Jack Smith says in final report that he could have convicted Donald Trump | The Excerpt
On Tuesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Special counsel Jack Smith's bombshell final report was released early Tuesday. Winds again pick up strength in Southern California, amid wildfires. Paste BN White House Correspondent Francesca Chambers puts President Joe Biden's comments about his foreign policy record in context. Paste BN Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page has some new exclusive Paste BN/Suffolk University polling numbers, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House. Can you read cursive? The National Archives is looking for you.
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 Tuesday, January 14th, 2025. This is The Excerpt.
Today we dig into special counsel Jack Smith's final bombshell report into Donald Trump. Plus winds pick up in fire-charred Southern California. And we take a look at new exclusive polling ahead of Trump's second term.
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Special counsel Jack Smith, whose office indicted President-elect Donald Trump on charges of illegally trying to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, said in a bombshell final report released early today that he believed his team had amassed enough evidence to convict Trump if the case went to trial. But Smith wrote in the 174-page report that Trump's election to a second term in November made it impossible for the case to go forward. Smith also said his team considered bringing in even more serious criminal charge against Trump, a violation of the Insurrection Act, after concluding there were reasonable arguments that it might apply.
Trump and his legal team had fought to prevent the release of the report on various grounds, including saying it would interfere with his plans to take office on January 20th. But late last night, Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida denied Trump's emergency motion to prevent its release.
The release of the report caps an extraordinary legal saga, pitting the Justice Department and later the special counsel's office, after Trump declared his candidacy, against the former president. Investigators focused on charges that were arguably among the most serious ever levied against an elected official of Trump's stature, including whether he took steps to essentially try to subvert the will of the voters who elected President Joe Biden in 2020, not Donald Trump. You can read more with the link in today's show notes.
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Winds are again picking up strength early this week in Southern California. They could threaten the incremental progress firefighters made over the weekend with multiple fires. Winds had eased somewhat Sunday, allowing firefighters and rescue crews to begin gaining some control. But today, wind gusts of up to 70 miles an hour are expected in some areas, which, along with low relative humidity and a lack of recent rainfall, are creating brutal conditions for fire to spread.
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In a farewell foreign policy address yesterday, President Joe Biden argued that he made the country stronger and more secure ahead of Donald Trump's return. I caught up with Paste BN White House correspondent Francesca Chambers for more.
Francesca, thanks for hopping on today. Always a treat.
Francesca Chambers:
Yeah, thanks Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
Biden touched on a number of foreign policy issues as he tried to defend his record over the last four years, but let's start with Russia-Ukraine and what Biden said about the things he's accomplished when it comes to NATO as well. What did he focus on here?
Francesca Chambers:
You know Taylor, that was one of the most potent moments of President Biden's farewell foreign policy address that he gave at the State Department on Monday afternoon.
President Joe Biden:
When Putin invaded Ukraine, he thought he'd conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. But the truth is, since that war began, I'm the only one that stood in the center of Kyiv, not him. Putin never has.
Francesca Chambers:
Biden talked about how he organized a fifty-nation coalition to counter the Russian aggression in Ukraine. He also talked up how many NATO members are now spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. He noted that when he took office, that was a significantly lower number than it is now.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, speaking of Trump, President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a very tricky situation in Israel and Gaza. What does Biden say about his administration's actions regarding that conflict?
Francesca Chambers:
Well, the administration says that it is still trying to make a deal between Israel and Hamas militants up until the final hours before it leaves office. And while they say that they're closer now to a deal than they feel like they've been, they keep cautioning that that doesn't mean that one will take place. Just before President Biden's speech, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that he wouldn't be surprised if a deal didn't end up getting done. Now, incoming President-elect Donald Trump has said there will be, quote, "hell to pay" though if there is not a deal in place before he takes office. He wants to see those hostages, including the seven Americans, released immediately.
Taylor Wilson:
Definitely something to keep an eye on over the next few weeks. You know Francesca, maybe the banner moment of Biden's presidency one way or the other came when he withdrew US troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Perspectives vary here, but the fact is hundreds died, including more than a dozen US troops as part of the withdrawal. How does he view those actions, what, three and a half years later?
Francesca Chambers:
And it wasn't clear, Taylor, how much he would focus on that in this address compared to reinvigorating America's alliances around the globe, competition with China, the threat that he said that Iran continues to pose to the US, but he did touch on those 13 American service members who died when the US withdrew from Afghanistan. Now, what he didn't address was what is seen as a messy and botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. He focused instead on how he felt that the United States was still to this day right to withdraw from the war. He noted that there are no longer American troops on the ground in Afghanistan and that he kept the United States out of getting involved militarily with boots on the ground in new foreign wars.
Taylor Wilson:
Francesca, you covered the entire Biden administration. What else stuck with you or stood out to you from Biden's foreign policy comments?
Francesca Chambers:
As you might expect, Taylor, the theme of Biden's speech was about the revitalization of the United States' partnerships and alliances, and he spent a lot of time on that as well as some other foreign policy topics. But he made a point of talking about climate change in his remarks, saying that he knows that some in the incoming administration are skeptical about the need for clean energy. "They don't even believe climate change is real. I think they come from a different century. They're wrong," he said.
So that was one of the more direct moments when he challenged the incoming administration, compared to some of the other areas where he spoke about how America was stronger and more powerful than it was four years ago, without directly attacking President-elect Donald Trump.
Taylor Wilson:
The remarks were the first of several legacy-shaping speeches, as you write here, Francesca, that Biden will deliver as he prepares to hand over control of the White House next week. What else can we expect him to focus on and highlight from these last four years as he enters his final days in office?
Francesca Chambers:
So this speech was really only focused on the foreign policy agenda. We know that on Wednesday evening at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time, he'll be giving a more broad speech on what he sees as his legacy and accomplishments in office. Now, we would expect for him to talk as part of that speech about the economy, about some of those clean energy investments that we were talking about, the infrastructure legislation that he helped to get passed and become law. You could also expect to hear him talk about the pandemic that the United States was in when he entered office and how he helped shepherd the United States out of it afterwards and leave it in a stronger position economically compared to other countries around the world. I think those are just a few of the things that you could hear President Biden touch on on Wednesday evening in that address, which we expect to be his final primetime address before leaving office.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Less than a week to go. Francesca Chambers is a White House correspondent with Paste BN. Thank you, Francesca.
Francesca Chambers:
Thank you so much, Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
President-elect Donald Trump is in a stronger political position now than he was when he was poised to be sworn in for his first term, but he still has not convinced most Americans on some of his key campaign promises. That's what a new exclusive Paste BN/Suffolk University poll finds. I spoke with Paste BN Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page for more.
Hey there, Susan.
Susan Page:
Hey, it's great to be with you again.
Taylor Wilson:
Great to have you on again, Susan. Before we get into Donald Trump, lots of interesting findings around Trump, but let's talk Biden at the top. How do folks in this polling view Joe Biden and his time while president as he leaves office?
Susan Page:
He leaves office on a low note. We asked people, "What is Joe Biden's biggest achievement as president?" And what came in first was undecided at 23%. People who could not think of an achievement that he had. That was followed by that infrastructure bill that he pushed through Congress. But one of the options was fighting the pandemic, which was a big crisis when he took office four years ago. Just 10% of the people we surveyed cited that as a big achievement.
Taylor Wilson:
Wow. So let's shift gears to Trump 2.0, and I want to just start with some of the emotion and the feeling in the air as we saw in this polling, Susan. How do people feel about Trump's return to office? How many are excited and how many are afraid?
Susan Page:
It's surprising that this would be good news. 31% are excited that Trump is going back in office. That was our most optimistic option. And exactly the same amount, 31%, are afraid. Now, the reason we say this is pretty good for Trump is it's better than it was eight years ago when he was taking office. Then, the proportion was higher of people being afraid instead of being excited. So he's made some progress, especially with independent voters. He's still seen as a divisive figure, but he has a stronger hand than he had for his first term.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Susan, we know the economy seemed to emerge as one of, if not the biggest issue ahead of November's election. Is that still the case? What are the public's top priorities in this polling?
Susan Page:
Yes. When we ask Americans, "What do you most want Trump to deal with?" Addressing the economy, absolutely number one. But there is not a consensus about the policies he is going to pursue on the economy. Very low support for imposing tariffs on our foreign trading partners. And even the idea of extending the Trump tax cuts. Now you'd think extending tax cuts, that sounds pretty popular, but when we said, "What's more important to you, extending the tax cuts or making some progress in reducing the federal budget deficit?" Americans were inclined to prefer addressing the deficit over cutting taxes.
Taylor Wilson:
Interesting. So looking back on Donald Trump's first term, Susan, how do Americans view that era, and have you shifted since he was in office?
Susan Page:
His approval rating for his first term is now at 52% in our poll. That's better than it ever was in our poll when he was actually in office. So with the passage of time, people have a rosier view of that first term.
Taylor Wilson:
Okay. Did anything else from this poll stand out to you, Susan? Just generally what was your biggest takeaway?
Susan Page:
Here's one thing we found people agreed on. Two thirds of voters say the divisions in our country are worse than they've been in the past. And 54% say the country has gotten off on the wrong track. That is a gloomier view than they had four years ago when Biden took over and eight years ago when Trump came in for his first term. That's what we agree on as a country.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Fascinating. As always, folks can find the full piece with a link in today's show notes. Susan Page is Paste BN's Washington bureau chief. Thank you, Susan.
Susan Page:
Hey, thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
Can you read cursive? If so, the National Archives would like a word. More than 200 years worth of US documents are in need of transcribing, or at least classifying, and the vast majority of them are handwritten in cursive. Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives Catalog in Washington, even called the skill of reading cursive a superpower. She's part of a team that coordinates the more than 5,000 citizen archivists helping the archive read and transcribe some of the more than 300 million digitized objects in its catalog. And they're looking for volunteers with an increasingly rare skill.
School children were once taught that impeccable handwriting and penmanship were something they were graded on. That began to change when typewriters first came into common use in the business world in the 1890s, and then was further supplanted in the 1980s by computers. Still, handwriting continued to be considered a necessary skill until the 1990s, when many people shifted to email, and then in the 21st century to texting.
By 2010, the common core teaching standards emphasized keyboard skills and no longer required handwriting. That led to a pushback, and today, at least 14 states do require that cursive handwriting be taught, including California in 2023. But it doesn't mean folks actually use it in real life. You can read more with the link in today's show notes.
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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 Paste BN.