GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: A federal judge sets a March trial date in the case accusing former President Trump of election interference, setting up a major legal battle before the next election.

GEOFF BENNETT: Russia's influence in Africa begins to shift following the death of Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

AMNA NAWAZ: And 60 years after the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, we delve into where issues of race and activism stand in America today.

JANAI NELSON, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund: We are in a moment of great peril and crisis, but also one of great opportunity.

And the moral arc does bend, but there are also opposing forces that are trying to pull it in the opposite direction.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

March 4, 2024, that is the tentative date former President Donald Trump will face trial for federal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's the result of an at times contentious hearing today where Donald Trump's attorneys sparred with special counsel Jack Smiths prosecutors and Judge Tanya Chutkan.

NPR justice reporter Carrie Johnson was in the room for the proceedings, and she joins us now.

Carrie, it's always great to see you.

So, the federal judge has set March 4, 2024, as the trial date in Donald Trump's election interference case.

Remind us what the two parties were initially asking for.

CARRIE JOHNSON, NPR: Geoff, they were so far apart.

Jack Smith, the special counsel in this case, wanted to start the trial on January 2, 2024, and lawyers for former President Donald Trump wanted to kick this trial all the way into 2026, the spring of 2026.

The judge, Tanya Chutkan, said, that's just too far.

But she agreed that Trump and his attorneys need more time to prepare in this landmark case with over 12 million pages of documents.

So, so set March, early March 2024, as the trial date in Washington, D.C. GEOFF BENNETT: Did she explain how she arrived at this March date?

And how did she justify it in court today?

CARRIE JOHNSON: The judge said that Donald Trump has asked to be treated like any other defendant, and she's taking him at his word.

She pointed out that, if he were a professional athlete, she wouldn't set a trial schedule around the athlete's performance dates.

So the idea that Trump is running again for the White House is not factoring into her decision.

She also said Trump had very good lawyers.

He's been on notice for over a year he's been under investigation for election interference, and that many of the millions of pages of documents, Trump has already seen have come out of his political action committee, or even his own tweets and posts on the TRUTH Social site.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, looking at the calendar, Carrie, Donald Trump's political calendar is colliding with his trial calendar.

How is his legal team going to deal with the onslaught of court dates?

Have they explained that yet?

CARRIE JOHNSON: It's really very challenging for them, Geoff.

In fact, John Lauro, one of Trump's lawyers, said today that he's concerned that Trump will not get his due process rights because of all of these matters that he's fighting while trying to run for office.

Trump, of course, has called this election interference by the Justice Department and these local prosecutors in New York and in Fulton County, Georgia.

And it's not clear how Trump is going to balance these things.

Usually, a criminal defendant is in court for his trial.

I do expect Trump to show up for his.

But balancing that with the primary schedule and possible debates is going to be really a difficult challenge for him.

GEOFF BENNETT: You mentioned the Fulton County case.

As you well know, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, one of the co-defendants in that racketeering case, took the witness stand today in this evidentiary hearing as part of his bid to move this case from Fulton County to the federal court.

What is his motivation, Carrie, in trying to move this case?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, is arguing he's been charged with crimes in Fulton County, Georgia, for acts that he took while he was the chief of staff as part of his federal job.

And he's trying to make that case, because moving this case, from state court into federal court will potentially get him a much more beneficial jury pool from the surrounding counties.

It could introduce some delay in this case.

And then, of course, Geoff, federal court proceedings are not televised, whereas any Georgia state proceedings would be.

So, there are number of reasons why Meadows would want this -- to move this case to federal court.

And other defendants like Jeff Clark, the former Justice Department official in the Trump administration, may be hot on his heels trying to get their cases moved into federal court.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, I was going to ask you that.

If Meadows is successful, how might that be a blueprint for other co-defendants and maybe even Donald Trump, if he so chooses, if his legal team so chooses, to seek action in a federal court?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Yes, not all of these defendants are similarly situated.

A bunch of them did work for the federal government.

Others worked in Georgia.

And so they may not have as strong an argument to move their case into federal court.

As for the former president, he's already said there's no way he wants a fast trial in Fulton County, Georgia, but he hasn't signaled whether he's going to attempt to move his case into federal court.

GEOFF BENNETT: NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, thanks, as always.

CARRIE JOHNSON: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: Dozens of counties in Florida declared emergencies and people began getting ready for the state's first major hurricane this year.

Idalia was building from a tropical storm today and heading into the Gulf of Mexico.

It could strike Florida's Big Bend region by early Wednesday.

In Tallahassee, state leaders warned people to remember how Hurricane Ian exploded in size and power last year.

KEVIN GUTHRIE, Florida Director of Emergency Management: If your community is not in the forecast cone, it does not mean you are clear.

Please look at all of the watches and warnings.

We encourage every Floridian along the Gulf Coast to begin enacting their emergency preparedness plans now.

Now is not necessarily the time to write a plan.

Now is the time to action a plan.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, Franklin intensified into a Category 4 hurricane, with winds near 130 miles an hour.

It's expected to pass near Bermuda, but veer away from the U.S. East Coast later this week.

In Louisiana, crews are still struggling to contain a record number of wildfires in the drought-stricken state.

Officials say the Tiger Island Fire doubled in size this weekend, scorching 33,000 heavily wooded acres.

It's the largest in the state's history.

An entire town has been forced to evacuate, and at least one person has died.

Hawaiian Electric company is pushing back against a lawsuit blaming it for this month's wildfire disaster.

Maui County alleges that the utility's downed power lines sparked the flames that destroyed Lahaina and killed at least 115 people.

Now Hawaiian Electric has issued a statement that says -- quote -- "The complaint is factually and legally irresponsible."

The company acknowledges its lines sparked an initial fire that was quickly contained.

But it says the blaze that consumed Lahaina started after power had been shut off.

A man whose son allegedly killed seven people at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, will stand trial after all.

Robert Crimo Jr. wanted his case dismissed, but a judge in suburban Chicago refused today.

Crimo is charged with reckless conduct for helping his son get a gun license after the teen had threatened violence.

In Beijing today, the U.S. and China held talks on U.S. export controls for sensitive technology, but there were no breakthroughs.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with her Chinese counterpart.

She said later they agreed to exchange information, but without any concessions.

GINA RAIMONDO, U.S. Secretary of Commerce: We are not compromising or negotiating in matters of national security, period.

But this is meant to be a dialogue where we increase transparency and we are clear about what we are doing as it relates to export control enforcement.

AMNA NAWAZ: Raimondo's visit is the latest by high-ranking American officials in a bid to ease tensions between the world's two largest economies.

Also today, China announced it will no longer require incoming travelers to show a negative COVID-19 test result.

It's Beijing's latest loosening of pandemic era curbs since a strict zero COVID policy ended in December.

The new policy takes effect on Wednesday.

A breakdown in Britain's air traffic control system today caused major disruptions.

Officials say a technical problem prevented automatic processing of flight plans for more than three hours.

The glitch grounded scores of flights, leaving thousands of passengers stranded or delayed at airports.

Disruptions continued for hours after the outage ended.

Back in this country, Wall Street's week got off to a positive start.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 213 points to close at 34560.

The Nasdaq rose 114 points.

The S&P 500 added 27.

And gymnast Simone Biles can celebrate after winning a record eighth U.S. nationals title.

Biles vaulted her way to victory over the weekend in San Jose, California.

It marked the biggest step yet in her comeback after taking a two-year break from the sport.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": some lawmakers push to revamp the Endangered Species Act 50 years after it was signed into law; Tamara Keith and Errin Haines break down the latest political headlines; college football season kicks off with shakeups looming for the traditional powerhouse conferences; plus much more.

For many, the fiery demise last week of Yevgeny Prigozhin was the chronicle of a death foretold, after his mutiny two months ago against his benefactor, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Prigozhin and his mercenary army, the Wagner Group, were an important expeditionary force for the Kremlin, especially across parts of Africa.

Nick Schifrin looks at, what now?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Outside Red Square this weekend, a tribute to the man they call Russia's true patriot.

The Kremlin might consider Yevgeny Prigozhin a traitor, but these supporters call him and his fighters martyrs.

MARIA, Moscow Resident (through translator): They did a great job, and they are the heroes of our country.

A brilliant future awaits them.

Everyone makes mistakes.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the Kremlin apparently did not forgive Prigozhin's betrayal.

This weekend, a Wagner fighter filmed a cemetery of Wagner fighters killed in Ukraine dismantled by Russian authorities, just as President Vladimir Putin is dismantling and apparently decapitated Wagner's empire.

That empire was vast, especially in Africa, where independent researchers say Wagner has dispatched 5,000 people to about a dozen countries to spread Moscow's influence and feed instability.

In the Central African Republic, Wagner fighters openly walked alongside local bodyguards to help Faustin-Archange Touadera win a referendum that could extend his power indefinitely.

In Mali, where crowds have celebrated cooperation with Russia, Wagner is a key partner to the head of the military junta that seized power in 2020.

And in Burkina Faso after a coup, Wagner moved in as military officials evicted French troops and called Russia a strategic partner.

But in July in St. Petersburg, during a Russia-Africa summit, it was Putin, not Prigozhin, pictured next to each of these leaders.

And General Andrey Averyanov of Russian military intelligence was reportedly introduced is taking over for Prigozhin in Africa.

In his final days, Prigozhin was afraid of losing his influence in Africa and released this final personal statement, even as Russian officials work to maintain the empire he built without him.

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, Wagner Group Chief (through translator): Wagner private military company conducts reconnaissance and other actions, making Russia even greater and Africa more free.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Prigozhin considered himself popular and indispensable.

And whether in Ukraine or Africa, he held Wagner's diverse activities together through personality and brutality.

But, in Putin's Russia, nobody is indispensable, except the boss.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): He was a man with a complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Kremlin spokesman said today no decision had been made yet on whether Putin would attend Prigozhin's funeral.

For more on what becomes of Wagner operations in Africa, we turn to Vanda Felbab-Brown, director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors at the Brookings Institution.

Thank you very much.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

How much influence did Wagner have in Africa, and how effective have they been?

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN, Brookings Institution: Well, Wagner did have very significant influence.

It was the front of Russian foreign policy, and it was important and strategic forward thrust and, frankly, countering U.S. interest.

It had very little effectiveness in terms of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, its ostensible mission, the cover under which Wagner entered various countries in Africa.

In reality, what Wagner ended up selling was a Praetorian Guard service for people in power, along with a whole variety of economic services, political manipulation, misinformation.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And that guard, that misinformation, that manipulation, how integral, how essential was Prigozhin to creating that empire?

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN: Well, we are all trying to understand that.

I mean, there's a lot of mythology about Prigozhin.

But I don't think it's realistic to assume that one man controlled what was the vast empire of hundreds of companies dealing with tens of billions of dollars and managing thousands of forces operating across many countries.

In fact, we know that many people who died along with him on that plane were his key logistical operators, financial operators.

So I think that Prigozhin is very replaceable, even if the aura of the man who will be in charge of whatever is left of Wagner will be very different and his profile probably much less visible than that of Prigozhin.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, let's talk about what's left of Wagner, as it were.

The Russian officials, military intelligence have been going through Africa to the African governments saying that your partner today is us, is the Kremlin, is Moscow, not Prigozhin.

Is that effort working?

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN: Well, we are able to see clearly there is an effort to both indicate that the services that Wagner extended will be preserved.

And this effort has been under way for a considerable amount of time, even before what just happened in the assassination of Prigozhin.

But, at the same time, the empire is being chopped up.

It is being divided into smaller entities that are easier to hold.

But I think it's significant to note that just immediately after the mutiny, even countries like the Central African Republic, which were almost under the thumb of the Wagner Group, immediately expressed that their relationship has been with the Kremlin and with Russia.

Already, then, the phrasing from the African leaders themselves was very specifically understanding that whatever services they bought from Wagner, they understood that, behind Wagner, there was the Kremlin, and that had not changed for them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And as that empire, as you said, is chopped up, easier to hold, does that mean that the Kremlin believes that, instead of replacing Prigozhin with one person, replacing Wagner with one company, it's more likely to replace them with multiple companies and multiple people?

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN: I think that is far more likely.

And that is, frankly, what we are seeing.

So, in some parts of the world, like in Syria, we are seeing that Wagner forces have been rolled on to the rosters of the Russian military and Wagner commanders have been replaced with Russian military commanders, because Russia already had the military deployed there.

But, in other parts of Africa, we may have some entity that is called Wagner left.

Apparently, for example, in the Central African Republic, the man who currently leads the Wagner forces is to remain as the leader.

In other parts, we are seeing efforts to roll parts of Wagner into other Russian private security companies.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And so we have Redoubt.

We have Convoy.

These are essentially new private military companies, or at least private military companies that will increase their influence in Africa that are more controllable, perhaps, is the right way to say it, than Wagner, right?

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN: I think that's the Kremlin's calculation, that a set of smaller companies, one of which still might be called Wagner, others which are newer, perhaps some that will be completely brand-new, will be far easier to extend than one-mafia fiefdoms that Prigozhin was running.

Of course, there was an advantage to the Wagner Group's big conglomerate.

It created an enormous name.

It was one supermarket for African leaders to go shop for political manipulation, military Praetorian Guard services, misinformation campaign.

And it will take some time for a new entity to be able to provide this set of services.

And, quite likely, Moscow might not want all one company to provide all of these services.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And not get as powerful as Prigozhin and Wagner did.

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN: Exactly.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, at the same time, Prigozhin's personality, his brutality did keep these diverse companies, these diverse assets together.

British military intelligence recently said that: "Prigozhin's hyperactivity, exceptional audacity and a drive for results and extreme brutality are unlikely to be matched by any successor."

Is it possible that the Kremlin's efforts to take from Wagner what Prigozhin held and instead hold it themselves might fail?

VANDA FELBAB-BROWN: I think it's possible.

I don't think that we will see a situation where we will have wholesale liquidation of what Wagner did or what it brought to the Kremlin, which included significant financial income in avoidance of Western sanctions, which provided significant money laundering services and way to hide money to be brought to Moscow, as well as strategic thrust and forward presence.

I would also add here, though, that what gave Prigozhin the visibility, the audacity was also what was his downfall.

And many operator in the clandestine services would really want to keep much lower profile.

Ultimately, Prigozhin's greatest asset was not his logistical genius, but was his closeness to Vladimir Putin.

And when he lost that, that's when he lost the power and the empire and his life.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Vanda Felbab-Brown, thank you very much.

GEOFF BENNETT: It was one of the most consequential racial justice and equality demonstrations in U.S. history, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

On August 28 1963, a quarter-of-a-million people rallied in Washington, D.C., to demand an end to segregation, fair wages and economic justice, voting rights, education, and long overdue civil rights protections.

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his most famous speech.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Civil Rights Leader: Free at last.

Free at last.

Thank God almighty we are free at last!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: The demonstration helped pave the way for the passage of federal civil rights and voting rights legislation.

On Saturday,thousands of people gathered on the National Mall to commemorate the 60th anniversary and remind the nation of its unfinished goals of that day.

For insight, I spoke Friday with two leading voices about the march and the present-day pursuit of civil rights.

We are joined now by Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

He was also the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

And with us here in the studio is Janai Nelson, president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Thank you both for being here.

Really appreciate it.

And I'd like to start, if we could, by talking about the history of the march, which I think is always important and instructive.

Mr.

Bunch, was Bayard Rustin, as you well know, who organized the March on Washington.

And, at the time, there had been any number of marches across the South.

But the idea that hundreds of thousands of people would answer the call and come to Washington, D.C., that was unheard of.

How was he able to pull together what was the largest demonstration the country had ever seen in a matter of months?

LONNIE BUNCH, Smithsonian Institution Secretary: Well, I think it's important to realize that they really worked on this for several years.

But with A. Philip Randolph's leadership and Bayard Rustin, what they realized is, this was an opportunity to sort of bring together people from the civil rights organizations, as well as from United Auto Workers organization.

And what they did is, they were able to sort of just figure out, how do you mobilize everything from sororities and fraternities to make sure that you have got, in essence, a large group of people, so that you have got to turn out of over -- almost 300,000 people?

GEOFF BENNETT: What does effective organizing look like today?

JANAI NELSON, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund: Effective organizing is something that has roots in the history of the civil rights movement and labor movements and other protest movements, but today is something that has been much more systematized in many ways.

It has the benefit of the use of technology.

And more young people are aware of the power of organizing and are organizing themselves in important ways to protest, to engage in action.

And we saw that spontaneously occur in 2020, in response to the tragic killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and others.

And, today, the role of organizing is a very respected one.

It always has been recognized, but it's been elevated because I think people understand how important it is to have people ready to be mobilized to not just ask for change, but to ensure accountability when change happens.

LONNIE BUNCH: I think it's is important to realize that technology has allowed especially a younger generation not just to be part of a protest, but to help lead it.

And I think that's a really important point of this is that, you look at the murder of George Floyd, and you see young people around the world utilizing technology to make sure that they're not just involved, but they're leading.

And I think that's an optimistic thing as we look to the future.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Bayard Rustin believed that the fates of the civil rights movement and the labor movement were intertwined, that the visions of racial justice and economic justice were linked.

Do you see it that way?

And how does that manifest today?

JANAI NELSON: Absolutely.

You can't think about the history of race in this country and not think about economics.

We think about the idea that Black people were brought here from the continent of Africa to power a system of enslavement, of labor, free labor, of work camps, forced labor camps, that helped to grow, the economy of this country, helped to seed wealth into some communities and leave others completely destitute.

That is the history of this country.

And that was directly based on racial lines, whether you were Black or you were white.

And so, as we think about how the civil rights movement evolved, it carried forth that legacy, the vestiges of slavery, and, of course, Jim Crow, and, of course, current-day racism that continues to create an economic divide based on color lines.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the past few years, we have seen demonstrations against police brutality after the police killing of George Floyd and others.

We have seen acts of civil disobedience in support of gun reform.

Mr.

Bunch, you have said that protest is the highest form of patriotism.

Tell me more about that.

In what way?

LONNIE BUNCH: I would argue that, if you love a country, what you want to do is help that country live up to its stated ideals.

And America is an aspirational nation.

If you look at its founding documents, we are working hard to live up to those.

And so, for me, if you protest, you are not saying the nation is horrible.

What you're saying is, I can help it live up to its stated ideals.

So for me, if you protest the country, what you are simply saying is, you love it, and you want it to be the best it can be.

GEOFF BENNETT: Janai Nelson, the issues that are animating social justice advocates today, many of them seem eerily similar to the issues that were present in 1963, in different ways, of course.

But you have got the erosion of voting rights across the country.

You have got questions about access to education after the Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions decisions.

There are growing threats of political violence and hatred against people of color, against Jews, against members of the LGBTQ community.

Do you see it that way?

JANAI NELSON: Yes.

Not only are these issues eerily similar.

They are the same ones that we have been dealing with for decades.

The difference is that we were evolving towards solutions.

We were expanding constitutional rights and protections in order to solve those issues, gradually, perhaps a little too gradually for my taste, but we were on a path towards greater inclusion and greater equity.

What we're seeing in this moment is a backlash and a retrenchment to that movement.

And what this march allows us to think about is the power of mass demonstration, of mass action, to galvanize the forces of people to ensure that the right legislation is passed, that elected officials recognize the will and wishes of the majority and are responsive to the despair of people across the country.

That's what this march should remind us to do.

And back to the issue of protests, the founder of the Legal Defense Fund, Thurgood Marshall, said that protest is the foundation of American democracy.

So this has always been how we have evolved our country to become a more perfect union.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about that, Mr.

Bunch?

Is mass demonstration still an effective technique?

LONNIE BUNCH: Absolutely.

You don't have a country change unless you have got enough people to see it in the media, to have the influence on the federal government to change the laws.

So, for me, protests, sophisticated, strategic protest, is really an effective tool.

It is one of the ways that you make sure that you're heard, that you're seen, and that it forces you to think about, what are the strategic goals that you want out of this protest?

So, that is, in my mind, one of the most effective tools we have to change a nation.

GEOFF BENNETT: Five years after the March on Washington, Dr. King gave a famous speech at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., where he famously said, "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

When you survey the arc of the last 60 years, what do you see?

LONNIE BUNCH: Well, I think what you see is that we have made amazing progress, but that, in essence, the realization is that you are not going to be -- you're not going to continue to get to where you want to be unless you continue to fight and struggle for it, that, in essence, what's really clear to me is that we have a retrenchment.

We have people that are pushing back against things that we thought were given, and that, in essence, that, while the arc may bend, we have got to help it bend in the right direction.

JANAI NELSON: I see that we are in a moment of great peril and crisis, but also one of great opportunity.

And the moral arc does bend, but there are also opposing forces that are trying to pull it in the opposite direction.

This is a moment for us to recognize the power of people, of protest, of advocacy, of law, which is what we do at the Legal Defense Fund.

We use the power of law to transform society, but it needs all of those forces together to ensure that this change occurs, and that it is durable, that it lasts, because this moment teaches us, if we don't continue to pay attention to the direction of this country, we can be pulled backwards in a way that is extraordinarily dangerous and poses an existential - - existential threat to our democracy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Janai Nelson and Lonnie Bunch, my deep thanks to you both.

JANAI NELSON: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: With the date set for former President Trump's federal trial, his Republican opponents are hoping for some new attention from voters and possibly a post-debate bounce.

Here to discuss it all are Tamara Keith of NPR and Errin Haines of the 19th.Amy Walter is away.

And great to see you both.

So, as you well know, the judge rejected Mr. Trump's request to delay the start of that trial until 2026.

We now have the trial date set for March 4 of 2024.

By that date, a few states will have already held their primaries or caucuses, but take a look at the calendar, because the very next day, if that March 4 date holds, is Super Tuesday.

And 15 more states will hold their primaries and caucuses, those shown in yellow right there.

So, Tam, when you look at that map and you look at what's at stake in this trial, do you see the trial having any impact on that day?

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Probably not, because Iowa and New Hampshire will have already happened, and the potential exists, if former President Trump, who has a prohibitive lead in all of the early -- all of the primary polls among Republicans, if he wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, Super Tuesday may not be that relevant.

And, also, it's not entirely clear that the that the trial date will stick, that that will be the date.

And if it is, it's the date that the trial begins.

So, what changes exactly by the time people are voting the very next day?

AMNA NAWAZ: Errin, what about you?

How are you looking at it?

Are there any states you would be keeping a particularly close eye on to see if that trial or any news that's come out before it does have any kind of impact?

ERRIN HAINES, Editor at Large, The 19th News: Yes, Amna.

Well, I mean, what I think is that just I certainly agree with Tamara's point, but I do think that Super Tuesday could also be an opportunity for both Democratic and Republican voters to send a message coming out of what we could call super Monday, if that scheduled, holds with President Trump in a courtroom just the day before this really consequential election.

So, I mean, you're looking at states like Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, all of whom have significant numbers of Black voters.

We have to remember that at the center of all of the former president's legal battles is this the scheme that was an attempt to discredit, to disenfranchise Black voters as illegitimate participants in our democracy.

And so I think that those dynamics could loom over Super Tuesday.

You have the former president really saying that he is a victim in all of this, really also trying to get his supporters to align themselves with his legal woes.

And so they could also be looking to send a message of strong support for the former president.

He is certainly seeking that at the ballot box with donations, et cetera.

So this could galvanize parties -- voters in both parties in a number of states that are having primaries that day.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, much of that Republican race, we know, and how it develops depends on the rest of the GOP field.

We all know that last week's debate was really the first chance for a lot of all the candidates who are not Donald Trump to try and break through, to try and break away from the pack.

So we have got some polls now coming out in reaction to that debate.

When Republican primary voters were asked who they believe won, here's who they said in a recent Emerson College poll; 27 percent said Vivek Ramaswamy; 21 percent said Ron DeSantis, 12 percent for Mike Pence, 11 percent for Nikki Haley; 22 percent said no one won the debate.

Tam, what do these numbers tell you about what Republican primary voters are looking for?

TAMARA KEITH: Right, so no one performed better than Ron DeSantis and everyone except for Vivek Ramaswamy, who did a really good job of drawing attention to himself.

It's not clear whether he did a really good job of persuading Republican primary voters that they should pick him over Trump, for instance, because that same poll found that 50 percent, I believe, of Republican voters support Trump and want Trump to be the nominee.

So, all of these candidates were up there fighting for relevance, while Trump was stealing - - stealing the show by getting a mug shot that his campaign is then selling on shirts, selling with an autograph and, to go back to what Errin was saying, really using this as a powerful tool to get his supporters and Republican voters to rally around him.

AMNA NAWAZ: Errin, what about that?

Tam raises that crucial point here; 50 percent of those primary voters still say they plan to back Donald Trump, but that is his lowest number to date, and it is a 5 percent drop from before the debate.

What kind of impact do you think not being on that stage had on him?

ERRIN HAINES: I think you saw the impact that it had on that stage, when the majority of the candidates, when asked if they would support former President Trump even if he was convicted of a crime, held their hands high and said that they would absolutely do that.

Listen, I think that what that poll didn't ask is, of the people who were on stage, who won that debate?

Because the person who won that debate was clearly former President Trump.

He was mentioned by name several times, but not necessarily in a negative way, people just continuing to show their support for him, their support for certainly policies that are similar to his, even as they tried to maybe distinguish themselves from other people who were on the stage.

And, again, this did not deter any of his voters or persuade them in the direction of any other candidates to any large degree.

And his closest contender, Governor DeSantis, really was kind of overshadowed by the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy or even Nikki Haley, who had kind of a breakout night that has given her some momentum coming out of that debate.

And so I would say former President Trump is the one who won that debate and really kind of proved his argument that he doesn't even need to be on the stage to continue to be impactful and also to continue to hold sway with his base and the Republican Party at large right now in a primary.

AMNA NAWAZ: Errin, you mentioned Ron DeSantis.

He remains in most polls second place to Mr. Trump.

I just want to ask you about some news over the weekend.

He attended a vigil yesterday in Jacksonville, where, as we know, a white gunman had targeted and killed three Black people in another racist shooting in America.

This is the reaction Ron DeSantis got at that vigil.

Take a listen.

(BOOING) MAN: These deaths are on your hands!

AMNA NAWAZ: Errin, those are clearly boos from that crowd as he walks to the podium.

He's running for president, but this is the reaction he's getting from fellow Floridians.

What does that say to you?

ERRIN HAINES: I think that it says that this is a crowd, this is a state, especially Black Floridians, who do hold Governor DeSantis at least partly responsible for what happened in Jacksonville, because you had this incident occurring.

And if a child in Florida were to go to school today, this week and ask, what were the dynamics that contributed to that shooting happening, a teacher might not even really be able to explain to a child, based on the policies that Governor DeSantis has championed.

It might be considered woke to explain to a child what happened over the weekend.

Maybe discussing the March on Washington, for example, might be OK, but another anniversary that we're marking today is the 60th anniversary of Emmett Till being murdered, which is not something that schoolchildren are supposed to learn about, because it makes people uncomfortable.

But, really, you saw Governor DeSantis, obviously, couldn't really talk about a looming hurricane coming to the state without also addressing this horrible tragedy that happened in Jacksonville, but yet, at the same time, I think somebody who has been discouraging Floridians and would like to discourage the rest of the country from really learning about the uglier parts of our country's racist history.

For somebody like that to show up and try to show their support for the community, I think him being met with those boos was not necessarily a surprising reaction for folks who have been following really the racial tension around a lot of the rhetoric and policy that he's been espousing down there.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, just a few seconds.

TAMARA KEITH: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: What's your take?

TAMARA KEITH: Sometimes, showing up and getting booed is part of being the governor, part of leading a state.

And Governor DeSantis is facing this hurricane that is headed towards his state.

This will be another opportunity for him to lead and for him to, as part of his campaign show, that he's governing.

But governing is not always easy.

AMNA NAWAZ: That has proven true.

Of course, our thoughts are with the families of those affected in Jacksonville and everyone in Florida who is bracing for that storm.

Tamara Keith, Errin Haines, it's so good to see you both.

Thank you very much.

TAMARA KEITH: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

It was the most comprehensive legislation for preserving species at risk of extinction and made the U.S. a global leader in environmental law.

But, today, Congress is divided over how far its protections should go.

William Brangham reports on the act's legacy and uncertain future.

WOMAN: I'm going to see if he's got that wound on the bottom still.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the last three months, this juvenile sea turtle named Kempsville (ph) has been receiving intensive care at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

WOMAN: There we go.

That's it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Kempsville was rescued in Virginia, and is now fighting off multiple infections, and recovering from surgery, where medics removed a fishing hook from its throat.

Kempsville is named after its species, the Kemp's ridley.

Found mainly in the Gulf of Mexico, it's the world's smallest and most endangered sea turtle.

The principal threat, says the aquarium's rehabilitation manager, Caitlin Bovery, is human activity.

CAITLIN BOVERY, Rehabilitation Manager, National Aquarium: The Kemp's ridley is threatened by fisheries bycatch, by habitat degradation from development, by all marine debris, to pollution that is related from run-off and things like that, as well as our increasing climate temperatures.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For Bovery's team, each turtle they save is a win in the fight against extinction.

CAITLIN BOVERY: Every Kemp's ridley is critically endangered, so it's incredibly important to make sure that they return to sea.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The species has slowly rebounded since the 1980s, when there were only a few hundred nesting females.

Today, there are an estimated 20,000 of the turtles.

CAITLIN BOVERY: It's really one of the most incredible conservation stories and recovery stories that we have from the Endangered Species Act.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Under the act, when a species is deemed near or at risk of extinction, it's put on a federal list and legal protections kick in that limit activities and projects that could kill or harm that species, or its habitat.

For the Kemp's ridley, that meant protections like creating a new nesting colony and requiring commercial shrimp boats to use special devices in their nets that allow turtles to escape.

CAITLIN BOVERY: We have seen recovery, real, tangible recovery.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today, these turtles are just one of more than 1,600 plant and animal species in America listed under the act.

RICHARD NIXON, Former President of the United States: The time has come for man to make his peace with nature.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Signed by President Nixon in 1973, the Endangered Species Act passed with near-unanimous bipartisan support.

ROBERT FISCHMAN, Indiana University: Congress decided that what we choose to say about ourselves as Americans is what we choose to save.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Environmental law professor Robert Fischman says the act is unique because it prioritizes saving species over economic cost.

ROBERT FISCHMAN: The Endangered Species Act makes the strong moral statement that, as a matter of federal law, we should not cause fellow animals on Earth to go extinct, whatever the cost.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Over the decades, it's been credited with saving iconic species, like the gray wolf, the bald eagle, and the grizzly bear.

PROTESTERS: We need a leader, not a logger!

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But it's also led to bitter clashes between conservationists and industry.

In 1990, the northern spotted owl was added, halting logging on millions of acres of forest in the Pacific Northwest.

FRANK BACKUS, Logger: I wonder how many of you are like me that are sitting there, wondering how we have come to the brink of losing our jobs and our homes and our communities.

JAMIE RAPPAPORT CLARK, President and CEO, Defenders of Wildlife: The spotted owl issue was a signal that our forests in the Northwest were in trouble.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jamie Rappaport Clark is the CEO of a conservation nonprofit known as Defenders of Wildlife and a former director of the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service.

JAMIE RAPPAPORT CLARK: The species that are increasingly in crisis are just the canaries in the coal mine.

They're sounding the alarm that should trigger our initiative to right the wrong before it's too late.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: While there's still bipartisan support for the law, many in Congress disagree on how it should be implemented.

REP. BRUCE WESTERMAN (R-AR): The Endangered Species Act is a very important piece of legislation.

It was put in place with good intentions, but it's been 50 years since there have been any real changes to it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Republican Representative Bruce Westerman chairs the House committee on Natural Resources and aims to reform the Endangered Species Act.

He supports reinstating Trump era policies that conservationists say weakened its protections.

REP. BRUCE WESTERMAN: So, you cannot be shortsighted and say, at all cost, we must save this species.

I think we should do everything we can to save all the species.

We don't want to see anything go extinct.

But we've also got to use a bit of rationale and reason.

What we need to be doing is actively managing these forests and these natural areas to create the habitat that allow these animals to thrive.

It doesn't need to be a tool just to stop all kinds of development.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He argues that the law isn't doing what it set out to achieve.

REP. BRUCE WESTERMAN: People will say it's got a 99 percent effective rate, meaning that 99 percent of the animals that have been listed under the act have not gone extinct.

But only 3 percent of the animals that have been listed have actually been recovered.

And that was the intent of the Endangered Species Act.

It was recovery.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Clark says blaming the law for the severity of the current extinction crisis is misguided.

JAMIE RAPPAPORT CLARK: And it's going to take a while to bring them back.

It's not a light switch that you flip on and off.

By the time the Endangered Species Act is brought into play, the species is oftentimes in real dire straits.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's why environmental law professor Robert Fischman argues that the federal government needs to go further than the Endangered Species Act.

ROBERT FISCHMAN: It's cheapest and easiest to conserve species before they decline to the point where they're in danger of extinction.

So, what we really need is to extend the safety net beyond the Endangered Species Act.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This year, a bipartisan bill was reintroduced in the Senate that would invest more than $1 billion a year in state and tribal conservation efforts to do just that.

For now, experts say, individuals, the private sector, and nonprofits like the National Aquarium are trying to fill in the gaps.

CAITLIN BOVERY: For the animal rescue program here and the sea turtle stranding response nationwide, there's no federal funding available.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, while sea turtles like Kempsville have advocates, for many other animals, the Endangered Species Act remains the last line of defense.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.

AMNA NAWAZ: The 2023 college football season is officially under way, with some big changes looming.

On Saturday, Heisman Trophy hopeful Caleb Williams threw four touchdowns, as his USC Trojans trounced San Jose State.

But that win kicked off the last season for USC in the Pac-12 Conference.

Starting next year, USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington will move to the Big Ten Conference, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah will go to the Big 12, leaving just four schools in the Pac-12.

For more on what these moves mean and what prompted them, I'm joined now by Pat Forde, a senior writer for "Sports Illustrated."

Pat, good to see you.

Thanks for joining us.

PAT FORDE, "Sports Illustrated": Thank you.

Good to be with you.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, big picture, before we jump into the details here, just how substantial a realignment is this for college football?

PAT FORDE: It's massive.

I mean, the PAC 12 as a conference had been around for 108 years and had really been the cultural sports base for college athletics on the West Coast.

And now it is on the verge of being completely eradicated.

The movement is really unprecedented, in terms of what we have seen.

We are just making a mockery of geography and common sense and the travel demands on athletes here.

But it's all for the bottom line, TV dollars.

And that's what's driving everything.

AMNA NAWAZ: You called this in your latest column a sporting travesty, as you just mentioned.

You also wrote: "TV told the university presidents and athletic directors and conference commissioners to do it.

So, they did."

Is this really just all about the money?

PAT FORDE: It really is.

I mean, I'm not sure there's really any other way you can justify what's been going on.

TV rights revenues have just skyrocketed in terms of what schools can make from their media partners, whether it's ESPN for the Southeastern Conference and others or FOX Sports with the Big Ten.

They are in an arms race, really.

Those two leagues and the two networks are pitted against each other.

And the money is staggering.

And it is driving every decision from university presidents who may give lip service to academics.

But, clearly, the game they're playing is all about revenue.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's just take a quick look at the map and show folks what we're talking about.

This is what the Big Ten will look like next year, literally teams competing from coast to coast.

Pat, this seems like a travel and logistical nightmare.

How is this going to work?

PAT FORDE: I don't know.

It's not going to work very well, I don't think.

What you're asking is athletes from Eugene, Oregon, Los Angeles, Seattle to get on planes constantly to fly two and three time zones to the East.

If you do enough coast-to-coast travel, you know that's very hard, but you're going to do that and play athletics and keep up with your studies at elite universities as well.

There's been lip service paid to increasing the number of charter flights and private aircraft, as opposed to putting them on commercial flights.

But we will see how much that actually happens.

There's been a lot of work put in to try to make these logistics work.

But unless they developed a time travel mechanism, it's just not going to be easy for anyone.

AMNA NAWAZ: So we are talking about football here, which is typically the big money sport at a lot of these schools.

But there are more than half-a-million student athletes competing in dozens of sports across the country in schools.

What's the impact on those teams and athletes?

PAT FORDE: That's where the impact will be bigger, because there's more midweek competition, especially like in basketball and some of the other sports, where, if you are going from West Coast to East Coast, or vice versa, you're missing two or three days of school for competition.

And, also, the -- just the budgets that are out there for these sports is not commensurate to what they're putting into football.

So if you're going to try to do this on the cheap, it's going to be really difficult to get your volleyball team, your swim team, your cross-country team to these competitions all over the country.

AMNA NAWAZ: We know ACC officials are meeting and considering adding two of the remaining Pac-12 teams to their conference.

That would be Stanford and University of California.

Are we just heading to a world where there's two or three big super conferences, and that's the way it is?

PAT FORDE: I think that's inevitably going to be the case.

The SEC and the Big Ten are so far ahead of everyone else.

The Big 12, the ACC are hanging on by their fingernails trying to remain viable.

This is part of that where the ACC is trying to get Stanford and California to help solidify their standing.

But, ultimately, I really do think that we are heading towards 24, 32, 40 schools playing big-time football, and everybody else has been kicked to the curb.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the minute or so I have left, we talked about the student athletes and the other -- other teams at these schools.

But what does all this mean for the fans?

PAT FORDE: Well, that's another thing for fans.

If you loved your in-state rivalry, if you're a Stanford fan, and you liked playing against USC, if you're Oregon State and your rival is Oregon, Washington State and Washington, those games are gone.

And so you're missing out on the chance to get in the car and drive over to the rival school and watch your team play, the chance to sit around the proverbial water cooler at the office and discuss with somebody that went to that school who's going to win the game this year.

There's no game.

And so there's not a whole lot of crossover between, say, Rutgers and Washington fans around the watercooler.

AMNA NAWAZ: Big changes coming to college football.

Pat Forde from "Sports Illustrated," thank you for walking us through those.

Good to see you.

PAT FORDE: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: An update before we go tonight.

Police in North Carolina say a gunman shot and killed a faculty member inside a UNC Chapel Hill campus lab building.

The suspect was arrested, but hasn't been identified.

The campus was put on lockdown for several hours, and investigators are working to piece together a motive as they search for the weapon.

The university has canceled classes for tomorrow.

AMNA NAWAZ: Remember, there is much more online, including a live map tracking Tropical Storm Idalia that's expected to turn into a major hurricane as it nears Florida's Gulf Coast later this week.

You can find that map and more updates on the storm at PBS.org/"NewsHour."

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us.