Submersible Search, Trump Attorney on Trial, Poll on Abortion

A surveillance plane equipped with sonar detected underwater noises during the search for a missing submersible.

The five people on board the vessel in the North Atlantic Ocean are believed to have less than a day of oxygen left.

I'm a Martinez, that's Michelle Martin, and this is up first from NPR News.

And nearly a year after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, we have new polling on how Americans feel about issues like abortion and affirmative action. What can it tell us about the current political climate and the 2024 election? Stay with us, we'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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On the Ted Radio Hour, MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle, her latest research into the intimate relationships people are having with chatbots. Technologies that say, I care about you, I love you, I'm here for you, take care of me. The pros and Cons of artificial intimacy. That's on the Ted Radio Hour from NPR.

A Canadian surveillance plane picked up underwater noises during the search for the missing submersible in the North Atlantic.

That vessel, known as Titan, lost contact while diving at the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday. The people on board likely have less than a day's oxygen supply remaining. The search efforts are now being organized through a unified command center at the Coast Guard base in Boston.

Walter Wuthmann of member Station WBUR is following the search and he's with us now to tell us more. Good morning Walter.

Good morning, thanks for having me.

So what can you tell us about the latest on the situation?

So very early this morning, the Coast Guard said Canadian P-3 aircraft detected quote underwater noises in the search area around the wreck of the Titanic. As a result, they've sent in remote operated underwater vehicles to explore the origin of those noises. Those ROVs haven't found anything yet, but the search continues as we speak. And to step back a bit. The search and rescue operation started Sunday night and is now on its third day. U.S. and Canadian planes and ships are combing a patch of water about the size of Connecticut.

You're talking about a search area that's 900 miles east of Cape Cod, 400 miles south of St. John's. So, logistically speaking, it's hard to bring assets to bear, it takes time, it takes coordination.

So they're still searching, and these newly detected underwater noises are the first major break since they started.

So he spoke about coordination, so I take it that the Coast Guard is getting some help from private industry and research vessels.

That's right, and that's because it's incredibly difficult to actually search under the water, Coast Guard officials say. They're trained for surface rescue and don't have equipment that can dive deep enough to search for this submersible, so they have to get help. The research vessel that launched Titan, the Polar Prince, is still out there and assisting with the search.

They have rendezvoused with the vessel Polar Prince and commenced an ROV dive at the last. Known of the position of the Titan and the approximate position of the Titanic wreck, that operation is currently ongoing.

And they said they're still actively soliciting more help.

Now, this submersible belongs to a private company, Ocean Gate, which operates private tours of the Titanic site. I understand that their safety record has drawn scrutiny in recent days.

Yes, and people have raised safety concerns about Ocean Gate's submersible Titan before we obtained federal court documents from a contract dispute in 2018 that show. The company's former director of marine operations was concerned about the vessel's structural integrity. That employee, David Lockridge, was an experienced submarine pilot and said Ocean Gate didn't properly test the submersible's carbon fiber hull. The documents say that Lockridge expressed verbal concerns to executive management, which later wrote a report identifying, quote numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns. His lawyers wrote that instead of addressing the points he raised, the company fired him.

As briefly as you can, Walter, before we let you go. How much time do they have at this point?

Yesterday, they estimated, as you said, up top, about 40 hours of oxygen left, that would put us at about a day's worth. Now. So hope hasn't run out. And these new noises they've detected allow them to really focus in on this specific area. So I'm sure that's what they will be doing today.

That's Walter Werthmann of Member Station WBUR in Boston. Walter, thanks so much for sharing this reporting with us.

Thank you.

Attorney John Eastman fought to overturn the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in power. Now he's fighting to keep his law license.

State Bar of California says Eastman knowingly pushed bogus conspiracy theories about the election and should be disbarred. Disciplinary hearings against Eastman started yesterday, and the former dean of Chapman University's law school testified.

In Paris, Tom Dreisbach was in the courtroom and he's with us now to tell us what happened. Good morning.

Good morning.

So could you just bring us up to speed on what Eastman did after the 2020 election?

So, Eastman is a right-wing law professor, attorney, and he was a key player in the Trump legal team that was challenging the election results. He developed, most importantly, this plan for swing states that voted for Biden to submit alternate or fake slates of electors for Trump. And he pressured Vice President Pence to block Biden's win on January 6th. Now, that same day, Eastman rallied the crowd to add to the pressure on Pence.

It is bigger than President Trump.

It is the very essence of our Republican form of government, and it has to be done.

And anybody that is not willing to stand up to do it does not deserve to be in the office. It is that simple.

Later that day, of course, a mob violently stormed the Capitol. And even after the violence started, emails show that Eastman continued to advocate this plan to block Biden's victory.

So what's the State Bar's case against Eastman?

Well, in court, the State Bar's attorney argued that Eastman's conduct was quote fundamentally dishonest, that Eastman pushed false claims of fraud in court documents. Conspired with Trump to obstruct the Electoral College count, and that he was pressuring Pence to violate the Constitution. This argument is that all these actions went against Eastman's professional responsibilities as a member of the State bar. Now. I talked about this with Jessica Levinson. She's a law professor at Loyola Law School here in L..A. and she says. This is one of several cases of disciplinary hearings for Trump lawyers.

Lawyers hold positions of public trust in our society. There's a reason that we have to agree to certain rules of the profession. And the baseline is, don't lie to judges, support the law and support the constitution. So now, of course, I'm going to ask you what Eastman's response to these charges is. I think I'm assuming he's arguing that he was just arguing that he's making the case for his client.

Eastman was actually the first witness called by the state bar, and he was a lot more muted on the stand than at that rally you heard on January 6th. And he was asked about the sources of some of the wild claims and legal filings and public comments he made about supposed voter fraud or irregularities in the election. And basically said he trusted information that they were getting on. The legal team was vetted because he trusted the lawyers he worked with, but he did not actually do much of the vetting himself.

What else can we expect from the rest of the trial?

Well, it's supposed to last about two weeks. With Eastman under oath, we could get some new information about the behind-the-scenes work to overturn the 2020 election. We're also supposed to hear from Greg Jacob, who was a lawyer for then-vice President Pence. And Eastman's witness list includes some really fringe figures who have supported election. The judge in the case will ultimately make a ruling, but the California Supreme Court has the final say here.

That's NPR's Tom Dreisbach, Tom, thank you.

Thank you.

A new NPR PBS Newshour Marist poll takes the nation's temperature on an array of social issues, from abortion rights and affirmative action to how Americans feel about gender identity.

This poll comes nearly a year after a Supreme Court ruling fundamentally changed abortion rights in this country.

NPR senior political editor Domenico Montanaro is here with us now to tell us more Good morning Domenico.

Hey Michelle.

So this Saturday marks a year since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision on abortion. What does the poll tell us about how people are feeling about that decision now?

Well, the survey, interviewed more than 1,300 adults, found a majority 57 said that they were against the court's decision. You know? Three-quarters of Democrats said that, almost 6 in 10 independents did, but two-thirds of Republicans are in favor of it.

This court has a couple of weeks to go in this current term. And there are a number of controversial items where they are still set to weigh in. One of those is affirmative action. What did the poll tell us about that?

Yeah, this is really interesting because a majority here also say that they want to see affirmative action programs continued in hiring, promoting, and in college admissions. We saw a pretty sharp partisan divide. More than three-quarters of Democrats want these programs to continue, but roughly six in ten Republicans do not. Independents were split pretty much down the middle. We also saw clear differences by race, age and gender.

So let's talk about gender identity now, because that's one of those areas that has really become this political lightning rod. So what did the survey tell us about that?

Yeah. 61 of respondents said that they believe that the only way to define male and female is by the sex listed on a person's original birth certificate. 35 said that that definition is out of date and needs to be updated to include how people identify. There's a huge political divide here. 9 in 10 Republicans and 6 in 10 independents said gender is determined by birth. 6 in 10 Democrats said that that's out of date.

Just some really stunning findings there. That's NPR's senior political editor and correspondent, Domenico Martinaro Domenico, thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.