--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hey there, it's Shamita. I've got a quick request for you. If Apple News Today is an essential part of your morning routine, and we really hope it is, follow the show in Apple Podcasts. And if you have another 30 seconds, leave us a rating and review too. It helps other people find our show and it helps us know what you like about it. Thanks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, August 13th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the stark contrast between the finances of the two vice presidential candidates, why American gymnast Jordan Childs was ordered to give her Olympic medal back, and a punishment to fit the crime, why a judge ordered a woman to work in fast food. But first, last night, Elon Musk interviewed former President Trump on X, his social media platform. The talk started late because of technical glitches.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Musk provided a friendly forum to the candidate who repeatedly used it to attack his opponent. And I saw an ad by Kamala saying how she is going to provide border security. Where has she been for three and a half years? His embrace of Trump is the latest example of Musk's political transformation over the last four years. The tech mogul once called himself a moderate Democrat, and in 2020, he supported President Biden. In 2022, Musk said Trump was too old to be the president again. But today, he's one of the most outspoken supporters of Donald Trump and sounding like him, too, including complaining about the media and immigration.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dana Mattioli at The Wall Street Journal told us about this turnaround. There have been a few clues for anyone who's watching closely. She said soon after Biden's election, Musk started to rack up a long list of grievances with Democrats, from the handling of the COVID-19 lockdowns to perceived snubs to Tesla by the White House.
--:-- Dana Mattioli: He started to express more right-wing views on X, which he bought in 2022. His tweets in support of Donald Trump really ramped up. His criticism of the Biden administration ramped up. Musk and his allies have formed a super PAC called America PAC. At one point, the journal reported that Musk was prepared to give as much as $45 million a month to support Trump. He later said he was donating less.
--:-- Dana Mattioli: And his involvement extends far beyond financial support. Behind closed doors, the journal says Musk has been secretly meeting with Republican operatives in an effort to create a, quote, red wave of voters across battleground states. His PAC has focused on registering potential Trump voters, encouraging people to vote early and to request mail ballots.
--:-- Dana Mattioli: So their vendors, you know, really staffed up. They hired hundreds of door knockers in swing states and we were able to receive internal figures from their effort. They had registered more than 4,000 people, one of the vendors. They had knocked on 725,000 doors. They had 150,000 substantive conversations with prospective voters, and they got 26,000 voters to agree to get absentee commitments.
--:-- Dana Mattioli: Musk has claimed the PAC is not hyper-partisan, but the group's legal filings clearly state that money spent is in support of the Trump campaign. The former president has embraced this endorsement from the world's richest man. But Mattioli points out if Trump wins back the White House, it's not clear that he would support policies that help Musk's businesses, particularly Tesla.
--:-- Dana Mattioli: Trump hasn't wholeheartedly embraced electric vehicles. Actually, he's been pretty critical of them. So in some ways, people have wondered if a Trump administration would hurt Tesla, which is the one company where public company that Elon has. It's a very curious alliance for some people. But curious alliances and unpredictable behavior are the norm for Musk and Trump.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And we'll see if all of Musk's money will make a difference for Trump in November. Let's turn now to the second name on the ticket for both parties. You don't have to look very hard to find differences in policy between Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The same is true about how they manage their money. Tim Walz has unusual finances for a politician, particularly a high-profile politician who's now on a national stage, namely because he doesn't have a huge amount of money and has basically no investments at all.
--:-- Dan Primack: He doesn't own a stock. He doesn't own any real estate. He doesn't own mutual funds, bonds, crypto, private equities. Pick a thing. Same goes for his wife, Gwen, who's an educator. The Walls' had a net worth of up to $330,000 a few years back. By contrast, Senator Vance and his wife Usha, who's a lawyer, have a net worth of up to $10.4 million, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
--:-- Dan Primack: Vance has a massive investment portfolio with stock in over 100 companies. He was previously a venture capitalist at a firm run by Peter Thiel, the former PayPal founder, who also bankrolled Vance's Senate campaign. He both worked for one of Peter Thiel's funds, but also opened his own fund in Ohio a couple years ago.
--:-- Dan Primack: Primack told us the Walls' only investment assets are their teaching and military pensions. And there is an argument to be made that his finances are much more of kind of old school finances that someone or a lot of people would have had decades ago and that they were pensions as opposed to 401ks and individual stock portfolios.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Governor Walz financial position is in stark contrast to most lawmakers who have tons of stock and are often criticized for perceived conflicts of interest between the policies they pass and how their investment portfolios perform.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In fact, when Walz was in Congress, he introduced the Stock Act, which discourages insider trading by requiring lawmakers and their immediate family members to disclose trades within 45 days. On the campaign trail, Walls has argued that Vance's finances and connections to Silicon Valley illustrate that he's out of touch with middle class and lower income voters he claims to represent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vance, in response, has said that he believes his story epitomizes the American dream. And over the coming weeks, the two of them will keep throwing elbows to establish themselves as the candidate who represents the Midwest and working class values more broadly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vance will be in Michigan again tomorrow, speaking at a family-owned trucking company. And Walls will make his first solo stop today, speaking to union members in Los Angeles.
--:-- Shamita Basu: American gymnast Jordan Childs must return her bronze medal for the floor competition. The latest U.S. appeal has been denied. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is not reconsidering its earlier decision to strip her of her medal, despite new evidence presented by USA Gymnastics.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is a complicated situation. It involves multiple rules and multiple international authorities. It started during the Olympics, where Childs initially placed fifth behind two Romanian gymnasts. But the U.S. asked for a review of the score. Officials reconsidered and raised her score, bumping Childs up.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The inquiry, a change in numbers. It's Jordan Childs with a bronze medal. She talked about what it felt like on CBS Friday. It was a surreal moment. I didn't know what I was like, what was happening because I saw the score change and I was just like, what is going on? Is this real? Is this happening?
--:-- Shamita Basu: But it would get more surreal. Romania protested the change of score and a court eventually agreed, giving the bronze instead to Ana Barbosu. The case turned on a rule about timing. Coaches have only one minute to file an inquiry during competition. Romania argued that Childs' coach was four seconds late.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That helped decide the case. After the ruling, USA Gymnastics said it obtained new video that showed the request was made in time. But that evidence came too late. One thing that's frustrating gymnastics fans is that the sport doesn't have a clear, transparent clock to enforce deadlines. So it harder to definitively make the case for Childs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Romania, appeal it proposed awarding three bronze medals to Childs and the two Romanian gymnasts who originally finished ahead of her. But for now authorities recognize Barbosu as the sole bronze winner.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier, former U.S. Olympian Allie Raisman told NBC that this isn't right. I think it's so unfair. It's so cruel. And I don't think that Jordan should have to give her medal back. The IOC has given more than one medal before, and I think that they should do that now. This is, it's awful.
--:-- Shamita Basu: USA Gymnastics says it'll keep fighting for trials to have the bronze and is appealing in other ways.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app. The FBI is now investigating efforts to hack into both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Several news outlets over the weekend received what appear to be authentic campaign files stolen from the Trump campaign. As we mentioned on the show yesterday, Trump officials blame Iran. Recently, Microsoft said it found evidence of an Iranian hacking operation, but didn't specify the target.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On to another thing the two presidential campaigns seem to have in common on the policy front. There should be no taxes on tips. It's a policy position Trump has campaigned on since June. Harris recently came up with her own plan that includes tax-free tips.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Also, Republican Senator Ted Cruz has a bill to ban taxing tips. It has the support of some Democrats and union officials. But NPR explains, among one group of people, this idea is far less popular, and that's economists.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As one explains to NPR, a national ban of taxing tips wouldn't be fair because in different states, waiters get a different percentage of their income from tips. So people doing similar work could have vastly different tax bills. Economists also say ending taxes on tips would be expensive and difficult to regulate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, for a little break from politics, a story about an unusual punishment for someone who attacked the person serving their food. A customer at Chipotle threw a burrito bowl at an employee. She would have gotten 180 days in prison for assault, but a judge handed her an unusual deal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Reduced prison time if she spent two months working in a fast food restaurant. The idea was an experiment in justice via empathy. New York Magazine looks at what happened to these two women. And we've got that story queued up to play for you next if you're listening in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in podcasts, just search for Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
