Highly anticipated report concludes the u. S. Will continue sending weapons to israel, despite apparent violations of International Humanitarian law. Witness testimonies resume in former President Trumps hush money trial, as Attorney Michael Cohen prepares to take the stand. And horrific new details from sudan, where Paramilitary Forces have killed thousands, in what human Rights Groups call ethnic cleansing. Major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. And friends of the newshour. The color foundation. Upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. On an american cruise lines journey, along the legendary 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 of the mighty mississippi. American cruise lines. Proud sponsor of pbs newshour. The john s. And james l. Knight foundation. Fostering informed and engaged communities. More at kf. Org. Cfp professionals are committed to acting in their clients best interest. More available at lets makeaplan. 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. Amna welcome to the newshour. A highly anticipated report from the state department concludes the u. S. May continue to send weapons to israel despite apparent israeli violations of International Humanitarian law. The findings come just two days after the president said he would suspend shipment of 3500 bombs to israel as it now searches forces around rafah in southern gaza. The Administration Says it opposes a fullscale Ground Invasion of rafah city, where more than a million gazans are sheltering. Here to walk us through the details at the end of this eventful week is our Nick Schifrin. Tell us more about this report. What more did it say . Nick the referendum this is based on h requires that israel use the weapons in accordance that International Humanitarian law and not restricting u. S. Humanitarian assistance. The report is very critical about the former aspect of that quote. It is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under National Security memorandum 20 have been used by Israeli Security forces since october the seventh in instances inconsistent with its International Humanitarian law obligations. It also sent while israel has the knowledge, experience, and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm humanitarian operations, the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the idf is using them effectively in all cases. The report is less critical and humanitarian aid we do not currently assess that the Israeli Government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of u. S. Humanitarian assistance. But after all that, the reports bottom line is, as you said at the top, the u. S. Could have cut off weapons, but they did not. The quote is, u. S. Government currently assesses the assurances provided by each recipient country to be credible and reliable. That is the threshold of this report, so as to allow the provision of defense articles covered under nsm20 to continue. In other words, the weapons will keep going. Amna what kind of reaction are these findings getting . Nick the report makes the final conclusion that u. S. Weapons can continue to go do to fighting hamas and because of what israel has done internally. Hamas, a terrorist organization, the u. S. Describes it as hiding among the civilian population, and it describes how difficult an environment of war that is for the Israeli Defense forces. It says the imf has taken steps to hold itself accountable, including criminal actions against certain officials. That is the context that leads the former Deputy Assistant secretary of defense to argue the reportright balance. What this report is saying is there are instances in which israel has not achieved or lived up to its obligations, but it is also a professional military who has investigative processes and accountability mechanisms. And when many of them steaks that have been made over the course of the past seven months, the with many of the mistakes that have been made over the course of the past seven months, israel has taken corrective measures to address the mistakes and move forward in a way that mitigates civilian harm. Nick but others are much more critical. They cite specific instances, including one that the report cites, there you see on the refugee camp in october, the report says it killed dozens of children and wounded hundreds, as an example of a violation of International Humanitarian law. The argument there is that israel should face consequences, says a former Career Foreign Service officer who worked in the state Departments Office and monitors if countries comply with international unitarian law humanitarian law. The governments report says things like it raises concerns, and there are acts that are inconsistent with International Humanitarian law. That is a dodge. The conclusions that flow from what even the report says, but certainly what the taskforces report said, is that israel has violated International Humanitarian law in its use of u. S. Origin items. And that should have been the clear assessment of the departments report. Nick so the debate will go on both about what israel is doing and the reports conclusions, but the u. S. Senate tonight the weapons will continue. Amna Nick Schifrin with the latest on this latebreaking news today. Thank you. Nick thank you. Amna in other headlines, police moved in to clear out propalestinian encampments at three universities across the country. Lisa desjardins has the story. Lisa before sunrise, Police Arrived at the university of pennsylvania to disband a twoweek propalestinian encampment. Some demonstrators were hauled away, and more than 30 people were arrested. Governor josh shapiro said they were warned. By their own admission, the leaders at the university of pennsylvania have made clear that those protesters, those who are living in these socalled encampments, are violating the rules of Te University and in some cases the laws of the city of philadelphia. Lisa in boston, a similar predawn scene at m. I. T. Police removed tents and barriers. 10 protesters were arrested, but some remained defiant. Its quite embarrassing. They had hundreds of riot gear officers, state troopers, all to come down for a student encampment that was peaceful throughout its time here. Lisa and in tucson, riot police at the university of arizona fired tear gas at protesters and broke down wood and plastic barriers. At least one commencent speaker has canceled. Author Colson Whitehead will no longer address the university of massachusetts amhersts graduation ceremony, writing on social media that, calling the cops on Peaceful Protesters is a shameful act. Elsewhere, an act of mass applause. Asna tabassum. [applause] lisa at the university of southern california, cheers for asna tabassum. You may not know this, but asna is uscs 2024 valedictorian. Lisa a prominent student activist. The university canceled her speech, but students at an awards ceremony gave her a standing ovation. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Amna there were also arrests at new mexico staTe University last night. Police charged 13 people after a School Building was damaged and vandalized. Protests over the war in gaza are also making headlines at this years Eurovision Song Contest in malmo, sweden. Its the worlds biggest live musical event. Israeli singer eden golan has made tomorrows finals after modifying her song. Organizers ruled the original, about the october 7 hamas attack in israel, was too political. On thursday, more than 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets. Security confined golan to her hotel room while shes not performing. In ukraine, the battlefront has shifted to the Kharkiv Region in the northeast. Overnight, Russian Forces bombarded the city of vovchansk near the border and Ground Troops invaded this morning. Ukrainian authorities sent in reinforcements and said they blocked the russian advance, but they ordered the evacuation of 3000 people. The white house said u. S. Officials believe the russians now aim to create a new buffer zone inside kharkiv. The death toll from flooding in brazil rose to 113 today. Days of heavy rain have battered the countrys south, and floods have driven more than 300,000 people from their homes. Soldiers have been out rescuing survivors in inundated areas. But some who relocated to makeshift shelters say theyre being plagued by thieves. A man went to work and asked them to look after his mattress. They took his mattress and clothes while i was standing here with my back turned. Its crazy. This person is already at the bottom, and now hell sink even deeper. Amna amid the chaos of the floods, the rescue of a horse gained widespread attention on thursday. The animal named caramelo had climbed atop the roof of a submerged house as the water rose, and stayed there for days. Hes now recovering at a veterinary hospital. Back in this country, the federal Aviation Administration wont run out of money tonight, after all. Last night, the Senate Approved 105 billion dollars over five years for the faa. The measure will pay for more air Traffic Controllers and additional safety inspectors. It also funds new technology to prevent runway collisions. Current funding was extended for a week, until the house can vote on the new bill. Two Public Schools in northwest virginia are getting their old names back for confederate figures robert e. Lee, stonewall jackson, and turner ashby. The Shenandoah County school board dropped those names four years ago. But early today, a new school board reversed that decision after a heated sixhour meeting. The majority said the previous board ignored popular sentiment. On wall street, stocks had a quiet day. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 125 points to close at 39,512. The nasdaq fell 5 points. The s p 500 was up about 8. And, a sky show is in the works this weekend. A solar storm is coming, and its so powerful that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued its first geomagnetic storm watch in 20 years. Satellites and power grids could be at risk. Solar flares of plasma began erupting on wednesday. The effects could be visible by tonight, creating the socalled Northern Lights much farther south than usual. Still to come, why the centuryold boy scouts of america is changing its name and a trailblazing indian chef marks 50 years of her breakthrough cookbook. This is the pbs newshour, from weta studios in washington, and from the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at arizona staTe University. Amna the third week of testimony in former president Donald Trumps criminal hush money trial came to a close today in new york city, with prosecutors saying they may be able to rest their case next week. William brangham was in court today and joins us now to tell us what he saw and what comes next. Five witnesses took the stand today. What did jurors here . William jurors heard a procession of witnesses talking about some very granular bits of evidence, like how cheques were sent from the Trump Organization in new york city down to the white house and how they got signed by President Trump and then sent back to new york. How cell phone calls and Text Messages are recorded and authenticated both by prosecutors and by cell phone companies. And while some people have been arguing that these are kind of dry, dull, technical pieces of evidence, especially compared to Stormy Danielsver the last couple of days, thats true, but these granular details are, in essence, the core of this case. This is a case about falsifying business records, and so those quotidian details are important and they will be in some way what this case lives and dies on. Amna still a lot of anticipation as Michael Cohen, Donald Trumps former lawyer, is expected to testify. Hes considered the prosecutions star witness. So what are we expecting to hear from him . William Michael Cohen is at the absolute center of this case. Hes the one that negotiated the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Hes the one that paid that payment that 130,000 to her, out of his own home equity line of credit, at Donald Trumps direction, he argues. Hes the one that complained that it took forever for donald trump to pay him back. And most centrally, he is the one that argues that trump and a few of his associates were central to this scheme of masking those repayments as more mundane legal fees, so he is right at the core. His testimony will be huge. Amna i think its fair to say hes not considered an ideal witness by any stretch. He does bring a lot of baggage with him. How could that impact the case . William he is as problematic a witness for the prosecution as you can imagine. Just to recap, he has pled guilty to tax fraud, to bank fraud, to lying to congress. Hes pled guilty to Campaign Finance violations, which are a central part of this case. His credibility has been attacked, and will continue to be. Hes also been incredibly inconsistent in terms of what Donald Trumps role was in this scheme. If you remember, before he turned on trump, he said that donald trump had nothing to do with these payments whatsoever. And hes also made it very, very clear that he absolutely hates the former president and would love to see him go to jail. So that makes it very hard for the prosecution to put him forward. The challenge for the prosecutors is hopefully to their case, they have built enough evidence from witnesses, documents, other records, that supports the story that Michael Cohen is telling, so that even if jurors think Michael Cohen cant be trusted, he is at least supported by this architecture of all this other evidence that theyve been laying out over the last few weeks. And that that will be central to their case. Whether that works or not, that is still to be determined, and well start to see that on monday. Amna that is another way to watch. William brangham reporting from new york. Thank you. William thanks, amna. Amna more than a year of brutal war in sudan between two factions of its army has killed tens of thousands of people and force more than 8 million flee their homes. Some 5 million are now at risk of starvation. As Nick Schifrin reports, the situation may be getting even worse. Peter nick this week Human Rights Watch accused sudans Paramilitary Rapid support forces of western sudan star four. It is there that this new war have produced the Worlds Largest displacement and hunger crises. New evidence now reveals the sheer scale of atrocities faced by civilians, with hundreds of thousands still at risk. In darfurs el genina, they lived to tell the tale of what happened here, of history being repeated. Beginning last summer, local activists bore witness to what Human Rights Watch and the u. S. Government label ethnic cleansing. They recorded how their city of half a million was burned. Where there used to be homes and schools that became shelters for the displaced, there is now only ash. The targets were members of the the targets were members of the massalit tribe, many women and children, who suffered looting, rape, and torture. The ethnic violence, unleashed by the Paramilitary Rapid support forces, or rsf, and other arab militias. The rsf descends from governmentbacked janjaweed militias, that in the 2000s brutally crushed an uprising and killed hundreds of thousands of nonarabs. The u. S. Labeled it genocide. These 2023 videos obtained and reported by the newshour last summer are part of a new Human Rights Watch report released this week, the masalit will not come home. Tens of thousands of them have been forced to flee, and are now refugees who fill camps in neighboring chad. Human rights watch says this is what the rsfs violence is designed to do, drive them from their homes, permanently. For the past year, the people of sudan have suffered slaughter, crimes against humanity, sexual violence, ethnic cleansing. Nick Tom Perriello is the u. S. Special envoy for sudan. He and the u. N. Are now warning of a new rsf assault on el fasher, home to sudans largest camp for the displaced. Doctors without borders says some 15,000 children there are suffering from acute malnutrition. The rsf and its leadership are rooted in the janjaweed militias, who committed genocide 20 years ago when i first went to darfur. In particular, if we see the fall of el fasher, we will see a new level of suffering for this war. Nick the other side of this civil war, which has turned residential streets into battlegrounds is the Sudanese Armed forces, which the u. S. Has also accused of war crimes. This week, usaid administrator Samantha Power accused the Sudanese Armed forces of obstructing humanitarian aid from reaching darfur, and said nearly 900 thousand of darfurs most vulnerable had received no assistance since early april, ahead of what she called looming famine. To discuss the situation in darfur, and Human Rights Watchs new report, im joined by tirana hassan, Human Rights Watchs executive director. Welcome to the newshour. You guys collected 221 witness statements from the words to parts of our four. What hit those witnesses tell you . Tirana we have received and documented grueling testimony from survivors, eyewitnesses of the attacks on the predominantly nonarab populations in altadena. What we documented, as you noted in your report, was that there has most definitely been all indications that ethnic cleansing has taken place, the violence and targeted killings and attacks on nonarab communities has been shows all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing. But we have also document and war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the Rapid Support versus, as well as in concert with allied militia and Cross Western for across west darfur. This campaign has been brutal. Our researchers have been on the ground, speaking to people inside sudan for the last 10 months. We have documented a conference of account of the largescale atrocities that have taken place. We are talking about houses and entire neighborhoods being burned to the ground. We have documented thousands of people that have been killed, but we really dont know what the tree death toll is. It could be much larger. As you noted earlier, half a Million People are now driven from dart for into chad. Darfur into chad by the violence. And on our journeys, they have told us that will continue to be hunted down and attacked, women raped, on the journey to safety in chad. Nick as i noted, rapid reports, the rs f forces to sin from the militias that were accused of genocide. Does Human Rights Watch believe that genocide is happening again . Tirana what we have been able to conclude from our Current Research is their most definitely war crimes and crimes against humanity from being committed. There is also the possibility that some of the acts that we have documented with genocidal were genocidal in nature. What that really means is there needs to be an investigation and a collection of evidence so that an International Court can gather evidence to be able to see if the crime of genocide has taken place. This is not just, though, about if it has taken place. We are now at a point where these same forces, the Rapid Support forces and their allied militias, are currently surrounding the town of elf asher the town of el fasher. We are on the cusp of mass atrocities if the International Community does not start to mobilize to ensure there is not some sort of mechanism to ensure that there is civilian protection. But we have seen in el genina is a grim snapshot that indicates what could happen and the atrocities that could unfold in el fasher in the coming days or weeks. Nick you just said some kind of mechanism. What is the International Community need to do . Does the United States need to do to try to prevent further atrocities, especially el fasher, which is the location of the largest collection of internally displaced within dart for . Tirana that is right. The population of el fasher is approximately 1. 5 Million People, so the level of urgency we need to see from the unit stations from the United Nations is that they should urgently deploy a mission to sudan to protect civilians, and they should start in locations where they are most at risk of these deliberate attacks. On top of that, we need to track back and look at where the weapons are coming from. Their arms embargoes already, but we know that they are in place for dart for. They need to in place for darfur. They need to expand to all of sudan, because we know outside the darfur region, there are possible or crimes committed across the country. One of the reasons we are seeing this level of uncontrolled violence and the Rapid Support forces committing these atrocities town after town is because there is a history of no accountability. So ensuring that the International Criminal court is resourced well enough to be able to conduct the investigations and ensure that there is justice and accountability for the crimes committed is not only important for the survivors for todays atrocities, but also it since a message sends a message to those responsible for the war crimes and crimes against humanity, that there is no more impunity in these times. Nick finally, it is important to note the Sudanese Armed forces, as i mentioned before, Samantha Power, others in the u. S. Have called them out for blocking the eight that would go from chad to darfur. The Sudanese Armed forces want to be seen as the legitimate rulers of sudan. What are you calling on the Sudanese Armed forces to do . Tirana we are calling on the Sudanese Armed forces who also have been implicated in possible war crimes to abide by International Law to protect civilians. One of the things we had seen is that they have been deploying munitions with large explosive capacities in densely Populated Areas which we know has led to civilian casualties. But on top of that, in a conflict, there are rules, even in wars. The Sudanese Armed forces as well as the Rapid Support forces need to be ensuring that there is full, free, unfettered humanitarian aid. People are already living through such horrors. To add no access to water, no access to food and basic shelter just compounds humanity the inhumanity the population is suffering through. Nick tirana hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch, thank you so much. Tirana thank you for having me. Amna in a move towards rebranding and embracing inclusivity, the boy scouts of america announced this week that is changing its name to scouting america. As ali rogin tells us, the organization, which already includes thousands of girls in its programs, is aiming to attract a more diverse membership. Ali amna, this change comes at a pivotal time for the organization as it continues to emerge from bankruptcy and is paying out more than 2 billion to men who say they were sexually abused as scouts. The scouts have seen dwindling membership numbers in recent years and currently have just over one million members. That includes 176,000 girls and young women, with over 6,000 achieving the highest rank of eagle scout. In a significant move towards inclusivity, the boy scouts also stopped excluding openly gay youth from its activities in 2013. Im joined by sydney ireland, an eagle scout and advocate for girls in scouting who has been at the forefront of this campaign for almost a decade. Thank you so much for being here. What appealed to you about the boy scouts that you could not find in the Girl Scouts Organization . Sydney thank you for having me. I am grateful to be here. The boy scouts taught me life skills that i personally could not find anywhere else. I think the girl scouts is amazing, but it is really about choice for women. At that time, girls were not able to join an organization that had really important ranks and had the eagle award that opens up opportunities for girls. So now it is so exciting that girls are able to have that opportunity and that the organization changed their name. Ali you joined the scouts when they opened for girls in 2018, and before that you had been following along because you had siblings in the program. Officially, girls started joining the boy scouts in 2018. This today is a name change, but why is that significant in and of itself . Sydney a name change is so significant because it shows the country and the world that this is a scouting organization for everyone, not just for boys. While the boy scouts did open up years before, this change really ignites a new pressure on the organization to really embody their inclusivity mission now. Ali im sure youre aware theres been some criticism from conservative ranks, some lawmakers who are saying this is a byproduct of quote wokeness. Of, wokeness. What do you think of that . Sydney i think that inclusivity is so important, especially in an organization that prides itself on creating leaders. And so i think this change in the name is only going to benefit everyone, including young men, young women, non binary people, and so its such an exciting time for the organization. Ali and what does the inclusion of girls bring to scouting america . Sydney i think it brings a new perspective. Its been this way for a few years now. And so this name change opens up opportunities for people that hadnt heard of scouting before. Or maybe didnt think it was open to girls because the name is boy scouts of america to now be involved in organization that has created so many president s, astronauts, leaders in the country and the world. And so its just an important opportunity for young women to know that they have this here. Ali youve been campaigning for these changes since you were a young child, and youve been at it for more than a decade now, and i have to ask you that you had some resistance from within the organization that you were trying to join. So i wonder, why did you why was it so important to you to join . And why did you continue to want to join, despite that resistance . Sydney yes, there was resistance within the organization, but there was also a lot of support, and maybe some people that didnt realize that it was so important for this change to happen and for the inclusion to occur. And so for me, it was really important for girls all around the country to be able to join a movement that is growing and will only grow more with this change. Again, the leadership skills that teaches are incomparable and unmatched to any other program that they could join. And so i just wanted girls to be able to have the same opportunities that boys have had for over 100 years. Nick ali whats your favorite badge that youve learned over the years . Sydney i really enjoyed the swimming badge. I got my tsa lifeguard certification and i spent a whole summer at camp and so i really enjoyed that one. But theres so many that i was able to do as part of the organization. Ali sydney ireland, eagle scout and advocate for girls in scouting. Thank you so much for being here. Sydney thanks for having me. Amna conflict abroad rattles Campaign Politics here at home. The former president is tried in criminal court and the court of Public Opinion, and the republican speaker owes his gavel to democrats. For all of that, we turn to the analysis of capehart and lewis, lewis, thats Washington Post associate editor jonathan capehart, and matt lewis, columnist for the daily beast. David brooks is away. We saw the report that israel may be in violation with humanitarian law, but the u. S. Will continue to supply israel with weapons. Not only were they pausing some weapons deliveries, but biden said he would consider pausing more if israel launches a fullscale invasion into rafah, where a million gazans are now sheltering. How do you look at this and swear all these things which seem to be in contradiction with each other . We cannot look at them in isolation. These are not isolated incidents. They are part of what i view as an enormous diplomatic effort on the part of the president to get israel and hamas to agree to a ceasefire, namely hamas, agree to a ceasefire, may be for six weeks, and then hope that it holds and they can bring an end to the conflict. But in terms of what the president is saying, i interviewed him on march 9, asked, what is your redline with benjamin netanyahu, invasion of rafah . He said yes. Fastforward to may 8 in an interview with cnn, he is once again asked a redline question, and he says if netanyahu invades houthi, i will halt weapons shipments invades rafah, i will halt weapons shipments. I dont see how that is in contradiction with what this report says. I think nicks report was very good and the interviews were very good at showing how the administration is trying to do a lot of things, buffing and polishing things here and there, because i think ultimately what the administration wants and what the president wants is for israel and hamas to get back to the negotiating table in cairo and agreed to a ceasefire. Amna matt, is it clear to you where President Bidens redline is on this . Matt i think should be drawing redlines on our political problem. It is axiomatic in politics that if you try to please everybody, you will end up pleasing nobody. Up until now, i think domestically, in terms of domestic politics in america, joe biden had a problem with young progressives who were unhappy that he was standing firmly with israel. I think now that has become muddied. I think we are now in a position where, number one, it is unlikely that these young progressives who were calling him is like genocide joe are going to come around to liking joe biden and voting for him. He also risks alienating democrats who are proisrael, kind of the mainstream democrats. The other thing that is not really being talked about is the impact this may have on never trump conservatives. We saw people like liz cheney, nikki haley, mitt romney come out and strongly condemn joe bidens comments about rafah. Keep in mind nikki haley just this week. 21 of the vote in a republican primary in indiana. There are people out there open to voting for joe biden, and i think they are less likely today than they were a week ago. Amna on the domestic politics, jonathan, was the talk of Bibi Netanyahu pausing weapons deliveries, was that President Biden bending to political pressure at home . Jonathan no. Matt, love you to pieces, but anybody who thinks that there are domestic Political Considerations on the part of the president that is writing his decisions has you have not been paying attention to joe biden. We have to remember this man has been on the world stage for 50 years. During those years, he was chair of the Senate Foreign relations committee. He has known Prime Minister netanyahu for 50 years. He is about using the power of diplomacy to bring about a resolution. Hes done a lot of things on the world stage that domestically have her 10. Have hurt hhim. The withdrawal from kabul and how disastrous that was. I thing the president doing what he is doing, from carrots and sticks with netanyahu, he is doing it because for him, the resolution is a ceasefire deal. However he can get it. Amna it is worth pointing out previous u. S. President s, including republican president s, reagan, h w bush, w bush as well, have all withheld weapons from israel at some point. Why shouldnt this one . It is a couple of things. This is a little different. Some have said that what happened on october 7 is the worst thing that has happened to the jewish people since the holocaust. I think qualitatively this is different. I would also say from a political standpoint, someone like Ronald Reagan was seen as a strong, tough leader, and he was someone who, if anything, the perception was maybe he is a little too lycos. With joe biden, and you mentioned afghanistan, that may or may not have been the right move, but joe bidens poll numbers have not returned to where they were before the afghanistan withdrawal. He is himself facing an existential crisis in this election in november, and if this turns out to be anywhere close to afghanistan in terms of what it does to his approval ratings, which are not great, then he may be out of a job come november. Amna i want to turn to the former president s hush money trial in new york, because there were a lot of headlines around the witness testimony, in particular that of stephanie clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels. Some tense moments as she has been crossexamined, including this exchange where the trump attorney asked her, you are celebrating the indictment by selling things from your store, right herzing referencing her merchandise which she is associating with mr. Trump. Stormy daniels replied, not unlike mr. Trump. Jonathan, what did you take away from ms. Daniels and the other testimony this week . Jonathan Stormy Daniels is the central figure in all of this. It was important to hear from her. I am not surprised, if you follow Stormy Daniels on twitter, her testimony and her giving as good as she was getting from the defense would not be a surprise. That response was not a surprise. There was another response she had about whether stories were made up and her response to susan necklace was also very funny and inspired and turn it around on her. Donald trump had a mug shot taken in georgia and almost immediately turned around and started aching money off of it from his supporters, from any number of his criminal defense trials, cases, who is going to Stormy Daniels for doing the same thing . It does not matter what we think, it matters what the members of the jury think. Matt trump attorneys went after her hard, tried to attack her credibility, paint her as an opportunist. Is that for the jury in the room or the court of Public Opinion outside . Matt i think it was for the jury. Donald trump only needs one juror to acquit for a hung jury. That may be the end of the whole thing. Is there one juror who could impeach her character . That may be the best i dont think trump can win on merits. I thing he is dead to rights in terms of the subtext. They throw enough can they throw enough at the wall and tried to take down Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen and make them look bad and have one juror who sort of nullifies the whole thing . Amna meanwhile, on capitol hill, House Speaker mike johnson, with the help of democrats, survived an attempt by representative Marjorie Taylor greene to oust him that we knew was coming. Jonathan, was it the right move by leader Hakeem Jeffries to save speaker johnson, and is a speaker johnson safe now . Jonathan the answer to the first question, yes, because if you are interested in governing, you must keep this speaker in place to get other priorities done. That being said, that does not mean that speaker johnson is out of the woods. When i, through my phone calls with members of congress, each one made it clear, they said that this is a one and done thing, whether they vote for him , vote to save him, or not. If they were going to vote to save him, they made it clear that the next time, it depends. I think that is why he is not am of the woods. I have been saying that his speakership is republican in name only, because he cannot get anything done, passed legislation were save his own speakership, without Hakeem Jeffries and the democratic minority. Amna matt, how do you look at that . Matt i give democrats a lot of credit. They stood with speaker johnson to do things like funding ukraine and israel, which are very important, basically to govern. And also, i think, to stand with team normal versus the radical Marjorie Taylor greene magna wing. I think it is shortterm, may be a not last, but for now, the guy has won. Amna i have to ask, there is that split between the maggot folks the maga folks supporting Marjorie Taylor greene and others supporting johnson. Is it going to continue to play out that way . Matt i think it is. But for some reason, donald trump likes mike johnson. Some of it has to do with the fact that it is such a slim republican majority, trump does not want chaos in the house right now. But i think there is a personal friendship. As long as donald trump has Mike Johnsons back, he is safe. Amna we will see. Matt lewis and jonathan k part, good to see you. Jonathan thanks, amna. Amna this Asian PacificAmerican Heritage month, we bring you an icon of the community. Madhur jaffrey first made Indian Cuisine accessible to the west decades ago with her milestone cookbook an invitation to indian cooking. 2024 marks 50 years since that book made madhur a household name, selling millions of copies and launching her into the culinary stratosphere. She spoke to us recently from her home in new york, for our arts and culture series, canvas. Reporter in the crowded, cosmopolitan world of cuisine, she has singlename status. Madhur jaffrey. Madhur jaffrey. Madhur jaffrey. Reporter but for famed indian chef Madhur Jaffrey, the path to numerous bestselling cookbooks, multiple james beard awards, and the highest civilian honors in both india and the United Kingdom wasnt planned. I thin of it as a huge, wonderful accident. Its, serendipity. I dont know what you want to call it, but it just happened. And ive enjoyed myself hugely while it happened. Reporter ironically, growing up in north india, Madhur Jaffrey didnt spend much time in the kitchen. I did everything the boys did. I played with them. I went fishing. I went swimming in the river behind our house. Reporter an aspiring actress, she left home in delhi for Londons Royal Academy of dramatic arts in 1958 at the age of 19. Far from home, what she missed most was her mothers cooking. We used to go up five floors of steps to the canteen and then we would get this, you know, great slice of roast beef that you could hardly look at. And i would think, oh my god, the food at home is so good. Why am i eating this . So, what i did was, rather than just give up and eat that rubbishy food, i wrote to my mother, and i said, look, i dont know how to cook, but can you teach me . Can you send me letters with recipes . Reporter her mother obliged, and the transcontinental cooking classes began. She didnt write very long, elaborate recipes. She wrote three line recipes. Do this, take that, stir that, get it done. Amna theres no measurements or anything in the recipes. No real measurements. A bit of this, a little bit of that. But what was the wonderful thing that i realized much, much later was that i had a memory of the taste of everything id eaten. Amna as she pursued a performing career, years later in new york, strangers would ask again and again, where could they find good indian food . It was always just come to my house. After a while, it became too much. I mean, how many people could come to my house . So i started writing recipes and gave them out to people. It just sort of mushroomed and drew. Amna in april 1973, it bloomed into her seminal cookbook, an invitation to indian cooking, reissued 50 years later. A collection of recipes for the daals, chutneys, keemas, and biryanis that defined her youth, and kept her connected to home. It wasnt the first indian cookbook on the market in america, but it was the one that caught on. Madhurs straightforward, simple letters, offered unfamiliar western chefs, newlyintrigued by Indian Cuisine an easy entry. The book made madhur a household name in america and the u. K. A cooking show on the bbc followed in 1982, combining her love of food and performing. She recalled auditioning in a studio with no kitchen, no utensils, and no food. Madhur now im going to put the that cumin that i roasted because i want that lovely smoky aroma. Amna i can see you doing it, no food, no tools. Youre doing the same thing now. Madhur im just like im telling you. And then id say im taking a cucumber and im grating it. Grate, grate, grate. Right into the yogurt and mix it in. Now i clean off the edges and put a little ground cumin on top. Little ground kashmiri chili powder on top because it look very pretty. There is your yogurt. So i did it that way. And, i got a job. Amna she produced bestselling cookbook after cookbook over the years, welcoming home cooks more deeply into the food she loved. A memoir brought a generation of fans closer to the cook theyd come to know. And along the way, madhur never abandoned her original love of acting. What are you three so intense about . Madhur the jade is up. Amna on television, with a guest role in the sex reboot, and just like that, in 2021. And always ready to try something new, like a starring role in new york rapper mr cardamoms music video for his song nani. But an invitation to indian cooking remains an enduring part of madhurs legacy. What do we do next . Chickpeas for a generation of south asians inspired to build new lives abroad in the 1960s and 1970s, the brook offered more than just recipes. It offered a connection to the home left behind. Including for my own mother, seema. I wanted to share something with you, if you dont mind. My mothers copy of an invitation to indian cooking. Madhur oh my goodness. Amna it has been used and reused so lovingly for so many years. Its kept in the bag because the cover fell off. This is a truly loved book. And so my father said, you cant use this one anymore. He got her another copy. Madhur i keep telling people when they are cooking, where is emotional aspect . Because indians and pakistanis and bangladeshis, theres a lot of emotion tied to our food. And it has to do with brothers, sisters, ancestors, cousins eating together, going on picnics together. All those memories are tied in to every little bit of food. So now the interesting thing was that this generation in the early 1970s was cooking from my book, but then they cooked the food and their children ate it, and then the children bought the book. You made a good base for the chickpeas. That is so delicious. Madhur so i got letters from the children, my parents used to cook from your cookbook and we ate your food, so now we are cooking from that. And there have been three generations like that, whove actually cooked from the book already and passed it on to their children. It is very gratifying. Its very nice to know that several generations within the same family have been cooking my recipes in america. Cheers. Amna those families now await madhurs next book, the details of which, shes Holding Close for the moment. Madhur i wont tell you too much about it, but its great fun for me. Amna is it another cookbook or not . Madhur it is, but its a kind of fun cookbook for me that includes aspects of me that you dont know. Youll find out. Amna now im intrigued. Jonathan Madhur Madhur that is what i meant to do, and ill leave it at that. Amna the happy accident that inspired this journey is still propelling the now 90yearold Madhur Jaffrey down new paths ahead. Remember there is much more on our youtube page, including pbs news weekly, which this week focuses on the war in gaza, including President Bidens pause on a major weapons delivery to israel. Be sure to tune into Washington Week with the atlantic tonight. Jeffrey goldberg and his Panel Discuss the big political news of the week. And tomorrow on pbs news weekend, how Older Americans are seeing healthier golden years by living and working with younger people. One case study is the benevilla Community Center for older adults in arizonas west valley, where many members are in the early stages of dementia. One of its biggest draws is an onsite preschool. Activities with benevillas grandmas and grandpas are built into the curriculum. [playing shake it off by taylor swift] when we get to see the little ones, its very heartening and makes us all feel younger again. Benevilla member Colleen Peterson has family nearby, but loves interacting with the younger generations here. I had one little boy, and he was just sobbing and sobbing, and i just kind of patted him and pretty soon he just slid right off my lap and went with the other kids and started playing. Amna you can see more of ali rogins report on tomorrows pbs news weekend. And that is the newshour for tonight. Im amna nawaz. On behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. Have a great weekend. And your funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by web back it was like has been provided by it was like an aha moment. This is what i wanted to keep doing. These are people who are trying to change the world. And i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. I am helping people reach their dreams. I am thriving by helping others every day. People who know no bdo. Know bdo. 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. Certified Financial Planner professionals are proud to support pbs newshour. Cfp professionals are committed to acting in their clients best interest. 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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