2 Trump co-defendants get trial date, feds eye another Hunter Biden indictment: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Two of Trump's Georgia co-defendants get a trial date

USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen looks ahead to the trial of two Trump co-defendants in Georgia. Plus, federal prosecutors intend to seek indictment of Hunter Biden by Sept. 29, USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer explains how Russia is leaning on North Korea for help in Ukraine, the Biden administration cancels the remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic Refuge, and experts urge college students to secure passwords and monitor their credit after a massive data breach earlier this year.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. 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.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 7th of September 2023. Today, a trial date has been set for two of Trump's co-defendants in Georgia. Plus, we look at the latest on Hunter Biden's legal troubles, and is Russia turning to North Korea for help in Ukraine?

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Two of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in Georgia now have their trial date, but that's after arguing unsuccessfully that they should hold separate trials. I spoke with USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen to learn more. Thanks for hopping on, Bart.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Bart, before we get to the judge's decision here, what arguments did Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro make for wanting separate trials?

Bart Jansen:

Kenneth Chesebro, he's been called the architect of the scheme to field alternate electors, or fake presidential electors, who would've supported Trump in Georgia and a half dozen states, despite the fact that President Joe Biden won the state of Georgia. He's got one set of charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty. He has said that he was just a lawyer giving advice. The other defendant, campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, has been accused of tampering with election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia. She and others, what they're each arguing is that their charges are so different from each other that there is no overlap and so they should not be considered during the same trial. In addition, both have asked for speedy trials. They both want to get their trials over with as quickly as possible. And so the judge decided to start them both on October 23rd in the same trial. The dispute about that is that they had each argued that they should have separate trials. They each wanted to be tried alone because they don't have similarities with each other.

Taylor Wilson:

What arguments did the judge put forward for having them be tried together?

Bart Jansen:

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee basically ruled that the typical arguments you'd have for separating defendants from a joint case didn't really apply in this case because they weren't going to have antagonistic arguments against each other and the lack of overlap on the evidence against them actually ruled in the favor of having the trial happen together. The fact that they were siloed, you don't get to separate your case just because you have different evidence. The argument would be whether the other person's evidence might hurt your reputation in some way. But the judge found that the accusation is a broad, wide-ranging conspiracy, and so he thought it would be okay to have both of those defendants tried at the same time.

Taylor Wilson:

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump last week asked to separate his case from co-defendants who won a speedy trial, that includes Powell and Chesebro. What's the strategy from the Trump camp on this?

Bart Jansen:

Well, that's right. Trump has tried to slow down the prosecutions in each of the four criminal indictments he faces. He's proposed to have some of the federal cases delayed until after the 2024 election. For right now, they're each slated to go before the election. But in this Georgia case in particular, Trump has said his lawyer says he needs a lot more time to prepare a defense, that it's a 98-page indictment. It cites 161 acts and 41 charges against 19 co-defendants. He happens to face 13 charges, and his lawyers say that they need way more than the next six weeks to prepare for that trial. So they have asked to be separated from anyone wanting a speedy trial because of that need for extra preparation.

Taylor Wilson:

As you mentioned, this trial date for Powell and Chesebro has been set for October 23rd. Bart, what will their cases tell us about how these proceedings might go for other co-defendants in Georgia and for Trump himself?

Bart Jansen:

The trial - as now scheduled to start October 23rd, according to prosecutors - is going to show us the entire case. If Trump is allowed to postpone the start of his trial, and if this one for Chesebro and Powell goes off on time, prosecutors have said they're going to bring the entire case. They want to show the overarching conspiracy. The defense lawyers say, well, you wouldn't need to do that. You can just focus on the few charges against each of them, the half dozen conspiracy charges against each of them. So in the case of Sidney Powell, her lawyer, Brian Rafferty, said that he thought her trial could be over in three days. Prosecutors do not agree with that. Prosecutors say they want to show this entire conspiracy to show how they were part of this attempt to basically overturn the 2020 election.

It's going to give a preview for anyone who's not part of this October 23rd trial, and the judge hasn't really said yet how many people might get lumped onto October 23rd. He has asked prosecutors to file paperwork by Tuesday arguing why all 19 should be tried at the same time. Prosecutors have argued that. They want to try them all in one case. But whoever goes later is going to get a chance to see a lot of the evidence that will play out against them in a future trial.

Taylor Wilson:

USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen, thanks as always.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

Federal prosecutors said yesterday that they intend to seek another indictment of Hunter Biden by September 29th after a plea deal fell apart on earlier tax and gun charges. The President's son was set to plead guilty in July on two misdemeanor charges for not filing taxes in 2017 and 2018, which he has since paid. He was also set to enter a pretrial program for a gun charge, which would've led to the charge being dropped if he complied with the program's requirements. But a U.S. District Judge refused to accept the plea agreement because of disputes between Biden's lawyers and federal prosecutors about the terms.

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As the war in Ukraine drags on into its 18th month, Russia is turning to North Korea for help. That's as the U.S. has unveiled a new aid package for Ukraine. I spoke with USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer for the latest. Hey, Josh.

Josh Meyer:

How are you doing, Taylor?

Taylor Wilson:

Good. Thanks for hopping back on. It's been another violent week in Ukraine after a Russian missile killed at least 17 civilians in the eastern part of the country yesterday. And that attack came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the country on a secret visit where he also unveiled a new aid package. What's in this aid package and how might it help Ukraine ramp up its counter offensive?

Josh Meyer:

This is a big one. We've given a lot of aid to Ukraine over the past 18 months. Blinken used his unannounced visit to pledge more than a billion dollars in additional aid for Ukraine. And this financial package includes funds for equipment to clear mines laid by Russia, which is a big problem for Ukraine's military and the counteroffensive obstacles that have impeded Ukraine's progress, as well as $203 million to root out graft in Ukrainian institutions. And again, that's a big deal because President Zelenskyy has had to fire a few people, key people in his security apparatus because of corruption, suspected counterintelligence operations, people secretly favoring Russia and so forth. The counteroffensive has been really tough going for them. And even though the U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $40 billion in military aid since the start of the war, this is a big package and they're hoping to make the most of it.

Taylor Wilson:

Russian President Vladimir Putin is now reaching out to North Korea for help. How have these two countries cozied up to each other in recent weeks?

Josh Meyer:

They've had an on again, off again relationship for decades, but in recent weeks, actually in recent months, they've gotten a lot closer. I mean, Kim Jong Un will take any added stature and alliances that he can get, because North Korea has been such a sanctioned state that they've been basically isolated by the world leaders. And so the question is why would Putin be reaching out to North Korea? And the answer, it appears, is that he's running out of ammunition, that he needs North Korean ammunition, much of it that's been laying around there since the Cold War because North Korea hasn't been in any military conflict since then. But they also could be providing missiles, they could be providing other material. And as the White House said in recent days, it could be even just more broad efforts to help the military industrial complex in Russia fight the war in Ukraine next door.

Taylor Wilson:

I may be asking the obvious here, Josh, but how do U.S. officials feel about this relationship between two adversaries?

Josh Meyer:

Oh, they don't like it at all. In fact, one of the concerns is that there's sort of a new axis of evil forming. The big concern is that both North Korea and Russia are cozying up to China and that the three of them together could be creating some sort of anti-Western alliance. And if that's the case, that could cause a lot of problems for the United States and its allies.

But even just the alliance between North Korea and Russia is a problem as well because there's a lot of things that they can be sharing. I mean, North Korea is one of the best manufacturers of tactical and intercontinental ballistic missiles. They could be providing that kind of technology to Russia. Russia in return can be providing North Korea with submarine technology and other high tech equipment and technology. And so there's just a lot of concern about what these two countries might be getting themselves into. I mean, you have two leaders there, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, who are very, very untrustworthy and don't like the United States to begin with. So together, it's not really clear what they'll do, but we don't like the alliance at all.

Taylor Wilson:

Josh Meyer, thanks as always.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure.

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Taylor Wilson:

The Biden administration yesterday canceled the seven remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The move comes after the same administration earlier this year approved a major project from ConocoPhillips that could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day in the state. Litigation over approval of that so-called Willow project is still pending. As for yesterday's decision, Biden said, "Alaska's home to many of America's most breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas. As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages." Many Republicans didn't speak as fondly of the move. The state's Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, slammed it and threatened to sue.

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Experts are urging college students to update their passwords and keep a close eye on their personal information after a massive data breach. Software development company Progress announced in May that unauthorized users exploited vulnerabilities in a ransomware attack, and at-risk clients of the company included the National Student Clearinghouse, UnitedHealthcare Student Services, and the Teacher's Insurance and Annuity Association, or TIAA. The organizations house all kinds of personal information, from social security numbers to addresses and health information. The vulnerability affected colleges in eight states from Georgia to New York and Oklahoma. Experts urge everyone to use two-factor password verification whenever possible, and for students possibly affected in the breach to monitor their credit.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can reach us at [email protected]. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.