What Trump's GA surrender will look like, Harold makes landfall in Texas: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: How Trump's surrender in Georgia will play out

USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer takes a look at how former President Donald Trump's surrender in Georgia will play out. Plus, Tropical Storm Harold makes landfall in Texas, USA TODAY Wellness Reporter David Oliver looks at the dangers of hate, Americans' salary expectations keep rising, The U.S. Postal Service is losing money, and how MLK's dream still resonates 60 years later.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

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 Wednesday, the 23rd of August 2023. Today, what to expect in Atlanta for Trump's surrender. Plus a tropical storm slams Texas, and we look at the consequences of hate.

♦

Former President Donald Trump says he plans on surrendering tomorrow in Atlanta as he faces the fourth criminal case against him, this time for charges that he conspired with others to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost in Georgia. I spoke with USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer for a look at what to expect. Josh, welcome back to the show.

Josh Meyer:

Thanks Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

So what'll actually happen when Trump surrenders tomorrow?

Josh Meyer:

It's hard to tell with Trump. He's always very unpredictable, but as far as we can tell, he's negotiated his surrender and the terms of his bail with authorities and he'll show up at some point at the Fulton County Jail in the fourth criminal case against him. He'll be processed and he will be apparently fingerprinted and have a mugshot taken and then he'll be released on $200,000 bond and will pay $20,000 of that in case he violates the terms of his bond and has to be held in contempt.

Taylor Wilson:

So you mentioned the mugshot. We didn't see a picture from the previous indictments. Do we expect the public to have a view of this at some point?

Josh Meyer:

We're certainly hoping so. I mean, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat indicated publicly that Trump will be treated no differently than any other defendant in the Atlanta County jails in that he'll have a mugshot taken. And as far as we can tell, that also means that the mugshot would be released to the public at some point. We don't know when. The sheriff said it doesn't matter your status. We have a mugshot ready for you.

Taylor Wilson:

And Josh, should we also expect his other 18 co-defendants to show up tomorrow? And how might the process differ for them, if at all, compared with Trump?

Josh Meyer:

I think it's going to be pretty similar for all of them. Some of them may show up earlier in the day, some might show up later. Some of them have already shown up in the past couple days. There's 19 of them in all. And some of them may wait until the very last deadline, which is Friday at noon to show up. A couple of them, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have filed motions with the court seeking an emergency stay of this and saying that they don't want to have to be arrested for this, they want to try to appeal. And so far Fani Willis, who's the district attorney in Fulton County, has shown no appetite for that at all. She's shot down every one of those requests and said you have until Friday at noon to surrender.

Taylor Wilson:

And as of now, what pretrial conditions has Trump been ordered to follow?

Josh Meyer:

He has been, and this is something that's very interesting because we don't know how he's going to be able to adhere to these, but he's been told that he's not allowed to discuss the case with any of the other co-defendants. He's not allowed to intimidate or threaten any witnesses. That's sort of loosely worded. So it could be construed that any kind of tweet or public statement that he makes could be construed as an intimidation. So he's not supposed to do any of that and he conceivably could have his bail revoked and could even be taken into custody.

Taylor Wilson:

And so Josh, what's next for this indictment after Trump turns himself in?

Josh Meyer:

They're scheduled to have a hearing September 5th in which they would be arraigned. So this is just a booking procedure tomorrow. But they also have to be arraigned, which means they appear before a judge and plead either guilty or not guilty and then that sets off the trial schedule. There's also a possibility that because they've already been indicted, because they've already negotiated the terms of their bail, that they may only have to do the arraignment part of it remotely by appearing on internet.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Josh Meyer, thanks as always.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure. Thanks Taylor.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Tropical Storm Harold pushed inland over Texas yesterday bringing gusty winds and heavy rains to a state suffering from drought, but it also threatened tornadoes and flash flooding. The storm made landfall on a barrier island off the state's coast and yesterday was moving around 21 miles an hour over southern Texas and northern Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. It's the first tropical storm of the hurricane season to make landfall in the state. Harold also formed at a historic rate, becoming the fourth named storm to form in just 39 hours, according to Phil Klotzbach, a seasonal hurricane forecaster at Colorado State University. More rains are expected today.

♦

Last weekend a man shot and killed Southern California shop owner Lauri Carleton over a pride flag display in her store. That came weeks after O'Shae Sibley, a gay man dancing outside a gas station in New York, was stabbed to death, an incident police are investigating as a hate crime. Both come on the heels of mounting anti-LGBTQ legislation in the U.S. and ahead of a charged election season. I spoke with USA TODAY Wellness Reporter David Oliver about the consequences of hate. Hi David, thanks for making the time.

David Oliver:

Hey Taylor, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So David, have we seen a turning point for the worst when it comes to hate and violence in recent years?

David Oliver:

Just going off of what experts have told me, yes. They think that this, I guess, Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that we saw some years ago, where people were, I guess, shamelessly coming out and broadcasting their hate to the world in a way that I think hadn't been seen for some time, or at least on a scale the way that it was. And that has just since then emboldened more and more people to feel comfortable saying what they want. And when they feel their opinions are validated by political leaders, it's just adding fuel to their fire.

Taylor Wilson:

And David, LGBTQ Americans in particular have faced a growing number of threats in America. What impact can threats like these have on real world harm and violence?

David Oliver:

I mean, research has certainly shown that hate crimes have a greater likelihood of being violent when they're committed against these specific groups of people, minority groups of people. So anything that's said as a threat or you think is just kind of a harmless word being lobbed at you, even if it doesn't really feel harmless in the moment, you don't know if it can be real violence, it really can. And there's data to back that up.

Taylor Wilson:

So David, how can people, especially from marginalized communities, cope amid this type of targeted violence?

David Oliver:

It's a couple of things. Obviously this is horrible. We don't want to wish this to anybody in the first place. But in general, I think the major things are you need to make sure that you're talking to someone. Whether that is just a friend, whether it's to a community online you're comfortable with, a family member, a roommate, make sure you're getting your feelings out about this. Also important to do an activity that makes you feel good, whether it's exercise, something like that just to keep your muscles and brain moving. So it's important to really take care of yourself, and that includes also seeking professional help as needed, too.

And then otherwise, I mean, once you're ready, after you've taken care of yourself, there's a way to start reaching out to your representatives, speaking out on social media if you're comfortable, if you're not in these communities being an ally to these communities. That way you're adding, I guess, voices to opposition calling out this behavior as unacceptable. But it requires a lot more than just a handful of people. This is going to take a lot of people speaking up in order for this hate to really be not as present or be as loud.

Taylor Wilson:

You wrote that just because you don't understand someone's identity doesn't mean you can or must ignore their existence. Can you talk a little bit more about this idea of nuance and trying to find common ground to get past the hate?

David Oliver:

Sure. In this country in particular, in politics, it's often seen as someone is right or someone is wrong, that the situations are not gray, they're very black and white. And I think that especially on social media and when people say certain things in really bite-sized format, it's very easy to let hateful words just kind of spill out. And then people get radicalized and get a lot of ideas through this manner and they're being very aggressive.

And I think that it's important to remember that not everybody that's a part of certain groups, not everyone acts the same. So I think there's a lot of common ground to be reached on people speaking to each other regardless of your political backgrounds of sorts, because you don't know necessarily what somebody really believes until you engage with them. And that's a way that people in this country could have some more common ground.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, David Oliver covers wellness for USA TODAY. Thank you, David.

David Oliver:

Thank you.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

American salary expectations for a new job rose in July to the highest level since March of 2014, when the New York Federal Reserve started tracking the data. The lowest annual wage respondents would be willing to accept for a new job reached over $78,000, up from just under $73,000 in July of 2022 and $62,000 in July of 2019 before the COVID pandemic. The year-over-year increase was most defined for respondents older than 45, and men wanted an average of around $91,000 compared with women who wanted $66,000. There remains a gap between what people want to get paid and what they make, an average of just under $70,000 over the past four months, still much higher than the average of $61,000 a year ago.

♦

The U.S. Postal Service is losing money and a 10-year plan to try and stop operating at a loss isn't going well. If it can't get on track, that could threaten its ability to deliver the mail and pay its retirees benefits. According to a federal watchdog group, expenses have grown faster than revenues for years, in part because of a drop in first-class mail, its most profitable service. USPS also faces competition from private companies while key costs like employee compensation have continued to rise. And any gains made since the plan was announced two years ago have been offset by increased costs that postal officials say are mostly due to inflation, according to an assessment published this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

That 2021 plan has already included closing some mail facilities and the USPS has given itself more time to deliver the mail, increasing the delivery standard for first-class mail from a maximum of three days to five. Partly because of those changes, the USPS has dramatically improved on-time delivery performance, though the service also continues to raise rates, bumping the price of a Forever stamp for the fourth time in two years last month. You can read more about the next steps for the postal service with a link in today's show notes.

And before we go, in honor of the upcoming anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, USA TODAY is featuring a number of articles, photo galleries, and videos to commemorate the event. We ask 60 years after the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s most iconic speech, how close are we to the dream? You can find a link in today's show notes. The anniversary coverage includes a special documentary podcast hosted by my colleague Dana Taylor. The podcast posts at 4:00 PM today, right here on the 5 Things channel. We hope you'll give a listen.

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]. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.