amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “news hour” tonight, all eyes are on the republican national convention here in milwaukee, where former president donald trump is set to make his first public speech since the assassination attempt.

amna: president biden faces more calls from top democrats to step aside, the latest setback in his re-election campaign. geoff: and the u.s. secret service faces mounting pressure over the apparent failures that led up to mr. trump's shooting. >> realizing this was only 150 yards with a clear line of sight to the podium where the president was going to be speaking, that is a critical error. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well planned.

>> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the “news hour.” it's the final night of the republican national convention here in milwaukee. donald trump is set to accept

his party's nomination for president, marking his first public speech since the attempt on his life this past weekend. amna: that speech will wrap up a week messaging a united republican party, one that's spent days reminding voters about trump's strengths and the party's vision for america. meanwhile, democrats are facing an array of questions about the top of their ticket. lisa desjardins has been following it all. lisa: tonight is the big night here at the convention but it follows the other marquee night of the week for the vice presidential nominee j.d. vance came out. throughout the night we start rhetoric that swung between talk of strength, to talk of sensitivity, to some sharp words. overall where we are today as a republican party trying to build momentum for their new presidential ticket. this morning, a newly-minted nominee. >> the next vice president of the united states, senator j.d. vance. lisa: vp candidate and u.s. senator j.d. vance, fresh off his address to the republican

national convention, made his first stop to a key trump voter group, christian conservatives. speaking at a faith and freedom coalition breakfast. >> there are all these small little miracles, and if you look for them, you'll actually see them. lisa: the night before, vance brandished his working-class roots. >> america's ruling class wrote the checks. communities like mine paid the price. lisa: and told stories of growing up poor in ohio, raised by his grandmother, mamaw. >> my mamaw died shortly before i left for iraq in 2005. and when we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns. [laughter] we wondered what was going on. and it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, mamaw couldn't get around so well. and so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm's length of whatever she needed to protect her family. that's who we fight for. that's american spirit. lisa: an introduction from his wife, usha vance, emphasized their unique story.

>> it's safe to say that neither j.d. nor i expected to find ourselves in this position. but it's hard to imagine a more powerful example of the american dream. lisa: the vance roll-out capped a day of sharply contrasting tones on the convention floor. a 98-year-old world war ii veteran brought tears to delegates' eyes appealing to shared love of country. >> america is an idea. but i believe america is much more than that. america is our home. lisa: but minutes later from donald trump junior, a dark message of fear. >> all hell has broken loose in america and it's impossible to hide anymore. lisa: there were other emotional waves, including an american family whose son was taken hostage after the hamas attack in israel. >> imagine over nine months, not knowing whether your son is alive. waking up every morning praying

at he too is still waking up every morning. lisa: but the crowd may have been most transfixed by a heartbreaking segment with gold star families of service members killed in the afghanistan withdrawal, highly critical of president biden. >> now we have another son serving in the army. and we do not trust joe biden with his life. lisa: they read, and the convention floor repeated, the names of the 13 military personnel killed. some lifted up, others threw punches. >> yes, indeed. this morning, i did walk out of a federal prison in miami. lisa: former trump administration adviser peter navarro served four months over refusing to testify in front of the january 6 congressional

committee. he blamed the justice system, but also raised the temperature against undocumented immigrants, calling them -- >> a whole army of illegal aliens stealing jobs of black, brown, and blue collar americans, they put them all right on your front doorstep. lisa: migrant flow at the southern border has decreased in recent months. while it remains historically high, polifact and others have debunked the idea that there is any kind of invasion, as well as the idea that there is a resulting job shortage. at the convention, members of trump's family tried to show his softer side. donald trump, jr. turned the mic over to his teenage daughter, kai, before starting his speech. trump smiled as his eldest granddaughter told the crowd about her quote, normal grandpa. >> a lot of people put my grandpa through hell, and he's still standing. lisa: yesterday trump made his first known comments about the shooting, to a private crowd chanting. >> fight, fight, fight. lisa: in video obtained by pbs news, he credited his close call this weekend to divine intervention.

>> honestly, i think you appreciate god even more, i really do, because something happened. lisa: but he also talked political shop, about recent poll gains, indicating he wants president biden as his opponent. >> but the polls, the worst polls are very good, so we don't want them to be too good. because if they're too good, maybe this guy doesn't run. we want him to run, and i say that, but i'm also willing to take on second and third and fourth. lisa: and as trump prepares to take stage tonight, president biden is off the campaign trail, at home in rehoboth recuperating from his covid diagnosis. back on the convention floor, the signs show the difference in the messaging. yesterday, this one, make america strong again, maybe part of the unity proposal. but this one was all over the floor, mass deportation now. obviously vitriolic, very different from the tones we saw yesterday. amna: senator vance speaking a

lot about his biography last night but what we know about his stances on the issues? lisa: that is important. let's look at where he is on the issues. obviously he does not have a long political career but here's what we know since he ran for the senate. on the border, senator vance would launch. large-scale deportations on ukraine he is strongly saying he would end u.s. funding for ukraine. the 2020 election, he says he believes it was stolen. january 6, he said he would not have done what vice president pence dead and instead would have blocked the biden certification, and added more slates of electors, sending the contest to congress. abortion, this is something i want to get into more detail on their some positions here, we know that senator vance would

support a national abortion ban. he has said reasonable exceptions should be allowed including the life of the mother but it is not clear where he stands on exceptions for rape and incest. he has cast doubt on that saying two rights don't make a wrong. and finally he would ban abortion pills. this is an area where conservatives love him. they want abortion restrictions. this is something democrats think could help them in swing areas, especially in the suburbs where they may not want as tough abortion restrictions. geoff: donald trump is set to accept his party nomination tonight. what should we expect to hear from him tonight? lisa: we know a lot how the former president speaks on the stump. he can often go off script. we understand maybe he will speak for about one hour. that may or may not include

applause lines. we have also been told he has been revising his script until today and it could go longer or shorter. some around him think it would be better for him to go shorter. this is the prime time address and may be one of the key moments of the campaign. what he says to not will define him and the ads democrats use against him. amna: a lot of people here eager to get their message out like the gentleman who was behind you showing off his t-shirt. the messages being conveyed, what about the topics we are not hearing about? lisa: it is notable we have not heard that much about abortion in this republican convention. that is usually a central core unifying theme. of course banning abortion is the goal of many here. they want a national ban. that is something former president trump wants.

they know it is a difficult political issue for them. it is something i have heard the least about, and i have certainly never heard anything less about it than at this convention. geoff: as we speak president biden is facing growing pressure from top democrats to exit the race over concerns about the party's fate come november. lisa: i can report that in the past few days and the past week, democratic senate leader chuck schumer told president biden of concerns by other senators that he cannot win and that it could help democrats in deeper ways. schumer's office has said very clearly no one knows about the conversation, no one can say exactly what schumer thinks except for schumer himself. but i can tell you with confidence he did express concerns at the democratic conference. these days right now are very critical and this convention is watching right now. they don't mind the sense of

chaos in the democratic party as they put in their two new nominees for 2024. geoff: lisa, thank you so much. let's turn to our white house correspondent, laura barron-lopez, in washington for more on those calls for biden to drop out of the race. laura, what's been the biden campaign's response? laura: i asked a senior biden advisor about all of these calls today and he texted back saying he is the nominee of the democratic party and plans to win in november. the campaign is not budging on this. the deputy campaign manager in milwaukee today said they are not considering any scenario where president biden is not at the top of the ticket. >> i don't want to be rude but i do not know how many more times we can answer that. joe biden has said he is running for president. we are drawing a vision and a contrast between that of project 2025 and what we have seen for the past three days here in milwaukee, the extreme agenda of

republicans. laura: even though some sources tell me a lot of staffers are anxious and waiting for a shoe to drop, publicly the campaign is holding his ground. amna: we know you have been talking to other democratic sources. what are you hearing from them about these efforts to get president biden to step aside? laura: a number of the democrats i spoke to today, whether they were lawmakers or donors or party operatives, say the next 72 hours are going to be critical. they want to see some kind of movement or resolution. i was speaking to one democratic lawmaker who said they may very well come out and break with biden by monday because they want to see some type of decision here. other democratic sources i talked to say the train has ultimately left the station for lawmakers. that they think it is time for president biden to step aside. some of the hesitancy comes from the fact that they want him to make that decision and to make

the announcement without having to come out publicly and pushing him to do so. one other democratic lawmaker i was talking to today said that they were getting calls from big democratic donors over the past few days saying that they want president biden to step aside and those donors were telling that lawmaker tt there should be an open convention. now, an open convention is something a lot of lawmakers do not want and a lot of democrats do not want. it seems as though they would like people, if president biden makes this decision, to rally behind vice president kamala harris. geoff: meantime, i know you have been talking to folks who have been tracking nikki haley voters, that is of course a coveted block for both the biden and trump campaigns. how have those responders been -- how have they been responding? laura: i sat in with a lot of focus groups over the last few days and those voters, moderate republicans and swing voters, say the assassination attempt on

donald trump has not swayed them. they also say they are not necessarily certain about voting for president biden. i spoke to craig snyder, a republican pennsylvania political operative who is the director of haley voters for biden pac. he said that haley's endorsement of trump is not swaying the voters he is talking to and that the voters he is working to mobilize are open to democrats other than joe biden. >> they would be willing certainly to consider another democrat. but it would depend on who the individual turns out to be. for these voters, they are looking for someone in the center, number one. number two they are looking for someone who they see as a stabilizing force, a non-chaotic force. number three they are looking for somebody who they see as decent and civil. laura: craig snyder also said though that if president biden is ultimately the nominee, that he would continue to work to try

and make sure that these moderate voters vote for him. amna: what about the selection of j.d. vance? has that changed anything for these voters? laura: it does not seem to have. i spoke to emily matthews who works a running group of 25 haley voters across the country in key battleground states. the biden campaign has actually met with this group of haley voters and she told us voters in her group do not trust j.d. vance. >> they see him as an opportunist who used to be a never trumper, like many of them, who ended up bowing down to the trump alter in the pursuit of power and they see right through it. laura: she said that her group is concerned with president biden staying in the race and losing to trump. and that ultimately she is also worried this could hurt president biden's legacy. geoff: have those voters been receptive to alternatives to president biden at the top of

the presidential ticket? laura: they have. emily says her group of haley voters has been receptive to talk of vice president kamala harris taking over the top of the ticket. i also sat in on a number of focus groups this week that were run by republican never trumper sarah longwell's firm. in a focus group of two time trump voters, brad, a joe jury voter -- a georgia voter, said he thinks vice president harris could eat trump. >> i just think it is a fresh face. it is someone different. for those who really don't like biden i think they could coalesce a little more around harris over biden. i think that might even sway if you republicans over. they may absolutely contest biden but they may be willing to swallow their pride a little with harris over trump. i am not saying that is a good option but for some people, it

may be the lesser of two evils. laura: again, brad was a two time trump voter in the swing state of georgia saying that about vice president harris. none of these two time trump voters in that focus group said they would vote for trump this time around. it sounded as though they might be willing to move towards democrats if delta -- if they ultimately shook up the ticket and they appeared more likely to do that if democrats included pennsylvania governor shapiro, or north carolina governor cooper. geoff: laura barron-lopez, thanks as always for that reporting. laura: thank you. ♪ geoff: let's turn now to governor kevin stitt of oklahoma. amna: he endorsed former president trump after his first choice, florida governor ron desantis, dropped out the primary race earlier this year. and he joins us now.

welcome. thanks for being here. thanks for enjoying the music with us as well, tapping your feet. gov. stitt: absolutely. it is loud in here. amna: i want to ask you about these calls for unity we have heard again and again. there is a lot of unity among the party, so many of trump's rivals have shown up. but there are a lot of folks not in the room, it is fair to point out. his former vice president mike pence is not here. mitt romney is not here. liz cheney is not here. is this idea of unity only unity if you back trump and do not disagree with him? gov. stitt: i don't think so. obviously i endorsed desantis early on. but the party is clearly behind president trump. it is a great night, the party has never been more unified. this is my first time to come here to the convention and it just feels like there is a lot of momentum on my side. i would rather be our team than the other side. geoff: nikki haley really

implored republicans to grow the party and expand it to talk directly to voters who have major disagreements with the gop. do you see that happening? gov. stitt: when we picked j.d. vance as the vice president you can look at him, he came from ohio, was raised by a grandmother, mother had addictions. you are seeing us cast a wide net right now and bringing a lot more people into the party. because at the end of the day most americans know that the left went a little too far and right now we are the party for the middle class, the working people, people who are faith-focused, family-focused, that want a better economy. inflation is killing americans. those of the policies we believe are going to win in november. amna: on the ibf debate within the party, we have not heard policy circulated yet. it is clear to say there is daylight on issues. i want to point out even you

articulated that you support u.s. supporting ukraine a, and -- aid, and additional aid in the future. that is something senator vance lead the charge to oppose that aid. so where is the republican policy on that right now? gov. stitt: i think most americans, most oklahomans, if we have a $900 billion defense budget it makes sense for us to use a little of that to support our allies like israel and ukraine and push back against some of these aggressions from russia or iran or hamas. so not sure exactly where the president is on that but that makes a lot of sense to us and i know congress has been supporting israel and ukraine. amna: president trump and senator vance both have articulated opposition to that aid. gov. stitt: i have not heard them say they are opposed to supporting israel. amna: i am talking about ukraine. gov. stitt: yeah.

again, you have to talk to them about that. but it makes sense to me. if we have a defense budget of $900 billion we are not putting american soldiers in harm's way, but we are pushing back against some aggression that might affect some of our other allies as well. geoff: this convention happened less than 48 hours after the assassination attempt. this week has been historic and eventful. what do you expect to hear from trump later this evening? gov. stitt: i think he will continue to cast a wide net and invite people into the party. there has been a lot of unity. he has been talking about the hispanic community, the african-american community, the working class. used to the democrats claimed they were for the working man and that is not just a case anymore. those policies of the democrats of bigger government, more regulation, are really squeezing the middle class.

inflation when president trump left was below 2%. we are going to get back to those policies again. part of it is energy dominance and making sure american companies can innovate and meet the needs of americans. oklahoma does that better than any other state. we love our oil and gas industry. we are also number three in the country in electricity generated by wind. i think that is what you will see a trump administration do as well. amna: i hear you saying you are expanding the party, j.d. vance said it is a big 10 party. a lot of folks are hearing these messages and watching republican actions and saying i don't feel welcomed here. in your state alone there have been over 50 anti-lgbtq bills introduced by republican lawmakers. 150,000 people who identify as lgbtq in oklahoma. what do you say to them? gov. stitt: i would totally disagree with you. if you are talking about boys going into girls bathrooms, we

absolutely don't want to happen in oklahoma. i am going to support our young ladies in oklahoma. you don't know how many track athletes from the universities have thanked me for protecting their scholarships. amna: i am talking about for example, banning the rainbow flag, limiting discussion on sexuality. gov. stitt: nobody is limiting the discussion. as far as flying the lgbtq+ flag, yeah, we're not for that. why would we do that? that's not something that will happen in our state. amna: oklahoma governor kevin stitt, thank you for joining us. geoff: congressman tom cole also of oklahoma is serving his 11th term in congress and he has seen a lot of changes in the republican party during his 21 years in washington. we spoke earlier today and i asked him how the trump/vance ticket will affect down ballot republican races.

rep. cole: i think it is a big plus for republicans in the house. if we lost the presidency we would lose our majority. if on the other hand polling has gotten better over the course of the summer and he wins i don't see how we can lose the house. we need some padding. so that one or two people cannot overturn the whole apple card. -- apple cart. we have great opportunities in montana and ohio where we know president trump will in all likelihood win. i think we have great shots in nevada, michigan, maryland. there seem to be more senate seats coming into play so i think it is almost inevitable we will win the senate. geoff: do you cg -- j.d. payer --

rep. cole: i think he staked out that territory. that was very much on president trump's mind when he made the selection. he had an excellent group of candidates to choose from. it is not lost on me that he chose the one who philosophically is closest to him and the one who is youngest, and that says to me he sees -- geoff: on that philosophical closeness, j.d. vance has been vocal in his opposition to continued u.s. support for ukraine. he says it is not in america's interest to continue funding an effectively never-ending lore. you were a lead sponsor of the ability provide u.s. funding to ukraine. how does that sit with you? rep. cole: look, this has been a divisive issue, and i respect the opinion of the guy i am going to vote for. but i have not changed my view on ukraine. it is very much in america's interest.

it is not hard to know who the bad guys are here. it is not hard to know what the stakes are. it is also a mistake to say we have done this alone. there's been an alliance of countries, over a dozen of whom, who have now given a higher percentage of their gdp, higher percentage of their budget than the united states has. that makes a lot of sense because most of them are in the neighborhood and that is a point president trump has made peter delete. we expect europe to do more to defend itself. i think in this case you are actually seeing that. i think this is in her interest but we will have that debate in washington, d.c. and go from there. geoff: in your review, how would donald trump government if he was reelected? because he is an existential threat to america. rep. cole: i don't think he is. democrats mis-describe two years. i think he will be a very strong president. he is much better equipped this time. four years of experience makes a

difference. we see it in everything from the campaign into the policies. his goals will be pretty much the same. secure the border, a robust economy, strong military. i would expect him to do the kinds of things he has laid out already on the campaign trail. geoff: the recent supreme court decision that afforded presidents brought immunity, with that and bolden donald trump, who has shown a willingness to obliterate boundaries which have served as guides and guardrails? rep. cole: what he tends to do is if he tells you he's going to do something, my experience is he means it, and he is going to do everything within his power to reach the goals he has laid out, whether it is i'm going to change the supreme court, or we are going to build a wall, whatever it is. you can agree or disagree with the policy, that is fair enough, but you better take him seriously because he is going to pursue it.

you are going to see a robust use of executive power but it will not be outside the norm of american history. it is up to congress and the courts to keep them in check. historically they have done a good job of doing that. geoff: it is remarkable to hear a member of congress defend the president's use of executive power. i would think he would want that power reserved for the executive branch. rep. cole: i disagreed with ending the keystone pipeline, with actions on the border. all of my colleagues in congress did. it was still within the realm of his authority to do. i think president trump would use his authority aggressively. we have presidents that have misused executive authority terribly. fdr putting 120,000 japanese americans in internment camps. andrew who forcibly removed indian tribes, and lost a

supreme court case on it and still ignored the supreme court. so these things do happen in american history, but they will happen less under donald trump. geoff: you are also a trained historian. you have served in congress since 2003, more than 20 years. the republican has changed dramatically since then. how do you track that? rep. cole: parties do change over time. that tends to be a good thing. they are usually changing in response to changing demographic and political circumstances. there was a time when the african-american community was heavily republican. the civil-rights movement, really beginning in fdr's presidency that began to change. they said this is a party that creates more opportunity for me and is more focused on me. i think we are now seeing a great shift among working-class americans of all races and

ethnicities that the democratic party has been imprisoned by elites and rigid inking and they are not thinking very much about us. and so i think see that movement. trump took advantage of it. over time, the one thing i will tell you about political parties is they reflect the demographics underneath them. geoff: democrats at the moment do not share that same level of confidence. president biden is facing increasing pressure from democratic leaders in congress to withdraw from this race. when republicans rather run against a biden/harris ticket or have kamala harris at the top of the ticket? rep. cole: i don't think there will be a great deal of difference in the sense that since vice president harris has been the vice president and has been enthusiastic of president biden, she's going to take responsibility and ownership of that. i don't think she would try to

back away from it. she certainly cannot. we're going to be running against the record of this administration, whether it is president biden or vice president harris heading the ticket. whoever the democrats choose is their choice, i respect that. i've never seen anything where an incumbent president who had already effectively won the nomination backed out. but it speaks to desperation and chaos on the others and that is usually a good thing if you are in a competition. the other person changing horses this late in the game suggests they don't have a lot of confidence in their own team and their own outlook and their own record. because at the end of the day this is going to be a referendum on the biden administration. and they don't seem very confident in that right now. geoff: congressman tom cole, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. rep. cole: thank you. ♪

amna: the secret service is under intense scrutiny after the attempted assassination on former president trump. a homeland security and congressional probe are under way, and the agency's director, kimberly cheatle, is expected to testify before the house oversight committee next week. yesterday, here on the floor of the republican national convention, lawmakers confronted cheatle as she walked through the venue. >> stonewalling! amna: for a closer look, i'm joined by anthony cangelosi, a former secret service agent and a lecturer at the john jay college of criminal justice. welcome and thanks for joining us. the more we learned about what happened here, the more questions it seems to raise. knowing as we do now that the shooter was able to get less than 500 feet that a former president, climb on top of the building, get a line of sight to

him and get off though shots, do you agree when lawmakers look at this and say this was a failure of the secret service? anthony: yes. it is undoubtedly a failure. when i first thought of watching video footage of it, my first reaction was, where were the shots coming from? how could this be? and as the information started to come in, realizing this was only 150 yards with a clear line of sight to the podium where the president was going to be speaking, and that they did not have an agent or some kind of armed law enforcement officer on the top of that roof, that is a critical error on the part of the planning. and that gap insecurity could have resulted in someone climbing that roof and shooting indiscriminately into the attendees on that venue and there could have been a lot more death. amna: there have been some reports that local police with

whom they were coordinating had told the secret service they did not have enough people to station a patrol car outside that building that we know the gunman was able to get access to. could that one factor have changed everything here? anthony: there is a lot of planning that goes into these events. they start planning these events days in advance. if that was known, and it should have been known, there had to be some kind of way of getting, whether the local police or secret service, getting an engine to stand a post on that roof to deter any bad actors like to shoot her from getting up there and trying to either kill president trump or kill people in the venue. this is something that should have been easy to avoid. amna: there are questions about the planning and communications in the moment. as the details come out it appears to be that local police had identified the shooter as

someone who looked suspicious but they did not know he was armed. they notified the secret service. police were pulled to find him but they lost track of him. and in that time, just eight minutes after president trump took the stage, the gunman began to fire that shot. what should have been happening that didn't? anthony: there are a lot of questions. like you said, if that timeline proves to be correct. what is communication crisp to the secret service command post? what actions were actually taken? secret service can sometimes send api team to interview the suspect or counter surveillance unit team to interview the suspect. i don't know where everyone was positioned on that david another thing is a police officer could approach him as well.

why didn't the police officer questioned him if he really thought it was suspicious? amna: to clarify, when there is coordination between secret service and local police does happen, where does the accountability end up? is it secret service's responsibility to make sure local police are doing what they are supposed to? anthony: look, as part of the planning stages, secret service is coordinating with the local police department and communication is always a critical aspect of that preplanning stage. you have to try to get everybody on the same sheet so as what their duties and responsibilities are. ultimately it lies with the secret service. the production of a president -- protection of a president, former president. the venue itself, they are ultimately as possible. but it is true that because of manpower issues, the local police department generally secures the outer perimeter of the venue. amna: the secret service

director is expected to testify on capitol hill next week. what questions do you think she needs to answer cannot testimony? anthony: one of the questions i would ask is who is the highest official in the united states secret service that approved that site survey plan? and why did they approve the plan without someone positioned on the top of that roof? it seems evident to everybody. i don't think you are going to find another retired secret service agent who does not think that was a critical flaw in the plan. amna: that is anthony cangelosi, former secret service agent, lecturer at the john jay college of criminal justice. good to speak with you. anthony: thank you. you have a good evening. ♪

geoff: the intersection of faith and politics has been another central message we've heard this week in milwaukee. amna: it's also something our own judy woodruff has been following closely as part of her america at a crossroads series. judy is with us now for a closer look. thank you for being here. geoff: you recently filed two reports about the role of politics and the political divide in the white evangelical church. what is your reaction to faith this week, and this notion expressed by a lot of people here that donald trump surviving the assassination attempt confirmed that he is in some way god's chosen to bring salvation to the world, elevating him as a messianic figure? judy: there is no question there has been an effort on the part of some of the speakers and certainly on the delegates, this sense that they feel that their

christian faith has been invoked by this incident. senator tim scott the other night mentioned satan came down and was going to take donald trump's life but god intervened and therefore, here is a message we all need to hear. you are hearing strands of that throughout these delegates. i will say this is not a universally accepted idea. just a few minutes ago i was on the floor talking to delegates in general about a number of different things and asked them about the role of religion in politics. some of them say they are not comfortable with that. so i would not say it is universal among every single republican. these are the most active republicans in the country here at the convention. but it clearly is a significant strain on the republican party. amna: you were spending time talking to many of those delegates today. what did they articulate about

the role faith has played in the way it made into those speeches and how much it matters to them? judy: for many of them it is front and center. many people here are wearing a cross, they comfortably bring up their faith and god, or whatever faith they belong to in conversation. i have to say, i just finished within the last half-hour speaking the delegates and i said, do you think religion should play a bitter -- bigger role in the public square, and some of them said no. they said what we need is more room for people of different faiths to express their views, that there should not be a particular faith imposed. so some of them seem to have given this some thought. but we need to overlay all of this. right now 80% of self identified evangelicals in america say they identify as republican. or i should say, they voted for

donald trump. so this is a party that is overlaying the evangelical church in america. geoff: how does the religious right, the party faithful who are here, how do they feel about the issue of abortion, specifically donald trump saying they should be left to the states? judy: i think there is a shift. this is a party that, every four years in the platform, the language has been there. we need to have strict rules against abortion. they wanted roe v. wade repealed. this year as you know, the language has been very downplayed. donald trump's decision is in line with the supreme court ruling on the dobbs decision, leave it up to the states. in talking to delegates last weekend, we spoke to six delegates from across the country, all but one of them said they were perfectly comfortable with abortion being left to the states. that is a significant shift.

some of them i know are individually affected. they said to us in their own view in the past, they felt that there should be more government regulations about abortion. i think it is another reminder of just how much donald trump and his personal views have injected themselves into the belief system of republicans who have shown up at this convention. amna: our very own judy woodruff joining us here. thank you very much for joining us. always great to see you. geoff: shifting our focus overseas now, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu made a surprise visit to gaza today. amna: for that and all the day's other headlines, we turn to stephanie sy in the washington studio. stephanie? stephanie: thanks, amna and geoff. just days ahead of his high-stakes trip to washington next week, israeli prime minister netanyahu met with his idf troops in rafah, in southern gaza. the city had been a vital crossing point for aid into gaza.

but israeli forces invaded rafah in early may in their effort to further destroy hamas' military power, driving out many of the two million palestinians who had sought shelter there. netanyahu said israeli control of the crossing is essential for ongoing hostage negotiations. >> the military pressure they are exerting right here, at hamas's throat, helps us, along with the firm insistence on our just demands, to promote the hostage deal. this double pressure does not delay the deal, it promotes it. stephanie: hours earlier, in jerusalem, israel's far-right national security minister made a notable visit of his own. itamar ben-gvir walked through the al-aqsa compound, sacred to both jews and muslims. palestinian officials condemned the visit, calling it a provocative intrusion. it comes a day after israeli negotiators landed in cairo to continue work on moving peace talks forward. a russian court says closing

arguments in the trial of wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich will take place tomorrow. it's a sign that the legal proceedings against the 32-year-old are moving quickly. gershkovich faces espionage charges that his employer and the u.s. government say were drummed up. just today, the state department called the entire process a sham. gershkovich has been held in russian custody for over a year. he was arrested in march of 2023 while on a reporting trip, and has pleaded not guilty. ukrainian forces have retreated from the village of urozhaine in the eastern donetsk region, surrendering more frontline territory, as russian forces wage a relentless summer offensive. this, as ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy met with european leaders today in the english countryside to seek further support for his nation's defense. he called this a tough period for ukraine, and said he hopes allies will allow longer-range strikes into russia.

>> the more effective our air defense is, the more helpless putin will be. the fewer restrictions we have on the use of effective weapons, the more russia will seek peace. stephanie: so far, nato members have taken different positions on how ukraine can use the weapons they've provided. the u.s., for instance, only allows american arms to be used to hit russian targets in order to defend the city of kharkiv. and the flow of munitions from the west has not been enough to repel russian advances, especially in the donetsk region. the department of justice has accused employees of the country's largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children of sexual abuse and harassment. southwest key has nearly 30 facilities in texas, arizona, and california with room for more than 6000 children. in its lawsuit, the doj alleges severe, pervasive, and unwelcome abuse and harassment of the minors in its care.

it details at least 100 reports of misconduct, dating back to 2015, that included touching, soliciting nude images, and even rape. the suit says children were threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they reported the abuse. new data shows that so far 2024 has been the world's hottest year on record. from january to june, global temperatures have soared. the other 10 lines beneath that represent the hottest years since records began. those high temperatures have helped fuel $15 billion weather disasters in the u.s. in 2024, and that is not counting hurricane beryl. on wall street today, stocks dropped as investors turned sour on high-flying tech stocks. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 500 points, but is still above that 40,000 point level. the nasdaq gave back 125 points, pulling further back from recent records.

the s&p 500 also ended lower on the day. and sadly, we have a few passings of note this evening. legendary actor and comedian bob newhart has died. newhart got his start as a standup comic in the late 1950's. he gained nationwide fame, and a grammy, when his routine was captured on vinyl and released as "the button-down mind of bob newhart." with his dead-pan delivery and every-man looks, newhart became one of the most popular t.v. stars of the 1970's and 1980's. he fronted not one, but two shows that bore his name, engineered a finale for the ages by crossing the two stories, in a famous bedroom scene, implying the second show was just a dream. >> you are right, bob? what is it? >> i was an innkeeper in this crazy little town in vermont. >> i'm happy for you.

stephanie: in his later years, newhart appeared in movies such as "elf" and "horrible bosses," and made t.v. appearances in such hits as "the big bang theory." bob newhart was 94 years old. also today, veteran news anchor lou dobbs passed away. dobbs was a long-time business anchor for cnn, hosting its popular "moneyline" program. he left in 2009 to help rupert murdoch launch the fox business network. he later became one of donald trump's most vocal supporters in the media. in a post on his social media platform, the former president called dobbs a friend, and truly incredible journalist, reporter, and talent. lou dobbs was 78. and finally, bernice johnson reagon, a prominent civil rights activist, singer, and scholar, has died. born and raised in southwest georgia, a young reagon, there on the right, co-founded the freedom singers in 1962. a year later, the acapella group was performing alongside the

likes of bob dylan and peter, paul and mary. ♪ her searing alto voice amplified black liberation struggles, and helped define an era of american history. bernice johnson reagon was 81 years old. amna and geoff, back to you in milwaukee. geoff: it's been a convention unlike any other, with the assassination attempt against former president trump lingering over the week. but this moment is just the latest on the long timeline of the republican party. amna: our lisa desjardins is back with a look at the birth of the gop and what it means for today. >> did you hear about the birthplace of the republican party yet? lisa: just outside the republican national convention in milwaukee, mandy kimes is giving history lessons to anyone who'll listen.

>> it happened just 1.5 miles away from here. lisa: she's traveled almost 100 miles from the small town of ripon, wisconsin, bringing a replica of the original little white schoolhouse, where the republican party was born 170 years ago. >> i really think people are kind of surprised when they're learning about history. and i think because this is the story of the republican party, we have kind of like a hook to draw them in. and then all of a sudden they're learning something even deeper than what they thought it was. lisa: but before my lesson, i asked kimes about much more recent history, the attempted assassination of former president trump. >> i think if anything it's made everything feel more poignant and more important. but i think there's still a sense of camaraderie, like a sense of pulling together and a united front. there's definitely a thing of like, we are all one family here. this was obviously a schoolhouse and this was also a gathering place for the community.

lisa: we first met kimes before the convention, at the real little white schoolhouse in ripon, where her enthusiasm is infectious. >> the fact that these ordinary people in this ordinary place actually got together and stood up against what they believed in and changed the world is, like, cool, you know, like, it's extraordinary. lisa: she's the head of the local chamber of commerce, and leads tours at the schoolhouse. it was here in 1854 that a new political party took shape around opposition to slavery. >> and so if slavery were allowed to move in, it would be an economic threat. lisa: the original building, which has moved multiple times, now sits in an easy to miss spot on one of the town's main roads. once inside, visitors can find a host of artifacts, the words of party founders, and provides a space for conversations about the political divides of today. >> let's get back to what's best for our country instead of what's best for the party. lisa: keith hellwig and rory tompkins live near the

schoolhouse but had never stopped to see it. when they did, they found the history of 1854 still relevant today. >> i do feel the country is very divided. both sides, they're playing the people. and i feel that if they keep us divided, it keeps our focus off of what they're doing. >> the two eras that come to mind of the danger of political violence being at the level it is right now, would be the 1850's, the kind of run-up the civil war, and the 1960's. lisa: sam rosenfeld is a political scientist at colgate university who has studied polarization throughout u.s. history. he says this moment has the nation on edge. >> the assumption that given the level of conflict and divisiveness in american politics right now, that kind of violent event could inevitably cascade into more political violence. i don't think that particular assassination attempt is going to do so.

and yet this is a period in which there is real danger of political violence, in part because of the rhetoric of major political actors in american politics right now. >> this is part of our heritage as a history. lisa: back outside the convention, kimes keeps sharing this story. >> the thing i hope people will take away from this history is that we can find ways to work together, and we can find ways to listen to one another. and that's really what happened in that little schoolhouse so long ago. lisa: a small schoolhouse still giving big lessons. for the "pbs news hour," i'm lisa desjardins in milwaukee. geoff: remember, we have much online -- much more online, including an interview with the man who has coordinated the celebratory balloon drop at every gop convention since 1988. you will want to watch that one. that's at pbs.org/newshour. amna: and we hope you join us tonight for our live convention coverage starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on your local pbs station, and is always dreaming

on our website and our youtube pages. and that is the "news hour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the "pbs news hour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us. we'll see you back here soon. >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "news hour," including leonard and norma klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the "news hour."

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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what's coming up. donald trump has my strong endorsement, period. >> republicans highlight unity, as donald