>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> for 25 years consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find the plan that fits you. to learn more visit consumer cellular.tv. >> 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 john s and james l night foundation fostering engaged communities. >> this may pop -- made possible by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. judy: the january 6 committee hearing this afternoon -- the seventh public meeting -- ended with a dramatic revelation. vice chair liz cheney said former president trump recently called a witness the committee was talking to, an action the committee referred to the department of justice as potential witness tampering. over the course of three hours, the committee also laid out in detail a series of events leading up to the insurrection on january 6. that began weeks earlier in a mid-december white house meeting that one former aide called "unhinged" as allies of then-president trump repeated baseless claims about election fraud and urged action to overturn the results. later that night, mr. trump sent a tweet that one committee member called a "call to arms" for his supporters. "big protest in d.c. on january 6. be there, will be wild!" he wrote. as the committee showed, supporters of the former president, including members of a far right militia group heeded his call. one person even predicted a "red wedding," a pop culture reference to a massacre, on january 6. jason van tatenhove, a former spokesman for the oath keepers, drew the connection and concern for the future. >> if a president is willing to try to instill a -- encourage, to whip up a civil war amongst his followers using lies and deceit and snake oil. and regardless of the human impact, what else is going to do if he gets elected again? all bets are off at that point. judy: representative stephanie murphy of florida read from a text exchae between two trump campaign advisors, including one-time campaign manager brad parscale, who after the events of january 6, blamed his former boss. >> mr. parscale said, quote, "this is about trump pushing for uncertainty in our country, a sitting president asking for civil war." and then when he said, "this week i feel guilty for helping him win." katrina pierson responded, "you did what you felt right at the time and therefore it was right." mr. parscale added, "yeah, but a woman is dead." and "yeah, if i was trump, and i knew my rhetoric killed someone." when miss pearson replied it wasn't the rhetoric, mr. parscale said "katrina. yes, it was." judy: and for more on what we learned from the hearing, i'm joined by our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins and white house correspondent laura barron-lopez. good evening to both of you. you were in the hearing room. let's start by talking about that dramatic confrontation inside the white house, december 2020. it was about whether and how to overturn the elections. >> the committee is going chronologically right up to january 6. this happened in the middle of december after the attorney general said there was no reason to believe there was fraud worth overturning the election. let's take you inside who was in this meeting. four people in particular were surprise guests to many staffers in the white house. rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney, and three other people including michael flynn, former security advisor. by then he did not have a position at the white house. you see all of the people there who were advising him. sidney powell included and patrick byrne on the end who is the ceo of overstock.com. the testimony today was that it was not clear they had been invited to the white house. they somehow at the last minute were able to get into the oval office. they all presented the testimony today saying conspiracy theories that ran the gamut pushing the president to do things like declare martial law, to seize election machines, those kinds of things. also coming into the oval office during that meeting were actual white house staffers. there you see some of them who were involved. the attorney, the staff secretary, mark meadows, chief of staff in and out. and the president's house counsel pat cipollone. they were pushing back at the others in what was described in an extensive montage as a very hostile confrontation. let us listen to how they explained that in the hearing today. >> i opened the door and i walked in. i saw general flynn, i saw sydney powell sitting there. i was not happy to see the people who were in the oval office. >> was the meeting tense? >> oh yeah, it was not a casual meeting. >> explain. >> at times there were people shouting at each other, throwing insults at each other. it wasn't just, sort of, people sitting around on a couch, like chit-chatting. >> cipollone and herschmann and whoever the other guy was showed nothing but contempt and disdain of the president. >> i think it got to the point where the screaming was completely, completely out there. i mean, people walking in, it was late at night, it had been a long day, and what they were proposing, i thought was nuts. >> i'm going to categorically describe it as, you guys are not tough enough. or maybe i'll put it another way, you're a bunch of --. excuse the expression but i'm almost certain the word was used. >> that was essentially a battle for the soul of the white house. as that meeting ran on and on. after it ended around 1:42 in the morning came the tweet you talked about earlier tonight. the president asking people to come to january 6 for a wild protest. that tweet was sent after that contentious meeting. judy: the committee is charging the president did more than just send out that tweet about a wild protest. what more are they saying? >> that is right. as you get closer, here is more of what the committee said. steve bannon, the president's longtime advisor was on the phone with the president. they said white house call logs showed the morning of january 5, also on january 5 i want to remind viewers what steve bannon said on his broadcast show. listen to this. >> all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. it's all converging, and now we're on, as they say, the point of attack, the point of attack tomorrow. i'll tell you this: it's not gonna happen like you think it's gonna happen. it's going to be quite extraordinarily different. and all i can say is strap in. >> steve bannon had spoken with president trump before he made that statement. he spoke with president trump again that evening. also january 5, there was a rally down the street from the white house, one some of the advisors of president trump said was full of the crazies, people who had extreme views. also testimony we heard was that president trump opened the doors of the oval office to try to hear that rally from where he sat. leading up to january 6, the very day before, you have advisors talking to him and talking about an extreme they had on the sixth -- extreme day ahead on the sixth. judy: a former member of this extremist white nationalist group the oath keepers, the other, somebody who took part in the capital attack. >> that's right. you heard that concern from the former member of the oath keepers who was not president -- was not present with january 6. he said it was a violent militia group. we heard from another man, stephen ayers, from ohio. he said he was watching social media leading up to january 6 and he believed the election was stolen. he said he no longer sees it that way but the committee asked him exactly why he did what he did on january 6 and here is what he said. >> so why did you decide to march to the capitol? >> well, basically, the president got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down. so we basically were just following what he said. >> did you think that the president would be marching with you? >> yeah, i think everybody thought he was gonna be coming down. you know, he said in his speech, you know, kind of like he's gonna be there with us. so i mean, i think i believed . >> mr. ayers is yet to be sentenced, he will be sentenced in september. to the question of whether the president wanted a riotous crowd to come to the capitol, the committee is trying to make the case this was not unintentional passions he inflamed, but something very intentional. i want to also call up a draft tweet the committee says it uncovered from that group of advisors who wanted things like martial law. they said this shows the president signed off -- this was never sent, but something the president himself saw, clearly before the january 6 rally, asking people to march to the capitol. the case they are trying to make in the committee is that in fact this was an intentional march on the capitol that president trump wanted to lead. this was actually an emotional day for some of the capitol police officers who were in there today. they did shake hands, one of the officers, with mr. ayers with the oath keepers. they said their lives are forever changed by january 6. those men have lives that have been changed as well. one of the officers told me, and i saw the look in his eye when he looked across at the man who had broken into the capitol and attacked him and other officers who had broken into the capitol. he said i am not sure what i felt, but it might have been anger, i am still processing. it was an emotional day certainly at the end of that hearing. >> it certainly had to be. i want to bring in our white house responded laura barone lopez. how does what we have learned today fit into this larger picture the committee is pulling together of what president trump did and any potential criminal charges against him? >> those things lisa just mentioned, the draft tweet the president saw as well as testimony from stephen ayers saying he was just following former president trump's lead and that was the reason he was there, that could inform if the justice department decides to charge the former president, it could inform an instruction of compressional proceedings -- congressional proceedings charge. that would potentially prove the president was trying to stop the lawful certification of the 2020 vote. another one that was revealed today was that congresswoman liz cheney said since the last hearing, the president tried to call a witness which we have not heard from yet and that they have referred that to the justice department as potential witness tampering. she said the committee takes that very seriously. that cld potentially be another charge but we do not know if the justice department is going to pursue this. one important piece of context as the hearings are happening, as the talk of potential charges against the president, is that president trump as recently as june said if elected again, he would pardon these january 6 rioters, people involved in the insurrection because he believes they are patriots. congressman jamie raskin said to the public that that potential for republicans, the republican party along with trump to continue down the road of authoritarianism could be a big problem. one final thing is that newshour can report a week from thursday, we expect what is going to be the final hearing in this series. there is a potential for more hearings. it is going to be focused specifically on the 187 minutes of when president trump was not putting out any statements as the insurrection was ongoing. judy: so these hearings are continuing. we thank you both. for more analysis of today's hearing, i am here with mary mccord, director of the institute for constitutional advocacy and protection, and a former justice department official. and jamil jaffer, a law professor at george mason university, and former associate counsel to president george w. bush. hello to both of you. thank you for being with us, and during our special coverage today. again, so much of this evidence we have just been hearing from our own correspondents today was around former president trump, his role, what he heard, what he did, what he did not do. he remains at the center of everything we are hearing. >> that is exactly right. what is clear is the president understood what was like lita happen. he was -- was likely to happen. he was speaking to folks outside the white house in the lead up to the events on january 6, including ostensibly either he or people around him were telling organizers there would be a call, they were not supposed to talk about it, by a call to march on the capitol. that was something they tweeted about internally we now know. what appeared to have originally been a sort of moment that would have happened spontaneously turned out to be planned. people around the president knew that was going to happen. there were other interesting points in today's testimony. judy: there was so much to look at. as you look at this, you see again just a cascading set of pieces of evidence, of information that add up to a president who was looking for affirmation for what he believed and what he wanted to do. >> that's right. one of the other really revealing things, the excerpts you played earlier at the top of the hour focused on this, the december 18 heated meeting where he and his own white house advisors basically said, we are not going to support you doing any of these things that sidney powell and michael flynn and rudy giuliani were suggesting he could do. they just went to the mat and it resulted in yelling and shouting. it seemed like he reached a decision point which was, ok, i'm not going to get help from my white house advisors. i'm going to go to the people. he tweeted that early morning, be there, be wild. that was the calling card for extremist groups such as the oath keepers, the proud boys, the three presenters, -- three percenters. people like stephen ayers who -- and stephen ayers said this, addicted to social media addicted to everything president trump had set a stolen election, all of which were lies and which he now knows relies -- which he now knows were lies. judy: watching this in real time we had very little idea what was going on inside the white house. i know there were certainly -- there was a certainly reporting at the same time. we are learning there were a number of people around th president saying to him and talking to each other about what was happening was wrong, it was illegal. >> that is exactly right. pat cipollone now it is clear made clear to the president he did not think he was getting good advice, that folks around the president, sidney powell, rudy giuliani, the overstock.com ceo, pat cipollone he asked him who he was in the oval office. it is worth mentioning, with the -- administration there was no chance you would have unidentified people in the white house around the president. the president is getting legal advice from these folks, it is catastrophic. he made clear to the president he did not agree, it was bad advice. then you look at what he told mark meadows, look, people are going to get hurt and i'm not going to allow this going forward. it is clear the president was aware there were concerns. his dni said the same thing. nobody can doubt today the president knew what the potential was to happen and he went forward nonetheless knowing all of that. that is the really troubling thing about what we have learned. judy: and an additional point i think that emerged today, this is something that you follow, is the role that these extremist groups play. the oath keepers, the proud boys. you were saying to us earlier that when you look at their picture of what happened, the former president was using them to achieve an end. >> he was, and they were willingly being used, the oath keepers. some people i think unaffiliated with extremist organizations really did get used and lied to and left out to dry. they are facing the consequences, criminal charges, loss of their jobs, reputations. groups like the oath keepers, this is the sort of thing stewart rhodes and other leaders of extremist organizations have wanted for years. they are antigovernment organizations. they are willing to use violence against the u.s. government. they have done it in the past. as jason explained today, a former propagandist or the oath keepers, they faced off against federal agents back in nevada in 2014. federal agents backed away because they had firearms -- they were in the sites of snipers on overpasses. but here was a chance to actually bring these groups together, coalesce with people in president trump's orbit who wanted to use that, who were willing, and trump himself willing to use these means to maintain his illegitimate power. those of us who study some of these organizations have been trying to point out for years their dangerousness. it was really there in living color and hearing from a former spokesperson gives us an insight we do t normally get. i hope people will understand these are threats and they need to be addressed. judy: they certainly need to be taken very seriously. another data point today, which adds to the evidence we have already seen that former president trump in that tweet he drafted about -- after the rally you will be going to the capitol -- it was not sent, but it does signal what was in the former president's mind at that time. >> that is exactly right. it was clear -- now we know. we know people around him told the rally organizers the president is going to send people to the capitol, don't tell anyone, keep it on the down low but that is what is going to happen. the whole thing that looked spontaneous clearly was planned ahead of time. then you add what the president said to cassidy hutchinson. i know they have weapons, i don't care, they are going to the capitol. we now know what the president knew before he called those people to go to the capitol and we know the aftermath of what happened. judy: it adds up to what you have just been saying. when y think about the potential lethality of these groups, the former president knowing, and he still was engaging them and urging them to move. >> it goes back to the famous stand back and stand by, and he made during a presidential debate directed to the proud boys who immediately recruited based on that and merchandised and made money. i think we really have to look to the future, look abroad. in other countries it was the willingness of politicians to ally with dangerous private militias that has caused real collapses in democracies where the inability to develop democracies and authoritarianism. the prospect in the future, representative raskin mentioned, and jason, it is real. judy: sobering. thank you both. vanessa: i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy with newshour west. we'll return to the full program after the latest headlines. ukraine's military said it destroyed a russian ammunition depot in the east. possibly with a rocket system supplied by the u.s. the overnight attack triggered a spectacular blast outside kherson. that city is occupied by the russians. at the same time, russian forces captured more towns in eastern ukraine. the u.s. military says it has killed the leader of the islamic state group in syria. central command says he died in a drone strike today outside the border with turkey. he is said to be a top-five leader is a nice is responsible for developing networks outside iraq and syria. on the pandemic, u.s. health officials issued new warnings today as omicron subvariants ba4 anda5 spread quickly. dr. anthony fauci advised against waiting for a variance specific vaccine due this fall. >> the threat to you is now. if you are not vaccinated to the fullest, namely you have not gotten the boosters according to what the recommendation are, then you're putting yourself at an increased risk that you can mitigate against by getting vaccinated. officials say the vaccines can prevent severe illness. the president of mexico called today for transformational policies along the u.s.-mexican border. andres manuel lopez obrador met with president biden at the white house. he said bold economic development efforts are needed to curb undocumented border crossings. in may, u.s. immigration arrests hit record highs along the border. and meanwhile, first lady jill biden apologized for a botched compliment about latinos during a speech monday in san antonio. dr. biden said the latino community is, quote, as distinct as the bodegas of the bronx, as beautiful of the blossoms of miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos in san antonio. today, the first lady's office said she meant to convey admiration, not disrespect. the u.s. senate confirmed steve dettelbach today as director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. the vote was 48-46 to give the agency its first permanent director since 2015. dettelbach is a former feral prosecutor. he's pledged to tackle gun violence, as the nation reels from a series of high-profile attacks. bail reform advocates in detroit agreed today to a legal settlement aimed at reducing racial inequality. the american civil liberties union and others had sued. they cited longstanding compints over jailing mostly black defendants who can't pay court-imposed cash bail. >> the cash bail system was originally intended to ensure that a person returns to court to face the charges against him. but instead, throughout michigan and the nation, it has morphed into mass incarceration of the poor. vanessa: under the settlement, judges have to specify why cash bail is needed and whether a defendant can afford to pay. u.s. attorney general merrick garlan named colette peters today to lead the federal bureau of prisons. the agency has been criticized over inadequate pandemic measures and allegations of corruption. peters currently runs the state prison system in oregon. twitter sued elon musk in a delaware court to force him to completely $44 billion acquisition of the company. the tesla ceo first agreed to by twitter in april but has backed out citing a lack of information on fake accounts from the platform. this year's emmy nominees for entertainment tvr in and the hbo drama succession leads with 25 nominations. squid game is the first non-english language series nominated for best drama. and the white lotus leads all comedy offerings with 20 nominations. awards will be handed out in september. the library of congress has named the 24th u.s. poet laureate. she has received widespread acclaim and won numerous awards especially for the collection right dead things -- bright dead things. still to come on the newshour, new video shows inaction by dozens of police officers in uvalde, texas despite the shooting rampage. also the president faces criticism for his trip to the middle east. and nasa releases new photos from the web space telescope including never before seen nebulas and galaxies. >> 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. judy: it has been seven weeks since gunman opened fire inside robb ementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers. new surveillance footage out today sheds light on what happened inside the school on that tragic day. and a warning, some viewers may find this material disturbing. 3 it is still an open question why it took officers such a long period of time to confront the shooter inside the school. this four-minute video compilation was released by the austin american statesman. it was compiled from over 70 minutes of footage. the video shows the shooter entering the school, going down a hallway, where he shot over 100 rounds into two classrooms. three minutes later the first officers arrived, armed and in bulletproof vests. they are shot at, and pullback. within about half an hour, dozens of officers with long guns and shields take up positions in the hallway. later, more shots are heard from down the hall. 77 minutes in, law enforcement enters the classroom, and kill the gunman. investigative reporter tony plohetski of the austin american-statesman acquired this never before seen footage. great to have you back on the newshour. i wonder, this such a striking document of what we have all been wondering, what had actually happened there. what stands out the most to you from this video? >> first of all, st the image of a man walking so casually into an elementary school and our country carrying an ar-15. certainly there has been much conversation and much reporting about the law enforcement response, but this video really highlights that whatever happened that day began with that man and an ar-15 walking into that school. but there are other striking moments as well. including small child who apparently is exiting the bathroom, peeks around the corner, and sees the gunman walking down the hall, then the sound of gunfire, and he runs back into the bathroom. but then again, just watching the law enforcement officers in that hallway as yet more and more assault rifles are brought to the hallway, as more protective equipment arrives, as teargas canisters arrive, experts say they had more than enough. many minutes before they went into that school, more than enough firepower to take on this gunman. >> the delayed response has been blamed on the school district police chief. but this video does show there were local, state, and federal agencies all amassed in that hallway. this seems to undercut the argument of blaming just one agency. do we have any sense of why it took them so long, where that chain of command fell art? >> certainly investigators and the head of the department of public safety in texas has described this as a failure of law enforcement and not singling out one particular agency. keep in mind in the video, -- the video certainly substantiates this. there were officers from the local community in uvalde as well as state police and federal agents. we know alternately it was a team led by the border patrol that breached that classroom door at 12:50. keep in mind the gunman entered the school at 11:33 in the morning. >> this seems to sort of again knock-down the idea that the shooter was no longer a threat. we heard shots after all the police were inside. this was still an active shooter and not a shooter who was barricaded and did not need to be confronted. >> not only that, it is also very much worth noting as part of this that there were repeated 911 calls as well from children and adults alike asking for help, describing the extent of their injuries. and yet again so much time elapsed before we know they ultimately breached that classroom door. really going against what experts resoundingly say is the way law enforcement should handle these situations. >> we know parents and members of that community have wanted to see this video, to understand what happened much better. we know there was a rally on town sunday night were many people expressed a real sense of distrust about the police. this seems like this is only going to con found that concern. >> certainly, there have been many calls for increased transparency among the families of the victims of what happened. frankly that help drive our decision to publish and air this video as we have done today. >> again, thank you for your reporting. >> thank you. judy: tonight, president biden is departing for his first trip to the middle east as president. it is delicate diplomacy for an administration that's pledged to put human rights first, but is also balancing middle east realities, especially in saudi arabia. that is where the president will spend friday and saturday. tomorrow he will bin jerusalem, and that's where nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> it's a city holy to three religions, but this week they raised three colors: the red, white, and blue. they rolled out the red carpet, and buffed the busts, at the israeli president's house. and they called out the cavalry, ahead of president biden's rival. israel and the u.s. want to focus on defense. israel, the u.s., and regional arab militaries are working together on air defense, using israeli technology-including still-in-production, iron dome lasers. they're designed to combat common enemy iran and its own advancing missile technology. it's also an outgrowth of the trump administration's efforts to normalize arab-israeli relations. what biden will not announce: changes to trump administration policies, including closing the u.s. jerusalem consulate, which focused on palestinian affairs, and declaring jewish settlements on the occupied west bank, not a violation of international law. >> he is coming as an extension of trump's policies rather than as an antidote. >> hanan ashrawi has been a palestinian leader for decades. >> he's acting on the basis that that you can ignore the palestinians, you can weaken the palestinians, you can bash them into submission. you can give them a few handouts and symbolic gestures and they lie down and die quietly. [14.7] >> president biden will announce support for a hospital network in east jerusalem, and for the two-state solution. >> president biden and his advisors talk about how they believe in the two state solution. you laughed. it that real? >> look, there is a real disconnect between the verbal level, and reality on the ground. it is not enough to say we believe in the two state solution. israel has systematically destroyed the two state solution by attempting to destroy the palestinian state. we want not these empty words, not hollow promises. we want to see action that says we are serious. >> for acting israeli prime minister yair lapid, the visit is about looking beyond the palestinians. >> from jerusalem, president biden will fly to saudi arabia. he will carry with him a message of peace and hope from us. >> the saudi visit acknowledges middle east reality. these days the region's pomp and circumstance is often reserved for saudi crown prince muhammad bin salman. he's known as mbs. and the 36-year-old has been on a regional tour as the man who will be king. he's been trying to modernize the kingdom under his vision 2030, giving women more rights, and curbing religious extremists. but u.s. officials also believe he is also the source of the kingdom's crackdown on its critics. u.s. officials told pbs newshour he's believed to have personally blessed the 2018 murder of journalist jamal khashoggi inside saudi arabia's istanbul consulate. the following year, candidate biden promised punishment. >> we were going to in fact make them pay the price and make them in fact the pariah they are. human rights must be the center of our foreign policy. >> despite those words and warnings, the administration says now is the time to visit saudi arabia. to discuss the truce that's currently holding in yemen and increasing oil production. >> america's values of human rights are a strategic interest of the united states. so is energy security, so is stopping terrorism, so is seeking peace in a place like yemen. >> that is not good enough for the kingdom's critics. >> they are going to take this as a green light they can commit abuses without accountability. >> areej al-sadhan is an american citizen whose brother abdelrahman is also an american. he was working as a humanitarian in saudi arabia when he was arrested in 2018. he's been sentenced 20 years in prison. >> he got held in a secret prison, brutally tortured, and he was denied completely any communication with us. all of that because he dared to criticize in an anonymous account, the abuses and the oppression, repression that is happening in the country. >> saudi arabia has launched reforms that mbs says are meant to bolster the principles of justice, and force transparency, and protect human rights. defenders say he is a modernizer , that vision 2030 will remake the country. >> i would say actions speak louder than words. it has been even becoming mo abusive than before. it is imprisoning people, torturing people, disappearing people. >> and al-sadhan says she and her family have faced online death threats. >> and so why are you willing to do this interview and speak out? >> staying silent to me is a lot more risky than actually speaking up. if i stay silent and i get targeted, i'll be murdered in silence, and nobody knows about my case. nobody knows about my brother's case. but at least if i if they're going to come after me and murder me, at least right now i'm known, my brother's case is known. >> u.s. officials say it is vital right now to talk to saudi officials about furthering saudi-israeli cooperation and israeli integration into the larger region. judy: you say you know what concrete announcements to expect from this trip. >> the prime minister of israel and the president will sign a strategic understanding document laying out where the countries will go in the coming years. there will be humanitarian assistance the palestinians announced by president biden and independent analysts who have been briefed by u.s. officials say saudi arabia will allow overflights from israel over the territory of saudi arabia and direct flights for israeli muslims during the hajj to saudi arabia. judy: later this week president biden will visit saudi arabia a country as we just heard he labeled a pariah during his campaign. amna nawaz picks up the conversation from there. >> for more on president biden's trip and whether it's in america's interests for him to go to saudi arabiawe get two views. james jeffrey had a 35 year career in the foreign service and served as u.s. ambassador to iraq and turkey. he's now at the woodrow wilson international center for scholars, a think tank. dalia dassa kaye is a senior fellow at the university of california los angeles' burkle center for international relations. she's written widely about the middle east. welcome to you both. thank you for joining us tonight. you have said president biden's decision to visit saudi arabia is a mistake. it never should have been planned. explain to me why. >> the dilemma is that the president clearly has compromised on u.s. values and interest in accountable partners and the likelihood is he is not likely to get any significant strategic gains from this visit. this is a leadership now in saudi arabia believed to be responsible for the myrtle of -- the murder of a washington post journali, is continuing to repress dissidents in the country and abroad, and launched a catastrophic war in yemen. if you are going to make saudi arabia the centerpiece of your foreign policy, it is fair to ask what are we going to get in return from a u.s. perspective? it is not clear the saudi's are going to be able even if they are willing given the need to increase oil output, israeli normalization with the saudi's which is shaping up to be a centerpiece of this trip -- normalization is happening even without presidential visits. it does not look like a major breakthrough despite these modest symbolic gains. finally, the idea of using this visit to turn regional partners away from competitors like china and russia is also unrealistic. these partners are quite invested in these relationships. we have seen it most recently in unwillingness to confront putin and join international sanctions against russia. >> it is a striking 180 from pariah to presidential visit. doesn't this help rehabilitate saudi arabia on the world stage? >> it certainly emphasizes not just saudi arabia, but the importance of the region. let me emphasize, he is not just going to saudi arabia. he's going to israel, he will meet with all of the gulf states, iraq, jordanian and egyptian leaders. there is a purpose to this. it is to integrate the region, preserve security, advanced stability, and most importantly, to promote u.s. interests. we are facing an existential threat from china and russia worldwide and in the middle east , he is trying to build up with the countries of the region to deal with these threats. he will not deal 100 them but they are better on our side than against them and as far as human rights go, the biggest human rights -- in the world is emanating from russia and china because their totalitarian systems have the ability to threaten all of us if we do not mobilize the globe against them. >> wasn't necessary for him to go to secure some of those things as you are talking about, to work towards those goals? these are all things the u.s. could be working on. the presidential visit brings with it a level of prestige and credibility. did he have to go? >> there is no doubt in my mind from everything i have learned since the 1970's in this region. personal relationships and underlying friendships and trust , even with people we perhaps would not like to have a drink with in the evening, it is absolutely important if you want them to be protectable, if you want them to move. it is only going to be on the margins, to help us when we are in a crunch. that is what he is doing. this is an investment in regional security architecture. it does not offer immediate benefits but is offering -- it is moving us the right direction. >> mohammad bin salman is 36 years old. he is clearly in line. is this just an acknowledgment they are resigned to that fact, someone they have to work with? >> absolutely. saudi arabia is an important country. the question is why does it have to be a presidential visit? frankly, policies that have really contradicted and undermined u.s. interests in a variety of arenas. the question is was this the best way to do it and did we miss an opportunity? did the president miss an opportunity to promote this positive vision the ambassador is outlining? is he missing an opportunity to promote a more positive agenda that is not going back to policies of military relationships with authoritarian dictators which are not bringing stability to the region? i'm afraid that is the direction this trip is headed. >> we know saudi arabia carries out mass executions. there has been very little accountability for the murder of jamarcus shoji. -- jamal koshogji. can the president continue to say he is focused on human rights? >> it depends on what the crown prince does in his country afterwards. but i have to underline this is not a choice between geostrategic security and human rights. if we do not get partners and allies throughout the world to work closely with us, we are not going to stop the russians in ukraine, we are not going to stop the chinese in the south china sea or taiwan. we are not going to stop the iranians continuing to ruin countries as they have lebanon, contributed to in yemen, syria, and potentially iraq. that is the fear the people of the regency -- of the region see. everyone in the region is delighted president biden is coming out there with the exception of iran. >> what about the potential normalization for israeli-saudi relations? >> normalization is good but we need to underand that without dealing with the palestinian conflict there world not ever be -- there will not ever be peace and stability in the region. as far as the anti-iran front, yes, many states are looking for u.s. engagement, but are also concerned they will be in the crosshairs and be targetedy iran with two active an -- too active an anti-iranian stance. we have allies in the region who are vulnerable to around. this raises questions. judy: thank you both for your time. nasa shared new revelations today from the james webb telescope, the largest space observatory ever made the -- ever made. the incredible images captured distant galaxies, new stars and planets, and the farthest look into the birth of the cosmos ever recorded. our science correspondent miles o'brien is here to break it all down. so hello, miles. tell us what it is about this james webb telescope that enables it to see farther and distance and further in time, then the hubble could. >> well judy it has a much bigger mirror. it is 21 feet in diameter. the hubble's is about six feet so it can gather up a lot more light. the other thing is it looks in the infrared part of the spectrum and because of the nature of the expansion of the universe, when you want to see the most distant things, they all live in the infrared part of the spectrum and sit is seeing things that hubble literally cannot and already it's exciting. judy: so the first spectacular image miles was released yesterday by the white house. tell us more about that. >> it is called a deep field. it's a time exposure on what seems to be just a dark piece of void, but look at this. thousands of galaxies we've never seen before. it took them about 12.5 hours to get this time exposure hubble to do a similar shot it took 10 days. so this is the deepest we've ever seen into space in the infrared and astronomers are astounded by the detail . >> we could look at these pictures all day but as you remind us that is not just about the pictures. >> yeah, the scientists are interested in the data. look at this exoplanet, which orbits around a star called wasp 96 b. using the spectroscopy instrument, they were able to identify water and clouds and haze. and while webb is not designed to find exoplanets, it may help us find at least the constituent parts for life. although it's not a life finder itself. judy: another thing you were telling us miles is this new telescope is able to capture stars as they're being born and as they are dying. explain what that's all about. >> yeah, it's kind of like dust to dust. let's start with the southern ring nebula. this is a dying of planetary nebula, a dying star. and when you look at it, you can see ever so faintly a second star, which astronomers had not previously seen before. the infrared in addition to looking farther can cut through the clouds, the dust. and then on the other end of the life spectrum, if you will. let's look at the carina nebula. this is a nebula which is a star nursery if you will. 7600 light years away. and this image just it's it's kind of emotional looking at it. it is so beautiful. astronomers are just stunned by the level of detail and their ability to see things through those dusty clouds. amber stron is webb's deputy project scientist for communications. >> in this view, we see some great examples first of all of hundreds of new stars that we've never seen before. we see examples of bubbles and cavities and jets that are being blown out by these newborn stars. we even see some galaxies sort of lurking in the background up here. we see examples of structures that honestly we don't even know what they are. like what's going on here. >> that's precisely what you want to hear. when a scientist says what's going on he, that means that instrument is on the cutting edge, and there's going to be a lot of discoveries ahead. judy: the fact that that hubble and james webb can now target the same thing, how does that advance science? >> well, anytime you have multiple platforms looking at the same object, scientists love that because they can verify their data. and what's interesting about some of these webb images, they're not of new locations. we've known about some of these for quite some time. look at stefan's quintet. 290 million light years away. you might recognize it. it is the galaxy which is featured in the movie it's a wonderful life when the angel is talking to god, but that is a side thought. but these are never before seen details of five galaxies that interact with each other, this cosmic dance actually between four of them and when you look at that, it is not only beautiful, but you really get a sense of motion and how dynamic it is. they are pulling and tugging and bumping into each other, leaving tails of gas and dust and stars. you know, the universe can be a dangerous place and sometimes we look at it it seems so static and quiet, but there you get a sense of the real energy involved. judy: it's like a miracle on top of a miracle. you want you want to hear classical music when you when you look at the quintet photographs. miles o'brien what a great job you have. thank you. and we are but a tiny speck. tomorrow night on pbs, nova has a behind-the-scenes look at the daunting challenges scientists had to overcome to create the webb telescope. you can watch "ultimate space telescope" on your local station, beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern. check your local listings. that is the newshour for tonight. join us online and again here tomorrow. from all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, stay safe, we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> architects, beekeeper, mentor. hey raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement , and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed to advancing racial equity and creating the change required to shift systems to accelerate equitable economic opportunities. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. 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. alejandra ramos: tonight on "the great american recipe"... nikki: this week is all about expressing the language of love through your food. this is our go-to. this brings us all the love. brian: when i make these cookies, i feel like my mom is there. food brings about so many different emotions. yes, i love it. sorry. who's in the room with you right now while you're cooking? my grandmother is, but if i bomb the soup, then she wasn't here. ha ha ha! there were so many delicious dishes tonight, but we all agreed the most successful one was... narrator: what makes a great recipe? are they the dishes that are passed down to us through generations of home cooking? bambi: i love to makmy mom's honey turkey wings. narrator: are they the ones that tell the story of who we are and where we're from? silvia: i make mantecada. it's like a mexican muffin. chef tiffany: if this is what it feels like at your home,

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