Year: 2023

Today we’re sharing an episode of NPR’s podcast Trump’s Trials, hosted by Scott Detrow with regular analysis from Domenico Montanaro. This week they’re joined by NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson. Each week they’ll break down the latest courtroom drama, testimony, and legal maneuverings in the criminal and civil cases facing former President Trump — and talk about what it all means for American democracy.

This week we focus on the January 6th federal election interference case led by special counsel Jack Smith. The case is scheduled to go to trial in March in Washington, D.C., and it might be coming to a TV near you.

Yes, Trump and some media outlets are requesting cameras in the courtroom. We’ll talk about how likely that is, how it could impact the case and the campaign, plus some news from a couple of key swing states.

Topics include:
– How televising the trial could help and hurt Trump
– Prosecution and defense strategies for the federal election interference case
– Pro-Trump electors from Wisconsin admit President Biden won the 2020 election
– Pro-Trump electors criminally indicted in Nevada over attempts to overturn Biden’s 2020 win

Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for new episodes each Saturday.

Sign up for sponsor-free episodes and support NPR’s political journalism at plus.npr.org/trumpstrials.

Email the show at trumpstrials@npr.org.

Brenda Lee was just 13 years old when she recorded “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” in 1958. It’s a true Christmas classic, a bouncy earworm — and pretty much everyone knows the lyrics. But it’s never made it to number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 — until now.

NPR’s Scott Detrow spoke with the 78-year-old about her long career and how she feels now that her iconic holiday tune is finally at the top of the charts.

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A woman has never been president. Hillary Clinton has come the closest, but that highest, hardest glass ceiling is still intact. Now Republican Nikki Haley wants to succeed where her predecessors have not.

The list of reasons a woman hasn’t won is long — sexism, lack of representation in circles of power, and lack of representation in circles of money. But Nikki Haley has just scored an endorsement from the Koch Network that could change that.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks to Political Scientist Kira Sonbonmatsu about the inequities between men and women when it comes to fundraising and what the Koch Network endorsement could mean for Haley.

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Diplomat and former US Ambassador Manuel Rocha is facing charges related to secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government.

Rocha is the latest in a long line of spies, who have worked for the federal government while spying for other countries. Some for decades at a time.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks to former CIA officer Robert Baer about the charges against Rocha and how he might have managed to go undetected for four decades.

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Keffiyehs, checkered scarves most closely associated with Palestinians, have been in the news lately. In Vermont, three men of Palestinian descent, two of whom were wearing keffiyehs, were shot.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with Wafa Ghnaim, a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and curator for the Museum of the Palestinian People, about the history of the garment, what it means to Palestinian identity and what it means to her.

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Israel has stepped up military operations in Gaza after the temporary ceasefire ended last week. Gaza health officials say several hundred Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more have been wounded since the fighting resumed, complicating how the U.S. maintains its alignment with Israel.

NPR’s Fatma Tanis speaks with analysts who say that U.S. support for Israel is undermining American interests and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, about how President Biden’s history with Israel is shaping current U.S. policy.

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You probably won’t be surprised to hear that a lot of Americans are worried about the state of democracy in the United States.

According to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted after the midterm elections, more than 8 in 10 Americans feel there is a serious threat to Democracy in the U.S.

Ranked choice voting has become the latest political change touted as a way to strengthen democracy.

Instead of choosing one candidate, in ranked choice voting a voter picks a favorite candidate, a second favorite, and so on.

Voters in almost 50 American cities and states have switched to a ranked-choice voting system. So even if you’ve never heard of ranked choice voting, it may be coming to a polling place near you.

NPR’s Miles Parks reports on whether ranked choice will live up to the hype as a cure-all for the country’s deep partisan divides.

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Every year world leaders gather at the Conference of the Parties, or COP, to devise solutions to what amounts to a growing existential crisis for humankind: our rapidly heating planet.

The United Arab Emirates is hosting COP28 this year. The goal of the conference is to decrease emissions and protect the planet. But leading the climate talks is the head of one of the biggest oil companies in the world, in a nation that derives much of its wealth from oil. Are the goals of this meeting truly in sync with the goals of the hosts?

NPR’s Miles Parks speaks with NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy from COP28.

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Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was viewed as brilliant by some and a war criminal by others. The only man to ever hold the jobs of National Security Advisor and Secretary of State at the same time died at his Connecticut home at the age of 100.

NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks to author and historian Jeremi Suri about Kissinger’s complicated legacy.

Listen to Throughline’s deeper dive on Kissinger here.

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Former first lady Rosalynn Carter leaves behind a rich and expansive legacy, including fierce and enduring advocacy for better mental health care in the US.

But her commitment to the issue extended well beyond her role as First Lady.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks to Anne Mahoney Robbins, a friend of the Carters and member of President Jimmy Carter’s mental health commission, about how Rosalynn Carter supported her during her own crippling depression.

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