Transcript

4.14.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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April fourteenth, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's frumpage headlines on the Washington Post are President's
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post appears to depict him as Jesus. Trump draws criticism,
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accusations of blasphemy before image is deleted. Next in battled
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members leaving Congress, Representative Swallwell Gonzales choose to leave a
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head of possible expulsion our Next headline stand off Tilts
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on nuclear arsenal. Trump demands aroun end program, u S
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naval blockade starts amidst stalled peace talks. Next, DOGE felt
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more like a club than an agency. Depositions reveal Musk
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and his charges worked with little oversight. Next or in
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Middle East dims dop's mid term prospects, follow out threatens
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to undercut Republicans economic pitch to voters, and the final
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headline from today's front page. Even with wealth, some in
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US feel middle class. Number of millionaires in US is
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at all time high, but next days feel lighter. In addition,
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there is a photo on the front page which is
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captioned celebrating change in Hungary. People gather in Budapest on
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Monday after Peter Magra and the opposition Tiza Party beat
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Hungarian Premier Viktor Orbon and ally of President Donald Trump
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in parliamentary elections Sunday. The photo shows a number of people.
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A young couple in the front is kissing. Behind them
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are people elevated on perhaps a stage. Now let's turn
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to our first item entitled Presson's post appears to depict
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him as Jesus. Trump draws criticism, accusations of blasphemy before
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image is deleted. Finalie Allison. President Donald Trump's posting of
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an image that appeared to depict him as Jesus drew
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rare criticism from the religious rite, prompting allegations of blasphemy
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and cause for him to take down the post before
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it was deleted. Shortly after posting a screed against Popelia
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the fourteenth on Sunday night, as he returned to Washington
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from Florida, Trump shared an image that appeared to be
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ai generated in the style of a painting depicting him
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in a long white robe with a red cloak draped
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around his shoulders. In one hand was an orb blowing
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with light. Trump's other hand rested on the forehead of
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a man in what resembled a hospital bed, light beaming
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from the man's head as Trump appeared to pray for
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his healing. Patriotic symbols, including an eagle, fireworks, and the
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Statue of Liberty filled the frame. Unlike the post criticizing Leo,
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whom Trump later said he didn't like and is too liberal,
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the image evoking Jesus drew swift criticism from some evangelical
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Christians and conservative Catholics, but otherwise expressed mere constant support
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for Trump's decisions. I don't know if the President thought
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he was being funny, or if he is under the
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influence of some substance, or what possible explanation he could
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have for this outrageous blasphemen, wrote Megambashion, a prominent conservative
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Protestant Christian writer and commentator. But he needs to take
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this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American
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people and then from God. The White House did not
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immediately respond to a request for comment. About Trump's intent
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in posting the image. Following the backlash and after appearing
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on the President's truth social account for more than twelve hours,
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the image was deleted. Asked about the post Monday afternoon,
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Trump said he posted it. I thought it was me
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as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross,
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as a Red Cross worker, which we support. Trump said.
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In the photo, Trump's clothing is reminiscent of the clothing
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worn in Jesus time and does not appear to be
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an outfit a modern doctor would wear. There is no
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reference in the photo to the Red Cross. It supposed
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to be me as a doctor making people better, Trump continued,
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and I do make people better. I make people a
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lot better. Trump said, only the fake news could suggest
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he was depicting himself as Jesus, ignoring the criticism he
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received from his own religious supporters. The president last year
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posted an image of him as post that appeared to
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be a I generated. One administration official, speaking on the
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condition of anonymity to criticize the president's post, predicted that
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conservative Christian outrage would dissipate in a matter of days,
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as it often has, but the official said it was
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going too far for Trump to post such an image
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of himself, even though some of his most loyal MAGA
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supporters half cast him in quasi missianic turns. Other people
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at these Trump rallies do it for him, but when
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you do it yourself, it's sacrilegious at best, the official said.
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In the Christian faith, blasphemy, speech or action showing lack
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of reverence or outright disrespect to God is a sin. Trump,
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who identifies as a Christian but does not claim to
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regularly pray, read the Bible, or attend church, has enormous
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support from conservative Christians. Others, like Passion, publicly condemned the post.
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Isabel Brown, a Catholic podcaster with the Daily Wire outlet
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and a conservative influencer allied with the Trump White House,
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spoke out against it. The post is frankly disgusting and unacceptable,
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but also a profound misreading of the American people experiencing
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a true and beautiful revival of faith in Christ in
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the midst of our broken culture, Brown wrote. Michael Knowles,
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another conservative Catholic podcaster aligned with Trump, said online it
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behooves the present, both spiritually and politically to delete the picture,
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no matter the intent. Briley Gaines, a conservative podcaster, former
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collegiate swimmer and prominent critic of transgender participation in women's
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sports who spoke at Trump rallies and was recently a
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guest of the White House, also criticized the post. I
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cannot understand why he posts this. Is he looking for
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a response? Does he actually think this? Either way, two
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things are true, Gaines wrote on x, continuing to say
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that a little humility would serve him well and God
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shall not be mocked, a reference description the image and
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the subsequent reaction echoed of Two's social posts. Trump ultimately
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deleted earlier this year a video that at the end
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briefly showed Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes. The
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post was deleted after roughly twelve hours, but not for
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the White House Press Secretary dismissed criticism and urged the
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news media to stop the fake outrage. The latest post
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was taken down during the scheduled meeting of Trump's Religious
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Liberty Commission, which was set to feature several high profile
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Trump appointed Christian leaders. They include PAULA. White King, Trump's
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spiritual adviser, the Reverend Franklin Graham, Bishop Robert Baron and
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Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Trump formed the commission last year by
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executive order to advise the White House Faith Office. This
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island is accompanied by photos. One is captioned President Donald
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Trump posted to truth Social on Sunday, but appeared to
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be an AI generated image depicting him as Jesus Real
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Donald Trump truth Social. The image was described in detail
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in the article. The other is captioned President Donald Trump
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speaks on Monday after issuing a verbal attack on the
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Pope and drawing a rare rebuke from the Religious Ride.
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The photo show's President Trump standing in an open doorway.
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Next to him is a sign reading the Oval Office.
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Our next item is entitled in Battled Members leaving Congress
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represented to Swalwell Gonzalez choose to leave I had a
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possible expulsion by Marianna Alfaro and Amy b Wang, represented
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as Eric Swalwell, Democrat from California and Tony Gonzalez, Republican
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from Texas, separately announced plans to depart from Congress on
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Monday ahead of possible expulsion votes related to allegations of
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sexual misconduct. Swalwell, who was vehemently denied an accusation of
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sexual assault. But acknowledged some past quote mistakes and judgment,
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said he would resign because it was wrong for my
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constituents to have me distracted from my duties. I will
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fight this serious false allegation made against me, he said
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in the statement. However, I must take responsibility and ownership
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for the mistakes I did make. Shortly afterward, Gonzales released
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to statements, saying he would file my retirement from office
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on Tuesday. There is a season for everything, and God
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has a plan for us all, said Gonzalez, who has
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acknowledged an affair with a former member of his staff,
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a violation of House rules. The departure Swala and Gonzalez,
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one Democrat and one Republican, would mean the Republican's narrow
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majority in the House remains unchanged if they leave the chamber.
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At the same time, Swollwell faces accusations of sexual assault
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from a former staffer, first reported by the San Francisco
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Chronicle on Friday. Several other women also allowed sexual misconduct
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in interviews with The Washington Post, CIANN and other means outlets.
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Gonzalez is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for
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having an affair with a staff member who later set
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herself on fire and died. He dropped his bid for
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reelection last month after acknowledging the affair with his former aid,
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but had said that he would serve out the rest
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of his term. Lawmakers, led by Represents and it Is
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Teresa Lega Fernandez, Democrat from New Mexico and Anna Paulina Luna,
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Republican from Florida, had planned to introduce a resolution to
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expel Swalow on Tuesday, alongside one to expel Gonzalez. The
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resolution could have triggered expulsion votes as earli as Wednesday,
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Swallow opted to step down rather than face a vote
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that could have ended his thirteen year House career. Gonzalez meanwhile,
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did not specify when he will retire, announcing only that
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when Congress returns on Tuesday, he will quote file his retirement.
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Lega Fernandez office said the congresswoman still plans on filing
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a resolution to expel Gonzales if he doesn't resign immediately.
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The earliest Lega Fernandez can file the motion is two
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pm Eastern on Tuesday. As news of gonzalez retirement broke, Luna,
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who had said she would support Lega Fernande's efforts to
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al Swalwell, and Gonzalez said on ex that we have
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successfully drained part of the swamp this week with a
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resignation of two very corrupt members of Congress. Thank you
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for your attention to this matter. Luna posted Swallow, who
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briefly ran in the twenty twenty Democratic presidential nomination and
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if his California gubernatorial bid on Sunday in the wake
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of the misconduct allegations. He was among the leading Democratic
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candidates in the crowded race. In a statement Monday, Swallow
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referenced his colleagues' efforts to expel him from the House
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and argued that expelling any one from Congress without due
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process within days of an allegation being made is wrong.
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The House Ethics Committee announced the launch of an investigation
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into the allegations against Swallow earlier Monday. Com Manee investigations
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can take months, if not days, and some House members
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had signaled that they were willing to expedite the expulsion
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process before the completion of an ethics investigation. A group
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of House Democrats also asked Monday that Speaker Mike Johnson,
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Republican from Louisiana, and House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffreys, Democrat
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from New York, expedite the House Ethics Committee investigations into
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Swalow and Gonzalez. One of those Democrats, Representative Christian MacDonald
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Rivett from Michigan, said on Acts that the allegedly criminal
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behavior and abuses of power by these members of Congress
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are disgusting and so obviously unacceptable. Being in Congress does
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not mean you get to play by a different set
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of rules, she said, If anything, we should be held
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to a higher standard. Representative Lauren Bobert, Republican from Colorado,
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who was pushing for Suala and Gonzalez to leave Congress,
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said Monday on Acts that nothing about this story brings
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me joy. No, I'm not happy this happened, Bobert said
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of Swala's resignation. I hate that women were victimized by him.
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I'm horrified his wife and children are having to go
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through this. Once Swallow leaves the House, California Governor GAVINUSM,
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a Democrat, will have fourteen days to call a special
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election to fill the seat under state law. Because he
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was running for governor. Swalwell did not mount a re
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election bid for his House seat. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott, Republican,
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would also get to call a special election to replace Gonzalez.
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Brennan Herrera, a Republican gun rights activist who calls himself
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the a K Guide on a YouTube channel, is looking
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to replace a congressman in the general election in November.
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Herrera became the party's nominee after Gonzalez abandoned a runoff
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in the Republican primary last month. The Democratic nominee in
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their race is attorney and former school teacher Katy Padilla Stout,
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whom Democrats believe has a chance at flipping the district
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given some of Herrera's controversial positions on guns and other issues.
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As pushes to expel Swawa and Gonzales gain momentum over
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the weekend, some lawmakers also suggested forcing both to ask
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for presented Mishilasher Phyllis McCormick Democrats from Florida, and Corey
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mill Republican from Florida, who for months have been embroiled
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in controversy over different alleged ethics violations, which they both deny.
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Shephillis McCormick is the only member already officially found to
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have violated House ethics rules. The House Ethics Committee made
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the determination last month as a result of a year's
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long investigation into whether the congresswoman used coronavirus pandemic money
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to boost her congressional campaign. The Ethics Committee is expected
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to meet on April twenty first to determine whether Sheerphillis
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McCormick should be expelled, censured, or face some other form
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of discipline. Mills is also under active investigation by the
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Ethics Committee. The panel is looking into a wide array
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of allegations, including accusations of campaign finance violations, financial misconduct,
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and sexual misconduct. Representative Marked Saulnier California, the top Democrat
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on the Ethics Committee, said in a statement Monday that
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the panel retains Jersey over the ongoing investigation into Swalow,
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given that the California Democrat did not resign effective immediately
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and still remains a House member. This article is accompanied
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by a photo captioned Representative Tony Gonzales, Republican from Texas, left,
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and Representative Eric Swalow, Deemparant from California, right, are both
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set to vacate their seats in Congress. Rickey Karyote, the
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Washington Post and a moneymaker Getty Images. The photo shows
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headshots of each man. Next is an item en titled
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stand off tilts on nuclear arsenal Trump demands around end program.
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US naval blockade starts amidst stalled peace talks by Steve
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Hendrix and Susannah George from London. For the US naval
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blockade taking effect on Monday, oil prices again surging past
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one hundred dollars a barrel, and a fragile ceasefire set
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to expire in nine days. The United States and Iran
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began the week locked in a standoff after historic peace
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negotiations in Pakistan collapsed over the weekend. Washington, Tehran, and
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anxious capitals around the world are not sure how a
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cascade of urgent questions will resolve. Will the bombing resume
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when the truce runs out on April twenty second, what
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will US Navy operations in the Strait of Hormuz actually entail?
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And is there any conceivable path through an agreement on
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an Iranian nuclear program that has now survived not only
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two decades of international diplomacy seeking to curtail it, but
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also more than five weeks of the most intensive military
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assault ever launched against Iranian territory. Financial markets were not reassured.
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Oil futures jumped above one hundred three dollars a barrow
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as traders reacted to President Donald Trump's announcement that US
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warships would block traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, but
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just how tight a grip the Navy would impose remain unclear.
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US Central Command declined to comment on how the blockade
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will be implemented. Trump, in a truth social post Sunday,
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declared a sweeping embargo on any and all ships trying
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to enter or leave the Strait of Hormus, but US
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Central Command implied a more limited blockade, saying it would
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begin stopping all traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports starting
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at ten a m. Eastern time Monday. Early evening the
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Persian Gulf, he told reporters that the blockade had begun.
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Pakistani officials were determined to keep the sides talking even
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after their abrupt departure from Islamabad on Sunday. Mediators emphasized
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that before the collapse, progress had been made on many issues.
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During twenty one hours of negotiations led by Vice President J. D.
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Vance and Mohammed Bager, Galabat, speaker of Iran's parliament. Speaking
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at a cabinet meeting Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Chebez Shari
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said full efforts were ongoing to resolve the war. I
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don't think the back channel communication will stop. I think
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it will carry on, maybe not as we speak, but
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I was told it will not cease, said Malia Lodi,
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when of Pakistan's most respected diplomats, who has served as
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ambassador to the United States, Britain and the United Nations.
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But it was not clear what channels remained open as
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both US and Iranian leaders quickly returned to their respective
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Maximili's corners. Trump expressed confidence that Iran's bombed out infrastructure
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and battered economy would still force its hand. I think
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Iran is in very bad shape. I think they're pretty desperate.
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Iran will not have in the three weapon, Trump told
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reporters Sunday. I don't care if they come back or not.
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If they don't come back, I'm fine. Iran, for its part,
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showed no signs of feeling boxed in. Commanders of the
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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described the US naval operations as
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piracy and threats to target Gulf courts and retaliation. Officials
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projected the confidence of a regime that so far has
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whether the worst of the world's strongest military could deliver.
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That perception of survival despite widespread devastation and the assassination
19:16
of many high level officials, has emboldened hardliners in Tehran
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who argue the attacks by US and Israeli warplanes have
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provided further proof of Iran's need to develop the deterrent
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of a potential nuclear threat. Israeli leaders, who publicly supported
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but privately regretted trump ceasefire leading to the negotiations, quickly
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seized on the collapse of the talks to threaten a
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return to pounding Iran. General Aila Zamir, the chief of
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staff of the Israel Defense Forces, instructed the idea to
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move to a heightened state of readiness and prepare for
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a possible resumption of hostilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin that
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Nyahu consulted with security officials and teles on Sunday on
20:01
the possibility of resuming the fighting in her According to
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a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the
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condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief
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the media, Israel must be prepared for any development this
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person said. Lodi said Pakistan's diplomats feared the looming blockade
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could shatter the fragile truth. Trumpe may intend for the
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blockade to push Ran back to the negotiating table, but
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the operation also moves US forces into much closer proximity
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to Iran. It will push the conflict to its most
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dangerous phase because it will be up close and personal.
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She said. The Iranians are not going to just rush
20:40
to the negotiating table since there is a blockade. They
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are going to respond militarily. They've said so. Annely was
20:48
sworn of the planned US naval blockade. While well within
20:51
the capabilities of the forces massed around the Persian Gulf,
20:55
could face serious military obstacles. The narrow strait forces US
20:59
war ships into a confined channel, where Iron's sea mines,
21:03
shore based missiles, and swarms of cheap drones could diminish
21:07
American military advantages depending on how the naving forces of blockade,
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The US could maintain a blockade in safer waters without
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deploying additional forces to the region, said Mark ken Kain,
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a senior adviser as a Center for strategic and international studies.
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The Navy won't have to intercept every ship, he said,
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just searching or seizing one in four would send a
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message to shippers that there's a chance that will lose
21:33
their cargo. I think they'll do this outside the Gulf
21:37
and straight and pick up ships as they come through.
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Kenkain said that's probably enough to stop the vessels. The
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logic of the blackade, however, is straightforward, cutting off Iran's
21:48
oil exports with severe access to the hard currency, keeping
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its war economy afloat. So far, Iran's own blockade of
21:56
the passage has inflicted more damage to the world economy
21:59
than to its own, as Iraning tankers have been able
22:02
to pass the strait more frequently. One of the u
22:06
S assumptions going into the war appears to have been
22:08
that a rod but almost handicapped itself by closing the
22:11
Strait of Hormuz because a lot of its own hydrocarbons
22:15
transit the same choke point. But that hasn't happened, said
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Sidharth Kashul, senior Research fell out for Sea Power at
22:22
the Royal United Services Institute, a British military think tank.
22:27
In fact, the rangings have exported more oil than they
22:30
did before war, partially because the ringing oil is one
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of the few cargoes that have been able to safely
22:36
transit the Strait. The US is looking to block i
22:39
Ran and to keep it from establishing permanent control of
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the Strait, Kaushuld said, but the economic plowback could be
22:47
double edged. With roughly seven million barrels of crude and
22:51
four million barrels of refined product already trapped in the Gault,
22:55
blocking raining oil threatens to push global prices even higher.
23:00
The Strait is also a choke point for other supply
23:03
chain commodities, including aluminium, helium and fertilizer. The effectiveness of
23:09
the blockade has already been undercut by the United States
23:13
lifting of sanctions last month on Ranian oil already at sea,
23:17
a move the White House said was geared toward easing
23:20
pressure on global crude markets. While the move was framed
23:24
is providing little economic benefit to Iran, it has generated
23:28
a windfall for the Uranian regime and is said to
23:31
continue to do so with the blockade in place. Ship
23:35
tracking data suggests there are roughly one hundred million barrels
23:39
of Iranian oil remaining at sea that can still be
23:42
sold sanct and free until Sunday. According to Brett Erickson,
23:46
managing Principle and Obsidian Risk Advisors, which specializes in financial
23:51
crime and regulatory issues, most of that oil has moved
23:55
out of the Strait of Poor Moods since the sanctions
23:57
were lifted, and thus would not be in peace by
24:00
the blockade. As countries scrambled by as much oil as
24:04
they can amid a supply crunch that will be tightened
24:07
further by the blockade, that Iranian oil is likely to
24:11
sell at a premium. It could result in Iran generating
24:14
at least one billion dollars in revenue that would not
24:18
have seen if sanctions were still in place and Iran
24:21
had to sell the cargoes at a deep discount. The
24:25
US will meanwhile be under pressure from allies in Asia
24:28
to extend the sanction's pause, which is set to expire Sunday,
24:32
as they desperately need the Iranian oil at a time
24:35
when other shipments through the Strait of Hormons have been halted.
24:39
Such an extension, though, would further undermine the blockade. This
24:44
is a quagmi the US is in where the options
24:47
are basically let Iran pillage energy markets or expose the
24:52
entire Asian continent to an increasingly untenable energy crisis. Ericson
24:57
said the clear lack of planning going into this conflict
25:01
has left Washington with an impossible choice. In China, leaders
25:06
worried that the US and Iran are getting ready for
25:09
an escalation over hormones, threatening more instability in the global
25:14
economy and possibly forcing Trump to delay his much anticipated
25:18
summit with Chinese leader Xijinping next month. According to Chinese
25:23
officials and scholars, in the hours before the blockade was
25:27
set to begin, Gua jing Kun, a spokesperson for China's
25:31
Foreign ministry, urged all relevant parties to remain calm and
25:36
exercise restraint. The president's public views on the shipping lane
25:40
have vacillated from his claim in a national address April first,
25:44
that the strait of hormones did not matter to his
25:47
threat to obliterate Iran's entire civilization if it didn't allow
25:51
ships to pass to now his imposition of his own
25:54
blockade on the already blockaded passage. Iran said it would
25:59
strike back hard at the U S blockade if Iran's
26:03
ports are threatened no port in the region will be saved,
26:06
the Iranian military Central Commands said in a post on
26:10
x on Monday, But some experts said the U S
26:13
blockade could effectively push Iran and its oil dependent allies
26:18
into a more conciliatory position and was preferable to deploying
26:22
ground troops to disrupt Raigning exports by occupying key facilities
26:27
such as the processing and shipment facilities on Iran's Krg Island.
26:31
The bolcade always made more sense in seizing Karg Island,
26:35
long time US diplomat Denise ra said in his social
26:39
media post. It stops Iran's exports its revenues is a
26:43
counterpoint to their closing the straits. They may attack Gulf
26:47
oil facilities, but it puts greater pressure on Iran. It
26:51
also puts greater pressure on China to pressure Iran. Still,
26:56
a new petro blockade risks inflicting deeper pain on trent
27:00
Asian allies than on China, partially thanks to the latter's
27:04
aggressive push in electric vehicles, which reduces its vulnerability to
27:08
oil shops, said Yu Zomgi, a researcher at the Shanghai
27:12
Institutes for International Studies. A government affiliated think tank. Trump
27:18
on Sunday threatened China with quote staggering fifty percent terrors
27:23
over allegations that it has provided military assistance to Iran.
27:28
Some China Hawks, including former U. S Ambassador to the
27:31
Yuan Nicki Haley, called on Trump not to go to
27:34
Beijing in May until China stops hopping Iran. Giuo, the
27:40
Foreign Ministry spokesperson, dismissed the military assistance accusations as groundless,
27:45
smearing and malicious association, saying that Beijing has always been
27:50
cautious and responsible over arms exports. So far, neither side
27:55
shows signs of budging from core positions, particularly on the
27:59
issue of Iran's determination to maintain the nuclear research that
28:03
it says is intended for legal civilian applications, but that
28:08
Israel and the US insist is destined to provide Tehran
28:12
with the nuclear weapon. The meeting went well, most points
28:16
were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered,
28:19
nuclear was not, Trump wrote in a post Sunday. In
28:24
some ways, Trump now finds himself needing the same thing
28:27
President Barack Obama needed in twenty thirteen when he and
28:31
Iranian President Hassan Rohani started the long negotiations that yielded
28:36
the twenty fifteen in a National Agreement on Iran's nuclear program.
28:41
Trump discarded that agreement during his first presidential term, but
28:45
now finds himself, like Obama, seeking to constrain nuclear ambitions
28:50
that seemed to have proved impervious to sanctions and military force.
28:55
In withdrawing from the agreement, Trump sided with net Yahoo's
28:59
view that the Dear Ill was allowing Iran to make
29:01
clandestine progress toward AVON. In his place, Trump instituted a
29:06
program of maximum pressure, a slate of punishing sanctions meant
29:11
to force Iran to give up its enrichment program. In
29:14
twenty twenty five, the US and Israel launched military strikes
29:19
that badly degraded Iran's deeply buried include facilities. Supporters of
29:24
the negotiated deal say the military approach has only strengthened
29:28
Iran's commitment to obtaining an atomic weapon. Meanwhile, the two
29:33
military campaigns have left four hundred and forty kilograms about
29:36
nine hundred seven pounds of highly enriched uranium in tunnels
29:40
that remain at least partially intact, their exact location unknown
29:45
even to international inspectors. The stockpile is now harder, not easier,
29:51
to account for. Supporters of the twenty fifteen accord contend
29:55
that Iran's nuclear program was largely contained and closely monitored
29:59
when Trump inherited the nuclear file from Obama. It's rare
30:03
that we're given in real time the historical counterfactuals that
30:07
allow you to compare different methods of dealing with any problem,
30:11
let alone one as difficult as a raw nuclear program,
30:15
said Rob Malley, who was a lead negotiator on the
30:17
twenty fifteen Iran nuclear deal. We had diplomacy, we had
30:22
maximum precious sanctions, and we had the military. Of the three,
30:27
I think it's hard to dispute that the first was
30:29
the most successful. George reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Shahik Hussain
30:35
in Islamabad, Lyric Lee in Tokyo, Mohammed el Shama in Deirut,
30:40
Bor Soroka in Tel Aviv, and Tera Copp, Emily Davies
30:44
and Evan Halper in Washington contributed to this report. This
30:49
article is accompanied by a photo which is captioned newspapers,
30:53
including one featuring a cartoon of President Donald Trump drowning
30:56
in the Strait of hooormuds with a headline marine bluff
31:00
on sale at a newsstand in Tehran on Monday at
31:03
a canari a f P getting images our next dtomus
31:08
entitled war in Middle East dims GOP's mid term prospects
31:13
file out threatens to undercut republicans economic pitch to voters.
31:17
By Hannah Knowles, Republicans always expected the twenty twenty six
31:21
elections would be taught. Then the US mental wars are
31:25
on gas prices, one of President Donald Trump's favorite metrics,
31:30
shot up, fanning economic anxiety just as Republicans were hoping
31:34
to focus on Americans tax breaks and refunds. Annalysts say
31:38
costs could stay elevated well into the year, even if
31:42
the war ends soon. Consumer sentiment drops to lowest on record.
31:47
A Friday email from the Democratic National Committee flaired. If
31:51
Republicans lose one or both chambers of Congress in November,
31:55
they may point to this period as a cross roads
31:58
when an already daunting miniche got harder. The follow of
32:02
the war threatens to undercut the GOP economic pitch for months,
32:06
and Trump is struggling to control the conflict, alarming politicians
32:11
in both parties, with its recent social media threat to
32:14
wipe out a whole civilization in Iran. The President has
32:18
suggested the war could wind down soon, and Republicans have
32:22
cast it as a temporary disruption, but as a conflict
32:26
enters its seventh week with the United States still trying
32:29
to reopen a key shipping route for the oil, the
32:32
ripple effects could prove hard to quickly reverse. Republicans are
32:37
extremely concerned about how a longer war drags on and
32:41
into the midterms. Republican strategist Matthew Bart had said the
32:46
higher prices climbed the lower polls go, and that has
32:49
a possibility to turn safe seats into battleground seats. Other
32:54
Republicans said they're not panicking yet, hopeful that the war
32:58
and its aftershocks were rest dedeed from the public consciousness
33:01
by the time ters go to the polls. The Trump
33:04
administration is trying to negotiate with Iran, and the president's
33:08
approval rating has ticked down since the conflict started, but
33:11
only slightly one to two percentage points. According to national
33:15
pulling averages. Trump's approval ratings have declined over the course
33:20
of his second term and averaged about thirty seven percent
33:23
in recent weeks in poll's tracked by the Washington Post,
33:27
close to the lowest mark of either of his presidencies,
33:30
and to the lowest mark of his immediate predecessor, President
33:33
Joe Biden. The uncertainty surrounding the war adds to a
33:38
host of boording signs for Republicans. Historically, the party and
33:42
power often loses seats in the mid terms, and many
33:45
in the GOP are gloomy about their chances of holding
33:49
on to control of the narrowly divided House. Democrats have
33:53
a much harder path to retaking the Senate, where the
33:56
GOP holds fifty three of one hundred seats, but operatives
34:00
in both parties aren't ruling it out. White House Books
34:04
for sin Taylor Rogers said Trump will not allow the
34:07
Iranian terrorist regime to possess a nuclear weapon and remains
34:11
committed to lowering costs. With a seaspire now in place
34:16
and a long term peace plan being worked on, oil
34:19
and gas prices will continue falling back to the multi
34:22
year lows American drivers enjoyed before these short term disruptions,
34:26
Rogers said in a statement last week. Oil prices, which
34:30
had surged above one hundred dollars a barrel dropped sharply
34:33
after Trump announced a seaspire last week, only to rise
34:37
again as tensions persisted and around again closed the Strait
34:41
of Horror Moons, a key oil route. Trump announced Sunday
34:45
that the US would blockade the strait after weekend talks
34:48
with Iran failed to produce a deal. Asked on Fox
34:52
News whether he thought the price of gas would be
34:54
lowered before the mid terms, Trump viewed that it could
34:58
be the same or maybe a little bit higher. As
35:01
of Monday morning, the price of a barrel of Brant crude,
35:04
the global benchmark for oil prices, was up eight percent
35:08
to about one hundred three dollars, and the average price
35:11
of gas in the US was four dollars twelve cents
35:15
flat from the previous day. The US Energy Information Administration
35:19
suggested last week that energy prices could take months to
35:23
return to normal even if the war concludes soon, forecasting
35:28
that if the conflict ends before made, oil supply should
35:31
return close to pre conflict levels. In late twenty twenty six,
35:36
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schimmer, Democrat from New York,
35:40
and besides that, prospect of extended economic trouble in a
35:43
news conference last week, predicting months of high gas prices
35:47
and saying that world oil markets will be unsettled for years.
35:52
Republicans are eager for an off ramp. Gas prices need
35:56
to revert to the mean in the next forty five
35:58
days or I think voters are going to punish Republicans
36:01
at the ballot box, said one major GOP donor, who,
36:05
like some others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to
36:08
be candid. A GOP strategist working on mid term elections said,
36:13
Republicans hope the situation is at its thorniest now, there's
36:17
an expectation. This is the lowest of guests, and we
36:20
only have room to grow, the strategist said. Also speaking
36:24
on the condition of anonymity, Jonathan Bridges, a Republican strategists
36:29
in battleground North Carolina, echoed that there's time for prices
36:33
to come down before November. This summer, people are going
36:37
to be making travel plans, and if we continue to
36:40
have four dollar gas, it's going to hurt a lot
36:42
of consumers, he said, but a lot can happen. The
36:46
GOP retains some advantages heading into the midterms, including a
36:51
massive war chest that outstrips that of the Democrats, but
36:55
Democrats say their reasons for optimisms are growing. On Tuesday,
37:00
they saw their biggest overperformance yet and a House special
37:04
election since Trump took office last year. Republican Clayfuller won
37:09
the race to fill Marjorie Taylor Green's former US House
37:12
seat in a deep red Georgia district, but his roughly
37:16
twelve point margin in victory was much smaller than Trump's
37:19
thirty seven point win there in twenty twenty four or
37:23
Green's twenty seven point win the same year. Democrats also
37:28
celebrated an unusually decisive victory last week in a Wisconsin
37:32
Supreme Court race. The liberal candidate won with sixty percent
37:36
of the vote, a striking margin in a battleground state
37:40
where races are often decided by a point or two,
37:43
though democrats big spending advantage in the contest this year
37:47
could help explain it. Liberal candidates won with about fifty
37:51
five percent of the vote in the last three Wisconsin
37:54
Supreme Court races. To get to fifty five percent in
37:58
these past elections is a huge deal. Democratic polster Jeff
38:02
Howard said sixty is just a really well remarkable number.
38:07
A nonpartisan election analysis site, the Cook Political Report recently
38:12
revised its assessments of several races to favorite Democrat, citing
38:16
an increasingly sour national environment for Republicans in battleground Georgia
38:22
and North Carolina. Cook Political Report on Monday shifted its
38:26
Senate contest rating from toss up to democratic women in
38:31
red Ohio, a Senate race once deemed Republican leaning, moved
38:35
to a toss up. Five House races also shifted to
38:39
the left in its ratings. Cook Political Report said last week,
38:43
while its assessment of the Iowa governor's race moved from
38:46
lee republican to toss up. Trump's dropping approval rating makes
38:51
it difficult for Republicans to both win independence and turn
38:55
out their own base, said Dave Wasserman, a Cook Political
38:59
Report and the only it puts the Senate in play,
39:02
and it means Democrats are substantial favorites in the House.
39:06
Kyle Kondick, an analyst for A. Sabado's Crystal Ball, a
39:10
non partisan elections website and newsletter, said fallout from the
39:14
war and Trump's approval ratings put the GOP in risky territory.
39:19
If we get to the point where the Senate would
39:22
actually flip the seats for that are being laid right now,
39:25
Condic said. Scott Clement and Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
39:31
This item is accompanied by photos. The first is captured
39:36
a person botes early in the Virginia redistricting referendum on
39:40
a referred at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax, Virginia,
39:44
Julie de Marie mckinson a p. The next photo is
39:49
captioned tankers at the corps of a Khan Container terminal,
39:53
the only natural deep sea port in the region, on
39:55
June twenty three, twenty twenty five, along the street of
39:59
Boormous Giuseppe Kacacchi a f P. Getty Images and the
40:04
five of photo accompanying this item is captured Senator Chuck Schumer,
40:08
Democrat from New York and Representative Hakim Jeffreys, Democrat from
40:12
New York on March twenty fifth, at the Capitol House
40:15
and Robert A. P. Next is an Ittoman titled DOGE
40:20
felt more like a club than an agency. Depositions reveal
40:24
Mosque and his charges worked with little oversight by Merrill Cornfield.
40:30
Members of the U S Doge Service spoke regularly over Signal,
40:33
the encrypted chat service that can autotolute messages. They were
40:37
informally recruited by people they knew, and other government employees
40:41
didn't know who was DOGE. When DOGE members were deposed
40:45
in January as part of a lawsuit of her cuts
40:48
to grants awarded to the National Endowment for Humanities, they
40:51
described a vague network of similarly minded technologists and lawyers
40:55
who had been tasked with a fast mandate to reduce
40:58
federal spending. They also described a lack of structure that
41:02
allowed them to operate with little oversight or understanding of
41:05
what others might be doing. DOGE felt more like a
41:09
club justin Fox, an investment banker turned DOGE staffer told
41:14
attorneys in one of the video depositions released last month.
41:18
A year after Elon Musk brought in a cohort of
41:20
allies from Silicon Valley to remake the government through a
41:24
newly established Department of Government Efficiency, lawsuits and public record
41:29
releases have steadily begun shedding light on who was in
41:33
DOEGE and how its members approached their roles. The depositions
41:37
in a lawsuit over DOZE using chat GPT to propose
41:41
cuts to about one thousand, four hundred humanity scrants have
41:45
answered some questions about how the group, which is not
41:48
part of the cabinet, formed and operated with little scrutiny.
41:52
In one moment, they went viral. Fox was asked why
41:55
he described a documentary about female Holocaust victims as quote
42:00
inherently discriminatory and sought to cut off its federal funding,
42:04
and another his colleague, Nathan Kavanaugh, acknowledged that DOEGE did
42:09
not reduce the federal deficit. The disclosures have confirmed news
42:14
coverage from last year about the extent of DOGE cuts
42:17
and identified several key DOGE figures operating in federal agencies.
42:22
For instance, in January, the Department of Energy responded to
42:26
the liberal watchdog group American Oversight's requests from the names
42:30
and titles of members of its DOGE team, acknowledging one
42:33
previously unnamed member, Alexander Glovac, a former tech investor who
42:39
has since launched an artificial intelligence start up. In response
42:43
to one of the lawsuits, the government shared two lists
42:46
of one hundred eighty eight people whom it identified as
42:49
being part of DOGE, including career civil servants of the
42:52
former U S Digital service and contractors at an HR firm.
42:57
The list excluded at least nine Team DOGE members, whom
43:01
The Washington Post previously identified. According to an analysis of records,
43:06
thousands of pages of documents about Doge have recently been
43:10
shared with groups that filed public records request last year.
43:14
The Post reviewed a significant portion of these troths to
43:17
better understand what new information has been revealed. Many of
43:21
the pages had reductions, and the file still do not
43:24
provide the full context of Doge's work in government. The
43:28
Trump administration has fought to withhold information about what DOGE
43:33
did and argued that the group is not subject to
43:36
the Freedom of Information Act, asking the Supreme Court last
43:39
month to overturn an order from the U. S. District
43:42
Court for d C to provide records to citizens for
43:46
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or Crew. The administration has
43:51
also argued that Musk and Amy Gleason, the person who
43:54
the administration had said was leading DOGE, should not have
43:58
to sit for depositions. Crewe's Chief Council Nichael Seuss, said
44:03
the effort to shield DOMES from f o i A
44:06
mandates is a delay tact to impede crew's ability to
44:09
access records and hold up other cases. There's a domino effect,
44:14
SEUs told the Post. These delayed tactics are impeding the
44:18
ability to get answers in this case and other cases.
44:22
White House Boatsman David Ingle did not directly respond to
44:26
the Post's questions about the government's efforts to withhold information
44:30
about dogs or the new details revealed by litigation and
44:33
public records requests, but said the government has vote fully
44:37
complied with discovery requests. President Trump was given a clear
44:42
mandate to eliminate waste fraud interviews from the federal government,
44:46
Ingle said in his statement, in just a year, he
44:48
has made significant progress in making the federal government more
44:51
efficient to better serve the American taxpayer. Asking chat g
44:56
p T about d e I. The video depfis are
45:00
the result of DOGE members actions and an arm of
45:03
the federal government that normally doesn't receive much attention, the
45:07
National Endowment for the Humanities. The lawsuits centers on a
45:11
few weeks last spring, when DOGE targeted the NEH cutting
45:15
federal funding for research grants the group deemed as related
45:19
to diversity, equity and inclusion, part of the Trump administration's
45:23
broad rollback of DEI initiatives across government. Cavanaugh and Fox
45:28
led the mission to flag so called DEI grants. DOGE
45:32
members use chat DVT giving the AI CHAT bought these instructions.
45:37
Does the following relate it all to DEI? Respond factually
45:42
in less than one hundred twenty characters begin with yes
45:45
or no, followed by a brief explanation. The plaintiffs in
45:49
the case, American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association,
45:55
and the Modern Language Association, have argued that determination violated
46:00
the First Amendment and the equal Protection Clause for unfairly
46:03
targeting grants for political reasons, noting that grant's awarded during
46:07
the previous Democratic administration were the particular focus. The Trump
46:13
administration has argued that the cancelations don't violate the First
46:17
Amendment because a government is not obligated to subsidize projects
46:21
it no longer believes to be in the public interest.
46:24
The plaintifts have also argued that DOGE had unprecedented control,
46:28
and they shared records received through discovery that showed how
46:32
officials at the any age appeared to have capitulated to DOGE.
46:36
Though members set into positions that their role was to advise.
46:40
In one email last April, then any AGE acting chair
46:44
Michael MacDonald, a long time any H official whom Trump
46:47
placed in the top job after firing Biden appointing Shelley Low,
46:52
wrote to Fox that he understood Doge wanted to move
46:55
quickly and cancel grants even if they didn't relate tod
46:59
Ei either way. As you've made clear, it's your decision
47:03
on whether to discontinue funding any of the projects on
47:06
this list, mc donald told Fox. Doge soon sent cancelation
47:11
emails to hundreds of GRAT recipients, causing widespread confusion. Gratt Bodley,
47:17
the n e h's chief information officer, wrote to Dartmouth
47:21
College officials that same month that any H staff was
47:24
unaware of what was happening. The canceled funding included grants
47:29
for the replacement of aging HVAC systems at several federally
47:32
funded museums, digitation of local historical newspapers and documentaries about
47:38
subjects such as Jewish women in the Holocaust, black cultural icons,
47:43
and the Civil Rights movement. When the Kabanat and Fox
47:46
depositions were published online last month, the administration pushed to
47:51
have them taken down, but a judge decided otherwise, noting
47:55
that the videos concerned the conduct of public officials acting
47:59
in their official capacities. A context in which the public
48:02
interest in transparency and accountability is at its apex, possible
48:08
someone will go public. Across the government, grant and contract
48:12
cancelations occurred at an unprecedented pace and caused much confusion,
48:17
according to records review by The Post. At the Department
48:21
of Veterans Affairs, a flurry of emails from February twenty
48:24
twenty five that were publicly disclosed last month showed that
48:28
contract cancelations spread alarm among staff members. On February twelfth,
48:33
Maria Kelly, executive director of the National Radiation Oncology Program,
48:38
passed along awarding to all the chiefs of Radiation Oncology.
48:43
Apparently medical physicist contracts are being flagged by DOGE. We
48:47
need to be informed if this happens at your site.
48:49
We will draft something tomorrow that you can use to
48:52
support the need for a contract. VA officials also discussed
48:56
trying to stop doge's termination of a contract that provide
49:00
its technical help to the office assisting Homeless Veterans among
49:03
about four dozen contracts of DOEGE. N VA Secretary Douglas A.
49:07
Collins approved of cancelation. They will pull back on this decision.
49:12
Acting day Under Secretary for Help Steve Lieberman told other
49:16
officials on February thirteenth, hopefully should be all set O
49:21
m G. I have no words. Monica Diez, executive director
49:25
of the Department's Homeless Program's office, wrote back with a
49:29
prayer hands emoji. Another official also celebrated the quote great news.
49:34
The next day, Liberman warned others that this might become public.
49:39
It sounds like she addressed their concerns, but it is
49:42
always possible someone will go public about this, he wrote.
49:45
In the same month, a person whose name was redacted
49:48
wrote to Lieberman that Musk has moved into the FDA
49:52
building and is sleeping there. Redacted is going nuts. Several
49:57
groups requesting the records noted that f ol LIA offices
50:01
have redacted significant portion, and litigation to get the office
50:05
to turn over other records is ongoing in several court funds.
50:10
The names of DOGE members have been withheld. Even within
50:13
the government agency's targeting, it wasn't always clear who was
50:17
DOGE and who wasn't, according to federal workers and records.
50:21
In May, Donathan Mendelssohn, a former investor at San Francisco
50:26
venture capital firm Excel, who was then embedded with the
50:29
General Services Administration, email to Federal Communication Commissions leaders to
50:34
quote discuss getting a DOGE team detailed over to the agency.
50:39
SCC chief of Staff Scott Delacourt responded that DOGE members
50:43
to Rock Nkeisha, Jordan Wick, and Jacob Altik had been
50:47
working at the SEC since March. Mendelssohn said to disregard
50:51
his email. In that case, that was easier than expected,
50:54
Delacourt wrote to other SEC leaders. In other instances, DOGE
50:59
was less a source of confusion and more a subject
51:02
of jokes. After SEC Chairman Brendan Carr shared a request
51:06
of format documents with single line spacing and two spaces
51:10
after periods in February twenty twenty five, his chief of
51:14
staff Greg Watson forwarded the style guidance with a warning
51:18
those who fail to comply will be reported to DOGE.
51:21
Aaron Shafer contributed to this report. This autumn is accompanied
51:26
by photos. The first is caption Elon Musk oversaw the
51:30
u S DOGE service, a government cost cutting operation for
51:33
more than four months. Francis Chung, Politico, Lumberg News Getting Images.
51:39
The photo shows mister Musk's head from the eyes up only.
51:43
He's wearing a black cap which is imbordered in Blackdoge
51:48
or Doge. The next photo is captioned Acting DOGE Administrator
51:53
Amy Gleason with President Donald Trump and Setters for Medicare
51:57
and Medicaid Services Administrator OZ on July thirtieth, Tom Brenner
52:02
for The Washington Post. And the final photo accompanying this
52:06
item is captured contract cancelations driven by DOGE spread along
52:11
among the Department of Veterans Affairs staff members Demitrius Freeman
52:15
the Washington Post. The photo shows two individuals walking in
52:19
front of a building on which is a sign reading
52:22
Department of Veterans Affairs and another sign which reads to
52:26
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and
52:29
for his widow and his orphans A Lincoln. And The
52:34
final item in today's front page is entitled even with wealth,
52:39
some in U s field middle class. Number of millionaires
52:42
in US is at all time high, but nestings feel lighter.
52:47
By Abba Blutari, Rachel Luhman and Frederica Coco. There are
52:51
more American millionaires than ever before, but many of them
52:55
don't feel rich. Average network in the United States is
52:59
over one night million dollars per household, Federal Reserved data shows,
53:03
with roughly one in six families surpassing the seven figure mark.
53:07
Yet many of the country's newest millionaires say that even
53:11
with such wealth, they still feel undeniably middle class. In
53:16
many parts of the country, one million dollars has become
53:19
a starting point in the American dream. The average entry
53:22
level homes cost one million dollars or more in more
53:26
than two hundred US cities, including parts of Kansas, Minnesota,
53:30
and Georgia. According to a recent analysis by Zillah. It's
53:35
a milestone, but half a million dollars doesn't mean you're
53:38
super wealthy anymore, said Nathan Lincoln Plack, thirty six, financial
53:42
advisor with Donaldson Capital Management near Indianapolis, who recently passed
53:47
the millionaire threshold with his wife. It's not quite what
53:50
it used to be in terms of rarefied status. Rising
53:54
costs have chipped away the value of one million dollars.
53:57
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, that amount stretches
54:01
about as far as four hundred and eighty thousand dollars
54:03
did thirty years ago. Next in this item is a
54:07
graph entitled a million dollars buy half of what it
54:11
did thirty years ago. If you have one million dollars
54:14
in cash since nineteen ninety six, its buying power would
54:18
have fallen to about four hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
54:22
The graph shows buying power in nineteen ninety six dollars,
54:26
with a fairly steady decline from one million dollars in
54:29
nineteen ninety six to four hundred and eighty thousand dollars
54:32
in twenty twenty five source bails and similar price index.
54:37
Or put another way, two point one million dollars today
54:41
is equivalent to what one million dollars was about thirty
54:44
years ago, which helps explain why there are so many
54:47
more millionaires than there were a generation or two ago.
54:51
Even with the rising lengths of millionaires, it's a milestone
54:54
that remains frustrating out of reach for most. Average wealth
54:59
is pulled upwards significantly because the top ten percent hold
55:03
two thirds of total household well and are worth an
55:06
average of eight point one million dollars. The bottom half
55:10
of households measured by wealth hold just two point five
55:14
percent of the total and are worth sixty thousand dollars
55:17
on average. The gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone
55:21
else has widened since the pandemic, as high income families
55:26
reap the benefits of rising home values for loooning stock
55:29
prices and outsize income gains. Lower and middle income Americans,
55:35
by comparison, are increasingly struggling under the weight of rising
55:39
costs and are falling behind on utility bills, car loans,
55:43
credit card payments, and even the cost of filling up
55:46
at the gas station. In interviews with nearly a dozen
55:49
recently minted millionaires, not a single one said they felt
55:53
wealthy in today's economy. Most said they felt financially stable
55:57
and prepared for an emergency a job, say, or unexpected
56:01
medical costs, but none said it felt like the kind
56:04
of money that would allow them to live lavishly or
56:07
retire early. Instead, they said they quietly marked the occasions
56:12
by going out for ice cream or booking a weekend trip,
56:16
then carried on for their everyday jobs and lives. The
56:19
only thing that's different now is I buy organic strawberries
56:23
every time I go to the Store. One millionaire in
56:26
California said, for American millionaires, the truth of the achievement
56:30
is less about cash and more about amassing assets that
56:35
bump up their overall at worth. Only about four to
56:38
six percent of millionaire's wealth is readily available as cash,
56:42
According to data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, much
56:47
of the nation's house of wealth sits in retirement accounts,
56:50
and that share has grown dramatically. In nineteen eighty nine,
56:54
retirement made up just seven percent of millionaire wealth. By
56:57
twenty twenty two, that share had more tripled. Recent jumps
57:02
in the stock market have padded americans retirement portfolios, creating
57:06
a new crop of US millionaires. But economist stress that
57:09
the financial structure of retirement has changed in the past
57:13
couple of generations. Employee pensions that used to guarantee a
57:17
certain amount of money every year have largely been replaced
57:20
by four oh one ks and other plans that have
57:23
put pressure on people to independently save and invest more
57:27
their own money for retirement. As a result, Americans are
57:31
increasingly on the hook for funding their own retirements. Keith Messinger,
57:36
a retired civil engineer in Lexington, Kentucky, and his wife,
57:40
a former teacher, recently became millionaires after twenty five years
57:44
of aggressively putting money toward their retirement account. It was
57:47
a bumpy road to get there, Messinger said, especially after
57:51
he depleted his funds a few times to cover routine expenses.
57:55
I looked up at forty two, and I've got zero
57:58
dollars in my retirement plant, he called Messinger. Now sixty eight,
58:02
I said, well, the million dollar both a sale that's
58:06
no longer reachable. Still, he decided to invest heavily in
58:10
the shares of his employee owned company. Messinger had calculated
58:14
he'd denned up with a net worth of five hundred
58:16
thousand dollars by the time he retired, but the recent
58:19
run up in the stock market, which double the savings
58:22
in five years, has helped him reach his original goal.
58:27
Due to the constraints of time, we will be unable
58:29
to complete this side on. This concludes reading of the
58:32
Washington Post for to Day, Tuesday, April fourteenth, twenty twenty six.
58:37
Your reader for to Day has been Cindy Fraser. If
58:40
you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
58:44
please feel free to call us at a five nine
58:46
four two two six three million zero. Thank you for listening,
58:51
experts say