Up First briefing: Trump hearing; U.S-China climate talks; Taylor Swift breaks records

By Suzanne Nuyen

Published July 18, 2023 at 8:16 AM EDT

Pages from the unsealed federal indictment of former President Donald Trump. On Monday he asked a Florida judge to delay his trial. Prosecutors asked for it to begin in December.

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Today's top stories

A Florida court will decide in a hearing today when former President Donald Trump's classified documents case will go to trial. Last week, Trump asked the court to postpone the trial until after the 2024 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith wants to select the jury in December.

Putting off the trial could "threaten the whole trial itself," according to NPR's Carrie Johnson. On Up First this morning, she explains that if Trump wins the presidency, he could tell his attorney general to drop the indictment or try to pardon himself. Johnson adds that the Trump-appointed district judge that will preside over the hearing, Eileen M. Cannon, is under scrutiny for perceived impartiality issues for her decision to carve an exemption for Trump to challenge a lawfully executed search warrant last year.

U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry is in China to reestablish climate talks between the two countries. China and the U.S. are the two biggest contributors to rising global emissions. Kerry is the latest high-level American to visit China after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit earlier this month and Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit in June.

Politico reporter Zack Colman says climate change is one area where the two countries have a common vision: Both are experiencing devastating impacts from heat waves and drought and see an economic and human health advantage to switching to cleaner fuel. Still, Colman says the bar is low: China's relationship with the U.S. is at historic modern lows.

The EU is offering to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to Tunisia to help stem the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe and promote economic stability. The deal has garnered criticism as it funds a government led by President Kais Saied, who has been under fire for undermining the country's democracy and fueling racist sentiments.

Though Saied was elected on a promise to fix the economy, NPR's Ruth Sherlock says he's since centralized power to himself, weakened Parliament and jailed prominent opponents. In speeches, he's cited an antisemitic conspiracy theory known as the "great replacement" that alleges a conspiracy to "overwhelm the country with Black Africans." A Tunisia expert tells her the EU is "sacrificing its principles" by dealing with him.

This fall, parents will finally be able to get their babies a shot to protect them from severe respiratory illness caused by RSV. The FDA approved the antibody shot nirsevimab (Beyfortus) yesterday.

The drug is approved for newborns and infants in their first RSV season and for children up to two years old with additional medical risks.

Picture show

Concert go-ers dancing at the Silent Disco dance party at Lincoln Center, New York City on Saturday, July 1, 2023. Headphones and haptic suits designed for the deaf community so they can feel the beat were provided by Music Not Impossible.

People who are deaf or have trouble hearing now have a new way to feel live music: haptic suits. NPR's Jennifer Vanasco went to an accessibility-themed silent disco in New York to try out one of the devices and get other users' first impressions. She describes the suit as a vest studded with small plastic boxes that vibrate — sending "taps like raindrops on the shoulder, a tickle across the ribs, a rhythmic pulsing like a massage chair, a kind of fuzzy vibration of the spine." Check out photos from the dance.

From our hosts

Members of the Screen Actors Guild picketing outside of Netflix in Los Angeles.

This essay was written by A Martinez. He came to NPR in 2021 and is one of Morning Edition and Up First's hosts. He was previously the host of Take Two at KPCC in Los Angeles.

I live a mile away from Warner Bros and Disney. There hasn't been a day since the writers' strike began in May that I haven't seen picketers in front of studios. They often raise their signs and cheer when cars go by and honk in support. Now actors joined them so those picket lines will have some famous faces in them.

I've chatted with some union members inside nearby grocery stores, and most of them told me they're worried that these strikes will not be resolved anytime soon.

History might be informing their concern. In 1980, actors went on strike over issues eerily similar to 2023: technology. Today it's AI and streaming. Back then, it was residuals from video cassettes and pay TV. Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies told me the mistrust actors have that the studios aren't being honest about how much profit they make using new technologies is nothing new because they have seen it before.

The 1980 strike lasted for three months. We'll see how long this one goes and which side breaks first.

3 things to know before you go

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs onstage on the first night of her "Eras Tour" at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on March 31, 2023. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP) (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Taylor Swift has broken Billboard records again. Fresh off the release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version), she's the first woman to have four albums in the Top 10 at the same time.

Edward Caban, a Bronx native of Puerto Rican descent, was sworn in yesterday as the first Latino to lead the NYPD, the nation's largest police department.

A boat crash lawsuit featured in the Murdaugh Murders documentary was settled for $15 million. A convenience store chain that sold alcohol to Paul Murdaugh, who was piloting the boat, settled with 19-year-old Mallory Beach's family.

This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.