[MUSIC FADES IN]
Yasmeen Khan, Narrating: Good morning. It's Friday, March 15th.
I'm Yasmeen Khan in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today."
Coming up, Chuck Schumer makes a stunning speech on the Senate floor,
a week of mounting bad news for Boeing, and how to spot disinformation
this election cycle.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
But first, a quick look at a few stories in the news.
In the election interference case against Donald Trump in Georgia,
Judge Scott McAffee has determined that District Attorney Fani Willis
should not be disqualified from prosecuting the case
but with a caveat, Special Counsel Nathan Wade, her former romantic partner,
must withdraw from the case if she stays on it.
Trump and other defendants sought to disqualify Willis
accusing her of financially benefiting from her romantic relationship with Wade
something Willis denies.
In his ruling today, McAffee said the personal relationship between the two
prosecutors brought an "appearance of impropriety”
to the case. But that there was no actual conflict of interest.
Meanwhile in New York, another criminal case against Trump,
which was scheduled to go to trial in 10 days, may be postponed.
This was a surprising development from the Manhattan district attorney's office.
It said yesterday it would accept a 30-day delay to review new records.
In this case, Trump has been accused of making hush money payments during the
2016 campaign to silence women who claimed to have a sexual relationship with him.
Now to Michigan, and the case against James Crumbley
the father of a convicted school shooter there.
A jury found Crumbly guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure a gun
at home and address the signs of mental health distress with his son.
Crumbly did not testify in his own defense,
unlike his wife, who was convicted on the same charges last month.
He will be sentenced in April.
In Russia, elections will be held this weekend, though we should add
quotes around the word "elections," because as many have called out,
what's happening in Russia will not really be a democratic election.
Vladimir Putin is poised to win his fifth term on Sunday, allowing him to stay
in power until at least 2030.
Back in 2020, he engineered changes to the constitution to allow him to hold
at least two more six-year terms.
Since taking power 24 years ago, Putin has steadily chipped away at
Russia's democratic institutions, and most of the prominent opposition leaders have
been silenced, jailed, or killed.
And in Gaza, a ship carrying half a million meals arrived from Cyprus
early this morning.
This is the first time maritime aid has been sent since the war started.
The non-profit World Central Kitchen led the mission.
The shipment could mark the first of several rounds of aid delivered by sea.
And it comes as the U.S. army works to build a floating dock off the coast
of Gaza a to get more aid to Palestinians in desperate need.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and the highest-ranking
Jewish official in U.S. history,
stood before his colleagues on the Senate floor yesterday,
declared his lifelong love
for Israel, and then called for new elections there, saying Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu was an obstacle to peace.
[START CNN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Chuck Schumer: Five months into this conflict, it is clear that Israelis need
to take stock of the situation and ask, must we change course?
At this critical juncture,
I believe a new election is the only way to allow for
a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.
[END CNN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: The remarks come as the White House has sharpened its public criticism
of its longtime ally, and after the vice president recently met with Netanyahu's
biggest political rival.
It's no secret that many Democrats aren't aligned
with Netanyahu's right-wing government,
a position they've held long before this war.
But it was still striking to hear a high-ranking official like Schumer condemn
Netanyahu in this way and call for new leadership.
[START C-SPAN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Schumer: He has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Minister Smotrik
and Ben Gavir.
And as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll
in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.
Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.
[END C-SPAN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: "Politico" referred to Schumer's speech as a moment where it felt like
America's gloves were coming off.
As they describe it, for a long time, it was once only acceptable to
criticize Israel in private.
Now, perhaps, that's no longer feels true.
Another example,
earlier this week, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and seven Democratic
senators sent President Biden a letter urging him
to stop providing offensive weapons to
Israel until Israel lifts restrictions on U.S. aid getting into Gaza.
The senators argue that continuing to arm Israel is a violation of the
Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits military support going to a country
that blocks the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Many Republicans, meanwhile, have been quick to double down
on their support for Netanyahu.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell basically said
Schumer's statements were out of line.
[START C-SPAN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Mitch McConnell: It is grotesque and hypocritical
for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own
democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel.
This is unprecedented.
We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all.
[END C-SPAN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: The White House has made it clear that Schumer does not speak
for the Biden administration.
But just hours after Schumer's remarks,
the State Department announced new sanctions
against two outposts in the West Bank and three extremist Israeli settlers
who've committed acts of violence against Palestinian civilians.
It's Biden's second round of sanctions against settlers.
Which are designed to block these settlers from using the U.S.
financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them.
Here's State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
[START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Matthew Miller: It is critical that Israel take additional action to stop settler violence
and hold accountable those responsible for it, not just for the sake of the victims
of this violence, but for Israel's own security and standing in the world.
[END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: More than 400 Palestinians, including over 100 children, have been killed
in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war,
according to the United Nations.
As one senior administration official told "Politico," the change in tone
from the United States
is intentional, but America's core positions have not changed.
The top priorities remain defeating Hamas and getting the hostages home safely.
[PENSIVE MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
Let's turn now to Boeing.
It's been another tumultuous week for the planemaker.
Last weekend, a Boeing whistleblower was found dead.
A local county coroner say the former employee, John Barnett,
appears to have died by suicide.
He worked at Boeing for more than 30 years and was in the middle of a legal dispute
with his former employer.
And his death puts renewed focus on safety concerns at the company,
sometimes raised by employees themselves.
Ian Duncan is a transportation reporter at "The Washington Post."
He told us about the quality issues that Barnett brought to the company
while working on the 787 Dreamliner.
Ian Duncan: He raised concerns about metal shaving, so stuff that's left over
after work is done, being left on the planes.
This is a well-known problem in aviation called foreign object debris.
Khan, Narrating: Barnett warned that these shavings could have catastrophic results
if they penetrated wiring.
He also uncovered problems with emergency oxygen systems, among other things.
Boeing denied these claims, but in 2017, the FAA reviewed
and upheld some of Barnett's concerns and required Boeing to make changes.
That same year, Barnett retired, citing health concerns and concerns
that the company might fire him if he didn't leave voluntarily.
At the time of his death, he was set to give final depositions in a case against
Boeing, where he accused the company of retaliating against him for raising issues
about production. Boeing denies this.
Duncan says the timing of Barnett's death is bringing to the fore
all of the issues Boeing has faced in recent months.
Duncan: It just seems like there is this kind of constant drumbeat
of bad news for Boeing.
Khan, Narrating: There are ongoing investigations from multiple branches of government
into the Alaska Airlines flight from January.
That's when a panel of a Boeing plane blew out mid-flight,
ripping a hole in the cabin and leaving passengers exposed.
The FAA gave Boeing 90 days to fix quality control issues.
The Justice Department is investigating.
And this week, the chief investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board
said the agency still does not know who worked on that panel.
Boeing has no records.
The company claims employees did not document their work,
but says it's doing what it can to help with the probe.
While the investigations proceed, Duncan says past issues at Boeing will
be put under a microscope, including those brought up by whistleblowers like Barnett.
Duncan: The company doesn't really have the benefit of the doubt from anybody
at the moment and so something goes wrong on a Boeing plane
and it is attracting much more attention than it otherwise might.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
Khan, Narrating: You may be familiar with the political propaganda idea that the bigger lie,
the more likely people will believe it.
This idea was first articulated by Adolf Hitler in 1925.
He actually coined the term "big lie"
in his autobiographical manifesto, "Mein Kampf."
Barbara McQuade: And he said, everybody tells white lies from time to time.
[START IN CONVERSATION CLIP]
You might tell somebody that they look good tonight or, you know,
they're saying things out of a place of kindness or courtesy.
[END IN CONVERSATION CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: That's Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney
and a legal analyst for "NBC" and "MSNBC."
McQuade: But what Hitler wrote is it would never occur to most people to have
[START IN CONVERSATION CLIP]
the audacity to lie about something of great significance.
And so they project onto others that same moral limit that
who would do that? Nobody would lie about that.
And so for the person who is willing to cross that moral line and lie about things
that are very significant, it has the unlikely result of being more
believable than a little white lie.
[END IN CONVERSATION CLIP]
Khan, Narrating: McQuade is also the author of the new book,
"Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America."
And she's our guest this week on "Apple News In Conversation."
Guest host, Brian Stelter, who's filling in for Shumita while she's
on maternity leave, talked with McQuade about the "big lie."
And McQuade explained, it's just one key tactic that we're seeing
used today to spread
false information, like the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen.
And now, as AI gets more sophisticated and the safeguards on our social media
get weaker, disinformation is becoming an increasingly urgent
issue, especially with an election coming up.
In this episode, McQuade offers some solutions on how to address the problem
and advice on how to distinguish between real and false information.
[MUSIC FADES IN]
You can find "Apple News In Conversation" in the Apple Podcasts app.
And if you're listening in the News app right now, that episode is coming up
for you next.
Have a great weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]