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--:-- Leila Fadel: Donald Trump survived a second apparent assassination attempt. A gunman hid in the brush with an AK-47 as the former president golfed at his club in Florida.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What do we know about how this happened?
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Venezuela's government claims the CIA plotted to kill its president. The United States says that story is completely false.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Does the accusation have anything to do with America's push for Nicolás Maduro to leave power?
--:-- Leila Fadel: And the future of TikTok in the U.S. will be decided in court. A case begins today over a planned federal ban that will take effect next year unless China sells the app.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What precedent does this set for free speech?
--:-- Leila Fadel: So stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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--:-- Steve Inskeep: A man is in custody after what the FBI says was an apparent attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump while he was golfing yesterday in West Palm Beach, Florida.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Police arrested Ryan Wesley Ruth as he fled north in his vehicle on Interstate 95.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: If it is confirmed that this was an assassination attempt, it is the second against Trump.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Secret Service Special Agent Rafael Barros spoke yesterday at a news conference.
--:-- Rafael Barros: The threat level is high. We have increased the amount of assets that we've supported. We live in danger times.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR's Greg Allen joins us now from West Palm Beach.
--:-- Greg Allen: Hi, Steve. Good morning.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So how close did this alleged gunman get to former President Trump?
--:-- Greg Allen: Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said yesterday that Trump was about 300 to 400 yards away when a Secret Service agent saw the alleged gunman at the tree line at the golf course.
--:-- Greg Allen: The weapon he left behind, which is identified as an AK-47, was equipped with a scope.
--:-- Greg Allen: And Bradshaw said that would put the president within range.
--:-- Greg Allen: But he had only praise with how the Secret Service handled the president's security yesterday.
--:-- Greg Allen: They have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the president was at.
--:-- Greg Allen: And he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual.
--:-- Greg Allen: At which time the individual took off.
--:-- Greg Allen: When Ruth fled, he left behind the rifle, a couple of backpacks, and a GoPro that was attached to the fence that was apparently there to record the events.
--:-- Greg Allen: A bystander got a photo of his car and police did arrest him a little later as he was driving north.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What do we know about Ruth?
--:-- Greg Allen: Ryan Wesley Ruth has a record of arrests mostly for minor offenses but he also has a felony on his record for illegally possessing a machine gun.
--:-- Greg Allen: From his social media history, he says he supported Trump in 2016, but later expressed support for other candidates, including Nikki Haley and Kamala Harris.
--:-- Greg Allen: He was particularly active around the cause of providing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
--:-- Greg Allen: The New York Times interviewed him last year about his efforts to recruit people, including former Afghan soldiers, to fight in Ukraine.
--:-- Greg Allen: Ruth doesn't have any military experience of his own, but said on social media he was willing to fight and die in Ukraine.
--:-- Greg Allen: He told the Times that he's wanted to do whatever it takes to get Afghans who had fought against the Taliban into Ukraine, including making fake passports and paying off officials if necessary.
--:-- Greg Allen: But that's not a scheme that apparently went anywhere.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, this apparent assassination attempt comes just nine weeks after a different assassination attempt.
--:-- Greg Allen: Given security was already likely beefed up, how could someone with a rifle get so close to the former president?
--:-- Greg Allen: Well, you know, the FBI, I mean, the Secret Service was criticized for not acting quickly enough in that earlier attempt on Trump's life.
--:-- Greg Allen: This time, they did spot the threat quickly and deal with it quickly.
--:-- Greg Allen: But that golf club, Trump International in West Palm, is a difficult place for the Secret Service to provide security in.
--:-- Greg Allen: It's right next to two busy roads that have only fences and shrubbery in between.
--:-- Greg Allen: A Palm Beach sheriff said if Trump were a sitting president, agents would likely have ringed the course, providing more security.
--:-- Greg Allen: But since Trump is just a candidate, the security was more limited, the sheriff said.
--:-- Greg Allen: That may now change, in fact, likely will change.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It's not clear how the alleged gunman knew Trump was at the golf course yesterday, though.
--:-- Greg Allen: Of course, that's not publicized, but this is a course that he regularly plays that when he's at Mar-a-Lago.
--:-- Greg Allen: So that may have been a factor in the gunman's decision to go there yesterday.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR's Greg Allen in West Palm Beach, Florida. Thanks, Greg.
--:-- Greg Allen: You're welcome.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The Venezuelan government has accused the CIA of being behind an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Venezuela's Interior Ministry says it arrested three American citizens among other foreign nationals claiming they were mercenaries.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The U.S. State Department has dismissed these claims as, quote, categorically false.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The backdrop to all of this is a disputed presidential election.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Nicolás Maduro says he won, while the opposition, the United States, and many others say he lost.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Journalist Manuel Rueda joins us from neighboring Colombia.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Hi, Leila. Hi, Steve. Good morning.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So what more can you tell us about this alleged plot?
--:-- Manuel Rueda: So the Venezuelan government is saying that the person at the center of this plot is a Navy SEAL, who they identified as Wilbert Castaneda.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Venezuela's interior minister showed photos on Castaneda on TV and said that he was in Venezuela to make contacts with a gang known as Tren de Aragua.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Who were supposedly going to get guns to attack Maduro and other members of Venezuela's leadership.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: The State Department vehemently denied these reports, though they did acknowledge that a member of the U.S. military has been detained recently in Venezuela.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: And the identities of the other two Americans were not revealed.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So the State Department is saying it's categorically false.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Is there any sign that President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power is waning as a result of his disputed victory?
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Well, Maduro has arrested more than 1,600 people who have protested the election result.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: He's banned the social media platform X and also increased censorship on the local press.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: So this suggests that he setting his grip on the country and that he has prosecutors judges and members of the military who are willing to carry out his orders.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: But what some analysts say is that Maduro latest moves show that he somewhat desperate and has lost legitimacy.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Basically, he's resorting to violence and repression because no one in Venezuela believes he won the election.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: We'll have to see how long he can keep the military on his side. For that, he needs more money.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: But that could become scarce if the U.S. ramps up sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, you have just returned from the Colombia-Benezuela border, where you've been talking to Venezuelans leaving the country.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Right. So I was in some shelters along the road that heads from the border into the center of Colombia.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: And what you usually see in that area are people who are fleeing the economic situation in Venezuela.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: But now you're also getting people who had a job in Venezuela who were doing okay, but they had to leave suddenly because they were going to get arrested for participating in protests or for being involved in efforts to monitor the vote count on election day.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: You know, these are people who say they've been harassed by paramilitary groups tied to the Venezuelan government or even narrowly escaped being taken from their homes by police.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: I met one guy there who had been there a couple of days.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: He was waiting for his family. He had arrived in Colombia with nothing, not even a backpack, because he had to leave so suddenly.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: And he was waiting for his family to join him so that they could go to Chile, where they have some relatives.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: And even that's going to be tough, because some countries in South America have placed lots of visa restrictions on Venezuela, because so many millions of Venezuelans have already fled the country.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So Venezuela is now fleeing the economic conditions and possible political persecution.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: That's reporter Manuel Rueta from Bogota, Colombia. Thank you for joining us.
--:-- Manuel Rueda: Absolutely.
--:-- Leila Fadel: TikTok and the Department of Justice are in court today in a case that could determine the future of the app.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: A federal law that takes effect in January may ban TikTok in the United States.
--:-- Leila Fadel: NPR's Bobby Allen is covering the case in Washington and joins us now.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Good morning, Leila. Good morning.
--:-- Leila Fadel: OK, so what's expected to happen in court today?
--:-- Bobby Allen: Well, TikTok's going to be fighting for its survival in front of a panel of three federal judges.
--:-- Bobby Allen: It's an hour of oral arguments and it's really high stakes here, right?
--:-- Bobby Allen: There's billions of dollars, 170 million users in America, and really, Leila, the future of online speech.
--:-- Bobby Allen: All of that is at stake.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And, you know, the stakes are so high because of what happened last spring when Congress overwhelmingly passed a law that would put TikTok out of business in the U.S. unless it gets out of its Chinese ownership.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Why is Washington so concerned with TikTok's Chinese ownership?
--:-- Bobby Allen: Yeah, you know, these days it's really hard to find any lawmaker in Washington who supports TikTok being owned by a Beijing-based tech company.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And that's because the U.S. says TikTok is a national security threat, right?
--:-- Bobby Allen: The Biden administration fears the Chinese government could use TikTok to spread pro-China propaganda or, you know, misuse the data of millions of Americans.
--:-- Bobby Allen: So, again, we'll see oral arguments this morning with both sides kind of, you know, making their case for and against TikTok's existence in the U.S.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And the outcome could decide whether TikTok has any future here.
--:-- Bobby Allen: So what evidence does the government have against TikTok?
--:-- Bobby Allen: Yeah, I mean, that's really a big part of this case, actually.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And that's because a lot of the evidence against TikTok is classified and as a result, not publicly available.
--:-- Bobby Allen: You and I can't see it.
--:-- Bobby Allen: TikTok has been pushing to declassify all of that.
--:-- Bobby Allen: But the Biden administration says the information it has on TikTok is so sensitive that releasing it could cause quote exceptionally grave damage to American national security.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Right Here what we can say though China experts say it possible that Beijing could access Americans data or use TikTok to try to, you know, sway public opinion or influence an American election.
--:-- Bobby Allen: But so far, we do not have any evidence of that happening.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And TikTok said it's taken really drastic steps to kind of cordon off TikTok's Chinese parent company from its U.S. operations.
--:-- Bobby Allen: But in the White House, officials have become hardened against TikTok.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Their position is completely sever ties with China or be shut down for good.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And when do we expect a decision?
--:-- Bobby Allen: Yeah, a decision isn't expected today, but there is a looming deadline, January 19th, right?
--:-- Bobby Allen: That's TikTok's legal deadline for finding a buyer or facing a nationwide ban.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And as I already mentioned, they said it's not for sale.
--:-- Bobby Allen: So this legal challenge is basically their last shot.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Many observers are saying that that January 19th TikTok ban date could be extended.
--:-- Bobby Allen: But if the court doesn't offer an extension and sides with the Department of Justice, the undoing of TikTok in the U.S. will begin.
--:-- Bobby Allen: I mean, TikTok is so popular, especially with younger people.
--:-- Bobby Allen: How are TikTokers responding to all this?
--:-- Bobby Allen: Yeah, you know, a group of TikTok creators actually have a lawyer representing their interests in the case.
--:-- Bobby Allen: You know, their argument is that a ban would deprive them of their ability to exercise their free speech on the app.
--:-- Bobby Allen: There's lots of political content on the app, as we know.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And for many creators, though, there's a bit of a TikTok ban fatigue, right?
--:-- Bobby Allen: It's kind of understandable, Ayla.
--:-- Bobby Allen: We've been talking about TikTok maybe being banned for four years now, right?
--:-- Bobby Allen: So it's kind of head spinning.
--:-- Bobby Allen: I will say this time is different.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Okay, we have a federal law on the books on the verge of taking effect.
--:-- Bobby Allen: And unless TikTok's legal challenge is successful, the app's going to be squeezed out of existence.
--:-- Bobby Allen: NPR's Bobby Allen. Thank you, Bobby.
--:-- Bobby Allen: Thanks, Leila.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Can't leave you without one more story about which our colleague Eric Deckins sent a voice memo.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The 76 Demi Awards last night were this interesting balance of expected wins and surprise upsets.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The biggest surprise, of course, was the Max series Hacks winning Best Comedy, upsetting the night's big favorite, FX's The Bear.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: FX's lavish drama Shogun made history with the most Emmys for a series in a single year, 18 wins in all.
--:-- Leila Fadel: One Emmy for The Bear was a surprise when Liza Colonzeus became the first Latina to win as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And in one of the show's most powerful moments, actor John Leguizamo came on stage to remind Hollywood about his past problems under and misrepresenting Latinos, celebrating current progress while reminding everyone there was still a lot of work to be done.
--:-- Leila Fadel: For more on all these stories, go to NPR.org and listen wherever you are.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that's a first for Monday, September 16th.
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Leila Fadel. And I'm Steve Inskeep.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Your next listen is Consider This from NPR News.
--:-- Leila Fadel: If everything stays on schedule, this time next year, NASA will be sending astronauts back to the moon.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Wow, next year. The first crewed mission since the end of the Apollo program.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Our colleague Scott Detrow goes behind the scenes at the Johnson Space Center to see how the team is preparing on Consider This from NPR.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Russell Lewis, Tara Neal, Julia Redpath, HJ Mai, and Ally Schweitzer.
--:-- Leila Fadel: It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Chris Thomas, and Mansee Khurana.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We get engineering support from Carleigh Strange and our technical director is Zac Coleman.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Join us again tomorrow.
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