GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening. I'm Geoff Bennett. AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz in Nogales,
Mexico. On the "NewsHour" tonight: A bipartisan majority
in the House passes legislation that could result in a U.S. TikTok ban if its Chinese
owners don't sell up. GEOFF BENNETT: And it's official. The race for the White House is a rematch
of 2020, after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clinch their party's
nominations. AMNA NAWAZ: And the dangerous journey migrant
children take, many
on their own, seeking safety in the United States. How did where to go or who to go with? NICOLE, Migrant (through translator): We got
to know a group and we started trusting each other and helping each other. (BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour." The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly today
to pass a bill that could ban TikTok here in the U.S. unless the app cuts ties with
China. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its
fate is at the moment unclear. Last night, we heard from the l
ead sponsors
of the bill about why the legislation is necessary. Tonight, we hear from an opposing voice. And, for that, we're joined by David Greene,
civil liberties director and senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Mr. Greene, thanks so much for being with
us. And you, as I understand it, oppose this bill
on First Amendment grounds. We spoke last night with the lead sponsors
of that legislation, as I mentioned, Congressmen Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi. And Congressman K
rishnamoorthi said of China's
practices that there's no First Amendment right to espionage, there's no First Amendment
right to harm our national security. Why is he wrong, in your view? DAVID GREENE, Electronic Frontier Foundation:
He's not thinking about the First Amendment rights of U.S. people who want to use TikTok
and their right to communicate with each other through it and to receive information from
TikTok in the way they receive it now. U.S. people certainly have a right to use
communi
cations tools like TikTok to get information from them and to put out and to use them to
disseminate their own information. So I understand that Representative Krishnamoorthi
is very concerned about the First Amendment rights of China, but that's really not what
we're concerned about. We're concerned about the First Amendment
rights of U.S. users. GEOFF BENNETT: Doesn't China present a special
case? The FBI director, Christopher Wray, said that
China is the defining threat of this generation, an
d the Chinese Communist Party requires Chinese
companies to share information and user data upon request. That's the perceived threat that TikTok poses. DAVID GREENE: Well, that doesn't really make
-- I defer to the FBI director on the threat posed by China in particular, but I will note
that China is not unique in requiring its companies to provide information to them upon
request. The U.S. does much of the same thing through
national security letters and through surveillance conducted under Ex
ecutive Order 12333. There's a whole congressional debate going
on now about the proposed renewal of section 702 surveillance. So, the U.S. has many of these same tools. China is not unique among nations in requiring
companies located in it to provide Internet user data. Now, if China does pose some particular threats,
the U.S. can react to it. The question is whether forcing the sale or
banning this platform from operating as it currently operates is the properly tailored
way of addressing that
threat. And our -- what we're saying is that it's
not, or at least the government hasn't so far proven that it is. It hasn't talked about this law in terms of
the First Amendment scrutiny and the specificity that the First Amendment requires. GEOFF BENNETT: So what then would be a more
appropriate solution? DAVID GREENE: Well, there's a few things. One of the reasons it's hard to talk about
what a better solution would be is because the justification for this law keeps on changing. Up until yes
terday maybe, the -- those who
support this law have been very strongly saying that this law is not about the content on
TikTok at all. This is all about just some national security
threat that we can't really tell you about, that it's just dangerous for China to have
all this data about U.S. users. I think what we saw from your interview yesterday
and from a lot of the statements made on the floor today that this is very much of concerns
about the content that U.S. users get from TikTok. We hea
rd this yesterday. I believe Representative Krishnamoorthi talked
about how -- talked about how, in China, they get healthy content about healthy living and
STEM education, and, in the United States, it's about drug paraphernalia and oversexualization. So we know this is clearly about content. It's very difficult under the First Amendment
for the government to restrict content. So, if the goal of this bill is to say, we
don't like the content you're getting, that's a very difficult thing for the
government
to do. GEOFF BENNETT: So if TikTok is forced to divest,
how does that infringe upon one's First Amendment rights? Because if I want to post on TikTok, I can
still post whatever I'm posting no matter who owns it. DAVID GREENE: Well, there's two things that
could happen, right? One is that it would -- it will just shut
down, it won't have a non-Chinese owner. That could happen. Then those who previously used the site and
received information from it wouldn't have that, wouldn't get tha
t anymore. If they're sold to a U.S. company or sold
to other ownership, then that still may affect First Amendment rights, because the new owners
may have different editorial policies. In fact, it seems like, based on the comments
the sponsors gave on your show yesterday, is that they want it to have different editorial
policies. They want it to show different content to
U.S. users and to treat their content in different ways. So, again that's an infringement on the users'
First Amendment right
s. What Congress wants is for them to get different
information. They're doing that through having different
ownership and different editorial policies. I think we have all seen how what a change
in ownership can mean for the editorial policies of a social media company and for users' experiences
with it and whether they want to engage with that service. GEOFF BENNETT: You and your organization have
called instead for comprehensive data privacy legislation. How exactly would that work and how wo
uld
that solve this TikTok problem? DAVID GREENE: So, again, this really relies
on, if the problem is a data -- is a data privacy problem -- and this is what some people
have said early on to justify the bill, a concern that too much U.S. user data was flowing
to the Chinese government and then that itself represented a national security concern. And we agree that the flow of U.S. user data
is a serious problem, not just for national security reasons, but also for individual
privacy purposes. Bu
t you address privacy concerns by passing
privacy laws. What we do not have in the U.S. is comprehensive
data privacy regulation that controls how much data companies can collect about their
users in the first place, when -- to the extent they can retain such data and how they can
share such data. If companies, TikTok or anybody else, were
not collecting and retaining and sharing so much data in the first place, you wouldn't
need to single out TikTok for such exceptional treatment. It's hard to
take Congress seriously about
data privacy if they don't pass data privacy laws, if they don't look at how TikTok and
other social media companies retain user data, and if they don't look at how data brokers
then purchase and then redistribute that data to lots of actors, including governments and
including our enemies. GEOFF BENNETT: David Greene with the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, thanks for your time and your insights this evening. DAVID GREENE: Thanks for having me. GEOFF BENNETT: In th
e day's other headlines:
A judge in Georgia tossed out six of 41 charges against former President Trump and his allies
in a 2020 election interference case. One of the dismissed counts involved Mr. Trump
urging the Georgia secretary of state to -- quote -- "find 11,780 votes to overturn the election." But Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee found
the charges too broad. He said -- quote -- "The lack of detail concerning
an essential legal element is fatal." Prosecutors will have the option of seeki
ng
a new indictment related to the dismissed counts. In the Middle East, six Palestinians have
died and clashes across the occupied West Bank. A teenager was killed after he allegedly stabbed
Israeli security guards. Three others were shot dead after Israeli
police said they were about to throw explosives. And two men were killed during an Israeli
military raid in Jenin. Video of the aftermath showed roads torn up
by Israeli tanks and bulldozers. Ukraine sent a new wave of armed drones into
Russ
ia today, striking at oil refineries. One attack set a large facility southeast
of Moscow ablaze. Operations were reportedly disrupted at several
other locations. Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin
was interviewed on state TV, and he said again that Russia could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through
translator): Weapons exist to be used. We have our own principles. What do they mean? That we are ready to use weapons, including
any weapons, including
those you mentioned, if we are talking about the existence of the
Russian state, about damaging our sovereignty and independence. GEOFF BENNETT: Putin spoke just days before
national elections. He's expected to secure another six-year term. Officials in Lithuania called out Moscow today
after an ally of the late Alexei Navalny was bludgeoned with a hammer. Leonid Volkov was assaulted on Tuesday. It happened outside the home where he's been
living in exile. In a video posted online, Volkov appea
red
bruised and bandaged, but vowed not to be silenced. LEONID VOLKOV, Former Chief of Staff to Alexei
Navalny (through translator): They wanted to make me into a schnitzel with a meat hammer
right outside my house. The attacker hit me 15 times in my leg. My arm has been broken, but I will live. The most important thing is, we will continue
working and we will not surrender. It was another obvious, typical, classic gangster
hello from Putin. GEOFF BENNETT: The attack came nearly a month
after Na
valny died in a Russian prison, and Lithuanian officials made clear they think
the Kremlin was involved. Moscow denied it played any role. In Haiti, plans for new leadership to rescue
the violence-plagued nation appear to be in limbo tonight. Several figures tapped to join a transitional
council now say they won't take part. The U.S. and Caribbean leaders had worked
out the plan. Current Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he
would resign once the council is in place. Here at home, an autopsy report
released today
concluded that Nex Benedict, a nonbinary high school student in Oklahoma, died by suicide
last month a day after a physical altercation in a school bathroom. The report listed a -- quote -- "combined
toxicity" of drugs used to treat depression and allergies. The incident sparked outrage from gay and
transgender rights groups, who cited reports that Nex had been a victim of bullying. On Wall Street, stocks mostly drifted on a
quiet day of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average
gained 37
points to close at 39043. The Nasdaq fell 87 points. The S&P 500 slipped 10. And still to come on the "NewsHour": a family
in Northern Gaza feeds hundreds of starving Palestinians during Ramadan; the FAA reports
dozens of issues with the production of Boeing's 737 MAX jets; and the impact of America's
deep political divisions on marriages, dating and families. The race for the White House is officially
a rematch contest, as the two most recent occupants of the Oval Office clinch their
party's nominations and prepare to face off of the 2020 election. JOE BIDEN, President of the United States:
Hello, Milwaukee. GEOFF BENNETT: On his first day as the presumptive
Democratic nominee, President Biden in the battleground state of Wisconsin touting his
administration's accomplishments. JOE BIDEN, President of the United States:
My predecessor, who failed the most basic duty any president owes the American people,
the duty to care, just to care. (APPLAUSE) JOE BIDEN: In my view, that'
s unforgivable. I came to office determined to uphold the
duty that gets us through one of the toughest periods in our nation's history. And we have. And now we're building a future America full
of possibilities. GEOFF BENNETT: The general election matchup
is now official. DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United
States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: We're the official nominee of the Republican
Party. GEOFF BENNETT: After sweeping four states
yesterday, Donald Trump secured eno
ugh delegates to become the GOP nominee for the third election
in a row. DONALD TRUMP: We have to get back to work,
because we have the worst president in the history of our country. GEOFF BENNETT: It's a rematch that some voters
say they don't want. JILL WEMER, Georgia Voter: I would love to
see our country represented not by someone in their 80s who's a white man. NICHOLE SNYDER, Georgia Voter: We don't have
exceptional candidates right now, so it was a difficult decision. JOE BIDEN: Hey, budd
y. GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden won 95 percent
of the vote in Georgia last night and 87 percent of the vote in Washington state, even as nearly
50,000 Democrats there voted uncommitted. BEN MCALLISTER, Washington Voter: I didn't
feel comfortable giving him my support again. So I wanted to vote uncommitted today to send
that message that people aren't just going to continue voting for whoever's in office
as a Democrat regardless of the action or inaction that they perform. GEOFF BENNETT: But ot
her Democrats say the
stakes are too high for symbolic protest votes. DAWN CLEMENT, Georgia Voter: I'm voting for
Joe Biden all the way through. It really is an important election this year,
probably the most important our country has ever had. GEOFF BENNETT: Donald Trump's die-hard supporters
also see the choice as critical. FAYE BOWLING, Georgia Voter: I have never
in my lifetime seen this economy as bad as it is now. And I'm all for Donald Trump, and I want everybody
to get out and I want a r
ed wave come November. DONALD TRUMP: Go out and vote. GEOFF BENNETT: The now-presumptive GOP nominee
will spend at least part of his time in the coming days off the campaign trail. Mr. Trump will be back in federal court in
Florida on Thursday, facing charges of mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice. And his hush money trial begins later this
month in New York. For both candidates, the focus will soon turn
to those few battleground states where the final outcome could be measu
red in just thousands
of votes in what will be the longest general election campaign in modern history. Let's bring in Doug Heye. He's the former communications director to
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and before that the Republican National Committee. It's great to have you here. DOUG HEYE, Republican Strategist: It's good
to be with you. GEOFF BENNETT: So, Donald Trump, as you well
know, he lost Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes back in 2020. Nikki Haley last night won more than 77,000
v
otes, even though she quit the race last week. DOUG HEYE: Yes. GEOFF BENNETT: We should say that a lot of
those folks voted early. Georgia has early voting. But a significant number of that vote, that
was a protest vote against Donald Trump. How alarmed should the Trump campaign be? DOUG HEYE: They should take this very seriously. And what we see with this is something I learned
the week before in North Carolina. I happened to have been down in Chapel Hill
at my alma mater, UNC. We're going to w
in the ACC Tournament this
weekend. (LAUGHTER) DOUG HEYE: And I went to a Nikki Haley event
nearby in Raleigh. And what I saw was a room that was jammed. They had to move it to two separate larger
venues to handle the crowd size. And there was something real going on in that
room. And what I saw were a lot of people wearing
T-shirts that said "Permanently Barred." Now, some of those people are probably temporarily
barred. They will ultimately vote for Donald Trump. But if you're looking at a sta
te like Georgia,
if 20 percent of those who voted for Nikki Haley decide to not support Donald Trump,
well, there's your 12,000-vote margin. It's a real problem for the Trump campaign. And pushing people away is not going to be
the answer. Politics should be about addition, not subtraction,
whether you're in partisan politics or congressional politics. Donald Trump needs to learn that lesson this
week and moving forward. GEOFF BENNETT: Well, on that point, I mean,
for all of the hand-wringing, D
oug, on the Democratic side about Joe Biden's political
standing and his poll numbers, Donald Trump has not shown an ability or even a willingness
to expand his base of support outside of his people who already support him. I mean, he has an unusually strong floor of
support, but he has also an unusually low ceiling of support. And that's problematic. How does he deal with that? DOUG HEYE: Well, if you look at the polling
trend for years now, Donald Trump has been relatively flat. And it's becau
se of, as you say, there's a
low ceiling, but also a high floor. There's not a lot of places that he can go. What we're going to see Donald Trump do is
two things, essentially. One, try to start to appeal to some of those
voters that he very proactively turned off. Again, you are proactive -- you are permanently
banned. We don't want you. Well, he's going to have to say, we want you,
come and join. How many of those listen are going to be a
problem. The other is going to those people who don't
l
ike Donald Trump, but also don't like Joe Biden, aren't happy with the direction of
the country, and think that Trump is better on a whole host of issues, whether that's
the economy and jobs, inflation, certainly, and the border. Those issues and a whole lot more, where Joe
Biden is really deeply underwater, you're going to hear Trump talk about those more
and more. Problem is, though, he's still Donald Trump. And so he's going to talk about those issues,
but overshadow himself by talking about
two-tiered system of justice, this judge hates me, that
judge is unfair, this woman, that woman, insulting as many people as he can. That turns off those very voters that he needs. GEOFF BENNETT: I want to draw on your experience
at the RNC, because Donald Trump, as you well know, he has cemented his control of the Republican
National Committee. The group's members voted to affirm all of
his hand-picked leaders, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who's now co-chair. It's unusual, not unh
eard of. Ronald Reagan's daughter was elected co-chair
back in 1987. DOUG HEYE: Yes. GEOFF BENNETT: Still, though, with an RNC
that is newly organized to support Donald Trump, what does that mean for Republicans
who are running downballot? DOUG HEYE: Well, I think that's where the
concern will be. Lara Trump said, our number one priority is
electing Donald Trump. In fact, that's our only priority. Well, if you're running for Senate or governor
or House or other offices, you need to be concerned
about that. But that's where you have the other party
committees, the Congressional Committee, the Senatorial and the RGA, working with the RNC
to make sure that money is flowing to states in all directions. So, unless you're from North Carolina, with
Michael Whatley being the North Carolina state party chair and Lara Trump being there, you
do have concerns about, if money is going to be spent on other activities, whether it's
legal bills or what have you, does that come at my expense? This make
s the congressional committees and
the RGA that much more important. GEOFF BENNETT: When you look at how the RNC
has been hollowed out, mass layoffs, the installation of loyalists, including lawyers who worked
for him who helped spread lies about the election, all of that, one of whom has just been named
the senior counsel for election integrity at the RNC, Christina Bobb, what does any
of that suggest about the way Donald Trump would govern if he has a second term? DOUG HEYE: Well, some of that
is business
as usual. I have never seen a story that talks about
Jaime Harrison being a Biden loyalist. Of course he's a Biden loyalist. When you're the DNC chair, you're a loyalist
to your party and certainly your president. So a lot of this is very normal and is what
happens when -- or happened when Mitt Romney became the nominee or John McCain became the
nominee. Some of this, though, a hollowing out of staff,
does cause concerns. We need to see more about, are they going
to be smart with ho
w they now redirect their money? Sean Cairncross is somebody who has come on
board with the RNC. He is in charge of making sure the trains
run on time and that there's money for those trains. I have worked with him. He was at the Senatorial Committee when I
worked with the RNC. He is a pro's pro and somebody who's going
to be very effective in that job. On the issue of election integrity, I think
it's interesting. We often hear about polling that shows that
voters are concerned about democracy.
A lot of those are Democratic voters. Of course, a lot of those are Republicans
who think wrongly, but think the election was stolen from them. So it doesn't surprise me that Donald Trump
is going to hire people who sort of subscribe to that world view. That's what happens in politics. GEOFF BENNETT: Doug Heye, thanks, as always. Great to see you. DOUG HEYE: Thank you. GEOFF BENNETT: Tens of thousands of unaccompanied
children arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border each year, most coming from Central
America. It's a long, often dangerous journey. And Amna Nawaz spoke to a group of sisters
making the trek alone. And she joins us now from the Arizona border
-- Amna. AMNA NAWAZ: Geoff, that's right. Just yesterday, in a remote stretch of the
Arizona border with Mexico, we met three young girls, three sisters. Henesis (ph) is 14, Nicole (ph) is 13, and
little Valeria (ph) is just eight. Now, these sisters had just made the 1,500-mile
journey from Chiapas in Southern Mexico, where they called hom
e, up to the U.S. border. Their mother had actually left years ago. She'd come to the states as the sole provider
to support her family. The girls had been living with a great-grandmother
who could no longer care for them, so they headed north to reunite with their mother. Here in fact is what Nicole told us about
that trip. How did where to go or who to go with? NICOLE, Migrant (through translator): We got
to know a group, and we started trusting each other and helping each other. AMNA NAWAZ: W
hy did you leave Chiapas in the
first place? NICOLE (through translator): Because it's
too dangerous. There's a lot of drug trafficking and other
stuff. AMNA NAWAZ: Geoff, as remarkable as it is
to see three young girls who have made that very long, very dangerous journey on their
own, these sisters are part of a growing trend, officials tell us they are seeing at the U.S.
southern border, more unaccompanied minors arriving there, in 2022, a record high of
over 150,000. And like other people arr
iving at the border,
they are coming from more and more countries. So we have seen some officials tell us they
have seen unaccompanied children arriving from as far away as Egypt, India and China
-- Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: And these journeys are incredibly
dangerous for anybody, let alone three young girls traveling without adults. What did the sisters you met say about that? AMNA NAWAZ: The girls in many ways are lucky,
Geoff, because they traveled on planes and on buses and then on foot for hour
s. We connected with their mother. We spoke to her on the phone and were able
to talk to her not only to get her permission to speak with the girls, but also to hear
what she had to say. She said she felt she had no choice. She had to bring her daughters to her. She told them to stay calm and to stick together. I asked, actually, the youngest girl, Valeria,
if she was scared at any point in the journey. Here's what she said. Was it scary at any time? Was she worried? VALERIA, Migrant (through tr
anslator): (SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) AMNA NAWAZ: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Because you were with your sister? Geoff, when we met the girls, they had been
out there for hours. They'd long run out of food and water. The humanitarian aid group we were with, the
Green Valley Samaritans, offered both, but they were waiting for Border Patrol to come
and pick them up. As unaccompanied minors, they would be prioritized. I should mention, when we left them, hours
went by. Because of some confus
ion and a lack of Border
Patrol resources, the girls somehow got left behind at the wall with a larger migrant group. Night fell and the temperatures dropped. It is pitch black out there in rough terrain. It's dangerous with the cartels coming through,
and the girls in a panic called their mother, who called us. We were then able to call around to our contacts
and alert Border Patrol there were unaccompanied children still out there on the wall. They sent a car overnight to go retrieve them. But
all of this just underscores how incredibly
precarious this journey can be, even when the girls felt they'd reached safety in the
United States -- Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: So what happens now, Amna,
to those three young girls and to other unaccompanied minors who are making similar treks? AMNA NAWAZ: Well, for these three girls, there
is now a multiagency effort that's been triggered. They will be passed into HHS custody, which
has a system to care and house unaccompanied migrant children. They wi
ll vet their mother, hopefully reunite
them in the coming weeks. We will continue to follow their story. But the larger question you ask here is exactly
right, Geoff. It's, how is the U.S. going to continue to
provide and care for what we know are a rising number of unaccompanied children who are now
coming from further and further afield? It's just one of the many challenges at the
border that U.S. authorities now have to deal with -- Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: Amna Nawaz, incredible reporting
by yo
u and your team there. We will see you back here tomorrow evening. AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: Today, Israel's top spokesperson
for the first time publicly suggested that Israel has a plan to evacuate many of the
more than one million people who have fled to Rafah in Southern Gaza. That comes as the U.S. continues to call on
Israel to do more to allow humanitarian aid into the strip. Nick Schifrin joins us now. So, Nick, let's start in Rafah. What plan does Israel have when it come
s to
attacking Rafah and then moving civilians out of harm's way? NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials tell me that
there is no plan, at least one that has been presented to them. But, as you said, Israel's top military spokesman,
Admiral Daniel Hagari, said today that they have a plan to evacuate -- quote -- "a significant
number" of the 1.4 million Gazans who have fled to Rafah. You can see some of the conditions that they're
living in right now. And they would be evacuated, Hagari said,
to quote hum
anitarian islands in Gaza. Hagari gave no more details than that. And the U.S. officials I speak to, frankly,
are very skeptical that this is actually a plan, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken
reflected today. ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: There
has to be, if there are going to be military operations in Rafah, a clear and implementable
plan to get the civilians out of harm's way and to provide for them once out of harm's
way. We have not seen that plan. Is it possible? Yes, it's po
ssible. But we haven't seen it. And the most important thing is to see it
and to make sure that it's something that can be implemented. NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials I speak to,
Geoff, are, frankly, skeptical that there will ever be a plan that Israel has to evacuate
all of those people. But they do believe that Israel is serious
about going into Rafah because Hamas' final four battalions are in Rafah. And Israel says it cannot defeat Hamas without
defeating those four battalions, which leads to
President Biden's warnings, U.S. officials'
warnings about what would happen if Israel goes into Rafah and what multiple officials
I talk to say are considerations, just that, considerations right now of what to do if
that happens, everything from forcible statements to votes in the Security Council to, yes,
conditioning the use or sale of weapons to Israel. But, again, we're a long way from that happening
right now. GEOFF BENNETT: Considerations. OK, so meantime, the U.S. is still trying
to ge
t a hostage deal. What's the latest there? NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes. So, publicly, all sides say that the talks
are stuck. But CIA Director Bill Burns, who's been leading
the U.S. effort here, has been in the region trying to find a path forward. And what U.S. officials fear is that Hamas
is biding time, essentially hoping that, during Ramadan, Israel, whether in Gaza or Jerusalem,
makes some move that would inflame Palestinian or Arab opinion and therefore alleviate some
of the pressure that is being
put on Hamas, especially by Qatar right now. And part of that is that Hamas wants the world,
wants the focus of Gaza to be on the humanitarian crisis there. GEOFF BENNETT: A humanitarian crisis that
is very real. NICK SCHIFRIN: Very real, especially about
food. The U.N. says all of Gaza's 2.2 million people
are in -- quote -- "food crisis." And the U.N. says one-quarter of Gaza is one
step away from famine. So, as the holy month of Ramadan begins, there
is simply not enough food to go around. T
here is fasting and there is starving. Many Gazans say they are now doing both. At this soup kitchen in Northern Gaza, families
struggle for a small pot of soup. Before Ramadan, this was most of these Gazans'
only meal, sustenance to stop starvation. During Ramadan, it is the meal that breaks
their fast, cauldrons to feed a community. Mahmoud Almadhoun is the soup kitchen organizer
and head chef. His team filmed this for us. We spoke to him on a patchy phone connection. MAHMOUD ALMADHOUN, Soup K
itchen Organizer
(through translator): All day, people are waiting for us at the kitchen door. They can survive because of kitchens like
these. They would starve without it. NICK SCHIFRIN: Ramadan is about charity and
family, and the Almadhouns try to be generous together. Three generations prepare the food; 72-year-old
Fatima starts her prep at dawn. FATIMA ALMADHOUN, Volunteer (through translator):
I get extremely tired, but I feel happy to see young children eat. It helps me sleep better at n
ight. NICK SCHIFRIN: Mahmoud's 11-year-old daughter,
also Fatima, with her sister tugging at her shirt, has no school to attend, so she does
the stirring. FATIMA ALMADHOUN, Volunteer (through translator):
I miss my friends in school and studying. I miss my home. I hope we can go back to the way it was before. My dreams are for the war to end and to become
a teacher, and that we're safe. NICK SCHIFRIN: But those dreams are deferred. This Ramadan is defined by displacement and
deprivation. Most Ga
zans have fled their homes, and the
U.N. warns Gaza is approaching famine. MAHMOUD ALMADHOUN (through translator): People
are stealing from each other so they don't starve to death. There are many kids who have been orphaned
who come to me asking for food. HANI ALMADHOUN, Director of Philanthropy,
UNRWA USA: The starvation is real. The manmade famine is real, and we know families
that are hurting. NICK SCHIFRIN: Hani Almadhoun is Mahmoud's
brother and based in the U.S. HANI ALMADHOUN: A lot of p
eople failed the
Palestinians, but the land did not, because they could still find some potatoes. People could not go pick it, and it just kept
growing and growing, and he'd be cooking whatever he can find. Is it enough? No, but it's good for our neighborhood and
friends. NICK SCHIFRIN: The Almadhouns launched the
kitchen in January for a few hundred locals with two big pots and seasonal vegetables. On the first day of Ramadan, they serve sizzling
soup with a little lamb to thousands. HANI ALMAD
HOUN: Four out of the five hungriest
kids in the world are in Gaza right now. Five percent of the people of Gaza are either
killed, injured or missing. So think about that. In my family, our table will have six less
people this time. NICK SCHIFRIN: Hani and Mahmoud's brother,
Majid Almadhoun, in the center, as well as his wife and four kids, were killed when their
family home was bombed. HANI ALMADHOUN: I feel sad for the loss of
my brother. He's my -- really my buddy and my sidekick,
and he's n
ot here anymore. We say we're resilient people, but that's
gone beyond any level of resilience. NICK SCHIFRIN: International humanitarian
groups say the soup kitchen is only necessary because Israel isn't allowing enough aid into
Gaza. Israel says it does not block aid and blames
the shortfall on the lack of U.N. capacity. Last night, Israel opened a new truck route
for the U.N. directly into Northern Gaza, spokeswoman Tal Heinrich said today. TAL HEINRICH, Spokesman for Israeli Prime
Minister:
This was a pilot to prevent Hamas from taking over the aid, as they often do. There is no limit to the amount of aid that
can be delivered into Gaza. NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. will continue dropping
aid by air, and the first aid ship is sailing to Gaza, ahead of next month's plan for U.S.
soldiers to build a pier off Gaza's coast. But Israel must do more, Secretary of State
Antony Blinken said today. ANTONY BLINKEN: There's movement, and it's
positive, but it remains insufficient. Israel still nee
ds to open as many access
points as possible and keep them open. NICK SCHIFRIN: Traditionally, the aid is distributed
by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. HANI ALMADHOUN: is the director of philanthropy
at UNRWA's independent American arm. NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel, of course, accuses
multiple members of UNRWA of participating in the October 7 terrorist attack and accuses
UNRWA of effectively being intertwined with Hamas. Do you believe that's true? HANI ALMADHOUN: On behalf of myself, and me
in my
personal capacity, I'm horrified by what I read in the news about those allegations. And I don't know. I want to repeat that feeding 100 child should
never be a political statement. NICK SCHIFRIN: In December, Israeli forces
detained Gazans whom they accused of being members of Hamas. Among them was Mahmoud Almadhoun. MAHMOUD ALMADHOUN (through translator): They
humiliated us, stripped us, and took us over to the coast. We were on the sand all day in the cold. I thought to myself, we're not leav
ing here. We're going to die. When you think you're going to die and you
don't, you want to start serving and helping others. It's like a new lease on life. NICK SCHIFRIN: And the Gaza soup kitchen was
born. So, for the Almadhouns, this Ramadan is about
charity amid catastrophe. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin. GEOFF BENNETT: We're going to shift our focus
now to the latest concerns around Boeing and aviation safety more broadly. The aerospace giant remains on the hot seat
over importa
nt questions about its manufacturing and production processes. The head of the National Transportation Safety
Board, Jennifer Homendy, told lawmakers her investigators still do not know who worked
on the Boeing 737 door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines flight back in January. At the same time, The New York Times reported
this week that Boeing and a key supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, failed a number of recent
FAA audits. Boeing reportedly failed 33 of 89 product
audits. FAA Administrator Mar
k (sic) Whitaker was
asked about that on Monday. MICHAEL WHITAKER, Administrator, Federal Aviation
Administration: We have increased our audit and our oversight of Boeing pretty significantly
since January 5. If we see something that requires us to cease
production or pull something down, we will do that. But we're continuing that oversight and we're
working with Boeing and demanding that they come up with a very detailed plan within the
next 90 days to fix the quality issues that are out there.
GEOFF BENNETT: Equally unnerving, a series
of problems on flights in just the last week, including several on United Airlines. There have been half-a-dozen incidents for
United, including one flight that had to turn around after an engine caught fire. And, on Monday, a flight from LATAM Airlines
dropped suddenly and temporarily in midair en route to Auckland. The plane landed safely, but more than 50
people suffered injuries. One passenger woke up suddenly to the scare. BRIAN ADAM JOKAT, LATAM
Airlines Passenger:
I look up, and he's full length facing down and looking down at me. And I look ahead, and there's another guy
on the ceiling and there's two people flying through the air going across the aisles. GEOFF BENNETT: And let's bring in our aviation
correspondent, Miles O'Brien. Miles, it's always great to see you. So let's start with Boeing. This Boeing audit conducted by the FAA revealed
that the company failed large portions of that evaluation. The company failed 33 of 89 audits
after that
door panel flew off the Alaska Airlines flight back in January. Put that into context for us. What more can you tell us about that? MILES O'BRIEN: Well, Geoff, those numbers
are kind of stunning. The Boeing CEO early on used the euphemism
quality escape. That's a lot of escaping. And that causes a lot of concern about what's
going on, on that factory floor at Boeing. But also, very importantly here, you have
to ask the question, where was the FAA in advance of all this? Why weren't th
ese audits ongoing? As we have discussed several times, Geoff,
the FAA has moved to a system where manufacturers do their own inspecting. Obviously, we have a problem there with a
conflict of interest potentially. But to the extent that there are FAA inspectors
involved, in most cases, they're requesting and receiving paperwork, not necessarily putting
boots on the factory floor and laying their eyes on potential problems. So, when the FAA administrator says they need
to rethink all of this, it'
s a big rethink, because the way it is done right now, clearly,
it's allowing a lot of safety problems to escape into the market. And that's not what anybody wants to hear. GEOFF BENNETT: And the NTSB seems to be saying
that Boeing isn't cooperating. How do you interpret the comments from the
NTSB that they don't even know who was working on that door panel that flew off? MILES O'BRIEN: The NTSB would like to speak
to the machinists that actually did the work on that door which escaped from the
Alaska
Airlines flight. What happened? What did they do? What did they not do? What were on the checklist or not? And it's not a criminal proceeding. This is just an effort to understand what
went wrong. This is how aviation gets safer. You learn from it and you make better rules
for the future. But Boeing has so far blocked that effort. And you have to ask the question, why would
a manufacturer do that? Wouldn't it be in the interest of aviation
safety for those machinists to speak to the NTSB,
so that lessons can be learned? GEOFF BENNETT: We also learned this week that
Alaska Airlines flight was scheduled for a safety check that same day the door panel
blew off and that there were engineers who were concerned about warning lights before
that. You're a pilot. Are there cases where it's OK to fly when
warning lights are going off? MILES O'BRIEN: Pilots have something called
a minimum equipment list. It's the stuff that you can -- it might be
not working 100 percent correctly, but you
could still dispatch and take off with. These lights on their own were in that list. In other words, you could fly and get it to
maintenance in a reasonable course, as opposed to grounding the aircraft. In retrospect, maybe that wasn't great. However, there was no other signs or symptoms
of trouble with the pressurization system. And when I say that, either the crew or passengers
would feel popping in their ears or hear a rushing of wind. None of that was occurring. So, for all that engineer and
all those machinists
knew, it was just a bad sensor. And so the decision to wait until it got to
Seattle, in retrospect, was probably an OK decision. GEOFF BENNETT: Here we are some three months
later. Do we still know enough about the circumstances
surrounding that Alaska Airlines flight? MILES O'BRIEN: We're getting there. But, I mean, it would be -- again, it would
be nice to talk to all the parties involved, see exactly what happened, exactly what they
were thinking. Everything that is done
in aviation has a
checklist. And the process of building aircraft are no
different from that. This particular activity, taking off that
door to fix some rivets, was not in the system, so to speak. It was kind of an ad hoc move to make a fix. Those are the kinds of things, that kind of
detail is really important to understand to understand how that slipped through the cracks
and how those bolts weren't put in place. GEOFF BENNETT: And, Miles, amid all of this,
a veteran Boeing employee, a promin
ent whistle-blower involved in quality control, he died by suicide. What more can you tell us about his case and
his deposition? MILES O'BRIEN: Well, John Barnett worked for
a long time in the South Carolina plant for Boeing, which produces the 787. And his whistle-blower case has revolved around
quality control issues at Boeing. And at the core of his testimony is the idea
that parts that were taken out of the production line by workers, concerned that they weren't
up to snuff and put off to th
e side, were not properly evaluated, but rather were put
right back onto aircraft that are now flying around the world. That's a big concern. And that deposition was a very heated one
from the company officials. Now, what that might have to do with what
happened later, we don't know, of course, but it's a tragic end to John Barnett's story,
for sure. GEOFF BENNETT: And, as we mentioned, there
have been a series of incidents involving united flights and others involving Boeing
planes with differe
nt airlines. How concerning is all of this, big picture? MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, it's kind of all over
the map, Geoff. You have cases where wheels are falling off. That could be attributed to maintenance, an
aircraft taxing off a runway, probably pilot error. An engine flame out, that's the manufacturer,
CFM, that makes the engines. And then you have a 787 which had a precipitous
fall between Australia and New Zealand. What drives that all together? It's hard to say, except I will say this. The avia
tion industry was clobbered by the
pandemic. It lost experienced people in every quarter,
on factory floors, in control towers, in cockpits, and the people that screw on the wheels to
airplanes. All those places lost experience during COVID,
when people retired. And so this industry, which is raring and
back, and people are flying, is struggling to keep up with all that. And it is worrisome. GEOFF BENNETT: Miles O'Brien, appreciate your
insights, as always. Thanks so much. MILES O'BRIEN: You're
welcome, Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: For many Americans, politics
has become far more personal and divisive than it once was. And now, in the run-up to the November election,
that's creating some friction in families. Tonight, Judy Woodruff looks at the impact
of politics on marriages, dating, and families as part of her ongoing series America at a
Crossroads. JUDY WOODRUFF: For the Glasgow family, politics
is never too far from home. Whom are you voting for? CHLOE CHIGRO, Democratic Voter: I'm going
to go with Biden. MATT GLASGOW, Republican Voter: I will go
for Donald Trump. HILARY GLASGOW, Executive Director, Colorado
Wins: Joe Biden all the way. JUDY WOODRUFF: Hilary and Matt, who were married
nine years ago, have always butted heads, even making light of it in their wedding vows. HILARY GLASGOW: I said that something about
still loving him, even though he votes wrong. MATT GLASGOW: Yes. HILARY GLASGOW: Because he does. MATT GLASGOW: I thought it was funny. HILARY GLASGOW: Yes, we laugh.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Hilary is the Executive Director
Of Colorado Wins, a labor union representing more than 24,000 state employees. She's always been a die-hard liberal. HILARY GLASGOW: No, as long as I can remember,
I have been a Democrat. JUDY WOODRUFF: Her husband, Matt, is on the
opposite side. He voted for Donald Trump. MATT GLASGOW: I don't know. He's probably not that nice of a guy. But I think that, like, overall, his policies
probably have my best interests in mind. JUDY WOODRUFF: And he sa
ys he will vote for
him again in November, if he's the nominee. MATT GLASGOW: Like, the economy was good. I mean, it was. JUDY WOODRUFF: Both admit it's led to shouting
matches. MATT GLASGOW: It comes out of nowhere. HILARY GLASGOW: It comes out of nowhere. It does get heated. We have big fights. We have heard that there are people who are
opposite parties and they just avoid the topic. I don't understand how people do that, because
politics is a big deal to me. So... JUDY WOODRUFF: The Glasgows
are part of a
small minority in America that's growing even smaller, marriages between Democrats and Republicans. This polarized time, when politics have become
so personal, has led to fewer people dating and marrying people with different views. And it's one factor in a decline in marriages
period, which have dropped by 60 percent since the 1970s. BRAD WILCOX, Director, National Marriage Project:
People are waiting longer and they're just forgoing marriage. And part of the -- I think the chall
enge for
young adults today is that they're often in different ideological camps. JUDY WOODRUFF: Brad Wilcox, the director of
the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, studies the impact of marriage
on society. BRAD WILCOX: A much larger share of young
women who are in this sort of progressive camp. It's more than doubled since the early 1980s
of women who are kind of identifying as liberal in that 18-to-30 bracket. And then you have seen a modest uptick in
the share of young
men who are single who are identifying as conservatives. There are a lot of issues that are kind of
dividing Americans now, and that makes it harder for people who are Republican to sort
of, like, live with their Democratic family members, and vice versa. JUDY WOODRUFF: Political tension wasn't something
Carole from Michigan expected to face with her husband. CAROLE, Founder, Wives of the Deplorables
Facebook Group: You know, the day after the election in 2016, my husband was working in
Italy, a
nd I called him, because I'm not -- I have never been political. I'm just an anti-news kind of artsy gal. And I called him and said, "Hillary lost,"
and I was absolutely in tears and he said: "Well, of course. She should have." And I was like, uh-oh. Here we go. And that was the beginning of realizing what
his beliefs were versus mine. JUDY WOODRUFF: In an effort to find support
after Trump's election, she started a private Facebook group, Wives of the Deplorables,
a tongue-in-cheek name drawing
on a comment by Democratic presidential nominee Hilary
Clinton in 2016. A handful of the group's 175 members spoke
to us, but didn't want to use their last names. ELANA, Democratic Voter: I think that politics
weren't discussed as intensely, at least in my experience, before the 2016 election. Like, I think that I knew he was a Republican,
I was a Democrat. I had no idea that these are some of the beliefs
that he had. And that's very hard to stomach. JUDY WOODRUFF: Most of these mixed political
marriages have survived, while some ended in divorce. But the 2016 election was a turning point
for them all. GRETCHEN, Democratic Voter: I needed other
women to talk to help -- who are in similar situations to help talk me through it to figure
out strategies to get to common ground again. LINDA, Democratic Voter: if you look at the
group, you will hear a lot of pain, that women are struggling to be able to maintain their
relationships. And, in some cases, they're not able to continue. And this
is the way of the world right now
with friends, with relatives, polar opposites, different silos not willing or able to listen
to each other. JUDY WOODRUFF: These political tensions aren't
just with married couples. Brad Wilcox says many young Americans are
choosing to only date people with the same political views. A recent survey found 81 percent of respondents
would prefer not to date across the aisle when it comes to serious relationships. That's a poll published by "Newsweek" last
year. BR
AD WILCOX: So, there's an undersupply of
liberal men for liberal women, and there's an undersupply of conservative women for the
conservative men. We are seeing a large -- a larger minority
of folks having difficulty finding someone who fits their world view. JUDY WOODRUFF: The Glasgow's 22-year-old daughter,
Chloe Chigro, a college student, is one of those young people. CHLOE CHIGRO: So I think it really is a case-by-case
basis. JUDY WOODRUFF: So there are issues that you
would say, if somebody
has a different view from me on this, that would matter? CHLOE CHIGRO: Absolutely, reproductive rights,
LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, really just like if -- people of color, like, Black Lives
Matter, that's a really important movement for me. JOHN MCENTEE, Co-Creator, The Right Stuff:
I think conservatives definitely need to stick together. JUDY WOODRUFF: John McEntee, a political adviser
who served in the Trump administration, created a dating app for conservatives called The
Right Stuff. W
OMAN: We're sorry that you have had to endure
years of bad dates and wasted time with people that don't see the world our way. JOHN MCENTEE: We knew there could be a market
for it, so we took it to an investor. He loved the idea, and that was two years
ago, and, yes, we're off and running. JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you think that's good for
all of us in the long run to be separated this way? JOHN MCENTEE: If you match up in this day
and age and you don't agree on a lot of the main themes and the main va
lues, it's going
to end poorly and maybe in disaster. So stay away from that. JUDY WOODRUFF: But Brad Wilcox says, in the
past, mixing politics and relationships has been beneficial to society. BRAD WILCOX: Marriage has tended to sort of
bridge the sexual divide, has -- kind of to bring men and women together on a number of
different fronts, including on the sort of political front. And there were many marriages back in the
day where you had a Democrat and a Republican getting married, and then
that moderating
their approach to life in general, whereas, today, because of this more polarized context,
people are tending to marry along similar lines. JUDY WOODRUFF: So the consequences, you're
saying, are greater than simply they can't find a date for Saturday night? BRAD WILCOX: Jefferson talked about life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And what I think people don't always realize
is that sort of what happens in our loved lives and what happens in our families matters
not just fo
r ourselves or for our kids, but for their wider country or for our neighborhoods
and communities. JUDY WOODRUFF: And even when there are profound
disagreements in those connections, some couples have figured out how to turn the focus to
what brought them together in the first place. CAROLE: We used to scream at each other outside
in the hot tub when politics came up, literally. I -- and where we live, everyone can hear
you. And we -- just this last couple months, we
were like, this is a politic
s-free zone. LESLIE, Democratic Voter: Humor has saved
us now. Humor -- we can now get through a disagreement
in about less than a minute by we kind of make the other person crack up. JUDY WOODRUFF: Others acknowledge repairing
fractured relationships will just take time. PAM, Democratic Voter: It took us seven or
eight years to get -- of all this anger. It's going to take us a while to get back
to where we were and hopefully improve our relationships and be better off for it, but
it's going to
take time. JUDY WOODRUFF: For the Glasgows, their secret
for happiness across the divide is focusing on what they have in common. MATT GLASGOW: I firmly believe, like, legitimately,
everybody wants what's best for everybody. And if you come from that position, I just
disagree the path that she sees. That's it. Politics is a big part, but, like, so are
the kids. So are, like, everything else, which so are
our interests. So are the things we like about each other. So are -- so, I mean, that's more
than who
I voted for. HILARY GLASGOW: If we can figure out a way
that we can all still love each other, despite big differences like that, I think that that's
important. JUDY WOODRUFF: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Judy Woodruff in Pueblo, Colorado. GEOFF BENNETT: Remember, there is much more
online at PBS.org/NewsHour. AMNA NAWAZ: And we will have much more coming
soon from the U.S.-Mexico border, including a closer look at how U.S. authorities are
dealing with unprecedented border challenges. T
hat's coming to the "NewsHour" soon. But that is the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz in Nogales, Mexico. GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett. Thanks for joining us, and have a good evening.
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