May 16, 2025 - PBS News Hour full episode

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including President Trump's trip to the Middle East and his policy shifts in the region, Qatar’s luxury plane gift, the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship hearing, talks of an immigration reality show and the administration investigating James Comey.

This week, President Trump visited three Middle Eastern nations where his family has deep business ties. Over the past month, billions of dollars have poured into Trump-owned companies. It has revived longstanding questions about whether the financial windfalls are influencing policy. White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.

Doctors announced this week that they have treated a newborn baby with a rare genetic disease using the world’s first personalized gene editing therapy. Geoff Bennett discussed the treatment and its potential with Dr. Peter Marks. He oversaw gene therapy treatment and vaccine safety and approval for the FDA before he left in March.

In highly anticipated peace talks, Russian and Ukrainian officials agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners, the war’s largest swap. While they agreed to keep talking, there was no breakthrough for peace and the two sides seemed even further apart. Nick Schifrin reports and Amna Nawaz speaks with former State Department official Andrew Weiss for perspective on the state of negotiations.