Transcript

2.1.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Saturday,
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February one, twenty twenty five. 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 today is Mark Webster. Today's front
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page headlines from The Washington Post contain six headlines on
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page one. Here they are in Kenya, rebellious rock rises
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up from the underground. Treasury musk in here and in
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her can't in here and here, That's what it says,
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Martin firings in here and in here too. Helicopter was
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told of planes presence two minutes before crash. The final
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seconds for sixty seven souls, and then the last FBI
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begins purge. Firings may come after review. We'll start with
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the final seconds for sixty seven souls, The final seconds
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and grim aftermath of DC plane crash that killed sixty
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seven In seconds, the wreckage of each aircraft plunged into
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the icy Potomac River. The victims with it all perished.
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Here's the article. The low altitude flash of fire seen
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on video around the globe erupted in the sky above
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the nation's capital a little before nine pm Wednesday, a
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mid air collision, claiming sixty seven lives in an instant
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and triggering the gamut of human responses to immense and
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sudden tragedies, shock, courage, resilience, sorrow, bewilderment. The evening was
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clear and cold. American Eagle flight fifty three forty two
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from Wichital with sixty passengers, two pilots and two flight
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attendants board, was a few hundred feet up preparing to
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land at Reagan National Airport. An Army black Hawk helicopter
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carrying a crew of three was aloft on a training
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flight in the same airspace at the same moment. The
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crash horrified witnesses and astonished those tasks with overseeing the
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most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just
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over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.
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In seconds, the wreckage of each aircraft plunged into the
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icy Potomac River. The victims with it all perished men, women,
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and children, among them about twenty young figure skaters and
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their coaches who had taken part in a national championship
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competition in Wichital. They account for nearly a third of
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the dead. Why did it happen? Aviation officials, military officers,
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political leaders, and public safety authorities, wearing stunned expressions at
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news briefings in the sleepless hours afterwards, promised answers. Investigations
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will be conducted, hearings will be held, Lessons will be learned.
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They seemed buoyed only by this. Rescuers had mobilized swiftly
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and braved the winter elements, the cold and wind and
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darkness out on the river, many working through the night
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and into the morning. Their task was grimm more so
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than many of them had ever experienced, performed as heartbreak
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sank in from DC to Kansas. Quote. At this point,
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we don't believe there are any survivors unquote, the district's
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fire chief, John A. Dinnelly Senior, told reporters Thursday in
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the early light. As of seven thirty am, the confirmed
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dead numbered twenty seven from the jetliner and one from
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the black Hawk, a figure that has since climbed to
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forty one. The fire department said Friday, we will continue
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to work to find all the bodies. Donnelly Vold. We
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are searching every square inch of space closed to quote
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the sky along the Potomac poses some of the most
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complex challenges in the country for pilots. They must rely
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on layers of procedures and electronic safeguards to avoid calamity.
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Military helicopters fly low over the river, sharing National airports
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heavily used takeoff and landing routes with commercial planes. Congestion
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in the air and on runways and taxiways has long
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worried aviation analysts and others. National was built for fifteen
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million passengers annually. It now handles twenty five million. Year
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after year. These travelers safely got where they were going
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until the night they didn't. At the time of the collision,
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staffing levels were quote not normal unquote inside National's control tower,
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with no single controller dedicated to managing helicopter traffic. According
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to an air traffic safety report described to The Washington Post,
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it was not immediately clear who or what was responsible
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for the wreck. Quote tower did you see that unquote
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A pilot ask and a recorded transmission as fireball ignited
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above the Potomac quote fire command. The accident occurred in
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the river, unquote, said another voice, sounding calm. Quote. Both
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the helicopter and a plane crashed in the river close
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the quote. Erry Schulman, a journalist in d C, was
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driving home to Alexandria, Virginia, on the George Washington Memorial
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Parkway near the airport when he saw the conflagration above.
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He said he saw sparks trailing a jetliner at low
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altitude as the aircraft banked sharply right. Quote. I couldn't
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make sense of what I saw because it didn't seem
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like they were coming directly out of the plane unquote,
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Schulmann said, quote they were underneath its belly and separated
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a little distance close the quote. He said late Wednesday,
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I prayed that there are many survivors unquote, but there
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were none. Courtney Kane, aged twenty eight, said she was
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at home at Joint based Anacostia Bowling in southeast DC,
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across the Potomac from the airport, when she heard a
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thunderous boom. Peering through a living room window, she saw
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flames in the sky, which at first she thought she
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was imagining. Then she walked to the riverfront and beheld
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a nightmare. Quote. I'm honestly still shaking unquote. Kine said.
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Much later, her five year old son told her, quote,
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I'm worried about the people close the quote. In the
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Buzzard Point section of southwest Washington, where the waters of
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the Anacostia and Potomac rivers meet, not far from the airport,
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a body Ismael was getting ready for bed shortly before
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nine pm when he heard a quote bang bang unquote
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that sounded to him like something from quote a war zone. Unquote.
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He told the Reuter's News agency. Quote I looked at
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the sky unquote, Ishmael, aged thirty eight, said, and quote
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all I could see at that moment was smoke. Closed
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the quote quote it's horrific unquote. At eight forty eight,
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an urgent announcement went out from National Airport's control tower.
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Quote crash, crash, crash, This is an alertsh crash, crash
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closed the quote Alert three colon the highest alert, brought
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us directly to the radios of DC police officers and
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firefighters assigned to a nearby marine unit. As hundreds of
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emergency personnel from all over the metropolitan area converged on
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National and its surrounding roadways, bridges, and riverbanks, a sea
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of strobe lights bathed the evening in red and blue
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for miles around. Dispatchers summoned more and more help as
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the scope of the disaster became clear. Soon more than
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three hundred first responders were at the scene or en
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route from as far as Baltimore, so many that not
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enough boats were available for all the rescuers arriving to
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look for survivors and bodies in the frigid river. The
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Army sent people, so did the Coastguard, the FBI Joint
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Base Anacostia Bowling, the Maryland and Virginia State Police, the
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Maryland Transportation Authority, so did suburban police and fired apartments.
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A DC police officer and a fire department colleague saw
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a dinner cruise yacht at a pier with its lights on,
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said David Hogland, president of the DC Fighters Firefighters Association,
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who was briefed from what had happened. Next, they ran
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to the pier and banged on the heavy steel gates. Quote,
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we need to get on your boat unquote, one of
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them said. The boat, with room for one hundred and
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fifty passengers, had just docked after river crewise. A janitor
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unlocked the gates of the pier. The first responders hurriedly
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told the captain and crew that sixty or more people
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had been aboard the two doomed aircraft, and that some
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or most of them, alive or not, were out there
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in the water they needed help. Ten minutes later, the
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yacht was a mile and a half up river in
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the area where the wreckage had plummeted down. The debris
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filled stretched for seven miles along the Potomac south from
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the airport to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge quote a large
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black spot unquote, as one official described it, Hazardous ice
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chunks littered the murky water, and wind gusts buffeted the
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rescuers like frozen needles. Remnants of the helicopter were upside
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down in the river, as was the fuselage of the jetliner,
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broken into three pieces. Officials said it was a Bombardier
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CRJ seven hundred Bombardier CRJ seven hundred, operated by a
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subsidiary of American Airlines, designed for up to seventy eight people.
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Hoping survivors would be found and brought aboard, the yacht
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crew lined up chairs and turned tablecloth linens into blankets,
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covering the decks. A chef, without being asked, cooked chicken.
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Others in the crew brewed coffee and handed off the
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pots to smaller boats carrying divers who emerged from the
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water exhausting and covered in aviation fuel. The pungent odor
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of the fuel hung so thick in the air that
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some of the divers vomited. They pulled mangled remains and
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body parts from the water. Blood pooled on the deck
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of a fireboat. For some of the rescuers, the carnage
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was worse than any they had ever seen before. Then
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some made their way to the yacht, where they rested
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on decks and benches and perched on an upholstered chair
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meant for smiling brides on wedding excursions, said Chad Barth,
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a vice president of City Cruises, the boat's owner. More
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tents sprung up along a bank of the Anacostia. Some
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of the dead were transported to a National Airport facility.
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Some were carried ashore to the d C Police Department's
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helicopter base near the Frederick Douglas Memorial Bridge, where the
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d C Fire Department's medical director, physician David Whittberg, waited
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with a City medical examiner. One by one on the
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pier in the cold, the victims were formally pronounced deceased.
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Then the rescuers who had delivered the remains, turned in
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their boats and went back on the river to search
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for more old over and over beyond the Thursday dawn. Quote.
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Our first responders are resilient unquote, said donal Lee, the
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fire chief. Quote, but yes, this call will be hard
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for them. Unquote. At last, the sun edged down on
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a long Thursday. Quote. The investigation and recovery effort remain active,
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and our divers have searched all areas that are accessible
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un quote, the fire department set on social media on Friday,
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divers will work with the National Transportation Safety Board quote
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to conduct additional searches to locate aircraft components to support
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the investigation, and began operations to salvage the aircraft closed
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the quote. Many bodies were still out there, and so
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were many responders. Many loved ones still waited for the
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news they know is coming. The rituals began. Mourners left
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flowers at a memorial in Ashbourn, Virginia, honoring members of
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the Ashburn Ice House skating community who died in the crash.
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President Donald Trump said he planned to speak with families
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of some of the victims. Asked by reporters whether he
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would visit the crash site, he said, Quote what's the
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site the water? You want me to go swimming? Unquote?
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Elsewhere the living took stock. Quote I fly enough and
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know the statistics enough not to be afraid today. Unquote,
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said Jarrett Cathcart, aged thirty seven, who was boarding a
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flight home to Kansas City after a business trip to DC. Quote.
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If I personalize this, it's not through fear of myself,
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through fear of for myself, but by feeling sympathy for
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the families of the victims and what they are going through.
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Close the quote. That's the end of that article. We'll
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go back to another one. The next one is helicopter
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was told of plane's presence two minutes before crash. Army
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helicopter was alerted to plane's presence two minutes before collision.
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It was the first of two warnings before the crash
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that left sixty seven people feared dead. Radio transmissions show
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here's the article. Air traffic controllers twice alerted the crew
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of a US Army helicopter to the presence of an
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inbound American Airline jet, with the first warning issued two
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minutes before the aircraft collided Wednesday night near Reagan National
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Airport radio transmission show. While the quality makes it difficult
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to hear the audio recordings, aviation experts who reviewed the
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communications for the Washington Posts said that a member of
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the black Hall helicopter crew responded each time by saying
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that he could see the plane and requested quote visual
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separation unquote, meaning the helicopter crew could maintain a safe distance.
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Each time. The request was approved. At about eight forty
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eight PM, roughly twelve seconds after the second alert from
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the control tower, the aircraft collided several hundred feet above
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the Potomac River. Audio recordings captured airport staff reacting, quote,
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oh my, did you see that? Unquote? One said. Quote
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I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone, unquote,
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said another. All sixty four people on board the flight
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from Wichita and the three soldiers on the helicopter are
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believed to have died. Rescue workers are still recovering bodies
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from the Ice River. The radio transmissions indicate that the
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helicopter had more than enough time to take action to
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avoid the plane, according to three aviation experts, that the
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helicopter crew said it would do so but did not.
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Experts told the Posts suggest that the crew may have
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seen something else, such as another aircraft in the area
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and not the American Airlines flight flagged twice by the
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air traffic controller. Quote. If he was looking at the
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right airplane, he wouldn't have hit him unquote, Retired National
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Transportation Safety Board investigator Scott Dunham said, quote they were
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miles apart. The resolution literally takes seconds unquote. Flight path
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data shows another inbound plane behind the American Airlines plane
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and around eleven miles from the helicopter at the time
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of the first warning. Dunham said the second plane could
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have been difficult to distinguish from the jet arriving from
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wichital particularly at night. The midair accident is the first
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deadly crash involving a major US airline in the United
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States since a single passenger flight crashed into a house
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outside Buffalo nearly sixteen years ago, killing fifty people, and
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has led to questions about management of the congested civilian
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and military airspace around Washington's closest airport. The cause of
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the collision remains unclear, and the investigation is in very
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early stages. Just before the crash, the Blackhawk had been
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flying above a two hundred foot ceiling for helicopters in
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the area, according to radar and flight tracking data and
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a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the
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condition of anonymity because of the ongoing probe. At a
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news briefing Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said there
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had been quote standard unquote communications between the aircraft and
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air traffic control tower. Quote. I would say the helicopter
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was aware that there was a plane in the area unquote.
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Duffy said. The helicopter was flying south along the Photomac
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and the plane was flying north toward the airport. As
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the American Airlines plane near the airport, flight controllers redirected
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it from Runway one, where the audio records suggested there
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was other air traffic, to Runway thirty three. The plane
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adjusted its course, making a wide turn that brought it
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northwest across the river on a trajectory that intersected with
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the helicopter's path. At about eight forty six pm on
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Wednesday night, air traffic controllers first notified the helicopter a
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priority air transport flight using call sign PAT twenty five
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about the American Airlines bombardier CRJ seven hundred coming in
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for landing on Runway thirty three. The helicopter crewmember responded,
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saying he had quote traffic inside quote and requested quote
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visual separation unquote and agreement with air traffic controllers that
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they will keep eyes on another aircraft and avoid it.
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According to the radio communications, air traffic controllers in the
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airport tower quickly approved the request. Two aviation experts who
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listened to the audio said the speaker used the PAT
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twenty five call sign. Shortly after eight forty seven pm,
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audio from the control tower captured a sound that aviation
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experts said is consistent with a conflict alert, like a
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backup camera on a car that says you are getting
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close to an object. Around the same time, the letters
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quote ca unquote began to flash in red next to
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the two aircraft on an FAA radar display. According to
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video playback reviewed by the Post, such quote conflict alerts
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unquote are accompanied by an audible alarm to a ma
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sure they are noticed, Dunham said. Immediately after the alert,
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the air traffic controller asked the helicopter paighten quote Paighten
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twenty five, do you have the CRJ in site? Pat
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twenty five passed behind the CRJ close the quote quote
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aircraft in site request visual separation unquote. The helicopter crew
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member responded seconds later, confirming for a second time that
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they were aware of a plane ahead. No further communications
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between the controllers and the helicopter are audible after the exchange.
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After this exchange, the American flight continued northwest on its
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descent over the next several seconds. According to flight data
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and video, the helicopter continued on its path south along
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the river. Roughly twelve seconds after the final audible communication
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between air traffic control and the helicopter. Gasps can be
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heard in the audio recording from the control tower. Around
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eight forty eight pm, both aircraft disappear from the FAA
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radar video. Dashcam video obtained by the Post shows the
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passenger plane in its final descent as the helicopter flies
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above the Potomac. A white flash lights up the sky
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as they collide and pieces of debris fall into the river.
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In the audio reviewed by the Post, there is no
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audible communication between the air traffic controllers and the passenger
19:24
jet in the moments before the crash. Experts cautioned, however,
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that audio feeds can be incomplete. Alerts from cockpit traffic
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collision avoidance systems, which are meant to automatically detect other
19:37
nearby aircraft and send alarms, are limited during landings so
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that pilots can concentrate on flying the plane, said Captain
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Ross Amer, a retired United Airlines pilot who flew for
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the airline for forty years, including flights to and from
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Reagan National Airport. Those warnings are limited below around one
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thousand feet according to the FAA doc, and the passenger
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jet was flying below that altitude at the time of
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the crash. Amer said that the gusting winds, congested airspace,
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and crisscrossing nature of the airport's landing and takeoff runways
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created layers of challenges for aircraft that night. Reagan National
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Airport quote is one of the most congested airspaces in
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the country unquote, AMers said, quote, and we've been kind
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of warning for the past few years of the saturation
20:28
of traffic and the fact that we've had such a
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good run of safety, but unfortunately it came to an end.
20:35
At the end of that article, we'll go back to
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the other articles. The next one, FBI begins purge. More
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firings may come after review. Justice Department orders FBI purge
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review of staff who touched Trump cases. Leaders appointed by
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the Trump administration are identifying potentially hundreds of FBI agents
20:55
for possible termination, said people familiar with the plan. Here
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is the article. A top Justice Department official on Friday
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ordered the firing of at least eight senior FBI executives
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and a sweeping examination of the work of thousands of
21:12
other bureau employees, including all those who worked on investigations
21:17
tied to the January sixth, twenty twenty one attack on
21:20
the US capital. According to a membo obtained by The
21:23
Washington Post, the directive from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil
21:29
Bove said those field agents and FBI support staff could
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face quote additional personnel action unquote, suggesting that the number
21:37
of firings could swell in the coming weeks. Bove instructed
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acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll to terminate the eight executives
21:47
he identified, including David Sunberg, Assistant director in charge of
21:52
the bureau's Washington field office, which was heavily involved in
21:56
the Capitol Ride investigation, if they did not agree to
21:59
resign with him in days. He cited an executive order
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President Donald Trump signed within hours of taking office last week,
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ordering an end to what he described as the quote
22:08
weaponization quote of law enforcement. Closed the quote quote I
22:13
do not believe the current leadership of the Justice Department
22:17
can trust the FBI employees to assist in implementing the
22:21
President's agenda faithfully unquote, Bove wrote. The Justice Department did
22:26
not respond to requests for comment. The Post reported on
22:30
Thursday that multiple senior FBI officials had been ordered to
22:34
leave the bureau within days or be fired, and it
22:37
was unclear how many of those individuals were among those
22:40
named and Bou's directed. The information contained in the directive
22:44
adds new detail to a potential staffing shakeup described earlier
22:48
Friday by three people familiar with those plans. The possible
22:52
personnel moves come just days after pledges to avoid retaliatory
22:56
action by Trump's nominees to leave the FBI and the
23:00
Department of Justice. The people who spoke on the condition
23:04
of anonymity to discuss private personnel deliberation said Justice Department
23:08
officials were also reviewing the records and considering firing dozens
23:13
of other field agents who had been involved in Special
23:16
Council Jack Smith's investigations into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn
23:21
the twenty twenty election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
23:26
In an email to the FBI's workforce later Friday evening,
23:30
Driscoll wrote that he had been instructed to dismiss eight
23:33
executives and acknowledged the wider review processes underway quote to
23:38
determine whether an additional personnel actions are necessary close the
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quote this request quote this request encompasses thousands of employees
23:46
across the country who have supported these investigative efforts unquote,
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Brisco wrote, noting that he and Robert Kassay, the FBI's
23:54
acting director acting deputy Director, were among them. The email
23:59
was obtained by the Post. It is highly unusual for
24:02
senior staffing changes to be made under interim leadership at
24:05
the FBI, a law enforcement agency that is supposed to
24:08
be insulated from politics. A mass purge of field agents,
24:13
the front line investigators and FBI cases would signal an
24:16
even greater escalation of a pattern of upheaval that is
24:19
royaled the Justice Department. Bob was appointed to the position
24:24
of Acting Deputy Attorney General last week after serving as
24:28
one of the president's personnel defense attorneys in some of
24:31
the cases. As he now flagged for review. Trump's nominee
24:35
to fill that position permanently, Todd Blanche, another member of
24:40
his personal legal team, awaits Senate confirmation after that, Bov
24:44
will be the Principal Deputy Attorney General, the Justice Department's
24:48
third highest ranking position. In addition to those involved in
24:52
the January sixth and Trump cases, Bob's memos sought information
24:56
on agents assigned to the February twenty twenty four case
25:00
the Justice Department brought in Manhattan against Ishmael Hanaya, a
25:04
senior AMAS leader prosecutors accused of involvement in the October seven,
25:09
twenty twenty three terrorist attacks in Israel. It was not
25:12
immediately clear of why FBI personnel involved in that investigation
25:16
were now under scrutiny. Driscoll, a longtime agent whom Trump
25:21
appointed to run the bureau until a permanent director is confirmed,
25:25
has refused to endorse any effort to purge agents, the
25:28
people familiar with the matter said. In his email to
25:31
staff on Friday, he wrote, quote, as we've said since
25:35
the moment we agreed to take on these roles. We
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are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and
25:41
do what's in the best users of the workforce and
25:43
the American people. Always closed the quote. As Friday in
25:47
the Oval office, whether he had ordered the firings of
25:50
FBI agents, Trump said, quote, no, but we have some
25:53
very bad people there. I wasn't involved in that, but
25:56
if they want to fire some people, it is fine
25:58
with me, closed the quote. Senator Dick Durbin, Democratic of Illinois,
26:03
the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which provides
26:06
oversight to both the Justice Department and the FBI, called
26:09
the possible looming purge quote a major blow unquote to
26:13
the integrity and effectiveness of both agencies and a quote
26:17
brazen assault on the rule of law. Any purge of
26:21
scores of agents from field offices across the country could
26:24
significantly deplete the bureau staffing levels, effect ongoing cases unrelated
26:29
to Trump or January sixth, and create a vacuum that
26:32
would be difficult to quickly fill. New agents undergo intensive
26:36
screening in a specialized eighteen week training program before they
26:39
can be deployed in the field. While FBI agents can
26:43
be terminated for cause. There is typically an extensive dissonary
26:46
process before any such decision. All right, we're going to
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cut this article off here and we're going to take
26:54
a break and go to part two. All right, we're
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now returning to part two, to the reading of the
27:04
Washington Post for Saturday, February one, twenty twenty five. Again,
27:08
your readers, Mark Webster. We're still covering the seven headlines
27:14
from page one. The next one is DC US attorney
27:18
fires January sixth. Prosecutors launches new probes. Ed Martin has
27:25
fired January sixth prosecutors launched investigations of capital riot prosecutions
27:30
and threatened the nation's top elected democrat with an inquiry.
27:35
This begins with the photograph of Ed Martin, president of
27:39
the Phillips Shaftley Eagles, a conservative political organization based in
27:42
Saint Louis. Here's the article. Interim DC US Attorney Edward R.
27:50
Martin Junior, on Friday dismissed about thirty federal prosecutors who
27:55
have worked on January sixth, twenty twenty one capital riot
27:58
cases over the past four years, undertaking a house cleaning
28:02
of the top prosecutor's office in Washington while preparing to
28:07
extend the office's scrutiny on top Democratic leaders and former
28:12
Justice Department officials. People close to Martin said the prosecutors
28:16
were on probationary status after being converted to full time
28:20
from shorter term positions after election day, under circumstances the
28:24
Trump administration is investigating, according to documents from Martin and
28:28
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emo Bove that were emailed around
28:32
five pm and viewed by The Washington Post. In his
28:38
first eleven days in office, Martin, age fifty four, has
28:43
moved quickly to align the office with President Donald Trump's
28:46
political views and drawn significant criticism in the process. Since
28:50
being appointed on January twenty, Martin has ordered top supervisors
28:54
in the office to investigate their colleagues's handling of the
28:58
capital riot prosecution in the wake of Trump's mass pardons
29:02
and threatened subordinates who disclose or criticize his actions, and
29:07
he appeared to set a sites on scrutinizing the nation's
29:10
top elected Democrat, sending what he called quote a letter
29:13
of inquiry unquote to Senator Minority Leader Chuck Charles E. Schumer,
29:19
Democrat from New York about his quickly walked back statement
29:22
in a March twenty twenty rally that two of Trump's
29:25
recently nominated Supreme Court justices, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh,
29:31
would quote pay the price unquote for a vote against
29:34
abortion rights. Quote. We take threats against public officials very seriously.
29:39
I look forward to your cooperation unquote, Martin, wrote Schumer
29:43
in a January twenty one letter obtained by the Post.
29:46
Martin's actions are likely to be welcomed by Trump and allies,
29:50
who assert they were unfairly targeted by the past administration,
29:55
but career prosecutors who have served under presidence of both
29:58
parties say and it's politicizing the office and potentially breaking
30:03
with fifty years of Justice Department policy and practice intended
30:07
to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. They warned that
30:11
an exodus of veteran prosecutors will threaten public safety in
30:15
national security, leaving a more plant institution that could enable
30:19
Trump's avowed desire to punish his foes in a second term.
30:24
Friday's notifications went out to the people being terminated who
30:28
served in the office's now disbanded Capital Siege Prosecution Section.
30:33
According to four people and documents viewed by the Post.
30:37
The cuts amount to about eight percent of the office's prosecutors.
30:41
Combined with a recently announced freeze on hiring and promotions,
30:46
the openings will have impact across the office's civil, Appellate,
30:50
Superior Court, and violent Crown divisions. While some prosecutors had
30:54
been previously reassigned. In a memorandum dated Friday, Acting Deputy
30:59
Attorney General emil Bow directed determination of the prosecutors, characterizing
31:05
their hiring as a quote subversive unquote action by the
31:08
Biden administration that hindered Martin's ability to staff the office
31:13
and quote to faithfully implement unquote Trump's agenda. Quote I
31:17
will not tolerate subversive personnel actions by the previous administration
31:22
at any US Attorney's office unquote, both said, adding that
31:26
it would be appropriate to redirect personnel resources for new hires.
31:30
The memo did not acknowledge that the administration has imposed
31:34
a hiring and promotions freeze. An email sent by Martin
31:39
notified recipients to retain all documents relating to quote personnel
31:43
decisions regarding attorneys hired to support casework unquote regarding the
31:48
capital right, which the memo said, is now under investigation
31:51
pursuant to Trump's executive order targeting the quote weaponization unquote
31:57
of law enforcement and intelligence agencies against him. Quote. The
32:01
dismissals came after James R. McHenry, the Third, the Acting
32:05
Attorney General, earlier this week, fired members of Special Council
32:09
Jack Smith's team that prosecuted Trump. Meanwhile, the FBI is
32:13
considering a mass purge of agents involved in investigations of
32:17
Trump and the Capital Riot. Separately, Martin has ordered an
32:21
internal review of prosecutor's handling of some January sixth prosecutions,
32:26
focusing on one of the most heavily litigated counts in
32:30
the investigation, that private that President Donald Trump has called
32:34
a quote witch hunt unquote against him. More than a
32:37
dozen current and former DCUs prosecutors contacted about Martin condemned
32:43
the actions. Quote politics above all. That's what this Department
32:48
of Justice is about. The quote. Former Assistant US Attorney
32:52
Ashley Akers told MSNBC after resigning last week. Quote the
32:57
message it sends is adhere to the president and the
33:01
will of the President, or you'll be fired unquote. And second,
33:04
it shows a lack of independence at the Department of
33:06
Justice close the quote. Martin is the first U S
33:10
Attorney for d C in at least fifty years not
33:13
to have served as a judge or federal prosecutor, posing
33:17
what former US officials said is an extraordinary challenge as
33:21
he oversees roughly three hundred and sixty prosecutors responsible for
33:25
investigating current and former members of Congress and the Executive Branch,
33:30
prosecuting key national security and international crimes, and enforcing all
33:35
DC fallony laws. Martin and the U. S. Attorney's Office
33:39
declined requests for interviews this week, but allies said that
33:42
after Trump campaigned on vows to seek quote retribution unquote
33:47
against political enemies, Martin is in a position to seek
33:50
out quote accountability and quote and evidence to back Trump's
33:54
unsubstantiated claims that criminal charges against him were made to
33:58
damage him politically. Martin seeks to learn, for example, whether
34:01
prosecutors or senior Justice Department officials were politically motivated to
34:06
punish Trump or supporters when they charged more than two
34:09
hundred and fifty defendants with felony obstruction of Congress's certification
34:14
of the twenty twenty election. Those decisions began under career
34:18
prosecutors in Trump's first term appointees, and were upheld by
34:22
nearly all judges to review them before the Supreme Court
34:25
said the law could only be applied to those who
34:28
seek to interfere with physical evidence. Martin's quote instruction on
34:34
fifteen twelve are just the beginning. He's going to find
34:37
the origins of the legal theory and the purveyors of it,
34:41
and followed through accordingly. Unquote, said a Trump legal advisor
34:44
close to Martin, who referred to the obstruction status by
34:48
its section numbers us CO in the US Code and
34:51
spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not
34:54
authorized to speak about Martin's plans publicly. People quote are
35:00
going to learn the hard way that there's going to
35:02
be accountability for a politicized and weaponized justice department closed
35:07
the quote, said Mike Davis, another friend of Martin and
35:10
conservative Trump legal advisor whom Donald Trump Junior has called
35:13
quote the tip of the spear end quote, defending his
35:16
father from quote corrupt democrat quote prosecutors. Martin's moves so
35:22
far in office also appear aligned with the aims of
35:26
Trump Office of Management Budget director Russell Vault who has
35:30
stated he wants to make civil servants want to quit.
35:34
Martin served as Deputy Police Deputy Policy director for the
35:38
Republican National Convention's twenty twenty four Platform Committee under Vault,
35:43
an architect of Project twenty twenty five, a conservative effort
35:47
to expand presidential power and make the Attorney general more
35:50
loyal to the White House. The President tapped Martin in
35:54
December to serve as Vault's chief of staff on his
35:57
return as Director of Office Management and Budget, before an
36:01
eleventh hour moved to the prosecutor post. Former colleagues said
36:06
that Martin's affability in zeal along with his combustibility and
36:09
an ideological edge, were evident to those who work with him.
36:13
Quote he is one of the hardest working candidates I've
36:15
ever seen in my life. Unquote. John Hancock, who would
36:18
later take over Missouri GOP chairman from Martin, said in
36:21
twenty ten. Quote I like Ed unquote. Former state Democratic
36:26
Party chairman Michael Kelly said in the same Martin profile quote,
36:30
but working with Ed is like working with a firecracker,
36:33
a lit firecracker. It's going to explode. You just don't
36:36
know when. Unquote. Martin has long found himself at the
36:40
center of political controversy in twenty In two thousand and seven,
36:44
Martin abruptly resigned without explanation as chief of staff to
36:48
then Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, a Republican. The office was
36:53
entangled in a secrecy dispute, denying that its emails were
36:56
subject to the state's open records law and claiming that
36:59
some email didn't exist. But back up surfaced, and they
37:03
showed Martin using his state email account to urge political
37:06
allies to attack Blunt's opponent in the governor's race and
37:10
to criticize the judge nominated by Blunt to the States
37:13
Supreme Court. A staff lawyer Martin fired for advising Blunt
37:18
staff that their emails were public records. Later sued and
37:21
won a judgment for defamation and wrongful termination, costing taxpayers
37:25
two million dollars in legal expenses. Blunt dropped his reelection
37:29
bid quote there was not a guiding set of principles
37:33
behind anything ed. Martin pursued because it became apparent he
37:37
would lie, cheat, and steal and destroy me and others
37:40
to get away with an obvious illegality with erasing those
37:44
public records. Unquote. The staff lawyer Scott Echo Eckersley told
37:50
The Post this week he called Martin quote a dangerous
37:53
man who is really governed by emotion and by whatever
37:56
he wants. In that moment, closed the quote. The episode
37:59
did Saint Martin. After losing bids for Congress and Missouri
38:03
Attorney General, he chaired the state's Republican Party, then led
38:07
Phyllis Schaffey's Eagles Forum. In September twenty sixteen, the day
38:12
after the feigned conservative activists, an opponent of feminism and
38:16
the Equal Rights Amendment, died, the pair published a book quote,
38:19
The Conservative Case for Trump unquote, launching Martin's steady climb
38:24
into the president's orbit. So far in office, as in
38:27
past roles, Martin led with personnel changes. Some moves, such
38:31
as as clean up as chair of the troubled Saint
38:34
Louis Board of Elections in two thousand and five, drew
38:37
bipartisan phrase. Others, such as when he sent packing liberal
38:41
leaning staff at the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis, lawyers
38:45
at the governor's office, and an election staffer who said
38:48
he found her quote not republican enough, prompted claims that
38:52
Martin was a hatchetman. By his second day in office
38:56
in d C, Martin told staffers he expected to serve
38:59
as Trump's permanent US attorney, getting ahead of any White
39:02
House announcements and contradicting his stated expectation days earlier. According
39:07
to five people in attendance or briefed on the meeting,
39:12
Martin also replaced the office's experienced top assistant US attorney
39:16
with a career prosecutor and supervisor who served as a
39:19
GOP senate staffer. He eliminated the capital Siege prosecution unit
39:24
and removed its chief, the Post has reported, and froze
39:28
hiring and promotions. Martin also tasked two other top leaders,
39:33
the head of its Federal Criminal Division and of its Fraud,
39:36
Public Corruption, and Civil Rights section, to lead a fast
39:39
tracked review of prosecutor's handling of capital riot prosecutions. Ordering
39:45
those senior supervisors to investigate colleagues puts them in a
39:48
difficult position, and many are watching for Martin's next move.
39:52
A devout Catholic raised in central New Jersey, Martin graduated
39:56
from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts,
40:00
earned a philosophy degree at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome,
40:04
and earned degrees in law at ethics from Saint Louis University.
40:08
After a year clerking for a federal judge in Kansas City,
40:12
Martin launched his legal career at a large law firm,
40:15
Brian Cave, and later opened his own firm. In twenty eighteen,
40:19
Martin moved his wife and four children to Great Falls,
40:23
a wealthy northern Virginia suburb west of the capitol, where
40:26
he ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Fairfax County
40:30
Board of Supervisors. Whatever his electoral setbacks, Martin has amassed
40:36
influence by extending Shaffley's legacy and becoming a right wing
40:40
radio show host and podcaster who shoot from the hip
40:44
wrecking ball style recalls Stephen K. Bannon or Alex Jones
40:48
like them, Martin has methodically denigrated the investigations in the
40:52
Trump extolled January sixth Ride defendants, and attacked the criminal
40:57
justice system, especially in Washington. On his podcast, he has
41:01
said DC's jury pool is quote corrupted unquote by a
41:05
quote big government plus big media plus big tech unquote.
41:09
He also suggested some federal district judges there engaged in
41:13
a quote big lieute of quote NonStop politically motivated lawfare unquote,
41:18
and encouraged Congress to rein in the court's jurisdiction. Martin
41:23
was a quote stop the Steal unquote organizer involved in
41:27
the planning and financing of Trump's January sixth rally, writing
41:31
that afternoon from the capitulary that it was quote like
41:34
Marty grass in DC today, love faith and joy, Ignore
41:39
fake news. Close the quote. He was issued a subpoena
41:43
by the House January sixth Committee, but did not testify.
41:47
He raised money and advocated for riot defendants, representing three
41:50
of them. Since taking office, Martin has emphasized violent crime.
41:55
Quote we will be first and foremost following the President's
41:59
directions to make DC safe again. Close the quote. Martin
42:02
emailed prosecutors last week after being invited by Trump to
42:06
to January twenty two White House pardon signing for two
42:09
DC police officers who were prosecuted and convicted by his
42:13
office for a fatal police chase of a moped driver
42:16
in twenty twenty. But he's also threatened to investigate internal
42:20
critics and lashed out at the disclosure of his actions,
42:24
emailing more than eight hundred prosecutors and support staff to
42:27
stop talking about his emails. Quote, Wow, what a disappointment
42:31
to have my emails yesterday to you. All was all
42:35
was leaked almost immediately again, personally insulting and professionally unacceptable.
42:40
I guess I've learned my lesson unquote. He emails staff
42:43
on Tuesday, the second time in a week he had
42:45
made such a complaint. According to copies viewed by or
42:48
read to the Post. In this week's note, Martin accused Acres,
42:53
the prosecutor who just left the office, of quote bad
42:56
mouthing our work and me unquote. Acres, who declined to
42:59
speak to the Post. Efforts, said in cable news interviews
43:03
that it was quote appalling unquote that Martin advocated for
43:06
members of the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers extremist groups by
43:10
successfully urging a judge to undo their stay away orders
43:13
from Washington and call it his review of January sixth
43:16
cases a quote wild goose chase. Quote. We will need
43:21
to make sure we have her records and emails unquote,
43:24
Martin wrote, All right, now, that's the end of that.
43:27
We'll return to that. I think the two remaining articles
43:29
on the front page The next one is in Kenya.
43:35
Rebellious rock rises up from the underground guitars, Mask and defiance.
43:42
Kenya's rock and metal scene catches fire. After years in
43:46
the wilderness, Kenyan, bands like Irony, Destroyed, last Year's Tragedy
43:52
and Rash are clawing their way up the charts. There's
43:56
a photograph of audience members dancing to a perform Romans
44:00
by Irony Destroyed. Here's the article. The guitar from the
44:05
drum stick smashed into a quivering symbol and the lead
44:09
vocalist for Rash howled into the mic, electrifying the night air.
44:14
After years in the wilderness, Kenya's tiny rock and metal
44:17
scene is exploding, and bands like Irony, Destroyed, last Year's
44:22
Tragedy and Rash are calowing their way up the charts.
44:26
Very few Africans have traditionally listened to rock music, and
44:29
Nick Wathi, one of Kenya's first rock producers, its reputation
44:35
for rebelliousness and subversion creates suspicion in a society that
44:39
values religion and respect for elders. Wathi said, but that's
44:43
what drew him in quote, it was the devil's music. Unquote,
44:46
he laughed. Samuel Gone Kungu g A k U n
44:53
g U, the Kungu rash as drummer, has his musical
44:58
roots in a church choir. He came to rock, he said,
45:00
because it spoke to him more deeply. Quote. There was
45:04
no structure, There was no right way or wrong way
45:06
to do things. I just had to be me without
45:08
any judgment, quote said the thirty one year old car dealer.
45:12
He met the other four band members through a friend
45:15
eleven years ago, creating a hits like quote darkness and
45:18
witchcraft unquote end quote, do or Die unquote, attracting a
45:22
fan base of restless young urbanites increasingly furious with authority.
45:29
In a few hours, they would be taking the stage
45:32
at Nairobi's premier rock and metal festival, Undertow. Rock and
45:37
Kenya has had an uneven ride a decade ago. Bands
45:41
would sometimes show up for gigs that had been canceled
45:44
without their knowledge. Audiences were tiny. The closure of Kenya's
45:49
only rock radio station XFM in twenty nineteen and the
45:55
arrival of COVID in twenty twenty nearly smothered the scene altogether.
46:00
The first Undertow concert in April twenty twenty two rescued
46:04
bands on the brink of collapse by providing a dependable
46:08
gig and venue. Now a well established quarterly event held
46:12
in Nairobi's upscale Westlands district its Neon nightclub line Promenade
46:17
Promenade nickname Electric Avenue, the concert has featured most of
46:22
Kenya's sixteen commercial rock bands, said Wathee. The musicians still
46:27
have day jobs. Irony destroyed. A metalcore group with pugnacious
46:31
lyrics and reverberating base is composed of a lawyer, a writer,
46:35
and a product manager for a fintech company. The howling,
46:39
thrashing sounds of last year's tragedy are generated by an
46:43
advertising strategist, a product designer, a logistic manager and a journalist.
46:48
Practice time is scarce and precious. In a last minute
46:52
rehearsal in the lead up to undertow last year's tragedy,
46:55
vocalist David Madman Maburu paced across a tiny floor, writhing
47:00
with cables, crowding pianists Rono Kipikule, Rono Kipkule, and nearly
47:07
knocking over bass guitarists Mahaya Muchua Mahyah Matua. A copy
47:14
of Leo Toystoy's and a Corona muffled the drums set
47:17
as they thrashed out of quote of villains and heroes
47:21
unquote from their first record, released last year, Irony Destroyed. Meanwhile,
47:27
had to scramble to replace drummer Cyrus Kamau after he
47:32
dissipated his arm in a motorbike accident just a week
47:34
before the concert. Kamau, only able to use one hand,
47:39
had to train his replacement, Larry Kim, after they both
47:42
finished work. Quote, start with a little ascent, tone it
47:46
down and build it up again unquote, he advised Kim.
47:49
They practiced until midnight, when police prowled the empty streets
47:53
and the last vibrations rolled over the lone te cellar
47:56
still in the alley outside. Some bands had made it
48:00
onto streaming platforms like Spotify, which hasn't brought in much
48:04
cash but has broadened their reach. Last year's tragedy song
48:09
forty seven has become an anthem among Kenyan youths, with
48:13
its lyrics raging against the country's politicians. Quote these so
48:19
called leaders who sit on their ivory tires, these never
48:23
ending cycles, stilling and killing unquote rage the band quote
48:27
we will watch them all burn unquote. Anne Wiwara, age
48:32
twenty nine, is the host of Kapitel FM's rock show
48:35
The Fuse, which now gets around three million online listeners
48:39
every month. She has hosted the show since its inception
48:43
and remembers when it used to be the same handful
48:45
of bands all the time. Now, she says the scene
48:49
is much more diverse, with all female bands and Christian
48:52
rock groups breaking onto the airwaves. Quote, it's really a
48:55
genre for everyone unquote, she said. When the radio station
48:59
once considered axing the show, she said enough people rode
49:02
in to persuade the managers to keep it on air.
49:05
Undertow's ticket prices mean the audience's mostly middle class. An
49:10
advanced ticket goes for around one thousand Kenyon shellings a
49:13
little under eight dollars, and it's a bit more at
49:16
the door. That's more than two days wages for most people.
49:22
About two hundred men and women, some with thickly scared
49:27
eyes and studded collars. Head banged in a mush pit,
49:32
a tarot reader read palms on the balcony, and a
49:37
cloud of cigarette smoke enveloped the barman as he slashed
49:41
beers to the crowd regulars. Martin Nick Casey, aged twenty nine,
49:47
and husband Dennis Mwangi, aged thirty three, met because Mwangi
49:52
had a home studio and they had both been in
49:54
the local bands. Now they have a one year old
49:57
son home that night with a sitter, but they still
50:00
compose and play music. There are seven songs onto an album.
50:04
The case he yelled over the music. Quote, I come
50:07
from a very strict family, a military family. You had
50:10
to dress in a certain way, you had to appear
50:11
in a certain way, unquote, she said. Quote there was
50:14
no space for exploration or discovery of self, so rock
50:18
music gave me all. I missed closed the quote. She
50:22
was drowned out as irone's Irony Destroyed stormed onto the stage.
50:27
Masked musicians belted out their single quote Nedjaskaya Kusa tana unquote,
50:34
which translates to quote, I feel like killing again unquote.
50:39
A blood red liquid oozed from the mouth of Preston
50:42
riot motto irony destroyeds guests vocalists as they broke into
50:46
the crowd's favorite hit quote Scholar of first sin quote. Later,
50:51
Rash belted out a rendition of the Cranberry song Zombie
50:56
a scream against the brutality of Northern Ireland's troubles, the
51:00
decades in which British security forces battle Irish paramilitaries and
51:05
civilians were caught in the crossfire. The lyrics resonated in Nairobi,
51:11
where young demonstration statters have been shot, kidnapped in tear gases.
51:15
They protested government corruption and police violence. The protests saw
51:20
Parliament set of flame and the bodies of slain college
51:23
students wrapped up in Kenyan flags fished from dams are
51:27
carried through the capitol before banks of television cameras. Quote
51:31
but you see, it's not me, it's not my family.
51:34
In your head, in your head, they are fighting unquote.
51:36
The crowd screamed along with the band. Quote with their
51:39
tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns.
51:43
In your head, in your head, they are crying. Close
51:46
the quote. And that's the end of that article. The
51:50
other article I mentioned, for some reason, is not clicking.
51:58
There are two articles. Well, I'll try this. Senior US
52:02
official exits after rift with musk allies over payment system.
52:07
A top Treasury career staffer, David A. Lebric, announced his retirement.
52:12
Surrogate's the Musk doge effort had sought access to sensitive
52:16
payment systems. I see now the two articles were reversed
52:21
because of time constraints. I'm going to cut this off.
52:25
Here's the article. The highest ranking career official at the
52:27
Treasury Department left the agency after a clash with allies
52:31
of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems,
52:35
according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who
52:38
spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks,
52:43
David A. Lebrick, who served in non political roles at
52:48
Treasury for several decades, announced his retirement Friday in an
52:52
email to colleagues that was obtained by The Washington Post.
52:56
President Donald Trump named Lebric acting Secretary upon taking office
52:59
last week. Lebrick had a dispute with Musk surrogates over
53:03
access to the payment system the US government uses to
53:06
disperse trillions of dollars every year. The people said. The
53:09
exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear. They
53:12
said officials affiliated with Musk quote Department of Government Efficiency
53:17
unquote have been asking since after the election for access
53:20
to the system. The people said, requests that were reiterated
53:23
more recently including after Trump's inauguration. Tom Krause, a Silicon
53:28
Valley executive who has now been detailed to Treasury, is
53:32
among those involved. The people said. Krause did not respond
53:36
to requests for comment. A spokesman for Doge declined to comment.
53:40
Lebrick could not be reached for comment. Well, we did
53:45
touch on all the articles, and this concludes. After the
53:48
reading of the Washington Post for Today Thursday, February one,
53:52
twenty twenty five, your reader Today's Ben Mark Webster. If
53:56
you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
54:00
please feel free to call us at eight five nine
54:03
four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening now.
54:07
Please stay tuned for continuing programming on RADIOI