Transcript

7.14.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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Speaker 1: July fourteenth, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, radioize or
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Speaker 1: reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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Speaker 1: other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Speaker 1: Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser. To day's
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Speaker 1: front page headlines from the Washington Post are U s
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Speaker 1: will reimpose blockade on Iran. The President said there will
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Speaker 1: be a twenty percent fee on shipping through Hormuz. The
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Speaker 1: next headline Judge blast Tromp's I r S suit an
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Speaker 1: attempt to quote manipulate court. Professional sanctions could follow ruling,
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Speaker 1: says The next headline, Maine a g is investigating a
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Speaker 1: deadly I shooting. Monday's incident spurs more backlash against presidents
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Speaker 1: cracked out. Next twelve states sou to stop Warner Brother's
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Speaker 1: takeover Attorney's General alleged deal violates and I trust law
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Speaker 1: could harm competition. Next, Trump's sons invest heavily in defense
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Speaker 1: tech brothers a mass portfolio of startups benefiting from Pentagon priorities.
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Speaker 1: The final headline from today's front page is color blind
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Speaker 1: constitution concept underlies key Supreme Court decisions. In addition to
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Speaker 1: those stories, there is a photo on the front page
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Speaker 1: titled A duty in her Grief. The captain reads Darlene Graham, Nordone.
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Speaker 1: Senator Lindsey Graham's younger sister, was chosen by South Carolina
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Speaker 1: Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, on Monday, to replace her
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Speaker 1: brother in the Senate following his death on Saturday. Her
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Speaker 1: political record has mostly been supporting her brother during his
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Speaker 1: long career. Now, let's turn to our first item, entitled
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Speaker 1: US will reimpose blockade on Iran. The President said there
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Speaker 1: will be a twenty percent fee on shipping through Hormone
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Speaker 1: by Michael Birnbaum, Tera Copp and Jerry she The deal
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Speaker 1: that the United States and Iran struck last month to
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Speaker 1: reopen the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate over Tehran's nuclear
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Speaker 1: program was merely a test. President Donald Trump said Monday,
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Speaker 1: dismissing what he said weeks ago was a great deal
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Speaker 1: that could lead to broader peace across him at least.
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Speaker 1: Trump's remarks in a radio interview came a few hours
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Speaker 1: after he announced on social media that the US would
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Speaker 1: charge a twenty percent fee on all cargo transiting the
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Speaker 1: strait and reimpose a blockade of Iranian ports, and notified
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Speaker 1: Congress that he was resuming hostilities. The comments underscored the
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Speaker 1: president's shifting attitude toward a conflict that he warned last
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Speaker 1: month could lead to economic catastrophe if it continued. The
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Speaker 1: renewed hostilities over the Narrow Waterway, which is vital to
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Speaker 1: global commerce, pushed crude oil prices higher, but the benchmark
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Speaker 1: price heating eighty three dollars per barrel. Late Monday afternoon,
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Speaker 1: Trump told broadcaster Hugh Hewitt that hostilities would continue. We're
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Speaker 1: going to hit them very hard tonight, and we're going
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Speaker 1: to hit them hard tomorrow, and there's not a damn
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Speaker 1: thing they can do about it, he said. The preliminary
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Speaker 1: deal that Trump signed last month with Iranian President Masud
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Speaker 1: Pazzesskaihan was built to test. Trump said, Look, memorandum of
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Speaker 1: understanding when you're dealing with sleeve bags don't mean much.
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Speaker 1: Iranians didn't honor the test. We had it. We had
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Speaker 1: this deal settled numerous times. I said, watch, I guarantee watch,
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Speaker 1: and they never they never followed it, Trump said Monday,
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Speaker 1: suggesting that he had always expected that Tehran would violate
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Speaker 1: the deal. It was a stark difference from last month,
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Speaker 1: when he wrote on social media that the Great Deal
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Speaker 1: will bring peace and security to the whole region. Many
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Speaker 1: presidents have tried to make peace with Iran and all
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Speaker 1: have failed. Before me, the leaders of the region have
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Speaker 1: for the first time found a president who can help
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Speaker 1: them achieve real peace. The reimposition of the blockade took
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Speaker 1: away the last major concession to Tehran that it helped
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Speaker 1: foster a ceasefire. We are reinstating the Iranian blockade so
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Speaker 1: named because it is only stopping Iran ships or customers
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Speaker 1: from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair
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Speaker 1: and open use of the strait, Trump wrote on True
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Speaker 1: social On Monday, Trump said that the Strait of Hormuz
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Speaker 1: is open and will remain open with or without Iran.
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Speaker 1: Iran has claimed full control over the strait and on
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Speaker 1: Sunday declared that it was closed. The US decision to
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Speaker 1: reinstate the blockade came after days of renewed bombing, as
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Speaker 1: the two countries traded heavy air strikes on Monday. Has
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Speaker 1: a fight for control of the crucial shipping bottleneck. The
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Speaker 1: tentative ceasefire has all but collapsed after failed talks over
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Speaker 1: the weekend. On Friday, senior US officials said they hoped
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Speaker 1: Iran would keep the straight open for all commercial vessels
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Speaker 1: continuing negotiations with Washington, and acknowledged that it screwed up
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Speaker 1: by attacking transiting ships instead. Tehran has been using drones
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Speaker 1: to strike ships and deploying boats to intercept tankers that
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Speaker 1: try to traverse the waterway without its permission. On Monday,
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Speaker 1: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stopped two ships because they
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Speaker 1: had switched off their tracking systems and taken an unauthorized
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Speaker 1: route through the Strait of harmves the official Islamic Republic
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Speaker 1: News agency reported. The agency also reported that the IRGC
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Speaker 1: attacked US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain. Trump also
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Speaker 1: said the United States will charge twenty percent on all
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Speaker 1: cargo shipped for any and all costs necessary to do
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Speaker 1: the job of providing safety and security to this very
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Speaker 1: volatile section of the world. A twenty percent fee on
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Speaker 1: all cargo transiting the Strait would be a major new
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Speaker 1: tax on global energy flows and would drive up the
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Speaker 1: cost of the world's oil and gas about a fifth
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Speaker 1: of the world's oil supply flowed through the strait before
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Speaker 1: the war began in February. Until Monday, US officials had
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Speaker 1: been adamant that passage through the strait should not require
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Speaker 1: paying tolls to anyone, and that Iran's efforts to charge
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Speaker 1: for shipping was unacceptable. Trump's declaration that the US will
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Speaker 1: levy fees gave an opening to Iranian Foreign Minister Abasarakshi,
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Speaker 1: who wrote in a somewhat tongue in cheek post on
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Speaker 1: exce Potus is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe
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Speaker 1: passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormus should
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Speaker 1: be compensated for this service. He mimicked Trump's distinct capitalization,
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Speaker 1: saying that Iran has always been the guardian in all
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Speaker 1: caps of the strait and will remain so forever in
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Speaker 1: all caps. Twenty percent is, of course too much. We
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Speaker 1: will be fair. The blockade will go into effect Tuesday
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Speaker 1: at four p m. Eastern time, Central Command said in
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Speaker 1: a statement posted to social media. Like the previous iteration,
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Speaker 1: this blockade will affect any vessel departing or heading into
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Speaker 1: an Iranian port, the military said. During the previous blockade,
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Speaker 1: US warships intercepted or turned around more than one hundred
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Speaker 1: forty commercial vessels. In nine cases in which the ship
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Speaker 1: was not complying, the military fired into the ship's engine
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Speaker 1: rooms to disable them. Trump also notified Congress on Monday
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Speaker 1: that hostilities had resumed. The War Powers Act requires Congressional
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Speaker 1: permission for the US to engage in hostilities for more
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Speaker 1: than sixty days. The war with Iran started February twenty eighth,
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Speaker 1: with a major U. S and Israeli strikes across Iran,
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Speaker 1: but the White House has sought to tread the fighting
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Speaker 1: as several separate chapters, restarting the sixty day clock, a move.
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Speaker 1: Some in Congress have objected to the decision to reimpose
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Speaker 1: the U. S blockade rolls back nearly all of Iran's
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Speaker 1: gains under the memorandum of understanding that the two countries
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Speaker 1: signed last month. Washington rescinded an oil sanctions waiver and
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Speaker 1: imposed fresh sanctions last week. As of Monday, the Navy
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Speaker 1: had at least nineteen warships deployed to the Middle East,
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Speaker 1: the majority of which were sailing in the Northern Arabian Sea.
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Speaker 1: A US official said the vessels include two aircraft carriers,
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Speaker 1: the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George H. W. Bush,
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Speaker 1: thirteen destroyers, the USS Boxer and amphibious assault ship, a cruiser,
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Speaker 1: and two landing ships. The overwhelming number of destroyers on
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Speaker 1: hand gives the US a large amount of firepower and
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Speaker 1: presence to carry out the blockade. The counterships does not
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Speaker 1: include any nuclear submarines may be deployed nearby, as the
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Speaker 1: Navy typically does not acknowledge where those vessels are located.
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Speaker 1: The US official spoke on the condition of anonymity to
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Speaker 1: provide additional details about the force presence near Iran. A
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Speaker 1: Ratian Foreign Ministry spokesman Asmael Bakhe told reporters Monday that
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Speaker 1: the US was to blame for the failure of mediation
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Speaker 1: efforts that took place Saturday in Oman, and that Washington
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Speaker 1: was repeatedly reneging on terms of the memorandum of understanding
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Speaker 1: negotiated in Islamabad and signed with US on June seventeenth.
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Speaker 1: The talks collapse because of overt and covert US pressure
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Speaker 1: on Oman, Bakaye said, adding that the Islamabad agreement has
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Speaker 1: entered a crisis phase. Interpretation against the text is not permissible,
9:47
Speaker 1: Bakaye said, referring to the June seventeenth document. Lying has
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Speaker 1: become part of the US administration's behavioral pattern, and they
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Speaker 1: have become addicted to it. On Friday night, senior USA
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Speaker 1: officials had briefed reporters in Washington, saying they had been
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Speaker 1: assured by Iranian negotiators that attacks on ships in the
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Speaker 1: Strait were carried out by a faction that sought to
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Speaker 1: undermine the deal. The senior US officials, speaking on the
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Speaker 1: condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said that they
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Speaker 1: hoped that Iran would publicly acknowledge that they screwed up,
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Speaker 1: but that the U. S military would retaliate with twenty
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Speaker 1: times the force if the Iranian military fired. But the
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Speaker 1: week ends events, including a written statement by Iran's new
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Speaker 1: Supreme leader i told Omoshaba Commenee vowing revenge against the
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Speaker 1: US in Israel, suggested a continued hard line streak within
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Speaker 1: Iran's leadership. Allan Eyer, an Iran expert and former diplomat
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Speaker 1: who served on the US negotiating team that secured the
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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen Iran nuclear deal set Tarran, probably sees the
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Speaker 1: attacks as establishing red lines rather than undermining a possible deal.
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Speaker 1: The regime collectively has realized that for reasons of strategic deterrence,
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Speaker 1: if nothing else, they must control the Strait of Hormuds
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Speaker 1: going forward, Ayres said after years of back to back
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Speaker 1: strategic defeats regionally, he said, Taran believes that if it
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Speaker 1: compromises on the strait, it will be inviting further attacks
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Speaker 1: from Israel and the United States. They believe that if
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Speaker 1: they do a deal that violates certain key red lines,
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Speaker 1: Israel and the United States will increase pressure on them,
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Speaker 1: he said. In the short term, Ayre said Iran is
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Speaker 1: trying to use the Strait of Hormus to re establish deterrence,
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Speaker 1: but both sides are likely to be frustrated by vague
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Speaker 1: language and the memorandum of understanding and a general lack
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Speaker 1: of trust. Meanwhile, Iranian media outlets reported explosions on Akeshum
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Speaker 1: Island and outside the city of Bandarabas. US officials have
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Speaker 1: previously said that they are targeting that stretch of the
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Speaker 1: Iranian coast with missiles to weaken around ability to fire
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Speaker 1: on commercial vessels in the Strait. The extent of damage
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Speaker 1: to US bases was not immediately clear. Kuwait and Jordan
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Speaker 1: said they intercepted incoming Iranian projectiles on Monday while siren
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Speaker 1: sounded in Bahrain. Susannah George Noah Robertson, Mohammed al Shama,
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Speaker 1: and Susanne Haadamos contributed to this report. This article is
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Speaker 1: accompanied by a photo captioned two men weighed in the
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Speaker 1: waters of the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, with vessels
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Speaker 1: anchored in the background off Banda abbas Iran Raisa podat Ap.
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Speaker 1: The next item from today's front page is entitled Judge
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Speaker 1: blast Trump's IRS suit an attempt to quote manipulate court
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Speaker 1: professional sanctions could follow ruling says by Jeremy Roebuck and
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Speaker 1: Mark Berman. A federal judge on Monday denounced President Donald
12:55
Speaker 1: Trump's lawsuit against the i r S as an improper
12:58
Speaker 1: attempt to quote manie, pipulate the court process and legitimize
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Speaker 1: a controversial deal that afforded him significant tax protections and
13:07
Speaker 1: sought to establish a nearly one point eight billion dollar
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Speaker 1: fund for alleged victims of politicized prosecutions. In a blistering ruling,
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Speaker 1: US District Judge Kathleen M. Williams suggested that Trump's attorneys
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Speaker 1: and top Justice Department officials who signed off on that
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Speaker 1: agreement could face professional sanctions. She barred them from citing
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Speaker 1: any provision of their private resolution in future official proceedings.
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Speaker 1: In some the judge wrote, the facts before this court
13:37
Speaker 1: demonstrate that there was never adverseness between the parties. There
13:41
Speaker 1: was never a case or controversy, and there was never
13:44
Speaker 1: a question as to who would prevail. The extraordinary order
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Speaker 1: from Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama, came in
13:52
Speaker 1: response to concerns raised by thirty five former federal judges
13:56
Speaker 1: who had petitioned her to re examine the deal. The
13:59
Speaker 1: Justice and struck with Trump in May to resolve the
14:02
Speaker 1: suit he filed earlier this year over the leak of
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Speaker 1: personal tax returns by a government contractor. They argued that
14:10
Speaker 1: the suit was improper and the deal to resolve it
14:13
Speaker 1: was negotiated in bad faith, as attorneys on both sides
14:17
Speaker 1: of the case ultimately reported to Trump working for him,
14:21
Speaker 1: either in his personal capacity or as government employees at
14:25
Speaker 1: the Justice Department. Department officials have defended the agreement, saying
14:29
Speaker 1: it did not require sign up by Williams, who was
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Speaker 1: overseeing the case. There was no collusion, a Justice Department
14:36
Speaker 1: spokesperson said in a statement Monday, responding to the judge's ruling,
14:41
Speaker 1: and the partisan judge who speculated otherwise has disregarded decades
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Speaker 1: a precedent. The case was brought by President Trump in
14:48
Speaker 1: his personal capacity, as well as by several members of
14:51
Speaker 1: his family, who were all victims of admitted violations of law.
14:55
Speaker 1: The statement read, there was a live dispute because a
14:58
Speaker 1: plaintive sought reliefs of the government had not provided. The
15:02
Speaker 1: agreement initially included a provision creating a nearly one point
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Speaker 1: eight billion dollar taxpayer funded pot of money for those who,
15:10
Speaker 1: like Trump, have claimed they were victims of a weaponized
15:13
Speaker 1: justice system. The Justice Department later said it was no
15:17
Speaker 1: longer moving forward with that plan after facing bipartisan backlash
15:22
Speaker 1: and accusations of self dealing. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, however,
15:27
Speaker 1: has stood by a separate aspect of the deal that
15:30
Speaker 1: purports to shield Trump, his sons, and their affiliated business
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Speaker 1: entities from any past tax claims, a potentially lucrative benefit
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Speaker 1: for a president who has often complained about burdensome rs audits.
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Speaker 1: While William's ruling Monday did not directly strike down the deal,
15:48
Speaker 1: it was unclear whether the restriction she imposed on citing
15:51
Speaker 1: it in official proceedings could practically limit the tax protections
15:55
Speaker 1: it laid out for Trump and his family. This action
15:59
Speaker 1: was never at a party seeking judicial resolution of a
16:02
Speaker 1: legal issue or a factual dispute, she wrote. The nature
16:06
Speaker 1: of the suit itself and the conduct of the parties
16:09
Speaker 1: and council from its filing made plain that this was
16:12
Speaker 1: an attempt to use the court to provide some legitimacy
16:15
Speaker 1: to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities
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Speaker 1: affiliated with the president, and to earmark billions of dollars
16:22
Speaker 1: from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law. Trump,
16:29
Speaker 1: his two eldest sons, and his family business filed their
16:32
Speaker 1: suit against the IRS in January, seeking as much as
16:35
Speaker 1: ten billion dollars in damages for the theft of their
16:38
Speaker 1: tax filings by the agency contractor, who then leaked them
16:42
Speaker 1: to news organizations. The former consultant, Charles Littlejohn, also leaked
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Speaker 1: confidential tax records of other wealthy Americans. He pleaded guilty
16:52
Speaker 1: and was sentenced in twenty twenty four to five years
16:54
Speaker 1: in prison. Earlier this year, Williams questioned whether lawyers for
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Speaker 1: the Trumps, Anad and the Justice Department were truly adverse,
17:03
Speaker 1: but before she could hold a hearing on the matter,
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Speaker 1: the Trumps withdrew their suit and announced their private deal
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Speaker 1: with the Justice Department. In her ruling Monday, the judge
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Speaker 1: offered a particularly scathing assessment of Blanche, who emerged as
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Speaker 1: a public face of the deal in the weeks after
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Speaker 1: it was struck. Blanche is sad to appear before Congress
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Speaker 1: on Wednesday to answer questions on his nomination to become
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Speaker 1: the Senate confirmed head of the Justice Department. Williams accused
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Speaker 1: him of giving at best misleading and at worst disingenuous
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Speaker 1: testimony in previous stints before Congress. In defending the deal,
17:39
Speaker 1: in prior statements to Congress, Blanche portrayed the fund as
17:42
Speaker 1: comparable to previous settlements reached by the federal government, pointing
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Speaker 1: in particular to a seven hundred sixty million dollar fund
17:50
Speaker 1: created through an Obama administration era settlement to resolve claims
17:54
Speaker 1: of discrimination by Native American farmers and ranchers. Williams noted
17:59
Speaker 1: Monday that in that hur case, the parties involved spent
18:02
Speaker 1: a decade in litigation and reached a deal eventually approved
18:06
Speaker 1: by a court. Since telling lawmakers that the Justice Department
18:10
Speaker 1: was abandoning the payout fund, Blanche has refused to put
18:13
Speaker 1: that pledge in writing, even resisting a call for him
18:17
Speaker 1: to do so from a federal judge examining the funds
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Speaker 1: legality in a separate case in Virginia, the Justice Department,
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Speaker 1: Williams wrote, has remained conspicuously absent and silent when serious
18:29
Speaker 1: questions about this matter have been raised. She said she
18:33
Speaker 1: could only presume that silence was because officials know the
18:36
Speaker 1: Department's position would not withstand judicial scrutiny. Williams ordered the
18:41
Speaker 1: court's clerk to send copies of her ruling to the
18:44
Speaker 1: attorney disciplinary bodies in New York and d C, which
18:48
Speaker 1: have launched inquiries into Blanche and Stanley Woodward, the Justice
18:51
Speaker 1: Department's number three official, in response to unrelated complaints about
18:56
Speaker 1: their conduct at the agency. Woodward signed off on many
18:59
Speaker 1: of the documents purporting to memorialize the agreement between the
19:03
Speaker 1: Trumps and the IRS. Spokespersons for the Treasury Department and
19:07
Speaker 1: the White House did not immediately respond to requests for
19:10
Speaker 1: comment Monday on William's order. In addition to Blanche, Williams
19:14
Speaker 1: referred one of mister Trump's attorneys, Alejandro Brito, to the
19:18
Speaker 1: Florida Bar for potential disciplinary action. The judge restricted the
19:23
Speaker 1: ability of a second lawyer, Daniel Epstein, to practice in
19:26
Speaker 1: the Southern District of Florida. A spokesperson for Trump's personal
19:30
Speaker 1: legal team said in his statement that the IRS wrongly
19:34
Speaker 1: allowed a rogue, politically motivated employee to leak private and
19:38
Speaker 1: confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump
19:42
Speaker 1: Organization to the New York Times, Republica, and other left
19:46
Speaker 1: wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions
19:50
Speaker 1: of people. President Trump continues to hold those who wrong
19:53
Speaker 1: America and Americans accountable. This article is accompanied by a
19:58
Speaker 1: photo captioned President doc Ronald Trump has sued the IRS
20:01
Speaker 1: over the leak of his tax records, but dropped the
20:04
Speaker 1: case after reaching a settlement with the Justice Department. Alex
20:08
Speaker 1: Brandon AP photo Alex Brandon. The photo shows a head
20:12
Speaker 1: and shouldered shot of President Trump. The next item from
20:16
Speaker 1: today's from page is entitled Maine ag is investigating a
20:21
Speaker 1: deadly ICE shooting. Monday's incident spurs more backlash against President's
20:26
Speaker 1: crackdown by Ted Hessen, Cole Reynolds, Joanna Slater, Aaron Schaeffer,
20:31
Speaker 1: and Samuel Oakford. A federal immigration officer fatally shot a
20:36
Speaker 1: man Monday in Maine, leading the state's attorney general to
20:40
Speaker 1: launch an investigation and fueling backlash to President Donald Trump's crackdown.
20:45
Speaker 1: The office of Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said initial
20:49
Speaker 1: reports indicated a U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer
20:53
Speaker 1: shot the man when he attempted to flee in his
20:56
Speaker 1: vehicle during an enforcement operation in the small coastal city
20:59
Speaker 1: of buil Hiford. Frey's office said in a statement that
21:03
Speaker 1: the officer would be placed on leave. An ICE spokesperson
21:07
Speaker 1: said the agency was conducting targeted surveillance on the last
21:11
Speaker 1: known address of an illegal alien with a final order
21:14
Speaker 1: of removal. An illegal alien departed the residents in a vehicle.
21:19
Speaker 1: The spokesperson said. ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a
21:23
Speaker 1: vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene, and
21:27
Speaker 1: fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. Emergency
21:32
Speaker 1: services were immediately contacted after the driver was shot, according
21:36
Speaker 1: to the spokesperson. The Biddeford Police Department and FBI responded
21:40
Speaker 1: to the scene. Authorities did not identify the man who
21:43
Speaker 1: was killed, but the main immigrants' rights coalition said he
21:47
Speaker 1: was a twenty six year old Columbian national. Reuben Torres,
21:50
Speaker 1: the group's director of advocacy and policy, said the man
21:54
Speaker 1: had a social Security number and was authorized to work
21:57
Speaker 1: in the United States. Torres, who declared to provide the
22:00
Speaker 1: man's name, said he was the sole financial provider for
22:04
Speaker 1: his family in Maine and had been attending Immigration Corps proceedings.
22:09
Speaker 1: The shooting took place six days after an undocumented immigrant
22:12
Speaker 1: from Mexico was fatally shot by an ICE officer as
22:16
Speaker 1: he drove his white work fan in Houston. A spokesperson
22:20
Speaker 1: for Senator Angus King, independent from Maine, said Monday that
22:24
Speaker 1: King had spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen
22:28
Speaker 1: twice during the day and that Mullen had said the
22:30
Speaker 1: man was not the target of the ICE operation. Earlier Monday,
22:35
Speaker 1: King had told reporters that Mullen initially said the man
22:39
Speaker 1: was the target and had been previously ordered to leave
22:42
Speaker 1: the US. King spokesperson said, The Secretary reversed himself in
22:46
Speaker 1: his later conversation with the Senator. ICE has ramped up
22:50
Speaker 1: enforcement across the country in recent weeks, aiming for two
22:54
Speaker 1: thousand arrests per day. The Washington Post has reported the
22:58
Speaker 1: pair of fatal shootings over the past week are the
23:01
Speaker 1: first involving ICE since Renee Good, a US citizen, was
23:05
Speaker 1: killed in Minneapolis in January. Days after she was killed,
23:09
Speaker 1: two federal officers fatally shot Alex Pretty, another US citizen,
23:13
Speaker 1: as he protested immigration enforcement activity in that city. Next
23:18
Speaker 1: in this article is a bar graph entitled the number
23:22
Speaker 1: of newly Detained Migrants by Month, includes detainment by ICE
23:26
Speaker 1: and CBP. The bar graph shows the number of detainments
23:30
Speaker 1: each month from January twenty twenty five through June twenty
23:35
Speaker 1: twenty six. January twenty twenty five had twenty one thousand,
23:38
Speaker 1: nine hundred and ninety detainments. The low was September twenty
23:43
Speaker 1: twenty five, with eleven thousand, nine hundred eighty four detainments.
23:48
Speaker 1: The high was in December twenty twenty five, with forty
23:52
Speaker 1: two thousand, one hundred ten detainments. The month of the
23:56
Speaker 1: Renee Good and Alex Pretty shootings, there were thirty nine thousand,
23:59
Speaker 1: six one hundred and seventy nine detainments. That's January twenty
24:03
Speaker 1: twenty six. June twenty twenty six had thirty one thousand,
24:07
Speaker 1: five hundred sixteen detainments. Data is through June twenty fourth
24:12
Speaker 1: source ICE detainment data provided to Congress Emanuel Martinez the
24:16
Speaker 1: Washington Post. At the news conference, King said Mullen told
24:21
Speaker 1: him none of the officers involved were wearing body cameras.
24:24
Speaker 1: Body cameras were not on the agents, and so we
24:27
Speaker 1: have no video evidence of what occurred in this case,
24:30
Speaker 1: King said. King said an investigation would be needed to
24:34
Speaker 1: determine whether the person had posed a threat to agents
24:37
Speaker 1: and whether deadly force was justified. The latest Eisenfalve desk
24:42
Speaker 1: could be a test for Mullen as he manages Trump's
24:44
Speaker 1: controversial enforcement push in their run up to November's midterm elections.
24:49
Speaker 1: Trump removed Mullen's predecessor, Christy L. Naum, after the shooting
24:53
Speaker 1: desks in Minneapolis and as questions mounted over her management
24:58
Speaker 1: of the department. A public backlash over aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
25:04
Speaker 1: Democrats have pressed the Trump administration to require ICE officers
25:08
Speaker 1: to wear body cameras to increase accountability. The ICE officers
25:12
Speaker 1: involved in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo's Algado Raljo in
25:16
Speaker 1: Houston last week also lacked body cameras. DHS said last
25:21
Speaker 1: week that cameras had been deployed to half of ICE's
25:24
Speaker 1: field offices and that the remaining half would receive them
25:27
Speaker 1: in the next sixty days. Representative Chelley Pingree, a Democrat
25:32
Speaker 1: who represents the main district where the shooting occurred, said
25:35
Speaker 1: in a video that she was deeply disturbed and angry
25:38
Speaker 1: over reports of ICE's involvement. Shennabello's main secretary of State,
25:43
Speaker 1: who's running for US Senate, said in a statement after
25:46
Speaker 1: the shooting, it's time to get ICE off our streets.
25:50
Speaker 1: Protesters also gathered outside the office of Senator Susan Collins,
25:54
Speaker 1: Republican from Maine, holding signs calling to abolish ICE and
25:58
Speaker 1: chanting vote her out. The early morning shooting occurred in
26:02
Speaker 1: the city's downtown area, at the intersection of Pool and
26:05
Speaker 1: Hill Streets. A news release from the Bidford Police Department
26:09
Speaker 1: said video of the scene showed law enforcement officers treating
26:13
Speaker 1: a motionless person on the ground. The FBI responded to
26:16
Speaker 1: the scene, and agency spokesperson said, declining to provide details.
26:21
Speaker 1: Footage taken from a vehicle down the street from the
26:24
Speaker 1: site showed a white sedan going slowly in a circle
26:27
Speaker 1: at the intersection of Pool and Hill Streets. Two law
26:30
Speaker 1: enforcement officers can be seen near the car. The sound
26:33
Speaker 1: of what appeared to be at least five gunshots was
26:36
Speaker 1: captured by the nearby doorbell camera of Ashley Peters, who
26:40
Speaker 1: shared the recording with a post. A screen shot from
26:43
Speaker 1: Peter's home video application showed it was taken at seven
26:47
Speaker 1: seventeen a m. A video taken after the shooting shows
26:51
Speaker 1: a law enforcement officer pulling a person in a light
26:54
Speaker 1: shirt out of the driver's side of the vehicle. The person,
26:57
Speaker 1: whose body seems limp drops face down on the pavement
27:01
Speaker 1: as the officer pulls their arm behind them, appearing to
27:04
Speaker 1: begin handcuffing them. M Ackerley, who lives in an apartment
27:08
Speaker 1: overlooking the intersection, said in a phone interview that she
27:11
Speaker 1: heard a gunshot followed by a rapid succession of five
27:14
Speaker 1: or six more shots. Afterward, Ackerley said she saw from
27:18
Speaker 1: her window a small car making a slow circle and
27:22
Speaker 1: two officers running alongside it. Before a white SUV pinned
27:26
Speaker 1: the car to the sidewalk. Ackerley said that officers tended
27:30
Speaker 1: to the victim and that an ambulance arrived ten or
27:33
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes after the shooting. She was interviewed by the FBI,
27:37
Speaker 1: she said after the fatal shooting of Salgado Raujo, a
27:41
Speaker 1: Mexican immigrant, in Houston on July seventh, d h S
27:45
Speaker 1: said he had quote weaponized his van and rammed an
27:48
Speaker 1: ice law enforcement vehicle, echoing past statements by the agency
27:52
Speaker 1: following deadly encounters. Three migrants arrested at the scene of
27:56
Speaker 1: Salgado Rajo's shooting challenged that account, saying that a federal
28:01
Speaker 1: officer fired at them almost immediately after exiting his vehicle,
28:04
Speaker 1: and as Algado Rajo never veered in the officer's direction.
28:09
Speaker 1: Trump has pushed to deport one million undocumented immigrants per year,
28:13
Speaker 1: portraying them as criminals and a drain on US communities.
28:18
Speaker 1: After intense street level ICE operations last year, the agency
28:22
Speaker 1: dialed back visible enforcement after the fatal shootings of Good
28:26
Speaker 1: and Pretty. The goal of two thousand arrests per day
28:29
Speaker 1: would be more than double the daily average through the
28:31
Speaker 1: first fourteen months. Of Trump's second term, according to ICE
28:35
Speaker 1: arrest data obtained by the Deportation Data Project, in January,
28:39
Speaker 1: DHS sent a surge of agents to Maine for an
28:42
Speaker 1: immigration enforcement crackdown it called Operation Catch of the Day.
28:47
Speaker 1: ICE arrested more than two hundred people in a four
28:50
Speaker 1: day period, it said, Despite statements from DHS said the
28:54
Speaker 1: operation in Maine was targeting the worst of the worst.
28:58
Speaker 1: Only eleven of the roughly twos two hundred people detained
29:01
Speaker 1: in the surge had criminal convictions. An analysis by The
29:04
Speaker 1: Bangor Daily News later showed. King said Monday that DHS's
29:09
Speaker 1: record of making false or misleading statements had damaged the
29:12
Speaker 1: department's credibility. Given the experience of the past year, I
29:17
Speaker 1: think we have to trust but verify, he said. Emmanuel
29:20
Speaker 1: Martinez contributed to this report. This article is accompanied by photos.
29:27
Speaker 1: The photo on the front page is captioned demonstrators react
29:31
Speaker 1: in Bidford, Maine to a federal law enforcement involved shooting.
29:35
Speaker 1: The victim was not officially identified. The photo shows many people,
29:39
Speaker 1: several holding signs. Some of the signs that can be
29:42
Speaker 1: read say abolish ICE, ICE out of Bidford, no ICE
29:47
Speaker 1: for m E standing for Maine. The next photo is
29:51
Speaker 1: captioned a sedan reportedly driven by the victim of the
29:54
Speaker 1: fatal ice shooting in Bidford, Maine on Monday, Gregory rec
29:58
Speaker 1: Portland Press Herald, Getty Images. The next photo is captioned
30:03
Speaker 1: protesters at the office of Senator Susan Collins Joseph Presio
30:07
Speaker 1: a F P. Getty Images. The photo shows an office
30:11
Speaker 1: door reading Susan Collins, United States Senator, with the seal
30:14
Speaker 1: of the United States Senate on it. A woman is
30:17
Speaker 1: standing outside the door holding a paper in her hand.
30:21
Speaker 1: She is raising her fist as if to knock and
30:24
Speaker 1: has her mouth open as though she is speaking loudly.
30:27
Speaker 1: The final photo accompanying this item is captioned FBI investigators
30:31
Speaker 1: work at the scene of a fatal shooting Monday in Bedford.
30:34
Speaker 1: Joseph Presio a F. P. Getey Images. It shows a
30:39
Speaker 1: man kneeling on the pavement with a blue shirt on
30:43
Speaker 1: which reads FBI. He seems to be holding a measuring tape.
30:47
Speaker 1: The next item from today's front page is entitled twelve
30:51
Speaker 1: States sue to stop Warner Brother's takeover Attorney's General. Alleged
30:55
Speaker 1: deal violets antitrust law would harm competition by Sky Over.
31:01
Speaker 1: A group of twelve states led by Democratic attorneys general
31:04
Speaker 1: on Monday sued to block Paramount's Guide Dances one hundred
31:08
Speaker 1: ten billion dollar deal to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, the
31:11
Speaker 1: sharpest challenge to one of the biggest media and entertainment
31:15
Speaker 1: mergers in history. The purchase would combine some of the
31:18
Speaker 1: biggest names in film, television, streaming, and news, including CNN.
31:24
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers shareholders, and the US Justice Department have already
31:27
Speaker 1: blessed the deal, but opponents are hopeful that opposition from
31:31
Speaker 1: states or overseas could still upend it. The lawsuit, whose
31:35
Speaker 1: plaintiffs include California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York
31:39
Speaker 1: Attorney General Letitia James, was filed in Federal District Court
31:43
Speaker 1: in Northern California on Monday. The states alleged that the
31:46
Speaker 1: deal violates federal antitrust law, specifically Section seven of the
31:51
Speaker 1: Clayton Antitrust Act, which prohibits mergers that reduce competition and
31:55
Speaker 1: create monopolies. This merger would destroy competition, aating a massive
32:00
Speaker 1: company with unprecedented power and influence over news and entertainment
32:05
Speaker 1: across the globe. Paramount's acquisition of Warner Brothers threatens to
32:09
Speaker 1: raise costs for consumers and put jobs and businesses nationwide
32:14
Speaker 1: at risk, James said in a statement. Bonta said in
32:17
Speaker 1: a statement that the deal would lead to higher prices,
32:21
Speaker 1: lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming
32:25
Speaker 1: movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately audiences on every
32:30
Speaker 1: sofa and movie theater seat in the US. Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada,
32:38
Speaker 1: New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington join California and
32:43
Speaker 1: New York in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed by the
32:46
Speaker 1: State Attorney's General in the most generous light, reflects a
32:50
Speaker 1: fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong
32:54
Speaker 1: on both the facts and the law, a Paramount spokesperson
32:57
Speaker 1: said in a statement Monday, adding to the company plans
33:00
Speaker 1: to vigorously defend the deal in court. If the deal closes,
33:05
Speaker 1: it would fundamentally reshape Hollywood, combining the storied Paramount and
33:09
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers film and television studios, TV news giants CNN
33:14
Speaker 1: and CBS News, and streaming services HBO, Max and Paramount Plus.
33:19
Speaker 1: The merger would also put David Ellison soun billionaire Oracle
33:24
Speaker 1: founder Larry Ellison and ally of President Donald Trump, in
33:28
Speaker 1: charge of one of the most powerful companies in news
33:30
Speaker 1: and entertainment. The state's lawsuit isn't the first try to
33:35
Speaker 1: thwart the deal. A group of consumers previously sued to
33:38
Speaker 1: block the merger, and that litigation is ongoing in federal
33:42
Speaker 1: district court in Northern California. British regulators also are considering
33:46
Speaker 1: efforts to intervene, though it's unclear whether they can fully
33:50
Speaker 1: block the deal. David Ellison's accumulation of media muscle during
33:55
Speaker 1: this second Trump administration has led to an outcry, with
33:59
Speaker 1: critics of alledging that the administration is changing the media
34:02
Speaker 1: landscape by allowing its political allies excessive consolidation. The Wall
34:08
Speaker 1: Street Journal reported in June that senior leadership at the
34:11
Speaker 1: Justice Department closed the department's investigation into the Paramount deal
34:15
Speaker 1: before career lawyers in the Anti Trust division who had
34:19
Speaker 1: concerns about ramifications for competition could object. The department's outgoing
34:24
Speaker 1: anti trust chief later told Politico that was just not accurate.
34:29
Speaker 1: After taking over Paramont last summer, the younger Ellison bought
34:33
Speaker 1: The Free Press a commentary website started by opinion journalist
34:37
Speaker 1: Barry Weiss and installed Wise as CBS News editor in chief.
34:42
Speaker 1: Wise has courted controversy by clashing with staff, overseeing layoffs
34:46
Speaker 1: and firing key correspondence and producers at the legendary Sixty
34:50
Speaker 1: Minutes broadcast. Three of those correspondents, Sharon Alfonsei, Cecilia Vega,
34:56
Speaker 1: and Scott Pelley, have alleged that Weiss has interfered with
34:59
Speaker 1: stories in ways that would benefit the Trump administration, allegations.
35:03
Speaker 1: The network has strenuously denied. The show's remaining correspondence gave
35:08
Speaker 1: Wise an ultimatum that if she interferes with the independence
35:11
Speaker 1: of Sixty Minutes, they will depart. If we can continue
35:15
Speaker 1: doing the work that made this show what it is,
35:18
Speaker 1: committing acts of independent, fearless journalism and storytelling, We're here
35:23
Speaker 1: for it. If not, we leave, they wrote. Hollywood's unions
35:28
Speaker 1: and some of its biggest stars also have opposed a deal,
35:31
Speaker 1: including actor Ben Stiller, director Sophia Coppola, and Breaking Bad
35:36
Speaker 1: creator Vince Gilligan, who, along with more than five thousand,
35:39
Speaker 1: six hundred others, signed an open letter which claims that
35:43
Speaker 1: the deal would further consolidate the entertainment industry and harm workers.
35:48
Speaker 1: Media consolidation has already weakened one of America's most vital
35:52
Speaker 1: global industries, one that has long shaped culture and connected
35:56
Speaker 1: people around the world, reads the open letter organ by
36:00
Speaker 1: the group block the merger. The Writer's Guild of America
36:04
Speaker 1: said Monday that it supported the litigation. People will lose
36:08
Speaker 1: their jobs, their income, their homes, wrote WTA East president
36:12
Speaker 1: Tom Fontana. The damage this deal would do to America's
36:16
Speaker 1: entertainment and news industries would be an absolute, unmitigated disaster.
36:21
Speaker 1: This merger must be blocked. Warner Brothers, led by CEO
36:27
Speaker 1: and president David Saesliv, originally struck a deal to sell
36:30
Speaker 1: most of the company to Netflix over Paramont's guidance. The
36:34
Speaker 1: Netflix deal would have seen Warner Brothers spin off CNN
36:37
Speaker 1: and other cable TV assets into a new standalone company.
36:42
Speaker 1: Instead of giving up its months long pursuit Paramont's guidand
36:45
Speaker 1: submitted unsolicited or hostile bids to Warner Brothers shareholders for
36:50
Speaker 1: the entire company, including CNN. In February, Netflix said it
36:55
Speaker 1: would not raise its bid further, and Warner Brothers instead
36:58
Speaker 1: entered in an agreement to sell itself in full to
37:01
Speaker 1: Paramout's guidance. Since then, there has been a frenzy of
37:05
Speaker 1: industry speculation about whether Weiss will lead CNN when it
37:09
Speaker 1: is under the same roof as CBS News, or whether
37:12
Speaker 1: Ellison will keep CNN's well respected chairman and CEO, Mark
37:16
Speaker 1: Thompson at the helm. It's an especially interesting question for Trump,
37:20
Speaker 1: who is feuded for more than a decade with CNN
37:23
Speaker 1: and its journalists. Concluding a Sunday phone interview with Trump
37:28
Speaker 1: about the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina,
37:32
Speaker 1: CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked the President to return soon
37:36
Speaker 1: and answer additional questions. Sure, we'll do that. We'll do that.
37:40
Speaker 1: We're trying to have CNN go on a normal path
37:42
Speaker 1: and will do that, Trump said. Tapper responded, well, I'm
37:47
Speaker 1: on a normal path right here, sir, and I appreciate
37:49
Speaker 1: your time and thank you for calling in. Good you are,
37:53
Speaker 1: Trump said. This article is accompanied by a photo captioned
37:57
Speaker 1: the historic water Tower at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California,
38:01
Speaker 1: Daniel Cole, Reuters. The photo shows a water tower with
38:05
Speaker 1: a Warner Brothers emblem on it. The next item from
38:09
Speaker 1: today's front page is entitled Trump's sons invest heavily in
38:13
Speaker 1: defense tech brothers a mass portfolio of startups benefiting from
38:17
Speaker 1: Pentagon priorities by Elizabeth Duskin, Andrew Batran, Louis Melgar and
38:23
Speaker 1: Peter Jamison. President Donald Trump's sons, Donald Trump Junior and
38:28
Speaker 1: Eric Trump have a massed portfolio of defense technology startups
38:32
Speaker 1: that are benefiting from new Pentagon priorities and spending further
38:36
Speaker 1: entangling the United States interests and the Trump family's financial
38:40
Speaker 1: fortunes in an area with immense stakes for national security.
38:45
Speaker 1: As a current administration has made modernizing the tools of
38:48
Speaker 1: war fighting a centerpiece of its national security agenda. Funds
38:52
Speaker 1: that linked to the Trump brothers have invested in more
38:55
Speaker 1: than a dozen defense tech companies and other firms seeking
38:58
Speaker 1: business from the Pentagon and federal agencies. A Washington Post
39:02
Speaker 1: analysis fines based on public federal contracting databases and news releases,
39:07
Speaker 1: as well as data from Pitchbook, a venture capital research database.
39:12
Speaker 1: Most of the investments have taken place since Trump was
39:15
Speaker 1: elected president for a second time. The companies have collectively
39:19
Speaker 1: generated at least three point two billion dollars in direct
39:22
Speaker 1: government business since the sons invested and an additional three
39:26
Speaker 1: point one billion dollars in future contract options. Some have
39:30
Speaker 1: gained coveted spots on shortlists of pre approved contractors that
39:34
Speaker 1: can bid exclusively on up to nearly two hundred billion
39:38
Speaker 1: dollars in future work. The Trump Sounds are part of
39:42
Speaker 1: investment groups that have poured money into established government contractors
39:46
Speaker 1: such as SpaceX and andrel, as well as lesser known
39:49
Speaker 1: startups aspiring to build a new generation of nimble tech
39:52
Speaker 1: forward weaponry, from drones to human eyed robots that can
39:56
Speaker 1: either mo alaw or use deadly force. Of the firms
40:00
Speaker 1: are in the defense industry, but some focus on products
40:04
Speaker 1: not meant for the battlefield. One company is partnering with
40:07
Speaker 1: a luxury fashion labeled product to design space suits, and
40:11
Speaker 1: another is trying to build quantum computers. Company representatives who
40:16
Speaker 1: responded to the Post's requests for comment stated that the
40:19
Speaker 1: companies had secured their business with the federal government through
40:22
Speaker 1: rigorous Pentagon contracting processes, based on the merits of their
40:26
Speaker 1: products and services, and without assistance or intervention from the
40:30
Speaker 1: president's family. Some said their executives barely knew the Trump
40:34
Speaker 1: brothers or had interacted with them only a handful of times.
40:38
Speaker 1: Many of the companies were awarded contracts, including under the
40:41
Speaker 1: Biden administration, before the Suns invested in them. While the
40:46
Speaker 1: Trumps have expanded their family business holdings beyond real estate,
40:50
Speaker 1: including large stakes in cryptocurrency and mining ventures, the extent
40:54
Speaker 1: of their holdings in defense tech is less known and striking,
40:58
Speaker 1: given the sector's reliance on government funding and its importance
41:02
Speaker 1: as the nature of twenty first century warfare rapidly evolves. Together,
41:07
Speaker 1: SpaceX and Andreil account for ninety seven percent of the
41:11
Speaker 1: direct government cash in the post's tally and forty two
41:14
Speaker 1: percent of the guaranteed future contract options. Excluding those bms
41:19
Speaker 1: from the analysis, thirteen other startups tied to the Trump
41:22
Speaker 1: brothers still have captured nearly one point eight billion dollars
41:26
Speaker 1: in long term federal commitments and one hundred three million
41:30
Speaker 1: dollars in direct cash under the Trump administration after the
41:34
Speaker 1: brothers invested. Ten of the fifteen companies tallied by the
41:38
Speaker 1: Post had government business before the sons invested, and eight
41:42
Speaker 1: had contracts during the Biden administration. Five got their first
41:46
Speaker 1: contracts after the sons invested, and while their father was president.
41:51
Speaker 1: Neither Eric Trump nor Trump junior vice presidents at the
41:54
Speaker 1: Trump Organization who do not hold official roles in the
41:57
Speaker 1: federal government, had notable experiences in the defense tech industry
42:01
Speaker 1: before they began investing heavily in companies seeking Pentagon and
42:05
Speaker 1: other federal contracts. Next in this item is a bar
42:09
Speaker 1: graph titled the Trump Defense Tech portfolio is gaining traction
42:13
Speaker 1: with government startups recently invested in by Trump's sons have
42:17
Speaker 1: more than three times a number of government contracts they
42:20
Speaker 1: had before his election to the second term. The bar
42:23
Speaker 1: graph shows a number of contracts these companies had each
42:26
Speaker 1: year from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty six. From twenty
42:30
Speaker 1: twenty six to twenty twenty, the companies had either one
42:34
Speaker 1: or two contracts per year. Twenty twenty one five, twenty
42:39
Speaker 1: twenty three was seven, and then in twenty twenty five,
42:42
Speaker 1: when Trump's second term began, the number of contracts was
42:45
Speaker 1: twenty three, and twenty twenty six, the number of contracts
42:48
Speaker 1: is sixteen. Exclude SpaceX and ENDERIL includes direct prime contracts,
42:54
Speaker 1: individual task orders drawing from shared federal vehicles, and direct
42:58
Speaker 1: government subsidies of early June data for twenty twenty six
43:02
Speaker 1: is partial source USA spending dot gov news releases Andrew
43:07
Speaker 1: Batran The Washington Post. Trump's sons have described their investments
43:12
Speaker 1: in patriotic terms. Eric Trump has said the US better
43:16
Speaker 1: be winning the AI race. Trump Junior has repeatedly argued
43:20
Speaker 1: that the US should be developing an industrial base that
43:23
Speaker 1: can crank out drones to meet potential threats from China.
43:26
Speaker 1: He has actively campaigned for a decade on the threat
43:29
Speaker 1: from China, so it's not a new thing, said a
43:32
Speaker 1: person close to his thinking, who spoke on the condition
43:35
Speaker 1: of ananimity to candidly discuss personal conversations. White House and
43:39
Speaker 1: Pentagon officials said there was nothing inappropriate about the president's
43:43
Speaker 1: sons investing in companies that benefit from business with the
43:46
Speaker 1: federal government. This is the same tired narrative that Democrats
43:50
Speaker 1: have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration
43:54
Speaker 1: for a decade. Anna Kelley, a White House spokeswoman, said
43:57
Speaker 1: in a statement there are no conflicts of interest. A
44:00
Speaker 1: Pentagon spokesperson, Joel Valdez said in a statement that no
44:05
Speaker 1: company receives preferential treatment and that outside affiliations, investors, or
44:10
Speaker 1: political connections play absolutely no role in the Department's funding decisions,
44:16
Speaker 1: but some ethics watchdogs and congressional Democrats say the deal
44:20
Speaker 1: making by Trump's sons undermines public confidence in the contracting
44:24
Speaker 1: process and may be enabling the brothers to profit from
44:27
Speaker 1: their close access to the country's highest office. The brother's
44:32
Speaker 1: investments have come primarily through two firms in which they
44:35
Speaker 1: are involved, seventeen to eighty nine Capital and American Ventures.
44:40
Speaker 1: Trump Junior is invested in defense tech and in companies
44:43
Speaker 1: seeking Pentagon business through seventeen eighty nine. Capital, a venture
44:47
Speaker 1: firm dedicated to what its partners have called patriotic capitalism.
44:52
Speaker 1: Seventeen eighty nine has invested in eleven of the fifteen defense,
44:56
Speaker 1: robotic and AI companies that have Pentagon business. According to
45:00
Speaker 1: the Post analysis, Eric Trump's primary deal maker is American Ventures,
45:05
Speaker 1: a branch of a boutique investment bank called Domonari Holdings
45:09
Speaker 1: located in Trump Tower in New York. Dominari has become
45:13
Speaker 1: a key firm for the Sun's cryptocurrency mining and defense deals,
45:17
Speaker 1: according to public records and statements by Domonari. Elon Musk
45:22
Speaker 1: SpaceX is among the companies backed by seventeen eighty nine,
45:25
Speaker 1: as is the defense contractor Anderil. Other startups in which
45:29
Speaker 1: the firm has invested are less well known. Hadrian, which
45:32
Speaker 1: builds smart factories for aerospace, defense and maritime equipment, recently
45:37
Speaker 1: received a nine hundred million dollar commitment from the Navy.
45:40
Speaker 1: Vulcan Elements, a three year old start up that manufactures
45:43
Speaker 1: rare earth magnets, was awarded a six hundred twenty million
45:47
Speaker 1: dollar Pentagon loan in late twenty twenty five. The company
45:50
Speaker 1: was prioritized for a loan over other companies that had
45:53
Speaker 1: been in line for financing. Vulcan said it has developed
45:57
Speaker 1: an industry leading defense function and did not ask or
46:01
Speaker 1: solicit its investors to facilitate the Pentagon loan. Some of
46:05
Speaker 1: the companies are connected to one another. Drone maker Unusual
46:09
Speaker 1: Machines was taken public by Dominari in early twenty twenty four,
46:13
Speaker 1: and Trump Junior became a strategic advisor later that year.
46:17
Speaker 1: Unusual Machine CEO Alan Evans told the Posts that Trump
46:21
Speaker 1: Junior's involvement boosted the company's visibility and stock price. This year,
46:26
Speaker 1: Unusual Machines invested thirty million dollars in Power Us, a
46:30
Speaker 1: Florida drone start up that American Ventures also invests in.
46:34
Speaker 1: The Brothers have invested in or advised at least four
46:37
Speaker 1: drone makers, all of which have been awarded government business
46:41
Speaker 1: during the second Trump administration. According to the Post analysis,
46:45
Speaker 1: two of those did business with the government before the
46:48
Speaker 1: Trump Brothers invested. The nascent US drone industry, in particular,
46:53
Speaker 1: has benefited from the President's policies, including the December Federal
46:57
Speaker 1: Communications Commission directive to the importing of new Chinese drones
47:02
Speaker 1: and an executive order in June twenty twenty five ordering
47:05
Speaker 1: federal agencies to accelerate the testing and commercialization of US
47:10
Speaker 1: made drone technology. The drone market is currently dominated by China.
47:15
Speaker 1: The investors and the companies in the posts tally are
47:18
Speaker 1: getting a boost from a new Pentagon ethos that prioritizes smaller,
47:22
Speaker 1: nimbler weaponry and offers a fast track to government business
47:26
Speaker 1: for chosen startups that have technology the Department is seeking
47:29
Speaker 1: to accelerate. The shift was well under way during the
47:33
Speaker 1: Biden administration, but has been turbocharged by Trump administration officials.
47:38
Speaker 1: It is largely a response to the changing nature of warfare,
47:41
Speaker 1: as evident in foreign conflicts such as Russia's worth Ukraine
47:45
Speaker 1: in which drones in particular have played an unprecedented role
47:48
Speaker 1: on the battlefield. Defense policy experts point to that war,
47:52
Speaker 1: as well as ongoing instability in the Middle East, to
47:55
Speaker 1: argue for ramping up the United States domestic capacity to
47:59
Speaker 1: produce military hardware. Before the Trump's presidential family members have
48:03
Speaker 1: worked in industries with fates tied to regulation or government funding.
48:08
Speaker 1: Hunter Biden worked as a corporate consultant when his father
48:10
Speaker 1: was vice president, and two of George H. W. Bush's
48:13
Speaker 1: sons worked for oil companies while their father served in
48:17
Speaker 1: that office. Nevertheless, some ethics experts say the sheer scope
48:21
Speaker 1: of the Trump family's involvement with private business standing to
48:25
Speaker 1: benefit from federal decisions and policy making poses novel ethical challenges.
48:30
Speaker 1: Former defense officials and policy experts have said the Pentagon
48:34
Speaker 1: under the Trump administration is acting with less transparency when
48:38
Speaker 1: it comes to advancing the prospects of certain companies. At
48:42
Speaker 1: an investment conference last year, Trump Junior described his involvement
48:46
Speaker 1: in Defense Department decisions, saying he quote helped craft some
48:50
Speaker 1: of the department's messaging. On his podcast, he said that
48:54
Speaker 1: in assisting Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth with personnel decisions, he
48:58
Speaker 1: was looking for candidates who wanted to spend more money
49:00
Speaker 1: on drones. Even if not buying drones from China is
49:04
Speaker 1: in the public interest, is completely reasonable to doubt that
49:07
Speaker 1: it's in the public interests when the Trump family is
49:10
Speaker 1: benefiting financially from it, said Kathleen Clark, a government ethnics
49:14
Speaker 1: lawyer and professor at Washington University School of Law. Though
49:18
Speaker 1: Clark said she isn't in favor of a law banning
49:21
Speaker 1: presidential family members from engaging in business deals with companies
49:25
Speaker 1: that seek government contracts, in practice, the line would be
49:28
Speaker 1: hard to draw because so many different companies seek contracts,
49:32
Speaker 1: she said she believes the sons should recuse themselves from
49:35
Speaker 1: such business. She said that the Trump brothers ventures in
49:39
Speaker 1: defense tech must be viewed in the contexts of the
49:42
Speaker 1: broader dismantling of oversight processes and anti corruption standards in
49:47
Speaker 1: the executive branch that has occurred in Trump's second term.
49:51
Speaker 1: It would be completely reasonable for a decision maker in
49:53
Speaker 1: the federal government under Trump two point zero to believe
49:56
Speaker 1: that taking action against the Trump family financial interest is
50:00
Speaker 1: a dangerous thing, she said. Within days of his father
50:03
Speaker 1: winning the presidency for a second time, Trump Junior announced
50:07
Speaker 1: he was joining seventeen eighty nine Capital, based in Palm Beach, Florida,
50:11
Speaker 1: as a partner. The firm is control by Chris Buskirk,
50:15
Speaker 1: a key strategist for Vice President j D Vance, and
50:18
Speaker 1: Trump donor Omi Malik. Right wing donor Rebecca Mercer is
50:22
Speaker 1: also a co founder. Malik and Buskirk are close friends
50:25
Speaker 1: of Trump Junior, and Malik had already been investing alongside
50:29
Speaker 1: him for several years in the right leaning tech platform
50:32
Speaker 1: Rumble and other companies that the men have referred to
50:35
Speaker 1: as forming an anti woke economy, according to data from
50:38
Speaker 1: pitch Book and people familiar with the company's dealings. In
50:42
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, the two wrote an op ed in the
50:45
Speaker 1: conservative Daily Caller that urged US companies to do more
50:49
Speaker 1: to combat the economic might of China. Seventeen eighty nine
50:53
Speaker 1: Partners have described their investment philosophy as patriotic capitalism, adhering
50:58
Speaker 1: to America First principles such as bringing back the US
51:01
Speaker 1: industrial base and supporting companies that undermined China's edge in
51:05
Speaker 1: key supply chain areas. The firm understood earlier than other
51:10
Speaker 1: people that the geopolitical scene and the international system were changing,
51:14
Speaker 1: said a person familiar with seventeen eighty nine partners Thinking,
51:17
Speaker 1: who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the
51:20
Speaker 1: firm's activities. The United States was going to need to
51:23
Speaker 1: re industrialize and build up its defense base. That this
51:27
Speaker 1: perspective is now effectively national policy doesn't mean its corruption,
51:32
Speaker 1: the person said. Since Trump Junior joined, the relatively unknown
51:36
Speaker 1: firm has fielded a flood of interest from investors, garnering
51:40
Speaker 1: roughly three billion dollars in capital under management, according to
51:44
Speaker 1: the person familiar with the firm, that has enabled it
51:47
Speaker 1: to write big checks to companies on the verge of
51:50
Speaker 1: going public. Seventeen eighty nine acquired sizable shares of SpaceX
51:54
Speaker 1: and Cerebrus in late twenty twenty five, less than a
51:57
Speaker 1: year before both companies blocked buster public debuts. According to
52:02
Speaker 1: public filings, there are zero conflicts at seventeen eighty nine
52:06
Speaker 1: where no one has ever served in government, unlike the
52:09
Speaker 1: clear conflicts of top level democrats who have specifically monetized
52:12
Speaker 1: our government experience, said Chandler Costello, a spokesman for seventeen
52:17
Speaker 1: eighty nine Capital. Where was all the hand ringing when
52:19
Speaker 1: conflicts abounded for these most senior level democrats. Another person
52:24
Speaker 1: familiar with seventeen eighty nine Capital told the Post that
52:27
Speaker 1: Trump Junior does not sit on the firm's investment committee,
52:30
Speaker 1: meaning he has no formal role in investment decisions. Darham
52:35
Speaker 1: does not interface with the federal government as part of
52:37
Speaker 1: his role with any company that he invests in or advises,
52:40
Speaker 1: said Andy's Arabian, a spokesman for Trump Junior. The Trump Organization,
52:46
Speaker 1: Dominari Holdings, and American Ventures did not respond to requests
52:49
Speaker 1: for comment. Eric Trump has said that he is one
52:52
Speaker 1: of several passive investors in American Ventures. He has compared
52:57
Speaker 1: his passion for the defense sector to his focus on
52:59
Speaker 1: cryptocur and I got involved with crypto in a very
53:03
Speaker 1: big way because we had to win that digital revolution,
53:06
Speaker 1: he said in a Fox News interview in April. He added,
53:09
Speaker 1: we have to win robotics in the United States of America.
53:12
Speaker 1: The contract awards, as well as loans and other opportunities
53:16
Speaker 1: identified by the Post are mostly concentrated within the Defense Department,
53:20
Speaker 1: including the Air Force, the Navy, and DARPA, the Pentagon's
53:24
Speaker 1: research arm but they also span the Commerce Department and
53:27
Speaker 1: other agencies. Next in this item is a table entitled
53:32
Speaker 1: value of commitments after company investment. SpaceX cash granted two
53:38
Speaker 1: point one billion dollars sealing one point two eight billion
53:42
Speaker 1: dollars linked to Donald Trump Junior. Anderill Drones and other
53:46
Speaker 1: defense manufacturing cash granted one billion dollars sealing one twenty
53:51
Speaker 1: two point nine million dollars linked to Donald Trump Junior.
53:55
Speaker 1: Hadrian AI enabled Component Factories cash granted thirty nine nine
54:00
Speaker 1: point two million dollars sealing nine hundred forty point eight
54:03
Speaker 1: million dollars linked to Donald Trump Junior Foundation, Future Industries, Robotics,
54:09
Speaker 1: Humanoid robot cash granted twenty four million dollars sealing zero
54:14
Speaker 1: linked to Eric Trump. Data Bricks, Data and AI cash
54:19
Speaker 1: granted fourteen point five million dollars sealing seventy six point
54:23
Speaker 1: one million dollars linked to Donald Trump Junior. Unusual Machines
54:28
Speaker 1: Drone Maker cash granted twelve point eight million dollars sealing
54:32
Speaker 1: zero linked to Donald Trump Junior. Firehawk Aerospace, three D
54:39
Speaker 1: printed rocket fuel cash granted a point nine million dollars
54:43
Speaker 1: sealing zero link to Donald Trump Junior. Perplexity AI AI
54:48
Speaker 1: Systems cash granted one point six million dollars sealing six
54:52
Speaker 1: point five million dollars link to Donald Trump Junior. Vocal Elements,
54:56
Speaker 1: Rare Earth Magnets cash granted one point two million doll
55:00
Speaker 1: sealing six hundred seventy million dollars linked to Donald Trump Junior.
55:05
Speaker 1: Eon Industrial Missiles and Autonomous Targeting Software cash granted two
55:11
Speaker 1: hundred fifty point eight thousand dollars sealing zero linked to
55:15
Speaker 1: Donald Trump Junior. PSI Quantum Quantum computing cash granted zero,
55:21
Speaker 1: sealing one hundred million dollars linked to Donald Trump Junior.
55:26
Speaker 1: The listings for Aeril Hadrian Foundation, Future Industries, Unusual Machines,
55:31
Speaker 1: Firehawk Aerospace, Vulcan Elements, and PSI Quantum include values from
55:36
Speaker 1: public announcements. In addition to their holdings in Marquee defense
55:40
Speaker 1: tech firms, the Trump brothers have also invested in smaller
55:43
Speaker 1: defense startups that are ascending within the Pentagon. Evans, the
55:47
Speaker 1: Unusual Machine CEO, said that when he was introduced to
55:50
Speaker 1: Trump Junior in twenty twenty four, after Dominari had taken
55:54
Speaker 1: his company public, it was at all clear that Trump
55:57
Speaker 1: would become president, but as a head of a little
56:00
Speaker 1: known drone company, Evans said he was happy when Dominary
56:03
Speaker 1: CEO Kyle Wool encouraged Trump Junior to invest the Trump scions,
56:08
Speaker 1: celebrity and public views on topics such as bringing manufacturing
56:12
Speaker 1: jobs back to the US were an appealing way to
56:15
Speaker 1: drive attention and find retail investors that would really believe
56:19
Speaker 1: in what we did, he said. Donald Trump Junior had
56:23
Speaker 1: a very strong on shoring made in America audience and brand.
56:26
Speaker 1: Evan said, he just had this really strong audience. When
56:30
Speaker 1: Trump Junior announced he was becoming an investor and advisor
56:34
Speaker 1: to the company within days of his father's election, the
56:36
Speaker 1: company's stock price doubled. The following year, the Army placed
56:41
Speaker 1: a twelve point eight million dollar order for drone component purchases,
56:45
Speaker 1: and the Trump administration banned imports of new Chinese drones,
56:48
Speaker 1: helping the entire market. Evans has said the company is
56:53
Speaker 1: now in talks for a fast track loan with the
56:55
Speaker 1: Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital. Evans said that he had
56:59
Speaker 1: no idea if Trump Junior had anything to do with
57:02
Speaker 1: the company's recent string of successes, and that he had
57:05
Speaker 1: never asked for any favors. He added that the company
57:08
Speaker 1: only had indirect business relationships with the Pentagon and that
57:12
Speaker 1: Trump's banning of Chinese drone imports was the outcome of
57:15
Speaker 1: a law passed at the end of the Biden administration.
57:18
Speaker 1: Trump Junior, he said, just saw the wave and hopped
57:21
Speaker 1: on it. But he didn't see anything wrong with Trump's
57:24
Speaker 1: son using his influence to help the company. Do I
57:27
Speaker 1: think that people know who we are, maybe more in
57:30
Speaker 1: senior leadership or other places because of the affiliation, or
57:34
Speaker 1: because he's an investor and is excited about their reindustrialization
57:37
Speaker 1: we're doing in Florida. You know, I hope he talks
57:41
Speaker 1: about us all the time to everyone. Evan said, how
57:44
Speaker 1: is it a problem if we're not asking for anything
57:46
Speaker 1: and he's not advocating for anything, and we don't have
57:49
Speaker 1: direct government contracts? SpaceX Ian Industrial, Data, Bricks, Firehawk Aerospace Foundation,
57:56
Speaker 1: Future Industries, Axiom Space and a Real Cerebrus and Hadrian
58:02
Speaker 1: either did not provide comment for this article or did
58:04
Speaker 1: not provide on the record comment for this article. Not
58:08
Speaker 1: all of the Brothers investments are in companies that build weapons.
58:12
Speaker 1: Seventeen eighty nine, for example, has also funded tech companies
58:15
Speaker 1: that provide other services not directly tied to the battlefield.
58:19
Speaker 1: To the federal government's military and civilian agencies. Due to
58:23
Speaker 1: the constraints of time, we will be unable to complete
58:26
Speaker 1: this item. This concludes the reading of the Washington Post
58:30
Speaker 1: for to Day, Tuesday, July fourteenth, twenty twenty six. Your
58:34
Speaker 1: reader for to day has been Cindy Fraser. If you
58:37
Speaker 1: have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please
58:41
Speaker 1: feel free to call us at eight five nine four
58:43
Speaker 1: two two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening,
58:46
Speaker 1: and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio
58:50
Speaker 1: I