January 2, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The past year marked dramatic changes and new trends in campaign finance. In 2019, two billionaires bankrolled their own presidential campaigns, while other candidates wooed big donors with pricey fundraisers. And some contenders struggled to take in enough cash to keep their campaigns running. The Washington Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee joins Judy Woodruff to discuss 2019 money in politics.

In our news wrap Thursday, the Democratic presidential primary field narrowed again as Julián Castro dropped out. The former Obama housing secretary, the only Latino still in the race, had failed to make headway in polls or in fundraising. Also, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper is threatening preemptive military strikes against Iran to prevent further attacks on Americans in the Middle East.

President Trump is seeking reelection in the fall of 2020, and to win it, he will be relying upon one of his strongest voting blocs: white evangelical Christians. But are there signs emerging of a rift within this previously solid group of Trump supporters? The Christian Post’s Richard Land and the Gospel Coalition’s Collin Hansen join Lisa Desjardins to discuss compromise and Christian values.

The American religious landscape has changed dramatically over the past several decades. While regular church, synagogue and mosque attendance has been on the decline since the late 1970s, a Pew Research Center study this year has found that the biggest generational dropoff has occurred with millennials -- young adults born between 1981 and 1996. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports on why.

Before leaving town for the holidays, lawmakers came together to pass a huge federal spending bill that illuminates the government’s policy priorities for 2020. The deal allocates a total of $1.4 trillion to the military, education, a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border and much more. Lisa Desjardins joins Nick Schifrin to discuss where American tax dollars will be going this year.

Carlos Ghosn was once in the driver’s seat of two of the world’s most iconic automakers -- and credited with saving both from insolvency. But Ghosn went from the pinnacle of the corporate world to facing criminal allegations, a record bail and now, a mysterious escape from Japan to Lebanon. John Yang reports.