wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. geoff: good evening. amna: donald trump begins to choose the people who were carry out his foreign and national security policies, including marco rubio as secretary of state. geoff: whear from newly

elected republican and democratic mems of congress and what they hope to achieve in washington. amna: and the iranians react to the reelection of donald trump. what it could mean for the country and their lives. >> we are stressed out about war, word about sanctions that we have no doubt will calm. we're worried about the cost of living. for eight years it's been like this. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> the charles kettering foundation, working to advance

inclusive democracies. are more at kettering.org. >> it really matters when you have an opportunity to give back. >> being part of something that's bigger than myself. that's what brings me happiness. >> being able to integrate your professional career with some of these things that are important, it's critical to be happy. >> people want those opportunities to make an impact any difference. >> the john s and james l knight foundation. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the "news hour.” a second donald trump administration is taking shape one new appointee at a time. today, the president-elect tapped more of his closest allies to fill some of the government's top posts. geoff: among them, senator marco rubio, putting trump's one-time foe on track to become the first latino to serve as the nation's top diplomat. laura barron-lopez has more. laura: from 2016 rivals to loyal surrogate on the campaign trail. florida senator marco rubio is now slated to join president-elect donald trump's

cabinet. pbs news can confirm trump will nominate rubio for secretary of state. on foreign policy, he's known as a china hawk. but after trump's win, he pledged a, quote, "pragmatic approach." rubio largely sees eye to eye with the president-elect on a number of issues, including more recently on russia's war against ukraine. sen. rubio: what we are funding here is a stalemate war and it needs to be brought to a conclusion because that country is going to be set back a hundred years. laura: also today, trump announced his pick for the u.s. ambassador to israel, former arkansas governor mike huckabee. an evangelical christian, huckabee has long been a vocal supporter of israel. as recently as june, he opposed cease-fire efforts between israel and hamas. trump said in a statement that huckabee, quote, "loves israel and the people of israel and likewise the people of israel love him.” as for trump's secretary of homeland security, another loyalist. >> the only person in the race that i trust to do what needs to be done on these issues is president trump.

laura: multiple reports say trump has picked kristi noem, south dakota's republican governor, for the job. like rubio, noem stumped for trump on the campaign trail and was herself an early contender to be his running mate. noem has echoed trump's anti-immigration rhetoric and she along with trump's so-called border czar will be critical to fulfilling a top campaign promise, mass deportations on day one. tom homan, the former acting director of immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, will step into that role. on fox news last night, he sent a stark message to all undocumented immigrants. >> if you're in the country illegally, you shouldn't feel comfortable, absolutely not. when you enter this country illegally, you have committed a crime. you are a criminal, and you're not off the table. laura: one by one, the positions are filling out. but, still, the house of representatives hangs in the balance with more than a dozen races too close to call, even as -- speaker mike johnson is

confident republicans will regain their control even as trump pulls from their ranks and narrows the margins. rep. johnson: many of them can serve in really important positions in the new administration. but president trump fully understands and appreciates the math here, and it's just a numbers game. we believe we're going to have a larger majority than we had last time. laura: one of those appointees is new york representative elise stefanik, picked to be the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. she's a staunch defender of trump, dating back to his first impeachment. trump today named three-term florida representative mike waltz as his national security adviser, leaving another house seat up for grabs. waltz is a retired army national guard officer who served multiple tours in afghanistan, and, like senator rubio, another china hawk. and lee zeldin, a former representative from new york, was chosen to lead the environmental protection agency. he has little to no experience in environmental issues, but he will be critical in trump's

pledge to dismantle the epa's climate rules. >> so day one and the first 100 days, we have the opportunity to roll back regulations that are forcing businesses to be able to struggle. advancing america first policies is one of the reasons why president trump got elected. laura: for the pbs newshour, i'm laura barron-lopez. geoff: and, late today, president-elect trump announced he's appointing bill mcginley as white house counsel. mcginley served in the white house during the first trump term. and mr. trump announced another major selection, john ratcliffe as the director of the cia. foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin is here with more on the president-elect's picks. so, nick, what should we know about john ratcliffe? nick: ratcliffe was director of national intelligence in the last year of the first trump administration after being a congressman from texas and a member of the house intelligence committee. a trump ally who's involved in the intelligence community in the past, told me tonight: "this is a credible, knowledgeable and excellent choice.”

but, back in 2020, when he was initially nominated, there was bipartisan criticism and an attempt to kill his nomination by the senate intelligence chairman, senator burr, and the vice chairman, senator warner, over concerns that he wasn't qualified for the job, and over concerns about inflating his resume. that was then, though. he did become director of national intelligence. and a u.s. official today said that some of the concerns about him were that he believed that cia was part of a, quote, "deep state" trying to take down donald trump. as trump, when he nominated ratcliffe at first, he said the intelligence community agencies had, quote, "run amok," and ratcliffe would try to rein them in. and it appears that he is going to be back to do that just now. geoff: ok. nick schifrin, thanks. as always, thank you. >> vanessa rubies with updating

our top story, late tonight, president-elect donald trump now more appointments. an army veteran and former fox news host has been selected to serve as defense secretary. an elon musk and vivek ramaswamy have been picked to lead a new department of government efficiency. trump said in a statement the department will work to dismantle government bureaucracy, and cut expenditures. the state department says the u.s. will not limit arms transfers to israel left of the country made some progress in boosting a per territory. the u.s. had threatened to do so month ago if the situation did not improve. international aid organizations say the israeli government has failed to meet u.s. demands for more humanitarian aid to gaza where conditions are at the worst point in 13 months of war. at the state department today, officials defended their

decision. >> we'd like to see some more changes happen. we believe that, had it not been for u.s. intervention, these changes may not have ever taken place. but, most importantly, we want to see continued progress. and that's what we're looking for. vanessa: meanwhile in gaza, a pair of israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 people today. hospital officials in the southern city of khan yunis say two children were among the dead. most of the fatalities took place in an area that israel had declared a humanitarian zone. the israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. separately, a rocket fired from lebanon killed at least two people in northern israel today, and also today israel launched , attacks on the suburbs of lebanon's capital. one hit an apartment building east of beirut, killing at least six people. a new york judge is delaying a decision whether to uphold president-elect donald trump's

hush money conviction by a week. judge juan merchan was scheduled to decide the future of the case today, but is giving both sides more time following the supreme court's recent decision on presidential immunity and trump's election victory. his lawyers argued the case should be dismissed to avoid constitutional impediments. trump is due to be sentenced later this month following his conviction in may on 34 counts of falsifying business records. a federal judge has sentenced a former massachusetts air national guard member to 15 years in prison for leaking classified military documents about the war in ukraine. jack teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. he was arrested in april of last year and admitted to sharing sensitive defense secrets on the social media platform discord. it was one of the most significant national security leaks in years.

in louisiana, a federal judge has blocked a law that would force public schools to display the ten commandments in classrooms. a coalition of parents from different religious backgrounds sued the state, saying that the measure violated their first amendment rights. their attorney called today's decision a reality check for louisiana lawmakers who want to use public schools to convert children to their preferred brand of christianity. louisiana's republican attorney general plans to appeal. the head of the church of england stepped down today amid pressure to resign over an abuse cover-up scandal. an investigation found that justin welby failed to report a serial physical and sexual abuser to police when he became aware of it back in 2013. in a statement, welby says he takes personal and institutional responsibility, adding, quote, "i hope this decision makes clear how seriously the church

of england understands the need for change.” police in china say that at least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man drove his car into a crowd of people at a sports complex. the incident happened on monday night as people were exercising in the southern city of zhuhai. locals paid tribute to the victims at a makeshift memorial tonight. police have detained a 62-year-old suspect who they say was upset over his divorce settlement. the federal aviation grounded off lights from the u.s. to haiti for the next 30 days. the order comes after spirit, american, and jetblue airlines reported the planes were damaged by gunfire all attempting to land at port-au-prince yesterday. gang violence is plaguing haiti. the u.s. state department issued a do not travel advisory in september. for the first time a jury has found a u.s. defense contractor

legally responsible for contributing to the torture of detainees at abu ghraib prison during the iraq war. virginia-based caci must pay 42 million dollars in damages to three plaintiffs who said they were beaten and sexually abused at the infamous facility. one of the men seen in the foreground of this courtroom sketch wearing glasses wrote, quote, "this victory is a shining light and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture and abuse. caci is widely expected to appeal. still to come on the news hour, what's trump's bid on the epa signals, and amid political shakeups we speak with the families of hostages still held in gaza. renowned fiction writer john grisham chronicles the real-life stories of people who were wrongly convicted. >> 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: newly elected house members won't take their seats until january, but they're on capitol hill this week for orientation, a congressional crash course of sorts. republican congressman-elect rob bresnahan is among them. he flipped his district representing the northeast corner of pennsylvania from blue to red, and he joins us now from capitol hill. congratulations on your win and welcome to the "news hour.” >> thank you for having me. appreciate the congratulations here. geoff: so you successfully defeated a six-time democratic incumbent. how did you do it? what was different about your approach? >> listen, we ran on kitchen table issues. we ran off an economy that works, borders that are secure, and communities that are safe. we talked about the significance of making life affordable again for the people of northeastern pennsylvania.

i don't know if there was a magic sauce, but i don't think we overcomplicated it. we knocked on over 50,000 doors. we drove over 50,000 miles, and we talked to real people. we talked to our veterans. we talked to our senior citizens who are deciding between buying prescription medication, paying for heating their homes. we talked, i mean, we talked the real language to real people on the streets, and people were frustrated. they were concerned, and they were scared about their future. geoff: to what extent do you attribute having donald trump atop the republican ticket? he won pennsylvania, obviously, but won it with the most votes any gop presidential candidate has ever received in pennsylvania. >> donald trump also won my district in 2016. he won it in 2020, and obviously he won it again in 2024. however, we were the first candidate to be able to tail donald trump and put up enough of a margin to be able to successfully win the seat. but we had to run a good campaign. we had to stay on our message. and we had to interact with the people of northeastern pennsylvania and still have a

message that would resonate. geoff: when you tell your constituents that you're going to help make their lives more affordable, what specifically are you and the expected gop house majority, how specifically are you planning to do that? >> well, i can talk about me specifically, and something that i'm a big believer in is a balanced budget. and i'm also a big believer on energy being the biggest derivative of the escalation of the cost of inflation. so, i mean, northeastern pennsylvania, one in two homes are heated by natural gas. pennsylvania, the natural gas industry generates over $76 billion a year in payroll and 40, $76 billion in gdp and $45 billion in payroll. so being able to generate natural gas and the fracking industry specifically from in pennsylvania, i think, is going to be a big driver, also working on advanced manufacturing, working on economic opportunities beyond just you have skilled trade. and i'm a big believer in infrastructure.

and reinvesting into northeastern pennsylvania, rebuilding northeastern pennsylvania will certainly add to the economic opportunities. geoff: i want to draw on your business background and talk about trump's promised tariffs. he's pledged to slap 60% tariffs on all goods coming in from china and 10% tariffs on goods imported from everywhere else. pennsylvania could be hit hard. it's got a big manufacturing industry, steel, obviously, agriculture. how concerned do you are about the impact of president-elect trump's second round of protectionist trade initiatives? >> well, obviously, we have to be cognizant of the idea of the fact that people are struggling inside of the district. and it's certainly something that over the next two weeks while i'm down here and while i'm prepared to be sworn in that we're going to watch carefully. obviously, people in my district are choosing between heating their homes, prescription medication, putting fuel in their vehicles, buying groceries. so anything that's going to escalate the cost of living is

certainly going to be a lot harder for me to wrap my head around. like i said from day one, i'm about any pa. yes, i'm a republican. i'm fiscally conservative. but at the end of the day, i have been elected by the people of northeastern pennsylvania. but obviously we have to put america first. we have to put our constituents first. and that's something that i'm going to make decisions on every single day. geoff: as a newcomer to congress, what did you make of the high degree of dysfunction within the republican conference? >> i filed to run october 2 of last year. and the first day on my campaign trail was the speaker mccarthy vote. and i remember looking at my fiancee at the kitchen table saying, this is exactly why i need to run. i never ran for a public office before. i am a political outsider. and you look at the frustrations of what's happening in washington, d.c., and i always felt that it was broken, that congress wasn't working for the people of northeastern pennsylvania. and i was a person of northeastern pennsylvania. and you look around and you see election-year press conference after election-year press

conference and ultimately nothing is getting done. and it certainly leads to a level of frustration. i have always been a person to roll up my sleeves. to whom much is given, much is required. and it's a big reason why i'm, i ran for congress and now a member-elect. geoff: congressman-elect rob bresnahan, thanks again for being with us. rob bresnahan: thank you for having me. amna: the 119th congress will have several members whose elections made history. one of them is representative-elect sarah mcbride, a state senator who won delaware's at-large seat in the house and becomes the first openly transgender member of the united states congress. she joins me now. welcome. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. amna: first and foremost, congratulations. sarah mcbride: thank you. amna: we should note you defeated your republican opponent by a comfortable margin, but this also happened in the backdrop of a campaign that specifically included a lot of anti-transgender tv ads by the trump campaign. what does your win say to you about your constituents? >> i think this election, this

result reinforces what i have seen throughout my life, which is delawareans are fair-minded and that, in our state of neighbors, we judge candidates based on their ideas and not their identities. i ran on my track record of bipartisan results in the delaware state senate, passing paid family and medical leave and the largest investment in our state's medicaid program since the affordable care act passed, and on what i would do in congress, and that's to focus on bringing down costs facing families, to provide affordable housing, childcare, and health care to every single one of my neighbors. and voters responded to that even with all of the anti-trans ads. i wasn't hearing about them on the trail. what i was hearing about is the need to make the american dream more affordable and accessible for everyone. amna: let's talk about what you would be able to do in congress, though, because, as we sit here and speak now, it's very likely you're going to be in the minority in the house. you're going to have republicans controlling the senate, republicans controlling the white house. so what is realistic and achievable for you in the way of policy goals?

>> look, democracy only works if we're willing to not only have conversation across disagreement, but work across disagreement. i'm proud that, during my time in the delaware general assembly, nearly every bill that i introduced and passed, passed with bipartisan support. so i'm ready to roll up my sleeves, dive into the details, and work with anyone who's willing to work with me to help delaware. now, obviously, given the results of the election, that's often going to mean standing up to the trump/vance administration and their attempt to undermine workers and retirees in this country. but where there are opportunities to find common ground, sometimes on the issues outside of the headlines, there's an ability. amna: what are some of those issues, for example? >> so, for instance, in delaware, i was able to work very closely with our conservative republican leader in the state senate to expand access to rural health care and rural communities. i'd love to continue to work on issues that matter to delawareans in urban, suburban and rural areas across the state of delaware. and i'm going to look for those opportunities on a whole host of

issues that make a real difference in the lives of my constituents. they might fall outside the traditional ideological and partisan battle lines. and those are issues where you can find common ground with republicans. and i look forward to building relationships and building trust and respect with colleagues on the other side of the aisle. but we can't give up on our capacity to find durable bipartisan solutions for this country. amna: at the same time, i have to ask you, donald trump and j.d. vance made part of their campaign message and a strong part of their closing message a lot of anti-trans rhetoric, right? they spent millions on ads around these messages. a lot of your congressional colleagues-to-be echoed those messages, share those views. how do you work with them? how does that work? >> well, i think the ones that are particularly consumed with fomenting and manufacturing the culture wars, those folks are professional provocateurs parading as public officials. they are not willing to work

with any democrat, and they can barely work with their own republican colleagues. but, look, there are obviously real differences of opinion on lgbtq equality. i'm used to working with people who not only disagree with me, but who disagree with me on some pretty fundamental issues to my own life. but that's how we make government work better. it's by recognizing that i might disagree with you on every other issue but the one right before me, and i have to seize that opportunity to make that progress. amna: in the wake of such a decisive victory by former president trump, now president-elect trump, there's a lot of soul-searching, finger-pointing within your party, in the democratic party. and there is this consensus, this idea that democrats are somehow out of touch with the voters and what really mattered to them in this election. do you agree with that? and how do democrats course-correct? >> what i can tell you is that when i was campaigning in delaware, i was not hearing about these attacks on trans people. i was hearing about the cost of living. i was hearing about the need for affordable childcare, housing and health care. amna: should democrats have

leaned into those issues more? >> i think vice president harris did lean into those issues, but i do believe that we can continue to put forward a bolder agenda that's very specific to the kitchen table issues that matter to people. but i think the problem that we have and what we need to address is a bigger problem in our politics. all of us have to do a better job of seeing the very real pain that exists across this country, across the political divide and living the truth that we don't have to believe that people are right for what they're facing to be wrong, and we do not have to believe that they are right for us to try to right that wrong. and i think we can do a better job of demonstrating that radical compassion and that radical grace in our politics. amna: congresswoman-elect sarah mcbride of delaware, thank you for being here. welcome to washington. sarah mcbride: thank you. amna: as we reported,

president-elect trump's new team will include a former republican congressman to head the environmental protection agency. william brangham takes a closer look at the stakes for energy, environment and the climate. william: amna, now that nominee is former representative lee zeldin of long island new york, and he has long been a staunch trump ally. trump has called climate change a scam and has argued that addressing it hurts american business and consumers. this, of course, comes as scientists say that 2024 will likely be the hottest year in recorded history. to understand what this means for the country and for the climate, we are joined again by coral davenport of the new york times. coral, so nice to see you again. zeldin was, i think, as your reporting showed, a somewhat unusual pick. he's not someone that has shown a lot of interest or expertise in the climate, but one of the major initiatives we know he will likely undertake is what donald trump has said all along, that he wants to undo biden's signature environmental law, the inflation reduction act, which plowed hundreds of billions of

dollars into this green energy transition. if trump has the senate and likely the house, how likely is it that lee zeldin and trump will be able to undo that act? coral davenport, the new york times: so it's interesting. president-elect trump has been really clear. he wants to undo or repeal the ira ira, as you said, biden's signature climate law, historic climate law. but that's not something that can be done with executive authority. the president can't just say, make the law go away. he will need both chambers of congress. and even then, even with the republican majority in both chambers of congress, it's not entirely certain that that will happen. remember, with the republican efforts to undo obamacare, that was the health care law, in the first trump administration, they had both chambers of congress, tried again and again to repeal it and did not have the votes. william: the famous john mccain thumbs-down moment. coral: exactly. and in this case, one thing

that's really interesting about ira the ira is so much of that clean green energy money is by design 80% going into republican districts. so a lot of that money is flowing into clean energy factories in republican districts. those factories are being built, have been built. they're already creating jobs. and so it's not at all certain that there will be a republican majority to take that money away. it will be very interesting to see. that political kind of resilience is built in to the structure of the law. and so it'll be really interesting to see the contrast between the money going into districts and the loyalty to trump and how that plays out in the fate of that law. william: green money into red districts. coral: exactly. william: there are other plans, obviously, to get out of the paris climate agreement, to eliminate any so-called environmental justice

initiatives, to perhaps even move the epa out of washington, d.c. are there any things that the biden administration can do before it gets out of office to sort of solidify its environmental legacy before trump comes in? coral: so, the biden administration was pretty clear-eyed about the possibility that this would happen, that there would be a second trump administration. and so they have been working for the past couple of years to try to legally shore up their climate, their climate protections. one thing they did is, in all these climate regulations that they put in place, they put back the old ones and they made them stronger again. a big regulation designed to compel americans into electric vehicles, very controversial. trump has been very clear about wanting to get rid of that one. william: very clear. coral: other regulations, again, on shutting down coal plants, on limiting eliminating pollution from oil and gas drilling, they are have worked incredibly hard on legally bulletproofing those regulations.

and we have an early sign that some of that has been effective. one example, one of those big regulations designed to shut down coal-fired power plants, there was a legal request to put a pause on that. there's already litigation against it. the supreme court denied that request. so the ultimate arbiter of that will be a supreme court that has a conservative supermajority, including justices appointed by former president trump. so it's not a sure thing, but that's kind of, certainly within the biden administration they were trying to prepare. william: trump's election also comes at this critical moment. the u.n.'s annual climate summit is happening in azerbaijan right now. we also know there's this belief that major emitters around the world have to cut their pollution by 50% compared to 20 years ago. trump's election seems to upend america's commitment to all of that. i mean, just what are the global stakes here?

coral: president-elect trump has been crystal clear that he will do exactly what he did in his first term, which is withdraw the united states from the global paris accord. he did that his first term. president biden put the u.s. back in. trump is going to pull back out. this time, however, it seems likely that trump will not just pull the u.s. out from the agreement, the accord, but from the underlying united nations legal structure for that entire accord, which would ma it a lot more difficult for the u.s. to ever rejoin. it would be a much more permanent step. and the message that sends to the rest of the world is very much the days of thinking that the u.s. will ever be a reliable partner on addressing global warming are over. i don't, the u.s. will never have credibility in this space again. and, as you say, it's coming at a crucial moment. scientists say there's about

five years left. by 2030, the major economies have to cut their emissions in half. the u.s. will not meet that target. william: coral davenport of the new york times, thank you so much. coral: always great to be here. ♪ geoff: with president-elect trump's team coming into focus, one priority will be confronting and increasing pressure on iran. so how does that look and feel to ordinary iranians? special correspondent reza sayah reports from tehran. reza sayah: at the nazari street bakery in the capital, tehran, iran's famous barbari flatbread is always the right choice. but for bakery owner taher a nazari, america's election of donald trump was a choice between two evils. >> the people are smarter than that talks about whether trump won or didn't win, whether the democrats won or the

republicans. like they say, they are both as bad as each other. reza sayah: at friday prayers, a weekly gathering of iran's ultraconservatives, many said trump's victory over harris changes nothing in u.s. policy. >> in america and in their elections, it doesn't matter if it is democrats or republicans. nothing will change. >> there are two they are sides of the same coin. their objectives are the same. they either want to sanction us or start a war. >> while many here downplayed the victory, others said, oh, no, not again. >> we laughed. it was the laugh that comes with the loss of hope. >> mehrab kaboli is ceo of a tehran-based engineering firm. kaboli says he was pulling for kamala harris in what he viewed as the democrats' softer stance on iran. mehrab kaboli (through interpreter): right now, we

expect things to get worse because it was during trump's last term when iran couldn't sell oil. during biden's presidency, the restrictions were somewhat eased. that made circumstances more tolerable. >> last month, a u.s. government was report showed iran's oil sales, its leading export, topped $50 billion in 2023, an almost threefold increase from trump's last year in office. in his first term, mr. trump made it clear he was cracking down on iran oil exports. and he did. it was a key objective in his so-called maximum pressure campaign, a strategy designed to use aggressive sanctions to rein in iran's nuclear program and support for its regional proxies like hamas and hezbollah. critics say the strategy failed. iran continued to fund its proxies and expanded its nuclear program after trump pulled out

of the iran nuclear deal in 2018. many iranians say it is the people who felt the pain through record high inflation and cost of living. >> there's no certainty when you make economic decisions and, more importantly, sanctions have directly impacted our work. reza sayah: isn't trump the candidate that makes iranians worse off? >> it doesn't make a difference. reza sayah: tehran-based political analyst mohammad marandi says iran has softened the impact of sanctions by strengthening economic ties with major powers like russia and china. mohammad marandi: what the united states is doing right now, not just to iran, but to russia and to many countries across the world, is that they're creating an incentive for countries to move away from the united states. so we're in the process of doing that. so u.s. sanctions don't have the impact that they had before. reza sayah: but one day after the trump victory, fears of a return to trump's

maximum-pressure campaign dropped the value of iran's currency to an all-time low. at the persia gym in tehran, top trainer soroush and his clients are bracing for trump and more sanctions. >> based on what we experienced during his first four years, he's going to increase pressure. >> nothing good will happen when it comes to our livelihood. things will get worse. reza sayah: behnaz shafiei is iran's first ever female professional road racer. when she's not weaving the hillsides of northern tehran on her sport bike, she's training other women to follow in her footsteps. shafiei says trump's win means more stress. >> we're stressed out about war, worried about new sanctions that we have no doubt will come, worried about the cost of living. for eight years, it's been like

this, confusion, not knowing what to do, and now there's the added worry of war. reza sayah: that fear of war has intensified, with iran's support for hamas in the aftermath of its october 7 attack against israel and direct missile exchanges with tel aviv. but reyhaneh tabatabaei has a glimmer of hope. tabatabaei is a journalist who spent two years in jail for what iranian authorities call propaganda against the regime. she says trump's promise to end the wars in gaza and ukraine and his longstanding call for talks with tehran could be a path to better relations. for that to happen, tabatabaei says the iranian government must show political will. >> i have to be hopeful that my government wants to do something. this decision has to be made within the islamic republic. the people of iran want the right to have a life, whether it's trump, harris or anyone

else. any negotiations have to be with the objective of improving the lives of the people of iran. reza sayah: for now, the people of iran can only hope. last week, the justice department reported on an alleged iranian plot to assassinate trump. in response, the iranian foreign ministry said the allegations were lies and demanded president-elect trump to stop what tehran calls the genocide in gaza. >> what the international community expects with new and previous governments is an end to the genocide, war crimes and the sowing of instability in gaza, lebanon and other parts of the region in western asia. reza sayah: stark reminders that in trump's second term in office, the 45-year conflict between washington and tehran is likely to continue. for the "pbs news hour," i'm reza sayah in tehran.

amna: today, president biden met israeli president isaac herzog and reaffirmed his, quote, "ironclad commitment" to israel. much of the administration's focus now is about humanitarian aid in gaza. but they also discussed the israeli hostages still held by hamas. nick schifrin is back with more. nick: it has been 403 days since october 7, 2023, when more than 250 men, women and children were abducted from israel and taken to gaza. the israeli government says hamas is holding 101 hostages in gaza. and, today, herzog says, while the day after the war was important, the war would continue until the hostages return home. isaac herzog, israeli president: clearly, you're thinking and working about the day after as well, which perhaps should be a trajectory of hope to the people of the region and the ability to have our neighbors, as well as

us, live in security and peace. but, first and foremost, we have to get the hostages back home. pres. biden: i agree. nick: one of the most devastated communities on october the 7th was the kibbutz nir oz. of 400 residents, more than 50 died on that day and afterward in gaza and about 100 were kidnapped, including brothers iair and eitan horn. and joining me now is dalia cusnir, iair and eitan' s in-law, who also met president herzog yesterday. thanks very much. welcome. thank you for being here. dalia cusnir, relative of israeli hostages: hi. thank you so much. nick: how are you doing? how's your family doing? dalia: very bad. we're all devastated. we're very, we need good news. we need to bring them home. and this is going to be our key to start rebuilding our life. nick: and is there any hope? do you feel like there's any progress being made at all? dalia: i feel that, maybe with a change of government, i don't want to go into politics because

i'm not a u.s. citizen, but i do feel that a change, just for the fact that it's a change, might bring something good, and this period between the outgoing administration and the incoming one might be a good time for us. nick: president-elect trump has criticized the, quote, "very bad picture" of the amount of destruction israel's caused. but he's also said that israel needs to finish the job quickly. why do you have some hope? or do you have any faith that a new administration can do something different? dalia: i think trump has said that he wants to end the war. and if you want to end this conflict right now and bring a cease-fire, first, they need to release the hostages. so this is my hope. as trump and other countries involved want to bring a cease-fire, they should push towards a deal. nick: until then, as we heard president herzog said, the war will continue until the hostages can come home.

there's still some 70 days left until the trump administration takes over. you met president herzog. what did he say? dalia: we cannot wait until january 20, the inauguration. we need the two administrations to work together to solve it. trump and biden and netanyahu, now everyone, this is an historical moment. a change can be made right now. yes we met herzog yesterday, and he's committed to bringing a deal and doing everything he can. it's complex. it's hard. but he's with us. and he's bringing our voice to wherever he goes, like the meeting he had with president biden today. nick: you say that herzog is with you. he is the head of state, the head of government in israel. the government is run by the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, and his government. do you believe that the netanyahu government has done all that it can to release your brothers-in-law and all of the hostages? dalia: that's a very hard question.

i believe they can do more. i believe the netanyahu government has waited too many days and they have put other things ahead of the hostage deal. and now that everything is solved, we want to believe, but we need also the u.s. government to help bring a deal that israel will accept and bring an end to this suffering of so many people. for us, the family of hostages, of course, first, we need to see our loved ones, but we also want to bring time of being able to start healing for the palestinians in gaza. they are also being held by hamas. i trust gallant and i trust all the head of the security system in israel when they say that now is the time for a deal and israel can deal with whatever implication it might bring,

releasing those terrible terrorists from the israeli prisons, but also withdrawing their, our forces to the border, which is not just bringing back people. it's bringing the value of life, is bringing back security to the israeli society. nick: you mentioned the suffering of the palestinian people in gaza. the united states today has indicated that it will not declare that israel has been, quote, "arbitrarily blocking aid" into northern gaza, where very little aid has gotten in the last few weeks, and therefore the u.s. will not block any weapons shipments to israel. do you agree with that? dalia: i agree that the u.s. should be supporting us and not blocking weapons to israel, because israel is fighting. israel is the doorkeeper of the entire free world, and the poor people of gaza remain in terrible condition of hunger and starvation, but because hamas is using them. nick: i wonder, finally, if we

could just end with what do you want everybody to know about your brothers-in-law, iair and eitan? dalia: i want everyone to know that iair and eitan are the most amazing, huge hearts, that all they want in this life is to make people happy. and they are the most amazing uncles to my two little children. and we miss them so much. and we won't stop. we won't stop until we have everyone back home. nick: dalia cusnir, thank you very much. dalia: thank you. geoff: when the organization kind working to overturn convictions for people facing execution or life sentences. decades later as a death penalty

continues to be carried out in some states and debated in others, his work continues. senior arts correspondent jeffrey brown reports for our series art in action, exploring the intersection of art them -- art and democracy, part of our canvas arts and culture coverage. jeffrey: in 2021, larry walker left a pennsylvania state prison a free man after serving 38 years following a conviction for murder. on this day, he was visiting friends at centurion, the princeton, new jersey, group that took on his case and finally convinced a judge and even walker's trial prosecutor that his conviction had been based on the weakest of evidence and a flawed defense. larry walker, wrongfully convicted: i have always heard that happens to other people, but when it had happened to me, reality just set in. but i don't know, exactly when i look back, how this happened.

jeffrey: in the new book "framed: astonishing true stories of wrongful convictions," centurion's founder, jim mccloskey, and bestselling novelist john grisham show how it happened in 10 separate harrowing cases. >> we want to educate the public and those who administer the criminal justice system that this kind of thing, wrongful convictions, is far more common than you would ever believe. >> it's a huge problem we have. people don't believe that these cases happen. they don't believe there are thousands of innocent people in prison. jeffrey: because it just feels impossible. john grisham: they trust the system. jeffrey: in their book and in public appearances, as here at princeton's nassau presbyterian church, they offer case studies of men and women, black and white, failed by the system, while also relating their own paths to a personal commitment to help others, how at age 38, after working in the business world but wanting more meaning

in his life, jim mccloskey entered princeton theological seminary and served as a student chaplain at trenton state prison, where he met jorge de los santos, who insisted on his innocence. jim: after months and months of talking to him about his case, reading his transcripts, he asked me a question after thanksgiving of 1980. he said: "jim, do you believe i'm innocent?” i said: "yes, i believe you're innocent.” then he said: "well, what are you going to do about it? what are you going to do? go back to your nice little seminary in princeton and pray for me? that's not going to get me out”" so he challenged my faith. he really shook me up. jeffrey: that challenge would grow into centurion, where volunteers pore through old court filings and correspond with inmates before any decision is made to take on a case. and staff members work to help people post-release. woman: so your brother couldn't use any help on his food truck or anything like that? jeffrey: to date, centurion has won the freedom of some 71 people, now led by executive director corey waldron, working

through old-fashioned, on-the-street reinvestigations of old cases, often 20 years after a conviction, mostly without available dna tests, looking for new or missed evidence or misconduct by police, prosecutors or courts. john griam took a different path. he'd been a young lawyer and state representative in mississippi before turning to fiction, with thrillers from "a time to kill" and "the firm" up to this year's "camino ghosts," some 51 books, many turned into films, that have sold more than 300 million copies. his early experience as a lawyer led him to believe the system did work, until he came upon a 2004 obituary of a man named ron williamson, who spent 11 years on death row and came within days of being executed before dna evidence cleared him. the story of how that happened became grisham's first nonfiction book, "the innocent man.” john grisham: there was a shock at every turn.

every time i researched that case, which was for 18 months, i found something new every day that i just, i couldn't believe. but that case took me into the world of wrongful convictions, something i had never thought about before. and once i got there, i'm still there. jeffrey: every case of wrongful conviction has its own details, its own twists and turns. but john grisham and jim mccloskey, who retired in 2015, see routine patterns, including evidence tampering, coerced interrogations that lead to false confessions, an overreliance on untrustworthy witnesses and junk science and racial bias. each chose and wrote of five cases. there have been questions in the media about grisham's overuse of reporting and language of others without sufficient attribution in the new book. in response, he cites eight pages of footnotes and citations and stands by his work. the book delves into the legal nuts and bolts and narrative drama of each case.

mccloskey says the real crime, malfeasance, is plain to see. jim: they're astounding, the ineptness and the corruption in how the police and the prosecutors went after completely innocent people who had no criminal records, were clean as a houndstooth, and how they just with zeal went after it to either send them to death row or send them away to prison for life for crimes they had absolutely nothing to do with. in larry walker: i think we can take our names off today what is still many men and women that are in prison. jeffrey: larry walker was fortunate in one way. he had the support of friends and family. but, in 1983, his murder conviction was largely based on the testimony of two witnesses. another witness said walker was not among the three men she'd seen fleeing the attack. but police never identified other suspects. over years of work on the case, centurion staff led by legal director paul casteleiro and investigator alan maimon, documented the narrow

investigation, shoddy defense walker received and other factors, leading the current philadelphia district attorney's office to agree that a troubling confluence of circumstances had led to walker's arrest and conviction. they called for his release, and a judge agreed. and walker was freed in 2021. his daughter sharena and he say they sought for years to get lawyers, the courts, anyone to hear and help him, until centurion took his case in 2012. larry walker: as time went on, my faith and my hope, it was getting less, until centurion eventually accepted my case. and then i had my faith and hope grow. sharena robinson, daughter of larry walker: i felt like we hit the lottery. jeffrey: the lottery, yes. sharena robinson: oh, my gosh. it was, i mean, i'm 44, and at

the time i was only 2.5 when my father was falsely convicted of a crime he didn't commit. so, of course, as time goes on, the case gets older, so evidence can possibly get lost, or misplaced, whatever the case may be. and it was like, it was no hope. so, they gave us hope. they gave us hope. they gave us my father. they brought him home, because it was, without them, we wouldn't have been here. jeffrey: so, larry, 38 years of your life. are you bitter? larry: i'm bitter because of what was taken from my family, from my son and daughter, and my mother, and my father. i'm not bitter. i'm just not bitter because i have faith that things happen for a reason. i'm just really more thankful than to be bitter. jeffrey: grisham says every wrongful conviction case deserves a book of its own. john grisham: the elements are there for great storytelling. there's great drama, injustice,

corruption, loss, perseverance, maybe redemption, maybe not. but elements go into the stories that are just gravy for a writer. jeffrey: these cases matter profoundly for the individuals involved and their families and friends. but mccloskey and grisham make a larger case, why it should matter to us all, going to the heart of how democracy works or doesn't. jim: i would think the public and the world wants to know how accurate its criminal justice system is. and if it's flawed, then let's lay it out on the table and point out its flaws and its deficiencies, because the last thing in the world anybody wants, regardless of their political affiliation, is for an innocent person to be wrongly convicted and sentenced to death or to life. who would want that? who would be proud of that? john grisham: you know, our democracy is based on the rule of law. you can't have a criminal justice system that's grossly unfair, that convicts innocent

people and turns the other eye to guilty people. if that happens, and it does happen, if it happens too often, then the whole rule of law starts to crumble. d it's the cornerstone of our democracy. jeffrey: for the "pbs news hour," i'm jeffrey brown in princeton, new jersey. geoff: and that is night. amna: on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you? >> thought i let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of our thing. have a nice day.

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>> this is the "pbs news hour" from the david m rubenstein studio at weta in washington and from our bureau at 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.]

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. pati: in the tiny town of mata ortiz in the 1950s, an artist stumbled upon pottery from the ancient civilization of paquimé, kicking off an artistic renaissance that is still going strong today. now younger artists like laura bugarini and her cousin tavo silveira are even gettingoticed around the world, carving their own unique path in pottery.