GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: President Trump and Chinese President Xi outline a deal to ease the trade war, but tensions between the two nations remain.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Caribbean begins the long, arduous road to recovery in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.

AMNA NAWAZ: And musician Ben Folds talks politics and his decision to resign as an adviser at the Kennedy Center after President Trump's takeover.

BEN FOLDS, Musician: I think you should be able to go to a place like the Kennedy Center, sponsored by we the people, and you should be able to see yourself on stage.

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

President Trump returned to the White House this afternoon after a weeklong trip to Asia that ended with a meeting early today with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

GEOFF BENNETT: That summit in South Korea comes as the U.S.

and China are engaged in a tough trade war.

After the meeting, the two leaders agreed to something of a trade truce, each side making some concessions, but mostly freezing the business battle lines in place.

Nick Schifrin starts our coverage.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We're going to have a very successful meeting.

I have no doubt.

NICK SCHIFRIN: President Trump arrived to the highest-stakes meeting of his second term predicting success.

DONALD TRUMP: It's a great honor to be with a friend of mine really for a long time now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Xi Jinping has not back downed to U.S.

pressure this year, and he began today's meeting by recognizing the rivalry, as heard through his translator.

XI JINPING, Chinese President (through translator): We do not always see eye to eye with each other.

And it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then.

NICK SCHIFRIN: After an hour and 40 minutes, the two leaders did not solve their disputes, but agreed to a pause.

The U.S.

will lower tariffs connected to the fentanyl trade from 20 percent to 10 percent, bringing the U.S.'

combined tariff rate on China down from 57 percent to 47 percent.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, it's going to be very strong at enforcing the fentanyl, everything having to do with fentanyl regulations internally.

But, overall, I guess on the scale from zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12.

NICK SCHIFRIN: China agreed to pause new restrictions on the export of heavy rare elements and powerful magnets for one year, but kept restrictions imposed earlier this year.

Beijing controls nearly all the world's processing of rare earth magnets, essential for everything from the United States' most advanced fighter jets to electric vehicles.

China also agreed to restart purchases of American soybeans and bring them back to an annual average by next year.

DONALD TRUMP: Large amounts, tremendous amounts of the soybeans and other farm products are going to be purchased immediately, starting immediately.

NICK SCHIFRIN: There was no agreement on whether to give China access to the U.S.'

most advanced computer chips, but President Trump also didn't rule it out.

DONALD TRUMP: We discuss chips.

And he's going to be -- they're going to be talking to Nvidia and others about taking chips.

Look, we make great chips.

Nvidia is the leader.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The president also said today the U.S.

couldn't be the nuclear leader unless it tested nuclear weapons.

The U.S.

regularly tests unarmed nuclear-capable missiles, but hasn't detonated a nuclear device since this one in 1992.

Russia recently tested its own unarmed nuclear-capable missile.

That's apparently what pushed the president to announce the U.S.

would resume testing, but he also envisioned a world without nukes.

DONALD TRUMP: We have more than anybody, but I see them testing.

I say, well, if they're going to test, I guess we have to test.

I'd like to see a denuclearization.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the president did say he would share with South Korea nuclear-powered submarine technology, what military officials call their crown jewels.

At the end of this week in Asia, there was progress, but no final deal with China, no solution to the overall tensions, just a truce.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: Now, for the first of two views on the Trump-Xi meeting, we turn to former U.S.

Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, a diplomat with decades of experience under Republican and Democratic administrations.

Burns served as envoy during the Biden administration and left his post earlier this year.

Mr.

Ambassador, welcome back to the "News Hour."

NICHOLAS BURNS, Former U.S.

Ambassador to China: Thank you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, this new Trump-Xi truce, what's really being gained here and what's still unresolved beneath the surface?

NICHOLAS BURNS: Well, you might picture President Trump and President Xi as two boxers in a ring and they're circling each other and they're punching and counterpunching.

That's the last six months.

They don't entirely trust each other.

In fact, there's not much trust at all.

And the match didn't end today.

I think you're right, Geoff, to call this a truce in a long-running trade war.

And I think this trade war is going to continue well into 2026 because there are fundamental differences on both sides of the competition.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let's talk about Xi, because, inside China, Xi has consolidated extraordinary power, as you well know.

But what kind of pressure is he facing that might have pushed him to step back from confrontation?

NICHOLAS BURNS: He's facing a slowing economy.

His GDP growth rate is not what they want.

It's single digits.

It's below 5 percent, despite what the Chinese say.

They say it's 5 percent.

It's really not.

Massive youth unemployment, a property bust that has 80 million empty apartments.

The entire population of Germany could fit inside them.

And so -- and a lack of confidence, I think, in the direction of the economy.

He also needs access to the U.S.

market because China has an export- and manufactured- driven economy.

So the United States has some leverage here and President Trump has used that leverage.

But China has leverage too, because they are manufacturing products well below the cost of production.

They can do a lot of harm to our economy.

I think they were two positive deliverables today for the United States that President Trump was able to deliver.

First, Xi Jinping needs to help us on fentanyl.

It's the leading cause of death in our society Americans age 18 to 49.

And the majority of the precursor chemicals that make up fentanyl come from the Chinese black market.

Second, China is the largest market for American agriculture and has been for quite some time.

And the Chinese played hardball this year.

They didn't buy a single soybean from Midwest farmers.

So, President Trump was able to convince him to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans this year, 25 million metric tons each year over the next three years.

That's going to be of enormous help to our farmers.

But here's the question, Geoff.

The Chinese shouldn't have been withholding cooperation on fentanyl.

President Biden raised that vigorously at two summit meetings with President Xi.

As ambassador, I worked that problem and tried to push the Chinese.

They never really gave us their full effort.

And so I think President Trump was right to say to President Xi, you need to do more on fentanyl.

You need to do more on agricultural sales.

But will the Chinese actually meet their commitments?

That's been a problem in the past.

GEOFF BENNETT: Fentanyl, agriculture.

Let's talk about technology because a major point of contention has been China's access to Nvidia's advanced A.I.

microchips, which, if allowed, could deal a major blow to the U.S.

leadership in the A.I.

race.

President Trump today said that he and Xi discussed Nvidia's access to China in general, but that he didn't personally sign off on any sales of the company's most advanced chips.

What's your understanding of what that means in practice?

NICHOLAS BURNS: I think this is a vital issue for the United States.

And I really hope that the Trump administration will hold the line here and not allow the sale of advanced chips, semiconductors for A.I.

purposes, into the Chinese market.

Why is that?

Because, in China, if we allowed Nvidia or Intel or any other tech company to sell those advanced chips into the market, the government of China would reach into that Chinese company that purchased the chips and use it to help the PLA, the People's Liberation Army, modernize its military technology to try to compete with our military in the Indo-Pacific.

And there's nothing more important than the United States remaining the strongest military power.

We don't want China to leapfrog over us.

And so the fortunes of a couple of tech companies and their increased revenues from selling into China are simply not equal to the national security damage that would be done by allowing China access to these chips.

President Biden put the prohibition in place three years ago, no chips, advanced chips into China.

I really hope President Trump will hold the line here against these companies that want access.

And it's understandable, but it's not in our national security interest.

GEOFF BENNETT: Holding the line, what benchmarks should the administration use to judge whether this truce is actually working or whether it's time to change course?

NICHOLAS BURNS: I think that's the right question.

I think, over the next couple of months, the Trump administration is going to have to hold China's feet to the fire, do the right thing on fentanyl.

They -- the Chinese used to tell me, we can't possibly, Ambassador, control thousands of Chinese chemical companies.

And I would remind them, you're an authoritarian government.

You can do whatever you want in this country.

You can shut down the flow of these precursor chemicals.

So that's certainly one.

And certainly the second one is ag purchases.

President Trump actually negotiated a major sale of American agriculture in 2019 and 2020, which the Chinese never implemented.

And so it's kind of interesting to me.

I represented President Biden, obviously, as ambassador.

But President Biden and President Trump have had a similar approach on trade.

We implemented all of the Trump tariffs in the Biden administration towards China.

And President Trump so far has implemented President Biden's 100 percent tariff, for instance, on the import of Chinese electric vehicles.

That would be very damaging to our auto industry.

And so I hope we can keep a bipartisan consensus that, while we want to live in peace with China, we want to cooperate when we can, this is largely a competitive relationship.

And I felt I had an advantage as ambassador because Republicans and Democrats did sing off the same sheet of music.

And I just hope the Trump administration and the president particularly will be as tough-minded as President Biden was on these issues.

GEOFF BENNETT: Former U.S.

Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, thanks again for your time this evening.

We appreciate it.

NICHOLAS BURNS: Thanks very much, Geoff.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now to another view.

Matt Pottinger was deputy national security adviser in the first Trump administration and he spearheaded China policy as the confrontation with Beijing accelerated.

He serves now as chairman of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

That's a Washington think tank.

Matt, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

MATTHEW POTTINGER, Former U.S.

Deputy National Security Adviser: Yes, thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let's pick up with that issue of those advanced Nvidia chips you heard Ambassador Burns just talking about, because you have also previously said the sale of those chips to China would be a catastrophe for us technological leadership.

You heard President Trump say they didn't discuss it in the meeting, that it's up to China and Nvidia to work out a deal and the U.S.

would act as an arbitrator.

So does all of that assuage your concerns?

MATTHEW POTTINGER: Well, yes, I'm certainly relieved that President Trump was not talked into giving away the most advanced chips or even reasonably advanced chips, which is really what was on the table, really advanced chips made by Nvidia.

It's clear that the leader of the company Nvidia wants to sell -- who can blame him.

He wants to sell his chips everywhere, right?

But for the reasons that you just heard Ambassador Burns talk about, that would be a real disaster for the United States, not only because it would help the People's Liberation Army.

It would put us in danger and in an inferior position militarily.

But A.I.

is going to be like electricity.

It's going to permeate everything, the commercial uses.

It means that information flow, the public square, all these things are going to be either controlled by an authoritarian government or they're going to be part of a free and democratic kind of order, which is what we all stand for here in the United States.

So it's really important that we maintain that leadership.

The biggest area where we have a lead over China in A.I.

is actually access to these high-end, very powerful chips.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you take a bigger-picture look here at what was agreed upon in this truce, as it's being called, in the trade war.

Do you agree with what you heard from Ambassador Burns here that this is just a truce, it's sort of a long-simmering trade war that will likely continue into 2026?

MATTHEW POTTINGER: Yes, I think that's about right.

I think this is a fragile truce.

The can sort of gets kicked into 2026.

None of the structural problems are addressed.

But having a fragile truce isn't a bad thing.

It means that the most draconian steps that China was threatening to take, namely to regulate all trade of all technology between nations, not just with China, but even between democracies, China was saying as of the 9th of October that they were planning to regulate that trade if technological items and inputs contained even minute amounts of Chinese rare earths, which so many things do.

So that would have been a situation where we would have been in an escalatory spiral.

You would have seen probably a global recession if China had gone forward with that.

And then, on the flip side, President Trump is going to refrain from applying new tariffs.

As you just heard, as you just reported, he's actually even reducing the tariffs a bit in expectation that China is going to do something that it hasn't really done yet, which is refrain from selling all of these heavily state-subsidized chemicals that go to the drug cartels in Mexico and end up on the streets, killing -- in fact, it's the leading cause of death in the United States for 18-year-olds to 49-year-old men.

So I will take a fragile truce.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, if this is a matter of kicking a lot of these bigger issues down the road, what happens when you look at the leverage that both sides are left with now?

And you heard some of what Ambassador Burns had to say in terms of what U.S.

leverage is, the headwinds that China continues to face.

But if the big question here is whether the leaders of the world's two biggest economies are actually going to make good on the verbal promises they made, what does that look like to you ahead?

MATTHEW POTTINGER: Yes, look, I -- well, first, I would say the United States actually has a lot more leverage than we even brandished in these talks.

That could include expanding control, so that China is not able to get even less advanced semiconductors across the board.

That would be sort of our nuclear option, equivalent in a sense to what they were threatening to do with this rare earth regulatory approach.

Hopefully, it's not going to come to that, but what I would warn is that we're dealing with a Leninist dictatorship.

And the pattern with Leninist dictatorships, including the People's Republic of China, is that, when they find a pressure point that seems to be working, they're going to keep returning to that pressure point.

They're going to push again and again and again.

So you have not heard the last about American companies running into trouble in terms of shortages of rare earths.

It's going to take us some years to invest and build and develop our way out of that.

And it's actually an urgent situation still.

AMNA NAWAZ: Matt, I have got less than a minute here, but I have to ask you.

The president had said that Taiwan didn't come up in these conversations.

If you're listening from Taiwan, should you be worried about wavering U.S.

support here?

MATTHEW POTTINGER: Look, I don't think that President Trump's policy on Taiwan has deviated from where our presidents have been going all the way back to 1980, from Reagan onwards, really.

And that has been to follow the Taiwan Relations Act, which is a U.S.

law that makes clear that we are going to provide weapons to Taiwan and that if China were to try to change the status quo through coercion, that would be a matter of grave concern for the U.S.

AMNA NAWAZ: Matt Pottinger, always good to have you here.

Thank you very much for joining us.

MATTHEW POTTINGER: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: Island nations in the Caribbean work today on rescue and recovery operations in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.

The storm tore through Jamaica, leveling some communities entirely.

It also left a trail of destruction in Cuba and in Haiti.

At least 30 people are reported dead so far.

William Brangham has more.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The centuries-old port town of Black River, Jamaica, is unrecognizable all along the southwestern coast, house after house with roofs ripped off.

The prime minister called this ground zero after Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, battered Jamaica on Tuesday.

In Montego Bay, residents are picking up the pieces with their bare hands; 31-year-old Gabrielle is still processing what her family lived through.

GABRIELLE, Montego Bay Resident: Yesterday was horrible, horrific, terrifying, the worst day of my entire life, the worst experience of my entire life.

The wind, the rain, it permanently damaged my childhood home.

All my trees that my dad planted, all of them are gone.

We have no light, we have no water, and we have limited amount of food items.

So it's like we're cut off from the rest of the world right now in this terrifying time.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Aid has been slow to trickle in, and the vast majority of the island still has no power.

Jamaica's transportation minister said restoring communication is a top priority.

DARYL VAZ, Jamaican Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport: There are people who still have not been able to make contact with their families, their loved ones, their friends, and road access is still impossible.

So you can imagine deep, deep sense of worry that is widespread across Jamaica.

OLGA ISAZA, UNICEF Jamaica: What we saw was the impossibility to access the most affected areas.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Olga Isaza of UNICEF Jamaica spoke to us from the capital, Kingston.

UNICEF estimates more than 280,000 children across the island require humanitarian assistance.

OLGA ISAZA: The main priorities from our point of view are those, water, sanitation, hygiene, also food.

I mean, nutrition security of children under 5 is critical at this moment.

I mean, they are the most vulnerable.

And, in general, the packages and all the aid related with food is not looking at the specific needs of the children.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Communities across the Caribbean are still reeling from Melissa's wrath.

In Haiti, floodwaters turned violent.

Authorities say more than 20 people were killed, many of them young children.

STEVEN GUADARD, Haiti Resident (through translator): I had four children at home, a 1-month-old baby, a 7-year-old, an 8-year-old, and another who was about to turn 4.

All four are gone.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: No deaths were reported in Cuba, but its Santiago province suffered extensive damage, including this basilica in the small town of El Cobre.

Melissa weakened to a Category 2 storm by the time it passed over the Bahamas this morning.

Back in Jamaica, for those who lost everything, the road to recovery will be a long one.

PAMELLA FOSTER, Black River Resident: I try to be strong with them, but deep inside I'm crying.

I'm really, really crying.

But I just, like, hide it.

We will survive.

We will survive.

We will survive.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham.

AMNA NAWAZ: Also today, the Trump administration is slashing the number of refugees it allows into the country each year to just 7,500, and most of those will be white South Africans.

That is far less than last year's ceiling of 125,000 set by the Biden administration.

A notice posted on the Federal Register says the limit is -- quote -- "justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest."

President Trump suspended all refugee admissions in January and started admitting white South Africans a month later because of claims that they face discrimination at home.

South Africa's government strongly denies that.

The U.N.

Security Council today condemned reports out of Sudan that the paramilitary force known as the RSF killed more than 460 people inside the Saudi hospital in El Fasher.

That's the provincial capital of North Darfur that the RSF seized this week.

The group denies carrying out the killings.

At an emergency session at the U.N.

today, officials called for an end to the atrocities.

TOM FLETCHER, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator: El Fasher, already the scene of catastrophic levels of human suffering, has descended into an even darker hell.

We cannot hear the screams, but, as we sit here today, the horror is continuing.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the meantime, RSF troops have been celebrating the takeover of the city.

Two years of civil war in Sudan have created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people displaced.

In the Middle East, Red Cross vehicles escorted the remains of two Israeli hostages out of Gaza today.

It's the latest sign of progress and the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that began earlier this month.

And it comes just hours after Israeli strikes in Eastern and Southern Gaza injured at least 40 people overnight.

That's according to Gaza's health officials.

Israel's military said it was targeting what it called terrorist infrastructure.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the latest attacks.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): If Hamas continues to blatantly violate the cease-fire, it will experience powerful strikes, as it did the day before yesterday and yesterday.

We decide and we act.

At the end of the day, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, tens of thousands of ultraorthodox men protested a plan today to draft them into the military.

Lawmakers are set to discuss the current enlistment law next week, which exempts the ultraorthodox community from participating in military service.

The issue is highly political, as Netanyahu relies on ultraorthodox parties in the Israeli Parliament.

King Charles today stripped his brother Andrew of the title prince and evicted him from his royal residence.

Buckingham Palace said those measures were deemed necessary amid growing pressure over Andrew's relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The publication of a posthumous memoir by Epstein accuser Virginia also put renewed focus on Andrew.

She claims the two had sex when she was just 17 years old.

He denies that.

French authorities have arrested five more people in connection with the jewelry heist at the Louvre, including one person who's believed to be among the thieves at the scene.

Seven people are now in custody for the brazen theft from the world's most visited museum earlier this month, but none of the stolen jewels have been recovered.

Two suspects have already been charged.

Prosecutors say they have partially admitted to being involved.

The heist has captured the world's attention and raises serious concerns about how France protects its national treasures.

In the Netherlands, the results of this week's election are coming down to the wire with two major parties tied and nearly all the votes counted.

Centrist leader Rob Jetten celebrated what he called his party's historic election results as they claimed 26 seats in Parliament.

The far right Party for Freedom led by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders also won 26 seats, but that's down sharply from two years ago.

The nail-biter finish is expected to lead to delays in forming a coalition government.

Back in the U.S., today's confirmation hearing for President Trump's surgeon general pick, Dr.

Casey Means, had to be postponed after she went into labor.

The news came just hours before the 38-year-old influencer and author was set to appear virtually before the Senate Health Committee.

Means is a Stanford-educated physician whose approach to public health largely aligns with that of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but critics have questioned her lack of government experience and credentials.

Her license to practice medicine is inactive and she did not finish her residency program after medical school.

On Wall Street today, stocks eased back from recent highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped around 100 points on the day.

The Nasdaq dropped nearly 400 points.

The S&P 500 also ended firmly in negative territory.

And authorities in Mississippi are still searching for three escaped rhesus monkeys after the truck carrying them crashed earlier this week.

Eyewitness video at the scene showed several of the monkeys in the grass by the road.

A total of 21 monkeys were on the truck at the time of the crash.

Local officials say some of the escaped monkeys were killed when officers mistakenly thought they had COVID and other diseases.

They were being housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center, but it remains unclear who was responsible for transporting them and why they were being moved.

Still to come on the "News Hour": Democratic Senator Mark Warner discusses the government shutdown and U.S.

strikes on alleged drug traffickers; a look at the contentious Virginia governor's race that's become a microcosm of national issues; and singer-songwriter Ben Folds explains why he's taking a stand for artistic freedom.

The federal government shutdown is now reaching the one-month mark.

Lisa Desjardins joins us now on whether there's any progress towards resolution.

So, Lisa, what's the latest?

Where are talks?

LISA DESJARDINS: On the surface, unfortunately, there really is no change in stance from leaders, but beneath the surface, talking to senators, there are member-to-member talks starting to begin, not yet about exactly how to get out of the shutdown, but instead about how to deal with the spending problem that would come after, how to keep government funded after the shutdown.

But why is that important?

It's a door opening for discussions, perhaps create an avenue for people to talk.

Essentially, we're almost at like week one of a normal shutdown in terms of what senators are doing.

Another way you see that is Senator John Thune, the Republican majority leader, took to the floor and exemplified what I have been picking up on, which is more anger from politicians.

SEN.

JOHN THUNE (R-SD): People should be getting paid in this country.

And we tried to do that 13 times.

And you voted no 13 times.

This isn't a political game.

These are real people's lives that we're talking about.

And you all have just figured out 29 days in that, oh, there might be some consequences.

They're people who are running out of money.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, possibly more important than emotion, however, are deadlines.

Here's what's coming up.

This is a big factor.

We know November 1, some big ones.

Tens of millions of Americans could face shortages in their benefits for SNAP, for WIC, as we were reporting, also for Head Start, as I have been talking to some of those.

Open enrollment begins for the Affordable Care Act.

And also look at this.

November 5 next week, that's when we see the record being set for all-time shutdown.

So when I'm watching for next week, Amna, cracks in the surface.

Do those cracks lead to maybe a way out next week or the week after?

AMNA NAWAZ: What about the people affected by all this?

I know you have been talking to them.

How are they looking at this?

LISA DESJARDINS: Usually, politicians think shutdown memory is not long, but something interesting.

We have Virginia's elections coming up next week.

I talked to a federal worker family today furloughed, and the spouse said, I voted Democratic almost my entire life, and in Virginia just yesterday voted straight Republican because they are angry at Democrats about this shutdown.

Most federal workers that I have talked to support Democrats, but this is a sign that perhaps things are shifting in a way that Democrats might notice and Republicans will too.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, Lisa Desjardins with the latest, thank you.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: Keeping our focus on Capitol Hill, top Senate Democrats are blasting the White House after being excluded from a classified briefing on recent U.S.

military strikes against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, strikes the administration says are targeting suspected drug traffickers.

The briefing held yesterday included more than a dozen Republican senators, but no Democrats.

And that's with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle already raising concerns about transparency and oversight.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the move indefensible and dangerous.

And Senator Warner joins us now.

Thanks for being here.

SEN.

MARK WARNER (D-VA): Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what's your understanding of how the White House organized and arranged this briefing?

SEN.

MARK WARNER: Well, let's step back for a moment.

As the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I'm part of what's a group called Gang of Eight.

And if there's anything that's classified, and particularly around foreign policy, where we have troops in harm's way, since we're sending an aircraft carrier to the region now, we are briefed up.

I got a briefing on some of these topics a week ago.

And my friend who I'd worked with along, Secretary Rubio, promised that the legal opinion, because I have got concern from sailors who are being deployed, gosh, what's the legal basis that we're blowing up these boats and what's going to happen with Venezuela, he promised me that legal opinion and further briefing.

We didn't receive it.

And then out of nowhere, there is suddenly a briefing held by the White House with not even the appropriate, key Republicans, but just kind of a random group, because they're concerned that there may be a War Powers Act issue on this coming up next week, because we got not only the question of the drug traffickers, but also Venezuela.

The notional idea that this is going to be suddenly briefed only on a partisan basis is so against and counter to any kind of congressional oversight.

It is -- it's insulting.

It's dangerous.

It undermines the integrity of our national security framework.

And, quite honestly, I think we caught the White House.

They said, bad.

But my calling now is, if we're going to have troops in harm's way, if we're going to start blowing up or continue blowing up boats in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, all senators need to be read in.

GEOFF BENNETT: Why do you think the White House iced out the Democrats?

SEN.

MARK WARNER: I think this is a pattern.

We saw this a little bit when the president bombed Iran.

He only notified Republicans, didn't notify Democrats, although this is -- I have never seen an administration -- even in Trump one, I differed with, but they had professionals in place.

This administration just thinks they can just blow off Congress at basically every corner.

And when it comes to national security, that kind of failure to have oversight could lead us to very bad places.

And I think it is nothing but a political decision that goes against the law, goes against precedent, goes against the whole notion of oversight.

And particularly when we're talking about a classified item, there are only 17 of us that get any kind of visibility into this.

And if you're suddenly making it only partisan of that group or suddenly going beyond that group, as they did yesterday, to just other random Republicans, this is undermining our whole basis of congressional oversight and national security.

GEOFF BENNETT: A question about the committee itself, because the Senate Intelligence Committee has a reputation for Democrats and Republicans working together on matters of national security.

You had a good working relationship with Marco Rubio when he was the top Republican.

Same for Richard Burr, Saxby Chambliss.

Why not Tom Cotton?

What has happened?

What's the dynamics?

SEN.

MARK WARNER: I try to work with Senator Cotton.

And we have an interpersonal relationship fine.

But not just on the case of the intelligence issue, but on so many issues, I think, in the past, showing bipartisan support is viewed as a strength.

I feel, from this White House, you lose points with them if you're bipartisan.

I have seen another issue recently where my good friend Mike Crapo mounted a major Republican opposition to destroying Community Development Financial Institutions, and he made the judgment, it would be better to be Republican-only.

And that's dangerous enough when you're talking about financial sector.

It is I think unpalatable and against the law when you're talking about national security.

GEOFF BENNETT: Setting aside matters of process for a moment, what's your assessment of the strikes themselves?

Do you believe that they were carried out within the bounds of the U.S.

law and U.S.

interest?

SEN.

MARK WARNER: I have no idea because I have not seen the legal opinion.

And I know I have got sailors' families contacting me, saying they're concerned that their sons and daughters could be violating international law.

We also have a lack of clarity about what the president's goals and ambitions are vis-a-vis Venezuela.

And let me be clear.

I'm against the drug dealers.

I am against Maduro as a bad guy.

And, frankly, under Biden, we should have -- when the Venezuelans voted to oust him, we should have put more pressure there.

But to do this without a legal opinion, to do this without potentially putting troops in harm's way in Venezuela without any explanation, and doing it only on a partisan basis, again, this is unprecedented, not the way national security works.

GEOFF BENNETT: On another matter, the president now says he wants the U.S.

to resume nuclear weapons testing, he says on an equal basis with Russia in China.

It's not clear whether he's talking about testing the delivery systems or actually testing the bombs themselves.

The U.S., as you know, has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992.

How do you assess what is known, I would imagine, about the strategic reasoning behind this move.

SEN.

MARK WARNER: I didn't -- this -- was this a planned change in policy?

Was it throwing out chum into the water before he met with President Xi?

I don't know.

And if a president was going to make this kind of dramatic turn, historically, by law, you're supposed to brief up Congress.

And there are times when a president has to act quickly, all presidents have, when a moment strikes.

And, generally, you kind of allow that to happen.

Matter of fact, President Trump in his first term was quite good on briefing.

Matter of fact, when he threatened to bomb Iran in his first term, he literally brought all the congressional leadership around national security in and had a fulsome discussion.

The idea now that he's kind of ignoring any congressional oversight -- and this is where I again appeal to my Republicans who I know care about our country and care about the law as much -- you got to stand up and just say, this is not right.

If you don't push back, as we have seen on issue after issue, this president will push the edge, push the boundary.

And if he's suddenly on his own, restarting testing of nuclear weapons without briefing, taking strikes in the Caribbean, in the Pacific, or potentially looking for regime change in Venezuela, and only briefing one party, that is a long stride away from how this country ought to operate.

GEOFF BENNETT: While you're here, I want to ask you about the shutdown, because every day this shutdown drags on more Americans are feeling the impact, from missed paychecks to stalled services.

How do you think this gets resolved?

SEN.

MARK WARNER: I think it needs to get resolved next week.

People are seeing the health care bills explode.

We're seeing literally millions of Americans potentially losing food benefits at a time when our costs continue to go up.

Everybody knows grocery prices have gone up dramatically under this president.

And, again, a bit of a frustrating thing is, in the past, as somebody who's always been part of the so-called bipartisan gangs that come together to try to get us out of these challenges, you have got to be willing to kind of make your own team and the other team mad to get it done.

And in this administration, I don't think any of our Republicans have the freedom to cut a deal without the president's approval.

So I think we have got to get it resolved next week.

The president's back.

I hope he puts America first.

And that means let's resolve this.

Let's get the government reopened.

Let's go ahead and find a way to avoid this health care cliff and also make sure that Americans who deserve this food assistance get it.

GEOFF BENNETT: Senator Mark Warner, thank you so much for your perspectives and for coming in.

We appreciate it.

SEN.

MARK WARNER: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Virginians heads of the polls this coming Tuesday, voting for the state's next governor.

But the results may also serve as a referendum on the president's first 10 months in office and offer clues of what to expect across the country in next year's midterms.

Liz Landers catches up with the candidates and the voters.

LIZ LANDERS: As Virginia schools kick off homecoming celebrations, just beyond the goalposts, the state's off-year race for governor plays out along the sidelines and at the tailgate parties.

We're at Hampton University .

This is a historically Black college in the Tidewater region in Virginia.

And Abigail Spanberger is campaigning here today during their homecoming weekend.

She's doing what she's done for the better part of the year.

REP.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA), Gubernatorial Candidate: Hi.

I'm Abigail.

LIZ LANDERS: Introducing herself to voters and keeping the focus on health care and the economy.

Spanberger is a former CIA analyst who won a seat in Congress in 2018 in a district that hadn't elected a Democrat in decades.

REP.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: I'm proud of the work that I did in the bills I had signed into law, and all of it took coalition building.

LT.

GOV.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS (R-VA), Gubernatorial Candidate: I see all my rowdy friends are here.

(CHEERING) LIZ LANDERS: A few miles down the road, but a world away politically... LT.

GOV.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS: Abigail voted not to send those who are criminals and illegally here home.

LIZ LANDERS: ... Winsome Earle-Sears is running as an ally of Donald Trump.

A Marine Corps veteran, Earle-Sears made history four years ago when she became the first woman of color elected to a statewide office as lieutenant governor on a ticket with Glenn Youngkin.

MAN: And the next governor of the great Commonwealth of Virginia!

LIZ LANDERS: The Republican gubernatorial nominee is running on the Youngkin economy, a simple message, to keep a good thing going, and by leaning into culture war issues that swept Republicans into office four years ago and turned Northern Virginia school board meetings into fights over parental rights on transgender students in bathrooms and sports.

MAN: I am disgusted by your victory and your depravity.

LIZ LANDERS: Recent bullying doesn't show the issue resonating as deeply with voters this year, earlier this month, at a school board meeting, mostly empty seats.

But Earle-Sears has still made trans issues a major focus of her campaign.

NARRATOR: She voted to allow men in girls' sports, bathrooms and locker rooms.

Matt Malone is running for Loudoun County School Board.

A parent of two, the battles over parents rights four years ago inspired him to run.

MATT MALONE (R), Loudoun County School Board Candidate: (OFF-MIKE) issue, no boys in girls spaces.

WOMAN: Agree on that.

MATT MALONE: You agree on that?

WOMAN: Yes.

MATT MALONE: Thank you.

I tell my kids, don't hate anybody.

Don't hate anybody and don't judge anybody.

But there are boundaries.

My daughter wants to play sports.

She's 9.

She wants to play volleyball and basketball and I want her to feel safe in the locker room and the bathroom.

LIZ LANDERS: Malone likes what he hears from Earle-Sears.

MATT MALONE: I think that she has a backbone of steel.

And we need someone who can fight for kids in the governor's office.

LIZ LANDERS: The Williams Institute estimates that, in Virginia, 18,200 youths age 13 to 17, or 3 percent, identify as transgender.

MICHAEL BROWN, Spanberger Supporter: I don't really agree with boys in the showers with girls and all that kind of stuff.

LIZ LANDERS: It's an issue even some Democrats express concern about.

What is your message to Democrats on this issue?

REP.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: There's nothing more important than the safety of all of our children.

And I do believe that so many of the decisions that we're talking about are best made at the local level by parents, by teachers, by administrators.

LIZ LANDERS: But it's the economy that she says needs her most urgent attention, with unemployment rates going up and the federal government shutdown now in its fifth week looming over this race.

About 320,000 federal government workers live in Virginia.

Daniel Davis was one of them until he was fired by Elon Musk's DOGE in July.

DANIEL DAVIS, Former Federal Worker: It's been a very challenging time.

I have been working on health policy for older adults and people with disabilities for the past 15 years.

And to not be able to be serving those people and helping them to get the care they need really hurts.

LIZ LANDERS: He believes Spanberger cares more about the plight of federal workers, and that's why he's backing her.

DANIEL DAVIS: Abigail Spanberger, as a former federal worker, really sees federal workers.

She gets the sacrifices we have made, the challenges that we face.

LIZ LANDERS: Meanwhile, Earle-Sears blames Democrats for the shutdown.

My question for you, though, is, should the Trump administration continue to shrink the federal work force through any mechanism?

LT.

GOV.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS: My question is, where are the five Democrats that we need to keep the federal workers in their jobs so that they can pay their bills?

LIZ LANDERS: But for many voters, this race is not just about the two women on the ballot.

It's about the man in the White House.

WOMAN: For me, Trump is a factor.

Enough said.

MAN: I personally wish he wasn't making news every day and confusing everyone.

WOMAN: I am worried about our democracy, and I'm worried about authoritarianism right now.

You positioned yourself as a consensus builder, someone who works across the aisle.

Would you work with President Trump on areas like job creation?

REP.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: I think that you don't work with the arsonist who burns down the house to rebuild it.

And in this particular case, the individual who's responsible for an absolute attack on the federal work force is not the right person to help rebuild our economy.

LIZ LANDERS: Earle-Sears is fighting an uphill battle.

Only one time in the last 50 years has Virginia elected a governor of the same political party as the president.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Well, I think the Republican candidate is very good, and I think she should win.

LIZ LANDERS: President Trump has not formally endorsed Earle-Sears.

Would that be helpful, do you think, for you if the president was out campaigning for you?

LT.

GOV.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS: Well, of course.

That's a good strategy, don't you think?

Of course.

VICTORIA NICHOLLS, Earle-Sears Supporter: There's so much talk of Trump.

Trump's really staying out of it.

And he should, because you know what?

This ticket can run Virginia.

LIZ LANDERS: Another wild card?

A blockbuster story downballot about a series of violent text messages sent several years ago by Jay Jones, the Democrat running for attorney general in Virginia.

In the messages, Jones described the former Republican speaker of the House hypothetically being assassinated.

REP.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: The comments that Jay Jones made are absolutely abhorrent.

LIZ LANDERS: Jones has apologized and expressed remorse.

Spanberger has denounced the texts, but not the candidate.

LT.

GOV.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS: When are you going to take Jay Jones and say to him, you must leave the race?

LIZ LANDERS: No matter who wins Tuesday, history will be made.

Virginia has never elected a woman governor until now.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Liz Landers in Virginia.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ben Folds' piano-powered pop music has earned him a cult following and made him one of the most respected songwriters of his generation.

For the better part of the last decade, he held an influential role in classical music too, artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra.

But, in February, he resigned after President Trump's controversial takeover of the Kennedy Center.

Now he's speaking out about that chapter while touring for a holiday album and more.

I talked to him for our series Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy as part of our Canvas coverage.

Thirty years ago this summer, Ben Fold and his band Ben Folds Five released their self-titled debut album.

Full of off-kilter piano pop, it was an unexpected success.

And it thrust the trio -- the name Ben Folds Five was an inside joke -- into the upper echelons of indy rock.

In the years since, Folds found success in new lanes, writing hits for animated movies.

BEN FOLDS, Musician: I thought it was very uplifting.

AMNA NAWAZ: Even serving as a judge on the a cappella musical competition "The Sing-Off."

BEN FOLDS: Let's try... AMNA NAWAZ: In 2017, another path opened, when Folds was named artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra.

BEN FOLDS: Let's hear it all together and make sure it's not crazy.

Two, three, four.

AMNA NAWAZ: For eight years, he curated collaborations between some of the biggest names in pop and the classical musicians who called the Kennedy Center home.

But, in February, he resigned after President Trump announced a controversial overhaul of the storied institution.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We ended the woke political programming and we're restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world.

AMNA NAWAZ: You were in a role there as artistic adviser.

Just tell us why you felt you couldn't continue on in that role.

BEN FOLDS: Well, the Kennedy Center is for the people.

It's not for political gain, but it became partisan.

And so that's why I quit, because, if I'm there, I'm a public figure of some kind, these - - that is complicit support.

I'm a pawn.

AMNA NAWAZ: Soon after taking office, Trump replaced 18 members of the bipartisan board with allies, who then elected him chairman and fired former president Deborah Rutter.

"Not for me," Folds said on Instagram, announcing his departure from something he once called the ultimate gig.

He wasn't alone.

In the weeks that followed, the producers of "Hamilton" canceled their Kennedy Center shows.

And artists like Issa Rae pulled out of their performances.

Others, like the Gay Men's Chorus Of Washington, D.C., said their shows were scrapped by the center itself.

DONALD TRUMP: The Kennedy Center Honors have been among the most prestigious.

AMNA NAWAZ: But Richard Grenell, the center's new interim president, says previous programming, some of which he's called woke propaganda, was unprofitable, partisan, and wasn't connecting with audiences.

He spoke with Newsmax in September.

RICHARD GRENELL, Interim President, Kennedy Center: I think people need to understand that arts institutions across the country, including Broadway, are losing money.

They're in terrible financial shape.

And I think largely it's because you're not appealing to the masses on programming.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's the argument they're putting out there, that the Kennedy Center programming... BEN FOLDS: It's not an argument.

It's a lie.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... didn't speak to a number of Americans.

BEN FOLDS: Yes.

Nothing you have on stage is going to speak to everybody.

But there are thousands of shows there.

And it was everything.

We put everything on stage.

I think you should be able to go to a place like the Kennedy Center sponsored by we the people, and you should be able to see yourself on stage.

There are people who grow up not seeing someone who looks like them conducting, not seeing someone that looks like them dancing or speaking or being admired, is something we can do something about.

And so to the degree that the Kennedy Center was a diverse place that reflected the diversity of America the best it could, awesome.

AMNA NAWAZ: So why does the Kennedy Center matter?

Folds looks to history.

BEN FOLDS: I'm not exactly sure, but I think it has to do with power.

It's safe to say that any authoritarian movement likes to take arts and culture or control it or stymie it in some way, throttle it, use it early on, because that's where message comes from.

AMNA NAWAZ: But before his departure, a swan song, recording a live album with the National Symphony Orchestra, or NSO, before a full house.

BEN FOLDS: I thought, I'm going to need to do this, because I wanted the NSO to be making albums.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

BEN FOLDS: They have made a few notable classical albums over the last few decades, but not that much.

For the National Symphony Orchestra, I felt they should be littering the streets with records.

AMNA NAWAZ: The performance just days before the 2024 election captured the mood of the moment and the anxiety over what lay ahead.

BEN FOLDS: I was thinking more of the moment.

Like, the first song on the record is a song called, "But Wait, There's More."

And I wrote it maybe 2021 about how things just kept getting weirder and weirder and weirder and we were becoming -- we all knew we were becoming desensitized and all of this becoming normal, and -- but also addictive.

AMNA NAWAZ: The album has become a statement of purpose from an artist unafraid to speak his mind.

What do you think is the role of artists, of performers, of creators, of people who have platforms like yours at this moment in American history?

BEN FOLDS: Well, the main role is to be expressive and be honest.

That's the main role of the artist.

I loved doing that work.

I was sad to leave.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

BEN FOLDS: I'd like to see the NSO not sort of held hostage into place, but they won that one and they have got it.

So those like me are probably taking this stuff out to other places, out to the private sector, and trying to continue to help the arts out there.

The Kennedy Center isn't the only game in town.

I will be glad to see it come back to its shining beacon on the hill.

AMNA NAWAZ: A final performance for now, but certainly not the last word.

Remember, there's a lot more online, including a look at the Insurrection Act.

That's the sweeping power that President Trump has said he could use to deploy the military across U.S.

cities.

That is at PBS.org/NewsHour.

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

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

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