Gaetz Tapped For AG, Blue State Opposition, Israel Vs. France Soccer Match

0:00I was watching a cult documentary. A cult documentary? It's about a sort of like a yoga wellness thing that really ends up being a cult. Yoga wellness? Okay. Did you watch? Have you watched it? No, no, no. Have you seen the documentary about the cult that they listen to the radio and have tote bags? Yeah. That's a good cult, though. That's acceptable. Yeah, exactly. No, they're fine. Senators will consider President-elect Trump's choice for attorney general. Florida lawmaker Matt Gaetz is best known as a provocateur who faced an ethics probe and supported a bid to overturn an election. Do Republicans go along?

0:36I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Fathol and this is Up First from NPR News. Blue state governors are organizing to resist the new president's promised policies. What we're doing is pushing back against increasing threats of autocracy and fortifying the institutions of democracy. Okay, but what do they actually do? And Paris police are on high alert as France and Israel face off in a soccer match. The precautions come after violence broke out following an Israeli soccer match in the Netherlands last week. Can French authorities avoid a repeat? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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2:46Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Allies of President-elect Trump have said his choice for attorney general was the most important of all his cabinet selections. Now we know his choice, a Florida lawmaker who's faced repeated investigations. Congressman Matt Gaetz gained attention in recent years as a provocateur. Early in the pandemic, he wore a gas mask onto the floor of the House of Representatives. Later, he took part in the bid to overturn Trump's 2020 election defeat and also played a big role in unseating House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023. Democrats and also some Republicans immediately questioned Trump's choice, and Maine's Senator Susan Collins said she was shocked.

3:26NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson has been following the reaction, and she's here to talk more about it now. Good morning, Carrie. Good morning, Lila. Okay, so President-elect Trump has made no secret about his disgust with the Justice Department, which sought to prosecute him twice during the Biden years. What does this election of Matt Gaetz say about the direction Trump might be going? I think it says a lot. Just like Donald Trump, Matt Gaetz has been under investigation by federal prosecutors and the FBI. In Gaetz's case for allegations about sex trafficking, Gaetz faced no criminal charges and he said that federal investigation is over.

4:01But he's still been under review by the Ethics Committee in the House of Representatives. That ethics probe actually ended when he resigned from the House last night. The committee had been planning to release their findings perhaps as early as this week, but it's not clear that will happen now that Gates has resigned from the House. And Layla, it's also worth mentioning Matt Gates actually asked Donald Trump for a pardon in the final weeks of the last Trump administration after the siege on the Capitol, but he did not get one. So what about credentials? What credentials does Gates bring to the Justice Department?

4:33Gates has minimal legal experience, but he seems to have the most important credential for the incoming president, and that's loyalty. Trump called Gates a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney who stands out for pushing for deeply needed reform at the Justice Department. And Trump says Gates will root out what he calls corruption within the Justice Department and perhaps carry out what the president-elect has called his campaign of retribution against prosecutors and his perceived political enemies. As you heard Steve mention, Gates has been a controversial figure in Congress. What's the reaction to this idea?

5:09You know, it was surprising to many lawyers in Washington, including some prominent Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Both senators expressed surprise last night. Matt Gaetz has really been a firebrand, really a disruptive force, even within the House of Representatives. Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, says Matt Gaetz will be a disaster. And the interest group Public Citizen called him uniquely awful. That group pointed out Gates said the Capitol riot was not an insurrection and that Gates had actually moved to introduce legislation to support the rioters.

5:44Okay, so if Gates manages to get confirmed by Congress, Carrie, just remind us what exactly the attorney general does. It's a huge job. The attorney general runs an institution with more than 100 ,000 people, prosecutes crimes, defends civil rights laws, fights drug trafficking, and oversees the FBI. this job requires strong judgment and respect for the law. Okay, Carrie, so next year, Republicans will control the Senate with 53 votes. Are the prospects for Gates to be confirmed pretty high? You know, it's hard to say at this point. Matt Gates is actually not a popular figure on Capitol Hill. And many senators who had been critical of him also said last night they respect President-elect Trump and that Trump deserves to have his own people in place for key jobs.

6:29Trump has also floated the idea of forcing Congress into a recess and making cabinet appointments that way if his choices meet with resistance or delay in the Senate. We're going to be watching that closely since it could deprive the Senate of its duty of advice and consent and really upset the balance of power. That is NPR's Carrie Johnson. Thank you for your reporting, Carrie. My pleasure.

7:00Several Democratic-led states are taking steps to prepare for a second Trump term. Right. Many blue state governors and attorney generals are forming coalitions and developing plans to try and push back against policies they expect from the incoming administration. Democratic leaders are making state-level efforts to protect against what they describe as threats to democracy and constitutional norms as Republican states prepare for a more aligned federal government. More aligned with them, yeah. Talking about this is NPR's Ryland Barton, who's on the line. Good morning. Hi, Steve. Okay, so what are the Democratic state leaders doing exactly?

7:36So one of the efforts is this new group called Governors Safeguarding Democracy, led by Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis. It's unclear specifically what this group hopes to accomplish, but broadly, they say they're going to work with legal experts and advocates to tackle what they call these challenges facing democracy. Here's Governor Pritzker on a call with Reporters Tuesday. And together what we're doing is pushing back against increasing threats of autocracy and fortifying the institutions of democracy that our country and our states depend upon.

8:11I should say that nowhere on their website or in their announcement did they say anything about Trump. One specific thing they responded to on the phone, though, was this idea of Trump's incoming Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has floated that mass deportations in blue states could be accomplished using National Guard units from red states. Pritzker called that unacceptable and said he would not cooperate. In response to the effort from Democratic state leaders, a spokesperson for Trump's transition team wrote to us that the American people gave President-elect Trump a mandate to implement his promises and he would deliver.

8:47That's something that Stephen Miller did say at one time on a podcast. So I'm trying to think this through. I know that when there's a Democratic president that red states, Republican-led states have often gotten together. They've sued. They've organized in different ways. Texas, for example, has been very prominent. So what would the blue states do now? So, so far in California, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has called a special legislative session for lawmakers to, as he put it, protect California values. Now, Newsom did single out the incoming Trump administration, saying the session would focus on bolstering California legal resources to protect civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and immigrant families.

9:27The session begins December 2nd, but the only specific we have so far is that he wants more funding to fight the federal government in court. California has been a prolific challenger of Trump's, or was a prolific challenger of Trump's first administration. They filed over 100 lawsuits back then on things from climate to health care to immigration. Courts are a lot more conservative now after a wave of appointments from President Trump. Several other Democratic attorneys general are also promising similar actions, including Arizona, Minnesota, and Washington state. It's not unusual, as you just said, for states to file these lawsuits against an administration.

10:05Republican attorneys general filed dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration over the last four years. Okay, taking a wild guess, Republican states might have fewer reasons to sue a Trump administration, but how are they preparing for this new term? Well, Republican state leaders are gearing up for the policies Trump talked about when voters in their states voted for him. They're ready to chart their own course on things like the environment, education, health care. It's interesting to think about Republican state leaders like Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose Operation Lone Star was a direct challenge to the federal government over whether the state could enforce border policies.

10:38He and other GOP governors spent the last four years fighting the federal government. Now they'll likely be aligned with it. Rylan Barton, thanks so much. Thank you.

10:54Thousands of police are being deployed around a Paris stadium ahead of a soccer match tonight between the French and Israeli national teams. This is a high security match, which is going ahead despite calls for postponement or a change of venue because of anti-Semitic and anti-Arab violence that took place in Amsterdam last week when an Israeli team from Tel Aviv played there. We go to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris to find out more. Good morning, Eleanor. Good morning, Leila. So this game is being described as high risk over the possible tensions between fans. So why are officials going ahead with it?

11:28Well, French officials say they will not back down in the face of anti-Semitic threats or violence. The French interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said they are able to secure the match, so it will go ahead in the Stade de France, just north of Paris. That's where they recently held many Olympic events. Retailleau condemned the attacks against Jewish fans in Amsterdam and said it was a reminder of the worst days of Europe's past, and they would have none of it. Let's listen to him. He said what happened in Amsterdam was a totally uninhibited display of anti-Semitism, and we can't give an inch in the face of such threats.

12:02There were also reports of soccer hooliganism on the part of Israeli fans. They were filmed ripping down Palestinian flags on apartment buildings and chanting death to Arabs. So how will the French secure the stadium? By deploying 4 ,000 police. That's four times more than usual. With double layers of security inside and outside the stadium. I was out at the Stade de France yesterday and they were making a security perimeter with high fences around the stadium. And all the restaurants and bars that usually make a lot of money on game nights told me they'd been ordered to close tonight. You know, Israel has discouraged its citizens from going.

12:35And officials say fewer than 13 ,000 tickets have been sold in a stadium that seats 80 ,000. So that's basically a policeman for every three people attending. So France has the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe. How do people feel about the war in Gaza after more than a year? Yeah, well, French officials are very wary of this conflict being imported to French streets. So far, that's been avoided, but anti-Semitic acts are up. And increasingly, French Jews say they feel like they're being blamed for the war, especially the longer it goes on. Last night, there were demonstrations against a planned visit of a far-right Israeli minister who supports the Israeli settler movement.

13:11He didn't come in the end, but the demonstrations went ahead.

13:18One included a group of Jewish groups, and some of these people said they had not demonstrated since last October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel. But they said they felt they needed to come out and denounce this never-ending war. They were chanting, we want a ceasefire and a two-state solution now. Hélène was one of the demonstrators. The young woman said she did not feel safe providing her last name for broadcast. Let's listen.

13:42She said we should not confuse the Jews and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. And that's the problem right now in the West. She said we're making Jews feel guilty for Netanyahu's murderous war in Gaza. And what are the teams saying? Well, Israeli fans interviewed this morning on the radio said they felt they had already lost with all the security and fear. Meanwhile, the French coach says, let's try to have a normal match. President Macron will go, he says, to support the French team and in fraternity and solidarity. And two other former French presidents are going. It seems to be a point of national pride that this sporting event goes off peacefully.

14:15All right. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Thank you, Eleanor. Thank you.

14:23And that's Up First for Thursday, November 14th. I'm Leila Faldil. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Your next listen can be Consider This from NPR. Democrats are considering their political future after losing last week's election. What do they do to change? Today's episode of Up First was edited by Ana Yukonanov, Larry Kaplow, Ryland Barton, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Julie Jephan-Brock. We get engineering support from Robert Rodriguez, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. Join us again tomorrow.

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