Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including jim and Nancy Goldman and kathy and Paul Anderson. The john s. And james l. Knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. More at kf. Org. And with ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. Thank you. Amna welcome to the newshour. At least 55 people are confirmed dead tonight after fastmoving wildfires ravaged the island of maui. But the search operation is far from over. Those who did manage to survive now face the daunting task of piecing their lives back together. Stephanie sy has our report. Stephanie the smoke has all but cleared over lahaina, revealing whats been lost. The beloved, centuriesold town on the coast of maui was once the capital of the hawaiian kingdom. Today, its a burnt out shell of itself. This is going to take years, years to recover. And it just breaks my heart that all the history from back in the waning days of the 1800s. Dust, ash and dust. Stephanie firefighters worked to extinguish the lingering flames. Several wildfires erupted on the island this week, with lahaina bearing the brunt of the damage. Homes, businesses and historic landmarks many built out of wood reduced to gray piles of ash. The street signs melted. Satellite images show how the area looked before and after the fire tore through. Gov. Green when you see the full extent of the destruction in lahaina, it will shock you. It does appear like a bomb and fire went off. Stephanie yesterday, hawaiis governor josh green said its the worst disaster the state has seen since 1960, when a tsunami claimed the lives of 61 people. Gov. Green its a heartbreaking day. Without a doubt. What weve seen today has been catastrophic. We are seeing loss of life. As you know, the number has been rising and we will continue to see loss of life. Stephanie governor green insisted today that evacuees will return home, even as search and rescue efforts continue. Bodies are still being found in the rubble of the some 1000 buildings that the fireleveled. Business owner Tiffany Kidder Winn shared this video as she walked down lahainas main drag. The gift store she owned, established in 1971, is gone. Tiffany its everywhere. Looking up the hillside. All the homes are gone, all the buildings are gutted. Stephanie kidder winn has lived on maui for 20 years. She says the fires will have lasting impacts. Tiffany lahaina is such a special place and not just for the people that live there, but for so many people that sorry. Im holding it together, but im on the edge. For the community and for all of the islands. Stephanie over the past few days, the Hawaiian ArmyNational Guard has dropped more than a hundred thousand gallons of water on the flames. With the fire 80 contained, residents are starting to ask why they didnt get more warning. Hawaii boasts a stateoftheart outdoor Warning System, but the sirens never went off. Officials say widespread Power Outages disrupted other attempts to notify the public. As it was, many were completely caught off guard. They ran for their lives and in some cases, swam for their lives. Vixay we left our vehicle and myself and my wife and our five kids, we all got into the ocean. We found a floating board that we hung onto. The ocean almost swept away my kids a few times. Stephanie even with nerves frayed, the Community Came together to gather food, water and other essentials for displaced residents. Blankets, diapers, water. Come on and get it. Stephanie the aftermath of the disaster has left maui to grapple with physical and emotional scars. But the spirit of aloha is alive. For the pbs newshour, im stephanie sy. Geoff amna for more on the fires, we turn now to chad blair in honolulu. Hes a reporter and editor for honolulu civil beat. Welcome and thank you for joining us. The images and stories seem to get more and more horrifying i the day. What kinds of stories are your reporters hearing on the ground . Chad the grief has been overwhelming, as you can imagine. Maui, although it is a separate island, we have all been there, we have family and friends on the various islands. One of our reporters had to evacuate along with her husband at 1 00 in the morning on that tuesday. Her rental unit were destroyed, fortunately she and her husband are safe. But everyone has been touched by this tragedy. The video speaks for itself. It is a war zone, and apocalypse. Amna what about from authorities right now . Do they have a full picture of the damage and loss yet . Chad we dont know that right now, certainly not a dollar figure. At least 1700 structures have been destroyed. There are at least 1000 people unaccounted for. Hopefully we will learn more about that. Its very likely those casualties, those fatalities, will increase from 55 and up. We are not getting a lot of information. The focus has been recovering, eating people to safety and making sure fires are contained. Amna i understand youre trying to get more information. We just heard about our colleague report on the Warning System that never seemed to go off. Have you heard anything about a timeline or evacuations issued . Was the Warning System supposed to go off . Chad every indication so far is the Warning System did not go off at all, people were self evacuating. We are not getting full answers from officials. There is no official timeline that has been presented. We are not hearing from the electric company, did a utility pole spike spark the fire . Its frustrating when we are trying to find more information. We believe there will be more in the days to come but for now theres not more. Amna tell us about supplies on the ground. Weve heard about the number of the buildings that have been destroyed. What about medical services, hospitals, clinics . Are they still functioning . Can people get medical support or medicine if needed . Chad they can get medical support if needed, although there were reports that the hospitals on maui were overwhelmed. That has not been the case. Few reports of injuries, that is encouraging. We have been concerned about morgue space for the bodies. So far the medical facilities and operations are fully functioning. Amna what would you say are the Biggest Challenges right now . Weve heard that the fire seems to be mostly contained correct me if i am wrong but searchandrescue continue. What are officials up against . Chad the biggest challenge is communication. Fiberoptic cables were melted, at least 29 utility poles down. Here we are using satellite phones to communicate with teams on the ground. In terms of officials, emergency responders, they are using radios. You cannot use a cell phone to get through. Communication has been part of the challenge. There were a lot of roads blocked by cars. Much of that has been cleared but these continue to be concerns. Amna it is unimaginable, the scale and suddenness of the loss. We see the pictures and it is hard to imagine how quickly this unfolded. For people on the ground there, what is the greatest need . A lot of people are seeing these images and wondering what can i do . Chad a lot of folks are donating to charity you can go to the red cross, a number of organizations that are bringing food and water and clothing, all sorts of supplies. The aloha spirit mentioned earlier is a strong. If you need to find a place to donate to, google the maui fire and you will get plenty of suggestions. Amna i have to ask, i know it is difficult sometimes for reporters covering a story at the same time they are living through it. What has that been like for your team . Chad they are terrific. One of our reporters is still there on the ground. Several photographers and reporters have returned to our offices but they are still working to get the story out. Amna we are so grateful to all of them and to you. Chad blair, we will be following your reporting and we are keeping everyone there in our thousand prayers. They give for joining us. Chad thank you. Amna in the days other headlines a federal judge in washington overseeing the election conspiracy case against former President Donald Trump warned that his right to free speech is not absolute. U. S. District judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to a limited protective order banning mr trump from publicly disclosing sensitive evidence in the case. She said that will help protect witnesses and prevent interference in the trial. Ftx founder Sam Bankmanfried is in a new york jail tonight. A judge revoked the disgraced cryptocurrency moguls bail for allegedly tampering with witnesses at least twice in the runup to his october trial. The 31yearold has been charged with orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in u. S. History. Hed been under house arrest at his parents home in california. In syria, Islamic State gunmen ambushed a bus carrying syrian soldiers overnight, killing at least 20 people. It happened in the eastern town of mayadeen, which is split in control between syrian troops and kurdish fighters. The syrian observatory for human rights said isis has ramped up attacks in recent months in areas it once controlled. Russia and ukraine exchanged a fresh wave of aerial attacks today. In kyiv, Ukrainian Air defenses shot down a Russian Missile that broke up and landed near a childrens hospital. No casualties were reported. Meanwhile, russia said it intercepted a Ukrainian Drone on the western outskirts of moscow. Blurry video caught the moment of impact as it startled witnesses nearby. Maria my heart is still pounding. I was going to work when a forceful explosion happened. The tarmac shook. The shockwave was so strong that it almost blew my clothes off. I was shocked. I ducked down, looked up and saw an enormous explosion. Amna back in kyiv, president zelenskyy announced hes firing the directors of all of ukraines Regional ArmyRecruitment Centers to crack down on corruption. The countrys Security Services recently revealed more than 100 criminal cases had been opened against recruitment officials suspected of taking bribes. The u. N. Announced it has finished transferring more than a Million Barrels of oil from an aging tanker near yemen. The ship is moored off the wartorn countrys red sea coast. Last month, an International Team began pumping the oil to another ship amid warnings that the decaying vessel could leak or explode and cause a massive environmental catastrophe. Tens of thousands of earlycareer doctors in england have walked off the job again in a fifth round of strikes. Theyre demanding a 35 percent pay hike which they say will restore their salaries back to 2008 levels. But the government is only offering 6 percent. The National Health service says the strikes could cost them more than a billion dollars by the time doctors resume work next tuesday. And, stocks were mixed on wall street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 105 points to close at 35,281. The nasdaq fell 76 points. The s p 500 slipped 5. Still to come on the newshour. Republican president ial candidates make their pitch to iowa voters at the state fair. David brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the weeks political headlines. Chronicling the history of hiphop on its fiftieth anniversary. Plus much more. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna the longrunning federal investigation of president bidens son, hunter, entered a new phase today with attorney general Merrick Garlands appointment of a special counsel. John yang has more. John amna, the new special counsel is david weiss. He wont need time to get up to speed because as delawares u. S. Attorney hes run the investigation from the beginning. He was a trump appointee who was held over and given full authority over the case. Now as special counsel his independence is guaranteed by law. Ag garland this appointment confirms my commitment to provide mr. Weiss all the resources he requests. It also reaffirms that mr. Weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently based only on the facts and the law. John later, weiss said in a court filing that prosecutors and Defense Attorneys in Hunter Bidens tax and gun case are at an impasse and are not in agreement on either a plea agreement or a diversion agreement. So on those charges, hunter biden may be headed for trial. Npr justice correspondent Carrie Johnson was at garlands announcement. The attorney general said weiss asked for this, why would he ask for this and what is the change . Carrie Justice Department policy says dont tell people in the public what you are doing exactly before you decide to file criminal charges. Exactly what changed is unclear. We do know the attorney general said david weiss came to him, called him on tuesday and said he had entered a new stage of this investigation and he believed it was important to appoint him a special counsel. Merrick garland said he was in the public interest, he agreed, and that has been done as of today. All we know is since 2019, weiss has been investigating hunter biden. According to appointment paperwork, others as well, but we dont know who they are. It may be this investigation has entered a new phase regards hunter biden, and possibly others. John what do we know about the scope . Of what weiss can do . Carrie he will keep charge of this hunter biden investigation and he is also able to prosecute other people, including biden and others potentially for other crimes he uncovers during the course of the investigation. Typically that would mean any destruction of evidence but there is no evidence that has happened yet. John is it an indication that this investigation will go on a while . Carrie some people think so, what attorney general Merrick Garland in his announcement today said he expected weiss to act with urgency. He is clearly familiar with the nature of the allegations, hes been looking at them for years and years, and we know the other special counsels, there are two others on the job, including jack smith, who has been prosecuting former President Donald Trump, hes been acting with great speed. Its possible that decisions are made relatively soon. John Hunter Bidens attorney made a statement that this doesnt change anything as far as they are concerned. With the prosecution saying they are at an impasse on the other charges, what does that mean Going Forward . Could he be on trial for some charges while being investigated by other things . Carrie he absolutely could. Given the impasse and a rather broad gap between Hunter Bidens lawyers in the Justice Department over whether his initial plea deal conveyed him broad immunity for foreign lobbying or other business activities, i dont know how you resolve that gap. Its possible hunter biden goes to trial, though his lawyer said he expected a fair resolution devoid of politics. John you were a couple of blocks away from the justice federal courthouse with a hearing on the order that jack smith, the special counsel in the 2020 election case, is asking for the limit of what could what trump can talk about in the trial. The defense offered an alternative and the judge tried to reconcile the two. Haddad how did she do that . Carrie she issued an order late in the day today, that paves the way for Donald Trumps lawyers and trump himself to get over 11,000 pages of documents the government has collected, she said that trump cannot just blast out Sensitive Information about witnesses, recordings of witnesses made to the public. She said that could intimidate witnesses and taint the jury pool. He will have to follow certain rules even though he is the former president. The judges said donald trump in some ways is like any other criminal defendant with a day job. His day job happens to be running for the white house. John from what the judge did today, are there any signs that she gave about her approach to this case . Carrie she was quite cordial to both sides, government lawyers and trumps lawyer, and said basically that trumps lawyer, after she heard there were 11 million pages of documents coming his way, i cant wait to see your trial proposal she wants this trial to happen soon. The special counsel wants it to happen in january of 2024 and trumps lawyer will try to delay this, but this is a no nonsense judge and she will want to bring it to travel for the election if she can. John shes asked defense to propose their date for the trial next thursday. You say she wants this to go to trial, do you expect that to show up when she picks the date . Carrie she is not messing around, she said to both sides, on august 28, they have a long hearing scheduled, that she will set a date. We may know by the end of the month when donald trump faced charges in washington, d. C. Related to the capitol riot and events before that. John Carrie Johnson, thank you so much. Carrie thank you. Amna the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a bankruptcy plan for drug maker Purdue Pharma a plan that wouldve paid out billions of dollars to address the Opioid Epidemic, but would have also shielded the companys owners the Sackler Family from legal liability. William brangham has more on the implications. William amna, this controversial bankruptcy plan was stalled because the u. S. Justice department argued that shielding the sacklers from all future lawsuits was an abuse of the bankruptcy system. The sacklers themselves did not declare bankruptcy. But that delay means that at least six billion dollars in relief is not going to communities all over the country to help them address the addiction and overdose crisis. Nprs brian mann has been covering all of this closely. He joins us now. Welcome back. We thought this was a settled issue, several judges have signed off on this. Help us understand, what happened at the Supreme Court yesterday . Brian it surprised a lot of legal experts that the Supreme Court was willing to take this on. In the past, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to wade into issues with bankruptcy. The department of justice have repeatedly made the strong legal arguments about what was happening here would create a kind of roadmap where more and more nonbankrupt companies, very wealthy individuals like the sacklers, could begin using the really awesome power of bankruptcy to avoid accountability. They would essentially pay in billions of dollars but in exchange be able to walk away free of all future civil claims, and the doj convinced enough justices to look at this that now we will see a full hearing in december. William is that a legitimate fear . Are there examples of other countries that have done what they are talking about . Brian absolutely. Over the last five to 10 years and more intensely the last two to three years, a lot of very wealthy corporations and individuals have begun finding loopholes in federal bankruptcy law, maneuvers in federal bankruptcy law, that allow them to tap into this we saw Johnson Johnson, the fabulously wealthy corporation, create a subsidiary, push it into bankruptcy, and try to piggyback on that bankruptcy to block tens of thousands of lawsuits linked to claims that its baby powder caused ovarian cancer. Maneuvers like that are more and more common and you have a lot of legal scholars and members of congress saying wait a minute, wasnt bankruptcy supposed to be for actual and corrupt, insolvent companies . And now the Supreme Court is saying yeah, maybe this is a question we need to look at. William back to Purdue Pharma, the original deal was liability for the sacklers, but they will put in 6 billion and give that to communities over the country to address addiction and overdoses. What are those communities and states and tribes saying now this deal has been put on hold . Brian its been fascinating to see the conflict within the victim community. Among those communities, many had said we dont think this looks like justice or the sacklers are concerned, they get to walk away from the Opioid Epidemic essentially free after paying out this money. On the other hand, they desperately need the cash for it 750 Million Dollars was supposed to go to families of people who died from oxycontin overdoses, people who lost years of their lives, going to immunities for Addiction Treatment programs. There is a lot of dismay that money will be on hold at least through december when the Supreme Court will review this and likely much longer. This deal has been held up for years with legal wrangling and delays and people are impatient. William this has always been the central tension with this struggle, the very tangible anger against the sacklers because theres a fairly good documentary trail that they knew how much problem the drugs were causing yet they continue to push them, and the communities desperate for aid. Will the Supreme Court in the end make a resolution about this . What are we likely to see when they make a ruling . Brian what we are likely to see is pretty big. In some ways, it could change the way Justice Works in america. Right now, a lot of people are using, again, the awesome power of chrissy of bankruptcy to force people to give of lawsuits. Usually that is resolved reserved for insolvent individuals. Some appeals courts have allowed bankruptcy judges to approve situations like this and others have said no. The Supreme Court is likely to do is resolve this nationally. Either open the door to bankruptcy courts being able to do deals like this, cut arrangements with people like the sacklers and Companies LikeJohnson Johnson and do pharma. They may say yes, or they may say no. That this isnt what chrissy was meant to do, its meant for insolvent companies, not wealthy people trying to pay their way out of lawsuits. William brian, thank you as always for helping us get through this. Brian thank you. Amna butter, cows, corn dogs, and politics. These are just a few of the things top of mind for iowans as they kick off the countrys 3rd largest fair this weekend. In attendance, nearly every major gop president ial candidate vying for the hearts and minds of the hawkeyes ahead of the states january caucus. Our own Lisa Desjardins has been catching up with these candidates as well as voters on the ground and she joins me now. Good to see you. We are still months away from that caucus, but what kind of separation are we already seeing emerge in the republican field . Lisa i think what you find from voters here is something we see in polls. Talking to them on the ground in iowa, year three categories of republicans one, former President Trump and a category by himself, way out ahead, and then ron desantis. And the third category is everyone else. Lets look at the entire republican field or at least the top 11 candidates right now. Its a big field. We have seen bigger in the past but still plenty for iu once a talk about your one separation, talk about. One separation, qualifying for the debate. Just ate have qualified. Thats why events like this are so critical for candidates like the miami mayor, francis suarez. Here is what he told me today. Its critical because for me, its the first opportunity to be on an equal footing with eight other national figures. Im probably the only one thats not a national figure, so im the one that needs the most volume and the most time. Not that ill get more volume in time than them. Lisa thats one of the first is here, but there are others who know they need momentum. One of those is former Vice President mike pence. He is from two states over and if he cannot do well in iowa, he knows he has a major problem. I asked how does he gain ground against the president he was Vice President for . He initially said stay tuned, so i followed up. What exactly are you going to do here in iowa . Tell me what you mean . You know, when i got my first job at a gas station, when i was growing up, one of my dads gas stations. I was trying to figure out how to get the people there to respect me. My dad gave me a piece of advice. He said, outwork them. And i did. And they all became my best friends. And i promise you, nobody is going to work harder in iowa and new hampshire, South Carolina, nevada, or any state in this country than mike and karen pence. Lisa so many dynamics right now in iowa. He said he will outwork everyone else, but he was asked a question about someone who said, you were a triator traitor, a trump supporter called him that. Hes dealing with a lot of dynamics. Amna when you talk to voters on the ground in iowa, what are you hearing, who are they paying attention to and which candidates arepiquing their interest . Lisa the state fair is about what is your favorite new food and Iowa Republicans are sort of the same thing, they like to browse around. There are two names i keep hearing more and more. One, north dakota governor doug burgum. His name has come up a number of times. They like his midwestern sensibility, they think he is a cando guy, not a career politician, hes had success in north dakota and has a straightforward message for they dont see him as a bomb thrower, they think he could compete with joe biden. Hes down in the polls right now but making a name. The other name weve heard a lot is tim scott, the South Carolina senator has not into the state fair yet, he will be here in about a week or so. He is someone a lot of republicans say they like, that he has a message more on the positive side. They think he doesnt have the baggage and drama, as one person told me, of former President Trump or even Governor Desantis we will see if those two get momentum. Amna there are a number of court cases, including also former President Trumps indictments hovering over this election. We also have a special counsel appointed to investigate the hunter biden case. How do folks on the ground there look at those issues . Lisa this was breaking while we were here and we saw the ranking republican on the Senate Judiciary committee, chuck grassley, at the fair, and we asked him what he thinks. Is the first time i heard of it, sounds to me it shouldve been done along time ago. Lisa that was generally the reaction early this morning as news was breaking, republicans applauding this. A sentiment from any voters that they know about the hunter biden case, it is a phrase in the minds of iowans. We talked to some who felt things are not there. Here are some voters we talked to. I think there needs to stop being two sets of rules some for republicans, some for democrats. Should be the same for everybody. It is way too biased. Lisa initially there was a lot of applause for the decision. News stories came out, there was more skepticism about what it would mean. What might affect iowa more is the date of President Trumps trial. There is a proposal for it to be in january. Former President Trump put out a statement saying he sees that as election interference in the iowa caucuses. No one in iowa wants to see the front runner candidate in a trial two weeks before their caucuses. I spoke to the chairman of the Republican Party here and he says he thinks if the trial is scheduled for january would only help trump. Amna lisa reporting from the iowa state fair as campaign 2024 is well underway. Good to see you, thank you. For more on the fight for the republican nomination, and the appointment of a special counsel in the investigation of the president s son, we turn now to the analysis of brooks and capehart. Thats New York Times columnist david brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for the washington post. Welcome to you both. Lets pick up where lisa left off, i want to get your reaction, jonathan. People she is talking to in iowa, names she is hearing more often, doug burgum and tim scott. What does that say to you . Jonathan i want to start the evening by saying happy birthday, david. Amna happy birthday, David Jonathan now to the question at hand. I think it gets to something that lisa said in her report, which is when she talked to people about donald trump, they dont like the drama. You dont get any drama with senator tim scott or with governor burgum. A lot of people are finding out hes actually the governor of north dakota and a real person. I think if anything, i will be watching to see how well they do as the state fair goes on and as we start focusing on iowa. I do think i hope, that the Republican Party faithful will leave the drama behind. Fine, stick with conservatives, a conservative who cares about american democracy and the foundations of our democracy. Thats what i would like to see and it seems to me right now that senator tim scott and governor burgum are those two people. Amna is iowa the place where one of the other candidates could break through . David it should be. Covering iowa and the state fair used to be one of my favorite things to do in politics. I think it was 1999, i saw the last supper carved out of butter. [laughter] i think gary bauer, president ial candidate, was there. What was fantastic about iowa and maybe still is for all candidates but one, it really is small, you are in living rooms. I think this year might not be like that, i think trump is too big. Hes barely been to the state, hes pulling big in the state and he might decide im not gonna debate or anything, im just gonna win. It might be we dont get the iowa experience because trump is going to bigfoot it. Amna we talk about iowa because they are first but do we put too much stock in iowa . Ted cruz in 2016, Mike Huckabee in 2008 . Jonathan the republican track record isnt very good and you would think republicans would say maybe we should shake things up the way the democrats did. However, iowa looks more like the Republican Party than iowa looks like the Democratic Party. Thats why i think you see the ships that are happening in the Democratic Party to shunt iowa aside and no conversation about doing the same for republicans. David Pat Robertson won many years ago, but barack obama did too. If you are back in the field and suddenly you do really well in iowa which can do with relatively small amount of money, and you are up, that help you. Theres a possibility, i am skeptical it will happen, but if one of the nontrump candidates does that, that would be big. Amna i want to ask about the appointment of a special counsel into the investigation into hunter biden, that is david weiss, who has been leading the investigation the last few years, now elevated to that role. The white house has been referring all questions about this to the department of justice and Hunter Bidens personal attorneys this is clearly going to continue to be a political issue for republicans. Could it be a political problem for the president . Jonathan it could be, anything is possible, but i think the white house is doing the right thing. Youve got questions about hunter biden, dont ask us, go to the Justice Department. Go to hunters lawyers paired lawyers. The administration is making it very clear, we are not interfering, we have nothing to do with this. If the attorney general wants to appoint a special counsel to investigate the president s son, so be it. I was struck by something also in lisas reporting where she said folks there are like about time. You know why they are thinking that way . Theyve been stead a steady diet of antihunter biden diet for months if not years and trying to equate what is happening with the president s son to what is happening with the former president of the United States who now has three indictments against him for very serious crimes two of them and maybe another one coming next week. They are not equivalent, but when you get that steady diet of antihunter biden news from a particular cable network, i get why they think what took them so long . Amna this is why it is worth looking at the republican response to that appointment today. We saw former President Trump has issued a statement weston in the independence of david weiss. House speaker Kevin Mccarthy tweeted that House Republicans will not only continue their own investigations and probes into hunter biden, but he also added this if weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal that did not get approved, how can he be trusted as a special counsel . Its worth pointing out that weiss was appointed by former President Trump, confirmed by a Republicanled Senate why this message . David the republicans are mistrustful, as you can imagine, the Political Administration trying to defend the president s son. It cant be good news for the white house because a couple of weeks ago it seems like this was going to peter out in a deal. Now aprently the investigation will go on for a significant amount of time or they wouldnt have done this. That means the story still lives the second thing that in the plea deal, it was about gun charges and tax charges. Doesnt seem like the big deal here. The big deal is hunter biden made a lot of money telling people he would pedal influence. Did he pedal influence . Thats the core question i would like to see somebody answer. Reporters have gone into this and they havent found any evidence. But thats what i would like to see investigated. Amna i want to ask about your takeaways from a big special election, i dont know if people expected it to be as big, in ohio this week. During the summer and a nonelection year, hundreds of thousands of people turned out because abortion rights were extensively on the ballot. Ohioans voted to not allow a threshold change that would make it harder to enshrine abortion lights later in november in the state constitution. What did the result say to you . Jonathan people are still angry. A year ago, we were talking about the Dobbs Decision by the Supreme Court that overturned roe v. Wade and then kansas voted. Kansas was the ohio of 2022. Folks were like whoa, ruby red kansas did this thing that protected abortion rights. Then came kentucky, then came montana. Now ohio, estate donald trump won by eight points in the last president ial election. What that tells me is people are really angry and concerned about republicans taking the overturning of roe in various states and jurisdictions, doing fans on bans on steroids, where some have hands at six weeks and it doesnt matter about the life of them mother. Some people cant get the health care they need. Left up to a board . We are hearing stories about people being disabled or losing their lives as a result. People are reading these stories and seeing what is happening. In midterm elections, we learned the American People are nuanced and they can care about high gas prices and inflation but also erosion of fundamental rights and that still the case. Amna its been more than a year since roe was overturned. Will this continue to mobilize people . David the turnout numbers were eyepopping. Huge turnout. People really did care. It wasnt just democratic strongholds. I think bidenwon like five counties in ohio and this past in more than 20 counties. It was independent voters paired if you look at where the polling is, they dont want a six week ban or any of that. When you see state per state, the state legislature in red states, just supposed to be broadly representative in opinion, is doing six weeks, but opinion doesnt want to go there. The republicans, if theyre going to look this politically, are going to say we are way out over here. Even our people are at 15 weeks. Weve got to reconsider. If its a life issue for you, it is not about politics, but the political cost will be significant if they stay where they are. Amna do you think republicans have a cohesive message of some kind, are they moving toward something . David theyve taken a moral prolife stand and it is hard to scale that back. If you are a person that is absolutely convinced abortion is murder, you shouldnt take a political stance, you should just stick with your prolife stance. But it will probably wind up politically costly. Amna im sure we can expect to see this a more and more central part of the biden campaign, specifically messaging from Vice President harris as well. Jonathan absolutely, Vice President harris has been on the road talking about this issue since the leak of the draft of the Dobbs Decision went out early in 2022. Amna grateful to have you both here. Happy birthday, david brooks. David so many of those, it loses some of the fun. [laughter] amna thank you for being here, david and jonathan. For our arts and culture series, canvas, today, we celebrate 50 years of hiphop. A genre that has influenced every aspect of pop culture, fashion and music across the u. S. And the world. It all started with a backtoschool party thrown by a young woman named Cindy Campbell on august 11, 1973 in an apartment rec center in the bronx, new york. To keep costs low, cindy asked her brother, 18 yearold clive campbell, better known as dj kool herc, to play music, improvising and playing break beats on two turntables in a continuous loop. And hiphop was born. To help us appreciate the contributions of hiphop, i spoke recently with nelson george, author and filmmaker. He served as coexecutive producer of vh1s hiphop honors Television Show and also wrote the book hiphop america. I began by asking him about the about hiphops birth in the bronx. Nelson it was the 70s where the famous headline in the daily news was forward to city dropped dead. There was a huge white flight out of the bronx, the brooklyn particularly in manhattan. You had a lack of city services. The kind of city without a lot of freedom. You had the park were kids learned to breakdance, they played records, and you had graffiti, which was widespread throughout the city. So the things that made people say new york dropdead, some of those things gave a freedom to the city that allowed a lot of street, or you might say folk expressions to happen. Amna the music eventually evolves to include lyrics. I know a lot of folks will think of songs like the sugar hill gangs rappers delight, but you have not just talking djs now, but rapping mcs, when you think specifically of songs like run dmcs its like that, they are talking about serious stuff. Theyre talking about unemployment, theyre talking about financial troubles, theyre talking about what its like to not be heard and seen by society. How did those kinds of lyrics change the cultural place of hip hop at that moment . Nelson you know, hip hop started as party music. But as it evolved the idea that you could write about your personal condition outside the party, you could write about the world that was happening outside in the streets of new york and in your house, and then you had a movement that happened mid to late 80s in new york that a lot of people called the golden age. People like chuck d and public enemy, rakim, big daddy kane. These were mcs that took the language, the language of speaking in rhyme over beat and added that level of poetry at a little politics sophistication , and artistic ambition that was different from the previous generation. Thats when you really have the drilling down into the sociology of america. Amna there are those in American Music circles who are rock and roll would always reign supreme. But its fair to say by the eighties and into the nineties, you have these mega stars, some of whom you listed there. Others like tupac and biggie and dr dre and hip hop is firmly in the mainstream. Not just in this country, but really globally. Why do you think that happened commercially the way that it did and when it did . Nelson the big turning point is the 90s. Because late eighties was always about can i . There was the first rapper on american bandstand. We have the first hip hop show on mtv. By the 90s, there was critical mass. There was a number of artists , cant leave diddy out of the conversation. All of these artists were able to and had to support. I think the key point i would say is they had to support the record labels to go further. They saw hip hop was not just music they could sell a Million Units or 2 million. It could be something bigger. I think everything should be mentioned that everyone kind of leaves out of the conversation mc hammer. He is kind of a bridge artist because hes not a great mc, but hes a great video artist, a great entertainer, performer. He sells a ton of records. I think almost like 10, or 11 million, this first album. I think hammers phenomenon was very important in the dissemination of hip hop as a pop expression. Amna what about the role of women . I mean, its worth pointing out that it took until the late until the first solo female 1980s rapper released her full album, that was mc lyte in 1988. How do you see the role of women in what was largely and is still largely a male dominated field . Nelson the women are doing very well right now. It was hip hop was very much a boys club. We used to say eighties at the hip hop make girls and the boys you saw the baggy clothes, it just in my way of think and, to be i am an old guy, it wasnt very feminine. It seems like women were forced to conform to what was the standard of how people dress. As time went on, more and more women began to express their sexuality and expressed their individual vision. I think you know, obviously, Queen Latifah was huge part of that. I mean lauren hills impact when you ask about female mcs i , think shes probably the greatest female mc to my mind because because of the her actual artistry and her rhyme skills. And the range of topics. And her writing from the work she did with the fugees and her own album, the miseducation is a landmark of the era and it speaks to the template in terms of actual sales success that so many other artists, singers rap andmcs follow this. Amna what do you think the next 50 years bring . Nelson other waves of music. Nothing is dominant forever. Particularly pop culture. There will be new expressions. There is stuff coming out of africa. Afrobeats is really, uh, very powerful force. I go back to 1978 with seeing herc in the park. The hip hop that i love and that my generation came up on is nothing like whats on the radio now. Whatever we call hip hop depends on where you entered into the journey of hip hop. Amna this conversation was a real treat, you reminded me of some of my favorite albums over the years. Think you for joining us. Nelson be well. Amna be sure to tune into the all New Washington week tonight right here on pbs. The Historic Program has a new name and a new moderator, jeffrey goldberg, the editor in chief of the atlantic. And jeff joins me now with a preview. Welcome to the family. We are excited about the partnership. Tell us about it. Jeffrey its a great partnership, a marriage of two great journalism institutions that are really devoted to intelligent conversation and deep reporting. Im thrilled to be here with you. Amna we are thrilled to have you. Tell us about the debut show tonight, a lot of news to cover. Jeffrey lucky for us, we have a lot of news, especially for an august friday. We will be talking about hunter biden and the new developments, donald trump and multiple indictments and possibly more to comend what it means for republicans and democrats. I have a familiar face for our viewers tonight, laura out of the white house, as well as some other colleagues. Hope we have a great conversation. Amna i cant wait to see it as im sure many more will as well. Jeffrey, welcome and we will tune in tonight. And watch pbs news weekend tomorrow for a look at the rising cost and limited supply of child care afflicting families across the u. S. And thats the newshour for tonight. Remember there is much more online, including a newshour family tribute on our tiktok account to dj casper, creator of the cha cha slide, who died earlier this week. Everybody clap your hands amna we report the news and dance here. Send us your chacha videos if you can. Im amna nawaz. On behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and Paul Anderson and camilla and george smith. The Walton Family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during Climate Change so people and nature can thrive together. The william and flora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. At hewlett. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. 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