The Headlines - Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted, and Confirmation Hearings Begin

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Plus, don’t go to this “Sex and the City” spot.   On Today’s Episode:Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case, by Alan Feuer and Charlie SavageSpecial Counsel Report on Hunter Biden Denounces President’s Criticism of Case, by Devlin Barrett and Glenn ThrushPete Hegseth to Face Democratic Questioning in Confirmation Hearing, by Helene CooperWinds Strengthen, Fueling Fears of New L.A. Fires, by Mike IvesDementia Cases in the U.S. Will Surge in the Coming Decades, Researchers Say, by Pam BelluckYou Can Have ‘Sex and the City,’ Just Not on the Front Stoop, by Brittany Loggins 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]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, January 14th. Here's what we're covering. Just after midnight, the special counsel's report on Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election was released to Congress. The report, which the Times got access to, sums up Jack Smith's years-long investigation into Trump, which culminated in charges of election interference. And it claims that had Trump gone on trial, there was enough evidence to convict him. Trump winning the 2024 election, however, ended the case.

The Justice Department has a policy prohibiting the prosecution of sitting presidents. So the report may be the closest the public will ever get to seeing what could have been laid out in a courtroom. In the report, Smith says Trump undertook a, quote, unprecedented criminal effort to try and stay in power. And Smith took him to task for encouraging violence against his political opponents. The report cites evidence from multiple criminal cases of January 6th rioters,

who made clear they believed they were acting on Trump's behalf. Trump's lawyers fought the release of the report down to the last minute and denounced it as a political hit job designed to disrupt the presidential transition. Around 2 a.m., Trump himself took to social media, posting that Smith is a lame brain, and saying, quote, the voters have spoken. Smith resigned as special counsel late last week, but there is another report from him

on Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents that is yet to be released. [♪upbeat music playing.♪ classified documents that is yet to be released. Meanwhile, the report from the special counsel who investigated Hunter Biden is also now out. David Weiss spent years investigating the president's son. Hunter was ultimately found guilty on firearms charges and pled guilty to tax crimes before he was pardoned by his father. In the report, Weiss specifically criticizes Joe Biden for claiming the charges were politically motivated. Weiss wrote that the president questioning the case threatened, quote, the integrity

of the justice system as a whole. Starting today, Trump's cabinet and staff picks for his new administration will face a crucial test, Senate confirmation hearings. A dozen potential nominees will be questioned by senators over the coming days, including the people that Trump has tapped to run the state, Treasury, and Homeland Security departments. The most high-profile hearing, and the one that could be the most contentious, is this morning for Pete Hegseth. The former Fox News host and Army veteran is Trump's pick to run the Pentagon. And from the minute he was named, he's faced a wave of questions about his behavior, from

allegations of public drunkenness, to claims he mismanaged a veterans nonprofit, to a settlement he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. And many lawmakers, including some Republicans, said they had reservations. Then a coalition of Trump's allies started carrying out an intense campaign to push all those concerns aside. President Trump nominated Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense to change things. Ban woke nonsense from our armed forces and make our soldiers proud to serve. Call your senator. They bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads encouraging people to flood senators

offices with calls telling them to support Hegseth. I for Republicans say please make the call stop. We get the point. We're a yes vote. The calls will not stop until they're sworn into office. That effort seems to be paying off. One Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, who initially questioned whether Hegseth could effectively

tackle sexual assault in the military, dropped her criticisms amid the increasing pressure. But my colleague Carl Hulse, who's covering the hearing today at the Senate Armed Services Committee, says Democrats are going to try and chip away at Republican support for Hegseth. They're going to press him about his past behavior and about whether he's qualified to run the Pentagon, which has almost three million employees. I do think that Mr. Hegs's management abilities are going to be a subject of the hearing

more than maybe people expect. There are bigger questions about him beyond his character issues about how he's going to treat the current management of the Pentagon and his push to get rid of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and whether he's going to clean house over at the Pentagon. The Pentagon is probably the most important federal agency and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to make sure that it can be run properly.

If the committee signs off on Hegseth, he'll still face a full vote in the Senate, possibly as soon as Monday, Trump's first day in office. In Los Angeles, the National Weather Service is warning that new powerful wind gusts could cause, quote, explosive fire growth. The winds picked up again overnight and could hit up to 70 miles per hour, and they're expected to stay in tents for the next two days. That could reverse some of the hard-fought progress firefighters have made trying to

contain multiple fires around the city. Overnight, a new fire broke out in Ventura County, north of LA, and it could be one of many small blazes that pop up and get fueled by the winds. Even once those winds die down, the area will still be dangerously dry. Los Angeles has only gotten sprinklings of rain since April of last year.

Meanwhile, one of the first steps for people who have lost their homes is trying to get into a rental property and that's been really difficult given the influx of people who are looking at these properties. Times reporter Emily Baumgartner is in LA covering the aftermath of the fires. We've seen a lot of reports of price gouging especially on the West Side. We're seeing properties that were $3,000 now going for $4,500. Families even outside of units arguing about who needs the property more and sooner because there's just

such an influx of demand. Another issue we've seen for people whose houses have not burned down, but who haven't been let back into the evacuation zone is a lot of fears about looting. There have been reports of trespassing and looting in the fire zones. They have been very limited, but it's still a major concern for people who feel like they were forced to leave their homes. And now they're hearing rumors

that are running rampant online about people looting their properties. And there's a lot of fear that they're not able to get home and defend it. Authorities announced yesterday they have made some arrests connected to looting. The National Guard has been deployed to secure the evacuation zones.

For more on the fires, including a look at the government's response and whether some of the devastation could have been avoided, listen to today's episode of The Daily. A new study says that in the coming decades, the U.S. will face a surge in cases of dementia. According to the research published yesterday in the journal Nature Medicine, the number of Americans who are expected to develop dementia will double by the year 2060. The main reason? An aging population. Age is the number one risk factor for the condition,

which can lead to severe memory loss, though there are others as well, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. The rising number of cases will put a huge strain on American families and test the country's healthcare system. The U.S. already spends more than $600 billion a year on caregiving and other costs for people with dementia. But experts say that half of dementia risk

is preventable. Lifestyle changes and medication to improve cardiovascular health can help. So can wearing hearing aids, which push back the onset of dementia by keeping people more socially connected and engaged. And finally, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, New York has no shortage of tourist meccas. But every day, crowds also descend on a quiet, tree-lined stretch of the West Village and a brownstone at 66 Perry Street. In Sex and the City, it was the home of Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. In real life, it's the home of someone who would just like a little privacy.

I think this is it. Just the boys having a photo op. Should we take a closer? What? Do you want a picture? Uh, yeah, sure. In a letter the owner recently sent to the city, they said Sex and the City fans are gathered outside day and night taking flash photos, making TikToks, and posing on the iconic front steps. The chain and the no trespassing sign outside the house hasn't been enough to keep people from looking in the windows and ringing the doorbell.

And the owner is now asking the city for permission to block off the steps to the historic home with an iron gate. The letter noted that even though Sex and the City premiered in 1998, there have been a slew of spinoffs and endless reruns. They wrote, quote, after 20 years of hoping the fascination with my stoop would die away and fans would find a new object for their devotion, I have acknowledged we need something more substantial. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.