AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: In an exclusive "NewsHour" interview, Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Geoff Bennett about the ongoing autoworkers strike and the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States: I think that we are very clear that we are not going to be distracted by political games, and we are going to stay focused on what we have been doing.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congress wrestles over a deal to avoid a shutdown, as far right Republicans continue to stymie the process.

And we report from on the ground in Ukraine, as the grueling counteroffensive tries to recapture territory from Russia.

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

Today, warnings from within and outside of government about the potential effects of a government shutdown.

That includes concerns from the Department of Justice that national security could be affected, a signal from Moody's that it would downgrade U.S. credit and red flags from scores of other groups, from the military to low-income families.

Congress has until Saturday to figure this out.

So, where do things stand?

For that, we turn to our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, on Capitol Hill.

Lisa, great to see you.

So, at this stage, is there any hope on Capitol Hill that a shutdown could be avoided?

LISA DESJARDINS: There is always hope, of course, Amna.

But I will say it is very faint at this moment.

It is hard to see exactly how a shutdown is avoided.

Part of the reason here is because this all started in the House side with the idea of competing interests.

There is one potential solution the Senate side.

I want to take a look at the Senate floor right now.

As I speak to you, the Senate is now voting on a short-term funding bill.

This is an initial procedural vote, but it does at this moment have the support to move forward.

The Senate's version of this is relatively simple, Amna.

Keep government funded.

They also would include some funding for Ukraine.

That is something that is more controversial on the House side.

The Senate is hoping to get that through sometime this week, but it's not clear, and, in fact, I would say it is unlikely that the House is going to simply pass that bill.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, for many Americans watching this unfold, this is a little baffling.

So help us understand where we are right now by reminding us why we are here right now.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Far be it from modern Congresses to be logical, but this is an especially wild and I think confusing situation.

Part of the problem, as I said earlier, is that House Republicans had competing goals within their own conference.

Some wanted to have more spending cuts than others.

Some wanted to use tougher tactics than other.

We have talked about that before.

I think it's more simple right now to talk about where we are in terms of the decisions that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has to make, because the next moves are really up to him.

He has a few key options realistically.

First, let's talk about option one.

That is the idea of bringing that Senate-passed funding bill to the House floor.

Let's talk about pros and cons.

On the pro side, a shutdown likely would be avoided.

There probably would be enough Republicans decide with Democrats to pass that funding bill.

But on the con side for that, it would need those Democratic votes.

And that brings the other point.

That would potentially threaten Speaker McCarthy's own speakership.

Now, that's not an option that he likes for many reasons.

So, let's talk about his next option Speaker McCarthy has, would be to pass essentially Republican-only funding bills, large funding bills, complicated funding bills.

That's what they're doing now.

That would assuage conservatives, his speakership would be saved.

But, Amna, the cons are, I don't have to tell you, that would essentially guarantee a shutdown, because passing those large and more complicated yearlong funding bills would take weeks to resolve with the Senate.

They would simply run out of time.

Now, I asked Speaker McCarthy today if he's concerned about his speakership.

He said, no, he's worried about the American people.

He's worried about issues like border security.

But, to me, that left open the question of whether he really would try and get this done this week.

There are some longshot options here as well I want people to be aware of.

One is the House could pass a short-term funding bill.

They're trying, but so far they have not been able to figure out amongst themselves, Republicans, what that would look like.

And then there's a discharge petition.

We have some of the smartest viewers in the world.

You know that.

I think they're familiar with this concept that if enough members of the House signed a petition, they could force through a funding bill, but that again could put Speaker McCarthy's speakership in jeopardy.

So this is why we're where we are now.

AMNA NAWAZ: Where we are with the clock ticking and days away.

Lisa, while I have you, I need to ask you about another major story on the Hill.

There is increasing pressure on New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez to resign.

He's facing bribery charges and an arraignment tomorrow.

Just bring us up to speed here on what we should know.

LISA DESJARDINS: The now stepped-down -- the former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee is here today.

We weren't sure he came up -- came for a vote, but amid calls for resignation by many, increasing numbers of Democratic senators, including fellow New Jersey Senator Cory Booker who wrote this today.

He said: "The faith and trust of New Jerseyans have been shaken to the core.

Stepping down is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgement that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices."

Amna, Senator Menendez's seat is up next year.

Democrats cannot afford to spend money on it.

They don't want someone under indictment, especially with this indictment, to be running again.

There's a lot of pressure for him the resign.

So far, he says: No way.

I'm staying.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa Desjardins on Capitol Hill for us, covering it all, Lisa, thank you.

Good to see you.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: A state court judge in New York ruled that former President Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, committed fraud for years.

The judge issued a summary judgment that Mr. Trump hugely overvalued his assets and exaggerated his net worth.

The finding resolves the heart of the states case ahead of a non-jury trial on remaining claims.

Meanwhile, in Mr. Trump's 2020 election subversion case, his lawyers are attacking a proposed gag order, claiming it would violate his free speech rights.

In a federal court filing late on Monday, they called it -- quote -- "nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent."

Special counsel Jack Smith says a gag order would target what he calls false and inflammatory statements.

The auto strike hit day 12 today, and, in a first, President Biden joined a picket line against Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors.

He shook hands and bumped fists with rows of United Auto Workers members just outside Detroit.

With a megaphone in hand, he urged them to stick with it.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: The UAW, you saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before, made a lot of sacrifices, gave up a lot.

And the companies were in trouble.

But now they're doing incredibly well.

And guess what?

You should be doing incredibly well too.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr. Biden also said he backs the union's demands for a 40 percent pay raise.

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a new congressional district map in Alabama.

Without dissent, the justices today refused the state's appeal to keep Republican-drawn lines that a lower court had rejected.

Instead, a court-appointed official has proposed maps with a second majority-Black district.

Black residents make up more than a quarter of Alabama's population.

The federal government and 17 states are suing Amazon, accusing it of stifling competition and forcing inflated prices on other platforms.

The action filed today in Washington state said the e-commerce giant -- quote -- "exploits its monopolies in ways that enrich Amazon, but harm its customers."

The company replied that -- quote -- "The lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law."

The suit is one of the biggest legal challenges in Amazon's history.

People kept pouring out of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan today as an overnight explosion claimed new victims.

Reports said at least 68 people died and scores were hurt outside Stepanakert when a gas station blew up.

Most of the victims were ethnic Armenians fleeing to Armenia after Azerbaijan's military captured Nagorno-Karabakh.

In Armenia, the USAID administrator, Samantha Power, appealed to the Azeris.

SAMANTHA POWER, USAID Administrator: We know that there are injured civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh who need to be evacuated, and it is absolutely essential that evacuation be facilitated by the government of Azerbaijan.

AMNA NAWAZ: Armenian officials say some 28,000 people have fled Nagorno-Karabakh, about 16 percent of the region's population.

South Korea held its first military parade in a decade today, a show of force in the face of aggressive actions by the North.

Thousands of troops marched through the rainy streets of Seoul as tanks and weapons rolled by.

President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed to ramp up the South's defenses.

YOON SUK-YEOL, South Korean President (through translator): If North Korea provokes, the South Korean military will immediately respond based on practical combat capabilities and firm military readiness.

If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be brought to an end by an overwhelming response from the South Korean-U.S. alliance.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, North Korea defended its spate of missile tests in the last year.

Its envoy to the United Nations blamed Washington and Seoul for pushing the peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.

Back in this country, Hunter Biden is accusing Trump ally Rudy Giuliani of violating his digital privacy.

The president's son named Giuliani and another lawyer in a lawsuit filed in California today.

He says they wrongly obtained his personal data from a computer repair shop and gave it to others.

The suit also alleges the data was altered to discredit the president.

California now has a new law that blocks school boards from banning textbooks that teach about race, sexual orientation and gender.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed the measure on Monday.

He said it was -- quote -- "long overdue" amid a nationwide surge in banning and censoring books in schools.

And on Wall Street, the stock market's September swoon extended for another day over worries about interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 388 points to close near 33619.

The Nasdaq fell more than 1.5 percent.

The S&P 500 was down nearly 1.5 percent.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": our exclusive interview with Vice President Kamala Harris; the head of the United Auto Workers discusses ongoing negotiations and the president's trip to the picket line; Maui residents return to their communities more than a month after devastating wildfires; and we report from the front lines of Ukraine amid the brutal, ongoing counteroffensive.

There are a number of issues swirling this week, with potential economic and political fallout, from the ongoing autoworkers strike, to a looming shutdown, to the first hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Geoff Bennett spoke to Vice President Kamala Harris about all of that at Morehouse College in Atlanta today, where she courted young voters as part of a monthlong multistate college tour.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Madam Vice President, thanks so much for your time.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States: Thank you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, as we're here in Atlanta today, President Biden is in Michigan.

He's visiting the picket line of the United Auto Workers.

Never before in modern history has a president sided so publicly with labor during an active strike.

Why was that the right approach?

Why not let the collective bargaining process play out, as this administration has done in previous labor disputes?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, President Biden has been very clear that we are proud that we will be the most pro-labor administration probably in the history of our country.

We believe that it's important to support workers and to support the dignity of work.

And so this has been a longstanding commitment that President Biden has had throughout his career, very much the same for me.

And it's just the right thing to do.

And what we know is that, when we support workers in terms of their need to have wages and benefits that are commensurate with their value and what they are contributing to society and to our economy overall, everybody benefits.

So, that's what you're seeing.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let me ask you about that, because it strikes me that the shift to electric vehicles, which is a major point of contention in these contract talks, it's almost as if the administration's two goals are colliding.

On the one hand, fight climate change.

On the other hand, build out the middle class by supporting unions.

And yet we know that, when it comes to actually building electric vehicles, it requires less labor.

And many of those jobs are non-union jobs.

KAMALA HARRIS: I would suggest to you that that is -- that perspective that some people have is grounded in a very old false choice.

You can do both.

And that is our perspective.

We can do both.

And that is about supporting, again, the importance of understanding the value of work, and that it should be compensated, commensurate with its value, and what we must do to invest in our economy, invest in innovation, and take on one of the biggest crises the world has ever known, which is the climate crisis.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, time is running out to avoid a government shutdown on Saturday... KAMALA HARRIS: Mm-hmm.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... as House Republicans fight among themselves over whether or how to extend government funding.

It appears likely that the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who's already slammed his far right flank, is trying to burn down the House, that he might need help from Democrats.

Should Democrats supply their votes if it means avoiding a government shutdown and the related consequences that come with it?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, let me start by saying it would be completely irresponsible to have a government shutdown.

As is, I think, at this point, very well-known and understood, a government shutdown could mean that the members of our military, service men and women, aren't getting paid.

It means that people who are doing critical work that is about upholding the structures of our government and all that we rely on in terms of those services could shut down.

So let's start there.

It would be completely irresponsible.

Second, people are playing politics.

They're playing political games.

There's a lot of showmanship that you're seeing.

And if those people put those same levels of effort and talent into actually something that was productive, I don't think we'd be in this place of talking about a government shutdown.

GEOFF BENNETT: Should Democrats step in and help avoid a shutdown if that's what is required?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, right now, it's very much in the hands of the Republicans in Congress to be able to do just that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Also, on Thursday, House Republicans are going to open their impeachment inquiry into President Biden with their first impeachment hearing.

What's the administration's approach, the administration's strategy for dealing with that House Republican effort?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, I think that we are very clear that we're not going to be distracted by political games, and we're going to stay focused on what we have been doing.

I'm here in Morehouse College talking with a bunch of young leaders about the challenges that they face and the need for solutions.

One of the big topics we talked about here was the issue of gun violence.

And so our work has been to pass the most significant gun legislation that has been passed in 30 years because of our commitment to find solutions and to work on things that actually have a benefit, direct benefit to the people who need it.

And so we're going to continue doing that.

GEOFF BENNETT: You're also overseeing the first ever White House office focused on preventing gun violence.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Absent congressional action, how will that effort make a significant change?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, congressional action is very important.

There's no question about that.

And the failure to act, I think, is to the discredit of the importance of actually taking hold of the solutions that are at hand.

Assault weapons ban, we have had one before.

We need to reinstate the assault weapons ban.

No reason for assault weapons to be on the streets of a civil society.

We need background checks.

It's just reasonable that you might want to know if someone can buy a lethal weapon if they have been found by a court to be a danger to themselves or others.

Similar with red-flat laws.

Congress has the power to do that, but, sadly, a lot of folks there just don't have the courage to do it and have been selling this false choice, which suggests you either in favor of the Second Amendment, we want to take everyone's guns away.

With the office that we have created, the White House Office on Gun Prevention -- Gun Violence Prevention, the work that we are doing is to make sure that we are implementing all of the executive orders that have already been implemented in the past.

We are working with state and local officials, in addition to the federal agencies, to make sure that those things are playing out.

And then one of the areas that has been in particular focus for us is also addressing the mental health issue.

You may have seen even with the students today - - and I have been doing this throughout my college tour -- asking students to raise their hand, college-age students to raise their hand if they, through kindergarten or 12th grade, ever had to have a drill at school around an active shooter.

And almost every hand goes up.

These kids are having a reality that most older adults do not understand.

The trauma that they are experiencing, born out of fear that an active shooter might bust through their classroom door, is something very real.

So, through our White House Office on Gun Violence Prevention, one of the areas of focus will also be what we need to do to address mental health, both in terms of getting resources to schools, as well as just uplifting the issue as a general matter that needs to be a priority.

GEOFF BENNETT: Looking at all of the issues in your portfolio, abortion, voting rights, immigration, now gun safety, these are the most, as you well know, fraught issues, difficult for Democrats to gain traction in Congress.

There's been no movement on abortion.

There's been no movement on voting rights.

There's a migrant surge at the Southern border.

How will gun safety be different?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, I'm going to -- I'm going to disagree with you in terms of the premise.

You look, for example, at the issue of abortion.

So I decided after the Dobbs decision was leaked and then came out that I was going to hit the road, which I did.

And I traveled around our country to red states and blue states.

I convened state legislators and talked with them and local folks and local community leaders about the need to organize around local elections and state elections that were happening.

And what you probably remember is that the pundits were saying there was going to be a red wave.

It never happened.

And wherever the issue of abortion access was on the ballot, wherever the issue of the freedom to make a decision about one's own body was on the ballot, from Kansas to California, the voters voted in favor of freedom and liberty.

So we are seeing progress, and it comes from doing the kind of thing that I'm doing right now, which is to be here where people are, where they live, and let them know we see them, that we're listening to them, and we're responding to their needs, whether it be with these students and what we have done with $1 trillion to address the climate crisis, whether it be the work that I have been doing for now the last two-and-a-half years and even before to get more access to capital for small businesses.

That work is making a difference in the lives of people.

GEOFF BENNETT: We are on the campus of Morehouse College, a legendary HBCU.

KAMALA HARRIS: Mm-hmm.

GEOFF BENNETT: We should note that you are the first vice president to graduate from an HBCU... KAMALA HARRIS: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... the first sorority member from an HBCU to serve as vice president.

KAMALA HARRIS: Correct.

GEOFF BENNETT: HBCUs comprise less than 5 percent of all institutions of higher education, and yet they produce half of all doctors and lawyers in this country, 80 percent of judges, half of all public schoolteachers in this country.

Secretary Cardona said today 100 percent of the vice presidents in this country.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: When you think about the value proposition of HBCUs today, what do you tell people?

What do you see, especially in light of the Supreme Court ruling overturning the use of race-conscious in the college admissions practices?

KAMALA HARRIS: Well, as you said, as a proud HBCU graduate, I know what these educational institutions do.

They are exceptional institutions of higher learning with a history that has been about nurturing and educating young people to go on to be national and global leaders.

The experience that a student receives at an HBCU is that from every direction they are told they can be and do anything.

They are told that they should never be burdened by the fact that someone like them may have not done the work before.

They are told that they are expected to think about the future of our country and contribute to its strength and its productivity, and all of that in an environment that gives them a sense of understanding that they are important and that they are valued and that we expect them to exercise self-determination.

It's a very special experience.

And so these institutions, like you said, have an outsized impact on who actually then populates the stream of these very important professions.

I just met earlier with some of the STEM students who are focused on space and partnerships with NASA.

These are future leaders of not only the country, but the world and beyond.

And so we're proud that we have been -- we have put $7 billion so far into HBCUs.

President Biden and I feel very strongly about that, and we're going to continue to do it.

GEOFF BENNETT: Vice President Harris, thanks so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you.

Appreciate you, Geoff.

Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: In a first for a sitting president, President Biden joined a picket line in Michigan to show support to striking members of the United Auto Workers union.

It's the second week of strikes against Detroit's Big Three automakers, GM, Ford and Stellantis.

Joining me now is UAW President Shawn Fain.

Mr. Fain, welcome to the "NewsHour."

It was a remarkable scene to see President Biden out there on the picket line today.

You previously said this isn't about any president, current or former.

You seem to want to keep politics out of it.

So why host President Biden at the picket line today?

SHAWN FAIN, President, United Auto Workers: Well, I think the workers encouraged this.

I mean, this is the workers' fight, and it's a just fight.

I mean, I believe this is a working-class thing.

It's not just about the UAW.

It's about workers all over this country.

We put an invitation out there for people to join us.

And the White House responded right away.

And it was great to see that.

And we have never seen it before in the history of this nation.

So it obviously shows that, for a sitting president for the first time in our history to visit a picket line, I think that goes a long way in showing where he stands with working-class people.

AMNA NAWAZ: Did the president in conversations with you offer any additional help in your negotiations?

Did you ask him for any?

SHAWN FAIN: No, we -- no, look, the negotiations are up to our national negotiating committees, our vice presidents and our team.

And we have got that handled.

The -- naturally, the president's just asking how things are going and keeping updates and just checking in to see how things are progressing.

AMNA NAWAZ: As you know, former President Trump is going to be visiting Michigan tomorrow.

And he, as you also likely know, has been attacking you.

He's saying that the UAW leadership is not protecting its members.

He's been saying the push to electric vehicles means fewer union jobs ahead that you're not protecting.

Do you share this concern, though, that he's articulating that we know some of your members have about the future of electric vehicles, meaning fewer union jobs ahead?

SHAWN FAIN: Well, it depends on where we go as a nation.

But we support a green economy.

We have to have an Earth that we can live on that's sustainable for life.

And -- but it has to be a just transition.

And that's what this fight, part of this fight is about, is about our tax dollars are helping finance this transition.

And these companies are taking the billions of dollars in our tax dollars, but they're trying to drive a race to the bottom by paying substandard wages and benefits.

And we don't stand for that.

So we're pushing very hard for these jobs to have our standards in them, so people can live off of it.

And so that's what this fight's about.

And that's what a just transition is to us.

And so -- but as it stands right now, it has to change, because, as it stands, we don't have a piece of a lot of that work, especially the battery work.

So we're fighting to get it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you about some of the things you are asking for.

And I want to put to you what Steven Rattner wrote.

As you know, he served as President Obama's auto czar, essentially, helped negotiate that 2008 deal amid the financial crisis.

And he says: "Yes, absolutely, autoworkers deserve a pay raise, but they're not going to get" it.

Automakers aren't going to meet your demands, he says because they can't.

"Or, if they do," he wrote recently in The New York Times, "the workers are likely to pay the ultimate price."

His argument, essentially, that manufacturing, unlike services, can basically offset higher labor costs by just shifting their work elsewhere.

So, can the Big Three compete if they have to pay labor costs at two or three times what Toyota and Honda and Kia are paying?

SHAWN FAIN: Well, this comes down to two words, corporate greed.

And I don't know where Rattner has been living for the last 20 or 30 years, but in the last 20 years, we have made massive concessions.

Everything's been done on the backs of our workers.

And these companies in the Big Three have still shut down 65 plants.

So that math doesn't add up.

In the last decade, these companies have made a quarter-of-a-trillion dollars.

The last six months, they made $21 billion.

That's on the backs of our workers.

The price of vehicles went up 35 percent in the last four years.

CEO pay went up 40 percent in the last four years.

And our wages went backwards.

But no one cried a river when the CEOs are giving themselves 40 percent increases and the companies are making record profits.

That's the problem here.

We got to stop the fear tactics and putting this fear out there that, if workers ever demand anything or they get their fair share, it's going to be the end of the world.

It's just not true.

AMNA NAWAZ: Is there any long-term concern you have, though?

If labor costs do go up in a union shop with these Big Three, that does mean they are paying higher labor costs than non-unionized shops that are largely operating across the South now.

Do you have a long-term concern about the ability for them to continue competing and then employing more union workers?

SHAWN FAIN: We have a long-term concern for the working class in general.

And the workers that work in non-union shops are making a lot less than we do.

So I know they're scraping to get by.

This isn't just our fight.

This is a fight for the working class, no matter what work some people do.

And the goal here is, we set the new standard and we organize those places.

That's how the UAW was built.

It was born out of a depression in the worst of times.

Workers saw a better way of life.

They joined unions.

They joined the UAW and they won economic and social justice.

It was life-changing.

That's what created the American dream.

And the American dream has been dead in this country for years, at the expense of the corporate class and the billionaire class and the corporate greed taking everything.

So that's what we have to change in this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr. Fain, you have got 150,000 workers in the UAW.

Given where things are today in negotiations, how much wider do you see this strike going, and when do you plan to make that next decision?

SHAWN FAIN: It's going to be up to the companies.

If they continue to drag their feet, then we're going to amp up the pressure.

So it's completely up to the companies.

(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: Well, if I may, the strike widening seems to be up to you and your members.

So do you have a date set for when you plan to make a decision about how much wider it may go?

SHAWN FAIN: It will just depend on how bargaining progresses in the next few days.

And as things progress or don't progress, then we will make those decisions.

AMNA NAWAZ: And is this the kind of thing - - I mean, the strike is now in day 12.

Is this the kind of thing you and your members are prepared to see go for weeks or months, if necessary?

SHAWN FAIN: We're prepared to do whatever we have to do to win economic and social justice.

So there's not a timetable.

We don't want to be out here.

The companies wasted seven weeks of bargaining, as they have in the past.

They waited until the last week to get serious about talking.

We told them at the outset.

We have been there every day.

We expected to bargain early and get these agreements done by the deadline.

They chose not to do that.

They chose to drag it out.

So they have chose to put our workers in the street.

So we will see how things play out.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr. Fain, on that same point, if there is an extended strike, there are some economists warning it could have broader ripple effects, for sure, in the communities where many of your workers live, but also across the broader economy, small impact, but meaningful.

Are you worried about that?

SHAWN FAIN: What I'm worried about is how the economy is impacted by people scraping to get buy paycheck to paycheck.

When workers get pay increases, when workers have more money and they have more job security, it's great for the economy.

That's what drives the economy.

A billionaire or a CEO getting another $10 million on their already bloated salaries doesn't move the economy.

When they buy a third million-home somewhere else, that doesn't move the economy.

What moves the economy is the majority of the working-class people having more money in their pockets, so they have purchasing power.

That's what drives the economy.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is the president of the United Auto Workers union, Shawn Fain, joining us tonight.

Mr. Fain, thank you for joining us.

Please come back soon.

SHAWN FAIN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's been seven weeks since the deadliest American wildfires in more than a century swept through the Hawaiian island of Maui.

And some residents in the hardest-hit neighborhoods of Lahaina are just now finally getting a chance to return home.

William Brangham and our team report from Maui on what life is like for those who survived.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What goes through your mind when you see fire that close to your home?

EDITH JACINTO, Lahaina Resident: Oh my God.

Am I going to die?

This house is gone.

Like, our life for 50 years here at this home is going to be gone.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Edith Jacinto thought shed always live in her family's home in Lahaina on the west coast of Maui.

But now, more than a month-and-a-half after wildfires destroyed their house, along with most of her beloved community, she's still trying to process all that's been lost.

EDITH JACINTO: Every time I would drive past, it was like, I will either cry or I get goose bumps, or I just say, like, this is not real right now.

This is not real.

But it is.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Edith cares full-time for her parents, her 101-year-old dad, Arsenio, and her 83 year-old mom, Victoria, who needs oxygen 24/7.

On that terrible day, the Jacintos were all together at home when Edith's nephew sent a startling message: A fire was fast approaching.

EDITH JACINTO: He tried to get a hold of all of us texting or calling, saying: You guys got to get out.

Like, Auntie, it jumped.

The fire jumped across the street.

It's by the park.

Go now.

So, I just so happened to open the back door, and then the smoke just filled the home.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The family narrowly escaped, but they lost everything, their once proud, family home now nothing more than these columns.

The Jacintos are one of more than 7,000 Maui residents who have been forced into temporary housing.

They now live in a hotel provided by the Red Cross.

EDITH JACINTO: My dad couldn't quite understand.

He kept asking: "When are we going home?"

My mom, she's always had bouts of insomnia, but its more so now.

Like, she would scream in the middle of the night.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For so many others on Maui, their nightmare began just after midnight on August 8, when the first fires were reported in the central part of the island.

The flames soon grew, devouring homes, business, and priceless native Hawaiian treasures.

In the weeks since, rescue teams have delicately combed through ash and rubble, searching for human remains.

Officials say 97 people died, but another 20 or more are still missing.

In all, more than 2,000 structures were destroyed.

Yesterday, the first group of residents was allowed back into their neighborhood to see what's left of their homes.

RICHARD BISSEN, Mayor of Maui County, Hawaii: Some have lost everything.

Some have lost loved ones.

Some -- no one was spared.

Everyone has some loss.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Richard Bissen is the mayor of Maui County.

RICHARD BISSEN: Amazingly, this event has brought us closer -- closer together.

And that's because this community is a resilient community.

No one was prepared for something like this to happen.

But we're learning and we're sticking together.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But the mayor, who has been in office less than a year, has also faced criticism for how the county initially responded to the fires and for a lack of transparency in the weeks since.

Obviously, people trusting you and believing what you say and how you are leading is critical.

Do you feel that you have regained the public's trust?

RICHARD BISSEN: I, first of all, accept all the criticism.

You know, I wish I knew how to do all this stuff before I came mayor.

There's no shortage of investigations about what happened here.

We never want this to happen again.

We want to do everything we can to not just restore trust, but to prevent something like this from happening.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There are many factors that contributed to the extent of this tragedy.

The local utility acknowledged downed power lines triggered an initial blaze.

And since parts of Maui were experiencing a severe drought, the hillsides around Lahaina were thick with dry grasses.

High winds from a nearby hurricane then blew this into a violent, fast-moving fire.

The one paved road out of town was clogged with traffic.

And there was no clear early warning to evacuate.

AARON KAMAUNU, Maui Resident: So, I'm listening to the news, and still nothing.

I don't see no cops.

I hear no sirens.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Aaron Kamaunu lived on Maui for over 50 years.

He says he had no idea just how dangerous the situation had become, that is, until the flames were less than a mile away from where he was living with his wife and a 99-year-old man he was caring for.

AARON KAMAUNU: The neighbors, right, they are coming back and reporting to us, say, hey, the fire is getting close.

And I said, no way.

I just left the area, can't be that fast.

Well, guess what?

That puppy was a block away.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It had gone from a mile to a block away.

AARON KAMAUNU: In minutes, in minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes.

It was, like, unreal, unbelievable.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Aaron said the winds that day were the strongest he'd ever seen.

He captured this footage on his cell phone.

His home was destroyed, but he escaped and now lives on Hawaii's Big Island with the family of the man he cares for.

But Aaron's good friend and former neighbor, 80-year-old Freeman Tam Lung, a man he affectionately called Uncle Freeman, did not make it out of Lahaina.

AARON KAMAUNU: Well, I give him a call.

And I said: "Uncle Freeman."

He says: "Yes, hello.

How's it going, Aaron?"

I said: "I'm doing OK. How are you?"

He starts laughing.

And then, all of a sudden, click, phone's dead.

That was it.

That's the last thing I heard, him laughing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Those who survive, they are now trying to figure out the future and how to rebuild their lives.

Many are relying on help from their fellow Hawaiians.

Donations have poured into centers like this one in nearby Napili.

KAIPO KEKONA, Napili Noho: We knew what people would be experiencing.

We had no idea of the magnitude of it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Kaipo Kekona has helped run this center since the fires were extinguished.

They serve hundreds of families a day with free groceries, clothes, household supplies, and a sense of community.

KAIPO KEKONA: We tried to develop our site to be a reflection of our island values.

And we just try to orientate all our operations to keep families involved, so that it just keeps our community really tight and in good mind-set, so that we can stick together moving forward.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Jacinto family says they hope to one day rebuild their home in Lahaina; 83-year-old Victoria says she can still vividly remember what it was like.

VICTORIA JACINTO, Fire Victim: I close my eyes, and I'm there cooking, cleaning, but no more.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What you see behind me is what is remaining of one neighborhood in Lahaina.

So, all of those white concrete foundations are all that is left.

And if you extrapolate out from that, that is thousands of people in this community that are dealing with the loss of their neighborhoods, as well as a very uncertain future -- Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's remarkable to see seven weeks later.

But, William, let me ask you about something we have heard from the mayor, which is that there's no shortage of investigations into the start of the fires, into why they were so bad.

What do we know about the status of those investigations?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Hawaii attorney general has deputized a nonprofit fire safety organization to try to get to the bottom of some of those questions.

And so they will be looking at how this fire started, why it got so bad, building a whole timeline of what each of the local officials and how they responded.

So, that is police, fire, EMTs, and emergency managers.

We will get the sense from that investigation sometime soon.

There's also this overarching question that we heard from a lot of people, which is, why didn't they signal to evacuate?

And there are emergency beacons all over this area.

And they did not go after in the fire.

And I talked with the head of the county's emergency operations here, and he said those are tsunami beacons.

And people are conditioned that, if those go off, that they're supposed to head uphill, which is exactly what they didn't want people doing in this fire.

So, that's why they did not go after in the fire.

AMNA NAWAZ: William, what about the role of the electrical utility?

I know you have reported that they did acknowledge that their downed lines were responsible for one initial blaze.

What else do we know about it, whether they played a larger role?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There's about a dozen different lawsuits against Hawaii Electric Company, including the county of Maui is one of the people suing them.

And all of those lawsuits are alleging, one way or another that the utility did a poor job over the years of strengthening their utility poles, trying to make them resistant enough so that, when winds swept through here, that those poles did not come down and those lines did not come down.

So we don't know what's going to happen with those lawsuits.

We do know that the CEO of that utility will be testifying before Congress later this week.

In a statement that they sent to the "NewsHour" on this front, they argue that, over the years, they have spent millions of dollars doing those exact things that people allege they should have been doing more of, and that this is, in essence, trying to find blame where it does not exist.

AMNA NAWAZ: Finally, William, we heard from some of the many folks you have been talking to down on the ground there.

They have been through the unimaginable.

But what else are you hearing from people about how they're coping?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We have seen an incredible, resilient spirit coming up here.

I mean, as it happens with every disaster, aid comes in from all over the country and all over the world.

But one of the other things that we have seen here that has been very powerful is local people stepping up to help each other, Hawaiians helping Hawaiians.

And several people that we have talked to said that that process of people who are themselves going through a traumatic experience, reaching out, stepping up to help others, has, in and of itself, been therapeutic for them.

And so it's been a very, very beautiful and powerful thing for us to witness that.

AMNA NAWAZ: A recovery still a long way from over.

That is William Brangham reporting for us from Maui.

William, thank you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Thanks, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tonight, we go inside Ukraine's counteroffensive.

The U.S. has sent Ukraine tens of billions of dollars of weapons, and senior U.S. military officials predict Ukraine has only about a month to make progress before rainy weather makes movement difficult.

The counteroffensive's primary goal is in the south, toward the city of Melitopol, to cut into Russian-occupied territory north of Crimea.

With the help of the Pulitzer Center, Nick Schifrin, videographer Eric O'Connor and their team spent a week on the front line and report from south of the town of Orikhiv.

NICK SCHIFRIN: At the epicenter of an existential war, Ukrainians try to move forward by any means necessary.

They fire an anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade unconventionally at Russian troops a mile-and-a-half away.

This is a rare look at Ukraine's special Artan Special Forces Unit.

The commander's call sign is Zachar.

He is named for a Ukrainian warrior, but apparently knows American movies.

What's your message to America?

ZACHAR, Artan Special Forces Unit (through translator): What's the message?

If you want to be free, help us with shells, shells and weapons.

The rest, we will do ourselves.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They are the counteroffensive's tip of the spear.

Their intelligence comes from a drone that flies over Russian lines and provides real-time feedback to adjust their fire.

Down the road, just after daybreak, that drone unit brings us to their hidden position.

It is an active morning.

This is right at the epicenter of the counteroffensive, where Ukrainians have pushed the Russians back a little.

They're trying to expand their territory.

The Russian line is just half-a-mile both that way and that way, and you can hear all the firing.

This is the meeting of past and present that helps define this war.

Soldiers walk through the kind of trenches that troops have used for two millennia to be able to launch the most modern form of warfare that Ukraine is helping to invent.

They're from the National Guard 15th Operational Brigade and the Makhno Unit, a special forces team named for a Ukrainian revolutionary born more than a century ago.

But it's not just reconnaissance, explosives on top, a charge on the bottom, and a drone in the middle that will be flown as a kamikaze.

Their first step is a surveillance drone that will help guide the kamikaze pilot.

The Chinese-made surveillance Mavic drone flies toward the Russian position.

The kamikaze drones are called FPVs for first-person view from video goggles.

The pilot, call sign Maki, races the drone toward Russian positions, the surveillance drone helping guide him in.

And then they see their target.

Maki flies the kamikaze FPV across no man's land until he loses connection the moment it explodes in a Russian trench.

MAKI, Makhno Unit (through translator): I (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up in the trench.

The trench is a straight line and I was trying to hit behind him.

I flew like that and the fragments flew all over the trench.

NICK SCHIFRIN: After, the hunters become the hunted, and they take cover from Russian drones.

Another surveillance team searches for Russian positions.

Those craters are from artillery shells.

Call sign Ahmet explains how a network of drones feeds intelligence into a live interactive map.

AHMET, Ukrainian Soldier (through translator): You can indicate on the map what you see, artillery, infantry and equipment.

And everyone will have access to the map.

NICK SCHIFRIN: They say a platoon's life can hinge on a single drone.

And so the two sides try to blind the other.

The unit's connection depends on this Starlink satellite.

They couldn't fly for more than an hour because nearby Russian troops jammed the signal.

AHMET (through translator): If they are two to three kilometers away, I can fly the drone and see how our artillery is working.

The same with intelligence.

I can take a photo, we can sit and plan, and the group will already know where there's a foxhole, where there's a dugout.

They will not go in darkness.

But this advantage is not only for us.

It's also for them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Since June, Ukraine has pushed Russian troops back a few miles deep and a few miles wide here in blue past Robotyne, and, in recent days, near Verbove.

The short-term goal is to push further toward Tokmak and sever the Russian land bridge toward Crimea.

But Russia has reinforced positions to the south.

The job of protecting one of the Ukrainian flanks falls on this unit of the 128th Brigade artillery here at Forward Base Taxi Driver.

There's a lot of waiting in war, but also contests of strategy, challenges of strength, and even hand-to-hand combat.

You're holding your phone, and you have the messaging application Signal open.

Why?

EUGENE DYACHENKO, Ukrainian Platoon Leader (through translator): There is an artillery group where we get targets and, at any moment, we will need to hit it immediately.

That's it.

There's no other way.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thirty-four-year-old platoon leader Eugene Dyachenko is from this region, but his hometown is occupied.

His grandmother and brother still live there.

EUGENE DYACHENKO (through translator): They are being terrorized.

The Russian intelligence services come and take them to the basement and ask about me, where am I?

I ask them to keep a low profile and just to wait.

We will be there soon, really soon.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The 128th Brigade is one of Ukraine's most experienced units, and last month liberated the occupied village of Piatykhatky.

Despite that success, despite fighting with 21st century tools, his unit's munitions feed a weapon twice his age, the D-20 howitzer.

Ukraine fires more than 90,000 shells a month.

The D-20 is a Soviet era workhorse that soldiers rely on and arm with help from foreign supporters.

But this melting pot of munitions isn't enough.

At the beginning of the war, they fired 200 a day.

Now they have a fraction of that.

LT. COL. OLEKSII KOVALYUK, Ukrainian Armed Forces (through translator): We are ready to work almost around the clock, just changing shifts, but we don't have ammunition.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Kovalyuk is the commander of the 128th Brigade's artillery division.

You have had to ration your firing.

Have you seen the same thing on the Russian side?

LT. COL. OLEKSII KOVALYUK (through translator): Yes, not like we have, but yes.

There is a decrease in the use of and intensity of their artillery.

It's the same for them as it is for us.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ukraine's shortage exacerbates the challenge of Russian defenses, hundreds of miles of anti-tank ditches, barriers known as dragon's teeth, an extensive trench network, and the largest mine fields in the world.

Deminers demonstrate how they dig up mines by hand or use specialized vehicles that fire explosive ropes that clear a path to drive through.

This is the view from a drone infrared camera.

Each white spot is a mine, on average, one mine every two square feet for hundreds of miles, often remined from the air.

It's led to enormous losses of Western weapons systems and Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukraine doesn't disclose casualties.

The U.S. officials say the number of wounded and dead since the beginning of the war is more than 150,000.

On the southern front line, medics have never been busy.

All of these videos are filmed by the medics of the 15th National Guard Brigade.

Solomon is one of them.

SOLOMON (15th National Guard Brigade) (through translator): It's hard to say how many there have been, because one dead or one wounded is already too much.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What was this city like before the war?

He walks me through Orikhiv, the largest city near the front, where silence is suspended by sounds of war.

It is a nearly empty shell from bombs dropped by Russian jets, apartment complexes cut in half.

What used to be a school, then aid distribution point, the sole pillar standing still holds children's backpacks, and all that remains of a hospital.

SOLOMON (through translator): This is also a hospital building, and civilians were living in the basement.

The missile hit here.

We see now the result.

There was no military equipment.

For the Russians, there are no rules.

Civilians, soldiers, medics, there is no difference.

And we know from our intercepts that they are intentionally targeting and want to destroy an armored medical vehicle during evacuation.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The 15th fights on this front every day, but neither their soldiers nor their medics have as modern equipment as other regular army brigades.

Have the number of casualties your unit has faced increased because of the minefields?

SOLOMON (through translator): Of course, over the last year, very, very much.

They had time.

They mined very well.

EVGENE (15th National Guard Brigade) (through translator): There are so many minds here, and we don't know about most of them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thirty-year-old Evgene is also with the 15th.

The civilian medical infrastructure is obliterated, so military medics are the only source of medical care.

EVGENE (through translator): Civilian ambulances are not coming here, so we help the civilian population.

And it is more difficult, because there is only one road, which is being shelled.

Each trip, there is a lottery whether we will return safely.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And that risk applies to even the most elite units.

That Zachar, commander of the Artan Special Forces Unit, at the funeral of his former commander.

ZACHAR (through translator): Our commander died in Bakhmut.

We were working with a rocket-propelled grenade.

There was incoming, and he was instantly killed.

NICK SCHIFRIN: How will Ukraine win this war?

ZACHAR (through translator): Only victory, only after we return all of our land.

Without all of our land, my belief is that the war will not end.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And so there is no Plan B. Ukraine will keep fighting for every inch, every yard, no matter how long, no matter how hard.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin south of Orikhiv, Ukraine.

AMNA NAWAZ: And there's a lot more online, including a look at what we expect in the upcoming Supreme Court term, after the justices met behind closed doors today to consider which cases they will take up.

That is at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

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