On Thursday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: A shooting broke out after the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade. USA TODAY Investigative Reporter Nick Penzenstadler looks at the stores that sell the most guns used in crime. The Fani Willis hearing could decide the fate of former President Donald Trump's Georgia election case. Watch it here. USA TODAY Congress, Campaigns and Democracy Reporter Rachel Looker explains what would hypothetically happen if President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump were to drop out of the presidential race. Syphilis is on the rise. Experts worry people don't care. What's the best restaurant near you?

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 Thursday, February 15th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Today, the aftermath of a shooting following the Super Bowl Victory Parade, plus which stores sell the most guns used in crime, and what would happen if Trump or Biden were to drop out of the presidential race.

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It was supposed to be a celebration, but bullets ripped through a crowd yesterday following the parade for the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory. At least one person was killed and 21 others were injured in the country's latest high profile shooting. Several people near the parade route were carried away on stretchers and local officials said seven people suffered life-threatening injuries. Many of those with gunshot wounds are children. Police say three people have been detained, but detectives are investigating whether one person was among a group of bystanders who helped police and possibly tackled an assailant. A Chiefs team official said players and coaches were not injured and were on buses leaving the area. President Joe Biden said the shooting stirs deep emotion because of its ties to a Super Bowl celebration. He said, an end goal is to ban assault weapons, limit high capacity magazines, strengthen background checks and to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. You can read more on usatoday.com.

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Which stores sell the most guns used in crime has been kept secret for more than two decades, but a Freedom of Information Act request from USA Today has given us a glimpse. I spoke with USA Today Investigative Reporter Nick Penzenstadler to learn more. Nick, good to have you on The Excerpt today.

Nick Penzenstadler:

Happy to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

Nick, you wrote about this list that reveals the gun shops that sell the most firearms used in crime. I'm curious, how did we get this information and what's the criteria for being on this list?

Nick Penzenstadler:

Yeah, this is a pretty opaque process. So when a gun gets found at a crime scene like a mass shooting, the police trace that gun, they send the make model serial number in to the ATF. The ATF sends back a form with the first retail purchase of that gun, but that's all behind closed doors. It's secret for a reason. There's a federal law that says you can't have this information. So we had a unique window into this world with a Freedom of Information Act request that showed the list of gun shops that are in this special program. And to get on this program, you have to have sold 25 or more crime guns in a calendar year with a short time to crime, so that it's from the time it's sold to the time it shows up at the crime scene. So it's a back door into this system, but it's the closest we have to who sells the most crime guns.

Taylor Wilson:

So which shops really stood out to you on this list, Nick?

Nick Penzenstadler:

What's striking is it's really a reflection of the largest gun sellers in America because if you're selling a lot of volume and you've been in business for a while, it's pretty inevitable that these guns will end up at a crime scene. So you see a lot of big box stores, Scheels, Bass Pro shops, Cabela's, Dunham's, Sportman's Warehouse, Turner's, but also hundreds of smaller mom-and-pop shops all around the country.

Taylor Wilson:

And are we learning anything about which types of guns are sold and later used in crime more than others?

Nick Penzenstadler:

Well, this list doesn't show that, but we know from aggregate statistics from the ATF that pistols, specifically the big name brands, SIG Sauer, Taurus, and the Glock 9mm as the number one traced crime guns. So pistols are targeted by criminals and used in crime. So a lot of these shops sell a lot of those pistols that end up in the criminal market or get trafficked.

Taylor Wilson:

I'm curious, Nick, what does being on this list really functionally mean for these stores?

Nick Penzenstadler:

So the ATF puts you on this list if you have a lot of these traces, and the result is you have to provide the ATF with more information about the secondary used gun market. So if you're buying and selling used guns, they want to be able to trace those guns with this information. So that's the effect, but gun violence prevention groups say this is also putting that gun shop on notice that you're being targeted by traffickers. If you have a lot of these traces, it's a sign that you probably need to do a better job to stop trafficking and stop purchasing.

Taylor Wilson:

So on that note, are we hearing from the stores themselves and also just on the different sides of the gun rights debate, how do they feel about this?

Nick Penzenstadler:

So I reached out to all the major big box stores that are on this list. They didn't want to talk. I think they're probably not super pleased that their name is being publicized and connected with this. But I talked to some gun shop owners that are on the list that say, "If you sell a lot of guns every year, you are going to be on this list despite your best efforts." And that's really what the gun lobby says is this isn't a reflection of bad business practices. The ATF says, "This alone doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It just means that you could be targeted by criminals and traffickers trying to move guns into the illegal market."

Taylor Wilson:

Nick Penzenstadler is an Investigative Reporter with USA Today. Thank you, Nick.

Nick Penzenstadler:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

A potential blockbuster hearing begins today, one that could decide the fate of the Georgia election racketeering case against Donald Trump and 14 others charged with trying to illegally overturn 2020 election results. The hearing marks the first time a judge will officially determine if allegations surrounding an affair between Fulton County District Attorney, Fannie Willis, and the private attorney she hired to oversee the case, Nathan Wade, are enough to disqualify one or both of them, and whether the allegations might be enough to dismiss the case altogether after three years of investigation and prosecution. Earlier this month, Willis and Wade admitted in a sworn court filing that they have had a personal relationship and romantic affair, but they insisted their affair began after Willis hired him in 2021 to oversee the case. Trump co-defendant, Michael Roman, first aired the allegations in a January court filing and alleged that Wade, a private lawyer with little relevant experience in prosecuting complex racketeering cases, was unqualified for the case. You can watch the hearing on USA Today's YouTube channel. We have a link in today's show notes.

Meanwhile, Trump is expected in a New York court today. He'll meet with a judge for what could become the first criminal trial against the former president on charges that he falsified business records to pay women hush money. Trump has called the case politically motivated.

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As we move closer to a potential rematch general election between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, it begs the question, what would happen in a hypothetical situation where either one drops out of the race? As USA Today Congress, Campaigns and Democracy Reporter Rachel Looker told me, the answer largely depends on timing. Hello, Rachel.

Rachel Looker:

Hi. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for hopping on. So let's talk through some of these scenarios, starting with what happens if either candidate drops out before this summer's National Conventions, what would be some of the complications here?

Rachel Looker:

So if either candidate were to drop out before the Conventions this summer, it largely depends on when this would happen during the primary season. It's also important to note that a candidate doesn't become their Party's official nominee until these National Party Conventions that are held every presidential year. After a primary, a candidate will win a certain number of delegates, and these delegates represent the candidate at each Party's respective Convention in the summer.

So if a candidate drops out early on before racking up a large number of delegates, specifically talking before Super Tuesday when a large number of states hold their primaries and these delegates are determined, it's likely that other prospective candidates may be able to enter or even reenter if they were a former candidate who has dropped out to try to win the nomination. But if the candidate would drop out toward the end of the primaries after most delegates are determined, it gets a little bit more complicated and it becomes more of a free for all, experts told me, as to how state Parties would fill these delegate slots, who would then potentially nominate someone at the Convention who maybe wasn't on the ballot in some states during the primaries.

Taylor Wilson:

So moving the timeline, what would be the process if Biden or Trump were to drop out during the Conventions themselves? Or how about in the weeks and months after the Conventions?

Rachel Looker:

So in a scenario where they would drop out during the Conventions, each Party reverts back to its roots where they would meet prospective Party nominees at the Convention. These nominees would go talking to different delegates and party members and try to win over their support. If the candidates were to drop out after the convention, the streamlined answer is that each party does the picking and choosing of who the replacement candidate will be. The parties then would hold a special meeting where they would vote and pick the next candidate who would then become the official Party nominee.

Taylor Wilson:

And Rachel, a particularly challenging scenario would be if either candidate dropped out between election day and inauguration day. How would this play out in theory?

Rachel Looker:

It really boils down to whether the electoral college has met to attest to the election results. So if the candidate drops out or something were to happen before the electoral college meets, the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that states can require presidential electors to vote for the candidate they pledge to support. And if they don't, they could be replaced. But if that candidate's no longer in the picture, states may have to change rules. So electors' votes could count for another candidate and it could get confusing and messy pretty quickly. If the candidate drops out after the electoral college meets, it becomes even more of an unprecedented situation and it's likely to fall to the hands of Congress to determine who the next president would be.

Taylor Wilson:

And unique to this election, of course, the fact that Trump faces a host of legal challenges as we've outlined so often here on the show. What happens if he's convicted, Rachel?

Rachel Looker:

If Trump were to be convicted, there's nothing legally that would prevent him from serving a second term and becoming president. If Trump is convicted but doesn't drop out of the race, which he has indicated repeatedly that he would likely not do, it's unclear if the delegates who are bound to him at the Convention are required to vote for him. The Republican National Committee rule states that the delegates can unbind from a candidate, meaning that they could vote for someone else, but only if the candidate themselves withdraws from running.

Taylor Wilson:

We're talking about hypotheticals. If Biden or Trump, one of the nominees were to drop out, where would the parties go for the replacement?

Rachel Looker:

So when we're talking about replacements, it's a little easier to potentially narrow it down looking at the Republican field because the Republican Party is holding primaries currently and there've been several contenders who have been vying for the White House, even if they've dropped out of the race at this point. So it's possible that one of the former candidates could reactivate their campaign, could possibly run again if Trump were to drop out for some reason.

On the Democratic side, it gets a little bit more complicated because President Biden is running for his second term. So Democrats are not holding primaries in the same way that the Republican Party currently is. So there's the possibility that it could go to Vice President Kamala Harris, who would obviously become president in a situation right now if something were to happen to Biden. But there could be other Democratic contenders who could want to throw their hat in the ring in that situation. But at this point, it's really not for certain who that could be to replace Biden.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Rachel Looker covers Congress, Campaigns and Democracy for USA Today. Thank you, Rachel.

Rachel Looker:

Thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

Syphilis is skyrocketing and yet many don't seem to care. Cases of the sexually transmitted infections surged in 2022 to their highest levels since 1950, according to a report out last month from the CDC. And many experts tell USA Today they're concerned that much of the general public doesn't seem bothered by it. Dr. Peter Leone is a Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine's Division of Infectious Diseases. He said, "From a public health perspective, we've been very concerned about it all along. But from a patient perspective, I think syphilis falls off the radar." Though treatable with antibiotics, if allowed to fester, syphilis can affect the brain and nervous system, causing dementia and even death in severe cases.

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What's the best restaurant in your neck of the woods? From Phoenix to Detroit, Palm Springs to Pensacola, newsrooms across the network banded together to put the spotlight on the best restaurants across the country. The results, a list of 47 must-try places that we recommend time and time again. We have a link in today's show notes.

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And be sure to stay tuned to The Excerpt later today when my colleague Dana Taylor sits down with National Correspondent Marco della Cava to discuss the return of John Stewart to the anchor chair on The Daily Show. You can find the episode right here on this feed at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.

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, back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.

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