Latest / Apple News Today / Trump is in court today. What to know about the charges.

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Trump is in court today. What to know about the charges. · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, June 13th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, how some very young plaintiffs are leading a landmark court fight over climate change, what to know about student loan payments before they resume later this summer, and the new NBA champion who just wants to go home.
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  But first, former President Trump is set to appear in Miami federal court today. He says he'll plead not guilty to charges that he illegally kept classified documents and tried to keep the government from finding them. It'll be similar to how things went when he showed up to court in April in New York in a different case. This time, though, he faces federal charges.
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  Thirty-seven charges, to be exact. Most involve what's called "willful retention of national defense information." Basically, that he kept sensitive documents that he shouldn't have and failed to give them back. Federal prosecutors say the documents included sensitive military secrets, including information on the U.S. nuclear program.
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  Trump is also accused of various charges related to the investigation: withholding or concealing documents, making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors say he conspired with an aide, who is now facing charges too, to hide classified material from investigators. This allegedly involved lying to the FBI and moving boxes before agents searched his Mar-a-Lago home.
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  Some of the charges Trump faces carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison. In theory, if he were convicted on all of them, the sentence could add up to hundreds of years. But in practice, federal defendants rarely get maximum sentences. And none of the charges against Trump have mandatory minimums.
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  Trump and his supporters are criticizing the charges, saying it's unfair that he's being charged for mishandling classified information and other politicians are not. "The Washington Post" reports on how the cases are very different. It's true that former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden both had classified documents from their previous time in office and Hillary Clinton used a personal email server to conduct government business, including writing about classified information.
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  One major difference was that Pence and Biden returned the classified documents they had. Had Trump done this, he may have never been charged. He faces no charges for the many documents that he did return to the National Archives. And then there's the issue of the investigation. Pence, Biden and Clinton cooperated with investigators. Trump is accused of lying to them. Special Counsel Jack Smith says the charges come down to a simple principle: No one is above the law.
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  Jack Smith: We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more and nothing less.
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  [END NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Apart from this case and the fraud charges Trump faces in New York, there could be more criminal trials ahead. He's also under investigation for his role in trying to overturn the election he lost and the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
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  Right now, in Montana, a group of young people, some in elementary school, is trying to fight climate change in an unusual new way.
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  They are suing the state, saying its energy policies violate their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment. The case is getting global attention not just because of the plaintiffs' youth, but also because of the novel approach to challenging governments to do more about climate change.
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  "The Daily Montanan" is covering the trial, which started yesterday. These young people are basing the case on language in Montana's state constitution, which guarantees a, quote, "clean and healthful environment… for present and future generations." They're pointing the finger at lawmakers for policies that benefit fossil-fuel industries. And that includes looser coal mining regulations and failing to consider climate impact when doing environmental reviews for projects.
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  Fifteen-year-old Badge Busse is one of the plaintiffs. He told "Montana Public Radio" why he joined the lawsuit.
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  Badge Busse: It's hard to watch the things that I love get depleted slowly. Like, fishing with my dad is my main way to hang out with him and my brother.
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  [END MONTANA PUBLIC RADIO ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Each of the young plaintiffs is passionate about this suit for different reasons. A young Indigenous woman worries that climate change will jeopardize ancient cultural traditions. There's a very young child who's struggling to breathe because wildfire smoke aggravates his asthma. In court yesterday, one of the young plaintiffs, Rikki Held, told the court how wildfires and other environmental issues hurt her family and other ranchers.
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  Rikki Held: Neighbors lost cattle in the fire and then we lost a few cattle just because they were so stressed trying to find water. And also the drought, trying to find grass.
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  The state of Montana tried to get the suit dismissed, but it's moving forward, and it could set a new precedent for climate lawsuits across the country.
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  People with student loans are facing a tough summer. The payment pause that was part of pandemic relief measures comes to an end on August 30th. Millions of people who borrowed from the federal government will have to resume making payments. This was part of the recent debt-ceiling deal between Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden.
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  Julia Carpenter: And at the same time this summer, we are awaiting the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Biden administration's planned student loan forgiveness program.
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  That's "Wall Street Journal" personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter. That court opinion on student loan forgiveness is coming any day now. Carpenter says, for borrowers, the pause on payments has been a huge relief. A once-in-a-lifetime kind of break.
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  Carpenter: They needed it during the pandemic, but they also needed it during this period of high inflation. They were using that money to stock up their savings, or they were using that money to make ends meet in their household, and now preparing for that payment to again be part of their financial plan is a struggle.
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  Many borrowers have questions about what to do now that payments are restarting. We asked Carpenter about the most important steps to take.
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  Carpenter: So, the first thing you should do is contact your loan servicer. Call sooner rather than later. Review your payment history, review what your payment will be, what it should be in effect as of August 30th, and then make plans to start reabsorbing that payment into your budget.
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  A financial advisor she talked to also says that if you think you might qualify for loan forgiveness, don't refinance just yet. Consider waiting to see how the Supreme Court rules on Biden's forgiveness plan. There are many more tips in Carpenter's article, which you can read in full on the Apple News app.
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  The Denver Nuggets are NBA champions. That's a first in the nearly half-century history of the team.
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  They defeated the Miami Heat last night to win the series four to one, and the Finals MVP was Nikola Jokić. The Nuggets star is known for his powerful offense and clever passing skills. But it also means he's often the target of aggressive defenders. "The Wall Street Journal" even did a whole article about how many times they've literally drawn blood during the playoffs. As "The Journal" puts it, he "leads the league in flesh wounds." One of his teammates said, he looks like he's been "mauled by a tiger."
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  So, when the time came for the standard post-game victory interview on the court, he sounded satisfied, but also super tired.
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  [CROWD CHEERING]
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  Reporter: You are an NBA champion, Nikola. How does that feel?
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  Nikola Jokić: It's good. It's good. The job is done, we can go home now.
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  [END ESPN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Home for Jokić is Serbia, and he's mentioned many times how he looks forward to the off-season when he gets to look after his horses. He seemed happy to win, sure, but happier still to get back to his stable.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. That includes a collection of NBA Finals coverage, as well as previews of hockey's Stanley Cup Finals game tonight. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around.
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  We've got a narrated article coming up next from "Bloomberg Businessweek." It's about America's race to get better at making electric-vehicle batteries. The fall of a startup set things back, and there are big concerns about competing with China. That's playing for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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