PBS News Hour - Full Show - December 31, 2025 - PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Wednesday on the News Hour, why European leaders say Russian President Putin invented an assassination plot and what it means for any Ukraine peace deal. We join a scientific expedition in the icy seas around Antarctica to understand a massive, melting glacier. Plus, how a U.S.-backed road and rail project in an unstable region could unlock trade with Central Asia. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Good evening. I'm Lisa Desjardian. Jeff Bennett and Omnavaz are away. On the news hour tonight, new tactics by Russian President Vladimir Putin, why European leaders say he invented an assassination plot and what it means for any Ukraine peace deal. And we join a scientific expedition in the ICC's around Antarctica. Our Miles O'Brien takes us on board the journey to understand a massive melting glacier and how a U.S.-backed road and rail project in an unstable region could unlock trade with Central Asia. There are still a lot of hurdles to get over before the White House's vision of peace

becomes a reality on the ground here in Armenia, on the border with Iran. Welcome to the NewsHour. Millions across the country will ring in the new year tonight with bubbly drinks, loved ones, and the warmest clothes they can find. That's because Arctic temperatures and heavy snow are sweeping across large parts of the U.S. Plows in upstate New York have been working to clear roadways for New Year's travelers as forecasters worn of squalls across the region. In New York City, the estimated one million. billion people who are expected to gather in Times Square tonight are facing the coldest ball drop in nearly a decade. And a dose of Arctic air is keeping temperatures low from the Midwest to the Appalachians.

Meantime, on the West Coast, California is bracing for heavy rains and the risk of flooding. Just days after a Christmas week storm soaked many parts of the state. In many parts of the world, of course, it is already 2026. Auckland, New Zealand was the first major city to ring in the new year with a fireworks display, a full 18 hours before it strikes midnight on the U.S. East Coast. Australia followed a few hours later. Celebrations in Sydney were mixed with mourning of the 15 lives lost in this month's Bondi Beach shooting. Before the fireworks, the city held a candlelit moment of silence.

And a change in Hong Kong's celebration. The city held a light show, canceling its renowned fireworks display over the harbor after a massive building fire killed at least 161 people there last month. President Trump says he's removing National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, at least for now. In a social media post, Trump, quote, wrote, we will come back perhaps in a much different and stronger form when crime begins to soar again, only a question of time.

Troops had already left Los Angeles after a judge's ruling blocked their deployment earlier this month. And while forces had been sent to Chicago and Portland, they were largely kept off the streets as legal challenges play out. President Trump has issued his first vetoes since returning to office,

rejecting two bills that passed Congress unanimously. Critics say both were vetoes about revenge. One bill supported a water pipeline in Colorado. Mr. Trump said it was a drain on federal taxpayers. But Republican congresswoman Lauren Bobert and the state's two Democratic senators questioned that, saying Trump retaliated for disputes related to Jeffrey Epstein and election denier Tina Peters. The other bill would give Native Americans in Florida with one tribe more land control. The president has blamed that tribe for not backing his immigration policies.

It will largely be up to Republican leaders in Congress to decide if they want to override those vetoes. Newly released transcripts and video show that former special counsel, Jack Smith, told lawmakers that the January 6th riot, quote, does not happen without President Trump. That's from a closed-door hearing earlier this month with the House Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers grilled Smith for eight hours earlier this month over two criminal investigations he launched into Trump. One focused on the president's role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, while the other related to classified documents after Trump's first term ended. Here's Smith in his opening statement. The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine.

But the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts. Smith faced questions about his decision to gather, phone records of other Republican members of Congress as part of the investigation. Republicans decried that as weaponization of the justice system against Trump and his allies. Here's an exchange with Smith about that. To the extent the members of Congress and senators are up in arms that this happened to them and they're seeking accountability, you know, who should be held accountable for answering

these questions? Well, I think who should be accountable? for this is Donald Trump. These records are our people in the case of the senators. Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings. He chose to do that. The release of the video and transcript comes after Smith had initially asked that his hearing be done in public. A Trump-appointed judge dismissed the classified documents case in 2024, and the 2020 election case was dropped after he won the election. In Iowa, a win for Democrats in a holiday special election for the state's Senate.

Renee Hardman's victory in a suburban Des Moines district blocks Republicans from regaining a supermajority in that chamber. That means Republican Governor Kim Reynolds will need some Democratic support to approve appointees. Hardman's victory also makes her the first black woman to be elected to the Iowa State Senate. Another brazen heist in Europe. This one in Western Germany, involving tens of millions of dollars in cash and property stolen from a savings bank. Police in the city of Gelsakirken released a photo showing where the suspects drilled through a basement wall to access thousands of safety deposit boxes. The bank estimates that more than 95 percent of its boxes were broken into.

As news of the heist broke out, hundreds of concerned, customers flooded the scene. As of earlier today, no arrests have been made. Wall Street posted a lackluster day to end what was otherwise a banner year for stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 300 points. The NASDAQ lost more than 170 points. The SMP 500 fell for a fourth straight session, but it was up more than 16 percent for the year. Former U.S. Senator and Colorado Congressman Ben Nighthorse Campbell has died. A member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, Campbell was the only Native American in the House when he served there and also the only one in the Senate during his two terms there. He was known as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal who started as a Democrat but switched parties in 1995.

Campbell led a multifaceted life, previously working as a teamster, a jeweler, and a rancher. He even competed in the 1964 Olympics in judo. His family says Campbell died of natural causes. Ben Nighthorse Campbell was 92 years old. And actor Isaiah Whitlock Jr., best known for playing the corrupt politician Clay Davis on HBO's The Wire, has died. The people know what I've done for West Baltimore in this city as a whole. They know these charges ain't nothing but BS. Whitlock's character was a fan favorite, known for his frequent usage of a profanity starting with S.H.

Fans would often approach him on the street to mimic his drawn-out delivery. That was one of more than 120 acting credits, which included a recurring role on the political satire, Veep, plus multiple films with director Spike Lee, like 25th Hour and Black Klansmen. Whitlock's manager announced his death on social media, citing a short illness. Isaiah Whitlock, Jr. was 71 years old. Still to come on the news hour, an unprecedented flood of misinformation prompts the editors of Politifact to dub 2025 the year of the lies. Photojournalists who covered the most important stories of the year reflect on capturing some of 2025's most impactful images. And a social worker gives her brief but spectacular take on building hope and better futures for foster kids.

This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington, headquarters of PBS News. A U.S. official tells NewsHour that the CIA has assessed Ukraine was not targeting Vladimir Putin in a recent drone attack, a claim that Putin made to President Trump and that Trump seemed to accept earlier this week. And this afternoon, a President Trump social media post suggested he agreed with what Europeans argue tonight that it's Russia that is blocking a peace deal with Ukraine. Nick Schifrin begins with Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine at a tense diplomatic moment. Russia's New Year's Eve welcome in Ukraine's third largest city on Moscow's battlefield of choice, civilian infrastructure. Where the victims were the vulnerable, the elderly, four-legged family members, and a seven-month-old infant. By day, their homes blackened the now-home list spent New Year's night displaced. A Christmas tree, the only thing left, standing in a ruined apartment.

We've been left out on the street. Any family could find themselves in the same situation. Everyone is equal now. No one knows where the next strike will land. And today, about 400 miles to the north, Russia's top general threatened more strikes. Valerie Gerasimov told troops posted near Ukraine's northeast border that their mission was to seize what he called buffer zones inside two Ukrainian provinces. even though the current U.S. peace plan calls for Russia to withdraw entirely from those exact provinces.

The president of the Russian Federation ordered to continue expanding the line of defense next year. But it's not defense that Russia is playing when it comes to information operations. Moscow released these images today of what it claimed were Ukrainian drones that targeted of Vladimir Putin residents, complete with a map of the drone's alleged route. Putin home in northwest Russia, exposed by former opposition leader Alexi Navalny's foundation as 75,000 square feet, located on a property that spans 370 lakeside acres. And according to another Putin critic, home to Putin's secretive family with Alina Kabaevah.

Putin alleged the attack on the phone with Trump earlier this week, and Trump accepted it. It's a delicate period of time. This is not the right time. It's one thing to be offensive because they're offensive. It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that and can't do it. But tonight, a U.S. official confirms to PBS NewsHour that the CIA has concluded Ukraine was not targeting Putin's residence.

A person familiar with the meeting, says CIA director John Ratcliffe briefed that conclusion to President Trump. And this afternoon, President Trump posted this story with the headline, Russia is the one standing in the way of peace. Today, European leaders agreed. Top EU diplomat Kayakhalis wrote it was a, quote, deliberate distraction, and Moscow aims to derail real progress toward peace by Ukraine and its Western partners. Senior European officials told PBS NewsHour today the story was a, quote, false flag,

and a 100 percent lie. And a French official said its intelligence concluded the claim had no credible evidence. And for perspective on all this, we turn to Angela Stent. He is the former national intelligence officer for Russia, author of Putin's world, Russia Against the West and With the Rest, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington. Angela Stent, thank you very much. Welcome back to the News Hour.

So let's talk about this new CIA assessment. Of course, the U.S. has sensors that can detect drones. It has relationships with its Ukrainian partners. Talk us through what would go into this assessment just in the last few days. So they would be looking very carefully at the path of the drones. Now, we have to say that the Novgorod region, which is near where Putin's residences, is home to a number of defense-related industries, including drone production. So it's quite understandable that the Ukrainians might have wanted to target that,

given all the bombardment that they've been experiencing in the past months and even as you said yourself tonight, New Year's Eve. And so that would have been the assessment looking at the path of these drones. I watched the Russian footage, and of course it's really, you know, they show you drones, but it doesn't show you exactly where it's located. So it would have been really being very specific about what the location was and concluding that, yes, there were probably Ukrainian drones in the area, again, targeting these defense-related industries,

but certainly not targeting Putin's own residence. So given that, is it possible that Vladimir Putin that Russian intelligence thought or believed that these drones were, in fact, aimed at him? Well, I find that rather difficult to believe. I think that Russian intelligence services are pretty talented at figuring out where the drones are going, but it's quite possible someone could have misreported it,

or they could have conflated various things. And they might have told Putin that. That's quite plausible, too. I mean, what happens inside the Kremlin is clearly a black box, and so we can only speculate about that. And so, therefore, would the U.S. intelligence community conclude to Donald Trump, to the president, that Putin was lying to him on the phone, or could the assessment be that, hey, Russia might have thought that these drones were heading there,

so he wasn't specifically lying to you, Mr. President? It could have been either of those things, I think, depending on who was talking to him. But the very fact that he has now posted on social media, that, you know, Russia is the obstacle here. He's reversed what he said when he first spoke to President Putin, and Putin told him that they had targeted, that they tried to assassinate him, which is what he told him. I think he would, he now understands that this wasn't true. and he is now beginning to understand perhaps that Vladimir Putin really doesn't want to sign any peace agreement with Ukraine and that the reason he told President Trump

that the Ukrainians had tried to assassinate him was to try and persuade President Trump that Russia had every right to keep hitting Ukraine. So let's talk about that reversal, as you just called it. We did hear President Trump basically accept Putin's story. Now, as you said, posting this story that the New York posted about how Putin is blocking peace efforts. Let's talk about the intelligence community for one second.

How significant is it that President Trump, who has doubted the IC in public in the past, seem to accept CIA Director Ratcliffe's assessment that, yes, boss, look, it's not what you thought. It's not what Putin told you, but it's actually this. It must have been pretty convincing evidence. And I think, you know, fortunately, he clearly trusts the,

the wisdom of his CIA director and his judgment. And there must have been enough people around him to convince him that he should accept what Director Rattler said. So given all this, what do you think would be the impact on the talks, given that President Trump is now effectively rejecting the story that, as you've been saying, Putin inserted into the narrative in order to kind of break up the talks or break up the momentum of the talks? So now it will be up to President Trump, I think, to discuss this with his chief negotiators

currently, which is Stephen Whitkoff and Jared Kushner, who've been talking to Putin, were just recently there, and so that they might pull back, I think, from trying to still persuade the Ukrainians that they should be willing to make some, what they call a land swap. They had President Zelensky with them in Marilago in Florida this weekend and apparently did agree on a peace plan which would not have involved Ukraine doing that. But from what we've heard previously, certainly from Mr. Whitkoff, he has believed that the only way that you'll get to peace, and really the only obstacle is if Ukraine gives up territory to Russia, that Russia

doesn't control. That's not true. Putin is after much more than territory. And so maybe there now has to be, I think, an agreement, a consensus between the president and his chief negotiators and also Secretary of State Rubio, that in fact Russia is the obstacle to peace and that Putin has just been playing them along because he does not want the Trump administration to impose more sanctions on Russia or reverse itself on supplying Ukraine with certain weapons, which would enable the Ukrainians to push back against the Russians more effectively. And very briefly, because I only have about 40 seconds left.

You just mentioned weapons. The U.S. has restrained some weapons to Ukraine. What's been the impact for Ukraine's ability to have leverage both on the front lines, but crucially at the negotiating table? This has reduced Ukraine's own leverage. President Zelensky has spent much of 2025, in essence, negotiating with President Trump to make sure that the U.S. doesn't fully withdraw its support from Ukraine. And so were Ukraine to be able to obtain some of these weapons, that would certainly increase President Zelensky's leverage. Angela Stent, thank you very much. Thank you.

activities, it's melting fast, and threatens to raise global sea levels. That's why a team of nearly 40 researchers is embarking on a two-month journey to study it. And, of course, our science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, is with the expedition. He joins us now from an icebreaker in the southern ocean on his way to one of the most remote locations on the planet. Miles, let me just start with where are you and how close are you to this glacier? 60 degrees latitude, Lisa, about 160 west of longitude, right in the middle of the southern ocean. And normally, this would be a wild ride. But we've had a very benign cruise so far, having left New Zealand a little less than a week ago,

chugging along at about 10 or 11 knots, making our way down to West Antarctica and the Thwaites Glacier. And the fact that I can have a communication at all with you like this is modern Marvel of technology, the fact that we have satellite-based internet systems that give us this kind of bandwidth, which we will have with us for the entirety of this scientific expedition. So it's an opportunity to report on an urgent scientific mission in real time, and that was something I couldn't resist. Well, we're happy to have you on, but I want to ask you, this is not the first voyage, of course, to Antarctica. for scientific purpose, but what's different about this one?

Well, this glacier is what's different. The Thwaites Glacier, as you pointed out, has a tremendous capacity to potentially raise sea levels all over the globe by about 10 feet if it melts and collapses and the ice behind it flows into the sea. It is unique because it is unstable on a good day, it sits below sea level,

and as it happens where the glacier means, the ocean, climate change has changed the ocean currents such that warm water is lapping right up against it. And what is happening right now is it's being eaten away from beneath. And as that happens, it accelerates because it's going downhill below sea level. So what scientists want to know is what's the temperature of that water? How quickly is that melt occurring? And it could it be accelerating in ways they can't predict right now? And has ever going to gotten data from this part of the world ever.

Well, that's an astounding thing. I think the question, maybe on a lot of people's minds, though, is I know you're trying to pinpoint a little bit more about how long this glacier can go, what exactly its situation is right now, but what are the parameters here? You know, it obviously would take a long time for this entire glacier to sink into the sea, but it doesn't have to raise the ocean level 10 feet to have an impact around the globe. What are we talking about generally? Well, that's true, and that's the big question mark.

If you don't know what's happening beneath that glacier, you really can't make a prediction or forecast as to what lies ahead. So scientists would like to drill a hot water drill hole right at that spot where the glacier meets the land and the sea. They call it the grounding line. They want to drop down several instruments to get some instantaneous data. And then they want to leave behind a mooring that will be attached to a device can all. offer real-time, constant data of the temperatures at that location over time. That will give them the insights as to how worried we should be about Thwaites. The thought is, if it's not an accelerating process, this is not something we have to worry

about for quite some time. But what if it does begin a cascade of acceleration? That's a big question and quite a troubling one which scientists hope to answer. This for you is a lifelong goal, and you are key. keeping people abreast of what happens through entries, journal entries, you'll be talking to us. But I wonder what in particular are you curious about when you get there? Well, I'm curious to see science in this very rigorous, difficult environment.

This is a two-month voyage that comes down to just a day or so of key science when you consider that drill site. All these scientists work so hard and so long with a very long with a very narrow window of opportunity to do their work. So for them, it is the ultimate game day, kind of the Super Bowl. And for me, as a reporter covering science and climate, I'm thinking of it as kind of a journalistic Super Bowl. And I've even got the right, you know, NFL-style headset to cover it.

So I'm very excited to be there. I'm very excited to see science that has urgency and great relevance, not to just a few people, but literally the whole planet. The ever-intrepid Miles O'Brien. Thank you, and we will keep in close touch. You're welcome, Lisa. Look forward to it. Today in Cambodia's capital, soldiers arrived to a hero's welcome after they were released from five months of captivity by neighboring Thailand.

There's a tenuous ceasefire between those two countries. It is one of eight conflicts that President Trump has claimed to have solved since he began his second term. Those range from Tensen's tackled in his first term to ongoing diplomatic disputes to wars where he has personally helped negotiate ceasefires. One of those is between Azerbaijan and Armenia, bitter rivals since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Their leaders met the president in the Oval Office this summer. Special correspondent, Simon Ostrath. and producer Katsya Patten traveled to the Armenian border with Iran to assess whether that agreement

could lead to peace facilitated by a corridor named after President Trump himself. A picturesque river valley cuts through the Caucasus mountains. On one side, the Islamic Republic of Iran. On the other, Armenia, a country that was recently defeated in a war with Azerbaijan. An uneasy peace has held since an agreement was signed in Washington in August, backed by Trump.

But the deal's survival depends on Azerbaijan gaining access to this strip of Armenian territory along Iran's border. That's because these Armenian lands separate Azerbaijan from its exclave of Nakhchivan, currently reachable only by air or overland through Iran. Enter the Trump route for international peace and prosperity, known as Tripp, a proposed to turn this high-security border zone into a transit corridor for rail and road traffic, linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan. This railway line has been abandoned since the outbreak of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

And the agreement reached between the two countries, with the help of the Trump administration, could dramatically alter the geopolitical map of this strategic region. But there are still a lot of hurdles to get over before, before the White House's vision of peace becomes a reality on the ground here in Armenia on the border with Iran. As with many Trump foreign policy initiatives, this deal isn't just about transport or cessation of hostilities. It envisions a raft of commercial opportunities, including a U.S. Armenian joint venture

that will operate the Trump route on a for-profit basis, an AI data center powered by Nvidia chips and Dell servers, cooperation on nuclear energy, and in Azerbaijan, Exxon Mobile plans to explore for gas. But there are complexities to overcome. The region's terrain presents significant engineering challenges, and the proposed corridor would operate right under the nose of Iran, which the Trump administration bombed recently. On top of that, Armenia outsources its border security to Russia under a mutual defense treaty, something we found out the hard way when a Russian patrol stopped to check our paperwork.

What's your agency called again? It's American, correct? At this time, I am issuing a warning. Your warning has been received. We just got stopped by a Russian FSB border patrol. They actually manned this border on behalf of Armenia, and they let us off with a warning, said that we shouldn't be filled. so close to the border, but they were really interested in what we were doing here.

The Trump route for international peace and prosperity is supposed to be manned by American contractors to manage this route. Are they going to have to contend with the Russian border guards here as well? And how's that going to work? I think that that hasn't been figured out yet, and it's just one of the challenges that this peace plan still faces. This American proposal is just the latest in a series of developments that have marginalized Russian influence in the South Caucasus. Russian peacekeepers were swept aside when Azerbaijan took control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in 2023.

Stretched thin by its war in Ukraine, Moscow didn't intervene, a decision that led to the exodus of Karabakh's Armenian population. Russia's role inside Armenia appears now to be at risk too, as polls show public sentiment towards Moscow plummeting. This Armenian resident of the border area told me he felt betrayed and wanted Russian troops out under any future settlement. They're traitors, not allies. Tripp is about much more than a regional transport link.

It's the critical missing segment in a proposed European corridor known as the Middle Passage. which would open western trade routes to Central Asia, a region rich in rare earth minerals and other resources. A direct connection through NATO-ali Turkey would allow the five landlocked Central Asian states to avoid routes through Russia, China, or Iran. Officials from both Armenia and Azerbaijan seem eager to play up the commercial potential for America. Here's Hikmahjiv, assistant to the president of Azerbaijan. But United States companies and the United States private sector will also gather a tremendous opportunity. and using withdrawal entering Central Asian market and including the rare earth material and some other business activities.

Therefore, we mean situation for everybody, including the United States companies. Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostinian argues that a U.S. pledge of $145 million in financial support, which includes funding for trip and for enhancing Armenia's border capacities, is part of what will help make any peace more durable. There is an agreement between Armenian and U.S. Armenian and U.S. government that we will be establishing a joint company together which will have a right to develop the infrastructure.

It has a huge potential for regional but also global logistic chains. What's clear is that a lot of the details still have to be worked out. But peace, if it sticks, would benefit Azerbaijan and Armenia and the wider region. There is one big loser, of course, and that's Russia. As America's footprint increases in the South Caucasus, Russia's will decrease. And it seems like Moscow is already on the back foot. According to the agreement that Armenia and Russia signed back in the 90s, simultaneously when Armenian border guards will increase their capacities, a number of Russian border

keepers should be decreased. And we already have these examples. I'm just still a little bit confused about what's going to happen to the Russians. They're staying or not staying? We're on or off. Relations with Russia are obviously a sensitive topic. Yerevan doesn't want to anger its longtime ally prematurely. But since the signing of the agreement in Washington,

the Trump administration has achieved something Russia never could, an end to the skirmishes that plagued the Armenian-Azerbaijani border until last summer. I will divide the regional history in two parts until the 8th of August and after the 8th of August. A lot of things have tremendously changed in the region of the South Caucasus. Since the independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan, these two countries were literally in the war. But now we have real peace on the ground. Time will tell if trip ever gets built or if a final peace settlement ending the war is ever signed. But for now, it appears the U.S. is seizing an opportunity to reshape a region,

long dominated by Moscow. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Simon Ostrovsky in Magri, Armenia. On this New Year's Eve, we're looking back at this unprecedented political year that saw a flood of claims and misinformation. For the past 15 years, The fact checkers at the nonprofit Politifact have sorted through hundreds of statements by politicians to name the number one lie of the year. But this year, the editors have done something a little different. Instead, dubbing 2025 the year of the lies.

I recently explored this decision with Politifact editor-in-chief, Katie Sanders, and a warning. This conversation contains images of starvation that some viewers may find disturbing. Katie, let's start with that change. Why is this the year of the lies? Well, we've been doing this for a long time, and the volume and severity of the inaccurate claims was just overwhelming. And we felt that it was insufficient to name just one our lie of the year. So we wanted to catch people's attention and take stock of the times we're in. And so we thought renaming it and giving it a different purpose might do that.

As you're implying, there were almost too many lies for you. to talk about just one. Many of them revolved around President Trump and his administration, everything from words about tariffs to the Venezuelan boat strikes. But we're going to try and focus on a couple here, starting with health misinformation. President Trump and his Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about vaccine safety at some point. They also had a news conference in September, in which they said that pregnant women should not use Tylenol. To this day, the White House website says it's a, quote, fact that Tylenol is linked to autism.

What are the facts? It's not. This is another example of the administration running with associations and unproven research that has not been corroborated elsewhere. And we've spoken to numerous health groups and medical professionals and experts since that September news conference who have stuck to what the research. conclusions are, which is that this is one of the few over-the-counter medications that are available to pregnant women to manage pain during pregnancy. This one really stuck out in a year of

countless statements about health and health policy that were not rooted in fact and created a lot of confusion, frustration among providers and patients on the ground. On to immigration, this has been a big part of this Trump administration deportations. The Trump administration has said that they are focused on the worst of the worst. Does that claim hold up? I think that when you look at the data, it is pretty clear that that impression is not reflected. They are arresting violent criminals, but the majority of people who are being detained and then deported are people who are in the country illegally but did not commit criminal activities. I think almost 73 percent of people who have been detained did not have criminal convictions.

So it's clear that the Trump campaign and the Trump administration has been framing it one way. But when you look at the statistics and you read countless anecdotes and videos of people who are being affected by this policy, it's clear that this is not true. Most people who are being affected are not what they had described as violent criminals short-handed as the worst of the worst. You also allowed readers to vote for what they saw as the number one lie of the year. And they chose some words by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from July, in which he said at that time that there was no starvation in Gaza. What's the context for that? The context was over the summer, there were a lot of visuals coming out of Gaza,

showing people who were emaciated. And this wasn't just visual evidence, but there were human rights organizations and other influential groups that were documenting starvation. in that part of the world as a result of the Israeli actions. And so that got a pants on fire rating from us because it was not only wrong, it was ridiculous. It was contrary to all available evidence. Now, you are aware that there is a conversation coming from President Trump about whether there is media bias against him.

He says that there is. And most of your claims here that you've looked at or that you say are lies or falsehoods are from the Trump administration and others in power, how do you gut-check yourself to make sure that you're not biased or you're not being fed a narrative that you're following? We check ourselves a few ways. We check both sides of the political debate. There were examples of Democratic officials, Hakeem Jeffries, Governor J.B. Pritzker and Illinois, who were on our Reader's Choice ballot for saying some things that were clearly false.

So we call it both ways. And I would just say as the editor of Politifact, we receive a number of pitch. which is from what the Trump administration is saying on a daily basis. And we're very selective in what we choose to pursue. We can't get to everything. And so I think there is a serious volume difference coming from the White House and other places. But we've been covering President Trump as a candidate or an official for a decade. And so that's not very different from our experience.

Thinking about this idea of the Year of the Lie, what are the stakes about facts in this country, right now. The stakes are high for facts and the erosion of information integrity. And one of the points I made in my opening column was that, yes, we're spotlighting several statements from the Trump administration. But the lows of the year for political rhetoric and influential speech are not the White House's alone. We're contending with a really fraught online information environment where AI slop is abundant, misleading out of context narratives abound. And you just can't believe what you see. And we worry that people are too numb to the drumbeat of misinformation. They've tuned it out. And that is very dangerous, frankly, for us to be in. And so I hope that our year of the

lies catches people's attention and reminds them why it's important to improve media literacy and pause before taking everything at face value. And this is why we're so happy that you're talking to us and why we will clearly pay attention to your work next year as well. Katie Sanders, Politifact. Thank you so much. Thank you. Tonight we're also highlighting our annual review of some of the year's biggest images, stories through photography. We hear from four photojournalists, among them.

They documented life on the front lines in Ukraine, major changes in immigration enforcement in the U.S., the historic election of a new pope, and more. It's part of our ongoing series on arts and culture, Canvas. My name is Mario Tama, and I'm a staff photographer with Getty Images. My name is Yvgeny Maladka. I'm Ukrainian photojournalist. I'm working currently for the Associated Press as a chief photographer here in Kiev. I'm Yaranardi.

I'm a staff photographer for Reuters. and I'm based in Rome. My name is Victor Blue. I'm a freelance photojournalist, and I'm based in New York City. The morning of January 7th started out ominously. I was awoken at 3 a.m.

by the sound of the Santana winds, and the Pacific Palisades fire broke out later that morning. By that evening, I was covering the Eaton fire in Pasadena and Altadena. I never imagined that I'd be covering two major fires simultaneously on the same day, burning through communities here in Los Angeles.

As photojournalists, our role is to act as the eyes of the public. I think of my job is to be there on the ground, documenting what I find, what I see, but not just the flames, not just the destruction. I believe it's our duty to try to capture the human toll, the human element. It's been a intense and historic year for our country's relationship to its immigration and to immigrants and the immigrants that make up our country. And it's been gratifying to have been able to spend a lot of time covering that. And the big change is the hyper-aggressive focus on capturing and removing folks with various levels of status. And there was like a flattening of folks in either you lived here, you didn't. belong or you don't. And the aggressive enforcement of that perspective, I think, surprised a lot

of the country and I think definitely is a historic shift for our society. 2024 was the beginning of the war of the drones of massive, massive use. But this year, it's increased in three or four times higher the using of drones. Both sides, Ukrainians or Russians, use different type of these drones to target each other. It's really hard nowadays to photograph what's going on at the battlefield and to show because of the dangerous and the security situation because of the trumps. I'm constantly coming back and forth for the rehabilitation stories because I know that many of our soldiers

who return from the battlefield with wounds and they are trying to live a normal life. This is so important for me as a Ukrainian to talk as much stories as possible about old Ukrainians about and what is happening with Ukraine nowadays and how we live under the rockets, under these drones,

trying to live a normal life And this is our reality. Covering the Pope death and the conclave and then the election of the new Pope is one of the most important stories that I ever covered. Even if you are secular, it's really, it's something big.

It's something that touch all over the world. There's one shot that I really, really love that I took from the top of St. Peter's Basilica. You can see a million of people. people in a totally silence. And this was one of the deepest moment that I ever live in my life. Just the silent. I remember the silence. When Pope Leo was elected and he came out from the balcony, I was really surprised because I spent the last month thinking about who would be the next Pope, and I never thought about him, to be honest.

I can see people really welcoming to him. They really want to know him, touch him, especially touch him. Most of the time my picture are about hands, hands touching other hands, Pope hands. I love this side of the story. I remember the morning that the National Guard troops arrived in L.A. Although that day started peacefully, it eventually turned into chaos, and you're trying to just maintain constant situational awareness. It's a little bit hard to describe, but you're kind of running on instinct and on feel.

I had heard of a major federal immigration raid happening at a cannabis farm out in rural Ventura County. This was like a large scale, almost like military-style raid. And so members of the community showed up and were protesting out in this rural farmland. It was a striking contrast between federal agents in gas masks and helmets with less lethal munitions standing in this pastoral farmland with protesters on the other side. And it was just something I never imagined that I would witness. The agents and the migrants are the two great protagonists in this trauma. As photojournalists, we're standing back kind of trying to understand both of those kind of categories of people, trying to communicate faithfully and accurately the experience they're having as they interact in this way.

I'm not there to celebrate one side of this debate and I'm not there to demonize the other side of the debate. I'm there to help readers understand how complex and how three-dimensional and how new nuanced everybody involved is. I'm not trying to make the decision for anybody what they think or feel about any of these issues. under her care. This is due in part to a chronic shortage of foster families, especially in rural areas. Long-distance placements are stretching a child welfare system that aims to help youth navigate sudden loss of homes, schools, friends, pets. Davis shares her brief but spectacular

take on building hope for better futures. Foster parents are one of the most important roles of child welfare. If we don't have placement for these kids, they are in the office. They go to shelters, they go into group homes. So we really have to have foster parents that are willing to step up and take these kids that are dealing with trauma and just need somebody to love on them. I work with Oklahoma Human Services and Child Welfare,

and I am a permanency planning specialist. The range for the kids we work with are newborn to 18 years old. They are dealing with a trauma. They really need somebody that is going to just stick with them and get through the hard time. We are coming in on the hardest day in their lives, so I don't want them to feel like they're just another case and client for me. I want them to know that I'm a support for them and I'm willing to help them in any way possible. The questions that I get on the first visit really depend on the age.

It's, am I going to see my mom and dad? Am I going to see my sibling? When am I going to have a visitation? How long is this going to take? Am I ever going home to mom or dad? We're a stranger to them. We're coming in at a point to where they don't understand what's going on, why they were taken from their parents. parents. Leaving their family is a big one, absolutely, but it's also leaving their church,

their friends, their other family members. Sometimes they have dogs and cats that they're really close to. It's a whole new identity going to a new foster placement. On hard days, I always go back to think about my family and think about what kind of worker would I want them to have if I was in that situation, just because, I mean, this could happen to anybody. Foster parents are one of the most important roles of child welfare. It is a lot of work to be a foster parent, but the reward outweighs that. My name is Caitlin Davis, and this is my brief but spectacular take on helping kiddos. You can find additional brief but spectacular episodes at pbs.org slash news hour slash brief. American pianist and composer Chloe Flower is on a mission to get young people into

classical music. She's doing it by collaborating with rap, house, and pop stars and creating her own genre of music, a style she's coined Popsicle. While Flower may be the new face of classic music with a contemporary take, her new Christmas album honors the female composers who came before her. Independent Television News correspondent Amelia Jeanne has this story. pianist and composer who collaborates with house rap and pop artists a musical activist on a mission to draw young people into classical music Chloe Flower has created not just her own label but her own genre of the same name I do hip-hop but I'm not a hip-hop pianist I do house but I'm not a house

pianist. So for me, explaining to labels and to people what my sound is, I just thought it was easier to say popular music and classical music, mixed together, popsicle. She began playing piano over tracks for social media, and after Cardi B spotted her version of Kendrick Lamar's humble, she made Chloe the centerpiece of her Grammy set.