Transcript

1.6.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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January sixth, 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 today is Cindy Fraser. Today's
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front page headlines from the Washington Post are waltz ends
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run for a third term in Minnesota. Governor faces intense
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scrutiny amid probes of welfare fraud in his estate. Next,
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in New York court, muduro says US kidnapped him. Deposed
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leader pleads not guilty. Venezuelan strong man faces drug gun charges. Next,
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Trump and Rubio have their sight set on Cuba. Without
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Venezuela's aid, communist government will fall, they suggest. Our next headline,
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Lesson on January sixth, is personal for D. C. Copp,
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turned teacher. Next, across the nation, risk of disease is rising.
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And the final headline from today's front page US up
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ends childhood vaccination schedule. First article from today's front page
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is entitled waltz An's run for a third term in Minnesota.
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Governor faces intense scrutiny amid probes of welfare fraud in
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his state by Hannah Knowles, Dan Marika and Theodoric Meyer.
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Democratic governor Tim walt said Monday he is dropping his
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bid for reelection in Minnesota, a dramatic turn for the
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two term governor who gained national prominence as his party's
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twenty twenty four vice presidential nominee but now faces intense
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scrutiny over welfare fraud investigations in his estate. Senator Amy Klobashar,
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Democrat from Minnesota, is considering jumping into the governor's race
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in his stead, according to two people frommiliar with the matter,
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who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
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One person said Klobachar is almost certain to run and
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met with Wats on Sunday. The other said Klobachar has
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not made a final decision. Walts's decision marks a striking
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political fall for a staunched liberal who was tapped as
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Kamala Harris's running mate in twenty twenty four and viewed
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as a potential presidential candidate in twenty twenty eight. Democrats
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had grown increasingly worried about Waltz's choice to seek a
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third term, as Republicans, including President Donald Trump, put a
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spotlight on the growing fraud probe, which federal prosecutors initiated
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several years ago. GOP influencers, a viral video, and new
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information from authorities who say the scams could be far
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bigger than previously known and reach into the billions of dollars,
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have drawn more attention to allegations that scammers stole brazenly
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from many Minnesota's safety net programs for services they never provided.
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Walt said he has worked to address the fraud concerns,
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while critics said he should have acted earlier and more forcefully.
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Waltz has accused Republicans of politicizing the issue and demonizing
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the Somali immigrant community by fixating on the fact that
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many of the fraud defendants are of Somali descent. In
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brief remarks to reporters Monday, walt said that he had
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every confidence he still could have won reelection, but that
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he worried about political gamesmanship from Republicans and concluded over
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the holidays that he could not give a political campaign
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my all. Every minute that I spend defending my own
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political interests would be a minute I can't spend defending
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the people of Minnesota against the criminals who pray on
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our generosity and the cynics who want to pray on
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our differences, he told reporters, repeating his statement he released earlier.
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He did not take questions, despite an earlier notice from
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his office that said he would. He reiterated his condemnations
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of Trump, saying the President and his allies want to
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poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors.
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Trump has loved broad attacks on Sommi immigrants that Waltz
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denounced as racist lies, and many on the right have
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called for deportations, even though officials say most of the
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fraud defendants are US citizens. We've got the President of
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the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongfully confiscating
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funds that Minnesotans rely on, walt said, referencing a federal
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freeze on some child care funding in response to the
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fraud issue. It is disgusting and it is dangerous. Democrats
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have the advantage in the Minnesota's governor's race. Republicans have
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not won a statewide election in Minnesota since two thousand
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and six, and Walt's won reelection by about eight percent
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points in twenty twenty two, but his decision to seek
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a third term, announced in September, was unusual. As attention
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to the fraud cases ballooned over the past week, some
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Democrats in Minnesota worried that the issue would distract from
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their efforts to focus on affordability and Trump's record. If
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Walt underperformed in November, some Democrats noted his party could
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suffer in down ballot races. Democrats are defending a one
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vote majority in the state Senate and trying to retake
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the state House, where Republicans hold a two seat advantage
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amid two vacancies. The fraud investigations in Minnesota have also
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become a national rallying cry for Republicans, who see the
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probes as a potent political issue, bolstering claims of ramp
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and fraud in social service programs and amplifying anti immigrant sentiment.
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Republican leaders, including Vice President j d Vance and House
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Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, weighed in over the
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past couple weeks, sharing a viral video posted on social
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media on December twenty sixth by a twenty three year
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old YouTuber that included footage of day care centers in
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the state. Democratic Governor's Association chair Andy Basher, the governor
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of Kentucky, praised Walts in a statement as a national
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leader and a public servant, always working hard for the
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people of his state. No matter who decides to run
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or how much National Republicans want to spend, the DTA
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remains very competent. Minnesultans will elect another strong Democratic governor
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this November, Basher said. Republican Governor's Association spokesperson Courtney Alexander
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said in a statement that whoever Democrats nominate will need
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to defend years of mismanagement and misplaced priorities, and sought
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to tie national Democrats to Waltz, emphasizing his high profile
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role in twenty twenty four. This scandal isn't just reflective
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of Minnesota Democrats. It is the banner of the Democrat
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Party nationally and is clear voters have had enough, Alexander wrote.
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Walts appointed a statewide director of Program Integrity to prevent
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fraud in mid December, among other changes, and the states
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shut down one fraud plagued housing program in the fall.
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There is more to do. A single taxpayer dollar wasted
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on fraud should be intolerable, Waltz said in his seven
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minute remarks Monday, And while there's a role to play
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for every one, from the legislature to prosecutors, to insurance
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companies to local and county government, the buck does stop
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with me. As Trump and his allies have targeted Waltz
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and his family, top Democratic leaders and donors began thinking
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about Klabachar as the obvious choice if Waltz chose to
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drop out of the race, according to two people familiar
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with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of ananimity
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to discuss private deliberations. One of the people said Waltz
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would not have dropped out unless he was confident Klobachar
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would run and prevent a messy Democratic primary. Cleobachar is
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sick of the Senate, said one of the people familiar
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with her deliberations about running for governor. The domain name
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Klobachar Forgovernor dot com was registered the day of Walter's announcement,
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according to i CAN, a database of website URLs, It
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is not clear who registered it. Cleibachar is not up
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for reelection in the Senate until twenty thirty If she
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vacates her seat, Minnesota's statute says the governor may appoint
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a temporary replacement before a special election to fill out
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the remainder of the term. Strategists said they expect that
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special election would take place after twenty twenty six if
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Klobachar stays in Congress while running for governor. Minnesota's other Senator,
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Tina Smith, is not seeking re election this year, and Democrats,
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including Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and Representative Angie Craig, are
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in fierce competition to replace her. Several Republicans have also
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announced campaigns, but faced long odds in the left leaning state.
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Even as some Democrats feared Waltz's re election prospects, they
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expressed anger and dismay at the way Trump and his
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allies have harassed him and used the fraud cases as
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a political cudgel. Many of the attacks have veered into
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broader smears of Somalis. On Saturday, Trump reposted a baseless
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video on social media alleging Waltz was behind the assassination
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of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was killed
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along with her husband in June. The false conspiracy has
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drawn criticism in the state from both sides of the isle.
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Trump also do criticism recently for calling the governor quote
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seriously retarded. Yasmina Boudeleb in Washington and Caroline O'Donovan in
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Minneapolis contributed to this report. Next from Today's front page
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and I am entitled. In New York court, Moduro says
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U S kidnapped him. Depoe's leader pleads not guilty. Venezuelan
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strong man faces drug gun charges by Shinnon Jacobs, Tim Craig,
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and Mark Berman from New York. Deposed Venezuelan president Nucolas
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Monduro made his first court appearance Monday and said he
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was quote kidnapped by the U. S. Government, assailing the
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Trump administration for capturing him and portraying himself as his
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country's rightful leader. The brief corp proceedings in downtown Manhattan
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offered the first public opportunity for Morduro to speak since
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he and his wife, Ciria Flores, were seized by US
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forces Saturday in Caracas. The night time raid, which followed
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months of escalating US pressure on Moduro, set off shockwaves
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across the globe, provoked confusion in Venezuela about the nation's
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leadership and prompted fears that President Donald Trump could act
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on threats he has made to other countries, including Cuba, Colombia,
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and Canada. For Muduro and Flores, Monday's hearing was the
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first step in what is likely to be a drawn
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out legal process, one at Muduro's attorney expects will be
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voluminous and complicated. An indictment, unsealed after their capture alleged
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that Muduro sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that for
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decades has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity,
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including drug trafficking. The indictment said Muduro has remained in
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power despite losses in recent elections, and accused him, his wife,
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and others in their inner circle of amassing wealth and
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power while carrying out a relentless campaign of cocaine trafficking.
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Muduro faces forecounts including narco terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation, conspiracy,
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and gun charges. His wife is charged with cocaine importation,
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conspiracy and related weapons charges. Both entered pleas of not guilty.
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The hearing, lasting just over thirty five minutes, combined the
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familiar routine of an initial court appearance with the extraordinary
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sight of Monduro, who only days earlier had been a
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strong man wielding power over an entire nation. Seated at
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a defense table, clad in jail house garb, and following
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instructions from a judge, Moduro used the hearing to protest
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his presence in an American court room. My name is
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President Eucolas Mondoro Moros, he said, according to interpreters who
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translated his remarks from Spanish to English in court, I
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am president of the Republic of the Dsuela. I am
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here kidnapped since January third, Saturday. I was captured at
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my home in Caracas, Venezuela, U S District. Judge Alfin K. Hellerstein,
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overseeing the hearing, cut him short. There will be a
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time and a place to go into all of this,
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said the ninety two year old jurist, who was nominated
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to the bench by President Bill Clinton in nineteen ninety eight.
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Palerstein pledged that he would work to ensure Maduro and
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Flores receive a fair trial and fair proceedings. The judge
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also read Maduro his rights, including his right to council
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and to remain silent. I did not know of these rights,
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Moduro responded, according to the interpreters, your honor is informing
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me of them now. As Maduro declared his innocence in York,
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his former number two in Venezuela, Dussi Rodriguez, who had
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been the country's vice president, was moving to consolidate power there. Rodriguez,
13:44
fifty six, viewed by some US officials and analysis, more
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pragmatic than Moduro, was officially sworn in Monday as acting
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president as a National Assembly in Caracas. She initially denounced
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Maduro's capture, but on Sunday struck a moreciliatory tone toward
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the Trump administration, calling for peaceful coexistence. After being sworn
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in Monday, Rodriguez again rebuked the Trump administration's actions, portraying
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Maduro's capture as an illegitimate act. I come with sorrow
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for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people by an
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illegitimate military aggression against our homeland, she said. I come
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with sorrow for the kidnapping of two heroes held hostage
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in the United States, she said. In New York, Maduro
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also portrayed his arrest as improper, referring to himself during
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Monday's hearing as the constitutional president of my country and
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a decent man. As he was being escorted from the
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court room, a self described former political prison in Venezuela
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began heckling him. The man, who later identified himself as
14:52
Peithel Rojas thirty three, stood and called Manduro an illegitimate president.
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Mouduro could be heard calling himself a prisoner of war
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in response. The hearing began more placidly, with Maduro greeting
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attendees in the court room by repeating Happy New Year
15:09
in English multiple times. As he was escorted to a
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seat at the defense table. He and Flores were given
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headphones to hear translations of the proceedings, and they spoke
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in Spanish when prompted. Meduro spent much of the session
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taking diligent handwritten notes. He initially wrote on a copy
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of his indictment, remarking at one point that he had
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seen it for the first time at the court house.
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He later made notations on a yellow legal pad that
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he asked to take with him to the Metropolitan Detention
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Center in Brooklyn, where he is being held. Attorneys from
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Medro and Flores consented for now to pre trial detention,
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although they could ask for bail later. Both defendants need
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medical care and custody, their attorneys said, asking Hellersteine to
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ensure they would receive proper medical care. Modu Uro sixty
16:00
three has some health and medical issues that will require attention,
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said his lawyer. Barry Pollack, an attorney for Flores sixty nine,
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said she was injured during her capture and asked the
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judge to authorize an X ray and physical to determine
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the extent of her injuries, including whether her ribs were
16:19
fractured or bruised. Bandages could be seen on Flora's forehead.
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Hellerstein directed prosecutors and the defense to arrange for treatment
16:28
for both defendants. Our client is in good spirits, Flora's attorney,
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Marquis Donnelly said in a statement. We look forward to
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reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has. The first
16:40
Lady is aware that there is a long road ahead
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and is prepared. During a discussion about pre trial scheduling,
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Pollack said the case would involve a voluminous and complicated
16:51
legal process. There are issues here about the legality of
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his military abduction, Pollack told Hellerstein. The attorney He said
17:00
legal filings would focus on privileges and immunities Moduro is
17:04
entitled to as head of a sovereign state. Kyle Werschbaugh,
17:09
an assistant US attorney in Manhattan, said his office would
17:13
begin giving evidence to the defense once both parties agree
17:17
on an order sealing this material from outside observers. The
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next hearing is scheduled from March seventeenth. The ray to
17:25
capture Maduro, which Defense Secretary Pete Hexat said Monday, involved
17:30
about two hundred U S troops, sparked new waves of
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unease and uncertainty in Venezuela, with residents unsure what would
17:38
come next. Much of the leftist power structure that rules
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Venezuela appeared to be publicly backing Prodriquez, including Defense Minister
17:47
Vladimir Padrino Lopez, widely seen as controlling the military, and
17:52
Nucolos Maduro Guera, Maduro's son and an influential national lawmaker.
17:58
Guera is also charged in the unst but remains in Venezuela.
18:03
Venezuela's national state and municipal police forces have been ordered
18:07
to immediately search for and arrest anyone involved in promoting
18:12
or supporting the armed attack by the United States of
18:15
America under a decree that places the country under a
18:19
state of external commotion. The decree, which took effects Saturday
18:24
but was published in full Monday, grants the government sweeping
18:27
emergency powers. There were also reports on social media of
18:31
new checkpoints set up in the capital by massed members
18:34
of the military, as well as pro government militias on motorcycles.
18:39
Venezuela's National Press Workers' Union said at least fourteen journalists
18:43
have been detained. The Trump administration has offered mixed signals
18:47
on what top US officials think lies ahead for Venezuela.
18:52
After Maduro's capture, Trump announced that the US would quote
18:56
run Venezuela, saying we'll run it properly, will run it
18:59
for professionally. Secretary of Saint Marco Rubio, though, has taken
19:04
a different tack, suggesting in television interviews that the US
19:08
was quote running policy rather than the country itself. This
19:13
was not an invasion, he said on NBC. This was
19:16
not an extended military operation. This was a very precise
19:20
operation that involved a couple of hours of action. Berman
19:24
reported from Washington, Tera Copp, Dan Lemouthe, and Marie Luisa
19:29
Powell in Washington and a Herrero in Caracas and Anthony
19:33
Faiola in Rome contributed to this report. The next item
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on today's front page is entitled Trump and Rubio have
19:42
their sights set on Cuba. Without Venezuela's aid, communist government
19:47
will fall, they suggest by Karen de Young and David o'val.
19:52
No place was hit harder than Cuba by the shockwaves
19:55
that Saturday mornings US military seizure of Venezuela's Nucolas Manduro
20:00
sent throughout Latin America and the world. Within hours of
20:04
the operation, long before the government in Havana acknowledged it,
20:08
phone calls and texts across the island spread the news
20:12
that dozens of elite Cuban security forces had been killed
20:16
guarding Munduro. But by the time it finally released his
20:20
statement late Sunday saying that thirty two of its military
20:23
and security personnel were dead in Caracas, the Cuban government
20:27
had bigger problems on its hands. Both President Donald Trump
20:32
and Secretary of State Mark Rubio made clear over the
20:35
weekend that the collapse of Cuba's communist government was not
20:39
only a likely side benefit of Muduro's auster, but a goal.
20:44
I don't think we need to take any action, Trump
20:47
said as he flew back to Washington from his extended
20:50
Florida holiday break. Without Muduro and the oil supplies Veneescuila provided.
20:55
He said, Cuba looks like it's ready to fall. Rubio
20:59
went further, indicating that the United States might be willing
21:02
to give it a push. I'm not going to talk
21:05
to you about what our future steps are going to be,
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he told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, But he added,
21:12
if I lived in Havana and I was in the government,
21:15
I'd be concerned. Their words resonated with many in the
21:19
Miami centered exile community, where the struggle to free Cuba
21:23
from communist rule has dominated politics for decades. On Saturday,
21:29
South Florida, Cuban exiles, some wearing red Trump hats and
21:32
Cuban flags as capes, joined hundreds of revelers at spirited,
21:37
impromptu celebrations from Little Havana to durral A city nicknamed
21:42
dorle Zuela because of its large population of Venezuelans. Cuban
21:47
American leaders, most of them Republican, issued statements as Venezuelans
21:52
coverage dominated local TV stations. Cuba is the route of
21:57
problems with Venezuela, Nicaragua and other leftist regimes in the region,
22:02
said Dariel Fernandez, Miami Dade County's elected tax collector. Now
22:07
the time has come for the Castro communist and socialist
22:11
Assassin regime to be held accountable as well, and for
22:14
the Cuban people to finally be free absent direct to
22:18
as intervention. However, cuba experts here and on the island
22:22
were less certain. If you're asking if the Cuban government
22:26
will just collapse on its own because the economic pain
22:29
is bound to increase without shipments of Venezuelan oil, I'm
22:33
very skeptical, said Michael J. Bustamante, Associate professor of history
22:38
and director of the Cuban Studies Program at the University
22:40
of Miami. To keep the lights on and cars running,
22:44
Cuba has long been dependent on Venezuelan oil supplies, for
22:48
which it has exchanged security and medical personnel in a
22:51
sympathetic contract with leftist allies in Caracas. I could very
22:56
well be proven wrong, but Cuba has been here before
23:00
and survived, Bustamente said, referencing what is known in Cuba
23:04
as the special period that began in nineteen ninety one
23:08
with the abrupt cutoff of outside assistance after the demise
23:12
of the Soviet Union. Juan Gonzales, who served as Western
23:16
Hemisphere Director on the Biden administration's National Security Staff, said
23:20
that cutting off the oil deliveries is going to put
23:23
a huge squeeze on the humanitarian situation in Cuba, which
23:27
is already suffering regular electricity blackouts and food scarcities. But
23:32
I don't think the regime is going to cry uncle.
23:36
Aside from an economic uptick during the Obama administration when
23:39
the resumption of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana led
23:43
to increased tourism and slender openings for private ownership and
23:47
outside investment, the Cuban economy has never really recovered from
23:51
the Soviet fall. The nation has been on a steady
23:55
slide into economic chaos for years, owing to US sanctions
24:00
and what even many of its supporters see as mismanagement
24:03
by a sclerotic Cuban Communist party. Some chose to see
24:08
opportunity in the darkness following Maduro's Austerkarus Ozugare, a retired
24:13
career Cuban diplomat reached by phone and as Havana, Holmes said,
24:17
there is of course an increase of the threat, a
24:20
very bad thing, but it was possible. He said that
24:24
Cuba's allies in Russia and elsewhere would help, and just
24:28
maybe the government will open up the economy and do
24:31
what the economists have been telling them for a long
24:33
time and they have refused to do. But a swelan
24:36
support under Madura's predecessor, Ugo Chavez in the early two
24:41
thousands helped Cuba emerge from the Special Period and the
24:45
weight of decades long US sanctions. Since then, Havana has
24:49
weathered the death of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Covid, Trump's
24:54
dismantling during his first administration of the limited Obama opening,
24:59
and furious protests in twenty twenty one, but the emboldened
25:03
second Trump administration presents an entirely new threat to Cuba's leaders.
25:09
At various points over the years, Cuba's own government economists
25:13
have advised overhauling the economy and have been urged to
25:16
do so by allies in China, Vietnam and Russia. Raul Castro,
25:22
who took over from his Ailien brother Fedel in two
25:25
thousand and six, warned of needed reforms in a lengthy
25:28
twenty ten speech to the Cuban Parliament. We are playing
25:32
with the life of the revolution, he said. We can
25:35
either rectify the situation, or we will run out of time,
25:39
walking on the edge of the abyss, and we will sink.
25:42
But his plans to expand the role of the private
25:45
sector and reduce state ownership were seen as contradictory and
25:48
insufficiently implemented, ultimately resolving few of Cuba's systemic problems. Other
25:55
pushes for change have run into similar roadblocks over the
25:58
ruling party's refuse to allow private businesses and farms to
26:02
sell their goods directly for market prices, its rejection of
26:06
currency reforms, heavy government investments in a failing tourism industry,
26:11
and the growing power of Geisa, the military controlled conglomerate
26:16
that runs fast waws of the economy. At their peak
26:20
of about one hundred thousand barrels a day, Venezuelan oil
26:23
shipments allowed Cuba to serve its own energy needs and
26:27
sell refined petroleum products overseas for desperately needed cash. But
26:33
as Venezuela dealt with sharp drops and output due to
26:36
US sanctions and mismanagement, shipments dropped to about thirty thousand
26:40
barrels last year. Those cuts, along with Cuba's aging refineries,
26:45
failing infrastructure, and the occasional hurricane, led to at least
26:50
five island wide blackouts last year. They have to realize
26:54
they can't depend on foreign help any more, Ozugari said.
26:59
Russia and Mexico have supplied some oil, although Mexican President
27:02
Claudius Scheinbaum is likely to come under increasing US pressure
27:06
to cut off a d' havana. China, which holds major
27:10
Cuban debt, has shown little interest in helping. Reforms have
27:15
been approved on paper, Azugari said, the problem is they
27:19
don't do it. The essence is opening to market economics,
27:23
allowing expansion of the private sector and eliminating or selling
27:27
socialist state enterprises that don't produce. They have to do it,
27:32
and they have to do it fast. They have lost
27:34
too much time. Few Cuba watchers have much confidence that
27:38
reforms will happen, at least under the party government of
27:41
President Manuel Diaz Canel and the current power structure. There
27:46
are reformers inside the regime, said Gonzales. The Biden administration
27:50
official who had extensive dealings with the Cuban government. They
27:54
have a vision, but they don't have the wherewithal and
27:57
the influence to have it done. Even if they did,
28:01
he said, it won't be enough for Rubio, whose parents
28:04
fled the island before Fidel Castro's nineteen fifty nine takeover,
28:08
and Cuban American lawmakers and power brokers. He said, they're
28:12
going to want big change. Opposition on the island is
28:16
diffuse and leaderless since arrests following the twenty twenty one
28:19
street protests. People who aspire to be opposition leaders are
28:23
either in Miami, or in Madrid, or in jail, said
28:27
William Leo Grande, a specialist in Latin American affairs at
28:31
American University. A Venezuela like removal of even a handful
28:35
of individuals is unlikely to rattle the multi layered, entrenched
28:40
party and military power centers to the point of collapse,
28:43
he said. As for the Cubans themselves, o Zugarti said,
28:48
I wouldn't think that people are so desperate that they
28:50
will welcome an American intervention or a group of Miami
28:53
Cubans taking over. What people want is the Cuban government
28:57
to change, he said, but in Cuban terms, not imposed
29:01
by the outside of all reported from Miami. Next is
29:07
an adam entitled lesson on January sixth is personal for
29:11
DC copp turned teacher by Ellie Silverman. Nathan Tate had
29:16
told almost no one about that day five years ago.
29:20
He worried people might not believe him, or they think
29:23
he sounded weak, or Tate would laugh, because that's what
29:27
he does when he's nervous. Even though nothing about January
29:31
sixth was funny to him. Looking out at his classroom
29:35
of twenty three middle schoolers, kids shifting in their seats
29:38
and doodling in their work books, he wasn't sure what
29:41
they already knew. They were third graders in twenty twenty one.
29:46
This lesson could be the first time they heard about
29:48
it from someone they trusted. Let's talk, the social studies
29:52
teacher said in the Unraveling Narrative of January sixth, twenty
29:57
twenty one. So many people claim to know the truth.
30:01
The writers who say they were protesting the stolen election,
30:05
Republican leaders who have recast members of the violent mob
30:09
as patriots, the quarter of Americans who say it is
30:12
probably or definitely true that the FBI instigated the attack
30:18
the president who called it a day of love. Here
30:22
in his classroom, nearly two hundred and fifty years after
30:25
the birth of American democracy, Tate wondered if he had
30:29
the power to persuade a room of teenagers to reject
30:32
all that He chose his words carefully. Since January twenty
30:37
twenty one, more than forty states had taken steps to
30:41
restrict how teachers discussed certain subjects. Educators in Florida, Tennessee, Texas,
30:47
and elsewhere had been fired for talking about race and
30:51
social movements. The Smithsonian had been ordered to scrub displays
30:55
that could be construed as divisive, race entered or an
31:00
American hard tubman's phellow had disappeared from a government website.
31:05
History is scripted by those in power, Tate knew, and
31:09
under the Trump administration, the story he'd lived as a
31:13
DC police officer on January sixth had been rewritten. He'd
31:18
been hailed as a hero for protecting democracy until the
31:21
whole narrative turned inside out. Who were the good guys anymore?
31:26
And who got to decide? He wanted the students to
31:30
understand how terms such as patriotism and protest could be warped.
31:36
Both the Boston Tea Party and the Capital riot, he explained,
31:40
happened when citizens believed their government no longer represented them.
31:45
There's a powerful connection between the two moments in American history,
31:49
said Tate thirty six one that helped create democracy. We
31:53
know democracy is what Tate asked, Who has the power?
31:58
The students called out the pea. Tate's job was to
32:02
teach these young people how the US government was designed
32:05
to work. The class had already covered the origins of
32:08
the American Revolution. Still to come were the separation of powers,
32:12
the right to vote, and the peaceful transition of power.
32:17
January sixth wasn't technically in the curriculum, but it had
32:21
been a violent attempt to overturn an election, the worst
32:25
assault on the capital since the War of eighteen twelve.
32:29
Four people died during the attack, and one officer suffered
32:33
two strokes and died a day after he confronted writers.
32:37
Four policemen later died by suicide. As Tate prepared the
32:42
PowerPoint on the Boston Tea Party and the use of
32:44
violence and protests, he thought, how could he ignore an
32:49
urgent lesson he was primed to teach one where he
32:52
was also a primary source. Tate held the clicker in
32:56
his hand and pressed play, showing the students footage from
33:00
a documentary about the insurrection. On the screen were officers
33:04
in ballistic helmets, equipped with face shields and batons, pushing
33:08
back the riders. At nineteen minutes and forty five seconds,
33:12
he paused. The students, often chatty and easily distracted. Sat
33:18
Stone silent right there, Tate said, zooming in on the
33:23
middle of the frame on his own face. Tate applied
33:28
to be a police officer because he recognized a younger
33:31
version of himself in so many kids. As a boy
33:34
growing up in Prince George's County, he saw a body
33:38
outside the seven eleven on his way home from church.
33:41
As a teenager, he never called police for help, scared
33:45
that he'd be the one ending up in handcuffs like
33:48
the older guys. And when he was an adult, his
33:51
three year old stepson was injured by a stray bullet
33:54
while riding a tricycle. If he was the one with
33:58
a badge, he thought, maybe things would be different. Maybe
34:02
each positive interaction with the kid saying yes when they
34:06
wanted to raise him. Asking them about school would cancel
34:09
out the bad things they thought about police officers. At
34:13
twenty eight, he became a d C Police officer, serving
34:16
the Siths District in many of the district's most impoverished neighborhoods.
34:21
Tate soon discovered a part of himself that came out
34:24
only when he was in uniform. He felt humbled by
34:28
the badge and the responsibility of the gun. He moved
34:31
through the world more alert, more receptive to strangers. People
34:35
turned to him in a crisis because they believed he
34:38
could help, and he started to believe that too. He
34:42
responded to a report of a young man hanging off
34:45
her roof, threatening to let go. Brother, don't do this,
34:49
he recalled, saying, you got so much to live for.
34:53
The young man was crying, ordering him don't come any closer,
34:57
but Tate continued to inch forward till he and another
35:01
officer could grab the man and pull him to safety,
35:05
and he said he earned the trust of a man
35:07
who had just been involved in a shootout. The injured
35:10
man was yelling at officers to get away. Hey man,
35:14
I'm here for you, Tate recalled, telling him, yes, I'm
35:17
worried about what happened, But you've got a gunshot wound, Sir,
35:22
it hurts, Tate recalled him, saying it hurts so bad.
35:26
After a few minutes, Tate said, the man lay in
35:29
his arms and cried. Then came January sixth, twenty twenty one.
35:36
In the footage from that day, Tate stands at the
35:39
front of the police line, blocking the man in front
35:42
of him from advancing toward the capitol. A blue Trump
35:45
flag waves in the distance. He unpaused the video for
35:49
his class. The man in front of him grabs his shoulder,
35:53
Tate punches him. Then comes the pop of a gas
35:57
grenade and the smoky haze of chemical irrita. He told
36:01
the students about being temporarily blinded by bare spray and
36:05
knocked to the ground. He thought the riders would kill
36:08
him before he could make it home to his six children.
36:12
As he spoke, Tate felt his body reliving the day,
36:16
the smoke and his lungs, the crack of glass in
36:19
his years, trying to pry open his burning eyes, hitting
36:23
his head on the scaffolding, dropping to a crawl, he
36:27
pictured the riders, their faces twisted in anger. I remember
36:31
being surrounded, unable to see, gasping for air. Tate said,
36:36
I kept fighting to hold the line beside my fellow officers,
36:39
not out of anger, but out of duty and love
36:42
for our country. The students stayed silent. What he did
36:47
not tell them, what he has not told even his
36:50
closest friends, how the attack on the capitol and its
36:54
aftermath broke him. The morning after January sixth, he woke
36:59
up exhaust and sore. He lay in bed, eyes closed,
37:04
and felt the pressure of what it meant to be
37:06
a police officer. He told himself that at least he
37:10
wasn't beaten up like his friend who'd been pulled into
37:12
the crowd. He didn't have to go to the hospital
37:15
like so many others. He wasn't bloodied like the sergeant
37:19
behind him whose head was hit by a projectile. He
37:22
thought of the people who counted on him, his children,
37:26
his siblings, his fellow officers. Tate reminded himself that he
37:30
chose this job to help others, and he couldn't do
37:33
that from his bedroom. He got up, splashed water on
37:37
his face, put on his uniform, and kissed his kids
37:40
good bye. Eventually, the department held a mandatory group's session,
37:45
where officers were reminded that therapists were available to them.
37:49
After that, he says, no further discussion. He often felt
37:53
reduced to a number badge five four six nine, Computer
37:57
aided Dispatch eleven two A. He never spoke to a therapist,
38:03
but he felt like screaming to the country, I put
38:07
my life on the line for you guys. Tate struggled
38:11
to explain the day to his own kids. He didn't
38:14
know how to tell them that one of the men
38:16
who attacked him had walked free. He didn't want to
38:20
give them anything to fear. Why would they let him free?
38:25
Connie ten asked Tate one afternoon in November. He should
38:29
get like d' wob twelve, said, trailing off twenty years.
38:34
Connie said no. Dawab said like five years. No, Connie said,
38:40
looking at his dad life in jail for assaulting a
38:43
police officer. Panina, Ate was trying to follow along. She
38:48
tugged on her dad's jacket. Maybe, Panina said he learned
38:53
his lesson. Tate wasn't so sure. He remembered sitting on
38:58
the hard bench of a courtroom in June twenty twenty four,
39:02
waiting to hear what the judge would decide about the
39:05
fate of that writer, Andrew Taka. Tate had spent hours
39:10
trying to find the right words for a victim impact
39:13
statement at Taka's sentencing, how to describe the worst pain
39:17
he'd ever felt. He settled on words like living, death
39:22
and lifelong scar Taca, then thirty two, had traveled to
39:27
Washington while on pre trial release for a child solicitation
39:31
case in Texas. He used bear spray and a metal
39:35
whip to attack multiple officers and ultimately pleaded guilty. Taker
39:40
would later claim that Tate lied about his injury. He
39:43
could not be reached for comment, and his attorney did
39:46
not make him available for an interview. The judge sentenced
39:49
Taka to six years in prison. Seven months later, President
39:54
Donald Trump set him free with a stroke of a pen.
39:58
Though he pleaded guilty in the child's salt vestation case.
40:01
Talker received credit for the time he served for January
40:04
sixth and never went back to prison. Back in class,
40:08
Tate clicked to his last slide, which flashed to prompt
40:12
can violence ever be justified in the name of patriotism
40:16
or protest? Two and a half centuries after the Boston
40:20
Tea Party, fifty eight months and seven days since the
40:23
Capital Insurrection. It was a question America was still struggling
40:28
to answer. Tate paused, taking in the looks on his
40:32
students faces. Maybe the video had been too much, He thought,
40:37
I ain't going to make y'all do this right now.
40:40
It had been a long morning, and he wasn't sure
40:43
his students could handle the heavy essay question. He also
40:47
didn't know if he was ready to hear their answers.
40:51
Officer Tate for so many years, that was how he
40:54
introduced himself, even out of uniform. He learned to carry
40:58
himself differently, while king straighter and talking more slowly, pausing
41:02
before speaking. He said no to things like another round
41:07
at the bar, always seeing himself as a representative of
41:11
law and order. In June twenty twenty three, Tate was
41:15
put on paid administrative leave after an off duty fight.
41:20
He said it was self defense and he was acquitted.
41:22
Court record show, but the internal investigation added to a
41:26
sense of betrayal that had been growing since January sixth.
41:31
As Trump sought election again, Tate's distrusted and uncertainty intensified.
41:37
He worried about what the former president might encourage his
41:40
supporters to do next. Just before election day, he handed
41:44
in his department issued foe pepper spray, the d C
41:48
Police vest, his uniform, and his badge, all the things
41:52
that for seven years had told him who he was.
41:57
A few months after leaving the d C Police, he
42:00
applied for a job at the Charles County Sheriff's office.
42:03
While talking to the background investigator, he tried to keep
42:06
eye contact, communicate clearly, think through his answers, but he
42:11
felt his heart beat faster. His hands were shaking. He
42:14
couldn't calm himself. As he walked out of that red
42:17
brick station, he realized he could never be an officer again.
42:22
Sitting in takes classroom wearing teal braces was the class president.
42:27
A few seats away was the artist with pink hair
42:29
whose parents supported Trump, and the girl wearing glasses whose
42:33
mom used to work inside the US Capital. The kids
42:36
here looked up to Take. They lingered by his door
42:39
in between classes, telling him about a new haircut or
42:42
a girl they liked. They asked him to sit at
42:45
their table while they completed worksheets, and they gave him
42:48
the greatest compliment A teacher could get at an art school.
42:52
They thought he looked like David Diggs, the swab black
42:55
actor who played Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. He'd landed the
43:00
teaching job this school year at the Phoenix International School
43:03
of the Arts in Laplada, Maryland after an old friend
43:06
on the force put in a word, Tate was never
43:09
a good student. Out of eleven siblings, he was the
43:12
one who took an extra three years to graduate high school,
43:16
spending his days drinking, playing football, doing anything but homework.
43:20
But when Tate learned that more than half of the
43:22
students at the school were boys and a majority were black,
43:26
he thought he could make a difference again. He also
43:29
knew that inside this public charter school classroom he'd have
43:33
more freedom than most teachers. Still, he was careful not
43:37
to tell the students what he thought, which was that
43:40
the country was forged in violence and violence remained part
43:44
of its fabric. Tate was descended, as best he could tell,
43:48
from the Cherokee tribe on his father's side and from
43:51
enslaved people on his mother's side, which means that some
43:55
of them were considered three fifths of a person and
43:58
others were forcibly dis placed on the trail of tears
44:02
the way he sought. If black people had been responsible
44:06
for the Boston Tea Party, history would note it as
44:08
an armed robbery and destruction of property, not a revolutionary spark,
44:14
and its a crowd storming the capital had been predominantly black,
44:17
he believes authorities would have responded with significantly more force.
44:23
He thought violence was justified only in self defense. He
44:26
followed Romans twelve eighteen. If it be possible, follow peace
44:31
with all men. He'd seen the consequences of people choosing
44:35
violence as a kid playing pickup basketball, as a young
44:39
adult when those around him got locked up. As a
44:42
police officer enforcing the law, Tate wouldn't tell his students.
44:46
Wept to think it was important for them to make
44:49
up their own minds, to sift facts from conspiracy theories
44:53
and TikTok nonsense, to seek credible sources to back up
44:56
their arguments. Even though he was no longer guarding the
45:00
US capital, he still felt like he was defending democracy
45:04
in the most fundamental way. With a power point done,
45:09
he braced himself for what the students would ask now.
45:12
Natalie Betten raised her hand. When you got hurt. Natalie
45:17
fourteen asked, did they pay for your medical bills or
45:20
anything like that? Uh, Tate muttered as he looked down.
45:26
He hadn't expected this kind of question, nah, he said.
45:30
In fact, he said he had to go back to
45:33
work within hours. I didn't have any time to process it.
45:37
A boy in the front of the room, who had
45:38
been learning about stress and anxiety in another class, raised
45:42
his hand. How long did it take for you to
45:45
mentally and physically process through that, asked Michael Brown thirteen.
45:50
It's still a process to day, Tate said. I don't
45:53
like a lot of crowds. I don't like being in
45:55
a crowded area. It's not a good place for me.
46:00
More students raise their hands. No one mentioned Trump or
46:03
the political battle over what that day meant for the country.
46:07
They wanted to know about mister Tate. They wanted to
46:10
know he was okay. It caught him off guard. These
46:14
kids with a million distractions made him feel valued in
46:18
a way he hadn't felt in a while. Alison Paneda Albarrado,
46:23
who always sat at the back table, turned toward Tate
46:26
and raised her hand. How many people did you hit there?
46:31
I don't know. The other kids looked shocked. One called out,
46:36
why do you want to know that? I just saw
46:39
him throwing hands, Alison thirteen said, and I just wanted
46:43
to know. The class was getting a little rowdier, and
46:47
Tate thought this could be a good moment to tell
46:49
them what he wished the country had already realized. He
46:53
pointed at Allison and said, I was defending your democracy.
46:57
She looked puzzled, and then she said line democracy who
47:02
wanted them to know wasn't just built or broken in
47:05
revolutionary moments or clouds of smoke. It required one person
47:10
and then another to pay attention. Alison blink, Wait, she
47:16
said mine. The next item is entitled across the Nation,
47:23
risk of disease is rising by Lauren Weber, Caitlin Gilbert,
47:28
Dylan Moriarty, and Joshua Lott from Becker, Minnesota. This article
47:34
begins with a graphic entitled US vaccination rates are plunging.
47:38
Look up where your school stands? Rocked by pandemic politics,
47:43
The nation's shield against infectious disease is shrinking. Before the pandemic,
47:48
roughly half of counties had kindergarten vaccination rates high enough
47:53
to prevent measl's outbreaks. After the pandemic, many counties increase
47:58
their vaccination rates, reaching the recommended level of protection, but
48:03
far more lost ground, leaving only about a quarter of
48:06
the counties with HERD immunity in kindergarteners. The graphic shows
48:11
a map of the United States highlighted in different colors
48:14
to show which counties gained and lost ground. Vaccination rates
48:18
among kindergarten students have plunged across broad swaths of the
48:22
United States since before the pandemic, exposing children and families
48:26
to increasing health risks as many school districts pull back
48:30
from their traditional role as a bulwark against infectious disease.
48:34
According to a Washington Post investigation, the accelerating decline reveals
48:39
the lasting medical consequences of a political backlash against public
48:43
health efforts during the pandemic, which radicalized many against long
48:48
standing vaccine mandates. The sheriff p s counties where ninety
48:52
five percent or more of kindergarteners were vaccinated against measles,
48:57
the number doctors say is needed to achieve overall protection
49:00
for the class known as HERD immunity, has dropped from
49:04
fifty percent before the pandemic. To twenty eight percent, according
49:08
to the Post's examination of the public records from forty
49:11
four states and the District of Columbia. Most of the
49:15
counties have previously lacked her immunity for kindergarten classrooms got worse,
49:20
according to the Post analysis, which in most cases compared
49:23
the academic years twenty eighteen through twenty nineteen and twenty
49:27
twenty four through twenty twenty five. Schools buffeted by post
49:32
pandemic politics have become less strict in enforcing vaccination mandates.
49:37
The Post found. Some school officials said their highest priority
49:41
in the wake of COVID lockdowns has been ensuring students
49:44
returned to class, not enforcing inoculation requirements or encouraging shots.
49:50
We don't promote medical decisions, said Jeremy Schmidt, superintendent of
49:54
the Becker Public School District in Minnesota, part of a
49:58
conservative county northwest of Maneapolis. Kindergarten vaccination rates at Sherburne
50:03
County's Becker Primary School have dropped from nearly one hundred
50:07
percent before the pandemic to seventy seven percent in the
50:10
twenty twenty four through twenty twenty five school year. Roughly
50:14
a third of schools in Minnesota that responded to a
50:17
state Department of Health survey of school nurses two years
50:20
ago reported they don't have a policy to refuse students
50:24
entry without immunization records. Some told the state they had
50:28
stopped doing so after the pandemic, with one school nurse saying,
50:32
our community has been very hesitant since COVID nineteen. Many
50:36
have voiced that they do not trust the CDC or
50:38
public health officials any longer. The post fundings show that
50:43
at least five point two million kindergarten aged children in
50:45
the US are living in counties where vaccination rates for
50:49
classrooms have fallen below the herd immunity threshold, up from
50:53
about three point five million before the pandemic. While the
50:57
vast majority of those who receive the MESOS vaccine are
51:00
protected from severe illness and death without heard immunity, usles
51:05
can still spread among those not immune, including those who
51:09
cannot be vaccinated because of age or because they are
51:13
immune compromised. Out of the forty four states reporting county
51:17
level rates, thirty six and the District of Columbia also
51:21
reported them. For individual schools or districts, At least nineteen
51:26
thousand schools. Nearly half of schools in the post analysis
51:29
were more vulnerable to outbreaks. The article includes an interactive
51:35
map where a person can see their state and counting's
51:38
vaccination rates. Medical specialists and public health experts expect more
51:44
children will be left unprotected given policies advanced by Health
51:48
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior, an anti vaccine activist who
51:52
is rolling back government vaccine policies and recommendations. When asked
51:57
about the declining vaccination rates, Health and Human Services spokesman
52:01
Andrew Nixon emphasized Kennedy's focus on personal choice and opposition
52:05
to mandates. The Secretary has been clear that vaccination is
52:10
a most effective way to prevent measles, Nixon said, adding
52:14
that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages individuals
52:17
to consult with a health care provider on what is
52:20
best for them, as the decision to vaccinate is a
52:23
personal one. The nation currently is experiencing its highest annual
52:27
measles case talling in at least thirty three years, a
52:30
stunning reversal in South Carolina. This month, a measles operate
52:35
topped one hundred seventy five cases, mostly among unvaccinated individuals,
52:40
with hundreds quarantined. The resurgence of measles is seen by
52:44
doctors and public health experts as a harbraner of the
52:48
return of other deadly vaccine preventable illnesses, like whooping cough,
52:53
which has killed three children in Kentucky in the past
52:56
twelve months. For generations, schools have re quired children to
53:00
have proof of vaccination as a step toward protecting entire communities,
53:05
starting with massachusetts adoption of a school mandate for the
53:08
smallpox vaccine in eighteen fifty five. Following the success of
53:14
the polio and measles vaccines in the mid twentieth century,
53:17
schools and the American public widely supported vaccination. By the
53:22
nineteen eighty through nineteen eighty one school year, all fifty
53:26
states had vaccination laws covering students first entering school. A
53:31
proliferation of religious and other exemptions passed by state legislatures
53:36
has weakened these mandates over time. Objections to mandates of
53:40
all kinds intensified after the coronavirus pandemic, with some Republican
53:45
controlled states taking action. This year, Florida's governor and top
53:49
health official announced a push to abolish school vaccine mandates altogether.
53:55
As a measles vaccination rate in the state fell more
53:58
than five percent. Since appendat vaccination has become such a
54:03
hot buttoned political issue in some states that the dynamic
54:06
is similar to battles over reproductive health, and local school
54:10
officials don't want to be in the crossfire, said James Colgrove,
54:14
a professor at Columbia University Melman's School of Public Health
54:18
who has studied the role of schools in public health.
54:21
That means more children will pick up infections in school
54:25
and bring them home. The most dangerous, deadly diseases will
54:29
come back, and it won't only be kids who suffer,
54:32
he said. It'll be adults in the community who are immunocompromised,
54:37
who are elderly, It'll be infants. Public health experts argue
54:42
that the u S measles outbreaks show why easing vaccine
54:45
requirements doesn't always translate into better school attendance. As a
54:50
South Carolina experience revealed this month, unvaccinated kids are missing
54:55
school during quarantines, said Jerome Adams, who served as Surgeon
54:59
General during Presidence Donald Trump's first term. That is completely
55:03
inconsistent with folks who say that their biggest concerns about
55:06
COVID were that we didn't care about keeping kids in school,
55:10
he said. For this story, Post reporters collected school level
55:14
data from thirty six states and county level data from
55:18
forty four states and DC that reflected measles or overall
55:22
vaccination rates for kindergarteners. Measles vaccination usually involves the MMR vaccine,
55:28
which protects against measles Moms Andrew Bella, such information is
55:34
not typically communicated to parents. Reporters reviewed and mapped tens
55:38
of thousands of individual schools data, assembling the most comprehensive
55:43
public database. In some states, unvaccinated rates could reflect missing
55:48
immunization records for students. The Post also spoke to over
55:52
seventy five medical experts, parents, school nurses, vaccine and anti
55:58
vaccine advocates, and contacted every state health department in the
56:02
United States. The results show wide variation in rates depending
56:07
on geography. While children in California, which does not allow
56:11
for non medical vaccine exemptions, are vaccinated against measles at
56:15
ninety six percent, there is not a single county in Idaho, Louisiana, Oregon,
56:22
Tennessee Utah or Wisconsin, whose kindergarten rates meet HERD immunity
56:28
protection level. Counties at Trump won in twenty twenty four
56:32
were more likely to lose ground on kindergarten vaccination rates
56:36
in recent years than those won by then Vice President
56:39
Kamala Harris, but blue cities still saw dips as well.
56:44
Saint louis reported just seventy four percent of kindergarteners vaccinated
56:48
against measles. A quarter of kindergarteners in the Washita Parish Louisiana,
56:53
which includes the city of Monroe, are unvaccinated. In Maine, Alabama,
56:58
and Connecticut, vaccination rates went up since the pandemic. We
57:04
have very different levels of health and protection based on
57:07
zip codes, and children don't get to choose where they
57:10
live or where they go to school, said Susan Cresley,
57:13
president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. For pediatricians, immunization
57:19
is a child health priority, not a partisan issue. Among states,
57:25
Minnesota has experienced one of the largest drops in vaccination rates,
57:29
at six point five percent since twenty eighteen. Since a pandemic.
57:33
The vaccination rate in Sherburne County, which includes Becker, has
57:37
fallen by more than twelve percent from near her immunity
57:40
in the twenty eighteen through twenty nineteen school year to
57:43
eighty two percent for the last school year. It's every
57:47
Parent's choice. Becker and the surrounding area is occupied by
57:52
farms and residential neighborhoods. It is economy buoyed in part
57:55
by an aging power plant transitioning from coal to solar energy,
58:00
and a firearms parts manufacture. A billboard honor slain conservative
58:04
youth activist Charlie Kirk on the way from Becker to
58:08
Saint Cloud. Due to the constraints of time, we will
58:12
be unable to complete this item. This concludes a reading
58:16
of the Washington Post for to Day Tuesday, January sixth,
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twenty twenty six. Your reader to day has been Cindy Fraser.
58:24
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
58:28
please feel free to call us at eight five nine
58:31
four two two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening,
58:35
and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio
58:39
I