Trump Arlington Video, Harris CNN Interview: NPR

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Today’s Top News

A French court has indicted billionaire Telegram founder Pavel Durov on multiple charges. The charges range from spreading child abuse images to drug trafficking and failing to comply with requests from law enforcement. Durov is accused of running the platform on which these crimes took place, not committing them himself. Durov co-founded the popular messaging app in 2013. The charges came days after his sudden arrest at an airport outside Paris.

• 🎧 Durov faces up to 10 years in prison, potentially the toughest punishment yet for a social media chief.NPR’s Rebecca Rothman tells us FirstTelegram users often find the service attractive due to the limited monitoring of what is said, making the app a favored tool for far-right extremist groups, terrorist organizations, and criminal gangs. Investigators say Durov did not cooperate with them, which would have helped them stop their illegal activities. He is currently under judicial supervision and banned from leaving French territory.

Former President Donald Trump posted a TikTok video yesterday that contains footage that may violate federal law. There has been opposition to using military cemeteries for campaign activities. The video was posted after NPR reported that Trump campaign staff clashed with Arlington National Cemetery staff on Monday who tried to enforce restrictions during the memorial service. Only cemetery staff are allowed to take photos and videos in the area.

• 🎧 NPR’s Stephen Fowler said the Gold Star families who hosted Trump approved hiring a videographer and photographer to document the emotional moment.But families have no authority to suspend the rules. NPR has also learned that the family of a Green Beret whose gravestone was seen in Trump’s footage did not give permission for it to appear in the footage. A Trump campaign representative said the Arlington staffer “clearly suffered from mental illness.” Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, said yesterday that VP Harris could “go to hell” over the Afghanistan withdrawal, and blamed reporters for the controversy.
• ➡️ A solemn 14-acre section of the cemetery is at the center of the controversy. Here’s what you need to know about Section 60, which holds around 900 servicemen killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Trump and other Republican politicians continue to claim, without evidence, that waves of foreign immigration will sway Democratic election results. It is illegal for foreign nationals to vote in federal elections, and there is no credible evidence that foreign nationals vote in significant numbers, but these false claims are being used as an excuse to take actions that may be disastrous for some voters.

• 🎧 At least four Republican-led states have announced new procedures and efforts to remove foreign nationals from voter rolls.“NPR’s Jude Joffe-Brock says. Her investigations have found that these efforts involve US citizens who are eligible to vote. Maintaining voter rolls is a key election safeguard, but federal law says it can’t be done within 90 days of an election. Advocacy groups have urged Tennessee and Alabama to stop sending letters to suspected non-citizens, saying it violates federal law. Tennessee later said people who receive the letters won’t be removed from voter rolls. Alabama’s secretary of state told NPR that any citizen who receives a letter can vote on Election Day with proof of citizenship.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are scheduled to appear in a joint interview on CNN tonight. This is Harris’ first interview since President Biden dropped out of the race in July. Republicans have accused her of trying to avoid the press to avoid tough questions. The interview may be the first time she’ll be asked about her policies and how she would govern differently from Biden.

From the host

This essay is Michelle Martinhost of Morning Edition and UpFirst

Lawrence Brown, left, and Paul Robeson, right, perform at Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem, New York, in 1941.

Sony Classical

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Sony Classical

We all know there are different kinds of fame. Some people are famous because they’re important, like presidents. Others are famous for reasons we don’t quite understand (like reality TV stars). And then there are people we know are important — we’re often told they’re important, but we don’t really know why.

I’m ashamed to say that until recently, Paul Robeson fell into that category for me. I knew he was important because he was on every Black History Month calendar I’d ever owned. I knew his history: athlete, actor, activist, incredible bass-baritone, global star. I knew he’d been blacklisted during the McCarthy era for being outspoken about human rights.

But I couldn’t imagine him. It was hard to imagine him as a man doing anything important in the world, like Rosa Parks, trying to compose herself as she sat in her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, or Marian Anderson, who sang at the Lincoln Memorial after being barred from Constitution Hall by the DAR.

But this summer, I had the opportunity to see some snippets of the footage. An exhibition at the Film Festival held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

oh. He was fascinating, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

And now see him with your own eyes and hear his voice. For the first time, all of his recordings are gathered in one place in a new book and box set called Paul Robeson: Voice of Freedom. Morning EditionI’m almost certain you would say the same as me.

oh.

Painting Show

Ukrainian-American Victoria Verbeniuk poses for a portrait to celebrate Ukrainian Independence Day on August 24, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Michael A. McCoy (NPR)

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Michael A. McCoy (NPR)

Dozens of Ukrainian immigrants gathered in Washington DC over the weekend to run in vyshyvankas, the country’s traditional dress. The shirts, typically made from cotton or linen and featuring embroidered patterns on the front, collar and sleeves, were to celebrate Ukraine’s 33rd Independence Day, the day it separated from the former Soviet Union, and the event came as Russia’s invasion of the country entered its third year.

Three things to know before you go

Authorities were searching a Memphis home for murder suspect Diario Wilkerson when he burst through the ceiling from the attic where he was hiding.

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U.S. Marshals Office

1. The suspected killer, Diario Wilkerson, was on the run for several months after the fall before being arrested.He was in the lap of the authorities, so to speak, when he fell through the ceiling of the Memphis building where he was hiding.
2. Scientists report that a new study has found matching dinosaur footprints in modern-day Brazil and Cameroon. This area once connected two continents and was formed 120 million years ago.
3. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded SpaceX rocketOne of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket boosters failed yesterday, the outage coming while four astronauts are in quarantine awaiting the launch of the historic Polaris Dawn mission.

This newsletter is Suzanne Nuyen.