Biden's Next Steps, French Election Results, Boeing To Plead Guilty, Beryl Hits Texas

How does the party decide?

France's far right fell far short of expectations in legislative elections.

The National Rally had been hoping to dominate a new parliament, but they will not be the

biggest party.

How did centrist and left-wing parties surge?

The company will pay hundreds of millions of dollars.

How did Boeing mislead regulators about the safety of the 737 MAX?

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This week, many see each other face to face as Congress returns to Washington.

Four senior House Democrats said on a private call yesterday that they believe President

Biden should step aside.

Others support the president, like the Democratic senators and the governor who campaigned with

him in Pennsylvania yesterday.

A disappointing debate triggered the discussion by raising larger questions about the president's

fitness at age 81.

Tam, good morning.

of Democrats in Congress.

So where does the party stand?

These four members who called for Biden to step aside were on a call with leadership.

They're ranking members of committees and they haven't come out publicly yet.

And then there are other members firmly standing behind Biden.

I know a lot of representatives and senators will be looking for clues from top leadership,

including House Minority Leader Jeffries and Majority Leader Schumer in the Senate, and

they haven't shown their cards.

Biden for his part has been working the phones, calling members of Congress, and he will be

doing a lot more of that today.

Yesterday at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ, the only message he heard was stay in.

Don't let them tell you you're too old.

The head pastor, Jay Lewis Felton, led worshipers in a call in response.

Come on, say we love you, President Biden.

selfies, grabbing the phones himself to take the pictures.

And he kept doing that at every stop.

He dropped in on a campaign field office in Philadelphia and he referenced the laser eyes

superhero meme version of himself.

That event was outside in a courtyard.

It was over 90 degrees outside and he shook hands for a good 45 minutes after delivering

brief remarks. At one point during that very long, hot marathon of chatting with

supporters, Gloria Gaynor's, I will survive came on the sound system.

And the whole point seemed to be to show his critics that he has the stamina to beat

Trump.

saying that people are going to get a real good look of who Donald Trump is.

The hope for Democrats, their hope had been to make this election effectively a

referendum on the challenger, a referendum on Trump and what a danger they feel he

would be for the country.

Instead, the focus is on the president and his age.

So where is this heading?

to their playbook, which was going after Trump.

In terms of Biden, people often look like they are hanging on in politics until they're

not. But Biden has long been someone who scoffs in the face of doubt.

So in addition to those calls he's making to lawmakers, he'll be talking to foreign

leaders at the NATO summit this week, trying to convince them that he can keep Trump out

of office. And then on Friday, he goes to Detroit, Michigan, to campaign.

It is another must win state.

Tamara, thanks so much.

You're welcome. That's NPR's Tamara Keith.

Instead, it was routed by a diverse leftist coalition cobbled together only weeks ago.

recomposed parliament.

We go to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris to find out what's next.

Hi, Eleanor. Hi.

So what happened?

What happened is that the French turned out massively.

There was historic participation over 67 percent.

Millions voted to block the far right.

And this is what they call the Front Republican or the Republican Front in action.

People told me they became frightened in the last week because, if you'll remember, the

hard right National Rally Party of Marine Le Pen was in the lead after the first round of

voting. I went last night to Paris's Place de la République, where people from the left

were gathering. And this is what it sounded like when the first results were announced.

People were exhilarated, it turned into a big party, there was singing and chanting, and at

one point the crowd was chanting, everybody detests Bardella, referring to Jordan Bardella,

the young leader of the National Rally Party, who could have been France's next prime

minister had they gotten their majority in parliament.

I met 52-year-old art teacher Cécile Palivère, chanting away.

She told me she was so relieved she couldn't stop crying and hugging everyone.

Here she is.

She said France does not deserve crazy, racist, xenophobes like them.

We are a nation made up of lots of colors and cultures, and that's our richness.

It's about generosity and sharing.

So, Leila, that was the mood last night.

majority of seats in the parliament.

So what happens now?

The French parliament is divided into three blocks and no one has a majority.

You know, countries like Germany and Italy are used to coalition governments, but this is an

absolutely unprecedented situation for modern France.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal handed in his resignation this morning.

That was expected, but President Macron refused it.

He asked him to stay on to keep a government in place, some continuity to oversee things like,

you know, the Olympic Games starting soon, which is a huge security challenge that the

government is deeply involved in.

Analysts say this next phase of forming a new government in this new parliament could take

weeks, and they're referring to this next period as the third round of the elections.

You know, the deal making, horse trading and the compromise needed to get a working

government. And this parliament has bigger extremes in it than it ever had before.

Extreme right and extreme left, which could make it harder to get a working majority.

They thought it was going to be a question of just how big their majority would be.

Here's Marine Le Pen speaking last night.

She said if there had not been this unnatural deal between President Macron and the left,

we would be the majority party today.

She's talking about the fact that to defeat the far right in about 300 three way runoff

races in the second round, either the centrist candidate or the leftist candidate dropped

out so as not to split the vote against the far right.

She said that had distorted the vote and blocked the true aspirations of the French.

Now, they got together to block the right, but the centrist and left will find it very

difficult to build a government.

They don't have much in common.

And in fact, this left wing coalition is so diverse.

They have deep divisions ranging from communists to ecologists.

They're going to have a difficult time.

Marine Le Pen reminded us that her party still has more seats than it ever has.

And it's the largest party in Parliament, because remember, the two other blocs are

coalitions. So the French far right has hardly gone away.

That's according to an agreement announced late last night by the Justice Department.

These are the planes that crashed a few years ago, killing 346 people.

Joel, good morning. Morning, Steve.

OK, from what you've read, what is Boeing agreeing to?

regulators about the safety of those two 737 MAX 8 planes and the flawed flight control

system that led to those two crashes back in 2018 and 2019.

Under this plea deal, Boeing will pay a fine of more than $240 million and has agreed to

spend upwards of $450 million on compliance and safety programs going forward.

Boeing would also be under formal probation for three more years.

Now, if all of this sounds familiar, it should.

Boeing and prosecutors reached a similar agreement back in 2021 known as a deferred

prosecution agreement.

What happened to that earlier deal?

and compliance. In exchange, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute the

company. But the Department of Justice now says Boeing did not hold up its end of that

deal and essentially gave the company a choice of taking this plea deal or fighting the

felony charge in court.

There are some key differences this time around.

For one, Boeing has agreed to plead guilty.

That didn't happen last time.

Also, this time, Boeing and the DOJ have agreed that there will be an independent

monitor to make sure that the company is complying for a period of three years.

And under the proposal, that monitor will be appointed by the Justice Department with

input from Boeing.

the relatives of the hundreds of people killed in those crashes.

How are people responding?

They say this is once again a sweetheart deal for Boeing, just like that earlier agreement,

and that no other criminal defendant would get a friendly offer like this from the

government. Family members were hoping to see even bigger fines as well as personal

accountability for Boeing's leaders.

Lawyers for those family members are already urging a federal judge to reject this plea

deal. They also want the judge to appoint his own monitor.

They say Boeing should not be involved in selecting that monitor because the families

argue that's exactly the kind of self-regulation that led to the two crashes in the

means the judge still has to sign off on this.

court within days.

The judge could accept it or reject it.

There could be a hearing on that in Texas as soon as this month.

You know, it's important to note this deal only covers events leading up to those MAX

crashes in 2018 and 2019.

It does not say anything about the door plug panel that blew out of an almost new Boeing

737 MAX 9 jet back in January of this year in midair.

Boeing is still under enormous scrutiny for its quality control and manufacturing

processes because of that incident, including a push for tougher regulation from the

FAA. And federal law enforcement is looking separately at that incident as well.

That's NPR's Joel Rose.

late last month. First, that it came so early, then that it became so strong, it was a

Category 5 storm as it pounded the Caribbean.

It then weakened, but has regained strength while approaching the Texas coast.

It now has 80 mile per hour winds.

Hi, Greg.

That's about 100 miles south of Galveston.

And as you say, it's carrying 80 mile per hour winds and moving about 10 miles per hour.

Now, along with the winds, the most immediate impact is the storm surge.

Forecasters say that area could receive as much as seven feet of storm surge.

Some communities around there ordered mandatory evacuations for residents with a concern

that with flooding, emergency services wouldn't be available for those who need help.

As Beryl strengthened, the National Hurricane Center extended concerns about storm surge

and flooding into Galveston and the Houston area.

Galveston could see a six-foot storm surge, which could be made worse

if it arrives this morning during high tide.

And add to that the forecast that Beryl will bring five to 10 inches of rain

with accumulations up to 15 inches in some areas.

It begins to raise memories of Hurricane Harvey seven years ago,

which you know, as you remember, caused severe flooding in Houston.

Beryl's a lot weaker.

It's not as wet, moving faster.

But flooding does remain a concern.

we saw homes boarded up, businesses closed, and indications that some people had evacuated.

At a marina in Rockport, boat owners were busy all day retying their boats

and trying to protect them from the wind and storm surge.

I talked to Bill Krenick when he was at work on his 35-foot sailboat.

and then the lines will get slack and they'll rub the pilings.

Just a few weeks ago, folks here say the remains

of Tropical Storm Alberto caused significant flooding in Rockport.

They're concerned this could be a lot worse this time.

and how much rain it drops on inland areas.

Inland flooding caused by rain from hurricanes, tropical storms,

even just depressions, claim more lives in many years than wind and storm surge.

So flash flood flooding will be a concern as Beryl moves through Houston

into East Texas and later today into Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Is this a sign there will be more to come?

as the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded.

Forecasters say there are a number of factors suggesting this is going

to be a very active hurricane season.

The biggest one, of course, is the warm ocean temperatures

in the Gulf and the Atlantic.

Researchers say those warm ocean temperatures are directly related to climate change

and something we might expect to be dealing with as we look forward here.

Thank you, Greg.

I'm Steve Inskeep.

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