GOP reacts after Trump indictment, 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski dies by suicide: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: GOP reacts after Trump indictment

USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer has the latest a day ahead of former President Donald Trump's arraignment in Miami. Plus, migrants and smugglers turn to TikTok to document the journey to the U.S. border, the U.S. military is more aggressively seeking out immigrants as part of recruitment strategy, Ted Kaczynski, known as the 'Unabomber,' has died by suicide, and USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub looks at the potential anti-aging effects of taurine.

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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 Monday, the 12th of June 2023. Today, the latest developments in the wake of former President Donald Trump's indictment. Plus, how some migrants are turning to TikTok, and can an amino acid slow down aging?

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We're a day away from former President Donald Trump's arraignment for charges related to his handling of classified documents. I spoke with USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer for the latest developments over the weekend. Welcome back to 5 Things, Josh.

Josh Meyer:

Thanks, Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

This was the first weekend since former President Donald Trump's latest indictment. Josh, how did he spend these past couple days?

Josh Meyer:

Well, he's been making a lot of hay of it. He's been fundraising. He's been out giving speeches. He even brought Walt Nauta, his valet who has been charged alongside him, with him on the campaign trail. And he's basically made a point of keeping them together and saying, "We did nothing wrong," which I think prosecutors would see as putting pressure on Nauta to stick with Trump and not flip on him and providing any information about everything that was mentioned in the indictment.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, I know you wrote a piece about Walt Nauta over the weekend. Josh, what more have we learned about him?

Josh Meyer:

He actually started out relatively in sort of a minor role at the White House. He was working at the mess, which is something that's run by the Navy, and he worked his way into Trump's confidences. He's supposed to be a very easygoing guy and very affable and friendly and all that stuff. And Trump took a liking to him and he was very good at, being a former Navy man, working within the chain of command, and Trump brought him alongside him and he became his valet. The guy that gets his Diet Cokes for him and antimicrobial gel for after he's shaking a lot of hands and stuff like that. So he's been sticking right with Trump.

And the allegations in the indictment are that Trump asked him to move a lot of boxes while they were in the White House to Mar-a-Lago. And then once they were at Mar-a-Lago, to move them around the house, or the estate and the grounds. And according to prosecutors, move them in some cases so that they couldn't be reviewed by Trump's own lawyer and other people before they were handed over.

So the claim by the Justice Department is that Nauta was working with Trump to basically obstruct justice in this case, and not return the documents. There is, however, a lot of information in the indictment that Nauta was just doing what Trump asked him to do with no nefarious purpose. So the question is going to be whether the Justice Department's trying to separate the two and have one testify against the other or what their game plan is. But at this point, Nauta is deeply involved according to the indictment, and he's going to be there Tuesday at 3:00pm with Trump at the Federal Courthouse in Miami to answer questions about this and to probably get arraigned.

Taylor Wilson:

And Josh, as we move into a new week, how are other Republicans responding to this indictment?

Josh Meyer:

Well, that's a good question. William Barr, Bill Barr, the former attorney general for Trump, was on TV on Sunday saying, "This is really, really bad for Trump. I've defended him in the past, but if even half of the allegations contained in this indictment are true, he's 'toast'."

I think the stark difference between that and a lot of people in Congress is, they're just basically defending him without really, I think, addressing the specifics of the issues. I mean, Lindsey Graham, who's the ranking minority senator on the Judiciary Committee said, "Well, Trump's done nothing wrong. He hasn't committed treason or espionage." But that's not what the prosecutors are charging. They are using the Espionage Act against Trump, but basically there's a lot of statutes within it that talk about mishandling of documents intentionally, and so there's no accusation that he is committing espionage. So there are some question that Republicans, like Lindsey Graham, going out of their way to defend Trump without really understanding or talking about the specifics of it.

Taylor Wilson:

Josh, there's been some strong language from parts of Trump's base in defense of him on this. Are there security concerns in Miami or elsewhere ahead of his arraignment?

Josh Meyer:

Well, yes. I mean, another good question. I wrote a story about that where I think that there's a lot of concern in Miami. It's much more wide open, I think, than the courthouse in New York, which was in these very narrow overdeveloped corridors. It's a much more wide open area. So there's talk that the local police, state police and feds can secure the area, but it's also a place where a lot of more people could congregate.

And if you're following Trump on Truth Social, he's been posting about this around the clock pretty much since his indictment. And one of the posts that he put on there was, "See you in Miami at 3:00pm." So he's clearly issuing a call to his supporters to be there and make noise, if nothing else. Notably, he did not say, like he did before January 6th, "See you there. It'll be wild." This time he just said, "See you there." But you know, who knows what'll end up happening with that or what'll happen in the days and weeks to come.

Taylor Wilson:

Josh Meyer, thanks as always.

Josh Meyer:

All right.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Migrants are turning to TikTok to document their journey through Central America and to the US Southern border, and so are the smugglers that often help them get there. Authorities and advocacy groups worry that social media platforms are being used to encourage the dangerous trek north while minimizing the risks involved. Almost 2 million people try to cross the Southern border every year and tens of thousands are kidnapped, abused, and extorted by drug cartels along the route north. A review by USA TODAY identified at least 15 out of dozens of TikTok accounts that use hashtags where anyone can browse on how to cross the border and who to hire.

USA TODAY spoke with one coyote or smuggler on the app, who said he facilitates travel for migrants across the border in exchange for money. Accounts like his promise safe passage in exchange for thousands of dollars. The United Nations International Organization for Migration has warned about the dangerous trend. But not everyone on the app is a smuggler. And USA TODAY spoke with one migrant who made it all the way from Columbia to Northern Mexico documenting his journey on the app. It's in that part of Mexico that many migrants run the greatest risk of being caught. You can read more of this story in today's show notes.

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The US military is more aggressively seeking out immigrants, offering a fast track to citizenship for those who sign up, according to the AP. That's after the Army fell about 25% short of its recruitment goal last year, and neither the Army nor Air Force expect to meet their recruiting goals this year, while the Navy may also fall short. The military has had success in recruiting legal immigrants, especially those seeking a job, education benefits, and a quick path to becoming an American citizen. But they also require additional security screening and more help filling out forms, particularly for those who may not be proficient in English.

♦

Ted Kaczynski, who came to be known as the Unabomber, has died by suicide in custody at a federal prison medical center in North Carolina. The 81-year old was found unresponsive early Saturday morning. He was transferred to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Kaczynski was serving a life sentence after sending a series of homemade bombs around the country from the 1970s through the mid-90s. He pleaded guilty to setting 16 explosions that killed three people and injured 23 others. In the summer of 1995, he sent a manifesto to a number of newspapers calling for society to change, and that modern technology limits human power and freedom. His brother recognized the manifesto as being similar to his brother's ideas and went to the FBI, which ultimately led to his arrest.

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A new study found that the amino acid taurine appears to improve health and expand the lifespan of a number of animals, but can it do the same for people? I spoke with USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub to find out. Hello, Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Hello.

Taylor Wilson:

So starting with the basics here, what is taurine?

Karen Weintraub:

So it's an amino acid that is made naturally by the body and also something we consume in food, shellfish and other animal products. An amino acid is a building block of protein. Typically, in this case, apparently taurine doesn't build proteins, but it's an amino acid.

Taylor Wilson:

And a new study has shown that supplementing taurine in a number of animals slows aging. What can you tell us about the latest research here, Karen?

Karen Weintraub:

So these researchers have spent a decade testing taurine in a variety of animals, and also looking at sort of circumstantial evidence in people. And in animals, both in mice and in monkeys, they see that taurine can reverse or slow some of the typical signs of aging. Things like glucose metabolism, the animals are thinner, they look healthier, they have less depression, a whole assortment of health issues. The animals who are supplemented with taurine seem to have less of.

In people, they looked at two things. They looked at 12,000 people and what their taurine levels were, and found that those with the higher levels of taurine were healthier in all those same metrics. They could metabolize glucose better, they were less diabetic, less overweight, had other health benefits, seemingly. That doesn't prove causation. What they need to do now is test in massive numbers of people and see if taurine will have some of these same benefits. The challenge now is getting the money for a long-term expensive study like that.

Taylor Wilson:

So is there any plan right now to get a big human intervention trial going, or is it just a matter of a lack of fundraising at this point?

Karen Weintraub:

I would say it's more about hope than reality at this point. But basically, this 10 years of data shows that there may be something there, that it's worth adding to this research by testing it in people. But there have been the history that the field of anti-aging is littered with examples of promising compounds, or whatever, that didn't quite work out. So I would say be cautious at this point. Don't start taking large quantities of taurine, we just have no idea whether it'll have any benefits. There are no indications of side effects. We just don't know yet.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. Well, as you say, there are other potential anti-aging molecules out there. How does taurine compare to some of those?

Karen Weintraub:

We really don't know because there haven't been that many studies. There's something called metformin, which is a diabetes drug that's being studied, but there's no data out yet. There's a drug called rapamycin, that's been suggested that it might have anti-aging benefits. But again, there's no solid data. And animals really are different than people in this front. We're more complicated than mice. And so when you can extend this lifespan of a mouse, it's intriguing, but it isn't definitive evidence. So you've got it in people.

Taylor Wilson:

USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub. Thanks as always.

Karen Weintraub:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

And before we go, Novak Djokovich has won the French Open again. It was his third time winning on the clay court and his 23rd career Grand Slam. That passes Rafael Nadal for the most in men's singles history. On Saturday, Iga Swiatek won her third French Open. She's just 22 years old.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can reach us at podcasts@usatoday.com. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP after Trump indictment, Ted Kaczynski dies by suicide: 5 Things podcast