The Headlines - Federal Cases Against Trump Revived, and Israeli Forces Raid West Bank

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

Plus, a new theory about orca boat attacks.   Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. On Today’s Episode:How the Federal Cases Against Trump Came Sputtering Back to Life, by Alan FeuerFirst Jan. 6 Rioter to Enter Capitol Gets More Than 4 Years in Prison, by Orlando MayorquínIsrael’s Military Raids West Bank in Broad Operation; At Least 9 Killed, by Gabby Sobelman and Victoria KimCan Tech Executives Be Held Responsible for What Happens on Their Platforms?, by Adam Satariano and Cecilia KangMormon Church Broadens Restrictions for Transgender Members, by Ruth GrahamScientists Have a New Theory About Why Orcas Are Attacking Boats, by Lynsey Chutel

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Wednesday, August 28th. Here's what we're covering. In federal court yesterday, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a revised indictment in Donald Trump's election interference case, trying to put the case back in play. Trump's charged with plotting to overturn the 2020 election, but that's been in limbo since the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity for official actions they took in office. In Smith's revised indictment, he tries to adapt to that. You saw Smith tweaking the indictment in very kind of small ways to suggest that Trump was not acting in his official role as president in this post-election period where he was seeking to remain in power, but in fact was acting in his private role as a candidate for office. Times reporter Alan Foyer has been covering the cases against

Trump. He says the indictment still looks similar to the first one. There are still allegations that Trump created fake slates of electors to claim victory and that he pressured Vice President Mike Pence to throw the election his way on January 6th. But other details are gone, including descriptions of how Trump allegedly tried to pressure the Justice Department to support his claim that the election was rigged. Since the Supreme Court specifically ruled those conversations were official acts

covered by immunity. Now, this revised indictment came just one day after Jack Smith took action to revive the other federal case that he had brought against Trump, the one in which Trump stands accused of mishandling, illegally holding on to dozens of classified documents after he left office. Suffice to say, neither of these two federal cases is going to make it to trial before election day. And of course, if Trump is reelected and he regains the White House in November,

he would have the power to fire Jack Smith and essentially just end these cases once and for all. But what we've seen this week is two examples of Jack Smith showing that he intends to pursue these cases against Trump aggressively as he can up until the very bitter end. Meanwhile, the rioter who was the first one to break into the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison. Michael Sparks, who's 47 years old and from Kentucky, was captured on video entering the Capitol through a window that rioters smashed with a police shield. He was found guilty on felony charges of obstructing an official proceeding, civil disorder, and several misdemeanors. The judge said it was undeniable that by going through the window first, Sparks encouraged others to follow. He's the latest to be sentenced out of more than 1,300 people the Justice Department has charged in connection with January 6th.

In court yesterday, Sparks said he still believes the false claim that the 2020 election was, quote, completely taken from the American public. In the West Bank, Israel carried out raids and airstrikes today, killing at least nine people, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The territory hasn't seen anywhere near the level of destruction that Gaza has, but this morning's operations seem to be a significant escalation of Israel's military campaign there.

The strikes and raids appear to cover a wide part of the occupied territory, where nearly 3 million Palestinians and half a million Israeli settlers live. The Palestinian Authority's official news agency says Israeli troops moved in on hospitals and were blocking access in and out of the towns of Jenin and Tolkarm. The Israeli military said it was carrying out counterterrorism operations and did not provide more detail. The country's foreign minister said, we must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. In France, authorities have until today to formally charge Pavel Durov,

the founder of the messaging app Telegram, after arresting him over the weekend. They've said it's part of an after arresting him over the weekend. They've said it's part of an investigation into criminal activity on the app. His detention has rocked the tech industry. There is little precedent for a tech executive to be arrested for the things that their users say or do on their platform. Adam Sateriano covers tech policy for The Times. He says that after Durov was arrested, the question immediately came up. Should other tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg

or Elon Musk be worried about being arrested for what's on their platforms? And really, you talk to many experts and the answer is no, that this is a fairly unique set of circumstances here. Telegram's been closely watched by law enforcement around the world for years on the platform, which is approaching a billion users now. You can easily find illegal weapon sales, drug sales, terrorism, propaganda. There's corners that have child pornography. And law enforcement officials have long been frustrated that Telegram has not done enough to address this kind of material that spreads easily across its platform. But the case has become more than just about Telegram, which many people, particularly in the United States, have never heard of or used.

It's become kind of a case study about the limits of free expression on the internet. On the one hand, you have some more kind of free speech absolutists who believe that this is an example of government trying to censor what people say and do on the internet and using the most punitive way possible. But others say that this is actually a much more narrow and legal argument about illegal activity happening on the platform and the company not doing anything to stop it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, has issued a sweeping update to its policies that include new restrictions on the Church's transgender

members. People who pursue transition are now prohibited by the Church from working with children, and trans people are barred from being baptized, even if they've only changed their names or pronouns. The new guidance, which was rolled out last week, defines someone's gender as their biological sex at birth, and says it's, quote, an essential characteristic in Heavenly Father's plan of happiness. In the past decade, the church, which has 17 million members, has carved out some limited acceptance for LGBTQ people, including no longer labeling same-sex couples as apostates, people who've rejected their religion. But it has also tightened rules around trans members, like restricting their access to temples.

A support group for current and former LGBTQ Mormons condemned the new guidelines, writing in a statement that they hope, God will yet reveal better for our transgender siblings. And finally, orcas versus sailboats. The massive mammals have been ramming and even sinking ships off the coast of North Africa and Spain in the last few years. They took out another one this week, breaking its rudder and leaving it adrift. The attacks have worried sailors and made scientists very curious. There are a bunch of theories. The whales could be reacting to past traumatic encounters that they've had with boats, or they're just naturally playful animals who aren't playing

all that gently. But a team of Spanish researchers has a new hypothesis based on one of the orcas' favorite snacks, Atlantic bluefin tuna. The scientists say that the tuna, which are fast swimmers and could be 10 feet long, are hard to catch, and the orcas need something to practice on. Unfortunately for sailors, their boats look a lot like bluefin, moving quickly, silently, and close to the water's surface. The orcas basically may be using them as training toys. For now, some sailors passing through the orcas' territory are using an app to track the pods and steer clear. And when all else fails, they've got another strategy to keep the orcas away, blasting heavy metal music. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how negotiators are still struggling to get a ceasefire deal done 10 months into the war in Gaza.

You can listen on The Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracey Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.