♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on "the newshour" tonight... china's population decreases for the first time in sixty years, highlighting a demographic crisis thacould have global implications. geoff: in the latest example of political violence, a republican candidate who lost his election is arrested for allegedly orchestrating shootings targeting democratic officials in new mexico. amna: and... victims of human trafficking in nepal who were forced to sell their orns, share their harrowing stories. santosh: they mu be punished for this. my body is damaged, i faint, i can't do hard labor. i find it difficult to stand for too long. ♪

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informed and engaged communities. more at kf.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. amna: much of california is finally getting a change to dry out tonight after eks of heavy rain and snow. but communities all over the

state are still facing flooding and mudslide dangers. in the south, coastal flooding has inundated streets in sunset beach. in the north, the lexington reservoir near los gatos is spilling over for the first time in nearly 4 years. meanwhile, avalanche warnings are up in parts of the sierra nevada, after nearly 50 inches of new snow fell since friday. the white house today rejected criticism that it's been slow to answer questions about classified documents being found at president biden's home and former office. a spokesman for the white house counsel's office cited the risk of interfering with a special counsel's investigation. separately, the president's press secretary declined to say if any additional documents have turned up. sec. jean-pierre: i'm just going to continue to be prudent here. i'm going to let this ongoing review that is happening, this legal process that is happening and let that process continue under the special counsel.

amna: for his part, the president today ignored shouted questions about the documents issue. on the war in ukraine, the top u.s. military officer, army general mark milley, held his first face-to-face meeting with his ukrainian counterpart. they met in poland near the ukrainian border as kyiv presses the west for heavy weapons. meanwhile, the death toll reached 45 in saturday's russian missile strike on an apartment building in dnipro. it was the deadliest attack on civilians in one location since last spring. authorities in nepal confirmed today that all 72 people on a domestic airliner died sunday when the plane plunged into a gorge. it was the country's deadliest accident in 30 years. cremation ceremonies began today for the victims. other families waited outside hospital morgues, as anger grew over nepal's history of air disasters. ram: we have lost the precious lives of so many, and this is

happening again and again in nepal. nepalese people and people of other countries have lost their family members. this is an irreparable loss. amna: also today, investigators sent the plains of flight data recorder to france for analysis. aircraft was manufactured there. in brazil, the prosecutor general felt the firstharges overnight for the riot at the capitol complex. police arrested more than 1000 people on january 8 after they ransacked government buildings, trying to overturn the presidential election results. the initial 39 defendants are accused of staging a coup, among other charges. mexico's former top security official, genaro garcia luna, has gone on trial in new york today, for allegedly protecting the sinaloa drug cartel. officially, he led a war on cartels between 2006 and 2012. but prosecutors say in fact, he took millions of dollars in bribes from the sinaloa gang. garcia luna later moved to the

u.s. and was arrested in 2019. china reports its economy grew by 3 percent last year -- one of its lowest rates in decades. the slowdown reflects strict covid measures and a real estate slump. it's also part a longer-term deine since china's growth peaked in 2007. at the same time, official data suggests an improved outlook for 2023 now that pandemic rules have eased. the european union has unveiled a sweeping new industrial plan to promote green technology. it also aims to forcefully counter unfair trading practices from china. eu commission president ursula von der leyen made the announcement today at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland. ms. von der leyen: we have an industry at the moment being challenged by the pandemic, supply chain issues and price shocks. we see aggressive attempts to attract our industrial capacities away to china and elsewhere. we have a compelling need to make this net zero transition without creating new dependency.

we've learned our lessons. amna: eu leaders will focus on the cleantech issue at a summit next month. on wall street, blue-chip st ocks dropped. the dow jones industrl average lost 391 points or 1% to close at 33,900 10. the tech heavy nasdaq rose 16 points. the s&p 500 slipped eight. still to come on the newshour, new childhood obesity guidelines spark debate. the political divide between red and blue states put on display as governors are not curated. economist and business leaders raise the alarm about congress's looming debt ceiling crisis. 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.

geoff: the world's most populous country has hit a historic turning point. today, china announced its first population decline in six decades. china's national bureau of statistics said the country had 850 thousand fewer people at the end of last year than in 2020 one, bringing its total population to 1.4 billion. china's birthrate also hit a record low last year. mei fong joins us now, she has more than a decade of reporting experience in asia. her book explores the implications of the former one child policy. it is great to have you here. this marks a new milestone in china's deepening demographic crisis. to what can this decline be attributed? mei: china is not unusual in sing population decline, most modern nations where the are

educated and have smaller families have that. what is unusual about china is this is at an accelerated speed. what takes most developed nation 50 years, china has arrived in one generation, and that is because of the one child policy. what this means, it is unique in that not only does it have fewer people, it also has a bad mix of fewer people in that a large portion of the population is very male because of the one child policy. the challenges for china going ahead is it will be hard for it to overcome the population decline because of these factors, the fact it is a very male and elderly population will make it harder. geoff: this data came alongside china's worst economic performance in nearly half a century. what are the implications for china's economy? mei: the population decline is

one of the demographer -- economic headwinds china faces. not the only one but a difficult one to overcome. one in four chinese people will be a retiree by 2050. so the worker to retiree ratio will be huge and some of the results will definitely impede economic growth, for example, pension shortfalls, public health implications, big economic implications for growth markets, the markets where we see innovation, where we see creativity and typically younger workforce markets and not elderly populations. geoff: how concerned is the chinese government about this decline and the potential impacts on chinese society? mei: very. the most recent speech that xi jinping made, he talked about the need to talk about

population and to support population for the first time. for chinese leaders, and make a lot of oblique references, this was about as explicit as you get. one of the clear ways we saw the chinese government is very worried about it is the sudden whip sawing of going from a one child policy to a two and three child policy in a span of five years. we have gone 1, 2, 3 in less than five years. geoff: what would a solution look like? as simple as encouraging people to have more children? mei: it hasn't worked at all. they said please have more, they went from have just one more please, and obviously, for the last five or six years, it hasn't worked. the solution, i think, will come in a variety of ways. yes, incentives will have to be a part of it, because china has, i think, more historically on the disincentives routes,

punishment not rewards. , and so they're starting to go in that route a little bit, but they need to be doing it a lot more. and the other part of it also is, i think china is very unique because the population is so very male and it's so very elderly. i mean, the statistic is if all of china's retirees would form their own nation, they would be one of the world's top population rates after china and india, which is poised to overtake china now as the largest population. then there would be senior china itself. and so these are very unique challees for china that no other nation that's facing population decline faces. and that's because of the one child policy. geoff: thank you for your insights, we appreciate it. mei: thank you. ♪ amna: the american academy of

pediatrics has released new guidelines on treating childhood obesity, the first in 15 years. it recommended pediatricians should evaluate and treat obesity in kids early on to reduce the risk of developing long-term health conditions. the guidelines also suggest more drastic interventions for the first time, including offering weight loss medications to kids 12 or older, and considering bariatric surgery for teens 13 and older with severe obesity. for a closer look at these recommendations and the implications, i'm joined by one of the authors, dr. sandra hassink. she is the director of the aap institute for healthy childhood weight and former president of the american academy of pediatrics. dr. hassink, welcome and thank you for joining us. i just want to set out with a definition here for folks at home. when we talk about obesity we're , not talking about weight or size. for children in particular, it's measured as a percentile within their age and sex and a child

with a bmi in that 95th percentile or higher is considered obese. do i have that correct? drhassink: yes. bmi greater than 95th percentile is a screeni test for obesity. i think it's important to point out at this point that it's a screening test, and when you have a bmi that triggers fther evaluation of the child. amna: let's talk about the guidelines. give me a broad overview, why are the new guidelines necessary now? dr. hassink: we are at a point in time where we have a lot of new and encouraging evidence that intense health and behavioral lifestyle treatment is effective, it works. we have emerging evidence that obesity pharmacotherapy can be an adjunct to this lifestyle therapy in children who meet the indications, as well as research on metabolic and bariatric

surgery that also showed that this is an important adjunct to the intense health and behavioral lifestyle therapy that we can offer children who meet the indications for that pharmacotherapy or surgery. amna: we should mention as well, we are tking about the issue here, one in five children or adolescents in america leverage -- in america is impacted by obesity. according to the cdc, that's over 14 million children. some are already expressing concern. they call these guidelines drastic or aggressive. one such person is dr. robert lustig. he is the director of the weight assessment program for teen and child health at the university of california, san francisco. here's just a portion of what he had to say. dr. lustig: we were able to help 50% of our patients without medicine. so the fact that pediatricians are going to be grabbing for the pharmaceuticals, you know, right off the bat, i think is putting the cart before the horse. if we're going to be using these drugs in kids, are we setting them up for problems later on

just because they're not acute problems, but chronic problems? is that a great idea? amna: dr. hassink, specifically when it comes to the use of pharmacotherapy, as you mentioned, or medication, what would you say to dr. lustig, who has these concerns? dr. hassink: well, i think it's important here to take a step back and realize that the core foundational part of obesity treatment is this intense health and lifestyle behavioral therapy, which helps a large majority of children. and there is no current evidence that drugs alone are effective. so whenever you're thinking about obesity, pharmacotherapy, it's always in the context of using also intense health and lifestyle behavioral therapy. so this is in context and these therapies, the pharmacology, pharmacological therapy is really for cldren who meet the

indications, which is really for children who have severe obesity or comorbidities who need help as an adjunct to the lifestyle therapy. we're not saying jump to the drugs, we're saying you use the lifestyle therapy and if you have children who need this it is an important adjunct. amna: there's also the issue of weight bias and stigma in particular. we did speak with two eating disorder specialist dr. , rosenbluth and dr. kim dennis, both of whom said that putting the kind of emphasis on weight loss so early in life can have lasting impacts for years to come. here's what they had to say. dr. rosenbluth: i have so many clients that show up in my office with debilitating eating disorders that started with just going to a pediatrician who mentioned that they might need to lose weight. and so then they endp in my office, honestly, often close to death because of these recommendations. dr. dennis: i've had lots of patients, former patients reach out to me saying, you know, like, here's a picture of me as a kid. you know, i was a little chubby, but i was put on a diet at the

age of eight and that, like, messed me up for the next 30 years. amna: and dr. hassink, even at -- even the aap guidelines from 2016 discouraged parents and family and pediatrians from talking specifically about weight and weight loss with children because of potential long term impact. so why the change? dr. hassink: this is exactly why we wrote the guidelines. these guidelines take a whole child approach. we are concerned with evaluating the whole child. this is about health, and obesity comorbidities. we have many areas in these guidelines that help pediatricians have a dialogue with parents and families about overall health. the use of motivational interviewing is very important here. so these guidelines are setting obesity in context. thisoes well beyond weight. obesity is a complex, chronic disease.

and the conversation here centers on the health of the whole child and how the family can best help the child in partnership with the pediatrician. so i think that the concerns expressed are exactly why we're setting obesity in the context of a complex chronic disease and helping pediatricians have those , that approach to the whole child. amna: obesity is indeed complex. the contributing factors are so very numerous. everything from the environment and socio economic conditions to genetics. it does seem that the conversation has shifted away from prevention and addressing some of those root causes and more towards treatment. are you worried about that? dr. hassink: we can't really say -- this shouldn't be an eithe r/or. you must prevent entry. to be fair to all the children. we need obviously prevention we certainly want to work as hard as we can.

for the children who need treatment for this complex chronic disease. we need treatment and i think it's hard because prevention and treatment shouldn't be set opposite each other. we need to do both of them. amna: that is dr. sandra hassink, the director of the aap institute for healthy childhood weight. thank you for ining us. dr. hassink: thank you very much. ♪ geoff: the u.s. government is expected to bump up against its borrowing limit in a couple of days. the treasury department is taking what it calls extraordinary measures to allow the country to keep paying its debts for now. but congress must vote to raise the borrowing limit, also known as the debt ceiling, in the months ahead. laura barron-lopez looks at the concerns about brinksmanship over the looming deadline. laura: the exact timing of when the debt ceiling has to be raised is not yet known. but it's expected by this summer. if congress does not do so, the

federal government could face a debt default and many warn it would be cataclysmic, tanking the country's credit rating and sending interest rates soaring. but a number of house republicans say the country's accumulated debt -- $31 trillion dollars and growing -- is dangerously high. and they're threatening to oppose raising theebt limit without spending concessions here's how congressman chip roy from texas put it just a few days ago. rep. roy: there are two ways to stop it. democrats and republicans sit down and work honestly around a table to stop it. or, brinkmanship, forcing the question by bringing it to the brink. laura: we'll hear more from those backing that position in the days ahead. but tonight, we want to zero in on the potential ramifications that many are warning about. wendy edelberg is director of the hamilton project, a liberal econom think tank, and she's the former chief economist for the congressional budget office. and neil bradley is the executive vice president and chief policy officer for the u.s. chamber of commerce. thank you to both of you for

joining us. windy, i want to start with you, because a nuer of economists are warning that due to the slum house majority, we could face potential default. what is at stake? wendy: i am very worried. these are obligations of the u.s. govnment has already incurred, tax and spending laws that have been on the books and the results of those laws is we are spending more than we are taking in. that requires federal borrowing. if we get to the point that the treasury literally doesn't have enough money in its bank account to pay its obligations, the consequences will be bad. the consequences would be worse if there is a choice to not make a payment, to miss an interest payment. i don't see how that could be interpreted as anything but defaulting on debt.

my guess is they would work to avoid that and make the interest payments. but then postpone other payments. payments to federal contractors to -- and to federal employees, hospitals and doctors who have treated medicaid patients. there are a lot of people on the others of those obligations that fully expect the u.s. government to make good on its obligations. amna: neal, what are you hearing from members of the chamber about this potential risk? neil: there is a lot of concern. when you think about our debt and deficit, a long-term challenge we face as a nation and we need to get it under control. when you think about the obligations from defaulting on the debt, something that has never occurred in our history, you are talking about wiping out the underpinnings of the u.s. economy. everything is based on this idea, the full faith and credit of united states government. that the united states government pays its bills.

when people buy treasuries, they are considered risk-free because no one ever contemplates the u.s. government will not pay off the treasury bill. that means everything else is benchmarked against that treasury. if all of a sudden we call that into question, everything gets called into question. the ability of the government to pay its bills, to pay seniors, to pay contractors wendy was talking about and trust in the system collapses. american families would pay a lot more in interest rates from their credit card to home mortgage loan, to businesses, with a collapse in demand and inability to meet a sick financial obligations. laura: what do you make of this tactic from lawmakers like chip roy from texas, who seems to be supported by the new speaker in this tactic, saying they will not vote for a clean increase in the debt limit unless they get concessions? neil: they are right to be raising the concern about debt

and deficit, this is a conversation we should've been having in washington for the better part of a decade. politicians from both sides of the aisle have been avoiding it. the problem is the tactic. at the end of the day, defaulting on the debt, not raising the debt limit, makes the problem worse. if we have a tanking economy, what does that do to the federal fiscal situation? if we default on our debt and all of those who lend us money charge us a lot more because now there is a future risk we won't pay them, what does that due to the budget and deficit? this is a bad tactic. right topic, glad they are raising it, but yo cannot default on the dt and refused to raise the debt limit. laura: a lot of house republicans voted to raise the debt limit when president trump was in power, about three times i think. the washington post recently reported that part of the concessions kevin mccarthy made to become speaker, to a lot of

this faction within his conference, the hardline faction, part of it had to do with payment prioritization plan , when it comes to the debt limit and the u.s. payment of debt. what does that mean and candid be done -- can it be done? wendy: this bill contemplates telling treasury they have to prioritize making payments on interest, social security recipients, payments with regards to the defense, and medicare. we would see far larger cuts for all of the spending outside those areas. now, try to get that exact same amount of money in savings treasury has been trying to come up with on any given day and make it a far smaller part of the federal government and you are talking about very significant delays on paychecks for federal workers, on money going to state and local governments for education, on doctors and hospitals treating

medicaid patients, very long delays. laura: go ahead. neil: i worked for house republican leadership in 2011 when we looked at this and we came to the conclusion it didn't work for the reasons that were just said. also, think about your household budget, and you have a credit card bill and your electric utility bill. one day you decide i'm going to keep paying my credit card bill but i'm not going to pay my electric utility bill. you don't think the credit card company is going to think maybe one day you will stop deciding to pay the credit card company and therefore raise your interest rate and withdraw credit from you? the federal government cannot simply pick and choose which legal obligations it is going to follow and which ones it doesn't. laura: is this even a breach? they like to call it a breach but it is a default. wendy: what frightens me is the mere fact that congress is thinking about this bill, the mere fact they are thinking about how to navigate this

situation rather than doing everything in their power to avoid the situation, makes me worry there are actually people in congress who want chaos. it is playing a game with the u.s. economy and people's lives that i think is irresponsible. laura: it appears there are at least five house republicans that don't want to vote to increase the debt limit. wendy, what has position is they will not negotiate period with this hostagetaking on the debt limit. even though that seemed to work in 2021, will it work this time? wendy: i'm confident that the white house and democrats in congress stand ready to negotiate on future tax and spending laws and changes to those laws. what i don't understand is why those negotiatis are linked to the debt ceiling. maybe they are both about borrowing and so people have gotten confused. one is about backward looking obligations based on previous tax and spending laws, and one is about the future. there is no logical reason to

link these. laura: thank you both for your time. wendy: thank you. neil: thank you. ♪ amna: this month, governors around the country are being sworn in to new terms, and in many states the divisions of last fall's election are still front and center. today, democrat josh shapiro of pennsylvania and republican greg abbott of texas each made the forceful case for their states. gov. shapiro: we proved that we value our freedoms, and we're willing to do the hard work necessary to protect our fundamental rights. and to those who didn't cast a too. -- cast a vote for me, i heard you too. and i will do my best every day to be a governor for all pennsylvanians. gov. abbott: people from across

america are fleeing the oppression of high taxes, red-tape, burdensome regulations in other states, and coming to texas, where freedom and fortune are found around every corner. amna: following these inaugurations and how th could shape future elections is amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter. great to see you. amy: great to see you. amna: governors are laying out their priorities for the next year and some looking further ahead to 2024, some presidential ambitions there. among those you are paying attention to, florida governor ron desantis. what is his message? amy: no one is as focused on 2024 as ron desantis. he has mentioned in almost every conversation about the 2024 republican presidential campaign. in his inaugural address, he is speaking to floridians, but really he is speaking to the

republican primary audience. he talks a lot about florida's role in protecting basically what red states put as their most important priorities. he talks not simply, as you saw from governor abbott, cutting regulation and redtape, but if you listen to the clip here, it is about saying that florida's message is basically that the blue states are overreaching. gov. desantis: when other states consigned their people's freedom to the dustbin, florida stood strongly as freedom's linchpin. in captaining the ship of state, we choose to navigate the boisterous sea of liberty rather than cower in e calm docks of despotism. [laughter] amy: this wasn't simply come to florida we have a great quality of life, look at our beaches. it is if you come disorder, you are making a political statement. your decision to come to the state is to be in the boisterous

seas, as he said. [lauter] taking that freedom, what he sees as lou states limiting freedoms -- blue states imaging freedoms, over regulating. but not just on things like taxes and those sorts of policies, on cultural issues. he talks a lot in that speech about fighting against woke-ism, which is the kind of thing you talk about in a republican audience, it gets them more excited than almost any other issue. amna: that something we hear a lot from governor desantis but he is not alone in using his inaugural in this way. one of those blue state governors was targeting and talking about this was california governor newsom. what did he have to say? amy: both of these men were just reelected so they have the opportunity to make the case not just for what they are looking

ahead for in 2023, but newsom is looking at 2024 as well, he is being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. he has been arguing that california is a last line of defense for the valleys -- values of blue states, especially for issues like abortion, or as the case he makes in his inaugural, fighting against, literally fighting against red states and what he calls the media that backs those states and the people that run those estates. gov. newsom: red state politicians, and the media empire behind them, selling regression as progress, oppression as freedom. and as we know too well, there is nothing original about their demagoguery. all across the nation, anxiety about social change has awakened long-dormant authoritarian impulses. calling into question what america is to become, freer and fairer or reverting to a darker past.

amy: again, it feels very similar to desantis -- come on, come to california. your decision to come to california, you are making more than a statement about the quality of life in that state, you are making a political and cultural statement about the values a blue state or red state hold. amna: we should point out not every governor is delivering this kind of message. [laughter] you look to georgia, brian kemp is very much delivering a unifying message, we are accustomed to seeing in this platform. why can he do that? amy: he won reelection but he is a governor of a purple state and it is not as if he ran as a moderate, he's a very conservative republican, but when we listen to the clip from his inaugural, what you see is a candidate -- well, a governor, and as a candidate, 70 who has to appeal to a very purple swing state.

gov. kemp: four years ago, i made this promise to the people of our great state, whether you voted for me or not, i was going to work hard every day to put you and your families first. and while a lot has changed and once in a lifetime events have tested all of us, my commitment to the people of this state has not wavered. amy: he is a republican who is able to succeed in a state that joe biden carried and at the senate level, immigrants have won two elections in a row, in part because he can win over some of those voters who are not really happy with what they might be seeing from the national republican party but see in brian kemp somebody focused on the issues they care about. amna: when you look at that more partisan, strident language, it's fair to say that's more common in political discourse. when you hear it from someone like desantis or newsom, are

they the eeptions or is this a trend? amy: we've seen much more of a trend of candidates coming out of the blocks and trying to appeal to the base. you can do that when you're in a blue state or a red state. they are on the vanguard. if you are in a purple state, what we heard from josh shapiro at the beginning, what we heard from brian kemp, in those purple states, you have to find a way to thread the needle. keep your base engaged, you will talk about the issues you know motivate them, but without alienating swing voters. you will not win over detractors, but if we have learned anything from the last two elections, for candidates who want to be successful, running just as the anti will only get you so far. you also have to bring something that is more aspirational and something that reaches across to people who are not identifying themselves with the blue or red jeey. amna: fascinating. amy walters, great to see you.

♪ geoff: police in albuquerque, new mexico have linked a series of drive-by shootings targeting the homes of local democratic politicians to a defeated republicanandidate. the case spotlights the troubling rise in extremist violence against elected officials across the country. >> he's an election denier, he doesn't want to accept the results of the election. geoff: former republican candidate solomon pena is behind bars tonight in new mexico, allegedly for a string of politically-motivated shootings that took place after he lost his race for a state house seat in november. chief medina: it is believed that he is the mastermind that was behind this, and that was organizing this. geoff: the charge, that pena paid four men to shoot and damage the homes of two state

legislators and two county commissioners, all democrats. the shootings happened after pena allegedly approached local lawmakers, including some whose homes were targeted, falsely claiming his election was fraudulent. no one was injured in any of the incidents, but state senator linda lopez said one bullet passed through her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom. in a press conference late yesterday, authorities outlined key evidence that led them to pena. mr. hartsock: the evidence that we have is not only firearm, but it's also from cell phones and electronic records and surveillance video and multiple witnesses inside and outside of this conspiracy that have helped us weave together what occurred. geoff: the 39-year-old lost his bid for the state house in a lens line, -- landslide, but he wrote on twitter that he never conceded. a fervent supporter of donald trump, pena accused his opponent of rigging the race before polls had even closed and after the election, called himself "the maga king." mayor keller: these shootings were indeed politically motivated.

geoff: albuquerque mayor tim keller, a democrat, condemned extremist violence, while speaking with reporters. mayor keller: this was about a right-wing radical, an election denier who was arrested today and someone who did the worst imaginable thing you can do when you have a political disagreement, which is turn that to violence. geoff: following this all closely is gene grant of new mexico pbs. thank you for being here. pena had a criminal history and there were lawmakers in new mexico who tried to keep him from running because of that. tell me more. gene: specifically his opponent, miguel garcia, he was the incumbent, he filed in court to keep mr. pena off the ballot because he had a felony record, which came from an amazing background -- he was part of a smash and grab ring. people who would take stolen

vehicles, drive them from the front doors of -- to the front doors of big-box stores and steal things. he did almost seven years in prison for this, a serious criminal background. it was unsuccessful keep him off the ballot. the judge stated in part that i he is eligible to vote, he is eligible to run. he had done his five years of probation as well so he was not kept off the ballot, but he lost by more than 2000 votes. geoff: what have the four democrats targeted in this alleged conspiracy had to say about this? gene: not a lot so far. county commissioner o'malley probably had the most compelling story so far. you mention in the set of how mr. pena had gone to the front doors of three of the victims out of the four, and ms. o'malley had a difficult conversation with him at her front door after he alleged the

election was stolen and he wasn't going to concede. she was not afraid but concerned enough that she told law enforcement he had showed up at her door. when you think about that, she had 12 lids that hit her home. a lot of -- 12 bullets that hit her home. there were a lot of bullets. mr. pena, he tried to use an ar and it jammed, he used a glock instead and they have him cold at this point through records and phone issues from the folks he hired. democrats are rightly concerned. the opening of our state legislature was today and governor lujan grisham referenced this situation in her remarks in the state of the state, standing next to the newly elected speaker of the house, who was one of the four folks who had his home shot up by this man. it reaches democrats deeply, but

relief would be the biggest way to look at this, folks were very concerned for a couple of weeks. geoff: gene, thank you for sharing your reporting tonight. gene: my pleasure. geoff: were going to talk more about the rise of politically motivated violence. for that, we're joined by democratic secretary of state in new mexico, maggie toulouse oliver. thank you for being with us. i want to ask you to expand on something you posted on twitter earlier about this case. you said this is precisely how dangerous rhetoric and conspiracy theories promote violence toward elected officials. tell me more about that, how you view the threat of violent political speech crossing over into the realm of violent political acts. sec. oliver: thank you for having me and giving me the opportunity to elaborate a little bit on this truly unfortunate and difficult topic. as many folks are aware, i as an election official, have been

subjected to threats of political violence over the last couple of years, since the deeply troubling big lie came about in 2020. i think what we can see with the situation with mr. pena is a of the followthrough, a through-line to what can happen when you have folks that are frankly radicalized by these notions that elections have been rigged. of course, complete lies. but furthermore are encouraged by the folks that they identify with in the rhetoric of political violence. not only are we talking on social media -- and by the way, mr. pena actually posted on social media earlier this year that i and some of my colleagues should be hung in the town square for alleged treason. so again, he was actively

engaged in the rhetoric. and then we saw the result of postelection, him following through on these threats of political violence and actually taking shots and encouraging and masterminding a plot to take shots at people's actual homes. this is deeply concerning. the rhetoric is deeply concerning. it's not just about threats, it is about actions. i think the most important thing is we come together as a state in new mexico and as a nation to condemn these threats and acts of political violence. geoff: how have the threats affected you personally? how has it affected the work you do? sec. oliver: in my personal life, i've had to completely change how i do things, and become so much more situational should only -- situationally aware and create protections around myself and my family. again, we are talking not just me or a handful of people.

in my state we have a number of elected officials who have been directly affected by not just threats but actual acts of political violence. this is causing us all to have a time to come together and think about what do we need to do not only to protect ourselves as individuals and human beings with families and a future, but how again do we address this deeply concerning violent political rhetoric to make it stop? geoff: you have made combating election disinformation a key focus, and in the minutes we have left, how does that work look like? sec. oliver: i think the biggest challenge is for the last couple of years, especially at first, especially immediately posted 20/20, it was incredibly reactive. sort of allegations, lies, misinformation posted online or stated at press conferences, and having to come as an election

official with skin in this game and knowledge of the process to refute and push back on these lies to keep them from becoming unintentional truths for that's one of our -- truths. that's one of our biggest challenges. and i should say this is an issue on both sides of the aisle. republicans and democrats, election officials in particular, have had to come together and be more proactive about talking how our elections work and to talk about the reality of them. the biggest challenge is to talk about our person stories as people and how we have been personally affected. this rhetoric is not a throwaway comment on social media. it impacts us in our daily lives and these threats mean something to us, our families and children. geoff: maggie toulouse oliver is the secretary of state for new

mexico. thank you for your time. sec. oliver: thank you. ♪ amna: each year, an estimated 35,000 nepalis are sold into modern slavery. they are vulnerable in part because of their economic conditions -- of the 29 million people who live in nepal, nearly half live in poverty. but the country is trying to fight back. police recently busted a network that was trafficking people into neighboring india for the illegal sale of their kidneys. producer zeba warsi traveled to nepal, including a district known as the kidney valley, to examine the ramp at human trafficking, and meet the men forced to live a sort of half-life, with just one of their two kidneys. zeba: working as a tea-boy was not part of the dream. but 19 year old santosh is not where he wanted to be, and he's not who he used to be.

he is always reminded of what olen from him by his scar. his body has to adapt to just one kidney. santosh: they must be punished for this. my body is damaged, i faint, i can't do hard labor. i find it difficult to stand for too long. zeba: this is the cost of being poor in nepal. millions of workers leave their countryside villages because they have no choice. santosh: i have four sisters and a mother back home. i am the only breadwinner and have six mouths to feed. i have a very small farm and we have been making no money. zeba: in june, men came to his village in central nepal with the promises of a new job in india. they took him to new delhi, the capital in northwestern india, and said he needed a blood test in kolkata there, he was drugged, and doctors removed one of his two kidneys. the traffickers gave him $4500

and sent him packing, back to nepal. santosh: they asked me to say yes to whatever the doctor asked. i didn't understand hindi, so i just said yes to anything he asked. and then he did this to me. zeba: over theast two decades, dozens of men from villages in nepal have either voluntarily sold their kidneys or were trafficked and duped into it. in santosh's village, we meet dan bahadur malla. he led the investigative team that found santosh. they busted two trafficking rings and made the largest number of arrests of kidney traffickers in nepal, in a decade. dan: covid-19 has played a key role in increasing human and kidney trafficking. people have lost livelihoods and have no jobs. but they need money to survive. traffickers see this as an opportunity to mislead people who are in economically hard situations. zeba: we drove to those villages in this district in central

nepal, known as kidney valley. in some, traffickers and victims live as neighbors and were angry at our presence. driving off-road, up the hill is the only way in. this tiny village in eastern nepal is nestled on a beautiful hilltop but it has a tragic reality. it is said that almost every man who lives here has only one kidney. as one mother told me, her son was born an equal, but life had other plans. kaali: my older son gave his kidney a few years back. he used to work as a construction worker. now he struggles with life, he's weaker and gets sick easily. zeba: 69-year-old kaali trudges on with life, burdened by poverty. a few years ago, her oldest son sold his kidney in india for fewer than $500. kaali: i don't know how he's able to live with just one kidney. it gives me sleepless nights. he can only do light work.

he can't lift heavy weights. i worry about him. zeba: the next victim is close. i walk next door, to meet the bardeva family. >> i know my uncles kidney was sold when he was young. whenever my uncle changed othes, we could see the surgery mark and grandma said his kidney was sold. zeba: 13-year-old shuddhata aspires to rewrite her family's poor fate. a few years ago, her uncle sold his kidney for $300 and only last month, she stopped her own father from selling his kidney. he needed money to start a new business. shuddhata: i ced and cried and we all in the family urged him not to do so. he is both our mother and father because we don't have a mother. and he finally agreed to not sell his kidney. zeba: her favorite song is about

the unconditional love of a mother. she dedicates it to her father, the only parent she's known. murari: they have not got enough humanitarian assistance as they need, because it is a kind of heinous crime. zeba: murari kharel is nepal's national human rights commissioner. he says the governments of india and nepal, and the humanitarian agencies, are one step behind the traffickers. murari: they are trying to find the orphan children in the street and trying to bring them in their contact and trafficking. basically, in the hospital, big hospitals in india. zeba: in particular, one hospital. nepal investigative officials told the newshour each new victim led them to the same hospital rabindranath tagore , international institute for cardiac sciences in kolkata. it's been in the headlines for illegal kidney transplants in the past, but has never been prosecuted by indian

authorities. dr. nagral: when a single hospital is being repeatedly in the news, clearly there seems to be a problem. zeba: dr. sanjay nagral leads an association of global experts from over 100 countries that creates international norms for transplant procedures. he accuses the medical field of looking the other way. and the rich, of exploiting the poor. dr. nagral: there's a lot of money riding on it, individuals who need kidneys, some of them moneyed. a lot of transplantation i south asia, including india, is done in the private sector and there's huge money involved. zeba: the newshour's calls and emails to hospital authorities and health officials in india went unanswered. dr. delmonico: if a doctor is violating the law that prohibits the buying and selling of organs, the doctor should not be able to continue with that practice. zeba: dr. francis delmonico is a transplant surgeon and the former president of united network for organ sharing, which

oversees transplantations in the united states. he says indian health officials need to do more. dr. delmonico: organ trafficking has been a repetitive experience in india year after year after year. so for indian colleagues, it's no surprise. for the international community, it's a major disappointment that e government of india has not come forward to prohit such practice. zeba: responsibility also lies with the home country. santosh's village is also home to nepal's first budding attempts to stop the kidney trade. at one time, 150 victims were found in a village, but only 3 cases were reported. so nepal's police anti-human trafficking unit tries to convince villagers to expose traffickers. malla tells residents from 12 villages we will not give in to organ trafficking, dan: human trafficking in nepal

is an organized crime and the nexus of traffickers is well connected from here to other countries. this is modern slavery and we all need to do more to stop this. zeba: and until that happens, santosh, and so many other nepalis are at risk of being exploited. for the pbs newshour i am zeba , warsi in nepal. amna: you can read much more on the issue of organ trafficking in the paul online at pbs.org/newshour. geoff: that's the newshour for tonight. amna: on behalf of the entire team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well planned. ♪

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. 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. thk you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, whh is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

. he'llo, everyone and welcom to "amanpour and company." here's what is coming up. >> your cowardly silence and attempt to waiting out what is happening will end with the fact one day these same terrorists will come for u. >> president zelenskyy's message to the russian people after one of the kremlin's single deadliest attacks on civilians so far. and uber ceo offers much needed support to ukraine but as the company does good, are its employees doing as well? then, western governments condemn iran's hanging of dual national citizen. women's rights advocate joins me on whether the pro