♪ >> good evening. tonight, another strong jobs report complicates the prospect for more interest-rate hikes. a new storm brings the potential for life-threatening floods and mudslides in parts of california already hard-hit by heavy rain and snow. ukraine burns through an extraordinary amount of ammunition, creating a major challenge. >> what the u.s. has been able to do is use stockpiles of weapons. the challenge is that a number of them are now decreasing.

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communities. ♪ >> and friends of the news hour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome. the u.s. economy again created more jobs than expected last month. the unemployment rate went up to 3.6%. that came as labor force participation improved. more than 400,000 workers jped back into the workforce.

the president made note of that out to the report came out this morning. >> the part that pleased me the most is people who have been staying out of the job market are going back in. jobs are available. people are working. they are becoming more optimistic about their future. >> wage increases slowed down but job growth remained strong overall. she is a former economist for the fedel reserve and a professor at the university of texas-austin. we have a strong jobs report for the month of february. the president said this morning that our economy is moving in the right direction. is that the entire story? >> the report is a little bit of a goldilocks report. very strong job gains.

but not a lot of signs of inflation. we did see participation rise. we know good things are happening on the supply side of the labor market. we are working through backlogs of visas and bringing people and. and people are returning to the labor force. that is bringing supply and demand into better balance. wage growth eased back a little bit. that is certainly what the federal reserve is looking for. >> the u.s. economy, looking back at the last three jobs reports, has averaged 300 to 2000 jobs for the last three months. great news for americans. but it can be read as bad news for the fe, which is trying to tame inflation. >> it could potentially be bad

news. but if you look over the same three months, the unemployment rate ticked down and then it takes back up. we have been basically steady at 3.6%. at is a low unemployment rate. we are not quite at the 50 year lows we were last month. but we are not seeing that because there is better supply of workers. more people returning to the workforce. better population growth dynamics from immigration area that means that demand for workers is being met without tightening the labor market further. it is a delicate balance. by any metric it is a strong job market. that is good for the economy. but we are at a high rate of inflation. the fed would like to see further cooling in the job market. this report is not cooling outright but it is a very healthy balance of strong jobs

and strong engagement to meet those jobs. >> i was asked about what happened today with financial regulators closing silicon valley bank. this is the largest u.s. bank failure since the financial crisis more than a decade ago. what contributed to that collapse how is it connected to the broader economy? >> there were some circumstances for this bank which was focused on serving the tech sector. they are having a hard time right now. it is the sector that is contracting the most. they had exposure to that sector. it is a reflection more generally of the impact of higher interest rates on the banking system. higher interest rates are required. that brings pressure on the banks portfolios. what that produced in this case

was a run on deposits. it is a unique situation but one that does highlight higher interest rates over time can strain the fancial sector. this was just a particularly adverse event. we saw a contagion to the broader banking sector and the stock market. the financial sector. to come in it is adjusting to the reality of higher interest rates. >> i had to brace myself a bit when you said contagion. how concerned should we be of the ripple effect in the overall health of the banking sector? >> the biggest concern in the banking sector is not for the big banks that are in very good shape. it is the smaller banks like this bank. and other mid sides -- midsize

smaller banks that rely on the posits as their funding base. if deposits turn out to be more skittish and prone to flight, then they will have to manage their risks and liabilities very carefully. the vulnerability is really among the smaller and midsize banks. there is concern. that rates have gone up so far, so fast that it is a shock to the system. it might ripple into other midsize banking institutions. >> a real pleure to speak with you. thank you for your time. >> my pleasure. ♪ >>ere are the latest

headlines. california took another hit from the heavens as another atmospheric river brought torrents of rain and more snow. hours of rain since last night have caused overflowing waterways to wash out roads. the downpours have filled freeways around san francisco. 34 counties are under a state of emergency. piles of mud still line the streets. >> i am past the burnout part. i'm in the acceptance part. >> he had just got to cleaning up from the last series of storms. >> it is starting right now to feel like that was before the storm. this is discouraging. to be facing it all over again. >> in southern california, their

concerns new rain could melt tons of snow and trigger catastrophic flooding. evacuation warnings have been issued, including in merced county. i don't want to do this again. we are not going through that again. we will be leaving early if it is going to look bad. after new feet -- eight feet of new snow is protected in higher elevations. >> some of these neighborhoods have eight to 10 feet of snow. in the counties, even more so. we have some pretty significant concerns coming up.

this is day 15. i've been working 24/7 with all hands on deck. we have a very older demographic. so there's definitely an area of need here, more than more than other places. so that goes to mail, pretty much anything of daily service has been hampered, including trash service as well. stephanie: meanwhile, yosemite national park in the sierra nevada mountains will remain closed through next thursday. over the past two weeks, parts of the iconic park were buried 15 feet deep in snow. forecasters are calling for yet another major storm in california early next week. former president trump now has a decision to make whether to appear before a grand jury in new york next week. the focus would be his alleged role in hush money payments to

an adult film actress during the 2016 presidential campaign. manhattan's district attorney has offered mr. trump the chance to testify in what could be a precursor to criminal charges. iran and saudi arabia agreed today to restore diplomatic relations in a deal brokered by china. the persian gulf powers broke ties in 2016 and have competed in proxy conflicts in yemen and elsewhere. iran's top secuty official welcomed the news. >> at the end of the talks, we reached a conclusion to start a new chapter after seven years of breaking off relations. we hope this new chapter will compensate for the stagnation of relations and lead to stability and security in the region. geoff: the agreement marked a major diplomatic moment for china. in washington, the white house said it welcomes any deal that could end the war in yemen and reduce regional tensions. china's president xi jinping was awarded a third five-year term today, putti him on the road

to staying in power for life. xi won a unanimous endorsement from the ceremonial national people's congress. he'd already secured five more years as head of the chinese communist party. much of ukraine had electrical power restored today after a major russian missile barrage on thursday. and in kyiv, president zelenskyy attended the funeral of a well-known fighter and commander. he died in the battle that's raging around bakhmut in eastern ukraine. police in hamburg, germany are still searching for a motive after a gunman killed six people and himself at a jehovah's witness hall. eight others were wounded in the attack last ght, including a pregnant woman who miscarried after being shot. the killings stunned the neighborhood, and people today left flowers and lit candles, paying their respects to the victims. >> it is important to me because this is on my way to work. i always pass by here and i enjoy it. and so i thought i'd express my

sympathy by laying flowers here. i love hamburg and then, when something like this happens, you are really quite disturbed. >> the gunman was a former member of the jehovah's witness congregation that he attacked. police said they recently received a tip that he was angry at the group and might be unfit to own a gun. back in this country, reports of sexual assaults shot up last year at u.s. military academies. the pentagon says a survey found an 18% increase over the previous year. that includes one in five female students who said they'd been subjected to unwanted sexual contact. the naval academalone had nearly double the number of reports from the year before. some of the most conservative house republicans spelled out their demands today in the impasse over raising the national debt ceiling. the house freedom caucus called for cutting spending by $130 billion, reversing student debt relief and freezing most agency

budgets for 10 years. members dismissed president biden's new budget and he rejected their demands in statements. >> members of the house freedom caucus who have never continually voted for debt ceiling increases will support a solution to responsibly address the impending debt ceiling crisis. simply put, the plan is to shrink washington and grow america. >> members of the house caucus will consider voting to raise the debt ceiling contingent on the enactment of legislation. do you know what the essence of the enactment of legislation is? cut all spending other than defense by 25%. 25% across the board. >> house republican leaders have not indicated if they support the freedom caucus plan. the house of representatives three women are missing in mexico. they crossed the border to so close at a flea market.

this announcement follows the adduction of four americans in mexico last week after they were caught in a shootout. two were killed. the two survivors have returned to the u.s.. the house of representatives voted unanimously today to declassify u.s. intelligence on the origins of covid-19. democrats and republicans joined in pressing for answers on how the virus started and whether it could have escaped from a chinese lab. the bill now goes to president biden, but there's no word on whether he'll sign it. and on wall street, stocks retreated again in the face of interest rate fears. the dow jones industrial average lost 3 points, 1%, to close at 31,909. the nasdaq fell nearly 1.8%. the s&p 500 slipped 1.5%, finishing its worst week since september. still to come on the "newshour," arms manufacturers struggle to produce enough ammunition for ukraine's battle against russia. former arkansas governor asa

hutchinson discusses his potential bid for the white house. and david brooks and jonathan capehart wei in on the week's political headlines. ♪ >> 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: since the start of russia's full-scale invasion, the united states and its allies have supplied ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of weapons systems and ammunition. but keeping the material flowing for the largest conflict since the second world war is proving a challenge for arms manufacturers. nick schifrin has the story. nick: the poets call war t ultimate measure of man.

it has been eighty years since war of logistics on this industrial scale. ukine fires as many as 155 milimeter rounds in five days as the u.s. produces in a month. many of them are forged, finished at 1500 degrees, and painted here in scranton, pennsylvania. the machinery is decades-old, but until now, it has suited u.s. needs. iraq and afghanistan were not dueling artillery battles. but today, the 20,000 artillery shells the plant creates every 30 days is a fraction of ukraine's needs. ukraine's defense minister recently wrote to the european union in a letter described to pbs newshour that ukraine can only fire 1/5 of what it could because of munition shortages. we saw that ourselves on the outskirtof eastern ukraine. this team tolds they did not have enough artillery to fire constantly. he commands an artillery unit. you have what you need in order to complete this fight? >> we do have equipment but we

need more and we need more and more and more because they won't stop until we stop them. >> the current rate of ukraine's ammunition makes miniature is many times higher than our current rate of production. nick: last month, the nato secretary-general said defense industry cannot deliver fast enough and had to expand quickly. >> this is not becoming a grinding war of attrition and it is a war of logistics. >> the u.s.'s defense industrial base is not fully prepared to conduct an industrial style war or to deter that kind of war. nick: seth jones from the center for strategic and international studies recently wrote a report about a shortage of material, empty bins in a wartime environment. the u.s. has had operational plans for major war but what hasn't happened is to tie those plans directly to acquisitions

nes right now. nick: the u.s. has sent from its stockpiles more than $32 billion worth of weapons, including more than one million 155-millimeters shells, 1600 shoulder fire stinger antiaircraft missiles, 8500 javelin antitank weapons, 1800 phoenix ghost drums, and 38 high mobility rocket systems. >> what the u.s. has been able to do is use a range of stockpiles of weapons. the challenge is a number of those stockpiles are now decreasing and the production lines are not rising to levels that we need them for future contingency. nick: it is not only about ukraine. the plans for contingencies include a war in the pacific with china. now the defense department is spending billions to increase production, including

modernizing the scranton plant, as seen in these before and after photos. production has already increased over 50%. the army hopes to increase artillery production 500% in the next two years. the largest production expansion since the korean war. bill leplante is the under secretary of defense. i asked him whether the st could meet ukraine's needs for artillery. >> we have been doing our best to meet the demand as it comes in. the devils in the details as to which caliber. the 155 millimet, we have already funded the factory at significant amounts to get that production rate hopefully at five times that amount which is almost unprecedent. and it's not just producing, but what we're also buying and getting from around the world in different stocks to supply what the ukrainians need. every day, we try to mov something to the left, whether i's finding equipment in another country we can ship in or anything we can do to find stocks. nick: as we just saw, ukrainian

soldiers just a few weeks ago outside of bakhmut told me they didn't have enough. that was an artillery piece, an older artillery, soviet era. i was with another mortar unit. they said they didn't have enough mortars, also firing soviet-era mortars. this isn't only about american european weapons. it's also about getting ukraine older weapons, which many other units still use. right? >> that's exactly right. it's a constant challenge of do we find or produce the old soviet or russian equipment or do we give them the new equipment? we go through that every day. nick: but on air defense specifically, i've been told they're running out of parts and weapons all over the world. and so therefore, they have to go to west. >> i think for air defenses and frankly, for ground forces, what you're seeing is having to go from the old soviet systems to almost certainly western systems for the reasons you said. nick: and this is all, of course, before we get to ukraine spring offensive. you are trying to figure out how to get all these armored vehicles and their parts into ukraine. hodo you know that they'll have enough of those munitions, those parts, those modern weapons, to be able to launch some kind of counter offensive in the coming weeks? >> what we're doing is working

with the germans, the poles and the other countries. when we have a shortfall in parts, say, for a certain version of leopards to scour and find those parts, even to the extent we can find advanced manufacturing of 3d print. so we're working on each one. and the idea is to make sure that there are enough parts to sustain for each model. nick: why not give ukraine the longer-range weapon known as the atacm, which would fly 180 miles that it's been requesting? that so far the administration has refud. >> yeah, it's been a policy decision today to date that the long range weapons which we have been providing, which is about an 80-kilometer precision guided weapon, is sufficient in range for the targets that they have. i think for when you get into types of capabilities are well beyond it, you get into policy issues and sustainment issues of whether or not it's an escalatory thing. nick: if i could, though, intelligence officials tell me that specifically the capacity of the atacm and the range of the atacm is a red line for the kremlin in terms of what ukraine would be able to hit if it were to use that weapon in russia.

but why is that a concern, given that ukraine has promised not to use american weapons inside russia? >> well, i think it's one of the concerns. i think there's multiple concerns. and the other piece of it is what to what extent it will make a big difference in the battle. and those are all part of the calculation. nick: to what end are you trying to procure weapons for ukraine to re-seize all of its territory that it has lost since 2014? >> we're providing everything we can that we believe they need. and i would say this, we are going to be there with them until it's over and as long as we need to, and not for the least of which is if we think it's expensive now, if putin prevails, it'll be really expensive. and so this is really that important. and we're going to provide the equipment they need. nick: ukraine argues it won't be over until it re-seizes crimea. >> and that that may be their view. nick: and that's ukraine's choice, basically. >> this is their fight. this is their fight. nick: you heard seth jones in the package there saying that as stockpiles in the u.s. are being drawn down, production lines aren't expanding enough to meet future requirements.

do you agree, and if so, why? >> i think that that's a subjective comment. i actually don't necessarily agree. we're going across the board and putting billions of dollars in investment across across and these companies. and it's going to be rapidly ramping up. and so really what's at stake here is a time issue. it's we will ramp up. and we are ramping up right now. and the question is arguably is racing against time. and that's where that's where we are. nick: how does that translate, though, into actual deliveries? how long does that take? >> right. this gets to something called the long lead item, how long it takes before you get the item, when you actually award it. and so, what that can be as long as a year. but it's every day we have teams working on thi scouring the earth. nick: and finally, how do you prioritize orders, especially moving forward? you've argued that the weapons going to ukraine do not affect some of the weapons orders, for example, that taiwan is making. but the fact is the u.s. is behind on some of the orders it has promised to taiwan.

so what is that priority? and does one theater affect the other? >> it can affect. but, you know, there's there's less overlap, perhaps some people believe. i'll give you the example for taiwan. there is a backlog for taiwan. it happens to be on items like f-16 and production of f-16. that's a lot of it, which to date, even though there's been discussions, hasn't been a player in the ukraine. where i will say that there is something that we all have to watch is the underlying suppliers, the suppliers of solid rocket motors, of batteries, of energetics there. those are common across all domains. and that's where we've also been putting our emphasis. nick: and what message does your struggles to deal with the procurement challenges right now and also what you're doing to overcome them -- what message does that send to china when it comes to taiwan? >> i'd like to think that what we show china is, number one, we can turn fast. we can turn fast. we are getting folks under contract within a ek and we are getting things put together and into theater that are incredibly innovative, very, very fast. we will follow up and make sure

our industrial base is ready to go. and so i've often said that industrial capacity is itself a deterrent. and so i think we have to remind ourselves that as we look not just to china, but what's beyond ukraine. nick: bill plante, undersecretary of defense, thanks very much. >> thank you, nick. ♪ geoff: the 2024 republican presidential primary is already heating up in early voting states. prospective candidate ron desantis traveled to iowa for the first time today. and declared candidate nikki haley also met voters across the hawkeye state this week. among those considering bids for presidency is former arkansas governor asa hutchinson. amna spoke with him earlier today. amna: governor asa hutchinson, welcome back to the "newshour." thanks for being with us. let's start with the most important question. have you decided if you're going

to run or not? >> right now, i'm concentrating this month and going to different states, listening to voters and really concentrating on a good, consistent conservative message that i practice as governor, and throughout my public career. april is an important time for decision making and any announcement at that time, and so stay tuned. but right now, we're really focusing on what's important for our country and the direction that we go. i think my message is important. i've been encouraged by the response that i've received thus far. amna: we will indeed stay tuned. it is very early, we should say but so far, there are two clear front runners. former president trump and florida governor ron desantis, who are very much in the same lane, i think it's fair to say, appealing to the same kinds of voters and base republican voters. what do you see as your potential lane? who are your potential voters? >> well, it's people that also were in that lane in terms of believing in changes that we need in government, a conservative position, fighting

out against the progressive agenda. so, those voters are very important for anybody who runs but we also need to broaden the base and it's important that we nominate a candidate that can appeal to independent voters and suburban voters and when in november. we should be tired of losing as we did not win as we should have in the last cycle. and so that message of a consistent conservative that can broaden the base is really important for our party. and i think that is the kind of candidate that people ar looking for that can win in a november election, and that can broaden our base. amna: you've made clear that you don't believe the former president trump should be that nominee, but you've also expressed concern about his message of vengeance, as he put it, if he is not the nominee. are you worried about him running as a third-party

candidate or trying to seek revenge on the republican party in some way? >> well, the reason i say that we should not have somebody who's a president of the united states who is interested in revenge is that we have very serious times and these serious times calls for problem solvers. that is the kind of adership that i think is needed. whenever you look at the threat of a third party candidacy, i think that's the reason that rhonda mcdaniel, head of the republican national commite, wants everybody who participates the debate on the gop side to sign a loyalty oath. well, i don't think we need a loyalty oath. but i think it is important to say, if we're going to participate in a republican debate, we're not going to run as a third-party candidate. and i think that's important for president trump and any candidate to say if they're going to participate in that republican nominating process. na: nikki haley is, you know, who has announced her candidacy was today calling for raising

the retirement age for americans currently in their 20's and limiting social security benefits for wealthier americans. as you know, there have been a number of proposals for how to address the coming crisis and social security across the aisle. senators warren and sanders have said they can increase taxes on the wealthiest americans and shore up social security. i'm curious what are your thoughtsn this? what are you proposing as a fix for social security? >> we need to protect social security for our retirees who paid into it. they've earned that payment in terms of the latter years of their life. and so that's important that we keep it sound and full of integrity, and then we don't start chopping it up. when youook at the long-term concerns, we have to bring in more workers, we've got to be able to make some changes, but it shouldn't be lowering the retirement age for all of the workers because you think about the difference between somebody like me who's worked at a white collar job.

i've been a lawyer, i've been in public service, versus somebody who's worked in a factory. i don't think that lifting their retirement age, whenever their body can wear out on some of those tough manual labor jobs is the right way. amna: i want to ask you about some news out of arkansas this week. the state senate there they have just passed what critics are calling the most extreme so called bathroom bill that's targeting transgender people. it would essentially criminalize, say a transgender parent taking their child into a public restroom. would you support a bill like that? >> i haven't read that bill. but i did, make sure that whenever i was governor, we tried to have the right balance of giving people flexibility in their life, not overly mandating from the state perspective and recognizing the griddle role in terms of raising kidand the influence that they have over there. i do have hesitation about the criminal aspect of some of these penalties. but again, i have not read that

specific bill. amna: there has been over 150 similar bills from republican legislatures targeting transgender people. we know that kind of rhetoric leads to real-world violence, can create mental health and emotional problems for trans youth. why is this particular issue such a priority for republicans right now? >> well, there's a great deal of concern about the children and their safety and their protection and in the schools and their influence, and you do have concerns about the influence of whether they're encouraged to move at that very young age and to consider a transgender change. this is a really extraordinary time that we're going through that we're still learning more about science and more about why there's been such an increase in transgenderism across america. and so i think there's a pause button and people are trying to set and trying to draw the right lines and so that's the reason for the debate is simply trying to protect the knowledge of

parents, for example, you know, if a child says that he wants to change his gender, should a parent know about that? absolutely. there should be that communication. and so i think that's why this is being looked at by legislators. amna: though you mentioned that the aim is to protect children, you know, as well as i do. the leading cause of death children in america right now is gun violence. and we don't see any republican-led action on that. >> well, we believe in the responsibility of gun owners, we believe in the responsibility of law enforcement to enforce the law. and whenever you look at our second amendment privileges, correct. republicans are not passing laws further restricting the rights under our constitution, but we

certainly are concerned about violence in our society and whether that is coming from the inner cities and prosecutors that don't believe in in upholding the law or judges that are releasing defendants on no bond, whenever they've got a series of criminal offenses in the past. absolutely. these are serious concerns for legislators to address those crime issues. and particularly in our inner cities where we don't have been good enforcement of the law, that needs to change. amna: former arkansas governor asa hutchinson, we will be following you as you're making a decision on whether or not to run. please do come back when you've made that decision. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. good to be with you. ♪ geoff: court watchers anticipate charges against former president trump. president biden previews his 2024 re-election platform in dollars and cents. and fox fights a legal battle over lies about the 2020

election. at the end of this week full of political developments, it's time for the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's "new york times" columnist david brooks, and jonathan capehart, associate editor for "the washington post." welcome to you both on this friday evening. jonathan, we will start with you. we heard from arkansas governor asa hutchinson. amna talk to him about gun violence, social security solvency, trans issues. what did you make of the solutions he offered? jonathan: let's start with crime because that really piqued interest because he went immediately to violent crime in the inner cities. it may be think of a study from third way, the democratic leaning think tank in washington that put out a report last

march, almost a year ago that showed the top 10 homicide rates in the u.s., eight of the 10 states with the highest homicide rates per capita in 2020 were states that voted for donald trump. the number nine state is arkansas with 10.3 murders per capita. the ninth-most homicides in the country. so, my question for the governor would be why is that so high in your state? what did you do when it came to that kind of crime? especially if they were crimes that were committed with guns. what are you doing to be a part of the solution? when it comes to social security, that nikki haley proposal that amna pointed out is an interesting idea, because it is not about the retirees -- geoff: raising the age. jonathan: yeah, raising the retirement age, but if i heard amna correctly, folks in their 20's now. i didn't hear a direct response to that. i think that will be the challenge for the former governor.

geoff: david, i want to get your reaction. as this republican field fills out -- you've got chris sununu, asa hutchinson weighing their options, chris scott, former vice president mike pence. it was positioned to be the moderate "normie" republican candidate moving forward? david: this is a season where a lot of governors are reaching out to journalists so i spend a lot of time around governors all of a sudden. my sense is the republicans have a strong -- it is like a major league baseball organization with a great minor leagues and a pitcher who cannot throw a pitch, and that pitcher is donald trump. underneaththere's a lot of talent in the party. when you talk to the governors -- governor kemp, governor sununu, governor youngkin -- one of the things they point to is

that people are moving to red states. they are moving out of blue states and into red states. why? their claim is people like the quality of life. they like the tax structure, they like the schools. so, florida, georgia, texas, a lot of people are moving to these places. these governors are not focusing on some of the culture war issues, except for desantis. ey are not making trans the center of whatever they want to do. they are talking about crimes, streets, schools. the normal things that governance is all about. i do think there is a lane for somebody that will focus on quality of life. if i had to pick out one person now, i would say chris sununu of new hampshire. that is mostly because he's a warmfriendly, natural, good guy that people like. won a very impressive reelection victory in new hampshi. somehow, he leaks out to me as someone with political skill. so, if there's going to be a normie for someone who focuses on quality of life, governor sununu seems to me as a potential as that person.

geoff: florida governor ron desantis has reportedly indicated to folks privately he intends to run. he is in iowa today, going to nevada tomorrow. there are democrats who say a desantis presidency could potentially be more troubling than a second trump term. in ron desantis, you have a harvard and yell educated lawyer. someone who really believes in the culture wars in which he is engaged. and someone who fundamentally understands how the levers of power work and how to use them. where do you come down on that? jonathan: that is exactly where i come down. i have been saying, particular to the young people i talked to who are so focused on donald trump and whether he could win reelection to the white house in 2024, and said forget about donald trump. focus on the entire field because it is about trumpism. i was speaking specifically about governor desantis because

he is trump, but with an ivy league pedigree who has been a governor, who knows how the levers of power work and knows how to work them. let's not forget, the big red wave everyone was talking about that was supposed to suite congress didn't happen -- sweep congress didn't happen federally, but it happened in florida. governor desantis won by a big margin. that is what makes governor desantis so dangers. i noticed david did not mention him when he was rattling off all the normies. he did not mention him because of what david mentioned, governor desantis is so focused on the culture wars. that is why he's coming in second to donald trump. but, let's not forget, this is the final reason why he is dangerous.

the culture wars stuff works, because it is emotional. that is what i think -- e entire nation has to keep its eyes othat. geoff: the other big story this week was the new york times, first reporting the manhattan prosecutors have invited former president donald trump to appear before a grand jury investigating his alged role in hush money payments and an alleged cover up. what are the political implications, if he's the first president ever to be indicted? add to that, while he is running for office? david: i had a profound thought earlier today that being indicted is not good for your political career. it reminds people of stormy daniels, that whole mess. it cannot be good. i don't think the new york case is where i will keep my focus. i just think to lift this hush money payment to the level of a felony strikes me, and from what i've read, strikes a lot of people as a bit of a stretch. to me, the georgia case is the real case.

trying to corrupt an election process is something anyone can understand that strikes me as felony-like. i'm struck even talking to republicans over the last six months how much january 6 has had an accumulative power on their minds. there are some people for whom it was fine, it was a peaceful walk in the park, like tucker carlson said. now that they have candidates in front of them, they are thinking that is horrible. and that was a menace. now all the other republican candidates aside from donald trump and maybe desantis are beginning to use january 6 as a way to distinguish themselves from trump. i think that georgia cases the indictment i would look for. geoff: how what an indictment -- we don't know it will end in any charge but how would that affect donald trump's standing? he has someone who invested a lot of time and energy in sewing distrust about the institutions that seek to hold him to account. when he was at cpac this past weekend, he told his supporters, they are not coming after me, they are coming after you.

that would have, could have a rallying affect? jonathan: sure. it would have no impact on his standing. meaning he will not lose support. his supporters are there. they are his bedrock, 28%, 30%. i think the other reason why i don't see any change to his political standing is because in order for him to have some sort of change in his standing, that would require for him to have some sense of shame. and we know after four years in his run for president and his four years in thwhite house, he has no shame. of course, he would stay in the race if he gets indicted. of course, he would walk the gauntlet of news cameras, outside a court room in new york city while he is supposed to be running for president because in the end, it is to his benefit. meanwhile, going through all of that does nothing for the republican party, does nothing for the political discourse, and does nothing for our democracy. geoff: governor chris sununu, david, had a chance to interview

him. he says he is not concerned about the number of republicans who decide to run in this race. the question is about if the are too many republicans in the field, does that benefit donald trump? he said the republicans have to know when to get out. how does that strike you? david: it is a lot harder in practice. if you are running for president, you are raising a ton of money. you build up these were chests and a couple of weeks go by, it does not look good. do you want to look at your donors and say, sorry, you wasted your money. you are not allowed to give the money back and you are supposed to spend it that election cycle. it is hard to withdraw because you have that pot of money. the and stink is to stay in -- instinct is to stay in. because it is structurally hard to get out because of is fundraising reason, a lot of

them will face the temptation to stay in longer than they should. that will split the field. i think it is a real problem for anyone who does not want donald trump to be their nominee. geoff: david brooks and jonathan capehart, appreciate you both. have a good weekend. we'll be back shortly, but first take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. rn

our website, including a story about a man who was recently honored for donating more than 50 gallons of blood over the past 30-plus years. that is that pbs.org/newshour. be sure to tune into "washington week" later tonight here on pbs where our very own amna nawaz will be speaking with a panel of journalists about the week's political news. and ahead of the oscars, watch pbs news weekend for a conversation about women in the film industry, including why none were nominated this year for best director. >> i think that there's such a

difference between a trend and sustainable change. as long as we're still at a precarious point where, year to year, the fortunes of women can swing from two in a race to zero in a race, you're not solidly achieving, sort of, a pipeline of systemic equity. geoff: watch that full interview tomorrow on pbs news weekend. and that is the "newshour." i'm geoff bennett. on behalf of the entire "newshour" team, thank you for joining us. have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years.

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by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is pbs newshour west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >>

tonight on kqed newsroom, an abortion pill move by walgreens leaves california to cut ties with the pharmaceutical giant. we check in on the latest fight surrounding women's reproductive rights. the california environment a protection agency often leads policies that are ahead of the nation in the fight against climate change. we sit down with the newest cal epa secretary to discuss what she plans to accomplish. we take a trip to the chinese culture center of san francisco, and arts institution built on five decades