judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, the final push. candidates make their closing arguments to voters before election day 2022, as control of congress hangs in the balance. then, making the call. while new lawsuits attempt to sow doubt about election results, we examine the detailed, reliable methods used to track each race and announce the winners. and the insurrection. the leader of the violent far-right oath keepers militia testifies in his trial for sedition, relating to the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪

>> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma clorevine, and koo and patricia yuen. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.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. judy: it's election day eve, and some 41 million people have already voted ahead of tomorrow. lisa desjardins begins our exnsive coverage of the 2022 midterm elections. lisa: across the country, close, dramatic elections and big closing issues, including in key state, georgia. >> top of my mind, especially being in georgia, is women's rights. and of course, the economy is a concern as well. but, top concern for me, women's rights. >> i already voted. and it's economy, security, national security, those types of things. lisa: and as far as closing messages, peachtree state

governor brian kemp stuck to that. republicans number one theme, the economy. >> we have had a great team in georgia for a while, and thata™s -- that is why our state is doing so well. despite joe biden's 40-year high inflation, a disater at the gas pump, a disaster at the border and in washington, d.c. lisa: polls indicate kemp has an edge over voting rights activist stacey abrams. even more eyes are on georgia's u.s. senate race. a must-win for democrats, cumbent rafael warnock is now in a dead-heat with republican challenger and former nfl star herschel walker. their final plays? words about high stakes. >> i am that warrior for god who is sick and tired of people trying to destroy this country. >> i think competence matters. you should ask yourself if the person you are voting for has actually demonstrated any interest in the subject matter. lisa: but no where are there more messages and more politicians than pennsylvania, with its toss-up senate race.

republican tv doctor mehmet oz closing plan is to send messages to very different groups. he sat down with moderate u.s. senator susan collins in swing buck county and separately appeared with president trump in latrobe. lieutenant governor john fetterman brought in a president himself, and one of democrat's most popular figures too, former president barack obama as their senate race closer. president obama: fundamental rights are on the ballot. lisa: current president joe biden finds himself with low approval ratings and his democrats on the back foot in even some deep blue places like new york state where he campaigned for governor kathy hochul this weekend on a message about democracy. pres. biden: look, this election isn't a referendum. it's a choice. it's a choice between two fundamentally different visions of america. lisa: hochul faces a strong challenge from republican congressman lee zeldin, in a state that hasn't elected a gop governor in two decades. it is not just message, but also

audience. among former president trump's other stops was this one yesterday in miami part of a key gop demographic strategy this year. mr. trp: the socialist, communist and marxist direction of the radical democrat party is one of the biggest reasons that hispanic-americans are joining our movement by the millions and millions and millions and so many. lisa: the weekend battle of the presidents also raged in nevada. where former president bill clinton campaigned for vulnerable senator catherine cortez masto with a closing message of moderation. >> she doesn't go around demonizing republicans, she just gets up and does what she thinks is right. lisa: but some newcomers have dominated headlines by throwing fire like arizona gubernatorial candidate kari lake one of the gop's most high-profile election deniers who pounds away about the border. >> i no longer want arizona to be overrun with drugs and have the cartels controlling this border. this is our border. and we will build that wall. we will build the wall. and they're going have to stop

us from building the wall. lisa: aiming to stop lake from winning is arizona secretary of state and democratic candidate for governor katie hobbs whose closing push is an plea for democracy. -- is a plea for democracy. >> is a choice between sanity and chaos. it is going to be close. every single poll has us tied and that means we need every single person in this room to vote. lisa: 36 governors races as well as 35 senate seats and all 435 house seats are up for grabs in tomorrow's ballot. judy: and lisa joins me now, along with white house correspondent laura barron-lopez, to share with us what they are watching for during these final hours. hello. laura, i'm going to start with you. when you put it all together, what do you see as the party's closing messages? ? in particular from the president and others? laura: president biden and democrats, it comes down to three things. the economy, democracy, and abortion. we have seen in these closing

weeks that the president and president obama have, on the economy, focused on not just what president biden past, trying to show that things like the inflation reduction act, specifically prescription drug reform, could help people in their pocket -- and their pocketbooks. also social security and medicare. what they are looking at their and what they have seized on his proposals by republicans to cut spending for the safety net programs. we heard obama as well as president biden talk about this a lot when they were traveling the country. then on democracy, president biden really feels this closely, it is part of why he ran for president when he saw threats in charlottesville in 2017 with neo-nazis rallying. what the historians talk to the president say, he feels the need, as the president, to interject and say that he sees it as a big defining issue, that there are a number of republican candidates who say they may very well not accept the election results if they lose. judy: what about?

the issue of abortion? ? ? is something that the democrats put a lot of stock in. where has it ended up? laura: democrats have wanted abortion five months away from the supreme court decision to stay front of mind for voters. we have seen ads like one from senator -- catherine cortez masto in nevada, trying to strike this contrast with her opponent on the issue of abortion. as well as democratic candidate for governor in pennsylvania, josh shapiro, focusing specifically, saying it is not freedom to tell women what they can and can't do with their bodies. two quick anecdotes. when i was in michigan, every democratic voter i talked to named abortion or democracy as the issues that were defining who would they would vote for. i also spoke to a pennsylvania voter, an older woman who says she is voting for democrats based on abortion because of the fact that she has a 16-year-old

granddaughter. she voted for trump in 2016, voted for biden in 2020. she knows a dozen women who will votes for democrat -- who will vote for democrats based on abortion and not tell their families. there could be an element of a silent abortion voter. judy: really interesting. that is the democrats. what about the republicans? lisa: the democrats three points, republicans have three points as well. our viewers will not be surprised with what is at the inflation and the economy, they ardriving that home. i think we are seeing them ramp up on crime. and the idea that crime, especially in cities where there are many democratic voters, that they would like to stay home, and suburban women outside the cities who they are hoping to bring to the republican fold. . those messages we see a lot om republicans. we are seeing some republicans, to all of this negative ads, throw in something more human. for example, senator ron johnson has an ad is raking leaves.

inontrast to the tone we have seen. one of the as is something i have been looking at from the republican gubernatorial candidate in new york, hoping to regain the governor's mansion. look at this ad. he is showing his children, that his hand has a humid, and then this ad pivots from his children to crime there was a shooting in front of his house, and he is trying to make that connection, while using his family to make that point. one other thing republicans are running on, the answer to democracy for democrats, they are talking about nationalism. they are trying to say that the fabric of the country is at stake. judy: we are seeing in a number of the polls group -- moving in the republicans direction. what do they think their chances are? lisa: very good. if you talk to republicans and democrats alike, they would all tell you that moment on has been swinging republicans way in this

-- these last crucial few weeks. when you talk about the house, republicans need to pick up five seats in the house, as many of our viewers no. some republicans think they will do much better than that. i spoke to democrats who believe they could even lose 40 or more seats in this election. is that likely? they will say no. is it possible? yes. to the senate, republicans need to pick up one seat, and it seems like it is a tacit. very close, many close races. but it is interesting some of the seats republicans thought were out of reach like new hampshire where maggie hassan is up against don bolduc, is suddenly more competitive. the timing of tomorrow's vote really matters judy: lisa, one other thing, you have been following the number of candidates who are election deniers, the 2020. what are you seeing there? lisa: this is something laura and i have been talking about a lot. we have carefully looked at all

of the republican candidates for governor and secretary of state, looked at what they said, analyze what their positions are on the 2020 election. it may tell us something important about future elections if they win. i want to show you the map of the secretary of state republican nominees. in dark purple, those are republican nominees who have rightly denied the 2020 -- have flatly denied the 2020 election. some are in states that have competitive races like arizona. i want to point out and talk about two candidates mark finch and,, the secretary of state nominee in arizona. he is a self member of the oath keepers. and in addition, christina romer, the secretary of state. mark has said that he will not concede if he loses. christina corona in michigan, similarly has not said if she will concede. just today in the last few hours, she lost a lawsuit in detroit where she was trying to get tens of thousands of ballots thrown out. the lawsuit has been lost.

it may be an up it is for her to stay, that she is not going to concede. very meaningful and important to watch. judy: no question about it. so glad you are continuing to do that. laura, in connection with all of that, these claims that the election may -- that there may be rampant fraud in parts of this election. what effect is that having on the people who work around these elections? laura: it is having a significant effect. is booked to in a election official today who told me that what is keeping them up at night is the postelection piod. these lies about election fraud, which there was no widespread fraud in 2020, and a lot of these election officials expect this election to go off smoothly from an administrative level. they are worried once the polls closed and the period between paul's closing and when the results are certified, that is when they are most concerned about. i spoke to the institute for strategic dialogue, she said already, they had seen any

increase in the number of legitimate threats released across social media platforms like gaba, facebook. threats that are being directed tord election officials, and that there has been an increase in that, andhat these are very specific threats. judy: i know these are all things we will be following very carefully morrow and tomorrow night. laura berl lopez, lisa desjardins, thank you both. >> thank you. judy: in the day's other news, a russn businessman with ties to president putin confirmed his organization has interfered in past u.s. elections and will again. until now, yevgeny prigozhin had denied election meddling. four years ago, he was charged in the u.s. with running a social media campaign to divide americans before the 2016 election. the white house and the kremlin

would not confirm or deny today that they've talked about dialing back escalation in the war in ukraine. the wall street journal reported national security advisor jake sullivan has spoken with top russian officials. meanwhile, ukraine announced that a new u.s. air defense system is now in place, to help shoot down russian missiles and drones. north korea's military has punctuated its recent missile tests with a new warning. the north declared today that the tests were practice attacks on south korea and the u.s. u.s. and south korean officials said they are undeterred. in egypt, world leaders heard stark warnings as they kicked off an annual u.n. climate summit. they will spend weeks discussing carbon emissions and demands that wealthy, polluting nations compensate developing countries hit by weather disasters. you and secretary -- u.n. secretary general antonio guterres warned the leaders to

act quickly. >> we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator. excellencies, this u.n. climate conference is a reminder that the answer is in our hands and the clock is ticking we are in the fight of our lives and we are losing. judy: former vice president al gore also spoke, and told the leaders that "it is not time for moral cowardice." hurricane watches have gone up for the bahamas and parts of florida's atlantic coast. that's after the storm named nicole formed early today. it is expected to make landfall on florida's east coast on thursday just weeks after hurricane ian blasted the southwestern part of the state. a federal judge in washington, d.c. -- that puts his four month prison sentence on hold for now. as he appeals his recent conviction.

the former trump advisor was charged after he failed to turn over documents and testify before the house panel investigating the capitol siege. in economic news, chinreports its exports dropped in october from a year earlier as falling demand and covid controls took a toll. imports also contracted with covid restrictions putting a damper on consumer spending inside china. and on wall street, stocks rose as investors bet that republicans will block new tax and ending plans if they make election gains in congress. major indexes were up nearly 1 -- 1% or more. the dow jones industrial average gained 423 points to close at 32,827. the nasdaq rose 89 points. the s&p 500 added 36. still to come on the newshour, republican groups file legal challenges to the voting process before election day. tamara keith and amy walter examine expectations for the midterms.

a high profile political prisoner in egypt goes on a strict hunger strike. whcasting a ballot remains a chalnge for many indigenous people. 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: tomorrow night, as polls close and results come in, the newshour will rely on the associated press to call winners as we have since the this -- since this program began in 1975. this year, the ap has more than 4,000 reporters on the ground in all 50 states, monitoring vote totals to determine election outcomes. races only get called when the ap is certain that trailing candidates have no path to victory. in 2020, they were 1 percent correct in calling state results for congress and the presidency.

to help explain more about when and how races are called and what to expect tomorrow, i am joined by the executive editor of the associated press, julie pace. welcome to the newshour on this night before the big night. thank you for joining us. 4000 reporters around the country, an enormous operation. tell us, give us a sense of how it works, how do you get to the point where you feel confident to make these calls? julie: thanks, judy. we are excited and well prepared to be able to do what we have done since 1848 at the associated press, which is to declare winners in presidential races and down the ballot beyond. this is really the single biggest act of journalism in this country. 4000 journalists across this country making sure that as votes are being counted, that we are able to assess the accuracy

of the elections, look at our models and declare winners. our standard is certainty. there is no way that trailing candidate can catch up. we spend the whole year, this is not just a one night effort for us, we spend the whole year researching what the rules around voting are in each state, making sure as those rules are changing, that our teams are across them. we are confident heading into this night. we want to be cautious. we know that when we call a race, it matters. that is the winner. we want the public to have confidence in that race call. we feel like the work we put in going into t night and the explaining we will do about why we are calling the races, how we are making those decisions we hope will increase the public trust. judy: who exactly makes the decision when a race is called? julie: it depends on the level of the race. we are calling races up and down

the ballot. i will be involved in the highest profile races, a team of senior editors in washington will be involved in this high profile races. we have an excellent decision desk but will be signing off on several of the senatand house races. our team of analysts who spend weeks and months analyzing what is happening in the states they oversee, some of them have been doing this for years. this is not their first rodeo. it ranges depending on the level of the race. judy: as you know, there is a lot of interest and questions this year about when races will be called, how soon we will know results. we know in 2020, it took several days to get the results from pennsylvania. what should our viewers, the american people, expect this time? julie: you are right. there are a lot of questions about when the races will be called and why it may take a while. i would say i think like 2020, i

would urge your viewers to be patient. that is not because anything will have gone wrong. i think this is one of those things that is important to keep in mind. because of the changes to the ways that americans are voting, more mail-in voting, and in some cases, it is taking longer for states and counties to count those ballots. that may mean it could take us longer at the ap to declare the winner of those races. if there is a large amount of mail-in voting that has not been counted yet and a race is close, we want to wait for more of that vote to be counted. we think that is the only way to make sure our race calls are fair and accurate. that could be waiting a couple of days. judy: do i hear you saying we may not know tomorrow night which party has won control of the house in the senate? julie: it is certainly possible. we want to wait for some votes to come in before we again he predictions on timing. it is possible that we could go to bed tomorrow night, or wake up on wednesday morning and not

know the outcomes. judy: one last thing, that has to do with what we know is this large, enormous nationwide survey of voters. over 100,000 voters at the ap -- and that the ap will be talking to. can you give us a sense of what that will look like? julie: this is something i hope a lot of your viewers will take advantage of in the hours coming into election night tomorrow and coming out of it, which is really vote cast, our survey of the american electorate. this allows us to not just tell you who won these races, but to tell you how they won. how americans were voting. to be able to look at how the electorate were participating in this election. given how divided this country is now, given how many questions there are about which messages are appealing to which voters, we think this is just as important, in tell us a lot about where this country goes coming out of the midterms into

the 2024 presidential election, which will start quickly after the midterms. judy: i know people will be hungry for information to understand how the election turned out as it did. julie pace, executive editor of the associated press, thank you very much. julie: thank you, judy. ♪ judy: as we approach the last day of voting in these midterms, scores of lawsuits have been filed targeting the elections process in several key states. william brangham has the latest. william: that's right, duty. more than 100 legal challenges have been filed in battleground states. they take issue with how votes are being cast, and which ballots get counted. the lawsuits threaten to slow down the final vote counts and the certification of some results in key races. for more on what this all means

for the midterms, i am joined again by election law expert, rick hasson, he is the director of the safeguarding democracy project at ucla's law school. thank you for being back here. one of the set of lawsuits that have been filed are around mail and and absentee ballots and when those get counted and which ones get counted. can you explain what is going on, who is filing those suits and what are they arguing? rick: you are right that a lot of the lawsuits involve mail-in ballot inc., in part because we saw this huge uptick in mail-in balloting during the 2020 election because of the pandemic. lots of states had to ramp up. there were questions about procedures that were going to be followed. some of those questions have been answered. some of them have not. one of the things that happened in 2020 was that donald trump cast excursions on vote by mail, claimed it was the way toward fraud. we have seen republicans filing lawsuits, trying to challenge

certain kinds of absentee ballots or procedures. one big case is in pennsylvania over what happens when someone sends in a timely ballot, and arrives on time, but there is no date. we are seeing these lawsuits. we are seeing voting right lawyers and democrat suing over these roles as well. we had a ruling this afternoon in georgia where some voters in cobb county had not received their absentee ballots and a judge issued an emergency order to make sure they have a way to vote on election day. william: a point of clarification. is the assertion being made by these largely republican lawsuits against mail-in ballots, is there any evidence that these technical iues that they are arguing are somehow evidence of fraud? is there any connection there that they are trying to throw out ballots that anyone could look at and say, these are fraudulent ballots? rick: some of the claims are that the rules are too loose, and they allow for fraudulent ballots to be cast. some of the claims are really

that the election administrators are not following the rules as they were set out by the legislature. that is a separate argument. it is one we heard donald trump make, that the legislatures have certain powers over how federal elections are conducted, and when there is any deviation that is not only a violation of state law, but a violation of federal law, that is an issue penng before the supreme court. we are seeing these twin arguments. some are about trying to prevent fraud. others are claiming that election administration is going too far in their interpret -- their interpretation of the rules. william: you mentioned the pennsylvania case. could you tell us more about what is at stake and how many ballots we could be talking about? rick: apparently there are thousands of ballots coming in, where people did not record the date. we know the ballots are timely because these ballots have already arrived before election day. the question is whether or not they should be counted.

there was federal litigation that claimed under federal law, if you make an immaterial mistake on your ballot, it has to be counted as a matter of civil rights. but there is also a claim under state law, what should the state lobby? over the weekend, you have the pennsylvania supreme court dividing 3-3 on the question because they had a justice who passed away, they are evenly divided, and some plaintiffs have gone to federal court trying to get a new ruling. there is a lot of uncertainty in the middle of this. the state supreme court had to issue a second ruling explaining how it's ruling was supposed to work. if we have a close election for the u.s. senate seat, which everyone is watching closely, it is possible the resolution of the election will depend upon how this legal question is answered about these timely but undated absentee ballots. william: separately, as he well know, -- as you well know, there are a large number of people running for office who

have cast doubt about the 2020 election, saying there was fraud in stolen votes. there has been a smaller amount of people that have been deputized that there is a leaf that there is widespread fraud, to monitor ballot boxes, watch polling stations. that has caused some people to express concern that there is going to be intimidation, violence, or harassment at the polls. is that something that is a concern you share that we might see tomorrow? rick: we already saw some of this happening in some counties in arizona, where there were some self-appointed people coming out and standing in front of drop boxes, some of them armed and with tactical gear. a federal judge had to issue an injunction to make sure people had unfettered access to the polls. we could see that tomorrow. it is something i'm worried about. i am also worried about as we saw in 2020 after election day, it takes a while to process those absentee ballots, especially in those states like pennsylvania and wisconsin, that don't allow for early

pre-checking of these ballots to make sure they are accurate and ready to be counted. we have seen protests and potential for violence at places where votes are being counted. and concerned not only for voters but election officials and workers. william: rick hasen, thank you so much. rick: thank you. ♪ judy: polls will begin to close tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. in the eastern u.s,. but final results could take days to determine in some races. here to discuss the indicators of what they will be on the look out for, our amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter, and tamara keith of npr. hello to both of you. you can feel it, it is in the air. almost here, what we have been

talking about for a long time. speaking of the cook political report, amy, your house forecast for the house of representatives suggest republicans are favored in 212 races. you need 218 to take control. explain what you are seeing. amy: we are seeing now is a challenge for democrats, the fact that they have the narrowest of majorities. they currently have a five seat majority. it is not quick to take much of a wave, a ripple among this electorate to give republicans the majority. they see a big wave that is about to crash to ship -- crash to shore. we are seeing maybe wavey, but maybe not a tsunami. where republicans pick up 15, maybe 30 seats, depending on a number of key factors. one, who comes out, that is always important. but critically, who comes out on

election day. democrats feel good about their early voting in these key states. we know especially in these last couple of years where republicans turnout is on election day, and they often surprise democrats who assumed they built a big enough lead. to second thing we are looking at -- the second thing we are looking at is where independent voters decide to go. we talked about the ap on election night. i will be looking closely at where those independent voters decide to go on election day when there is a big wave election, they tend to break by double digits for the party that is not in the white house. if it is a smaller margin,e may see fewer seats. right now, the expectation that we have is it is going to be anywhere from a0 to 15, maybe 20 seat majority for republicans in the next congress. judy: all they need is five. the numbers you are seeing, clearly giving them that number.

how much difference does it make for republicans, whether they have a little bit of an advantage or a bigger one? tamara: when it comes to governance, the bigger the majority, the better in terms of being able to get their agenda through. one of the challenges that a potential, likely speaker, kevin mccarthy, woods -- would face is governing. there are must pass bills that will be challenging to pass because there are republicans who have never voted for a budget. and they have had to have, in the past, when republicans have been in power and democrats have been in the white house, they have relied on democrats to get them across the line. will a republican majority of this variety be willing to pass a budget bill? or will they want to extract huge concessions from the

president and his party? it could be very challenging because there truly are a lot of republicans who are in the always know caucus. amy: and there are the people in the vote no, pray as category, as one republican called it. they have to do it for optics reasons. even a bigger majority for republicans does have problems for kevin mccarthy. many of those republicans would be holding democratic seats. some of the -- if we are talking about a wave, that means republicans are picking up seats in connecticut and rhode island and california and oregon. seats that item won by dole digits -- that biden won by double digits. if those candidates are labeled as -- and republicans are labeled as the party tt went too far to the extreme, or the party that did not vote for a budget or default on the debt ceiling. judy: we are bait -- or who are big fans of former president donald trump. tamara: you know they will be

able to accomplish investigations. they have lots of plans to investigate lots of things to embark on impeachments of various biden administration officials. that part would be relatively easy. they could probably get good consensus on that. judy: then there is the senate. remember that other body of congress. i'm looking at the cook political report for -- four states in tossup. talk about why they are there. amy: when we say tossup, we mean these are races we really feel could go either way. these are coin toss type races where the narrowest of margins separate democrats from republicans. what we do know historically when we look at ratings we have made over the years, they tend to break disproportionately in one direction. you look at four seats, democrats win two, republicans win two, we are basically back where we started. usually, they break three or four of them will break one way.

traditionally. as we have been discussing, especially arizona, georgia, nevada, those are states where we expect to not have an answer on election night. georgia going to a run-up on both sides. . seem to agree that race will go into extra time. pennsylvania, republicans feeling a lot better about their candidate there. feels like he has kind of got the late momentum in that election. judy: colored it red. >> it is a republican leaning state. that is the state on election night, if they call it for republicans, there is a good chance that republicans will have enough to win the majority. i would posit that. if democrats hold it, it does not mean they are holding the majority, but it does mean that they could keep a 50-50 senate. judy: the same kind of question i asked about the house. how much difference does it make for republicans, whether they stay at 50-50 or they have that one or more seat advantage? tamara: it would be helpful for

them to have the majority. and again, a think in terms of governing -- i think in terms of governing, if this goes the way it looks like it is going, it is going to be two years of divided government, where the president has a veto, nobody has enough of a majority to override a veto. and there is just a lot of gridlock, which is not what anyone wants, and yet the american people, on a very regular basis, give america divided government. dy: and say that is what they want. when you ask people in a number of these polls, they say they feel better. tamara: for this idea that they want to check on the party in power. one thing we do know about 2023, is that we will be talking a lot about 2024. and the likelihood that donald trump will once again be a big part of the conversation, but democrats are also talking a lot about what is joe biden going to

do? will he announce immediately he is running for reelection? what kind of signals is he going to be giving? judy: we are hearing signals from the white house that he has every intention, but they are -- they can't say it because there are legal things that happen. you are right, 2023 is when to be about 2024. tamara: indeed. 2022 in a lot of ways is already about 2020 for. -- 2024. just when we think we are done, we go right into the next. judy: any last minute words of -- i should say from the wise about what you are watching for tomorrow? amy: i'm watching new hampshire. that is a state that it should stay, given all that we have seen, republicans would -- that would be a big upset if they win and that senate race. i think we are looking at a big night for republicans. tamara: i agree. i am watching new hampshire, and some house races in virginia that should come in early and give us a good sense.

judy: we always watch the two of you, and i should say tomorrow night, tamera, you are going to be working hard with npr. amy, you will be here at this desk, as we watch the results come in. thank you both. a reminder to you, we will have the latest election news tomorrow right here on the newshour and all night on pbs with our special election coverage. ♪ judy: the leader of the far-right militia group, the oath keepers, returned to the witness stand in federal court today. stewart rhodes is testifying in his own defense against seditious conspiracy charges that stem from his role in the january 6th attack on the us capitol. -- u.s. capitol. john yang has more. john: judy, rhodes testified today that he had no intention of entering the capitol or disrupting the electoral vote count on january 6. on cross-examination, prosecutors pressed him on the

oath keepers reputation as an anti government militia. carrie johnson is npr's justice department correspondent and has been in the courtroom nearly every day of the trial. thank you for joining us. a defendant taking the stand allows him to present his case to the jury in his own voice. but it also allows the prosecution to question him. how didach side of that equation work for roads? carrie: stewart rhodes is a smart guy. he is a d.l. lawsuit -- a yale law school graduate. he had a good amount of time to tell his story. he td this jury he grew up basically dirt poor, part of a migrant farmworker family out at california. and that he considers himself to be a quarter mexican-american. he says he supports law enforcement, that he is

nonviolent, as many as 30% of the members of this far right oath keepers group are actually current or former law enforcement officials around the country. and rhodes says he was not involved in any planning for the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. he did not go inside the building. when he found out some people affiliated with him did, he said it was a stupid idea that allowed his political enemies to persecute him and that is how he wound up here sitting in this witness chair in front of a jury, fighting for his legal life. john: what did the prosecution -- did the prosecution make any dent in his story? carrie: the main witness again -- against rhodes has been his own words, his own text messages on this encrypted signal app, videos, and other statements that he has made. the prosecutor tried to dismantle stewart rhodes on the witness stand using his own words. rhodes says he was engaged in bombast and big talk.

but she showed a lot of evidence, including text messages a few days before the assault on the capital, that said that they will not fear as until we come with rifles in hand. we need to push trump to do his duty. and if he doesn't, we will do hours, stewart rhodes allegedly type. then she played for the jury at the end of her cross-examination a recording that someone made of stewart rhodes a few days after the assault on the capital -- capitol, where rhodes said his only regret was he did not bring rifles. then he engaged in violent rhetoric involving nancy pelosi. the jury was playing close attention -- paying close attention, taking lots of notes. i saw a couple of the jurors make faces at stewart rhodes as he went into long-winded explanations on cross-examination. that does not mean they are going to a victim of conspiracy or any other charge. but he may have turned off some members of this jury.

john: this trial has been going on for six weeks. delayed by a lot of things. you have bn in the courtroom all but one day. what has a bit -- what has it been like? carrie: there have been moments of incredibly high drama and personal turmoil. this is about the assault on the u.s. capitol, people died at the capitol. law enforcement officers took their own lives. over 140 police and law enforcement were injured that day. it could not be more serious. but the introduction of a lot of these documents has at times been slow. it is quite interesting to watch the jurors take in all of this evidence. we did hear from several people who had been affiliated with the oath keepers, who basically got out before january 6, 2021, because they were so worried about the rhetoric, and the way the rhetoric was trending. the idea that this jury has heard from stewart rhodes himself is going to be a pivotal moment. we are going to hear from other defense witnesses for the rest

of this week, too. john: how much longer is this trial going to go on? carrie: i wish i could offer a prediction. i hope we are going to be done by thanksgiving. with so many unexpected things including one of the defendants getting covid and delaying the trial, one of the lawyers in the case having an accident on a scooter and breaking his arm, i'm leaving room for the unexpected. one of the jurors says they are moving out of state a few days before thanksgiving. let's hope we are done by then. john: carrie johnson of npr, thank you very much. carrie: my pleasure. ♪ judy: global leaders are meeting at a pivotal conference in egypt to discuss climate change. but human rights is overshadowing the beginning of the so-called cop27 summit in the well known red sea resort city of sharmel sheikh.

the family of one of egypt's most prominent political prisoners says he could die in detention within days, highlighting the egyptian governmenta™s widespread crackdown on its critics. here is nick schifrin. nick: no one better symbolizes egypt's loss hope than its regimes ridge -- repression than the activists and software developer who helped drive the 2011 revolution. in the last decade, he spent more than nine years in prison. last december, he was sentenced for five years for what the regime called false news, highlighting human rights abuses. after eating only 100 calories a day for seven months, he is refusing to drink even water. >> it feels like he cannot control his destiny. that someone has decided that it is his destiny that he will die in prison. the only thing he can control is the timeline. he is choosing the timeline that will be most embarrassing.

nick: his youngest sister, a prominent human rights activist, has been jailed three times in the last decade. overnight, she arrived at the site of cobb 27 to pressure international leaders to get her brother released. are you worried he could die? >> i'm really worried he could die. i respect his decision and i think it is the right decision. i understand where he is coming from, and i agree that this is not a life worth living, neither for him or for us. his family outside. as his sister, i cannot give up hope, i still have hope. nick: no egyptian family has fought for justice more tirelessly than them. their late father was the country's leading human rights lawyer. the middle sister is currently campaigning for allah in london. their mother has protested against six governments over 42 years. she was born in london, and last

year, allah was granted british citizenship. new british prime minister rishi sunak is attending the climate conference and met sisi, a british official says in a statement, sunak raised allah's plight, expressing his serious concerns about this case, and calling for allah's release. state department spokesman net price did not go that far. >> we have made the point to the egyptians that improvements when it comes to issues of human rights, only serve to strengthen the basis of the bilateral relationship. nick: is the british government, is the west doing enough to try to help your brother? ty have realized the urgency too late. i can see that they feel the heat. but they are timid when it comes to raising human rights concns. nick: human rights organizations accuse egypt's president of imprisoning mo than 60,000 egyptians across society. >> i believe we should all

concentrate -- nick: todayt the conference, a foreign ministers suggested to cnbc that there would be no diplomacy to release allah. >> within the penal system. >> we are suffocating. there is no breathing room here. the people who are going to create action and create pressure on our policymakers and our oil companies to operate better tools for the climate are the same people whore languishing in egyptian prison. in order to get any action toward the planet, you need to have space for people to speak up. you need to have sacred space. that does not exist in egypt. nick: world leaders are trying to avoid the death of the planet, but nothing is done, their work could be overshadowed by the death of one man. for the pbs newshour, i am nick schifrin.

♪ judy: ahead of election day, judy: ahead of election day, many groups face challenges voting, whether early or at the voting booth. for some native american communities, it's being able to read and understand the voting process and ballots. from the cronkite school of journalism in phoenix, alexia stanbridge explains. >> maxine wadsworth is a translator for navajo county elections which covers many parts of both the navajo and hopi nation in northern arizona. her job is to translate voting information into the hopi language. many indeginous nguages emphasize oral not written communications. so wadsworth and her team translate election materials, recording audio files that voters c listen to when they vote.

>> the screen is now on. alexia: these translations allow indegenous voters to fully participate in a process that may determine their future. >> it is important for elections to have an interpreter or a translator to help the people understand what their options are in voting, and to have the proper tools to assist them in making the right choices. alexia: it's crunch time. the election is just a few days away. the team on the hopi nation spends hours tralating voting instructions and ballots. in many cases they have to call election offices for clarification, seeking meanings behind words. >> it makes it very challenging when you're asked to interpret a document, which generally has no place in hopi language at all. alexia: wardsworth says in the hopi language there arena™t -- are not single terms for certain government roles. >> the governor -- alexia: other election officials

like rosita kelly works for the navajo elections administration. she says it is not as simple as a wordor word translation. >> it would take certain, maybe two or three sentences in navajo to describe a word. alexia: tribal nations cover over a quarter of arizona land with vast distances between many communities and voting locations. on the tohono o'odham nation, the eleven polling places are spread across an area almost the size of connecticut. there are 22 tribal nations in arizona. ballots are translated into just three languages, hopi, apache, and navajo, by the certain counties where the tribes meet guidelines under the voting rights act for english proficiency within their populations. the tohono o'odham nation is one of the many tribes whose ballots are not translated. tribal member verlon jose says that puts the older members of his tribe at a disadvantage. >> it would impact everyone. mainly the elders, mainly the

people that live in communities that are remote, who are still very fluent. and it's what they speak every day. alexia: jose says translatio would have additional benefits. >> i believe that would help increase the voter turnout, because people will more understand what is actually on the ballot. >> what does this proposition mean? what is tax mean? what does you know, different? whatever the propositions are. alexia: hopi tribal registrar karen shupla says ballot propositions, whose descriptions in voter guides can be pages long, can be confusing in an language. one resource election workers offer is in-person translations at polling centers, while making sure not to coach tribal members on whom to vote r. >> it also helps them to explain, like, don't be afraid they can translate for you, and they'll help you understand the propositions. alexia: the goal, says maxine wadsworth of navajo county

elections, is not just to make it easier for tribal members to participate in the electoral process. it is to give them voice and power. alexia: is -- it is necessary to inform give the voters and opportunity for information that could help them make the choices that they would like to making an informed decision for themselves, and the things that they believe in. alexia: for the pbs newshour, i'm alexia stanbridge with cronkite news on the hopi nation. judy: be sure to join us tomorrow with a house -- with her speaker nancy pelosi we prepare for the results to come in. it all begins on the newsho. we will follow with our special coverage throughout the night here on pbs. plus you can join us online all afternoon tomorrow with additional analysis at pbs.org/newshour or on our

youtube channel. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. 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 -- >> for 25 years, consur cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> the landscape has changed. and not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented. with a more flexible workforce. by embracing innovation. by looking not only at current opportunities bent ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again andgain for whatever happens next.

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>> you are

. hello and welcome to "amanpour and company." you will not break our spirit as millions go without power, how they cope day to day and i ask the united nations humanitarian coordinator whether help is on the way, also. >> mark my words, going after your right to vote and who will count the vote. >> assessing how democracy is standing up to the weight of growing threat in ukraine and and a critical week in the united states. >> affirmative action is