10.9.26

WEBVTT
1
00:00:02.770 --> 00:00:05.929
Welcome to the reading of the New York Times for Friday,
2
00:00:06.150 --> 00:00:11.330
October 9th, 2026. As a reminder, Radio Eye is a
3
00:00:11.390 --> 00:00:14.890
reading service intended for people who are blind or have
4
00:00:15.029 --> 00:00:18.690
other disabilities that makes it difficult to read printed material.
5
00:00:19.390 --> 00:00:23.320
Your reader for today is Blanca Michael Ward. We begin
6
00:00:23.420 --> 00:00:30.079
with Merriam-Webster's word of the day, inscrutable, inscrutable, an adjective
7
00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:41.270
spelled I-N-S-C-R-U-T-A-B-L-E. What it means. Inscrutable means not readily investigated, interpreted,
8
00:00:41.570 --> 00:00:46.079
or understood. It often describes things that are mysterious or
9
00:00:46.140 --> 00:00:53.140
difficult to comprehend. Example, his professor wore an inscrutable expression
10
00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:59.799
throughout the oral exam. Merriam-Webster's word of the day, inscrutable.
11
00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:04.500
We continue with the New York Times bestsellers in combined
12
00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:09.379
print and e-book nonfiction. In first place, new this week,
13
00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:15.780
The Steps by Sylvester Stallone. The Hollywood icon describes the
14
00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:20.340
challenges he encountered during his childhood and the start of
15
00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:24.709
his career. In second place, two weeks on the list,
16
00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:30.680
Swan Song by Charles Spencer. The ninth, Earl Spencer, shares
17
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:35.519
personal stories about his sister Diana from childhood through her
18
00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:41.530
untimely death. In third place, new this week, The American
19
00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:47.370
Way of Killing by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell examines why there
20
00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:51.090
are so many homicides in the United States and what
21
00:01:51.209 --> 00:01:56.280
stops us from fixing this issue. In fourth place, new
22
00:01:56.340 --> 00:02:01.609
this week, The Cauldron by Simon Sebag Montefiore. The author
23
00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:09.210
of The World explores the complex history, diversity, and interconnectedness
24
00:02:09.409 --> 00:02:13.129
of the Middle East. And in fifth place, New This Week.
25
00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:18.810
What Could Possibly Go Right by Danny Meyer. The restaurateur
26
00:02:19.090 --> 00:02:23.830
and entrepreneur shares stories of events that shaped the success
27
00:02:23.990 --> 00:02:28.840
of his business ventures. We continue with the New York
28
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:34.479
Times bestsellers in combined print and e-book fishing. New this week,
29
00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:40.870
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yaros. Thirteen short stories set in
30
00:02:40.909 --> 00:02:45.150
the Empyrean world in which cadets compete to earn the
31
00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:49.379
bond of a dragon. In second place, new this week,
32
00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:54.479
The French Illusion by John Grisham. When a couple is
33
00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:58.520
kidnapped during a honeymoon trip in the French countryside, a
34
00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:03.060
young lawyer is used as part of a CIA operation.
35
00:03:04.180 --> 00:03:09.330
In third place, 103 weeks on the list, Verity by
36
00:03:09.409 --> 00:03:13.930
Colleen Hoover. Lohan Ashley is hired by the husband of
37
00:03:13.990 --> 00:03:18.669
an injured writer to complete her popular series and uncovers
38
00:03:19.129 --> 00:03:24.620
a horrifying truth, the basis of the movie. In fourth place,
39
00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:28.909
44 weeks on the list, Theo of Golden by Alan Levy.
40
00:03:29.610 --> 00:03:32.889
A man travels to a small southern town where he
41
00:03:32.990 --> 00:03:38.289
purchases pencil drawings of local residents and exchanges them for stories.
42
00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:42.960
And in fifth place, 22 weeks on the list, The
43
00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.659
Calamity Club by Catherine Stockett. As things get tougher during
44
00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:53.080
the Depression, several women look for ways to improve their circumstances.
45
00:03:55.219 --> 00:03:58.759
We continue with today's headlines from the front page of
46
00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:04.430
the New York Times. Kennedy push studies harms from vaccines.
47
00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:10.469
Experts weary of intent for research plan. Houthi's attacks on
48
00:04:10.550 --> 00:04:15.699
Saudi capital risk a wider war. Oil prices up sharply.
49
00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:23.439
Kingdom reels as deadly strikes on airports snarl flights. Newsom,
50
00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:30.620
mall saving all 563 on death row. Five women detail
51
00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:34.730
the scars of Hollywood smears. Suits say small group fueled
52
00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:41.370
campaigns on social media. Politics in mind, estranged wife, sticks
53
00:04:41.629 --> 00:04:48.009
by Paxton. She stacked ones and zeros that reached the moon.
54
00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:58.290
We begin with this story. Houthis' attacks on Saudi airports
55
00:04:58.410 --> 00:05:09.089
prompt mass cancellations. The story was written by Vivian Nerim
56
00:05:09.589 --> 00:05:16.050
and Ismail Nahr. Explosions rattled the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on
57
00:05:16.129 --> 00:05:20.569
Thursday as the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen claimed to
58
00:05:20.629 --> 00:05:25.350
have attacked the city's international airport. for the second time
59
00:05:25.449 --> 00:05:29.980
this week. The kingdom has been left reeling, with the
60
00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:35.060
Saudi authorities saying on Wednesday that Houthi strikes on airports
61
00:05:35.220 --> 00:05:38.250
in Riyadh and Abha, a city in the south of
62
00:05:38.290 --> 00:05:42.350
the country, had killed three people and injured dozens more.
63
00:05:43.449 --> 00:05:46.949
The attacks are the deadliest on Saudi Arabia since the
64
00:05:47.009 --> 00:05:51.399
war with the Houthis reignited in recent weeks and threatened
65
00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:55.730
to widen the conflict that has entangled multiple countries and
66
00:05:55.810 --> 00:06:01.209
strained energy markets. Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, with
67
00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:06.009
Brent crude, the global benchmark, up more than 5 percent.
68
00:06:06.990 --> 00:06:10.870
The instability snarled air traffic, with around one in four
69
00:06:10.910 --> 00:06:15.980
departures from Saudi airports and dozens of inbound flights canceled,
70
00:06:16.449 --> 00:06:21.949
according to data from the aviation analytics firm Sirium. The
71
00:06:21.990 --> 00:06:27.120
Lufthansa group suspended flights to Riyadh up to October 16,
72
00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:30.819
the company said, and Air India's flights to the Saudi
73
00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:35.060
capital were also paused, according to the Indian embassy there.
74
00:06:36.060 --> 00:06:40.300
The Saudi authorities said on Thursday that they had intercepted
75
00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:45.079
two ballistic missiles targeting Riyadh and that fragments of munitions
76
00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:48.800
had fallen onto a children's nursery and a medical clinic.
77
00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:53.319
It was unclear if if there were any casualties. A
78
00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.370
Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Sarri, said in statements Thursday that
79
00:06:59.410 --> 00:07:05.850
the militia had targeted Riyadh's international airport, another airport in Najran,
80
00:07:06.209 --> 00:07:10.980
and a Saudi airbase near Kamis Mushait in the country's south.
81
00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:14.399
He said the missile attacks had struck a target at
82
00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:19.579
the Riyadh airport and disrupted air traffic without elaborating. the
83
00:07:19.639 --> 00:07:23.800
Saudi authorities did not respond to questions on the Houthis' claims.
84
00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:28.300
The New York Times has verified two videos circulating on
85
00:07:28.379 --> 00:07:31.970
social media that showed a thick plume of black smoke
86
00:07:32.430 --> 00:07:38.250
billowing over Riyadh's airport, which has announced dozens of flight cancellations.
87
00:07:39.870 --> 00:07:43.769
The targeting of Riyadh has raised pressure on Crown Prince
88
00:07:43.870 --> 00:07:48.620
Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto leader, to resolve
89
00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:52.680
the escalating conflict as the fighting threatens his plans to
90
00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:57.199
turn the country into a business and tourism hub. Riyadh
91
00:07:57.250 --> 00:08:01.170
is said to host several international events in the coming weeks,
92
00:08:01.829 --> 00:08:06.730
including an annual investment summit hosted by Prince Mohammed that
93
00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:12.490
is typically attended by world leaders, billionaires, and top global executives.
94
00:08:13.709 --> 00:08:17.889
Saudi Arabia announced a new bombing campaign in Yemen this
95
00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:21.579
week against the Houthis, who have vowed to fight back
96
00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:26.980
by hitting airports and energy infrastructure. Prince Mohammed has also
97
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:31.139
sought to secure greater military support from allies, including the
98
00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:36.649
United States, which is providing significant assistance to the kingdom's
99
00:08:36.750 --> 00:08:43.200
bombing campaign. The fighting could entangle more parties, after Pakistan
100
00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:47.519
and Turkey this week activated a defense pact to provide
101
00:08:47.580 --> 00:08:53.809
military support to Saudi Arabia. A senior Pakistani military official,
102
00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:58.809
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters,
103
00:08:59.470 --> 00:09:03.669
said on Wednesday that Pakistani fighter jets were being used
104
00:09:03.789 --> 00:09:08.080
in strikes against the Houthis. It was unclear if foreign
105
00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:13.200
military intervention would temper attacks by the Houthis, who have
106
00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:18.379
survived years of bombing campaigns and have calculated that they
107
00:09:18.419 --> 00:09:22.559
can inflict greater pain on Saudi Arabia than the Kingdom
108
00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:27.600
can on them. A Times reporter in Riyadh heard several
109
00:09:27.659 --> 00:09:32.169
blasts in quick succession on Thursday morning. Two residents, who
110
00:09:32.210 --> 00:09:36.409
spoke on condition of anonymity, said workers at an office
111
00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:40.120
tower in the city had been told to evacuate. In
112
00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:44.419
recent days, the Saudi authorities have told residents not to
113
00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:49.220
share information related to missile and drone attacks, warning them
114
00:09:49.460 --> 00:09:53.889
of legal consequences. The Houthis say that their attacks in
115
00:09:53.990 --> 00:09:59.110
Saudi Arabia are retaliation for attacks in Yemen. The conflict
116
00:09:59.190 --> 00:10:03.639
in Yemen is being fought on multiple fronts. The internationally
117
00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:08.659
recognized government of Yemen, backed by Saudi warplanes, began a
118
00:10:08.750 --> 00:10:14.289
counteroffensive this week to retake strategically important territory along the
119
00:10:14.350 --> 00:10:19.299
Red Sea from the Houthis. The militia seized parts of
120
00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:22.360
the coast last month in a move that gave it
121
00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:27.679
greater control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical global
122
00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:31.250
trade route. The Houthis say they have made gains in
123
00:10:31.299 --> 00:10:35.970
the inland city of Taiz, a government stronghold. A Yemeni
124
00:10:36.029 --> 00:10:40.929
government army officer in Taiz said that Houthi forces had
125
00:10:41.009 --> 00:10:45.100
effectively encircled the city and that residents were running out
126
00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:49.019
of gas and food supplies. He spoke on condition of
127
00:10:49.259 --> 00:10:53.029
anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
128
00:10:53.850 --> 00:11:00.370
A spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, Major General Turki al-Maliki,
129
00:11:00.610 --> 00:11:05.269
said overnight that it had attacked dozens of Houthi military sites,
130
00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:11.220
including missile storage facilities and command centers, in retaliation for
131
00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:15.820
the airport strikes on Wednesday. The Houthis did not respond
132
00:11:16.059 --> 00:11:20.600
to that claim. The latest round of fighting has plunged
133
00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:25.070
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis back into open conflict, and
134
00:11:25.149 --> 00:11:30.230
nearly 200,000 Yemenis have been displaced since September, when the
135
00:11:30.309 --> 00:11:36.580
fighting intensified, according to the United Nations. In 2015, Saudi
136
00:11:36.669 --> 00:11:40.980
Arabia led a disastrous campaign against the Houthis in a
137
00:11:41.059 --> 00:11:45.000
bid to restore Yemen's government, which had been driven out
138
00:11:45.059 --> 00:11:49.850
of the capital, Sana'a, by the militia. The war led
139
00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:52.850
to hundreds of thousands of deaths and created one of
140
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:57.830
the world's worst humanitarian crises, until the two sides agreed
141
00:11:57.889 --> 00:12:03.669
to a tenuous truce in 2022. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat
142
00:12:03.710 --> 00:12:07.149
of Connecticut, who met with Prince Mohammed on Monday in
143
00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:11.570
Riyadh and publicly opposed the kingdom's last campaign in Yemen,
144
00:12:12.169 --> 00:12:17.110
said that it was unclear what the kingdom's long-term objectives
145
00:12:17.350 --> 00:12:22.360
are in its renewed military campaign. They want to win
146
00:12:22.409 --> 00:12:25.740
back the territory that they've lost, and I think the
147
00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:30.620
open question is whether they have clear goals beyond that, Mr.
148
00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:36.720
Murphy told reporters. I think history tells us that this
149
00:12:36.820 --> 00:12:40.919
military conflict, whoever starts it, is a disaster for the
150
00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:44.000
people of Yemen and for the region, and for the
151
00:12:44.100 --> 00:12:50.840
United States. Analysts said the attacks on Riyadh in recent
152
00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.139
days would make it more likely that the Saudi government
153
00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:59.659
would intensify its bombing campaign in Yemen. The latest attack
154
00:12:59.940 --> 00:13:04.799
just gives them more international support for any military operation
155
00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:09.919
they would do against the Houthis, said Fariha al-Muslimi, a
156
00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:15.299
Yemen specialist at Chatham House, a London-based research group. President
157
00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:20.019
Trump has rebuffed Saudi government requests to direct American airstrikes,
158
00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:25.419
but more than 200 U.S. intelligence and military analysts are
159
00:13:25.500 --> 00:13:30.100
assisting the Saudi government in command centers inside the kingdom,
160
00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:34.539
helping to analyze and select targets in support of its
161
00:13:34.580 --> 00:13:38.950
Yemeni allies, according to one current and one former U.S.
162
00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:43.470
official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
163
00:13:43.730 --> 00:13:49.690
operational matters. The United States is also providing aerial refueling
164
00:13:49.750 --> 00:13:56.460
for Saudi warplanes conducting defensive air patrols, they added. Last month,
165
00:13:57.059 --> 00:14:01.539
Britain also promised to offer limited aerial refueling to Saudi
166
00:14:01.580 --> 00:14:06.279
warplanes for defensive purposes. It is unclear if that will
167
00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:10.840
extend to the new campaigns. France said last month that
168
00:14:10.889 --> 00:14:14.639
it would send troops and other military assets to protect
169
00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:23.659
Saudi energy infrastructure on the Red Sea. We continue with
170
00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:33.879
this story. Kennedy plans federal vaccine injury initiative, drawing weary
171
00:14:34.139 --> 00:14:37.799
eye from experts. This was written by Cheryl Gay Stolberg.
172
00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:42.799
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long questioned
173
00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:47.159
the safety of vaccines, is planning a broad federal effort
174
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.210
to address vaccine injuries, including a new research clinic at
175
00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:56.169
the National Institutes of Health and a new billing code
176
00:14:56.549 --> 00:15:01.129
to reimburse doctors for filing reports of serious vaccine side effects,
177
00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:06.690
according to multiple people familiar with the initiative. Mr. Kennedy
178
00:15:06.769 --> 00:15:10.879
talked about the initiative when he and other top health
179
00:15:10.940 --> 00:15:16.720
officials made an unannounced visit to the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland,
180
00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:21.070
earlier this week. His first trip there as secretary to
181
00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.990
meet with patients who believe they have been injured by vaccines,
182
00:15:25.190 --> 00:15:29.350
according to the people, who insisted on anonymity because they
183
00:15:29.389 --> 00:15:33.960
were not authorized to discuss it. Officials at the Department
184
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.610
of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests
185
00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:43.529
for comment about the initiative. A spokesman for Dr. J. Bahacharya,
186
00:15:43.730 --> 00:15:49.289
the NIH director, declined comment. Some details of the initiative
187
00:15:49.330 --> 00:15:54.309
were earlier reported by Bloomberg. Mr. Kennedy's efforts to focus
188
00:15:54.350 --> 00:16:01.879
government resources on vaccine injuries comes as vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles,
189
00:16:02.309 --> 00:16:05.309
are rising in the United States because of the falling
190
00:16:05.350 --> 00:16:12.070
vaccination rates. Like all drugs, vaccines cause side effects, but
191
00:16:12.149 --> 00:16:15.950
public health experts say the benefits far outweigh the risks
192
00:16:16.070 --> 00:16:22.230
for most people. The World Health Organization estimated in 2024
193
00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:27.889
that global immunization efforts have saved 154 million lives over
194
00:16:27.929 --> 00:16:33.220
the past half-century, Vaccines have wiped out smallpox and mostly
195
00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:38.580
relegated polio to the history books. Although injuries are rare,
196
00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:44.409
vaccine experts generally support close monitoring and continued study of
197
00:16:44.490 --> 00:16:49.490
side effects. Many are weary of Mr. Kennedy's motivations, however,
198
00:16:50.070 --> 00:16:53.889
and they say that until more details of the initiative
199
00:16:53.990 --> 00:16:57.659
are known, it is impossible to say whether or not
200
00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:03.539
it will be a legitimate exercise in science. The NIH
201
00:17:03.620 --> 00:17:08.309
described the new effort in two little-noticed documents posted on
202
00:17:08.390 --> 00:17:14.390
its website in June. The so-called highlighted topics notices alerted
203
00:17:14.490 --> 00:17:19.859
prospective investigators that the health department, in collaboration with NIH,
204
00:17:20.740 --> 00:17:26.079
will investigate vaccine injuries with improved data collection and analysis,
205
00:17:26.380 --> 00:17:30.829
including through a new vaccine injury research program at the
206
00:17:31.029 --> 00:17:37.130
NIH Clinical Center that may expand to centers around the country. Mr.
207
00:17:37.190 --> 00:17:40.910
Kennedy has made vaccine safety a cornerstone of his tenure
208
00:17:41.029 --> 00:17:46.339
as health secretary, despite decades of research showing serious vaccine
209
00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:50.380
side effects are rare. Much of his work has focused
210
00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:54.910
on a purported link between vaccines and autism, though numerous
211
00:17:54.950 --> 00:17:58.309
studies have failed to show such a link. The Trump
212
00:17:58.349 --> 00:18:04.049
administration has poured millions into autism research, including funding studies
213
00:18:04.130 --> 00:18:10.569
that independent researchers have praised as legitimate academic science. Mr.
214
00:18:10.630 --> 00:18:16.000
Kennedy has long argued that chemicals in vaccines, including mercury
215
00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:20.710
and aluminum salts, are dangerous, Experts say there is no
216
00:18:20.990 --> 00:18:26.529
evidence that either are harmful. He has also suggested, without evidence,
217
00:18:26.910 --> 00:18:30.650
that vaccines are linked to chronic disease and has complained
218
00:18:30.690 --> 00:18:35.259
that there are no long-term studies about the effects of vaccination.
219
00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:40.980
One of the NIH highlighted topics announcements calls for large-scale
220
00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:46.500
evaluations of vaccines and their relationships with with both positive
221
00:18:46.660 --> 00:18:52.660
and negative long-term health outcomes across the lifespan. Last month,
222
00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:58.380
officials at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences proposed
223
00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:03.039
to fund a broad-based initiative to examine chemical exposures in
224
00:19:03.059 --> 00:19:06.640
the environment and describe the plan to a meeting of
225
00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:11.799
outside advisors. The proposal does not explicitly state that the
226
00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:16.519
research will relate to vaccines. but one of its goals
227
00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:24.000
is advancing understanding of aluminum, including aluminum-containing compounds encountered through
228
00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:30.809
environmental consumer product, occupational, and medically relevant exposures. And one
229
00:19:30.890 --> 00:19:35.150
person familiar with the work said that vaccine research could
230
00:19:35.190 --> 00:19:41.579
be a part of it. Vaccine experts are skeptical of Mr.
231
00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:46.589
Kennedy's focus on well-studied topics like autism and metals, but
232
00:19:46.630 --> 00:19:50.539
they also see the need for additional vaccine safety resources. research.
233
00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:54.700
I do think that we need to take these adverse
234
00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:58.099
events more seriously, and I think we need to build
235
00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:01.859
that into how we fund scientific research in the future,
236
00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:05.700
said Dr. Helen Chu, who was a member of an
237
00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:10.000
outside panel of experts that advised the Centers for Disease
238
00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:14.880
Control and Prevention on vaccines until last spring, when Mr.
239
00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:19.359
Gennady fired everyone on the committee. We need to think
240
00:20:19.859 --> 00:20:23.039
about if there are serious adverse events that are occurring
241
00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:26.799
from certain vaccines. How do we make sure that these
242
00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:30.599
are studied appropriately so that we understand what leads to them,
243
00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:34.240
so that we can design safer vaccines in the future,
244
00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:38.900
she said. Dr. Daniel Selman said, who leads the Institute
245
00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.200
for Vaccine Safety at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of
246
00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:46.920
Public Health, agreed. More research in vaccine safety would be
247
00:20:47.009 --> 00:20:51.789
very helpful, he said, adding, it needs to be rigorous science.
248
00:20:52.710 --> 00:20:57.009
Patients who suffer vaccine injuries often say they feel dismissed
249
00:20:57.170 --> 00:21:00.589
by the medical establishment and have been pleading for the
250
00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:05.029
government to do more. One of the patients who met
251
00:21:05.089 --> 00:21:09.500
with Mr. Kennedy at the NIH, was Brian Dressen, who
252
00:21:09.539 --> 00:21:14.099
participated in a clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine made
253
00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:19.690
by AstraZeneca, which was withdrawn from the market in 2024
254
00:21:19.690 --> 00:21:23.369
after concerns about a link between the shot and an
255
00:21:23.470 --> 00:21:30.390
extremely rare but serious blood clotting disorder lowered demand. Mr. Dressen,
256
00:21:30.410 --> 00:21:34.339
a former preschool teacher from Utah, declined to talk about
257
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.849
the meeting with Mr. Kennedy, but she described the experience
258
00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:42.369
in an interview with the New York Times. Within an
259
00:21:42.430 --> 00:21:47.549
hour of receiving the vaccine in November 2020, she said
260
00:21:47.930 --> 00:21:53.039
her limbs began tingling. Her symptoms, including pain, worsened over
261
00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:56.140
the following weeks and months. She had to use a
262
00:21:56.180 --> 00:22:01.680
wheelchair for a time and lost 40 pounds. In January 2021,
263
00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:05.160
she reached out to experts at the NIH Clinical Center,
264
00:22:05.670 --> 00:22:11.140
a hospital devoted entirely to clinical research. Doctors there diagnosed
265
00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:17.299
her with post-vaccine neuropathy, she said. She has sued AstraZeneca.
266
00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:21.400
The case is still pending. A company spokesman declined to
267
00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:26.380
comment on the litigation. Ms. Dressen later returned to advocacy
268
00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:32.380
and founded React19 to support research into COVID vaccine side
269
00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:36.930
effects and long-term symptoms from COVID She says she is
270
00:22:37.009 --> 00:22:40.609
not political. This is the first time there's been anything
271
00:22:40.869 --> 00:22:46.029
even remotely official, she said. Mr. Kennedy's vaccine agenda has
272
00:22:46.089 --> 00:22:51.049
been extremely controversial and polarizing. The White House instructed him
273
00:22:51.109 --> 00:22:54.170
for a time not to talk about the issue for
274
00:22:54.269 --> 00:22:58.569
fear it would harm Republicans' chances in the midterm elections
275
00:22:58.650 --> 00:23:04.109
next month. In February, he began emphasizing his Eat Real
276
00:23:04.250 --> 00:23:09.829
Food agenda, and pivoted away from vaccines. It is not
277
00:23:09.930 --> 00:23:13.319
clear why his visit to the NIH was a secret.
278
00:23:13.970 --> 00:23:18.220
He was accompanied on Monday by Dr. Mehmet Oz, who
279
00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:23.619
runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Erica Schwartz,
280
00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:28.019
the new head of the CDC, and Kyle Diamantis, the
281
00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:32.680
acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The entire
282
00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:37.309
Bethesda campus was encouraged to work from home, and email
283
00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:44.730
warned of increased traffic and security without saying why. We
284
00:23:44.769 --> 00:23:54.009
continue with this story. Newsom mauled sparing lives of all
285
00:23:54.009 --> 00:23:59.250
563 prisoners on death row in California. This was written
286
00:23:59.289 --> 00:24:05.960
by Laurel Rosenhall. Governor Gavin Newsom, a possible presidential candidate,
287
00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:09.900
is seriously considering whether to spare the lives of all
288
00:24:09.900 --> 00:24:14.549
563 prisoners on death row in California as one of
289
00:24:14.609 --> 00:24:18.609
his final acts in office, according to two people familiar
290
00:24:18.670 --> 00:24:23.789
with his thinking. Mr. Newsom ramped up conversations with top
291
00:24:23.829 --> 00:24:29.410
advisers last week after a botched execution in Tennessee. though
292
00:24:29.490 --> 00:24:33.130
he had been deliberating the move for several months. He
293
00:24:33.190 --> 00:24:36.809
discussed his options in a flurry of phone calls, meetings,
294
00:24:36.990 --> 00:24:40.779
and Zoom conversations, according to people familiar with the talks
295
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:45.000
who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to disclose
296
00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:52.019
private deliberations. California has not executed a prisoner in 20 years,
297
00:24:52.490 --> 00:24:56.119
and the leading candidate to succeed Mr. Newsom has committed
298
00:24:56.180 --> 00:25:02.319
to maintaining a moratorium on capital punishment. A mass commutation, however,
299
00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:06.490
would reduce all current death sentences to life in prison
300
00:25:06.529 --> 00:25:11.230
without parole, regardless of who runs the state in the future.
301
00:25:12.009 --> 00:25:16.490
The governor, a Democrat, has received conflicting advice from his
302
00:25:16.569 --> 00:25:21.029
closest advisors, the people said. Some have urged him to
303
00:25:21.089 --> 00:25:24.410
take a bold step that reflects his moral opposition to
304
00:25:24.470 --> 00:25:29.670
capital punishment before he leaves office in January. Others have
305
00:25:29.750 --> 00:25:33.150
warned that he could face political attacks if he were
306
00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:37.650
to show mercy to convicted killers. I'm getting all those
307
00:25:37.730 --> 00:25:41.819
people in my ear. Don't do it. Don't do it. Mr.
308
00:25:41.900 --> 00:25:45.829
Newsom said on a recent episode of his podcast, in
309
00:25:45.890 --> 00:25:50.809
which he nodded to the possibility, politics, that's the best
310
00:25:50.869 --> 00:25:54.829
they can do. While other governors have ended death sentences
311
00:25:55.049 --> 00:25:59.220
en masse before, the move Mr. Newsom is considering would
312
00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:02.220
be the largest clearing of a death row in modern
313
00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:09.000
American history. In 2003, Governor George Ryan of Illinois, a Republican,
314
00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:15.740
commuted death sentences for 167 inmates right before he left office.
315
00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:23.289
California's prisoners comprise roughly one-fourth of people facing capital punishment nationwide,
316
00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:29.029
according to the Death Penalty Information Center. California's death row
317
00:26:29.089 --> 00:26:34.470
includes notorious killers such as Richard Allen Davis, who murdered
318
00:26:34.609 --> 00:26:39.440
Polly Closs, a 12-year-old, after kidnapping her from her home
319
00:26:39.700 --> 00:26:44.480
in 1993. It also includes Carrie Steiner, who killed four
320
00:26:44.539 --> 00:26:50.630
women near Yosemite in 1999, and the 1980s serial killer
321
00:26:50.910 --> 00:26:58.829
Charles Negg. California has not executed anyone since January 2006,
322
00:26:58.829 --> 00:27:03.980
when Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was governor. Weeks later, A
323
00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:08.630
federal judge blocked executions in the state when another prisoner
324
00:27:08.670 --> 00:27:12.109
was scheduled to be killed and the California death penalty
325
00:27:12.170 --> 00:27:16.750
was tied up in court for years. In 2019, Mr.
326
00:27:16.809 --> 00:27:21.150
Newsom placed a moratorium on executions in the state. The
327
00:27:21.250 --> 00:27:26.640
favorite to succeed him as governor, Javier Becerra, a fellow Democrat,
328
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:31.640
has said he would keep the moratorium in place if elected. Mr.
329
00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:36.079
Newsom's moratorium barred executions during his tenure but did not
330
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:41.069
reduce sentences for prisoners on death row or stop prosecutors
331
00:27:41.130 --> 00:27:46.130
from seeking death sentences. The governor has faced continuous pressure
332
00:27:46.230 --> 00:27:50.970
from death penalty opponents to do something more durable. Mr.
333
00:27:51.049 --> 00:27:54.910
Newsom's office said he has not made any decisions about
334
00:27:55.089 --> 00:28:02.369
death penalty commutations. Under California law, A governor can unilaterally
335
00:28:02.670 --> 00:28:06.690
grant clemency to a prisoner with a single conviction, but
336
00:28:06.750 --> 00:28:10.190
the state Supreme Court must approve a clemency request for
337
00:28:10.349 --> 00:28:15.660
inmates with multiple felony convictions. If Mr. Newsom decided to
338
00:28:15.700 --> 00:28:20.059
commute sentences for everyone on death row, more than half
339
00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:23.200
of the cases would have to be reviewed by the court.
340
00:28:24.130 --> 00:28:28.170
Matt Bennett, a moderate Democratic strategist who worked on Bill
341
00:28:28.230 --> 00:28:33.339
Clinton's presidential campaigns, said Mr. Newsom would complicate a run
342
00:28:33.380 --> 00:28:37.839
for president by ordering a mass commutation. He is the
343
00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:41.960
governor of a very blue, very liberal state, and he
344
00:28:42.019 --> 00:28:44.619
has done a bunch of things that wouldn't happen in
345
00:28:44.700 --> 00:28:48.460
swing states, Mr. Bennett said. Adding to the list is
346
00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:52.710
probably not something he should be doing. The death penalty
347
00:28:52.990 --> 00:28:56.289
is still supported in many parts of the country, Mr.
348
00:28:56.329 --> 00:29:00.640
Bennett said, and Mr. Newsom would invite attacks that he
349
00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:06.420
is too liberal. Still, public support for capital punishment has
350
00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:10.440
been on the decline nationwide for decades. A Gallup poll
351
00:29:10.500 --> 00:29:14.609
last year showed that 52% of Americans supported the death
352
00:29:14.660 --> 00:29:20.470
penalty as a punishment for murder, down from 80% in 1994.
353
00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:26.940
Those urging Mr. Newsom to grant clemency have argued that
354
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.259
it's the right thing to do and that it could
355
00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:33.880
have a political upside. It may appeal to liberal Democrats
356
00:29:33.940 --> 00:29:37.789
in a presidential primary, and some proponents say that a
357
00:29:37.869 --> 00:29:44.220
moral act could demonstrate authenticity. What the voters are looking
358
00:29:44.299 --> 00:29:48.809
for now are leaders who are genuine, who act based
359
00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:52.809
on their values, and who don't act like typical politicians,
360
00:29:53.410 --> 00:29:58.230
said Natasha Minsker, a California lawyer who has led efforts
361
00:29:58.289 --> 00:30:02.619
to end capital punishment for more than two decades. He's
362
00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:06.380
been absolutely clear that he is opposed to the death penalty,
363
00:30:06.839 --> 00:30:10.849
and acting based on that value, I think, shows that
364
00:30:10.910 --> 00:30:14.490
he means what he says, and he follows through on
365
00:30:14.549 --> 00:30:20.230
his convictions. Mr. Newsom recorded a lengthy conversation last month
366
00:30:20.450 --> 00:30:25.180
in Alabama with Bryan Stevenson, a leading attorney in the
367
00:30:25.259 --> 00:30:28.529
movement to end the death penalty, For an episode of
368
00:30:28.569 --> 00:30:33.589
the podcast, this is Gavin Newsom. In brief flashes, Mr.
369
00:30:33.670 --> 00:30:38.670
Newsom seemed to weigh his internal debate aloud without disclosing
370
00:30:38.890 --> 00:30:43.089
many details. Do I commute the largest death row in
371
00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:47.730
the Western Hemisphere? Mr. Newsom asked at one point. I
372
00:30:47.789 --> 00:30:51.289
think you do, Mr. Stevenson said, and I think it
373
00:30:51.349 --> 00:30:56.119
becomes a really pivotal moment in this country. Later, Mr.
374
00:30:56.170 --> 00:31:00.539
Newsom asked, What do I say to the victims? California
375
00:31:00.579 --> 00:31:07.190
voters rejected measures to abolish capital punishment in 2012 and 2016,
376
00:31:07.190 --> 00:31:10.910
and Mr. Newsom faced criticism for going against their will
377
00:31:11.450 --> 00:31:16.670
when he imposed his moratorium in 2019. Back then, he
378
00:31:16.730 --> 00:31:21.809
said his perspective had been shaped by a conversation with Mr. Stevenson.
379
00:31:22.549 --> 00:31:26.819
It struck a chord, Mr. Newsom said in 2019. Do
380
00:31:26.859 --> 00:31:29.640
we have the right to kill? That is a deep
381
00:31:29.789 --> 00:31:34.630
and existential question. I don't believe we do. He later
382
00:31:34.710 --> 00:31:38.970
pushed ahead by dismantling the execution chamber at San Quentin,
383
00:31:39.529 --> 00:31:43.990
relocating many death row inmates to other prisons, and starting
384
00:31:44.049 --> 00:31:51.779
new programs to emphasize rehabilitation. Topopadia, president of Crime Victims United,
385
00:31:52.259 --> 00:31:57.339
opposed Mr. Newsom's decision to in 2019 to halt executions
386
00:31:57.799 --> 00:32:01.069
and said he was concerned that converting death sentences to
387
00:32:01.140 --> 00:32:04.910
life in prison would create more pain for people whose
388
00:32:05.009 --> 00:32:08.769
loved ones have been murdered. To have this governor turn
389
00:32:08.809 --> 00:32:13.430
around and overturn a judge or a jury who handed
390
00:32:13.490 --> 00:32:19.130
down the death penalty is disgusting, he said. Mr. Newsom's
391
00:32:19.210 --> 00:32:23.460
current deliberations appear to resemble the same pondering he did
392
00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:28.420
in the weeks before he imposed the 2019 moratorium. His
393
00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:32.910
legislative secretary at the time, Anthony Williams, said in a
394
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:36.750
recent interview that the governor had gathered his top aides
395
00:32:36.809 --> 00:32:41.589
for advice and to listen to diverging opinions. There was
396
00:32:41.710 --> 00:32:46.029
not universal agreement about it, Mr. Williams said, and he
397
00:32:46.109 --> 00:32:50.190
was as incisive and challenging to one side as he
398
00:32:50.250 --> 00:32:55.150
was to the other. Throughout his political career, Mr. Newsom,
399
00:32:55.230 --> 00:32:58.750
who is Catholic, has described the death penalty as a
400
00:32:58.869 --> 00:33:05.990
moral abomination rife with racial bias. In 2024, Pope Francis
401
00:33:06.089 --> 00:33:10.039
praised Mr. Newsom when the governor visited the Vatican, according
402
00:33:10.099 --> 00:33:13.319
to Jason Elliott, who was a top aide to the
403
00:33:13.380 --> 00:33:17.420
governor at the time. Mr. Newsom approached the pope after
404
00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:21.660
waiting in a line of dignitaries, and as he stepped forward,
405
00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:27.299
the Pope smiled and flashed him a thumbs up. Afterward, Mr.
406
00:33:27.460 --> 00:33:31.769
Elliott recalled, Mr. Newsome told his aides that Pope Francis
407
00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:36.849
knew about his moratorium on capital punishment in California and
408
00:33:36.890 --> 00:33:41.410
had greeted him as death penalty man. I could see
409
00:33:41.690 --> 00:33:48.599
that clearly moved him, Mr. Elliott said. We continue with
410
00:33:48.630 --> 00:34:00.329
this story. How to Destroy a Reputation in Hollywood, as
411
00:34:00.430 --> 00:34:05.410
Told in Five Women's Lawsuits. This was written by Deborah Common.
412
00:34:06.500 --> 00:34:10.980
In recent years, at least five women have filed lawsuits
413
00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:17.539
describing malicious public relations campaigns intended to destroy their reputations.
414
00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:22.179
While the lawsuits differ, they all claim the smear campaigns
415
00:34:22.219 --> 00:34:27.480
were carried out through anonymous websites, fabricated social media posts
416
00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:32.019
or promotion of unflattering articles and posts on the Internet.
417
00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:35.719
They describe a new lane in the field of crisis
418
00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:41.199
management where public relations, legal services, and the dark web converge.
419
00:34:41.960 --> 00:34:46.559
The highest-profile lawsuit came from the actress Blake Lively who
420
00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:50.139
said a campaign was waged against her in 2024 in
421
00:34:50.449 --> 00:34:57.510
retaliation for accusing the actor Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment. Mr.
422
00:34:57.550 --> 00:35:03.389
Baldoni denied the claims and filed a countersuit, which was dismissed. Ms.
423
00:35:03.449 --> 00:35:07.829
Lively settled earlier this year with no payout of damages,
424
00:35:08.269 --> 00:35:11.590
but Mr. Baldoni was required to pay her more than $ 400, 000
425
00:35:11.489 --> 00:35:18.530
in attorney's fees. In her lawsuit, Ms. Lively described a
426
00:35:18.590 --> 00:35:24.110
coordinated social media campaign orchestrated by three business people, a
427
00:35:24.150 --> 00:35:28.159
Los Angeles lawyer, a New York publicist, and a Texas
428
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:36.619
digital strategist. Hollywood A-listers, business partners, and private individuals seeking
429
00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:42.059
to control reputational fallout, often tangled up in lawsuits, divorces,
430
00:35:42.619 --> 00:35:47.809
and image maintenance, hired these professionals. These women became the
431
00:35:47.889 --> 00:35:53.289
subject of websites and posts with fabricated disparaging narratives after
432
00:35:53.369 --> 00:35:56.989
their adversaries connected with at least one of the three.
433
00:35:57.889 --> 00:36:02.199
For example, when a dispute erupted between Rebel Wilson and
434
00:36:02.260 --> 00:36:06.340
Amanda Ghost on the set of the movie The Deb, Ms.
435
00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:12.230
Wilson hired Brian Friedman and Melissa Nathan, a lawsuit claims. Ms.
436
00:36:12.289 --> 00:36:16.150
Nathan's firm worked with Jed Wallace to help create a
437
00:36:16.230 --> 00:36:21.510
smear site against Ms. Ghost. Text messages show that Mr.
438
00:36:21.590 --> 00:36:26.469
Friedman coordinated with Ms. Nathan. In Ms. Wilson's case, Mr.
439
00:36:26.530 --> 00:36:30.860
Friedman included the website targeting Ms. Ghost as evidence in
440
00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:36.159
a legal complaint. Text messages and legal depositions filed as
441
00:36:36.219 --> 00:36:41.159
part of lawsuits support the allegations, that all three individuals
442
00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:46.059
were working together. To examine the allegations, the New York
443
00:36:46.099 --> 00:36:51.139
Times interviewed more than 60 people, reviewed court documents and
444
00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:56.760
chat transcripts, and analyzed hundreds of anonymous websites and fabricated
445
00:36:56.860 --> 00:37:02.480
social media profiles. A pattern emerged. The campaigns were launched
446
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:06.719
within months of each other and were designed to be untraceable.
447
00:37:07.380 --> 00:37:13.639
but digital breadcrumbs remained. The same language echoed across multiple websites,
448
00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:18.280
and invisible links drove traffic back and forth among them.
449
00:37:19.019 --> 00:37:23.019
Text messages and legal depositions filed as part of lawsuits
450
00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:28.760
support the allegations that all three individuals were working together.
451
00:37:29.389 --> 00:37:34.550
The lawyer, Brian Friedman, the publicist, Melissa Nathan, and the
452
00:37:34.630 --> 00:37:40.019
digital strategist, Jed Wallace, have dismissed the allegations as defamation
453
00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:44.340
and harassment, and in several cases have countersued to clear
454
00:37:44.590 --> 00:37:50.570
their names. The Times sent detailed requests for comment to Ms. Nathan, Mr. Wallace,
455
00:37:50.630 --> 00:37:55.650
and Mr. Friedman. Allegations are not facts, and these allegations
456
00:37:55.869 --> 00:37:59.610
are neither truthful nor accurate, Mr. Friedman wrote in an
457
00:37:59.789 --> 00:38:04.929
emailed response. Just like the Blake Lively matter, anyone asserting
458
00:38:04.989 --> 00:38:10.230
this nonsense will end up with nothing. Ms. Nathan and Mr.
459
00:38:10.309 --> 00:38:14.769
Wallace did not respond. The women who have sued described
460
00:38:14.809 --> 00:38:19.349
the shaming campaigns as an internet wrecking ball, forever changing
461
00:38:19.710 --> 00:38:23.750
how the public views them. I don't know who to
462
00:38:23.829 --> 00:38:27.869
trust anymore, said Paige Jimenez, a model and chef who
463
00:38:27.909 --> 00:38:32.530
was targeted by a campaign in October 2024, and filed
464
00:38:32.590 --> 00:38:36.460
a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday evening.
465
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:42.880
It's a really lonely life. The pit bull, the PR agent,
466
00:38:43.179 --> 00:38:46.650
and the hired gun. The three people at the center
467
00:38:46.690 --> 00:38:52.789
of the allegations have very different public profiles and business approaches. Mr. Friedman,
468
00:38:52.829 --> 00:38:56.849
the lawyer, is a household name in celebrity circles and
469
00:38:56.909 --> 00:39:01.760
has a packed roster of high-profile clients. Ms. Nathan, an
470
00:39:01.980 --> 00:39:06.260
expert in crisis communications with well-known clients of her own,
471
00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:12.239
has spent years cultivating close relationships with journalists. Mr. Wallace,
472
00:39:12.300 --> 00:39:16.829
who runs a company based outside Austin, Texas, that describes
473
00:39:16.909 --> 00:39:21.030
itself as a crisis public relations firm, keeps a low
474
00:39:21.090 --> 00:39:25.590
profile and rarely speaks to the media. His most revealing
475
00:39:25.670 --> 00:39:30.659
public disclosures about himself have appeared on LinkedIn, where he
476
00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:36.969
once described himself as a hired gun. The lawsuits, as
477
00:39:37.110 --> 00:39:41.769
well as text and email messages obtained in discovery, suggest
478
00:39:41.809 --> 00:39:46.250
that Mr. Friedman, Ms. Nathan, and Mr. Wallace began working
479
00:39:46.289 --> 00:39:52.889
together as early as 2023. All three began receiving attention
480
00:39:52.949 --> 00:39:57.239
when the Times reported in 2024 that Ms. Lively was
481
00:39:57.300 --> 00:40:01.659
suing Mr. Baldoni, his studio, and his public relations team
482
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:10.139
in their dispute over her allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. Ms.
483
00:40:10.179 --> 00:40:16.119
Lively's complaint highlights a text message noting that Ms. Nathan, Mr. Friedman,
484
00:40:16.219 --> 00:40:20.019
and Mr. Wallace knew each other before she filed her lawsuit.
485
00:40:20.619 --> 00:40:25.480
and that Mr. Wallace and Mr. Friedman are very close. Tag,
486
00:40:25.860 --> 00:40:30.170
Melissa Nathan's public relations group, and Mr. Wallace are both
487
00:40:30.269 --> 00:40:35.170
defendants in her suit against Mr. Baldoni. Mr. Friedman, who
488
00:40:35.250 --> 00:40:39.159
is not named as a defendant, is Mr. Baldoni's lawyer.
489
00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:44.559
Her claims of sexual harassment were dismissed on a legal technicality.
490
00:40:45.360 --> 00:40:49.679
She was an independent contractor, not a full-time employee, on
491
00:40:49.739 --> 00:40:54.639
the set of the film, meaning federal employment anti-discrimination laws
492
00:40:54.699 --> 00:40:58.329
could not be applied. But in April, a judge in
493
00:40:58.389 --> 00:41:03.230
New York federal court allowed three claims, including two centered
494
00:41:03.389 --> 00:41:08.090
on the allegation of a smear campaign, to proceed to trial,
495
00:41:08.650 --> 00:41:12.960
although the actress opted instead to settle the case in May.
496
00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:18.519
Hundreds of pages of depositions and discovery materials in her
497
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:23.000
case point to links with other campaigns. In a sworn
498
00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:27.179
deposition filed days before the settlement in Ms. Lively's case,
499
00:41:27.659 --> 00:41:32.360
Katie Case, a former vice president at TAG, stated that
500
00:41:32.480 --> 00:41:36.510
TAG and its staff were asked by Dwayne Johnson, known
501
00:41:36.550 --> 00:41:41.110
as The Rock, to create a website about his former publicist,
502
00:41:41.530 --> 00:41:45.960
Stephanie Jones. It described Ms. Jones as someone who leaked
503
00:41:46.300 --> 00:41:52.000
her clients' secrets and mistreated her employees, the deposition said. Ms.
504
00:41:52.059 --> 00:41:55.079
Case also said she wrote the text for a website
505
00:41:55.480 --> 00:42:01.059
that disparaged women who had accused three brothers, Tal, Alan,
506
00:42:01.139 --> 00:42:07.420
and Oren Alexander, of sexually assaulting them. The brothers, well-known
507
00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:10.869
in wealthy party circles in New York and Miami, were
508
00:42:10.929 --> 00:42:16.050
convicted of sex trafficking earlier this year. Mr. Johnson, in
509
00:42:16.130 --> 00:42:20.130
a statement from a representative, denied he had ever ordered
510
00:42:20.150 --> 00:42:24.710
a website against Ms. Jones or hired TAG, calling the
511
00:42:24.849 --> 00:42:29.829
allegations categorically false and added that he would never commission
512
00:42:30.070 --> 00:42:35.860
any company to disparage Stephanie Jones or anyone else. Jim Case,
513
00:42:36.050 --> 00:42:39.429
who is Katie Case's father and her lawyer, said in
514
00:42:39.510 --> 00:42:42.280
a statement that Ms. Case did not know what she
515
00:42:42.760 --> 00:42:46.139
was being asked to write may have been false. When
516
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:48.619
she asked to do work she felt at odds with,
517
00:42:49.019 --> 00:42:53.780
he added, she left tag. Lawyers for the Alexander brothers
518
00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:58.880
declined to comment. Judah Engelmeyer, their press representative, said in
519
00:42:58.940 --> 00:43:03.420
an email that the Alexanders do not control or operate
520
00:43:03.579 --> 00:43:10.199
anonymous third-party websites and declined to comment further. Ms. Lively's
521
00:43:10.619 --> 00:43:16.280
legal efforts helped the other women who sued realize their
522
00:43:16.300 --> 00:43:20.860
campaigns were connected, they all told the Times. Alexa Nicholas
523
00:43:20.949 --> 00:43:26.489
Exposed Alexa Nicholas, 34, is a former child actress who
524
00:43:26.550 --> 00:43:31.349
starred in Nickelodeon's Zoe 101 in her early teens. She
525
00:43:31.449 --> 00:43:35.019
is now an activist against sexual violence who has staged
526
00:43:35.099 --> 00:43:39.599
public protests against sexual assault including at a concert by
527
00:43:39.659 --> 00:43:44.460
the DJ and producer Diplo over sexual misconduct claims, which
528
00:43:44.500 --> 00:43:49.019
he has denied. She appeared in the documentary Quiet on
529
00:43:49.139 --> 00:43:53.829
Set about the abuse child actors faced at Nickelodeon in
530
00:43:53.849 --> 00:43:58.489
the 1990s. In 2021, she was in the throes of
531
00:43:58.570 --> 00:44:04.570
a lawsuit against her ex-husband, the Canadian indie musician Michael Milosz,
532
00:44:05.070 --> 00:44:09.690
whom she accused of sexual battery and abuse after they split. Mr.
533
00:44:09.750 --> 00:44:14.449
Milosh was represented by Mr. Friedman. She said she found
534
00:44:14.630 --> 00:44:17.929
news clippings that show that Mr. Friedman had been accused
535
00:44:18.360 --> 00:44:22.139
of participating in the gang rape of a 17-year-old at
536
00:44:22.179 --> 00:44:28.800
the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985. The teenager sued Mr.
537
00:44:28.880 --> 00:44:33.179
Friedman and two of his fraternity brothers, Mr. Friedman paid
538
00:44:33.239 --> 00:44:38.679
her a $ 40, 000 settlement according to the November 8, 1991
539
00:44:38.679 --> 00:44:45.219
case file in California's Alameda Superior Court. Mr. Friedman denied
540
00:44:45.260 --> 00:44:50.070
the allegations and was never criminally charged in the matter. Ms.
541
00:44:50.110 --> 00:44:54.690
Nicholas organized a protest against Mr. Friedman outside his office
542
00:44:54.809 --> 00:44:58.829
in Los Angeles to bring attention to the assault allegations.
543
00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:05.199
Her protest prompted an article in Business Insider, publicizing Mr.
544
00:45:05.260 --> 00:45:09.079
Friedman's history of paying a settlement to a woman who
545
00:45:09.159 --> 00:45:15.320
accused him of gang rape. She filed a defamation suit
546
00:45:15.539 --> 00:45:20.480
earlier this year in Los Angeles, accusing Mr. Friedman, Ms. Nathan,
547
00:45:20.719 --> 00:45:25.820
and Mr. Wallace of spreading a retaliatory digital campaign about
548
00:45:25.880 --> 00:45:30.760
her filled with damaging lies. In her lawsuit, Ms. Nicholas says,
549
00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:37.110
the site appeared to be retaliation for her protest. One
550
00:45:37.170 --> 00:45:41.630
week after the Business Insider article in late November 2022,
551
00:45:41.630 --> 00:45:46.289
a website describing Ms. Nicholas as a sinister and criminal
552
00:45:46.369 --> 00:45:50.719
force was published. Alexa Nicholas has threatened to leak and
553
00:45:50.900 --> 00:45:55.940
outright manufacture claims of sexual assault against people, execs, and
554
00:45:56.039 --> 00:46:01.480
executives since the Nickelodeon days, the website read. Revenge and
555
00:46:01.579 --> 00:46:05.849
control are what drives her. The timing of this website
556
00:46:06.010 --> 00:46:10.090
is no coincidence, she wrote in her complaint. At this point,
557
00:46:10.309 --> 00:46:15.980
defendant Friedman knew Ms. Nicholas was exposing his past allegations
558
00:46:16.039 --> 00:46:20.289
of gang rape and the website explicitly sought to discredit her.
559
00:46:21.150 --> 00:46:26.610
The website was then amplified by at least 16 social
560
00:46:26.690 --> 00:46:32.090
media profiles and more than 70 Wikipedia posts with similar language,
561
00:46:32.650 --> 00:46:36.760
a strategy that all women who have sued say manipulates
562
00:46:36.920 --> 00:46:41.260
Internet search results to give more credence to lies and smears.
563
00:46:43.019 --> 00:46:47.099
The campaign planted all these seeds of doubt within my community.
564
00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:51.659
It was designed to harm me, Ms. Nicholas said. It's
565
00:46:51.719 --> 00:46:59.309
psychological torment. In August, a judge rejected Mr. Friedman's bid
566
00:46:59.570 --> 00:47:05.329
to dismiss her case. Her suit is now moving to discovery. Ms. Nicholas,
567
00:47:05.389 --> 00:47:08.789
who has two young children, said the website and its
568
00:47:08.969 --> 00:47:14.260
allegations made her entire family unsafe. It creeps up around you,
569
00:47:14.380 --> 00:47:18.940
she said. The target is first and foremost psychological impact
570
00:47:19.019 --> 00:47:22.070
on the victim, but then other people start to feel
571
00:47:22.139 --> 00:47:25.369
at risk too, and they are people that you love,
572
00:47:25.769 --> 00:47:30.769
and you don't ever want them to feel unsafe. Invisible signals.
573
00:47:31.730 --> 00:47:36.710
Anya Fernald, a sustainable food expert and former Iron Chef judge,
574
00:47:37.369 --> 00:47:43.320
founded a high-end organic meat company, Belcampo, In 2021, it
575
00:47:43.380 --> 00:47:48.489
was revealed that Belcampo had been passing off factory-farmed meat
576
00:47:48.889 --> 00:47:53.269
as sustainable and organic. Ms. Fernald, who was no longer
577
00:47:53.369 --> 00:47:58.380
chief executive at Belcampo during the scandal, contends she was
578
00:47:58.429 --> 00:48:02.500
made a scapegoat in the fallout. She hired Mr. Friedman
579
00:48:02.539 --> 00:48:07.039
to defend her and, with his help, received a multimillion-dollar settlement.
580
00:48:08.309 --> 00:48:12.989
By 2024, she thought she had put the experience behind her.
581
00:48:13.650 --> 00:48:17.369
She was also moving on from another difficult experience in
582
00:48:17.409 --> 00:48:23.420
her life, a long-term relationship with Andrew Huberman, a pop
583
00:48:23.500 --> 00:48:30.000
culture neuroscientist. Mr. Friedman was also Mr. Huberman's lawyer. Ms.
584
00:48:30.039 --> 00:48:37.079
Fernald introduced them before the couple split. In March 2024,
585
00:48:37.079 --> 00:48:41.000
months after the couple broke up, Ms. Fernald spoke under
586
00:48:41.059 --> 00:48:45.869
a pseudonym to New York Magazine about her relationship with Mr. Huberman,
587
00:48:46.409 --> 00:48:51.329
accusing him of infidelity and verbal abuse. Within days, she
588
00:48:51.389 --> 00:48:56.000
was outed online as the source of the allegations. An
589
00:48:56.079 --> 00:49:01.789
anonymous website and a fake ex-profile appeared online. making unfounded
590
00:49:01.869 --> 00:49:05.730
allegations about her role at the company and in the fallout.
591
00:49:06.570 --> 00:49:10.280
The Post painted her as a fraudster who had driven
592
00:49:10.500 --> 00:49:14.500
the company into the ground. She had no idea where
593
00:49:14.539 --> 00:49:17.449
the site had come from, but then she received a
594
00:49:17.489 --> 00:49:20.539
call from a lawyer for Ms. Nicholas who had reviewed
595
00:49:20.599 --> 00:49:27.059
a digital forensics report detailed in Mr. Nicholas's lawsuit. Sites
596
00:49:27.119 --> 00:49:30.969
about Ms. Nicholas had backlinks and visible signals that drive
597
00:49:31.150 --> 00:49:36.969
internet traffic to YouTube videos about the Belcampo scandal. Ms.
598
00:49:37.050 --> 00:49:42.250
Nicholas's suit had also alleges common authorship on Wikipedia pages
599
00:49:42.690 --> 00:49:47.530
smearing both women. Other websites verified by the Times had
600
00:49:47.610 --> 00:49:51.280
backlinks to both Ms. Fernald and four more people interviewed
601
00:49:51.340 --> 00:49:55.920
for this story who said they were targeted by campaigns. Ms.
602
00:49:55.960 --> 00:50:00.340
Fernald said she still isn't completely clear about who created
603
00:50:00.420 --> 00:50:04.260
the sites targeting her and is not among the women
604
00:50:04.340 --> 00:50:08.340
who have filed a lawsuit. But either way, she said,
605
00:50:08.679 --> 00:50:12.969
she doesn't regret speaking publicly about Mr. Huberman and added,
606
00:50:13.449 --> 00:50:17.090
I knew he was going to counterattack in some way. Mr.
607
00:50:17.150 --> 00:50:21.570
Huberman did not respond to a request for comment. The
608
00:50:21.630 --> 00:50:26.909
Ketamine Queen. Paige Jimenez, 28, got her start as a
609
00:50:26.969 --> 00:50:31.989
teenage model and became a culinary influencer after appearing on
610
00:50:32.090 --> 00:50:38.570
MasterChef at 18. On October 17, 2024, she was living
611
00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:42.289
in Los Angeles and newly in love. She was waiting
612
00:50:42.349 --> 00:50:44.889
for her boyfriend to pick her up for dinner. They
613
00:50:44.929 --> 00:50:47.969
were planning to go to the Georgian Room in Santa Monica,
614
00:50:48.469 --> 00:50:52.030
where she loved to order the dry-aged steak, mashed potatoes,
615
00:50:52.110 --> 00:50:56.090
and creamed spinach. She and her boyfriend had grown up
616
00:50:56.130 --> 00:51:00.309
together on the same island in Hawaii. But my family
617
00:51:00.349 --> 00:51:03.090
was from the poor side, she said in an interview.
618
00:51:03.739 --> 00:51:07.440
The couple had recently reconnected in Los Angeles and had
619
00:51:07.619 --> 00:51:10.659
only been dating a few months, but we were inseparable,
620
00:51:10.739 --> 00:51:14.889
she said. We were so deeply in love. A number
621
00:51:14.969 --> 00:51:18.730
she didn't recognize flashed on her phone. The man on
622
00:51:18.789 --> 00:51:22.510
the other end of the call identified himself as Brian Friedman,
623
00:51:22.639 --> 00:51:26.679
her lawsuit states, and told her he had been hired
624
00:51:26.760 --> 00:51:32.519
by her boyfriend's wealthy parents, Her romantic relationship was over, Ms.
625
00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:37.820
Jimenez recalled him telling her. A few hours later, the
626
00:51:37.889 --> 00:51:41.389
man who identified himself as Mr. Friedman sent her a
627
00:51:41.469 --> 00:51:45.610
text message that included a link to a website entitled
628
00:51:46.150 --> 00:51:50.989
Paige Jimenez, the Real Ketamine Queen, the lawsuit states. The
629
00:51:51.050 --> 00:51:55.190
Times reviewed the text message. The site posted her full
630
00:51:55.550 --> 00:51:59.510
home address and described her as a ketamine dealer who
631
00:51:59.570 --> 00:52:02.760
was wanted for questioning in the death of the actor
632
00:52:02.960 --> 00:52:08.579
Matthew Perry, a completely fabricated allegation, according to her lawsuit,
633
00:52:09.039 --> 00:52:12.320
as well as crimes in several cities. She will be
634
00:52:12.440 --> 00:52:16.920
behind bars very soon, it said. It was filled with
635
00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:22.179
other unfounded accusations. She was a prostitute and gold digger,
636
00:52:22.260 --> 00:52:26.360
it said. but also resurfaced several true points from Ms.
637
00:52:26.380 --> 00:52:30.480
Jimenez's past that she had worked hard to overcome, most
638
00:52:30.659 --> 00:52:35.519
notably that she had briefly made adult content for only
639
00:52:35.639 --> 00:52:41.309
fans in her early 20s. Ms. Jimenez said the website,
640
00:52:41.389 --> 00:52:44.989
which had suddenly become the top Google result for her name,
641
00:52:45.610 --> 00:52:49.760
pushed her into a depression zone. She was forced to
642
00:52:49.840 --> 00:52:54.599
seek inpatient psychiatric treatment, and she and her boyfriend eventually
643
00:52:54.820 --> 00:52:57.869
broke up for good. There are some weeks where I
644
00:52:57.909 --> 00:53:00.309
just don't want to get out of bed, Ms. Jimenez
645
00:53:00.329 --> 00:53:04.429
said in a recent interview. Her lawsuit filed Monday in
646
00:53:04.489 --> 00:53:09.469
Los Angeles Superior Court against Mr. Friedman, Mr. Wallace, Ms. Nathan,
647
00:53:09.889 --> 00:53:15.179
and their companies accuses all three of intentional infliction of
648
00:53:15.260 --> 00:53:23.489
emotional distress. an actual prostitute. Jessica Cerfati, an actress and
649
00:53:23.550 --> 00:53:27.880
model who has appeared on America's Next Top Model, was
650
00:53:27.980 --> 00:53:33.980
engaged to Leonardo Maria del Baccio, heir to the $ 47
651
00:53:33.099 --> 00:53:38.300
billion Luxottica fortune, when she went on Instagram Live in
652
00:53:38.360 --> 00:53:42.929
July 2024 and claimed he had hit her and made
653
00:53:42.989 --> 00:53:47.050
her head bleed. There is no blood visible in the video,
654
00:53:47.530 --> 00:53:53.130
but Miss Serfati appears visibly distraught. She recanted the allegation
655
00:53:53.170 --> 00:53:57.630
a few days later after several face-to-face meetings with both Dr.
656
00:53:57.690 --> 00:54:01.130
Del Vecchio and his lawyer, but only did so because
657
00:54:01.170 --> 00:54:05.150
she was pressured, she told the Times. She maintains that
658
00:54:05.210 --> 00:54:09.639
her fiancé did in fact hit her. Shortly after Miss
659
00:54:09.659 --> 00:54:15.780
Serfati's accusation, websites and social media profiles describing her as
660
00:54:15.840 --> 00:54:20.610
an actual prostitute who resorts to lies to endanger the
661
00:54:20.670 --> 00:54:25.369
people who love her, appeared on the Internet. In September,
662
00:54:25.809 --> 00:54:30.690
Brad Beckwith and Christina Yarnall, two lawyers working with Ms. Jones,
663
00:54:30.789 --> 00:54:35.590
the publicist, filed a lawsuit on her behalf against Ms. Case,
664
00:54:36.070 --> 00:54:40.760
the former vice president at TAG. The Times obtained several
665
00:54:40.880 --> 00:54:46.449
profanity-laced audio recordings related to that case. Mr. Wallace sent
666
00:54:46.489 --> 00:54:50.329
them in the summer of 2024 to Mr. Del Vecchio
667
00:54:50.489 --> 00:54:55.159
and TAG employees. Mr. Wallace references the work of Ms.
668
00:54:55.239 --> 00:54:59.400
Nathan as he explains how he will bolster the popularity
669
00:54:59.619 --> 00:55:06.289
of fake websites targeting Ms. Serfati. Hundreds and hundreds of
670
00:55:06.369 --> 00:55:09.590
links go up every single day to get this to
671
00:55:09.650 --> 00:55:14.050
track and to tell the algorithm this has credibility, he
672
00:55:14.130 --> 00:55:18.380
said in one. referring to the allegations posted about her.
673
00:55:19.300 --> 00:55:22.559
In another note, he said the process was not just
674
00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:27.059
about creating a fake storyline, but making sure people viewed
675
00:55:27.119 --> 00:55:31.559
her as a hooker, liar, and a prostitute. In a
676
00:55:31.639 --> 00:55:35.019
third note, he says, people are already starting to pound
677
00:55:35.139 --> 00:55:38.619
on her as being a lunatic. On Reddit, the giant
678
00:55:38.840 --> 00:55:43.500
online social media forum, which is exactly what we wanted, Mr.
679
00:55:43.559 --> 00:55:49.429
Del Vecchio and his representatives did not respond to requests
680
00:55:49.650 --> 00:55:56.440
for comment. Con artist Amanda Ghost, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, was
681
00:55:56.619 --> 00:56:01.619
one of the producers of The Deb, the directorial debut
682
00:56:01.739 --> 00:56:06.849
of the actress Rebel Wilson. Text messages and emails unearthed
683
00:56:06.929 --> 00:56:11.230
by her lawyer's offer up the most visible paper trail
684
00:56:11.329 --> 00:56:15.469
yet of how the various campaigns are connected and have
685
00:56:15.530 --> 00:56:20.190
played out. The first public signs of conflict between Miss
686
00:56:20.230 --> 00:56:24.510
Wilson and Miss Ghost appeared in July 2024 when Miss
687
00:56:24.550 --> 00:56:29.320
Wilson told her nearly 11 million followers on Instagram that
688
00:56:29.400 --> 00:56:33.280
Miss Ghost and other producers had embezzled the movie's funds
689
00:56:33.739 --> 00:56:37.500
and tried to block its debut at the Toronto International
690
00:56:37.519 --> 00:56:42.699
Film film festival. Miss Ghost sued, accusing Miss Wilson of
691
00:56:42.760 --> 00:56:47.079
defaming her because she had wanted both screenwriting and songwriting
692
00:56:47.159 --> 00:56:51.559
credits on the film, which Miss Ghost had claimed belonged
693
00:56:51.599 --> 00:56:56.400
to other artists. Text messages and emails first reported by
694
00:56:56.440 --> 00:57:00.519
the Times and included in Miss Ghost's lawsuit show Miss Nathan,
695
00:57:01.059 --> 00:57:05.219
who was a publicist for Miss Wilson, then walking her
696
00:57:05.320 --> 00:57:09.889
through how a disparaging website would unfold, and how much
697
00:57:10.230 --> 00:57:13.889
it would cost. This concludes the reading of the New
698
00:57:13.929 --> 00:57:17.929
York Times for today. Your reader has been Blanca Michael Ward.
699
00:57:18.610 --> 00:57:22.909
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
700
00:57:23.500 --> 00:57:29.440
please feel free to call us at 859-422-6390. Thank you
701
00:57:29.480 --> 00:57:33.099
for listening, and now please stay tuned for continued programming
702
00:57:33.320 --> 00:57:34.150
on Radio Eye.