♪ john: tonight on pbs news weekend. the first hostages return to israel and aid trucks enter gaza as the ceasefire between israel and hamas goes into effect, pausing 15 brutal months of war.

then, some of the world's biggest companies make record-breaking donations to the trump inauguration, and top tech ceos will be front and center at festivities. and the little-known and heartwarming white house tradition. outgoing presidents leaving personal notes for their successors. >> this process while sometimes a humorous one or a small one is an important step in recognizing it is not about the people in the office, but the office itself. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by 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. john: good evening i'm john yang. tonight, three women are back on israeli soil for the first time in 15 months since they were kidnapped in the october 7th hamas attacks and held captive in gaza. their return follows the implementation of the long-awaited ceasefire between hamas and israel, pausing a war that has left gaza devastated. hamas turned the women over to the red cross in gaza, which transferred them to the israeli military. they were reuinted with families and taken to a hospital.

the freed hostages are romi gonen, emily damari and doron steinbrecher. their safe return sparked celebrations across the country, as jubilant israelis danced and waved flags. there was jubilation, too, in gaza at the ceasefire and israel's promised release of palestinian prisoners. trucks laden with badly needed aid were seen in southern israel heading to crossing points into gaza. in the united states, president biden hailed it as a step forward. pres. biden: today alone, we anticipate several hundred trucks will enter the gaza strip, as i'm probably as i'm speaking and after so much pain, destruction, loss of life, today the guns in gaza have gone silent. john: hamas captured seven u.s. citizens on october 7th. only three are thought to be still living. saqui dekelchen and keith siegel, who are both on hamas' list of those to be released in the first phase, and edan alexander, who is not. earlier, i spoke with alexander's father, adi, and asked him how he felt about

today. adi: it was a great start to begin with. today was a great day. we are hopeful that edan will be out between now and 42 days from now, although the road is still ahead of us and a lot of work to be done. john: as you say, it's a long road ahead. there may be some bumps on that road. are you concerned that there may be some bumps before edan is released? adi: i'm sure it will be a bumpy road, but i have no doubt about the execution of the whole phases of that deal. i think it's been too long for this war to continue. and the commitment of the outgoing administration and incoming administration is ironclad strong. so we we are hopeful that all the phases will be implemented. john: do you think the impending return of donald trump to the white house may have helped get this thing over the finish line?

adi: absolutely. the trump effect was crucial. using the deadline of january 20th as the deadline for the talks and for the release of the hostages was absolutely crucial as well. and the firm language from the president-elect helped as well. so we are grateful. john: i know edan was able to call your wife as the attacks were beginning on october 7th and you were able to speak. have you thought about when you your wife and edan's brother and sister are able to speak with them again, what that might be like, what you might want to say? adi: so many questions to ask, you know, about that particular day on october 7th when he was surrounded and attacked, the way he managed to surrender himself. so many questions to ask and the for the month that came after

that. i'm eager to hear that. i'm just to to hug my son and to see what he has to say. hopefully he will say, you know what, guys? it wasn't so bad after all. i'm ok. john: have you thought about what those first few days will be like having edan back and being able to hug him again, as you say? adi: i can't imagine. i see the process that those three young women went through. this morning in israel, i hope for the same to myself and to my family. and just we'll keep praying. john: you say you can't imagine what that's going to be like? i can't imagine what the last 15 months has been like for you and your family. how have you been able to keep going? what has sustained you over the last 15 months? adi: you just have to go into autopilot. every day. it's the same day, some interviews, talks, meetings, just to push forward, you know, and keep this issue front and

center for everybody and make sure that people actually do their jobs on all sides in israel, in qatar, egypt and the u.s. government, that everybody does this job to get those people out. john: do you think there's been some criticism or there was criticism of the prime minister for not getting this deal sooner or not pressing for a deal sooner? do you think this could have happened sooner if mr. netanyahu had pushed more? adi: i mean, we've been very close before. the deal is the same deal that was presented by president biden and it was approved by the by the united nations security council. and we finally get to see the fruits of that deal after the intense diplomacy. and i'm happy that diplomacy worked this time. john: adi alexander, whose son edan, is being held in gaza. thank you very much for your time. and i hope you and your family and edan are all together soon.

adi: thank you, john. john: in today's other news, president biden and president-elect trump spent their final full day in their current roles by thanking supporters -- but in very different ways. before his second tour of duty as commander-in-chief, mr. trump visited arlington national cemetery and laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. this evening, at a downtown washington, d.c. sports arena, mr. trump is to hold what's being billed as a maga victory rally. for the final full day of his presidency, mr. biden visited with supporters in charleston, south carolina, the state that revitalized his faltering campaign in 2020. he attended a church service and visited charleston's international african american museum. tiktok has restored service to the 170 million u.s. users of the social media app. less than 24 hours after it went dark because of a federal ban, tiktok powered back on. that was after president-elect trump said that once in office he would try to give its china-based parent company more time to find a government-approved buyer.

the law that banned the app gives the president authority to grant a 90-day extension. millions of people across the country are bracing for dangerously cold conditions as a polar vortex moves south from the arctic. this latest round of winter weather is expected to bring bitterly cold temperatures, plunging the northern plains into single digits. it's also set to bring a rare bout of freezing rain to the south. president biden pardoned the historic leader of the black nationalist movement, 85 years after his death. marcus garvey was among five people to receive pardons from mr. biden on the eve of his leaving office. garvey, who died in 1940, mobilized the black nationalist movement in the early 20th century. he influenced the next generation of civil rights leaders, including dr. martin luther king, jr. and malcolm x. still to come on "pbs news weekend," how some of the world's biggest companies are making record breaking donations to president-elect trump's inaugural committee and the

modern history of the personal notes outgoing presidents leave their successors. ♪ >> this is pbs news weekend from the david m rubenstein studio in washington, home, of the pbs news hour, weeknights on pbs. john: president-elect trump's inaugural committee has smashed fundraising records, racking up more than $200 million in pledges. dontions have come from leaders of big tech, financial services and telecommunications. some of those companies have federal contracts or are big federal contracts or are regulated by the federal government. ali rogin spoke with craig holman, an expert on ethics and campaign finance rules for public citizen, and cecilia kang, who covers technology for the new york times. ali: thank you so much for being here. craig, you put together a research document on the

inaugural committee fundraising. who is donating? craig: it is shattering all records this time around. the trump inaugural committee originally targeted $150 million to spend on the inauguration which by itself would break records. then they upped it to 200 million dollars because money started flowing in and now we know is going to be around $250 million. it shatters all records in terms of spending but also in terms of donations. the donations that we are aware of at this point are all $1 million to $5 million. from the same donors who used to give to previous inaugurations, trump's first one but back then it was in amounts of maybe $50,000 or $100,000. ali: you mentioned it was the same folks. who tends to top the lists? craig: the top of this list is the cryptocurrency businesses. calling base, cracking -- coin

base, crockett. they've never given this kind of money before. the cryptocurrency industry rarely invested in politics until 2020. ali: cecilia, which tech moguls are we expecting to see tomorrow and what do we know about what they may be looking to get out of this new relationship? cecilia: about every major tech ceo will be at the inauguration, many of whom will also be sitting on the dais with president-elect donald trump. the three richest people in the world, elon musk, jeff bezos, and mark zuckerberg, they will all be sitting on the dais. we also will have the ceos of google, apple, openai, as well as the ceo of tiktok. the question is more who won't

be there from the tech industry. silicon valley is really taking over washington this weekend. ali: and of course the use of money to influence politics is a time-honored tradition in washington but this seems to be at a new level and at the same time we have seen a number of changes that these companies have made. meta just replaced their fact checking program. president trump launching a cryptocurrency. what are the tech stories you are looking at that will be big as we enter this administration and how might these players be trying to parlay these donations into influence? cecilia: i am really interested in ai policy, how the incoming and is expected to support and promote american ai companies. that is one reason why a lot of these tech ceos are very enthusiastic about trump coming into office. the other thing i'm looking into

is how president trump deals with speech policies and whether he will take away legal protections for social media companies who he has criticized in the past. this is another reason why ceos like mark zuckerberg are very interested and concerned about trump coming into office, because they are afraid there will be some sort of retribution or punishment of their companies and their social media sites that conservatives and republican lawmakers have criticized for allegedly censoring their content. ali: craig, after the inauguration and related festivities are over, what happens to the left over money and what does the law say about it? craig: there is no restriction on how the surplus gets spent and there is no disclosure. if trump does not want to tell us how he spent the surplus money, we aren't going to know what happened to it. when it comes to the inaugural funding, there are so few rules in place. foreign nationals can't make a donation.

the second is we find out sometime in the spring, the donors of $200 or more. we don't know how the money gets spent, what happens to the surplus and quite frankly, there is no restriction on how trump dispenses the surplus. ali: i know there have been long-standing efforts to change this. what is the status? craig: there have been. the bills trying to require disclosure of expenditures and banning corporate contributions and government contractors has never gone very far. but this time around, we are seeing the abuses of this inauguration, of such a level that i'm suspecting the same legislation that we couldn't move before might get legs this time. ali: craig and cecilia, thank you so much for joining us.

john: as donald trump returns to the white house and republicans are in charge of the house and senate, democrats are searching for a way forward. ron wyden, the second-most senior senate democrat and a leading progressive voice, offers something of a strategy guide in a new book, "it takes chutzpah: how to fight fearlessly for progressive change." amna nawaz recently sat down with wyden. amna: thank you for being here. sen. wyden: good to be with you. amna: you write a lot about your family, escaping nazi germany in the 1930's and how this inspired the way you live and work. this idea being central to how you do your work. how do you define it? sen. wyden: it is inherently good and it is the indispensable instrument to have a better life in america. it's about grit, it's about

nerve, it's about taking on big odds. i was just a kid who had sort of had my start working with senior citizens after i was dreaming of playing in the nba and that didn't work out. a senior citizen said why don't you run for congress? i was 29 years old. i had never run for anything, but one of them looked at me and said nobody could say no to their grandmother and i got elected to congress. amna: you lay out how this value has really driven you over your four decades in congress. when you look at where your party is right now, having just lost an election, essentially leadership, where do you see that chutzpah? sen. wyden: we have to focus on what is important to people. i'm going home in a day or so and i will have town hall meetings. people thought that took a lot of chutzpah.

1100 town meetings, we opened the door and let people give their opinion. i can tell you, the concerns are ones where the second word is always bill. health care bill, housing bill, electric bill. the social issues are incredibly important. i was the first senator to support marriage equality. i said you don't like gay marriage? don't get one. that took a lot of chutzpah. we have to focus on the economics people are talking about in their kitchens and living rooms. the message was hard to follow. when we talked about food prices and getting clobbered over the head when you want into a grocery store. we didn't talk about the big issue that i fought for which was the albertsons and kroger merger. if that had gone through, and i led the opposition to it, it would have been the biggest food merger in american history.

ask yourself, did you see a lot of it in the presidential campaign? amna: what would you say is the defining strategy for democrats looking ahead these next four years? sen. wyden: i will give you out, distilling out the trump economic plan. the trump economic plan is all about helping people at the top and cutting medicaid and hunger programs to pay for it. our policy is giving everyone in america the chance to get ahead. republicans are talking about helping the people at the top and then they basically won't say it this way but they hope everything trickles down to somebody who might be a checker in a grocery store. amna: you write a lot about how this inspired you to reach across the aisle to pursue bipartisan work that other people weren't. you wrote in a government allegedly paralyzed by gridlock, i routinely team up with deeply conservative republicans to pass legislation. we are speaking now at a time when even someone like mike turner, a congressman known for

having a bipartisan working reputation, lost his spot on the intelligence committee reportedly because president trump doesn't want him there. do you think republicans are incentivized to work with you across the aisle if the president doesn't want them to? sen. wyden: we will see. they are always worried about primaries. they will worry if they -- they worry they will have a primary if they oppose trump. you see it in one of the chapters, the one that focuses on my work with the internet. i found one of the sharpest republicans, we were both young. we wanted to come up with ground rules for the internet. i came to the senate with only one -- when only one person knew how to use a computer. i wrote the law on the digital signatures issues. amna: do you see common ground that you can move forward -- that you can work with republicans moving forward on? sen. wyden: i do. i wrote -- i cowrote a bill --

it used to make sense 30 years ago when we didn't have a lot of data. now these pbms are too often ripping off taxpayers and seniors. we talked about how we will have another bipartisan effort and almost got it passed last session. amna: author of the book "it takes chutzpah: how to fight fearlessly for progressive change." thank you so much for being here. sen. wyden: tell everybody, here is your chutzpah. john: tomorrow's change of oval office occupants is a ritual full of traditions and customs. one of the more modern ones began in 1989, when ronald reagan left a note for george h.w. bush on stationery with a whimsical bit of advice. since then, the messages have often been heartfelt and written on more staid white house stationery, like the one bush himself left for bill clinton, wishing him great happiness.

john: lindsay chervinsky is the executive director of the george washington presidential library. lindsay, since reagan left that note in 1989, by my count, there've been five of those notes? has there been a common theme? lindsay: well, i think the theme in general is about patriotism, service, the importance of the office being bigger than one person and sort of an inspirational encouragement for the next person in office. john: how are they usually left? are they handed to them or how does it work? lindsay: they're usually left on the desk. it's usually one of the last things the president does. they'll usually write their successor's name and then leave it on the desk for them to find when they come into the office for the first time. john: if they come into the office for the first time after the inaugural ceremony, after they come down pennsylvania avenue. lindsay: absolutely. john: one of the longer ones was barack obama's. for donald trump, it was donald trump said he found it so thoughtful that even called obama to thank him for it. what did it say? lindsay: yeah, this letter is interesting because it's a little bit more preachy than

some of the other letters. it kind of reminds trump of the challenges that some americans face, that they are not all as fortunate as obama and trump. it reminds him about the importance of democratic norms and institutions and the office being a symbol of that, not just being about trump's political fortunes. and it reminds him to enjoy his family while he's in office because the job is a hard one. john: sometimes these letters are not made public for a while. should they remain private? should the private messages in communications between the two men, or is it important for the american public, to see this as part of the peaceful transition of power? lindsay: i think it's appropriate for a president to keep them private for a little while, maybe while they're in office. but i do think it is important for the american people to ultimately see them, because it does remind the americans that the peaceful transfer of power is the bedrock of what it means to have a republic. and this process, while sometimes a humorous one, sometimes a small one, is an

important step in recognizing it's not about the people in the office, it's about the office itself. john: before reagan started this tradition, were there similar things, similar messages in communications between presidents and their successors in history? lindsay: well, sometimes they would exchange letters, often after the inauguration. i think the most important one perhaps occurred early in 1801 when john adams had left washington, d.c., went back to massachusetts. that election had been nearly catastrophic. the threat of violence was real and palpable, and it was a real constitutional crisis. and he got back home and he said to jefferson, everything is peaceful here. i wish you a safe and happy administration. and that really set the tone for what we want presidents to do. john: the notes that have been left since ronald reagan, are there any others that sort of stand out? lindsay: well, i think reagan's is really fun because, you know, they had been in the administration together. and as you said, the stationery is quite silly. it's an elephant with little turkeys on it. and it said, don't let the

turkeys get you down. and you might sometimes want to use this stationery. and i think that humor is important because the job is so hard and the decisions are so difficult that if you don't have a sense of humor, i think it can crush you. john: you know, you talk about the peaceful transfer of power in 2020. there was almost a breakdown of that, a bitter argument over whether the election was stolen. but still, mr. trump left a letter for mr. biden. lindsay: he did, and we don't yet know what it said. biden said that it was private and he was going to thank trump personally for it. i'm sure at some point we'll see it once the president's letters are made public. but i find it encouraging that even when we had the most contested transition we've ever had, that letter still was there. john: lindsay chervinsky, thank you very much. lindsay: thank you. john: and that is pbs news on

sunday. monday, join us for special coverage of president trump's inauguration beginning at 10:30 a.m. eastern, 9:30 central. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a good week. ♪ >> major funding for pbs news weekend is provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

thank you.

linney: this is "masterpiece." victoria: i am not a woman. i am a queen. man: your majesty. (crowd shouting) albert: i see no reason to trouble the queen. ♪ ♪ victoria: there are so many things i've never been taught. ♪ ♪ the one man i thought i could trust has deceived me. duchess of kent: victoria is a tempest. (glass shatters)