National

The fourth public hearing this month by the January 6th committee focused on how former President Trump and key allies put pressure on election officials, to promote the lie that there was widespread election fraud in 2020. Many of the witnesses testified on the personal toll that Trump’s lies were taking on them and their families. 

Plus: new details of the failed response in Uvalde. 

And: how companies can think differently to get and keep workers today.

Guests: Axios' Alayna Treene and Jim VandeHei. 

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Lydia McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Jan 6. panel witnesses recount post-election threats of violence

Texas claims "abject failure" by Uvalde cops

NIALA BOODHOO: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! 

It’s Wednesday June 22nd. I’m Niala Boodhoo. 

Here’s what you need to know today: new details of the failed response in Uvalde. Plus, how companies can think differently to get and keep workers today.

But first, today’s One Big Thing: pressure to the breaking point for 2020 election officials.

RUBY FREEMAN: There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States to target you?

NIALA: That's audio from the closed door deposition of Fulton County, Georgia election worker, Ruby Freeman in the fourth public hearing this month by the January 6th committee. Yesterday's hearing focused on showing how President Trump and key allies put pressure on election officials to promote the lie that there was widespread election fraud in 2020. Many of the witnesses testified to the personal toll that Trump's lies have taken on them and their families. Axios’s Alayna Treene joins us now with the details. Hi Alayna.

NIALA: Alayna, let's start with that clip we just heard. Both Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss were poll workers in Georgia — and I think many of us watching were struck by the treatment they faced, which was horrific.

ALAYNA: It was, it was really striking. Uh, Shaye Moss was testifying, how she's received death threats. People telling her that she'll be in jail with her mother. Racist attacks on her. And she even said, she said, I am still afraid to leave my home. I think it's hard sometimes for people to, to realize the effect that some of these threats and this narrative has had on their lives.

NIALA: We also heard from several election officials like Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers about the pressure they received — Here’s what Bowers said he told 

former president Trump and Rudy Giuliani in a phone call.

ARIZ. REP RUSTY BOWERS: You are asking me to do something against my oath and I will not break my oath.

NIALA: What else did we learn yesterday about how these election officials responded to this pressure from Trump and his team?

ALAYNA: It was really astonishing as well to see, not just those who were testifying publicly like Gabriel Sterling and Brad Raffensperberger, the Georgia Secretary of State. But also to hear the recordings of their conversations with the former president, and hearing them detail in person before the committee, the level of pressure they were receiving from the former president, from his attorneys like John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani. I mean, and they're Republicans. They wanted the former president to win, but they felt that they had to uphold the constitution and they knew that looking for evidence of, of fraud when there wasn't any was a futile exercise. And they asked multiple times, they said they asked Trump's attorneys for proof of these fraud claims and they never got any.

NIALA: Alayna I think it's also important to point out that one of the committee members, Congressman and Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger, this weekend made public one of the death threats that he, his wife and their five month old baby have received. And he has said in response to making this public that as a country, we have quote “violence in our future if we don't acknowledge the truth.” What are other Republicans saying in response to Representative Kinzinger?

ALAYNA: Well, so far, it's been pretty silent from many Republicans and even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, when it comes to some of these threats. And I also wanna point out that we've received some data from Capitol Police that just showed the increase, insane increase in threats to Congress. If you look at the data from, from 2017 to 2021, there was a 144% increase in cases of violent threats against Congress. And I think that is just tangible evidence of just the environment that some of these members are operating and particularly members like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, who are in a very tough position by serving on this committee that is seen by so many in their party as partisan and more of a democratic effort.

NIALA: Alayna Treene is part of Axios politics team covering Congress in the White House. Thanks Alayna. 

NIALA: In a moment, why officials call the police response to the Uvalde shooting an abject failure.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I’m Niala Boodhoo. 

After weeks of sparse official updates on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers, the head of the Texas State Police said yesterday that the response from law enforcement was an “abject failure and antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre.”

STEVEN MCCRAW: The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111, and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children.

NIALA: That’s Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, In comments before a special State Senate committee in Austin yesterday.

Uvalde police had enough armed cops inside the school to stop the shooting three minutes after it began — and waited 74 minutes before breaching an unlocked door…including time spent searching for a key.

McCraw said his agency plans to release body camera footage of the tragedy after it completes its investigation. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and the Texas State Legislature are also looking into what happened. 

Employees have more power at work today, thanks in part to a tight labor market and to social media activism keeping companies on their toes. One result? Companies have to think beyond profit as the singular end goal in business. 

That’s according to Axios CEO Jim VandeHei who joins us every few weeks with lessons on leadership that he shares in the Thursday edition of the Finish Line newsletter – hey Jim.

JIM VANDEHEI: Hey, how are you? Good to be here.

NIALA: Jim, so this idea you are calling aspirational capitalism. Can you just first start by explaining what you mean by that?

JIM: Well, for most of our lifetimes, we had probably what we'd call some version of cutthroat capitalism, where it was all about how do you drive as much shareholder value as humanly possible. And that was kind of the end objective and the only objective. And it's just clear now that that might work in some circumstances. And certainly you have some old school CEOs that wanna run their company that way. I just don't think it's sustainable. I think if you want to be able to recruit and keep and unleash new talent, they want more than just a paycheck. They want to know that there's a deeper meaning to the work that they do. I think the modern employee expects so much more out of us as an employer than we did when we got into the job market. 

NIALA: Why do you think that's changed? What's changed about that? 

JIM: You've had this sort of rush of idealism, uh, certainly from the last couple of generations where they realize we're spending most of our waking hours in the office and there was a good piece, uh, not long ago in the New York Times, by a professor who was sort of comparing the workplace expectations now to what, the role that church or unions or, or communities played in our lives growing up. And if you think about the things that the, you know, younger generations are looking for in the workplace, things like values, things like mission, things like togetherness, things like activism. A lot of those things used to come from the church or come from, from organized institutions a lot of which have lost credibility in membership. In some ways, some of those values and expectations have fused with the modern workplace. 

And I think there's a real debate. There's a lot of people who don't like the modern culture. People feel like, ah, there's just too much that the employee's expecting of the employer. But I do think if you can align you know, purpose with your work, I really believe that most people who are gonna have success in business over the next, you know, 20 years are going to run businesses that sort of buy into some version of this philosophy. I just don't buy it that you can only get great shareholder value by not being sort of sensitive to the needs outside of a paycheck to the individual.

NIALA: Jim VandeHei is the co-founder and CEO of Axios. Thanks, Jim.

NIALA: And one more note on this: Axios’ Erica Pandey reported on a recent Gallup workplace survey, which shows that American workers are truly up for grabs if companies can entice them: 71% of Americans believe this is a great time to look for a new job, 58% are stressed at their current job daily, and 20% are likely to move to a new city in the next year.

I’m Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.

Pressure to the breaking point for election officials

Many of the witnesses testified on the toll that Trump’s lies were taking on them.

Jan. 6 select committee

Axios Today

Podcasts

A record number of LGBTQ candidates are running for all levels of office this year, with a 20% increase in LGBTQ candidates for Congress compared to 2020. 

Plus: a big weekend of international elections.

Guests: Axios' Sophia Cai; and journalist and founder of Define American, Jose Antonio Vargas.

A record number of LGBTQ candidates are running for Congress

Texas GOP goes full MAGA at 2022 convention

Israel coalition agrees to dissolve parliament and hold early elections

Colombia elects Gustavo Petro as country's first leftist president

Macron loses absolute parliamentary majority, early results show

Here’s what you need to know today: what’s ahead for DACA, 10 years after it began. Plus, a big weekend of international elections.

But first, a new wave of LGBTQ candidates – is today’s One Big Thing.

A record number of LGBTQ candidates are running for all levels of office this year with a 20% increase in LGBT congressional candidates compared to 2020. Axios congressional reporter Sophia Cai is reporting on why. Hi Sophia.

NIALA: Sophia we've also seen an enormous amount of legislation targeting LGBTQ Americans. Is that the main motivation for why there are so many candidates that are also LGBT running right now?

SOPHIA: It's one of the main reasons, yes. I think many of the candidates that you see running now have been vocal about the discrimination they've faced in their personal lives. So that certainly is a part of their motivation and part of their campaign.

NIALA: And as we see sort of, for example, like red state anti-trans laws, are there candidates who are specifically saying that's what's motivating them to run?

SOPHIA: In part, I mean, a lot of the candidates that you see running are in places that are more democratic, where they have a better chance. So while that may be something that they're keenly focused and aware of, they may not necessarily directly be able to do something about it. 

NIALA: What are some of the challenges these candidates are facing in their campaigns?

SOPHIA: They have gotten harassed online. And so while during COVID those attacks move to zoom and move to Facebook DMS there are more and more in person events. A lot of them they straddle more than one marginalized identity, and that means that in addition to being queer, they may also be Black, they may also be female. Uh, and so it's not always their queer identity that, uh, is being attacked. In most of these cases, they are, you know, shattering some sort of record. For instance, in California, we have a guy named Robert Garcia who would be the first immigrant LGBTQ, elected. If he were successful, he just won his primary.

NIALA: What do we know about LGBTQ voters? What role do we see this voting constituency playing, particularly as we think about these midterm elections, Sophia?

SOPHIA: So LGBTQ voters are among some of the fastest growing parts of the electorate, particularly among young voters. And they make up a really small percentage of  people elected to serve. In Congress there are only 11. And if you factor in all of the positions at all levels, they make up just 0.2%. In the general population, the, number of people who identify as, as queer is much, much higher. I've been chatting with the Victory Fund, which is an organization that works with and supports, queer leaders who may wanna run for office. And one of the stats that they shared is that to reach a more equitable representation, we would have to elect over 35,000 more LGBTQ people to office.

NIALA: Sophia Cai covers Congress for Axios. Thanks, Sophia.

NIALA: And on a related note Texas Republicans on Sunday wrapped up their three-day convention by approving a new party platform that’s the beliefs and goals for the party. The revised platform declares homosexuality a quote “abnormal lifestyle choice” and commits to opposing efforts that validate transgender identity. 

During the convention, the Texas GOP also approved a resolution declaring that President Biden quote was “not legitimately elected,” a lie that continues to be promoted by former President Trump and a number of other Republicans.

In a moment, the future for the 100,000 high school graduates this year who are also undocumented.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today! I’m Niala Boodhoo.

Last week marked ten years since DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – first gave protection to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. It was intended to be a stopgap measure – but no more permanent protections have ever been put in place, and DACA is currently paused, with an uncertain future. I asked journalist and founder of Define American Jose Antonio Vargas – who himself came to the US as an undocumented child from the Phillipines, to look back on ten years of the program…and where it stands today.

JOSE VARGAS: I think it's just really important to remember that DACA happened because of the organizing of undocumented youth. As somebody who's a undocumented person who also happens to be a journalist kind of watching the organizing that was happening on the ground in California, in DC, all across the country, I think it's just important to kind of honor that. And that was in the Obama era, which many people would call the “Deportation in Chief” era, right. Followed by the Trump era. About a hundred thousand undocument students graduate from high school every year. And this is gonna be the first year that the majority of them are not eligible for DACA, which is on hold. So some friends of mine have said that this is arguably the lowest point in the immigrant rights movement since probably 9/11, which is when so much of immigration law changed right after 9/11, right. We got rid of the INS became ICE, Department of Homeland security and all that. So this is a really uncertain dark time. And I think because of that, I just try to to remind people that this is a marathon and not a sprint. And that we cannot have policies changed in this country until we actually have a real conversation about immigration in this country.

NIALA: And Jose Antonio Vargas will be back with us on Friday to talk about this coming weekend’s Unity March led by Asian American community leaders on the national mall in Washington DC.

Before we go - it’s election Day in DC! I’m headed to the polls - but here are three headlines about INTERNATIONAL elections to catch you up on what happened over the weekend.

Israel is headed to its fifth election in four years. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced Monday that the country’s governing coalition will vote to dissolve the current parliament – and call for an early election later this year. As Axios’ Barak Ravid writes from Tel Aviv - the collapse of this coalition government is proof that Israel is still engulfed in a political crisis that started in 2019.

In Colombia - Former Bogota mayor and rebel fighter Gustavo Petro is set to become the country’s first leftist president after Sunday’s elections. 

GUSTAVO PETRO [in Spanish]: What we are writing right now is a new history for Columbia, Latin America, the world.

NIALA: That’s Petro in his victory speech, saying we are writing a new history for Colombia, Latin America and the world.

His running mate - Francia Marquez will become Colombia’s first Black vice president. The narrow win comes during a rise in support of leftist politicians in Latin America. Chile and Honduras last year also voted for left-wing candidates to replace conservative leaders. 

Finally - French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition in parliament is set to lose its majority. Elections over the weekend showed a strong victory for Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and a coalition of five left-wing parties. Macron will now hold less than half of the 577 seats in the National Assembly – and will likely struggle to pass legislation on his agenda. 

That’s all we’ve got for you today! If like us you had a long weekend to mark Juneteenth, I hope it was a restful and reflective one for you.

A new wave of LGBTQ candidates

A record number of LGBTQ candidates are running for all levels of office this year.

LGBTQ

Philadelphia is taking a novel approach to lowering its high rate of evictions, especially among Black renters. 

It’s a pandemic-era program that requires landlords and tenants on the verge of an eviction filing to sit down and come to an agreement before ever entering a courtroom. So far, most landlords and tenants in the city have been happy with the results. 

Guests: Axios Philadelphia reporter Taylor Allen and Carl Gershenson, project director at The Eviction Lab.

Credits: "Axios Today" is brought to you by Axios. This episode was produced by Nuria Marquez Martinez and edited by Alexandra Botti. Alex Suguira is our sound engineer. Special thanks to editor-in-chief Sara Kehaulani Goo.

The high cost of evictions

Philadelphia is taking a novel approach to lowering its high rate of evictions.

Deep Dive: Hard Truths - Housing

The third day of eight planned public hearings from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack took place yesterday. The idea that former President Donald Trump is still a danger to American democracy was one of the main themes. 

Plus, a forgotten history lesson from Watergate

Guests: Axios' Margaret Talev and Russell Contreras 

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo,  Sara Kehaulani Goo, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Lydia McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Pence "never budged" on view that he could not overturn election, aide testifies

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! It’s Friday, June 17th. I’m Niala Boodhoo. Here’s what you need to know today: a forgotten history lesson from Watergate. But first, today’s One Big Thing: why the January 6 panel says Trump is still a threat to democracy. If you liked “threat to democracy isn’t over” better, go for it 

J. MICHAEL LUTTIG: Still, Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy.

NIALA: That's retired Republican Judge, J. Michael Luttig as part of the third day of eight planned public hearings from the House Select Committee on January 6th. That idea -  that Donald Trump is still a danger to American democracy was just one of the main themes yesterday. Axios’ Margaret Talev joins us as she does most Fridays for her political analysis. Hey Margaret.

MARGARET: Hi, Niala! That line, that Judge Luttig said about the clear and present danger is so interesting for a couple reasons. I think, most of us, you hear that expression, you think of that Harrison Ford movie but what clear and present danger really is, is a test about when the Supreme Court can, infringe on the first amendment, right? What are the limits of the first amendment? Do you have the limit under the first amendment in this case to overthrow an election, a valid election result. So I think, while it sounds like a catchy phrase, Judge Luttig is actually getting at something bigger here. And it is what the panel is trying to get to. It's the question of criminality or criminal culpability, whether any of this is prosecutable either for the former president or for the advisors close to him who were telling him yeah, go for it. See if you can stay in the presidency.

NIALA: We heard from many Republicans yesterday, including Vice President, Mike Pence's, chief of staff, and lots of attorneys. What did they establish when it comes to former president Trump's attempt to get Mike Pence to overturn these election results?

MARGARET: Niala in, testimony after testimony and this included live testimony, as well as some of the tape depositions that we saw, we just consistently heard two patterns and one was that everyone else around the former president was saying, what John Eastman is telling you is not true. It is not accurate. It's not a real legal theory. There's no historical precedent uh, for this, there is no legal substantiation for this. It's not a real thing you lost the election.

NIALA: To that point. Here's former Trump White House attorney, Eric Herschmann, describing a conversation he had with Eastman.

ERIC HERSCHMANN: I said to him, are you out of your F in mind? I said, I said, I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth for now on: orderly transition

NIALA: Margaret, I read something yesterday that the witness list for the hearing was like a meeting of the Federalist Society. There were so many different Republicans who were testifying in this really damaging testimony, indicting president Trump. 

MARGARET: It's really true. I mean, look Niala hen you think about this, these are not Democrats, uh, advising Mike Pence or Democrats condemning what the former president and John Eastman tried to do. These are conservative Republicans with conservative legal backgrounds deeply criticizing and taking issue with what former president Trump and John Eastman tried to do. And, when we actually started thinking about the way everybody was connected, your mind kind of spins there's Justice, Clarence Thomas, who's married to Ginny Thomas. Who is a conservative activist and deeply involved with the Federalist Society. Ginny Thomas is talking to John Eastman, this conservative lawyer, who's advising Donald Trump on the theory that has no legal precedent. Then John Eastman is also talking to Mike Pence. But then don't forget, John Eastman also previously clerked for two very important people: Judge Luttig and Clarence Thomas. And by the way, so did a guy named John Wood who was one of the lawyers leading the questioning in the hearing who had also clerked both for Mike Luttig and for Clarence Thomas. So the people that we're talking about here, the people who are taking issue with John Eastman and with Donald Trump, these are conservative. Republicans, but they're deeply, deeply uncomfortable with what the former president was trying to do. Deeply uncomfortable that they were being pressured to take apart in it and deeply, deeply uncomfortable with what the implications could be for American democracy, both in 2020 and going forward.

NIALA: But Margaret, the reality is what does the polling say when we look at Republicans in this country and what they believe about the 2020 election and president Trump's role in January 6th?

MARGARET: NBC had a poll recently that pretty much says it all. What NBC found is that time has been on President Trump's side when it comes to the way Americans perceive and hold responsible for those attacks. Uh, the latest number is 45% of Americans now saying that the former president was solely or mainly responsible for the attack. And, look at the splits on these numbers. When you look at just Republicans alone, it's down to 9%. 9% of Republicans say that they hold the former president primarily responsible for that attack. 

NIALA: This false claim that the election was stolen is also actually a centerpiece of many Republican political candidates and campaigns this year in 2022.

MARGARET: The Republican primaries are full of contests between two GOP candidates trying to outdo each other by showing how closely the aligned they are with the former president or contests in primary elections, between what you might consider a more traditional Republican, someone who says something like “it's time to move on beyond 2020,” or they believe the election was legitimate. And the candidates who are continuing to repeat president Trump's lies about the election. And the Washington Post reported, in recent days, that by their count, at least 108 candidates, either in statewide office or for Congress, who have aligned with president Trump's lies, have, have advanced in ballots.

NIALA: Margaret Talev is Axios’ managing editor for the White House and politics. Thanks Margaret.

NIALA: In a moment, we’re back with a piece of history about Watergate: the Cuban-American burglars behind the infamous break-in. 

NIALA: Today's the 50 year anniversary of the Watergate break-in that led to the fall of President Richard Nixon. You're going to hear lots of stories and history about this this weekend, but the story of three Latinos on an anti-communist crusade who WERE PART OF THE GROUP THAT carried out the burglary is still not known to many. That’s why I asked Russ Contreras - our Forgotten History Correspondent - to share the story.

RUSSELL CONTRERAS: Hey, thanks Niala. These Latinos broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and were trying to find information that was linking the Democratic nominee for President George McGovern to Fidel Castro. Then they were arrested when they got caught breaking in, and this started the whole scandal that led to the downfall of Richard Nixon.

These men each served around 15 months in prison and they believe they were on a higher crusade. Years later, they would say they had no regrets about Watergate, but among Cuban-Americans, these people were seen as heroes. But -  the large Latino population which happened at that time to be Mexican-American as its majority - as it is today, did not see them as heroes. They were opposed to Nixon from his policies about the Vietnam war to fighting Cesar Chavez, and Dolores Huerta who were involved in a great boycott against Nixon. Nixon was opposed to that boycott and actually bought grapes and sent them to soldiers in the Vietnam War. So this was the beginning of divisions that were out there between Cuban-Americans and Mexican-Americans that still exist today.

NIALA: Axios Today's forgotten history correspondent, Russ Contreras. Thanks Russ.

NIALA: We’re off Monday for the Juneteenth holiday - but we’re producing an extra episode this weekend for our series Hard Truths. That’s our series on systemic racism - and this year, we’re focusing on solutions. 

We’ll be talking housing - specifically, evictions. We’re focusing on Philadelphia, where -  In part because of a new eviction diversion program there -  about 90% of potential evictions were avoided in the first year of the program. Residents like Mafieyah Robinson.

MIFIEYAH ROBINSON: It seemed like I was never catching up and I was always, you know, falling short. So with it allowed me to gave me some time to build some money, to save some money so that I can start fresh.

NIALA: That drops tomorrow in the Axios Today feed.

And that’s all for us this week – Axios Today is produced by Nuria Marquez Martinez and Lydia McMullen-Laird. Our sound engineers are Alex Sugiura and Ben O’Brien. Alexandra Botti is our Supervising Producer. Sara Kehaulani Goo is Axios’ Editor In Chief. And special thanks as always to Axios co-founder Mike Allen.   

I’m Niala Boodhoo, thanks for listening - stay safe and we’ll see you  back here on Monday

The "Clear and Present Danger" of Donald Trump

Jan. 6th hearing focus on Trump's danger to democracy

Jan. 6

In the most aggressive rate hike since 1994, the Federal Reserve yesterday agreed to raise interest rates three quarters of a percentage point. And Fed officials gave some indication of what they’re expecting for our economy for the rest of the year.

Plus, the Biden administration’s order to protect LGBTQ rights.

And, an FDA panel endorses vaccines for our youngest children.

Guests: Axios' Neil Irwin, and Orion Rummler, reporter at the 19th.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Lydia   McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You  can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Fed steps up campaign against inflation with 0.75 point rate hike

Biden signs "historic" executive order to protect LGBTQ people

The Fed gets aggressive on inflation

The Fed implemented most aggressive rate hike in decades

Inflation

Nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies across the country failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI. That includes cities like New York and LA. And another 20% reported incomplete data, including the city of Chicago. That's all according to information provided to Axios local from a partnership with the Marshall Project.

Plus, President Biden's balancing act on Saudi Arabia

And, the value of encouraging our kids to debate

Guests: Axios' Dave Lawler, Monica Eng and Erica Pandey.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Sara  Kehaulani Goo, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Lydia  McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Sweeping reporting failures may compromise the FBI’s 2021 crime data

White House announces Biden will visit Saudi Arabia, expects to meet crown prince

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! It’s Wednesday, June 15th. I’m Niala Boodhoo. Here’s what we’re watching today: why we don’t know how bad crime in the U.S. really is. Plus, the value of encouraging our kids to debate. But first: President Biden’s balancing act with Saudi Arabia… is today’s One Big Thing.

NIALA: The White House announced yesterday that President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in July, where he is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The White House wants to address sky high oil prices, but also faces pressure to hold Saui Arabia accountable on human rights. Here to explain what’s behind all of this is Axios world editor Dave Lawler. Hey Dave.

NIALA: Dave first, we heard different things yesterday from the US and Saudi Arabia about the purpose of the trip and who's meeting who?

DAVE: Yeah, so it was really interesting. I was on this briefing call that the White House did, to lay out the stops on the trip. And they said, he'll meet with “his Saudi hosts” and then asked who that was, he said King Salman the crown Prince's father and then eventually he said, and he'll probably see the crown prince. When the Saudis put out their own announcement, they said explicitly that Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would be meeting. And this was obviously the big question mark that was hanging out there ahead of this trip. Because Biden said on the campaign trail that he was ready to make Saudi Arabia a pariah over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and their human rights abuses. Now, as you said, oil prices are sky high, they have business that they wanna do with the Saudis and Biden is at this point willing to have a meeting with the crown prince, despite the criticism that they know is coming over this.

NIALA: Right and so this was a brutal assassination of a Washington Post columnist. What has been the Biden administration's response to criticism that this all seems to have gone out of the window, because of high oil prices?

DAVE: Yeah. So if we back up to the beginning of the administration, they did put out this document, basically blaming the crown prince, uh, saying he's responsible for what happened, to Jamal Khashoggi. So that criticism came early on, but there was also at the same time a recognition on the White House side that they were gonna have to, you know, interact with the Saudis. And so it was, how do you manage that? How do you both interact with the Saudis on things like Iran, which was one of the pressing issues, but also, you know, keep your distance from the crown prince himself. Now they've decided, I guess, that that's untenable and that Biden will be meeting with the crown prince. What they say is, “we've reset this relationship, but we don't wanna rupture this relationship.” Basically, there are US interests that are tied up in the relationship with Saudi Arabia and we don't want to undermine our own interests by isolating the crown prince. Obviously when the two shake hands, if there's a photographer in the room, that's a picture they don't want going around the world, but it's a decision that they've decided it's worth it to have this meeting.

NIALA: President Biden also plans to visit the occupie d West Bank during this trip and meet with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. What are we expecting to see out that meeting?

DAVE: So this could actually be a pretty tense meeting. Biden also promised during the campaign to reopen the US consulate in Jerusalem that was the primary, you know, point at which diplomacy with the Palestinians took place. They have not done that mainly because of political pressure from the Israeli side. The Palestinians think that basically the Biden administration has bent over backwards to accommodate Israel, has not taken their needs into account as much as they would like. The White House has been conducting some diplomacy with the Palestinians ahead of the visit to try to reduce some of those concerns and to try to facilitate a more friendly meeting with Abbas. But the atmosphere is not particularly warm, heading into that meeting.

DAVE : Axios world editor, Dave Lawler. Thanks Dave.

NIALA In a moment, missing U.S. crime data makes it hard to fact-check politicians. 

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today! I’m Niala Boodhoo. Nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies across the country failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI. That includes cities like New York and LA. And another 20% reported incomplete data, including the city of Chicago. That's all according to information provided to Axios local from a partnership with the nonprofit, the Marshall Project and Axios Chicago reporter Monica Eng is here with more information. Hey Monica.

NIALA: So let's talk about Chicago. Chicago reported just half of its crime data from 2021. Why?

MONICA: Well, it was about seven months. Yeah, about half. And they said that they were, you know, transitioning to this new system. And by the time they got up and running with the new system, they only had seven months left to report. Why they didn't go back and report the other five months, they didn't tell us.

NIALA: Why did the switch happen to begin with?

MONICA: Well, the FBI wanted to move to a reporting system that gathered more specific information on each incident. And what we found by reporting this out in so many different areas where Axios local reporters are working, is that every different law enforcement agency, whether it's state or local or county, has sort of a different way of reporting these things.

NIALA: Is that the same explanation other cities have also given for why this data is so incomplete last year?

MONICA: Yeah, we're hearing a variety of reasons, but most of them have to do with the transition. Some in Peoria, for instance, in Illinois said that just last week, they finally got certified to start uploading because they had coding issues with their vendor. And you're hearing this across the state that it was this technical issue or this department not transferring it to this department. But others say, you know, guys, you had several years to make this change. Why were you just doing it at the last minute?

NIALA: Where else are we seeing gaps in other cities then? We mentioned New York, LA, Chicago. You mentioned Peoria. Is this happening all over the country?

MONICA: Yeah. I mean, our Philadelphia colleagues, um, said that they were told that, the Philly police department was unable to collect their data until the new reporting system went live in April. And De Moines, they said they moved to a new records management system that wasn't compatible with the Iowa system. When you look at the map that we have on axios.com, you see that some of the biggest problems are in Illinois, Florida, California, and then the area around Philadelphia and New York.  

NIALA: This seems particularly problematic because crime is top of mind for many voters this year. We just saw this, for example, last week in the California primary, do we know as this becomes such a political talking point, if people are talking about the correct information?

MONICA: Well, I mean, without at least 40% of the department's reporting, you know, there is a big gap and that makes it harder to make claims. It makes it harder to analyze crime trends and it makes it harder to fact check claims that politicians are making about cities.

NIALA: Monica Eng is an Axios local reporter in Chicago. Thanks, Monica.

NIALA: One last thing for you to think about today: Most parents want their kids to stop arguing. But it turns out, we might want to encourage them to do it more - when done systematically and respectfully, it can help develop leadership skills… Oprah Winfrey, multiple U.S. presidents and four Supreme Court justices were all high school debaters. I asked Axios’ Erica Pandey about her reporting on how debate skills help us become better at disagreeing… in a divided time.

ERICA PANDEY: So it turns out some of the most influential people we know, like Bruce Springsteen, like Ketanji Brown Jackson, like Indra Nooyi, were all high school debaters. And the reason high school debate is one of the most effective ways to prepare for leadership and influencing society is because you learn these critical skills. And that's what Bo Seo, who's a former Harvard debate coach, was writing about in his new book ‘Good Arguments’. We're all pretty terrible at disagreeing with one another doing so respectful. But debaters learn core tenants of arguments and breakdown, arguments into the physics of what's going on. Like what's the point? Why is it true? Who cares? And when you break it down to this, it becomes easier to be clear, to be persuasive and to see the other side. That’s Axios business reporter Erica Pandey.

NIALA: That’s all we’ve got for you today! Text me your feedback and story ideas: I’m at (202) 918-4893. I’m Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.

Why we don't know how bad crime in the U.S. really is

Nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies across the country failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI.

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The cost of food in grocery stores is up 11.9% from last year, according to the latest release of inflation numbers. That’s the largest increase since April 1979, and because of those skyrocketing food prices Americans are buying more store brands, and cutting down on costly meat and produce. 

Plus, rising tensions outside and inside the Supreme Court

And, damning testimony from Trump’s inner circle.

Guests: Axios' Emily Peck, Sam Baker and Mike Allen.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Lydia McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You  can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Rising food prices are changing the way we eat and shop

After the leak, the Supreme Court seethes with resentment and fear behind the scenes

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! It’s Tuesday, June 14th. I’m Niala Boodhoo. Today: rising tensions outside AND inside the supreme court. Plus: damning testimony from Trump’s inner circle. But first, today’s One Big Thing: how spiking food costs are affecting how we shop and eat.

NIALA: The cost of food in grocery stores is up 11.9% from last year. That's according to the latest release of inflation numbers, and it's the largest increase since April of 1979. Now those skyrocketing food prices are changing the way we eat and shop. Americans are buying more store brands and cutting down on costly meat and produce. Here to explain what's going on is Axios markets reporter Emily Peck. Hi Emily!

NIALA: So what food items are particularly expensive right now, Emily?

EMILY: First of all, everything is more expensive now, but listeners know this. According to the latest inflation numbers, the most inflationary items in the grocery store right now would be eggs. Egg prices are up 32% year over year. It's to the point where you would you notice. I noticed because I have a family and we go through a lot of eggs. They're always so cheap, but now I see they're not so cheap anymore. 32 percent, um, that's in part to a bird flu outbreak earlier in the year that killed about 6% of commercial egg-laying chickens. Next on the list, fats and oils up 16.9%, due to the war in Ukraine. And you think, “fats and oils? Well, that's only a small part of my grocery store bill,” but those costs get added into other kinds of processed foods like the cereal you buy, the bread you buy and on and on. Um, poultry is up 16% and milk also around 16%

NIALA: I think a lot of people are wondering if companies are using this moment as an excuse to sort of engage in price gouging?

EMILY: What I can say about grocery stores and food prices is that grocery stores and the companies that put the items on the shelves of the grocery stores, they really don't want to raise prices very much. Customers in grocery stores are very price sensitive. That's why you see a lot of shrink-flation. Companies, you know, just give you less cereal, less chips, less rice, less quinoa in the package you normally buy, hoping like you might not notice and the price might not even change. It's hard to really tease out from the data is is this price gouging necessarily? I don't think anyone can give you that hard evidence. Economists are currently debating this and it gets very heated on the twitters I will say.

NIALA: And of course, this is also leading to a change in consumer behavior. What are we seeing there ?

EMILY: A lot of it's, I mean, what you would expect, people are deal hunting. They're switching from name brands to generics. A big thing grocery analysts tell me is that people just buy less of things. So instead of buying a family pack of chicken thighs, you buy like a regular pack of chicken thighs and you stretch in other ways at mealtime.

Some people buying half gallons of milk instead of full gallons of milk. Also a common theme is fewer trips to the store right? Cause that's gas prices colliding with food prices.

NIALA: So Emily, how are these food price increases playing into consumer sentiment for this summer?

EMILY: Consumer sentiment right now is at record lows. There was the University of Michigan sentiment survey that was released last week and it was at an all-time low. People are gloomy, and this is definitely playing a role. I mean you buy your usual basket of stuff and you get real sticker shock when you go and check out, it's...it's pretty wild. And for some people it's more than that for example, increased lines at food banks. So this is a real and serious issue. 

NIALA: Emily Peck is Axios’ markets correspondent. Thanks, Emily.

NIALA: And we would love to hear from you about what your concerns are going into the summer when you're thinking particularly about prices. And we know that there's a lot of gloomy news around inflation and travel and costs for the summer. So if you want to share what you're excited about, we'd love to hear that too.

NIALA: In a moment, we’re back with details on turmoil at the US Supreme Court.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I'm Niala Boodhoo. Abortion rights protestors, blockaded intersections near the US Supreme court yesterday with the court set to rule soon on the constitutionality of a 15 week abortion ban in Mississippi. That decision could overturn Roe vs.

Wade. But since Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion on the case was leaked last month, the court has also been doing an internal investigation which has led to turmoil behind the scenes at the court. Axios editor Sam Baker has more on all of this. Hey Sam.

NIALA: What do we know about the investigation to the source of this draft opinion leak?

SAM: We know enough to know that it does not seem like a happy time, inside the Supreme Court. We've seen some reporting that this is a very serious investigation that's being led by the marshal of the Supreme Court. Clerks are maybe being asked to, turn over their phones or at least provide some of the information that would be stored on their phones. They're looking at who would have had access to a draft opinion. So, you know, that's always a tense situation. And then we've seen some signs that this is maybe bleeding into what the justices have always presented as, as a very cordial working relationship. It seems like things are, are maybe getting a little frosty now.

SAM: We've seen Justice Thomas he made some, some public comments recently, to the effect of his trust in his colleagues wasn't what it used to be. One source told NPR’s Nina Totenberg, that “the place sounds like it's imploding.”

NIALA: And outside the court, as we were talking about, there were protests yesterday in anticipation of a decision expected on Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health Organization. Last week, we heard about the arrest of a man who had a plot to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

How are authorities preparing for this heated decision?

SAM: Yeah so at the court itself where this activity is usually concentrated at the end of a term, no matter what the big case is, uh, we have seen fences go up. Uh, I live relatively close by, it's the insurrection fence, uh, it's back in anticipation of more protests than usual. And then as you said, we've seen, some of this spill over into the Justices homes and that disturbing incident last week. So there's been some talk about whether the Justices need additional security. They are typically, you know, they don't have full-time secret service details, like we're used to seeing around the president or anything like that. But there's obviously some sort of need there.

NIALA: Sam Baker is Axios’ resident Supreme Court expert. Thanks Sam.

Food costs are changing how we shop and eat

The cost of food has seen the largest increase in decades

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