GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: The White House escalates its global trade war, as the president doubles tariffs on aluminum and steel.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Trump administration revokes hospital guidance regarding emergency abortions for women whose health is in danger.

AMNA NAWAZ: And a Georgia teenager fights deportation after ICE officials detain her following a mistaken traffic stop.

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL, Detained By ICE After Traffic Stop: I was very fearful of what my future may hold, because I know how immigration looks right now.

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

We begin tonight with a new estimate of how much President Trump's spending and tax cut bill would cost and its potential impact on health care coverage.

The independent nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, projects that the bill would add $2.4 trillion overall to the deficit over the next decade.

And it estimates that changes to Medicaid and other health coverage would leave nearly 11 million Americans uninsured by 2034.

GEOFF BENNETT: The one big, beautiful bill, as it's called, would reduce federal government spending by nearly $1.3 trillion.

And the CBO found that, by extending President Trump's 2017 tax cuts, the bill would cut taxes by $3.75 trillion over the next decade.

The measure awaits action in the Senate after it passed the House last month without Democratic support.

Today, House Republicans shrugged off the CBO score.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Go back to 2017.

You don't need to go back that far to see how wrong the CBO has been when it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth.

They have always been wrong and they have always ignored what tax cuts will do to grow the American economy.

AMNA NAWAZ: Senate Democratic leadership, meanwhile, said there would be real-world consequences to people's health care.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): People will fall through the cracks and get phased out of coverage in the coming years, death by 1,000 paper cuts.

GEOFF BENNETT: The CBO also released a separate analysis today about the impact of President Trump's tariffs.

It projects current tariff policies would reduce the federal deficit by $2.8 trillion over the next decade, while also raising inflation and shrinking the size of the economy.

That deficit savings is a bit more than the big spending and tax cut bill would cost.

It comes as President Trump issued new tariffs on steel and aluminum overnight, doubling them from 25 to 50 percent.

For more, we're joined by Babak Hafezi.

He's an adjunct professor at American university's Kogod School of business and CEO of Hafezi Capital.

That's an international consulting firm.

So, President Trump announced these sweeping tariffs last week during a visit to Pittsburgh, catching a lot of people off guard.

Help us understand the administration's rationale.

Why move forward with this right now?

BABAK HAFEZI, Adjunct Professor, American University: They're in the middle of negotiations, so this could be an item to bring through the negotiation process.

It is also -- he went to a place where development of steel is very, very high.

So it was a very friendly audience.

So that's another element as well.

But the rationale is ultimately tax collection.

Tax collection is what matters.

There's a tax package going through, and this adds to the dollar value that makes it positive.

GEOFF BENNETT: And the Trump administration argues that these tariffs will help protect and grow the American steel and aluminum industry.

Do they have that right?

BABAK HAFEZI: Partially right.

They will produce a certain level of jobs, but ultimately they make American companies uncompetitive globally.

The price of American steel is the highest in the world and, ultimately, we are not competitive.

So for the domestic market, yes, we will own the domestic market.

But beyond that, American corporations will have to buy corporations abroad to sell globally.

It also creates a lot of -- it creates a certain level of imbalances within the American economy, allowing inefficient businesses to be afloat for a longer period of time.

GEOFF BENNETT: And so what does a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum, what does that mean for our trading partners?

BABAK HAFEZI: It -- number one, it makes them very angry.

They're not very, very happy about this.

They are going to have retaliations.

And they're trying to figure out a way to circumvent this.

And most organizations will find ways to circumvent this.

That's what they have done in the past.

And the U.K. right now is the primary country available for that.

It's the primary country that has a 25 percent tariff rate and it allows for a transfers to happen through there if there are no quotas.

But ultimately the issue becomes how do you become viable in a market and how do you -- can you even get a part of the American economy as part of your business?

GEOFF BENNETT: With so much uncertainty in the market generally and then you add to that the really confusion caused by these tariffs, when you talk to business leaders around the world, what are they telling you?

BABAK HAFEZI: They're very upset about the instability.

They don't -- there's a lot of volatility that's happening.

And they do not know how to go ahead and engage and react.

And they're reacting, rather than actually strategizing.

So it is actually hurting them.

They're not investing for the long term.

They're just trying to figure out what the administration is trying to do and how they can actually react towards in a positive way.

And they know that the rules are going to change within weeks.

So how do you create a system that is temporarily working, but, long term, you can actually make it much more viable for yourself as an organization?

GEOFF BENNETT: So let's take a closer look at this new Congressional Budget Office score of President Trump's tariffs.

It broadly aligns with other estimates, but doesn't include today's steel and aluminum tariffs.

It projects a $2.8 trillion reduction in the deficit over 10 years.

Inflation increases by 0.4 percent in 2025 and 2026.

Changes will reduce the size of the U.S. economy.

And it adds that all of these estimates come with significant uncertainty.

What picture does all of this paint of the economy and the impact of these tariffs?

BABAK HAFEZI: Most of the analysis was done based on current market trends.

But, obviously, when you have tariffs of 50 percent, 25 percent -- and currently we're living in a tariff phase where it's about an average of 15.8 percent tariffs.

So as you live with these tariffs, they start becoming almost like a small -- you start cutting yourself slowly and bleeding slowly.

So obviously economic conditions will not remain the same.

Investments will decrease.

Our partners will also have retaliatory actions, which will hamper American corporations that are selling abroad.

So we should expect in the next year or two a decrease in GDP and also growth shrinking, so -- and tariffs eventually having a smaller portion of the dollar value bringing in.

GEOFF BENNETT: Babak Hafezi, thank you for your insights.

BABAK HAFEZI: Thank you very much.

Have a great day.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: President Trump says he had a good conversation today with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that it would not lead to -- quote -- "immediate peace."

Trump posted on social media that they discussed Ukraine's Sunday attack on Russian aircraft and that Putin said Russia needs to respond.

New satellite images show Belaya air base in Eastern Siberia before the attack and after with the ashes of what appear to be Russian bombers on the tarmac.

Ukraine also released video today from the attack.

Officials claim to have destroyed or damaged 41 Russian warplanes.

Moscow says those estimates are exaggerated.

Today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a temporary cease-fire until he and Putin can meet.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): The Russians are not ready for a cease-fire, at least not at the level of the current delegations.

They believe this is an issue for the leaders to decide.

They told us directly the cease-fire is a matter for a different level.

AMNA NAWAZ: This comes as the Ukraine Contact Defense Group met in Belgium today for the first time without the U.S. secretary of defense.

The Pentagon says that scheduling issues prevented Pete Hegseth from attending.

The U.S. has played a leading role in the gathering of Ukraine backers.

Former Defense Chief Lloyd Austin helped found the group three years ago.

Despite his absence from today's gathering, Hegseth will meet with NATO defense ministers in Brussels tomorrow.

A federal judge issued an order today to prevent the deportation of Mohamed Sabry Soliman's family.

He's the Egyptian man charged in this week's firebomb attack on a Jewish group in Boulder, Colorado.

Soliman's wife and five children were taken into federal custody yesterday by U.S. immigration officials.

He faces federal hate crime charges and state charges of attempted murder for the attack that injured 15 people.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said today that the family is being processed for removal proceedings.

Soliman's family members have not been charged with any crime.

In Gaza, an aid group temporarily paused food deliveries today at its three distribution sites.

That's after health officials say dozens of Palestinians were killed this week in multiple shootings near the facilities.

The U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says there's been no violence at the sites themselves.

Israel's military says it fired near people it described as suspects after firing warning shots and they're looking into reports of injuries.

In the meantime, hospital officials say Israeli strikes killed more than two dozen people overnight and into today across Gaza.

One of the attacks hit a tent in Gaza City, killing two women and a child.

Turning now to India, a stampede outside of a cricket stadium in the southern city of Bengaluru today killed at least 11 people and injured more than 30 others.

Thousands of fans had gathered to celebrate the winners of the Indian Premier League.

Authorities say the crush began when some people who didn't have passes tried to break into the stadium.

Footage from the scene showed the injured being rushed off in ambulances as festivities inside the stadium continued.

This comes roughly five months after a stampede at a Hindu religious festival in Northern India killed at least 30 people.

In Saudi Arabia, Muslims from around the world are taking part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage to mecca amid warnings of excessive heat.

People visited the grand mosque today as temperatures soared past 100 degrees.

More than 1,300 pilgrims died in high heat last year, prompting changes this time around.

Authorities are cautioning people not to go out during the day and children under 12 are banned.

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.

China's Foreign Ministry says that Secretary of State Marco Rubio -- quote -- "distorted historical facts" in his statement marking the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Rubio praised the courage of those who were killed, saying -- quote -- "The world will never forget."

Security was tight around the square today.

China's leaders banned any public commemoration of the events of 1989, when troops were sent in to break up a massive student-led protest.

Officials have never released a death toll, though estimates from eyewitnesses and rights group range into the thousands.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended mixed after recent gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 90 points on the day.

The Nasdaq rose about 60 points, so around a third of 1 percent.

The S&P 500 ended virtually flat.

And the groundbreaking gay writer Edmund White has died.

Through essays, articles, and dozens of books like the bestselling "A Boy's Own Story," White chronicle gay life in America.

He was present at the Stonewall riots in 1969 that sparked the gay rights movement.

He later wrote that up until then -- quote -- "We had all thought homosexuality was a medical term.

Suddenly we saw that we could be a minority group with rights, a culture, an agenda."

White also wrote about the AIDS epidemic and in 1985 learned that he himself was HIV-positive.

He later survived two major strokes.

Edmund White was 85 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": a former Homeland Security official targeted by President Trump speaks out; and the impact of widespread cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Trump administration rescinded federal guidance that required emergency rooms to provide an abortion if the procedure would save a woman's life.

That guidance issued by the Biden administration in 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned argued a law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, required hospitals to stabilize a patient's health during medical emergencies, even in states with near-total abortion bans.

Yesterday, the administration said the guidance did not reflect President Trump's policy.

For more on how this will affect pregnant women and access to lifesaving medical care at large, we're joined by special correspondent Sarah Varney.

Sarah, thanks for being here.

So why was this law known as EMTALA, why was it implemented in the first place?

What problem was it trying to solve?

SARAH VARNEY: So, President Ronald Reagan signed this bill in 1986.

At the time, hospitals were routinely turning away poor patients, patients without insurance, and turning them away even when they might have life-threatening medical conditions.

So this law was written.

It went into effect, and it said that E.R.s across the country that receive Medicare payments, which is essentially every hospital in the United States, has to stabilize a patient with an emergency medical condition before they can transfer them.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what did the Biden administration require post-Dobbs?

And what is the Trump administration now saying it no longer has to do?

SARAH VARNEY: A month or so after the Dobbs decision, the Biden administration issued a memorandum.

It went out to all the hospitals around the country that received these Medicare funds, and it reminded them that EMTALA was in effect, and that, according to the Biden administration's reading of EMTALA, it meant that even in states that had very strict abortion bans, that women who presented in emergency rooms with life-threatening medical conditions, if an abortion was the procedure that was needed to stabilize her, that those hospitals had to provide that treatment.

What the Trump administration is essentially saying is, we're rescinding that letter and leaving it open to interpretation from the different hospitals about whether or not certain emergency medical conditions meet their state ban.

GEOFF BENNETT: And what state, Sarah, would be most affected by this?

SARAH VARNEY: There's certain states where there's really no exception for the health of the pregnant woman.

That includes Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

So these are some places where a pregnant person could go into the emergency room, and there would be some debate about whether or not they could have an abortion if that was necessary to stabilize their health.

Just as an example, for instance, in South Dakota, they released a report last year that showed that there were -- according to their records, that there were zero abortions that happened in South Dakota hospitals in 2023.

GEOFF BENNETT: Sarah, how would this affect a pregnant woman in a red state versus a blue state?

SARAH VARNEY: So there's already -- even with the Biden guidance in effect, there has been pretty significant differences between the types of care that pregnant women have gotten in states with abortion bans and states without abortion bans.

The Associated Press did an investigation that found dozens of women who were turned away from emergency rooms, including when they needed an abortion to stabilize their health care.

ProPublica has also done pretty extraordinary investigative reporting, finding that women have been turned away from emergency rooms or not received the care that they needed.

They were either harmed or, in some cases, they died.

So we already have seen this divide, really, and this patchwork of care emerging across the United States.

GEOFF BENNETT: And how are anti-abortion groups responding to this announcement?

SARAH VARNEY: Anti-abortion groups are celebrating the rescission of this Biden-era guidance.

They say it's actually not necessary.

They point to these induced termination of pregnancy reports that I was just mentioning about South Dakota in places like Texas, where you had 14 abortions mostly due to emergency situations in Texas in January of 2025.

So the anti-abortion groups and lawmakers, anti-abortion lawmakers say that these laws are working as they were intended and that women can, in fact, get emergency room care when it's necessary.

GEOFF BENNETT: As I understand it, this decision was outlined in Project 2025, that conservative blueprint for a second Trump term.

Tell us more about that.

SARAH VARNEY: Well, the EMTALA rescission was actually included in Project 2025, so we're seeing that checked off the list.

It also calls for the administration to stop defending existing EMTALA lawsuits that were held over from the Biden administration.

They have also done that.

And then there's many, many things in Project 2025 that have to do with abortion, including calls for a national abortion surveillance program so that there would be national data about the number of abortions that are happening in the United States.

It calls for the reversal of FDA approval of the abortion pill and for the enforcement of what's called the Comstock Act, which would essentially cease the mailing of abortion pills around the country.

GEOFF BENNETT: Special correspondent Sarah Varney.

Sarah, thanks again for your time this evening.

SARAH VARNEY: Thank you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Trump administration is continuing its crackdown on immigration through enforcement raids, arrests and deportations.

That has included some teenagers being taken into custody by immigration officials.

AMNA NAWAZ: The recent arrest of an 18-year-old in Massachusetts on his way to volleyball practice has sparked protest in his community.

Laura Barron-Lopez has the story of another teenager, this one in Georgia, who was recently released from custody.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Last month in Dalton, Georgia, 19-year-old college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal became the latest target of Trump's agenda.

After being pulled over for a traffic violation she didn't commit, Arias-Cristobal was handed over to Immigration Customs Enforcement agents and detained for 17 days.

Her arrests sparked protests and support from the community and the charges were ultimately dropped.

Arias-Cristobal, who was brought to the U.S. illegally when she was 4 years old, was released on bond and faces deportation to Mexico.

Ximena joins me now to share her story.

Ximena, thank you so much for talking to us.

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL, Detained By ICE After Traffic Stop: Thank you for having me.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Ximena, take us back to that day.

You were being pulled over for a traffic stop, and then you were handed over to immigration agents.

What was going through your mind?

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: I was very fearful of what my future may hold, because I know how immigration looks right now and how even being in college, a 19-year-old that has lived here for 15 years, that really didn't mean much.

I was also very fearful because I knew that my father was already being detained in Stewart Detention Center for the same reason as me a couple weeks before I was taken to Stewart.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: You were detained for a little bit more than two weeks just hours from your home in Dalton.

What was the experience like in detention?

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: It was very difficult and life-altering.

The way you're treated in there is more like you're in a prison, rather than a detention center.

I think they strip you away from a lot of your human basic rights.

It takes away your dignity.

It's very difficult to stay strong in there.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Like you, your father is also facing deportation, and he was detained, as you said, at the same facility that you were detained at.

What is the status of his case?

And how is your family coping with the possibility that both you and your father could be deported?

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: Well, right now, in my dad's case, we're very hopeful that he will possibly be getting his permit here in the next couple of months.

My family is going to counseling.

We're trying to do our best to cope with everything that's happening and process the past couple of weeks.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Since you have been released, have you changed any of your day-to-day activities, the things that you would typically do, and is there an environment of fear in the community right now?

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: Definitely, my life has changed.

I can't go back to my usual lifestyle.

I run and I also was a very active person, was very social.

I would go out with my friends.

And that's something I can't do anymore because of that same fear immigrants have to live with now.

Even though I'm already out on bond and I'm starting my process, that doesn't mean that I can be safe and not go back to detention center.

In our community, there's a lot of Hispanics, and I think everybody is being super aware and taking precaution.

Not a lot of people are going out right now.

So more people are living in fear and being more cautious about how they go about their everyday life.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Your community has really rallied around you during this time, including a local Republican state representative, who came out and said that you're not the type of person who should be targeted by ICE.

What has it been like to see the community come out and support you?

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: It's overwhelming.

I mean, the support I'm getting is absolutely amazing.

And they're part of the reason why I'm able to speak to you all and spread awareness and have a voice for millions of people that don't.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Ximena Arias-Cristobal, thank you so much for sharing your story.

XIMENA ARIAS-CRISTOBAL: Thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: In 2018, an anonymous Trump administration official delivered a stark warning about the threat he said Donald Trump posed with his -- quote -- "erratic behavior."

It sent shockwaves through Washington and drew the ire of the president.

The author of that was later revealed to be Miles Taylor, the chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.

When President Trump reentered the White House earlier this year, he said Taylor's actions could be treasonous and signed an executive order for DHS and other government agencies to launch an investigation.

This week, Taylor and his legal team formally asked the inspectors general at the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate the order.

Miles Taylor joins me now.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

MILES TAYLOR, Former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff: Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, before we get into the actions you're taking right now, I just want to put to you what the executive order from the president said.

In revoking your security clearance, he claimed that you abandoned your sacred oath by disclosing sensitive information, accused you of potentially committing treason, and then ordered those agencies to investigate you.

I just want to get your response to those allegations.

MILES TAYLOR: Well, I think it's important to state the obvious about that, which is, in the United States of America, criticism of a president is not classified.

Criticism is not classified.

And I think what's so jarring about that order is, I have come to think I know what the limits of Donald Trump are, but the language of that order, to me, was so Orwellian in its nature to even shock, I think, the conscience of other folks, that he would start to claim that personal criticism is a national security threat, and not just claim that in a press release or on TRUTH Social, but to launch a formal federal review to punish someone that had criticized him.

That is concerning to me, but also I would say there's a deep irony in who is making that allegation.

I know with certainty I have never shared classified information outside of the appropriate channels, but I also know that the person making this allegation against me was alleged to have left the White House with stacks of classified documents.

And so in some ways we sort of see this as a projection, is, the president was pursued for unlawfully removing classified information after he was -- he'd left office the first time.

And now he wants to say, well, his critics have done the same.

And I think that's part of the reason why he's trying to anchor this order in some sort of spurious claim of sensitive information.

AMNA NAWAZ: That executive order was issued on April 9.

Why speak out now?

MILES TAYLOR: Well, it's a good question.

I mean, there's been a lot of time since then, and that's sort of the time that it takes as a family to think through, do we want to do this?

And I will be very brutally honest about it is, a lot of folks in your life, well-intentioned people will come to you, friends and family, and say, look, it's wrong that he did this.

It's clear he's doing this to punish you for First Amendment-protected speech.

But if you speak out, if you push back, if you try to take legal action against them, they're just going to come at you harder.

They're going to hit you harder, so don't do it.

Lay low and maybe it'll blow over.

And I would be... AMNA NAWAZ: People gave you that advice?

MILES TAYLOR: Well, and I'd be lying if I said that my wife and I didn't think about that.

But, honestly, it came back around to a very simple answer for us.

This is just wrong.

We think this is wrong for a president of the United States to be able to, with the stroke of a pen, blow up someone's life, defame them, and get away with it, and then do it to other people.

And that's our worry, is, if we just cowered, if we stay quiet, this is going to happen to more people.

This is bigger than me and my family.

This is an attack on free speech.

And there's no limit to it if we don't push back.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's a number of people the president has targeted individually and who have in response then sued the president.

We know there's, by an Associated Press count, some, like, 200 lawsuits just challenging his executive orders.

You went a different route here, as we reported.

You went to the inspectors general at two agencies that said, we want you to look into this.

Why that route?

Why not sue?

MILES TAYLOR: Maybe I'm naive, because, in normal times, this would be an avenue that would be available to someone who blew the whistle.

And I suppose we want to test whether that guardrail is still there.

These inspectors general, these watchdogs exist in departments and agencies for a reason, to make sure not only that those agencies don't commit waste, fraud, and abuse, but that they don't violate the constitutional rights of Americans.

And so our hope is that, as a first step, those inspectors general will see if there are officials within the Trump administration actually willing to carry out what is so obviously an unconstitutional order on its face, to go punish a critic for First Amendment-protected speech.

And if that doesn't work, if the I.G.s don't rise to the challenge, if they are afraid of the president, then we will look at other options.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have seen the president already go after more than a dozen I.G.s in his first week of office, not in these two agencies where you have asked them to investigate.

Do you have confidence in that system?

MILES TAYLOR: I don't know.

I don't have any reason to believe that those specific individuals in those offices won't do the right thing.

But there's a lot of fear right now.

There's an extraordinary amount of fear.

And if they don't take up this case, which, in any other administration, I think would be such an obvious act of corruption, then it does tell us something, that one of those last remaining guardrails of accountability may now be gone.

AMNA NAWAZ: You wrote in your letter to the I.G.

too -- or your lawyer did, rather -- that the memorandum, referring to the executive order, that its personal and financial toll on Mr. Taylor cannot be understated.

You mentioned it was a tough decision for you and your wife.

You have a young daughter at home too.

Why was it so tough?

MILES TAYLOR: I mean, it could be embarrassing to come out and talk about those things.

And that's why a lot of people in a situation like this would prefer not to talk about it.

But I think it's important to say, when something like this happens, it's not just a press release.

It's not just a piece of paper.

It has a real financial and personal toll on people.

I mean, as soon as this happened, I'm the sole income earner in my household.

My wife has stayed home with our baby.

And we realized she would have to go back to work because I wouldn't be able to stay in my job while being on this blacklist.

And the first question she asked me was, "Honey, are we going to be able to keep our home?"

Because we know how much lawyers cost.

And we're really lucky in our case.

I mean, we had an organization called Whistleblower Aid come forward.

They launched a legal defense fund called endpresidentialrevenge.org.

And we're very grateful for them.

We're very grateful for the people who've helped us crowdsource our defense.

My worry, though, is the 30th person this happens to and the 50th.

If the White House starts to use this the way they attack law firms and media organizations and universities, those people might not have the resources.

They might not have the ability and the support network.

And that's what we want to try to help build, is to make sure that, if other people end up in this situation, they have the protection that they need.

AMNA NAWAZ: You worked for this president in his first term, right?

And you wrote in that anonymous 2018 op-ed that he was antidemocratic, he was adversarial, petty, and ineffective.

And he was duly reelected in 2024.

Polls now show the majority of Americans don't believe that democracy is under attack.

So why do you believe that most Americans don't see what you say that you see?

MILES TAYLOR: Well, I think, until it affects you personally, it's really, really easy to justify looking the other way.

And I will give you a very personal example, is, there are very close friends and family members that have watched us go through what we have gone through over the past few years in trying to speak the truth about this president, and even some of them have come to us and said, hey, listen, maybe you should keep a lower profile because they don't want to get pulled into the crosshairs.

There's this very built in self-interest of folks to try to look the other way because they don't want to get hit by this.

But once you do, once you're affected, it's tough to turn back.

I mean, I'm sure, a few weeks ago, the board of trustees at Harvard had no interest in going to war legally with the president of the United States.

But now the existence of that institution is being tested, and they're forced into it.

So I think Americans will wake up the bigger impact this has on their lives.

But the hope is that we can draw a line to keep that from happening, whether it's misaligned tariffs or whether it's retributive actions against the news organizations they watch every day.

Eventually, if this isn't stopped, it will start to affect every American.

But, by then, I think, in some ways, it's too late.

AMNA NAWAZ: We've only got about 30 seconds left, but I have to ask, do you ever regret writing that anonymous op-ed?

MILES TAYLOR: I don't regret writing the piece.

But I regret not unmasking myself even sooner, because any extra day, I think, would have been the opportunity to convince one more person, don't wear a mask, come out in your own name, own your words.

And I have been saying, I don't think Donald Trump is the biggest threat to free speech in this country.

Anonymity is and self-censorship is.

People should step forward and be unafraid, and it makes it easier to do what's right.

AMNA NAWAZ: Miles Taylor, thank you so much for being here.

We will continue to follow your case as it unfolds.

MILES TAYLOR: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Appreciate it.

MILES TAYLOR: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: On May 3, the National Endowment for the Arts abruptly terminated grants to arts organizations across the country.

As of tonight, an informal tally shows nearly 560 grants canceled, spanning performing visual, literary, folk arts, and education, totaling more than $27 million.

The sudden loss of federal funding has left organizations scrambling to fill budget gaps and contributed to the resignation of several senior NEA staffers.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has more for our series Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy as part of our canvas coverage.

JEFFREY BROWN: A Harlem theater company that brings classic works to a diverse audience, an organization that supports artists in their communities in urban St. Paul and rural Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and a San Francisco nonprofit that promotes equitable access to skills and supplies to make environmentally sustainable art, three local arts organizations connected by a common thread.

TY JONES, Producing Artistic Director, Classical Theatre of Harlem: I got an e-mail at about 10:00 on Friday night.

TERRY KOCHANSKI, Executive Director, SCRAP: Saying that our potential funding was being withdrawn.

LAURA ZABEL, Executive Director, Springboard for the Arts: This grant no longer meets the priorities of the federal administration.

JEFFREY BROWN: All of them National Endowment for the Arts recipients who last month had grants terminated, as the NEA was -- quote -- "updating its grant-making policy priorities."

Laura Zabel is executive director of Springboard for the Arts in Minnesota.

Founded in 1991, Springboard helps working artists make a living by organizing events like pop-up markets to sell their work and facilitating delivery of arts programs that address local issues.

Springboard was awarded its $150,000 grant to pay for a new artist-led initiative that aims to counter the mental health and isolation crisis in urban and rural Minnesota.

LAURA ZABEL: It felt very unsettling and really felt like a gut punch.

It feels very urgent right now.

And that project was a specific response to the former surgeon general's announcement of the epidemic of loneliness and all the research around how people are feeling so disconnected.

JEFFREY BROWN: Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed an executive action establishing a task force to plan for the 250th anniversary of American independence.

A week later, the NEA aligned its grant-making guidelines with an eye toward those celebrations.

So it was a surprise when the NEA's letter, sent three months later, also identified 11 new funding priorities.

TERRY KOCHANSKI: It was a little bit odd, honestly, the 250th birthday celebration of the United States, which is lovely, but A.I.

support mixed in with things like supporting Black and Hispanic institutions and Asian communities.

It was really an interesting mix of priorities.

JEFFREY BROWN: Terry Kochanski is executive director of SCRAP, short for Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts.

Based in San Francisco, SCRAP provides equitable access to environmentally sustainable art making to over 33,000 community members a year.

The organization operates a 5,000-square-foot center that sells inexpensive recycled art supplies otherwise destined for landfill, as well as educational programs and workshops.

SCRAP's NEA letter terminated a $25,000 grant to expand sustainable fashion design, one of its after-school programs for teenagers.

TERRY KOCHANSKI: Sustainable fashion design has many goals.

One is to teach children about the fact that the textile industry is the number two polluter in the world, really.

But mostly it's to support under-resourced students and primarily give them job skills and training.

JEFFREY BROWN: In addition to financial support, the NEA awards were a badge of honor.

TERRY KOCHANSKI: This is a brand-new grant.

We actually had been trying and applying for the last three years.

To have an NEA grant is quite prestigious, and other grants come from getting that grant.

JEFFREY BROWN: And that meant a lot to you?

TERRY KOCHANSKI: Oh, it meant a ton on us.

We were celebrating, because, again, we met that level of excellence that NEA signifies.

JEFFREY BROWN: Ty Jones is producing artistic director at the Classical Theatre of Harlem.

His NEA letter informed him the company he leads lost a $60,000 grant that for the last 12 years had helped fund production of the annual outdoor Uptown "Shakespeare in the Park" series.

TY JONES: Getting the $60,000 pulled from us a month before rehearsals would force me to go to different divisions within Classical Theatre of Harlem.

And then, of course, there's a cascading effect.

So then I need to find money to replace that which I pulled from those other divisions.

JEFFREY BROWN: According to the advocacy organization Americans for the Arts, arts and culture programs contribute $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and support 5.4 million jobs.

The NEA's roughly $200 million annual budget makes up a tiny percentage of those numbers.

But proponents say federal dollars play an outsized role as a catalyst for investments in local arts, culture and communities.

TY JONES: It's not just a show itself.

It's also a loss of employment.

I employ about 150 people during the summer, as well as a loss of revenue to adjacent merchants and vendors that we have that line up along the park, including the brick-and-mortar places.

JEFFREY BROWN: After receiving its termination letter, SCRAP decided not to appeal the decision, as the NEA's new priorities seem so far removed from theirs.

But after a few days, they decided it was worth it.

TERRY KOCHANSKI: I didn't want to sit silent.

I and my organization and our board were really confident that this program absolutely impacts the people that the administration was saying that they're trying to support, which are people of color in under-resourced neighborhoods.

And so I wanted to tell Washington that that's how we felt.

JEFFREY BROWN: Classical Theatre of Harlem is taking a different.

TY JONES: We had seven days to respond.

And one company going up against the federal government wasn't a smart strategy.

So we decided to just reach out to our community to find a way to cover that 60K.

Fortunately, the community stepped up.

So I believe that, by the time we start rehearsal, the 60K, that gap will be filled.

JEFFREY BROWN: That stopgap fix is much harder for those working in rural communities, says Laura Zabel.

LAURA ZABEL: The NEA historically has had money that has gone to every congressional district in the country.

And that's very unusual.

And there are not other funders who care that much about reaching that breadth of geography and making sure that creative people and creative activities exist in every community in America.

JEFFREY BROWN: How serious is it?

LAURA ZABEL: Losing this grant isn't going to put Springboard out of business today.

But I think, collectively, the termination of this scale of grants and the communication of a message that we can't count on our government to fulfill the commitments that it made and that we have a government that doesn't value creativity and innovation and freedom of expression, like, those are kind of large-scale existential threats for all of us.

JEFFREY BROWN: For Classical Theatre of Harlem's leader, Ty Jones, at least, America's history of past struggles offers some hope now.

TY JONES: We can get through this moment.

I don't think that this is a time to panic, by any stretch of the imagination.

I think what you do is you organize now.

And we have been taught that this is exactly the direction that one needs to go in the face of any sort of adversity.

Actually, I think it's a great exercise in democracy.

JEFFREY BROWN: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we will be back shortly with some advice college graduation speakers have offered to the class of 2025.

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

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

AMNA NAWAZ: For those of you staying with us, we take a second look now at a growing appreciation for how beavers can help with water management, wildfire mitigation and the climate.

GEOFF BENNETT: Science correspondent Miles O'Brien has this report.

MILES O'BRIEN: This team of scientists is gearing up to get waist deep on a quest to better understand nature's hardworking engineers and climate warriors, beavers.

They invited me along.

And I was, well, eager to join them.

Going deep.

Going deep into the world of beavers here.

Leading this happy band of beaver believers is Emily Fairfax.

She's an ecohydrologist and assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota.

We met in Southern Wyoming.

EMILY FAIRFAX, University of Minnesota Twin Cities: We're about to go into the beaver wetlands now.

MILES O'BRIEN: We're in the Medicine Bow National Forest, and we're going into a beaver complex, which is like a huge beaver neighborhood, maintained by one beaver family.

Before we began our trek, we got an advanced peak, thanks to Emily's prowess as a drone pilot.

EMILY FAIRFAX: So, right now, I'm flying over the corridor that the beavers have dammed.

And we're seeing quite a few beaver ponds.

How long does this green swathe go?

EMILY FAIRFAX: So, right now, I have flown a half-a-kilometer away along this path, and it's all beaver-engineered.

We think this is just one family doing this work here.

Well, they take little pieces.

MILES O'BRIEN: One family?

EMILY FAIRFAX: So in a given family at a given time, you could expect there to be somewhere between six and 10 beavers, with the parents, the -- quote, unquote -- "teenage beavers," and then the little kits.

MILES O'BRIEN: Beavers build dams for protection.

The water cover they create is an effective defense against predators for a semiaquatic rodent.

This is all about just having a protected area to move around.

That's all it is.

EMILY FAIRFAX: Yes.

This is all about safety, protected area.

We're in one pond right now, but if you look at this place from above, you will see there's probably 14, 15 beaver dams in a row.

They can go all the way up and down this river corridor and stay in the water 95 percent of the time, access more food, access more building material, and generally have a bigger area to roam.

MILES O'BRIEN: Emily and I were knee deep in a pond that has captured her scientific interest.

She and her team got to work.

EMILY FAIRFAX: So what's our temp here?

WOMAN: Seven-point-seven.

EMILY FAIRFAX: Depth of the sponge?

WOMAN: Ninety-four centimeters.

Ninety-four centimeters.

EMILY FAIRFAX: And then our flow rate?

WOMAN: Zero-point-zero.

MILES O'BRIEN: All the measuring of the sediment, all the things you're doing here, give us a sense of what you're after.

EMILY FAIRFAX: This is a post-fire site, so there has been a lot of burning here around the beaver wetlands.

The wetland is intact.

One of the things we want to know is, how much sediment is this pond catching?

MILES O'BRIEN: The team often gets below the surface, at this pond in Colorado snorkeling to see beaver engineering and the sediment it traps.

This dampens the causes and effects of wildfires.

EMILY FAIRFAX: The most visually dramatic is clearly the refugia or this fireproof patch.

We have mature pine trees here.

We have mature willows.

We have beavers.

We have the sediment capture.

We have all sorts of different things that are continuing to provide benefits.

MILES O'BRIEN: The streams that flow through here are the headwaters of the Colorado, one of the most overutilized rivers in the world.

The natural infrastructure beavers build can really help the river.

EMILY FAIRFAX: So every one of these wetlands is like a speed bump for the water, delaying that water.

And especially as we see climate change and things get warmer and we have more rain and less snow, it's really important to keep the water up in the headwaters longer.

MILES O'BRIEN: Scientists estimate there were between 100 and 400 million beavers in North America before European migration.

For a few centuries, beavers were trapped for their pelts and killed as nuisances to near extinction.

Beavers can cause unwelcome flooding on property and crops.

Videos showing their dams and lodges being gleefully blown to smithereens are all over social media.

But land managers are now more likely to see them as an ally, and they're taking some unusual steps to try to bring back more beavers.

Scott Miller is the aquatic resources program lead for the Federal Bureau of Land Management.

He's at the center of a campaign to restore streams and rivers and the lush vegetation that borders them, so-called riparian zones.

To do that he's thinking like a beaver, building beaver dam analogs.

SCOTT MILLER, Bureau of Land Management: This is just a hand-built structure trying to mimic what beaver naturally do.

We first drive the post into the ground, we put some sod in, and then we're weaving willow and aspen branches between the poles, and then we're putting some more sod in.

They can be built in anywhere from a half-hour to two hours, depending on the size and complexity.

MILES O'BRIEN: They're building a hundred of them here at the Muddy Creek watershed near Rawlins, Wyoming.

Lot, Of little structures, instead of a few big overbuilt ones.

SCOTT MILLER: This system is starting to naturally recover.

Maybe it would traditionally take a decade, and we're trying to get that same amount of improvement in three to five years by coming in here and doing this work.

MILES O'BRIEN: Cattle rancher Tom Chant and his father before him have been working this patch of land along Muddy Creek for more than 20 years.

When they first got here, it was trampled by overgrazing sheep.

If we were standing here 22 years ago on this day, what would it look like here?

TOM CHANT, Cattle Rancher: I remember coming down here, and this would be a dust cloud when the cattle come right down this creek.

It was -- there was no vegetation.

MILES O'BRIEN: The BLM improved roads, built fences to allow for rotational grazing, encouraged the growth of willow trees and built the beaver dam analogs.

So do your fellow ranchers, are they skeptical of this?

TOM CHANT: Any of them that potentially are on the fence, they must not like grass, right?

Like, we're shading the creek, cooling the water temperature.

Cows are happier when they got a cold drink of water at 90 degrees, right?

MILES O'BRIEN: Tom Chant has two sons, rodeo stars in the making.

He hopes they will one day succeed him in running the ranch.

He thinks nature's engineers will make the succession a little easier.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Miles O'Brien, near Rawlins, Wyoming.

GEOFF BENNETT: As we celebrate the end of the academic year and the beginning of a new journey for thousands of college graduates, a number of leaders, celebrities, thinkers, dignitaries, and "News Hour" anchors have been delivering commencement speeches over the last few weeks.

AMNA NAWAZ: Many have included powerful calls to action, others more personal in nature, some with a touch of humor.

Here now are some of the speeches that you might have missed, including part of the remarks I was honored to deliver for the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies' class of 2025.

HENRY WINKLER, Actor: I grew up in New York City on the West Side, and I grew up dreaming about being an actor.

I don't know how it came into my mind.

I don't know how it came into my body.

But if people were born to do something, I was born to try.

Do not be deterred.

Do -- you listen to your instinct.

All of you are so smart.

All of you know so much.

All of you have gained so much from Georgetown, but your tummy, your instinct knows everything.

And when your instinct talks to you, you listen.

JENNIFER COOLIDGE, Actress: You have my permission to relax for a while now, because you have earned it.

And... (CHEERING) JENNIFER COOLIDGE: Yes.

And so what I'm saying is, give yourself the weekend or maybe the summer until Labor Day.

(LAUGHTER) JENNIFER COOLIDGE: I mean, I mean, Labor Day, it's basically Thanksgiving.

(LAUGHTER) JENNIFER COOLIDGE: And then after that it's practically the holidays.

So you might wait until the new year to really lock in.

(LAUGHTER) JENNIFER COOLIDGE: Yes.

(CHEERING) GRANT HILL, Former NBA Player: One of the best ways my mom shared her wisdom was in a set of principles she took time to write down.

She called it her top 10 list of how to achieve success.

Don't fear failure.

Yes, it's inevitable.

Yes, it's how you grow.

But there's another reason my mom asked us to do this.

Don't fear failure, she said, because success is far more dangerous to the human condition.

What exactly did she mean by that?

She knew that success without gratitude could make us too comfortable and that success without fortitude can make us corruptible.

AMNA NAWAZ: I didn't know what I wanted to do when I left school, but the world that I inherited demanded certain things of me.

So, when I found work that I loved to do and work I was good at, work that made me feel like I was making some kind of difference, I leaned in and I never looked back.

It wasn't the world that I expected to step into, but it was the one that I got.

And this may not be the world that you expected to step into, grads, but it's the one that you have got, and it's the one that needs you now.

The same hope, the same courage that brought you to this day, it will be enough to carry you forward.

It will be enough to lift your voice above a chorus of cynics.

It will be enough to light your way along darkened paths.

It will be enough to stiffen your spine when all seems lost.

JANE FONDA, Actress: Grow yourself a deep, solid community of people who share your values.

Have each other's backs.

Check up on each other regularly and be intentional about this.

In these uncertain times, we need to strengthen our ties to community, to our colleagues, our friends and family, because, more and more, we're going to need this support for safety, for love, for help, for fun -- let's not forget fun -- and for survival.

USHER, Singer: This world doesn't need more followers.

It needs fearless architects of our future.

And that's exactly who you are.

Be a dreamer.

Never stop imagining.

Be better.

Fight for a better life.

Fight for a better world.

The goal is beyond our reach, but we can reach as long as we try.

And, furthermore, we will succeed because we do.

Congratulations to the class of 2025.

(CHEERING) USHER: Now go out there and let's make it happen.

(CHEERING) AMNA NAWAZ: Remember, there's always a lot more online.

And you can always get more of our coverage in your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.

You can do that at PBS.org/NewsHour.

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

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm Amna Nawaz.

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