PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna N On the "NewsHour" tonigh hold Hamas accountable for alleged sexual violence grow louder.

GEOFF BENNETT: A top Ukrainian official in charge of weapons production makes the case for why U.S. support is critical to the fight against Russia's invasion.

ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN, Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industries: We are working hard to ramp up local production, but we never would be able to c forces alone, because again, in such a war, no single nation can withstand alone.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Republican candidates for president sharpen their attacks on each other after front-runner Donald Trump refuses to show for a fourth straight debate.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

The top United Nations hu to Gaza is not nearly enough, and not arriving quickly enough for the almost two million people in need.

GEOFF BENNETT: A demanding a cease-fire.

Meantime, Israel pressed its le aders there, as the war marked two months today since the terror attacks of October 7.

One of the last places left in Gaza where civilians were told they'd be safe last night went up in flames.

Israel bombarded Rafah after claiming safe zone, families, children, seeking refuge in apartment buildings caught in the crossfire.

By daybreak, those who survived were still clearing through the rubble.

MOHAMMAD ABU AREIDA, Gaza Strip Resident (through translator): It was a direct hit.

People were walking on the street.

There was no warning.

We didn't see anyt GEOFF BENNETT: After waves of displacement, these Gazans of land along the Egyptian border.

The U.N. says the population in Rafah has jumped from 280,000 to 4 expected to come.

In a rare invocation, U.N. Secretary-Ge to demand a cease-fire, on the grounds of international peace and security.

The U.S., however, would likely block any such move.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli officials today to minimi casualties in Gaza.

ANTONY BLINK of this task, as Israel is dealing with a terrorist adversary that intentionally itself with civilians.

But, again, Israel h civilians and maximizing humanitarian assistance.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel's military released new video clai depot hidden in civilian areas.

And this IDF video shows dozens of men stripped an Gaza.

It's unclear Speaking with soldiers today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a threat, this time to militant groups in Lebanon.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Mi to start an all-out war, then it will single-handedly turn Beirut and South Lebanon, he re, into Gaza.

GEOFF BENNETT: As Israel's more dire in every pocket of the Gaza Strip.

In Jabalia, to the north, panic, as the sound of shelling reverberates thro In Maghazi in Central Gaza, young men dig through the wreckage of an airstrike, concrete mixed with human remains.

ABDELRAHMAN ABO HAMDA, without warning.

The smell was Looking at the dead people was a very hard scene.

This is a crime.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, and overwhelmed are flooded with the most vulnerable.

Today, World Health Organization officials said the health infrastructure in -- quote -- "on its knees."

Back in Rafah, trucks carrying humanitarian aid roll through the b day, but the flow is not nearly enough.

Negotiations to open a second access point are showin chief said today, which would be a massive logistical boost.

MARTIN GRIFFITHS, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Co ordinator: It doesn't mean to say that it will solve the security problems that, of co spoken about, but it would change the nature of humanitarian access.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, Israelis gathered downtown for a solemn first night of Hanukkah, the menorah, behind a row of candles, one for each hostage captured by Hamas and other armed groups two months ago.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: The U.S. military formally began a full-scale investigation of its V-22 Ospreys after grounding all of the tilt-rotor aircraft.

One had crashed off Japan last week, killing eight Americans.

Today, Pentagon officials would not say directly if they still have full Os prey.

SABRINA SING out of an abundance of caution.

There will always be an An d to mitigate that risk, we will continue to maintain the high level of standardization for all of our pilots and for all of the crew.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ospreys can take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane.

They have been in service since 2007, but more than 50 troops have died in crashes over the years.

The University of Nevada were faculty members, not students.

Three were killed, and one wounded.

Police say the suspect was a former profess of targets at UNLV and at East Carolina University, where he had worked before.

The assault began at midday at the university's business school.

It ended in the gunman's death after a shoot-out with police.

The last of three Palestinian students who were shot in Vermont has been released from a hospital.

Hisham Awart Supporters cheered and clapped as he was discharged on Wednesday.

He will undergo rehabilitation, but his family says the paralysis could be permanen The accused gunman is being held for attempted murder.

The House has censured Democrat Jamaal Bowman for pulling a fire alarm while Congre in session.

He said he w Republicans say he was trying to stall a government funding bill.

A handful of Democrats supported the Republican censure re It has no practical effect.

Former President Trump was back in court today to hear a key defe fraud trial in New York.

He listened as an accounting profes showed no evidence of fraud.

Mr. Trump is scheduled to take the stand himself on Five frail survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack returned to Hawaii today 82 years since the attack that catapulted the United States into World War II.

Japan's surprise aerial assault on December 7, 1941, killed more than 2300 Amer Today, the number who survived is rapidly shrinking, and the National Park Service says it's a loss to history.

DAVID KILTON, Na but those that experienced it, their stories and the reality of their feelings and their impressions just bring a certain power, an element of the real human touch.

AMNA NAWAZ: More than 1,100 of those killed in the attack were on the battleship Arizona when it exploded and sank.

Today, only one member of the Arizon The movie about creating the atomic bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan will show in theaters there, after all.

A Japanese distribution company over releasing the film.

"Oppenheimer" debuted in most of t And, on Wall Street, tech stocks helped snap the market's three-day losin The Dow Jones industrial average gained 63 points to close at 36117.

The Nasdaq rose 193 points.

And the S&P 500 adde Still to come on the "NewsHour": a Texas judge allows an emergency abortion despite a statew ban; Liz Cheney gives her firsthand account of January 6 in her new book; plus much more.

GEOFF BENNETT: A United Nations commission is investigating potential war crimes on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war.

But the U.N. agency dedicated to gender equality has this month to express alarm over sexual violence that appears to have been perpetrated during the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen reports on increasingly clear.

And a warning: The accounts are LE ILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Raped repeatedly, mutilated, murdered.

At least 300 women were killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

But Israeli activists say the brutal sexual violence they endured has been ignored.

MORAN ZER KATZENSTEIN, Women's Rights Activist: It's too little, too late.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Moran Zer Katzenstein led protests outside the U.N. MO RAN ZER KATZENSTEIN: Rape is rape.

Rape is not resistance.

We're talking about women's An d it's not political.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: After dancing through the night, The bodies of dozens of young women were found at the site of the Nova Music Festival in Southern Israel.

Many, say eyewitnesses, bore On e video shows a young woman burned alive, her legs spread apart.

Combat medic Daniel Elbo Arama and his team rushed to the scene to help as they began to realize what was happening.

Hiding near the site, a young woman be DANIEL ELBO ARAMA, Combat Medic, Israeli Defense Forces: She was wearing only her bra.

It was cut, not fully there, and only underwe I got to her inside an ambulance and I told her: "Hi, ma'am.

I'm so sorry, but I'm the only one that can treat you.

We don't have females here."

And she held my hands an I want to live."

LEILA MOLANA-A situations.

But what he DANIEL ELBO ARAMA: She told me that she was raped by four terrorists.

And she was bleeding so much that they had to give her plasma.

Those medications are usually given to a person that was shot.

She got to a hospital, and she had to undergo a surgery for a few hours just to f that happened to her in the inside of your body.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Israeli officials say they have co of sexual atrocities, including gang rape and the mutilation of women's bodies, both before and after they were murdered.

Hamas denies the claims.

The task of collecting the bodies and physical eviden Dickstein, who gather Jewish remains for burial.

NACHMAN DICKSTEIN, Volunteer: The smell from the dead, sm it's something that stay with us.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: The condition of the des haunts him.

NACHMAN DICK A second one also was tied in the hands, but she was without her head.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: At a hastily erected temporary morgue on a military base outside Tel Aviv, forensics teams have spent the past two months piecing together and attempting to identify shattered and burned human remains.

Ruth Halperin-Kaddari has spent a lifetime working to stop I went to that morgue, that temporary morgue.

There were so many victims, so many bodies, so m sexual evidence has been incredibly difficult.

The other challenge here, there's very little in the way of firsthand Wh at are the challenge is there in terms of gathering evidence and moving forward to any form of prosecution or justice?

RUTH HALPERIN-KADDARI, Bar-Ila thus silencing forever the victims, their seeking justice for them would also be stopped in that way.

We have evidence sexual assault.

And we have numerous footage and photographs LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: For Halperin-Kaddari, the U.N. and other international organizations have wholly failed in their response.

RUTH HALPERIN-KADDARI: By keeping silent so whole world is a very, very concerning one.

It's a message that, for some people, these kinds of acts of crime actually be viewed as a legitimate resistance, and perhaps, for others, this conduct could go unaccounted for.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As the eyes of the world focu Moran says she and other Israeli women feel betrayed, their suffering sidelined.

Now she hopes their voices will finally be heard.

MORAN ZER KATZENSTEIN: The most important thing is that women that -- ever to understand Hamas and the Palestinian are not the same thing.

And Hamas raped, tortured, kidnaped women.

And if you are with women, you need to speak up for women.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen.

AMNA NAWAZ: The United States signed an agreement with Ukraine this week to accelerate the co-production of Ukrainian weapons.

But there's a long way to go before U Russian military on its own.

Here's Nick Schifrin.

NICK SCHIFRI a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, half of which would be for weapons sent to Uk and to replenish U.S. stockpiles.

But, long term, both Washington and Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said this week at a Washington summit.

ANDRIY YERMAK, Head of the depend on the foreign providers of the military aid.

We must take care of our own defense capability.

Moreover, we have our own weapons to be proud of.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: That will mean strengthening Ukraine's defens industrial base, both to maintain Ukraine's current war effort and to bolster Ukraine's national strength and deterrence long into the future.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Ukrainian minister in charge of Ukraine's domestic ar is Alexander Kamyshin.

And he joins m Sir, thank you Pleasure to As I started by saying, there is an effort ri funding for Ukraine.

We will get into the domesti But, in general, how important is U.S. ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN, Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industries: Nick, actually, we withstand in the greatest war of generations.

We are working hard to ramp up local of our armed forces alone, because, again, in such a war, no single nation can withstand alone.

So, I'm sure NICK SCHIFRIN: The agreement you have signed here in Washington this week promis of weapons and technology sharing.

So what does that mean and how vital is that lo ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: Here, we have a strong po of the U.S. government that says that defense industry should look at the opportunity to start collaborating in Ukraine.

For me, it's important because I'm here to industry.

We urgently But for U.S. companies, it's a great opport NICK SCHIFRIN: So that opportunity, let's Yo u're trying to attract U.S. -- American and also Europea That makes sense.

Of course, U But why does on?

ALEXANDER KA We have proved that we can be good in defense tech, and that something -- that lessons from our defense tech would be important for U.S. And second point, we have got great engineers.

That's something you're going to find if you start your local productio And third point, it's a great opportunity to test your weapon and ammuni greatest war of generations and to make it better.

NICK SCHIFRIN: I think that everyone here in W that this is a great idea and this sounds great, but how long will it take?

ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: Building defense industry takes years.

Everyone knows that.

We have got NICK SCHIFRIN: FrankenSAM.

ALEXANDER KA NICK SCHIFRI from Europe, kind of Frankensteined together into Ukraine right ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: And that's something we already have on the ground on in Ukraine.

That's something w together with U.S. and Ukrainian armed forces.

And, finally, we get a fast solution, as we call i works.

NICK SCHIFRI needs to be able to attack inside Russia, try and bring the fight to Russia, whether that's supply lines or even to the Russian elite doorstep.

How important is it that Ukraine build its own long-range fires that can hit Russia?

ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: We already got success with long-range missiles in Ukraine, but I would not speak more about that.

But we also got great success with d Russia already.

And you have probably seen that Russian cities would not sleep quite soon.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Those, with all due respect, have been individual attacks.

We're talking about a scale at which Ukraine builds d affect Russian calculus, that can actually affect how Putin thinks about the threat from Ukraine.

Is that the ALEXANDER KA And for Ukra So it's built up in the last half-year, definitely.

And that's something that scales up fast enough, and that's something that is alre and scale will be quite soon.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Is part of the challenge, though, th We see in Russia for example factories going to three shifts a day.

The Russian economy has mobilized for war, but Ukraine's government has not mobilized the entire country.

Why hasn't Ukrai II?

ALEXANDER KA And, meanwhile, we find a way how we can live to the wartime economy.

And we spent every single hryvnia of -- that's local currency in We collect in the country.

We spend it for the war.

So it goes to the salaries of NICK SCHIFRIN: But don't you acknowledge that the bottom line is that Russia has done more to mobilize its economy than Ukraine has?

Does Kyiv need to do more to get even the workers that you to make sure that they're there so the factories run 24/7?

ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: Major factories in defense industry already run 2 And, again, it's never enough.

We understand it.

But, already, now, defense industry start In my previous life on the railways, I have been repeating... NICK SCHIFRIN: You're the old railways minister.

You literally kept the trains running ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: We So, now we say industry.

But let's be It was abandon NICK SCHIFRIN: Right.

ALEXANDER KA NICK SCHIFRIN: Minister Alexande ALEXANDER KAMYSHIN: Thank you, Nick.

AMNA NAWAZ: A state district judge in Texas has stepped in to allow a woman to terminate her pregnancy, despite a statewide abortion ban.

It's believed to be the first case since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned wh ere a woman has asked a judge to approve an immediate abortion and won.

Kate Cox is 20 weeks' pregnant, and the fetus has what's considered a fatal diagnosis.

If Cox delivered the baby, she could endanger her ability to have another child.

In her ruling, Judge Maya Gamble said -- quote -- "Ms. Cox's life, health and fertility are currently at serious risk" and that her circumstances meet the medical exception to Texas' abortion bans.

Kate Cox, the plai now.

Welcome to y And, Kate, I KATE COX, Plaintiff: We're taking it day by day.

We're hanging in there.

It's a hard time.

It's a lot o We're grieving the loss of a child, so just taking it day by day.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I know there's still some uncertainty ahead.

Have you thought about a plan or what happens next moving forward?

KATE COX: I'm hopeful after the decision this morning, so, to have the medical care that I need here in Texas.

And this pregnancy has been pl I have been to the E.R.

on three separate occasions, one of which I was My health is at risk.

My baby can't survive.

It's a medical decision.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ms. Duane, I will turn to you now, because the Texas attorney general, Ken Pa came out with a statement that this judge's ruling will not -- quote -- "insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone from civil or criminal liability."

How are you prepared to respond?

MOLLY DUANE, Senior Staff th at everyone is shocked by that response fr He is misrepresenting what the order from the district court said And he is fearmongering in the extreme, which has been his M.O.

for years in Texas.

The cruelty here is the point.

And making it terrifying for Ms. Cox, for her husband in the way that is safest and best for her health care and her family is exactly what Ken Paxton is trying to do.

And I, as an attorney, am appa I am so thankful that Ms. Cox is so brave and so optimistic, because it is a hard time to be a lawyer when you feel like you can do your absolute best for your client, you can get the result that it's just and it's right, and yet still face -- what we are talking about here is life in prison, loss of medical license and hundreds of thousands of dollars in -- hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, both for the physician and for Ms. Cox's husband, who just wants to help his wife get the health care that she needs so that they can continue to build the family that they want.

I am shocked, but I am not surprised.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ms. Duane, as you know, there are a number of legal cases un abortion access.

Are there wider im MOLLY DUANE: Well, this ruling today was just about Ms. Cox and whether the health care that she needs to preserve her life and her fertility in her home community.

But, obviously, these fights are playing out nationwide.

And what I really want people to understand is that, in the 14 states where abortion is now entirely prohibited, and states like Florida and Arizona that have gestational bans that some people would call a compromise, but clearly are not, as they would affect Ms. Cox's care as well, there are no exceptions under those bans, because, if Ms. Cox doesn't fall within the exception, then what does the exception even mean?

And so I just want people to really understand just how damaging abortion b see themselves in Ms. Cox and her family, because this could happen to anyone.

And my position, as a citizen, as a lawyer, and as a human being is that each individual's grieving process should be their own to decide.

And when it comes to health care, I don't want politicians in my state o dictating what care I can get.

AMNA NAWAZ: Kate Cox, this has turn This is your life.

This is your family.

This is your And you hinted a little bi You have mentioned how difficult, h your trips to the emergency room several times.

Can you help folks understand what the last few weeks have bee KATE COX: I mean, it's hard to even put into words.

I mean, it's devastating.

I'm very grateful But we desperately -- we want a third.

We were so excited for this baby.

She is deeply loved, deeply wanted.

But, unfortunately, pregnancies are not all rainbows and And it's surreal that I'm navigating these complications publicly.

It feels like this is a medical decision for me and for our family.

And so to be going through the loss and the pain, and -- it's hard.

AMNA NAWAZ: Kate, you didn't have to give an interview today.

You don't have to give any interviews, but you did want to speak today.

Why?

KATE COX: I I know, personally, before going into this, I never imagined we'd be in this position.

I never imagined I would ever want or need an abortion.

And I think, by sharing this story, you can imagine the women that you love in your life, and imagine they're pregnant and so happy and looking forward to the baby.

And they find out that she will not survive.

She will either die in my belly or I will carry her to term an stillborn, or, if she arrives into this world, her life will be measured in minutes or hours or days and plagued with medical devices.

She would need to be placed directly onto hospice.

So imagine receiving that news and pairing that with the risks and complications of continuing the pregnancy and the childbirth.

It's overwhelming.

So I wanted to sha to me.

And so I jus AMNA NAWAZ: Kate Cox, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for sharing your story.

We are thinking about you and Molly Duane of the Center for Reproductive Rights, MOLLY DUANE: Thank you.

KATE COX: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Last night's debate brought four GOP presidential hopefuls to the University of Alabama's campus for their last face-off of the year.

And, once again, the leading Republican contender, Donald Trump, skipped it.

Laura Barron-Lopez has this recap.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In Alabama, the four candida presidential front-runner that they're trailing by more than 40 points.

It wasn't for lack of trying by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRIST for your little speech i is between the four of us.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: He i Donald Trump a second time.

FMR.

GOV.

CHRIS CHRIST He is unfit.

This is a guy who just said this to go after his enemies when he gets in there.

And there is no bigger issue in this race, Megyn, than Do LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Instead, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy repeated Trump's lies about 2020 and embraced a racist conspiracy theory that claims white Americans, at the direction of elites, Democrats, or sometimes Jewish people, are being replaced by people of color.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), Presidential Candidate: That the Great Replacement Theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic platform, that the 2020 election was indeed stolen by big tech.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: It's a conspiracy theory that was cited by the white men who carried out mass shootings in Pittsburgh, El Paso, and Buffalo.

And former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is gaining traction in the po GOP donors, confronted Trump on China, but little else.

NIKKI HALEY (R), Presidential Candidate: This is where Trump went wrong.

Trump was good on trade.

But that's all he was with China, becau over.

He continued military and hurt us.

He allowed the Chinese infiltra and to continue to do things that were harmful for America.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Tied with Haley for second hi s past pledge to shoot undocumented people crossing the border if they have backpacks.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS you have a responsibility to fight back a QUESTION: And does that mean shooting first?

GOV.

RON DESANTIS LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And spent much of his time positioning himself to the right of Haley GOV.

RON DESANTIS and that corporate CEOs should set the policy on that.

NIKKI HALEY: That's not true.

Quit lying.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS LAURA BARRON VIVEK RAMASWAMY: Nikki is corrupt.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS She caves any time the left comes after.

NIKKI HALEY: And I love all the attention, fellows.

Thank you for that.

LAURA BARRON debates on the calendar, candidates will blanket early states, in the hopes of toppling the current front-runner.

For the "PBS N GEOFF BENNETT: Six top Republican officials have been indicted in Nevada for pledging that state's electoral votes to Donald Trump in 2020 as part of an illegal effort to reverse Trump's loss to Joe Biden.

These so-called fake electors include the committeeman.

William Brangh WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Geoff, Nevada is now false electors, following Georgia and Michigan.

In Wisconsin, another group of fake electors settled a civil lawsuit this week them to admit Joe Biden won the presidency and that they were trying to improperly overturn that result.

Election law expert Rick Hasen Law School and author of the forthcoming book "A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy."

Rick, great to have you back on the "NewsHour."

Can you remind us what these fake electors were actually tryi trying to insert themselves into the elections process?

RICK HASEN, UCLA School of Law: Sure.

Well, you know, after people st ate's results are translated into Electoral College votes.

There's a date that the electors meet in each state.

The results are then sent into Congress, and those results ar You may remember that, at the time that the 2020 election period came, when it was time for the electors' votes to be cast, Trump was claiming that he was actually the victor in a number of these states.

What he tried to do was have Republican the same day, and so that these votes could then be sent in, and they would potentially be counted by Congress.

The problem was that there meet.

These were a electors, whose slates were actually sent to Congress, and those were the ones that were ultimately counted on January 6 and then the morning of January 7 back WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So there were fake electors, as we call them, operating in seven different states back in 2020.

We have this settlement in Wisc We have these charges brought Ar e there other similar investigations under way?

RICK HASEN: Well, we know there are a few mo We don't know if there are criminal investigations.

One of the things that happened was that, in the RICO case involving lots of defendants, including charges against the fake electors, th a plea agreement with one of the people advising Trump, a guy named Chesebro, who was behind the scheme.

And he now, So, they may be getting information and evidence that they didn't have before, so it's possible that, in other states, they're considering this.

And, also, in states where there alread with that new evidence.

WILLIAM BRAN scheme.

And so the s all these other cases as well as part of his plea deal?

RICK HASEN: His lawyers said he would talk to anyone.

I don't know if it's actually part of the plea deal, he's willing to do.

And, presuma This could become either part of the Trump election interference case or ot her cases that the DOJ may or may not bring.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Criminal charges are obviously meant to And some of these people are not fringe actors.

I mean, in Nevada, some of -- these are some who still retain their offices.

Do you think that these charges and these settlements in any way det RICK HASEN: Well, I think the first thing to note is that some of these people who were electors were told that they were just doing some kind of technical backup.

In case a court came in and said Trump actually won the case, then there wouldn't be some technical problem with trying to count Electoral College votes from a particular state.

Those people might -- you might not be able to show any criminal intent.

But then there are others who saw this more as a potential way to outcomes.

For those people, I th One of the things that happened in the Wisconsin case, which was a civil case that was settl earlier this week, is that there was an admission by all of the fake electors Bi den had won the presidency.

Rather than a financial Joe Biden won the election was thought to be more important for the plaintiffs than actually getting money, which kind of tells you what the point of some of this is, is to try to bolster the electoral -- people's confidence in electoral integrity and to say that the 2020 election was done fairly and to deter people from trying things like this in 2024.

WILLIAM BRAN We are still three years in, having peo Rick Hasen at the UCLA Law School, always good to see you.

Thank you so much.

RICK HASEN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: She was the number three Republican in the House of Representatives, voting with former President Donald Trump 90 percent of the time.

But that changed for Liz Cheney after Trump sought to overturn t election.

She started 6 Capitol riot.

It cost her, her job in No w Liz Cheney is speaking out again, warning presidency in her new book, "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning."

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, welcome.

Thanks for j FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY ( Great to be AMNA NAWAZ: and the them would be a dictator only on day one of his presidency if reelected.

But this is a memoir and a warning, as you say on the book's cover.

What would another Trump presidency mean for America?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: of our republic.

And I say that fully recognizing that it's Bu t if you look at what he tried to do after the last election, he's the only president in our history who has not been willing to make sure that we had a peaceful transfer of power.

He attempted He attempted to seiz And I think that, if people really w them is, he won't abide by the rulings of our courts.

And to have a president, who is charged with ensuring that the laws are un willing to enforce the court rulings, unwilling to uphold the rule of law, that is just at the heart of what makes our democracy function.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think he would be more dangerous in a the system better?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: as because h to do last time.

And I think th AMNA NAWAZ: You document the role that 2020 election.

He announced this term is up.

He's saying Does his departure surprise you?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: I think, tho who was then the leader, really focus on the extent to which individuals matter.

And when you have someone who's the leader of the Republican Party in the House who, at every moment when he had the choice to make about, is he going to do the right thing or is he going to do the politically convenient thing, he always chose politics.

He always chose Trump.

And it's dangerous, because each of those going to vote to object to electoral votes, or then, of course, after January 6 his role and responsibility in helping to bring Donald Trump back, to rehabilitate him when Leader McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago, those things all very much set us on the path that has led to where we are today, where Donald Trump is the leader of the Republicans in the presidential primary.

AMNA NAWAZ: and the work to hold people accountable is still very much going on.

We have the rioters still being prosecuted, fake electors this week indicted in Nevada Another group of fake electors in Wisconsin settled a lawsuit acknowledging that Mr. Biden did win.

You talk about o I wonder, what about members of Congress?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: AMNA NAWAZ: like?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: And if you l for several They all refused to comply with I think Jack Smith has got tools that we didn't have in Congress.

And there are a number of members who have a lot of questions that they should be answering, people like Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy.

And I think if you look, for example, at someone like Ronny Jackson fro Committee uncovered text messages that showed the Oath Keepers, while they were invading and attacking the Capitol, were communicating about how they could help Ronny Jackson, how they could help to facilitate getting him out.

They suggested he had data that was important.

AMNA NAWAZ: But they were naming FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: Right.

And he's the by the Oath But those ar AMNA NAWAZ: This week, we also saw Speaker January 6 security tapes, but blur faces.

Does that kind of thing, in your view, get in the way of accountability?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: And what we're seeing from Speaker Johnson at this point suggestion that he's released everything, which, of course, he hasn't.

He's only released a small part.

And now he's arguing that somehow th the facts, that will change what we know happened that day.

My view is, you need to make some provisions here for w the Capitol could be affected, but, if Speaker Johnson is going to tell people he's releasing the tapes, he should release the tapes.

And he, of course, hasn't done AMNA NAWAZ: What message d FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: happened that day, in terms of recognizing the very grave constitutional threat that it posed, the threat of violence that it posed, and that he's become very consumed with to placate Donald Trump and those who support him.

AMNA NAWAZ: You name some of your former coll privately versus what they were saying publicly.

There's a story you tell about what happens letter to the election results.

And you name Mark Green as sighing and to then-President Trump.

There's others that you don't na You talk about one senior Repu of political consequences, but he says to you: "Liz, surviving is all that matters."

And I just wonder if you think people, enablers, as you call them, should be held accountable, why not name them in the book?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: others -- the member who talked to me about of members who did that.

And I think that's a different thing.

I think that I underst We certainly live in a new world, in terms of the I say in the book, though, although I understood very much his fear about security, thought perhaps he needed to be in another line of work, that, if you come to a point where, as a member of Congress, you're not willing to cast your vote the way you think you should, especially on something as important as impeachment, then you really -- you need to rethink both sort of where we are as a country, but also whether or not you're the right person in that position.

AMNA NAWAZ: You not reelected.

Do you believe that President the nominee?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: I don't thin I think that we have to make su the very best ones.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: I think it's I think, rig don't seem united behind that.

And I think it's really important.

The single most important th The level of the gravity of these challenges has meant that there are ar e making about third parties, for example, that you probably would not have seen four years ago or eight years ago.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, you yourself ha Do you think you could beat him?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: And I think it really will com on the playing field in order to defeat Donald Trump?

And that may mean that we have to work together to support o to do so beyond partisanship.

But I will decide that i AMNA NAWAZ: The Cheney name Yo u draw the parallels between your father and his experience as vice president being evacuated from the White House, you being evacuated from the Capitol.

You also tell the story about your daughter Grace calling you crying after the Ja 6 attack.

Do you want Do they want to?

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: But I do thi my husband and I have been able to pass on to our kids, is how important it is to be involved in something bigger than yourself and also how much of an obligation each of us has as Americans not to take for granted the freedoms that -- in which we live, and to make sure we're all doing everything we can to defend those.

So I'm very proud of my children.

And I'm also very committed to making sure that they grow up and they get to live in America where the peaceful transfer of power can be taken for granted once again.

AMNA NAWAZ: Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, author of the new book "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning," thank you so much for being here.

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: Great to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Raj Jayadev is a MacArthur Fellow and founder of an organization which supports people who've been through the criminal justice system.

Tonight, he shares his Brief But Spectacular take.

RAJ JAYADEV, Founder, Silicon Valley De-Bug: If you're system like mass incarceration, it needs the size and bulk of something large enough to challenge it.

Participatory defense is a community organizing model for families whose loved ones are facing charges, how they, the family and community, can be part of the legal team to change the outcome of that case and free their loved one.

Isolation, I believe, is a feature, not a bug, of the criminal punishm It is how it forces unfair decisions.

It is how it harms and breaks people, particularly Black and brow If that is the building blocks of that oppressive system, the way to dismantle and bring down that system is to do the opposite, to take something that feels isolating and lonely and convert the solution into something collective.

Courts are really just places where stories are told.

The problem is, is that the narratives that dominate ones told by prosecutors and police.

And so, when families would go to courts, the most common thing "I wish they knew them like we know them."

Well, there's something practical, urgent, and necessary that f can do, and that's to tell the fuller story of their loved one, so that the court that is trying to reduce a person to a single act or single allegation, that that narrative could be overshadowed and a person could be understood through the fuller context of their lives.

What that me packets and social biography videos.

It changes how decisions are made in the courtroom.

We have been doing participatory defense since 2008.

The biggest challenge we had when we started was people realizing that they could actually have impact, because everyone had been told that the courts is really only for the judges and the lawyers, and if you weren't a judge or lawyer, there's nothing you could do, except bear witness to the injustice.

And we said that, actually, families and communities have knowled tangibly make the difference if someone is at home or stuck in a prison cell.

Participatory defense is an abolitionist strategy.

It's not about making the court experience sm It is trying to liberate and free and challenge that system so that our communities could be whole.

My name is R people.

GEOFF BENNET at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

AMNA NAWAZ: Also onl Arch in St. Louis, which sits on the nation's smallest national park.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that' Join us tomorrow, as we delve into the disparities of who gets medication and who doesn't.

I'm Geoff Be AMNA NAWAZ: On behalf of