Eight alleged fake Trump electors accept immunity deals, Walensky resigns: 5 Things podcast

On Today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Eight alleged fake Trump electors in Georgia have accepted immunity deals and Trump's deposition in the defamation lawsuit is made public. Also Dr. Rochelle Walensky is stepping down as head of the CDC. And USA TODAY World Affairs Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard puts the coronation of King Charles III in context. Finally, Courier Journal Breaking News Editor Lucas Aulbach previews the Kentucky Derby.

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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, Saturday, the 6th of May, 2023. Today, a new development in the Georgia election probe surrounding former President, Donald Trump, plus its coronation Saturday and will preview the Kentucky Derby.

Eight of the so-called fake electors who sought to give Georgia's electoral votes in the 2020 election to former President Donald Trump, instead of President Joe Biden, have agreed to immunity deals with the prosecution. The revelation came in a document filed yesterday by the elector's lawyer Beverly Kimberly Debrow, in response to a request from the prosecution that she be disqualified as a lawyer for the electors because of conflicts of interest. The court filing was first reported by CNN.

The eight electors in question make up half of the 16 people who met at Georgia's State Capitol on December 14th, 2020, and signed a certificate that declared falsely that Trump had won the presidential election. District Attorney Fani Willis said last month that criminal indictments related to her investigation could come later this summer. Earlier this week, she signaled in letters to local law enforcement that she would be indicting Trump this summer warning about significant public reaction once grand jury results are announced.

The Department of Justice is investigating Donald Trump's ties to LIV Golf amid a larger probe. According to a New York Times report, amid a larger investigation into how Trump handled classified documents, the DOJ has subpoenaed the Trump organization for records regarding LIV Golf and Trump's ties to the competition financially backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The report states that it's unclear what bearing Trump's relationship with LIV has on the broader investigation.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky is stepping down as director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her departure comes as the federal government continues to wind down its response to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The public health emergency that was declared in January of 2020 is ending on May 11th. And the World Health Organization said yesterday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency. Walensky took over from Dr. Robert Redfield in 2021. In announcing her departure, President Joe Biden said she led a complex organization that was on the front lines of a once in a generation pandemic. According to CDC officials, her last day is June 30th.

It's coronation Saturday. King Charles II's reign and the United Kingdom will get a formal seal today. I spoke with USA Today World Affairs correspondent, Kim Hjelmgaard, who has a scene report from London. Kim, welcome back to 5 Things.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

The coronation for King Charles III is set. It's the first in more than half a century, so folks might need a refresher here, Kim, on how this works. What's the purpose of this ceremony?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

You're right. We all need a refresher on this because there's a lot of kind of splendor and pump and circumstance and pageantry associated with the coronation, but essentially the point of this whole thing is to kind of formally put the crown on the king's head. People might remember Britain's longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. She died in September last year. Then Prince Charles immediately became king. However, there is a kind of a symbolic ceremony associated with this, so about eight months later, here we are, this weekend there's going to be a ceremony that's kind of a mixture of ancient custom and tradition and also a religious service that's going to be taking place at Westminster Abbey. There's going to be dignitaries there. There's going to be various things happening where the king is anointed, that's rubbed with the special oil. It's highly formalized. It's a celebration essentially, and a formal kind of rubber stamping of his new reign.

Taylor Wilson:

Who can we expect to see at this ceremony?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Well, the rumor is we're not going to see Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, prince Harry's wife., That's because of an ongoing rift between them and the royal family. President Biden is not attending but his wife, First Lady Jill, will be there. There's going to be about a hundred heads of state. There's going to be various charitable organizations represented. Then Prince Charles, now King Charles, has spent a lifetime waiting in the wings for this job. While he has been waiting, he's been a pretty big supporter of environmental causes and agricultural causes. He's the patron of various charities and a lot of those folks are going to be there. It's going to be like a massive concert the next day where I know Richie's performing. There's going to be a whole mix of people.

Taylor Wilson:

And Kim, you're based in London, so I'm curious to get your thoughts here. What's the general mood in the UK when it comes to the coronation and even the monarchy on the whole at this point?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Yeah, so I'd say it's split. There's definitely people who are not paying attention to this at all, and then there's definitely people who think this is the best thing since sliced bread. In general, the monarchy, it kind of tends to get forgotten about day to day and then certainly something comes along like a wedding, like a new royal baby, a funeral, and people tend to get a little more excited around these sort of moments. There's going to be a couple of thousand, what they call street parties around the UK happening over this weekend. The monarchy is a, it's a complicated institution and obviously has specific roots into Britain's past and the Empire in recent years that's been talked about a lot more. And King Charles has signaled that he's aware of all the problems with this, and while he is quite a formal guy like his mother was, he is also I think willing to have those conversations a bit more and he's going to try to streamline the royal family in terms of all the palaces and all the rest of it.

The ceremony itself, the coronation is going to, for the first time, have multi-faith leaders involved, which is new and different in that context, but there will be protests. There's one particular group, it's called Republic, that tends to protest most royal events and they're saying that they're going to get about a thousand people out somewhere along the procession to speak up against what they think is a kind of waste of taxpayer's money. An institution that's outdated, that's racist, I guess we should use that word that has this kind of colonialist empire pass that is nothing that Britain should be proud of. On the other side, the feeling is that this is something that should be celebrated, that it is evolving and that it does represent good things about this country. The polls move around a bit, but more or less half the population still approve of the monarchy and half doesn't.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Kim Hjelmgaard. Thanks as always.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Our celebration coverage will be live on usatoday.com, beginning at 5:00 AM Eastern time. That includes footage of the procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, and of course, the iconic balcony greeting from the newly crowned, King Charles. One of the biggest sporting events of the year is here. The 149th Kentucky Derby is this afternoon in Louisville. The iconic horse race, also known as the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports is set for 6:57 PM Eastern Time, but the festivities have already begun. I spoke with the Courier Journal's Breaking News Editor, Lucas Aulbach, to learn more. Lucas, thanks for hopping on 5 Things today.

Lucas Aulbach:

Good to be here, Taylor. Thanks for having me. How are you?

Taylor Wilson:

Good, thanks. I'm wondering if you can just put into context for us how big the Kentucky Derby is in Kentucky?

Lucas Aulbach:

Well, last year we had about 147,000 people come to the racetrack for it. Record was 2015, I think about 170,000 then. So, it's a big event at the racetrack. It's a big event outside the racetrack. I mean, it's just a party in Louisville for really weeks leading up in advance. It's a big party scene over the weekend, and then Saturday is just a full day at the races. 150,000 people there taken in. It's practically a fashion show out there. I mean, it's the biggest tourism weekend of the year in Louisville.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Lucas, let's get to the horses. Who are some of the favorites this year?

Lucas Aulbach:

Bring it on. Well, don't blame me if these don't come in, all right? First of all, Todd Pletcher the trainer, he's been in a long time. He has two of the big favorites this year and Forte, who's 3-1 right now. Forte won the Florida Derby a couple weeks ago, ridden by Irad Ortiz, one of the best jockeys in the world. He's got six wins and seven races, so he's definitely one. A lot of people are picking a lot of experts like Tapit Trice who won the Bluegrass Stakes. He's won four races in a row. He's another horse from Todd Pletcher. Another one on the radar would be Angel of Empire trained by Louisville native, Brad Cox. He's eight to one right now. He won the Arkansas Derby, so he's a big one a lot of people have their eyes on.

Taylor Wilson:

And Lucas, we've seen several horse deaths unfortunately at Churchill Downs in the lead up to the Derby this year. What happened in these incidents and do you see this kind of hanging over the Derby this year?

Lucas Aulbach:

Yeah, it has been an unfortunate start to the Spring meet out here, and especially at a time like this when all eyes are on Louisville and all eyes are on Churchill Downs. There have been three deaths so far in the past few days. Two horses collapsed after races on the turf out here, and then another one died after suffering an injury on Tuesday. It's an unfortunate thing and I do expect it to hang over. There's a little bit of a cloud over it, but hopefully we get through Saturday's races without any other issues.

Taylor Wilson:

And before we go, Lucas, you wrote about how crazy the last five years have been at the Derby. I'm curious which year stands out in particular for you?

Lucas Aulbach:

2020 obviously had its own circumstances. The race was moved back from May to September because of, you can probably guess, the pandemic. Last year we had an 80-1 winner who was entered in the race a day before because another horse scratched. That was Rich Strike. 2018 was a pretty good year to stay home. We had about three and a half, three and a quarter inches of rain, which was the rainiest ever. So, fingers crossed we don't have that this weekend. I'm just rooting for a nice, beautiful day. Maybe just do us here at the newspaper a favor and give us a normal one. Just do us all a favor here.

Taylor Wilson:

Give Lucas a normal one. Happy Derby Lucas, thanks so much.

Lucas Aulbach:

Thanks, Taylor. I appreciate you having me on.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and any comments, shoot them our way at podcasts at usatoday.com. I'm back tomorrow with the Sunday edition of 5 Things from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eight alleged fake Trump electors accept immunity deals: 5 Things podcast