June 19, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Wednesday, former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks was interviewed by the House Judiciary Committee--the first senior administration official cited in the Mueller report to appear before Congress. But Democrats said she refused to discuss her work or even where her office was. Also, Congress held its first hearing on reparations for slavery in more than a decade.

The Federal Reserve says it's holding its benchmark interest rate steady, despite ongoing pressure from President Trump to reduce it. But Fed Chairman Jay Powell expressed openness to the idea of cutting rates if economic indicators warrant. He also recently said he intends to serve his full four-year term, despite Trump's criticism of him. Judy Woodruff talks to The Wall Street Journal's Greg Ip.

A House subcommittee held hearings Wednesday morning to discuss paying reparations to African Americans for slavery. The idea is shaping up to be an issue with some of the candidates running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, too. Novelist Sarah Blake has considered why past attempts to secure reparations failed, and she shares her humble opinion on why this time is different.

The brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey's Saudi consulate last October changed Saudi Arabia’s global image and tainted its relationship with the U.S. Now, a United Nations panel has released a report detailing how Khashoggi was killed and who knew about it. Nick Schifrin talks to the report’s author, Agnes Callamard, about why the "premeditated" crime wasn't a rogue operation.

Public health officials agree the constantly mutating influenza virus has the potential to cause a major outbreak and a deadly global crisis. For the second part of the NewsHour’s series on preparing for such a pandemic, we examine how research and testing depends on animals. William Brangham has the story of scientists looking for potential new flu strains in unexpected places, such as the beach.

Student debt affects millions of Americans and is an issue shaping the 2020 presidential race. On average, students leave college owing $29,600; for black students, the number is $34,000. Lisa Desjardins reports on candidate proposals to address the problem and talks to NPR education correspondent Anya Kamenetz about how they might work to reduce student debt and make college more affordable.

President Trump is keeping a signature pledge to roll back environmental regulations as part of his goal of boosting the coal industry. His new Affordable Clean Energy rule favors incremental improvements and grants discretion to individual states to determine whether their coal-fired power plants require upgrades. Amna Nawaz talks to The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin about what happens next.