiti's government has requested help from foreign troops to end the brutality. and, two passings of note tonight. rock and roll icon jerry lee lewis died today at his home in mississippi. lewis emerged onto the rock music scene in the 1950's and became known for his piano talent, explosive energy, and cockiness. jeffrey brown has more. ♪ jeffrey: in 1957, jerry lee lewis belted out his hit "whole lotta shakin' going on" for a national television audience. the attitude and style, pounding

piano and blasting rulm hyewwoin early rival to elvis presley. but revelations about his personal life -- he had married a 13, possibly 12 year old cousin, while already married -- brought scandal that derailed his career. run-ins with the law, drug and alcohol abuse, violent deaths of family and friends -- it was all part of the jerry lee lewis story. but, he also managed to reinvent himself in the 1970s and after on the country music scene, recording nearly two dozen top n country hits. >> please join me in congratulating me the inductee, long overdue in my opinion, jerry lee lewis. jeffrey: and was honored as a founding father by generations of pop and rock stars. elton john called him "the best rock and roll pianist ever." and at the 1995 opening of the rock 'n roll hall of fame, bruce springsteen introduced lewis as

"the man who doesn play rock 'n roll, he is rock 'n roll." jerry lee lewis died today at his home in desoto county, mississippi, south of memphis. he was 87 years old. for "the pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown. vanessa: reverend calvin butts -- the longtime leader of harlan's abyssinian baptist church -- also died today. for decades, butts fought for racial and social justice as the church's senior pastor. he was known for bridging divides and hosted global and national leaders from across the political spectrum. he was 73 years old. still to come on "the newshour"... with the war in ukraine raging on, a former russian diplomat weighs in on putin's ambitions... david brooks and jonathan capehart discuss the upcoming midterms... what baseball fans can expect as the world series kicks off... and 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: billionaire -- and tesla ceo -- elon musk now owns twitter, after finally completing a $44 billion takeover of the social media platform. within hours, he fired several top executives, and he took the company private today at $54.20 a share. it's raising a number of concerns over misinformation, hate speech and the future of the company. amna nawaz has our look. amna: judy, elon musk has promised to roll back content moderation policies and restor some suspended users, including former president donald trump, who today praised the takeover on social media. it is all part of musk's plan to prioritize free speech on the platform, but critics fear the site could be overrun with hate speech, bots and disinformation.

yesterday musk tweeted a message on that to twitter advertisers, saying, "the reason i acquired twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner. that said, twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences." for more, i am joined by elizabeth lopatto, senior writer at the verge and author of the newsletter this week in elon. ,welcome, thanks for joining us. let's start with what we know so far. elon musk has been in charge one day and has ready made big changes. tell us about those and why on earth he walked into twitter headquarters carrying a sink. elizabeth: i think elon musk is one of the better-known twitter users on the platform and there is a meme of letting that sink

in, an idea sink in, and the man loves puns. there you are. as for his changes, if you are familiar with the court case >> he seems to be not fond of anybody who reported to the ceo. amna: i wanted to ask you about what this means a writ large for

the company. $44 billion is what he paid, a whopping 5420 per share -- $54.20 per share. is this good for the company? elizabeth: it's good for twitter shareholders. musk priced in the premium before the markets decline. if you are a shareholder, this is great. maybe if you are working at the company it is less great. he's talking about cutting costs and getting ready -- getting rid of employees. there was an article that 70% of employees could expect to be fired. and twitter was already facing layoffs before the musk bid of 25% of staff, so a lot of people at the company arroyo about their jobs. separately -- the company worried about their jobs. separately he's talked about wanting to get rid of spambots and promoting free speech. those thing seem opposed.

if you get rid of people who are doing content moderation, there will be more spambots. amna: let's talk about the future of twitter. if you look at what people experienced before musk took over, about one in five u.s. adults are on twitter, and of those, one in five say they've experienced some sort of harassment or abusive heavier on twitter, and that's before the takeover. i take you to the reporter from the washingt post to sit overnight there were rampant racial slurs tweeted across the platform. one user saying, "elon controls twitter, unleash the slurs." these have been retweeted and shared thousands of times. is this with the future of twitter holds? elizabeth: honestly, it is hard to tell. a platform full of racial slurs is not firmly to advertisers and twitter gets 89% of its revenue right now from advertisers.

i think that's why we saw the statement on thursday, but the other thing i will say is immediately before this show, some of the car companies that e one i'm thinking specifically of, has started canceling their advertising runs. i think if we do racialre slursmoind , more hara, more abuse, that is not a brand safe environment, it is not an environment a lot of advertisers want to be in and he will have a hard time meeting the numbe he needs to meet to pay off the debt he used to buy this company. the other thing that is maybe worth keeping in mind, for those of you not super familiar with elon musk, is he says he's going to do a lot of things and does maybe half of them. you know, it is still pretty hard to tell what is actually going to happen over the next weeks to months even. amna: on that point, do you see him allowing former president

trump back on the platform? he said he was open to it. elizabeth: i imagine that is what his oversight board is for. i think one of the things that is important, is elon musk's reputation is on the line. if musk himself is personally responsible for returning trump and then trump misbehaves, the consequences for musk are maybe not great. i think the oversight board announced today where he said he wants diverse viewpoints, is partially meant to shield him from blowback. amna: we will all be watching. former president trump was banned because leaders were worried that he could foment violence on the ground after january 6. thank you, elizabeth. elizabeth: thank you. ♪ judy: judy: latino voters have long propelled democrats to statewide victories in nevada.

but concerns over inflation and cost of living have made democratic incumbents as vulnerable as ever in the state. lisa desjardins recently traveled to las vegas to talk to latino voters about the contests that may well determine the balance of power in congress. lisa: in this room, a drive to steer the political winds of nevada and the country. >> if she wins, democrats keep control of the senate. lisa: the culinary workers union has a 60,000 members these are , the people who keep las vegas running cleaning, cooking and -- welcoming tourists every day. in their time off, including today they organize into a , turnout machine for democrats. with an ambitious goal -- to

knock on a record 1 million doors before election day. they see this as worker to worker conversations, from a union that is mostly latino, to a state that is now majority minority -- including asian american and black communities. >> i am here from the culinary union. just a friendly reminder of the november 8 elections. lisa: latinos are the largest group of color here, nearly a third of the state. democrats have dominated with these voters in the past but that's now in estion. pio rejas is a 19-year-old peruvian-american and the passionate president of the latino student alliance at the college of southern nevada, a communitcollege. he is voting democratic, for incumbent senator cortez masto, who's locked in a tight race. her support of abortion access is key to pio, and that she is invested in the latino community. but as for other latinos pio: well, i think right now, latino community, it's just i

feel like they're not like only democrats. i feel like they're like trying to find a person. lisa: they are not locked into voting democratic. pio: no, but i'll say there's a like big percentage of people who are democrats in the latino community. lisa: but even with that, latinos right now are looking and might vote either way. pio: yeah. lisa: looming above all of this is the economy. tourism has been back, but nevada remains the state longest and hardest hit by the pandemi lower-wage workers, disproportionately hispanic, face a rent crisis. and inflation here is tied for the highest in the nation, with gas prices a daily reminder. this in a vast state brimming over with close, high-stakes races from governor down. it is a nailbiter for u.s. senate, and three of the four u.s. house seats here could go either way. >> i am so excited to be with all of you.

lisa: cortez masto is seen as the most vulnerable senate democrat in the country a , must-win for her party to hold the senate. she first won in 2016 thanks largely to latinos and she's , campaigning hard with them again. in person and with an ad stressing her mexican-american heritage. >> all of us sharing dinners at my grandmother's... lisa: we asked her about what pio rate, economic worries. >> i take on big oil because they're squeezing my families at the back -- the gas tank. i see it. my family lives here as well. but my oonent is not. he actually makes money at a d.c. law firm that represents big oil. he's opposed to prescription drug negotiation. so there's a difference between the two of us. lisa: that charge was directed at republican and former attorney general adam laxalt the son and grandson of u.s. senators, he is ridi a trump wave. >> we have one shot to save this

great state. lisa: he charges that cortez masto and democrats are the ones out of touch. >> and people are upset as they've ever been with what's happening to america. they can't believe that joe biden and catherine cortez masto have done this much damage to our country and to this great state in just two years. lisa: to win, he and republicans have launched something new this year. this is operation vamos, a grassroots effort from the national republican senatorial committee, and coalitions director helder toste. today they found brazilian-american vinny , a conservative who sees education and the economy as key. vinny: gas prices and all those things, cost of groceries. lisa: what is it like for you? vinny: compared to a couple of years ago, it is bad. lisa: this effort will get to 145,000 doors, republicans estimate. a far cry from the one million plus for groups on the left. but republicans see a new nevada.

>> it is a new florida. it's a state that as it's becoming more diverse, more hispanic, more asian, more african american, we're also seeing republican margins grow. david: republicans are never going to win the latino vote, it's about cutting the margins. lisa: david damore chairs political science at the university of nevada las vegas. the state is a mix of neon vegas cityscape, suburbs and desert. but everywhere, there is an independent streak and low voter turnout. with hispanics especially. david: it's still a really low participation state. there is an opportunity for both parties to grow the electorate here. lisa: seizing that opportunity with both feet is another vulnerable democrat -- congresswoman susie lee in nevada's third district, including some of las vegas. she is also getting creative, with a dance lesson campaign event at a hispanic-owned small business. her closing message is personal and tangible -- that she pushed for the funds to keep businesses like this afloat in the pandemic

and has focused on health care and checkbook issues. >> very clear distinction between what we fought for and what we delivered, not just for latinos, for the entire community. and what republicans have done, which is nothing. april: well, we see where her plan has gotten us. we've got some of the highest gas costs in the country. lisa: april becker is the republican challenger, a high-energy attorney who also knows this diverse district, here at an ethiopian community event. she believes many hispanics have core, conserative values. >> they're turning away and coming to the republican party and hopefully we don't let them down. lisa: both parties are fiercely fighting for this group. how and how many hispanics vote here could set the course for the house, senate and country. north las vegas city councilman isaac barron is a democrat. >> whoever can come out and make a connection with latinos is going to take this. lisa: and

if latinos don't show up? >> it's going to be hard for democrats to carry the day. lisa: back at college, pio is not sure who will win this year but he has a sense of what's ahead for latinos. pio: i feel like it's our time to, like, have, like, a progress, you know? lisa: it's yo time. pio: it's our time. yeah. lisa: for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins in las vegas, nevada. ♪ judy: the finish line is just a week and a half away for thousands of candidates vying for seats in congress and at the state and local level. let's turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post. hello to both of you on this friday night. jonathan, i want to bring up mething at the beginning of our conversation that is kind of hard to think about, and that is

the husband of house speaker nancy pelosi was attacked in their home in san francisco overnight, he's had surgery, they have said he will recover, but what does this say? jonathan: it is shocking to wake up to that news this morning. we've gone to a point i think in our political discourse where -- things like this are bound to happen and it is imperative upon our elected officials, elected leaders, political leaders, to tamp down the rhetoric, to call it out and to say -- i don't know how else to say it, but stop it. i think folks need to look at what would have happened if speaker pelosi had actually been home? it is bad enough that mr. pelosi was attacked, he is 82 years old.

but if we don't get to a situation where republican leaders step forward and say to the country that the conspiracy theories and the violent rhetoric is not appropriate, it is not american, it is dangerous, we will see more of these attacks, i think. i don't know what you think, david, but we are in a very scary moment in ts country if something like this can happen. david: yeah, when i talked to politicians, they've said death threats have gotten on -- have gone up and for us in the media death threats have gone up. i have a friend who was the face of the county for covid and his house was firebombed in the middle of the night. he woke up and his kid was screaming and they had to get everybody out. he is a member of the county council and he a security

detail. that's just the way it is paid there was the guy who wanted to kill brett kavanaugh. these are incidents but the question is how isolated. the climate is certainly inflaming them. will we see much more widespread voter intimidation, much more violence in the streets? you would think the risks have gone up. i hope we are not at the spot where we are entering into an air of violence but it does seem like -- i've thought this for the past year, something bad will happen and something bad has just happened. judy: it is hard to comprehend but it does seem to be the kind of thing that we are seeing more of right now. and it is in this atmosphere that we are just a couple of days, 10 or 11 days away from the midterm elections. temperatures are running high. what are you seeing? you talk to a lot of people. jonathan: the number one thing that comes through is nobody knows really what is going to happen. you can look at the polls, folks

are looking at polls, that in the end, we are not going to know what is happening in the country, how the country really feels until those folks go to vote in the votes are counted and we see the results. in some parts of the country, it could be the economy driving people to the polls and in other parts of the country, threats to freedom, abortion rights could be part of conversation. i was in pittsburgh yesterday interviewing the current pennsylvania state attorney general, and a credit candidate for governor, and in talking to him, his message is threats to democracy woven into the economic message, the freedom message, because it works against the candidate he is running against, who was in washington on january 6. a dabbler in conspiracy theories. that will work in pennsylvania, but just the threat to democracy argument work in other parts of the country? we will find out on election night. judy: you talk to a lot of

people too. david: i know what's going to happen. [laughter] it is my job to have confidence in my knowledge. all we can do is look at the polls the last month or two, and there have been significant swings in the republican party, and we are seeing more strength in the republican party. shifts in the generic ballot, shifts in places like georgia, where herschel walker in a series of polls has been leading. if this trend is real, you can expect the trend to continue, the last several midterm elections, there was an additional 1.5% swing against the president's party. when these things get rolling, they tend to continue. it's possible the democrats will keep the house, but 538 says it is down to about attorney percent chance. the odds are hurling against the democrats. you can say we have sunk back to normal, this is a president

whose approval is in the low 40's and this is normal. i think that is somewhat true, a normal midterm election. i think a few weaknesses in the democratic approach have been revealed. one, they haven't been able to get over the mistrust on the economy. biden has had these big packages but they haven't said that economic approach, we want that. 70% of voters favor republicans on the economy. crime, they missed that. the number of people who say primary -- crime is increasing in the neighborhood say it is increasing at the fastest point since 1972. they haven't figured out that issue. and hispanics. trump did better with hispanics the second time and while republicans haven't gained against -- gained with hispanics, it is about the same. judy: you see it is moving inexorably in the republican direction and for the reasons

david laid out? jonathan: inexorably is the word i will take issue with. looking at the polls, it is looking like the momentum is shifting or has shifted back to republicans. in this hyper new cycle we are in, 11 days is a very long time. each day is an eternity. i think we will see swings back and forth over time. there are two variables here that make me hedge in rms of my false confidence. one is the surgeon early voting that we have seen in places where there is early voting. when democrats hear this is a surge, it is confidence that those are our voters. but we don't know that for sure. the other variable is abortion. the dobbs decision. when it hit, it was an earthquake and the earthquake has subsided, but will we see it show up 11 days from now and the impact that will have?

sure, right now, there is a shift, but whether it is inexorable, i am not that confident to say it is inexorable. judy: we know the polls have not always been accurate in the past. we are looking at trends. do we need to be humble at this point? david: absolutely. [laughter] there are a lot of polls. they could be wrong and we could say they were a bit wrong about 2016. there have just been so many. there are now hundreds of polls, not only national polls but in race after race after race, it is hard to see a place where the polls are now trending in the democratic direction, including weird things like the governorship of new york state where the republican is picking up some steam. democrats pulling out of district that should be safe.

abortion still is a real issue, but over the last couple of weeks, if you ask people what you care about, among highly educated voters, dobbs is a huge issue, but less educated, less affluent, it is less of an issue than the economy, which has become a greater issue. i think democrats are somewhat -- one of the things they did is they said this is what you should care about, democracy and dobbs. a lot of people said actually we care about crime, inflation and homelessness. a lot of democrats i think for too long said you should not care about those things, you should care about these things. if you're going to run a campaign, focus on what they actually care about, i think that would have been a better strategy. judy: do you want to respond? jonathan: there is so much there. i think democrats, national democrats will say run on this, run on that, and this is what your message should be, but in individual races, there are plenty of democrats saying don't tell me what to do. i am out there campaigning, i am

listening to my constituents and they care about the economy, they care about jobs, and they are running in that way. also to the point that a big story has been made about how much president biden has been on the campaign trail and nobody wants to campaign with him, but the president is comfortable enough in his own skin that subliminally, his message is do what you need to do to win. judy: you were saying that was one of the things you talked to him about in your interview with him last week. i want to say, we got a glimpse of what is going on in democratic thinking when the hot mic between the president and chuck schumer a couple of days ago, we are not going to play the sound, but essentially they said the debate in pennsylvania was not hurting as much as it might have been anticipated, he thought things were looking better in nevada but worse in georgia.

we got a little bit of a glimpse. on pennsylvania, you had john fetterman against men in oz, the comment about how the stroke fed her men had in may has had -- how the stroke john fetterman had in may has had lingering effects. david: i saw the debate the next day and i was unprepared for how much he was struggling and i found it sad. the question is, should it be a political issue? if i was a democrat in pennsylvania, i would vote for john fetterman, it would not change my vote. the important thing is, if you are a democrat, who is in control of the senate. i think communicating is part of the job of being a senator, and maybe he will recover and will be fine. we pray so. but i think if you can't communicate as well, you are just going to be less effective

at the job and there was a guy in illinois who had a stroke several years ago, and he tried to run for reelection. it wasn't a big issue but it was an issue. people thought he might be impaired in different ways. jonathan: i think that watching john fetterman was halting. we are so used for seeing politicians on the debate stage polished or not polished, answering questions or not answering questions, but watching john fetterman was a halting experience. but i do think for a lot of voters -- sure, it is legitimate to have questions about whether a person can do the job. but you mentioned senator kirk, we also had senator van hollen, and having a stroke does not prevent you from having the competency to do the job. i think if anything, in an awed

way, it humanized him. he is not the only person that's ever had a stroke and had to recover from a stroke. i think it made him even more of relatable than he already was, which was his big calling card in his campaign. so yeah, i think at halting as it was, i don't think it is disqualifying. judy: a sensitive subject. we will see how voters react david brooks, jonathan capehart, thank you. ♪ over the past ek the russian government began accusing ukraine of preparing to use a dirty bomb, an explosive device that would spew radioactive material. russia also began its annual nuclear exercise this week, and threatened to shoot down satellites that are helping ukraine's military. nick schifrin gets a unique perspective on russia's latest

moves. nick: this year, we have interviewed countless ukrainian, american and other foreign officials about the war in ukraine. many have had their own assessments about the inner workings of the kremlin and russian foreign policy. tonight, and assessment from within the russian ministry of foreign affairs. boris had a 20 year career as a russian diplomat. this may, he resigned, calling the invasion of ukraine and unspeakable acts of cruelty. he wrote that in a new foreign affairs article titled the sources of russian misconduct: a diplomat defects from the kremlin. welcome to the newshour. as i said, you had a 20 year career, you write about some of the concerns you had about russian foreign policy and actions within the ministry for many years. why did you decide to reside -- to resign after this further invasion of ukraine? boris: i realized on february 24

of this year that since my country invaded ukraine, our neighbor, i realized i didn't want to be further associated with the russian government or russian policies. i believe that this war is the greatest crime perpetrated by president putin against russia, russian people, anmy country in the future. nick: you say a few dozen diplomats have quietly left the foreign ministry but you acknowledge you are still the only one to publicly break from moscow. why do you still think you are the only one, even eight months after the war began? boris: it is not a matter of pride for me to be the only one for now. unfortunately, many russian diplomats are still blindly believing in anything president putin or minister lavrov origh

officials tell them. nick: let's talk about the blind faith in leadership. you're right that the ministry of foreign affairs discouraged independent thought and you said the war is a demonstration of how decisions made in echo chambers can backfire. what do you mean? boris: the decision-makers have that information that is reported to them, and this information is quite different from what is going on in reality. because nobody wants to displease them. everybody wants to say something pleasant, something nice. if -- it doesn't correspond to reality. it is to make them secure and secure career prospects. nick: we've heard from putin and senior officials suggesting that ukraine was planning to attack

its own territory with a dirty bomb, using us closest to spread radiation. some u.s. officials believe this is a cover story for pressure preparing to perhaps attack >> russia is preparing to haps print attack ukraine with a dirty bomb. why do you think that russian officials have brought up the option of a dirty bomb in you came? >> it is to derail the trust between ukraine and the rest of the partners. also, this is a kind of preparatory work to use the nuclear weapons by the russian federation. we are not at that point yet. i believe if he has an understanding that any possible use of nuclear weapons, it would have a very devastating outcome. we should think twice if we continue to say we do not want

to provoke nuclear weapons. we do not want to follow his decision in that. we are seriously risking to encourage prudent for nuclear blackmail which may eventually lead us to the point where he will have to use these weapons. >> the national security advisor has mitigated with his equivalent in the kremlin. he said it publicly that there would be catastrophic consequences for russia if the kremlin did use a nuclear weapon. using that measure has been heard? >> do you -- i think the message has been heard. as far as i can judge we do not see any sides of russia preparing for this. i would like to add that this understanding should also be shared and concerned by other countries, not only the united states in the inner in european

countries. by other very important regional and global players. >> ukraine says that as of right now it does not want to negotiate with vladimir putin. you seem to agree in your essay. russia will use any cease-fire. putin must use a comprehensive route in ukraine. why? >> as long as he is still winning the war or he can present that he is winning the war, he will still keep power and his course for war will be forever. it is about changing the course of events. it is changing the course of policy which would lead to a change in the government system. that means that the entire peaceful regime implemented by putin must go.

the defeat in ukraine, in my mind, it can make people realize that enough is enough. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. judy: major lea's world series gets underway tonight in houston. john yang has more on what's major league baseball's world series gets underway tonight in houston. john yang has more on what is known as a fall classic. >> reporter: judy, this year's theory theories is a team that dominated the season all year long. the astra is going against a team that barely made the playoffs, the phillies. while pro football super bowl is the biggest event on the sports calendar now, a new history of the world series calls it the grandest stage. the author is tyler kepner, the new york times national baseball writer. he joins us from houston where

game one is going to be played tonight. tyler, thank you so much for joining us. this year was the first year of a new playoff format. you had more teams making it. you had an additional series. you have got a team that barely made the playoffs and probably would not have made the playoffs last season, the phillies, heading into the world series. a team that won more games than any other team in either the national or the american league , the l.a. dodgers, they do not make it to the championship series. what is your take on this new format? >> it places both sides of it. right? wanting dominated, as he said, the american league all year. they led the league in wins. the other one is sort of the number 6 seed on the national side. that is what can happen. either way baseball is set up now, no salary cap, a lot of

teams have some built-in advantages, the yankees and the dodgers are pretty much going to get to the postseason every year. this is a check on that. this is a check on their supremacy. it really gives six teams per league a chance to do this going to go to the world series. >> the first chapter in your book, you talk about the pressures of playing in the postseason. of course, this year we saw bryce harper hit a two run homer to send the phillies, as he pointed out, the number 6 seed into the world series. you go back and you look at another phillies marquee header, mike schmidt. another postseason, 1983, where he really did not do very well. he told you, he talked about that as sort of the fear of failure. >> that is a very real thing. it was great to be able to talk to mike schmidt. he was the mvp of their championship in 1980. but, in 1983 when they got back

to the world series he was 1-20 with a broken bat single. it happened to be the first game i ever went to in the world series in 1983. he talked about being locked in and confident that he can take the ball the opposite way and wait for his pitch. in 1983 he was jumpy, he was out front, he was hitting ground balls with everything, he was not really hitting the best version of himself. i think that is what everybody strives to be. we talk about guys who perform under pressure like derek jeter. he did that really throughout his career, he was a great player. he performed to his career norms during the postseason. that is what guys want to do. they just want to be the best version of themselves. illuminate any pressing. it is pretty natural to some people. >> the flipside of that is of the unlikely heroes. you defined them as the player who makes a seismic impact on a victorious world series while barely registering otherwise in the major leagues. you have a favorite example of that?

>> yeah but i think back to the first series i ever watched as a fan, that was 1982, the cardinals and the brewers . milwaukee comes back to st. louis for game six they need one win to win its first championship are they have a hall of famer on the mound, don sutton. he is pitching a guy for the cardinals, a rookie named john stupor. john stuber had a very short career. and that illumination can be pushed a complete game and save the bullpen for game seven. he pushed through 2.5 hours of rain delay is. he is most famous for being the coach at yale for 30 years. looking him up on youtube and pitching the world series. you know, whatever he did come he had a short big-league career. >> a fun for me chapter in the book was talking about the big moments in world series that everyone knows. carlton with the home run, the walk-off homer for the red sox in 1975. kirk gibson's home run in 1988.

but, there were also smaller moments but either set those big moments up or had an important role in the world series victory. what are some of your favorite examples of those? >> we think about the perfectly by john larson in 1956. right? there've only been 24 per the games in the history of baseball. one of them was in the world series but he did not win the title for the yankees for that was only game five. the very next day, in brooklyn, the dodgers are facing a limitation. they put a relief pitcher on the mound. he throws a 10 inning one-hit shutout. the game ends on jackie robinson's final hit of his career. so, it was an amazing game. it will always be overshadowed, of course, by a perfect game. when he talked about jackie robinson's final hit in a 10

inning complete game shutout by a relief pitcher, i mean those are some things that sort of blow your mind. it happened right after the perfect game. very few people remember it. >> the book is the grandest stage. a history of the world series by tyler kepner. >> thank you so much for great to be here. a big baseball weekend is coming. before we go, join our moderators and our panel on tonight's washington week for insight and analysis on the latest from the campaign trail. tomorrow on pbs news weekend, a look at the historic israel lebanon maritime deal signed by two nations technically still at war. that is the newshour for tonight. i am judy woodruff. from all of us from the pbs news hour, thank you. please stay safe, we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> moving our economy for 160

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>> i think art and science has always come together for me in surgery. i was a music major in college and i did not become a professional opera singer, but i do sing. i think one of the reasons i do a lot of the surgery, the thyroid and parathyroid, there is some subconscious impetus to be the protector of the voice. there is a lot of meaning and not. i am so lucky to be in a profession that has a real impact on people. that is one of the greatest things about my specialty. we can cure people of their disease. it is the best job in the world.

>> tonight on kqed newsroom. speaker nancy pelosi's husband is in the hospital after being attacked in his own home by a man with a hammer. we explore what happened and why. california's congressional races could make all the difference in who wins the house of representatives. will economic concerns tip the scales? we consider politics and money in the golden state. the takeover of twitter. with our panel of reporters. in the wake of the bay area's biggesea