geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the "news hour" tonight, israel says it killed another top hezbollah leader -- the third major strike on the lebanese militant group in as many days. in-person early voting begins in this year's hotly-contested election. we look at the potential impact split-ticket voters could have

on the race for the white house and the control of congress. and, in a new memoir, renowned tv journalist connie chung pulls back the curtain on how she managed to inspire a generation of women despite rampant sexism. >> i decided i would be one of them, i would try to be one of the boys. i would take pages from their playbook. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "news hour" including jim and nancy bildner and the shiller foundation read the cochlear bloom foundation

strengthening democracies at home and abroad area >> it really matters when you have an opportunity to give back area -- back, -- back. >> being able to integrate your career with some of these other things that are important to you. >> this is our community, too. >> they want these opportunities to make an impact and a difference. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation fostering engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "news hour."

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs nation from viewers like you. think you. -- thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. there are new concerns of escalation after an israeli airstrike killed a top hezbollah commander looming earlier unprecedented attacks on the militant group's communication center. thousands have been wounded and tensions along the shared border are at their highest level in years. nick schifrin reports. nick: israel has promised a new phase in the war and its delivery in beirut where in airstrike destroyed a building and killed the commander of

hezbollah's special forces. earlier this week their infiltration of hezbollah's communication network through walkie-talkies and pagers turned into bombs. israel launched one of its largest bombing campaign yet, with dozens of hezbollah file and rank injured. >> at the time of the strike, the commanders of the forces are gathered underground, under a residential building in beirut. hiding among lebanese civilians, using them as human shields, they were in the middle of planning more terror attacks against israeli civilians. reporter: he was wanted for the 1993 attacks on the beirut embassy.

and the marine corps barracks attack that killed nearly 300. israel says it is trying to return 60,000 displaced from now empty cities in the north and do not want a regional escalation. the lebanese state media says today's attack also killed children, as did this week's attacks, adding pressure to hezbollah to escalate. hezbollah fired 200 rockets into israel. despite momentum toward war, president biden today held out hope for a cease-fire. pres. biden: we will keep at it before we get it done, but we have a long way to go. nick: a long way to go as the focus of the war seems to be shifting north. for the pbs "news hour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪ geoff: a 2024 boating season is underway as early in-person

voting has started in minnesota, south dakota and virginia. meanwhile, the state election board in georgia passed a new vote-counting rule that has sparked heated debate. stephanie sy begins our coverage in that state, where vice president kamala harris spoke earlier this evening. stephanie: the vice president back in battleground georgia where a six week abortion ban is cleaving voters. vp harris: her name, we will speak her name, amber nicole thurman. stephanie: a single mother from georgia who reportedly suffered an abortion-related death. according to an investigation, she suffered a rare complication from an abortion pill and died after waiting 20 hours for doctors to perform a surgical procedure that has been banned a penalty of prosecution in the state. harris tied this death to trump's supreme court appointments.

vp harris: he brags about overturning roe v. wade. in his words, i am proud to have done it. he is proud. proud. that women are dying? proud that doctors andstephaniel workers to count all ballots by hands. >> the motion passes 3-2. stephanie: the latest in a series of changes by the pro-trump majority on the board and would require three people to count every ballots in every precinct on election night or the day after. votes would still be tallied by machine. >> we are creating more stability in our election process. stephanie: but several local election officials warned passing this new rule weeks before voting will strain workers and resources, potentially delaying results.

>> i believe the proposals discussed today introduce huge opportunities for chaos, error, voter insecurity. >> i challenge you to go into any county in the state of georgia and do the rules you are passing today. work as a poll worker all day and then count the ballots. stephanie: george's republican attorney general and others oppose the changes, warning it could set up more legal challenges. last night in washington former president trump took the stage with a republican mega donor miriam adelson, an outspoken supporter of israel. trump condemned antisemitism, but also criticized jewish voters for not supporting him in larger numbers. mr. trump: i was not treated properly by the voters who happen to be jewish. do they know what the hell is happening? if i don't win this election and the jewish would have to -- have

a lot to do with that. 60% of the people are voting for the enemy. israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years, and i believe i am 100% right. stephanie: also last night, harris participated in a live-streamed rally with the queen of talk in battleground michigan. >> everything is so expensive. stephanie: the vice president took questions directly from audience members and viewers. during a discussion of gun control harris told oprah she is not afraid to use her firearm. vp harris: i am a gun owner, too. >> i did not know that. >> i hear that. vp harris: probably should not have said that. stephanie: harris has positioned herself as a second amendment defender who also supports stricter gun controls and renewing the federal ban on assault weapons.

tonight the vice president is on to another closely contested state with a rally in wisconsin. for the pbs "news hour," i'm stephanie sy. ♪ geoff: the days other headlines begin with the heightened scrutiny over the work of the u.s. secret service. today, the house of representatives unanimously passed a bill that would boost protections for presidential candidates. senate leaders haven't yet said whether they'd consider the bill. meantime, the secret service is acknowledging communication lapses and what it calls "complacency" in the days leading leading up to, and during, donald trump's butler, pennsylvania rally in july. that's according to a new internal review. acting director ronald rowe vowed to hold the agency accountable, and called for major change. >> we are at a pivotal moment in

the history of the secret service and in the history of our country. i have directed that the secret service embark on a significant paradigm shift that will redefine how we conduct protective operations. geoff: rowe defended the secret service's actions in the attempted second assassination attempt against florida -- against trump in florida this weekend, but said the agency is spread too thin. a severe storm left one person dead in a small city in northeast oklahoma. winds up to 72 miles an hour and golf ball-sized hail battered pawnee -- about 60 miles west of tulsa. the storm flipped multiple camping vehicles and brought down trees and power lines. city officials said the fatality was due to an overturned camper. many roads and schools were closed today to deal with the damage. there are also torrential rains across western and central africa that have triggered the worst floods the region has seen in decades. nearly 1000 people have died across chad, niger, mali and nigeria.

rescue operations are still underway in some areas, more than a week after the flooding began. in northeastern nigeria, the downpours caused the collapse of a major dam - the full scope of the devastation can only be seen from the air. on the ground, refugee camps grow increasingly crowded, as hundreds of thousands have been displaced. >> with our small children, we don't know where to stay now. the government should be sympathetic to allow us to stay longer in the camp, because if we go back to our house now, we will not have a place to sleep with our children. geoff: meantime, the worst flooding to hit central europe in at least two decades is now swamping parts of hungary. outside the capital, budapest, residents dealing with flooded streets, due to the rising levels of the danube. the river is expected to peak later today, or tomorrow. and upstream, in parts of poland, the water has receded to reveal the extent of the devastation there. at least 24 people have died

across the region. the european union has pledged billions of dollars in aid. the federal trade commission is suing the nation's three largest phamacy benefit managers -- or pbm's -- for inflating the price of insulin. the case accuses cvs health's caremark, cigna's express scripts and unitedhealth's optum rx of steering diabetes patients toward higher-cost insulin, and reaping millions of dollars in rebates. such companies are considered the middlemen of the industry. the pbm's defended their practices, with cvs caremark saying they are being blamed for the high prices set by drug companies. wall street ended on a quieter note today, after what's been a record-setting week. the dow jones industrial average rose by nearly 40 points, inching up to another record. but, the nasdaq fell, losing more than 60 points on the day. the s&p also dipped just beneath its all-time high. and, you don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate greatness.

in a record-breaking performance last night, los angeles dodgers star shohei ohtani put on a show unlike any the game has ever seen. >> ohtani sends one in the air they other way. back it goes, don! >> a game that will go down in history. >> shohei ohtani starts the 50/50 club! >> shohei ohtani now the first player ever to slug 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. blowing by both milestones on one unforgettable night. >> i'm happy, i'm relieved, and very respectful to the peers and everybody who came before who played this sport of baseball. >> the japanese superstar, often called a modern-day babe ruth, accomplished the feat in typically superlative fashion. >> he got his foot in! >> going 6 for 6 from the plate, with 3 home runs, 10 rbis, and 2 steals, an historic feat of its own. fans in japan celebrated while

at home commentators called it , one of the greatest single-game performances in sports history. >> shohei ohtani! the greatest day in baseball history! >> last night's win was storybook for another reason, too -- it secured the dodgers a spot in the postseason. and with the team now poised for a run at the world series, fans are hoping for more shohei magic deep into october. >> this is not real life! geoff: still to come on the "news hour," poland's foreign minister considers whether ukraine should use western weapons to strike further inside russia. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh-in on the week's political headlines and the son , of imprisoned hong kong publisher jimmy lai drums up support from u.s. lawmakers. >> this is pbs newshour west from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta studio in

washington and in the west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: ukraine's president zelensky is drawing up a plan for how they believe the war with russia should end. poland has been a staunch supporter and has taken in hundreds of thousands of ukrainian refugees. for some perspective on all of this we turn to radoslaw sikorski, poland's foreign minister. thank you for coming in. president zelenskyy will soon make public his plan for ending the war in ukraine. what are your expectations for the eventual outcome of this conflict and how is poland preparing for best case and worst-case scenarios? p.m. sikorski: it is 1.6 million ukrainian refugees in poland, without a single refugee camp because we have taken them into our homes. poland has offered $4 billion of military assistance to ukraine. war is never won by a single

factor, it is a combination of things. i was in kyiv last weekend what i learned has an indigenous arms industry that has spare capacity. so we should help them produce their own weapons. ukraine also needs to marshall more recruits for the fights. but yes, i visited the ukrainian city of lviv, where a town house was destroyed by a missile with a man watching his wife and three daughters being carried out dead. that missile was launched from a russian bomber. tell me why ukraine should not have the right to take out that bomber before it launches its missiles at civilian targets in ukraine? i think the victim of aggression has every right to defend

herself. geoff: have you shared that message with the u.s. state department? p.m. sikorski: yes, i spoke about it publicly when tony blinken visited warsaw. geoff: this is the matter the u.s. has been weighing, whether ukraine should have authority to use western weapons to fire and aim artillery deeper into russia. the concern has been the risk of escalation. how do you see it? p.m. sikorski: ukraine should obey international humanitarian law, obviously. it should use our weapons to hit military targets. but when you say escalation, what you actually mean, nuclear weapons? the u.s. has read the riot act to putin along with china and india. other than that, tell me what putin is not doing that he could do if he gets really angry?

i do not believe such a thing exists. geoff: what about crimea? as you well know, it was seized by russia decade ago. you suggested it be put under a u.n. mandate. why is that the right approach? ukrainian leaders say russia violated international law and should be held to account. p.m. sikorski: no, it was president zelenskyy who said perhaps ukraine will recover crimea through diplomatic means. we have an off the record hypothetical discussion of how that could be achieved. we support ukrainian sovereignty, the inviolability of borders. russia should get out of ukraine, including crimea. geoff: poland has been one of ukraine's staunchest supporters. how do you view poland's role in having -- helping ukraine reconstruct after the war? p.m. sikorski: i believe ukraine, if she wins, will be a

boom town because she is inherently a rich country, rich soil, power plants, good i.t. sector and the most experienced army on the democratic side. very talented people. but the e.u. will also help. the aggressor should pay for the destruction they have wrought. we have a program of supports. we have given them about $120 billion euros so far, more than the u.s. there will be a program of reconstruction as well. geoff: i am sure you are closely watching the u.s. election. kamala harris says she supports ukraine and is committed to nato. donald trump recently refused to say whether he wanted ukraine to win. he has in the past said things many view as undermining nato.

what is your perception of both trump and harris, and how would their respective victories, what would that mean for the future of ukraine and poland? p.m. sikorski: thank you for this invitation to weigh in to your internal politics, which i of course will not do. but i will be going to michigan next week to thank the polish americans in michigan for their support for the treaty to enlarge nato. and the support for nato -- i will tell them support for nato in the u.s. continues to be important. geoff: thank you for your time. ♪ geoff: split ticket voters, those who vote for candidates from different parties, are increasingly rare in modern american politics, but as lisa desjardins explains, those who

cross the aisle on their ballots may decide which party controls the u.s. senate next year. >> we can't work all the time. we have to do something to take our mind off of things. lisa: in annapolis, maryland, he is still learning the ropes of sailing. picking it up after retiring from a 20 year career in the army. >> sailing is incredible because it is one of the few times you can have motion without noise. >> not a big leap to see that as a political metaphor as well. >> by disposition, i would like all of us to move forward with less yelling. lisa: he is charting another new course this november, splitting his ticket between democrat kamala harris for president and for senate, the first republican ever to win his vote. >> i am a registered democrat, have been my entire life, as i'm

voting for larry hogan, the maryland republican candidate for senate. i think we are best when the centerleft and center-right are pulling on each other a bit and we find a workable solution in the middle. lisa: larry hogan is a dream recruit for republicans. a popular moderate and former two-time governor and a blue state, part of a gop on offense. senate republicans need to pick up two senate seats to pick up the chamber outright and just one to create a 50-50 tie, which would break in favor of the party that wins the white house. they have a good map of the 34 senate seats on the ballot, democrats are defending a whopping 23 of them. one of them, west virginia, is expected to flip to republicans. and seven other democratic seats across the country could go either way, meaning democrats have no room for error, no room to worry about her bright blue state like maryland.

but hogan is a recognizable force, stopped constantly while campaigning at the state fair. he won nearly one third of democrats in his 2018 election. hogan is anti-trump, key in a state that voted for biden by 33 points. he needs voters likecolin. >> i am trying to get every republican and democrat in the state because i am both of those things. >> it is all about the ticket splitters. >> my first question about hogan is why does he want to vote for senate? lisa: she will not be ticket splitting. she voted for hogan in 2018, appreciated how he handled the pandemic and that he sent the national guard to washington, d.c. on january 6. but in the senate, worries hogan would give republicans too much power, a decisive vote against her interest. >> gun violence, education,

housing, women's rights, health rights, and equality for everyone. there are a lot of things from the other side's policies i like. lisa: the executive of one of the state's largest counties, she had an impressive primary win, but even so, one out of three maryland voters did not recognize her name and a poll this month. brooks is ahead in polls, but knows it is closer than democrats like. she says voters here are attuned to ctrol in washington. >> it is close because there is a lot at stake, but i think marylanders are very savvy and will understand the difference between a governors race and the senate race, one where reproductive freedoms and democracy are on the ballot. lisa: as democrats hope to prevent split voting in maryland -- >> the proud american flag act. lisa: they needed in states like

ohio where sherrod brown is running on bipartisan patriotism and appeals to republicans. >> i am a republican. i don't agree with sherrod brown on everything, but when it comes to fighting fentanyl, no one has done more than sherrod brown. >> i am a lifelong republican. >> i will vote for trump, but i am voting for jon tester. lisa: in 2020, trump won their states by six and 18 points. a common theme for tester and brooks, running on abortion. >> it is a woman's right to make our own health decisions. lisa: hogan described himself as pro-choice this year. >> i ran for governor promising to protect abortion rights and cap that promise for 10 years. now i will be a sponsor to codify roe and ivf. lisa: have you used the phrase pro-choice publicly? >> no, because i have my own

personal feelings about it, but i would never get between a woman and a doctor to make her own decisions. lisa: democrats point out he vetoed of bill to block access that would have allowed nurse practitioners and others to perform abortions. when they over held the veto he held back funding for training. while colin supports hogan's approach, it is -- split tickets will determine the shape of washington next year. i'm lisa desjardins in annapolis, maryland. geoff: for more on the 2024 race, we turn the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart associate editor for , the washington post. the 2024 election is officially underway with early in person voting starting in three states as the gop races a scandal in

north carolina. the trump-endorsed tenant governor mark is denying reports he had anything to do with racist and sexually explicit online posts. cnn published the story and attribute these messages to robinson, including one where he characterizes himself as a black nazi and defends slavery and it devolves from there. what does it say about the modern gop where a candidate like mark robinson, who had a number of known liabilities until now, this is not new, what does it say that he got this far? >> we should reassure voters that is the -- viewers that was the g-rated version. it is mind-boggling nastiness. the republican party used to be a normal vetting procedures. you were a college republican and got vetted by your state

assembly, like in industry basically. structures that people who are complete opportunists and degenerates, if i can use that word, do not pass through the system. but that system was wiped away. ever since the trump era, we have had a series of candidates who do not pass a sick muster. not just -- who do not pass basic muster. not just skeletons in their closet. will it hurt trump in north carolina? i'm skeptical. people really know donald trump. i don't think it will bring him down. but robinson is losing the polls. geoff: didn't mitch mcconnell mention this years ago, voters have to worry about quality? david: he was roundly ignored. the ad the harris campaign has put out tying mark robinson and donald trump has two goals.

the first, to reach those republicans, the squishy republicans who are like, i don't like donald trump and the way he behaves, but don't know if i can vote for her. this is a way of showing them that, with trump you get this kind of chaos. on the others, because the ad is young and hip, the way they do it is showing young democrats in north carolina, look, you can either sit on the couch or see both of these guys get elected. this is the reason the things that they show, this is why you should vote for harris. geoff: we can look at it right now. trump: and he's been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, mark robinson. robinson: for me, there's no compromise on abortion. trump: i think you're better than martin luther king. robinson: we could pass a bill saying you can't have an abortion in north carolina for any reason.

abortion in this country, it's about killing a child because you aren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down. trump: i've been with him a lot. i've gotten to know him, and he's outstanding. narrator: donald trump and mark robinson. they're both wrong for north carolina. geoff: david, in talking to the harris campaign staffers, the reason they think this scandal might but north carolina is in play is because reproductive rights in their view is such a resident issue -- resident --resonant issue. david: if you are for abortion rights, your mind is made up. you don't need mark robinson to persuade you. this is a tangent, but, the abortion issue is a great issue for democrats, but i think the harris campaign is talking -- talking too much about it. they should talk about the economy. tying it to abortion rights has

been done enough and they should pivot. geoff: what do you think? jonathan: no. right now it is an issue. while the messages about abortion rights, it is bigger than that. it ties into the freedom argument. for a lot of people, the ability to have control over your bodily a tana me -- autonomy has to do with your physical and economic freedom. in the stories of amber thurman and cindy miller, part of the issue was economics. amber thurman could not get back to north carolina. she could not afford to because of the six abortion ban in georgia. as an aside, for donald trump to say mark robinson is better than mlk, he even said he was mlk on steroids, is just reprehensible. geoff: speaking of trump, he spoke at an event last night that was said to focus on anti-semitism and he appeared to

blame the jewish community if he loses this fall. mr. trump: i was not treated properly by the voters who happen to be jewish. do they know what the hell is happening? if i do not win this election and the jewish would really have a lot to do with that, because 60% of the people are voting for the enemy. israel in my opinion will cease to exist within two years. i believe i am 100% rate. -- right. geoff: the trump campaign believes they see gains with jewish voters as helping them in michigan and virginia. david: not a good sales technique. i thought trump policies on israel were pretty good, the embassy in jerusalem is good, i think they weakened iran.

but like any other group of voters, they have a lot of interest -- different interest. they asked jewish voters to list the 11 things they are voting on and israel came in 9th. they are traditionally allied with the democratic party because they tend to be more urban than median voters. he got the numbers wrong. harris has 75% of jewish voters. to -- accusing is not a sales technique. jonathan: david speaks for me on this. i agree with you 100%. personally, i am insulted on behalf of jewish people, my jewish friends, that a person running for president of the u.s. is pre-blaming a group of

people, if i lose, it is your fault. i can't help but think, you go to an anti-semitism event and dabble in anti-semitism, dredging up the dual loyalty thing that gets under the skin of jewish american voters, rightly so. geoff: david, your column caught my eye, how a cultural shift favors harris. you wrote, kamala harris is benefiting from the beginning of a cultural shift and having the cultural winds at her back. donald trump is getting slapped in the face by those winds. tell me more. [laughter] david: you should do that opening every week. i have been traveling a lot, 13 or 14 states in the last two weeks. some red, some blue. one thing i have noticed, people are tired of the negativity of our public life. there are periods of indignation

where people are really angry. you can only be angry for so long. donald trump won because people were really indignant. my sense is, they have had enough of it. in the early 1970's there were bombings on college campuses, the days of rage they were called. then people were into crystals and new age stuff. they got tired of the negativity. i think that cultural pivot is happening now at a time when kamala harris, who she is is cheerful and joyful and let's not be negative all the time. let's have a good time as a country. i think she is benefiting from the cultural pivot. geoff: that word joy, vice president harris when she sat down with three reporters with the national association of black journalists, she said, how she views attacks on her joyful

warrior approach. she said sometimes people will try to use your best asset against you. what do you make of this notion that she is benefiting from a cultural wave? jonathan: she is, but it is not so much she is riding this wave. no, she is part of the culture. when she became the top of the ticket, everyone marveled at how quickly the light switch flipped. it happened so organically, in a very dramatic fashion. to me that says you can't manufacture that. she was able to do that because she is the culture, she is part of the culture. she is part of what is driving this culture that you said will slap donald trump in the face. it is slapping him in the face now, which is why he is so discombobulated.

he does not know how to deal with her. it is why momentum is moving in her direction. to your point about happy warrior, this is the way the vice president has always been, which reinforces what you are saying. it is not that she has met up with the culture. she in her entire career has been the happy warrior about helping people and leaving aside the negativity. it just happens to hit at the right person at the right time. geoff: is there a cultural or historical precedents for this type of thing? david: trump emerged in the 1980's, an era of self and money and capitalism. the culture was with him, then he vanished because the culture shifted. politicians and pop celebrities rise and fall by how the culture moves. culture really does move. you get periods of anger,

hostility and conflict. world war i leads to flappers in the 1920's. world war ii leads to the domesticity of the 1950's. decades shift and people want something different. i think we are in one of those shifts. geoff: i enjoyed this conversation. thank you both. ♪ geoff: this week a group of u.s. lawmakers came together in a rare show of bipartisan support to call for the immediate relase of hong kong businessman jimmy lai. lai -- who owned the once popular newspaper apple daily -- is one of hundreds of democracy activists, journalists and political leaders imprisoned as part of mainland china's ongoing crackdown on dissent in hong kong. nick schifrin recently spoke to his son and lawyer, who were in washington and are fighting both to improve his conditions in prison and secure his freedom. nick: jimmy lai arrived in hong

kong at the age of 12, stowed away on a fishing boat. he worked his way up to become an outspoken pro-democracy advocate and media tycoon. in the summer of 2020, he became the most prominent person arrested under a national security law that punished people not only for what they did, but also what they said. anyone who participated in actions that beijing backed courts defined as calling for separation from mainland china, who received support from a foreign country or who, quote, provoked the hatred of beijing, could be arrested and sentenced to life in prison. recently, jimmy lai's lawyers and his son appealed to the u.n. special rapporteur on torture, saying he has been held in solitary confinement for the last 3.5 years and that poses a grave risk to his life and to his physical and mental health. and i am now joined by sebastian lai and kilian gallagher, head of jimmy lai's international legal team. angst to both of you. welcome to the "news hour."

sebastian, what is your goal of coming to capitol hill to do interviews like this? sebastian: to see my father free before he dies. coming to capitol hill, i want to bring attention to what's happening to my father, to the injustice and to get support, to put pressure on the hong kong government and chinese government to see my father free and to stop this this political persecution of my father. nick: you appealed to the u.n. special rapporteur. why, and what do hope she does? kilian: jimmy lai should not be on trial, he is essentially on trial for being a journalist. for three years and nine months he is held in conditions which amount to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international law and conditions which we think pose a very, very grave risk to

his life and to his welfare. he is almost 77, he is diabetic, has various underlying health conditions and has been held in prolonged solitary confinement with no access to natural daylight for 23 hours, ten minutes a day. he is also a devout roman catholic being denied access to the sacrament of holy communion. so the u.n. special rapporteur on torture has responsibility for holding china to account when it breaches international law and we've asked her to take urgent action before it's too late and we see this brave man die behind bars for being a journalist. nick: as far as you can tell, how is your father doing? sebastian: my father is a very strong person. i view him as that, but his health has deteriorated a lot. so even though he's mentally strong and he knows he's doing the right thing, i worry he will pass away in prison.

my father has been campaigning for democracy for the last 30 years, and he always had a way out. you know, as in he could always just retire, go to london. he decided to make the hard decision to stay in hong kong, to campaign for what he knows is right to read when the hammer came down, when the national security law came down he knew , that if he left, he would open his journalists up to to attacks from the government. so he decided to stay to act as a shield. it's something i respect him immensely for and something i wish i had the courage to do as well if i was put in that situation, to stand with your people and not forsake them when you know that he could very well spend the rest of his life in prison. nick: jimmy lai is on trial for alleged sedition and alleged conspiracy to collude with foreign agents. do you have any doubt that he will be found guilty?

kilian: in short i'm afraid to , say this is only going one way in the hong kong system and he's going to be found guilty. he's being tried under a law which should not exist in a trial which is profoundly unfair before judges handpicked by beijing. he's being prosecuted for being a journalist and for his writing raising human rights concerns with international human rights organizations. and thirdly, speaking to politicians internationally to raise concern about these issues. all of those things are values the u.s. holds dear, the international community holds dear. he should be praised for doing those things, not turned into a criminal. nick: what do you want the world to know about your father? sebastian: my father decided very early on, 30 years ago, that there is something that is much more important than than -- than money.

hong kong is a financial center, so it is a driving force. he realized early on, if you don't have freedoms, what is the point of all this? if the last 30 years was not smooth sailing either. our house was firebombed. he's had an assassination attempt. someone once skinned a dog and pinned it on our door. my memory of my father is always of this man smiling because he knew that despite all this, he was doing the right thing. nick: thanks very much to you both. ♪ geoff: over her decades-long career, connie chung covered everything from the watergate scandal to conflict overseas, landing sought-after exclusive interviews along the way. her new memoir, called simply, "connie," paints a fuller picture of what actually unfolded behind the scenes.

amna recently sat down with the iconic journalist. amna: on the air millions watched as connie chung reported from the main lines of history, covering u.s. presidents and elections, major world events and landing interview after interview with major newsmakers, but off-camera she battled sexism and racism at nearly every turn, working through the ranks to make history as the first asian-american and just second woman ever to anchor a national evening newscast. she is opening up about what it took professionally and personally to get there. connie chung joins me now. what an honor. thank you for being here. connie: i am honored to be here and proud of you. amna: what drew you to this field? i learned a lot about your family. your parents emigrated from china in the 1940's. you were born and raised here. no one in your family was a journalist.

what about this field was something you wanted to do? connie: i was born in washington, d.c. i knew capitol hill, but what i really enjoyed is seeing reporters dashing around and asking questions, impertinent questions, of members of congress. i thought, this is what i want to do. amna: when you get your first job at a local tv station you are one of the only if not only women often times in the room, certainly the only asian-american in the newsroom. you diagnose in your book some of the men with what you called big shot-itis. characterized by a swelling of the head, inability to stop talking, self-aggrandizing behavior, unrelenting hubris, delusions of grandeur and fantasies of sexual prowess. safe to say you do not hold back in this book. how did you cope with all that? connie: i found them

insufferable and it was -- i did a crazy thing. i decided i would be one of them, i would try to be one of the boys. i would take pages from their playbook. i would walk into a room with bravado. i would command respect because i was much taller because i would wear four inch heels. i wanted to be i to i -- eye to eye with the men. i had a sassy haughtiness. amna: meaning you would be the first to crack a joke? connie: it was disarming. they knew after a bit i could get to the bad side faster and funnier than they could. they were left flummoxed.

it was a different era. not a lot has changed. amna: you don't think a lot has changed? connie: there is a type of acceptance that women have, but i know women who are still experiencing sexism. and i know chinese people or asians experience racism. but it is getting better. in some ways. there is a better level of equality, but it has not reached parity. geoff: you landed -- amna: you landed your dream job. in 1993, coanchor of the cbs news alongside dan rather. in that moment do feel all of the hard work -- you had the reputation of showing up early,

working all the ships -- was it worth it, all the sacrifices? connie: i had always wanted to be walter cronkite. he was trusted, fair, and did not suffer from bighead-itis. sitting in that chair was the ultimate so i thought i had really hit the jackpot. it was beyond thrilling. amna: it was two years later that was taken away from you and dan rather went back to solo anchoring. connie: it was coming. i could feel it, i could sense it. i feared it greatly, but then when the ax fell, oh my god, it

really happened. amna: why do you think it fell? connie: for one thing, it was not working. i think it was hard for dan to move over and share the seat. i think it did not matter if i was a man, a woman, or an animal or a plant. he was not going to be happy. amna: you write about the next chapter of your life, it opens up suddenly after you lose that job and you and your husband, iconic tv host maury povich, learned you will adopt a baby boy after years of trying to start a family. you use a phrase when you write about it in the book i think a lot of women grapple with, the idea of having it all. you said you succeeded in having it all. what did that mean to you? connie: i see people like you and other women. what i don't know is, are you

married with children? amna: yes, with two young girls, 10 and 8. connie: how do you do it? seriously? amna: i could ask you the same. connie: i did it backwards. when i was dumped and feeling i had left my life on that anchor desk, because it had been all-consuming, you know how the news business is. it is so consuming. two days later, we got the call that matthew will be our son, and he would be born. i thought to myself, this was meant to be. so for me, i had a career for a long time, than i had time to spend with my son, because i never would have quit. my sister said, one door closes, another opens. that wonderful cliché, but it was true. amna: there is an entire

generation of women, myself included, who get to have these careers today because of the paths you blazed and doors you kicked down. there is also an entire generation of women who literally named their daughters after you. there was a wonderful new york times feature called generation connie that profiled all these women. you got to meet them. what was that like? connie: it was the most glorious day i can ever imagine. this young reporter named connie wong discovered it. she was determined to find out how many connies were out there. she found so many, it became quite a sisterhood. when i walked in to a photograph with about a dozen connies, when i walked into that room, i was

so taken aback.% certain connies started crying and i started crying. it was a moment i will never forget. the connies gave me permission. because i am so chinese, so humble, i could not get my arms around the idea that maybe i did leave a legacy. amna: i am among many rate full you did it the way you did -- grateful you did it the way you did. the book is "connie: the memoir." the iconic connie chung, thank you very much. ♪

geoff: there is a lot more online including our pbs news , weekly show, which looks at the escalating violence in the middle east. you can find that on our youtube page. be sure to tune in to washington week with the atlantic tonight. moderator jeffrey goldberg and his panel look at the state of the race for president and the latest funding fight on capitol hill. and tomorrow on pbs news weekend, how a warming planet is affecting children. and that's the news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thanks for spending part of your evening with us and have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs news hour provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "news hour" including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation,

working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "news hour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and the contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> we have a relatively more stable relationship with china, but it remains a difficult and competitive relationship. >> managing a big power competition. the american ambassador to china nicholas burns joins me. then -- >> every