amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight -- gazans welcome the ceasefire deal with cautious optimism,

knowing a lasting peace is still far from certain. >> i'm scared because the israelis still haven't retreated. and even though there is a ceasefire, nothing has changed yet. amna: in the midst of the devastation from the la wildfires, a glimmer of hope -- residents are banding together to help one another in their time of need. geoff: and secretary of the interior deb haaland on the biden administration's efforts to preserve public land and tackle climate change. >> there is so much that could never be undone because the work is getting completed. our clean energy transition moving forward. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> cunard is a proud supporter

of public television. on a voyage with cunard the world awaits. a world of labor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's five-star service. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting at a by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. israel's cabinet has delayed a vote until tomorrow on the ceasefire deal struck yesterday to suspend the war in gaza and swap hostages and detainees. amna: prime minister benjamin netanyahu blamed hamas for the delay, saying the militant group was trying to change the deal, a charge hamas denied. meantime, american and egyptian mediators met in cairo to discuss implementing the deal, scheduled to begin sunday. nick schifrin once again begins our coverage. correspondent: today in the blown out destruction that was once home to half a million people, where children play in

the ruins of what used to be khan younis homes, there is tension, between the horror caused by 468 days of war and hope that it will soon be over as young gazans told us. 14-year-old raghad al zdoudi. >> we couldn't wait to hear this news because our hearts are tired, we really couldn't wait for something to heal our hearts. finally, the end of the war is coming. correspondent: 16-year-old ahmed al nabahin. >> the most difficult moment was hearing that my father had been killed. i'm scared because the israelis still haven't retreated. and even though there is a ceasefire, nothing has changed yet. correspondent: because, in this warzone, the war rages on. in gaza city, the youngest victims received reassurance that the adults can no longer feel. >> is this the truce they are talking about? what did this young girl, this

child, do to deserve this? is she fighting you, israel? where are the arabs? where are the muslims? no one has any conscience. israel says over the last day and a half it struck more than 50 hamas military sites and a commander who participated in october 7th. palestinian health officials say since the ceasefire was announced, more than 75 gazans have been killed. >> we urge the mediators who brokered this truce to hurry up. today is better than tomorrow. 7 is better than 8. because there are martyrs every hour. correspondent: but the deal that would pause the war for 6 weeks is not done, said israeli government spokesman david mencer. >> hamas have reneged on this hostage release agreement and has created a last minute crisis in an effort to extort last minute concessions. correspondent: but in washington, secretary of state

antony blinken said he remained confident. >> it's not exactly surprising that in a process, in a negotiation, that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end. we are tying up that loose end as we speak. >> please sir, respect the process. correspondent: but blinken was interrupted by two protests, including one ended by armed security. >> you tell me to respect the process? criminal. why aren't you in the hague! correspondent: there were also protests today in israel. supporters of hard-right politicians called the ceasefire a “surrender to hamas” that would end up killing israelis. national security minister itamar ben gvir vowed to resign from the coalition government. >> the existing deal increases hamas' appetite and motivation, this deal is letting them attack, explode and kidnap and get what they want. correspondent: but the families of israeli hostages held in

gaza, are demanding the government sign the deal. they are anxious. officially, at least 1/3rd of the hostages are dead. many don't know whether to plan a celebration, or funeral. tal haimi has been a hostage since october 7. udi goren is his cousin. >> the vast difference between the daily anxiousness about might this be their last day on earth to the fact that some of these people by next week might have their loved ones sleeping in the bedroom next to them. correspondent: until then, they pray for peace. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪ amna: today, more of president-elect donald trump's picks for key cabinet positions faced questions from senators on

capitol hill, in another mammoth day of confirmation hearings. our lisa desjardins has been covering these and joins me now with the latest. another busy day. correspondent: let's start with the nominee for treasury secretary. correspondent: scott bessent is well known in high finance, famous and has a distinct resume. who used to work as a top executive for george soros. he is a hedge founder, but he has more recently been a donald trump mega donor. he has openly gay, and if confirmed he would be the first republican cabinet secretary to be confirmed by the u.s. senate. a major focus was taxes because he would oversee tax policy and the 2024 tax cuts, tax rates would go up for most of us and businesses as well.

he said this would be cataclysmic for the economy, but democrats say tax cut should be kept in place for those making under $400,000. he disagrees. >> do you agree that ending the tax cuts for those making more than $400,000 would help close the deficit and reduce our national debt? >> senator warnock, i do not. i believe that you would capture an inordinate amount of small business people. >> what about $1 billion? >> so i again, that i think that these are the job creators. amna: it is a debate over who would benefit. another big topic, tariffs. he defended trump's tariff push is something that will be sound, but democratic senator ron wyden said this would hurt average americans, people who can afford

it to the least. i want to play their exchange. >> it's going to be paid for by workers and small businesses. so your response? >> i would respectfully disagree. foreign manufacturers, especially china, especially china, which is trying to export their way out of their current economic malaise. they will continue cutting prices to maintain market share. >> that's an academic view of it. but what i know is the history of this is it clobbers people of modest means. geoff: this is a -- amna: this is a critical debate not just for this country. bessent was measured throughout and there was a feeling he has on a path to confirmation. the top environmental officer also faced senators. correspondent: we are talking about lee zeldin, a former congressman from new york and

ran for governor, but he has seen as someone who is more moderate. he has been a strong trump supporter. trump has made it clear he wants to dismantle the epa at rollback protections democrats feel are important. lee zeldin has said he has more pro-energy as well. he was asked about that today and said he professed ignorance over that concept. he was held to account for his own passwords on climate. the environmental protection agency key in what is pollution, what is affecting the climate. in 2016 he said the u.s. must move away from fossil fuels and pursue green energy. he was asked about those words and where he has on those today. >> i said, do you believe it's imperative that we using your words, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

do you still believe that? >> in a -- in considering all factors, uh, in an ideal world, we would be able to pursue always the cleanest, greenest energy sources possible. >> well, i'm not hearing you say that you agree with lee zeldin in 2016. correspondent: we have to watch him on the job and see if he has a different person. he did question whether some pollutants are pollutants and we will track that as well. amna on the key figur took place today -- correspondent: governor of north dakota, he is an energy expert. he talked about drilling, saying he is open to all forms of energy. this hearing comes at an important time one day after

donald trump put this out. he wrote that he does not want any windmills built during his time in office. doug burgum was asked about this and says he does want to prioritize fuel, fossil fuel. that is something renewable fuel people need to pay attention to. he was not asked about his potential conflict. he has a multimillionaire not divesting for everything, but this is another sign he has on a glide path. amna: another piece of news in the republican party, a rare move by the speaker of the house to ousted chairman from the intelligence committee. correspondent: mike turner, someone very pro-nato, pro-intelligence maneuvers used to gain intelligence, and he was asked to leave and has been pushed out by speaker mike

johnson. turner said by cbs -- two cbs that mar-a-lago was involved. there is concerns about whether this is trump trying to change the intelligence committee to his benefit. others said turner is not a good chairman. he is not popular. we will have to watch very closely. amna: we will watch very closely indeed. ♪ correspondent: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the latest headlines. amazon founder jeff bezos, and his company blue origin, sent their first rocket into orbit, after scrubbing an initial attempt earlier this week. >> left off.

correspondent: the successful test flight of the un-crewed new glenn rocket is a major step in the company's hopes to challenge elon musk's space x. later in the day, an un-crewed space x test launch failed when the spacecraft broke apart 8 and half minutes into flight. however, the rocket booster successfully returned to earth and was caught by the launch tower's mechanical arms. florida govenor ron desantis today appointed state attorney general ashley moody to the u.s. senate, setting her up to fill the seat of senator marco rubio, whom president-elect donald trump tapped to be secretary of state. >> our attorney general and your next united states senator, ashley moody. correspondent: the 49-year-old was first elected as the state's ag in 2018. rudy giuliani has reached a settlement with two former georgia election workers he defamed. the former new york mayor and

trump advisor will get to keep his homes and other personal belongings. in return, giuliani will pay an unspecified amount to ruby freeman and her daughter, shaye moss. he also promised to never defame them again. at issue was whether he would surrender his florida home and three world series rings as part of the $148-million dollar judgement against him. a judge in texas ruled today that idaho, kansas and missouri can move forward with a lawsuit to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone. the republican led states want the food and drug administration to prohibit telehealth prescriptions and only allow the drug's use in the first seven weeks of pregnancy. there's news today in the nation's fight against cancer. according to the american cancer society, the mortality rate dropped by 34-percent from the early 1990s to 2022, preventing millions of deaths. but younger adults and women are getting cancer more often, with

rates for women under 65 now higher than men. racial disparities also persist. blacks and native americans are dying of some cancers at double the rate of white americans. today's report predicts that more than two-million new cancer cases will emerge in the us this year. federal health officials authorized the sale of zyn nicotine pouches today. the fda says it found that the products contain fewer harmful ingredients than cigarettes and other types of chewing tobacco. as such, they can help smokers cut back -- or even quit cigarettes. this is first time regulators have authorized the sales of such products, which are the fastest-growing segment of the tobacco market. in south korea a court rejected a petition today to release impeached president yoon suk yeol from detention. yoon is reportedly refusing to cooperate with authorities as they try to question him over

his declaration of martial law last month. they are trying to determine whether his actions are not to rebellion. investigators are expected to formally move to arrest yoon in the coming days. the man known as mr. baseball, bob bucher has died. uecker was the unmistakable voice of his hometown milwaukee brewers. before that, he was a major leaguer with underwhelming stats -- but undeniable charisma -- who won a world series with the saint louis cardinals in 1964. >> just about outside. correspondent: when he wasn't calling games, uecker's comedic wit landed him in movies, and on late night. he appeared on the tonight show with johnny carson more than 100 times. he earned honors from the baseball hall of fame in 2003 for his lasting impact on the game. bob uecker had battled lung cancer since 2023.

he was 90 years old. also -- david lynch -- a visionary filmmaker who found mainstream success -- has died. his work was known for its dark and surreal sensibility. geoff bennett has this report. >> you would want to turn away from him. geoff: filmmaker and director david lynch startled audiences by marrying mundane, everyday life with unsettling dreams, fantasy and horror. >> she is dead. geoff: perhaps his most famous work was the 1990 tv series twin peaks, which he co-created with mark frost. the mystery-horror-drama follows an fbi agent who travels to a seemingly-normal logging town to solve a murder. he quickly realizes nothing is as it seems. twin peaks was a groundbreaking drama that was influential for years to come - winning three golden globes, two emmys and

even a grammy for its theme music. lynch revived it decades later with a follow up series on showtime in 2017. lynch rose to fame in the 1970s with his film eraserhead, a cult classic horror about a deranged father and his mutant reptilian baby. other hits included the crime-mystery blue velvet, that featured laura dern, kyle maclachlan, isabella rosselini and revitalized the career of dennis hopper. it earned lynch an oscar nomination for directing. he was nominated as well for the elephant man and mulholland drive. >> when the lights go down and the curtain opens, we get to go into another world and it's very beautiful. geoff: lynch famously never discussed the meaning of his films. but, he described in a 2007 interview what inspired the surrealist style that made him so famous. >> i love a story that holds

abstractions and get something that cinema can do, saying abstractions. they are kind of like the same feeling we have and we have a powerful dream. geoff: in all, lynch directed 10 feature films. he was also an artist and painter and created some of the attention-grabbing sound design and music in his work. his cause of death has not been disclosed. david lynch was 78 years old. amna: still to come on the news hour, tiktok prepares to be banned in the united states. and the outgoing us ambassador to china discusses the future of the bilateral relationship. >> this is the pbs newshour from the david rubenstein studio. amna: with calmer winds, fire

crews are making progress on containing some of the major fires around the los angeles area. but dry conditions and forecasts of strong winds next week suggest more dangerous conditions ahead for weary angelenos and firefighters. new video shows the depth of the fire devastation along the malibu coast. more than 80,000 people remain evacuated, and some are growing frustrated they can't return to check on their homes. local authorities said today that residents may not be able to do so for at least another week. >> there are areas that we are holding because we believe there may be deceased victims there. we have to hold for the right time and the right resources to process the scene correctly, and that's going to take a little while. amna: so far, at least 25 people are dead and dozens, still missing. while the fires have brought vast destruction and loss, we've

also witnessed the best of humanity. californians stepping up to help their neighbors in any way they can. we spoke to many of those people working around the clock to help those affected. here is some of what they told us. >> my name is brittany thorn and i'm the executive director for best friends animal society in los angeles. the last week has has all felt pretty chaotic from when we first saw the flames from the roof of our building. we have been going out to any of the local shelters that are being impacted. that would be the la county shelters, la animal services, as well as of course pasadena humane and we have been pulling in animals that were already in their standing population. so these are not animals that are currently being displaced by the fires. but we know that those animals are coming in. and so we wanted to create as much space as possible in the shelters. if we are able to get animals

out on a flight to our sanctuary in utah, and then from there, they will be sent to other rescue organizations as well. >> my name is victor dominguez and i am the president and ceo for the ymca of metropolitan los angeles. almost immediately we started 15 distribution sites across the county of los angeles. we have engaged more than 20,000 volunteers in less than a week. we opened up all of our facilities free of charge so that if anyone needed to take a shower, anyone needed family time, anyone needed wellbeing, time that they had access to any of my 27 ymca's across the county. >> my name is jackie filla, and i'm the president and ceo of the hotel association of los angeles. what we wanted to make sure people understood is, number one, rooms were available and we also wanted to have kind of a one stop shop so they weren't calling around and trying to figure out what was available in the area they wanted to be in in the type of accommodation they

wanted to be. me and my mighty team of one other person, veronica, we wanted to create this document with access to what are legitimate special offers being offered at the hotels, our goal was to centralize as much information about accommodations as quickly as possible and to push it out to folks. >> my name is faris ayyad. and along with eric armstrong, we are the founders and operators of no res gourmet. we are a five, a1c3 nonprofit, and our mission is to address hunger in the united states. we cook meals we distribute to those in need. so this is a similar idea, but obviously on a much larger scale, which requires the activation of as many people as possible. many, many people made those $25 donations, which supported a lot of the expenses for the groceries and things we needed. there's forms for people to request supplies and food. we have to track volunteers. who's doing what? and then it was multiple

locations. this church that we're talking from right now, grace church in glendora where the main kitchen is operating. there's another kitchen in gardena. and we're kind of overseeing all of that. >> my name is andrew gruel. i'm the owner and chef at calico restaurant with my wife, lauren . i think it was wednesday or thursday i said, anybody who needs a place to stay just for a temporary period of time come down. we've got 80 parking spots at our restaurant. when lauren put out that call to action on the donations, it it's funny because we're like, it's going to be two boxes worth and fast forward, what, like 12 to 24 hours later, we had three full amazon trucks full of products. we had volunteers on every part of the political spectrum, people dressed in maga gear and then people who dressed in like the opposing gear all coming together, helping each other out, loading trucks up like it was. it's just the greatest feeling. >> we've had kids as young as six, you know, two individuals

in their 70's coming to volunteer. yeah. so it's really. yeah. everybody is coming is coming together to help. ♪ geoff: the clock is ticking on a potential ban of the popular social media app tiktok. in april, congress and president biden gave the app's beijing-based parent company 270 days to find a new owner, or face a shut down, arguing chinese control of the platform was a national security threat. the supreme court is considering a challenge to the law, but barring any last minute changes users will no longer be able to download tiktok starting on sunday. for his part, president-elect trump has pledged to provide some kind of reprieve from the ban. his national security adviser mike waltz reiterated that on fox news today. >> we will put measures in place to keep tiktok from going dark.

the legislation allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table. and then, you know, essentially that buys president trump time, to keep tiktok going. geoff: we're joined now by carrie cordero. she is a senior fellow at the center for a new american security. thank you for being here. with this january 19 deadline days away, it appears members of the incoming trump administration a bipartisan members of congress are trying to buy themselves more time. one of the possible outcomes. >> the law does not leave a lot of options. what they really needed was a credible buyer mind up and a willingness on behalf of tiktok to be sold to that buyer. there is nothing right now that looks that that circumstance occurs, so the cleanest way for them to give more time for president-elect trump way to be between now and sunday congress

passing a new law extending the timeline. geoff: president-elect donald trump at one time supported this ban. now he does not. >> one thing we can look to is his and his campaign's use of tiktok during the camp and. -- campaign. obviously over the course of the campaign his campaign found tiktok useful. other candidates used it as well, and perhaps that is why changes mind. perhaps it was lobbying efforts on behalf of tiktok or other content users were stakeholders. geoff: what is particular about the case of the supreme court is about to rely on. >> that will change things. based on their oral arguments the indications from the questions that the justices were asking our that the court intends to uphold the law.

in other words, keep that investment ruling in place, and eventually if there is no buyer and the next few days of the app would not be available as it currently is. there is a legal path to the court to rule on first amendment grounds and roll in favor, but the argument did not indicate that is the direction the court is going. geoff: the government sees tiktok as a national security threat. what is the precedent for the government banning a social media. >> the priesthood and is that -- precedent is this was legislated as to vestment. what is different about this case is it is about access to information. over 170 million americans use

tiktok, and this law is different because it governs the information space and applies this to vestment to a source of information and a place that americans communicate both as individuals and as businesses. geoff: in the meantime people are downloading and setting up for this other chinese app called rednote. tell us about the dangers there. >> another foreign owned app becomes available. it is not a good outcome of this law that is actually driving users to another chinese controlled or chinese influence app. that is a downside to, and i think really in the long term although the government made compelling national security arguments backed up by classified information, not backed up by much unclassified information for the public, but although the government alleges

there are a strong national security concerns, in this case my assessment is shortsighted because it deals with this particular situation and does not account for the fact that there could be some other foreign controlled app down the road. geoff: if this ban goes into effect, what might the average user see? >> there is a big question mark, because we have not seen this before. the law does not apply to tiktok . it applies to the company that owns tiktok. the app will no longer be available for people to download following the 19th of january. there also would not be further updates to the app, so new users would not be able to access it, and it would become more buggy,

it would not have new content, so there would be a degradation over time. geoff: thanks as always for your insights. ♪ returning now to the fragile gaza ceasefire deal. the agreement announced yesterday largely mirrors a proposal made by president biden last may. in recent days, president-elect trump's middle east envoy joined the biden team in qatar in a bid to push the deal to completion. for more insight, we turn now to white house is principal deputy national security advisor john feiner. we understand there has been a last-minute hold up in implementing this agreement. israel blamed hamas for reneging

on a part of the deal. it is the was confident both sides will be able to put this deal in place come sunday? >> i would not call it a hold up. i think things are continuing to move forward with the information -- implementation of the deal. there are a lot of moving pieces , there is zero trust between the two sides, but our understanding is all of the relevant documents have been fully approved. the is really -- israeli government will begin its approval process and for the deal to begin being implemented as sunday or thereafter, but everything remains on track. geoff: secretary of state antony blinken praised donald trump's incoming envoy to the middle east with the outgoing biden

team. to what degree was the overall trump factor key to clinching this agreement, mainly to social media post where trump warned of hell to pay if the hostages were not released by his inauguration. >> president biden's diplomatic team was driving this deal forward. the president himself announced the broad contours of the deal as far back as the may. all of those elements were present in ditto yesterday, and the special envoy was in the region for almost two consecutive weeks straight working for the fine print with the qatari and egyptian mediators and shuffling between the two sides. the trump administration played a very important supporting role. they pressed to both sides as we work on that so we welcome that participation. this was about the outcome,

which is getting the hostages home, getting humanitarian assistance into gaza and bringing an end to the fighting much more about who gets the credit. geoff: once the fighting stopped at the humanitarian crisis persists. what is the mechanism to surge badly needed food, water, and medical assistance to those people who so desperately needed? >> we have been preparing united nations world food program, other ngos to fully implement the terms of the deal, which involves 600 trucks a day of assistance urging in to gaza them and the fighting stops, and we expect humanitarian community to be ready to do that. obviously implementation will extend well into the new administration. this is six or seven weeks in the first phase of the deal, so we will set the table for a successful implementation that

will be up to the incoming team to carry that forward. geoff: critics on the right of argued that biden administration handcuffed israel in terms of criticizing its tactics and sometimes withholding weapons, and those on the left said the biden white house enabled israel to act with impunity in gaza. with the administration have done anything differently? >> what i see as a strategic environment in the middle east in which the united states and its key ally israel as its other partners in the region are stronger than they were before october 7. their interests are better secured and safer in large part because of the collaboration between the united states and israel. when iran sought to strike israel twice it was the united states that helped israeli defense forces defend against those attacks.

when israel decimated hezbollah the united states backed israel up us to do that. when assad fell and fled the country it was the united states efforts with israel that weakene d iran and russia that prevented him from being able to come to his rescue, so come off so all of its friends and partners in a fundamentally weaker place and felt like it needed to make a deal. this came at a ginormous -- enormous humanitarian cause. every conversation we have had with israeli officials to increase the amount of assistance, and that is the most important part of this deal. there will be a significant increase in relief to people in gaza who badly need it. geoff: why did president biden

push netanyahu to lessen the civilian costs in gaza? >> the thing that was holding back the stoppage of the violence and the halting of the fighting was that there was a deal on the table the president announced as far back as the may, that details of which were continuously refined that israel accepted and hamas did not. hamas has gotten to a place where it was under enough pressure that it was willing to accept the terms of the deal with minor adjustments and alterations that took place. the sticking point very much so it recent days and weeks was hamas's unwillingness to take the deal. now it is time to get the formal agreement to the israeli government and begin implementing, which will provide significant relief. geoff: today for the u.s. -- first time the u.s. sentient

sudan, and our reports that used chemical weapons against a paramilitary group. i will the u.s. respond? >> the united states has imposed sanctions on both sides of this conflict. at the rapid support forces have been sanctioned by the united states and designate ended by the state department for perpetrating genocide in parts of sudan. today the united states impose sanctions on the sudanese armed forces. what we have got is the most acute humanitarian catastrophe on the planet as a result of the civil war, but you have two sides who did not seem to be interested in stopping the fighting. the united states is putting pressure on both sides and does trying as hard as we can to search humanitarian assistance into sudan to get relief to the people, but until either side decides they are interested in stopping this war it is going to

be challenging to get the fighting under control. geoff: thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. ♪ amna: for four years, the biden administration has said there is only one country that has both the intention and capacity to reshape the international order, in its favor. that country is china. nick schifrin is back, and talks to the man who's had a front row seat, and helped manage, us-china relations. correspondent: amna, that man is nicholas burns, who has been the biden administration's ambassador to china since 2022. welcome back to the program. the incoming secretary of state said this about china in his confirmation hearing. >> the communist party of china is the most potent and dangerous near peer adversary this nation

has ever confronted. they have elements that the soviet union never possessed. they are a technological adversary, competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor. if we stay on the road we're on right now, less than ten years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether china will allow us to have it or not. correspondent: an competitor, economic competitor, scientific competitor. if we send the road right now in less than 10 years everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether china will allow us to have it or not. >> we are structural rivals, rivals for military power and we cannot afford to be number two. who will be the first mover in ai and machine learning and quantum computing and biotech? we have major problems on the economic side because china is not playing by the rules, and we

have substantial differences in our belief of human freedom and our belief in not giving rights of the people. the united states has strengthened its position in the end of pacific, and we have done it because we strengthened our alliance with japan, the philippines, at, australia. we invented an arrangement which will be a transformative military bone to us -- boon to us. the chinese have begun to make mistakes. i do not think there was anything inevitable. if we are strong and we also keep in touch with them and work with them on global issues that are important like climate change. correspondent: the main part of the u.s. strategy is meant to expand alliances within the region, whether that is gaining access to bases in the philippines, improving relations

with them between, aukus,, and yet china's aggressive behavior whether with regard to taiwan, the philippines, acting into the grid has continued, so does that mean u.s. policy has failed to change chinese behavior? >> i do not think so in some respects. you mentioned the south china sea. the chinese have attempted to intimidate the filipinos. the united states stood up to china. we have a 1951 defense treaty with the philippines and we told the chinese again if you use military force, you will draw us into that, and i think we deterred them. we have also built up the military capacity of taiwan through arms transfers, and as you said japan and the philippines, much more focused on that problem as well.

you have now seen european countries begin to act strategically in opposition to what china is trying to do, because china has been the major ally of russia in the ukraine war. have we resolved every problem with china? no. i spent three years trying to do that, but the suggestion to colette essays will be overtaken and overpowered by china in the next 10 years, i do not see it happening. correspondent: the president of taiwan says the island does not have to declare independence from mainland china for we are already dependent -- independent. >> i think it was provocative in some ways to the chinese authorities, but we have told the chinese you need to commit to a peaceful resolution of this dispute, and there are a lot of countries that want to make sure

taiwan has a deterrent, and 50% of global container traffic flows through the taiwanese straight. correspondent: you have to restrain the president of taiwan. >> the united states as been clear as we do not support taiwan independence. there is been a consistent policy that is working cap the piece by every administration to both parties, so i think we did well to send the whites -- send the right signals on taiwan. correspondent: the number of officers fired for corruption seems to suggest xi jinping is worried about corruption. do you believe xi jinping's confidence is waning about the chinese military's ability to blockade? >> it has to be part of their calculation.

fired and put on trial for corruption two commanders of the rocket forces and most recently the senior admiral in the chinese navy. when xi jinping came in 12 years ago he launched an anticorruption campaign. it has been permanent, and there are been hundreds of thousands of chinese officials being put behind bars. it is hard to know what he thinks. although we have spent a lot of time with him. president biden did in lima two months ago, but they have got to be concerned by a military that is never done a combined forces operation of this type, so we need to continue to be steady and leading the rest of the world to advise the chinese you cannot use force. it would be a huge price to pay for that in terms of china's reputation. correspondent: president-elect trump as refused to rollout

economic and military coercion on greenland and panama. how does beijing should that talk and how does it affect the u.s. arguments about taiwan? >> basically the message to putin and xi jinping, you cannot take over someone's country by the use of force, so it sends the wrong message to xi jinping. on 911 the first country to support us was canada, denmark. these are great allies and we americans don't of world order on sovereignty of countries, borders to respect your allies. the biggest difference between the united states and china right now, china has no allies. we have nato allies and east asian allies. we should respect the sovereignty of our allied

countries. ♪ correspondent: thank you. amna: one of the legacies president biden leaves behind when he exits the white house is his record on conserving and protecting the country's public lands and water. deb haaland, biden's secretary of the interior, played a key role in implementing his policies over the last four years and i spoke with her earlier this week. secretary haaland, welcome to the newshour. it's great to have you here in person. haaland: so happy to be here. amna: so as the very first native person ever to serve as cabinet secretary, united states history, we should point out you were leading a department that once worked to remove indigenous people from their land. and i know a lot has been written about how you wanted to use this role to really examine and grapple with our history here in america. a big part of this was the work you did looking into the actual

work governments did to separate indigenous children from their families, put them into boarding schools, strip them of their history and language and culture. when president biden issued an apology for these actions, what was that moment like for you? what stays with you? haaland: absolutely. yes. that was absolutely an historic moment. and sitting in the crowd listening to the president with my fellow indigenous friends and relatives around me, it was very profound. now, we finished that second report for the boarding school initiative and we put a list of recommendations. and no sooner did we get that out and over to the white house that the white house called us and said the president wants to make an apology. so he immediately felt the need to be out there and following our recommendations. so we were all very pleased.

and it's important because, as i always say, native american history is american history. and we all need to as americans, we all need to heal from these tragic moments in our history. and so the healing part of what we have done, we hope, is what really comes of all of the work that we accomplished on this issue. amna: i know the transition process has begun. you've had conversations, i assume, with your nominated successor, doug burgum. has this issue come up? haaland: so i haven't actually had any conversations with the incoming secretary, although i do want to point out that the mission of the department of the interior does not change. it's the same mission throughout history that we are -- that we were dedicated to. so we can hope that the 65,000 career staff who are who remain at the department, even though i'm leaving, will move so many of the issues that we found important enough to work on for. -- forward.

amna: the mission may not change, but i think it's fair to say it is being redefined with the way the incoming administration has laid it out. doug burgum is said to be taking on a much more expansive role, much more energy focused as well. he's going to have a seat on the national security council. how concerned are you that a lot of the work you've done on climate, on preservation of public lands, that that could be undone? haaland: so there is a lot that can never be undone. president biden's investing in america agenda that essentially moved $45 billion to our nation's indian tribes for climate resilience, for landscape restoration, for infrastructure. all of those things are in process and they're getting done. billions of dollars went to cleaning up legacy pollution sites across the country, and that work has also been ongoing. there is so much that could never be undone because the work is getting completed. our clean energy transition

moving forward, we are on. president biden asked for a 30gw of offshore wind by 2030. we're more than halfway there in less than half the time. so we have really moved the needle on a clean energy transition, on legacy pollution on indian country. and so we feel good about the opportunities that remain for all of those sectors. amna: at this moment of transition. i need to ask you to look back slightly, because in the past you have called mr. trump a threat to democracy. you did cite his election as your inspiration to run for office in the very first place. it was in 2018 that you and kansas congresswoman sharice davids made history as the first native american women elected to congress ever. i have to ask you, now that he's won, he's about to be sworn in for his next term. what is this moment like for you? haaland: so, of course, i when i first got to the department of the interior, it was very exciting. four years seemed like a really long time to get so much of our agenda completed.

now, with just a few days left, of course, i'm feeling a little sad to leave my colleagues, but i know that we worked so hard and we got a tremendous amount accomplished. i have to believe that our best days are ahead of us. and, you know, administrations come and go -- are the voices of the american people who want to conserve our these beautiful natural resources that we have. those voices will continue. yes, i am. i am always going to be involved. and i feel confident that that my voice was important in this administration and it will be important in the future as well. amna: what's ahead for you? what's next? haaland: i'm going to go back to new mexico. i'm looking forward to some enchiladas with red chili, quite frankly. but, you know, we have an amazing group of political

appointees that my colleagues that i served with at the department, we're all sort of spreading out to do some amazing things. and so i look forward to staying in touch with with all of them and and absolutely advocating for the things we know we need for our planet. amna: deb haaland, outgoing secretary of the interior. madam secretary, thank you so much for being here. ♪ and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by -- on an american cruise lines journey along the columbia and snake rivers, travelers retraced the route forged by lewis and clark more than 200 years ago.

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