geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. tonight on “pbs news weekend,” investigating january 6 -- we look back at the house committee's 1.5-year-long probe, and ahead to torrow's closing arguments. then, champions -- after argentina's penalty shoot-out victory over france in today's thrilling world cup fina we talk with christine brennan about a tournament for the history books. and, caring for children -- how families in need are coping while congress debates expanding the child tax credit. >> as a parent, one the biggest stressors and anxiety inducers that i ever have is the feeling that i am not providing enough. geoff: those stories and the day's headlines on tonig's

"pbs news weekend." >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that ts you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour."

this program was made possib by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. thanks for joining us. the january 6 congressional committee is set to hold its final public meeting tomorrow, what's expected to be closing arguments after nearly 18 months of investigations. and the committee is expected to take the unprecedented step of making criminal referrals, urging the department of justice to prosecute former president donald trump on multiple chars. lisa desjardins looks back at what we've learned so far, and looks ahead to what the committee's final report this week might reveal. lisa: americans witnessed the mayhem of january 6 in nearly real-time. but for those who thought they understood that day, the committee revealed new, and often personal perspectives.

>> what i saw was just a war scene. it was something like i had seen out of the movies. i couldn't believe my eyes. there were officers on the ground. they were bleeding. they were throwing up. lisa: weaving live testimony with scores of video clips, the january 6 committee's 10 public hearings and meetings were tv-friendly and mission-driven, dissecting why it happened, and focusing around one main allegation. >> the central cause of january 6 was one man, donald trump, who many others followed. none of this would have happened without him. lisa: the committee methodically laid out its arguments, including that the former president pressured vice president pence to overturn the election on january 6, and before that, that mr. trump tried to manipulate republican state officials to give him a

win. >> i'm going to put my state through that without sufficient proof? my state that i swore to uphold both in constitution and in law? no, sir. >> they said there was over 66,000 underage voters. we found that there's actually zero. they said that there were 2423 non-registered voters. there were zero. they said that there were 2056 felons. we identified 74 or less. lisa: another charge, that trump knew he had lost but rejected pleas to end his election lie. >> i made it clear i did not agree with the idea of sayin the ection was stolen and putting out this stuff, which i told the predent was bull --. lisa: one headline witness, former white house aide cassidy hutchinson, testified that trump knew the crowd had weapons, wanted to march with them to the capitol, and spent hours refusing to tell the mob to stop.

>> as an american, i was disgusted. it was un-paiotic. it was un-american. we were watching the capitol building get defaced over a lie. lisa: other evidence came from some rioters themselves, saying trump fueled them. >> when you arrived on the ellipse that morning, were you plning on going to the capitol? >> no, we didn't actually plan to go down there. >> so, why did you decide to march to the capitol? >> well, basically, the president got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down. so, we basically were just following what he said. lisa: the former president repeatedly rejected it all as a witch hunt. and many republicans, like congressman rodney davis of illinois, have blasted the committee's work as an orchestrated political attack. >> i think the select committee began as a partisan process and ended as a partisan process. it's unfortunate because there are many questions that could

have and should have been asked. lisa: but the committee with seven democrats and two repuicans has insisted its focus was warranted. >> donald trump cannot escape responsibility by being willfully blind. nor can any argument of any kind excuse president trump's behavior during the violent attack on january 6. lisa: it has been one of congress' most sweeping investigations, with interviews of more than 1000 witnesses. and now it wraps up, releasing a report tomorrow, and with it, another historic move, voting to send criminal referrals to the apartment of justice. and we are told of those will include the former president himself. for "pbs news weekend," i'm lisa desjardins. geoff: for more now on the january 6 committee's final report, i'm joined by kyle chaney, senior legal affairs reporter for politico. kyle, it's great to have you with us. and you broke this story that the january 6 committee is preparing to vote on urging the

justice department to pursue at least three criminal charges against former president donald trump, including insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracyo defraud the u.s. government. the lawmakers on that committee have debated the value of these referrals for some time now. based on your reporting, how did they arrive at considering these three? kyle: well, the second to you mentioned obstruction and conspiracy to defraud. that's been a long time coming. they've indicated in court filings they already believe that that dona trump violated those laws. the surrection charge, that's really theeadline sort of eye-catching charge that i think they expect to get a lot of headlines saying that the committee concluded that donald trump not just incited this violence, but actually led or inspired an insurrection and gave aid and comfort, which are the key words in the law to that mob as it attacked the capitol. i think it kind of fits with the case they've been building all along. but now they're saying it meets those statutory elements that can be prosecuted.

geoff: committee chairman bennie thompson, as you know, he said that there could be five to six categories of referrals. help us understand what those might be and who might be implicated. kyle: so we don't know what all five or six categories will be, but we've hypothesized some. the chairman has actually mentioned a couple of them. and those can be things like referrals to the federal election commission for campaign finance violations, could be a referral to the ethics committee for members of congress who may have violated their, you know, house rules or other sort of ethical obligations. you could see things like referral with two agencies for inspectors general or the olations of the hatch act to the office of special counsel, not to be confused with the special counsel investigating january 6. and so those are the types of thgs the committee could seek referrals for. and we just don't know what the full range is yet. geoff: i know from following your reporting, you often make the case that the referral would be largely symbolic, since congress has no ability to compel prosecutions by the doj.

but the committee, it strikes me, it appears they're trying to speak into the history books potentially and perhaps pressure the doj to follow through if, in fact, they do make these referrals. kyle: you know, i think that that case, the pressure on doj was more salient in the spring when a lot of what doj has now we now we know they've been doing wasn't known at the time. it was a lot of what where is doj? what are they doing? are they even investigating this? and the committee at a time very public show of where are you, do your job merrick garland, where are you? you know, hold these people to account. now, we know they've been mounting an aggressive investigion that in some ways has surpassed the select committee. so i think, you know, while the referrals will capture the committee's view of this, doj is going to say, you know, thanks for your opinion. what we want is your evidence. we want your transcripts, your call records, everything you obtained so we can now decide if we think it meets the elements of a crime. geoff: the committee was

reluctant to turn over that evidence earlier in this process. now that their work is wrapping up, do you think that they might be inclined to share what they have? kyle: the committee has said and the chairman has said, we want to make everything public. so that's two birds with one stone, it gets everyone gets to see it, including the justice department. i imagine there will be some redactions and what gets released publicly for privacy and for other law enforcement sensitive inrmation. so there is still an open question of does the justice department get the unredacted versions of all of this? i'm not sure yet, and i don't think the committee is totally sure yet. but it should all come out or the vast majority of it come out soon after the report is released. geoff: the committee has scheduled what is likely to be its final meeting for 1:00 p.m. eastern on monday. your reporting has been at the forefront of all of this. what are you going to be looking for? kyle: i want to see the hard evidence they have. so they will they will talk about these criminal referrals. how do they justify them? how specific do they get? and what more we learn about not just what donald trump did, but all of the enablers around him, you know, who made possible what happened on january 6 and the effort to overturn the election along the way. geoff: kyle cheney, senior legal

affairs reporter for politico, thanks so much for your time. kyle: thanks for having me. geoff: in the day's other headlines, a rocket strike has killed at least one person and injured eight others in russia's belgorod region near the ukrainian border. ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack. and to the south, russian shelling continued tod in kherson with at least three civilians killed in just the last 24 hours. meantime, moscow released video today of its defense minister surveying the battlefield, in a rare visit to the frt lines in ukraine. fighting continues to be focused in the donetsk region to the east, where entire cities lie in ruins. back here at home, the mayor of el paso, texas declared a state of emergency late saturday, saying the recent surge in asylum seekers to his border city has overwhelmed local authorities and federal immigration officers. city officials say the crush of

migrants is both a safety and a health concern. that's with hundreds of migrants lining up along the border fence each day, many sleeping on the streets overnight, with temperatures at or below freezing. tens of thousands of mostly central american migrants seeking asylum have been taken into custody in el paso this month alone. the covid-era expulsion policy, known as title 42, is set to expire this wednesday. and after a heart-racing 120 minutes and a round of penalty kicks,rgentina won the 2022 world cup. it's estimated that more than a billn people around the globe tuned in to the match, in-line with viewership from the last world cup final. this is the first finals win for argentinian star lionel messi, who has hinted this will be his last world cup appearance. he's the only player in history to have scored a goal in every round of a single world cup, from group stage to the final. france's kylian mbappe was responsible for all three of france's goals, and takes home the golden boot award with eight goals this tournament. the next world cup will be held

in thenited states, mexico, and canada in 2026. still to come on "pbs news weekend," more on today's thrilling world cup final. and, families struggling to get by without pandec-era child tax credits. >> this is "pbs news weekend," from weta studios in washington, home of the "pbs newshour," weeknights on pbs. geoff: after 36 years, argentina is back on top of the soccer world. today's final was a stunning, at times heart stopping battle between argentina's liel messi and france's killian, who both scored multiple goals. in all, it was a world cup tournant to remember with major upsets, ascending talent controversies and a thrilling finale. christine brennan is a sports

columnist for usa today. she joins us now to share her insights on this year's world cup. it's great to have you here. and christine, i gotta say that final was perhaps the most extraordinary soccer game ever watched. what were some of your takeaways? christine: without a doubt, it was a masterpiece, it was it w just beautiful. and and i think because of the twists and turns in the surpses that made it all the better. for the first 79 minutes, we're all thinking argentina has this two early goals, one by messi once set up by messy, the first was on a penalty kick. and argentina went into halftime to nothing. francis looking with our gic, they've h flu outbreak. they just don't look like that offensive machine that we knew they were, and they don't seem to be mustering any kind of offense of threat all. and then boom, the 80th minute and then a minute and a half later, the 81st minute minute he literally takes the team on his shoulders, a penalty kick and then a beautiful goal where he doesn't let the ball bounce

and gets in the air. just textbook glorious, picturesque goal. all of a sudden it is tied 2-2. they both answer in overtime and then he goes to the penalty kicks which of course argentina ended up winning 4-2. it was, as you said, thrilling, exciting, and i think again because of the twists and turns because most people are going oh, this game's over. no, it wasn't. the best was saved for last. and it was exquisite soccer. for those 30, 40, 50 minutes that t world was watching. geoff: absolutely. mbope is now what the first man since 1966 to score three goals in the world cup final. by the next world cup, he will still be in his prime, but lionel messi is 35. he's an old man by soccer standards. he had hinted that this would be his last cup and he goes out with the win. what does that mean for him? what does it mean for argentina? christine: it means everything for him. this is the one he wanted.

he has every other trophy multiple times over. but to not have a world cup title for one of the greatest of all times, and there are many people tonight, thinkinge is the greatest of all time, would have just been a glaring omison. and he had said as you're referrg to that he this ist for him. 35 years old, not that old in the real world, but old in soccer. intestingly, argentina's last win in the men's world cup was 1986. messi was born in 1987. so his entire life there's been disappointment for argentina until today. and absolutely it was just the perfect ending. when sports gives us that that great ending when orts are good, they're great. and as a sports journalist all these years, geoff, this iwhat you live for. that exquisite storyline that ends exactly y know the old fairy tale ending and then mppobe turns 24 inwo days. so even though he's already won a world cup with france four years ago, and almost one another one we have many, many more world cups, hopefully to

watch hiwith the magic on the field that he exhibits every time he touches the ball. geoff: morocco was a big surprise this go round as well. i mean, what do you see as the significance of their success? christine: it's opening up africa and other places to to say, hey, you know, we're playing soccer, too, and they're playing at a very high level. the game of soccer, men's soccer, in particular stronghold for genetions, as we know with europe with south america, brazil, the great brazilian teams, pele bringing the game to the united states. that's the first name i heard in soccer growing up was pele. and when you think about africa as a nation, that is still the potentials extraordinary and never making it to a world cup quarter or semi final until morocco did it. so it's it's exactly the kind of diversity of geography as well as of course, diversity with men and women, and so many others factors that soccer needs to grow and even get better into the 21st century.

geoff: there was lots of excitement on the field. there was also lots to tk about off the field as well, given that qatar hosted this tournament. christine: that's trueand we were all rightly discussing it. i mean, qatar, with its terrible record of human rights, awful awful record on lgbtq rights, awful record on women's rights. and, of course, the tragic, just awful stories of the deaths of migrant workers who were brought ino build these gorgeous stadiums that we all marvelled at but to always remember the loss of life and just the tragedies that the qataris allowed to happen on their watch. of course, they never should have hosted the world cup. they won it under the table of with all kinds of bribery and allegations of bribes, but they did host it and it went well for them. but i do think, geoff, this is you know, as a longtime journalist as well that the spotlight that we were able to shine, that the whole world all the nalists, tv cameras able

to shine on qatar and all of the terrible things going on in that country. that was a very valuable part of this story. they were so happy to host the world cup and of course what they got was scrutiny unlike anything they had had before, deservedly so. hopefully that scrutiny will continue, especially on lgbt rights, especially on women's rights in qatar moving fward. hopefully, we don't just forget after the world cup ends, everyone goes home and forgets. but let's let's hope journalists continue to do our job to continue to look at those issues. geoff: it's a great point and look soccer fans can look ahead seven months from now to the women's world cup in australia and new zealand this summer. christine brennan, thanks so much for your time and for your insights. christine: thank you, geoff. geoff: lawmakers are working

through the weekend as they close out the congressional term, and try to avoid a government shutdown later this coming week. as laura barron-lopez reports, democrats are hoping the last-minute deal making buys them a final chance to secure an elusive policy goal -- expanding the child tax credits. laura: it is closing days, congress tries to put a bow on its budget. as families struggling with their own hope for more help from d.c. in the new year. >> as a parent, one of the biggest stressors that i ever have is the feeling that i am not providing enough. i am not doing enough. i am not able to give them everything that they need and many things that they want. laura: molly teaches middle school history in west virginia. she misses last year. >> we could breathe easier. and everything felt more secure. laura: but this year congress left a hole in her checkbook.

democrats expanded access to the child tax credit in 2021, and increased the maximum benefit from $2000 per child to $3600. $900 a month meant fuel for the stove, stocked shelves, and critical home and car repairs. >> it also gave us the opportunity to take care of medical things immediately instead of waiting until we could budget for it. we tried very hard not to depend on it because we did not trust that it would not go away. laura: they managed to save some of last year's extra credit. but congress let the expansion expire, and this year their benefit will drop from nearly $11,000 to roughly $6,000. >> most of the time we are very much waiting until the end of the month to determine whether or not we have what we need for the next month. laura: it is a struggle she lives at home and sees at school, where the return of financial stress is evident in

student's clothes and on their faces. >> it shou not be crossed finger, say a prayer pipedream to hope i kids would have the basic things that they need. and that their families would have the ability to take care of them without lying awake at night wondering what catastrop might send them spiraling. lisa: columbia university's megan sees millions of experiences in the national data collected last year. >> the evidence here is really clear. on balance it was a really good thing for kids and for their families. the expanded child tax credit helped reduce child poverty to the lowest level we have ever seen in this country. lisa: u.s. census and irs data suggested lifted merely 4 million kids out of -- nearly 4 million kids out of property. there was the greatest benefit for black and latino children,

single-parent homes and large families, and those with young kids. all groups historically cut off with a child tax credit due to lower earnings. >> we stopped kind the credit to all of these types of circumstances that kids cannot control. then gaps were closed and all the kids who were left out were included. this was a game changer. laura: but when the $100 billion expansion expired, so did the gains. in financial stability, food security, and equity. the issue split congress. its fate largely decided by one democrat aed senator, west virginia's joe manchin. >> you are done. this is a no. laura: he would eventually sign off on the president's legislative agenda, but only after securing about $1 trillion worth of cuts, including the extension of the more generous credit. joe manchin and republicans argue parents could live off the government and added cost would intensify inflation.

he demanded a work requirement, ground the rest of his party refused to give, until now. democrats are hoping to sell mansion a watered-down expansion. >> our caucus feels very strongly the child tax credit should be there as long as there are some corporate tax breaks and so far we don't have agreement from republicans. laura: some conservatives appear open to a deal. >> i have a number of concerns about the way inflation -- laura: he says the expansion and previous iterations are overly generous to those who are not in desperate need. >> the question is not whether or not the way the credit was structured would be expected to reduce employment. the answer is yes. the right question to debate is whether or not that is worth it in terms of the reduction in poverty. reasonable people can disagree on that point. laura: he says a work

requirement is not necessary but incentives to work are. data on the impact and more generous program has on the labor force is mixed. in west virginia, molly's husbanstays home with the kids. daycare options are sparse and cost more than he would earn. molly has picked up extra jobs with the school to help cover small expenses, but at the cost of time with her family. she's not counting on congress providing more help, but she is hopeful. geoff: and that's our program for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us at "pbs news weekend," thanks for spending part of your sunday with us. have a great week. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by.

and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> you're watching pbs.

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