April 29, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode
04/29/2024 | 57m 46s | Video has closed captioning.
April 29, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode
Aired: 04/29/24
Expires: 05/29/24
Problems Playing Video? | Closed Captioning
04/29/2024 | 57m 46s | Video has closed captioning.
April 29, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode
Aired: 04/29/24
Expires: 05/29/24
Problems Playing Video? | Closed Captioning
AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.
I'm Amna Nawaz.
GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Hamas considers the latest cease-fire proposal, as Israeli leaders brace for potential International Criminal Court arrest warrants.
AMNA NAWAZ: With protests against the war in Gaza spreading to more college campuses, we take a look at student demands for divestment from Israel.
GEOFF BENNETT: And the Indian government is accused of attempting to assassinate Sikh activists on U.S. soil.
GREG MILLER, National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post: This was something that sort of traces back to the 1980s.
It sort of went quite for many decades since then, but has flared back up since Modi came to power.
(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."
A Hamas delegation left Cairo this evening and is expected to return with a response to the latest cease-fire proposal.
That's as fraught negotiations continue nearly seven months into the war in Gaza.
AMNA NAWAZ: Secretary of State Blinken is back in the region today, and he pressed not just for a cease-fire and for hostage release, but for much more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Meantime, the Israeli bombardment continues in Gaza's south, with the city of Rafah in their sights.
Homes in Southern Gaza today nothing more than crushed concrete and twisted bodies, amid this wreckage, one small survivor, just 2 months old.
UMM FAYEZ ABU TAHA, Rafah, Gaza, Resident (through translator): We took her from under the rubble, thank God.
Was she holding a rocket or was she standing near tanks?
What's her fault?
AMNA NAWAZ: Palestinian medics say at least 22 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah last night.
As the barrage continues, pressure mounts for Hamas and Israeli leaders to stop the violence.
The International Criminal Court has been investigating possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Recent reports cite Israeli officials as worried that arrest warrants may be imminent.
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded, saying -- quote -- "The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East's only democracy and the world's only Jewish state is outrageous."
Hamas leaders could also face warrants for the horrific October 7 attacks.
Neither Israel nor the U.S. recognizes the ICC, but other countries could arrest anyone with an outstanding warrant.
The State Department today said any ruling from the ICC would not apply.
VEDANT PATEL, Principal Deputy State Department Spokesperson: On this investigation, our position is clear.
We continue to believe that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the Palestinian situation.
AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv calling for a hostage release and cease-fire deal ahead of negotiators from Israel and Hamas arriving in Cairo today.
The White House said President Biden would call leaders from Qatar and Egypt today.
Hamas has released multiple videos of hostages in the last week, including Illan Siegel's American father, Keith.
ILLAN SIEGEL (Daughter of Hamas Hostage): Seeing my father today only emphasizes to all of us how much we must reach a deal as soon as possible and bring everyone home.
AMNA NAWAZ: Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East today for his seventh trip since the war began.
At the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia, he called on Hamas to act.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.
And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.
AMNA NAWAZ: At the same forum, regional leaders stressed that peace would only follow a two-state solution.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan: PRINCE FAISAL BIN FARHAN AL SAUD, Saudi Foreign Minister: In order for us to be able to talk about a sustainable pathway to stability, to security, including for Israel, we're going to have to talk about a Palestinian situation where the Palestinians have hope.
AMNA NAWAZ: At a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Blinken pledged to carry that message to Israel.
ANTONY BLINKEN: The most effective way to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of children, women, and men, and to create space for a more just and durable solution is to get a cease-fire and hostages home.
But we're also not waiting on the cease-fire to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza.
AMNA NAWAZ: Palestinians in Gaza find pockets of peace wherever they can.
For some sheltering in Deir al Balah, that means a brief family respite at the beach, hoping the waves will drown out the sound of drones overheard.
Umm Malik Abd Rabbo brought her kids here today.
UMM MALIK ABD RABBO, Displaced Gazan (through translator): Every time there's a plane in the sky, it frightens the kids here.
Although I came here to give the children some semblance of safety, fear is fear.
Children get scared.
AMNA NAWAZ: Her husband, little Mayar's father, is still in Northern Gaza.
MAYAR ABD RABOO, Displaced Gazan (through translator): I came to the beach because I haven't been here in seven months.
I came to have fun with my cousins, and my sister and my brothers.
I don't feel safe and I hope the war ends so I can go back to my dad.
AMNA NAWAZ: For now, there is safety on this sand.
But just miles away in Rafah, the war rages on.
The State Department announced today that five units of the Israeli military were found to have violated human rights in incidents before the current war, and not in Gaza.
The U.S. says those violations are being addressed, and will not affect U.S. weapon sales to Israel.
GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other news: Ukraine appealed for quick delivery of Western weapons as it gave more ground in the east.
The army chief said Sunday that Ukrainian troops pulled back from three villages, lacking air defenses under heavy Russian fire.
In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with NATO head Jens Stoltenberg and warned that a new U.S. aid package and other weapons can't come soon enough.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): The Russian army is now trying to take advantage of a situation when we are waiting for supplies from our partners, especially from the United States.
And that is exactly why the speed of deliveries means stabilizing the front.
Russia's army is preparing for further offensive actions.
GEOFF BENNETT: For his part, NATO's Stoltenberg criticized alliance members for not delivering what they have promised to Ukraine.
In Western Kenya, at least 45 people died in flash floods early today after torrential rain across the region.
More than 100 people were injured, and scores more were missing.
Floodwaters in the Great Rift Valley region coated the area in mud, wiping out homes and uprooting trees.
Heavy rain has inundated the area since mid-March.
Weeks of record heat are hitting extremes across Asia.
Temperatures have soared to nearly 117 degrees in Myanmar and 111 in Thailand.
And Cambodia has had its hottest weather in 170 years.
Today, in the Philippines, authorities canceled in-person classes for millions of public school students, and rickshaw operators in Bangladesh braved the sweltering temperatures, taking breaks to rest between jobs.
SHAHEB ALI, Rickshaw Driver (through translator): I have never experienced such heat in my life.
Yes, it should be hot, but there would usually be gusts of wind and rain, but it's not happening this time.
People are suffering a lot.
GEOFF BENNETT: In neighboring India, officials are predicting more heat wave days than normal until June, when the monsoon season sets in.
In Oklahoma, an extensive cleanup is under way after weekend tornadoes killed four people and injured at least 100.
The storms spread destruction across the small town of Sulphur south of Oklahoma City.
Entire commercial blocks crumbled in homes were blasted into piles of bricks and wooden beams.
A federal trial started today in Hawaii over the leak of jet fuel into Pearl Harbor's groundwater.
The contamination came from an underground U.S. military fuel tank and put thousands of people at risk.
Three lawsuits by military families argue Navy officials knew the water was tainted, but told people it was safe.
The government disputes whether it really caused health problems.
The FDA will start regulating new medical tests developed by labs to see if they actually work.
The final rule announced today applies to tests for everything from cancer to COVID-19.
It does not include existing test products.
Agency officials say the rule is designed to -- quote -- "ensure that important health care decisions are made based on test results that patients and health care providers can trust."
And on Wall Street, stocks edged higher to start the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 146 points to close at 38386.
The Nasdaq rose 55 points.
The S&P 500 added 16.
And there is a new record in music.
Taylor Swift is now the first artist to occupy all 14 top spots of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time.
They're all tracks from her new album, "The Tortured Poets Department."
Swift also set the previous record two years ago, when she occupied the top 10 spots.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": Tamara Keith and Amy Walter break down the latest political headlines; author David Sanger discusses his new book on America's new cold wars with China and Russia; and we take an inside look at NPR's long-running "Tiny Desk" concert series with its new host.
Pro-Palestinian protests showed no signs of letting up today across many college and university campuses.
If anything, encampments and protests have actually been growing.
Universities handled their respective situations differently, but several schools are drawing a tougher line.
Columbia University said it started suspending some students who stayed in encampments after a deadline.
State Troopers were called in at the University of Texas at Austin, and nearly 300 people were arrested at other schools over the weekend.
Tensions again at a boiling point today, with State Troopers arresting students at the University of Texas at Austin after an encampment went up.
Meantime, at Columbia University, students refused to leave their encampment.
It has been up for nearly two weeks.
SUDEA POLAT, Columbia University Student: We will not be moved by these intimidation tactics.
You can see outside you now that the students are mobilized.
There's hundreds of them here today.
GEOFF BENNETT: This morning, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik delivered a deadline to students: Either voluntarily end the encampment or face suspension.
Shafik said Columbia was in danger of violating Title VI civil rights laws.
"We must take into account the rights of all members of our community," Shafik said in a statement.
"The encampment has created an unwelcoming environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty.
External actors have contributed to creating a hostile environment that is unsafe for everyone, including our neighbors."
And there were arrests at a number of other schools in the past few days, including at Virginia Tech, Washington University in St. Louis, Arizona State, the University of Georgia and Indiana University.
New encampments sprung up at Wesleyan and other campuses.
At some schools, like UCLA, there were dueling demonstrations, where supporters of Israel also turned out.
At other campuses, college officials said the majority of those arrested over the weekend were not students.
At Arizona State, for example, only 20 percent of those arrested were students there.
In the meantime, a number of schools, including Columbia, have said they will not divest from Israel.
Protesters have said they want to see schools cut investments with Israeli companies that may benefit from the war in Gaza.
They're also demanding schools divest from military weapons manufacturers and cut research and academic ties with other Israeli universities.
MARIE SALEM, UCLA Student: We will accomplish divestment.
We are going to stay here until that.
Without divestment, the siege will not end.
We need to put pressure now.
Historically, this is how it has happened on many universities.
We are going to continue to push for that, and we will not leave.
GEOFF BENNETT: We're going to get one of many perspectives now on the student protesters' demands of divestment, what it is and how it works.
Charlie Eaton is assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced.
He's also the author of the book "Bankers in the Ivory Tower."
Thanks so much for being with us.
And we should say that the calls for divestment vary in scope from school to school, but on the specific matter of divesting endowments from any company linked to Israel or businesses that might be profiting from the war, how realistic is that for most major American colleges and universities?
What does it actually require?
CHARLIE EATON, Author, "Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in U.S. Higher Education": Divestment is something that's technically very doable.
There's hundreds of socially and environmentally responsible investment managers out there, that any endowment could shift its funds into those socially and environmentally responsible funds that have a range of criteria that guide their investment.
So it's a matter of a university finding an investment manager whose investment practices match the values and principles of the community.
GEOFF BENNETT: Aren't fiduciaries of a university's endowment, aren't they bound by a duty to increase the endowment's value, which is a responsibility that's unaffected by outside social pressure or ideology?
CHARLIE EATON: Any endowment can be managed to grow and to serve the university community even while being managed in a way that's socially and environmentally responsible.
And that's why many university endowments already have social responsibility guidelines for their endowment investments.
The case of for-profit prison divestment, we have already seen at Columbia University, for example.
We have already seen fossil fuel divestment from Columbia University and from the University of California system, where I work.
So it's something where there is a precedence for doing this.
GEOFF BENNETT: Many major U.S. companies, like Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, as I understand it, are or have been invested in Israel.
These are the types of companies that are likely to be included in the portfolios of many American colleges and universities.
What is the impact on a college's bottom line if they remove these kinds of funds from their investment portfolios, these Fortune 500, Fortune 100 companies?
CHARLIE EATON: Yes, well, I'm not in a position to say one way or the other whether a given company's involvement in the Israeli economy accords with principles of justice or equity at a given university.
But I can say there are many, many other assets that a school can invest in.
There's no shortage of investment opportunities in our global economy that are socially responsible and can both grow the endowment and align the university's economic ties to the larger economy in a way that fits university values about equity and justice.
GEOFF BENNETT: A spokesperson for NYU said the school is not considering Israeli divestment in part because its $5.9 billion endowment needs maximum returns and, this is a quote, "to help the university fulfill its research and educational mission."
What's the big picture risk here?
CHARLIE EATON: The biggest risk here is that this issue is opening fault lines in the university community.
And there is a lot of concerns about freedom of speech on campus, concerns about letting the university's values and principles guide the university's on-campus life, but also how it's related to the larger economy.
The NYU endowment is going to be fine, no matter what they decide to do.
There are plenty of corners of the global economy and the U.S. economy where the NYU endowment could be invested and yield equitable returns.
So I wouldn't be worried about investment returns.
Instead, I think universities need to be asking themselves, what are our values?
What are our principles?
And how do we apply them in a consistent way where the entire university community feels part of that?
GEOFF BENNETT: Is there a way to do that without a university's endowment taking a hit?
CHARLIE EATON: You look at Columbia University, you look at the University of California endowment, the University of California has $150 billion in assets under management across its endowment and pension funds.
It divested from fossil fuels in 2020.
The endowment is still doing fine.
The Columbia endowment is still doing fine.
So I think it's possible to let justice and equity also guide endowment investment decisions without the endowment taking a hit.
GEOFF BENNETT: Charlie Eaton, assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced, thanks for your time and for your insights.
We appreciate it.
CHARLIE EATON: Thanks.
AMNA NAWAZ: India has increasingly seen its stature grow on the world stage.
Led by populist Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the world's biggest democracy has grown its economy and its geopolitical influence.
But an investigation by The Washington Post adds new evidence to allegations that India is also trying to murder some of its critics, even on American soil.
William Brangham has more.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: According to The Post, on the eve of Modi's first state visit to America, members of his government spy agency were plotting to kill an American citizen in New York.
Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has been highly critical of Modi's government.
And while the plot against him was foiled by U.S. law enforcement, it's opened a window into just how audacious the Indian government is becoming.
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Greg Miller helped break this story, and he joins us now from London.
Greg, thank you so much for being here.
Could you just tell us a little bit more about this plot?
Who were the plotters?
And tell us a little bit more about who they were targeting.
GREG MILLER, National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post: So the plotters are operatives within the Indian intelligence service, its spy agency, which is known as the Research and Analysis Wing.
Of course, the spy agency is very closely controlled by Modi and his inner circle and national security advisers.
So the targets are part of a broader community, religious community of Sikhs, who are regarded by the Modi government as a threat, as a -- as disloyal, as enemies of the sort of Hindu nationalist state that Modi is focused on building.
So the two targets that we spent our story focused on were kind of leaders of an effort to revive a largely dormant campaign to create a separate state, a separate place for Sikhs in Northern India.
This was something that sort of traces back to the 1980s, when there was a lot of the -- many thousands of people were killed, but sort of went quiet for many decades since then, but has flared back up since Modi came to power.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The idea of a foreign government attempting to kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, I mean, the -- I used the word audacity.
Does that seem like the right word to you?
How did they feel that they could and should pull off such a thing?
GREG MILLER: Audacity is probably an understatement here.
It's remarkably brazen for the Indian government to, one, sort of set a plot like this in motion anywhere, let alone one that was supposed to unfold in the United States, which has some of the largest and most effective security and surveillance agencies in the world.
Part of it is India seeing itself as a rising power in a new era of global competition, entitled to carry out operations it sees other governments as having been doing for many, many years.
But at the same time, in this case, the attempt included lots of -- lots of really hard-to-understand mistakes, tradecraft blunders that contributed to the failure, thankfully, of this operation.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Your report details how one official close to Modi likely knew and of -- knew of and/or sanctioned this operation.
What does your reporting tell about how high this goes?
GREG MILLER: Yes, I think that this is a really important question.
And I don't think that there are terribly clear answers.
We spent a lot of time interviewing U.S. officials, Indian sources, Western -- other officials in Western governments.
And so I think that there is -- as we say in the story, U.S. spy agencies have assessed that Modi's national security adviser was probably aware of these operations, if not -- if he hadn't sanctioned them.
But the agencies are much more confident that the head of India's spy service, somebody named Samant Goel, was -- had actually authorized these operations.
So, if that's accurate, these go very close to the inner core of Modi's inner circle.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: How has the U.S. responded to this?
I mean, your report lays out this -- the tension that the Biden administration has of wanting to cultivate India as a growing power, as a negotiating partner, but also seemingly quite alarmed at this brazen attempt at an assassination U.S. soil.
GREG MILLER: This was a nightmare situation for the Biden administration, because, on the one hand, you have a very grave violation of American sovereignty.
You have a foreign government plotting to kill a Sikh activist, but somebody who is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.
And, at the same time, this plot is traced to a country that the Biden administration has spent three years trying to build closer ties with, largely because of a concern about China.
And, as I said, this sort of shifting geopolitical order has given India increased leverage in its relationship with the United States.
And so you end up with a situation where literally, at the same time the Biden administration is welcoming the Indian prime minister to the White House in an event that's designed to sort of cement closer ties, the Indian spy agency is secretly issuing final instructions for an assassination that's supposed to happen only a few hundred miles away in New York City.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Greg Miller of The Washington Post, really tremendous piece of reporting.
Thank you so much for being here.
GREG MILLER: Thanks so much for having me.
AMNA NAWAZ: As protests of the war in Gaza spread to more college campuses across the country, the impact on the 2024 presidential race could be growing too, just one of the stories to discuss with our Politics Monday team.
That is Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.
Great to see you both.
And let's begin with those protests.
(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: Obviously, we have been seeing them spread across college campuses.
We saw them outside the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekend.
We're seeing them in countries around the world too, in Egypt and Jordan and France and Australia.
It's not necessarily just young voters in America among Democrats or young voters of color.
There's some concern expressed in a recent New York Times piece by Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan that some of his older and mostly white constituents there in Wisconsin have been increasingly asking about Biden's approach to the war in Gaza.
So, Amy, walk us through this.
I mean, can President Biden meet their concerns?
And should he be more concerned about this growing campus and other protests?
AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Right.
So I do think that the more attention that is being paid to, first let's start with college campuses... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.
AMY WALTER: ... and, as you pointed out, is now going everywhere, is also a little bit of a Rorschach test.
If you are a progressive person, if you're a more liberal-leaning person, you see those protests and you think, oh, OK, these are people standing up for the rights of the oppressed, and this is a war that is now taking the lives of innocent people, and we have to protest that.
If you're a conservative, you look at it and say, this is chaos.
This is -- there's disorder everywhere.
These schools need to crack down on these encampments.
And so I don't know, though, if that more broadly means that this issue itself is a more salient voting issue.
And that's the real -- that's sort of the real question here, in the sense of, is it something that is uniting liberals and conservatives over the approach to these issues, yes, or how maybe the framework in which they see this issue?
They are united on that.
What it actually means for how they vote.
So, for example, the most recent CNN poll found that among people who say they are supporting Joe Biden right now, 44 percent of them disagree or dislike the way he's handling the situation.
AMNA NAWAZ: What does your reporting show, Tam?
TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Well, the Biden White House and the Biden campaign are in something of a bind, because there's not a lot of wiggle room on policy.
These protests have not pushed Biden to change his policy really in any way.
He is continuing -- he had a call with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, yesterday, where he continued to apply pressure to Netanyahu to help resolve some of the very serious humanitarian challenges in Gaza, to open up new humanitarian aid routes and otherwise.
He's putting as much pressure as he can.
He's been talking to various world leaders trying to get a cease-fire.
Short of the cease-fire happening and the hostages being released, there's not a lot of wiggle room for Biden.
He's pretty stuck.
And he's Joe Biden.
And he does not appear to have any desire to move toward the more progressive wing of his party, particularly because there are real divisions about these protests and whether they're effective and also whether the rhetoric of the protesters has moved too far to the left, to the point of antisemitism, that will cause backlash.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the meantime, here is what the matchup looks like between President Biden and former President Trump.
This is a moment in time captured in a poll from CNN.
Right now, you have Mr. Trump leading President Biden 49-43.
And Republicans continue to line up behind Mr. Trump, right?
TAMARA KEITH: Yes.
AMNA NAWAZ: You have former challenger Ron DeSantis who met with him at his Florida estate over the weekend.
His former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has testified to Trump's efforts to overturn legitimate election, had this to say this weekend: WILLIAM BARR, Former U.S. Attorney General: If faced with a choice between two people, neither of which I think should be president, I feel it's my duty to pick the person who I think would do the least damage to the country.
And I think Trump would do less damage than Biden.
AMNA NAWAZ: That follows New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who once told Judy Woodruff on this set that voting for Trump is like -- quote -- "throwing gasoline on a firework."
Here's what he had to say in a recent exchange on ABC.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC "This Week" Anchor: You support him for president even if he's convicted in classified documents.
You support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection.
You support him for president even though you believe he's lying about the last election.
You support him for president even if he's convicted in the Manhattan case.
I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?
GOV.
CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Yes, me and 51 percent of America.
AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, other than Liz Cheney, there's really no part of the party that isn't behind him right now.
TAMARA KEITH: Is that right?
Well, Nikki Haley hasn't actually said anything.
She hasn't yet endorsed Trump.
Ron DeSantis endorsed Trump as soon as he dropped out of the race.
And I do think it is interesting to continue to watch Nikki Haley voters and what happens with them.
But we have been saying all along that Republicans, especially professional Republicans who want to continue to be professional Republicans, they're going to fall in line.
The question is whether some of these voters who maybe didn't vote for Trump in 2020, whether there's any chance at all he could bring them back.
And that seems somewhat less likely.
The Biden campaign is putting real money and certainly targeted advertising behind sending ads in - - digital ads into communities where Nikki Haley did surprisingly well in primaries weeks after she had dropped out.
And they're using tape of former President Trump saying, ah, Nikki Haley voters, I don't need them.
AMNA NAWAZ: Can they be persuaded, those four were Nikki Haley voters?
AMY WALTER: What we don't know is how many of them are already Biden 2020 voters.
Where she did best are in some of the places where Biden also did the best.
But it comes down to this issue and what these polls are also showing, Amna, which is, voters don't necessarily like Donald Trump anymore than they did back in 2020, but they feel a lot better about his presidency than they did in 2020.
Or, actually, let me put it this way.
They feel a lot better about his handling of pretty much every issue than they do about Joe Biden.
That wasn't true back in 2020.
So there is something of this nostalgia for the presidency, even though not necessarily for the person.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the meantime, we know that his hush money trial in New York will pick back up tomorrow.
And it's worth pointing out we now have numbers from the FEC filings from Save America PAC, which is his primary fund-raising and political spending arms since he left office.
They show this.
In March alone, this pack spent nearly $3.6 million Mr. Trump's legal fees alone.
That is roughly the same amount that they spent on his presidential campaign in the month of March.
Tam, how do you look at those numbers right now?
Looks like his supporters are happy to continue to pay those legal fees?
TAMARA KEITH: His fund-raising has not been as brisk as I think his campaign would like or his PAC would like.
And they are working to turn that around.
But in the meantime, yes, a lot of money is going to legal fees.
Additionally, he's just not doing a lot of events.
Now, I know he's in court three to four days a week, but even when he's not been in court, he hasn't been having events.
That is changing this week.
Wednesday, he has some rallies.
But he just, since Super Tuesday, has not been campaigning in a way that you would expect from someone who's turning towards the general election.
And that also goes to television ads, where the Biden campaign is just vastly outspending Trump.
Now, what they say, what the Trump campaign says is, he earns media.
He just gets it.
He doesn't have to pay for it.
AMNA NAWAZ: He does get a lot of attention, right?
AMY WALTER: He does.
And this is where -- this is what Biden is actually hoping, is that the media attention on the trial helps Biden, in that it reminds those voters who may have some nostalgia for, well, the economy was better back in 2020, or I wasn't as worried about the border in 2020, that they go, oh, right, these are the things that I didn't like about Donald Trump.
If that focus continues while he's on trial, to the degree that it is not televised, I think, is a problem for the Biden campaign in that strategy, right, because they -- he's -- as we saw in those polls, he's running behind right now.
If you are the Biden campaign, you need to make this a referendum on Trump more than anything.
And the only way you do that is if there's a whole lot of attention the person who's not the president of the United States.
And that's very hard to get that level of attention when you're not the president, unless you're a former president and happen to be in criminal court.
AMNA NAWAZ: Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, always good to see you both.
Thank you so much.
AMY WALTER: Thank you.
TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.
GEOFF BENNETT: On Christmas Day 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist and with it the Cold War.
At the same time, China was amid its rapid expansion and opening to the world.
Now times have changed.
Russia is again a principal American adversary now joined by a much stronger competitor, China.
The challenge presented by both nations and the missteps made by U.S. presidents in dealing with both along the way is the subject of a new book.
Here's Nick Schifrin.
NICK SCHIFRIN: After the end of the Cold War, successive presidents and administrations considered China an economic partner who should be integrated into the West.
And they tried repeatedly for resets with Russia.
Today, there's bipartisan consensus that China is the U.S.' most important long-term challenge.
And Russia is trying to redraw the borders of Europe, while hacking into U.S. government agencies and promising no-limits cooperation with Beijing.
That transformation of what the U.S. calls great power competition is the story told in the book "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West" The New York Times' David Sanger.
David, thanks so much.
Pleasure to have you back on the "NewsHour."
DAVID SANGER, Author, "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West": Great to be with you, Nick.
NICK SCHIFRIN: How, as you write, did bipartisan faith in globalization become -- quote -- what you call "the fantasy era" of 21st century foreign policy?
DAVID SANGER: After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was just an assumption, a flawed assumption, clearly, that Russia and China, each for their own very different reasons, would pursue their economic interests.
And the theory was that this was such an overwhelming imperative for both countries that it would override China's interest in Taiwan.
Russia would set aside, they'd make a lot of noise about Ukraine, but they wouldn't really do anything.
And every element of that assumption turned out to be wrong.
And when you think about sort of the great either intelligence failures or the great wishful thinking of the past 30 years, that was at the core.
NICK SCHIFRIN: You point out that the U.S. and European leaders -- quote -- "projected U.S. and European thinking on authoritarian regimes."
How so?
DAVID SANGER: Well, we assumed that what they wanted was more interchange with the West, so that they would get more trade with the West.
And, of course, that runs directly contrary to authoritarian thinking.
So there was Bill Clinton, when he would go to Beijing university and tell the students, the Internet will set you free, right, that it will undercut the Communist Party.
He got it completely wrong.
And, by the way, I bought into that argument when he was making it.
Similar problem with Russia.
President Bush is floating down the Neva River outside St. Petersburg on a sort of party boat with Putin, Putin's then-wife with Laura Bush.
And they're all talking about how Russia will join the European Union, how one day it might join NATO, the alliance created to contain the old Soviet Union.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The mistakes that you point out, not only just decades ago, strategic key misperceptions that the U.S. had, but also after a key moment, 2014, of course, when Russia invaded and annexed Ukrainian Crimea.
And you write about -- quote -- "The West's failure to grapple with the new reality."
It was almost as if the U.S. and its NATO allies were collectively flying on autopilot, assuming that small course corrections would safely land the plane.
Explain that.
DAVID SANGER: That was, I think, in many ways the most egregious example of the wishful thinking I referred to.
So Putin went to the Munich Security Conference in 2007 and said: There are parts of mother Russia that need to come back into the fold.
And we pretty much ignored him and said, yes, he's making a lot of noise for people at home.
Seven years later, he took Crimea and, of course, the Donbass.
President Obama did not want to challenge him.
He said, I'm not going to go to war for a Russian-speaking former part of Russia.
And, meanwhile, the U.S. didn't even name the Russians as the aggressor in cyberattacks on the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the State Department.
And so the message that Putin got was, the U.S. will tolerate this stuff.
And a year after he took Crimea, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, signed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline agreement with him.
Well, that's where things were until the weekend before they invaded all of Ukraine in 2022.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Which brings us to today's policies on Russia, and let's start there in Ukraine.
What is the Pit in Germany and what is Project Maven and how did the U.S. share a version with Ukraine?
DAVID SANGER: The Pit is a place.
It's an intelligence-sharing operation between the U.S., the British, and the Ukrainians, although they go through this sort of odd dance because President Biden, in his effort to keep the U.S. from being a direct participant in the war, has mandated that the United States could not give exact targeting data to the Ukrainians.
So, in the Pit, they sort of say, well, kind of look generally over here, or we think there's interesting activity here.
Project Maven is a project for integrating all of this data.
It's a way of seeing what the Pentagon calls a single plate of glass, all of what the military activity is of the enemy and also of your own forces.
And what's fascinating about it is, it's the war against Russia in Ukraine that has been the U.S. effort to battle-test this and other technologies.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And when it comes to the Biden administration's policies on China, you point out many of the measures that were dismissed by Trump's critics at the time as hawkish or ad hoc or fearmongering would end up repackaged and carried into the Biden years.
How much continuity has there been?
DAVID SANGER: None of the Trump era tariffs on China have been lifted.
I think you have got to give credit to President Biden's team for putting this into a bigger strategy of shifting forces to the Indo-Pacific, of building up the American semiconductor industry, although there were elements of that starting in the Trump era, so that we are not so dependent on those chips from Taiwan being produced 100 miles off the Chinese coast.
But, certainly, there were elements, including banning Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company, that you saw in the Trump administration.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And finally, David, the book title, "New Cold Wars," as you point out, China is much more integrated in and integral to the world economy than the Soviet Union ever was.
Why do you see these as new cold wars?
DAVID SANGER: The S in the title is important, Nick, because one of the differences from the old Cold War to what we're in now is that we have the dynamic of Russia and China operating together, as you suggested at the opening.
That never happened in the old Cold War.
That was exactly what Nixon and Kissinger were trying to prevent with the opening to China.
Now, of course, there is a partnership without limits, or that's what Xi Jinping and President Putin called it.
If, in fact, China and Russia can find something that is closer to an alliance, then we're going to be back in the hardened lines of the old Cold War, rather than this view of a globalized, borderless world that we had a bit of a pipe dream 30 years ago.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The book is the "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West."
David Sanger of The New York Times, thank you very much, as always.
DAVID SANGER: Thank you, Nick.
GEOFF BENNETT: It's a tiny desk that's become a huge draw for some of the world's most famous musicians.
I worked at NPR many years ago and recently returned to talk to the new host of the long-running concert series about why this unique format continues to resonate with so many.
It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.
So this is the tiny desk.
BOBBY CARTER, Host, "Tiny Desk": This is the tiny desk.
And it's a tiny desk.
It's a tiny space.
It's a tiny everything.
GEOFF BENNETT: Bobby Carter's new job is a big one, overseeing NPR's tiny desk concerts.
Launched in 2008, this wildly popular series has racked up billions of views on YouTube, along the way convincing some of music's biggest names to play a stage like no other.
TAYLOR SWIFT, Musician: I just decided to kind of take this as an opportunity to show you guys how the songs sounded when I first wrote them.
GEOFF BENNETT: These intimate, stripped-down performances offer major stars like Taylor Swift the chance to showcase their talents in ways audiences rarely get to see.
(SINGING) GEOFF BENNETT: She stepped behind the tiny desk in 2019.
T-PAIN, Musician: This is weird as hell for me.
GEOFF BENNETT: Or when rapper and autotune pioneer T-Pain showcased his real voice five years earlier.
(SINGING) GEOFF BENNETT: In all, more than 1,000 artists have performed here, including Alicia Keys.
(SINGING) GEOFF BENNETT: And some you have maybe never heard of, like Chicago-based marching band Mucca Pazza, who somehow fit more than 20 musicians behind the tiny desk.
The performances happen in front of an audience made up of mostly NPR staffers inside its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
We should say this really is an office space.
This is NPR's office space.
BOBBY CARTER: You would be surprised how many people don't realize that.
So we forewarn them.
You're walking into a regular office.
This is just a desk.
The acoustics aren't great.
So, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse because it's different.
Yes.
And then go straight into it.
GEOFF BENNETT: Carter leads a team of producers, videographers, and sound engineers who film performances about three times a week, including a recent one with jazz pianist Bob James, who played alongside D.J.
Jazzy Jeff rapper Talib Kweli.
Are the rules still the same for people who want to perform at "Tiny Desk"?
BOBBY CARTER: Yes.
We always let them know that this is unlike what they're used to doing on stage.
There are no bells and whistles and tricks.
What you hear and what you see is what you get.
But intimacy is still the key.
That won't ever change.
GEOFF BENNETT: But change did come for tiny desk in October, when longtime director and series co-founder Bob Boilen retired.
BOBBY CARTER: When Talib starts rapping, everybody just comes down just a tad.
GEOFF BENNETT: Bobby Carter, who's been at NPR for 24 years and who's been producing these concerts for a decade, was promoted last month.
How do you see "Tiny Desk" evolving under your leadership?
BOBBY CARTER: We can continue to evolve by just not touching this.
Of course, we can grow in many ways, but it's more so, how do we maintain the essence of what we're doing?
GEOFF BENNETT: That has always been a challenge, but never more so than during the pandemic, Carter says.
As concert venues across the country, including the "Tiny Desk," shut down, he worried he might soon be out of a job.
But several artists, including many from around the world, like British pop star Dua Lipa, and Spanish singer C. Tangana came to the rescue, filming home concerts.
BOBBY CARTER: Those home shows, not only did they help us sustain, but it really helped us grow.
GEOFF BENNETT: Now back in person, the tiny desk looks and feels as cluttered as ever.
BOBBY CARTER: Justin Timberlake recently left his megaphone.
GEOFF BENNETT: In large part, Carter says, because of what artists, like rapper Juvenile leave behind after they perform.
BOBBY CARTER: Juvenile's Juvie Juice sip, plenty of those.
GEOFF BENNETT: Right.
BOBBY CARTER: Pretty much everything you see back here has a story.
Megan Thee Stallion left her stallion.
Gary Clark Jr.'s sweat rag.
GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.
BOBBY CARTER: Our centerpiece for the whole desk is that brick bear.
Bob Weir from The Grateful Dead left.
GEOFF BENNETT: The most recent addition, a cue card from "Saturday Night Live"'s spoof of the series.
(SINGING) ACTOR: Guys.
Hi, yes, can we be quiet please?
Some of us are working.
(LAUGHTER) (SINGING) GEOFF BENNETT: Artists have around 15 to 20 minutes to express themselves as they wish in a space that holds only 200 people.
MAN: I think I'm going to need some help again.
GEOFF BENNETT: And Carter says the planning for these concerts can be months in the making, especially before the series welcomed legendary R&B singer Babyface last year.
BOBBY CARTER: Usually, we're just talking to the teams, the representatives, the producer.
His assistant got on and said: "Hey, we got Babyface right here ready to talk."
I'm like: "What, bro?"
(LAUGHTER) BOBBY CARTER: He was like: "Hey, I'm going to get behind the desk.
I'm going to have three background singers, all of which you know.
And I'm going to get behind the desk, and I'm going to run through all the hits."
That show was a flex, but also he flexed on the time because he went way over, but who the hell is going to tell Babyface to stop?
MAN: Back again, "Tiny Desk."
GEOFF BENNETT: "Tiny Desk" has also long spotlighted up-and-coming artists.
Since 2014, the series has hosted the Tiny Desk Contest, which invites unsigned musicians to perform original songs at a desk of their choosing.
Winners like Gaelynn Lea have a chance to play their own "Tiny Desk" concerts.
(SINGING) GEOFF BENNETT: And some like Tank and the Bangas, who won the contest in 2017, have gone on to find commercial success.
The New Orleans band was nominated for a Grammy as best new artist two years later.
(SINGING) GEOFF BENNETT: But even some of the biggest stars, like Usher, have used the tiny desk to reach new audiences.
I'm convinced that you can draw a line between Usher's resurgence and him booking that Super Bowl halftime show to his meme-making performance here at "Tiny Desk."
BOBBY CARTER: Near 100 percent.
I always say, someone like an Usher, they don't necessarily need us.
He's Usher at the end of the day, but this definitely helped put some fire under what was going on.
GEOFF BENNETT: Now 16 years after the first "Tiny Desk," Carter says he still respects any artist willing to perform here.
BOBBY CARTER: I salute each and every artist who's willing to be that vulnerable behind the desk, because it is not easy.
GEOFF BENNETT: Who's on your personal wish list?
BOBBY CARTER: Oh, God, where's the camera?
I'm talking to you, Sade.
GEOFF BENNETT: Wow.
BOBBY CARTER: I'm talking to you, Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen and Kendrick Lamar.
And that's why I'm so excited.
I'm still excited about this, because there are so many artists who haven't taken that shot at this yet.
GEOFF BENNETT: Bobby Carter, congratulations on your new role and continued success with "Tiny Desk."
BOBBY CARTER: It's good to see you back here, G. (LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: It's good to be back.
BOBBY CARTER: Yes, sir.
AMNA NAWAZ: The words Cartier and bargain are almost never said in the same breath.
But the legendary French jeweler has been forced to extend an enormous discount to one man after he claimed an error allowed him to buy two pairs of earrings for just $28 that were supposed to sell for nearly $28,000.
Ellie Pitt of Independent Television News has more.
LEYLA HAYES: Designer jewelry doesn't come cheap, unless, of course, you find it online for much lower than it should be.
That's what happened to Rogelio Villarreal, who was browsing Cartier's Web site when he started these diamond-encrusted earrings for 237 Mexican pesos.
That's around 11 British pounds.
He bought two pairs, who wouldn't, before the price was quickly corrected to 237,000 pesos, or just over 11,000 pounds.
According to Rogelio, Cartier then tried to back out of the deal, but he asked Mexico's Consumer Protection Agency to get involved, and they ruled in his favor.
So how did he do it?
Well, Mexican consumer law requires businesses to sell their products at their listed price.
If they don't, customers can file a complaint and send proof that they bought it at that price, but haven't received it.
At this Central London jeweler's, they say there's no doubt he got a bargain.
DANIEL CLUNN, Harmony Jewels: You are paying for the brand name, you know?
Like when you walk into somewhere and you leave with a Cartier ring, there's that brand history.
You're paying a little bit for prestige.
I mean, he got very lucky.
I'd like to see his lottery winnings as well, because I wish I had a chance like that.
LEYLA HAYES: Cartier haven't commented, but the earrings finally arrived at a discount of around 29,500 pounds.
And Rogelio was more than happy to show them off.
AMNA NAWAZ: And that was Leyla Hayes reporting from Independent Television News.
GEOFF BENNETT: Talk about a discount.
AMNA NAWAZ: Right?
GEOFF BENNETT: All right, online right now, spring is about to become very noisy for many people across the country.
Up to a trillion, a trillion cicadas are expected to emerge in parts of the Midwest and South.
That's on our Instagram page right now.
AMNA NAWAZ: And join us again back here tomorrow night, when we talk to college student journalists about the protests against the war in Gaza on their campuses.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Amna Nawaz.
GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.
For all of us here at the "PBS NewsHour," thanks for joining us and have a great evening.