PBS News Hour - Full Show - June 20, 2025 – PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: June 21, 2025

Friday on the News Hour, European leaders meet with Iran's foreign minister as the war with Israel rages on and mass protests unfold in Tehran, a brutal heatwave blankets much of the U.S. with some areas seeing temperatures topping 100 degrees and we sit down with Carla Hayden, the first female and African American librarian of Congress, who was fired by President Trump. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Good evening. I'm Jeff Bennett. And I'm Amna Nawaz. On the news hour tonight, European leaders meet with Iran's foreign minister as the war with Israel rages on and mass protests unfold in Tehran. A brutal heat wave blankets much of the U.S., with some areas seeing temperatures topping 100 degrees. And we sit down with Carla Hayden, the first female and African-American librarian of Congress and who was fired by President Trump. Free public libraries are part of a civic infrastructure that we need to have a safe democracy. Welcome to the News Hour. It's now one full week since Israel launched a

punishing campaign of airstrikes against Iran and its nuclear infrastructure. Iran has responded with its own missile strikes, but to far lesser effect. President Trump today reiterated his desire to negotiate with Iran within a two-week window he set yesterday, as the U.S. marshals its forces in support of the Israeli operations. Today, in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa and Iranian missile strike. The moment captured by an eyewitness, leaving residents terrified. Local authorities say over a dozen people were injured. In southern Israel's largest city, Bersheba, building shattered by an Iranian missile that struck at dawn,

leaving a trail of devastation. Right now we're in the south, another place that was got hit by a missile, six buildings behind me. I think now MDA games are searching each apartment to see if someone got heard. Air raid sirens echoed through Tel Aviv as the exchange of attacks between the two countries intensified. Twelve miles south, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inspected damage to the Whitesman Institute of Science and vowed to continue the war. As long as it takes, that's the answer. As long as it takes, because we face an existential danger, a dual existential danger. In the Iranian capital of Tehran, a burnt Red Crescent ambulance was put on display in a prominent city square.

It was hit by an earlier Israeli attack that killed three paramedics. And today, thousands took to the streets of Tehran and other cities after Friday prayers protesting Israel's attacks. Iranian state media showed smoke billowing near Iran's Arak nuclear facility. Israel has also launched attacks on Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities in Natanz, and Islam. but needs U.S. bunker buster bombs to target Fordo, Iran's enrichment facility that's buried deep within a mountain. President Trump said he will decide whether to push the U.S. into the conflict within the next two weeks. Today, speaking to reporters, he noted Israel lacks the military capacity to destroy fordo on its own.

They really have a very limited capacity. They could break through a little section, but they can't go down very deep. They don't have that capacity. And we'll have to see what happens. Maybe it won't be necessary. Congress has often abdicated its power to declare war over the last half century, delegating those powers to the president. But today, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement saying, the authority to declare war belongs solely to the United States Congress. President Trump and his administration must refrain from engaging an offensive military action in Iran without the explicit approval of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Today, the foreign ministers of Germany,

Britain and the European Union met their Iranian counterpart in Geneva to find a diplomatic way out of the conflict. After the meeting, they said Iran wants to continue talks, but the U.S. must be involved. The good result today is that we left the room with the impression that the Iranian side is basically prepared to continue talking about all the important issues. But above all, it is very important that the United States of America are involved in these negotiations a solution. But Iran's foreign minister says his country refuses to engage with the U.S. while the

Israeli attacks continue. We made it explicitly clear to them that as long as this aggression and invasion continues, there is absolutely no room for talk or diplomacy. Meantime, the human toll increases. In Tehran today, yet another funeral. And Israel identified a body recovered from the site of Iran's Sunday strike in the city of Batyam. It was 30-year-old Ukrainian Maria Peshkarova. She's the mother of seven-year-old Nastia Borik, who was being treated for leukemia in Israel. She was also killed in the strike.

Husband and father, Artem Borik, is fighting Russia on the Ukrainian front lines. The family lost three other members that day. They had come to Israel in search for a safety they couldn't find, escaping one war only to become victims of another. All week long, we've been talking to experts on Iran's nuclear program, its leadership, and on U.S. foreign policy as President Trump weighs entering the war. But speaking directly to people inside Iran is nearly impossible right now as the regime clamps down on communications and spreads fear in communities. Tonight, we're joined from Los Angeles by Nazanin Boniadi. She's an actress and a human rights activist focused on Iran where she was born and which her family fled after the 1979 revolution. Nazanin, welcome

Welcome back to the NewsHour. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me on now. So let's talk about the people of Iran. At this moment, when they're facing both Israeli airstrikes and a weakened, oppressive regime, many of them have tried to rise up against in the past. What do you hear from people you talk to? What are they telling you? There's a paradox inside Iran. There's a deep sense of despair because the Iranians are caught between foreign firepower and a regime that simply doesn't care about them. They would soon see that the people burn and die and lives destroyed than to give up power. This is a

people who are caught between hope and despair in this moment. But as much as they oppose the regime, they need to be able to organize. This is the worst internet shutdown we've seen since the November, the bloody November protests of 2019. Because unfortunately, this regime, in the first instance, unleashes its fury, first and foremost, on its own people. And that's what's happening right now. Dissidents are in real danger. My friend, prominent rap artist, dissident rap artist,

Tumar Sala'i, just yesterday, was detained by 30 plainclothes militia and interrogated violently for five hours. hours. Prisoners, political prisoners are in grave danger, thousands of political prisoners inside Iran. There's a university student Ali UNICE, who has been imprisoned in Evin on spurious national security charges for the past five years, who was abducted from Evin yesterday, according to his siblings. And the list goes on and on. But what I'm hearing more than anything is this echo for change, for democracy. But how can they do that under bombardment? So tell me more about that call for change and what people are telling you about how they see that happening.

Because we hear from experts who are following this, the regime has been weakened, they're on the back foot. What do people on the ground in Iran want to see happen next? That's interesting. You say that, Amna, because you're exactly right, regime officials are doing an about face. The doctrine says the Islamic Republic doctrine is very much death to America, death to Israel. There's nothing pro-Iran or long-lived Iran in the doctrine. And yet, in the recent days, in these past few days, you've seen them do an about-face. They, Khomeini, the Supreme Leader and former Foreign Minister Jabord Zarif, are appealing to a sense of Iranian nationalism because they know they've lost the people. The people care deeply about Iran, but we have to separate the Islamic Republic from Iran because the most of Iranians,

Iranian people believe that it's an occupying force. A Gamman survey in 2022 revealed this showing, it's a scientific survey that was done with a sample size of 200,000, of which 150,000, 57,000 were inside Iran. Eighty-one percent of respondents said they don't want the Islamic Republic. 15 percent said they do want the Islamic Republic. Four percent were ambivalent. They didn't know. So the vast majority of Iranians still today will not rally behind the Islamic Republic flag. I urge Westerners, please, if you want to stand for Iran and the Iranian people and their sovereignty, please don't conflate that with the Islamic Republic's sovereignty. They are two different things. Do not raise the Islamic Republic's flag in your rallies. That is a slap in the face of

every dissident, every Iranian who has risked everything for freedom. Nazanin, on a more personal note, I know that you and your family have been watching this from afar with great concern, like so many others who fled after the revolution. You wrote about these conversations. with your father in particular in a recent peace for time. I just wonder how you're watching all of this, how he's watching this and how you're processing this moment in the minute or so we have left. My heart is torn into.

I love Iran deeply. I need to remove my emotions out of it because I want nothing more than to see Iran. But I want to see a free, democratic, just peaceful Iran. And so I know that that can't exist under the Islamic Republic. It definitely can't exist under bombardment.

So please, help the Iranian people achieve the self-determinism and determination that they, as their God-given right, is their right. And that's what I call on the international community to do. Nazanin Bonyadi. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. Thank you so much, Amna. We start the day's other headlines with a series of legal developments.

First up, a judge has ordered that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil be freed from the immigration detention center where he's been held since March. The Trump administration is trying to deport Khalil for engaging in pro-Palestinian protests, saying he's a threat to the nation's foreign policy. But the judge in New Jersey said Khalil is not a flight risk and is, quote, not a danger to the community, period, full stop. Khalil is a green card holder and a legal U.S. resident. He's not been charged with any crime.

Also today, a federal judge is blocking the Trump administration's efforts to prevent Harvard University from hosting international students. Today's order is a temporary victory for the school, which has been the target of government actions towards its tax-exempt status and billions of dollars in federal funding, among others. It comes, as President Trump said on social media, that his administration is nearing a deal with Harvard, saying school officials have, quote, acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations and appear to be committed to doing what's right.

In California, a federal judge set a Monday deadline for state officials to argue whether and how they'll challenge the Trump administration's use of the National Guard in Los Angeles. Last night, an appeals court said President Trump can retain federal control of California's forces for now. Trump deployed them earlier this month over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom amid protests against immigration raids. Vice President J.D. Vance is in L.A. tonight, where he's set to meet with federal law enforcement and Marines who were also deployed in response to the recent demonstrations. The Supreme Court sided with the fossil fuel and vaping industries today in a pair of 7-2 decisions. In one case, the justices decided to allow fuel producers to challenge California.

California's ability to set stricter emission standards than federal law typically allows. Oil and gas companies had argued that California's waiver from those federal standards hurts the gas-powered car industry. Separately, the court rejected a bid by the FDA to limit which courts vaping companies can use to challenge federal regulations. The justice has found that R.J. Reynolds' vapor company can pursue a case about e-cigarette marketing in the nation's Fifth Circuit. That court has been more friendly to the industry.

Anti-smoking groups say the ruling could hurt efforts to keep young people from vaping. The Trump administration sent layoff notices to hundreds more employees at Voice of America today. The cuts impacted 639 employees at the broadcaster and the U.S. agency that oversees it. According to a press release, that means some 1,400 people have now lost their jobs since March, or about 85 percent of its prior workforce. force. VOA began broadcasting to residents of Nazi Germany in the 1940s. But President Trump's senior advisor to the agency, Carrie Lake, says the layoffs are a, quote, long overdue effort to dismantle what she calls a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy. Turning overseas, at least 37

Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip today, some while trying to get food. Hospital officials in central Gaza say they received the bodies of 14 people, many of them died, in an Israeli airstrike on a home nearby. They say the others were killed as they tried to get food at an aid distribution site. Violence near such sites has become almost daily occurrences, with the Hamas-controlled health ministry

saying hundreds have been killed in recent weeks. In a statement provided to Reuters, Israel says it fired warning shots at suspected militants who approached its forces and then, quote, struck and eliminated the suspects with an aircraft. Lawmakers in the UK approved a bill today to legalize assisted dying, bringing it one step closer to becoming law.

The eyes of it, the eyes up it, a law. The legislation allows terminal patients over the age of 18 who have less than six months to live to choose to end their lives. Supporters argue that people with a terminal diagnosis should have the option of assisted dying, but opponents say the policy could be used to coerce vulnerable people. The bill now goes to the House of Lords who can delay or amend but not overrule today's measure. Such procedures are currently legal in a handful of countries, including Canada and Australia, plus 11 U.S. states. In southern Mexico, authorities are assessing the damage after Hurricane Eric barreled through the region, killing at least one person.

The storm toppled trees, downed power lines, and flooded streets. And officials say a one-year-old boy drowned in a swollen. River. Eric made landfall early yesterday as a Category 3 storm in a rural area between two resort towns. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power, but otherwise residents were spared the worst of the storm's wrath. On Wall Street today, stocks ended mixed in quiet post-holiday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 35 points on the day. The NASDAQ fell nearly 100 points or about half a percent. The S&P 500 also ended lower to close out the week. And Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is erupting again in rather dramatic fashion, shooting large fountains of lava up to 1,000 feet in the air.

The U.S. Geological Survey says this latest eruption began overnight and has not posed any threat to populated areas nearby. Kilauea is located on Hawaii's big island and is one of the world's most active volcanoes with dozens of eruptions since December. They usually last for about a day. Still to come, on the NewsHour, we sit down with the Librarian of Congress who President Trump fired. Jonathan K. Pappard and Ramesh Pannuru weigh in on the week's political headlines. And federal agents are denied access to Dodger Stadium in the latest immigration clash. This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington. And in the west from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

at Arizona State University. Today is the summer solstice, and much of the country is going to be baking in serious heat starting this weekend. A heat dome is expected to keep temperatures soaring above 90 degrees in many states. More than 200 million people will feel those effects, and tens of millions more are going to be grappling

with triple-digit heat. Our Stephanie Sy has our look at what you need to know about the days ahead. Jeff, here in Phoenix, where the high reached 117 degrees yesterday. Triple-digit heat at this time of year is not unusual. But places like Omaha, Albuquerque, and Denver are experiencing temperatures over 100 degrees today. Looking at the forecasts on these maps, you can see how tomorrow in particular,

many parts of the Central Plains and Upper Midwest are in that darker color, meaning dangerous heat. That's expected to spread to the East Coast in coming days. Matthew Capucci is a meteorologist with myradar.com, and he joins me now. Matthew, thanks so much for joining the program. So what should we know about this heat wave? Which parts of the country are going to be hit the hardest? How long will it last? Yeah, it's a very expansive long-duration heat event.

In fact, 220 million Americans will see temperatures over 90. About 35 million Americans seeing triple-digit heat. And we're not just talking to desert southwest. We're talking the eastern seaboard as well. The heat dome really starts to get established this weekend, Saturday into especially Sunday over parts of the Corn Belt, the Midwest, and then really is spreading all the way to the East Coast, lasting until, I'd say, Wednesday or Thursday, before we finally start to see some relief. Now, we talked about the heat in Arizona moments ago. Temperature is nearing 115 degrees. It's going to be a very long duration, significant heat events, and I really hope folks who are take precautions ahead of time. Yeah, and I'm glad you said that we're going to go more in depth into human health effects in a bit. But help us understand what the heat dome is and what's behind it.

Yeah, so we hear this term all the time of the summertime, the so-called heat dome. And essentially, heat dome is like this bulge in the atmosphere. The heat literally expands the atmosphere vertically. And so picture this force field of hot, dry, sinking air. It sinks, so it squishes any attempts at rising motion in cloud cover. And so we're not getting cloud cover. so more sunshine heats the ground. And it almost deflects all the weather systems away.

It's like this hot force field. So the jet stream is shunted farther north. It takes the storms with it. So really, we get this like bubble in the atmosphere where we're just seeing the temperatures bake for days on end with plentiful sunshine. And it kind of gets stuck in the atmosphere, too. So there's nothing to really move this along

until late in the week into, I'd say, Friday, Saturday. Matthew, how much of these extreme heat waves, heat domes have scientists attributed to climate change versus summer weather patterns that people may have experienced, say, 200 years ago? I love that distinction you made because really, you know, it is summertime, to your point.

We will see heat domes with or without climate change. We're always going to see heat events in the summertime. It'd be weird if we didn't. But what we're noticing is the scales are tipping more towards hotter heat events and less significant cold events. So in other words, the scale is kind of skewing towards more warm events.

They're longer in duration. they're more intense. They're more geographically expansive. And this sort of fits that pattern. It's a fingerprint of climate change. What we're really noticing, too, is warm overnight lows. A warmer atmosphere is a wetter atmosphere. And so we hold more moisture, and that traps temperatures overnight. And those warm overnight lows really exacerbate heat stress. Now, there's one point that folks sometimes make that that I find very interesting. A lot of folks say, hey, it was hotter back in the 1930s. 13 states still have all-time records that have stood since the 19th And that's true. But back in the 30s, we had something called the Dust Bowl, where overfarming, inveterate drought and incredibly hot temperatures combined to lead to this like insanely dry air mass that parked over the planes for the better part of a year. It's easier to get hot extremes when the temperatures, or rather when the air mass is very dry. So back then, yeah, you might have had warmer temperatures, but you're actually getting more heat energy in the atmosphere nowadays because there's that much more moisture in the air. So really, these heat events will continue getting more extreme and especially

the overnight lows are really concerning. Matthew Capucci withradar.com. Thank you so much for those insights, Matthew. Now, let's focus on the dangers of extreme heat, which is considered the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States. Local officials are warning people to take precautions, including in Chicago, where the heat is expected to get serious tomorrow. Mayor Brandon Johnson warned about the health risks and recalled a deadly heat wave the city experienced in 1995. Chicago knows better than any other city in America the danger of extreme weather, particularly extreme heat. In fact, we are one month away from the 30-year anniversary of the 1995 heat wave, the deadliest heat wave in American history. We lost more than 700 Chicagoans. Most of them were.

the elderly and the poor, it really challenged the city to recognize the danger of extreme heat so that we never see a tragedy like that occur again. For more on those dangers and key tips for dealing with the heat, we turn to Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University. Ashley, thank you so much for joining us. So we just heard from the mayor of Chicago reminding us that the elderly and the poor were particularly vulnerable in that heat wave of 95. Talk to us about what factors go into certain groups being at greater risk and what can be learned from previous deadly heat waves.

Sure. I mean, certainly our age populations, children, as the mayor pointed out, but also pregnant women. In many of these cases, what's happening is the body's ability to thermoregulate is not as efficient as it once was when someone was younger. If you're a child, not quite as efficient as it will be. And so as you get exposed to heat, your body's having to work harder to keep your core body temperature at safe levels. But also, many of the people in these vulnerable groups suffer from other underlying chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease or respiratory renal diseases, which also make it harder for your body to thermoregulate. And then finally, they take prescription drugs, which many of them actually impede the body's ability to cool itself down. And these are very common medications, say, like for hypertension, high blood pressure, anti-anxiety, anti-depression medications, antipsychotics.

These are common medications that people take, and they may not understand that last year they were able to go out and go for a walk at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. But this year, because of that medication, it might be a little more dangerous for them to do so. One thing that the meteorologist I just interviewed talked about, Ashley, was the fact that with some of these heat waves, We're seeing very high overnight lows. I mean, sometimes those lows are in the 90s. Can you talk about how that potentially increases risk for populations? Sure. Everything needs a reprieve overnight.

Our bodies, our plants, our animals, our energy systems, our infrastructure. And when we have situations in which we have high daytime temperatures, followed by persistently high overnight temperatures, and typically that threshold is about 75 degrees. So when temperatures remain high above 75 degrees overnight, we see actually a higher number of poor health outcomes, people visiting the emergency departments and mortality associated with that. So you can imagine an 80 or 90 degree overnight temperature. We see these relationships with increased in preterm birth, but we also see it in all kinds of other health outcomes. A lot of this has to do with, you know, that reprieve that I was talking about is hard to achieve, especially if you don't.

don't have air conditioning or have or can afford to run your air conditioner. So it used to be that you could raise your windows overnight and it would be cooler at nighttime and you could get those breezes and cool down your house. But if temperatures overnight remain persistently high, it's harder to do so, putting you at greater risk. Heat deaths I've often been told in my reporting, Ashley, are preventable. What are the important things for people to know to keep in mind as we go into these next couple of days. Should they just stay inside? And what do they do if they don't have air

conditioning? That's a really great question. There's a combination of things. Of course, once it gets beyond a certain temperature, it really air condition is what's required. And so I would recommend that if you don't have air conditioning at all, that you make a plan. Find where cooling sensors are in your community. Think about whether there's a shopping center or mall that you can go visit in the early evening to cool down, are friends and family members that you can go and visit. If you have access to air conditioning, but maybe you can't afford to run it enough to really cool your house, consider prioritizing air conditioning your bedroom. It could be more affordable to cool than you can escape to that room. The other last thing I would say is remember

that while it's always very important to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids, when it comes of lowering your core body temperature, water is very effectively used outside your body. So think about things like taking a cool shower when you come home from work rather than just sitting on the couch and drinking a drink. Use water to immerse your feet over your ankles or your arms over your elbows. We know that these are techniques at work that lower core body temperature. Think about taking a cold, a cold wet rag and either putting it behind your neck or wiping down your arms and legs sitting in front of a fan while you do so. So if you you think about ways that you can use cool water outside of your body, in addition to staying

hydrated, those are also some ways that you can keep yourself safe during periods of high heat. That is Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University. Thank you so much for those tips, Ashley. Thank you and stay safe. This PBS News Hour podcast is supported in part by Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Life sustains itself by cell division. So does cancer. Breast cancer cells multiply faster because of CDK-4-6 proteins. But what if we could block those proteins and stop runaway cell division? To that end, Dana Farber laid the foundation for CDK-4-6 inhibitors, drugs designed to treat many advanced breast cancers. Dana Farber keeps finding new ways to outmaneuver cancer. Learn more at Danafarber.org

slash everywhere. Dr. Carla Hayden, a trailblazing librarian of Congress, was fired by President Trump last month. Only 14 Americans have ever held the position. I traveled to Baltimore to speak with her about being blindsided by the decision the administration's ongoing efforts to reshape key institutions. and why she intends to keep speaking out. The report is part of our series,

Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy as part of our canvas coverage. Dr. Carla Hayden is a familiar and cherished presence at the sprawling Enoch Pratt Free Library and its 21 branches, a system she led with distinction nearly a decade ago. Her legacy of over two decades of service is etched into the building itself,

with the wing that bears her name. Hayden has been a force in the library, world since 1973. And in 2016, she made history when then President Obama appointed her librarian of Congress. So help me God. The first woman and African American to lead the National Library and the first professional librarian to hold the post in more than four decades. President Trump kept her in the role during his first term, but last month she received an email, two sentences long, notifying her that

she had been dismissed. What was going through your mind as you received it and read it? One of the first things that went through my mind was to think about was it authentic because it was very short, very casual, just said Carla and then two lines. And so I was actually confused. Sent by someone you'd never met. Someone I'd never met and so my first action, I was with my mom actually that evening, I told her, I said, I'm not sure what this is.

And then I got on the phone to my colleagues to say, is this real or what, who is this? And then it went from there. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. We felt she did not fit the means of the American people. There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children. The Library of Congress does not lend books to children. as a public library would.

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. And it serves Congress. It's the reference arm for Congress. So all the research that's happening by legislators, Senate, House, all are taken care of by people at the Library of Congress. We call them our special forces. They do the research.

And then the Library of Congress serves the people that Congress serves. So everyone in the United States is a patron of the Library of Congress. Why do you think the White House has mischaracterized its mission and its work? There might not really be an understanding of the mission of the Library of Congress. And that, I think, is something that the situation that I was in actually brought that to light. Hayden calls the institution a treasure chest. the world's largest collection and fill in the blank of photographs,

film, manuscripts, 178 million items. In this era of disinformation, this era of attacks on trusted institutions, what do you see as the essential role of libraries? Libraries are in so many communities. Rural, urban, anywhere you find a library, they're trusted sources. They know that librarians might not be the jazziest, but they can trust them because they know that they will get information that has been vetted and that they can trust. Are libraries and librarians, in your view, are they properly equipped to push back against some of the political attacks? Librarians are prepared to defend their choices of materials and services that they provide.

What they really would appreciate is more public support, vocal public support, saying we want to make sure that our children have access to these materials. And so that's what we're working with now in terms of a profession to let the public know that we really need their help. Hayden says libraries have historically faced challenges to the books they offer. What's different in this era seems to be that the efforts to restrict access are part of a possible larger effort, and that's the difference now. But as Alberto Manguel said in the history of reading in his chapter, the history of forbidden reading, that it's been known that restricting access to books and reading is often. in a tactic. What effect do you believe censorship has on our democracy? As Alberto Manguel said, as centuries of dictators, tyrants, slave owners, and other

illicit holders of power have known, an illiterate crowd is the easiest to rule. And if you cannot restrict people from learning to read, you must limit its scope. And that is the danger of making sure that people don't have access. She says she'll keep advocating for her beliefs and feels bolstered by support from elected officials on both sides of the aisle, as well as from people across the country. She shared that her 93-year-old mother has been cataloging the notes and messages she's received. A former president of the American Library Association, Hayden is set to address some of its 50,000 members at their annual meeting. This year's agenda, she says, takes on new urgency. How to help

communities support their libraries, how to deal with personal attacks that librarians are having, even death threats in some communities for libraries. So this convening of librarians that are in schools, universities, public libraries will be really our rally. We've been called feisty fighters for freedom. Hayden says what's at stake goes far beyond books and that protecting it has never been more important. Libraries are one of the pillars and cornerstones of a democracy, and free public libraries are part of a civic infrastructure that we need to have a safe democracy. officials here at home and ended with the president considering U.S. military involvement in Iran.

To go deeper on both these issues and more, we turn tonight to the analysis of Kephard and Penuru. That's Washington Post Associate Editor Jonathan Kepart and Ramesh Panuru, editor for the National Review. David Brooks is away this evening. Good to see you, gentlemen. So President Trump, after reviewing strike options in Iran, says he's pulling back for now. He's going to decide within in two weeks as to whether he will push the U.S. into direct involvement. Jonathan, what do you make of this springsmanship? One, this idea that I'm going to wait. Within two weeks, I'll make a decision.

This phrase of his, to me, this is the Trump version of setting up a blue ribbon commission. You set up a blue ribbon commission, you send the issue over there, and then you never hear about it again. There's so many things that President Trump has said we will find out in two weeks. that we still haven't heard what he's going to do. And so to me, when I heard him say that, I thought for sure that he either doesn't know what he's doing or what he wants to do and is hoping that within two weeks,

this will all get resolved. But the big question for me is, well, let's say he does decide to get involved. He does decide to use those bunker buster bombs. Then what's next? I keep thinking about, I don't know, how many top gun Maverick fans there are. Great. So then you know exactly what I'm about to say.

All of this reminds me of the big plot of that movie, which is American Air Force jets have to go in and destroy a nuclear facility in Iran. Great for Hollywood, but I don't know if that is the wisest course of action for the United States to be involved in. Remesh, based on what you've seen, do you believe the administration has a coherent, comprehensive strategy for Iran, or is the policy, the approach right now, of being driven by politics? Well, I think it's being driven by events. I don't know that it has a comprehensive strategy so much as it is reacting to what it's seeing. And I do think, you know, unlike the normal, you know, well, two weeks from now, we'll have a health care plan and that's just a way

of punting and you never actually have a health care plan. This is, I think, how far is Israel able to get on its own? I think that one of the things that we need to think about, though, is what happens to the U.S.-Israel relationship if we have this intervention? Up until now, it has always been the charge of critics of Israel that Israel drags the United States into war. And it's never been actually true. But in this case, if we intervene here, that's exactly what will have happened. And I do wonder whether that sets back our relationship going forward.

And there is the question of where is Congress in all of this? The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, released that statement today calling on President Trump. to refrain from using military force against Iran without explicit approval from Congress. Democrats don't really matter here because they're powerless in both chambers. But how should Congress reassert its authority here? Yeah, where is Congress?

It's incredible that it's the House Minority Leader, the Democratic leader who is sticking up for the prerogatives of a co-equal branch of government. Where is Speaker Johnson? I mean, if the president does this, where is he getting this wartime authority from? Are they using the AUU? UMF from what?

2001. From 2001 for Iraq and Afghanistan? I mean, so, yeah, the leader is raising the right question. We haven't, I haven't heard anything from Speaker Johnson on any of this. Or how about the Republicans in control of the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Thune? Where are they? I agree on the Constitution. That sets you up very well. Where are they?

Well, you know, congressional leaders, and not just recently, have been very good at ducking and covering. But, you know, there's a point beyond the constitutional point, as important as that is, which is that the president should want congressional buy-in to any decision. If this goes sideways, he needs to be able to say this was not a unilateral decision on my part. The country, through its entire political system, said yes. Well, the prospect of another war here has ignited a debate within the magoing of the Republican Party since President Trump ran on avoiding foreign wars. And I think this was in many ways best exemplified by a conversation that Tucker Carlson had with Senator Ted Cruz this past week. Tucker Carlson is firmly in the anti-war camp. And this clip that you're about to see picks up with Carlson asking Cruz how many people live in Iran and Ted Cruz didn't know.

How could you not know that? I don't sit around memorizing population tables. Well, it's kind of relevant because you're calling for the overthrow of the government. Why is it relevant, whether it's 90 million or 80 million or 100? million. Why is that relevant? You don't know anything about the country. I didn't say I don't know anything about it. Okay, what's the ethnic mix of Iran? They are Persians and predominantly Shia. Okay. You don't know anything about Iran. So, okay, I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran. You're a senator who's calling the government. You're the one who playing. You're the one who

playing. So what does that say about the larger debate within the GOP right now? Well, it says that it includes a lot of sound and You know, there was a misstatement, though, in that Carlson claimed that Senator Cruz wants regime change in Iran, and he is not calling for boots on the ground. He is not calling for an invasion. He's calling for a strike on Fordow. Now, of course, that could have destabilizing implications. But the idea that this is just the Iraq war debate all over again, I think isn't true.

The MAGA debate that we're seeing right now is also distorted because you've got a lot of people who are called MAGA influencers. and they've taken that title too much to heart. They think they've got way more influence than they actually have. The polling suggests that there is no Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican Party on this question. And Trump calls the shots.

He doesn't need the influencers. The influencers need him. Jonathan? This isn't the, I think he said, the Iraq war debate from way back when, at least then there was an actual debate on both sides of the aisle and around the country about what should.

should happen. The fact that there's this intramural fight is pretty spectacular to watch. But in that clip between Senator Cruz and Tucker Carlson, what jumped out at me was the incredible lack of seriousness from Senator Cruz, a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations. How could he not know, just instinctively, just throw out our number about the population of Iran? You've been sitting on this committee for God knows how long. How could you not know that? And the fact that he didn't know, it tells me that he's not coming at this as seriously as he should as a member of the United States Senate in the majority. Lastly, the shootings of those two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses this past weekend are the latest instances of political violence that has risen across this country.

A Democratic state rep, Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed on Saturday by a man who had thwarted. already say was impersonating a police officer. That same shooter attacked Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Evette. They were hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. I mean, what does this latest attack tell us about the current threat landscape when it comes to political extremism in this country? Well, you know, just last year, we nearly had a presidential election decided by an assassin's bullet. We ought to take very seriously a rising threat level. The language of our politics is more and more militant. Elected officials report more and more threats.

There was an assassination attempt that was thankfully foiled of a Supreme Court justice quite recently. This is not something that we can afford to be complacent about. It's a bipartisan threat, but we have to acknowledge where a lot of this rhetoric is coming from. And it's coming from the president of the United States. There's a clip of the president being asked. I think it was on Air Force One. We have that clip. So he was asked, will he call the governor, Tim Wals?

And this is how he responded. He responded by attacking Tim Wals. I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked up. I'm not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call him, say, hi, how you doing? The guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess.

So, you know, I could be nice and call him, but why waste time? If you want to tamp down the heated rhetoric, the heated conversation of our politics, it has to start with that guy, with the president of the United States. And instead, we've got a library's worth of sound from him as a candidate in 2016, right through that sound bite right there, of him just sort of fanning the flames. And what makes it even more atrocious is that you have members, Republican members of Congress who also say and do things that run counter to what they should be doing. Senator Mike Lee, of all people, putting out a tweet that was just, it was horrific at a time when people were grieving. And you had elected officials who were targeted, as the governor said, for political assassination. If we want to dial back the rhetoric, if we want to go back to a time when, you know, the disagreements weren't solved through violence,

then it has to start with the president and folks in the president's party. I was glad to see Lee take that tweet down. It shouldn't have been up in the first place. And I think one of the things, one of the ways Trump differs from most presidents is he does not think that the job description includes ever summoning Americans to their better angels. Most presidents, both parties, have felt that way. He just never feels that obligation. That does have to change. But there's another element of this.

On the one hand, you've got this political rhetoric, which I do think both sides, but disproportionately the president has gotten rotten. But you've also got a lot of untreated mental illness in this country. And it's that reaction of those two things that is causing this threat level to rise. The criticism, though, that there aren't enough Republicans

who speak out forcefully to condemn that hot political rhetoric. What do you say to that? I think that that's absolutely right, but I think Republicans have learned that when they fall out of line with the president, when they criticize the president, whether it's on rhetoric or anything else, that they're going to get punished for it. That's actually quite frightening, which I think explains why there's been silence, crickets, because they're afraid of doing the right thing, of being human, will get them on the wrong side of the president of the United States. Folks should be very concerned about that. Jonathan Capehart, Ramesh Paneuro, my deep thanks to you both. Appreciate you being here. Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you. One of L.A.'s most prized civic institutions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now caught up in the debate over high-profile immigration raids taking place across the region. Yesterday, the Dodgers, said ICE agents requested access to their state. stadium parking lots, a request the organization says they denied. The Department of Homeland Security said those agents were from customs and border protection and that their presence was unrelated to the Dodgers. But the incident and the team's response has gotten a lot of attention in a city where one third of residents are immigrants and nearly half identify as Latino. For more now, we're joined by Dylan Hernandez. He's a lifelong Angelino and a sports

columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Dylan, welcome to the News Hour. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me on. So before we get into the context here, what do we actually know about what happened yesterday, why federal agents were at Dodger Stadium and why DHS is saying it had nothing to do with the Dodgers? Yeah, so from what we gathered, you know, basically there was a raid somewhere nearby in the morning, and they needed somewhere to basically process these people. And, you know, Dodger Stadium just kind of seemed like a convenient place, I guess, because, you know, usually if they kind of do this out of the open, crowds gather and stuff.

So, you know, they went to Dodgers Stadium. And from what, you know, our understanding is that they got all the way to the security gates, but at the security gates, they were turned away. And the Dodgers' decision to turn them away. How did that go over with fans and the community? I mean, I think it was kind of like finally, you know, finally they kind of showed which side, I guess they were on, right? You know, I think, you know, going all the way back to, you know, earlier in the season,

and, you know, they decided, like, you know, to visit the White House. You know, obviously the White House extends invitations to teams and major sports that win championships. The Dodgers were extended this invitation. They decided to go. You know, I think at the time, that was kind of, you know, not taken very well by the fan base. You know, and then, you know, when the rates started, they really didn't say, you know, they basically have not been saying anything at all.

So I think it was kind of one of these things where I think there was a lot of anger and even hurt, you know, in the first. fan base. And it was kind of like, well, at least they did this. Dylan, the context you're providing here is so important because there were protests against his immigration raids in LA for about two weeks. You'd already seen statements in support of the protesters from individual Dodger players and former announcers. There was even this unsanctioned national anthem performance in Spanish that went viral. Take a listen. And Dylan, as you point out, we hadn't heard anything from the Dodger organization,

really until this incident yesterday. You called them cowardly a few days ago in a column for not speaking out. Why? I mean, we have to kind of go back decades here, you know, probably starting with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, right? He was a Dodger. You know, Sandy Koufax, the great pitcher, Jewish pitcher, refused to pitch on Yang Kippur.

The team supported that, you know, in kind of a more recent, more recent decades, the Dodgers have really, you know, help expand baseball's borders by, you know, bringing in Fernando Valenzuela from Mexico, Hideo Nomo from Japan, Chan Ho Park from South Korea. Now, you know, those players from those countries

are regulars in Major League Baseball now. And now the thing is with Valenzuela, that was particularly important in Los Angeles because of how Dodgers Stadium was built, right? There was a Mexican-American community there in Chavez Ravine that were basically kind of like four, out of their homes, you know, their famous pictures of people literally being dragged out, you know, because, you know, to clear homes for some eminent domain thing,

initially I believe there was supposed to become, there was supposed to be like a housing project built there, that thing kind of stalled. And eventually the Dodgers took over that land. So, you know, for a very long time, you know, the Mexican-American community in Los Angeles viewed the Dodgers with, you know, a lot of suspicion. And Fernando Van der Leinzuela kind of single-handedly changed all of that. But all of a sudden, you had this Mexican picture. that was kind of beloved by everybody.

And all of a sudden, you know, this team that was once viewed as being very divisive now became this, like, thing that, like, hey, like everybody could like, right? And the Dodgers really became, like, the city's team in that way, right? It became, Dodgers Stadium became a place that everybody felt welcome at. And, you know, the Dodgers estimate that more than 40%, probably close to 50% of their fans, are Latino, right? So there's this real special bond between the Dodgers and the Latino community.

And when all these raids started happening, right, the fact that, like, the Dodgers of all teams wouldn't put out any kind of statement, I think, again, the community felt very betrayed, right? I mean, because they're looking at this like, hey, look, we've been supporting you all these years. The team's good, the team's bad. We kept showing up, right? And now when we're kind of in this moment of need, why won't you say anything? Dylan, where does this go from here? Because I should point out there are some folks who will say, look, it shouldn't be up to a sports team to have to wait into these issues in this way. And there's a big gap between not allowing your grounds to be used for something and actually issuing statements of support or going further than they have already.

Do you see them doing that going further or saying more on this issue? Yeah, I think they're going to have to do something, but the question is going to be, is that enough, right? I think because up to this point, it kind of looks at this point that, you know, there were talks of protests. I mean, just this morning, a group of more than 50 business and religious leaders sent the Dodgers a letter imploring them to say something. And so it almost feels, I think, like, hey, like, you know, obviously their fan base kind of came together, threatened them, threaten the Dodgers basically economically, right? You do a boycott that could affect the Dodgers, you know, their checking account. And so, you know, is this just going to be a, okay, hey, we did something now kind of go away type thing?

Or are the Dodgers going to kind of take this a little bit more seriously and really kind of try to regain the trust of this community, again, that I believe feels betrayed at the moment? We'll wait and see. I know you will be watching too. Dylan Hernandez, sports columnist with the Los Angeles Times. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me on. And there's a lot more online, including the latest episode of PBS News Weekly, which looks at the challenges facing our democracy that's on our YouTube page. And be sure to watch Washington Week with the Atlantic tonight right here on PBS. Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel examine President Trump's evolving views on possible U.S. military involvement in Israel's war with Iran.

And on PBS News Weekend, we speak with travel guru Rick Steves about teaching Americans to choose travel and transform their worldviews. That's Saturday on PBS News Weekend. And that is the News Hour for tonight and this week. Have a great weekend. I'm Jeff Bennett. I'm on the Navaz. On behalf of the entire News Hour team, thank you for joining us. Thanks.