On Monday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY Trump Campaign Reporter Zac Anderson reports on how former President Donald Trump has referred to the July assassination attempt, as he returns Saturday to the same Pennsylvania town where the shooting happened. The death toll from Hurricane Helene reaches at least 226. The U.S. gets some positive news from the jobs market. USA TODAY Trending News Reporter Jonathan Limehouse explains what new evidence in the Menendez brothers' case might mean for them going forward. The European Union's top court rules that every member country must recognize official changes to gender identity acquired elsewhere within the bloc.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson. And today is Saturday, October 5th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, Trump returns to Butler, Pennsylvania three months after an attempt on his life there. Plus, the latest updates from Helene's aftermath and what a new development could mean for the future of the Menendez Brothers.

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Former President Donald Trump has set for another rally in Butler, Pennsylvania today three months after an assassination attempt in the town. Since then, he's brought up the shooting dozens of times while avoiding the name of the shooter. I spoke with USA TODAY Trump campaign reporter Zach Anderson for more.

Zach, it's always good to hear from you. Thanks for hopping on.

Zach Anderson:

Hey, good to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So Zach, in the weeks since this Butler shooting from the summer, how often has Trump referred back to it publicly and really how does he typically frame it?

Zach Anderson:

Yeah, I went back and looked at all the events that Trump has held since the shooting on July 13th in Pennsylvania, and there's 51 of them, or at least 51 of them that I found, and he talks about the shooting in at least 31 of them. So the shooting has really become a big part of the narrative of his campaign. He mentions it quite often. He first talked about it during his nomination speech at the Republican National Convention, and he said then that he was only going to talk about it that once because it was too painful, but he is really integrated it into his entire campaign

Taylor Wilson:

And Zach, in terms of the shooter himself, how has he approached that? What has he said about Crooks? Really, what have we heard from him in here?

Zach Anderson:

He talks about a shooting without a shooter. He never mentions the shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks by name. He has alluded to him at times as an evil assassin or a lunatic, but never mentioned him by name, which is unusual for Trump. When you talk to victims advocates, they don't recommend saying a shooter's name. They say you don't want to aggrandize them, but Trump has built differently. Something's a taboo, it doesn't really scare him off. And he's known for really pilloring his enemies, so it's interesting that he hasn't mentioned Crooks at all. Instead, he's really kind of tried to tie the shooting to democratic rhetoric and things like that. So that has really become the enemy instead of the guy who actually shot him.

Taylor Wilson:

Zach, the Trump campaign has faced everything from hacked emails to poisoning threats to assassination plots, including those by foreign adversaries in recent months. I'm curious how this landscape might contribute to how Trump has approached this initial assassination attempt. Has it had any impact and how he's talked about this?

Zach Anderson:

It's not clear, and he definitely does seem rattled a bit. At one of his rallies, he talked about having the yips, which is a sports term for somebody when they're nervous, often applied to like when a golfer can't putt or chip. Somebody was approaching the stage at this rally in Long Island and Trump appeared to get startled, so it does appear to be affecting his nerves to some degree. Trump is somebody who always tries to project strength and he has really used this shooting to try and project strength. And you saw it even moments after he was shot where he stood up, his face was still bloody from a bullet grazing his ear, and he pumped his fist and shouted three times, "Fight. Fight. Fight." Even in that moment, his instincts were to project strength. So if this is affecting him mentally, he hasn't really talked about it.

Taylor Wilson:

And Zach, since this Pennsylvania shooting, we have seen a second foiled assassination plot surrounding Trump. How have he and his campaign and allies approached this incident and has anything changed from how they've spoken about the first one?

Zach Anderson:

It's been a very different reaction to the second incident than the first. After the first incident, Trump sort of nodded towards unity and he said the country needs to come together before he sort of pivoted more towards attacking and blaming Democrats. He doesn't mention Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter in the first incident. And the second incident, people close to Trump immediately seized on this alleged plotter, Ryan Ruth. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, and Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son, both mentioned Ruth by name. In social media posts, Trump shared an article about Ruth. So the second individual's name has been much more out in the public than the first, and there's some differences between the two. The first one, Thomas Crooks, his motive has never been established. The FBI has not found a motive for him. He actually was a registered Republican, so he's not as easy to tie to the left as this Ruth guy who actually donated to Democrats and had said some things critical of Trump. So he seems to be an easier person to go after.

Taylor Wilson:

So today, Trump returning to Butler, Pennsylvania where the first shooting took place, what's the idea behind this rally? What's the expectation here today?

Zach Anderson:

I think it's really supposed to solidify this idea of strength with Trump that he's returning to the scene where this happened, that he has overcome it, and to rally people around him. This shooting has become part of his lore, part of the sort of mythology around Trump, where you see it in images on T-shirts of him with his fist raised in defiance after being shot. I think there's even Christmas ornaments being sold with that image on it. The shooting has fallen out of the conversation a little bit. This is Trump saying, "I'm not scared. I'm overcoming this. I'm strong. I've survived this, and I'm a champion for everybody." And so I think that this is him trying to build that lore up and bring this back into the spotlight.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Zach Anderson covers Donald Trump and Republicans for USA TODAY. Thank you, Zach.

Zach Anderson:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Rescue crews across Western North Carolina yesterday continued searching for scores of missing people in the wake of Helene. At least 200 people are dead from the historic storm, and it washed out hundreds of roads and damaged bridges across the southern Appalachians, leaving residents and already isolated communities stranded amid widespread power outages and communication blackouts. Federal state and local authorities across the region yesterday pushed further into the mountain towns, including those surrounding Asheville clearing roads as food, water, and other aid was airdropped to residents in need. Citizen-led volunteer groups in the mountains of western North Carolina have supplemented official's disaster relief operations, delivering aid to stranded communities on foot and by helicopter and even mule trains. At 226 confirmed fatalities as of yesterday, Helene is the fourth-deadliest hurricane to make landfall in the US mainland since 1950. The Asheville Police Department said yesterday that police are working on 75 active missing persons cases in the city with assistance from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

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America's job market roared back last month as US employers added 254,000 jobs according to the Bureau of labor statistics. The number was higher than the average monthly gain of 203,000 over the previous 12 months according to the Bureau and the strongest reading since March. Food and drink industries, healthcare, government, social assistance, and construction led the job gains, which blew past economists average forecast for 140,000 new jobs. You can read more about what that means for the economy going forward with a link in today's show notes.

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The Menendez Brothers in 1996 where infamously convicted of murdering their parents. But nearly three decades later, new evidence of alleged sexual abuse will be reviewed by prosecutors. For more on that and what it might mean for the case going forward, I spoke with USA TODAY trending news reporter Jonathan Limehouse. Jonathan, thank you for hopping on The Excerpt today.

Jonathan Limehouse:

Hey, Taylor, ready to hop on.

Taylor Wilson:

We're hearing about new evidence in the case this week, Jonathan. What is this new evidence center on and what really might this mean for the case?

Jonathan Limehouse:

Basically, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, they held a press conference announcing that new evidence had came forth regarding sexual abuse allegations made by one of the brothers, who they didn't identify, said that they were molested when they were younger by their father, and the other just generally says they were molested and that influenced the murderers later in life. The prosecution will look at the new evidence and then they will determine whether they should re-sentence the brothers to either a lesser sentence or even give them a new trial for manslaughter or a lesser charge. It also brings up the question of what kind of influenced them to do what they did. Yes, they were charged with murder and sentenced to life without parole, but were those charges substantial and fairly based off their life and their history of alleged abuse.

Taylor Wilson:

So Jonathan, this is clearly a high profile case. There have been documentaries made over the years. There's a new miniseries on Netflix and also a massive change.org petition and celebrities have gotten involved in this case as well. Can you talk through some of that and just how much public opinion seems to be shifting over this case?

Jonathan Limehouse:

This new show, people have been watching it. I can't tell you exactly if it's the number one show in Netflix currently, but I know it's pretty much up there. I think people are getting more of an understanding of these two brothers' history. Like you said, a lot of celebrities and a lot of people have come forward and even there's a petition that's going around that has over 350,000 signatures requesting or aiming for them to get a new trial. But like you said, celebrities have come forward and spoke about it, including Kim Kardashian. She visited both the brothers in prison with one of the actors who actually plays in the miniseries that just released on Netflix soon. She kind of came out with a personal statement that she has shared on NBC News recently. She says, and I quote, "Can anyone honestly deny that the justice system would've treated the Menendez sisters more leniently? There were virtually no systems in place to support survivors, and public awareness of the trauma of male sexual abuse was minimal, often clouded by preconceived judgments and homophobia."

Taylor Wilson:

So really Jonathan, where do we go from here? I mean, what's next considering this new evidence?

Jonathan Limehouse:

So there is an upcoming hearing in November that I basically go into the new evidence. It'll be November 29th exactly, and it'll basically just go over new evidence. I don't know how long the resettling process or the review may be, but the district attorney for Los Angeles did say that it'll be up to the prosecutors and their discretion to determine whether they will be re-sentenced or if they will remain in jail.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. We'll be keeping an eye out to your reporting. Jonathan Limehouse covers trending news for USA TODAY. Thank you, Jonathan.

Jonathan Limehouse:

Thank you so much.

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Taylor Wilson:

The European Union's top court ruled yesterday that every member country must recognize official changes to gender identity acquired elsewhere within the 27 Nation political and economic bloc. Legal experts say the ruling will boost protections for transgender people in the region. The decision followed a case brought by a dual British-Romanian National named Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi. Mirzarafie-Ahi was registered at birth in Romania as female, then moved to Britain and obtained legal recognition of his male gender identity. Romanian authorities later refused his attempts to update his identity documents. The European Court of Justice said in a news release on its ruling that gender, like a first name, is a fundamental element of personal identity.

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Monday marks a grim anniversary, one year since Hamas attacked civilians in Israel and Israeli defense forces responded with bombings and eventually a ground invasion in Gaza. For Shlomi Berger whose 20-year-old daughter Agam was taken hostage, it's been a year of agony. For Nour Swirki, who has evacuated four different times and whose children are now living in Cairo, it has also been a year of agony. This is the story of that year in their own words. You can find a special documentary tomorrow beginning at 5:00 AM Eastern Time right here on this feed.

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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson and I'll be back Monday with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.