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 tonht'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. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. ♪

this program was made poible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contbutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: it's election day eve, and some 41 million americans have already voted ahead of tomorrow. lisa desjardins begins our extensive coverage of the 2022 midterm elections. >> 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. economy, security, national

security, those types of things. >> and as far as closing messages -- peachtree state governor brian kemp stuck to that, republicans' number one theme -- the economy. >> we've had a great team in georgia for a long time and that is why our state is doing so well despite joe biden's a 40 year high inflation a disaster at the gas pump, a , disaster at the border and in washington, d.c. >> polls indicate kemp has an edge over voting rights activist stacey abrams. even more eyes are on george's u.s. senate race. a must-win for democrats, incumbent 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 compence matters. you should ask yourself if the person you are voting for has actually demonstrates any interest in the subject matter. >> but nowhere are there more

messages and more politicians than pennsylvania, with its toss-up senate race. republican tv doctor mehmet oz's closing plan is to send messages to very different groups. he sat down with moderate senator susan collins in swing buck county and separately appeared with president trump in latrobe. lieutenant governor john fetterman brought in a president and one of democrats' most popular figures -- former president barack obama as their senate race closer. >> fundamental rights are on the ballot. >> 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. >> look, this election isn't a referendum. it's a choice. it's a choice between two fundamentally different visions of america. >> hochul faces a strong challenge from replican

congressmalee 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. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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 a wall. and they're going have to stop us from building the wall. >> aiming to stop lake from winning is arizona secretary of state and democratic candidate for governor katie hobbs, whose closing push is a plea for democracy. >> it is a choice between sanity and chaos. it's going to be close. every single poll has us tied and that means we need every single person in this room to vote. >> 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 to both of you. laura, when you put it all together, what do you see as the parties' closing messages, in particular from the president and others?

>> for president biden in democrats, it comes down to the economy, democracy, and abortion. the president and former president obama have on the economy focused on not just what president biden past, trying to show that things like the inflation reduction act, prescription drug reform could help people in their pocketbooks, but also social security and medicare. what they're looking at specifically there is proposals by republicans to cut spending for the safety net programs and we heard obama and president biden talk about this a lot when they were traveling the country. on democracy, president biden feels this very closely and it is part of why he ran for president when he saw threats in charlottesville in 20 with neo-nazis rallying. historians have said he feels the need to interject and say that he sees it as a big, defining issue this election cycle.

there are a number of republican candidates who say they meli -- may not accept the results if they lose. >> whereas abortion ended up? >> democrats have wanted abortion, five months away from the supreme court decision, to stay front of mine for voters. we have seen ads, like one in nevada, really trying to strike this contrast with her opponent on the issue of abortion. as well as the democratic candidate for governor in pennsylvania, focusing specifically, saying it is not freedom to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies. two quick anecdotes. when i was in michigan, every democratic voter named abortion or democracy is the issues that were defining who they were going to vote for. i also recently spoke to a pennsylvania voter, an older woman, who says she is voting

for democrats based on abortion based on the fact that she has a 16-year-old granddaughter, she voted for trump and 2016 and biden in 2020, and she knows at least a dozen women who will de for democrats based on abortion and not tell their spouses our families. there could potentially be an element of a silent abortion voter this year. >> that is the democrats, what about the republicans? >> democrats three points, republicans have three as well. the message they have had this entire election, inflation and the economy. they are driving that home still. we are seeing them ramp up especially on crime and the idea that crime in cities, where there are many democratic voters that they would like to stay home and suburban woman outside the city so they are hoping to bring into the republican fold, those are messages we see a lot from republicans. we are seeing some republicans

throw in something more human, senator ron johnson has an ad where he is raking leaves in contrast to the tone we have seen from most of this campaign. one of the ads that displays this is from lee zeldin in new york, hoping to regain the governor's mansion. he is showing his children first of all, that is, as a human, and then the ad pivots to crime. there was a shooting in front of his house in the last month 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 the democracy question, 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 moving in the republicans' direction. what did they think their chances are? >> very good. if you talk to republicans and democrats alike, they would all

tell you that republican momentum has been swinging in the last few crucial weeks. when you talk about the house, republicans need five seats in the house. some republicans think they will do much better than that. i have spoken to democrats who believe they could even lose 40 or more seats in the selection. is it likely? they will say no, but is that possible? yes. republicans just need to pick up one seat in the senate and it does seem like it is a tossup, many close races. it's interesting some of the seats republicans thought were way out of reach like new hampshire were maggie hassan is up, suddenly is more competitive. the timing of tomorrow's vote and the last couple weeks really matters. judy: at least one other thing you have been following, the number of candidates who are election deniers. what are you seeing? >> this is so important and

something we have been talking about a lot. we have carefully looked at all the republican candidates for governor and secretary of state, what they have said, analyzed their position on the 2020 election. it could tell us something important about future elections. i want to show you the map of secretary state department -- secretary of state nominees. dark purple as those who have flatly denied the 2020 election results. some are in states that have competitive races like arizona. i want to talk about two candidates. the secretary of state nominee in arizona, he is a self-proclaimed member of the oath keepers. in addition, the secretary of state -- he has said he will not concede if he loses. the candidate in michigan has said she will not concede. in the last few hours, she lost a lawsuit in detroit where she

was trying to get tens of thousands of ballots thrown out. that lawsuit has been lost, but it may be impetus for her to say she's not going to concede if she loses. almeaningful and important to watch. judy: so glad you are continuing to do that. in connection with all of that, these claims that the election may be rampant fraud in parts of the election, what effect is that happening on the people that work? >> i spoke to an election official today who told me that what is keeping them up at night is the postelection period. these lies about election fraud, there was no widespread fraud in 2020, a lot of these election officials expect this election to go off smoothly from an adnistrative level, but they are worried that once the polls close in that period between polls closing and when the results are actually certified, that is what they are most concerned about.

i spoke to the institute for strategic dialogue, she said they have already seen an increase in the number o legitimate rights released across social media platforms, threats that are being directed toward election officials and that there has been an increase in that and that these are very specific threats. judy: i know these are all things we will be following very carefully tomorrow and tomorrow night. thank you both. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west, we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. a russian businessman with ties to president putin confirmed his organization has interfered in past u.s. elections and will again. until now, he 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 koreaofficials said they are undeterred. in egypt, world leaders heard stark warnings as they kicked off an annual un climate summit. they will spend weeks discussing carbon emissions and demands that wealthy, polluting nations compensate developing countries hit by weather disasters.

un 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. stephanie: china reports 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. 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 formally stayed steve bannon's

contempt of congress sentencing today. that puts his four month prison sentence on hold for now as he appeals his recent conviction. the former trump adviser was charged after he failed to turn over documents and testify before the house panel investigating the capitol siege. an arizona judge blocked today a rural county's plan to conduct a full hand count of midterm election ballots. the cochise county board of supervisors had sought the count on the unfounded claim that vote-counting machines are error prone. the county elections director said an extended hand count would potentially delay election results and imperil ballot security. california has settled a lawsuit against a german auto-parts manufacturer related to the volkswagen emissions scandal. bosch has agreed to pay $25 million for supplying devices that made it appear vw and fiat chrysler automobiles met state emissions requirements. bosch is not admitting liability.

and on wall street -- stocks rose as investors bet that republicans will block new tax and spending plans if they make election gains in congress. major indexes were up nearly 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. why casting a ballot remains a challenge for many indigenous people. 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 diversity. judy: tomorrow night, as polls close in the results come in, the newshour will rely on the associated press to call winners as we have since the program began in 1975. the ap has more than 4000 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 100% 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'm joined by the executive editor of the associated press. welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us. 4000 reporters around the

country, and enormous operation. give us a sense of how it works, how do you get to the point where you feel confident to make these calls. >> thanks and we are really excited and very well prepared to be able to do what we've done since 1848 at the associated press, which is to declare winners in these races. this is the single biggest act of journalism in this country. 4000 journalts across the country making sure that is votes are being counted, that we are able to assess the accuracy of the election, look at our models, and declare winners. our standard is certainty. we want to make sure that when we call a race that it is because there is no way the trailing candidate can catch up. we do that because we spend the whole year, this is not a one night effort, we spend the whole year researching what the rules around voting are in each state.

making sure that as the rules are changing, that our teams are cross them. we are confident, but we want to be cautious. we know that when we call a race, it matters. we want the public to have confidence in the race call and we feel that the work that we put in going into the night and explaining we will do coming out of those race calls, about why we are calling the races, how we make the decisions, we hope that ll increase the public trust. judy: who makes the decision when a race is called? >> it depends on the level of the race. i personally will be involved in some of the high-profile races. a team of senior editors will be involved. we also have an excellent and experienced decision desk. then our team of analysts who spend weeks and months analyzing what is happening in the states

that they oversee, some have been doing this for years. it really ranges depending on of the level of the race. judy: as you know, there is a lot of interest and questions about when races will be called, how soon we will know results. in 2020, it took several days to get the results from pennsylvania. what should the american people expect this time? >> you are right, i think there are a lot of questions about when raisins are going to be called and why it may take a while. just like 20/20, i would urge your viewers to be patient and that is not because anything will have gone wrong. this is one of those things that is important to keep wrong. because of the changes to the ways that americans are voting, more advanced vote in mail-in voting, in some cases, it is taking longer for states and counties to cast ballots. it means it could take us longer

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 very close, we want to wait for more of the vote to be counted. that could mean 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 and sate? >> it is certainly possible. we want to wait for some votes to come in before we make addictions on timing. -- predictions on timing. it is possible we could wake up 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, that the ap is going to be talking to. can you give us a quick sense? >> this is something i hope that a lot of your viewers will take

advantage of in the hours coming into election night and coming out of it. it is our survey of the american electorate. this allows us to not just tell you who won but to tell you how they one. how americans were voting. how different demographics were participating. given how divided this country is right now, given how many questions there are about which messages are appealing to which voters, we think this is just as important as the actual results and should tell us a lot about where this country goes. as we all know, the race for 2024 will start quickly after the midterms. >> people will be hungry to understand how the election turned out the way it did. julie pace, thank you very much. >> tnk you, julie. -- 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: 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'm joined by election law expert rick hasson -- hasen. he is the director of the safeguarding democracy project at ucla's law school. thank you for being here. one of the lawsuits have been filed about malin and absentee ballots.

what are they arguing? >> you are right that a lot of the lawsuits involve mail-in ballot in, in part because we saw this huge uptick in mail-in ballot and during the 2020 election because of the pandemic. lots of states had to ramp up and there were questions about procedures that were going to be followed. some of the questions have been answered, some of them haven't. donald trump cast aspersions on vote by mail, claiming it was a way toward fraud. we have seen republicans filing lawsuits trying to challenge certain kind of absentee ballots or procedures. one big case is in pennsylvania. if there is no data on a ballot. we have seen lawsuits, voting rights lawyers and democrats suing about things as well.

william: it went of clarification here. is the assertion being made by these largely republican lawsuits against mail-in ballots, is there any evidence that these technical issues they arguing are somehow evidence of fraud? is there any connection that ey are trying to throw out ballots that people could look at and say these are fraudulent ballots? some >> >> of the claims are that the rules are too loosend they allow for fraudulent ballots to be cast. some of the claims are that election administrators are not following the rules. it is an argument we heard president and others make -- president trump and others make.

there is an issue pending before the supreme court. we are seeing these twin arguments, some are about trying to prevent fraud, others claiming things are going too far. william: you mentioned the pennsylvania case. can you tell us a little bit more about what is at stake there and how many ballots? >> apparently there are thousands coming in were people did not record a date. we know the ballots are timely because they have already arrived before election day the question is whether or not they should be counted. under federal law, if you make an immaterial mistake, 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 had the pennsylvania supreme court dividing 3-3 on the question

because they had a justice that passed away, and now plaintiffs have gone to federal court trying to get a new ruling. there is a lot of uncertainty. the state supreme court had to issue a second ruling. if we have a very close election, for the u.s. senate seat in pennsylvania, it is possible that resolution of the election will depend upon how this legal question is answered about these timely, but undated absentee ballots. william: separately, there are a large number of people running for office who have cast doubt about the 2020 election and said there was fraud and stolen votes. there have also been a small army of people deputized to go out there on the belief that there is widespread fraud to watch polling stations and monitor ballot boxes. that has caused some people to express real concern that will be intimidation and perhaps violence or harassment at th polls.

is that a concern that you share that we might see tomorrow? >> we already saw some of this happening in 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 it tomorrow and it is something i'm worried about. i'm also worried about after election day it takes a while to process absentee ballots in states like pennsylvania and wisconsin that don't allow for early, pre checking of these ballots to make sure they're accurate and ready to be counted, so we have seen protests and potential for violence at places where votes are being counted. so i'm concerned not only for voters, but if election officials and workers. william: thank you so much. >> thank you.

♪ judy: polls will begin to close tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. in the eastern u.s., but final result could take days to determine in some races. here to determine the indicators of what they will be on the lookout for our amy walter and tamera keith. hello to both of you. it is in the air. it is almost here. what we have been talking abt for a long time. speaking of the cook belittle cole -- cook political report, your house forecast says republicans are favored in 212 races, you need 218 to take control. explain what you are seeing. >> what we are seeing right now, the challenge for democrats is that they have the narrowest of

majorities. they have a five seat majority, so will not take much of a wave, a ripple among this electorate to give republicans the majority. what republicans are seeing, they say they see a big wave that is about to cra to shore in the senate and house. we are seeing one that is maybe like wavey but maybe not a tsunami, where republicans pick up 15, maybe 30 seat depending on just a number of key factors. two comes out is always important. but critically, who comes out on election day? democrats feel pretty good about their early voting in key states , but we know in these last couple of years where republicans turn out is on election day and they often surprise democrats who assumed they had built a big enough lead. second thing we are looking at is where independent voters decide to go.

you talked to julie pace about the ap, i will be looking very closely about where the 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 not in the white house. if it is a smaller margin, they may see fewer seats. the expectation is that we may see a 10-15-20 se majority for republicans in the next congress. judy: all they need is five, but the numbers you are seeing clearly giving them -- >> at least that number. it make for republicans whether they have a little advantage versus more? >> when it comes toovernance, the bigger the majority, the better when it terms of getting it through. one of the challenges that a potential likely speaker would face is actually governing.

there are must pass bills that will be challenging to pass because there are republicans who have never voted for a budget, for instance. they have had to have in the past when republicans have been in power and a democrat has been in the white house, they have had to rely on democrats to get things across the line. how many democrats will they be able to get? 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 are a lot of republicans who are in the alwaysno caucus. >> then there are people in the vote no, pray yes category. they have to do it for optics reasons. the bigger majority for republicans does have problems for kevin mccarthy because many

of those republicans would be holding democratic seats. if we are talking about a wave, that means replicans are picking up seats in connecticut and rhode island and california and oregon, seats that joe biden won by double digits. they will have a hard time holding those in 2024 if those candidates are labeled and republicans are labeled as the party you want far to the extreme or that didn't vote for a budget or defaulted on the debt ceiling. judy: or were big fans of the former president, donald trump. >> they will be able to accomplish investigations and they have lots of plans to investigate lots of things, potentially to embark on various impeachments abide in officials. they could probably get good consensus on that. judy: then there is the senate, remember that other body of the congress? i'm looking at the cook political report.

four states in tossup. talk about why they are there. >> these are races that we really feel could go either way. these are coin toss type races, where the narrowest of margins separating democrats from republicans. what we do know historically when we look accurate ratings over the years, they tend to break disproportionately in one direction. look at four seats, democrats win two, republicans win two, we are back where we started, but usually they break three or four of them will break one way or the other, traditionally. as we have been discussing, arizona georgia, nevada. those are states where we expect to not have an answer on election night. both sides seem to agree that george's race will go into extra time. pennsylvania, republicans feeling a lot better about their candidate, feels like he has

gotten a late momentum in that election. it is a republican leaning state. that is the state on election night, if they call it for republicans, there's a very good chance that republicans will have enough to win the majority. i would posit that. if democrats hold, it doesn't mean there holding the majority, but it means they could keep a 50/50 senate. judy: the same kind of question about the house. how much difference does it make for republicans whether they stay at 50/50 where they have the one or more seat? >> it would be helpful to them to truly have the majority. in terms of governing, this is going to be -- 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 a lot of

gridlock, which is not what anyone wants and yet the american people on a very regular basis give america divided government. judy: can say that that is what they want when you ask people in a number of these polls, they say they feel better. >> or this idea that they want a check on the party in power. one of the things that 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 he's running for reelection immediately? what kind of signals is he going to be giving? judy: we arejudy: has every intention -- we are hearing from the white house that he has every intention, but he can't announce it. 2023 is going to be abo 2024.

>> 2022 in a lot of ways is all about 2024. just when we think we are done we go right into the next. judy: any last minute words from the wise about what you were watching for tomorrow? what might surprise us? >> i'm watching new hampshire. given all that we have seen, republicans, that would be a big upset if they win in that senate race, i think we are looking for a big night. >> i'm watching new hampshire too and some house races in virginia that should give us a good sense. judy: we always watch the two of you and tomorrow night, tam, you will be working hard with npr, amy, you will be at this desk with us as we watch the results come in. a reminder to viewers that we will have the latest election news tomorrow on the newshour and all night on pbs with our special election coverage.

♪ the leader of the far right militia group, the oath keepers, returned to the witness stand. he is testifying in his own defense against seditious conspiracy charges that stem from his role in the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. john yang has more. >> judy, rhodes testified today that he had no intention of entering the capitol or disruptinghe electoral vote count that day. 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. thanks for joining us. a defendant taking the stand allows them to present his case to the jury in his own voice,

but it also allows the prosecution to question him. how did each side of that equation work for roads -- rhod es? >> stewart rhodes is a large guy -- smart guy. he was a gale law school graduate who went on to be disbarred. he grew up dirt poor, part of a migrant farmworker family in california. he considers himself to be a quarter mexican-american. he says he supports law enforcement, that is nonviolent, that is many as 30% of this far right oath keepers group are actually current or former law enforcement officials around the country and he says he was not involved at all and any planning for the january 6 attack. he did not go inside the building that day and 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 we want up sitting in this witness chair individual fighting for his legal life. >> what did the prosecution -- did they make any dent in his story? >> the main witness against him in this trial so far has been his own words, is in text messages on this signal, encrypted signal lab, videos, and other statements he has made. the prosecutor tried to dismantle him on the witness and using his own words. he says he was just 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 won't fear us 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, he allegedly typed. then she played at the end of her cross-examination a

recording that someone made of him a few days after the assault on the capital, where he said basically his only regret was that he didn't bring rifles and that he engaged in violent rhetoric involving speaker of the house nancy pelosi. the jury was paying really close attention, taking lots of notes, and i saw a couple of the jurors make faces at him as he went into long-winded explanations on cross-examination. that doesn't mean they will convict him of seditious conspiracy or any other charge, but he may have turned off some of the members of this washington, d.c. jury. >> this trial has been going on for six weeks delayed by a lot of things. you have been in the courtroom all but one day. what has it been like? >> there have been moments of incredibly high drama a personal turmoil. this is about the assault on the u.s. capitol. people died at the capitol.

law enforcement took their own lives. over 140 police and law enforcement were injured. 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 jurors taken this evidence. we did hear from several people affiliated with the oath keepers who basically got out before january 6 because they were so worried about the rhetoric and the way it was trending. the idea that the jury has now heard from the man himself i think is going to be a pivotal moment and we will hear from other defense witnesses for the rest of this week. >> how much longer is this trial going to go on? [laughter] >> i wish i could offer you a prediction. i hope we will be done by thanksgiving, but with so many unexpected things, including a defendant getting covid and delaying the trial, and one of the lawyers having an accident on a scooter and breaking his arm, i'm leaving room for the unexpected did.

one of the jurors says they are moving out of state a few days before thanksgiving. let's hope we are done by then. >> thank you very much. >> my pleasure. ♪ judy: global leaders are meeting at a pivotal conference in egypt to discuss climate change, but human rights or overshadowing the beginning of the so-called cop 27 summit in the red sea resort city. the family of one of egypt's most prominent political prisoners says he could die and detention within days, highlighting the egyptian government's widespread crackdown on its critics. nick: no one better symbolizes egypt's lost hope in its regime's repression than this man, an activist and software

developer who helped drive the 2011 revolution. in the last decade, he has spent more than nine years in prison. last december, he was sentenced to 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 seems like he can't control his destiny, that someone has decided that it's his destiny, that he will die in prison. the only thing that he can control is the timeline. he is choosing the timing that would be the most embarrassing to the egyptian authorities. >> is youngest sister, herself a prominent human rights activist who has been jailed three times in the last decade. overnight, she arrived at the site of cop 27 to pressure international leaders to get him released. are you worried he could die? >> i'm really worried he could die.

i respect his decision. i think it is the right decision. i understand where he's coming from. i agree that this is not a life worth living, matter for him or us, really. his family outside. but as a sister, i cannot give up hope. i still have hope. nick: no egyptian family has fought for justice more tirelessly. their late father was the country's leading human rights lawyer. the middle sister is campaigning in london. their mother has protested against six governments over 42 years. she was born in london in last year was granted british citizenship. the new prime minister from britain is attending the climate conference. rishi sunak raised the plight and called for his release. the state department spokesperson did not go that far. >> we have made a point to the

egyptians that improvements when it comes to issues of human rights only serve to strengthen the basis of the bilateral relationship. >> is the british government, is the west doing enough? >> no. i'm worried they've realized the urgency to late. they are still very timid when it comes to raising human rights concerns. nick: human rights organizations accuse egypt's president of imprisoning more than 60,000 egyptians across society. >> i believe we should concentrate on the task at hand. nick: today, the foreign minister suggested to cnbc there would be no diplomacy to release him. >> it is dealt with within the penal system. >> there is no grieving room here. the people who are going to create action and pressure on our policymakers and our oil

companies to operate better toward the climate are the same people who are now languishing in egyptian prison. to get any action toward the planet, you need to have space for people to speak up, and that does not exist in egypt. nick: world leaders are trying to avoid the death of the planet, but if nothing is done, there were could be overshadowed by the death of one man. for the pbs, i'm nick schifrin. ♪ judy: head of election day, many groups face challenges voting, whether early or at the voting booth. for some native american communities, it is being able to read and understand the voting process and ballots. from the cronkite school of journalism in phoenix, we

explain. >> maxine is a translator for navajo county elections, which covers many parts of the navajo nation in northern arizona. her job is to translate voting information into the language. many indigenous languages emphasize oral, not written communications, so she and her team translate election materials, recording audio files that voters can listen to when they vote. >> screen is now on. >> these translations allow indigenous voters to fully participate in the 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. >> it is crunch time. the election is just a few days

away. the team on the hopi nation spends hours translating voting instructions and ballots. in many cases they have to call election offices for clarification, seeking meanings behind the words. >> it makes it very challenging when you are asked to interpret a document which generally has no place in the language at all. >> wardsworth says in the hopi language there are not single terms for certain government roles. other election officials like rosita kelly works for the navajo elections administration. she says it is not a simple as it word for word translation. >> it would take certain, may be or three sentences in navajo to describe a certain word. >> tribal nations cover over a quarter of arizona land with vast distances between many communities and voting

locations. in one nation the eleven polling , places are spread across an arealmost 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 oâ™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. >> jose says translations 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 does tax mean? whatever the propositions are. >> hopi tribal registrar karen shupla says baot propositions, whose descriptions in voter guides can be pages long, can be confusing in any 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 for. >> it also helps them to explain , like, don't be afraid, they can translate for you and they will help you understand the propositions. >> the goal isn't just to make it easier for tribal members to participate in the electoral process, it is to giv them voice and power. >> it is necessary. it is necessarto give the voters an opportunity for information that could help them make an informed decision for

themselves and the things that they believe in. >> for the pbs newshour, i'm alexia stanbridge with cronkite news on the hopi nation. judy: so glad we are able to highlight that. be sure to join us tomorrow for live 2022 election coverage, as well as an interview with house speaker nancy pelosi, as we prepare for the results to come in. it all begins on the newshour, and will be followed 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 our youtube channel. that is 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, consumer cellular's go has been to

provide service to help people communicate and connect. our customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. >> the landscape has chang. 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, but i had to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again with whatever happens next. >> people who know, know bdo. >> the kendeda fund. more at kendedafund.org.

supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building and more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >>

♪♪ -"cook's country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table. we're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes. we go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today. we bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you. this is "cook's country." ♪♪ today on "cook's country"... bridget makes banana pudding pie... jack talks vanilla... i share the story of augustus jackson, the inventor of eggless ice cream... and morgan makes no-churn ice cream.