PBS News Hour - Full Show - November 14, 2025 – PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: November 15, 2025

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Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. Jeff Bennett is away. On the news hour tonight, a new prosecutor takes on the Georgia election interference case against President Trump and several of his political allies. An investigation finds the dramatic overnight immigration raid on a Chicago apartment complex resulted in no criminal charges. If the government had a good case, we would have seen charges filed in federal court, and we haven't seen charges. seen any yet. So that suggests that maybe no charges are coming. And Russia launches one of its largest attacks yet on Ukraine's capital city. Welcome to the News Hour. The last outstanding criminal case against President Donald Trump can move forward. scandal forced the Georgia District Attorney and Special Counsel who initially brought the election

interference charges off the case. Up against a court-imposed deadline to find their replacement by today, the head of a non-partisan state agency chose himself. White House correspondent Liz Landers is here with more. This case stems from the efforts in 2020 that President Trump and his allies allegedly undertook to overturn the results of that election, including pressuring state and local officials in key swing states like Georgia to change the vote counts. The president and 18 other people, including local election officials and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, were charged in 2023 in a racketeering conspiracy case. Prosecutor Fannie Willis brought the charges, but was removed following a legal battle.

For an on-the-ground perspective, Tamar Hallerman joins us now. She's a senior reporter covering this case for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Tamar, thank you for joining News Hour. Thanks, Liz. So the head of search for a new prosecutor, Peter Scandalakis, will now be heading up the prosecution. What do we need to know about him? And how did he end up in this position? Pete Scandalakis is a veteran prosecutor here in Georgia, well respected on both sides of the aisle.

And for almost 10 years now, he's headed the nonpartisan state agencies that is tasked with stepping in whenever a prosecutor has a conflict in this case, which is exactly what happened after Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis was removed from this case because of a romantic relationship she had with her deputy Nathan Wade. So he became the prosecutor here because he couldn't find anyone else. Is that basically what happened? Yeah, this morning he puts out a statement saying, I tried reaching out to all of these different prosecutors around the state to see if anyone was interested. Everyone politely declined, and he felt like he owed it to the public,

given the intense interest in this case, to take it up, to look into it, to review the volumes of evidence that Fannie Willis and her team have put together over the course of years rather than just dismissing the case outright himself. Remind us, what exactly is at the heart of this case? This is a super sweeping racketeering case here in Georgia,

and Donald Trump is kind of the key person at the top of the pyramid. In this indictment, Donald Trump is accused of orchestrating a conspiracy to try and overturn the results of the 2020 election here in Georgia. And it pulls in all of these different allies, both local folks on the ground here in Georgia, but also some of his top allies in Washington, people like former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows from the White House, Rudy Giuliani, his former personal attorney. It pulls in Republican electors who cast votes for Trump. here in Georgia, even though Joe Biden had been declared the winner. It pulls in folks who showed up at the House of Fulton County poll worker Ruby Freeman and tried to get her to admit

that she had committed election fraud, even though that wasn't the case. It really is a sweeping, very broad case. Today's decision allows this case to move forward, but is there any indication as to how he may proceed with this case? And what are the biggest obstacles to bringing this to trial. Yeah, Pete Scandalakis has a couple different options available to him. He can choose to move forward with the case, as Fannie Willis had been over the last several years, he could choose to kill it outright, or he could choose to move forward with just smaller, more discreet parts of the case. For example, he's expressed skepticism that Donald Trump, while he's still in the White House, could have a criminal case ongoing against him. That said, there's still 14 other defendants.

Though Pete Scandalakis had reviewed a prior portion of this case having to do with one of the Republican electors, he said he felt like it was not merited. I think at this point, it's most likely to say that if he chooses to move forward at all, it will be a more tailored slim-down case if he wants to at all. Do you think that these pardons that we saw from President Trump earlier this week may have any impact in how Peter Scandalakis is thinking about this particular case in Georgia? Pete Scandalakas put out a statement earlier this week when these pardons became public, saying that he does not think it will have an impact at all. And remember, this case in Fulton County has to do with state law, Georgia law, not federal law, which is what the president has power over. Though it is notable that he did issue pardons to all 18 of his co-defendants in this case, no, I do not think it will have any impact on Pete Scandalakis' thinking here. Tamara Hallerman, thank you so much for joining the NewsHauer. Thank you.

In the day's other headlines, a federal judge says he'll approve Purdue Pharma's latest deal to settle thousands of opioid-related lawsuits. The agreement would require the Sackler family to contribute up to $7 billion over $3,000. 15 years to state and local governments, plus those directly harmed in the opioid crisis. They'd also have to give up control of the company. This would replace a prior agreement that was rejected by the Supreme Court last year because it protected the Sacklers from future lawsuits. The deal is one of the largest of its kind and comes more than two decades after the first legal actions were filed against Purdue. The judge says he'll explain his decision at a hearing on Tuesday. Republican lawmakers in Indiana are canceling plans to meet next month to redraw their state's congressional maps.

The president of the state Senate said today there isn't enough support among members to carry out such a redistricting. This comes after months of pressure from the White House, which included two visits by Vice President J.D. Vance. And it's seen as a major blow to the Trump administration's broader efforts to create new maps that would favor Republicans in next year's midterm elections. The city of Charlotte, North Carolina is bracing for an expected surge of federal agents as President Trump looks to expand his immigration crackdown on the nation's cities. A county sheriff said this week that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents could be deployed to the state's largest city as soon as tomorrow. Few details about the operation are known, and local authorities have not been asked to assist.

Today, city leaders urged residents to be ready and to stay calm. occurs in the coming days, we must meet the moment peacefully, reduce panic, and remember that due process will be back. There will come a time when this regime ends in justice and due process will become the order of the day again. President Trump has insisted these immigration operations are needed in Democratic-run cities to fight crime and carry out his mass deportation agenda. Charlotte has been on the Trump administration's radar since the fatal stabbing in August of a Ukrainian refugee on a light rail train. The attacker, who is a U.S. citizen, has been charged with murder. The FAA is easing flight restrictions at 40 U.S.

airports as the nation's air system gets back on its feet following the record-setting U.S. government shutdown. The agency says the current mandate of a 6% cut to flights nationwide is being trimmed to 3% starting tomorrow morning. In a statement, the FAA said, quote, the decision reflects improvements in air traffic controller staffing levels and a continued decline in staffing trigger events. Separately, the Trump administration is officially dropping plans to make airlines compensate passengers for flight delays caused by carriers. The announcement formally puts an end to a Biden-era proposal that would have guaranteed flyers up to $300 for domestic delays of at least three hours and more for longer delays. Today's action follows an announcement

by the Transportation Department in September, which said the rules led to, quote, unnecessary regulatory burdens for airlines. Passengers are still entitled to refunds if their flights are canceled and they choose not to rebook. President Trump signed an executive order today that would get rid of tariffs on a range of products. This includes tropical fruits, beef, coffee, and dozens of other commodities. It's the latest rollback to President Trump's aggressive global tariffs and comes as consumer prices remain a primary concern for U.S. voters. Separately, Switzerland and the White House say they've

reached a framework trade deal following a sustained effort by Swiss officials to bring down steep U.S. tariffs. As part of the deal, Switzerland will invest $200 billion in the U.S. through 28, and the U.S. will cut tariffs on most Swiss goods to 15 percent matching the European Union's rate. In August, Trump hiked tariffs on Switzerland to 39 percent, the highest on any Western country. Swiss officials welcome the deal, but acknowledged that it will take several weeks to take effect. This agreement is a great relief for our economy. The additional U.S. tariffs have already caused considerable damage and affected almost 40 percent of our exports. The Memorandum of Understanding now stabilizes the conditions for access to the U.S. market.

The deal leaves tariffs on certain items in place, like Swiss watches, coffee and one of Switzerland's most famous exports, cheese. The country is currently hosting the World Cheese Awards, where Swiss cheeses make up about a fifth of the entries. A Swiss greer beat out more than 5,000 other cheeses from 46 countries to win the top prize. The CEO of Walmart is stepping down early next year. Doug McMillan may not be a household name, but he's played an outsized role in the U.S. economy as head of the nation's largest retailer for more than a decade. placed by the company's U.S. operations chief John Ferner. In the meantime, on Wall Street, stocks ended the week mixed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 300 points on the day. The NASDAQ managed a slight gain of about 30 points. The S&P 500 ended Friday session virtually flat. And Shohei Otani is adding to his legendary resume, winning his fourth MVP award in the last five years. He's also making news for how he celebrated the win, which was broadcast live. The nationally MVP is Shohei Tani. In a sweet and slightly awkward moment,

Otani leans in to embrace his wife and dog with his beloved pup decoy getting the kiss. Otani now trails only Barry Bonds, who won seven MVP trophies. On the American League side, Yankee slugger Aaron Judge nabbed his third MVP award. He, too, joins elite company. Fellow Yankees Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Barra,

and Mickey Mantle were also three-time winners. Still to come, on the NewsHour, David Brooks and Kimberly Ackin's store weigh in on the end of the longest-ever government shutdown. Design pioneer David Kelly offers his brief but spectacular take on everyone's capacity for creativity. And Ken Burns' latest PBS documentary looks at the beginnings of our nation's democracy in the American Revolution. This is the PBS News Hour. from the David M. Rubenstein studio at W.E.T.A. in Washington. And in the west from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

Well, there were more arrests in the Chicago area today as protesters clashed with police in a demonstration outside an ICE facility. Four officers were injured and 21 people were arrested after a fight broke out. Protesters are demanding an end to ICE's methods and raids that have been a constant in Chicago since the administration launched what it called Operation Midway Blitz in September. The allegations around a number of those raids are being sharply questioned. The latest comes from a new investigation by ProPublica that finds a recent raid hailed by the Trump administration

as a major strike against terrorism did not live up to those claims. Ali Rogan tells us more. Omna, the raid on September 30th is etched into the minds of some residents after they watched hundreds of federal agents repel from Black Hawk helicopters used drones and flashbag grenades to storm an apartment building in the city's South Shore neighborhood. Dozens of Venezuelan migrants who were found to be undocumented were detained with officials alleging they are members of a dangerous gang called Tren de Aragua,

which has been designated as a terrorist group. But the investigation by ProPublica paints a different picture. It found that many of those arrested had no criminal records, and the government has provided no evidence tying them to terrorism. I'm joined by Melissa Sanchez, who co-authored this article after a month-long investigation. Melissa, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, what have government officials been saying in order to justify this raid? And what did your reporting find out?

Well, the government has claimed that the Venezuelan gang, the Venezuelan Genderawa had taken over this building on the south side of Chicago and that there were guns. and explosives and drugs inside the building. But our reporting has found little evidence to back up this claim. The government has provided no proof at all that this is true. They haven't even revealed the names of any of the immigrants that they detained. We were able to identify 21 of the 37 immigrants, and I spoke with 12 of them, and we looked up all their criminal records. Very few of them had any, and the records that we did find showed zero mentions of gang membership.

And of those 37 individuals who were arrested, there were no criminal charges filed against them, why is that? What did you find out about that? So we spoke with former federal prosecutors, and what they've told us is that if the government had a good case, we would have seen charges filed in federal court, and we haven't seen any yet. So that suggests that maybe no charges are coming. And kind of like to add to that, we've gone to a lot of these men's immigration court hearings. we've gone to eight of them so far. And in not one of those hearings, as a government lawyer, made any reference to criminal cases or to gang membership.

So all of that makes it really difficult to believe what the government's saying about gang membership. There is tremendous video evidence showing this dramatic entrance into this complex. Did agents have warrants to forcibly enter the apartments that they did that night? That's a great question. I wish I could tell you that we knew the answer. The government won't tell us. We have found no evidence of warrants filed in federal court, although they could be under seal. But we've asked the government, and they haven't answered.

They said they've done everything according to the law. I want to ask you about what the administration has said in response to your story. A Homeland Security spokesperson said agents arrested two, quote, confirmed members of Trennerwa, and that children were taken into custody for safety, but that they were not handcuffed. How does that jive with your reporting? Well, the part about the kids being handcuffed, I do want to make clear to your audience that none of the 12 Venezuelans who we spoke to said that they saw kids being zip tied. So that just to be clear. But we have seen no evidence about these two gang members. We were able to identify one of the two people that the government says as a gang member. We were able to run his name against these lists from Interpol and from Venezuelan police of gang members. And he doesn't appear on that list. We spoke with him. He said he's not a gang member that when I I talked to him on the phone while he was in jail. That was the first he'd ever heard of any allegation that he was a member of the Trindiarawa.

We looked up his criminal record. He had gotten arrested once in Chicago for driving without a license. During that stop, they found some marijuana and coke on him. There was a minor amount. That charge was dropped. That's all that we could find on that. I do want to note that your reporting and that of others does show that this building was dilapidated. Many residents cited feeling a sense of danger.

Some men carried guns openly. A Venezuelan resident was arrested for murder of a fellow countrymen in an apartment over the summer. So what did residents tell you about the safety of this building? And also, though, what they thought about the proportionality of this particular law enforcement action. Yeah, so the building was unsafe. Everything that you said is true. There was a murder there over the summer. And we have the records from court and police.

Nothing in those records indicates anything about Tren Derawa. Some of our colleagues ran the numbers on 911 calls to that building. And it's high compared to, there's like a high volume of calls to police, but it's not any higher than it is in other parts of that neighborhood. It's sort of typical for that part of the neighborhood. And beyond that, I think the residents that we spoke with, they were really shocked by what happened. I mean, this building was all that they could afford.

None of the people we spoke to had gotten hurt at that building. There were people maybe that they were suspicious of, but they kind of all kept to themselves. And nobody reported any problems with any of their neighbors at that building to us. Some of the individuals that were apprehended have been detained and others have been deported back to their home countries. You've spoken with many of them. What have they been telling you? So the ones who are in detention still are really desperate. They want to get out.

They've been in custody now for six or seven weeks at this point. and they want to go back to Venezuela at this point. A lot of them don't have passports, so getting back to Venezuela is a little bit tricky. The ones who have already been deported, I think every single one of them has told me that they have returned with less than they had left that country years ago.

I mean, a lot of them fled Venezuela years ago because the country has a collapsed economy and authoritarian government, and it's really difficult to get a job and support your family there. And here in the U.S., they had jobs, they had bought used cars. They had, you know, bought clothes and shoes and tablets for their kids, and all of that is gone.

So I think they've returned to a country that's difficult to survive in, and they don't have anything to make a life anymore. Melissa Sanchez with ProPublica. Thank you so much. Thank you. scale barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine early today, damaging apartment buildings in Kiev, Odessa, and Kharkiv. This comes as Russia has been making incremental gains on the ground in recent weeks, and the diplomatic path for ending the war is nowhere in sight. Morning in Kiev, revealing the remains of a brutal night, after Russia launched one of its

biggest attacks on the Capitol since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Over 400 Russian drones and 19 missiles pummeled the city, hitting energy facilities and apartment buildings. Residents rushed out in terror and confusion clinging to their children. Even amid the horror, resilience. A mother comforts her terrified toddler, telling her, everything is all right, my bunny. We just need to run now. Not everyone escaped.

At least six people were killed in the attack and 35 injured. I was terrified, so terrified I didn't know what to do first. Should I rescue myself and my child? Or should I run to help others? Because many people were screaming and needed help. Anastasia was among the survivors of a Russian strike on her apartment building, now a crumbling husk. And in Ukraine's southern city of Odessa, another overnight Russian drone strike killed two,

with one of the victim's bodies pinned under a car. Eleven more were injured. Ukraine is still fighting back, using the American-provided Patriot air defense system, among others, to shoot down 14 Russian missiles last night. And it's gone on the offensive, launching a long-range Neptune missile and over 200 drones overnight into Russia, hitting military targets across the country, setting ablaze the southwestern port of Novodosaysk, where Russian forces fired back. And the southeastern city of Saratov, striking against.

key oil refinery used in the war. On the front line, the fighting has been fierce, with Russia making significant advances in the last two months, capturing over 400 miles of territory, 59 in the last week alone, and continuing its advance on the city of Bokrovsk in the east. Where last week, dozens of Russian soldiers rolled in on motorcycles as they encircled and seized part of the city. soldiers fought back fiercely, but Russian forces now control roughly half of the city. The war shows no signs of stopping.

And on Tuesday, first Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Sergei Kizlizia, said negotiations with Russia had stopped as progress had not been made. Yesterday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov responded that Russia will continue its invasion. In the absence of the opportunity to continue the conversation further, of course, we will continue the special military operation in every way possible in order to achieve the goals that were formulated by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief by the President. The position of the Kiev regime will deteriorate day by day. Also yesterday, Ukraine's new ambassador to the U.S. urged President Trump to provide

Tomahawk missiles. When we are speaking about Tomahawks, I think it's a fair discussion to have because we have been committed to ending the war, to peace settlement. Even my president, after meeting with President Trump, have been public in front of all of his population and all American people, that stopping an existing line is an option. So with all of that, the war is still raging on. A request that Trump has recently denied. They provide Ukraine with long-range tomahawk missiles. That's not like you're not considering none.

No, not really. As the war rages on now well into its third year. For perspective on this, we turn now to. to retired Colonel Robert Hamilton. He spent much of his Army career specializing in the former Soviet Union. He's now founder and president of the Delphi Global Research Center that's a nonprofit focusing on military developments across Eurasia. Colonel, welcome and thanks for joining us.

Let's just begin with your assessment of last night's attack on Kiev, one of the biggest of the war. Why a Russian attack of that scale at this point in the war? Well, thank you for the invitation. It's good to be with you. So last night's attack, while big, 430 drones and 18 ballistic missiles of different types, is not unprecedented. Russia is able to do this roughly once every week or 10 days, in other words,

carry out an attack of this size. It was focused on Kiev because Russia, as the winter approaches, has been focusing on two things. One, energy infrastructure to try to turn the lights and turn the heat off in Ukraine over the winter to make it as tough as possible on the civilian population of Ukraine. And then secondly, they've been focusing specifically on Kyiv. So Kyiv has actually been the city as the capital city and the largest city in Ukraine. It's really been a focus of these Russian air attacks over the last several months. And I think the idea is to turn out the light specifically in Kiev and turn off the heat in Kiev because the Ukrainian government's there.

It's the largest city. And it's the center of gravity of the country. So I think that's the logic behind these Russian strikes. And what do you take away from last night about Ukraine's abilities? to continue to defend itself. Yeah, so Ukraine's defense against the air attacks. So the war is unfolding in domains, right? It unfolds on the ground, and there we're focused on Pukovsk.

It unfolds in the air. It unfolds at sea. The air domain, which is what we're talking about with the Russian strikes last night, Ukraine has a good capability to destroy drones and missiles. They routinely destroy the majority of what Russia launches. But first of all, when you launch over four, 400 drones, even if you destroy the vast majority of them, dozens will still get through. So it's problematic.

But Ukraine also has an offensive air capability, which they demonstrated last night by hitting the Russian oil export terminal in Novotar Sisk, which is one of the largest export terminals Russia has. It accounts for about 2 percent of global oil trade. So hitting Novoreseek was a strategic strike on the Russian economy. The difference here is Ukraine is hitting military. targets or targets that are directly related to Russia's ability to make war, Russia's hitting things like apartment buildings, markets, hospitals, and schools, essentially just trying

to terrorize the Ukrainian population. What about manpower when it comes to Ukrainian forces? I recall being there last year asking President Zelensky about that issue. They were just lowering the draft age then from 27 to 25. Is that manpower an issue and is it showing up on the battlefield? It's the biggest issue. Manpower is Ukraine's biggest issue, and increasingly both Ukrainians and foreign analysts who are looking at the war are coming to the conclusion that Ukraine will probably have to lower the involuntarily involuntary draft age below 25. As you mentioned, it was 27 at the start of the war, lower to 25. It probably needs to go lower because, look, there are places on the front lines around Pukrufsk where a thousand yards of frontage is covered by four to seven Ukrainian solar.

Just for perspective in comparison, by U.S. Army doctrine, a U.S. infantry company, which is about 150 people, would normally be responsible for 500 to 800 meters of frontage. And so in Ukraine, in places along the line, you've got four to seven people responsible for more frontage than an entire U.S. infantry company would normally be responsible for. It's a huge problem. Ukraine has been able to make up for some of it by the use of drones and artillery, especially drones to cover parts of the front line where their manpower is very thin. But as the winter sets in, the weather gets worse, the clouds roll in. It's rainy. It's foggy. Drones are less effective. And that's part of the reason the Russians were able to infiltrate Ukrainian lines

around Pekrosk. Colonel, I've got less than a minute left, but I have to ask you, we showed that video of Russian forces rolling into Pukrovsk on motorcycles in kind of a rag-tag fashion. What do you take away from that, what it says about the Russian forces, and also why this city and the strategic gains Russia has made? Yeah, I wouldn't call them strategic. I would call them operational, right? Maybe we're splitting hairs here. But, you know, in the military, we talk about tactical, operational, and strategic

levels of war and effects. It's more than tactical because Pekovs is a stride. It sits astride a major road and a major rail line. And so it is operationally significant. But the Ukrainians, as long as they don't get cut off, as long as their pocket and Pekovsky is not surrounded and they're able to withdraw. draw in good order. They'll preserve the integrity of their lines. The Russians have not shown an ability to exploit any of these breakthroughs they make. And these breakthroughs are really

infiltrations, right? The Ukrainian lines are not being severed or broken. Russians are getting two, three, four people behind the lines and then following that up with larger forces, as you saw in the video with the motorcycles, the dune buggies, and the four-wheelers, the other vehicles. But both sides are doing it because large military vehicles don't survive long on this battlefield. That is retired Colonel Robert Hamilton joining us tonight. Colonel, thank you so much for your times and insight. Thank you. It's been another busy week in Washington that saw the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history and new development. regarding the Jeffrey Epstein files.

To discuss, we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Atkins store. That is David Brooks of the New York Times and Kimberly Atkins Store of the Boston Globe. Jonathan Capehart is away. Great to see you both. Good to see you. So the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is now over. It took seven Democrats and one independent to break with the Democratic Party in the Senate. Six Democrats broke in the House.

The deal that they got, David, does not include the extension of the ACA health care subsidies, which was their reason for shutting down the government in the first place. There's an argument here, though, that Democrats change the conversation. We're now talking about the subsidies. We're talking about affordability. Did they win the war and lose the battle? How do you look at this? That's spinning that.

We changed the conversation. Congratulations. You know, I would say I have a few lessons I've learned that I would hope that the political parties, primarily the Democrats, but also the Republicans have learned. First, don't pass cynical laws. When the Democrats had control of the White House, the House, and the Senate in 2021, they passed these subsidies. If they really believe in the subsidies,

don't make them go away in five years. Make them permanent and be honest with the American people about what it's going to cost. And both parties do this sunsetting thing. And so it was cynical of them to do it, and the people they're trying to help are paying the price because of that. Second, if you lose an election and the other party does something you know, like, don't shut down the government, go to the voters.

and go to the midterm and say, these Republican policies are terrible. Trust the voters. Don't shut the government. Third, don't shut down the government when you're not holding the White House. Because in these shutdowns, the president has the power to choose

where the remaining money is going to go, and he picks his priorities and make your people suffer. Fourth, or whatever number I'm up to, don't shut the government when your party is divided and they're united. You're going to lose. And they did lose.

And so, you know, I just think the Democrats shouldn't have done it. Chuck Schumer knew they shouldn't have done it, but the people in the party wanted to do something, so he did it, and it didn't look very good. Kimberly? When, yeah, when there is a situation when the White House and both houses of Congress

are governed by one party, and they are diametrically opposed on things like affordability of health care, the Democrats had a moment, and for a while they were doing it, they were fighting. This is what their base in other Americans have been wanting for a long time.

And it was a righteous fight. And by giving up, they not only disappoint their base, but it makes people throw their hands up at government again and feel like they are not working for them. I was in Dallas last weekend visiting families, and I struck up some conversations with people who have different ideological leanings than me. And what everyone expressed was frustration.

Frustration that the folks back in Washington are fighting with each other, while people cannot afford their health care. They brought up health care intact. which I thought was important. Things are not affordable. They're having difficulty just getting by. Businesses are suffering under the tariffs,

and they just want people to work and get it right. And if a shutdown was a way to get there, at least that would lead to some outcome by taking away the very thing that Democrats were fighting for or walking away before they got it. It led a lot of Americans down. The concerns about Chuck Schumer as leader, those have merit?

You know, I think I'm always in favor of change in leadership. and that people should not be tenured at the leadership in the levels of the House and the Senate. So I think any time we're talking about reevaluating what the leadership looks like, that's a positive thing. We are now talking about affordability in a way that was not part of the discourse before. The president is now talking about affordability more as well. He shifted his rhetoric in recent days to meet the concern just today, slash tariffs on a number of key food items, things like coffee and bananas and beef and so on. And in a recent poll, about 30% of voters say that President Trump has lived up to expectations for tackling inflation and the cost of living.

Here's what President Trump had to say when he was asked about it on Fox recently. Are people saying they're anxious about the economy? Why are they saying that? I don't know that they are saying. I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we've ever had. David, it is an issue for Americans. What do you make of the president's rhetoric on this? Well, in one level, he's sort of right. The inflation's at 3%, which is not terrible. Big prices are down since he was elected, unemployment rate is still low. But then you look at consumer sentiment, it's through the floor. It's unbelievable how low consumer sentiment is.

And so you've got to listen to the American people. They know what they're talking about. And I think it is affordable, and it's affordability on two big issues. One is health care and the other is housing. I saw a Bloomberg graph today that showed that in 2010, 25 years ago, no, my math is wrong, 15 years ago, The median house purchaser was 39 years old. So that means a lot of people in their 30s were buying houses. Now in 2025, the median house purchaser is 59 years old.

So young people can't afford houses. So that's a gigantic problem if you're a young person who wants to have a family and have a life. And so these issues, all this stuff Trump is doing trivial, trivial. You've got to do the big things, which are, A, rearrange the incentives in the health care system, that allow all these costs to zoom up and have for basically our lifetimes. Two, on housing, we have a housing problem because, especially in blue states over the last generation or two, we've put in law and rules and lawsuits to make it really hard to build housing. So supply and demand, guess what, it's a thing.

And so if somebody would take big actions on these two big issues, you'd have a serious conversation about affordability. But, you know, giving people a few checks or reducing a few tariffs, I'm glad they made the Swiss deal. my chocolate bill will go down, but we're not talking about the real issues that are out there, which are real, the affordability issues are you. What do you make of this affordability conversation, Kimberly, and also the idea that there's another budget battle ahead in January?

Should Democrats shut the government down again if there is no movement on those health care subsidies? I think the Democrats need to show that there is a fight, but fight till the end, give it all they got, leave nothing on the court. What does that look like? In this case, whatever levers they have. Right? And make the case clearly to the American people that you were fighting for them. Look, they can't keep trying and doing this and failing the American people and expect the American people to keep coming back to them. You know, you have the president who, I mean, these tariff breaks, that's all fine and good. But it's like pouring a thimble full of water on a bonfire. It's not going to make a difference. And the indices may not be showing inflation writing. But you know what is showing the receipts of Americans when they go to the grocery store, myself included. It's pawling. And we're coming into the hollow.

the days too. Democrats need to fight with everything that they have. They need to show that they understand Americans and they're not just looking to save themselves in the next election. Why are you laughing, David? I'm really hitting one of my triggers. And it's over the word fight. Okay. I don't think Democrats fight. I mean small D Democrats. I think Democrats persuade. We're still in a democracy where you try to persuade other people. And to me, a lot of the fighting rhetoric is just riling up your base at higher levels of volume, and it's not very persuasive. And if you want to succeed in a democracy, persuade, don't fight. I agree with you, actually. When I say fight, I don't mean fight each other. I mean everyone, including the Texans I talk to, are tired of

the partisan rinker in Washington. I mean fight for the American people. It is their power who they lent to these lawmakers to work on their behalf and to hear things about affordability and how they're real. We talk a lot about kitchen table. This is the kitchen table right now. And they were showing for a period of time that they cared about, they understood in what was happening, what people were talking about at those tables. By walking away like that, it's like they gave up that fight for Americans. I have to ask you about the president continuing to face more pressure and more questions about the release of those files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

We saw four Republicans join House Democrats to back a petition to force a vote on releasing those files. We saw one of those Republican lawmakers, Colorado's Lauren Bobert, summoned to the White House, reportedly to talk about her push to release the files. And we've heard President Trump continued to try to convince Republicans to vote against the release. He posted online today saying Democrats are doing everything in their withering power to push the Epstein hoax again. Some weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish. David, what do you make of this? How is this going to end?

Soon, I hope. I mean, I hate this issue. This is the moment of my life in my career that I'm more uncertain about the future than any other time. It's AI. It's economic bubbles. It's Ukraine. It's, I mean, there are a million things that are happening in. And Congress comes back and they're doing Epstein. I also hate this issue because, look, we're journalists. When we report, we don't publicize everything somebody tells us. We check it out first. And I'm not a lawyer like Kimberly is, but I think when the prosecutorial power, that's like journalism times 100, because they can use the power of the state to get phone records, to get emails. You don't just spew it out there without checking it out, whether it's part of some process where you need to prosecute

people. And when I look at the content of these emails, most of it is just jibber-jabber. Trump broke with Epstein in 2004, and a lot of these emails are in 2019. And so the one colonel that does raise alarms is when Epstein says that Trump was with one of the victims. That should be investigated. But the rest is just jibber-jabber, and I don't know why it's Donald Trump campaigned on releasing these files. A lot of this is in his hands. He's trying to have his cake and eat it too by saying that this is a Democratic hoax while at the same time saying he wants his Justice Department to look into Democrats who are mentioned in these files. He can't have it both ways. I agree with you. I hate this topic. I hate that his obstruction on it has caused it to end up in this dribble of news items and keep this going on in a way that I'm sure must be devastating to the victims. Donald Trump is not a victim in this. there are real victims in it, and I'm thinking about them. I regret to inform you. We'll probably be talking about this again at some point.

Kimberly Ackin-Store, David Brooks. Great to see you both. Thank you. Thank you. cross-disciplinary problem solving. In tonight's brief but spectacular, he reflects on the journey that shaped his belief that everyone has the capacity to be creative. I met Steve Jobs soon after I started IDO, 1978. He didn't have an internal design group, and so he was using people from the outside. He liked what he saw, and we ended up doing 53 projects for Apple after that.

The most impactful project that I think we ever did for Apple was the computer mouse. It's one of those great things where to see something adopted that quickly was really gratifying as a designer. These are things I designed. So this is the chassis for the Apple 3 computer. This is the Palm 5. It's a personal digital assistant before your time. My mom's spatula. I don't know why that's memorable.

I grew up in Barberton, Ohio, the rust belt of the country. As a kid, I was always tinkering. You know, my grandfather was a machinist, and if you needed a part for the washing machine, you made a new one. When I first arrived at Stanford, I really didn't have any knowledge of what design was. Design was in the engineering school,

but it was very human-centered, so that was a better fit for me. I was much better at going out and trying to understand what was meaningful for people. 20 years ago I was diagnosed with throat cancer and I really really hit me hard but I really had the epiphany that I wanted to do something that was meaningful in the world and as I started teaching I realized that my purpose in life was figuring out how to help people gain confidence in their creative

ability many people assume they're not creative time and time again they say a teacher told me I wasn't creative or that's not a very good drawing of a horse or whatever it is. We don't have to teach creativity. Once we remove the blocks, they can then feel themselves as being a creative person. Witnessing somebody realizing their creative for the first time is just a complete joy. You can just see them come out of the shop and beaming that, you know, I can weld, you know, like what's next? I couldn't get that anywhere else, I think, other than being an educator. The way the DeSchool idea came to me basically was I was in a bunch of meetings in those days about multidisciplinary.

Early prototypes for the D-School were just some of us getting together from different departments and teaching a class together. The way of thinking and working together in a radically collaborative way results in really life-changing, world-changing kind of ideas. The D-Schools really focus on helping people gain a new mindset, designing in a way that's human-centered. What's different about design today, I think, is We used to be at the kids table and now I think we're at the adult table, that we're getting to work on the most interesting problems.

Design is just one of the disciplines along with like business and technology. We can actually contribute to making solutions that are meaningful and fit with people. My name is David Kelly, and this is my brief but spectacular take on creativity and design. And you can watch more, Brief But Spectacular. spectacular takes on our website, pbs.org slash news hour slash brief. Well, beginning on Sunday, on PBS, a six-part, 12-hour series on the American Revolution. It's the latest from filmmaker Ken Burns, examining the earliest days of our nation's democratic experiment, and it comes at a time of deep divisions in our country.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has a look for our series, Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy and part of our canvas coverage. A shot rings out. No one knows where the shot came from. That leads to promiscuous shooting. April 19, 1775, the first shots of the Revolutionary War. Afterwards, nothing would be the same from then to our own time. The American Revolution says Ken Burns is as important as any film he's made, precisely because it is the founding moment, the origin story of a nation still wrestling with itself and the very idea of democracy.

We've tended to make the revolution kind of sanitized and about men in Philadelphia thinking great thoughts, which is really important. But this is a bloody revolution. It's a bloody civil war in which Americans are killing other Americans because they don't agree with. this. And it's also a global war that's superimposed on top of all of it. And I think understanding the origin story and understanding what the intention was of the creation of the United States as it morphed and as it changed as it went along helps us today understand not only where we are but where we could be going. We joined Burns and co-director Sarah Botstein recently at the Mount Vernon Virginia home of George Washington. One of a number of places around the country, they've been screening the film for audiences ahead of its TV premiere.

And if you're looking for complexities and contradictions, start right here at the quarters that housed Washington slaves. I know you have this mantra. It's complicated, right? Nothing could be more complicated than the person most responsible for our country. The person without whom this country doesn't exist. Right. And we're walking by the slave. Owning other human beings. It was a war of ideals.

The American Revolution was the first war ever fought, proclaiming the unalienable rights of all people. And land grabs. They end up being kicked around and moved from place to place. This is, of course, the story of native people relative to the United States. Of highest virtues. The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. And lowest venality.

Robert Morris was a war profiteer and mingled public. and private funds with unabashed abandon. And Vidal says Bautstein to see this as a civil war. They were brothers. One was in the British and the other in the American service, totally ignorant until that hour that they were engaged in hostile combat against each other's life.

We were breaking with ourselves. We were British subjects and British citizens. We do understand, I think, collectively, the American Revolution as this great war of ideas. and a beacon of freedom, democracy, all the wonderful things we can celebrate about what is so important about the American experiment. But mothers lost their sons, brothers fought against brothers,

communities were ripped apart. It was a deadly, terribly scary time. And there was a kind of radicalization and violence and terror. Ken Burns' trademarks are on display. Camera pans and music. historians on major battles and lesser-known social issues. It was the job of women to go in and take care of those bodies. Actors, including Morgan Freeman, voicing the words of both celebrated

and everyday figures from the era. Some consider us as much property as a house or a ship. One strong emphasis, the often less explored role of Native Americans, before and during the revolution. The American Revolution was about to plunge the once-united six nations into a civil war of their own. You can get an A in 8th grade or 11th grade if you say taxes and representation, but it's about Native American land, first and foremost.

You have these 13 colonies that are superimposed over Native American land, and they're Native Americans living with Americans, sort of co-existing or assimilated. And then you have to the West many separate nations that are as distinct as France is from Prussia. And we had to find a way to understand what that meant. Something new for the Burns team, the extensive use of reenactments, not faces, but bodies on the land in battle living through the times. Tell me about that, the decision to do that and how you came to think about it. What we did mostly was spend a lot of time with those reenactors without our cameras and with our cameras filming impressionistic things.

What does it look like when there's a bayonet charge? What is it like when the soldiers are walking through the snow? You can kind of imagine the land that they walked on, see the fields where they died. And also creatively for us, we sort of turned our editing room upside down and how much live cinematography there is, how we use paintings. We don't just use paintings and material from the time. We commissioned watercolors.

It's really a lot of everything and how we, as a country, thought and consider the revolution for 250 years. There are, of course, a number of jarring moments for a contemporary audience. One hit me was soldiers in a major city. One unbelievable thing that gets a response is when we show in our first episode when General Gage orders a fleet of ships from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to come to Boston with almost 2,000 troops to not protect it, but to police it.

And then you hear these voices, from the period talking about what a standing army. This is a big, big deal. And audiences erupt because, of course, right now it resonates. Democracy itself, Burns says, was not an object of the revolution. It was a consequence. And the film comes out as Americans are again or still divided over its meaning and many fear for its future. Burns insists his longstanding approach to looking at history as he puts it calling balls and strikes like a baseball umpire still holds. If you superimpose some, you know, philosophy of historiography or some political bias that's attuned

to today's moment, you've made something that has a half-life of a couple seconds. But if you're attendant to the narrative story, you have something that has resonance and you're talking to everybody. Doesn't it change either your responsibility now or the way you think about it or what you want us to see? No, because it's all built in a story that's based on facts. And I think it will resonate with Americans of all stripes because it's telling our origin story. You know, President Trump and allies were saying that there's been too much emphasis on the negative as opposed to the triumphs and the positives of this country. Where does this film fit in or where do you fit in now

to this thinking about how we tell history? You can't water it down. It is really complicated. And And you have to tell that complication. Everyone is drawn to the stories that are real and complicated. And any idea of boiling it down to simplistic slogans is not American. We've talked to so many Americans who are really hungry and interested for good history, good stories, and there is a lot to be proud of and a lot to learn from our bruises and scars and things we've not done well. I have two children.

I want them to learn history. that they can make their future brighter and better and learn the lessons from the past, whether those lessons are inspirational, instructive, depressing, dark, or light. The American Revolution begins airing this Sunday and runs six consecutive nights. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Jeffrey Brown at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Well, be sure to tune in to Washington Week with The Atlantic later tonight right here on PBS. The panel will discuss President Trump's efforts to contain the political fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. And watch PBS News Weekend tomorrow.

Scientists search for the secret in one man's biology that's protected him from dementia. That's Saturday on PBS News Weekend. And that is the news hour for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz. on behalf of the entire NewsHour team. Thank you for joining us and have a great weekend.