Election Interference Report Goes Public, Wildfires and Mental Health, Pete Hegseth

0:00Hey, this is Steve Inskeep. We have some news for you as it looks at 617 in the morning Eastern time. We have news not quite final of a ceasefire in the Middle East. A senior official speaking anonymously to our colleague Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv says that Israel and Hamas and other negotiators are very, very close to a ceasefire agreement that could unroll over the next few weeks. This involves a ceasefire shooting in Gaza for six weeks, the release of some but not all Israeli hostages, as well as the release of some Palestinians. That's our understanding a little bit after six o 'clock Eastern time.

0:43You can stay tuned to NPR News for the latest on this. And now here's the rest of today's news. The final report from a special counsel investigating President-elect Trump does not back down. Jack Smith's report is now public. He writes that only the election prevented him from holding a trial on a case he would have won. I'm A. Martinez. That is Steve Inskeep. And this is Up First from NPR News. Amid the other losses of the L.A. wildfires, is the scar on a landscape that people depended on for their mental health. We really felt the loss of the forest. Beyond the physical loss of the fire is the toll on some people's spirits.

1:23How do you address that? And Pete Hegseth has President-elect Trump's stamp of approval to lead the Pentagon, but does not yet have that of the Senate. How do lawmakers weigh his qualifications and the criticisms of his conduct? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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3:07GoodRx is not insurance, but if you have insurance or Medicare, GoodRx may beat your copay. Save time and money on prescriptions at goodrx.com slash upfirst. Special counsel Jack Smith will not record a criminal conviction against President-elect Trump. He will leave his conclusions for the history books. The Justice Department lawyer investigated Trump for his bid to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Smith dropped two indictments after Trump's win in 2024, following a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. But his report on one of those cases is now public, and it asserts that the evidence would have convicted him.

3:46Smith also says it is, quote, laughable that he acted from political motives. NPR's Kerry Johnson joins us now after a very late night and early morning on this story. Kerry, good morning. Good morning, Steve. What does it matter that Jack Smith's report would be public now, given that he's not going to prosecute? This was really a last chance for prosecutors to explain their decisions and defend themselves. It also could accomplish some measure of accountability for people who were hurt on January 6, 2021. Some of those police officers, there are civil lawsuits that are ongoing that continue against Donald Trump and others.

4:21And it's also really a record for history at a time when Trump and many other Republican lawmakers are clinging to fake claims about election fraud in 2020 and calling those people who stormed the Capitol patriots. Because the final report was being argued over, the release of the report was being argued over in court, I had my doubts as to whether we would see it before January 20th, Inauguration Day. How did that work out? Yeah, every step of this investigation has been a battle. And even late last night, Trump tried one last time to get a judge to block this report, but he did not succeed. On social media overnight, Trump said the voters had spoken and returned him to the White House.

4:58And remember, the Supreme Court handed him a significant victory last year, ruling he had some immunity from prosecution. The justices there took so long to decide the clock ran out on this indictment here in Washington, D.C. And really, over the past week, Trump's former aides at the Mar-a-Lago resort had asked Florida Judge Eileen Cannon to block this report, even though that case was no longer in front of her. It was really an open question whether we'd see it up till last night. In the end, she did not block it. And so last night you get these 150 pages. What stands out for you? Jack Smith wrote there was enough evidence to convict Trump at trial of these four felony charges related to efforts to overthrow the 2020 election.

5:38Smith says the ultimate decision in this case to charge Trump was up to him and he stands by that. He says even though they couldn't get to trial because of the DOJ view that a sitting president cannot face criminal trial, that this effort mattered, that the rule of law matters, that the example his prosecutor set to fight for justice despite personal costs and attacks and threats, that all matters. Jack Smith wrote, as a prosecutor, you cannot control the outcome, but you can do your job in the right way for the right reasons. And he says they did. And it is interesting, given that Trump and his supporters have characterized Smith very negatively, that Smith is saying, no, actually, we set an example.

6:16We're doing the right thing here. That is his case. Is that the last word from him? You know, special counsels are typically invited to testify in Congress once their work is done. Democrats have asked the Justice Department to save all of Smith's files. Republicans want to investigate him. And President-elect Trump has vowed retribution. Jack Smith actually resigned before he could be fired by Trump. And other prosecutors who worked on the Smith investigations have been making plans to leave the Justice Department, too. Trump's nominees to lead the DOJ and the FBI in the next administration have promised to investigate those investigators.

6:50So it could be a difficult road ahead financially and otherwise for a lot of these people who worked in the government. And there might be questions about those investigations, promised investigations and confirmation hearings to come. Carrie, thanks so much. My pleasure. And Pierce, Carrie Johnson.

7:12The physical devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires is plain. What's not as clear is how the destruction is affecting people's mental health. And that weighs on residents' lives, even if it's harder to quantify than the value of someone's house. NPR's Katia Riddle is in Los Angeles. Katia, good morning. Hi, Steve. How do you see this aspect of the story? Well, I was at an evacuation center yesterday, and there were a lot of people who still just looked very dazed as they waited in line for resources like FEMA, paperwork, or services from the Red Cross. Experts I've talked to have pointed out that even for people here who weren't forced to evacuate, there can be ripple effects.

7:50If someone you know is affected, the trauma response can be contagious. And then some people are still awaiting the possibility that they will have to evacuate. So the cycle of trauma is still very much happening. One thing that is unique to these kinds of natural disasters is that people are grieving not just their own homes and communities, but there's a kind of grief for the land that happens. L.A. is a place of just staggering, really breathtaking beauty, and people here rely on that natural environment for emotional support. Here's a gentleman named David Eisenman. He's talking about a hike that he and his wife would take regularly in the Palisades.

8:25It would just calm us down and center us and make everything right for the moment. And we've lost that. And that was when my wife and I heard that, we turned to each other, and I think we had tears in our eyes. I mean, we really felt the loss of the forest. Eisenman is a doctor here in Los Angeles, and he is also an expert in disaster response. He's the director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters. He studied this phenomenon. It has a name, solastalgia. He says solastalgia can be just as real as any other kind of grief and that it needs to be addressed with mental health strategies.

9:01Okay, mental health strategies. What do you do? Well, there are evacuation centers throughout the city with mental health providers on call to help people who are in crisis. Many of them are practicing something called psychological first aid. That's a kind of CPR equivalent of mental health care. It means working with people to identify and address their immediate needs, things like shelter, food, medication, in service of supporting their mental health. Like I said, I visited one of these shelters yesterday. clinicians there said they have seen hundreds of people in the last week. While I was there, I talked with Lisa Wong.

9:34She's LA County's director of the Department of Mental Health. She said her staff across the city have really risen to the occasion, but she says in a way, people still have a lot of adrenaline. This is the easy part. I think that is the real challenge, the sustainability of these efforts and also the longer term care of folks who have gone through such devastation. People are going to need support in the workforce and in the community. And some are going to need that support while they're trying to deal with a home that was destroyed, rebuilding a neighborhood that has changed beyond recognition, which makes me wonder, Katie, as you're talking, are we thinking in terms here of post-traumatic stress?

10:15Well, research shows that most people will not develop debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder in these kinds of situations. But even if folks aren't at risk of developing PTSD, it's well documented that wildfires are correlated with increases in anxiety and depression in communities. In Los Angeles, as in many places, there are shortages of clinicians like psychiatrists and psychologists, just not enough people to provide one-on-one mental health care for all the people who will need it. Several experts I've talked to here have pointed out that in the face of increased disasters like this one, the mental health system is not equipped to handle the resulting needs.

10:53And Pierce, Katia Riddle in Los Angeles, take care of yourself, okay? Thanks, Steve.

11:05Today, President-elect Trump's choice to lead the U.S. military gets a public hearing. Pete, Hexeth has already been the subject of public debate. The veteran and TV personality faced news stories about alcohol and even the revelation of a critical email from his own mom. His mother, though, has now since publicly supported him, and as has the president-elect and some senators who were initially skeptical. NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is covering this story. Tom, good morning. Good morning, Steve. What are the questions about Hegseth? Well, first of all, there are questions about his personal behavior.

11:34A woman alleged that Hegseth assaulted her during a Republican conference in California back in 2017. Hegseth strongly denied the charge, though he signed a nondisclosure agreement with the woman. He said that agreement was only to save his job at Fox News. And also Hegseth has denied allegations of public drunkenness, saying he never had a drinking problem. And finally, Steve, there were issues of poor management when he ran this group, Concerned Veterans of America, a decade or more ago. He eventually left that group, and he said both he and the group just decided to part ways. Isn't that part about management the essence of the job here?

12:13Because this is an assignment running one of the largest and most complex organizations in the history of the world. Absolutely. Besides the personal issues, the lack of experience is a huge issue. You look at people like Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and Army combat veteran. She says that Hegseth is unqualified for the position since he never reached a senior military position or ran a large company. Here's Duckworth speaking on CNN. We're talking about an organization that is three million servicemen and women and civilians and a budget of over$900 billion. He does not have the experience to run an organization of that size.

12:50And Steve, all those who have served as defense secretary since the position was created in 1947 came from top posts in government, the military or industry. That's not the case with Pete Hegseth. What he does seem to have, though, is opinions that match those of the president elect on diversity, equity and inclusion. Correct. Yeah. And he opposes women serving in ground combat units. Here's Hegseth speaking last year on the Sean Ryan Show. I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.

13:25Now, Steve, women have been eligible for ground combat jobs since 2016. There are now some 3 ,800 women serving in Army infantry, armor, artillery. Another 700 women are in Marine ground combat units. Hegseth's lawyer, Tim Parlator, he's a Navy veteran, has charged that the standards for the arduous Army Ranger School have been lowered to pursue quotas for women. Army officials deny that to NPR, saying the standards for Ranger School are the same for both men and women. Some 150 women have now passed Ranger School. Listening to those numbers, Tom, tells me something. People will point out that on average men are bigger and stronger than women, but some women are big and strong.

14:10And you're telling me there is a limited number of women, not 50-50, but a limited number of women who meet the standards. No, absolutely, Steve. These are really hard things to get through. I've been out in the field with male and female Marines going through training. Some women were rock stars. They could really do the training. And others said, listen, I can't carry a 100-pound pack. It's not for me. But you're right. Small numbers of women, relatively small numbers of women, can achieve the standard and get into these ground combat roles. NPR's Tom Bowman will be listening to your coverage of the hearing.

14:41Thanks so much. Thanks.

14:46And that's up first for this Tuesday, January 14th, which just happens to be the 20th birthday of my daughter, who's a listener to this podcast. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm A. Martinez. Genez, remember you can listen to this podcast sponsor free while supporting public media with Up First Plus. Learn more at plus.npr.org. That's P-L-U-S dot N-P-R dot org. Today's birthday episode of Up First was edited by Emily Kopp, Diane Weber, Eric Whitney, Anna Yukonanoff, Ali Schweitzer, and Lisa Thompson. It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia Dumas, Iman Ma 'ani, and Lily Quiroz. We get engineering support from David Greenberg.

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