>> on "the newshour" tonight, in a historic first, former president trump faces 37 felony counts in connection to his withholding of classified documents. >> david brooks and ruth marcus weigh in on the significance and political impact of donald trump's indictment. >> and the movement to return land that was forcibly taken from black and indigenous people in the united states gains momentum. >> for our century -- for a century, our government at every level has enacted policies to dispossess black people of the right to own property and create wealth.

>> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of "the newshour," including jim and nancy milner and kathy and paul anderson. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i am legally blind, and yes, i am responsible for the user interface. data visualization -- if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that is the most rewarding thing. people who know know bdo. >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse

destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of entertainment and british style, all with cunard's white-star service. lexi john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering an informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of "the newshour." 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 to "the newshour." the justice department has formally accused former president trump of grossly mishandling classified documents . the newly unsealed indictment lists more than ree dozen counts in damming detail. >> they allege mr. trump showed casual indifference to protecting secret material, that he defied demands to return the records, and that he asked aides to hide them. >> a first for the department of justice. >> good afternoon >> special counsel jack smith announced the indictment on a former president on 37 counts. >> today, and indictment was unsealed charging donald j. trump with felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. >> the announcement was just a few minutes long. he took no questions, but the

unsealed indictment spoke for him. in words and photos, it alleges trump kept classified documents including military secrets in places like bathrooms, showers, and a ballroom at his florida estate. the indictment centers around testimony from trump attorneys about trump's own words, alleging he bragged about possessing a senior military official's plan of attack and went on to say, as president, i could have declassified it. now i can't. it is still secret. later, the indictment alleges he told attorneys, would not it be better if we just told him we don't have anything here? last night, the president took to social media knowing this was coming and railed against the indictment as a political hit job. >> our country is going to hell, and they come after donald trump weaponizing the justice department, weaponizing the fbi. we cannot let this continue to go on because it is ripping our country to shreds.

we have such big problems, and this should not be one of them. i just want to say i am an innocent man. i did nothing wrong and we will fight this just like we have been for seven years. >> in another turn, today trump's lawyers announced they are resigning, citing that the k's is entering a new phase, but they continue to defend him verbally on television. >> it is unreal in terms of the weaponization of the department of justice. >> the indictment focused on documents taken to trump's home comes two years after events starting five months after trump left the white house in may 2021 when the national archives emailed his team asking for some missing records. after some back-and-forth, trump's team handed over 15 boxes. going through them, archives found nearly 200 classified documents and within weeks notified the fbi. while investigating, the fbi says it learned of more documents being withheld, so in

may, a grand jury subpoena them. in june at mar-a-lago, trump's team turned over more documents, but the guy states it knew more were still being kept from them. in august of last year, the ei used a warrant to search mar-a-lago. agents say they found over 100 more classified documents, including top-secret ones. trump's attorneys have written that the fbi was heavy-handed and did not give trump enough chance to comply. the indictment is multiple layers of unprecedented, not just a former president but his party's leading candidate to capture the white house. trump's former vice president mike pence previously had been cleared from investigation after turning over classified documents he found at his house but did not weigh in on trump's guilt or innocence. >> from my years as your vice president and also my years serving on the international relations committee in the congress of the united states,

the handling of classified materials of the united states is a serious matter. >> others spent more time on the attack against the doj like south carolina senator tim scott. >> as president of the united states, i would purge all of the injustices and impurities in our system so that everyme an scan ha by the lady of justice with a blindfold on. >> trump's main rival, florida governor ron desantis, said in a tweet that the weaponization of federal law-enforcement is a threat and that there has been an uneven application of the law. one republican presidential candidate said trump should end his campaign, former governor of arkansas asa hutchinson. he said in a statement the criminal proceedings will be a major distraction, but the highest ranking republican in power, house speaker kevin mccarthy, called the indictment unconscionable. he said he wanted accountability and repeated another theme,

writing that joe cap classified documents for decades. secret documents were found at president biden's washington think tank and at his delaware residents, but he quickly handed them over. as far as is known, he has cooperated in the investigation. the department of justice has a separate special counsel investigation for the biden documents. as for trump, he has been summoned to show up on tuesday in miami and his attorneys have said he will be there. >> to dive deeper into the unsealed indictment, what we learned this afternoon, and how it fits into the public drama that has unfolded over the last year, we welcome in npr national justice correspondent carrie johnson. welcome and thanks for joining us. we have been following the work of special counsel jack smith for over six months now. today was the first time we heard from him in those brief remarks. what stood out to you about what he said and how he said it? >> one of the things that really stood out to me was jack smith

making a case about the gravity and scope of these criminal charges. he said there are laws in place to protect defense information for a good reason. it is really about protecting the safety and security of the united states, of military service members, members of the intelligence community, and our foreign partners, and the way in which former president trump allegedly stored these top-secret papers willy-nilly in his resort in florida put all of that at risk. jack smith also talked about having one set of rules for everybody and that the laws apply to people equally, perhaps nodding to the fact that this is the first federal case against a former president. finally, he defended his own staff as being ethical, praise fbi agents in particular for doing diligent work, and announced he hopes to take this case to trial in a speedy fashion. we will see how that goes. >> the scope of the details of the indictment were really striking. when you look at those counts, they include things like willful

retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding and concealing of documents, and also making false statements and that detailing the indictment, they had pictures, they had text, they had transcript of audio recordings. what is all about tell you about how mr. smith and his team will try to prove their case? >> there is a mountain of evidence this special counsel team should be building, in part because they received a ruling from a district court judge in washington that allowed them to pierce attorney/client privilege, allowing trump's lawyer to testify about contemporaneous notes he took and possibly recordings of instructions donald trump gave him. then we have a tape from one of the pele donald trump allegedly showed secret material to or referenced secret material to in 2021 at his club. there's so much evidence including those photos of how these papers were stored and

trump's role, starting on the day he left office, in packing documents to being present at the time the doj searched mar-a-lago. >> i want to ask about another important name in the indictment, the valet for former president trump, former white house staffer. >> sees the eight who allegedly helped move these documents -- he is the aide who allegedly helped move these documents to and from from mar-a-lago. when he was confronted with these questions, he allegedly lied to the fbi, which forms the basis of a false admit search. he's also charged with conspiracy in a number of other smaller charges. he has a very serious case he faces as well. he is going to be in court next week alongside the former president. >> in the minute or so we have let, you saw lisa report on the

response we heard from mr. trump. what else are you hearing from him and his legal team, and what is the timeline ahead? >> the special counsel says he wants a speedy trial. we have to see how many motions trump legal team wants to throw out before this judge in florida. that could delay proceedings, but if the special counsel gets its wish, we could have a trial later this year, certainly in the heart of the presidential campaign while donald trump is at this moment the front runner for the nomination. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> for legal analysis of the charges mr. trump faces, which 102 experts in national security and handling classified documents. a professor at yale law school and former special counsel at the pentagon, and a law professor at george mason university who previously served in the national security division of the justice dertment and is associate counsel to president george w.

bush. i want to start by reading the indictment. i want to start with page two because we learn precisely what donald trump had in his possession. the classified documents trump stored in the boxes include an information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the u.s. and foreign countries. u.s. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the u.s. and its allies to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. given the breadth and scope of the allegations spelled out, what strikes you? >> 102 documents were found at the trump mar-a-lago residence after he had turned over the documents to the fbi saying that he had returned all the documents to the government. beyond that in the embedment itself, 31 documents listed, 31 counts of willful retention of documents. of that, 10 were sensitive

department information. these are the most sensitive government -- very -- these are the most sensitive documents the government has. donald trump has been sitting around mar-a-lago, withholds them even after a request from the government. that's a problem. >> the cia, the defense department, the national reconnaissance office, the list goes on. what are the national security implications here given the way that they were stored and to whom mr. trump allegedly showed em? >> it is really extraordinary. the kinds of secrets in these documents are among the most closely held secrets the u.s. government has. they are information relevant to ongoing preparations for military operations. there are documents that relate

to the military capabilities of our allies and adversaries. the u.s. nuclear program. it is really the most tightly held secrets the u.s. government has, and information that could do extremely serious harm to u.s. national security, and the range of agencies mentioned in the document gives you a sense of how extensive this information really is. >> i want to ask about a couple of other developments in this case. we heard lisa report that two of mr. trump's attorneys resigned today. they did not give much detail as to why. we also learned the case will be overseen, at least initially, by the judge who made a number of controversial rulings in the early stages of this investigation and had to be overruled by the 11th circuit for overstepping. what do you see as the significance? >> it obviously says something not good for president trump that two of his attorneys felt the need to resign and step aside. jim trusty just yesterday was on cnn defending the president.

the fact he decided to step aside -- we don't know what it means, but it means something. i think we can expect the judge to be fair, evenhanded. she has a reputation for being fair. that being said, she did enter some rulings that were controversial, as you correctly pointed out, and ultimately, it was reversed, and i think understands now the court is watching this case closely and will keep an eye on it. >> mr. trump has been saying for months he was within his rights to take these documents. he even suggested in a conversation last year that he effectively declassified them with his mind. >> if you are the president of the united states, you can declassified just by saying this is declassified, even by thinking about it because you are sending it to mar-a-lago or to wherever you are sending it. it does not have to be a process. there can be a process, but there does not have to be. you're the president. you make that decision.

>> cnn obtained a transcript of a july 2021 meeting where mr. trump is discussing a classified pentagon document about attacking iran, and this transcript is also included in the indictment. he is saying this document, you know, i just found this, is not it amazing, except, it's, like, highly confidential, secret. as president i could have declassified it, but now, i cannot. how damaging is that potentially? >> this is extraordinarily damaging for the president. it only shows that even if he claims that he declassified these documents by thinking it and not actually notifying anyone, which does not actually constitute actual declassification, but let's just imagine we went with his argument, which i think no legal expert would buy, he is admitting outright that he knows he did not declassify these documents and that there are documents in his possession that remain classified and that he cannot show to someone because

they remain secret and remain classified. so he is undercutting one of the key arguments he has been trying to make all along, and i think really undercutting his lawyers who will be trying to make arguments that he did not violate the espionage act. effectively, he is offering an admission on tape, so i think it really makes the case very hard for the defense. >> i see you shaking your head in agreement. collect i think that is exactly right. the idea you can declassified something just by thinking about it -- that is completely wrong. you have to take some sort of action. the president does have broad declassification authority. we saw president trump do that, take a picture with his phone of a classified image and tweet it out. the president has the ability to do that. once you leave office, you don't have the authority. this tape has him admitting it document in his hands at that time remains classified. he knew it to folks at that meeting. elsewhere, he also showed a document and said, do not get

too close. i cannot show you this. it is classified. >> some of mr. trump's defenders have been drawing comparisons to hillary clinton's use of a private email server for private communication, the document handling cases with former vice president mike pence and president biden. what makes this case different? >> a few differences. one, hillary clinton obviously did the wrong thing. that's a huge problem. president biden should not have had this documents at his facilities. nor should vice president pence. in the case of biden and pens, both owned up to it, turned it over, and that was that. in the case upfront and potentially in the case of clinton, there was some effort -- the server was light. in the case upfront, the documents were withheld. they even had an attorney sign a document saying we have turned over everything, and then we found another 102 documents, right? boxes were moved. that evinces a decision to withhold documents.

it evinces obstruction of justice. that's why these charges are there. hard for a jury not to convict. >> we expect mr. trump to appear tuesday at 3:00 p.m. eastern in a south florida federal court room. help us understand why the special counsel in this case chose to bring these charges in florida, and what will you be wahing for tuesday? >> the reason these were brought in florida is almost certainly because the charges all center around the retention of the documents and the decision to misrepresent the information that trump held. all of these are things that happened in florida. what is interesting is that the charges did not include the removal of these documents from the white house. they really focus on the holding of the documents in florida and what the president did after the federal government continually

asked for this documents and the national archives asked for the documents. there was a subpoena for these documents, repeated request for these documents, and the president in florida continually refused to hand those over. the actions covered in this indictment that took place in -- are actions that took place in florida, and that's why the case is being brought in florida, even though it is important to note that they certainly knew would lead to a less favorable jury, almost certainly. it is a more heavily republican area then they would have had if they had brought the charges in washington, d.c., but it's really what they had to do because the conduct covered in these charges is conduct that took place in florida, so it had to be charged in florida. >> i think it is exactly about venue. what they don't want to run into is the president challenging venue, delaying, where should the case be heard and the like. by having it in florida, i think is exactly right they may trade something off, but at the end of the day, they get the case to move forward as quickly as possible.

the defendant in this case, the former president has a right to a speedy trial, so we will move this thing forward. i have no doubt that president trump's legal team will try to delay this thing, and, frankly, that may not be crazy. if you think about it, you have a sitting president the justice department is prosecuting the leading candidate on the others. this is a politically fraught investigation. for the prosecution, it is a real challenge. >> we thank you both. >> good evening. here are the latest headlines. evidence is growing that an explosion rocked a dam in southern ukraine this week just before it collapsed. "the new york times" reports u.s. spy satellites detected the blast. a norwegian research group says seismic data also showed an explosion. it is still not clear who is

responsible. the collapse unleashed a delusion that has flooded towns and forced thousands to flee. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says his people will endure. >> today, i received reports about the rescue operation. an enormous amount of challenges remain, but i'm sure, no matter how difficult they may be, we will overcome the consequences of this disaster and all russian people. >> separately, the white house says fresh intelligence indicates iran is helping russia build a drone factory near moscow. the goal is to ensure a steady supply of weapons to use against ukraine. smoky skies partially cleared today in washington, new york, and much of the u.s. eastern seaboard. air-quality alerts remain in force in many places but at lower levels. meanwhile, officials in canada reported the arrival of fire crews from the u.s. and elsewhere will help contain fighters in quebec.

at the same time, more fires spread across the western portion of british columbia adding to the worst wildfire season evern canada. ethnic clashes in south sudan have killed more than 20 people at a united nations camp that is taking in more refugee from neighboring sudan. doctors without borders says violence erupted thursday at the camp that is home to thousands of displaced people in the region. in sudan itself, and attempted cease-fire is set for saturday. two months of fighting have displaced nearly 2 million people. back in this country, walgreens will pay the state of new mexico $500 million for the company's role in distributed opioids. the deal announced today settles litigation that accuses walgreens a failing to recognize suspicious prescriptions. nationally, settlements involving opioids have totaled over $50 million in recent years.

>> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalismt arizona state university. >> dinners at the indictment of her president trump raises questions about the political fallout to come -- the news of the indictment of former president trump raises questions about the political fallout to come. before we jump into the details of this case, i would like to have you reflect on the gravity of this moment. >> i think gravity is the right word to use. it is a somber, sobering moment for the country. we have never been to this place before. we have been on the brink. nixon was almost indicted. people forget bill clinton faced the prospect of indictment and reach a plea deal, but we have never crossed this rubicon. i think it is important that we did it on this set of facts.

i thought that was true before i saw the indictment. having seen the indictment, i think it is even more true, as jack smith said. one set of laws has to cover everybody. i'm relieved that the rule of law looks like it is prevailing, but that relief is tempered by sadness, sadness that we have a president of the united states and potential future president of the united states that has brought us to this terrible state, and also sadness about the volcanic response just inherent, instinctive support of this, political polarization from his party and what that will mean for an already divided country that will be further polarized. >> a somber day, saturday. how do you view it? >> this morning, i was blase.

we knew he had the documents. we saw the pictures from mar-a-lago. when the indictment came out, i was like, there is always another layer down with this guy. what shocked me in particular was the nuclear programs, our own vulnerabilities, sharing our iran plans with buddies at the golf course. i don't see those as documents. those are human beings. those are american lives. those are people helping the united states around the world and were put at risk. those were american soldiers and marines and airmen and seamen who were put at risk. the lack of awareness, lack of sense of responsibility for the people who were serving under his command is just so offensive . i had this thought, he is just a mean boy. he's like an eight-year-old boy who wanted these documents for some willful reason, who could not admit error. my friend andrew sullivan made the point today whenever there is a situation where donald trump has to be equal to everybody, he will ride

roughshod over the system and behave in a way so i'm not equal to everybody else, it is just me. the rules don't apply to me. >> it was a south florida grand jury that brought this indictment. special counsel jack smith's decision to bring charges in what effectively is donald trump's home turf. there are legal reasons, but what do you see is the political significance? >> i think there's actually potential legal and political significance that combined. when donald trump is cornered, he yells rigged. it is a rigged jury. it is a rigged election. it is a rigged judge. this won't stop him from yelling that here, but when he has this judge who was clearly not just a trump appointee but so trump and pathetic in her previous pass at this case, it will be harder for him to try to smear her as some

apparatchik of the justice department. similarly with the jury, this will not be a d.c. jury. it's going to be a south florida jury, and it will be harder to complain -- although he will -- about unfair treatment from them. i think that strangely helps prosecutors tamp down hopefully some of the public reaction to the case. >> what about that, that it makes it harder for dona trump to make the argument -- of course he will make the argument, but it is harder for him to make a convincing argument that he is being railroaded when it is happening on his home turf? >> is anybody in this country not have an opinion about donald trump? i don't know how getting a fair jury will work. he's going to make the argument and a lot of people are going to accept it. if you are running against donald trump for president, your job is to take this day and see

that guy -- and say that guy does not have the quality to be president. it is that simple. they are all jumping on the prosecutor is weaponizing the system. they're all jumping that. they supposedly mature and moderate governor of virginia, he said selective prosecution. the party is rallying around. one of the things donald trump has been having trouble doing is raising money. the thing he knows will help him raise money is getting indicted, so he got indicted and raised something like $12 million, but i soon as the indictment comes down, he is got a video. he's got the direct mail. he is using this as a political gift, which for the time being, it seems to be at least in the republican party. >> we knew he would come up with a sickening thing is what you say about the rest of the party rallying around him. we know why they are doing it. we know they are doing it not because they believe it but

because they understand it to be in their political self-interest, but if i had a superpower right now, i would wield it to been the word weaponization. what is going on here is the opposite of the weaponization of the justice department. merrick garland attorney general stepped aside from the case and brought in a career prosecutor to take a look at it. the weaponization of the justice department had been done to the former guy, not -- had been done under the former guy, not under this guy. >> the alleged offense is a strike at the core of some of the most somber duties of the presidency, including protection of the country's most vital of secrets that donald trump's rivals are willing to overlook that and not call that out, how do they make an argument for their candidacies, but what does that say about the field, given that this is the job to which they are applying come of the presidency, or hoping to win? >> i think it says something about the field but also simultaneously says something about the base and says

something about donald trump's hold on a significant part of his party's voters. he could get indicted in the middle of 5th ave and continue to be teflon don and not be affected by this. i think there's an interesting question. i'm curious what david thinks about this, about the sheer weight of these numerous indictments -- i'm not a fan of the manhattan indictment, but that's there. there's this indictment which i think is very serious. we are going to probably see something from georgia relating to january 6 from the election, and there could be more after that. at some point, will the republican party base say enough is enough, we cannot risk a third try with this guy? there is no evidence of that so far, and as the rest of the party just reflexively rallies around trump, the leaders, i think that makes it less likely that we will see that more

healthy reaction. >> how do you think this will play out in the race? we have never seen an american president based federal criminal charges and we've never seen one face those charges as he tries to recapture the white house. >> the republican party is always about to tire of donald trump and never arrives. he's clearly trumper now that he was six months ago. the first indictment, which was a bit dodgy, clearly helped. this one i don't think will help, in part because there are a lot of military folks in the republican party. they know how serious it is. they take it seriously. i think there will be some lingering effect. the only way it could possibly hurt donald trump is not somebody saying, see, he is a bad guy -- that won't work. it will be making the case that he's got too much baggage, and i think you can make that argument without going personally after donald trump and without getting in the way of the core front

narrative, they are out to get us. they are out to get us since it is thick in the republican party, with a lot of justification, by the way. >> meantime, the white house was taking a business as usual approach to this decidedly abnormal circumstances. president biden was in north carolina giving a speech about his budget agenda when word of this indictment came down. as the white house risk having their message drowned out potentially yet again by all of the things surrounding and swirling around donald trump? >> if you had asked me what president biden had done today, i could not have answered the question. of course the message is going to get drowned out on a day like today. is it terrible for a white house to have its message drowned out by the news that its chief opponent is being indicted on very serious charges on mishandling the most classified

information, on obstructing justice, on lying to federal investigators? that's not a bad news today for the white house to have whatever it was doing -- infrastructure or whatever is being talked about. i think president biden is doing the right thing by business as usual. this is not his thing. he's not commenting on it. he's not anywhere near it. >> president biden told reporters he has not talked to the attorney general about this case and will not talk about it. >> and that is utterly appropriate. in the longer term, i think biden is still underexposed. i think his staff is still overprotective. i think they need to let him get out more because it's just not good for the presidency for him to be that much in the shadow of donald trump, and that has been even without the indictment. >> could he tell them that? couldn't he tell staff that if he felt that way? it has been said to me that if a

president believes in the staff, you let them do their job. >> my understanding is he is not a doddering old grandpa. he might be trusting them. maybe he wants to be as quiet and, frankly, as close as he had been. >> thank you for being with us on this historic weekend -- hour and to the week, rather. -- your dnd -- or emd -- or end the week. >> as the cities and states across the country consider various forms of reparations, california has led the way in returning land to the descendants of the dispossessed, including african-americans and native americans. the wealth, community, and

opportunities lost are not easily recovered. >> the story of bruce's beach is a story about what couldnd should have been. over 100 years ago, and industrious black woman in southern california dreamt of owning a beach resort but was refused whenever she tried. she eventually acquired land in manhattan beach, telling theos angeles times in 1912, i owned this land, and i'm going to keep it. she and her husband charles built a large, a place where black vacationers could enjoy a stay at the beach. >> they were having a beautiful time, and they built it to share . whenever people came to california, they wanted them to have somewhere to go. >> i think about entrepreneurs, i think about black excellence, i think about community. >> the reality is the bruce's and their patrons were wealthy.

>> a stately photo of the bruce's on their wedding day decked out in finery foretold the makings of a power couple. the display of black success outraged the white neighbors and powers that be. >> in the light of harassment, intimidation, violence, their business just got more and more successful until the city of manhattan beach hatched a scheme to take the property. >> the bruce's -- the bruces' dream was stolen, or property seized for pennies in compensation and only after they sued. a community activist first learned of them a few years after she moved to manhattan beach in 2017. >> this country often tells us, black people, that we are lazy or don't work hard enough and all we have to do is pull ourselves up by our bootstraps,

and here we are in the 1920's, 19 teens, and this couple did exactly that only to have their land stolen and to die as cooks in someone else's kitchen when they had this whole beachfront resort here. >> ward began campaigning for the land to be returned to the descendants of willa and charles bruce peary less than two years later, she succeeded. >> fluorescent -- for a century, our government at every level has enacted policies to dispossess black people of the right to own property and create wealth. what was so powerful about the return of the property of the bruce family is we see a path forward to finally counter some of those false narratives. >> as unique and complex as the deal is, it offers a path forward for other groups that

might seek a return of land, not least of which are the original inhabitants of los angeles. before spanish missionaries arrived, the tonga owned a 4000 square mile swath of california territory switching from the coast to the mountains. >> we have been systematically erased. we were enslaved. we have gone through about three waves of genocide. >> 23-year-old cement morales johnson recently became the land return coordinator for a tonga conservancy, a job she could only have dreamed of as a child. >> this land was returned, which i was not expect and in my lifetime, let alone my grandfather's. >> the one-acre property was transferred last year by a jewish landowner whose own family faced displacement and oppression. johnson said the protests that erupted after the police killing a george floyd raised the nation's consciousness. >> i think it made people more aware of all of the injustices

that have been in north america. >> lane johnson was growing up, council meetings and holiday parties were held in a borrowed space. >> i think it was a converted restaurant with a little parking lot. there was no earth to even grow anything in that concrete thing. >> the property which overlks a scenic canyon marks the first time in nearly 200 years they have legally owned land to use as they wish. this is the white sage. >> this is the white sage. this is the only place where we can plant native trees with full sovereignty and native plants with full sovereignty. >> work is underway to remove the overgrown native species that were planted here. the old brazilian oaks will remain. eventually, the site will host tribal gatherings and offer educational programs. >> a beautiful thing about this land is that there is an lot of hope for restoration. >> so-called linpack agreements

are still rare. other recent examples include the purchase of nearly two square miles of land for $4.5 million by a tribe in southern california and the city of oakland recently returned 5 acres of local part two and east bay tribe. in l.a., different groups are looking for more opportunities to reacquire land. >> it is not really just about the land. it is preserving what is left of our land. >> long before the land back movement had gained traction, angie burns, now 86, fought to lease this two-acre property in west l.a. it was the early 1990's, and what had been the site of a tonga village had fallen into neglect. >> when i stood at that game and saw this area, i was so upset.

i could not believe that is an archaeological and historical site. >> the los angeles unified school district, which owns the land and build a high school next to the springs, agreed to lease the site for a dollar a year. >> the medicine garden has many varieties of medicinal plants. >> bob ramirez says the land is abundant with native plants and pristine drinking water. >> would you like to try some? >> yes, i would like to try some. burns says now is the time for the land to be returned. >> this is a sacred site. this is our place of worship. you have your temples. you have your turkeys. what do we have? >> there may be other people that say if you are going to get that land, what about me? so it becomes contentious, i think. how do you compensate this group and neglect somebody else? is that fair?

is that just? >> what is fair and just is also in dispute at bruce's beach. patricia bruce carter, a distant relative of charles bruce, was at the ceremony in 2022 when county officials returned the land to the bruces' direct descendants. she thinks about what could have been if the land had remained in the family's hands all along. >> i'm sure at this time, there would have been multiple hotels and beachfront properties and just living the life. >> a lifeguard administration center and parking lot stand where they resort did. less than a year after the property was returned, the recipients decided to sell it back to the county for nearly

$50 million. >> as an attorney, my responsibility is to advocate in the interest of my clients. as a citizen and as an african-american citizen, i think that is an important question. who are the benefactors of restitution? who should be the benefactors of reparations? >> after her work getting the bruces their land back, this is not the outcome is community activist wanted. >> i wanted to see strong, young, black entrepreneurs take up space here and be able to build and develop here like the bruces once were able to do. community is what got the land back. yes, the family won but the community did not. >> the work, ward says, will continue. the reckoning far from over.

>> we will be back shortly, but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. >> chance to offer your support which helps keep programs like this one on the air. >> for those of you staying with us, we take a second look at my conversation with margaret cho, a trailblazer in the world of standup comedy. she's now celebrating 40 years of making people laugh, and pay attention to the issues of the day. i met up with her recently at the warner theatre in washington, d.c., for our arts and culture series. live and living is the name of margaret cho's first big world tour since the pandemic. at 54 and performing professionally since the age of 16, she has woven family put her

stand up, acting, and even lgbtq activism. >> we need to recognize that would deny a gay man the right to bridal registry is a fascist state. >> from stdup specials like notorious c.h.o. in 2002 to cycle in 2015 two starring in "all american girl" to the extent of routines about culture clashes between her traditional korean mother and herself, a fully americanized daughter. >> look, he is a doctor and from a good, traditional family. >> and check out that frequent flyer mileage. >> two appearances such as her emmy-nominated recurring role on "30 rock" playing kim jg-il. she knew from an early age growing up in san francisco, comedy was her calling. >> i just love the art form. it was just a recognition more

than anything that it was what i would grow up to be. i think a lot of people really have those feelings. when you are a kid, you are like, i want to be a fireman, want to be a lawyer. i think i had those kinds of childhood aspirations to be a comedian, but it was a very visceral knowledge, this is my job, oddly because i was not a class clown. >> who were your early influences then? who were you looking to say i can do that, i want to do that? >> joan rivers ultimately because she was so incredibly elegant but also crass. she was finding a way to be crass, which is pretty incredible in the 1970's for women and in comedy, and for television the way it was.

>> she was one of your mentors. i saw where you said some of the advice she once gave you was we are the type of girls who don't find our place when the young. the funny ones, all ones, weirdos -- we are seen and little later. >> she was very right about how we become more and more visible the older we get, and she would say to me, we are like the girls that were ugly in high school, and i'm like, you know, watch your mouth. it is a funny thing of like when you realize that we actually grow in value as we age, and it is a powerful thought that we can really embrace that power, so i think she's very right about that. >> do you view your standup act as being part of your activism? >> yes, my stand-up comedy is the main channel for my activism. it is the way that i am an activist. if you go back to bob hope, that is all he was doing was lending

his sense of humor to the cause, although my cause is somewhat different, but not really that different. it was about a call to action and call for unity for americans. >> to be clear, the language she uses is nothing like bob hope. >> sometimes you see, like, a really beautiful asian woman and she's with the most [beep]-up face white man, and unlike, -- i'm like, [beep], are your eyes that small? high-minded is looking towards fighting for equality, fighting for rights for the queer community, fighting for trends lives, fighting for a drag, fighting for all of these things in a very noble effort, but then undercutting it with the most

crass, explicit, foul joke that you can have that center a very highly minded idea. my feeling of i'm trying to make this -- it is like a sundae. you want the cherry on top to be a really noble effort, but underneath, it is just filth. >> when you lived together, sex takes on a whole new dimension. i feel like a prostitute that works for really low rates. >> you have been newly open about your past addiction, your past mental health issues. how does that journey show up in your work? >> i think it is important to talk about mental health as a subject matter because it is inherently really funny. it is really, like, full of mystery and terrifying. >> in what ways? >> to me, the closer we are to

death, the more we can laugh in the face of that, the more strength we had to carry on living, so humor is really the coping mechanism of the spirit. >> i never saw asian people on television or in movies, so my dreams were somewhat limited. i would dream, maybe someday, i could be an extra on "mash." >> you have been doing this, as you mentioned, for 40 years. what is your greatest >> my greatest accomplishment is inspiring comedians to further greatness, you know, that they were able to see me and recognize that this is what they wanted to do, so, yes, the reason that allie long -- that ali wong exists.

all of these comedians i think were inspired by me, and that is my greatest achievement. >> be sure to tune in to "washington week" for more analysis of the week's political news. >> our colleague and white house correspondent laura barron-lopez is moderating tonight. what can we expect? >> i will be speaking with some of d.c.'s sharpest reporters about the historic indictment of former president trump and what it means for our country and the 2020 for political landscape. >> look forward to that. thank you. watch pbs news week and tomorrow for a look at what you need to know about tics and the spread of lyme disease this summer. >> remember, there is more on line including a story about a group of cyclists from the cherokee nation taking on a grueling seven-state journey across the trail of tears to reclaim their own history.

that's at pbs.org/newshour. >> before we go, some good news. we want to welcome a new member of the "newshour" family. nick schifrin is now the proud father of isabel who was born at 8 pounds, 12 ounces. nick tells us isabel, his wife, and her new big brother are all doing well, albeit with maybe a little less sleep. thanks, and welcome to the world, isabel. >> absolutely. >> have a great weekend. >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by --

>> moving our economy 100 years, bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of "the newshour," and -- including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of "the newshour."

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 weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

announcer: major funding for "tell me more with kelly corrigan" is provided by the penner family foundation along with support from the gordon and llura gund foundation. i think the last era of america, uh--heh heh-- that we just went through has in some ways altered the course of this country's history. there was still this idea, this narrative that america's the greatest country in the world. i think that's a wrap, and now it becomes up to us-- not that i care about the narrative of the greatest country in the world, but do we actually want to live up to those myths, and right now--to use a sports analogy-- i think it's a jump ball. ♪ it's an enduring american pastime