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--:-- Steve Inskeep: Investigators say a 14-year-old is responsible for killing four people at Appalachee High in Georgia.
--:-- A Martinez: This is everybody's worst nightmare. What happened when investigators questioned the suspect last year before the attack?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Today, a judge considers whether an indictment of former President Trump can move forward.
--:-- A Martinez: The judge is responding to a Supreme Court ruling that puts some of the former president's actions beyond prosecution.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What will she make of a revised indictment for Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat?
--:-- A Martinez: Also, what do the presidential candidates' travel schedules reveal about the election?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And two Russians are charged with secretly pushing Kremlin propaganda to millions of Americans online.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This message comes from BetterHelp.
--:-- President Fernando Madeira: For me, sometimes I just need to go and talk to somebody that is not going to judge me, right?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It's going to be there and they're going to listen to me. And I can start just saying, look, I'm not feeling right today.
--:-- President Fernando Madeira: And it feels natural. I love it.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: To get matched with a therapist, visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This message comes from Lisa.
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--:-- Steve Inskeep: And each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind.
--:-- Lisa Mattress Representative: Plus, they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns, and a 100-night sleep trial.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Visit Lisa.com for 25% off mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's L-E-E-S-A dot com, promo code NPR.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Support for NPR and the following message come from USPS.
--:-- USPS Representative: With USPS Ground Advantage Service, it's like your shipment has a direct line to you.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It leaves the dock, you know about it.
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--:-- Steve Inskeep: And when it reaches your customer, you guessed it, you're still in the know.
--:-- USPS Representative: Here's the real game changer. It's one journey, one partner, total peace of mind.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Check out USPS Ground Advantage Service at USPS.com slash in the know.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Because if you know, you know.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: The investigation of a mass shooting in Georgia has revealed an especially painful detail.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Back in 2023, local law enforcement visited a father and his 13-year-old son.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: They were investigating online threats and photos of guns online.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The father and son denied everything, and the father said the guns in the house were secure.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: Now, the FBI says the son is the same person accused of killing four people yesterday.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: Wednesday night, Georgia Bureau of Investigation head Chris Hosey revealed the accused was known to law enforcement.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Last year, the FBI passed concerns about the alleged shooter to the sheriff in the neighboring county where the family then lived.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: They conducted an investigation at that time and there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Investigators say yesterday he used an AR-15 style rifle to kill and maim.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: This hits home for us.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: Being from Athens just down the road, Marty and I having a daughter that taught first grade just a few years ago, this is everybody's worst nightmare.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He insisted now is not the time to ask policy questions.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: Today is the day for an investigation to mourn these precious Georgians that we have lost.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: Earlier, community residents gathered to remember the dead and pray for the recovery of survivors.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They also prayed for the 14-year-old boy accused of killing two other classmates and two teachers at Apalachee High School.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: And for some cure to whatever ill led this shooter and others to violence.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: Earlier at the neighboring elementary school, Tina Rongi worried about her grandchildren and their classmates.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: These poor kids aren't going to be the same.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: They're not going to be the same.
--:-- Tina Rongi: How can you be? She asked after witnessing something like that.
--:-- Grant Blankenship: For NPR News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Winder, Georgia.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Lawyers for former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department appear in a federal courtroom today.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: It might be the last hearing before the November election in a case that accuses Trump of interfering with the peaceful transfer of power back in 2020.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: 2021.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Because of the timing, voters may soon decide both the winner of the White House and Trump's legal fate.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR Justice correspondent Kerry Johnson has been following the prosecution.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: This case has actually been on pause for eight months while we waited for the Supreme Court to act.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And the court ruled former President Trump and future presidents have at least presumptive immunity from criminal liability for their official acts.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: That's why the special counsel in this case, Jack Smith, obtained a new indictment just in the last week.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Smith scrapped part of the case that accused Donald Trump of leaning on the Justice Department to advance bogus theories of election fraud.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: And prosecutors also removed some references to what Trump's White House aides told him about the election in late 2020, all to respond to the Supreme Court ruling.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But Trump has called these new charges election interference.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: He claims they violate DOJ policy about taking big steps too close to an election.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I asked the Attorney General Merrick Garland about that.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: He stood up for his prosecutors.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The special counsel is required by the regulations to follow the policies of the Justice Department, including the election sensitivities policies.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: And I'm quite confident that he did so.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So, Kerry, now it's up to the judge in Washington to figure out which parts of this January 6th case against Trump can move forward.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Any clues on how she might proceed?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This judge, Tanya Chutkin, has been firm but fair in this case so far.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: She's a former public defender.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: She's also handed out some tough sentences against the lower-level people involved in the Capitol riot.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Now she's got to figure out how to draw this line, which of Donald Trump's actions in the White House were part of his job as president, and which were more about personal gain in his behavior as a candidate for office.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, there's no way this gets resolved before the election, and it might not even go to trial next year in 2025 because the Supreme Court might get involved again.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Law professor Randall Eliasson says one of the big fights will be about former Vice President Mike Pence.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The vice president is kind of a gray area, so that will be a major source of contention.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Smith is arguing that what Mike Pence did here was not in his role as vice president, but in his constitutional role as president of the Senate, the legislative role.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And prosecutors say there's no role for the president or the vice president in counting the votes.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: So the prosecutor's argument is that testimony about pressuring Mike Pence should be in bounds for this case.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: If the judge agrees and the case survives the election, a jury might someday hear from Mike Pence or at least see some of the notes he took.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Prosecutors also say they have other evidence they want to introduce, perhaps things we don't even know about yet, but we may not read or hear about them before November.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: One more thing really quick.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: A different federal court today in Los Angeles where I'm at.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Another high-profile case.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: Tell us about that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Jury selection starts today in L.A. in the tax fraud case against the current president's son, Hunter Biden.
--:-- Kerry Johnson: He's pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors have developed a pile of evidence about the salacious ways he spent money while hooked on drugs and while they say he failed to pay his taxes.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR Justice correspondent Kerry Johnson.
--:-- Tamara Keith: In the race for president, there is one way to tell which states are the most competitive.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Just look at where the candidates are going.
--:-- Tamara Keith: A candidate's time is the campaign's most limited resource.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You can raise more money, but you can't raise more time.
--:-- Tamara Keith: And in this final stretch of 2024, seven states are getting almost all the traffic.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Oh, it's good to be back in Georgia.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Back in the great state of Michigan with... Nevada.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: North Carolina.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Back in Pennsylvania.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Wisconsin.
--:-- Tamara Keith: So Arizona.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith has been looking at their schedules and crunching the numbers.
--:-- Tamara Keith: I join us now Tam, what did you find?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, since Vice President Harris entered the race she and former President Donald Trump have made trips to each of those swing states at least once.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Today, she's off to Pittsburgh, which of course is in Pennsylvania.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: She's hunkering down there for debate prep.
--:-- Tamara Keith: That's something she could have done at home, but she chose to do it in a key swing state.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And she was just there earlier this week with President Biden.
--:-- Tamara Keith: So hard not to notice that Trump and Harris have been to Pennsylvania a lot.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: A lot.
--:-- Tamara Keith: This is a state that has been getting extra love from both Harris and Trump.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Harris and her running mate Tim Walls held a rally in Philadelphia, did a campaign bus tour in western Pennsylvania.
--:-- Tamara Keith: They're also spending big on television and digital advertising there.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Trump has visited the state five times just since July with more stops planned.
--:-- Tamara Keith: This is a state that helped him win the presidency in 2016.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And in 2020, he narrowly lost the state.
--:-- Tamara Keith: He wants to win it back.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In addition to all the rallies, Trump and his allies have booked more than $70 million worth of television ad time in Pennsylvania between now and Election Day.
--:-- Tamara Keith: That's according to the tracking firm Ad Impact.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And just to put that into perspective, that's more than Team Trump has reserved in all the other battleground states combined.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Yeah, seven of those.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So why so much time and money in Pennsylvania?
--:-- Tamara Keith: Well, I called up David Urban to talk about this.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He ran Trump's Pennsylvania operation in 2016, and he thinks the race there will be very tight again.
--:-- Tamara Keith: And there's a big return on investment for going there.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Pennsylvania carries a lot of votes in the Electoral College.
--:-- Tamara Keith: And Urban says there's also a practical reason both campaigns are spending so much time there.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It's close to home.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Geographically, it's easy, right?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Arizona and Nevada, you've got to go all the way across America.
--:-- Tamara Keith: To go to Pennsylvania, both for Harris and for Trump, it's a 20-minute flight.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So Trump is working to drive up turnout among the state's white working-class voters outside of the major cities.
--:-- Tamara Keith: And really aiming to win the same way he did in 2016.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Though he's also hoping to make gains with Black and Latino men.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Now, you mentioned that bus tour that Kamala Harris did in Pennsylvania, and you were on another one with her in Georgia last week.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What was the strategy there?
--:-- Tamara Keith: Well, Harris's campaign is trying to boost turnout in cities and suburbs.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But they're also trying to cut into Trump's margins in more rural parts of both of these states.
--:-- Tamara Keith: The bus tour I was on last week was in and around Savannah.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's a city that hasn't seen a general election candidate since the 1990s.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Here's Quentin Fulks, Harris's deputy campaign manager.
--:-- Quentin Fulks: We're talking about some of these states that are being decided by 12,000 votes.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It doesn't matter if those votes come from Atlanta or it doesn't matter if those votes come from Savannah or Augusta or somewhere more rural Georgia from Slotka County, my hometown.
--:-- Tamara Keith: The Trump and Harris teams have each reserved about $39 million in ad time in Georgia, a sign they both see it as winnable.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Another state I'm watching, North Carolina, that's been getting a lot of candidate face time.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Wherever the candidates go, NPR's Tamara Keith will follow.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Tam, thanks.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Indeed.
--:-- Tamara Keith: You're welcome.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Federal officials accuse Russia of using unwitting right-wing influencers in the United States to spread Kremlin propaganda ahead of the November election.
--:-- Shannon Bond: The Justice Department charged two Russian media employees in this scheme.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Investigators say they helped to publish online videos that received 16 million views on YouTube and other social media platforms.
--:-- Shannon Bond: NPR's Shannon Bond covers foreign influence campaigns.
--:-- Shannon Bond: Well, officials say two employees of Russian state media broadcaster RT secretly funded and directed the production of hundreds of these videos on social media.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And the videos were often consistent with Russia's goals of exacerbating domestic divisions and undermining support for Ukraine, but without disclosing that RT or Russia was behind the videos.
--:-- Shannon Bond: And officials say the reason that RT did this is that after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, American cable distributors had dropped the channel and it actually ended up pulling out of the U.S. altogether.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And so this was a way of continuing to spread pro narratives to the American public.
--:-- Shannon Bond: So how did this alleged scheme work?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Yeah, so the indictment says these RT employees funneled nearly a million to this Tennessee company that goes unnamed in the indictment.
--:-- Shannon Bond: But details in the indictment are an exact match for a company called Tenant Media.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This was founded by Lauren Chen.
--:-- Shannon Bond: She's a conservative Canadian influencer.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And Liam Donovan, and they allegedly worked with the RT employees, who they knew were Russian to recruit influencers with large audiences to make these videos.
--:-- Shannon Bond: And what are they saying?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, Chen and Donovan did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
--:-- Shannon Bond: And what the indictment says is that RT employees were really pushing for these influencers to do things like share the company's videos.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They got annoyed when they didn't think they were promoting them enough.
--:-- Shannon Bond: They pushed for angles that echoed Kremlin narratives.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So, for example, an RT staffer wanted the company to blame Ukraine for a terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall, even though ISIS had claimed responsibility.
--:-- Shannon Bond: Now, the influencers, Shannon, who are the influencers here and why would they do this?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Right. These are some really well-known names in right-wing circles, including Tim Pool and Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin.
--:-- Shannon Bond: The indictment says they did not know about these ties to Russia.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The company's founders and the RT staff allegedly told some of them that there was a wealthy European banker behind the project.
--:-- Shannon Bond: But these contracts that they were offered were lucrative.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: According to the indictment, one influencer was being paid $400,000 a month, plus an additional $100,000 signing bonus and other performance bonuses for four videos a week.
--:-- Shannon Bond: Several of these influencers, including Poole, Rubin and Johnson, have put out statements saying they were victims here.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They were deceived.
--:-- Shannon Bond: Now, a couple of months away from the election, Shannon, I mean, how does this all fit in the larger pattern of foreign efforts to target American voters?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's right. I mean, these efforts are escalating, We're hearing more and more about them.
--:-- Shannon Bond: Yesterday, U.S. officials also announced that they had taken down separately a set of Internet domains involved in a separate Russian influence operation.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We have Iran recently blamed for trying to hack both the Trump and Harris campaigns.
--:-- Shannon Bond: We have China targeting American voters, according to the intelligence communities and researchers.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And a lot of these efforts so far have not been very effective when we see these kind of influence operations.
--:-- Shannon Bond: What's notable about this RT video operation, it's one of the few that's actually managed to get in front of a lot of people.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And it's probably because of these influencers.
--:-- Shannon Bond: That's NPR's Shannon Bond.
--:-- Shannon Bond: Thanks so much.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that's Up First for Thursday, September 5th.
--:-- A Martinez: I'm Amy Martinez.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
--:-- A Martinez: For your next listen, consider this from NPR News.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Up First brings you the news of the day.
--:-- A Martinez: Consider This goes deep on one vital story.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Listen to Consider This.
--:-- A Martinez: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Anna Yukhananov, Roberta Rampton, Brett Neely, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Jan Johnson.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Lindsay Totty.
--:-- A Martinez: We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and our technical director is Hannah Gluvna.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Join us again tomorrow.
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