♪ geoff: leaving. i am geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the "newshour" tonight, former president trump and 18 others are indicted in georgia for attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. president biden takes his economic message on the road as questions linger about his re-election campaign. and, life in afghanistan remains dire amid firm taliban control and major crises two years after the fall of the american-backed government. >> we are jobless, possibly we might flee, because there is no work, no income for me in this country. my children are hungry.

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♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and i contributions to your pbs patient from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ geoff: good evening and welcome to "the newshour." for the fourth time this year, former president donald trump is "defendant donald trump." late yesterday, a grand jury in georgia charged mr. trump and 18 others in a far-reaching racketeering case related to efforts to overturn the 20 election results. lisa desjardins starts our coverage. lisa: today on social media, donald trump lashing out,

calling the latest indictment a "witch hunt" and promising to release his own report alleging election fraud next week. >> they are trying to take donald trump down. lisa: while his republican allies rally to his defense. >> this is disgraceful and it is wrong and it is an abuse of power by angry democrats who have decided the rule of law doesn't matter to them anymore. lisa: house speaker kevin mccarthy called the charges a "desperate sham," saying the "radical da in georgia is following biden's lead." the latest charges were voted on by a grand jury in fulton county, georgia late yesterday , and announced by district attorney fani willis, who led the two-and-a-half year investigation into trump and the 2020 election. >> the indictment alleges that rather than abide by georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn georgia's presidential election result. lisa: the georgia indictment

charges trump and 18 others with a combined 41 counts in a wide-ranging case. among them violation of the , georgia racketeer influenced and corrupt organization or rico act, often used to prosecute organized crime. soliciting a violation of oath by a public officer. filing false documents, and making false statements. willis launched the investigation in february 2021, a few weeks after audio tape revealed trump knew he was short of votes in the state but asked georgia's secretary of state to change the outcome anyway. >> all i want to do is this, i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. lisa: the allegations expanded to a multipronged criminal conspiracy, including false claims of election fraud, a scheme to appoint fake electors, tampering with voting machines and harassment of election workers.

alongside trump, the indictment charges several co-defendants from his inner circle -- lawyers rudy giuliani, sidney powell, and john eastman, his former chief of staff mark meadows, former doj official jeffrey clark, and other georgia republican officials. this is the fourth indictment of the former president this year. bringing the number of felony charges against him to 91. the georgia case into election interference overlaps with federal charges brought by special counsel jack smith earlier this month. but the state charges are seen by legal experts as significant on their own. unlike the d.o.j. case, trump could not pardon himself or attempt to shut down the georgia investigation if he is reelected president next year. >> the grand jury issued arrest warrants for those who are charged. lisa: in the meantime, all defendants are to surrender by the end of next week for processing and mugshots, including one to be taken of trump. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins.

geoff: and for more on the indictment and what comes next, we are joined now by stephen fowler, who covers politics for georgia public broadcasting. and gwen keyes fleming, who previously served as district attorney in dekalb county, georgia. thank you both for being with us. gwen, this sweeping indictment captures the breathtaking number and his associates allegedly tried to overturn the election results. and as we heard in lisa's reporting, they are charged with engaging with a criminal enterprise under a georgia racketeering law. this rico law was initially designed to prosecute mob bosses. help us understand why a rico charge is an appropriate charge in this case. guest: certainly. so, a georgia rico statute is one of the greatest tools that a prosecutor has to be able to tell the whole story when you have a long list of defendants, each of whom were operating in concert towards some sort of common goal, whether it's maintaining or obtaining a part of an enterprise.

and so, in this case, what the d.a. has done is identified several predicate acts. those are acts or crimes that are listed in the rico statute, such as things like false statements, false swearing, influencing witnesses, solicitation to commit forgery. she only needs to successfully prosecute two of them, but she has listed several and then she has added several overt acts that are not crimes, that are not criminal, but describe the ways in which the various defendants further the conspiracy. and so by doing so, these 161 unlisted or listed acts, it enables her to tell the whole story of what happened so that a jury can understand it. geoff:. stephen fowler, one of the lesser known aspects of th alleged conspiracy is the breach

of a voting system in rural coffee county, georgia that took place well after the 2020 election. and we should say, these images were taken from surveillance video on january 7 2021, showing a woman who was posing as a fake elector escorting a team of trump operatives to the county elections office. the same day that voting system had been breached. tell us more about what transpired. guest: right. so coffee county, georgia is one , of 159 counties in georgia, and it's a reliably republican county. so the results were not in question there. but the woman you mentioned kathy latham, who was the , republican county chairwoman down there and also one of georgia's alternate electors who falsely claimed that they were an official elector, was working with the election supervisor to bring down a team of people to access voting data and machines and equipment, because they felt that there was evidence in there that the machines were not counting things accurately.

that they were manipulated, and they were somehow taking votes away from donald trump and giving them to joe biden. none of that is true. but what happened, and what we see in this indictment is this sweeping act was part of the larger scheme to keep trump in office, and the data breach violated several parts of georgia's computer trespass laws , and got the people that actually copied the data and were involved in accessing that data as well. geoff: how do the special counsel case and this georgia case intersect, and potentially conflict, especially given that some of the 18 co-defendants overlap with the unindicted co-conspirators in the jack smith case? guest: actually there is no conflict. there were that our judicial system is set up, you have various federal charges, each that have specific elements of the crimes that need to be charged. and then you have state charges,

also with their own separate elements. so, where there may be some similarity can individuals named, the burdens of proof and the requirement of each element of the crimes listed under the state stack eight and the federal statutes are very different. so, very often you may see cases where a particular stream of conduct could qualify for a federal charge, but it also qualifies for the state charge. and that is exactly what you see here. and the district attorney was elected by the citizens of the residents of fulton county to protect them. so she is going forward with the authority that she has under the georgia laws. geoff: the dea said last night that she intends to try all 19 -- the da said last night that she intends to try all 19 defendants together, and she hopes to do it within six months. is that even possible, given that she will have to deal with potentially 19 individual defense attorneys? guest: it is early in the

process to give that honest assessment. let's see if some of the defendants listed may decide, looking at evidence either after discovery or after various rulings on motions, that they do not want to go to trial. they may decide that it is more advantageous to take a plea deal. there may be some rulings that cut against the district attorney, such that perhaps some counts are lost and some defendants are lost. so it is really early to tell whether all 19 will be sitting at a table. but it is also possible. remember, this is a district attorney who has considerable experience handling complex, motor defendant rico cases. so where there is a real, there is a way. i am sure that judge along with the sheriff will help to find a suitable arena to be able to do whatever needs to be done with the defendants that are remaining at the time of the trial is ready to go.

geoff: stephon georgia is a , problem for donald trump legally and you could argue politically too. brian kemp, the popular republican governor there who already defeated a trump backed primary challenger, is calling out donald trump's election lies. here's what he tweeted today. "the 2020 election in georgia was not stolen. for nearly three years now anyone with evidence of fraud , has failed to come forward under oath and prove anything in a court of law. our elections in georgia are secure, accessible and fair and will continue to be as long as i am governor. the future of our country is at stake in 2024, and that must be our focus." republicans, as you well know, they lost the georgia senate runoff. they lost the state in the last presidential election. donald trump, if he's the republican nominee, he's going to need georgia to win back the white house. how steep a challenge is that politically, given georgia politics? guest: well, the main problem right now is that donald trump is facg an uphill battle both in the courts, and in the court of public opinion in georgia because, as you mentioned, he narrowly lost the state in 2020. he proposed a bunch of primary challengers against popular

republicans in georgia that got blown out of the water, and then in the key senate race with raphael running against herschel walker, the trump-backed opponent, warnock won, and democrats maintained control of the senate. so there is already a track record of georgia voters willing to move on from donald trump. and brian kemp is the case in point. he has been beating the drum. anybody who focuses on 2020 instead of 2024 is not going to have a good time. so, with this trial, you have the potential for not just in georgia, other states where trump and his allies tried to overturn the election, looking at this televised trial of rehashing what happened when trump tried to overturn the election, heading into the 2024 election. you might see these other swing states not buying what trump is selling, based on a little bit of ptsd from the last election. geoff: i wanna ask you about a late breaking development here

where mark meadows, the former white house chief of staff, has filed a request to move this case to federal court. what are the merits of that request as you see it? guest: as i understand it, that is an argument where you have a former federal official who is attempting to say that their actions were done in accordance with their federal job or their federal world. we were not surprised to see that that motion was filed. we wait to see what it the federal judge decides. but having looked at the issue very closely, there are no issues of immunity arguably. there also is sufficient evidence that these are purely state crimes involving actions that would have been outside that color of law or color of federal responsibility and therefore the case should stay in fulton state court. geoff: gwen keyes fleming and stephen fowler, thank you both for your time this evening. guest: thank you. guest: thank you. ♪

>> i am vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. the property manager at former president trump's mar-a-lago estate pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges in the classified documents case. carlos de oliveira arrived at a federal court in fort pierce, florida. the special counsel has accused him and mr. trump of conspiring to hide security footage from investigators. the confirmed death toll from the wildfires in maui has now growing to 99. so far, crews have searched about a quarter of the disaster zone in lahaina. officials fear more bodies are among the untouched piles of ash. meantime, long lines of cars formed outside lahaina, as residents tried to return home. many, contemplating their uncertain futures. >> it's our home.

we've lived here for 30 years. our kids were born here. we just don't know the next steps. >> we are just camping out of here, just waiting for them to give us the ok to go back in, and help clean up, just do whatever we can. vanessa: president biden said he plans to travel to hawai'i soon to survey the maui recovery efforts. and while in milwaukee today, the president assured the island 's residence, that more help is on the way. pres. biden: we are working with the state to make sure survivors that have lost their homes have a place to call home until we can rebuild. we're also surging federal personnel to the state to help the brave firefighters and first responders, many of whom lost their own homes, their properties, while they're out busting their neck to save other people. vanessa: russian missiles battered communities across

ukraine today, killing civilians and damaging infrastructure. ukrainian forces said they intercepted 16 of the 28 missiles. one of the hardest hit areas was the western region of lviv. local authorities said nearly 120 residential buildings were damaged, along with a kindergarten playground. >> it was very scary. when we crouched, nine-hole life passed in front of my eyes in one moment. i thank god that we are alive because the rocket fell just behind the garage. vanessa: meanwhile, russian authorities are investigating a massive explosion at a gas station overnight that killed 35 people. it happened after a fire started in a car repair shop in the southern dagestan region. emergency crews responded quickly to fight the blazes. the regional governor arrived on the scene to survey the damage.

>> a tragedy happened tonight. it is linked to the next version , the cause and details of which are being determined. cisterns at a nearby gas station were detonated. the site where we are now is the epicenter of the tragedy. vanessa: and in the dominican republic, a powerful explosion near the country's capital has left at least 11 dead and 10 missing. more than 50 people were injured in monday's blast. the cause is under investigation. north korea is commenting, for the first time, about an american soldier who entered the country last math. -- last month. the government says that travis king admitted to illegally entering the country process territory were a tour of the fortified border. north korea says he confessed to harboring ill feelings against the u.s. army and wanted to seek refuge there or another third country. the u.s. department of defense said tonight, they couldn't verify king's alleged comments,

and they were focused on his safe return. the mother of a six-year-old who shot his teacher in newport news, virgia needed guilty to felony child neglect. the first grader used his mother's handgun to shoot his teacher in a classroom full of students back in january. his mother, deja taylor, was seen leaving court today. prosecutors agreed to not seek a sentence longer than six months as part of a plea deal. still to come on the newshor, life in afghanistan remains dire , two years after the fall of the u.s. backed government. also, the dollars of american transferred from an iranian prison discussed his detention. and, young climate activists in montana win in the first of its kind legal case. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour, from w eta studios in washington, and in the west from

the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the biden administration is barnstorming the country this week to mark the one-year anniversary of their landmark law, the inflation reduction act. recent indicators of a growing economy are key to that message, which president joe biden took to milwaukee today. ♪ [applause] reporter: on offense and on the road, bringing bidenomics to voters. the president is selling his investments in jobs, renewable energy, and infrastructure >> i'm not here to declare victory on the economy. we're not there yet. we have more work to do. but we always had a plan. turning things around, making an america stronger and safer and more competitive. bidenomics is just another way of saying restoring the american dream. ♪ laura: the new message, as biden ramps up his 2024 re-election campaign, follows a string of good economic headlines. unemployment at near-record lows, inflation among the lowest of the g7 nations, gdp growth at 2.4% last quarter, and recession

fears fading on wall street. >> recall these fancy people used to say, well, a recession is inevitable. now, however, those same people acknowledge that president biden and i have delivered strong and steady growth for our nation. laura: a year ago soaring gas , and grocery prices cast a shadow over the president's agenda. now, things are different. >> the economy looks very strong. it looks very strong. laura: laura tyson served as chief economist for president bill clinton. like many economists, she's increasingly optimistic about the country's trajectory. >> the inflation rate has come down a lot, and the economy has continued to grow enough to keep the unemployment rate down, to keep labor force participation rates up, to generate some real wage growth, to generate

strength in the labor market. so, i put all of that together and say that that's a pretty strong macro economy. laura: some of that is due to the federal reserve, which, under chairman jerome powell, has steadily raised interest rates to cool inflation, and operates independently from the administration. but economists like tyson also point to the president's push for legislation on manufacturing and cutting costs for americans, like the inflation reduction act, an expansive law designed to boost clean energy projects and lower prescription drug prices. and, the bipartisan chips and science act, which the white house says spurred over $166 billion in private sector investment into the semiconductor industry and helped add 800,000 manufacturing jobs in the u.s. since the president took office. shea: manufacturing construction

is significantly increased. some of the infrastructure projects are in place, are being done. some of the climate investments are starting to be made. these are things which are going to take some time to affect the economy. laura: that's in part why the steady stream of strong market and labor numbers have not helped improve president biden's standing. his approval rating is stuck in the low forties. just 20% of americans think the economy is in excellent or in good shape, and 50% say the economy has been weakened by the president's policies. >> biden has a fantastic story to tell about experience getting things done and making the economy work for you. right now, they are just not connecting the dots after biden. laura: cornell belcher is a longtime democratic strategist. he said biden's persistent low approval is not just about americans' perception of the

economy. >> there's more variables at play than simply the economy, especially when you're coming out of a pandemic. a lot of what we are picking up on, is americans are anxious about different issues, they are anxious about when the next she was going to drop, and issues about control. laura: belcher conducts regular focus groups. he's found that from the pandemic to abortion rights, and a chaotic and divisive political atmosphere, americans are wracked with uncertainty. to combat that, he said, the president needs to loudly own the good economic number,s and sell his wins. >> i know there's been some hesitation with with people in the administration about, you know, people aren't feeling good about the economy. so, should we in fact lean in and talk about how good the economy is? i think you will see a lot less of that hesitation -- i hope you will see a lot less hesitation over the next couple of months, because they really do have to sell the economy. trump: the biden economic bust will be replaced by trump boom.

laura: and if president biden doesn't take the credit, former ading gop presidential, the contender, will. pres. trump: anything that is good that is happening with the economy, it's only because they are running of the fumes of what he built, do you understand that? they aren't running on the fumes, but those fumes can't last for much longer. laura: trump is the only president since herbert hoover to leave office with fewer jobs in the country than when he started. and the biden campaign expressed confidence bidenomics is working, telling newshour, "we are running an aggressive campaign, and will be communicating the choice americans have in this race between president biden's experienced leadership, while drawing a contrast with the deeply unpopular and twice-rejected maga agenda, focused on tax giveaways to the ultra rich." it's a contrast both campaigns will hammer in the months to come. for the pbs newshour, i'm laura barron-lopez. ♪

geoff: two years ago today taliban fighters poured into , afghanistan's capital, kabul. the army melted away, and president ashraf ghani fled for his life. the country that the u.s. and nato spend nearly 20 years fighting to build was suddenly controlled again by the same taliban who the u.s. deposed after 9/11. nick schifrin is back from parental leave, and look back on this anniversary, and in afghanistan. nick: after nearly two decades of combat, american sacrifice, and more than 100,000 afghan lives, the taliban didn't have to fire a shot. they re-captured kabul on august 15, and the multinational, multi-trillion dollar war ended with chaos. tens of thousands of afghans swarmed kabul's airport. some preferred to cling to a

moving plane than live under taliban rule. and the last u.s. soldier, the general commanding the evacuation, left under the cover of darkness. the top u.s. military official called it "strategic defeat." today, taliban police patrol the capital they rule, and say violence has largely been silenced. but so have women. [gunfire] [screaming] last month, a group braved taliban gunshots to demand change. afghan women today are barred from secondary education and most forms of employment. they are prohibited from working for the u.n. and non-governmental organizations. and they're blocked from most public spaces. the u.n. calls it "gender-based apartheid." most recently, the taliban ordered beauty salons, shut down. aziz works in secret, to feed her desperate family. >> we are jobless. possibly we might free because there is no work no income for me in this country. my children are hungry. nick: the u.n. says 20 million afghans are hungry, and more

than two thirds need aid to survive. the u.s. is the single largest donor of humanitarian aid. but it keeps $3.5 billion in foreign reserves frozen, and refuses to open an embassy in kabul. where, today, the taliban celebrated their prize a country where even the youngest lives under their version of islamic law. today that you and said that while the country is much less violent today than before 2021, more than 1000 civilians have died in bombings and other violence. for more on the situation in afghanistan and u.s. policy toward the taliban, we get two views -- nader nadery is former commissioner of the afghan independent human rights commission. he is a senior fellow at the wilson center, a washington-based think tank. and laurel miller was former president obama's special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. she's now president and chief executive officer of the asia foundation, a non-profit development organization. welcome to both of you back from the newshour.

here is the taliban narrative, no significant opposition, no internal oppositions, successfully targeting isis and they are fighting corruption and reducing opium. was that an accurate picture? guest: it is, to an extent, accurate. but the accuracy relates to, there is no political opposition because it is a religious, authoritarian regime that does not allow any political views to be expressed. if they express political views, if a citizen expresses different political views, they end up in jail, like an activist advocates for education. other political leaders who have stayed beyond are being put under house arrest and not allowed to be engaging in political activities. violence is low, yes, because the taliban are not blowing up any school or bridges. that is true also. they have eliminated a

full-fledged military operation that they were carrying out to create chaos and violence and kill the population. so that is an accurate statement . on corruption, yes, that is true that they have reduced corruption and custom duties compared to what it was before. but don't forget to watch, as an example, the mining sector, what is happening there. the passport department. one passport is as a bribe. and there is many evidence of how corruption goes significantly and deep down. >> laurel miller, is there also a sense of abandonment in afghanistan? guest: i imagine there are some people in afghanistan who feel that way. i don't think it is the case that there is wholesale abandonment of afghanistan. there has been significant

humanitarian aid that has been provided to alleviate the human crisis that humanitarian crisis there and the u.n. has been the biggest contributor to humanitarian aid and it is declining and it is not enough to put afghanistan back on its feet. but within the context of having fought a 20 year war and lost that war, the fact that the united states is even to some extent pragmatically engaged with afghanistan and that other western governments are as well, that some countries have reopened embassies there, is rather remarkable in historical perspective. nick: engaging with afghanistan, of course, means engaging with the taliban. u.s. officials urged the taliban to reverse its policies and women. today secretary of state antony blinken explicitly linked normalization with the taliban to a change in behavior. >> the path to any more normal

relationship between the taliban and other countries will be blocked unless and until the rights of women and girls, among other things, are actually supported. nick: nader, you have argued that pressure on the taliban, not engagement, is a best way to help afghans. why? guest: because we have seen the taliban to only know the path of pressure and consistency. what they learned wrongly from the rest of the international community, is that they would stay on course on the positions, even if it is a very brutal position, they would stay on it. however, they believe that the international community would slowly change their course and come to us, because in their view, the united states and the rest of the international community need them. for whatever reason.

it's a wrong perception, but that is how they have wrongly learned through the negotiation the u.s. can them had. when you look at the level of concession they have received from the united states, that is how they learned that they can stay on course and that is what they say in their public statements. so what secretary blinken said is very much encouraging. it addresses one key issue that the united states and the rest of the international community has left, only with one leverage , to make the taliban adhere to some of the promises they have made or to brutalize less their own population, and that is to not recognize them. but there is one additional, if i may, point, and that is the taliban would only hear and act if the united states goes even further, theoretically, and say

taliban are not respecting that doha deal -- nick: between the trumpet was titian and the taliban nick: the united states could say that unless they respect it, the doha deal could be notified. nick: does the u.s. have leverage over the taliban? guest: in fact there is a lot less leverage for shaping taliban behavior now than there 20 years of waging war in afghanistan. and that did not effectively shape taliban behavior as we see today. i think you can see the taliban having learned the lesson over 20 years that consistency on their part does gain -- it enables them to achieve their objectives, and they did achieve their objectives. nick: and, nader, the supreme

leader claims that life for african women has improved under. it seems difficult to convince them to change their policies, right? guest: absolutely. 68 policies and rulings that systematically restrict women and eliminates any role, social, political and public life, aimed toward complete control of the woman's life in afghanistan. i very much support the call for recognizing gender apartheid as an international crime against humanity. our international community's conscience needs to be shaken as it was during the apartheid regime of south africa. it's not only half of the population, the 18 million afghan women that are being denied every single fundamental right, it is about humanity as large, what kind of example are

we going to allow to be implemented in a country that has turned to a big prison of women. nick: can humanitarian aid be used as leverage, can there be at some point that the u.s. uses to try to get that reality changed? guest: humanitarian aid cannot and should not be used as political leverage, that would violate enormously important humanitarian principles. there is no real diplomatic leverage over the taliban. yes, it is true that the united states and the government can withhold full recognition, the government can deny the taliban the opportunity to hold a seat in the u.n., but i think we are seeing evidence that the taliban has other priorities. although they probably would prefer to have diplomatic recognition in the u.n. seat, they are prepared to live without that because they prioritize issuing the kind of edicts that nader pointed out.

nick: thank you very much to both of you. guest: thank you. ♪ geoff: iran has for years used american dual-nationals as hostage bargaining chips with the west. last week, the biden administration struck a deal to relocate five american-iranians from prison to house arrest. it is hoped they will come home to the u.s. in the coming weeks. amna nawaz sat down for an exclusive conversation with the daughters of one of the prisoners. amna: among the five americans moved from being present to house arrest, was emad. born in iran, he moved to the u.s. as a child, returning to iran in 2018. he was arrested, convicted on bogus charges and has been detained for the last five years. his daughters, hannah and ariana joined me for the first interview since their father was transferred out of prison. good to see you both.

you have not just been able to talk to him since he left prison, you were able to see him in a video chat. what was that like? what did he say to you? guest: it was incredible to see his face, and i can't even say how long it has been. you can really tell the toll that prison has taken on him, it looks like he has lost 30 pounds , he looks 20 years older than he should. only that being said, it was such an incredible blessing to be able to speak to him, to see his face and just to show him my apartment for the first time. he had never seen my hair this color before. so just to have that face-to-face connection was just really magical. amna: hanna, what did you say to him? guest: i think i screamed a little bit at first and just said that i am excited to see him face-to-face. i told him, again, about my apartment that i just moved into

in new york and he was, like, eye-level exposed brick, better things you want to tell your dad you haven't seen in five years. amna: he is not free yet, we should stress, he is still under house arrest under the control of the iranian regime. u.s. officials say there is still some negotiating to be done, right, the contours of the deal are some $6 billion of oil revenue being unfrozen in south korea, and iranians held in the u.s. to be freed. i am told september could be when we see him come home. you and your families have been part of a number of group calls, including one with secretary of state blinken yesterday. did he give you any other details or a timeline on the deal? guest: no, we were lucky enough to speak with secretary blinken yesterday. he spoke to the families and reassured us how important this issue is him. it was honestly quite emotional because this is the closest it seems that we have ever been and we are hopeful and just seeing

the determination on secretary blinken's face is really reassuring and i hope that the next time we speak to him, it is with the news that our dad is on a plane headed back to the u.s. amna: hannah, you have been critical of the united states government, you wondered, if we can get folks home from russia where country get them back from iran? how do you assess what they are doing now? guest: we are happy to see these steps in to see some traction. that being said, as he said, they are still not home, my dad is still essentially a prisoner of iran and of the country. he almost died in prison. he has been sick many times. we are still anxious. i don't think will stop being anxious until we are able to hug him and hold him and that is when we will really know that the job is done, when they are on american soil. amna: are you worried the deal could fall apart?

guest: i don't even want to speak that into the air. amna: since the reports first broke, he has been facing criticism from political opposition mostly. vice president shall candidate mike pence says he believes the money will fund terrorism and also says, china and russia, who are also holding americans hostage, now know the price has just gone up. you guys have heard these concerns before, echoed by lawmakers who say this could feel more hostage-taking, that more families could be in this imposition yours have an info several years. are you worried about that? guest: at the end of the day, my sister and i are 25 and 27 years old, we are not foreign policy expert. i think we should trust the u.s. government. they are doing the right thing, bringing innocent americans home. i want to talk about the human factor. i am confused and frankly astonished that we continue to talk about all of these other things and we are forgetting that we are dealing with human life's. a father that misses his wife

and his children, that has nearly died. i want to focus on that point, on the human aspect of all of this. amna: ariana, what do you make of the criticism? guest: as my sister said, we are not experts. we can have no say in all of this. we just want to emphasize the point that these are innocent people. . they have been rotting away in jail. they have missed graduations, birthdays, you know, first cars, their kids' dating lives, all these little things, only because they are americans. so as my sister said, we need to focus on the fact that we need to bring these individuals whom. and yes, trust that the experts will do their job. amna: it has been five years since you hug your dad, right, since you have seen him in person. he talked about all the things he has missed. have you thought about the first thing you will do when you get to see him, when he is home?

guest: my sister and i have dreamed of my dad coming home almost every single night. i wake up, 5, 6 times a week just heartbroken that my dreams are not everybody, and always in those dreams, the only thing i do is just hard him. i think that is the only thing -- just hug my dad. i don't want to let him go. i just want to the four of us, need, sister, my mom and dad, to able to sit at the table every night with my dinner, eat his incredible cooking, is lasagnas, listen to classic rock, and just be normal and have normal conversations and just, yeah. guest: yeah. amna: what about you, hannah? guest: i will collapse on the floor the moment i see him, because i have thought about it for so long, like my sister

said. i just want to hug him and never let him get too far from him again. i want to barbecue with him, show him that i have been keeping the grill warm this full-time, i had to learn how to barbecue since he is gone. and just tell him everything he has missed. he has missed 1/5 of my entire life at this point, that is a long time for a young girl. i just want him close by. we will keep hoping and praying until hopefully that comes true. amna: hanna and ariana shargi, the daughters of emmett sharkey, thank you for joining us. to see you again. guest: thank you. thank you. ♪ geoff: and we will be back shortly with a look at a unique trial in montana where young people have sued the state in the climate change case. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support which helps keeps programs like this one on the air. ♪

geoff: for those of you staying with us, we take a look now at an historic case ruling in montana. yesterday, a judge the state was -- yesterday a judge sided with a group of young environmental activists who argued the state was violating its constitution by promoting fossil fuel development without considering the impact on climate change. in june, william brangham examined the arguments on both sides of the case, just as the trial was getting underway. william: it was back in middle school when claire vlases first asked some adults to do something for the environment. her middle school in bozeman, montana was undergoing a major renovation, so she thought, why not put solar panels on all that new roof? she presented the idea to the project managers. >> i was immediately shut down. they just told me that the idea wasn't feasible and it was way too expensive, wasn't in the

budget. i went home, cried about it a little bit and then i thought about it more nebulized, you know, if the only barrier to putting solar panels on the school was the cost, that wasn't a big deal, i could just raise the money myself. ." and this is middle school middle-school-you, saying this? [laughter] >> yeah. yeah. it worked well because i didn't have any idea of what money was. i didn't know that $125,000 was a big amount. [laughter] william: so the teenager and some other classmates held fundraisers, and they raised the money. and those panels now supply a quarter of the school's power, saving the district an estimated $8,000 a year. but vlases, who's now going to be a junior in college, has set her sights on an even bigger issue. she and 15 other young people from x montana, including multiple members of native american tribes, are suing their state. they say,, montana's support and permitting of oil, coal and gas projects is polluting the

atmosphere, exacerbating climate change, and harming the state's environment, which they argue, the state constitution explicitly prohibits. their case, known as "held v. montana" -- is the first such state case to ever go to trial. >> one reason why i love montana is because in our constitution, it says that every person here has a right to "a clean and healthful environment," which isn't in almost all the constitutions in the united states. william: right, that is pretty rare. >> it's not a political issue here in montana. we are here because of the land and we have a right to protect that. and so, as i have learned about climate change and have seen what our lawmakers have done promoting fossil fuel industries, i've realized that that is unconstitutional acts. william: montana's constitution has this unusual clause, because back in the 1970's, some citizen

conservationists, who were concerned with mining and clear-cutting, wanted to enshrine a more overt environmental protection right near the top of their constitution. sandra zellmer, who teaches and researches environmental law at the university of montana's law school, says these young plaintiffs are testing the strength of that protection. >> this allows the plaintiffs to put on evidence that the state's decision-making is exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and leading to climate change, warmer, drier temperatures with all the adverse effects -- waves, wildfires, depleted fisheries, destruction of the stability of our agriculture. so to be able to introduce experts and to get that before a judge in a courtroom at trial is really quite phenomenal. william: but the plaintiffs are facing strong opposition. this year, the republican supermajority in montana's capitol and the governor's mansion passed a series of laws promoting further coal and gas development, and hampering

renewable energy. it barred state agencies from considering the impact of greenhouse gasses when issuing permits. and it repealed the state's official energy policy, which narrowed the scope of the youth lawsuit. republican senate majority leader steve fitzpatrick, who supported these legislative moves, points out that montana already uses a lot of renewable energy, and argues any further changes will have no bearing on climate change. >> just because there's something going on doesn't mean that we necessarily need to take steps that are going to be expensive or can cost people jobs. we need to look at all the we are one million people in a country of over 300 million people. we are one million people on an earth with 7.9 billion people on it. i think there's very little that we're going to do at the state level that's going to have an impact on the earth's temperatures. william: they young plaintiffs are being represented by "our children's trust," an

oregon-based environmental law firm that has tried -- mostly unsuccessfully -- to bring similar cases in every state, and against the federal government. montana's being represented by its attorney general, austin knudsen. his office described the suit as a "meritless publicity stunt" and, in a statement to the newshour, said these young plaintiffs are being manipulated. quote, "our children's trust is a special interest group that is exploiting well-intentioned montana kids -- including a four-year-old and an eight-year-old -- to achieve its goal of shutting down responsible energy development in our state." >> claire, you spend a ton of time moving around outside, , apparently. william: last week, vlases took the stand at the courthouse in helena, testifying how a srinking snowpack impacted her job as a ski instructor. and how smoke from wildfires made it hard for her and her cross country team to run in high school. >> knowing that there is something i can do to protect the landscape and the world that has given so much to me, and

allowed me to be a strong individual, that is the most important thing. william: vlases and her fellow plaintiffs hope the judge will rule that the state's support for fossil fuels is harming the environment, and thus is unconstitutional. and even though that kind of ruling won't immediately change montana's energy or environmental policies, they see a longer term goal. >> we hope that it will be there check that our legislature needs to keep them back on the right track. moreover, it would set an example to the other states that this is something that people want, especially young people, and that we can make a difference. william: the trial is scheduled to finish by the end of this week. for the pbs newshour, i william brangham in bozeman, am montana. ♪ geoff: for those of you just

rejoining us, we have been exploring the landmark court case in montana, where young climate activists challenged the state's promotion of fossil fuels and won. william branham is here now to explain yesterday's ruling and help us understand the broader implications in montana and nationwide. william, it is always great to see you. william: great to see you. geoff: so for folks who didn't get to see your earlier report remind us of the argument these young people in montana were making that was just affirmed in court yesterday. william: these young people were arguing that montana's embrace of fossil fuels was hurting the state's environment by pumping all this carbon emissions into the air, and that that was harming the environment that it was driving climate change and , and that it was violating the state's constitution, which, montana has this very unique clause in its constitution which says its citizens have the right to a clean and healthful environment. and judge kathy seeley agreed with them and said that because the state was not looking at the carbon emissions of any fossil fuel project when it was going

to issue permits, that it was violating the constitution, so that was the judgment yesterday, . these students were represented by "our children's trust," which is an environmental law firm based out of oregon, and they've tried similar cases in other states. none of them have been successful. they had one federal case that has gotten forward, but it's stalled in the courts now. now, so this is really the first of its kind in the country state of montana was represented by its attorney general. they derided the case all along, and implied that the kids were basically being used by this law firm, and they have vowed to appeal this ruling. geoff: assuming this ruling survives the appeal, what might the impact be? not just in montana but across the country? william: the impact in montana is to be determined. the ruling means that the state legislature, which in montana is gop-dominated and very friendly to the fossil fuel industry, they will determine how the state goes forward in assessing whether carbon emissions should deter or allow a fossil fuel project to go forward.

montana makes a lot of coal, and it is a big industry, a lot of jobs, important part of the economy there. so it may not be such a big impact in montana immediately. i talked today with a guy named michael berger. he runs the saban center for climate study at columbia university. he argues that the longer impact, the broader impact of this ruling will be nationwide , because the findings of fact in this case were affirmed by the judge that said climate change is real, that emissions drive climate change, that climate change can be harmful, and that local emissions in your own state can damage the people who live in that state. he says those findings of fact are substantial, and that it is not setting precedent around the country, but that a lot of other cases -- and there are a lot of other cases going on, there are several other youth cases that are going on, lots of litigation against fossil fuel industries -- these findings of facts could

have a much broader impact and could ripple out nationwide. geoff: william brangham thanks , so much for that reporting. william: my pleasure, geoff. geoff: and if you missed william's original report looking at the case of the young activists in montana, you can find it on pbs.org/newshour. also online, we have an exclusive look at a letter from hispanic democratic lawmakers demanding an investigation into the separation of migrant families by texas authorities. you can read more at the.org/newshour. and that is "the newshour" for tonight. i am geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major finding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer, topiary artist, a raymondjames financial advisor tailored advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. ♪

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