♪ >> good evening. geoff bennett is away. on the news hour tonight. middle east nations reject president trump's idea to remove palestinians from gaza and take ownership of the decimated region.

while republican lawmakers back the proposal. >> he's taking bold decisive action to ensure the peace of that region. >> how elon musk is rapidly guiding government agencies and whether protests and law makers could slow his efforts. and almost all usaid workers around the world are placed on leave. the potential threat to global health programs and national security. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> cunad. the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure.

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catherine t macarthur foundation committed to building more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.or g. and in with the ongoing support of these 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. >> welcome to the news hour. president trump's proposal to take over gaza and relocate to million palestinians is being condemned across the region. the announcement came at a joint press conference with israel's prime minister where president trump promised to turn the war ravaged area into a riviera of the middle east. >> the u.s. will take over the gaza strip. >> standing beside prime

minister benjamin netanyahu, president trump issued what amounts to a thunderclap across the middle east. gaza will be rebuilt but under u.s. ownership. >> we'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons. >> the gaza strip is one of the most densely populated places on earth but for 15 months, israeli bombs have turned most of gaza into a gray ghost town of dust and debris. israel's air campaign, one of the largest in modern warfare,. flattened entire neighborhoods. israel says hamas's tunnel network and the group's practice of embedding it soldiers inside civilian areas meant they had no other choice. but president trump, who made his name is a new york real estate developer, said he will transform this area into something magnificent. >> i don't want to be cute. i do not want to be a wise guy

but the a riviera of the middle east. this could be something that could be so -- this could be so magnificent. >> prime minister netanyahu, the man who led israel's war in gaza, stood beside the present in complete agreement. >> your willingness to think outside the box with fresh ideas will help us achieve all of these goals. >> outside the white house, hundreds of people protesting israel's onslaught in gaza called for netanyahu's arrest. president trump his determination to own and develop gaza was being welcomed. >> everybody loves the idea of the united states owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs. >> but leaders in the middle east flat out rejected the idea. saudi arabia said its position on the establishment of a palestinian state run by palestinians was "firm and unwavering." and nonnegotiable and not subject to compromises.

leaders in georgia and egypt also rejected the idea -- in jordan. and similar reactions poured in from turkiye, germany, france, spain, ireland, brazil, russia and china. democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland called the idea ethnic cleansing. >> he just said it would be the united states policy to foreseeably displace 2 million palestinians from the gaza strip . that is ethnic cleansing by another name. >> but the president's own party stands behind his move. secretary of state marco rubio. >> people can move back in, but in the meantime they have to live somewhere. the details of that if it was accepted would have to be worked out among multiple partner nations. >> mike johnson. >> this is a bold, uh, decisive move, and i think you have to do something to eradicate the

threat to israel. it just makes sense to make the neighborhood safer. i think that is logical, it follows common sense. i think people understand the necessity of it. trump argued that the palestinians themselves will welcome his plan. >> the only reason the palestinians want to go back to gaza is they have no alternative. it is right now a demolition site. this is a demolition site, virtually every building is down. last week, many palestinians returned home as soon as they were permitted by israeli forces. on foot, in carriages and cars, walking over the remnants of their communities. some rode on the backs of others. today, palestinians told the news hour, that they reject the president's plan. >> the last thing we would do is leave gaza. i'd rather die than leave, no matter the reason. even if they said they would give me $1 million. i would not leave my home.

no matter the reason. >> we reject this decision. the palestinian people will persevere. the gazan people are anchored to this land here and i think this decision will not pass. >> so, for more on president trump's proposal for gaza, we are joined again by the former foreign minister and deputy prime minister of jordan and is now here in washington dc as vice president the carnegie endowment. so good to have you back on the program. we should say that gaza is not in american territory. yet we have an american president who says, the americans will seize it and own it. what is your reaction to this? >> well, a lot of reactions. it's bizarre that the u.s. president says this about territory not owned by the united states. senator van hollen was very

accurate in calling it ethnic cleansing. there is no other way to say it. palestinians are not being uh, asked for their -- whether they want to leave or not. and it is clear they have not left. after 15 months of bombing. they are not crowding at the egyptian border. they went back to their homes knowing that their homes are gone. let me also remind people that palestinians in gaza themselves are already refugees. they came from other parts of historic palestine in 1948. they already know what will happen to them if they, as senator rubio, secretary rubio said, if they temporarily relocated there is no such thing as temporarily relocating with israel. there are many negotiations, the most famous of which is 194 that asked israel to return back

palestinians who are forcible ibly displaced in 1948 israel has not allowed a single one. this time around they know if they leave their home they are not going back. >> we heard in that tape, a good deal of the condemnation from nations all across the world. your own nation, jordan, is one of the countries that president trump said the palestinian should move to. what is jordan's reaction to this specifically? >> jordan cannot receive any more palestinian refugees that it has already. first of all, jordan has no geographical borders with gaza. so, it is not understood why jordan is being asked to receive palestinians from gaza. what this is doing, it seems to me, is giving prime minister netanyahu a green light to annex the west bank. and that is jordan's real

concern that by saying israel is too small, by saying palestinian should move out, president trump is basically suggesting that israel can go ahead and annex the west bank much in the same way that israel wants to drive palestinians out of gaza. that is of big concern to jordan. that is going to force economic, security problems for jordan and an identity problem to the country. imagine if all of canada suddenly moved to the united states. it would change the whole demographic and character of the state. and that is why in my view jordan will not accept under any conditions, no matter what the threats are, the coming in of any number of palestinians, not to say that palestinians don't want to come and also, not to say that jordan's main concern,

main reason for signing the treaty with israel has been to prevent against mass transfer. this is going to be a clear violation of the jordan-israel peace treaty and is going to give fuel to the israeli right that was to annex the whole land. >> this is right in line with what a lot of the conservative israelis want. do you think that we are paying too much attention to this issue? this came out of the blue. it seemed that president trump was making, this evolving plan in his own mind yesterday as the day progressed. do you think we are, we are focusing too much on something that may never really come to pass? >> i don't think it will come to pass. there are no tools for it to come to pass. i don't imagine that president trump is going to send u.s. troops to the region.

that is going to be hugely unpopular. >> although the defense secretary said he would be open to that if the president wanted it. >> i do not think the u.s. public would be open to that idea. you know, after the iraq war, the united states does not want to get involved militarily outside. so, sorry, i lost my train of thought here. >> is it your sense that this is simply a gambit, a negotiating tactic? >> it might be. but i want to say that every time the president of the united states says something, people have to take it seriously. and the decision-making process cannot be done in such a way that a president says something and then people have to follow. this is going to be dangerous not just for the palestinians but for jordan, for egypt, and

it should be, you know, taken very seriously for such statements to come. >> as always, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> here int he u.s. the trump administration is moving at a breakneck pace, targeting agencies and slashing the federal workforce and one man is orchestrating it, elon musk. musk has been given access to critical systems across the federal government here today we pray secretary caroline leavitt said musk could decide for himself of any government funds that his team has access to are in conflict with his business interests. >> if elon musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that doge is overseeing then he will excuse himself from those contracts and he has again abide by all applicable laws.

>> alarmed by his influence and growing control, house democrats on the oversight committee attempted to subpoena musk but were blocked by house republicans. we have been covering the latest and laura joins us now. musk and his team, the department of government efficiency are moving very fast. since monday, how many more agencies and government systems has he gained access to? >> so to date, they have access to at least 11 agencies. an account is growing every day. that includes usaid, treasury, education, department, the faa, fbi. and what does that mean? with access to these agencies, he has access to the government's biggest payment systems, to personnel information, to the personal information of many americans, hr systems, and much more. the new york times recently reported that doge has access to

the centers from medicaid services, which has contracts totaling in $1 trillion. and now, we asked the white house about all of this access and the white house claims that doge have "the appropriate security clearances and that doge employees are employees of relevant agencies." but is not just about gaining access on that. elon musk has gleefully tweeted about dismantling entire agencies beyond usaid including education department. >> you have been reporting on this issue about them getting access to the treasury payment systems. what does that mean? do we know if he has power to stop payments, for example? >> the treasury secretary says that elon musk and doge have read only access. but the white house has not directly answered if elon musk and doge have the power to stop a number of these payments that go out of that system at the treasury department. the white house press secretary seem to imply that he might citi ng very specific payments that

doge was stopping, but a source familiar that i talked to who was familiar with what happened during the transition said that members of musk's team, were asking to treasure if they could stop payments that were going through that system and that doge wanted access to the underlying code. >> what could all of that mean? what are the applications of that kind of access? >> i spoke to a former treasury official during the biden administration she said that their access, which, the doge team, has a number of 19to 24-year-olds who have no government experience, their access poses a risk. >> i would think about it as a data security cybersecurity risk. risks of private information by individuals like their social security numbers, their bank account information, getting out to the public. i would think of another category of risk is national

security risk. you are making more -- possible for adversaries, the less secure this data is, the more possible it is for our adversaries to be able to manipulate it. >> just to hammer at home, natosha said that that means that doge has access to certain social security numbers, direct deposit accounts for everyday americans and a judge to indicate today that he may issue a temporary restraining order against their ability to access the payment systems. >> what we know about why they have been given this kind of apparently unfettered access to these government systems? >> elon musk has said pretty publicly that his goal is to cut the deficit by stepping all of these improper payments, but he's made a lot of sweeping accusations without any evidence, calling usaid payments just totally corrupt. he claims that the bureau of fiscal service, they have never stopped improper payments. experts that we talk to say that the fundamental -- is a

fundamental misunderstanding of what those civil servants do. there are only responsible for cutting checks, they are not responsible for vetting the payments. that happens at the agency level. and so there is a concern among government workers that elon musk is essentially claiming and creating a head fake saying that there are all these improper payments going out of the federal government, and claiming that essentially as a permission structure to then eventually stop payments. >> big picture, we have seen him get control of the systems. help us understand the influence, what kind of a takeover is this? >> some of the experts we talk to say that there is a name for this and that name is state capture. what -- when a wealthy individual like elon musk is able to capture the mechanisms of government, gain control of them, and potentially manipulate them for their personal gain. i spoke to tyler mcbrien, the managing editor who said that state capture practically works like this. >> it's rewriting the rules of the game, in terms of law and

policy. it is capturing administrative decisions through appointments, budgeting, things like that. and then it is attacking these accountability structures. so, the inspectors general, any sort of congressional oversight that should happen, the media as well. you see this now with certain government agencies, only reporting things on x and no lon ger issuing press releases. >> a lot of inspectors general are gone because the administrator and put them on lee. one of the only ways he said to stop state capture is public awareness and we saw today that there were a lot of protests in backlash. across d.c., outside of the capital, hundreds protested the dismantling of usaid. you hear them talking about chanting against elon musk there. so, that is potentially one of the only ways that state capture can be stopped. >> thank you. >> thank you.

>> we start the days of their headlines with a busy day at the white house. that includes visits by two of the nation's most high-profile governors. and an executive action that takes steps to restrict transgender rights in sports. >> oh, i think we have a 10. we have a 10. >> president donald trump pushing through another campaign promise to -- >> the war on women sports is over. >> banning transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. >> in recent years the radical left has waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology. >> under the order, schools allowing transgender athletes to compete would be violating title

ix, the law banning sex discrimination in schools and could be denied federal funding as a result. but a setback for another campaign promise -- as a second federal judge put a hold on his executive order to end birthright citizenship. deborah boardman issued a nationwide injunction, saying that the order runs counter to our nations 250 year history of citizenship by birth. meanwhile in washington, california governor gavin newsom became the first democrat to visit the white house to meet with the president. trying to secure federal funding to help los angeles communities ravaged by wildfires. the president has repeatedly threatened to withhold that aid if the state does not take certain unrelated steps like enacting voter identification measures for elections. and turump's cabinet continues o come together. pam bondi, former florida

attorney general, sworn in today to the nation's law enforcement job. secretary of state marco rubio continues his five nation visit across central america as guatemala's president offers to accept deported migrants from the united states, including those from other countries. >> guatemala is and will continue to be a partner with the united states, a partner to address the problems that we face as a region. >> that follows a similar agreement from el salvador this week, as one of president trump's top priorities -- immigration -- gains more foreign partners. >> also today in sweden, police are trying to figure out the motive of a gunman who carried out a deadliest mass shooting in a country's history. authorities now say 11 people are dead including the shooter. following yesterday's massacre at a school for adults in the city -- the king and queen laid wreaths.

stunned locals said they never expected an attack like this in their community. >> not in this place. i mean, you have heard about it in different parts of the world, but of course -- it is your hometown. yeah, so many lives destroyed. you -- hard to find the words. >> sweden has a some of the highest per capita rates of gun violence in recent years but school shootings are rare. five victims are still hospitalized in serious but stable condition. argentine it is withdrawing from the world health organization due to the profound differences with the agency. the president's decision follows president trump's executive order to pull the u.s. out of the who. the organization coordinates responses to global health threats and provides technical assistance to poor countries. its work is critical during outbreaks of diseases like ebola

and aids. a spokesperson said argentina's decision was largely a response to the who's guidance during the covid pandemic. >> this is based on the deep differences regarding, of course, health management, especially during the pandemic. we argentines will not and now an international organization to intervene in our health. >> their departure complicates the agency's efforts in global health. though the country provides a fraction of their total budget, and it is under no obligation to follow the agency's guidelines, and recommendations. the ratial gap in maternal mortality rates widens last year here in the u.s. according to new federal health data out today. the cdc found that in 2023, black women in the u.s. and died at a rate nearly 3.5 times higher than white women. that is a greater disparity than the prior two years when black

women were 2.6 times more likely to die either before, during or soon after childbirth. it comes as maternal mortality overall fell below pre-pandemic levels. authorities at seattle's main airport say a japan airline struck the tale of a parked delta aircraft this morning. a video shows airport personnel attending to the scene. a delta spokesperson says the boeing 737 was waiting to have ice removed one another aircraft made contact with its tail. there were no injuries and only a minimal impact on airport operations. but it is just the latest in a string of incidents that have raised concerns about the nation's airline safety. on wall street today, stocks posted modest gains amid a flurry of corporate earnings. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 300 points, the nasdaq added 40 points on the day. the s&p 500 also closed in

positive territory. and harry stewart junior, a decorated world war ii pilot, and one of the last surviving tuskegee airmen has died. after pearl harbor, stewart enlisted as soon as he turned 18. he joined what was considered an experiment to train black pilots in tuskegee. stuart went on to fly 43 combat missions, nearly one in every other day peer he earned the distinguished flying cross for downing three german aircraft during a single dogfight. stewart retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1950 but later returned to the skies to give rides to aspiring young pilots. harry stewart junior was 100 years old. still to come on the news hour, the global impacts of putting nearly all usaid workers on leave. how president trump's mass resignation offer is causing widespread confusion for federal workers. and chef alton brown offers

reflections on ruminations and a new book of essays. ♪ >> this is the "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> the trump administration is continuing to dismantle the u.s. agency for international development posting this message on the agency's main page. it says "all usaid direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, poor leadership and specially designated programs. secretary of state marco rubio had this to say. >> our goal for u.s. was to align the programs that it fulfills with the foreign policy of the united states. and yet over the last two decades, it has not and it has

gotten worse and worse and multiple administrations have complained about a but none have done anything about it. we are going to do something about it. this is not about ending foreign aid, it is about structuring it in a way that furthers the national interests of the united states. >> for perspective we turn now to andrew -- the administrator for usaid during the george w. bush administration peer he is now at texas a&m university. welcome back to the news hour. i want to start with your response to what we have seen over these last few days, essentially a complete takeover of usaid by elon musk and now the entire team placed on leave. >> it's not a takeover, it is the destruction of the agency. i just want to say have always had respect for marco rubio. and i don't now because of the nonsense he just said. aid was more aligned with president bush's foreign policy than the state department was and sometimes even the defense department was. that is not the problem. the problem is they do not have an administrator to run the

agency, to move it toward the right. whenever a president takes up office, they appoint people who agree with their point of view. when there is a republican president aid moves to the right, when there is a democrat, they move to the left as it should. the programs they are attacking right now are biden administration programs. they are not programs that the career people put in place on their own. they were instructed to. by the white house. why are you blaming the career people for something that joe biden did? i don't understand it. it is ridiculous. aid is one of the great, great powers of humanitarian powers in the world for the united states to protect the american people and our national interests and to protect the people in the developing world from disease, from hunger. and to advocate and to change policies to encourage economic growth and investment. >> tell us, because it feels as if the future is uncertain.

elon musk says he wants to shut it down. second term ruby has said there is going to be a restructuring but even in this moment, what are you hearing from people on the ground in the countries, and from leaders of the countries who partnered with the u.s. in this? >> well, the people i talked to were appalled by what is happening. and i'm talking about people in the developing world, and people certainly within the agency. the agency has shut down. we cannot -- field disaster resistance response team which we created 35 years ago. which go to disasters all over the world. in civil wars, and famine, and for refugee emergencies and earthquakes, we can't feel those teams anymore. our anti-polio eradication program. it is not functioning right now. because the missions are shut down. they are going to close all

eight emissions? that is the stupidest idea i have heard. the most powerful thing we have going for us are the missions. 2//3 are local people, people with degrees who worked for us for many years and help run our programs. two thirds aren't even americans and they do not work for very high wages. and they do important work,and shutting this whole system down makes no sense at all. the notion that people, whose been complaining about aid? career military does not complain about aid. they complain about the state department if you talk to them and i have great respect for our diplomats. i was a diplomat for a while but the reality is aid far more like the pentagon because it is an operational agency to get stuff done. the state department is a policymaking body. if you put aid into state, there

would be no development and no emergency programs because we will no longer be operational. it will be a disaster for the united states in a disaster for people in the global south. >> let me ask you about the way secretary rubio is talking about this peer he says this is a restructuring. so the agency is more in line with this president's foreign policy. people say, -- >> what does that mean, what is the foreign policy? of course it is. the president should appoint his own designee for the aid administrator, the head of the agency which is what i was under president bush. and the assistant administrators, all of whom have to be confirmed by the united states senate. the next level down. they run the agency. and you put in place people who agree with you. i promoted more conservative people who are economists, pro-business, in the agency when the left takes control, they promote people on the left.

that is how any administration work. that is true in the pentagon, true in the state department. what you think the state department was doing under biden? they were running the lgbtq flag with the american flag on all the embassies. that is not aid, that is the state department. you know, these issues are, are subterfuge. i think what they wanted to do is to show that they were in control, and they wanted to make cuts, and they made up these i llusory charges against aid that make no sense and are not accurate. with all due respect, none of these people know anything about aid. what does musk know? absolutely nothing. he has a bunch of young kids in their 20's, they are techies. they do not know anything about international development, they do not know the global south, they do not know anything about the programs and policies of the agency. aid is the most pro-business and

pro-market of all aid agencies in the world, categorically. i'm a conservative. i'm not liberal. and i've served in repeated republican administrations. and the notion that the agency is marxist, they made that accusation. that is utterly ridiculous. i know that the, we have private sector offices. we have a program that we started when i was administrator the global development alliance that brings in american businesses who contribute $6 billion a year to aid. they do not give us the money, we jointly invest in the same projects and we manage the projects for the businesses. the business community in the united states is very pro-aid. they never bothered to ask the business committed what they thought of this whole attack and an attempt to abolish it.

>> andrew nunzios. >> to abolish, and rubio says he wants to merge it into state, which is it? >> we thank you for your time and insights. thank you for joining us. the former administer of usaid. ♪ >> more than 2 million civilian federal workers across the country are facing a deadline tomorrow. they can either accept an offer from the trump administration to resign and keep their pay and benefits through september, or they can pass on the offer and take a gamble that they may be laid off. as part of elon musk's push to cut the size of government. that includes intelligence agencies like the cia and the nsa who are looking at the same offer. our team has been talking with

workers throughout the government and she joins me. lisa, there has been a blitz of directives and actions around federal workers. help us understand what is happening and why it matters. >> presidents have the right as we heard you change agencies and to affect political appointees. what's happening here is an unprecedented barrage of activity against the largest civilian workforce in this country. pressure tactics. people told to snitch on their coworkers. let's take a look through all the orders that federal workers have received. first, there is a hiring freeze in place across government. they have a deferred resignation deadline that you talked about for tomorrow. there have been a mystery to believe notices, layoffs. list of new requirements that people think are going toward a purge. they are back to office policy, starts beginning friday at the department iof defense. trump once to downsize but what is happening is a bigger message which is it does not matter what your skill set is, we are not

looking at your job, we simply want you to resign. whoever you are. what is happening for workers is they are thinking, if i could be fired, do i need to return to the office? there is a debate over returning to the office that can be had, but our producer worked, spoke to some federal workers who were dealing with this issue. one of them in texas explained that this difficult decision puts her family in a tough spot. >> [sighs] i cried. sobbed. in my car. it is just a lot . it is a lot to lose. so, there's no good option. we are going to be commuting two hours a day, no matter what we do. so, i just -- [sighs] i don't --

the thing that gets me is why? why? stop lying. it is not efficiency. they are going to have to release -- lease buildings and reconfigure desk and spent god only knows how much money to make space for all of us. >> it is very personal. i spoke to contractors who already lost her insurance and been fired. >> that back to office order, what do we know how would work? >> it is agency by agency when it takes effect and on the details are not clear to everybody. unions are saying this violates their bargaining agreements, but the office of personnel management sent out a directive saying you can just ignore those union deals. there is a question about is there room for all of these workers? we spoke to maranda in kansas who is concerned about that. >> my agency specifically just did a major reorganization that we just finished over the summer and we sent every employee out of an office. we are all now remote.

and we will all be called back. to offices that no longer exist. we gave up all physical space. in order to bring people back into it office, we first have to find those offices. >> now, i also learned yesterday from a source that the government services agency has put out a directive saying it wants to sell or get rid of 50% of federally owned space. currently that is 8000 buildings across 2000 communities, a significant decision. we have not heard much about. >> as you're talking to workers, what are they telling you about how they are navigating these decisions? >> i cannot overstress the fear and shall affect hovering over federal workers at this moment in addition to all of these dark of night decisions. workers have been told not to speak about this, there are gag order's. some of them are talking in code in encrypted apps. elon musk tweeted out or posted on x last night, he said this "leakers, if there is doubt, they are up.

i asked mike johnson, what about freedom of speech and he said, i'm sure he did not mean anything by that. the federal workers take his word seriously. they believe there is a real threat to them. and that is why several federal workers we talked to would not go on camera, but here's what they set off camera. >> if people knew who i am and i'm sharing information that could be detrimental to me -- >> they're looking to root out any vestiges of any type of opposition. >> they are looking for any reason to eliminate federal positions and i don't want to give an excuse to eliminate a position. >> workers are finding their strength in their oath of office to protect the constitution. >> i spoke a short time ago with an expert on this, an attorney, that represents federal workers. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> how overall our federal

workers taking this in? do they have legal recourse, and what is your experience with what is going on? >> first of all, i want to say this is unprecedented. in the federal government, usually when there is workforce restructuring, or major changes, it is a very deliberate process. the government does a lot of really really important things. that make this nation function. and make it function well. so if you're going to be doing a buyout or retirement program agencies, doing studies, they are realigning functions. they are making sure the essentials are there to get the job done. bureaucracy does not move at lightning speed, but sometime there is a reason for that. this bolt out of the blue, saying, this resignation program, is disorienting to begin with. it is unprecedented to be communicating directly with opm, and not with your agency. and to be in a situation where you're an employee and expect your supervisor or manager will have answers about what is going on, or certainly the chief human

will have answers about what is going on. >> are you sensing anger or fear? >> so, federal employees believe in the government, in their mission, and all of a sudden they are hearing that they are lazy, unproductive, under performing. it is very hard to hear. because frankly there are some of the hardest working people i know. and they don't know who to trust anymore because answers change so quickly every day. you're used to having a place where you can really get some firm information, some data, some evidence-based decision-making. that is not the case here. at the same time, they are being presented with these very big choices. they are -- there are threats to their livelihood coming from all sides. >> in a nutshell, why might this not be legal? >> it comes down to the fact that it is not clearly legal. they are not clearly appropriated funds. there is not clear authority pursuant to regulation or

long-standing guidance. and there is no precedent. because it is the federal government, if you're going to appropriate funds, if you're going to make certain changes, usually there has to be some sort of regulation, congressional authorization. or one would hope very thought out guidance. and here things like, for example this idea that you can work, get a second job while still getting paid by the government. that is very questionable. only in very narrow circumstances. there are a lot of rules and regulations that limit that and limit that for a reason. >> your advice to workers who have a deadline, especially on the resignation offer, what should they do? >> that is, i mean, everybody at the end of the day, you have to make whatever decision is best for you and your family. what i advise people's to not make that decision until you have done a benefits checkup, until you understand what specifically you are putting at risk if you take the offer the agency reneges or changes its mind, because you will not be

able to withdraw that resignation. so i think if you are in a place where the offer does not work out and you have to leave the government soon anyways, regardless, then perhaps you are not out of pocket much. but if you are in a place we need that job and you need those benefits, you have to be very careful. it is so unclear. >> what do you think the purpose is of all of this? >> to get folks to leave the government. i don't think there is much care as to whether or not the government is going to be able to deliver on that process. i think it is an end run around reduction of force. and i think it is a way to not just intimidate the federal workforce but it is a chilling effect. it's performative. it is a pressure tactic, it is coercive in my mind. i think the government, pardon me, i think opm is trying to give information to suggest it is not coercive but every time you get new information, it raises more questions. >> unprecedented.

thank you so much for talking to us. >> thank you. >> fusing cooking, chemistry and comedy, alton brown has made a name for himself. his creative eye and wit captivated audiences. now he brings that same humor to the page in his new book "food for thought," a collection of personal essays. geoff bennett spoke with him earlier this week. >> welcome to the news hour. >> thanks for having me on. >> you had such unique journey, starting from your beginnings and television as a cinematographer for music videos. when did you discover that food was your true calling? >> i don't think food was ever my true calling but telling stories about food was a calling. and i think it happened right when, early 1990's, probably

around 1992, when i started thinking more about food when i was actually on set shooting tv commercials. i was thinking about cooking. that was a little backwards. so maybe i need to spend more time with this. >> we were talking and you said the process of writing this book, you did not intend to do it. and you started writing and things fell out onto the page. >> at least half of this book is what i'm going to call memoir. i'm talking about myself. in certain ways. and i did not expect that you come tumbling out the way that it did. i've lived my life without a rearview mirror. i do not think a lot about the past, but apparently that is not true. i think about it plenti. -- plenty. anything that was for my childhood, some of which i thought was funny, that stuff came out and i was very surprised. >> let's talk about the past,

namely good eats. >that show really revolutionized through television a mix of history of science and entertainment. how did you settle on that format, and did you know at the time that its impact would be as enduring? >> oh, like most people that are doing something strictly for themselves, which i was in that case, i had no idea that it was going to have any impact at all. when i first started thinking about the show and making that show, i had no intention of posting it. i was going to direct it. i literally wrote on a notepad, julia child, mr. wizard, monty python, if i can get but those three things into a show, it would be the kind of food show i would want to watch. at the time, i did not realize that i could do it. that was the mission statement. >> what you make of the evolution of food as entertainment since then, on tv but nowadays on social media? >> well, everything has changed. more than i ever could have

fathomed. at the time, that i started good eats, if you want to the recipes you had to send a self-addressed stamped envelope into this place in ipswich, new york. there was no internet. we were on dial up. i think that food's role in society and in culture has amplified, which is greatly due to the food network but also proliferated and mutated in a way that concerns me. as someone who has spent most of my professional life trying to teach people how to cook. i think that food has moved into a lot of spaces that probably it should not be in. we look at it more than we think about it. we fetishize it. i worry about food and i worry about cooking. i never would've seen this coming. >> you have emphasize the signs. what is a common misconception that still frustrates you? >> there are so many kind of

myths that are held about food. for instance, i still hear people talking about seering meat seals in juices. it does not! it does not do anything remotely like that. >> what does it do? >> it adds flavor. if you seer a piece of meat, and you let it sit, guess what, it has lost weight? liquid comes out. it is worth doing. but it does not seal in flavor. that is a wonderful trope and a beautiful idea. >> if you could teach home cooks one fundamental technique, what would it be? >> read the recipe. how to actually read the recipe, which people have lost that ability is one of the things i blame tiktok for. we have forgotten how to interact with this piece of instructional writing. my thing is you sit down and you read it like you read a short story. and then you read it again.

while taking notes about it. do i have these ingredients? do i know what this word means? does anything need to marinate? to do; t -- do that, without touching the food. learning how to read a rep is a p is the single biggest upgrade, any beginning or even middle skill cook can do to enhance their skill set. >> what is a tool that every home cook should have? >> a good kitchen table. if you do not have a good table, nothing that you do in their matters. it is where the people come together to share the food. it should be the center of the entire house in my opinion. >> you've taken your culinary mastery to the stage doing live events all across the country. what do you enjoy about that? >> i love performing in front of live audiences. and i think that live performing now more than ever, live events are really critical. we do not have a lot of society. i do not think we have a lot of places where we get together anymore. we don't sit down and eat with

strangers very much. going into the theater, and having a bunch of people sit down to watch a performance i think is really special and badly needed. for me, some of -- somebody who spent most of his time in television, it is like this massive energy source that gives you back what the camera takes away, which is really lovely. >> you said in the book that you are fortunate to have a loyal and passionate fan base and then when you interact with folks inevitably they asked the same five questions. >> you may ask me the five questions. sure. >> what foods do you always keep in your refrigerator? >> this answer changes constantly. i usually say 12 different kinds of mustard, four containers of olives, butter and 12 leftover containers of take-out chinese food and the only thing i can recognize is the heartgard pills for our dogs. >> what is your guilty pleasure?

>> i talk about my problem with little debbie nutty bars. which is a junkie snack food. it is wafers with peanut butter cream in between coated, they say it's chocolate, chocolate does not feel like that. it is closer to something -- to something you would make candles out of. this goes back to childhood, there is a way to disassemble the bar. the way you have to move the pieces off and the lord that you have to eat them, makes oreos simple by comparison. i do not get them very often. but i am mouthwatering thinking about them. >> what is your least favorite thing to cook? >> hardshell blue crabs. because it is too much work for almost no return of satisfaction. softshell is a whole different thing. my least favorite food to cook, because not only do i not like doing it, i do not like eating it. i can make great crabcakes. >> what food he refused to eat? >> octopus. i used to do work for the

monterey bay aquarium out of california peer and i would do lectures and things and i would get to -- i'll make this short. i used to visit this octopus a lot. a giant pacific octopus. the first time that i met him, i was playing with him in his enclosure. he stole my pen out of my pocket. they taste with their tentacles and they recognize things with their tentacles. in the story which i tell, i came back eight months later he was getting very old. and they were going to take them off of display because he they have very short lives, but he touched my hand with one tentacle and with another tentacle reached out for my pen. he remembered. he tasted and he remembered me. friends don't eat friends. >> what would your last meal request be? >> my last meal request would be, i say the book, mike wife -- my wife is a fantastic cook, she will pick some things from the yard. and it's like the best thing of ever had. one of her soups would be my

last meal with a good scotch and a nice cigar. >> there you go. the book is "food for thought." >> thank you for having me on. i'm glad you enjoyed the book. >> and that is the news hour for tonight. on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line's journey, travelers experience the maritime heritage and culture of the maine coast and new england islands. our fleet of small cruise ships explore american landscapes, see side villages, and historic harbors where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs news hour.

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here is what is coming up. >> i have no guarantees that the piece is going to hold. >> trump and