

December 1, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode
12/1/2023 | 56m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
December 1, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode
December 1, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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December 1, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode
12/1/2023 | 56m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
December 1, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipAMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.
I'm Amna Nawaz.
Geoff Bennett is away.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Fighting between Israel and Hamas resumes.
Plus, could the terror attacks that started the war have been avoided?
New evidence that Israeli officials repeatedly dismissed warning signs.
Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to ever serve on the United States Supreme Court, passes away at 93, leaving a towering legacy.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, Former Supreme Court Justice: I wanted, since I was the first, not to be the last.
And I wanted to do the job well, so it would provide encouragement for women to serve in the future.
AMNA NAWAZ: And Congressman George Santos is expelled from the House of Representatives in the wake of his many lies and scandals.
(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."
After a week-long cease-fire, in which Hamas released more than a hundred Israeli and foreign hostages, Israel freed more than 240 Palestinians, and hundreds of aid trucks were allowed into Gaza, war has returned to the region.
Negotiators are working to reinstate the temporary truce that ended this morning, but the health authority in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, said more than 175 Palestinians have already been killed.
Nick Schifrin begins our coverage.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Tonight, Israeli flares light up the Gaza sky, and Israel's Iron Dome above Tel Aviv intercepts rockets fired from Gaza.
As war has re-erupted, Israel vows to continue its military mission.
BENNY GANTZ, Israeli War Cabinet Minister (through translator): The state of Israel is committed to winning the campaign, and this victory includes both a supreme effort to return the abductees and also the removal of the threat of Hamas.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel and the U.S. said Hamas failed to produce another list of hostages to be released today and, before the cease-fire expired, began firing rockets from Gaza into Israel.
By the end of the day, Israel said Hamas had fired more than 50 rockets into Israel.
Israel immediately resumed it's air campaign.
In the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the center of Gaza, crowds of men lifted the dead out of what Gazans say used to be an apartment complex.
Residents told us at least 15 were killed in their sleep.
ABU ZIYAD, Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp Resident (through translator): There was no warning at 7:00 a.m.
It happened right after the so-called truce ended.
It was full of innocent children and normal civilians.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In Southern Gaza, residents walked through the rubble from an Israeli airstrike on what they said was another apartment building.
Mahmoud Siyam spoke to us as Israeli drones arrived above.
MAHMOUD SIYAM, Palestinian Politician: They thought this is a safer place to stay here.
And, this morning, Israel attack without warning.
We ask the international law, international - - all over the world to stop this war.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Thousands of Palestinians fled their homes near the border with Israel along the main road leading to Khan Yunis.
But, today, Khan Yunis itself was filled with smoke and grief.
Wounded children arrived into a hospital.
Even Gaza's most vulnerable were not spared the horrors of war.
LAMA ABU MOUS, Wounded Palestinian (through translator): I found my mother and my younger brother.
I don't know where my older brother is.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. has pressed Israel to reduce civilian casualties.
And, today, Israel used new leaflets, declaring Khan Yunis a combat zone and urging Gazans to move south to Rafah.
But even in Rafah today, this was the aftermath of what residents said was an Israeli airstrike.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: We saw Israel take steps immediately today to start to get information to people about where safe areas are, how they can get out of harm's way.
NICK SCHIFRIN: During his third trip to the region since the October 7 attacks, including a quick stop today at the COP climate conference in Dubai, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel bears a special burden to avoid civilian casualties.
ANTONY BLINKEN: I made clear that, after the pause, it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For hours today, Israel blocked humanitarian trucks currently sitting in Egypt from entering Gaza.
But, tonight, U.S. officials said, at their urging, trucks would soon reenter Gaza.
What the U.S. is also hoping resumes, the release of more Israeli hostages.
So far, more than 100 have been freed, but Hamas still hasn't provided another list today, and claims it doesn't hold any more women and children, even though 10 to 20 are still believed to be held hostage.
U.S. and Israeli officials don't believe Hamas ' claim.
Israeli officials said half-a-dozen Israelis who disappeared on October the 7th, including Ofir Tzarfati, have been confirmed dead.
Hamas today blamed Israel for the war resuming, but said it would continue indirect talks, mediated by Qatar.
OSAMA HAMDAN, Hamas Spokesperson (through translator): We believe that the Qatari side will continue its communications, and we will be ready to engage with them if the Israelis respond and cease the aggression.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Demonstrators in Tel Aviv urged the Israeli government to prioritize hostage releases.
But Qatar warned that they are less likely now that war has resumed.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.
AMNA NAWAZ: For months, there has been a critical question lurking behind the Israel-Hamas conflict: How did Israel's vaunted military and intelligence services fail to recognize the elaborate plans Hamas was making for its unprecedented widespread attack on October 7?
As William Brangham details, a new report sheds light on how Israel was caught off guard so disastrously.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: On the morning of October 7, Hamas deployed a slew of techniques it had never used before, seemingly catching the nation of Israel completely by surprise.
It flew drones into Israel, dropping explosives onto Israeli surveillance towers.
It used motorized paragliders to fly its soldiers from Gaza into Israel.
It used heavy machinery to punch holes into barrier walls, through which armed attackers poured into Israel, charging into unsuspecting military outposts and kibbutzes, killing hundreds at random, and seizing hostages.
The attack was preceded by one thing Hamas was known for, launching a barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel.
In the days that followed October 7, there were reports that low-level analysts had reported seeing Hamas agents rehearsing some parts of this attack, but those warnings were dismissed.
But according to a new report from The New York Times, Israeli intelligence had obtained more than a year ago a 40-page document detailing virtually the exact attack plan that Hamas executed on October 7.
Reporter Adam Goldman is one of the journalists who broke this story.
Adam Goldman, thank you so much for being here.
You obtained this roughly 40 page document, which you report Israel had in its hands for more than a year.
Israel even gave it a name, called it "Jericho Wall."
This report circulated amongst leaders in Israel's intelligence services and the military.
So, how is it that they seemed so unprepared when this plan actually was enacted?
ADAM GOLDMAN, The New York Times: The Israelis took this document seriously.
They -- you can imagine the time and effort they invested into obtaining it, right?
It was a closely held document, and they scrutinized it in different -- different parts of the intelligence community scrutinized it.
And, ultimately, I believe, and -- I believe in May of last year a -- the Gaza division, which is in charge of the security of that particular area by the Gaza Strip, a commander wrote that this was a compass, right?
And they didn't believe that Hamas had reached the capability it had outlined in this in this battle plan.
In other words, the compass was the direction where they wanted to go, but they had yet to arrive there.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So the sense was that Israeli officials simply believed that Hamas didn't have the -- just simply weren't ready and/or prepared to do something so audacious?
ADAM GOLDMAN: Yes, exactly so.
They knew they would like to at one point.
It was sort of like imagine like a five-year plan, like the military does for its planning.
That's the way they viewed this.
And at the end of the five years, this is where they wanted to be.
And the Israelis just didn't think they had the capabilities.
Of course, some within the Israeli government felt that -- sorry -- the Israeli intelligence services had felt that, in fact, Hamas had narrowed the gap and had gotten much closer to achieving its goals.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And how do you know that was the Israelis' interpretation of this?
ADAM GOLDMAN: Well, it was clear to us in the in interviews that The Times had done, as well as an e-mail chain that we obtained involving a veteran Hamas analyst working for an Israeli intelligence officer who wrote in this e-mail chain in July of this year of 2023 that the gap had been narrowed, and it seemed that Hamas, after she learned about a training exercise, was going to implement at least part of this battle plan, though, while the battle plan talked about, using up to, I believe, 2,000 Hamas commandos, they thought the number might be smaller.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And again, as you report, if you have an Israeli intelligence agent who sees a version of this plan being rehearsed and says, guys, this seems to be the document - - a version of the document that we have been studying, what is your sense as to why her warnings were not heeded?
ADAM GOLDMAN: She herself didn't challenge the assessment that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was in fact ready to go to war.
In fact, the conventional wisdom was he didn't - - was not interested in going to war, and she didn't challenge that in her analysis in these e-mails.
She also didn't give the -- she didn't place a time on the attack.
And I think one of the issues here is making a convincing argument to military and political leaders that an attack was in fact imminent.
It's not clear to me how far her warnings reached at the time, but there were others who -- there were others -- there were other veteran analysts who agreed with their assessment.
And then there were others who felt this was imaginary.
And they literally used that word, that this - - Hamas wanted to do this, but, of course, they weren't ready to.
There are many, many parallels to the attacks on the 9/11.
It was a lack of imagination, that they failed to envision or at least understand the true capabilities of Hamas and what they intended to do.
They also, it seems, weren't willing to challenge their own conventional wisdom.
And, in a sense, confirmation bias had seeped into the intelligence thinking.
And people might have been in an echo chamber.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Adam Goldman of The New York Times, thank you so much for sharing your reporting with us.
ADAM GOLDMAN: Thank you for having me.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: A federal appeals court panel ruled that January 6 lawsuit's against former President Trump will move forward.
Democratic lawmakers and Capitol Police have accused him of inciting mob violence.
Mr. Trump argues presidential immunity shields him from liability.
But the court's ruling said that -- quote - - "He is acting as office-seeker, not officeholder, so immunity does not apply."
The former president could ask the full appeals court to rule or go directly to the Supreme Court.
A federal prison inmate is being charged with the attempted murder of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed George Floyd.
Chauvin was stabbed 22 times last Friday in federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.
He'd been convicted of murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
World leaders appealed for action today at the second day of COP 28, the U.N. climate conference in Dubai.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pressed for an end to fossil fuels.
Others, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, spoke of the grave consequences of a warming planet, including food shortages.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: A growing population means the global demand for food is likely to increase by an estimated 50 percent by the year 2050.
An escalating climate crisis means that crop yields could drop by as much as 30 percent over that same period.
So, do the math.
AMNA NAWAZ: The U.S. and China remain the world's top polluting nations, but President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are not attending the conference.
Ukraine's spy agency has reportedly reached deep into Russia, blowing up two fuel tanker trains in Siberia.
Ukrainian news outlets say the attacks targeted a key Russian supply route with China.
They followed Russian missile strikes Thursday in Ukraine's Donetsk region, killed two people and wrecked apartment buildings.
But, in an interview, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the world not to lose interest as the war drags on.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): We already can see the consequences of the global society switching its attention because of the tragedy in the Middle East.
We must not allow people to forget about the war here.
You see, attention equals help.
No attention will mean no help.
We fight for every bit of attention.
AMNA NAWAZ: The war is now in its 22nd month, with neither side gaining a breakthrough.
But Moscow claimed today that its forces are advancing on all fronts.
The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has announced he's facing new criminal charges.
He said today they fall under part of the Russian penal code that covers vandalism, but he doesn't know the specifics.
Navalny wrote on X, formerly Twitter -- quote - - "They really do initiate a new criminal case against me every three months."
He's already serving more than 30 years in prison for various crimes, all of which he denies.
Separately, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva will stay in jail in Southwestern Russia until February.
A court in Kazan read the order today as Kurmasheva sat inside the glass defendant's box.
She was arrested in October for failing to register as a foreign agent because she works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The company reports news and is funded by the U.S. government.
Back in this country it may get harder to claim the full $7,500 tax credit for buying electric vehicles if the batteries contain Chinese-made materials.
The Biden administration proposed that requirement today to foster domestic production.
Industry analysts say it may also hurt sales.
President Biden wants half of all passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. to be E.V.s by 2030.
And on Wall Street, stocks got December off to a good start.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 294 points to close at 36245, the Nasdaq rose 78 points and the S&P 500 added 26.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": the lasting legacy of the first U.S. Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O'Connor; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the weeks political headlines; plus much more.
For the first time in more than two decades, Congress has expelled one of its own.
As congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins explains, Representative George Santos is out of a job.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The yeas are 311.
The nays are 114.
LISA DESJARDINS: The new speaker of the House announced the result solemnly.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON: The resolution is adopted.
LISA DESJARDINS: The first expulsion of a Republican from Congress, and more than 100 Republicans voted to do it.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON: The clerk will notify the governor of the state of New York.
LISA DESJARDINS: It was a historic turn of events.
FMR.
REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): This race is, for me, a personal race.
LISA DESJARDINS: Just last year, he was a little-known congressional candidate, running as a Trump supporter who embraced Long Island's diversity and was tough on crime.
ANNOUNCER: George Santos vows to tackle crime head on in our district.
LISA DESJARDINS: He won by seven points, but, within weeks, a local newspaper story of his misconduct went national.
Santos lied about graduating from college, about working for top New York financial firms, and even claims of being a Jew.
He downplayed what he did.
FMR.
REP. GEORGE SANTOS: Did I embellish my resume?
Yes, I did.
And I'm sorry.
I'm still the same guy.
I'm not a fraud.
I'm not a cartoon character.
LISA DESJARDINS: Calls for removal already hovered as he took the oath of office.
REP. DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY): George Santos needs to be held accountable for his lies.
LISA DESJARDINS: Including from fellow Republicans in New York.
JOSEPH CAIRO, Nassau County, New York, Republican Party Chairman: He's a disgrace to House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople.
FMR.
REP. GEORGE SANTOS: I feel confident that I get to fight it and I have my day in court.
LISA DESJARDINS: Santos survived two previous efforts to expel him, as the House awaited an Ethics Committee report.
That came earlier this month.
CHAD PERGRAM, FOX News Congressional Correspondent: Bill, good morning.
It's pretty damning here.
DANA BASH, CNN Host: Substantial evidence that Congressman George Santos broke the law.
SCOTT MACFARLANE, CBS News: I have read a number of House Ethics Committee reports over the years.
This one is uniquely exhaustive, damning and scathing.
LISA DESJARDINS: In a 56-page investigative report, the committee better known for giving warnings was searing, writing: "Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own profit" and finding that Santos bilked donors, reported fake loans, stole money from his campaign, and that funds were spent on things that appeared personal, like at a casino, on an adult entertainment Web site and for Botox.
(CHANTING) LISA DESJARDINS: That came on top of the 23 felony counts he faces, including money laundering and wire fraud.
Some Republicans have increasingly demanded his expulsion.
REP. ANTHONY D'ESPOSITO (R-NY): It is in the best interest of the constituents of New York 3 and all Americans that he is expelled from the House of Representatives.
LISA DESJARDINS: Santos pleaded not guilty in court... FMR.
REP. GEORGE SANTOS: I'm going to keep fighting.
I'm going to keep fighting for what I believe in.
I'm going to keep fighting to represent my district.
LISA DESJARDINS: ... and in Congress maintained that he is the victim of a smear campaign who should be given time to defend himself.
FMR.
REP. GEORGE SANTOS: Mr. Speaker, efforts taken by other members in this body to act as judge, jury and executioner are unconscionable and reckless to our republican system of government.
I stand today to continue to prove my innocence.
LISA DESJARDINS: The idea of expelling a member before his day in court gave many pause.
REP.
TROY NEHLS (R-TX): Kicking out Mr. Santos is setting a very dangerous precedent.
Never before has Congress expelled a member based on indictments.
Indictments require nothing more than probable cause.
An indictment is not a conviction.
LISA DESJARDINS: But as evidence mounted, including former staffers admitting wrongdoing, so did votes against him.
Now Santos has bigger concerns.
QUESTION: Are you going to jail?
FMR.
REP. GEORGE SANTOS: Absolutely not.
LISA DESJARDINS: With a criminal trial set for next fall.
If convicted, the congressman, who spent less than a year representing New York, could face a prison term measured in decades.
AMNA NAWAZ: And Lisa joins us now with more on today's historic development.
Lisa, help us understand what this means for the congressman's seat and just for Congress more broadly.
LISA DESJARDINS: Republicans are nervous.
There is a chance in the special election to fill this seat that they could lose it, in fact.
So we're going to watch that very closely.
It's also interesting, history-wise.
One reason that we know this is historic, very -- this happens so seldom, the vote was close going into it, but it was another member of the Republican Party, Congressman Max Miller, who sent out an e-mail to his colleagues saying that he and his mother personally were victims of George Santos, that, when they gave money to the campaign, they were bilked out of -- ultimately lost some $30,000.
And that influenced Republicans' choice, I think, to get rid of him.
One other note, I think it's important to say, there was real divide among Republicans about this, as you heard in the piece.
And I think that divide may remain.
There was a little bit of bitterness here leaving, and some Republicans thinking this was an incredible mistake, others thinking it had to happen, so something to watch for in that Republican Conference.
AMNA NAWAZ: You will be following the impact of it all, another historic day on Capitol Hill.
Lisa Desjardins, thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
AMNA NAWAZ: Sandra Day O'Connor, the history-making justice who was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, died this morning in Phoenix from complications of dementia and a respiratory illness.
Chief Justice John Roberts said today that when O'Connor joined the court in 1981, she met the challenge -- quote -- "with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor."
Judy Woodruff has this remembrance.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, Former Supreme Court Justice: I wanted, since I was the first, not to be the last.
And I wanted to do the job well, so it would provide encouragement for women to serve in the future.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Sandra Day O'Connor broke the gender barrier at the U.S. Supreme Court, and ultimately became a critical vote on abortion rights, affirmative action and even the election of a president.
It was a long journey from the family cattle ranch in Southeastern Arizona.
She recalled those early years in a "NewsHour" interview in 2002.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: It gives a person a little confidence, a bit of self-reliance, because you know you have to solve the problems yourself.
You can't always turn to other people to do them, a belief in independence.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The young Sandra Day earned degrees at Stanford University and its law school, where she was a classmate of future Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
She married another law grad, John O'Connor, and tried for a job practicing law.
But it was the 1950s, and more than 40 firms turned her down.
Eventually, after having children, she turned to politics, serving in the state Senate, and became a judge for Arizona's State Court of Appeals.
Then, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated O'Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court.
MAN: The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: I do so swear.
JUDY WOODRUFF: She described herself as a judicial conservative and won unanimous Senate confirmation.
But after joining the court, she came to be regarded as more moderate and a swing vote.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: Some of the decisions are made by drawing very fine lines.
And reasonable people can disagree on where those lines should be drawn.
I have been there.
And I know how challenging it is.
It is not surprising at all that some cases are decided by drawing fine lines with five people here and four people on the other side.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In 1992, Justice O'Connor was the critical fifth vote against overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Later, she joined a one-vote majority in striking down state limits on so-called partial-birth abortions.
In 2003, she wrote the majority opinion upholding the use of race in deciding college admissions.
And she voted with the 5-to-4 majority in Bush v. Gore, the case that ultimately settled the bitterly disputed 2000 presidential election.
In later years, O'Connor acknowledged criticism that she lacked a clear judicial philosophy, but she defended her case-by-case approach.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: You have to answer the question, like it or not.
And the questions deserve a valid legal response, even if the response isn't one that will be easily understood.
You have an obligation as a member of the court to do what you are bound to do under federal law, even if it isn't an attractive resolution from a public standpoint.
JUDY WOODRUFF: She was the lone woman on the High Court for 12 years, until President Bill Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993.
O'Connor retired from the court in 2006, citing her husband's health, but continued hearing cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.
And she made time to visit schools, actively promoting the importance of civics education.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: I wanted to teach young people in America how they can be part of the governmental structure and help decide what problems to tackle and how to solve them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The retired justice devoted much of her attention to caring for her husband, John, who suffered from Alzheimer's and died in 2009.
That same year, O'Connor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
At the ceremony, President Obama said she forged a new trail and built a bridge behind her for all young women to follow.
O'Connor reflected on it all in an interview with the "NewsHour" in 2009.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR: I was asked in my Senate confirmation hearing about how I'd like to be remembered.
I called it the tombstone question.
And I said, I hope the tombstone might read, "Here lies a good judge."
JUDY WOODRUFF: At the age of 88, the retired justice announced she had formally withdrawn from public life.
She wrote to the High Court that she had beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer's.
Sandra Day O'Connor lived out her final years in Arizona.
AMNA NAWAZ: Sandra Day O'Connor was 93-years-old.
John Yang picks up our coverage of her legacy both on and off the Supreme Court.
JOHN YANG: O'Connor's tenure on the Supreme Court is notable not just because she was the first woman, but also because of what she did in her 24 years there.
Joan Biskupic is the CNN Supreme Court analyst and author of "Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice."
Joan, along those lines, you write in the book that her appointment didn't just change the court; it transformed the court.
What do you mean by that?
JOAN BISKUPIC, Author, "Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice": It really did, John.
And it's great to be with you, even though at this moment we really feel some sadness, along with the weight of history, for how influential Sandra Day O'Connor was.
I like to say that she made history certainly by being the first woman justice on the Supreme Court, but, also, she was a real politician on the court.
She came knowing how to count votes, knowing how to work consensus.
And she had a very pragmatic style that involved not just trying to find the center of the law in America, but also trying to find the center of the court.
So there was no one like her before 1981, and there will be no one like her going forward.
She influenced so many important areas that I -- that you all just touched on, abortion rights, religion, racial affirmative action.
But her overall approach was to ensure that, when those nine justices got together in the conference room with nobody else but them, that everyone walked away feeling like they got something.
Now, people were critical of that sort of consensus-building, center-of-the-court approach she had, but it really did steady the law in America in a way that we don't have right now.
JOHN YANG: You mentioned her political skills, she was Senate majority leader in the Arizona Senate, and also her stand on abortion.
Now, when she voted to preserve Roe v. Wade last time it was challenged, it wasn't just her vote that was important.
Is that right?
JOAN BISKUPIC: That's right.
She brought together a coalition.
It was her and fellow Justices David Souter and Anthony Kennedy, both of whom were Republican appointees also, and got everyone together to preserve the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade, which, of course, was overturned in last year's decision by this Supreme Court.
And you referred to the 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
She wrote something very compelling at the time.
She acknowledged that many people might not have wanted what the court did in Roe v. Wade in 1973, and she might not even have wanted it in 1973, but she wrote about how all of America had come to live with it.
And she said it wasn't the court's role to impose its own morality or sense of social norms on the country, not to impose somebody's personal morality on the country, but to sort of take account of the entire population and how much that precedent had been around for, at that time, from 1973 to 1992, 20 years.
And then it wasn't until 2022 that the court completely overturned it, obliterating nearly a half-century of precedent.
JOHN YANG: And another area where she was influential was supporting or upholding race-based college admissions, which also was overturned last year.
What did she say about when her opinions were overturned after she left the court when she was asked about how she felt seeing some of her opinions overturned?
JOAN BISKUPIC: Well, John, I talked to her in about 2009 at a legal conference.
And, at that point, not everything had been reversed.
The court, with her successor, Samuel Alito, had already started rolling back some of her decisions, but not the big-ticket ones we have just referred to.
And she used the word dismantling.
And she expressed frustration that her decisions were being dismantled.
But little did she know what was to come.
JOHN YANG: On a personal note, Joan, you write that she was very eager for the justices to build relationships away from the court, outside the courtroom, outside the conference.
What sorts of things did she do?
JOAN BISKUPIC: Oh, she was always arranging things.
If it wasn't a bridge party, it was a trip to see some musical event.
If it wasn't that, she just -- she was -- it's funny.
She was an only child for about 12 years of her life.
She had two younger siblings, but she was the kind of person who I think her instinct after her somewhat lonely life on the ranch, her Lazy B Ranch in Arizona, made her always want to have people around.
But she was -- I refer to her politician's touch in trying to bring people around her, and because I think she realized, John, that to have smooth relations inside the court, you needed to build relationships outside the court with your colleagues.
So she was always doing dinners.
She was known for trying to arrange potlucks, bringing things in for her law clerks and also trying to enlist her fellow justices for various events.
And she was the one, John, who started the practice that they have now of having lunch together on days that they hold oral arguments.
And I remember Justice Clarence Thomas saying to me that she would -- she would say: "You have to come eat with us.
You have to."
And she was doing that with all of them.
David Souter, one of her shyer colleagues, resisted a bit.
But she ensured that all nine of them would have lunch together after oral arguments.
And I think that built a lot of really good will among the justices during her tenure.
JOHN YANG: Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic on Sandra Day O'Connor, thank you very much.
JOAN BISKUPIC: Thank you, John.
AMNA NAWAZ: Congressman George Santos' ouster marks an end to 11 turbulent months in the House of Representatives.
On that and the race for president heating up, we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.
That is New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post.
Good to see you both.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Good to see you, Amna.
AMNA NAWAZ: So let's begin where Lisa's reporting left off there on Congressman Santos.
David, what do you make of how this process played out and the fact that he was eventually ousted from his job?
DAVID BROOKS: He richly deserved it, and yet I'm sad.
(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Why is that?
DAVID BROOKS: I don't know.
Somehow, he's such a character.
Like, he's such a ridiculous character.
Somehow, only 19th century names come to me.
Like, he's a mountebank, a bounder, like all these words that you get from Trollope novels.
He's like one of those characters.
And so he's a unique star that swept across our sky.
And the only thing I -- like, what was he thinking?
That has never been answered.
The only explanation I have ever heard was, he assumed he'd lose, so nobody would check into the way he spent the campaign money and nobody -- but -- and he ended up winning, and now his life is in turmoil, and he's left us with a little stain.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, will you miss him?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: No.
No, I'm not going to miss him, primarily because he shouldn't have been there in the first place.
This is a guy who ran for office, whose life - - life story was literally unbelievable, as we discovered after he was elected.
And after he was elected, we discovered that, according to someone down in Brazil, where he used to live, this person claimed -- and George Santos' denied it -- that he was a drag performer in Brazil, going by the name of Kitara Ravache.
So there is a very popular show on television called "RuPaul's Drag Race."
It's about almost 20 years old.
And there is a competition where the drag queens, the two remaining drag queens after these competitions, they have to lip sync for their life.
Finally, finally, Congress and the Republicans asked Mr. Santos to sashay away.
(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Wow.
I got to say, I did not anticipate RuPaul coming up in this conversation.
(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Ten points to Jonathan.
Not a good week for Mr. Santos.
But Nikki Haley was having a really good week.
Let's talk about her for a moment and the 2024 race.
She received this coveted endorsement from a group that's financed by the Koch brothers.
She's seeing a steady rise in some of the early state polling.
And she's really pitching herself, David, as an alternative to former President Trump.
Here, in fact, is just part of her latest ad.
NIKKI HALEY (R), Presidential Candidate: It's time for a new generation of conservative leadership.
We have to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose.
AMNA NAWAZ: David, what do you make of Haley's recent rise?
DAVID BROOKS: Well, she's good.
She's just a good politician, if you watch her campaign.
And it's always best early in the campaign season just to see who -- like, watching pitchers.
Who knows how to throw a baseball?
She's just good at it.
She gives a good speech.
She's strong when she needs to be.
She's folksy when she needs to be.
She does good retail politics.
So that still matters.
And her rise has not been like a blip.
It's been a long, slow, steady rise.
So it's real.
And the Koch thing was interesting, that they would endorse, because -- or that he's pledged to support her, because her foreign policy is not their foreign policy.
They're much -- she's much more hawkish than they are on things like Ukraine.
And so she -- even though in the ad she says she's a new generation, she really represents the older generation of Republicans, which was hawkish abroad and somewhat not as populist, not as anti-immigrant as the Trump Republican Party has turned out to be.
So I will be curious to see if she can narrow that slim lead that Trump has of nearly -- only 30 points in Iowa and "NewsHour".
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes.
(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Which, Jonathan, brings me to you.
It's not close at this point.
She is rising, but he still has a formidable lead.
How do you look at this?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, she's rising vis-a-vis DeSantis.
That's how she's rising.
But when it comes to Donald Trump, she's not rising.
She's not rising.
Donald Trump's lead is yawning, if you really want to describe it that way.
The thing about Nikki Haley -- and I agree with you.
I don't agree with her on a whole lot of things, but I do agree that her rise has been steady.
And she's been focused and determined in a way that folks thought you would -- they would say that about Ron DeSantis.
But here's my issue with anyone in that race who isn't Donald Trump.
And Robert Kagan gets at it in this fantastic op-ed, essay he does for The Washington Post, where he's saying that Trump dictatorship, the headline says, is inevitable.
And one of the things he says is that, right now, you have people saying they want to take down Trump.
The Kochs have endorsed Nikki Haley.
But once it becomes clear, if Donald Trump sews up the nomination, watch all of these people circle the wagons and do everything they can to get him elected.
And so I'm happy for her rise.
It would be great if she could knock out Donald Trump.
But I don't see what's gained, from my perspective, by either her doing that or him becoming the nominee.
AMNA NAWAZ: Well, as you mentioned, her rise also highlights how far Governor DeSantis' campaign has fallen off.
He took the stage last night in Georgia to debate California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is not running for president.
But here is just part of that debate as it played out last night.
GOV.
RON DESANTIS (R-FL), Presidential Candidate: He has no business running for president.
And Gavin Newsom agrees with that.
He won't say that.
That's why he's running his shadow campaign.
GOV.
GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): But there's one thing, in closing, that we have in common, is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, we should clarify.
Governor DeSantis there was talking about President Biden at the top of that sound bite.
That was, of course, aired on FOX, hosted by prime-time host Sean Hannity.
David, one of those men is running for president.
One is not.
Why would each of them participate in this debate?
DAVID BROOKS: Because they're politicians.
There are TV cameras there.
(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: You don't really need to go any deeper.
That's a pretty good explanation.
And I think they would like to conceive themselves as the leaders of two different governing models.
And so the California model is obviously the progressive model.
The Florida model is way more conservative.
And I think they both see the other state as mismanaged, misgoverned.
And they both have a strong case to be made.
And I think -- and so I was hoping we'd get some sort of debate between the red and blue model.
And the red model -- again, Florida, people are actually flee -- running to go to Florida, and people are running to go away from California.
So it'd be an interesting debate to see why my model is better than your model.
That's not the tony debate we ended up getting.
It just turned out to be more annoying interruptions mostly.
AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think that it helped Mr. DeSantis in any way?
DAVID BROOKS: No, I don't think so.
AMNA NAWAZ: No?
DAVID BROOKS: His pattern has been so longstanding.
As I said, Nikki Haley is actually good at this.
Ron DeSantis has some skills as a campaigner, but he's not good as -- at being a politician.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, when you look at this, is this effectively a shadow campaign Governor Newsom is running here?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: No.
AMNA NAWAZ: No?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Amna, no.
No.
(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: And this whole -- the premise of this question -- and I'm not picking on you, because a lot of people are saying this.
Governor Newsom is not running for president.
He is not running a shadow presidency or a shadow candidacy.
He is not doing that.
But what Gavin Newsom is doing is what he has been doing for at least two years, which is taking the fight directly to Republicans.
This guy has been watching FOX News regularly for years now, and he just got tired of having Democrats be on the back foot, when they have got policies, when they have got accomplishments that they should be fighting for.
So this isn't the first time that DeSantis and Newsom have gone head to head.
Remember, Governor Newsom bought billboards in Florida telling people, hey, they're banning your books and say don't say gay.
Come to California, where we will welcome you with open arms.
I would say -- when you say that Nikki Haley is very good at this, Nikki Haley is so good that at no point would she ever decide to debate someone who isn't even running for president.
I think this was -- Gavin Newsom had nothing to lose, everything to gain, and he doesn't need the stature boost.
I think he did it for fun.
Governor DeSantis did it, I think, as a Hail Mary pass to save a campaign that is just inexorably sliding into irrelevance.
AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think that Governor Newsom's appearance, though, helped the campaign of President Biden in any way?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: I do because, when -- and I watched the debate.
Every -- almost every -- in every sentence, it was Biden/Harris, Biden/Harris, Biden/Harris, President Harris, Vice -- President Biden, Vice President Harris.
He made it clear in his answers: This is not about me.
I am not running.
This is about the president, the current president, and the current vice president, and why they deserve a second term.
AMNA NAWAZ: Before we go, I want to get each of you to offer your takes on two incredible losses we featured on the program this week, both for the impact they left on the nation and on the world, one much more controversial than the other.
David, let's begin with Henry Kissinger, who undoubtedly reshaped global politics, also left millions of people dead in the wake of his policies.
How are you looking at his legacy?
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I mean, it's important to remember he grew up as Germany was nazifying.
And I think, out of that, he grew this pessimistic sense that the crust of civilization is thin, and we have to do what we can to preserve order.
And, sometimes, that worked out, the trip to China, and then the detente with the Soviets.
But, as you indicated, in some cases, he was blind to human rights abuses, too much Machiavelli, too much realpolitik.
And so we see the downside of his career.
I will say, for many years, I used to go to a breakfast, an annual breakfast, that was hosted by George Shultz, who was Reagan's secretary of state, and Henry Kissinger, who obviously preceded him in that role.
They both lived to be 100.
And it could be a gloomy breakfast.
They were not happy with the way America was going.
But it was interesting to watch the two different kinds of intelligence.
George Shultz's intelligence, he could take a complex situation and give you what you need to know in 30 seconds.
He had a great summarizing ability.
Kissinger was just flat-out brilliant.
He would come up with ideas you hadn't thought of.
He had done reading that you hadn't done.
And so, from everything from Machiavelli to Stalin to artificial intelligence, he was just insightful.
And whatever one thinks of his policies, it was a mind.
It was a great mind.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, a very different legacy being weighed with the passing of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
How are you looking at her life and its impact?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, one, I mean, she was a historymaker, the first woman on the Supreme Court.
She was a conservative, but she was a moderate when it came to reproductive rights.
She was the one who tapped the brakes on a lot of things that the court could have done.
She's from -- she's a different mold of the conservatives who are on the court now.
And I wonder, if she were coming up, would she even be considered to be on the court today?
And given what we have seen, I doubt it.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, always good to see you both.
Thank you so much.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: You too, Amna.
DAVID BROOKS: Thank you.
AMNA NAWAZ: And we will be back shortly.
But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.
It's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like this one on the air.
And for those of you staying with us, an encore story from St. Paul, Minnesota, which is home to the nation's largest population of Hmong, an indigenous group of people from Southeast Asia.
Special correspondent Megan Thompson tells us about a Hmong chef who is honoring his heritage with a taste of home.
YIA VANG, Hmong Chef: So this is the rice and here's our big rice steamer, that is hot.
To be completely honest, I never wanted to do this.
I tried my hardest to get out of it.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Why?
YIA VANG: In our culture in the old school way of looking at it is like to be a cook meant, like you would just be, you know, sloshing it in the back.
You're dirty all the time.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Yia Vang may have failed to avoid cooking for a living, but he's doing much more than getting dirty in the kitchen.
YIA VANG: In the Hmong way of saying is (inaudible) come and eat.
MEGAN THOMPSON: The Minneapolis chef is at the forefront of introducing the Twin Cities and the nation to the food of the Hmong and ethnic group from Southeast Asia.
YIA YANG: Obviously Hmong food consists of four elements a meat, a rice, a vegetable and a hot sauce.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Vang's Union Hmong Kitchen started in 2016 as a pop up then a food trailer outside a local cidery.
Now it's a popular counter inside a trendy food hall.
Vang also launches new menu concepts every few months at Hilltribe.
His kitchen and event space.
He's been a James Beard Award finalist or semifinalists for the last two years.
YIA YANG: We have our pork belly.
We have our Hmong sausage of Kelsang, which is our noodles and then we have our purple sticky rice here because if everything is too flavorful, it's too big for you.
The purple sticky rice helps balance everything out.
JOE DOERRER: I've actually never had Hmong food and this is my first time and it's phenomenal.
MEGAN THOMPSON: In the cities with the largest Hmong population in the nation, Vang is hailed as the first to bring his native food to the masses.
In April, he opened a stand at the Twins baseball stadium and last summer fans lined up for his booth at Minnesota's legendary state fair the first time Hmong food had been served at either place.
Lee Pao Xiong is the director of the Center for Hmong studies at Concordia University in St. Paul.
LEE PAO XIONG, Director, Center for Hmong Studies, Concordia University St. Paul: I think that what's unique about year is the ability to communicate and to correct to younger generations, right.
I mean, they they've seen the Hmong people, but they've never been invited to the kitchen.
YIA VANG: Our food has always been about people, our cultural DNA, it's intricately woven into the foods that we eat.
It tells our story.
MEGAN THOMPSON: That story begins around 5,000 years ago in China where Hmong originated.
They're thought to be among the first in the world to cultivate rice and are known for their colorful dress and embroidery.
Conflict eventually pushed them on south into the mountains of Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.
It was in Laos during the Vietnam War that the CIA recruited the Hmong for covert missions.
LEE PAO XIONG: Our task was to rescue American pilots who were shut down to also engage the North Vietnamese in combats, preventing them from going down to southern part of Laos and then going across to fight against the Americans in South Vietnam.
YIA VANG: They painted his whole mural around this area.
MEGAN THOMPSON: The conflict is so central to the Hmong story, that an expensive mural of Long Tieng a secret CIA base in Laos covers a wall of the Hmong village market in St. Paul.
YIA VANG: And actually Long Tieng is a place where a father at a young age him and his brothers they joined up with SGU, the Special Guerilla Unit, and their mission were Long Tieng of this area.
MEGAN THOMPSON: The conflict killed and estimated 30 to 40,000 Hmong soldiers, about a quarter of all Hmong men and boys in Laos.
Tens of thousands of civilians also died during the war and after the American forces withdrew.
LEE PAO XIONG: So after the United States pulled out in 1975, guess what the Vietnamese came after us.
So we fly to Thailand.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Yia Vang's father led a group through the jungle and across the Mekong River to safety in Thailand.
In 1984, Vang was born there inside a refugee camp.
Many Hmong emigrated to Minnesota after the war, thanks to an active group of church based aid organizations.
Today the state is home to close to 100,000 Hmong.
Vang's family ended up next door and Wisconsin where food was a way to maintain the Hmong culture.
YIA VANG: Learning how to cook in a Hmong house hold is not an option.
It's not like hey, do I want to like cook?
No, it's like no, you're going to cook.
PANG HER VANG, Yia's Mother (through translator): We want all our children to learn to work with us.
Washing dishes, prepping vegetables, chopping meat together, making food together.
NNHIA LOR VANG, Yia's Father (through translator): I taught you that when grilling you need to season the meat very well and don't allow it to burn.
MEGAN THOMPSON: But Vang says as a child, he wasn't necessarily proud of his heritage.
YIA VANG: I was always a shame that my parents couldn't come to school for like, you know, Career Day.
Because my parents couldn't speak English and I was a kid I was always very embarrassed.
MEGAN THOMPSON: They worked in restaurants to help pay the bills after college and launched his Hmong food trailer but wasn't sure of its future.
Then in 2017, his father suffered a head injury.
YIA VANG: Like my dad's, he's a warrior, right?
He fought a war.
He survived the odds he got us to this country, if he dies on that bed.
Like his whole legacy goes with him.
And so it changed for me.
It was not about this telling the story of our people.
It was the solidification of the legacy of mom and dad.
MEGAN THOMPSON: And so today, Vang uses his popular eateries to tell his parents story.
YIA VANG: Hmong sausage is something that my dad has taught us growing up.
It's very aromatic.
So it's lemongrass, ginger, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, Thai chilies.
We won an award with this recipe.
And I told my father about it.
And he was just like, oh, really, that's simple thing.
Like people like that.
MEGAN THOMPSON: And the hot sauce.
It's his mom's famous recipe.
YIA VANG: We have Mama Vang hot sauce.
It looks like that dark crimson paste.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Vang's parents even supplies some of his ingredients grown on their small farm north of St. Paul.
GUSTAVO ROMERO: Every time that I faced his food, there's always something different.
KATE LYNNE SYNDER: The spicy red sauce that that thick paste.
You can just dip it on anything.
I could picture having an ice cream and that being good.
YIA VANG: I'm like America.
MEGAN THOMPSON: But it's not the food that's brought back success.
YIA VANG: Nice to meet you for sure.
MEGAN THOMPSON: It's also his sense of humor and big personality.
Vang has a podcast about Hmong culture.
YIA VANG: Manny, I love your tortillas.
MEGAN THOMPSON: And he hosts two TV shows.
CLOUA YANG: He's kind of like a trailblazer, especially for the Hmong people.
You know, we don't have a country to call our own.
No one really understands our cuisine and he's been able to introduce it to the world.
LT. GOV.
PEGGY FLANAGAN (D-MN): Chef, you really embody how we should celebrate our community and things.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Vang's are in some high profile fans too, like Peggy Flanagan, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, who stopped by our recent event celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
YIA VANG: Lieutenant Governor.
And this is my mom, Pang.
LT. GOV.
PEGGY FLANAGAN: So nice to me you.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Vang's hoping to launch his first formal brick and mortar restaurant soon, calling it Vinai after the run refugee camp where he was born and where his parents first met, embracing his heritage, no longer ashamed.
AMNA NAWAZ: Remember, there's always more online, including a look at why mining is important for the transition to green technology and what experts say we can do to limit the environmental consequences in the process.
That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.
Be sure to tune into "Washington Week with The Atlantic" tonight on PBS.
Moderator Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel will discuss George Santos' historic expulsion from Congress and Senator Tommy Tuberville's plans to end his blockade of military promotions.
And watch "PBS News Weekend" tomorrow for the latest from the U.N.'s COP 28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates, where world leaders are moving closer to an agreement to cut methane emissions.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Amna Nawaz.
On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us, and have a great weekend.
Brooks and Capehart on the ouster of George Santos
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: 12/1/2023 | 11m 7s | Brooks and Capehart on the ouster of George Santos (11m 7s)
Report: Israel dismissed warning signs before Hamas attack
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: 12/1/2023 | 6m 40s | Israeli officials repeatedly dismissed warning signs before Hamas attack, report claims (6m 40s)
Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy on and off the Supreme Court
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: 12/1/2023 | 11m 31s | Remembering Sandra Day O'Connor and her legacy on and off the Supreme Court (11m 31s)
Santos expelled from House in wake of his lies and scandals
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: 12/1/2023 | 5m 17s | Santos expelled from House in wake of his many lies and scandals (5m 17s)
War returns to Gaza after Israel and Hamas cease-fire ends
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: 12/1/2023 | 4m 33s | War returns to Gaza after cease-fire between Israel and Hamas ends (4m 33s)
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