Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning. It's Thursday, December 4th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, Texas' bathroom bill has arrived, a look at what it means in practice, President Trump surprises his own party with a pardon for a Democrat accused of bribery, and why AI chatbots find it so hard to tell time.
But first, there's been a drumbeat of headlines about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week, drawing increased attention to new and older scandals. The latest came yesterday with a Pentagon inspector's verdict on Hegseth's now infamous signal chats.
The watchdog reportedly found that he did violate department regulations when he shared information about planned strikes on Yemen over the app, and that in turn risked endangering lives. But on the issue of whether what he was sharing was classified information, the report points out that Hegseth has the authority to decide which information is classified or not.
It ultimately recommended better training for all department staff on the use of personal devices. More recently, Hegseth has, of course, been at the center of ongoing congressional inquiries over his role in controversial military strikes in the Caribbean. But despite all the scrutiny, the White House has stood by Hegseth through these controversies, at least for now.
Michael Gordon is a national security correspondent for The Wall Street Journal who wrote about what it is about Hegseth that continues to appeal to President Trump, specifically, as Hegseth himself has put it, his warrior ethos.
Part of that meant relaxing rules of engagement, which are put in place to govern the use of military force. Hegseth argued that the rules had been too restrictive in the past and that they needed to be eased. So I don't think it's surprising that the administration has taken a pretty assertive use and aggressive use on these bus strikes.
It's pretty much what Secretary Hegseth said he was going to do.
For years, Hegseth has argued that U.S. military leaders should relax the rules of engagement in order to free themselves from the burdens of possible legal action or courts martial. In a rebranding event of the Department of Defense to the Department of War earlier this year, Hegseth explained his approach.
We're going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We're going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.
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Chapter 2: What recent controversies surround Secretary Pete Hegseth?
And so a question I have in my mind is how does the administration explain an action that killed the two survivors in September and a set of decisions just a month later in which it not only rescued the survivors but sent them home scot-free?
And yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hegseth had forced the four-star general heading up Caribbean operations to step down earlier this year amid concerns he had over the legality of planned operations. Hegseth has described some of the decisions made around the strikes as part of the fog of war.
Today, lawmakers might get to clear some of that fog as they question the admiral in charge of the operation, Admiral Frank Bradley. In Texas today, SB-8, also known as the bathroom bill, takes effect. It means transgender people won't be allowed to access the restroom that matches their gender identity, at least when it comes to schools, universities, and public buildings.
It's actually about more than just bathrooms. Prisons must now house those convicted based on sex assigned at birth, and it prevents transgender women from accessing domestic violence shelters. The bill is nearly a decade in the making, reviving a 2017 proposal that sank in the face of staunch opposition. Its House sponsor, Republican Angela Orr, told lawmakers it was about protecting women.
Texans across the state are increasingly concerned that their daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers, are losing the basic expectation of privacy in spaces traditionally separated by sex.
During the hearings, though, many transgender people expressed fears that they would lose their right to use key facilities in civic spaces and that the bill would legitimize harassment. Here's Jerrica Van Slider testifying before Texas lawmakers back in August.
It's plain to see that I'm a human being, but I would argue the fact that we're discussing this bill proves some of you don't get that. SB8 is a monstrously cruel, discriminatory bill designed to erase trans people from daily public life and chip away at the rights of all women.
And even though the law takes effect today, there is still a lot of debate about how it will be enforced.
That's sort of the big question that's sort of hovering over everyone's head right now.
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Chapter 3: How has the White House responded to Hegseth's scandals?
Yesterday, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated to CNN that this was one Trump pardon he could get behind.
Listen, the reality is this indictment was very thin to begin with, in my view. The charges were eventually going to be dismissed, if not at the trial court level by the Supreme Court, as they've repeatedly done in instances just like this.
The pardon now complicates Republicans' plans for next year's midterms. The GOP slated Cuellar's seat as a key target and recruited a top Republican candidate to run for that seat. Trump won the district in 2024. The AP's White House reporter and CNN analyst Sung Min Kim told the network this would now make it a pretty awkward midterm campaign.
What I find really fascinating, speaking of things that are going to get even more muddled, is the Republican strategy to defeat Cuellar. I mean, they have been constantly trying to get him ousted for many, many cycles now. They don't necessarily always attack him over his legal issues. But the fact that he now has effectively a Trump seal of approval, I'm sure complicates the messaging.
Liz Oyer was a pardons attorney under the Biden administration and has become a Trump critic since being fired earlier this year. On her social channels, she described this as part of a pattern.
Donald Trump is normalizing public corruption in our country. During his second term alone, he has already pardoned at least 11 corrupt elected officials, including Cuellar, George Santos and numerous others.
Trump has now granted more than 1,600 pardons and commutations so far this term. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. The doctor who illegally supplied ketamine to Friends star Matthew Perry was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Wednesday.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia pleaded guilty to illegally supplying the drug to Perry, who died in 2023 due to acute effects of ketamine and had long struggled with addiction. Placencia said in a letter that he treated Perry with ketamine and left vials for him after the actor paid him large sums of money. He said that money went to help his financially struggling urgent care clinic.
Placencia is one of six people charged with crimes related to Perry's death. The Trump administration on Wednesday took steps to roll back fuel economy requirements for new cars. The move is the latest in a broader shift away from hybrids and electric cars. Trump was joined by auto executives as he proclaimed the changes will make for cheaper vehicles.
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