Up First from NPR - Presidential Money Race, Clearing The Key Bridge, Moscow Investigation's Torture

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

If you paid enough money Thursday night, you could get your picture taken with three presidents — all at once. Reopening the Port of Baltimore will be a Herculean effort, as crews must clear six million pounds of steel out of the Patapsco River. And Russia's government isn't trying to hide that the four suspects on trial for last week's Moscow terrorist attack have been tortured.Want 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 Dana Farrington, Russell Lewis, Nick Spicer, Alice Woelfle and Ben Adler. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Milton Guevara. We get engineering support from Carleigh Strange. And our technical director is Stacey Abbott.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

reopening the port of baltimore will be a herculean effort the dolly is almost as long as the eiffel tower and has a key bridge on top of it what's the plan to remove all the wreckage i'm debbie elliott with layla fottle and this is up first from npr news three presidents a whole lot of celebrities and a $25 million campaign fundraiser. Can Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and all that money help Joe Biden catch Donald Trump? And Russia's government has made a point of showing it's tortured the suspects in last week's terrorist attack. See, on your behalf, the state brings a revenge to the perpetrators. We are paying them back. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

Now, Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. How do you clear 6 million pounds of steel out of a river? That's what authorities in Baltimore have to figure out after a cargo ship wrecked the Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this week. Until they do, the city's port is at a standstill, and thousands of people are unsure if they'll have jobs. Officials are warning that this effort won't be easy, inexpensive, or quick. NPR's Joel Rose has been following the story and joins us now. Good morning,

Joel. Good morning. So it's now three days since the morning the bridge collapsed. What's the site look like right now? It's still a scene of incredible devastation. The wreckage of the bridge is still in the river. Some of it is resting on top of the ship's bow. Containers on the ship are dislodged. Some are dangling off the edge of the ship known as the dolly. Maryland Governor Wes Moore says this is a very daunting task. The dolly is almost as long as the Eiffel Tower and the dolly has a key bridge on top of it. We're talking three to four thousand tons of steel that's sitting on top of that ship. All of that debris has to be removed before they can reopen the shipping channel to the port of Baltimore. You know, and only then can they start working

on a long-term replacement for the bridge. I mean, where do you even start? For the first time, we're starting to get a sense of how this will go. There are many different federal and state agencies involved, including the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy. And they're bringing in major resources, including a 1,000-ton crane said to be the largest on the eastern seaboard, another 400-ton crane coming in this weekend. U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath says they're still trying to figure out the best way to use those cranes. Before we can actually engage in lifting, we've got to complete the assessment process of the bridge and the pieces of the bridge are in the water so that we can figure out how to cut the bridge into the right size pieces so that we can actually lift them with the crane. But even completing that assessment will be difficult. Divers have to work carefully and methodically because the water is so dark and the debris is so dense that they can only see a few feet in front of them. No one at this point is willing

to say how long it's going to take to get the port open again or how much it's going to cost. Now, federal aid is starting to arrive. $60 million in emergency funding announced yesterday. Is that anywhere near the need to clean up and rebuild? No, it's just a tiny fraction. A down payment is what officials are saying. The Biden administration can do some of this work with emergency funds. Sooner or later, though, Congress will have to sign off on at least part of the money. And all of the elected officials in Maryland seem to know this, from the mayor to the congressmen to the senators. They're all framing this as an issue of national impact on the economy because they know it's going to be a tough sell to many Republicans in Congress, particularly in an election year.

You know, before we let you go, we have to talk about what we've heard a lot of hazardous material is on that ship and concerns about contamination. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, there were many questions about that at the briefing last night. Out of 4,000 containers on the ship, 56 contain hazardous materials. The Coast Guard says 14 of those were impacted in some way by the bridge strike, containers carrying things like soap and perfume and some kind of resin. The Coast Guard was also asked about a sheen on the surface of the water. They believe that's from some damaged equipment on the front of the boat that's released about 20 gallons of oil into the river.

The Coast Guard says there is no threat to the public so far, but they are watching closely. NPR's Joel Rose. Thanks, Joel. You're welcome. If you paid enough money last night, you could get your picture taken with three presidents all at once. President Biden was joined by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and a bunch of celebrities at a $25 million Democratic fundraiser in New York City. Republican Donald Trump was in town, too, at a wake for a New York City police officer killed in the line of duty. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez joins us now with the latest on the 2024 campaign and the money race.

Good morning, Franco. Hey, Layla. Okay, so set the scene for us with this celebrity studded fundraiser. Yeah, I mean, it was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York. It was a sold out event with more than 5,000 people there. It was kind of considered kind of a private event, but we do know from the pool of reporters who are always following the president that there was a lot of energy in the room. As you guys mentioned, big stars, comedian Mindy Kaling hosted, Lizzo performed, Stephen Colbert, the late night host, moderated a talk with the three presidents. You know, Obama, he touted Biden's policies and said, unlike Trump, he had a positive message to share. That's Biden had a positive message.

Clinton talked up Biden's economic moves as well, talked about trying to work across the aisle on tough issues like the border. You know, the three presidents were very chummy with each other. You know, it was really just a lot of star power, a lot of money. And when you put all that together, you know, it was kind of an opportunity for Biden to counter concerns about his re-election, about his age and polls that kind of show a lack of enthusiasm. And, you know, just to be clear, I mean, we saw some of those concerns or at least frustrations play out last night as well, as the event was interrupted multiple times by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Yeah, we've been seeing

that a lot. Voters unhappy with Biden over his continued support for the war. So Biden really needs this money since he appears to be trailing Donald Trump at this point, right? He does. He does. You know, Biden is behind Trump in some of those polls, but, you know, he is way ahead when it comes to the fundraising. And last night's event was a big demonstration of that. You know, Trump's got his challenges, of course. He's got a lot of legal bills that his political action committee is helping spend money on, money that could be used for the campaign. The Republican National Committee, which will fundraise with Trump, is busy overhauling the

staff. You know, they really just all got a lot of work to do. So that's the money, fundraisers behind closed doors. Are Trump and Biden getting out much in public on the campaign trail? Yeah, this trip for Biden to New York was actually the highlight of a stretch of campaigning for Biden following his State of the Union address. You know, he visited battleground states like North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania. Trump, you know, he's actually been kind of keeping a low profile. But as Debbie mentioned, he did appear yesterday also in New York at the wake of a police officer who was killed during a traffic stop. You know, I did touch base with the Trump campaign. And they say, of course, Trump is not going to have the same kind of money as Biden. They had to spend millions in a primary race that Biden did not have to worry about. But they do argue that their digital

fundraising is skyrocketing and donor investments are also up. And they say, just wait, promising their own historic night next week when Trump and the Republican Party team up for a fundraiser on April 6 in Palm Beach. And they expect to raise $33 million. You know, it really just all goes to show how big of a money race this election is going to be. NPR's Franco Ordonez. Thanks, Franco. Thank you, Leila. Russia's government isn't even trying to hide the fact that the four suspects on trial for last week's Moscow terrorist attack have been tortured. Gunmen stormed a concert hall and then set the venue on fire. The attack killed more than 140 people. ISIS has claimed responsibility and the U.S. has deemed that assessment credible.

But Russian officials have suggested Ukraine carried out the assault, despite vehement denials from Kiev. NPR's Charles Mains in Moscow is here with the latest. Good morning, Charles. Morning. So where does the Kremlin's investigation stand at this point? Well, yesterday, Russian authorities arrested what they say was the suspected financier of the attack. Eight others are already in custody, including four of the alleged shooters. Most of these men, and they're all men, are from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan. Yet earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin said he was primarily interested

in who ultimately hired these people and again blamed Ukraine. And we've since seen his top officials, including the head of the Federal Security Services, the FSB, this is Alexander Bortnikov, double down on this theory. Let's listen. So here Bortnikov says, of course, the gunmen didn't do this on their own, and that he sees a Ukrainian trace, one that he says was confirmed by initial information received from the detained suspects.

Okay, presumably he's referring to these suspected shooters, right? But as you reported to us earlier this week, these men showed clear signs of torture when they appeared in court. Yeah, there's really no question. And I say that based not only on how they looked in court, where they were battered and bruised, one wearing a bandage over a mutilated ear, another semi-conscious in a wheelchair with a gouged eye. And so I say that not because of that, but also because, and this is what's really news here, what these men went through was leaked in graphic videos on social media that could have only come from the security services. Now, Olga Sadolskaya, Russia's crew against torture, a group that's lobbied against abuse in Russia's justice system for decades, says this, of course, was intentional. One objective of showing it so

widely is to send the message to those who are maybe planning something else that look what will happen to you. And another is a message to general public, like, see, on your behalf, state brings a revenge to the perpetrators. We are paying them back. Now, Sadowskaya notes there's a problem here that's not unique to Russia, and it's this, that torture doesn't work the way you want it to, she says. It's not an instrument for getting the truth from a suspect. And needless to say, this approach also won't do much to instill confidence in Russia's version of events, particularly in the West, where there are already suspicions the Kremlin is more interested in manufacturing a Ukrainian connection than

pursuing the facts of the case. Charles, you noted the suspects are from Central Asia. Most are from Tajikistan. Is it creating tension for immigrant and minority populations? Well, Central Asian migrants have never had it easy in Russia. But in the wake of these attacks, we've seen nativist instincts kick in. A journalist friend just happened to cross into Russia yesterday and saw long lines of Central Asian migrants stopped at the border for extra security checks. Meanwhile, there are growing calls for a change in Russia's open-door migrant work policies with its Eurasia's own

neighbors. But the truth is, Russia is dependent on Central Asian labor now more than ever, given that traditional labor shortages here have only been exacerbated by Russians going off to fight in Ukraine. NPR's Charles Maines in Moscow. Thank you, Charles. Thank you. And that's up first for Friday, March 29th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Debbie Elliott. Your next listen is Consider This from NPR. Today marks one year since Evan Gershkovich was detained by Russian security forces. Hear his sister talk about the fight to bring him home.

Listen to Consider This. And today's episode of Up First was edited by Dana Farrington, Russell Lewis, Nick Spicer, Alice Wolfley, and Ben Adler. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Ben Abrams, and Milton Gavata. We get engineering support from Carly Strange, and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Start your day here with us again this weekend with Scott Simon and Aisha Roscoe,

and we will see you back here on Monday.