geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the “newshour” tonight, former trump lawyer michael cohen returns to the witness stand in the former president's hush money trial.

geoff: the united nations top humanitarian official looks at current crises, and looks back on a career helping manage global calamities. >> the promises that the world's leaders made these recent decades, these promises are left at the entrance. amna: and a three-year-old with a rare medical disorder, stuck in gaza. and the american families working to evacuate her for treatment. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well planned.

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institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the “newshour”" former president donald trump's one-time lawyer, michael cohen, spent his third day on the stand today in a manhattan courthouse. geoff: cohen is now the key witness in the case against his former boss, and he again faced hours of scrutiny over many lies and misstatements he's made. william brangham was again in court today and joins us now. mr. trump legal team had michael cohen understand the entire day.

what were they trying to accomplish with their time with him? william: trump's lead lawyer, in a somewhat circuitous and occasionally zigzagging line of questions, try to keep up the line of attack they started earlier this week which was to elicit testimony that proves their point that michael cohen cannot be trusted, that he is a fundamentally untruthful, dishonest and unscrupulous witness on this case. and he went through multiple examples today in the past or michael cohen was talking to congress, or talking to federal agents, or testifying in or the courts of law, and he raised his hand to say i swear to tell the truth and he did not. we heard multiple scrutinized examples of that. blanche also elicited testimony about some other dubious practices of michael cohen, like surreptitiously recording other people's phone calls. blanche also try to poke holes in cohen's earlier testimony

where he testified to very specific recollections of phone calls that happened six or seven or eight years ago. he elicited testimony saying michael cohen, you get dozens of tested -- dozens of phone calls a day, thousands over the course of a year. how can you remember details from a phone call from seven years ago? so he went on him quite a bit on those points. the whole point obviously is that you undercut michael cohen, you undercut the case. cohen is the one who most directly says donald trump orchestrated and was central to this scheme to cover up the hush-money payments and the falsification of these business records. geoff: so how did michael cohen respond to the scrutiny? william: a lot of times he admitted to these lies, simply because he has no other option. sometimes because he went to prison for them, other times there is just clear evidence that he said one thing one day and another thing very next day. but there were some other cases

where he pushed back on this, like there was a lot of talk today about whether or not he specifically asked for a pardon from then-president trump. sometimes cohen would try and parse word games and heavy semantic debate over whether he meant something in the past tense or the present tense. but on the whole, cohen was a pretty firm, soft-spoken, steady witness today. geoff: that is interesting, because there was some question as to whether or not mr. trump's defense team could promote michael cohen into losing his cool or even lashing out. sounds like that did not happen. william: that is exactly right. there were clearly sometimes were todd blanche tried to do that. he several times raised his voice today and said that was a lie, what you were just saying, wasn't it? cohen for the most part did not take the bait. there were other times were blanche brought up testimony about some very personal and humiliating times in michael cohen's life, like for instance,

when he was very frustrated about not getting a job in the white house and they were texts back and forth with his daughter, where his daughter was saying, dad, it seems like you are clearly getting walked all over by the trump administration . even then, michael cohen did not seem to sort of give up the ghost in this case. there was one interesting thing that happened today. it is hard to know on some level how much of this jury knows about who michael cohen really is, this famously profane, belligerent lawyer. todd blanche played a clip of one of michael cohen's podcasts in court today. in that clip he played, all of a sudden you hear michael cohen on these loudspeakers screaming saying, you better believe i want trump to go to jail, i want him to rot in hell for all the things he did to my family. it was this incredibly jarring moment where for the first time, the jury heard what this michael cohen sort of figure had always been characterized as, but thus far had not shown himself to be

that on the stand so far. geoff: that is william brangham in new york for us tonight. william, thank you. william: thanks. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, the u.s. military finished work on a floating pier off the gaza strip today. officials say at least 500 tons of food will begin arriving on shore in the coming days. the aid is vital to helping the hundreds of thousands of gazans who are at risk of famine. meanwhile, south africa is asking the top u.n. court to impose new emergency measures on israel to stop its military operation in rafah. south africa has accused israel of genocide, and says the war is at a quote, new and horrific stage. >> the key point today is that israel's declared aim of wiping gaza from the map is about to be realized.

further, evidence of appalling crimes and atrocities is literally being destroyed and bulldozed. amna: in response, israel's foreign ministry said today that south africa was presenting biased and false claims, and called on the international court of justice to reject the appeal. here in the u.s., the house of representatives passed a measure this afternoon that seeks to force the transfer of bombs to israel. the bill passed by a vote of 224-187. republicans drafted the legislation as a challenge to president biden's plan to withold a shipment of 3500 bombs. that was meant to discourage israel from further military action in the gazan city of rafah. the bill is unlikely to pass the senate, and the white house has said it would veto any such measure. in slovakia, authorities confirmed today that the man charged with shooting populist prime minister robert fico acted alone. they say the suspect, seen in

the cap in this video, had previously participated in anti-government protests. and became radicalized after the last election. slovakia's interior minister described him as a lone wolf. >> i want to affirm that today the police are working with only one version of the attack, that the perpetrator is currently charged with the premeditated crime of attempted murder, and that we are working with only one version, that it was a politically motivated act. amna: the hospital treating fico says that he's in very serious, but stable condition. the prime minister is considered a divisive figure in slovakia and abroad because of his pro-russian and anti-american positions. the u.s. supreme court rejected a conservative-led attempt to weaken the consumer financial protection bureau today. the justices ruled 7-2 that the way the cfpb is funded does not violate the constitution. unlike most federal agencies, the bureau gets its money from the federal reserve, rather than a congressional budget process.

writing the majority opinion, justice clarence thomas said the system quote, fits comfortably with the first congress' appropriations practice. texas governor greg abbott has pardoned a former u.s. army sergeant who had been convicted of fatally shooting a protester during a black lives matter demonstration in 2020. the announcement came just minutes after texas parole officials announced they were recommending a pardon for daniel perry. he was convicted last year, and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the death of garrett foster. abbott had previously ordered the parole board to review perry's case. the justice department began the formal process today to declassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. the biden administration wants to move cannabis from being a schedule one drug, alongside heroin and lsd, to schedule three, which includes ketamine and some anabolic steroids. the president called it an important move toward reversing

longstanding inequities. the plan is subject to a 60-day public comment period, and a possible judicial review. it also does not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use. senator bob menendez announced today that his wife, nadine menendez, has breast cancer, and will require a mastectomy. the announcement comes during the first we of the new jersey democrat's bribery trial in new york. his wife was also charged in the case, but her trial was postponed. they've been charged with accepting bribes in exchange for using his position to help foreign governments. both have pleaded not guilty to all charges. the leaders of china and russia re-affirmed their no-limits partnership in beijing today. in tiananmen square, president xi jinping rolled out the red carpet for vladmir putin at the start of their two-day summit. china is one of russia's closest allies, as both nations face deepening tensions with the west.

>> russia and china are truly united by the common goals of national development and ensuring joint prosperity on the principles of mutual respect, good neighborliness, and mutual benefit. amna: the two leaders then signed a joint statement ushering in what they called a new era of partnership. that includes a shared opposition to the united states on a range of security issues. mr. putin also thanked his host for his proposals on ending the war in ukraine. kyiv and its western allies have rejected those suggestions. they say xi's stance largely follows the kremlin line. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average briefly topped 40,000 for the first time ever. but by the end of the day, the index had retreated, slipping 38 points to close at 39,869. the nasdaq dropped 44 points. the s&p 500 gave back 11. and a sculpture of the late reverend billy graham, one of the most powerful christian evangelists in american history, now resides in the u.s. capitol's statuary hall. prominent republicans joined

graham's family today to unveil his bronze, seven-foot-tall likeness. graham died in 2018 at the age of 99. still to come on the “newshour”" a look at the lasting legacy of brown versus board of education 70 years after the landmark supreme court decision. lawmakers grill the chair of the fdic after a report finds employees were harassed and mistreated at the agency. and an emergency room doctor discusses his new book on treating trauma and violence. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: president biden today used executive privilege to deny house republicans access to audio recordings from his interview with special counsel robert hur. the october 2023 interview centered on the president's

handling of classified documents. hur's report described the president as a quote, sympathetic, well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. house republicans, including representatives jim jordan and james comer, requested the audio, and planned to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress for failing to provide it. earlier today, garland addressed the matter. >> there have been a series of unprecedented and frankly, unfounded attacks on the justice department. this request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just the most recent. amna: following it all is npr's carrie johnson, who joins us now. house republicans already have transcripts of the interviews provided by the white house. what is their argument for why they need the actual audio, and why was that request denied? carrie: jim jordan any house judiciary committee signaled he simply does not trust the white house.

he wants to see what biden said and hear what biden said for himself. and he said more about the president's state of mind and his memory issues could become more clear if he is able to hear the audio. the justice department and the white house seem to be signaling they have already made extraordinary accommodations. they have given written transcripts, they have given house republicans correspondence between the justice department and bidens white house counsel and his private lawyers. and a couple of classified documents as well. and they are drawing a line that enough is enough and that house republicans not need to hear these audiotapes at this time. amna: president biden had insisted that hur mischaracterized the interviews when the transcripts came out but now they will not release the audio. doesn't that put the white house in a difficult position? carrie: it does to some extent but i think the white house may be telling -- making a calculation it is better to receive criticism on that point than to try to release the audio.

which is the white house counsel said, could then be sliced and diced and chopped up as part of campaign ads before the november election. amna: what about this move to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt for not providing that audio? carrie: the white house asserted executive privilege with the house judiciary committee went ahead by party lines and folded -- and voted to hold merrick garland in contempt. we expect a similar vote overnight by the house oversight committee. and of course that whole issue has to get on the house floor, the full house would have to te, a majority of the full house would have to vote in order to hold merrick garland in contempt. now that the white house has exerted executive privilege merrick garland a sickly has a legal defense and so he could not be prosecuted for this anyway. amna: house republican efforts to impeach the president have stalled. their attempt to impeach the homeland security failed. do they now have their sights set on merrick garland? carrie: merrick garland seems to

think so. earlier he cast a this move as another in a series of what he called unfounded attacks on the justice department federal agents and prosecutors print republican attempts to defund the special counsel jack smith who has secured to indictments against former president donald trump it merrick garland says that is wrong and he is going to defend the institution in the people who work there. geoff: -- amna: that is npr's carrie johnson joining us tonight. thank you so much. carrie: thank you. ♪ geoff: the u.n. warns that the humanitarian crisis in gaza is growing more acute. in southern gaza, a quarter of the population faces catastrophic levels of food insecurity. in northern gaza, nearly one in three children are severely malnourished. nick schifrin speaks to the un's top humanitarian official about gaza, sudan, and what he calls one of the worst years for

humanitarian crises. nick: the un's says every single one of gaza's 2.2 million or so residents need food assistance and the threat of famine is looming. one of the leading officials dealing with the crisis is the un's undersecretary general martin, who will be stepping down soon after a 50 year career on humanitarian and conflict work. welcome back. the executive director of the world food program recently said that northern gaza is in quote, full-blown famine. do you agree? martin: there is a very, very stringent process independent of the u.n. to identify when famine exists. but we know from gaza and elsewhere, don't wait for the declaration, the official

declaration, to know that people are dying of hunger, kids are dying of malnutrition. nick: today the u.s. military announced that a floating pier designed to deliver humanitarian aid to gaza, has been attached to gaza. they have hundreds of tons of aid ready for delivery, thousands more towns in the pipeline. how much of an impact could this have? martin: it is very helpful. we have always said any way to get more aid in should be welcomed. we have also said that land access routes tend to be more efficient and go to scale. in the u.n. and the world food program, we are ready and prepared to help distribute that aid coming in off the floating pier in the days to come. nick: there are also security concerns about the pier. u.n. officials had to take cover when the area came under fire. how serious from your perspective or the security concerns for the u.n., for the

world food program? martin: they are very serious. for the moment the risk is one we can go with on the basis that no aid is coming in in the other areas. so we are looking at being able to fulfill our task of distribution internally and hoping we can get the right people to help us on the beach to get aid to the world food program. nick: who are those right people? martin: i think we are caulking -- talking about contractors as well as some u.n. staff. that is where the final stages of making sure we have an operation that we are happy in terms of accountability as well as risk levels for anybody who is going to be there. nick: there have been occasions where hamas has diverted or stolen the aid. how do you prevent that? martin: where that has happened we have negotiated to get that aid back. as far as i'm aware in all cases that has succeeded. we need to get more deliveries

safely delivered. aid is going in through the north. 54 trucks got in there yesterday. nick: in areas recently opened by israel. martin: most welcome, but on the whole those are going to the needs which are very extensive in the north. in the south it is very difficult because both of the points are closed or difficult to get through. nick: since the israeli military launched an operation on the ground into rafah, specifically at the border crossing between rafah and egypt, that border has been closed. israel blames egypt for blocking aid. egypt blames the israeli military. why do you think not enough aid is getting through? martin: because it is closed and because the other border crossing is also a place of great difficulty to get trucks in. added to that of course is the fact that without fuel inside, it does not matter. you cannot move the trucks.

our stocks inside southern gaza are more or less finished. we know that there are no more tenants yet. 600,000 people have moved in the last couple of weeks. we know that medical supplies may have three weeks. we know that food in the market is about to run out. there is no good news about what is happening in rafah. nick: the israeli government has remained concerned about hamas infiltration and the israeli military this week said that drone should showed a drone next to a u.n. compound in rafah. what can the u.n. do to prevent that? martin: unwra has reacted to that report and is looking into the factual basis of when did this happen, where did this happen, how did this happen, if it did. so until we have got the facts i'm not going to comment. nick: after israeli missiles

killed seven ruled kitchen workers, israel said it would improve organization with humanitarian operations including opening up a new coordination center. has israel done enough to answer the concerns of the u.n., the u.s., and international organizations? martin: in learning of some promises of progress on that very issue. embedding from my own office with southern command to make sure that we are clearly aware of the trajectory of the conflict and are able to guide our humanitarian operations appropriately. i just hope this is going to work. nick: sudan is the world's largest displacement crisis. yesterday the u.n. envoy said the sudanese people were trapped in quote, an inferno of brutal virus -- violent.

can famine in sudan be prevented? martin: yes. but will it be prevented? i don't know. 5 million people at risk of famine. i'm not aware of that number ever having been at that level of risk. we need the militaries of all sides to give us access to get our convoys and aid through. it is the trajectory of the war in the commanders on the ground who are not giving us the access that we need. nick: and finally, if i may take a moment to step back. we have not even talked about afghanistan, ukraine, yemen. i wonder how you look at this year and this moment after, as i said at the top, a nearly 50 year career focused on humanitarian and conflict aid. martin: i think it is as bad as it has ever been. i think it is a year of broken promises.

the promises that the world's leaders made these recent decades, these promises are left at the entrance and parked there. but we still have across cultures and communities and across the world, the depth of humanity, of ordinary people, has not changed in essential values. what has changed is the leadership that we suffer from, i'm afraid. which do not listen to these straightforward values per it which we all believe in. we all want a better future for our children and our families. right across the world. nick: martin griffiths, thank. martin: thank you very much. appreciate it. ♪

amna: among the families caught in between the israel and hamas war, is the abu zaiter family, amjad, maha, and their two daughters, five-year-old sham, and three-year-old julia. julia suffers from an extremely rare neurological disorder called ahc, or alternating hemiplegia, that causes muscle stiffness, seizures, and paralysis. only 1000 cases worldwide have been confirmed. before the war, julia managed with medication. but ahc is triggered by stimuli, like loud noises and changes in temperature. in a tent, in a warzone, julia is today unable to sit or stand, and is running out of medication. a number of families with children who have ahc have rallied to help julia. among them, is simon frost, who i spoke with yesterday. simon, thank you for being here. simon: it's good to be here. thank you for having me. amna: so tell us how you came to know about julia and her family in the first place. what's the connection there between your families?

simon: so my little girl has alternating hemiplegia of childhood and sodas julia. we're a pretty close knit community in ac. and we have a facebook page where everybody communicates because parents become quite expert in this disease and tend to consult each other on what's working and what's not working for their kids. so, i came across the family through there. amna: your little girl is named annabel. she's eight years old. simon: she is. amna: how is she doing? simon: she's doing ok, but she has episodes, at least a few every week. so it's nothing like what julia is facing, but she does face some real problems with ahc symptoms. amna: what did you think when the war first started, and you knew that julia and her family would be over there? simon: so, i actually heard about julia once the war had already started. i didn't know that she was stuck in a war zone until a few weeks ago. but when i found out about it, obviously it terrified everybody in the community. and knowing that a kid with those type of symptoms,

paralysis and seizures and just painful dystonia, all of these different symptoms of the disease can be triggered by various different stimuli. and being in a war zone where you're hearing all sorts of noise and are terrified at all times, we were fearing for her life, and still are. amna: what do you know about how she's fared over the last seven months? what have you been able to hear from her father? simon: so, i know that she's gone through a lot of painful dystonia episodes. she's been paralyzed on and off for the last six months. she hasn't had access to her medicines which can prevent or halt episodes. and she's being fed from a bottle because her parents can't feed her proper food. so, she's in a desperate situation right now. and everybody's worried about the worst. but these episodes that she's having, she can't walk, she can't really talk. she has altered sense of consciousness at this point, and

it really can affect the brain. amna: have you ever seen that kind of decline in a child with ahc? simon: so unfortunately, yes, several kids with this disease die every year. and it's terrifying to think of, but sometimes they have these episodes that are just not stoppable. they look like they cannot focus, they cannot hear anything. often they are fully paralyzed. sometimes they go into painful, postures where their muscles are contracted and they can't get out of a contraction. and this it's, you know, it's incredibly painful. the kids scream and there's nothing that you can do as a parent. so that's what the family are facing right now. amna: we were able to connect with him on the ground in gaza, and he sent us this message. >> we're asking for help to get julia out of gaza for treatment because if i stay here while the crossings are closed, i'll lose my daughter. and i don't want to lose her. i want her to receive treatment and to be like other children to

play and stand and be able to walk. amna: simon, you are in touch with him every day, i understand, for the last several weeks. what is it like for you to have that contact with him, to hear from him now, to know your family is here on this side of the world, and his is there, enduring what they are. simon: yeah, it's desperate, i think, on both sides. it's desperate. we're trying our best to get the family out. we've got an exit plan for them. we just can't get them across the border at this point. i know for many other families, they can't get their folks across the border. we could have her in a high-quality hospital within 24 hours of the border was open. and our plan is to get the family back out to the uae, where we have a system of doctors on the ground ready to support her. amna: what happens if you're not able to get her out.

simon: we fear for the worst. we've managed to get medicines to her. she's on five different medications. we were able to get those to her through pcrf, and we've managed to get her to a safe zone outside of rafah. we're doing our best to get her across the border. but those clearances are needed. amna: when you say we, you're talking about you and this community of families that you've become a part of through your children. why has this become such a mission for you all? simon: well, i think we all put ourselves in that situation. we know how hard it is to look after kids with ahc in the best of times. you know, in a warm and comfy home in washington, d.c. they're in a war zone and it's hard for us. i can imagine what it's like for them. and i think it's easy for families to put themselves in that situation, knowing what their kids go through.

amna: so if you could get a message to amjad the right now, what would you want to say to him? simon: i'd want to say, hold out hope. we we certainly are, but we're doing our very best across the board, as a team to get you out, get you and your family to a safe location where we can get julia stable. we won't stop until we get there. amna: simon frost, thank you so much for being here and sharing the story of julia and her family with us. we appreciate it. simon: thanks, amna. ♪ geoff: tomorrow marks 70 years since the landmark civil rights ruling of brown v. board of education, when the u.s. supreme court declared that in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. president biden met today with several of the original plaintiffs who brought the case to court, and their families. afterward, cheryl brown henderson, one of the daughters of the lead plaintiff, oliver brown, said they were there to celebrate how the long fight had changed education. but she was quick to say much work remains to be done. >> we are still fighting the battle over whose children do we invest in.

anytime we talk about feeling underfunded schools, there is a problem. there should be no such thing. public institutions, where most of us got our education, should be world class educational institutions. geoff: the families today also recalled how the path to integration was met with intense resistance, fear, and violence. that was echoed at a different ceremony in washington this past week by another pioneer, gail ettien, who was one of the so-called new orleans four who were the first children to desegregate to all white schools in new orleans back in 1960. >> they treated us like animals. we didn't know it at the time. but that what they that is exactly what they were doing. they were teachers definitely there that were encouraging them to do that to us. calling us all kind of names. spit on us. anything that you could think of. that young children shouldn't go through in school, we went through.

that experience, i will never, ever forget. geoff: for more perspective on this i spoke yesterday with annette gordon reed. she's the carl enlow professor of history at harvard law school, and she was the first black student to enroll in an all white school in her hometown in texas. and kevin young is director of the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture. geoff: kevin young and annette gordon reed, welcome to the "newshour." kevin, i'll start with you because you as i understand it, you knew linda brown, who has a schoolgirl was at the center of this landmark case. her father, oliver, tried to enroll her at an all white school not too far from their home in topeka. tell us about her, her family and their decision to partner with the naacp and other plaintiffs to challenge segregation in public schools. kevin: it is such an important

anniversary that we're marking the 70th anniversary of, and i did indeed grew up in topeka, kansas, in part and and went to the very church that linda brown played piano and organ at and saying. she was quite enough force then, and i knew and was well aware of the case agreed to me every sunday in the vestibule with reverend oliver brown, who had been at that church, st. mark's church in topeka. and i think it was that kind of spiritual center of the case that she posed and that she still held in to a peak of, kansas that was really powerful to me. and i think there is a long road that leads to brown v. board. but it's still remained in topeka, something that was full of history but also was a living thing. and i think that's when i first encountered the kind of history you find throughout the museum, but also that this case centers in the change in the nation and the change in our world, and to hear her singing, and expressing herself years later, was so powerful. geoff: this is an experience

that you know well. you were the first black student integrate the conroe independent school district in texas 60 years ago. what was that experience like for you? annette: very intense. this was obviously, you know, 10 years or so after brown. the school districts across the south were resisting brown's mandate. had come up with the freedom of choice plan and my parents decided to buck the tradition because the expectation was that white parents would pick white schools and black parents will pick black schools. my parents decided to do something different and sent me to anderson elementary school, and it was tough. i have to say, it was a tough year. i was there by myself. and it was took a couple of years before the supreme court declared those freedom of choice plans unconstitutional. and then everybody had to change schools. but being there by myself was a pretty intense thing.

the thing that really saved me, i think, was, well, obviously, my parents and my family, the support i had. but my first grade teacher, mrs. daughtry, was absolutely wonderful. i'm sure they may have picked her to be the person who had me as a teacher, and she handled things very well. some of the kids were supportive, and many of them were not. so it was just a very intense time. geoff: striking down segregation in the nation's public schools obviously provided a major catalyst for the civil rights movement, which yielded all sorts of progress. but racial segregation across the country in schools has actually increased dramatically since then. it's up by 64%. segregation between white and black students has increased by 64% in the 100 largest districts since the late 1980's. kevin young, what accounts for that? kevin: i'm not sure what accounts for it, in every place that you're mentioning, but i think what accounts for brown's import is starting a process that's still ongoing. it's a process that took a long time to make it to the supreme court. and you know, we raise up thurgood marshall and the

others, including the other plaintiffs who were involved in the case, but i also think it's important to note as you said that there's work left to be done. they reopened brown v. board for its original purpose, to desegregate topeka schools when i was living in topeka, and so that case continues to resonate in both good and ways that still need to be relitigated in some ways, but also to be continually enforced. geoff: annette gordon reed, you could argue that schools remain segregated today because neighborhoods in which they're located remains segregated. and that education policy in many ways is linked to housing policy. how do you see it? annette: oh, absolutely. that's it. i mean, we fund schools through property taxes, and so where you live determines the kind of the schools that you go to. and so, as long as you have a pattern of segregation in housing, you're going to have segregated schools as well. so that's been a big driver of it.

there's a lot of a lot of moving parts to all of this. i mean, brown was important as a symbolic matter, and actually, things did change to some degree, but it's largely the symbolic import of saying that separate was inherently unequal. and starting people on the road to sort of questioning things that had been taken for granted for many, many years. but certainly housing patterns determine a lot about the composition of schools. geoff: kevin, what more needs to be done to fulfill the ultimate promise of brown? kevin: well, i think we have to continue to be vigilant in terms of how people can access education. just for a start, i mean, i grew up in public schools before going to college. and to me, that was really important to have that education. both my parents credited education as the thing that got them beyond. they grew up in the segregated south, in louisiana, to be specific. and they each were the first among their family members to go to college. and they went all the way.

my father ended up becoming a physician, and my mother got a phd in chemistry. and from there, i think ey really saw -- and they went to hbcu's by the way, when historically black colleges of was the only place they could attend. and i think it's really important to them to maintain both hbcu's import and excellence they raise and and generate the most of our professionals in the african american community and continue to support them, but also to support education more generally, and provide that as something that everyone can access, but then also aspire to. geoff: annette gordon reed, same question. what work remains in your view? annette: well to get people to recommend to public institutions, not just k-12 but public higher education as well. there's been this disinvestment in those areas and the more you do that the more problematic they become. it's like a vicious cycle that that continues. and so i think we have to realize that the nation's

schools should be and have been in the past, and certainly k-12 and the university system have been very, very important to creating the country, making a country that it is, and we should go back to the idea that we should invest in all of our children. not just our own children, but all children deserve a chance. geoff: annette gordon reed and kevin young. thank you both so much for your insights. we appreciate it. annette: glad to be here. kevin: thank you. ♪ amna: more than 100 million american households have money in bank accounts protected by the federal deposit insurance corporation, or fdic. the agency's chairman, martin gruenberg, is now facing calls to resign. and as laura barron-lopez reports, his resignation could change the fdic's plans for regulating banks. laura: that's right, amna. this all comes after a recent audit and major news investigation found serious

problems with the fdic's workplace culture, including pervasive sexual harassment, bullying, and discrimination on the basis of gender, race, and sexuality, all spanning a period of decades. martin gruenberg has spent the last two days trying to convince skeptical lawmakers on capitol hill that he should keep his job. but that didn't stop a bipartisan wave of anger and reprimands. >> the level of intimidation that is embedded in the culture after decades of your leadership, you can't just unravel it. you can't unscramble that egg. you've heard me say this to you directly, you should resign. your employees do not have confidence in you. laura: for more we are joined by rebecca ballhaus, an investigative reporter who broke this story for the wall street journal. thank you so much for joining the "newshour." you published a story in

november 2023 after speaking with more than 100 fdic employees including 20 women who quit their jobs because of the toxic culture at the agency. can you give us a sense of what those women shared with you? rebecca: it was a pretty astounding period of talking with these women over many months. i just heard these horrifying descriptions of harassment they faced from their supervisors, which ranged from supervisors talking about going to strip clubs in front of them. supervisors talking about how women needed to sleep with people to get ahead of the fdic. just the way that they spoke to women talking about their appearances and and making comments about you know their eligibility to be dated. it was just a lot of, you know, pretty horrifying stuff. but i think what really stood out to me in my reporting was,

how was some of the structural elements. so the way that the fdic works with bank examiners is hires people directly out of college. so you're sending, you know, in some cases, young women out into the middle of the country to conduct these bank exams. they're going out to visit the banks, often with mostly or allmale teams. their teams are often much older than them. and you can just see how a situation like that is going to be rife for that sort of conduct. and i think the fact that there wasn't much of -- wasn't much in place to guard against that really showed in the reporting. laura: and that reporting led to the fdic hiring an outside law firm to conduct a review, which finally came out last week. it corroborated your initial report. but did we learn anything more about the scope of these problems? rebecca: i think what was really striking is just how many people the law firm heard from. so as you said, i spoke to more than 100 people. the law firm heard from more than 500 people, and that was particularly notable for me

because so many people had told me that they had a lot of reservations about going to the law firm that there was a lot of concern that there could be retaliation if they shared their stories with the law firm. so the fact that they got that many people even with those fears is pretty amazing. and i think what the report really showed his just how widespread these issues were. i didn't really know going in whether the report would mostly confirmed the examples that i had found or whether there would be a lot more there, and there were a lot of examples of harassment and discrimination beyond what i had collected that we're really horrifying to read. laura: when president biden first took office, he told staffers and appointees that he would quote, fire them on the spot if he ever found out that they treated anyone with disrespect, or if they bullied anyone. and this report details that chairman gruenberg as recently as last year, losing his temper in ways that employees felt were quote, offensive and inappropriate. democrats grilled him these past two days, but very few of them

have actually called on him to resign. why? rebecca: yeah, it's been pretty interesting to watch the reaction and i think there's a pretty clear reason why, which is that if he were to resign or be ousted, it would leave the republican vice chairman in charge of the fdic and it would mean that the board of the fdic would be deadlocked. so biden's regulatory agenda and the things that gruenberg is trying to pass would not happen if -- would likely not happen if gruenberg were pushed out. a lot of republicans made this point today that it's a sort of political calculus by democrats in not coming after gruenberg harder. i think you did see a lot of democrats on the house side be pretty harsh in their criticism. there are at least two house democrats who now seem to be, you know, indicating that they would support him resigning and a couple others who said they had serious doubts. but i think on the senate side you saw democrats take a much more measured approach in the hearing. laura: and greenberg apologized,

saying he will change the culture, that he'll take an anger management course. what reaction, though, are you hearing, and do you think that he's done enough to save his job? rebecca: it looks for now like his job is safe. there may be other shoes to drop here. the house is investigating. they've been speaking to fdic employees, the inspector general has said it's investigating, so more could come out on this. but absent additional political pressure from democrats, i'm not sure what would force him out of his job now. but i think, you know, the way he will navigate his employees going forward is going to be interesting to watch because i think a lot of them are incredibly appalled by the report, have been pretty angry for some time now and skeptical that the agency is going to take steps that will really change this culture. and i think, you know, what you're talking about, very entrenched problems that are not

necessarily, or at all, all attributable to one person, but i think changing a culture like that from the inside out can be a difficult challenge. laura: that is rebecca ballhaus of the wall street journal. thank you for your time. rebecca: thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: a new book offers a firsthand look at the root causes and potential solutions to a critical issue plaguing communities across the country, violent crime. emergency room physician dr. rob gore shares stories of what he's witnessed and experienced working in cities such as new york, atlanta, and chicago, and overseas in kenya and haiti. he created a successful violence prevention program to keep young people from acts of violence before they reach his e.r. i recently spoke with dr. gore about his book, "treating violence: an emergency room doctor takes on a deadly american epidemic."

welcome to the "newshour." dr. gore: well, thanks for having me. geoff: your decision to become a doctor serving those most in need was really influenced by your own childhood, by your own experiences with violent crime. and you write about being beaten and robbed as a 10-year-old. how did that searing moment set you on this journey? dr. gore: i was on the corner of our block. i was coming home from school and these two guys jumped me. somebody came from me, grabbed me from behind, another guy punched me, and they dug my pockets and stole my bus pass and my dollar that i had. i didn't have any money. but it was terrifying. and i left that space going home thinking, this is never going to happen again. and i want to make sure that nobody takes advantage of me. so i started carrying razor blades to school. i carried razor blades from the age of 10, 11, up to the age of 18. i carried screwdrivers. i never carried a gun, but my goal was to make sure that i was going to be protected at all times.

it's something that, growing up as a black male, growing up in an urban setting, growing up in a place where you might be considered prey, especially if you're a nerdy kid, you're kind of skinny, and you're not a very imposing figure. they go, wow, that's the person i want to take advantage of. and if you have been on the receiving end, you want to make sure this never happens to you again. geoff: what's gained by viewing violent crime, this epidemic of violent crime, as a public health imperative? dr. gore: violence is a type of trauma, and trauma is any sort of injury that comes about as a result of some sort of force. but violence itself is so different because this is -- it's intended to harm, to kill, to injure. and it's not like just some sort of accidental process. and when there's a -- when somebody inflicts a level of injury that was deliberate, it's almost a personal attack. and the stress that comes from receiving that trauma, the

stress that occurs -- in many of the communities that i've worked in, the recurrent trauma, the recurrent violence that's experienced creates a level of stress that i wouldn't wish on anybody. when you're constantly stressed -- and this is some of the things that we've seen overseas -- when you're constantly stressed, when you're under constant duress and stress can come in many different forms. but when you don't have an ability to process that, when you don't have safety nets that are in place that allow you to have access to a recovery period, you don't do well. and us looking at violence through this public health lens is really something that we're hoping to really change the scope of and to help keep people alive. you know, i started doing violence prevention work almost as a way to ensure that i stayed around. you know, homicide is the number one cause of death for black men ages 15 to 34. and the number two cause of death for latinx men ages 15 to 34. and when i started doing that work, i was in that age bracket. you know, i'm kind of past that at this point in time, but i still see people who are my age

coming in who were traumatized, coming in who are receiving deliberate injuries because somebody deemed their life less important than their own. geoff: well, when it comes to intervention, what works? how do you head off violence before it even happens? dr. gore: how do you head off violence before it happens? i think recognizing that it is occurring. some people experience violence so often that they don't even realize that it is a problem. they think this is something that just occurs in your community. and so the first thing is recognizing that the trauma that's taking place is not a normal act. it's not a normal behavior. and figuring out, what are the symptoms that you're experiencing. if you're experiencing anxiety, depression, if you've already had preexisting mental illness like depression or bipolar disorder, every subsequent trauma triggers that and it makes it even worse. then the next thing is to create systems -- and this is more of the long term approach -- create systems that help, strengthen other supportive factors that can enhance your overall well-being. making sure that people have access to proper education, access to food, access, the things that are going to allow them to thrive in a state so they can do really well, not just exist and not just live.

geoff: how have you dealt with the cumulative stress of being on the front lines? dr. gore: that's a great question. the book itself was really helpful for me because, as an emergency physician, you see a lot of trauma. you see -- you're in a stressful environment. the e.r. exists purely to deal with people who are in a distressed state, and we aren't always taught to process what we've seen. we're taught to compartmentalize. we're taught to tuck it away so that you can take care of the emergency at hand. and then when you get some time, go back to it and reflect on it. but there's not a really designated process to do that. now, i think people are starting to learn the language about trauma informed care and trauma and, you know, overall trauma and wellness practices, but it's not something that we're taught. and so writing the book itself was a way to reflect on a lot of the stories and things that i've lived, things that i've seen, and people that i've treated as a way to kind of connect dots and come up with almost a template that i can share with

other people who may be working in very similar spaces. geoff: doctor rob gore, the book is "treating violence: an emergency room doctor takes on a deadly american epidemic." thanks for your time. dr. gore: appreciate it. thank you so much. ♪ geoff: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire "newshour" team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf.

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