WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Good evening.

I'm William Brangham.

Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz are away.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: A long-awaited special counsel's report sharply criticizes the Justice Department and FBI's investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign and its possible ties to Russia.

President Zelenskyy tours Europe to secure more military aid, while the fighting against Russian forces rages in Eastern Ukraine.

And a survey of Asian Americans paints a sobering picture about their fears of rising violence and discrimination.

NORMAN CHEN, CEO, The Asian American Foundation: Over half of Asian Americans felt unsafe.

They felt unsafe in public transportation, on subways.

They felt unsafe in their own neighborhoods, in their own schools and their own workplaces.

(BREAK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The long-awaited report by special counsel John Durham about the FBI's probe into the 2016 Trump campaign and its alleged ties to Russia was released publicly today.

Durham was appointed by former Trump Attorney General William Barr to look into what many on the right saw as a politically motivated investigation.

While Durham's report offers no significant new evidence, it is deeply critical of the FBI.

Durham called their handling of parts of the investigation seriously deficient and wrote that investigators were too credible towards partisan actors, writing: "Senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received."

Washington Post reporter Devlin Barrett has been following all this, and he joins me now.

Devlin, thank you so much for being here.

This is the culmination of four years of work by John Durham.

What else does this report say?

DEVLIN BARRETT, The Washington Post: The report basically goes through all the steps taken in the investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane and faults the FBI again and again for how they did it.

But it also doesn't particularly tell us much more than we already knew.

And, frankly, many of these criticisms have been said before, years before, by others who looked at this.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So what Durham seems to be arguing is that the FBI received a lot of information about the Trump campaign back in 2016, and that the FBI should have treated that information as more suspect than they did?

Is that is that the gist here?

DEVLIN BARRETT: Basically.

What they're basically saying in this report is, the FBI actually didn't have a lot in the -- in terms of allegations to go on, and didn't do enough careful analysis and work to try to stand up the kinds of allegations it was getting.

And, basically, their argument is, the FBI rushed forward to investigate Trump, when, if you look at some past Clinton cases, the FBI was more cautious.

But the truth is, the FBI ultimately investigated both Trump and Clinton, so I don't know how powerful that criticism is.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So did Durham say that there was no reason that the FBI should have been looking at the Trump -- Trump campaign?

DEVLIN BARRETT: The report, interestingly, actually says it makes sense for the FBI to have examined this initial tip they got from an Australian diplomat, which, frankly, is in some ways a walk-back from other suggestions Durham has made in the past.

I think the report is actually fairly cautious and not particularly critical on what was supposed to be his biggest criticism, which is that the case never should have been opened at all.

But that's not actually what the report ends up saying.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Well, former President Trump, as I'm sure you have seen on his Web site TRUTH Social, said: "Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia probe!

In other words, the American public was scammed."

Again, to the point you're making, that's not what this report is indicating.

DEVLIN BARRETT: No.

And, in fact, as I read the Durham report, what he's basically arguing is, the FBI should have opened a preliminary report, as -- preliminary investigation, as opposed to a full investigation.

That's a fine distinction.

But I think only lawyers and agents care about that level of granular detail.

And I don't think, in the end, it matters that much.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Who does Durham specifically point his critical judgment at?

Is it senior levels of the FBI and the DOJ or more rank-and-file members?

DEVLIN BARRETT: It's definitely the senior level that he is most critical of.

And there's particular agents who oversaw these cases that have been criticized in the past.

And he is even more critical of them, arguing that they essentially have a confirmation bias, that they were naturally suspect of Trump, and that colored their thinking.

That is something that, frankly, those officials have denied and said, look, we, as the FBI, had an obligation to investigate these allegations.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As you mentioned before, the inspector general of the Department of Justice issued a report several years ago that covered a lot of this material.

And, then, the FBI and the DOJ had to respond to that.

Have they, FBI or DOJ, responded to this revelation today?

DEVLIN BARRETT: They have, but their point is that they have already instituted a significant number of changes to policies and practices where there were things that were found to be wrong and shouldn't have happened.

And, frankly, most of the people who made those decisions are long gone from the FBI.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post, thank you so much for being here.

DEVLIN BARRETT: Thanks for having me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ukraine's president today concluded a three-day tour of Europe and received new military and political support.

Nick Schifrin reports.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In a 16th century English manor 1,500 miles from Kyiv, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today gave Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy more military support and a historical blessing.

RISHI SUNAK, British Prime Minister: Winston Churchill made many of his famous speeches in World War II from this room, and, the same way today, your leadership, your country's bravery and fortitude are an inspiration to us all.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.K. will now send Ukraine long-range attack drones, in addition to air-launched cruise missiles with a range of 150 miles.

That's almost exactly the same range as an American long-range missile the Biden administration has so far refused to provide.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: Thank you very much for this package that you prepared.

Great.

Huge.

Really what can save the lives for all our people.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Last night, Zelenskyy met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, following a weekend audience with the pope, public support from Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose coalition has close ties with Russia, and an unprecedented military package from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and a message designed to end doubt about German commitment to Kyiv.

OLAF SCHOLZ, German Chancellor (through translator): We will support Ukraine as long as it is necessary.

JENNIFER CAFARELLA, Institute for the Study of War: Continuing to rally NATO and to foster NATO unity is essential for Ukraine, not only for the current phase of the counteroffensive, but also long term.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jennifer Cafarella is a national security fellow at the D.C. think tank Institute for the Study of War.

She says British weapons that will expand Ukraine's Western weapons range will allow Kyiv to target Russian supply lines, including in Crimea.

JENNIFER CAFARELLA: They need to be able to apply pressure now through long-range systems that can -- that can degrade and disrupt the Russian capacity to respond to that counteroffensive when it is launched.

And they need to start retaking terrain that the Russians are using for ground resupply.

And the kinds of targets the Ukrainians could choose to go after are threatening the Russian ground supply lines into Crimea.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In private, Zelenskyy has reportedly wanted to go even further.

An intelligence community leak reported by The Washington Post says Zelenskyy advocated for attacking inside Russia and even occupying Russian territory.

He has promised not to do that with Western weapons, a vow he repeated this weekend.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through translator): We are concentrated on preparing the counteroffensive to deoccupy only our territories, as recognized by the entire world.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Even ahead of that counteroffensive, Ukraine says it made its first advances in six months in Bakhmut, the war's longest and bloodiest battle.

In another U.S. intelligence community assessment reported in The Washington Post, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, offered Kyiv targeting assistance for Russian positions, in exchange for giving up Bakhmut.

Today, Prigozhin denied it, but, for the first time, he has personally called out Vladimir Putin.

JENNIFER CAFARELLA: Prigozhin is getting increasingly desperate.

And, in his desperation, Prigozhin is crossing new lines.

This sows further dissent within the Russian sphere.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Ukraine continues to fight an existential war, one that, thanks to this European visit, has more support on the way.

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

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Turkey's presidential election is headed to a run-off.

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pulled ahead of his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, but he failed to win an outright majority of votes.

Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for two decades, and he remained confident at a rally in Ankara.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkish President (through translator): The fact that the election has not been finalized does not change the fact that our nation's choice is clearly in our favor.

We believe we will serve our nation for the next five years.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Erdogan outperformed polls that had shown his grip on the nation slipping amid high inflation, an ongoing housing crisis, and February's devastating earthquakes.

The run-off election is set for May 28.

A powerful cyclone in Myanmar has claimed the lives of at least six people and injured 700 others.

Rescuers evacuated about 1,000 people today who were trapped by 12 feet of seawater along the country's western coast.

The storm damaged homes and cut power lines across Rakhine State after making landfall Sunday afternoon.

Neighboring Bangladesh was spared a predicted direct hit, but hundreds of makeshift shelters were still torn apart.

A court in China sentenced a 78-year-old American citizen to life in prison on spying charges.

It's a case that could widen the rift between Washington and Beijing.

Hong Kong resident John Shing-wan Leung was detained in China in 2021, but details of his case haven't been released.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said it was aware of the charges, but had no further comment.

In Thailand, top opposition parties agreed to form a ruling coalition after they received a majority of seats in the House of Representatives in Sunday's general election.

Today, the progressive Move Forward Party took a victory lap through the streets of Bangkok.

Headed by a 42-year-old businessman, their electoral win dealt a stunning defeat to Thailand's military rulers.

PITA LIMJAROENRAT, Leader, Move Forward Party: It's the sentiment of the era that has changed.

And the job or the duty of a member of Parliament is to speak on behalf of the people, is to pass progressive laws, is to make sure that we support the duty of the government.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Thailand's prime minister Former General Prayuth Chan-ocha has been in power since a 2014 military coup.

The opposition alliance could face challenges as it navigates the military-backed establishment when Parliament selects a new prime minister in July.

Back in this country, Virginia Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly says a man armed with a metal baseball bat attacked two staff members at his district office in Fairfax.

Connolly was not in the office at the time.

The suspect was taken into custody.

And staffers are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

In a statement, Connolly said -- quote -- "The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff's accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating."

And stocks managed modest gains on Wall Street today.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 48 points to close at 33349.

The Nasdaq rose 80 points.

And the S&P 500 added 12.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": a veto by North Carolina's governor sets up a battle over abortion rights; Senator Amy Klobuchar talks about her new memoir on the ups and downs of political life; a look inside the American Museum of Natural History's stunning new expansion; plus much more.

There is a lot happening at the state level this week, with a handful of primary races heating up and action on abortion laws happening across the country.

Kentucky and Pennsylvania both have key primary races under way, one for a governor's race and another for the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, a Democratic governor squares off with a Republican legislature over a 12-week abortion ban.

To unpack the specifics in each state, we're going to check in with a few state reporters.

We will start in North Carolina, where WUNC's Capitol bureau chief, Colin Campbell, has been reporting on this back-and-forth on this controversial abortion measure.

Colin, thank you so much for being here.

So tell us about this bill that Governor Roy Cooper vetoed this weekend.

What did that bill do?

COLIN CAMPBELL, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC: So, the top line of it, of course, is that it's a ban on most abortions after 12 weeks.

There's still exceptions after that point for things like rape, the life of the mother and fetal abnormalities.

And some of those exceptions expire a little bit further into the pregnancy time frame.

There's also some new notification requirements and new requirements for in-person doctor's visits that critics are saying that it's going to make it harder for women who are actually seeking abortion in the first trimester to be able to actually go through the process, particularly if they're in rural areas or it's hard for them to get to the doctor for one reason or another.

So that's sort of the bulk of it.

They have also paired in some unrelated things like paid parental leave and funding for foster families into this larger bill that's going through the legislature here in North Carolina.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, Governor Cooper made his veto this weekend in a very public way at a rally this weekend.

It seems like there's some clear messaging implied with that.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Absolutely.

I mean, this is a situation where there's not a whole lot of likelihood that the governor can convince Republicans to break with their party and sustain his veto here.

But, certainly, thousands showed at this rally.

It had a very political undertone, looking ahead to next year's election.

Certainly, Democrats in North Carolina feel like this is an issue that can fire up their base and potentially help them flip some seats in the legislature to their party and keep the governor's mansion in Democratic hands coming up to 2024.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So does the GOP supermajority in the legislature have the votes to override this veto?

COLIN CAMPBELL: Yes, they have just a very narrow majority, thanks in part to a particular Democrat who switched parties, became a Republican and ultimately voted for this bill the first time around.

So, as long as everybody sticks with how they voted the first time this bill was passed by the legislature, that should be overridden.

Votes are scheduled to take place in both the House and Senate tomorrow, Tuesday.

So we could see this bill becoming law within the next couple of days here in North Carolina and then taking effect with new restrictions in July.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So what does that mean, right?

My understanding is that North Carolina -- let's just say this law goes into effect.

I know that North Carolina has been having a lot of women from neighboring states that do have stricter abortion bans in place coming to North Carolina.

This would seem to put North Carolina off the map for that as well.

COLIN CAMPBELL: And I think that's something that Republicans are actually thinking of as they created this particular law.

Certainly, if you're coming from another state, and you have to make multiple doctor's visits, even if you are seeking an abortion prior to 12 weeks, that makes it harder for someone who's coming across from Tennessee to come into North Carolina multiple times to jump through the hoops to get the procedure.

So that may make North Carolina less attractive as a destination for people coming from other Southern states that have stricter bans, even as it's still less strict here than in other states around us and further south that have more six-week or other types of abortion bans on the books.

So we may still see some of that.

It may not be as great.

And some folks may have to drive further north to be able to get a quick and easy-to-access abortion procedure.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Colin Campbell of WUNC, thank you so much for being here.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Thanks for having me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Turning now to Kentucky, Republican voters will head there to the polls tomorrow in one of the nation's most contested races of the year.

Kentucky is just one of three states with gubernatorial elections this cycle, along with Louisiana and Mississippi.

But with Democrat Andy Beshear currently in the governor's mansion, the GOP is looking to secure all levers of the government in that state.

Ryland Barton from Kentucky Public Radio joins us now.

Ryland, thank you so much for being here.

A bunch of Republicans want to get in and get this nomination to go after Governor Beshear.

What are the main issues that voters are talking about now?

RYLAND BARTON, Kentucky Public Radio: I mean, one of the big issues is the fact that Andy Beshear, a Democrat, is governor in such a Republican state as Kentucky has become in recent years.

Republicans really feel like this is their chance to topple him during the general election in November.

And so there's a long line.

About 12 Republicans have lined up to -- for the chance at the nomination, three main contenders so far.

A lot of the arguments during the race have focused on some of the hot-button national issues that you have seen across the country and in Congress even, a lot of anti-trans messaging and leaning into anti-trans policies that were passed during the -- Kentucky's legislative session earlier this year, and really accusing one another of being the most liberal or so-called woke candidate within the Republican primary.

So, it's gotten -- it's gotten a little nasty towards the end of the race here, a lot of mudslinging going on, and a couple of candidates trying to capitalize on not getting into the - - into that fight too.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And who are those top candidates.

RYLAND BARTON: So there's Daniel Cameron.

He's the Republican attorney general.

He's been in office for four years, and then also -- and he's the one who's endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

And then there's Kelly Craft, former ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration.

She was a prolific fund-raiser in Republican politics in Kentucky.

And I think it's a notable that, towards the end of this race, they have been accusing each other of being the most -- who's the less establishment candidate?

Kelly Craft going after Daniel Cameron for being a protege of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

And so, again, they're kind of -- there's - - during the primary, there's this different kind of language going on as to who can be the most conservative, will have to pivot a little bit for the general election.

But, right now, it's gotten very interesting.

And a lot of money's already been spent in it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Now, this is an off-year election.

So there's not a lot of other big races and big names on the ticket to draw voters.

Do you think that that's going to have a big impact on turnout?

RYLAND BARTON: It really will.

And there's the long history of this, because it's always happens in these odd-numbered years.

So, the secretary of state's predicting about 10 percent voter turnout.

Back in 2015, last time, there was a crowded Republican primary, it was about 13 percent.

And the winner in that race, Matt Bevin, ultimately won that race by about 83 votes.

And that was really attributed to the top two candidates getting into a big fight where voters kind of soured on them.

And it created the lane for that third-place candidate to win.

So a lot of people are watching the results with some trepidation because it really could kind of go any way because of the low voter turnout expected.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Ryland Barton of Kentucky Public Radio, thank you so much.

RYLAND BARTON: Thank you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Moving over to Pennsylvania now, which holds primary elections tomorrow, voters from both parties will choose their nominees to run to fill a seat on the state Supreme Court.

The seven-member court currently consists of four Democrats and two Republicans with one vacant seat.

One candidate vying for the Republican nomination is Judge Patricia McCullough, who gained notoriety for approving former President Trump's attempts to halt the certification of Pennsylvania's election results back in 2020.

Following this all closely is Katie Meyer.

She's the government editor and reporter with the investigative newsroom Spotlight PA. Katie, thank you so much for being here.

So, Democrats and Republicans are picking their candidate to run for this seat.

What is the state of the race there right now?

KATIE MEYER, Spotlight Pennsylvania: Well, there isn't a lot of polling in these races.

And so, really, the best sense that we can get is from spending, from the fund-raising these candidates have been able to do.

And in the Republican side of this race, it's been pretty lopsided.

Carolyn Carluccio, who's sort of establishment pick for the seat, has far outraised Patricia McCullough.

Carluccio has gotten money from, again, Republican, top donors, the establishment, politicians who are already in power, as well as from major school choice donors.

McCullough, the biggest part of her fund-raising has really come from Doug Mastriano, who was the former Pennsylvania candidate for governor who lost last year.

And he was a pretty far right candidate.

And he was very entrenched in this sort of Stop the Steal election results-denying movement in 2020.

And so they're closely linked, those two.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, Judge McCullough, as you mentioned, is part of that Stop the Steal movement.

We saw certainly that former President Donald Trump has continued, despite all evidence to the contrary, claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Is there a sense that GOP voters in Pennsylvania are still motivated by that story?

KATIE MEYER: Well, we did see some evidence that that's not a huge motivating factor for Republicans in last year's election.

Doug Mastriano, the candidate who had won the GOP nominee -- again, he won the primary, so that does tell you something, but he badly lost the general election to Josh Shapiro, the Democrat who is governor now.

So I think that gives you a sense, again, of how general election voters in Pennsylvania feel about that.

And, certainly, Republican leaders in the state have taken lessons from that.

They have really put a lot of effort into boosting Carluccio, who they think has a better shot of winning the general election in Pennsylvania.

And so McCullough hasn't gotten a lot of traction among her own party's establishment.

Now, that doesn't mean primary voters won't go for it.

But, again, she hasn't raised or spent much.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, how much of this does really matter?

I mean, we know that that, for instance, there was incredible focus on the state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin.

But, in this case, the Democrats already have a majority, even if a Republican were to win, even if McCullough were to win.

How relevant is that for the court?

KATIE MEYER: Well, it is relevant just because, in a couple years, there will be more seats up on this court, and then Republicans would be in striking distance, especially if they win this year's election, to taking the court back.

And, in Pennsylvania, the courts are pretty partisan.

And, specifically, they often have a huge role to play in choosing congressional maps when we redistrict, in resolving vagaries in election law, because Pennsylvania's election law does have a lot of gray areas, so deciding which ballots can be counted, if these issues aren't resolved.

The courts will have a big role in that.

So I would say these justices will say that they're not very partisan.

And, indeed, they're not supposed to be, but people do view these races as partisan.

So I think that tells you something.

So, yes, absolutely, these elections, especially a few years down the line, will have great effect.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Katie Meyer of Spotlight PA, thank you so much for being here.

KATIE MEYER: Thanks for having me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's been almost two months since the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the official in charge of Moscow's campaign of stealing children from Ukraine.

Kyiv is demanding more international support to pursue Russian leadership.

Nick Schifrin spoke with the top Biden administration official who's responsible for global criminal justice about her efforts, the roadblocks within the American government, and the chances of holding Putin and his high command accountable.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In this war, death comes at night, as an apartment complex slept last month.

The death comes en masse, as Russia stole dignity from the dead and reduced cities to rubble.

And the killers are also thieves.

Kidnapped Ukrainian children are paraded in Moscow, forced to hug their abductors.

BETH VAN SCHAACK, U.S.

Ambassador at Large For Global Criminal Justice: This is a manifest violation of the U.N. Charter that has led to systemic war crimes, crimes against humanity across all areas where Russia's troops are deployed.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Beth Van Schaack is the U.S. ambassador at large for global criminal justice.

BETH VAN SCHAACK: We need to send a strong, concerted, unified international message that one cannot simply invade a sovereign neighbor in an effort to subjugate that neighbor and wipe them off the face of the planet.

JUDGE PIOTR HOFMANSKI, International Criminal Court (through translator): The International Criminal Court has issued two warrants of arrest.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The most prominent mechanism of justice is in The Hague at the ICC, which, in March, issued warrants for war crimes allegedly committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his so-called commission for children's rights.

ANDRIY KOSTIN, Prosecutor General of Ukraine: Systematically practiced torture and rape.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And U.N.'s prosecutor general is leading the country's own pursuit of close to 80,000 cases of war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President: Ladies and gentlemen.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants Russia's leadership to be punished for its initial decision to wage war.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Only one institution is capable of responding to the original crime, the crime of aggression, a tribunal.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The crime of aggression was created in the Nuremberg and Tokyo military tribunals after World War II for Nazi and Japanese leaders and hasn't been prosecuted by an international court since.

The ICC cannot pursue an aggression charge against Russian leadership because Russia is not an ICC member.

So, today, Ukraine demands a special tribunal that could pursue Putin authorized by the U.N. General Assembly.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Not some compromise that will allow politicians to say that the case is allegedly done, but a true, really true, true, full-fledged tribunal, true and full justice.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That's direct criticism of a U.S. and Western European proposal, the Ukrainian court supported by international staff, money and intelligence with no U.N. authorization.

BETH VAN SCHAACK: The concern is that we don't have access to the Security Council here.

Of course, Russia will predictably -- predictably exercise its veto on any effort to create a stand-alone tribunal.

And, in the past, tribunals have generally been established by the Security Council.

And there are questions about whether the U.N. Charter empowers the General Assembly to do that.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Wouldn't the court that you're proposing operate under Ukrainian law and therefore be stuck with the rule that a national court cannot go after the head of state of another country?

BETH VAN SCHAACK: The vision is a court that is deeply rooted in the Ukrainian national system.

They will be starting to build dossiers against all of those individuals in a leadership capacity who were in a position to design, execute the crimes of aggression committed within Ukraine.

And this tribunal could then accept those indictments when the time was ripe to confirm those charges.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Does that suggest that, regardless of the format, you don't see any accountability for Putin himself until he's out of power?

BETH VAN SCHAACK: Under any scenario, we're going to have to have custody of the accused, of Putin, in order to move forward.

And that's exceedingly unlikely until there is some sort of a political transformation within Russia.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. also has a practical problem.

Many countries in the global South wouldn't vote to establish a tribunal, in part because they accused the U.S. of double standards for refusing to submit to ICC investigations over the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BETH VAN SCHAACK: With Ukraine really interested, for obvious reasons, to have the international community backing this effort, backing this initiative wholeheartedly, to come out of this -- of the General Assembly resolution with a weaker vote than 90 or 80 states in train would be problematic.

I think that would really undercut the message of legitimacy.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The Department of Justice has been great.

The Department of Defense has been terrible.

NICK SCHIFRIN: There's another way for the U.S. to pursue justice, help the ICC.

Late last year, Senate Judiciary Committee leaders, Ranking Member Republican Lindsey Graham and Chair Democrat Dick Durbin, helped lead an effort to change the law to allow the U.S., which isn't an ICC member, to provide the ICC with intelligence, funding and staffing for its Ukraine investigations.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Why hasn't the administration done that?

BETH VAN SCHAACK: We are still exploring how we can utilize these new authorities from Congress.

It's still a matter of working through some of the details through the interagency process.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Multiple U.S. officials tell "PBS NewsHour" the Defense Department rejects helping the ICC hold Russian soldiers accountable, out of fear the ICC could one day prosecute U.S. soldiers.

The officials say the intelligence community has dropped its own previous concerns.

Last week, after a meeting with ICC Prosecutor General Karim Khan, Durbin accused the administration of -- quote -- "withholding evidence" from the ICC.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL): Why is your department not sharing evidence that we have gathered to help that effort?

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: I do have concerns about reciprocity going forward, I remain concerned about the protection of U.S. military personnel.

(CROSSTALK) SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: I have got to ask for more, General.

I respect you and I voted for you, and I would do it again.

But I got to ask for more.

If the law says cooperate, and you refuse, what am I -- what conclusion am I supposed to draw?

LLOYD AUSTIN: We support the goal of holding Russia accountable.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: I have to ask you to prove it by doing so.

You have drawn a personal opposite conclusion.

And I think it is, frankly, hurting the efforts to hold Putin accountable.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, last month, Graham raked Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco over the coals for not complying with the new law.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: I want to ask you again, is the Department of Defense the holdup?

LISA MONACO, U.S. Deputy Attorney General: Senator, I know the Department of Defense has had longstanding concerns about our engagement.

The department... SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: I don't care what their concerns are.

They can share them with me.

We have got a law on the books.

Do you feel like you need to follow the law when you're told to do it?

LISA MONACO: Yes, Senator.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: OK.

So we won't -- we will take this up with the Department of Defense.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Should the Department of Defense be worried about future prosecutions if it drops its resistance?

BETH VAN SCHAACK: I think there is virtually no equivalency or comparison to what Russia has done here to anything that might involve U.S. personnel or service members.

We have a full-scale war of aggression being committed through the systematic and widespread commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity.

There's no comparison here.

And so I do not see a concern that this would set any sort of a precedent that might redound badly to the United States.

NICK SCHIFRIN: So the debate over ICC assistants and the special tribunal continues, as Ukraine demands accountability and justice for Russia's ongoing crimes.

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

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Throughout the pandemic, Asian Americans have endured racist and physical threats.

And, as the U.S. celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, new research is calling attention to this rise in anti-Asian sentiment and the toll that it's taking on Asian American communities.

Amna Nawaz spoke recently with the head of The Asian American Foundation.

AMNA NAWAZ: One in two Asian Americans report feeling unsafe in the U.S. due to their ethnicity.

That's according to a new report from The Asian American Foundation, examining attitudes and stereotypes toward Asian Americans.

Among the findings, nearly 80 percent of Asian Americans do not feel they fully belong in and are accepted, while more than half don't feel safe in public places, a national survey found.

What's more, nearly one in five Americans believe Asian Americans are partly responsible for COVID-19.

Norman Chen is the CEO of The Asian American Foundation, and joins us now.

Norman, thank you.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

NORMAN CHEN, CEO, The Asian American Foundation: Thank you for having us.

AMNA NAWAZ: So these were findings from your third annual survey of Asian Americans.

What have you seen over time?

Are these numbers getting better or worse?

NORMAN CHEN: They have been largely consistent over the last three years, Amna.

We have seen more -- increasing concern during COVID about attacks against our community and the blaming of Asian Americans for COVID-19.

But this is -- the latest question this year about the safety level really disturbed us, the fact that over half of Asian Americans felt unsafe, they felt unsafe in public transportation, on subways, they felt unsafe in their own neighborhoods, in their own schools and their own workplaces.

So that was very concerning for all of us.

AMNA NAWAZ: How much of that do you link directly to the pandemic?

I remember, we reported on this surge of anti-Asian rhetoric, the subsequent surge of anti-Asian attacks.

I remember friends telling me they wouldn't let their parents or their aunties or uncles go walking alone, because they were so worried about random attacks.

Has that fear dissipated at all as we moved out of the pandemic?

NORMAN CHEN: I think a lot of it was due to the COVID-19 and the pandemic.

But, also, it recalls just the fact that Asian Americans have been feeling attacked within this country for decades, for generations.

And this year's survey really highlighted for us that those three stereotypes of the perpetual foreigner, yellow peril and the model minority myth really reared their ugly heads in the results.

And so this is not just a phenomenon due to COVID-19.

It's really been something that's been in our history for a long time.

What was particularly new this year was about the belonging question.

Last year was the first time we asked, how much do you really feel like you truly belong in this country?

And Asian Americans were the least likely to feel we truly belong.

And then, this year, we understand more why.

And they tell us they feel like they don't belong because of these attacks.

There's a direct correlation between the incidents, the frequency of these attacks and our community's lack of feeling like we truly belong.

The second reason they mentioned was the lack of representation, lack of seeing role models, Asian Americans in senior leadership positions.

So those are new insights that we want to work on.

AMNA NAWAZ: That feeling of not belonging, of not feeling safe, what kind of impact does that have in terms of how people live and on their mental health and well-being?

NORMAN CHEN: A tremendously negative impact.

If you don't feel like you are safe, you don't feel like you can belong -- you remember Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs -- we cannot thrive, we cannot succeed, we cannot be respected, respected by others.

And so it's fundamental that we believe, that we belong, and that we feel safe in our society.

And this really has a damaging effect on mental health for our community.

Mental health is a significant problem for the AAPI community, as for other communities.

But we have the terrible statistic that, among AAPI youth ages 15 to 24, suicide is the leading cause of death.

And our group is unique in that, unfortunately.

AMNA NAWAZ: Norman, as you know, anti-Asian sentiment goes back to the earliest days of our nation.

The very first significant law restricting immigration in America was targeting Chinese people.

We, as a nation, incarcerated tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Is what we're seeing now just the latest chapter in that ongoing story.

NORMAN CHEN: We are seeing a recurrence of it in many ways.

But, of course, it's unique to this time.

The recent attacks we have seen in Atlanta and even in Allen, Texas, make us really concerned about increasing anti-Asian sentiment in this country.

The rhetoric in the media among politicians has led to more anti-China sentiment, which leads to anti-Asian American sentiment.

And we need to be very careful to manage that to make sure we don't inflame tensions and antagonism towards our community.

AMNA NAWAZ: At the same time, I want to point out your survey found 75 percent of Americans said that they see these racist attacks against Asian Americans as a problem today.

So there is awareness.

There is acknowledgement.

Is that progress?

NORMAN CHEN: Yes, there is -- there are some signs of progress in our survey this year.

Besides that awareness, a lot of people in our survey when we asked them what we can do to try to help build relations with the AAPI community, the number one answer was greater interaction.

So that was very encouraging.

People are open to having more interaction, getting to know AAPI members better, which is wonderful.

The second answer was education, which we have known is always very, very important.

So we do want to promote more knowledge of Asian American and Pacific Islander history as American history.

AMNA NAWAZ: Norman Chen is the CEO of The Asian American Foundation.

Norman, great to speak with you.

Thank you for joining us.

NORMAN CHEN: Thank you very much, Amna.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: With so much partisan political division in our country, joy is not a word typically associated with politics, but it is for Minnesota's senior Senator Amy Klobuchar.

As she recently explained to Geoff Bennett, it's the topic of her new book, "The Joy of Politics."

GEOFF BENNETT: Senator Amy Klobuchar, welcome to the "NewsHour."

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Thank you, Geoff.

It's great to be on.

GEOFF BENNETT: This is an intimate memoir.

You invite readers into your personal life, your fight with cancer, losing your father, almost losing your husband to COVID, your run for president, all of it within the same three-to-four-year period.

How did you make it through?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Like a lot of America has made it through, actually.

And that's one of the reasons I want to try it the book, is that everyone has been through so much.

Everyone knows someone that they have lost.

And if they didn't lose someone, they lost going to weddings and funerals, little kids bouncing on their parents' knees while they got the laptop on their desk.

And then you have got the political divides that we have seen.

You have seen the violence out there.

And it's just been a really hard time.

So my answer to it was, yes, be honest about what we have been through, but not spend my whole time lamenting the setbacks, but instead rejoicing in the comebacks, that we have come through this, that we're gathering together again.

And there's a joy in getting things done in Washington.

GEOFF BENNETT: You wrote something at the end of chapter one that really struck me, and you wrote about obstacles.

You say: "Your obstacles are your path.

And sometimes, when you don't quite make it to the top of the trail, you learn all kinds of lessons along the way."

What did you learn from your obstacles?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, the first thing I learned was -- with the breast cancer is, just be thankful for what you have got every single day.

And I know other cancer survivors feel the same way about it.

And then it was, how do you make something good out of all this?

And, for me, it was coming out saying, hey, I waited too long to get my mammogram, but I got it.

And I was able to get through it 100 percent OK. GEOFF BENNETT: You open the book reading about your husband and all the sacrifices that he and so many other political spouses make.

And you talk in detail about his near-fatal fight with COVID.

He was in the hospital, was in isolation after that for almost a month.

That was, I imagine, a frightening and clarifying moment.

How did it change you?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, it certainly -- to have it happen right that -- basically the first month of major COVID in our country, there were no vaccines, and to have that scary moment where I can't go in to see him.

I'm relying on other people to tell me how he's doing.

So I think that made me really devoted, one, to doing everything we could to get a vaccine, which really helped.

Science helped us get this through this.

And then, secondly, to help people with their personal issues, with their economics, with "the-post COVID, whatever mental health, the problems people have had.

It really zeroed in my focus on that at the time.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the book, you pull back the curtain on certain moments in our history in a way that I think political watchers will appreciate, starting with Donald Trump's inauguration, that dark America first speech that he delivered.

The late Senator John McCain was seated next to you.

And he was whispering things to you under his breath.

What did he say?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, we're all together, people of all parties, there for the new president.

And, instead, it's dark.

And John starts whispering names of -- basically, of people like Mussolini to me, Huey Long.

And he's actually reciting speeches and dates and lines from the speeches, because he was such a student of history, and connecting them to the Trump speech.

GEOFF BENNETT: Wow.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: That all happened.

And the final thing he whispered to me as the guests kind of load onto the stage, he goes -- and he's so funny.

He goes: "Well, this is an all-time record."

(LAUGHTER) SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: I go: "What do you mean?"

He goes: "Most money ever spent on plastic surgery on an inaugural stage in the history of America."

That happened.

GEOFF BENNETT: John McCain said that.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Yes, he did.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: Well, fast-forward to your own run for president, which this picture captures the moment where you delivered your speech in an epic snowstorm in Minneapolis.

You talk about how you got to know your Democratic contenders in different ways, then-candidate Joe Biden, now-President Joe Biden, of course.

During breaks during the debates, he would say things to you to boost your spirits.

Tell us more about that.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Yes.

And I think people know what a kind person the president is.

And he was always saying: "Good line.

That was a great job, kid.

You did great on that."

He was -- he would do that at town halls.

He would do it all the time.

And... GEOFF BENNETT: And the debate where you couldn't bring pens on stage, and your pen exploded.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Excuse me.

That was the PBS debate.

GEOFF BENNETT: Oh, It was.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Yes, it was.

GEOFF BENNETT: We were wondering which debate it was.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Yes, it was.

It was in L.A.

It was a fantastic debate, so well-moderated.

But what happened is, you have that five minutes - - and you have seen candidates do it -- where you have to scribble down your notes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: What do you remember?

What facts?

What story?

So I'm trying to do it.

The pen just goes on me, explodes.

I get ink on my hands.

I turn to Bernie, who's on my right, which, on its own, is funny.

(LAUGHTER) SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: So I'm like, hey.

And that's when I realize he's brought in his own pen and is -- so he gives me the pen.

So that pen also doesn't work.

So, Steyer is on my left, Tom Steyer.

So he has also his own pen.

This is when I realize, guys, I guess this is easy for you.

He gives me the final last debate pen, my third pen.

It works.

It turns out to be a great debate for me.

So I still -- I'd like to thank those two guys for giving me the pen.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: You also detail what happened on January 6, 2021.

And you stayed in the building well past midnight with then-Vice President Mike Pence, making sure that the vote would be certified.

What do you recall from that day?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, it started out as a celebration, this ceremony where we're leading basically a parade of senators to the House with the young kids with mahogany boxes filled with the ballots.

And then it ends 13 hours later, after the insurrection, with still just the Capitol a disaster zone, a crime scene, actually.

And it is just Roy Blunt and me, the former Republican senator from Missouri, and we led the Rules Committee.

That's why we were the ones in charge.

And with Vice President Pence.

We're the only three left in the Senate chamber with these three pairs of young pages who are carrying those mahogany boxes, which a member of the parliamentarian's staff had the presence of mind to say, "Get these out of the Senate," when we all ran out, because they would have been destroyed or burned, for sure.

And we're walking down now over broken glass.

You see pillars on the side that are filled with racist vulgarities.

And we make that last walk.

And our goal and our mission was to make sure democracy prevailed.

And we got to the House, and it did.

And those kids carrying those boxes is what I remembered the most.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you find the joy in politics?

And it's a pursuit that some people could find joyless.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Right.

So, for me, it's the joy in getting things done.

That is number one.

It's the joy in helping individual people.

It's the joy in actually seeing democracy at its best.

GEOFF BENNETT: Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The book is "The Joy of Politics: Surviving Cancer, a Campaign, a Pandemic, an Insurrection, and Life's Other Unexpected Curveballs."

It's always so great to speak with you.

Thanks for coming in.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: Thanks, Geoff.

It was great.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: How to capture and convey the wonder of science and the natural world, especially at a time when the public teaching of science is again being fought over?

The largest Museum of Natural History in America just expanded its reach, and Jeffrey Brown got an advanced tour.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEANNE GANG, Architect, Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, American Museum of Natural History: We are looking for places for views, to make connections to people, to things, to collections.

JEFFREY BROWN: This is a pretty good one.

JEANNE GANG: Yes, and that one to the park.

JEFFREY BROWN: A pre-opening walk with architect Jeanne Gang to see the new building she designed as an expansion of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

JEANNE GANG: It feels like an organic space.

People have felt different things about it, like a canyon, a cave, a grotto, bones.

People have told me all kinds of different natural things.

JEFFREY BROWN: You're OK with all those?

JEANNE GANG: Oh, yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: Everywhere you look, especially in the five-story atrium, soft curves and shapes, with outside light pouring in.

Gang and the team at her Chicago-based architectural firm Studio Gang were inspired by natural landscapes, but tied to a specific urban setting.

JEANNE GANG: The leap was really, we need to do something that is about connections, flow, curiosity, discovery.

And so those were things that led us to creating this porous structure with lots of openings, lots of connections, almost like in a landscape where you would be curious to go explore little crevices and niches and go through openings.

JEFFREY BROWN: The museum, one of the largest natural history museums in the world, with some five million visitors a year, has been a place of discovery for a long time now, known for its lifelike dioramas still fascinating young children, its enormous dinosaurs and blue whale, the Halls of Gems, planetarium and much, much, much more.

And, yes, this is where Ben Stiller spent a memorable night at the museum in the 2006 film.

ACTOR: This thing doesn't even look real.

JEFFREY BROWN: But it's also a major research and education institute.

And the new Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, a $431 million expansion, offers more space for that as well, a chance for visitors to see more of the vast collection, and the curators and researchers working within it, as here among jars of different fish species.

It is the kind of experience Sean Decatur, a biochemist, former head of Kenyon College, and now president of this historic museum, knows firsthand.

SEAN DECATUR, President, American Museum of Natural History: I participated in after-school and summer camp programs at the Natural History Museum in Cleveland, where I grew up.

My mother signed me up to every possible program.

That's a place where I not only had my curiosity piqued, but I also began to meet scientists, to learn what the scientific process is like.

I think that's something that this museum does very well on many levels.

JEFFREY BROWN: Now a museum known for going big highlights the small, with a live insectarium for encounters with the planets most diverse group of animals, and a butterfly the vivarium to learn about life cycles, short, and different species or to simply flutter about and enjoy.

VIVIAN TRAKINSKI, Director of Science Visualization, American Museum of Natural History: Where we are right now, we're actually inside a human brain.

This is a digitized human brain.

JEFFREY BROWN: The connectedness of all life is the theme of the immersive Invisible Worlds Experience.

And the critical task for a museum like this, says Vivian Trakinski, is how to make life come alive.

Trakinski's title, director of science visualization.

VIVIAN TRAKINSKI: The key is, what do we know?

JEFFREY BROWN: Starts with that.

VIVIAN TRAKINSKI: Starts with the science.

And then I think you have to think about the public.

What do they know?

What are pathways to engage them in the different topics that you're trying to communicate?

And so, between the science and public interest, you find an area that is so ripe for creativity and different ways to communicate, different topics to different audiences.

JEFFREY BROWN: That makes this a prime place to see an evolution in how we visualize natural history and science, with dioramas and digitization both transporting people to largely inaccessible places in different ways.

VIVIAN TRAKINSKI: And it doesn't make the dioramas any less beautiful or any less relevant.

If anything, I feel like it gives them a fresh feeling, an update, because, when you walk into that digital theater and you see those curved walls with the landscapes projected on them, you're reminded of the dioramas.

It's a digital diorama.

It is an echo of what the museum has been creating for more than 100 and -- 100, 150 years.

JEFFREY BROWN: Cool stuff, for sure.

But science today is a hot-button cultural and political arena.

Think of battles over vaccine mandates and climate change policy.

Incoming museum president Sean Decatur approaches this as the educator he's been his entire professional life.

SEAN DECATUR: When we see reports out there of mistrust and lack of confidence in science, I believe the root cause of that is a lack of understanding of the scientific process itself.

JEFFREY BROWN: You mean how science works, how scientists do?

(CROSSTALK) SEAN DECATUR: Exactly.

Science needs to be accessible to everyone.

Everyone should be able to have the opportunity to develop literacy and fluency in scientific thinking and scientific ideas.

If we don't do that, we risk losing a lot of talent who will hopefully help us to solve many of the problems that we're facing down the road, but we will also have real challenges in terms of policymaking and decision-making broadly.

JEFFREY BROWN: The larger disputes over science and the natural world also gave architect Jeanne Gang a different sense of urgency with this project.

JEANNE GANG: It elevated the crisis, if you will.

And it made me think that, besides just presenting the facts, we have to feel the wonder, let's say, of nature, because it's also an emotional thing.

That's why I think art and science can work well together, because we need the facts, but we also need to see the beauty of it.

JEFFREY BROWN: That includes the architect herself, who couldn't help cast her eyes around the new library shed designed for the Gilder Center.

I noticed you look that way.

JEANNE GANG: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And you liked it, right?

JEANNE GANG: I did, yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: Why?

JEANNE GANG: I -- well, I was noticing, like, how the light is working on the outside surface, but how the portal allows you to see beyond.

JEFFREY BROWN: And it is working for you?

JEANNE GANG: Yes, it is.

JEFFREY BROWN: You are happy?

JEANNE GANG: Yes, I am.

I'm wanting to go over and explore it right now.

JEFFREY BROWN: That, of course, is what everyone involved here hopes future visitors will feel as well.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm William Brangham.

For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, and we'll see you soon.