>> his decisions do not reflect the moral compass of ourselves, the students. >> maurice: the "cbs evening news" starts now. ♪ ♪ good evening, and thank you for being with us. i'm maurice dubois. norah is on assignment. tonight, we are following escalating pro-palestinian protests on campuses around the country. in california, police in helmets and riot gear cleared a lecture hall at uc irvine, arresting 50 people. chicago police arrested two protesters at depaul university while clearing that encampment. at least five students chained themselves to columns at the university of oregon, and at the university of michigan, protesters placed fake bloody body bags outside the private home of a school board member. these scenes are playing out in the middle of graduation season, and this weekend, president biden could step into the fray when he travels to georgia to give the commencement address at morehouse college. cbs's nikole killion reports on how the school and the white house are preparing for possible disruptions. >> reporter: tonight, at morehouse college in atlanta, fences started going up around the campus ahead of president biden's commencement address this weekend, as concerns build for possible protests. the school's president, david thomas, warned he will halt graduation ceremonies if demonstrations erupt. >> if my choice is 20 people being arrested on national tv on the morehouse campus, taken away in zip ties during our commencement, before we would reach that point, i would conclude the ceremony. >> free, free palestine! >> reporter: for weeks, some students and faculty have challenged leaders at the historically black college to rescind biden's invitation over his administration's response to the war between israel and hamas. >> we feel that all of his decisions do not reflect the moral compass of ourselves, the students, of this institution, and largely, of the black american population. >> reporter: last week, the white house dispatched senior advisor stephen benjamin to meet with students on campus. >> i think as long as there are peaceful protests that don't disrupt the amazing moment that is for each of those graduates there today, i think we'll all consider it a success. >> reporter: the president's visit comes at a critical time in a critical battleground state. biden flipped georgia in 2020, but if the election were held today, a recent "new york times" siena poll shows him losing to former president trump by ten points, as both candidates try to shore up support with black voters. >> look, trump hurt black people every chance he got. >> reporter: engineering graduate fabin nwaduba wants to keep politics out of it. >> i mean, this is like one of the happiest days of my life. you know, they come over and ruin it, i don't know, i'm gonna be hurt. >> reporter: today, morehouse faculty voted in favor of conferring an honorary degree on president biden. the white house says the president isn't concerned that his visit could overshadow sunday's graduation and that he plans to engage with students and faculty while he's here. maurice? >> maurice: nikole killion in atlanta tonight, thank you. michael cohen faced hours of intense questioning today at former president trump's criminal trial. defense attorneys accusing him of lying and attacking his character and his testimony. cbs's robert costa once again tonight from the courthouse in lower manhattan. >> reporter: former president donald trump appeared to be closely watching as his defense tore into the credibility of michael cohen, who has acknowledged lying under oath in past cases. >> the last time i appeared before congress, i came to protect mr. trump. today, i am here to tell the truth. >> reporter: as the prosecution's star witness, cohen says he lied because of his loyalty to trump and has testified he paid adult film star stormy daniels $130,000 to suppress her account of an alleged sexual encounter with trump to stave off a scandal ahead of the 2016 election. and cohen has testified he called then-candidate trump to update him about the transaction. but on thursday, defense attorney todd blanche accused cohen of lying about the call and instead claimed cohen was reaching out to trump's bodyguard to get help because he was receiving harassing phone calls from a 14-year-old prankster. "part of it was the 14-year-old," cohen testified, saying he discussed the prank calls while also updating trump about the deal. >> the prosecution misses that michael cohen was talking and complaining about some teenager who was pranking him. that's an unforgivable miss. >> reporter: in an effort to raise doubts about cohen, blanche played comments from his podcast railing against trump. >> you better believe i want this man to go down and rot inside for what he did to me and my family. >> reporter: cohen was sentenced to three years in prison amid the fallout of a federal investigation related to his payments to daniels. although he admitted to violating campaign finance laws, he believes he was wrongly charged with tax evasion. >> i have never asked for, nor would i accept, a pardon from president trump. >> reporter: in another tense exchange, that past testimony was brought up today, and cohen said he and his attorneys did explore a pardon from trump. in court, trump was again joined by several republicans from capitol hill, who spoke out against michael cohen's testimony, while trump remains under a gag order. >> and they are all up in arms over this, they can't even believe it. >> reporter: cohen will be back on the witness stand on monday, and trump's team could finish up its cross-examination that day. a source close to trump tells me he might want to take the witness stand, but for now, that's unlikely. maurice? >> maurice: robert costa in new york city tonight, thank you. back here in washington, house republicans are pushing to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress. that's because of garland's refusal to hand over audio recordings of president biden's interview with special counsel robert hur, who declined to recommend charges in biden's classified documents case. the justice department released transcripts from that interview, but today, the president asserted executive privilege over the recordings. turning to the israel-hamas war, desperately-needed humanitarian aid could soon be on its way to the people of gaza, as the u.s. military has finished building a floating pier just off shore. and tonight, we are hearing heartbreaking accounts from american medics, bearing witness to the horrors of the war and its most innocent victims. here is cbs's imtiaz tyab. >> reporter: with the massive u.s. military-constructed pier now in position, hundreds of tons of desperately-needed aid will start arriving in gaza in a matter of days. and the aid can't come soon enough for the almost 2 million displaced and for those facing famine. but for 10-year-old somaya, who lost her arm in an israeli air strike, what she needs is advanced medical care. "i want the border crossings open," she says, "so i can get a new arm and be like everyone else." also trapped inside gaza are around 20 american medics, doing all they can while they wait to be allowed to go home after the two main crossings in the south were closed. we reached dr. mahmoud sabha from texas and nurse monica johnson from oregon. >> so, you know, we came in with such good intentions, obviously, and wanting to help and save lives. we haven't had a single wound patient in the icu that has made it out. >> reporter: not a single one? >> no. >> reporter: most of their patients are kids. >> she had glitter on her fingernails. she had this colored hair. these things like -- these things -- it -- it really affects you because, in this, you really see the innocence. >> they're broken, and they are empty. so the thought of leaving them and... you know, leaving them while they're so empty is heartbreaking. >> reporter: and tonight, the israeli military has confirmed it sent more troops into the southern city of rafah as israel's government is expected to approve widening the offensive there. maurice? >> maurice: imtiaz tyab in tel aviv tonight, thank you. tonight, parts of texas and louisiana are facing possibly life-threatening flash flooding from another round of extreme rain. let's bring in meteorologist mike bettes, from our partners at the weather channel. good evening, mike. >> good evening. heavy thunderstorms and heavy rain becoming a major concern, now and through the weekend, along the gulf coast. you notice this area with a high risk highlighted in red. that means a significant threat for some flooding. even areas from alexandria back toward dallas could experience some flooding. but what does that mean, a high risk? well, how about this stat? high-risk days, they happen less than a handful of days a year but account for over 39% of all flood-related deaths in the united states. moderate-risk days account for 17%. heavy rain, texas and louisiana through the night tonight. heavy rain all across the southeast. through the day tomorrow, as well, some storms return again for us tomorrow evening and even into our weekend. in total, a lot of places here will pick up 2 to 3 inches of rain, with pockets of 3 to 5 or even isolated areas of 5 inches or more which, of course, leads to a very dangerous flood risk. >> maurice: okay, mike bettes, thank you. now to our investigation into how thousands of guns, once carried by police officers, are turning up at crime scenes around the country. cbs news partnered with nonprofit newsrooms "the trace" and "reveal" to survey nearly 200 police departments nationwide, and most told us they trade or sell their used guns. here is cbs news investigative correspondent stephen stock. >> a person shot. >> reporter: indianapolis... >> black male shot. >> reporter: has a gun problem. >> ems is en route. >> reporter: firearm deaths of young people last year jumped 70%. >> another family lost another child at the hands of a firearm that shouldn't even be on the streets. it shouldn't even be on the streets. >> reporter: candace leslie's only child was shot to death. cbs news discovered one of the guns involved in cameron brown's death was once owned by a sheriff's department 2300 miles away in stanislaus county, california. >> there is no reason for police firearms to be in the hands of teenagers. >> i would say to cameron's mom, i'm very sorry for your loss, but my organization had nothing to do with it. >> reporter: sheriff jeff dirkse's agency is one of more than 140 nationwide that we learned sell or trade in their used weapons when they update their arsenals. >> it's a legal transaction. i'll go back, so if i legally sold my old used patrol cars and somebody uses that in the commission of a crime, is that our responsibility? i would say no. >> reporter: dirkse says he saved taxpayers $25,000 last time he traded in about 650 guns. during a 16-year time period ending in february 2022, the atf traced 52,529 former police service weapons to crime somewhere in america. on average, that's more than 3200 guns every year. 9 every day. and our analysis of atf documents shows guns in crime traced to law enforcement agencies nationwide. in indianapolis, like so many american cities with a gun problem, the police department trades in its weapons. >> as a police chief, i don't want anything, any weapon that we owned to end up being used violently against another person in our country. >> reporter: you'd be open to stopping that practice? >> well, i'd have to see, you know, the taxpayers pay for these things. >> reporter: cameron's mother says there is a greater cost. >> this one gun has hit home for me. it's changed my life forever. >> reporter: changed by a gun originally meant to protect and serve. maurice, the atf is required under federal law to melt down its guns. the white house office for gun violence prevention would not agree to talk to us. >> maurice: eye-opening reporting. stephen stock, thanks so much. tonight, a preview of norah o'donnell's one-of-a-kind interview with pope francis on this sunday's "60 minutes." the head of the catholic church shares his views on a range of issues, including a big shift under his leadership. >> norah: last year, you decided to allow catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. that's a big change. why? >> interpreter: no, what i allowed was not to bless the union. that cannot be done because that is not the sacrament. i cannot. the lord made it that way. but to bless each person, yes. the blessing is for everyone. for everyone. to bless a homosexual type union, however, goes against the given rite, against the law of the church. but to bless each person? why not? the blessing is for all. some people were scandalized by this, but why? everyone, everyone. >> norah: you have said "who am i to judge? homosexuality is not a crime." >> interpreter: no, it's a human fact. >> maurice: and you can watch norah's interview with pope francis on this sunday's "60 minutes," followed by a prime-time special on monday right here on cbs. don't miss it. a man convicted of killing a black lives matter protester is pardoned after serving just one year in prison. we'll have the details next. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve relieve fatigue... and stop further joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. done settling? 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