Impeachment inquiry into Biden, Americans to be freed in prisoner swap deal: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: House Republicans will open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen has the latest from the Georgia election case. Five detained Americans are expected to be freed by Iran in a prisoner swap deal. USA TODAY Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn breaks down a major antitrust case involving Google. The number of Americans living in poverty goes up for the first time in years.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.  

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know, Wednesday, the 13th of September 2023.

Today, House Republicans will open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Plus, we hear the latest from the Georgia election interference case. And it's the US versus Google in a major antitrust battle.

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Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced yesterday that the House will open a formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.

Kevin McCarthy:

These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.

Taylor Wilson:

The move escalates a Republican investigation that started in January when the GOP took majority control of the lower chamber, the House Oversight Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees will lead the inquiry. After months of investigating Biden, Republicans say he benefited from his son Hunter Biden's business dealings despite a lack of substantial evidence. McCarthy's announcement means Republicans will move forward on an impeachment inquiry without a formal vote on the house floor. Many moderate Republican lawmakers had hesitated at rushing into the process and it was unclear yesterday whether an inquiry vote would pass with a necessary 218 votes in the lower chamber. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer strongly opposed the inquiry.

Chuck Schumer:

The impeachment inquiry is absurd. The American people want us to do something that will make their lives better, not go off on these chases.

Taylor Wilson:

McCarthy's move also comes as he tries to rally hardline conservatives to support a plan to keep the government open. The House has just 11 working days left to avoid a shutdown.

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia argued yesterday against delaying the prosecution of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows until an appeals court decides whether to move his case to federal court. I caught up with USA Today Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen for the latest on that and more in the Georgia election case. Bart, welcome back to Five Things.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So the question's about whether to move Mark Meadow's case to federal court continue. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis yesterday argued against delaying his prosecution until an appeals court makes a decision on this. What did the district attorney argue here?

Bart Jansen:

Well, she's saying that the idea that he could potentially get a verdict in his state level case before you hear from appeals isn't worth slowing down her state level case. She's saying for one thing the case could take months to try, but also the uncertainty of that federal appeal isn't worth waiting for. She argued that it's not clear that Meadows is going to win on the merits. He may eventually lose that appeal, and so she is not interested in holding up her local prosecution of the case.

Taylor Wilson:

Just as a refresher, why have Meadows and his lawyers argued so strongly in favor of moving his trial to federal court?

Bart Jansen:

They argue that his job as White House chief of staff basically protects him from state level charges, that you wouldn't want state level prosecutors to be able to harass federal officials generally. And in this case, Meadows is arguing that the things that he's accused of in the indictment, basically setting up phone calls, setting up meetings with state level lawmakers, that those are part of his job. And also he argues that's why the charges should be dismissed entirely at the federal level. But the prosecutor has argued that what he did went far beyond his official duties in basically trying to overturn the 2020 election. And the judge, US District Judge Steve Jones, who's taken a look at this request, said basically the Constitution provides that states decide how to conduct their own elections. And so in a fairly divided case, he said the evidence basically weighs toward the local prosecutors to pursue their trial locally.

Taylor Wilson:

And where to hold trials is a major decision for all 19 co-defendants in the Georgia case. What's the latest on others trying to move their trials to Federal Court?

Bart Jansen:

Meadow's case is very important for at least four other co-defendants in that case. Each of them says that they also had federal posts at the time the indictment alleges they were committing crimes, and so they also want to move to federal court. These people include Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general, and three of the alternate electors who were charged as part of the co-defendants, which include the Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, a State Senator, Shawn Still, and Cathy Latham. They are waiting to see what kind of decision Mark Meadows gets. Judge Jones has said that his decision in the Meadows case doesn't necessarily impact them. He's still going to have to decide on them. But legal observers think that Meadows had the strongest case, so everybody's waiting to see if Meadows can win. In addition, Donald Trump himself has said he may ask to move his part of the case to federal court. He has not yet made that formal request.

Taylor Wilson:

Also at issue here, Bart, is when to hold these trials and District Attorney Willis is arguing that all co-defendants should be tried together next month. What's her argument on this and how do defense teams feel about that at this stage?

Bart Jansen:

Yeah, that's right. The prosecutor wants to try them all at once. Prosecutors have estimated that this trial could last four months with 150 witnesses, so it's a massive undertaking.

So far, local judge, Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee, has scheduled a trial for October 23rd for two of the defendants, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell. They have demanded a speedy trial. And so they're going to move ahead in a month and a half and start their trial for the two of them. Now, Donald Trump has asked to be separated from at least them saying that he doesn't want to move that fast at all. His lawyer, Steven Sadow, says that he needs more time to prepare. It's a 98-page indictment. There are 41 combined charges, and to try to bring a case to trial about two months after an indictment as handed up is too fast for a fair trial. And so they have asked for more time to prepare.

The Judge McAfee has asked District Attorney Willis to turn in formal arguments for why all 19 should be tried at once. But a big factor in that is the cost and the effort of mounting such a massive trial in addition to prosecutors on her team have argued that trying it, if they were to do just Chesebro and Powell by themselves at the start, that that shows their entire strategy and sort of gives the later defendants perhaps a legal advantage to going slower.

Taylor Wilson:

Bart Jansen covers the Justice Department for USA Today. Thank you, Bart.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

Biden administration officials expect the release soon of five detained Americans in Iran. That's after the State Department notified Congress that Iran will be given access to$ 6 billion in funds that have been frozen in foreign accounts. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken signed a memo last week that allowed the transfer of funds Iran earned through the sale of oil and other goods that had been under sanctions. None of the money comes from US taxpayers according to an official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The deal also includes the release of Iranians detained in the United States. The US has been negotiating the American's release for at least two years. Last month, the Iranian American dual citizens were transferred from a notoriously harsh prison to a Tehran hotel where they've since been on house arrest.

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The United States versus Google, it might be the most significant antitrust case of the modern internet age. I spoke with USA Today Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn for the latest. Hey there, Jessica.

Jessica Guynn:

Hey, how are you?

Taylor Wilson:

Good. Thanks for hopping back on the podcast.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So what's at issue here in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google?

Jessica Guynn:

It's actually fairly simple. Google has struck deals with phone makers and browsers to be the default search engine, and these deals cost Google billions of dollars, but they help Google make loads and loads of money off of search advertising. And the question being raised here by the Justice Department is if these deals are anti-competitive.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, what's at the heart of the Justice Department argument and what's Google's defense?

Jessica Guynn:

The Justice Department began arguing in the courtroom that those deals are, "Am I competitive?" Meaning they illegally shut out competitors, bully industry partners, and ultimately harm consumers. Any change to those agreements would have really significant consequences for Google. And Google sees it very differently of course. It says these are just distribution deals like any other distribution deal in the business world. It pays for its search engine to be on your phone the way a serial maker might pay to put its products at eye level. So you see them in a grocery store aisle. Google's other argument is, "Hey, anyone can switch their default search engine on say their iPhone and people don't switch." And Google says that's because they just prefer Google.

Taylor Wilson:

And Jessica, why does this case matter?

Jessica Guynn:

First of all, this is the first major test of pledges made by both the Trump and Biden administrations to reign in big tech, which has been seen to become way too powerful in recent years. It's also the most significant antitrust case since the Justice Department sued Microsoft in 1998 for bundling its web browser with windows. And interestingly, Google here is trying to downplay any comparisons to Microsoft. They say, "We're not Microsoft."

Taylor Wilson:

What's next for this trial going forward? And what other antitrust issues does Google face?

Jessica Guynn:

The trial's going to take more than two months. There's not a jury. The judge will make the call on whether Google violated antitrust laws. If the government wins, observers say Google's unlikely to be broken up, but it could face new limits. Farther down the road, Google faces another Justice Department case, however, its dominance in digital advertising. That issue is the technology it uses to place ads.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Jessica Guynn, thanks as always.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks so much for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

The number of Americans living in poverty has gone up for the first time in years. That's according to an announcement yesterday from the US Census Bureau. The data shows that 12.4% of Americans lived in poverty last year compared with 7.8% in 2021. The increase was likely connected to the end of pandemic era benefits according to Dave Waddington, chief for the Census Bureau's Social Economic and Housing Statistics Division. And Columbia University Professor Zachary Parolin said things like child tax credits and expanded unemployment benefits among other measures helped drop poverty in America to record lows in 2020 and 2021. Notably, the poverty rate for children in 2022 more than doubled from the previous year. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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And an FDA expert panel is recommending that everyone get an updated COVID-19 vaccine after the latest batch of shots was authorized this week. You can hear more in yesterday's episode.

Thanks for listening to Five Things. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can email us at [email protected]. I'm back tomorrow with more of Five Things from USA Today.