Reuters World News - Comey in court, National Guard poll, gold and Tesla

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

Former FBI Director James Comey is due in federal court. A Reuters/Ipsos poll finds most Americans don't want troops deployed without an external threat. Gold smashes the $4,000 milestone for the first time. And Tesla rolls out "affordable" versions of its Model Y SUV and its Model 3 sedan. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wonganui, New Zealand. It's Wednesday, October 8th. Today, former FBI director James Comey heads to court. New polling shows Americans agree on the threshold for sending National Guard troops into American cities, but don't agree on much else. Gold hits a record high as investors seek safety from uncertainty. And Tesla unveils its latest, cheaper cars. as Elon Musk eyes his next big paycheck. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines

in 10 minutes, seven days a week. Former FBI director James Comey is due in federal court today, facing charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation. President Donald Trump fired Comey early in his first term in office. Since then, Trump has regularly assailed Congress. Comey's handling of the FBI investigation that detailed contacts between Russians and Trump's 2016 campaign. Comey says he'll plead not guilty and is demanding a trial.

Our Justice Department correspondent Sarah Lynch will be at the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, where a large crowd is expected. This case is highly unusual for a lot of reasons. It's not every day that you see a former FBI director. coming into court to face criminal charges. I mean, this is somebody who was the head of the FBI presiding over and managing cases that would have been brought, including out of this district, which is known for its espionage work and its terrorism work. But the big thing that people are talking about here is the fact that the prosecutors who investigated this case, the career prosecutors, did not believe there was evidence to be able to charge it. They had urged the office to not proceed with an indictment.

The indictment is also very sparse, doesn't have a lot of detail. And so all of that speaks to potential evidence that maybe this case is being brought for political purposes and not because it's a righteous case. An FBI agent who refused to stage a public arrest of James Comey over the weekend has now been relieved of duty. Sarah says the so-called perp walk, where Comey would have been filmed, being taken into Komi. custody is rare in white-collar cases. Now, typically, they issue a summons because there's a good faith that that person will appear, and they normally do. The idea behind a perp walk is sort of to create a media spectacle, and perp-walking James Comey,

I think, plays into that. Meanwhile, over in Portland, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Christy Noam, arrives for a visit to jeering and music from protesters, who say President, Trump's efforts to deploy National Guard troops there is tantamount to declaring the city a war zone. President Trump says an insurrection is taking place in Portland and has previously threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. All of this, as a new Reuters Ipsos poll, shows a majority of Americans are uncertain about sending the military into U.S. cities. Our politics editor, Scott Malone, says when it comes to the threshold for sending troops in, though, respondent

were broadly in agreement. We have about six and ten Americans think that the president should really only send armed troops into situations where they face external threats. And it's important to note that there's not a partisan split on this. You get about seven and ten Democrats have that concern, about half of Republicans. So significant concern on both sides of the aisle. When it comes to sending the troops in against the wishes of a state, the poll shows a lot more nuance. There we saw a lot more of a partisan divide. Republicans voiced more support for this idea, which obviously Trump is talking about quite frequently. Overwhelmingly, Americans are uncomfortable with this idea. Eight out of ten respondents said they really believed that the military should remain politically neutral and not take a role in domestic political debates. And even among Trump's Republicans, people were very uncomfortable with this idea. Just one in five Republicans in the polls said that the

military should be taking the president's side in political debates. As debate over deploying the National Guard continues, Attorney General Pam Bondi is defending the Justice Department's aggressive moves in Democratic-led cities. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bondi engaged in a fiery exchange with the Democratic Senator from Illinois, whose state is currently suing the Trump administration to block National Guard troops from Chicago. I wish you love Chicago.

as much as you hate President Trump. And currently, the National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will. The U.S. government shutdown, meanwhile, rolls into its seventh day. Part of a reason why gold has now hit record highs. Investors are seeking safety amid mounting global uncertainty, sending gold past $4,000 an ounce. And with the shutdown delaying key economic data,

traders are flying blind, betting the Fed will move sooner. The rallies also being driven by expectations of a weaker dollar and geopolitical tensions from Ukraine and the Middle East to political unrest in France and Japan. Tesla has unveiled cheaper versions of its Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan, a move aimed at attracting more buyers as overseas competition heats up, and a $7,500 US tax credit, appears. It's also part of Elon Musk's push to hit sales targets and unlock a massive compensation deal. To get the lowdown, I spoke to consumer reporter Chris Kirkham. Hey, Chris, thanks for joining us.

Of course. Glad to be here. So what are these new models offer exactly? So it's really kind of just a variant of their, you know, sort of top selling Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that, you know, have been on the market for years now. It's basically you get a slightly, slightly shorter battery range. Kind of the interior trim is not quite as nice. A few things like the rear seats don't have a touchscreen. What does all of this mean for Elon Musk's pay package? Right. So the pay package, there's a goal in the pay package of basically getting to 20 million vehicles within 10 years. Now, Tesla's already at about 8 million vehicles. sold. And then he would also need to achieve a market cap goal. So he would need to increase the

value of the stock, you know, the stock market value of the company to two trillion. They're about 1.4 trillion now. If you were to achieve the 20 million vehicles goal and if you were to achieve the first market cap goal, that would get him about $8 billion in compensation, which is still the lowest sort of tier in this package. And that's far more than sort of the lifetime pay of other highly paid executives too. Ecuador's president has survived an attack on his motorcade. Video captured the moment President Daniel Naboah's car was attacked by some 500 people in Karnar. A top aide says signs of bullet damage were found on his vehicle.

Noboa was not hurt and five people have been detained over the incident. Now to Bangladesh for our recommended read, where schools in boats are keeping education afloat on the flooded plains. You can read more by following the link in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.