Fox News and Dominion reach settlement, another Fyre Festival in the works: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Fox News and Dominion reach settlement

Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems have reached a settlement. Plus, USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning explains how Bill Richardson works to free Americans detained abroad, Americans and Russians have been charged with conspiring to spread discord in the U.S., USA TODAY Health Reporter Ken Alltucker looks into widespread state Medicaid cuts as the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, and why do we want to see another Fyre Festival attempt?

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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 Wednesday, the 19th of April 2023. Today, Fox News reaches a settlement with Dominion. Plus, a look at the man working to free Americans detained abroad, and states are cutting Medicaid as the COVID-19 public health emergency ends.

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Fox News has agreed to settle the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against the network for its broadcast of lies aimed at weakening public confidence in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Fox News and Dominion voting systems agreed to a $787.5 million settlement yesterday. Dominion sued Fox News and its parent corporation in 2021. Dominion claimed that the network knowingly broadcast lies perpetuated by former President Donald Trump and his attorneys as he clung to power in the months after his election loss. The voting technology company said the lies caused more than a billion dollars in damage and led to threats toward its employees. The settlement came hours before trial testimony was set to begin. High profile Fox News personalities and executives were set to testify, including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdoch. Fox had denied all wrongdoing, calling the lawsuit an attack on the First Amendment.

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The Undersecretary of Thugs. That's how some refer to Bill Richardson. He was once the governor of New Mexico, among other things. But his main focus for years has centered on freeing Americans detained abroad. I spoke with USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning to learn more. Hello Chris, welcome to 5 Things.

Chris Kenning:

Hello, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for coming on. So before we get to Bill Richardson, I want to just start by asking what has historically been the process to free Americans detained abroad?

Chris Kenning:

Hostage taking is often associated with a terrorist or criminal seeking a ransom. But many Americans are also held by foreign states under what the US considers unjust charges, including for political reasons. So the way the US handles those types of cases really changed in 2015, following the killings of journalists, James Foley and other ISIS hostages in Syria. The Obama administration created the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as well as a hostage recovery team led by the FBI. And it was all part of an attempt to better prioritize and organize the efforts to return wrongful detainees and hostages.

That's led to a number of over the years, prisoner swaps, rescues, negotiated returns. But the problem is still out there by one count, there's at least 54 US citizens or permanent residents that are now held hostage or wrongfully detained in 15 countries roughly. Those are just the cases that are publicly disclosed. The real figure is thought to be higher. Last year, President Biden declared hostage taking and wrongful detention an emergency and added some new tools, including financial sanctions and visa bans that they could employ. But some hostage advocates and family members still feel like the cases languish too long and they sometimes turn to seek additional help outside of the government. And that can include private parties such as the Richardson Center.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So Chris, how did Bill Richardson become this really go-to guy to call for these negotiations?

Chris Kenning:

Well, it happened by accident as he tells it. It was 1994 and Richardson was a congressman then, and he was in North Korea to discuss nuclear issues as part of a trip. And while he was there, a US Army helicopter was shot down after it veered off course into the demilitarized zone. And so suddenly he was thrust into this role as a negotiator and was told, "Don't come home without the Americans." He stayed and won the release of the one captive and the other soldier who had died.

Following that, there were a number of similar stories that built his reputation as the go-to negotiator for wresting prisoners from dictators and terrorists and hostile regimes. He had sat down with Saddam Hussein all the way to Sudanese rebels to try to get folks home. And earned this moniker as the Undersecretary of Thugs, given the folks he was dealing with. In '96, he was appointed as the US Ambassador to the UN under President Clinton and made some key contacts there. In 2011, he started the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. And one of their big efforts is to work to return captive Americans.

Taylor Wilson:

Maybe the most high profile case right now of an American detained abroad, is journalist Evan Gershkovich, who's currently being held in Russia. And we heard that he was denied bail this week. Is Bill Richardson involved with his possible release? And what's the latest there?

Chris Kenning:

Mickey Bergman, who is the Richardson Center and Richardson's right-hand man, told us that they were not contacted by the family to jump in and help, but they stood ready to do so. As you know, this is a big deal, the first US correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations. Top Russian diplomats said that Russia might be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap. He noted that they have a channel that they've used in the past with the US government to talk about that, but he noted that any discussion with the US would happen only after the trial. That means an exchange is probably not going to happen for some time, unfortunately. Wouldn't be surprising if Richardson did wind up playing some kind of role eventually. Diane Foley, whose son was one of the hostages killed in Syria and now runs a foundation to support families of hostages and detainees, said it's often the case that both government and private efforts are needed for these cases to resolve.

Taylor Wilson:

USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning. Thanks so much.

Chris Kenning:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Four Americans and three Russians have been charged with conspiring to spread discord in US society, spread Russian propaganda and interfere illegally in US elections. The Americans and two Russians were added to an existing case in Florida involving Alexander Ionov. Prosecutors have described him as the founder of a Moscow-based organization funded by the Russian government to carry out a secretive influence campaign in the US. Prosecutors say the group recruited US-based organizations to help sway elections and make it appear that there was strong support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, among other things. The four Americans are all part of the African People Socialist Party. The group previously denied working covertly for Russia.

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The end to the COVID-19 public health emergency means massive Medicaid cuts are coming. USA TODAY Health Reporter Ken Alltucker explains. Ken, thanks for hopping on the podcast today.

Ken Alltucker:

Hi, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

States have begun these widespread Medicaid cuts. How many people are affected here and why is this happening?

Ken Alltucker:

This started at the beginning of the pandemic when the federal government decided it would be a good idea for people to have health insurance when COVID-19 first emerged. And at that time, the decision was made to stop disenrollments for people on Medicaid, which is the government program for low income families and the disabled. So at that time, the federal government told states, "Look, you could sign people up for Medicaid, but we don't want you to disenroll them unless they request it or there's a change, like somebody left the state or passed away." So from that point forward, from March 2020, the signups for Medicaid increased substantially. And now the federal government estimates roughly about 15 million people are getting Medicaid coverage who might not qualify any longer. And essentially what they're saying, is that states are now allowed to begin these enrollment cuts, because the public health emergency is over and that's what states are doing.

Taylor Wilson:

And Ken, why are advocates so concerned about these cuts?

Ken Alltucker:

People on Medicaid, they tend to be more vulnerable populations. These are low income families or they're disabled people who rely on Medicaid to take care of themselves, to get their medicines or to get their treatments and their doctor's visits, as well as in-person help in some cases. So essentially, what they're worried about is the state agencies have never really tried to determine this level of cut, roughly 15 million people at once. And they think it will be a paperwork nightmare, where a lot of people will be rightly identified as no longer qualifying for Medicaid, but some people will be cut who probably still are eligible for Medicaid. And it becomes a very difficult situation for them as well as the states.

Taylor Wilson:

Ken, you write about this avalanche of paperwork that's underway. You've touched on this a bit, but what are the concerns specifically here?

Ken Alltucker:

Medicaid is an income based program, so you have to have a low income to qualify for it, and different states have different levels of income thresholds. So what happens is, the states have to go through this massive verification, where they ask for things like pay stubs. And so they're asking people for these documents, but a lot of folks on Medicaid might not have the most stable housing situation. So their house as of March 2020 when the pandemic started, could be six or seven addresses ago and they might not get the paperwork that they need. So some advocates fear that people who still do qualify for this will get cut. And in those cases they'll miss out on their healthcare. And for example, I profiled a woman in Arkansas who has diabetes and high blood pressure. She learned that she's being cut from Medicaid in Arkansas. And if you don't take care of those chronic conditions, they could become a lot more serious. It could result in a hospital stay and something that's a lot more expensive than filling a prescription.

Taylor Wilson:

And what options do people have if their Medicaid coverage is cut?

Ken Alltucker:

There's the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, which offers subsidized coverage. And also during the pandemic, they sweetened the subsidies for these plans. So a lot of people could go and sign up and get discounted premiums or in some cases free monthly premiums through the marketplace.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, USA TODAY Health Reporter Ken Alltucker. Thanks as always.

Ken Alltucker:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Many of us couldn't look away from Fyre Festival.

Hulu documentary Fyre Fraud:

Taylor Wilson:

Social media watched the festival's disaster happen in real time. And there were not one but two documentaries on Netflix and Hulu respectively, that went behind the scenes. Now the festival's founder, Billy McFarland, says Fyre Fest is happening again. That's even after acknowledging he defrauded investors of $26 million in the 2017 failure. So why do people want to see him try again? Elizabeth Cohen, a West Virginia University professor who researches psychology of media and pop culture said a theory called social comparison is behind it. That posits humans will always try and compare themselves to others to figure out where they fit in the world. And other experts say we simply can't look away, because of schadenfreude or finding joy in others' hardships.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fox News settles with Dominion, Fyre Festival take 2: 5 Things podcast