The Daily - Special Episode: The Year in Sound

Episode Date: December 22, 2017

A riot in Charlottesville, Va.; hurricanes in Houston and the Caribbean; shootings outside a music festival, in a church and on a baseball field. Big new jobs for Donald Trump and Neil Gorsuch; big jobs lost for Michael Flynn, James Comey, Bill O’Reilly and Harvey Weinstein. A health care bill stymied; a tax bill fast-tracked. Here’s what a breathtaking year sounded like, from start to finish. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. We're taking Monday off for Christmas. For the rest of next week, we’ll revisit our favorite episodes, adding what has happened since the stories first ran. We’ll be back with a new episode on Tuesday, Jan. 2.

3, 2, 1, Happy New Year! The new year begins. Good morning. It's Sunday, January 1st, 2017. Happy New Year to you. A new year, a new Congress, a new president. January 20th, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. Crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

Now, there are many people here celebrating the inauguration of President Trump, but there are also many others who are protesting his inauguration. Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! The biggest inauguration protest in United States history. The biggest single-day protest of any kind in the United States history. Every continent around the world, millions of women marched in protest. The message, a historic rebuke to Mr. Trump

and a declaration of feminism in a polarized America. I'm establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. We don't want them here. President Trump's executive orders temporarily restricting entry into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries is now in effect. They can't deny that this is a Muslim ban. It is a Muslim ban. is now in effect. They can't deny that this is a Muslim ban. It is a Muslim ban. Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter!

A federal judge has temporarily halted President Trump's controversial travel ban nationwide. So, what happens next? President Donald Trump announced his pick for Supreme Court Justice. Judge Neil Gorsuch. Neil Gorsuch. He'd be the most conservative Supreme Court nominee in 25 years,

be the eighth most conservative member on this court. That's what Donald Trump wanted in a nominee, and I think that's what he got. Tonight, a major shakeup in the three-week-old Trump administration. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is out. Flynn stepped down tonight amid a cover-up scandal involving the Russians. Now, there are louder calls for an investigation into Michael Flynn is out. Flynn stepped down tonight amid a cover-up scandal involving the Russians. Now there are louder calls for an investigation into Michael Flynn. Jeff Sessions is at the heart of the latest storm to hit the Trump administration. New reports say Sessions talked twice with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. I have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.

And in another crucial headline tonight. I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Comey publicly confirming for the first time that the FBI is investigating whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. The fact begins right now.

Can you guys just give me like, I just, we just have like something big that we're trying to confirm. So we just need like a little bit of time to do that. Is that okay? Okay. Okay. Thanks. So it's 2 45. We're in the newsroom. I'm standing in front of the media group, which is completely crazed right now. And every single reporter here is working on the same story, which is that Bill O'Reilly has just been fired from Fox News, which was pretty much unthinkable until a few hours ago. So this is a big media story. It's a big business story. So this is a big media story. It's a big business story. But, you know, it's also a story about a shift in our culture because it is now unacceptable for someone in this position of prominence to have all these allegations. Hey. Hey. Sorry. So I got the folks here at Kinko's. Let me use the phone.

How did you do that? I told them I needed to call the office. So, Mike, what did you find? You want to know why Comey got fired? President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. To repeat, President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. It was a complete surprise. Apparently, at some points, FBI officials were

notified this by journalists today and they had not themselves learned of this. Again, they say it was over his handling of the Clinton email investigation. Trump turns to Comey and says, do I have your loyalty? And Comey says, you have my honesty. Wow. President Donald J. Trump joined by his EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announcing that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Accord. At least seven are dead and more than 30 are in hospitals following a night of terror in London. ISIS is now claiming responsibility. North Korea hailing its latest weapons breakthrough as a miracle

as Kim Jong-un basks in the glory of what he calls a new birth of the country's rocket systems. Rocket man should have been handled a long time ago. We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Here on Capitol Hill, the entire nation watching what happened today underneath that dome. You talk about a fiery testimony coming from the fire director from the FBI. Bombshell after bombshell during Capitol Hill testimony from fired FBI director James Comey. The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly, the FBI.

Those were lies, plain and simple. Ultimately, Comey said it came down to protecting the FBI. He said he believed keeping records of the conversations would show the organization's integrity. Fired FBI director James Comey described a series of inappropriate meetings with the president and perceived requests. Receiving shots being fired and there are people running, possibly victims involved.

The major story that has stunned Washington and the nation, a powerful member of Congress, the House Majority Whip, was shot this morning during a practice for a congressional baseball game that's scheduled for tomorrow. In all, five people were taken to the hospital, including the House Majority Whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana. President Trump is set to meet with Republican leaders today on health care as a new battle looms in Congress. Republicans are facing a make-or-break moment over repealing and replacing Obamacare. The president is calling on the Senate to follow the House in passing a repeal and replace bill. A dramatic moment on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Senator John McCain returned to Washington to cast a key vote in the health

care fight. McCain didn't answer when his name was called. He'd walk in seconds later, stand in front of McConnell, and ask for the clerk's attention. Senator John McCain stretching out his hand, saying no loudly. One of the things I cannot stand about this town is the backstabbing

that goes on here, okay? Where I grew up and the neighborhood I'm from, we're front-stabbers. More news from Capitol Hill. Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci has become President

Trump's new communications director, sparking the resignation of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Breaking news for you tonight. Out of our nation's Capitol, less than two weeks into the job, and new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci is out. It is just the latest shakeup under President Donald Trump. just the latest shakeup under President Donald Trump. What was supposed to be happening was a noon rally, a so-called Unite the Right rally, hosted by white nationalists at Emancipation Park.

The purpose of this is to gain sympathy for pro-white advocacy, as well as a general uniting of the right wing. A group of white supremacists, Nazis who gathered around a Confederate monument there. Anyone who doesn't have tiki torches now should go out and get it basically tonight or tomorrow morning. And then there was a counter-protest to confront those Nazis, those people who had gathered. And in the middle of that, there was a scuffle. That scuffle broke out. And then a car plowed into a crowd of the counter-protesters. At least one person was killed. After the weekend's violence, President Trump blamed, quote, many sides for the clashes.

I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have any doubt about it either. And if you reported it accurately, you would say. They showed up in Charlottesville to protest. And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. Parts of Texas under a state of emergency this morning

as Hurricane Harvey, currently in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall as a Category 3 storm. Harvey is on track to potentially become the biggest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade. Yet another hurricane warning has been issued for the U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico. Hurricane Maria, which slammed into Puerto Rico this morning with winds topping 150 miles per hour. And developing weather news, tropical storm Emily has landed, striking a coastal Florida island. A month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, 75% of that island is still. You know, we're dying here.

We truly are dying here. And I keep saying it, SOS, if anyone can hear us, you know, if Mr. Trump can hear us, let's just get it over with and get the ball rolling. If you're just joining now, we're following an ongoing situation in the city of Las Vegas. At the time of the shooting, the police were estimating there were 22,000 people on this scene. Yeah, it was basically just a big empty lot where they'd set it up. All of a sudden, we just heard like three or four little pop, pop, pop.

And a lot of people at first thought... Everybody kind of looked around and said, oh, it's just firecrackers. And then we heard pop, pop, pop, it's just firecrackers. And then we heard pop, pop, pop. And it just kept going and going. And my husband said, that's not firecrackers. That sounds like a semiotic rifle. So we began looking around and we started hearing rumors over and over again about Harvey Weinstein. He said, will you give me a massage? And I said, no, no, I'm not comfortable doing that. And he said, oh, come on, everybody does it. The number of women now accusing Harvey Weinstein of some kind of sexual misconduct is more than 20.

Let me be very clear. There is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It is systematic and pervasive women cannot achieve equality in the workplace or in society until there is a reckoning. Actor Ben Affleck a day after condemning Weinstein is now apologizing for past behavior of his own. Charlie Rose is the latest high-profile man to face sexual abuse allegations.

New allegations against Matt Lauer nearly a day after NBC News announced his firing. Minnesota Senator Al Franken is accused of kissing and groping a woman without her consent. The fifth woman, number five, to come forward to say Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old. Kevin Spacey now under criminal investigation for alleged sex assault. Metropolitan opera conductor James Levine is... Tonight, movie icon Sylvester Stallone

is facing some serious allegations... Sexually assaulted by John Travolta. The founder of Def Jam Records, Russell Simmons, and talk show host Tavis Smiley. Actor Jeremy Piven also defending himself. Ratner ranged from forced oral sex to really crude language. George Takei sexually assaulted. An attorney for Congressman John Conyers says a Michigan Democrat has a problem. Emmy-winning actor Jeffrey Tambor walking away from his show amid sexual harassment.

Garrison Keillor. George H.W. Bush faces yet another accuser who says the flavor president. The same is right. He has nine years of misconduct or is a male by the female. Are accusing him of sexual harassment. At the end of the day, we keep saying this is a moment when everything is changing. It's a moment of reckoning. America is waking up.

Is America actually waking up? Because we listened to that Access Hollywood tape. President Trump had over 12 accusers with detailed stories that were disconnected from one another. And that Access Hollywood tape. And he won. Roy Moore could win here. So at the end of the day, when we keep saying times are changing, are they really? could win here. So at the end of the day, when we keep saying times are changing, are they really?

Mr. President, is an accused child molester better than a Democrat? Is an accused child molester better than a Democrat? Well, he denies it. He denies it. I mean, if you look at what what is really going on and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about, he said 40 years ago this did not happen. So, you know. Doug Jones, the Democrat, he will be the next United States Senator from Alabama.

He beats Roy Moore in this really, really exciting contest. I have always believed that the people of Alabama had more in common than the Diviners. A stunner in the South for the first time in 20 years, Alabama will have a Democratic senator as Doug Jones defeats Republican Roy Moore. Republican Roy Moore. The president's former campaign manager, Chairman Paul Manafort, surrendered to federal authorities this morning. This is incredibly significant because while the White House can certainly try to distance

themselves from Paul Manafort's business dealings or his luxurious lifestyle, here you have a campaign aide who has evidence that there were efforts to set up meetings between Russia and the Trump campaign and also has some evidence suggesting that the Trump campaign knew that the Russians were in possession of some of Hillary Clinton's emails. Another big story we're tracking tonight. Retired General Michael Flynn, once President Trump's national security advisor and key confidant, now a convicted felon. We're working our way through traffic in Maryland and I get this call. I turned to my dad who's in the passenger seat and I said,

Dad, Flynn may have flipped. I need you to drive. And he looks at me with this look like, you will literally do anything to get out of driving. We begin with the significant sign that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn could be cooperating with Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading this whole Russia investigation. Flynn's lawyers told White House lawyers they could no longer discuss defense strategy with them. This guy that Trump was very close to is going to be flipping, essentially, to talk to the other side about what he knows with Russia.

As a candidate, I promised we would pass a massive tax cut for the everyday working American families who are the backbone and the heartbeat of our country. Now we're just days away, I hope, I hope, you know what that means, right? From keeping that promise and delivering a truly amazing victory for American families. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. We want to give you, the American people, a giant tax cut for Christmas. And when I say giant, I mean giant. Will it look like a win one year from now? Thank you. So now there's going to be this title. All right. Some big talk. The Democrats declaring the death of the Republican Party.

I want to know about the Russia investigation. I feel like that's going to be a big overhang for 2018. Collusion. No collusion. Would it alarm you if President Trump fired Mueller? What exactly is the White House saying about this idea of firing Mueller and where is this coming from? Who knows? But there's going to be a lot of pressure on Manafort. Collusion is not a crime. They're going to try to push Manafort for other information about the campaign. Where does the political world's attention turn now? Can Democrats take back control of the House?

If you had to sum up 2017, if you look back at the last 11 months, right, and what an 11 months it has been, how do you do it in a sentence? I feel like, I mean, it's been unprecedented. I mean, and people who support the president would say it's been it in a sentence? I feel like, I mean, it's been unprecedented. I mean, and people who support the president would say it's been unprecedented in a great way, and people who don't support him would say it's been unprecedented in a bad way. But it's redefined the presidency, and it's been historic. The Daily is produced by Theo Balcom, Lindsay Garrison, Rachel Quester, Annie Brown, Andy Mills, Christopher Wirth, Ike Sreeskandarajah, Claire Tennis-Sketter, and Paige Cowan, with editing help from Larissa Anderson.

Lisa Tobin is our executive producer. Samantha Hennig is our editorial director. Our technical manager is Brad Fisher, and our sound engineer is Peter Sayle. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick and Michaela Bouchard. Next week on the show, we're going to revisit our favorite episodes of the year, listen back, and then hear what's happened

in the time since the stories first ran. and then hear what's happened in the time since the stories first ran. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you on Tuesday.