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Israel is expanding its invasion of Lebanon.
And that creates an obstacle to ending the broader midi's war. President Trump wants to get out of the war with Iran. And Iran says any deal must include Lebanon too. So what's the way forward? >> I'm Steven Skip with A Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News.
[MUSIC] The Justice Department uses taxpayer funds for another step in President Trump's Retribution campaign. Each in Carroll won a sexual abuse claim against Donald Trump. And now prosecutors under Trump's direction are investigating an on-profit that paid
her legal expenses. >> And CBS News is overhauling 60 minutes. Networks knew editor-in-chief very wise force out veteran correspondence and brought in an executive
producer who has never worked in broadcast news.
So what's behind the restructuring stay with us.
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[MUSIC] News shows new music, new movies, keeping up with pop culture sometimes feels like a full-time job. Thankfully, over at pop culture happy-hour, it's literally our job. We break down what's actually worth watching, listening to, and pretending you already knew about.
So the next time someone says, did you see that, you can say, yeah, obviously. Follow NPR's pop culture happy-hour wherever you get your podcasts. Israel's war in Lebanon has complicated the Trump administration's effort to get out of the war with Iran. >> Here's how those two conflicts are connected.
When the United States and Israel attacked Iran early this year, Iran's ally Hezbollah in Lebanon struck back against Israel, Israeli forces then invaded Lebanon. Now President Trump once out of the war, and Iranians are insisting that any peace deals should include Lebanon. Israeli forces have intensified attacks there and moved further into the country.
>> Here to tell us more about this is MPR's Generaf in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
“So we've been hearing a lot about whether the U.S. is close to an agreement with Iran”
or not. Where do things stand? >> Well, here's the latest from Vice President, JD Vanslas, and I didn't watch you to. And he said, quote, we're not there, but we're very close.
He did say, though, that it's hard to say, if or when, President Trump would sign a deal. So there's that uncertainty. U.S. and Iranian officials over the past week have said that a potential deal would reopen the state of Hormuz, and it would leave nuclear talks for later. One of the sticking points there is still what Iran does with its stockpiles of highly enriched
uranium. The U.S. wants it to send those out of the country. >> So as Steve mentioned earlier, Iran has insisted it won't sign a deal with the U.S. without an end to the war in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the militant group. Hasbola any sign of that happening?
>> Well, Israel has actually intensified its attacks here, and it could, indeed, put an agreement between Iran and the U.S. at risk. It has expanded its invasion in the south, and yesterday launched another attack in a bay route suburb, where his Bola has offices.
The first attack in bay route in almost three weeks.
The Israeli Prime Minister has said he will crush his Bola, the militant group, but civilians are paying a very high price here. And that's well. Israel, despite a ceasefire there, has also expanded areas of Gaza that it has occupied. And it intends to take more, according to Israel's Prime Minister, which is pushing civilians
into smaller and smaller areas. >> Today in Washington, Lebanese and Israeli military officials are meeting again, how
“much leverage changes the Lebanese government have over Hasbola?”
>> Well, not a whole lot. Hasbola was formed a counter in Israeli invasion in the '80s, and has since become part of the Lebanese state, essentially. Not just security. It has parliament members, run social services.
So it's still wields quite a lot of power. We sat down recently with Hasbola's spokesman here, and he said they will not disarm while Lebanon is under attack. >> Now, it's supposed to be a ceasefire in Lebanon, clearly. It is not.
How is the country coping with that? >> Well, their entire border villages erased in the south, and fighting now centers around the district of tire. That city has been inhabited for 5,000 years. It has important Roman sites in nearby Crusader Castle.
Lebanese culture, Minister of Aslan Salame, it tells him he or the Israeli strikes have put those at risk. >> I can tell you that, in tire, there has been bombing around 100 meters from the ruins. The before castle has been hit directly, but archeologists cannot reach here. >> He says he hopes there will be a ceasefire soon to allow them to assess the damage.
And, meanwhile, of course, there's the human cost, tens of thousands of people being displaced again from there. >> That is NPR's generap in Beirut, Jane. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> The Justice Department has opened another investigation that involves perc...
adversaries of President Trump.
>> This new probe centers around the writer, E. Jean Carroll, who won two lawsuits against the president for sexual abuse and defamation. We are Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas's here, so what can you tell us about the investigation Ryan? >> Well, the investigation is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District
of Illinois, and it stems from a lawsuit that E. Jean Carroll filed and won against Trump. A source familiar with the matter tells me the focus of the investigation right now is a non-profit American future republic, and funding that it provided to pay for some of Carroll's legal expenses. Now, the nonprofit is backed by Reed Hoffman, Hoffman is a billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn.
He's a major donor to Democratic causes. I'm told that investigators are looking into potential money laundering and obstruction,
but there's some conflicting information on whether Carroll herself is currently under investigation.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago put out a statement last night saying media reports that it had opened an investigation into Carroll or false, but one source tells me prosecutors are examining whether Carroll committed perjury, while another says Carroll is not currently under investigation, but certainly could be as the probe moves forward. Neither Carroll nor her attorney provided comment and Hoffman couldn't be reached for
comment. >> And all of this has to do with the deposition that Carroll gave in one of our lawsuits to get Trump. >> That's right, a deposition in 2022, now Trump accused Carroll of lying in that deposition about who was paying some of your legal fees.
Carroll said no outside folks were chipping in to help out with the bills. It later came out that Hoffman's nonprofit was helping out. In appeals court, later looked at that very issue after Trump challenged the verdict in the lawsuit, and the court found that there was no evidence to suggest that Carroll personally secure the outside funding, and it said that Carroll had plausibly forgotten about the
funding, and evidence showed she, quote, was simply not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs.
“That's what a three judge, appeals court panel found, Trump for his part has consistently”
denied Carroll's claims and called trials a witch hunt. >> So right, how does this investigation fit the pattern you've seen in President Trump's second term? >> Well, look, President Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that if he won, he would seek vengeance on his perceived political enemies, and the Justice Department in his second
term has repeatedly gone after Trump's critics and political adversaries. Former FBI director James Coney has been indicted twice by this Justice Department. Most recently, for allegedly threatening Trump by posting a photo with C-shales on social media, New York State Attorney General, Latisha James, a Democrat, was indicted on financial charges last fall.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a long time target of conservatives, was recently charged with misleading donors for paying informants to infiltrate hate groups, and now we have this investigation involving a major Democratic donor, who Trump is called out publicly, and then E. Jean Carroll, who has been a very outspoken critic of Trump and who won
huge financial settlements against him in court, totally nearly $90 million.
“>> Yeah, how successful has the DOJ been with these cases?”
>> Well, the Justice Department has flamed out repeatedly with these cases against Trump's critics. The first prosecutions against Coney and James were tossed out by a court after a judge found that the prosecutor who had secured the indictments was unlawfully appointed. We have seen grandjuries reject the Justice Department's attempt to indict Democratic lawmakers
over a video they put out urging military members to refuse illegal orders. But even though the Department has struggled these investigations, these prosecutions do impose real cost, real pain on those who are targeted even when the case is fizzled. >> That's NPR's Ryan Lucas, Ryan, thanks for laying this out for us. >> Thank you.
[MUSIC] CBS Editor-in-Chief, Barry Weiss, is asserting full control over the network's news division. >> The new owners of CBS brought Weiss in last fall from her set of right opinion and news side to free press. The goal was to move coverage away from what they believe is a woke and anti-president
Trump tilt. And now Weiss is trying to reinvent the network's most prestigious and highest rated program, 60 minutes. >> NPR's David Folk and Flake is with us now with more.
“So, David, how is that Barry Weiss overhauling 60 minutes?”
>> Well, yesterday, among this forced out where the show's executive producer, Tonya Simon, she's a veteran of several decades and two correspondence, each of whom confirmed that publicly. And since this is what she was brought to CBS to do, what her boss is hoped for in her critics' fear. David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison, Larry Ellison's the founder of Oracle, are Trump
allies. This is in a sense what they would have wanted. The criticism, well, we can let the correspondence were fired to speak for themselves. Sharon Elfanzi and Cecilia Vega were laid off in April at an awards ceremony. Elfanzi warned of the toxic spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear.
She was talking about news coverage and judgment there. Last night, in the statement she's shared with NPR, Cecilia Vega cited, quote, "Sensorship both imposed in self-driven, it is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy."
Anderson Cooper earlier walked away voluntarily, as he was said to have been ...
of Weiss" according to people I spoke to. Weiss appointed Nick Bilton executive producer to run the show. He's a former tech columnist for the New York Times, a former investigative reporter for Vanity Fair and he has produced documentaries. The one thing he hasn't done is work in broadcast news.
“All right, so what does Nick Bilton have in mind for the show?”
Well, he has a remit from Weiss to reinvent the show for the digital age. He told staffers, quote, "I'm here to lead this show, not preserve it under glass." He said he'd be taking soundings for 30 days and get back to him about his plans. He wants it. He says to be more available than just every Sunday.
Funnily enough, over the years, 60 minutes has sought new ways to innovate, it's done so on lines, new spin offs and franchises like 60 minutes sport, 60 minutes too was there for a while before it blew up. And there were short video segments on a field platform called Quibi. All major news outlets to be fair to Weiss here are seeking to find a path to digital salvation. In Bilton's case, he has the backing of the Ellison's who own Oracle, as I mentioned, also control TikTok U.S.
“are intending to get CNN as well in another big corporate takeover.”
Bilton is familiar with them covering the tech world. His opening memo, I must say, was about innovation and not about ideology. Tell us about what the reward and the risk is for Barry Weiss here. Well, look, she's been here since last fall. She initially tried to change and take over the CBS Evening News, which was flagging before she arrived.
She named Tony Ducople as the anchor there. It seems to be flagging since he has been put in place.
It's often below 4 million viewers.
And there's been one headline after another about internal descent. 60 minutes itself is the real prize for CBS. It's it's top rated news program. It works so well because it was an insular culture and so devoted to its approach. Under Tony's Simon over the past year, the show was up 9% in the ratings.
So if Weiss makes this a big hit online and other platforms with new audiences, she'll be able to write on that a long time. If it tanks, that's on her and her critics will take that as validation.
“Alright, so David, so what should we look for next?”
So the lessons through Skydance Media only took over CBS's parent company last summer with the approval of Trump's antitrust regulators.
Now they're awaiting approval from basically those same antitrust regulators for their
massive takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery, which is of course the parent company of HBO and CNN among other properties. That could go through before the next season of 60 minutes starts, though there might well be legal challenges to it. Global inside both CBS and CNN are already speculating and concerned about what role
waste might play in leading the cable news giant in the years to come. That's MPR Media correspondent, David Folganflake, David Thanks, you bet.
And that's up first for Friday, May 29th at the MMRT news.
And I'm Steven Skap today's up first was edited by Tina Crya and I you can on off Emily Cobb, Mom and Elbar DC and Lindsey Totti. It was produced by Zia Bouch and Nia Dumas, our director is Christopher Thomas, who has to be a especially patient with us today. We get engineering support from David Greenberg, our technical director is Carly Strange
and our executive producer is Jay Shaylar, join us tomorrow. [BLANK_AUDIO]
