GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Officials stop most helicopters from flying near Washington's National Airport while they search for clues into what caused the deadly collision with a passenger jet.

GEOFF BENNETT: A United Nations relief agency vows to keep providing aid to Gaza, despite an Israeli ban on the organization taking effect.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Syria faces the daunting task of rebuilding after 13 years of civil war.

How one revolutionary envisions his nation's future.

SALEH HAWA, Syrian Professor and Activist: I feel that I am a human being again.

I am free again.

All of us believe that we were born just now.

AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

The black box from the Army helicopter that collided with a passenger jet near Washington's Reagan National Airport this week has been recovered.

GEOFF BENNETT: Investigators hope to gather valuable data as they try to understand what led to the deadly midair crash.

As John Yang reports, families were also briefed today by officials and met with the medical examiner.

JOHN YANG: Police boats were back on the Potomac River today as divers searched for the remaining bodies of the 67 people who died in the midair collision of a passenger jet and an Army helicopter, both aircrafts still submerged in the icy waters.

And, today, the first major change since the crash.

The FAA shut down most low-altitude helicopter flights near the busy Washington Reagan National Airport, one of the nation's most congested airspaces shared until now by commercial jets and government helicopters.

Meanwhile, NTSB investigators began analyzing the passenger jet's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, the so-called black boxes.

On FOX News this morning, Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is trying to find out if the crew was using night-vision goggles.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. Defense Secretary: The qualification was a night flight.

They could have been used.

You have a lot of ambient light, a lot of things happening around Reagan.

There can be depth perception problems.

Again, that's speculation.

Our investigation will tell us more.

JOHN YANG: Several news outlets say that, at the time of the crash, one of the controllers in the airport's tower was handling both planes and helicopters, tasks normally performed by two individuals.

That practice is allowed, but typically later in the evening, when traffic is slower.

At the White House, reporters asked whether the flying public should be concerned about FAA staffing levels.

In response, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on President Trump's controversial comments yesterday about diversity and inclusion.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, White House Press Secretary: When you are flying on an airplane with your loved ones, which every one of us in this room has, do you pray that your plane lands safely and gets you to your destination or do you pray that the pilot has a certain skin color?

I think we all know the answer to that question.

And, as President Trump said yesterday, it's common sense.

JOHN YANG: More than 40 bodies of the crash's 67 victims have been recovered.

And we're learning more about those victims.

Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder were the flight attendants on the passenger jet; 13-year-old figure skater Jinna Han and her mother, Jin, were among those returning from were among those returning from a skating camp.

Civil rights attorney Kiah Duggins had been in Wichita for her mother's surgery.

This fall, she was to become a professor at Howard University Law School.

Michael Stovall was one of seven friends on Flight 5342 returning from a duck hunting trip.

And Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves and Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara, both husbands and fathers, were two of the three soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm John Yang.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the crash is spurring many more questions about the safety of the U.S. aviation system and whether other changes might be needed.

For a pilot's perspective, we're joined tonight by Les Abend, a retired American Airlines 777 captain.

He's also a contributing editor to "Flying" magazine.

Thank you for being with us.

LES ABEND, Contributing Editor, "Flying": Glad to be here.

GEOFF BENNETT: The altitude of this military helicopter is coming under scrutiny.

The New York Times is reporting today that the helicopter that collided with the passenger jet appears to have been flying too high and outside of its approved flight path at the time of the crash.

Add to that President Trump posted on social media that the helicopter was flying - - quote -- "flying too high by a lot."

As we await the findings of this investigation based on your experience and your review of the new videos of the crash, what's your best assessment of what transpired?

LES ABEND: Well, listen, everything is pure speculation at this point.

None of us should be making conjectures or anything of that nature with reference to what's happened.

The altitudes that this helicopter might have been flying, I think is being reported by data networks like FlightAware and so on and so forth.

That's using GPS altitude, which can be different than regular altitude.

Indeed, it's possible.

My gut feel when I first saw this accident was that these pilots of the Black Hawk might have identified the wrong aircraft and didn't realize it until the last minute.

Now, if they were using NVG goggles... GEOFF BENNETT: Night-vision goggles.

LES ABEND: ... and you get - - night-vision goggles, correct.

If you use those goggles, ambient light, especially coming from a landing light of another aircraft, can potentially blind you.

So that's a possibility as well.

But this is what the NTSB is doing.

We will find there are a number of contributing factors to this terrible, terrible tragedy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, the FAA has indefinitely shut down the low-altitude helicopter corridor that was in use at the time of the collision.

In your view, is the airspace around Reagan National, is it too crowded?

What other changes need to be made?

LES ABEND: Well, it's crowded.

And it's been that way for decades.

And we have managed to get through decades with no midair collisions of any consequence that have actually had fatalities.

So, yes, it's busy, busy airspace.

We have got military operations.

We have got civilian operations.

We have restrictive airspace.

I think what we could do is, let's take a look at what we have now.

What is it that potentially caused this problem?

And evaluate that first.

Where can we make changes?

Is it possible that we could have more restrictions on what we call airplane and trail, in other words, the distance between the airplane ahead of us and the airplane behind us?

Do we need to increase that spacing?

It's increased during weather operations because airplanes have to slow down and configure early when they don't see the ground initially.

So it can be a complicated and challenging experience, but a lot of times there's visual approaches which follow the Potomac River right to the particular runway, especially if they're coming from the north.

GEOFF BENNETT: This also has raised questions about the air traffic controller shortage.

Again, we don't know to the degree that that played a role in this collision, but the shortage is so severe that you have many air traffic controllers working 10-hour shifts six days a week.

Big picture, what danger does that present, if at all, to the flying public?

LES ABEND: Yes, no doubt that this could be a potential issue, but it could be a potential issue in any facility.

This is a very busy facility.

There's some really, really sharp controllers that work for this particular facility.

If indeed it's a staff shortage, it could be related to this accident.

Once again, we don't know, but anybody working on a job that's as intense and as stressful as this one is -- has the potential to be fatigued, just as pilots have the potential to be fatigued.

So there are regulations that restrict pilots and air traffic controllers on how long they can work, controllers, how long they can be on a counsel at one particular time.

Are they stretching it and pushing it to the limit?

It's possible.

We don't know yet.

GEOFF BENNETT: Les Abend, thanks again for joining us with your insights.

We appreciate it.

President Trump today said he's moving forward with his plans to slap tariffs on three major U.S. trading partners.

AMNA NAWAZ: Speaking to reporters, he confirmed 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10 percent on those coming from China, with many to go into effect as soon as Saturday.

The president also said that tariffs on the European Union are to be expected.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: The tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong and we're going to treat other countries very fairly.

But if you think about it, other countries charge us tariffs.

We don't charge them tariffs, and it's about time that that changes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been following all this and joins us now.

So, Laura, what are the potential impacts of the tariffs?

How sweeping are they?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: They're very sweeping, Amna.

And they're unprecedented, according to the economists that we talked to, nothing like we have seen in our lifetimes in terms of the scope of the tariffs, especially being exacted on allies like Mexico and Canada.

And I spoke to Erica York, the V.P.

of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, and she said that these are going to be extremely disruptive because of the fact that these tariffs are on all goods on -- to Mexico and Canada.

And she and other economists said that they could upend the supply chain relationships that the United States has and that ultimately this is going to have a lot of impact on the American consumer.

I should note that Trump also said there would be future tariffs on the European Union, and should note that some economists believe that targeted tariffs are good.

President Biden kept in place a number of President Trump's first-term tariffs.

But Erica York said that she and her team crunched the numbers at Tax Foundation and that this exact percentage of tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China could cost the average American household an extra $830 a year.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, Mr. Trump has said that he would do this as president.

Now President Trump is doubling down on the threat to do this.

What's been the reaction to these threats?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada will be forceful, but reasonable and have an immediate response that they're prepared to implement.

And another Canadian official told the "News Hour" that they are in D.C. and prepared to negotiate with President Trump up until the last minute to avoid tariffs, but that they don't see a single American official that's willing to negotiate with them right now.

AMNA NAWAZ: While we have you, Laura, I need to ask about some news tonight.

The AP is reporting that a top Department of Justice official has ordered the firing of some prosecutors who worked on January 6 rioter cases.

There's also AP reporting that a number of FBI officials, including some who investigated the federal cases against President Trump, are at risk of being fired.

What do we know?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: What we know so far is that the Trump administration is expected to fire dozens of FBI agents.

This is according to multiple reports and also some reporting by our own Stephanie Sy.

But the president was asked about this today and he essentially said he didn't -- wasn't really aware of the potential of these firings.

And he said that there are some very bad people over at the FBI and that he thinks that this is a good idea, but it was, frankly, stunning, Amna, because he didn't appear to be aware of these coming firings.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you very much.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines with the Trump administration's efforts to freeze trillions of dollars in grants and loans.

This afternoon, a judge in Rhode Island sided with nearly two dozen states that had requested a temporary restraining order to pause the measure.

That comes after a judge in Washington had halted the plan, but only until Monday.

Earlier this week, a government memo called on agencies to freeze funding to make sure it's in line with President Trump's agenda.

That sent shockwaves through the states, schools and organizations that rely on those funds.

That memo was then rescinded, though the White House press secretary has insisted that a funding freeze is still in the works.

A senior Trump administration official traveled to Venezuela today to speak with President Nicolas Maduro about migrants.

Venezuelan state TV showed the envoy for special missions Richard Grenell meeting with the authoritarian leader in Caracas.

White House officials say he urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who've committed crimes in the U.S. and pushed for the release of several imprisoned Americans.

The meeting comes after -- weeks after Maduro was sworn in for a third term following last year's highly disputed election.

The U.S. and several other Western nations do not recognize his victory.

Turning now to the Middle East, where Israeli officials have confirmed the names of three hostages set to be released tomorrow by Hamas.

They include American Israeli Keith Siegel, French Israeli Ofer Calderon, and Yarden Bibas.

The news that Bibas will be released has raised questions about the fate of his wife and two young sons also taken captive on October 7.

Hamas said earlier in the war that they'd been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Israel has not verified that claim.

In the meantime, Palestinian officials say that Israel has agreed to release 90 prisoners as part of the fourth such exchange between the two sides.

The United Nations says that Rwandan-backed rebels are expanding their presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The M23 group took the major Eastern city of Goma earlier this week and has advanced into South Kivu province.

Congolese forces were able to repel and attack late last night, but the rebels have vowed to march to Congo's capital of Kinshasa about 1,000 miles away.

In the meantime, the rebel-controlled Goma remains largely without water and electricity.

The city has been a humanitarian hub for more than six million people in the region who have been displaced by the conflict.

KAVIRA ALINE, Congo Resident: We no longer had people to protect us when fighting broke out.

I hope M23 have pity on us.

May they bring us peace.

What we are going through is not meant for children of God.

We live like animals.

We are suffering.

AMNA NAWAZ: The U.N. also said today that it's concerned about growing human rights violations stemming from the conflict.

This includes reports of executions at the hands of the rebels, as well as sexual violence carried out by the Congolese government forces.

Back in this country, a New York doctor was indicted today for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online to a teenager in Louisiana, where the procedure is banned with few exceptions.

A grand jury there charged Dr. Margaret Carpenter and her company with -- quote -- "criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs," a felony.

Louisiana classifies the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances.

This appears to be the first case of criminal charges against a doctor for sending abortion pills to another state since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended lower amid concerns about President Trump's tariffs.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 300 points on the day.

The Nasdaq dropped more than 50 points.

The S&P 500 also ended the week in negative territory.

And today marks the fifth anniversary of not one, but two moments that changed our world forever.

First up, Brexit.

At 11:00 p.m. London time on this day in 2020, Big Ben marked the moment when the U.K. officially left the European Union.

Five years later, the economic, social and cultural shift is still playing out.

Also today: ALEX AZAR, Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary: I have today declared that the coronavirus presents a public health emergency in the United States.

AMNA NAWAZ: It is five years since U.S. health officials declared a public health emergency over the newly reported coronavirus.

COVID went on to shut down schools and offices nationwide and claim the lives of more than 1.2 million Americans.

Still to come on the "News Hour": David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines; and musicians work to forge better relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA said it remains operational, providing humanitarian aid in Gaza, as well as the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

That's despite a ban that went into effect yesterday.

An Israeli law passed in October forbids UNRWA from operating on Israeli land and forbids contact with Israeli authorities.

Nick Schifrin has more.

NICK SCHIFRIN: UNRWA was established after the creation of the state of Israel as the primary U.N. agency to serve the Palestinian population.

In the decades since, it has come to provide some six million Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories not only humanitarian assistance, but education and health care.

Israel has argued that UNRWA staff helped commit the Hamas terror attacks on October the 7th, 2023.

The U.N. has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired.

To understand the status of UNRWA and its future, we get two views, William Deere, director of UNRWA's Washington, D.C., office, and Assaf Orion, a retired brigadier general with the Israeli Defense Forces, now a fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Thanks very much to both of you.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Bill Deere, let me start with you.

What is going on with UNRWA?

As we said earlier, there is an official ban that has gone in effect, but you're still operating.

So what's its status?

WILLIAM DEERE, Washington Operations Director, UNRWA: The first day of the ban, all UNRWA facilities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank remained open, save our field headquarters in Jerusalem.

In fact, we had 400 medical consultations in East Jerusalem alone.

is going to reopen again on Sunday.

In Gaza, we are -- our international staff remain, and we continue to stay and deliver.

We are a major part of the humanitarian assistance effort, particularly since the cease-fire.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, Assaf Orion, what should we make of that, in your opinion, that there is an official ban on this organization, yet it continues to operate?

BRIG GEN. ASSAF ORION (RET.

), The Washington Institute: I think it is important to understand the Israeli view of UNRWA.

And to put it shortly, it's a poisoned apple.

The apple part is the services that we heard, education, food and health, which are a necessity and everybody recognizes the need to do so.

The poisoned part is connected to negative aspects of UNRWA, the involvement and actually the repurposing and overtake of Hamas of parts of UNRWA operations in Gaza, so involvement in terror, participation in the October 7 massacre, in hostage-taking.

We have a hostage who said I was held inside an UNRWA site.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, Bill Deere, take those arguments on.

Israel says that UNRWA has been infiltrated by Hamas, and then we have seen things like tunnels that Hamas has used underneath UNRWA schools.

WILLIAM DEERE: The U.N. nor UNRWA want Hamas members as part of the organization.

When Israel in January of last year brought us the initial names, the first thing that our commissioner general said was, this is a betrayal of the United Nations.

This is a betrayal of the work that we do for Palestinian refugees.

As a result, we move swiftly and decisively, both us and the secretary-general.

The secretary-general ordered his equivalent of an inspector general to look at this.

The secretary-general also commissioned an independent outside review of UNRWA's neutrality operations.

The record is clear.

When we find, for example, a tunnel under one of our facilities -- and, let's be honest, these tunnels are everywhere -- what we do is, we notify the Israeli government of what we found.

We notify the United States and all the other major donors.

We demarche the Palestinian - - or the de facto authority.

And then, frankly, at some personal risk, we inject cement into those tunnels and such.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So, Assaf Orion, have the steps that UNRWA have taken been sufficient?

And, again, does the fact that they are still operating, the Israeli government appears to be allowing them to operate, mean that the Israeli government in some ways needs UNRWA?

BRIG GEN. ASSAF ORION (RET.

): I think we need to address two issues, the tactical issues that have been mentioned here, of involvement or the use of U.N. sites for terror and military purposes.

The second pertains to the strategic aspects, when this agency, unlike the High Commissioner for Refugees, its sister agency in the U.N., is not about finding long-term solutions for the Palestinian refugees.

Its inheritance or hereditary status given to Palestinians just by the fact that their ancestors were among the refugees in '48 and '67.

No other refugee population is still around.

There are some positive services which were mentioned, but it comes with a problematic load of strategic issues which actually impede the peace process or peacemaking.

And, instead, it is perpetuating the right of return as an issue and inciting through its education system.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Bill Deere, is there an alternative to UNRWA that exists?

WILLIAM DEERE: No.

UNRWA performs a unique function in the U.N. system.

We are a direct service provider.

We run, as Assaf noted, a health care network.

We run an education system.

We provide relief and social services.

Nick, every UNRWA commissioner general wants to be the last UNRWA commissioner general.

Assaf is right.

This was established as a temporary agency until there was a permanent solution.

The member states of the U.N. across 75 years have failed to come to that permanent solution.

In fact, UNRWA is by design built to be turned over to Palestinian institutions.

We -- it's why we pay, for example, local comparator wages.

We don't want to be there forever.

And, in fact,we see our role in Gaza as hopefully being a bridge to whatever emerges as the governance there.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Assaf Orion, I mean, all U.N. officials say you cannot replace UNRWA.

BRIG GEN. ASSAF ORION (RET.

): Sure you can.

Of course you can.

These services can be provided in the West Bank by the PA, in Jordan by the Jordanian government, in Lebanon by the Lebanese government, in Gaza, where, when there will be an alternative government, it will be this government.

It can be alternative U.N. agencies like the food programs, health programs, or refugee programs, the same thing.

And the main thing that the -- that UNRWA should do to make it possible for one day to solve the problem is to stop perpetuating the problem by printing more and more refugee certificates for the sons, granddaughters, grandchildren of the original ones.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Assaf Orion, Bill Deere, thank you very much to you both.

BRIG GEN. ASSAF ORION (RET.

): Thank you.

WILLIAM DEERE: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: As Syria recovers from 13 years of civil war and decades under the brutal Assad regime, its people must now rebuild their nation.

AMNA NAWAZ: One of those facing that task is Saleh Hawa, a Syrian literature professor and revolutionary who the "News Hour" met in 2012 and has spoken with many times since.

Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen spoke with him recently in the new free Syria.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: A free Syria for all its people.

In 2012, Saleh Hawa was an idealistic young father, teacher and protester, with high hopes for a free future for his country.

SALEH HAWA, Syrian Professor and Activist: We're singing, we're chanting in the streets peacefully without carrying any weapons.

Every day, the Assad regime forces, the security, the Mukhabarat forces kill people on a daily basis.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: What he saw in the 12 years since left him dejected and hopeless, his hometown of Haritan devastated by Russian airstrikes, and hundreds of his friends and colleagues killed and displaced.

This was once Saleh's home, where he raised his three oldest children and dreamed of a bright future for them.

Now his community, like thousands across the country, lies in pieces.

The earthquake two years ago took much of what the warplanes and artillery shells hadn't already destroyed.

Saleh still thinks much death and destruction could have been avoided if he and his friends were given the help they needed in the early days of the revolution.

SALEH HAWA: Nobody needs to blame them for being militants, because what they saw pushes everybody to be militant, when you see that all the people around you are bombed every day, and nobody is trying to help.

We do not deny that we got good support from Western governments and Western organizations.

But everything they gave was food, some blanket, but what we needed at that time was some kind of weaponry.

If the U.S. at that time had supported us militarily, we would have prevented Iran from smuggling weapons to Hezbollah.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Saleh, who once believed the world, and especially the U.S., would stand behind Syrian protesters, spoke multiple times to the "News Hour" as the civil war spiralled, telling us his country had been abandoned to horror.

But, he says, now is their chance to make amends.

He fears, if there's a power vacuum, Iran and Russia could come back to fill it.

SALEH HAWA: Particularly the West, particularly America, right now have, let me say, a very good chance to start a new page with the Syrian people, to atone for their sins with the Syrian people.

They let us down in the past.

I believe that pro-Assad forces are still waiting, they are still weaponized, and lots of Iranians are still in Syria, by the way.

This means that right now the West mustn't lose this chance.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: After the sudden fall of the dictator who he says destroyed his country, now Saleh's hope is back, rejoicing alongside millions of Syrians at home and displaced abroad who now hope to return.

But so many like him have been left homeless and penniless by this war, and his family is luckier than most.

Since fleeing Haritan, they have been living in this small house in Azaz that the whole extended family shares.

Rebuilding will be an almighty task in a country with an economy that's in ruins too.

SALEH HAWA: Eighty percent of our houses had been destroyed by the Russian airplanes.

I cannot rebuild my house because it needs thousands of dollars, and you know this is impossible nowadays because we do not have salaries.

The economic cycle right now has broken down.

The economic situation needs to be reactivated, needs to be starting new businesses, starting factories, because we have lots of young men here are unemployed.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: When rebel-held Idlib faced extermination in 2020, Saleh begged then-President Trump for help.

SALEH HAWA: I'm calling for President Mr. Donald Trump, please do something, please.

I beg you.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Now he has high hopes that a Trump presidency will be in Syria's favor, mostly because of his firm stance against Iran.

SALEH HAWA: The nuclear agreement was under the Obama administration, and Mr. Trump stopped all that agreement.

That's why we as Syrians believe that, if we think of who is better for Syria in terms of the relationship with Iran, no, it's -- definitely, it's President Trump.

Even if we are not his friends, at least he is an enemy of our enemy.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Since 2016, Saleh has been teaching at what people in rebel-held territory called the University of Free Aleppo.

A literature professor, now he hopes his future will be dominated by books, not war.

SALEH HAWA: I feel that I am still in a dream.

The tyrannical regime, the dictator whom we worked hard to topple down for 13 years right now is erased from Syria in 13 days.

That was miraculous.

I believe that this is the first time we as Syrian people and, personally, I feel that I am a human being again.

I am free again.

All of us believe that we were born just now.

We have been born maybe for the first time in our life.

We can speak freely.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: There's so much work to be done.

But when and if you get there, what does life in a free Syria look like for you?

SALEH HAWA: As revolutionaries, we don't think about ourselves.

We think about our society, about the benefits of our society, the welfare of our society.

And that's why we started the revolution, because we wanted to liberate our society, to open new horizons for the generations to come.

Imagine, after 13 years of being chased from one place to the other, displaced outside my home and living under bombardment, waiting for the Russian planes to come and attack us, the ideas, the feelings, the emotions are crowded in our heads, and not knowing what to do, what to say, how to feel even.

So I cannot imagine how my future life will be.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: And how about for your kids?

You grew up under the Assads.

What do you want for them?

SALEH HAWA: At least we got rid of the Assad regime and we let them live freely now.

They can say what they want.

They can feel what they want.

They can speak freely.

Now they are not afraid of any oppression.

They are not afraid to be detained anymore.

And I believe that the future is ahead of them.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: A future he never thought they would see.

Now he hopes he and his countrymen can build the nation they promised.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Aleppo, Syria.

AMNA NAWAZ: Contentious confirmation hearings and confusing policy rollouts marked the second week of this Trump administration.

For insights into it all, we're joined by Brooks and Capehart.

That is New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor of The Washington Post.

Great to see you both.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Hey, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: A lot happened this week.

AMNA NAWAZ: The week began, for those of you who are following along, with the introduction of this OMB memo, right, rescinding -- and, rather, saying that some federal funds and grants had to be frozen.

It was rescinded within 48 hours of being issued after mass confusion about what exactly was impacted.

The week is ending with a lot of chaos and confusion around President Trump's tariff threats, including against some of our allies, like Canada and Mexico.

David, this is the second week of the Trump administration.

What are you taking away just from the scope of the way things have been messaged and rolled out this week?

DAVID BROOKS: We have already hit peak incompetence.

So, if you say the Trump administration wants to defund DEI, fine, they ran on that.

They can try to do that.

You find the DEI programs or any programs you don't like, and you target them and you say, we're going to try to get rid of these programs.

But, instead, they have a two-page memo to eliminate, allegedly, 3 -- what they call $3 trillion in federal spending.

AMNA NAWAZ: Right.

DAVID BROOKS: This is like trying to cure acne with decapitation.

Like, it's just massive.

And it threw the whole country, universities, nonprofits, government officials, into total chaos.

And so it seems like nobody had the sense to say, well, what would happen next if we threw out in two pages with no clarity what's about to happen?

Well, of course the world's going to blow up at you.

And, of course -- and this, I hope, is the pattern for the Trump administration.

When they do something that's hurts Donald Trump standing, he pulls it back.

Then they end just today with tariffs.

And G.K. Chesterton, the British writer, said that civilizations decline when they forget the obvious.

And one of the obvious things is, tariffs are really bad for a country.

In 1930, we had the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, we all learned this in high school, which turned a financial crisis into a global recession by cutting trade flows.

Now, this won't be that bad, but it'll have the effect of a financial crisis on Canada and on Mexico.

All the things you want in an economy that are good get worse under tariffs.

You get lower wages, you get lower productivity, you get lower supply chain flows.

So, to me, it's another self-destructive policy.

And so we have seen these two cases of just basic reasonable competence not being followed.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, how do you look at it?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: We're 11 days in, and I'm resisting calling this chaos or confusion, because what this really is, is, this is what he ran on, taking a wrecking ball to the government.

This is what happens when you believe that the government is completely woke, however they're defining it.

And so you put out a memo saying, we're freezing funding.

We're doing all these things that will hurt people.

That press conference yesterday -- let's just zero in on the press conference the president did yesterday, talking about a tragedy in the Potomac, 67 souls gone, and he gives lip service.

He does a -- fine, he does a moment of silence, and then spends the next 25 minutes saying some of the most racist things I have ever heard come out of the White House, come out of the White House Press Briefing Room, come out of the mouth of the president of the United States, scapegoating anyone who isn't white, Christian, male, straight, for problems in the country, and then deflecting blame onto past presidents, Democratic presidents.

This is all -- he ran this way.

He said he was going to do these things.

And, right now, all we can do is sit back and pray that the wrecking ball doesn't destroy us.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, he's still continuing to pull his team together as well.

We know a number of his key nominees had their confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS, Kash Patel to lead the FBI, and Tulsi Gabbard as the -- as DNI.

There were a couple of moments I want to get your take on, though, that seemed to reveal some Republican concerns about Gabbard and Kennedy in particular.

Just take a listen to these.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Will you reassure mothers, unequivocally and without qualification, that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee: Senator, I am not going into the agency with any... SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Well, that's kind of a yes-or-no question, because -- so, if you're -- because the data is there.

And that's kind of a yes or no.

And I don't mean to cut you off, but that really is a yes or no.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: If the data is there, I will absolutely do that.

SEN. JERRY MORAN (R-KS): I want to make certain that in no way does Russia get a pass in either your mind or your heart or in any policy recommendation you would make or not make.

FMR.

REP. TULSI GABBARD (HI): Senator, I'm offended by the question, because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation.

AMNA NAWAZ: Just as a reminder, the overwhelming data shows no link between vaccines and autism.

And Gabbard has previously blamed the U.S. and NATO for Russia's war in Ukraine.

But, David, when you look at this and you hear some of those concerns, do you think these senators still back these nominees, despite those concerns?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, what I heard in these two cases in particular was senators, Republican senators, saying to the nominees, that crazy thing you believe, you don't really believe that, right?

Would you please just make it easier for me to vote for you by telling me you don't really believe that?

And, in both cases, the nominees said, man, I'm not going to tell you I believe it, but I'm not going to tell you I don't believe it.

And so they didn't make it very easy on these Republican senators.

I actually think Tulsi Gabbard's in a little harder place, because, A, there's a much broader phalanx of Republicans who are skeptical about her.

Second, the Intelligence Committee is a serious committee.

That's a committee that usually meets in private.

So it's not usually a committee filled with histrionic behavior.

It's filled with reasonable behavior.

And they really do know intelligence.

And there are parts of the intelligence effort that she really is a threat to, a potential threat to.

There's something called 702 of the FISA thing... AMNA NAWAZ: Right.

DAVID BROOKS: ... which is a way to -- we have to look at foreign terrorists and follow what they're doing and sort of head off a terrorist act.

And she wants to raise the bar allowing us to use that ability.

And so that is a serious threat to people who subsequently care about intel issues.

And so I think she's in a little more danger.

Kennedy, it looks to me like he may go through it, unless you get somebody outside the committee, like Mitch McConnell, come in and do something.

AMNA NAWAZ: But you think Republican senators may vote against Tulsi Gabbard?

Is that what you're saying?

DAVID BROOKS: What do I know?

But 60/40 they vote for her, which is low for -- by Republican standards, that's pretty low odds for her.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Look, if -- one of the three could go down, the -- Kash Patel for FBI, which I don't think, given the hearings, he might not -- he probably might get through.

Tulsi Gabbard, she's the one we have consistently talked about being the one on the edge, and then RFK Jr.

But, look, I remember when Pete Hegseth was named as Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary and immediately Senator Joni Ernst expressed concerns, valid concerns, and expressed them clearly.

He's now secretary of defense and she voted for him.

So I would love to be -- I'm always just sitting here saying... AMNA NAWAZ: We should note three Republicans did vote against him, right... JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... Collins, Murkowski, and McConnell.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Correct.

And yet he is still secretary of defense.

AMNA NAWAZ: Vice President Vance broke the tie.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right, right, right.

I say this often on this program.

I hope I'm proven wrong that no one is going to vote against any of these people.

But we will see.

AMNA NAWAZ: Before we let you go, I need to ask you about the Democrats, because they are choosing really their direction forward tomorrow.

They will vote for their DNC chair.

Jonathan, you and your colleagues at MSNBC just hosted the forum for the candidates last night.

What's your takeaway?

Does this party have a direction?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: The party has a direction.

Let me say this.

I hesitated a bit.

They are not unclear on what they stand for.

What they are struggling with is, how do they convince the American people that they are where the American people said in the election they didn't think they were, that somehow the Republicans are now the party of the working class and care about the American people and the Democrats are the ones who are in league with billionaires and the elites?

What I took away from that -- from the forum last night is that they are more concerned about misinformation, disinformation, getting the message out and how do they catch up with the incredible infrastructure that is there on the right.

And so one thing I noticed is that, as each candidate was talking about what they wanted to do or what they thought or the direction of the party, you saw heads nodding all over the stage.

And so while there are eight people, maybe half of them are -- actually stand a chance.

Maybe half of the half stand a chance.

We will see.

But the Democrats -- trust me, the Democrats aren't in trouble.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to give David 30 seconds to respond here.

DAVID BROOKS: Democrats are in big trouble.

DAVID BROOKS: Listen, their whole world view has been blown apart.

They thought of themselves as the party of the marginalized.

They're now the party of the college-educated on the coast.

They thought they could spend a lot of money, but it turns out that's kind of inflationary.

They didn't think a lot of Black and brown voters were going to vote for Donald Trump.

Like, they should take a year off, my Democratic colleagues, take -- do some serious thinking, because a lot of your mental categories have to be reinvented and reimagined.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: They don't have a year.

AMNA NAWAZ: We will come back to talk about this some more.

David Brooks, Jonathan Capehart, always great to see you.

Thank you.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Amna.

GEOFF BENNETT: The future path of Cuba has been in the headlines lately.

Can music be the gateway to closer relations between Americans and Cubans and help provide relief amid the economic downturn and isolation?

That's the hope of a group of high-profile musicians who've been forging a bond between young students on and off the island.

Jeffrey Brown has the first of three reports from Havana for our Canvas coverage and Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy.

JEFFREY BROWN: On a rooftop under the stars in Havana, the sounds of a youthful New Orleans brass band, followed by those of Cuban teens, members of a group called Primera Linea.

meaning First Line, named after the famous second line musical tradition in New Orleans.

A battle of the bands?

Not really.

More a blast of joy and connections.

DANIELA HERNANDEZ, Musician: Every time we hear them, we learn about their music, because we like learning about that culture, and it helps us teach them about what we do so they can learn as well.

KENNEDY JACKSON, Musician: They're just so energetic, and they're very passionate about it, and that's what I really love.

I like to see people who are passionate about what they do, doing what they love, like how I do.

JEFFREY BROWN: A connector in chief of this four-day gathering, Troy Andrews, better known as Trombone Shorty, a Grammy-winning international star who fuses jazz, punk and more.

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS, Musician: Some of these kids' music is life.

When I come here, it's the same thing as New Orleans.

What they play is life here.

You can hear the culture.

You can hear the struggle.

You can hear the pain and the happiness through that music.

JEFFREY BROWN: We first met Andrews seven years ago in New Orleans to learn of how he got his nickname -- he started out as a child, a shorty, playing in the streets of the famed Treme neighborhood -- of his commitment to music and to his Trombone Shorty Foundation, an after-school program offering local students music and life lessons.

As a 12-year-old himself, he'd had the opportunity to come to Cuba as part of a cultural exchange program, a formative experience.

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS: This place and the music has never left me since that day in 1998, since that trip.

And my goal was to always be able to come back because it had that major of an impact on me at that young age, very impressionable age, that it never left me.

JEFFREY BROWN: Five years ago, he began bringing student musicians from the foundation to Havana to play for and interact with students here.

That's now grown into an event called Getting Funky in Havana, an exchange in music and broader culture for the young musicians, for a group of American music lovers basking in the chance to visit Cuba, and for Cuban fans attending a series of outdoor concerts.

Participating all along the way, stars like legendary blues man Taj Mahal, soaking in the performances of the young Cubans, and later performing at an old Havana church, before joining a panel discussion that included the Funkadelic master himself George Clinton.

GEORGE CLINTON, Musician: And as a songwriter, you start employing all those different cultures and different tones and the way we converse with each other.

JEFFREY BROWN: Also serving as one of the leaders of this gathering, the rising Cuban superstar Cimafunk, who is seemingly everywhere, performing with the young musicians, taking in a jam at a local school, even walking the runway in a fashion show.

He's made his name mixing the sounds of Cuban salsa and American funk.

And he sees this musical exchange as crucial for young people here.

CIMAFUNK, Musician: Imagine that you're a kid in Cuba, for example, or in a country that doesn't have a lot of resource, and you start to feel that after so many years without connection with all the musicians, with no -- nothing about connection, nothing to see some musicians from outside, and you can see how kids are like saying, like, yes, OK, we're part of the world.

Even if we are here or we're dealing with things, we're part of the world, and we can do it, because people believe in us.

JEFFREY BROWN: In fact, any highs amid this gathering had to be balanced against the realities of Cuba today, a deeply depressed economy where electrical power shortages have crippled the country, and lines to get gas, money from the bank, and subsidized bread are the norm.

More than a million have left.

Official data show a stunning 10 percent drop in population in recent years.

Actual numbers are likely higher.

And the one-party government is still led by the heirs of Fidel Castro, his image still prominently displayed around Havana.

Mass demonstrations in 2021 protesting the power and other shortages were quickly put down.

There's also the continuing whipsaw of U.S.-Cuban relations.

I last visited 10 years ago, soon after President Obama restored diplomatic relations and relaxed strict rules that had kept most Americans from visiting the island.

The grand squares and streets of Old Havana were alive with tourists, spending much-needed dollars.

Today, they're still dancing, but the numbers are way off.

Cuban officials say just two million tourists visited in 2024, down from some four million in 2019.

CARMEN LAEYRE, Shopkeeper: There's not a lot of tourism.

There's less tourism with the problems that you know already exist.

But we're here.

The problem is getting by and supporting oneself.

JEFFREY BROWN: The streets are quieter, the cruise ships mostly gone.

Even the famous classic cars aren't doing much cruising.

Milton Telles has been driving for 15 years.

MILTON TELLES, Antique Car Driver: In comparison of the first time, when I start, it's down.

It's in the floor.

JEFFREY BROWN: It's in the floor?

MILTON TELLES: Yes, tourists, it's not a lot of visit.

The people complain.

I hope it change.

JEFFREY BROWN: Since President Trump reversed course on diplomatic ties and sanctions in his first term, strict travel restrictions have applied.

And the back-and-forth continued even in recent days, with outgoing President Biden ending Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terror, only to have incoming President Trump immediately restore it.

MILTON TELLES: Everybody is afraid of what Donald Trump can do in his presidential time, because the people is who's suffering those political issues.

JEFFREY BROWN: Against this backdrop, the cultural exchange program focuses on smaller, more manageable goals, including bringing new instruments to Cuban students at a leading music school on Havana's outskirts.

Crumbling and outdated facilities didn't diminish the enthusiasm.

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS: Some of the instruments are beat up and they're making the best of it, but I'm no stranger to that.

As they're continuing to play and grow, every year we come back, those kids are phenomenal.

JEFFREY BROWN: You can hear the difference?

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS: Oh, I definitely hear the difference.

JEFFREY BROWN: New Orleans student musicians led a second line parade through the crowd, and players from both countries joined in to perform and dance inside and out.

Fifteen-year-old trombonist Daniela Hernandez lives nearby with her very proud extended family.

She's also a member of the Primera Linea band that performed for the visitors and locals alike.

DANIELA HERNANDEZ: When they listen to us, I want them to be like, wow, how delightful, and that they start dancing and enjoy what we do to the fullest, because in the end we do this so they can have fun with us.

JEFFREY BROWN: Also in the band, 14-year-old percussionist Hollden Ortiz.

HOLLDEN ORTIZ, Musician: It has been my passion since I was small.

I dream with the music.

I dream with everything I can create when I have a few more years in.

I dream of continuing with my music, with other bandmates, with being a great musician.

JEFFREY BROWN: That's a universal dream, of course, and 17-year-old New Orleanian Jarnell Demesme brought along a personal dream of seeing the homeland of his father's family.

He was also getting a taste of being a role model.

JARNELL DEMESME, Musician: You can tell they love what they do.

They love to play their horn.

They love to learn.

They love to interact with music with other people.

It's really inspiring, because, if they can look up to me like that at my age now, I can just imagine, even when I grow up, how people will look up to me then, and how I can give back to the community.

JEFFREY BROWN: That's what it's all about for Trombone Shorty as well, who could be found throughout interacting with young musicians, including them in super-jam performances at major Havana venues.

This kind of cultural exchange, what can it actually accomplish?

I mean, we can all have a good time.

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And we are.

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: But what does it accomplish, do you think, in the end?

TROY "TROMBONE SHORTY" ANDREWS: We have been able to have a great impact on some of the kids, and, plus, some of the kids that we brought here from New Orleans, they won't forget this experience.

And hopefully the accomplishments that we're trying to get out here is helping these kids go to be professional musicians, and they can come back and also have an impact on the next generation to do the same thing, and we can save lives through music.

JEFFREY BROWN: Trombone Shorty says he doesn't know what the future will bring for U.S.-Cuba relations or its impact on the work of his foundation, but he vows to return as often as he can.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown in Havana, Cuba.

AMNA NAWAZ: Terrific story.

And a reminder, be sure to watch "Washington Week With The Atlantic" tonight right here on PBS.

Moderator Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel discuss President Trump's handling of the first real test of his second term.

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

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us, and have a great weekend.