--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September 3rd. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, Brazil's coup trial comes to a head. Trump's plan to fine immigrants under deportation orders. And a beloved fall classic that could soon be more expensive. But first, Congress returned from recess yesterday with a pileup of priorities to tackle.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Today, we're looking at three of the biggest issues coming down the tracks. The possibility of a government shutdown at the end of the month, a bipartisan push to release more Department of Justice files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and a possible change to the Senate confirmation process.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: First, lawmakers have until the end of the month to agree on a bill to fund the government through the end of the year or risk a shutdown. That is not an atypical place for Congress to find itself.
--:-- Tahil Kapoor: But things are not starting off on the right foot. There is no framework, no agreement on the way forward here. The two parties are far apart and they're moving even further apart.
--:-- Tahil Kapoor: The first thing that generally happens in this situation is that they agree on the overall amount that the government's going to spend in the upcoming fiscal year and then they agree on how to allocate it. They are nowhere close to an agreement on that.
--:-- Tahil Kapoor: In addition to that, late last week, the White House told Congress that it wants to cut $4.9 billion in foreign aid funding through a process called pocket rescissions.
--:-- Tahil Kapoor: Basically, it is a seldom-used move where the president tries to cancel funding so late in the fiscal year that Congress doesn't have time to weigh in. NBC News notes that lawyers for the nonpartisan government Accountability Office have previously called these moves illegal.
--:-- Tahil Kapoor: Democrats and some Republicans have also spoken out about it. A funding bill will require 60 votes in the Senate, so it would need some Democratic support.
--:-- Tahil Kapoor: Kapoor said that the Trump moves to clawback funding are complicating Democrats' desire to work with Republicans. Because their view is, why would they agree or how can they agree to a government funding deal if the White House is simply going to refuse to spend money on the parts of the deal that they don't like.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: As that deadline approaches, the pressures over Epstein have not disappeared during the recess.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Republican Congressman Tom Massey from Kentucky and Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, have rolled out a resolution attempting to force the DOJ to release more Epstein files.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: These two are unified on requiring the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and they've teamed up on a bipartisan bill that would force the White House to do that, not at their discretion.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It lays out very specifically all categories of documents and communications that the Justice Department has to release anything involving Epstein, his death, the various prosecutions, charging decisions, and so forth.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Alleged Epstein victims are planning to attend a rally in Washington today as well. The House Oversight Committee is also investigating, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that effort will suffice.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The committee released a first trove of files that they had obtained from subpoenas yesterday, though most of them so far appear to have been previously publicly available.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And finally one other thing worth watching is whether Senate Republicans change the rules on how nominees get confirmed invoking the so nuclear option to cut down on debate time and rush the nominees through faster.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Democrats have said that they want more time for nominee consideration, particularly after the recent firings of Senate-approved roles like the CDC director and the IRS commissioner.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: That would be a significant change to Senate rules that would apply permanently for the foreseeable future if Republicans do this.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On the CDC firing specifically, senators will have an opportunity to ask Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questions when he appears for previously planned testimony later this week.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: Now to Brazil, where the Supreme Court is preparing to deliver a verdict in the historic criminal trial of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: He's been accused of plotting a military coup to overthrow Brazil's democratic government after losing the presidential election in 2022 to the progressive candidate and former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: Prosecutors say Bolsonaro urged his supporters to riot at the Capitol, coordinated with multiple government officials to remain in power, and allegedly planned to assassinate his rivals, including da Silva and one of the Supreme Court justices now overseeing his case.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: Bolsonaro has admitted to considering options to overturn results, which he denounced at the time as fraudulent without offering any evidence. But he has always denied trying to throw a coup.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: And Bolsonaro has denied all five charges against him, calling the proceedings politically motivated.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: Also on trial are seven of his closest allies, including his former running mate in the 2022 election and several high-ranking military officials.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: This trial is the first time that military officers may be held accountable for trying to overthrow democracy. Because in all the dictatorships that Brazil had and the coup attempts that Brazil had, no one has ever been punished.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: And a lot of people say it's why it keeps happening. Brazil has experienced 14 coup attempts in its history, seven of which were successful.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: The last one was a coup in 1964 that the United States supported as part of its Cold War strategy. That regime took power after this coup and ruled a dictatorship for 20 years.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: That killed and tortured thousands of Brazilians. Bolsonaro and his allies are big admirers of this regime. He famously said that the dictatorship should have killed a lot more people.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: President Trump has repeatedly supported Bolsonaro throughout these legal proceedings, calling the case a witch hunt.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: He and Bolsonaro had a warm relationship during Trump's first term, and Trump has said that he relates to the, quote, political persecution that he believes Bolsonaro is facing.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: Trump has also applied political and economic pressure to try to influence the outcome of the trial. Sanctioning the Supreme Court Justice, Bolsonaro is accused of conspiring to assassinate.
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: And his administration imposed a 50 tariff on Brazilian goods That one of the highest rates in the world
--:-- Manuela Andreoni: The Brazilian Supreme Court final session is scheduled for September 12th If convicted Bolsonaro and his allies face decades in prison.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: Let's turn now to a tactic the Department of Homeland Security is using to try to force the hand of certain immigrants to leave the U.S. in order to increase deportations.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: ICE has issued fines to 21,500 immigrants it says have ignored deportation orders. And collectively, that's worth $6.1 billion in fines.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: And in recent weeks, the agency has been making moves to bring in that money. They have threatened to garnish tax refunds, launch civil litigation, engage private collection agencies, alert credit rating bureaus and curb any federal or state payments owed to the fine recipient.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: But interestingly, in a novel move, they've also said that they may report the unpaid fine as potential income to the IRS.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: Many immigrants targeted here are low-wage workers who can't afford to pay these fines. Most often, the fines are worth $1.82 million because it can fine migrants $998 a day for every day that they have failed to leave the country after receiving an order of removal.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: If an immigrant under deportation order elects to self-deport, however, Homeland Security has said the fines will be waived and that person will receive $1,000, which the administration is calling an exit bonus.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: The goal, basically, is to use financial penalties as a stick and this bonus as a carrot to get people to leave the country on their own.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: It's a lot easier and cheaper if the migrants self-deport rather than if ICE enforcement has to round up immigrants off the street and send them back to the country where they came from.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: A senior official at DHS called it an easy choice. But immigration lawyers Morfitt spoke to say the tactic is mostly creating fear.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: One compared it to psychological warfare, saying, quote, it's driving immigrants to the point where they feel like they will lose everything if they remain in the United States.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: Morfitt told us about a mother of four from Mexico living in the Bronx who's worried about this. She came to the U.S. in 2000. Her husband's employer sponsored their residency soon after.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: A judge ordered her removal in 2013 after she missed a mandatory immigration court hearing. Her attorney told Morfitt that this woman's former lawyer failed to tell her about the hearing.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: And she recently received notice from the government that she owes over $1.8 million in fines. She's been in the country for decades and has been paying tax the entire time.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: She's essentially living out the American dream by working hard and saving and putting that money towards her family. And now she's faced with the prospect of her entire net worth being wiped out by this fine.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: She does have assets and she does own a home. And she doesn't want to risk the government seizing that home. So she is considering self-deportation, leaving her husband and leaving her children so the government doesn't come after her assets.
--:-- Jack Morfitt: She now trying to vacate her removal order to obtain a green card
--:-- Jack Morfitt: And Morfitt points out in his reporting this is why many immigrants with removal orders choose to stay in the country Not to evade orders, but because they hope their circumstances could change and allow them to qualify for legal status.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The world's leading professional organization of genocide scholars says that Israel's war on Gaza meets the legal conditions for genocide outlined by the United Nations.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The UN defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Since the October 7th massacre, which the group also described as an international crime, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed, and at least 83% were civilians, according to Israel's own military intelligence.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And the International Association of Genocide Scholars concluded that Israel has engaged in systematic and deliberate attacks on hospitals, among other civilian infrastructure.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Israel's foreign ministry described the statement as an embarrassment to the legal profession, and the country is fighting similar allegations of genocide in the International Court of Justice.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now to California, where a federal judge ruled yesterday that President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth broke the law when they deployed roughly 5,000 Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests earlier this summer.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said they violated the Posse Comitatus Act. That's a 19th century law that generally prohibits the use of troops for domestic law enforcement.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: His order will block the administration from using the U.S. military in California starting September 12th for actions like arrests, searches and seizures, crowd control, and more.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But the order does not require the government to withdraw the 300 National Guard troops who remain in LA, so long as their use complies with the Posse Comitatus Act.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And Breyer said the ruling does not apply to National Guard troops in other states.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Department of Justice has indicated that it will appeal the decision.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And finally, to how White House policies could impact the flavor of fall.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now that it's September, pumpkin spice season is in full force, though its most dedicated fans might argue that any season can be pumpkin spice season.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And this year, fans of the cozy spice blend will have to weigh just how much they're willing to spend for it.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: That's because as of last week, the Trump administration put a 50% tariff on India, a major exporter of core components of pumpkin spice, like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Atlantic writes that you won't notice major price changes immediately, but spice companies told them they'll likely have no choice but to raise prices soon.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So you may want to stock up now, though you could skip one of the items the Atlantic lists, pumpkin spice bacon.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you're already listening to the News app right now, we have a narrated article coming up next from New Scientist.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: As the human lifespan gets longer, researchers who study aging say there's a metric we should be paying more attention to, our health spans, which measures the quality of the years in our lives.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And we'll be back with the news tomorrow.
