JOHN YANG: Tonight on PBS News Weekend, two lawmakers shot in Minnesota, one of them fatally and what Governor Tim Waltz calls a politically motivated assassination.

Then, waves of deadly attacks between Israel and Iran continue as their most intense fighting in decades shows no signs of deescalating.

And on the same day President Trump celebrates the Army's 250th birthday with a parade, millions turn out nationwide to protest his administration's policies.

WOMAN: This is not the America we know.

And I think people are truly fed up and wanted to gather to say just that.

In America, we do not have a king.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

We're following two big stories tonight in the Middle East.

It's been another day of deadly attacks between Israel and Iran, but we begin in Minnesota, where a person posing as a police officer killed a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in what the governor called an act of targeted political violence.

Former House Speaker Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot early this morning in their home.

The gunman also wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife in their home.

Both are expected to survive.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called on Americans to stand up against political violence.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D) Minnesota: Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy.

We don't settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.

JOHN YANG: Police are hunting for the gunman, who's described as a 57 year old man.

Police said they found in his vehicle a manifesto and a list of lawmakers names including the two who were shot.

And the risk of political violence extends beyond Minnesota.

In Texas, police warn lawmakers not to attend rallies at the state Capitol today after receiving credible threats against legislators.

Minnesota State Representative Leigh Finke is a Democrat first elected in 2022.

Representative Finke, thanks for join Tell me about your Melissa Hortman was speaker when you entered the House.

Tell me about your relationship with her.

LEIGH FINKE (D) Minnesota State Representative: Yes, Melissa was the speaker when I was elected.

She was a powerful, fierce leader who took being our leader very seriously.

But she also was warm and made space for new members like myself who to come in and find our place in the caucus and under her leadership.

JOHN YANG: Are authorities updating you on the investigation or how what steps are being taken to protect you.

LEIGH FINKE: Yes, we are getting updates occasionally from our local police as well as, you know, following the investigation in the media and from the sergeant at arms at the.

At the Capitol.

JOHN YANG: Obviously, I don't want to get into the details of security, but do you feel safe?

LEIGH FINKE: Well, I happen to be on the road, so I do feel safe.

I've been in touch with all of my colleagues.

We are all in various states of shock.

You know, we know that there was a list.

We know that this was planned.

We know that this was methodical.

And I think everyone is terrified, which is the point of political violence.

It is to create fear, and it has done so.

JOHN YANG: What do you think of the state of political discourse that, that this.

It's come to this, that people are attacking lawmakers?

LEIGH FINKE: Yeah, I think it's, obviously, we have crossed into some kind of deep end of politics here.

You know, Melissa was a wonderful and bipartisan leader in the state of Minnesota.

She was a beloved figure even by some of our Republican colleagues, and that she was the target of this and that she has now been killed by political violence.

I mean, it is a signal that whatever is happening in this country, it is going in the wrong direction.

It feels like the start of something, unfortunately, not the end of something.

And I think we all need to reflect upon how we got here and how to avoid getting even further down this road.

JOHN YANG: The start of something rather than the end of something.

How can we prevent this from going farther?

LEIGH FINKE: I think we have to view our neighbors as our at least compassionate community members, if not our friends.

You know, we do this work.

A lot of us do this work and feel like targets all the time, myself included.

I think that there is no doubt that if we do not start to see the humanity in all of our neighbors, we are going to continue down this road.

And unfortunately, there is great political stock right now in alienating and othering people rather than in welcoming them into our lives.

And I think that is the heart of this problem.

JOHN YANG: You know, Senator John Hoffman listed his home address on his website.

Obviously, you want to stay in touch with constituents.

You want to be able to have constituents reach you, but has this given you, do you think -- are you rethinking how you do things?

LEIGH FINKE: Yes.

Many, many public officials list their home address on their, you know, when they file to run for office.

You know, there are measures that people can take, measures that I have taken to keep my home address private when I first ran for office.

Those who are targeted or have a reason to.

I think everyone needs to take seriously the threat to public officials.

We legislated the threat to judges and other judicial professional staff members in the state of Minnesota this year.

And even during that debate, I remember thinking that we should be thinking about how to keep everyone safe, not just our judges, even our legislators.

And obviously, we need to do more to keep private and safe everybody who is serving the public.

JOHN YANG: What do you think it's going to be like when you return to the chamber when you're back in session, what it's going to feel like in there?

LEIGH FINKE: It's almost unimaginable to me to think of being a member of the DFL House without Melissa as our leader.

She's, you know, she's fierce, she's frustrating.

She has held our caucus together through everything that we have faced.

She is really the face of the work that we do.

And I haven't even started to imagine what it will be like when we get back in office without her.

But I know that it's going to be very difficult and that the DFL in Minnesota is changed forever after this tragedy.

JOHN YANG: Representative Leigh Finke, thank you very much.

And our condolences on this very difficult day.

LEIGH FINKE: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: And now to the Middle East where Israel and Iran have traded more missile strikes.

Iran state TV reported that about 60 people, including 20 children were killed by an Israeli strike on a housing complex in Tehran.

In Israel, Iranian missiles and drones have killed three and wounded dozens.

Drone footage from south of Tel Aviv shows the damage there.

The sixth round of U.S.-Iran talks in Oman on Tehran's nuclear program scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled.

Daniel Shapiro was U.S.

Ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017.

Mr.

Ambassador, Israel says one of their main goals is to destroy Iran's ability to create a nuclear weapon.

Can the Israeli military, does it have the capability to do that by itself?

DANIEL SHAPIRO, Former U.S.

Ambassador to Israel: Israel has already, since it started these strikes 48 hours ago, done significant damage to the Iranian nuclear program.

They've struck the Natanz enrichment facility, perhaps destroyed it.

They're attacking another facility in Isfahan.

But the big question is, do they have the capability to take out the deeply buried underground facility called Fordow, that has generally been assessed to be reachable only by heavy bombs and strategic bombers that only the United States possesses.

But I wouldn't underestimate Israel's ability to find solutions.

They've shown incredible ingenuity and creativity and in pager and beeper attacks against Hezbollah, in attacking a weapons facility in Syria, and even in these strikes and smuggling drones into Iran that it used in the early hours.

So they may have solutions and surprises that we haven't thought of, but that's really the key test.

Can they destroy or would somebody else help them destroy the ford of underground facility?

JOHN YANG: Where is Iran's retaliation going to go?

Can they escalate what they've been doing?

They would just set.

Not just, but they've been sending missiles and drones in.

Is there more in their back pocket, as it were?

DANIEL SHAPIRO: Iran could escalate more.

Until now, they've mostly used ballistic missiles against Israel.

Some have gotten through the Israeli air defenses, which are supplemented by American air defenses.

They've caused some casualties, but they haven't caused real strategic damage, at least that we're aware of.

What they might try to do, especially as that inventory of ballistic missiles goes down, is turn toward energy targets in the Gulf.

They blame Gulf countries just as they blame the United States for supporting Israel, even though those countries have distanced themselves from this attack.

But if they decide to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, if they decide to hit some of their neighbors energy targets, or even if they decide to hit American military bases in the Gulf, that would be a big escalation.

JOHN YANG: How likely is that last point they're targeting U.S. military bases?

DANIEL SHAPIRO: I think it's unlikely in the near term because they don't want the United States to get involved in this war.

They understand the United States would bring even heavier capabilities and particularly that toward that very special nuclear facility in Fordow if it got involved.

So their goal is to keep the United States out.

Obviously, strikes against U.S. targets would almost certainly bring reprisals from the United States.

JOHN YANG: Israel said that Iran hitting or targeting civilian areas in Israel crossed a red line.

Here's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): We have paved a path to Tehran.

We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollah's regime.

And what they have felt so far is nothing compared to what they will be handed in the coming days.

JOHN YANG: Nothing compared to what they'll be handed.

As this continues, you know, Israel says it's only been targeting military and nuclear sites.

As the escalation goes on, could that change?

DANIEL SHAPIRO: Well, I think that's their goal.

Their goal is to prevent Iran from ever having the capability to build a nuclear weapon.

So it's the nuclear sites.

Their other goal is to prevent Iran from having the ballistic missile capability to target Israel as it's been doing.

And they generally want to degrade the regime and the military and the Iranian Republican Guard Corps that has been the shock troops that have supported all the terrorist proxies that have attacked Israel through the years.

So they have many targets they haven't yet hit.

They've hit senior military and IRGC and scientists, leaders as part of this early wave.

I think there are many more such targets they could go after.

They think might shake the foundations of the regime.

JOHN YANG: The prime minister also at one point this week addressed the people of Iran.

Is regime change possible?

DANIEL SHAPIRO: I don't think regime change is a realistic goal and probably not even a legitimate goal to try to pursue through military means, whether by Israel or the United States or others.

But we do know that the Iranian people, many of them view this regime as a deeply brutal, corrupt, mismanaged regime that has made their lives miserable, that has squandered many resources toward wars against Israel that do nothing to improve their lives.

So there could come a tipping point when pressure from outside gives strength and gives encouragement to Iranian people on the inside to turn against the regime.

And so we can't rule out the possibility, just as it happened in Syria earlier in this drama several months ago, that the Iranian regime could face a moment of truth.

JOHN YANG: President Trump seems to be suggesting that what Iran is going through may push them at the negotiating table.

Negotiations were called out this weekend.

Could Iran return to the table after this?

DANIEL SHAPIRO: Well, they could.

They won't.

In the first days of this, it would look like a capitulation.

And the standard that President Trump has set for those negotiations is that Iran eliminate its nuclear enrichment program.

And that's really a key demand because as long as they retain that capability, they basically retain the ability to build a nuclear weapon.

It's too dangerous to let them have it.

So if they're willing to come back to the table on that basis, maybe there's room for talks.

They may only be willing if they fear that Israel or even if the United States might bring military pressure to bear to actually destroy the last remaining nuclear facilities they have.

JOHN YANG: Former ambassador Daniel Shapiro, thank you very much.

DANIEL SHAPIRO: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: In tonight's other news, India, recovery teams are working to identify the remains of the victims of this week's Air India crash so they can be reunited with their families.

The death toll stands at 270.

241 of them were on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and at least 29 were on the ground.

Hundreds of victims, relatives have traveled to hospitals in Ahmedabad to provide DNA samples.

Investigators say DNA identification takes at least 72 hours.

Israeli airstrikes and gunfire are blamed for the deaths of more than two dozen people in Gaza.

Medics in central Gaza say at least half of the 35 people killed were shot as they approached a food distribution site run by the U.S. backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The United Nations says the foundation is not neutral and accuses it of weaponizing aid.

And parts of Alaska will be under a heat advisory.

For the first time ever, the National Weather Service issued the alert for Fairbanks, Alaska, for Sunday through Monday, when the temperature is forecast to hit 85 degrees.

Many homes and businesses in the state don't have air conditioning.

The weather service has changed how it issues alerts to clearly communicate possible danger.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend nationwide demonstrations against Trump administration policies and the White House celebrates 250 years of the U.S. Army with a massive parade.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: There have been rallies across the country opposing President Trump's agenda on the day of the president's military parade.

They cap a week of demonstrations against immigration raids that began in Los Angeles and spread nationwide.

Today's events in about 2,000 cities and towns were organized by the no Kings movement, which calls the administration's actions authoritarian.

There were rallies near Mr. Trump's Mar a Lago residence in West Palm Beach, Florida.

CROWD: No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA.

JOHN YANG: In Boston, where it was raining in Atlanta, with Proud Boy counter protesters looking on.

And in Philadelphia, the flagship No Kings rally.

Local officials urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully and avoid blocking roads.

The No Kings protests were organized by a coalition of groups.

Lisa Gilbert is co-president of one of them, Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group.

Lisa, what have you been hearing from across the country about crowd turnout and that sort of thing?

LISA GILBERT, Co-President, Public Citizen: It's been amazing.

We've seen, as you mentioned, 2,000 plus events, millions of people turning out peacefully to say in America, we don't have a king in America, we're a democracy.

It's been amazing and inspiring, frankly.

JOHN YANG: So no reports of any problems, no violence, no counter protesters?

LISA GILBERT: Very limited counter protesting and absolutely no violence.

We've been very clear with folks events.

Everyone is turning out with the same message that we've seen authoritarian excess and corruption in the Trump administration.

We're watching them crack down on free speech, detaining people for political positions, and that's just not what America is all about.

And people have really hewed to that message and been very clear and safe.

JOHN YANG: There was No Kings event scheduled for Washington.

Why was that?

LISA GILBERT: That's right.

Well, as you know, in Washington, the president is simultaneously holding his bombastic birthday military parade.

We wanted to make clear that we're not protesting the military.

We are instead protesting the administration's authoritarian actions.

We didn't want to stand in front of the military parade, but instead have a split screen showing what the president is wasting taxpayer dollars on here in Washington and what everyone, everywhere else in the country is calling for an America they can believe in, a democracy they trust.

JOHN YANG: In the pictures we've seen from the rallies across the country, we hear a variety of chants, we see a variety of signs.

Is there one specific message or objective today?

LISA GILBERT: I mean, I think the main message is just they've gone too far.

You know, America is predicated on the idea that we all have a voice, we all have a say.

We've been watching attacks on universities, on nonprofits, on judges.

You know, this is not the America we know.

And I think people are truly fed up and wanted to gather to say just that in America, we do not have a king.

JOHN YANG: This follows the hands off protest in April, the May Day protest.

Are there more planned?

What's next for this coalition?

LISA GILBERT: It's a great question.

Yes.

It's been a crescendo of action.

I think more and more people each time we organize, turn out and show their discomfort with what is happening in our country.

Looking ahead, we'll see organizing on Juneteenth.

We'll see organizing on later on in the summer, around Labor Day.

We expect to organize whenever we need to in a rapid response manner as well.

Obviously, it's been a challenging week with what has been happening in California.

We're worried about what the administration has been doing.

So I would anticipate the crescendo will continue and we'll see more and more organizing and people out in the streets.

JOHN YANG: I have to ask you, as you may know, there was a terrible attack on lawmakers in Minnesota today, a targeted attack, according to the governor.

Do you have any concerns about the rhetoric as you protest on both sides, the rhetoric being incendiary?

LISA GILBERT: Well, first, what happened in Minnesota was a huge tragedy.

All of the No Kings protests in that state were canceled out of respect for what occurred.

You know, certainly I can only speak for what's happening on our side, the side that is talking about democracy.

I think we're being very clear.

Our messaging is about, you know, what we actually want the country to stand for.

It's not violent.

It's peaceful in every regard.

And so we can only control that.

And we're trying very hard to do so.

JOHN YANG: Lisa Gilbert, thank you very much.

LISA GILBERT: Thanks for having me.

JOHN YANG: There's a big parade in Washington, D.C. On the streets, tanks and thousands of soldiers in the air, flyovers and parachute jumps and for taxpayers, a big price tag, as much as $45 million.

It's all to honor the Army's 250th anniversary today, which is also President Trump's 79th birthday.

Richard Kohn is a professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former chief of Air Force History at the Pentagon.

Mr. Kohn, we've had military parades in the past, not a lot of them.

The last one was in 1991 after the first Gulf War.

Put this into some perspective for us.

What have the sort of the tone of military parades been like through history, and how does this one fit into that context?

RICHARD KOHN, University of North Carolina: Well, most of the military parades have been to celebrate and commemorate war or battlefield victories of great historic meaning.

Now, this one's a little unusual because it's an important commemoration of 250 years of the Army's contribution to American defense in American society.

And now it's been linked to President Trump's birthday, which I think is unfortunate, but nevertheless the case.

JOHN YANG: Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says has said he's concerned about the message this parade is going to send, that it may send the wrong message.

He said this is more fitting for North Korea or the former Soviet Union.

What do you say to that?

What's your reaction to that?

RICHARD KOHN: Well, I can understand because in a sense, it's those parades and commemorations are always meant to buttress the power and the place of autocrats in their society and linking this to President Trump smacks of that.

And also most of our parades are of the people involved in the military and not of hardware.

Flyovers, yes, for events, but we're used to those in sporting events and so on.

So this one's really quite unusual.

JOHN YANG: The president says he wants to show off the best army in the world, that he wants to show the world the might of the United States.

What do you say to that?

RICHARD KOHN: Well, I think that's redundant.

I mean, the world knows of our military power, and the American people do, too.

And they also know of the great success that this army has had in battle and in wars over many, many decades and even over two centuries.

So I don't think that needs to be brought to their attention.

And the attention, you know, given what's going on in Los Angeles and what given the president threats are really not the way we have commemorated our military.

JOHN YANG: What message do you see this parade sending both at home and abroad?

RICHARD KOHN: Well, I think it sets the message because of President Trump's kind of making it all about him as much as he can.

I think it communicates some weakness of the United States, the weakness of its leadership, the necessity to display equipment, much of which I think in future warfare might not be as effective as it's been in the past.

It's really, in a sense, disgusting.

And I can understand Rand Paul's and many other people's doubts about the wisdom of having such a parade for one of our five services.

JOHN YANG: President Trump likes to appear with the military.

It seems he does a lot of things with military.

They gave a speech at Fort Bragg recently.

What do you make of the way the president interacts with the military?

RICHARD KOHN: Well, he interacts with the military really at a distance.

He tries to link himself to it, even though he'd never served.

The real bottom line is that he has been politicizing the military.

If you look at his speeches, West Point, Fort Bragg, they're really -- much of it is wandering and inappropriate and not the commemoration and talking about the military, talking about the American people's sacrifices in the military and the other important parts of military service to American society.

JOHN YANG: Richard Kohn, thank you very much.

RICHARD KOHN: My pleasure.

Thanks for having me on the broadcast.

JOHN YANG: And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.

(BREAK) END