AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: A New York jury finds former President Trump liable for sexual abuse columnist E. Jean Carroll.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Biden meets with congressional leaders of both parties, as the U.S. runs up against the deadline to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default.

GEOFF BENNETT: And community colleges look to boost graduation rates by paying for students' expenses well beyond tuition.

TAMMIE LARKINS, Director, CState Accelerate: That return on investment will provide economic growth and upward mobility for this region.

As students graduate, that increases employability and changes the whole trajectory of their lives.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

A New York jury has formed found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll at a department store in the mid 1990s and later defaming her, but it stopped short of saying Mr. Trump raped her.

AMNA NAWAZ: The nine jurors deliberated for only a few hours before delivering their verdict and awarding Carroll $5 million.

Carroll didn't stop to talk as she left the courthouse, but said in a statement -- quote - - "I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back.

Today, the world finally knows the truth."

Mr. Trump responded on his TRUTH Social platform, saying -- quote -- "I have absolutely no idea who this woman is.

This verdict is a disgrace, a continuation of the greatest witch-hunt of all time."

Mr. Trump's lawyers say they will appeal the verdict.

Andrea Bernstein is a reporter with ProPublica who also covers Trump legal matters for NPR.

She was at the courthouse, joins us again tonight.

And Laura Beth Nielsen is professor of sociology at Northwestern University and an attorney and researcher with the American Bar Foundation.

Welcome to you both.

Thanks for joining us.

Andrea, you were in the courtroom.

Just describe for us what that moment was like as the verdict was read, and, specifically, if you saw any reaction from E. Jean Carroll herself.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN, ProPublica: So, just after 3:00, the jury filed into the courtroom.

The forewoman stood up.

The judge asked if the jury had reached a verdict.

She said they had.

An envelope was passed over to the judge.

And there had been a verdict sheet.

So, even though there were only two counts, the jury had to answer 10 questions.

And the first question was, did the jury find by the preponderance of the evidence that Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll?

And the answer to that was no.

But the second question was, did the jury find by the preponderance of the evidence that he had sexually abused E. Jean Carroll?

And the answer was yes.

And then the questions went on from there.

There was a questions about damages.

There was questions about defamation.

Did Trump defame E. Jean Carroll when he called her -- when he said that it was a con job and a hoax?

And the jury said, yes, there was defamation, yes, there was actual malice and said that Trump had to pay $5 million.

Now, the judge had instructed everyone, no outbursts.

Don't get up.

Don't say anything.

So the lawyers were quiet, as was Carroll, who just looked straight ahead.

But there were a number of young law associates from the firm representing Carroll who began weeping as the verdict was said, apparently in relief.

AMNA NAWAZ: Professor Nielsen, Carroll, as you know, has long claimed Mr. Trump shoved her against a wall in a department store dressing room and raped her in the 1990s.

The jury deciding that she was sexually abused by him, but not raped, how should we look at that distinction here?

LAURA BETH NIELSEN, Northwestern University: Well, the distinction in law is about penetration.

So what we know that he has been found liable for is touching, grabbing, groping for his own sexual pleasure against her will.

And, in a way, it's a distinction without a difference.

Somebody who's willing to do one over the objection of a victim is probably willing to do the other.

But from a legal standpoint, it is a different charge.

AMNA NAWAZ: And, Professor Nielsen, the defamation verdict that Andrea just mentioned, the jury finding that Carroll proved she was injured as a result of Mr. Trump publicly denying those accusations, what does that mean about the legal bar that was met at in this trial?

LAURA BETH NIELSEN: Well, the defamation burden of proof is higher than the finding of liability for sexual battery.

So this was they found by clear and convincing evidence that Donald Trump had defamed her.

And so it's a higher standard.

It means they're more sure that actually happened, versus preponderance of the evidence, which is a 51 percent standard.

But it goes to show that this is that -- that these stories we tell about what rape victims would do if they had been really raped aren't being believed anymore.

And you can't just assert those things about survivors of sexual assault.

AMNA NAWAZ: Andrea, you have covered Mr. Trump for years.

As you know, many women have accused him over those years of sexual misconduct.

He's always denied those allegations.

Does Carroll's case being successfully pursued here by a jury, does that open him up to similar suits?

ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Well, it certainly is a landmark.

And I think it's worth remembering that Trump has been accused since the 2016 campaign by many, many women, including many who've described a similar circumstance of him sort of bantering, engaging in lighthearted behavior, and then, all of a sudden, pushing them up against a wall, groping them, violating their personhood by proceeding.

And, in fact, there were two other victims who described what had happened at this trial that the judge said the jury could use to buttress her credibility.

So I think we're in a situation where we have always said there are accusations and he's denied them.

Well, he's still denying them, but the significant thing is that a jury has found him liable.

A jury has decided there was no con job, there was no hoax, that this happened.

And that is significantly moving the needle here.

This case was filed under a new New York law called the Adult Survivors Act, which allows women from November of 2022 to November of 2023 to sue civilly when they are no longer allowed to prosecute criminally under the statute of limitations.

There are -- adult victims have until next November.

This was the first case that has gone to trial.

And it's hard to predict behavior, but, certainly, women who -- or men -- who are considering filing cases now have an example of a positive outcome in the E. Jean Carroll case for their claims.

AMNA NAWAZ: Professor Nielsen, we have to underscore here we're talking about a former president in this case.

And E. Jean Carroll was just awarded $5 million by the jury here.

More broadly, when you look at the case and how it unfolded, what does this say about how courts will look at similar cases, sexual assault, sexual violence cases, when you have the word of one person pitted up against the word of another?

LAURA BETH NIELSEN: I think both what we see in law and in the verdict of the jury, which was six men and three women, that there's an increasing awareness, understanding and belief that powerful men can also be serial sexual offenders.

There's an increased understanding and awareness that victims don't all report.

They don't follow this one script for what legitimate rape victims do.

And, with that understanding, there are going to be more -- there are going to be more claims both civilly and criminally.

And I hope it emboldens survivors of assault to hold their abusers accountable.

AMNA NAWAZ: Andrea, this is a former president who is also running again for the office of president.

In addition to the statement we saw earlier from him, his campaign has put out a statement, calling this a political witch-hunt and a political endeavor.

We have got less than a minute left here.

What do you think we see from former President Trump when it comes to this case?

ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Well, the jury certainly found otherwise.

And this is the first time that he himself has been found liable.

So we are now once again, with Trump, in an unprecedented territory of having a candidate who wants to occupy the White House, who has been found by a jury liable for a sexual assault.

And we will certainly be dealing with that for the duration, for as long as he is in the campaign, describing that behavior among this presidential aspirant.

AMNA NAWAZ: Andrea Bernstein of ProPublica and Laura Beth Nielsen of Northwestern University, thank you both.

LAURA BETH NIELSEN: Thank you.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: Federal prosecutors reportedly filed criminal charges against freshmen Congressman George Santos.

There's no word on what the charges are.

The New York Republican has been widely condemned for lying about his background and past accomplishments.

There have also been questions about his campaign finances.

Russia celebrated Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, but the day's events were sharply downsized or canceled outright, as the Russian military struggles in Ukraine.

Nick Schifrin reports.

Also, the U.S. and... NICK SCHIFRIN: The pomp, pageantry and patriotism of Russia's secular holiday Victory Day commemorates an 80-year-old Soviet victory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed, today's Russia faces an existential threat and is fighting it in Eastern Ukraine.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): Today, the civilization is once again at a decisive turning point.

A real war has been unleashed against our motherland, but we have rebuffed international terrorism and we will protect residents of the Donbass and we will ensure our security.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But there was a lot less security on display this year.

The artillery and air defense were all apparently in use in Ukraine, and the only tank that drove into Red Square was 80 years old.

That's a far cry from last year's show of force.

Even the Russian faithful noticed.

YELENA ORLOVA, Moscow Resident (through translator): This is weak.

There are no tanks.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Eliminated entirely, one of Russia's most solemn processions, which we saw in 2017, commemorating those killed in World War II felt by every Russian family, not like today, when the names and numbers of those killed in Ukraine are often kept secret.

And Russia also marked today's Victory Day by firing more missiles at Kyiv, which shot most of them down.

But today is also Europe Day.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hosted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who offered no progress on Ukraine's E.U.

bid, but a vision of Europe that includes Ukraine and excludes Russia.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, President, European Commission: They are afraid of the success you represent and the example you show.

And they are afraid of your path to the European Union.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): Our efforts for a united Europe, for security and peace need to be as strong as Russia's desire to destroy our security, our freedom, our Europe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And so, as Russia observed the past to fight what it calls an existential war against the West, Ukraine welcomed its future, integrated into the West.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: Also today, the U.S. announced a new installment of long-term aid to bolster Ukraine's air defenses.

It totals $1.2 billion.

The U.S. Justice Department says it has disrupted a Russian spyware campaign that lasted 20 years.

Federal prosecutors said today that Russian software known as Snake infected computers and stole secrets in dozens of countries.

They say a new operation this week has effectively crippled the Russian effort.

In the Middle East, Israeli airstrikes killed three senior commanders of Islamic Jihad in Gaza early today, Palestinian officials said 10 others also died, including children.

The strikes lit up the night sky with explosions at an apartment building and two homes.

At midday, hundreds of Palestinians held a funeral procession and armed groups vowed to respond.

Hours later, the Israelis said another airstrike killed two militants howling missiles in Gaza.

Violent protests erupted today across Pakistan after authorities arrested former Prime Minister Imran Khan on corruption charges.

Video from the scene show troops in riot gear dragging the opposition leader into an armored car in Islamabad this morning.

That touched off clashes between protesters and security forces, with at least one person killed and dozens hurt.

Khan's supporters insisted the charges are baseless.

QAISER MIRDAD KHAN, Khan Supporter (through translator): We were not expecting them to arrest Khan, who is such a dearly loved leader.

We hadn't thought that even they would cross that red line.

Now we are calling on our leadership and our youth to come out in every street, every alley, every town.

GEOFF BENNETT: As the violence escalated, authorities blocked Internet and social media in the capital and other cities.

Back in this country, a two-day sentencing hearing began in Texas for Army Sergeant Daniel Penny, who killed an armed Black Lives Matter protester in 2020.

Perry was convicted of murder last month and could get a life sentence.

The case drew new attention after Republican Governor Greg Abbott said he intends to pardon Perry.

And, on Wall Street, stocks edged lower as investors waited for tomorrow's inflation report.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost about 57 points to close it 33561.

The Nasdaq fell 77 points.

The S&P 500 gave up 19.

And still to come on the "PBS NewsHour": new guidelines recommend earlier mammogram screenings to combat a rise in breast cancer among younger women; a congressman discusses the change to immigration policy that's putting pressure on border towns; and Texas mourns the victims of a mass shooting, as the gunman's extremist views come to light.

The full faith and credit of the U.S. is on the line as President Biden met today with congressional leaders in an effort to avoid an unprecedented default.

The U.S. may be unable to pay its bills come June if both sides can't arrive at a deal to raise the debt limit.

Republicans are demanding fiscal reforms in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, while Democrats maintain that any discussion of future spending must be separate from paying for prior debts.

Here's what both sides had to say following the meeting.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The House has raised the debt ceiling in a responsible manner, curve our spending at the same time, bring us economic growth.

And I asked the president this simple question: Does he not believe there's any place we could find savings?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The disagreements are wide.

And anyone who says, my way or no way, and we're going to default, is not serving the country well.

And I'm afraid that's what Speaker McCarthy is saying.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez is at the White House.

And Lisa Desjardins joins us from Capitol Hill to take us behind the scenes of these tense negotiations.

So, Laura, we will start with you.

It still sounds like a stalemate.

What's the word from the White House after this meeting wrapped?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: There's been very little movement, Geoff.

So, right after the meeting ended, Democratic leaders and Republican leaders came out and they said that they agreed with the White House that their staff would start talking as early as this evening, if not tomorrow, would continue talks around the budget and appropriations process.

But when it comes to the debt limit, and how exactly they're going to move forward on that, there's been little change.

The White House position is still this.

It's that they want a clean debt ceiling increase first.

They say that the country needs to avoid a default and economic disaster and that they are open to separate budget talks, but they are no on a short-term extension.

Now, Speaker McCarthy did add that the principals, the big four themselves, congressional leaders, as well as President Biden, are likely to meet this coming Friday.

But the White House has not officially confirmed that, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, speaking to reporters after this meeting, said, look, elections have consequences and that this White House has no choice but to do a deal with the Republican House speaker.

Give us a sense of what else Republicans had to say.

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

Well, the House speaker was his confident self.

You can always tell when Kevin McCarthy is confident because he takes a lot of questions.

In fact, he spent nearly half as much time talking to reporters as he did inside the meeting with the White House.

The line from Republicans that they're going to use again and again is that the House has in fact passed an extension of the debt ceiling.

Of course, that's part of the package of spending cuts that the Biden administration completely refuses to sign on to and which they think is dangerous.

But McCarthy will say, hey, can the Senate even pass a debt ceiling increase?

That's the question at their feet.

Meanwhile, to the points that Laura raised from the White House, this is how Republicans answer what they want exactly to go on.

They say they do not want any clean debt ceiling increase, a stark contrast there, that they instead believe that, in addition to default, long-term debt is a crisis that they believe Democrats aren't paying enough attention to.

They would like, in fact, they insist that budget talks be part of the negotiation, complete opposite of the White House.

One thing that we did learn today the two sides seem to agree on is no short-term deal.

Speaker McCarthy told reporters that today.

That actually is not a great sign, because they are running out of time, as you know.

McCarthy says just two weeks, in his estimation, to try and figure out a framework here.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Laura, if House Republicans are dug in, and there aren't 60 votes in the Senate to do a clean lift of the debt ceiling, how were Democrats aiming to get there?

What's the plan?

What's the strategy?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, Democrats, as you noted, Geoff, can't really pass a clean debt ceiling increase without Republican votes in the Senate.

And that's why they are repeating over and over again, that in the past, the way this has been done is by a bipartisan vote, that Republicans have joined Democrats in the past in trying to do a clean increase to the debt limit.

Leader -- Majority Leader Schumer today, speaking to reporters, just after the meeting, said this again, saying that, under President -- former President Trump, that Republicans joined -- Democrats joined Republicans -- excuse me -- during those years at least three times to increase the debt limit.

And that was also at a time, Geoff, when Republicans' bills increased deficits by more than $3 trillion under former President Trump, so arguing against this Republican talking point that, essentially, they are concerned about deficit spending.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Lisa, of the three of us, you are the congressional mathematician, so walk us through the potential math here.

LISA DESJARDINS: I know.

Always fun to try this for TV.

But to kind of talk a little bit more about what Laura was mentioning, let's look at where we are in terms of the needs of getting something to -- into law to raise this debt ceiling.

First of all, as much -- many of our viewers know, let's talk about -- start with the House Republicans.

They have just a four-vote majority there.

So Speaker McCarthy not only needs a deal that President Biden can sign on to, but one that his entire Republican Conference basically can also agree to.

But Democrats see opportunity there.

They wonder if they can't pick off five votes from Republicans to have some kind of compromise at a last minute.

The Senate, as Democrats, with just that one-vote majority right now, as Laura mentioned, the Senate, of course, you need 60 votes for any debt ceiling increase.

Now, there is often more of a bipartisan mood in the Senate, as you say, more of a dinner party atmosphere there.

Not this time.

Senate Republicans are really backing Speaker McCarthy.

Here's a letter that 43 Senate Republicans signed over the weekend.

I want to read to you what they said about this negotiation.

They said that they will not be voting for cloture, meaning they will not be breaking a filibuster on any bill that raises the debt ceiling, without substantive spending cuts and budget reform.

Now, we have been through this before.

Leader McConnell, when he was the leader of the Senate, also said he would not change anything without budget reforms.

He did, in fact end up at having a debt ceiling increase without those reforms.

But every negotiation is different.

And, right now, Republicans in Congress are quite united.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura, looking at the White House schedule, President Biden is headed to New York tomorrow to deliver a speech on the debt ceiling.

Why New York?

And what's he going to say?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The president is headed to Hudson Valley, New York, Geoff, where Republican Mike Lawler flipped a Democratic district that the president won in 2020.

Now, that Republican, that House Republican, will be joining President Biden at that event.

I asked the White House press secretary what the president's message would be, and she had this to say.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, White House Press Secretary: The president is going to be very clear about what's at stake, the impact of the current discussions that we're having, the impact of this budget and this default that they - - that the House Republicans have connected.

He's going to make it very, very clear this is going to hurt American families.

It's going to hurt our economy, and it's going to hurt American families.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: White House -- White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that the president will be talking about the cuts to veterans' benefits that Republican bill that was passed a few weeks ago would inflict, including some job losses at Veterans Affairs.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Lisa, what has to happen to break this stalemate at this point?

LISA DESJARDINS: That talking point about Veterans Affairs is deeply pushed back by Republicans here.

But I think, right now, we're watching Wall Street.

It doesn't seem like there's movement by politicians.

Democrats are hoping that maybe Wall Street starts making noises about credit ratings.

That's dangerous for the economy, but something needs to happen to move politicians.

GEOFF BENNETT: More to come.

Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez, on the Hill and at the White House respectively, great to see you both.

AMNA NAWAZ: New guidelines out today say women should begin getting regular mammograms every two years starting at the age of 40 if they're at average risk of breast cancer.

That is a significant change from previous guidance by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that said women could start routine mammograms at the age of 50.

Stephanie Sy focuses on what you need to know.

STEPHANIE SY: This change comes after an increase in diagnoses of breast cancer among younger patients, and an alarming number of deaths among Black women, who are already 40 percent more likely to die of breast cancer.

More than 43,000 women die of breast cancer in the U.S. each year.

The new guidelines would cover more than 20 million women between 40 and 49 years old who might be at risk, but women with a family history of genetic risk of breast cancer are advised to get screened earlier.

To help spell out the details of this guidance.

I'm joined by Dr. Carol Mangione, immediate past chair of the United States Preventive Services task force and professor of medicine and public health at UCLA.

Dr. Mangione, thanks so much for joining the "NewsHour."

Among the reactions I'm hearing to your task force's new guidelines are: Finally.

Other groups, including the American Cancer Society, have been recommending mammograms for women in their 40s for years.

But since 2009, your task force has said women with average risk should wait until 50 for the screening.

So what drove this reversal?

DR. CAROL MANGIONE, Professor of Public Health, UCLA: Well, actually, our task force has said that we should use mammography selectively in women at the age of 40, after a discussion with their doctor going over the -- their own personal preferences and risk profile.

But now, with new and inclusive science, we're able to extend that recommendation to all women 40 and over to get a mammogram every other year.

And if women are able to do this, it will cause a reduction in death from breast cancer about 20 percent.

Importantly, you mentioned that Black women have a 40 percent higher chance of dying from breast cancer.

And so this recommendation is very important for them.

They actually will have the most benefit from starting screening at 40 and using screening every other year.

Now, this isn't going to totally take care of that terrible inequality, because, when you think about breast cancer care, it starts a screening, diagnosis, access to state-of-the-art treatments.

And there are detriments in health equity along that whole pathway.

And so we're going to have to improve all of that before we really see a similar mortality for Black women as what white women have.

STEPHANIE SY: Is there new evidence that shows why women in their 40s, in particular, are seeing higher rates of breast cancer?

DR. CAROL MANGIONE: There really isn't.

And we have an extremely urgent call for research in our recommendation to better understand what's driving this change.

STEPHANIE SY: Should women still be concerned about the consequences of overscreening?

Experts were saying not so long ago that overscreening was leading to unnecessary treatment, even harmful treatment.

Are you saying now that the benefits outweigh those risks?

I mean, just help clear that -- clear that up for us.

DR. CAROL MANGIONE: Right.

So, the test first always balances the benefits and the risks, as we see it in the medical evidence.

And using our modeling results and the clinical trial results, we're certain that the benefits far outweigh the risks if you use mammography every other year.

Now, if you decide to have annual testing and you're at average risk, what that means is, you're going to have twice as many false positives.

And some of those false positives, a small amount, could end up in a situation where a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, but she doesn't actually have it.

And so these are the harms that need to be balanced against finding more and earlier breast cancer that might help with surviving and being healthy longer.

STEPHANIE SY: There still seem to be a lot of unanswered questions, Doctor.

Women over 74, for example, they don't know if they should keep doing mammograms.

Women like me with dense breast tissue -- that's about 40 percent of women -- they don't know if a mammogram is enough to detect cancer.

Should we know more about breast cancer, a disease that affects, I believe, one in eight women, than we know right now?

DR. CAROL MANGIONE: We absolutely should.

And your first point, women over the age of 74 have been excluded from the clinical trials on breast cancer screening.

And we definitely need more research in that group to know if stopping at 74 is really the right number.

And for women with dense breasts, which happens to be about half the women in the United States, we also have an urgent call for more research on what is the best supplemental test to get, when to start getting that test, and how often to get it.

And whether you're talking about ultrasound or MRI, those questions are really unanswered at this point.

STEPHANIE SY: We all know someone touched by breast cancer.

I know I, for one, made my appointment for my mammogram today.

Dr. Carol Mangione, thank you.

DR. CAROL MANGIONE: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: Last night, police in Brownsville Texas charged George Alvarez with eight counts of manslaughter after his SUV slammed into a crowd of migrants waiting outside a shelter, killing eight people and injuring 10 others.

Similar shelters throughout Texas have been overwhelmed as more and more migrants are crossing the border as the U.S. prepares to enter Title 42, a policy linked to the pandemic that allowed it to quickly expel migrants.

Here to talk about what ending Title 42 means for his community, as well as the impact of that fatal car collision, we're joined by Democratic Vicente Gonzalez, whose district includes Brownsville.

Thank you for being with us.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: With Title 42 set to be lifted on Thursday, U.S. officials have said that daily crossings from Mexico could climb as high as 13,000.

That's more than double the number in March.

And many of the migrants are coming through Brownsville from Matamoros, Texas -- Mexico.

Are you prepared?

Is Brownsville prepared?

Do you have the resources and the infrastructure that you need?

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ: We have done a lot of work in preparing.

The Border Patrol has got a staging center.

CBP has done all they can to get ready.

We have done -- the NGOs in the area, Catholic Charities and others, have done a lot of work in preparation of a massive surge coming to our border.

But I have to say, we could never be prepared enough.

And I wish we had another 30 days to build out more infrastructure.

And I think we need to also work with countries like Guatemala and Mexico to do their share in slowing the migration.

And coming up with ideas where we can process migrants far away from our Southern border.

As you may know, I have been pushing the Safe Zones Act, which does just that.

It creates zones in Guatemala and Panama and Colombia and other countries where migrants can ask for asylum at that juncture.

And if they're going to ultimately be led in under the credible fear standard, which we now use on the Southern border, we should allow them to fly to their -- to fly to their destination.

And it does two things.

It takes the pressure off the border and allows the Border Patrol and law enforcement to do their job and what they have been trained to do, and it eliminates a lot of the cartels out of the equation that are charging thousands of dollars for these migrants to come to the Southern border.

GEOFF BENNETT: Why are you convinced that that will work?

Because there are advocates who point out that the process of claiming asylum in country takes years.

It takes about two to three years, on average.

And for people who are fleeing abject poverty, for people who are fleeing violence, they don't have two or three years to wait.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ: Well, this is -- they can go to a neighboring country or another country.

The vast majority of people who are asking for asylum on our Southern border is because of poverty.

And a lot of them have been consumed into the economy of Mexico and other countries that they have -- that they have trekked through.

Their goal is to ultimately get to the United States.

And I definitely understand it.

And -- but we need to do it in an orderly and humane way.

Forcing people to walk thousands of miles through Mexico and struggle with cartels and get extorted is not really humane.

And I think we need to build infrastructure far away from our border, and, ultimately, if we're going to -- if we're going to allow asylum seekers into the country, allow them in from that juncture.

Yes, I mean, it's the most orderly, humane and safe way we could do it.

GEOFF BENNETT: There are people who say that the right to apply for asylum on U.S. soil is sacrosanct.

But what I hear you say is that that's no longer practical.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ: I think our asylum laws are antiquated.

And they're 70 years on the books.

And they don't really adapt to the days that we're living now.

We have -- ultimately, we have people from all over the world coming to our Southern border asking for asylum.

And small communities like McAllen and Brownsville in Weslaco and Laredo and even El Paso don't have them resources to act as the federal government would.

And we don't have massive staging centers for potentially hundreds of thousands of people showing up at once.

I had a conversation with the president of Guatemala a few days ago.

I know there's about 20,000 or 30,000 people holding up on the other side of the border now.

There's about 60,000 making their way here.

And there's approximately, they say -- he told me there was about 200,000 coming through Central America that -- through the Darien area in Colombia and Panama.

That is a massive amount of people that, if they all showed up at one time, I don't know that we would have the resources in place and infrastructure in place to deal with it properly.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Brownsville community is still reeling from that incident this past weekend, when a man plowed his SUV into a number of people.

Eight people, mostly men from Venezuela, died.

What more can you share with us about the findings of the investigation as it comes together?

And how are folks in Brownsville processing all of this?

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ: Yes.

So, our hearts and prayers have gone out to the families of the eight Venezuelans, and the 10 who have been injured who were casualties of the confusion and overstressed area along the border right now.

There is nothing to show that this was a hate crime or that it -- that it was any anything other than an accident.

Apparently, the driver might have been on - - under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

So that's the information I'm getting.

I don't believe it was intentional.

And we're still listening to border -- to law enforcement reports that are coming out.

But that's the last report that I received, that it looks like it was just a tragic accident.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, our thoughts are certainly with those affected.

Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, thanks so much for your time.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: We're learning new and disturbing details about the racist and dangerous beliefs of the shooter in Allen, Texas, who took eight lives and wounded at least seven others when he went on a rampage Saturday at a shopping mall.

GEOFF BENNETT: But, first, we want to focus on the victims and take a moment to remember the lives lost in that attack, the 200th mass shooting of this year.

Two families lost multiple loved ones, including several children.

The Cho family lost three of four family members; 37-year-old Kyu Song Cho and Cindy Cho, age 35, were killed, along with their 3-year-old son, James.

The only surviving member of the family is 6-year-old William, who just celebrated his birthday.

According to a family friend: "Cindy used her body to shield him from the danger of an evil monster.

A 6-year-old boy lost his entire family in split seconds in the most horrific way possible."

Fourth grader Daniela Mendoza and second grader Sofia Mendoza were students at Cox Elementary.

The school's principal described the sisters as rays of sunshine.

Their uncle wrote on the family's GoFundMe page: "The girls have left a void that nothing in the world could ever fill.

Please pray for their mom, my sister and her broken heart.

Their mother, Ilda Mendoza, remains hospitalized.

Christian LaCour had worked as a security guard at the Allen outlet mall.

His grandmother posted to Facebook, saying - - quote -- "He was such a beautiful soul, 20 years old with goals for his future.

I was so proud of him."

Twenty-six-year-old Aishwarya Thatikonda was born in India, graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2020, and was working as a civil engineer at the Dallas area firm Perfect General Contractors.

The company'S CEO told reporters: "She was always prepared to give her very best.

She came to the United States with a dream to make a career."

The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the eighth victim as 32-year-old Elio Cumana-Rivas of Dallas, whose details have not yet been confirmed.

AMNA NAWAZ: On the day of the attack, the shooter wore an extremist insignia and left behind a social media trail of white supremacist beliefs.

Today, authorities confirmed his neo-Nazi affiliations, but they were cautious to say if he was targeting anyone specifically for their race, age or ethnicity when carrying out that attack in Allen, Texas.

He joins a growing list of individuals with far right extremist views who commit acts of mass gun violence.

Heidi Beirich is an expert on all of this, including the white supremacist movement.

She joins me now to discuss what she's uncovered about the gunman.

Heidi, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

You have been doing your own investigating into the gunman's background.

What does the evidence show you about what kinds of groups he was linked with?

What were his beliefs?

HEIDI BEIRICH, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism: Well, he was actually deep, deep into the world of white supremacy and neo-Nazism.

He was on Web sites like The Daily Stormer and VDARE that are connected with this.

He'd read a race war novel that inspired the Oklahoma City bombing.

And he left about 10 years' worth of diary entries that are absolutely filled with the worst hate you can imagine against Jews, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and others.

AMNA NAWAZ: Heidi, there was reporting he was wearing an RWDS patch on the day of the attack.

What does that mean?

What should we understand about?

HEIDI BEIRICH: Yes, RWDS stands for Right-Wing Death Squad, which is a reference to the Chilean dictator Pinochet's time in office, where he had death squads that killed communists, which he perceived as their -- as his enemies, and threw them out of helicopters.

And people in right-wing movements, like the white supremacist Proud Boys, wear these patches proudly and celebrate that errant way in history.

They like the idea of death squads.

And so this idea of RWDS has spread all throughout the Internet as a meme that you see in white supremacist and other extremist groups.

AMNA NAWAZ: Heidi, from what you have seen, do we have any idea when or how he began to be radicalized to hold these views?

HEIDI BEIRICH: Well, the diary entries actually go all the way back to when he was in high school, or at least he refers to being in ROTC.

And he talks about doing things like "Heil Hitler," salutes to Hitler, at that time and being criticized by a teacher.

He talks again about his very short stint in the Army, before they threw him out, and meeting white supremacists and becoming a white supremacist at that time.

So this has been a long process going back to at least 2008 or 2009.

AMNA NAWAZ: Authorities have identified the gunman as a 33-year-old man named more Mauricio Garcia.

He is not white.

And it is confusing for many people how a person of color could hold white supremacist views.

What should we understand about that?

HEIDI BEIRICH: Well, he actually writes in his diary of appearing -- of a period of self-loathing, where he hated the fact that he was Hispanic.

And people should understand that their -- the attraction of white supremacy can cross race.

People want to be identified with what they consider, especially if they have been radicalized like this individual, the most powerful entities in society.

And he's not the only one.

Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys, who was just convicted for seditious conspiracy related to January 6, is an Afro-Cuban.

And there are other examples.

And so it's very naive to think that somebody can't choose to have a different ethnicity, to identify as white and be involved in these movements just because they were born of a different ethnicity.

And people should try to -- should understand that.

AMNA NAWAZ: Allen, Texas, is a very diverse area.

Collin County, where the town is, is home to Texas' largest and fastest growing population of minority groups.

And Asian Americans were among the majority of those killed.

There were Latinas and Latinos as well.

Would someone who holds these kinds of views and has a proclivity for violence, would they target an area like this?

HEIDI BEIRICH: Yes, we don't know exactly what the motive of this individual was.

But it is possible, given this history of white supremacy and deep hatred for so many minority populations, that he may have chosen the mall for that reason.

That isn't evident in his writings, but he does scope out the mall and lay out the plans for his attack in those writings.

We just don't know what the exact motive is.

AMNA NAWAZ: Heidi, we report often about the connection between online hateful rhetoric and real-world violence.

Do we have any knowledge, any statistics about how frequently these kinds of mass attacks or mass shootings are carried out by people who hold these far right extremist views?

Do we know that?

HEIDI BEIRICH: Well, we have had several major attacks, for example, at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the El Paso Walmart shooting from a few years ago, last year the shooting at a Buffalo supermarket that targeted Black people, where the individuals involved were radicalized online.

And they all believed something that this shooter also believed, that there's some kind of a Great Replacement going on, white people being displaced by people of color and immigrants.

It's often viewed as something driven by Jews or globalists.

So the online space is probably what is the biggest factor in causing people to be radicalized into violence.

AMNA NAWAZ: Heidi Beirich, we thank you so much for joining us tonight, helping us to understand this a little bit better.

Thank you for your time.

HEIDI BEIRICH: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Community colleges can be a catapult to economic mobility, dramatically increasing earnings.

And almost all of them are open admission.

But most of the students that start degree programs do not complete them on time, and many don't finish at all.

Hari Sreenivasan reports on a program that is spreading nationally to increase community college graduation rates.

It's part of our series Rethinking College.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Blessing Henderson is about halfway through an associate's degree in culinary arts and business at Cincinnati State.

BLESSING HENDERSON, College Student: When I'm in the kitchen, I'm in my zone.

Like, I love it.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The 28-year-old is on campus here three days a week.

She takes a full-time course load and balances school with a part-time job and being a single mom to a 12- and 5-year-old.

BLESSING HENDERSON: I'm here from 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 p.m. sometimes, so... HARI SREENIVASAN: But you can't cook over Zoom.

BLESSING HENDERSON: I can't cook over Zoom.

So I have to be here.

(LAUGHTER) BLESSING HENDERSON: So it does get stressful.

It's a lot of hours.

HARI SREENIVASAN: But despite balancing all those commitments, Henderson is on track to finish her degree in two years, a feat that less than 20 percent of community college students manage in the United States.

She says a big reason is being in a program called CState Accelerate.

BLESSING HENDERSON: I couldn't drive up here on a donut.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Tammie Larkins is the program's director.

TAMMIE LARKINS, Director, CState Accelerate: We're able to mitigate some of those barriers and make the road just a little bit easier.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The program is open to full-time Pell Grant-eligible students, meaning they come from lower-income households, and covers all tuition and fees not covered by financial aid.

Primarily funded with philanthropic donations, the program costs about $1,750 per student per year.

BLESSING HENDERSON: When I graduate, I won't owe anything.

It's, like, too good to be true.

I couldn't believe it.

But that's one of the greatest -- that's the selling point.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.

BLESSING HENDERSON: And then everything else is like a bonus to the package.

So... HARI SREENIVASAN: Those bonuses include help with books and gas and even the occasional emergency expense, which makes a huge difference for Henderson, who lives in Dayton, Ohio, and commutes an hour each way.

BLESSING HENDERSON: I have a flat tire.

So I have been borrowing my mom's car to get here.

And CState has offered to help me get my tire fixed.

So, with that, is it's a load off my back, because I was wondering, like, what am I going to do?

HARI SREENIVASAN: Each student in the program also gets access to a counselor called a triage coordinator.

TAMMIE LARKINS: So our triage coordinators are like your own personal life coach, whether it's just, who am I supposed to be talking to now?

What are my next steps?

What should I be doing?

Or it could be, I'm doing so well in this class, and I just need a lift-me-up, more than an accountability partner and more than a coach.

They are your person.

MICKI HARRIS, College Student: For me, they're honestly second parents.

They have been there for me when I was at my lowest.

And I don't know what I would do without them.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Micki Harris is studying electrical engineering technology at CState and will finish an associate's degree next may, after four years in the military and a couple of failed attempts at college.

MICKI HARRIS: College has always been like really, really hard for me.

I did well in high school, but high school and college are like two different things, like on two different spectrums.

And I kind of just like controlling my own schedule and scheduling my own classes.

And just kind of figuring out where things lie and what I wanted to do for the rest of my life was very intimidating.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Harris credits the CState Accelerate program with getting on track.

MICKI HARRIS: They have helped me not only emotionally and financially, but they have just been such a big family to me.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The Accelerate program here at Cincinnati State is not a new idea.

In fact, it was modeled on a program from New York City that showed so much progress that we told you about it seven years ago.

Only 17 percent of CUNY's full-time community college students get a degree in three years.

For ASAP students, the rate is 57 percent.

ASAP stands for Accelerated Study in Associate Programs.

And since we visited in 2016, the program has only grown.

Christine Brongniart runs ASAP for the City University of New York.

CHRISTINE BRONGNIART, University Executive Director, CUNY ASAP: We started with a small cohort of 1,200 students in 2007.

And now we are serving 42 percent of the full-time associate degree-seeking population across CUNY.

HARI SREENIVASAN: As ASAP has expanded, those who are in the program graduate within three years at more than double the rate of those who are not.

ALEX MAYER, Director For Postsecondary Education, MDRC: There's millions of community college students and there's about 1,000 community colleges in the country.

And so this program could really be a game-changer for students in and around the country.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Alex Mayer is the director of postsecondary education at MDRC, a nonprofit research organization that has performed randomized control studies on the ASAP model to test its effectiveness.

ALEX MAYER: This approach really gives very high confidence that the program is working.

And, even now, we have just released findings after eight years.

And the students are continuing to graduate at higher rates than the students in the control group.

CHRISTINE BRONGNIART: We really wanted to continue to test the evidence, meaning we wanted to see if we could take this model, knowing how effective it's been in this very particular CUNY context.

And we wanted to see if these findings hold in other implementation contexts, such as in Ohio.

And that's really where we started with our replication work.

HARI SREENIVASAN: In 2015, versions of ASAP were rolled out at three Ohio community colleges, including Cincinnati State.

While there was some adaptation allowed, gas cards, instead of public transportation cards, for instance, the idea was to maintain the fidelity of the model.

Monica Posey is the president of Cincinnati State.

MONICA POSEY, President, Cincinnati State: We knew what we were doing was making a difference.

We heard it from the students.

We saw it at our commencement, but to actually get the validated study was really awesome.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Like in New York, students in the demonstration programs in Ohio graduated at nearly double the rate as those not in the program.

But, despite the success at Cincinnati State, Accelerate wound down in 2018 after the three year study was over.

MONICA POSEY: We had to stop the program.

We just did not have the funds in the institution to continue it.

ALEX MAYER: Community colleges, they're doing a lot for their students, but they're typically underfunded.

The challenge is being able to support the community colleges to implement the program and to implement what we know has been effective.

HARI SREENIVASAN: But the cost has not fully stopped Cincinnati State.

The college restarted the program in the fall of 2021, after raising $3.5 million from donors.

TAMMIE LARKINS: That return on investment will provide economic growth and upward mobility for this region.

As we know, as students graduate, that increases employability and changes the whole trajectory of their lives.

HARI SREENIVASAN: That upward trajectory is in the data as well.

Last month, a new study showed that those who took part in the original Ohio demonstration were earning 11 percent more compared to those in the control group.

It's a finding that CUNY's Christine Brongniart says adds to the evidence that this model works and should be rolled out beyond the seven states where versions are up and running.

CHRISTINE BRONGNIART: We're working now to work more with state systems at scale, versus working more ad hoc with individualized colleges.

HARI SREENIVASAN: At the CState Accelerate office on campus, student Blessing Henderson says that, in addition to the financial aid and counseling, the program creates a sense of community.

BLESSING HENDERSON: When you walk in, everyone's smiling.

They're always happy to see you.

I don't know.

I think it's -- I think it's honest.

(LAUGHTER) BLESSING HENDERSON: They do a good job of faking it if they don't.

It's just happy.

Everybody's like family.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Somebody that's kind of in your corner for you.

BLESSING HENDERSON: Yes.

Being in college has expanded my horizons and my mental -- just how I communicate, the way I think about things.

So I don't know what I'm going to do after this.

I just hope to keep going, though.

HARI SREENIVASAN: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Hari Sreenivasan in Cincinnati, Ohio.

AMNA NAWAZ: Later this evening on PBS, "Frontline" presents a documentary that traces Clarence Thomas' life from childhood to college to the court, and it includes recent reporting on his relationship with conservative billionaire Harlan Crow.

NARRATOR: Crow even helped fund a documentary promoting Thomas as a humble man.

WOMAN: One of Clarence's biggest loves is when he can get away from Washington, D.C., and be on the road in his motor home.

CLARENCE THOMAS, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice: You know, I don't have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States.

I prefer the R.V.

parks.

I prefer the Walmart parking lots.

And I had come from regular stock, and I prefer that.

I prefer being around that.

NARRATOR: But out of the public eye, Thomas was living a very different life.

MAN: Harlan Crow has been taking Clarence Thomas on luxury vacations really around the world for more than 20 years.

So we're talking flights on his private jet, cruises on his very, very large yacht in places like Indonesia and New Zealand, stays at Harlan Crow's resort up in the Adirondacks.

Compared to somebody that's a partner at a big D.C. law firm that might be making $2 or $3 million a year, like, these Supreme Court justices are paupers.

Thomas could not afford to take the kinds of vacations that Crow is taking him on.

AMNA NAWAZ: "Clarence and Ginni Thomas" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on PBS and on YouTube.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

Thanks for spending part of your evening with us.