♪ amna: good evening. geoff: on the news hour tonight, another former challenger to president-elect donald trump joins to his administration while the house speaker pushes the ethics committee not to release a potentially damming report for the attorney general nominee. amna: rfk junior is chosen to lead the nation's health department. geoff: and how western nations

are inundating ghana with waste often disguised as donations. >> they are obsolete. ♪ announcer: major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour including jim and nancy build there and the robber and virginia schiller foundation. the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> it really matters when you have an opportunity to give back. >> being part of something bigger than myself is what brings me happiness. >> being able to integrate my

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thank you. geoff: welcome to the news hour care to president-elect donald trump continues to stock is future cabinet with high-profile picks. amna: today he officially tapped one of his formal -- former rivals for interior secretary. lisa desjardins is here with more with how he could redefine the role and what we are learning about donald trump's other nominees. the governor was nominated to be secretary of the interior but not just that. reporter: surprising people in the industry and environmentalists. he is the north dakota governor. a self-made billionaire and energy has been a focus of his. he is nominated not just for the position as secretary of the interior but also president-elect donald trump announced a national energy council, new entity that the

governor would oversee. it would oversee every aspect of energy production including the department of energy and he would also have a seat on the national security council. that is also new. the department of energy has some nuclear energy in its portfolio. energy has been a focus for doug burgum and he has been focused on increasing u.s. supplies. >> because america produces energy cleaner and more efficiently than anywhere else in the world come if you try to regulate or executive order industries out of business, you don't drop the demand for energy, it pushes the supply offshore or overseas. reporter: let's talk about what is on the table if he is confirmed. offshore and onshore drilling, expansion is something that he and donald trump have talked about. and new natural gas terminals to handle the shipping of the growing u.s. supply.

that is a department of energy role. and changes to protected monument land. we would expect him and donald trump to push for more drilling on those lands. the u.s. is already the world's top producer of oil and natural gas. talking to folks in the industry they say the biden administration has held them back and the economy. they want it to be expanded. environmentalists say though job of the department of interior is to protect u.s. land and they are worried he doesn't understand that mission and all he sees is fossil fuel and energy expansion. amna: what about some of the other nominees? particularly matt gaetz? reporter: first i will drop into other names. these are important positions within the trump white house. the head of personnel who used to work for rand paul on the senate side and a long time

advisor in charge of communications. he is particularly important because he has a bombastic almost cutthroat tone on social media. he would continue in that role. let's talk about matt gaetz. there is an intense fight underway right now over what exactly senators will get to know about him before they have to decide if he should be attorney general. the house ethics committee has been looking into allegations of sexual misconduct, improper campaign funds and bribery. matt gaetz has denied all of this and the department of justice has not charged him. the house ethics committee is made up of five democrats and five republicans who would vote. at least one republican would need to vote to release the report. they were to meet today but the meeting was postponed. in addition today mike johnson said he would like them not to release this report.

traditionally when someone resigns, -- in this case senators are saying they need the report to make their decision. that is a bipartisan decision. one other thing the trunk campaign is handling information about another nominee, pete. a combat veteran who was currently a member of the national guard. police in monterey, california say they investigated him for a sexual assault in 2017. he wasot charged and he says there was nothing he did wrong. the trump administration is defending him. the military has had generations of problems with sexual assault. but this is something worth considering. amna: where are senate republicans on all of this and also the idea of recess appointments allowing mr. trump to bypass the traditional process. reporter: recess appointments

avoid confirmation in the senate and both chambers would have to adjourn for 10 days. nearly all republicans must agree something else we are watching is donald trump could try to keep people in office in an acting status. we will spend more time breaking this down and we know it is a big conversation on the hill. amna: lisa desjardins, thank you very much. ♪ geoff: we start the other headlines, in lima, peru later is -- leaders from aipac were gathering for the first global leader a summit since donald trump was reelected. all eyes are on president biden during one of his final appearances on the world stage. on the sidelines he met with leaders from japan and south korea and pledged to spend his last days in office bolstering their partnership. >> linking arms for the security

and technology of the future. whatever the issue, we are taking it on together. geoff: president biden will sit down with the chinese president tomorrow and it will be their first in person meeting since last year's apex summit in -- apex summit in san francisco. a group of climate experts and leaders are calling for an urgent overhaul of the un's climate talks. in an open letter they say the current structure cannot deliver the change is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity. the summit has struggled to make progress on its goal of setting a funding target to help developing nations deal with climate change. top officials defended the process. >> i think we all agree that it

is absolutely essential for countries to cooperate to tackle the climate crisis. no one country can do it alone. this is the only space that brings all the countries together to do anything. this is to address the greatest crisis in our generation. geoff: protesters called on leaders to " lead out those snakes" -- referencing lobbyists present at the conference. also today new data was made public showing the world's most polluting cities. shanghai topped the list and producing the most heat trapping gas. new york city and houston came in numbers three and four. in pakistan authorities in an eastern province declared a health emergency due to severe smog. a toxic haze has engulfed the densely populated region for weeks sickening nearly 2 million people.

schools are closed until further notice. officials have ordered lockdowns in certain cities where the average air quality index topped 600 today. any number over 300 is considered a health risk. lebanon's caretaker prime minister has asked iran to secure a cease-fire between israel and hezbollah. those comments came in beirut. according to lebanese media, the u.s. gave lebanon a draft of a cease-fire proposal for israel and hezbollah. iran is the main backer of the militant group and at a news conference today he was asked if he came to lebanon to undermine the u.s. truce plan. >> we are not after disrupting anything. we are after solving problems. we will support the lebanese people under any circumstances. it is israel's prime minister and his mob that are after disrupting things. geoff: rescue teams combed

through the rubble after an israeli airstrike last night killing at least 13 people. the texas arcing court has ruled against lawmakers who used their subpoena power to hold the execution of a death row inmate for his daughters shaken baby death paving the way for it to proceed. robert robinson was sentenced to death in 2003 for killing his daughter. his case gained widespread support from lawmakers and medical authorities. he was set to be put to death last month but with only hours to spare lawmakers, girly stop that by issuing a last-minute subpoena to have him sent -- to have him testify at a hearing. the new execution date has not been set. on wall street stocks fell as investors worried about the outlook for interest rates. the dow jones industrial average dropped more than 300 points.

the nasdaq sank more than 4 -- 400 points. the s&p 500 also ended sharply on the day. conan o'brien has been selected to host the academy awards ceremony. he emceed the me awards but the 61-year-old is best known for his late-night talk shows and more recently his podcast. on social media he gave a taste for what viewers can expect your >> i am in oscar-winner. it is amazing. and im and oscar host. do i still get to keep the oscar? geoff: the 97th oscars ceremony will occur march 2. still though,, what the polling got right and wrong in the presidential election. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the president-elect's cabinet picks and dorothy's ruby slippers go up for auction. ♪ announcer: this is the pbs news

hour from the david rubenstein studio from w eta in washington and from the west at arizona state university. geoff: president-elect trump's decision to nominate robert f. kennedy, jr. as secretary of health and human services is sparking concern and criticism in the world of public health. it is due in part to kennedy's long-held beliefs against vaccines. there are worries about his history of conspiracy theories on subjects like hiv, antidepressants and autism. he is also pushing hard on some major problems that experts say are real like nutrition, obesity and processed food among them. we are joined by a reporter. thank you for being with us. hhs is a sprawling bureaucracy.

80,000 employees across 13 agencies. if rfk junior is confirmed, what would it mean for all of the things that hhs oversees? reporter: these are our agencies that protect the health of americans on everything from nutrition, vaccines, our data do see how the national health is going and where we can make improvements. support to local and public health departments. it is a $3 trillion budget. it is a massive job. and someone that has a lot of experience needs to be there. geoff: he is one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the country. it is really the states that help determine vaccine policy when it comes to things like school mandates or exemptions.

help me understand what your worries are about his potential impact if he is confirmed. reporter: vaccine policy is primarily governed by individual states rather than the federal government. there are levers, indirect levers where the federal government can indirectly influence vaccines. for example, fda rfk has said he wants a more vigorous vaccine review process. given the u.s. has one of the most vigorous review processes for vaccine safety and effectiveness, it is unclear what he wants changed for what data would be considered sufficient. but more data could delay new vaccines. it adds time. this is a problem during a pandemic or in an emergency. the fda could remove emergency use authorization for the next

pandemic. there is also cdc which recommends childhood routine vaccination schedules. the problem is if the recommendation changes, there are downstream effects. insurance companies could stop covering them and adding cost could deter uptake. and there are other levers. donald trump has -- honestly, my biggest concern is not necessarily through all of the policy itself but the indirect lever of sowing doubt and confusion about vaccines from one of the most powerful offices which could have a profound impact on america's ability to make evidence-based decisions. geoff: there are americans that welcome a different approach when it comes to cracking down on processed foods, removing food chemicals and additives which rfk junior says he wants

to do. a new study published in the land set found that nearly three quarters of american adults are overweight or overviews and rfk attribute some of that what he sees as a corrupt alliance between the food and drug industries and the regulators that are supposed to act as a check on them. what you make of that? reporter: i think we can all agree that america has room for improvement. we live the shortest lives and have the most avoidable deaths. the first is accurately identifying what is causing us to be unhealthy and fix that. i do think there is need for improvement. rue the regulatory process and through a conflict of interest. but a lot of the make america healthy again talking points are not necessarily focusing on organic food -- it won't move

the needle. i'm going to agree with things that rfk junior assess. he has reasonable statements but mixes them with outright falsehoods. in the end i think it is a matter of whether his net impact is positive or negative. and given his history of sewing doubt he can do a lot of harm. geoff: i know for my own reporting how hard it is to make seismic changes at some of these agencies. what is the worst case scenario -- if kennedy is confirmed and makes good on his promise of transforming public health as we know it combined with donald trump's promise to weaken civil service roles. reporter: i agree that cdc and fda need improvements. i've been working with cdc for the last three years for improvements. and it needs to be done carefully. our public health system is incredibly fragile. for example, a lot of people

don't realize that 90% of funding the local and state public health departments come directly from the cdc. so say we cut for example the center of injury which is on the chopping block right now in the congressional budget. that means states won't get funding for the opioid crisis which means lack of education for resources and we just got that epidemic decreasing again. i think a lot of these will have implications to the cdc institution but there can be a grave downstream impacts and we need to be very careful on how we do that. i haven't seen a careful narrative that has taken that into place yet. geoff: how should some of these agencies be preparing in your view? >> what we are doing right now, a lot on the ground -- we have to gain trust with the public. that means we have to build bridges instead of barricades.

finding common ground. recognizing what we say and how matters especially to people that are hesitant or believe in conspiracy theories. anger and shame will only drive people further away. americans need their questions answered. not necessarily to be told what to believe. i think we all play a role in this especially at the federal government right now. geoff: thank you so much for your insights. we appreciate them. ♪ amna: one americans are ready to get rid of a car or a laptop or some of their clothing, where do the goods go? most end up in countries and the global south where millions of people depend on, dismantling or selling them to make a living. amidst lax regulations and legal

loopholes environmental groups say the business is a toxic trifecta of waste that inflicts catastrophic damage to land, coastlines and a black health. we have the first of two reports from the west african nation of ghana. reporter: ghana has enjoyed economic growth in recent years and nowhere is that more evident than on accra's streets but growing incomes have spiked the demand for automobiles. like cities anywhere traffic delays are part of daily life but here they are costly not just in time but health and safety on the environment. >> the cars that clog the streets of ghana's capital have come a long way to be here but they did not come directly from a factory. most have had long lives on the streets of america, germany, dubai and other places before being shipped here appeared long

lives unless they were in an accident. that is how this 2018 toyota sedan wound up in a repair yard. northern virginia it came from. we chased -- we traced it back to a listing on an auction website where it was sold and shipped to africa. >> some of them don't even make it onto the boat. reporter: kenya based person has studied the global trade in used cars. would you say that most vehicles would not be certified as safe on the roads of countries where they came from? >> exporting countries export the majority of vehicles that are not roadworthy. reporter: not roadworthy. at the repair shop mechanics say how much the corolla is repaired is informed by the new owners budget.

just the driver's side airbag would be replaced and not the side and passenger ones. many of the repaired vehicles hit the roads safe and more polluting often arriving minus their catalytic converter. it is a device required in developed countries since the 1970's and clean -- and keep to cleaner emissions. there is a robust global market for them because they contain platinum. we spoke with a trio of mechanics. catalytic converters, you usually don't fix. >> [inaudible] reporter: how many people fix it? >> his reaction suggested most missing converters are not replaced. >> financial problems. reporter: most people just let it go. extending the life of cars that

should really have been recycled in america or europe. >> it is a very good approach. more are sent to africa because it is cheaper than to rest cycle them. reporter: at the other end of their useful life, the junk cars compound the prices from another toxic import, electronic waste. every day scrap workers harvest components from cars and all matter of electronics. they were looking in particular for metals that are extracted mainly by incineration. this is the epicenter of ghana's waste industry. tons of used washers and dryers, refrigerators, air conditioners sit here waiting demolition by people looking for anything of value inside them.

>> everything here -- reporter: i came here with a consultant. he is a veteran environmental journalist who has worked for greenpeace. >> you are talking about mercury, all of the toxic heavy metals are here. they are in the soil and in the smoke. reporter: an international agreement intended to prohibit the export of electronic waste went into effect in 1992. the u.s. did not ratify this it even in countries that did, there is a huge loophole. items classified as repairable often labeled as charity are exempt. >> when you exempt these items, they are obsolete and would not work. reporter: critics argue these so-called donations are causing more issues than they are solving. before we were sent away by a

supervisor, we spoke with young men that work here. some even without gloves who are sifting dirt to salvage small scraps of metal. how much do you earn here? that is about three dollars a day. this 14-year-old told us he works here after school to help pay his school fees. what is your favorite subject? >> mathematics. reporter: what would you like to be when you grow up? >> a doctor. reporter: high aspiration but if his path is like so many men here, it may not taycan far, literally. -- it may not take him far, literally. like jefferson he came here from the country's unsettled north in search of work after his father died. >> i came here to support my family. reporter: he works here six days

a week to support his family. what would you like to do and your future? >> i want to stop this work. i want to travel to europe and worked and save my family. i want my children to have an education. >> there are 20 million people in the world making their livelihoods off of waste. reporter: professor kate o'neill is the author of three books about the recycling industry. >> they cannot be tossed off their jobs. you have to create jobs in markets, ways in which we move away from a waste economy to a repair economy. and that can be global. reporter: already in many developing countries she says secondhand and refurbished electronics and appliances have thriving markets but she says increasingly a lot of junk is sent here. it is hardware that by design has become difficult to dismantle and recycle making it

cheaper to send overseas often disguised as a charitable donation. >> i remember back when i had my first computer as they came with manuals. weigh the industry is structured right now there is planned obsolescence to make sure that we buy a new one every two years. part of the problem is what we have cannot easily be recycled or refurbished. reporter: more immediately exporting countries need to step up their oversight of what leaves their shores says larry of donna's environmental protection agency. >> the country needs to do more within our own jurisdiction when it comes to exports of some of these items. they don't have enough resources to be able to tell what items are junk and which are not. reporter: an admonition we also heard on the street loudly and clearly despite a language

barrier with a nearby merchant and he interrupted our interview. >> [speaking another language] you cannot take my video. >> what he is saying is it is the white people that bring in all of the garbage, the junk. and then we burn it. and then you ask for these things to be sent to you. reporter: much of the waste material comes from europe and the u.s. the copper and the aluminum extracted are usually destined for china or india. a lot is washed into the ocean. only to be washed back onto beach is mixing with a different kind of waste. it starts in the reject pile

from thrift stores from wealthy countries. we will have that story in the second part of our series. from a crawl, ghana. amna: this is in partnership with the under told stories partnership. geoff: while votes are still being counted in some places, donald trump is likely to be the first republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote in the last 20 years and yet pre-election polls have consistently underestimated his support since he first ran eight years ago and that has left some folks trying to figure out what happened. walking us through what the pre-election polls got right and what they missed. help us remember what the polls

said about support for donald trump and kamala harris nationally and in the battleground states. reporter: look at the national polls, they got kamala harris' number exactly right. 48 was for harris and 47 for donald trump. harris had about 48.2 in the polls nationally or in the final election results but donald trump was at 50%. the polls underestimated donald trump support again. and did so what by about -- and did so by about three points on average. it was the same story across the battleground states. his support was under matt -- underestimated by 2-4 points. they got close to kamala harri'' number but there are some things that the posters will have to look at. geoff: in 2016 we talked to voters and they would say they did not like either of them.

the response bias is real. is that what accounts for the undercount? reporter: the response bias is real but it is not what accounts for what we saw as the undercount. the pollsters have tried to get more people to be able to respond since the 1980's. they have done a lot of work on mixed modalities. it used to be live callers where the gold standard but now they are doing them online or by text or by cell phone in english and spanish. they are trying multiple things. what we saw here was number one when you look at the exit polls donald trump won late deciders by double digits. if you were deciding in the last few days, donald trump won them by six points and if in the last week he won them by 12. that is 7% of the electorate. that could make up for the three

points that we saw for the undercount. the other thing that is important is the white vote went up in this election. you might say, why would that even be a thing? in the last three decades we have seen the white eligible voting population go down significantly. this is the first election since 1992 that the share of the white vote went out. 67 up to 71% and that is because of the growth we have seen with latinos and asian-american voters. the pollsters were not factoring in an increase in the white vote. maybe they would've thought it was 65% but that also could have thrown the polls off a little bit. geoff: what trends did the polls actually capture --correctly capture? reporter: if you were to ask me four weeks ago who was going to win, if you thought there was a 2-3 point bias, you would say

that trump will win because harris had a sizable lead in the national averages but then it collapsed. after a month of relentless attack campaigns from the probe folks trying to define harris. they were able to do so and brought up his numbers for undecided voters. that was a major part of what we saw in this election. but also the story lines. the effect that harris was struggling with latino voters and young men, in particular young black men and we saw a play out election night. geoff: despite donald trump sweeping the battleground states there are down ballot democrats that won their seats. in nevada donald trump won by three but jacky rosen won by almost two. what explains the split where

people are voting for donald trump and also the democrat. reporter: people are thinking that ticket splitting is back. that is not the case. what we found is look at the number for donald trump and the number for the senate republican who ran and vice a versa. what we found is they are calling it bullet voters. people that went in and voted for donald trump but then left not voting for the senate candidate at the bottom of the ticket. in pennsylvania for example the senate candidate was 144 thousand votes fewer than for donald trump. 172,000 in arizona. 96 thousand in michigan. and the democrats that ran almost hit kamala harris' number. geoff: bullet voters. i'm writing that in my notes.

good to talk with you. thank you for coming in. ♪ amna: president-elect rob has hit the ground running announcing several key cabinet appointments that offer a glimpse of what is to come in his big -- in his administration. republicans have secured the house giving them control over congress and the white house. we turn now to the analysis of brooks and key part, david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post. a little news i want to share with our viewers. we have another appointment. caroline levitt who was his trump campaign national press secretary will be the white house press secretary as well. i want to ask you about more notable nominees. here is a look at some of the names.

marco rubio, secretary of state. matt gaetz, attorney general. rfk junior, health and human services. kristi noem, homeland security. susie wiles, chief of staff. the department of government efficiency, elon musk. the transition is moving so much faster then the previous one. what do you take away from not just who is being named but also how quickly. reporter: they either did a lot of pre-preparation or donald trump is riffing. it could be riffing. it may be him going with his gut . as for the tone of the appointments, i have had a roller coaster week emotionally. at the beginning he nominated marco rubio. pretty good.

michael waltz, national security advisor. a professional. john thune. i'm feeling like you go to the dentist and you expected to hurt and it isn't hurting. pretty good. but then comes matt gaetz, root canal. and then rfk junior, another root canal. it got more crazy as the week went along. elsie gabbard -- tgabbard will be had of intelligence and she has never had an intelligence job. she has never really run anything. like pete running the pentagon without much management experience. my only conclusion is a he sent these agencies to be agents of chaos. that is the core message i take away. amna: jonathan? reporter: root canal without anesthesia to be clear. donald trump is the most

predictable and easy to read politician i've ever had to cover because he projects, he is thin-skinned. he told us he was going to do this. he told us -- rfk, you should be the head of hhs but it is crazy. but he is following through peer he is putting in loyalists, people that will not tell him no and also people that believe in what he wants to do. you called them agents of chaos. a lot of people have come to washington to wreck washington. now they will get into the federal government and rec it from the inside. the toughest vote the senate took was the one that elected senator john thing as majority leader. why? because it was secret ballot. every vote they will take from now on will be for public view.

they will have to put their names to saying no to former congressman matt gaetz and say no to rfk junior cured i don't think they have that much courage to do the right thing and say -- no, mr. president. but if they do have the courage to say no to matt gaetz and no to the president, i actually wonder if naming matt gaetz was a chaos play. todd blanche -- amna: meaning to distract from other things? reporter: sure but matt gaetz is -- why does the word i'm looking for? toxic and unacceptable for the job. but blanche who was donald trump's lawyer in the hush money case was named the deputy. correct? matt gaetz moves aside, put in your own lawyer.

he is infinitely better. he is an actual lawyer, respected lawyer that went to work for donald trump. i could see that possibly happening. amna: that is a real strategy. reporter: it is donald trump so maybe i'm giving more credit than is due. amna: what is the election of senator john thing to be majority leader voted by his peers. it is a huge shift away from mitch mcconnell as a longest-serving leader in u.s. history but it also marks the rejection of rick scott who was also running for leader and who is backed by elon musk and not other voices. -- and other voices. what does this election -- what does this nomination say to you? reporter: these leadership elections are all about relationships. there are 50 republican senators

and it is who they feel comfortable with. john thune has been in the senate for a long time. a normal republican who knows how to do the dance. i thought some of his skill was on display this week when he was asked about recess appointments. donald trump has talked about doing these appointments without senate confirmation. it was on fox. he said -- he handled it skillfully. he said, i'm open to anything but there are barriers to doing recess appointments. you have to have all the republicans vote without a single dissent. he wasn't saying no to donald trump but he wasn't saying that the process will take care of this. he is not endorsing them. he is saying there is a process. if the republicans want to use the process, it shows that republicans in the senate are kind of normal. amna: do you think matt gaetz is

the only one they won't go forward with? reporter: and rfk junior is clearly unqualified. one quick thing. we live in washington and are surrounded by civil servants. they are nonpolitical and do their job. i've had many conversations with people in that role that are patriotic, work 60-80 hours a week and want to do their job. wonder if they should quit, will they get fired, should they hang on until retirement. there is a trauma going on in the civil service. these are patriotic americans that want to do their job. and you see them thinking -- i should get out of here. amna: i'm hearing some of that from my sources as well. reporter: and also because of schedule, an executive order that donald trump put in place just before he left in 2021 the

president biden rescinded but it is part of project 2025. the civil servants and the folks we have been talking to are worried about schedule being revived and then being put in a position of having to choose and then being fired. amna: i also need to ask about the democrats because there is deep soul-searching going on. we asked jb pritzker earlier this week about who is the leader of the democratic party and he said there really isn't any one person he could point to. hakeem jeffries told me yesterday the democrats are still processing their takeaways from election day. how do they move forward, the democrats? how do they work with as they say they want to man thy have spent years calling a fascist and a threat to democracy? reporter: when nancy pelosi was speaker and i think it carries over with leader jeffries, it

was disagree where we disagree and work together where we can work together. wherever there is common ground, let's find it. i think democrats have always been about there are problems and we want to fix them and let's figure out how we can fix them. the governing piece is the v some not worried about. it is the leadership of the party and how the party learns from the lessons of this election and moves forward to the point where in the midterms in 2026 they can have a reversal of fortune. i think the party needs to do an autopsy on what happened and what they can do better and what they should do more of or less of. the one thing i don't think they should do is run away from efforts and things they have done in the past to respect -- to honor the dignity and respect of people who are looking to their leaders to protect them.

amna: how do you look at it? reporter: these election results were not expected. if you were to have asked me if kamala harris would do worse among women voters then joe biden that result would have surprised me. that upsets the way a lot of people think the world is going to work. take some time to think through this. the one thing i would say not to do is respond to every shining apple. donald trump will do an outrage du jour. and this goes for us in the media also. we know it did not work for four years in his first term. don't get into the tit for tat here tried to rise above and have a vision that is somehow bigger than donald trump here at amna: david brooke and jonathan capehart, always great to see you both. thank you. ♪

geoff: if you have ever wanted to own a piece of hollywood history, now's your chance. a pair of dorothy's ruby slippers are up for auction. this pair has been on its long and strange journey. megan thompson explains for canvas. >> there they are and there they will stay. reporter: dorothy's ruby slippers, some of the most iconic movie memorabilia of all time worn by judy garland in the wizard of oz. frank sinatra said we will all be forgotten all of us but not judy. and i think he was right on. john has me preserving garland's legacy has life work as the curator of the judy garland museum in grand rapids, minnesota. >> judy garland's parents owned

this house for seven years. reporter: born in 1922 garland lived here until she was four and got her start performing at a local theater. more than 10,000 fans make the trek each year to biz or her childhood home and the museum. >> the slippers were exhibited on top of the pedestal. reporter: over the years the museum displayed a pair of the ruby slippers on loan from michael shaoul. in 2005 the slippers were at the museum for the fourth time and everything was shattered. >> used a handheld sledgehammer. reporter: a thief in the night walked right in. >> he creeped along the wall. we are a small town museum that had security but there were a lot of lapses. it was almost a perfect storm. reporter: the doors alarm had been disabled because schoolchildren kept tripping it. there were no cameras recording

and no motion detectors and the gallery. the museum director arrived the next morning -- >> i said there is a sequined. reporter: all that was left was a single sequin on the floor. >> you feel violated and our trust was gone. our credibility was destroyed. >> when you think of the wizard of oz and its magic, they are going to a far off fantasy land and meeting these weird people. that is what these shoes did in real life in the criminal caper. reporter: a freelance writer covered the crime for the local papers. as the years went by and the case went cold rumors swirled. was it local kids? an unscrupulous fan? >> an inside job because it seemed there were too many things that went arrived that night. there were a lot of different speculations. reporter: brian

manson is an investigator with the grand rapids police department who chased several ruby slipper leads. once staking out a house in the woods where he found a pair of high heels covered in glitter. >> i see it says made in china so i was mad. reporter: but another lead he worked cracked a case appeared in 2018 shoes were recovered during an fbi sting operation in minneapolis. the first indictment would not come for five more years. who were the alleged criminal masterminds that eluded the law for almost two decades? two buddies named terry yun jerry, career criminals that team up for one more score both in ill health by the time they showed up for court. >> you have these two older guys cured crusty old bloggers it doesn't fit the story of what we speculated on. reporter: terry barton who lives

in grand rapids claimed in court that he mistakenly thought they shoes were made of real rubies. >> i believe they got something that was too hot to move. they were very specific. they were identifiable. reporter: and so the slippers sat allegedly in jerry's backyard near minneapolis. they were buried for years in a plastic box. >> the ruby slippers are among the most iconic and valuable piece of memorabilia. reporter: the curator of the entertainment collection at the national museum of american history where the fbi brought the shoes for authentication. the team compared them to another pair of ruby slippers the museum owns. >> the smoking gun was a missing stone from one of the bows that had been replaced during production with a clear stone painted red. a detail about the ruby slippers that had not been published before. reporter: he says the

smithsonian slippers, one of four pairs, is one of their most popular items seen by more than 100 million people over the years. >> i think people bring a lot of personal memories and lov of hollywood film. >> follow the yellow brick road. reporter: i think they also bring an interest in dorothy's journey and how it is played out in their lives. >> in march those golden shoes were reunited with their owner who decided to put them up for auction. the current executive director of the judy garland museum is raising money to make a bid saying for the ruby slippers there is no place like home. >> having a pair of ruby slippers in her hometown where she was happy as a child would be a good hollywood happy ending to this saga of the ruby slippers. reporter: the slippers are estimated to be worth more than $3 million -- $300 million. >> it is definitely an uphill

battle but dreams do come true. reporter: the museum is accepting donations in person and on their website. they are approaching big dollar donors across the country. minnesota the state has pledged $100,000. >> tap your heels together three times. >> they have a power that is mythical. even if we are not successful at the auction, perhaps someone will donate them some day. we could be surprised. reporter: bidding will end in dallas in a live auction on december 7. for the pbs news hour, i megan thompson in grand rapids, minnesota. ♪ geoff: don't forget to watch

washington week with the atlantic tonight on pbs. jeffrey goldberg and his panel will discuss donald trump's controversial cabinet nominees. amna: and watch pbs news weekend tomorrow for a look at the future of u.s. china relations as president biden meets with xi jinping for the last time before leaving office. and that is a news hour for tonight. geoff: for all of us here at the pbs news hour, thank you for spending part of your evening but doesn't have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour including kathy and paul anderson and george smith. the walton family foundation working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together.

the william f laura hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ and friends of the news hour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ ♪

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