amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “newshour” tonight. a grand jury indicts president donald trump in a case involving the insurrection on january 6, and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. amna: national security council spokesman john kirby discusses white house efforts to change military protocols for investigating sexual assault. geoff: and why the debate over opioid settlement money meant to curb addiction has sparked a legal battle in ohio. >> it's such a patchwork. every state is doing things differently and there are very few requirements for states to publicly report how they use this money.

♪ announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service to help people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ announcer: 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. amna: welcome to the "newshour." an historic day in washington. a federal grand jury has indicted former president donald trump on four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the united states and obstruction of an official proceeding. geoff: it comes after a more than nine month investigation by special counsel jack smith of mr. trump's involvement in the january 6 insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

amna: this is the third time mr. trump has been indicted this year. he was first charged in march in a new york court with 34 counts related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign. geoff: his first federal indictment then came in june as part of the special counsel's probe. a florida grand jury charged him with 37 felonies related to classified material found in his home. amna: white house correspondent laura barron lopez has been following all of this and joins us here. as we mentioned, jack smith has been following two lines of investigation, the january 6 probe being one of them. remind us how we arrived at this moment. laura: in november of last year was when the special counsel jack smith was named by attorney general merrick garland as being the one who would oversee these probes, the one into the classified documents at mar-a-lago, and this, the investigation into the former president's efforts to subvert

the 2020 election, overturn the 2020 election, what he potentially did to obstruct proceedings in congress, and all the potential conspirators that he worked with to do that. so since then, the special counsel has interviewed a number of people that could potentially have information about what exactly the president did, what he knew, what he tried and how he tried to exert influence. some of those are his own vice president mike pence who we know testify to the grand jury. we also know brad raffensperger, the georgia secretary of state, testified and we know that recent reports show rudy giuliani, a former attorney to the president who was someone that we all heard repeatedly lie about the 2020 election, spoke for eight hours to federal investigators about this probe. he's not named in the indictment as far as we can tell so far.

it is a pretty big indictment. but he is someone who can very well face charges be it from the justice department or fulton county's district attorney which is another potential venue where criminal charges will come. geoff: and expected by the end of the month potentially. the former president has been posting real-time reaction to this case. in fact, we learned he received a target letter because he was the one who posted it on his truth social platform. what is he saying? laura: yes, it was a lengthy statement and it was from his campaign. i want to go to this one first. it is striking the language his campaign used in response to this news of the indictment. his campaign said that "the lawlessness of these persecutions of president trump and his supporters is

reminiscent of nazi germany in the 1930's, the former soviet union and other authoritarian dictatorial regimes." it's a stunning statement, especially as we've all spoken to historians about the historic nature of these investigations, the fact that a former president is being investigated, and i think all the historians we have spoken to would say that is not accurate. in fact, the fact that the u.s. is investigating, that the justice system is looking into this, is a sign that we are not living in a nazi, authoritarian regime. but the president also on truth social did post not too long ago , former president trump posted, he compared this entire investigation. he said jack smith is trying to interfere in the 2024 election cycle. it sounds familiar because that is what the former president has

been running on in his campaign since 2020. amna: laura barrow new -- laura baran lopez will stay with us. i will also go to mary mccord, director of georgetown university's institute for constitutional advocacy and jessica roth, a former federal prosecutor. welcome to you both. i know you were both making your way through the indictment, 45 pages. what stands out to you about what you have been able to review so far? >> it is the sweeping indictment we were anticipating, alleging a broad scheme to subvert the election and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. i am still making my way through it but the allegations are shocking. even though they were expected. this really was an attempted coup. it is a very somber day in our

country to be repeating this narrative account about what the former president attempted to do. geoff: mary mccord, the indictment accuses the former president of three conspiracies. one, defrauding the u.s.. two, obstructing an official government proceeding. thirdly, taking away civil rights. if you can walk us through the charges and help us out -- understand how the special counsel would arrive at the. >> all three are charged at conspiracies. there is a separate direct charge of obstructing an official proceeding, the congressional proceeding on january 6. the three conspiracies would be the result of jack smith spending many many months investigating the full scope of the scheme. the scheme had multiple prongs. frankly, those multiple prongs are similar to what we learned from the house select committee and its many hearings last

summer in the final report. this involved the scheme to propound full theories that the election had been stolen, to organize vaught -- fraudulent states electors to meet on the date of the electoral college meeting and send the ballots into the vice president to be counted, to pressure the justice department, to pressure state legislators to find the votes to declare trump the winner, to pressure vice president pence to reject the ballots from the swing states for joe biden and instead either accept the ballots for trump or send these electoral ballots back to the states to decide. and then finally, to sit without taking action during the many hours of the violent attack on the capitol. this first count, effort to defraud the united states and its functions, it is the function of the united states government to ensure the

peaceful transition of power. it is constitutionally required with chambers will meet took out the electoral ballots. the entire scheme undermined that. the obstruction of the official proceeding is targeted to the proceeding on january 6. it is the same charge many of the violent attackers have been charged with but here we are talking about the people doing the white color work to set up the obstruction of that counting of the electoral college votes. it was obstructed for at least six flowers. the last count, section 241 of title 18 of the u.s. code, is about a conspiracy not to count the ballots of the voters in this country, and you may recall among other things immediately after election day, donald trump said stop the counting. that entire conspiracy to not count the ballotsdeprive peoples

to vote and have their votes counted, that is the third conspiracy. amna: i want to note for our viewers following along, we do expect a statement shortly from special counsel jack smith and we will join that in progress. we see another official at the podium. our guests will continue to stay with us as well. mary mccord, if you can briefly, jessica mentioned what this day means in the history of the united states. have you had a moment to reflect on that briefly and read this indictment? >> i'm still trying to read the indictment. i've certainly skimmed through it and we have anticipated this for sometime. this is a situation where accountability is so critical. it is critical to our democracy, to the rule of law, and in the eyes of the world. other democracies have faltered

when they cannot actually have a peaceful transition of power. they falter when people in those countries are willing to commit violence against the government, sometimes at the direction of leaders who seek to stay in power like the former president donald trump. the fact that we can have accountability here, and this is just the beginning, we have a whole process to go through to give mr. trump his due process and get to trial. geoff: in about 30 seconds or so, help us understand the burden of proof the federal -- the special counsel had to meet? apologies in advance if i have to cut you off. >> the burden of proof is probable cause. that is the standard. it is far lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt standard that he would have to satisfy to convict mr. trump at trial. geoff: and pull back the curtain a bit more. help us understand what was

happening so far as you can tell us effaced -- based on your experience. what kind of quorum did they need and what was the ultimate vote they would need for the grand jury to decide and indictment was warranted? >> there are 23 members of the grand jury. you need 12 of them. a simple majority to vote that they think there is probable cause to indict the president for these crimes. it is a much lower standard than the standard that has to be met eventually at trial. what's been happening in the last couple days -- geoff: if i may, let's go straightaway to the special counsel, jack smith. >> good evening. today, and indictment was unsealed charging donald j. trump with conspiring to defraud the united states, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. the indictment was issued by a

grand jury of citizens here in the district of columbia and sets forth the crimes charged in detail. i encourage everyone to read it in full. the attack on our nation's capital on january 6, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of american democracy. it is described in the indictment, it is fueled by lies. lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the u.s. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election. the men and women of law enforcement who defended the u.s. capitol on january 6 are heroes. they are patriots and they are the very best of us. they did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. they put their lives on the line

to defend who we are as a country and as a people. they defended the very institutions and principles that define the united states. since the attack on our capitol, the department of justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. this case is brought consistent with that commitment and our investigation of other individuals continues. in this case, my office will seek a speedy trial that are evidence can be tested in court and judged by a jury of citizens. in the meantime, i must emphasize that the indictment is only an allegation and that the defendant must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. i would like to thank the members of the federal bureau of investigation who were working on this investigation with my office as well as the many

career prosecutors and law enforcement agents from around the country who have worked on previous january 6 investigations. these women and men are public servants of the highest order and it is a privilege to work alongside them. thank you. geoff: that was special counsel jack smith. he is not responding to shouted questions in the room. jessica roth, i cut you off, apologies again, as we went to listen to what special counsel had to say. how does all of that strike you? >> i anticipated we would be hearing from him after the indictment was unsealed, that is consistent with the practice in florida when the indictment was unsealed that we heard brief remarks from the special counsel. so here after the indictment was unsealed, we heard brief remarks

which i thought were appropriate, laying out the basic allegations here and how significant they are and how important essentially it was to bring charges to defend our democracy. it is appropriate he did not take questions, but i think it is important the american people here from the special counsel to acknowledge she's charges and speak about their significance and remind people that these are obligations in and indictment that are supported by probable cause, as determined by the grand jury, but that this defendant like all others is entitled to the presumption of innocence until he's proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. i'm also struck by his emphasis on the fact that the government would seek a speedy trial here as it has with respect to the other charges brought by special counsel. that will be a challenge given the crowded calendar mr. trump

is facing in his other cases but i expect we will be hearing more about the scheduling of this matter. on that point, i'm struck reading the indictment that it is only mr. trump named here, even though there are clearly other co-conspirators the government believes they have evidence to charge, they are not including him -- them in this initial indictment, most likely to make things streamlined, to make the chances of a trial before the general election more possible. amna: mary mccord, talk to us about the potential timeline ahead. jack smith did say that and he would like to seek a speedy trial. i need not point out to you that we are facing an election year ahead. is there anyway this trial unfolds before that election? >> i do think there is a way. i agree with jennifer that the reason the first indictment just

named donald trump is an effort to make sure you are not dealing with multiple codefendants and all of their attorneys. i can make a pretty well educated guess about who some of those other co-conspirators are and jack smith made clear the government is still continuing to investigate. i suspect we may see indictments down the pipe. fright now, i think a couple things are possible. alvin bragg, the district attorney in manhattan, did state over the weekend that if he needed his trial date to yield to a federal trial, he was willing to agree to that, so that can open up some space in the spring before the mar-a-lago trial scheduled in may. i believe mr. bragg's case was scheduled for trial in march and the mar-a-lago case is scheduled in may. it's also possible the mar-a-lago case will get bumped even later because of the addition of three new accounts and a new defendant with a

superseding indictment. i think we also have the potential of the georgia indictment, but i think this one will be prioritized in the timing and i think it is possible to get to trial before the election and preferably before the conventions. geoff: our white house correspondent laura barron-lopez is with us. picking up on the point that mary made on this investigation, continuing the special counsel investigation, even in light of these indictments, help us understand where can this investigation go? is the special counsel coordinating with prosecutors in arizona and michigan where we know there are active investigations into the elector scheme? laura: as far as we know, there has not necessarily been coordination between the special counsel and the investigation in fulton county, but we know that when could be coming soon. what was striking to me to this

point, exactly what the special counsel set, that the investigations of other individuals continued. in the indictment there's co-conspirator one, an attorney who is willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the defendants 2020 reelection campaign attorneys would not pursue. there's one about an attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit false electors. that sounds like john eastman, who was a conservative attorney advising the president throughout this entire period, and was actually talking to state legislatures about submitting electors. i'm also thinking about sidney powell, another attorney that was really working in the states to overturn different elections, as well as rudy giuliani. we know he could be a target in the doj investigation as well as

a target of george's fulton county investigation. amna: we heard the special counsel also say this was conspiracy fueled by lies. the election lie that mr. trump believed he actually won the 2020 election. covering the politics among this, he continues to hold that light. how do you think their latest indictment becomes part of the narrative for his election campaign? laura: the data is there. every time we've seen the president be indicted, his base rallies around him. republican voters rally around him. his poll numbers go up. he's leading by almost 58% among republicans in the primary electorate, he's leading ron desantis by double digits. so this is something he has used to his advantage when he's running right now for a second term in office.

it's also basically what his entire reelection campaign is about. him being prosecuted, persecuted and him saying they are coming after me also means they are coming after you and just using it in every single stump speech as he tries to argue that the doj is being recognized. amna: laura barron-lopez joining us on a historic day. also thank you to mary mccord, director of georgetown university's institute for constitutional advocacy and production and jessica rh, a former federal prosecutor. thank you to you both. ha geoff: in the other days up headlines there's fresh evidence , that the u.s. job market is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. the labor department reports job openings in june slipped to 9.6 million -- the lowest in two years.

and, the number of people who quit their jobs in june also dropped. that's what the federal reserve has been watching for -- as it tries to cool inflation. dozens of congressional democrats are petitioning to end expedited screening of asylum-seekers in border patrol custody. 13 senators and 53 house members said today that asylum candidates are not getting access to legal counsel, as the biden administration said they would. in a letter, the lawmakers said: "affording people fair adjudication is particularly key for individuals fleeing life-threatening harm or torture." france, italy, and spain moved today to start evacuating their citizens from niger after last week's military coup. hundreds of european nationals lined up outside the capital's main airport and waited for hours. u.s. officials said they're not yet planning to evacuate americans. meantime, the prime minister in niger's ousted government warned

the country's military that islamist rebels now have an opening. >> it's a situation that could encourage jihadists because if the armed forces are preoccupied with issues other than ensuring the country's security, obviously you can understand that this will allow the jihadists to be able to make advances on the ground. geoff: the prime minister called for outside powers to overthrow the military regime. but neighboring burkina faso and mali joined guinea in declaring their support for the coup. they rejected any outside attempt to intervene. north korea has responded to inquiries about travis king, the u.s. soldier who'd been facing military discipline when he escaped into north korea last month. a pentagon spokesman says pyongyang communicated with the united nations command, but he offered no details. king was in civilian clothes when he joined a tour group, then dashed across the demilitarized zone. he hasn't been seen since. in the russia and ukraine war, a drone attacked a skyscraper in central moscow for the second

time in 48 hours. the building houses russian government militaries. ukraine did not say any involvement but the moscow forces that it's time to understand the battle. >> the situation is like this. they attack us, we attack them. is likely they succeed and we succeed somewhere. i am looking towards the negotiation stage. it's necessary to look for points of settlement because so far, there's been only escalation for a long time. geoff: in ukraine, russian attack drones hit kharkiv overnight, partially destroying an empty college dormitory. russian forces also shelled the port city of cukherson. two prominent supporters of former president donald trump have been accused of accessing and tempering voting machines. when is a lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for state

attorney general last year. the men were arraigned on criminal charges. new jersey was shaken today by the sudden death of democratic lieutenant governor sheila oliver. she had been hospitalized yesterday with an undisclosed ailment. in 2017, oliver became the first black woman elected to statewide office as governor phil murphy's running mate. they were reelected in 2021. oliver had been serving as acting governor this week while murphy was out of town. she was 71 years old. descendants of henrietta lacks have reached a settlement involving decades of medical research using her cells without compensation. the family's lawyer announced a settlement today with fisher scientific. doctors took tissue from her cervical cancer in 1951. it was the first human cell line to be cloned and aided countless innovations. the story became a basis for a book and a movie. on wall street, the ongoing rally paused after a mixed set of earnings reports.

the dow jones gained 71 points to close at 35,630 but the nasdaq fell 62 point the s&p 500 lost 12. at the women's world cup, the u.s. is moving onto the round of 16 but just barely. the americans played to a scoreless draw with portable today in a game the defending champions had been expected to win. it's not yet certain which team the u.s. women will play next. still to come, why the debate over opioid settlement money meant to curb addiction has sparked a legal battle in ohio. and the head of the world food program on how the end of the ukraine green deal increases the risk of starvation. announcer: 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: last night on this program, we heard from two attorneys with expertise in the military justice system about new changes biden administration

has made to how the department of defense deals with sexual abuse and harassment in the ranks. tonight, we hear from the white house in response. here again is laura barron-lopez. laura: an executive order signed by president biden last week makes the largest changes to the justice system since its creation in the 1950's. it transfers authority over certain offenses from commanders to a new team of independent prosecutors called the special trial counsel. those prosectors -- not commanders -- will now decide whether to bring charges in cases of sexual assault, rape, murder and other offenses. some military legal experts newshour spoke to have called the changes a movement in the right direction but see room for improvement. to discuss this new action by the president, we're joined by retired navy admiral john kirby, spokesman for the white house national security council. admiral kirby, thank you for joining us. you have called this new

executive order in these changes a monumental step. why is that? >> it is historic quite frankly. this is the most significant change since the uniformed code of military justice was put in place in and to take a whole set 1950. of covered crimes, you mentioned a few of them sexual assault, , rape, murder, as well as others, and remove them from the commanding officer from the chain of command and put them under special trial counsel that , is just never been done before. so it is a monumental step. it's historic. and we certainly believe that it will help us deal better with these sorts of crimes to proper, more properly investigate them, more properly prosecute them. and just as critically, in the case of sexual assault, specifically help restore some confidence in the judicial system by members of the military, particularly women service members. laura: we spoke to a number of former military lawyers who

pointed out three areas they found concerning language of the executive order in the annexes that they say still leave some authority under commanders. the executive order states that commanders will select to the jury pool and provide that to the judge, which is then randomly selected. and it also has specific language on pretrial confinement authority. it states, "who may direct release from confinement. any commander of a confining may direct release from pretrial confinement." the language seems to still leave authority with commanders. what is your response? >> let me take each in turn if i might on the jury selection. it is written into law by statute that the commander selects the members of a court-martial, a panel. that cannot be solved by an executive order because it is law. so there would have to be

legislation to change that. on how the process will work commanders will certainly have , the ability to to help provide context on the availability of members to serve, but by the randomization that has been added into this, they don't they won't give veto authority. they won't get to they won't get to to preselect members in that regard because of this randomization factor that's been added into the eo, which will give the system a lot more flexibility. and then on a pretrial confinement question, and it's very specifically designed this eo to make it clear that while yes, commanders can assign pretrial confinement, they they have that authority, they already had it before that, and that they will have the ability, if for operational readiness concerns or other concerns to to want to remove a member from pretrial confinement, that the special trial counsel can override that decision by a commanding officer and demand, if there is justification for

it, demand that the accused stay in pretrial confinement. so the special trial counsel can can come can come in over the top of a commander and demand that an accused stay in pretrial confinement. again, they have to be able to justify it in terms of the case, like in terms of maybe the intimidation of witnesses, but there is an override capability built into this eo. laura: that's interesting because we didn't see the specific override language, but is there override language for this other part of the executive order that i want to ask you about? it's on another potential area where commanders have some authority still on national security matters. it says, "if a commander believes that the trial would be detrimental to the prosecution of war or harmful to national security, the matter shall be forwarded to the secretary concerned for action so they

," could forward it on to the secretary and essentially potentially halt the trial. >> i mean, the irony here with this language in the way it's fresh language is it's actually making it more restrictive for commanders. it's actually making it harder for them to stop a prosecution or an investigation going forward, because now they have to make a formal justification based on national security needs. look, we're the united states military and the military fights wars. the military defends the country. so obviously, we want to hear a commander out if he has national security concerns. but the bar is pretty high. and before there was no stipulation that, a, he had to claim national security, he or she had to claim national security matters as a reason for for involving itself in slowing down or curtailing or stopping an investigation or prosecution. and, b, that now that commander has to go has to petition the service secretary, the civilian secretary of the army or air force or or navy in order to make that case. so the provision actually, as written, makes it more restrictive and places an additional burden on commanders

that was not there before. laura: does the president think that more offenses, more criminal offenses should be moved from under the commander's chain of command over to this new special trial counsel? i know that there's many more offenses than the ones that we have talked about, including kidnaping, including retaliation, including stalking that have been moved over to the special trial counsel, but not all of them. so do you does the president think that ultimately congress should change the law so that way all of the offenses could be moved over to independent prosecutors? >> the president believes it's a it's really important to focus on these covered crimes. and you mentioned a few others, and i thank you for that, because they are so complicated and because they are often outside the realm of what a normal commander's experience would lend him or her in their ability to to investigate and to prosecute. and we really want to focus on executing to this executive order and implementing that and look, as we go through this

process, laura, if we learn some things and we might and we might as we execute, implement this, if we learn some things that that caused us to change our minds or to find new amendments or to look at other articles that might apply we're certainly , going to stay open minded to that. but we really chose a set of covered crimes that truly are difficult for the normal commander to be able to investigate, adjudicating and prosecute because they're so complex. that's what that's what we're really going to put our focus on, on these covered crimes for right now. laura: finally, admiral, what has the response been like that the white house has heard from sexual assault survivors since the president signed this executive order? >> we are hearing some very positive feedback from from victims and from victims advocates. i'm glad you asked that question because we're focusing right now on the accountability measures. that is very important. covering these crimes outside the chain of command, we believe, again, is historic and will have a huge effect on our ability to hold properly accountable those who commit

these crimes. amna: -- laura: admiral john kirby of the white house's national security council, thank you so much for your time and for answering questions. >> my pleasure, thank you. amna: the makers and distributors of opioid painkillers have begun to pay out more than $50 billion to states and local governments across the nation. last night we reported on how north carolina is starting to spend its share of the payments. tonight we travel to ohio a , state that has one of the highest overdose death rates in the nation. but, as special correspondent cat wise and producer mike fritz report, the money has led to both a legal battle and questions about who is being left out of the process. that is part of our ongoing series, america addicted. reporter: three times a week , jackie lewis goes where no

mother wants to go, to her son's grave in jerome, ohio. >> i always believed in him, even on the worst days. reporter: shaun lewis was 34 years old when he passed away last fall from a fentanyl overdose in jackie's columbus home. >> -- reporter: today, jackie has come to bring new pictures including of shaun's 7-year-old daughter, ava, and to clean the grave of a son she says was her best friend. >> he was always a prankster. he was always a risk taker. he had a very kind, loving heart. and he was very smart, he had ambitions when he was young. he wanted to be a scientist. reporter: but jackie says shaun's childhood wasn't easy. he struggled with pain from scoliosis and at 14, he was diagnosed with depression. >> in middle school, the doctor put him on four different pain

medications. which at the time i didn't know were addictive. he didn't know. reporter: a 20-year battle with opioids followed, until october 19th of last year when shaun was found unresponsive in his room. >> i got down on my knees and he rolled over, and i heard air come out. it was just the last, the last breath coming out of him. reporter: jackie lewis is now raising her granddaughter, ava. she says ava's mother also died of a likely overdose three years ago. jackie's now sharing her family's story these days with anyone who'll listen. >> unfortunately, sean died at a very young age of 34. reporter: that includes the members of this board known as , the one ohio recovery foundation. about once a month, this panel of state and local government leaders, addiction treatment experts and others gather in columbus. their task?

to distribute 55% of ohio's opioid settlement funds, expected to be about $2 billion over the next 18 years. the rest will go directly to the state and local governments. the foundation plans to start getting money out the door next year. >> ohio will have the ability to preserve and deploy the resources to save lives in ways we never have in the past. reporter: this money comes at a critical moment for ohio a state , that's losing about five thousand people a year to drug overdoses. >> it's torn up families all over the state of ohio. we have communities that have been devastated. reporter: ohio's governor mike dewine was one of the first in the nation to sue companies that made and distributed opioids he . he pushed for the creation of the one ohio recovery foundation and appointed five of the 29 volunteer members who represent regions across the state.

he says it was designed as a private nonprofit, largely because of what happened to hundreds of billions of dollars, won from tobacco settlements during the 1990's. that money has mostly been used by state legislatures across the country on programs unrelated to the prevention of smoking. >> so by setting up a nonprofit with the specific goal to deal with these problems, we are assured that settlement money is in fact going to go toward this problem. >> so the council is the board of the foundation. reporter: aneri pattani of kff health news has been tracking how states across the country are spending their opioid settlement funds. >> it's such a patchwork. every state is doing things differently. there are very few requirements for states to publicly report how they use this money. reporter: ohio is one of two states along with west virginia , that created new private foundations to oversee the bulk of their settlement money. it's an approach that pattani says has raised concerns about whether the public will be able to participate in the process.

>> so in ohio, when the foundation started meeting and operating, it said we're a private nonprofit, we'll choose to be public with our meetings and allow people to attend. but we don't have to, and we don't have to follow public records laws and we don't have to follow open meetings laws, things that government boards do have to do. >> so now you essentially have government officials, spending government money and claiming they can do it all in secret because they have a private foundation. reporter: for 27 years, dennis cauchon was a journalist for usa today. today, he runs the non-profit harm reduction ohio, a drug policy reform group. >> this is drug overdose, intentional drug poisoning. i track it every day. reporter: last year he said he was denied entry to the board's first meeting. and when his request for records about how the board was operating went unanswered, he filed a lawsuit, citing language

in the board's founding document that reads, "meetings shall be open and documents shall be public to the same extent they would be if the foundation was a public entity." they're covered by transparency laws and they need to follow them. reporter: in may, ohio's supreme court agreed, ruling unanimously that the foundation was required to follow public records laws and was performing a historically governmental function the disbursement of public money. last month however, governor dewine signed budget legislation that states the foundation is not a state agency exempting , them from public records and open meeting laws going forward. but dewine pushes back on the idea the board isn't operating transparently. >> every single meeting that one ohio has is open to the public. it's up on the internet. anybody can watch it. they're accountable. and everybody can find out how the decisions not only how the decisions are being made, but actually how that money is spent.

>> but why not treat the foundation as a public entity? what would be the harm of that? >> well, because it's not a public entity. if it is a public entity, you could have candidly, a future legislature that decided, well, we're going to take this money and spend it on something else. >> people have lost loved one. reporter: while his lawsuit plays out in court, cauchon says the board is largely missing two crucial perspectives. >> there is nobody on that 29 member state board who's lost a loved one to overdose. that's unacceptable. 21% of opioid overdose deaths in ohio are black ohioans. i think they're adding one other member. but until now, only one member of the 29 member board is black . >> we don't pick our board members. reporter: larry kidd is an ohio business owner and chair of the foundation. >> the regions pick their board members, that's the majority of the board, and they're also

picked by the governor and the attorney general and the legislature. so while the diversity may not reflect the population, we're cognizant of that. we do the very best we can to make sure that at least their voices are heard. reporter: kidd also says several members of the board have been personally impacted by addiction. >> whether they have gone through recovery issues or have family members that have, it is not necessarily an issue people want to make public. i personally have had issues within my own family that people are not familiar with. that's one of the reasons i'm so passionate about the cause. reporter: but some on the front lines have felt left out of the process. >> people who use drugs are not being included at all. reporter: trish perry is a county coordinator for 'ohio can' a nonprofit started by family members of individuals battling addiction. every saturday, they hand out food, clothing, and the overdose reversal drug narcan in newark, ohio.

>> fentanyl testing strips. reporter: but perry says her organization has so far encountered stigma and hurdles when applying for funding from opioid settlement money that's earmarked for local governments. >> if you don't supply people with clean use supplies and fentanyl testing strips, they die. and if they die, they never get to be a productive citizen the in the community. reporter: it's a message jackie lewis hopes state leaders are hearing. >> now i have to live every day just trying to figure out how to go on without him. reporter: she has met twice with members of the ohio recovery one foundation and is pushing for families like hers to be reimbursed for funeral expenses and for kids like granddaughter, ava to also be compensated. >> grandparents who were thrust into the role of raising grandchildren now, we don't know how long we'll be around in their lives. but these little children are the victims in this and they

need to have a chance. reporter: a chance for a different life admitted -- admitted a still raging epidemic. for the pbs “newshour” im cat -wise, in columbus, ohio. ♪ amna: the world has never been wealthier or more advanced technologically, yet still hunger still stalks tens of millions globally. 122 million more people now face hunger than in 2019. now, nearly 20% of the 1.4 billion people across africa face hunger. earlier today, i spoke with the executive director of the un's world food programme, cindy mccain. she warns the crisis could worsen without global action. reporter: world food program

director cindy mccain, welcome to the "newshour." you were joining us from south sudan visiting the border region between chad and sudan were hunger, as you said before is being driven by both conflict and the climate crisis. give us a sense of what you saw on the ground. >> south sudan right now is very lush looking because it has had so much rain, but what we are really seeing is a lot of impact from flooding. that is climate change for you right now. there are various regions that have been very hit hard. some of the dykstra are blown out. the problem is because of flooding for so many years, people have had to leave their homes. you see a vast surface from the air and there are empty farm plots. it has disrupted life and consequently there are people very much in need of food and

they are very hungry. amna: talking about the scale of need you have witnessed, what are we talking about? >> it is enormous. these people for the most part are on the brink of starvation. of course conflict, you add conflict which is part of the refugees coming over the border fleeing conflict in the north and conflict that has already existed here, it complicates everything. the people, for most of their lives, many of them have been running from one place to another to escape it. there is a lot of people but are either in refugee camps or just on their own out in the bush trying to survive on whatever they can find. there just isn't any food. amna: your work, we think about the world food program and we think about food aid and cash assistance and so on. you have focused a lot on food resilience. what does that mean? what are some examples on the ground?

>> when you talk about emergency food, that is for people over the border that have nothing to exist on, that our six months in and still have nothing exist on, that's emergency. but that is not the solution. the solution is resilience, the ability to give people tools to begin to farm and farm their own land so they not only can feed themselves, but feet their communities. that way there is an economic portion to this. it is the only way we will solve the problem of hunger, billions and making sure people can feed themselves. amna: in terms of meeting the emergency need, this past weekend and official from the world food program set at least 38 of the 86 countries you operate in, you already had for cut aid or may soon have two cut aid. you had to cut their rations. what does that look like day today the ground for these folks? >> it is heart wrenching.

i have seen it three or four times here and many times in other countries. people being told that you only have three weeks left or you are on your six month mark and we cannot supply food anymore. it is tragic because they don't have any other place to go. but we don't have a choice at this point because we don't have enough money. there are so many crazies going on so we are spread very thin. literally here in sudan we are $400 million short to keep things at an even keel here. it's a lot of money. amna: why do you believe you've seen a drop in donations? > i think there's a lot of reasons. i think there's a little donor fatigue. we were pushing pushing, pushing for ukraine, the earthquake of course. people are stretched thin and a little tired. it is up to us to reinvigorate

the discussion and make sure people understand the importance and where it sits and how this could be disruptive to the world if we don't help. amna: speaking of ukraine, as you know, there was a green deal in place whereby russian president vladimir putin was allowing for the export of crucial grain from ukraine to the black sea. that has fallen apart. how will that impact your work? >> a great deal because some of that grain was coming to africa. we will have to source it another way. we can do that and we are to a degree but i'm disappointed. you are only hurting the most needy people in the world by doing this. it's a real shame that somehow we have to once again tell people who can't feed themselves that we don't have enough because the grain isn't there. that drives up starvation and malnutrition. it drives up illness, disease,

everything else that comes around with a weak body. i'm just very disappointed in the whole thing and i'm hoping clearer heads prevail and we can once again put the deal back together. amna: there was a senior administration official for the biden administration yesterday talking to reporters about the agenda for the un security council, and that person said food security is consistently a top priority. do you see that? do you see those words matching their actions? >> yes, i do believe that is happening. but that is partially because wf p and other organizations have literally rung the alarm bells we all went forward. . to our entities and said you have to put this on the table front and center. so we all started doing that just prior and just before ukraine broke. and then afterwards, it is front and center everywhere. amna: some of the same conflicts

in the same nations can dominate global headlines. you've been out on the road up the front lines of wfp's work. where else should we be looking that we are not? >> i was in chad, maybe 10 days ago on the border. we've also been to somalia and other regional places around. what we are seeing is a continued hesitancy on the part of many countries to get involved and be involved more than they are. i think the hesitancy is more because of instability. wfp is always first in and we stay and we are not leaving these countries at all. but we do need funding and we need extra help. amna: the executive director of the world food program, cindy mccain, joining us from south sudan. thank you for your help. >> thank you for having me>>.

geoff: an update to our lead story tonight. former president donald trump has been ordered to appear in court on thursday after being indicted for his alleged role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. amna: a grand jury has indicted mr. trump on 4 counts including conspiracy to defraud the united states and obstruction of an official proceeding. you can stay up to date on the latest developments and read the full indictment online at pbs.org/newshour. and that is the "newshour" for tonight. i mom know nevada's. -- i amna nawaz. am and i'm goeff bennett. announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well planned.

♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these 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. ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

♪ hello, everyone, welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. mixed messages. the biden administration announces a massive military package for taiwan, even as it attempts to reset diplomatic relations with china. i ask representative, the top ranking committee , if the u.s. is headed down a dangerous path. then, russia with another strike on civilians, after ukraine's drone attack on moscow. president volodymyr zelenskyy says every inch matters, as ukraine doubles down on busting through russia's defenses. also ahead -- >> global warming has ended the era of global boiling has arrived. >> with july set to close out

the