♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. 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 builds a war cmes 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. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investment in transformative leaders and ideas. more at candidafund.org. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic endagerment, 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 yourbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> stephanie:. i am stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. the south is finally expecting relief tonight, after ice storm disrupted travel and claimed at least 10 lives this week. forecasters say warmer weather is moving in. but for thousands in texas, it can't come fast enough. several hundred thousa customers have been waiting for the power to come back, and many more have been laboring to break up the ice. meanwhile, and arctic cold front is heading for new england. the national weather service says 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. rep. omar: i am muslim. i am an immigrant. and interestingly, from africa. is anyone surprised that i am being targeted? is anyone surpsed that i am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about american foreign policy? stephanie: republicans cited omar's pa criticism of israel that drew complaints of anti-semitism. she later apologized. but house speaker kevin mccarthy also pointed to accusations that she played down the september 11 attacks in remarks from 2019. the rep. mccarthy: she said 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. stephanie: mccarthy had already blocked california democrats adam schiff and eric swalwell from rejoining the house intelligence committee. the pentagon says tonight, it is tracking a suspected chinese surveillance balloon over the united. it was uttered wednesday in billings, montana. defense leaders say they opted not to shoot it down, because of concern over falling debris. the pentagon says the balloon does not present a physical or military threat to people on the ground and that steps have been taken to protect sensitive information. 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 ter 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. world war two during ceremonies in the city, now known as volgograd. and, he blasted germany for confronting russia again, by arming ukraine. >> is incredible, but it is a fact, we are once again being pertinent with german leopard tanks with crosses on them. those who draw european countries, including germany, into a new war with russia and even irresponsibly declare this is a done deal, those who are betting they will defeat russia onhe battlefield clearly don't understand that modern war with russia will be quite different for them. stephanie: meanwhile in ukraine, president volodymyr zelenskyy urged visiting european leads to impose more crippling sanctions on russia. hope urged the youth of congo

today, to shun violence and corruption, as he wrapped up a 3-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 raised his words and his visit. >> we are absolutely delighted. everything has to change, because he came to bring to our country, the congo. now we will have the peace of christ in our hearts, and in the whole wld. stephanie: the pope's next stop is south sudan. back in this country, some 1000 my grandchildren separated from parents at the border during the trump years, still have not been reunited. the department of homeland security says they've identified more than 3,900 children who were separated from their parents between 2017 and 2021. 15 native american tribes, including the navajo nation, are set to recieve $580 million in federal funds this year so that they can assert their water rights under previous settlements. most of the money will help pay for infrastructure projects like

pipelines, pumping stations and canals that deliver water to reservations, where access to clean water and basic sanitation remain a challenge. still to come on the newshour, representative chip roi discusses the agenda of the new republican majority in the house. the democraticarty wrangles over rearranging its presidential primary calendar. actors ben platt and noah galvin discuss their new documentary about theater camp, and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from wta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite's journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the u.s. and the philippines reached agreement today allowing american 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 as. he is a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, a washington think tank. he served in various national security posts during the george w. bush administration. great to have you here. how will the u.s. use these military bases with the goal of confronting china's influence in the region? guest: i think the objective is to provide new assets where the u.s. can place its forces so they, are not so focused on a few bases in eastern asia. right now the u.s. uses okinawa and guam as its main locations, and being able to diversif makes the targeting challenge 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 sensitive issue because many filipinos he american influence as being a vestige of colonialism. guest: this is really about faces, not basis. we are not talking about going to pbs facilities in the philippines, these are cases where u.s. forces will be operating sometimes, probably on a rotational basis. why they are asking the u.s. to come back ins more of a presence in the south china sea, for example, where the chinese are pushing the filipinos quite hard and also things like humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, which is a big issue. geoff: what is the nature of the relationship right now between china and the philippines, this agreement was originally signed, as i understand it, back in

2014, but progresstalled because the former president, duterte, decided to pivot towards beijing and not the u.s. guest: it is partly a win for the u.s. and partly a loss for china. it lost an opportunity to drive a wedge between the u.s. and the philippines. what we have seen israel derrico duterte is gone. his successor, marcos has actually welcomed the u.s. back in which has been a surprise for a lot of us. the reason is china has pushed too hard, it has pushed the philippines in the west philippine sea and economically. a lot of these countries are ying, we have to rely on the united states, there is no other option. geoff: there is a deba about having marine forces on these islands are effectively isolated, it could be hard to supply them or medically evacuated them if it is necessary. explain that to me. guest: the debate is between

stand-in forces and these outside forces. the idea has been for a long time that aircraft forces, long-range aircraft, might be able to strike targets in the future, maybe the taiwan strait,, if that were necessary. but the argument of marine corps making is that it is really important to still be there. how can you reassure your friends? to have a stand in force is important. they can scan the region around them. we can put capabilities, things like anti-cruise missiles on those facilities, if the philippines and others let us, that can hold chinese targets at risk. geoff: so what is next? guest: the agreement in 2014, the next step was to build those facilities and have u.s. forces build them. that never happened. what with many of us will be looking for is whether u.s.

forces are actually deployed on rotational deployments to these facilities. there has been a commitment of $82 million of u.s. money supposed to go to these facilities soon, so we will be looking for those signs that they are executing. as lloyd austin said yesterday, this is a very big deal. and i think he is right. geoff: thank you for your insights. nice to see you. ♪ amna: this week, ukraine's government launched its most aggressive anti-corruption efforts since russia's invasion. a well-known billionaire, and 6 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 indiscrimitely. 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, andriy kostin. >> their massive missile attacks which are happening every week or every two weeks, 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 stris, last month in dnipro, that ripped an apartment building in two, and last summer in kremenchuk, that gutted a mall, were conducted with the same type of russian missile, by the same russian unit, that he wants to prosecute. >> we definitely know that this type of missiles is only within the one scored of russian air forces. so, 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 c >> the international criminal court would not be able to pursue russia'most senior leadership. ukraine wants to create a special tribunal, an idea supported by the european union, but not the u.s. >> i'm optimistic.

i believe the final decision will be to support the special tribunal because the crime of aggression was a primary war crime. without this there would be no 65,000 war crimes committed. no people killed, tortured, raped, or illegally displaced. using all the procedures of the international criminal court within the special tribunal to make it credible also from the criminal procedural point of view. >> the americans and the europeans in t last few days have talked about an interim prosecutor from the big -- hague together evidence. is that good enough? >> it is a very good idea.

bringing in prosecutors from other jurisdictions wch will select evidences for the case of the crime of aggression for the future tribunal. >> simultaneously, he vows to fight an internal war against corruption. the equivalent of fbi agent's accused to the head of the tax service of embezzling millions and living well beyond her means. agents raided the home of one of ukraine's richest and most famous men -- ihor kolomoisky, connected to companies accused of massive tax evasion. last week, one of zelenskyy's deputy chiefs of staff posted his resignation letter after he was forced out. and now half a dozen defse officials are accused of buying low-quality protective gear for ukrainian soldiers, at inflated prices. >> we have informed on suspicion several top officials of minister of defense, of regional administrations, of minister of energy. it's a signal from me and from

my colleagues for everyone, including oligarchs, including former officials and current officials, that there will be no tolerance for corruption. and this is strong position of the president of ukraine. >> unfortunately, in some spheres, the only way to guarantee legitimacy is to change leaders. change as many as necessary, to ensure people do not abuse power. >> and this is strong position of all ukrainian nation because we built new european ukraine without corruption. we have wartime priorities. but corruption is an internal enemy of ukraine and should be defeated together with external enemy, russia. >> 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? >>he most important thing is to react because the reaction on

cases in on time and reaction on cases will stop future potential officials from corruption activity. and this is our goal, to have our country clean from corruption. >> 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, in sometimes people make mistakes. 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 until someone can fix

mistakes which occurred. 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 ukinian authorities were not active. all authorities worked every day, including law enforcement. and this will be preceded. >> andriy kostin, ukraine's osecutor general, thank you very much. >> 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 meli other developed countries.

-- 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 like a couple of steps and i turned and when i turn i just saw this car coming towards us. and the only thing that i said, i remember that day, i just said, jimmy, i scream. jimmy . geoff: the approaching vehicle did not stop. jemmy reacted quickly -- shoving his son to the sidewalk before pushing angelica out of harm's way. jimmy was struck and killed. the driver, who never stopped, has yet to be identified. >> a that for me, it's like, you know, like you could have stopped, you know, because my my husband wasn't an animal.

even an animal, you stop and you are like oh my gosh, but this person didn't stop. so that for me, i just pray every day. geoff: pedestrian deaths in the u.s. have reached their highest level in 40 years. for some 25 years, pedestrian fatalities were on a long 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 major part of a growing problem. overall, roadway crashes are leading cause of death in the u.s. and even in the early days of the pandemic, deaths continue 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 to state and local $5 billion governments -- through a federal grant known as safe streets and roads for all to try to prevent roadway deaths. a particular focus -- bicycle fatalities which have increased , a whopping 44% since 2010. this past august daniel , langenkamp'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 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 bethesda. and as she was riding along, a truck turned right apparently without seeing her and struck her and crushed her.

geoff: since then, he has pushed for more bike and pedestrian safety measures at the local and national level -- part of the funding for 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 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 buttiegieg. mr. secretary, welcome back to the newshour. his point that choosing to write a bike shouldn't be a life-and-death decision -- roadway accidents are leading cause of death in this country on par with gun violence.

are you surprised there hasn't been more outrage, greater awareness, a greater willingness to do something about it? >> i do think there is a disconnect between the amount of dama, 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, and yet i'm afraid this country has become used to roadway deaths, whether pedestrian, bicycle, or vehicle occupants. it happens so much and to so many people, that we act and think sometimes as if it were initable, 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 proportional to that of gun violence, it is also disproportionate to what is happening in a lot of other

western countries and that tells us that if we make different choices and have different licies like the ones we are announcing this week, we can make a difference. i think the only tolerable level of roadway death in america is zero. we have to set ourselves on a course for doing just that. geoff: this program allots $5 billion to state and local governments over the next five years. why did you decide to have a national strategy in funding local projects? how is this difficult at the department of transportation has done before? >> the basic philosophy is that the individual projects and designs don't need to come from washington. i think back to when i was the mayor of south bend, like any mayor, like any community we have a long list of things we wanted to do that we believed would make things safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, a lot

of times those visions don't get realized because there is not enough funding. what we are able to do and this is one of the many programs in president biden's bipartisan infrastructure law that we are putting to work is that this is allowing us to support those community visions, both with hundreds of communities that will get planning grants to help build out their vision and design the improvements, and then for dozens of communities construction grants to do the physical work of making our roads safer. our national strategy calls for five elements that we think will make a big difference. safer people, vehicles, speeds, a better standard of post crash care. it is the last piece, the design of the roads that we know will make an impact on these funds. geoff: there are cities we can look to for solutions,

amsterdam, copenhagen, hoboken, new jersey. a city of 60,000 people, they haven't 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? >> i hosted the mayor of hoboken and several other cities that have achieved this because i think these examples are extremely important. when you go and set out the vision, some people might view it as pie in the sky. it is important to point to specific laces that have experienced at least one year and sometimes several years with zero traffic deaths. they are not the biggest cities in america, but they are not the smallest either. what we are seeing is a level of intention, mayors ready to use road design that encourages

people to ride and drive at safe speed. measures that protect pedestrians. the way that the concrete umps out into the street. we know that the more communities embrace this as a goal and put serious resources into it, the more lives are going to be saved. it will help fund planning activities that get this done. geoff: what about regulating the sizes of trucks -- cvs? >> one of the most important functions of our department is to enforce federal safety andards and we are revising those based on the crash test dummy project and other things we can do to assess the safety.

there are a lot of changes to cars, trucks, suvs, some of which are potentially encouraging. more data on the effect they are having. we are taking a look not just at the traditional safety of the vehicles, but the safety of the vehicles from the perspective of anybody who might come into contact with them. this is gog to call for continued research for work to make sure we are looking at the entire picture of how it affects the physical safety of everybody implicated inside and out. geoff: thanks for your time and insights. we appreciate it. amna: house republicans have

been busy on capitol hill launching into some of the top agenda items of the year. they kicked off committee 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 top priorities, i'm joined by chip roy. welcome and thanks for joining us. let's start off with the debt ceiling conversation. the u.s. is at risk of defaulting on its debt. you said you won't vote for that unless you get spending cuts. we saw speaker mccarthy leave the white house and say there is common ground to work from. have you talked to speaker mccarthy about that? >> what is happening right now should happen. the president is negotiating despite what he said because of

course he is. we in equal branch of government. 65% of americans said they don't want to see a clean debt ceiling increase. they want to see actual changes in structural reforms. they want to see those changes and a similar percentage of americans believe that we ought to constrain government. speaker mccarthy is doing the right thing. he is telling the president, you are going to negotiate. and that we are going to do that and not play games with the debt ceiling and play games with the debt market. if you think you are going to default on theebt, that is on you. sit down with us and we will try to solve the problem. amna: the president has said he wants to see a budget from speaker mccarthy.

is that a mistake in your view? >> i voted against the dt ceiling increases. i thought we should have gone further. i'm an equal opportunity bacher -- basher of big spenders in washington. i'm a believer tt we should stand up for the american people and not just say hey, 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 american businessmen and women don't get to do that. so why do we do it? we ought to change the way things work around here. now we are doing that. amna: you haverought forward an immigration bill that speaker mccarthy says is one of several bills being considered. lisa desjardins has been reporting on thi you don't have the votes just yet, but everyone agrees it is

broken, so what is your plan? >> it is a bill i introduced last congress. there has been a lot of misinformation out there. people have used and unchristian like term. this legislation does one thing. it enforces current lot to say that we have to detain for the entiretyf the duration of an adjudication of a claim, or turn away like we do under current title 42 law. >> i'm sorry to interrupt, i have the bill in front of me in the language says the authority to suspend entry of aliens at borders of the united states, giving powers to the secretary of homeland security to essentially bar all entry, which even your fellow republican has called on american. >> tony out to read the bill and read current law the fact of the matter is that what you are doing by giving the secretary the power, not just

the power but requiring the secretary to enfor the law to detain is you are saying just like title 42, which tony supports and campaigned on, and which every republican supports and campaigned on, the same kind of power to say you can turn away if you don't have detention spe, means you would enforce current law. you would still make asylum claims. every single asylum claim would be able to be claimed, but you just 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 into our communities. just yesterday, i had someone from the county i live in, brandon done, because his son died from fentanyl last august. i'm tired of people dying in texas from fentanyl poisonings. i'm tired of the almost 1000 and migrants along the rio grande. i'm tired of the 53 migrants who died in a tractor-trailer in san

antonio. and i'm tired of republicans campaigning on the border and then running away from the fight. it is a commonsense bill that enforces the law. amna: obviously fentanyl is a huge problem, but the majority comes out 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. >> border patrol agent's are overwhelmed. you don't know what is coming in between the ports of entry. i do know fentanyl is pouring into our schools and communities and it is the number one killer from ages 18 to 49. amna: the people coming between the ports of entry, linking them to caring fentanyl, there is no evidence of that. >> you know the dad who said in hearing yesterday? it only takes one pill to kill my son and you can fit one pill in a backpack between the ports of entry. the border agents can't check everything.

amna: you voted to oust the democratic congresswoman for her comments on israel years ago, for which he apologized. you have said this is raw politics, that since democrats pushed to remove two republican lawmakers for violent videos and conspiracy theories, we have got to respond. that sounds like retribution. i guess my question is where does that end? >> i hope it ends with us all agreeing that going forward in the next congress we are going to let the managers of the teams pick the players. you hit one of our guys, we are going to hit back. that is raw politics that is appropriate. let's figure out how we are going to change this going forward. they opened the door last time by playing this game. we told him it was a mistake. now they are feeling the consequences. amna: republican congressman from texas chip roy joining us tonight. thank you for your time. >> thanks.

♪ geoff: democrats will soon vote to rearrange their calendar for the presidential primaries in 2024 and beyond. it coulhave 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. >> the psident's plan likely to get a vote this weekend calling for historic change, jumping south carolina, the state that change the course of his candidacy 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 and jalisa 2020, washington-price, a veteran of hillary clinton's 2016 campaign and the

biden harris ticket in 2020. you both agree something needs to change. i want to get a word in for new hampshire, which is defiant about this. here is what new hampshire's governor sununu said. 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 pvided a pathway to the presidency for anyone dedicated enough to test their mettle with the new hampshire voters. amna: chris sununu knows iowa and new hampshire are part of american political culture. 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 setting is wonderful. you see people who take the responsibility seriously. they turn out in high numbers. it doesn't mean that they are owning the space forever. there can be new entrants to that. there should be opportunity for

others to have the first in the nation status. i thin it is the time to refresh it and look at things in new. amna: smart of being a smart campaign person is being able to know your voters. >> when youth in about the base of the democratic party, you think about exactly the calendar. starting with south carolina, which has a large african-american voting population and then moving to nevada, which is a minority majority state with a strong latino, a api presence, as well as a strong coalition of union workers as well. then youth think of the historical nature of new hampshire and then moving into michigan and georgia. it really makes up the coalition and the base of the democratic party. amna: you two disagree about a

state i care very much about, south carolina. i'm not biased on who goes where in the calendar. why do you think it would 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 onof them. it's a very conservative state, a lot of elderly people, voters hostile to progressive values, anti-women, antilabor, anti-a lot of things democrats stand for. meanwhile, the democratic column , progressive voters in the states. why notome of these other states? they have a diversity argument, have pro-democratic values

arguments. we are talking about selecting a president, let's not preference the conservative state that is hostile to democratic values. it should be who helps the democratic ticket. amna: why is having a high number of elderly voters a problem? >> they disproportionately elderly in south carolina tends to associate with more conservative views. lgbt views, abortion views, you talked about labor views. what we found as a campaign when you were campaigning in that state as opposed to many other states, more concern and opposition to the core democratic values. amna: why do you think baz is wrong about south carolina? >> i'm going to strongly disagree with my friend here. not only is that the case that south carolina has a large african-american population, as we know, like voters are not a

monolith, south carolina is home to six hbcu's, we talk about the importance of education. candidates need to talk to students on the issues that are important to them. when you about the large military community, issues that affect them and their families. they talk about the issues that affect them. giving south carolina at the top of the primary calendar will give all of these demographics and communities issues that are important to them. democrats should compete everywhere. not just in a state that they would win. beginning in a state like south carolina would make sure these candidates are battle tested when it is time to go to e general election. south carolina is also a smaller state. candidates that don't have the

resources like some of the larger campaigns can actually go into a state like south carolina and really compete and talk to voters where they are. south carolina 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. it is just not true. the black voters are really aligned with the values. that includes progressive issues. amna: it is not just about the democratic primary. it is about who we choose as president. this decision about who votes where, can we talk about who

might emerge from that? >> how the system changes is important to that. i don't want people skipping over south carolina, so you want to compete in the calendar as it is presented. if you wanted to reform this calendar, you would be moving nevada, georgia, michigan to the front of the line. i would flip it on its head. higher proportion of black voters of that state. if we were talking about black voters, why not maryland, one in georgia, why not north carolina? among the many options and i appreciate the defense of south carolina, i don't think it is as good of an option. winning the battle ground state early on, proving they can go

before a general election audience. amna: you can defend south carolina, but what do we think this would due to changing the character of the candidates? >> i'm going to start off by pushing back again, why not south carolina? a host of other states, south carolina has been part of the primary calendar for a while. we are familiar with what it takes for a presidential candidate to come into the state and campaign on these issues that we care about. why not push that up to the top of the calendar? really talking about how policies that they want to implement are going to affect communities of color. >> can i just say that the compromise is for 2024, biden should get his pick, mandate a new state in 2028.

amna: i'm so sorryfor time, we have to continue this conversation, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. amna: although still in their twenties, 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 into his soul and said, bernard, you can keep the connecticut home, i've got my dignity and a bold merlot. >> precocious child actor.

>> jasper wet. >> broadway obsessed instructors. >> a little bit of cinnamon, a little bit of pain, it little but of stepfather. >> and over-the-top acting exercises, all captured in theater camp a 2020 short film , poking 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, 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

-- we were surprised how robust it could feel with just a small, small budget that 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. and gave it perhaps 19 days instead of two. >> 19 days, that was it? what was that like? >> and children who can only work about 5 hours a day and a full musical at the 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. that after we spoke, the feature was acquired by searchlight pictures for distribution. it may have only taken three weeks to film, but the movie draws from years of experience. ♪ before ben platt burst onto broadway, winning a best actor tony for dear evan hansen in 2017 --

♪ before recording two albums -- >> our generation is going to save this planet. amna: and starring in netflix's the planet. platt fell in love with the stage at a youth theater program in l.a. and before noah galvin appeared in television and fis, like the critically-acclaimed 2019 comedy book smart. or as a series regular in abc's the good dr.. he was acting professionally from the age of 10. >> i went to a theater camp at one point and it was called kevin kearins. it was just the name of the man who ran it. there's so many kids at this theater camp, they wanted to give everybody an opportunity, which is beautiful. so i did anything goes 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? >> so i played moonface martin in the final scene. amna: there's this line in the movie -- ben, your character 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 were making it for. i think what we really wanted to be conscious of was telling a story that was funny and based on our own experience, but that had this bubbling of this thing that we just set underneath that at all times, which is how vital these places have been for us, queer young people, young people on the spectrum, all different kinds of young peopl who find different ways to express themselves. amna: theater also brought the couple together. they met at a professional sickle 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 tov. >> thank you. amna: is there 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. >> it looked like the set of the bachelor, is all i will say. >> prettier colors. >> it was gorgeous, it was gorgeous. >> and then spent the night with our their, our families having dinner and some friends and drinks and it was great. >> it was lovely. ♪ geoff: --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 90s 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, 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 it just feels like an authentic piece of storytelling. there is no pretense about it that i can really feel like the right proprietor. amna: we're speaking at a time certainly of rising anti-semitism. we're also speaking at a time of rising anti lgbtq hate speech, political rhetoric and legislation across the country. >> oh yes. amna: how how does all of that resonate with you? >> i mean, after seeing parade,

i you know, it was a piece that was written in the 1990's by like a 24 year old jason robert brown and it was chilling how prescient it felt and how how current and necessary, a piece of storytelling it was. >> in terms of the of the queerness of it all, like even know and i who are fairly privileged and most of the time we live in a pretty liberal bubble and we are protected in many ways. we've experienced moments of homophobia and it's certainly everywhere. so i think all we can do, you know, obviously we want to share our relationship 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 worked well together. it was a nice thing to know, you know? amna: that's a good thing to discover. [laughter] >> we are still here. amna: what a gift to do what you

love with people you love. thank you so much. >> thank you. amna: and we have more stories about the sundance film festival online at pbs.org/newshour, including a look at three directors of iranian descent whose films were inspired by their mothers. geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night. we are we will explore why so many working age men have given up on looking for jobs. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm geofbennett 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 the plan that fits you. ♪ >> it was like an ha-ha moment,

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