November 12, 2026 - PBS News Hour full episode - PBS

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On the News Hour tonight, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang steps down amid scrutiny over his extramarital affairs, including one with an alleged Chinese spy.

What his resignation could mean for chipmakers, artificial intelligence, and U.S.

We sit down with Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed to discuss how he hopes to shake up Washington.

The way to read this election outcome is not as a mandate for Democrats.

It is as a thorough repudiation for Trump and Trumpism with the opportunity for Democrats to earn their mandate over the next two years.

And on the ground in Somalia, how widespread cuts to USAID have become a matter of life and death.

Major funding for the PBS News Hour has been provided by Moving our economy for 160 years.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, established to create positive outcomes for future generations.

And Friends of the News Hour, including Robert S. Kaplan and Wendy J. Selden through the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund.

And with the ongoing support these individuals and institutions.

This program was made possible by the contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

We begin tonight with the shake up at the center of the artificial intelligence industry.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced his resignation after it was reported that he had an affair with a businesswoman accused of being a Chinese spy and also had an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia executive.

Lawmakers are now calling for investigations into the company and into Huang's relationship with President Trump.

Huang's departure has sparked a number of questions about the future of Nvidia, the AI industry, and US national security when it comes to restricting China's access to the most powerful chips.

For more on this, we're joined now by Dmitri Alperovitch.

He co-founded and was Chief Technology Officer of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

He's now co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator.

He's an investigative journalist and author of the book The Thinking Machine, Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the world's most coveted microchip.

After the flurry of revelations and headlines of the last few days, was there any circumstance under which Jensen Huang could have or should have stayed on at Nvidia?

And look, I'm the the board had to act here immediately because of the revelations with these affairs, particularly the affair with a person that was in the direct chain of command for Jensen Huang.

As a public board, you cannot have a situation when is having these types of situations.

We've seen this before at Intel, we've seen it at McDonald's where the executives that had these these circumstances had to resign.

But the broader issue here is not about what Jensen Huang is doing in his bedroom.

The broader issue is the potential illegality that has occurred here with the smuggling of these chips to China, perhaps one of the most valuable resources, the critical thing that keeps China behind US frontier models in the most important technology of the day, which is AI.

I want to get to the national security issues around that as well.

But Stephen, let's get your take on this.

Is it immediately clear who might step up in Nvidia?

And and what's the broader impact that we could see here given what a huge player this one company is in the entire AI industry?

I mean, the Nvidia's corporate org structure had Jensen at the top and then no second layer of command and then like 60 people below him.

Um you know, whoever manages Nvidia for the long term and this is the challenge, they have to be a world class computer scientist, which is what Jensen was.

They can't just be a classic business person with an MBA.

They have to stand uh computers from the level of the transistor scaling up all the way to the data center.

They have to understand every part of that.

He could also scream at his suppliers in Taiwan when they were late and he could sign these mega deals that were difficult for other CEOs to get.

You know, Jensen has great handwriting and he could take his equipment and draw by hand an exploded diagram of what it looked like when you took every part apart, you knew how much every part cost, you knew every part was coming from, where it could be improved.

It's going to be hard to find someone with that kind of level of mental acuity and and drive again.

Um so Nvidia is facing a real problem here.

That is great though for its competitors, who all went up in the stock market today.

Broadcom, one of the makers of of of chips to Nvidia went up.

AMD, maybe their chief rival over the last 20 years, went up.

It's good for Google, who's manufacturing and selling another kind of Nvidia alternative.

It's possible that the ecosystem of how we build AI will change now.

Nvidia for a long time sort of had the absolute throne.

Now that that that empire is shattered and all of these people are going to rush in and try and take that spot.

So Dimitri, let's get to some of those other concerns that you raised.

Also the questions right now unanswered.

As we pointed out, one of Huang's affairs is with an alleged Chinese spy, a woman named Alice Wang.

She also led the Singapore-based company MegaSpeed.

MegaSpeed faced allegations last year it was buying Nvidia chips and then illicitly shipping them into China.

What are the bigger concerns here about what we don't yet know?

Well, we have export control regulations and laws on the books that are designed to prevent this cutting-edge compute from going to China.

Akin to what we did with the Soviet Union, we were not selling supercomputers to the Soviet Union for the same reasons.

And the fact that it is now very clear the Chinese have been able to acquire billions of dollars of compute from MegaSpeed, but also from these other shell companies.

Some of them Alice had been involved in, but also other Chinese nationals that have stood them up.

And it was very clear to everyone, by the way, that these were shell companies that had no business.

They popped up out of nowhere and placing orders for billions of dollars, setting up data centers in Malaysia, talking about the fact that they had customers like Alibaba in China.

And in fact, New York Times last year did an investigation to MegaSpeed specifically.

So the only people that didn't seem to know that MegaSpeed is an illicit actor here were Jensen Huang and Nvidia and the Commerce Department.

To follow up on that, talk about this new reporting that was out today that the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick allegedly resisted cracking down on MegaSpeed.

Is there a sense that there were red flags missed here or ignored?

I think that this is going to be a key part of the investigation going forward, particularly in Congress as the Democrats take over.

What did Howard Lutnick and others in the Commerce Department know and when did they know it?

Because there's a lot of allegations here.

On Monday there was a report from Bloomberg and New York Times that Nvidia was calling officials at the Commerce Department trying to stop an investigation to mega speed.

Highly inappropriate, maybe even illegal.

Stephen, weigh in on this and what Dimitri just had to say about the concerns about those sales or the chips making their way into China and what lawmakers need to ask now.

Yeah, I mean this this was not a secret as he says.

You know, this went back to 2024 to 2023.

It was very obvious, honestly, and almost an open secret that these Malaysian entities are really being used as cutouts to get the chips either to Chinese developers remotely or as it turns out just kind of shipping them in the front door, repackaging and shipping them out the back into China, which seems to be what's happening.

So there was just this is smuggling, right?

There was a lot of smuggling going on.

And and when that happens, often the CEO will be a little insulated from kind of the the rule breaking down down down the line.

In this case, the CEO Jensen was having an affair with the chief smuggler and almost quite openly too.

So there was this sense, I think, that when they came to Asia, the rules didn't apply for them.

The US rules didn't apply, that it was kind of a wild west and they could do what they wanted and and nobody cared.

I don't I don't think that that is going to hold now.

The Singaporean authorities are upset.

They actually held Miss Wong's passport for some time.

They were looking into us and they say they didn't get cooperation from the US government.

Commerce was looking at this under Biden, but then when when Trump came in, it seems like kind of that that investigation died down.

So there's there's kind of looks like there's a little influence peddling as well.

It's all very bad for for for Jensen.

This could this could really blow up in his face.

Dimitri, I'll give you the last word here in the minute or so we have left.

Based on the way the information has come out day after day, do you get a sense that there could be more to come?

And I think that what can come out is the extent of his relationships with ships with the Chinese.

Look, he's made some very troubling statements about the fact that China is not killed American forces and and and fight us in the Pacific has been stealing our intellectual property, decimating industrial base.

Certainly not one that most people in this town would agree with on the Democratic side or Republican side.

He's been fighting all these regulations that prevented him from exporting chips to China.

I think that he's going to be in the hot seat for a long time.

There could be even potentially criminal allegations here that he is going to have to face.

Thank you so much to both of you for your insights.

Dimitri Alperovitch and Stephen Witt.

And we start the day's other headlines in New York where fire officials say they've ended their rescue operations at the site of a collapsed building in Brooklyn and that there are no more victims inside.

The collapse killed at least eight people including two children and injured dozens more.

This has been a devastating evening and morning for our city.

For much of today, at times in the pouring rain, rescuers searched for any remaining survivors still trapped beneath the rubble.

It followed an all night effort where canine units, drones, and rescue workers searched around the clock while residents desperately hoped their loved ones would be found.

Later, firefighters pulled that man's wife from the rubble, still covered in debris and critically injured, but alive.

So I have an update for my for my wife.

The collapse occurred yesterday afternoon.

Plumes of smoke filled the sky after the three story building in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn fell over.

What was once there with the red awning, a slim row of apartments collapsing into the deep pit created by a construction site right next door.

Exterior walls of the adjoining apartments were also ripped away, exposing the neighbors' closets and bedrooms.

Officials say the construction site next to the building had an active permit for excavation and foundation work on the lot.

But New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he was quote incredibly troubled by reports that cracks were visible on the side of the collapsed building days earlier and said the city's investigation was ongoing.

If there is anyone or any entity operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable.

The mayor also praised firefighters who he said responded within one minute of the first 911 call and the construction teams on site who leapt into action.

I want to thank all those who did not hesitate to help.

Those who ran towards danger when this building collapsed and in the hours afterwards.

Construction workers would only barely survive themselves, turn back and dug victims out of the rubble.

People are alive today because of their heroism yesterday.

Adams also said the city would conduct a wide sweep and inspect a hundred other construction sites across the city in the wake of this disaster.

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

Also today, police in Washington, D.C.

say a gunman killed one person and injured four others before fatally shooting himself.

The gunman killed a man at a gym this morning in D.C.

's Logan Circle neighborhood, about a mile north of the White House.

He then barricaded himself inside a condo building where he owned a penthouse and fired at more people from his balcony.

SWAT officers could be seen on the roof and negotiators spoke with him for more than an hour.

He's been identified as 55-year-old Matt Lambert.

Police say the man killed the he killed was 46-year-old James Stewart, the property manager.

We do know that there has been an ongoing dispute between the suspect in this case and the building condo homeowners association management regarding maintenance issues, mold and the like, that there was a civil case that he filed against them.

So we believe that it's related to that.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called the incident a senseless act of gun violence.

As of this afternoon, one of the wounded victims was still in critical condition.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth awarded a medal today to the very soldier who admonished his party during a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Hegseth presented specialist Thomas Iglesias with the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his conduct at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Yesterday, someone in Hegseth's group was heard laughing as they walked away after taking photos at the site.

A Pentagon spokesperson said Iglesias had quote correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said today that Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to allow European officials to join the next round of Ukraine peace talks, but the Kremlin would not confirm that agreement.

Putin met with Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner for about 2 hours at the Kremlin today.

The meeting capped a week of diplomacy that produced a major prisoner swap, but no firm commitments toward ending the war.

Putin reiterated his sharp differences with Europe over how to achieve peace.

What do we hear from the Europeans?

Once there is peace in Ukraine, they intend to deploy troops into its territory, which would mean the continuation of the war.

Witkoff and Kushner then flew to Ireland to meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy this evening.

He also stressed that Europeans should be at the next talks.

Earlier today, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is experiencing another slowdown in Starshield, the military grade SpaceX satellite service used by Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

In the Middle East, Palestinian health officials say at least six people are dead, including a doctor and a teenage boy after an Israeli air strike hit one of the main hospitals in Gaza.

The strike hit the surgical wing of Nasser Hospital, leaving medical supplies overturned beds and debris scattered across the floors.

The Israeli military says it was targeting a Hamas commander and other militants, but the commander was not identified among those killed.

In the aftermath, hospital workers who had been caring for patients found themselves in need of care and described the trauma of the attack.

People screaming in the rooms, walls destroyed, blood everywhere.

Five wounded lay right in front of the offices among many others who had been hurt.

Meantime, President Trump is pulling Vice President JD Vance off efforts to end the war in Iran, saying in a social media post today, quote, we don't need a deal with Iran.

The announcement raises questions about how the president plans to end the war, and it comes after Vance pointed to the conflict as a driving factor behind Republican losses in the midterm elections.

Instead, the president is asking Vance to focus on what he's claimed to be massive corruption and crime taking place in cities and states run by Democrats.

The American Cancer Society is overhauling its recommendations for prostate cancer screening among middle-aged men.

The new guidelines say that most men between the ages of 50 and 69 should undergo a blood test every two years.

And for black men or those with a family history of prostate cancer, testing should start at 45 years old and take place annually.

Before, doctors and patients largely decided together whether screening was needed.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancers in men.

More than 333,000 men are expected to be diagnosed in the US this year alone.

US home sales fell 5.5% in October, hitting their lowest level since 2010 when the economy was crawling out of the housing crash of the late 2000s.

on Wall Street today, stocks ended lower following Jensen Wong's resignation from Nvidia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 200 points.

The Nasdaq slipped about 100 points.

The S&P 500 also ended the day in the red.

And veteran sportscaster Dan Hicks has died.

Hicks spent much of his career at NBC Sports calling Notre Dame football, golf, and the Olympics.

His wife of more than 30 years, ESPN anchor Hannah Storm, announced his death following a sudden illness, calling him a devoted husband, loving father to their three daughters, and a cherished friend.

Still to come on the News Hour, an historic win now Scott Colom managed to turn Mississippi's Senate seat blue.

Michigan's incoming senator Abdul El-Sayed on the Democrats' legislative agenda and a firsthand look at the widespread impact of USAID cuts in Somalia.

This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubenstein Studio at WETA in Washington, headquarters of PBS News.

We turn now to Mississippi where Democrat Scott Colom won his longshot bid to oust incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the race for US Senate.

Colom's victory is a stunning reversal in the deeply conservative state that hasn't been represented by a black senator since the Reconstruction era following the Civil War.

In Ruby Red Mississippi, Scott Colom's victory adding to the list of historic wins and shocking upsets this election season.

Throughout this campaign, there were many times where I had to have faith.

There were times that I couldn't get donors to answer the phone.

They did not believe a moment like this was possible.

Colognes win marking the first time Mississippi has elected a new Democratic US senator since 1947.

He'll also be the first black senator for the state since the post reconstruction era nearly 150 years ago.

Cologne delivered his victory speech at the historically black Tougaloo College.

Where his daughters took to the stage to recite the pledge of allegiance and the school's choir performed Lift Every Voice and Sing widely known as the Black National Anthem.

I am here because Scott Colom is the senator of Mississippi and we can't be ever the more proud.

In Jackson scenes of jubilation as supporters weighed the significance of the moment.

I've lived here almost all my life and finally finally the walls breaking down.

I am not one generation out of the cotton field.

Both of my parents picked cotton and my great grandmother was sold here as a slave from Virginia to here.

So I am so excited to be on this side of history.

Days of processing absentee and provisional ballots put Colom too far ahead for his opponent incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith to catch up.

I respect the decision of Mississippi voters.

I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.

Both Republican and Democratic voters in Mississippi told CBS News Hour that Colom ran a better campaign than the senator did pointing to his grassroots efforts and viral ads like this one.

Gone price of beef continuing to go up.

You know you have so many proteins to choose from.

[_ ] I'd rather pick another senator instead.

Colom told CBS News Hour on Tuesday that he remains determined to bring down prices for Mississippians when he reaches the I'm focused on affordability.

I mean, you know, I think that the people have given given us a mandate to try to work with anybody we can to get costs down, money in people's pocket.

With the Mississippi race finally called, Democrats will have a 55-seat majority in the new Congress come January, flipping eight Senate seats from Republican to Democrat in this midterm cycle.

Now all eyes are on Alaska, the final Senate race yet to be called, where Democrat Mary Peltola holds a slight lead over incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.

For the PBS News Hour, I'm Liz Landers.

Scott Colom's historic victory in Mississippi marks a political milestone in a state central to the struggle for civil rights and voting rights in America.

To help us understand the significance of this moment, we're joined by Brian Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.

Brian, welcome back to the News Hour.

Scott Colom's election is historic regardless of where one stands on his politics.

We should remind folks that Mississippi is where Medgar Evers fought and died, where Fannie Lou Hamer challenged the political establishment, where James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner were murdered while trying to register black voters.

How do you connect Scott Colom's victory to the sacrifices of the people who helped make this moment possible?

Well, there's no state in America that has more violently resisted full political participation by black people than the state of Mississippi.

The people you identified along with so many others, Vernon Dahmer, Herbert Lee, Lamar Smith, all of these people had to lose their lives in the effort to create greater political participation.

And so I think this is really an extraordinary moment in the history of this country.

People don't realize that Mississippi was a majority a state for much of its history, from 1860 until 1940, uh there were more black people in Mississippi than white people.

The only reason why we haven't had dozens of black senators from Mississippi is because of violent voter suppression and abusive uh resistance to the rule of law.

Uh in 1940 became a majority white state in part because our government tolerated decades of terror violence and lynching that drove hundreds of thousands of black people from the state.

So now for Scott Colom to win when it is no longer a majority black state, to win by not being silent about this history, but inviting others to challenge the kind of bigotry that has made Mississippi uh such a dangerous place for black politicians, I think is really remarkable and I think it uh inspires me and others in this region to believe that the spirit of the civil rights movement, which really changed America, but that decade between 55 and 65 is a decade that resulted in our country for the first time becoming a more functional democracy.

And I think that spirit has been awakened in Mississippi and many parts across the South and it's really energizing to see.

And fast forward to the present moment after the Supreme Court gutted key protections in the Voting Rights Act, Mississippi saw new battles over voting restrictions and redistricting, gerrymandering.

At the same time though, you had organizers who were working to mobilize voters and to expand political participation.

What does that suggest about the power of grassroots organizing to overcome barriers, intentional barriers to the ballot?

I think what happened this summer was a wake-up call to many African Americans and to many people who just believe in democracy: that the Court would gut the single piece of legislation, which was the crowning achievement of the Voting Rights Act, that has actually facilitated meaningful political participation for the first time in our nation's history; that they would gut that act; and then that would immediately exploit that.

Uh, states like Tennessee and Alabama to undermine black political participation.

I think it it it energized black people all over the South.

And from Texas to Georgia, to South Carolina, to Alabama where Shomari Figures won that district even after it had been gerrymandered to produce a white Republican victory uh to Mississippi.

I think this is a new moment in American politics.

I think we're going to see engagement by black voters, by voters who have been historically disfavored in this country because they now know that they have to fight for their place in this country.

And I think Scott's win in Mississippi and the win in Texas and the win in Georgia and the win in Alabama and the win in South Carolina is evidence that this is going to be a new moment in the politics of America.

And I hope it's a moment that transforms not just this region but this country so that we stop using the power of the law to disfavor and exclude those voices that have long been under acknowledged and under recognized.

I want to press on that a bit because I'm sure there are people who will say that there can be a temptation to read too much into any one victory, even one as historic as this.

When you look at Mississippi today, when you look at the deep South, what gives you hope that this election can represent something more than a single political breakthrough?

Hope that this could represent something more beyond politics?

Well, I think the fact that you know uh Scott Colom won this race uh not just with the black vote.

There aren't enough black voters for him to have won a statewide race.

He persuaded a much higher percentage of white voters to vote for him uh in a moment when they'd been told that they should avoid things that are echoes of our history of civil rights activism and racial injustice.

Uh, the same thing happened in Georgia.

The same thing happened in South Carolina.

And I think that's what is inspiring.

I think every American should be proud of what the civil rights did for this country, that it allowed us to become this more perfect unit.

And when we have people who are trying to undermine that progress, who are trying to return us to the politics of division and racial exclusion that's so defined so many parts of this country for too long, I think you're going to see lots of people saying, no, we don't want that.

We do not want to go back to that kind of bigoted use of power.

And so that's what gives me hope is that we are we people weren't black people weren't alone in the critical moments of the civil rights moment, but we're also not alone now.

And I think the ally community has gotten even bigger, it's gotten more informed, it's more knowledgeable, and I think it's more prepared to stand with anyone who's being politically disfavored because of their race or their ethnicity or their color or their religion.

I think that era has to be rejected, and I think there are a lot of people in this region that are prepared to to reject that era, black and white and brown from all different kinds of faiths.

Brian Stevenson is founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.

Always a pleasure to speak with you.

The new wave of Democratic senators are in Washington this week for orientation and are already facing tough questions about how they plan to govern and who they'd like to lead their party.

One of them is Abdullah Sayed from Michigan.

His win came after a hard-fought race marked by record outside spending and harsh attacks on his name and his faith.

He will be the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate.

And Senator-elect Abdullah Sayed joins me now.

Now you've been a few days in Washington meeting new lawmakers.

I um you know, honestly, so much of the way that our politics are transacted make you think that these people hate each other in person.

And the number of Republican future colleagues who've reached out talking about things that they want to work on together has really been quite surprising.

And I don't know if it's just because too much of the way we do politics is about this sort of inside versus outside approach where they make our politics purposely look like it's a food fight.

Or it's because they're reading the tea leaves about the failure of Trump and Trumpism and folks are looking for partners to actually address some of the biggest challenges that they face.

But you know, I think the the way to read this election outcome is not as a mandate for Democrats.

It is as a thorough repudiation for Trump and Trumpism with the opportunity for Democrats to earn their mandate over the next two years.

And my hope is that Republicans see the opportunity to start addressing the failures of the war in Iran, the failures of this tariff policy, and the impending doom that is going to come if these Medicaid cuts actually take hold in January.

Can you tell us who's been reaching out and what they want to work on?

I keep private conversations private, but I will tell you that they are Republican colleagues who had less than nice things to say about me during the campaign.

Maybe next time you come back, we'll get some more details on progress on that front.

about legislation we work on together.

One of the first big decisions you're going to have to make is who will lead the Democrats in the Senate.

You have acknowledged the work and the leadership of Chuck Schumer helping to secure these really big historic Senate wins, but you have called for Senator Chris Van Hollen to be the next majority leader for the Senate Democrats.

Let me just start by saying that Senator Schumer and I worked very well together through the course of the general election.

You know, we did not see eye to eye in the primary.

He specifically supported my primary opponent, but you know, he understood the need to win Michigan.

And he and the institutions that he leads came through in a big way to make sure that we were able to secure our our victory.

That said, this is a moment where we need to pivot from the past into the future.

Now, you've got this crop of freshman senators uh that hail from different parts of the country, parts of the country we didn't know uh would elect a Democratic senator.

Uh and almost all of us came in saying that we needed to take a fresh approach, a new approach to governing.

You think Dan Holland is a fresh approach?

I mean, he's been in Congress since the early 2000s.

you're going to elect a leader, you want somebody who knows their way around the Senate.

You know, he's read the he's led the uh Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Um he has uh been a part of some of the most important legislation that has been passed.

He knows how uh to engage with his colleagues.

He understands the caucus uh in a new and unique in a unique way.

But at the same time, he takes a new approach.

He's willing to take risks for one.

You know, when he chose to fly to El Salvador uh to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that was a real risk.

When he chose to go to the Rafah Crossing, that was a real risk.

And he's shown his his willingness to take those risks.

And so I just think he he is uh somebody who both combines the understanding of the United States Senate as an institution, as a body, uh the processes of the Senate with the willingness to lead forward uh and to take some real risks.

Let's talk about what you want to do on that legislation front.

You said one of the priorities is to reverse those Medicaid cuts.

We know the new work requirements go into effect January 1st, but a repeal bill is likely going to face a veto from President Trump.

You do not have 60 votes in the Senate to override it.

So what is the plan to get that done?

Well, let's just think about what Medicaid cuts are going to do.

When Medicaid gets cut, it doesn't just affect people on Medicaid because folks still get sick.

So now they're going to get health care when it's the most expensive, usually in an emergency room.

So what happens to those hospitals?

Well, they're now facing costs that they can't bear.

It's a big reason why it's putting a lot of rural hospitals and health care centers in real danger of shutting down.

If you're a senator from a state that is predominantly rural, and because of the structure of the United States Senate, a lot of our senators disproportionately come from rural states on the other side of the aisle.

So now you're looking at the potential collapse of your entire health care system in a state like Wyoming and a state like Idaho, in a state like Montana, in a state like the Dakotas.

And there's a real opportunity for us to say, maybe we should not do that.

And your electorate is probably looking at Trump and Trumpism and saying, yeah, I don't know about that.

And if there's still something you can save from that big ugly bill, maybe this is the opportunity to do it.

So I would not be surprised if we put a clean bill on the If we put a clean bill out there, I would not be surprised if we were able to get a lot of Republicans on the on on on board, maybe even a veto-proof majority.

Medicare for All is a big part of your platform as well, and you've said recently that you are willing to call it Trumpcare for All if that helps to get the president on board.

I mean, look, I I don't care what we call it.

I really don't care what the name is.

We are the richest, most powerful country in the world.

And the idea that you cannot afford healthcare in this country, the idea that the collective medical debt is greater than the GDP of half the states in this country is insane.

And meanwhile, you've got a president who's fighting a war.

So I'm just saying, hey, you did some dumb stuff.

This would actually be a smart thing.

And it seems like you like to put your name on things.

So why don't you put your name on the program that could finally address the unmet promise of America once and for all.

It is the biggest affordability issue in America right now.

Just want to clarify, you've not been in touch with the president directly since you've won, have you?

I have not, but I I communicate to him in the same way everybody communicates to him and he communicates to everybody else, which is on social media, apparently.

So Donald, if you're watching, let's do it.

So in the last couple of weeks, we've seen the president name Steven Miller as his chief of staff.

You've seen House Republicans name Jim Jordan as their next leader.

You've seen the DOJ threaten Democratic lawmakers who will engage in oversight of the administration.

What do you expect to see from the Trump administration in these next two years?

So he said he wants to work with Democrats.

I take everybody's claims on good faith.

And then when you look at where House Republicans have gone in choosing Jim Jordan as their minority leader, you look at what he's chosen in Steven Miller as his White House chief of staff, it seems like the actions don't quite match the statements.

You know, at the end of the day, this is a White House we're going to have to figure out how to engage with.

Can you work with this White House?

That's a choice Stephen Miller is going to have to make.

Your win in Michigan was nothing if not dramatic.

Besides making history in someone with your faith joining the Senate, you overcame your primary rival Haley Stevens endorsing your Republican opponent at the last minute and you still won by seven points.

Have you talked to Haley Stevens since then or heard from her since your win?

No, I'm I'm more focused on leading for Michigan.

Do you anticipate speaking with her?

And the reason I ask is because Democrats say they want a big tent party.

Some are calling for her to be expelled.

Is there room in the Democratic Party for someone like Haley Stevens?

Well, when you self-expel at some point you're choosing to walk all the way out of the tent and that is a choice she made.

And yet your party has not yet reached consensus on this big issue of US support for Israel.

It was a big issue during your primary.

Continues to divide many Democrats.

Do you need to reach some kind of consensus to be legislatively united?

I'll tell you this, the public has pretty much clearly reached consensus.

We don't pay our tax dollars to buy bombs and tanks for other countries.

We want to pay our tax dollars to buy good schools and healthcare here in our own.

Whether or not parties recognize that, that is their choice.

I think that for us we should be conditional, right, when it comes to any foreign military aid on upholding international law.

So why would we send our money to a country that is absolutely destroying, making a mockery out of international law, whether it's genocide or apartheid or it is a war we have no business fighting for the annexation of a different country.

If any other country behaved that way, we would think very very differently about calling them an ally.

I think it's our responsibility for us to just go where our principles say we ought to go and treat everybody similarly.

I don't pay my tax dollars so the the government of Egypt its tanks or the government of Pakistan or the government of Saudi Arabia.

I don't believe that we should be doing unconditional foreign military aid as a matter of course.

The last time you and I talked was several years ago.

You were running for governor of Michigan back then and you were just about to become a father for the first time.

Your daughter was days before she was born.

You've seen since then anti-Muslim sentiment continue to rise in this country and it showed up in a talk against you in this election cycle.

Your eldest daughter in particular now, she's old enough to see that and to hear that.

And I just wonder what you and your wife tell her and talk to her about.

Well, you know, uh Sarah is the real hero of uh this whole campaign and That's your wife.

Uh and she um and I when we kicked off this campaign, it was a real commitment to us that any of the strife that would come with this, um that we would do all we could to protect the girls from it.

So there were rules around when the TV could be on uh so that they wouldn't be hit with one of those ugly commercials.

Um and we tried to narrate the experience for them so that they had an understanding of of what was done.

And my goal of this was that this was something that they would experience in a blunted way um in, you know, in real time and then read about someday uh in real time or or uh afterwards.

And the hard part for me really throughout this whole thing was talking to friends and folks in the community who said, how do I explain this to my kids what I'm seeing out there?

And the answer I'd always say is the story's not yet done.

You know, if you watch a thriller um sometimes in the middle of the thriller, it looks like the bad guy's going to win.

And you know, as I said in in in my victory speech, the bad guy's lost.

And that's because I took a bet on Michigan.

They care less about how how you pray than than what you pray for.

And I had 19 months of traveling up and down my state, meeting people who had never met somebody of my faith before, who are less interested in talking about faith and our differences than using our differences as an opportunity to talk about what we share together.

That's human nature and human instinct.

And there's always a few small-minded people who want to make America small like them.

But America always responds and reminds us just how big America is.

And so, you know, as we talk about this, it is important to me that all of those families out there of children who've been told they don't belong for some reason or other not necessarily because they share my faith, or because maybe they they love a different way, they they look a different way, color of their skin, or they're just being picked on by somebody that they remember that in the end, the good in people wins out.

And we are big, we are inclusive, uh and we're stronger because of that.

And I'm just so proud of my state uh for having made that argument once again.

It's a Democratic Senator elect from Michigan, Abdullah Sayed, joining us here today.

Since the Trump administration started sharply cutting US foreign aid last year, we've reported on the consequences around the world.

And nowhere are those consequences more apparent than in Somalia.

After decades of conflict and repeated climate disasters, millions of Somalis depend on humanitarian assistance, much of it previously funded by the US.

And now that lifeline is disappearing.

In the first of two reports from Somalia produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, special correspondent Neha Wadaker and filmmaker Ed Ram show us what those cuts mean for some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Born two months early, Malid is trying to survive.

He has been living outdoors here in the blistering heat on the outskirts of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, for 25 days.

His mother, Isho Owes Mohamed, and her three youngest children fled here from southern Somalia.

They are among thousands here, mostly women and children, who have been forced to flee their homes by a devastating mix of conflict, drought, and flooding.

I live off people's goodwill, she tells us.

I only have whatever they bring me.

Isha said she's eating so little that she can't produce enough breast milk to feed her son.

She never imagined this could be her life.

Just over a month ago, a mortar destroyed her neighbor's home.

And in an instant, she knew she had to run.

During her escape, she went into early labor and delivered twins on the side of the road.

I met farmers outside a nearby town who helped me bury my daughter, she tells us.

This is why I arrived here with so much blood loss and placenta attached to the newborn.

In the past, families like Isha's might have gotten help from American-funded aid groups, but not anymore.

The United States was once the single largest donor of aid in the world.

But in early 2025, President Donald Trump began dismantling USAID, the United States Agency for International Development.

Almost overnight, emergency food for babies like Malid dried up.

Funding space in Somalia has dramatically shrinked.

As that American lifeline went dark, aid workers like Abdi Omar Diriye were left helpless.

His nonprofit in Mogadishu lost over $1.2 million in US grants.

It shows that our capacity to support the vulnerable people have been curtailed very significantly.

While we have the willingness and actually the dedication, those funding was able to change a lot.

Community leader Mohamed Abdi Abdullahi told us he feels the same way.

Since the aid has been stopped, he says, hunger is widespread.

Add to that ongoing conflict, homelessness, lack of healthcare and sanitation, and we can very clearly see the vacancy left behind by the loss of aid groups.

He took us to visit a nearby school built by the international nonprofit Prosper Global, formerly known as Mercy Corps, and funded by USAID.

The school closed last year, locking more than 1,700 students out of classes.

Prosper Global's loss of USAID funding also impacted critical projects like this drinking water station, which is now closed.

That have really stalled because of the aid cut by the US government.

Daud Jiran is Prosper Global's Somalia country director.

Uh went from not having water to having water.

Um unfortunately, this is one of classical example of the effect of the funding cut.

Next door, this community center now sits empty.

It was once filled with women and girls receiving pre- and postnatal care and critical vaccines.

And if this population doesn't get these services, then what happens to them?

Honestly, the situation will be dire.

If the American government pulls completely out of a place, does that increase the security threat level in that place?

There's vacuum created in their villages.

About 300 miles south of Mogadishu is the coastal city of Kismayo.

Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group is heavily active just across the river.

This area has become a dangerous front line between the militants and government forces, making the delivery of aid even more difficult.

On the day we visited, we traveled in an armored vehicle with an armed escort just to reach a center run by Save the Children.

This sanctuary is designed to give children small moments of joy and relief from their troubles.

It's where we met 10-year-old Basharo Abdirizak Hassan.

She told us she and her mother were displaced from their rural home by drought.

My father is still working on our farm, she says, but we need to stay with my mom who has pain in her legs.

Basharo and her mother have no income.

Whatever I get here I take to my mom, she told us.

Centers like this are such important spaces for vulnerable kids to come and play and get a meal so they don't go home hungry.

Because of widespread cuts in the Western aid world, these types of centers are closing, which means that the staff here are left to volunteer their time and energy to make sure that these kids still have a safe space to come to.

Khadija Salat Ali is one of those volunteers, and she took us to visit Basharo's home.

She told us she noticed from the first day she met Basharo that she was being forced to grow up very fast.

Yeah, she was 7 years old, carrying a 20-liter jerrycan of water.

Khadija used to get paid for her work, but that ended when funding ran out.

She now volunteers her time because she doesn't want to abandon children like Basharo.

When we found Basharo, she was getting the dishes ready for dinner.

What she said tonight would consist of tomatoes collected from a nearby shop and a banana cooked in oil given to them by a neighbor.

Inside, we met Basharo's mother, 37-year-old Halima [_ ] Mohamed.

She injured herself 2 months ago doing heavy washing work.

Now, she's barely mobile and depends on Basharo for all the household chores and cooking.

They need help, but it's not coming.

The reimbursements and the food they used to give us has all stopped, she says.

They used to do repairs for broken toilets and even houses, she added, but everything has stopped now.

That applies to the healthcare clinics here too.

Ismail Dero Ibrahim runs the Gudwayne Health Center near Kismayo and told us his clinic lost most of its operating budget after USAID was dismantled.

So this used to be full of medicines, medications, drugs, and now there's Yeah.

And this is a result of the US funding cuts?

And it's a problem, he says, that affects untold numbers of people here far beyond this one area.

People used to come from villages all around to this healthcare clinic, which used to offer a wide range of services, everything from maternity care to vaccinations to medications.

But now, since USAID cuts, these services have been drastically reduced and people don't really come here anymore because they know there's nothing for them.

He was dehydrated and I was put on IV fluids.

Back in Mogadishu, we returned to the new arrival center to check in on baby Mahad.

We learned his mother had taken him to a local clinic after being assured she would not have to leave her other children alone and could bring them with her.

Baby Mahad was given some emergency infant formula and it helped.

I feared he might die like the other one died, she told us, but thank God.

The family still shelters here under a table in the new arrival center, trying to protect themselves from the relentless heat.

But unless Mahad continues to get help, his mother knows his future remains in peril.

She buried one child on the road to Mogadishu.

She told us she will do everything she can not to bury another.

For the PBS News Hour, I'm Neha Wadekar in Mogadishu, Somalia.

After 24 years in the army, Quinton McNair returned home to Chicago and found himself struggling to adjust to civilian life.

an unexpected hobby helped him discover a new sense of mission.

He shares his brief but spectacular take on finding purpose after the military.

I joined the army for all the wrong reasons.

Uh I wasn't joining to be patriotic.

I wasn't joining to serve my country.

I was joining to run away from my problems.

We all know Chicago gets a a bad name and um I lived in some of the areas where that bad name comes from.

There was a lot of gang activity going on there.

I was one of the few people who are not in the game.

Walking to school every day without protection from either side, I used to get jumped.

That all affected my grades and and growing up in the area and it it was a a real hard time for me.

Basically, I joined the army to get away from the city and probably pretty much to save my life.

24 years in the army, I I I did just about everything and went everywhere.

Between Kosovo and Bosnia and then Iraq and Afghanistan, I think my military career I deployed between nine and 11 times.

I come home to the city that I ran from.

Everywhere I looked, something had changed.

I didn't have the close friend support of the people that I built in the military.

I felt like a stranger in my own city.

Diagnosed with PTSD and depression.

Now that I have all this free time, I'm sitting at home.

I looking for a job and now all of the intrusive thoughts that I had pushed down while I were in the military were coming up.

I wanted to do something where I I dressed up or I became, you know, something different than I had been for the past 24 years.

Um, not knowing that, you know, that transition was going to be hard for me.

Bacon became like the therapy that I needed to get through that very hard time in my life.

So, when I first started posting pictures of what I was creating online, I would hashtag it Struggle Beer Bakery because of the the struggle with my mental health, the making fun of myself with my beer, and the the products really look like they were on a struggle bus.

But then I got very very good at it.

It went from being this therapy to this hobby to something that I wanted to share with other people.

So I decided to turn Struggle Beer Bakery into an actual business.

To all my my battle buddies who are still in the military, you're kind of anxious about what's going to happen on the other end.

Couple of things that are going to help you out immensely.

Don't let your your PTSD, don't let your trauma just sit.

Actively go through the stages of getting some help.

The time management that you learn in the military, highly highly useful and highly valuable in the civilian world.

A soldier will try to figure something out with what little resources that they have.

Your people management skills, you've learned how to manage people in some of the hardest situations and some of the craziest places.

An office building should be nothing to you after you've managed a squad in Iraq or in Afghanistan.

You already have the training, you already have the know-how.

You just have to show it to the world.

My name is Quentin McNair, and this is my brief but spectacular take on how to find your purpose after the military.

And you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief.

And that is the News Hour for tonight.

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

Major funding for the PBS News Hour has been provided by the Carnegie Foundation, formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace.

And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of The News Hour, including Leonard and Norma Lorfine, and the Judy and Peter Bloom Kovler Foundation, and Pamela and Mark Fiumara.

And with the ongoing support of these institutions.

This program was made possible by the contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

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