05/26/2024: Operation Lone Star & The Isle of Man

Cecilia Vega interviews the woman charged with reforming the Federal Bureau of Prisons, director Colette S. Peters, as her agency is facing a major staffing crisis, aging, and deteriorating prison infrastructure and an alarming pattern of abuse that has persisted for years. 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley interviews the "Godfather of AI," Geoffrey Hinton, who is speaking out about the promise and risks of advanced artificial intelligence his research helped make possible. His best friend is Bruce Springsteen, and he played Tony Soprano’s right-hand man on TV. 60 Minutes profiles Stevie Van Zandt.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

While Iran’s backing of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon is widely known, the regime is quietly carrying out a shadow war in the U.S. and Europe, deploying proxy assassins to silence or eliminate critics of the regime. Britain’s head of counter-terrorism policing, Matt Jukes, tells correspondent Lesley Stahl they’re noticing a significant uptick in Iran’s efforts. In the U.S., Stahl meets some of the targets, including former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton and Iranian American activist Masih Alinejad. Correspondent Bill Whitaker reports from the conservative state of Wyoming and meets with its surprisingly climate-crusading Republican governor, Mark Gordon. Currently in his second term, Gordon has set a goal to make Wyoming not just carbon-neutral but carbon-negative in CO2 emissions. It’s an audacious idea, since Wyoming is the nation’s largest coal-producer by far. Despite heat from climate change deniers in his own party, Gordon tells Whitaker he’s sticking to his goal, and to his “all of the above” approach to energy. Cecilia Vega profiles international punk rock, pop princess, Alecia Moore - also known as Pink - as she hits 25 years of her successful music-making career. Vega meets Pink at her home in California, stops backstage on her tour and traces her somewhat troubled journey to superstardom.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans in seven states where he won, including Wisconsin, banded together and cast fake electoral votes for Donald Trump. Correspondent Anderson Cooper reports on Wisconsin's fake presidential electors and interviews Andrew Hitt, an attorney and former GOP state chair, who claims he and his fellow fake electors were tricked into signing the documents. Special Counsel Jack Smith alleges the fake votes were part of a plan, orchestrated by Donald Trump and conspirators, to try to overturn the election. Margaret Brennan conducts the first interview with one of the five American prisoners freed from Iran. With 200 hostages reportedly being held in Gaza, and 13 Americans unaccounted for, Emad Shargi’s harrowing story is a stark illustration of the difficulties and perils involved in bringing citizens home. In a broadcast exclusive, Bill Whitaker profiles mega sports agent Rich Paul. The founder and CEO of Klutch Sports Group represents NBA sensations like LeBron James and Draymond Green and negotiated almost $900 million in deals this past summer alone. Whitaker traces Paul's unlikely journey from the east side of Cleveland to his glittering life today and scores an invite to the Klutch All-Star Game party, one of the hottest tickets in the NBA.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After President Biden and former President Trump’s visits to the Texas-Mexico border, correspondent Cecilia Vega reports from Eagle Pass, Texas, where she interviewed Governor Greg Abbott. The governor’s controversial border enforcement effort, known as Operation Lone Star, has led to a showdown with the federal government. Bill Whitaker reports from the Isle of Man on the longest-running and most dangerous motorcycle race on earth: The Isle of Man TT. Once the seat of a Viking Kingdom, the 30 mile-long island sits in the middle of the Irish Sea, with England to the east and Ireland to the west. Whitaker examines the distinct Manx identity and the role a collision of cultures played in shaping such a wild and improbable race. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Norah O'Donnell meets Pope Francis for a rare and historic interview at his home, the Santa Marta guest house in Vatican City, a week before the Catholic Church hosts its inaugural World Children's Day. The 87-year-old, Argentinian-born pope - the first named Francis and first from the Americas - is known for his dedication to the poor and marginalized, and for being the most unconventional head of the Church in recent memory. He spoke candidly with O’Donnell about the wars in Israel and Gaza, Ukraine, and the migration crises around the world and on the U.S. southern border. The wide-ranging conversation also touches upon the Church's handling of its own sexual abuse scandals; Francis' deep commitment to inclusiveness within the Church; the backlash against his papacy from certain corners of U.S. Catholicism; and an exploration of his thinking on surrogate parenthood. For decades, prolific Cuban spies working in the U.S. government, serving in high profile positions with top security clearances, have evaded American intelligence officials. Correspondent Cecilia Vega reports from Washington, D.C. and Miami on the stories of two such undercover agents, former U.S. Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha and onetime Pentagon official Ana Montes. Cuba continues to supply one of the most dangerous exports to American adversaries around the world: American secrets. When a photo album depicting Nazis socializing at dinner parties and picnics arrived at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007, historians weren’t sure what to make of it. After an extensive investigation, it turned out to be a rare personal scrapbook of a high-ranking Nazi officer who helped run the daily operations of Auschwitz, the concentration camp where more than a million people, mostly Jews, were murdered. Correspondent Anderson Cooper tells the story behind the album and why acclaimed theater director Moises Kaufman decided to turn it into a new Off Broadway play called HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Reporting from Israel, correspondent Lesley Stahl delivers the latest on the consequential three-fronts where the country is currently engaged, that have heightened security threats internationally since the Oct. 7 terror attacks: Gaza in the south, Hezbollah in the north and Iran in the east. As Spain fights for the extradition of a former U.S. Marine for his attempt to aid North Korean embassy workers in defecting in Madrid, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviews the man at the center, Christopher Ahn, in Southern California. Ahn details his 2019 mission with Cheollima Civil Defense to free the North Koreans and the legal hurdles he’s now facing at home and abroad as the FBI warns his life is in danger. This is a double-length segment.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Norah O’Donnell profiles Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, who might become the first ever Black Speaker of the House, by tracing his Brooklyn roots to one of the most powerful positions in American politics. O’Donnell meets Jeffries on Capitol Hill to talk about his caucus’s decision to save current Speaker Mike Johnson’s job, his views on Israel’s approach to Hamas and the civilian casualties in Gaza, the migrant crisis, and how the debate over reproductive rights will impact the race for the White House and Congress.As the American wealth gap continues to widen, correspondent Jon Wertheim reports on an unlikely effort to get more money in the hands of rank-and-file workers. Pete Stavros is an executive at one of the biggest private equity firms in the country, KKR. His industry is famously cutthroat, but Stavros has emerged as a leading advocate for the concept of employee ownership, which takes the same incentives that have long helped the C-suite get rich and applies them to people working factories, flatbeds and farms. Wertheim travels to rural Illinois to find out how this model has impacted workers, and whether it’s good for business. Correspondent Bill Whitaker visits New Orleans where two high school seniors solved a mathematical puzzle that was thought to be impossible for 2,000 years. Whitaker speaks to the students, their families and the teachers at their school, St. Mary's Academy, that has been fostering academic excellence and boundless possibilities for its student body of African American girls since the end of the Civil War. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Correspondent Scott Pelley reports on America’s children of war, often overlooked, who live with disabled military veterans. Millions of American youth across the country navigate complex childhoods, witness the emotional and physical impact of service on wounded warriors, and help the veteran and their families through hard times. Pelley speaks with Senator Elizabeth Dole, who created a foundation to support military caregivers, and two families of U.S. veterans who have carried the burden of America’s post-9/11 wars. One of only five companies to ever surpass two trillion dollars in stock market value, computer chip maker Nvidia ushered in the artificial intelligence revolution with its groundbreaking software and graphics processing unit, a chip that enables AI by accelerating the processing power of computers. Correspondent Bill Whitaker meets Nvidia’s CEO and co-founder, Jensen Huang, to discuss the company’s innovations and the rapidly expanding range of AI applications, including drug development, weather pattern prediction, and more.Soon after a fuel spill occurred close to the Navy’s main drinking water system at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, base leadership assured thousands of families in military housing that their tap water was safe. Parents later learned the truth: the water they drank or used to bathe their children was contaminated with jet fuel. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi tours the once secret fuel storage site where the water crisis at Pearl Harbor began and meets military families who blame their health problems on the Navy’s response to the spill.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Since taking office as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under the Biden administration, Gina Raimondo has turned the second-tier agency into a center of national security, manufacturing, and job creation. Correspondent Lesley Stahl meets Raimondo - including in her home state of Rhode Island, where she previously served as governor - to talk about the international “chip war” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the escalating trade tensions with China over U.S. restrictions on the sale of leading-edge semiconductors and U.S. jobs hanging in the balance. Raimondo also shares the path that brought her to lead President Joe Biden’s Department of Commerce. Less than 100 miles from Britain’s mainland lie the Channel Islands, British Crown dependencies, with a fraught and hotly debated history. 60 Minutes contributor Holly Williams visits the islands that were occupied by Germany for five years during World War II and where the Nazis operated two concentration camps. Williams speaks with historians, British government officials and longtime residents to find out what really happened. Correspondent Anderson Cooper profiles Kevin Hart, the highest grossing comedian today and bankable movie star, who is now adding a new title to his resume – entertainment and business mogul. Cooper goes backstage with Hart in Pasadena, California to watch him test out new material for an upcoming comedy tour and sits down with him at his headquarters in Los Angeles to talk about the business of being funny and his growing empire.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SCATTERED SPIDER – A surprisingly young cohort of hackers paralyzed some of Las Vegas' biggest hotels and casinos last fall, demanding an exorbitant ransom. The FBI and cyber security researchers call them "Scattered Spider" and say they are predominantly made up of native English-speaking hackers from Western countries, including the United States. Correspondent Bill Whitaker reports on the attack that brought operations at the MGM Grand, Aria and Bellagio, among others, to a standstill, and how the hackers teamed up with the notorious Russian ransomware gang behind the recent hack on UnitedHealth Group. Graham Messick is the producer.KNIFE – In his first television interview since he was attacked at a literary festival in Chautauqua, New York almost two years ago, author Salman Rushdie details his experience to correspondent Anderson Cooper. Rushdie, who was stabbed 15 times and lost his right eye, has come to terms with the attack by writing about it in his new book, KNIFE (Penguin, 2024.) He talks to Cooper about Iran's religious decree—or fatwa—that called for his death 35 years ago, his years in hiding, and how he reclaimed his life in the U.S. before he was nearly killed by an assailant wielding a knife. Michael Gavshon and Nadim Roberts are the producers.TASMANIAN TIGER – 60 MINUTES correspondent Jon Wertheim reports from the Australian island of Tasmania on the mysterious thylacine or Tasmanian tiger – an apex predator not seen since last century, but renowned through local folklore. Though the tiger was declared extinct 40 years ago, Wertheim meets those looking for the creature in the bush and the lab, and one way or another, are certain of its enduring survival. Jacqueline Williams is the producer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.