--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, January 14th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, why incarcerated firefighters are battling the flames in California, the defining global crises that are part of Biden's foreign policy legacy, and Trump's cabinet picks face scrutiny on Capitol Hill. But first, a few big breaking stories we're watching this morning.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel and Hamas are finalizing the terms of a ceasefire deal, according to officials. The Wall Street Journal reports both parties have agreed to the bigger points of the deal, including pausing the fighting in Gaza and releasing dozens of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israel.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are still a few hurdles ahead before an agreement would be finalized, but both parties describe this as a significant step forward. And in Washington, with just days to go before Trump returns to office, Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results is now out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Justice Department released it this morning. In it, Smith says he believes prosecutors had a strong enough case to convict Trump if they hadn't been forced to drop the case when voters elected him again.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump was charged in 2023 with four felony counts of undertaking a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He pleaded not guilty. The investigation included interviews with hundreds of witnesses, others summoned via grand jury, and an examination of troves of data.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Smith also writes that Trump consistently encouraged violence against his opponents leading up to January 6th, quoting evidence from several criminal cases of people charged with taking part in the riot who said they believed they were acting on Trump's behalf.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump responded to the report's release on social media, saying the prosecution was politically motivated. This report is the most detailed assessment we have seen to date of the decision-making by Smith's team to bring federal charges against Trump.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Smith resigned from the Justice Department last week. A second volume of the special counsel's report focusing on the classified documents case against Trump has not been publicly released.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As always, you can follow the latest on breaking news in the Apple News app. Now to Southern California, where wildfires have leveled entire communities over the past week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: While firefighters are making progress, dangerously strong winds in the forecast could halt that progress and threaten even more communities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Battling a disaster of this magnitude requires a lot of hands on deck. More than 15,000 people are part of firefighting efforts, and not all of them are from California.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some are from nearby states, others from Canada and Mexico. Here's Governor Gavin Newsom speaking on Saturday.
--:-- Governor Gavin Newsom: Yeah, we're blessed. Prime Minister in Canada called, reached out. Foreign Minister in Mexico reached out, offered assistance. You've seen that assistance right here from Mexico. Our Canadian partners are coming in Monday. We have all the Western states that are providing mutual aid.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Private firefighters are also on the ground employed by wealthy Los Angeles residents and in some cases insurance companies to protect property.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One notable group among the firefighting personnel right now is incarcerated people. There are nearly 1,000 imprisoned people out on the front lines battling multiple fires for the past week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: About 10 to 15 percent of California's firefighting force is made up of incarcerated people. Incarcerated firefighters in California are technically volunteers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They choose to join the fire program. They do get paid about $5 to $10 a day, plus an extra dollar per hour in active fires.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They also have to be accepted to a specialized training program before they're sent out. Working as a firefighter in prison was a very coveted position.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's Amika Mota, a formerly incarcerated person who worked as a firefighter in California, speaking to NowThis. Mota says that convicted people can shave time off their sentences for volunteering, which she says is a big reason a lot of prisoners try to get into these programs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But despite that, she says the low compensation and dangerous conditions are a steep price to pay. And while some prisoners volunteer in the hopes of securing a career in firefighting when they get out, a California state law barring former felons from obtaining EMT licenses, which is a requirement for most municipal firefighting jobs, has prevented many incarcerated people from doing that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Our skills are so valued where we are right then. And then we're just, you know, worthless and not recognized as folks that are worthy of maintaining these jobs later down the line when we come home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Governor Newsom signed a law in 2020 making it easier for former prisoners to have their records expunged, eliminating some of the barriers. But critics say it hasn't helped enough people.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Still, for those it has helped, it's turned into a worthwhile career. Royal Ramey, a former incarcerated firefighter who now helps former prisoners get jobs fighting fires, told ABC he saw the volunteer program as beneficial.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You get better food. You get visits in a park-like setting, dormitory living. You get out in the community and folks are eligible to get time off. But for me, it exposed me to that career that I love now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Marshall Project spoke to some prison firefighters who say, yes, it's risky work. Yes, it's low pay. And yes, even though it's voluntary, the ethics around it are murky.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But it's also the best job they can get behind bars. Let's turn now to President Biden's legacy, which we're going to continue to examine during his final week in office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, we looked at some of his domestic achievements. We'll spend more time talking about his struggles at home. But today we're going to focus in on foreign policy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden delivered what was billed as his final foreign policy speech yesterday. During my presidency, I've increased America's power at every dimension. We increased our diplomatic power, creating more allies than the United States has ever had in the history of our nation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Almost exactly four years ago, Biden spoke about the importance of countries working together to confront the major crises of the moment. He promised not just a change in specific U policies compared to Trump administration but a fundamentally different approach.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy. As I said in my inaugural address, we will repair our alliances, engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In his address yesterday, Biden claimed he accomplished those goals. The United States is winning the worldwide competition. Compared to four years ago, America is stronger. Our alliances are stronger. Our adversaries and competitors are weaker.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We have not gone to war to make these things happen. And that's true in some ways, looking at things like the U.S.'s standing in NATO, which has improved significantly under Biden compared to Trump.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Biden's foreign policy legacy will certainly be defined by three major crises. First, the U.S.'s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, during which more than a dozen U.S. troops and 170 civilians were killed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Second, Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And finally, Hamas' attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that Israel launched in response, which has killed over 46,000 Palestinians.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The withdrawal from Afghanistan accomplished a goal that eluded Biden's predecessors, but the way it happened significantly tarnished his reputation at home and abroad.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On Ukraine, Biden did help bolster international support for Ukraine, but the administration faced criticism from both sides that it was doing either too much or not enough.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR national security correspondent Greg Miri explained on a recent episode of the NPR Politics podcast how perceptions of that war have changed in Washington.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden is now facing pushback from Republicans about his Ukraine policy. The Ukrainians feel the U.S. has been too cautious holding back weapons or restricting their use.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many Ukrainians feel the U.S. is providing them with enough not to lose, but not enough to win. And there is the sense that the war is dragging on. Ukraine is struggling to hold the front line.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now President-elect Trump says he wants negotiations to end the war. Ukraine could be the place where we see the most immediate and dramatic change in policy from Biden to Trump.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As for Gaza, as we mentioned earlier, the Biden administration and negotiators for Israel and Hamas have said they are closer to a potential ceasefire deal than ever before.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Biden's vocal and financial support of Israel received significant backlash in the U.S., especially on the left. And even if a resolution is reached, this conflict has forever changed the region.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, entire families wiped out. The U.N. estimates that clearing the debris and rubble alone will cost over $650 million and take up to 15 years to complete.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Still, the Biden White House claims they are leaving the world a better place than they found it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on PBS NewsHour a few days ago.
--:-- Jake Sullivan: Are our alliances stronger than we found them four years ago? Yes. Are our enemies and competitors weaker than when we found them four years ago? Yes. Have we kept the United States out of war? Yes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Are the basic foundations of American power more robust and resilient today than four years ago? Yes. So I believe we are handing off a very strong hand to the next team.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The question is just how much and how quickly the next team the Trump administration will seek to change foreign policy set during the Biden years and what that'll mean for the rest of the world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Staying in Washington, confirmation hearings begin today for Trump's cabinet picks. Starting with Pete Hegseth, the military veteran and former Fox News host, tapped to serve as defense secretary.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think Hegseth probably has had the most kind of roller coaster journey. That's Liz Goodwin, who covers the Senate for The Washington Post.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Initially, Trump was actually privately telling some allies that he was thinking about pulling him and putting Ron DeSantis in that role instead.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: When he first initially got hit by some of these allegations coming out, Trump was sort of wavering privately on the pick.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Hegseth admitted to paying an undisclosed sum to a woman who accused him of sexual assault at a Republican conference in 2017.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Former employees who worked with him at two veterans groups and at Fox News have accused him of financial mismanagement and engaging in excessive drinking and sexism, which was first reported by The New Yorker.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Hegseth has denied the allegations. Part of the reason that he's standing on steadier ground now is that Trump's allies have rallied to his defense and even targeted Republican senators who expressed doubts about his background.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: You started seeing other senators who had raised questions about his past drinking and things like that, saying, you know, I met with him one on one. Now I don't have these concerns.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: And people just really started getting in line. And he just kind of brought himself back from the dead, really. It was pretty remarkable to see.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: But he went from basically Matt Gaetz territory to really shoring himself up in like the course of a week.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Still, while Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, Hegseth could only afford to lose three of their votes if Democrats and independents don't back him.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Goodwin explained that Hegseth might face the bumpiest path. Some of Trump's other picks are not facing such strong headwinds.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Some of these nominees are really on a glide path, honestly. There's, you know, there's Marco Rubio, who senators know and trust, you know, for the most part.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Someone like Elise Stefanik from the House tapped to be the U.N. ambassador. I also do not anticipate a lot of action there.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: So there really is just this one tier of nominees that are in trouble because Senate Republicans are going to have 53 votes.
--:-- Liz Goodwin: Other candidates in that tier of nominees that she'll be watching are Kash Patel, tapped to lead the FBI, Tulsi Gabbard, the possible next director of National Intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to lead Health and Human Services.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Overall, it's going to take several weeks for the Senate to work through all of Trump's candidates.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all of 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: Bloomberg Businessweek looks at how a lawsuit that alleges Snapchat helped dealers sell counterfeit drugs to children could change the future of the Internet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
