What A Day - It All Went Down in the Discord

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

The FBI has arrested 21-year old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard suspected of leaking classified government documents on Discord early last month. The materials revealed sensitive information about the war in Ukraine, and how the U.S. spies on some of its allies.A federal appeals court partially blocked the decision by a Texas judge to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, but with tightened restrictions. The Justice Department is now asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on the conflicting decisions over the abortion pill.And in headlines: President Biden announced a plan to expand healthcare access to DACA recipients, Missouri Republicans are threatening to defund public libraries in the state, and New York Mayor Eric Adams has appointed the city’s first-ever ‘rat czar.’Show Notes:Where Can I Get an Abortion? | U.S. Abortion Clinic Locator – https://www.abortionfinder.org/Vote Save America | Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

it's friday april 14th i'm treyvel anderson and i'm priyanka urbandi and this is what a day where we have a few notes on time's list of the hundred most influential people of 2023 yeah first of all they misspelled my name as austin butler what's up with that rude second of all where the hell is megan the robot doll? She is not going to be happy about this. On today's show, the Biden administration plans to expand health care access to DACA recipients. Plus, if you've applied to become New York City's new rat czar, we regret to inform you that they have moved forward with another candidate. But first, we've got an update on that trove of classified documents that was floating on Discord that we mentioned on Tuesday's show. The FBI has arrested the person they suspect is behind the leak.

His name is Jack Teixeira, and he's a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, and he was arrested for the, quote, alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information. As a quick reminder, photos of top-secret governmental documents were posted on the messaging platform Discord early last month, but they only recently gained more attention after someone reposted a portion of the documents to the extremist paradise known as 4chan. The classified documents revealed a whole lot of stuff, including that the U.S. has been spying on a number of its allies and that the government believes Israel's intelligence agency is actually encouraging protests against the country's new government. Other docs disclosed

some of the weaknesses of Ukraine's military operations, which prompted the country's new government. Other docs disclosed some of the weaknesses of Ukraine's military operations, which prompted the country to make some alterations to whatever they had planned as the Russian invasion approaches the 14th month mark. And the docs also revealed that the U.S. has been intercepting Russian military communications channels.

Okay, this is some serious shit that we're talking about. Like some very serious, very sensitive information that has been leaked. communications channels. Okay, this is some serious shit that we're talking about. Like, some very serious, very sensitive information that has been leaked. So, I am very curious, what do we know about this person, and why did he do this? Like, do we know why he wanted to leak this information? I'm so curious. So, as I mentioned, Jack worked at the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He served in a junior position, but had access to an internal defense department computer network for top secret information called the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System. Very long name there.

He was part of this discord group that started in the pandemic and is comprised of roughly two dozen, mostly men and boys, who were united in their mutual love of a different kind of Holy Trinity, God, guns, and military gear. Big yes. The others in the Discord group called Jack OG, which I can only assume is supposed to mean

original gangsta, which is a particular title for a 21-year-old. But, you know, what do I know? Yeah, all of this is disgusting to me, but please continue. I'm going to play for you a clip from an interview that The Washington Post did with a member of that Discord group where Teixeira allegedly posted the classified docs. The identity of the person speaking is hidden, but we know they're a minor. Take a listen.

He is not a Russian operative. He is not a Ukrainian operative. I'll go as far to say he's not even on the east side of the world. Any claims that he is a Russian operative or pro-Russian is categorically false. He is not interested in helping any foreign agencies with their attack on the U.S US or other countries. He was a young, charismatic man who loved nature, God, who loved shooting guns and racing cars. He did have sort of a bossy attitude at some points, but it was more of a fatherly bossy. He did see himself as the leader of this group,

and ultimately he was the leader of this group. And he wanted us all to be sort of super soldiers to some degree, informed, fit, with God, well-armed, stuff like that. Girl, what? What was that? Yeah, that does not sound like a fun thing to be a part of. Anyways, he is obviously facing years in prison if convicted. But what else do we know about the impact of this leak? One Biden administration source called the leak, quote, an egregious betrayal of trust, while also noting that much of the info in the docs is likely weeks old, right? So the danger to national security and

the security risks of allied operations like supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion is kind of still a bit unclear. We do know that the leak caused Ukraine to tweak some of their plans, as I mentioned earlier. But beyond that, the impact is still unfolding. We're still kind of figuring that out. In the meantime, it's expected that Jack will make an initial appearance in court today to begin, you know, answering those charges against him. Yeah, Tramiel, thank you so much for

walking us through that. In other news, the legal saga around the abortion pill Mifepristone continues. Late Wednesday, a federal appeals court partially blocked the decision by a judge in Texas to suspend the FDA's approval of Mifepristone. This means that Mifepristone is still available for now, but the court order temporarily prevents it from being sent to patients via mail, which is how a lot of people get it these days. And it limits its approved use to the first seven weeks of a pregnancy, which is still quite early. Okay, so it's still available. That's great, I guess. But all of these new limitations and restrictions, what's going on with that? So the restrictions are actually the ones that were in place on the drug prior to 2016. So in its ruling, the Fifth Circuit Court said

that conservative groups had actually waited too long to challenge the FDA's approval of Mifepristone. Mifepristone was approved back in 2000. It's been around for 23 years, used very safely for all this time then. They basically said, like, you're way too late on that. But the court said that the statute of limitations hadn't expired on the regulatory changes that the FDA has made around this drug since 2016. So these relatively newer changes that have made it easier for people

who need abortions to get them, you know, being able to get mifepristone by mail, for example, not having to see a doctor or go in person to get the prescription, taking it later into a pregnancy are the things that they are restricting now. So very big deal, very big changes, you know, mifepristone still available, but like a very tight grip on how, and it's really, really changing, especially I would say with the mail, like how people are going to be able to access this. The Biden administration, of course, finds this unacceptable. They are not okay with it.

The DOJ immediately asked the Supreme Court to intervene and stop these restrictions to restore access to regular people. Gotcha. So now how might the court handle this? We know that they haven't quite been on our side lately. Yeah. I mean, this is the same conservative majority that took away Roe. So you would not be blamed if you were expecting the worst here. that the Texas decision was made to invalidate the FDA's approval of the drug, that the Supreme Court justices might actually wait for a better case to weigh in in a more measured way. But all of these things that have been happening, the judge in Texas's ruling, the ruling from a judge

in Washington state in a separate case that directly contradicted the Texas decision, now this order saying that we can still have mephipristone, but under these very different regulations, all of it is extremely confusing if you are a person who needs an abortion right now. And all of this is going to be especially complicated for people living in Florida, where the state's Republican majority legislature yesterday passed a sweeping ban on abortions after the six-week mark. And that includes its own restrictions on medication abortion. Governor Ron DeSantis said that he plans to sign it, no surprise there, and that could have a huge impact across the Deep South since many people in the region have come to Florida for abortions since Roe was overturned. Now, it could take some time before this gets worked out. Florida's 15-week ban on abortion

is still being challenged in state court, But with all of this legal drama unfolding, abortion providers nationwide have been preparing for all of the ways that these situations could play out. So if you or someone you know needs an abortion, don't let all the chaos around these decisions stop you from seeking out that care. Abortionfinder.org is a great place to start if you need it. We'll keep following this as it continues to unfold, but that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines.

Headlines. Just one week after he pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges for falsifying business records, former President Donald Trump returned to New York yesterday to sit for a deposition in yet another high-stakes legal case against him. This time, it was for New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil investigation into Trump, two of his children, and the Trump Organization. The suit was filed late last year, alleging that the Trump family business gave false financial statements to lenders for over a decade in order to enrich themselves. If the Trumps are found guilty, they'll face a $250 million fine and could be barred from running any business in the state of New York ever again, which is probably, you know, a win for all the New Yorkers out there.

Thursday's deposition comes after Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, both of whom are also named in James' lawsuit, were deposed by the Attorney General last year as part of the probe. The Trumps deny any wrongdoing. Of course they do. The case is set to go to trial in October.

We will stay tuned for that one. President Biden has announced a plan to expand health care access to hundreds of thousands of immigrants known as dreamers. Under the proposal, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, will be granted access to insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid markets. DACA recipients are currently ineligible for government-funded health care coverage, but the proposed rule change would expand the definition of, quote, lawful presence to include immigrants who are brought to the U.S. as children and are enrolled in DACA. In a statement released yesterday, the White House said, quote, we recognize that every day counts and we expect to get the proposed rule done by the end of the

month. If finalized, the rule will make DACA recipients eligible for these programs for the first time. That's a really exciting development. Absolutely. Fort Lauderdale and other cities in southern Florida have been inundated with severe flooding over the past few days following a series of intense thunderstorms in the region. The National Weather Service estimates that Fort Lauderdale alone saw over two feet of rain between Wednesday and Thursday, passing the city's previous 24-hour rainfall record of about 15 inches. Footage from the area showed people wading through waist-high

water in the streets, and the high floodwaters made most roads impassable, trapping many residents in their homes. The Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Airport was also forced to suspend operations because of all the debris that was swept onto its runways. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis told reporters, quote, What we are seeing is a thousand-year incident. No city could have planned for this. As of our record time at 9.30 p.m. Eastern, there have been no reported injuries or deaths due to the severe weather. The Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Airport is scheduled to reopen today. Yeah, that footage was so scary to watch.

If you are in this area, we hope you're staying safe and that you are staying dry. Pack it up, everybody. Missouri has figured out the problem with everything. And yep, just what you suspected. It's books. Republican lawmakers there are threatening to defund all public libraries in the state, not usually what I'm used to hearing after the word defund. In a budget passed by Missouri's Republican-led House last week,

all $4.5 million in state funding allocated for public libraries would be eliminated. However, the good news, if you want to call it that, is that this proposal has not yet been finalized, and lawmakers in Missouri's Senate have said that they plan to restore that funding, including Senator Lincoln Huff, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, quote, there is no way that money is not going back into the budget.

Hopefully, it all goes as planned, and we'll be here to keep you posted on the latest developments. But it's so crazy that they tried to do this in the first place. That is nuts. I'm so sorry to everyone in Missouri. You're lawmakers. Whackadoodles. Don't know what to tell you.

This just goes to show that the Republicans all across the country are all wild. No one's exempt, okay? Not one. Keep your eyes peeled. And finally, New York Mayor Eric Adams this week announced that the city has finally found its rat czar, the first ever city official responsible for curbing the proliferation of rats. In a job posting for the position, the city asked for candidates who were, quote, highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty and had a, quote, swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor and general aura of badassery. The person for the job is Kathy Karate, a former elementary school teacher with a background in biology and urban sustainability. Karate had this to say about her passion for eradicating rats. As New York City's first director of rodent mitigation, I will bring a science and systems-based approach to reducing New York City's rat population.

With a strong focus on cutting off the food, water, and shelter rats need to survive. And ensure every New Yorker is prepared to take up this mantle in this fight. Vims is definitely fighting words, Kathy. We're being mobilized. Listen, she is getting us together, okay? Getting us in formation. So you better hug your ratatouilles and your pizza rats a little tighter tonight because Kathy Karate is coming for them.

But Kathy, I don't know if I want to be in the fight. I want to be far away from that shit. I'm so sorry. This is your fight. That's your job now. Why are you trying to recruit me for this? Kathy says this is a team effort. Everyone has a role to play.

I love the spirit, Kathy. Where's the team's paycheck? So sorry. I'm staying in my apartment. That's your problem, girl. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads to ask some very important questions about one of the oldest members of Congress. It's Friday Watt Squad, and it's about damn time.

That also means it's time for a little segment we like to call Rent Free. Because no matter how many things are happening in the news, and there's always a lot, there's always that one thing that ends up living rent free in your head. And we are here today with our very good friend, Crooked Associate Editor, Julia Clare. She is the brave soul behind our nightly newsletter. And you know a thing or two about this phenomenon, right, Julia? I sure do.

So it's been another busy news cycle, but if there is one thing of all the things, what's that one that has been taking up too much of your brain space this week? If any of you follow me on Twitter, and I hope to God you don't, you will know that what's been living rent free in my head is Senator Dianne Feinstein, my senator here in California. I didn't do this intentionally, but I accidentally caused maybe a momentum to get her to resign. She's not gonna do it. She's not gonna resign. But I did point out that at the time that I tweeted this a can nominate and confirm judges to the federal courts has been suspended since she has been out sick.

And she's also 89 years old. The main thing is that she's given no indication of when she is going to return to the Senate. So it just feels like we're in this indefinite hell in which we can confirm no liberal judges to the federal bench at a time when the rights of trans people and people who can get pregnant are being rolled back and exterminated, essentially, by activist hard-right federal judges because Trump pushed through hundreds of them in his one term. The Texas judge who issued the ruling invalidating the FDA's 23-year approval

of mifepristone, the abortion pill, was one of those judges that Trump confirmed in his single term. The federal bench has lifetime appointments. It is an emergency that we are not able to confirm judges to the bench and these unfilled vacancies. I'm getting a lot of pushback calls for old DeFi to resign. Why do you think people are pushing back? It's using very much the same reasoning that a lot of people used when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sick repeatedly and of very advanced age. She should have known how tenuous and vulnerable our democracy is. And she should have resigned and allowed herself to be replaced when President Obama was in office. You bring up a really salient and important point that it's not just us being like,

oh, get out of here because you're old. Like the things that are being held up because of her absence are of critical importance. That is why people are like, hey, maybe we need to do this. Yeah, and I know that it does look like I'm cyberbullying an elderly woman with shingles, but I'm not, I promise.

I am not punching down here. Dianne Feinstein is one of the 100 most powerful people in the free world. Everyone's going to say that I'm evil or whatever. Like, we're arguing about an 89-year-old woman being in the Senate. And that's all I'll say. And that's all she'll say.

That is Crooked Associate Editor Julia Clare. Thank you as always, Julia, for joining us and bringing this to our attention. I'm sorry. One more thing before we go. Be sure to check out the latest episode of Stuck with Damon Young. You'll hear from A.V. Rockwell, writer and director of the Sundance Award-winning film A Thousand and One,

and Ted Lasso's Cola Bikini joins the show to examine the transition from being a parent's partner to step-parent. Listen to Stuck with Damon Young for free, only on Spotify. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, pick a side in the war on rats

and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just books at a public library like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And we'll fight for you, Ratatouille.

Perhaps my favorite of the little animated films. So I'll always fight for Ratatouille. So sorry, Kathy. What a day is a production of Cricket Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our producers are Itsy Quintanilla and Raven Yamamoto. Jossie Kaufman is our head writer. And our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.