geoff: good evening. amna: on the newshour tonight, the u.s. makes a deal to boost its military presence in the philippines in an effort to counteract china's increasing aggression. geoff: ukraine's top prosecutor bill a war crimes case against russia as the devastating invasion grinds on. >> our aim is to find everyone who is responsible for committing such atrocious war crimes on ukrainian land. amna: and transportation secretary pete buttigieg discusses efforts to reverse a dramatic rise in pedestrian deaths.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> the kendeda fund. dedicated to restoring justice and meaningful work through investments in reform of leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. 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 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. geoff: good evening. it's good to be with you. the south is finally expecting relief tonight, after an ice storm that's disrupted travel and claimed at least 10 lives this week. forecasters say warmer weather is moving in. amna: but for thousands in texas, it can't come fast enough. several hundred thousand customers have been waiting for the power to come back. and many more have been laboring to break up the ice. meanwhile, an arctic cold front is heading for new england. new hampshire governor chris sununu warned today of killer wind chills. >> these temperatures can truly become life-threatening in a very short amount of time. at -30 degrees, hypothermia can set in, in just 10 minutes. and we know it's going to be even colder than that across the entire state. amna: in fact, the national

weather service ys those wind chills could dip below minus 50 degrees tomorrow, and wind speeds could top 100 miles an hour. house republicans voted to oust democratic congresswoman ilhan omar today from the foreign affairs committee. it was a party-line vote. democrats said it was retaliation after they booted two republicans from committees in 2021 for incendiary statements. the somali-born omar said she was singled out for her race and religion. >> i am muslim. i am an immigrant. and interestingly, from africa. is anyone surprised that i am being targeted? is anyone surprised that i am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about american foreign policy? amna: republicans cited omar's past criticism of israel that ew complaints of anti-semitism. she later apologized. but house speakekevin mccarthy

also pointed to accusations that she played down the september 11 attacks in remarks from 2019. >> she set on 9/11, on 9/11, as a member of congress, as an individual sitting on foreign affairs, "something happened that day." what does that say to other people around the world? what does that say to somebody else? who wants to create another 9/11 in america? i'm sorry. it's not right. we were right in our action, and she can serve on other committees. amna: mccarthy had already blocked california democrats adam schiff and eric swalwell from rejoining the house intelligence committee. the pentagon says tonight it's tracking a suspected chinese surveillance balloon over the continental u.s. it was spotted wednesday in the stratosphere over billings, montana. defense leaders say they opted not to shoot it down because debris might hit someone on the ground. they say this type of thing has happened before, but this balloon is lingering longer.

in the middle east, calm returned to israel and gaza today after an exchange of fire overnight. the israeli military said it launched air strikes against militant weapons sites in gaza hours after intercepting a rocket fired from gaza. neither side reported casualties. russian president vladimir putin renewed his promise today to win the war in ukraine. he spoke 80 years after the soviet union defeated the nazis at stalingrad. putin marked the anniversary of world war ii during ceremonies in the city, now known as volgograd. and he blasted germany for confronting russia again by arming ukraine. >> it's incredible, but it's a fact. we are once again being threatened with german leopard tanks with crosses on them. those who draw european countries, including germany, into a new war with russia and those who are betting they will deat russia on the battlefield clearly don't understand that modern war with russia will be quite different for them.

on the amna: meanwhile in ukraine, president volodymyr zelenskyy urged visiting european leaders to impose more crippling sanctions on russia. pope francis urged the youth of congo today to shun violence and corruption, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the central african nation. the pope arrived to cheering, chanting crowds at a stadium in the capital, kinshasa. those in the audience praised his words and his visit. >> we are absolutely delighted. everything has to change because he came to bring light to our country, the congo. now, we will have the peace of christ in our hearts and in the whole world. amna: the pope's next stop is south sudan. back in this country, there's word that nearly 1,000 migrant children separated from parents at the border during the trump years still have not been reunited. the department of homeland security says more than 3,900 children were affected overall. a biden administration task force is working to reunify them. it says new families are still

coming forward. and on wall street, tech stocks led much of the market higher after facebook's parent meta surged more than 23%. the blue-chip heavy dow jones industrial average lost 39 points to close at 34,054. but the nasdaq jumped 384 points, 3%. and the s&p 500 was up 1.5%. still to come on the newshour, representative chip roy discusses the agenda of the new republican majority in the house. the democratic party wrangles over re-arranging its presidential primary calendar. actors ben platt and noah galvin discuss their new mockumentary about theater camp. 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 u.s. and the philippines reached an agreement today allowing american military forces to operate in four yet to be confirmed new locations across the nation. today's move is aimed at confronting china and its focus on taiwan, which is only a few hundred miles from one of the new locations where u.s. forces will likely operate. another new location faces the south china sea. last month, the u.s. and japan announced an agreement allowing american forces to operate on a japanese island that is even closer to taiwan. for analysis, zack cooper joins us. he is a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, a washington think tank. he also served in various national security posts during the george w. bush administration. it is great to have you here. and how will they u.s. use these military bases with the goal of confronting china's influence in the region? zack: i think the objective here is to provide new assets where the united states can place its forces so they are not so

focused on a few bases in east asia. right now, the u.s. uses okinawa and guam as its main operating locations, and being able to diversify away from a couple locations makes the targeting challenge much more difficult for china. geoff: what does the philippines get out of allowing the u.s. to expand its military footprint there? that is a politically sensitive issue as you know because many filipinos see the american influence as being a vestige of colonialism. zack: absolutely. this is really about places, not bases. we are not talking about going back to big u.s. facilities in the philippines. these are philippine bases where u.s. forces will be operating sometimes, probably on an operational basis. with the filipinos get, and why they are asking the u.s. to come back in, is a presence in the south china sea where the chinese are pushing the filipinos quite hard. some other assistanc with disaster relief, which is a huge

issue in the pacific rim. geoff: what is the nature of the relationship right now between china and the philippines. ? this agreement was initially signed in 2014, but progress stalled because the former president decided to pivot toward beijing and away from the u.s.. zack: this is in part a win for the united states but also in part a mess for china. this was a chance for the chinese government to drive a wedge between the u.s. and philippines over the last x years. what we have seen is that rodrigo duterte is gone and his successor has welcomed the u.s. back in, which has been a surprise for some of us. i think the reason is china has pushed too hard. it pushed the philippines and the south china sea and others economically. these countries are saying, we have told rely on the united states, there is no other option. geoff: there is a debate on the merits of having marines, army

forces, american troops on these islands where they are effectively isolated. it could be hard to supply them oredically evacuate them if that is what inecessary. explain that debate for us right now. zack: the debate is between stand in forces and outside forces. outside fces say aircraft carriers from operating far away might be able to strike targets in the theater, maybe in the taiwan street. i think the argument the marines are making as it is important to still be there. how can you reassure your friends if you're not there with them in the fight? to have a layer of forces that are stand in forces is important. they can sense the region around them and we can put new capabilities, things like anti-ship cruise missiles, on those facilities if the philippines and others let us that can hold chinese targets at risk. geoff: what are the steps? zack: this is a big question.

the agreement in 2014, the next step was to execute and build out some of those facilities and have u.s. forces use them, and that never happened. the thing many of us will be lookingor is whether u.s. forces are deployed on rotational deployments. there is a commitment of something like $82 million that is supposed to go in these facilities soon. we will be looking for those signs they are executing. but as lloyd austin said just yesterday,, this is a very big deal. and i think he is right. geoff: that cooper, it is good to see you. zack: thank you. ♪ amna: this week, ukraine's government launched its most aggressive anti-corruption efforts since russia's invasion. a well-known billionaire and six former defense ministry officials are among dozens of officials targeted, some accused of embezzlement.

that internal battle comes as the frontline with russia heats up. today in eastern ukraine, russian missiles hit homes and a children's clinic, just the latest sign russia targets civilians indiscriminately. nick schifrin speaks to the man whose office is trying to ensure accountability for both corruption and war crimes. nick: this is all that remains of what used to be apartments. all that's left of a kitchen. the pulverized ruins left over from a russian missile that landed overnight. the ripped open insides of multiple living rooms, bedrooms, families lives, their contents now a single collection. ukrainians are already cleaning up after russia's latest missile strike. the accountability is just beginning. we spoke to ukraine's prosecutor general. >> they are massive missile\ attacks, which are happening

every week or every two weeks. they cause the deaths of dozens of civilians. nick: he visited washington, d.c. this week to rally support in his pursuit of justice. he says multiple russian recent missile strikes last month that ripped an apartment building in two. last summer, they gutted a wall and were constructed with the same russian missile by the same russian unit that he wants to prosecute. >> we definitely know that these type of missiles are only within the one squad of russian air forces. of course, this work is very difficult, and it takes a lot of time. but our aim is to find everyone who is responsible for committing such atrocious work crimes on ukrainian land, and we will go ahead with this. nick: the international criminal

court would not be able to pursue russia's most senior leadership for the crime of aggression, so ukraine wants to create a special tribunal, an idea supported by the european union and united kingdom but not the u.s. >> i am optimistic and i hope in coming days or weeks we will have political decisions of the u.s. government to support the ad hoc special tribunal for the crime of aggression. i believe the final decision will be to support the special tribunal because crime of aggression was a primary war crime. if aggression would not occur, there would be no 65,000 war crimes committed, no people killed, tortured, raped, or illegally displaced. one of the initiatives of ukraine is also to use all the procedures of the international criminal court within this special tribunal to make it credible also from their criminal cedro point of view. nick: the americans and even

europeans in the last few days have talked about an interim prosecutor in the hague together evidence of the crime of aggression that is separate from a special tribunal. is that good enough? >> it is a very good idea. this whole crisis will combine. ukrainian prosecutors and prosecutors from other jurisdictions will select evidences for the case of the crime of aggression for the future tribunal. nick: simultaneously, kostin vows to fight in internal war agait corruption. this we, the equivalent of fbi agents accused the head of kyiv's tax service of embezzling millions in the living beyond her means. agents raided the home of one of ukraine's richest and most famous men, connected to companies accused of massive tax evasion. plus we, one of zelenskyy's deputy chiefs of staff's posted his own resignation later after he was forced out.

now half a officials are accused of buying low quality protective gear for ukrainian soldiers at inflated prices. >> we have informed on suspicion several top officials of ministry of defense, of regional administrations, of minister of energy. it is a signal for me and my colleagues, for everyone, former current officials, that there will be no tolerance for corruption. and this is a strong position of the president of ukraine. ni: unfortunately in some spheres, the only where to -- the only way to guarantee legitimacy is to change leaders, as many as necessary to ensure nobody abuses power. >> this is the opinion of the nation because we build ukraine without corruption. we have wartime priorities, but corruption is an internal enemy of ukraine and should be defeated together with external

enemy russia. nick: you call it a signal for current and future actors, but is it also evidence that ukraine is still bedeviled by the corruption that has existed for many years? >> the most important thing is to react because the reaction on cases on time and reaction on cases will stop future potential officials from corruption activity. and this is our goal. to have our country cleaned from corruption. nick: and does that include your own office? you have fired one of your deputies. is that a case of corruption or perhaps vacationing in europe when he wasn't supposed to? >> you know, sometimes people make mistakes, and if they understand that these mistakes are substantial, they can leave their position. i also fired five regional

prosecutors the next day, and this is not the end. we will go ahead because we all need the efficient state institutions and efficient state structures, and we have no time to wait unl someone can fix mistakes which occurred. and i'm grateful. i'm grateful today for every investigator, every prosecutor doing their work in this very difficult situation, because sometimes we are without electricity, sometimes without connection. but there was no day in ukrainian history since 24th of february when ukrainian authorities were not active. all authorities worked every day, including law enforcement, and this will be preceded. nick: andriy kostin, ukraine's prosecutor general, thank you very much. >> thank.

-- thank you. ♪ geoff: we're going to shift our focus now to the rise of roadway deaths, a problem that's worse in the u.s. than in many other developed countries. one year ago, los angeles resident angelica chavarria was walking to church with her husband, jemmy, and their son, zion. >> i remember we did everything perfectly. we touched the blinkers, for the lights. geoff: the family of three waited at a marked crosswalk, guided by a crossing guard. when traffic stopped in both directions, they all started to walk. >> so, everything was perfectly fine for us to walk. and i remember we had only walked maybe a couple of steps, and when i turned i just saw this car coming towards us. and the only thing that i said, i remember that day, i just said, "jemmy." i scream, "jemmy." geoff: the approaching vehicle did not stop. jemmy reacted quickly, shoving his son to the sidewalk before pushing angelica out of harm's way.

jemmy was struck and killed. the driver, who never stopped, has yet to be identified. >> and that for me, it's like, you could have stopped, you know, because my husband wasn't an animal. he wasn't even an animal. you stop and you're like, oh, my goshyou know? but this person didn't stop. so that for me is like -- i just pray every day. lord,. geoff: pedestrian deaths in the u.s. have reached their highest level in 40 years. for some 25 years, pedestrian fatalities were on aong decline. but in recent years, they're back on the rise. in 2021, there were nearly 7,500 pedestrian deaths, equivalent to roughly 20 deaths per day. it's a big part of a growing problem. overall, roadway crashes are a leading cause of death in the u.s. and even in the early days of the pandemic, deaths continued to increase. in 2020, nearly 39,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes, a 7% increase from the year

before. by 2021, that number shot up to nearly 43,000, a figure comparable to the number of lives lost to gun violence every year. >> we need to talk about roadway deaths in america. geoff: using funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law, transportation secretary pete buttigieg is spearheading the allocation of $5 billion to state and local governments through a federal grant known as "safe streets and roads for all" to try and prevent roadway deaths. a particular focus -- bicycle fatalities, which have increased a whopping 44% since 2010. this past august, daniel langenkam's wife, sarah, was hit by a truck driver while riding her bike in montgomery county, maryland. >> my wife sarah and i and our boys had recently been evacuated from ukraine, where we were u.s. diplomats serving to help ukraine fight russian aggression, basically. and so, sarah had been attending

our boys' open house for the beginning of the school year at their school and had been riding her bike back to our apartment in betsda. and as she was riding along, a truck turned right, apparently without seeing her, and struck her and crushed her. geoff: since then, he's pushed for more bike and pedestrian safety measures at the local and national level. part of the funding from the "safe streets and roads for all" grant is going toward improving streets his wife used to ride. >> behind every one of these numbers, the 42,000 or so people that have died this year or last year, there are people like sarah, and we have to remember that. i think we all want a society where those people are safe, where riding a bike is not a life and death decision. geoff: we're going to talk more now about the new federal initiative to improve road safety. joining us now is transportation secretary pete buttigieg. mr. secretary, welcome back to

the newshour. picking up where we left off, his point that choosing to ride a bike should not be a life and death decision. roadway accidents are a leading cause of death in this country on par with gun violence. are you surprised there has not been more outrage, a greater willingness to do something about it? sec. buttigieg: i do think there is a disconnect between the amounts of damage, harm, and death happening on our roadways and the amount of attention it gets. if this were happening in any other mode of transportation, air travel for example, america would be up in arms. yet, i am afraid this country has become used to to roadway deaths, whether we are talking about pedestrian or vehicle occupants. it has happened so much and happened to the people so many of us know that we react and think sometimes as if it was inevitable, as if we were all

living in a country at war for as long as we can remember. the truth is, it is preventable. not only is the amount of death happening on our roadways proportional similar to that of gun violence, it is also disproportionate to what is happening in a lot of other western countries, and that tells us if we make different choices, different kinds of investments like the ones we are announcing this week, we can make a difference. the only tolerable level of roadway death in america is zero. we have to set ourselves on a course of doing just that. geoff: this program allots $5 billion to state and local governments over the next five years. why did you decide a national strategy for local projects? how is this different from anything that department of transportation has tried before? sec. buttigieg: the basic philosophy is the individual designs don't need to come from washington, but more of the

funding should. i think back to when i was the mayor of south bend. we had a long list of things we wanted to do that we believed would make our community safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, wheelchair users, you name it. a lot of times, those visions do not get realized because there is not enough funding. this is just one of the many programs in the infrastructure law that we are putting to work, literally putting out on the street. this is allowing us to support these community visions, with hundreds of communities getting planning grants to build out their vision and design the improvements that are needed, and for dozens of communities, construction grants of doing the physical work. our national strategy calls for five elements that we think will make a big difference. safer people, safer vehicles, safer speeds, a better standard of post crash care, so if your

injuries turn into fatalities, and safer roads. it is the design of the roads that we know can make a direct impact on these funds. geoff: there are cities we can look to for solutions. amsterdam, copenhagen, hoboken, new jersey. and during the research, a city of 60,000 people, they have not had a single traffic fatality since 2018. how are they able to do that, and are there things other cities can take away from that? sec. buttigieg: absolutely. i hosted the mayor of hoboken and other cities recently because i think these examples are extremely important. when you set out a vision like zero traffic deaths, it sounds so remote that some might view it as pie-in-the-sky. it is important to point to specific places like hoboken, jersey city, evanston, illinois, that have experienced one year or several years with zero traffic deaths. they are not the biggest cities but they are not the smallest

either. our goal is to add every year to the roster of cities that got that done. what we are seeing is a level of inteion, mayors ready to use their visibility to call for greater safety culture, road design that encourages vehicles to ride and drive at safe speeds, measures that protect pedestrians, whether the right kind of lighting signals, crosswalks, medians, way the concrete pum out into the street. it will be different from one city to another. we know the more communities that embrace this as a goal and put serious resources into it, the more lives will be saved. that is why we are helping on the resource side and funding the planning activities that help get this done. geoff: in addition to advocating for infrastructure changes to roadways, what about regulating the sizes of trucks and suvs? is that something you would encourage? sec. buttigieg: one of the most important functions of our department is to enforce federal vehicle safety standards, and we

are constantly revising and refreshing those standards, like the crash dummy process. what we are seeing right now is that there are a lot of developments and changes to cars, trucks, suv's, vans, some of which are potentially very encouraging like onboard safety technology, but only if used in the right way. they are relatively new, so we need to get more data on the effect they are having. the other thing we are doing is looking at the traditional measure of the safety of these vehicles for the occupant, but the safety of the vehicles from the perspective of anyone who might come into contact with them. that is an area that will call for continued research and work to make sure we are really looking at the entire picture of how the design of the vehicle affects the physical safety of everybody implicated inside and out. geoff: sec. pete buttigieg,

thanks for your time and insights. sec. buttigieg: good to be with you. ♪ amna: republicans have been busy on capitol hill launching into some of their top agenda items of the year. just this week, they kicked off commitee hearings into the biden administration's handling of the southern border and have been navigating talks with the white house on addressing the debt limit. to dive more into the gop conference's top priorities, i'm joined by republican conessman from texas chip roy. congressman, welcome and thanks for joining us. let's start with the debt ceiling conversation. the u.s. is at risk of defaulting if the congress does not vote to raise the debt ceiling for money that has already been spent. you said you won't vote for that unless you get spending cuts. we sought speaker mccarthy lead the white house after his

meeting and say there is common ground to work from. have you talked to speaker mccarthy about that? where do you think the common ground is? rep. roy: what is happening right now is what should happen. the president of the united states is sitting down and negotiating, despite what he said, because of course he is. we are a coequal branch of government and yes to sit down. 60% of amerins said they don't want to see a clean debt ceiling increase. they want to see changes and structural reforms if we are going to lift the credit card of the government. they want to see those changes. a similar percentage believe we should restrain government. they see government as a problem that is. speaker mccarthy is doing the right thing. he is telling the president you will sit down and negotiate, we will change the system, stop spending money we don't have, and we will do that and we are not going to play games with the debt ceiling with respect to the debt markets. if you are goingo say you think you will default on the debt, that is on you.

you have the choice. we are sitting in january, now february, telling you where we need to go. amna: the white house says the debt ceiling is not up for negotiation. the president has said he wants to see a budget from speaker mccarthy. but in the past, the republicans have voted to raise the debt ceiling, three times under president trump. was that a mistake in your view? rep. roy: i voted against the debt ceiling increases and i was pretty ctical of president trump because i thought we should have gone further in terms of the kind of spending restraint that needed to be put in place. i am an equal opportunity basher.i am not a party guy when it comes to that. but i am is a believer that we should stand up for the american people who sent us here to change the place and not just say, we are going to lift the debt ceiling. you don't get to do that at home, i don't get to do that at home. the average businessman or woman at home don't get to do that. so why do we get to do that? we have to change the way things work around here. that was part of what the speaker debate was about. now we are doing that.

amna: you have brought forward an immigration bill that speaker mccarthy says is one of many bills being considered. you don't have the votes to move forward just yet, but everyone agrees the immigration system is broken, congress needs to act to fix it. what is your plan? how can you fix it? rep. roy: we have hr 29, a bill i introduced last congress. the purpose of the bill is pretty simple. there has been a lot of misinformation. a lot of people saying this bans asylum. some people used terms like unchristian like. this legislation does one thing, enforce current law to say we have to detain for the entirety of the duration of an adjudication of an asylum claim, or turn away like we do under current title 42 law during the pandemic. amna: i'm sorry to interrupt. i have the bill in front of me. the language says the authority to suspend entry of aliens at borders of the united states,

giving powers to the secretary of homeland bar all entries, which your fellow republican tony gonzalez has called un-american. rep. roy: tony ought to read the bill and current law. what you're doing by giving the secretary the power, not just the power but requiring the secretary to enforce the law to detain, you are saying just like title 42, which tony supports and campaigned on, and which every public and supports and campaigned on, the same power to say you can turn away if you don't have detention space. it means you would enforce current law. you would still make asylum claims. every asylum claim would still be able to be claimed, but you have to be detained while that is being adjudicated. today, we are releasing into the united states. that is causing a flood, causing migrants to die, causing americans to die with fentanyl pouring in. just yesterday in our judiciary committee hearing, i had someone from the county i live in there

because his son died from fentanyl last august. i am tired of it. i'm tired of people dying in texas from fentanyl poisonings. i am tired of the almost 1000 dead migrants along the rio grande. and i am tired of repubcans campaigning on securing the border and running away from the fight and accusing other republicans of doing what we think is right to protect migrants and americans with a commonsense bill that enforces the law. amna: fentanyl is a huge problem. but the majority of the fence about coming across the border comes through legal ports of entry. the secretary of homeland security and i spoke this morning, and he said there is no evidence that it is pouring in between ports of entry. rep. roy: border patrol agents are overwhelmed. you don't know what is coming in through the ports. what i know is fentanyl is pouring in and is the number one killer of people ages 18 to 45. rep. roy: the people coming between the -- amna: the people coming between the ports of

entry, there is no evidence of that. rep. roy: he said in the hring yesterday, it takes one pill to kill my son, and you can fit one pill in a backpack. the border patrol agents cannot check every car at the ports of entry. amna: you voted to oust ill han omar from the foreign affairs committee for her comments on israel, for which she apologized. you said this is raw politics. since democrats pushed to remove two republican lawmakers for violent videos and conspiracy theories, some of which were anti-semitic, we have got to respond. that sounds like retribution. i guess my question is, where does that end? rep. roy: i hope it ends with all of us agreeing that going forward in the next congress, we will let the managers of the teams pick the players they will put on the committees. you hit one of our guys, we will hit back. that is raw politics. now let's sit down and figure out how we are going to change this going forward. but just like harry reid opened up the filibuster and guess what

is in the supreme court? they opened the door last time i played this game. now they are feeling the consequences of that mistake. amna: republican congressman from texas chip roy joining us tonight. thank you for your time. rep. roy: thanks, amna. ♪ geoff: democrats will soon vote to rearrange their calendar for the presidential primaries in 2024 and beyond. it could have major ramifications for the party. lisa desjardins is here to break down what democrats see as the pros and cons of president biden's plan to reshape the party's nominating contest. lisa: the president's plan is likely to get a votes this weekend. italls for historic change, jumping from south carolina, the state that change the course of his candidacy in 2020, to the top of the calendar. if it comes to pass, iowa would no longer be among the first states, and new hampshire would

no longer have the first primary. joining me to discuss the proposal are two political veterans. faiz shakir, campaign manager for bernie sanders in 2020. and jalisa washington-price, a veteran of hillary clinton's 2016 campaign and the biden-harris ticket in 2020. thank you both. let's start with where you agree. you both believe something needs to change in the democratic calendar. i do want to get a word in from new hampshire, which is defiant about this. here what governor sununu said. no surprise, he doesn't like the idea. >> you can come and try to take it, but it is never going to happen. for 100 years, new hampshire has given voice to lesser-known candidates and provided a pathway to the presidency for anyone dedicated enough to test their mettle with voters. lisa: iowa and new hampshire are part of american political culture, he says. they say it is a place where voters have access to candidates. but you say it is time to change. >> they are not wrong. the small town of new hampshire

is wonderful. you see people who really take that responsibility seriously. they turn out in high numbers. that said, it doesn't mean they are owning the space forever. there can be new entrants to that. there should be new people have the opportunity to have the first in the nation status. i think georgia, michigan, nevada, they make sense. it is time to refresh that and look at things with a new eye. lisa: part of being a smart campaign person is knowing the demographics of your voters. can you talk about in a graphic change in this country among democrats and how that plays into why you think things should change? >> of course. when you think about the base of the democratic party, you think about exactly who is sitting in front of us. you start with south carolina, which has a very large african-american voting population. then moving to nevada, which is a minority majority state with a strong latino, aapi, native american presence.

as well as a strong coalition of union workers as well. then you think of the historical nature of new hampshire, which is still on the calendar, and moving into michigan and georgia. it really makes up the coalition and base of the dim credit party. lisa: you to disagree about something and it has to do with the state i care very much about, south carolina. i am not biased on who goes where in the calendar. i want to ask you first. why would it be a mistake to put south carolina first, as president biden wants to do? >> among many good options, i don't think south carolina is one of them. it is a ry conservative state, a lot of elderly people, people hostile to progressive values. anti-a lot of things. the dnc chair spent $100 million trying to win a senate seat against lindsey graham two years ago and lost by 12 points. meanwhile, in the same period of time where we have seen places like michigan, georgia, nevada moved to the democratic column

and show they are voters who like progressive values in those states. we have this opportunity to remake them out. why would you move south carolina to the front of the line? why not some of these other states who might have a better argument, a better diversity argument, pro-democratic values arguments when we are talking about selecting a president of the uned states? let's not preference the fact that a conservative state that is hostile to democratic values that help the president be first in line. lisa: let me get a response from jujalisa. >> the disproportionately elderly in south carolina tends to associate with more conservative views on some of these things. you think about lgbtq views, abortion views, laboriews, what we have found when you are campaigning in that state as opposed to many other states, more concern and opposition to the core democratic values. lisa: jalisa, why do you think

he is wrong about south carolina? why do you think they should start the process? >> i am going to strongly disagree with my friend here. not only the case that south carolina has a large african-american population, as we know, black voters are not a monolith. south carolina is home to six hbcu's. when you talk about the importance of education, these candidates need to talk to students in the issues important to them. how will you think about the military community and south carolina? the issues that affect them and their family. there is a large population of the state and they talk about the issues that impact them. rural voters in the state. keeping south carolina at the top of the primary calendar will give all of these demographics and communities an opportunity to talk about issues important to them. also too, democrats should compete everywhere, not just in states that they will win.

being in a state like south carolina can also makes sure these candidates are battle tested when it is time to go to the general election. south carolina is also a smaller state. a candidate that doesn't have the resources like some of the major campaigns or larger campaigns t go into a state like south carolina can really compete and talk to voters where they are. it also borders states like north carolina and georgia, which allows us to message to voters in these states as well. i really have to push back with my friend here when he talks about how conservative the voters in south carolina are. that is just not true. the black voters in south carolinare really aligned with the values of the democratic party, and that includes progressive issues. lisa: you are both touching on something important, which is it is not just about the primary.

it is about who we choose as president. half of the decision being made by democratic voters. i want to ask both of you, this decision about who votes where, can you talk about who we might see emerge from that as a candidate more likely if the system changes? >> how the system changes is important. if it were south carolina, i wouldn't want people skipping over south carolina and moving to the next states. you want people to compete in the calendar as presented. i would say if you want to reform this calendar and make it effective, we would be moving places like nevada, georgia, michigan to the front of the line. taking all the comments made by my friend about south carolina, i would flip it on its head and say, you can say all those things about the state like maryland. higher proportion of black voters in that state, first black governor in maryland. you could make this argument that if we were talking about black voters, why not maryland? why not georgia? why not north carolina?

among many options, and i appreciate the defense of south carolina, i don't think it is as good an option as the others. put a democratic candidate in a position to win a battleground state early on and pve they can go before a general election audience. lisa: jalisa, i will give you the last word. you can defend south carolina again, but also, what do you think this will do to change the character of the candidates? >> i am going to start off by saying i pushed back again. why not south carolina? he listed a host of other states that could also go first. but south carolina has been part of the primary calendar for a while. we are familiar with what it takes for presidential candidates to come into a state like south carolina and campaign on issues we care about. why not push that to the top of the calendar? these candidates have to come in and talk about black issues early and often, and talk about how policies that they want and

lament are going to affect communities, african-american communities and communities of color. >> can i just suggest a compromise? for 2024, biden should get his pick. mandate and new state to be at the front of the line in 2028. lisa: i am so sorry, we have two go for time. we will continue this conversation. thank you so much for joining us. ♪ amna: although still in their 20's, actors ben platt and noah galvin are already performing veterans. both have played dozens of roles on tv, in films, and in live theater, including the tony-award winning musical "dear evan hansen." i met up with the couple at the sundance film festival in park city, utah, for their first television interview together. we spoke about their performances, and the real-life inspiration behind their latest

project, as part of our arts and culture series "canvas." >> i looked at him straight in his soul and said, bernard, you can keep the connecticut home. i've got my dignity and a bold merlot. amna: precocious child actors. >> jazz pirouette, jazz pirouette, grizabella! and down. amna: broadway-obsessed instructors. >> a little bit of cinnamon, a little bit of pain, a little bit of stepfather. amna: and over-the-top acting exercises, all captured in "theater camp," a 2020 short film ping fun at youth theater and its eccentric characters. ben platt and noah galvin starred in and co-wrote the parody with their friends, molly gordon and nick lieberman. last summer, the foursome turned "theater camp" into a feature-length film. huge congratulations. i spoke with platt and galvin the day after their sundance film festival premiere received a standing ovation. let's start with the short. i'm really curious what made you think, there's something here that we need to expand on?

>> us and our two collaborators, nick lieberman, molly gordon, we've grown up together. theater is kind of what connects us in a sense. and so, i think when we mixed that with our shared comedic and improvisational sensibility, it was surprising how full of a story and how robust the short could feel with just the very small, small, small, small, budget we had. and so, we were like, if this can really come across so well, just imagine if we kind of gave it more space, gave it a longer narrative. gave it perhaps 19 days instead of two. amna: but 19 days. >> that's all we had was 19 days. amna: that was it? >> yeah. amna: what was that like? >> and children who can only work about five hours a day, and a full musical athe very end, like 32 speaking roles. >> we really didn't want to go too ambitious for our first piece. [laughter] >> just very casual, small, intimate. amna: that ambition has paid off. the day after we spoke, the "theater camp" feature was acquired by disney's searchlight pictures for distribution. it may have only taken three

weeks to film, but the movie draws from years of experience. ♪ amna: before ben platt burst onto broadway, winning a best actor tony for "dear evan hansen" in 2017 -- ♪ -- before recording two albu -- >> our generation is going to save this planet. amna: -- and starring in netflix's "the politician" -- ♪ -- platt fell in love with the stage at the adderley school, a youth theater program in l.a. and before noah galvin appeared on television and films -- >> i will be directing -- amna: -- like the critically-acclaimed 2019 comedy "book smart," or as a series regular in abc's "the good doctor," he was acting professionally from the age of 10. >> i went to a camp at one

point. it was a theater camp, and it was called kevin kearins. it was just the name of the man who ran it. [laughter] which is wild. there's so many kids at this theater camp. they wanted to give everybody an opportunity, which is beautiful. i did "anything goes" there, and there was a different person playing the principal character. like in each given scene, there was a different actor playing that part. amna: in each scene? >> in every single scene, yeah. >> so you got one scene. >> so i played moonface martin in the final scene of "anything goes" at kevin kearins. [laughter] amna: there's this line in the movie. ben, youcharacter says, "this place is for people who need it, people who do not belong anywhere else." how much of that informs sort of who you're speaking to in the story? >> that's entirely, i think, who we were making it for. the thing we wanted to be conscious of was telling a story that was funny and based on our own experience, but had this bubbling of this thing that, you've just said, underneath it at all times, which is how vital these places have been for us growing up. and they are for young people, queer young people, you know, young people on the spectrum,

all different kinds of young people who find a way to express themselves through theater. amna: theater also brought the couple together. they met at a professional musical workshop out of high school. friends for years, platt and galvin started dating just before the pandemic. and last november, the two announced a new relationship milestone. you are recently engaged. >> we are. amna: muzzle tough. >> thank you. pretty good, i think. amna: is there a story an engagement story you can share? >> well, we'll keep some of the details ourselves, but i'll just say i surprised him when i told him i was taking him to dinner with his sister and it ended up -- >> and it looked like the set of "the bachelor," is all i'll say. >> and then, it was prettier colors. >> it was gorgeous. it was gorgeous. >> and then spent the night with our families, having dinner and some friends and drinks, and it was great. >> it was lovely. ♪

amna: later this month, ben platt will return to broadway for the first time in five years, as the lead in a limited-run revival of the 90's musical "parade." it tells the true story of leo frank, a jewish-american man who was lynched after being wrongfully accused of murder in georgia in 1913. what is it like for you to step into this role at this moment? >> for me, it just feels like the right place at the right time. and i think i've learned a lot as i've grown older in my career to seek out characters and roles that i am the right person to take on and to tell. and i think this being a 29-year-old jewish man portraying this 29-year-old jewish man who was wrongfully accused in the south, i think is an authentic piece of storytelling. there is no pretense i can really feel like the right proprietor of this particular story. am: we're speaking at a time certainly of rising anti-semitism.

we're also speaking at a time o rising anti lgbtq hate speech, political rhetoric, and legislation across the country. >> oh, yes. amna: how does all of that resonate with you? >> i mean, after seeing parade," it was a piece written in the 90's by a 24-year-old jason robert brown. i mean, it was chilling how prescient it felt and how current and necessary a piece of storytelling it was. >> in terms of theueerness of it all, even noah and i who are fairly privileged, and most of the time we live in a pretty liberal level, we have experienced moments of homophobia. and it's certainly everywhere. so, i think all we can do -- obviously we want to share our retionship because we love each other and we just want to share our happiness. but we also take a lot of pride, i think, in just showing public queer joy and a healthy queer

relationship and collaboration. amna: more joint projects ahead? >> i think so. >> we work well together. it was a nice thing to know, you know. amna: that's a good thing to discover. >> we got engaged after then. >> yeah, we're still here. amna: what a gift to do what you love with people you love. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you so much, this was lovely. amna: and we have more stories about the sundance film festival online at pbs.org/news, including a look at three directors of iranian descent whose films were inspired by their mothers. geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night, where we will explore why so many working-age men appear to have given up on looking for jobs. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans to help

people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> it was like an ah-ha moment. this is what i love doing. early-stage companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people who are trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. i am helping people reach their dreams. i am thriving by helping others every day. people who know, know bdo. ♪ >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour.

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. hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. >> justice for tyre. >> tyre nichols is laid to rest against a backdrop of national unrest. i speak with dean of colombia university journal lisp school and one of the foremost writers on race and politics. then confronting a legacy of violence in the oscar nominated film argentina 1985 and human rights lawyer. also. >> for the last 30 years or three decades there hasn't been significant progress on