September 16, 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: A second apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump, this time at his Florida golf club, raises more questions about Secret Service protection.

AMNA NAWAZ: TikTok fights for its existence in court, the legal challenge to a law that would ban the app in the United States.

GEOFF BENNETT: And on another deadly day in Gaza, the United Nations coordinator for relief discusses the dire circumstances there.

SIGRID KAAG, U.N. Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza: The needs have only grown because the whole of Gaza lies in ruins.

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

The man suspected of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump while he was golfing has been charged with federal gun crimes.

AMNA NAWAZ: It is the second apparent attempt on the former president's life in just over two months, casting an ominous shadow over the 2024 presidential race.

Laura Barron-Lopez begins our coverage.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: An FBI investigation is under way.

One day after the U.S. Secret Service thwarted an apparent attempt on Donald Trump's life just on the other side of these palm trees.

RONALD ROWE, Acting U.S. Secret Service Director: Yesterday afternoon, this country was reminded of the heightened and dynamic threat environment the United States Secret Service and its protectees face on a daily basis.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: It happened while he was playing golf at his own course near Mar-a-Lago.

No injuries were reported.

Law enforcement remained clustered outside the perimeter throughout the night.

In Washington today, President Biden responded to what now appears to be a second assassination attempt against Trump.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Thank God the president's OK.

But one thing I want to make clear, the Service needs more help.

And I think the Congress should respond to their needs, if they, in fact, need more services.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The Secret Service said an agent had spotted the barrel of a rifle pointed from shrubbery that surrounds the golf course.

It was about 300 to 500 yards away from where the former president was playing.

The agent immediately opened fire and Trump was rushed off the course.

The gunman dropped his weapon without ever having fired it and fled.

RONALD ROWE: The swift action of that agent, doing his job, pushing out ahead, sweeping while the president was behind him several hundred yards and several holes away out of sight from the gunman did his job and that was what alerted the detail, and the swift action is what triggered that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: On social media last night, Trump credited the Secret Service's -- quote -- "absolutely outstanding job' for keeping him safe.

The Palm Beach County sheriff said the agency did exactly what it needed to do, even if security wasn't as tight as it could have been.

RIC BRADSHAW, Palm Beach County, Florida, Sheriff: At this level that he is at right now, he's not the city president.

If he was, we would have had this higher golf course surrounded.

But because he's not, the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Soon after the initial encounter, local police and a chopper descended onto the scene.

And bodycam footage showed the moment authorities arrested the suspect on a highway about 50 miles from the golf course.

A witness had tipped off police to a license plate number for the suspect's vehicle.

He was identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh.

Officials recovered two backpacks and an SKS rifle with a scope, which were left behind on the outskirts of the golf course.

And phone records show Routh spent nearly 12 hours near the property before being confronted.

Today, Routh appeared in federal court, charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and a possession of a firearm with a destroyed serial number.

If convicted, he could face anywhere from five to 15 years in prison.

A look at public records and Routh social media history paints a picture of a once Trump supporter turned critic with a deep fixation Ukraine and its war with Russia.

Routh self-published a 291-page book on Ukraine and global politics, where he talked about the end of his support for Trump.

He's been interviewed several times over recent years about his support for the Ukrainian war effort, and even traveled to Kyiv in 2022 in an attempt to join the front lines.

RYAN WESLEY ROUTH, Defendant: My initial goal was to come fight.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Routh also had a decades-long criminal history that includes several misdemeanor and felony charges.

He will be back in court later this month for a bond hearing and arraignment.

In a post on X, Trump quickly blamed the incident on Democrats, specifically the so-called rhetoric of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

And he suggested, without evidence, that violence, like the Sunday incident, would get worse unless undocumented migrants are deported.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Harris put out a statement condemning the attack, saying - - quote -- "We must all do our part to ensure this incident does not lead to more violence."

A bipartisan congressional task force is already investigating the first assassination attempt on the former president, when in July a bullet grazed his ear at one of his rallies in Pennsylvania.

They were briefed on Sunday's incident by Secret Service and are awaiting more details.

Ranking Member on the Task Force Democratic Congressman Jason Crow spoke about the task force's work this morning.

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): The scope of our task force was limited to investigating the Butler, Pennsylvania, incident, so there were a lot of things that went wrong there.

And it's just too early to tell whether or not those same issues were at play here or not.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: It's unclear how the incident will affect Trump's schedule, with just 50 days of campaigning left to go.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.

AMNA NAWAZ: The White House says that President Biden spoke with Trump and conveyed his relief that the former president is safe.

Let's look a little deeper now at the challenges facing the Secret Service.

Late today, acting Director Ronald Rowe again vowed to take a hard look at the agency's strategy and procedures after the latest threat to former President Trump.

RONALD ROWE: The Secret Service's protective methodologies work, and they are sound, and we saw that yesterday.

But the way we are positioned right now in this dynamic threat environment, it has given me guidance to say, you know what, we need to look at what our protective methodology is.

We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model.

AMNA NAWAZ: For more now, we're joined by Carol Leonnig, investigative reporter with "The Washington Post," and the author of "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service."

Carol, good to see you.

Let's just start with what we learned from the acting director there this afternoon.

The suspect here did not have a line of sight to former President Trump, never fired his weapon.

So what are you hearing from your Secret Service sources?

Do they consider this a success?

CAROL LEONNIG, The Washington Post: They do consider it a success in one respect, Amna, and that is that this gunman never got a shot off at the agents or at President -- former President Trump, and that's a lot better than what happened on July 13.

In other words, they had a heavy contingent of agents with Trump while he was golfing on Sunday, people that were on the lookout for problems in the fairways and in the brushes and in the woods ahead of him, a hole ahead of him, and people, agents behind him, making sure there was nobody lurking behind Trump as he golfed.

And that extra presence ended up being extremely successful, in that an agent who was assigned to Trump's protection was a few hundred yards ahead of him before he was golfing and was able to spot this gunman and a barrel poking through the fence line.

But what I'm also hearing is that Director Rowe is very concerned about the safety of Donald Trump going in through this election.

Two times now in nine weeks, he has been the subject or the target of a gunman with a long rifle and a semiautomatic, and that is really disturbing.

There are big questions about whether or not the service can protect him on an enormous field that is called the golf course, especially when it is porous, unsecured, and not on a military base, as some of the places where President Obama and President Reagan used to golf.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carol, as you heard my colleague Laura report there, the Palm Beach County sheriff noted, if Trump were a sitting president, the security presence would be different.

You noted the success in this particular case, that no shots fired, he remained unharmed, but has former President Trump's detail changed at all since the last assassination attempt?

And should it change moving forward?

CAROL LEONNIG: It absolutely has changed since July 13.

I'm told that he had a contingent with him on Sunday that was -- at least a Secret Service contingent with him that was equivalent to the protection level for a president.

What's different, of course, is that they didn't close off streets, the public streets that sort of border this golf course in West Palm Beach, and that might have been done, or that might have been temporarily done for some fairways that he was playing through that are very close to these roadways.

A gunman, if he had been more successful, would have been tens of feet or dozens of feet from Trump if he had not been spotted ahead of time.

And if he had been president, those roadways may not have had the same kind of access to the gunman who actually sort of camped out there, as far as we can tell, for 12 hours before Donald Trump arrived.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have long reported on what you have learned from your sources about the resources issue, the personnel and staffing issues within the Secret Service.

You heard the acting director there talk about wanting more resources from Congress, but also moving from a reactive to a readiness model.

What does that mean and what would it take?

CAROL LEONNIG: So, first off, I just want to underscore how dramatic it is what acting Director Rowe said.

There has been no director of the Secret Service who has suggested there was anything that needed fixing in the protective model or suggested that the Secret Service was more reactive than proactive.

In the 10 years since I covered a series of huge security lapses and gaffes, no Secret Service director has said anything but, my guys did a great job against terrible odds, some paraphrase of that shape.

It is a very, very big deal what acting Director Rowe said today, that he wants to review how the protective model works and rethink it and where it may not be working well.

He's also the first director to say publicly - - and he didn't say as much about this today, but he has said this in other settings that I have been hearing about privately.

He's the first director in those 10 years to say, we are going to need a lot more money.

We are going to -- we cannot -- as he said it today, we cannot continue to do more with less.

And that's an acknowledgement that just isn't part of the Secret Service's DNA.

They're always of the mind -- and I have met many directors.

They're always of the mind, hey, boss, we got this, we got your back, everything's fine.

This is the first time I'm hearing a director say either of these two things.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carol, in the 30 seconds or so I have left, how worried are the Secret Service sources you talk to about continued attempts against either former President Trump's life or any of the other candidates?

CAROL LEONNIG: Extremely worried.

After July 13, there was a great concern about copycats, somebody trying to repeat what Matthew Crooks did in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The fact that this has happened again only ratchets up the anxiety level.

It only makes them convinced that it could happen tomorrow or next week.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carol Leonnig of The Washington Post joining us tonight.

Carol, thank you so much.

Good to speak with you.

CAROL LEONNIG: You too.

GEOFF BENNETT: The day's other headlines start in Central Europe, where authorities say at least 16 people have died amid catastrophic flooding.

A slow-moving storm system is pounding the region with unrelenting rain.

Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Southern Germany are among the hardest hit.

Sejal Karia of ITV news has our report.

SEJAL KARIA: Such is the size and scale of the flooding across Central Europe, it's being called a catastrophe.

In Poland, raging rivers and torrential downpours have swallowed whole towns and villages in the Southwest of the country, leaving people stranded on the roofs of their homes, this the only means of rescue, whole swathes of the continent submerged by some of the worst flooding to hit in 30 years, from Austria to Romania, the gushing force of the floodwaters sweeping away everything in their path, destroying lives and livelihoods.

The death toll rising from the devastation caused by Storm Boris, the waters in Klodzko in Poland ripping through, leaving no stone unturned and no street and road untouched.

The highest rainfall has been in the Czech Republic, in the town of Jesenik.

They spoke of barely believable water levels.

"The water was rolling in here," this man said.

"The flooding here is a disaster.

It's really terrible."

In Lower Austria, the areas surrounding the capital, Vienna, has been declared a disaster zone.

Two elderly men died here after being trapped by rising floodwater in their homes.

A firefighter also lost his life.

"These are difficult, dramatic times," the regional governor said.

The country and the people are under immense strain."

And it could get worse in places before it gets better.

More rain is expected today and tomorrow before drier conditions move in and Storm Boris moves on, Italy next in its path.

Sejal Karia, ITV News.

GEOFF BENNETT: Turning now to the Middle East, where Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people today across the Gaza Strip.

One of the strikes crushed a home and a refugee camp in Central Gaza, killing at least 10 people.

Meantime, political tensions are growing within Israel amid reports that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant may lose his job.

Israeli media say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may fire the popular former general.

Gallant has become the prime minister's biggest rival in the Cabinet.

Speaking in Washington, D.C., today, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who is himself a Netanyahu critic, urged the prime minister to keep Gallant.

YAIR LAPID, Former Israeli Prime Minister: I expect him to run the country better than he does in ways and I sure hope he will not fire Minister Gallant, who is doing a good job under terrible circumstances.

GEOFF BENNETT: For its part, the U.S. State Department today said that the U.S. continues to engage with partners like Egypt and Qatar to try to present a revised cease-fire proposal for Gaza.

But no timetable for such a proposal has been provided.

The U.S. State Department has marked the two-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in Iran to call on the country's new president to do more to protect women.

The 22-year-old died after she was arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly not wearing a headscarf properly.

In a joint statement with other nations, U.S. officials urged the new Iranian administration to ease pressure on civil society in Iran and to end the use of force to enforce the hijab requirement.

Amini's death sparked mass protests around the world.

A crackdown in Iran killed more than 500 people and some 22,000 were detained.

A gas pipeline that exploded in the Houston suburbs this morning sent a geyser of fire into the sky.

A nearby neighborhood and some schools were evacuated.

Officials say some homes caught fire.

Firefighters tried to contain the flames.

The operator of the pipeline says the gas feeding the flames was shut off, but that it could take hours or longer for all of the material to burn off.

Officials say the focus is on keeping the fire controlled.

JERRY MOUTON, Mayor of Deer Park, Texas: All the resources that can be extended or are here and present.

Again, we're just in a containment mode to any of the facilities that are in close proximity.

GEOFF BENNETT: One firefighter suffered minor injuries.

It's not yet clear what caused the blaze.

The head of the U.S.

Postal Service says he is personally fully committed to ensuring that all 2024 election ballots are delivered on time.

Those comments come after a group of election officials raised concerns last week about the Postal Service's ability to deliver millions of ballots in November.

In a letter today, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy wrote that some 650,000 postal workers are committed to providing a secure, efficient and effective way for citizens to participate in the election.

He added that, in 2020, 99.9 percent of ballots were delivered within seven days.

Boeing says it's freezing all hiring and will consider temporary layoffs to offset the impact of an ongoing strike by factory workers.

More than 30,000 Boeing staff on the West Coast are on their fourth day of a strike for better pay.

Negotiations are expected to restart tomorrow.

Boeing has seen a drop in orders for new planes after a piece of a passenger jet broke off back in January, sparking safety and production concerns.

On Wall Street today, the Dow closed at an all-time high ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

The index added more than 200 points, erasing its losses from earlier this month.

The Nasdaq closed lower on the day, losing more than 90 points.

And the S&P 500 made minimal gains.

And a passing of note.

Tito Jackson, one of the five brothers who formed the hugely popular Jackson 5, has died.

He was the third of nine children in what would become a legendary music-making family.

That's him in the back left.

He sang background vocals and played the guitar for the iconic group, which ignited the career of younger brother Michael Jackson.

(MUSIC) GEOFF BENNETT: Known for defining hits like "ABC" and "I'll Be There," The Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock 'n' roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Tito Jackson was 70 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": Tamara Keith and Amy Walter weigh in on the political implications of a second apparent Trump assassination attempt; a Miami climate activist turns warnings about sea level rise into a collaborative art project;and members of a multigenerational apartment community give their Brief But Spectacular take on family.

The Justice Department and TikTok faced off in federal court today over a law that would require the app to break ties with its Chinese-controlled parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the U.S. NPR's Bobby Allyn is covering it all and joins us now.

So, Bobby, it's good to see you.

So what did the lawyers for TikTok's parent company, what did they argue in court today and what was the case that the U.S. government laid out?

BOBBY ALLYN, Business and Technology Reporter, NPR: So TikTok's lawyers say this is a free speech violation in two ways.

First, it would violate the free speech of 170 million Americans who use the app.

That's more than half of the U.S. population.

And, secondly, the lawyers say it would violate the free speech rights of TikTok itself, right?

We know TikTok is owned by a China-based parent company, ByteDance, but it has a U.S. entity in the Los Angeles area.

And the lawyers said, look, that company too, when it makes curation decisions about what people see on the algorithm, that's a type of free expression.

The Justice Department said, hey, hang on a minute here.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, and it's not just China.

It's a country that is a foreign adversary.

This is a country who can do espionage on U.S. citizens.

This is a country that might be interested in the data of Americans.

And because of that danger, it needs to be shut down by January 19.

GEOFF BENNETT: So how do we know, Bobby, that TikTok is a national security threat?

BOBBY ALLYN: So TikTok's lawyers say the threat that China poses is theoretical, that the government has never shown any bulletproof evidence that the Chinese government has interfered in the app in any way.

They can't show that China has ever used it for spying.

They can't show that China has ever used it to influence the app.

But on the flip side, the Department of Justice says they have done a lot of probing through the national security apparatus, and they have come up with a very compelling case that China does have the capability to use TikTok against Americans.

But the details of it must stay classified.

The Department of Justice says the nitty-gritty examples of how this is happening is top secret, and they won't reveal it to the public, nor will they even reveal it to TikTok's own legal team.

And that has really upset TikTok's legal team and TikTokers who are on the app and say, hey, if this is so dangerous, show us the goods.

Where is it?

GEOFF BENNETT: And remind us of the stakes here, because I have seen some numbers that half of all U.S. adults use TikTok in some capacity.

Is that the case?

BOBBY ALLYN: Yes.

So, about half of Americans are on TikTok, extremely popular with young people.

Interestingly, though, public support for banning TikTok has been on the wane.

It used to be around 50 percent last year.

Now it's somewhere around 32 percent, which shows that the American public is kind of backing away from this idea that TikTok ought to be banned.

And, look, it's really notable that both the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have very active accounts on TikTok.

Trump, of course, said he wanted to ban and tried to ban TikTok when he was in the White House.

Now he says he's on TikTok's side, and Kamala Harris, as the vice president of the United States, is on the team, essentially, that is now actively trying to ban TikTok.

So there's a real question.

If this is such a national security threat, why are these two presidential campaigns using it so actively?

GEOFF BENNETT: What do we know about how difficult it might be for ByteDance to sell or spin off TikTok?

BOBBY ALLYN: It would be very difficult for TikTok to sell, because the Chinese government is not going to allow it.

It would require the blessing of Chinese regulators, and they have said repeatedly that TikTok is not for sale.

So that is one hurdle.

But assuming they change their mind, it would be technically incredibly difficult to spin off TikTok, for this one fact; 90 percent of TikTok's users are outside of the U.S.

So imagine that scenario, right?

There would be one version of TikTok that would exist in America, and then all these other versions around the world that technically would be competing with the American version.

It would be a real disaster from a business perspective.

And TikTok has said repeatedly it's just not feasible.

So, to them, this is not a divest or ban proposal.

It is just a ban.

GEOFF BENNETT: So if TikTok loses this case, if they are ultimately unsuccessful, what does the future of this app look like in this country and for the people who've built careers as content creators, mainly on TikTok?

BOBBY ALLYN: Yes, if this ban is upheld, as soon as January 19, there's going to be a big crackdown.

The app will be kicked out of Google and Apple's App Store.

It's no longer going to receive software updates.

It's going to die a slow death.

And eventually it's not going to be usable at all on any devices within America.

And doing business with TikTok would become a crime that is prosecutable under the law.

So this is a very high-stakes, very serious legal situation that TikTok finds itself in.

GEOFF BENNETT: So lots of uncertainty around this case.

Do we know what happens next?

BOBBY ALLYN: We do.

So, by December, we should be getting a decision from these three judges on this appeals court in Washington.

Either side can appeal with a whole appeals court to listen.

And then ultimately it can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which may have the ultimate say as to whether TikTok survives in the U.S. or not.

GEOFF BENNETT: NPR's Bobby Allyn.

Bobby, thanks as always.

BOBBY ALLYN: Thanks, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: Today, the United Nations called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the immediate release of all Israeli hostages, and for humanitarian aid access to be unimpeded.

Nick Schifrin speaks to the head of the U.N.'s humanitarian effort in Gaza.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sigrid Kaag is a Dutch politician, a former first deputy prime minister, and diplomat with years of experience at the U.N. and throughout the Middle East.

She is now the U.N.'s senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.

She's visited Gaza often since taking over the job earlier this year, and today briefed the Security Council.

Sigrid Kaag, thanks very much.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

In that briefing of the Security Council today, you said the war had -- quote -- "turned Gaza into the abyss."

What do you mean?

SIGRID KAAG, U.N. Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza: Well, everything is destroyed.

Life has halted.

Over 41,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, and over 90,000 have been injured.

And in that group, you have a lot of women, children who've sustained life-changing injuries.

So it is dystopian.

It's also very strange when you go to Gaza, and I have been going in and out of Gaza over 30 years, to see that there's no building standing, the roads are destroyed, people are all huddled in tents.

It's a total life-changing experience for everyone in Gaza.

And for those who try to work there to render assistance, it is something that you cannot imagine, let alone describe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Let me highlight one recent success before we get to some of the specifics you just said.

Thanks to agreed pauses in the fighting, the first of two rounds of polio vaccines have been completed and have reached 90 percent of Gaza's 640,000 children.

How have the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNRWA, managed to do that in the middle of a war zone?

SIGRID KAAG: Well, this basically is because they agreed and worked closely with the Israeli Defense Forces.

And at the political level, I have discussed it with the authorities that there should be humanitarian pauses.

The parties to the conflict have agreed.

And this gave the space to actually reach people safely and securely, but it also meant we needed the cold chain to work, the equipment, the vaccines to be in Gaza, and thousands of volunteers to be in a position to actually do their job.

It demonstrates that you need political will to achieve these kinds of operations, because it's highly complex and highly dangerous.

NICK SCHIFRIN: You noted today that the -- quote -- "breakdown" of law and order and looting of supplies are impeding assistance distribution, and you also said that there had been denials, delays and a lack of safety for humanitarian workers.

How short is Gaza of the assistance it needs?

SIGRID KAAG: Well, the gap is significant.

Let's face it.

And it varies from day to day.

It depends on the volume that actually is allowed in, that gets cleared and checked, but also the ability for humanitarians to come to the checkpoints, to the crossings to retrieve it, to then actually take it back to the warehouses.

And that's, of course, also where law and order, safety and security are serious issues.

This is not only a matter of supplies to the crossings.

It's also our collective ability to receive and distribute.

And a lot more needs to happen in order to actually be affirmative in reaching those goals.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, says between the 1st of September and the 9th of September, only 62 trucks per day entered Gaza.

But if you ask Israel and Israel's Coordinator for Government Activities in the territories, or COGAT, they point out that commercial Palestinian trucks are entering, 163 just yesterday.

So why can Palestinians bring in trucks at a scale that the U.N. is unable or unwilling to do?

SIGRID KAAG: Well, I'm not going to make a blanket comparison here.

What's important is that Gaza needs both.

It needs humanitarian goods, because they're free of charge at the end of the day for the population, and it needs commercial goods.

And the commercial sector has agreements with the IDF, but often it's the commercial sector from Egypt.

It can also be from the West Bank or Israel.

And they often organize themselves also that they have security on top of the truck, basically.

As humanitarians, we can't do that.

So we're both vulnerable, but we're also dependent on the approvals given.

The most important comparator, I would say, is before the 7th of October, 1,000 trucks a day entered Gaza.

So if you add up these statistics on a good day currently, 150 and 60, that's only 210.

Now, you can then easily conclude that there's nowhere near meeting the basic needs of the population.

And the needs have only grown because the whole of Gaza lies in ruins.

NICK SCHIFRIN: As you know, Israeli officials question why there is any U.N. aid or humanitarian aid sitting inside Gaza.

They point out the distribution problems within Gaza that you have struggled with.

Why haven't you been able to overcome some of those distribution problems?

SIGRID KAAG: I would turn the question around.

There are roles and responsibilities.

Under international humanitarian law, the humanitarian workers need to be protected.

They cannot be targets.

The safety and security needs to be guaranteed.

If the volume is too little or it's too unsafe because the fighting continues, humanitarians can't work.

And you can see that in the statistic of the high number of humanitarian workers who've lost their lives.

I wish it were as easy as statements.

The complexity of delivering on humanitarian assistance in a war zone which is Gaza and the density of the population and huddled together in around 11 percent of the Gaza Strip makes this a totally different story.

We need a cease fire, and we need the unconditional release of the hostages in order to actually start to reach people in a serious manner.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Just last week, there were strikes on a U.N. school turned shelter and on tents in the humanitarian zone, Al-Mawasi, that Palestinians say killed as many as 40 people.

Israel says in both cases the targets were members of Hamas, senior members of Hamas in the case of Al-Mawasi.

Do you believe Hamas is using U.N. schools turned shelters, as well as the humanitarian zone, as shields for their militant activities?

Do you believe these strikes were justified?

SIGRID KAAG: I don't think it's a matter of what I believe.

We know what international humanitarian law says, that civilian infrastructure should not be used by any of the parties and it can also not be a target.

We always need to be mindful of the protection of civilians and the proportionality in the conduct of war.

I'm not in Gaza right now and I'm not an investigator, but we know the duty and the obligations on the parties to the conflict are very clear.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And finally, Sigrid Kaag, part of your title is reconstruction.

And the Israeli military allowed foreign journalists to visit Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor that separates Gaza from Egypt late last week.

And the images, frankly, looked like a moonscape.

What will it take to reconstruct Gaza?

SIGRID KAAG: One has to imagine indeed a moonscape with a very desperate population, a population that was highly educated, that is keen to have their children be learning again, a population that yearns for a cease-fire and the ability to restart what was left of their lives.

So everything is needed.

The cost will be humongous.

An earlier damage assessment, a basic needs assessment done in March already indicated the initial cost of $18 billion.

The cost of reconstruction will be significantly more.

And this needs a long-term commitment, political, but also in financial terms from the different stakeholders, but also private sector and investors.

But we need to start the plans now.

They're available.

The Palestinian Authority has designed them.

The international community has them.

It's a long, hard slog which requires everybody, and to not forget about the population in Gaza.

When there's a cease-fire, the work is only beginning.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sigrid Kaag, thank you very much.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's return now to the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and the potential political fallout.

For that, we're joined by our Politics Monday duo.

That is Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Great to see you both.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Hello.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Good to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, now the second apparent attempt on Mr. Trump's life in just the past few months.

We should note, President Biden, Vice President Harris, Governor Walz have all condemned the violence.

Mr. Trump is placing blame squarely on Democrats now.

Earlier on, to FOX Digital, he said this about the shooter -- quote -- "He, the shooter, "believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it.

Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at."

Tam, there was a moment, a brief moment, after the first attempt on his life in which it felt like politics was paused for just a moment.

There's really none of that now.

Have we grown numb to this violence?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, it was a very brief pause.

As the Republican National Convention was starting, there was this question, is President Trump, former President Trump, going to tone down his rhetoric?

Are Democrats toning down their rhetoric?

Are Republicans doing it at the convention themselves?

There was some of that.

It did not last long.

It was very brief.

This time, it does feel different.

I think that the campaigns are treating it differently.

Obviously, former President Trump is treating it differently.

Partially, that's because the suspect didn't fire a shot.

This was, although a close call, although an assassination attempt, and that's the way it's being treated by law enforcement, it was not - - there wasn't a video of violence happening.

AMNA NAWAZ: Right.

TAMARA KEITH: And I think part of that, there is less shock this time than there was last time.

And I think that the political response is different.

For instance, after the first assassination attempt, the Harris campaign immediately said, we're pulling all our ads down.

No one's pulling ads down right now.

This campaign is 50 days -- the election is 50 days away, and there just wasn't a beat.

There wasn't a pause.

AMY WALTER: Yes, we -- actually, we were polling right at the end of July, so basically two weeks after the shooting in Butler happened, and we were asking folks a lot of these same questions about, who do you blame for this, or is there -- should Democrats -- I think we said specifically, is there rhetoric -- we asked specifically about the rhetoric about extremism - - to blame for this assassination attempt/ And Americans were divided 50/50.

And what's interesting to me is they were divided 50/50 regardless of party identification.

Usually, that is such a partisan question, right?

Do you think Democrats are responsible for this?

But I think part of the reason it was so evenly divided was that you didn't see the participation of either Trump or Democrats in this conversation.

It was very much of a, we're talking about this person specifically who took the shot at Donald Trump.

We are not making this into a political issue.

Donald Trump did not make it as blatantly political as he is right now.

So I would expect that we will see voters kind of follow where the politics go on this.

The other sad and sadly, predictable thing in this poll is, we asked people -- whether they have concerns for political violence continuing.

So this is at the end of July.

What do we think political violence will look like going into November?

Eighty-six percent said they expected this.

AMNA NAWAZ: Eighty-six percent.

AMY WALTER: Yes, and post-election as well.

And only 20-something percent said they were shocked that something like this could happen.

AMNA NAWAZ: That echoes what we hear from law enforcement and national security sources as well.

Meanwhile, speaking of political rhetoric, we should point out that the vice presidential candidate on the Republican side, J.D.

Vance, continues to repeat baseless claims about the Haitian immigrant population in Ohio.

He was asked about it this weekend on CNN by Dana Bash.

And this was their exchange.

Take a look.

DANA BASH, CNN Host: But it wasn't just a meme, sir.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.

DANA BASH: You just said that this is a story that you created.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE: Yes.

DANA BASH: So, the eating dogs and cats thing is not accurate.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE: We are creating -- we are -- Dana, it comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents.

I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Tam, Senator Vance's point here, what he's trying to say is that he's trying to get the media to focus on illegal immigration and Harris' border policies.

Haitians in Ohio, we should note, are here legally.

They're under protected legal status.

And we know now that this kind of rhetoric has led to the potential for real-world violence, threats against people in the community there, and evacuations.

Why are they continuing to repeat these lies?

TAMARA KEITH: Yes, and Vance was absolutely unapologetic in that interview, and, in fact, was critical of Dana for even suggesting that these threats that have been called into schools and other civic places in the community of Springfield, that that would have anything to do with the rhetoric of Vance and former President Trump, who have both continued to amplify this, not back down, certainly not apologize.

But that is the way of the Trump campaign, of the Trump political ethos, is to dig in and dig in and dig in.

And what they might be doing here - - there's a few things that they're doing.

One, they are trying to get people to talk about immigration in a way that has people focused on dogs and cats and Haitian migrants and people who are here legally.

So it's sort of an unusual way to get people to talk about immigration.

But the other thing is, it was a week where former President Trump had a really bad debate, where he went on stage and he said he had concepts for plans, but not actual plans, where a lot of things went wrong for Trump.

And he has been struggling for weeks to get any political oxygen at all directed to him in any way that is on his terms.

And so this was a way they could get political oxygen on their terms.

AMY WALTER: Well, and the interesting thing about that debate too is the amount of time that Donald Trump talked about illegal immigration was a lot.

He turned almost every single question to immigration.

Very little of it did he turn to the issue that the broad majority of Americans say is their top issue, which is the economy and inflation, where a lot of Republicans walked away from that debate saying they couldn't understand why he didn't pivot more to an issue where he also has an opportunity to put the Harris campaign back on their heels, which is to talk about inflation that occurred during that administration.

So he wants to talk about immigration because it is, one, a very comfortable place for him.

And, two, yes, he has an advantage there.

And the other thing that Vance said that I think is important, by focusing on the media, saying it's the media that's giving Harris a pass, trying to do both things, shame the media, and also try to shame the Harris campaign into doing more of these sort of sit-down interviews.

TAMARA KEITH: The other thing is that the Trump theory of the case, the way he is going to win this race, if he is going to win this race, is by juicing his base, by getting his base excited, by reaching out to the very voters who got him into office in 2016.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's who they're messaging to.

TAMARA KEITH: That's who they're messaging too.

They're not trying to win swing voters with this message.

This is all about the base.

AMNA NAWAZ: Right.

Before I let you go, Amy, I need to ask you about a recent Cook Political Report move when it comes to the Senate map.

We know Democrats are on the back foot defending incumbents in red states.

You and your colleagues just moved one of those races, Montana, from a toss-up to lean Republican.

Why, and what could that mean for Senate control?

AMY WALTER: Yes.

So Montana is the weakest link, so to speak, for Democrats in trying to control their very narrow Senate majority.

What we know about Montana, it's the most Republican state after West Virginia that Republicans -- and Democrats hold.

And Jon Tester, the incumbent, was able to hold on.

He's been there since 2006, in part because he was able to rise above partisanship.

He wasn't as associated with the national Democratic brand.

That's getting harder and harder to do in this era.

He has a very strong opponent, probably the strongest opponent that he's ever had, and polling's showing that he is running behind not just where a Democrat needs to be to win, but running behind his Republican opponent.

And so this is one of, if -- as Montana goes, likely so goes the Senate.

And so if Democrats are unable to hold onto Montana, even if they win the White House, holding onto the Senate becomes incredibly difficult, if not really impossible.

AMNA NAWAZ: Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, always good to start our week off with you both.

Thank you so much.

AMY WALTER: You're welcome.

TAMARA KEITH: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Scientists project that sea levels around parts of Florida could rise as much as eight feet over the coming decades.

The majority of Miami-Dade County is roughly six feet above the ocean today.

And one local artist is doing what he can to sound the alarm.

Jeffrey Brown reports from Miami for our ongoing coverage of the intersection of art and climate change and our series Canvas.

XAVIER CORTADA, Artist and Activist: You're at 10 feet.

You're at five feet.

You're at eight feet.

You are at four feet.

JEFFREY BROWN: At a community event in northern Miami, artist and climate activist Xavier Cortada is reminding residents just how vulnerable their homes are.

Each number represents how many feet of property sits above sea level.

The idea, says Cortada, to make people aware and get them talking in a city where sea level rise is becoming an existential crisis.

XAVIER CORTADA: It calls out the problem.

It literally creates this process where neighbor tells neighbor, these are the facts.

This is the quantifiable problem that we have.

JEFFREY BROWN: His Underwater project starts with a visit to this Web site where participants enter their address and discover their home's elevation.

After writing that number on a sign designed by Cortada, residents place them in their own front yards.

XAVIER CORTADA: That's what my art is about.

You invite your neighbor to get in a conversation with you about that.

And together you begin to figure out what you can do about it.

And enough of that happens, I think we can begin to move the needle on this.

JEFFREY BROWN: Cortada grew up in Miami, the child of Cuban refugees.

His interest in art began at a young age watching his father and uncle paint.

As a law student in the 1990s, he became involved in addressing a variety of local community problems, including drug abuse and gang activity, and began to see how art can be part of such efforts.

A 2006 fellowship in Antarctica, where he saw a close the impact of climate change, changed his life and his direct commitment to using art as a tool of activism.

By 2022, he'd become the inaugural Miami-Dade artist in residence.

XAVIER CORTADA: I think art plays that role, and I think artists are thought leaders.

I don't think they're decorators.

I don't think they're object makers.

I think they help frame and invite society to see and approach things.

JEFFREY BROWN: A painter, sculptor and University of Miami professor, his objects tell a story of rising seas, as with these concrete elevation sculptures, which he places in public parks across Miami.

Always, he wants to reach people where they are.

JENNIFER POSNER, Climate Resilience Academy: I think that's the kind of area where Xavier's work is really important.

JEFFREY BROWN: Jennifer Posner is director of programs for the University of Miami's Climate Resilience Academy, which supports research and solutions to address climate challenges.

JENNIFER POSNER: He's able to reach communities in a way that brings attention to this and makes them aware of what's coming in an approachable way, in a way that they can kind of connect with.

JEFFREY BROWN: She says art projects like Cortada's are especially important to reach the communities most vulnerable to climate change.

JENNIFER POSNER: The fact is that the communities that are most in need that have been historically the most disadvantaged, overlooked are the ones that are experiencing the challenges of climate change the most acutely.

I think it's one thing when we see maps on the news that say, in 20 years, we're all going to be underwater.

He's been so successful in making these really hyper-local connections for people.

Where do they live?

How high is their elevation?

And what does that mean for them?

XAVIER CORTADA: Our planet is in a little bit of trouble.

JEFFREY BROWN: A critical part of Cortada's work connecting with younger generations, on this day at a summer camp at a school in Miami's North Bay Village.

Here, the message was in the form of a mural.

XAVIER CORTADA: This is the elevation, the feet above sea level of your school.

JEFFREY BROWN: Taking it all in, 18-year-old Ezequiel Salvant and 13-year-old Alyn Diaz.

EZEQUIEL SALVANT, Student: These signs, when you see kids more engaged, the parents will be more engaged as well, and overall just help, like, what's going on in our community.

ALYN DIAZ, Student: Art to me is like a way to express yourself and how you feel And your thoughts.

So I believe that it was a great way to portray that.

JEFFREY BROWN: Cortada well knows the political and other tensions over climate change and possible solutions, but he avoids that framing.

XAVIER CORTADA: Framing this as a partisan issue isn't going to solve the problem.

What I'm trying to do is let your neighbor from another party across the street understand that it's black and white.

It's the elevation of your home.

Science in many ways should be the owner's manual for this planet, that it shouldn't be politicized, because Antarctica doesn't care who you're voting for.

It's still coming.

JEFFREY BROWN: Jennifer Posner, who works with a wide variety of community groups and government officials on climate resiliency efforts, believes artists can make an essential contribution.

JENNIFER POSNER: Artists, as usual, are sort of ahead of the curve in this way.

This is going to be a very helpful entry point for policymaking.

JEFFREY BROWN: And, for Xavier Cortada, it's personal.

XAVIER CORTADA: The son of Cuban refugees who have seen their entire island and governance and nation fall apart and understanding that the only place I have ever called home will not be here within a century.

JEFFREY BROWN: He hopes soon to have thousands of yard signs and several hundred elevation sculptures across Miami-Dade County.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown in Miami.

AMNA NAWAZ: Older adults will soon outnumber children on a global scale.

So in a new series, our Brief But Spectacular team is exploring our evolving beliefs about age.

Tonight, we bring you the story of Bridge Meadows, an innovative multigenerational housing community in Oregon that builds connections between foster youth, their families and elders.

Here now are three generations of Bridge Meadows residents on how living in this vibrant community has transformed their lives for the best.

BRIAN PARKER, Oregon Resident: When they told us about this place, literally, we were both kind of looking at each other like, is that real?

GRANDMA KATHY, Oregon Resident: I have been living here in Bridge Meadows for seven years.

CHILD: Grandma Kathy (ph) takes care of me and my brother when my parents are away.

GRANDMA KATHY: I still remember the first time they called me Grandma Kathy.

Bridge Meadows is an intergenerational living space where we have children that have come out of foster homes and then we have elders.

My husband had just passed away in 2016.

We didn't have the income.

And so I had signed up for low-income housing.

They told me about Bridge Meadows.

Bridge Meadows gave me the opportunity to come into other people's lives.

JOSIE PARKER, Oregon Resident: We're all set up here in a little semicircle.

BRIAN PARKER: When we got married, we initially were very clear with each other.

We wanted to be parents.

Of course, we ran into issues, fertility stuff and that kind of thing.

JOSIE PARKER: And then I was like, hey, we got an extra room.

We got space.

We are a good couple and we have love to give and this community needs us.

BRIAN PARKER: At this point, we have fostered 14 kids in total over the course of a number of years and adopted two.

CHILD: My name is Victor (ph), and I'm 9 years old.

This is my (INAUDIBLE) CHILD: My name is Kale (ph).

I'm going into second grade.

BRIAN PARKER: When you're in the mix, when you're being a foster parent and doing all the day-to-day stuff, you don't always have the supports.

Grandma Kathy is a member of our community that we met early on after moving here.

GRANDMA KATHY: Victor was this little guy just running around, just full of energy.

I was holding him and he was a baby at the time.

I just looked into his eyes and I just fell in love with him.

JOSIE PARKER: She helps us when we need, like, a little break.

BRIAN PARKER: She is the biggest-hearted person that you can imagine.

GRANDMA KATHY: Part of the design is for me to provide support for other families.

BRIAN PARKER: The intentionality of the place means that there's always that understanding that we're all here to connect with each other.

If ever you need that connection, it's there for you.

Our elder neighbors are dealing with elder issues.

We have a community support specialist that their specific focus is to make sure that the elders in our community are being as well-served as the families and the children.

So that means, if they maybe to ride to a doctor visit, that that can be provided for them.

GRANDMA KATHY: Well, I have eight of my own grandchildren, and I'm so far away from them that I don't get to see them.

And these little boys, they are just so special, and I'm just proud to be their grandma.

BRIAN PARKER: It's been transformative for our kids.

My name is Brian Parker (ph).

My name is Josie Parker (ph).

And this is our Brief But Spectacular take... JOSIE PARKER: On family.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you can watch all of the stories in our Brief But Spectacular series on aging online at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And join us again here tomorrow night, when we will kick off a series of reports on controversial efforts to mine the ocean floor.

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.