♪ geoff: cody and i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i am amna nawaz. >> you don't have the cards right now. amna: ukrainian president zelenskyy spars with president

trump in the oval office. a stunning public display of devolving relations over u.s. efforts to negotiate an end to the war that russia started. geoff: the trump administration flashes more government jobs including weather forecasters as judges put a halt to some of the mass firings but not all. amna: david brooks and jonathan capehart give their analysis on another turbulent week in the nation's capital. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- friends of the news hour including jim and nancy bildner and the robert and virginia shiller foundation. the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad.

>> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style all with cunard's white star service. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

and friends of the "news hour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs nation from viewers like you. thank you. amna: an extraordinary scene in the oval office today as president donald trump made a public break with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. geoff: the presidents as well as the vice president argued for nearly five minutes with the cameras rolling, a spectacle that could have profound effects on ukraine and the u.s. relationship with europe. here's nick schifrin. >> in the oval office today, an unprecedented unmitigated train wreck. >> the path to peace and prosperity is may be in diplomacy. >> can i ask you? >> what follows is the majority

of the war of words over a country at war beginning with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy doubting any diplomacy with vladimir putin. >> he broke the cease-fire, he killed our people and didn't exchange prisoners. we signed the exchange of prisoners but he didn't do it. what kind of diplomacy you are speaking about? what you mean? >> i'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country. with respect, i think it's disrespectful for you to come into the oval office and try to litigate this in front of the american media. you are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. >> and have you ever been to ukraine that you say what problems we have? come once. >> i have actually watched and seen the stories and i know what happens is you bring people in a propaganda tour. you can disagree -- you -- do

you disagree that you have had problems? it's disrespectful to attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country. >> a lot of questions. let's start from the beginning. first of all, during the war everybody has problems. even you. but you have nice ocean. and don't feel now, but you will feel it in the future. >> you don't know that. >> god less. >> don't tell us what we are going to feel. we are trying to solve a problem. tell us what you're going to feel. you are in no position to dictate what we are going to feel. you have allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. >> from the very beginning of the war -- >> you don't have the cards right now. >> we are not playing cards. >> you are gambling with the

lives of millions of people. you are gambling with world war iii. and what you're doing is very disrespectful to this country that has backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have. >> have you said thank you once this entire meeting? >> a lot of times. >> he went to pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in october. offer some words of appreciation for the united states of america and the president who's trying to save your country. >> please. you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war -- >> he's not speaking loudly. your country is in big trouble. we gave your stupid president $350 billion and your men are brave but they had to use our military. if you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have

been over in two weeks. >> in three days, i heard it from putin. >> it's going to be a very hard to do business like this. you have to be thankful. you don't have the cards. your people are dying. you are running low on soldiers. it's going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change. your people are very brave but you either have to make a deal or we are out. >> after the meeting, trump wrote on truth social, i have determined that president zelenskyy is not ready for peace if america is involved. he disrespected the united states of america and its cherished oval office. zelenskyy and the ukrainian delegation left without the economic deal he came here to side -- sign. moscow responded with glee. tweeting, the insolent pig

finally got a proper slap down in the oval office and donald trump is right. kyiv regime is gambling with world war iii. for weeks, leaders have been trying to prevent a break between u.s. and ukraine. trump suggested yesterday ukraine could gain back occupied territory. >> we will see if we can get it back for ukraine. >> but what a difference a day makes. >> you are not acting thankful and that's not a nice thing. >> europe rallied to zelenskyy's defense. ursula von der leyen wrote, your dignity honors the bravery of the ukrainian people. the uk's top diplomat wrote, it's clear the free world needs a new leader. french president emmanuel macron. >> we have to thank all those who have helped and respect all those who from the beginning have done the fighting because they are fighting for their

dignity, independence, children and the security of europe. >> complete, utter disaster. >> at the white house, lindsey graham said diplomacy with zelenskyy was all but dead. >> i talked to him this morning, do not take the bait. what i saw in the oval office was disrespectful and i don't know if we can ever do business with zelenskyy again. >> president trump repeated the message saying that zelenskyy wanted to come back to the white house tonight but that the president was leaving for mar-a-lago. present said to restart u.s.-ukrainian talks, zelenskyy would have to say i don't want to fight a war any longer. right now it's not clear how or if u.s. support for ukraine will continue. geoff: what are european leaders telling you about how they are viewing all of this?

>> multiple officials said this feels like a fundamental transatlantic break. all of them came to zelenskyy's defense tonight. today's meeting came after vance and pete hegseth made it clear it was not the trump administration's priority to defend europe. so the incoming german chancellor is saying that europe needs strategic independence from the u.s. and over the next week europe will drop its own security guarantees for ukraine and send more financing and equipment to ukraine directly. european officials have said this in the past but they seem to mean that more than ever. we know nothing can replace u.s. military support for ukraine. geoff: nick schifrin at the white house. amna: some of the president's staunchest allies stood behind his actions in the oval office today but ukraine supporters within the republican party have

expressed concerns about how the meeting played out. joining me to discuss is republican congressman mike lawler. you said in a statement after the meeting that it was a missed opportunity for both countries. what did you mean by that? >> this was a inflection point certainly today and an opportunity for greater economic cooperation between united states and ukraine and ultimately with that would have come greater security cooperation because you would have had u.s. investment on the ground moving forward. you would have had u.s. personnel there and ultimately once a cease-fire agreement reached it would have been extremely difficult for vladimir putin to go back on that. we can still salvage this and it needs to be salvaged because obviously failure here would be

catastrophic for europe and the free world. if vladimir putin is successful and does in fact ultimately seize control of ukraine, that would have devastating consequence for years to come, but especially for eastern europe. from my vantage point, this was a missed opportunity. diplomacy is tough and sometimes there's going to be tension and disagreement and the sausage making is ugly. this was just unfortunate that it spilled out into public view as they work through some of the disagreements. amna: for it to play out so publicly and on live television, many of the russians were very happy, expressing real pleasure after that incident. why are they so happy? what message did they receive? >> because a deal wasn't

reached. a deal between the u.s. and ukraine is certainly not in russia's best interest and so the only winner here today was vladimir putin and russia because a deal did not come to be which is also why i believe it's critically important for president zelenskyy and president trump to get back together and work towards finalizing an agreement. because when this conflict does come to an end to end and it will at some point, when it comes to an end, ukraine is going to need significant u.s. and european investment to rebuild. in this agreement starts to put that framework together. that is vital to ensure their structural sovereignty moving forward. amna: you seem to be saying we are further away from a deal now than we were before the meeting. president trump repeated this false claim in that meeting he said other places about the amount of aid that has been

given to ukraine by the u.s., we have heard him repeat the russian propaganda that ukraine started the war. are you concerned that u.s. policy is now being based on disinformation and how does that get you back to a deal? >> i have been very clear that vladimir putin invaded ukraine. this was an unprovoked war of aggression by putin. amna: that's not what president trump has been saying. >> respectfully, who has committed numerous war crimes throughout. what president trump is seeking to do is ultimately reach a cease-fire and bring this conflict to an end. i think it's very clear that the longer this conflict continues, more precarious place that ukraine is in. getting putin to the table is no small task and obviously given

the last three years and the lack of communication with the united states and many of our allies, getting him to the table is paramount if you're going to get an actual cease-fire and a long-term agreement. i think that is president trump subjective -- trump's objective. while supporting ukraine economically and having an agreement that is in both our nation's interests. this is not easy in terms of both the diplomatic effort but also obviously ending a conflict in which you are dealing with vladimir putin who has proven himself to be a vile dictator and thug for decades. there's a lot of work ahead and i think it is imperative that we get president zelenskyy back to

the table with president trump and finalize this agreement. amna: republican congressman mike lawler, thank you for being with us. geoff: turning to one of the countries leading historians on eastern europe and the former soviet union who has written widely on ukraine, russia and this war. timothy snyder is professor of history at yale university. from your perspective as one who has written extensively on ukraine and that's -- and its struggle for independence, what did you see in that spectacle in the oval office earlier today? >> what you see is the president of the united states has a little bit of trouble controlling political reality once he gets beyond the united states. the premise was that we are working towards a peace arrangement between russia and

ukraine, but thus far all we have done is make concessions to russia. that's all we've done. the second thing we have done now is we have brought the ukrainian president to the white house and tried to humiliate him. we have favored the aggressor and weakened the defender. you can't really get to piece on that logic. you have to do exactly the opposite. there's a lot of wisdom in what representative lawler just said. in order to have the right people at the table, you have to have the right ellen's of strength and encouraging the aggressor and attacking the country trying to defend itself is not going to get you there. geoff: the white house put out a press release with the subject line, president trump m.v.p. events are standing up for americans. to hear white house officials tell it, they got what they wanted from this meeting and trump and vance castigating zelenskyy is what it looks like

to stand up for american interests. how do you see it? >> i think you are setting a pretty low bar for yourself when you think that yelling across the room at your guest is a show of strength regardless of whether it's the oval office or not and you are setting the low bar for yourself internationally if you think doing things that please countries that wish to destroy you is a show of strength which is of course what just happened. strategically what the united states is doing is trading a set of western alliances for an alliance with russia. the main ways russia engages with us is stealing our technology and hacking our infrastructure. the russian economy is smaller than canada's but we are going to trade 80 years of alliance with valuable partners that are 16 times bigger than russia as an economy for an alliance with russia.

there is no way that is a show of strength in any other than perhaps some kind of distant psychological way i can't really understand. geoff: we saw european leaders today side with ukraine. european leaders are coming up now with security guarantees. what are the real world implications for the u.s. if europe no longer sees us as a reliable partner? >> there's is a sort of mood here that is very important to understand. in domestic politics, trump has gone a long way by bullying people and loving. when it comes to our allies, that only works negatively. they just draw the conclusion that we can't be trusted. when it comes to our enemies like russia and china, it doesn't work at all. it simply has no effect on them because they are not afraid of trump. they have no reason to be afraid of him until he can marshal some

kind of american policy instrument. which he doesn't seem to be able to do with respect to them. the level of american strength is incomparably lower than it was in late 2024 and it's hard to imagine how we would get that level of strength backup because it's very easy to break relationships, but it's very hard to build them back up again and it's very easy to fantasize about a wonderful relationship with a country like russia and very hard to imagine in fact how that could benefit the united states as a whole. geoff: after the meeting, president trump posted that zelenskyy can come back when he's ready for peace. president told reporters i want anybody that's going to make peace. is it possible that cooler heads could prevail and trump and zelenskyy could arrive at some sort of agreement or is the damage done?

>> there was something important about what representative lawler said. the only way you can get to peace is to have ukraine at the table because they are the country being attacked. you have to create a situation in which the ukrainians believe that russia might in fact stop killing them. that can be done. american power could be applied. we could change the structure of the situation such that russia wouldn't just pretend which they have done numerous times already. as president zelenskyy quite rightly said to jd vance, who doesn't know his history. we could do that and it would be the right thing to do and it's not unimaginable. i'm afraid what it requires is that the leadership of our country get away from these very predictable psychological vulnerabilities where we can be

goaded on and prodded and provoked by one another or the russians or whatever it might be into doing things that don't make sense for us let alone the world at whole. what we saw today was a lot of psychological vulnerability, people not able to maintain any kind of boys who were representing their momentary impulses or their feelings of strength rather than the interests of the united states of america. it's easy to criticize other countries and other people but we are going to have to have a much better game to bring about peace. geoff: a final question about zelenskyy's role and responsibility in all this. lindsey graham said he told zelenskyy not to take the bait. president zelenskyy is a wartime leader who clearly did not take kindly to being lectured and lied to in the oval office. what responsibility does he have to make sure future meetings don't go off the rails?

donald trump is a known quantity. it's clear to many people what angers him and what animates him. >> a deal that is the result of being intimidated and the president public -- publicly humiliated can't be in the best interests of the people. if we are leading by openly humiliating him, that is a bad sign which otherwise leader can't fail to recognize. geoff: thanks for joining us this evening. >> i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy. here are the latest headlines. the first phase of the fragile cease-fire deal between israel and hamas is set to expire tomorrow. an israeli delegation returned from cairo today.

egyptian security sources are cited as saying that israel is pushing to extend the first phase of the deal. hamas said today it is ready to move on to the second stage which would entail negotiating a permanent end to the war. in the meantime in israel. mourners gathered at a stadium for the memorial ceremony of hostage -- whose remains were returned this week along with three others. and in gaza, palestinians prepared for the islamic holy month of ramadan even as their homes and communities lie in ruins. in this country, a jury in illinois found a 73-year-old landlord guilty of murder and hate crimes today for killing a palestinian-american boy and seriously injuring his mother. the mother testified that joseph czuba attacked her with a knife before stabbing her six-year-old

son wadee alfayoumi to death in another room. he attacked them because they are muslim and in response to the israel hamas war. pope francis suffered an isolated breathing crisis this afternoon. the vatican set of bronchial spasms led to an episode of vomiting with inhalation and sudden worsening of the respiratory condition. the scare required the use of supplemental oxygen. doctors say the pope responded well and remained conscious throughout. today's setback came after relatively upbeat days for the pontiff. the vatican has already made for alternative plans for ash wednesday next week. a so-called economic blackout called for today has been getting plenty of attention online, but the impact is still unclear. >> we spend money and make people rich without even realizing we are doing it.

>> to missed group the people's union called on americans not to spend for 20 four hours as a way to protest the influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties. one resident is tired of corporate greed. >> i'm not spending any money at all. they're still receiving our money. they won't actually listen to us until we stop giving them our money. >> experts say it is unclear whether today's economic blackout will have much influence on the companies it targets. the internet calling service skype is shutting down. microsoft is directing users to the company's teams service instead. skype launched in 2003 and quickly became the go to for audio and video calls worldwide. when microsoft bought it in 2011, it had 170 million users

each month. the rise of smartphones and competition have cut its market share. skype will officially go out of service on may 5. space lovers and amateurs alike, tonight is the best chance to get a glimpse of what is known as a planetary parade, a rare event where seven planets all share the night sky. many of them visible to the naked eye. they will align in an arc to the south before mercury and saturn drop below the horizon. the phenomenon won't happen again for at least a decade. you'll want to find a place with a clear sky and limited light pollution. two planets will be visible without binoculars or a telescope. the national weather service faces drastic cuts from the trump administration. david rooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the weeks

political headlines and oscar nominee fernanda torres on her role in the brazilian film, i am still here. >> this is the pbs news hour from weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the trump administration continues to hollow out the federal workforce and more cuts are in the forecast despite courts largely siding with fired employees so far. let's start with the latest mass firings. now including the national weather service. >> we have seen firings that include the national weather service forecasters. some 1200 new firings just in the past few days including

forecasters. also at least a 1000 to 5000 firings at the irs across the last week. the current total, i have looked at every known mass firing. i have 30,000 plus people have been fired. geoff: 30,000 people? >> at least. that does not include 7000 people at the social security administration. we have heard from them that they intend to fire those people. that's not even in that total. this is part of elon musk and president trump saying government needs to be downsized. what they are doing here is haphazardly targeting very wide groups of workers without clear reviews and it is leading to some protests around the country. this video was sent to me by a fired worker in west virginia they had a protest today.

so you hear them saying, vote them out. in that crowd, trump supporters who have been fired. one person told me they were denied unemployment after being fired from treasury because they were fired supposedly for because even though they had high-performance records. geoff: elon musk's doge group is trying to find new ways to fire workers. >> there will be another email asking federal workers what did you know -- what did you do last week. on monday workers will get an email saying within 48 hours they must respond next week on what they did this week. there was mass confusion last time this happened. it's not clear if this email will lead to firings for people who don't return it but that is happening next week. the department of education, an agency trump has said he wants

to set -- shut down sent out a buyout offer offering employees $25,000 to leave their jobs. they warned if they don't there will be mass firings. if you read the fine print, they said if you take this office, you cannot work for the federal government for five years. one worker who would otherwise consider it said it looked sketchy to them. geoff: what about the courts? >> this is a district in northern california judge. he gave an opinion that said these mass firings of probationary workers is not lawful, however he's not blocking it yet. employment lawyers say this is a significant development. >> it's really the first time we have seen a court very clearly

say that opm is acting outside of -- there's no authority in the universe that gives opm the authority to direct agencies to fire employees. that determination is critical. amna: trump sees this as executive power. -- >> trump sees this as executive power. geoff: you have talked to people who lost their jobs. what have they told you? >> workers are feeling a lot of things. they see this as bringing down a system that has taken generations to build up of merit based experts across government who really just want to do their job and help america around the world. i talked to usaid workers yesterday as they were taking things out of the office, there was a lot of emotion. the scene i witnessed were people who served around the world, some of them very emotional, some of them angry. you saw a lot of hugs.

others were more better fact -- matter-of-fact about this. i talked to this couple getting ready to get married. they both lost their jobs and say it's a loss for them and the country. >> a lot of people are going to respond to your questions about very widescale policy things, they are going to talk about doge and limits of power but at the end of the day there are people in that building that are crying. very good people trying to do the right thing that were punished for it. that's what's really hard about today. >> workers i'm talking to are kind of tough. they are not whiny people but they feel harassed and hunted. geoff: thank you for this reporting, lisa desjardins. amna: hundreds of staff have and laid off at noah -- noaa.

that includes employees of the national weather service. it also provides crucial data for science and meteorologists. to understand the potential impact, we are joined by science correspondent miles o'brien. the national weather service is one of those things we almost take for granted and there are other ones out there. why is this one so important? >> it is easy for -- to take for granted, almost invisible, but it is truly the backbone of all weather forecasting in this country. it is freely available to all. airlines, first responders, farmers, fishermen all depend on these forecasts. they also issue crucial warnings for hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and tsunamis. there are many services out there that add dells and whistles to this raw data but they would be lost without the

national weather service. a senior meteorologist for one of those private services, my radar. >> any time your phone buzzes with a warning, that comes from the national weather service. people watching the radar nonstop and producing forecasts. it's estimated that the weather service costs taxpayers about 1.4 billion dollars but gives a tsitsipas fold return on investment given how much of the economy is tied to weather forecasts. amna: there already cuts in personnel being made. people posting about a routine weather balloon in alaska not going up. how important is that? >> the weather balloon in alaska seems inconsequential, but it's crucial. it's an important part of the world for the weather. it's where cold air and warm air collided. balloons provide data. they do temperature, humidity

and pressure as they rise up and everything feeds the forecast for the rest of north america. >> imagine going to bed not knowing if a tornado is coming your direction but relying on these warnings from the national weather service. imagine that office is shortstaffed. suddenly warning quality is degraded. that has real-life implications that could be very dire. amna: these firings are all part of the governments's efforts it says to cut bloat. is there bloat to cut at the national weather service? >> sure. it has 122 forecast offices, 13 regional centers, nine national centers all looking at the weather. there's a lot of duplication in all of that. but this is something that cries out for more of a scalpel than a sledgehammer. particularly in this case the

probationary workers, in some cases workers that have a lot of experience and are transitioning to a new job. also importantly young people which are the lifeblood of these organizations are obviously the probationary workers. as you look toward a weather forecasting system that requires fewer people using artificial intelligence and other technology, it's precisely these young people you want to have working for you. amna: science correspondent miles o'brien. thank you. from visits with heads of state to further restrictions on the press corps, we now turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart, david brooks and jonathan capehart. right to see you both. we were both watching everything at the white house today and the meetings between presidents trump and zelenskyy.

i want to play a little bit of the interview we know president zelenskyy gave soon after that meeting. fox news asked him if he thought the public spat served ukraine in any way. here's what he said. >> this is not good for both sides anyway. i'm very open then, but i can't change our ukrainian attitude russia. they are killers for us. this is very clear that americans are the best of our friends. europeans are the best our friends and putin with russia, they are enemies. it doesn't mean that we don't want peace, we just want to recognize the reality. amna: what did you think when you were watching this unfold in the white house and what do you make of the way zelenskyy is talking about it right now? >> i thought the low point for

america on the world stage was the trump putin press conference in helsinki in 2017 when the president of the united states sided with the president of russia against his own national intelligence apparatus. what we saw in the oval office was travesty, horrendous, despicable, there aren't any words to describe what we watched. we saw a vice president who has never been to ukraine lecture a wartime president who was clearly summoned to the white house to humiliate him on the world stage. either on behalf of or for the benefit of vladimir putin in russia. and look, i give president zelenskyy major points for standing up for himself, his nation and his people. he is in there fighting for

america's backing which, i'm sorry, it should not even be in doubt given the stakes involved and who he's trying to protect his people from. amna: from that helsinki meeting to today, what do you make of it? >> i will stick with today. i was nauseated. all my life i have had a certain idea about america. that we are a flawed country but fundamentally a force for good in the world. we defeated soviet union and fascism, we did the marshall plan. we help people live in africa. and we make mistakes. iraq, vietnam. but they are usually mistakes out of stupidity, naivety and arrogance. what i have seen over the last six weeks is the united states behaving vially -- vilely. to a defending western values at

great personal risk to his country. donald trump believes that might makes right. he agrees with vladimir putin. they are birds of a feather and here -- he and vladimir putin together are trying to create a world safe for gangsters where ruthless people can thrive and we saw the product of that yesterday -- today in the oval office. am i feeling grief, am i feeling shock? but i just think of shame. it's a moral injury to see the country you love behaving this way. amna: you heard president lawler who would not criticize the president saying they are further away from a deal. you also heard nick schifrin report that there's a fundamental transatlantic break now. is this the realignment? the u.s. is now closer to russia than its european allies? >> undisputedly yes. the fact that the europeans are always looking -- already

looking at it as a break. they have to do that. they can't depend on the united states now. what happens to the baltic states? what happens to estonia if russia rolls over their border? what happens to poland? what happens if any of the nato countries are attacked by russia after what we just saw? they cannot depend on the united states anymore after more than seven decades. i'm sure the europeans are probably even more in shock than we are at this table and i'm glad you used the word gangster because that was the thing when president trump got into it with president zelenskyy. you don't have any cards. without us, you have no deal. that was gangster rule there. between him and the vice president it also felt like

watching a wrestling match where vance jumps in the ring and taps in the president and they gang up on a man who is literally fighting for the survival of his country. amna: is there a way to get any kind of deal back on track and repair what was clearly broken today? >> i think so. trump is transactional. he will bash people and hate them and then he will do a deal. i just wonder where his values are. he clearly has a thing for vladimir putin. we have had that for eight years and he's not going to lean on him. he's going to side with putin. maybe that's just his leaf system and jd vance has a value system -- belief system and jd vance has a value system which is performance art. it was not the act of a statesman or anyone with the faintest hint of responsibility. to on his president against a man who is 10 times the man he

is frankly. there's a lot to overcome. i think it's got to be in america's interest not to let vladimir putin take over ukraine. surely everybody sees that. i have some hope there is still a possibility for a deal. amna: we heard president trump say this is going to be great television. acknowledged this all unfolded on long -- live television for the entire world to see. for better or worse, this is a president who really understands the power of the media i know we have talked about some of the changes before. he has continued attacks on the press, blocking the aps access to the white house. he took control of the press pool but covers the president full-time. peter baker longtime russia correspondent said it reminded him of the kremlin press pool takeover. i want your takes on where that attack on the press stands and whether we are in much more

sinister territory now. >> i do think we are in more sinister territory because you have to look at what is happening with ap. in light of his lawsuits against cbs, abc, threatening the licenses of other broadcast entities, this is all part of a pattern of roughing up anyone he views as either insufficiently loyal or people who have wronged him and he looks at the press as an entity that has wronged him. but what i would say is it's a lot of inside baseball of that ap is not allowed in the pool which means they can't get into all these places. to me it just says that the white house press corps which already does hard work is going to have to work a little bit harder reporting on an administration that already leaks like a sieve. >> donald trump is everything he can to destroy things that would

restrain his power. that's the attorney general's he fires, the leadership in the military and the press is the potential restraint on his power. he's trying to dismantle the idea of the press. if i could bash the press a little or at least the owner of jonathan's newspaper, we are helping jeff bezos and he says we are not going to have an opinion section in the washington post that does not send, that is just not journalism. i have seen this from entrepreneurs, why would you publish something you disagree with? they don't get it. that's what we do. your loyalty to democracy is higher than one ideology ardent another. the idea that we have a major newspaper that does not publish dissent can't be. amna: thank you both for being here and engaging always.

geoff: the brazilian film i'm still here will be vying this weekend for best international film and best picture and the star, fernanda torres already the winner in the best risk category at the golden globes also competing for an oscar. jeffrey brown talks with her for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> [speaking portuguese] >> in the drama i'm still here, we meet a family living what appears to be a blissful mystic life near the beach in rio de janeiro. but this is 1970's brazil under a military dictatorship and their world is about to be upended by the arrest and disappearance of their husband and father, a former congressman.

fernanda torres plays his wife and mother of their five children. >> i think the essence of this film is endurance. they try to erase this family, to say that they never existed. and this woman with five children, she endured in time. i like to think that literature and cinema are not able to -- not only able to preserve memory but to make this family forever remembered. >> the film is based on the real-life family whose story was told in a memoir by their only son in 2015. long after the end of military rule in 1985 and after the family learned officially what they already knew in reality,

that he had been tortured and murdered the military authorities. his body was never recovered. in the film, we see fernanda torres category fearing and fighting that reality, intent on finding her husband and keeping her family together. >> i think she was a woman raised to be the perfect wife of the 50's and her utopian life is over in a tragic and awful way. and it's a woman that after such a tragedy, in a very difficult time she becomes herself. >> what's really striking in watching you is that so much of the emotion of this character

has to be internal. how do you think about showing the emotion but holding it back? >> i never thought it could you so powerful because normally has a net you want to show how well you can feel, how will you cry and scream. but suddenly you had this character that everything in her was about self-control because she had five children and she could not panic, she could not have like the oscars scene where you cry and scream. and i never thought it could be so powerful. it taught me a lot about acting. >> torres says she learned in part by studying the real woman, watching interviews from throughout her life before she died in 2018. she had another example close by, her mother, who is a legendary figure in brazilian theater and film.

the first and before her daughter only brazilian to receive an oscar nomination for acting. for her performance in the 1998 film, central station by the same director. her mother, now 90 five, appears in i'm still here, playing her daughter's character in the last years of her life. what is the most important acting lesson you learned from your mother? >> many years ago she told me that you cannot play a tragic character and start to cry in the first bad news. when you do a tragic character, you have to swallow and indoor -- enter. i remember that village -- vividly. that's the key. >> far-right groups called for a boycott of the film when it was released in brazil and it a major hit, raising questions

about the country's historic amnesia and the film continuing resident. president jair bolsonaro was charged with plotting a coup to overthrow his loss in the election. what is your sense of how much or how little brazilians have grappled with this painful past? >> it lasted so long and it ended with an economical crisis and also with an arrangement that will would forget what happened and in brazil it was called the amnesty. so brazil never dealt with the crimes that happened during the dictatorship and we thought it was all over. but now when the film was being released, we just discovered that there was a real attempt of a military coup d'etat in brazil. >> the director said films like

i'm still here can serve as instruments against forgetting. >> because it has happened with this film and this book and suddenly this film in brazil became a phenomenon of people from all kinds of beliefs. they all started to go to the movie theater and talk about the readership and this is not right to kill a family like this, as it's the story of a family, everyone can relate to that. if you are young to the young children. if you are a mother to my character. if you are a character -- if you are father. so something very special happened with this movie. >> it's got to be very fulfilling to you personally. it can't happen very often in the life of an actor. >> this is a very special moment. in brazil with the oscars and

the fact that my mother was nominated and now me. in a way we put in the place that brazil normally dedicates to the soccer teams. >> you are bigger than soccer in brazil right now? that's big. >> that's big. we are facing difficulties so all the passion was put in this movie and this character and this family. it's very touching. >> fernanda torres and the film i'm still here compete for oscars this sunday night. i'm jeffrey brown. geoff: for more coverage of all the oscar-nominated movies as well as the actors and directors who made them, check out pbs.org/news hour and don't forget to tune into washington week and pbs news weekend tomorrow.

and that is the news for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "news hour" including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. >> it really matters when you have an opportunity to give back. >> being able to integrate your career with some of these other things that are important to you. >> this is our community, too.

>> people want these opportunities to make an impact and a difference. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "news hour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and the contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> this is pbs news hour west

from weta in washington and the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ ♪

frank: it was an extraordinary oval office meeting, unlike anything we've ever seen. pres. trump: you got to be more thankful, because let me tell you, you don't have the cards. you're gambling with the lives of millions of people. you're gambling with world war iii.