GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: World leaders condemn the fatal shooting of two staffers from the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. We speak with Israel's ambassador to the U.S. GEOFF BENNETT: House Republicans passed President Trump's budget bill, but the legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

AMNA NAWAZ: And an exclusive interview with the Georgetown University researcher who was released after two months in immigration detention.

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI, Former Detained Georgetown Researcher: It was a very, very bad experience.

I was literally -- literally in fear and indignation.

I was really terrified.

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

Two Israeli Embassy staffers were mourned today after they were shot and killed in the nation's capital last night.

GEOFF BENNETT: The killings of the two young officials sparked immediate global outrage and are being investigated as a hate crime and terrorism.

The alleged assailant was charged late today with two counts of first-degree murder, along with other crimes.

He reportedly yelled "Free Palestine" after he was detained and admitted to the shooting.

In a moment, Nick Schifrin speaks with Israel's ambassador to the U.S., but first has this report.

NICK SCHIFRIN: It was a hate crime that ended a love story.

30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky planned on proposing to 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim next week.

He never got the chance.

AYELET RAZIN, Friend and Colleague of Sarah Milgrim: They're a beautiful couple.

Sarah was a beautiful soul that was taken away from us brutally.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ayelet Razin was a friend of Sarah Milgrim, an American from Kansas, a budding diplomat at the Israeli Embassy who described herself as a peace builder.

One of the final photos she posted on Instagram taken in a Moroccan mosque.

AYELET RAZIN: They had nothing to do with Israel or Israelis' government policy, the war, nothing.

They were murdered because they were Jews.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Lischinsky was an Israeli-German citizen who served in the Israeli military.

He was the son of a Jewish father and Christian mother.

In Washington, he was a political officer at the Israeli Embassy.

His friends described him as kind and thoughtful.

RONEN SHOVAL, Teacher of Yaron Lischinsky: We always say that God always takes the good ones.

And he was one of the best ones.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ronen Shoval was Lischinsky's professor in Jerusalem.

RONEN SHOVAL: He was what we call a mensch, a real human being, smiling.

PAM BONDI, U.S. Attorney General: Our Jewish community must feel safe.

What we saw last night was disgusting.

NICK SCHIFRIN: At the site of their murder today, Attorney General Pam Bondi oversaw the investigation that extends from Washington to Chicago, where federal authorities searched the home of the man they say acted alone.

ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, Suspect: Free, free, Palestine!

NICK SCHIFRIN: Last night, Elias Rodriguez chanted as he was arrested after allegedly fatally shooting Milgrim and Lischinsky outside the Capital Jewish Museum.

Today, federal authorities confirm they are investigating Rodriguez's alleged manifesto titled "Escalate for Gaza: Bring the War Home."

It accuses Israel of committing -- quote - - "atrocities and genocide in Gaza."

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister: For these neo-Nazis, "Free Palestine" is just today's version of "Heil Hitler."

NICK SCHIFRIN: In Jerusalem today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the murders on critics of Israel's war in Gaza.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: A few days ago, a top U.N. official said that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die in 48 hours.

You see, many international institutions are complicit in spreading this lie.

The press repeats it.

The mob believed it.

And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Foreign Minister Gideon Saar blamed European leaders, who called Israel's recent block on humanitarian aid to Gaza -- quote -- "cruel and indefensible."

GIDEON SAAR, Israeli Foreign Minister: This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, those leaders, who earlier this week criticized Israel's actions in Gaza denounced the violence.

And, tonight, Israel has increased security around its consulates and embassies all over the world.

And we are now joined by Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter.

Ambassador, thank you very much.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Our condolences first to you and your team on this horrific day.

I know you have just arrived here in Washington.

But what did Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim mean to your embassy?

YECHIEL LEITER, Israeli Ambassador to the United States: They were two beautiful young people who came with dedication to their work every morning.

Yaron was an intellect.

He had served in the IDF.

He had moved from Germany to Israel early on, very smart, very able.

Sarah was just a beautiful young lady.

She radiated, came in every morning with her red hair and lit up the embassy with enthusiasm.

They're both a great loss to all of us at the embassy and I think to really to humanity.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What does this say about the threat to your staff, to staff at other Israeli embassies and diplomatic institutions around the world, perhaps even the threat to Jews in general who attend public events like this?

YECHIEL LEITER: Well, look, there's an international attempt to delegitimize and demonize Israel.

We're called the worst kinds of names.

Our prime minister is called a war criminal.

All of our soldiers are referred to in such derogatory fashion.

And the ultimate result is going to be people streaming through the streets of campuses screaming "From the river to the sea," which is a genocidal chant, which is basically calling for the elimination of Israel.

And if there's a genocidal idea, ultimately, people are going to take guns and use them against Jews.

That's what happened.

Antisemitism is as old as the Jewish people.

It just takes on different forms.

Today, that form is anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Anti-Defamation League cited the highest number of antisemitic attacks last year since it's been started measuring a half-century ago, including a nearly 900 percent increase in the last decade.

Police say that the war on Gaza has accelerated incidents, but what do you think is the cause of this kind of hate?

YECHIEL LEITER: Well, the war on Gaza is a response to a Nazi-like attack on our civilians.

We're responding to violence.

What's causing this spike in antisemitism - - and the ADL is spot on in their figures -- is the demonization of the state of Israel, the attempt to say that we are interlopers or colonizers or occupiers, that we don't really belong.

So if we don't belong, we need to be removed.

If we need to be removed, that's an eliminationist way of thinking, and almost anything that's done, whether it's violent or violent, verbiage is permitted.

So, obviously, there's going to be a spike.

The battle against antisemitism has to take the form of battling against this delegitimization of Israel.

With the people of Israel, we have been there long before there was a geographic location called Palestine.

We will be there long into the future.

And that is exactly what we're fighting for.

NICK SCHIFRIN: As we heard in the story that aired right before you and I started speaking, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Saar, blamed the murders here in Washington U.N. and European officials who've criticized Israel's recent block of humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.

Do you believe that your two staff are dead because of foreign officials' critiques?

YECHIEL LEITER: Do Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron and Prime Minister Carney have some explaining to do?

They certainly do, because what they are attempting to do is unilaterally declare a Palestinian state.

They want to give a prize to Hamas, as if October 7 should be Palestine liberation day.

Leading the charge in this is President Macron.

It's a contortion of morality.

This is almost, I would say, moral depravity.

You don't award terrorists with sovereignty, with recognition.

So, do they share in the blame for the rise of antisemitism?

Absolutely.

Stop beating up on Israel.

Stop condemning us.

Stop delegitimizing us.

We're not doing anything that is comparable to what we're being charged with doing.

I lost my son, by the way, who led forces into Gaza on foot.

We didn't strap-bomb population centers.

If we'd be guilty of what these Western leaders are accusing us of, my son might be alive today.

So, please, don't give us lectures of morality, Mr. Macron.

The French army has a long history of all sorts of violations around the world.

We are in consonance with international law and with moral law.

NICK SCHIFRIN: May your son's memory, sir, be a blessing.

You mentioned the new plan to distribute aid into Gaza.

The prime minister has talked about that today, this U.S. company that will move into Gaza with U.S. security.

The prime minister talked about - - quote -- "The Palestinian population will move there" into these new pockets for their own safety.

How will this aid distribution work?

Are you using these aid distribution pockets in order to move the population into certain areas?

YECHIEL LEITER: No, actually, we have moved populations earlier in order to move them to safety.

The food under this program, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, will be distributed.

Instead of doing it through Hamas, will be done in distribution centers.

Each distribution center will be able to service some 300,000 people.

The food and aid will go directly to families, not to organizations.

So the people that need it most will get it.

This is a dramatic improvement in what's been going on until now, despite the fact that the humanitarian aid that we have been providing, these 92,000 trucks, 1.8 million tons, despite the fact it was going to Hamas in large numbers, we continue to do it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Finally, sir, I don't have that much time left.

So I just wanted to return to Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

Both of them worked on coexistence, as you know.

What do you think the best way is to continue their legacy?

YECHIEL LEITER: The best way to continue their legacy is to forge forward with coexistence, and, at the same time, to continue to defeat the evil that is intent on preventing coexistence.

The attack on October 7 stemmed from Iran's absolute conviction that the Abraham Accords were moving forward, that coexistence was moving forward.

And the attack was intent on thwarting that coexistence.

If we defeat those who would stand in the way of coexistence, we will be able to move to a peaceful Middle East.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Ambassador Leiter, thank you very much.

YECHIEL LEITER: Thank you, Nick.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines with the Trump administration's escalating battle with Harvard University.

The Department of Homeland Security says it's revoking the school's ability to enroll international students.

In a statement, the agency said that even -- quote -- "existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status."

This comes after officials demanded last month that Harvard turn over information about foreign students that might connect them to violence or protests.

The school has not done so.

Harvard enrolls nearly 6,800 foreign students, making up about a quarter of its total student body.

A spokesperson called today's action unlawful.

Also today, a federal judge blocked President Trump's executive order to shut down the Department of Education.

He also directed the administration to reinstate the employees who were laid off in recent mass firings.

It's a major setback to Trump's goal of dismantling the department.

In his order, Judge Myong Joun of Massachusetts said the administration's efforts painted a -- quote -- "stark picture of irreparable harm, leading to the loss of essential services for America's most vulnerable student populations."

The department says it will challenge the order.

A divided Supreme Court today rejected a bid by the Catholic Church of Oklahoma to establish what would have been the nation's first religious charter school.

The justices came to a rare tie vote, 4-4, after Amy Coney Barrett recused herself.

The outcome affirmed the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to block the online Catholic charter school, which aimed to incorporate Catholic teachings into its curriculum and activities.

But it leaves the issue unresolved nationally over whether the First Amendment allows states to fund such schools.

On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted to block California's plan to phase out gas-powered cars by the year 2035.

MAN: The ayes are 51.

The nays are 44.

The joint resolution is passed.

AMNA NAWAZ: Today's vote is a blow to California's effort to lead the country's shift toward electric vehicles.

The Senate also blocked two other rules that would curb emissions from trucks and heavy-duty vehicles in the state.

All three resolutions now go to the White House for President Trump to sign.

California's Governor Gavin Newsom and state air regulators say they plan to sue to keep the rules in place.

In San Diego, a music talent agency says that three of its employees died when a private plane crashed into a neighborhood in foggy weather.

Aviation officials say that includes the company's co-founder, who's listed as the owner of the plane.

It happened around 4:00 a.m. in the nation's largest area for military housing.

Jet fuel spread far beyond the crash site and pooled into the streets as crews rushed families to safety.

By sunrise, the damage was in full view, cars and homes now charred and plane debris scattered.

Officials say the aircraft made a direct hit into this house here, but nobody on the ground was killed.

DAN EDDY, San Diego, California, Fire Chief: We were lucky in that fact that no one from those homes was injured that we have had so far.

We had some possible minor injuries, but no one was transported from the scene from any of the housing units.

But everything that's a fatality right now appears to be from the plane itself.

AMNA NAWAZ: Police say close to 100 people were moved to an evacuation center nearby.

Authorities say they're investigating whether the aircraft hit a power line.

Forecasters are expecting an above-average year for hurricanes with the start of the season set to begin on June 1.

According to the annual outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we can expect 13 to 19 named storms this year, meaning a tropical storm or higher.

As many as 10 of those could become hurricanes.

And three to five could be major hurricanes with winds stronger than 110 miles an hour.

Officials said they don't expect this year to be as devastating as 2024, which was the third costliest on record.

But they said climate change continues to make hurricanes more likely.

KEN GRAHAM, Director, National Hurricane Center: Really, the warmer ocean temperatures is really consistent with us being in a more active season, more active period of time, more active era associated with the hurricane activity.

So we're seeing that.

AMNA NAWAZ: This hurricane season comes after massive job losses at NOAA amid a broader Trump administration pushed to cut the federal work force.

Officials today stressed that the National Hurricane Center is fully staffed.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended little change to amid ongoing concerns about the us government's debt.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost just a single point, so basically flat.

The Nasdaq eked out a modest gain of about, 50 points.

The S&P 500 ended just a few points into negative territory.

And the humble penny's days looked to be numbered.

The Treasury Department said today it's made its final order of penny blanks, which is the raw material for creating the currency.

The penny now costs about 3.7 cents to manufacture, so more than it's worth.

Last year, the U.S. Mint made 3.2 billion of them, which was more than half of all new coins.

Officials say that stopping production would save about $56 million each year.

The penny traces its roots back to the earliest days of the nation and the creation of the U.S. Mint in 1792.

Still to come on the "News Hour": an exclusive interview with the Georgetown University researcher who was detained for two months; Health Secretary Kennedy releases broad health guidelines on everything from vaccines to food additives; and Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson discussed their new book on President Biden's mental decline while in office.

GEOFF BENNETT: By the narrowest of margins, Republicans in the House passed the president's legislative wish list early this morning, setting up a future standoff with the Senate.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins tracked the shifting politics and policy throughout the night.

LISA DESJARDINS: Before most of the country was awake, a big, close vote.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): On this vote, the yeas are 215, the nays are 214, with one answering present.

The bill is passed.

(CHEERING) LISA DESJARDINS: With cheers of "USA," House Republicans passed their sweeping version of the president's agenda, the one big, beautiful bill, as Trump dubbed it.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON: Today, the House has passed generational, truly nation-shaping legislation.

LISA DESJARDINS: And it is big, more than 1,000 pages.

It extends and expands trillions of dollars in tax breaks, spends hundreds of billions on border security and defense.

At the same time, it attacks spending elsewhere, eliminating green energy tax incentives, adding new Medicaid requirements, and cutting SNAP, or food stamp, funding to states.

REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): We live in the richest country on Earth, for God's sake, and not a single kid in this country should go to bed hungry.

LISA DESJARDINS: In overnight debate, Democrats and Republicans sparred over whether the bill makes overdue reforms or if it harms people in need.

REP. ERIN HOUCHIN (R-IN): The bill requires states to have skin in the game on SNAP.

The bill requires states to be more responsible about how Medicaid is funded.

The bill provides needed tax relief for seniors.

REP. JIM MCGOVERN: Enough with the B.S.

about states having skin in the game.

This is about throwing families off of food assistance.

And it's an awful thing to do.

LISA DESJARDINS: Fights within the Republican majority nearly derailed this House version.

REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): We should come to a deal that helps my middle-class constituents be made a little more whole.

LISA DESJARDINS: Blue state moderates demanded and in the last day got more relief in places with heavy state and local taxes.

And fiscal hawks negotiated an earlier start to some spending cuts.

REP. CLAY HIGGINS (R-LA): It was always my intention, our intention to get to a yes.

We were just pushing the bill as deep into the conservative spectrum as we could.

LISA DESJARDINS: But the linchpin was President Trump himself, speaking with Republicans Tuesday morning at the Capitol and then yesterday with holdouts at the White House.

All the while, Republicans in the House held two overnight sessions with a 20-hour committee hearing, testing lawmakers' eyelids earlier this week, and then last night's all-nighter testing GOP holdouts.

In the end, Speaker Johnson eked out his biggest victory yet, winning by a single vote, though the dark of night cost him one member who would have voted yes, overslept and missed it.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Lisa joins us now to break down what's included in the bill.

OK, Lisa, so let's talk about who would be affected and how.

LISA DESJARDINS: This is one of the largest bills in recent history, and we're going to talk a lot about it in coming weeks and months, but tonight, I want to focus on the groups affected.

And the largest one is a large group, taxpayers.

So let's talk about what's in here in general.

The biggest portion of this is, it would lock in current tax rates, which are the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and it essentially would avoid tax hikes of somewhere between 3 percent to 50 percent between your group.

That affects millions, 122 million tax returns in this country.

So that's a big one, and also we know there are temporary tax cuts in this bill for tips over time, new deduction for seniors, some new things for people with kids.

All of that is in here.

Now, taxpayers will keep $4 trillion because of those tax cuts if they go through, but that's revenue that the government has lost.

To make up for that, there are some major changes in health care.

So let's look at that, Medicaid high on the list.

That's where we will see new work requirements if this is passed for able-bodied Americans.

This would also block some Obamacare subsidies.

Altogether, those health care changes would mean some 13 million Americans would no longer have health insurance.

That's according to the Congressional Budget Office.

We will continue to get estimates, but this is the trade-off that this bill would make.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about immigration, which is another major part of this legislation?

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Literally in the center of the bill is the immigration and border portion, and it really caught my attention when I looked at it.

So in there, here we have $150 billion for border enforcement and detention.

Also something I didn't know that was added in the last day, $12 billion to repay states that have going back to the Biden administration enforce the border on their own.

Texas, I think, is what we're talking about there.

There's also $1.3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to hire attorneys to represent it, not to represent migrants, but to represent it in court as it tries to get more removed.

That's a lot of money.

And there are many more fees in here for migrants, including a $5,000 fee for someone who wants to sponsor an unaccompanied minor, someone who might be trying to find a place to stay in America, $5,000 you need to put up front, a new fee for asylum, all kinds of new fees for migrants in here.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have finished reading this bill.

You also tracked the changes from last night.

What stands out to you?

LISA DESJARDINS: Small correction.

Almost finished.

I'm on page 800.

I'm very close.

GEOFF BENNETT: Almost.

I won't hold it against you.

LISA DESJARDINS: I'm close.

So, one big one, student loans.

I was really surprised at this section of the bill.

People need to understand here there would be no more subsidized student loans from the federal government.

It would cap undergraduate federal loans at $50,000 per student.

And it would limit repayment plans in a very significant way that could raise how much anyone in those loans would have to pay.

And for those on Pell Grants, it would require more classes, more credits in order to qualify for those, so significant changes there.

One other thing, this would also change how silencers work.

No longer -- for guns, no longer would you require to register a silencer.

And the fee, the tax on silencers would go to zero.

That was something Freedom Caucus members got in the last minute.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins, you have been up for the last 36 hours covering all of this.

Our thanks to you and the team.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: As part of President Trump's immigration agenda in his second term, his administration has focused on arresting and detaining foreign students and academics for speaking out against the war in Gaza and raising an alarm about freedom of speech in the process.

In the case of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and scholar at Georgetown University, the threat of deportation became a reality.

Laura Barron-Lopez brings us this exclusive.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Badar Khan Suri was detained for nearly two months in an immigration detention facility in Texas.

The government claims that his social media posts and alleged ties to Hamas are a threat to foreign policy.

But, earlier this month, the federal judge said his detention violated his First Amendment rights and ordered his immediate release.

I'm joined now by Badar and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, who are speaking out for the first time since his release.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Thank you both so much for being here.

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI, Formerly Detained Georgetown Researcher: Thank you for having us here, yes.

MAPHEZE SALEH, Wife of Dr. Badar Khan Suri: Thank you for having us.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Badar, you were detained for nearly two months.

Tell me about that experience.

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: I was teaching my class that day.

And when I reached my home, I saw an unmarked car driving dangerously, was about to hit me.

And then, when I was about to reach my door, it just blocked me.

And this guy with the mask -- he was masked and he jumped out of the car as if he was some militia and asked me, am I Badar?

I said yes.

And next thing he said was, I was under arrest.

I was devastated.

I was terrified.

I said, who is this guy who is just masked and how is he saying that I'm under arrest?

I was terrified.

I was in fear, yes.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And you were detained in a facility in Virginia, then Louisiana and then finally in Texas.

And some of those transfers happened in the middle of the night, allegedly because of overcrowding in the Virginia facility.

What was going through your mind when all of this was happening?

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: So, because they didn't show any document that why they are arresting me, they didn't let me talk to my attorneys for seven, eight days until I reached Texas, they didn't let me talk to my wife -- they just kidnapped me and disappeared me and was pushing me from one detention center to other, and in chain -- my hands, my waist, my body was chained, shackled, and treating me an animal, dehumanizing me in every possible way.

I was feeling humiliated.

And, ultimately, when I reached Texas, it was a very, extremely overcrowded place.

I was really terrified.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Mapheze, as Badar said, he was arrested outside of your home.

What was the first night after he was arrested?

MAPHEZE SALEH: So my older son was asking me when my father will come back.

Then I have to delay telling him the truth.

And I said that your father have something to do, so he traveled.

So that night was a terrifying night for me.

I remember, myself, I slept behind the door.

I was afraid that someone will come and pick up my children and take them away from me, like they did for Badar.

So it was terrifying.

I was crying because the cease-fire ends in Gaza and the war started again.

I was trying to reach my family in Gaza, and I couldn't for some time.

Then, when I talked with my mother, her voice was breaking, and then she was crying.

I was crying for many reasons, crying about my husband and the people who are -- who have been killed in Gaza and the uncertainty.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So you didn't know where your husband was and you had trouble reaching family in Gaza as well?

MAPHEZE SALEH: Yes, yes.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And can you describe what it was when Badar was finally released and was able to return home?

MAPHEZE SALEH: The moment I saw him, the soul returned to my body.

And that moment -- it wasn't the moment for me.

It is the moment for hundreds of supporter who was with me that moment.

They were chanting on his name, "One, two, three, Badar is free."

They share with us this joy.

I was proud to be his wife and the mother of his children.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Badar, the Trump administration accuses you of promoting antisemitism on social media and spreading Hamas propaganda.

Much of this stems from your father-in-law's work as an adviser to a former Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that your presence in the U.S. would have -- quote -- "serious adverse foreign policy consequences."

What's your response to these accusations?

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: So these allegations, I should call them speculations or whatever, because, in the court of -- in the court in front of the judge, they were not able to bring any shred of any evidence, any proof, anything.

The honorable judge kept on asking, whatever you guys are talking in social media, bring something here.

Nobody brought anything.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Did you attend any protests in your time at Georgetown?

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: Never, ever.

I was extremely busy in my research, and my research is not on Palestine.

It is on South Asia.

So I was never able to join any protests, anything.

I didn't have the time.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: You were detained, the federal judge said, essentially, for your speech.

At the same time, the administration's is cracking down on universities, like Columbia, universities, but others.

And, last night, a couple was murdered outside the Jewish museum in Washington after an event for aid to Gaza allegedly by a man chanting "Free Palestine."

How are you thinking about this larger moment in America?

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: The last thing, about the murder of the Jewish couple, when I heard about that, I was devastated.

It was horrifying.

I was shocked.

It was like a personal pain for me.

Anyone dying out of such violence, out of -- this is terrorism, nothing else.

I want to hug the family which is going through all these things.

As I come from India and Mahatma Gandhi's ideology guide me, violence is not the solution for anything.

Any cause you are carrying, if you commit a violence, that is crime.

On the first questions which you asked about these protests and these deportations, so I would say this.

If they are targeting them for just talking, just having their free speech, which is protected under the Constitution, then it is unconstitutional by government.

If they are just picking these young kids and trying to deport them, then it is violating the due process right, which is -- which, again, becomes unconstitutional and is contempt to the Constitution.

So I see it that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Badar, your deportation proceedings are still ongoing.

Why did you decide, with those still ongoing, to speak out?

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: One should at this time show courage, because courage is also contagious.

This chilling effect of fear should end.

One should need to show courage.

I am a professor.

I am an academician.

It is my duty to talk about any conflict happening.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Mapheze, you are an American citizen.

Why did you decide to speak out?

And have you thought about what would happen if your husband is deported?

MAPHEZE SALEH: I am a Palestinian who feel the pain of my people in Gaza.

And I am also American who believe the freedom of speech which this country promised me and owes me and owes everyone here.

If anyone seeing 53,000 Palestinians killed and he will be silent, then it is something weird.

They should be ashamed of themselves to put an innocent person in jail.

They should be ashamed of themselves to separate a father from his three children.

I am a Palestinian, and this is my duty to talk about my people.

They will not silence our voice.

They will not break our spirit.

If now they are targeting everyone who dare to speak about Palestine and dare to speak against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, then who is next?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: You moved to the United States in 2022.

Do you still think that America is a place that students, researchers can and should still come to?

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: The people here are the best.

This is a society built on immigration.

This is a society which has the best -- which will take care of your potential.

This is a society, this is a country which will make you a better human being, because this country has everything to offer.

So they should come.

They should be courageous.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Badar Khan Suri and Mapheze Saleh, thank you for joining us and sharing your story.

DR. BADAR KHAN SURI: Thank you very much.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. released a report today about the uptick in chronic childhood diseases and what they say are the underlying causes.

The report was issued by a panel of top administration officials who make up Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again Commission.

AMNA NAWAZ: The report is very much in line with the ideas and beliefs that Kennedy promoted before becoming HHS secretary, ones he argues should be the country's top public health priorities.

But it comes at a time of deep cuts to public health agencies by the administration's.

And many scientists and researchers say Kennedy is exaggerating or misleading what the data show about a number of his claims.

Ali Rogin has that story.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary: I'm honored to present you the MAHA Report.

ALI ROGIN: Today's report, officially known as the Making Our Children Healthy Again Assessment, outlined what Robert F. Kennedy called a nationwide crisis of childhood chronic disease.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: This is a milestone.

There's -- never in American history has the federal government taken a position on public health like this.

ALI ROGIN: The report identified four main culprits, poor diet, exposure to synthetic chemicals, lack of activity and chronic stress, and -- quote -- "overmedicalization" under the backdrop of what Kennedy calls undue influence from the food, drug, and chemical industries.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: It's common sense that ultra-processed, nutrient-poor food contributes to chronic disease.

It's common sense that excessive screen time and isolation lead to anxiety and depression, especially in children.

It's common sense that exercise and healthy food come before prescriptions and surgery.

ALI ROGIN: Among other proposals, it called for more rigorous clinical trials for vaccines, including placebo-controlled tests, which some experts call unethical when trials have already been done.

And it casts doubt on the childhood vaccine schedule, which has alarmed many public health experts.

The report also said children were spending too much time indoors, too often on devices, and that parents and providers are overreliant on prescription drugs.

And it linked ultra-processed foods to spikes in childhood obesity, diabetes, and other health conditions.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: This is the beginning of a conversation, a national conversation that we are going to have with maturity, with nuance for the first time in history.

ALI ROGIN: While many nutrition experts agree with Kennedy about concerns over American diets and the link to obesity, researchers have said Kennedy's broad claims attacking the use of medication for kids is not necessarily backed by clear data.

On the herbicide glyphosate, the report didn't go as far as the agriculture industry feared.

It cited studies showing possible health effects, but also warned against precipitous changes in agricultural practices.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: The whole wide world will come round.

ALI ROGIN: Today's report comes after President Trump tasked the health secretary with identifying key drivers of chronic disease in February.

But if today's report was the diagnosis, the recommended treatments are supposed to come in a strategy document laying out solutions by mid-August.

For a deeper dive on today's report, we now turn to Lauren Weber, health and science accountability reporter at The Washington Post.

Lauren, thank you so much for being here.

We have seen the report.

What are your observations?

Did anything surprise you in it?

LAUREN WEBER, Health and Science Accountability Reporter, The Washington Post: Well, as you noted, a lot of it followed what Kennedy has been saying for many months, including during his presidential run.

He has run on this idea and taken this position as HHS that childhood chronic disease is a huge issue that this country must tackle.

And a lot of the nutrition experts I spoke to were really heartened to see the report.

They felt it looked at ultra-processed food in a way that the United States has not.

But several of the other medical experts I spoke to were alarmed at some of the report's findings when it came to both vaccines and medications.

ALI ROGIN: So let's talk a little bit more about the extent to which the recommendations in this report and Kennedy's positions writ large fall outside the mainstream of scientific inquiry.

LAUREN WEBER: Well, Kennedy has been an anti-vaccine activist for 20 years.

So that certainly falls outside of mainstream medicine's feelings on vaccines.

And some of what the report reflects is many statements that he's said many times.

It talks a little bit about whether or not there are too many vaccines in the childhood vaccination schedule, casting doubt on that.

Many medical experts have said that's not something to worry about, that the vaccines are well-tested, they are safe, they are effective, and they currently are monitored in their totality currently.

ALI ROGIN: And, of course, this health and human services secretary is a little bit different, because most people coming into this position don't come with a movement behind them.

So what does that say about his ability to potentially change the status quo when it comes to health policy and also on public opinion?

LAUREN WEBER: He's really tapped into a lot of anger and populist movement around people feeling their kids are not getting the nutrition or the health that they need.

One of his allies said to me, and it's true.

When's the last time the majority of America knew who the HHS secretary is?

Usually, it's alphabet soup on the Hill.

So, I mean, I think he has a lot of power behind what he says.

ALI ROGIN: And one of the issues that the MAHA movement has been very vocal on is the issue of pesticides, herbicides.

This report does include some mention of the risks that have in the past been associated with herbicides like glyphosate, but it pulled some punches.

What's been the response there?

And why is that?

LAUREN WEBER: I think that's - - it's a really fascinating question because I think it exposes a lot of the tensions within Trump's own Cabinet.

I mean, RFK for years, RFK Jr. for years has pushed against pesticides.

And the report itself kind of -- it tiptoes around calling them very dangerous, but then it goes and says, look, American farmers are the best partners of the Trump administration.

So I think what you're seeing playing out there is some of the industry interests also playing into the report.

ALI ROGIN: And we have talked so far about what was in the report.

Were there any noticeable things to you that were not in the report?

LAUREN WEBER: I think it was really noticeable that the leading cause of death for children and teenagers is gun violence, and guns were not mentioned at all in the report.

ALI ROGIN: Why do you think that is?

It does seem there are a lot of issues that were not mentioned in this report that typically are part of the public health strategy of HHS.

LAUREN WEBER: I think this report really reflects Kennedy's vision for what America should be focusing on.

It didn't talk about smoking, which we have also seen cuts to folks that work in smoking prevention at the CDC.

It didn't talk about the cost, the high cost of health care.

It didn't talk about physician shortages across the country.

It kind of skirted away from those issues and stayed more in the MAHA corner.

And I think that reflects his perspective.

ALI ROGIN: Do you think MAHA supporters are going to be satisfied with this assessment?

What are they saying so far?

LAUREN WEBER: I think some are going to be really excited that they see this focus on this -- on these issues that they really care about.

Some are frustrated that on pesticides and even some on vaccines feel like they didn't go far enough.

ALI ROGIN: And what are we anticipating comes next?

They're due to put out another report laying out the prescriptions for these problems.

So what should we see?

LAUREN WEBER: I think that's the real question is, who wins out?

Is it Kennedy?

Is it other members of the Cabinet?

How will this play out when it comes to actual policy recommendations?

Are we going to see what we saw with pesticides, where there was a threat of more, but kind of got walked back, or will we see more sweeping change?

We will have to see.

ALI ROGIN: And, of course, there are some recommendations in terms of healthy foods that in some ways run counter to what's happening in other parts of the federal government that HHS doesn't have purview over.

USDA is cutting many of the funding streams to school lunches, for example, things that.

So how does that tension play out, where there may be some recommendations happening to increase the availability of healthy foods, produce, but the money may actually be going in a different direction?

LAUREN WEBER: I think that's one of the inherent contradictions of Kennedy as HHS secretary.

He often calls for things environmental exposures.

Well, the EPA has currently been rolling back some regulations when it comes to PFAS and other things.

So I think that's one of the things we will have to continue to watch.

As I noted, on smoking, there were cuts to the folks that actually prevent that.

So it's very curious to see how that will play out.

ALI ROGIN: Lauren Weber, health and science accountability reporter at The Washington Post, thank you so much.

LAUREN WEBER: Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: It was around this time last year that a single debate upended the Democratic presidential ticket and altered the course of American political history.

That night revealed a version of Joe Biden that, according to journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, those closest to the former president had gone to great lengths to shield from public view.

I spoke with Tapper and Thompson earlier today about the reporting and revelations detailed in their new book, "Original Sin."

Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, welcome to the "News Hour."

JAKE TAPPER, Co-Author, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again": Great to be here.

GEOFF BENNETT: So the central thesis of "Original Sin" is that Biden's inner circle concealed his cognitive decline from the public.

And that you say, is a cover-up.

That could be a loaded phrase.

But why is it the right one, Jake?

JAKE TAPPER: Well, first of all, it was not just his inner circle.

It was also him and his family concealing this.

But I think it's a fair use of the term, not - - we're not alleging a criminal cover-up, but we are saying that the definition of cover-up, when you're hiding something bad from people, is unambiguously true, especially in 2023-2024, when they were cutting off access to President Biden from Cabinet secretaries, even members of the White House staff, Democratic officials, so as to show as little of this non-functioning Joe Biden, which was not 24/7 -- it was just on occasion -- as possible.

The Joe Biden we saw at the debate June 27, 2024, that's the non-functioning Joe Biden.

And the reason so many people were shocked, even though the world had been watching him age and having moments, is because they kept that non-functioning Joe Biden from the public as much as possible.

GEOFF BENNETT: Is the suggestion, though, that he was no longer able to make key decisions, that he was incapable of doing it?

ALEX THOMPSON, Co-Author, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again": I think what we have is that senior members of the Democratic Party, members of the Senate Cabinet, senior White House officials did have those concerns.

And, honestly, because they were being shielded from him, I think some of those concerns grow.

We had multiple Cabinet members tell us that, in 2024, if there was that proverbial 2:00 a.m. phone call crisis, that they were worried, that they didn't have full confidence that he could necessarily meet that moment.

GEOFF BENNETT: You likened former President Biden's senior aides to a politburo, suggesting centralized control, secrecy, a lack of transparency.

What exactly were they hiding and how far did it go?

ALEX THOMPSON: Well, to be clear, it was members of the administration's that called them the politburo.

And it was because of that incredible control.

And, basically, they controlled the most essential part of every single presidency, which was his time and access to him and which decisions were getting to him.

GEOFF BENNETT: Were there decisions, based on your reporting, that were effectively made by other people, consequential decisions?

ALEX THOMPSON: I mean, Cabinet members worried about that, essentially, especially by 2023-2024.

We had Cabinet members' access cut off and then eventually they would -- these senior people, senior at the politburo, would have them and come and brief them.

And there's one Cabinet member in particular, I still remember, said, yes, the president is technically making the final decision, but suspected that the politburo was framing the decisions in a certain way that it wasn't much of a decision.

GEOFF BENNETT: One of the questions that I have heard in connection to this book is, why is this all coming to light now when the American public was clear, I mean, this was documented in polling throughout the campaign, that there were real questions about Joe Biden's age?

And you have heard some people, mostly on the right, say all this book does is prove that the press was complicit, that the press had a role to play in this perceived, this alleged cover-up.

ALEX THOMPSON: I mean, if we knew all the things in the book, we would have definitely reported it before the election.

The problem was that, if you're doing reporting, you need sources to be honest.

And a lot of Democrats basically did not want to speak up because they feared it would hurt Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris and help Donald Trump.

We didn't start this book until November 6, the day after the election.

And, finally, people that we have been trying to reach out to for years started talking to us, people that had previously not been candid started becoming more candid.

And I think it also speaks to the fact that members of the Democratic Party, beyond just the politburo and the White House, they saw non-functioning Biden in the months before and they didn't speak out.

JAKE TAPPER: One of the things I hear -- and, look, there is valid criticisms of the news media, including me, including Alex, including all of us, in terms of how much we were able to uncover during the Biden presidency and the skepticism that we showed or did not show.

But, that said, there is a difference between showing a clip of Biden tripping or saying something uncomfortable or awkward and commenting on it, observing it, making fun of it, whatever, there's a difference between that and a deeply researched, deeply reported 85,000-word book that investigates what was really going on behind the scenes.

I have seen people say, oh, we suspected that all along.

OK, we proved it.

It's different.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with what they did.

In fact, there's everything right with it.

But there's a difference between commentary and investigative reporting.

GEOFF BENNETT: You spoke to 200 Democratic insiders over the course of your reporting.

More than 200.

How did you vet their motivations to make sure that they weren't engaging in sort of retrospective blame-shifting after the fact?

JAKE TAPPER: That's a great question.

Obviously, talking to as many people as possible so that you're not just relying on one person's point of view.

You're relying on more than 200 and you're really trying to get an assessment of what's real and what's not.

But one thing that almost all of them copped to was the fact that this was a disaster, it was hidden from the American people and that it can't happen again.

I think a lot of them felt they were unburdening themselves.

A lot of them felt they regretted not talking to reporters ahead of time.

But, by the same token, the central justification for the Biden candidacy was he's the only one that has ever beaten Trump and Trump poses an existential threat to the country.

If you convince yourself that those two statements are true, you can justify anything.

Once the threat of the election was over, a lot of them came and talked to us, and the result is the closest approximation to the truth of what happened during those four years.

GEOFF BENNETT: A spokesperson for the former president told me this.

He says: "There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover-up or conspiracy.

Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the president wasn't otherwise engaged in the important matters of the presidency.

In fact, Joe Biden was an effective president who led our country with empathy and skill."

To which you say what?

ALEX THOMPSON: We're not alleging anything, that this -- what is in this book is based on the interviews the people inside his administration, top Democrats throughout Congress, and members of their own Cabinet and White House.

They're the ones that told us that his age was affecting potentially his ability to do the job.

GEOFF BENNETT: What's your response to critics who say that this book punches at the wrong target at the wrong time, that focusing on Biden's decline distracts from Trump's threat to democracy, his authoritarian rhetoric, his attempt to dismantle institutions he doesn't like, so on and so forth?

JAKE TAPPER: All the stuff we cover every day.

ALEX THOMPSON: Well, and I would say, I mean, we write this in the book that, just because we are writing this about Joe Biden, it does not excuse anything Donald Trump is doing.

I'd also say if you're a Democrat wondering, how did Trump come back, in some ways, the central question that this book is answering is, how did Trump become president again?

And our belief is that Joe Biden deciding to run again was one of the critical, if not the critical part of his ability to return.

JAKE TAPPER: There are a lot of Democrats who think that the reason why the Democratic Party's approval ratings are so low and continue to be so low, even when Trump's numbers start going down, is because the American people feel lied to by the Democratic Party.

They feel misled because of the fact that the party was telling them, Joe Biden's fine, Joe Biden's fine, even though they, as you noted, in polling suggested, I don't know, I think he's too old to do the job.

And they kept saying, no, no, no, he's fine, he's fine, he's fine.

Then the debate happens and they are -- it's shown that they have been gaslighting the American people.

I think that there needs to be a reckoning in the Democratic Party to acknowledge this, not unlike the way that the Republican Party had a reckoning, and it took years, on the Iraq War and the weapons of mass destruction lie that was sold to the American people that was deadly.

GEOFF BENNETT: On the eve of this book's release, the former president announced that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

There are those who feel this is hitting a man when he's down, he's no longer in office.

Why push forward with this?

ALEX THOMPSON: Because we felt there was an important story to tell about -- that we could only tell after the election.

And so in some ways it's not just for the moment, but we felt it was important first draft of history.

JAKE TAPPER: Yes, look, obviously our hearts go out to the Bidens.

I don't think the book is mean.

I don't think that we're unsympathetic to all of the horrible things he has endured throughout his life.

We have a whole chapter in it about everything he's gone through and the remarkable ability that Joe Biden has shown to get up and keep going on, despite so many horrible twists of fate that have been thrown at him.

But, that said, the American people deserve transparency when it comes to the health care of their leaders, whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden or whoever comes after Trump.

And there's never going to be a better time to tell that story than right now.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, the book is "Original Sin."

Thank you so much for being here.

(CROSSTALK) ALEX THOMPSON: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that's the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

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