AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "News Hour" tonight: President Trump's former national security adviser turned critic John Bolton is indicted over his handling of classified documents.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Trump administration authorizes covert CIA operations in Venezuela, as maritime strikes on alleged drug boats continue.

GEOFF BENNETT: And as the tenuous Israel-Gaza cease-fire holds, Israelis work to process the collective trauma over the October 7 attacks.

ALON RATZON, New Nir Oz Resident: Our effort to try to move on, to live powerfully is for sure helping us to deal with everything we're going through.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

A federal grand jury in Maryland indicted former National Security Adviser John Bolton today on 18 charges of retaining and transmitting classified information to two of his relatives.

The indictment comes two months after FBI agents raided Bolton's home and office and, according to court filings, found documents labeled as classified.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now, Bolton served as U.N.

ambassador and then national security adviser in the first Trump administration before emerging as one of the president's most vocal critics.

Joining us to discuss this is Mary McCord.

She's a former acting U.S.

assistant attorney general for national security.

She now heads the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law.

Mary, welcome back and thanks for joining us.

Just briefly set us up here.

What exactly is the indictment alleging that Bolton did when it comes to these classified documents?

MARY MCCORD, Former Justice Department Official: So these are serious charges.

There are 18 counts in this indictment.

Eight of them involve him actually transmitting classified information, national defense information over his personal Gmail account, as well as other nongovernment messaging apps, while he was the national security adviser and transmitting classified information that he was learning, at least based on the allegations in the indictment, that he was learning every day.

Some of those are alleged to have started with things like "the intel briefer said' or "while I was in the Situation Room."

And he was charged with transmitting those to two people related to him.

I'm hearing some reporting it might be his wife and daughter, two people related to him who, of course, don't have security clearances and weren't entitled to have access to that information.

But, perhaps more dangerously, transmitting them over those unsecure e-mail and unsecure applications resulted in his e-mail being hacked by suspected Iranian hackers.

And this is a very serious security breach.

The other counts, the other 10 counts are basically the retaining of hard copy documents and digital evidence of those same documents, those same eight documents that he was charged with transmitting, plus two additional classified documents.

And these cover -- and they're described very briefly in the indictment -- serious national defense information, revealing sources and methods, things that came from human intel, signals intelligence, attack planning by foreign adversaries, that kind of thing.

So it's a -- if these facts are accurate, it's a very serious indictment.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mary, we should remind people too, Mr.

Bolton was investigated in the first Trump administration about his book, specifically back then for disclosing classified information, not getting proper preclearance.

That investigation was later dropped.

And we have a response in part from his attorney today, who references that first investigation and says: "The underlying facts in this case were investigated and resolved years ago.

Like many public officials throughout history, Ambassador Bolton kept diaries.

That is not a crime."

Is it clear to us this case is separate from that investigation?

MARY MCCORD: Well, this indictment has a paragraph that says, none of the counts charged, so none of the documents that are the basis for the counts I just described, are anything that appeared in his book.

So, to the extent that that investigation was about failure to obtain the proper prepublication review, either he never tried to include this information in it or it was information that was excluded upon review.

But that doesn't change whether it was transmitted in a way that was not secure and that is unlawful to people who are not entitled to receive it.

Certainly, diaries are kept.

Other public -- national security officials have been prosecuted for things like keeping diaries, David Petraeus among them.

And, certainly, I will also indicate the charges against Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago case involved retention, not transmission, but -- while there were some allegations of transmission, but not counts related to it.

But it also involved retention of hundreds of classified documents in places that they cannot be stored.

So these are things that have sometimes resulted in prosecutions.

And then, of course, with Donald Trump, it did not.

That prosecution was dismissed by Judge Cannon and ultimately did not move forward.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Mary, briefly, if we can hear, we know Bolton's now the latest in a series of Trump's critics to be charged by federal prosecutors.

We saw James Comey indicted in late September, Letitia James earlier this month.

Compared to these -- or those two cases, rather, how does this case compare?

MARY MCCORD: I mean, this definitely seems like it was prosecuted at least partly for political reasons, because Mr.

Bolton is an enemy of the president.

But this allegation, these allegations are more serious, to my opinion as a former prosecutor, than what we see in both the James and Comey indictments.

Those seem like prosecuting a person and trying to find some offense, no matter how small.

These are things that definitely in my time in national security would have warranted investigation.

There may be explanations, right, that we don't know, but based on the face of the indictment, these are very different charges.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, Mary McCord, thank you, as always, for your time and insights.

We appreciate it.

GEOFF BENNETT: We start today's other headlines in Chicago.

A judge says federal immigration officers operating there will be required to wear body cameras.

District Court Judge Sara Ellis said today she was a little startled by clashes like these between ICE agents and protesters from earlier this week.

Tensions are running high.

Federal officials say they have arrested more than 1,000 immigrants there since September, and the Trump administration is trying to send in the National Guard.

Illinois Governor J.B.

Pritzker warned President Trump that Illinois, in his words, is not a place you can conquer and lashed out against the federal forces on the ground.

GOV.

J.B.

PRITZKER (D-IL): Masked federal agents from ICE and CBP are on the ground terrorizing our communities with tear gas and rubber bullets.

And some are wearing camouflage uniforms that could easily be mistaken for the military.

GEOFF BENNETT: In response to the judge's order, an attorney for the Justice Department blamed the anger over the unrest in Chicago on -- quote - - "one-sided and selectively edited media reports."

He added that it's not possible to get body cameras for ICE agents right away.

President Trump says he will meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, though he did not say when.

Mr.

Trump announced the plan on social media following a two-hour call between the two leaders that he described as very productive.

But, first, President Trump will host Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House tomorrow.

Zelenskyy is pushing the president to sell Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, which would enable Kyiv to strike deep into Russia.

Meantime, Ukraine's energy operator announced nationwide power cuts today after Russia launched a massive drone and missile strike overnight.

On Capitol Hill today, the Senate failed to pass a measure to reopen the government for a 10th time.

And in a separate vote, lawmakers also voted down an effort to fund the Defense Department for one year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune railed against Democrats on the Senate floor afterwards.

SEN.

JOHN THUNE (R-SD): This is politics.

If anything was needed to demonstrate just how fundamentally uninterested Democrats are in supporting our troops and defending our country, just take a look at this vote.

GEOFF BENNETT: The 50-44 vote marked the first attempt to restart partial funding, even as the stalemate continues over reopening the government as a whole.

The Senate stands adjourned until next Monday, ensuring that the shutdown will stretch into next week.

President Trump announced a deal today with drugmaker EMD Serono to cut the cost of a common fertility medication related to in vitro fertilization treatments, or IVF.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: The initiatives I have just announced are the boldest and most significant actions ever taken by any president to bring the miracle of life into more American homes.

GEOFF BENNETT: The president also announced guidance that would encourage employers to offer fertility coverage separate from their regular medical insurance, much like dental and vision plans.

It's unclear whether employers will indeed choose to offer that coverage and whether the deal announced today will result in cheaper IVF treatments.

A number of states are showing progress in the nation's battle against obesity.

That's according to an analysis of CDC data by the nonpartisan group Trust for America's Health.

Last year, 19 states reported adult obesity rates of 35 percent or higher.

That's down from 23 states the year before, and it's the first such decline in more than a decade.

But, nationwide, rates remain high, with roughly four in 10 American adults considered obese.

Nestle is slashing 16,000 jobs as part of its broader cost-cutting efforts.

The maker of Nescafe, Kit Kats and other brands said today that the cuts will take place over the next two years as it battles rising costs and President Trump's tariffs.

Meantime, stocks struggled on Wall Street today.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost around 300 points.

The Nasdaq gave back just over 100 points.

The S&P 500 also ended in negative territory.

And the final surviving member of the team that conquered Mount Everest has died.

Kanchha Sherpa was part of the 1953 expedition that saw Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the top of the world's highest peak.

Kanchha was born in 1933 in the foothills of Everest and started his mountaineering career when he was just 19.

He joined many Everest climbs over the years, but never reached the summit himself.

In his later years, he warned against overcrowding on Everest and urged people to respect the famous mountain.

Kanchha Sherpa was 92 years old.

And NPR's Susan Stamberg has died.

As an original staff member, Stamberg, along with Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg, and the late Cokie Roberts, was considered one of the founding mothers of NPR.

From humble tasks like cutting tape, Stamberg rose quickly to become co-host of "All Things Considered" in 1972.

She was known for making connections with listeners, famously sharing her mother-in-law's recipe for cranberry sauce or cranberry relish, as she called it.

Stamberg spoke with "News Hour" for NPR's 50th anniversary and told us about the opportunities and challenges of those early days.

SUSAN STAMBERG, Journalist: NPR was a start-up.

So there weren't 1,000 people ahead of you in the job you were dying to get.

That makes it tough for anybody, men or women, but particularly difficult for a woman.

GEOFF BENNETT: A trailblazer, an icon, a generous soul.

Susan Stamberg's voice shaped public radio and inspired generations of journalists and storytellers to find their own voices.

She only retired from NPR last month.

Susan Stamberg was 87 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": a Young Republicans hateful and violent group chat sparks bipartisan condemnation, but also dismissal from the White House; hundreds are rescued from remote villages in Alaska after a devastating typhoon; and we look at why domestic violence is on the rise in states with abortion bans.

AMNA NAWAZ: The U.S.

military destroyed another boat off the coast of Venezuela this week that the White House alleges was carrying narcotics bound for the U.S.

Both in his first term and his current one, the president and his team have made clear they want Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power.

And now Mr.

Trump has raised the prospect of striking Venezuela on land.

Off the coast of Venezuela, strike after strike in the Caribbean sea targeting small boats allegedly carrying illegal drugs and headed to the U.S., since early September, five such U.S.

military strikes, four of them on boats from Venezuela.

This week, an escalation.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We are certainly looking at land now, because we have got the sea very well under control.

AMNA NAWAZ: With President Trump confirming yesterday that the CIA is conducting covert operations inside Venezuela.

DONALD TRUMP: I authorized for two reasons, really.

Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.

And the other thing are drugs.

We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela.

And a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's an expansion of what the Pentagon has called a counternarcotics and counterterrorism mission, an armada of U.S.

warships already deployed off the Venezuelan coast and B-52 bombers to nearby international airspace.

NICOLAS MADURO, Venezuelan President: Not war, yes peace.

AMNA NAWAZ: A defiant President Nicolas Maduro responded to Trump's remarks yesterday.

NICOLAS MADURO (through translator): No to regime change.

No to CIA-orchestrated coup d'etat.

Latin America does not want them, does not need them, and repudiates them.

AMNA NAWAZ: In a statement, Venezuela's foreign minister said the escalation seeks to legitimize regime change with the ultimate aim of seizing Venezuela's oil resources.

For years, Venezuela's economy has been in freefall.

An estimated 80 percent of residents live in poverty, and nearly eight million people have fled Maduro's regime.

He was sworn in for his third term earlier this year, despite evidence he lost reelection by a landslide.

Just last week, one of Maduro's fiercest foes, Maria Corina Machado, won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The opposition leader, who lives in hiding, has spoken in favor of outside intervention in Venezuela.

After her win, Machado dedicated the prize to President Trump for his -- quote -- "decisive support of our cause."

Late today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the Naval officer in charge of U.S.

operations for Latin America would leave by the end of 2025.

Admiral Alvin Holsey will end a 37-year career after less than a year in charge of U.S.

Southern Command.

No reason was given for his impending retirement.

Now we get two views on the Trump administration's actions against Venezuela.

John Feeley had a 28-year career in the Foreign Service, where he focused on Latin America and served as ambassador to Panama.

And Sergio de la Pena was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs during the first Trump administration.

He was the Army's attache to Venezuela in the 1990s and is a retired Army colonel.

Gentlemen, welcome to you both.

Thanks for joining us.

So, Ambassador Feeley, let me begin with you.

The news of President Trump confirming covert CIA operations in Venezuela, threatening military strikes on land inside a sovereign nation, what's your reaction to that?

JOHN FEELEY, Former U.S.

Ambassador to Panama: My reaction is that this is unfortunately more of the improvisational amateurism that we have kind of come to expect from the Trump administration's foreign policy.

I mean, first of all, let's stop and think, Amna, announcing a covert action.

That right there is kind of an oxymoron.

Why the president did it, I cannot explain.

The fact of covert CIA operations being recognized gives away any tactical element of surprise that it might have had.

And what it does do, however, is, it makes very clear that the pretext of a counternarcotics operation here really isn't what this is all about.

It's about regime change on the cheap.

AMNA NAWAZ: Colonel de la Pena, what do you make of that?

Is this about regime change in Venezuela for President Trump?

SERGIO DE LA PENA, Former U.S.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs: Well, I think President Trump has been very clear on his goals.

He says this is a counterdrug operation and this is also an operation to have the Venezuelans accept the immigrants that they have allowed to come into the United States.

He's made that very clear.

One of the other things he's also doing in the process is reestablishing deterrence that was seriously damaged in the previous administration.

We have got to have that deterrence.

And how he uses the tools at his disposal are up to the president.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Colonel, are you saying these increased military actions, these are meant as a pressure tactic on Maduro to, as you say, accept deported Venezuelans and take actions on drug traffickers, has nothing to do with ousting Maduro?

SERGIO DE LA PENA: Well, there's a maximum pressure campaign to remove someone that has to be removed by the Venezuelan people who is an authoritarian, I would say, borderline totalitarian.

This gentleman is there illegally.

It was obvious in the last election that he lost by about 70 percent of the vote.

And so he has been there without the will of the Venezuelan people.

He is there illegally.

And so he is the head of an organization that's involved in criminal activities against the United States.

It's his stated policy to do anything in his power to be able to affect the United States from the inside, to include sending immigrants that can also cause problems.

And the stated policy in Venezuela that, if they can drown us in drugs, they're going to do that.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ambassador Feeley, we have even heard the opposition leader there, Maria Corina Machado, call publicly for greater U.S.

support to stop Maduro.

What do you make of this?

Does this justify further U.S.

intervention if it does lead to regime change?

JOHN FEELEY: Look, Amna, I agree completely with Sergio that Nicolas Maduro -- I will go beyond that.

He isn't a totalitarian leader.

He is an illegitimate president.

I think, however, that the United States should be pretty clear about its intentions.

If this really is a counternarcotics mission, then let's do it under the rule of law with counternarcotics.

If you really want to go in and do regime change, and that may not be the worst outcome for the Venezuelan people, an external invasion by the United States, but then let's not do it under the cover, a paper-thin cover of a counternarcotics mission, where you're schwacking a couple of boats and threatening that you're going to launch a few missiles in there.

Let's go get an authorized use of military force from the Congress.

And I think the reason they don't do that is because they know they don't have the support of the American people to do it.

There was a resolution under the war powers -- or war powers resolution that was brought in a bipartisan manner last week, and it was voted down 51-48.

But this is hotly debated.

America doesn't want another foreign war.

And so what they're doing is they're using this pretty pathetic pretext of going after drug traffickers, when their own DEA says that Venezuela is a drug trafficking country, make no mistake, but it is by no means trafficking the drugs that are killing Americans, which is fentanyl.

So this is the wrong force for the wrong mission under the wrong pretext.

AMNA NAWAZ: Can I just get both of you to briefly weigh in on this allegation we heard from Venezuelan officials that this is about the oil and seizing the oil reserves?

We know Venezuela is home to the largest known oil reserves.

Ambassador Feeley, what do you make of that?

And then, Colonel, I will come to you.

JOHN FEELEY: No, I don't believe this is about oil.

I don't believe the Trump administration would ever risk American blood and treasure just to get a commercial advantage.

I do believe that this responds to politics within the MAGA base that seeks to remove Nicholas Maduro.

AMNA NAWAZ: Colonel, what about you?

Venezuelan officials say it's about the oil.

Is it?

SERGIO DE LA PENA: No.

There's been oil companies that have been there the entire time that have never left, and there's at least one.

And, as John pointed out, there's two now that have licenses to take oil.

And Venezuela and the United States have had a very long history of collaboration in extracting oil from Venezuela.

AMNA NAWAZ: Gentlemen, if I can ask you.

If you had one line of advice to deliver to this president right now about how to proceed when it comes to Venezuela, what would that be?

John, to you first.

JOHN FEELEY: Be level with the American people.

Let's do this under the rule of law.

We know how to stop drugs under the rule of law.

It's U.S.

Code Title 21 and it's U.S.

Coast Guard interdiction.

Marco Rubio says that doesn't work, so we're just going to go ahead and blow them up.

You're cheapening the service of those Marines who are sitting off the coast, aren't going to invade and are just wasting time.

So be level with the American people.

Go to the Congress, get an authorized use of military force if what you want to do is punish Nicolas Maduro and give the Venezuelan people a chance.

But let's stop with the charade of announcing your own covert presidential findings and that this is a drug operation.

AMNA NAWAZ: Colonel, what's your line of advice for the president?

SERGIO DE LA PENA: My line of advice is keep up the pressure campaign on Mr.

Maduro.

He's an illegitimate president.

He's a criminal.

He is the head of a criminal cartel.

And the Venezuelan people need to remove him from his office.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's former Ambassador John Feeley and retired Colonel Sergio de la Pena joining us tonight.

Gentlemen, thank you so much for your time.

SERGIO DE LA PENA: Thank you, Amna.

It's a pleasure.

GEOFF BENNETT: Rescue crews are air lifting hundreds of evacuees in rural Alaska after the remnants of a typhoon brought hurricane-force winds and record-breaking storm surge to the state's remote western coast over the weekend.

The floodwaters swept homes out to sea and submerged some coastal villages.

At least one person is dead and two remain missing.

More than 1,000 people have been displaced as winter rapidly approaches and authorities scramble to assess the damage.

For more, we're joined now by Sage Smiley.

She's the news director of KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, a town that has become a hub for the recovery effort in recent days.

Sage, thanks for being with us.

And we reached you at home there in Bethel, which, as we said, is the central aid hub.

What's the situation there?

And how is the recovery effort progressing?

SAGE SMILEY, News Director, KYUK Public Media: Yes, so it's been really dynamic.

As the state officials say, things are really changing by the minute, but there have been helicopters in and out, C class military planes in and out, bringing people and supplies between here in Bethel and the coast and between Bethel and Anchorage.

And so there's a lot of activity.

I think everyone's just working really hard to try and make sure that people are safe in their housing, because that's not the case in the villages that have been most affected by this typhoon.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, how widespread is the damage?

And did residents there expect it to be this devastating?

SAGE SMILEY: So I think that that's part of the issue.

The storm track of this typhoon remnant, the ex-Typhoon Halong, was very sharp.

It turned very quickly.

And I think that didn't give a lot of time for people to prepare, but instead of hitting north of here, the Norton Sound area, it hit right in the Kuskokwim Delta.

And you can really see in the communities that have been most impacted the track of those winds.

So the Kuskokwim Delta coast is about 60, 70 miles away from here, and the communities that were most impacted saw hurricane-force winds of over 100 miles an hour, houses literally flipped over, flooding that broke records, and it was just really, really devastating, including upriver.

Community 60 miles upriver have had devastating flooding and they have had a quarter of their houses floated off their foundations.

GEOFF BENNETT: And two of the-hardest hit towns are Native American communities along the Bering Sea.

What have you heard from people who evacuated those areas?

SAGE SMILEY: Yes.

Yes, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok are Alaska Native communities right there on the coast.

And people are stunned.

I mean, they have never seen a storm like this.

Our reporters are hearing accounts of people who have spent the night on a boardwalk because they left their house, which was floating, tried to go to a family member's house, which had disappeared and had nowhere else to go, people who really didn't know whether they were going to make it through the night and then spent days sheltering in schools with supplies that were dwindling, fuel oil that was dwindling.

It's been a really, really tough situation for the people who are coming out of those hardest-hit villages.

GEOFF BENNETT: Some 1,500 people, as we said, have been displaced.

What are the obstacles when it comes to rebuilding?

SAGE SMILEY: I mean, this region is off the U.S.

road system.

You could not get here by road if you wanted to.

And it makes rescue efforts really challenging.

We have talked to Coast Guard rescue personnel who flew in helicopters, taking people out of these villages six at a time, when there are hundreds of -- and hundreds of people who need to be evacuated because runways were damaged and they couldn't land fixed-wing aircraft.

And so I think that the remoteness of this region really complicates the rescue efforts.

And also Bethel itself is the hub for Western and Northern Alaska, but it is not a big community.

We're about 6,500, based on the last census.

And that means that, with an influx of hundreds of people, our shelter is already struggling.

It's reached capacity.

There's word that it will be shut down in the coming days.

And a lot of people are needing to be moved hundreds of miles away from here to Anchorage, because the resources are just really strained as is.

GEOFF BENNETT: Back in May, the Trump administration, as you well know, it canceled a $20 million EPA grant meant to help Kipnuk, one of the communities we mentioned, to help that community adapt to flooding, which is a major issue, given the fact that the permafrost is thawing and that the storms are getting worse.

How is that community now going to adapt?

And how are they going to cope with the loss of federal climate funding?

SAGE SMILEY: I think that's a really big and a really important question, not only for Kipnuk and their specific grant that they lost, but for communities throughout this region.

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has put out a report saying that almost 150 communities in Alaska, many of which are in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, are at really imminent need of either partial or full relocation or at the very least major projects to try and shore up against a changing climate, whether that's riverine erosion or permafrost degradation or land subsidence or some combination thereof.

And so thinking about the devastating impact of this typhoon, this only highlights the broader need of this entire region for climate-related funding to be able to shore up river walls or to be able to raise houses above what floodwaters may be reaching.

There are many, many kinds of projects that the small Alaska Native communities in this region desperately need.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Sage, we should say your station, KYUK, the smallest public TV station in the country, has also been affected by the federal cuts to public media funding.

How are you going about covering this disaster while also dealing with this major budget shortfall?

SAGE SMILEY: Yes, I mean, we're doing what we do every day.

But it has been a really poignant moment.

KYUK, because we were a dual licensee -- we are dual licensee.

We are a public TV and radio station, is losing $1.2 million.

And that's a huge budget gap to fill when we live in, by Western economic standards, one of the poorest regions in the United States.

We just don't have the donor base to be able to make up that funding.

And so it's been a really mixed bag of emotions to be doing important work and trying to get the vital information that people need about disaster relief and about what's happening right now on the ground here in this region, knowing that KYUK, like many other public media stations in the country, is going to be definitely impacted by the rescission of public media funds.

My position itself will be going to five hours a week in the beginning of the year.

GEOFF BENNETT: Sage Smiley, news director of KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, my best to you, your colleagues, and everybody affected by these floods.

SAGE SMILEY: (SPEAKING IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE) Thank you very much.

AMNA NAWAZ: The wounds of war are not just physical.

The mental scars can be devastatingly potent and are dangerously invisible.

Leila Molana-Allen reports tonight from Southern Israel on how, for many Israelis, the trauma of the October 7 Hamas attacks is never far away.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Meet LIV, your new psychotherapist.

A.I.

COMPUTER VOICE: Hello, everyone.

I'm LIV, a compassionate A.I.

designed to assist in psychiatric interviews.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: LIV came into being from a pressing need.

The levels of trauma across Israel following the horrors of October 7 have plunged the state into a mental health crisis.

The levels of trauma are so high and the demand for treatment so great that there's a shortage of mental health professionals.

So Israel's leading hospital, Sheba, one of the top 10 in the world, has begun conducting trials using A.I.

to diagnose patients.

WOMAN: And just like a real psychiatrist, she will look for the triggers that are brought me here.

Every time there is deterioration or emergency in the country, I just find myself spiraling again, and sometimes I feel it's just too much.

A.I.

COMPUTER VOICE: It sounds like the ongoing situation is having a significant impact on your well-being.

When did you first notice these feelings intensifying since the war began?

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: But there are some voids that technology can never fill.

Those whose lives changed forever are now scattered across the country, but some are going back to the places where they were attacked, hoping to heal physical scars alongside emotional ones.

Most of the residents of Nir Oz, a kibbutz just four miles from Gaza, have been living far away outside Tel Aviv.

But to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, nearly 300 residents came home out of defiance and solidarity.

Gadi Moses was taken hostage and released in February after being held captive in the tunnels of Gaza for 482 days.

Now he's moving back to Nir Oz.

GADI MOSES, Released Hostage: My commitment, my job is to rebuild the place with different people, so the people on the other side of the border will understand we are here forever.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Tiny Nir Oz was the border area the hardest hit on October 7.

A quarter of its residents were killed and kidnapped and nearly three-quarters of the kibbutz was completely destroyed.

Now they're trying to rebuild their homes and this community, but recovery comes with its own challenges.

Rita Lifschitz has taken care to water not just her own garden, but those of her evacuated neighbors, trying to bring life and beauty back to what was once an agricultural paradise.

But moving on means letting go.

It's easier said than done.

RITA LIFSCHITZ, Daughter-in-Law of Oded and Yocheved Lifschitz: This is Shifra Noy's (ph) house, my friend's house, that she was murdered and her whole house was burned.

But I used to go in there and feel her.

So, when her house was taken away, I felt a bit of emptiness.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Because you could come here and remember her, and now they have cleared it, there's nothing left?

RITA LIFSCHITZ: Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Rita's mother-in-law, Yocheved, was kidnapped, but released by Hamas after 17 days due to her age and health.

But her husband 84-year-old Oded, was murdered in captivity.

They received his body for burial, but Yocheved is struggling to come to terms with his loss.

Rita hopes now that the rest of Nir Oz's living hostages have come home, Yocheved's constant nightmares will end.

RITA LIFSCHITZ: She can heal, start to heal now because all the live ones are not in the tunnels anymore.

She will not wake up in the tunnels in the morning.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: With the return of the kibbutz's lost sons, a chance to remove all traces of the attack from their home and move forward.

But Rita knows not everyone can face coming back.

RITA LIFSCHITZ: You can feel that the community is split up, and this is breaking my heart.

You know, it will take a lot of power to bring all of us to be together, because some people will not come back here.

They have too much trauma.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Alon and Donna (ph), a part of a generation of young Israelis, determined to find a way to channel their own trauma from the attacks into something positive.

They're from Central Israel.

But along with dozens of other young couples, they're moving to Nir Oz.

ALON RATZON, New Nir Oz Resident: Now Israelis, when they hear the name Nir Oz, they have like a -- it's like a punch.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Next year, they plan to marry here in the open fields.

And helping this community heals them too.

ALON RATZON: Our effort to try to move on, to live powerfully is for sure helping us to deal with everything we're going through.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Rita only survived because she was lucky to be visiting Tel Aviv that day.

She had to watch her home being burned down on television, listen to the screams of her loved ones over the phone as she desperately tried to help them from afar.

Every day, while Oded was in captivity, she would sit in his fields and raise a beer to him, with another waiting for him beside her.

RITA LIFSCHITZ: He was the biggest fighter for peace.

He was a true friend to the Palestinian people.

I was sure I would see him come through the fields with a big smile saying: "My Arabic is perfect, I got great coffee, and I came home with a peace plan."

And he's up there now and watching this peace plan that is going to happen.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: When his death was confirmed, in her desperate grief, she made a promise.

RITA LIFSCHITZ: And my peace fight will go even stronger to help grandpa Oded, my father-in-law, that this is going to happen, that our children here and the Palestinian children, the new generation will live in peace in the future and the borders will be open.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: But not everyone has been able to find the right coping mechanisms.

Many have trauma, not because they were directly harmed that day, but because they now spend every day believing it could happen again at home, driving to school, at a party.

Memorials to the dead like this one dot Israel's south; 16-year-old Shahar Shlafrok has become a shadow of herself, each day more difficult to endure.

She struggles to concentrate or to sleep.

SHAHAR SHLAFROK, Israeli Student: I live right here to wake up every morning to the sound of the war and to wake up every night, even though I have school tomorrow.

This -- that my hand is shaking.

And I have nothing to do with that, because this is how my body reacts.

And even though I'm getting used to it, I have to face it.

I'm still a student in school, I'm 11th grade.

And I have to wake up every night because my bed is moving and try to focus, because I have friends and family that are murdered here in the kibbutz.

So we also escaped.

And I saw a lot of things.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Seeking solace where they can, every soul in this traumatized nation knows they are united in their grief, but the road to personal healing is one each must walk alone.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Southern Israel.

GEOFF BENNETT: Fallout is growing after a Politico investigation revealed offensive and vile text messages exchanged in a private Young Republicans group chat.

The report details racist, homophobic and antisemitic language shared among about a dozen members over several months.

To talk more about what the messages reveal and how party leaders are responding, we're joined now by Politico reporter Emily Ngo, who broke the story.

Thanks for being with us.

EMILY NGO, Politico: Yes, thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: So we have screenshots of these messages in question, based on your reporting.

Some of what's on screen here includes racist and antisemitic slurs, homophobic, sexist messages.

There's talk of putting political opponents in gas chambers, threats of rape and violence.

This is just a glimpse of what you uncovered across thousands of Telegram messages.

I understand several of the people involved have already lost their jobs.

What more can you tell us about the fallout and who's been affected?

EMILY NGO: Right.

The fallout has been vast.

The story and our reporting has reverberated widely across the nation.

By our most recent count, we have eight of the 12 members of this chat that as you said is just filled with racist epithets and gay slurs and references to violence are out of their jobs so.

When we started our reporting, started making the calls after laying out some of these messages in our drafts, two preemptively were fired from their jobs or had a job offer rescinded.

And pretty soon after we published, we saw that others lost their jobs too.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the response has reached the highest levels, to include the White House.

Here's with the vice president, J.D.

Vance, said about this yesterday.

J.D.

VANCE, Vice President of the United States: The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys.

They tell edgy, offensive jokes.

Like, that's what kids do.

And I really don't want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke, telling a very offensive stupid joke, is cause to ruin their lives.

GEOFF BENNETT: So people can read your reporting and decide for themselves if these were kids telling stupid jokes.

But who were the people in this chat and what positions did they hold within Young Republicans?

EMILY NGO: Right.

So this is a slate of a Young Republican club of leaders who were in positions of power and influence.

By Young Republicans, we're not talking about kids here.

We're talking about a membership that is as old as 40, so, by and large, could be the vice president's peers and peers to a lot of folks who are working on the Hill in Congress.

We had top aides to New York state legislatures.

We had a sitting state senator from Vermont.

And we just had folks who were poised to be the next generation of Republican leaders.

And we positioned our story and our reporting as this is how Young Republicans are talking when they don't think anyone is listening.

This is how they talk in private.

This is the speech of Republicans today who are going to be the leaders of the party tomorrow.

GEOFF BENNETT: Some Republicans have condemned these messages outright.

Others are trying to shift the focus, citing the leaked text from the Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones, who appeared to threaten a Republican lawmaker.

How are GOP leaders for the most part framing this moment?

EMILY NGO: So it varies, of course, but we see now -- and it's to be expected in this political climate -- a lot of congressional Democrats and New York Democrats, including Governor Kathy Hochul, who are seizing on this and capitalizing on this to use against their Republican rivals, including those who immediately condemned these text messages.

But with this latest set of remarks from Vice President J.D.

Vance, I find that I'm asking now whether there is a sort of permission structure being established slowly and steadily to allow some of these Republican leaders to excuse this behavior or at least -- at the very least question why Democrats aren't condemning similar violent language from their camp, but particularly from Jones, as you say, in Virginia.

GEOFF BENNETT: Tell me more about that.

Based on your reporting and the conversations you have had connected to this investigative piece, to what extent has the current Trump era normalized or even emboldened the racist, homophobic, sexist language and attitudes among some young conservatives?

EMILY NGO: Right.

So, in reading these 2,900 pages of private Telegram chat messages, my colleague Jason Beeferman and I didn't just report on what was in them.

And I will note that we just -- we read the entire thing, scoured the entire thing to make sure some of these epithets weren't one-offs and to see whether anyone was pushing back.

That was not the case.

These are jokes, dark humor, sort of a casual kind of cruelty that were repeated over and over again in a pattern.

And we put them in the context of what's happening now in the political climate, where people are at each other's throats, where, in social media, on podcasts, including very, very widely listened to, watched podcasts, and very popular hosts, this language is being echoed, it's being exemplified.

They're not getting this from nowhere.

And sort of it's been OK in some stratospheres, when it really shouldn't be.

GEOFF BENNETT: Emily Ngo of Politico, thanks again for joining us.

EMILY NGO: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: A woman's risk of being killed in the United States increases by 20 percent on average when pregnant or after giving birth.

For those under 25, that risk more than doubles.

In fact, pregnant and postpartum women are more likely to be killed than die from childbirth-related issues like severe bleeding, infection and high blood pressure.

Special correspondent Sarah Varney reports, many of these killings are the result of domestic violence.

She traveled to Louisiana, where experts say state abortion restrictions are putting women further at risk.

SHONA CHAVIS, Mother: I often say I experienced domestic violence from within my mother's womb.

SARAH VARNEY: Shona Chavis grew up in rural Louisiana with a father that brutalized her mother even when she was pregnant.

The couple's second daughter died during childbirth because of that abuse, less than a year before Shona was born.

SHONA CHAVIS: I remember, even as a little child, I might have been 2, 3 years old, my dad calling us into the room to sit down and watch him beat my mom.

SARAH VARNEY: Years later, Shona saw some of those same patterns in her own husband as he began controlling and abusing her.

Once she had children, it became even harder to leave.

SHONA CHAVIS: I need to leave because I need to make sure that my kids are safe.

But if I leave, are we going to be safe?

Because you're also thinking about if you leave and you go to court and he gets custody.

Because, in your mind, you're already not thinking clear.

You're believing that you're dumb, you're crazy, you're stupid, because he's told you all of this, and your brain is not really working properly because of all the licks to your head.

Then I'm not going to have my kids and I can't protect them.

SARAH VARNEY: Shona's story is all too common across the country, says Mariah Wineski.

MARIAH WINESKI, Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence: A lot of legislators don't have a solid understanding of the impact of domestic violence.

SARAH VARNEY: Wineski runs the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

She says, when a victim is pregnant or gives birth, their abuser becomes more controlling.

MARIAH WINESKI: What has happened now is it has escalated over time due to a perceived loss of control over this woman, over their relationship, combined with an increase in barriers that the victim is facing.

She can no longer simply walk away, and unfortunately women are dying as a result.

SARAH VARNEY: In the U.S., homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women.

Nearly half of those killings involved domestic violence.

In states with abortion restrictions, that homicide rate is 75 percent higher.

MARIAH WINESKI: Any time that you're increasing barriers, taking options away, you are reducing her chances at getting safe.

SARAH VARNEY: A study released earlier this year found in states that implemented near-total abortion ban since 2022, domestic violence increased up to 10 percent.

And in those states, experts told us even the work-arounds are difficult.

Women who are closely watched by their abusers can't safely get abortion pills at home or travel to another state.

LIZ TOBIN-TYLER, Brown University: When women don't have access to abortion, they're much more likely to experience domestic violence.

SARAH VARNEY: Liz Tobin-Tyler teaches public health law at Brown University.

She believes today's restrictions are sending a larger message.

LIZ TOBIN-TYLER: That really signals to abusive partners that they also can control their partner's decision-making around reproduction and around bodily autonomy.

So I think the sort of state control actually empowers abusive partners in a way to see themselves as even in more control of their partner.

CORINNE LEPAGE, Massachusetts Resident: I couldn't have a child.

I was about to be 21, had no idea what I was doing with myself, with my life.

And I wasn't ready for that.

SARAH VARNEY: Sixteen years ago, Corinne LePage was pregnant and stuck in an abusive relationship.

Her boyfriend had secretly switched out her birth control pills for mints to get her pregnant.

Because she lived in Massachusetts, Corinne was able to get an abortion.

CORINNE LEPAGE: I can't imagine being in that situation and not making the choice I made or not having the ability to make the choice that I made, because I don't know where I would be now if I still had this attachment to this person who progressively has gotten more violent as time has gone on.

SARAH VARNEY: Years later, caught in another abusive relationship, Corinne became pregnant again.

But that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage that she says was caused by the abuse.

CORINNE LEPAGE: He never wore protection.

That wasn't a thing that was like allowed.

So what I would do is, I'd sneak plan B. I had to do what I had to do.

JASMINE HULL, Mother: I first met my kid's father when I was 16.

We were friends for a minute, and then we actually decided to be in a relationship.

SARAH VARNEY: At what point does this turn into something that's physical, where there's physical abuse?

JASMINE HULL: When my son was about 6 months.

SARAH VARNEY: Jasmine Hull, who lives in Northern Louisiana with her three children, left St.

Louis to get away from her abusive partner.

Looking back at it now, how do you make sense of why being pregnant was a trigger for him?

JASMINE HULL: I really don't think that being pregnant was the trigger.

I think that being pregnant was the trap.

SARAH VARNEY: Domestic violence experts say abusers frequently control their partner's sexual and reproductive health through manipulation, threats and abuse, what's called reproductive coercion.

MARIAH WINESKI: We often see that abusers will purposely impregnate or purposely sabotage birth control methods, for example, or might sexually assault their victim when they know that it will result or is more likely to result in a pregnancy.

SARAH VARNEY: Anti-abortion activists argue that's why abortion bans are needed.

They point to cases of men tricking women into taking abortion pills.

In a statement to the "News Hour," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion advocacy group, SBA Pro-Life America, told us: "Domestic violence is wrong and that's something we should all be able to agree on.

But abortion advocates don't want to acknowledge the epidemic of intimate violence 50-plus years of abortion on demand has unleashed on women and girls, let alone unborn children."

LIZ TOBIN-TYLER: It's not that can't happen or doesn't happen.

SARAH VARNEY: Tobin-Tyler says abusers are more likely to prevent an intimate partner from receiving health care.

LIZ TOBIN-TYLER: The bigger point is that any kind of control or any kind of coercion about what access a woman has to what she desires in terms of reproductive health care is indicative of an abusive relationship.

ANTHONY HINGLE, Beyond Harm: And a lot of times they say, oh, she disrespected me.

How did she disrespect you?

And what it is, is, you were hurt.

You were hurt by something and you felt like you lacked control.

SARAH VARNEY: At Beyond Harm, a domestic violence intervention organization in New Orleans, Anthony Hingle works with abusers to help stop cycles of violence.

ANTHONY HINGLE: We get the guys to write on the front of the mask what they want the world to see.

SARAH VARNEY: He says men in the program are reluctant to admit they abused a woman when she was pregnant or with a newborn at home.

ANTHONY HINGLE: The lack of control, I definitely think is that spark.

We're going to have this new breathing human being.

This is going to bring more uncertainty into my life.

This is going to bring more responsibility, more chaos.

SARAH VARNEY: Hingle says abortion bans heighten those dangerous dynamics.

ANTHONY HINGLE: I think it's a lot of pressure from the guy.

You have to go get this abortion.

You have to get this done.

I can't.

Now he's upset.

Now he's angry.

And even though this is out of her control, he's taking it like it's her fault.

SARAH VARNEY: Today, Corinne LePage is a student at Brown University on her way to a degree in environmental science.

Despite the pain of her experiences, Corinne says she's lucky because she could get help.

CORINNE LEPAGE: When you experience domestic violence, I think that you already have so much taken away from you.

And then you try to access this care and then you're also hitting roadblocks.

There should be no one making laws about other people's bodies.

SARAH VARNEY: Survivors like Shona Chavis say victims need to be given support and the freedom to choose their future if they're ever going to escape.

SHONA CHAVIS: They have to have that support.

They have to have those buffers.

They have to have the people around them to be able to help them, because that can make the difference in them staying or leaving or living or dying.

SARAH VARNEY: For "PBS News Hour," I'm Sarah Varney in Louisiana.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm GeoffBennett.

For all of us here at the "News Hour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us.