Transcript

5.29.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Thursday,
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May the twenty ninth of twenty twenty five. Your reader
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is Alice Stainer, with reminder that RADIOI is an organization
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for those blind with other inabilities to handle or read
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printed material. And I look forward to seeing you and
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hearing you on Saturday. Front page to the Washington Post.
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Far left, CIA ramps up its hunt for human intelligence,
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rebuilding spy ranks, poses tall order in Age of Ubiquitous
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Surveillance by Warren P. Stroebel and Ellen not Kashima. To
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the right of that is a picture of full of
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people carrying bags of flower after storming a UN World
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Food Program warehouse in the Central Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
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And there is a person on a motorbike. People just
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carrying sacks of flour that look like pillar cases actually
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over their shoulders. There is a fence that has been
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breached and they are going in and out of a
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huge gait. You men condemns new Gaza Aid plan by
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Louisa Loveluck, Abby Cheeseman and Kate Brown. That is under
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the picture scores of Palestinians shot in early days of
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US back deliveries and on the far right of the paper,
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ruling freezes Trump's tariffs. Trade Court says he exceeded power.
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Emergency argument is rejected, appeal is certain by David Lynch
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and kat Zeruzuski. Below the picture of the people getting
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the flower is another article decades old Rhodes equity program
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unconstitutional doj argues by Julian Mark and below the article
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on the CIA intelligence. Ukraine's lost war dogs are getting
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a leg up. Adopting animals that were abandoned on battlefields
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has become a national duty by Simonan O'Grady, Kostian Kudov
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and Sire Morganov out of Kiev and a picture of
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Dantro Koustov with his pup Carl. The war with Russia
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has softened Ukrainians attitudes towards dogs, and he's holding up
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his dog in a picture. It's all black except for
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the face and mister Kustov's face and that of his
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dog and hands, but everything else is in black. And
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the final article on the far left on the far
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right of the bottom part of the Washington Post delay
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to Air Force one deal as Katar Probe's legal liability
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despite US claims the luxury jetliner's transfer has not been finalized.
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John Hudson, Natalie Allison, Dan Lemouth, and Ellen Nakashima our
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first article, CIAI faces stiff test in bid to revitalize
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human spine. Director John Ratcliffe wants to rebuild the CIA's
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diminished rank of foreign agents, but have espionages golden days
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past and below. That is a picture and it's a
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Chinese People's Consultive conference in Beijing of a security officer
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keeping watch in March, and he is holding back a
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golden curtain drape, just peering at the attendees. By Warren
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Strobul and Ellen Nakashima. The CIA earlier this month unveiled
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a new gambit to persuade discoundral Chinese officials to spy
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for the US, a pair of Hollywood quality videos that
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play on divisions within President Shi Jinping's government and to
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offer instructions and how to anonymously contact the CIA. One
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video highlights the vast wealth disparities between working class Chinese
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and Communist Party elite. Another depicts how top party officials
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suddenly disappear, a real life occurrence in She's anti corruption purges.
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The videos narrated in Mandarin, posted on social media are
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part of a new CIA strategy for recruiting potential foreign
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agents from AFARM. It's a strategy that has already borne
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some fruit in Russia, CIA official say the spy agency
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in twenty twenty three released similar videos aimed at recruiting
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Russians disaffected by the Ukraine War. Intelligence officers said that
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people there had contacted the CIA as a result.
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Speaker 2: But they declined to provide details.
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Speaker 1: CIA officials said they have evidenced their messages aimed at
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China are being viewed there despite heavy Internet censorship, but
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the videos also highlight a problem.
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Speaker 2: The CIA needs more spines.
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Speaker 1: The traditional tactics of human espionage increasingly are not working.
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Speaker 2: Current and former US intelligence.
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Speaker 1: Officers say the CIA's success in recruiting foreigners to share
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vital secrets of the United States has declined.
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Speaker 2: Sharply in recent years.
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Speaker 1: The officials said recruitment of new agents has dropped by
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double digit percentages since twenty nineteen. One former official said
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the precise numbers are highly classified. We all know that
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the human intelligence collection isn't where it needs to be.
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CIA director John Radcliffe said it is Senate confirmation hearing
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in January. Radcliffe has made reversing the trend to one
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of his top priorities at the CIA. But the spy
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chiefs challenge is a difficult one, said the officials, many
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of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
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sensitive intelligence matters. The potential intelligence gaps are not widely
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appreciated outside government national security circles.
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Speaker 2: At stake is the depth of the.
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Speaker 1: US government's knowledge about urgent security threats, whether Iran will
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sprint to a nuclear weapon, what Russia's next moves on
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the battlefield in Ukraine will be, and whether China will
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invade a trying to economically strangle Taiwan. Signals intelligence gathered
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by the National Security Agency, including interceptive phone calls, text,
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and emails, is a bedrock of intelligence collections and contributes
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to at least sixty percent of articles in the President's
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Daily brief. US officials say, but an effective spy program
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needs both human and alancelectronic intelligence, as well as other
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technical collection such as energy. Current officials and FORMA s
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bias say there is no substitute for a well placed
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human source to penetrate places a wire trap or satellite
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cannot reach. Confirm fragmentary information or provide insight into the
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intentions of adversarial leaders, such as She and president Russian
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President Vladimir Putin. Sometimes the most exquisite intelligence comes from
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a human asset, enabling the nssay's ability to hack computer systems,
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especially in sensitive places such as a military headquarters or
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Chinese Communist Party leadership. Some of Airbass recruits are going
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to tell you what Shijin Pinks thinks, said former Senator
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senior US intelligence official. They work in communication departments and
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have access to those key systems. That's why we target them.
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The top person we want to recruit in the Chinese
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embassy in the US isn't the ambassador, It's the code clerk.
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Spying for both the CIA and hostile intelligence services took
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a big hit from the coronavirus pandemic, as streets emptied,
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in person meetings evaporated, and social gatherings were canceled. CIA
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case officers were limited in their ability to target and
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recruit news sources. Meeting even trusted long time sources was difficult.
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That was something we're recovering from, said Susan Miller, a
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former five time CIA station chief who retired last year
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after thirty nine years with the agency, Running networks of
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spies is much harder, more expensive, and more manpower intensive
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than it used to be. The CIA face is a
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long term threat for I'M a phenomenon known as ubiquitous
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technical surveillance or u TS. Ubiquitous technical surveillance. CIA officers
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and their foreign agents must now navigate an electrical gauntlet
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of surveillance and monitoring devices that challenge their ability to
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keep their true identities hidden and their meanings covert. James
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Bond merely had to outwit a few henchmen, meet a contact,
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and get away in his.
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Speaker 2: Gaming sports car.
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Speaker 1: His real life counterparts contend with batteries of CCTV cameras
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and buildings and on city streets, cell phone tracking devices,
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biometric sensors at border crossings, and more. Beijing alone is
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believed to have more than one million CCTV cameras. One
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former US official who recently visited the city said there
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were so many cameras on the street it fell like
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being in a TV studio. The cameras are often paired
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with sophisticated facial recognition programs that can simultaneously track millions
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of individuals. Incriminating data can live forever online, said Lion Chawitz,
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a former CIA officer who served as the agency's first
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chief of Tradecraft and Technical Operational Technology. A hostile intelligence
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service such as China's could discover days or even months
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later that a trader in its ranks had met with
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his CIA officer by running big data feeds from cameras
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across the country through sophisticated artificial intelligence filters. You have
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to be perfect now in order to be clandestine, perfect
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forever before any op, during the op, and forever after,
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Chavitz said. Increasingly much of what you a spy agencies
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need to know isn't secret at all, but in the open,
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in the form of social media feeds, commercial data, and
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other forms of open source intelligence. But human intelligence or
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humant hunt is still a crucial, if shrinking slice of
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the pipe. Current and former official said Radcliffe has disclosed
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little in public about his plans to shore up human intelligence,
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one of the CIA's core missions, which involve highly classified
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budgets and operations. One person who met with the CIA
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recently described him as alarmed by the state of the
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agency's human espionage capabilities. Under Director Ratcliffe, CIA is laser
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focused on its core mission of recruiting spies and collecting
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foreign intelligence to ensure President Trump and his national security
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team have a decisive advantage against any organization, terrorist, or
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nation that threatens harm to America, as CIA spokesperson said.
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A senior US intelligence official added that human intelligence collection
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against China, which Radcliffe has said is the CIA's top target,
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has greatly improved. Radcliffe recently chose a veteran CIA officer
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with multiple foreign tours to be his deputy Director of Operations,
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a powerful post whose occupant runs the agency's clandestine and
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covert work. The CIA requested that The Washington Post not
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publish the officer's name because he is still under cover.
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The news for the CIA isn't all grim. The agency's
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adversaries have to operate in the same sensus soaked environment
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the US oppertuivit do. It's making it more difficult for
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the Chinese and Russians too, because they keep getting caught,
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said one recently retired CIA officer. Radcliffe's predecessor, William J. Burns,
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established a UTS Center to grap over the challenge of
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omnipresent surveillance, but the puzzle remains unsolved. Formal agency official said,
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today's digital environment poses as many opportunities as it does challenges.
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We are an adaptable agency, and it is not beyond
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the ingenuity or creativity of our offices to develop ways
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in which we can navigate just as effectively or more
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effectively in complex environments, as CIA official said. Miller, who
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ran CIA espionage operations around the world, said that the
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advent of ubiquitous surveillance has forced to focus on quality
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over quantity. I'd rather have one good agent who will
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work quietly and won't come to the attention of the
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adversary services than twenty mediocre ones, she said. It's not
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fair to the mediocre agents either. Miller said they could
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land in prison for something inconsequential.
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Speaker 2: We're more picky now.
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Speaker 1: Some former officials said that the CIA moved too rashly
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to recruit large numbers of officials in China in the
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early two thousands, making hours along the way. Beijing's security
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services rolled up the network of US fris beginning in
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twenty ten, executing or imprisoned many as two dozen CIA
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assets in a devastating blow to the agency's operations in
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the country. Another former CIA officer blamed the long decline
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in human intelligence, in part on bureaucrats at headquarters and
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the aversion to risky operations that could blow up in
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the agency's face. Others warn of at more recent unintended
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consequences of the Trump administration's government belt tightening. The administration
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is considering plans to close ten US embassies and seventeen
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consulates overseas, leaving some veterans worried closing them would really
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affect our ability to get cover, Miller said. Worse, sloppiness
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in the administration's haste to trim government agencies potentially undermined
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years of CIA work. In February, responding to a Trump
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executive order mandating downsizing of the federal workforce, this CIA
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sent the Office of Personnel Management an unclassified email containing
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the first name and the first initial of the last
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name of each employee hired over the last two years.
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Former officials described the lapse as a counterintitalentgen's disaster, potentially
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blowing the cover of dozens of young officers Manny were
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hired as part of an effort begun under Burns to
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increase the CIA's focus on China. One former official said
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that many of the probastionionary employees had their summons put
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on hold as a result of the leak. It affected
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the entire junior officer cadre, he said. The second article,
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Trump's Liberation Day tariffs halted by Court of International Trade.
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Most of President Trump's tariffs were halted late Wednesday by
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a US trade court in a sharp rebuke of the
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president's signature trade war policy. There's a picture of President
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Donald Trump speaking during an event to announce new tariffs
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in the Rose Garden last month. He is standing behind
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a podium with the presidential seal on it, and he's
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holding a huge post a board with reciprocal tariffs on
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the top, topped by China, European Union, and other names
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of countries down the way with their tariffs and the
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increase of the tariffs on that post a board.
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Speaker 2: By David J.
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Speaker 1: Lynch and Kat Zuruzuski. A specialized federal court in New
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York on Wednesday ruled that most of President Donald Trump's tariffs,
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including those on Chinese goods, are illegal, upending negotiations with
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more than a dozen nations and creating fresh uncertainty for
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countless American businesses that depend on foreign suppliers. The decision
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by the little known Court of International Trade New dos
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the president's signature trade initiative, the comprehensive flurry of import
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taxes he announced on April second, under the banner of
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Liberation Day. Those tariffs sent the value of US stocks, bonds,
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and the dollar into sharp decline clausing global investors to
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rethink their habitual faith in the United States and raising
19:25
questions about the US economic outlook. The Trade Court's ruling
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that Trump exceeded his authority in imposing tariffs on all
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imported goods brought an immediate, albeit perhaps temporary, halt to
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his signature trade war policy. The challenged tariff orders will
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be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined. A three judge
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panel ruled future contracts on the standard and poor s
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and p five hundred Stocks index jumped one point four
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percent on the news, but a few hours later, the
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Justice Department said in a federal court folling that it
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will appeal the Trade Court's decision, and a pair of
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lawsuits filed last month against the government applies to the
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ten per cent tariffs Trump imposed on all foreign parducts,
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as well as the much higher levies applied to goods
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from several dozen nations. The president invoked a nineteen seventy
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seven law that granted him emergency powers over the economy,
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the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or iee PA. The
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Trade Court's ruling also freez as separate tariffs on Mexican, Canadian,
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and Chinese goods, which Trump imposed to coerce those governments
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into taking action to counter human and drug trafficking, but
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import taxes on specific products such as autobiles, auto parts, steel,
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and alunimunmum will remain an effect. He took a big
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gamble during this under emergency powers. That gamble lost, said
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Peter Harrow, a former Biden administration attorney who helped draft
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the brief from one hundred and forty eight HOUST members
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supporting one of the lawsuits, which were spiled by a
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group of twelve states. The states, all with democratic governors,
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said they suffered direct financial harm from the tariffs, which
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made imported goods used to provide public services more expensive.
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The court ruling also applied to a case filed by
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five owner operated businesses that said they have been harmed
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by the president's inappropriate use of executive power.
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Speaker 2: The Businesses v.
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Speaker 1: S Selections, Jeiba, Pipe, micro Kits, Fish USA, and Terry
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Cycling cited problems with sourcing and cash flow in the
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wake of the President's April tariffs. That case was filed
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by the Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan organization in Austin.
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It is great to see that the court unanimously ruled
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against this massive power grun by the president, said Elia Summan,
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co counsel in the case and a law professor at
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George Mason University Scalia Law School. He added, the ruling
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emphasizes that he was wrong to claim a virtually unlimited
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power to impose tariffs, that i ee PA law doesn't
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grant any such boundless authority, and that it would be unconstitutional.
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Speaker 2: If it did.
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Speaker 1: The court noted that i ee PA says the president
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may only use his emergency powers to deal with an
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unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national
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emergency has been declared. Trump pointed to the merchandise trade
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deficit in the United that the United States has run
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each year since nineteen seventy five as the emergency justifying
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his sweeping tariffs. Wednesday's ruling also applies to other tariffs
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that the President imposed on Mexico and Canada, citing an
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emergency over illegal migration and drug trafficking, and China for
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its alleged role and facilitating production of the opioid fentanyl.
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The Trade Court rejected those tariffs, saying they failed to
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meet the law's requirement that they deal with an unusual
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and extraordinary threat. Instead of addressing the president's stated objective
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of curbing illicit cross border trafficking in people and drugs,
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the tariffs were designed to create leverage to get other
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governments to do so, the court said. Shortly after the
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decision was made, the White House responded, foreign countries non
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reciprocal treatment of the United States has fueled American historic
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and persistent trade deficits. These deficits have created a national
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emergency that has decimated American communities, left their workers behind,
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and weakened their defense industrial base, facts that the court
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did not dispute. It is not for unelected judges to
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decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump
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pledged to put America first, and the administration is committed
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to using every lever of executive power to address this
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crisis and restore American greatness, said Kushtusi, a White House spokesman.
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No other president has used i EEPA to impose tariffs,
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and Trump's novel use of the authority sparked a wave
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of litigation, as small businesses from across the country lined
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up to suit. Multinational corporations such as Apple opted to
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seek relief from the White House through private meetings and
25:26
phone calls. The government argued that the Economic Emergencies Laws
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in language authorizing the President to regulate DOT importation, granted
25:39
him full powers over teriff rates, but the Trade Court disagreed,
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saying the law did not authorize the president to impose
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whatever tiff rates he deems desirable. Legal experts have told
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The Post that the lawsuits are likely to succeed if
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they make it to the Supreme Court. Tim maya director
26:00
of the Center for International and Comparative Law at Duke
26:04
University Law School, said the President is overwriting legislation that
26:10
Congress pay pass to levy tariffs.
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Speaker 2: Win.
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Speaker 1: The White House is itself tuting this as the largest
26:19
tax increase in American history. I think that's going to
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make the justices sit back and think the Constitution gives
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Congress and Congress alone the authority to levy duties, impost tariffs,
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and to regulate foreign commerce, said Maya, who clerked for
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Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, a Trump nominee when
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he served on the US Court of Appeals for the
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Tenth Circuit. The ruling adds fresh uncertainty to the world
26:50
of American importers and more than one dozen ongoing US
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trade negotiations, including those with European Union and China. The
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Trump administration is certain to appeal the decision and could
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seek an emergency stay, which would reinstate the tariffs, at
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least temporarily. The president's trade team also could try to
27:12
impose the same tariffs using more traditional legal avenues. According
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to Simon Lester, author of the International Economic Law and
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Policy Blog, relying on other provisions of trade law would
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take time and require the government to complete various procedural stemps.
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There are other tariff statutes available, and I'm sure the
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Trump administration is prepared to use them, he said. Another
27:43
challenge to the president's tariff authority is also working its
27:48
way through the courts. Right after Trump raised US import
27:53
taxes to their highest level in more than a century,
27:56
the new civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit that has previously
28:01
received financial support from conservative Dona Charles Koch's foundation, found
28:07
a lawsuit in federal court in Florida challenging Trump's authority.
28:11
Last week, Judge T. Kent Weatherill the Second, a federal
28:16
judge in Florida, said he agreed with the federal government's
28:19
argument that i EEPA allows the president to issue tariffs,
28:25
but rather or transferred that case on behalf of Simplified,
28:29
a planner company that manufactures its products in Japan, to
28:34
the Trade Court in New York, meaning he will not
28:37
be the one to decide the matter now.
28:40
Speaker 2: The article on gozam.
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Speaker 1: Un condemns usaid scheme in Gaza after Israel opens fire
28:49
on crod. One un official said the new aid system
28:53
backed by Israel and the US was not humanitarianism but
28:59
engineered scarcer tie Aluise Lovelock, Abby Chessman and Cheeseman and
29:07
Kate Brown out of Jerusalem. A US an Israeli backed
29:12
process for distributing aid in the gazas to have faced
29:16
growing criticism Wednesday after scores of Palestinians were wounded across
29:21
two days of deliveries. Fearful desperate crowds thronged locations where
29:27
food was being handed out, underscoring the scale of the
29:30
hunger crisis in the besieged and shattered enclave. You An
29:35
officials said that as many as fifty people appeared to
29:39
have been shot and injured near the private aid distribution
29:43
site in the southern city of Rafas Tel al Salton
29:47
neighborhood Tuesday, and that crowds had overrun a World of
29:51
Food to Program distribution site near Diarra el Maala in
29:56
central Gaza on Wednesday, sacking it for individuals bags of
30:00
flower before themselves being attacked by armed looders. Initial reports
30:08
indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic.
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Speaker 2: Incident, WFP said in a statement.
30:16
Speaker 1: A health official at the nearby l Aska Martyr's Hospital
30:21
d Amwayi, said later that three people had been killed.
30:27
Humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control after eighty days
30:32
of complete blockade of all food assistants and other aid
30:36
into Gaza. Word Food Programs said Israel has fired nearly
30:42
all food and medical supplies from entering Gaza since March second,
30:47
leaving parts of the population on the brink of starvation.
30:51
The newly launched AID program is won by the Gaza
30:54
Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial private organization that began and distributing
31:00
food in Gaza this week. The mechanism is the Israeli
31:05
approved secured by private contractors backed by the United States,
31:10
and bypasses the UN system for providing relief. Internal planning
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documents from November show that even then the founders of
31:21
GHF anticipated pushback, preparing preemptive talking points in case they
31:28
encountered allegations likening the foods hubs to concentration camps with biometrics,
31:37
or comparing the organization to Blackwater, a former US mercenary
31:41
firm implicated in violence against civilians in Iraq. At a
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news conference Wednesday, Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN
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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCCHA n Gaza,
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described the first site to which the oft distraught and
32:01
hungry Palestinians had run as a militarized distribution point established
32:07
on the rubble of their homes. The newly developed distribution
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scheme is more than just the control of aid. It
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is engineered scarcity. Whittel said the timing and circumstances of
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the Israeli troops opening fire Tuesday remained unclear to our
32:28
Witnesses quoted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said
32:32
that crowds had swelled through the day as news of
32:35
the aid distribution spread, leading Israeli troops to open fire
32:40
from their positions around l Alaman Square, about a mile
32:45
half mile from the distribution site around four thirty pm
32:49
local time. The military said that it had fired warning
32:55
shots in the area outside the compound and that control
33:00
all over the situation was established by nighttime. The International
33:05
Committee of the Red Cross later reported the staff at
33:08
one of its field hospitals had treated an influx of casualties,
33:13
including women and children, all with gunshot wounds. Footage of
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the incidents showed a large number of people rushing toward
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the hub, with part of a fence torn down. A
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military helicopter was also seen firing flares from the sky,
33:30
and video from the scene, verified by The Washington Post
33:34
appeared to show people running in a panic near the site.
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The snap of gunfire can be heard in the distance
33:41
as people as the crowd scrambles. The GHF said in
33:46
a statement that the American private contractors securing the aide
33:50
site were forced to briefly withdraw as chaos erupted Tuesday,
33:55
allowing a few residents to take aid. Organization denied that
34:01
any shots were fired at Palestinians inside its distribution site.
34:08
A person close to the operation, who spoke on the
34:11
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to breathe
34:15
the press, said the crowd was so large by that
34:18
point that the contractors feared a stampede was possible. On Wednesday,
34:25
the Foundation said it had continued to distribute aid through
34:28
one of its other hubs in southern Gaza without incident,
34:33
adding that it would continue to scale up its force
34:36
sights and build additional ones. The scenes of desperation drew
34:42
widespread criticism, particularly from the UN agencies and relief organizations that,
34:48
before Israel imposed a two month long blockade on the
34:53
enclave in early March, had been delivering aid to Gaza
34:56
under a week's long ceasefire. Warned this would happen, and
35:01
now it's unraveling before our eyes. What is being presented
35:05
as humanitarian mechanism is in reality a system of control,
35:11
said Bushah Khalidi, oxfam's policy lead for the Palestinian territories.
35:18
It strips AID agencies of independence in Niles, Palestinians their
35:23
right to aid, and places life or death decisions in
35:26
the hands of a party to the conflict. It violates
35:30
the core principles of humanitarian action and turns AID into
35:35
a weapon of war.
35:36
Speaker 2: She said.
35:38
Speaker 1: The majority of AID organizations and all UN agencies have
35:42
refused to sign up to participate in GHF system, saying
35:46
that it violates humanitarian principles and can be used to
35:50
forcibly displace Palestinians, the making them move closer to the
35:54
distribution hubs in the South. Two senior officials with GHF
35:59
recis design this week, with one saying the group's plans
36:03
were inconsistent with what he called the harmanitarian principles of
36:08
humanitary neutrality, impartiality and independence. You and officials said Israel
36:15
has continued to allow the inference of some UNAID trucks
36:19
despite GHF, which Israel and slated to take over all
36:23
AID operations in Gaza starting this work starting work this week.
36:30
In a news conference Wednesday, UN spokesman Stephanie Dujaik said
36:36
that the organization and its partner agencies had only been
36:40
able to collect aid from two hundred of the nine
36:43
hundred trucks that they had submitted to Israel for approval.
36:49
Israeli authorities also continued to deny our attempts to accordinate
36:53
humanitary movements inside Gaza, including one to retrieve fuel from
36:58
Rafa today. Overall, all, six coordinative movements were denied to
37:04
the United Nations today. He said, it is not clear
37:09
how long Israel will continue to allow you in to
37:12
distribute its own aid rather than switching to the GHF system.
37:17
Humanitarian groups say that at least twenty percent of households
37:21
in Gaza are unlikely to have anyone who can safely
37:24
travel to.
37:25
Speaker 2: A distribution point.
37:28
Speaker 1: Some Palestinians reported Wednesday that fear of the chaos was
37:32
making them stay at home. This is not humanitarianism. Humanitarian
37:39
action would seek to reach all civilians wherever they are
37:42
and would push back on measures to limit aid. We
37:46
are being denied from doing so because it appears that
37:49
the intention from Israel is not to facilitate an efficient
37:54
aid response at scale, which all said. The Israeli military
38:00
did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Now
38:06
to Qatar and airplanes, Trump's Air Force one deal with Qatar,
38:11
and not final despite US claims the delay reflects lingering
38:18
concerns about legal liabilities stemming from a Right House maneuver
38:22
to transform what was originally a sale between two countries
38:27
into a gift by John Hudson, Natalie Allison, Dan Lemouth,
38:34
and Ellen Nakashima. Despite claims by the Defense Department to
38:39
the contrary, legal teams representing the US and Katari governments
38:45
have not finalized an agreement for transferring the luxury Boeing
38:49
seven forty seven eight jetline up that President Donald Trump
38:55
wants for air Force One amid understand outstanding quest by
39:00
Qatar for Washington to clarify the transaction terms, said officials
39:06
familiar with the matter. Guitar Is insisting that a memorandum
39:10
of understanding between Washington and Doha specified that the aircraft's
39:16
transfer was initiated by the Trump administration and that Qatar
39:21
is not responsible for any future transfers of the plane's ownership.
39:25
Speaker 2: These people said.
39:28
Speaker 1: The delay reflex lingering concerns about legal liabilities stemming from
39:32
the White House maneuver to transform what was originally a
39:36
sale between two countries into a gift that Trump continues
39:41
to tote as a major deliverable from his recent trip
39:46
to the Middle East. I got a beautiful, big, magnificent
39:52
free airplane for the United States Air Force, Trump told
39:56
reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, very proud of that.
40:02
Speaker 2: The outstanding legal.
40:03
Speaker 1: Work is not expected to scuttle the plane deal, the
40:06
official said, but the clarifications are likely to invite further
40:11
scrutiny of the administration's claims about how the deal originated.
40:16
Trump initially said it was Qatar that reached out and
40:19
offered him the luxury jet free of charge. In fact,
40:24
it was the Trump administration that first approached Guitar this
40:28
winter about acquiring the plane through a sale, after the
40:32
president made clear to AIDS that he was upset about
40:36
delays of two Boing jets purchased during his first term
40:41
for three point nine billion dollars.
40:43
Speaker 2: Official said. Discussion about the sale.
40:47
Speaker 1: Later involved into Qatar agreeing to provide the plane as
40:51
a gift, a development reported previously by CNN and The
40:56
New York Times. A White official, who like others, spoke
41:02
on the condition of an inimnity to discuss a sensitive topic,
41:06
confirmed that the details of the plane transfer are still
41:10
being finalized. Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the White House,
41:15
said there is no question, however, that the plane will
41:18
be given to the United States free as the President
41:23
has said. This will be a sovereign to sovereign gift
41:26
to the US Air Force, Kelly said in a statement
41:30
to The Washington Post. In recent weeks, Katar has faced
41:35
intense criticism from Democrats and some Republicans for the luxury
41:39
jet arrangement. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, and a
41:45
group of fellow Democrats introduced legislation to block one point
41:49
nine billion in arm sales to Doha unless the offer
41:53
was rescinded. It's an illegal bribe that the President of
41:58
the United States is charmed up at the bit to accept.
42:02
That's unconstitutional and not how we conduct foreign policy, Murphy.
42:07
Speaker 2: Said at the time.
42:09
Speaker 1: And there's a picture of the Katari owned Boeing seven
42:12
forty seven sitting on the tarmac at Palm Beach International
42:16
Airport in Florida after President Donald Trump toured the aircraft
42:21
in mid February.
42:23
Speaker 2: It's absolutely beautiful.
42:24
Speaker 1: It's a white, enormous seven forty seven plane which has
42:28
sort of a bump at the top to raise it
42:31
to two levels and the sleek lines along it, you know,
42:37
sort of as a wave going up at the tail
42:39
at the end, with black stripes across the tail end
42:45
in different widths and colors of black. It's absolutely exquisite.
42:53
Hest Democrats, led by Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Democrat of
42:57
New York, have introduced their own ledge that would block
43:01
federal funds from being used to transfer a foreign country's
43:04
plane to the US government ordered Trump's presidential library, as
43:09
administration officials suggested he would do upon leaving office. Democrats
43:15
were particularly outraged about plans for the jet, appraised at
43:19
roughly one hundred and eighty million dollars, to be transferred
43:23
to Donald Trump's presidential library. Trump suggested on Wednesday that
43:28
his critics were wrong to worry about that, noting that
43:31
the megajet would be far too large for personal use.
43:36
They tried to say, Oh, it's Trump's airplane, Trump told
43:41
reporters in the Oval Office. Oh yeah, sure, it's too big.
43:44
It's frankly, it's too big, much too big. White House
43:50
Council David Warrington, however, wrote a memo in early March
43:53
stating that the Defense Department could accept the gift of
43:56
the plane from Qatar in two phases to the US
44:00
government and then later to the Presidential Trump Library Foundation
44:06
once Trump left office, said two people familiar with the matter.
44:10
It appeared that the legal work was finalized last week
44:14
after Pentagon's spokesman Sean Pernell said in a statement that
44:18
the Secretary of Defense has accepted a Boeing seven forty
44:23
seven from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.
44:28
But the last communication between the legal teams was May ninth,
44:32
they had not concluded their work, official said. The Defense
44:36
Department declined to comment. Trump's determination to complete the deal
44:41
had been apparent to his aides since he toured the
44:44
aircraft on February fifteenth at the Palm Beach International Airport
44:49
and admired its interior official said, they're giving it to me,
44:54
Trump remarked to those around him. Trump loved it when
44:58
he saw the aircraft, person finding it far more updated,
45:02
modern and spacious than the existing planes used for Air
45:05
Force One, and appreciating that there were more workstations available
45:11
on the Nudjet for him and his age to use
45:14
as second White House officials said. Scrutiny of the plane deal,
45:18
since it was announced just before Trump's visit to Qatar,
45:22
has not deterred the President or his team, the White
45:26
House officials added. Everyone thinks it. We're scared of the
45:30
plane situation that we're not really going to do it.
45:33
We're looking forward to it. Everyone is going to love it.
45:37
The press is going to love it. We're not cowardly,
45:40
the official said. The Trump administration has commissioned the defense
45:46
contractor L three Harris to retrofit the Katari plane and
45:50
bring it into compliance with the rigorous safety and security
45:54
standards for the presidential transport. The work has to be
45:57
done in Texas. Up toured the jet. Air Force officials
46:02
reviewed the aircraft and found that it was very poorly
46:06
maintained and would require millions of dollars just to bring
46:10
it up to satisfactory maintenance conditions, said one person familiar
46:14
with the matter. The Air Force assessed then that there
46:18
was no way the jet could ferry the president in
46:21
its current state. The Air Force estimated that it would
46:26
cost one point five billion dollars to meet those requirements.
46:30
To then remove the military gear and convert it for
46:33
civilian use after Trump leave's office would cost an estimated
46:37
five hundred million dollars, said two people familiar with the matter.
46:42
One of those officials said it was unclear if those
46:46
estimates still hold true because the president has the authority to.
46:50
Speaker 2: Waive certain requirements. Former US officials said, if the.
46:56
Speaker 1: President said I wanted this in a year and a
47:00
half and I don't care what capabilities it has, as
47:03
long as it's a luxury flying palace with my colors
47:07
on it, then it can be done, said former Air
47:10
Force Secretary Frank Kendall. But he'll have to waive some
47:14
security requirements, which.
47:16
Speaker 2: He can do.
47:17
Speaker 1: Kendall said, he's the commander in chief. Nobody's going to
47:21
make him have those features. Trump administration moves to upend
47:27
thirty seven billion dollar affirmative action program. The Transportation Department initiative,
47:34
which serves an estimated forty nine thousand contractors, was a
47:38
key lifeline for many minority and women owned businesses by
47:44
Julian Mark, The Trump administration moved Wednesday to dismantle one
47:49
of the federal government's largest and longest standing affirmative action programs,
47:54
siding with two white owned contracting businesses that challenged its constitutionutionality.
48:01
In emotion filed in the U. S. District Court for
48:04
the Eastern District of Kentucky. The Justice Department said that
48:08
a Transportation Department program that has carved out an estimated
48:13
thirty seven billion dollars for minority and women owned businesses
48:17
violates the equal Protection clause of the Constitution. If a
48:22
judge approves the proposed settlement, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program
48:28
DBE would be prohibited from awarding contracts based on race
48:33
and sex, effectively ending its founding mission. Over the past
48:39
five decades, the federal government imposed a policy of race
48:42
discrimination in the road building industry, said Dan Lennington, Deputy
48:49
council at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, the
48:52
conservative nonprofit representing the plaintiffs. Thousands of workers in small
48:59
businesses have been victimized, and hundreds of billions have been spent,
49:03
destroying the market and inflating construction costs for the taxpayers.
49:08
Speaker 2: That ends now.
49:11
Speaker 1: The settlement is still subject to challenge by a coalition
49:14
of businesses that intervened in the case after President Donald
49:18
Trump took office, arguing that the program is essential to
49:22
removing entrenched barriers that minorities and women face in the
49:27
seventy five point nine billion dollar contracting seventy seven hundred
49:34
and fifty nine billion dollar contracting SECTORM. First authorized by
49:39
Congress in nineteen eighty three, the program serves roughly forty
49:43
nine thousand businesses designed or designated as disadvantaged. The Trump
49:51
administration won't stick up for minority and women owned business,
49:55
so we will, Democracy Ford, the left leaning nonprofit represent
50:00
group of contractors composed of underrepresented groups, said Wednesday on
50:05
the social media site blue Sky. This coalition intervened in
50:10
this case because of what's at stake, not just for
50:13
these businesses, but for the long standing principles of redressing
50:17
past discrimination in our economy. The case was brought in
50:22
twenty twenty three by Mid America Milling and Bagshaw Trucking,
50:27
both Indiana based transportation companies whose contractors alleged that they
50:32
lost out on jobs when the agency began awarding contracts
50:36
through the largest and perhaps oldest affirmative action program in
50:41
US history. The DBE was most recently authorized under the
50:47
one point two trillion dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
50:52
of twenty twenty one, as well as through the one
50:55
hundred and five billion dollars in federal funding for airport
50:59
and flighte safety improvements. In September, US District Judge Gregory F.
51:07
Van Titanhove, a George W. Bush appointee, partially blocked the
51:13
program on the grounds the plaintiffs were likely to succeed
51:17
on their claims. A permanent decision was pending before the
51:21
parties agreed to settle. The dB program, which is funded
51:26
by the US government but administered by states, ear marks
51:30
at least ten percent of the federal funding for transportation
51:33
infrastructure to women a minority owned contracting firms. At the
51:39
time of the ruling, the Biden administration argued that the
51:43
dB was necessary to help remedy the effects of past
51:48
and ongoing discrimination in government contracting. But since taking office
51:53
in January, Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders
51:58
seeking to end any diversity, equity and Inclusion DEI measures
52:04
by the government and beyond. The Justice Department, which a
52:08
few months ago defended the program under President Joe Biden,
52:11
wrote in Wednesday's folling that it re evaluated its position
52:16
in light of the June twenty twenty three Supreme Court
52:19
decision banning race conscious college admissions. I'm not surprised the
52:25
administration would settle a case like this, not because we
52:29
know how they feel about diversity, equity, and inclusion programs
52:33
of all types, said Tony Franco, managing partner at Pellierio Masa,
52:39
a Washington based law firm that represents government contractors. This
52:45
is one of those programs that is illustrative of the
52:48
kind of programs that were set up by the federal
52:51
government years ago in order to equal the playing field.
52:55
But Franco and other government contracting experts said the settlement
52:59
if leaves room for the program to continue in some passion, allowing,
53:04
for example, preferences to be based on economic disadvantage instead
53:09
of race agenda. Colette Holt, a San Antonio based attorney
53:15
who has developed and defended minority contracting programs for three decades,
53:20
said firms that have achieved success through these civil rights
53:24
approaches are likely to lose some opportunities. However, it is
53:30
possible that a revised program would be race and gender
53:33
neutral and can still provide benefits to businesses owned by
53:37
economically disadvantaged individuals.
53:40
Speaker 2: She added.
53:42
Speaker 1: Even before Trump's return to the White House, a number
53:45
of federal affirmative action programs had been enjoined by the
53:49
courts on constitutional grounds, with plaintiffs alleging that the Supreme
53:53
Court's College Affirmative Action decision borrowed the government from granting
53:58
benefits based on rape. In September twenty twenty three, a
54:03
Tennessee judge ruled that a Small Business Administration eight A
54:08
program for minority contractors could no longer presume certain ethnic
54:13
groups were inherently disadvantaged, a key requirement to receive set
54:18
asides for government contracts. In March twenty twenty four, a
54:23
federal judge in Texas ordered the fifty five year old
54:26
Minority Business Development Agency to open its doors to all,
54:31
including white entrepreneurs. Those court cases were part of a
54:35
broader wave of resistance to DEI in higher education and
54:40
the private sector, as well as the idea that certain
54:43
racial groups are inherently more disadvantaged than others. Proponents of
54:49
the DBE program and others that grant preferences based on
54:53
race and six say its loss could prove devastating for
54:56
underrepresented groups in the government contracting world. Such programs were
55:01
created in the nineteen sixties and seventies to address pervasive
55:06
race and gender discrimination in the private and contracting sectors,
55:10
the effects of which they say have not been fully erased.
55:14
Supporters say many businesses will fold if the programs go away,
55:20
but opponent's question whether the program was over effective. Eric Smith,
55:25
a research fella at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think take,
55:30
said that the program had been in place for decades
55:33
to remity past discrimination and clearly seems to be ineffective
55:39
in accomplishing that gold After a successful fifty years, perhaps
55:45
it's time for a new strategy. Smith said, are the
55:48
perceived disadvantages of marginalized contractors adherent to their sex, race,
55:53
or ethnicicity? Are there race neutral alternatives that can work
55:58
to remove whatever obstacles impeded the upward nobility of women
56:02
and minorities and contracting. Are these the questions the nation
56:06
should be asking. I have a few minutes to quickly
56:10
talk about a glacier collapse bearing nearly all of Swiss
56:16
alpine village. We have lost our village, the mayor of
56:19
Blatten said, after the glacier's explosive collapse covered it in ice,
56:25
rock and mud. One person is missing, by Leo stands
56:30
for days. The inhabitants of blattin a village in the
56:33
Swiss Alps had been warned that an unstable glacier high
56:37
above their homes would collapse. On Wednesday afternoon, the glacier
56:41
broke up under the weight of overlying rocks, sending some
56:45
three million cubic meters of ice, rock and mud towards
56:49
their homes. The glaciers collapse was so explosive that it
56:53
corresponded to a three point one magnitude earthquake on Switzerland's scale,
56:59
according to the country SEARIS Medical Seismological Service. In a statement,
57:05
the agency said the mass movement was one of the
57:07
largest ever recorded in the country. A chancellor for the
57:13
province of Valet told Swiss media that the cascade of
57:16
rubble buried about ninety percent of the village, which was
57:20
evacuated days before. Authorities suspect the collapse was triggered by
57:26
high altitude snow milt. We have lost air, village, Latin
57:31
Maya Matthias Belwald said during an emotional news conference Wednesday evening.
57:36
He said the destruction was extensive and appealed for help
57:40
to rebuild the village. One person, a sixty four year
57:44
old resident, believed to have been in the area at
57:47
the time of the collapse was missing, police said in
57:50
a statement Wednesday afternoon. They said they deployed a thermal
57:54
drone and sent rescue specialists to locate him. This ends
57:59
the rest of Today's Washington Post for Thursday, May the
58:03
twenty ninth of twenty twenty five. Please continue listening to
58:08
RADIOI programming on this.
58:12
Speaker 2: Event. Take care, and I will see you on Saturday.