Trump’s Retribution Campaign Hits a Major Roadblock, and Health Care Costs Set to Surge

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, November 25th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13I'm grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence. On Monday, a federal judge threw out the criminal charges against James Comey, the former director of the FBI, and Letitia James, the attorney general of New York. This case mattered to me personally, obviously, but it matters most because a message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies. The rulings were the most significant setback yet to President Trump's efforts to punish his perceived political enemies.

0:50Both Comey and James have clashed with Trump for years. Comey was charged with lying to Congress, and James was charged with bank fraud after Trump called them both guilty as hell. The dismissal of their cases yesterday hinged on the technical details of how they were charged. Back in September, Trump had his attorney general install Lindsay Halligan, his former personal lawyer, as an interim U.S. attorney to oversee the cases, after other prosecutors declined to press charges. But U.S. attorneys must be confirmed by the Senate. There's an option to put someone in place without that on a temporary basis for 120 days.

1:28But Halligan's predecessor, also an interim U.S. attorney, had already run out that clock. The judge said that because Halligan's appointment was unlawful, the indictments she brought were invalid. On today's episode of The Daily, my colleague Devlin Barrett explains why the judge felt Halligan's appointment posed a threat to the entire criminal justice system. What the judge said was this. It would mean the government could send any private citizen off the street into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the attorney general gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law, the judge wrote.

2:05And what she means by that is if you were to allow this system to continue to the obvious conclusion, you really wouldn't have any more Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys. It would just be the president picks whoever they want, whenever they want, and they just keep doing that.

2:24Is the president more determined now since the judge is ruling today to go after James Comey and Tis James? And if so, why? I wouldn't say he's going after them. I think the president is more determined than ever to see accountability in this country. Yes. And to correct the wrongs of the weaponization of our justice system that we saw under the previous administration and Joe Biden. Shortly after the rulings, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said that the Justice Department would appeal, potentially putting the cases on track for a hearing at the Supreme Court. At the same time, lawyers for Comey are expected to argue that the charges against him can't ever be refiled, since he was indicted just days before the statute of limitations in his case was set to run out.

3:14Now, two other updates on the Trump administration. In an unusual move, China's leader Xi Jinping called President Trump yesterday, and the two talked for about an hour. The focus was mainly on the trade deal that we are working on with China and those relations and how they are moving in a positive direction. The White House said they talked trade, about the war in Ukraine, and how Trump will visit Beijing in April. Though the Chinese summary of Trump and Xi's call had a detail the White House didn't mention. It said that President Xi brought up the subject of Taiwan. China claims ownership of the self-governing island.

3:52In recent weeks, however, Japan has said that it would respond with military force if China tried to seize it. When President Biden was in office, he also vowed that the U.S. military would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion. Trump, however, has not said what he would do. And Xi's call was an apparent effort to move him closer to Beijing's perspective. Also, the Times has learned that President Trump is considering pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies The same thing the Democrats were insisting on in the standoff that shut down the government The subsidies are going to expire at the end of this year At which point a lot of Americans could see their health insurance premiums double or more Many Republicans, including the president, are feeling the pressure As one Republican strategist told the Times they're in charge.

4:40And so if those bills skyrocket, that's who voters are going to look to to fix it. According to a senior White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the president has not made a final decision.

4:57A new study out yesterday found something that a lot of people have suspected, wondered about, or maybe discovered on their own. Dialing back social media use can lead to mental health benefits. The research followed about 300 young people, aged 18 to 24, who volunteered to detox from the apps for a week. They didn't go cold turkey. They were told to stay off social media as much as possible. And in practice, that looked like spending just half an hour a day on it. Overall, they reported positive changes. Symptoms of anxiety and insomnia both dropped by about 15%, and symptoms of depression dropped almost 25%.

5:38One interesting thing, less screen time likely wasn't the factor driving that. On average, the participants actually spent more time on their phones during the detox week. But the benefit may have come from avoiding behaviors like comparing yourself to what other people post. With the study, which was published in the journal JAMA Network Open, there's a lot of caveats. Again, it was only a week long, and there's no control group to compare it to. And the researchers emphasized that a social media detox shouldn't be anyone's first or only form of mental health care. But one of the study's authors told The Times that for people who feel they're struggling, quote, it's likely worth experimenting to see whether reducing social media helps you feel better.

6:34The Queen of Versailles

6:51millions of dollars to make. But yesterday, only about two weeks after it opened, the producers announced that the show will be shutting down early, long before that money is recouped. It's just the latest example of how musical theater on Broadway is in dire straits. Hearts grow high. High-profile revivals like Cabaret with Billy Porter have fizzled out. Where is Betty? Betty ain't here. And new shows like Boop, a song and dance take on Betty Boop, have also gone in the red before closing their curtains. The bleak overall picture? As of earlier this fall, none of the 18 commercial musicals that had opened last season had made a profit.

7:39Producers point to a number of factors they say are driving the musical meltdown. There are skyrocketing costs for labor and set construction. and the fact that a lot of people really just want to see a handful of old favorites that have been running for years, like Wicked, Hamilton, and The Lion King. That has left Broadway executives worried about the prospects for new shows, which they say are crucial to keeping musical theater alive. Andrew Lloyd Webber, the legendary composer behind Phantom of the Opera and Cats, told The Times, I am very worried. I look at the economics of this, and I just don't see how it can sustain.

8:16Notably, even though musicals are struggling, plays, which are far cheaper to develop and put on, have become a bright spot, especially with celebrity casting. Last season, both Goodnight and Good Luck, starring George Clooney, and Othello, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, broke Broadway box office records.

8:41And finally, you know those cozy holiday traditions, hot cocoa, snowflake decorations, and curling up to let AI write your wish list. We are there, people. This holiday season, artificial intelligence is increasingly part of the shopping experience. According to a recent survey, 42 % of shoppers are using AI tools. Some are using it to come up with gift ideas for themselves or the people on their lists. Other shoppers are using chatbots that a lot of retailers like Target and Walmart have rolled out to help them make their decisions. The tools can help sort through all the matching pajama options or summarize the reviews for an air fryer.

9:22Recently, ChatGPT rolled out a buy button so users can purchase some of the products that it recommends without ever leaving the chat. OpenAI takes a cut of each sale but declined to say how much. One shopper who told The Times he's planning to use AI to tackle his holiday lists said it comes with a built-in bonus. If his family doesn't like their gifts, quote, I'll blame it on ChatGPT.

9:50Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.