GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is on assignment.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Hamas releases two American hostages, a glimmer of hope at a time when many others remain captive and when Palestinians in the U.S. are fearing for their families under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.

DORGHAM ABUSALIM, Former Gaza Resident: I try my best to think that the worst is not going to happen, although that's probably wishful thinking at this point.

GEOFF BENNETT: Republicans pull their support for Congressman Jim Jordan to be the nominee for House speaker, leaving the chamber once again with no clear path forward.

And David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart give their takes on the president's address to the nation and his call for billions more in aid to Israel and Ukraine.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Two American hostages held for nearly two weeks by Hamas following the terror attacks of October 7 are free tonight.

Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie were released this evening after mediation by the government of Qatar.

Nick Schifrin has been reporting on this since news broke.

And he's here with us now.

Nick, it's good to see you.

So, tell us, based on your reporting, how did this happen?

How was their release secured?

NICK SCHIFRIN: The International Committee of the Red Cross received the Raanans from Hamas and transferred them into Israel, gave them to Israeli authorities, leading to that extraordinary photo you just saw, Geoff.

Now, American Israeli and Qatari officials I talked to you today said that they are unwilling to discuss exactly what led to their release or even what happened to them in captivity.

And that is because there is still intense diplomacy of the other 200 hostages who have 30 nationalities between them.

Hamas promised today that they would continue to release other foreign hostages -- quote - - "as and when security circumstances permit."

Now, Hamas has threatened that it will kill the hostages unless Israel stopped its bombing campaign in Israel, but -- in Gaza, rather.

But Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked specifically today whether Israel should pause its airstrikes in Gaza to release the hostages.

And this is what he said.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: It's very simple.

Hostages should be released immediately and unconditionally.

I'm not sure anyone in this room would take at face value or report something that ISIS had said.

Same applies to Hamas.

Our position is clear.

Every hostage needs to be released, and needs to be released now.

NICK SCHIFRIN: There are still 10 Americans, Geoff, unaccounted for, believed to be hostage in Gaza.

As you said, Qatar was very instrumental in this, right in the middle of this negotiation.

And its Foreign Ministry has released a statement this afternoon -- quote -- "We will continue our dialogue with both the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages from every nationality, with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace."

But, Geoff, Israeli officials say they have no intention of de-escalating, of stopping their campaign in Gaza, and they will continue to launch airstrikes and this expected ground invasion in the coming days, even if, they say, even if that risks the lives of these other hostages.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, the Raanans, we know, are mother and daughter from Illinois.

What more do we know about them?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, so Judith was born in Israel, Natalie in the United States.

And on October 7, they were visiting family on the border of Gaza and Israel in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz.

This is one of the communities that were overrun by Hamas terrorists, and gunmen got into their home and abducted them from a safe room.

Natalie is 18.

You see her right there.

The family released this photo of her and her dog, Panda.

They live outside Chicago, as you said.

Now, Judith, whose Hebrew name is Yehudit, is an artist, and she's really full of life, says Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, the executive director of the Chabad of Evanston.

RABBI DOV HILLEL KLEIN, Executive Director, Chabad of Evanston: Judith is just an amazing woman.

She walks into her room, she's lit up.

She lights up the room.

Her eyes glow.

She has so much happiness and spiritual -- and she's such a shining spirit.

I said when they were taken that, if anybody will be able to survive this, it'll be Yehudit and her daughter Natalie, because Yehudit has so much hope.

And that's what the (INAUDIBLE) always used to say (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

If you think positively, it'll be good.

And I know that's who Yehudit was, and it doesn't surprise me that she's the first one out.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Rabbi Klein called her release a miracle, but also acknowledged that the two of them will need a lot of support from the community to overcome the trauma of what they have witnessed.

And even President Biden said today that the U.S. government will help them recover and heal, something, Geoff, that they will definitely need after what they have been through.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, their release is some good news on this Friday, even as we hold out hope for the hundreds of other hostages.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Absolutely.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nick Schifrin, thanks so much.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thanks, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Elsewhere, Israeli airstrikes continued to pound Gaza today, as their invasion force sits ready by the Gaza border.

On the Egyptian side of that border, aid shipments still await entry to Gaza, as the U.N. secretary-general visited the site and pushed for a resolution.

Leila Molana-Allen reports.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: This was a sanctuary for hundreds of Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

But, for many, it became a tomb.

The historic Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza was hit by Israeli airstrikes overnight.

The Israel Defense Forces said the target was a nearby Hamas command center.

But more than a dozen people who were taking shelter in the church compound were also killed, including the youngest.

RAMI, Christian Palestinian (through translator): This church is almost 1,700 years old and is one of the oldest churches in the world.

We have witnessed more than four wars.

And this is different.

It's a total genocide.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Another house of worship in ruins.

But that didn't stop the call to Friday prayer at this Gaza mosque.

And it doesn't stop Ibrahim Alagha from opening his heart and his home to dozens of refugees in Southern Gaza.

IBRAHIM ALAGHA, Sheltering Gazans: When an explosion happens, they're always screaming.

They're always frightened.

The younger ones, we try to calm them down, but the problem is the ones that are age 8 and above, those are the ones that understand what's going on.

They can hear and feel.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: At the Al Shifa Hospital, the cries of the young echo everywhere.

Gaza's biggest and only well-equipped hospital is overwhelmed and running out of fuel and water, outside, despair.

JOUMANA KHREIS, Victim of Airstrikes (through translator): We don't want to receive aid.

We want the destruction and the killing of children in their sleep to stop.

We are tired.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Aid remains absent.

All eyes are on the one access point not under Israel's control, the southern Rafah Border Crossing.

Satellite images showed a bottleneck of some 200 vehicles stalled at the gates waiting to roll in.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General: These trucks are not just trucks.

They are a lifeline.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Today, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited.

ANTONIO GUTERRES: What we need is to make the move, to make the move to the other side of this wall.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Speaking with E.U.

leaders today, President Biden said a delivery deal had been finalized.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: I believe that, within the next 24 to 48 hours, the first 20 trucks will come across with aid.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Threats of a greater conflict in the Middle East emerge.

Surveillance footage from the Israeli military today showed strikes on Hezbollah targets along the Israel-Lebanon border.

And defense forces bolstered their presence in Jerusalem, as tanks remained parked all along the border regions.

A full-scale ground invasion of Gaza appears closer by the day.

YOAV GALLANT, Israeli Defense Minister (through translator): First, we will destroy the Hamas organization.

The next stage will take more time, which will be stabilizing the system.

And eventually, at some point, we will reach the point that there is a completely different security regime here.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: And in the West Bank, Israeli security divisions are out in force.

Yesterday, the IDF conducted an extensive raid on Nur Shams in the northern West Bank, including a rare airstrike, as part of a larger anti-terror operation this week, today in Nur Shams, the devastation left behind, roads entering the camp ripped to pieces by bulldozers and somber crowds flocking to the cemetery to bury the dead.

Residents of Nur Shams camp have turned out to bury a dozen young men killed in an Israeli raid last night.

And Palestinian militants have turned out too, firing their guns and waving the flags of Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad.

The IDF says the young men killed yesterday were terrorists.

Taha Mahamid's family says he was an innocent child.

Taha had just turned 15.

Last night, he was hiding with his brothers and sisters in their home as the Israel Defense Forces stormed through the camp.

Quiet returned, and Taha went outside to check if they could come out.

Video shows Taha was visibly unarmed and did not approach the soldiers.

The IDF shot him three times.

As his sisters watched from the window, Taha dropped to the ground.

FATMEH MAHAMID, Brother Killed By Israeli Defense Forces: He saw his kid lying on the street.

My father raised his hands.

And he wanted to pull his kid and to bring him here.

But he -- when he saw my brother, he knew that he was dead.

He gave him a hug.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As he tried to retrieve Taha's body, the soldiers shot Ibrahim too.

FATMEH MAHAMID: For two hours bleeding, and never let the ambulance come and give my father the help.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Ibrahim was not there to bury his son today.

He's now in intensive care.

Fatmeh's hands shake as she speaks, her grief still raw.

FATMEH MAHAMID: A 15-year-old is a terrorist?

Can you believe that?

And it is a shame to say such words.

I believe that, if you're fighting a military, you can do -- in war, you can anything you want to.

But you're not fighting soldiers, a military - - now you're fighting kids, civilians.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Hospital officials say five of those killed here last night were younger than 17.

One boy was just 12.

The IDF refused our request for an interview about the operation on Nur Shams; 83 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank since Hamas' terror attacks and more than 800 arrested.

As the violence spreads, Palestinians in the West Bank are divided on how to respond to Israel's assault on Gaza.

Some are determined to protest and fight.

Others stay quiet, hoping to protect their families and safely ride out the tidal wave of Israel's vengeance.

But for people living in towns deemed a threat and targeted, that choice is already out of their hands.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Tulkarm, the West Bank.

GEOFF BENNETT: At the U.S. Capitol, Republican Jim Jordan is out of the race for speaker of the House.

Republicans voted behind closed doors to dismiss him as their nominee after he yet again failed to win the job on the House floor today.

Now the party is once again left grappling with whether anyone can unite its divided members.

Lisa Desjardins joins us now in studio after spending countless hours on the Hill this week.

Lisa, how are you doing?

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: The -- so, Jim Jordan, as of 9:00 this morning, he was in the speaker race.

By 2:00 p.m., he was out.

What happened?

LISA DESJARDINS: We have had roughly five news cycles since you and I last spoke last night in this situation.

Jim Jordan this morning said he was going to make the House vote over and over and over again, at least his allies were going to, until he won.

But on the very first vote, he lost momentum.

And then he decided, let's go back behind closed doors and see what the conference thinks.

The conference sent a very clear message, overwhelmingly saying, no, we do not want you to be our nominee anymore.

Now, after that happened, of course, emotions were high.

One of the first out of the meeting was one of Jim Jordan's allies, Anna Luna.

This was her reaction.

REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-FL): I think that people up here care more about being in Washington than what their voters are asking them to do.

We had people leaving today.

We have no speaker.

We have a war in the Middle East, and people care more about their own personal egos than this country.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, of course, all sides are pointing to everyone else's egos in this situation.

But with the collapse of Jim Jordan, there is also an opportunity here.

Now the major candidates for speaker are all off the board.

So, this opens up to the entire House conference now, which over the weekend is going to say, anyone who wants to run for speaker, put your hat in the ring by Sunday.

One of those people is Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.

Here's what he told me today.

REP. KEVIN HERN (R-OK): People want to be heard.

They want to be valued.

And I think that's what you're seeing right now.

And there's a lot of historical relationships that some are not going to ever be able to work around.

And I don't have those negatives out there.

LISA DESJARDINS: There's that word again, egos.

Obviously, people trying to say they have less ego than everyone else.

But I will tell you, there are plenty of egos to go around.

Right now, we have about half-a-dozen, at least, candidates for speaker.

Basically, there's about 200 people.

Almost every House Republican is thinking about it right now.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Kevin Hern is saying, what, he doesn't have the baggage that other Republicans might have?

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what does Jim Jordan's quick rise and fall in this House speaker race, what are Republicans saying about that?

What does that signal, if anything?

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

I think we realize that the fractures within the Republican Party go in many more directions than even we realize.

There is kind of a break, not just between the Freedom Caucus kinds of conservatives, but sort of the Matt Gaetz types, those who will go against everyone at all costs.

Then there are those who -- Jim Jordan, who really have sort of a Trump and MAGA agenda as well.

But I looked at the votes, and I think there was something to learn from them.

Let's go over exactly what happened with Jim Jordan here.

Now, on the House floor yesterday, he received 199 votes, all Republicans.

Today, that went to 194 votes.

But the secret ballot, an hour after that floor vote, Geoff, 86 votes... GEOFF BENNETT: Wow.

LISA DESJARDINS: ... from the same Republicans who had just given him 194 votes.

It will not shock our audience that politicians are doing something in public very different than what they believe in private.

Now, there is a rule where Republicans are supposed to support their nominee on the floor, but, nonetheless, they were supporting a man that they did not want to be speaker.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what happens on Monday?

Is that known?

LISA DESJARDINS: Well, we're going to have speeches from everyone who puts their name in the hat, and then the hope is for votes Tuesday.

But it is, I don't have to say this, unclear if that is what will, in fact, happen.

I'm hopeful.

I'm hopeful that perhaps something will happen.

GEOFF BENNETT: One can hope.

We know for sure you will be covering it all, along with our great team there on the Hill.

Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: A judge in New York fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order in his civil fraud trial.

Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered Mr. Trump to delete a social media post attacking a court staffer, but it stayed on the Trump campaign Web site.

A defense lawyer called it an oversight.

The judge said -- quote -- "This is a blatant violation of the gag order.

I made it clear that failure to comply will result in serious sanctions."

He stopped short of holding Mr. Trump in contempt, which could have meant jail time.

Meantime, a co-defendant of Mr. Trump pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case and got five years probation.

Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro admitted he conspired to file false documents -- that's a felony - - in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

His plea came as jury selection was starting.

It also came after another lawyer, Sidney Powell, pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor violations.

The head of the United Auto Workers is reporting progress in contract talks, but he says there's still more to gain by staying on strike.

Shawn Fain gave his weekly briefing today without calling walkouts at any additional auto plants.

He said GM, Ford and Stellantis are each offering 23 percent wage hikes, but he cautioned against settling now.

SHAWN FAIN, President, United Auto Workers: The bottom line is, we have got cards left to play and they have got money left to spend.

That's the hardest part of a strike.

Right before a deal is when there is the most aggressive push for that last mile.

They want us -- they just want to wait us out.

GEOFF BENNETT: The strike started just over five weeks ago.

So far, more than 34,000 union members at selected plants have walked off the job.

In Russia, a court has ordered a Russian-American journalist to be detained for another three days.

Alsu Kurmasheva works for the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

She's been held since early June, accused of failing to register as a foreign agent.

Kurmasheva was shown in court today confined to a defendant's cage.

The lawyer said she is pleading not guilty.

Torrential rain and gale-force winds battered much of Northern Europe again today, killing at least three people in the United Kingdom.

Scotland bore the brunt, and forecasters called it an exceptional event.

Rescue teams deployed boats and flooded streets after the storm dumped a month's worth of rain.

A rare red alert for more dangerous flooding will be in effect through Saturday in Eastern Scotland.

On Wall Street, worries about interest rates fueled more selling.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 287 points to close at 33127.

The Nasdaq fell 202 points.

The S&P 500 was down nearly 54 points.

And, in Australia, the landmark Sydney Opera House, with its famed shell design, turned 50 years old today.

A laser show brought out crowds to celebrate the occasion and to admire one of the great examples of architecture of the 20th century.

STEPHEN JOHNSON, Sydney Resident: The Opera House is one of the most iconic and recognizable buildings in the world.

It was born out of a wild, crazy idea.

It's been turned into one of the most astonishing buildings.

It's hosted an amazing number of performances and performers over 50 years.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Opera House was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2007.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": author Michael Lewis discusses his controversial book on the alleged cryptocurrency fraud of Sam Bankman-Fried; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines; and country star Darius Rucker reflects on his decorated career.

For many Palestinians living in the U.S., trying to reach loved ones in Gaza has become a constant and harrowing struggle.

Thirty-four-year-old Dorgham Abusalim first came to the U.S. back in 2008 to pursue an academic scholarship.

Today, he works as a writer and communications professional in Washington, D.C., but much of his family still remains in the Central Gaza Strip.

Amna Nawaz sat down with him in his home earlier today.

DORGHAM ABUSALIM, Former Gaza Resident: For as long as I have been away from home, I have always made sure to at least call my mom once every day.

AMNA NAWAZ: Every day?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: Every day.

Lines have not gone through.

AMNA NAWAZ: Even before the war, Dorgham Abusalim says he was often worried about his 81-year-old father, who's paralyzed, and his 68-year-old mother, who's blind, back home in the town of Deir al Balah.

But, today, after relentless Israeli airstrikes have left much of his community in rubble, he lives in constant fear for his family's safety.

Since the war started, how hard has it been to get in touch with your family?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: Unbearably hard.

It's been very, very difficult.

I mean, the landlines definitely cannot reach them.

The mobiles, I mean, that depends if they are charged and if there is cell service.

The Internet is down most of the time.

And all I would get is probably some kind of short text message that pretty much would say that they are alive.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's been three or four days since you have been able to reach them.

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: Yes.

Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: What are you worried about?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: One of the things that really terrifies me and kind of turns my stomach, I mean, what would it be like for a blind person to navigate an actual bombing around her or close to her or where she might be?

I mean, is she going to run, tumble, fall to the ground and be killed just like that?

How is that for a paralyzed person?

I mean, what's the exit strategy, right?

That's what terrifies me.

AMNA NAWAZ: His parents, along with his brother and sister and nearly 30 others displaced from this war, are all sheltering in his family's four-bedroom home.

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: As of a few days ago, when I last heard, I mean, they were talking about rationing and pursuing rationing water and food and applying children's first rule in terms of the water and the food.

And the supplies are dwindling on all fronts.

I mean, I don't know if I have mentioned, but my father's diabetic.

My mom suffers from hypertension.

I mean, it's not like pharmacies or medicines are functional or available in the Gaza Strip.

AMNA NAWAZ: Have you seen what your hometown looks like on the news these days?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: Yes.

Horrible.

I just get really shocked when I hear the names of people who have been murdered by Israeli violence that sound familiar to me.

AMNA NAWAZ: You recognize those names?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: Right, former classmates, former childhood friends, people that our family have known, some relatives.

So it's just really quite horrific.

And, of course, the extent of destruction and damage, just seeing these familiar streets, being reduced to rubble, is really quite painful.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're seeing what's unfolding on the ground.

You know your family is there.

What goes through your mind?

I mean, how do you not just end up consumed with worry all the time?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: I am.

I am consumed with worry all the time and fear.

And I just think of the human toll.

When I see a child being pulled out of the rubble and surviving, I mean, that's wonderful.

But I also think, what will that recovery and healing for that child look like?

You see, I mean, it's very, very easy and very, very quick to kill something.

It's much harder to heal something.

One particular video that I saw that just gave me goose bumps and then I broke in tears was of a child who was -- had survived an airstrike, an Israeli attack, but was constantly shaking.

He was completely shook, to the point where it was manifesting physically.

And people were trying to calm him down.

And I try my best to think that the worst is not going to happen, although that's probably wishful thinking at this point, given the extent of Israeli violence that we're seeing.

AMNA NAWAZ: Anyone we talk to, Israelis on the ground, Israeli officials, will say, this is also an existential threat for them, that they cannot live next to a force that has overtly said they want to end Israel, and that this response is about them protecting themselves after those atrocious attacks by Hamas on October 7.

How do you process that in balance with what your family is going through?

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: Right.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would be relishing this kind of violence on either side.

I don't think anyone wanted to get this point, particularly by choice.

Now, in terms of the question of existential threat, I think it goes both ways.

I mean, right now, in the Gaza Strip, people are learning that next door is a force that we have known has been violent, but today is being more violent than ever before.

Why should we live next to that?

AMNA NAWAZ: But no matter how dire conditions get in Gaza, Abusalim says his parents will never leave.

DORGHAM ABUSALIM: This is the only home we have ever known.

My family predates the British and the Israelis.

Our records go well into the Ottoman records.

My father is 80 years old.

Technically, he is older than the state of Israel.

So we have always been there.

And the idea that anyone should be leaving their home is really quite preposterous.

And let's just remember, in the Gaza Strip right now, the overwhelming majority of the population are refugees who are descendants of a prior Israeli aggression that occurred in 1948 and then that occurred in 1967.

So, some people could become refugees for a second time.

Some people could become refugees for a third time.

And having learned through it all that they would not be able to return to their homes, people, I think, naturally will want to stay and fight for their homes or die there with dignity.

GEOFF BENNETT: The man at the center of a major fraud trial in New York right now, Sam Bankman-Fried, is also the subject of a new book by the bestselling author Michael Lewis.

Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, talked with him about his new book called "Going Infinite" and the reaction to a story that changed dramatically as he was writing it.

So, how many interviews this week?

MICHAEL LEWIS, Author, "Going Infinite": Oh, actually, not that bad, because we just kind of skipped cable television, but maybe 20.

PAUL SOLMAN: Still, Michael Lewis was a bit hoarse and has in the past few weeks himself become the subject of considerable blowback for his book's nonjudgmental portrayal of its much-reviled crypto hero, or antihero, Sam Bankman-Fried, on trial for defrauding investors, allegedly diverting billions for his personal use.

Can you boil down who Sam Bankman-Fried is succinctly?

MICHAEL LEWIS: Sam Bankman-Fried is a child of two academics from Stanford, California, who discovered a peculiar gift for Wall Street trading after he comes out of MIT and sees in the crypto markets an opportunity to make a whole bunch of money, which he says he's going to give away.

PAUL SOLMAN: To causes that fund effective altruism.

What is effective altruism?

MICHAEL LEWIS: Earn to give, that, rather than extend yourself in a heartful way to something you do, like, I don't know, go be a doctor in Africa and cure kids of blindness or prevent kids from going blind or saving lives, you go to Wall Street, you make a fortune, and you pay 50 doctors to Africa.

It's like, the math works.

And it's that idea that hooked Sam.

PAUL SOLMAN: And both his parents were proponents, are proponents of utilitarianism, right, the greatest good for the greatest number?

MICHAEL LEWIS: Yes, think of the son taking the parents' loose ideas and pushing them to an extreme.

PAUL SOLMAN: And so Bankman-Fried began amassing his supposed-to-do-good fortune.

MICHAEL LEWIS: And, in a period of about two years, goes from having zero dollars to having, according to "Forbes" magazine, $22.5 billion.

PAUL SOLMAN: How exactly?

The super nerd savant leaves Wall Street and starts his own private hedge fund, Alameda, trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but mainly dozens of less famous ones like APT, XRP, SCG, whose prices supposedly differed on different markets long enough that Alameda could buy and sell instantly and make a fortune, playing in the crypto casino.

But, fatefully, says Lewis: MICHAEL LEWIS: He realizes for a bunch of reasons that there's more money to be made owning the casino, rather than trading in the casino.

And he starts alongside the trading firm, this crypto exchange called FTX.

PAUL SOLMAN: FTX was supposed to be like any exchange, taking money from customers, depositors, to buy the crypto coins they're investing in.

Good business.

MICHAEL LEWIS: Very simple business.

It's an exchange business.

It's like you have got $250 billion of crypto being traded every month on your exchange, and you're taking a small fraction of all that, and you just -- you make a fortune.

And venture capitalists had valued this business at $40 billion.

PAUL SOLMAN: Almost all of which the young man now known as SBF owned.

Lewis loved the business, met SBF, told a friend to invest, invested himself, and, to write a book, became Sam's companion, didn't think he was shadowing a con man, but: MICHAEL LEWIS: What happens over the course of several years is, a whole bunch of money that's meant to be on the exchange and owned by the depositors on FTX ends up in his private trading firm.

And this gets discovered when FTX depositors last November start demanding their money back in droves, and it's not there.

KATE ROONEY, CNBC: FTX went from a $32 billion company to bankruptcy in a matter of just four days or so.

PAUL SOLMAN: Instead, Alameda, the trading fund, was, according to its CEO, Caroline Ellison, using it, at SBF's direction, to buy and sell crypto.

And with a new haircut for court, Sam's also been attacked for using FTX's money to fund effective altruists, Democrats and non-Trump Republicans, shower multimillions on condos in the Bahamas and on marketing, stadium naming rights, celebrity towels.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, Former NBA Player: Hey, it's Shaquille O'Neal, and I'm excited to be partnering with FTX to help make crypto accessible to everyone.

PAUL SOLMAN: Tom Brady.

TOM BRADY, Former NFL Player: I'm trading crypto.

FTX is the safest and easiest way to buy and sell crypto.

It's the best way to get in the game.

PAUL SOLMAN: Even grouchy Larry David.

ACTOR: Like I was saying, it's FTX.

It's a safe and easy way to get into crypto.

PAUL SOLMAN: Doing much of this with depositors' money, which would be criminal.

And the prosecution has gotten two top lieutenants, SBF's computer coder and Ellison, the former girlfriend who ran Alameda, to testify.

So how naive was Lewis when Brad Katsuyama, the now-rich friend he'd made famous in an earlier book, "Flash Boys," asked Lewis to check Sam out?

MICHAEL LEWIS: My friend said: "Do you smell a rat?"

And I said: "No."

"What could go wrong?"

is what I said.

PAUL SOLMAN: But you were utterly charmed by him, right?

I mean.. MICHAEL LEWIS: I was -- you know, I don't know.

I still like him.

PAUL SOLMAN: How close did you get to him, do you think?

Too close maybe?

MICHAEL LEWIS: My relationship with him was virtually identical to the relationships I have with all the subjects of my book.

If I'm going to describe you well, I have to be able to see your life.

PAUL SOLMAN: But to many now following the trial, Lewis hasn't been nearly open enough in denouncing his subject's dishonesty.

MICHAEL LEWIS: There is a small group of people who are very loud who would rather me just join a lynch mob.

And that's not my job.

My job is to, like, learn as much as I can, tell the story as I see it, and let the reader figure out what they make of it.

PAUL SOLMAN: Are you kind of taken aback by how you have become so much of the story?

MICHAEL LEWIS: That will pass.

People who dislike Sam Bankman-Fried, right - - and a lot of people do -- their first impulse is to dislike the fact I have even written a book about Sam Bankman-Fried.

And if it doesn't -- if the narrative in the book is in any way more nuanced than the narrative in their head, they don't like that either.

I often hope to feel that with the material I'm given to make a book out of, that it's so good, I'm only constrained by my literary powers.

And, in this case, this seemed like it rose to the level of Greek tragedy or Shakespeare.

PAUL SOLMAN: Or, to many tracking the trial, sank to the level of simple fraud.

But, either way, it sure hasn't hurt book sales, the most Lewis has ever had in a first week, he says, more than 100,000, with plenty to come.

And the film rights were sold before publication for $5 million.

Sam Bankman-Fried is still worth real money, it seems, as a subject.

For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman.

GEOFF BENNETT: For more on the drama in Washington, from the search for a House speaker to the president's plea for national security funding, we turn to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That's New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post.

It's good to see you both.

Let's start with the chaos and paralysis on Capitol Hill, starting with you, David.

Your reaction to Congressman Jim Jordan losing his third vote for speaker and then ultimately being booted from House Republicans from the race entirely?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, loss of a great statesman.

To me, it's two things.

First, it's become clear that the party is like a coalition between two different parties.

There's like the Trump party, which Jordan is obviously an example of.

But then there are still some pre-Trump Republicans in there, and they're angry.

And so they have been pushed around and pushed around.

And, frankly, a lot of them have been motivated by threats of -- by death threats, and they're sick of it.

And so they're saying, no, nobody's bullying us around anymore.

So they have stood up for themselves.

And so now we have two blocks that are really irreconcilable, almost, with each other, with as much chaos and madness and hatred in public as it's possible to imagine.

And then the underlying cause is that you have a rising group of Republicans who have no loyalty to the institutions and its norms.

And so, normally, you lose to Steve Scalise your speaker's race, well, you rally around him, because it's for the good of the party.

It's for the good of the institution.

But those rules don't apply anymore.

And so it's very hard to run a party, let alone elect a speaker, if you're not going to put the institution before yourself.

And so we now have a lot of narcissists hugging TV cameras and sort of doing sort of parallel play with each other, because they can't team up with other people.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Jonathan, it speaks volumes that Jim Jordan was dismissed by secret ballot.

He lost 25 Republican votes on the floor in public, but, behind closed doors, in the secret ballot, he lost 112 Republicans.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes.

And what that means is that the sort of the public intimidation worked, when they had to go to the floor and before their colleagues and before the nation declared their fealty to Jordan or their fealty to someone else.

But behind closed doors, they were actually able to say what they really felt.

And I'm going to jump on -- jump on in support of what David was just talking about.

Yes, Steve Scalise was an institutionalist.

Jim Jordan, Congressman Jordan, is not an institutionalist.

He has never been about governing.

He's been about burning the place down.

And the idea that he was speaker-designate says a lot about where the Republican Party is.

And the idea that he thought that he was going to be speaker of the House, he was not interested in governing, not interested in governing at all.

If he had been, he would have a law with his name attached to it.

But he came to Washington to deconstruct -- deconstruct government, deconstruct the House.

I applaud the Republican Conference for secretly, but at least booting him from being speaker-designate.

But now the bigger question is, who in the Republican Party, in that Republican Conference, can get 217 votes in order to be speaker outright?

And I don't see who that is.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's a good question.

And I will add this question.

Why were Republicans unable to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat?

There was this viable option, empowering Patrick McHenry as a temporary House speaker.

Democrats would have supported that.

Enough Democrats would have supported that, but, ultimately, Republicans killed it.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes.

And I think that's just because they failed to put governing first.

I mean, we're at a situation where there are Ukraine aid, where Israel aid, all these major issues are on the floor.

And, in a normal time, as Jonathan said, if people are interested in legislating, in governing, in the actual physical state of the country, they say, well, this is not the time to have a brawl.

But if you have been raised your whole career to think the point of coming to Congress is not to pass legislation, but to get on FOX News, then that's just your default way of being in the world.

You -- Matt Gaetz, Jordan, they don't have another way of being in the world.

And so it became like a -- just a gang war in high school.

It became like a turf war from "West Side Story" or something like that.

And it's very hard to pull out of that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, let's shift our focus from Capitol Hill to the White House and President Biden's speech last night.

He was talking about how, as he sees it, the wars in Israel and in Ukraine, the wars that both countries are fighting, are not just their own, but that they're linked directly to U.S. national security interests.

What were your takeaways from that address last night, Jonathan?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I thought the president's speech was a home run, in that he stood up for American values, American national security, but also for small-D democratic values.

There is a link between the fight that's going on, Ukraine's fight with Russia, in terms of Russia, Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and also Israel fighting for its democracy as a result of the terrorist attacks by Hamas.

If those democracies were to fall to those terroristic activities, then what does that mean for the democratic, again, small-D democratic experiment around the world?

And I think the president was absolutely right to say that, in both those efforts, the United States is the indispensable nation.

It is -- it's not to say that America is exceptional or anything, but when Putin invaded Ukraine, the world turned to Biden to pull it together, the coalition together.

When Hamas attacked Israel -- I mean, Israel can protect itself, but when it comes to talking to other nations about opening up humanitarian lines to Gaza and things like that, they turn to the United States.

American power is essential.

And I think the president, in giving a speech, is saying to Republicans that you must, you must get your act together, because these nations need America's help.

There's only about 26, 27, 28 days until that continuing resolution expires, Geoff, and there are only nine legislative, nine working days to get something done.

GEOFF BENNETT: The president, in his address last night, as Jonathan mentioned, he said the U.S. holds the world together.

It was very much a recitation of President Biden's world view.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, and it was the essence of his world view and maybe why he was elected.

At this moment, he used the word inflection point.

And I think he's right, in that is one thing.

There's a foreign policy scholar named Robert Kagan who wrote a book a couple years ago now called "The Jungle Grows Back."

And the core point of that book is, people can take U.S. leadership for granted, but when the U.S. begins withdrawing, then that's a green light to Putin, that's a green light to Hamas.

And so the U.S. has to be involved.

It's not a role we have ever loved.

But if you happen to be as dominant an economic and military power as you are, it's a role that's thrust upon you.

And if you don't take these actions, then it's immensely costly.

And the president and the administration put together an aid package that includes aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine.

It's some on the Southern border.

It's a big multi let's-keep-the-world-safe aid package, let's fight-off-barbarism aid package.

And it's expensive.

But imagine the cost if Ukraine fell.

Imagine how much our defense budget would have to go up if China took over Taiwan or if somehow Hamas was able to push Israel out of existence.

Imagine how much we're spending.

So, to me, this bill that the administration has put together, while costly, is way less than the alternatives.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, we have a couple of minutes left.

And I want to talk about the increased legal exposure facing Donald Trump, in that his former campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro and his former legal adviser Sidney Powell both pleaded guilty.

They accepted plea deals in that Fulton County election subversion case.

What do you think this means for Donald Trump, Jonathan?

(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: There's a great scene in the movie "Ghost" where Whoopi Goldberg says to Demi Moore, "Molly, you in danger, girl."

(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: And if I were to see Donald Trump, I would say exactly that to him.

People were giving Fulton County DA Fani Willis a hard time for the number of indictments she leveled, wondering whether she is biting off more than she could chew bringing this huge case.

And we're seeing why she did it, because she knew, as all prosecutors know, that someone or multiple someones will flip.

What's interesting is, we went from a bail bondsman, to the COO in Sidney Powell, to the chief architect in Kenneth Chesebro.

And if you are Donald Trump, and those were your fellow defendants, I would be quaking.

I'd be shivering in my boots.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you see it?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I think the significant thing was, according to legal experts, that Powell got an awesome deal, that she did stuff that was credibly felonious.

And with this deal, she's not going to jail.

She gets a misdemeanor.

She gets probation.

And so the fact that they offered her such a sweet deal is a sign they really wanted her to testify.

So that's not a sign that she's going to tell the truth, and Donald Trump is going to get off scot-free.

You don't offer somebody a deal if that's what the evidence shows.

So, Trump should be worried.

And we as a country should be worried for that moment when he starts winning primaries and getting convicted in the same week.

It could happen.

And I have no idea what that looks like.

GEOFF BENNETT: David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, thanks, as always.

Have a good weekend.

DAVID BROOKS: You too.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Darius Rucker first achieved multi-platinum status with the band Hootie & the Blowfish, which has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide.

Rucker has won all of the big awards many times over, and just this month added a few more accolades to the list.

I caught up with him in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, to talk about his new solo album and his new outlook on life.

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

DARIUS RUCKER, Musician: I always wanted to have my own festival.

It's so beautiful out here.

GEOFF BENNETT: And to do it at home too is pretty incredible.

DARIUS RUCKER: There's no place else I'd want to do it, except for Charleston.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

Darius Rucker willed this Riverfront Revival music festival into existence, and on the eve of its second year in Charleston, South Carolina, he reflected on what it means to him.

DARIUS RUCKER: It's great.

I mean, I -- this is mine.

This is my festival.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: The 57-year-old Rucker headlining his own music festival and celebrating the release of a new country album, promoting it with an in-store performance at Charleston's Monster Music.

We were there as Rucker entertained the crowd packed into this old-school record store with a trio of hits, including this one, "Wagon Wheel."

This song dates back a decade to 2013, when Rucker rode this smash single to number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and made it one of the top five bestselling country songs of all time.

Darius Rucker was inducted into Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame in early October and will soon receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, fame that Rucker could never have imagined.

Raised by a single mother, money was hard to come by.

At times, his three bedroom-house held as many as 14 children and four adult family members.

But they were always rich in love, in large part, Rucker says, because of his mom, Carolyn, the namesake of his newest album.

Tell me about her.

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes, you know, she was awesome.

She was my biggest champion and my biggest supporter.

She was -- she died young.

She died at 51.

And I think I was 25 or something like that.

And it was -- she was just -- I always say she's the reason I was sitting here because she was always the one giving me permission to do and -- whatever I wanted to do.

And she just believed in me.

And she was a great mom.

GEOFF BENNETT: How is this album an homage to her?

DARIUS RUCKER: Oh, man, my whole life and career I think has been an homage to her.

You know, I mean -- and I was making the record, and I was having a bad day.

The first day in the studio was -- I was just not having a good day.

And I just sat down and I said to myself out loud, I said: "Well, at the end of the day, I'm just my mama's boy."

And I thought right then that I was going to pay the love and respect to her name it "Carolyn's Boy."

GEOFF BENNETT: And this is your first solo album in six years; is that right?

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes, it's been six years, which is crazy to think about.

Yes, six years.

GEOFF BENNETT: It feels more reflective than your previous works.

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes, I think that's probably the most personal record I have made, just because so many things that happened, the pandemic, things that happened in your life, kids growing up and leaving the house and all this, all the stuff that was going on.

I just think, when I was writing with guys, the stuff that we were coming up with and the stuff that I wanted to write was all stuff that just, for me, instantly became true.

And so, yes, this is definitely the most personal record I have made.

GEOFF BENNETT: Darius Rucker debuted as a solo country artist 15 years ago following breakout success as the front man for Hootie & the Blowfish, six studio albums charting in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 six times.

And the awards piled up too, Grammy for best new artist in 1996, Billboard Music Award for Top Billboard 200 album for "Cracked Rear View," which remains among the top 10 bestselling studio albums of all time, a Grammy Award for "Let Her Cry" in 1996 and an MTV Music Video Award for "Hold My Hand" in 1995.

"Hold My Hand," I did not know this until doing the research and speaking with you, but you wrote that as a protest song against racism.

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes, people didn't see it.

And that was fine.

People, I'm like, why would you see it?

But it was, and against all -- it was racism and hatred, all hatred.

It was just a thing of trying to bring people together.

GEOFF BENNETT: I first met you 15 years ago when I produced an interview that you did for NPR.

During that transition into country music, it was not guaranteed that you would be successful.

DARIUS RUCKER: No, I always tell people that I thought I might get talked about for a second, because I come from Hootie, and you made this record at Capitol Nashville.

And I always say there wasn't anybody that looked like me on country radio.

And I was being told that the audience would never accept a country singer that looked like me, so I just wanted to make country records.

And my biggest goal with my first record was that they let me make another one.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: Well, where did that sense of persistence come from?

DARIUS RUCKER: I'm going to work no matter what.

I mean, I'm just going to work.

I work.

I have work ethic.

I'm going to go work.

You tell me what you need me to do, let's go do it.

Doing the radio tour, we went to like 110 radio stations, just going out there and actually saying to my label that I wanted to be treated like the new guy.

Whatever the new guy does is what I want to do.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

DARIUS RUCKER: I think that went a long way in getting it.

But -- and we had the songs, man.

We just had the songs.

GEOFF BENNETT: Those songs led to four number one albums on the Billboard Country chart, and his third career Grammy, this one for best solo country performance.

I remember watching, it was back in 2008, and you won the CMA best new artist, which, again, is hilarious because you weren't... DARIUS RUCKER: I was 41.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: You're 41, and you weren't entirely new to the music industry.

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes.

Yes.

WOMAN: Well, come on down, Darius Rucker.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: You thanked country radio.

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Because, as you said, people were telling you that country wouldn't accept... (CROSSTALK) DARIUS RUCKER: Yes.

Country radio, you took a chance on a pop singer from Charleston, South Carolina.

And God bless you all for that.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) DARIUS RUCKER: As much as people want to talk about streaming and everything, country radio is really still king.

And that's where people are hearing most of the songs.

When you're riding around in your car, a lot of people still listen to country radio to hear the new stuff.

So, it's like country radio was so huge in me winning that, because they played my songs.

There were a lot of people that thought they wouldn't play my songs.

And that was big.

GEOFF BENNETT: And now fast-forward to the current moment.

You are no longer the only prominent Black country music artist.

DARIUS RUCKER: Yes.

I love that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

DARIUS RUCKER: I love that.

I love the fact that Kane is there and Mickey's doing her thing, and Chapel Hart, and Blanco, and Breland and all these -- we could keep going on and on.

I was thinking the other day that BET needs to get them a Black country artist category going on.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: That's right.

DARIUS RUCKER: That's how it is now, you know?

But I love it.

I love to see that my success helped country music to see that that stigma wasn't true.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

DARIUS RUCKER: And so now we can let great people in, without having to worry about that.

GEOFF BENNETT: You mentioned your mom passed before you found music success.

What do you think she would think about the man you are today?

DARIUS RUCKER: I think she would be really proud of me, especially with how hard I work and as much as I try to give back and help charities and -- I think she'd be really proud of me.

She'd also say, man, I got a big house.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: And big crowds too.

On this day, Rucker played to thousands of fans at his festival.

Darius Rucker is continuing his tour across the U.S. and Europe, running through may of next year.

And, as always, there is much more online.

I asked Darius Rucker about his favorite songs to play.

You can hear his answer on our YouTube page.

And for more on the crisis in the Middle East and the chaos on Capitol Hill, watch moderator Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel on "Washington Week with The Atlantic" tonight on PBS.

And for the very latest on Israel's war with Hamas, tune in tomorrow for "PBS News Weekend."

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Have a good evening, and a great weekend.