--:-- Steve Inskeep: Prosecutors revealed new evidence in their election interference case against former President Donald Trump. But the Supreme Court gave broad immunity to presidents, so what, if anything, could come of this?
--:-- A. Martinez: I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Israeli airstrikes have destroyed parts of Lebanon's southern suburbs and now Hezbollah. The target is giving media tours of the damage. NPR spoke with civilians in Beirut with no plans to leave.
--:-- [Sound of a conversation]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, I have electricity, water, internet, and food. I'm good.
--:-- A. Martinez: Also, a jury begins deliberations today in the case of three ex-police officers charged in the beating death of Tyree Nichols.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The former Memphis cops pleaded not guilty. They're facing the possibility of life in prison.
--:-- A. Martinez: Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
--:-- [Sound of a commercial]
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--:-- A. Martinez: Former President Trump will stand for election this November before standing trial for his effort to overturn the last election.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But the public does now have evidence that Trump's actions to undo his 2020 defeat amount to a crime.
--:-- A. Martinez: A judge has released the prosecutor's newest version of their case. It's their argument that they have the goods to convict Trump even after a Supreme Court ruling puts some of his actions off limits.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: So, Kerry, you mentioned that the January 6th case against Donald Trump is not even going to trial this year. So why this new evidence now?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This is all an effort by the Justice Department to keep alive this election interference case against Donald Trump.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Remember, the Supreme Court this past summer gave Trump and future presidents some substantial immunity from prosecution for their official acts in the White House.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In these new court papers, Special Counsel Jack Smith is taking pains to show Trump was acting as a political candidate, not a president, almost four years ago when he allegedly tried to overturn the results of that election.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: And prosecutors have laid out some facts now about Trump's role in a scheme to replace the real electors with slates of phony officials in key swing states and about what Trump did and didn't do in late 2020 and early 2021.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So didn't the House committee, though, those public hearings carried, didn't they lay all this out already? I mean, what's new about this filing?
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Well, the House investigators dug up a lot of information, but the Justice Department actually had subpoena power. And they had access to some of Trump's campaign aides and a former vice president, Mike Pence.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The new filing mentions pages of notes Pence took about his meetings with Trump and outside advisors where they said this whole thing is up to Pence
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Prosecutors say Trump himself was tweeting an attack on Pence from the White House on January 6th as the rioters ransacked the Capitol building.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And then after an aide rushed in to describe the chaos and danger there, Trump allegedly said, so what?
--:-- Kerry Johnson: The former president also allegedly made fun of one of his private lawyers, Sidney Powell for making what he called crazy claims about election fraud.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So how's Trump responding to these new revelations?
--:-- Kerry Johnson: A spokesman for Trump's campaign said this court filing is an attempt to interfere in the current election and help Kamala Harris.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Trump's spokesman added that prosecutors are engaging in a partisan witch hunt.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: And it's worth noting that the trial judge in this case, Tanya Chutkin, has said there's no support for the idea DOJ was motivated by partisan bias.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: She's rejected Trump's claim this was a vindictive or selective prosecution.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Trump will have a chance to respond in writing in the coming weeks. If he disagrees with this judge's ruling, he's likely to appeal all the way back to the Supreme Court.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And a key fight to watch now is how much evidence prosecutors will be allowed to use about Mike Pence.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Trump says all of that should be out of bounds, but prosecutors say they're relying on Pence not as the former vice president, but because he had a narrow role in charge of the certification of the electoral count in early 2021.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Okay, but what if Trump wins in November? So what happens to all the work the DOJ has put in?
--:-- Kerry Johnson: The former president is likely to direct new officials at the Justice Department to get rid of his federal case in D.C. and also to drop an appeal of the Florida classified documents case against him too.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But if Trump loses at the ballot box, it's still possible he could face trial in D.C. probably not before 2026.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: That's because the Supreme Court's going to hear this case again before it ever gets to a jury.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's NPR's Kerry Johnson. Kerry, thank you.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: My pleasure.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Israel is reporting its first military casualties from its ground invasion into southern Lebanon.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The ground operations are one part of a campaign against Hezbollah, the political and militant group that dominates parts of that country.
--:-- Eder Peralta: The Israeli air campaign includes a strike last night that hit a building in central Beirut.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Health authorities there now say that nearly 1,400 people have been killed in recent weeks.
--:-- Eder Peralta: NPR's Eder Peralta is in Beirut. So Eder, what do we know about what's happening in southern Lebanon where Israeli troops have crossed over?
--:-- Eder Peralta: So look, we understand that the fighting along the border is fierce. Both the Israeli military and Hezbollah say that they are engaging each other at close range.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And Israel yesterday said that eight of its soldiers have been killed in the fighting.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Israel has described this as a limited ground operation, but we don't actually know what that means.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What we know is that Israel has ordered the evacuation of some 50 villages across a wide region.
--:-- Eder Peralta: And that region almost reaches into the central part of the country.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And the fear here is that this will turn into a prolonged war that could engulf the whole of Lebanon.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Peter, I mentioned that you are actually in the capital of Beirut. What are you seeing there?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I mean, overnight, there was yet another Israeli missile strike very close to where I am.
--:-- Eder Peralta: State media says the offices of a local health authority were hit and that seven people were killed including two volunteer medics
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But most of the strikes are happening just south of here in a neighborhood called Dahyeh
--:-- Eder Peralta: And it a Hezbollah stronghold It the same neighborhood where a huge blast killed Hezbollah's longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, last week.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And yesterday, Hezbollah called reporters and they gave us a tour of the damage down there.
--:-- Eder Peralta: I want to play some of my reporting.
--:-- [Sound of a conversation]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: As you get close to the site of a blast, you see all these fragments of life strewn in the middle of the streets.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Handwritten notes, a colorful plastic plate, a laundry basket, the cushion of a sofa.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It feels like almost everyone in this neighborhood has left.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Stores are closed, apartments are empty.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But we find a guy in his mid-30s smoking a cigarette near a crumbled building.
--:-- Eder Peralta: He doesn't give us his name for security reasons.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: There's no one left. Everyone left. It's only me.
--:-- Eder Peralta: He's a gamer, plays a commando simulation game.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And he jokes that these days the booms of the airstrikes around him give his games a more realistic feel.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Well, you know, I live like in a building like this one, in the middle of nowhere.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Like, they will hit that. Why not?
--:-- Eder Peralta: So why are you staying, I ask him?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, I have electricity, water, internet, and food. I'm good.
--:-- Eder Peralta: But that's not entirely true.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He actually has two cats, but has nowhere to leave him, so he won't leave his apartment without them.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Hezbollah guide us through the neighborhood.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: At every bomb blast, they put up a picture of their slain leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
--:-- Eder Peralta: They stop at what they tell us was an apartment building.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: All we see is rubble, concrete, mangled metal, a fire still smoldering in the middle.
--:-- Eder Peralta: A young guy climbs through the rubble.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He wades through the smoke and pumps his hands in the air.
--:-- Eder Peralta: We will always choose death over humiliation, they chant.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Wow, so defiance despite the damage.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Any sense, though, where all this is going, Eder?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I mean, people here on the ground are simply worried about survival, but the world is watching Israel and Iran.
--:-- Eder Peralta: It was just a day ago that Iran launched nearly 200 missiles to Israel, and so the big question is, how will Israel respond?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The U.S. has said they don't support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
--:-- Eder Peralta: But the size and scope of that Israeli retaliation could mean a de-escalation or the beginning of a much broader, much bloodier conflict.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's NPR's Eder Peralta reporting from Beirut. Thank you.
--:-- Eder Peralta: Thank you.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: A jury in Memphis is expected to begin deliberations today in a high-profile police brutality case.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Police video shows a group of officers beating Tyree Nichols, a black man they'd pulled over during a traffic stop last year.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: The jury repeatedly saw footage showing the officers, who were also black, brutalizing Nichols.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He died three days later.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: That video is evidence in a federal civil rights trial.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR's Debbie Elliott has been covering the trial, joins us now from Memphis.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Okay, three fired detectives, Justin Smith, Tadarius Bean, and Demetrius Haley are accused of several felonies here.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Depriving Tyree Nichols of his civil rights by excessive use of force, willful failure to intervene deliberate indifference to his serious medical need and finally conspiring to cover up the attack and obstruct justice
--:-- Debbie Elliott: You remember the beating happened after a traffic stop in January of last year.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, these officers were part of the so-called Scorpion Task Force.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: It was created to root out street crime in Memphis, and it was known for aggressive policing tactics.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The five officers involved here were immediately fired.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: That task force has since been disbanded.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Two of those former officers pleaded guilty and testified against the others during this trial.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: How are federal prosecutors laying out their case? You know, that this was just a beatdown, that these ex-cops used unreasonable force.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It was five of them against one 175-pound man.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: During closing arguments, federal prosecutor Catherine Gilbert said these officers didn't count on surveillance video catching what happened when they thought no one was watching.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: She urged the jurors to trust their eyes, quote, you saw the punches, you saw the kicks, you saw the baton strikes.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: The video also shows officers seemingly bragging about the beating as Nichols gasped for his life on the pavement.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Gilbert pointed out that some of the language that they used afterward, you know, they said, quote, hit him, beat that man and we about to kill that man.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: She also emphasized how Nichols had his hands in front of his face to protect himself as he was calling out for his mother who lived just a block away.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Nichols, who was 29, died, as you said, three days after the beating.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: And the coroner testified it was homicide from blunt force trauma.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Wow.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: The defense. How are these former officers trying to explain what happened?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You know, each defense lawyer tried to clear their individual clients in different kinds of ways.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: But the general theme from all three of them is that this was a high risk traffic stop, and that the officers acted reasonably after Nichols ran a red light and then failed to stop when pursued by a police vehicle with blue lights on.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: John Keith Perry, who represents Tederius Bean, denied that officers were bragging about the beating.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: He said instead that the jury should interpret that as they were commenting that, quote, this man was taking all that they had.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And then Martin Zumach, who is Justin Smith's lawyer, he focused on Tyree Nichols' behavior.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: He said Nichols made choices of how to respond that night, asking, quote, is there a constitutional right to run from police?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So now it's up to the jury to sort of weigh all these arguments and the evidence they heard, and we'll hear what they decide.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: NPR's Debbie Elliott in Memphis. Debbie, thank you very much.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: You're welcome.
--:-- A. Martinez: And that's Up First for Thursday, October 3rd.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I'm Ian Martinez.
--:-- A. Martinez: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: For your next listen, consider, consider this.
--:-- A. Martinez: Hurricane Helene devastated much of the southeastern U.S. and efforts to recover are just beginning, so what lies ahead?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Listen to Consider This.
--:-- A. Martinez: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, James Heider, Russell Lewis, Vincent Nee, Ali Schweitzer, and Alice Wolfley.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It was produced by Iman Ma'ani, Paige Waterhouse, Nia Dumas, and Ana Perez.
--:-- A. Martinez: We get engineering support from Andy Huther, and our technical director is Zach Coleman.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Join us again tomorrow.
