On today’s show: Matt Gaetz, the nominee for attorney general, has been accused of sexual misconduct, including sex with a minor. He denies all wrongdoing. Washington Post congressional reporter Liz Goodwin explains everything to know about the allegations. European officials are worried about what a negotiated peace deal for the Russia-Ukraine war could look like under Trump. Laurence Norman with the Wall Street Journal has more. Texas is poised to pass a new curriculum infused with Christian lessons, renewing questions about the separation between church and state. The Texas Tribune has the story. Plus, a U.N. special committee found that Israel’s war in Gaza is “consistent” with genocide, Trump tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a Republican lawmaker introduced a resolution to ban trans women from women’s bathrooms at the Capitol, and NPR reports that in the day after the election, X lost more than 115,000 users while traffic on rival platform Bluesky skyrocketed. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
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Hey there, it's Shamita. I've got a quick request for you. If Apple News Today is an essential part of your morning routine, follow the show in Apple Podcasts. And if you have another 30 seconds, leave us a rating and a review too. It helps other people find our show and it helps us know what you like about it. Thanks. Good morning. It's Wednesday, November 20th. I'm Shamita Basu.
This is Apple News Today. On today's show, Texas weighs bringing the Bible into public schools. Trump taps Dr. Oz to manage health care for millions of Americans. And how X lost more than 100,000 users the day after the election.
But first, what we know about the allegations of sexual misconduct against former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who's been tapped by President-elect Trump to become the next head of the Justice Department. Yesterday, we learned that an unidentified hacker got access to documents shared among lawyers whose client said in sworn testimony that Gaetz paid her for sex when she was 17 years old.
Also in the documents is testimony by a second woman corroborating that story, saying she witnessed it. Gates has denied having sex with anyone underage or paying for sex.
The documents include other information, too, that's under seal with both the DOJ and the House Ethics Committee, whose members are scheduled to meet today to decide whether to release their findings ahead of a Senate confirmation hearing for Gates. Washington Post reporter Liz Goodwin spoke to us from Capitol Hill.
Republicans have been under a lot of pressure from Trump supporters and activists not to release it, given it's expected to be pretty damaging to Matt Gaetz. The committee is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, so it would take at least one Republican voting to release it for it to get out.
Whether that report comes out or not, let's recap what is publicly known about these allegations. In 2019, the federal government opened a public corruption investigation into a tax collector named Joel Greenberg.
As part of the investigation, authorities learned that he had repeatedly paid young women, at least one who was underage, to come to parties with him and his friends where they used drugs and had sex.
And Greenberg cooperated with the Justice Department in order to try to get a reduced sentence, which included, you know, saying who else was at these parties.
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