The Headlines - Trump Transition Stalls Over Ethics Code, and a New Russian Offensive

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Plus, Saudi Arabia’s “sportswashing” controversy.   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:Trump Names Thomas Homan ‘Border Czar’ With a Wide Portfolio, by Mike IvesTrump Holds Up Transition Process Over Ethics Code, by Ken BensingerTrump’s Return Hangs Over U.N. Climate Negotiations, by Lisa Friedman50,000 Russian and North Korean Troops Mass Ahead of Attack, U.S. Says, by Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz‘Change the Game’: Saudi Arabia Takes a Stride Into Women’s Tennis, by Ismaeel Naar and Vivian Yee

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, November 11th. Here's what we're covering. Donald Trump, who promised a broad crackdown on immigration while running for president, has now named a border czar to carry out his policies. The president-elect made the announcement in a social media post last night, just before midnight, saying Thomas Homan will be in charge of the country's borders. Homan has worked in law enforcement for over 30 years, including as a border patrol agent, and he served as a senior immigration official in Trump's last

administration. President Trump is going to end the Biden-Harris open border madness. At this summer's Republican National Convention, Homan vigorously endorsed Trump's calls for mass deportations. I got a message to the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden's released in our country in violation of federal law, you better start packing now. Homan also defended some of Trump's most controversial immigration policies from his first term, including the separation of thousands of migrant families at the border. The policy details for Trump's next administration aren't yet clear, but Homan suggested in an interview on 60 Minutes

that the government could resume large-scale raids on work sites to arrest unauthorized workers. I don't use the term raids, but you're probably talking about work site enforcement operations, which this administration pretty much stopped. Workplace enforcement, that's a roundup. And that's going to be necessary. Meanwhile, over the weekend, Arizona was called for Trump, giving him a victory in all seven swing states. And President Biden has invited Trump to the White House this week for a meeting, a traditional

part of the handover of power. But there's an issue holding up the transition process. Trump has not yet submitted a legally required ethics pledge that states he will avoid conflicts of interest while in office. Congress added that requirement in 2019 in part because of ethics concerns during Trump's first administration. One watchdog group identified more than 3,400 conflicts of interest during that time. Trump's transition team was supposed to submit the ethics plan by October 1st, and until they do, the Biden administration legally cannot share classified intelligence or give

Trump's team early access to the federal agencies they'll soon control. Without that prep, Trump's team will basically be forced to come in cold when they take over in January, which experts say could leave the country vulnerable as the new administration comes in. When world leaders arrive today for COP29, the top thing on everyone's mind is the election of Donald J. Trump in the United States. What it means is that the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide in history will soon no longer participate in the fight against climate change.

Times climate reporter Lisa Friedman is covering COP29, the global climate talks that kick off today in Azerbaijan. She says that the U.S. is basically set to make a 180, as Trump, who's called climate change a hoax and promised to make it easier to burn coal, prepares to take office. Right now, with the beginning of these negotiations, countries are hoping to unlock billions

or even trillions of dollars to help transition the world to clean energy and protect the most vulnerable countries from the ravages of climate change. Because the Biden administration is essentially a lame duck, those discussions are now viewed as harder to achieve an agreement on. So that's the short term, but in the long term,

and not even that long, if the United States is not working at a national level to cut emissions and encouraging other countries to do the same, there's a real question of whether the world can avoid busting through what's considered the safe limits of climate change. Scientists are telling us that for every fraction of a degree of warming, the severity of dangers will rise. Flooding, droughts, heat waves, wildfires. Look at this past year alone. There was massive flooding in Brazil, disastrous flooding in Spain. In the United States we had back-to-back hurricanes, Helene and Milton. If

emissions don't go down, disasters like these will continue and will get worse. In Russia, 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, are preparing to launch a major offensive against Ukrainian forces. Their goal? To take back the Russian territory that Ukraine managed to seize earlier this year. The attack is expected to begin in the next few days. The Ukrainians had hoped that their push into Russia this summer would force Moscow to pull troops away from the front lines to defend its own territory. Instead, U.S. officials tell the Times that Russia's been able to prepare the coming assault without weakening its other positions, in part thanks to the thousands of North Korean soldiers

who've been called up. North Korea's army hasn't been involved in ground combat in decades, but Russia's given them machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and other weapons, and trained them in basic infantry tactics and trench clearing. If they manage to push the Ukrainians back, it's not clear if the North Korean troops will stop at the border or if the North Korean government has authorized them to fight in Ukraine itself. And final. This weekend, the Women's Tennis Association finals played out in the capital of Saudi

Arabia in a sold-out match. But the location of the WTA finals. But the location of the tournament came with controversy. The women were playing in a country where progress on women's rights is still stop and go. Saudi women have been pouring into the workforce in record numbers recently, and they got the right to drive a few years ago. But they still need the permission of a male guardian to marry, and prominent

women's rights activists have been jailed. In recent years, critics have accused Saudi Arabia of trying to sportswash its human rights record, investing billions of dollars in golf, soccer, boxing, car racing, and now tennis as a distraction. The kingdom struck a deal to host the WTA finals in part by promising some $15 million in overall prize money, the highest winnings in the history of women's tennis. Coco Goff, who ultimately won, weighed the pros and cons of playing in Saudi Arabia before she arrived, saying she had reservations about the country's record on women's rights

as well as LGBTQ rights, but she said she also looked forward to promoting the sport to young girls in a new place. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how Democrats are now arguing over the party's direction after the sweeping losses of last week. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.