--:-- Mark Garrison: Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 16th. I'm Mark Garrison in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Mark Garrison: On today's show, why new charges against Trump in Georgia might be his biggest legal threat. Two years after the Taliban's takeover, on the ground reporting of the bleak situation for women in Afghanistan. And the growing legal assault on corporate diversity programs. But first, let's take a look at some other major stories in the news.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The death toll in the Hawaii wildfires is rising, now over 100. It was already the deadliest American wildfire in more than a century. But officials warn that the number of fatalities could still go up substantially. Around 1,300 people are missing, and search teams are still looking through burned neighborhoods of Maui. President Biden talked about relief efforts.
--:-- Mark Garrison: We're also surging federal personnel to the state to help the brave firefighters and first responders, many of whom lost their own homes, their properties, while they're out busting their neck to save other people. The wildfires were among many disasters made worse by climate change this summer. And now a new report from U.S. government climate scientists finds that last month was not just the hottest July on record, it was likely the hottest month in the history of the world in records going back nearly 200 years.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Barely halfway through this year, it looks like the summer is hot enough to make 2023 one of the five warmest years in history, and there's a strong chance it's going to turn out to be the warmest year ever on record. And a former FBI counter intelligence chief, is guilty of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and launder money. Charles McGonigal pleaded guilty in the case related to secret work he did for a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. It happened after he retired from the bureau. McGonigal faces up to five years in prison.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Also in a separate case, charges are pending against him for allegedly accepting bribes while working at the FBI. Former President Donald Trump now faces 91 felony charges across four indictments The charges include trying to undermine U democracy risking national security secrets and falsifying New York business records And now, a racketeering case from Georgia this week. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The Miami Herald talks to legal experts who say in some ways the Georgia case may present one of the biggest legal threats to Trump. A major part of this is that the Georgia case is not a federal one. Hofstra University law professor James Sample talked to CBS New York about why that's important.
--:-- James Sample: If he's elected president in 2024, he could certainly pardon himself. And we've never had a self-pardon, but it seems quite likely that he would certainly try to pardon himself on the federal charges and probably would succeed. But the president of the United States has no authority to pardon an individual convicted of a state crime.
--:-- James Sample: So the New York charges and the Georgia charges could stick and would be insulated from a pardon, at least at the federal level. Both cases come with the possibility of prison. But some legal experts have questioned the strength of the New York case compared to the one in Georgia, because the New York prosecution relies on a novel legal approach.
--:-- James Sample: But in the Georgia case, timing could work to Trump's advantage. Other prosecutors have already charged him, which means the Fulton County DA may not be able to move to trial as quickly. There are 19 defendants in this case, and all of them could take steps to try to slow things down. And if Trump manages to win re-election before the Georgia trial, he could argue that it can't proceed until after his term is over.
--:-- Mark Garrison: There's longstanding Justice Department guidance against prosecuting a sitting president. There are a lot of moving parts here, so Apple News has a special collection of in-depth coverage of the latest charges Trump faces, how they're different, who else is involved, and where they fit in to the many criminal cases against him. You can read it all on the Apple News app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Two years ago this week, the Taliban retook power across Afghanistan as American troops left. Taliban leaders said they would support women's rights and be more moderate than they were in the 90s. But CNN reporting based on interviews with people there tells a different story.
--:-- Mark Garrison: One of Afghan girls and women effectively prisoners in their own homes They say it like they being systematically erased Mabuba Siraj is a women's rights activist. Even the rights that we had in Islam, even the rights that we had in Sharia, we are losing all of that.
--:-- Mabuba Siraj: Secondary schools for girls are closed. Women are banned from universities. They're blocked from jobs in most sectors. A male chaperone is required to travel.
--:-- Zahra: 20-year-old Zahra told CNN how her life was upended by the Taliban takeover, cutting off her education. If it continues like this, the future, not only for me, but also for other girls, it is horrible and it is disaster.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The U.S. and allies have criticized the Taliban's policies and frozen billions of dollars in the country's foreign reserves. But human rights activists worry that global attention on Afghanistan is fading. CNN asked a Taliban spokesperson when girls will be allowed back in classrooms. He refused to commit, saying only that it would happen when the environment changes.
--:-- Mark Garrison: It's something the Taliban often said back in the 90s. But in the previous years of Taliban rule, girls were never allowed back in school. When the Supreme Court ended race-conscious admissions for universities, conservative activists aimed at a new target, diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the workplace.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The Wall Street Journal reports that scores of major employers have received letters from Republican officials. They're warning companies against violating laws prohibiting racial quotas and preferences in hiring. Journal reporter Tao Francis told us about the education ruling's ripple effects.
--:-- Tao Francis: The Supreme Court decision in June didn't actually address private sector employers or contractors. It really was just about college admissions. But these activists point out that some of the same language in the college admission discrimination rules exists in the employment rules as well.
--:-- Tao Francis: And so their argument is, even when one of these cases gets to the Supreme Court, they're going to side with the activists. Amazon has been sued in Texas for a program that offers to Black Latino and Native American delivery service contractors It moved to dismiss the suit In Georgia a lawsuit targets an investment fund that helps women of color start new businesses That lawsuit is being brought by the same conservative activist who organized the successful challenge to affirmative action in the Supreme Court.
--:-- Tao Francis: The threat of litigation has many companies taking a careful look at their diversity programs. But they tell me they're still committed. They want to make sure that these programs, which after all were adopted with legal advice from lawyers who have years of experience on discrimination law. But what they're doing is they're looking at these programs and saying, OK, if the legal landscape has shifted, as suggested by the June Supreme Court decision, do our programs still pass muster? Do we need to make changes?
--:-- Tao Francis: Comcast did make changes to a grant program for small businesses, and it settled a lawsuit over it. Previously, the grants were for companies owned by women or people of color. Now, that program is open to all small businesses. The activists consider that a victory because they've gotten the company to change something.
--:-- Tao Francis: They also see simply the threat or fear or concern about these kinds of lawsuits and legal actions as potentially bringing either the companies they threaten or sue or other companies to rethink their approach to diversity and whether they are going to implement these kinds of programs. And so I think there's a hope among a number of the activist groups that they may be shifting behavior at companies that aren't even necessarily in their crosshairs.
--:-- Mark Garrison: As the journal explains it, even if a company's policies are legal, the possibility of lawsuits might have a chilling effect on efforts to increase diversity in the workplace. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: But there's also sports coverage as we move toward a big weekend for soccer world cup final is ahead and also massy will try to lead his new Miami team to a league's cup championship and if you're already listening in the news app right now we've got a narrated article coming up next from Wired it's about a neuroscientist who uses psychedelics to send patients brains back to childhood but the hope is it'll help grown-ups heal from strokes and trauma.
--:-- Mark Garrison: That's coming up next, and we'll be back with the news tomorrow.
