GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces tough questions over vaccine skepticism and Medicaid reform at his confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump signs the first bill of his second term into law, cracking down on undocumented immigrants.

We check in on the nation's rapidly changing policies and what options remain for immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. JENNIFER BABAIE, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center: There is no pathway to asylum at a port of entry or in any other manner in the United States.

AMNA NAWAZ: And the Pentagon revokes the security detail for General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who served under and has been critical of President Trump.

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

After widespread confusion, the Trump administration today walked back some of its message about a funding freeze on trillions of dollars of federal grants and loans.

GEOFF BENNETT: This afternoon, the White House set a memo from the Office of Management and Budget that outlined a temporary pause on many government-funded programs was rescinded.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said that would not stop the federal funding freeze tied to President Trump's executive orders.

Laura Barron-Lopez has been following this back-and-forth.

And, Laura, our viewers could be forgiven if they're confused by all of this.

Clear up what you can for us.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So that funding freeze that was revealed by the OMB memo sent nonprofits, agencies, state officials across the country into uncertainty and confusion, because the White House initially had only specified that Medicare and Social Security would not be touched, then later clarified, no, programs like Medicaid and SNAP won't be touched as well.

And then, today, after 24 hours of chaos and facing two lawsuits, OMB said that they were rescinding that memo, and the White House press secretary said that this should effectively end the court case.

Other White House officials told us that this was a move essentially to get around the lawsuits, but they said over and over again today that this does not halt that federal spending freeze.

And White House officials also said that the memo ultimately served its purpose.

So they're not backing off of this freeze at all, Geoff and Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, you mentioned the White House thought that rescinding the memo could contain or stop the legal backlash.

So, does it?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: No, because a second federal judge today, Judge John McConnell, plans to issue a restraining order against the funding freeze.

And this was due to a lawsuit brought by attorneys general across a number of states.

And so, according to reporters that were in the court today, Judge McConnell said that the OMB memo was hugely ambiguous and it is a -- quote -- "distinction without a difference."

So now the White House is facing two restraining orders from two judges in two different lawsuits that are temporarily stopping that funding freeze.

And so, essentially, the heart of the matter is that memo, whether it's in effect or rescinded, does not change the way judges are viewing these lawsuits.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, bottom line, what does this mean for people who are concerned about the programs they might rely on?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, it's done little to ease the confusion and the fear, Geoff.

And so just one example, a White House official said that Meals on Wheels, the program that delivers food to seniors and some disabled people, would not be affected.

Meals on Wheels said that's not how they're approaching this, that they are -- quote -- "still flying completely blind," they told us.

And so, while all of this is happening, Geoff, federal workers are also facing a lot of confusion, because the Office of Personnel Management, essentially the government's H.R., sent an e-mail yesterday to federal employees seeking mass resignations, giving them the option to say yes to this resignation up until next week.

And they're told that if they agree to step - - to take this resignation, that they could potentially work from home.

But it's not clear exactly how the White House is able to do this.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez, our thanks to you, as always.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, one of President Trump's most consequential and controversial nominees made his case for the top job at the Department of Health and Human Services.

GEOFF BENNETT: In his first of two hearings, former environmental lawyer and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took tough questions from some senators, as he also faces blistering criticism from his own family.

Here's Lisa Desjardins.

MAN: We love you!

LISA DESJARDINS: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, greeted with applause and fanfare.

He described his mission and concern about America's chronic health failures.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee: Today, Americans' overall health is in grievous condition.

Over 70 percent of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese.

LISA DESJARDINS: Kennedy has won supporters in part by railing against processed food and the pharmaceutical industry as health catastrophes.

But he has also sparked concern, evident by rows of doctors and nurses in the room to oppose him.

He addressed his controversial record on vaccines before loud protests interrupted him.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY: News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry.

I am neither.

I am pro-safety.

LISA DESJARDINS: It's a change from his past words and tone.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY: They poisoned an entire generation of American children.

LISA DESJARDINS: Kennedy has a long history of vaccine skepticism.

The Washington Post found dozens of disparaging statements, including about routine childhood vaccinations, like for measles, mumps and rubella, at times wrongly claiming that vaccines cause autism.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY: What is the cure for measles?

The treatment for measles, it's chicken soup and vitamin A.

All of my kids are vaccinated.

LISA DESJARDINS: Today, Kennedy put his views this way: ROBERT F. KENNEDY: I will do nothing as HHS secretary that make it difficult or discourages people from taking any of those vaccines.

In my advocacy, I have often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions.

Well, I'm not going to apologize for that.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Democrats railed against him as someone with dangerous health theories.

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?

ROBERT F. KENNEDY: I probably did say that.

LISA DESJARDINS: And as someone they say is posturing to get the job.

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET: It doesn't matter what you come here and say that isn't true.

Unlike other jobs we're confirming around this place, this is a job where it is life and death.

LISA DESJARDINS: His first of two days of testimony.

Today's is the more important.

The Senate Finance Committee is the only one that will vote on his confirmation to oversee one of the largest budgets in the U.S. government, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control.

Republicans largely asked friendly questions and defended President Trump's nominee.

SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MT): We believe in science.

I'm thankful that you do too.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Democrats hoped to crack that unity by pointing to his past support of abortion rights.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I have never seen any major politician flip on that issue quite as quickly as you did when Trump asked you to become HHS secretary.

LISA DESJARDINS: Republican Senator Steve Daines asked if Kennedy might try to limit pills, mifepristone, used for early pregnancy abortions.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY: President Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone.

He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Democrats fired back.

SEN. MAGGIE HASSAN (D-NH): Here are the safety studies that tell us mifepristone is safe and effective.

LISA DESJARDINS: Kennedy ultimately suggested more pilot programs.

Not in the room, but part of the nomination fight has been Kennedy's cousin Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy.

In a scathing letter and video recording previously, she urged senators to reject his nomination.

CAROLINE KENNEDY, Daughter of John F. Kennedy: Bobby himself is a predator.

LISA DESJARDINS: Kennedy accused RFK Jr. of being an exploiter.

CAROLINE KENNEDY: It's incomprehensible to me that someone who is willing to exploit their own painful family tragedies for publicity would be put in charge of America's life-and-death situations.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Republicans cast him as a nonpartisan attempting to bridge divide.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I thank you for that.

I truly appreciate what you're doing here.

LISA DESJARDINS: Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, two more nominees with smoother paths to confirmation, Wall Street executive and cryptocurrency backer Howard Lutnick to run the Commerce Department and former Senator Kelly Loeffler to be in charge of the Small Business Administration.

And more picks getting green lights.

Pam Bondi to be attorney general advanced through committee, a step closer to the job.

Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency was fully confirmed by the Senate.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.

GEOFF BENNETT: And for more, we're joined now by Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Thanks for being with us.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: We heard RFK Jr. in his confirmation hearing today insist that, if he's confirmed, he won't try to take vaccines away.

He says he won't impose any obstacles to vaccine access.

Do you buy that?

DR. PAUL OFFIT: Not for a second.

He has told you who he is for the last 20 years.

He's been a vigorous, vehement anti-vaccine activist.

He has said that he thinks no vaccine is of benefit.

He has said that he thinks the polio vaccine killed many, many more people than it saved.

He has said that he doesn't think the hepatitis B vaccine works.

He's currently in the midst of suing the maker of the human papillomavirus vaccine.

He thinks vaccines are causing chronic disease in children.

And if he is in a position to do something about it, I think he will do everything he can to make vaccines less affordable and less available.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, he also tried to say several times today that he was for vaccine safety.

And he suggested that's not the same as being opposed to vaccines.

How does that strike you?

DR. PAUL OFFIT: Well, he's -- what he is, he's for studies that prove this fixed, immutable science-resistant belief that he has.

So, for example, he continues to claim that vaccines cause autism, even though dozens of studies have shown that vaccines don't cause autism.

So when he talks about caring about vaccine safety, he really doesn't.

He just cares about trying to find studies that support these beliefs that have now been refuted by scientific studies.

He wants the kind of studies that prove him right, even though studies at least don't exist in good journals.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, if he's confirmed, he would have control of what is a sprawling bureaucracy, an annual budget, more than $1 trillion, responsible for funding the health care of millions of Americans.

And at a certain point during the hearing today, he appeared to mix up the federal programs Medicaid and Medicare.

What questions does that raise for you?

DR. PAUL OFFIT: Right.

It's -- it really hasn't been his focus.

I mean, when he -- over the last 20 years with his work on children's health defense, his focus has really print been primarily, almost solely vaccines.

He's more recently sort of adopted this make America healthy again, and let's eat the right kinds of foods.

Let's not eat highly processed foods.

That certainly sells.

It sounds good.

But the fact of the matter is that, when you have a science denialist like him, you don't want him to be in the position to be in charge of any of that, whether it's nutrition or Medicare, Medicaid.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, I was going to ask you about that, his focus on nutrition, his focus on chronic health conditions, his push against processed foods.

I hear you say that there's no material benefit there if he's confirmed.

DR. PAUL OFFIT: Not him.

No, I mean, I think that certainly his point is right that we spend a lot of money per capita on health care.

And yet, if you look at us as compared to other developed world countries, we're fairly far down on a list in terms of longevity infant mortality.

So we can do much better.

I agree with that.

And I think we can eat better.

We can exercise better.

We can do a lot of things that make us healthier.

We can drink less.

We can smoke less.

There are a lot of things we can do better.

But he's not the guy to head that because he has these fixed beliefs that are resistant to science.

So if you show him something where he's wrong, he won't believe it because he holds on to these beliefs like a religious belief.

GEOFF BENNETT: He also made the point that food regulators, regulators generally are too close to the industries that they're supposed to hold to account.

Does he have a point there?

DR. PAUL OFFIT: It's always about the science.

I mean, these are -- certainly, the people who make foods make money from making foods.

The people who make vaccines make money from making vaccines.

It's always about the science.

Does the science predict -- show his point of view?

This whole sort of notion that these industries are too close to the regulators certainly sounds good, but what it boils down to is, what's the evidence that that's made a difference?

What's the evidence that that means -- that means that we have gotten vaccines that are ineffective or unsafe or that we have gotten food that's unsafe?

Show that, rather than this kind of vague hand-waving that there's a vast conspiracy that means to do us harm.

GEOFF BENNETT: Dr. Paul Offit, thanks for your time and for your insights this evening.

DR. PAUL OFFIT: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines in Northern India.

Authorities say at least 30 people were killed and dozens more injured in a stampede during the world's largest religious gathering.

Tens of millions of Hindus have made the pilgrimage to the city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival.

Hindus believe that a ritual bath at the meeting point of some sacred rivers can wash away past sins and stop the process of reincarnation.

Authorities say the stampede broke out when people tried to jump a line of barricades.

Responders rushed people to hospitals as others tried to escape the crowd.

Some survivors say their family members are still missing.

WOMAN (through translator): We were walking when people started pushing aggressively, which led to everyone falling.

Then people started stepping and walking over us.

Nobody helped us to get up.

My father has gone missing.

AMNA NAWAZ: Officials say the situation is now under control.

The festival happens every 12 years.

More than 400 million people are expected to attend this year over a period of about six weeks.

The State Department raised its travel advisory for the Democratic Republic of Congo to its highest level today, advising Americans not to travel there.

The warning comes as the M23 rebel group is reportedly claiming more towns in the Eastern province of South Kivu.

The Rwanda-backed group had already captured Goma this week, saying they had restored peace to the city.

In the meantime, soldiers fighting for Congo, including foreign mercenaries, laid down their weapons at the border with Rwanda today.

Armed groups have long battled for control of Eastern Congo, which is rich in vital minerals.

Back in this country, federal prosecutors are dropping all criminal proceedings against President Donald Trump's co-defendants in his classified documents case.

Walt Nauta, Mr. Trump's valet, and Carlos De Oliveira, his Mar-a-Lago property manager, were charged with conspiring to obstruct the FBI's investigation into the president's reporting of classified documents.

If approved by an appeals court, today's move would effectively end the entire case.

Separately, Mr. Trump appealed to overturn his conviction in his New York hush money case.

He was sentenced earlier this month to what's known as an unconditional discharge, making him the first person with a criminal record to step into the presidency.

Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his bribery conviction today.

He was found guilty last year of acting as a foreign agent of Egypt and accepting bribes of cash and gold bars in exchange for political favors.

Court sketches showed Menendez in tears as he addressed the judge today.

But the judge told him -- quote -- "You stood at the apex of our political system.

Somewhere along the way, you lost your way, and working for the public good became working for your good."

The longtime Democratic senator maintained his innocence outside court and claimed he was the victim of a political witch-hunt.

FMR.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ): President Trump is right.

This process is political and it's corrupted to the core.

I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.

AMNA NAWAZ: Earlier today, two of the former senator's co-defendants were also sentenced.

The New Jersey businessmen received prison terms of seven and eight years, respectively.

On Wall Street today, stocks slipped after the Federal Reserve held steady on interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 130 points on the day.

The Nasdaq gave back about 100 points, or roughly half-a-percent.

The S&P 500 also ended in negative territory.

And we are officially in the Year of the Snake, as lunar new year festivities take place across the globe.

In Beijing, people rang bells and lit incense to ward off evil spirits and wish for good fortune as they celebrated what's also called the Spring Festival in China.

In Hong Kong, hundreds of performers took part in a night parade near the city's famous harbor.

And the streets of New York gave way to colorful dragon figures and fireworks to mark the occasion.

The lunar new year is considered a time to wish friends and loved ones good luck and prosperity for the year ahead.

Still to come on the "News Hour": new national test scores paint a bleak educational achievement picture in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic; and we remember more of the victims of California's devastating wildfires.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Donald Trump has signed the first bill of his second term.

It's an immigration action that will change how ICE can arrest migrants.

The Laken Riley Act, named after a nursing student murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2023, allows for the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with crimes related to theft.

It also allows state attorneys general to sue the federal government if they think their states have suffered due to failures to enforce immigration laws.

The president today also announced an executive order to open a 30,000-bed detention facility at Guantanamo Bay for deported migrants.

AMNA NAWAZ: The actions the president has taken during his first days in office extend far beyond illegal immigration, closing the door to major legal pathways of immigration as well.

Our Laura Barron-Lopez is back now for a closer look at how migrants and aid groups have been navigating the changes.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The Trump administration has shut down or indefinitely halted most legal avenues for migrants to come to the U.S.

The revoked pathways include an end or pause to the CBP-1 mobile app, humanitarian parole for migrants from four countries, all refugee admissions, and a protected status extension for more than 600,000 Venezuelans.

Joining me now to discuss the impact of all this is Jennifer Babaie.

She's director of advocacy and legal services of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas.

And Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge.

Jennifer and Krish, thank you so much for joining.

Jennifer, I want to start with you on CBP-1.

That's the Biden era phone app that allowed migrants to schedule an appointment at a legal border entry point to be processed by American immigration officials.

And Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, recently was asked about this.

QUESTION: All appointments to the CBP app have been canceled.

That is a legal way to claim asylum and get in the country.

So what should people do who are seeking asylum?

(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: How do you do it?

TOM HOMAN, White House Border Czar: Go to the embassy.

Go to a point of entry.

Do it in the legal way.

You shouldn't come to this country and ask to get asylum and the first thing you do is break our laws by entering illegally.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But, Jennifer, what legal options do migrants have at this point?

Are there any options to claim asylum?

JENNIFER BABAIE, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center: At this point in time, no, there is no pathway to asylum at a port of entry or in any other manner in the United States.

And I do need to correct the record that CBP-1 was the legal way.

Up until the 20th of this month, with the suspension of CBP-1, that was very much a legal system.

It was enacted as part of another executive order that was issued by President Biden at the time.

It required providing biographical information in advance of the appointment, showing up at the port of entry at the scheduled time provided by the government, and then you were subject to a screening.

And so now that has been taken away, we have no pathways.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Krish, the president also halted all refugee resettlement and funding for organizations like yours.

Explain the scope of who is impacted and what this means for refugees that were ready to come to the U.S., but also those who are already here.

KRISH O'MARA VIGNARAJAH, Global Refuge: It is having a sweeping impact, although I will acknowledge that confusion rules the day.

We are actively seeking clarity on what this means for our Afghan allies, refugee families, because it has been difficult to overlay the executive orders against the stopwork order against, the agencies waivers, and then, of course, the federal injunction.

But what we do know is that it could have an utterly devastating impact for families who are already here.

Global Refuge alone is serving nearly 6,000 people who would be impacted.

These are refugees who are relying on assistance to secure housing, access health care, enroll their kids in school.

And this is after they went through a legal pathway, years waiting in a third country or a refugee camp after going through extreme vetting.

They jumped through every legal hoop we put in their way.

And only after they got clearance did they come into the U.S. And what we hope now is that they are not stranded.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Right.

All those refugees have been through extensive vetting.

Jennifer, what are you hearing from immigrants in El Paso, in Ciudad Juarez about how they are feeling with this shutdown?

JENNIFER BABAIE: There is so much fear, so much confusion.

And it's been very difficult to try to disseminate accurate information.

We have also seen a drop in school participation.

So students are not showing up at school due to fear.

We have seen drops in individuals attending meetings at community services.

People are scared to come to their legal appointments with us to talk about their cases.

It's devastating.

And our role in the meantime is to try to provide some sense of security and a promise that we're not going anywhere while we try to figure out what's going to happen next.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Jennifer, what are you advising immigrants do, the ones who are stuck in limbo who don't have that pathway through CBP-1, who had their appointments to claim asylum and to go through the process canceled?

JENNIFER BABAIE: These conversations have been really difficult.

There's a team of us that have been going to Ciudad Juarez and trying to explain what the current situation is.

The answer for now is, we don't know what's going to happen next, but at this point in time it doesn't look like your appointment is going to be rescheduled.

And, because of that, we're advising families to make safety plans to decide where they can go next, with who, to keep their children safe, to secure housing.

There's a lot of life planning that needs to go on for individuals who never intended to remain in Northern Mexico, but were instead hoping that they were going to find safety with that appointment to come to the U.S. LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Krish, the president has also shut down humanitarian parole for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela.

And he's also now revoked that extension that we mentioned for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had temporary protected status.

What signal does it send that the U.S. is not open to people fleeing danger?

KRISH O'MARA VIGNARAJAH: Look, these types of decisions have a devastating impact.

For people who have built their lives here, many have fled unimaginable hardship, political violence, food shortages, a collapsed economy.

And it's not just the 600,000 Venezuelans, for example, who are impacted.

These are families, workers, parents of U.S. children who now face the terrifying prospect of being forced to return.

And I think that's where it's such an important emphasis in explaining that, though there's been so much focus on the response to undocumented immigrants, unauthorized migration, the brunt of these executive orders really seeks to dismantle existing legal immigration systems.

And what that means, when you throw wrenches into gears that had started working in creating functional and order legal pathways to the U.S., it means that a deterrence-only approach is going to lead people who, in some cases, are so incredibly desperate because they are fleeing for their lives, for the lives of their children.

What happens is they, out of fear, will do whatever it takes to reach safety.

And what that means is that many will pay their life savings to cartel smugglers.

That's how U.S. immigration policy can end up pushing people towards exploitation and ultimately line the pockets of the very transnational crime organizations we're trying to fight.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Jennifer Babaie and Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, thank you so much for your time.

KRISH O'MARA VIGNARAJAH: Thank you.

JENNIFER BABAIE: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Overnight, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth removed the security detail protecting former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley.

Milley had that security not only as a former chairman, but because he faces ongoing threats for his involvement in a 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.

Hegseth also pulled Milley's security clearance and opened an investigation that could end with demoting Milley in retirement.

Here's Nick Schifrin.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In the Pentagon today, where the portrait hung of the 39th Army chief of staff, there is a blank wall.

Where the portrait hung of the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs, there is a blank wall.

But now the Trump administration is doing more than painting over Mark Milley's legacy.

It's threatening to punish him for comments like this: GEN. MARK MILLEY, Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or a tyrant or a dictator.

And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the Defense Department's inspector general to consider an investigation into Milley's -- quote -- "conduct," despite a previous report that exonerated him.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. Defense Secretary: If you actively undermined the chain of command, as General Milley did under the previous Trump administration, we are going to review those actions administratively inside the Defense Department.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Pentagon also stripped Milley of his security detail, even though the threat against him from Iran for his role in the death of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani is still active, Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton confirmed this weekend.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Yes, I have reviewed the intelligence in the last few days.

The threat to anyone involved in President Trump's strike on Qasem Soleimani is persistent.

It's real.

NICK SCHIFRIN: President Trump chose Milley as his chairman, the senior-most military adviser, but the two eventually clashed, especially over Milley's initial presence with Trump in June 2020...

QUESTION: Is that your Bible?

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... when Trump appeared in Lafayette Square near the White House after protesters demanding justice for George Floyd were cleared by police.

GEN. MARK MILLEY: I should not have been there.

My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

NICK SCHIFRIN: After January 6, Milley said he called his Chinese counterpart to avoid conflict.

He called it approved communication.

But Trump in 2023 called it an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been death.

President Biden pardoned Milley on his last day in office, so Milley cannot be court-martialed.

But any decision against him could reduce his rank, even in retirement.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: And for perspective on this, we turn to Jim McPherson.

He served as undersecretary of the Army and as the Army's general counsel during the first Trump administration.

He also had a 25-year career in the Navy, serving as its top lawyer in uniform.

Thanks for being with us.

And I want to start with your reaction to the Trump White House ending General Milley's security detail, revoking his security clearance, and the Defense Department, now opening an investigation into his background for the apparent offense of his personal disloyalty to Donald Trump.

REAR ADM. JAMES MCPHERSON (RET.

), Former U.S.

Undersecretary of the Army: A lot of mixed emotions, dismay, surprise, sadness.

I think many assumed that the rhetoric during the campaign was just that, it was rhetoric, that the president's promise to be the -- our retribution was rhetoric.

And, unfortunately, the recent spate of executive orders in this action today indicates that it wasn't rhetoric, that we should take him at his word, that what he says regarding getting even with others who he perceives slighted him or criticized him is very real.

Removing General Milley's security detail not only causes threats to him, but to his family as well.

Those threats are ongoing, as we heard.

And those threats came because he performed his duties as an Army officer.

And the country owes him that protection.

To remove that protection now is just shameless.

GEOFF BENNETT: The new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was on FOX earlier this evening, and he accused General Milley of breaking the chain of command while serving under President Trump in the first term.

What impact might that assertion, that accusation have on the inspector general investigation?

And how might that impact Hegseth's recommendation to Donald Trump once this investigation ends, whenever it ends?

REAR ADM. JAMES MCPHERSON (RET).

: You have asked the right questions.

First of all, I don't exactly understand how it impacted the chain of command.

General Milley, as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was not in an operational chain of command.

The chairman's duties by law are to advise the secretary and the president on military matters.

He doesn't command any forces whatsoever.

So I don't understand how that impacted the chain of command.

Perhaps the secretary misspoke, or the secretary doesn't understand the chain of command.

I think it sends a terrible message.

Not only does it send the message that retribution towards General Milley for what he said or is perceived to have said, but I think the message there is to others who are currently serving on active duty in senior positions that, if you don't toe the line, if you don't line up with what the president and this administration wants, you run the risk of this same retribution that General Milley is now the subject of.

Any good leader wants to surround themselves and empower those who work for them to be in disagreement, to offer alternatives, to challenge assumptions.

That's not what this administration seems to be signaling to its senior military.

What it seems to be signaling is, you better get in line or we're going to come after you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, if that's the message that this administration is sending, how do you think serving officers will view it?

How might they receive it and respond?

REAR ADM. JAMES MCPHERSON (RET).

: I think they will be as shocked as I am, first of all, that they're removing that protection, second of all, that they took the photos down.

I can't think of anything more petty than that.

And, finally, that they are threatening his retirement grade.

There's a process for that.

And the process involves the secretary of defense analyzing whatever report he receives and making a recommendation to the president.

Well, it sounds like this secretary has already prejudged that, already has in mind what his recommendation is going to be before there's even been an investigation.

GEOFF BENNETT: What are the practical effects of this type of political retribution?

What are the real negative consequences that could result from this?

REAR ADM. JAMES MCPHERSON (RET).

: I think it's chilling.

It's chilling on the senior military and senior civilians to give their unvarnished recommendations, to criticize assumptions, to offer alternatives.

It creates an atmosphere of just yes-men and -women.

Yes, Mr. President, yes, Mr. Secretary, whatever you want, whatever you think's right, that's what we're going to do.

That's the message that's sent.

And that's the chill that will take effect among the senior leadership in the military.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jim McPherson, former undersecretary of the U.S. Army, thanks again for being with us.

REAR ADM. JAMES MCPHERSON (RET).

: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: American students continue to struggle in both reading and math.

And the gap between the highest- and lowest-performing kids is widening to historic levels.

That's all according to new data from a biennial national test administered to fourth and eighth graders known as the Nation's Report Card.

Across the board, test scores remain below pre-pandemic numbers.

Compared to 2019, fourth graders dropped three points in math and five points in reading.

Eighth graders dropped eight points in math and five points in reading.

The lone exception was a slight uptick in fourth grade math results compared to 2022.

We're joined now by Jared Polis.

He's the governor of Colorado and chair of the National Governors Association, where he's leading a new bipartisan education policy initiative.

Governor, welcome.

Thanks for being with us.

GOV.

JARED POLIS (D-CO): A pleasure joining you.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as you know, the federal government sent some $190 billion to schools across the country since 2021 moving out of the pandemic.

A lot of people thought that would help us to see a bounce-back from those pandemic numbers.

Aside from fourth grade math, as we just showed, we didn't see that.

Why not?

GOV.

JARED POLIS: So here's what was announced today and why this is news.

This is called NAEP, which is also called Nation's Report Card.

This is basically the same test given to fourth graders, to eighth graders in all 50 states.

What we normally have at any given year is, we have state standardized tests, but guess what?

They're different from state to state.

So it's really hard to compare.

That's why this Nation's Report Card in NAEP is so important.

It allows us to compare between Alabama, California, Colorado.

What we did with our GEER funds and our ESSA funds, which were some of the one-time funds you mentioned over the last couple of years from the federal government is, we were able to really target them around the areas that we thought were most in need of improvement.

Namely, we identified areas like math, fourth grade, eighth grade math.

And guess what?

We saw significant improvements in Colorado, particularly among students of color, in those areas.

And it's really a question of how we can target the resources we have towards those who most needed to be able to achieve at grade level.

It shouldn't just take the federal government doing this.

And states are major funders of education.

For most states, like Colorado, it's between a quarter and a third of the budget.

It's the single biggest line item for most states.

And states and governors really need to step up and drive better results in the schools, because we have the leverage of being funders of our schools across our states.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Governor, does that say to you, the fact that we saw declines everywhere else and you saw some improvement in Colorado, you're saying, does that say to you that you might be worried the funds were not used the way they could or should have been across the board?

GOV.

JARED POLIS: Well, there were some -- there are some bright lights, and we always try to learn from the bright lights.

Louisiana was another bright light of significant increases.

So what you always try to do in education, both within a state and across the states, is say, hey, look, here's some examples of what works.

In fact, part of what we use the federal money for in Colorado is what we called Bright Spot Awards.

Schools, and we had them in Colorado a few dozen, even during the pandemic years, had significant increases and improvements in student achievement.

And we said, wow, we need to elevate that.

We gave them awards of $50,000.

But, more importantly, we tried to learn what the practices were that led to significant increases in student achievement, two bands in our state accountability matrix they improved, and trying to spread those best practices to other schools across our district.

So you look for those bright spots.

At the same time, you look for, OK, where were some of the decreases?

What does that show the red flashing light on that we need to change, both at the district level and at the state level?

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, the other alarming trend in the data is the divergence between the highest- and lowest-achieving students.

If you just look at eighth grade math results, for example, it shows that the highest-achieving students, the kids in the 90th and the 75th percentile, they bounced back since 2022.

Students in the lower-achieving percentiles, 25th, 10th percentile, they're still seeing alarming learning loss.

What do you think explains that difference?

GOV.

JARED POLIS: Well, where we think we can make a difference is after-school hours, first and foremost, so additional tutoring, support after school.

We did a master license for some of the best mathematics software and used data, best data-driven professional development to drive interventions that work to make teachers be able to teach even better in those areas.

Another one that we did in Colorado we're just beginning to see the results of, so it wouldn't show up in this NAEP, is we instituted universal free preschool two years ago, right?

So those kids are now in first grade.

We will see how they show up in fourth grade in another three years, but all the data points to the fact that a high-quality early childhood education prevents some of those gaps you mentioned, namely for low-income, for English language learners.

It prevents those gaps from occurring in the first place if kids have high-quality preschool and kindergarten.

AMNA NAWAZ: While I have you, Governor, I need to ask about a story reported on earlier, which is the confirmation hearing of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

We saw some very tough lines of questioning from your fellow Democrats, including your fellow Coloradan Senator Michael Bennet.

You have booked your party, though.

Many of them oppose his nomination.

You said you have supported it.

Why?

GOV.

JARED POLIS: Well, I didn't get to watch the nominations today.

Obviously, we're focused on issues in the state, improving education, and reducing health care costs.

But, look, I hope that we have somebody that we can work with.

I was very critical of President Trump's last head of that agency, which was Secretary Azar at the time, a pharmaceutical lobbyist who became the head of the agency, literally the fox guarding the henhouse for pharmaceuticals.

I'm hopeful they can be more independent.

I'm hopeful that we can continue to work with the Department of Health and Human Services on our waivers that we need for flexibility on Medicaid spending and to import lower-cost prescription drugs from other countries.

We have a pending application to do that before them as well.

AMNA NAWAZ: I also want to ask you, on the immigration front, of course, there's been a lot of talk about the city of Aurora in Colorado.

There were some headlines about a pending ICE raid there.

We know President Trump has focused on this city in particular and said it was taken over by Venezuelan gangs.

It was also reported the ICE enforcement operation was called off due to leaks about the details there.

What can you tell us about anything you have heard about that potential operation and are Colorado law enforcement officials working with federal officials on this?

GOV.

JARED POLIS: I can tell you shockingly little, because the administration did not reach out to us about any kind of action in Colorado.

So we don't know exactly what they're planning.

If they are planning on going after criminals, we are ready to help however we can to locate people that have violated our laws.

And whether they're American citizens or whether they're immigrants, we want to make sure that we can apprehend criminals to keep Colorado safer.

But, no, there's been zero communication with us about what that operation would or might entail.

AMNA NAWAZ: And when you look at the details of how some of these enforcement operations have unfolded, should ICE agents, for example, be allowed onto school grounds in Colorado or to arrest parents at pickup and drop-off?

What do you support or not support here?

GOV.

JARED POLIS: Well, look, I supported Kamala Harris for president.

We had a executive order under President Biden around safe spaces, meaning ICE would not go into schools and churches.

That was rescinded by President Trump, meaning that now ICE agents are not prevented from going into schools and churches.

We -- many of our school districts, including Denver Public Schools, have been very active in making sure that students and families sort of know their rights and that principals and school clerks know exactly what to do if ICE shows up.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's the Colorado governor, Jared Polis, joining us tonight.

Governor, thank you for your time.

Good to speak with you.

GOV.

JARED POLIS: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now we continue with our remembrances of the 29 people who died in the Southern California fires.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office is working to identify victims, with some still classified as unidentified Does.

Tonight we remember seven individuals recently identified by officials and the legacies they leave behind.

Carolyn Burns, who was bedridden, was considered an at-risk missing person a day after the Eaton Fire broke out.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner later confirmed her death.

Burns was 56 years old.

Seventy-five-year-old Oswald Altmetz was known to many as Ozzie.

He loved jazz music and his dog, Harley, who died with him at his Altadena home.

His niece Bianka told reporters he was -- quote - - "the fun uncle, the one who always had the treats and cookies you weren't supposed to have."

Barbara Lewis had impaired memory and died in the Eaton Fire.

The Altadena resident passed away in her home on January 15, according to the medical examiner's office.

Lewis was 84 years old.

Diana Webb had lost contact with her family on January 9, two days after the Palisades Fire broke out.

Webb died at her home in Malibu.

She was 82 years old.

Miva Friedli, 86, settled in Altadena after emigrating from Costa Rica.

Her family tried to reach her home as the blaze spread, but fire was on all sides.

Friedli's niece Angela said -- quote -- "We are all saddened by the news, but rejoice in knowing that she is with the lord."

Lora Swayne had been an at-risk missing person before authorities confirmed that she died in the Eaton Fire.

She was 71 years old.

Betty O'Meara died in the Palisades Fire.

Her neighbor Joy wrote on Facebook that she was -- quote -- "the sweetest lady who made the best brownies of lemon bars and made beautiful hand-painted watercolor cards for her neighbors."

O'Meara was 94 years old.

GEOFF BENNETT: And how about a moment of uplift, yes?

All right, a viral online phenomenon claims to have further opened the door to human canine communication, prerecorded buttons that allowed dogs to seemingly talk with their humans.

AMNA NAWAZ: But are all these button enthusiasts barking up the wrong tree?

William Brangham, along with his pup Macy doggedly pursue the truth.

ACTOR: You didn't know dogs could talk?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's been a fascination of ours for generations.

ACTOR: Speak.

ACTOR: Hi there.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Getting man's best friend to talk.

ACTOR: I like to play ball.

I like purple bird in the window.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And for good reason.

Tens of millions of us live with and love the dogs in our lives, including me.

And we want to know what they're thinking.

FEDERICO ROSSANO, University of California, San Diego: We love dogs and we love bonding with them.

But I think while we know that they understand us pretty well, many of us still struggle making sense of what they want.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Federico Rossano studies animal communication.

He's a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

FEDERICO ROSSANO: When you see your dog scratching at the door, you might know they want to get out.

But you don't know why they want to get out.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But our furry friends have remained frustratingly mum, that is, until this Australian cattle dog named Stella stepped onto a button and into online fame.

Stella's dog mom is Christina Hunger.

She's a speech pathologist who got the idea for these dog buttons after working with nonverbal children, where she'd often use a tablet to assist them in communicating.

CHRISTINA HUNGER, Speech-Language Pathologist: At the same time, I brought a puppy home who was just bursting with communication, which led me to the question, if dogs can understand words we say to them, why can't they say words back?

What if they had a different way to talk, similar to kids who use devices?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The idea behind these buttons is that you record onto the button a word or a phrase that you use all the time with your dog.

For my dog Macy, that could be: "Go for a walk" or "Want a treat."

And then, every time I do that action in the course of a day, I press the button.

And with enough repetition, the hope is that someday Macy would push that button to communicate back with me.

Hunger spent weeks demonstrating her buttons for Stella with no results.

She was about to call it quits when Stella seemed to get it.

CHRISTINA HUNGER: She just started looking at the button and looking up at me, or she would actually swat and miss it.

You're so close, Stella.

That's when I knew that there was some potential here and I kept going with teaching.

And then a week later, she said her first word outside.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Outside.

CHRISTINA HUNGER: Let's go outside.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Hunger's blog and her social media videos have drawn millions of viewers, including cognitive scientist Rossano, who was skeptical.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Outside.

FEDERICO ROSSANO: I was like, well, there's one dog doing it and that's great.

But we know that there's a history of trying to communicate with animals, and that history was a little, let's say, complicated.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That history includes a horse named Clever Hans, who wowed audiences in the early 1900s for seemingly being able to do math.

Turns out Hans was just picking up subtle cues from his handler.

But the buttons and the people and dogs who used them kept growing in popularity.

AUTOMATED VOICE: "I dog, we friend."

ALEXIS DEVINE, Dog Owner: I dog, we friend, yes.

I had no business teaching my dog how to talk.

I wasn't a speech language pathologist or a dog trainer or a scientist.

But what the heck?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Alexis Devine and her sheepadoodle, Bunny, were inspired by Christina Hunger.

She started posting Bunny's progress online.

ALEXIS DEVINE: No.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: She says, after six years of steady work, Bunny now knows over 100 words and, she claims, uses them in novel ways.

ALEXIS DEVINE: I think one of the most powerful moments was when she had a foxtail embedded in the webbing between her paws.

So she went over to her board and she pressed "mad ouch."

And I said, where is your ouch?

And she pressed "Stranger paw."

So she had used stranger in a way that I had never modeled it, stranger being something foreign, foreign object.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Videos like this went crazy online.

Over eight million people follow Bunny and Devine on TikTok.

She's now written a book, sells her own brand of button boards, and has inspired millions more to try them.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Treats.

MAN: You want treats?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Cats, otters and even pot-bellied pigs are now experimenting with the buttons.

WOMAN: You have to say thank you.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Why?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This sudden growth in button users gave Rossano an opportunity, a large-scale study of button communication focusing on dogs.

FEDERICO ROSSANO: Our plan of having maybe 100, 200 participants turned into more than 10,000 participants from 47 countries and is the largest animal communication study ever attempted.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Over several months, Rossano and his team collected and analyzed millions of button pushes and hundreds of hours of video of dogs using them.

They also conducted controlled behavioral studies.

A first finding from their research published in August concludes that dogs can comprehend specific words and can offer contextually appropriate responses.

But, Rossano says, that's still a far cry from proving they can use actual humanlike language.

FEDERICO ROSSANO: I don't see the evidence that the dogs are really understanding language in anything close to the way that you and I are as we talk together here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Clive Wynne studies dog psychology.

He directs the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University.

He says dogs using those buttons is fine, but don't get carried away with what is really going on.

CLIVE WYNNE, Arizona State University: I don't think that inside the mind of a dog there is a human mind desperate to get out.

I think inside a dog's head there's a dog's mind, and a dog's mind has its own ways of communicating.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Yes, when my dog wants to communicate that she's hungry, she does two things.

She nudges my elbow with her snout or she stands by her food bowl.

And it's crystal clear what she wants, that she's hungry.

CLIVE WYNNE: So that's a beautiful example, William, of how you have learned your dog's language.

Your dog has a way of communicating with you about their desire for food.

And you would not gain anything by training your dog to press buttons that would say the exact same thing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For Christina Hunger, who now sells her own line of button boards, there's simply a way of enriching and deepening our relationship to these animals that have lived alongside us for tens of thousands of years.

CHRISTINA HUNGER: Buttons will never replace body language.

There's another tool that adds on top of and gives a lot more clarification for both the dog and the human.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Macy, want a treat?

AUTOMATED VOICE: Want a treat?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the "PBS News Hour," from the new frontier in human-canine communication...

I'm going to push a button.

...

I'm William Brangham.

AUTOMATED VOICE: Want a treat?

GEOFF BENNETT: How many of those buttons are you going to put in your house for your new dog?

AMNA NAWAZ: All of them.

I feel like my dog needs two buttons, treat now.

Treat now.

Yogi's covered.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: All right.

That is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

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