Hezbollah vows escalation after Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sinwar | The Excerpt
On Friday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Tensions continue after Israel's killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Paste BN Congress & Campaigns Reporter Riley Beggin takes a look at some longshot Senate races that could shake up 2024. The Texas Supreme Court halts the execution of Robert Roberson. Listen to our September episode here. Paste BN Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen breaks down the independent review into the Secret Service and its handling of the first assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. NOAA predicts another mild winter for much of the country.
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 Friday, October 18th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today what's next after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar? Plus, we take a look at some long-shot Senate races, and the Texas Supreme Court has halted the execution of Robert Robertson.
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The Hezbollah militant group said earlier today it was moving to a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Israel said yesterday it killed Sinwar during a military operation in Gaza. The Hamas leader was regarded as a mastermind behind the militant group's attack on Israel last year. White House National Security advisor, Jake Sullivan, traveling with President Joe Biden to Germany called the news of Sinwar's death a very significant day in the Middle East and that Sinwar was an obstacle to efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would go on until the hostages seized by Hamas militants were returned. The prospect of a wider conflict in the region has grown in recent weeks. Israel has launched a ground campaign in Lebanon, in addition to its campaign in Gaza and is now planning a response to a missile attack carried out by Iran, an ally of Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Iranian strikes came after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Lebanon.
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Republicans are likely to retake the Senate in next month's election, but a few long-shot races could still shake things up. I spoke with Paste BN Congress and Campaigns reporter Riley Beggin for more.
Riley, thanks for hopping on.
Riley Beggin:
Anytime.
Taylor Wilson:
So Riley, let's start with Texas. You write that it's really one of the Democrat's best chances at flipping a Senate seat in this election. So who are the players in this race and what are you keeping an eye on?
Riley Beggin:
Yeah. I would say that it is potentially Democrats' only good chance of flipping a seat. And as we've said, it is in a sense a long-shot. This is Senator Ted Cruz, who many of the listeners will probably know. He's one of the most famous members of the Senate. He is a long-time vocal conservative, came in as a tea partier and has maintained a pretty conservative presence in the Senate and he is up against Colin Allred, who is a current congressman from Texas, a former NFL player and someone who has been running pretty centrist on this race. He's talking about being tough on immigration while sort of saying he's going to be a protector of abortion rights as well, something that's really important to voters in this election. So I think it's going to be one to watch. It's certainly going to be tight and it's potentially possible for Democrats to take it.
Taylor Wilson:
Meanwhile, in Florida, I know there are some major state referendums on the ballot there. What role might those play in terms of voter turnout and really what's at stake in this Senate race?
Riley Beggin:
Yeah. So here we have Senator Rick Scott, who is the former governor of Florida, also sort of a conservative leader in the Senate, and he is running against former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. If she won, she'd be the first Latina to represent Florida in the US Senate. And this is another potentially competitive race, certainly less tight than Texas. But the thing that Democrats really have going for them here is that there are two referendums that voters are going to be voting on. One to protect abortion rights and one to legalize recreational marijuana, two issues that certainly turn out Democrats. In a race where turnout is going to matter a lot could make a difference.
Taylor Wilson:
So we talked about a couple of fairly red states. It's not just long-shot races from the Democratic side. Let's talk about Maryland. Who does this race center on?
Riley Beggin:
Yeah, I think Maryland is a really interesting race. So Maryland is a very democratic state. They had a really tough primary was Prince George's County executive Angela Alsobrooks versus current Congressman David Trone, who's one of the richest members of Congress. So that was a bruising race. Alsobrooks came out on top, but then she met another bruising race in the general. She's up against former governor Larry Hogan, who was recruited to this role by the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell. And he's probably the only person in the state who's going to really put this potentially in play for Republicans. He is a centrist Republican. He is someone who is also saying he's going to protect abortion rights. He's long been very critical of Donald Trump. So there are Democrats in that state who are saying, "Yeah, I'm going to vote for Vice President Harris and for Larry Hogan."
Taylor Wilson:
All right. So what other long-shot Senate races are catching your attention Riley here, just what, three weeks out from election day?
Riley Beggin:
I would say probably the most surprising one that has gotten on a lot of political reporters radars lately is the Nebraska Senate race. That is another deep red state that no one really thought was going to be on the map this year. It's Senator Deb Fischer, who has represented the state in the Senate for several years now, and Democrats really stand no chance there. But she has this independent opponent, Dan Osborn, who is running on sort of a populist message.
He is a union guy. He led a strike at the Kellogg plant there in 2021, and he has been keeping with the Democratic Party at an arm's length there. There certainly they're on the Republican side trying to pin him down, and he is getting some support from liberal leaning PACs. But he's saying, "Listen, I'm an independent." He won't even say who he's going to caucus with if he joins the Senate, which to translate that means if he's going to work with Democrats or Republicans, that would sort of be the entry level to get onto committees and who he chooses could determine control of the Senate. So I think it's definitely an interesting race and certainly a surprising one.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Riley Beggin covers Congress and campaigns for Paste BN. I appreciate your coverage as always, Riley. Thanks so much.
Riley Beggin:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
The Texas Supreme Court yesterday spared the life of death row inmate Robert Robertson, granting a rare stay of execution as prison officials were set to administer his lethal injection. The court's decision came after days of legal wrangling and an effort by a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers to stop Robertson's execution for the death of his two-year-old daughter Nikki in 2002. Strong evidence suggests that Robertson is innocent and was convicted based on shaken baby syndrome, which has largely been debunked. Robertson had been set to die at 6 PM Central Time yesterday, but the lawmakers' effort successfully delayed the execution for hours and ultimately stopped it.
The move was a rarity in the country's most prolific death penalty state. Robertson will likely testify before a Texas House Committee on Monday. The committee is looking at the lawfulness of Robertson's conviction as it relates to Texas's so-called junk science law. The 2013 law, allows people to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence. In Robertson's case, knowledge about shaken baby syndrome has changed significantly since the time of his arrest, but Robertson's execution could still be rescheduled. For more on Robert and his case, you can listen to my conversation from last month with Brian Wharton, the former police detective who led the investigation and subsequent arrest of Robertson says he is innocent. You can find that episode with a link in today's show notes.
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An independent review of the first assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump found that the Secret Service has become bureaucratic and complacent and an overhaul is needed. I spoke with Paste BN Justice Department correspondent Bart Jansen to learn more.
Bart, thanks for hopping on again.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Bart, what did this review of the Secret Service's handling of the first Trump assassination attempt find?
Bart Jansen:
Well, this is the third report at least that's come out that's been just harshly critical of the Secret Service. The service itself has run an internal review and a senate panel has issued a report, just an interim report. They're still going to do more work. There's still a House task force that's also looking into it. But this was an independent bipartisan panel that was commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security, basically to review the performance of one of its own agencies. It was a four-person, bipartisan panel, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Francis Townsend, who was a Homeland Security Advisor to George W. Bush, Mark Filip, a former federal judge, and David Mitchell, who's a longtime police official in Maryland and Delaware. And what it found was disappointing, said the Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, static, even as risks have multiplied and technology has evolved. The threats are getting worse and they're not keeping pace. And another phrase in the report was that the Secret Service must be the world's leading governmental protective organization. The events at Butler, Pennsylvania where Trump was shot on July 13th, demonstrate that currently it is not.
Taylor Wilson:
Strong words, Bart. So what changes really functionally did this review recommend?
Bart Jansen:
It had a bunch of recommendations. One of the problems in dealing with complaints about the Secret Service and then their responses to those complaints is that they don't want to talk too much about the security measures that they do take. They don't want their opponents to try to outplay them. And so talking about how you make the changes, it's a little bit difficult. But some of the things that the panel recommended included having overhead surveillance for outdoor events with presidential candidates, a situation report where whenever a protected person arrives at the event, that basically the folks trying to guard him all confer and say, "Okay, well, here's what we got. Here's where things are headed." And then at least one Secret Service officer is going to be stationed with each state and local law enforcement agency at the event's communications hub.
A couple of the complaints in the Secret Service's own review, of its own performance were that they'd set up two sort of communications commands in Butler. So the local folks were all gathered in one area and the Secret Service in another. They also weren't all talking on the same radio frequencies. So messages that got passed along had to be sort of telephone tag so that they could get warnings. And among the warnings was that some people reported seeing a suspicious guy carrying a rangefinder at the site. And then later people reported seeing a guy scrambling onto the roof of the building. So the warnings did get passed along to the Secret Service, but there was great concern about how long it took and the delays and basically the Secret Service snipers were told only moments before the shooting erupted that there was this threat within the area.
So getting everybody in the same communications hub should help get over that. Having overhead surveillance is something that people have complained. There were no drones above head, which was something that often happens at presidential events. Of course, Trump is a former president, but he's also the Republican nominee. And they have said that they are extending the same status of protection to major party nominees now as they do for the president. And the panel wants them to go farther.
Taylor Wilson:
And have we heard any formal response from the Secret Service after this review? I mean, you mentioned they've done their own review before. There's an expectation that they'll take these changes on, but really what are we hearing from them?
Bart Jansen:
The secretary of the department, the guy overseeing the entire department, which is above the Secret Service, Alejandro Mayorkas issued a statement saying that they are reviewing the recommendations that they want to make good improvements in the agency. Nobody wants to criticize people trying to do their best job. They just want to make sure that they are better organized, that they have the resources available. Eventually there's going to be a problem with funding because the Acting Secret Service Director, Ronald Rowe, has said that they are using manpower staffing at such a rate that their current staffing basically can't continue at this pace. They're fine through the election, but they said they're going to have to take a review of it in the future.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, Bart Janssen covers the Justice Department for Paste BN with a great breakdown for us as always. Thank you, Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
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Taylor Wilson:
After the warmest winter on record last year, this upcoming winter, it could be another mild one for much of the nation. Meteorologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said yesterday that most of the country's Southern Tier and the East Coast should see warmer than average temperatures this winter. In addition, most of the southern half of the US all the way from Southern California to the Carolinas should see less rain and snow than usual, which is potentially a concern for drought conditions. Wetter than average conditions are most likely in the Great Lakes states. You can read more about what else to expect with a link in today's show notes.
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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. 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.