The invisible primary, Hunter Biden’s paternity case: 5 Things podcast
On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson has the latest on a GOP primary that’s come sharper into focus and The Justice Department won’t pursue criminal charges against former Vice President Mike Pence over classified documents. Then USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen talks about a paternity case involving Hunter Biden. And YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 election was the result of fraud. Finally, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts into the U.S. See an interactive map here.
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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, Saturday the 3rd of June 2023. Today the Republican primary comes into sharper focus, plus former Vice President Mike Pence won’t be charged for classified documents, and Hunter Biden faces a complicated paternity case.
A once invisible primary battle is finally coming into sharper focus. I spoke with USA Today National Political Correspondent, David Jackson, to learn more. Thanks for hopping back on 5 Things, David.
David Jackson:
Hey, thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
You wrote about this once invisible primary in the GOP field. What and who are we talking about here, David?
David Jackson:
Basically Donald Trump, and we’ve talked about this in recent months, and it seems like the campaign’s been a suspended animation. Trump was out there leading campaigning for the presidency, and a number of Republicans were either jumping into the race or preparing to jumping into the race, but they wouldn’t talk about Trump. They wouldn’t criticize him. They wouldn’t argue why they should be the nominee and not him. So we’ve dubbed it the invisible primary because let’s face it, the race is all about Trump and his record, but yet no one has really wanted to engage in that.
No one until this week when Ron DeSantis, the Governor of Florida, he officially announced his candidacy last week. This week he went out on tour, went to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and he criticized Trump, really more than he’s ever criticized the president before. It feels like the invisible primary is over, and now we’re really on to the big contest.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah. As you say, DeSantis seems to be punching back a bit more against some of these Trump barbs. Is that a strategy we should expect to see from him going forward?
David Jackson:
Very much so, yes. Trump’s been criticizing DeSantis since November. So a constant stream of criticism and DeSantis has pretty much deflected it saying he doesn’t want to talk about it, “It’s background noise. I’m busy being Governor. Don’t bother me with this stuff.” But since he actually officially became a candidate, now he’s saying, “Well, I have to defend myself. I have to strike back and that’s what I’m going to do.” Now, he does it in a very subtle way during his stump speeches, he doesn’t really mention Trump. He talks in passing about his record and makes references to the former president, but he doesn’t specifically take him on. But in interviews that he’s done after his speeches, he’s often asked about Trump and he’s been very responsive and he’s much more aggressive against the former president than he has been throughout the previous year.
Taylor Wilson:
And David, there are a lot of angles that DeSantis and other candidates could use to go after Trump. What’s the main plan for them right now? Is it to focus on the investigations or the fact that Trump and his movement have lost several elections at this point, or is it something else?
David Jackson:
Well, it depends on which candidate you’re talking about. If you’re DeSantis, who is the closest one to Trump, I think his strategy is going to be to question Trump’s record and to argue that there’s too many distractions around Trump. He’s under investigation, four different cases. He wouldn’t have time to pay attention to any of the duties of the president. And he’s basically going to say that he was ineffective during his first term as president. I think he’s going to try to stay away from the investigations and some of the more personal stuff.
As for other candidates, people like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, they’ve made it pretty clear they aren’t willing to go after Trump, at least not yet. They’ve constantly deflected questions about him, and I think that they’re worried about alienating possible Trump supporters and they also don’t want to be attacked by Trump himself.
Taylor Wilson:
And as far as Trump’s strategy is concerned, do we just expect him to stay on the offensive full steam ahead the rest of the way?
David Jackson:
Oh, very much so. That’s been his strategy from day one, constantly to be on attack. And as he admitted in a town hall with Sean Hannity on Thursday night, his strategy is not only to attack, but to focus on the person who’s in second place, which at this point happens to be Ron DeSantis. In 2016, when he first ran for president, Trump basically went one by one against other candidates. He targeted them. First, he targeted Jeb Bush and knocked him out of the race and he targeted Marco Rubio, knocked him out of the race. He’s basically using the same strategy and he’s starting with DeSantis.
Taylor Wilson:
And before you go, David, can you just fill us in on where polling stands right now for the GOP candidates?
David Jackson:
Trump’s pretty much ahead. I think we’re using a Monmouth survey that was out this week, and I believe the numbers were something like 43 to 18 Republican voters and Republican leaning voters that said they would prefer to have Trump as their nominee over DeSantis by a margin of around 25 points. So he’s steadily ahead and his lead has grown in recent months and he is clearly the front-runner. There’s just no question about it.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, David Jackson, always with a good perspective for us from Washington. Thanks so much.
David Jackson:
Thank you, sir.
Taylor Wilson:
The Justice Department has informed former Vice President Mike Pence, that it won’t pursue criminal charges because of classified documents found at his Indiana home. The decision came as an inquiry continues into a small number of classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s former office in Washington and at his home in Delaware, while an inquiry looks into more than 300 classified records found at former president Donald Trump’s home. Mike Pence is scheduled to kick off his 2024 presidential campaign next week in Iowa. Hunter Biden faces a deposition this month and a trial in July in a paternity case with the mother of his daughter. One issue on the table he opposes having the girl adopt the Biden family name. USA Today Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen has more. Thanks for dropping back on the show, Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Bart, what’s being disputed in Hunter Biden’s paternity case?
Bart Jansen:
Not the paternity of the young girl who’s at stake in the case. The mother of the child, London Roberts, filed a lawsuit in 2019 trying to claim paternity of Hunter Biden and to get child support from him. And by March of 2020, they’d reached an agreement and Hunter Biden started providing child support to the young girl who was born in August of 2018. Hunter Biden reopened the case in September 2022, asking to reduce the amount of child support because he said its financial situation has changed. And so that’s what’s at stake now in the case.
Taylor Wilson:
And Hunter Biden also opposes his daughter being given the Biden family name. What’s his argument here, Bart?
Bart Jansen:
Yes. As part of the revival of the case, the girl’s mother, London Roberts, said the girl should take Biden’s last name because Hunter Biden is so successful at business, the family is so politically plugged in. The child’s grandparents are the president and First Lady of the United States. So she says it would be a great advantage to the little girl, who is not named in the court records, to take Biden’s last name. Biden strongly opposes that move, saying that it would open the child to political warfare and basically all the unseemly parts of being involved in politics and the kind of criticism and harassment that political figures can suffer.
Taylor Wilson:
And Bart, one of the mother’s experts has been kind of a controversial figure involved here. What can you tell us about him?
Bart Jansen:
Yes. One of the experts that she seeks to have review Hunter Biden’s financial records is a guy named Garrett Ziegler, and he has been highly critical of Hunter Biden on television. He has circulated information from the Hunter Biden laptop about pictures, emails, finances, and so Hunter Biden’s lawyers tried to block him from becoming an expert. The judge has allowed him as an expert, and so he will help review Hunter’s finances to see whether a reduction in the fees is justified. Hunter’s lawyers, of course, have said during a May hearing that he has been paying $20,000 a month for a total of $750,000 to that point. And so he’s trying to reduce that some amount. He’s worried about what might happen with his financial records if Ziegler and other critics were to distribute them more widely.
Taylor Wilson:
So Bart, what’s next here?
Bart Jansen:
The judge has scheduled depositions in the case for mid-June, from June 13th to the 16th to question Hunter Biden and other participants and witnesses about his finances and just anything that would go into making the decision about whether the child support should be reduced, and the case is headed toward a potential July trial. So we’ll have to see whether that actually plays out, but that’s the way things are headed right now.
Taylor Wilson:
USA Today Justice Department Correspondent, Bart Jansen. Thanks as always.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 election or other past US elections were marred by fraud, errors or glitches. The changes of reversal for the platform, which said after the 2020 election that it would start removing new posts that falsely claimed widespread voter fraud or other conspiracies changed the election outcome. YouTube said the new policy was an attempt to protect open debate. YouTube and other social media services, especially Twitter and Facebook, have come under fire in recent years for not doing more to fight against election misinformation and disinformation on their platforms.
Smoke from wildfires in Canada continued to drift into the US yesterday that prompted air quality alerts across the Midwest, northeast and mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, a wildfire in New Jersey caused travel problems in the state and added to the air quality issues in the northeast. North of the border, it’s been a ferocious Spring for wildfires. In total, more than 3,000,000 acres have burned in Canada so far this year. We’ve got an interactive wildfire and smoke map that you can check out on usatoday.com. There’s a link in today’s show notes.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can reach us at [email protected]. The Sunday edition is tomorrow with National Correspondent Marco della Cava talks oysters. I’m back Monday with more of 5 things from USA Today.
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