amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “newshour” tonight, even as he dominates the republican primary, former president trump spends millions of campaign dollars on legal fees in the many cases against him. amna: states across the country debate how to use the billions of dollars obtained from opioid settlements with major pharmaceutical companies. >> what we want is for this money to go to help people who are struggling with opioid addiction. so the money is required to go to that purpose. geoff: and an executive order creates new military protocols for investigating sexual assault in the armed forces. ♪

>> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour." the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting instituations to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour west." here are the latest headlines. relief is arriving for parts of the country that have been broiling under intense heat. a cold front helped today to lower temperatures across much of the upper midwest, the northeast, and the mid-atlantic. temperatures in phoenix fell below 110 degrees for the first time in 31 straight days. but in california, the heat is fueling wildfires. crews today battled a fire burning out of control in the mojave national preserve. the property manager at former president trump's mar-a-lago estate made his first court appearance today in a classified documents case. carlos de oliveira faces charges that he hid security footage and

lied to investigators. de oliveira left the hearing in miami without entering a plea because he has not found a local attorney yet. he's free on a $100,000 bond. hunter biden's former business partner says then-vice president joe biden spoke with their associates, but never about business. devon archer was interviewed today by the house oversight committee. afterward, democrat dan goldman said archer testified that hunter biden sold the illusion of access to his father. republican andy biggs said the testimony justifies an impeachment inquiry. in pakistan, the islamic state group has claimed responsibility for sunday's suicide bombing that killed 54 people, including five children, and wounded 200. it happened at a pro-taliban election rally in the northwest, near the afghan border. the scene was still in tatters today. hospitals were overwhelmed and victims' relatives clamored for answers.

>> i am a shopkeeper, and i was also present at the rally with my son who got injured. we lost loved ones, so many martyred in the incident. i demand that the government investigate this, because this was a brutal act. now we don't know what will happen in the future. stephanie: the isis claim of responsibility gave no details. instead, it said it is waging war on democracy. a new attempt at a cease-fire is underway in lebanon tonight after three days of clashes between rival palestinian factions at a refugee camp. at least nine people have died. earlier today, plumes of smoke dotted the skyline in the southern port city of sidon as fatah loyalists battled islamist groups. palestinian refugees took shelter where they could. >> we fled because of the shelling and the bullets. it was falling on us. too many people were killed.

we cannot stay and have ourselves and our children die. we cannot stay and we do not want those armed fighters here. stephanie: the violence erupted saturday after a gunman tried to kill a palestinian militant. islamist fighters struck back sunday, killing a fatah military commander. russian missiles killed six people and wounded 75 today in central ukraine. the attack targeted the hometown of president volodymyr zelensky, far from the front lines of the war. rescue crews searched for survivors in the rubble of an apartment complex and a university building. officials say a 10-year-old girl was among those killed. a group of 15 west african nations is imposing sanctions on niger after the military coup there. it's also threatening military force if the country's elected president is not reinstated. at the same time, the president of neighboring chad, mahamat idress deby, arrived in niger on sunday. he's meeting with both sides to

try to mediate a solution. back in this country, president biden announced he is keeping the u.s. space command headquarters in colorado springs, overturning president trump's decision to move it to alabama. the general in charge said moving now would disrupt military readiness, but some air force leaders who studied both locations had deemed huntsville, alabama a better fit for the space command. and actor/comedian paul reubens, known by millions as pee-wee herman, died sunday night of cancer. reubens hit it big in the 1980's with his emmy-winning saturday morning tv show "pee-wee's playhouse," and two movies. after that, a 1991 arrest for indecent exposure put his career on hold for years. paul reubens was 70 years old. and another passing to report, actor angus cloud, who starred in the hbo series "euphoria," has died. a family statement announcing his death did not list a cause.

cloud, who had never acted before being cast in "euphoria," was the co-star of the series for its first two seasons. angus cloud was 25 years old. still to come on the "newshour," country music star jason aldean defends his new hit song that's been criticized as racist. whistleblower testimony reignites the debate over ufo's and the possibility of alien life. american swimmer katie ledecky makes history again with major wins at the world championships. and much more. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: so far, former president donald trump's growing legal troubles do not appear to be putting a dent in his support among republican voters. the latest polling shows the former president maintaining his stranglehold over the gop, and

there's scant evidence that any of his challengers will be able to loosen his grip on the nomination, even as he faces criminal charges. former president donald trump is trouncing his 2024 republican rivals, according to a new new york times/siena college poll, holding a massive 37 percentage-point lead over florida governor ron desantis in the gop presidential field. the results underscoring mr. trump's iron grip on the republican electorate, even as he faces multiple criminal and civil legal cases. mr. trump: thank you very much, erie. geoff: speaking this weekend in pennsylvania, the former president railed against democrats, repeated false claims of election fraud, and urged republicans to jump to his defense. mr. trump: radical lunatic democrats, they impeach me, they indict me, they rig our elections. and the republicans just don't fight the way -- they're good people, but they don't fight the way they're supposed to fight. the others are dirty, sick players. and the republicans are very

high-class. they have got to be a little bit lower-class. geoff: among mr. trump's rivals, different approaches for taking on the dominant front-runner for the party's nomination. former congressman will hurd speaking friday before a crowd of party faithful in iowa tore into the former president. mr. hurd: donald trump is running to stay out of prison. and if we elect -- [booing] geoff: which drew a chorus of boos. mr. hurd: i know. i know. i know. i know. i know. listen, i know the truth -- the truth is hard. geoff: and, on the airwaves, former governor nikki haley encouraged republicans to move beyond donald trump. ms. haley: well, none of us want to be talking about indictments. i don't even know if it's the third, fourth or fifth indictment right now. but what i can tell you is, it's a distraction. geoff: as former governor and outspoken trump critic chris christie offered this. mr. christie: it is most likely that by the time we get on the debate stage on august 23 the

front-runner will be out on bail in four different jurisdictions. geoff: but ron desantis, speaking to reporters today in new hampshire, dodged a question about mr. trump's legal exposure, avoiding any mentions of the former president. gov. desantis: we're here to talk about retoring this economy. geoff: and for a closer look at the latest developments in the republican primary, we're joined now by republican pollster whit ayres, who has in the past consulted for florida governor ron desantis and senators lindsey graham and marco rubio. it's great to have you here. whit: good to be with you, geoff. geoff: the new york times, in its analysis of that poll that we mentioned, notes that, in the modern history of presidential primaries, no candidate who has led his or her nearest rival by at least 20 points at this point in the race has ever lost a party nomination. and donald trump leads ron desantis by nearly double that. is a trump nomination inevitable at this point, whit? whit: far from it, geoff. i mean, we have never in

american history had a leading candidate for president facing multiple serious felony indictments either. so it's such an unstable environment with the things that haven't happened yet that might happen that we don't know about. does donald trump have a huge lead in the national polls? yes, he does. and i think it's unreasonable to expect the national polls to change before people start voting in iowa or new hampshire or south carolina. but there are plenty of examples of people starting to vote and somebody popping in one of those early states, and then the national numbers follow along behind that. but i don't think the national numbers are going to change until iowa. geoff: well, let me ask you then about the intensity of donald trump's support, noting that this, of course, is a national poll, as you say. but it finds that 43% of republicans have a very favorable opinion of donald trump, a group that he carries by an overwhelming 92%, to a 7% margin if he's in a one-on-one race with ron desantis.

how does ron desantis overcome that, a 92% to 7% margin? whit: it would be very difficult. but ron desantis may not be the one who has the best shot of doing it. let's presume at the start that running for president is really hard. lamar alexander, our first presidential candidate, is used to saying that running for a statewide office and running for president is the difference between running for -- or playing in eighth grade basketball and the nba finals. it's really hard. let's also agree that no one has quite figured out how to deal with a donald trump full-fledged assault, not just on your character or record, which is par for the course, but on your appearance, your wife's appearance -- ask ted cruz -- presumably laying out allegations, totally unsupported, about pedophilia, like he did with ron desantis. no one has done that.

that said, ron desantis keeps making unforced error after unforced error. he said that ukraine was just a territorial dispute, which really upset a lot of republicans in the foreign policy world. he suggested that rfk jr., a conspiracy theorist of the highest order, should run the center for disease control. and he keeps doubling down on the argument that somehow slavery was beneficial to some slaves. i mean, those are obvious cases where going one direction was the obvious answer, and he went the other direction. that makes me wonder if he's got the political instincts to play effectively at this level. geoff: well, i was going to ask you that. you have the experience of having worked for governor desantis during his 2018 gubernatorial bid. what seems to be the problem? is the strategy flawed? is the candidate flawed, or both? whit: he has a hard time working with people. he will have absolutely nothing to do with anyone associated with a hard-fought, successful

race in 2018, not the pollster, not you, the media consultant, not the general consultant, not the campaign manager, and not the financial consultant. that's a little unusual, geoff, when you have a candidate winning and will have nothing to do with any of the people helping. geoff: the candidates who seem to be taking on donald trump directly, to include chris christie, will hurd, asa hutchinson, is there enough of a share of the republican electorate left for them to mount serious challenges? whit: we have talked before about how there is a never-trump cohort in the republican party, but it's only about 10% to 12%. those messages appeal a lot to the never-trump people. but there's a majority of the party that are maybe trump people that voted for him twice, and -- but are skeptical that he can win in 2024. the problem is, if -- when you say donald trump is unfit for office, that makes those people have to recognize that they voted twice for someone who was

unfit to be president. that's a hard psychological leap to get over for most of those people. geoff: because people don't want to believe that they were wrong. whit: exactly. exactly. and so i think those three candidates you mentioned are very effective in making a never-trump argument, but i think they're going to tap out at 10% to 12% of the electorate. geoff: whit ayres, always great to speak with you. i'm sure we will have you back as this campaign unfolds. whit: great to be here. great to be here, geoff. ♪ amna: the settlement money from several companies that made, distributed, and sold opioid painkillers is starting to flow in. more than $50 billion will be paid out over the next 18 years to state and local governments across the country. but the debate around exactly how this money should be spent is just beginning. in the first of two reports, special correspondent cat wise

and producer mike fritz traveled to north carolina, where overdose deaths have spiked by more than 70% since 2019. it's part of our ongoing series, america addicted. cat: in troy, north carolina, chrystal weatherly's new job starts early. as a peer support specialist her first task is often gathering up boxes of the overdose-reversal drug narcan from the montgomery county health department. chrystal: ok. cat: she then heads to the local jail, where she works with inmates battling addiction. chrystal: hey, it's chrystal. cat: by afternoon, she's driving across this rural section of the state with her friend and volunteer, jamal moore. chrystal: which one, this one or that one? jamal: let's check this house, i think. chrystal: ok. cat: they talk to residents, hand out narcan, and provide information about treatment options. chrystal: my name is chrystal. ok, i'm a peer support specialist and i'm in the county working with folks that have addiction issues. cat: home to just 25,000 people, montgomery county's overdose

death rate is nearly double that of north carolina's statewide rate. chrystal: i'm in recovery. so i know what it's like to struggle in that way. so i'm here to help people. cat: after battling alcohol and drug addictions for 30 years, weatherly says it's work that's deeply personal. she's been in recovery since 2015. chrystal: people in this community that need help are more likely to talk to me because they know that i'm in recovery and i understand what it's like to struggle and have no hope. and so that's what i want to do is offer people hope that they don't have to live that way. cat: few resources have been available to address the opioid crisis here in montgomery county until now. chrystal: do you know anybody that might need some narcan? cat: weatherly's job, which she began in may, and the narcan she distributes are both funded by opioid settlement payments now coming into north carolina, a state that is expected to receive about $1.5 billion over the next 18 years.

chrystal: people need support. and people need to know that the stigma that is typically attached to substance use is not viewed that way by everybody. cat: the stakes for weatherly and others on the front lines of north carolina's opioid epidemic are high. john stein: the opioid crisis has been absolutely devastating. it is the deadliest drug epidemic in american history. and, tragically, we're at the deadliest moment. cat: north carolina's attorney general john stein led negotiations for national settlements against companies that included johnson & johnson, cvs, walgreens and several others. in all, these settlements have netted roughly $54 billion. is it enough money to actually make an impact? john stein: it is absolutely enough money to make an impact. it's not enough money to end addiction. but what i am 100% certain is that there will be many, many more people who are alive, healthy and happy because of

these funds and the important programs they're going to fund than otherwise would be. cat: stein says the goal of most of these settlements was to give states flexibility in determining how best to spend their money, but to also require them to use at least 85% of that funding on addiction treatment and prevention. those requirements were put in place because of what happened during the 1990's after states won more than $240 billion from cigarette companies. john stein: we all watched what happened with the tobacco settlement. here in north carolina, that money just goes straight into the general fund and is used for whatever. it's not helping people who are struggling with nicotine addiction. what we want is for this money to go to help people who are struggling with opioid addiction. so, the money is required to go to that purpose. cat: but across the nation, how those spending requirements will be enforced remains a big question, says aneri pattani of kff health news. she has been tracking how opioid settlement money is being spent.

aneri: what's literally in the settlement documents is the idea that, if states don't use at least 85% of their funds on the epidemic, then the companies, meaning johnson & johnson, amerisourcebergen, et cetera, the companies that settled, would be the ones to sort of hold the states accountable and say hey, you didn't meet this 85% number, we're going to take you to court, and we're going to reduce our future payments to you. cat: so far, more than $3 billion has gone out to state and local governments. the amount of money each state will receive is based on several factors, including the percentage they contribute to the country's total number of overdose deaths, the number of people with opioid use disorder, and the total population of the state. aneri: $50 billion is a lot of money. but you think about it being spread over 18 years and across 12 different companies, a lot of these pharmaceutical companies are bringing in profits in the tens of billions. you take johnson & johnson, for example, they're going to be

paying out $5 billion in the opioid settlement funds in total. but they last year made profits around $95 billion. so, a lot of people are looking at that and thinking, you know, this is not that much coming from the companies. cat: but it's money that many hope will make a difference. in north carolina, 85% of settlement funds will go directly to counties and the rest to the state's legislature. john shaw: to have this additional funding really is our first step towards getting our community back. cat: 43-year-old john shaw never imagined he'd get into politics, but, last year, he became a montgomery county commissioner, in large part because of what opioids have done to his community. john shaw: in the last five years, personally, i have known five people to pass away, in this past one in january, my best friend in life. and he struggled for quite some time. cat: shaw's best friend, chris

goodwin, loved music and his community. he died from a fentanyl overdose in his home earlier this year. while shaw hopes there will one day be enough funding to open a residential treatment facility, he's now focused on saving lives. john shaw: we haven't engaged this issue, not just here, but across this country. and it's seeped into every household and one way or another. and we have got to get proactive to provide recovery treatment options for those who want it. cat: that's why he pushed to spend montgomery county's first settlement payments, about $70,000 so far, on more narcan and hiring chrystal weatherly. john shaw: within 72 hours of an overdose, we want to have her engaging with that individual. after that -- after that experience, it's a great time to talk to somebody about possibly making different life choices. cat: but for those who lost loved ones to opioids, this settlement money remains largely out of reach. rita: without them, we're lost. and now, without anything, we're

lost. cat: rita russell has lost two children, her daughter alicia and her son whitley, to overdoses in the last four years. she and her son john sat down with me in fayetteville. rita: there's a lot of parents that lost their children. there's children that lost their mother and fathers. i hope, as a survivor, along with all other survivors, that we get some compensation. john russell: yes, it was people dying back there. cat: john, who is a community activist, says he was angry when he learned none of the state's money would be going to families like his. he's been traveling to settlement funding meetings across north carolina. john russell: a lot of times, i sit there in rooms, and i'm like, i wonder how many people here have a love -- have a lost one? how many individuals in this room with me have lost one? it's a different complexity when you got somebody that you really love die from it. you see things a lot differently. cat: russell says his sister,

who died in 2019, was outside a gas station when she overdosed. those around her weren't able to help. john russell: if she would have had narcan, it might have helped her. so, then i said, well, why don't we just normalize this and put it inside stores? cat: he's now hoping to apply for some of the state's settlement funding for a new nonprofit that aims to help people find narcan via an app he is developing. john russell: yes, this goes for the store. so, that way, if anybody comes in, and they have an overdose in the store, you got something to work with them with. if we're dealing with an epidemic, and you're calling for individuals to step up to the plate, there's a lot of individuals that will step up to the plate that are doing things. chrystal: it's this one right down here. cat: for chrystal weatherly, she knows her work is just beginning, that even the most difficult cases represent an opportunity. chrystal: i think it's critical to reach them, and that it doesn't matter to me how many times they have overdosed. there's always hope. and as long as they're still here, i see someone with potential.

i see somebody that can have a different life. cat: a glimmer of hope, finally, for a state that is now losing more than 4000 people to overdoses a year. for the "pbs newshour," i'm cat wise in montgomery county, north carolina. amna: and, tomorrow night, we will travel to ohio, where the debate around opioid settlement money has led to a legal battle. ♪ amna: one of the most popular country music hits of the summer is "try that in a small town." but the song has ignited controversy and faced backlash from fans, who say the lyrics encourage racism and violence. jeffrey brown has more for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: the song is by jason aldean, one of country music's biggest stars. the video includes footage of

violent protests and vandalism and was filmed in part at a courthouse in tennessee, which was the scene of race riots in 1946 and where a black man was lynched in 1927. critics, including singer sheryl crow and margo price, say the lyrics promote violence with verses that include "try that in a small town. see how far you make it down the road. around here, we take care of our own." ♪ jeffrey: following an outcry, the original video was slightly re-edited to remove some of its controversial images. small protests have taken place at several of aldean's concerts. but the song's popularity has only grown, jumping to number two on billboard's country music charts last week. joining me now to tell us more, marcus k. dowling. he's the country music reporter for the tennessean in nashville. thanks so much for joining us.

when this song was released, it wasn't that big a hit. it got more attention with the video. why do you think it has become such a cultural flash point? marcus: i'd say that there is a growing, or there has been a long existing conservative base in country music that is being positioned via this song to have a certain moment. and i feel like those fans are regular streamers now. they regularly engage with content online, as well as with physical purchases too. so they're willing to support a song like this because it plays right into their demographics and ideals. jeffrey: and tell us, what -- i mean, what are they hearing and what are they seeing? marcus: well, i think that

they're hearing this paeon to small town values and the thought that america is at a place where it's more divergent and diverse and dynamic than ever before. so, for a lot of people, it feels like maybe they're being lost in the larger conversation. and so something like this sort of stems the tide, for lack of a better term. jeffrey: jason aldean himself has been outspoken in his conservative views, certainly on social media. tell us a little bit more about him. and what has been his response to the outcry now? marcus: well, he's definitely been in support of his own song. and he's been willing to continue to play it live. and it plays with where he's been headed as an artist on social media for roughly the last five years. he and his wife have come out as notable conservatives, and they're willing to do that because they feel as though, with the upswell of the more liberal left in country music and related spaces, that there just isn't a space to be notably conservative, in that -- in that vein and to have that voice and be willing to stand up and articulate your own beliefs.

jeffrey: you know, as i said, there have been some small protests at concerts, but the song has only gained popularity. how is that being seen or read in the industry itself? is it support for the views? is it curiosity, a mix of both? marcus: i'd say that it's a mix of everything. it's not just a mix of both. this is a very broad issue. in country music currently, you have every type and stripe of political, social and musical background apparent in the genre in a manner that hasn't been seen in 50 years in the space. so that's everything from progressive house to hip-hop all the way through to country's western swing and folk and blues-driven roots. the whole -- the whole space is represented. and, in that sense, because the whole space is represented, like -- a song like this plays into

certain parts of that realm. and everybody being seen, they're willing to be supportive as well. jeffrey: well, i want to pick up on some of what you're seeing there. this becomes part of a much larger cultural and political divisions in country music and in our society at large. i cited some criticisms from some leading figures in nashville, but how strong are those divisions within country music itself? marcus: i'd say that, within country itself, you're looking at both country and americana across the board, to speak to this broader platform that i'm speaking of, in the sense that you have people who traditionally have played towards more conservative arms of the sociopolitical spectrum for years, others, artists like cody johnson and others who are western in their background and have historically always felt to be more libertarian, for lack of a better term, in their views. so they have been willing to support. as well, you have the margo

prices, the jason isbells, who are more americana-driven and more bent towards a sociopolitical left-leaning notion in their beliefs. jeffrey: you know, i mean, i know from some of my own reporting over the years that -- the criticisms that have hit the industry about how inclusive it is, how tolerant it is. you're saying there has been change? how much change have you seen even in recent years? marcus: well, i will say that one of the great bellwethers of this is that, in the past three to five years, there have been 5 african american males who had number one singles on country radio, as well within the americana ranks, there's artists like allison russell, who is a queer african american female. and there's been trans artists. there's a woman named mya byrne who recently played on stage at bridgestone arena. so, again, it's just -- it's a it's a wide-open space currently in these realms, where artists who were traditionally marginalized are experiencing

greater visibility. and when you see us a song like "try that in a small town," it notes the fact that, for as far left as country has leaned and americana has leaned, it's also leaning far right too. so, there's a -- there's a balance in the democratization in this space, for sure. jeffrey: ok, marcus k. dowling of the tennessean in nashville, thanks so much. marcus: absolutely. you're welcome. any time. ♪ geoff: after years of protest and advocacy, a new executive order from the biden administration seeks to bolster the military's ability to deal with sexual assault. but how far-reaching are these changes? and will they make a difference? laura barron-lopez conducted this conversation earlier today. laura: on friday, president biden signed an executive order codifying changes to the military justice system over how to handle sexual assault in the

ranks. those changes were mandated by congress last year, and were supposed to usher in significant reforms that survivors and their advocates have demanded for years. for that, we turn to retired lieutenant colonel rachel vanlandingham. she was an air force attorney and now teaches at southwestern law school. and army veteran lindsey knapp previously served as a victim advocate in the military and is a lawyer continuing her work against sexual assault. lindsey, i want to start with you. so, this executive order creates a team of special prosecutors that are going to be called the offices of the special trial counsel. it moves some authority over sexual assault, rape, and murder cases to this new team. how significant is this executive order by the president? lindsey: well, doesn't do what we hoped it would do. so, the analogy i like to use, it's like, i got my foot and ran over and i got shot in the

chest. and then, here, the military was kind enough to give me a cast for my leg, but completely ignored that i have been shot in the chest. so what we have to do is, we have to hope that the service member, after they have reported this assault, that it somehow makes it to the special trial counsel. but i represented a number of service members who, when they reported the sexual assault, command told them that it was consensual, so no law enforcement investigation occurred. and there would never have even been an opportunity for the case to even make it to a special trial counsel so they could action it. so, again, so, now we're talking about this chest wound that the military is just pretending doesn't exist. and then, once we do get it to the special trial counsel, then the commander has all of these other -- other things that they can do, right? they can decide whether or not witnesses can or cannot be made available. and that's really, really important, because that commander's decision is final. and so the commander can decide that this person is too mission-critical to testify, and we're not going to pull them out of wherever he or she is at in order to prosecute this very, very serious crime. now, there are millions of service members serving today, and there's no one human that is

irreplaceable, because, if they were, then they wouldn't be sending us essentially to die, right? as a veteran myself, that's what they trained me to do. they trained me to be replaceable. so, the idea that we can't make these witnesses available or that the commander has this authority to stop that is just wild to me. laura: rachel, how significant, how seismic of a change do you think this is for the military justice code? rachel: well, the actual changes that congress mandated at the end of 2021 to remove a specific number of crimes from the commander's purview, where they have been since before the founding of this country, to independent military lawyers, actually is the largest seismic shift since the creation of the uniform code of military justice in 1950. however, it's a half-measure that leaves in place a very broken system. it still leaves in place a commander-run system. command -- there are no standing courts, like in federal court,

or like downtown los angeles, where i am. they are pop-up courts that a commander -- even if a special trial counsel sends a charge, a sexual assault charge, for example, to trial, a commander is still the one convening in the court. a commander is still the one picking the jurors. and that's really something i want to talk about. congress mandated just last year that jury selection be randomized. this new implementing instruction is problematic, because it still leaves with commanders the authority to pick the universe of these jurors. and then they send a list of hand-selected jurors to a judge to -- quote, unquote -- "randomize." that's not randomization. that's superficial window dressing. laura: but, lindsey, under the executive order, will these independent lawyers within this office of the special trial counsel still be influenced at all by commanders? lindsey: in my view, absolutely, because what we see is that folks in the military, like these attorneys, they're going

to be rotating to different career assignments. so the idea that they're not going to be vying for maybe a special career assignment, maybe working for that commander in a special unit or in special operations or in a place that might be very favorable to them, we can't imagine that that attorney is not going to be thinking about that while they're trying to zealously prosecute these offenses. and that's a problem that we currently see now, right? so that these junior attorneys, and even some of these senior attorneys, they are still trying to get promoted. they're still going to be advising a commander. and they're hoping to maybe advise a commander at the two-, three-, or four-star level. all of those commanders that all of those levels have attorneys advising them, and those attorneys want those jobs. and so how zealously are they going to prosecute sexual assault cases, when they're thinking about that in the back of their mind, if that's a commander that they may be making an adverse ruling towards? so that's a huge concern for us. laura: rachel, on what more the white house could potentially do with the powers that congress forwarded to it, i should note

that senator kirsten gillibrand's office told us that they're very pleased with this executive order, that they are going to be monitoring the implementation closely, and that if they think that further reforms are needed, they are going to be really pushing for those. but do you think that the president has more authority, based on what congress gave him, that he didn't use here? rachel: yes, so for example, the president has the maneuver room for ordering pretrial confinement. right now, the new implementing regulations leave it vested in commanders. but the president can decide who qualifies as a commander. they could have a military magistrate, someone that's more independent and impartial from the chain of command, making the decisions regarding confinement, just like judges do in the federal civilian arena. and i did mention that i thought this was a seismic change that doesn't go far enough.

the reason that's a seismic change, because it's the first time in over 200 years in this country in which commanders have actually lost a little bit of power. it's a huge admission that the system doesn't work. but it's a half-step. it's a half-step because the commanders cannot be trusted to make a decision regarding whether murder should be prosecuted, sexual assault should be prosecuted or manslaughter, which are now going to independent military lawyers. why do commanders have authority over any offenses, offenses including capital offenses? and i would like to highlight what lindsey said and reiterate that commanders still own this system. what was the most disappointing component of the hundreds of pages that were released on friday is one line. that one line says, oh, by the way, commanders, despite the fact that the special trial counsel has exclusive authority over covered offenses, if you, any commander, feel that there will be a detrimental impact on national security or the prosecution of a war, you're to go vfr direct to the secretary concerned and state your concerns. there's already a formal process to give those concerns.

instead, this just seems like a tangible symbol that hey, by the way, everybody, this is a reminder, commanders are still in charge here. and it doesn't matter if a special trial counsel decided to prosecute. they can go around them. and that's actually in the regulation. that was not mandated by congress. and that clearly shows where the pentagon's head is. laura: and, lindsey, lastly, i do want to ask you. you represent as well sexual assault victims. and do they see any hope in this -- these actions that were taken by congress and the white house? lindsey: i mean, a lot of them are cautiously optimistic, but they're experiencing retaliation in real time, right? and so the military is reporting that 64% of all service members are being retaliated against after they report a sexual assault. and they're in that group. and so i'm not quite sure how a special trial counsel is going to help them from the retaliation that they're experiencing now to get their

report to law enforcement to have it adjudicated properly. laura: that's retired lieutenant colonel rachel vanlandingham and army veteran lindsey knapp. thank you so much for your time. rachel: thank you so much. lindsey: thanks, laura. geoff: just before air tonight, we received this statement from a white house official disagreeing with our guests' conclusions. it reads, "for cases of sexual assault, rape, or other covered offenses for which the special trial counsel has decided to proceed with prosecution, commanders no longer have any authority over that case, and determinations made by special trial counsel are binding. this pertains to all phases of a case, including adjudication, sentencing, and also pretrial confinement matters. commanders also do not have any control over producing witnesses in these cases." the white house official added that commanders have no ability to hold up a trial on the basis of national security concerns. the "newshour" will continue to report on this topic. ♪

geoff: are we alone in the universe? one former pentagon employee told congress last week that the truth is out there and it's being hidden from the american people. former intelligence officer david grusch says he worked on classified military programs and that ufo's are real. and the government, he says, has been withholding knowledge of nonhuman life on earth for nearly a century. meantime, nasa is set to release its own report on ufos in the next few weeks. here to help us separate fact from science fiction is journalist garrett graff, whose forthcoming book is "ufo: the inside story of the u.s. government's search for alien life here and out there." thanks for being with us, garrett. garrett: always a pleasure. geoff: one of the reasons why this congressional hearing resonated with so many people and one of the reasons why we're still talking about it is because that former air force intelligence officer told congress that the u.s. government has a longstanding

program that retrieves ufo's. and he also said that -- quote -- "nonhuman biologics have been found at crash sites." david: as i have stated publicly already in my newsnation interview, biologics came with some of these recoveries, yes. rep. mace: were they, i guess, human or nonhuman biologics? david: nonhuman. and that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program i talked to that are currently still on the program. geoff: so, based on your own reporting and research, what should we make of that assertion? and does nonhuman mean alien? garrett: i think, in this case, that's what david grusch intends it to mean. i think the challenge is, we don't have anyone saying that they have firsthand knowledge of these finds. in that sense, david grusch actually fits into a long tradition dating back into the 1970's and 1980's of these sorts of so-called ufo whistle-blowers

who come forward with what the ufo community calls foaf tales, not folk tales, but foaf tales, friend of a friend tales who say sort of, this is what i have heard. i don't have firsthand knowledge. geoff: well, to your point, i mean, for decades, the discussion around ufos had been sort of characterized by stereotypes of people in tinfoil hats. but, here, you have veteran pilots, former intelligence officials, people who, by all appearances, are credible. is what they're saying also credible and reliable? garrett: yes, and i think this is part of a very historic change that we have seen since 2017, when there were new revelations around the pentagon's engagement on what used to be called ufos that the government now calls uap's, unidentified anomalous phenomenon. and you now have serious people saying, as these two navy fighter pilots, naval aviators,

said in their hearing last week, there are technologies out there that we are encountering that we cannot explain and that are better than anything that we think our government possesses. geoff: when did the u.s. government start tracking ufo's, or uap's? and help us understand how this discussion has sort of fallen into public view, because, for a long time, lawmakers and officials weren't willing to talk about this. garrett: yes, the modern era of ufo's really started right after world war ii. 1947 was the beginning of what you might call the flying saucer era, in terms of people spotting things in the sky that they thought were extraterrestrial. and from the 1940's until the late 1960's, early 1970's, the u.s. government had a very active ufo sort of search and study program. but that was shut down.

and for about 50 years, the pentagon disavowed any knowledge that it had a meaningful ufo program, until around 2017, when you began to see this modern resurgence and this sort of new era where people are grappling with the reality, the demonstrated, clear reality, that there are technologies out there that our military is encountering that they cannot explain. geoff: well, i was going to ask you how most ufo encounters are explained. but i hear you say that there's a good portion of them that aren't. garrett: yes. and some of the government's renaming of this from ufo's to uap's, unidentified aerial phenomenon, anomalous phenomenon, is to try to capture the idea that some of this is -- are probably not objects, that some of this, it might be atmospheric, meteorological, astronomical phenomenon that we don't understand. but some chunk of it is certainly advanced aerial technologies being tested by

adversaries like china, russia, and iran. one of the things that the pentagon has said that its uap program has discovered is a heretofore unknown chinese transmedium drone. that is a chinese craft that comes out of the water and transitions to flight. geoff: the u.s. government has long been accused of hiding what it knows about ufo's, or uap's. in fact, at that congressional hearing, there was one republican member who said that the government's lack of transparency surrounding uap's amounts to a cover-up. that was the phrase that he used. based on your reporting, is there evidence of a coordinated government cover-up? garrett: well, the government certainly covers up some aspects of this, what its sensors can pick up. some chunk of this is surely our own advanced technologies being tested, stealth craft, et cetera. but i think, actually -- and

this is what i sort of tried to trace in the book -- is, over the last 75 years, a lot of this has been, i think, a cover-up of ignorance, not of knowledge, which is to say that this is the fact that the government is uncomfortable saying there's stuff out there and we don't know what it all is. geoff: as we wrap up our conversation, i want to try to answer the question we posited in the opening. so far as we know, only earth can sustain and host life. is there life on other planets? garrett: the last 25 years of science, the last decade of science leads to the almost inescapable conclusion that there is probably not just life out there, but probably intelligent life. the math is really on the side of extraterrestrial civilizations out there. the challenge is, is, any of it close enough that we will ever notice it? geoff: garrett graff, looking forward to reading your

forthcoming book on this topic. thanks so much for being with us. garrett: always a pleasure. ♪ amna: katie ledecky is already considered the greatest swimmer of this decade. this weekend, she made her claim for the greatest of all time, notching two new records of the 2023 world championships. in japan, ledecky surpassed michael phelps for the most individual titles in swimming history with 16. she also became the first swimmer ever to win six world titles at the same event. >> no one has won six world championships in the same event. dominating this event for these years. cruising away from the rest of

the field to do what no swimmer has ever done. the battle is on for the silver. amna: after the races, she was asked what this moment meant for her. >> i did not know i was going to achieve that until people started telling me. i am happy with that swim. i wanted to be a little better but i will take it and i'm really pleased without it went -- with how it went. amna: christine brenan is a sports columnist for usa today. she's covered ledecky for years. she joins us now. christine, always good to see you. in your usa today piece, you wrote, "even by her own ridiculously high standards, ledecky outdid herself." how did she do that? christine: absolutely, amna. well, first of all, you just heard one of the wonderful things about katie ledecky as a role model and american hero, and that is, she -- i think she's the most self-effacing superstar in american sports and maybe even worldwide, deflecting, saying she didn't even really -- wasn't even aware that she was about to break this

record. but katie ledecky, amna, is getting faster as she's getting older. she's 26. she will be 27 next year for the paris olympics. and she is swimming faster now than she did two years ago at the tokyo olympics. and she's really coming closer to the times that she swam in 2016 at the rio olympics, when she was the breakout star there. and so, now, i'm sure many people hear that and say, well, swimming, you remember the east germans. you -- of course, the issues of doping in the sport. katie is a stickler. she absolutely believes in clean sport and asks to be drug-tested. and one of my favorite anecdotes about katie on is that she literally will text the u.s. anti-doping agency or go on the app if she's going to the grocery store on the off chance that, during that 15 minutes, a tester might come for a random knock-on-the-door drug test. that is how serious katie is about clean sport and about proving that she is doing this

the right way. amna: christine, you mentioned she's getting faster. you noted in your piece some of those times. in the 800 meters, she shaved at least four seconds off her time from two years ago. in the 1500, she shaved her 10 seconds off her time. how is she doing that? what she doing differently? christine: the big change is that she has moved from her training base when she went to stanford and got her degree there. she's moved to the university of florida, and she is training with men. she has gone to the stable of male distance swimming in the united states. the best distance swimmers in the country, the men, are at the university of florida training for an olympic gold medalist, now coach anthony nesty. and so katie is competing against the boys. she's -- every day, she's going up against those men, and she is testing herself in a way that really i have never heard of a top female swimmer at this stage of her career has. she's doing it. and she is seeing the results. amna: i don't know if you can answer this briefly, but what do

you think about this debate about the greatest of all time? is she the goat? christine: certainly, michael phelps is right up there, and his olympic marks are probably not going to be matched. but katie, in terms of world championships, and in terms of longevity -- and we have seen swimmers at shorter distances, amna, go into their 30's. but for a woman now 26, to be 27 next year at the olympics to be dominating at the -- at the longer distances, the longest distances, 800 meters, 1500 meters, that's extraordinary. and so i put her right up there. amna: so i got to ask you, before we let you go, christina about the u.s. women's national soccer team. they're vying for another world cup title right now in australia and new zealand. the next game is either late tonight or early tomorrow, depending on how you look at time and your sleeping patterns, is 3:00 a.m. eastern. they take on portugal. what is at stake for this team? christine: everything. the u.s. team has never, ever gotten knocked out in the group stage. and this is what that is, is the final of the group stage games.

the u.s. team has won four of the eight world cups. they are the most dominant. they're the johnny appleseeds sowing the seeds for the sport and fighting for equal pay. everyone looks up to the u.s. team. so they have got to play better than they played in the first two matches. i think they will. portugal's ranked 21st in the world. the u.s. is ranked first in the world. but the pressure is on the united states. if they were to be defeated, if they bow out, my goodness, it would be a huge story and such a disappointment, especially as people think they're going to go all the way or at least be competing to get to, say, the semifinals. they have never, ever not gotten to the semifinals. they have never even finished fourth in a world cup. so that's the pressure that this younger team, with 14 new faces out of 23 players, that's the pressure that they're facing in a few hours. i think they will rise to the challenge, amna. but it's going to be very interesting to see if they can pull it off, because portugal's played well, and the u.s. so far

really hasn't found its footing. and i think we will see if they can do that this time. amna: they have got millions cheering for them while they do. christine brenan, sports columnist for usa today, always good to see you. thank you. christine: you too. thank you. geoff: i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire "newshour" team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well-planned. >> the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org.

supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is "pbs newshour" west whingn and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> you're watching pbs.

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," keith makes bridget pincho morunos, jack talks all about dried ilies, erin makes julia pa amb tomàquet, dan experiments with melting points, and bridget and julia make rosé sangria. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."