GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: In a historic first, former President Donald Trump faces 37 felony counts in connection to his withholding of classified documents.

GEOFF BENNETT: David Brooks and Ruth Marcus weigh in on the significance and political impact of Donald Trump's indictment.

AMNA NAWAZ: And the movement to return land that was forcibly taken from Black and indigenous people in the United States gains momentum.

GEORGE FATHEREE III, Attorney For Bruce Family: For a century, our government at every level has enacted policies to dispossess Black people of the right to own property and create wealth.

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

The Justice Department has formally accused former President Donald Trump of grossly mishandling classified documents.

The newly unsealed indictment lists more than three dozen counts in damning detail.

GEOFF BENNETT: They allege that Mr. Trump showed casual indifference to protecting secret material, that he defied demands to return the records and that he asked aides to hide them.

Lisa Desjardins starts our coverage.

LISA DESJARDINS: A first for the Department of Justice.

JACK SMITH, Special Counsel: Good afternoon.

LISA DESJARDINS: Special counsel Jack Smith announced the indictment of a former president, Donald Trump, on 37 counts.

JACK SMITH: Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with felony violations of our national security laws, as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

LISA DESJARDINS: Smith's announcement was just a few minutes' long.

He took no questions, but the unsealed indictment spoke for him.

In words and photos, it alleges Trump kept classified documents, including military secrets, in places like bathrooms, showers and a ballroom at his Florida estate.

The indictment centers around testimony from Trump attorneys about Trump's own words, alleging he bragged about possessing a senior military official's plan of attack, and then went on to say: "As president, I could have declassified it.

Now I can't.

It's still secret."

Later, the indictment alleges he told attorneys: "Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?"

Last night, the former president took to social media knowing this was coming and railed against the indictment as a political hit job.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States: Our country is going to hell, and they come after Donald Trump, weaponizing the Justice Department, weaponizing the FBI.

We can't let this continue to go on, because it's ripping our country to shreds.

We have such big problems, and this shouldn't be one of them.

So, I just want to tell you, I'm an innocent man.

I did nothing wrong.

And we will fight this out, just like we have been fighting for seven years.

LISA DESJARDINS: In another turn, today Trump's two lawyers announced they are resigning, citing that the case is entering a new phase, but they continued to defend him verbally on television.

JAMES TRUSTY, Former Attorney For Donald Trump: It puts a stamp of reality on something that really is unreal, in terms of the weaponization of the Department of Justice.

LISA DESJARDINS: The indictment focused on documents taken to Trump's home, Mar-a-Lago, comes after two years of events, starting five months after Trump left the White House, in May 2021, when the National Archives e-mailed his team asking for some missing records.

After some back-and-forth, the next January, Trump's team handed over 15 boxes.

Going through them, Archives found nearly 200 classified documents and, within weeks, notified the FBI.

While investigating, the FBI says it learned of more documents being withheld.

So, in May, a grand jury subpoena them.

In June, at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's team turned over more documents, but the FBI states it knew more were still being kept from them.

Then, in August of last year, the FBI used a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago.

Agents say they found over 100 more classified documents, including top secret ones.

Trump's attorneys have written that the FBI was heavy-handed and did not give Trump enough chance to comply.

The indictment is multiple layers of unprecedented, not just a former president, but his party's meeting candidate to recapture the White House.

In the past day, his GOP opponents responded.

MIKE PENCE (R), Presidential Candidate: No one is above the law.

LISA DESJARDINS: Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, previously had been cleared from investigation after turning over classified documents he found at his house, but he did not weigh in on Trump's guilt or innocence.

MIKE PENCE: From my years as your vice president and also my years serving on the International Relations Committee in the Congress of the United States, the handling of classified materials of the United States is a serious matter.

LISA DESJARDINS: Others spent more time on the attack against the DOJ, like South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC), Presidential Candidate: As president of the United States, I would purge all of the injustices and impurities in our system, so that every American can have confidence that they will be seen by the lady of justice with a blindfold on.

LISA DESJARDINS: Trump's main rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, said in a tweet that the weaponization of federal law enforcement is a threat and that there's been an uneven application of the law.

One Republican presidential candidate said Trump should end his campaign.

Former Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson said in a statement: "The criminal proceedings will be a major distraction."

But the highest-ranking Republican in power, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, called the indictment unconscionable.

He said he wanted accountability and repeated another theme, writing that: "Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades."

Secret documents were found at President Biden's Washington-based think tank and at his Delaware residence.

But he quickly handed them over and, as far as is known, has cooperated in that investigation.

The Department of Justice has a separate special counsel investigation for the Biden documents.

As for Trump, he's been summoned to show up in court on Tuesday in Miami and his attorneys have said he will be there.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.

AMNA NAWAZ: To dive deeper into the unsealed indictment, what we learned this afternoon and how it all fits into the public drama that's unfolded over the last year, we welcome in NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.

Carrie, welcome.

And thanks for joining us.

We have been following the work of special counsel Jack Smith for over six months now.

Today was the first time we heard from him in those brief remarks.

What stood out to you about what he said and how he said it?

CARRIE JOHNSON, NPR: One of the things that really stood out to me was Jack Smith making a case about the gravity and the scope of these criminal charges.

He said there are laws in place to protect defense information for a good reason.

It's really about protecting the safety and security of the United States, of military service members, members of the intelligence community and our foreign partners.

And the way in which former President Trump allegedly stored these top-secret papers, willy-nilly in his resort in Florida, put all of that at risk.

Jack Smith also talked about having one set of rules for everybody, and that the laws apply to people equally, perhaps nodding to the fact this is the first federal case against a former president.

Finally, he defended his own staff as being ethical, praised the FBI agents, in particular, for doing diligent work, and announced he hopes to take this case to trial in a speedy fashion.

We will see how that goes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carrie, the scope and the details of the indictment were really striking.

It was 49 pages, 37 counts.

When you look at those counts, they include things because like willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding and concealing of documents, and also making false statements.

And that detail in the indictment, Carrie, they had pictures, they had text messages, they had transcripts of audio recordings.

What does all of that tell you about how Mr. Smith and his team will try to prove their case?

CARRIE JOHNSON: There is a mountain of evidence the special counsel team has been building, in part because they received a ruling from a district court judge here in Washington that allowed them to pierce attorney-client privilege, thus allowing Trump's lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify about contemporaneous notes he took and possibly recordings of instructions that Donald Trump gave him.

Then we have a tape from one of the people Donald Trump -- Donald Trump allegedly showed secret material to or referenced secret material to in 2021 at his Bedminster club.

There's just so much evidence here, including those photos, of how these papers were stored and Trump's role starting on the day he left office in packing documents, to being present at the time that DOJ searched Mar-a-Lago... AMNA NAWAZ: Carrie, what do we need to know... CARRIE JOHNSON: ... that... AMNA NAWAZ: I apologize.

I just want to ask you as well about another important name in the indictment.

That is Walt Nauta, the valet for former President Trump, former White House staffer.

What are prosecutors alleging he did?

CARRIE JOHNSON: He's the aide who allegedly helped move boxes of these documents to and fro within Mar-a-Lago, to put them on an airplane to take them to Bedminster, Trump's club in New Jersey.

And Nauta, when he was confronted with these questions, allegedly lied to the FBI, which forms the basis of a false statements charge.

He's also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and a number of other smaller charges with respect to concealing documents from the feds.

He has a very serious case that he faces as well.

He's going to be in court next week alongside the former president.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, finally, Carrie, in the minute or so we have left, we saw Lisa report there on the response we have heard from Mr. Trump.

What else are you hearing from him and his legal team?

And what's the timeline ahead?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Yes, the special counsel says he wants a speedy trial.

We have to see how many motions the Trump legal team, once it gels, wants to throw out before this judge in Florida.

That could delay these proceedings.

But if the special counsel gets his wish, we could have a trial later this year, certainly in the heart of the presidential campaign, while Donald Trump is, at this moment, the front-runner for the nomination.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is NPR's national justice correspondent, Carrie Johnson, joining us tonight.

Carrie, thank you.

CARRIE JOHNSON: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And for legal analysis of the charges Mr. Trump faces, we turn to two experts in national security and handling classified documents.

Oona Hathaway is professor at Yale Law School and former special counsel at the Pentagon, and Jamil Jaffer is a law professor at George Mason University.

He previously served in the National Security Division at the Justice Department and as associate counsel to President George W. Bush.

Thank you both for being here.

And I want to start by reading from the indictment.

And we invite our viewers to go online, where they can find it and read it for themselves.

And I want to start, Jamil, with page two, because we learned precisely what Donald Trump had in his possession.

The classified documents Trump's stored in the boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the U.S. and foreign countries, U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.

Given the breadth and scope of the allegations spelled out in this indictment, what strikes you?

JAMIL JAFFER, Former Senior Counsel, House Intelligence Committee: You know, 102 documents that were found at that at the Trump Mar-a-Lago residence after he had turned over the documents to the FBI, saying that he had returned all the documents into the government.

Beyond that, in the indictment itself, 31 documents listed and the 31 counts of willful retention of documents.

Of that, 10 were sensitive compartmented information, another eight Special Access Programs.

These are the most sensitive documents the government has, highly classified programs that very few people in government have access to.

Donald Trump has them sitting around Mar-a-Lago, withholds them even after being asked for them by the government.

That's a problem.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Oona, on that point page eight of the indictment shows the departments and agencies from which the documents originated, the CIA, the Defense Department, the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office.

The list goes on.

What are the national security implications here, given the way that they were stored and to whom Mr. Trump allegedly showed them?

OONA HATHAWAY, Yale Law School: It's really extraordinary.

I mean, as Jamil rightly said, the kinds of secrets that are in these documents are among the most closely held secrets the U.S. government has.

They are information relevant to ongoing preparations for military operations.

There are documents in here that will to the military capabilities of our foreign allies and adversaries, the U.S. nuclear program.

I mean, it's really the most tightly held secrets U.S. government has and information that really could do extremely serious harm to U.S. national security.

And the range of agencies that are mentioned in this document just gives you a sense of how extensive this information really is.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jamil, I want to ask you about a couple of other developments in this case today.

One, we heard Lisa report that two of Mr. Trump's attorneys in this case resigned today.

They didn't give much detail as to why they were stepping down.

And we also learned that the case will be overseen, at least initially, by Judge Aileen Cannon.

If she sounds familiar to folks, it's because she's the judge who made a number of controversial rulings in the early stages of this investigation and had to be overruled by the 11th Circuit for overstepping.

What do you see as the significance there?

JAMIL JAFFER: Well, look, it obviously says something, something not good for President Trump, that two of have his attorneys felt the need to resign and step aside.

Jim Trusty just yesterday was on CNN defending the president.

And so the fact that he decided today to step aside, we don't know what it means, but it means something.

Now, Judge Cannon, look, I think we can expect the judge to be fair, even-handed.

She's been on this court for a while, right?

She has a reputation for being fair.

That being said, she did enter some rulings that were controversial, as you correctly point out, and ultimately was reversed by the 11th Circuit, and I think probably understands now that the court is watching this case closely and will keep an eye on it.

GEOFF BENNETT: Oona, Mr. Trump has been saying for months that he was within his rights to take these documents.

He even suggested in a conversation last year that he effectively declassified them with his mind.

Take a look.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States: If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, I'm -- it's declassified, even by thinking about it, because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or to wherever you're sending it.

And there doesn't have to be a process.

There can be a process, but it doesn't have to be.

You're the president.

You make that decision.

GEOFF BENNETT: Fast-forward to what CNN reported today.

They obtained a transcript of a July 2021 meeting where Mr. Trump is discussing a classified Pentagon document about attacking Iran.

And this transcript is also included in the indictment.

And he's saying of this document, he says: "I just found this.

Isn't it amazing?

Except it's, like, highly confidential, secret.

This is secret information.

As president, I could have declassified it, but now I can't."

How damaging is that potentially?

OONA HATHAWAY: This is extraordinarily damaging for the president.

It really shows that, even if he claims that he declassified these documents somehow by thinking it and not actually notifying anyone, which doesn't actually constitute actual declassification - - but let's just imagine we wound with his argument, which I think no legal expert would buy.

He here is admitting outright that he knows that he didn't declassify these documents and that there are documents in his possession that remain classified, and that he can't show to someone because they remain secret, and they remain classified.

So, he's undercutting one of the key arguments that he's been trying to make all along, and I think really cutting -- undercutting his lawyers, who are going to be trying to make arguments that he didn't violate the Espionage Act.

But, effectively, what he's doing here is offering an admission on tape.

So I think it really makes the case very hard for the defense.

GEOFF BENNETT: I see you shaking your head in agreement.

JAMIL JAFFER: Yes.

No, I think Oona exactly right.

I mean, the idea that you can declassify something just by thinking about it, that's just -- that's completely wrong.

You have to take some sort of action.

Now, the president does have broad declassification authority.

We saw President Trump actually do that.

He took a picture with his iPhone of a highly classified image, tweeted it out.

He -- the president has the ability to do that.

Once you leave office, you don't have the authority.

This tape has him admitting it and admitting a document in his own hands at that time remains classified.

He knew it.

He still showed it to those folks at that meeting.

He did something that's noted in the indictment elsewhere.

But he also showed a document and said: Well, don't get too close.

I can show you this map.

It's classified.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jamil, some of Mr. Trump's defenders have been drawing comparisons to Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server for official public communications, for the documents handling case involving former Vice President Mike Pence and now President Joe Biden.

What makes this Trump case different?

JAMIL JAFFER: Well, there's a few things.

One, look, Hillary Clinton obviously did the wrong thing by having that e-mail server, by having classified material on there.

That's a huge problem, right?

President Biden shouldn't have those documents at his -- at his at his facilities.

Neither should have Vice President Pence.

In the case of Biden and Pence, both owned up to it, turned them over, and that was that.

In the case of President Trump and potentially in the case of Secretary of State Clinton, there was some effort to -- the server was wiped.

In the case of President Trump, these documents were withheld.

They even had an attorney sign a document saying, we have turned over everything.

And then we found another 102 documents, right?

Boxes were moved.

They weren't in the room the attorneys searched.

That evinces a decision to withhold documents.

It evinces obstruction of justice.

That's why these charges are there.

It's not because the special prosecutor is making them up.

It's the facts about what happened laid out the indictment.

If these facts are proven, it's going to be very hard for a jury not to convict.

GEOFF BENNETT: Oona, we expect Mr. Trump to appear on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern in a South Florida federal courtroom.

Help us understand why the special counsel in this case chose to bring these charges in Florida.

And what will you be watching for on Tuesday?

OONA HATHAWAY: Well, the reason that these were brought in Florida is almost certainly because the charges all center around the retention of the documents and the decision to obstruct justice and to misrepresent the information that Trump held.

And all of these are things that happened in Florida.

So what's interesting is that the charges do not include the removal of these documents from the White House.

They don't have anything to do with the transport of the documents to Florida.

They really focus on the holding of those documents in Florida and then what the president did after the federal government continually asked for those documents.

The National Archives asked for the documents.

There was a subpoena for these documents.

There was repeated requests for these documents.

And the president in Florida continually refused to hand those over.

So, all of the actions covered in this indictment are actions that took place in Florida.

And that's why this case is being brought in Florida, even though it's important to note that they certainly knew that this was going to lead to a less favorable jury, almost certainly.

It's a more heavily Republican area than they would have had if they brought these charges in Washington, D.C.

But it's really what they had to do, because the conduct that's being covered in these charges is conduct that took place in Florida, so it has to be charged in Florida.

GEOFF BENNETT: And what's your assessment of the choice of venue here in this case?

JAMIL JAFFER: Yes, I think it's exactly about venue.

What they don't want to run into is the president challenging venue, delaying, spending time litigating where should the case be heard and the like.

By having it in Florida -- I think Oona is exactly right -- they may trade something off, but, at the end of the day, they get the case to move forward as quickly as possible.

And you saw Jack Smith say it: I want this case to move forward expeditiously.

The defendant in this case, the former president, has a right to a speedy trial.

So we will move this thing forward.

Now.

I have no doubt that President Trump's legal team will try to delay this thing, try to get it put off beyond the election.

And, frankly, that may not be crazy, if you think about it.

You have a sitting president whose Justice Department is prosecuting the leading candidate on the other side.

This is a politically fraught investigation and prosecution.

It's a real challenge.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jamil Jaffer and Oona Hathaway, we thank you both.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other news: Evidence is growing that an explosion rocked a dam in Southern Ukraine this week just before it collapsed.

The New York Times reports U.S. spy satellites detected the blast.

A Norwegian research group says seismic data also showed an explosion.

The dams's collapse unleashed a deluge that's flooded towns and forced thousands to flee.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his people will endure.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): Today, I received reports about the rescue operation.

An enormous amount of challenges remain.

But I am sure, no matter how difficult they may be, we will overcome the consequences of this disaster and all Russian evil.

AMNA NAWAZ: Separately, the White House said fresh intelligence indicates Iran is helping Russia build a drone factory near Moscow.

The goal is to ensure a steady supply of weapons to use against Ukraine.

Smoky skies partially clear today in Washington, New York and much of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Air quality alerts remained in force in many places, but at lower levels.

Meanwhile, officials in Canada reported the arrival of fire crews from the U.S. and elsewhere will help contain fires in Quebec.

At the same time, more fires spread across the western province of British Columbia.

They are adding to the worst start ever for the wildfire season in Canada.

In China, severe flooding swamped part of the country's southwest today after days of heavy rain.

The downpours dumped a record 24 inches in 24 hours in Beihai, a province that suffered extreme drought just last month.

State TV showed rescue workers wading through flooded streets to free people from their cars.

Forecasts call for more rain across Southern China in the coming days.

Ethnic clashes in South Sudan have killed more than 20 people at a U.N. camp that's taking in war refugees from neighboring Sudan.

Doctors Without Borders say violence erupted Thursday at the Malakal camp.

It's home to thousands of displaced people in the region.

In Sudan itself, a new attempt at a 24-hour cease-fire is set for Saturday.

Two months of fighting there have displaced nearly two million people.

Back in this country, Wall Street managed fractional gains on a quiet day of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up four 83 points to close at 33876.

The Nasdaq rose 20 points.

The S&P 500 added five.

GEOFF BENNETT: The news of today's indictment of former President Donald Trump raises questions about the political fallout that's to come.

For that, we turn to the analysis tonight of Brooks and Marcus.

That's New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Ruth Marcus, associate editor and columnist at The Washington Post.

It's good to have you both here.

So, before we jump into the details of this case and dissect and distill the political impact, I'd like to just have you reflect on the gravity of this moment, starting with you, Ruth.

RUTH MARCUS, Columnist, The Washington Post: I think gravity is really the right word to use.

It's a somber, sobering moment for the country.

We have never been to this place before.

We have been on the brink.

We almost -- Nixon was almost indicted.

People forget Bill Clinton faced the prospect of indictment and reached a plea deal.

But we have never crossed this Rubicon.

I think it's important that we did it on this set of facts.

I thought that was true before I saw the indictment.

Having seen the indictment, I think it's even more true.

As Jack Smith said, there can't be one set of -- the one set of laws has to cover everybody.

That said, my -- and so I find I'm relieved that the rule of law looks like it's prevailing here, but that relief is really tempered by sadness, sadness that we had a president of the United States and a potential future president of the United States that has brought us to this terrible state, and also real apprehension, sadness about the volcanic response, just inherent, instinctive, supportiveness, political polarization from his party, and what that's going to mean for an already divided country that's going to be further polarized here.

GEOFF BENNETT: A somber day, a sad day.

How do you view it?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I think this -- this morning, I was blase.

I said, OK, he had these documents.

We knew it.

We saw the pictures from Mar-a-Lago.

And then, when the indictment came out, I was like, oh, there's always another layer down with this guy.

What shocked me in particular was the nuclear programs, our own vulnerabilities.

He's sharing our Iran plans with buddies at a golf course.

And I don't see those as documents.

Those are human beings.

Those are American lives.

Those are people who are helping the United States around the world who are put at risk.

Those are American soldiers and Marines and airmen and seamen who are put at risk.

And so the lack of reverence, lack of sense of responsibility for the people who were serving under his command is just so offensive.

And then the just the -- he -- I had this thought.

I -- he's just a mean boy.

He's like an 8-year-old boy who wanted these documents for some willful reason, who could not admit error.

And my friend Andrew Sullivan made the point today that, whenever there's a situation where Donald Trump has to be equal with everybody, the rules have to apply equally, he will ride roughshod over that system and behave in a way so, I'm not equal to everybody else.

It's just me.

The rules don't apply to me.

And it's Greek in its exposure of his character flaws.

GEOFF BENNETT: Ruth, it was a South Florida grand jury that brought this indictment.

Special counsel Jack Smith's decision to bring charges in what effectively is Donald Trump's home turf, there are legal reasons for that, but what do you see as the political significance of that?

RUTH MARCUS: Well, I think there's actually potential legal and political significance that combine, which is, here's what we know about Donald Trump.

When Donald Trump is cornered, he yells, rigged.

It's a rigged jury.

It's a rigged election.

It's a rigged judge.

This actually won't stop him from yelling that here, but when he has this Judge Aileen Cannon, who was clearly not just a Trump appointee, but so Trump-empathetic in her previous pass at this case, it's going to be harder for him to try to smear her as some apparatchik of the Justice Department.

And similarly, with the jury, this is not going to be a D.C. jury.

It's a South Florida jury.

It's going to be harder for him to complain, although he will, about unfair treatment from them.

And so I think that actually, strangely, helps prosecutors tamp down some of the public, - - hopefully, some of the public reaction to the case.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about that, that it makes it harder for Donald Trump to make the argument - - of course, he will make the argument -- but it's harder for him to make a convincing argument that he's being railroaded when it's happening in -- on his home turf, as I said?

DAVID BROOKS: You went to law school.

I didn't.

But I don't know how you get a fair jury.

Like, does anybody in this country not have an opinion about Donald Trump?

So I don't know how that's going to work.

He's going to make the argument.

And from the judgment from today, a lot of people are going to accept the argument.

We looked at the tweets already.

If you're running in Donald Trump for president, your job is to take this day and say, see, that guy's not qualified to be president.

That's like, simple.

Does Ron DeSantis do that?

No.

Does Tim Scott do that?

No.

They're all -- they're all jumping on the, it's prosecutive -- it's weaponizing the justice system.

They're jumping on that, Mike Lee in the Senate.

Glenn Youngkin, the supposedly mature and moderate governor of Virginia, he was like, selective prosecution.

And so the party is rallying around.

And one of the things Donald Trump has been having trouble doing is raising money.

And the thing he knows that can help him raise money is getting indicted.

And so he got indicted in New York, and he raised like -- something like $12 million.

As soon as the indictment comes down, he's got a video, he's got the direct mail.

He's making hay while the sun shines.

And so he's using this as a political gift, which, for the time being, it seems to be, at least in the Republican Party.

RUTH MARCUS: But we knew he would.

But the really sickening thing is what you say about the rest of the party rallying around him.

I know -- we all know why they're doing it.

We all know they're doing it not because they believe it, but because they understand it to be in their political self-interest.

But, boy, if I had a superpower right now, I would wield it to ban the word weaponization, because what's going on here is the opposite of the weaponization of the Justice Department.

Merrick Garland, the attorney general, stepped aside from this case.

He brought in a career prosecutor to take a look at it.

The weaponization of the Justice Department happened under the former guy, not under this guy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, on that point, I mean, the potential offenses, the alleged offenses strike at the core of some of the most somber duties of the presidency, including the protection of the country's most vital secrets.

That Donald Trump's rivals are willing to overlook that and not call that out, one, how do they make an argument for their candidacies?

But what does that say about the field, given that this is the job to which they are applying, the presidency, or hoping to win?

RUTH MARCUS: I think it does -- it says something about the field, but it also simultaneously says something about the base, and it says something about Donald Trump's hold on the base, a significant part of his party's voters.

We're going to find out.

He could get indicted in the middle of Fifth Avenue and continue to hold and be Teflon Don and not be affected by this.

I think there's an interesting question -- I'm really curious what David thinks about this - - about whether the sheer weight of these numerous indictments -- I'm not a fan of the Manhattan indictment, but that's there.

There's this indictment, which I think is very, very serious.

We're going to probably see something from Fani Willis in Georgia relating to January 6 and the election, and there could be more after that.

At some point, will the Republican Party base say, enough is enough, we can't risk a third try with this guy, we want to get the White House back?

There's no evidence of that so far.

And as the rest of the party just reflexively rallies around Trump, the leaders, I think that makes it less likely that we will see that more healthy reaction.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you think this will play out in the race?

I mean, of course, we have never seen an American president face federal criminal charges, and we have never seen one face those charges as he's trying to recapture the White House.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes,the Republican Party is always about to tire of Donald Trump, and then that day never arrives.

I mean, he's clearly stronger now than he was six months ago.

And so the first indictment, which was a bit of a dodgy one, clearly helped him.

Will this one help him?

I don't think it'll help him, in part because there are a lot of military folks in the Republican Party, and a lot of military folks have handled classified information, and they know how serious it is.

They take it seriously.

And so I think this will -- there will be some lingering effect.

The only way it could possibly hurt Donald Trump is not somebody saying, see, he's a bad guy.

That's not going to work.

You could -- somebody could make the case, he's just got so much baggage.

He's a great guy, but he just can't win the fall.

And I think that argument, you can make that argument without going personally after Donald Trump and without getting in the way of the core Trump narrative, they're out to get us.

And that "They're out to get us" sense is thick in the Republican Party, with a lot of justification, by the way.

And so, if he can turn this into "They're out to get us," then it's the narrative.

That's his favorite narrative.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, the White House was taking a business-as-usual approach to these decidedly abnormal circumstances.

President Biden was in North Carolina giving a speech about his legislative agenda when word of this indictment came down.

Does the White House risk having their message drowned out potentially yet again by all of the things surrounding and swirling around Donald Trump?

RUTH MARCUS: If you had asked me what President Biden was doing today, I could -- if you had a gun to my head, I could not have answered that question.

(LAUGHTER) RUTH MARCUS: Of course, their message is going to get drowned out on a day like today.

And I -- is it terrible for a White House to have its message drowned out by the news that its chief opponent is being indicted on very serious charges, on mishandling the most highly classified information, on obstructing justice, on lying to federal investigators?

That's not a bad news day for the White House to have whatever it was doing, infrastructure or whatever, being talked about.

I think the president, President Biden, is doing precisely the right thing by business as usual, head down.

This is not his thing.

He's not commenting on it.

He's not anywhere near it.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, to that point, President Biden told reporters today that he has not talked to the attorney general about this case and will not talk to him about it.

DAVID BROOKS: And that's utterly appropriate.

I would say, even longer term, though, I do think Biden is still underexposed.

I think his staff is still overprotective of him.

And he's much smarter in public than a lot of people think in private.

And so I do think they need to let him get out more, because it's just not good for the presidency for him to be that much in the shadow of Donald Trump.

And that's been even without the indictment.

GEOFF BENNETT: Couldn't he tell them that?

Couldn't he tell his staff that if he felt that way?

It's been said to me that the president believes that, when you empower people to do their jobs, you listen to their vice.

But if he agreed with you, couldn't you tell them, hey, I don't need to be so protected?

DAVID BROOKS: You would think so.

And I will say, from what I hear inside the White House, he's not a doddering old grandpa either.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: He's like -- can be a very tough, mean guy and a very harsh boss sometimes.

So he could say that.

But he might be trusting.

And maybe he wants to be as quiet and, frankly, as closed in as he's been.

GEOFF BENNETT: David Brooks and Ruth Marcus, thank you for being with us on this historic weekend -- or end to the week, rather.

AMNA NAWAZ: As cities and states across the country consider various forms of reparations, California has led the way in returning land to the descendants of the dispossessed.

That includes African Americans and Native Americans.

But, as Stephanie Sy reports, the wealth, the community and the opportunities lost are not easily recovered.

STEPHANIE SY: The story of Bruce's Beach is a story about what could and should have been.

Over 100 years ago, an industrious Black woman in Southern California dreamt of owning a beach resort, but was refused whenever she tried.

Willa Bruce eventually acquired land in Manhattan Beach, telling The Los Angeles Times in 1912: "I own this land, and I'm going to keep it."

She and her husband, Charles, built a lodge, a place where Black vacationers could enjoy a stay at the beach.

PATRICIA BRUCE-CARTER, Relative of Bruce Family: They were having a beautiful time, and they built it to share, because whenever people came to California, they wanted them to have somewhere to go.

KAVON WARD, Founder, Where Is My Land: When I think about Charles and Willa Bruce, I think about entrepreneurs, I think about Black excellence, I think about community.

GEORGE FATHEREE III, Attorney For Bruce Family: The reality is, the Bruces and their patrons were wealthy.

STEPHANIE SY: A stately photo of the Bruces on their wedding day, decked out in finery, foretold the makings of a power couple.

The display of Black success outraged the white neighbors and powers that be, says attorney George Fatheree.

GEORGE FATHEREE III: In the light of harassment, intimidation, violence, their business just got more and more successful, and until the city of Manhattan Beach hatched a scheme to take the property via a racially motivated eminent domain.

STEPHANIE SY: The Bruces' dream was stolen, their property essentially seized for a pittance in compensation, and only after they sued.

KAVON WARD: This is it, I would say from right here to maybe this building here.

STEPHANIE SY: Community activist Kavon Ward first learned of the Bruces a few years after she moved to Manhattan Beach in 2017.

KAVON WARD: This country often tells us that - - Black people, that we're lazy, or we don't work hard enough, or all we have to do is pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

And here we are in the 19-teens and the 1920s, and this Black couple did exactly that, only to have their land stolen and to die as cooks in someone else's kitchen, when they had this whole beachfront resort here.

STEPHANIE SY: Ward began campaigning for the land to be returned to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce during the summer of 2020.

Less than two years later, she succeeded, with the help of Fatheree.

GEORGE FATHEREE III: For a century, our government at every level has enacted policies to dispossess Black people of the right to own property and create wealth.

And what was so powerful about the return of the property of the Bruce family is, we see a path forward to finally counter some of those false narratives.

STEPHANIE SY: As unique and complex as the Bruce's Beach land back deal is, it does offer a path forward for other groups that might seek a return of land, not least of which are the original inhabitants of Los Angeles.

Before Spanish missionaries arrived, the Tongva roamed a 4,000-square-mile swathe of Southern California called Tovaangar stretching from the coast to the mountains.

SAMANTHA MORALES-JOHNSON, Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Land Conservancy: We have been very systematically erased.

We were enslaved.

We have gone through about three waves of genocide.

STEPHANIE SY: Twenty-seven-year-old Samantha Morales-Johnson recently became the land return coordinator for a Tongva conservancy, a job she could only have dreamed of as a child.

SAMANTHA MORALES-JOHNSON: This land was returned, which I was not expecting in my lifetime, let alone my grandfather's.

STEPHANIE SY: The one-acre property in Altadena was transferred last year by a Jewish landowner whose own family faced displacement and oppression.

Johnson said the protests that erupted after the police killing of George Floyd raised the nation's consciousness.

SAMANTHA MORALES-JOHNSON: I think it made people more aware of all of the injustices that happen in America.

STEPHANIE SY: When Johnson was growing up, council meetings and holiday parties were held in a borrowed space.

SAMANTHA MORALES-JOHNSON: I think it was a converted taco restaurant with, like, a little parking lot.

There was no earth to even grow anything in that concrete building.

STEPHANIE SY: The Altadena property, which overlooks a scenic canyon, marks the first time in nearly 200 years the Tongva have legally owned land to use as they wish.

So, this is the white sage.

SAMANTHA MORALES-JOHNSON: This is the white sage.

This is the only place where we can plant all Native trees with full sovereignty and Native plants with full sovereignty.

STEPHANIE SY: Work is under way to remove the overgrown invasive species that were planted here.

The old resilient oaks will remain.

Eventually, the site will host tribal gatherings and offer educational programs.

SAMANTHA MORALES-JOHNSON: So, the beautiful thing about this land is that there is a lot of hope for restoration even underneath all of the mess that we have.

STEPHANIE SY: So-called land back agreements are still rare.

Other recent examples include the purchase of nearly two square miles of land for $4.5 million by the Esselen Tribe in Central California.

And the city of Oakland recently returned five acres of a local park to the East Bay Ohlone Tribe.

In L.A., different Tongva groups are looking for more opportunities to reacquire land.

ANGIE BEHRNS, Founder, Gabrielino/Tongva, Springs Foundation: It's not really just about the land.

It's preserving what's left of our land.

STEPHANIE SY: Long before the land back movement had gained traction, Angie Behrns, now 86, fought to lease this two-acre property in West L.A.

It was the early 1990s, and the Kuruvungna Springs, which had been the site of a Tongva village, had fallen into neglect.

A small museum on the land shows the journey.

ANGIE BEHRNS: When I stood at that gate and saw this area, I was so upset.

I couldn't believe it.

That's an archaeological and a historical society.

STEPHANIE SY: The Los Angeles Unified School District, which owns the land and built a high school next to the springs, agreed to lease the site for $1 a year.

BOB RAMIREZ, President, Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation: This is the medicine garden we have, which has many varieties of medicinal plants.

STEPHANIE SY: The president of the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation, Bob Ramirez, says the land is now abundant with Native plants and pristine drinking water.

BOB RAMIREZ: Would you like to try some?

STEPHANIE SY: Yes, I would like to try some.

BOB RAMIREZ: Yes.

STEPHANIE SY: Now is the time for the land to be returned, Behrns says.

ANGIE BEHRNS: This is a sacred site.

This is our place of worship.

You have your temples.

You have your churches.

And what do we have?

STEPHANIE SY: But Ramirez says the "we" is debatable.

BOB RAMIREZ: And there may be other people that say, well, wait a minute, if you're going to get that land, well, what about me?

So it becomes contentious, I think.

How do you compensate this group and neglect somebody else?

Is that fair?

Is that just?

STEPHANIE SY: What is fair and just is also in dispute at Bruce's Beach.

Patricia Bruce-Carter, a distant relative of Charles Bruce, was at the ceremony in 2022 when county officials return the land to the Bruces' direct descendants.

She thinks about what could have been if the land had remained in the family's hands all along.

PATRICIA BRUCE-CARTER: I'm sure, at this time, there would have been multiple hotels and beachfront properties, and, I mean, just living the life.

STEPHANIE SY: A lifeguard administration center and parking lot stand where the Bruces' resort did.

The descendants' lawyer, George Fatheree, says it would not be easy to develop.

And so less, than a year after the land was returned, the four recipients of the land decided to sell it back to the county for nearly $20 million.

GEORGE FATHEREE III: As an attorney, my responsibility is to advocate in the interests of my clients.

As a citizen, as an -- and as an African American citizen,I think that's an important question.

Who are the benefactors of restitution?

Who should be the benefactors of reparations?

STEPHANIE SY: After her work getting the Bruces their land back, this is not the outcome community activist Kavon Ward wanted.

KAVON WARD: I wanted to see strong, young Black entrepreneurs like Charles and Willa Bruce take up space here and be able to build and develop here, like the Bruces once we're able to do.

Community is what got the land back.

So, yes, the family won, but the community did not.

STEPHANIE SY: The work, Ward says, will continue, the reckoning far from over.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Los Angeles.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we will be back shortly.

But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's a chance to offer your support, which helps keeps programs like this one on the air.

GEOFF BENNETT: For those of you staying with us, we take a second look at my conversation with Margaret Cho, a trailblazer in the world of stand-up comedy.

She's now celebrating 40 years of making people laugh and pay attention to the issues of the day.

I met up with her recently at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Live and Livid is the name of Margaret Chose big first tour since the pandemic.

So you take your dog everywhere?

MARGARET CHO, Comedian: Yes, she's really special.

GEOFF BENNETT: And her loyal Chihuahua mix rescue dog, Lucia, is along for the ride.

At 54 and performing professionally since 16, Cho has woven comedy through her stand-up, acting and even her LGBTQ activism.

MARGARET CHO: We need to recognize that a government that would deny a gay man the right to bridal registry is a fascist state.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: Her stand-up specials, like "Notorious C.H.O."

in 2002... MARGARET CHO: Her name is... GEOFF BENNETT: ... to "PsyCHO" in 2015, to starring in the groundbreaking 90s TV comedy "All-American Girl" inspired by her stand-up routines about the culture clashes between her traditional Korean mother and herself, a fully Americanized daughter.

ACTRESS: Look, he's a doctor, and from a good traditional family.

MARGARET CHO: Wow, and check out that frequent flyer mileage.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: To appearances such as her Emmy-nominated recurring role in "30 Rock" playing Kim Jong-il.

MARGARET CHO: Hasta la vista, baby.

Finally, my girls have arrived!

GEOFF BENNETT: And, recently, a Hulu film, "Fire Island," with Saturday Night Live's Bowen Yang.

Cho knew from an early age growing up in San Francisco comedy was her calling.

MARGARET CHO: I just love the art form.

And it was just a recognition more than anything that it was what I would grow up to be.

I think a lot of people maybe have those feelings maybe when they were kind of playing.

They -- like as a kid, you're like, oh, I want to be a fireman, want to be a lawyer.

I think they had those kinds of really childhood aspirations to be a comedian.

But it was a very visceral knowledge of, this is my job, oddly, because I was not a class clown.

GEOFF BENNETT: Really?

Yes.

So, who were your early influences, then?

Who were you looking to, to say, I could do that, I want to do that?

MARGARET CHO: Joan Rivers, ultimately, because she was so just incredibly elegant, but also crass.

She was finding a way to be crass, which is pretty incredible in the '70s, for women and in comedy, and for television the way it was.

GEOFF BENNETT: She was one of your mentors.

And I saw where you said that some of the advice that she once gave you was: "We are the type of girls who don't find our place when young.

The funny ones, the odd ones, the weirdos, we are seen a little later."

MARGARET CHO: She was very right about how we become more and more visible the older we get.

And she would say to me: "We're like the girls that were ugly in high school."

And I'm like: "You know, watch your mouth."

(LAUGHTER) MARGARET CHO: "Watch your mouth."

It's a funny thing of like, when you realize that we actually grow in value as we age, and it's a powerful thought that we can actually really embrace that power.

So I think that she was very right about that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you view your stand-up act as being part of your activism?

MARGARET CHO: Yes, my stand-up comedy is the main channel for my activism.

It's the way that I am an activist.

If you go back to Bob Hope, that's all he was doing, was lending his sense of humor to the cause.

BOB HOPE, Comedian: In fact, when I was a boy, I had such a high voice, the teacher made me sit with the girls.

(LAUGHTER) MARGARET CHO: Although my cause is somewhat different, but actually not really that different.

It's about boosting morale.

It's about sort of a call to action and call for unity for Americans.

GEOFF BENNETT: To be clear, the language Cho uses is nothing like Bob Hope.

MARGARET CHO: Sometimes, you will see like a really beautiful Asian woman and she's with the most famous (EXPLETIVE DELETED) face, broke-down, busted white man.

And I'm just like (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are your eyes that small?

GEOFF BENNETT: Crass and vulgar are some of the words used to describe her humor.

I asked her about that approach.

MARGARET CHO: I think, like, what I have been trying to do is hit sort of both high and then low.

So, like high-minded is like looking towards fighting for equality, fighting for rights for the queer community, fighting for trans lives, fighting for drag, fighting for all of these things in a very noble effort, but then undercutting it with the most crass, explicit, foul joke, that you can have that center, very highly minded idea, so that my feeling, like, is like, I'm trying to make this -- it's like a sundae or something.

Like, you want the cherry on top to be a really noble effort, but, underneath, it's just... (CROSSTALK) (LAUGHTER) MARGARET CHO: And, when you live together, sex takes on a whole new dimension.

I feel like a prostitute that works for really low rates.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: You have been really open about your past addiction, your past mental health issues.

How does that journey show up in your work?

MARGARET CHO: Well, I think it's important to talk about mental health as a subject matter, because it's inherently really funny, because it's like really, like, full of mystery and terrifying.

GEOFF BENNETT: In what ways?

MARGARET CHO: Well, it's like, to me, the closer that we are to death, the more that we can laugh in the face of that, the more strength that we have to carry on living.

And so the humor is really the coping mechanism of the spirit.

I never saw Asian people on television or in movies.

So my dreams were somewhat limited.

I would dream, maybe someday... (LAUGHTER) MARGARET CHO: ...

I could be an extra on "MASH."

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: When you were a child, and you knew that this was the life that you wanted for yourself, did you ever allow yourself to think that it would be this big?

MARGARET CHO: No, I never knew what it would be.

I never thought about what my career would look like just because I didn't have any examples to draw from.

But "Dancing With the Stars" is old people's jam.

GEOFF BENNETT: Her mom is often a foil for Cho's humor and a butt of her jokes too.

MARGARET CHO: Every taping, she would sit in the front row of the tapings, and I could not even look at her because she would emit this low-pitch moan that only I could hear.

(LAUGHTER) MARGARET CHO: Ooh.

You know, she's 88 now, and so this is a very, like, special time, when you don't really treasure everything that she says.

So that's a really big part of my work, is talking about her.

And then everybody really loves, like, just to hear her voice through that, whether that's, like, because she thinks my haircuts: "The haircut very gay."

So, she thinks this haircut is the most gay that my hair has been.

Well, she is right.

But that kind of voice is like I think the thing that people are familiar with, because it's sort of like talking about the immigrant experience that is also when it becomes very right on.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have been doing this, as you mentioned, for 40 years.

What's your greatest accomplishment?

MARGARET CHO: My greatest accomplishment is just -- is, I think, inspiring comedians like Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang to further greatness, that they were able to see me and recognize that this is what they wanted to do.

So, yes, the reason that Ali Wong exists, the reason that Awkwafina is out there, all of these comedians, I think, were inspired by me.

And that's my greatest achievement.

AMNA NAWAZ: And be sure to tune into "Washington Week" for more analysis of the week's political news.

GEOFF BENNETT: Our colleague and White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez is moderating tonight.

Laura, what can we expect?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thanks, Geoff and Amna.

Tonight, on "Washington Week," I will be speaking with some of D.C.'s sharpest reporters about the historic indictment of former President Trump and what it means for our country and the 2024 political landscape.

AMNA NAWAZ: Look forward to that.

Thank you, Laura.

And watch "PBS News Weekend" tomorrow for a look at what you need to know about ticks and the spread of Lyme disease this summer.

GEOFF BENNETT: Remember, there's more online, including a story about a group of cyclists from the Cherokee Nation who are taking on a grueling seven-state journey across the Trail of Tears to reclaim their own history.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

AMNA NAWAZ: And before we go, some good news.

We want to welcome a new member of the "NewsHour" family.

Foreign affairs correspondent Nick Schifrin is now the proud father of Isabelle, who was born at eight pounds, 12 ounces.

Nick tells us that Isabelle, his wife, Camilla Schick, and new big brother Noah are all doing well, albeit with maybe a little less sleep.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Congratulations to Nick, Camilla, Noah.

And welcome to the world, Isabelle.

GEOFF BENNETT: Absolutely.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, have a great weekend.