AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

Geoff Bennett is away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Airstrikes kill more people in Gaza, even as Israel promises pauses in the fighting to let food reach a starving population.

European nations give mixed reactions to the U.S.-E.U.

trade deal.

We speak with the European Union's ambassador about implications for the global economy.

And Ben and Jerry's ice cream shows how a new recycling process can turn food waste into energy.

ERIC FITCH, Founder & CEO, PurposeEnergy: This system puts out a little over a megawatt, which is about enough to power 1,300 homes in Vermont.

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

President Trump today urged action to get more food into Gaza, as the real threat of starvation stalks tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Mr. Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must -- quote -- "make sure they get the food."

Deema Zein reports.

DEEMA ZEIN: In Gaza today, slivers of hope fall from the sky.

But when the aid hits the ground, a desperate fight, gunshots ringing out, as Gazans scramble to grab food.

AHMED AL-SILQAWI, Gaza Resident (through translator): The aid being dropped is not enough for the starvation of the Palestinian people.

There are millions of people who cannot get food for their children.

DEEMA ZEIN: For the second day, Israel has promised to pause operations for 10 hours, a supposed window of calm to allow for aid to flow in.

But, overnight, the airstrikes return.

Daily funerals seem more plentiful than food.

According to Gaza health officials, more than half of the 11 killed in one airstrike in Khan Yunis were women and children.

Far from the frenzy of war, Gaza was top of mind for President Trump in Scotland today.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Those children look very hungry, but we're giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.

DEEMA ZEIN: At a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the leaders discussed a plan to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which includes setting up food distribution centers.

DONALD TRUMP: But we're going to be getting some good, strong food.

We can save a lot of people.

I mean, some of those kids are -- that's real starvation stuff.

I see it.

And you can't fake that.

So we're going to be even more involved.

DEEMA ZEIN: But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says their focus is the release of hostages held by Hamas.

ISRAEL KATZ, Israeli Defense Minister (through translator): If Hamas does not release the hostages, the gates of hell will open in Gaza.

Beyond what is being done, with great force, we will do much more.

DEEMA ZEIN: Back in Gaza, a rare scene unfolded, women taking to the streets.

As their families and children starve, they demand an end to the war.

SAMAH AHMAD, Gaza Resident (through translator): We need a realistic movement.

Women, widows, the elderly, the sick, children are not able to wrestle for aid when the trucks come in.

They aren't able to catch whatever aid is dropped on them from parachutes.

WAFAA ABU QINA, Gaza Resident (through translator): We want the world as a whole to hear our voices.

Enough.

We have reached a point where we can no longer walk.

If we can't walk, what do we tell our children?

DEEMA ZEIN: Their pained voices echoed in the background of a United Nations meeting to discuss a two-state solution today.

Noticeably absent, Israel and the U.S. Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi: AYMAN SAFADI, Jordanian Foreign Minister: The Palestinians are ready to negotiate today.

We do not have an Israeli partner to negotiate.

They cannot veto us from doing what we all believe in and recognize the Palestinian state as a statement of commitment to that solution.

DEEMA ZEIN: While diplomats discuss, Gazans gather, lining the streets hunting for morsels of food and counting the hours until the next Israeli airstrike.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Deema Zein.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines with President Trump moving up the timeline for Russia to stop its war in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters in Scotland, Trump said today he's giving President Vladimir Putin 10 to 12 more days to reach a deal to end the fighting.

Otherwise, Russia could face new sanctions and secondary tariffs targeting its trading partners.

That shortens a 50-day deadline Trump gave Moscow two weeks ago.

In a video address today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Trump's firmness with Putin.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): It is true it's Russia that's doing everything to derail peace efforts and prolong this war.

Ukraine is ready to work productively with the U.S., to work with President Trump to end this war with dignity and secure lasting peace.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile in Russia, former President Dmitry Medvedev said online that Trump is playing -- quote -- "a game of ultimatums" that could draw the U.S. into war.

A federal judge blocked a Trump administration effort to defund Planned Parenthood today, ruling that all clinics must continue to receive Medicaid reimbursements.

A provision in the president's recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill banned Medicaid payments to providers that perform abortions and make more than $800,000 in a given year.

The judge ruled that could amount to what's called legislative punishment, which is unconstitutional, since Planned Parenthood is one of the only providers that meets that threshold.

In Nevada, a suspect is in custody after at least two people were killed after the death outside a casino in Reno.

Officials say the gunman opened fire in the valet area of the Grand Sierra Resort this morning.

At least three other people were injured.

They were taken to a nearby hospital, as was the suspected shooter.

Their conditions have not been made public.

Reno officials say investigation is under way and that there's no ongoing threat to the public.

Federal aviation authorities are investigating an incident this weekend in which passengers had to evacuate a burning plane at Denver International Airport.

People on board the American Airlines flight bound for Miami slid down the plane's emergency chute as smoke poured from the jet.

Authorities say a fire started in the aircraft's brake system just before takeoff.

Five people were checked by medics on site and one was taken to a hospital with a minor injury.

There were 173 passengers and six crew members on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 when the fire broke out.

Scorching summer temperatures are sweltering the Eastern half of the United States.

Well over 200 million Americans are under heat alerts and warnings from the Dakotas all the way to Florida and up the East Coast.

FRANK BUI, South Carolina Resident: It's hotter than normal, just super muggy.

Maybe it's just me getting older, but it is hot.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's always hot for places like the Southeastern U.S., but meteorologists warn that this week's temperatures are dangerous even by summer standards.

Combined with humidity, heat indices could hit 120 degrees in places like Mississippi and Louisiana.

The National Weather Service expects the heat wave to peak around midweek before cooler air sweeps through by the weekend.

In Southern Europe and the Balkans, searing heat, dry conditions and strong winds are fueling deadly fires and prompting evacuations in places like Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Wildfires there have threatened Turkey's fourth largest city of Bursa, forcing more than 3,000 people to flee.

The Forestry Ministry says three firefighters were killed this weekend.

All told, at least 17 rescue workers and volunteers have now died battling the blazes since late June.

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to an immediate and unconditional cease-fire after five days of fighting.

ANWAR IBRAHIM, Prime Minister of Malaysia: This is a vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace.

AMNA NAWAZ: Leaders from the two countries shook hands at the conclusion of talks hosted by Malaysia's prime minister.

The latest violence between the two neighbors killed at least 35 and displaced more than 260,000 people.

Both countries blamed the other for starting the clashes, which began after a land mine explosion last week that wounded five Thai soldiers.

The cease-fire went into effect at midnight local time.

Military commanders are set to meet tomorrow for talks aimed at further easing tensions.

On Wall Street today, a quiet start to the trading week.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 60 points on the day.

The Nasdaq added 70 points, or a third of 1 percent.

The S&P 500 ended virtually unchanged.

And musical satirist and mathematician Tom Lehrer has died.

(SINGING) AMNA NAWAZ: Lehrer made a name for himself in the 1950s and '60s with songs like "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," which blended joyful music with more sardonic subject matter.

His targets for satire included marriage, politics, racism and the Catholic Church, among others.

But his lyrics were so clever and his musical tones so light that few seemed to mind.

Lehrer was a math prodigy who graduated from Harvard at the age of 18.

He eventually left music to return to teaching at Harvard and elsewhere.

A longtime friend said Lehrer died at his home in Massachusetts this weekend.

Tom Lehrer was 97 years old.

And England's women's soccer team returned home to a hero's welcome today following its thrilling European Championship win.

The Lionesses posed with the trophy on the tarmac after touching down on home soil before being whisked off to the prime minister's residence.

They will enjoy an open-top bus parade through central London tomorrow.

On Sunday, the team successfully defended its title by beating world champion Spain in a nail-biter in Basel, Switzerland.

Striker Chloe Kelly powered the game winner past the keeper, giving England a 3-1 win on penalty kicks.

Still to come on the "News Hour: Health Secretary Kennedy's plan to gut a preventative services task force; Tamara Keith and Jasmine Wright break down the latest political headlines; and we examine the broader implications of a conservative project to combat antisemitism in the U.S.

The announcement of the U.S.-European trade deal marks an important moment in President Trump's larger battles over tariffs and trade, but it's generating mixed reactions in Europe and in the U.S.

While the details of the agreement have not been released, some key pieces are known.

E.U.

exports to the United States will face a tariff rate of 15 percent, including on cars, car parts, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

But the U.S. will keep tariffs on E.U.

steel and aluminum at 50 percent.

Some products, including aircraft, certain chemicals and semiconductors, will not have any tariffs.

And the E.U.

will invest $600 billion in the United States and buy $750 billion worth of oil, liquid natural gas and nuclear fuels during President Trump's term.

For more on the many questions around all of this, we turn to Jovita Neliupsiene, the European Union's ambassador to the United States.

Madam Ambassador, so good to have you here.

Welcome back.

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE, European Union Ambassador to the United States: Well, thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, most European products will now face this 15 percent tariff.

That is lower than the 30 percent that President Trump was threatening at one point.

But would you say this is a good deal for E.U.

businesses?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, first of all, I think that what is extremely important to have a deal is predictability and that we know where we are going.

And now we can focus our job and, like, business can focus on the trade, on the investments, on the job-creating.

I would say that predictability and moving on, on strategic cooperation is the key element in this deal.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, it takes the uncertainty out of the equation, right?

But there are some who've looked at the contours, early contours, we should say, of the deal and described it as lopsided, unbalanced, asymmetrical in the United States' favor.

Do you agree with that assessment?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, there is a changing environment in trade overall globally, and it was always the policy of the president, Trump.

E.U.

never was keen on having a tariffs.

We never use tariffs as our main policy tool in our toolkit.

But I do believe that predictability, stability is very important for the business.

Yes, it's a different reality from what was before.

We will face and our companies will face -- around 70 percent of our trade will face tariffs.

But we are working, still working to still finalizing the details of the list where we have zero for zero, so the tariffs will not be applied.

And, well, let's hope this $1.7 trillion of trade we are experiencing every year will remain here, because this actually creates 16 million jobs on both sides of Atlantic.

AMNA NAWAZ: The zero-for-zero tariffs could be something that applies to specific industries, is that what you're saying?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're not ready to say which ones just yet?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: I think that the president of the commission already mentioned some of them.

But still the work is in progress.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm sure you have seen some of the reaction already coming into the deal.

I want to put to you what France's prime minister said online, writing: "It's a dark day when an alliance of free peoples united to uphold their values and defend their interests resigns itself to submission."

The Hungarian prime minister said -- quote -- "It's obvious to me this is not an agreement.

Donald Trump ate Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast."

That's the European Commission president.

"That is what happened."

Your reaction to those reactions and what's the bottom line here to avoid escalation?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Look, every business I met personally here in the United States on both -- like, the businesses, American businesses, but as well as European businesses who has a massive presence here.

All the leaders in the European Council, the leaders were really for having a deal.

So we have a deal.

We have a predictability.

We have a stability.

And hopefully we know where we are heading.

As I said, tariffs was not really the choice of the E.U.

But I think that we have to measure ourselves from the point where we are right now.

So right now our car industry is facing 27.5 percent of the tariffs.

The steel and aluminum is at 50 percent.

So I think -- and there are several cases built on here in the United States, on chips, on engines, on aviation.

We don't know where those two -- three -- two investigations with land.

So I'm sure that having this clarity right now gives the business a bit of relief to see how they will go forward.

AMNA NAWAZ: Is it fair to say in the E.U.

's approach to this, it was not going to go back to the old way it was, so the goal was to mitigate whatever damage might be brought or however high the tariffs might go?

Is that fair?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, I think that this was really what the president, Trump, was trying to do.

He wants to rebalance trade relations with his partners around the world globally.

We are among the biggest.

We're actually the biggest trading partner for the United States.

And I don't see this kind of going backwards.

We have to work and see, like, there are -- one thing is to deal with trade and how much we trade and what kind of the rules and basic tariffs, baseline tariffs that we have.

Another to see, are there common challenges which we have to approach and work together in order to make sure, for example, to protect ourselves from the overcapacity of non-market economies.

So there are other areas where we will have to cooperate as well and from now on AMNA NAWAZ: The $750 billion pledge to buy American energy from the E.U., we know that will be spread out over President Trump's remaining three years.

Where exactly will that be directed?

Has that been decided yet?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Well, look, there are a lot of companies and governments who are already buying energy, energy resources.

So we were buying like really very limited back in 2022.

We already now, because of the -- Russia's aggression in Ukraine, we increased dramatically our purchases of the American LNG to spending $74 billion a year.

But on top of that, what is happening right now in the E.U., we're actually phasing out all Russian LNG refined oil and as well nuclear fuel.

And this is a huge opportunity for the United States to supply these needs, which E.U.

will need in the upcoming few years.

And I think that this is where actually the 750 comes in.

We need not only resources themselves, but we need a strategic security, a geopolitical security, which when you partner with the ally in this kind of the most important strategic sector, actually, which is brought with the supplies.

AMNA NAWAZ: I need to ask you briefly about the other major news we're covering on Israel's war in Gaza and the steps to address the starvation crisis there.

We know the E.U.

's view of this conflict.

France, as you know, has just announced that they're going to be joining other E.U.

member states to officially recognize Palestine.

Do you see these official recognitions helping in some way to work towards a two-state solution that the E.U.

has long backed?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: So recognition of one or another country is actually national competence.

So it's national governments of the member states will make those decisions and it will remain in their hands.

But I have to admit that E.U.

has a longstanding policy on Palestine.

We have already supported and provided humanitarian aid, which is at the level of $500 million.

It's at 17,000 children who are right now in that area.

We use the tools of humanitarian evacuation of their mostly injured people from there.

And our principals are really in the close contacts with Israeli ministers as well to make sure that the humanitarian corridors are open and we can provide as much support as possible.

AMNA NAWAZ: Does recognizing Palestine get you closer to a two-state solution, though?

Do you still believe that's possible?

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: I think that whatever makes their people really help to solve the humanitarian crisis should remain on the agenda, in the hands of the member states.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is E.U.

's ambassador to the United States, Jovita Neliupsiene.

Madam Ambassador, thank you for your time.

JOVITA NELIUPSIENE: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: It may sound like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but diverting food waste from the landfill and converting it into electricity has become a real thing, and that conversion can help reduce climate change.

William Brangham recently visited a Vermont ice cream factory and the operations next door to find out how it works.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At the Ben and Jerry's ice cream plant in St. Albans, Vermont, they can churn out over 100 million pints of ice cream a year.

And to assemble each of their dozens of different flavors, there are precise amounts of added cream, some chocolate perhaps, or maybe chocolate chips.

But key to the whole operation is keeping those distinct flavors separate.

JENNA EVANS, Ben and Jerry's: Say you are making Chunky Monkey in the factory, and then the next flavor comes up and it's Cherry Garcia.

You don't want to mix Chunky Monkey with Cherry Garcia.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jenna Evans is Ben and Jerry's global sustainability manager.

JENNA EVANS: When you push one flavor out with a little bit of rinse water, that extra flavor that was left over in the pipes gets pushed into a barrel that gets stored as a waste ice cream product.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Once that waste is collected, Ben and Jerry's has to figure out what to do with it.

ERIC ROY, University of Vermont: Historically, many organic wastes have been sent to landfills, especially food waste.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Eric Roy is an ecological engineer at the University of Vermont.

ERIC ROY: Once that food waste ends up in a landfill, it can produce methane that can escape to the atmosphere.

And when that happens, that contributes to climate change.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It turns out there's an alternative process that works a lot like our own bodies do when we eat.

It's called anaerobic digestion.

ERIC ROY: We eat food and it is processed in our gut.

In this case, we're feeding the food waste to a large constructed gut that's full of microbial life, and that microbial life is digesting the material and turning it into methane gas, which we can then capture and use as an energy source.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Right next door to the Ben and Jerry's plant in those shining steel towers is a new anaerobic digester, one of over 2,000 nationwide.

ERIC FITCH, Founder & CEO, PurposeEnergy: This facility receives up to 50,000 gallons a day of waste.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: PurposeEnergy CEO Eric Fitch says most of that waste is pumped directly from the Ben and Jerry's facility.

ERIC FITCH: The wastewater goes into these big tanks with bioreactors.

Inside the bioreactors, there are bacteria that just metabolize whatever we're feeding it.

JUSTIN FILIAULT, PurposeEnergy: This is our raw influent, what we're feeding into our digester now, very dirty, nasty looking water.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Justin Filiault is a wastewater operator at PurposeEnergy.

JUSTIN FILIAULT: So, in our digesters, this is what it looks like.

That's just the color of our bacteria.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So this is sort of a microcosm of what's happening in the huge tanks out there.

JUSTIN FILIAULT: Yes.

And the little air bubbles you see in there are then producing methane.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The digestion process produces methane and carbon dioxide, which if allowed to just leave the reactor would contribute to climate change, but when captured and used is called biogas.

ERIC FITCH: The biogas comes off the top and then it goes into this container over here that has a big engine in it.

The engine turns a big generator that produces electricity, goes through a transformer and out to the grid.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: How much electricity?

ERIC FITCH: This system puts out a little over a megawatt, which is about enough to power 1,300 homes in Vermont.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Another byproduct of this process, cleaner water.

ERIC FITCH: In the inside of here, these are packed with filters.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Here, leftover particulate matter is removed from the water.

ERIC FITCH: There's really no contaminant left in the process after it's gone through the filter.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The water then goes to the local community's water treatment plant.

JUSTIN FILIAULT: This is what it looks like that we're shipping out to the town.

We remove over 99 percent of all the particles and contaminants in it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The digester also produces these phosphorus-rich solids.

ERIC FITCH: We call this a natural soil amendment.

All of that phosphorus that comes into our plant from the concentrated food waste, we coagulate it with an iron salt, and it makes this iron phosphate.

We take it even to our house and put it in our garden.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This is actually a useful product now for agriculture.

ERIC FITCH: Yes, exactly.

You can use this the same way you would use manure or some other commercial fertilizer.

ERIC ROY: It looks like compost.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At Eric Roy's lab, they're studying the solids produced by the St. Albans digester.

ERIC ROY: Looking at how much of the essential nutrients for plants exist in this material and how that compares to more familiar materials for farmers.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Farmers are familiar with manure, but this so-called digestate is relatively unknown.

ERIC ROY: The goal is to try to produce useful fertilizers and also inform best practices for how to use it, because if nutrients aren't used properly, they can run off to the water and cause environmental problems.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In fact, helping the environment is a key reason Ben and Jerry's sends waste to the anaerobic digester.

They want to lower that phosphorus pollution.

JENNA EVANS: Lake Champlain gets algae blooms a lot in the summer and that's to due phosphorus loading in waterways.

And dairy inherently has phosphorus in it.

And so we want to make sure that the phosphorus is not getting into the watershed.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And by piping waste to the digester, Ben and Jerry's reduced its carbon footprint.

JENNA EVANS: We were sending over 600 trucks a year out on the highways going all across New England to dispose of this waste.

So we're eliminating hundreds of trips there and back.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But when it comes to the environment, the process isn't perfect, even if it's greener than using landfills.

For instance, converting that gas to energy still does release some air pollution.

But here in Vermont, there's another reason to use an anaerobic digester.

ERIC ROY: It is illegal right now in the state of Vermont to dispose of organic material like food waste, kitchen scraps, into a trash bin that will go to the landfill.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Illegal?

ERIC ROY: Yes, enforcement's always a question with policies like this, but technically everybody is legally required to send their food waste to some sort of processing strategy.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Of course, anaerobic digestion isn't the only strategy.

Many people compost their food waste.

Roy's research on both is under peer review.

ERIC ROY: We looked at what are the greenhouse gas reduction benefits associated with moving the U.S. more towards a Vermont-like policy, where material goes to composting or anaerobic digestion.

And it's well over an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from food waste management.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Meanwhile, the rest of us can keep digesting Ben and Jerry's in our own way.

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

AMNA NAWAZ: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly intends to remove all 16 members of an influential task force, one that plays a key role in determining what treatments insurers must cover and makes recommendations about care that are followed by doctors across the country.

It's a move that could have big implications for the health care system at large.

Stephanie Sy joins us now with more -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE SY: Amna, the advisory panel may not be well-known, but it is important.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Secretary Kennedy plans to replace the members of the United States Preventative Services Task Force.

While the HHS sent us a statement saying no final decision has been made, the American Medical Association wasted little time expressing its concern, sending a letter to the health secretary over the weekend.

For more, we're joined now by Dr. Bobby Mukkamala.

He is a surgeon and the president of the AMA.

Dr. Mukkamala, thank you so much for joining us.

So, since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, this task force has determined which preventative screenings, which medications should be covered by insurers at no cost to patients.

That's a lot of power.

How would you describe its importance in patient care?

DR. BOBBY MUKKAMALA, President, American Medical Association: I would say it's very important.

I mean, there's -- science is an evolving process, right?

So what we used to know when I was a resident training in the last century what we know now about something, for example, as simple as an ulcer in your stomach, right?

I mean, that used to be something we cut out.

And now we know that gets treated for H. pylori, right?

So science evolves.

And that's something that it takes a very -- it takes a lot of attention to keep track of that.

And this is a group at the USPSTF that has the background, that has the education to be able to say, OK, based on what we know from the science at this moment, this is what we should screen for.

And the consequences, you improve people's lives and you decrease the cost of care by screening and finding something early on before it becomes an expensive stage 4 cancer.

STEPHANIE SY: The Supreme Court, though, has ruled that it is within the HHS secretary's authority to replace these appointees.

He's not talking about getting rid of it.

Most of the current appointees were appointed by former President Biden.

What is driving the AMA's concerns?

DR. BOBBY MUKKAMALA: Well, this - - there's a vetting process to figure out who's going to be working on this important committee.

These 16 people have an enormous influence on the health of our country.

And so to basically say, you know what, none of them should do that anymore, and we will replace them, and we as physicians, not knowing who's going to replace them, what their recommendations are going to be, what they may see differently, that's just too much of a black box, right?

And that puts our patients' health at risk.

And that's why they were fine.

They were doing a good job.

And all of that information, all the recommendations they made were useful to us because they were based on science.

Not knowing what's going to come next is putting our patients' health at risk and the health of this country at risk.

STEPHANIE SY: About 100 million privately insured people get preventative services each year at no cost under the ACA requirements.

How might these decisions trickle down to patients?

DR. BOBBY MUKKAMALA: Yes, it's going to be a bad trickle down, right?

Because what's going to happen is, right now, if you get a colonoscopy to screen for cancer and that's covered because it's under the USPSTF recommendation, and, all of a sudden, for whatever reason, their mind changes or there is no USPSTF, and now all of a sudden that's something that is optional, right?

It's not something that's recommended by a body that really studies it hard.

And what is an insurance company going to do?

It's somewhat likely, maybe very likely, that they will say, you know what, if there's not a body that says this is something you should get done, then this is something that we're not going to cover for free.

You will have to pay for it.

And where does that leave the people in this country when there's something that they need medically to catch something early, based on the evidence and the science, but they got to pay for it, right?

That is a bad direction to go in the health of our country.

STEPHANIE SY: I have not seen anything from Secretary Kennedy suggesting that something like a routine colon screening would be off the table with a new task force.

But I do know that conservative critics have accused the existing task force of allowing gender ideology and other liberal ideas to creep into its work.

They cite, for example, its recommendation for HIV prevention drugs to be covered, which Christian employers have taken issue with.

Doctor, is that a legitimate criticism?

DR. BOBBY MUKKAMALA: No, I don't think so.

I mean, when I look at science, it's not a matter of political opinion that gauges that science, right?

When you find somebody with HIV before they realize that they have it, we can do a lot to keep them healthy, right?

And that's a scientific thing.

That's not something that's based on somebody's political side.

And that's why we should defer to science to help decide how to keep our country healthier and how to help people that have a controversial condition when it comes to the politics of it to be healthy.

STEPHANIE SY: Kennedy took very similar steps to gut and replace members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee last month.

Do you see this as a pattern, just the wholesale firing of an entire task force?

And what's the worst-case scenario if that continues?

DR. BOBBY MUKKAMALA: Yes, I mean, I guess I have seen two in a row.

Yes, that looks like it might be a pattern.

I think that's a bad pattern, the consequence of which is the health of our country is not going in the right direction or will not go in the right direction.

And that's something that we're very concerned about, right?

For what we invest for health care in this country, we should be healthier.

And when we take the knowledge that goes into trying to keep patients healthy and sort of saying, you know what, we're just going to replace all that and see what that comes up with, the unknown is something that we as the physicians of this country that work hard to keep our patients healthy are really worried about.

STEPHANIE SY: Dr. Bobby Mukkamala with the American Medical Association, thank you so much for joining us.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump traveled across the ocean to make trade deals while spending some time at his golf club in Scotland, but he can't seem to escape the growing debate over the Jeffrey Epstein documents back here at home, all while his vice president hits the road to sell the administration's signature legislative achievement.

It's a perfect time for Politics Monday with Tamara Keith of NPR and Jasmine Wright of NOTUS.

Amy Walter is away.

Great to see you both.

Thanks for being here.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Good to be here.

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS: Great to see you.

AMNA NAWAZ: So as you saw, President Trump's able to announce this big trade deal, Tam.

It's a huge deal with our largest trading partner, one that's been described as lopsided, asymmetrical in, the U.S.' favor, by many who've looked at the early contours.

So we didn't get 90 deals in 90 days exactly, but you have now deals with the U.K., with the Philippines, Japan, now the E.U.

Is the president's approach here working?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, the president is certainly getting to make a lot of big splashy announcements, and he's able to declare victory.

I think one thing to watch for, though, is many of these deals aren't as fully baked as they seem when he's making the announcement.

There's still a lot of questions underneath about exactly what is being agreed to and whether that might change going forward.

That's certainly been the case with some of the other deals that have been announced.

For instance, with the U.K. deal, which they have literally signed, Trump said that there would be some refining happening on his trip that's under way right now.

So, also, there is this issue that six or whatever number we're up to is not 90.

And there's something like 160 countries that were given tariff numbers on liberation day.

I have asked the White House what happens with those.

Trump has said maybe they get 15 to 20 percent tariffs.

The baseline here is, whatever it is, these tariffs are going to be higher than they were when he took office, and I don't think that we have seen the economic impact yet.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jas, how do you look at this?

And, also, how do the American people look at this?

Is this promises made, promises kept, or are they waiting to see?

JASMINE WRIGHT: I think, if you are a Trump supporter, it is promises made, promises kept.

So I think that it is gratifying.

They feel that he is doing exactly what he said and that what he said is working.

Obviously, we haven't seen this enormous downturn of the economy, which I think a lot of economists projected would happen by now.

Of course, to your point.

We don't necessarily know if the full effect of the tariffs have kicked in.

We were actually doing a review at NOTUS.

And we found that of the U.S.' 15 largest trading partners, we only have a deal right now with eight.

And that does not include Mexico, and that does not include Canada, two huge partners.

With Mexico, we asked the White House official what happens if they don't get a deal by Friday.

Again, the clock is ticking.

They said that USMCA, that original trade deal that he negotiated back in his first term, that would kick in and protect a lot of goods from tariffs.

But, still, there are a lot of questions.

And, of course, you're getting really close to that deadline.

And even though Donald Trump says that those letters are deals, they're not necessarily deals.

AMNA NAWAZ: A deadline, we should underscore, that he set himself and could move again.

Meanwhile, we saw the president continue to face questions about their failure so far to release any of the documents related to the late Jeffrey Epstein after senior members of administration pledged to do so.

He was asked about it today.

Here's a look at just some of what he said about the files and about potentially pardoning Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Well, I haven't been overly interested in it.

It's something - - it's a hoax that's been built up way beyond proportion.

I can say this.

Those files were run by the worst scum on earth.

They ran the files.

I was running against somebody that ran the files.

If they had something, they would have released.

Now, they can easily put something in the files that's a phony.

Pardon for who?

QUESTION: Ghislaine Maxwell.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it.

Nobody's asked me about it.

It's in the news about that, that aspect of it.

But, right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.

So... AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, what do you make of the president's responses?

TAMARA KEITH: Right.

And she is currently appealing her conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

So this all comes in that context.

President Trump, he is not making this go away.

The words that he said today are not going to quiet this down.

He has a problem.

This isn't just Democrats.

This isn't just the media.

This is the very people who helped him get elected are still raising concerns, saying that he's gaslighting them.

And so that is a very real issue.

And the things that he said today, like, I don't know -- it just raises more questions.

And saying that you won't pardon a convicted sex offender or sex trafficker, that seems like it would be an easy thing to do.

And he has had a couple of occasions where he just hasn't gone that far.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jasmine, know how you're looking at it.

JASMINE WRIGHT: Yes, the allies that I have talked to are kind of confused why he won't just say, no, I will not pardon her.

They hope that she doesn't end up with a pardon, of course.

But I think it's this constant drip, drip, drip that leads a lot of people who support him and who want to see these files come out say that there's not a lot of transparency around it.

And that's what their issue is.

Of course, this is a huge, a very serious issue dealing with child sex abuse and all of these things.

But it also comes back to whether or not the White House and the Department of Justice is being transparent or whether or not they oversold what they could actually deliver.

And so I think that people are going to continue to ask questions.

And it's going to come not just the rest of the summer, but also when Congress comes back in September.

It's going to be an issue again that the White House just can't get their hands around.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, Vice President J.D.

Vance is hundreds of miles away from all of this.

He's in his home state of Ohio to sell the passage of that One Big Beautiful Bill.

We haven't really had a chance to check in with his role six months into this second Trump administration.

He went from Trump critic to a loyal MAGA warrior.

Tam, in an administration full of eager people to please the president, is he still the heir apparent?

TAMARA KEITH: President Trump has left that open.

He definitely has not crowned an heir apparent.

And I will note that Ohio is not a critical swing state.

It hasn't been a critical swing state in presidential elections since 2004, though certainly many candidates have campaigned there, thinking that it could go Democratic.

And it hasn't.

It's gone Republican every time.

He has really shrunk as vice president.

And really, that's kind of the role of a vice president.

He's been pretty invisible.

But I will note that he is one of the only people out there selling the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill that actually really does need to be sold to the American people because it's underwater.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes, the polling on that has not been so great.

Jasmine, how are you looking at Vice President Vance?

JASMINE WRIGHT: Yes, I actually look at it from the lens of the former vice president.

I remember, her first six months, Kamala Harris, the office was inundated with questions from reporters and other people about, what is on her portfolio.

What is she doing?

What tasks are Biden giving her?

And I just don't think that you see the same type of questions about J.D.

Vance, at least from reporters that I talked to.

But I do think what you're seeing him doing is not just ingratiating himself with the White House.

He's always in the Oval Office, they say.

He's always talking to various top officials, working his way through the strategy of what the White House is doing, but also ingratiating himself with the MAGA allies, explaining to them what Donald Trump is doing, what he's thinking, and hitting against critics, and then, of course, making sure that he is invaluable on the Hill as he convinces people to vote for Donald Trump's legislation.

So I think that the questions about what he's doing may not be there, but he is doing things, not just in Ohio, but certainly on Congress and in the White House.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thirty seconds left.

Is he the heir apparent or still too early to tell?

JASMINE WRIGHT: I will leave that to Donald Trump, but I think that it's going to be clear that he's probably going to have a primary.

I mean, it's three years, but he probably will have a primary.

The question is, does he win that?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, is also spending a whole lot of time with the president.

AMNA NAWAZ: He might have something to say.

Jasmine Wright and Tamara Keith, great to see you both.

Thank you so much.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

JASMINE WRIGHT: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: The Trump administration has launched numerous investigations into colleges and universities and withheld billions of dollars in funding, accusing the schools of not doing enough to combat antisemitism on campus.

About 60 schools have been notified of possible investigations.

Last week, Columbia University settled with the administration in a major deal that could be a blueprint for other battles - - or, rather, battles with other schools.

Ali Rogin looked into one of the key players behind the administration's approach.

ALI ROGIN: This is all part of a broader push that the White House says is meant to get elite schools to better address antisemitism.

But how did this effort start?

To help answer that question, we're joined by Arno Rosenfeld, an enterprise reporter for The Forward, where he's also the author of the Antisemitism Decoded newsletter.

Arno, thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, how does this administration define antisemitism and how is it that it's become so central to its targeting of universities?

ARNO ROSENFELD, Enterprise Reporter, The Forward: So the administration's understanding of antisemitism is really rooted in hostility toward Israel, so be that anti-Zionism or these other sort of protests.

It sort of lumps that in with what they consider to be support for terrorism, support for Hamas.

But I would say that they go a little bit further than that in kind of limiting their focus to what you might consider left-wing antisemitism.

ALI ROGIN: But not really saying as much about antisemitism on the right?

ARNO ROSENFELD: Correct.

I mean, sometimes, they give a little bit more or less rhetorical attention to that, but in terms of substance, it's not their focus.

And there are number of people in the administration with ties to right-wing antisemites or who have expressed antisemitism themselves of sort of the right-wing variety.

ALI ROGIN: You have reported on one of the blueprints of the administration's efforts on this.

It's called Project Esther.

What is it and who's behind it?

ARNO ROSENFELD: So Project Esther was created by The Heritage Foundation, which also created Project 2025, another blueprint in advance of Trump taking office with the sort of hope that it would be a blueprint for a second Trump administration, when we didn't know who was going to be president.

But it's a plan that lays out a strategy that the White House and other sort of federal agencies can take to combat, again, this kind of left-wing antisemitism.

They talk about a Hamas support network that is basically a variety of anti-Zionist groups and some groups that aren't even anti-Zionist, but sort of progressive organizations that are critical of Israel, they lump into this antisemitic network.

And then they have a variety of tools that they want the government to use to crack down on that network.

ALI ROGIN: And as you have noted, there were not many Jewish groups involved in the writing of this Project Esther.

Why is that and what does it tell you about this endeavor?

ARNO ROSENFELD: You know, The Heritage Foundation doesn't have a lot of Jewish partnerships.

There are conservative Jewish groups, but they aren't really in the Heritage broader universe.

And so they had some groups on their task force that was working on Project Esther that were Jewish, but when the report came out, the core groups were these evangelical conservative organizations and some conservative think tanks.

And the Jewish groups that were sort of on the list, the bigger list of Jewish groups on the task force, kind of tried to distance themselves from the project.

ALI ROGIN: And how does this project in particular view and talk about critics of Israel's policies and supporters of Palestinian causes?

ARNO ROSENFELD: Well, it's really this idea that they are supporters of Hamas.

So it's not just antisemitism.

It's support for terrorism.

And I think the reason -- or one of the reasons that they use that framework is that opens a whole new avenue of legal options to deal with them.

So if you're a foundation that is providing, for example, material support to a terrorist organization, you can be shut down or sanctioned or face other consequences that you couldn't face even if the government sort of officially declared you were antisemitic.

That's legal, but supporting Hamas is not.

And so that's one way that they set this up.

And the other is that they take even kind of tenuous connections to campus protests or other demonstrations against Israel and equate all of that with antisemitism.

ALI ROGIN: How exactly has the Trump administration implemented Project Esther so far?

ARNO ROSENFELD: So they haven't really commented on whether they're using Project Esther specifically or whether they're just using the same tactics.

And I'm not sure that it matters that much, but we have seen the defunding of universities to pressure them to address civil rights violations against Jewish students or alleged civil rights violations.

That's one area.

We have also seen immigration crackdowns, which have overlapped with campuses, but trying to deport and arrest foreign students, who they say are engaging in antisemitism.

These are all sort of tools that we saw suggested within Project Esther.

There's a lot more vague stuff that it's a little bit hard to pin down, but those are two of the big examples.

ALI ROGIN: So certainly the American Jewish population is not a monolith, but based on your reporting, what do American Jews think of this approach?

Do they feel safer?

ARNO ROSENFELD: So we know in general from public opinion polling that Jews do not support President Trump's approach to antisemitism.

He doesn't have majority support on really any of the tactics that he's implemented in the name of protecting American Jews, although in some areas we do see that more Jews support a couple of his strategies on college campuses, say, than support his job performance overall.

So there is a little segment that is open to it, even if they're skeptical of him as a president.

But I think there's also a sense that, especially on college campuses, Jews are being used as sort of a pawn.

So we saw, right, when Columbia University reached the settlement with the federal government, the education secretary, Linda McMahon, described it as a momentous conservative victory.

And she pointed to things that she said conservatives have been trying to do for many years around DEI and affirmative action and addressing left-wing bias on campus that didn't really have to do with Jews.

And so there's a sense that Jews are being used as the excuse to launch this crackdown on colleges and universities, and that Jews are then going to be blamed as a result of that.

So I think there's a lot of anxiety that, rather than keeping Jews safe, some of these things may be inflaming those sort of tensions.

On the other hand, some folks are really eager to see this address, to see the campus protests addressed more forcefully.

So it's a mixed opinion, but that's some of what I'm hearing from American Jews.

ALI ROGIN: Arno Rosenfeld with The Forward, thank you so much.

ARNO ROSENFELD: Thanks.

AMNA NAWAZ: Some 100 years after prohibition, a distillery in Providence is serving up local liquor.

And as Pamela Watts of "Rhode Island PBS Weekly" found, it's not just your run-of-the-mill alcohol either.

It's both organic and oceanic.

This story is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

MANYA RUBINSTEIN, CEO, ISCO: We're actually transforming things that came from the ocean and from the land into something that then we're putting out into the world.

It's this kind of beautiful transfer.

DAN NEFF, Co-Founder, ISCO: I remember the first time I went to like my local liquor store, which is the one that I just go to buy wine for my wife.

And I was like, oh, that's my vodka.

I made it.

PAMELA WATTS: Making it in the vast sea of liquor varieties are Dan Neff and Manya Rubinstein.

Neff, a Rhode Island native and Rubinstein, a Brown University grad, started ISCO, the industrious spirit company, five years ago.

MANYA RUBINSTEIN: We're on the site of what was the Providence Steel and Iron Company.

They made structural and ornamental steel for over 100 years.

We really see ourselves as a continuation of that maker community, but in a different way.

PAMELA WATTS: Way different, as in, what do you get when you mix agriculture and aquaculture, an ocean potion of organically crafted spirits?

Oyster vodka is a first of its kind in the nation named Ostreida, and seaweed gin is the newest offering, christened Sea Flow.

ISCO CEO Rubinstein says, sustainably sourced vodka, gin and bourbon as well as a splash of experimental elixirs, allows them to: MANYA RUBINSTEIN: Have some fun, make delicious things, and do something that was not negatively impacting the environment.

And then sort of throw it in the creative hopper and you get us.

PAMELA WATTS: How did you land on the idea of concocting sea brews as liquor?

MANYA RUBINSTEIN: We were having some cocktails and we were enjoying some oysters and it suddenly occurred to us that a martini with your oysters is a delight, but why had nobody ever combined oysters and vodka together into one spirit?

It just seemed like a no-brainer.

DAN NEFF: We hit a good sweet spot with like, oh, the ocean state, ocean stuff, we can make this taste good.

PAMELA WATTS: Speaking of taste, these outpace even the state's beloved clam, the quahog, in popularity at many restaurants.

hand ISCO is creating another vodka flavor based on a classic Rhode Island staple, pizza strips.

MANYA RUBINSTEIN: We basically took all of the herbs and spices that you would use to make a delicious tomato sauce and we put those into our still.

We also had special pizza strips made for us.

PAMELA WATTS: You put pizza strips in the still?

MANYA RUBINSTEIN: Yes.

DAN NEFF: We did some tasting in the morning.

And I was like, oh, we did it.

We did it.

PAMELA WATTS: It smells like bread in here.

ERIC OLSON, ISCO Distiller: It does.

PAMELA WATTS: It smells like a bakery.

ISCO distiller Eric Olson is a former brewmaster, and Baby is a custom built 500-gallon hybrid kettle made of copper and brass from Louisville, Kentucky.

So this is a high-end still?

ERIC OLSON: Very.

This is the Ferrari of stills.

We started big.

PAMELA WATTS: Olson says the base spirit starts with regeneratively farmed corn.

ERIC OLSON: So everything for ISCO products starts as its grain right on the farm and we partner directly with small farms to give us the best organic grain to cook that down.

PAMELA WATTS: Yeast is added to the still for fermentation, liquids combined in high heat and flavors infused with locally sourced ingredients.

The last stage for the spirits, a final filtering of the alcohol for consumption, labeling and distribution.

DAN NEFF: Everything's by hand.

We have nothing computer.

Everything is analog.

Everything we do is a small batch.

If you compare us to like a big maker, they're doing 40,000 gallons a day and we're doing 500.

PAMELA WATTS: ISCO toasts itself as the first distillery in Providence since the days of prohibition, which may be true in theory, but, in truth, ever-independent Rhode Island largely ignored the 18th Amendment.

Notorious New England crime boss Raymond L.S.

Patriarca is believed to have made bootleg booze in the basement of Camille's Restaurant in providence's Federal Hill neighborhood, serving it in coffee cups to mobsters meeting in back alcoves.

But, nowadays, instead of a speakeasy, ISCO's owners are just glad to have a spirited gathering spot for the community.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Pamela Watts in Providence, Rhode Island.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

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