Wednesday Briefing: Another Trump indictment may loom

By Amelia Nierenberg

Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering the potential of more legal challenges for Donald Trump, a U.S. soldier detained in North Korea and a second Thai vote.

Trump may face another indictment soon

Donald Trump said he has received a target letter from the special counsel investigating the former president’s role in the events surrounding the Capitol riot. The letter suggests that Trump is likely to be indicted on federal charges relating to his attempts to retain power after the 2020 election.

It is not clear what potential charges the prosecutors are considering, or when indictments may arrive. But when the special counsel, Jack Smith, sent a similar letter last month related to Trump’s handling of national defense material, the former president was charged within days on 37 criminal counts.

Trump announced that he had gotten the newest letter on his social media platform, calling Smith “deranged.” He wrote that he had received the letter on Sunday and been given four days to report to a grand jury, an invitation he was expected to decline.

Other inquiries: Smith’s office has focused on a wide array of schemes, including a plan to create false slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that Biden won. Prosecutors have also sought information about Trump’s post-election fund-raising.

Background: As my colleague Maggie Haberman has reported, Trump’s advisers have said that — in their view — he needs to win the election as a defense against possible jail time.

North Korea detains a U.S. soldier

A U.S. service member who broke away from a tour group and crossed into North Korea was taken into custody by authorities there, according to U.S. officials.

The service member, who was identified as Pvt. Travis T. King, ran into North Korea during a tour of the Joint Security Area that straddles the inter-Korean border. Tour guides tried to stop him and failed. He was seen being taken into custody by North Korean soldiers.

The service member had recently been released from a South Korean prison after being arrested on assault charges, a U.S. official said. He was to return to the U.S. to face additional military disciplinary actions, and was escorted to the airport. Instead of boarding his plane, he somehow joined the tour.

Background: He is the first American known to be held in North Korean custody since​ Bruce Byron Lowrance​ was detained for a month after illegally entering the country from China in 2018.​

Another Thai vote looms

Members of Thailand’s liberal opposition are scrambling after the liberal Move Forward Party failed to form a government last week, in the face of opposition by the military-appointed Senate and its royalist allies. As Parliament gathers today for another attempt, the fragile coalition is on the verge of falling apart.

I asked my colleague Mike Ives if Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Move Forward, could still take power. Mike got back to me while he was stuck in Bangkok’s traffic in a hot pink taxi.

“He has a chance, but it’s slim,” Mike said. “We haven’t seen any clear signs that he will do any better in a second vote. It’s also possible that he won’t even be allowed to stand for the vote in the first place.”

Who is Move Forward? The party has advocated for ambitious policies for challenging the status quo, pledging to shrink the military’s power and reduce the penalty for insulting the monarchy.

A possible compromise: The opposition could form a new coalition led by the populist Pheu Thai Party, a familiar name in Thai politics that hews much closer to the status quo. Protests are expected if Move Forward fails, but the scale of the unrest could be determined by which parties Pheu Thai chooses to partner with.

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THE LATEST NEWS

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• In Japan, heat stroke is stubbornly common. The government wants to change that.

• The heat comes during Europe’s most important tourist season. Low-income workers are particularly vulnerable.

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• Tens of thousands of Israelis protested a proposed judicial overhaul, which the government wants to pass next week.
• In Washington, President Isaac Herzog is trying to reaffirm Israel’s bond with its most powerful ally, but some Democrats plan to boycott his speech.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to fuse his image to the economic and political power of Indians abroad. No other world leader seems to draw such a steady flow of diaspora welcome parties — most recently in Paris, New York and Cairo — or such large audiences, including 20,000 fans at a rally in Australia in May.

Indians abroad voice both pride and worry: Many cheer his economic wins, even as others fear that his government’s Hindu-supremacist policies and growing intolerance of scrutiny will keep India from truly standing as a superpower and democratic alternative to China.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

Preserving Yiddish in Melbourne

Australia has the largest proportion of Holocaust survivors of any country besides Israel. When the refugees settled in Melbourne, they brought a vibrant, secular Jewish culture that the Holocaust had nearly extinguished.

Now, as Melbourne’s last generation of prewar Yiddish speakers dies out, their descendants are working to preserve the language. On a recent weekend, they came together at a retreat for 48 hours of total immersion in the language. They ate and played Dungeons and Dragons, shot hoops and sparred in chess — all in Yiddish.

“They don’t just see it as a language,” said a principal of a school where students learn Yiddish alongside Hebrew. “They see it as part of their identity.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

Dress up rosé with lime, soda water and a touch of crème de cassis.

In “No One Prayed Over Their Graves,” two friends navigate disaster and religious tension in early 20th-century Syria.

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic can make patients lose muscle, a particular risk to people over 65.

Play the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Writing implement (Three letters).

Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Amelia

P.S. Heather Knight will be our next San Francisco bureau chief. She worked at The San Francisco Chronicle for more than two decades.

“The Daily” is on the Hollywood writers’ strike.

Share your suggestions with briefing@nytimes.com.

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