♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the "news hour.” election day is officially one week away, and both candidates are racing to get their final messaging out to voters. geoff: vice president kamala harris is delivering a major speech in washington, d.c., tonight, but we start in florida, where former president donald trump held an event today featuring several guests. lisa desjardins has our report. lisa: at mar-a-lago this morning, former president trump laid out three closing issues by calling up three americans affected by them. woman: homeland security did not do their job. lisa: a mother whose daughter was killed by an undocumented immigrant.

man: the cost of doing business now is two, three, or four times what it was just a few years ago. lisa: a man who said inflation is harming his dry cleaning business. woman: her story isn't unique to our family. lisa: and a woman whose daughter-in-law was killed during the 2021 afghanistan withdrawal. the event was billed as a press conference, but trump took no questions. instead, he went on attack, repeatedly flipping some criticisms of him as instead about kamala harris. , you >> and she's running on a campaign of demoralization and really a campaign of destruction, but, really, perhaps more than anything else, it's a campaign of hate. lisa: trump's team is still trying to repair political damage from his rally at new york's madison square garden sunday, where other speakers made headlines for racist and sexist remarks. today, trump called the event a lovefest. >> i don't think anybody has ever seen anything like what

happened the other night at madison square garden. the love, the love, the love in that room, it was breathtaking. lisa: perhaps the most infamous moment was when comedian tony hinchcliffe called puerto rico townhall a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. lisa: at an afternoon town hall in a philadelphia suburb, trump defended his record. >> i think no president's done more for puerto rico than i have. lisa: as president trump ultimately released billions of dollars in aid for puerto rico, but only years after it was hit by two hurricanes. he initially pushed back against the aid and angrily tweeted about the island. the former president will hold a rally tonight in allentown, pennsylvania, home to one of the largest puerto rican communities in the must-win state. in saginaw, michigantrump's running mate, ohio senator j.d. vance, also defended the rally, saying democrats who attacked it are attacking the voters who were there. >> we have this incredible

rally, over 100,000 people at madison square garden in new york city. it was an incredible thing. lisa: on the other side of the aisle, minnesota governor tim walz held a get-out-the-vote-early rally in savannah, georgia, this afternoon. >> kamala says it. when we fight -- audience: we win! >> right now, it's, when we vote -- audience: we win! >> let's win this, georgia. let's go. lisa: meanwhile, harris has been driving home a message about the dangers of a second trump presidency, including in ann arbor, michigan, last night. vp harris: so much is on the line in this election, and this is not 2016 or 2020. we can all see that donald trump is even more unstable, yes, and more unhinged. and now he wants unchecked power. and, this time, and, this time, there will be no one there to stop him. lisa: tonight, harris makes her closing argument speech on the national mall's ellipse. it's the same place then-president trump held his

january 6, 2021, stop the steal rally. >> we fight like hell. and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. lisa: which sparked the insurrection and violent assaults at the u.s. capitol by trump supporters. harris and trump are both carefully choosing their messages as the election whittles down to days. for the "pbs news hour," i'm lisa desjardins. geoff: tens of thousands of people are expected to be in attendance on the national mall tonight, according to the d.c. metropolitan police department. and our white house correspondent, laura barron-lopez, is there at the ellipse in washington, d.c., ahead of vice president harris' closing argument. so, laura, what can we expect to hear from the vice president tonight? laura: geoff, we expect to hear the vice president lay out her vision and her values, what she would do if she were elected. specifically, she's going to say that donald trump is busy creating an enemies list, while she's creating a, quote, "to-do list." and based on prepared excerpts of her remarks that we

have, she is going to call donald trump unstable, obsessed with revenge, and also say that americans that don't agree with her, she doesn't consider them enemies, and she wants to give them a seat at the table. she's also going to talk about her economic plans and talk about the opportunities that she wants to create for americans and working americans. geoff: and, laura, considering the message and the choice of location tonight, what does the harris campaign want folks to take away from her speech this evening? laura: this location was chosen intentionally, geoff. we are on the ellipse, and this is where donald trump gave that speech on january 6, 2021. harris' campaign manager, jen o'malley dillon, said that they specifically wanted it here to create a stark visualization and remind voters about donald trump's speech, where he encouraged his supporters to march to the capitol to stop certification and overturn the 2020 results. they also like the fact that the white house is going to be directly behind the vice

president and that the white house, that people, americans, can hopefully visualize the vice president as the next commander in chief. geoff: with a week to go until election day, who is the harris campaign trying to reach at this point? laura: she is trying to intimately speak to people who may not feel engaged, who may not feel as though it's worth getting engaged, to those remaining undecided voters, according to the campaign officials that i spoke to today, geoff. and that includes also they really want to drive turnout among suburban women, independents, moderate republicans specifically. and harris' campaign manager, jen o'malley dillon, also said that they are trying to make sure that those voters that turned out in 2022 about abortion turn out again this year. geoff: and, of course, this comes just days after donald trump's rally at madison square garden, which was really marked by racist and sexist comments from some of the speakers. based on your reporting, has that broken through with voters at all?

laura: it appears that it has, geoff. the campaign believes that it's breaking through. they say that they are seeing a lot of movement amongst puerto rican voters, specifically in states like pennsylvania. and i also spoke, it's not just the campaign. i also spoke to the owner of a spanish-language radio station in allentown, pennsylvania, where a lot of latinos, specifically puerto ricans, live. and he said that people are calling in angry about the comments made about puerto rico and that some that weren't necessarily going to vote are planning on voting now. why does that matter, geoff? because there are more than half-a-million latinos in the swing state of pennsylvania, and the vast majority of them are puerto rican. so the harris campaign sees a potential momentum here in a key battleground state, geoff. geoff: laura barron-lopez reporting from the ellipse tonight. laura, thank you. laura: thank you.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy would news hour west. an update to our top story. a massive audience greeted vice president harris on the washington ellipse this evening with overflow crowd spilling under the washington monument on the national mall. harris emphasized compromise and unity in her closing argument and at the site where donald trump galvanized the supporters who later attacked the capitol on january 6, 2020 one. she laid out a stark contrast. >> this election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates. it is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every american, or ruled by chaos and division.

stephanie: in the days other headlines, in lebanon the , iran-backed militant group hezbollah has chosen the cleric naim qassem as its new leader. he's been acting head since the previous longtime leader hassan nasrallah was assassinated in israeli airstrike last month. the 71-year-old qassem has served among the group's top ranks since the early 1990s. today, israel's defense minister responded with an apparent threat, writing on social media that he is a temporary appointment, not for long. the announcement comes after israeli airstrikes killed at least 60 people across lebanon's beqaa valley. and, today, a hezbollah rocket struck a neighborhood in northern israel, killing one person. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy warned today that russia's planned use of north korean troops on the front lines would push the war beyond the borders of ukraine and russia. zelenskyy also said he spoke with south korea's president, and the two agreed to boost

cooperation and intelligence-sharing. the pentagon says north korea sent close to 10,000 troops to train in eastern russia with a plan to move them to the front line in the next several weeks. >> a portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to ukraine towards russia's kursk oblast near the border with ukraine, approximately a couple thousand, with a smaller number already present in the kursk region, the rest at this time, of course, training out in the east, but fully expect that they will move in that direction at some point. stephanie: russia, meanwhile, raised tensions even further today by launching a massive simulation of the country's nuclear capabilities. president vladimir putin has frequently hinted at the use of nuclear force to deter western support for ukraine, and russia continued its very real air assault on ukraine. overnight, bombing killed at least four people and flattened a neighborhood near kharkiv.

in the u.k., a teenage murder suspect has been charged with -- months after a stabbing rampage that killed three young girls. the alleged attack happened this summer at a children's dance class at a community center in northwest england. during a search of the 18-year-old's home, authorities found an al-qaida training manual on his computer, resulting in the terrorism charge. they also discovered one of the deadliest toxins in the world. >> axel rudakubana already faces three charges of murder, 10 charges of attempted murder, and one charge of possession of a knife. searches of axel rudakubana's home address resulted in an unknown substance being found. testing confirmed the substance as ricin. stephanie: police have resisted classifying the attack itself as a terrorist incident because the suspect's motive is still unclear. back here at home, steve bannon was released from federal prison early this morning. donald trump's longtime ally

walks free from a correctional facility in connecticut. after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional probe into the january 6 capitol attack. within hours of his release, he was back on his podcast, which has been a platform for 2020 election deniers and conspiracy theories. bannon also held a news conference in new york, where he said he felt empowered by his time in prison to help trump win. robert f. kennedy junior's name will remain on presidential ballots in the critical swing states of wisconsin and michigan after the u.s. supreme court rejected his request for an injunction late today. the independent candidate suspended his campaign in august and endorsed trump. the states had argued that removing his name so close to the election and with early voting already under way would be impossible. president biden is awarding nearly $3 billion to reduce air pollution from the nation's ports. speaking from the recently reopened port of baltimore, mr.

biden announced grants that would upgrade port infrastructure with climate-friendly equipment at 55 sites across 27 states and territories. he said it wasn't just a matter of modernization, but of safety. pres. biden: ports are the linchpin, the linchpin to america's supply chain. they keep goods moving, keep the economy strong. but, for too long, they have run on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure, putting workers at risk and exposing nearby communities to dangerous pollution. stephanie: and we have a passing of note. actress teri garr has died. she starred in some of the best-loved comedies of the 1970s and '80s, including as the german lab assistant in the mel brook classic "young frankenstein.” >> would you like to have a roll in the hay? stephanie: she also played dustin hoffman's girlfriend in "tootsie," which earned her an oscar nomination.

and garr took on more serious roles in films such as "close encounters of the third kind.” >> no. oh, it's me. it's me. i didn't want to make any noise. >> then don't break in. stephanie: later in her career, she was known to millions for playing the long lost mother to lisa kudrow's character in "friends.” her publicist says garr died of multiple sclerosis. she was 79. still to come, we examine the contrast between kamala harris and donald trump's education policies. southeast georgia becomes a focal point for both campaigns in the swing state. and the story of a child abuse victim who was forced to collect her own evidence to prove she wasn't lying. >> this is the "pbs news hour" from the david m rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

geoff: in northern gaza, it was another day of mass death, with israeli airstrikes killing at least 88 people, including many children, as the israel defense forces continue ground operations there. hospitals were flooded with injured and doctors have few, if any, supplies to treat the wounded. hundreds of thousands remain trapped and no substantial food or aid has been allowed into the area for weeks. that's as israel's parliament passed two measures that effectively outlaw the u.n. agency charged with aiding palestinians. here's nick schifrin. and a caution: images in this story are disturbing. nick: underneath buildings that have become carcasses, lives end in canvas shrouds or wrapped in carpets. today in beit lahia, the bodies lay side by side across the street from what used to be a single apartment block destroyed by an israeli airstrike.

residents said there was no warning for the men buried under the rubble, for the girl burned trying to escape. there are no emergency workers left, so survivors are forced to carry the dead, and boys are forced to comprehend the incomprehensible. many of the injured arrived in nearby al-awda hospital. its director, mohammed salha, spoke to us by phone. >> we are receiving 40 injured here. we're doing three lifesaving operation. we have shortage of medication, medical supplies, fuel, and shortage of food. only we are eating one meal per day. all our department is full of patient, all the beds. we are putting beds in the corridors. nick: for weeks, al-awda has received an overwhelming number of dead and hosted an overwhelming number of funerals. and now shortages that began three months ago have become acute after the hospital became a target. dr. mohammed salha: so they

destroyed two floors; 48 of beds are destroyed from our capacity. they destroyed our store of medical supplies. nobody can help, because there's no ambulances. the situation became worse and worse and worse. and we can't deal with these huge number of injuries. nick: al-awda is in the middle of a four-week-old israeli operation in northern gaza focused on jabalia. the israeli military says hamas has regrouped here, storing weapons and explosives in local schools and in another local hospital. kamal adwan, north gaza still has terrorist infrastructure and hamas leaders that must be targeted, says israel's top general, herzi halevi. >> jabalia is falling. this is another psychological collapse. and if we take out the northern gaza brigade commander, it's another collapse. this pressure brings us closer to more achievements. nick: to do that, israel has tried to evacuate 400,000

residents who have nowhere to stay or go. dr. mohammed salha: the situation has became worse and worse and worse. no place is safe in the north. so we are really live in a disaster in the north. you can't imagine how was the situation. people is in the streets. there's no shelters, no markets, nothing. the people is like to die and not to live this life. nick: nearly all of gaza's health sector is run by unrwa, the u.n. relief and works agency, that in more peaceful times served nearly six million palestinians in gaza and across the region with schools and especially today emergency, and humanitarian assistance. for years, israel has criticized the agency's reference to refugees. but since october the 7th, israel says multiple unrwa schools turned shelters became hamas command-and-control centers. underneath unrwa gaza's headquarters, israel says it found a hamas tunnel. and earlier this year, israel released a dossier that said four unrwa staffers were involved in kidnapping israelis,

six unrwa staffers in total infiltrated into israel, and unrwa acts under the authorization and supervision of hamas. and so last night, israel's parliament banned unrwa from israel. the bills passed overwhelmingly, with the support of centrist politicians like yesh atid member ron katz. >> the unrwa organization that has been proven beyond any doubt to be part of hamas took an active part during october 7 in the kidnapping, the murder, in all the actions that we know that the hamas organization did in the state of israel. nick: this summer, the u.n. fired nine unrwa employees for participating in october the 7th, but absolved others, and promised to improve vetting of its 13,000 gaza employees. >> we have an inspection that is working in order to detect any areas of infiltration that might exist. nick: israel promises to replace unrwa either with other u.n. agencies or private contractors. but the u.s. and u.n.

say unrwa is the only organization that can keep gazans alive. >> there is no alternative to unrwa when it comes to delivering food and other lifesaving aid in gaza. nick: the legislation doesn't go into effect for three months. in the meantime, in north gaza, the bodies continue to arrive on the back of carts. for the "pbs news hour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪ amna: the issue of education in there america has barely been discussed in this campaign, despite there being very sharp differences between donald trump and kamala harris on how best to kamala harris teach america's kids into the future. william brangham has been brangham looking into their positions on k-12 education for our promises and policies series, and he joins us now. good to see you, william. william: hi, amna.

amna: so education policy has not at all been a major focus of this campaign season. do you have a sense of why that is? william: on some level, i think it's a reflection of the electorate, and the polls show that the economy and immigration are top issues, i mean, for democrats, also the worry about democracy. i mean, at both the vice presidential and presidential debate, not one question asked about education, not one answer or issue offered about it, except for a brief mention of school shootings, which is kind of the opposite of education. it is striking, though, given we are seeing this drop in the ability of fourth graders and eighth graders to do basic math and to read at a grade level, that this is not more of a national issue. when education is being discussed in this campaign, it is most often the things that donald trump has been focusing on. and that's, number one, the fight over school curriculums and the teaching specifically of history and race and gender and the fight over school choice and whether parents should have

public school money to do with as they please. amna: so let's just talk about where each of the candidates stand then. let's start with former president trump. what are his plans for education if he were to win reelection? william: trump has some contradictory ideas on this front. on one hand he says, i want to destroy, get rid of the department of education, which is the primary way that a president could enact education policy. republicans have talked about doing this for years. it goes back to agan. when trump was president, he tried to do it. didn't work. so that's, one, his stated goal, to get out of the federal government being involved in education, let parents handle it. but then he also wants to have very granular attention to what is being taught in schools. i mean, he says he wants his education secretary to examine the curriculum of tens of thousands of public schools around the country to make sure they're not teaching what he says is woke ideology. he talks a lot about this, that public schools are somehow brainwashing children and that

he's going to cut their money if they do that. now, presidents don't necessarily have that power, but this is something he talks about a lot. one extreme example of this, donald trump has repeatedly sketched out this nonexistent scenario where a child goes to school in the morning, and somehow school officials do some sort of procedure to change that child's gender and sends home, again, without the parents' consent, and sends home a different child at the end of the day. again, there is no evidence of this kind of a thing happening, but this is often how he talks about these things. here's him speaking to a group of christian leaders. >> on day one, i will sign an executive order banning schools from promoting critical race theory or transgender insanity. i will take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology and reaffirm that god created two genders, male and female. i will keep men out of women's

sports. amna: so, william, you also mentioned school choice. we know that's something former president trump has been a big proponent of, and that was something he pushed for when he was president, right? william: exactly. this is the idea of letting parents take taxpayer school funded money and pay for private school or religious school or use it for homeschooling. betsy devos, his previous education secretary, tried to do this. it was, failed at doing that. trump also wants to give parents the ability to fire teachers and to reduce tenure protections. again, these are not a lot of things that the presidents have power to do, but trump is clearly signaling here that he wants to get the federal government out of this, he wants to put parents back in charge, and that he will be some sort of federal enforcer. amna: ok. so that's former president trump. let's talk about vice president harris. as we said, this is not a central issue to her campaign. but what do we know about her plans if she were to be elected president? william: when harris talks about education policy, she's most often talking about the things that donald trump is proposing

and how much she dislikes them. for example, she very much thinks eliminating the department of education is a terrible idea. she wants to strengthen its two main funding streams. that's money to educate low-income kids and disabled children. she regularly sides with teachers, saying, i want to boost your pay. she tried to propose that earlier in her previous campaign. she has been very critical of trump's attacks on curriculum around the country, specifically these 4,000-plus book bans that we have seen all over the country, many of which were enacted by trump's allies. here's how she described these efforts when she was talking to the teachers union. >> these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation's true and full history, including book bans, book bans in this year of our lord 2024. so we want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.

vp harris: can you imagine? amna: so, william, vice president harris, her party as well have talked a lot about early education, how we teach very young children. so what does that look like if she's elected? william: that has been one of her most concrete proposals. her argument has been every dollar the federal government spends on early childhood education, you reap enormous benefits throughout that child's life, as does the u.s. economy. she's been a big champion of head start, the program for low-income families. the democratic party platform has called for universal free preschool for kids. harris has been a big proponent of the child tax credit and tried to bump that up as well. those are her proposals, but, again, a lot of her public discussion about education has been, donald trump has dangerous ideas that will set back the cause of education in america. amna: all right, william brangham with a closer look at both candidates on education. william, thank you. william: you're welcome, amna.

geoff: now to the battleground state of georgia, one of the most closely divided states in the country, where president biden beat donald trump by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020. this year, voters have shattered early voting records, casting more than two million ballots so far. lisa desjardins begins her report on how some of those voters are feeling in savannah, the center of a growing region that's in the national political spotlight. lisa: in savannah, a blitz of blue. across the street from an early voting location in chatham county, kamala harris supporters are working for a repeat after democrats' narrow 2020 georgia win, the party's first in nearly three decades. this is personal. >> she is giving me my right back to my body. i get to do what i want to do

with it. she is giving me my right to for my children's future. lisa: this is close. women: we have to work hard in chatham county and in savannah to pull every blue vote we can, because they're working just as hard as we are. lisa: and the feeling is, this is their region's moment. >> whenever people come to georgia, they think atlanta, but the coast matters. lisa: this is coastal georgia, known for shaded squares and southern charm, but politically a place of sharp contrasts. with two blue counties, liberty and chatham, home to savannah, surrounded by a fleet of bright red ones. the savannah economy and population have been booming for over a decade. this is the fastest growing part of georgia, and now politicians are catching up. last month, former president donald trump came, touting his manufacturing plans. >> hello, savannah. and hello, georgia. we love georgia. >> savannah, the baton is in our

hands. lisa: vice president harris made the area the center of a bus tour. they were the first presidential here's campaign visits here in more than 30 years. both campaigns are trying to win over the skeptical and excite the faithful like tabatha strozier. here >> i went to the rally for harris, and the energy was phenomenal. lisa: how does that compare with the way you felt about this election, let's say, six months ago? >> very obvious i was disheartened. it was very obvious that the majority of the democrats really were not behind biden. lisa: but now tabatha is a harris volunteer, among the reasons, reproductive rights. at least two women's deaths have been tied to georgia's abortion ban. woman: what happened to her was preventable. lisa: an issue highlighted in harris campaign ads. tabatha is also a small businesswoman and likes harris on the economy. >> i know prices are high for food and gasoline and fuel, but

we are coming back from the downfall of the pandemic. the economy is getting better. we're ending the year really well. lisa: same region, but a very different view from trump voter leslie evans. >> to go to the grocry store, it takes almost twice to three times the amount to put the same amount of groceries in my house. and cost of living has went up. however, wages haven't. cash or card, sweetie? lisa: leslie is more than a voter. she runs two stores that sell all things trump. she also works two other jobs, why she misses trump. leslie evans: we have already had four years. he's shown what he can do. and in that time that he was there, everything was better. i have to work three jobs. i it's not because i want to. lisa: that is a common theme for local republicans like these in bright red bryan county, celebrating early voters with free hot dogs. chris benton told us money went further for him under trump and

that he felt more respected. >> you got a lot of people that i know that are on the left that look down on people like me who don't didn't go to college. i have got so many people i know that kind of look down on me. it's all, what are you doing with your life and this and that. you don't get that from trump. lisa: these republicans have changed strategies from 2020, now pushing for early votes. but democrats have changed too, now working harder in more rural areas, aiming to cut into gop margins. even if democrats lose these counties, losing by less than they have in the past could boost their chances in the state. and republicans admit demographics are morphing. >> red historically, this is a red county. it is slowly starting to shift. lisa: this makes marginal reluctant voters key, like fourth-generation farmer andrew l. smith sr. how hard has the decision been between trump and harris for you this election? >> it has been excruciating.

lisa: andrew felt the biden administration repeatedly ignored or broke promises to black farmers after admitting the agriculture department discriminated against them for generations. that wavering by some black voters in the south has given the trump campaign hope. at this point, i don't know if anyone knows how you voted. >> my wife. lisa: he revealed his decision to us with some flair. >> right now, ba-dah. lisa: voted for harris. >> yes. and i have got farmers that i have been visiting and sitting down at the table with, and we are pulling this thing in the right direction. lisa: andrew says more engagement and harris' stop in his county, liberty county, were big factors. at the same time, on the right, some longtime republicans like former state senator eric johnson are leery and weary of trump, including his continued lie that he won here in 2020. fmr.

>> i love this state. i won this state twice, in my opinion. >> the election was not stolen in georgia. i think covid beat him. i think that the covid changed the whole election format and it played right into the democrat'' grassroots efforts. lisa: johnson was part of a lawsuit that successfully blocked a number of last-minute rules passed by georgia's trump-aligned election board. even so, johnson has landed with the party he believes in and the devil he knows. >> i am reluctantly voting for trump. and i hope that trump has learned from his win and his loss that he needs to put some people around that he will listen to. lisa: do you think trump has ever changed? >> no. but i'm hopeful. lisa: how do you know that's not wishful thinking? >> i don't. i don't. i mean, i don't know any time i vote, whether the candidates will turn out the way i hope they will or if they keep the promises that they have told me they will. lisa: there is hope here in

coastal georgia, but woven with concern. the race is impossibly close, still up for grabs. and in a place people come to relax, nearly everyone is anxious for the election to end. >> if it's kamala, it's kamala. if it's trump, it's trump. but let's, you know, let's just get on with our lives and get this election over with. lisa: for the "pbs news hour," i am lisa desjardins in savannah, georgia. ♪ geoff: whether you talk to voters or look at polls, it's clear the economy and concerns about costs remain the top issue for many voters. in our most recent pbs news/npr/marist poll, nearly 60% of voters said the economy was a crucial factor for their vote. both candidates want to extend tax cuts for many americans, but there are some key differences. former president donald trump wants to impose broad tariffs and deport undocumented workers.

vice president kamala harris has focused on creating tax credits and tackling price gouging. for more on how these plans could affect inflation, we're joined now by nick timiraos, the chief economics correspondent of the wall street journal. it's the focus of a piece he wrote this past week. it's great to have you here. >> you>> thanks for having me. geoff: and i will say the lead of your latest piece really caught my attention: "a punishing 2.5-year fight to bring inflation down appears to be succeeding. the election could change that”" many economists believe that donald trump's economic plan is the riskier bet. why is that? nick: well, it's because, if you look at why inflation has come down over the last two years, a lot of it has been from the healing of the supply side of the economy. what is that? supply chains have improved. the labor force has expanded, partly due to increased immigration, and that's helped to take some of the edge off of the supply-and-demand imbalances that we had when inflation was very high two years ago. if you're doing things like imposing tariffs or, increasing deportations, you could hit the

economy with new shocks that create the risk that inflation might pick up again. geoff: and, of course, donald trump says his plan isn't inflationary. what's his argument? nick: well, there are different arguments. one of the arguments you hear is that tariffs might increase prices in the short run, but you're achieving a broader goal of making trade fairer over the long run, and, if you cut taxes, you could spur growth. the other argument is just that you it's gone on for too long that trade has been this unfair, and so these are costs that we have, that we have to take. geoff: you reported that this matter matter of broad tariffs will is coming up on corporate earnings calls. tell me more about that. nick: well tariffs can get there passed along through to consumers like a tax, and ceos have basically said, if we are hit with tariffs, we will pass those costs along to consumers. the concern would be, after several years of high inflation, does that increase sort of the inflationary psychology in the economy, where people now begin to worry, well, should i ask for

more money because i see prices are going up again? geoff: and donald trump has promised mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if reelected. he says that deporting undocumented workers will help americans find jobs. how would that affect the economy? nick: well, it's, it could be quite disruptive. it depends, of course, on how this is enforced and how sweeping it is. but there are some industries that have seen an increase in employment in part because of the increase in unauthorized workers, construction, agriculture, mining. and so, again, you wonder how much of that is going to create new shocks to the economy, even though there is an imperative to have tougher border controls. that's something that both parties seem to agree upon. geoff: let's talk about kamala harris' plan, because she has promised to tackle the cost of living crisis by boosting home construction, cracking down on alleged price gouging, expanding a tax credit for families with young children. she says she's going to pay for all of this by increasing taxes on the richest americans and

some other revenue increases. but what might it mean for inflation and for the economy, big picture? nick: well if you're able to do this in a way that's deficit-neutral, that means you do have those tax increases to offset the spending, then, as the textbooks would say, that shouldn't increase inflation, it shouldn't overheat the economy. one question is whether you actually are able to get the political support to do the sour, which is the tax increases, along with the sweet, which is the subsidies. and the other concern i think you would be that tackling cost of living crises by handing out more money may not actually cause the problem, may not actually fix the problem. it may cause more problems. geoff: well, let's talk more about that, because president biden oversaw trillions of dollars in social spending. and kamala harris is promising to spend potentially trillions more. how can democrats do that responsibly? nick: well, i think they would point to the tax increases, if you can actually get those done. i think, if you look at some of the spending, i mean, the arp,

the relief plan in 2021, was clearly pandemic-directed. the inflation reduction act and some of these subsidies for green energy investments, the biden administration sort of lowballed the cost of these things, and that's because they became more popular. so, if businesses use these subsidies and they claim these credits more, you will see the cost of the program go up. and that's in fact what budget forecasters and scorekeepers have said, is that the inflation reduction act is going to be more expensive, because these benefits have been more popular among the companies that are claiming them. geoff: yes. well, tomorrow we're expecting a gdp report, thursday, an inflation report, on friday, a and hurricane-impacted jobs report. what will you be watching for as one all of this data comes in and what might it mean for the election? nick: well, i think the big question in the economy right now is, you have seen consumption, which is consumer spending, very solid. the u.s. economy has been very resilient this year. the labor market has been slowing down. and so those two things, it

doesn't feel like they can go on for long. do, does stronger consumer spending boost employment or does slower employment growth bring consumer spending down? i think that will determine how the economy shakes out over the next six months and what kind of economy the next president is going to inherit. geoff: nick timiraos, great to speak with you. nick: thanks. geoff: thanks for coming in. appreciate it. nick: thanks for having me. ♪ amna: we're told, if you're a victim of a crime, to go to the police and report it. but what happens when they don't believe you? from the center for investigative reporting, rachel de leon has the story of how far one child had to go to prove her innocence. and a word of caution: this story involves details of child sexual abuse. >> america in the fastest growing county in america, polk here county, florida, it's longest-serving sheriff grady

judd has a large media presence and delivers unapologetic tough-on-crime messages, like this one about an armed man involved in a car chase. >> and he chose to die in a gunfight. we accommodated him. he said he wanted to go to heaven. we made the arrangements for him. >> running this fall for his sixth term in office, he is a popular sheriff, once invited to the white house by then-president donald trump to discuss issues facing sheriffs and later asked to join a federal council overseeing all programs related to missing and exploited children. he has made it his department's priority to go after child predators. grady judd: we will go to the ends of the earth to arrest you if you victimize children. >> why punish me? what did i do for you to punish me? >> but taylor cadle's extraordinary case raises questions about how, despite sheriff judd's tough-on-crime rhetoric, his department treated a child victim as a criminal. taylor cadle: nothing that i did

was i in the wrong at all. >> taylor had a traumatic childhood. the state took her away from her birth mother when she was 7 due to violence and neglect at home. after a year-and-a-half in foster care, she was adopted by her great uncle henry cadle and his wife. but, within months, she says he began sexually abusing her. >> i kept it secret because, going through foster care, it was already so much of a traumatic experience that i was scared to go back. here >> over the next three years, she says henry cadle used long car rides to abuse her off this road. one day, in 2016, taylor disclosed the abuse to an adult member of her church, which launched an investigation by multiple agencies. woman: ok. well, how old are you? >> almost 13. i'll be 13 in october. >> that week, taylor was asked to recount what happened to her several times. in a recorded interview with a child welfare worker, she went

into detail, hoping she would be believed. >> and he pulled over on the side of the road. and told me to get in the front seat. >> but in a separate interview recorded by sheriff's detective melissa turnage, the tone turned confrontational. >> if you're mad because you got your phone taken away, let's say that now and be done with it. >> from the get-go, she was rude, simple terms, rude. when she continuously asked me the same question over and over, i almost told her she should probably write down what i'm saying, because i didn't feel like she was lisning. >> turnage treated taylor less like a victim and more like a suspect. >> do you want to go live back in foster care? because more than likely, if he's arrested, they're not going to let you stay there. if it's not the truth, you're fixing to hurt a lot of people. >> everything i told you earlier is not a lie. >> still, turnage concluded that

tailor-made it up. the detective wrote that she couldn't find henry cadle on gas station security footage buying condoms, like taylor said he had, and she couldn't pinpoint the location of the assault on that long stretch of road. >> every interview that we talked, she made me out to be a liar. and i told her time and time and time and time again that i am not the liar here. >> there is no excuse for the manner in which this case was handled. >> jerri sites, a forensic expert who has worked with thousands of child abuse cases, listened to the interviews between turnage and taylor. she says turnage's techniques were inappropriate, especially because very few children, less then sent, -- then 4%, fabricate stories of sexual abuse. but kids with traumatic histories are less likely to be believed. jerri sites: kids who have that history of adversity are the perfect victim because their offender knows they're not going to be as credible because they have had this difficult life. >> there's no way, with the details that i gave or the things that i said or certain

locations, that i could have fabricated that big of a story. there was no way. >> instead of henry cadle going to court, 13-year-old taylor faced a judge for a charge of lying to police. she had no lawyer, only her adoptive mother, henry cadle's wife. >> i walked into that courtroom scared out of my mind. and my mom told me in the car to just plead guilty and get it over with. >> she was sentenced to one year of probation with community service. she also had to write two apology letters, one to her abuser and the other to a sheriff's officer. taylor's experience is like hundreds of sexual assault cases i found nationwide as part of a yearslong investigation into police charging alleged victims with lying. due to privacy laws, i could find only a handful involving children, one as young as 11.

throughout, there was a pattern of police missing crucial steps in investigations. but taylor's case is unique because she vindicated herself. >> my on-call phone rang, and it was my on-call supervisor for my unit. >> joel dempsey was the detective assigned to the case when taylor called the police to report she was sexually assaulted again. joel dempsey: there was a previous investigation that the victim was on probation for. and then i also learned that new evidence would prove that some of the victim's statements were true. >> using her cell phone, 13-year-old taylor sure she got bulletproof evidence this time. >> she had taken some photographs with her phone. she also took pictures of an empty condom box, as well as the clock on the vehicle, and then a short video of what appears to be the suspect walking around the truck. >> this is the exact phone that

i used in the 2017 case. i pulled up the camera, and on this specific phone, if you just tap the screen anywhere, it just takes a picture. so, in my head, i was, like basically kind of like swiping, but i was, in reality, i was taking pictures of everything that was happening. >> just like last time, she detailed the abuse to a child welfare worker, but with one big difference. >> everything that they didn't find evidence for last time, i kind of tried to make sure that it was there this time, just so believed. >> the photos she took with her phone were graphic. >> it was very shocking to see that, very sad, but a fantastic thing that she was able to collect it. >> in henry cadle's recorded statement to dempsey, he was adamant he was innocent. >> i got the impression that, because of the previous

investigation and the result of it, that he felt somewhat secure. but i want to ask you plainly, did you touch her? >> no. hell no. joel dempsey: now's the time to tell me so i can get out in front of it. henry cadle: no. n. no. >> try to handle figure out what's going on. henry cadle: no. no, nothing happened. >> at 4:30 a.m., the detective confronted henry cadle with the evidence. you wanted to see what i got here? the pictures? >> sure. >> this? >> ok. ok. >> you know who that is? it's me. >> henry cadle was sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexual battery of a minor. taylor's criminal charges overturned. >> i don't remember any other case where the victim had the forethought or the intelligence to collect their own evidence and to be so thorough, just

unbelievable amount of presence of mind that she showed. >> i reached out to detective melissa turnage and her boss, grady judd, multiple times to ask for an interview. turnage never responded, and judd's office declined an interview and didn't answer repeated requests for comment. >> where was a person for taylor? where was a person to stand up to say, stop, and stop it now? >> since 2002, florida state senator lauren book has been working on state bills aimed at protecting victims of child abuse. she sent a letter to the sheriffs office requesting they look into how the system failed taylor the first time around. >> it happened to taylor, and taylor is enough to fix the system. >> senator book says charging taylor and letting her be assaulteagain was entirely preventable and properly trained professionals should have intervened at multiple levels. >> you need to have people who are properly trained and who are

in it to do the right thing and really walk a survivor through this process. jerri sites: so let's talk about being trauma-informed and what that approach means. >> jerri sites trains investigators and law enforcement officers on how to help children who come forward with allegations of sexual abuse. she believes this is what could prevent a detective from doing this to another child like taylor. >> certainly, forensic interviewing has just really made a huge difference in child abuse cases, having people who are highly trained and understand linguistics and child development and how to approach kids so that they can gather accurate information in a neutral, supportive way. >> now a mom of two, taylor is healing by giving her children the kind of safety she never had. she says she's never received an apology from authorities, but hopes they use the lessons from her case going forward. >> i want for them to understand what they did and to clearly see where they messed up, to truly

see what happened and fix it, because no child should ever have to go through anything that i went through. >> for the "pbs news hour" and the center for investigative reporting, i am rachel de leon in polk county, florida. amna: remember there's a lot more online, including a look at how indigenous voters and candidates could affect the election. that is on our youtube page. geoff: join us again tomorrow night when judy woodruff will look at the so-called diploma divide in this year's presidential election. in that is the news hour for tonight. amna: for all of us here at the pbs news hour, thank you for joining us.

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philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> the final night of an extraordinary campaign. we'll voters send donald trump back to the white house? >> or will kamala harris make history? >> are you ready to make your voices heard? >> a pbs news special, election 2024, tuesday, november 5 at seven talk p.m. eastern, six central.

>> this is the "pbs news hour" from the david m rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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