♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennet. as emergency cruise rush to contain catastrophic wildfires, residents dom grips with the

devastating loss. >> it's a really paralyzing time right now. you don't really know which way to go. amna: a judge gives donald trump no punishment during sentencing in the hush money case that led to the president-elect 34 convictions. geoff: and jake sullivan reflects his time on the biden white house and weighs in on the incoming presid president's unconventional tackett tickets. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provide by -- >> friends of the "newshour" including jim and nancy bild in er and the robert and virginia shiller foundation. the judy and peter kovlar foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at

home and abroad. >> qnad is a proud supporter of public television. the world awaits. a world of diverse destinations and immersive experiences, a world of leisure and british style all with qnod white star service. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. more at kf.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "newshour."

>> this program was made possible by the broadcasting ano contributions to your pbs news station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the news hour firefighters are making progress around los angeles. but new blazes have popped up in more than 10,000 structures had been damaged or destroyed. amna: at least 10 people have been killed and there's danger ahead with winds to pick up once again this weekend. gavin newsom will conduct an inquiry about water supply that left some hydrants unusable. stephanie sy with this ground support stephanie: winds started to ease to continue to make progress for a fourth day in los

angeles. the eaton fire and the palisades fire to the west are the largest. but others have continued to pop-up including kenneth fire in the san francisco valley. that fire prompted evacuation and burned about 1,000 acres before firefighters brought it under control. officials warn more than 57,000 structures remain at risk. l.a. mayor karen bass defended the city's response. >> we are doing everything question to bring this under control and success has been reported. that's our number one job to protect people's homes and businesses and to prepare to rebuild los angeles in a much better way. >> but i also knew the way that the wind was that things could change on a dime. >> lauren saw plumes of smoke coming over her home in malibu. she quickly fled and watched

through their security camera as the flames crept closer and closer before the feed went black. she hasn't been back to her property yet. but neighbors have sent photos that shows what remains of her house. >> it's been a very strange couple of few days, really surreal at times and other times like just deeply devastating. but it hasn't just and that me. it's happened to so many people. so with that perspective, i think i've been able to carry on. but then there are other moment where is i'm like i have nothing like everything we had is gone except for the few stupid things that we grand on the way out. >> they've been staying at a hotel trying to figure out what comes next and reflecting on a community that they've lost. >> it's really a paralyzing time right now. you don't really know which way to go. >> one of the things that has really kind of hurt my heart a little bit is it seems that

people the palisades or malibu is an enclave of celebrity that is can afford to use their millions to rebuild and go about their lives. but my experience of our neighborhood is very different. you know, people that have been there their whole lives, these are real people that have lost everything that are going to have a really hard time for the next months and years ahead. >> we are getting our first real look of the extent of the devastation here in pacific palisades. >> tracy mark represent pacific palisades in the los angeles city council. >> what happened in the palisades over the last several days was not predictable. we already know when there's a wildfire event. our communication systems go down. we know when evacuation process we have bottlenecks. and to see those same issues repeat in what has become the most devastating national

disaster is incredibly frustrating. >> parks says the l.a. fire department's budget is inadequate for today's needs. >> we have about the same number of firefighters and fire stations in the city of los angeles that we had 60 years ago. but our demands for service have tripled. >> there's four million people. >> there's four million people in the city of los angeles. be have about 100 fire engines and ambulance out of service sitting in the maintenance yards -- >> why is in the case? >> because they don't have enough mechanics. and here in the city of los angeles we need at least 62 new fire stations to meet average daily demand in our city, not five, not 10, not 25. 62. i hope that this is a wake-up call to all the leadership in the city of los angeles that this chronic underinvestment in critical infrastructure and public safety cannot continue. this has got to be our number one priority going forward.

>> with more than 150,000 people still under evacuation orders, l.a. county sheriff robert luna said a nighttime curfew would resume tonight in those areas. >> we're not change to inconvenience anybody. we're doing it to protect the structures, the house that people have left because we ordered them to leave. and i want them to be confident that we are doing everything we can to secure that. >> at least 20 arrests have been made for lewding -- luting. and in addition to law enforcement national guard are patrolling streets in a briefing today, president joe biden got an update on the fires and said his administration is working with president-elect trump's team. >> they know everything we're doing with the response. >> back in los angeles, council member tracy park laments the future of the pacific palisades since many residents who were

underinsured may never be able to rebuild. >> i think the reality is that the palisades is going to look and feel different. that's probably inevitable as people decide whether to rebuild, what to rebuild and i think it also raises really important questions about our city about densification in area that is are prone to natural disasters. >> the palisades are gone. that is a direct quote from the councilwoman you heard in that piece. there are a few pockets in this neighborhood where miraculously some homes were completely untouched. but there's not a single elementary school is still and thing. she also said there's not a lot to come back to. the water is unusable and the air is toxic. amna, back to you. amna: so many layers of devastation. on top of all, this we know california has an insurance

crisis essentially. how does that count in the rebuilding efforts? >> there are area that is are not insured at all our und underinsured and that's because a lot of insurance companies simply refuse to provide fire insurance knowing this is a high risk wildfire area. so some residents including couple we spoke to this morning say that they have a california coordinated insurance plan of last resort that is a very expensive plan. not everybody has it. and they are almost surely not going to recover enough funds to rebuild. so that is a real concern. what the pacific palisades will look like going ahead. the counselwoman said to us that los angeles did not have the resources to fight this this fire alone and they will not have the resources to fight and recover alone. amna: stephanie sy reporting on the devastating fires.

thank you to you and the team geoff: prolonged droughtses set up extreme conditions that have fueled the wildfires. conditions compounded by climate change. and today researchers from nooa and nasa released analysis showing that 2024 buzz the hosts year in record history dating back 200 years. the 10 warmest have all occurred in the past decade. to break down the report and its implication we're joined by gavin schmidt, the director for space studies at nasa. thanks for being with us. >> thank you very much. geoff: let's talk about the wildfires because they're uncommon in the winter months. help us understand the factors that came together that contributed to these devastating wildfires out in los angeles? >> so fires need a number of ingredients. so you need have fuel that's

going to burn. you need to have what's called fire weather. that's the dry air and the strong winds that are most conducive to allowing wildfires to spread. and you need an ignition source. and the climate aspect of this is -- is very much in both in the fuel load and in the fire weather aspect. so in -- in southern california, we used to think of the late fall as being fire season, while now fire seasons stretches out all year because the temperatures and the drying out of the land surface has been increasing as temperatures have increased. and so the -- the other part of that is the fuel load. one of the things that we've been seeing in california is this whiplash between extreme weather events like multiple atmospheric rivers at the beginning of last year and then

extreme dry events. so it really hasn't rained in the los angeles area for months now. and that has led to both a spurt of growth when there was water and then all that growth has dried out providing like an unfortunately perfect storm for fires this season. and now in the wintertime when you get these strong santa ana winds coming in the cold mountains into the warm basin, those have provide that extra component of fire weather and we're seeing the results. >> if our baseline is changing and these large scale destructive events are becoming more common, what more can we do to mitigate it? >> we can mitigate things on the long-term by reducing the amount of greenhouse gas that is we're putting into the atmosphere. until we do that temperatures are going to keep rising and we're going to keep having these announcements about record warm years. and the impacts of that global

temperature change are intense rainfall, on sea level rise, on heat waves are going to continue to get worse. there are local adaptations that we can -- that we can do to prevent the -- the worst things. we can build better in the same way that we we build better for earthquakes. we can build better for fir fire-prone environments. we can try and manage things. but a lot of this is unfortunately kind of beyond our control. >> well, as we mentioned nasa and nooa rereleased study showing that 2024 was the hosts temperatures in record. >> we have warmed roughly one and a half september grade that's about 2.6 degrees fahrenheit since the mid 19th century. that is about halfway to the

period about three million years ago when it was about three degrees warmer. five degrees fahrenheit warmer. and there is no ice in greenland and the arctic forest went all the way up to the arctic ocean and the sea level was something like 80 feet higher than today. we have gone up about half of that danes in 150 years. so what our data shows and it's not just our data, it's everybody's data is that we are having an impact on the climate. this is not a minor motivation. this is a big deal indeed. and the ongoing trend that kind of really started in 1960's and has been relentless and perhaps increasing in the last few years is abundantly clear. geoff: quite a warning. gavin schmidt director of space

studies in nasa. >>thank you. >> thank you very much. vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz for stephanie sy. here are the latest headlines. an update to our top story. the death toll in the los angeles area fires has risen to at least 11 tonight. more than 150,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders. and this afternoon, california governor gavin newsom called for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure in the fire hydrant system in addition to the lack of water in a reservoir in pacific palisades. in venezuela, president nicholas maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term following last year's widely disputed election. maduro took the . oath this morning at the legislative palace in caracas. he declared victory even though the u.s. recognized the

opposition leader as the actual winner. today maduro celebrated what he cease as a legitimate extension of his presidency. [speaking in spanish] >> this constitution is victorious. and venezuela is at peace. this act is possible because venezuela is fully exercising its national sovereignty, it's popular sovereignty and the national independence. >> maduro's swearing in comes a day after key opposition leader was briefly detained during an anti-government protest. today she posted a video slamming his inauguration. [speaking in spanish] >> today, maduro consolidate askew dethat in front of venezuelans and around the world. they decided to cross the red line that makes official the violation of the national constitution. they trample on our constitution. maduro today did not put a sash on his chest. he pit on his ankle like a shack

that will tighten more and more every day. >> it's had criticized machado's detention and today joined canada, the u.k. and the european union in announcing a coordinated round of new sanction on venezuela. and meanwhile, the bind administration is extending human tear protection first hundreds of thousands of venezuelans already living in the u.s. they fall under what is called temporary protective status. today the department of homeland security extended their stay for another 18 months. the measure affects about 600,000 venezuelaians. officials side economic uncertainty and the dangers of war and offering the extensions. the israeli military says it struck houthi rebels. smoke was seen rising over southern parts of the capital. the houthis said the strikes came as protestors rallied in

support of palestinians and gaza. also today the israeli army con named a body recovered in gaza was that of hamzad al zayanad. he was found alongside the body of his father. they were kidnapped together during the october 7 attack. the bind administration announced new sanctions against russia's energy sector hoping to deal a massive blow in the economy over the war in ukraine. they also target a fleet of more than 180 vessels moscow had usud to evade previous sanctions. officials say the measures will cost russia billions of dollars per month. but they acknowledge the trump administration could scrap them. more than 80 million americans are under winter weather alerts

today as a massive snowstorm pushes across the south in parts of northwest arkansas, they are dig out for more than six inches of snow. officials warn of dangerous roads from missouri all the way to atlanta, georgia. children took advantage of canceled classes by going sledding. schools were closed for millions from texas to the carolinas in the meantime, more than 2,000 flights were canceled nationwide as the storm trudges north and east, north carolina governor josh stein warned people that travel could be treacherous. >> the winter storm will likely hit much of our state. at this time our greatest concern is road safety. the thawing and refreezing leads to ice so that everyone needs be careful on our roads. >> the storm has already dumped more than a year's worth of cities like memphis and little rock. and a violin made by italian

craftsman is estimated to fetch a record price of up to $18 million when it goes to auction next week. ♪ >> the yo akin ma statavarius was constructed in the golden period. it comes two from two of the prior owners both accomplished violinist. ma gifted the violin to the conservatory in boston. and proceeds will go toward student scholarships. still to come on the "newshour," the supreme court hears arguments on whether banning tiktok violates the first amendment. and david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines. >> this is the pbs newshour from the date m. rubinstein video in

weta in washington and from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> president-elect donald trump was sentenced today in new york city months after a new york jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts false fight business documents to cover up an extramarital affair. but the judge granted him an u unconditional discharge a sentence that afirms he is a convicted felon but faces no further penalties, fines or any time in jail. our reporter was in court and joins us now. so william, tell us a little bit more about this unconditional discharge. how did the judge explain his rationale for what some are call ago lenient sentence? william: on one hand this wasn't a surprise. the judge had telegraphed this in a memo earlier. but this is a relatively rare situation to have a defendant

convicted of 34 felony conviction an face no jail time, no penalties, no fines, no probation. merchand described that on one hand this was a trial that was >> ordinary. it unfolded in an ordinary way. jury was selected. judges -- the lawyers gave their arguments. witnesses were heard, a verdict was reached. this was an extraordinary trial and sentencing him would be the same. he said that if donald trump had been a regular system, a regular defendant that he would have likely have faced much hasher -- harsher pulls for those crimes but because he's about to become president of the united states again that comes with enormous protection. those are granted by the constitution. many other courts and most recently interpreted again by the supreme court last year. he argued this was the only

course he could really take. but he did say those productions given to -- protections to the president do not excuse the underlying crime. let's hear a little bit of what he said. >> to be clear, the protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor. they do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in anyway. the protection are however a legal mandate which pursuant to the rule of law, this court must respect and follow. >> interesting clarification there. william, we should note that mrm today. the judge had given him the option of dialing in remotely. but he was allowed to speak. and on t the record. what did he say? >> that's right. he connected via video link in mara lago. and trump has always said this that it was a political witch

hunt. he says he's completely innocent of the charges, which he argues are completely bogus. he denies he ever had a relationship with stormy daniels. he -- he again falsely blamed collusion between these local putters and the department of justice. he said notably that the voters had been the ultimate jury, nationwide and they had looked at this case and all the other cases against him and he said they vindicated hi. here's a little bit of what he say >> it's been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my representation so that i would lose the election and obviously, that didn't work. >> but william, even facing no penalty, no jail time, no fines, this isn't necessarily a day that mr. trump wanted to see happen or thought should happen, isn't that right? >> that's exactly right. he fought this in every legal avenue that he could as is his right. he appealed it to this judge.

he appealed it to an appeals judge in new york. and he even appealed it to the supreme court. there was an unusual phone that he had with samuel alito this week. ostensibly this was a call for a job referral who is being considered for a job in the trump administration. but in ethics experts say that to have a sitting supreme court justice on the phone with the president-elect to appeal to them certainly raise youee browse. alito said it had not been filed when he had this conversation. trump did not want today to come because until it actually happened, not legally considered a "convicted felon" and now he is. and that's certainly not any

label that an incoming president wants affixed to him right before he enters the white house. the last thing that the judge said to donald trump today was sir, i wish you god speed as you assume your second term in office. and with that donald trump's video link disconnect from the courtroom and that was the end of the day today. amna: thank you. william: thanks, amna. ♪ geoff: in a matter of days one of the most popular storm media apps could be forced to pull the plug, that's if the supreme court doesn't assign a legal reprieve. it's looming deadline to cut its tie with china.

>> geoff, while the justices heard arguments over the tiktok ban inside the court, outside some influencers gathered on the steps to live stream their support for the platform. there are more than 170 million tiktok users in the united states. that's about half of the population. in last year's presidential company both candidates used it to court young voters. but concern about its chinese ownership led congress to pass a law that would ban it on january 19th unless its parent company sells it. bobby allen covers technology for n.p.r. and marcia kelly: is the supreme court analyst. bobby, let me start with you. what does this law do on the 19th. the lawyer said that tiktok would go dark. >> , yeah on january 19, apple and google will be legally forced to remove tiktok from app stores. that means new areas can't download it and byte dance will not be able to send the updates.

that means it's not going have any cloud support that's going to be a huge problem for all of the people taking videos, commenting trying to use tiktok because lit cripple tiktok's infrastructure. >> what were they focused on? >> they were focused on the two reasons that congress and the administration had given to justify the law as -- as bobby just stated it. that had to do with the fact that the chinese government through its very close alignment with bite dance the china based owner of tiktok may engage in covert content manipulation as well as its collection of the data of private citizens, americans about 177 million americans and their contacts and use both of those to undermine national security. >> there was also a first

amendment argument, wasn't there? >> well, actually the guts of this case is whether the law itself violates the first amendment speech rights of tiktok, u.s.a. and the users of tiktok there. they're called creators. those who put content up on tiktok. and today during the arguments, it was very interesting because there was a lot of skepticism out, justification of the chinese government engaging in manipulation of content and whether there actually was a speech interest here to look at as some of the justice said and point in particular that chief justice fronts, he said congress didn't care about the expression on tiktok meaning the speech or the ideas on tiktok. congress didn't want to stop tiktok, he said. what congress wanted to do was to stop china's control of

tiktok. he was very skeptical that was a speech right here. also, there were justice who is did recognize there were speech right belonging to tiktok u.s.a. and the users of tiktok. but they question for example justice elena dagen question whether that speech impediments or restrictions were substantial because the law itself, she said really was targeted at bite dance and its divest cure. >> were the judges more consistskeptical on one side ore other? >> they were very tough on both sides. but i think what resound the most with the justices was the second interest that the government offered for the law, the collection of the private information of american citiz citizens. justice brett kavanaugh for example, he said that's a huge concern now and in the future as

the government pointed out that data -- private data could be used by china in the future to blackmail, future c.i.a. officers. it could be used to try to turn certain americans into spies. and so i think when you looked over all of the argues, that was something that may persuade a majority to very much uphold this law. >> and bobby, if that happens, if this law is upheld, is there any indication with ickton and the owners would do? >> that's the million dollar question that we don't know. tiktok and bite dance in this really precarious amount of uncertainty right now if the law is upheld, you know, president-elect donald trump will not yet be in office. between january 19, the start date and when trump is worn in the 20th, there's going to be 24 hours of limbo.

and i have sources inside of google and inside of apple who say, look, we've heard from our general counsels that we're not about to be out of compliance with a federal law on the books. so they are planning, the two big tech companies to remove tiktok on the 19th. even if the law is upheld, will trump then -- can he rather extend the deadline? this came up in the court today. how you do extend a deadline on a ban that has already started? lots of unknowns. it could get really serious, really fast for tiktok. >> at the end of last year, the president-elect asked them to delay this so that he could have time to try to negotiate a deal as he put it. is there a chance that he just might -- if the law is upheld, he just might not enforce it? >> that's a possibility. trump was the one who started the tiktok ban movement during his first term.

but now coming into office he wants to be the tiktok savior. it's within his realm of project for him not to enforce this law. it puts a lot of leeway in the hands of the president. the president will be the one who will be interpreting and instructing his administration to enforce the law. so a lot will come down to what is trump going to do once he's in office, you know, regardless of what the high court decides. >> marcia kelly: -- koyle thank you both very much. >> thanks, john. ♪ amna: on monday, president biden will give a farewell speech at the state department focused on his foreign policy legacy. earlier today, nick shiffrin sat down with one of the key ark

techs, national security advise or, jake sullivan. >> jake sullivan, welcome back. >> thanks for having me >> today you're edge amna: posing the largest that senior officials say will cost them billions of dollars a month. why did you take this step now? and why didn't you take it sooner? >> if we would have sanctioned it at a time when oil prices were high and gas prices were high, it would have put pain on working people in the united states. today oil prices are much lore. the oil mark globally are very much supplied. so we have an opportunity to hit putin in his pocketbook without hitting the american people in theirs. what we're giving the in-coming administration is real leverage in a negotiation as they set up for diplomasy >> the kremlin said that putin was open to talking to

president-elect trump. last night trump said that a meeting was being set up. you don't know what russia wants. is it worthwhile for trump to have that meeting with putin? >> as long as ukraine is determining its destiny and we are not dictating ukraine's destiny for it. then to me diplomacy very much makes sense. >> today is the third inauguration of nicholas maduro despite fact that he lost the election. the administrations is announcing visa reinstructions and information leading to maduro's arrest or conviction. >> why not cancel other energy company that is provide the regime much of its money? >> what we're trying to do is to focus on the bad actors. the individuals who are responsible for their brutality and repression and sham that was the presidential election last

year. that form of sanctions. targeted sanction, rewards against -- target sanctions, rewards is where you try to create circumstance in which positive change comes. >> surely the best pressure would be to cut-off maduro's main source of income. >> going back, we've been squeezing venezuela economically including in their oil sector. it didn't work under president trump. the kind of sanction that were previously in praise didn't have the intended affect. >> the leader of the opposition was kidnapped by the regime temporarily yesterday. her team said. what's your warning about the regime about her safety moving forward? >> we have communicated to the regime that we expect that she will not be harmed. >> you said today that you've taken actions in response to chinese hackers who have infiltrated american telecommunications companies.

what actions have you taken in response to that? >> we've taken actions to make it harder for china to be able to execute this. >> i would point out that there were two forms of threat her. one is what -- saltafoon. and disruptive malware. that could lead to physical effectives if there was a destructive cyber attack against an energy grid or a water system or what have you. >> is china capable of that? >> we should be concerned about the possibility that there can be actual disruptive or destructive effect. >> what warning had you given beijing? >> very directly at very high levels. we have laid out what would unfold from there in way that is the prnc understands. >> negotiators are trying to

convince them to surge humanitarian aid into gaza. a.m. president trump had threatened. all hell will break out in the middle east. trump beliefs that language has helped accelerate the talks. is it? >> everyone and their mother could take credit for it. i'll be happy. we are close but we are not there yet. >> on monday night, le give a speech about his foreign policy legacy. lets's talk about it a little bit. i want to start in afghanistan. do you today sit back and think about how afghanistan worked out and think maybe i could have done something better? >> on the big question is the yeast better off because we are no longer -- is the united states better off because we are no longer in afghanistan? the answer is yes. we are much better off that that is not happening. of course, i think there were things that be could have done differently at the time in the

execution. >> such as? >> when we decided to actually execute the drawdown of the embassy. at the time we did not want to accelerate the drawdown of the embassy because we didn't want to create a panic that could was a the collapse of the government. now looking back the government collapsed anyway as we said at the time. and now the obvious conclusion is even if it runs the ricks. insighting that kind of panic, you have to go faster. >> a new land set study says today that the death toll sighted by palestinians is ana dramatic undercount. has israel's response been proportionate? >> hamas killed 1200 people the larger massacre of jews since the holocaust. then hamas retreated behind a civilian population. used hospitals and schools and other civilian facilities for

their purpose. for those who say why not just cut off the weapons to israel. you have to remember i was watching israel get attacked not just by hamas but by hezbollah, by the shutouty, by the shiah militia groups -- and directly by iran itself so no, we were not going to leave israel defenseless against onslaught of the multiple frontses. >> if you had given ukraine more weapons before the 2022, 2023 winter when russia was able to these counter offensive, do you think you could have avoided the war of attrition? >> we gave them what they needed at that time to try to don't press the advantage. and here's what happened. they ran into mine fields, massive russian mind fields and

we're never able to get through that. so obviously, we couldn't avoid. that we work at every stage of this war to put the tools in the hands of brave ukrainian soldiers. to be able to defend their country and to try to explains of the russian fences. and we believe that in doing so, we helped save this country and thwart russia's ambition to wipe it off the map. president trump appeared to get the nato security off the table is that why? are there other models that you think could create the just peace for ukraine? >> the critical point is that you can't really have peace unless you have some degree of confidence that russia can't just turn around and do this all over again down the road. >> i think if putin sitting in the kremlin saw the united states basically say we're done with ukraine, we've given up on the road, it certainly wouldn't

make him more likely to do a deal. you have in the incoming president someone who cares very much about the art of the deal has literally written the book on it. and good deals mean leverage. leverage means staying power. staying power means continuing to support ukraine. >> you help fashion the foreign supporter for the middle-class to use your phrase. is the fact that the middle-class in the election afeared be more concerned about inflation and -- appeared to be more concerned about inflation and didn't choose kamala harris do you believe that's a sign that at the very least that the argument that you had been make didn't take hold among certain part of the electorate. >> president biden's investments in protecting the united states against unfair chinese economic practices, these are steps that

will play out over the course of a decade or more. the clock on those and the clock on the election were not entirely aligned. what do you wish you had more time to have accomplished? >> the list of that is shock. i myself pretty simple questions. are alliances stronger than we found them four years ago? >> yes. >> our economies and competitors weaker than when we found them four years ago yes. we have expect the united states out war? >> yes. are the basic foundations more robust than resilient today than four years ago? >> yes. >> i believe we are handing off a very strong hand to the next team. >> jake sullivan, thank you very much. jake: thank you. >> if a day of remembrance to

president-elect trump being sentenced in court and jimmy carter being laid down to rest, we turn to david brooks and jonathan capehart associate editor for "the washington post." president-elect donald trump received the first ever criminal sentence for a former or incoming american president, a so-called unconditional discharge. david, we are living in this era where the word "unprecedented" has been worn down to a cliche. donald trump will be the first president to take office for a criminal conviction? >> i thought it was the right solution. he wind out some of his opponents when we go to jay. but in our country we respect the will of voters. it has protection. we do not want to leave from a society where he's facing possible prosecution for things

they dod do while in office. and so i think convicting them. making him a felon. i think he can own a gun there. but not stoked. they have struck me as a balance between the needs of the legal teamed in of our democracy. donald trump is strowing appeal this conviction. we'll sweeps after that. >> after being convicted of 34 felonies, there are people who look at this case and who needs trump walks away with a punishment that sense that one would receive for a peeding ticket. this case, this hush much case was the case that everyone said was the crappy case. of the four remember, he was indicted for times and this one was the least important, the shakiest. and yet, it's the one case where he was held accountable. the one case where he was brought to trial before a jury of his pierce in his hometown of new york city and was found guilty 34 time.

i think that is great punishment. what's also great punishment the sentencing today where the judge said you're going to be president. you're not going to go to jail. but you're a convicted felon. for the rest of his life any join about him will have to mention the fact that he's a convicted felon. if not by the first reference, definitely by the second. do i wish the other three cases had gone to trial and that he had faced accountabilities? yes. but this will do. geoff: it's also strike the proximity of the sentencing and the inauguration that on january 10 is, donald trump is a defendant subject to a judge and a jury verdict. and 10 days from now he will become the guardian of the nation's laws as he as all the powers of the presidency how does that strike you?

>> he's a trend setter. he's someone who doesn't respect the law enforcement it makes me think if he's someone that regardless of the presidency snot willing to abide by the code of itics that we surround us with, what's coming in the second term stand in we sheet >> and to that point, keep in mind who is going into the justice department with him in this second term. the lawyer who was in court with him today for a sentencing all of his personal lawyers are in the top position of the department. >> there is the rare slowing we use that tis gia-- what can welt

scott: cases involving donald trump? >> he could have been one of the greats in history if he only had a court behind him. and he does not. amy barrett has shown some distance between her and donald trump. i think if the kavanaugh hearings had not gone -- kavanaugh may have shown some difference but especially with coney barrett and roberts, you have justices who are quite willing to not tow the trump line. >> in addition to vowing to make good to make america great again, he also aparentsly, the president-elect wants to make america bigger. he has talked about obtain guideline from denmark. he wants to reclaim greenland. and this is in addition to wanting to rename the gulf of mexico. it's not clear how serious he was. he talked about taking greenland in the first administration. what should we make of any of

this, john? [laughter] >> look. i'm going to take a page out of rachel maddow's book. don't listen to what they say. pay attention to what they do. so he can talk all sorts of smack about greenland and gulf of america and making canada the 5 1st state. , but until he actually does something -- if he does try to take greenland, if he does try to rename the gulf of mexico, if he does try to act on these things he's talking about, then -- then i will take him seriously. this is the thing i learned from the first trump term. we'll drive ourself crazy if we react to everything he says i'm going to payity tension to what he does. >> outgoing canadian president said this is all a distraction. take a listen to what he said. >> president trump who is a very

negotiate or be distracted by that conversation to take away from the conversation around 25% tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete. geoff: there are plenty of reasons for the us to be involved in greenland given tall mineral resource there and the fact that china dominates rare earth mineral production. but is this a distraction mind? ing greenland is a distraction like invading quebec. i should be said that greenland is more important because of climate change and the navigational ships that go through this. but greenland has been wonderful. they've been making sure all our interests are protected. same with panama, frankly. of course, it would be problem if the u.s. couldn't use the

panama canal. no bias toward china or the u.s. so as usual there's no problem here. joins the trudeau strike the tariffs are reel. -- real. declare ago trade war on our two closest allies and neighbors is a ca cat chris mick policy. there's a reason justin tremendous doe is confronting that. >> i'm going wrap up our conversations for the funeral for the late president jimmy carter. some argued that carter was misunderstand and underappreciated. how you do see it? >> well, that's the beauty of -- of being out of the white house and having time in history build-up around you. and change the way people look at your presidency. and he lived up to 100 years

old. he got to see 40 years of reinterpretation of your presidency while he was still alive. i think the funeral -- the funeral yesterday is like washington's version of like a "real housewives" reunion. harkening back to a more genteel time even though donald trump was there. but you have all these people who were upholding institutions, upholding civility and honoring -- honoring a former president who when he left president was reviled was not popular at all. and yet, there in the national cathedral we saw official washington and all of his living predecessors be there to non-- honor him in their own way. lots of interactions to parse. we have an assemblage of them here. pence, donald trump and obama.

and you see him right there. how does all of that strike you? >> it was like watching one of those russian novels. there's ana corinne. she's also here. it was like 30 years of our political lives in one room. and you think of all the drama between them and i'm just talking about the clintons, the obamas. althe pence -- it was like a dramatic novel. but there is as jonathan said a bit of nostalgia. i think about this all the time. was the 70's worse or better than now? i would say on matters of crime, of divorce rates of societal breakdown, the 70's were worse. but they did have republican senator who is told nixson you should resign. they had a yas that is better than our class right now.

geoff: david and jonathan, thanks as always. >> thanks, geoff. ♪ geoff: be sure to watch "washington week" here on pbs. moderator jeffery goldberg and his panel discuss how donald trump's recent threats on allies is giving new meaning to america first. >> and the chemical found in homes, schools and business that is the e.p.a. says it presents an unreasonable risk to human health. and that's senior the "newshour." i'm amna 2345 navars. geoff: and i'm geoff bennet. thanks for spending part of your evening with us and have a great weekend. >> major funding has been provide by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the new hours including camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation,

working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. 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 "newshour." ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

>> this is pbs newshour west from the david m. rubinstein studio in weta in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]

jeff: one of donald trump's most controversial cabinet picks will try to win over the senate next week, when confirmation hearings begin. for the national security nominees, their hearings come at an awkward moment, just as trump is threatening allies and friends from denenmark to panam, giving new meaning to the term "america first."