Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240704

My exclusive interview with the department of Homeland Security. And the latest on the israelhamas war as hostage talks continue and the First International aid ship reaches gazas coast. Announcer major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of the of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including jim and nancy and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. On an american cruise lines journey along the mississippi river, travelers explore Civil War Battlefields and historic riverside towns. A board our fleet of american riverboats, you can experience local culture and cuisine and discover the music and history of the mighty mississippi. American cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. The john s and James L Knight foundation fostering engaged communities. More at kf. Org. Announcer and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. Announcer 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. Amna District Attorney fani willis will continue to lead the Georgia Election interference case against former President Donald Trump but the top prosecutor, man she had a romantic relationship with, is stepping aside. His resignation came when the judge said one of them had to go for the trial to move forward. This is just one of the movement in the multiple cases against the former president. Good to see you, william. The judge in the case said tofa on the willis, im not asked the the judge in the case said to fani willis, im asking one of you to leave. Reporter mcafee the judge was very critical of willis and her behavior writing that the romantic relationship between her and her handpicked prosecutor, nathan wade, created the appearance of impropriety and was a tremendous lapse in judgment. But he wrote there was no apparent conflict of interest which is what trump and his allies alleged. So the judge said, you and your entire team has to leave or nathan wade has to leave. The case will proceed. This has left an indelible ethical stain on her, her judgment and her office but it does not change the fundamental legal case that she has brought against donald trump and his allies. Amna willis stays on but this is the same judge that tossed out six of the charges that willis had fired filed against mr. Trump his associates. Reporter donald trump and his allies argued there was vagueness and some of the charges. This is the case of election interference in georgia and there were allegations that donald trump and his cohort were pressuring state Election Officials to violate her constitutional oaths of office. The judge agreed there was some of that vagueness and he squashed six of the charges. It leaves 30 or something other charges that are part of a vast conspiracy indictment she has brought against donald trump and his allies alleging this vast conspiracy to stop georges votes going to joe biden. Georgias votes going to joe biden. Amna the socalled hush money ks in new york involving Stormy Daniels. It was supposed to go first but it is been delayed. Reporter this was a bit of a surprise. To recap, this was the case brought by the manhattan District Attorney alleging that Stormy Daniels was a former adult actress and she was going to bring a story to light in 2016 during the campaign. Michael cohen paid her 130,000 to stay quiet about that. That trial and the allegation that they fudged their financial records to hide the payment was supposed to start a week from money but a week from monday but now a 30 day delay. They are receiving hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence from federal prosecutors in new york. This was part of the 2018 case against Michael Cohen for financial crimes. The main question is why is it that it took federal prosecutors all this time to give up this evidence to the manhattan da and donald trump. They were asked for this evidence almost a year ago. Many former prosecutors are wondering what the heck up was. Hiccup was. An official called it an inexcusable lapse. Amna in florida, another ks which is the one involving former President Trumps handling of classified documents. The Donald Trump Team tried to get the case thrown out but the judge dismissed that. Reporter this is judge eileen kanaan and the ks that alleged that donald trump held these classified documents and lied about them and obstructed justice. Donald trump team has been filing motions and all of these cases. Part of their strategy to delay them and push them past the election. The judge ruled that one of their motions was inexcusable. She said it was extraordinary. She did leave open the possibility that the motion could be brought back up during trial but for now she seemed to express a great deal of skepticism towards Donald Trumps arguments. The case is still a long ways away and probably wont happen before the november election. Amna thank you for staying on top of all of these trials and explaining it all. We appreciate it. Amna the central u. S. Is cleaning up after a string of suspected tornadoes killed at least three people overnight and ohio. Dozens more were injured. The death will likely rise as crews and cadaver dogs search through debris in several states. Reporter a terrifying scene for residents in western ohio. A tornado tearing through last night. The aftermath is a trail of destruction. Flattened buildings and downed power lines leaving thousands in the dark. The old plastics building is demolished. Downtown, it is bad. Reporter the areas hardest hit appear to be at the junction of three states, logan county, ohio, and winchester and selma, indiana. Emergency management Officials Say half the buildings and selma were damaged. This is the first time anything like this has happened in selma. Some have been close. None have impacted the town itself. Reporter tornadoes were suspected across a wide zone in what is now one of the worst storm knights of the year. The National Weather service tracked more than 300 storm reports placing more than 13 Million People under a tornado watch. Authorities are surveying damage and looking for survivors. The destruction the devastation is such that we need heavy equipment here to move the equipment. It is a slow pace. Reporter residence across the midwest are shaken. I thought we would never have a tornado because we have hills. It was right outside my house. I never ever thought it would happen again. It is going to get you. There aint nowhere to go. Reporter meteorologists warned that the Severe Weather pattern has moved southeast and they are watwisters. Amna a Russian Missile attack on the ukrainian city of odessa killed at least 20 people and injured scores more. The regions governor said the attack had a residential area. Bodies littered the ground. The leaders of france, germany, and poland met in berlin and pledged continued support for ukraine. Today we have agreed on a few main issues and among others we will acquire more weapons for ukraine. We stand closely by the side of ukraine. We have made it clear from the beginning and it is true for as long as it takes. Amna u. N. Backed report reveals new evidence of russias torture of ukrainian prisoners of war. The practices are horrific. In russia election that are sure to secure another sixyear term for Vladimir Putin are underway. He faces no real opposition and is crackdown on internet independent media. Russians went to the polls. Some were eager to support show support for their country as russias war in ukraine stretches into a thirdyear. We could not miss this election as we are for russia. We are for the special operation. Our nephew died but we believe that victory will be ours. Amna there were at least six reports of vandalism at polling places including a firebombing in st. Petersburg caught on surveillance camera. White House Counsel it says goal sent a letter to mike johnson urging him to end the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. In six months House Republicans have not been able to substantiate claims that the president benefited from his families foreign dealings. He wrote that there is too much portant work to be done for the American People to continue wasting time on this charade. An independent Commission Investigating october as mass shooting in maine has determined the Sheriffs Office had reason to take the gunman into protective custody before the rampage. 18 people were killed in lewiston. The gunman died of a selfinflicted gunshot. His family and fellow Service Members had raised red flags about his Mental Health and potential proviolence prior to the shootings. Mcdonalds restaurants are coming back online after experiencing a system outage that disrupted operations around the world. Mcdonald said the issue was called by a thirdparty Technology Partner and was not a cyberattack. Mcdonalds has 40,000 restaurants worldwide and more than 14,000 are here in the u. S. The National Association of realtors has agreed to cut its ballistic commissions to settle a wave of lawsuits. The group will pay 418 Million Dollars in damages over the next four years. The deal could drive down housing cost since home sellers would no longer have to pay agent 6 and commissions. Stocks gave up more grounds amidst concerns of persistent inflation. The nasdaq fell 155 points and the s p 500 slept 33. The efforts to put a thirdparty candidate on the ballot in in novembers president ial election. A new book explores jewish peoples relationship with god, israel, and each other. David brooks and Jonathan Capehart weighin on the weeks political headlines plus much more. Announcer this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna immigration continues to be a top issue this Election Year and following our reporting from the southern border we are joined by the secretary of Homeland Security. Mr. Secretary, welcome back. Eight i want to begin with what we found in our reporting over the last few days in southern mexico and the u. S. Mexico border. Take a look at this map. We spoke the way planning to make their way to the united states. This is a list of their countries of origin. Southern mexico and up at the u. S. Mexico border. El salvador, guatemala and so one would also people from senegal, china, bangladesh. We know as those folks make their way to the border, the encounter numbers have been rising. Look at the trend, record highs. Fiscal year, 21, 1. 7 million. 2. 4 7 million in 23. We know the administration has been weighing executive action. Under some kind of president ial authority that could bring down those numbers by restricting asylum access if people enter illegally. Will the president take that executive action . What we are experiencing at the southern border is reflective of what the world is experiencing. The largest number of displaced people around the world since world war ii if not before them. We mentioned the different nationalities of the individuals arriving at our border. It is what other countries across the atlantic are experiencing and around the world. Number one. Number two, the answer is exactly what the Bipartisan Group of senators presented to congress. And that is legislation that provides for muchneeded fixes to what everyone agrees is a broken system and muchneeded resources to implement the fixes. Legislation is what is needed. That is what is enduring. Executive actions in the past have been challenged in the court and executive actions without the accompanying resources will not meet the moment. Amna absent congressional action because we know the build and not have a path forward in the republican led house, does the president have authority . There is a section of the immigration act that he can suspend entry if he finds at the entry of migrants detrimental to the u. S. Should he use that authority to bring down those numbers that you know our taxing resources in our system . We have not given up on congress in terms of its ability to fulfill its responsibility to the American People. We are always considering what we as an administration can do in the shadow of the failure of congress to act but we continue to believe that Congress Must and can act. We must have them deliver the solution rather than live with the problem. Amna no president ial action imminent . Im not in a position to talk about the deliberative process. We deliberate every day how we can address the challenges that we confront. We hope that congress does the same and meets the moment and passes the legislation that was bipartisan in nature. Amna House Republicans moved quickly to impeach you on the basis of those numbers. That was nearly a month ago. They have yet to send those impeachment articles to the senate. Has it been communicated to you when and if a trial might move forward . It has not and i will tell you that i am focused on the work. The work includes the very challenge about which we speak now and that is the challenge of unprecedented level of worldwide migration from which our hemisphere is not excluded. Amna you have indicated that you would be willing to testify if there was a trial. I will honor my obligations under the law as i have done every day for 22 years and my federal public service. Amna related emigration we have seen a rising number of people fleeing heidi haiti. Richardson said yesterday that u. S. Forces at Guantanamo Bay in cuba are prepared to accept migrants from haiti if they start to flee en masse which would mean u. S. Officials intercepting them by sea before they reach the u. S. And taking them to gitmo. Is the u. S. Prepared to do that . Earlier this week we interdicted a vessel at sea and we repatriated 65 haitians to haiti. This is an incredibly Important Message for the people of haiti to hear. And that is, one cannot take to the seas. It is far too perilous. We have seen too much tragedy. The world is focused on the instability in haiti. We are very focused. We have plans for it and we have contingency plans but the danger of the journey through the sea is something an individual should not undertake. Amna how can the usn people back to haiti, already the poorest nation in the western hemisphere undergoing violence right now . The journey at sea was probably the best option in those peoples minds. I would respectfully disagree that it is the best option. We are not insensitive to the challenges that the people of haiti are suffering. We are watching the situation and working with our International Partners to address it every day. Amna i want to ask you what several Intelligence Leaders have said when talking about the global growing threats to america. The northcom commander said that the likelihood of significant terrorist attack in the homeland has increased since the beginning of the israelhamas conflict. Chris wray said we have seen a veritable rogue gallery. Dni and avril haines says it is too early to tell but it is likely the gaza crisis will have a generational impact on terrorism. Do you agree with their assessments that this war has made the u. S. Less safe . We are in a heightened threat environment. We have remarkable people in the federal government in partnership with our state and local Law Enforcement to ensure the safety of the American People. It is incontrovertible that we are in a heightened threat environment. I have spoken of this to congress and publicly. They are right. It demands vigilance on the part of the federal government, all levels of government as well as the American People themselves. Amna is the heightened threat environment because of the war . The terrorist attacks of october 7 and the continuing conflict in the middle east certainly has exacerbated the situation and heightened the threat landscape. Amna i want to ask about a law and acted after 9 11, section 702 allowing the government to collect communications of foreigners abroad targeted for intelligence purposes. It expired in december. Congress has punted an extension to next month and it has stalled in the house. Are americans less safe if lawmakers failed to renew 702 . Yes. I am hopeful they will meet their obligation to give us the tools to protect the American People. 702 is a vitally important tool. There are other tools we have that are also extended from time to time and weekend indoor periods of uncertainty. Whether we maintain those tools, it is unacceptable. Our ability to use our counter drone capabilities when the technology around drones and their utilization by our adversaries is increasing. We have to have the counter drone of authority. It is extended on shortterm eachwe have to be equipped withe tools that are useful in the protection of the American People. Amna Homeland Security secretary, thank you. We appreciate your time. Amna today is really Prime Minister announced he had approved plans to us all rafah. For more than half where more than half of all gazans have fled. That warning arrives amidst that the negotiations for a ceasefire had advanced. Lets begin with the plan for rafa. Reporter netanyahu met with his war cabinet and the larger security cabinets. They approved a plan to us all rafa and move the majority of gazans out. They did not release details but you can see the problem. More than half of all of the strip is living in rafa and earlier this week the military said they would move to humanitarian islands. No details. Israeli leaders are unified about the need to go into rafa because they say the final four battalions of hamas are based there and they believe that defeating them is the only way to win the war. The u. S. Is deeply skeptical that israel is ever going to come up with a plan that will actually protect those 1. 4 Million People in gaza as use are reflected by the secretary of state, Antony Blinken today. We have to see a clear and implementable plan to get civilians out of harms way but also to make sure that once out of harms way they are appropriately cared for with shelter, food, medicine and clothing and we have not seen a plan. Reporter the u. S. Also understands that israel is serious about going into rafa and that is what is leading to such a huge push to get the cease fire done. Amna and they do seem to be moving along with the negotiations. Reporter hamas has submitted a counterproposal to the latest proposal and a regional official tells me it advances and two significant aspects. Hamas is asking for the permanent ceasefire can be negotiated after the first round of release of hostages. They have been saying that the permanent part of the cease fire needs to be guaranteed before they release hostages and hamas is willing to release female is really soldiers. The overall framework for the node negotiation for the negotiation is as we have been reporting. Hamas would release elderly female and sick hostages and israel would cease for six weeks, increase humanitarian aid and release palestinian detainees. Where the sides have gaps israel is objecting to the number of palestinian detainees that hamas is demanding and they are rejecting their desire for how gaza residents would return to their homes in the north. Publicly netanyahu is calling the demands of hamas unrealistic and ridiculous but he is sending his negotiators to doha to continue those this week. Amna this is all unfolding during ramadan. How does that mean that everyone is working towards a ceasefire . Reporter they are looking at the fact that the u. N. Says that one quarter of gaza is on the brink of famine. It is the crisis leading the efforts. Or has been a big increase to try to get humanitarian aid in especially this week. Perhaps most publicly by ship. The world central kitchen ship landed delivering 200 tons of rice and other food and another ship is behind it. The u. S. Dropped its 11th air drop of food. International organizations say there is no replacement for trucks. Hundreds of trucks need to get into gaza. Israel says there are no restrictions on trucks and they blame the lack of aid on you and capacity but the International Organizations are blaming israeli restrictions. And the lack of a, the 30,000 death toll is pushing for International Pressure on netanyahu. And the International Pressure in the u. S. Crescendoed yesterday. We saw in the senate where Chuck Schumer called for new elections in israel saying netanyahu had lost his way and today President Biden endorsed Chuck Schumers call. It was a good speech and i think he expressed a serious concern shared by many americans. Reporter netanyahus allies were furious over Chuck Schumers speech. Likud said that israel is not a banana republic. Israeli polls are saying the majority of israelis want early elections and if they were held today, netanyahu would lose. Congressional Officials Say Chuck Schumer speech gives President Biden a little top cover among people who are traditional supporters of israel if the president decides to condition military aid which his aid says as a possibility but it depends on what we have been talking about, how much humanitarian aid debts in, the cease fire talks and what israel does in rafa. Amna remember on our youtube channel, our pbs weekly digital show takes a closer look at the latest in the israelhamas war. Amna with the rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump officially set, thirdparty candidates and wellfunded organizations are attempting to carve out their own paths. Geoff no thirdparty or independent candidate has received more than 19 of the vote in modern history but the effort to field an alternative ticket is underway. White house correspondent lopez has been following this and joins us. Remind us who these thirdparty candidates are and which are gaining traction. Reporter first we have of the independents, cornell west and robert kennedy. Green party, candidate to be determined. Liberal party, candidate to be determined. When it comes to them getting ballot access, a number of them are. There is one thirdparty candidate on the ballot in 44 states so far. When you take a look at the battleground states that will ultimately be the states that determine the election, a thirdparty candidate is on the ballot in all seven of those battleground states. Geoff robert f. Kennedy, jr. Of all of those is arguably best known. Reporter rfk junior has been receiving about 19 of voters support in the polls so far and he is polling in those polls from both President Biden and former President Trump. He is expected to announce a Vice President ial candidate march 26 in oakland. He struggled to get on a number of ballots across states but despite that democrats see him as a threat to their candidate more so than republicans do. It is heavily focusing on rfk junior because they see him they see him as the candidate with the biggest name id and they will be highlighting the conspiracy theories that he has embraced whether it is saying that chemicals in the water turn people transgender or his big antivaccine platform. There is no evidence that vaccines are harmful to people. Geoff we have seen the Political Group no labels spending a lot of money to field their own candidate but they still dont have a ticket. Reporter they selected a nominating committee to pick that president ial candidate which they said they aim to pick i april. When i talk to them they say they are not doing this because they want to be a spoiler. They are doing this because of the fact they see two leading candidates that have low approval rating. They pushed back on accusations against him that this is a spoiler efforts. The idea that any of us are going to put our careers on the line and our reputations on the line so we can be a part of a shadow effort to help donald trump is a joke. What this is about is about providing a choice to the public that both parties absolutely refused to provide. Reporter after starting this effort nearly two years ago, no labels has not been able to find a president ial candidate. Some of their leading contenders like former republican governor of maryland larry hogan and joe manchin have said they have no interest in mounting a thirdparty bid. Geoff it seems the democrats are the most concerned about a thirdparty candidate siphoning off votes from President Biden. How are they responding . Democrats are reacting and away they have never reacted before her. They say they are not going to make the same mistakes made in 20 16. The Democratic National committee has a Team Dedicated to combating a thirdparty threat. There was a new super pac launched by biden allies. There are outside democratic groups across the spectrum whether it is the progressives or third wave trying to tackle this. They say that ultimately, right now their focus is on trying to persuade potential highprofile candidates that may mount a bid to not do so but come summer, they will be heavily focused on educating voters about what they say is the big threat of a thirdparty candidacy. They throw away their vote casting for a thirdparty candidate that has no hope of winning and they are in essence helping donald trump. Donald trump has no way of winning a twoway race. He cannot get close to 50 of the vote that he can win a multicandidate vote if people throw away their votes by voting for someone like kennedy. But there is an enormous risk. Reporter that risk as something the Biden Campaign is aware of. But right now biden advisers say they are heavily focused on making this a binary choice. They just want to present to voters that the race is ultimately between donald trump and joe biden. If we see in the summer that a viable or potential thirdparty candidate can pose a significant trend to President Biden then sources close to him say that you could see the Biden Campaign or other democratic groups push out testimonials from voters that voted in bunny 16 for a Green Party Candidate and then saw that sway the ultimate result in key states like michigan and wisconsin. Geoff that is an interesting strategy. How are voters responding to this right now . Reporter i have talked to some potential swing voters in states like arizona who say they are curious for a thirdparty candidate. Our republican pollster who does focus groups with a number of independent and swing voters say some voters have expressed concern that a thirdparty or independent candidate may not be realistic. If i could only pick between biden and donald trump i would go biden but if there are other people out there i will look at them. I often feel though that it is a throwaway vote and maybe donald trump would get in. I tnk the no labels thing is very idealist. It is not pragmatic. We always complain about the twoparty system but there is no way to beat it. Reporter she told me that the that a lot of gop voters that voted for nikki haley in the republican primary which are voters that joe biden will be targeting, that they are potentially susceptible to a thirdparty candidate especially if it is a republican leading that tickets. As you know that could have a Significant Impact at the margins in those battleground states. Geoff thanks as always for that great reporting. Amna from drafting iraqs constitution dead testifying in the 2019 impeachment inquiry into former President Donald Trump, noah feldman has dived deep into the intersection of power and ethics. In his latest work he turns doubt work on his own jewish faith to understand identity, politics and culture. I recently spoke with him about his new book to be a jew today. When asking the central question of your boat, what it means to be a jew today, you ask if there is one unifying theological view . I want to suggest there is a way to characterize jewishness, toast drive, struggle and contend with god to strive, struggle and contend with god. That passage comes when jack when jacob rustles all night with a figure that is shadowy who could be an angel or god himself and somehow survives. He is rewarded by being given the name israel. The name is not an unmitigated blessing. It suggests that not everything will be great all the time but that he is capable of struggling with the hardest things. And i think that is really characteristic of what it is to be jewish. Amna much of your book is in search of these unifying views while at the same time we are seeing real division among American Jews over israels war in gaza and the response to the hamas attacks. What does that division say to you about identities today . I think it says two things. The first, over the last 3040 years, israel has become central to the identity and thought world of almost all American Jews and even for those that are critical of israel and even in some cases to the point of rejecting israel altogether. They still have to define in some relationship to israel. The other thing is that there is something that unifies different jews who have different perspectives on israel. A lot of jews in the u. S. Today, especially those that identify as progressive, really believe deep in their hearts that to be jewish is to embrace the ideal of social justice. To embrace the prophetic ideal of pursuing the right and the good and in some cases they might think that the whole idea of israel is incompatible with social justice and equality for palestinians. There unifying religious belief in god as a god of social justice or in a spirit of social justice leads them to different conclusions about israel. Amna even before october 7 we were seeing rising antisemitism globally. You examined what you call the persistence of antisemitism, a more complicated and subtle form. You write that antisemitisms capacity to keep its familiar character while channeling new fears is what confers its stunning capacity to reinvent itself. What form does antisemitism take today . What i mean is that antisemitism has always grown out of a given societys preoccupations for years and concerns at a preoccupations, fears and concerns at a given moment. If you were living in the 1800 struggling between capitalism and communism, antisemites either depicted judaism as the most capitalist or the most communist depending on which one they did not like and they were projecting their concerns and fears onto jews in an antisemitic way. Today, a lot of our preoccupations, especially among people to the left, and there are important things to care a lot about, are about oppression, systemic racism, imperialism, colonialism these are important issues that deserve scrutiny. But sometimes unconsciously we might find ourselves projecting those worries onto jews generally and then depicting them in general as oppressors, white supremacists, or as settler colonialist. Although there are forms of those kinds of arguments that could be made without any conscious antisemitism, im trying to argue in that piece that sometimes those unconscious traditions of projecting the worst thing you can think of under the jews can inflect and shape our thinking and they make us forget that jews today are just 75 euros, a little more 75 years, a little more past the holocaust and before that jews were subjected to. You should be able to do that. It is worth taking a deep breath and interest acting and asking yourself, are my criticisms fully free of those older kinds of prejudices . Amna there are moments in the book when you speak plainly to your readers. One element resonated with me when you talk about the idea of being a bad jew and you wrote, it makes me sad when often in a room of friends of mine they say to themselves, i am a bad jew. There are so many ways to be jewish you write. Why was it important for you to stress . It was important to make the point that there is no such thing as a bad jew. In the whole great tradition of jewish thought, you kensignton and do something that is wrong and be called to account for it, but you are never treated like you are not a jew anymore or that you have crossed the line. You can be a bad person for doing bad things but you cannot be a bad jew per se. Usually people are joking around, i am such a bad jew because i did not do this or that. And i want to say, as long as you are striving and trying to figure out what makes you a jew and as long as you love other jews and love for the divine, even if you dont believe in it, then you are being a good jew and you were doing just fine and you are exercising some irony and self recognition. And in that sense you are being as jewish as you possibly can be. You are casting a skeptical eye on yourself and being a little funny about it. Amna the author is noah feldman and the book is called to be a jew today. Thank you so much for joining us. A pleasure to speak with you. I really appreciate your questions. Amna for more on immigration and how it could affect the race for the white house and other political issue shaping the week we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart, david brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for the washington post. Good to see you both and happy friday. Lets begin with a conversation i just had with the secretary and the issue of immigration. We know republicans want to continue to make it an election issue. President biden could take executive action. There are options for him to offer harsh restrictions. The secretary said they Want Congress to act. Should President Biden take that action and take the issue off the table . It depends on whether you want the president to engage in the uterine or if you want him to do something in theater or if you want him to do something that will help the problem. Theater would be signing the executive action knowing that many will sue and it will be enjoined and then the problem will be where it has always been. Four, congress could do that or congress could do the work it has already done. There is a senate i partisan bill negotiated with the secretary at the table, senator langford from oklahoma, democrats were at the table, there is a bill there but nothing has happened because donald trump said, dont do it though the bill has everything in it the republicans had been demanding for years. Key among those things from the secretarys point of view i would think is the money. The money that would be made available to Homeland Security to hire the personnel and staff needed to deal with the asylum cases and the crossings over the border. If the republicans and American People want something done at the border, they would demand Congress Passed the senate bill. Amna do you see Congress Taking any action or do you think the president should just take the theatrical step and sign an executive order saying that he is doing what he can . I think you should sign the executive order. There are certain things i think he could do. Remain in mexico. More security. Money is a problem. He has taken executive action on all sorts of things like student relief student debt relief. Jonathans colleague David Ignatius had a good column a month ago about the secretary and he made the point that in the early days of the Biden Administration he wanted to be antitrump on the immigration issue. Everything that donald trump was for, he would be against. They really went in a leftward direction and the secretary was fighting this and now the administration is pinioned and he is left hanging by the republicans. Ideally i agree with jonathan that congress would pass the bill that gave the republicans 60 of what they wanted but in the absence of that, i think it is imperative politically for joe biden to do something and see what happens in the courts. Amna i need to ask about House Republicans efforts to impeach the secretary. Was it a mistake and should they take a political loss . It was meritless. Mike gallagher who voted against impeachment made the point, we do not impeach people over policy disagreements. They had differences of opinions and the secretary said these are not impeachable offenses and they have no case at all. I just think it should go away. Amna lets move to something Nick Schifrin was reporting which was Chuck Schumer issuing a very sharp critique of the israeli Prime Minister on thursday on the senate floor calling for a new Israeli Government saying in part this i believe in his heart he has his highest priority which is the security of israel. However, i also believe that the Prime Minister has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of israel. Amna you interviewed the president last week and asked him about his redlines. Has the redline of netanyahu been crossed . I think so. If you take schumers incredible speech and put it on top of what the president told me last week which was if netanyahu crosses into rafa, that would be a redline for him. And on top of that, the local opposition to netanyahu that has been coming from the secretary of state and other senior officials in the administration, we are seeing a widening break, not between the u. S. And israel but between the u. S. And the Prime Minister who the Biden Administration view as an obstacle not just to appease but to some sort of resolution to what is happening in the israelihamas war and especially a resolution to the humanitarian crisis happening in gaza. Amna how big a shift is this in the u. S. Approach . For Chuck Schumer, it is pretty big as he is proisrael. I think it is a big shift. I agree with everything you said about netanyahu with everything he said about netanyahu but i dont think you should have said it. It is not becoming to speak on another mock christies government. I also worry about how it is being received by hamas. Hamas strategy is to have as many israelis killed as possible and hope the following outrage calls the International Community to crack on israel. When they see what President Biden told jonathan about the redline comic he was a little fuzzy when he said it, was he against a rafa invasion or is it just that israel needs to improve its humanitarian record the different secretary of israel said when you are fighting a fire you cannot only fight 80 of the fire. A significant chunk of hamas forces are in rafa and if you let them stay there, there will never be a do state solution because there will not be that solution when hamas is in power. I worry about the dynamic on the spiritual battlefield where hamas feels emboldened. If netanyahu goes into rafa, my question is, where do all of the palestinians go . A lot of them are the same that were in the north and told the goes south because of the bombings and everything happening in the north. And the bombings have followed them. If you invade rafa, where did they go . And i have not heard a response to that question. Amna i want to get you both to weigh in on many of the events that we saw that have to do with the race for the white house. Not surprising but it was a big moment, President Biden and former President Donald Trump have clinched the nominations. There is an effort to mount a thirdparty candidate and it could alter the landscape. Robert f. Kennedy, jr. Continues to poll in double digits. 15 20 and he is on the ballot now in 15 states. Our democrats worried that you could siphon enough votes to make a difference . Thirdparty candidacies hire me. The fact that robert f getting that much support and is on the ballot in that many states would concern me but i wonder if he is going to take from President Biden or donald trump . Especially if he puts on Aaron Rodgers. Amna to clarify for our viewers, Aaron Rodgers has been reported as a potential Vice President ial candidate. If you are serious about running a thirdparty candidacy, you should be serious about the people youre thinking about having for your Vice President s. Aaron rodgers shed not be taken seriously. It feels like a jumping the shark Movement Moment as opposed to a serious effort to try to win the presidency. I have every confidence that the Biden Campaign can handle a third Party Challenge in any of the states in 2024. If he does make a ticket, they will fizzle out. I feel it in my bones. Amna lets remind folks that both candidates have frustrations among their voting bases, both have their weaknesses. Someone like arif rf junior rf kennedy junior. I dont think he will fizzle out. A tiny percentage of our country think we are heading in the right direction and both candidates are unprecedentedly unpopular. I think kennedy will linger. All i observe is that the democrats are more alarmed than the republicans. The democrats are doing more to try to keep him off the ballots. I am confused about who he will end up hurting. Right now he seems to hurt biden more but that is because what people know about kennedy is the name kennedy. As his views, out more they will realize that he was against the vaccine so than a lot of trump voters will go on his side. Amna david brooks and Jonathan Capehart, always good to see you both. Thank you so much. Amna be sure to tune in to Washington Week with the atlantic tonight on pbs just posted by our own reporter for a look at how congressional leaders are impacting President Bidens Foreign Policy and the latest on Donald Trumps legal battles. And we exam this evening reliability of helicopters after a string of fatal crashes. It is the newshour for tonight. On behalf of the entire team, thank you for joining us. Announcer major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by it was like an aha moment, this is what i love doing. Earlystage companies have this energy that energizes me. These are people trying to change the world. When i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. I am helping people reach their dreams. Im thriving by helping others every day. People who know know bdo. Announcer 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] laura Senate Majority leader schumer and speaker johnsons changing positions on hot button wars abroad are causing rifts wiin their own party, as presesident biden fights to salvage his Foreign Policy agenda. Meanwhile, former President Trump suffers legal setbacks as the general elon