PBS News Hour - Full Show - December 12, 2025 – PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: December 13, 2025

Friday on the News Hour, President Trump and many other notable figures appear in newly released photos from Jeffrey Epstein's email, a U.S. Special Forces veteran who helped smuggle Venezuela's opposition leader out of the country to accept the Nobel Peace Prize details the operation and centuries-old olive groves in the West Bank sit untouched because of repeated attacks from Israeli settlers. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Good evening. I'm Jeff Bennett. And I'm Omna Nawaz. On the news hour tonight, President Trump and many other notable figures appear in newly released photos from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's files. The U.S. Special Forces veteran who helped get Venezuela's opposition leader out of the country to accept a Nobel Peace Prize details the complex and harrowing operation. And centuries-old olive groves in the occupies. occupied West Bank sit untouched during harvest season because of repeated attacks from Israeli settlers.

They beat me over the head nearly ten times, and then they beat the rest of my body. It's really painful. Now I can't go back to collect olives because of my brain injury. Welcome to the NewsHour. Newly released photos are offering a closer look at the influential and wealthy people who spent time with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say the batch of previously unreleased images came directly from Epstein's estate, and they include multiple images of President Trump

and former President Bill Clinton, among others. It's not immediately clear when or where the photos were taken. For more, we're joined now by White House correspondent Liz Landers. Thank you for being here. First, we should be clear that these documents today are coming from Democrats in Congress. These are not documents from the Justice Department. Democrats have been rolling these materials out, gradually keeping this story alive. What's new in this latest release? So these are 90 or so more images that we're getting today, as you mentioned, selectively being released by the Democrats over the last few weeks and months. These images today depict

Epstein and the people that he socialized with. Some of these images, three of them, do photos of President Donald Trump. This was before he was president. One of these photos is him with six women. All of their faces are redacted. They are at a luau there. It looks like there's another photo of the president speaking with a woman. Her face is visible in this photo, and Epstein is standing beside Trump. And then there's a final picture of Trump on an airplane, it appears, sitting next to a blonde woman who also has her face redacted. Now, I should be clear, The president is not accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. He said that they had a falling out many years ago because he thought that Epstein was a creep.

Now, there are other very famous high-profile people that are also in some of these pictures that were released today, including former President Bill Clinton. He's photographed with Epstein and Galane Maxwell, who was his former girlfriend. There's also a photo of Steve Bannon sitting at a desk. There are a number of other images of Woody Allen, Bill Gates, and more. There were also some sexually explicit images in here of sex toys. There has been a lot of pressure on the administration to release more of these Epstein files, images, information to the public. We heard from Democrat Robert Garcia earlier today about that. The thing right now that's the most important is there is one man who has the power to release the files and get to the truth and bring justice to the

survivors, and that's Donald Trump. And Donald Trump right now needs to release the files to the American public so that the truth can come out and we can actually get some sense of justice for the survivors. The congressman said that they have only released a fraction of what the committee has. They have apparently obtained more than 95,000 images. Only 90 or so of those came out today. So how is the White House responding to today's release and the broader pressure around the Epstein files? So White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson sent over a statement to us. And she says that this is a cherry-picked release from the Democrats. They're trying to create a false narrative. And she says, in part, quote, the Democrat hoax against President Trump

has been repeatedly debunked and the Trump administration has done more for Epstein's victims than Democrats ever have by repeatedly calling for transparency and releasing thousands of pages of documents and calling for further investigations into Epstein's Democrat. Friends, we have heard the president repeatedly call this a hoax as well. So the administration's deadline to release the Epstein files under the new law is next Friday, December 19th. What should people realistically expect when that deadline arrives? So this was passed in Congress, and President Trump, at kind of the 11th hour, endorsed Republicans voting for this. He signed this into law just a few weeks ago.

And this requires the Attorney General to release, quote, all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative material related to Epstein and Galane Maxwell. But this does give the Attorney General Pam Bondi the power to withhold information related to ongoing investigations or anything that identifies victims, Jeff. And as we've been sitting here speaking, the president was speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. And in response to a question, he said this is no big deal. Certainly more to come. Liz Landers, our thanks to you. Thanks for having me.

group of preservationists is suing President Donald Trump over his White House ballroom renovation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation wants a federal court to stop the project so it can go through an architectural review and win congressional approval. Their lawsuit claims that Trump has already committed multiple violations by fast-tracking the project. The Trump administration has argued that a new ballroom is long overdue. The White House is expected to submit plans to a federal planning commission before the end of the year. about three months after construction began. Weather officials say catastrophic flooding and landslides

are bringing a significant risk to life and property in Washington State and Northwest Oregon. North of Seattle, the entire city of Burlington, and its 10,000 residents have been forced to evacuate. You feel the whole concrete shake. Days of torrential rains have caused historic flooding with many rivers in western Washington at or near record levels. Near the Canadian border, Coast Guard helicopters rescued people

who were forced onto their rooftops by the rising waters. Elsewhere, residents raced to protect their properties, while for others it was already too late. Looks like we now have a houseboat. I've got about six feet of water underneath my house. Weather officials say that even though heavy rains have stopped and water levels will start to recede, many areas will remain flooded for days. In Gaza, residents are clearing up from winter storm Byron, which has flooded camps where Palestinians have been sheltering in already dire conditions. People were forced to dig out their belongings as dirt roads turned to mud and piles of garbage and sewage piled up.

Palestinian officials have reported more than 2,500 distress calls because of the storm. One woman who spoke to the news hour says she can't sleep in such conditions. Are we going to stay like this, sleeping in tents with submerged water? Here is the water. Do you see it? I don't know how long we can bear these horrible burdens and this pain. Aid groups say Israel has not met its agreement under a ceasefire with Hamas to allow 600 trucks of of aid into Gaza each day. Israel disputes this claim, saying it has allowed in truckloads of tents, blankets, and warm clothing. The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze nearly 250 billion

dollars in Russian assets, a significant step in freeing up money to support Ukraine. Moscow claims that such a move is illegal. It comes as the warring countries traded new attacks today. Video showed Ukrainian firefighters battling ablaze in the Odessa region, where you Ukraine's Navy says a Russian strike damaged three Turkish-owned vessels. Separately, Ukraine says its drones hit two Russian oil rigs in the Caspian Sea. President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelenskyy visited troops in Kupianzian in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Russia had claimed to control the frontline city, but Ukraine says it has retaken parts

of the area and has Russian troops surrounded. President Trump says that Thailand and Cambodia, have agreed to stop the latest round of violence along their shared border. In a social media post, Mr. Trump wrote, quote, they have agreed to cease all shooting effective this evening and go back to the original peace accord made with me. Earlier, Thailand's prime minister told reporters that his country was not the aggressor in the latest conflict

and that a ceasefire with Cambodia was still out of reach. Fighting flared up earlier this week along their shared border, leaving at least 20 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Back in this country, former University of Michigan football coach Sharon Moore was charged with stalking and felony home invasion today. The 39-year-old appeared in court via video as prosecutors described how he broke into the apartment of a woman with whom he'd been having an affair. They say he then threatened to kill himself in front of her for reporting their relationship to the school. The married father of three was fired this week for having an inappropriate relationship with a staff member, a not-guilty plea. was entered on Moore's behalf.

His next court hearing is set for late January. On Wall Street today, tech stocks dragged on the broader markets to end the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back from its recent record, falling around 250 points. The NASDAQ gave back nearly 400 points. The S&P 500 saw its worst day in about three weeks. And downhill skiing legend Lindsey Vaughn made history today as the oldest ever winner of a World Cup race. The 41-year-old's victory in Switzerland was her first such win since 2018.

It comes more than five years after she retired from the sport amid injuries. It represents a major step in her comeback following a titanium knee replacement as she eyes the 2026 Winter Olympics. Bonn is looking to build on her storied career, which includes an Olympic gold medal and 44 World Cup downhill wins. For a bit of perspective, before today, the oldest World Cup winner was a 37-year-old male sales. skier. The last women's record holder was just 34. Still to come, on the news hour, how Indiana Republicans came to defy President Trump and reject congressional redistricting. The president issues an executive order to limit state regulations on artificial intelligence. And David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines.

This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubinstein Studio at WETA in Washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. President Trump's push to redraw congressional maps in Republicans' favor hit a major roadblock in Indiana yesterday. More than 20 Indiana Republican state senators joined Democrats to vote against a plan that would likely have created two new GOP seats in the U.S. House. Our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardin, has more. After the vote in Indiana, President Trump made clear he wants political consequences for the perceived lack of loyalty. Here's how I responded to News Hours, Liz Landers. I wasn't working on it very hard.

It would have been nice. I think we would have picked up two seats if we did that. You had one gentleman, the head of the Senate, I guess, Bray, whatever his name is. I heard he was against it. Probably lose his next primary, whatever that is. I hope he does. But because he's done a tremendous disservice. I'll certainly support anybody that wants to go against it.

One of those Republicans who voted to block the maps is Indiana Senator Mike Boeachek, and he joins me now. Senator, you voted no, but others of your fellow Republicans, a smaller group, supported the president's move. Here's what one of them said. When your house is on fire, you don't worry about whether or not you're traditionally holding the hose the right way. you do whatever it takes to put out the fire that's a political argument why did you disagree why were you right why did you vote no

sure um you know we had 19 members that felt very strongly that we should move forward with this and we had 21 of my uh caucus mates that also felt uh as you know as did i that uh this is more than just a transactional one-time vote. If we're going to do this once, then are we now going to be doing this every two years with every new administration? And we don't treat policy as this substantive in a transactional basis. And that's kind of how I felt. It was feeling like we're just doing this at the whim of a

president who's concerned that perhaps he might be underwater in the upcoming elections. And it was just bad policy. I have some personal reasons as well, and I've certainly stipulated those, but from a policy perspective, it's just bad policy. I want to talk about those personal reasons as well. The president and his team put a lot of pressure on you. His rhetoric has had a number of effects. One thing he posted on Facebook at one point was he used a slur retarded. I know that's something that affected you. You are also being affected by threats right now. Where are you staying? Where is your family?

And what's the president's responsibility for bringing down the rhetoric right now? Well, what's interesting is he hasn't brought the tone down, which I was kind of surprised about. And it seems like it's just kind of amplifying it. But hopefully things will calm down. My family and my children, my wife and my children are staying at a friend's house. I'm staying elsewhere as well. So we're going to try to get everybody back together for the weekend and as we approach the holiday season. You know, I have a daughter that's disabled, and, you know, I can listen to a lot of the president's comments and some of the names that he calls that I don't appreciate it. I don't like it. But that's just how he is. But just this one slur just, it was just the bridge too far. And it doesn't seem to matter. Other members of his administration have used it. He's using it to identify, you know, political rival. There's just a

still plays for it. And, you know, it's time to be grownups. You know, for God's sakes, we're the, we're leading, you know, in this case, we're leading the state of Indiana. And in his case, he's leading a free world. There's many other words you can use if you need to voice your displeasure with so on. There is a top conservative group that's still putting some rhetoric out there today. Heritage action posted on X in the last day that President Trump should make good on his threat to cut Indiana's funding. writing roads will not be paved, guard bases will close. Are you worried about that threat for your state?

You know, I don't think he can do it. From the research I've done and others, you know, the roads are formulary. Entitlement programs like SNAP and Medicaid, well, those are federal entitlements. I don't think you can unfund those. So can he impact grants and, you know, maybe some discretionary issues? Certainly he can. But we have nine members of our Congress. congressional delegation plus two senators. And with the majorities as tight as they are and the votes

as tight as they are in Congress, hopefully our state delegation will represent the state of Indiana and its interest at the federal level. And I would count on them to do that. There are just 40 of you Republican senators in Indiana, but you are under a national pressure campaign, including visits from the vice president. Who exactly said what to you during that pressure campaign? So it started pretty early on with the vice president and some of his visits. Obviously, the social media campaign was pretty, pretty revved up. We did meet with some of the president's staff and also the vice presidents as a caucus as a group of the 40 Republican senators. And then later on, a conference call with the president. I received one call from president's

staff and then also calls from our governor and his staff as well. So it was, it was pressure with as much as going on in the world these days for him to take out time to spend with us to discuss this. Obviously, see the importance of the issue to him. What do you make of this effort overall to try and affect the 2026 election by changing all these maps? You obviously were against it in Indiana. I don't feel comfortable with it. I think it's bad policy. So to now say, well, let's take this opportunity to politically gerrymander them, just, it doesn't feel right. And my constituents don't like it. To them, it feels like we're trying to rig the system and steal and using other states' bad behavior as the excuse. That's just not how folks in Indiana are.

You've heard that from voters specifically. I have. Yeah, I've heard, you know, obviously have voters that are, that are, you know, pretty strong on the other side of this issue, and that I'm happy they are, and they made their voices, you know, clear and known. But by and large, members of my constituency overwhelmingly did not want to do this. They did not want the districts to be redrawn. And it became even stronger after they saw the maps. So when they saw the maps and they saw that, you know, in some cases, they're going to be represented by somebody that's in a community that's not even close to being of their same interests, even they were concerned, even people that were in favor of it on its face when they

saw the maps change their minds. Indiana State Senator Mike Boeachek. Thank you so much for talking with us. Thank you. Specifically, it gives the Justice Department authority to block state laws if they do not support, quote, global dominance of AI. It would also allow the federal government to withhold funding for broadband and other projects. The directive marks a big win for tech giants, but will likely be challenged in the courts.

During the Oval Office signing yesterday, the president's AI and Cryptozar, David Sachs, an investor in multiple AI-related companies, argued that allowing states to set their own rules poses significant risks. Over 100 of them have already passed. 25% of them are in California, New York, and Illinois. You've got 50 states running in 50 different directions. It just doesn't make sense. We're creating a confusing patchwork of regulation. And what we need is a single federal standard.

For more, we're joined by tech journalist Jacob Ward, founder of the Rip Current. Jacob, welcome back to the News Hour. Thanks, Jeff. Great to be here. So President Trump, in this executive order, says he wants a minimally burdensome national standard. The White House argues that tech companies can't reasonably be expected to comply. with potentially 50 different sets of state laws. Break down that argument for us.

Well, the argument right has these two sides. One is that we need some sort of comprehensive federal regulation for there to be, as President Trump's executive order describes it, supremacy when it comes to the United States. There is some real rah-rah football team backer kind of language in this executive order that we need to win. It mentions adversaries, which of course means China. And so the argument here is that we need to streamline the development of this industry so that we can be the global winner on it.

The other side of the argument, of course, is that the states have always been the laboratory of democracy. They are the place where we figure out what regulations work and what don't. And right now, all 50 states plus Puerto Rico have passed an AI regulation of some form. You've got Colorado banning algorithmic discrimination. You've got Illinois trying to wipe out AI therapy. And so when it comes to the state's arguments, they say, essentially, you know, we need to figure out how to regulate this stuff. And the backdrop of all of this, right, Jeff, is that there is no federal regulation around this stuff at all. We're almost, you know, we're 20 plus years into the social media revolution.

We still don't have a data privacy law that touches that, much less anything that regulates AI whatsoever. There is some new legislation possibly coming up. But at the moment, there's nothing there, so you can't really blame the states for feeling they have to get involved. and President Trump has now moved to try to get out in front of that. If this order survives legal challenges, what are the real-world consequences? What protections potentially could be lost? Well, you should sort of think of the promises, the marketing language of these companies almost in reverse. Let's say they get their way and these technologies make their way into every corner of our life.

We know already that algorithmic systems are determining who gets a job, who gets a loan, who gets bail. but we also know that increasingly people are forming deep personal attachments to this stuff. One in five teenagers report having a deep emotional connection to a chatbot of some form. And so we know that there is, both anecdotally and quantitatively, we know that there is an enormous effect being had on humans of all ages and all backgrounds across the United States. And so, you know, the attitude of the technology industry has always been let us, innovate and we'll figure it out later. And it seems as if the Trump administration has come along and bought that argument, the idea that we should be able to experiment in the wild on live subjects in a way that no university would ever permit. But as a result, of course, we are also the envy of the world when it

comes to the creation of these foundational models. And it could be that, you know, keeping that dominance going will keep us on top as a superpower. But this, this, you know, the fact of the matter is we really, if these companies are to be believed, this stuff is about to be in every corner of our lives, and I don't think any of us would imagine a world in which no regulation will touch it, and at the moment, that's the case. But are we the envy of the world when it comes to AI in the absence of regulation? I mean, is there a case to be made that regulation really stifles innovation? Well, the adversary that the executive order mentions is, of course, China.

And the argument that a lot of pro-industry folks make is that China only, has a single regulatory body, and that is the federal government. There is no patchwork of state law in China. But the other thing to consider is that you have, you know, a lot of regulations in China. China is not a wide open, Wild West-style environment. You have to be able to show that your AI model, you know, it has to show its work, it has to show that it is in compliance with communist teachings. There are, you know, CEOs are personally liable if their AI product is misused in some way. So there is enormous, and I would argue under the Trump definition, very onerous regulation in China, and yet they are moving as fast as they are.

You know, I think the thing that we could say about this is that the need currently to comply with this long laundry list of various patchwork style laws across the country really does create advantage for big companies who can afford big compliance teams and a disadvantage for small startups who don't know how to do that. But increasingly in the age of AI, you know, it's not that hard to come up with a checklist that satisfies all the state requirements. And if we see the White House swing the other way and the legislature, you know, the Senate and the House swing the other way in the next few years, we could very easily see a set of federal regulations just as long as the laundry list we currently have from state law. I was going to ask you that because

there is a role for Congress to play here, even though we need. know that Congress has abdicated so much of its authority to the executive. We mentioned that this is headed for the courts when these state attorneys general sue, when they challenge this executive order, on what grounds might they file these cases? Well, the grounds that the executive order talks about has to do with a state basically interfering with commerce nationally. You know, you're not supposed to be able to, you know, blockade your state if you are the one national source of, I don't know, timber, I'm making this up. But you know what I mean? You're not

allowed to sort of hold back the business of the nation as a state. And so that seems to be the argument here. I think the other side of the argument is, well, you should probably, you know, you need to safeguard our kids, our jobs, our industries against the encroachment of this technology and some of the damage that we've seen. And in play, in, without any kind of federal regulation on that stuff, then you should leave us alone. And we'll probably be the state's argument here. You know, this really, what this I think does fundamentally is bring up a really big constitutional question that's been brewing for a long time, but it's about to get really white-hot in this case. But the other thing I would also point out to you, Jeff, just as a piece of

context, is this is not a thing the voters care about. Only big companies really care about this China question and about this regulation question. Big polls of every kind of adult voters show that the vast majority of them want regulation of AI and do not care if it slows it down. And so this is definitely not a voter response that we're seeing in this executive order. Jacob Ward, always great to speak with you, founder of the Rip Current.

Thanks again for being with us. Thanks, Jeff. today vowed to continue her political pursuit to create democracy in Venezuela. This week, after a year and a half, isolated and alone, she braved an arduous journey to accept the Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Nick Schifrin speaks now with the man who helped her escape a Venezuelan government that's been hunting her for a year and a half. An icon and an iconic moment.

Maria Carino Machado, isolated and in hiding for more than a year, reaching four and embraced by supporters this week in Oslo. Hugs for someone who says she hasn't been hugged for 16 months. Her journey from solitude to overwhelming support risked her life in the lives of an entire team. How difficult was it to extract her from Venezuela and get her to Oslo? On a scale of 1 to 10, it was about 106. Brian Stern is an Army and Navy veteran and chairman and founder of Grey Bull

rescue who organized her extraction. We've broken people out of jail from Russia. We've done hostages from Gaza. We've done all kinds of things. But the reality is, is we've never extracted someone, rescued someone, or evacuated someone that has a Wikipedia page. The first challenge, moving Venezuela's most famous woman who hasn't been seen in public since the middle of 2024. She's a second most popular person after Nicholas Maduro with billboards with her face on it and you know she is she has rock star level status in the country so to mitigate that risk lots of things were done to to conceal her movement and her identity and her signature both physically digitally and in other ways that was the first step getting her overland through military checkpoints

from her hiding point to the coast from there she got on a boat and that boat was not what most people think. It was a very small boat. In the dead of night, she embarked on boat one to a rally point in the middle of the sea, where she was met by boat two, also in the middle of the sea. The conditions were very rough, very cold, very wet, not fun at all. Stern says that more than 150-mile journey was the most dangerous from the Venezuelan coast to the Dutch island, Curacao. Throughout, he stayed in touch with the U.S. military, which has been targeting boats in the Caribbean. I lifted her from boat one into boat two, personally, with my own hands.

She was amazing in every way. She was already my hero, and now she's more so. We talked about her family and her, she was so excited to see her children for the first time in two years and things like that. So, you know, yes, she's an international figure and all those things, but she's also a mom. I am here on behalf of my mother. A mother of three, including Anna Karina Sosa. who accepted her mother's Nobel Peace Prize. She and the entire family sacrificed to get to this day.

And she married, I wasn't with her, and my son just married, and I wasn't with him. So it gives me a big sense of guilt. Machado spoke to the BBC in Oslo. For over 16 months, I haven't been able to hug or touch anyone. So it certainly, it certainly has been a very profound sentiment. Suddenly, in a matter of a few hours, to be able to see the people I love most. Leaving Venezuela today, in these certain instances,

is very, very dangerous. So I just want to say today that I'm here because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo. Was this a U.S. government mission? No, not at all. This was not a U.S. government. We have not been paid by the U.S. government.

We haven't even gotten a thank you note for the U.S. government. But Maria Karina thanks them. And now, even though reunited with her family, she vows to return to Venezuela, although Stern isn't so sure. Marie and I spoke about this briefly, and I told her, don't go. The world needs certain people. safe in one piece. There's no glory in being arrested and being a martyr. There's none. But she's so resolute and so filled with passion for her people that she's unstoppable.

And whatever her next step may be to bring democracy to Venezuela, she will now take as a Nobel laureate. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Nick Schiffrey. Israel's cabinet voted to extend legal status to 19 previously illegal settlements late last night, formalizing more control of land in the West Bank. Attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinian communities there have increased sharply since the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel. As Laila Malana Allen reports, the settler's violence continues with few apparent consequences. A warning, some images in this report are disturbing.

Masked gangs of settlers marauding through the streets, armed with bats and Molotov cocktails. Cars and homes smashed apart and set on fire. This is now the daily reality for Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. As the violence spreads, no one is safe. A centuries-old olive grove in ruins, flames licking at the stones of the stones of the. 5th century church. They attacked us, moved their sheep into the churchyard and they even tried to burn the church. There's no difference between how the settlers treat Muslims or Christians. Taiba is one of the oldest continuously settled Christian communities in the world.

It appears in both the Old and New Testaments. Everything began in this land. Usually at this time of year, the valley would be full of olive pickers. Now, locals are too afraid to venture on. onto their own land. The trees are dying, their fruit rotting on the branch. Across the valley, the hills are dominated by settlements. Even as we stand here, we can see a car from a local settlement patrolling the groves. Fleeing the relentless attacks, Christian residents have started to emigrate to the United

States in droves. The village has lost two dozen families already. How is this for you personally the responsibility? Huge and over my capacity, but I have to be standing always. to raise my head up because I'm Palestinian and Christian and priest. They've done what they can to replant the burned trees. But an olive tree takes nearly a decade to reach maturity. The village's livelihoods are being destroyed.

Suleiman says when the army does turn up, it's invariably to side with the settlers. The army and the settlers are one. They both act the same way towards people attacking them and kicking them out of their land. As we're speaking, Suleiman gets a call. settlers on his land. He's too afraid to confront them. Waiting on the road is Rabbi Eric Asherman, one of a group of volunteers trying to pressure Israeli authorities to force settlers to abide by the law. The settlers make their way into the valley, stopping next to the home of a Palestinian man and his child picking olives in their garden. The makeshift fence they've erected won't do much to protect

them. He worries the international community. Discussing a theoretical Palestinian state from afar is ignoring the practical reality that soon Palestinians here will have little land left. The international community has like no backbone. The armies told them to leave and they're paying no attention. For years and years and years,

they've been acting with impunity and certainly under this government. Everything that they know says to them, we can do what we want, and we're not going to pay any price for it. There's been no consequences. The settlers stay till sunset, as is almost always the case.

They're not threatened with arrest or physically forced to leave. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to curb the unprecedented wave of attacks. We will act against this with all our might because we are a state of law. But critics say it's his own government that's created this atmosphere of impunity.

National Security Minister Itimar Ben-Govir handed out weapons to settlers after the October 7th attacks. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritch has advocated destroying large Palestinian towns to isolate Palestinians. and this government has sanctioned the building of dozens of new settlements, which are illegal under international law.

It's peak olive-bicking season in the West Bank, and Palestinian farmers are out-carvesting their groves. In Tormos Ayya, on the first day of the season, dozens of settlers, armed with clubs, their faces hidden with black rags, descended on this grove. 53-year-old grandmother Afaf Abwalia was chased and bludgeoned by a masked settler. She was so badly beaten, she suffered bleeding on the brain and had to be rushed to hospital.

The UN says October was the most violent month on record since documentation of settler attacks began. More than 260 attacks were recorded, an average of eight per day. After international outrage, Israeli authorities say they've now arrested a man in connection with the attack, but locals here say there's little chance he'll face justice. We found Afafin Hospital in Ramallah, where she told us about her traumatic assault.

They beat me here, on my shoulder, back, and my arms. They beat me over the head nearly ten times, and then they beat the rest of my body. It's really painful. Now I can't go back to collect olives because of my brain injury. But some victims never make it home. In July, as 20-year-old Saifala Mussolet tended his father's olives, a group of settlers armed with bats surrounded him.

His family heard he'd been taken to hospital. What they found there was unimaginable. Thinking that we're going to go see him like he's hurt, he's injured, but just seeing him there. It's really hard. And what did they tell you at the hospital? They told us he was beaten to death. The family believed Saifala, nicknamed Saif, might have been saved, but it took nearly three hours for a Palestinian ambulance to get permission to cross into the area to help him. He bled to death alone.

He was like an older son to me. He was very loving. He was very loving. You'd go into a room. He'll always smile. Very full of life, very. Safe was an American citizen, a Florida native visiting family in the West Bank.

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited them after his killing, calling it a terrorist act and promising to take action. They've heard nothing since. He said we will get justice America's first, but till this thing, nothing has changed. Meanwhile, the violence shows no sign of stopping. Are there settlers on the way? We need to be sure. Like this morning, they were out here, they said.

Yeah. So you always kind of always have to be sure. Every Friday they cross from here. They're like hunting for us. They're just driving. If they see any Palestinian person, that's it. They're going to attack. And we can't do anything about it.

Some are trying. Jonathan Pollock is an Israeli activist who spent two decades working to protect Palestinian villages from settler and soldier violence. He tried to stop the violence the day Cyprus killed and found himself the target. I felt that we were at the edge of death when they attacked us. There was nothing to stop them. But at some point, Israeli soldiers came in, and they literally peeled the settlers from on top of us.

Of course they did nothing. They arrested us. He didn't know until his release from jail that the group, having assaulted him, then reached safe in his olive grove. Racist, lynch mob, killed a Palestinian, beating him to death. People like to say that it's complicated. But really, there's absolutely nothing complicated about a bunch of people going into other people's... to other people's land, attacking them, killing them, imprisoning them, and stealing their land. Saif is just one of at least 21 Palestinians killed by settler violence since October 7, 2023. The UN reports more than a thousand Palestinians have been injured in attacks this year,

more than double the number injured last year, their homes burned, their fields and olive groves destroyed. Seven settlers have been killed and 53 injured by Palestinians this year. Yeshtin, an Israeli NGO working to protect the rights of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, reports that of 1,700 police investigations into Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in the past 20 years, 97% did not lead to a conviction. Perpetrators of hundreds of other attacks this year remain at large. And Jonathan says the impunity for safe's killing is the rule here rather than the exception. Last year, he watched another American volunteer,

Ashinor Aegee died next to him after she was shot by an Israeli soldier during a protest in the nearby village of Beata. It was her first day in the West Bank. The IDF said Aishanur was killed unintentionally during what it called a violent riot. Jonathan and his fellow activists say the situation was calm. You can see the soldiers up there by the black smoke. They're pointing guns at us. You don't know when they're going to pull the triggers. Jonathan believes that because the U.S. supplies more than two-thirds of Israel's weapons. It is complicit in the death of its own citizen. The bullet that killed Ayshano is an American bullet, and it is the bullet placed by the American government at the hand of Israel to suppress any Palestinian aspiration for liberation and self-determination.

And it is also used to send a message that it doesn't matter who you are. If you stand with Palestinian, your blood is cheap. And there will be no accountability. Reem says her family's experience has taught her that even as Americans, they have no protection here. So Palestinians have little chance. We lost it. We can't get him back. But we need justice. Like every other place in the world, you commit a crime, you kill, you're behind bars. Like, why is this the only country that they don't do that late. They murder the next day they're out in the streets. Reem now wakes each morning wondering when the next attack will come, whether her kids will

return home safely from school. All she can do is wait in fear. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Leila Malana Allen in the occupied West Bank. In a statement to the news hour, the Israel Defense Forces said for acts of violence directed at Palestinians or their property, soldiers are required to stop the violation and, if necessary, to delay or detain the suspects. And on the settler killing of American Saifola Mussolet and the West Bank, the State Department told the news hour Ambassador Huckabee has called for accountability for this murder, and Embassy Jerusalem continues to closely follow this case. Separately, a State Department spokesperson told us the killing by the IDF of Isanora Agi

was a tragedy, and we urged the government of Israel to complete a thorough and true. transparent investigation. President Trump had a series of seeming setbacks this week, raising some doubts about his grip on the GOP and his ability to govern in his second term. For analysis, we turn now to Brooks and Capehart. That is New York Times column opinion columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart of MS now. Great to see you both. I'm not.

Let's talk about the latest AP poll that looks at the president's overall approval rating. It's at 36% right now, which is a second term low he's hit before, and it was lower at times in his first term, but the difference now is his approval on the economy specifically. It's at 31%. I want to put to you what Republican pollster

Kristen Soltus Anderson wrote this week. She said, what's crucial to understand about Mr. Trump's poor approval numbers is that unlike his last time in the White House, people now disapprove of him because of the economy, not in spite of it. David, the president, continues to insist affordability concerns or a democratic hoax. Why?

Well, if you look at the raw number, it's the same with Biden. If you look at the raw numbers, he's got a bit of a case. Median real wages after inflation are at their highest level in American history. And then if you look about affordability, real wages are going up like this. Food, clothing, all this stuff is not going up as fast as real wages. the things that are going up really fast are health care and education so those things are going up really fast and housing in blue cities so so there are some things that are really busting people's budgets so you got these

overall numbers which are okay but then when you ask people to consumer sentiment the University of Michigan survey it's in the cellar it's like an historic lows so people the economists can tell them they're doing okay but people say no I'm definitely not doing okay and in this case the people no more than the economist. Jonathan, even Republicans I've talked to this week have said he should not call it a hoax. We have to meet people where their concerns are. Is this sort of a gift to Democrats?

Yes. Yes, it is. I mean, at no point did President Biden say to the American people, it's a hoax what they're telling you. You're doing great. He never said that. What the president is doing is trying to convince people that what is happening to them in the supermarket, wherever they shop, that that's not happening. That they're not paying more for what they, what they're buying for their family than they did a year ago, that they're not feeling the pain in the pocketbook.

And, you know, these poll numbers that are out today with the president's use the lowest approval rating on the economy, I always look not just at the overall approval rating, but what's his approval rating on any issue with Republicans? And in the same poll, his approval rating has gone down nine points since March, from 78% to 69% approval of his handling of the economy. That's still very high, but it's a far come down from where he's used to having support among Republicans, which is usually high 80s into the 90%. When you look at his support among party lawmakers, let's take a closer look at Indiana this week

in what we saw, because it was one of the most extraordinary examples so far of Republicans standing up to what Mr. Trump has said he wants. State lawmakers, they're voting against a redrawn congressional map that he wanted to see in place, that could have given them extra seats or additional seats in next year's midterms. David, are we seeing the limits of the president's power here? I think a little. I wouldn't overread that. I mean, having a 36% approval is a lot different than having a 42.

It's much lower politicians are going to get a little anxious. But Indiana, A, it has a strong institutional Republican Party where they believe in institutions. B, it's got governors like Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels, former governors, who are not shy about rebutting the president. So it's got a political culture that is likely going to want to stand up for the Constitution. And that's what these lawmakers do. It's incredibly heroic what they did. And a lot of them did it. And there were strength in numbers.

And if you read their quotes, it's all the institution. This is not a constitutional thing we're doing here. This is a betrayal of the Constitution. It's a betrayal of voters. It's a betrayal of democracy, and they stood up and did the right thing. And I think history will look very admiringly at them and very negatively about Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, and Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, all of whom betrayed the Constitution for the sake of partisanship.

Do you think other Republican lawmakers in other states where there's a similar effort could follow Indiana's example, or is Indiana unique? I wouldn't recommend it in the South. as you begin to see 36 approval slip down to 32 then you begin to see people wavering away I don't know about including Governor Newsom

in the whole cavalcade of people defying the Constitution but the one other thing that I would add to this is the bullying from the White House did not work there was a story today I cannot remember where I read it but quotes from people in the state legislature in Indiana who were saying that the threats that were coming from the White House, from

officials just stiffened the spine of people like, you don't talk to us that way. You do not do this so you can threaten us all you want. And so the folks in Indiana, you know, they're institutionalists, but they also have a moral core. You're not going to talk to us like that. And I hope other other legislators around the country who are facing this pressure from the White has also resist. I want to take a step back and look at some of the bigger trends we saw this week, because there's the president's frustration over the Indiana map. We saw a grand jury, again, refused to indict Letitia James.

We know the Department of Justice is facing a deadline to release the Epstein files. We're seeing bipartisan concern over the president's alleged drugboat strikes in the Caribbean. So there's mounting frustration on a number of fronts. At the same time, we're seeing a ramping up of the president's overtly racist. rhetoric, that affordability speech in Pennsylvania just evolved into an anti-immigrant racist rant. David, are those things related? Unclear. It could be just he's getting crankier and older. He has not, he's not, he's always talked about the certain kind of countries when referring to certain developing world

countries. That was first term. He's always used this kind of language. Is he using it more nastily? Yes. Is it tied to his following approvals? I'm not sure. I think there's been a shift in the mindset of the administration compared to Trump one. And we saw it not only in what he says in some random speech, we saw it in the most important event of the week, which was the release of the national security strategy, where they talked about civilizational erasure. This is taking some of that idea that we in the West

have to fight off the hordes from the rest of the world. That's not only in a speech. That is the official foreign policy of the United States of America. And so that cultural war mindset is now from, maybe back of mind or medium of mind. Now it's front of mind, both in random rhetoric, but also in policy. I don't think it's random rhetoric. This is something that the president has done time and time again when he was running for president the first time, when he became president, when he ran for president, especially the second time. And now that he's

president a second time, it is right there. And when we have seen him go all in on racist rhetoric, It's when he's trying to scratch at that itch, that emotional, fearful itch to get people, I think, to get away from affordability and what's happening to them in their budgets and their pocketbooks and get them to fearing and being afraid of their neighbors, being afraid of people around them as just a distraction. And I think the more we talk about it, the more we shine light on it, the more we don't let him get away with saying what he's saying. said in Scranton, I think, the better it is for all of us. It's not easy to hear the President of the United States say the things that he's been saying, not just in Scranton, but during this presidency, we have to hold a mirror up to him just so that we are forced to contend with what he's saying. So let's look ahead for just a moment here briefly, because we saw in Congress this week

a failure to be able to extend those enhanced ACA subsidies. We know fully expect tons of millions of Americans' premiums, health care premiums, to go up. David, it's one thing when beef prices go up, coffee prices go up, and people can't afford their health care. What's coming down the pike here? Yeah, it's awful. The health care costs bent after Obamacare,

but now they're surging again. And so I think we all probably know people. I certainly know people in my own life who are looking at catastrophic increases in their health care costs. And I have to believe politics, the government is going to act. Maybe I'm an idiot, slightly, but that they're going do something in Congress because the remaining days well I don't know the

political costs to so many lives is so ruinous you think they just give away some money to soften the blow no it's not gonna it's not gonna happen and I say that because I'm looking at the calendar the house has four legislative days before they adjourn on December 18th the Senate has five legislative days before they adjourn on December 19th the subsidies end on December 31st you know how many days it took to get the affordable care Act from introduction to passage, 427 days. You cannot do this kind of policymaking in four or five legislative days.

You just can't. Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, we appreciate your optimism and sense of hope always, but we appreciate. It's ridiculous, isn't it? You both being here every week. Great to see you. Thank you. And be sure to watch Washington Week with The Atlantic tonight right here on PBS. Yours truly will be among the panelists, joining moderator Jeffrey Goldberg,

for analysis of President Trump's pressure campaign to end the war in Ukraine. And on the next PBS News weekend, a husband and wife team discussed their 40 years of capturing dazzling wildlife photography in Africa. That's Saturday on PBS News weekend, And that's the NewsHour for tonight and this week. I'm Jeff Bennett. And I'm Omna Nawaz. On behalf of the entire News Hour team, thank you for joining us and have a great weekend.