Transcript

7.15.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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July fifteenth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, RADIOI is
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a reading service intended for people who are blind or
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have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser. To day's
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front page headlines from the Washington Post are Education Department
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cuts can go on, Justices say Supreme Court allows deep
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staff reductions as legal battles continue. Next, leaders evacuated camp
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an hour after alert. The situation dissolved into chaos, then
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tragedy as the floodwaters rose. Next, Trump shores up Kiev
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in war, threatens Russia with terraffs US arms to Ukraine
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will flow through Europeans our Next headline, documents show CIA
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had connection with j f k's assassin. Next, US firm
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challenges global aid rule book, established principles set aside in
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bid to get food to war torn places for profit.
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In the final headline from today's front page, a rural
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clinic's closure is a test for Trump's cuts. Executives blame
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Medicaid reductions in the new tax bill. Many in town
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aren't buying it. Now, let's turn to our first item
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entitled Education Department cuts can go on. Justices say Supreme
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Court allows deep staff reductions as legal battles continue. By
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Justin Juvenal, Laura Meckler, and Danielle Douglas Gabrielle. A divided
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Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump
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administration to sharply shrink the Education Departments, one of the
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cornerstones of the president's efforts to radically downsize the federal government.
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The Justice is lifted a temporary lower court ruling that
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prevented Trump officials from slashing more than a third of
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the department's more than four thousand, one hundred workers and
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shifting some of its functions to the states and other agencies.
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As litigation over the cuts plays out in the lower courts.
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As is common with cases decided on the emergency docket,
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the majority did not explain its rational for the decision.
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Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote a scathing descent that was joined
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by the court's two other liberals, labeling the ruling indefensible
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and a major expansion of presidential power. When the executive
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publicly announces its intent to break the law and then
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executes on that promise, it is a judiciary's duty to
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check that lawlessness not expedited, Sodamoyir wrote. She added that
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the court hands the executive the power to repeal statutes
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by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The
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Majority is either wilfully blind to the implications of its
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ruling or naive, but either way, the threat to our
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Constitution's separation of powers is grave. The ruling continues a
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winning streak for the President's efforts to trim the federal
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government and assert his authority over the executive branch. The
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justices have signed off on Trump's plans to fire thousands
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of other federal workers, remove the heads of independent agencies,
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and freeze up to sixty five million dollars in grants
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to alleviate teacher shortages. The administration said those grants promote diversity, equity,
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and inclusion initiatives that discriminate against white and Asian people.
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Trump has said he wants to dismantle the Education Department,
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saying the move would allow children and their families the
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opportunity to escape a system that is failing them, But
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administration officials acknowledge that would require legislation because Congress created
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the department. He has also argued that trimming the department
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would make it more efficient and increase accountability. The sweeping
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cuts will hit some offices particularly hard as the administration
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works to shrink the agency's impact. They include the Office
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for Civil Rights, which will lose about half its staff
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and seven of its eleven regional offices, though it faces
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a deep backlog of cases. It also includes the Federal
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Student Aid Office, charged with overseeing the services and contractors
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that power the student loan program. Another office that will
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be hit hard is the Institute of Education Sciences, which
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until this year sponsored a wide swath of research into
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best practices. The office also runs the National Assessment of
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Educational Progress, sometimes called the Nation's report Card, which has
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been cut back. Education Secretary Lyndamouc Mann initiated the largest
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job cut in the department's history in March. Soon after
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she was sworn in, officials said that more than one thousand,
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three hundred workers would be laid off and that about
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six hundred others had accepted offers to leave. Soon after,
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Trump issued an executive order directing mcmon to quote take
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all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department
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of education. He has also said he intends to move
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the federal student loan and special needs programs out of
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the department. The department has plans to eliminate office space
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in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and Cleveland,
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as well as consolidate staff from three buildings to one
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in d C. Trump officials have said the cuts will
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affect every aspect of the department's operation, but that it
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will continue its statutorily required functions. Mcmahn requested an appropriation
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of more than sixty six billion dollars for next year's
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budget in June. MUCMHN hailed the High Court's ruling in
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a statement Monday, calling it a significant win for students
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and families. Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious.
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The President of the United States, as head of the
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Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about
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staffing levels, administrative organization, and day to day operations of
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federal agencies. More than twenty states teachers unions and school
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districts filed challenges to the cuts, and the lawsuits were
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later consolidated. They said in a filing with a Supreme
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Court that the cuts would effectively strip the department down
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to the plywood with the leetreus efforts on schools, districts,
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and children across the country. Sharia Smith, president of the
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American Federation of Government Employees Local two fifty two, urged
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the administration to reconsider the cuts. Smith was one of
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the Education Department employees targeted as part of the downsizing.
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This effort from the Trump administration to dismantle the Department
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of Education is playing with the futures of millions of Americans,
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and after just four months, the consequences are already evident
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across our education system. Smith said. A federal judge of
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Massachusetts agreed with that assessment in May, issuing a preliminary
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injunction that required the Trump administration to rehire all staff
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that were cut and reset all changes made at the
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department to what existed before Trump took office. U S
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District Judge Young J June, a Biden appointee, wrote, the
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testimonials by department employees and others paint a stark picture
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of the irreparable harm the cuts would cause, particularly for
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vulnerable students, if not reversed. Prior to the reduction in force,
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the department was already struggling to meet its goals, so
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it is only reasonable to expect that an RIF of
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this magnitude will likely cripple the Department, June wrote. The
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US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed that
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decision last month, before Trump officials filed an emergency appeal
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with the Supreme Court seeking to put a hold on
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the ruling. Solicitor General d. John Sower argued that the
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courts had overreached. The Constitution vests the executive branch, not
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district courts, with the authority to make judgments about how
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many employees are needed to carry out an agency's statutory
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functions and whom they should be, Sawyer wrote. The Education
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Department was created in nineteen seventy nine under President Jimmy Carter.
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It is responsible for administering the one point six trillion
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dollar federal student loan program, grants to elementary and secondary schools,
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achievement tests, and civil rights laws in schools. Rachel Dinks,
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president and CEO of Knowledge Alliance, a coalition of the
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education research groups, said the proposed cuts would be devastating
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to education research nationally. She is skeptical of the Department's
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claims that it can meet its statutory obligations with half
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the staff. We've yet to see a concrete plan about
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how they intend to do that, she said. She said
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the impacts would be strewn across several important education research projects. States,
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for instance, no longer have a help line to assist
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in collecting and sending core data used by policy makers
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and researchers about the state of education. Contracts for ten
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regional laboratories that are supposed to help spread evidence based
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practices to the states for student improvement were all terminated,
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and a study of the impacts of the pandemic on
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young children was halted just as it was about to
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report its first data. On Monday, firing letters also began
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going out to employees within the Department of Health and
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Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes
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of Health, and the Administration for Community Living, following a
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Supreme Court ruling allowing mass firings at other agencies. Education
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Department employees vowed to keep pursuing litigation to remain on
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the job despite the setback Monday. The fight is not over,
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said Rachel Gidleman, who worked in Federal Student Aide's Ombudsman office,
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the work is still not happening and the harm to
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families and communities has ultimately continued. She and others have
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been on administrative leave since March, being paid not to work.
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According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the government
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has been spending more than seven million dollars a month
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to keep the education staff on leave. Gilman, who helped
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pull together employee declarations in the state's case, said the
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department has been doing little to reinstate staff since June
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ordered the Trump administration to do so. In May, less
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than forty five minutes after the Supreme Court ruling, Gilman
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said she got her final termination notice. Hannonattansen contributed to
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this report. Next is an item entitled Leader's Evacuated Camp.
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An hour after alert, the situation dissolved into chaos then
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tragedy as the floodwaters rose by Annie Gowan, John Muskins,
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Arelas R. Ernandez, Daniel Wolfe, Nicole Dunca neyma Ahmed, Todd C. Frankel,
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and Kevin crow Camp. Mystic executive director Richard Dick Eastland
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did not begin to evacuate the young camper's asleep in
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cabins near the rapidly rising Guadalupe River for more than
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an hour after he received a severe flood warning on
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his phone from the National Weather Service at one fourteen
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a m. On July fourth, The family said through a spokesman, Eastland,
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who had run the beloved Christian centered All Girls camp
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in Hunt, Texas with his wife since the nineteen eighties,
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rallied family members, some of whom lived and worked at
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the camp, on walkie talkies to quote assess the situation.
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Soon after the alert went out, said Jeff Carr, the
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family spokesman. At two thirty a m. When the rain
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was falling hard and fast, Eastland decided to begin evacuating Cap,
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Carr said. Richard Eastland Junior, Dick Eastland's son, said in
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a brief interview with The Washington Post last week that
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the warning came fast. The camp had previously been under
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a flood watch that leadership was aware of. Eastland Junior
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said the National Weather Services more urgent alert at one
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fourteen a m. Had warned of life threatening flash flooding
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in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic is in a flood zone.
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The alert did not include an evacuation order. The federal
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agency does not have the authority to issue evacuation orders,
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a power that typically falls to local governments. The statements
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from the family are the first indications that leaders at
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Camp Mystic, which has spotty cell service and a policy
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that limits the use of cell phone, received a warning
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about the flood before it devastated its seven hundred twenty
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five acre campus, killing twenty seven councilors and campers. Dick
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Eastland died trying to rescue some of the youngest girls.
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Carr said that before making for the comment, the surviving
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Eastland family members were gathering Sunday really for the first
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time to share experiences and knowledge of what happened that morning.
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It will be important to go through this process and
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avoid sharing information on a piecemeal basis, he said. While
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Camp Mystic was not the only camp in the area
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to delay its evacuation, a post examination found that many
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of the elements that made it special for generations of
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Texas girls also heighten its wrist that night. The camp,
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six miles from the nearest town, was relatively isolated. Campers
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were not allowed to bring cell phones, and counselors had
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to keep theirs mostly locked away. Some of the cabins
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were less than five hundred feet from the river, a
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natural feature central to several of the camp's traditions. Interviews
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with nearly two dozen councilors, emergency officials, parents, and experts
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revealed that as Dick Eastland conferred with family members and
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other employees about how to respond to the alert, the
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camp descended into chaos as the floodwaters rose. Camp Mystic
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sits at the confluence of the South for Quadalupe River
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and Cypress Creek. In the early hours on July fourth,
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about five hundred fifty campers slept in their cabins. One
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of the cabins, Bubble Inn, was hit hardest by the flood.
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None of the campers that were staying in this cabin
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had been found alive. Many cabins here were built in
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high risk flood zones as defined by FEMA, but the
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waters reached buildings beyond these boundaries, including the Handy Hut cabin.
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Satellite data from ic E y E measured water levels
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with radar, giving an estmen of the flooding. Water levels
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rose to at least four feet around many of the cabins.
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Where the waterways meet, the collective force created a swirl,
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pushing the Guadalupe River backward against itself and uphill toward
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more cabins. The fast current, hitting against a sharp band
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in the terrain, thrust water and debris outward within trifugal force. Meanwhile,
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Cypress Creek and an ephemeral stream from the neighbouring ravine
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merged with the south fork Guadalupe River at such speed
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that the river flow probably reversed upstream, widening the floodwaters
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and creating whirling eddies. As the water encroached the teenage councilors,
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cut off from others, were left to make frantic life
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and death decisions. They began rousing girls from their cabins.
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The younger campers screaming or crying as they waited for
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help or were ushered to higher ground. Dick Eastland, seventy,
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and other staffers eventually realized that the bubble In and
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Twins Cap evans, which held the littlest girls, some as
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young as eight, were in the most danger. Eastland, Junior
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said a swirling eddy of water had formed from two directions.
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Dick Eastland and others on site had walking talkies which
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were used to alert the group. Around one thirty five
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a m. The family said whether camp leaders called nine one.
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One is still unclear, but the Hunt Volunteer Fire Department's
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chief told the Post he did not recall any requests
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for help coming from the camp. The camp had a
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loud speaker system, but it would have gone silent without electricity.
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Parents of surviving children said they endured hours of reports
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on social media and on news outlets of water rescues
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and deaths and devastation wrought by the flood before they
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received communication from the camp. The first official email was
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sent from the camp at eleven twenty eight A. M.
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Serena Aldrich, a lawyer from San Antonio whose two two
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girls were rescued from Camp Mystic, said leaders should have
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been taking every precaution given the risk. My opinion is
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that they should have been paying attention to those warnings
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and evacuated the camp. She said. The flooding is not
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a new thing. I don't know if it's ever been
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to epic proportions like that, but ignoring the warnings doesn't
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make a lot of sense to me. The National Weather
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Service alert predicted significantly less rainfall than what ultimately reached
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the camp. As the blinding rain sluiced down the Guadalupe
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river downstream began its historic rise just before two am,
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eventually surging to thirty seven point five feet according to
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measurements taken by Crewise with the US Geological Survey. After
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the floodwaters receded. In his previous interview, Eastland Junior, forty eight,
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the head chef of the camp, said he and others
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in charge on July fourth, did not expect the ferocity
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of the flood to come. It was tremendous, and it
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was fast, and we've never had water this high ever,
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he said. A nineteen thirty nine flood had reached the
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floor of the dining hall at a nearly one hundred
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year old camp. He noted, but in this flood, every
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minute was another foot. Eastland Junior's brother, Edward, waded through
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the water to rescue the girls and the twins. Cabins
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and his father moved toward bubble in Dick. Eastland radioed
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that he needed help. Then nothing in the darkness of night,
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rain coming down, just chaos. Eastland Junior said, I just
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can't believe his voice trailed away. For decades, summer camps
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like Mystic have been considered a ride of passage for
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families in Texas. And beyond. Girls hike, canoe, fish, and
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worship at the camp, which was founded in nineteen twenty
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six and has been owned by the same family for decades.
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Tuition was one thousand, six hundred dollars for a four
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week term. The camp has clung tightly to its traditions.
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It allowed girls sugary treats only on special occasions. Campers
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brought compact disc players because they were not allowed phones
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or other devices with screens. Executive directors Dick and Tweety Eastland,
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who had been involved with the camp since nineteen seventy four,
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were like parents to the girls. They were named the
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directors in nineteen eighty seven. According to a twenty eleven
19:29
Texas Monthly story, Dick todd fishing and Tweety was like
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sunshine in rainbows and unicorns. That was just her recalled Aldrich,
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a former camper. The Eastlands had four boys, three of
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whom were involved in the camp. A fourth, James, died
19:48
in twenty fifteen. Aside from Eastland Junior running the dining hall,
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Edward and his wife Mary Liz, are the camp's directors.
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The last son, GrITT, and his wife Katie, run in
20:00
a nearby sister camp. According to Mystic's website, the relative
20:04
isolation and peaceful backdrop of Camp Mystic, set on the
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river and dotted with cypress trees, were part of its
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allure for decades, but the idol masked the danger. It
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was almost inevitable that the cabins at Camp Mystic would
20:20
experience massive flooding, three experts said. The Federal Emergency Management
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Agency in twenty thirteen approved appeals from Camp Mystic to
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exempt several structures from a flood zone designation. According to
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federal records, it's just obvious that this is a place
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that should never have been built upon, said Oliver Way,
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the chief scientific officer at FATHOM, a water risk intelligence firm.
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There should not be a single inhabited structure in a floodway.
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It's unforgivable what's happened here. The camp long embraced the
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ebbs and flows of the river that was central to
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its ethos. Girls competed in canoe races, when for swims,
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and were baptized in its waters. Minor flooding events were common.
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The older girls on Senior Hill would routinely be cut
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off when the walkway along Cypress Creek was impassable in
21:12
the morning, so camp leaders would bring them food by canoe.
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Audrich recalled, but other more serious events had affected camps
21:21
in the area. In July nineteen eighty seven, ten teenagers
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were killed as a flood of flash flood at Poto
21:28
Goold Ranch, a Christian camp also along the Guadalupe River.
21:32
A year later, two brothers were swept away in flash
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floods at the Bear Creek Scout Reservation camp. In nineteen
21:39
eighty five, trapped by winter flooding, Tweedy Eastland had to
21:44
be airlifted by a military helicopter from Camp Mystic to
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give birth at a hospital, according to news reports at
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the time. Mark Nacol, an attorney for the families that
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sued and won a private settlement in the Pot of
21:57
Gold case, said last week that he was stunned that
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flooding had again led to such tragedy. He recalled telling
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the jury four decades ago that the Guadaloupe is a beautiful,
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beautiful river, but she ain't no lady. The lesson back
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then was a need for sirens and alarms. An automated
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flood warning system that relied on water gages was installed
22:21
along the Guadalupe in nineteen eighty nine, but a decade
22:25
later the company that monarched it had closed and river
22:28
authorities shut it down, so locals returned to the old
22:32
fashioned way, with river spotters issuing warnings via telephone up
22:36
and down the waterway, according to the Kerrville Daily Times.
22:40
The Post reported last week that Kirkunty officials had the
22:44
technology to turn every cell phone in the river valley
22:47
into an alarm, the blaring tone similar to amber alerts,
22:51
but they did not use it to alert people in
22:53
the area until more than two days after the height
22:57
of the crisis, as more rain fell and throat and
23:00
further flooding. The camp had a written disaster plan that
23:05
staff had been trained on, according to a state health
23:08
inspector who visited on July second and said everything was
23:12
in working order, but as the waters began rising around
23:15
two a m. Counsels were given conflicting messages on how
23:19
to keep the approximately five hundred fifty campers safe from
23:23
the dangers around them. According to interviews, Ain Zubashara nineteen,
23:28
a councer for the giggle Box cabin for girls eight
23:31
to ten years old, told the Posts that she sat
23:34
anxiously watching her campers through flashes of lightning, checking her watch.
23:38
At one fifty eight a m. Not long after, she
23:42
heard eight year olds in a nearby cabin start shrieking,
23:45
and then saw older girls running up the road with
23:48
blankets and pillows to the recreation hall on higher ground.
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Are we staying or leaving? She yelled out the window,
23:56
Stay in your cabin, she recalled, a staff member shouting back.
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She and the other councilors decided to leave when the
24:03
water breached their cabin around three a m. After a
24:07
staff member removed the window screens from the outside, allowing
24:10
them to escape. The councilors took the girl through waste
24:13
high water and up a nearby hill. She said she
24:16
could hear girls in another cabin begging for help over
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the roaring river. Laura Clement said her daughter Nancy, an
24:25
eighteen year old counselor and camp photographer, was woken up
24:28
by the rain at one thirty a m. As water
24:32
rushed inside the staff cabin. The Baylor University student climbed
24:36
to the roof. She was still there at five a m.
24:39
When she texted her mother that she was safe. Aldredch
24:43
said the sound of thunder woke her twelve year old daughter,
24:46
who was bunking in the lookout cabin on Senior Hill.
24:50
Her counselor soon appeared and moved the girls to a
24:52
higher elevation cabin, where they hunger down for hours, making
24:56
up silly songs. Audrych's younger dog, nine, who sucked in
25:01
an area closer to the river called the Flats, was
25:05
woken by her counselor, who told the campers to form
25:08
buddy teams. The councilors led the girls, still in their
25:12
pajamas and some without shoes, through chest high water to
25:15
a nearby hill. Once they reached the top, they sheltered
25:19
in a pavilion near the camp's famous lighted sign that
25:22
spells missed it it had gone dark. The group went
25:27
to the dining hall of the neighboring camp run by
25:29
the Eastlands, and they were later evacuated by helicopter. Esson
25:34
Junior said the family eventually located his brother Edward, clinging
25:38
to a tree with ten to twelve girls about two
25:41
hundred yards from their cabin. They had all survived. His
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father was found in a black suv with three other
25:48
girls from the camp that he had been trying to rescue.
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No one made it. Dick Eastland died on the way
25:55
to the hospital, authority said in interviews. Parents faulted not
25:59
all the camp, but also Kerr County and other authorities
26:03
for not responding quickly to the weather services and other warnings.
26:07
Kirk County officials did not respond to requests for comment.
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Kerk County Judge Robert Kelly said at a news conference
26:15
on July fifth that no one knew this kind of
26:18
flood was coming. This is the most dangerous river valley
26:22
in the United States, and we deal with floods on
26:25
a regular basis, he said. When it rains, we get water.
26:29
We had no reason to believe that this was going
26:31
to be anything like what's happened here, none whatsoever. More
26:36
than ten inches of rain fell in parts of the
26:39
area surrounding Camp Mystic on July fourth, nearly all of
26:42
it at astonishing rates in the early morning hours. The
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basin feeding into the South Fork Guadalupe River saw some
26:50
of the most extreme rainfall, with water rushing down steep,
26:54
rocky slopes into streams running past Camp Mystic. In such
26:58
a landscape, its almost instant translation from rainfall to river flow.
27:04
Wing said by four thirty five a m. The Guadalupe
27:08
River down stream and Hunt had reached twenty nine point
27:12
five feet after surging more than twelve feet in the
27:15
previous hour. It was rushing with two thousand, eight hundred
27:20
times the normal amount of water, according to a post
27:23
analysis of federal river gage data. Flood waters inundated and
27:28
destroyed the gage shortly after. According to a US Geological
27:31
Survey spokesperson, the Guadalupe River surpassed its previous record flood
27:36
height by nearly a foot, reaching thirty seven point five
27:40
feet on the morning of July fourth. Clement, whose daughter
27:44
is a councilor, said she is reluctant to criticize the
27:47
staff's decision, saying I don't know what could have been
27:50
done differently other than the idea of evacuating earlier and
27:54
just assuming the worst. Leepool, the chief of the Hunt
27:58
Volunteer Fire Department, said he was woken early in the
28:01
morning by radio chatter about the river starting to flood.
28:05
Pool headed toward the river, but encountered roads blocked by
28:09
surging flood waters as the water kept rising. Poole said
28:13
he knew his thirty six member volunteer force the only
28:17
fire department in that area was overwhelmed. Poole does not
28:22
recall receiving requests for help from Camp Mystic, which is
28:25
about eight miles from the fire station. I didn't hear
28:29
anything about Camp Mystic, said Pool fifty three, who has
28:32
been the fire chief for eight years. There was just
28:36
a lot of water, and I knew everyone was affected.
28:40
After the immediate search of floods receded, Camp officials seemed
28:44
to have struggled on their own for hours to manage
28:46
the rescue operation. They did not officially contact most parents,
28:51
many of whom were growing hysterical seeing the terrifying images
28:54
of the flood online and on the news, until the
28:57
late morning. According to e mails of by the Post,
29:01
the mother of one survivor, who spoke on the condition
29:04
of anonymity to describe private conversations, said that she and
29:08
other mothers were repeatedly trying to call the Kerr County
29:12
Sheriff's office for information about the girl's faith. That morning,
29:16
she reached one deputy who said they had no communication
29:19
with Mystic. She recounted, when he couldn't tell me anything
29:23
about what was going on. That was frankly terrifying. At
29:28
seven forty eight, A m Aldres sent a private text
29:31
to Mary Liz Eastland, the camp co director, whom she
29:34
had known since childhood when they had both been campers
29:37
at Mystic. The two were also in a group chat
29:40
of two thousand one camp alumni. I'm getting lots of
29:44
nervous texts from my lookout cabin moms and mother in law.
29:48
I'm sure you're extremely busy. Is every one okay and safe?
29:53
Hungry and or thirsty is fine as long as no
29:55
one washed away. Aldrich wrote no answer, and nine o
30:00
nine A m audredch heard back from Mary Liz on
30:03
the two thousand one Camp Mystic group chat. Your girls
30:07
are okay? Mary Liz texted emmil are you ok Audres
30:11
texted back no, she said, sending all the love I can,
30:16
Aldridge said. Mary Liz put a heart emoji on that text.
30:21
At eleven twenty eight, a m parents received the first
30:23
e mail communication from the camp staff had decided to
30:27
call only the parents whose children were missing, officials said
30:30
at the time Camp Mystic Families. The e mail said,
30:34
we have sustained catastrophic level floods. We have no power, water,
30:38
or WiFi. If your daughter is not accounted for. You
30:42
have been notified. If you have not been personally contacted,
30:45
then your daughter is accounted for. Mary Liz texted other
30:49
moms and alumni groups saying we need evacuation vehicles for
30:54
the current campers here, according to one mom's group thread
30:57
obtained by the Post, like military tanks or something. If
31:01
you have a connection, please reach out to Mary Liz.
31:05
The next email came at two forty one PM and
31:08
said the campers were being evacuated by helicopter in small
31:12
groups to an elementary school in the nearby town of Ingram,
31:15
which had become an emergency command center. Aldridge and her
31:20
sister started driving, reaching the school around five thirty PM.
31:24
When Aldrich hugged her daughters for the first time, they
31:28
all wept. Earlier that afternoon, the director of the adjacent
31:32
Cypress Lake location gathered the campus's councilors to tell them
31:36
about the catastrophe that it engulfed the Guadalupe campus overnight.
31:41
One of those councilors, Emma clair Craft twenty, recalled going
31:45
back to her cabin and telling her young campers that
31:48
girls from the other camp might join them for a sleepover.
31:52
Craft who had been baptized in Cypress Creek that summer,
31:55
said she and her fellow counselors didn't tell the girls
31:58
what had happened. To keep them calm, They played card
32:02
games and focused on other rainy day activities. After dinner,
32:06
the girls from Craft's cabin and one other piled into
32:09
a boat hitched the back of a truck to evacuate.
32:13
As a devastation at their sister campus came into view.
32:17
She wanted to protect her young campers. She told the
32:20
girls to close their eyes. Tim Craig, John Woodrow Cox,
32:25
Joyce Soyen Lee, Imogen Piper, Nico Commenda, Dorane Balachander, Aaron Shaffer,
32:32
Alice Kreutz, Monica Malther, Raza Nakouali, and Beck Snyder contributed
32:37
to this report. For Reconstructing and Understanding the Floodwrisi cham Mystic,
32:42
The Washington Post consulted the expertise of Hatim Sharif, a
32:46
professor of Civil and Environmental engineering at the University of
32:49
Texas at San Antonio, Alison c. Riley and associate professor
32:53
in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the
32:56
University of Maryland at College Park. Brienna Wyatt, a professor
33:00
of Soil Physics and Hydrology at Texas A and M University,
33:04
and Oliver Wing, the chief scientific officer at FATHOM. Our
33:09
next item is entitled Trump shores up Kiev in war,
33:13
threatens Russia with terras U S Arms to Ukraine will
33:16
flow through Europeans by Michael Birnbaum and Emily Davies, weighing
33:23
in on Kiev's side of its war with Russia more
33:25
forcefully than at any time since he reclaimed the White House,
33:29
President Donald Trump said Monday that he would help Ukraine
33:32
obtain advanced US made weaponry and threaten tariffs against Moscow
33:37
and its trading partners if the war is still raging
33:40
in fifty days. The announcements came after Trump repeatedly expressed
33:45
frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin's continued bombardment of Ukraine.
33:51
Until Monday, Trump had largely held back from opening the
33:54
U S arsenal for Ukraine, avoiding putting his fingerprint on
33:58
a conflict that he often said Biden's war. Although he
34:02
said again Monday that this is not Trump's war, the
34:06
plans he unveiled amounted to a significant U S effort
34:09
to bolster Ukraine's military and impose tough economic consequences on
34:13
Russia if Putin doesn't soon halt the conflict. The efforts
34:17
would build on and go beyond those by President Joe Biden,
34:22
and would effectively back Ukraine in the war. The plan, however,
34:26
would shift how the United States helps Ukraine. Under Biden,
34:31
Washington mostly donated weaponry to Kiev directly. Trump will require
34:36
Europeans to pay for it. The new weapons will include
34:40
Patriot air defense systems, which Ukrainian President Valomyzelensky has long sought,
34:45
saying their key to protecting cities and other major targets.
34:49
The U S plan envisions European countries sending weaponry, including
34:53
the Patriots, to Ukraine out of their current stocks so
34:57
the weapons could be used immediately. Trump said Germany and
35:00
Norway will each send at least one battery. Officials said
35:04
those countries would then purchase replacements from the U S
35:07
Defense industry. NATO Secretary General Mark Root, visiting the White
35:12
House on Monday, told reporters that the deal also involved
35:16
missiles and ammunition, without specifying what else would be purchased
35:20
and supplied. Ukraine's US and European backers have rushed to
35:25
bolster their production capacity of air defense interceptors and one
35:29
hundred fifty five millimeters artillery shells. There's a very big
35:33
deal we've made. This is billions of dollars worth of
35:35
military equipment which is going to be purchased from the
35:38
United States, going to NATO et cetera, and that's going
35:41
to be quickly distributed to the battlefield, Trump said Monday
35:44
in the Oval Office, speaking alongside Route, who will help
35:48
oversee a NATO wide purchasing effort of U S made
35:51
weaponry for Ukraine. In his remarks, Trump offered far more
35:56
sympathy toward Ukrainians than he has at other moments of
35:59
his presidency, noting that most Ukrainian civilians have remained in
36:03
their home cities even as apartment blocks have come under
36:06
Russian missile attack. It's incredible they remain, even knowing a
36:11
missile could hit their apartment and bring it down on them.
36:13
Trump said, say what you want about Ukraine. When the
36:16
war started, they had no chance. He added, they fought
36:20
with tremendous courage, and they continued to fight with tremendous courage.
36:24
He had harsh words for Putin, saying at one point.
36:28
I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's
36:30
a tough guy. The decision to sell arms came just
36:34
weeks after the Pentagon briefly paused military aid for Ukraine,
36:39
one of several policy swerves in the administration's approach to
36:42
the conflict since Trump came into office in January vowing
36:46
to end the war in a day. The newsstance was
36:49
met with relief and key, which has been buffeted by
36:52
the back and forth from Washington in recent weeks as
36:55
Russia has increased deadly aerial attacks. Trump Ukraine envoy, retired
37:01
Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, visited Ukraine on Monday for meetings
37:05
with top leaders, giving a bear hug to Zelensky's chief
37:08
of staff upon arriving in the capital Central train station.
37:13
Later in the day, Zelensky said he had spoken to
37:15
Trump by telephone. Thank you for the willingness to support
37:19
Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings
37:22
and establish a lasting and just peace, Zelensky posted on
37:26
X Thank you, mister President, Thank you America, he wrote,
37:31
Zelensky has long sought more patriot systems for Ukraine's defense.
37:36
The Biden administration sent several but ultimately stopped after the
37:40
Pentagon said offering more would lower U S military readiness
37:44
beyond acceptable levels. Germany will send Patriot air defense batteries
37:49
to Ukraine as it purchases replacements from the United States,
37:52
a senior White House official said after the meeting, speaking
37:56
on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about internal discussions.
38:00
German Defense Minister Boris Pastorius is in Washington and met
38:04
Defense Secretary Pete Hexath on Monday. Zelensky said over the
38:09
week end that Norway will also send a battery. US
38:13
Ambassador to NATO, Matthew gen Whittaker, will work out some
38:17
of the details with Allies and Brussels, Trump said, Ruts
38:20
said Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Canada also intend
38:26
to take part in the first wave of weapons purchases,
38:29
with more countries to come soon. It will mean that
38:33
Ukraine can get its hands on really massive numbers of
38:36
military equipment, both for air defense but also missiles ammunition.
38:41
Roots said. Trump's shift drew praise in Europe, where German
38:45
Chancellor Friedrich Meherch said on x that President Trump to
38:49
day took an important initiative the United States will provide
38:53
Ukraine with weapons on a large scale if its European
38:56
partners finance it. In addition to weapons, Trump vow to
39:00
levy secondary tariffs of one hundred percent against Russia if
39:04
a piece deal is not reached within fifty days. The
39:08
White House officials said. The plan is expected to be
39:11
a one hundred percent tax on the import of Russian goods,
39:14
along with a secondary one hundred percent tariffs on countries
39:18
that buy Russian oil, gas and other energy products. Congress
39:22
has been working on legislation that would enable Trump to
39:25
impose steep sanctions against buyers of Russian energy. Trump expressed
39:30
frustration about his repeated phone calls with his Russian counterpart.
39:34
I speak to putin a lot about getting this thing done,
39:37
Trump said, And I always hang up and say, well,
39:40
that was a nice phone call, and then missiles launch
39:43
in a Ki or some other city. After that happens
39:46
three or four times, you say the talk doesn't mean anything.
39:51
Last week, Russia launched more than one thousand, eight hundred drones,
39:55
one thousand, two hundred glide bombs, and eighty three missiles
39:58
at Ukraine Celes, he said. Sunday, Trump said he had
40:02
spoken to his wife, Milania about the contrast, offering a
40:06
rare window into the way the First Lady may have
40:08
influenced his thinking on a foreign policy question. One night,
40:12
he said, I go home, I tell the First Lady,
40:15
and I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.
40:19
She said, oh, really, another city was just hit at
40:23
a certain point. You know, ultimately, talk doesn't talk. It's
40:27
got to be action, It's got to be results. Russian
40:31
officials suggested the shift was unlikely to change a calculus
40:35
in fifty days. A law can change on the battlefield
40:39
and in the mood of those in power in the U. S.
40:41
And NATO, said konstant And Kosatschev, the deputy speaker of
40:45
Russia's upper house of parliament. Trump's move drew praise from
40:50
Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat from Connecticut, a co author with
40:54
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, of the legislation
40:58
to impose sanctions on buyers of Russian energy. He seemingly
41:03
taking off his rose colored glasses when it comes to
41:05
Vladimir Putin, Blumenthal said, I give Trump credit for seeing
41:10
through Putin's mocking and stalling tactics. He and Graham are
41:14
very close to being ready to bring the legislation to
41:17
a vote in the Senate, but are still working out
41:19
some details, he said. Senate Republicans are coordinating with Trump
41:24
on when to take up the bill, said Senate Majority
41:27
Leader John Thune, Republican from South Dakota. The bill has
41:31
the backing of eighty five Senators, as well as the
41:34
support of House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana. If
41:39
at some point the President concludes that it makes sense
41:42
and adds value and leverage that he needs in those
41:44
negotiations to move the bill, we'll do it soon, told
41:47
reporters Monday. We'll be ready to go. In another sign
41:51
of the shifting political landscape, Zelensky said Monday that he
41:55
had offered the prime ministership to Julia Scheredenko, the country's
41:59
deputy Prime Minister and economy minister. She would replace Nishimo
42:04
as head of the government. Serdradenko is well known to
42:07
the Trump administration, having been one of Kiev's main negotiators
42:11
in difficult talks that led to a deal of granting
42:14
US company's access to joint development of Ukraine's mineral resources.
42:20
Lizzie Johnson and Anastasia Galucha in Kiev, Theodoric Mayor and
42:24
Liz Goodwin in Washington, Alan Francis and Brussels, and Mary
42:29
Ilyyashina contributed to this report. Next from Today's front page
42:34
an ideman titled documents show CIA had connection with JFK's
42:39
assassin by Tom Jackman for more than sixty years. The
42:44
CIA claimed it had little or no knowledge of Lee
42:47
Harvey Oswell's activities before the assassination of President John F.
42:50
Kennedy in November nineteen sixty three. That wasn't true. New
42:55
documents unearthed by House Task Force proved. The revelation adds
42:59
fuel to the long simmering questions around what the agency
43:03
knew about the plot to murder the president and what
43:06
else it may be hiding. The documents confirmed that George Shahannidis,
43:11
a CIA officer based in Miami in nineteen sixty three,
43:15
was helping finance and oversee a group of Cuban students
43:18
opposed to the ascension of the del Castro Jahannides had
43:22
a covert assignment to manage ant Castro propaganda and disrupt
43:27
pro Castro groups even as the CIA was prohibited from
43:31
domestic spying. The CIA backed group known as DRE was
43:36
aware of Oswald as he publicly promoted a pro Castro
43:39
policy for the US, and its members physically clashed with
43:43
him three months before the assassination, and then a DRE
43:48
member said Oswald approached them and offered his help, possibly
43:52
to work as a mall within his pro Castro group,
43:55
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. The CIA had long
43:59
denied any involvement with a Cuban group or any awareness
44:03
of Boswell's pro Cuba advocacy. After the most recent release
44:07
of documents, the agency did not respond to a request
44:10
for comment. The House Overside Committee created a Task Force
44:14
on Federal Secrets to revisit the executive orders by President
44:18
Trump in both of his administrations requiring the release of
44:22
assassination files by government agencies. After the task Force held
44:26
hearings on the JFK assassination this spring, Chairwoman Anna Paulina Luna,
44:31
Republican from Florida, led a push for the CIA to
44:35
revisit its archives, which produced some significant discoveries, including new
44:40
details about Jahannidus, who had previously only been identified with
44:44
the alias of Howard. That's the name members of the
44:48
Dire in Miami had for the CIA contact. They kept
44:51
a prize at their actions, but the CIA informed both
44:55
the Warren Commission in nineteen sixty four and the House
44:58
Selected Committee on Assassination in nineteen seventy eight that Howard
45:02
didn't exist. In nineteen ninety eight, after the formation of
45:06
the Assassination Record's Review Board, the CIA again said it
45:10
had no records related to Howard and the name may
45:13
have been nothing more than a routing indicator. Documents from
45:17
Johannadi's CIA personnel file were released earlier this month, showing
45:22
he had obtained a phony DC driver's license, the name
45:26
on it Howard Mark Gebler. This confirms much of what
45:30
the public already speculated that the CIA was lying to
45:34
the American people and that there was a cover up,
45:37
Luna said in an email. The documents also show the
45:41
CIA gave Johannadis a Career Commendation Medal in nineteen eighty one,
45:46
in part for his handling of the Cuban Group and
45:48
also for his role as a liaison to the House
45:51
Assassinations Committee, in which researches have said that Johannid's Stonewall
45:56
dam when they dug deeper into CIA files. The commendation
46:00
noted his assignment as deputy chief of the Psychological Warfare
46:04
Branch in Miami in nineteen sixty two and said he
46:09
did particularly well with a handling of exile's student and
46:12
teacher groups. It's a breakthrough, and there's more to come,
46:17
said Jefferson Morley, a long time JFK researcher and former
46:22
Washington Post reporter who first sued the CIA for their
46:25
assassination files in two thousand three. The burden of proof
46:29
has shifted. There's a story here that's been hidden and avoided,
46:34
and now it needs to be explored. It's up to
46:36
the government to explain. There is no indication in any
46:41
of the files that the CIA was involved in the
46:44
assassination of Kennedy, which the Warren Commission declared in nineteen
46:48
sixty four was the work of Oswald as a lone gunman.
46:52
The House in nineteen seventy six launched the Select Committee
46:55
to investigate the assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Junior,
47:00
and concluded that Oswald worked as part of a probable conspiracy,
47:04
but they could not determine who else was in the conspiracy.
47:09
Staff members for the committee have said they were making
47:11
progress on unearthing documents from the CIA in nineteen seventy
47:15
eight until a new agency liaison was installed. Johannides, whom
47:20
they had no idea, was at the center of what
47:23
they were trying to uncover. Johannades began to change the
47:28
way file access was handled. Committee staff member Dan Hardway
47:31
testified before Luna's task Force in May. The obstruction of
47:35
our efforts by Johannides escalated over the summer of nineteen
47:39
seventy eight. It was clear that the CIA had begun
47:43
to carefully review files before delivering them to US for review.
47:48
After the movie, j f K launched new questions about
47:51
the Slave Congress. In nineteen ninety four, created the Assassination's
47:56
Record's Review Board, which again tried to recover key dot
47:59
com couments from federal agencies and again probe the CIA.
48:04
The CIA responded with its memo about Howard, saying he
48:08
didn't exist. My memo was incorrect, said J. Barry Harrelson,
48:14
a former CIA official who wrote the memo. But this
48:17
wasn't deliberate, he said. He wasn't provided Johannadie's personnel file,
48:22
but that it was provided to the review Board. Morley
48:26
said the review board received the file, but seeing no
48:29
references to Oswald, didn't realize its relevance. Harrelson said the
48:34
release of the DC driver's license notes was the first
48:37
time I'd seen it in an interview. Harrelson also said
48:41
Howard was not listed in the registered alias database of
48:44
the CIA. Morley said that was an indicator that johannade
48:49
Miami operations was off the books and not formally recognized
48:53
by the agency. Harrison disagreed, saying he had a public
48:57
driver's license and that the Cuban student knew his name,
49:01
though not his real identity. Harrelson's memo also noted that
49:05
progress reports on Johannides's Miami operation were missing for the
49:09
seventeen months he was there, which Morley said was another
49:12
indicator that the anti Castro program was secret even within
49:17
the CIA. The search for Howard began in the nineteen
49:20
nineties when Morley interviewed members of the Cuban group DIRE
49:25
short for Directorio Polutionario Asuriantiev or Student Revolutionary Directorate. Among
49:33
them was Jose Antonio le Nuza, now eighty six, who
49:37
told the Posts that Howard dealt only with the Diire's leader,
49:41
Luis Fernandez Rocha. Androcha would pass on direction from Howard.
49:47
Previously released records showed that the CIA had begun reading
49:51
Oswald's mail in nineteen fifty nine, when he defected to
49:54
the Soviet Union, a move that attracted American media attention.
49:59
Oswald returned to the US in nineteen sixty two with
50:02
a new wife and daughter in tow and settled in Dallas.
50:06
Morley has found that the CIA continued to monitor Oswald.
50:10
At least thirty five CIA employees handled reports on Oswald
50:14
between nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty three, Morley said,
50:19
including a half dozen officers who reported personally to Counterintelligence
50:23
Chief James Angleton or Deputy Director Richard Helms. The files
50:28
included State Department and FBI reports about his defection and
50:32
his activities with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a
50:36
pro castro group in the US for which he launched
50:38
a one man chapter in New Orleans in August nineteen
50:41
sixty three. When Oswald publicized his involvement in the pro
50:46
castro group, the DRA swung into action and confronted him
50:50
on the street in New Orleans, leading to a brief
50:53
altercation and police involvement. One of the DRE members challenged
50:57
Oswald to a debate, which was brought to cast on
51:00
the radio in the Crescent City. Rocha sent a tape
51:03
of the debate to Howard DRE Record Show. Not long
51:08
after that, Oswald approached one of the DRE members in
51:11
New Orleans and offered his help, Lanuza said in an interview.
51:15
He indicated he might be interested in helping us train
51:18
for military operation, Lanuza said. Then Oswald sent a letter
51:23
to the DRE. Lanuza said. It was handwritten, two pages.
51:28
Lanuza recalled it was crap, a ranting thing. I'm willing
51:33
to go to Miami to help you guys. It was
51:36
all building up a legend. I was constantly getting letters
51:39
from gringos who wanted to come in and dress up
51:42
in military garb and show up in my office. He
51:45
filed it away. Was Oswald secretly offering to spy on
51:49
fair play for Cuba, something the CIA had other operators doing.
51:54
Lenusa thinks so, but the DRE didn't follow up with Oswald.
51:58
Lee Harvey Oswald was trying to gain the good graces
52:01
of the CIA, Leanuza said. He said, I'll do whatever.
52:06
But when the news hit that Oswald had been arrested
52:09
three months later, Lanuza and Rocha called Howard. Lanuza said.
52:14
Howard told them to call the FBI and provide the
52:17
letter and then alert the media to Oswald's pro Cuba leanings.
52:22
The fi came and took Oswald's letter with a promise
52:25
to return it, Lenuza said, but never did. Lanuza then
52:29
phoned his contacts in the news media, who promptly added
52:33
Oswald's political leanings to their coverage. The Fair Play for
52:36
Cuba Committee soon imploded from its association with Oswald, a
52:41
massive victory for the CIA and for Howard. Morley and
52:46
other researchers always suspected Howard was Johannides, who died in
52:50
nineteen ninety, but it wasn't confirmed until the driver's license
52:54
documents were released July third. Why couldn't they say that
52:58
before twenty twenty five? Morley asked, I think the only
53:02
reason is there something nefarious going on. If it's something innocent,
53:06
just say this is what happened. Oswald said, I'm a
53:10
patsy when speaking to journalists in Dallas police headquarters after
53:14
his arrest, and many disbelieved the Warren commissioned conclusion that
53:18
he was a lone gunman. He really wasn't alone. He
53:22
had the CIA looking over his shoulder for four years,
53:25
Morley said. Ralph Mowatt Larson, a former CIA counterintelligence officer
53:31
who has delved deeply into the case, said this looks
53:35
a hell of a lot like a CIA operation. He
53:39
said a plausible theory was rogue CIA officers created the
53:43
conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy unknown to the agency, and that
53:47
the CIA covered it up not because they were involved,
53:51
but because they were trying to hide the secrets of
53:53
that period. He said many in the CIA were anger
53:57
with Kennedy after he withdrew support for the agency's Bay
54:00
of Pigs invasion of Cuba in nineteen sixty one, as
54:04
well as for his gradual move toward peace with the
54:06
Soviet Union after the Cuban Missile Crisis of nineteen sixty two.
54:12
The question is what was Johanides doing for the CIA
54:15
monitoring Oswald moat Larsen said the people who were orchestrating
54:20
this had access to Johannidi's reporting. They used that to
54:24
monitor Oswald. His bonafarides are being set up to be
54:27
a lone gunman, a cover story for other shooters. We're
54:32
getting closer to the truth about Oswald and the CIA,
54:35
but I do think there is more to come, said
54:38
Senior US District Judge John R. Tunheim of Minneapolis, who
54:42
chaired the assassination's review board in the nineteen nineties. The
54:46
Johannid's disclosures are most important, I think, Tunheim said he
54:51
didn't see any CIA complicity at this point. I see
54:55
hiding information to avoid embarrassing questions, information that proves pass lies.
55:01
He noted, the Congress passed the JFK Records Act in
55:04
nineteen ninety two. Where are Howard's monthly reports and progress reports.
55:09
Howard's files must exist, probably apart from Johannidi's files. Luna
55:15
agreed with moat Larsen that there was a rogue element
55:18
that operated within the CIA, outside the purview of Congress
55:22
and the federal government, that knowingly engaged in the cover
55:26
up of the JFK assassination. I believe this rogue element
55:30
intentionally turned a blind eye to the individuals who orchestrated
55:34
it to which they had direct connections. I think this
55:37
rogue element within the CIA looked at JFK as a radical.
55:42
They did not like his foreign policy, and that's why
55:45
they justified turning a blind eye to his assassination and
55:48
those involved. Our next item is entitled US Firm challenges
55:54
Global Aid Rulebook Established Principles set aside In bid to
55:59
get food war torn places for profit by Catherine Harald,
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Grace was scared and hungry. The thirty year old had
56:08
fled the South Sudanese town and the Syir in March
56:11
after a deadly raid on a military garrison and retaliatory bombings.
56:16
As her house burned, Grace said she grabbed her three
56:19
children and ran. She had spent her savings on a
56:23
bag of sorghum, but the little ones were still hungry.
56:27
Last month, Grace heard that free food was being given
56:29
out in a seer fat white bags of beans and
56:33
flour emblazoned with the South Sudanese flag. On July sixteenth,
56:37
the bags tumbled from a light colored plain that flew
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low over the Carmel River and green fields near her home,
56:45
but Grace refused to go back. She didn't know the
56:48
air drops were being coordinated by US company Fodbau that
56:52
had been hired by officials in Sas Sudan's isolated regime,
56:57
but she knew the food was coming from the same
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government that had bombed her town, and she feared it
57:03
was a scheme to luris civilians like her back under
57:06
its control and bolster its own legitimacy with their return.
57:11
They killed my neighbors, and now I should trust them,
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she asked over a crackley phone line. Why, like other
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residents and aid officials in Sudan and Sassudan, she spoke
57:22
on the condition she be identified by her first name
57:26
or on the condition of anonymity fearing retaliation from the
57:29
military or armed opposition. The Washington Post was able to
57:34
identify one person whose family said he had returned to
57:37
the area and was killed. The American venture capitalists who
57:42
fanned Fogbo want to shake up the world's humanitarian aid system.
57:46
Drawing on the skills of US Special Operations forces to
57:50
deliver food to the world's most desperate and inaccessible places Gaza,
57:55
Sudan and Sassudan, Fogbo says it can deliver a faster, cheaper,
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and farther into danger zones at a time when humanitarian
58:04
donations are plummeting. But a groups warned that private companies
58:09
working as aid for hire could end up harming vulnerable people.
58:15
Due to time constraints, we will be unable to complete
58:17
this item. This concludes a reading of the Washington Post
58:21
for to Day, Tuesday, July fifteenth, twenty twenty five. Your
58:25
reader for to Day has been Cindy Fraser. If you
58:28
have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please
58:33
feel free to call us at A five nine quarter
58:35
two two six threey nine zero. Thank you for listening,
58:39
and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio
58:43
I