GA grand jury recommended charges against 3 senators, NY mayor's migrant comments: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Georgia grand jury recommended charges against 3 senators allied with Trump

USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen disccuses recommended charges from a Georgia grand jury against a number of people not formally indicted in the election interference case. Plus, Mark Meadows loses a fight to move his trial from Georgia to federal court, Journal News Political Reporter Chris McKenna talks about this week's comments from New York City Mayor Eric Adams about migrants in the city, the White House and other officials may have violated First Amendment rights of people posting about COVID-19 and elections on social media, and a presidential panel addresses patient safety.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

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 Saturday, the 9th of September 2023. Today, a special grand jury in Georgia has recommended criminal charges for people who weren't formally indicted in the election interference case. Plus, another co-defendant loses his fight to move his case to federal court and Democratic leaders point fingers on migrant issues.

♦

A special Georgia grand jury that investigated former President Donald Trump recommended criminal charges for a number of others who were not involved in the formal indictment, including several of his Senate allies. I spoke with USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen for more. Bart, welcome back to the show.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

The Georgia grand jury that investigated Donald Trump recommended criminal charges against a number of others who were not charged. Bart, let's start with three of his Republican Senate allies. Who are we talking about here and why might these recommendations have been made?

Bart Jansen:

Three of the people who were named were Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, who during the 2020 campaign was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then two Georgia senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. They were running for reelection with Trump on the ballot and they wound up losing their elections. So their races were part of the stakes that Trump was pursuing in what he called election fraud in Georgia, and what the Georgia prosecutor, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, has called election interference and racketeering.

Taylor Wilson:

And the grand jury also recommended charges for others who were not formally indicted. Bart, who are some of the others mentioned in this report and why were they not included in the indictment itself?

Bart Jansen:

What's good to remember would be this was a special grand jury. They met during the second half of 2022 and basically they investigated a lot of the charges or a lot of the allegations that another grand jury wound up considering and actually voting on indictments. This report from this special grand jury could not actually indict anyone, so this is an informational report. But after they investigated basically a lot of the same ground that the indictment covers, they recommended charges against 39 people. Now as we know, the indictment covered 19 people. But they also acknowledged that eventually it's up to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to decide what she can win, what she thinks is worthy of bringing to court, actually filing charges on.

So for instance, the indictment that was filed has charges against three of the alternate electors from Georgia. These are Republicans who supported President Trump at the time, despite the fact that President Joe Biden won the state. The other 13 have not yet been charged. This special grand jury recommended charges against all 16 alternate electors, and we do not have an explanation from Willis yet about why she chose not to file charges against all 16. The argument would be that they all filled out the paperwork, they all allegedly committed to this fraudulent act of meeting and trying to cast their votes. What has also been reported is that at least eight of them have cooperated with the prosecution and may be eventually testifying against their peers. And so part of the equation could be that while conducting the same activities, the prosecutor chose to use them as cooperating witnesses rather than pursue them as defendants.

Others who were named in the informational report from the special grand jury include campaign lawyers. Lin Wood is a prominent lawyer. Cleta Mitchell is a prominent longtime Republican campaign lawyer. She participated in Trump's January 2nd, 2021 call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger when Trump asked for him to find 11,780 votes so he could win the state. Mitchell was one of the lawyers on that call, and she got recommended for potential charges for that and for the organization of those alternate electors. But again, she was not charged. We don't have an explanation for why not. And so she won't have a chance to fight these allegations in court, And that's what's sort of unusual about this report. That by including the names, including the statutes that they allegedly violated or appeared to violate, these folks don't have a chance to clear their names in court. So we'll have to see what kind of reaction they offer to the report.

Taylor Wilson:

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

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Also in Georgia, Mark Meadows has lost his fight to move his racketeering trial to federal court. Trump's former White House chief of staff argued that the actions he was charged for, including setting up calls and contacting state officials, was part of his job in the White House. And he argued that the same charges should be dismissed in federal court. But Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued that Meadows was committing crimes beyond his official duties to help Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election. Meadows is charged with racketeering and with soliciting Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to violate his oath of office during a call on January 2nd, 2021, when Trump asked him to find enough votes to win the state. Yesterday's decision for Meadows could be an ominous sign for four other co-defendants who also asked to move their cases to federal court because of their federal positions.

♦

New York City Mayor Eric Adams this week had strong comments about what he called a migrant crisis that will destroy the city. I spoke with Journal News Political Reporter Chris McKenna from the USA TODAY Network to put the mayor's comments in context. Chris, thanks for making some time for us.

Chris McKenna:

Happy to do it.

Taylor Wilson:

So starting here, what did Mayor Eric Adams say during a town hall this week about what he calls a migrant crisis in New York City?

Chris McKenna:

Well, for the last year, the city's been struggling with a steady influx of asylum seekers who have been bused into the city from Texas and Arizona. The mayor has been very outspoken for a long time about the city needing state and federal resources to help them manage this, mainly for housing and for all the other expenses necessary for caring for these families and individuals. What he said this week really amped things up in terms of rhetoric. What he said was the issue was going to destroy New York City, which was about as hyperbolic as he could have gotten about it. He had more comments with that tone about the severity of this problem and how without outside help, it's going to be an insurmountable burden for the city.

Taylor Wilson:

Chris, do the numbers support what the mayor is arguing here?

Chris McKenna:

There's no question that the city has had a large number of asylum seekers in a short period of time whom they have to house. The cost is mounting and daunting for the city. They estimate it could cost the city $12 billion over three years to pay for housing and food and related expenses. The numbers support that it's a serious management and financial problem for the city. They do not support the imminent destruction of a city of 8 million people.

Taylor Wilson:

And what help is Adams asking for from the Biden administration on this issue?

Chris McKenna:

He's asked for a number of things. I mean primarily money, federal funding to reimburse the city for its expenses. He's also suggested at times that the federal government take charge of this movement of asylum seekers from the border, that there be some national strategy for placing them in various parts of the country so they don't fall disproportionately on his city or a handful of others. More controversially for him and his party is, he's also lately has been suggesting that the federal government needs to stop or slow the border crossings. Many of these people are claiming asylum and there's a legal process for them to do so. The people who are in New York City who are applying for asylum are there legally, but what he's suggesting is that they be stopped. That's a problem for Democrats because it's rocket fuel for Republicans who have been saying the same thing for a long time.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. I want to get a little bit more to the heart of that issue. It's not just Adams. New York Governor Kathy Hochul and President Joe Biden himself, along with Adams, have all kind of pointed fingers at each other on this over who should be doing more. Chris, how might Adams' statements backfire for Democrats?

Chris McKenna:

First of all, the spectacle of Democratic leaders at three levels sniping at one another is bad on its face for the party. These are three people who control different aspects of this. They're casting blame at the other because they're struggling to manage this problem. And for Republicans who are standing on the outside, this supports their claims that Democratic policies are responsible for this problem. Eric Adams calling the migrant issue so severe that it could destroy New York City backfires for the party just because it's the Democrat in charge of New York City, essentially giving credence to their demands for tighter border security.

Taylor Wilson:

Chris McKenna, great insight for us on this. Thanks for your time.

Chris McKenna:

You're welcome.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

The White House, health officials and the FBI may have violated the First Amendment rights of people posting about COVID-19 and elections on social media by pressuring technology companies to suppress or remove the posts. The decision late yesterday from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals partly upheld an order from a Louisiana federal judge that blocked many federal agencies from having contact with companies like Facebook, YouTube, and X, formerly known as Twitter, about content moderation. The Fifth Circuit panel found that the White House coerced the platforms through intimidating messages and adverse consequences and commandeered the decision-making processes of the companies, particularly related to the pandemic and 2020 election. The 75-page opinion was a major win for conservatives. The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the Biden administration has 10 days to seek a Supreme Court review of the ruling.

♦

Preventable medical errors kill 250,000 Americans a year, according to a 2016 study from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Leah Binder, who is not part of the report but heads a group that rates hospitals on safety, said there's no reason to think that number has dropped since, and likely increased during the height of the pandemic when hospitals were overwhelmed. Binder said, "We know how to prevent the errors and accidents that kill too many Americans. We know how to fix it; it's just having the will to fix it. This set of recommendations, if enacted, can get us there."

The Working Group on Patient Safety set up by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, spent a year studying patient safety before releasing Thursday's report. Key recommendations include better federal leadership on patient safety and working with families and communities that are disproportionately affected by medical errors. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

And the U.S. Open wraps up this weekend. The tennis tournament will crown a women's singles champion today when 19-year-old American Coco Gauff, seeking her first grand slam, takes on Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. Then on the men's side tomorrow, Russian Daniil Medvedev battle Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final. You can read more from USA TODAY Sports.

And before we go, a reminder: 5 Things is now on YouTube. A limited number of our specials and Sunday episodes are now available as vodcasts. We have a link in today's show notes.

And thanks for listening to 5 Things. Dana Taylor is in for the Sunday episode tomorrow and I'll see you Monday with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.