Transcript

5.22.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post. I am
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Alice Stainer, with the reminder that Ley or I as
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a service for those blind or with other disabilities that
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do not able then to hold and read printed material.
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And today is Thursday, May twenty second. And this is
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why I'm curious, because the Washington Post that comes up
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is for Wednesday, May twenty first. So I am reading
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yesterday's newspaper for today's news, and I will start with
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the front page. And on the far left, FDA might
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limit access to shops for coronavirus. Agency plans to approve
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vaccines for those over sixty five or with health issues
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by Rachel Rubin and Lena Hsn. In the middle is
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a picture of two people standing in front of an
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enormous snow powder on a bridge or a walkway. And
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it's a picture of federal worker Richard Midget was left
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in despair by his firing at Yellowstone. Friend Carl Reddin
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answered his call for help. Cat Breddin entered his coffee. Help.
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We want to put them in trauma. Maga figures quotes
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echoes as federal workers, telepanic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts by
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William Wahan and Hannah Nathanson and the picture on the
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right that to the right of that picture is dhs
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BID would relocate migrants suggest using two hundred and fifty
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million in AID funds, thousands would be returned to conflict
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zones by Adam Taylor and Martine Powers. On the left,
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below the vaccine article, President Lodge's warns unified GOPY on
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budget bill, his agenda at stake, Trump presses holdouts during
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Capitol Hill visit by Clive Woodson Junior and Marianna Sotomewo.
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And between it and just above a picture of New
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Orleans Trump backs off cease fire effort after called with
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Kutten by Robin Dixon, Ellen Francis, Anthony Faola, and Isabel Cashu.
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And to the very right of that is a very
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small picture. President Biden's last known prostate Kansas wreening was
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in twenty fourteen. His office says, undercutting GOP speculation, his
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team knew of diagnosis earlier, and that story is on
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page two. But there's a picture of President Biden. It's
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a small picture in the article of the now discovered
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prostate cancer and the very bottom article is a picture
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of the ConA of Kanti and Burgundy Streets in Nolah.
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A security camera keeps watching over that ConA and that
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was on May eighth. Project NOLA manages many of the
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cameras that left the police, that the police relied on,
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and it says camera network secretly aided New Orlean's police
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authorities pause use a facial recognition system after records request
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from The Post by Douglas McMillan and Aaron Shapu. First
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article shows which Nidget in front of a scene of
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the Yellowstone National Park. It's all in black and white
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except for his red shirt. Why does officials wanted to
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put federal workers in trauma? It's working. Federal workers describe
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struggling with panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts. Why doesn't anyone
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cho William Wan and Hannah Nattison For this story, Post
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reporters interviewed more than thirty current and former federal employees
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To confirm those workers' stories. They reviewed agency badge credentials,
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layoff notices, and internal agency emails. Sources who spoke to
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the Post anonymously did so to avoid retribution from their
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agency or the Trump administration. The President had called federal
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employees crooked and dishonest, and his deputies have to purge
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them from government and make them suffer. And now, on
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the sixth day of Trump's second term, a federal health
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researcher was missing. Her husband searched every room of their
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Baltimore town. Ho was calling her name. Caitlyn, Caitlyn, Caitlin crossed.
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Barnett had struggled with depression and now her husband Mike
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found her in the narrow third floor fire escape as
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he tried to coax her back, and she replied, it's
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not high enough to jump. On the twenty sixth day
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of Trump's term, Richard Midget twenty eight, was fired from
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his IT job at Yellastone National Park. He drove to
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the only bridge in his town, stopping just past its edge.
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From the car, he listened to the rushing of the
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water and for the first time, contemplated whether the end
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is life. On the thirtieth day of Trump's term, Monique Lockett,
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fifty three, tried to block out the stress. The US
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Doe Service was demanding access to sensitive databases she worked
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on at the Social Security Administration. Her top boss had
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just been caused to resign, and rumors of layoffs were
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brewing Monique settled into her cubicle just before eight a m.
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Then slump to the floor. When Trump took office in January,
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two point four million people worked for the federal government,
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making it America's largest employer. In four months, Trump and
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a chainshaw wielding Elon Musk have hacked off chunks of
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government in the name of efficiency, with tactics rarely seen
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in public or private industry. The cuts so far represent
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roughly six percent of the federal workforce that they have
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effectively wiped out entire departments and agencies such as americ
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Car and the US Agency for International Development. The Consumer
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Financial Protection Bureau was slashed eighty five percent, the Education
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Department cut in half. Some have found themselves fired, rehired,
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then let go again. Man he had been ridiculed as
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lazy and corrupt. They've been locked out of offices by police,
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buy it for political disloyalty, and told to check their
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email to see if they still draw a paycheck. Above
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that sentence is a picture of the Oval Office with
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gold of drapes, an American flag and the presidential flag
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on the right and left of the windows directly behind
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the President's desk. Elon Musk is standing near with his
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ball cap on, a coat and a T shirt underneath,
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and a child on the floor which I believe is
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his youngest child to the youngest child, and an officer
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of the White House. One of the officials of the
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White as standing beside the Culture of the President Washington
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and sculpture below that are their two presidential flags in there.
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Elon Musk speaks to reporters on February eleventh, after President
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Trump signed an executive order empowering Musk's us DOGE service
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to slash the federal workforce. In interviews, more than thirty
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former and current federal workers told The Washington Post that
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the chaos and mass firings had left them feeling devalued, demoralized,
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and scared for themselves in the country. Many described problems
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they'd never experienced before, insomnia, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts. Others
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with a history of mental struggles said they found themselves
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pushed into terrifying territory. In response, White House Deputy Press
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Secretary Anna Kelly said President Trump wants all Americans to
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thrive under his administration, and he has done more than
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any president to end the chronic disease crisis. In their country.
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She added, it is an honor, not a right, to
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serve your country in a taxpayer funded position, and workers
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unaligned with the American Patrol's agenda can take part in
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the growing private sector. Trump has blamed federal workers for
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destroying this country. He and his officials have vowed to
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eliminate employees promoting diversity, to force those who aren't doing
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their job back to offices five days a week, and
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to slash one trillion from the federal budget, a still
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distant goal even with the layoffs and more hits may
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be coming. Republicans in Congress are proposing to say fifty
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billion a forcing government workers to pay more into retirement
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benefits while shrinking the value of those benefits. Many workers
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said they believe cruelty is part of the plan. In
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twenty twenty three, recording surfaced by Pro Publica, Trump budget
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director Russell Bought said, we want the bureaucrats to be
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traumatically affected when they wake up in the morning. We
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want them to not want to go to work because
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they are increasingly viewed as the villains. Suddenly, it felt
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like it was unraveling before her husband found her on
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the fire escape. That chilly morning. Caitlin, fifty five, had
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spent twelve years working for the federal government. She studied
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creative writing and college in graduate school, and took a
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job in nineteen ninety four teaching at Harvard Westlake in
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Los Angeles, an elite private school attended by children of
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Hollywood executives. But the work felt like a betrayal of
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her values. Instead of fighting in that quality, she told
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friends she was perpetuating it. At thirty five, Caitlyn quitn't
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move with her husband and children to Baltimore to study
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sociology at John Hopkins University. She drove around with bags
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of new socks in her trunk for people on her
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commute who were homeless. She was hired in twenty twelve
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by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in Baltimore.
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Her job was wonky, even by government standards, testing tiny
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changes to medicaid to yield better patient outcomes than save
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taxpayer money. The Caitlin told her friends that those tiny adjustments,
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especially in maternal health, could save lives. There is a
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picture of Caitlin Cross Barnett at the twenty seventeen Women's
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March in d c. She was a prolific knitter, friends
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and families say, and receiving a scarf a hat was
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a sure sign of affection. So there's a picture of
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her in a purple sweatshirt with a lighter purple hat,
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and she is knitting pink with pink looks. I don't
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know if it's a scar for a headpiece, but she
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is knitting that while at the march, and she's got
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this great, big smile on her face. Haitlen used data
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to show that birth centers could lower cost and yield
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higher birth weights and fewer er visits for pregnant women
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on Medicaid, including minorities. She oversaw a government funded program
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to help pregnant mothers addicted to opioids within days. At
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Trump's second inauguration, the government is removing gender and minority
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health data from its websites. All the progress she worked
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for suddenly it felt like it was unraveling, said one
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co worker, who, like many federal employees in this article,
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spoke on the condition of inanity to avoid retribution. The
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cuts were not the only reason for her dispay. Caitlin
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was recovering from a difficult hysterectomy. Family problems had recently
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taken a toll. She had struggled with depression on and
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off for years, but had never attempted suicide. As the
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threats to her job increased to albus, so did her distress.
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Along with two million of the federal workers, she received
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the January twenty eighth Fork in the Road e mail
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encouraging her to quit and warning that she could be fired.
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It worried her, but she decided against the buy it.
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She and other workers were warned to they be disciplined
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if they didn't turn in colleagues who continued to work
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on diversity and equity programs despite a presidential order to stop.
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That one hit her as hard because it was trying
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to turn her coworkers against her, said Emily Cross, one
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of Caitlyn and Mike's three children. To reach Caitlin that
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day on the fire's gate, Mike folded his body out
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the bathroom window. He squeezed down next to her on
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the black metal grating and told her we can get
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you help. He guided her back inside, and soon after
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he and Emily convened an emergency meeting with Caitlin's psychiatrist.
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They persuaded her to check into a mental Health Residential
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mental health facility in Virginia. Before she entered the facility,
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Caitlin applied for several jobs outside government. The exhaustion and
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worry had become too much. She told her family she
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wanted a way out. And there is a picture of
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Emily Cross in Baltimore at home with a blanket made
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by her. The Caitlin Cross Barnett a man made disaster
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by sheer numbers. America has rarely seen sudden job losses
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on this scale. In nineteen ninety three, IBM fired sixty
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thousand people, setting the all time record for the largest layoff.
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Since Trump took office, the government has pushed at at
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least one hundred and thirty thousand people out of jobs,
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with more than fifty thousand fired in seventy six thousand
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accepting buyouts. According to media reports. Additional reductions planned in
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coming weeks could double that total. Roughly a third of
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the thirty workers who talked to the Post had been fired.
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The rest feared being laid off or reassigned, having to
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move to offices hundreds of miles from family, or lead
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behind the people and missions to which they devoted their careers.
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Some interviewed at the Post said they had joined the
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Federal Works course for the stability incouraged the security of
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a government job. Many noted that they could earn more
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in the private sector. Almost all mentioned the chance to
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help others and make a difference. They worked at twelve
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federal agencies and in more than a dozen states. One
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had spent more than thirty years in government, another only
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two weeks. A manager in the Midwest for the Department
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of Veteran Affairs forced in February the layoff probationary employees,
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said she kept scheduling emergency meetings with her psychiatrists, who
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increased her anti depression manage from twenty five milligrams to
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fifty to one hundred. You spend every day worrying about
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those under you, said the BA manager. The depression is
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now worse than during my divorce, worse than when my
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mom died of cancer. Phone operators for the Veteran's Crisis
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Line said they'd seen arise and calls from federal employees
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and others worried about cuts to the VA with so
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many federal workers seeking help. Rosalind bras Veroza, a therapist
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in the DC suburbs, convened a network of more than
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sixty councilors to provide free and low cost therapy to
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so many people it feels targeted to injure and break them.
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With natural disasters, we have mental health workers helping people
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on sea. This one's a man made disaster, but it's
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no less traumatizing versa, said a National Institutes of Health
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employee and the South, worried for weeks that she'll lose
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her job, said she's checked her government benefits to calculate
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how much money her family would receive if she killed herself.
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She took the job several years ago because the stable
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hours and job security helped her manage by polar disorder,
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a family affliction she inherited, but in recent weeks suicidal
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thoughts have come back so strongly that she's depended on
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a safety plane with her husband, limited medication in their hosts,
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no guns, in emergency contact on speedbal. Federal workers aren't
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just numbers on a spreadsheet, she said. We're real people
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with families who are hurting and in the worst case,
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is dying. Why don't people let there see that? Why
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doesn't any one care? I just don't know what I'm
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going to do On February fourteenth, Richard Midget cleared at
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his desk at Yellowstone National Park headquarters. On the way home,
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he blasted indeed rock music to draw out the sound
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of his own sopping. The rude home took in across
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the only bridge and gardener Montana. He had never suffered
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from depression or other mental problems, he said, But as
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he sat, newly unemployed, in his eyes idling carr just
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past the bridge, he was overwhelmed by dark thoughts. He
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wondered how he would pay for a new apartment, please
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his student loans, and his medicine for his Crohm's disease.
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He'd worked at the park for only two months. He
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recalled the foolish pride he felt when he first put
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on a National Park Service uniform after besting two hundred
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others for an it job he had worked years to attain.
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I thought I was finally getting somewhere, he said, building
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a career and a life. He pulled into a gas
19:35
station next to the bridge and considered calling his parents.
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His dad had voted for Trump and for weeks had
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been cheering the president's promises to purge the government. Instead,
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he dialed Cat Breckham sixty nine, his boss from previous
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job in park concessions. She immediately drove to the bridge
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and gave him a hug. I just don't know what
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I'm going to do, he told her. They kept talking
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in her old Chevy suburban until the sky grew dark
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and their faces were illuminated by the light of the
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gas station anymore. Gradually, the suicide impulse faded, replaced by fear, sadness,
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and anger at the casual way he had been tossed.
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I'd decided there'd be no greater failure than me throwing
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away my life. It's exactly what they want. I'm not
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going to give them that satisfaction. Last month, he was rehired,
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only to be fired a second time after courts ruled
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some of Trump's layoffs illegal, then legal again. It's like whiplash,
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Midget said, I've given up on ever working for the
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ever working for the federal government again, at least under
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this administration. Through the window of the door. For decades,
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researchers have studied the mental effects of such layoffs in
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the private sector. In one off cited study, people ranked
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unemployment as more traumatic than being cheated on or going
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through a divorce even more than abruptly becoming blind or death.
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Sudden job loss increases risk of suicide, depression, anxiety. Studies
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show mass layoffs I'm sorry this, my computer is not working,
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or most is not working. Mass layoffs magnified that effect.
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In twenty eleven, economists examined a decade of data and
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found that mass layoffs resulted in additional suicide for every
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forty two hundred men and for every seventy one hundred
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women using their jobs. Mass layoffs can devastate entire communities,
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They noted, fracturing social networks and creating pools of applicants
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fighting over limited jobs. We're seeing it in the federal workforce,
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said Sally Spencer Thomas, a psychologist who has consulted our
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Workplace Suicide for Fortune five hundred companies, first responders, and
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healthcare systems. If you boil suicide down to its most
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common factors, a thwarted sense of belonging, feeling like a
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burden to others, having the mindset in means that's happening
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across government. One Trump administration tactic, make clearby Trump and
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Musk statements as well as their policies, is trying to
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make some workers so miserable that they quit. Experts on
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workplace mental health say it echoes a case in France
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two decades ago. In two thousand and four, leaders of
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a company then known as Rond's Techup Telecom wanted to
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cut twenty two thousand jobs, but couldn't outright fire many
23:07
who had civil servant protections. Over several years, employees were demoted,
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reassigned to ill cited jobs, and forced to work far
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from families. I don't get people to believe one way
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or another, the CEO reportedly told managers either through the
23:24
window or the door. At least thirty five employees killed themselves.
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Years later, CEO and two executives were criminally were criminally
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convicted of institutional moral harassment in the debts courts in France,
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which is some of the world's strongest label laws, including
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many that don't exist in the US, cited a conscious
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scheme to worsen the work conditions. Suicide is a complex phenomenon,
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notes experts note, and teasing out the causes in many
24:12
cases is difficult. The research points to clear contributing factors
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feelings of worthlessness, stress, lack of access to health care,
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and insurance and unemployment. Some advocates are particularly concerned for veterans,
24:28
who make up thirty percent of the federal workforce. Almost
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a third of all veterans already suffer from a service
24:35
connected physical and mental disability. Roughly eleven to twenty percent
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of those who serve in a rack of Afghanistan have
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experienced post traumatic stress disorder PTSD. Many have training and
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access to firearms, which increases suicide risk. Spencer Thomas said,
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we are shattering people's sense of mission, identity, and value
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as to beings. Those left behind by the layoffs are
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struggling with survivor's guilt in this sense, their world is collapsing.
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In this sense that their world is collapsing, she didn't
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need to that. The day he was inaugurated, Trump signed
25:18
an order requiring federal workers to return to the office
25:21
five days a week. Cast thing government employees as lazy.
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He predicted a very substantial number of people will not
25:29
show up to work. Social Security worker a meat Locket
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fifty three rareliness to day of work and didn't intend
25:37
to start, so she bought a new briefcase that rolled
25:41
on wheels into it. When a keyboard and a metics
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because Social Securities headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland, lacked equipment for
25:49
the droves of returning workers. She packed a heat up
25:52
because the aging building was often cold, and the war
25:56
a bottle because last year inspectors found Legionella bacteria in
26:01
the buildings of pipes. The job increasingly weighed on Monique
26:05
and their sister, Nakeisha Lockett, who shared a house with her.
26:10
With no basis, Trump and his lieutenants accused her agency
26:14
of widespread fraud their knun's plans to cut thousands of
26:18
workers from Social Security already stabbed at a fifty year load.
26:23
As Mini retired and took byoutes, Monique picked up the
26:26
extra work. Coworker said after long days that the office
26:30
she would collapse into her favorite armchair. I've hit my limit,
26:35
her sister recalled her as saying, referring to demands from
26:38
Trump appointees and members of the Department of Government Efficiency,
26:42
these people don't know what they're doing. She worked with
26:46
her agency's most sensitive databases, containing the financial information of
26:51
every tax paying American. In recent days, those engineers had
26:55
demanded access to those databases. Acting Commissioner Michelle King resisted,
27:01
and then on February sixteenth. King resigned. On the morning
27:06
of February eighteenth, Monique and others returned from the President's
27:10
Day weekend to an office tense with news of King's
27:12
departure and rumors of molkuts. Monique was at her cubicle
27:17
on the third floor of headquarters when she collapsed till
27:20
work was said. The medical examiner listed the cause of
27:23
death as hypertensive atherist galactic caviovascular disease. Monique's family, if
27:33
any close co workers, blamed her heart attack on stress
27:36
at work. Monique had risk factors for heart disease, including obesity,
27:42
high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, according to her medical records.
27:46
Two experts who reviewed her records at the Post request
27:50
that in cases like hers, stress, uncertainty and tension at
27:54
work can contribute to cardiac arrest. There is good evidence
28:00
that emotional upset can trigger acute and potentially even lethal
28:04
heart problems, said Gregory Marcus, a cardiologist and professor of
28:09
medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. Duke
28:13
University researches in twenty twelve studied the work histories of
28:17
more than thirteen thousand people and found that a single
28:21
job loss raised a person's risk of heart attack by
28:24
thirty five percent. Her death in the middle of the
28:27
office at a traumatic pivotal moment left her family and
28:30
coworkers shaken and angry. I'm angry because this didn't need
28:36
to happen. She didn't need to die, one coworker said,
28:42
A humane, rational way to do this. The last time
28:46
the federal government massively shrank its workforce, President Bill Clinton
28:51
was in office. Musk has likened his cuts to those reductions.
28:57
What I those is doing is similar to clinton Slash
29:01
Gore DIM policies of the nineteen nineties. The current DIM
29:05
party has just gone so crazy far left that it
29:08
isn't recognizable anymore. But former officials say the nineteen nineties
29:14
Reinventing the Government initiative was undertaken slowly and carefully, with
29:18
bipartisan authorization from Congress. Over the span of seven years,
29:23
the program eliminated roughly forty four hundred thousand federal jobs,
29:28
a seventeen percent cut, mostly through voluntary buyers and attrition.
29:34
Back then, the writers pushed back on painting federal workers
29:38
as lazy. Robert Reach, who was Clinton's secretary of Labor
29:43
said in a recent phone interview, most federal workers believe
29:48
in service and could be making a lot more money
29:51
in private sector. There's a humane, rational way to do this.
29:55
You don't need to pray it around a stage with
29:57
a chainsaw. Now. Votes quote about deliberately dramatizing workers has
30:04
played over and over in the mind of one US
30:07
FAG Forest Service biologists in California. He first came across
30:12
it on his sleepless night in January, scrolling on his
30:16
phone and wondering if he'd loses his job. That night,
30:19
he said, his heart began juttering, as if it was
30:22
trying to escape his chest. He recalled turning his wife,
30:26
a nurse, to say, these people are going to effing
30:31
kill me. Asked to comment on votes quote, the White
30:34
House sent a statement from an unnamed senior Administration official.
30:40
What about the January sixth defendants and political prisoners who
30:44
suffered real trauma and committed suicide over the harassment, bullying,
30:48
and imprisonment by bureaucrats who weaponized the government against them.
30:53
For the biologists, the panic attacks soon were coming three days,
30:57
three times a day. He never thought much about me
31:00
little health in his fifteen years of federal service, but
31:03
now he signed up for therapy and went on meds.
31:06
He declined calls from his mother, he said, because he
31:08
didn't want to hear her praise for Trump for streamlining government,
31:12
and said that if her son didn't like it, he
31:14
could find another job. One day, the biologist's nine year
31:18
old son came home from work with a question. Schoolmates
31:22
had been talking about Mousk and Trump, the boy said,
31:25
and how they were going to fire the stupidest workers. Dad,
31:29
he asked, why would they want to fire you? I'm
31:33
not enough. Two weeks after her husband talked her off
31:37
the fires gave, Caitlin checked into a mental health facility
31:40
in Fairfax, Virginia. She had no self on her laptop
31:44
and could talk to family onlyas into facility's phone. In
31:48
daily calls to her husband, she pressed for updates from
31:51
her work. The ladies laofs and program cuts. I tried
31:56
not to give her too much information that was upsetting,
31:59
Mike said. Two weeks into her stay, on February twenty seventh,
32:03
the philisility's staff set up a computer for her. A
32:07
nonprofit wanted to interview Caitlin for a job advocating for Medicaid,
32:12
the program she had worked to improve for twelve years.
32:15
That same week, Pace Republicans had voted for an eight
32:19
hundred and eighty billion dollar budget cut that would require
32:24
severe reductions to Medicaid, a scenary old Caitlin had long feared.
32:30
That night, on the call with her husband, Caitlyn remained
32:33
in good spirits. The job interview had gone well. She
32:37
told Mike she loved him and missed him. But when
32:39
she called the next morning, Caitlin was inconsolable. I'm having
32:43
a really bad day, she told him. Mike tried to
32:47
reassure her, but Caitlyn kept saying, I'm not enough. I'm
32:50
not good enough. Over the years, in her darkest moments,
32:54
Caitlyn had often told him she felt she didn't measure up.
32:57
She never felt adequate as a daughter, as a wife
33:00
and mother, or as a researcher. Of course, you're enough,
33:04
Mike said of the phone. You do so much, You're
33:06
more than enough. Caitlin kept crying, you're enough for me.
33:11
He tried to tell up, but soon after she hung up.
33:14
The next call Mike received ninety eight minutes later, was
33:18
from a hospital in Virginia. He later learned that the
33:21
mental health facility had staffed checking on Caitland every fifteen minutes,
33:26
but she saw an opening between checkups and killed herself.
33:31
What are we going to do? Last month, the Department
33:35
of Health and Human Services, where Caitlin had worked, laid
33:38
off more than ten thousand workers. That came in addition
33:42
to ten thousand laws to buy out some retirement. The
33:45
twenty four percent total reduction Caitlin's unit, the senders for
33:50
Medicare and Medicaid services, cup three hundred jobs. In recent days,
33:55
her HHS colleagues in d C. And Maryland were forced
33:58
to line up outside their offices to find out if
34:01
they still had a job, thus wiping their badges at
34:04
the entrance. In a statement, an HHS spokesperson said, HHS
34:10
takes any loss of life or distress among our employees seriously,
34:14
and their focus remains unproviding the support and resources necessary
34:18
to ensure their well being. The week Caitlyn died, one
34:23
of her grieving colleagues at AHHS found out that her husband,
34:26
a federal contractor, was losing his job. By week's end,
34:32
the colleague couldn't sleep, struggled with suicidal thoughts, and felt
34:36
as if she were drowning in a pool of rising blackwater.
34:40
You have to get up, she chied, heed herself. When
34:43
the alarm went off at six thirty am. You have
34:46
to take the kids to school, she said. An hour later.
34:49
You have to work, she said, as she sat down
34:52
at the office to keep a roof over their heads. Meanwhile,
34:57
Caitlyn's husband, Mike, who'd spend decades editing for newspapers in
35:01
Los Angeles and Baltimore, worked hard on her eulogy, but
35:05
then wondered after her burial if he should have been
35:08
more emotional. In their thirty four years together, Caitlin had
35:13
often been the spontaneous idealist. He was this steady one
35:17
who planned everything. They'd been planning a trip to Columbia
35:21
to birdwatch, and India for their son's wedding celebration, and
35:25
Africa for a safari. They had visited forty eight states
35:30
and were missing only North and South Dakota. After her death,
35:36
Mike avoided the headlines that had consumed Caitlin in her
35:40
final weeks. What's happening to our country? She would often
35:44
ask him about Trump's latest daughters and the future of
35:47
American democracy. What are we going to do about it
35:51
these days, the questions haunting Mike, or smaller in scale,
35:55
who wonders how to honor his wife's work. I'd agreed
35:58
for her without getting lost in the same dispair. Sitting
36:02
at night in their empty row, host he asks what
36:06
am I going to do without her? Trump backs off
36:11
Ceaspire after call with Kutin, letting fighting, Ray John After
36:17
Trump's third phone call with Putin, sence his inaugeration, it
36:21
appears there will be no let up in fighting and
36:24
less US pressure on Moscow. Robin Dixon, Ellen Francis, Anthony Faola,
36:34
and Isabel Koshi. A phone call between President Donald Trump
36:39
and Russian President Vladimir Putin shut down an effort to
36:43
pressure Russia into an immediate cease fire and instead opened
36:48
the way for fighting to continue during lengthy negotiations, much
36:52
to the consternation of Ukraine and its European allies. Tuesday,
36:57
Trump's unwillingness to push Russia into a truce indicated that
37:01
he may be stepping away from involvement in the talks,
37:04
something that his team had been flagging for weeks. Trump
37:08
said Monday that the conditions for a ceasfire could only
37:12
be agreed about their org in parties because they know
37:16
details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.
37:22
Just over a week ago, Russian leaders were planning with
37:25
US officials to wield new sanctions against Russia if it
37:28
did not agree to a ceasfire in Ukraine. But despite
37:32
Trump's exhortations for months that the fighting must stop immediately,
37:37
the president, who once promised to end the war in
37:40
a day, appeared not only to sidestep the European plans,
37:45
but also to abandon his own call for a swift seaspire.
37:50
In the course of Monday's phone call, Putin managed to
37:53
add a new delaying element to the process, the need
37:57
for each side to draft a them around them on
38:01
the terms of a future peace treaty, a move that
38:04
may leave Ukraine bulnnable while talks drag on. There is
38:09
no timefram and can be none, Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitry Peskov
38:15
told journalists Tuesday, after Russia deflected pressure for a ceasefire
38:20
before peace talks, a position that Kremlin pushed for for months.
38:25
The devil is in the details. Drafts will be drawn
38:28
up by both the Russian side and the Ukrainian side.
38:32
And there will be difficult contracts or contacts to formulate
38:37
a single text, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. Ukrainian President
38:45
Volodimir Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of trying to buy
38:49
a time and called for coordinated Western Prussia to make
38:53
Russia holt the war. Sanctions matter, and I am grateful
38:58
to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators
39:02
of the war, Zelensky rode in a telegram post. He
39:06
warned the night earlier, after speaking of Trump, that it
39:10
was crucial for all of us that the United States
39:13
does not distance itself from the talks without the US
39:19
on board. The European Union in Britain formally adopted fresh
39:22
sanctions against Moscow on Tuesday, including targeting vessels that skirt
39:28
an embargo and Russian oil. European officials also said they
39:33
would prepare a new round of tougher sanctions targeting energy
39:37
and banking, but that will take time and unanuinimity, and
39:42
it could fall short of the broad sanctions push they
39:45
had hoped would be unveiled with Washington to pressure the Krimlin.
39:50
With Trump's third phone call with Putin since his inaugeration.
39:54
A pattern has emerged. The US makes demands on Putin
39:59
to show that he is serious about peace talks, which
40:02
are then counted by the criminal insisting that the complexity
40:05
of a broader piece deal prevents an immediate ceasefire. The
40:10
Tinias Stenobia, As senior fellow at the Carnegie Russian Eurasia Center,
40:16
commented on X that couldn't had apparently managed to offer
40:21
trumpet infrement tangible outcome from Washington's peace efforts without making
40:27
any real concessions. Russia has laid down harsh conditions for
40:32
a CEASEFIA, including that Ukraine be barred from military recruiting
40:37
of Western weapons, which Kiev sees as unacceptable because it
40:42
would enable Moscow to unilaterally re arm. Trump's indication that
40:48
Russia and Ukraine would be left in negotiated ceasefire between
40:52
themselves also suggested diminished US engagement in the process, raising
40:57
votes on whether a deal can be reached before the
40:59
un years end. Putin is believed to be convinced that
41:03
Russia has the upper hand in the war and can
41:06
gain more territory over the summer fighting season. Following a
41:11
subsequent call between Trump and European leaders, there was the
41:15
distinct impression that Trump may not be willing to raise
41:18
pressure on Putin anytime soon, and could even be ready
41:22
to scale back you as involvement in mediation, said a
41:25
person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of
41:29
anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. European leaders, who were issuing
41:35
ultimatums to Russia as early as last week believed to
41:39
some degree that they could get the administration's backing after
41:43
sens the US impatience with the Primlin But with Trump's
41:47
latest swerve, the threats from European leaders appeared more guarded,
41:51
even as they criticized Putin's moves. Some European officials on
41:56
Tuesday call for the blog to raise sanctions pressure on
41:59
Russia regardless of Washington's plans, while still tutting hopes the
42:04
United States might follow through. EU Foreign Policy chief Kaja
42:10
Kalas said officials would keep working on the next round
42:13
of EU sanctions, the Block's eighteenth package, but acknowledged that
42:19
it is difficult and becoming more difficult. Yet, she added,
42:24
I don't think we have a choice. We need to
42:26
put more pressure. German Defense min Mister Boris Pistorios told
42:33
reporters Tuesday at a meeting of the EU ministers that
42:36
although Russia he is prepared to talk about a memorandum,
42:40
there was still no sign of a cease fire. Ken's
42:45
European backers can keep delivering weapons or money to the
42:50
best of their ability and continue to participate in diplomatic efforts,
42:55
he said, But when I am convinced the European Union
42:59
can and must do is tightened the sanctioned screwed. One
43:05
of the more surprising elements to emerge from the Trump
43:08
coutin call was talk of the Vatican playing a central
43:12
mediation role in future negotiations. An Italian official, speaking on
43:17
the condition of anonymity to outline internal discussions, said the
43:22
topic of deeper Vatican involvement was raised in several mooting
43:26
meetings among Vice President JV. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
43:32
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio
43:37
Tajani during the Americans visit to Rome for Pope Leo's
43:42
fourteenth inauguration Sunday. And there's a picture of Vice President JD.
43:50
Vance and POPLEI of the fourteenth meeting at the Vatican
43:53
on Monday, and Van says his hand on his chest
43:58
with a black suit and black tie, and the popes
44:01
in his white papal vestments. The Vatican is seen as
44:07
an acceptable mediator, and the Americans signaled that they preferred
44:11
this to another neutral place, but the Vatican gives the
44:14
sign of a place in Western civilization where peace can
44:17
be discussed, the official said. The Vatican did not respond
44:22
to rare a requests for comment on Trump and Maloney's
44:25
disclosure of Leo's offer to host cease fire talks at
44:29
the Holy See. The offer, however, would not be uncharacteristic.
44:34
The Vatican has a long tradition of seeking to diffuse conflict,
44:38
deviating talks between the government and opposition in Venezuela as
44:42
well as with US and Cuba to pay the way
44:45
for President Barack Obama's visit to Havana in twenty sixteen.
44:51
In contrast to his predecessor's more conciliatory approach towards Russia,
44:56
Leo has bulokly described Russia's war as an imperial invasion.
45:01
During his first days as pope, he has repeatedly mentioned
45:04
Ukraine and pravatly met with Zelensky on Sunday. Aikiri in
45:10
my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people. May
45:15
everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just and
45:20
lasting piece as soon as possible. Let all the prisoners
45:24
be freed and the children return to their own families,
45:28
Leo said during his first Sunday blessing in Saint Peter's
45:32
Squale in Russia, the main reaction to Monday's call was
45:37
a sense that Trump was moving the US closer to
45:39
Russia and seeing it as one of its most important
45:42
trading partners. The presidents talked in much detail about the
45:46
future of their relations in their conversation, with President Trump
45:50
having spoken quite emotionally about the prospects of these relations,
45:55
he repeatedly emphasized that he favored mutually respectful and mutually
45:59
benefits relations with Russia, given its role in the world
46:03
and its economic position Kremlin, a bury Yashakov said, outlining
46:10
more details of the call on Tuesday, he was at
46:12
pains to emphasize the close connection between Trump and Putin,
46:16
saying that the US president expressed his regret that Washington
46:20
and Moscow were further apart now than they were as
46:23
the World War Two allies, Trump remembered his military brotherhood
46:29
or this military brotherhood, Yashakov said. Constantine Kasatshev, chairman of
46:37
the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia's Federal Federation Council the
46:42
Upper Legislative Chamber, said Russia and the US had emerged
46:46
as negotiation partners against Europe and Ukraine. Based on the
46:52
results of the conversation between Trump and Putin, there is
46:56
a feeling that two consultantive and negotiating groups have finally
47:02
been not irrevocably formed, Russian American and Ukrainian European. He
47:08
wrote on social media. Trump twice to persuade and threatened
47:16
GOP to support his budget build. This dance of a
47:20
few outraconservative hardline US seems to have softened since Trump's message,
47:26
providing an opening for host leaders by Cleve R. Woodson
47:31
Junior and Aryanna so Mayo. President Donald Trump carted his
47:37
bully pulpriit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, trying to persuade
47:41
and at times threatening Congressional hold oats to support the
47:45
White House's budget bill, which could determine whether he regains
47:49
them amendmum. He had early in his second administration or
47:53
seized his agenda stall. The mass of tax and immigration bill,
47:58
which is central to Trump's second term plans, narrowly passed
48:02
the host Budget Committee on Sunday and faces continued resistance
48:07
both from moderates and from GOP hardline as concerning concerned
48:12
about spending, Host Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, and
48:17
his leadership team must muscle the legislation through the House's
48:21
historically narrow majority, where they can lose only three Republicans
48:26
for a successful vote. Trump's hour and a half visit
48:30
with Host Republicans appeared to create a sense of urgency,
48:34
but several procedural hurdles remain. The Speaker has set a
48:38
deadline to do so by Memorial Day, a self imposed
48:41
timeline he is confident he will meet once the Host
48:44
Rules Committee, the final hurdle before the bill ridges the floor,
48:48
meets at one a m. Wednesday. Nothing in Congress is
48:53
ever easy, especially when you have small margins. River going
48:57
to land this plane and deliver this, Johnson said at
49:01
his weekly news conference Tuesday, after which followed the GOP
49:05
conference meeting. President Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill is going
49:10
to require one big, beautiful vote, and this is our shot.
49:15
The Trump card, at least on Tuesday, was the commander
49:18
in chief himself, who accused some of the Republican holdouts
49:22
of grandstanding, but expressed confidence that his unified party would
49:28
ultimately push a bill through Congress. He also suggested that
49:31
Republicans who continued to bulk could face Trump backed challengers
49:35
in their primary races. There are one or two points
49:39
that some people feel strongly about, Trump said, after arriving
49:44
on Capitol Hill. Taxes would go up if this doesn't pass.
49:48
What Republicans could vote for that to happen, because they
49:52
wouldn't be a Republican much longer. Trump's signaled a represented
49:58
to Thomas Massey was in into Kentucky in the conference meeting,
50:03
saying he had consistently voted against his MAGA agenda. Don't
50:07
be a Massy grand stand up, the President said. Minutes
50:11
earlier he called for Massy to be primaried. Massy told
50:17
reports he was flattered, not offended by Trump calling him
50:22
at roughly eight times in the conference meeting. Trump's primary threat,
50:28
he said, is not consequential to my vote. Behind closed doors,
50:33
the message was blunt Trump told the Caucus don't around
50:38
with medicaid benefits, according to two people in the conference meeting,
50:43
but urged Republicans to continue rooting out waste, fraud and
50:47
abuse in the system. Most notably, Trump encouraged total Republicans
50:53
to drop their objections and follow Johnson's lead, as stunning
50:57
endorsement as dozens of glowmakers across that theological factions opposed
51:01
the Speaker's proposal, but the dance of a few ultra
51:05
conservative hardline as seems to have softened at Trump's message,
51:09
providing an opening for host leaders to convince them. Representative
51:14
Andy Biggs, Republican of Arizona, a Freedom Caucus member, said
51:20
groups of lawmakers need to spend Tuesday discussing what they've
51:23
heard and reviewed policy proposals, but that the President made
51:29
some very interesting points. The n person persuasion campaign was
51:34
a recognition that the stakes are high for the president
51:38
in the GOP controlled Congress. Trump has been bragging about
51:42
the pace of his Golden Age agenda that faces headwinds,
51:47
including economic jitters over Tariff's legal changelate, challenges to a
51:52
raft of other policies, and now divisions over a bill
51:56
that would fund his vision of America. Trump's approval ratings
52:01
dipped last month in the wake of economic aftershocks from
52:04
his policies, but the White House had no palms about
52:08
flexing the iron grip he is held on the Republican
52:10
Party for the past decade. It is Trump is supposed
52:14
to say who helped GOP retake Washington and its incumbent
52:19
on Congressional Republicans to fall in land. Trump's massive legislative
52:25
package would increase deficits by at least two point five
52:29
trillion dollars over the next ten years by cutting taxes
52:32
and increasing spending on immigration enforcement, among other provisions. The
52:37
package would extended Trump's twenty seventeen tax law, which is
52:41
set to expire at the end of the year, meaning
52:45
most Americans would see their tax bills rise unless Congress acts.
52:50
Some lawmakers and aides had hoped that Trump would lubricate
52:53
negotiations by detailing which policies he supports and which could
52:57
be excised. Instead, he left the room for interpretation. He
53:03
left room for interpretation. Physical hawks took away that Trump's
53:08
directive on medicaid meant they could still cut waste, fraud,
53:12
and abuse, which would kick people off the healthcare program.
53:16
Others took away that the provisions already proposed would not
53:20
be tweaked. I think Trump is deferring to our conference
53:25
because there is a healthy debate in our own conference
53:28
about where the waste in fraud is versus just reconstructing
53:33
the program to make it work better. In one man's
53:35
opinion over another, Budget Committee Chairman Jody Arrington, Representative of
53:42
Texas said, Republican of Texas. Some people have a broader
53:46
view of waste, and I certainly do. But my Republicans
53:50
would glad to hear Trump's admonition to keep Medicaid intact.
53:55
That's what I've been saying for a while. Don't touch it,
53:58
said Representative David D. Valago in California, who represents a
54:04
swing district with the highest percentages of constituents receiving Medicaid
54:08
benefits among the HISI Republicans. Trump urged six Republicans representing
54:14
districts and blue states to stop objecting to Johnson's Olave
54:19
branch that would raise the state and logo tax sault
54:23
deduction cap from ten thousand to thirty thousand, which the
54:27
sixth say isn't high enough. Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, Republican
54:33
of Georgia, who objects to raising the cap, stood up
54:36
during the meeting to her mind law makers that she
54:39
campaigned often with Trump and never heard voters, remarked about
54:43
helping people in blue states played less in taxes. Most
54:47
of the six left the meeting unnowed by his urgent
54:50
to go. Trump pointed the representative Michael Lawler, Republican of
54:56
New York, according to two people in the room, and
54:59
reminded the caucus that the issue is important in his state.
55:03
He claimed that Lawla and the other no bos would
55:07
lose their reelection bids that the issue is it resolved.
55:11
Lawa and the legislators in similar situations have made the
55:15
same arguments, calling themselves the majority makers. In the White
55:20
House meeting earlier this year, Lawla told Trump and other
55:23
GOP leader is that he would lose his district of
55:26
Salt were not addressed in the tax bill. The President
55:30
could say whatever he wants, and I respect that, but
55:33
the fact is, I certainly understand Maya district. I am
55:37
only one of three Republican members that won in the district.
55:40
Kamala Harris went and I did so for a reason.
55:44
Lawla told reporters after the meeting, I only have time
55:50
for one partial article. Charles Kushner, father of Trump's son
55:56
in law, confirmed his ambassador to France. Sident Donald Trump
56:01
pardoned the real estate developer in twenty twenty. Krishna went
56:04
to prison for tax evasion, witness tampering, and illegal campaign contributions.
56:11
The Senate has confirmed Charles Kushner, the father of President
56:14
Donald Trump's son in law and who received the president
56:18
of pardon in twenty twenty, as the US ambassador to
56:22
France and Monaco. The nomination passed Wednesday night in the
56:26
fifty one forty five vote. Corey Booker, a Senator from
56:30
Kushner's home state of New Jersey, was the only Democrat
56:34
to back the nomination, while Senator Lisa Mkowski of Alaska
56:39
was the only Republican to oppose it. Krishner, the real
56:44
estate developer whose son Jared is married to Trump's daughter Avanka,
56:48
was sentenced in two thousand and five to two years
56:50
in prison after pleading guilty to making false statements to
56:54
the Federal Election Commission, witness tampering, and tax evasion involving
56:58
six million in political contributions and gifts mischaracterized as business expenses.
57:06
Christian admitted devising a plan to retaliate against his sister,
57:10
who had been a cooperating witness in the case, and
57:13
her husband by hiring a sex work or two, seduced
57:17
the husband and covertly filming them having sex and then
57:21
having the footage said to his sister, according to a
57:24
Justice Department statement, in two thousand and five, he served
57:28
fourteen months in federal prison in Montgomery, Alabama, and spent
57:32
the remainder of his two year sentence in a halfway
57:34
house in Europe. During Christiana's time in prison, his son
57:39
Jared flew to Alabama almost every Sunday to visit and
57:43
publicly defended his father. As The Washington Post reported in
57:47
twenty sixteen, Jared Christian took over the business his father
57:51
founded and left when he became a senior White House
57:54
adviser to Trump doing his first term. And that is
57:59
the end of the reading today, well yesterday's Washington Post.
58:05
I'm sorry that that was the case, but we'll be
58:09
here on Saturday and hopefully have the proper one for Saturday.
58:13
Thank you for listening, and please continue listening to programming
58:17
on radio app