Up First from NPR - Ex-U.S. Capitol Police Officer Remembers Jan. 6, CNN Defamation Trial, Golden Globes

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

After protecting the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, retired Capitol Police officer Aquilino Gonell says Donald Trump's re-election feels like a "betrayal." CNN goes to court to fight a defamation lawsuit filed by a security contractor. Reviewing the highlights from the 2025 Golden Globe Awards.For more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Barrie Hardymon, Emily Kopp, Clare Lombardo, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Ben Abrams. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Zac Coleman.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Donald Trump has said he will pardon the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. A retired Capitol police officer says that feels like betrayal. So it feels like sometimes, like, what did I risk my life for? I'm Michelle Martin, that's Amy Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. CNN is in court today defending itself against accusations of defamation. A security contractor who offered to help Afghans flee the Taliban said the network wrongly portrayed him as predatory.

The trial comes as public perceptions of the media are increasingly negative. And the 82nd Golden Globe Awards came and went last night. Netflix musical Amelia Perez won big and Demi Moore scored a major acting award, her first in a long career. Stay with us, we've got all the news you need to start your day. ["The New York Times"] Today is January 6th,

when Congress is set to certify Donald Trump's victory in the Electoral College. We are expecting a much different scene than four years ago today when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. About 140 police officers were injured. The FBI calls the attack an act of domestic terrorism. Trump has referred to January 6th as a quote day of love and he's promised to pardon people charged for their role in the attack. MPR's Tom Dreisbach has been covering January 6th and its aftermath the last four years. He's with us now, Tom.

I was sitting at the KPCC studios in Pasadena in stunned silence. I mean, an event that so many of us watched on TV has so many different interpretations. How can that be? Well, in a word, politics. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the FBI, Justice Department launched what became the largest single investigation in their histories. More than 1,500 cases, 100 of those for violent assaults on police officers, and the most serious cases were for seditious conspiracy against leaders of extremist groups like the Proud Boys

and Oath Keepers. Most defendants pleaded guilty. The people that went to trial were virtually all convicted by juries or in some cases by judges. And as these prosecutions have gone on, the facts that emerged have only been more alarming. We've seen more videos of violence. We learned more people had weapons like guns, bats, tasers, pepper spray. But as Trump ran for president again,

he embraced this idea that the violence on January 6th was overblown. He claimed there were no guns, which is not true. And he claimed to supporters that most got a little out of hand, that they've been unjustly prosecuted in his view. And that's a narrative, though, I should say, that judges that actually heard these cases saw the evidence, including judges he appointed, they rejected those claims again and again. Okay, now that he won the election, what do we know about Trump's plan for pardons? Well, during the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised

to issue pardons on day one, but he's been vague about exactly whom he would pardon. At times, he said it would be on a case-by-case basis. He did say he would be open to pardoning people convicted of assaulting police. The Trump transition team, I asked them about this, they didn't give me any details. They said they would pardon people who were, quote, denied due process. But as I mentioned,

most people pleaded guilty. Others decided to try their cases in front of a jury and most lost. Now, you've been talking with police officers who were injured on January 6. What have they been saying? Well, I spoke to, for example, Aquilino Ganell. He was a sergeant in the Capitol Police on that day. He witnessed some of the worst violence. His injuries actually forced him to retire. And here is what he told me when I asked how he was feeling about the election.

Um, honestly, I trey. Mm. To feel like sometimes, like, what did I risk my life for? What did I risk my life for, he said. And I also talked with the family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. He was assaulted with pepper spray on January 6th. He died of a stroke the following day. His mom Gladys said she's been crying, sometimes just out of the blue.

What I'm very upset about that might happen is that he's going to let all these people out of jail. It's just not right. The Sicknick family says they've been devastated to learn that there would be the possibility of pardons for the people who are involved with violence on January 6th, including potentially the man who assaulted Gladys Sicknick's son, Brian, who was sentenced to six years in prison. It is unclear if he'll get a pardon and also get out of prison. That's NPR's Tom Dreisuck. Tom, thank you very much.

Thanks. Today, CNN is in court fighting a defamation lawsuit. A security contractor who had offered to evacuate people from Afghanistan says he sued CNN to clear his name. As NPR's David Falkenflick reports, the case arrives at a moment when the news media is under increased scrutiny and legal pressure. So David, tell us about this contractor. Why is he suing CNN?

So let's go back to August of 2021 and the chaos that ensued when the US withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban, you know, extended its control to the country. Security contractor named Zachary Young offered services for a fee to get people out many thousands of dollars apiece. CNN reported that Afghans who were trying to get relatives out felt they were being price gouged. They use the words exorbitant prices, the term black market. Young's attorneys say, look, the character of our client was maligned. He was not doing this for individuals who are desperate simply, but for deeper pocket organizations like corporations,

non-government organizations from the US and Europe, and that he lost millions of dollars as a result of this story. All right. So what does CNN say? So the network says a couple of things here. It apologized some months later. The story originally appeared on the lead with Jake Tapper, a substitute host, Pamela Brown, apologized on the air saying the network shouldn't have applied the label Black Market, didn't mean to apply that to Mr. Young and it shouldn't have been in the story. And then it said, we're just reflecting the concerns of the Afghans we spoke to here.

But its lawyers also have taken a more aggressive tone in legal documents filed in motions for this case. They said, look, we learned that Young lied to our reporters during the reporting of stories and we were unable to confirm that he evacuated anybody as he claimed. How strong is this case against CNN? Well, it's really interesting to go through and look at the documents. And let's remember that any kinds of exchanges

from Slack or emails or texts or whatever, in any kind of case like this, are going to be necessarily a narrow window into it. It may not reflect the full context. But you're seeing editors, right as the story is going to air and is about to, a fuller version of the story is about to be and is about to a fuller version of the story is about to be published online these editors internally at CNN are expressing real misgivings they say we don't have the goods here in one

exchange like look let's just hope that we just keep with the video version of the story and not do anything with the written story it's about 80% emotion and maybe 20% facts we don't have there. I spoke to two prominent First Amendment lawyers, one an expert on it at the University of Florida where the case is being held. Another used to be the chief global counsel for Bloomberg News. And they say these are all red flags. In fact, the one formerly with Bloomberg News lawyer named Charles Glasser said CNN simply should settle here.

It got this wrong. And David, there is a much larger context for this legal battle going on right now. Right, well you're seeing just an enormous surge of defamation lawsuits against news organizations in recent years, including, let's be honest, NPR. And there's no no ties between Zachary Young, or at least on my part, known between Zachary Young

and incoming president Donald Trump. But the incoming president and his allies have promised an assault against the press. You've seen it rhetorically. They've promised to use the powers of governments and the courts. And let's use one example recently. The Walt Disney Company just agreed to pay $15 million to a Trump Foundation, a million in legal fees to settle a Trump defamation suit against ABC News. First Amendment lawyers told me that case seemed easier to defend. All right, it's NPR media correspondent David Falkenflick. David, thanks. You bet. The 82nd Golden Globes were awarded last night in Beverly Hills.

Netflix's Emilia Perez took home the most movie awards, including one for Best Musical or Comedy Film and one for co-star Zoe Saldana as supporting actress. Shogun led wins on the television side. NPR Entertainment correspondent, Madalita El Barco, was there inside the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Joins us now, Madalita. So let's start with who won. What were the highlights? Well, as you said, Amelia Perez was a big winner and that was no surprise. This film about a Mexican cartel leader's trans journey

was also celebrated for one of its original songs and it was named the best non-English language film at the Globes. Also, The Brutalist became the night's best motion picture drama. Adrian Brody got a Golden Globe for starring as a Jewish Hungarian architect who immigrates to America after World War II. The award for best director of a motion picture went to Brady Corbett, who also co-wrote The

Brutalist. No one was asking for a three and a half hour film about a mid-century designer on 70 millimeter. But it works. And he urged Hollywood to take more chances. Now, Manali, just a few years ago, the Golden Globes were controversial. I mean, can you remind us what that was all about? Yeah, well, there was a boycott in 2022 after the LA Times reported that there were no black members of the HFPA, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that used to hand out these awards.

And there were also ethical concerns about the organization. And it's since been bought and the HFPA was formally disbanded. They expanded the number and types of voting members. So now it includes more than 300 entertainment journalists from around the world. Yeah. And you wouldn't even know anything about the controversy based on the awards last night because it seemed like people were having a lot of fun there and stand-up comedian Nikki Glazer hosted the show. How did she wind up doing?

Well, Nikki Glazer was a hit and as you may know, she's known for roasting celebrities. Last night, she had some of the biggest Hollywood stars laughing at themselves. You're all so famous, so talented, so powerful. I mean, you could really so powerful. I mean you could really do anything. I mean except tell the country who to vote for, but it's okay. You'll get them next time if there is one. I'm scared. That was probably the most pointed political moment of the night. A few others brought up vague references to dark times. Alright,. Any big surprises last night?

You know, the movie musical Wicked only got one win for its box office achievements. That's really an award for the fans. And Demi Moore surprised even herself when she was crowned best actress in a musical or comedy. She co-starred in the movie The Substance. And during her speech, she said it was her very first major acting award, even though she's been at it for more than 45 years. She recalled a producer once told her she was a popcorn actress and that she thought that maybe was her limit. And as I was at kind of a low point, I had this magical, bold, courageous, out of the

box, absolutely bonkers script come across my desk called The Substance. And the universe told me that you're not done. We'll see how all of these films do at the Oscars. The Golden Globes are just the start of award season. I know it officially begins. That's MPR Entertainment correspondent, Madalit Del Barco. Madelita, thanks. Thank you. And that's Up First for Monday, January 6th. I'm Ami Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. And remember, you can listen to this podcast sponsor free while financially supporting public media with Up First Plus. Learn more at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Barry Hardeman, Emily Kopp, Claire Lombardo, Ali Schweitzer, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia Butch, Nia Dumas, and Ben Abrams. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow. you