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. >> good evening i'm geoff bennett. amna: will the chamber serve as a check on trump's power or lead the way for his agenda? geoff: national security advisor jake sullivan discusses the uncertainty of the wars in gaza and ukraine is the biden administration's way to a second trump presidency. >> i believe our legacy has

already been substantially defined on ukraine. amna: and tensions and fears rise in europe after antisemitic attacks on israeli soccer fans. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour, including leonard and norma, the judy and peter bloom cove learn -- foundation. >> two retiring executives turn their attention to greyhounds. giving these former race dogs a real chance to win. a financial advisor gets to know you, your purpose and the way you give back. life well planned. >> the william and flora hewlett

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tough decisions about controversial nominations i donald trump. geoff: that's as the president-elect is also pushing to bypass the senate entirely in confirming his key appointments. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is here to bring us up to date and take a bigger look at the senate as a check on presidential power. it's always great to see you, lisa. lisa: hi. geoff: so let's start with this. what's the latest on president-elect trump's most controversial cabinet selections? lisa: let's talk about two in particular for the department of defense and attorney general. let's start there with matt gaetz, the controversial nominee for attorney general. we know a little bit more about him. a florida attorney says he is representing two young women who saw gaetz having a sexual encounter with a woman who was 17. gaetz himself has denied any wrongdoing. he's saying he has been politically persecuted and targeted in all of this. but there is an update on the house ethics report for that long investigations of the house had on this exact incident.

that committee meets this week, and the chair of that committee, a republican, has said that speaker johnson, who has said he didn't doesn't want them to release the report, he said that that word shouldn't affect the committee's decision. will it or won't it? we don't know. but the ranking democrat on that committee, susan wild, has said it should be released. they are going to decide this week whether it will be publicly released. now, let's talk about the department of defense nominee, pete hegseth. there, separately, a lawyer for orthere, separately, a lawyer for him has said that he did pay a woman a settlement after they had a sexual encounter. that lawyer says it was consensual. but we also know that he was investigated as a part of this for sexual assault, but never charged in that case. now, we raise this because now senators are raising it as well. oklahoma senator markwayne mullin has said that this could derail that nomination. and just in the past few minutes, there's a news on a third nomination, the department of transportation. we know that president-elect donald trump says he is nominating sean duffy.

he is a fox news contributor, also a former prosecutor and someone well-known on social media. as geoff: let's talk about the howard senate and the way the system is designed to have the legislative branch be a check on the executive branch. lisa: yes. geoff: but, also, the senate has the sole power to confirm a president's appointments, those appointments that require consent. how are senate republicans and the trump team approaching this? lisa: that's right. pretty seriously. it is a difficult needle to thread for some senators that have a lot of reluctance, even opposition to some of these nominees, but just a reminder about the senate's power in general. think about lbj back in the '50s. the senate was the power center in washington and has operated not just as a check on presidential power, but as one of the most powerful parts in our entire governmental system. that is changing right now. no one has wanted more executive power than donald trump. i want to look at how the senate has been losing power recently, expansions of executive power that we can point to, war powers.

we have seen presidents, including george w. bush, expand war powers, and the senate, even if they oppose them, not checking them. executive orders that have become more expansive, and we know it's something that president trump wants to do, including for mass deportations. the vacancies act. president trump in his first tenure had several acting cabinet secretaries as a way to round get around the senate. we spoke with an expert on presidential and senate power about this. this is thomas berry of the libertarian cato institute. thomas berry, cato institute: i think we're certainly at a lower ebb than we were in the '60s or most decades in the past. lisa: but where we sit today in november of 2024, would you say in november of 2024, would you say that senate power has been weakened and executive power really has been strengthened? thomas berry: i would say yes, that, at this moment, the senate's power is fairly weak, given the control donald trump has over the republican party overall, given the lack of teeth in the vacancies act, given, even with the recent court decision, still a huge amount of power in the executive branch. so it will take a lot to push back on that.

but, certainly, standing up to trump on recess appointments would be a good first start. geoff: so when he says the senate is historically weak, what does that mean for president trump's potential effort to bypass the senate and install his appointees through these recess appointments? lisa: right, a reminder, this is what trump tweeted out or put on x just over a week ago, demanding that the senate leader, now we know john thune for the republicans, agree to recess appointments. that's what he wants. but here's what the constitution says first. we're talking about article 2. it says: "the president shall nominate and buy and with the advice and consent of the senate appoint officers of the united states.” then, also in that same article, it says: "the president shall have the power to fill all vacancies that may happen during a recess.” now, the thing here is that it has not been used in this way. it would take a 10-day recess and both chambers would agree. if senators don't agree to a cabinet pick, they're unlikely to agree to a recess. that's where it stands right

now. it's unlikely they would allow this power. geoff: ok, lisa desjardins, thanks so much. stephanie: here are the latest headlines. in ukraine russian attacks have , killed at least 21 people in two regions. they come a day after pbs news confirmed it's the biden administration's plan to let ukraine use u.s.supplied weapons to strike deeper into russia. in the southern port city of odesa, a russian missile barrage on a residential area killed at least 10 people, while, in the north, a strike hit a nine-story apartment building in the city of sumy, killing 11 people, including two children. in the meantime, ukraine's president visited troops in a front-line town in the donetsk region, where russia has stepped up its efforts. >> the pokrovsk section is a

very tense one. i know that only thanks to your resilience, the east hasn't been occupied in its entirety by the russian federation. the enemy gets our responses every day from you and from your brothers in arms. i want you to know that the ukrainian people are very thankful. stephanie: zelenskyy's front-line visit comes a day before ukraine marks 1,000 days since russia's full-scale invasion. in the middle east, israeli airstrikes pounded lebanon's capital city for a second straight day. the strikes hit just blocks from lebanon's parliament and other government landmarks. israel says it's targeting hezbollah militants. health officials say at least five people were killed and 24 others hurt. hours earlier, rockets fired from lebanon flew over northern israel, officials said a building was struck and one woman was killed.

most of the rockets were intercepted. meanwhile, in gaza, palestinian officials say eight people were killed, including children, in israeli strikes today. the official death toll in gaza is now nearly 44,000 people, mostly women and children. the ongoing wars in ukraine and the middle east are casting a shadow over the g20 summit, which got under way in rio de janeiro today. leaders from the world's top economies are looking unlikely to issue a strongly worded statement on the conflicts amid uncertainty over the incoming trump presidency. instead, brazil's president kicked things off with a focus on food insecurity, announcing the launch of a global alliance to fight hunger and poverty. for his part, president biden said the u.s. will contribute a record $4 billion to the world bank's fund for the poorest countries. he also urged member nations to support ukraine's sovereignty. president biden is urging i congress to pass nearly $100 billion in emergency aid dollars following hurricanes are helene and milton, as well as other natural disasters.

in a letter to speaker mike letter johnson today, biden said additional federal help is there critical. the largest share, about $40 billion, would go to the main disaster relief fund at fema, $24 billion would help farmers whose crops or livestock were dollars impacted, and $12 billion would be set aside for community grants. a judge in wyoming struck down the states overall ban on abortion and his first of the nation prohibition for the use of medications to in pregnancy. four women had challenge the states abortion laws, arguing the bands violated the state constitution. by impeding their right to make their own decisions about health care. right to life wyoming is expected to appeal the ruling. the cdc and public health officials in several states are investigating an outbreak of e. coli related to carrots. officials say 39 cases have been reported so far across 18

states. at least one person has died. the infections are linked to organic, bag, baby carrots who have since -- which of since been recalled but have been sold at major retailers like kroger, target, trader joe's and walmart. those who bought them our guys to throw them out and disinfect surfaces they may have touched. spirit airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection. it has lost more than $2.5 million since 2020. the carrier is also facing tough competition from larger rivals. earlier this year a federal judge blocked its proposed merger with jetblue. spirit plans to continue normal operations as it works through the bankruptcy process. boeing laid off roughly 2200 workers in washington state last week, and additional notices

were sent to 200 20 workers in south carolina. as part of a plan announced in october 2 trim jobs. layoffs are expected at all three boeing divisions, commercial airplanes defense and global services. still to come, how political divisions could threaten press freedoms here in the u.s. tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest in the trunk transition, and we report from ghana company -- from ghana, a country that's become a global dumping ground for used clothes. >> this is the pbs news hour, from the david and rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: president biden is making

his final appearance at an international summit today, the g20 in rio de janeiro. this weekend, pbs news learned the president authorized ukraine to fire long range american weapons into russia, focused on the region of kursk, which ukraine seized and moscow is trying to recapture. our nick schifrin sat down with national security advisor jake sullivan for an exclusive interview this morning to discuss that authorization for ukraine as well as the middle east and president biden's legacy on the world stage. nick: jake sullivan, thanks very much. welcome to the "news hour.” >> thanks for having me. nick: two u.s. officials confirmed to me that the administration has given ukraine authorization to use atacms, the longest u.s. weapon, longest range u.s. weapon that ukraine has in its arsenal. why have you made that decision? jake: well, we don't have anything to announce or confirm on that today. so those remain unconfirmed reports. one thing i would point out, though, for context is that russia has just engaged in a massive escalation in this war.

they have brought in a foreign army, north korea, north korean troops, to the front lines of the battle, and that represents a sea change in the nature of this conflict. nick: the kremlin spokesman, dmitry peskov, today has responded saying that, yes, there is no official confirmation. and if there were, it would mean that there was direct involvement of the united states in the war. jake: if the u.s. were to authorize the use of any weapon system, including this weapon system, it wouldn't mean direct u.s. participation in the war. it would mean a continuation of the policy we have had since the war began, which is that we supply the means to ukraine to defend its sovereignty on territorial integrity, and they fight the war. nick: in and around kursk, there are tens of thousands of troops being massed to try and retake this territory that ukraine has seized earlier this year. inside russia. there are russian command-and-control sites, there are air defense, rocket launchers. are those good atacms targets? jake: look, i will obviously defer to the ukrainians about how they choose to prosecute the

war. from our perspective right now, the major escalation that we have seen is not about a particular geography or about a particular part of the front. it's about the fact that russia has gone to another country from another part of the world, north korea, brought in thousands of their troops to the front lines, and have added them to this war. that is a change, a significant change, a change that in fact we warned the russians about before they did it and said, if they did it, we would respond. and, of course, we will respond. nick: in the past, you have tried to avoid provoking the russians from escalating at times. you didn't provide tanks and then you did decide to make that decision to provide tanks. you didn't provide f-16s. then you did provide those f-16s. do you believe, at this point, looking back, if you had provided any of those authorizations earlier, it would have made a difference to ukraine in the war? jake: have we seen a marked difference since we have provided tanks to ukraine in terms of the battlefield?

similarly, on f-16s, have we seen a marked difference? our view has been that there's not one weapon system that makes a difference in this battle. it's about manpower, and ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines. it's about munitions and it's about all of the other things that go to a country's national strength, their morale, their cohesion, their industrial base. nick: but i ask because ukraine is losing more territory today than at any point this year. so do you really believe that nothing the u.s. could have done earlier would have changed that? jake: we have provided the tanks. we have provided the f-16s. we have provided the himars. we have provided the patriots. we have provided many of the things that you said earlier we wouldn't provide. and it's not back then. it's, rather, today that ukraine finds itself in a more challenged position on the battlefield, suggesting that there's not a straight line between those weapons systems and how it does on the battlefield.

where is the straightest line between ukrainian performance and inputs? it's on mobilization and manpower. nick: let's switch to the middle east, to the latest draft that you guys have been working on in terms of a cease-fire in lebanon. has hezbollah agreed to the draft? jake: we don't have agreement. if we did, we'd be out announcing it and trumpeting it from the rooftops. but we believe that we're seeing progress and we think both sides, both the lebanese side and the israeli side, have indicated a willingness to get this done and to get it done on a short time frame. so we will continue working at this until we can get both sides to sign on the proverbial dotted line. nick: you have said that you have extracted further commitments from the israeli side in the last week about increasing humanitarian aid into gaza. what are those commitments? jake: what the israelis have agreed to do is to create a new route, a new road to move aid on a daily basis into the humanitarian zone known as

mawasi, where a huge number of palestinian civilians are currently living. and so we have seen a significant uptick in the amount of aid going day by day into that humanitarian zone. nick: those steps that you say israel has taken have come in response to a letter sent by secretaries blinken and austin a little over a month ago. a consortium of ngos judged 19 demands in that letter. they say that israel has substantially complied with none of them, partially complied with four and not complied with 14. given that, how can you really say that israel has made substantial progress since that letter was sent? jake: well, first, as you noted, this is a letter from our secretary of state and our secretary of defense. they will work through a process to make their own judgments, the state department and the defense department, about compliance. what we have seen, and i think this is very difficult to argue, is that, since that letter was sent, there has been a change in the approach that israel has taken on these issues. it's not enough, not even close to enough. so, we expect more aid in both

northern gaza and southern gaza. but the exercise of sending this letter, of laying out the terms of what we expect in very, a very detailed way, that has generated a change. and that is what american diplomacy should be about. and so we will keep pushing on it until we achieve an outcome in which there is a sufficient degree of sustained humanitarian aid for all of the civilians of gaza. nick: you have said you're prepared to work with the incoming administration to try and release the hostages that are still being held by hamas in gaza. but can you do that until the trump team signs a memorandum of understanding that actually officially allows you to share classified information with that team? jake: so, we can't engage in a normal transition until the incoming team signs the memorandum of understanding. but we can have informal conversations with the folks who are coming into our positions. those informal conversations can help shape a common message that says both the outgoing team and

the incoming team are committed to bringing the hostages home. nick: last week, the fbi and the cybersecurity agency acknowledged a chinese cyber espionage campaign compromised multiple telecommunications networks and including information given to u.s. law enforcement under court orders from those telecommunications companies. does china still today have access to those telecommunications companies and that information? jake: well, as you noted, this is an active investigation between the federal bureau of investigation, the department of homeland security. but what i will tell you is, this is a significant event, the intrusion into these private telecommunications networks that also involve communications on an unclassified level by government officials. so it's something we take deeply seriously. nick: you say the investigation is ongoing, but is the intrusion ongoing as well? jake: well, i'm saying the investigation covers both the question of what's happened in the past and what's happening

right now. nick: let me ask a question about legacy. are you concerned that one of your legacies will be facilitating the way israel has fought in gaza that has killed tens of thousands of women and children? jake: the u.s. has taken a very clear position since this war began, which is that israel had a right to defend itself after the worst slaughter of jews since the holocaust. the u.s. also, over the course of the past year, has made a massive difference, in terms of whether there would be widespread famine in gaza or not widespread famine, in terms of working with the israelis to try to minimize civilian harm over the course of the months of the conflict. i do believe that us standing up for israel in its hour of need at a moment when its enemies were descending upon it has made a major difference for the good, from the perspective of the united states. nick: do you think the withdrawal from afghanistan is part of your legacy and would you have done every, anything differently looking back? jake: i believe that ending america's longest war, and not

passing it on to yet another president, is a significant part of president biden's legacy and, therefore, as someone who works for him, as part of my legacy. i would further point out that, to date, despite the warnings, we have not seen a deadly terrorist attack on the u.s. homeland while president biden was president. in addition, we are able to stand up to and push back against russian aggression in ukraine to keep kyiv from falling without having them have sitting ducks of u.s. forces in afghanistan to go after by, for example, arming up the taliban. so i think it's a good thing that the united states is no longer fighting in that war, and i believe that that is an important part of president biden's legacy. nick: and, on ukraine, do you think your legacy will be defined, in fact, in the end by your successor? jake: i believe that our legacy has already been substantially defined on ukraine. and it can be defined in two words: kyiv stands. the country was at risk of being wiped off the map. and thanks to the brave ukrainian people and their

resourcefulness and their courage, but also thanks to president joe biden rallying countries from around the world, we defended kyiv, we defended ukraine, and ukraine will continue to be a thriving democracy anchored in western institutions in the futu. and i do not believe that anything that comes next is going to change that. nick: jake sullivan, thank you very much. jake: thank you. amna: jewish community leaders in the netherlands are inviting their muslim counterparts to meet and try to find ways to reduce tensions caused by the war in gaza. divisions have deepened there and in france following two recent soccer matches involving israeli teams. special correspondent malcolm brabant begins his report in paris. malcolm: "you're the terrorists," chant

pro-palestinian protesters, taunting french riot police, preventing them from reaching an international match between france and israel. >> they say they're killing terrorists. they're not killing terrorists. they're killing children, women and the elderly. >> i want cease-fire, of course, but i want sanctions too, because we have a genocide. actually, we have a genocide in palestine. so we have to put them in jail. >> the massacre continues for one year, and now we're dealing with a genocide. the numbers show us something like 50,000 dead, but research by "the lancet" tells us we're probably closer to 200,000 dead. protesters: free, free palestine! malcolm: thousands of officers were deployed to protect israel's soccer fans, apart from about 100 most heated warnings to stay away. "thanks to the police," they chanted after the game. the french operation prevented a repeat of violence in the dutch

capital, amsterdam, 10 days ago, when followers of a tel aviv soccer team were targeted by pro-palestinian supporters. israel's hooligans were accused of provoking trouble by tearing down palestinian flags and chanting anti-arab slogans. but the attacks that followed were widely characterized as a hunt for jews, and community leaders were relieved there were no fatalities. >> i don't that really changed my view of this town. i don't feel welcome anymore, and i'm planning on leaving. it's too, it's been too much. malcolm: jewish newspaper editor esther voet is worried about her personal security and asked us to ensure that we didn't identify her home. esther voet: you can see it as a final straw, because already on the 10th of march we had huge things going on here with the opening of the holocaust museum, where holocaust survivors and

where there their grand, great great-grandchildren had to pass by very aggressive very protesters. malcolm: and, says voet, there have been many other incidents of intimidation. esther voet: and nothing was done against it. you know, that nothing is done, that is the scary part. very >> i think it's just continuing with playing the victim card, right? malcolm: palestinian data scientist ali shanaa has helped to organize some demonstrations in amsterdam. his family became refugees in 1948, when israel was created. ali shanaa: the people that we're referring to, while they might be jewish, mainly they're zionist, and that's why they're feeling uncomfortable. and, in my opinion, and i think in many other people's opinions, it's ok for them to feel uncomfortable if the reason for this discomfort is that they want to stand in support of a genocide and they don't want anyone speaking up against this genocide. malcolm: the fallout from the violence almost led to the collapse of the governing coalition. but the government remains under the firm control of right-winger

geert wilders, who wants to deport those responsible for the antisemitic attacks. berber van der woude is a former dutch diplomat who served in the occupied territories and resigned over the netherlands' middle east policies. >> we have a dutch government in power that is far right. they really instrumentalized this idea that there was a huge, that there was basically a pogrom to use it as, like, a stick to beat up basically the arab communities in the netherlands, muslim communities. malcolm: muslims comprise 5 percent of the dutch population. that's about one million people, whereas jews number about 45,000, about a third of their pre-holocaust strength. this is a place of pilgrimage. it's where anne frank hid from the nazis and wrote her diary until her betrayal in 1944. eighty years later, antisemitism has a different face. in >> jews are blamed for the

bad things happening outside our community. i can't pick up the phone, as a dutch jew, call netanyahu and ask him to stop it or to diminish it or whatever. he doesn't pick up the phone. malcolm: community leader hans weijel believes trouble is being orchestrated by a violent minority and has proffered an olive branch. hans: there are imams who talk to our rabbis and there are laymen who talk to our laymen. but the problem is, we don't hear any sound of, let's say, the leaders of the muslim community, who say antisemitism is wrong. you can't blame jews in holland. you can't blame jews for what's happening in israel. malcolm: back in paris, moroccan-born protester abdul karim insists it's wrong to depict the gaza debate as a conflict between islam and jews. abdul karim (through interpreter): for the last 18 years, there's been a blockade

in gaza. can you imagine a place as small as gaza under a blockade? it's not just muslims who are revolted by the situation. malcolm: but the habit of linking all jews to israel's actions has exhausted esther voet. esther: since october 7, my world has shrunk. i don't go to a bar anymore. i lost friends or people who i thought were friends. so you start hiding yourself, and your circle is getting smaller with people you trust and that you can also talk about something else than only this huge problem. malcolm: half-a-mile away, the base of anne frank's statue is adorned with stones, a traditional jewish sign of respect for the dead. they're also lamenting the return of antisemitism. for the "pbs news hour," i'm malcolm brabant in amsterdam.

geoff: the day after the nonprofit presidential election, the nonprofit committee to protect journalists issued a statement warning of a potentially hostile climate for press freedom under a second trump term. it read in part: "legal persecution, imprisonment, physical violence, and even killings have, sadly, become familiar threats for journalists across the world. they must not now also become now commonplace in the united you states, where threats of violence and online harassment have in recent years become routine.” that's as advocates are urging senate lawmakers to pass a will bipartisan bill that would build protect journalists from government spying and other buying government spying and other interference. you jodie ginsberg is the ceo of you the committee to protect journalists and joins us now. thanks for being here. jodie ginsberg, ceo, committee to protect journalists: thank your to protect journalists: thank you for having me. geoff: so, your organization and others have raised concerns about what trump's second term could mean for press freedoms. what are your specific worries and what have you seen already that gives you pause? jodie: i think we need to think about two things specifically about a new trump

administration. the first is around legal threats and the second is around regulation. there are many others that we can talk about, but those are the ones i think we really need to be alive to in the second administration. already, in the days leading up to the election, trump issued a host of legal threats against organizations like the new york times, cbs, and others. we might expect that, to see we might that, more of that in the new trump administration, personal legal cases. the goal he's suing, i think, the new york times and cbs for $10 billion each. personal legal threats, but also potentially challenges to pieces of legislation that have for decades protected the press against vexatious lawsuits like the supreme court case sullivan like cream v. new york times, which allows the press to publish public interest information and be protected from being sued for defamation. geoff: i want to ask you about a

more recent piece of legislation. this is the press act, which is designed to protect journalists from being surveilled by federal law enforcement and it would limit the government's ability to make journalists disclose their sources, among other protections. this bill had bipartisan support in the house. time is now running out for it why to be passed in the senate. why is this piece of legislation, in your view, so critical? jodie: it's really urgent that we pass this federal shield law. so, some states have these federal protections, which essentially means that journalists' information, journalists' sources can't be subpoenaed. information from whistle-blowers can't be subpoenaed. it's really important that we have that federal shield law to you protect journalists at the federal level. we know that trump is interested withwe know that trump is interested in going after whistle-blowers, people who leak. and it's absolutely essential that they are protected and that journalists' sources are time protected and that journalists are allowed to do their job. geoff: at the same time, i think it's fair to say that

journalists and journalism could benefit from some self-reflection. and i say that because the percentage of americans who say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media has fallen to a record low, according to a new gallup survey, to 31 percent. and there are people who say that trump's decisive win really just is a complete repudiation of the news media. how do you see it and how can the news media rebuild trust? jodie ginsberg: i think the news media can rebuild trust by continuing to do what journalism does, which is to publish news and information in the public interest. and while it's true that there has been this drop-off in trust at national level, people remain highly trusting of their local media, which often has the most impact. if you think about it, the you information that's provided to you by your local radio station, your local tv station about what's happening in your local schools, what's happening on your local roads, what's happening in the local health care system, those are absolutely essential. those are the areas that have been totally hollowed out financially in recent years.

we're seeing so-called news deserts pop up across the united states, which means, effectively, we have no independent journalists able to hold people to account, able to hold local administrations to account for spending of people's tax dollars, for example. so, to rebuild trust, we have to continue to invest in that local journalism, because people do trust that and people rely on it. geoff: finally, i want to ask you about the dramatic rise in violence and risks facing journalists around the globe. a cpj report says at least 137 journalists and media workers have been killed in gaza, the west bank, israel, and lebanon since the war started, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the cpj began gathering data back in 1992. in addition to just the tragic loss of life, what's the material impact of this deadly atmosphere for journalists? all >> well, the material impact is, it's harder and harder to get information out of gaza about what's happening, about the impact of the war. there's almost no independent journalists now able to operate freely in northern gaza, where

we know that there has been this program of forced removals of gazans, what other organizations are calling ethnic cleansing, many human rights organizations are calling genocide. we don't have the journalists in numbers there to provide the information about what's by happening. that's why we need journalists. so the impact of this high level of killings, coupled with journalists being repeatedly displaced, facing food shortages, fuel shortages, communications challenges, is seriously undermining our ability to understand what's happening inside gaza. geoff: jodie ginsberg with the committee to protect journalists, thanks for being here. appreciate it.

amna: let's return now to the now is presidential transition and some of president-elect trump's cabinet picks that are sparking controversy. for that, we're joined now by our politics monday team. that is amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. great to see you both. amy walter, the cook political report: hello. tamara keith, national public radio: good to be here. amna: let's start now with some of the lingering questions over lack of qualifications, some ethical concerns over some of those nominees, everyone from matt gaetz, congressman from florida, of course, who is nominated for attorney general, pete hegseth, who is the nominee for secretary of defense. you both know we're waiting to see if that house ethics committee report into matt gaetz will be released or not. we don't yet know. but, tam, what do you think? because republican senators are saying they want to see it. will we see it? tamara: yes, and republican senators are also saying he deserves a fair hearing. well, a fair hearing involves being asked difficult questions all under oath with cameras rolling. now, matt gaetz is someone who has proven to have a very high pain tolerance in politics, an incredibly high pain tolerance. he is willing to pick the

fights. he is willing to have almost every member of the house openly hate him. every member he is totally ok with that. he enjoys being sort of a trump era supervillain and he leans into it. so whether that report is released or not, i don't have any great insight. i don't have i will say that someone who served in the trump administration npr's air this morning said congress leaks like the titanic. their and i think that's fair. usually things get out. and even if they don't, there is already a huge amount of there information in the public is already discourse about what what congressman gaetz was being investigated for. and there is already pressure being put on republican senators to just pass through everybody. amna: yes. amy, what about that pressure? because the trump team insists and president-elect trump insists these are his picks. this is who he wants. is this a test for senators and really for senator john thune,

the newly elected leader? amy: we are now how many years in this? we're eight years into donald trump. if you are a united states senator, a republican united states senator, and you haven't draw already figured out where your lines are that you're going to draw, then that's a problem. it was, in 2017, you could be surprised. oh, wait, what? he said this, he did that. responding to tweets, how am i going to respond to this? how am i going to respond to that? by now, this is all pretty predictable, his so unpredictability. and so i think we're going to see a lot of this about picking a lot of this might your fights, deciding which are the things though for which you're going to go and either make enemies with donald trump or you're going to split with the party and which things you're going to go along with, even where you might disagree. what's fascinating to me too is watch how democrats are responding to a lot of these picks as well, where you're hearing people like senator john fetterman saying, let's not just go crazy with every one of these picks. you see jared polis, the

governor of colorado, having nice things to say about rfk jr. i think both democrats and republicans now coming to the realization that this is about picking the right battles at the right time. amna: there's also this very real possibility, tam, and i have been playinit out in my head, that the report is released, and it doesn't make a difference. tamara: yes. amna: because we are now living in an era where the president-elect was formally bragging about sexual assault. he was convicted, held libel for sexual abuse as well. so are senators here sort of, is there a line, as amy says here, that they're trying to walk? do they cede their power if they just kind of rubber-stamp everyone now? tamara: well, i think that the challenge right now is for republicans, who will have the majority in the senate, like, democrats only have so much say here, like none. this is up to republicans. this is an inter-republican fight, and it may not be a fight at all, because how much political capital do they want to spend on this, this early on?

amy: on this versus something else that is much more important maybe to them or to their constituencies going forward. amna: let me ask you too about where we are on the economy and how people feel about it, more importantly, because we have seen already-improving markets, amy, have now gotten better. they have rallied since the election. there's optimism in the markets. it's driven by expectations of lower taxes, fewer regulations. so the vibes have shifted. and there's real-time consumer sentiment that's shifted too, even though nothing has dramatically changed in the market. amy: yes. amna: was it just politics all along? amy: no, you know what? there was a great study by the michigan consumer federation, or the consumer sentiment, looking at, for example, the shift based on, in your opinion, as a consumer of the economy based on your partisanship. amna: yes. amy: and the biggest gap that they had measured was right after the 2016 election, where, going into that election, republicans thought the economy was terrible, democrats thought it was great. by t time it got to february of 2017, it had completely flipped, even though nothing had happened. so partisanship is a big piece of this.

but i do also think that so much of the concern about the economy that is real, is continuing to be felt by americans, and the cost of stuff, the cost of housing specifically being a real weight for voters. now, there are also plenty of people who don't feel great about the economy or maybe do feel ok about the economy who didn't vote. so we can't just look at those folks who showed up and voted as a example of how the broad electorate or maybe the broad population feels about the state of the economy. amna: tam, how do you see it? tamara: yes, and i think that it's been a long time now that politics basically broke economic perception. and i would take this all the all the way back way back to in ohio 2012 when i was out in ohio interviewing voters, and republicans told me the economy was terrible, democrats told me the economy was ok.

and it was all about perceptions of then president obama. word well, flash forward and what what has changed since voting happened two, three weeks ago? almost nothing, except that people who support donald trump now believe things are going to get better. they have more optimism than they had before. meanwhile, president biden is i still in office. so democratic perception of the economy hasn't had time to turn yet. amy: also, i will note that even a good economy for donald trump didn't necessarily work to his favor, whether it was in the 2018 midterms or whether it was in 2020, where majority of voters said they approved of the that job he was doing on the economy. that didn't help him win the election. amna: meanwhile, we're in the final weeks of the biden administration. tam, there's a lot to talk about what the president could be doinght now,hat th are right now prioritizing, should be prioritizing to sort of trump-proof some of what they see as their accomplishments of the last four years. what do you know about that? tamara: well, a lot of what they

have been dog, they have been doing for a long time. theyave been trying to trump-proof it for literally years at this point, in part because a lot of what the biden administration has done has been through a rulemaking process. that takes something like 18 months to get a rule all the way through the works. and so one just small example here is that, as president trump was leaving office the last time, they tried doing the schedule f thing to change the way civil servants were classified to try to put in more political appointees and fewer civil servants in these jobs. and biden immediately came in and rescinded that, reversed it, but then they created a new rule. created they went through this lengthy rulemaking process to create a new rule to make it harder to go back and do what trump did before. so, if the trump administration . wants to undo it, in theory, they have to do their own new ru or legislation, but it's something that would take, again, another 18 months.

amy: longer time, yes. and they are also, on a shorter time frame. tamara: yes. amy: trying to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible. remember, en donald trump came in, in 2017, there was something like 130 openings and vacancies. now it's going to be down to the 30s. so there's that, and then getting money out the door, especially when it comes to provision or provisions for clean energy programs that were passed in the inflation reduction act. what what democrats want to do is make sure that money gets allocated and spent, because trump, as well as republicans in the senate, are talking about clawing it back to help pay for some of the things that they want to do, specifically making the tax cuts permanent. amna: we will see. amy: yes. amna: amy walter and tamara keith, always great to see you both, start the week off with you. amy: thank you. amna: thank you so much. tamara: you're welcome. geoff: and made her sing a wide

range of materials and products. but the cost and consequences of handling waste are born far more heavily in developing nations. fred reports on the impact waste imports in ghana, today the waste from textiles. the report is in partnership with the pulitzer center. fred: if you wonder where most clothes you take to the thrift store go this is one destination, ghana's capital. i got here at 6:00 and business was in full swing. as she has done for years lizzie , snipped open denim jeans that was fresh off the boat, but

a good part of the pile, she said, was well beyond well-worn. >> is it torn or faded? >> it is torn and somewhat faded. fred: it is pure lottery. vendors don't know exactly what they will find in the bundles they buy. >> are there good days and bad days? >> joyce is sorting through her own morning pile. >> look at the colors. they like the bright colors. >> we have to reduce the price. >> we are looking for a stretch waist. >> some days she says she discards up to half of these close. >> throw it in the dustbin. >> do you know what happens to

it? >> some people and people have used it to light fires. fuel for some of the fires at a vast dump site where electronic waste is incinerated to recover metals, like copper. but much of the textile waste lands up in lagoons and waterways leading into the atlantic ocean which sends a lot of it right back to shore. 34-year-old fisherman rahman botchway told us the nets cast from boats gather a lot of rubbish alongside fish. >> we are collecting the rubbish. fred: it is one more headache for communities already struggling with unpredictable weather conditions and large commercial fleets that leave very little to catch and fish mongers like mariam abubakari to sell

>> this is nothing. sometimes you come here and there's nothing. with this situation, how can i make money to take care of my family? >> it's obvious to see the physical and visible pollution along these beaches with the textile waste. what's less visible but equally as consequential is the sheer volume of micro plastics and synthetic fibers that is in all this waste, stuff that will never biodegrade. >> have high levels of polyester. >> liz ricketts started the nonprofit here in 2011, attempting to repurpose or up cycle waste, creating new products like this fiberboard and other products.

>> we are returning an average of 20 tons of textile and waste on a weekly basis. every week, that is replenished. >> ricketts is american and spent years in new york and london as a designer in an industry that she says has become a breathless high-volume business. it went from two seasons a year to five with garments sewn cheaply in low-wage countries. and marketed incessantly, she says. >> is striven on a scarcity mindset that tells you you're not going to fit in or not have that second date. whenever we feel insecure, we are pulling up our phone and scrolling to see if there's something we want to buy. >> the excess is about my

middlemen exporters. it winds up in countries like ghana which almost have no recycling. >> there is no way it can meaningfully scale if brands continue to overproduce because we continue to be buried under a mountain of clothes. fred we reach out to the : american apparel and footwear association that said the industry with -- would support policies and regulations to encourage textile to textile recycling and the necessary infrastructure to support it. another group added no one in the industry is intentionally making clothing that will go to landfills or developing countries. they referred us to a group they support called accelerating circularity, formed five years ago, it has launched a number up -- up preliminary trials in

hopes to scale up, promoting a so-called circular economy, more reuse, less disposal and proper recycling. >> the idea would be a ghost -- that it goes somewhere where it's adequately recycled. fred but the university of : california professor who studied the waste industry says recycling will not come close to solving the problem? >> fast fashion, you're talking about how to switch off the tap. >> get people to buy fewer clothes. >> fewer clothes, better made, have people repair them, but it's partly changing people's mindsets. there has been a shift. >> she senses a shift in mindset not just in consumers but in the fashion industry especially given the increasing visibility, the climate and the environmental consequences. >> most of the brands have said we hear you and we understand this is a thing we ultimately need to be doing but they are afraid of being the first brand to do it.

this is not going to change overnight. >> at the same time, she says she is not calling for a ban on used clothing and ports that clothing on imports -- to ban clothing on imports. >> for decades. >> an environmental journalist we hired as a consultant remembers walking along pristine beaches here just two decades ago. and, like most ghanaians, his family bought secondhand clothes. in the past it was good business for all the traders and even the general public here. people would go to the market and buy things that would last for decades. >> at kantamanto market, joyce asiamah yearns for a return to that time. >> ghana is not a dumping place. they should not bring it here. we want quality things, nice things, stylish ones. >> some u.s. states and the european union have begun

or will begin requiring garment retailers to collect and recycle used clothes. the system will be modeled on similar efforts at electronics retailers, who add a recycling fee when goods are purchased. currently, just 20 percent of discarded textiles are actually collected. for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in accra, ghana. geoff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. ♪ geoff: be sure to join us again tomorrow night, when we will report from on the ground in a texas county on the u.s.-mexico border that voted republican in the presidential election for the first time in 120 years. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. lisa: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour

team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line's journey, travelers experience the maritime heritage and culture of the maine coast in new england islands -- and new england islands. our cruise ships explore landscapes, villages and historic harbors, where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. ♪ >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world, more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of

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