December 22, 2023 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Heading into Christmas weekend, we close the week with a NewsHour tradition. Each year, the Pentagon's Defense Visual Information Distribution Service produces a holiday song with members of the military singing. This holiday season we bring you, "O Come, All Ye Faithful."

Award-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha has lost his home, friends and family in the last two months. He was also detained by Israeli forces in Gaza and released only after international outrage. He's now out of Gaza and in Cairo with his wife and kids. He joined Amna Nawaz to reflect on all that he's lost and his hopes for his homeland.

The United Nations Security Council came together Friday to approve a resolution calling for more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza after a week of delays. The U.S. abstained from the vote, which did not demand a ceasefire. Meantime, American officials are saying Iran was involved in the planning of attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea. John Yang reports.

In our news wrap Friday, the Supreme Court won't expedite a ruling on Trump's claim of presidential immunity for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Wisconsin's Supreme Court overturned the state's Republican-drawn legislative maps and President Biden issued pardons for thousands of people convicted of using and possessing marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia.

A report from Michigan further peels back the curtain on Trump’s efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 election. The Detroit News listened to a partial recording of Trump and RNC chair Ronna McDaniel reportedly pressuring the Republican chair and another member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers not to certify the results there despite no evidence of fraud. William Brangham reports.

This year, the Transportation Security Administration says it screened a record number of passengers, and if the past is any guide, it will handle millions of bags this holiday season. But a small fraction of them will go missing and unclaimed. So where do all those lost bags end up? Stephanie Sy visited the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, to find out.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the overwhelmed immigration system and the Colorado ruling to keep Donald Trump off the primary ballot.