August 8, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Former President Donald Trump reverses course and agrees to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, who's gaining in the polls.

A look at the stakes and the changing electoral map.

AMNA NAWAZ: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discusses her new book and weighs in on Democrats' chances of victory in the upcoming election.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We felt confident before what happened last three weeks, but after that, since this new campaign, members are even more encouraged.

GEOFF BENNETT: And one year after fires devastated parts of Hawaii, residents there are rebuilding, but still see a long road ahead.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

A debate has been set between former President Trump and Vice President Harris.

ABC News says it will host the two candidates in a head-to-head matchup on September 10.

GEOFF BENNETT: That news came as the presidential hopefuls and their running mates continued on the campaign trail today from a Michigan union hall to the gilded halls of Mar-a-Lago.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Well, thank you very much.

GEOFF BENNETT: Donald Trump today held his first major campaign event since Vice President Kamala Harris announced her pick of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

DONALD TRUMP: There's certainly never been anybody so liberal like these two.

GEOFF BENNETT: For nearly 10 minutes, the former president ticked through a litany of now-familiar grievances and unfounded and false claims, taking particular issue with the reporter's question about the Harris campaign's crowd sizes.

DONALD TRUMP: I have 10 times, 20 times, 30 times the crowd size.

GEOFF BENNETT: He compared the crowd size of his Ellipse speech on January 6 to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech and when asked why he's been off the campaign trail for days, offered this: DONALD TRUMP: Because I'm leading by a lot and because I'm letting their convention go through.

And I am campaigning a lot.

I'm doing tremendous amounts of taping here.

We have commercials that are at a level I don't think that anybody's ever done before.

Plus, in certain cases, I see many of you in the room where I'm speaking to you on phones, I'm speaking to radio, I'm speaking to television, television's coming over here.

Excuse me, what are we doing right now?

She's not doing any news conference.

You know why she's not doing it?

Because she can't do a news conference.

She doesn't know how to do a news conference.

She's not smart enough to do a news conference.

GEOFF BENNETT: Trump, who previously backed out of a presidential debate with Harris, today proposed three new dates for debates, including one with ABC News, to which Harris already committed.

Trump today was decidedly less on message than his own running mate, J.D.

Vance, who took aim at Walz's military service, reminiscent of the 2004 Republican effort to discredit the war record of then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a tactic orchestrated by Trump's now campaign adviser Chris LaCivita.

Vance at his campaign event yesterday used the controversial term stolen valor, often used to describe people who've lied outright about serving in the military.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: When the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it.

When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did?

He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him.

GEOFF BENNETT: There is no evidence that Walz retired to avoid a wartime deployment.

And it's a line of attack that may not work.

Walz has faced similar attacks from Republicans before and during his successful campaigns for Congress and governor.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D-MN), Vice Presidential Candidate: This guy doesn't know the first thing about unity or service.

And his running mate is just as dangerous and backward as he is.

GEOFF BENNETT: At a United Auto Workers event in Detroit today, Harris and Walz pushed back on the Trump campaign's attacks.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: We believe in each other.

We believe in the collective.

We're not falling for these folks who are trying to divide us, trying to separate us.

So, Michigan, I ask you, are you ready to make your voices heard?

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: Their Michigan event today follows a campaign rally last night outside Detroit that was moved to an airplane hangar to accommodate a crowd of nearly 15,000 people, according to the Harris campaign.

KAMALA HARRIS: This election is going to be a fight.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) KAMALA HARRIS: We like a good fight.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) KAMALA HARRIS: When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.

We know what we stand for.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: As Harris emphasized, a message of unity, a familiar divide, a small group of protesters chanting what appeared to be a pro-Palestinian message, interrupting Harris' speech.

Harris spoke with the leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement before her rally and acknowledged the protesters at first.

KAMALA HARRIS: I'm here because we believe in democracy.

Everyone's voice matters, but I am speaking now.

GEOFF BENNETT: But her patience ran thin after repeated interruptions.

KAMALA HARRIS: You know what?

But if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that.

Otherwise, I'm speaking.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: As the Harris campaign continues its battleground blitz, it's out today with a new ad campaign tailored to Latino voters, emphasizing Harris' background, raised by an immigrant mother.

After Michigan, Harris heads next to make the case to voters in Arizona and Nevada.

As the two newly cemented tickets continue to make their case to voters, the recent shakeups in the race have led to a reshuffling of the electoral math needed to win.

The Cook Political Report is out with updated ratings for the presidential race, moving the three battleground states of Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, from lean Republican to toss-up.

AMNA NAWAZ: In this new assessment, there are now six states and 77 electoral votes up for grabs.

Amy Walter is editor in chief of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and, of course, a member of our "News Hour" family.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Hello.

AMNA NAWAZ: Good to see you, Amy.

AMY WALTER: Glad to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So let's talk about your analysis today.

You wrote this.

You said -- quote -- "Things look a lot better for Democrats today than they did a few weeks ago, but Trump is looking stronger now than he did in 2020."

Explain that to us.

What are you seeing now in the race and in the polling?

AMY WALTER: That's right.

If you think about this from where we were when Biden was in this race, so in the pre-July 21 world, if we think about this as a contest, as a game, the contest was very lopsided against Biden.

He was behind by a significant number, not just at the national popular vote, but in those individual states, those individual battleground states.

You can see almost six points in a state like Georgia and Nevada.

Now, just in the time that Harris has been in the race, you have seen those numbers move pretty significantly toward Harris, again, four- or five-point shifts in those battleground states, which is mirroring what we're seeing in the national poll as well.

It hasn't turned those states, though, from once that favored Trump to once that now favor Harris.

It just means now that the race is no longer as lopsided in Trump's favor as it was, say, in late July, as it is today, which is why we're calling this race a toss-up.

GEOFF BENNETT: So we have got three months left until the election.

What do Harris/Walz or Trump/Vance need to do to really shift this race in their favor?

What voters are key to that?

AMY WALTER: Well, I think the most important thing to talk about is what has happened in the three weeks since Kamala Harris got into this contest.

If you think about where we were before that, think about Republicans as a football team and they had every single member of their team on the field.

And Democrats were a football team where maybe like 70 percent of their members were on the field.

Now what's happened with Harris, the enthusiasm, the energy, the shots you showed from where she's campaigning in these battleground states means that both teams now have everybody on the field, which means this is a battle of inches, not of yards.

They are both lined up.

They're evenly matched teams, where it could be anything from a fumble from one side that wins the game to one candidate getting a surge at the end.

But I do think, look, the battle right now, it was in your piece that you introduced the show with.

It's the battle to define the Harris/Walz ticket.

They are not particularly well-known.

Even the vice president isn't as well-known.

The one benefit she is getting is I think a lot of folks assumed, because she was the vice president, she would come in with all the same baggage that Biden had.

Instead, we have seen her favorable numbers shift 10 points in -- more favorably than they were before then.

She was much more tied to opinions of Biden than she is today.

That's the good news for her.

But, as you can see, Republicans are trying to fill in those gaps themselves, calling her dangerously liberal.

They have ads up going after her, specifically on things like the border, but also police reform and her opinions on some of those issues where she moved to the left in some cases during the 2020 campaign.

So I think, for the next, let's call it -- more so after the -- the DNC is where she gets a chance to tell her story.

After that, it's still Republicans trying to make the case about who they would like voters to see her as.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Amy, with Harris now seeing a bump over where President Biden was, what are the downballot implications for that, especially in some of those Senate races you have talked about before where we know Democrats are really fighting to hold on in tough states?

AMY WALTER: That's right.

Remember when we were watching this dance of, is Biden going to stay and is Biden going to get out, and the number of candidates who started to come out?

We saw that number start to ratchet up, especially in some of these states where voters knew that a decreased enthusiasm would mean that they too would find fewer voters coming and turning out.

Their overall numbers haven't changed.

What has changed, I think, is that they feel more confident that the voters they know are already for them will show up.

What they were worried about is that the voters who were for the Senate candidates were not excited about Biden, and so they may have stayed home.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we're seeing the impact of that with some of these Democratic Senate candidates in these battleground states.

AMY WALTER: Yes, when we were all at the RNC, and right before that, you had President Biden come into the state of Wisconsin, and not a lot of the folks who were up -- Senator Tammy Baldwin, for example, Democrat there, she did not appear with Biden.

Candidate in Michigan running for the Senate also didn't want to appear with Biden.

They are more than happy to appear with Harris now.

GEOFF BENNETT: Amy Walter, thanks, as always.

Great to see you.

AMY WALTER: Great to see you.

GEOFF BENNETT: There are also 435 elections across the country that will determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Republicans are hoping to expand their narrow majority.

The lawmaker in charge of that effort is North Carolina Republican Congressman Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, who joins us now.

Thanks for being with us.

REP. RICHARD HUDSON (R-NC): Great to be with you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, looking at the math, Democrats need to flip four seats to win back control of the House.

Where do Republicans see opportunities to expand the map?

REP. RICHARD HUDSON: Well, you have to start by pointing out that it's a very small map.

There are 435 members of Congress, but there are only 35 who won their seat with 5 percent or less.

So there are very few seats up for grabs when you look at the total map.

So, of those 35, it's been said there's probably about 22, 11 on each side, that are really up for grabs.

So when you look at what's the battlefield, where are we actually out there trying to pick up seats, what are the seats we have got to hold, there are very few.

But, having said that, we feel like the environment is in our favor.

We feel like the quality candidates we have recruited as challengers around the country are very good.

And so we're in a strong position to not just hold our majority, but we think we're going to pick up seats.

GEOFF BENNETT: The current Congress has been one of the least productive in decades.

Republicans with their narrow majority have been, for the most part, locked in high-profile fights, many over the speaker's gavel.

How do you make the case to Americans that Republicans can not only hold the majority, but also govern effectively?

REP. RICHARD HUDSON: Well, I think the American people aren't really concerned with who holds what gavel in Washington.

I think they're worried about safety in their neighborhood.

They're worried about an open border.

They're worried about inflation and the fact that the things they need to buy off their families are too expensive.

That's what's on voters' minds.

And the voters have decided that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, their policies have made them less prosperous and made them less safe.

And if you look at the polling, they trust Republicans on these issues.

We, as the Republican House, we passed a number of bills that the Senate decided not to take up, but they demonstrate our positions on energy, on parents bill of rights to give parents more decision-making in education, measures to bring down inflation.

These are the policies we're going to run on, and that's why I think we're going to be successful.

GEOFF BENNETT: There are more than a dozen Republican-held seats in districts that President Biden won back in 2020.

How should those folks run?

Should they run as aligned with Donald Trump, or should they try to distance themselves from him?

REP. RICHARD HUDSON: Well, I think Donald Trump is going to be an asset for all of our candidates.

I think Donald Trump is going to win this election.

But the issues that we're running on are the issues that the voters care most about, as I mentioned, inflation, open border, crime in their neighborhoods, fentanyl.

And all these issues, Republicans have solutions.

And the policies of the Biden/Harris administration have been wrong and they put the country on the wrong track.

And so we're running on the issues, and it just so happens the voters trust us on those issues.

GEOFF BENNETT: A question about the money and the resources.

Democrats say they have seen a surge of money for Democrats in recent weeks, both for the Harris campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Do Republicans have the money they need right now to be competitive heading into November?

REP. RICHARD HUDSON: We do.

We have done a good job of fund-raising.

We have broken a lot of fund-raising records, but it just so happens that Democrats have done better.

And, historically, Democrats have raised more money than Republicans.

They have some structural advantages that allow them to do that.

I don't need to match the Democrats dollar for dollar, but we do need to continue to raise money.

The key is you have got to have the money for your candidates to tell their story and to connect with the voters.

And we want the resources to do that.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, ballpark, how big a GOP majority are you expecting in November?

REP. RICHARD HUDSON: Well, I'm not going to give you a number because if I fall one short, don't pick up a bunch, then it looked like we failed.

But I do feel very confident that we're not just going to hold the House.

We're going to pick up some seats, but, again, within that caveat I mentioned earlier that there aren't that many up for grabs total.

You're not going to see these huge swings that we have seen in the past where 20 seats go one way or the other.

Every single one of these 35 seats is going to be very close.

GEOFF BENNETT: Republican Congressman Richard Hudson of North Carolina, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, thanks for being with us.

REP. RICHARD HUDSON: Great to be with you, Geoff.

Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Now to the day's other headlines, starting with the latest on what is now Tropical Depression Debby.

The slow-moving cyclone returned to shore, hitting the Carolinas today.

It's expected to remain inland as it moves up the East Coast, where it could dump several inches of rain as far north as Vermont by this weekend.

Officials in North Carolina said today a seventh person was killed when a tornado hit Wilson County.

That's east of Raleigh.

It tore through this middle school overnight and residents woke up to a scene of destruction.

FRANCES SMITH, North Carolina Resident: You could tell it changed from heavy rain to something else.

And when we came out, we found out that it had damaged the school, but it was so dark because all the yard lights were out.

You really couldn't tell how badly it was damaged until the sun came up this morning.

And it's just -- I don't -- it's a -- it's a mess.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime neighborhoods in Florida, like this one in Sarasota, are still submerged in floodwaters three days after Debby drenched the peninsula.

Thousands of Floridians are still without power.

Federal food officials say a third person has died from a listeria outbreak linked to Boar's Head deli meats; 43 others have fallen ill. Late last month, Boar's Head recalled seven million pounds of deli meats after a liverwurst sample in Maryland tested positive for listeria.

It included more than 70 products, including liverwurst, ham, beef, salami and bologna.

Consumers should not eat the recalled meats and should instead discard the leftover and return them to a store.

Experts also advise people to thoroughly clean and sanitize their refrigerators to prevent contamination.

Turning now to the Middle East, Israel has ordered more mass evacuations in the Gazan city of Khan Yunis.

The IDF says it will carry out military operations there soon in response to recent Palestinian rocket fire.

Large clouds of smoke rose from the city today following the sound of explosions.

That's as thousands of Gazans packed up and left.

Many were not sure where to go.

AHMED AL-FARRA, Displaced Palestinian (through translator): The situation is, is that the army called and warned us and sent leaflets.

So we left the area, which was already full of displaced Gazans.

There are no homes left to stay at.

GEOFF BENNETT: To the north, Israeli airstrikes hit two schools near Gaza City today.

Palestinian medics say the buildings were sheltering civilians and at least 16 people were killed.

Israel says Hamas fighters were using the schools as command centers.

Bystanders rushed to the scene of one attack and combed through the rubble.

Amateur video shows medics carrying children to a nearby hospital.

On Wall Street, stocks surged after a reassuring report on the U.S. jobs market.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped nearly 700 points on the day.

The Nasdaq added 464 points, or nearly 3 percent.

The S&P 500 posted its best session since late 2022.

It was a big night on the track at the Paris Olympics.

And, spoiler alert, that includes an upset in the men's 200-meter final.

Team USA's decorated sprinter Noah Lyles finished third and fell to the ground after crossing the finish line.

He was carried away by medics.

It was revealed later that he has COVID.

Elsewhere, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone defended her gold in the 400-meter hurdle final, beating her own world record in the process.

On the men's side, hurdler Grant Holloway won gold in the 110-meter final.

Those showings helped the U.S. maintain its lead atop the medal board, with 103 medals overall.

And Katie Ledecky has been selected as a flag-bearer for Sunday's closing ceremonies.

She became the most decorated U.S. women's Olympian of all time in Paris with 14 career medals.

She will be joined by gold medal-winning rower Nick Mead.

And as we find ourselves in the throes of a heated presidential race, we take a moment now to mark 50 years since Richard Nixon became the first and only American president to step down.

Nixon, of course, had been caught up in the Watergate scandal.

He initially denied any involvement in the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

But ties between his White House and those responsible eventually emerged.

Congressional hearings followed, and Nixon himself was implicated in the cover-up effort.

That led to impeachment hearings and finally his address to the nation August 8, 1974.

RICHARD NIXON, Former President of the United States: Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

GEOFF BENNETT: His departure closed the chapter on the scandal, but opened up a new era of cynicism and mistrust of government in America.

Just a month after leaving office, Richard Nixon was pardoned by his successor, President Gerald Ford.

Still to come on the "News Hour": where recovery efforts stand one year after Hawaii's destructive fires; investigators provide new details about the terror plots that forced Taylor Swift concerts to be canceled; and what's happened to homeless Parisians during this year's Olympics.

AMNA NAWAZ: After nearly 40 years of working in the nation's capital, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has played a central role in some of the most consequential American events of the last two decades.

And that is the focus of her new book, "The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House."

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thank you for being here.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Always a pleasure to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you have said this new book, "The Art of Power," that it's not a memoir, but it does have a number of very personal, very intimate moments in it.

It's also just a sweeping collection of big moments through your leadership, through American history, 9/11, the war in Iraq, the 2008 financial crisis.

How did you arrive at these moments?

What's the common thread?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I actually -- you said it well.

It's not a memoir.

But when I was in the leadership, I -- these were four areas that I wanted to show our side, from the House Democratic side, where we were on the issue.

So I intended to write this book a long time ago.

I just had no time.

So, by the time I wrote it, when I was no longer speaker and had the time to do so -- people said, well, you have to write about January 6 and Trump, and you have to write about what happened to your husband.

And so I have some other things there.

But there are other subjects that I will write about Ukraine, I will write about climate, the climate issue and the rest, but that's for another book.

AMNA NAWAZ: You talk about this in the book, about male colleagues discouraging you from seeking leadership, saying that there was a pecking order.

And you write: "When the women members spoke out in favor of having a woman in the Democratic leadership, the same gentlemen said -- quote -- 'Why don't you just make a list of what you want to do and we will do it for you?'"

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's often said power is not given, that it has to be taken.

So how do you do that?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, they also said at the time when I was running, who said she could run?

Who said she could call me?

Who said - - SO -- and all of this is in this century.

We're not talking about something -- this is in the 21st century.

Yes.

Well, it was just their old way of thinking, God bless their hearts.

But the fact is, I said to them, I don't want you voting for me because I'm a woman, but I don't want you voting against me because I'm a woman.

I just want you to show you what -- why I think we can win back the House.

See, the reason I ran is, I was -- '94, '96, '98, we kept losing the House.

And I said, I know how to win elections, I want to show with policy and the politics how we can serve the people.

AMNA NAWAZ: When it comes to women in positions of power, do you think that America is ready for a female president today in a way that maybe many people believe we were not back in 2016?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I think America is ready.

I always thought -- I mean, I never aspired to be speaker.

But then when I wanted to be in the leadership, I thought I'd be number two or number three.

And then I became the speaker, because I won the election and that was it.

But I always thought we'd have a woman president before we'd have a woman speaker, because the Congress is a very male-dominated, marble ceiling kind of place, to break a marble ceiling.

But I think we're very ready, and I think we will.

I have -- Kamala Harris is a person of deep faith, of great patriotism, personally of deep faith and patriotism.

So I think, from a political, from a personal and from an official standpoint, she's prepared to lead us.

(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: And now she has a new running mate who you know very well from his time in the House as well.

What's your assessment of what Governor Tim Walz brings to the ticket in terms of how he complements Kamala Harris?

Who is he bringing in who might have otherwise been a challenge?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: He complements her very well, in that he is patriotic.

He has a sense of humor.

He has a sense of duty.

And he knows the issues.

I mean, 12 years in the Congress, that's good preparation to be the vice president of the United States.

And he's loved -- beloved by the members of the Democratic members of the Congress -- of the House -- the Democratic House, even some on the other side.

AMNA NAWAZ: Does this Harris/Walz ticket help downballot?

I mean, I should point out, last time you were here was on election night in 2022, and you rightly predicted there would be no red wave.

So I have to ask for your prediction for this year too.

What do you think happens in the House?

Do Republicans keep their majority?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: No.

No, I don't think so.

See, that night -- and thank you for remembering -- all these humma- hummas, Washington, New York, were saying, oh, they're going to -- red wave, three to -- 30 to 40 seats.

I said, they don't even know what they're talking about.

So we knew that we had real opportunity, and we came very close, except we lost five seats in New York, and that's the amount of votes we lost by.

So this time, we will win them.

I have no quite doubt about it, and it's all -- of course, we felt confident before what happened the last three weeks, but, after that, and since this new campaign, members are even more encouraged.

AMNA NAWAZ: That change in the ticket came after a series of events, one I know that you have been asked about ad nauseam, which was the interview you gave on "Morning Joe," which is a show we know the president watches, and you said it was up to President Biden to decide if he was going to run.

That if turned into a turning point of sorts.

And I know you have said that you never intended to even talk about that in the interview, but you did just say in a recent interview to "The New Yorker" that you would never been impressed with his political operation, and you said: "They won the House, bravo, but my concern was this ain't..." REP. NANCY PELOSI: The White House.

AMNA NAWAZ: The White House, correct.

"But this ain't happening," is what you said.

You were worried that a decision had to be made of some kind.

So is it fair to say, even if you were fielding worries from everyone else about the ticket, that you yourself had your own concerns that Biden was losing to Trump?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I thought that he could beat Trump, but there had to be a different approach than what we were seeing recently.

God bless them for winning the White House and that, but, in this race, in a different set of realities that were out there, that the lack of communicating what he did as president, one of the most consequential presidents of our time.

But as the campaign was unfolding, I thought that justice wasn't being done to him as to how everything was being presented.

So it was his decision whether his campaign would change or accelerate the pace or whatever, or there would be a change in the candidate.

And that's the course that he chose.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have talked about you have known him for so many years, for decades.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes, I love him.

AMNA NAWAZ: You love him.

You have said this repeatedly.

My understanding is you haven't spoken with him since he ended his campaign.

Is that still correct?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes, but that would not have been unusual.

That's only three weeks.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: We're not talking about that much time.

Our whole family for three generations, my husband, Paul, and I, our children, our grandchildren, all love Joe Biden, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr. Biden also recently talked about his concern about more political violence if former President Trump does lose this next election.

Are you worried about that as well?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Of course.

This is a president who, as president -- a person, as president of the United States, instigated an insurrection against the Constitution, against the Congress, against the Capitol, the beacon of democracy to the world, to desecrate, to defecate, to disgrace the people who worked there, to treat them with scorn and the rest of that and danger.

So, certainly, we don't trust him to be responsible in that transition.

AMNA NAWAZ: That political violence, of course, landed on your doorstep when your own husband was attacked in your San Francisco home.

You start the book with that story.

And it's clear that it still has such an incredible impact to this day on your family.

How much does that day still loom over you, your work, your family today?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, they didn't just land at our doorstep.

They came inside of our house.

Imagine invading the privacy of your home in a very dangerous way.

"Where's Nancy?

Where's Nancy?"

-- just what they were saying in the Capitol on January 6, coming for me.

So it's something that was horrible for our family, the physical damage still to be completely recovered from, but trauma that will be with us for a long time to come.

But part of it is also, we don't want other people to back away from their political or governmental participation because they have fears for their family.

This is America.

It's a democracy.

We exchange ideas.

We compete in ideas.

That's what a democracy is about.

So it is -- we don't want anybody to back off any decision to go on.

I have tremendous guilt because he was coming for me, and my husband paid the price.

I'm very political.

I take pride in that.

AMNA NAWAZ: You still feel that guilt today?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Oh, sure.

As long as my husband is in pain, I feel the guilt, but also just the trauma.

AMNA NAWAZ: Madam Speaker, you have been at the table on some of the most consequential moments in American history.

You have broken barriers in your own way.

You have now overseen a generational transfer of leadership in the House as well.

You have been doing this for almost 40 years.

And you're running again.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: What is left?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: It will be 40 years at the end of this term.

AMNA NAWAZ: What is left to do?

What's on your list?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, first, we just have to -- we start where we are.

We have to win the election, and we make a decision to win.

When you make a decision to win, then you make every decision in favor of winning, decide to own the ground with your mobilization to get out the vote, a decision to have a bold, progressive message that is non-menacing, that addresses the kitchen table issues of the American people, a decision to have the resources, the money to do these two things.

And the most important decision in all of that is the candidate.

And a decision has been made as to our candidate.

The president and vice president, we made.

We're very proud of that.

Now we have decided to put one good day in front of another, to mobilize, to message and to also -- also, I have my three no's, no wasted time, no underutilized resources and no regrets the day after the election that we could have done more.

Some elections are just a few votes difference in a state makes a difference.

I always compare it to the Olympics, since we're in the season.

Gold, silver, bronze, happy to be Olympian, like within one second, within one second.

These elections are that close.

We have to all do our part to win, and that's what we intend to do.

So that's my purpose for running this time is to be sure to be in place and fortified to do -- to help.

We want the candidates to be themselves.

That's what they have to be.

They have to be themselves, be ready, take pride in who they are.

And that's that.

But we have to help them get across the finish line.

That's what's important to me right now, make sure that he never steps foot in the White House again and that we have a House and Senate to support our Democratic president and vice president.

AMNA NAWAZ: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, thank you so much for coming by.

It's been a real pleasure speaking with you.

REP. NANCY PELOSI: And my pleasure.

Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for talking about "The Art of Power," my book.

Thank you.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: Today marks one year since the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history tore through the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui.

The fires killed 102 people, displaced thousands of families, and destroyed a precious place in Hawaiian history.

Even though the state just reached a $4 billion settlement that will help pay for the ongoing cost of rebuilding, as William Brangham reports, one year later, it's still a very slow process.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: From the air, Lahaina looks like a ghost town, this once vibrant community by the sea, a place steeped in Hawaiian history, now a patchwork of empty lots and charred debris.

But on the ground, however slow, there are signs of progress.

KIMO CARVALHO, Executive Director, HomeAid Hawaii: A lot of folks said they want to come back to West Maui, they want to be in West Maui, and we took that seriously.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: One year ago today, flames broke out on this island driven by hurricane-force winds, which fed on fields of dry invasive grasses.

It came on so fast and so violently, the main road out of town was choked off.

In just hours, thousands of structures were consumed.

To escape the flames, some people jumped into the ocean.

But many weren't so lucky.

Over 100 people lost their lives in that inferno.

ED GAZMEN, Lahaina Resident: It's been so hard, very hard.

Never, I think in my life, would I have imagined that we would have something like this.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Left behind are broken hearts and a monumental recovery effort.

Hawaii Senator Democrat Brian Schatz: SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-HI): One year later, people's lives are nowhere near back to normal.

National headlines may have moved on, but life for survivors has not.

They still need help.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Still, officials say they are ahead of schedule; 300,000 tons of fire debris and hazardous materials have been taken off island.

The Army Corps of Engineers has cleared almost 1,500 burned lots, readying them for rebuilding.

FEMA's Bob Fenton is coordinating the federal response.

BOB FENTON, Federal Emergency Management Agency: There's already 40 houses that are in some part of being constructed right now.

The majority of those properties have been turned back over so the permits can be pulled.

So we have done everything we can to ensure that we're returning it back to its pre-disaster condition and that it's safe to rebuild.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But for survivors like Josephine Fraser and her two sons, that progress has felt disjointed and very slow.

JOSEPHINE FRASER, Displaced Lahaina Resident: There were times where we had a 24-hour notice that we had to get out of the hotel.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Fraser and her family had to move nine times in as many months after the fire, shuttling from one hotel to another, as federal disaster officials struggled to house so many people who'd become homeless in an instant.

FEMA estimates it's spent nearly $400 million overall on housing assistance.

And Fraser is one of the luckier ones.

She recently became the first resident in a new modular home community, even though it's an hour's drive from Lahaina.

JOSEPHINE FRASER: It's awesome to have a roof, somewhere to call home, at least for now, until we go back into Lahaina.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lahaina had a shortage of housing even before the fire.

But now, in this remote town, on a remote island where labor and materials are in the highest demand, the costs of building are even higher.

Hawaii's governor, Democrat Josh Green, says local homes for local people has to be the priority.

GOV.

JOSH GREEN (D-HI): Building housing is going to be critical in the second year.

We're changing the laws with short-term rentals and hoping to bring as many as 7,000 short-term rentals back to the market for local families on Maui.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There's also lingering questions of how to rebuild.

Who gets to decide what comes back?

How does the city prepare for rising sea levels?

Can officials build evacuation routes so, if there's another fire, people aren't trapped again.

Kuhio Lewis is with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

KUHIO LEWIS, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement: When you start to see max exodus of the people, you start to change the fabric of Hawaii, and that's what's at stake, is the future of who Hawaii is as an identity, as a people, as a place.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's the struggle the people of Lahaina are working through, how to build smartly for the future while honoring their historic past.

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm William Brangham.

AMNA NAWAZ: Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has been called off in Austria after officials arrested two teenagers accused of plotting a terrorist attack.

The concert promoter, Barracuda Music, said that -- quote -- "We have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone's safety."

Roughly 200,000 people were scheduled to attend the sold-out Vienna concerts.

For a closer look at this, I'm joined by Juliette Kayyem, professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Juliette, thanks for joining us.

The fact that these organizers had to cancel the shows, what does that say to you about how serious, how imminent these threats were?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, Former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary: It says two things, first, that not only was it serious, but that this was disrupted likely hours before there could have been extreme violence.

And I think they canceled for two reasons.

One is, there was an insider threat.

One of the two teenagers had some affiliation with probably some -- one of the sub-vendors, may have had credentials that would have allowed him to go in and out.

Once you have an insider threat, you close the thing down, because you have no idea who else could be in the room.

The second is that the threat appears to have been in the soft outside perimeter, rather than inside the concert hall.

Anyone who's seen these pictures of the Eras Tour knows that there's lots of people with tickets.

There's lots of people without tickets who want the experience, want to hear her, want to be part of the Taylor Swift movement.

If -- and that -- those parts are not protected.

And so I think it was right and correct, given the threat that we know right now of both insider threat capacity and targeting the soft areas of the concert security, that you would want to shut it down until you understood what the threat was.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as we mentioned, we know two people have been arrested.

Bomb-making materials were reportedly found in their homes.

One suspect, as you mentioned, even had that job inside concert operations.

What do we know from what authorities have shared so far and what's been reported about what they were trying to do exactly?

What was the threat?

JULIETTE KAYYEM: So I'm going to put this in terms of the global threat right now.

So ever since the Israeli-Hamas war started, everyone has known that the global terror threat has increased.

Part of that is just in response to the war itself.

Part of it is just sort of the radicalization movement gets inspired by what is going on in Gaza and Israel.

So we knew that already existed.

So almost every area is in elevated threat environment.

If you move over to France, the Paris Olympics understood this.

They are at a higher threat level.

Then you have the recruitment efforts by an organization like ISIS trying to prove its relevancy, trying to get a high-profile event, but very difficult to get people to move.

Say, like 15 or 20 years ago or 15 years ago, ISIS' tactic was they wanted people to come fight in a war.

There's no more war like that anymore.

So what they're trying to do is to recruit young men, isolated, maybe affiliated, getting radicalized online, and they radicalize in a very short period.

That's the amazing thing.

And tell them, do something catastrophic in your own country.

You don't need to move across borders and risk getting caught.

So that's what we know right now.

And we will continue for the foreseeable future targeting these high-profile events to make a statement and to show ISIS' relevance in an environment that has changed over the last couple of years for them.

AMNA NAWAZ: And so, Juliette, when you say they were inspired by or they were radicalized, what do we know about links between a group like ISIS or a group like al-Qaida, I know, was also mentioned as an inspiration for them and these two teenagers?

Were they directly actually directed to do something?

Or was it more vague than that?

JULIETTE KAYYEM: Now, we -- we -- what we understand now, and this could change, is one of the teenagers was known to law enforcement at the time.

So something had gone on in which he is at least known to intelligence agents at the time.

There is also some reporting regarding the United States coming to understand that there might have been a threat against the concert specifically.

So, they had -- there was something public or at least part of the surveillance network that was captured.

The specific individual who was arrested with the explosives was unknown, relatively -- or unknown to law enforcement there, is radicalized, from what we understand from family members, in a relatively short period of time, and is probably just going down the rabbit hole of radicalization.

They find you, they bring you into back channels, into Web sites or the Dark Web that we don't -- that you and I don't even follow and basically launch what could have been a terrible incident, not just -- I mean, not just for Europeans or others, and we know how international concerts are, but Taylor Swift is an American icon.

This was a focus on an image of and a reflection of America's openness, America's talent, youth, gender, everything that she represents.

And we're pretty lucky that it was stopped.

AMNA NAWAZ: Juliette Kayyem, national security analyst, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Really appreciate your insights and time.

JULIETTE KAYYEM: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: The 2024 Olympics are coming to an end, but in the lead-up to and during the Games, French authorities cleared thousands of homeless people out of Paris.

Police have cited security reasons, but homeless advocates see it very differently.

Ross Cullen of Feature Story News reports from Paris.

ROSS CULLEN: This is home for a night for Mamadou.

He and his wife share this small tent.

One backpack is all they have.

The tents were set up by a migrant support group that got permission to use an empty building on the outskirts of Paris.

MAMADOU, Migrant From Senegal (through translator): Right now, I would say it's hard to integrate if you don't have somewhere to sleep.

It's difficult.

It's difficult.

ROSS CULLEN: In 2018, Mamadou came to work in France from one of its former colonies, Senegal, in West Africa.

After years in immigration limbo, he now has his legal papers, but says he and his wife are traumatized by how they are treated.

Earlier this year, she suffered a miscarriage when the couple was attacked here in Paris.

MAMADOU (through translator): It's hellish.

Sometimes, we sleep in the streets, sometimes at train stations.

We can be assaulted.

Our belongings were stolen.

The only bag I have today is one backpack, one pair of shoes, and just what I'm wearing.

ROSS CULLEN: There are 100,000 homeless people like Mamadou living in and around Paris, but not enough shelter to house all of them.

Last year, the French government began busing the homeless, many of whom are migrants, to temporary shelters across the country.

Activists call the monthslong campaign social cleansing.

Those who remain in Paris often live in tents like these.

Action groups installed this demonstration as a protest to try to force the government to provide more support to the homeless community.

This is the image the French government sought to avoid as they prepared for the Paris Olympics.

Now and every night, activists from aid organization Utopia 56 meet the homeless in Paris to find a place for them to sleep.

They say they do what they can when state support falls through.

Nathan Lequeux is the group's accommodation coordinator.

NATHAN LEQUEUX, Utopia 56 (through translator): Government policy on emergency accommodation and housing is nonexistent.

It is even damaging and totally aggressive towards these people.

In other words, these people end up on the streets, and that's a political choice.

It's a choice made by the government.

ROSS CULLEN: In Northern Paris, police cleared the area that used to be a homeless encampment.

It's now an empty lot.

Boats meander past what used to be a tented community.

The French sports minister denies social cleansing is taking place.

Amelie Oudea Castera says emergency accommodation policy decisions have nothing to do with the Olympics.

Some people still live in this district in tents partially hidden behind a hedge, harder for police patrols to spot.

And Paris works to keep community support systems like this open for them, offering free showers.

Anyone can come.

No questions are asked.

But city authorities argue more respect should be shown to vulnerable people.

Lea Filoche is the deputy mayor of Paris for refugee protection.

She says the French government's policy is hostile to migrants.

LEA FILOCHE, Deputy Mayor of Paris for Refugee Protection (through translator): The policies today force people to stay on the streets, where they can't access their rights, where they don't have any dignity.

For the last four years, the government's migration policy has not been welcoming to migrants.

In fact, it's been quite the opposite.

Olympics or not, I am against this policy because this is not how we should resolve the situation.

ROSS CULLEN: And activists say authorities silence any mention of the government's policy.

The Other Side of the Medal is a collective group of associations and activists focusing on the social impact of the Paris Olympics.

This week, they staged a collage of portraits of people who used to live on the streets.

While we were filming, law enforcement arrived.

The presence of dozens of police officers underlined the tensions surrounding anything concerning migrants in Paris, including art.

PAUL ALAUZY, Other Side of the Medal (through translator): Usually, when we see the police, it's to move on people living in tents on the riverside.

Today, it's to prevent us from expressing something about that issue.

ROSS CULLEN: These Olympics have impacted homeless immigrant Niclette.

French authorities transferred her out of Paris before the Games began.

But every day, she has to make her way back to the capital to access food for her and her 5-month-old DAUGHTER.

NICLETTE, Migrant From Congo (through translator): Unfortunately, due to the Olympic Games, when I called the emergency support number, they said you can't remain here.

They offer the suburbs or different towns far away, not here in Paris.

ROSS CULLEN: Niclette came from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a grueling path that led through Turkey to Greece, and eventually she made it to France, seeking a chance at a better life.

NICLETTE (through translator): I'm looking for an apartment where I can stay and then I will look for work.

But how can I work if I have nowhere to stay?

I'm stuck.

ROSS CULLEN: And even as the Olympic Games bring joy to millions of spectators, for people like Niclette, the rare moments of happiness she enjoys are coupled with an uncertain future for her and her daughter.

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Ross Cullen in Paris.

AMNA NAWAZ: Fabiola Moreno Ruelas is a first-generation college graduate currently working for the California state legislature.

She's also the founder of the Ruelas Fulfillment Foundation, which aims to help high school students pursue higher education.

Tonight, she gives her Brief But Spectacular take on how anyone can give.

FABIOLA MORENO RUELAS, Founder,MD-INØRuelas Fulfillment Foundation: I was born and raised in Gonzales, California.

That's in the Central Coast.

A lot of people, their parents are farmworkers.

Their families are living paycheck to paycheck.

When I was 16, it was one of the roughest times for my family and I.

Unfortunately, we couldn't pay rent anymore.

Both my mom and my stepdad at that point had lost their jobs.

And it was really hard because that summer I was going into my junior year of high school, and something switched in my mind and I was like, I cannot let this experience sort of repeat itself in my life.

I was the first one in my family to go to college.

I knew that I wanted to go and explore more of California and see what the world had to offer.

And I knew that would help not only myself but my family, my nieces, my brother.

I knew that it would have a domino effect in my family.

When I was 14 years old, my friends and I decided to go to the movie theaters.

We were driving down the 101 when a big rig cut the van that we were in.

We hit the back of the big rig and went into a ditch.

It absolutely changed my life.

I ended up with a fractured skull, with a fractured back, a fractured wrist.

We ended up suing the company.

We settled.

And at that age, I knew that I was going to get some settlement funds when I had turned 18.

It was more money than I had ever seen in my life.

And at that point, I knew that I would use some for college obviously, but I also knew that I wanted to give back.

I reached out to my school counselor and I asked her how I could get a scholarship started.

The Ruelas Fulfillment Foundation awards students that want to pursue a career after high school.

I really give out the scholarship and I select the recipients based off of their involvement in any sort of community.

A lot of these students resonate with me because they just want to do better, be better, not only for themselves, but because they know that will have an impact on their family as well.

WOMAN: Escorted by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia is Fabiola Moreno Ruelas.

FABIOLA MORENO RUELAS: Now I am a legislative aide.

I live in Sacramento.

I work for an assemblymember, and I like to say that I sort of give in two ways.

I give through the scholarship, but I also help change systematic barriers that are in place that hinder students from going to college.

One person that was really impacted by the scholarship was Cindy Aguilar (ph).

She's also a first-generation student.

She graduated from U.C.

Berkeley in 2023.

The scholarship allowed her to buy her school supplies and settle into college.

I think that inherently human beings want to give and they feel a sense of happiness when they do.

I think I could have lost my life at that point and for one reason or the other I didn't.

And I think I didn't because I think I was meant to do this.

My name is Fabiola Moreno Ruelas, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on how anyone can give.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular videos online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

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