Transcript

7.14.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, July fourteenth. As a reminder,
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RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton,
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and it's Monday, and by listener request, we usually start
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by reading Paul Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Hair Leader. Well,
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I guess Paul is on vacation because there was not
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an article by him on Sunday, So let's jump right
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to the Washington Post and today's news. And the first
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article today is Epstein. Outcry prompts warning to Trump from
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MAGA leaders. A huge risk at Turning Points gathering of
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young Trump supporters. Movement leaders warned the White House to
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pay attention to anger about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and
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other a gathering of some of President Trump's most devout
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supporters young conservatives spending a summer weekend strategizing on how
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to further the MAGA movement. A cloud hung over the
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convention center. Attendees of Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit
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erupted in booze over the Trump administration's handling of files
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related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased child predator. Top MAGA
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leaders criticized the White House from stage and on their
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wide reaching social media accounts throughout the weekend, attacking not
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only Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi for declining to release
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more on the investigation and potential Epstein associates, but raising
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questions about why the President seemed to be out of
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step with his base. The concerns raised at the conference
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followed days of conservative foement that continued to build over
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the weekend, fueling anxiety among Trump allies that conspiracy theories
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surrounding Epstein, widely promoted by Trump and administration officials before
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they took office, will continue to haunt them. Even Trump's
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preferred cable network, Fox News, raised a warning Sunday morning,
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with Fox and Franzos Charles Hurt saying the White House
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needed to provide more answers. There has to be some explanation,
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Hurt said, and I think that's why you have a
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lot of people still with a lot of very valid questions.
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Anchor Kevin Cork and co host Rachel Campos Duffy, the
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wife of Trump's Transportation Sary Secretary Sean P. Duffy agreed
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that his supporters needed a more substantive response. Trump has
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been undeterred, doubling down in support of bond and issuing
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a rare rebuke to his base, calling on them to
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cease asking questions about a conspiracy theory that many and
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MAGA see as central to exposing the deep state and
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bringing transparency to Washington. His defiance has only further ignited
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anger among some of Trump's most loyal supporters, raising questions
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about whether the fracture will do lasting damage to Trump's coalition.
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What's going on with my boys and in some cases
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gals and Maga? Trump posted The Social Truth on Saturday night,
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dismissing his supporter's calls for Bondie's ouster by writing that
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she was doing a fantastic job and that he wanted
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his administration to focus on other issues. We have a
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perfect administration, the talk of the world, and selfish people
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are trying to hurt it all over a guy who
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never dies. Jeffrey Epstein. Trump wrote the gen Z audience
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inside the Tampa Convention Center this weekend, wearing a mix
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of T shirts and shorts sport coats and ties represented
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a demographic that swung notably toward Trump in November and
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helped him return to office. The crowd was thrilled Trump
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was back in the Lighthouse, but their reactions at times
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showed that they weren't all thrilled about everything Trump was
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doing there. Some prominent conservative voices at the gathering worried
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that a dynamic would cost the Trump movement in the
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next year's elections and beyond, as they sought to raise
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alarms nine hundred miles away in Washington, the excitement I
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saw among younger voters could be diffused, said Charlie Kirk,
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the thirty one year old founder of Turning Point USA,
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in an interview with The Washington Post, likening it to
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air out of a balloon. Do I think that this
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is the end of maga? No? I never said that,
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Kirk continued. Do I think the extra ten to fifteen
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percent of less inclined to vote bros that are trading
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crypto and wake up at two pm every day? Do
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I think they're going to be like, screw it? Yeah,
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that's a huge risk across age demographics. Some of Trump's
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most dedicated supporters are also uneasy about the White House's
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decision to keep sending US weapons to Ukraine, and disappointed
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by the prospect that immigration raids might spare some sectors
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of the economy. At the turning point gathering, attendees were
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especially bothered by the Epstein situation. Crowds of young, devout
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conservatives still lined up to make donations to receive forty
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seven hats, and cheered as photos flashed on screen of
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Trump's mugshot of him raising his fist after surviving an
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assassination attempt, of him waving from a McDonald's drive through window.
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They did the Trump Dance as YMCA played, and they
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gave frequent standing ovation as speaker's championed aspects of the
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president's agenda, such as securing the border and opposing woke ideology.
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But other moments revealed that issues were bubbling under the
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surface of the movement. As Fox News host Laura Ingram
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explained it, how many of you are satisfied with the
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results of the Epstein investigation, Ingram asked to resounding booze.
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She asked the same question about Trump continuing to send
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weapons to Ukraine and offering deportation harveouts for migrant workers
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in farm and hospitality sectors. More booze rang out each time.
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The White House officials and Trump have argued that a
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small but vocal minority of his supporters were upset over Epstein,
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though the outcry on social media and everywhere else has
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been difficult for his advisers to ignore. Kirkworned that Trump's newer,
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young male supporters are especially rankled by what they see
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as a lack of transparency on Epstein. Their trust of
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government is zero, Kirk said the only reason they were
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able to succumb themselves to engaging was because of Trump.
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He jokingly described young Trump voting men as becoming the
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lost Boys of MAGA, saying that they're more likely to
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merely become politically disengaged because of mass cis than they
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are tevere to the left and become card carrying members
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of the Mandani movement, referring to Zoran Mondomni, the Democratic
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Socialist mayoral candidate in New York. Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson
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for the White House, said that Trump is keeping his
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promises to his Maga bass on a daily basis, and
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that the GOP under Trump is more unified than ever.
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Jackson said Trump will never stop listening to the voices
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of his closest allies and delivering for the American people.
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But the prospect that the White House might alienate key
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segments of the movement that returned Trump to Washington was
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a constant theme in speeches from some of the biggest
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commentators in MAGA politics. This could actually cost Trump in
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the mid terms. Conservative podcaster and former Fox host Meghan
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Kelly said, as she spent more than a half an
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hour railing against Bondy, we can't lose any of the magabase.
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Former Senior White House advisor Stephen K. Bannon, taping his
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daily podcast from a small stage at the Convention Center
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Friday morning, was even more alarmed. It's deeper than Epstein,
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Bannon shouted as a crowd gathered around him. The administration's
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refusal to release more on the investigation of Epstein's potential
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ties to power, as it had once been promised to do,
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is not just about a pedophile ring and all that.
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It's about who governs us for this to go away.
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Fired up, Bannon continued, telling his producers they would have
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to blow through the scheduled commercial break. You're going to
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lose ten percent of the MAGA movement. If we lose
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ten percent of the MAGA movement right now, we're going
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to lose forty seats in twenty six and we're going
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to lose the presidency. They don't even have to steal it.
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Tucker Carlson, another former Fox News host, said the official
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response to criticism over Epstein reminded him of the Biden administration.
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The fact that the US government, the one that I
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voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead
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said case closed, shut up, conspiracy theorist was too much
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for me, and I don't think the rest of us
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should be satisfied with that. Carlson said, it wasn't all
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doom and gloom from the stage. Trump's administration was well
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represented at the gathering, and his son, Donald Trump Junior,
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a longtime friend of Kirk's, was among the speakers praising
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the work of Turning Point. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, also
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a former Fox News host, pitched the young audience on
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a career in the middle, touting the administration's spikes and
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enlistment numbers since January. Borders are Tom Homan spoke Saturday night,
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as did Homeland Secretary of security, Christy L. Noom, and
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most young supporters in the crowd said they were still
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happy overall with Trump. Mingling among tables selling Magathmee coffee,
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Stay Awake, Not Woke, based in nutrition, liver supplements, and
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Birthright prenatal vitamins, said they had no plans to leave
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the movement. The last two weeks have been both a
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great surge with the big beautiful Bill and then sort
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of a bit of a drop off with all the
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other stuff, said Alex Pina, a twenty four year old
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from Tampa who works in education, wearing a cowboy hat
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pattern like the American flag. A child of Cubans who
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said he immigrated legally Pinia too, who was opposed to
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Trump offering safety from deportations for some migrant workers. He
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was flummoxed over the Epstein announcement, and he described Trump's
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continuation of Ukraine military ETI is the same stuff we
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were complaining about under Biden. Vince Smith, an eighteen year
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old from Redwood City, California, who was preparing to begin
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studying construction management at Virginia Tech in the fall, said
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he was impressed by Trump's campaign social media strategy last
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year and how it organically fit with what teenagers were
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already seeing online. I'd say a larger subset of youth
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is worried more about America First style policy. So just
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ensuring that they stay on track with that and that
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sort of happens in parallel to anything that might be
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more controversial, Well, that's really important. Miss Smith said. Trump's
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base has proved resilient, handing him the twenty twenty four
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presidential nomination after a period of political uncertainty in the
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wake of his twenty twenty loss and the January sixth,
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twenty twenty one attack on the US Capitol, even though
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some formidable Republicans try to stop him. But now that
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Trump is back in the White House with wider coalition,
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tech workers in Silicon Valley, more Latino voters and black men,
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longtime liberals disenchanted by the democrats handling of COVID restrictions
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and vaccine requirements, and young men not previously engaged with
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Republican politics, it remains to be seen whether they'll all
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stay in the magafold for good if we do not
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improve the material conditions of the younger voters and do
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it quickly. The Mandami effort whilst effect will spread. Kirk
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told the Post, calling on Trump's GOPI to make a
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big statement by instituting a We're going to build ten
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million homes Marshall Plan type thing to address affordability. From
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on stage, Kirk celebrated the gains that his and other
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organizations made in persuading young people to support Trump. Gen
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Z was making all the Liberals confused over their shift
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away from the Democratic Party, he said, describing it as
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the greatest generational realignment since Woodstock. We turned that red
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magahat from a symbol that everyone was afraid to wear
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back in twenty sixteen, Kirk said, where now in twenty
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twenty four we turned that into a symbol of hope,
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into a symbol of optimism, of patriotism and taking back
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our country. And the next story. Democratic fissure over Israel
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hits a moderate swing state. Democrats in North Carolina are
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engaged in a bitter fight after the state Party condemned
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Israel for apartheid rule, exposing an internal rift in a
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moderate swing state that is festering nationally and could complicate
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the party's plans for the twenty twenty six midterm elections.
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The narrow approval. A strongly worded party resolution late last
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month called for an arms embargo on the US ally
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comes after two other state parties adopted similar measures, and
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Democratic voters in New York chose a long time critic
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of Israel as their nominee for mayor. A crowded Senate
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primary in Michigan, where many Democrats withheld their votes to
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protest Israel policy during last year's presidential primary, could open
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another avenue for the party's disputes to emerge. The disparate
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places where the debate is flaring southern and Midwestern states,
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as well as deep blue coastal cities, reveal a deepening
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tension between the party's base and its elected leaders. Some
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are warning that the intractable foreign policy issue threatens to
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distract the party from developing a cohesive message about the
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economy and other issues that connect with the largest swath
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of voters. Any Time Democrats are dealing with this issue,
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they're not working on electing other Democrats, said Amy Bloch Deluche,
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a vice president of the Jewish Caucus of the North
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Carolina Democratic Party. And it's a problem. The state party's
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executive committee passed the resolution June twenty eighth. The same weekend,
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Senator Tom Tillis, the Republican of North Carolina, broke with
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President Trump on his tax and immigration bill and announced
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he would not run for a third term. Grats seized
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on the announcement, but didn't put as much attention on
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it as they otherwise might have because they were still
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squabbling with one another over the Israel resolution. Trump has
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offered near unconditional support to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
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and his right wing government, claiming last year that any
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Jewish person who votes for Democrats hates their religion, while
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using a broad fight against anti Semitism to clap down
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on universities and protesters. Internal democratic divisions over Israel hampered
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party unity and depressed young voter enthusiasm last year's During
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the presidential campaign, as Israel struck back at Hamas for
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its surprise murderous attack on October seventh, twenty twenty three,
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critics of Israel occupied college campuses across the United States.
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Demonstrators heckel Democratic candidates. Activists called for Democrats to cast
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protest votes during the presidential primaries in Michigan, more than
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one hundred thousand Democrats, thirteen percent of primary voters declared
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themselves uncommitted in the state's presidential primary to signal their
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displeasure with President Biden's policy on Israel, and Trump went
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on to win Michigan and every other swing battleground state.
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Democrats' differences over Israel have continued to smolder, they ignited.
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Last month, some Democrats expressed dismay that their party nominated
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Zorn Madani for mayor of New York. Mamdani, who is Muslim,
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declined to comment and condemn the slogan globalized the Infantata,
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which some Jews call as a view as a call
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to violence against them in many Palestinians, sated his support
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for their struggle for our homeland. Critics have called such
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language particularly troubling after Jews were attacked in d C, Boulder, Colorado,
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and elsewhere. Republicans have had their own intraparty fights over
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Israel and the United States role on the world stage,
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particularly after Trump authorized the bombing of Iran last month.
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Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran soon afterward,
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and hosted Netanyahu at the White House this week as
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he sought a ceasefire in Gaza In a March poll
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by the Pew Research Center, fifty three percent of US
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adults expressed an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from forty
19:53
two percent in March of twenty twenty two, before the
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conflict began. Democrat had a worse view of Israel than Republicans,
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with sixty nine percent of Democrats expressing an unfavorable opinion
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compared with thirty seven percent of Republicans. Democrats, in a
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May survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs gave
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Israel an average rating of forty one on one hundred
20:22
point scale and eleven point decline since twenty twenty two,
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and the lowest rating in forty seven years of polling.
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More than two thirds of Democrats said the United States
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should not take a side in the conflict between Israel
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and the Palestinians. Twenty percent said it should take the
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Palestinian side, and ten percent said it should take israel side.
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Raim Subai, who heads the Arab caucus of the North
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Carolina Democratic Party, said she pushed for the arms embargo
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resolution because it is not only morally correct but also
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sound politics. We see this as an issue that is
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uniting and bringing in more voters to the Democratic parties, who,
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by said, this vote here at the North Carolina Democratic
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Party is an invitation to those who have walked away
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from the party, who have walked away from voting altogether
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into the past election. Halle Sofer, CEO of the Jewish
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Democratic Council of America, disputed such claims, noting that Representatives
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Jamal Bowman, Democrat of New York and Corey Bush Democratic
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Missouri lost their primaries last year to candidates who backed Israel.
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Sofer's groups supported their opponents, as did the super Pack
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of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It's actually this
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resolution is more the outlier than anything else. So For
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said of the North Carolina measure. At least two other
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state parties have passed resolutions similar to North Carolinas, though
22:12
in more measured tones. The Wisconsin Democratic Party adopted one
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last month that set its base is overwhelmingly supportive of
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the restricting weapons to Israel. The Washington State Democratic Party
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approved one last year that called on the state's congressional
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delegation to demand that military assistance to Israel fully comply
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with a law that bars aid to countries that violate
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human rights. The resolution in North Carolina said the state
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party supports an immediate embargo on all military aid, weapons shipments,
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and military logistical support to Israel that should remain in
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place until the international and other rights groups certify that
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Israel is no longer engaged in apartheid rule. Supporters said
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the party's executive committee approved at one hundred and sixty
23:14
one to one hundred and fifty one. Opponents said they
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believed there were three more votes against the measure, but
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acknowledged it had passed by a small margin. The resolution
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is non binding, and opponents said its only effect was
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to put the Democrats in fighting on display. Democratic candidates
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and officeholders won't change their positions on Israel, and the
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resolution takes energy from campaigning against Republicans, said former Congresswoman
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Kathy Manning, Democrat of North Carolina, chair of the Democratic
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Majority for Israel. Supporters of the resolution need to reflect
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on what's happening. When opponents said aid to Israel gained
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momentum during Michigan's presidential primary, she said the end result
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in part is Donald Trump won the state of Michigan,
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Manning said, and how are people feeling about that? Republicans meanwhile,
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are reveling in the Democrats' divisions and painting them as
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opposing the United States, chief ally in the Middle East.
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The radical left continues to drive misguided anti Israel and
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America last policies. Matt Mercer, a spokesman for the North
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Carolina Republican Party, sent in a statement. North Carolina Senate
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race is viewed as one of the Democrats' best opportunities
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for picking up a seat next year, and Democrats have
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been energized by Tillis's decision to retire. Former Congressman Wiley
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Nickel entered the Democratic primary April, and party members are
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waiting to see whether former Governor Roy Cooper also gets
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in the race. Nichol called the party resolution extreme and
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said cutting off defensive weapons to Israel would amount to
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a death sentence for thousands. In the House, Nicol voted
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for a bipartisan aid package for Israel and against a
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Republican one, and said he takes a nuanced view on
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US policy there. If I were in the US Senate
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right now, with what I see from Netanyahu and Trump,
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I would be hard pressed to vote for some offensive
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weapons to Israel, he said. Cooper, who has won five
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statewide elections would be the instant front runner in the
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Democratic primary, and Nichol said he would have to decide
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whether to stay in the race if Cooper got in. Cooper,
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who declined to comment, has not had to take a
26:01
detailed position on Israel because he hasn't served in Congress,
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and the party could avoid a messy primary clash over
26:08
Israel if he clears the field. That may not be
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a true in Michigan, where four Democrats are vying for
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the nomination to replace Senator Gary Peters, the Democrat who
26:20
is retiring. The candidates include Representative Hailey Stevens, a longtime
26:26
champion of Israel, and Abdul el said, the former health
26:31
director of Wayne County, who has described Israel's actions in
26:35
Gaza as genocide. Before the Senate primaries played out, mam
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Dami will stand for election this fall in New York's
26:45
general election. That will offer a test of how his
26:49
views on Israel play in an overwhelmingly democratic city with
26:54
the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel.
27:00
Mam Donnie received the most primary votes from mayor in
27:04
this city's history, but party leaders did not rally around him. Instead,
27:10
several moderate Democrats came out against him. Representative Laura Gillen,
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Democrat of New York, called Mam Donnie too extreme to
27:19
leave New York City. On X, represented Tom Suozzi, Democrat
27:25
of New York, who had endorsed former New York Governor
27:28
Andrew M cuomo in the mayor's race, said he had
27:33
serious concerns about ma'am Danny. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of
27:39
New York, told a popular New York City radio host
27:43
that some of her constituents were alarmed by some of
27:47
Mam Doni's statements, particularly in references to global jihad. She
27:53
later apologized for mischaracterizing his comments. Supporters of the North
27:59
Carolina resolution said Democrats in Congress we're out of touch
28:05
with ordinary voters. Young voters are taking a fresh look
28:09
at the party because of the resolution, said Mark Botchkiss,
28:14
who belongs to a group of Jewish progressives in the
28:16
state party that backs the resolution. The danger, he said,
28:22
is in the party not recognizing where it's electorate is going.
28:29
And the next story the Trump staffers who set out
28:33
to reshape their alma maters less than a decade ago.
28:38
Gregory W. Brown helped raise funds for the University of
28:43
Virginia by posing for pictures in his old dorm room.
28:48
Now he is central to the Trump administration's effort to
28:52
crack down on his alma mater for promoting diversity, equity
28:56
and inclusion programs, as one of two justices, department leaders
29:01
and UVA alumni to threaten sweeping funding cuts and compel
29:06
the school's president to resign. Brown is one of two
29:11
several key architects of President Trump's wide reaching campaign to
29:16
root out liberal ideology from higher education who graduated from
29:21
the prestigious universities the President has emboldened them to transform.
29:26
Driven by personal experience, the staffers are pushing to overhaul
29:32
the progressive culture they feel has come to dominate elite
29:36
colleges and universities. One newly minted Harvard Law School graduate,
29:42
now a policy advisor to the President, spurred an investigation
29:47
into the legal journal he once helped edit. Another Trump
29:51
administration official, Josh Grunbaum, repeatedly confronted a student group affiliated
29:58
with Students for Justice and Power Lstein while he was
30:01
earning business and law degrees from New York University. He
30:05
now sits on a multi Agency task force that investigates
30:10
schools for reports of anti Semitism. Democrats have denounced the
30:16
push as hypocritical, accusing Trump's staffers of benefiting from the
30:20
nation's most selective universities only to deny disadvantage students the
30:27
ability to do the same. Administration officials maintained that the
30:31
schools have sacrificed academic rigor for a version of diversity
30:37
that excludes right leaning swaths of the country. In interviews,
30:42
five of the officials described feelings of social isolation on campuses,
30:47
a closed minded environment hostitle young conservatives. It's a good
30:53
thing we have bright individuals who have attended these schools
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and witnessed some of these injustices first hand, said Caroline Levitt,
31:02
the White House Press secretary. We want people with lived
31:07
experience leading the charge. Overseeing parts of the extensive effort
31:13
is Stephen Miller, a longtime Trump aid and White House
31:17
Deputy Chief of Staff who rose to national prominence as
31:22
a far right student voice defending Duke universities lacrosse players
31:27
wrongfully accused of rape, and Miller has hired at least
31:31
two architects of the push to remake higher education. May
31:36
Mailman and Daniel Wasserman, a senior White House official, said
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both graduates of elite schools, where their conservative values often
31:46
put them at odds with classmates. Together, the staff under Trump,
31:51
who prizes his degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Business School,
31:56
and Vice President JD. Vance, who graduated from Yale Law School,
32:00
rule are looking to reshape academia, working to purge campuses
32:05
of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and imbue the next
32:09
generation of students with their worldview. In the last six months,
32:14
the Trump administration has pulled hundreds of millions of dollars
32:19
and federal funding to Columbia University, frozen billions of dollars
32:24
intended for Harvard, and launched investigations into whether universities nationwide
32:31
are doing enough to protect Jewish students from am anti
32:35
semitism are using illegal race and sex based hiring quotas.
32:41
The administration this month struck a deal with pen Trump's
32:45
alma mater to rescind a transgender woman's athletic awards and
32:50
apologize to athletes for allowing her to compete on the
32:55
swim team there. In twenty twenty two, to White House
33:00
officials said they also are close to a deal with
33:03
Columbia and still hope to strike a deal with Harvard
33:07
to set an example for how universities ought to adhere
33:11
to demands of the federal government. Interviews with the Trump
33:15
staffers and a dozen people who studied alongside them paint
33:20
a picture of a powerful cohort that believes they are
33:24
restoring a version of American culture that accepts and produces
33:28
leaders with values like theirs. Their critique of Ivy League
33:33
universities and higher education more broadly reflects the growing influence
33:39
of the populist wing of the GOP, which is led
33:43
by prominent Republicans such as Senators Ted Cruz, Republican of
33:47
Texas and Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri and Vance, who
33:53
have tried to distance themselves from the elite universities they attended.
33:58
Just last year, Wasserman was an editor on the Harvard
34:03
Law Review, one of the nation's premier legal journals, working
34:07
out of an academic building in Cambridge, where he was
34:10
socially alienated from his more liberal classmates and frustrated with
34:16
focused on selecting diverse voices. Four of his former classmates
34:22
sent in an interview this year as a policy advisor
34:26
to the president, he helped launch an investigation into that publication.
34:31
The New York Times first reported Wasserman did not respond
34:35
to requests for comments or a list of questions about
34:38
incidents on campus that his classmates described. Other high level
34:44
staffers are using their newfound power to address grievances they
34:49
developed as active alumni watching their schools change. Brown, who
34:54
graduated from UVA in nineteen eighty nine, grew concerned that
35:00
the school was becoming too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion,
35:04
according to several people who knew him. In his post
35:07
on x he did not return an interview request har
35:12
meet Dylan, the Civil Rights Division director at the Justice
35:16
Department who also attended UVA, shared that frustration. These are
35:22
very concerning issues, Dylan said at a Federalist Society of
35:26
n in May, accusing UVA of attempting to hide DEI
35:31
programs from the Justice Department. UVA used to get their
35:36
check from me every year when they made their solicitations,
35:40
but they might not be getting that either. Dylan cast
35:45
blame on the school's outgoing president, James E. Ryan, who
35:49
was ahead a year ahead of her in law school.
35:52
She and Brown penned seven letters to the university calling
35:56
for changes to its DEI initiatives. Growing increasingly frustrated, is
36:02
Ryan declined to respond. Ryan resigned late last month, a
36:07
decision he said he made to avoid a costly fight
36:11
and to protect researchers rely on on federal funding and
36:15
students who could lose financial aid or their visas. The
36:20
Trump administration's staffers stress they are operating with the full
36:24
support of the President, who has personally ordered the campaign
36:28
against liberalism on college campuses. One senior White House official, who,
36:35
like other staffers interviews, spoke on the condition of anonymity
36:39
because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the topic,
36:43
said Trump grew more passionate about the issue when he
36:47
was in New York City for one of his criminal
36:50
trials and anti Israel demonstrations erupted on Columbia's campus, producing
36:56
images of clashes between students waving Palestinian flags and police
37:00
dressed in riot gear. Then candidate Trump asked members of
37:06
his team if he could go to the campus to
37:08
show solid with Jewish people. The senior official said his
37:13
team ultimately rejected his request because of logistics and security concerns.
37:19
The official said, but the President remained focused on what
37:24
he saw as woke ideology consuming institutions meant to shape
37:29
the next generation of American leaders. Colleges and universities have
37:35
for decades been centers of social movements and the country's
37:39
ideological struggle over identity and free speech. Traditionally, liberal student
37:46
bodies have led social movements where while conservative thinkers have
37:51
argued that political correctness and identity politics were subverting higher education.
37:58
The tension reached a fee for pitch as students mobilized
38:02
in protest to the Israel Gaza war, and the Trump administration,
38:07
backed by conservative Supreme Court, railed against the DEI programs
38:12
that had flourished in part because of student activism calling
38:17
for more representation and support for marginalized groups. The result
38:24
on many elite campuses has been a social environment increasingly
38:28
divided along ideological and political lines, the administration staffer said,
38:34
where conservative students, especially those aligned with Trump, are in
38:39
the minority. Washerman attended Harvard Law School at a time
38:43
when a doxing truck grove through campus blasting names of
38:48
Harvard's leading anti Semites. Anti Israel demonstrators held protests in
38:53
the middle of the libraries, and the university lost a
38:57
landmark Supreme Court fight over its affirmative action admissions policy.
39:03
He made a name for himself among his classmates after
39:07
Hamasus October seventh, twenty twenty three, murderous attack on Israel,
39:13
mocking students who tried to uplift Palestinian voices and criticizing
39:18
diversity initiatives as misguided and perverse. According to interviews with
39:23
four of his law school contemporaries, who spoke on the
39:27
condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, at one point,
39:32
students sitting behind him in class saw him sharing a
39:36
meme they found racially offensive, said two of his former classmates.
39:41
Wasserman lost friends over the incident, whose classmates. Those classmates said.
39:47
By the end of his law degree, as his insults
39:50
towards students defending Palestinian causes grew louder, he interacted almost
39:56
exclusively with other conservative students on campus. To four of
40:01
his former classmates, it seemed like he was lobbying grenades
40:06
into conversations to rile things up. One of them said, Brown,
40:11
for his part, fit in with many of his college
40:14
classmates when he attended UVA in the eighties, living in
40:18
a prestigious area of campus, and playing an active role
40:22
in his fraternity, according to three people who knew him
40:25
as an undergraduate. As an alum, Brown twice represented students
40:32
who sued the school, including one accused of threatening black
40:36
women matters protesters. Some conservative alumni view the proliferation of
40:41
social justice demonstrations as part of a negative culture change
40:46
at UVA. They say the fact that White's students made
40:50
up just over forty six percent of first year's last year,
40:55
down from more than seventy five percent just after Brown graduated,
41:00
reflects the system that unjustly prioritizes diversity over academic achievement.
41:07
Once Brown took the job as the Justice Department's Deputy
41:11
Assistance Attorney General for Civil Rights, UVA became one subject
41:16
of his focus, the culmination of mounting grievances that shocked
41:21
and dismayed some of his former classmates. What is tragic
41:26
about Greg's story is that the university he loved so
41:29
much will likely remember his contribution to its history as
41:34
one of myopic and opportunistic destabilization, said Chris Butler, who
41:41
identified herself as Brown's former resident assistant. He used his
41:46
current position to shore up power and influence for an
41:50
elite class that serves only itself and the next story.
41:57
Senate report details failures a head of Trump assassin assassination attempt.
42:05
The Secret Service failed to prevent the assassination attempt against
42:10
President Trump last year at his Pennsylvania campaign rally, according
42:14
to a Senate Committee report, which accuses the agency of
42:19
a botched operation snarl by communication fumbles, and the repeated
42:25
denial of extra security assets at a time when the
42:28
former president faced heightened threats on his life. Documents shared
42:33
by the Senate Committee as part of the report also
42:36
revealed new details about what its Republican chairman characterized as
42:42
insufficient disciplinary actions against the agents and officers involved. This
42:49
was not a single error, It was a cascade of
42:53
preventable failures. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
42:58
sent in its report Sunday, marking a year since the
43:02
shooting in Butler. The committee, which is chaired by Senator
43:07
Rand Paul, the Republican of Kentucky, conducted seventeen interviews with
43:12
Secret Service staff and reviewed more than seventy five thousand
43:17
pages of law enforcement documents during its investigation over the
43:22
past year. To reach its conclusions, six Secret Service agents
43:27
were placed on unpaid leave, with the suspensions ranging from
43:32
ten to forty two days, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
43:38
The report stated that the site agent, who was not
43:42
identified by name, received a one day suspension for failure
43:46
to follow Secret Service policy, as well as a forty
43:50
two day suspension or negligence in the performance of official
43:54
duties and reassignment. The document states that the site counterpart,
44:01
Special Agent in Charge, and lead agent to the Secret
44:04
Service's Pittsburgh office each received fourteen day suspensions. One team
44:10
leader in the agency's Uniform Division received a thirty five
44:14
day suspension and was replaced and was placed on restricted duty.
44:20
The assistant to the Special Agent in charge in Pittsburgh
44:24
received a ten day suspension and was placed on restricted duty.
44:29
In an interview on CBS's Faced the Nation on Sunday,
44:33
Paul accused former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle of lying
44:38
to Congress when she testified that the agency had not
44:42
received requests to beef up Trump's security detail in advance
44:47
of the Buttoner shooting. Paul said investigators found that the
44:52
agency had received at least four requests for counter snipers
44:57
and other security enhancements from Trump's Secret Service detail, as
45:02
well as from his campaign. There was a cascade of errors,
45:07
he said. When we talked to the people in charge
45:10
of security, everybody pointed a finger at somebody else. In
45:15
a statement Sunday, Cheatle pushed back on the assertion that
45:19
she lied to Congress, saying that when she testified the
45:24
information provided to me by personnel from headquarters and the
45:28
Trump detail, to include the current agency director confirmed my
45:33
statement that no requests for additional support had been denied
45:37
to our agents at Butler. Any assertion or implication that
45:43
I provided misleading testimony is patently false and does a
45:48
disservice to those men and women on the front lines
45:51
who have been unfairly disciplined for a team rather than
45:55
an individual failure, she added. The current Secret Service Director,
46:00
Sean Curran, said in a separate statement on Sunday that
46:05
the agency would continue to cooperate with the Senate Committee
46:09
and that following last year's shooting, the Secret Service took
46:13
a serious look at our operations and implemented substantial reforms
46:19
to his address to address the failures that occurred that day.
46:23
On July thirteenth, twenty twenty four, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a
46:29
twenty year old nursing homeworker from Pennsylvania, scaled a building
46:34
outside the security perimeter of Trump's campaign rally in Butler
46:38
and opened fire using an ar style rifle, killing one
46:43
person and critically injuring two others. He attempted to assassinate Trump,
46:49
grazing him near the top of his right ear, and
46:52
was killed by law enforcement officers at the scene. The
46:57
report shed no new light about the assailant motives, which
47:01
remain a mystery to investigators one year on. It also
47:05
reiterated many existing details about the incident produced in a
47:09
one hundred and thirty three page preliminary report by the
47:13
Committee in September of twenty twenty four as part of
47:17
a bipartisan investigation led by then Committee chair Gary Peters,
47:22
the Democrat of Michigan. It painted a picture of an
47:26
expansive security detail that was erroneously left in the dark
47:31
as an assassination attempt unfolded, and provided details of scant
47:37
punishments ended down. In response to the lapses last year,
47:43
an independent panel commissioned by DHS to review the Secret
47:47
Service after the assassination attempt identified numerous security lapses, including
47:53
faulting senior supervisors for assigning a relatively inexperienced agent to
47:59
lee the security planning, and for failing to detect and
48:04
address vulnerabilities in the plan. A senior supervisor from Trump's detail,
48:11
Nick Minster, said that the site agent for the rally,
48:14
Myosta Perez, did not raise a line of sight problem
48:18
with him. According to a person familiar with his account,
48:22
he did not inquire further to make sure that step
48:26
would be taken to secure the building. The panel found
48:31
Minster was a senior supervisor on Trump's security detail and
48:35
worked for Current before his promotion to director. The lack
48:39
of structured communication was likely the greatest contributor to the
48:44
failures of the USSS, the report stated. The latest report
48:49
singled out the Secret Services Security room agent, whose job
48:53
is to manage communications between all parties involved. The committee
48:58
accused of security room agent, whose name who was not named,
49:03
a failing to properly relay at that local tactical team
49:07
was looking for a person equipped with a rangefinder outside
49:10
the security perimeter, despite hearing of it at roughly five
49:15
forty five pm, about twenty five minutes before the shooting,
49:20
a Pennsylvania State Police officer who was in the Secret
49:24
Service security room testified that he told the security room
49:29
agent in person that there was an active search for
49:33
a person with a rangefinder outside of the security perimeter.
49:38
When asked, he said that he did not know if
49:41
the security room agent relayed that information to others over
49:44
the radio. I got a distinct impression that there's like
49:49
a lack of urgency, he recalled. The Pennsylvania State Police
49:54
officer said he later updated the security room agent that
49:57
the suspect was seen on top of the r roof,
50:01
but that he did not know if the agent further
50:03
disseminated that information. In an interview with the investigator, the
50:09
security room agent acknowledged that he had no other contact
50:14
with local law enforcement that day and that he had
50:18
not seen operation plans put together by the Pennsylvania State
50:22
Police or the Butler Emergency Services Unit before the rally.
50:27
The Secret Service has since adopted some changes to its
50:31
internal policy to address the communication failures. The report said
50:36
before the shooting, security officials were concerned about Trump's safety,
50:41
uncovering an alleged Iran link plot to assassinate him and
50:46
other US targets. During the first week of July twenty
50:50
twenty four, several top security officials met to discuss intelligence
50:56
involving Trump's safety and agreed to allow counter snipers at
51:00
all of his rallies. This bucked tradition. The Butler rally
51:06
was the first time a former president and candidate had
51:09
received counter snipers from the Secret Service. The report said.
51:14
The Senate Committee accused the Secret Service of failing to
51:18
inform the counter snipers about the elevated threat environment leading
51:22
up to the rally. He denounced Secret Service headquarters for
51:26
a history of denials to requests for additional security assets
51:31
during Trump's campaign. In particular, the committee contested a statement
51:37
from Chetle, the former director, claiming that requests for security
51:42
at the Butler Rally were not denied. Cheedle resigned in
51:46
the aftermath of the shooting, saying she took full responsibility
51:50
for the failure. In her statement Sunday, Chetele noted that
51:55
it's not typical for a Secret Service director to directly
51:59
engage in a proving requests for additional support for the
52:03
Butler Rally. She added, I actually did direct additional assets
52:08
to be provided, particularly in the form of agency counter snipers.
52:14
The report denounced the Secret Service for what it called
52:17
insufficient accountability for the shooting. Paul said on CBS that
52:22
he believed the Secret Service only took action against the
52:26
agents involved in the security lapse after he sent a
52:30
subpoena to the agency for their discipline records. No one
52:34
was fired. Paul said, some of these people could be
52:38
in charge of security for another presidential candidate again, and
52:42
that's not right. Other investigations have reached similar conclusions, including
52:49
internal reviews of the Secret Service. After Cheatle's resignation, Ronald L.
52:55
Rowe Junior, who became the agency's acting director, acknowledged that
53:00
the Butler attack was a failure of the Secret Service
53:05
to secure the area or protect Trump. And the next
53:10
story is the Pentagon takes four hundred million dollar steak
53:15
in a rare earth miner. The Defense Department will become
53:19
the largest shareholder in a rare earth mining company MP Materials,
53:25
by buying four hundred million dollars of its stock and
53:29
helping it build a new processing facility to sidestep the
53:33
Chinese market. The company said Thursday. The deal underscores how
53:39
far the Trump administration is willing to go to subsidized
53:43
production of high powered magnets, a field dominated by Chinese firms.
53:49
Although the materials are critical for US weapon systems, Las
53:54
Vegas based MP Materials owns the only rare earth mine
53:59
in the United lad States at Mountain Pass, Colorado, near
54:03
the Nevada border. MP material CEO Jim Litinski said the
54:08
company aims to restore the full rare earth supply chain
54:12
in the US and eliminate a single point of failure
54:16
of the country's military industrial base. Recent events have underscored
54:21
the urgency of this mission, Litinsky said, and a Thursday
54:25
call with investors, rare earths have become a bargaining chip
54:29
in the contentious global trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.
54:34
Over the years, the Mountain Pass mine has struggled to
54:37
compete with its China based rivals, most of which are
54:41
state owned enterprises that benefit from generous government subsidies as
54:47
well as lower labor and environmental costs. The California mines
54:52
previous owner, Mollcorp, filed for bankruptcy in twenty fifteen amid
54:57
falling commodity prizes. MP Materials was later created after a
55:03
group of investors including JHL Capitol Group, a Chicago based
55:07
hedge fund led by Litinski, bought the mine out of
55:11
bankruptcy and it went public in twenty twenty. The deal
55:16
also diminishes Chinese involvement in MP Materials itself. Until now,
55:21
a Chinese supplier called Shingai Resources was MP's fourth largest shareholder,
55:27
with roughly in eight percent stake. According to Bloomberg. Shinghi
55:32
historically had been MP Material's biggest customer, although its share
55:36
was falling. The Chinese firm provided more than sixty percent
55:40
of MP's revenue in the first quarter of this year,
55:43
compared with eighty percent at the end of twenty twenty four,
55:45
according to SEC filings. But the new agreement with the
55:50
Defense Department prohibits sale to China and other countries deemed
55:56
hostile to US national security. A deal announced Thursday could
56:02
be described as a proactive bayloud to protect the mind
56:05
from future price drops, said Bill Greenwald, who served as
56:09
Deputy Under Secretary for Defense for Industrial Policy in the
56:13
George W. Bush administration. Companies overseeing the Mountain Past mine
56:18
have repeatedly received federal funding over the years, but the
56:22
government never took a direct ownership state before now. The
56:28
business case for REMP materials never made sense in peacetime,
56:32
but given the past Chinese actions, the need for a
56:35
subsidy or protection probably now makes sense. And this concludes
56:39
the reading of the Washington Post for today, Monday, July fourteenth.
56:44
Your reader for today has been Rod Brotherton, and if
56:47
you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning the program,
56:50
please feel free to call us at eight five nine
56:53
four two two sixty three nine. Thank you as always
56:57
for listening, and now stay tuned for continued programming right
57:03
here on Radio I