On Thursday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Four people are dead after a high school shooting in Georgia. The U.S. accuses Russia's RT network in a $10 million election misinformation plot. Vice President Kamala Harris announces a rare policy break with President Joe Biden on the capital-gains tax rate. USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen discusses the latest as a judge considers former President Donald Trump's election charges after a Supreme Court ruling this summer. USA TODAY Money Reporter Bailey Schulz takes a look at consumer spending data.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Thursday, September 5th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, the aftermath of the latest American school shooting. Plus the Justice Department accuses Russia's RT network in an election misinformation plot. And what's the latest on consumer spending?

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Four people are dead and nine injured after a shooting at a high school outside Atlanta yesterday. The shooting suspect has been identified as a 14-year-old student at the school, and officials say he will be charged with murder as an adult. The FBI received tips about online threats last year involving the then 13-year-old. The Bureau's Atlanta office said in May of 2023, the FBI's National Threat Operation Center got anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location, federal agents posted on X, formerly Twitter. The threats contained images of guns and the FBI determined that the post originated in Georgia. The FBI turned over the evidence to the Jackson County Sheriff's office, which interviewed the suspect and his father who said that he had hunting guns in the house, but that his son did not have access to them.

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The Justice Department has charged two Russian citizens with directing a $10 million campaign to influence the 2024 election through online platforms that flooded millions of Americans with disinformation. That's what Attorney General Merrick Garland announced yesterday. The complaint focused on RT, the Russian State Media Network, dropped by American distributors after the invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. The company bankrolled a $10 million campaign through a Tennessee company to distribute Russian misinformation to US social media influencers and encourage divisions in US politics, according to Garland. The department also sees 32 internet domains that Russians use to distribute misinformation about the election under a program called Doppelganger, Garland said. US officials say the domains were built to look like legitimate US news organizations, but were instead filled with Russian propaganda that could be picked up and relayed through US influencers. RT responded with ridicule telling Reuters, quote, "Three things are certain in life. Death, taxes and RT's interference in the US elections," unquote. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Vice President Kamala Harris proposed a tax break for startups yesterday and tended to help entrepreneurs offset the costs of starting a small business. Harris will push to increase the small business tax deduction from 5,000 to $50,000 for new companies if she's elected. Harris yesterday also proposed a more modest increase to the capital gains tax rate than President Joe Biden unveiled in his budget earlier this year. Marking one of the Vice President's biggest policy departures from Biden, Harris called for a 28% capital gains tax rate for Americans who earn at least a million dollars. Lower than Biden's proposed 39.6% top rate on capital gains. The profits an investor makes from selling an asset such as stocks or real estate.

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In a historic case, former president Donald Trump was charged with conspiracy to try to steal the 2020 election. He's been facing those charges for a little more than a year, and appeal to the Supreme Court saying that as a former president, he cannot be charged with anything in order to have a president be able to act freely while in office. He challenged the indictment all the way to the Supreme Court and earlier this summer, the high court ruled that he does have some immunity. Last month, Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, secured a new indictment against Trump in light of the Supreme Court's ruling. I caught up with USA TODAY, Justice Department correspondent Bart Jansen for the latest and a look at what's at stake today in the case. Bart, thanks for hopping on.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So what is Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith's new Trump indictment centered on?

Bart Jansen:

Trump was charged with several things having to do with not turning over the government to President Joe Biden, who was certified as the rightful winner of the 2020 election. One of the things was encouraging the Justice Department to investigate what were determined to be baseless claims of widespread election fraud. Another aspect of it was to recruit an alternate slates of electors in the half dozen states that were most closely contested, and having them serve as members of the electoral college, officially choosing the next president, despite the fact that Joe Biden had won those states, such as Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin. Your listeners may have heard that in those states, prosecutors have charged these alternate electors, fake electors, because they filled out paperwork and they allegedly trying to get Congress to count them in favor of Trump. So he was charged with being behind several of these efforts.

After the Supreme Court's ruling, Smith modified the indictment slightly to try to steer it away from official duties, and again, as we said, toward private duties. So all sorts of material in the indictment dealing with the Justice Department was removed. And that's Trump basically telling top officials of the Justice Department to investigate fraud more aggressively, that sort of thing. He was encouraged by an assistant attorney general in that effort. And most of those references have just been removed and so charges wouldn't be appropriate for him dealing with that agency even if he was mistaken that there was election fraud. So the Justice Department stuff all got removed. The fake electors material is still in the indictment. Jack Smith is arguing that anything election related, any electioneering is obviously personal because it has nothing to do with the president's, whether you get to be president. So those are the sorts of issues that US District Judge Tanya Chutkan will have to decide now that the case has been thrown back in her lap.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, so Bart, I mean this is a new chapter today in this case. What functionally, really, is Chutkan dealing with? What's that issue today?

Bart Jansen:

The process is actually going to take months, and so this is just the start of what's going to be a complicated legal journey. What she's doing today is basically trying to set guidelines and set a schedule for how these arguments are going to play out, but the prosecutors and defense attorneys can't even agree on which order to debate things and what that schedule should be. The prosecutors are saying we should debate immunity first. That's the most important thing under previous Supreme Court decisions. And basically you have to decide immunity before you decide anything else, like whether the charges should be dismissed for other reasons.

But on the other side of the courtroom, Trump's defense lawyers are arguing that they should go toward other issues first. One of which is they want to argue Smith himself. The prosecutor himself was appointed to the job illegitimately, and so the entire prosecution should fall because he wasn't put in place correctly. That's what happened in his classified documents case down in Florida. And so right now that case is dismissed. Smith has appealed that decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and so we're still waiting to hear on that, though the pace and the subject of what we'll be debating is the kind of decisions that we might see out of Judge Chutkan today.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Bart Jansen covers the Justice Department for USA TODAY. Thank you, Bart.

Bart Jansen:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Consumer spending and confidence is looking good on paper, but economists say parts of the population are struggling with inflation. I spoke with USA TODAY, money reporter Bailey Schulz to learn more. Bailey, thanks for hopping on.

Bailey Schulz:

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Bailey, there are signs of solid US consumer spending despite these high interest rates and inflation. What are some of the positive indicators right now?

Bailey Schulz:

So the good news for a lot of Americans is that wage growth continues to outpace inflation, which just means that Americans get more purchasing power. So we're seeing US consumer confidence hit a six-month high in August, and also that consumer spending saw a solid 0.5% increase in July.

Taylor Wilson:

So what are some major signs of weakness when it comes to consumer spending right now?

Bailey Schulz:

Yeah, so there are some signs that discretionary spending is low. Credit card balances and delinquency rates are up, and then we're seeing data showing that a greater share of households are reporting trouble just putting enough food on table in recent days. So despite some positive data and numbers, there are also some signs that economists are pointing out as just a little bit concerning.

Taylor Wilson:

You also wrote about dollar stores as part of this piece. What are we seeing really at bargain stores related to these signs of potential weakness?

Bailey Schulz:

Just to list off a few recent examples. Dollar General last week said that it's seeing its core customer, a lot of whom are these low-income shoppers. They're just tightening their budgets, pulling back on buying basic necessities. Five Below also said that it's seeing its lower-income shoppers underperforming for them. And then we saw Dollar Tree, which is a company that runs the Family Dollar and Dollar Tree brands. They're saying that Family Dollar's lower-income customers remain weak and it's also seeing pressure on its middle and higher-income customers as well.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So is that in line with the broader national retail trends? I mean, how is retail performing in general?

Bailey Schulz:

Yeah, great question, and it's a bit of a mixed bag at this point. So one retail analyst told me that part of the reason we're seeing stores like Dollar General struggling is because big-box retailers like Target, Walmart are drawing in more customers by dropping their prices. And then we're seeing signs of other retailers like Target, Best Buy, which tend to cater toward more affluent customers. They're having some strong reports in recent quarters.

Taylor Wilson:

There's clearly a gap between the haves and have-nots. What are some of the driving factors here in this moment?

Bailey Schulz:

Yeah, so I think everyone is familiar with inflation no matter what level their income is. That that's something they've likely built and dealt with in recent years. But economists say that recovery is looking different for lower-income Americans. So we know that lower-income Americans are less likely to own stocks and are less likely to be homeowners, which are two areas that I've really seen growth in bolstered household wealth in recent years. Meanwhile, if you're a renter, Zillow estimates the rent prices are up about 35% over the past five years, and so that's something that has really squeezed a lot of renters budgets. Then there are signs of a cooling labor market, which is more pronounced in sectors with lower-income workers like retail, hospitality. To end things on a positive note though, one economist told me that if the labor market holds up and we see inflation continue to drop, that should help support spending across the board over the next few years. So hopefully there are better days ahead for the American consumer.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Bailey Schulz covers money for USA TODAY. Thank you, Bailey.

Bailey Schulz:

Thank you very much.

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Taylor Wilson:

Using dating apps can be a frustrating process. Can dating boot camps make it easier to find a match? USA TODAY wellness, lifestyle, and entertainment reporter, Charles Trepany has bravely experimented with some alternative matchmaking experiences and shares what he's learned with my colleague Dana Taylor. Tune into The Excerpt later today at 4:00 PM Eastern Time, right here on this feed to hear all the juicy details. And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.