GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Michigan State University becomes the site of the latest mass shooting in America, after a gunman kills three people and wounds several more.

GEOFF BENNETT: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announces a bid for the White House, challenging former President Donald Trump.

AMNA NAWAZ: And amid a growing mental health crisis, we speak with a teenager whose family is suing social media companies, alleging that the quest for more likes contributed to her eating disorder.

NUALA MULLEN, 18 Years Old: I knew that I was hurting myself, but I just needed that validation so badly that I was willing to do anything to get it.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening, and welcome to the "NewsHour."

It's happened yet again, a burst of gun violence wiping out lives, seemingly at random.

Monday night's attack at Michigan State University left three students dead.

GEOFF BENNETT: Five others were critically wounded before the gunman fatally shot himself.

That left investigators faced with finding a motive and a campus community in shock and grief.

GOV.

GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Our Spartan community is reeling today.

GEOFF BENNETT: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, an MSU alum herself, mourned the loss of life.

GOV.

GRETCHEN WHITMER: Another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets and bloodshed.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, as students coped with the aftermath of Monday night's mass shooting at Michigan State University, officials released new details on the gunman.

Police say 43-year-old Anthony McRae was found with a note indicating threats to two schools in New Jersey, where he had ties.

Those schools were closed today.

Officials say the shooter seen on a surveillance recording holding what appeared to be a pistol had no affiliation with MSU.

He'd been charged with a weapons violation in 2019, but did not serve prison time.

The gunman's father told The Washington Post he lied about having a firearm inside their house and firing the gun in his backyard, a neighbor reportedly describing the shooter as a real hell-raiser.

The gunman opened fire last night shortly before 8:30 inside an academic building and then later at a student union.

Officers raced in as students poured out, leaving thousands of students in lockdown for hours.

DOMINIK MOLOTKY, Michigan State University Student: My legs are still shaking.

GEOFF BENNETT: Dominik Molotky says he came dangerously close to the gunman.

DOMINIK MOLOTKY: The shooter came in our room and shot three to four times.

Once he shot those rounds, we waited about 30 seconds to a minute.

And there was silence.

So we started breaking open one of the windows.

GEOFF BENNETT: Officials today released the names of the three victims, junior Arielle Anderson, an aspiring doctor, Alexandria Verner, a junior known as a tremendous athlete, and sophomore Brian Fraser, whose family disk arrived him as a light in their lives.

And, this morning, Sparrow Hospital's chief medical officer reported five people still in critical condition.

DR. DENNY MARTIN, Interim President, E.W.

Sparrow Hospital: We had general surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, neurosurgeons.

Didn't get a lot sleep last night.

Sorry.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Our hearts are with the students and the families of Michigan State University.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden today.

JOE BIDEN: It's happening far too often in this country, far too often.

While we gather more information, there's one thing we do know to be true.

We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities.

GEOFF BENNETT: The attack came on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the shooting at Parkland Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman murdered 14 students and three staff members.

Since then, mass shootings have continued at a vicious frequency.

The Gun Violence Archive reports more than 67 this year across the U.S. That's more than two every day.

We're joined now by a student at Michigan State University, Eleanor Hoss, who had to shelter in place for hours when the gunman opened fire on campus Eleanor, thank you for being with us.

And you last night were at a rooftop bar.

You were celebrating a friend's birthday.

And this bar was across the street, as I understand it, from the student union.

And you witnessed this entire thing transpire.

What did you experience?

ELEANOR HOSS, Michigan State University Student: So, actually, I arrived like 10 minutes late.

So I got there around 8:10.

And I got there.

I was saying happy birthday to my friend.

We were celebrating.

And then, almost immediately, we saw cop cars show up.

So we could see the capital from the rooftop that we were at.

And we saw, like, one cop car show up.

And then we saw three, and then it totaled up to like nine cop cars.

So, we looked to see where they were going.

And they were surrounding the union.

And then we saw cop cars coming from the other direction.

So they were coming from the east side and from the west side.

And then we just saw EMS showing up, fire trucks, everyone getting out of the vehicles and running towards the MSU union.

And then, within a couple of minutes, we saw students running out of every exit with their hands up above their head.

And students were just, like, scrambling to figure out where to go.

And it was just crazy.

GEOFF BENNETT: How long were you in the bar?

ELEANOR HOSS: We were there for about four hours, I believe.

We -- so, the bar was also a hotel.

And they offered us rooms to stay for the night.

So, they gave us a voucher around 11:30, midnight.

But that was also around the same time that the stay-in-place order was lifted.

But we were sitting in the bar for four hours, I think.

GEOFF BENNETT: And you were hearing false reports, as I understand it, that there might have been multiple shooters.

ELEANOR HOSS: Yes.

So I'm in a bunch of group chats because I'm an R.A., and everyone was sharing that they saw multiple gunmen.

And there were reports that there were shots fired in every building on campus, essentially.

Like, there were some in East campus.

There were some in the Brody campus.

And then people were spreading, like, pictures, false reports on everything.

And so people thought there were like two or three gunmen throughout the campus.

GEOFF BENNETT: How are you and your friends holding up?

How are you processing all of this?

ELEANOR HOSS: So, I was definitely in a state of shock last night.

I, like, couldn't cry.

And then, this morning, I just woke up and cried for like 20 minutes.

But my friends that did stay on campus, we have all been in touch with each other.

Me and one of my good friends who's also an R.A., we met up and went on a walk through campus just a little bit ago.

So, we went to the Spartan statue and to the rock, and we saw all the flowers that people had left.

And it was really nice just to get out and walk around.

GEOFF BENNETT: You mentioned you're a resident assistant to freshman residents.

How are they doing?

ELEANOR HOSS: So, most of my residents have actually left.

I have about 50 residents.

And I think 80 to 90 percent of them have left the campus.

My floor is usually very loud.

I have a bunch of girls.

They're all friends.

And it's just dead silent here.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you feel safe at school, Eleanor?

ELEANOR HOSS: I do not feel safe.

I actually -- I went home this weekend because I didn't feel safe on campus.

There was a lot of other crimes happening near or on campus this weekend.

And so I just felt like I needed to leave.

And then this happened.

GEOFF BENNETT: Eleanor Hoss, I appreciate your willingness to speak with us.

And you and everybody at MSU are in our thoughts.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now to the ongoing tragedy in Syria and Turkey, where the earthquake death toll topped 40,000 today.

It includes some 35,000 in Turkey, making it the country's worst disaster in a century.

At the same time, a few flickers of life are still being found.

Rescuers shouted "Don't be afraid" as a teenager was pulled to safety after nearly 200 hours buried under concrete one week after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

But these stories of survival are becoming rarer by the minute.

Rescuers in Antakya, Turkey, tired and cold, are sleeping in the rubble.

As hope wanes, frustration is mounting.

Victims blame contractors for skirting building codes, which led to catastrophic consequences.

RIZA ATAHAN, Turkish Earthquake Survivor (through translator): God does not create people so they can die.

It's the contractors who kill people.

It's the concrete that kills people.

AMNA NAWAZ: Hospitals in Turkey are still full, but patients' needs are starting to shift.

Doctors say they're treating infectious diseases, upper respiratory viruses, and mental health.

MAJ. BEENA TIWARI, Indian Army: Now more of the patients are coming with post-traumatic stress disorder, all the shock that they have gone through during the earthquake.

Patients are having panic attacks.

AMNA NAWAZ: In this hospital across the border in Syria's Idlib province, doctors are trying to save everyone they can.

In one bed sits a 10-year-old boy in shock, rescued after 50 hours in the rubble.

A toy truck keeps him company, as doctors treat him for injuries sustained when his home collapsed, killing his mother and six siblings.

Other patients in the hospital need ongoing dialysis treatments.

But medical supplies are running out.

ISMAIL ABBOUD, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator): I came here today for dialysis, but there isn't anything to go with the machine.

There are no syringes, no tubes, no medications, no solutions.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing.

AMNA NAWAZ: Much-needed international aid is barely trickling into Syria.

Today, the first U.N. aid convoy crossed into a rebel-held region.

But U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it's not coming fast enough.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General: Aid must get through from all sides to all sides through all routes without any restrictions.

AMNA NAWAZ: The U.N. estimates that nearly nine million Syrians were affected by the quakes.

Their lives upended, they're left to hope that aid comes quickly.

And, late today, another remarkable rescue.

A search team in Southern Turkey pulled a 77-year-old woman from a collapsed building after 212 hours of being buried alive.

In the day's other headlines: Inflation at the consumer level eased again in January from a year earlier.

The Labor Department reports consumer prices rose 6.4 percent from the previous January.

That was the slowest pace since year-over-year inflation peaked above 9 percent last June.

But on a month-to-month basis, prices rose half-a-percent in January, up sharply from the December increase.

President Biden is naming two new economic policy advisers.

Today's announcement said Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard will become director of the National Economic Council.

The president also named longtime adviser Jared Bernstein to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

U.S. senators got a classified briefing today on the series of unidentified objects being shot down in American airspace.

But they emerged with essential questions still unanswered, including where the objects came from and what they were doing.

They also voiced mixed feelings on how much the Biden administration should tell the public.

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): They can say what they know, what they don't know, and don't reveal sources and methods.

That's what the American people want.

When you don't provide information and there's a dearth of information, it can lead to wild speculation.

It can lead to unfounded fears.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I think the Biden administration is being very careful and very thoughtful.

A lot of this information, people say make it public, but a lot of it is classified or on the edge of classified and it's difficult.

AMNA NAWAZ: Also today, General Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that a U.S. fighter jet missed the first time it fired at an object over Lake Huron on Sunday.

A second missile hit the target.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly decided to fight a special counsel's subpoena in the January 6 investigation.

Politico, the Associated Press, and others say Mr. Pence argues he was serving as president of the Senate on January 6, 2021, to certify the election results.

The reports say he will contend that, in that role, he is shielded from the subpoena.

Federal authorities in Florida say they have arrested four more people in the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in 2021.

They include a financier and the owner of a security firm in Miami.

A total of 11 suspects are now in U.S. custody, with dozens more in Haiti.

But the Haitian probe has all but halted amid widespread chaos there.

In New Zealand, a national emergency was in effect today for only the third time ever, after a powerful tropical cyclone barreled through.

By early Wednesday, local time, the storm was southeast of Auckland, moving roughly parallel to the coast.

Its passage triggered widespread flooding and landslides in the northern part of the country.

Some 225,000 people lost electricity.

The prime minister said the scale of destruction is immense.

CHRIS HIPKINS, Prime Minister of New Zealand: Cyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen this century.

The severity and the breadth of the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation.

AMNA NAWAZ: All this comes just two weeks after an earlier storm battered Auckland, killing four people.

Back in this country, Senator Dianne Feinstein announced she will not seek reelection in 2024 after more than 30 years in office.

The California Democrat turns 90 in June and is the oldest member of Congress.

Her groundbreaking career includes becoming the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco and the first woman elected as a U.S. senator from California.

And on Wall Street, the inflation news left investors uncertain which way to jump.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 156 points to close at 34089.

The Nasdaq rose 68 points.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged.

And the White House sent a special valentine to the nation today.

Three large hearts bearing the handprints of military children were set up on the North Lawn.

They were joined by cutouts of the first family's dog, Commander, and their cat, Willow.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": NATO defense ministers meet to consider supplying Ukraine with aircraft as the war grinds on; Republican Representative Nancy Mace discusses the spy balloon situation and the future of her party; social media companies face legal scrutiny over teens' deteriorating mental health; plus much more.

GEOFF BENNETT: Former Ambassador Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for president today, making her the first Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination.

Lisa Desjardins explains how she got here.

NIKKI HALEY (R), Presidential Candidate: It's time for a new generation of leadership.

LISA DESJARDINS: With a three-minute video, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley launched a long-speculated bid for the White House.

The former U.N. ambassador diplomatically, but clearly sought contrast with her former boss and now primary opponent, Donald Trump.

NIKKI HALEY: Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.

That has to change.

LISA DESJARDINS: The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley made history in 2010 as the first woman and first person of color elected governor in the Palmetto State.

She led it following the massacre at the historic African American Mother Emanuel Church in 2015.

A white supremacist killed nine Black parishioners.

NIKKI HALEY: You are going to see all of us try and lift these nine families up in prayer.

LISA DESJARDINS: Reversing her position, Haley then pushed through the removal of the Confederate Flag from state capitol grounds.

NIKKI HALEY: The Confederate Flag is coming off the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LISA DESJARDINS: Now a national name, Haley backed a Floridian who was not Donald Trump in 2016.

NIKKI HALEY: Our next president will be Marco Rubio!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LISA DESJARDINS: This started a nuanced relationship with Trump, whose tone on immigrants she seemed to criticize in her State of the Union response that year.

NIKKI HALEY: It can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.

We must resist that temptation.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States: Nikki Haley, very nice woman, she said I'm an angry person.

I said, I am.

I'm very angry, because I hate what's happening to our country.

I am angry.

LISA DESJARDINS: But, ultimately, Haley would support Trump, and he would hire her as an ambassador to the U.N. NIKKI HALEY: There is a new U.S. U.N. LISA DESJARDINS: And unlike others in his orbit, she left the White House on her own terms and in good standing.

NIKKI HALEY: It's been an honor of a lifetime.

DONALD TRUMP: We will be speaking all the time, but we will miss you nevertheless.

LISA DESJARDINS: In the time since, Haley's walked a tightrope of high praise and soft criticism of Trump.

After the January 6 attack, she said he would be judged harshly for his role.

NIKKI HALEY: The actions that president had since Election Day were not his finest.

LISA DESJARDINS: But, later that year, she backed him as the leader and the future of the party.

NIKKI HALEY: I would not run if President Trump ran.

LISA DESJARDINS: But he is running, and now so is she, highlighting her foreign policy record with notable words.

NIKKI HALEY: I don't put up with bullies.

And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels.

LISA DESJARDINS: And wading into the identity issues that Trump has stressed, raising The New York Times' 1619 Project on slavery, a flash point on the right.

NIKKI HALEY: Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

LISA DESJARDINS: Haley will hold a campaign kickoff event tomorrow in Charleston, before heading to Iowa and New Hampshire.

For the "PBS NewsHour," Lisa Desjardins.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we are going to talk more about what Nikki Haley brings to the 2024 presidential race.

Whit Ayres is a Republican strategist and the president of North Star Opinion Research.

He's consulted for Republican candidates, including Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

It's great to have you here.

WHIT AYRES, President, North Star Opinion Research: Geoff, good to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: It strikes me that the central idea behind a Nikki Haley candidacy is that she is someone who can attract a different kind of Republican primary voter, expand the Republican base, and ultimately carve out a lane for herself.

Is that realistic?

Can she do that?

WHIT AYRES: Well, we're going to find out.

She's got a lot to sell.

She's a very popular former governor of one of the very earliest GOP primary states.

She showed some real leadership chops with the Dylann Roof massacre and the taking down of the Confederate Flag that you showed in the intro.

She's one of the very few people who went into the Trump administration and emerged with an enhanced reputation, and, in the process, got some foreign policy experience.

Demographically, she obviously separates herself from most of the potential candidates.

She's well-known, relatively well-known among Republican primary voters.

About three-quarters of them nationally have heard of her.

That's not Mike Pence or Ron DeSantis level, but it's more than many of the others.

And she can make a pretty good case at age 51 that it's time, as John F. Kennedy said in 1960, for a new generation of leadership.

So she's got a lot to sell.

GEOFF BENNETT: She took a veiled jab at Donald Trump without naming him in her announcement video, noting that he failed to win the popular vote in either of his presidential campaigns.

How does Nikki Haley confront, navigate or sidestep entirely the Trump factor?

WHIT AYRES: It is a challenge, and it will be a challenge for every one of the candidates or potential candidates as they go forward.

One thing is clear, Geoff.

You cannot run for a GOP nomination in 2024 by running against Donald Trump.

The Republican Party is split into three factions.

There's a never-Trump faction.

But that's only about 10 percent of the party.

There is an always-Trump faction, a group of people who will walk through a wall of flame for him and will follow him anywhere, including in an independent candidacy against, say, a Ron DeSantis or a Joe Biden; 28 percent of Republicans would vote for him, which would put a Democrat in the White House.

But the largest portion of the Republican Party is a maybe-Trump faction.

Those are people who voted for him twice, supported when he was president, but are really interested in an alternative who looks more like a winner and carries less baggage.

And that's the group she's going to try to go for.

GEOFF BENNETT: Tell me more about that, because you did some polling recently for The Bulwark.

And what you found was that there were Republican voters who don't necessarily dislike Donald Trump, but they think that other people dislike Donald Trump and think he's not electable, and that's why they're looking for somebody else.

WHIT AYRES: Yes, that's right.

That's right.

They have heard so much from their friends that they just couldn't -- their friends can't stand Donald Trump.

They're never going to vote for him.

That's why they think he might not be electable.

And so they're looking for someone who can maybe be in the White House for eight years rather than four, which is what Trump would be in for if he were elected again.

So, they are reluctant to admit that they don't like Trump, but they want somebody who is going to be a different sort of candidate, who is less confrontational, and who has a better chance to win, in their judgment.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about Ron DeSantis?

Can he own the mantle of Trumpism for the Republicans who want the Trump policy without the Trump personality?

Is he their guy?

WHIT AYRES: We're going to find out.

In many ways, Ron DeSantis is Trump without the crazy.

I think we're -- that's what the whole campaign is going to be about is, who can get and capture a large portion of those people who liked Trump in the past, but want a different candidate in the future?

GEOFF BENNETT: Whit Ayres, thanks, as always, for being here.

WHIT AYRES: My pleasure.

GEOFF BENNETT: Great to speak with you.

WHIT AYRES: Enjoyed it Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Leaders from a coalition of more than 50 countries that send weapons to Ukraine met today in Brussels to discuss accelerating their assistance.

Russian forces have launched fresh offensives in Ukraine's east, known as the Donbass.

And there are concerns about Ukraine's ability to withstand Russian attacks and launch its own offensive.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke after that meeting.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: We're going to continue to work with Ukraine to address Ukraine's most pressing needs.

Again, they're contemplating an offensive in the spring, and that's just weeks away.

And so we have a lot to get done.

AMNA NAWAZ: We turn now to Nick Schifrin, who is in the Donbass, the main target of Russia's push.

Nick and his team are reporting with the support of the Pulitzer Center.

Nick, it's good to see.

You heard there Secretary Austin seems to have a lot more urgency in what he's saying right now.

What's driving that right now?

NICK SCHIFRIN: It's what you said, Amna.

It is the Russian offensives that the U.S. believes are under way just a few miles east of here.

It is the Ukrainian need to launch that counteroffensive that Secretary Austin said is just weeks away, but also what a senior U.S. official tells me is new intelligence about helicopters and jets on the Ukrainian border.

The official tells me that it's not like the lights are blinking red, but they are accelerating concerns that already existed about Ukraine's air defense.

Up until now, Ukraine has required or relied on a Soviet era air defense known as the S-300.

And it's denied Russia the ability to fly freely over the country.

But senior U.S. officials tell me now that the S-300 parts and munitions will run out.

And so, at some point, they will need to create a suite of all Western air defense.

You see some of it there.

You have American Patriots and NASAMS on the top and systems from Germany and France on the bottom.

And that requires that coalition of countries that you mentioned at the top, Amna, really sending a lot of munitions very quickly.

As for what Ukraine wants, well, take a look at this.

This is Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov showing off a Western jet.

And yet U.S. officials say they still do not support the idea of sending F-16s to Ukraine.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Nick, you are in the Donbass in the city of Kramatorsk.

It's not far from much of the heavy fighting.

What does the front line look like right now?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, so the main part of the front line is just a few miles away, because the short-term goal, according to U.S. officials, is to seize Donetsk.

That is the province where I am right now.

That's the province that Russia controlled largely since 2014 alongside Luhansk.

Those two provinces make up the Donbass.

So the new attacks are in three places, Bakhmut, Kreminna, and Vuhledar.

And the largest attacks are in Bakhmut.

That is where we have seen Ukrainian forces facing off against Wagner forces.

Those are a Russian private military, many of them conscripts who have been fighting for a city that Ukraine says really represents the resistance to Russia.

But U.S. officials have said that they actually don't believe it's strategically that important.

And the Russians are making progress up and down this area, but at great cost.

Take a look at what happened in Vuhledar in the south.

Those are more than a dozen Russian tanks and armored vehicles all blown up inside a minefield.

And so the Russians are still making some of the same mistakes that they have made over the last year.

But I think, Amna, the concern, especially among some U.S. officials I speak to, is the quantity.

Russia invaded Ukraine with more than 150,000 troops.

They now have 300,000 either in Ukraine or poised to invade Ukraine.

That is something that Ukraine has to contend with on a very long front line.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Nick, given those numbers, what does that mean for the battle beyond the front line, in particular, what Secretary Austin mentioned, and a potential spring offensive by Ukraine?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Amna, Ukraine will have to achieve something that it has not yet achieved, and that is break through Russian lines that have been dug in for many months, with trenches, with vehicle barriers, with something called dragon's teeth like these, which are supposed to stop tanks.

And some are concerned that Ukraine has the ability to do.

Republicans criticized the administration for not sending more weapons more quickly to Ukraine, but the administration officials I speak to who believe that the strategy is going to work say that Ukraine doesn't need to take on Russia along this entire front line, nor does it need to rely on quantity.

It's been given more modern tactics, more modern Western vehicles, and it can use those to at least create a localized advantage and push through one of the Russian lines.

Amna, whether that is true will determine what is truly for both sides going to be a crucial few months.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Nick Schifrin reporting tonight from Kramatorsk in Ukraine.

Nick, good to see you.

Thank you.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: For more on what Ukraine needs in order to counter Russia, we get a rare perspective from an American who has fought in that war.

William Brangham has that story.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After doing several tours as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan and then several years in Eastern Europe as a Green Beret, my next guest thought his military days were over, and he decided to go to graduate school.

But then Russia invaded Ukraine, and that all changed.

Former Staff Sergeant David Bramlette left the U.S. last March, went to Ukraine, and voluntarily fought against the Russians for 10 months.

He led a multinational team of up to 50 other volunteers and former soldiers.

David Bramlette is back and back getting his master's degree at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

And he joins us now.

David, thank you so much for being here.

Can you explain a little bit more about the decision you made?

You seemingly had put your military life behind you.

You're in graduate school.

But that all changes.

Why?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE (RET.

), U.S. Army: Yes, I was sitting in graduate school.

We were talking about Ukraine with my previous military experience in the Green Berets.

And I thought, I could sit in class and talk about Ukraine, or I could actually go over there and do something about it.

So, I did.

And it's that simple.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Is that right?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And it was the fact that the Russians had illegally invaded another country, that that's what stood out to you?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes, to me, this conflict is black and white.

And after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq three times, I felt that it was time for me to go put my skills to use in a conflict that was good vs. evil, in my opinion.

This is as clear-cut as it gets.

I think it's going to -- I think it's probably the most righteous conflict, most righteous war that I will see in my lifetime, to be honest.

This is democracy in Europe we're talking about.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: We need to stand up and fight against tyranny, essentially.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right.

Given you're over there volunteering your services to the Ukrainians, you have got a very unique perspective that I think a lot of us are curious about one particular thing.

Why do you think that the Russians have seemingly done so poorly and the Ukrainians done so well?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes.

So, I will go back to my Iraq and Afghanistan experience on this.

You can see, I saw on the ground, what a motivated group of individuals can do to a superpower, essentially.

And if you look at the Ukrainian resolve to resist their willpower to fight, I think it ultimately comes down to that.

And, unfortunately, I think a lot of people, a lot of academics, a lot of people in government place too much emphasis on quantitative analysis, number of tubes, number of tanks, et cetera, number of soldiers, and don't place enough emphasis on qualitative factors of willpower.

And I think it's because they're hard to measure, right?

So, I think that, fundamentally, that's why.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As you know, President Zelenskyy has -- was just at the E.U.

He was in the U.K. and in the U.S. before that asking for more and better weapons.

Again, from your perspective, pushing up against the Russians, what do the Ukrainians need most?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes.

So, I may be a little contrarian on this.

I think, instead of focusing on combined arms maneuvers and big battle tanks and artilleries and getting them to work together, I think we need to focus on weapons systems that are going to have immediate effects on the battlefield, like ATACMS.

That would be huge.

HIMARS.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: These are high-powered surface-to-surface missiles.

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes.

And they haven't been given yet.

So... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And the U.S. says, we don't have enough to give right now.

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes.

So, in my opinion, with Ukraine, I think that what happens in Ukraine is going to determine the precedent.

Like, it's going to set the precedent for the next decade.

So we may not have enough of them for us right now, but I think it's worth opening up our stocks of what we have to give it to them, because, if we can push those logistical hubs back farther, outside of HIMARS range, outside of ATACMS, you're going to increase the survivability of these newly formed units, these new brigades of conscriptees, Ukrainians, when they actually have to go on the offensive and push up against those Russian lines.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So you think that is the most critical thing right now, that even though we are hearing these signals that the Russians might be amassing more air force along the border, you think those are the more critical tools?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: I would say those are critical.

I have no idea what the stock is on things like MANPADs of Stingers.

But those are absolutely essential, because they allow -- A, they allow a decentralized form of air defense, so, if the Russians decide to try and make a play for air superiority, which, in my opinion, would be probably the worst-case scenario for Ukraine -- for Ukraine at this point.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Is that right?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: If Russia can gain air superiority, it's going to be an entirely different battlefield, and the Ukrainians are going to have a very, very hard time of putting up conventional resistance.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Here in Washington, D.C., there is seemingly a split over our support for Ukraine.

The president, his party, and some Republicans argue, we need to be doing everything we can and more.

There are some Republicans who are arguing, we're spending too much money supporting Ukraine and our interests lie elsewhere.

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What would you argue to those people who are saying enough is enough?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: I would ask them to go to places like Kharkiv, Izyum, Donetsk, Kramatorsk, and go see those places firsthand and then come back and tell me the same thing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What are they going to see there?

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Well, you're going to see Izyum, for example, Kharkiv, there are whole neighborhoods that have essentially been leveled, I mean, razed to the ground, there's not a single roof in sight.

This is an epic battle for the heart of democracy.

And if we don't take care of this problem now in Ukraine, we're going to have tons of problems downstream internationally, Taiwan, other authoritarian regimes.

What does it signal to them if we aren't able to stand up and defend democracy in Europe?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: David Bramlette, thank you so much for being here.

STAFF.

SGT.

DAVID BRAMLETTE: Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Now to our special coverage of teens in crisis.

As we reported yesterday, a national survey by the CDC is raising alarm.

It shows that nearly 30 percent of teenage girls said they had considered dying by suicide, and three out of five girls said they felt persistently sad or hopeless.

All this comes at a moment when there's growing concern about the impact of social media.

During a Senate hearing today, lawmakers called out social media companies for not doing enough to protect teens.

And school districts and hundreds of families are now pursuing lawsuits against the tech giants, seeking to hold them accountable for rising rates of teenage depression, suicides, cyberbullying, and eating disorders.

Special correspondent Christopher Booker reports from New York as part of our ongoing series Early Warnings: America's Youth Mental Health Crisis.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: For Nuala Mullen, it started when she was 10 years old, posting videos like this one to social media.

Two years later, she joined Instagram, the next year, TikTok.

NUALA MULLEN, 18 Years Old: It's just an addiction.

Once you know what it feels like to get likes and validation, you just crave it all of the time.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: And over the next five years, she gained thousands of followers documenting her teenage life.

NUALA MULLEN: It's like I knew that I was hurting myself and what I was doing wasn't beneficial to me, but I just needed that validation so badly that I was willing to do anything to get it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Mullen, who is now 18, says that became especially true at the start of the pandemic.

Then a star field hockey player at her high school in Westchester County, New York, Mullen says she started doing popular workout challenges on TikTok and Instagram while stuck at home.

NUALA MULLEN: I think that's really how I fell down the rabbit hole, because I was noticing, after these two weeks, the changes.

And I was getting comments on TikTok being like, oh, you look so good, whatever.

And I thought to myself, oh, something must be working, you know?

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Almost immediately, Mullen says her Instagram and TikTok feeds were flooded with body image content, from workout challenges, to diet tips, to testimonials on how to lose and keep off weight.

Before long, she had developed a new routine, one that continued even after she went back to school.

NUALA MULLEN: Well, I would go to field hockey practice, come home.

I would run for an hour.

I would do weight training.

I would do ab routines.

I would do HIIT workout videos, basically until I was too weak to do anything else.

I was training for hours and hours.

And, throughout the day, I wasn't eating then.

ELIZABETH MULLEN, Mother of Nuala Mullen: I had no idea who she was.

It was like another person took over her body.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Nuala's mom, Elizabeth Mullen, says she and her daughter have always been close, but, as Nuala became obsessed with working out, she struggled to understand what was fueling this new behavior.

ELIZABETH MULLEN: She would talk about a feeling of not being good enough, being lonely at times, not being seen.

I was like, what's happening here?

And then I started to really take a look into what she was seeing on the phone.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: What was it like for you as a parent to first try to understand what was happening and then, by extension, try to get control over what was happening?

ELIZABETH MULLEN: At its worst, it's like dropping your boat's anchor in the middle of a hurricane at sea.

Like, it is just impossible, because I'd get on and I would like, well, what's this about?

Why do you have to photograph yourself like that?

And so what ended up happening is, she's a smart girl.

She would just create different accounts.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: By the fall of 2021, Nuala's life began to spiral.

Diagnosed with anorexia, she began having chest pains and was hospitalized after her heart rate became dangerously low.

NUALA MULLEN: For me, I couldn't get skinny enough.

I couldn't receive enough likes.

I was just still in that mind-set that I needed to be skinny in order for these people online to like me.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: What about peers and friends?

Did you have conversations with them later about what had happened?

NUALA MULLEN: Not until after my second hospitalization.

I found that even, like, during the eating disorder, I was -- I didn't want to tell anyone, not even in the sense that I was embarrassed, but it was competitive for me.

I thought, oh, if I shared that I had anorexia with one of my friends, they might get a notion and they might become skinnier than me and they might get more likes.

So I wouldn't tell anyone what was going on.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: In December, the Mullens filed a lawsuit against both TikTok and Meta, the parent company that owns Instagram and Facebook, alleging that the addictive qualities of these platforms are causing and contributing to the burgeoning mental health crisis for teenagers.

It's one of hundreds of lawsuits against social media companies that come as the industry faces increasing calls for reform, including from President Joe Biden earlier this month.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: We must finally hold social media companies accountable for experimenting they're doing running children for profit.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Social media companies have long been shielded from lawsuits because of what's known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that protected the companies from what users post on their platforms.

But the Supreme Court will consider challenges to the law later this month.

IMRAN AHMED, CEO, Center for Countering Digital Hate: Right now, platforms have no responsibility for how their businesses cause harm.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Imran Ahmed is the CEO of the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.

In their recent report titled "Deadly By Design," the organization calculated that videos related to eating disorders on TikTok had been viewed more than 13 billion times.

The organization also set up eight TikTok accounts, all posing as 13-year-olds, the minimum age allowed by law to be on social media.

After these accounts briefly viewed or liked body image and mental health content, more was quickly fed to them.

IMRAN AHMED: Within two-and-a-half minutes of opening an account as a 13-year-old girl, it's sending its self-harm content, within eight minutes, eating disorder content.

Every 39 seconds in the first half-hour, they were receiving some sort of harmful content.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Both TikTok and Meta declined the "NewsHour"'s request for an interview, but a TikTok spokesperson told us that, last year, the company proactively removed more than 80 percent of all eating disorder content within 24 hours, and more than 70 percent of those videos received no views.

While Meta told the "NewsHour": "We want teens to be safe online and we don't allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm or eating disorders."

The statement goes on to say: "Of the content we remove, we identify 99 percent of it before it's reported to us."

JONATHAN HAIDT, New York University: If you get users when they're young, they will -- there's a good chance it'll stay on for life.

Everybody's competing for the teenagers.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University.

He traces what he calls an epidemic of teenage sadness back more than a decade.

JONATHAN HAIDT: So, it's anxiety and depression, also self-harm and suicide.

All of those things skyrocket after 2012.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Just to clarify, this isn't just social media?

There are other factors at play?

JONATHAN HAIDT: Yes, there are always other factors at play.

This is a complicated sociological phenomenon.

But the instant they go on social media -- by instant, I mean, like within a year -- the depression lines begin to go up.

Plus, there is direct correlational evidence that the more you use it, the more depressed you are.

It's especially heavy users, more than four hours a day.

Those girls are three times more likely to be depressed than medium users.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Despite these concerns, teens are more likely to view their own time on social media as positive, rather than negative, saying it makes them feel more connected with friends and offers them a support network.

But more than a third of all teenagers say they're on at least one social media platform almost constantly.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S.

Surgeon General: Age 13 is when kids are technically allowed to use social media.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: That has led to calls from health experts to increase user age requirements to join social media, including the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY: I personally, based on the data I have seen, believe that 13 is too early.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: In the fall, Instagram rolled out a host of new parental supervision tools, which give parents the ability to monitor how long their children are on the platform, what accounts they follow and who follows them.

They also include reminders for teens to take a break.

TikTok also highlights that, by default, the accounts of users between age 13 to 15 are set to private, and they restrict their direct messaging.

ELIZABETH MULLEN: I don't know where that content is going.

I don't know who is looking at it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: But Elizabeth Mullen believes not enough is being done to protect users like her daughter, who remains on both TikTok and Instagram, and is still seeing much of the same content as before.

ELIZABETH MULLEN: The app is working against us,for sure.

The only difference between now and then is, if she is confronting it and we do see her sliding, there's more people to jump on, whereas, before, we didn't know what was happening.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Nuala was forced to quit her field hockey team last year because of health concerns, but, today, she says, overall, she is in a far better place.

NUALA MULLEN: On social media, everyone posts the highlights of their life.

No one acknowledges what's happening behind the screen.

People probably thought I was the happiest then, but it was one of the worst times of my life.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: For you as a young person, what would your life be like if you're not on social media?

Because I think that's one of the questions.

Just get off.

NUALA MULLEN: I think, without social media, that I would be completely left off.

And that's just how things are now.

I mean, I could get off the app, sure, yes, but then I wouldn't be able to talk to my friends.

I wouldn't be able to make plans.

I wouldn't be able to see what people are doing.

And, in this day and age, it's so hard to stay off of it because everyone's life revolves around it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Nuala is now trying to build a new life.

She recently accepted an academic scholarship to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she will begin in the fall.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Christopher Booker in New York.

AMNA NAWAZ: House Republicans have had a busy start to their majority, from investigations into the Biden administration to early negotiations around the debt ceiling.

Now they have turned their focus to the administration's handling of the Chinese spy balloon.

Here to talk about all that swirling is one Republican congresswoman not shy about breaking with her party.

That is Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

She joins me now.

Congresswoman Mace, welcome.

Thanks for joining us.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, let's begin with the news of those the series of four flying objects that the U.S. has been shooting down in recent days, first of which was this Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast earlier this month.

Senators were briefed today.

Do you have any idea when you will be getting a briefing?

REP. NANCY MACE: Well, Congress did have a briefing midday this afternoon.

But it was a -- it was a briefing with open source information.

I'm looking forward to a classified briefing, another classified briefing.

I had actually two last week, but that was before these three new objects over Alaska, Canada and Michigan were shot down.

I have more questions than I have answers at this point.

AMNA NAWAZ: What's the biggest question you want answered right now?

REP. NANCY MACE: Well, I mean, really looking at this situation, either they have been up there the whole time and we're only now shooting them down, or we were unaware that they were up there.

And so neither scenario, in my opinion, is a good one.

What kind of technology are we using?

Because we have radar, we have satellite, we have other classified means to track objects in our sky.

For example, if you're above 18,000 feet, you will have an FAA flight plan.

The other questions I have are concerning the origin of these devices or objects, or -- I'm assuming -- I don't know anything yet, quite yet -- that these are surveillance drones, likely not from China, but from another country.

And we're not going to shoot anything down if we don't know what it is.

And so playing cat and mouse with Congress and keeping us in the dark over what this is, is not healthy for either side of the aisle.

And if we continue to shoot these things down out of the sky, I worry that there's going to be fear on the ground with the American people, which is why I'm asking for more transparency.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about the other big news today out of South Carolina.

That's former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who just announced her presidential run.

She is from your district.

You have said you would like to see a woman run.

So will you endorse her?

REP. NANCY MACE: Well, I would love to see a woman on the ticket, as I said previously.

I may have two constituents running in this election cycle in '24.

So, number one, it's very exciting to see the leadership coming out of South Carolina.

I do want to say something very special about Nikki.

I wish that people could see how hard she works and how much she cares.

Nikki was one of the only few elected officials that would return my phone call when I was primaried by the former president two years ago.

It was a very lonely experience.

We won resoundingly.

And she was with us every step of the way.

She's become a good friend.

I'm excited about her jumping into the race.

I have not yet decided on an endorsement yet, but I'm very excited.

I really do truly believe that Republicans need a woman on the ticket, and she's more than qualified for the job.

AMNA NAWAZ: She also made the case that it's time for a new generation of leaders.

That is similar phrasing to something we heard from Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her response to the president's State of the Union address.

This idea of a new generation of leaders for Republicans, do you agree with that?

What does that mean?

What would a new generation do that the old one didn't?

REP. NANCY MACE: Well, we need to look forward.

Many -- many of our leaders want to look to the past.

They want to look to 2020 and the last couple of years.

We need to look forward.

And I represent a swing district.

I have a very purple seat.

Even though I'm in South Carolina, my district is very much a swing district.

And we have a number of people in this country that have left the Democrat Party, they have left the Republican Party.

They don't feel like they have a home.

And we need leadership that will embrace those independent voices and that will look forward.

And another example that I can cite is, after Roe v. Wade, Republicans didn't do a very good job of being and showing compassion towards women, even if we disagree on a very hot-button kind of issue.

I have worked really hard to build trust with women and constituents and voters alike to find some middle ground on that issue, because that issue is not going away.

And so I'm looking for that kind of leadership out of a nominee in '24.

AMNA NAWAZ: Does a new generation of leaders mean moving away from Donald Trump?

REP. NANCY MACE: Well, I think it means -- it means -- it certainly means looking forward.

And I want to see a nice field.

I want to see a vigorous primary.

By the time these candidates get to South Carolina, I don't want to see too, too many.

You don't want more than 10 or 12 in the race.

But South Carolina is a very seminal moment and it will play an important role in the Democrat primary and the Republican primary.

Typically, whoever wins South Carolina goes on to win the nomination the Republican side of the ticket.

And so I expect it'll be vigorous.

I'm excited about folks coming to South Carolina.

And I do believe that we need to, as a country, both parties, especially Republicans, we have got to look forward.

And we have to embrace more independent voices within our party.

And that's the kind of person I will be looking to support when the time comes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congresswoman, as you well know, Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling in order for the U.S. to avoid defaulting on its debt.

Do you think that your party should be holding up that vote to try and get spending cuts, as some of your colleagues have said they want to do?

REP. NANCY MACE: We have a real problem with spending in this country.

I would like to see some sort of budget reform as part of the debt ceiling.

I think now is a good -- as good a time as ever.

This -- the debt ceiling was originally started right after World War II to help with the war and paying for the war.

And it's really important that we understand that that has been abused over the years by Republicans and Democrats.

It's both sides.

We're at $31 trillion in debt, $5 trillion under this current administration, $8 trillion under the previous administration.

And the list goes on and on.

And we need to have serious reforms about the budget now, rather than kicking the can down the road.

And I hope it's part of this vote.

AMNA NAWAZ: But, Congresswoman, as you know, Republicans have voted multiple times to raise the debt ceiling without tying it to spending cuts.

Do you feel it undermines the Republican messaging on spending cuts when that argument only comes up under Democratic administrations?

REP. NANCY MACE: Well, you definitely can't call yourself a fiscal conservative if you don't operate that way.

It is a problem within our party that we have this message of that we're a limited government and we're fiscal conservatives, and yet we have added to the debt by trillions of dollars administration after administration.

It is a problem.

I'm a fiscal conservative.

I have made no bones about it.

I have not ever voted to raise taxes on my constituents, for example.

I feel that's really important.

And I think that's a bipartisan issue.

Whether you're Republican or Democrat, nobody wants to see taxes raise in the middle of a potential recession or inflation as high as it is.

They want to see the government act responsibly and do what every other household has to do, what every other business has to do, is be responsible with the money that they have.

And that's simply what I'm asking for as part of this conversation.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina, thank you for your time.

REP. NANCY MACE: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, remember, there's a lot more online at PBS.org/NewsHour, including a story about how St. Louis is exploring whether or not to provide reparations to the city's Black residents.

GEOFF BENNETT: And join us tomorrow for more reporting on the ground in Ukraine, as the war against Russia nears the one-year mark.

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.