April 17, 2024 - PBS NewsHour full episode

AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz in Kyiv, Ukraine.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: House Speaker Mike Johnson attempts to pass a critical foreign aid package, as the Senate votes to dismiss the impeachment charges against the homeland security secretary.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tonight from Ukraine: the deadliest Russian strike in weeks in one city, while another continues to endure relentless attacks.

LISA, Kharkiv Resident: It's really depressing to know that it's happening right now, right here.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the latest from the Middle East, where tensions remain high, as the world waits for Israel's response to Iran's weekend attack.

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

Ukraine is reeling tonight from the deadliest Russian strike in weeks.

It comes at a critical point in this more-than-2-year-old war.

But, first, a congressional aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan took a key step forward today, potentially putting the House speaker's job in greater jeopardy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, the Senate began and quickly ended the first ever impeachment trial of a sitting Cabinet official for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Our Lisa Desjardins was there for it all and joins us now.

So, Lisa, lots to unpack, lots to discuss.

Take us through what happened in the Senate chamber today.

LISA DESJARDINS: It was never going to be a surprise how this ended.

Mayorkas was not going to be convicted.

That wasn't the question here.

But it was a question of how.

And here the Senate decided on a party-line vote that the articles themselves were unconstitutional.

Let me take you through this.

Senator Schumer offered at the beginning to have some debate time.

That's what Republicans wanted, at the very least, and some votes on some procedural ideas.

But Republicans, including Senator Mike Lee of Utah and others, objected to that.

They wanted a full trial or nothing.

Schumer outgamed them and said, OK, you reject my offer, we're going to move straight to votes on whether these articles of impeachment are constitutional.

He knew he had the votes to declare them so.

Reminding people, I want to look at those articles.

So, when you're talking about them being unconstitutional, what are they?

Those are the two articles we have talked about on this program first, refusal to comply with the law.

Republicans say Mayorkas allowed the border to be unsecured, second, breach of trust, largely the idea that he lied to Congress about that.

Now, that lie to Congress was the idea that the border itself was secure or not.

All of that was declared unconstitutional because the vote was, those are not high crimes or misdemeanors.

So this ended on the Senate floor with back and forth over whether or not a trial should happen.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to entertain this nakedly partisan exercise, one that both conservative and liberal legal scholars agree fails to meet the high standard demanded by impeachment.

So I will say it again.

Impeachment should never, never be used to settle policy disagreements.

SEN. ERIC SCHMITT (R-MO): As Senator Schumer said in 2020 -- quote -- "A fair trial has witnesses.

A fair trial has relevant documents as part of the record.

A fair trial seeks the truth, nothing more, nothing less.

I will not assist Senator Schumer in setting our Constitution ablaze."

LISA DESJARDINS: We spoke about game theory.

Today, Senator Schumer played chess and he basically put Republicans in a position where they really -- they couldn't get to do what they wanted to do.

GEOFF BENNETT: Has this ever happened before, a Senate impeachment trial dismissed on constitutional grounds?

LISA DESJARDINS: That's the right question.

I had the same question.

I asked the Senate historian's office.

And they told me they couldn't answer it yet, because what happened today was so complicated that they were still getting their hands around it.

Now, Senate Democrats said they don't know of any time this has ever happened before.

I will also say the reason this whole thing is unprecedented is because of a man named William Belknap.

He was the secretary of war in 1876.

He was the first Cabinet secretary impeached, but he resigned before he was impeached and before he ultimately was forced to leave office.

He resigned.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what precedent does this set for future Congresses then, Lisa?

LISA DESJARDINS: This is why we're talking about this at length.

The Senate in a process really determines policy.

And we have seen that with the Supreme Court.

We have seen that in the future potentially with what happens in the next Senate.

And in this case, when you talk to conservative and liberal experts, they're concerned, both of them, for different reasons about the way things went, or they're happy how they went.

You talk to conservatives, they say that Mayorkas is someone who was accused of a serious crime, lying to Congress.

We talked about why liberals say that's wrong, but they say that that absolutely is something that should have been tried and heard in the Senate.

SIMON HANKINSON, The Heritage Foundation: If they lie to Congress, as Mayorkas has done, arguably, on several occasions, when he says that the border is secure or when he says that people who are found to be -- have no right to remain are going to be removed, and when they have mismanaged the portfolio to such an extreme extent that they're causing significant harm to the people, that's the only mechanism that Congress has to remove them from office.

LISA DESJARDINS: But on the left, when you talk to folks who've experienced impeachment before, they say that's nonsense and that they say these articles themselves were what was dangerous.

JOSHUA MATZ, Former Counsel, House Judiciary Committee Democrats: Rather than alleging any kind of misconduct or malfeasance by Secretary Mayorkas, they really just amount to an incredibly wide-ranging policy disagreement over how this administration has handled immigration.

And for centuries, it's been understood by scholars of every political persuasion that you simply can't impeach on that basis.

LISA DESJARDINS: The question is, how much of a political weapon will impeachment be?

Secretary Mayorkas sent out a statement today saying this proves essentially now that there was no evidence.

GEOFF BENNETT: All right, let's talk about the other chamber, the House chamber.

Has the House speaker, Mike Johnson, has he made more decisions about how he's going to bring this foreign aid package to the floor?

LISA DESJARDINS: We were waiting for the bill text, and he did in fact put out text today.

Let me catch everyone back up to speed with where we are with these important foreign aid bills.

So we have separate bills for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific.

The text of those bills is out.

There is a fourth bill about TikTok and also potentially there should be means to pay for some of that foreign aid in that bill.

I have not seen that text yet.

It could come any time.

Here is the new today.

The speaker announced there will be a fifth bill on border security.

There is no question this is to appease conservatives who said, why can we vote on aid for other countries, but not our own?

Speaker Johnson trying to work his conference to get those votes.

All of this is going to come to a head probably Saturday, Jeff.

That is when the speaker says to his conference they should expect votes on this.

GEOFF BENNETT: Does he have the votes for these bills and does he have the votes, Lisa, to keep his job?

LISA DESJARDINS: It is a nail-biter.

It's not clear on either one.

And some surprising voices have been moving toward the fence, like Chip Roy of Texas, someone who really did not want to talk about motion to vacate, today indicated he may be open to it.

He's very unhappy with the speaker and the way he's going about this.

The first big test could come as soon as tomorrow or Friday, when they vote on that first procedural motion for all of this.

Will Democrats help the speaker?

We're having this conversation over and over again.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

LISA DESJARDINS: But so much about the ability of our own government to function and Ukraine to survive hinges on all of this.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins, our thanks to you and our congressional team, as always.

We appreciate it.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: President Biden is calling for sharply higher tariffs on Chinese metal products.

During a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he proposed tripling tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.

The president says he's trying to protect American manufacturers from a flood of cheap imports.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: The prices are unfairly low because China's steel companies don't need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government has subsidized them so heavily.

They're not competing.

They're cheating.

They're cheating.

And we have seen the damage here in America.

GEOFF BENNETT: The president also said today that U.S. Steel should remain a -- quote -- "totally American company."

The Japanese firm Nippon Steel has bid more than $14 billion for the manufacturer in a deal the president has opposed.

Meantime, the Navy flew a patrol aircraft over the Taiwan Strait just a day after U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs held talks for the first time since 2022.

China claims it has jurisdiction over the strait, which runs west of Taiwan.

The U.S. says it's an international waterway.

The American fleet said the mission -- quote - - "demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific."

China scrambled fighter jets to monitor the U.S. plane's passage.

The Biden administration is reimposing sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector.

The U.S. had granted Nicolas Maduro's government relief from such measures back in October after it agreed to hold free and fair elections this year.

But, today, the U.S. State Department criticized Maduro, saying his government had -- quote - - "harassed and intimidated political opponents and unjustly detained numerous political actors and members of civil society."

Presidential elections are scheduled for July 28.

Dubai is drying out after the heaviest rainfall the United Arab Emirates has ever recorded.

Streets today were still flooded after more than a year's worth of rain fell on the desert nation in just 24 hours.

Flights were grounded at Dubai International Airport.

That's the world's busiest.

Passengers filmed their tarmac completely swamped by the deluge.

The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees says Israeli forces abused some of its staff and other people held in Gaza.

In a report out today, UNRWA provided detailed accounts of detainees being beaten, attacked by dogs and deprived of food and water.

The State Department called for answers at a press briefing today.

VEDANT PATEL, Principal Deputy State Department Spokesperson: We're deeply concerned by these reports and we will continue to press and engage directly with our Israeli partners on the need for a full investigation into these allegations and accountability for any perpetrators.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel's military has long maintained that it acts in accordance with international law.

It did not respond to a request for comment on these claims.

Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest.

The country's military government cited health reasons for the transfer of the 78-year-old as the country endures a severe heat wave.

Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence for a variety of criminal convictions.

Her supporters say the charges were made up.

The Justice Department has agreed to pay $100 million to dozens of Larry Nassar's victims.

The settlement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

It's meant to address the FBI's failure to take accusations of sexual abuse against the former Team USA gymnastics doctor seriously.

The total amount paid out from the scandal now tops $1 billion.

Actor Hugh Grant says he's received an enormous sum from a British tabloid to settle a lawsuit over illegal spying.

The actor has accused The Sun newspaper of tapping his phone and breaking into his home.

Grant appeared at London's High Court last year and made a long-running legal battle over hacking claims against Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

The Sun's parent company had denied any wrongdoing.

Eli Lilly says its weight loss drug Zepbound may help patients with sleep apnea.

The pharmaceutical giant cited two studies that showed the drug cut irregular breathing episodes by up to 63 percent.

Sleep apnea affects some 20 million Americans.

The trial adds to growing evidence that popular drugs like Zepbound, along with Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, have medical benefits beyond their primary purposes.

On Wall Street today, stocks slipped across the board.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 45 points to close at 37753.

The Nasdaq dropped for the fourth straight session, losing 181 points.

The S&P 500 slid 29 points.

And former U.S.

Senator and Florida Governor Bob Graham has died.

The Miami native came to national attention as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Graham was an early critic of the war in Iraq that followed.

He served three terms in the Senate and made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.

Bob Graham was 87 years old.

Still to come on the NewsHour: the president of Columbia University is grilled by the House committee investigating rising antisemitism on college campuses; our one-on-one with Iraq's prime minister on his country's partnership with the U.S. and escalating tensions in the Middle East; and a whistle-blower testifies that he warned Boeing about safety issues in the assembly of the 787 Dreamliner jet.

Another deadly Russian strike in Ukraine today killed at least 17 people and injured many more less than 100 miles from the capital city of Kyiv.

Amna Nawaz continues her reporting tonight from Ukraine, and joins us from Kyiv.

Amna, it's great to see you.

What more do we know about today's strike?

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, Geoff, officials say the three Russian cruise missiles hit the center of this northern town of Chernihiv today.

That's just about 65 miles from the Russian border.

And that strike occurred just after 9:00 this morning at a very busy time in that city center.

Multiple residential buildings were hit.

We're told an educational facility was damaged as well, as well as a hospital, this video from inside that hospital during the attack that shows the moment that the strikes came down, people dropping to the ground as glass shatters around them.

As you said, Geoff, 17 people confirmed dead so far, at least 61 injured.

That includes three children.

And officials warn those numbers could rise because there could still be people buried underneath the rubble.

But those figures do now make this the deadliest Russian strike in Ukraine in weeks -- Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we know that Russia has been intensifying its airstrikes in recent weeks, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has been requesting more air defense support from the U.S. and Western allies.

What did you hear from him today?

AMNA NAWAZ: President Zelenskyy was quite blunt in his assessment directly linking the lack of that additional aid to the death toll today.

Here's what he said in part.

He said: "This would not have happened if Ukraine had received sufficient air defense and if the world had been determined enough to counter Russian terror."

He has, as you mentioned, been calling for U.S. lawmakers to move forward with additional U.S. aid that Republicans and Congress have been holding up for more than six months now.

And President Zelenskyy was actually just in this city of Chernihiv a couple of weeks ago, sort of underscoring how crucial it is to be protecting these border cities with Russia.

We got a front-line view of what life is like in one of those cities today.

We went to the northern city of Kharkiv.

It sits just 19 miles from the Russian border, and it is Ukraine's second largest city.

Kharkiv has been hit consistently and relentlessly since the Russian full-scale invasion over two years ago.

And officials and residents tell us those attacks have been ramping up in recent weeks.

As you walk around the city landscape, Geoff, it's just peppered with piles of debris and damaged buildings and rubble and boarded-up windows.

And even now, there's Russian aerial bombs, there's modified missiles, and there's drones.

And because of their proximity to the Russian border, the time that it takes from something to leave a launch site in Russia and hit the ground in Kharkiv can be less than a minute.

Even during our time on the ground today, there were multiple air alerts, sirens, and that was just over the course of a single day -- Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, after more than two years of that, how are residents there faring?

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, the cumulative toll is really starting to take hold.

We heard that from a young woman we met named Lisa, who is 20 years old.

She'd lived in Kharkiv for a whole life.

Like many who live there, they fled after the Russian invasion and the initial bombardment of the city.

They went to Western Ukraine.

But after a few months she came back.

And when I asked her why, she said she missed her home.

But she also said, if she had to be considering whether she was going to live or die each day, she'd rather do it in a place that she knew and loved.

But she told us a little bit about what she called this new normal of living in this border city of Kharkiv.

Here's what she said.

LISA, Kharkiv Resident: You wake up, you read news.

Like, another bombarded plant, like 10 -- 10 people are dead.

So it's really depressing to know that it's happening right now, right here.

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, Geoff, the fabric of just everyday life in Kharkiv and cities like it is really frayed right now.

There's not just the threats of strikes and the loss of life that they have to cope with.

A Kharkiv official told me that at this point in the war, Russian forces have now targeted every single piece of their infrastructure.

That includes electrical and water and TV and radio and mobile lines.

So they're in rolling blackouts right now because all of their power plants have been hit, and they say they lack the air defenses to properly actually protect them.

The new wrinkle here is the growing concern that, in the coming weeks or months ahead, there could be a potential for Russian forces to launch a ground invasion into Kharkiv.

That's what residents are worried about right now -- Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: All right, Amna Nawaz and our team tonight in Kyiv.

Amna, thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, the British and German foreign ministers visited Israel and urged the government to show restraint.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said only Israel will decide how to respond to last weekend's unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack.

And Israeli officials have indicated they will respond.

Nick Schifrin speaks to experts now about what that action might look like and how it will affect the region -- Nick.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For decades, Geoff, Israel and Iran have fought one another in the shadows and through proxies, until Saturday night, when Iran launched the first ever state-on-state attack between these two countries, with more than 300 missiles and drones flown from Iran toward Israel.

That attack was a response to an Israeli strike in Damascus that killed senior Iranian commanders.

What will Israel do next and what might Iran do in response?

We get two views.

Eric Edelman served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey and was undersecretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush administration.

He's now at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a research institute.

And Vali Nasr was a special adviser in the State Department during the Obama administration.

He's now a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Eric Edelman, Vali Nasr, thanks very much.

Welcome, both of you, back to the "NewsHour."

Eric Edelman, let me start with you.

As Geoff just said, this attack by Iran was unprecedented.

Do you expect Israel to retaliate in a significant kind of way?

And should they?

ERIC EDELMAN, Former State Department and Defense Department Official: Well, I think Israel has no choice but to respond, Nick.

This was, as you said, unprecedented, but the scale of this attack is what's really sort of breathtaking, very large attack with both ballistic cruise missiles and UAVs, clearly meant to overwhelm Israel's layered air defenses.

And I think it is impossible for Israel not to strike back in some way.

But Israel is in a quandary, because part of its success in inflicting a pretty humiliating defeat on what is one of the main tools of coercion available to the Iranian regime was through the work of its allies, including the U.S. coordinating a lot of efforts with CENTCOM, also the U.K., France, but also Arab partners.

And Israel doesn't want to alienate them.

So the calls for restraint are clearly having an impact.

The Israeli war cabinet has met, I think, four times now trying to determine exactly how to respond.

And it's a difficult decision for them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Vali Nasr, is that how you see this strike, breathtaking scale designed to overwhelm Israeli and allied defenses?

VALI NASR, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University: I think Eric's analysis is actually correct.

So what we have been seeing is that the rules of the game have been significantly shifting with every attack and counterattack.

So Israel hitting the consulate in Damascus was viewed by Iran as sort of a new sort of red line that Israel crossed.

Iran's attack on Israel is significant, not only in terms of the number of missiles that were used, but that it was also launched from Iranian territory.

It was done in a brazen way.

And the doctrine that went with it is that, from now on, if you attack Iran, we attack you directly.

Now, how Israel responds to this -- and I do agree with Eric that, both for domestic political reasons and for strategic reasons, it's very, very difficult to see a scenario in which Israel would not react, could also, if you would cross, another red line.

So we're in an escalatory cycle where the rules of the shadow war are no longer holding.

And with each of these attacks, we may be crossing a new Rubicon, and that eventually can open -- end up in an open conflict.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But, Eric Edelman, I mean, there are people in Israel, including inside the war cabinet, who are arguing for a much more robust and immediate response.

And they argue that anything short of a direct military strike by Israel on Iran will allow Iran to have reset deterrence and not -- and prevent Israel from creating their own new line.

ERIC EDELMAN: Well, I mean, I think that Israel has many, many tools at its disposal.

And one of the things I think that's asymmetry here is that the very complex, layered defense that Israel has available to it is not something that Iran has.

I think Israel has lots of ways, including nonkinetic ways with cyber, to inflict real costs, impose real costs on the Iranian regime in a way that does reset deterrence without actually getting into the kind of escalatory spiral that Vali was discussing, which I agree is a possibility.

But, right now, I think this was a very -- should be a very disturbing defeat for the Iranian regime.

The fact that I think that they're concerned about it has been demonstrated by the crackdown on domestic dissent that we have seen in the last 48, 72 hours.

And, right now, it's not even clear that they could launch a second volley, since they may have used up a lot of their medium-range ballistic missiles in the first go-round.

And the failure rate may have been as high as 50 percent.

So if you're sitting in Tehran, I think you might be more worried about an escalatory cycle than Israel is right now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Vali Nasr, two U.S. officials did confirm to me that the failure rate was 50 percent.

But in terms of what Iranian government is saying, they are saying that they could actually go bigger next time.

And President Raisi specifically said that even a small attack by Israel on Iran would yield a larger strike on Israel.

Is that bluster or is that real?

VALI NASR: I think it's both.

In other words, definitely, there's bluster, but there's also definitely very tough rhetoric in order to dissuade Israel from doing something that would then force the Iranians to escalate.

But I would say that exactly the ambiguities that exist here, what can the Iranians do, how afraid are they, would they react, at what level they react, is exactly why Israel is pondering its response and why you have two foreign ministers visiting Israel in order to ask Israel to restrain itself.

But, partly, this is not entirely a military issue.

It's not a question of just what fail rate Israel's missiles had, but the way in which this crisis over the last 10 days impacted global markets, impacted psychologically Israel, economically, but also the way in which the United States and Europe reacted to the urgency of the situation basically does give Iran a certain leverage here.

In other words, once Israel attacks Iran, we don't know when Iran would react, but we may go through another 10 days, 15 days of this sort of thing.

And then, if the Iranians decide to react, and then Israel reacts to Iran's reaction, essentially, Israel and Iran are not -- no longer the only two parties that are affected by this crisis.

The global economy, the Arab governments around them, Europe and the United States are affected, and they're quite worried.

And that's also a factor that's playing in here as well.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Eric Edelman, very quickly, because we only have about 45 seconds, the U.S. is trying to urge Israel not to strike back at all.

And they're urging sanctions internationally.

They're talking about that air defense coalition expanding.

Could that reassure Israel not to strike?

ERIC EDELMAN: I think that what I have heard from U.S. officials is that they expect that there will be some retaliation by Israel.

Exactly how it goes, I think nobody really knows right now.

And there has been, as Vali was suggesting and as you have suggested, Nick, some hesitation the Israeli side about how far to go.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.

ERIC EDELMAN: But I think you're going to see some response.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, Vali Nasr, does that necessarily mean exactly what you were just worried about, another round and more weeks of concern for the whole region?

VALI NASR: Well, it depends on what the nature of that response is.

And then we're going to see all these European diplomats, U.S. through back channels, Arab diplomats turn their attention to Tehran to try to preach the same thing to the Iranians to -- not to react to the Israeli attack.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.

Vali Nasr, Eric Edelman, thanks very much to you both.

ERIC EDELMAN: Thank you.

VALI NASR: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: When presidents of several top Ivy League schools testified about antisemitism on their campuses during a tough House hearing this past winter, the president of Columbia University was traveling and did not attend.

Today, though, it was her turn to appear before the committee.

She strongly denounced antisemitism and hate speech.

But, as Laura Barron-Lopez reports, some members of the committee felt she had not done nearly enough.

MINOUCHE SHAFIK, President, Columbia University: Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: From the outset, Columbia President Minouche Shafik tried to persuade lawmakers that the university is being more aggressive about combating antisemitism.

MINOUCHE SHAFIK: Columbia strives to be a community free of discrimination and hate in all its forms, and we condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today.

Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Shafik and other Columbia officials who testified before Congress, including the co-chairs of its board of trustees, said they were not yet satisfied with the situation on campus.

Shafik said the school has taken some action, suspending 15 students and disciplining a handful of professors.

But lawmakers, particularly Republicans, grilled Shafik on the university's response and whether it had adequately punished those who made antisemitic statements.

Virginia Foxx is the committee chair.

REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R-NC): Well, how can we be confident that you will restore order and a safe learning environment if it took you months to send warning letters?

MINOUCHE SHAFIK: I have absolutely no hesitation in enforcing our policies.

When I first started at Columbia, our policies, our systems and our enforcement mechanisms were not up to the scale of this challenge.

REP. VIRGINIA FOXX: OK. MINOUCHE SHAFIK: They were designed for a very different world.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Lawmakers focused much of their questioning on the employment of a tenured professor in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Joseph Massad.

Massad first came under fire after publishing an article on October 8 in which he described scenes of Hamas' attack as -- quote -- "awesome and astonishing," which were seen by many as glorifying violence.

He told The New York Times today that his article was being distorted.

He was also one of several faculty who participated in an unauthorized April 4 protest on campus that was in support of Gaza.

Tim Walberg is a Republican member from Michigan.

REP. TIM WALBERG (R-MI): Do you stand behind Professor Massad remaining chair of the Academic Review Committee, given his support for terrorism and harassing Jewish students?

MINOUCHE SHAFIK: Congressman Walberg, I just want to confirm that when faculty behave in any discriminatory fashion at Columbia, there are consequences.

REP. TIM WALBERG: You talked to him.

MINOUCHE SHAFIK: No, we take them out of the classroom if necessary.

REP. TIM WALBERG: Is he out of the classroom?

MINOUCHE SHAFIK: I believe, to answer your question, he is no longer a chair of that committee and does not have a leadership role.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But as the hearing continued, Shafik said she wasn't sure of that.

Finally, after repeated questioning, she seemed to commit to removing Massad as chair of an academic review committee.

Shafik also said several faculty were removed from the classroom and confirmed one professor was fired for allegedly posting support for Hamas.

Others focused their questioning on the Jewish student experience, including Republican lawmaker Clarence Burgess Owens.

REP. BURGESS OWENS (R-UT): There's a statement from a student -- of a Jewish student at Columbia: "It's impossible to exist as a Jewish student at Columbia without running face first into antisemitism every single day.

Jew hatred is so deeply embedded into the campus culture, it's become casual among students, faculty, and neglected by administrators."

Do you agree with this statement?

MINOUCHE SHAFIK: I have met those students and heard those words in the listening sessions that I have been holding.

I believe in leadership by presence and walking around, and I have listened to those students and it has distressed me hugely.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The grilling echoed a hearing held by the same committee in December, where the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were heavily criticized for their answers on questions about genocide.

Since then, both Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, and Penn's president, Elizabeth Magill, have resigned.

On Columbia's campus in particular, allegations include the beating of an Israeli student with a stick by a former undergraduate who was seen ripping down posters of Israeli hostages, and multiple students reported being cursed at for being Jewish.

Columbia cracked down on demonstrations, deferring to a newly created Task Force on Antisemitism.

David Schizer, co-chair of that task force, appeared before the committee today.

DAVID SCHIZER, Co-Chair, Columbia University Task Force on Antisemitism: The problem is there and it is not yet fixed.

And I will say that our first step was to look at rules for protests, and I am very grateful that our responses have been taken so seriously.

And, as I said, the university is implementing all of our recommendations, but we're only just getting started.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Pro-Palestinian students at Columbia have also been targeted, including a doxxing campaign where their identities were published online and circulated on a truck around campus.

Students for Justice in Palestine, the most prominent nationwide pro-Palestinian campus group, has been suspended from at least four universities, including Columbia, Brandeis, George Washington, and Rutgers.

Other campuses are also still reeling from the fallout from the overseas conflict.

This week, the University of Southern California canceled a planned graduation speech from a valedictorian, saying it was due to safety concerns.

The backlash was immediate, with some claiming her pro-Palestinian social media postings were the reason for the cancellation.

The House committee is planning to hold a similar hearing next month, this time calling forth public school administrators from California, New York, and Maryland.

REP. VIRGINIA FOXX: The committee stands adjourned.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.

GEOFF BENNETT: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani is in Washington this week, a trip that was scheduled before the Iranian attack over the weekend that sent hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel.

The sharp increase in Mideast tensions has become a focus of his visit, which we discussed in a wide-ranging interview today.

But, first, a look at what else is on his agenda, including the future of U.S.-Iraq security cooperation and improving Iraq's economy.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani kicked off his Washington visit at the White House, meeting with President Biden on Monday to discuss the status of U.S. forces in Iraq, as well as expanding economic and diplomatic ties.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: The partnership between Iraq and the United States is critical.

We have seen over the last decade as our troops have served side by side to help defeat ISIS, and we have seen this in our strategic framework agreement as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: But the meeting was overshadowed by Iran's drone and missile attacks on Israel this past weekend.

Al-Sudani called for restraint to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI, Iraqi Prime Minister (through translator): We encourage all the efforts about stopping the expansion of the area of conflict, especially the latest development.

And we encourage all for restraints and to protect the safety and security of the region.

GEOFF BENNETT: While in Washington, the prime minister is hoping to boost U.S. investment in Iraq's economy and expand the relationship with the U.S. beyond security, all while shoring up a long and complicated relationship.

In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein's regime, while vowing to destroy weapons of mass destruction.

As it turns out, there were no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

The war killed nearly 5,000 U.S. service members, and it's estimated that half-a-million Iraqis died, according to a University of Washington study.

After the U.S. withdrew its troops in 2011, the Islamic State took over parts of Iraq.

In 2014, U.S. forces returned to the country at the Iraqi government's request to help recapture territory from ISIS and train Iraqi forces.

That same year, elections in Iraq saw a coalition government come to power that included Iranian sympathizers.

Some 2,500 American military service personnel are currently stationed in Iraq.

Many Iraqis want coalition troops gone and have been pressuring the Iraqi government to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.

Those demands have only intensified since the war in Gaza started last October, a situation complicated by the presence of Iran-backed militias in Iraq that have attacked U.S. forces, one of which, Kataib Hezbollah, launched a drone strike earlier this year that killed three U.S. service members at a base in Jordan.

And, last year, the same group abducted Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, a dual Israeli-Russian citizen, drawing international attention, all of it serving as the backdrop for the prime minister's visit and the basis of our interview this morning in Washington.

Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to the "NewsHour."

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): You're most welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: Your visit comes at a sensitive time for U.S. relations in the Middle East, following Iran's unprecedented strike on Israel over the weekend.

The attack has inflamed concerns of a wider regional war.

President Biden, whom you met with earlier this week, says Iraq has a role to play in maintaining the peace.

How do you view your role?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): The region is witnessing turmoil in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Syria, and recently this escalation, which happened after the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which is a dangerous development and a violation of international law.

Iraq has tried after the Damascus event to de-escalate, and we urge the Iranian side not to respond to that.

The attention of the Netanyahu government is for these regional tensions to continue.

And, unfortunately, when these wars continue in our region, that impacts the security and the stability of those who live there.

GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. helped block Iran's attack on Israel last weekend by using Iraqi airspace to shoot down drones and shoot down an Iranian missile over Iraq, but your military did not participate in that effort.

Why not?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): Our security capabilities are still developing, so they can protect our airspace.

Iraq and its security policy aims to keep the country away from any conflict or attack on other nations, because the ultimate goal is the security and stability of Iraq, especially in these difficult times.

GEOFF BENNETT: If there is an Israeli attack on Iran that uses Iraqi airspace, what will you do?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): Iraq rejects the use of its airspace from any country.

We don't want Iraq to be engaged in the area of conflict.

And I reiterate and stress that this escalation will engage the region in dangerous calculations, that nobody will control the reactions.

This is why part of our talks with Mr. Biden were to urge the parties to de-escalate and to end these developments.

From our side, we will exert efforts in order to achieve this objective.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk about the U.S. security arrangement in Iraq.

The U.S. has some 2,500 troops in Iraq largely advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of ISIS.

The Iraqi Parliament declared that U.S. advisers should leave.

Is that departure based on a timetable, or is it based on the security situation on the ground?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): Our Parliament's decision in 2020 and the October 2022 government program called for the end of the global coalition's mission, which was done in coordination with the United States.

This coalition emerged upon the invitation of the Iraqi government in 2014.

We are speaking about 10 years ago.

Now there is a noticeable stability in the region.

There is preparedness of the Iraqi security forces.

And ISIS now is no longer a threat to the safety and security of Iraq.

This led the Parliament and political forces to end the mission and to transition into a security bilateral relationship with the United States and the rest of the countries of the global coalition.

GEOFF BENNETT: I hear you say ISIS is not a threat, but, this week, the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, while standing next to you, said ISIS remains a threat to your citizens and to ours.

How is ISIS no longer a threat?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): ISIS inside Iraq doesn't represent a threat to the security of Iraq.

The elements of ISIS are in Syria, and we are working with the global coalition to secure our borders with the Syrians in order to prevent any infiltrations.

The cells of ISIS are there.

We are not speaking about armed people.

We are speaking about ideology, extremist ideology that believes in killing and violence.

We are tracking the recruitment and financing cells, and we are working on limiting them, controlling them.

This is one of our concerns.

What happened in Gaza will lead to a double escalation and violence and maybe we will regenerate a new Da'esh, ISIS.

GEOFF BENNETT: The last time the U.S. withdrew from Iraq, ISIS took over a good deal of the country, and the U.S. military had to come back into Iraq to fight against them.

What's to prevent that from happening again?

Are the Iraqi security forces that have been trained by American troops, are they now capable of fending off a resurgent, potentially resurgent ISIS?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): This is an important question.

Certainly, the situation in Iraq is different radically now than in 2014.

Now ISIS does not have popular domestic incubators everywhere in the region, especially the liberated area.

Also, the Iraqi security forces have gained unique experience at the advanced level, the top levels among forces in the region, in counterterrorism.

Another thing is the political stability.

My government is supported by 280 members of a broad coalition of 329 members that include all the components of the Iraqis.

This is a factor of strength, and there is the economic development.

In Iraq, we are not speaking about ISIS anymore.

Only here, when I speak with the media, do we talk about ISIS.

In Iraq, we're speaking about development, about investment in companies, universities, culture.

GEOFF BENNETT: I do want to talk about economic development, but, first, do you expect any U.S. advisers to leave Iraq this year, in 2024?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): We have agreed on a framework in the joint security dialogue and then also issued a joint statement with President Biden and committed to the outcome of the U.S.-Iraq Higher Military Commission, which will assess the capabilities and operational conditions.

According to that, we will have a timetable about how to end this mission.

GEOFF BENNETT: Iranian-backed militia groups continue to operate from Iraq, and this is even after they killed three U.S. troops on the border with Syria.

You say you won't allow Iraqi territory to be used by any nonstate actor, but the fact is, they still operate on Iraqi soil.

Why is that?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): The government has repeatedly stated its commitment to not allow any one side to play an outsized role in any operations that will lead to destabilization and lack of security.

We have made that clear and we have taken practical measures against all those groups attacking diplomatic missions and military bases in Iraq.

And we will not hesitate to take legal measures against anyone who wants to tamper with our security.

GEOFF BENNETT: Half of Iraq's population, as I understand it, Mr. Prime Minister, is under the age of 25.

Most of them were born after the invasion.

And there is some 32 percent unemployment, if I have that number right, that affects that age group.

Why is that the case in Iraq, which is such an oil-rich nation, and what do you need to change that?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): This is one of the strength factors that we have in Iraq, that we have a young population and human capital that we have to invest in.

This is one of the priorities of my government.

We're trying to reform the economy, so that we're not entirely dependent on oil.

We want to diversify revenues in tourism and agriculture, and we focus on education and health in order to provide young people job opportunities and entrepreneurship programs.

We don't want young people to depend solely on government jobs.

We want them to be involved in the private sector.

Now, traveling with us are a number of businessmen of the private sector of Iraq that have been meeting for two days with U.S. companies and businessmen.

GEOFF BENNETT: As you try to entice U.S. companies to invest in Iraq, do recent developments in the region undermine or at least complicate your message that Iraq is a safe place for American investments and American workers?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): I will give you a simple example.

The Basra Oil Company, one of the companies of the Oil Ministry in southern Iraq, just this company has contracts with 34 American companies that are currently in Iraq.

We also have different European and Western companies working in Iraq in different sectors.

There is a good number of investments that amount to $5 million with Qatari companies.

Emirati and Saudi companies are also trying to enter.

This is what we are talking about in Iraq about investment opportunities.

That means that we have safety, an attractive environment for investment.

GEOFF BENNETT: Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian woman who was a graduate student at Princeton, she was kidnapped by Kataib Hezbollah.

This is the Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group that is backed by Iran.

What are you doing to ensure her release?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): After the kidnapping incident, we formed a broad security team to track the investigation and to track all the information in order to reveal the fate of this citizen and also to follow the perpetrators.

GEOFF BENNETT: Her family and friends say that you have the influence and the relationships needed to free her, that you have done that before for other captives of this same group.

Will you do that for Elizabeth?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): Our measures are continuous and investigators are monitoring every piece of information to reveal the fate of that citizen.

GEOFF BENNETT: Finally, considering the legacy of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, looking back, is Iraq better off now than before 2003?

Is Iraq better off with Saddam gone and an elected government now in your country?

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): Certainly, Iraq represents a unique example in the Middle East, because it is a real democratic system that has a constitution protecting the rights of all the people.

All minorities are living there in an equal way.

They have equal rights and duties.

We have sacrificed a lot for this system, and we are committed to maintain it, and at this time more than at any other time.

GEOFF BENNETT: Mr. Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

MOHAMMED SHIA' AL-SUDANI (through translator): Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Boeing has faced intense scrutiny for months.

And, as our aviation correspondent, Miles O'Brien reports, new whistle-blower claims were the focus of a congressional hearing today.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Boeing is at a moment of reckoning.

It's a moment many years in the making.

It is a moment that results not from one incident or one flight or one plane or one plan.

MILES O'BRIEN: Lawmakers and whistle-blowers today slammed Boeing's safety culture, highlighting supply chain mismanagement, relentless production pressure, and allegations of other design errors that have besieged the company.

SAM SALEHPOUR, Boeing Whistle-Blower: I have analyzed Boeing's own data to conclude that the company is taking manufacturing shortcuts on the 787 program.

MILES O'BRIEN: Engineer Sam Salehpour is just the latest in a long line of Boeing whistle-blowers.

He told a Senate subcommittee he has serious safety concerns about the 787 Dreamliner, a fuel-efficient long-range wide body that is Boeing's newest design.

The alleged problem?

Pieces of the fuselage improperly joined together.

SAM SALEHPOUR: In a rush to address its bottlenecks in production, Boeing hit problems, pushing pieces together with excessive force to make them appear that the gaps don't exist, even though they exist.

The gap didn't actually go away, and this may result in premature fatigue failure.

Effectively, they are putting out defective airplanes.

MILES O'BRIEN: That said, the Federal Aviation Administration has taken no moves to ground the 787 and have not said they are unsafe.

In a statement today, Boeing dismissed Salehpour's claims and said: "Under FAA oversight, we have painstakingly inspected and reworked airplanes and improved production quality to meet exacting standards that are measured in the one-hundredths of an inch.

We are fully confident in the safety and durability of the 787 Dreamliner."

The company also denied any fatigue problems with the fuselages under repeated testing.

Boeing's public battering comes amid a series of harrowing fatal and near-fatal mishaps and accidents with its 737 airliners.

In January, an improperly installed door plug on a 737 MAX 9 blew off mid-flight, prompting the most recent round of public and regulatory scrutiny.

Boeing's safety nosedive first came to public light in 2018 and '19, when two 737 MAXes crashed, killing 346 people.

In the wake of those accidents, Boeing faced a criminal charge that it defrauded the FAA.

The company paid more than $2.5 billion to settle.

Ed Pierson, a former Boeing senior manager who left in 2018 and a whistle-blower himself, said little was learned.

ED PIERSON, Former Senior Manager, Boeing: The world is shocked to learn about Boeing's current production quality issues.

I'm not surprised, because nothing changed after the two crashes.

There was no accountability.

Not a single person from Boeing went to jail.

MILES O'BRIEN: Pierson feels the FAA policy that allows manufacturers to police themselves is also a key part of the problem.

ED PIERSON: The gold standard is now fool's gold, because the only thing that is more dangerous than a dangerous environment is the illusion of a safe environment.

MILES O'BRIEN: Salehpour's allegations land on a long, troubling list.

SAM SALEHPOUR: All the problems that we have had, we put Band-Aid over Band-Aid to resolve the problems, and Band-Aid over Band-Aid doesn't cover it.

MILES O'BRIEN: He says he and other whistle-blowers endured professional retaliation and threats after raising concerns internally.

SAM SALEHPOUR: You just try to escape from that, because this is hell that I was subjected to.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Yes.

Rather than saying, you know what, you have got a point, we need to maybe do something about this, they're telling you to hide it.

They're reassigning you.

They're threatening you.

SAM SALEHPOUR: Threaten you, sideline you, transfer you.

MILES O'BRIEN: In response, Boeing said retaliation is strictly prohibited.

But the company also said: "We know we have more work to do to foster a safety culture and we are taking action across our company to encourage all employees to raise their voice."

Senator Richard Blumenthal reiterated his invitation to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to testify at a later time.

Calhoun says he will step down by the end of the year.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Miles O'Brien.

GEOFF BENNETT: And join us again here tomorrow night for a look at the rise of the four-day workweek, as employers search for new ways to make their businesses more competitive and productive.

And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, from Kyiv, I'm Amna Nawaz.

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