Protesters question future of UK monarchy, Hurricane Fiona strengthens: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Protests raise questions about the future of the monarchy in the U.K.

USA TODAY's James Brown reports. Plus, attorneys clash before a special master over Mar-a-Lago documents, Congressional editor Ledge King looks at the state of American democracy, world leaders meet amid a grim U.N. General Assembly and Hurricane Fiona gains strength.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

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 21st of September, 2022. Today, a look at the future of monarchy in Britain, plus a grim tone at the UN General Assembly and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. Protests continue in Iran. They were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who had been picked up by the country's so called morality police for an allegedly loose headscarf.

2. Some 230 whales have been stranded off the coast of Tasmania in Australia. That's just days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on the other side of the island.

3. And Aaron Judge has hit 60 home runs in a season. He's just the sixth major league player ever to reach the milestone.

♦

Now that Queen Elizabeth II has been laid to rest, a question looms for some in great Britain. Should the country even have kings and queens at all? USA TODAY'S James Brown has more.

James Brown:

Paul Powlesland is an anti-monarchy protester in London. He's one of the people talking about an idea that was once unthinkable.

Paul Powlesland:

The Queen's personal popularity, and the fact that she's just always been there, has really stopped or hidden any real debate about the monarchy and its role in the UK for many decades. And I think now she's gone, and when the kind of mourning period has ended, people will begin to discuss more about why do we have this institution?

James Brown:

Bringing up the concept of England without a monarchy this close to the Queen's death is causing quite the stir. Over the last few days, videos have surfaced of police clashing with anti-monarchy protestors, including some arrests.

[Audio of protesters clashing with police.]

Protester:

Disgusting!

James Brown:

Other people have been ushered away for simply holding signs, including some that say things like "Not my King." This got Powlesland's attention. So on Monday, he found a blank piece of paper and headed outside of London's Houses of Parliament. That's where he held it over his head.

Paul Powlesland:

An officer spoke to me and asked me for my details for holding up that sign. I refused to give it to them, and I asked him a question. If I was to write not my king on this sign, like the previous signs that I'd seen, would I be arrested? And he replied, "I probably would because it was offensive and therefore against the Public Order Act."

James Brown:

Powlesland and other protestors were allowed to continue the next day. But their sentiments aren't universal. According to a YouGov survey from June, a little over 60% of UK residents think the country should keep the monarchy. Only a fifth of the population says they should have an elected head of state instead. Pat Ryder, a UK resident in line to pay her respects to the Queen, says she's open to debating the monarchy's future, but she's concerned about the timing of the protest.

Pat Ryder:

If anybody wants to protest, please do it because it's our right, and I'm proud to be British that we can do it. But wait until after the funeral, maybe two weeks time, then do your protests. But not now.

James Brown:

James Brown, USA TODAY.

Taylor Wilson:

You can hear more from James every Sunday, right here on 5 Things, and a big thank you to photojournalist, Jasper Colts, who's on the ground in London reporting this story.

♦

Attorneys for former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department clashed yesterday in front of a special master over access to records seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. James Trusty, one of Trump's lawyers said that the Presidential Records Act gives Trump broad latitude over records from his White House administration, and supersedes security concerns raised by the government. He said the legal team needs to review seized records before making detailed arguments, but Deputy Chief of the Justice Department's Counterintelligence Section, Julie Edelstein, argued that the classification status of records is determined by the current White House administration.

The special master, US District Judge Raymond Dearie, told Trump's lawyers they would need to supply evidence that Trump had previously declassified the records in question. Some Trump advisors had previously suggested that he had declassified documents with top secret markings. Pending the outcome of a separate appeal by the DOJ, Dearie is expected to determine whether federal prosecutors will remain barred from reviewing some of the seized material in the criminal investigation of Trump. The AP's Eric Tucker has more context from New York.

Eric Tucker:

One of the things that's emerged over the last 24 hours is that the special master, Raymond Dearie, has been asking the Trump team to disclose to him any information about whether or not the seized documents have been declassified. That's something that Donald Trump has repeatedly maintained in public, statements that he has declassified the documents that the FBI recovered. And so Judge Dearie asked the Trump legal team for any information about that point of view. And the legal team has said, we don't feel that we should be forced to disclose any information about that question right now at this stage of the proceedings, in part, because in the event of a future possible indictment, that could be part of the defense. It was striking the degree to which Judge Dearie appeared skeptical of the Trump team's reluctance to communicate whether or not the documents have been declassified.

He said, if you don't affirmatively assert one way or the other, whether the documents have been declassified and the Justice Department makes a case that in fact they remain classified. Then as far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the story. And so he made clear that he was not that open to the idea of the Trump team refusing for its own reasons to describe or disclose whether the documents had been declassified.

The Trump team repeatedly made clear that it wanted to push back some of the deadlines that Judge Dearie had imposed and was working towards in terms of completing the process. But Judge Dearie was not amenable to that and made clear that he actually wanted to keep this moving forward as briskly as possible and that was a notable development. He directed the Trump legal team to select by tomorrow, a vendor, one of five government approved vendors, from a list that was given to the Trump legal team that could receive and host the classified documents.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Democracy feels in danger across the US. Elections are being questioned, institutions undermined and norms challenged. But how serious is the situation? Experts spoke to USA TODAY about that and how to address it. Congressional editor, Ledge King, and producer, PJ Elliott have more.

Ledge King:

It depends on the experts you speak with, but I do think that there is a consensus among those that we talked to that public institutions are losing public confidence, elections are doubted by many, government is not trusted by many, and the norms are being challenged. It used to be that elections were fought and then concessions were made. And now, that's less and less the case. So the experts we spoke to said that democracy is at its lowest point and in its greatest peril since perhaps even back to the Civil War. It's not clear how bad it is. We'll see how it goes, but the experts are less optimistic than they were a few years ago.

PJ Elliott:

So Ledge, how do we address this issue as a country and how does the government get the people's confidence and trust back?

Ledge King:

That's a great question. I think, our experts told us a variety of ways. One was to make sure that elections are strengthened. And what that essentially means is that you make sure that the public has confidence that their vote counts, that fraud is not being mixed in, and that whoever is declared the winner is actually the winner.

There's also concern about local journalism. One of our experts said that the lack or the diminishment of local newspapers, local press thanks to changing markets and economic pressure is hurting democracy as well, because there's nobody at the local level that's keeping people accountable and that's helping give folks, at least a fair, if not impartial view of what's going on in the country.

Social media also has contributed with the ability to amplify false rumors and also the bubbling effect it has. People tend to gravitate towards the views they agree with. And social media has given people a platform to follow along and stay with people of like-minded views. And that's on both sides. So it's made agreeing with, or acknowledging kind of a common truth about issues, about government, about elections, harder to achieve because people have become so tribal and social media has made it much more possible for that to happen.

Taylor Wilson:

For Ledge's full story, click a link in today's episode description.

♦

World leaders met yesterday for the United Nations General Assembly's annual meeting. After two years, when many leaders met only by video during the pandemic, many met again in person in New York this week. But the tone was mostly grim and UN Secretary General António Guterres said the world is in peril.

António Guterres:

Our world is in big trouble. Divides are growing deeper, inequalities are growing wider and challenges are spreading farther.

Taylor Wilson:

He and others mentioned conflicts, including Russia's war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East. Speakers also worried about climate change, food shortages, migration, disinformation, discrimination, and more. Which problems to prioritize and how to solve them varied but there were signs that the United Nations does remain the go-to gathering place for global leaders. And more than 150 heads of state are scheduled to speak during the nearly week long general debate. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has topped the agenda for many. The conflict is the largest war in Europe since World War II, creating tensions among allies and affecting the world's economy. The loss of grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia has triggered a food crisis, especially in developing countries. And there's a rising cost of living across the world.

Jordan's King Abdullah II said that well off countries experiencing scarcity are "discovering a truth that people in developing countries have known for a long time. For countries to thrive, affordable food must get to every family's table." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to speak by video today as will President Joe Biden in person. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to speak on Saturday.

♦

Hurricane Fiona grew more powerful yesterday as it moved past Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, but not before it dumped up to 30 inches of rain on the Caribbean countries. The storm has now reached Turks and Caicos to the north of the Dominican Republic, where it's now a category three hurricane. And as of this morning, it's threatening to become a category four. As of yesterday, about 80% of Puerto Rico remained without power, more than 24 hours after the entire island's electrical system was shut down. Water service was also cut to more than 800,000 customers, about two thirds of the island. Two deaths were reported in Puerto Rico and another in the Dominican Republic. And about a million Dominicans were without running water along with 700,000 homes and businesses without power. Fiona is next expected to head near Bermuda later this week and is not expected to hit the US mainland.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning, seven days a week right here, wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott, James Brown, and our great reporters for their work on the show, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UK monarchy questioned, Hurricane Fiona gains strength: 5 Things podcast