Transcript

8.23.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Saturday,
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the twenty third of August of twenty twenty five. Your
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reader is Alice Stayner, with the reminder that RADIOI as
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a service for those blind with difficulties holding or reading
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printed material. And we will start with the front page.
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To the far left, fed Way's rate cuts citing a
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soft job market. Palal's remarks spark a rally, but risk
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of inflation means moving carefully Andrew Ackerman out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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In the middle, there are four pictures, one of a gentlemen,
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then water, then a fence with barbed wire on it,
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and then that of a woman. She's wearing orange flowered
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earrings and an orange top. And that is entitled on
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Migration Greece takes a Trumpian Turn by Anthony Faiola, Elinda
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Lapapulo and Mohammed l. Kama. And they are in Greece,
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and they are four people, one of twenty three year
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old from Egypt who went to Greece by boat when
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he was sixteen. The Aegean c which is the picture
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of the water which is off of Crete, an island
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that has seen a surgeon arrivals Alini Zavudal allays onto
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the migrant camp on crete and then the prison on
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an island or on a thing on the right hand side.
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By those four pictures, Bolton targeted in FBI searches, probe
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centers on classified data. Ex adviser became one of Trump's
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versust critics. By Jeremy Roebuck, Perry Stein, Issi Bara, and
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Laticia Beecham. Below the fold on the very far left,
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Maxwell told a DOJ Trump never acted improperly by Perry Stein,
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Jeremy Roebuck, and Theodore Rick Mayer. In the middle. Underneath
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the Olympian article under tightening, federal grip officers say their
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chief is absent. Pamela A. Smith faces criticism within DC
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Police amid the pressure of Trump's partial takeover. By Emily Davies,
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Jenny Gathwrite, Megan Flynn and Emma Uber. And there's a
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picture of DC Police Pamela A. Smith at an event
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Wednesday amid internal criticism. She said she remain engaged with
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her staff and there are big balloons with the DCPs
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and she is walking amongst a group of people. The
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DCPs balloons are popped up from the floor and then
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on the far right, Abrago freed, but Ice seeks to
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deport him to Uganda. Maria Schetti and Jeremy Roebarch wrote
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those articles. We'll start with the Bolton article. FBI searches
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home and office of former Trump national security advisor John Bolton.
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The search focused on whether Bolton, a staunch Trump critic,
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illegally possessed or shared classified information. People familiar with the
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investigation say, there is a picture of a nine to
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one one police car and Montgomery County Police officers outside
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the house of John Bolton, President Donald Trump's former national
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security advisor on Friday yesterday, and you see a picture
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of a normal street with the house across the way,
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cars in the driveway and the mailbox by Jeremy Roebuck,
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Perry stein, Izi Pebara and Letitia Beechum. FBI agents on
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Friday searched the Washington area home and office of Trump
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administration national security advisor John Bolton as part of an
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investigation into whether he illegally possessed or shared classified information.
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According to multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the matter.
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Those officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because
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they were not authorized to discuss the probe, said the
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investigation focused on allegations the Justice Department previously pursued during
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President Donald Trump's first term that Bolton divulged classified government
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material in its twenty twenty book. Another person familiar with
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the current inquiry said its scope extended beyond the long
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dormant probe to include other, more long running accusations that
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Bolton had leaked sensitive materials. Bolton, a veteran diplomat and
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security expert who has more recently emerged as one of
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the president's fiercest critics, was not at home at the
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time and has not been charged with the crime, the
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people familiar said. He said his attorney did not return
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calls seeking comment. Trump, speaking to reporters in Washington City,
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he had no prior knowledge of the investigation into Bolton
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or the search warrants agents executed Friday. I saw it
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on television this morning. I'm not a fan of John Bolton.
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He's a real sort of low life, Trump said, wearing
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a hat that read Trump was right about everything. He
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added later, the search could reveal that Bolton is a
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very unpatriotic guy. The investigation takes Bolton the latest of
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Trump's political enemies to find themselves targeted by a Justice
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Department probe. In recent months, federal investigators have launched criminal
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investigations into Trump critics, including New York Attorney General Letitia James,
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Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, former FBI Director James B. Comey,
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and XCIA director John Brennan. But the FBI search Friday
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suggested that the bureau's probe of Bolton may already be
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at a more advanced stage. To obtain a search warrant,
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a federal magistrate judge must agree that agents have probable
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cause to believe a crime occurred and that the location
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searched could contain evidence of wrongdoing. Outside Bolton's home in
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Montgomery County, Maryland, early Friday, police cars with flashing lights
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blocked off the street leading to the residents. Agents were
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on the scene for more than an hour. A crowd
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of TV cameras and protesters carrying signs reading Trump uses
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FBI for vengeance quickly gathered. Neighbor Gerald Rogell, an eighty
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three year old retired physician who described Bolton as not
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his favorite person in the neighborhood, questioned whether the ongoing
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search was an effort to use law enforcement in service
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of one of the president's longstanding grudges. I really don't
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like to see the Department of Justice weaponize for personal reasons,
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Rogell said. Later in the morning, a handful of agents
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with FBI insignior was seen entering the downtown Washington office
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building on m Street, where Bolton rents space. They emerged
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hours later, with at least one agent carrying a cardboard box,
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and did not respond to questions from reporters. Bolton left
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the building in a black SUV moments afterward, and arrived
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at his home roughly an hour later. He did not
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speak to reporters gathered outside. In a statement, an FBS
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spokesperson declined to climate on the comment on the searches,
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saying only that the bureau had been conducting court authorized
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activity in the area and there is no threat to
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public safety. At this time. Justice Department officials did not
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return requests for comment. However, several top officials appeared to
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cryptically reference the FBI search on social media. No one
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is above the law FBI agents on a mission, FBI
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director Cash Betel wrote in a post on x while
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agents were still at the scene, Attorney General Pam Bondi added,
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America's safety isn't negotiable. Justice will be pursued always. Vice
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President J. D. Vance, in an interview set to air
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Sunday on NVC's Meet the Press, acknowledged the existence of
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the investigation a breach of long standing norms in which officials,
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especially at the White House, keep silent about ongoing probes
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to avoid the appearance of politics influencing Justice Department activities.
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We're in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation
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into John Bolton, Vance said, I will say we're going
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to let that investigation proceed. Bolton, who served as US
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Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush,
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worked in Trump's first term as his third National security advisor.
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In twenty twenty, administration officials sought to block publication of
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the White House memoir Bolton wrote while chronicling his seventeen
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months in the role, alleging it claimed classified information. The
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best selling book, titled The Room Where It Happened, offered
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a withering portrait of Trump as an rator and stunningly
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uninformed leader. In the weeks leading up to the book's
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twenty twenty release, the Justice Department sued Bolton, seeking to
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prevent its publication and recoup its two million dollar advance.
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Bolton denied the book contains classified information, cited his cooperation
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with a lengthy pee publication government review, and added that
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he brought decades of experience working with secret material to
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the task. Ambassador Bolton emphatically rejects any claim that he
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acted improperly, let alone criminally, in connection with the publication
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of his book, and he will cooperate fully as he
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has throughout with any official inquiry into his conduct, his attorney,
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Charles G. Cooper, said at the time. A federal judge
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allowed the book to move forward, but said in his
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ruling that he was persuaded that the Bolton likely jeopardized
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national security interests by disclosing classified information in violation of
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his non disclosure agreement signed upon taking his job of
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the Trump administration. Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national
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security of the United States. US District Judge Royce Slambert
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wrote in a June twenty twenty opinion, he has exposed
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his country to harm and himself to civil and potentially
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criminal liability. After failing to halt publication, The Justice Department
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under then Attorney General William P. Barr, opened a criminal
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investigation in late twenty twenty into whether Bolton could be
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prosecuted for disclosing classified information. That invigation was closed without charges.
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In twenty twenty one, under President Joe Biden's administration, Trump
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himself was laid to charged with mishandling classified documents over
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papers he allegedly took to his Mari Lago estate after
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the conclusion of his first term. That case was thrown
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out by US District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in Florida,
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who ruled the special council investigating the probe had been
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improperly appointed. Since Trump's return to the White House this year,
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the president revoked Bolton's security clearances, along with those of
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dozens of other former intelligence officials. Trump also counseled Bolton's
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security detail, and Bolton has continually to loudly criticize Trump's
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foreign foreign policy. Asked earlier this month whether he was
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concerned that Trump administration was targeting him for retribution, Bolton
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told ABC News, I think it is a retribution presidency.
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Following Trump's summit with Russia President Vladimir Putin last week,
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over the ongoing war in Ukraine. Bolton told CNN he
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felt Putin clearly won and that Trump achieved very little
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and looked tired. Even as the agents descended on his home.
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Around seven am Friday, Bolton posted the X criticizing Trump's
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engagement with Putin over Ukraine, saying Trump wants a Nobel
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Peace Prize, but I don't see these talks making any progress.
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He did men not mention the then ongoing FBI raid,
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and it was unclear whether he'd previously scheduled that message
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for posting. It was also unclear Friday what sensitive material
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the FBI believe Bolton still possessed. To secure a conviction
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for unlawful possession of classified documents, prosecutors must show such
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materials were kept wilfully and not just accidentally. David Aaron,
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a former counter intelligence prosecutor who now works in private practice,
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said the legal threshold to convince the judge to authorize
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a search warrant was relatively low. It's one of the
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lowest standards in criminal cases. By design, the probable cause
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standed is designed to protect liberties but also allow investigations.
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The government has to provide enough facts to establish what
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the crime is and why there would be evidence in
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this location that the crime was committed, Aaron said. Trump
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told reporters he expected to be briefed on the investigation
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leader by BONDI what I tell Pam and what I
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tell the group, I don't want to know. You have
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to do what you have to do. I don't want
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to know about it, he said. He suggested, however, that
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he would have played a more active role in launching
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the investigation of Bolton if he will, I could be
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the one starting it, he said. I'm actually the chief
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law enforcement officer. But I feel like it's better this
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way later in the day, or I feel like it's
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better that way later in the day. Trump continued to
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discuss the Bolton search and reference to his own experience
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when agents rated mar Lago in twenty twenty two. They
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went through everything they could, including my young son's room,
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in my wife's area. They went through her draws. As
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the expression goes, the President told reporters in the OBAL office.
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So I know the feeling. It's not a good feeling.
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Powell says weaker labor market may merit rate cuts fueling
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stock rally. The FED chair says the Central Bank faces
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a challenging situation with higher costs from terror and signs
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of job weakness by Andrew Ackerman out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said on Friday that
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a slowing job market may warrant interest rate cuts in
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the future, but he also warned that President Donald Trump's
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trade policy still threatened to push inflation higher. Powell, delivering
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his final keynote at the Central Bank's Marquee Economic Conference
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here that is Jackson Hole, stopped short of outlining the
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possible timing for cuts. Though Trump has been pushing the FRED,
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which guards its independence carefully, to act for months, Inflation
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risks are still running high while the job market shows
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signs of softening. A challenging situation, Powell acknowledged the baseline
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outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting
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our policy stand Trump said in an event hosted by
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the Kansas City Fed, where Central Bank officials and global
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central bankers gave Pale a standing ovation. As he began
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his remarks, US markets rallied on the prospect of a
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rate cut, with all three major stock indexes climbing more
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than one point five percent. By the end of trading,
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the Dow Jones industrial average closed at a record new
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record high. Pal added that the FED could afford to
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proceed carefully since the job market, while softening, has seen
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generally stable unemployment rates and other labor market indicators. The
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bank's next meeting is in mid September. Even if the
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FED trim's borrowing costs this fall, Pal suggested that more
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cuts may not follow quickly, sidenting that the neutral rate
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at which federal policy neither stimulates nor restricts economic activity,
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is higher than it was before the pandemic, and therefore
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closer to the Central Bank's current rates. Pal said, we
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cannot say for certain where rates will satellite over the
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longer run, but their neutral level may now be higher
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than during the twenty tens, reflecting changes in productivity, demographics,
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physical policy, physical policy, and other factors that affect the
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balance between saving and interest, he said. He also appeared
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to defend the independence of the Fed's policy making in
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the face of Trump's pressure, saying the Bank's decisions would
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be based solely on incoming data. We will never deviate
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from that approach. The FED might not have as much
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room to cut interest rates as many people investors believe,
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because inflation is still a problem. According to John Hilsenroth,
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a senior advisor to stone X Group, a Wall Street
20:07
trading firm, that proceed carefully, phrase is important and intentional
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as a signal to markets to not get carried away
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into thinking that Fed is going to this next phase
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with all guns blaring, said hilsten Reth, also a visiting
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scholar at Duke University's Economics department who focuses on central
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bank issues. Financial markets aren't behaving as if interest rates
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are too hot. Stock indexes are closing a new record
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highs frequently. Other financial metrics, such as rates on junk bonds,
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suggest rates are actually relatively low. Current interest rates, which
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the Fed has left unchange all year at four point
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two five to four point five percent, are not off
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the historical levels. The median rate over the last seventy
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years was four point three percent, noted Hilsenrath. Powell now
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faces daily political pressure from the White House. Trump has
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demanded rape cuts that he said wolduce the economy and
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to help finance ballooning federal deficits. He has also threatened
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Powell's removal, and this week urged the resignation of FED
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Governor Lisa Cook over unsubstantiated mortgage fraud allegations, escalating a
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tax on a central bank that has long guarded its independence.
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I'll fire her if she doesn't resign, Trump told reporters Friday.
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Cook hasn't responded substantially to the accusations, but says she
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will not be bullied into stepping down. Paul does not
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have the Powell does not have the power to remove her,
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despite a request from a Justice Department official Thursday. Economic
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data have grown murkier since the fed's last policy meeting
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in late July, when two governors dissented from the overall
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decision for the first time in three decades, preferring to
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push for immediate cuts, even though the central bank left
22:17
rates steady. Just days after officials described the job market
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as solid, a negative employment report showed just seventy three
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thousand new jobs in July and revisions that erased two
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hundred and fifty eight thousand positions from earlier months. Hours
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aft of the report's release, Trump fired the head of
22:39
the agency behind the figures, falsely saying the numbers were
22:43
rigged against him. Meanwhile, inflation is still running above target,
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and many economists expect Trump's new tariffs to push prices
22:54
up even more. CORPS consumer prices would strip volatile food
23:01
and energy categories to give a clearer reading of underlying
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inflation rose three point one percent in July from a
23:08
year earlier, as more firms passed on higher rates higher
23:14
costs to consumers. Services prices also rose at their fastest
23:20
monthly pace this year once energy was excluded, suggesting the
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higher prices on imports could be starting to carry over
23:28
to healthcare, airfares, and other services, although it remains too
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early to know for certain. Meanwhile, tariffs are pushing up
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wholesale prices at the fastest pace in three years, Pals
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said Friday. The effects of tariffs on consumer prices are
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now clearly visible. We expect those effects to accumulate overcoming months,
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with high uncertainty about timing and amounts. The upshot is
24:00
that the Fed remains under pressure on both sides of
24:03
its dual mandate for maximum employment and low stable inflation,
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and the path forward isn't clear. As Powell enters the
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final months of his term as chair, which expires in May,
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He's really in this difficult situation, said Rob Waltener, fixed
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income stree strategist and head of macro research at Invesco,
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who said he expects the FEDS will nonetheless cut two
24:34
to three times this year into next. He wants to
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finish up his term and walk away as somebody who
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delivered a great outcome for the US economy and was
24:45
not swayed by politics. Though investors, expectations that the FED
24:50
will resume cutting next month grew higher on Friday money morning.
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FRED officials had appeared increasingly to added about what to do,
25:01
with many wary of rising price pressures The Central bank
25:06
short term benchmark rate strickle through the financial sector to
25:15
influence what millions of consumers and businesses pay for mortgages
25:19
and other types of loans. With the data that I
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have today, I do not see the case for cuts.
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Cleveland FED President Beth M. Hammock said in an interview
25:31
Thursday she remains concerned about inflation, which has been well
25:35
above the Fed's target for more than four years and
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stopped declining about a year ago. More recently, it has
25:43
begun to rise again. When the FED started a series
25:46
of rake cuts last September, inflation was declining, but The
25:50
Central Bank paused those cuts at the beginning of this year,
25:54
saying officials needed time to assess how Trump's trade and
25:58
other policies would weigh on the economy. Now, she said,
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the trend is in the wrong direction, not the right direction.
26:08
Boston Fed President Susan M. Collins, who has characterized her
26:13
approach as actively patient, declined to say how she might
26:18
vote in September with a month more of inflation and
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job's data, but she acknowledged the possibility of cuts if
26:26
the labor de market continues to soften. If I were
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to see in that data, it may soon be appropriate
26:35
to begin dialing back that modestly restrictive labor market stance
26:39
that we have, Colin said in a separate Thursday interview.
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Kilmar Obrago Garcia set free, but Ice threatens to deport
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him to Uganda. The man whose case has become a
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flashpoint in the Trump administration's deportation came and Paign has
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been released while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges by
27:06
Maria Sanchetti and Jeremy Roebuck Kilmore Abrego Garcia, the Maryland
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demand illegally deported to his native El Savador, has been
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released while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges. His attorneys
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said Friday a blow to the Trump administration, which had
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promised that he would never go free in the United
27:29
States again. Federal officials obeyed a pair of court orders
27:34
to release Abrego from jail in Tennessee, where he is
27:38
accused of smuggling migrants based on a twenty twenty two
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traffic stop in that state, and allowed him to return
27:45
to Maryland with orders to wear a GPS tracking device.
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He has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case. However,
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soon after his release, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified
27:59
Abrego that he could be deported to Uganda as soon
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as next week, according to two people with direct knowledge
28:06
of the information. He was also ordered to check in
28:10
Monday at a local ice office. A federal judge in
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Maryland previously ordered immigration officers to give Abrego seventy two
28:19
hours notice of his potential removal to a third country,
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a time frame that excludes weekends. His lawyers are expected
28:29
to challenge the possible removal. Uganda said Thursday that it
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had struck a temporary deal to accept immigrants deported from
28:39
the United States who cannot be sent to their home
28:42
countries for humanitarian or logistical reasons. Uganda's foreign ministry said
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it would not accept deportees with criminal records who are
28:52
miners traveling without their parents. The US government has been
28:56
increasingly trying to deport immigrants to alternate countries, such as
29:01
as to Swtini and South Sudan. Whiteheased spokeswoman Abigail Jackson
29:08
repeated the Trump administration's claims that Abrego is a gang
29:12
member and said his release was an insult to his victims.
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The Justice Department did not respond to her request for comment.
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Homeland Security Secretary Christie Ell, known last aared at activist
29:26
liberal judges in a statement on social media and called
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Abrego a monster. We will not stop fighting till this
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Salvadorian man faces justice and is out of our country,
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name wrote. The release is the latest development in an
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odyssey that began more than five months ago, when US
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immigration officers, under pressure to accelerate deportations, sent him in
29:52
nearly three hundred immigrants to a notorious prison for gang
29:55
members in the Old Sabadoor. Multiple judges found that Abrego's
30:00
removal violated a twenty nineteen court order forbidding his deportation
30:04
to that country because gangs had threatened to harm him.
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The Trump administration has been in a lengthy tug of
30:12
war with the federal courts ever since. Government lawyers described
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Abrego's deportation as an isolated era, but resisted rulings ordering
30:23
his return, even after the Supreme Court directed officials to
30:28
facilitate his return. Attorney General Pam Bondi said he was
30:33
not coming back to our country. Department of Homeland Securities
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spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in June that Abrego will never
30:43
go free on American soil, but US Magistrate Judge Barbara D.
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Holmes found that the government had failed to prove that
30:52
he was a flight to risk or danger to the community.
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She noted that the smuggling charges of the first criminal
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allegations ever fouled against Abrego, an undocumented immigrant who has
31:03
lived in Maryland for more than a decade with his
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wife and three children, all US citizens. Holmes imposed several
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conditions under Brego's release, including that he attend anger management
31:15
classes and live in an address provided to the court
31:19
out of June hearing. The judge also told him to
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avoid contact with members of the MS thirteen gang if
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you know any. Abrego's lawyers and family have denied that
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he is a gang member. Today, Kilma Abrego Garcia is free.
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Gene Hakka, his criminal defense lawyer, said in his statement
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he is presently en route to his family in Maryland
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after being unlawfully arrested and deported and then imprisoned, all
31:49
because the government's vindictive attack on a man who had
31:53
the courage to fight back against the administration's continuing assault
31:57
on the rule of law. Democratic lawmakers and supporters cheered
32:02
his release Friday. Senator Chris Van Holland, Democrat of Maine,
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who traveled to Elsavado in April to meet with Abrego,
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said in his statement that the US legal system had
32:15
worked its will and upheld the right to due process,
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but he cautioned that he expected the administration to continue
32:24
to underman Abrego's rights. We will continue fighting to see
32:30
them maintained, because due process in this case does not
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end with his release, he wrote. Officials returned Abrego thirty
32:40
to the US in June after securing an indictment against
32:43
him in Tennessee over migrant smuggling. His attorneys have called
32:47
the case a vindictive prosecution and asked to judge to
32:53
dismiss the charges. The Holmes initially ordered Abrego's release in June.
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Abrego's attorney for a stay on his release after immigration
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officers repeatedly stated they would immediately detain him and try
33:07
to deport him to another country, such as Mexico with
33:10
the South Sudan, a nation on the brink of war.
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The order delaying his release expired Friday. US District Judge
33:20
Paula Zinis in Maryland has forbidden the agency from immediately
33:25
detaining him. She also said officers must give him at
33:29
least three days notice that they intend to deport him
33:32
to a country other than his native El savadore Zin.
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This was the first federal judge to order the US
33:40
government to facilitate Abrego's return to the United States. A
33:45
criminal trial on the migrant smuggling charges had been scheduled
33:49
for January. If Ice follows threw on its threats to
33:54
deport Obrego, those charges could be dropped. Because he is
33:58
married to a US citizen, Abrago could be a candidate
34:01
for legal residency, though having that approved is likely to
34:06
be a challenge. Under the Trump administration, the government has
34:10
repeatedly noted that his wife twice filed for court protection
34:14
from him in Maryland, accusing him of abuse, though in
34:17
both cases she did not pursue the request passed the
34:21
initial filings. His wife, Jennifer Basquezsoora, said in interview that
34:27
Abrego was traumatized when immigration officers detained him for months
34:31
in twenty nineteen after a Prince Georgie's County Police detective
34:36
alleged Abrago was in the gang. The detective was later
34:40
fired from misconduct in an unrelated case. No charges were
34:45
filed against Abrago at the time. Basquez said the couple
34:49
addressed their differences through counseling. In March, immigration officials detained
34:54
Abrago again in Maryland after he picked up their youngest son,
34:58
who is autistic and non verbal. After work. Abrego was
35:02
also helping Vesquez raise her two other children and working
35:06
as a sheep metal apprentice. His wife has described the
35:10
trauma of the family separation on TikTok, posting videos of
35:14
their children's birthday parties without their father and their last
35:18
family owning to a trampoline park. She celebrated the release
35:22
last month of Venezuelan Salvadore in prison along with Abrego
35:27
in March, but she said that her daughter asked for
35:30
her father to come home for her birthday party last month,
35:34
and that it broke her heart to tell the girl
35:36
he could not. She posted photos of her daughter in
35:39
a party dress and a toy emotional support bear named Kilmark.
35:46
Albrego's family sued in Maryland to bring him back to
35:49
the US, and his attorneys argued that Trump administration has
35:53
put him in danger by making him the face of
35:56
its mass deportioned campaign. The lawyers said in a court
36:01
filing that he and the other migrants sent to al
36:04
Savado's Terrorism confinement Center were severely beaten and forced to
36:08
kneel for nine straight hours upon their arrival. Kassa, an
36:13
immigrants active advocacy group that has supported Abrego's family, shared
36:19
photos and videos showing him reuniting with his family. After
36:23
his release, he stepped through a doorway decorated with shimmery
36:27
restreamers and was greeted by a dozen relatives and activists
36:31
who cheered and embraced him. Today I am grateful to
36:36
God because he has hurt me, and today I am out,
36:40
he said in a statement. We are steps closer to justice,
36:45
but justice has not been fully served. I'm now going
36:50
into the paper to read Florida ordered to dismantle Alligator
36:56
Alcatraze over environmental impact. The ruling, which gives the state
37:02
sixty days to act, comes as Governor Ron de Santis
37:06
plans to convert a prison in North Florida into a
37:10
second immigrant detention site. And there's a picture of the
37:16
Florida Epiglades work progressing in early July on the new
37:21
immigrant detention facility dubbed Alligeda Alcatraz. This is by Laurie Rosa.
37:29
A federal judge in Miami gave the State of Florida
37:33
sixty days to clear out the immigration detention facility called
37:37
Alligeda Alcatraz, handing environmentalists and the Muscoscogee tribe of Indians
37:44
a win after they classed with Governor Ron de Santis, Republican,
37:49
over the environmental impacts the makeshift site was having in
37:53
the federally protected Epigades. The ruling late Thursday from US
37:59
District Judge Kathleen Williams, which forbids state officials from moving
38:04
any other migrants there, deals a blow to what had
38:08
become a Marquis, symbol of President Donald Trump's immigration policy.
38:14
The environmentalist who sued called it a huge relief for
38:19
millions of people who loved the Everglades. This brutal detention
38:23
center was burning a hole in the fabric of life
38:26
that supports our most iconic Westland and a whole host
38:30
of endangered species, from majestic Florida panthers to wizened wood storks.
38:36
The judge's order came just in time to stop it
38:41
all from unraveling. Attorney, a least beenant of the Cene
38:46
for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. The date filed
38:51
a notice of appeal with the US Court of Appeals
38:54
for the Eleventh Circuit less than an hour after the
38:57
judge issued her order. At a news conference in Panama
39:02
City on Friday, DeSantis said Williams upset the upper cart
39:06
with her ruling. He said the state is working on
39:09
converting an old prison in North Florida into a migrant
39:13
detention center. This is not going to deter us. DeSantis said,
39:19
We're going to continue working on the deportations advancing that mission.
39:24
We knew that this would be coming, would be something
39:28
that would likely happen in July, Trump and Homeland Security
39:34
Secretary Christi ill Known toured the facility of Trailer's Intents,
39:38
erected with chain link fencing atop an old airstrip intended
39:43
for what Trump described as the most vicious migrants. By
39:47
detaining them there, we're going to teach them how to
39:51
run away from an alligator. We are surrounded by miles
39:54
of treacherous swampland, and the only way is really deportation,
39:59
Trump's said. But it was the location the state chose
40:03
that plagued the facility from the start, according to critics.
40:07
In her ruling, Williams said that an environmental assessment was
40:11
required before the site was erected in the Everglades, but
40:16
the defendants chose not to do so, despite what DeSantis
40:21
described as a facility that would have zero impact on
40:25
the surrounding wetlands. Williams cited expert testimony and said the
40:30
project will have considerable environmental impacts and should have been
40:35
reviewed by relevant federal agencies. The project creates an irreparable
40:41
harm in the form of habitat loss and increased mortality
40:45
to endangered species in the area, including the Florida panthers,
40:50
she wrote her order expands the pause on new construction
40:54
that was part of a temporary restraining order two weeks ago,
40:58
and directs the date eight and federal governments and contractors
41:02
to begin dismantling the center, including fencing, lighting, generators, and
41:07
all the waste receptacles that were installed to support this project.
41:14
The isolated airstrip sits deep in the Big Cypress National
41:18
Preserve near the border with Everglades National Park. A ten
41:23
four hundred and ninety nine foot runway is all that
41:25
remains of a nineteen sixties plan to build the world's
41:29
largest airport. Environmentalists, led by renowned Everglades con conservationists Marjorie
41:37
Stoneman Douglas, managed to thwart the project and get the
41:41
federal government to protect nearly a million wetland acres. The
41:46
organization Douglas created to fight the jetport, Friends of the Everglades,
41:51
was among the group that sued over Alligeda Alcatraz. For today,
41:56
we are cautiously optimistic in celebrating this preliminium. Win Eve Samples,
42:02
executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said during a
42:06
virtual news conference Friday. We know that we will have
42:10
to fight hard on appeal we believe we have a
42:13
very incompelling case. The site has no electricity, so everything
42:19
is powered by generators, including portable air conditioners. Drinking and
42:24
bathing water has to be trucked in and sewerage, trash
42:28
and wastewater trucked out. Environmentalist and the Niskosugi Tribe sued
42:36
under the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies
42:41
to prepare detailed statements assessing the environmental impact of and
42:48
alternatives to major federal actions significantly affecting the environment. There
42:55
is a picture on August tenth a vigil of protest
43:00
assuring support for immigrants detained at the Alligator Acatras facility
43:05
in Ochobee Ochope, Florida, and there are signs of saying
43:11
alcatraze is inhumane and close Alligator Alcatraz. William's order specifies
43:20
that the state must remove fencing that blocks members of
43:23
the muscok S tribe from using the land as they've
43:27
been accustomed to, and noted the potential harm to them
43:31
from pollution. Eighty percent of the tribe's residences, two schools,
43:36
and the tribal government building are all located in the
43:39
Muskosugi Reserved Area, A few miles southeast of the T
43:43
and T site in Miami Dade County. The order states
43:49
this increased runoff risks creates risks of carcinogens entering the
43:55
tribe's water supply and of sediment and nutrients impacting the
43:58
plant and wildlife in the areas within Miami Dade that
44:03
the tribe uses for hunting, fishing, and gathering certain plants.
44:08
Miss Kosugi chairman Talbot Cypress said he welcomed the order.
44:13
This is not our first fight for our land and
44:16
our rights, Cyprus said in a statement posted on social media,
44:21
adding the Muskosugi Tribe remains fast in their commitment to
44:26
protect our ancestral lands in Big Cypress from development as
44:30
a permanent detention facility. The first tents and detention cages
44:36
went up on June twenty third, after the state seized
44:39
the property from Miami Dade County under a two year
44:43
old emergency order issued by DeSantis. He said he wanted
44:47
Alligator Alcatraz to be a force multiplier for Trump's aggressive
44:52
crackdown on undocumented immigrants. It would hose up to five
44:57
thousand men and women awaiting deportation of according to the governor,
45:01
Though to date, its greatest count has been about one
45:04
thousand people. US Representative Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, visited
45:09
weindesday to try to meet relatives of constituents and said
45:13
act with that only three hundred and forty six men
45:16
were there. A separate lawsuit of a detainee's legal rights
45:21
brought by the ACLU and other groups, was in part
45:24
dismissed least Friday, when US District Judge RODOLPHO. Ruez ruled
45:30
some of their claims moot. He then moved the remainder
45:34
of the case to a different jurisdiction. Jeremy Redfern, a
45:38
spokesman for Florida Attorney General James Oathmaya, noted on social
45:43
media late Thursday that Ruez had concluded the detainee's suit
45:49
in the wrong venue. This date made a similar claim
45:52
in the environmental case, but Williams rejected it once again.
45:57
She overstepped her authority, and we will appool appealed this
46:01
unlawful decision, read Fern wrote. NOMES spokeswoman Tricia McLachlin called
46:07
Williams an activist judge. We have the law of the
46:11
facts and common sense on our side. McLoughlin said in
46:15
an email statement Friday. Dozens of hosts and Senate Democrats
46:20
pressed NOME this week for more details about the facility
46:24
and the Department's role in supporting it. Given that DHS
46:30
is working directly with the Florida State government on a
46:33
detention facility with alarming implications, DHS should ensure transparency and
46:41
accountability surrounding the facility's financing operations. Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat
46:48
of Oregon, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida, and
46:54
sixty three other Democrats wrote in a letter to the
46:57
Secretary and other administration officials. The governor maintained from the
47:02
start that the Everglades will eventually overtake the site once
47:06
the state ends the temporary operation. The Florida Division of
47:11
Emergency Managements, an agency usually tasked with natural disaster preparation,
47:17
built the facility in eight days. Environmentalists presented photos and
47:23
other evidence in court that showed the state paved over
47:26
at least twenty adjacent acres of wetlands. Security lighting there
47:31
turned a dark sky international location, one of only two
47:35
in the southeast, into a brightly lit compound visible from
47:39
fifteen miles away. A July ninth preliminary ecological assessment by
47:46
a state contractor noted at least ten endangered or threatened
47:50
species in the area, including the everglade snail, kite, wood storks,
47:56
and the bonneted bat. The Disantis ad Minister Station said
48:00
in court documents that the steady determined that the study
48:04
determined there would not be meaningful impacts on species native
48:10
to the area. Attorneys for the state wrote that contractors
48:14
who built the site installed stilt fences and forty speed
48:18
bumps on the road service road leading to the facility.
48:22
A drainage basin to provide further protection for surrounding wetlands
48:27
was under construction. They noted. Williams, who was appointed to
48:32
the bench by President Barack Obama, issued her initial restraining
48:36
order on August seventh. Last week, the scientists moved to
48:41
convert an old prison in North Florida into a second
48:44
emigration immigrant detention site, which he named Deportation Depot. Some
48:51
Democratic law makers said the announcement signaled that the state
48:55
was worried about having to close down Alligator Alcatras and
48:59
found a place for the detainees there. The cost of
49:03
converting the prison will be six million dollars, state officier said.
49:07
They said the cost of building and operating our alligat
49:11
Alcatraz was an estimated four hundred and fifty million dollars.
49:18
Back to the front page. Gislaine Maxwell tells Justice Department
49:23
she never saw Trump acting appropriately. He was a gentleman
49:27
into all respects, the imprisoned Jeffrey Epstein associate said during
49:32
a two day interview last month by Perry Stein, Jeremy Roebuck,
49:38
and Theodoric Mayer. Jeffrey Epstein's imprisoned associate, Gislaine Maxwell, told
49:44
the Justice Department in an interview last month that she
49:48
admired President Donald Trump and never observed him receiving massages
49:53
or acting inappropriately. According to transcripts released Friday, I never
49:59
witnessed the press in any inappropriate setting in any way.
50:03
The President was never inappropriate with anybody in the times
50:06
that I was with him. He was a gentleman in
50:09
all respects, Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during
50:15
two days of interviews in Tallahassee, where she was serving
50:19
a twenty year sentence for sex trafficking. Early in the interview,
50:23
Blanche asked Maxwell about her in Epstein's relationships with Trump.
50:28
Maxwell said she was friendly with the president and admired
50:31
him from the time she met him in the nineteen nineties.
50:34
President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,
50:38
Maxwell said, and I just wanted to say that I
50:41
found I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now,
50:46
and I like him and I've always liked him. Such
50:50
answers were typical of Maxwell's responses in hundreds of pages
50:54
of transcripts and audio recordings that the Justice Department released Friday. Maxwell,
51:00
who is convicted in twenty twenty one of helping Epstein
51:03
groom traffic and abuse dozens of underage girls, is asking
51:08
the Supreme Court to hear her appeal of her sex
51:11
traffic and conviction, and her lawyer has repeatedly discussed the
51:15
possibility of a pardon. Trump, meanwhile, has been seeking the
51:20
distance himself from his prior relationship with Epstein that is
51:24
fueled questions about whether he was aware of Epstein's crimes.
51:29
Trump has denied any such knowledge. Whether the public will
51:33
be satisfied with Friday's release of information, which also included
51:38
documents released under subpoena to a House Oversight Committee remains
51:42
to be seen. Those materials have yet to be publicly released. Meanwhile,
51:47
the government previously said that Maxwell lied repeatedly under oath
51:52
leading up to her twenty twenty one trial, and legal
51:55
experts say she now has a strong interest in telling
51:59
the government what it wants to heal. As the first
52:02
day's interview concluded, Maxwell asked if she could add something
52:06
to the record. I think the President got swept up
52:10
into some of this unnecessarily. By the way. I'm not
52:14
a conspiracy theorist, and I certainly don't subscribe to anything
52:19
that I see, but I do believe that there is
52:23
an animus in some areas that may have contributed to
52:27
the use of the president to harm him that I
52:30
find deeply offensive, Maxwell said, And it wasn't just Trump.
52:36
While Blanche repeatedly asked Maxwell about Epstein's links to dozens
52:40
of other prominent people, including former President Bill Clinton, Maxwell
52:45
offered no incriminating testimony about any of them. A spokesperson
52:49
for Clinton did not immediately respond to her request for
52:53
comment Friday, but has said in the past that Clinton
52:56
knew nothing of Epstein's crimes. Maxwell said and she was
53:00
the one who had a close relationship with Clinton, not Epstein.
53:04
And she never saw the former president receive massages fuemmen
53:08
associated with Epstein or visit Epstein's properties. I didn't see
53:13
President Clinton being interested in Epstein. He was just a
53:17
rich guy with a plane, Maxwell said. The interview in
53:22
late July came as the Trump administration was attempting to
53:26
quell the widespread fura over its handling of high profile
53:30
Epstein investigation. Trump's far white base grew furious after the
53:36
Justice Department released a memoir on July seventh saying it
53:40
would reneg on earlier promises and not disclose any more
53:44
materials from its trench of Epstein investigatory files. Fueled by
53:51
rampant conspiracy theories online and Attorney General Pam Bondi's past
53:56
statements that she had an Epstein client list sit on
54:00
my desk right now to review, many people believed that
54:04
the government was concealing information to protect powerful people who
54:08
associated with Epstein. Democrats criticized the administration for failing to
54:14
release the documents and mocked host Republicans for leaving Washington
54:18
early to avoid dealing with a controversy at one point
54:22
during the interview, Blanche asked whether Epstein maintained a client list,
54:27
a rooster of famous people he knew. Maxwell responded, there
54:32
is no list. There is nothing like that. She described
54:36
a copy of Epstein's so called black book with several
54:40
marked names that was introduced as evidence at her trial
54:44
and previously released by the Justice Department as papers. She
54:49
was asked again and denied there was such a list,
54:52
adding I'm not aware of any blackmail. I never heard that,
54:55
I never saw it. I never imagined it. Asked whether
54:59
she any knowledge of possible ties between Epstein and foreign
55:03
intelligent agencies, including Israel's Masade, Maxwell told Blanche she did not,
55:10
but I wouldn't know. She added, I mean I would
55:13
be very surprised if he did. Asked of it a
55:16
long list of other men, Maxwell had a ready answer.
55:20
I just want to be clear that anybody every reported
55:24
anything illegal or disgusting like that, I would immediately done something,
55:29
she said. She added, I never heard it, I never
55:33
saw it, and no one ever, ever, ever, ever complained
55:36
to me. Blanche said during the interview that it was
55:40
just a conversation and not what is known as a
55:42
cooperation agreement in which the government would seek to promise
55:46
to seek leniency on Maxwell's behalf in exchange for her interview.
55:51
If she lied, Blanche said prosecutors could charge her with
55:54
making false statements. Days after the interview, Maxwell was transferred
55:59
to a minimum security prison in Texas. Maxwell's attorney, David
56:05
Oscar Marcus, said Maxwell answered every question truthfully. He maintained
56:10
that she is innocent and that her prosecution served as
56:14
a scapegoat. After Epstein's twenty nineteen death in prison while
56:18
awaiting trial that was ruled a suicide, Glaine asked, well,
56:24
is innocent and she never should have been tried, much
56:27
less convicted in this case. She never committed or participated
56:32
in sexual abuse against minors or anyone else for that matter,
56:37
Marcus said in a statement Friday, adding the materials newly
56:41
released by the Department of Justice make this clear. Asked
56:46
about Epstein's twenty nineteen death, Maxwell said she dieded official
56:51
the official finding of suicide. I do not believe he
56:55
died by suicide, no, she said, adding that she believed
57:00
he was murdered by another inmate over an internal prison dispute.
57:05
She expressed kepticism about the baseless theory advanced by some
57:09
conspiracy theorist that Epstein had been killed by powerful people
57:14
seeking to silence him before he could expose their complicency
57:18
in his crimes, calling any such talk ludicrous. If that's
57:24
what they wanted, they would have had plenty of opportunity
57:27
when he wasn't in jail, she said, And if they
57:31
were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would
57:35
have been a very easy target. And that does conclude
57:41
the reading of Today's Washington Post for Saturday eight twenty three,
57:46
twenty five. Thank you for listening, and please continue listening
57:52
to programming on RADIOI in the next couple of well,
57:57
continue program over the weekend, and I will be back
58:01
next Thursday.