PBS News Hour

AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "News Hour" tonight: NATO countries promise more weapons to help Ukraine defend itself after Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults in months.

AMNA NAWAZ: New restrictions on student loans raise questions about education access and how borrowers can pay off existing debt.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the conservative effort to curtail reproductive rights turns its focus toward birth control.

MARY ZIEGLER, University of California, Davis, School of Law: The more people in legislatures are willing to acknowledge that they are changing what abortion means, the more space that creates to include contraceptives in the definition of abortion.

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

It is a pivotal moment in Ukraine.

Kyiv announced today it'll hold another round of peace talks with Russia on Wednesday, the first such meeting in seven weeks.

AMNA NAWAZ: And NATO leaders met today to try and answer Ukraine's desperate call for more weapons, as Moscow launched one of its largest ever aerial assaults.

Here's Nick Schifrin with more.

(SIRENS BLARING) NICK SCHIFRIN: In Ukraine's capital today, damage, destruction and more death.

It's days like this where nowhere feels safe, not the Kyiv apartment building hit by a Russian drone, the schoolkid's bedroom inside burnt black.

Not the nearby kindergarten engulfed in flames.

Not the bomb shelter otherwise known as the metro, where a drone hit at the entrance and filled the tunnel built to withstand nuclear blasts with smoke, the metro usually where Ukrainians spend the night to protect their children.

But, these days, there is precious little protection; 46-year-old Vadym Volkov survived, where his apartment did not.

VADYM VOLKOV, Kyiv Resident (through translator): I can't even describe the emotions I had when the whole apartment was destroyed.

I was in shock.

I'm not the only one.

There are so many people who have lost their homes.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Lost their homes thanks largely to the nightly screaming across the sky that leads to the inevitable, drone strikes.

Overnight, Ukraine says Russia launched more than 420.

The U.N. says Russia last month fired 10 times the number of drones than it did one year ago.

Overnight, Russia also launched 24 missiles.

This is exactly the kind of damage that Europe pledged today to try and prevent in a virtual meeting chaired by the U.K. and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

BORIS PISTORIUS, German Defense Minister: Ukraine will continue to successfully defy Putin's war machine and will weaken it a little more every day.

It is our duty, colleagues, and our obligation to actively support our Ukrainian friends in this regard.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Germany is pledging to send Ukraine five additional American-made Patriot air defense batteries.

They're scarce, so the U.S. has agreed to prioritize Patriot deliveries to Germany and slow down deliveries to other countries.

That's only possible thanks to last week's policy reversal.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they will be sent to NATO.

NICK SCHIFRIN: President Trump allowing Europe to buy Ukraine weapons and giving Moscow a deadline.

DONALD TRUMP: We're very, very unhappy with them, and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent.

You NICK SCHIFRIN: A threat which left Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov seemingly unfazed.

DMITRY PESKOV, Spokesman for Vladimir Putin (through translator): Russia is prepared to move swiftly.

For us, the main thing is to achieve our objectives.

They are clear, obvious and unchanging.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Unchanging and maximalist, no NATO membership for Ukraine, international recognition of Russian control of five Ukrainian regions, including those not fully occupied, caps on the size of Ukraine's military and its Western support, and removal of U.S. troops from Eastern Europe.

It's clear Russia feels it's winning.

Since the start of the year, despite massive losses, Russia has captured nearly 1,500 square miles, roughly the size of Rhode Island, its most recent advances in Ukraine's Northeast in the region of Sumy.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Nick Schifrin joins us now for more.

Nick, so the key question here is, how quickly can European weapons get to Ukraine?

NICK SCHIFRIN: That is the key question, Amna.

And the answer, U.S. and European officials tell me, depend on a few variables.

Number one, how vulnerable are European countries willing to make themselves in order to send their own weapons, especially air defense, to Ukraine?

Number two, how much money is Europe willing to spend, $10 billion to $20 billion, perhaps that much money?

And, three, how much weapons is the U.S. willing to spend?

And that, of course, is a trade-off.

The more weapons sent to Ukraine, perhaps the fewer weapons available in the Middle East and the Pacific.

Meanwhile, as we saw, Russia is trying to overwhelm Ukraine with drones.

And, Amna, that is a challenge that Patriots, which are designed for missiles, that Patriots cannot really solve and, frankly, Ukraine has increasingly struggled to answer.

AMNA NAWAZ: Nick Schifrin, thank you, as always.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: We start today's other headlines with the legal battle between the Trump administration and Harvard University.

At a hearing in Boston, Judge Allison Burroughs seemed receptive to Harvard's arguments that the government illegally cut $2.6 billion in funding to the school.

Harvard sued the Trump administration two months ago, saying the cuts violated its First Amendment rights.

Government lawyers claim the funding freezes are justified, arguing that Harvard violated President Trump's orders on fighting antisemitism.

Today's hearing ended without a ruling, though the judge is expected to issue a decision later in writing.

In New York, officials say a second suspect has been arrested in the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer this past weekend.

Christian Aybar-Berroa is believed to be the getaway driver in what officials are describing as a botched robbery.

His alleged accomplice, Miguel Mora, was taken into custody yesterday.

Authorities say both men entered the U.S. illegally from the Dominican Republic and have prior arrests.

At a press conference today, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the 42-year-old officer is recovering in the hospital and is expected to survive.

The Pentagon is ordering hundreds of Marines to leave Los Angeles more than a month after the Trump administration sent them to the city.

The 700 Marines were deployed on June 9 during protests against the administration's immigration crackdown.

They'd been ordered to guard two federal buildings, which included an ICE office and a detention facility.

In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the presence -- quote -- "sent a clear message: Lawlessness will not be tolerated."

About 2,000 National Guard troops still remain in Los Angeles.

In Gaza, Israel expanded its ground operations into a Central Gaza City today where several aid groups are based.

Airstrikes and tank shelling hit houses and mosques in Deir al Balah, where Israel believes some of the last remaining hostages are being held.

Across the territory, such strikes killed at least 18 people overnight and into today.

All told, Gaza's Health Ministry said today 59,000 people have died during the war.

One resident who lost her sister in today's attacks said any hope for peace is lost.

MAYSARA ABU ALYAN, Gaza Resident (through translator): Many forms of torture, conquest, hunger and death.

We expected a lot that these massacres would stop, someone to stand by our side and stop this incinerator.

No action was taken.

We reached a phase today that expectations are dead.

We stopped expecting anything or wait for anything from anyone.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today's violence comes after at least 80 Palestinians were killed as they were seeking aid yesterday, though Israel says it only fired warning shots.

In response, foreign ministers from the U.K., France and more than 20 other countries issued a joint statement calling for Israel to end what it called the inhumane killing of civilians in Gaza.

Notably, the U.S. and Germany were not among those who signed.

In Bangladesh, a military aircraft crashed into a school campus today, killing the pilot and at least 19 others, mostly students.

It happened this afternoon in the capital, Dhaka.

Officials say a technical malfunction doomed the fighter jet shortly after takeoff from a nearby air base.

Emergency crews rushed to the fiery crash site, where more than 170 students were pulled from the wreckage.

Dozens were treated at a nearby hospital.

The military says the pilot tried to steer the plane to a less populated area.

The government announced a national day of mourning for tomorrow and has promised a full investigation.

Here at home, federal aviation authorities said today they're investigating a close call over North Dakota last week involving a military aircraft and a passenger jet.

PILOT: Sorry about the aggressive maneuver.

It caught me by surprise.

This is not -- not normal at all.

I don't know why they didn't give us a heads-up.

GEOFF BENNETT: The pilot of a Delta Air Lines regional flight from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota, told passengers he quickly maneuvered mid-flight to avoid a B-52 bomber.

Air Force officials confirmed a B-52 aircraft was flying in that area that evening.

It comes as officials continue to investigate a crash in Washington, D.C., between a military helicopter and a regional American Airlines jet that killed 67 people.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended mixed to start the trading week.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped less than 20 points, so virtually flat.

The Nasdaq rose nearly 80 points on the day.

The S&P 500 managed a slight gain to close at a new all-time high.

And a passing of note tonight.

Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died.

LISA BONET, Actress: Well, maybe if you tucked it in little more.

MALCOLM-JAMAL WARNER, Actor: It's tucked into itself.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: As teenage son Theo Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," he created countless classic TV moments over its eight seasons.

His blend of sharp wit and emotional depth earned him an Emmy nomination back in 1986 and left an indelible mark on a generation of television viewers.

Warner also won a Grammy for his work as a musician.

Authorities in Costa Rica say he drowned yesterday afternoon while swimming on the Caribbean coast.

According to press reports, he was on vacation with his family.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner was 54 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke discusses President Trump's push to redraw the state's congressional districts; Tamara Keith and Amy Walter break down the latest political headlines; and leading literary critics give their picks for the best books for summer reading.

President Trump's new tax and spending law brings sweeping changes to the federal student loan system, affecting both current and future borrowers.

Nearly half-a-million borrowers could see their payments spike after the Department of Education scrapped most existing repayment plans.

The law also imposes new lifetime borrowing caps, $100,000 for graduate students, $200,000 for those pursuing professional degrees like law or medicine, and $65,000 per child for parent borrowers.

For a breakdown of what this all means, we're joined now by NPR education correspondent Cory Turner.

Cory, thanks again for being with us.

So as borrowers start receiving these repayment notices, what can they expect?

What options are available to them?

CORY TURNER, NPR: New borrowers who take out loans after July 1, 2026, the good news for them is, they won't have very many options.

I guess that's a good thing.

The Congress recently decided to whittle down options for new borrowers from seven current repayment plans down to two.

Those include a standard repayment plan with fixed monthly payments and then a brand-new income-based repayment plan, which obviously tailors what you owe each month to your income.

Now, legacy borrowers are just a lot more complicated.

They're going to still have access to some currently existing plans, at least for a while.

I think what we're seeing right now with the department, though, is, because the Trump administration has cut the staff at the department in half, including cutting roughly half of the Office of Federal Student Aid, which is responsible for managing the student loan program, I think what you're seeing are just backlogs.

GEOFF BENNETT: And beyond this initial confusion, based on your reporting, what are some of the other big concerns about this overhaul?

CORY TURNER: We're at a really interesting moment here where Congress has decided to create these new -- these two new plans for future borrowers.

But those plans aren't ready, and they won't be ready for roughly a year.

And it just so happens that right now we have, what, 7.7 million borrowers in a really tricky spot right now, because they're enrolled in the Biden era repayment plan known as SAVE, Saving on a Valuable Education.

They're in legal limbo because of lawsuits that were filed arguing that the program is too generous.

So they can't actually make -- they're not required to make payments right now, but we know the Ed Department just announced that interest is going to start accruing on their loans August 1.

This new income-based repayment plan won't be available to them yet.

And so the options are pretty murky.

I would just mention one option they might not know about, they will have access to an older plan called IBR.

It stands for income-based repayment.

It's pretty straightforward.

It does offer loan forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, depending on how much loans are.

So that's one option among several.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk about the new caps on graduate and professional school loans, $100,000, as we said, for graduate students.

$200,000 for law or medical school students.

What more should we know?

CORY TURNER: Yes, I think these are going to be some of the biggest, most surprising changes for borrowers.

And we should also say, Geoff, so nothing will have changed about borrowing limits for undergrads.

So that's going to be business as usual.

For grad students overall, for context, overall, they will be allowed to borrow $100,000.

That's replacing the old ceiling, which was around $138,000.

So it's a pretty big difference.

For Parent PLUS borrowers, they will be limited to $65,000 in total per child.

From what I have heard -- I have spoken with several researchers who have looked at how these programs have been used in the past.

And I think the majority of borrowers in each program previously have borrowed within these new limits, but it will affect a subgroup of borrowers who might be pushed to make some difficult choices between getting that degree at the school they want to go to and maybe trying to go somewhere else where it's cheaper.

GEOFF BENNETT: And could these caps, Cory, help rein in the cost of higher education?

That was certainly one of the arguments in support of it.

CORY TURNER: I think that is an open question, Geoff.

That is the million-dollar question, the trillion-dollar question,whether or not reining in some of this -- and, look, it was easily accessible money, especially for graduate programs.

Graduate students could essentially borrow up to the cost of their program.

And so what we did see in recent years were a lot of large schools, both for-profit, but also private nonprofit, charging really an arm and a leg for graduate degrees, where it just wasn't reasonable to expect that degree to pay off the amount of debt students were being asked to take out.

And the problem with that system in those cases is that it's essentially the federal government taxpayers who are bearing much of the risk.

So I think there is a lot of support, even bipartisan support, for reining in some of this graduate level spending.

The question is, will it really compel some of these schools, who you could argue were behaving irresponsibly, will it actually compel some of them to lower their prices and change their ways?

GEOFF BENNETT: NPR education correspondent Cory Turner.

Cory, thanks again.

CORY TURNER: You're welcome, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: Texas lawmakers convened for a special session today to address some of the state's most pressing issues, including the response to the deadly July 4 floods.

But one agenda item was added at the request of President Trump, pushing the Republican-controlled legislature to redraw congressional district lines in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Beto O'Rourke is a former congressman from El Paso.

That's one of the seats the president wants to flip.

Welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX): Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So the Texas legislature -- Texas lawmakers, rather, have 38 seats in the House, Republicans already have 25.

This redrawing could potentially add five to their tally.

Are you worried all of this is going to make it easier for Republicans to control the House?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: This is the only reason that they're doing it.

The president is very open about this.

Our senior senator, John Cornyn, is very open about this.

And for those who haven't been following, redistricting is a process by which current members of Congress get to choose their own voters.

And they're doing this and the president's made it such a priority because he sees the polling numbers.

Immigration, which if there was a policy issue he won on in '24, is polling at 35 percent for the president.

He's underwater in his favorables.

Folks don't like the direction this country's headed in.

And so he knows he will lose the slim majority they have in the House of Representatives unless they rig the game mid-decade, which is what they're trying to do in Texas.

But Democrats have an opportunity to fight back in Texas.

The state House Democrats could walk out and deny their colleagues a quorum.

We have governors like Gavin Newsom, who have threatened to redistrict in Democrats' favor in their states, which I'm in favor of.

And then it may come back to bite these Republicans because, in order to create more competitive districts that they can win, they're going to have to lose some Republican voters in current Republican strongholds.

So there may be an opportunity for Democrats.

But any one or all three of those paths of resistance have to be pursued by Democrats.

We have to fight back and we have to fight fire with fire.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have mentioned this before, fighting fire with fire, saying Democrats have to be ruthless.

Texas isn't the only state where Republicans have a governing trifecta and they're doing this mid-decade redistricting.

You mentioned Gavin Newsom's effort.

Why don't you think more Democrats where they have governing trifectas in other states, why aren't they doing this?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I think historically, and I say this as a lifelong Democrat, our party has been more interested in being right than being in power.

I think the Republican Party under Donald Trump cares more about being in power than they care about anything else, whether it's right or ethical or legal or constitutional.

We have to be ruthlessly focused about winning, holding onto power, and then using that power to fix a badly broken system that is not working for tens of millions of our fellow Americans.

If we do not do that, not only will we not win political power; we might very well lose this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you want to see Democrats do more gerrymandering is what you're saying?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Fight back with everything we have, nothing off the table.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about what James Carville wrote in his op-ed about the Democratic Party right now, looking at some of those divisions.

He wrote: "The Democratic Party is steamrolling toward a civilized civil war.

It's necessary to have it.

It's even more necessary to delay it.

The only thing that can save us now is an actual savior because a new party can be delivered only by a person."

Do you agree with that, that it's going to take a singular figure to lead Democrats out of this disarray?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: No, it's going to take all of us.

There's no cavalry, there's no savior who is going to ride to our rescue.

It has to be the people of this country.

And my advice for my fellow Democrats is, we certainly have told the American people what we're against.

We don't like Donald Trump, this Big Beautiful Bill that transferred nearly a trillion dollars of our wealth to the wealthiest 1 percent in this country.

Folks get that, but what is our vision for the future?

How about we imagine an America where your take-home pay is enough to live on so you don't work a second or a third job?

You're guaranteed the ability to see a doctor when you're sick, before you're sick, so that you don't get sick.

You have access to fresh and healthy food and clean drinking water.

If you work hard, you can afford a home, because too many people are working too hard right now and cannot buy a home.

If we don't help people get what they need from a government of the many, then soon enough they're going to be open to getting what they need from a government of the few or a government even of only one.

And then one more thing.

We have to, especially when it comes to our standing in the world, really stand up for what we care about, like human rights.

So, in Gaza, we can't be saying that we're for a two-state solution or offer mealymouthed platitudes.

We have to stop being complicit in the bombing and the starving and the slaughtering of innocent children in Gaza and use the awesome power of this country to convene the nations of that region and of the planet, if that's what it takes, to establish an independent sovereign Palestinian state and do what we can to guarantee the safety of every Palestinian, every Israeli, every person in that region.

People want to see us boldly stand up for the things that we really care about and the things that really matter.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congressman, this is not the unified message we have been getting from members of the party.

There are clearly divisions on this issue, on many others.

As you travel around, you hold these town halls, where do you see the divisions within the Democratic base?

Is it generational?

Is it ideological?

Where are those lines?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: You know, I think there's been a lot of ink spilled about whether Democrats need to be more progressive or more moderate.

I think that's the wrong spectrum to look at.

I think what people want is a Democratic Party that will fight.

And so the division is between those who submit and give in and bend the knee and those who are willing to fight back with all that they have got.

Everywhere I go, it doesn't matter if it's in Texas, or we were in Baltimore last night -- we will be in Omaha, Nebraska soon -- folks want to see us fight.

They want to see us fight for our fellow Americans, fight back against everything that is illegal and corrupt and incompetent in this administration, and fight to win power and then use it to deliver for the American people.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think your leadership is bending the knee right now?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I think Chuck Schumer, in the continuing resolution which funded the government, gave Donald Trump and at the time an Elon Musk a blank check to do what they wanted with and to this country.

There was no reason to do that.

Hakeem Jeffries and the House Democrats stood strong.

I think it's time that we thank leaders who have done great work like Chuck Schumer and then ask new ones to step up and make sure that we have a party that fights for every single one of us and fights until we win.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you think it's time for Schumer to lead leadership?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I do.

I think, if we learned nothing else from 2024, the old idea that Democrats need to care more about each other's feelings and seniority and making sure that no one is denied the opportunity for leadership that they have been waiting for, that has not worked for us.

We need to deliver and we need to be absolutely clear about that.

And if he's not getting that done, time to get out of the way and for someone else to step up and lead.

AMNA NAWAZ: So I need to ask you, what about your role in the party?

Because you obviously -- you're a former city council member from El Paso.

You went on to win a congressional seat.

You grew your support, we should say, in races in 2014 and '16, but you haven't won a race since '16.

You lost your Senate bid.

You lost your Democratic presidential primary bid.

You lost your governor's bid.

What's your role?

What did you run for office again?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Here's the thing.

Like millions of my fellow Americans, I don't need a title.

I don't need to be part of a campaign.

I just need to do what I can with what I have, where I am, to help this country.

So, in Texas, with Powered by People, we're registering voters.

And because it's the toughest state in the nation in which to cast a ballot, we then personally help those voters cast those ballots; 18-to-29-year-olds in Texas voted at 79 percent in our program.

Nationally, it is 42 percent.

This stuff is working.

And these town halls where we convene people, Republicans, independence, Democrats, it brings people together to listen to one another, not to a candidate and not to a politician and not to a political party, but to one another.

We're so divided and polarized and isolated right now, that in itself is really powerful.

So I'm going to continue to get out there, do the work, listen to my fellow Americans and then fight right alongside them to save this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: Have you ruled out another run for office?

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: I haven't ruled it out.

Everything's on the table, whatever we need to do to get this country back.

AMNA NAWAZ: Former Democratic Congressman from Texas Beto O'Rourke, thank you for being here.

FMR.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: For more on redistricting politics and President Trump marking six months in office, we're joined now by our Politics Monday duo.

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

It's great to see you both.

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

GEOFF BENNETT: So we just heard the former Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke endorse partisan gerrymandering amid redistricting battles in Texas.

Amy, there are Democrats who say this is bad practice... AMY WALTER: Right.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... it's not something that Democrats should emulate, this mid-decade redistricting, but they warn it's the party's only chance to flip the Lower Chamber and potentially be a check on President Trump after the midterms.

What are your takeaways?

AMY WALTER: This is really a fascinating time for the Democratic Party, and I thought the former congressman summed it up pretty well when he said that the vision within the party right now is between those who are sort of acquiescing or doing things status quo and those who are standing up and fighting.

And the question is, how much stomach do voters and Democratic leaders have for a fight?

In California, if the governor were to try to redistrict, it's going to be very challenging.

He either goes to the legislature, have the legislature, which is obviously heavily Democratic, draw those new lines, which they will be sued because right now it is in the Constitution that an independent redistricting commission draws those lines.

So take the risk of getting the courts to throw it out.

Or you go to voters, which is how this got on the ballot and how it was voted in the very first place, and say, let's just take this redistricting away from this commission that we love, that we said is going to do all of the things that legislators won't do, which is to be nonpartisan, which is to look at communities of interest.

No, we want to bring this back to legislators and basically say, we're going to do to you what Texas Republicans are doing to Democrats there.

So it definitely muddies the water on this whole question of who's breaking norms, right?

You can say, well, we're only breaking norms because they did, but you're still breaking them.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Yes.

And... GEOFF BENNETT: And, Tam, what stands out to you about all that?

TAMARA KEITH: Yes, and then they will break norms because you broke norms.

And it's a cycle that certainly our politics are in the midst of that cycle right now.

I do think that Democrats have a little bit of buyer's remorse for their support in the past for these independent redistricting commissions.

The idea was that this sort of thing shouldn't be so terribly partisan, that there -- that you could create districts that are competitive and therefore you would have elected representatives who are more responsive to their voters.

I don't know that we have necessarily seen that in California.

But I think that this is one of those things that gets a lot of attention.

But it, as Amy says, would be extremely complicated for Governor Newsom to actually execute.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

Meantime, I want to shift our focus to the White House and President Trump really putting his credibility on the line with his hardcore MAGA supporters over his possible, over his alleged ties to the late convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

There's new polling, Amy, that shows overwhelming public interest in transparency.

A CBS poll finds 89 percent of Americans say they want the DOJ to release all of the info they have connected to the Epstein case.

These days, you can't find 89 percent of Americans agreeing on what day it is.

And yet they're agreeing on that.

I mean, what are the what are the fault lines for the president here?

AMY WALTER: Well, it does seem, if you break it out, though, and ask how salient is this issue to you when you think about Donald Trump and the job that he's doing, then the number drops considerably; 36 percent of voters say this is important to me as I evaluate the job that Donald Trump is doing, compared to more than 60 percent who say it's the cost of living that I am using as my gauge.

It's also pretty clear even within the Republican universe of voters that, while they would like to see this transparency, they're not necessarily holding it against Donald Trump.

They are even less likely to say this matters to them in how they judge the president.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Tam, we saw the president over the weekend apparently trying to do everything he could to ignite new political fires to distract from this Epstein matter.

He's saying the Washington Commanders should play again as the Redskins.

Today, we saw the administration release the FBI files related to Dr. King over the objections of the King family.

How much pressure is the president or the DOJ feeling on this issue?

TAMARA KEITH: Here's the thing.

The president would like to spend this week spiking the football about his very successful first six months in office.

That's what he would like to spend the entire week doing.

But, instead, these Epstein questions are continuing.

And what we also saw today is the White House kicking a Wall Street Journal reporter out of the press pool for an upcoming presidential trip, because the president doesn't like The Wall Street Journal's coverage of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

This relationship was a friendship that, according to the president's account, ended in the early 2000s.

It ended before Jeffrey Epstein became a registered sex offender.

However, the president has sued The Wall Street Journal and now his White House is taking an official action.

All of this indicates that this is a story and also all the words the president is saying indicates that this is a story he just wants to go away.

Any way he can get it to go away, he is going to try to get it to go away.

GEOFF BENNETT: Amy, Tam mentioned the six-month mark of the second Trump term.

What Trump views as his signature achievements apparently right now, according to the polls, are unpopular with voters.

And his approval rating has started to slide.

Again, the CBS polling shows 56 percent disapprove of his immigration policy; 47 percent say the Big Beautiful Bill will hurt their families.

What does it say that with the president views as success is, the American public, according to this polling, views skeptically.

AMY WALTER: Right.

Two things.

One, Republicans really like it.

But the second -- and I think this is really important -- you think about what Donald Trump really has been successful in, in his first six months, it is amassing and using executive power in a way that we haven't seen in the modern era from a president and also getting support in amassing that and using it from the Supreme Court.

So in that sense, he has been very successful.

If you're measuring it, though, on what people think the president should be doing, what he should be spending his time on, here's where he's really falling behind.

That same CBS poll found that 70 percent of voters think the president isn't doing enough to handle cost of living.

So he was ostensibly elected on two issues, securing the border, putting the price of stuff down.

The border, much more secure, but people don't really like what they're seeing with the deportation policy, and prices still haven't gone down.

GEOFF BENNETT: And there are a range of metrics we could use to judge his success, polling being one, but on Capitol Hill it's still business as usual.

I mean, Republicans are falling in line and then doing what they can to support his political agenda.

TAMARA KEITH: Absolutely.

Essentially, anything President Trump has wanted, he has gotten.

Sure, members of Congress, Republicans have expressed grave reservations about various things that the Trump administration is doing or asking them to approve.

And in the end, all but a couple of them have voted yes.

So clearly President Trump has a compliant Congress.

If there is a lever of power he can push, he has been pushing it these whole six months.

GEOFF BENNETT: Tamara Keith and Amy Walter, thanks, as always.

AMY WALTER: You're welcome.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: Earlier this year, the Trump administration scrubbed CDC guidance on birth control from government Web sites and froze $65 million in funding to family planning clinics that provide free or low-cost contraception.

Despite the president's campaign statements that he does not support a ban on birth control, the moves are seen as part of a growing effort to restrict access to certain forms of birth control and to curtail reproductive rights.

For our new series The Next Frontier, special correspondent Sarah Varney reports on where the anti-abortion rights movement is focusing its efforts after the fall of Rome.

ASHLEY KEY, Mother: Reeve (ph), you know you're supposed to have a helmet.

SARAH VARNEY: Saturdays are a whirl at Ashley Key's (ph) home in this Houston suburb.

With three young sons and four dogs, someone is always coming and going.

Growing up an only child, Ashley says she always wanted lots of kids.

ASHLEY KEY: I love being a mom.

I genuinely feel like this is a calling of mine.

SARAH VARNEY: She first started taking birth control pills as a teenager to treat chronic migraines.

But as Ashley got older, she says it allowed her to safely navigate relationships.

ASHLEY KEY: I got to explore dating and deciding who I wanted to have sex with, who I didn't, and who I trusted to make that decision with.

SARAH VARNEY: Today, nearly 47 million women in the U.S. use some form of contraception.

And 89 percent of Americans support access to the pill.

ASHLEY KEY: If I weren't on contraception, I could have been a teenage mom, and that would have been insane for me because I had huge goals for my life.

SARAH VARNEY: Modern contraception has been central to advancing women's equal status.

For example, since the pill was introduced in 1960, female labor force participation increased from 37 percent to more than 57 percent today.

And for decades, the pill remained uncontroversial with broad bipartisan support.

WOMAN: We are the post-Roe generation!

(CHEERING) SARAH VARNEY: But once anti-abortion and conservative legal groups secured a major victory, overturning Roe v. Wade, they shifted their focus beyond abortion, just as social media has brought once fringe ideas about birth control into the public debate.

WOMAN: Most doctors do not tell us the truth about what can happen to us when we're on the pill.

WOMAN: It's honestly psychotic that our medical system is pretending like you can just temporarily change everybody's cycle.

SARAH VARNEY: One of the most influential activists is Lila Rose, founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action.

With just over two million subscribers to her social media accounts and YouTube channel, Rose is an icon to many young pro-life activists.

LILA ROSE, Founder, Live Action: Contraceptive methods are all massively unhealthy.

SARAH VARNEY: Rose tells her followers birth control brings all sorts of dangers, health risks, divorce, and encourages a hookup culture, which she says can lead to abortion when contraception fails.

To be clear, there is no scientific evidence that using hormonal birth control leads to divorce or encourages sexual promiscuity.

LILA ROSE: I think there is a good countermovement happening right now culturally to reject the hookup culture and to reject this promiscuity, laissez-faire attitude about sex, and to say, look, sex is amazing, sex is special.

Because it's amazing and special, it belongs in a lifelong, loving, committed relationship, AKA a marriage, where if there is a child that comes into the world, there's not this panic, oh, let's go get an abortion, instead of saying, oh, now we can build our family together.

KAEDYN GABRIEL, Pro-Life Aggies: I actually learned a lot when I got involved in the pro-life movement from watching her videos.

SARAH VARNEY: Kaedyn Gabriel is a rising junior at Texas A&M in College Station and a member of Pro-Life Aggies.

The group doesn't take a position on birth control, but when we sat down with these students, they echoed messages from pro-life influencers like Lila Rose.

Gracen Sieben graduated in May.

GRACEN SIEBEN, Pro-Life Aggies: I was on birth control for four or five years, and it totally messed up my cycle because it just gives you fake hormones.

If there's any underlying issues, then it doesn't fix them.

It just kind of covers them up.

SARAH VARNEY: Do you feel like you're seeing more content in your feed that supports that idea, your belief.. GRACEN SIEBEN: Yes, but also I follow a lot of people who are in that same -- in the same mind-set as me.

And so I'm getting a lot of that because I follow a lot of those people.

SARAH VARNEY: Hormonal contraception can cause mild side effects, and in rare cases certain ones that contain estrogen can increase the risk of things like high blood pressure, blood clots or stroke.

But the medications and devices are safe and effective and the pill has long been shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers, treat the symptoms of endometriosis and uterine fibroids and prevent anemia.

PROTESTERS: We will abolish abortion!

SARAH VARNEY: The pro-life movement isn't monolithic.

Many have no opposition to birth control.

Others want to severely restrict certain methods that they believe are the same as abortion.

GRACEN SIEBEN: When it's killing another person, then my right to do whatever I want is trumped by that life, because it's a valuable human life.

SARAH VARNEY: According to the Food and Drug Administration and major medical associations, hormonal contraception primarily works by stopping a woman's ovaries from releasing an egg.

But some pro-life activists claim that any hormonal birth control could prevent a fertilized egg from reaching the uterus and they consider that an abortifacient.

That argument is at the heart of the strategy to outlaw certain contraceptives under state abortion bans, and its leaders are reluctant to talk about it.

If abortion is illegal, for instance, in the state of Tennessee, Texas, a bunch of other places from the moment of fertilization, then, therefore, by this logic, there would be vast amounts of birth control that would no longer be legal in the state of Texas or Tennessee.

LILA ROSE: Yes, again, if it's a contraceptive, I don't think there's any issue with having it be legal.

But if it's designed as an abortifacient, then it is a problem.

It's an abortion.

SARAH VARNEY: But if -- I guess what I'm saying is, by your logic... LILA ROSE: It's not my logic.

This is just -- the birth control pill insert says it itself.

So... SARAH VARNEY: Right.

So, by your logic, those forms of birth control would then be illegal, because they would be considered abortifacients.

LILA ROSE: Yes, if it's also designed as an abortifacient, yes.

SARAH VARNEY: So the IUD, emergency contraception, birth control pills would then be illegal?

LILA ROSE: Again, if they're designed as abortifacients, yes.

MARY ZIEGLER, University of California, Davis, School of Law: The very meaning of abortion has been destabilized.

SARAH VARNEY: Mary Ziegler is a law professor at the University of California, Davis.

She says states now not only can ban abortion, but also decide how soon after sexual intercourse those criminal laws apply.

MARY ZIEGLER: We have seen more than 12 states change their definition of abortion in their state statutes since Dobbs.

So I think the more people in legislatures are willing to acknowledge that they are changing what abortion means, the more space that creates to include contraceptives in the definition of abortion.

MAN: Further introduction by Senator Cash (ph) to amend the code related to definitions related to abortions.

SARAH VARNEY: A number of states have tried to restrict access to contraception, from reclassifying widely used methods of birth control as abortion to allowing pharmacists to refuse to provide birth control medication on religious or moral grounds and excluding emergency contraception from state health insurance and sexual assault programs.

(CHEERING) SARAH VARNEY: But anti-abortion victories like the 2021 abortion ban in Texas have emboldened activists to go further, focusing on emergency contraception and IUDs.

JOHN SEAGO, President, Texas Right to Life: Texas is known as having a big ego, but we do think that we're critical to the pro-life movement.

SARAH VARNEY: At the state capitol in Austin, John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, says his group treads carefully when it comes to birth control.

JOHN SEAGO: There is not some big grand scheme to go after birth control.

There are plenty of other areas right now that we want to prioritize.

The pro-life movement is built on our principles informed by science of when individual human lives begins and that's where we want the legal protection.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This is not a show vote.

It's a show us who you are vote.

SARAH VARNEY: In reaction to state level efforts to restrict access, Democrats have tried twice to codify the right to contraception into federal law but have been blocked by Republicans.

REP. LIZZIE FLETCHER (D-TX): I think most Americans assume that married couples and single people can use the birth control of their choosing, that that's not the place for the government.

SARAH VARNEY: Representative Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat from Houston, reintroduced the bill earlier this year.

But with Republicans in control of Congress, it's unlikely to pass.

REP. LIZZIE FLETCHER: The arguments that you're hearing from people in the movement against contraception are really part of a larger movement against our own personal autonomy.

This is about our freedom and our rights as Americans to make these decisions.

SARAH VARNEY: With three boys at home, Ashley Keys has thought a lot about having a girl but she's scared about what the future might look like for her.

ASHLEY KEY: I feel, unfortunately, like it's a double-edged sword.

Like, it's either you have to have children because what's wrong with you if you don't want to have children, what kind of woman are you?

But then say you have children at the wrong time and I can't afford this.

I need government assistance, I need help.

Well, now you're a deadbeat and you shouldn't have gotten pregnant then.

So it's like we can never get it right and it's really sad that we're at this point and that there's so much stigma to everything we do.

SARAH VARNEY: And she feels that judgment even now, as an adult trying to decide if or when to grow her family.

For "PBS News Hour," I'm Sarah Varney in Texas.

GEOFF BENNETT: With summer in full swing, you might be wondering what books to take along on vacation or enjoy right at home.

AMNA NAWAZ: Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown talks with two "News Hour" regulars who have answers to that question.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: And for ideas for your summer reading, we have two of our favorite readers and recommenders, Maureen Corrigan, a professor at Georgia University and book critic for NPR's "Fresh Air," and Ann Patchett, acclaimed author, most recently of the novel "Tom Lake," and owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, where she joins us.

Maureen and Ann, it's really nice to talk to you both again.

Ann, you want to start with maybe two or three novels, fiction?

ANN PATCHETT, Owner, Parnassus Books: Yes, absolutely.

All right, I'm starting off with a book called "The Correspondent" by Virginia Evans.

This is an epistolary novel.

Epistolary novels usually don't work, but this one does.

It's about a grouchy, older woman who lives alone, who in the course of the book makes more and more connections to neighbors, to friends.

It's a really beautiful, beautiful book, a debut.

Way to go, Virginia.

And then.. JEFFREY BROWN: And it says a cause for celebration by Ann Patchett on the cover.

ANN PATCHETT: Yes, right?

Exactly.

Everything -- that's the thing about owning a bookstore and being an author.

My name winds up on a lot of books.

Kathy Wang's "The Satisfaction Cafe" just came out.

And, again, it's a very quiet, funny, smart book in which you don't think a whole lot is going on.

And then more and more and more happens.

It follows one woman over the course of her life in the Bay Area.

Think Anne Tyler, just beautifully written, quiet, simple, and very, very smart, very entertaining.

JEFFREY BROWN: Maureen, what do you have?

MAUREEN CORRIGAN, NPR Book Critic: Oh, gosh.

Summer to me is mystery and suspense fiction.

So, S.A. Cosby, who is one of the greatest crime writers alive today, his latest book is called "King of Ashes."

And it's about a young man, a successful financier who returns to his hometown in Virginia, where his father has been the victim of a mysterious hit-and-run.

This young man has to figure out how to save the family business, which is a crematory.

His father is the king of ashes.

He's the owner of the crematory.

How to save it from the clutches of a mob that now controls the town.

Cosby is tough, he's rough, and that crematory gets a lot of action.

So I warn readers who don't like the grisly stuff, that's there, but he is fantastic.

JEFFREY BROWN: They do go for it, right?

MAUREEN CORRIGAN: He goes for it, and it feels very authentic.

Another book that I would recommend is "El Dorado Drive" by Megan Abbott.

Megan Abbott is an amazing suspense writer who seems to specialize in closed communities of women that turn very weird very quickly.

And this book is set in Detroit, which is Abbott's hometown, early 2000s.

Detroit is down on its luck.

A bunch of women get together and join a finance club and they spout all these slogans about female empowerment.

And yet this club also turns out to be a Ponzi scheme.

So there's that.

JEFFREY BROWN: OK, how about nonfiction, Ann?

Give us two, OK?

ANN PATCHETT: All right, two.

"Who Is Government?"

Michael Lewis, I cannot recommend this book strongly enough.

One, it is a pure pleasure to read.

He has a great group of authors that he's working with, Geraldine Brooks, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, whole group, each one writing about a specific person in a particular branch of government, the Food and Drug Administration, the IRS, the Department of Justice, and talks about the work that they are doing and the enormous impact it makes on all of our lives.

And we never knew that these people were doing these amazing things.

This is absolutely the book for right now.

And it pairs beautifully with another book I love, John Green's "Everything is Tuberculosis."

John Green, our most famous young adult author, is obsessed with tuberculosis, tuberculosis in history, but also tuberculosis here and now.

Why is it that this completely curable disease is still killing so many people, and what will happen when we no longer are giving money to the World Health Organization to save those people's lives?

JEFFREY BROWN: OK, Maureen?

MAUREEN CORRIGAN: OK, summer sea stories.

So one of my recommendations is "A Marriage at Sea" by Sophie Elmhirst, which is a fantastic true story about a young couple in the 1970s in England who decide that they want to build a boat.

They're not wealthy, lower middle class.

They want to build a boat, chuck everything, and live at sea.

Everything is wonderful.

JEFFREY BROWN: Not at the beach, but really at sea, right?

MAUREEN CORRIGAN: No, out there.

Out there.

Everything is terrific until about a year into the voyage.

They're in the middle of the Pacific, and they encounter a whale who breaches the boat.

The boat sinks within minutes, and they are left for four months out on a rubber raft in the middle of the Pacific.

So it tests the marriage.

It also tests endurance, right?

So that's one.

And then a land story... JEFFREY BROWN: It's like, you think you got troubles in your marriage, right?

MAUREEN CORRIGAN: Well, it does make you wonder, would I really eat raw birds to survive?

The other story is definitely on firm ground, "The Salt Stones" by Helen Whybrow.

And Whybrow was an editor earlier in her life, worked in publishing.

And then -- but for the last 20 years, she and her husband have been on a farm in Vermont, and she has been raising Icelandic sheep.

This is not my fantasy.

This is not my world.

But, boy, does she take me as a reader out there into the meadow with her and make me feel how everything is interconnected in that meadow.

So I strongly recommend that one.

JEFFREY BROWN: OK, now I asked you both for either a children's book or something that you go back to reread, an old classic.

And I understand you have been talking on the side here and come up with a surprise.

MAUREEN CORRIGAN: I know we both love it.

"Mister Dog" lives by my desk at home.

It's by Helen (sic) Wise Brown, who gave us "Goodnight Moon," which is a weird story.

JEFFREY BROWN: Sure.

MAUREEN CORRIGAN: This is an even weirder story, I think.

It's the last book she wrote before her untimely death.

And it's about a dog named Crispin's Crispian.

And he's named that because he owns himself, he belongs to himself.

And it does what great children's books, what great books, period, do.

It takes you into a world you would never have imagined.

And you just want to stay there.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, I wasn't expecting that.

Well, Ann, give us one last children's book or young adult.

What have you think you got?

ANN PATCHETT: Yes, OK. "In the Wild" by Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, right?

Zadie Smith, our greatest writer, has written about a weird little guinea pig in a judo suit.

This is the sequel to her book "The Surprise."

And in this one, the guinea pig's owner, Maud, is going camping.

Guinea pig gets into the backpack, the way they do, and goes off into the wilderness.

It is such a strange, terrific book.

Love it.

Love it.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, I know this could go on a long time, but we have to stop somewhere.

Ann Patchett and Maureen Corrigan, thank you both very much.

AMNA NAWAZ: And a late news update.

A federal judge has sentenced a former Louisville police officer involved in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor to 33 months in prison for violating her civil rights.

The sentence goes against a recent Justice Department recommendation to give Brett Hankison effectively no prison time.

Hankison fired his weapons several times that night.

The shots did not hit anyone, but flew through the walls into a neighboring apartment.

Breonna Taylor was shot by two other officers who were not charged.

GEOFF BENNETT: Before we go, we want to take a moment to address some important news involving the "News Hour."

As you likely know, Congress last week approved President Trump's request to rescind all federal funding for PBS and NPR.

It's an unsettling moment for all who believe in the mission of trusted independent journalism.

But your voices, your advocacy, and your unwavering support remind us why this work matters.

AMNA NAWAZ: There are undoubtedly challenges ahead for the entire PBS system, including our family of member stations across the nation, most critically those who serve smaller and more rural communities.

As for us at the "News Hour," we're not going anywhere.

And we remain as committed as ever to bringing you the news, the analysis, and the stories that you have come to rely on over our nearly five decades on the air.

GEOFF BENNETT: Your belief in the power of public broadcasting helps sustain our work, and your loyalty, especially now, fuels it.

And we are profoundly grateful.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we will continue our work as journalists without fear or favor.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

We will see you back here tomorrow night.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

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

Have a good night.