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On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 counts
Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 counts. Plus, El Paso Times and USA TODAY Border Reporter Lauren Villagran looks at what’s next for migrants after the expiration of Title 42, House Republicans accuse President Joe Biden of influence peddling, an FDA panel recommends a birth control pill be sold over the counter, and USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson recaps former President Donald Trump’s CNN town hall.
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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 11th of May 2023. Today, a look at the slew of charges faced by Congressman George Santos. Plus, what the end of Title 42 means for migrants, and Trump holds a town hall.
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Republican Congressman George Santos pleaded not guilty yesterday to 13 federal charges. He faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of lying to Congress, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday. Santos was released from custody on a half million dollar bond after his arraignment on Long Island in New York. If convicted, Santos could face up to 20 years in prison. He yesterday maintained his innocence and called the indictment a witch hunt.
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Title 42 comes to an end tonight. For more on what the lifting of the pandemic era immigration policy means, I spoke with El Paso Times and USA TODAY Border Reporter Lauren Villagran. Lauren, welcome back to 5 Things.
Lauren Villagran:
Hey, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
Title 42 comes to an end today. What does that functionally mean for migrants trying to enter the United States?
Lauren Villagran:
Oh, it’s a whole new scheme on the border, Taylor. I mean, new in the sense that we haven’t been here for two years, nearly three, but we’re going back to Title 8 processing. And there are a whole host of new rules that the Biden administration has put into force that will take effect at 11:59 PM tonight.
Taylor Wilson:
And you wrote about this targeted enforcement campaign. What’s the latest on that from your reporting at the border?
Lauren Villagran:
Yeah, so El Paso has seen a really big rush of migrants trying to cross the border, sometimes illegally in the waning days of Title 42. And the reason for that is that under Title 42, border authorities could quickly expel people, but there were also almost no consequences for an unlawful crossing. So people were trying to get in under these pandemic era rules, and there were more than 3,000 migrants living on the sidewalks and the street outside of churches and homeless shelters here in El Paso for the past two weeks. That census hit its high watermark on Monday, and US Customs and Border Protection announced that they were going to begin this targeted enforcement operation.
And that didn’t turn out to be a raid like it might sound like. What ended up happening were CBP agents and officers, often in plain clothes, went around dropping off flyers to migrants sleeping on the street saying, “Please turn yourself in. There’s going to be an enforcement operation. This is your chance to surrender and get right with the law.” And I just heard from Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief Scott Good that more than 900 people did turn themselves in. So the census of people on the street has gone way down, and the humanitarian crisis is not where it was a couple of days ago.
Taylor Wilson:
And we know that in the wake of Title 42 expiring, there’s going to be this shift back to more criminal prosecutions. I’m wondering, Lauren, do criminal prosecutions for illegal entries work to deter migrants from trying again?
Lauren Villagran:
The research on that is mixed, Taylor. Immigrant advocates will say that it really depends on the reasons that people are coming. They’ll also say that a prosecution may have a deterrent effect for that individual who faces jail time. But that, broadly speaking, that’s not real high on the list of things that migrants who are fleeing violence, persecution, or severe economic hardship are worried about.
You mentioned earlier that migrants are going to be seeing this new kind of enforcement at the border that includes prosecutions, but it includes a lot of other stuff. So the Biden administration has announced things like migrants who want to seek asylum are now going to have to prove that they already tried to seek asylum in a country that they passed through on their way to the United States border. That’s not that different from the third country asylum ban that the Trump administration had instituted. Different nationalities are going to face different kinds of expedited removals. So Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians are now going to be able to be deported directly to Mexico. So no, it’s not a Title 42 expulsion, but it is a fairly quick return to our neighbor to the South with additional consequences. A five-year ban on entry, an illegal entry charge, potentially, that could lead to an illegal re-entry charge and jail time. So migrants who are arriving at the Southwest border now and in the coming days are likely going to find a very different enforcement picture.
Taylor Wilson:
Lauren Villagran covers the border for the El Paso Times and USA TODAY. Thanks so much, Lauren.
Lauren Villagran:
Thanks, Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
House Republicans yesterday rekindled accusations of so-called influence peddling against President Joe Biden. That’s based on $10 million in payments from foreigners in Romania and China to Biden relatives and their business associates. But the accusations come without evidence of direct payments to Biden or changes in national policy. The White House dismissed the allegations as baseless innuendo from partisan rivals. Republican Congressman James Comer, head of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, distributed banking records showing multiple payments while Biden was vice president. He said, “The Biden’s foreign entanglements are breathtaking and raise serious questions about why foreign actors targeted the Biden family, what they expected in return, and whether our national security is threatened.” Committee Democrats issued a statement saying that many of the bank reports Comer relied on were based on erroneous or unfounded claims. They said none of suspicious bank reports, “allege or even suggest any potential misconduct by President Biden.”
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An FDA advisory panel yesterday unanimously recommended that the agency allow a birth control pill to be available over the counter in the US for the first time. After a two-day public meeting, experts on the panel said they were confident that people could safely and effectively take the drug Opill without professional supervision. The recommendation is not binding, but their 17 to zero vote paves the way for the likely approval of the pill’s over the counter availability. The FDA is expected to make a final decision this summer. Medical organizations and birth control advocates have for years pushed for over-the-counter birth control pills in the US. The American Medical Association and others support selling the birth control pill over the counter.
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It was not a night of apologies. Former President Donald Trump used his CNN Town Hall in New Hampshire last night to deny and denounce. I spoke with USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson for more. David, thanks for hopping back on the show.
David Jackson:
Hey. Sure. Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
This town hall took place a day after a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse. How big of a topic was that last night?
David Jackson:
Fairly big. It came up quite early, as you might imagine. And it suggests again that no matter what else, Donald Trump will never apologize or never express regret for anything. He again claimed that he had never met Jean Carroll or knew who she was. And he said the jury’s verdict and the judge were unfair, that he’s going to appeal and that he will prevail in the end. He also said he didn’t think it would hurt him politically, and in fact it might help him politically.
Taylor Wilson:
And what did Trump say about some of these other investigations surrounding him?
David Jackson:
Pretty much the same thing. They’re in various stages. He’s actually been indicted in New York on a campaign finance charge arising from a state grand jury. But he remains under investigation over January 6th over his handling of classified documents and over his efforts to overturn the result in Georgia. Those investigations are in various stages, but he basically summarized them all by saying, “It’s one giant witch hunt designed to try to knock me out of the presidential race.” So he’s trying to lay the groundwork for the same kind of argument in that he hasn’t done anything wrong, it’s only his enemies who are trying to get him politically.
Taylor Wilson:
And David, did Trump use the town hall to address any other 2024 presidential candidates?
David Jackson:
Pretty much, and he seemed to be running more of a general election campaign than a primary one. He kept most of the focus on Joe Biden, and he mentioned Ron DeSantis and other Republicans only in passing. The thing that struck me most was that he, right out of the gate, he talked about how he claims the 2020 election was rigged. Nevermind the total lack of evidence about that or the fact that no one has been able to substantiate any of his claims. But it’s clear that he’s going to try to make the conduct of the 2020 election a major campaign issue in 2024, no matter the fact that many voters, voters who aren’t particularly Republican, aren’t Democrats, are tired of hearing about it and they don’t want to listen to that. They want to hear more about the future. But in any event, Trump is certainly going to make 2020 an issue in 2024.
Taylor Wilson:
And the debt ceiling fight has been in the news in a big way in recent weeks. Did Trump address this issue at all?
David Jackson:
Yes, and he pretty much stuck to his guns. He says the Republicans should be willing to risk a government default rather than accept a bad deal on the debt ceiling. I mean, he and other Republicans want some major spending reforms to accompany an increase in the debt ceiling. The Biden administration is balking at that. They want a clean debt ceiling height. Trump says he’s willing to risk a default in order for the Republicans to get what they want. I mean, it’s a pretty dramatic position and it’s the kind of thing a Republicans don’t really like to talk about in public because that would create financial havoc across the globe.
Taylor Wilson:
What was the overall mood of the night and of the town hall?
David Jackson:
Well, with the crowd, it was a very supportive crowd. CNN invited about 400 Republican and near Republican voters, people who said they planned to vote in the primary up there, and they gave Trump a very warm reception. They often applauded his comments and they often chuckled at some of his jokes. They even had a laugh over one of his Jean Carroll explanations, which was quite jarring, I would say. So the crowd was very much with him, but the moderator, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, felt the need to correct some of Trump’s many misstatements, and that led to several arguments throughout the proceedings. And at one point Trump called her a nasty person. So there was a fight between Trump and the moderator, but the rest of the crowd seemed to be enjoying the former president.
Taylor Wilson:
David Jackson, thanks as always.
David Jackson:
Right. Thank you, sir.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you liked the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can email us at podcasts@usatoday.com. I’m Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
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