--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, May 15th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the Republicans raising concerns about Trump's Qatari jet gift. In manufacturing towns, support for tariffs is a mixed bag. And why women feel the effects of alcohol more than men. But first, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case that stems from President Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship, the constitutional right that guarantees automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' citizenship or immigration status.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Trump, in his first day in office, signed an executive order seeking to end this right. Attorneys general from 22 states, advocacy groups, and a number of individual immigrant plaintiffs have since challenged his order. And federal judges in three states have issued injunctions to block it from being enforced nationwide. One judge called it blatantly unconstitutional.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: But that's not actually what the Supreme Court is looking at. The Trump administration did not ask the Supreme Court to decide whether Trump's executive order is constitutional. The Trump administration did ask the Supreme Court to narrow the holds that judges around the country have put on the policy.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: These judges have said this policy can't be implemented while the constitutionality of the policy is being litigated. And the Trump administration filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court saying that the judges shouldn't be allowed to do that.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: So in other words, the legal questions in this case are really about the scope of executive power and to what degree lower courts are allowed to restrict a president from pursuing this type of action. The administration is arguing the courts have overreached and that they're illegally limiting the power of the president.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Those challenging the order have said their actions are warranted. Without a nationwide injunction, without a nationwide pause for everybody, that's going to create chaos and confusion across the country about who exactly is entitled to birthright citizenship.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: So even if there are some legitimate criticisms that can be made about this process of putting policies on hold everywhere for everybody in the nation, they say this is the kind of case where those holds are completely justified and are, in fact, necessary.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: These kinds of nationwide injunctions are relatively new. Both Presidents Obama and Biden face them. Trump, however, has faced a higher number in his presidencies. Critics of the administration say, well, that's because the Trump administration has been pushing the boundaries much more than other administrations.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: The number of executive orders, for example, that the president has issued is much more than any of his predecessors. So then they say that there's no mystery then why he's facing more of these injunctions.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Grappi says the way the Supreme Court decides to handle this case could impact challenges to other Trump orders. If the Supreme Court says yeah we think these national injunctions are a problem and here is when they can or can be used that could affect challenges to Trump policy changes that have already been made and that are likely still to come.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to the growing controversy around President Trump's plan to possibly accept a $400 million gift from Qatar, a luxury jet that he would use as Air Force One.
--:-- Chuck Schumer: News of the Qatari government gifting Donald Trump a $400 million private jet to use as Air Force One is so corrupt that even Putin would give a double take. This is not just naked corruption. It is also a grave national security threat.
--:-- Rand Paul: Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky called the plan a mistake.
--:-- Roger Wicker: Senator Roger Wicker, who leads the Senate's Armed Services Committee, said, quote, it would be like the United States moving into the Qatari embassy.
--:-- Ted Cruz: Well, listen, I'm not a fan of Qatar. I think they have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah. And that's a real problem. I also think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.
--:-- Mark Levin: Mark Levin, a MAGA radio host, and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who called the gift a stain on Trump's presidency.
--:-- Ben Shapiro: Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro has come out against it, too. It just isn't America first in any conceivable way. If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are strict rules under federal law about gifts for the president and federal employees. According to the Washington Post, they must report in annual disclosures any foreign gifts valued at over $480 U.S. dollars.
--:-- Frank Kendall: If a president or member of the first family wants to keep a gift worth more than that, they have to formally declare their intent to keep it, pay fair market value for it, and pay federal taxes on it.
--:-- Frank Kendall: Accepting a larger gift is allowed, but those items are almost always turned over to the National Archives or presidential libraries. During George W. Bush's administration, for example, he was gifted a puppy from Bulgaria who was sent directly to the National Archives, which found the dog a new home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In this case, Trump has said that he would transfer the plane to his presidential library after he leaves office and continue to use it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: All of this is to say the reason for these rules is to remove any perception of a conflict of interest, ensuring public confidence in the decision-making process.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump's acceptance of this gift comes just as the administration is making sensitive deals with Qatar and other Gulf partners. Beyond the ethics of accepting this gift, there are questions about security and the cost to taxpayers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Politico explains despite Trump claims that this plane would be free it actually far from it. To retrofit a plane to serve as Air Force One a private contractor would have to rip it apart down to the studs to make sure it meets the military standards.
--:-- Frank Kendall: Air Force One is a flying White House. It is equipped with everything the president needs that you can get into a 747 so he can do his job while he's traveling. This aircraft will not have those things. And to make it have those things would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, Boeing is already in the process of upgrading two 747s to serve as Air Force One. This was a multibillion-dollar contract made during Trump's first term. The first of those two jets is expected to be ready in 2027.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's been just over a month since President Trump announced a set of sweeping tariffs in early April. What followed was a series of walkbacks, pauses and carve outs with businesses, markets and workers all reacting in real time to the economic impacts.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Recent inflation data showed a slight cooling in consumer prices since March, and the stock market has now largely recovered the losses made this year. But the Fed has consistently warned that tariffs could lead to higher inflation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And across the board, a 10% tariff on most U.S. trading partners is still in place. According to The Washington Post, part of what motivated the president to roll back aggressive tariffs was warnings from senior officials that his own voters, or Trump's people as their source describes it, were beginning to suffer.
--:-- Hannah Knowles: I went before the U.S. and China agreed to lower tariff rates for 90 days. What I found was a lot of skepticism about Trump's tariffs. And even among people who generally like what Trump is doing, you know, when you asked about the tariffs, you would get sort of grimaces or like, oh, I don't know how that's working out.
--:-- Hannah Knowles: I mean, these are people who want to like a lot of what he's doing and they weren't necessarily like outright critical, but they just weren't sure that this was necessarily the way to go.
--:-- Hannah Knowles: Last month, the American truck manufacturing company Mack Trucks announced that it was planning to lay off as much as 10 percent of its workforce from a facility in the area in response to tariffs.
--:-- Hannah Knowles: Some Mack employees Noel spoke with were unconcerned by stock market movements and thought tariffs could force a necessary change to bring back American manufacturing.
--:-- Hannah Knowles: But I did talk to one of the union officials. He's a Republican. He didn't want to talk about how he voted, but he did say that. And he said he knows some people at this factory who regret how they voted and they voted for Trump and they're not sure that that was a good move now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If there are any political consequences for the president in this closely divided swing state, the district's U.S. House representative up for reelection next year could feel it first. The Lehigh Valley is home to Congressman Ryan McKenzie, and he's a freshman.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He flipped a very hotly contested district this past fall. He unseated Susan Wild, a Democrat. So this is really a top target for Democrats. This is exactly the kind of district where they think they can ride this wave of backlash to Trump and really take back some of those seats that they lost.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Mackenzie has defended the tariffs but called the MAC layoffs disappointing. In 2024 Mackenzie won by just one percentage point. And Trump narrowly lost Lehigh Valley while winning the state overall.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. Highly anticipated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia are happening today, but Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be there.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said he was prepared to meet with Putin in Turkey, potentially setting the stage for their first face-to-face meeting since 2019. But despite Putin calling for direct talks without preconditions last week, the Kremlin revealed last night he will be sending a delegation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The past few weeks has seen some shift in tone from the Trump administration, especially following the highly publicized minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vice President Vance said recently that Russia was asking for too much, and Trump expressed suspicions that Putin could be stringing him along.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be in Turkey.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced lawmakers in back-to-back congressional hearings yesterday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He was called in to discuss next year's budget for HHS and mass layoffs under his direction, as states like Texas confront their most significant measles outbreak in decades.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Pressed on whether he would have his own children take a vaccine, he answered. Probably for measles.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You know, what I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant. I, you know, I don't want to seem like I'm being evasive. But I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Kennedy was pressed for details on planned cuts. He's notified staff of job losses totaling $20,000 and is planning a major organizational restructure.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He insisted he's prioritizing issues like debilitating disease, contaminated food, and addiction.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, doctors are growing increasingly concerned about health risks for women who consume alcohol.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to a recent government survey, women have been drinking more in recent decades. Their consumption rate is nearly on pace with men now. And they're seeing greater health risks as a result, like liver disease and higher rates of alcohol-related deaths than men.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Part of this has to do with the fact that women have different body compositions than men. They have more fat tissue and less water in their bodies, which contributes to higher blood alcohol concentration.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They also have fewer enzymes that can metabolize alcohol. Researchers suspect there's a link between alcohol consumption and rising rates of breast cancer, too.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Studies suggest even one daily drink can increase a woman's risk of breast cancer by about 10 percent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Fortune takes a look at how the Gates Foundation plans to spend $200 billion in the next 20 years on efforts to eradicate diseases around the globe, and then, when the money is spent, why the foundation will close for good.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow. Thank you.
