0:00

A

0:02

House Committee is expected to vote on criminal

0:04

referrals against former president Trump for

0:06

his role in the attack on

0:07

Congress. In

0:08

addition to other charges, the committee considers

0:10

insurrection. How important would that

0:12

move be? I mean, Martinez, that's Steve Insky,

0:15

and this is up first from NPR

0:17

News.

0:21

Argentina won the World Cup against

0:23

France. I

0:25

don't know how to put it in words. Argentina

0:28

deserves it, and Argentina deserves

0:30

joy. We're missing it. We

0:33

need it.

0:33

What does the victory mean for Lionel Messi and

0:36

his compatriots? Also, the federal government

0:38

took a snapshot of homelessness in

0:40

this country. What did the results show on

0:42

a single winter's night and

0:44

what does the Biden administration plan to do

0:46

about it? Stay with us. We've got the news you

0:48

need to start your day.

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1:28

Today, a house committee votes on whether to

1:30

send the justice department evidence

1:32

of crimes linked with the January

1:35

sixth attack on the

1:36

capital. A source familiar with the deliberation

1:38

says they'll take up a criminal referral against

1:41

former president Trump on at least

1:43

three charges that's one more

1:45

than previously

1:45

known. Representative Adam Schiff told NPR

1:48

early this month he thought the evidence is there.

1:50

The facts support a potential

1:53

charge against the former president. And,

1:55

you know, the justice department in my view needs

1:57

to hold everyone equally

1:59

responsible before the

2:00

law, and that includes for presidents

2:02

when they engage with criminality. Schiff

2:05

added that it's a political as well as a legal

2:07

decision for Congress to make that statement.

2:09

NPR congressional correspondent Claudia

2:12

is covering this story. She's covered the committee

2:14

all along, either Claudia? Good morning, Steve.

2:16

Okay. So we'd heard about possible

2:18

charges for conspiracy and

2:20

obstruction of an official

2:21

proceeding. What is the new charge here? The

2:24

source told me its insurrection. Insurrection

2:26

is a rare charge even in connection

2:28

with the January six attack on the capital.

2:30

A subpanel of the committee's lawyers.

2:32

This is led by Democrat, Jamie

2:35

Raskin, and also includes California Democrat,

2:37

Bill Lofgren, and Adam Schiff, and

2:39

Republican vice chairless Cheney is

2:41

expected to make this recommendation to the

2:44

panel today, which will then vote on

2:46

these plans. Congress cannot prosecute

2:48

crimes, but it can make a referral in the form

2:50

of a formal letter to the justice

2:52

department. Which

2:53

does make a big statement if ultimately

2:55

the the House of Representatives sends this

2:57

on or this House Committee does is Trump the

3:00

only person who might face accusations.

3:02

No. NPR obtained a small

3:04

portion of the draft script for the January

3:07

six panel's hearing that shows it intends

3:10

to accuse lawyers, John Eastman and

3:12

Kenneth Chesbro, of being tied

3:14

to a larger conspiracy, Eastman

3:16

was a Trump ally who helped lead the effort to

3:18

overturn president Biden's win. Well, Chesapeake

3:20

has been considered a central figure in

3:22

the scheme pushing for a slate of fake

3:24

Trump electors in various states

3:26

won by Biden. Chairman Benny Thompson

3:28

has repeatedly noted that attorneys who

3:30

are tied to the plot could be referred for

3:33

disciplinary action through their various

3:35

Barr associations to lose her

3:37

licenses to practice law. Yesterday,

3:39

I was outside of the room where members were

3:41

rehearsing for today's hearing as he left

3:43

chairman Benny

3:44

Thompson, teased the plans

3:46

today and told reporters to stay

3:48

tuned. Well, we'll do that, Claudia.

3:50

But when you say you obtained a draft

3:53

script. A script, it suggests the committee pretty

3:55

much knows what they want to do today and there's not a lot

3:57

of suspense about where this is

3:58

going. Who are some of the other people whose names

4:00

may come up as they vote on these charges?

4:03

Some central figures we could hear about today

4:05

could include former White House chief of staff

4:07

Mark Meadows and lawyers, Rudy Giuliani

4:09

and Jeffrey Clark, they were the subject of subpoenas

4:12

from the panel this year, and we're also tied

4:14

to this plot to overturn president Biden's win.

4:17

We could also hear potential referrals

4:19

for complaints to the House ethics committee

4:21

against House Republicans who defied their

4:23

committee subpoenas. Chairman

4:25

Thompson has said any of these deferrals

4:27

and recommendations in the end could

4:29

be sent to five or six

4:31

entities.

4:32

Having followed this committee all along, Claudia,

4:35

what has this panel CHANGED AND

4:37

ADDED TO THE RECORD HERE THROUGH A YEAR AND A HALF

4:39

OF

4:39

WORK. Reporter: RIGHT, THEY'VE MADE QUITE

4:41

THE IMPACT IN TERMS OF HOW TO APPROACH

4:43

A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION TO

4:45

TELL THE story with voices that

4:47

were closest to the most central figure

4:49

in this probe that's former president

4:51

Trump and making sure that they do everything

4:54

they

4:54

can. TO DOCUMENT A HISTORICAL

4:56

RECORD, A COMprehensIVE RECORD OF WHAT

4:58

HAPPENED LEADING UP TO AND ON

4:59

THE DAY OF THE ATTACK. Thank

5:03

you much. Okay.

5:13

People in sports sometimes say an

5:15

exceptionally close game as a nail

5:17

biter. So it was fitting yesterday when the

5:19

World Cup final went into extra time and the

5:21

TV broadcast briefly showed a

5:23

woman literally biting her

5:24

nails. So was I? Argentina prevailed

5:27

in a game that went into extra time

5:29

and then a penalty kick shoot out to decide the

5:31

winner. This was a face off between

5:33

two nations, two teams, and also arguably

5:35

the two best players in the

5:37

world. Killeen and Baupe, France, and Lionel

5:39

Messi of Argentina. NPR's Jasmine Garcia

5:41

is an Argentine American journalist

5:43

and host of the podcast, the

5:45

last

5:46

cup, which is about Messi's life story.

5:48

Wow. Well timed, Jasmine. Welcome. Hi.

5:51

How are your fingernails? You okay? My

5:54

fingernails are fine, but my voice is a

5:56

little raspy. I've been screaming for like

5:58

five hours straight. I'm so sorry.

6:01

It's okay. You'll get through it.

6:03

You'll get what was it like yesterday

6:05

as you were watching? Oh

6:07

my god. I I've been hearing that this

6:09

is, like, one of the most beautiful World Cup

6:11

games to ever be played It was

6:13

completely unpredictable. Argentina

6:16

dominated in the first half. We

6:18

scored two goals, and it looked like a

6:20

sure bet, but there are no sure bets

6:22

in soccer. Late in the second

6:24

half, France scored two

6:26

goals to tie the match. I

6:28

was watching at a packed bar in Brooklyn.

6:36

They played nine new minutes of regulation. They

6:39

played an additional thirty minutes of

6:41

act your time. And then went into

6:43

penalty kicks. You know, each team gets

6:45

five kicks to define the game.

6:47

So really, Steve, up until the

6:49

very end It was anyone's

6:51

guess to how this was gonna

6:52

end. Yeah. I felt like mbopian

6:55

and Messi, that the greatest players on

6:57

each side were present at every key

6:59

moment is almost like a movie in that sense.

7:01

As as if as if they they they were

7:03

scripted as the stars, both of them scored

7:05

goals, of course, both scored penalty kicks,

7:07

And I wanna mention Messi, the guy you've been

7:09

following for so long, seemed

7:11

just super

7:12

calm, almost nonchalant, which is amazing

7:14

considering the pressure on him at this moment.

7:17

Yeah, I don't know how he did that. I

7:19

mean, Lionel Messi is considered

7:21

one of the best players in soccer

7:23

history. He's never won a World

7:25

Cup, though. The pressure was huge. And

7:27

for Argentina, which is like a soccer

7:30

obsessed nation, This

7:32

was seen as a huge failure, never

7:34

winning a cup. This World Cup was

7:36

his last chance. He

7:38

himself said, he'd be retiring

7:40

from the tournament after this one.

7:42

This was it. He didn't.

7:44

Did it mean as much to him

7:46

personally as it seems to to his

7:48

country? Oh, absolutely.

7:50

I mean, I think that I

7:53

think this was a dream, and I think everyone

7:55

kinda got behind him on this

7:57

dream. In Argentina, soccer

7:59

is is kind of like the unofficial religion.

8:05

And of course, Argentina is soccer

8:07

obsessed nation, as you mentioned, how did

8:09

people respond to the wind there and also

8:11

where you were in New York

8:12

City? I mean, the

8:14

country is just one big party.

8:17

And, you know, for me,

8:19

I left the bar in Brooklyn. I went

8:21

to Times Square after the game, and

8:23

it was completely taken

8:25

over by celebrating Argentine

8:27

fans. And I was astounded

8:30

by the sheer size. Check it out.

8:31

That's

8:42

Argentine immigrant, Alejhol Elongue.

8:44

He's just saying, we deserve this. We

8:47

deserve some

8:47

happiness. Well,

8:49

you deserve to rest your

8:51

voice. Thank you for taking the last

8:53

of it here to to talk with us this

8:54

morning, Jasmine. Thank you so

8:57

much, Steve. NPR's Jasmine Garth.

9:08

Some other

9:08

news now. On a single night

9:10

this year, the federal government

9:12

surveyed people across this country who

9:14

were homeless The

9:15

survey found the total number of people who

9:17

are unhoused is stable, but

9:19

hundreds of thousands of people are moving

9:21

in or out of

9:22

homelessness. There's a lot of

9:25

churn there. So the Biden administration is

9:27

announcing a shift in strategy.

9:28

NPR's Jennifer Ludden is here to tell us about it.

9:30

Good morning. Hi there.

9:32

19th did the numbers show you, Jennifer? So,

9:35

you know, they are

9:37

good news in the sense that we've seen

9:39

homelessness numbers rising,

9:41

said steadily since twenty sixteen. So,

9:43

you know, to have them be stable, people

9:45

will take it. During an annual

9:47

count this year, there were just over five

9:49

hundred eighty thousand people

9:51

without housing. That's the same as in twenty twenty,

9:53

which was the last full count right before the

9:56

pandemic. I will note that over the course of

9:58

a whole year, more than a million

10:00

people report that they don't have

10:02

housing. But Biden administration officials

10:04

say, look, these numbers likely would have been

10:06

a lot higher without all that financial

10:08

help that people had access to

10:10

during the pandemic. And now that a lot of

10:12

that is ended, there's worry the numbers could

10:14

go back up again. Also, you

10:16

know, the US is actually moving more

10:18

people than ever out of homelessness. So they

10:20

say they're doing some things right. The problem

10:23

is that the same number or even more

10:25

have been falling into it. So

10:27

many reasons, but, you know, huge one

10:29

that continues. We've got this severe shortage

10:31

of affordable housing and really high

10:33

rents. And you just have a sense of so many

10:35

people's lives that are unstable for a

10:37

few weeks, a few months, for part of the year, the

10:39

whole year, they're out of the streets in some

10:41

fashion. So what's the US strategy to

10:43

deal with that?

10:45

So they have their their latest plan to

10:47

fight this crisis. It is out today. The

10:49

most notable change is a bigger

10:51

push for prevention. Doing

10:54

more to keep people from losing housing

10:56

in the first place. And I understand that may

10:58

sound obvious, but, you know, advocates

11:00

tell me For so long, the

11:02

overwhelming focus has really been how do we

11:04

help people once they are already on

11:06

the streets. I spoke with Jeff

11:08

Oliver he heads the United

11:10

States Interagency Council on homelessness,

11:12

which came up with his plan. He wants

11:14

to see systematic prevention

11:16

to catch people at risk for

11:18

becoming homeless. And the

11:20

plan caused a special focus on those

11:22

we know are really vulnerable. People

11:24

who are leaving prison leaving

11:26

addiction or mental health treatment

11:28

or foster care. At those

11:30

critical moments of transition, we have

11:32

an opportunity. We know where people

11:34

are. We could bridge

11:36

that inpatient or incarceration

11:38

or foster care experience

11:41

straight into housing. It does not have to

11:43

result in shelter or

11:45

living in a tent. You know, all of

11:47

it also seized a role for business

11:49

and philanthropies with prevention

11:51

here and for states and cities to take up

11:53

this approach. Is

11:53

there a model for them to follow?

11:55

I mean, absolutely a lot of advocates

11:58

already try as one said to help somebody

12:00

three steps before a full blown

12:01

emergency. For example,

12:02

if you can help pay for someone's car

12:05

repair, that will let them keep going to their

12:07

job and keep paying their rent. In

12:09

San Diego though, there's like a broader

12:11

homelessness prevention pilot

12:13

program. A seniors are a quarter

12:15

of the homeless population there. A

12:17

survey last year just showed a few

12:19

hundred dollars a month could help keep them off the

12:21

streets, so now the city and county

12:23

are subsidizing rents by up to five

12:25

hundred dollars a month. Los

12:27

Angeles County is one place trying a

12:29

different approach. There, they have a computer

12:31

model tracking data from aid agencies. And

12:33

when it flags someone who might be struggling,

12:35

caseworkers reach out to help. So

12:37

that kind of data screening is

12:39

something that the Biden's official say the federal

12:42

government could do more of. NPR's

12:44

Jennifer London. Thanks so much. Thank

12:46

you.

12:50

And that is the first for this Monday,

12:52

December nineteenth, I'm Steven Skib. Enemy

12:54

Martinez, the first is produced by Ziyad Butch

12:56

and Ben Abrams, our editors are

12:58

Natalie Shahar and Alice Wolfly.

13:01

Zach Coleman is our technical

13:03

director and Carly Strange and Trey Watson

13:05

provided engineering support and as always

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start your here with us

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tomorrow. And you can join us on the radio

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