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  • AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

  • I'm Amna Nawaz.

  • Geoff Bennett is away.

  • On the "NewsHour" tonight: President Biden pushes back at the special counsel's comments

  • on his mental fitness that the White House calls gratuitous.

  • A climate scientist's million dollar legal victory shines a light on conservatives' attacks

  • on science.

  • And the father of a Palestinian-American teenager killed in the West Bank remembers his son.

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR, Father of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar: My son was full of life, 17 years

  • old, always happy and smart, never say anything to hurt anybody's feeling.

  • He had dreams.

  • They took all that away from him.

  • (BREAK)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

  • On Thursday, special counsel Robert Hur's report concluded that no criminal charges

  • were warranted against President Biden for his handling of classified documents.

  • However, the report made several references to President Biden's age and called his memory

  • into question.

  • The president shot back last night.

  • JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man,

  • and I know what the hell I'm doing.

  • I have been president.

  • I put this country back on its feet.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has been following all this and

  • joins me now.

  • Laura, the president spoke directly to the nation last night about this report in a very

  • heated press conference.

  • Why?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Sources inside the White House told me that the president felt compelled

  • to respond, that he wanted to highlight that there were no charges, remind people of that,

  • and point out the differences between the way he handled his classified documents and

  • the way former President Donald Trump handled the classified documents, basically that he

  • cooperated and immediately gave them back.

  • Former President Trump didn't.

  • They also wanted to dispute what they called editorializing about his memory and age.

  • And they thought that it would be a good time for him to take questions.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: And he's not being criminally charged.

  • So what did the president highlight from the report, and what's the White House challenging

  • in there?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Specifically, the president wanted to talk about the parts of the report

  • where Robert Hur, the special counsel, said that he did not willfully retain classified

  • documents, talking about classified Afghanistan documents, as well as others, and that they

  • felt as though there was no real evidence to say that the president intentionally did

  • this.

  • He also got emotional about the parts of the report that had to do with his son Beau Biden,

  • specifically that the report said that the president did not remember, even within several

  • years, when his son Beau died.

  • And so the White House was really angered by that.

  • The president was angered by that.

  • And you saw that in his remarks.

  • The White House basically universally felt, everyone in there, the White House official

  • that I spoke to told me, that the special counsel -- they felt as though the special

  • counsel was performing for -- quote -- "MAGA Republicans," and that it was time for the

  • president to respond to that.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: A very strong emotional response from the president on that.

  • Well, the White House did continue to respond today, and they're announcing a task force,

  • right?

  • What will that do?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, this task force is going to review the presidential transition

  • process and specifically how classified documents are handled during that transition.

  • Transitions can get messy.

  • They can get speedy.

  • People can make mistakes.

  • And so Biden is going to appoint a senior government official to oversee that new task

  • force that will make recommendations.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: And what about from the wider Democratic Party?

  • What's been the response among them?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Democrats were quick to point out that the mental fitness and misspeaking

  • is not just a President Biden problem, that it is something that is also a problem for

  • former President Donald Trump, who has frequently mixed up foreign leaders.

  • DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate:

  • Viktor Orban, did anyone ever hear of him?

  • He's probably like one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world.

  • And he is the leader of -- right?

  • He's the leader of Turkey, fronts on both Russia.

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So Viktor Orban is not the leader of Turkey.

  • He is the leader of Hungary.

  • And President Trump has also frequently mixed up Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi.

  • Overall, Amna, Democrats are really upset about this report.

  • I spoke to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell from the swing state of Michigan, who said that

  • she was so upset that she wanted to share with me this personal detail that the President

  • Biden always checks in with her this week every year, because it's the anniversary of

  • her husband's death.

  • She now occupies his seat in Congress.

  • And it's also very close to Beau Biden's birthday.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: This is an issue that has been plaguing the president, will likely continue

  • to plague him through his reelection campaign.

  • How is this impacting or resonating among voters?

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, Democrats admit that this is going to be something they have to

  • confront head on.

  • I spoke to Jim Messina, who ran former President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, and he said

  • that voters need to see more of Biden.

  • JIM MESSINA, Former Obama White House Deputy Chief of Staff: Americans are going to have

  • questions about this.

  • Age is an issue for both candidates.

  • And part of how you address it, as a former presidential campaign manager, my advice to

  • them is always, transparency is important here.

  • People need to see the president doing his job.

  • Where Joe Biden is the best is talking to average Americans.

  • And the more he can do that, the better off he is.

  • And I think some of the problem has been, it's always these kind of scripted moments

  • or these sort of White House moments.

  • And voters want to see him out with them talking about these things.

  • And I think the campaign's got to do more of that.

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But I also spoke to a Democratic state party chair who told me that,

  • every time that they knock on doors to talk to voters, voters ask them questions like,

  • why didn't Joe Biden retire and pass the torch to the younger generation?

  • So, across the board, the Democrats that I spoke to said that the campaign, that they

  • themselves need to take it on, take it head on, the president's age.

  • And when they take that head on, they tend to pivot to, with age comes experience, Amna.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you, as always.

  • LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to

  • develop plans to evacuate Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza.

  • Its pre-October 7 population was 100,000.

  • Today, Gazans from all over the strip have filled tent cities there.

  • More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled to Rafah.

  • And even before today's order, Israel has been maintaining pressure on Rafah, launching

  • dozens of airstrikes.

  • At the same time, there's progress on talks that would pause the fighting.

  • Nick Schifrin is here with more on that.

  • Nick, you have new details on the hostage negotiations.

  • What do we know?

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: A U.S. official tonight confirms to me that Bill Burns, the director of the

  • CIA, will head to Cairo soon to participate in another round of negotiations over a hostage

  • deal.

  • And he has been the crucial U.S. official leading those negotiations.

  • And as a reminder of how we got here, two weeks ago, Israel agreed to a plan negotiated

  • by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to an initial six-week pause that would be extended in three

  • phases of hostage releases.

  • Hamas' counterproposal this week required an Israeli withdrawal first from cities, then

  • all of Gaza.

  • Israel interpreted that counterproposal as Hamas remaining in power after the war.

  • But U.S. officials tell me that, while that was going on, there's been progress in those

  • negotiations just in the last few days, despite Netanyahu's public statements.

  • Remember, he called Hamas' counterproposal -- quote -- "delusional," and of course, what

  • you mentioned at the top of this, threatening to expand the war into Rafah.

  • So Burns is hoping to maintain that progress that officials tell me has been made in the

  • last few days, but also keep pressure on Netanyahu to take these negotiations seriously.

  • The question for Netanyahu is, will he allow his spy chief, David Barnea, the head of Mossad,

  • who's been leading the Israeli negotiations -- you see him there -- to go to Cairo to

  • keep the negotiations going?

  • And this is crucial, Amna, as we have been talking about.

  • The U.S. believes that even a temporary -- even a temporary pause is the key to trying to

  • unlock its broader goals across the region, Gaza reconstruction, Gaza governance after

  • the war, and, of course, the big goals, two-state solution and normalization between Saudi Arabia

  • and Israel.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: As you mentioned, though, Netanyahu is threatening to expand the war, not pause

  • it, let alone stop it.

  • So, how difficult is that going to be in a place like Rafah?

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: Extremely difficult.

  • As you pointed out, more than a million people are living in Rafah.

  • That is 10 times the pre-October 7 population.

  • And U.S. officials insist that Israel does not have any military plans ready for Rafah,

  • let alone any plans to deal with all of those civilians, as deputy State Department Spokesman

  • Vedant Patel said yesterday.

  • VEDANT PATEL, Principal Deputy State Department Spokesperson: We have yet to see any evidence

  • of serious planning for such an operation.

  • And to do -- conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in

  • an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: You can actually see Patel referring to his notes.

  • So they had planned to make that statement before the briefing.

  • And that's a shift for the administration.

  • It does not usually warn Israel not to conduct an operation that it has not yet launched.

  • And that's what we saw from multiple U.S. officials.

  • Yesterday.

  • We also heard President Biden last night -- last night making his most pointed critique of

  • how Israel has launched this war.

  • JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: The conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip

  • has been over the top.

  • Initially, the president of Mexico, El-Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow

  • humanitarian material to get in.

  • I talked to him.

  • I convinced him to open the gate.

  • Innocent people, innocent women and children were also in badly need of help.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: Part of that sound bite, of course, was President Biden mixing El-Sisi

  • for AMLO, the president of Mexico, for the president of Egypt.

  • But the fact is that U.S. officials believe Netanyahu is serious about going into Rafah,

  • and they really wanted to make the point that it was a bad idea.

  • But they also make the point that Netanyahu behind the scenes is negotiating, is making

  • progress for that pause in Gaza to release the hostages.

  • And so they say there is some bluster in what Netanyahu is doing, because he is trying to

  • maintain his coalition that includes far right politicians who have threatened to leave the

  • coalition, bring down the government if he presses pause on the war.

  • So, the question, of course, Amna, that we have tonight, is, will Netanyahu try and achieve

  • his military goals in the coming days or weeks, or will he embrace the possibility that this

  • war could at least pause?

  • And, of course, that is what the U.S. wants to open up those larger negotiations across

  • the region.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: We will see where those negotiations lead.

  • Nick Schifrin with the very latest.

  • Thank you, Nick.

  • NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: President Biden huddled with Germany's Chancellor

  • Olaf Scholz on getting new military aid to Ukraine.

  • The president said it will be -- quote -- "close to criminal neglect" if Congress fails to

  • act.

  • Scholz said U.S. and European support is vital to let Ukraine defend itself against Russia.

  • The Senate is now working on a $95 billion package for Ukraine and Israel after Republicans

  • blocked a separate bill this week.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the U.S. today to get Ukraine to agree to peace

  • talks.

  • He spoke in an interview with former FOX host Tucker Carlson that aired last night on the

  • Tucker Carlson Network Web site.

  • Putin also suggested a possible prisoner swap for Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal

  • reporter jailed in Russia.

  • Putin's remarks were dubbed into English.

  • VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): By the end of the day, it does

  • not make any sense to keep him in prison in Russia.

  • We want the U.S. special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving

  • the goals our special services are pursuing.

  • We are ready to talk.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Gershkovich has been held since last march on espionage charges, which he

  • denies.

  • In Pakistan, independent candidates backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan took a

  • surprisingly strong lead today in elections for Parliament.

  • Khan himself is in prison and banned from running, but allies claimed 95 of the 235

  • seats with most of Thursday's results reported.

  • As the outcome became clear, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reversed course and

  • called for a coalition government.

  • Back in this country, former President Trump is celebrating more election wins as he works

  • to clinch the Republican presidential nomination.

  • He swept all the delegates in last night's GOP caucuses in Nevada as the only major candidate

  • taking part.

  • He's also won caucuses in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

  • Earthquakes shook millions of people across Hawaii and Southern California today.

  • The first struck the Big Island of Hawaii on the southern flank of Mauna Loa.

  • The second hit near Malibu and sent shockwaves across the Los Angeles region.

  • There were no reports of major damage or injuries.

  • On Wall Street, big tech stocks led much of the market higher, but blue chips lagged behind.

  • The Dow Jones industrial average lost 54 points to close at 38671.

  • The Nasdaq rose 197 points or 1 percent.

  • The S&P 500 added 28 and closed above 5000 for the first time.

  • And a passing of note in the arts.

  • Famed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa has died in Tokyo after suffering

  • heart failure.

  • He led the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 29 years until 2002.

  • His animated style captivated crowds, and he broke barriers for East Asian musicians.

  • Here he is in 1975 conducting the Boston Symphony in Mahler's Symphony No. 2.

  • (MUSIC)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Seiji Ozawa was 88 years old.

  • Still to come on the "NewsHour": multiple governors turn down a summer food assistance

  • program, putting millions of children at risk; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in

  • on the week's political headlines; bestselling author Kwame Alexander on his new collection

  • of Black poets' work, poems of hope, heart and heritage; plus much more.

  • A long legal battle ended yesterday, when a jury found that two conservative writers

  • had defamed the prominent climate scientist Michael Mann, awarding him a million dollars

  • in damages.

  • Amid increasing attacks on science, William Brangham looks at what this verdict means.

  • WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, over his long career, Michael Mann has been an influential contributor

  • to climate research, as well as becoming one of the most effective communicators about

  • climate change's impact.

  • But he has also faced considerable backlash.

  • In 2012, a conservative policy analyst compared Mann to a child sex abuser, saying that, instead

  • of molesting children, he molested and tortured data.

  • Another called his work fraudulent.

  • Mann sued them both.

  • And, yesterday, after 12 years, he won his case.

  • We turn now to another prominent scientist who has also endured this kind of vitriol.

  • Dr. Peter Hotez is the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College

  • of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.

  • Dr. Hotez, great to see you again.

  • I know you are in very different fields, but I have to imagine there was a small sense

  • of victory that you must have felt seeing Michael Mann win this defamation case.

  • DR.

  • PETER HOTEZ, Baylor College of Medicine: Well, absolutely.

  • And, remember, the attacks -- now there's somewhat of a convergence of the attacks on

  • climate science with the attacks on biomedicine.

  • And it's -- in some cases, it's coming from the identical forces.

  • I think the message for this week is, remember, the attacks denigrating science and trying

  • to undercut science, both for climate science and biomedicine, is not just about the science.

  • It's now gone the next step to attack the scientists and portray us as public enemies.

  • And that's where it really starts to get dangerous.

  • So, both Michael and I are stalked regularly.

  • We receive threats online, phone calls to the office, sometimes physical confrontations.

  • So it's gone out to that new level.

  • And so I think the reason the court victory is important is it sends a signal that, while

  • it's certainly fine to disagree with the science and express skepticism, it crosses a line

  • when you're attacking scientists and putting us in danger.

  • WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Can I just ask you what that is like?

  • I mean, you spend a career, as Michael Mann did, in a very different field, but you spend

  • a career trying to create medicines to help people and to help humanity, which you have

  • clearly done.

  • And then to be attacked like that and to be -- to worry about threats to your life, I'm

  • just wondering what that is like as a professional.

  • DR.

  • PETER HOTEZ: Well, it can be demoralizing at times.

  • Remember, I did my M.D. and Ph.D. 40 years ago to make vaccines for global health, to

  • make low-cost, affordable vaccines for the world that the big pharma companies wouldn't

  • make.

  • And we have made vaccines for parasitic infections, low-cost COVID vaccines reaching 100 million

  • people or more.

  • And I always considered that something important and meaningful and to make the world better.

  • And so the idea now that you would be attacked for it, first of all, it can be demoralizing.

  • But, second, to actually feel like you're in danger at some level, your family's in

  • danger, that's what's really worrisome.

  • And so I think that's the reason why the court ruling this week is kind of a line in the

  • sand to say, stop.

  • You cannot -- it's fine to disagree, but when you attack scientists, you're affecting not

  • only the scientific field, but sending chilling messages to future generations of scientists

  • that maybe this is not something you want to go into.

  • WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Michael Mann said after this verdict that he hopes that this sends

  • a message that falsely attacking a scientist is not protected speech.

  • Is it your sense that this kind of a victory will serve to blunt that army of people out

  • there who are sniping at you all?

  • DR.

  • PETER HOTEZ: I don't know.

  • Is this a one-off thing, or is it -- will it be more enduring?

  • I think it's too soon to tell.

  • First of all, remember, resorting to the courts is something that's nobody's first choice.

  • Look, in Michael's case, he had to go through 12 years of this.

  • I mean, who wants to do that?

  • I mean, if you gave me the choice, do I want to spend my day developing a new human hookworm

  • vaccine that's looking promising to benefit the hundreds of people who suffer from hookworm

  • anemia on the African continent, Asia, and Latin America, or do I want to make cold calls

  • to plaintiff attorneys, it's no contest, right?

  • I want to be a scientist, and so does Michael.

  • So, this is -- this actually says something else, that we don't have the systems in place

  • right now to protect scientists, and too often we're on our own.

  • And having to find plaintiff attorneys and think about suing people is nobody's first

  • choice, nobody's first option.

  • WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And I have to imagine that a lot of these attacks now that come anonymously,

  • driven by bots, now by A.I., has got to make it even harder to defend yourself.

  • I mean, Michael Mann at least had two people who signed their names to the vitriol they

  • spewed at him.

  • DR.

  • PETER HOTEZ: Yes, it's coming from all sectors.

  • It's coming from foreign actors.

  • We know that there are bots and trolls coming from Putin's Russia.

  • That's really disturbing.

  • In some cases, it's coming anonymously.

  • Often cases, it's coming from bloggers and podcasters who are actually making a living

  • targeting science and scientists.

  • And now it's even gone to the next level.

  • We're actually seeing at least two U.S. senators boasting about how they target scientists,

  • same with some members of Congress from the House Freedom Caucus.

  • And there's a whole system in place at FOX News to amplify this.

  • So, it's -- the point is, there's an entire ecosystem of attacks on science, which I kind

  • of understand, but also the scientists.

  • And when they start portraying us as public enemies, that puts us in danger.

  • WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Dr. Peter Hotez, always good to talk to you.

  • Thank you so much for being here.

  • DR.

  • PETER HOTEZ: Thanks so much.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: A new federal food assistance program is aiming to reduce child hunger by

  • giving low-income families money for summer groceries.

  • But only those who live in certain states will have access to that relief.

  • John Yang explains.

  • JOHN YANG: Many children who qualify for free or reduced school lunches would lose that

  • benefit when the school year ended.

  • But now a new program aims to bridge that gap by giving needy families $40 a month for

  • each child who's eligible while the school is not in session, money to buy food at grocery

  • stores, farmer's markets, or other approved outlets.

  • It's called Summer EBT, for Electronic Benefits Transfer, because the money is electronically

  • loaded onto cards like debit cards; 35 states have signed up for the program, aiding an

  • estimated 21 million children.

  • But 15 other states have said no, excluding about eight million children.

  • Crystal FitzSimons is director of child nutrition programs for the Food Research and Action

  • Center, an advocacy group that works to reduce poverty-related hunger.

  • Crystal, how big a problem is it for needy families to lose that benefit when school's

  • not in session?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS, Food Research and Action Center: Yes, well, so we have millions of

  • families who rely on free and reduced-price school lunch during the school year.

  • And when the school bell rings, they lose access to those meals.

  • And during the summer, we see an increase in food insecurity.

  • We see kids gaining more weight.

  • And there's just a tremendous amount of stress on families when they need to replace those

  • breakfasts and lunches that they could rely on during the school year.

  • So it's a huge hardship.

  • And the summer EBT program, like you said, is just an amazing new opportunity to make

  • sure that kids are not going hungry during the summer.

  • JOHN YANG: Before this program, was there any way for children to get free or reduced-price

  • lunches?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Well, we have the summer meals program, and that will continue.

  • And in a lot of ways, it's an amazing program.

  • Often, it combines activities and enrichment for kids, along with the meals.

  • But it served only a fraction of the kids who relied on free and reduced-price school

  • meals during the school year.

  • And, as a result, we saw food and security go up.

  • So, Summer EBT really is designed to kind of bridge that gap.

  • JOHN YANG: And in the other programs, they'd have to go to a location, rather than have

  • the money go directly to the parents.

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: That's exactly right.

  • So it's great when there is a site in the community, and there's also -- families are

  • going to be able to pick up meals too in rural areas this summer.

  • But Summer EBT really is kind of the easiest way to get resources to families to purchase

  • food.

  • JOHN YANG: The 15 states that opted out of this program, what reasons did they give for

  • doing that?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: So there were a lot of reasons, and they can come into the program

  • in 2025.

  • So the door is open, and we really encourage them to consider it.

  • But it is a relatively new program, and so states are implementing it for the first time

  • this summer.

  • And so some states just needed a little more time.

  • States also have to provide 50 percent of the admin costs.

  • And so it's taking states a little bit more time to figure out where that money is coming

  • from.

  • But we are hopeful that, by 2025, all the states will be in the program.

  • JOHN YANG: Did some governors have philosophical differences with this?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Well, there were a couple of governors who did come out and express

  • concerns about the program, Iowa and Nebraska.

  • But we are hopeful that when they take another look at the program, they will reconsider

  • it, because some of the things that they said, like that it was a pandemic era program, really,

  • that's just not true.

  • We have had an issue with summer hunger since I have started working at FRAC 25 years ago.

  • And it continues every summer when families lose access to those meals.

  • So, hopefully, in 2025, those states will actually take advantage of this tool to make

  • sure that the kids in their state aren't going hungry.

  • JOHN YANG: But, for this summer, there are 15 states that have not -- that opted out.

  • You have millions of children beyond the reach of this program.

  • What are your concerns and worries about those children?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Well, the concern is that food insecurity will go up again in those

  • states during the summer.

  • But we do encourage families to access the summer meals program.

  • Those are still available in those states.

  • And they do provide an important resource for families.

  • JOHN YANG: One of the governors who said no was Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa.

  • She said that, rather than creating a new program with what she said would be a new

  • bureaucracy, she thought the administration should give the state's flexibility under

  • current programs, so they could do this on their own.

  • What do you say to that?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Well, I would say that the Summer EBT program is a program that has

  • been piloted for more than a decade.

  • And the pilots have shown that food insecurity goes down when families have access to it

  • and nutrition goes up.

  • So it's not -- it is technically a new program, in that it is available to all states nationwide

  • this summer, but it has been piloted because we knew that there was a problem during the

  • summer, and Congress did act about 10 to 12 years ago to actually pilot it.

  • And those evaluations just show what an amazing program it is.

  • JOHN YANG: Earlier, you said that, during the summer, children gain weight.

  • Is that because they're eating unhealthily?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: During the summer, kids lose access to free and reduced-price school

  • meals, which do have nutrition standards and do provide some of the healthiest meals that

  • kids are eating.

  • And so, during the summer, kids can be less active.

  • I know a lot of people think that kids are out at the park and we have these visions

  • of what it's like for the summer for kids, but they may be less active.

  • And then, if families are struggling to put food on the table, if you provide more resources

  • to them, then they're likely going to spend it on healthier food too.

  • JOHN YANG: Looking more broadly beyond just children, schoolchildren, where do we stand

  • on food insecurity now in this country for just the general population?

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Yes.

  • Well, so, food insecurity did go up in 2022, the most recent data that we have.

  • It continues to stay with us.

  • And there are a lot of ways to combat it.

  • But one of the easiest ways to combat it is to give families more resources to purchase

  • food.

  • JOHN YANG: Crystal FitzSimons of the Food Research and Action Center, thank you very

  • much.

  • CRYSTAL FITZSIMONS: Great.

  • Thank you for having me.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: The New Orleans community is mourning the loss of a Palestinian-American teenager

  • killed in the West Bank last month; 17-year-old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar is one of the 94 children

  • among the 370 Palestinians killed in clashes on the West Bank since October 7, according

  • to the United Nations.

  • In late January, over 100 cars formed a motorcade in his memory along a New Orleans highway.

  • I spoke with his father, Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, earlier this week from the West Bank, and

  • I asked him what happened to his son.

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR, Father of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar: What I know and what happened is,

  • my son was traveling from one piece of property to another piece of property with a friend.

  • Me -- and with other friends, so they can do a barbecue.

  • And as he was traveling, he was, I think, ambushed by a settler, retired police officer,

  • a soldier.

  • We're not sure.

  • There was three different weapons used.

  • The truck was hit with 10 bullets, four of them, is very clear, to the driver's side,

  • and two of them to the passenger side.

  • But, luckily, and thanks God, the passenger had ducked, and he's 16 years old also.

  • He's an American citizen.

  • And he was traveling towards the village on a dirt road from the mountain.

  • And that's when he was struck and lost control of the car and flipped three times or four

  • times, and it came to stop.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: How did you learn that your son had been killed?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: One of my friends called me and said, your son's truck had flipped

  • on the dirt road.

  • And I said, where?

  • And he told me where.

  • So we rushed over there.

  • And that's how I find my son in the car shot in the head.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Israeli officials say that they have launched an investigation.

  • Are they sharing any of that investigation and the findings with you?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: They have not shared anything with me personally, no.

  • They said they did, but they have not shared.

  • They know who did it.

  • They said, they have made comments to me that they know who did it, but he's not under arrest

  • until they finish their investigation.

  • I'm not sure why.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Do you trust the results of the investigation when they will be complete?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: I cannot trust them, no.

  • I won't trust anything that they do.

  • I hope my government can step in and do their own investigation, so we can come to conclusion

  • who shot my son.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: When you say your government, you're referring to the American government;

  • is that right?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: Yes, ma'am.

  • I'm an American citizen, been there since 1996.

  • Five of my kids was born in the U.S. in Gretna, Louisiana.

  • My wife is an American citizen, so my government is the American.

  • My son was born and raised for 16 years in Gretna, Louisiana.

  • So, I'm seeking help from my government, from my president, to seek justice for Tawfic.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: You moved your family to the West Bank in May of last year.

  • Tell us a little bit about why.

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: Well, I was born here in Palestine in Al Mazra'a Sharqiya about

  • 25 miles away from Jerusalem.

  • My dad was born here.

  • His dad was born here, the whole family.

  • I can go back to 1870, 1880s.

  • And I wanted to bring my kids, so they can spend a little bit of time here.

  • But this is what happened in the first nine months.

  • I have only been here for nine months.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned you're seeking help from the U.S. government.

  • Can you tell us about who you have been in touch with, who has reached out to you or

  • what you have heard from the American government?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: I have just been getting calls from the consulate here.

  • I'm trying to reach to senators, congressmen, trying to put pressure on the Israeli government

  • to allow us to do an investigation to see who did that to my son.

  • All I have seen is just a comment from the White House speaker, I guess.

  • And that was it.

  • I haven't seen anything yet.

  • There's no movement.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Can I ask about your family?

  • I know Tawfic has several siblings as well.

  • How are they doing?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: It's a bit tough for my wife.

  • I have two daughters, 8 and 6 years old.

  • And I have a 12-years-old boy and a 21-years-old boy.

  • It's a bit tough.

  • My 8-years-old, she kept asking me: "I don't understand what happened to him."

  • So I kept telling her what happened.

  • And then the light -- when you're trying to explain to her that he's in heaven, she still

  • says: "I just don't understand.

  • Can you explain it to me?"

  • I don't know the answer to that.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Hafeth, my colleague Roby Chavez has been reporting on your son's death from

  • New Orleans.

  • And he spoke to the vice principal of his school there, who said that Tawfic was larger

  • than life.

  • And he called him a big teddy bear and said that the school was absolutely reeling after

  • his death.

  • What do you want us to know about your son?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: My son was full of life, 17 years old, always happy and smart, never

  • say anything to hurt anybody's feeling, no matter who it is, no matter what color he

  • is, no matter what religion he is.

  • He plays football.

  • He's full of life.

  • He went to Muslim Academy schools.

  • He went to Christian Brother Martin school.

  • He had dreams of engineering.

  • They took all that away from him.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: What does justice look like for you right now?

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: There's no justice.

  • I think we lost human -- humanity.

  • My government, my president, we claim democracy.

  • We claim human rights, and we claim that nothing should be done against humanity.

  • And now our own guns is killing our own children.

  • And my son, it's a big example.

  • And it shouldn't be -- it shouldn't matter if he's American citizen, or he's from Mexico,

  • or he's Latin, or he's Chinese, or he's white, or Jewish, or Muslim, or -- children shouldn't

  • be killed.

  • People shouldn't be killed for no reason, like my son did.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Thank you so much for your time and for joining us and for sharing the memory

  • of your son.

  • Thank you.

  • HAFETH ABDEL JABBAR: Thank you.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: The special counsel's report on President Biden's handling of classified documents

  • draws a spotlight on concerns about his reelection campaign.

  • On that and the other major political stories shaping the week, we turn to the analysis

  • of Brooks and Capehart.

  • That is New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for

  • The Washington Post.

  • Great to see you both.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: Hey, Amna.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: So, special counsel Robert Hur released his report on the president's handling

  • of those classified documents.

  • The investigation, we know, did find some classified documents during their search.

  • This was at President Biden's Delaware home, a tattered box in a garage, among others.

  • But he did conclude the evidence was not sufficient for criminal charges.

  • Jonathan, what was your reaction to that decision and how it's being received?

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, I mean, great the decision not charging the president, terrific.

  • The other thing about the report that was good is that it compared and contrasted President

  • Biden...

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: ... versus what former President Trump did.

  • And that is the thing that I think everyone needs to remember.

  • When classified documents were found at the home and all the other places of President

  • Biden, President Biden and his administration cooperated, gave them back, had authorities

  • do searches.

  • When documents were found or believed to have been at the former president's residences,

  • he stonewalled.

  • He lied about handing them all over.

  • And that's why he was indicted.

  • And so anyone who's trying to conflate the two situations is being disingenuous.

  • So that's what I have to say about that.

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Well, David, we know he did -- the special counsel went to great lengths to say

  • there were several material distinctions between the two cases.

  • Is that resonating with the public?

  • DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I think so.

  • I think people know the Mar-a-Lago case is more serious.

  • But Biden was sloppy.

  • He did share classified material with a ghostwriter, apparently.

  • I think, frankly, it was unattractive of him last night to blame it all on staff.

  • Maybe staff was partially to blame.

  • But I don't think that's what leaders do, that they blame the team.

  • But, nonetheless, as Jonathan said, he cooperated.

  • It was sloppy.

  • He said, let's rectify this.

  • And if Donald Trump, when they came to him about his documents, had said, yes, I cooperate,

  • he probably wouldn't be in the mess he's in.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Well, we also know the special counsel chose to comment on Biden's memory

  • function in that report, saying he had -- quote -- "significant memory problems."

  • He wrote this: "Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview

  • of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

  • Jonathan, what did you make of that inclusion in the report?

  • Does that...

  • (CROSSTALK)

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: ... Amna?

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Your face perhaps says it all.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: So...

  • AMNA NAWAZ: But, please.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: And that wasn't the only place where he talked about the president's

  • age.

  • I thought those reports were supposed to be just the facts.

  • That was gratuitous.

  • A lot of the other ones were gratuitous.

  • We have spent way too much time talking about this president's age.

  • And I will say it again.

  • When Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to ever be in the White House and to run for

  • reelection, I don't recall a lot of people within his own party talking about the fact

  • that we need to get another person, he's too old.

  • And what counsel Hur did was feed lines to Republicans who want to make the president's

  • memory and capabilities and whether he's senile a talking point.

  • It gives them some fodder.

  • But what he's also -- what counsel Hur has also done is given bed-wetting Democrats another

  • reason to complain about the president's age.

  • Meanwhile, they're not focused on the fact that the 82-year-old president of the United

  • States has an incredible record in the three years he's been president.

  • I wish people would focus on that.

  • And the fact that he mixed up the president of Egypt with the president of Mexico, I did

  • the same thing on -- around this table when talking about the governor of Virginia.

  • Remember when I said Governor Northam, and the two of you -- your heads popped off.

  • You're like, who's he talking about?

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Well, the former governor.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: A former governor, but still.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: And, also, to be fair, you are not president of the United States.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: I know, but...

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

  • DAVID BROOKS: Not yet.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: ... one can dream.

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: But let me ask you about this, David, because what you did see, as you both

  • mentioned, President Biden come out in a fiery press conference last night, and he referenced

  • specifically one of the mentions that counsel Hur made about him, his failure to remember

  • when his son Beau died.

  • Have a listen to how the president responded.

  • JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: How in the hell dare he raise that?

  • Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, it wasn't any of their

  • damn business.

  • I don't need anyone to remind me when he passed away.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: David, the White House used the word gratuitous.

  • Was it?

  • DAVID BROOKS: Two-thirds.

  • I think the special counsel used -- talked about the age because his job is to think

  • through how a jury would think.

  • And the argument was, a jury would not convict the guy because they think he'd be a well-intentioned

  • guy with memory problems.

  • Nonetheless, prosecutors are also not allowed to insult people who they don't charge, because

  • they -- the people they're insulting don't get their day in court to fight back.

  • And so there -- this is prosecutorial standards, and I think he sort of very much flirted or

  • went over the line on that.

  • On the age issue, I think it's a perfectly legitimate issue.

  • Listen, I have been interviewing Joe Biden for 30 years.

  • He's not as quick as he was.

  • I say he was a pitcher used to do it throw 94 now throws 87.

  • So the age is a factor, and you got to think, it's 86, he will be if he's reelected.

  • It's a totally legitimate issue.

  • His staff seems to think it's a legitimate issue, because they act like he has a big

  • problem.

  • I was stunned that he turned down the Super Bowl interview for the second year in a row

  • this time.

  • Your guy is behind.

  • You have a chance for an easy interview to talk to tens of millions of people, and you

  • turn it down because they're so cautious, the staff thinks he will say something stupid?

  • Now, my own personal opinion, based on my own direct contact and my reporting, is that

  • his judgment is -- his memory may sometimes slip, but his judgment is good.

  • And he absolutely runs the White House.

  • He's in charge of that administration.

  • He's completely sharp enough to do that.

  • But will he be able to do that in five years?

  • I think it's a legitimate issue for voters to think about.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: I know we're going to be talking about this a lot more, but I do want to get

  • both of your takes on another issue this week, because the Supreme Court did hear arguments

  • related to the Colorado case that's seeking to remove former President Trump from their

  • primary ballot.

  • It doesn't seem like they're likely to do that based on some of the concerns we heard

  • from the justices.

  • But what's your takeaway, Jonathan, from how the justices are looking at it and the impact

  • of this decision?

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: I mean, if we were to judge the arguments on their face, it seems like

  • we're headed to, what, 8-1 or unanimous decision to keep his name on Colorado's Republican

  • primary ballot.

  • This might be the one and only time we get a unanimous decision, especially when we think

  • about the fact that this is a 6-3 conservative supermajority, where the pendulum swings from

  • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson all the way to the six conservatives on the far right.

  • And yet it seems like they are all pretty much in agreement here.

  • So that's what I found the most amazing takeaway I took from the hearings.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: What about you, David?

  • DAVID BROOKS: Yes, unsurprising.

  • There was no way the Supreme Court was going to get in -- want to get involved in the middle

  • of an election.

  • And I was comforted by the lines of questioning, particularly the idea, as Justice Roberts

  • said, that the 14th Amendment is not there to empower states.

  • The 14th Amendment is there to take power away from states and give it to the federal

  • government.

  • And the idea that each state gets to choose basically who can be president, can choose

  • for the other states, as several justices have said, it just doesn't seem like a smart

  • argument.

  • So I'm relieved that this whole issue seems to be about to go away.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: I also need to ask you both about this, the year that was this week in Congress.

  • It just felt like everything happened.

  • Jonathan, we came as close as we ever have in decades to having actual immigration reform,

  • failed when Republicans backed away after a deal from four months of negotiating.

  • What's your takeaway from how this unfolded?

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: It just says to me once again that Speaker Johnson's not in control.

  • Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's not in control.

  • Senator Lankford, who was the Republican who negotiated with Murphy and Sinema, is not

  • in control.

  • Donald Trump is in control.

  • Donald Trump signaled before the text was even presented, weeks earlier, don't do the

  • -- don't do this bill.

  • And the bill, even though it got, what, 67 votes on the procedural, it's not going -- even

  • if it gets out of the Senate, it's not going anywhere in the House.

  • So that's what's so unfortunate about what's happening.

  • And leave aside the competence of Speaker Johnson and the mess that he had to deal with

  • in his own chamber.

  • It's just, nothing is going to get done.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Did Republicans miss their best chance for some kind of border bill?

  • DAVID BROOKS: Oh, for sure, for a generation, yes.

  • But that's not the least of it.

  • I wish it was just Trump said, I need election issues, so don't pass this bill, and they

  • cynically did it.

  • I wish that's all it was.

  • It's much deeper than that.

  • The Republicans are not only bowing to Trump.

  • Trump is inside their brains.

  • They're thinking like Trump.

  • And so -- and a couple things.

  • So how does democracy work?

  • You have a negotiation, the two parties meet.

  • You have a compromise.

  • You hope to improve on the status quo.

  • This was the most one-sided compromise I have ever seen.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes.

  • DAVID BROOKS: The Republican Party got pretty much everything they wanted.

  • Democrats got nothing.

  • And, still, the Republican after Republican are arguing, I can't support this because

  • it doesn't have everything I want.

  • And that's Trump's myth of the dictator, that I will come in there and you will get everything

  • you want.

  • So they're beginning to think like Trump.

  • And then, on foreign policy, I'm a conservative.

  • I was rooting for Republicans for decades.

  • Ronald Reagan, John McCain, Mitt Romney, these were internationalists.

  • They believed America has a role in trying to preserve a stable world order.

  • We now have a majority of Republicans in the Senate and an implacable seeming majority

  • in the House who are going to -- who want to cut the Ukraine funding bill, the ultimate

  • isolationist act, which would destroy American credibility and sentence a nation to servitude.

  • And so the fact that this is the Republican Party, I thought I was unshockable, and I

  • remain profoundly shocked this week.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, were you shocked the same way?

  • Or did you see this coming, that Republicans would block it?

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: Oh, no, no, I -- no, I saw this coming.

  • But the thing that worries me the most is what happens on March 1, the first funding

  • deadline, what happens on March 8, if -- we're going down a road where we're going to a government

  • shutdown that could be a government shutdown we can't get out of.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, thank you so much.

  • Great to see you.

  • JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Amna.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Kwame Alexander, an award-winning author and producer, has just released his

  • latest work.

  • It's an anthology by Black poets called "This Is the Honey."

  • I spoke to him earlier as part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

  • Kwame Alexander, welcome to the "NewsHour."

  • KWAME ALEXANDER, "This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets": It's good to

  • be here.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: So, this new book is a collection of contemporary Black poets.

  • The title of the book comes from a poem included in here by Mahogany L. Browne.

  • The first lines of it, which are so beautiful, the first lines read: "There is no room on

  • this planet for anything less than a miracle.

  • We gather here today to revel in the rebellion of a silent tongue."

  • Why did this give you the title of the book?

  • What did you want to put out into the world?

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Well, the idea that, yes, we deal with drama and trauma, but there's

  • also triumph.

  • We deal with woe, but there's also wonder.

  • Like, amidst all the divisiveness and the uncertainty that's happening in this world,

  • I wanted to give us something that would uplift us, that would give us a little bit of that

  • hope, that would bring us together.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: How do you pick poems?

  • How did you invite people to be a part of this?

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: I sort of view this book like you would a day in your life.

  • So you wake up in the morning, the sun is out.

  • It's promise.

  • And so this first section of the book is going to be poems of hope and promise and joy.

  • You greet your family, the people who you love, the people who love you.

  • So the next section of the book is going to be love poems.

  • And then, of course, you go out into the world and you're dealing with all the craziness,

  • and so you're going to have poems that challenge us, that are obstacles.

  • And then, next, you're going to sort of take that lunch break.

  • Or, in my case, when I worked in corporate America, I'd go to the restroom and just sort

  • of chill a little bit just to get my bearings and to say a prayer.

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: So you're going to have your devotions.

  • And, of course, the last part of the book is, you come home.

  • And it's a long day, and you eat food, and you share, and you're grateful.

  • And so you're going to have praise poems.

  • So I thought about that as the metaphor.

  • And then I just sort of started looking for poems and poets that fit.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: There's some incredible work in here.

  • There's a poem from Warsan Shire, who's one of my personal favorites.

  • Ruth Forman has this eight-line poem in there that is just so powerful.

  • You have an original poem in here as well, right?

  • It's called "How We Made You."

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Right.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Tell me about that.

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Oh.

  • So, Stephanie, my wife and I were together -- we were married for 24 years.

  • And when the uncoupling happened, I didn't want my daughter to think that it was the

  • divorce that defined us or was the things that didn't go right.

  • I wanted to let her know that it was about -- it was not about the storm, but about the

  • rainbow, that we love each other, that we are very good friends and that we built a

  • lot together.

  • We built a business.

  • We built a beautiful daughter.

  • So I want to focus on that.

  • So that poem deals with how we made you, and it's really all about love.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: What was it like for you after she read that poem, your daughter?

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Has she read it yet?

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Has she read it is the better question.

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Look, when I wrote that -- when I wrote that memoir, "Why Fathers Cry at Night,"

  • I had it on the counter.

  • And my kid, she's 15.

  • She comes in, and she says: "Dad, we're studying memoir in school now.

  • How cool would it be if I read your memoir?"

  • She's like: "I'm not going to do it, but how cool would it be?"

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: So I doubt she's read it yet.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Speaking of that memoir, it has been about a year now almost since it's been

  • out.

  • That was an intensely personal blend of poetry and prose that you put out in that -- the

  • memoir called "Why Fathers Cry at Night."

  • All this time later, what's it like for you to have that out in the world?

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: That is a great question, because I have wrestled with realizing that

  • this book is out in the world still.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Really?

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Because it's a memoir about these challenges that I have had dealing with

  • the fact that, in 2017, my mother passed, my marriage started sort of breaking down,

  • and my oldest daughter and I had an argument that just blew up into an estrangement.

  • And so all these things happened.

  • And so writing the book allowed me to deal with it, to heal from it, and then to get

  • on a path to sort of figure it out, which I did.

  • So now the book is out, I'm a much better person, but I'm like, oh, the book is still

  • out, all the stuff I went through.

  • But, hopefully, it helps people, it offers some insight and some inspiration for people

  • who are dealing with their own things.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Kwame, you are nothing if not prolific.

  • Your Newbery Award-winning New York Times bestselling book "The Crossover" was made

  • into a Disney+ series that won you your first Emmy.

  • What was that moment like?

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: What was it like?

  • Well, somebody asked me, was it a dream come true to win an Emmy Award?

  • And I was like, no, because it was never a dream.

  • I wanted to write good books.

  • And so the fact that this book that got rejected by 22 publishers, the fact that this book,

  • which came out six years, seven years ago won an Emmy Award for a TV adaptation, it

  • just speaks to the power of poetry to me, how it can translate and transfer across different

  • mediums.

  • And I think poetry ultimately is about making us feel better.

  • And, hopefully, the TV show did that.

  • The Emmy certainly did that for me.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Well, you have been carrying that Emmy around everywhere.

  • I'm going to show people here a photo of you with the Emmy on your lap on the flight home.

  • Tell me about that.

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Well, they made me check the bag.

  • I wanted to put it in the overhead, and it didn't fit.

  • So I said, well, let me take something out.

  • And I did.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: That is a flex.

  • (CROSSTALK)

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: That's a flex.

  • Hey, it didn't fit.

  • (LAUGHTER)

  • AMNA NAWAZ: All of your work though, all of your writing, it's really grounded in who

  • we are as a country, who we are as a people and where we are.

  • I remember reading this op-ed that you wrote for The L.A. Times earlier this year on MLK

  • Jr.

  • Day.

  • You wrote about the first protest you went to back in 1978 in New York.

  • You wrote about studying Dr. King's famous Selma speech with the "How long, not long"

  • call and response.

  • And you said that there was hope embedded in those words.

  • You wrote this: "In the war room of our red, white and weary blues, we become pioneers

  • in this renewal by awakening our conscious, summoning our courage, then treading the stony

  • road through a tunnel of hope."

  • Where do you find that hope today?

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: You know, I still find it in words.

  • I still find a world of possibility in language and literature.

  • I think, when a child sees themselves in a book, the book is a mirror.

  • It shows them who they are and what they're capable of and gives them some sort of experiences

  • outside of what we're thinking.

  • When you show a child a book, a book can be a window, and it can show a kid someone else

  • or another community.

  • I think, ultimately, these words can connect us to ourselves and to each other and allow

  • us to become better human beings because we're empathetic and we're connected.

  • So, for me, that's where the hope comes from.

  • It comes through the power of words to make us imagine a better world or a different world.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: The book is "This Is the Honey."

  • The author is Kwame Alexander.

  • Kwame, thank you so much.

  • Great to see you.

  • KWAME ALEXANDER: Thank you very much, Amna.

  • AMNA NAWAZ: Be sure to tune into "Washington Week With The Atlantic" tonight on PBS.

  • I will be joining moderator Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel to discuss Donald Trump's influence

  • on the collapse of the bipartisan border bill and the latest concerns about President Biden's

  • age.

  • And don't forget to watch Saturday's "PBS News Weekend" for a look at the increased

  • role of tech companies and social media in this year's election.

  • And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

  • I'm Amna Nawaz.

  • On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us, and have a great weekend.

AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

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