Pence testifies to grand jury in Trump Jan. 6 probe, air rage still a thing: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Pence testifies to federal grand jury about Trump and Jan. 6

Former Vice President Mike Pence has testified to a federal grand jury about former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Plus, USA TODAY Senior Tech and Economic Opportunity Reporter Jessica Guynn discusses a USA TODAY analysis on a lack of diversity among federal contractors, a drug used to treat diabetes shows promise for weight loss, USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter looks at what's going on with unruly passengers on planes, and the woman who accused teenager Emmett Till of grabbing and whistling at her has died.

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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 Friday, the 28th of April 2023. Today, Pence has testified about January 6th. Plus, federal contractors are failing to meet a diversity standard, and what's the deal with unruly airline passengers?

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Former Vice President Mike Pence testified yesterday to the federal grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump and his role in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection. Pence spent at least seven hours at the courthouse, according to a person familiar with the appearance. Pence and his aides have not commented on the investigation, but he told CBS News that he'll obey the law and tell the truth. Pence had challenged his subpoena in federal court, but ultimately decided not to appeal a previous ruling. Prosecutors have wanted to talk to Pence about his interactions with Trump before Congress met that day to certify electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election. Trump wanted Pence to throw out some of President Joe Biden's electoral votes, something Pence refused.

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Federal contractors employ one in five Americans, and a 1965 order signed by President Lyndon Johnson was supposed to hold them to a higher standard when it comes to equal opportunities and diversity. But half a century later, as USA TODAY Senior Tech and Economic Opportunity Reporter Jessica Guynn told me, they're often not meeting that pledge. This investigation is the result of a partnership between USA TODAY and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, which sued to acquire this data. Jessica, welcome back to 5 Things.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks so much for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order back in the sixties holding federal contractors to this expected standard when it comes to diversity and equal opportunity. Can you start by telling us what that order outlines specifically?

Jessica Guynn:

Essentially, the executive order prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also requires federal contractors to take what they call affirmative action to ensure that people are not discriminated against. And the order was strengthened in later amendments to basically protect workers of all backgrounds from discrimination and to open doors of opportunity for everyone. So when you get federal contracts and you get paid in federal dollars, you're supposed to be held to what is a higher standard. And what we found in our analysis of all of this data on thousands of federal contractors that was obtained through years of litigation conducted by Reveal, is that federal contractors are not complying with these contractual obligations and the federal government isn't really doing much about it.

Taylor Wilson:

And in your analysis, what kinds of racial divides do we see in these workplaces?

Jessica Guynn:

The executive leadership of these companies is mostly white and mostly men, to put it very frankly. In fact, white men make up 59% of the executive positions. They are the only demographic group that holds a higher proportion of executive jobs than all other jobs. White men are just 34% of all of their jobs, but 59% of executive positions. And that's very consistent with our previous analysis of the nation's largest companies. But again, with federal contractors, they're supposed to be doing more to achieve diversity.

Taylor Wilson:

And Jessica, how can a lack of diversity put corporations at a disadvantage?

Jessica Guynn:

Well, increasingly, employees and investors are clamoring for companies to provide equal opportunities for everyone. So there's a lot of pressure on them to examine how the status quo is resulting in too few women, too few people of color being considered for the top jobs. And a growing number of studies link having diverse leadership with better business outcomes and better returns for investors. And if you think about it this way, our nation is growing increasingly diverse, so companies are really looking to represent the communities they serve. That said, there is a lot of political disagreement on this front. There is a very significant backlash on the political right against diversity initiatives. Conservatives are publicly bashing companies for engaging in what they say is a "woke ideological agenda."

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Jessica Guynn with some great insight for us. Thanks as always.

Jessica Guynn:

Thanks so much for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

A drug used to treat diabetes is showing promise in its effectiveness at helping people lose weight. In a second large study, the drug Mounjaro helped participants with diabetes lose nearly 16% of their weight over a six-month trial. Drug maker Eli Lilly had already shown that the same drug sold under the generic name tirzepatide could help people with obesity, but not diabetes, to lose as much as 20% of their body weight. It's generally harder for people with diabetes to lose weight, and this is the first trial to show significant weight loss with the disease.

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A United Airlines flight bound for Israel from New Jersey turned around hours into a trip because of an unruly passenger last weekend, and law enforcement removed the passenger upon the plane's return to Newark. It's just the latest in a series of recent incidents of unruly passengers and air rage across the skies. I spoke with USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter to learn more. Thanks for hopping back on the pod, Zach.

Zach Wichter:

Yeah, happy to be here again. Thank you so much.

Taylor Wilson:

Air rage. We've seen tons of videos on social media of these violent incidents at airports and in really awful circumstances even up in the air. Zach, is this problem getting worse?

Zach Wichter:

It actually is getting a little bit better since it peaked in 2021, which obviously that's a good trend. We like to see that, but it still isn't great. The flight attendants who I talked to for this column were telling me that, by and large, many frontline professionals like them are still nervous going to work because they just don't know when the next person on the plane or on the ground is going to snap.

Taylor Wilson:

And why are planes and airports such hotspots for this kind of tension?

Zach Wichter:

Yeah, so in the column, I spoke to a behavioral expert and he was saying that a big part of it is just kind of the environment. Planes are crowded, especially if you're flying economy. The seats are packed pretty closely together. They can be noisy. Sometimes there can be weird smells. And he said that all of these are actually predictors of aggravation, basically. And so the built environment of an airplane is sort of conducive to people being stressed, and on top of that, to being a little bit more aggressive.

Taylor Wilson:

And what are the solutions that airlines, aviation officials, and others have put forward for this problem?

Zach Wichter:

According to Sara Nelson, who's the president of one of the biggest flight attendant unions in the country, since 2021 the FAA has started referring more cases of air rage to the DOJ and the FBI for prosecution. And that actually tracks with what this behavioral expert I spoke to said, which was that we need firmer punishments as a deterrent to people acting out. And so that's really a big thing. As the regulators have more of a chance to kind of crack down on this, it makes it harder for people to get away with. In sort of the same vein, a group of legislators recently reintroduced some legislation that would create a national no-fly list. So airlines would be able to ban, across the industry, people from flying who get either criminally or civilly fined or prosecuted for acting out like this on airplanes.

On top of those legal remedies, the behavioral expert who I spoke to also said that just kind of making it less socially acceptable could be helpful. We see all of these videos of people acting out in the airports, on airplanes, and in a weird way that kind of perpetuates the cycle. Kind of the more familiar it seems, the more acceptable it seems. And so it may feel good to call someone who's acting out, out for their behavior, but it actually doesn't really help in the long run because it sort of normalizes that behavior if it's more present in our lives.

Taylor Wilson:

If other passengers see this kind of behavior, what should they do?

Zach Wichter:

Great question. And again, Sara Nelson from the flight attendants' union was really clear that unless you are being asked by a flight attendant on board to get involved, you're better off not getting involved. And the reason for that is that flight attendants are trained in deescalation to try to preempt these situations and prevent them from getting out of hand. She said the only time you really want to intervene is if you or someone near you is in imminent danger of serious physical harm. Otherwise, it's better to just hang back. And if a flight attendant needs your assistance, they will let you know.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Great advice. USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter. Thanks so much.

Zach Wichter:

Yep, thanks again.

Taylor Wilson:

Zach's story is part of Cruising Altitude, a new column at USA TODAY focused on travel trends. We have a link in today's show notes.

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The white woman who accused black teenager Emmett Till of grabbing and whistling at her before he was kidnapped and lynched in 1955 has died. Carolyn Bryant Donham died on Tuesday in Westlake, Louisiana, according to a report from a local coroner's office obtained by USA TODAY. She was 88. The lynching of 14-year-old Till in the Jim Crow-era south shocked the country and helped fuel the civil rights movement. Donham was never charged in the crime.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Special thanks to Cherie Saunders and Alexis Gustin. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with another episode of 5 Things.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Air rage on planes continues, Emmett Till accuser dies: 5 Things podcast