Latest / Washington Post / 4.2.26
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of today's Washington Post. It is Thursday,
- 0:06April second of twenty twenty six. Your reader is Alice Stainer,
- 0:12with the reminder that RADIOI is for those blind with
- 0:16other difficulties in reading and holding printed material. And I
- 0:21just want to say we had a lovely weekend with
- 0:23their grandchildren and son.
- 0:26Speaker 2: It was so nice to have them.
- 0:28Speaker 1: We did things we have not done in Lexington, like
- 0:30I went to Gotton Park for the first time. We
- 0:33did wonderful fun things. And also I hope everybody had
- 0:39a good weekend as well.
- 0:40Speaker 2: And yesterday I.
- 0:42Speaker 1: Watched the liftoff with Gary of the NASAs Artemis two
- 0:46lifting off on its historic Moon mission.
- 0:49Speaker 2: And it is on the front page.
- 0:53Speaker 1: The picture of the liftoff with four astronauts blasting off
- 0:56before sunset Wednesday, starting a history a ten day journey
- 1:01to loop around the Moon for the first time since
- 1:04the Apollo era and propel people further into space than
- 1:08ever before. The astronauts will circle the Earth first, testing
- 1:13life support systems and making final checks before heading towards
- 1:17the Moon. My sisters sent a video of the launch
- 1:22from her backyard in Florida, and oh my goodness, I
- 1:26am jealous that I wasn't there to see it. So
- 1:30here is the front page of the Washington Post for today.
- 1:33On the very far left, birthright citizenship looks slightly to survive.
- 1:41Supreme Court skeptical of arguments supporting Trump's order to end
- 1:45it by justice juvenile. Then there's the picture in the
- 1:50center of the NASA's Artemis lift off, and to the
- 1:55right of that Trump war is nearing its end, defends
- 1:59his choice to attack iron speech comes amid souring moods
- 2:04on conflict by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. And Karen De Young.
- 2:11Below the picture of liftoff. Trump is loath to ask
- 2:15Congress for ballroom by Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards, and
- 2:21lawmakers aren't keen to give approval and wake of judges ruling.
- 2:27And then below the fold on the left, teachers AI
- 2:30is designed to argue, not summarize. Goal is to help
- 2:36students reliant on chat to g PT to think through
- 2:41solutions by Susan Svergrugla and on the far right musks
- 2:49space x files IPO seeking a massive debut aerospace firm
- 2:56could break record for largest public offering in history. Buffets
- 3:01Sidiqui and Elizabeth Duskin.
- 3:05Speaker 2: And in the middle it.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Looks like you're looking through infrared binoculars because it's an
- 3:11eerie scene of red. Everything has red overtones. And it's
- 3:17a picture of people in Heretian Crete Island, on the
- 3:22island of Crete walking amid Hayes Wednesday caused by sand
- 3:26dust from the Sahara Sahara. According to NASA, a dry
- 3:32dust laden wind known as the Harmatian swept across northwestern Africa,
- 3:41bringing cold temperatures, high winds, and heavy dust. And it
- 3:45is just a vision of red and white is red,
- 3:51black is red.
- 3:53Speaker 2: It's very weary, very eerie.
- 3:56Speaker 1: You do see light in one building on the right side,
- 4:00but everything else is totally read well. His speech last
- 4:05night is on the front page. Trump says Iran war
- 4:09is nearing completion as he seeks to calm economic worries.
- 4:15The White House is trying to contain the consequences of
- 4:18a conflict that has sent gas prices soaring and soured
- 4:24feelings about the president and the economy. And there's a
- 4:28picture of him at the podium with the presidential seal
- 4:30on it, in his standard blue suit with red tie,
- 4:35and that is his address last Night from the White House.
- 4:40The article by kleeb Are Woodson and Karen DeYoung. Facing
- 4:45economic and political headwinds a month after launching a surprise
- 4:50attack on Iran, President Donald Trump defended the increasingly unpopular
- 4:55conflict Wednesday night, but assured the nation that the military operation.
- 5:00Speaker 2: In the Middle East was nearing completion.
- 5:05Speaker 1: In a speech from the White House, Trump said the
- 5:08United States was on track to complete all of its
- 5:11military objectives shortly, very shortly, but first there would be
- 5:17a period of military build up. We're going to hit
- 5:21them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.
- 5:25Speaker 2: We're going to bring them back.
- 5:27Speaker 1: To the stone ages, Trump said. The president's defense of
- 5:32his actions and his direct entreaty to the American people
- 5:36comes as the White House tries to contain the consequences
- 5:40of a conflict that has sent gas prices soaring and
- 5:44soured Americans' feelings about Trump and the economy. Six months
- 5:49before the midterm elections, Trump sought to assure americans weary
- 5:54of rising gas prices that the spike in fuel cost
- 5:59was show, but he did not offer specifics on how
- 6:03the White House would address voter concerns, suggesting only that
- 6:08prices would rapidly come back down once the conflict is over.
- 6:14He also tried to clear up contradictory statements about the
- 6:18competing objectives of the bombardment, launched on February twenty eighth,
- 6:23saying it was a continuation of political promises he made
- 6:27for years to deny Aran a nuclear weapon. Trump said,
- 6:34from the very first day I announced my campaign for
- 6:38president in twenty fifteen, I have voted that I would
- 6:41never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
- 6:45Speaker 2: They were right at the doorstep.
- 6:47Speaker 1: For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.
- 6:51But in the end, those are just words if you're
- 6:54not willing to take action when the time comes. While
- 6:59he said discussions with Iran were ongoing, Trump made no
- 7:03mention of the list of fifteen demands he has sent
- 7:06to Tehran or what he said earlier Wednesday was Iranian
- 7:10President Mahsud pe Peshkian's offer of a ceasefire. The Iranian
- 7:17government denied such an offer had been made and has
- 7:20made its own demands, including control of the Strait of
- 7:23Homuz and war reparations for destruction by US and Israeli asteriks.
- 7:29Over the past month, the administration has given shifting explanations
- 7:33about the goals of the conflict, and Trump and Secretary
- 7:37of State Marco Rubio have spent recent days promising to
- 7:41end the war while at the same time threatening to
- 7:45escalate it, and some contradictions remained. Wednesday, Trump simultaneously claimed
- 7:51to have obliterated, beaten, and completely decimated Iran, achieving all
- 7:58objectives n as. He said operations would continue and even
- 8:02increase until all US goals were achieved. Trump has sent
- 8:08thousands of additional ground forces to the region, but despite
- 8:11threats of ground attacks on various Iranian targets, he did
- 8:16not share any details about whether or where he plans
- 8:20to use them. Military planning for those operations could take
- 8:25weeks to complete if he approves them, and while he
- 8:29said the US will hit power grids, he pulled back
- 8:32from naming desalinization plants as a target, something that was
- 8:37widely decried as a potential war crime. Trump also appeared
- 8:43to suggest that the US would not need to retrieve
- 8:46the highly enriched uranium that is believed to be buried
- 8:49at the Iranian nucleus sites the US attacked last year.
- 8:55Theeve been hit so hard that it would take months
- 8:58to get near the nuclear ust. Trump said the Pentagon
- 9:03had drafted risky plans at Trump's request for a US
- 9:07ground operation to seize the nearly one thousand pounds of
- 9:10highly enriched uranium that experts believe is buried deep beneath
- 9:15the surface at one or two Iranian nuclear facilities, but
- 9:19in his remarks, Trump appeared to suggest the US could
- 9:23monitor the location of the nuclear material with intense satellite surveillance.
- 9:31The US Israeli attack on Iran is the second major
- 9:35military action by the US in his many months, following
- 9:38an operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Iran's supreme leader,
- 9:45and more than a dozen other leaders were assassinated in
- 9:49a matter of days in what the President said would
- 9:52be a surgical operation, But the toll in Dalla's global
- 9:57economic turmoil and casualty has continued to mount. Iranian leaders
- 10:03blocked off the Strait of Homos, a choke point for
- 10:06twenty percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.
- 10:10Tank of traffic has diminished to a trickle, and the
- 10:13average cost of a gallon of gasoline in the US
- 10:17shot past four dollars. Trump's words Wednesday night did not
- 10:22immediately promote faith in the global economic outlook, Asian stocks
- 10:28fell and oil prices jumped. Following Trump's address, Stocks in
- 10:33Japan and South Korea, two nations that rely on oil's
- 10:37shipped via the Strait of Homus, sank studdedly while the
- 10:41president spoke. South Korea's Kospi index closed more than four
- 10:47percent low, while Japan's Niki to twenty five index dropped
- 10:53more than two percent. Markets in Taiwan and Hong Kong
- 10:58fell by about one percent. On Thursday morning, major European
- 11:04markets celebrate one percent, and pre market futures trading on
- 11:08Wall Street dropped.
- 11:10Speaker 2: Brint crude the global.
- 11:12Speaker 1: Benchmark topped one hundred and seven dollars per barrel, up
- 11:17six point five percent. American airlines allies have become more
- 11:22exasperated by the out of the blue conflict that is
- 11:26causing global economic follow even as the US uses their
- 11:30airspace and military bases to launch additional attacks. Thousands of
- 11:36US members have been sent to the Middle East and
- 11:38thirteen have been killed. Some Republicans and Trump supporters also
- 11:44have argued that the military action in a country seven
- 11:48thousand miles away goes against the non interventionist ethos that
- 11:53has marked Trump's America First agenda for the past decade.
- 11:59Nearly six and ten Americans opposed the conflict in Iran
- 12:02across five recent surveys interviewing over ten thousand Americans, according
- 12:08to a Washington Post analyst of polls. A Few Research
- 12:14Center poll in mid March found fifty nine percent say
- 12:18they believed that the US made the wrong decision in
- 12:22using military force in Iran, while a Fox News polled
- 12:26found fifty eight percent opposed the current US military action
- 12:32against Iran, and sixty five percent of Americans say the
- 12:37Trump administration has not advocately explained the purpose of the conflict.
- 12:43In arguing for the necessity of the military action, Wednesday,
- 12:47Trump leaved into the humanitarian benefits of the top oled
- 12:50Iranian regime. Trump has encouraged the Iranian people to overthrow
- 12:55their government and pledged that help is on the way
- 12:59to Iranian testers who had been assailed by their leaders.
- 13:03On Wednesday, he said that forty five thousand Iranians had
- 13:07been killed by government forces in protests this year, a
- 13:11jump from his previous estimate of thirty two thousand, though
- 13:15he did not expound on where the number came from.
- 13:20Iran has continued to attack both civilian targets and US
- 13:25military installations, including an attack on Prince Sultan Air Base
- 13:30in Saudi Arabia that destroyed at least two US military
- 13:35aircraft and injured US troops. Razim change was not our gold,
- 13:42Trump said, although he has previously claimed credit for wiping
- 13:46out to regimes, since all of their original leaders dot
- 13:52dot are all dead, the new group, Trump added, is
- 13:57less radical and much more reasonable, although the same president
- 14:01is still in office and the Supreme leader killed in
- 14:04and the Israeli strike on the first day of the
- 14:06war has been at least nominally replaced by his equally
- 14:10hardlined son, while he is approaching his original deadline of
- 14:16several weeks for ending the war. Trump attempted to offer
- 14:21perspective by noting that US involvement in World War One
- 14:25lasted one year, seven months, and five days, while World
- 14:30War II and the Korean War were significantly longer, and
- 14:36the Vietnam War lasted for nineteen years, five months, and
- 14:40twenty nine days. Supreme Court appears skeptical of Trump's effort
- 14:49to end birthright citizenship.
- 14:52Speaker 2: The Justices appeared poised to.
- 14:55Speaker 1: Turn aside government arguments that the president can deny citizenship
- 15:00to babies born to parents without permanent emigration status.
- 15:06Speaker 2: By justin juvenal.
- 15:10Speaker 1: The Supreme Court appeared poised Wednesday to uphold the legal
- 15:14principle that almost everyone born on US soil is a citizen.
- 15:20As justices heard arguments in a major case that raises
- 15:24fundamental questions about who is considered American, the Justices seemed
- 15:31ready to hand President Donald Trump a significant defeat in
- 15:35his push to end birthright citizenship as the President sat
- 15:40watching the first part of the proceedings in the public gallery.
- 15:44Speaker 2: A historic first.
- 15:46Speaker 1: Trump is the only sitting chief executive known to have
- 15:51attended arguments before the High Court. His presence ratcheted up
- 15:57the drama in what was already one of the most
- 16:00significant cases of the Supreme Court's term. The case tests
- 16:05the constitutionality of a signature policy that could have sweeping political, economic,
- 16:12and social ramifications. Trump has also repeatedly attacked the Justices
- 16:17in recent weeks over their rulings against him. The President
- 16:23went to court seeking to redefined American identity in ways
- 16:28not seen for more than one hundred and fifty years.
- 16:31Since the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing citizenship to the
- 16:37formerly enslaved and their children in the wake of the
- 16:41Civil War. The Amendment was written to overturn the High
- 16:45Court's famous dread Scott decision, which denied citizenship to black people,
- 16:52but the language of the Amendment, all persons born are
- 16:56naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction
- 17:00thereof are citizens of the United States, has long been
- 17:07interpreted to cut more broadly, guaranteeing citizenship to all born
- 17:12in the United States, with only a few exceptions for
- 17:15children of foreign diplomats and those born to invading armies.
- 17:21The High Court adopted that understanding of the Amendment in
- 17:25eighteen ninety eight in a ruling that found Wong kim Ark,
- 17:30a man born to Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, was
- 17:34a citizen. Trump has pushed to dramatically narrow that scope,
- 17:39arguing that the amendments guarantee of citizenship does not apply
- 17:43to children born to parents in the country illegally, or
- 17:47those on temporary visas for work, travel, school.
- 17:51Speaker 2: Or humanitarian reasons.
- 17:53Speaker 1: Most of the justices appeared skeptical of that position during
- 17:57more than two hours of arguments, but several also asked
- 18:02sharp questions of an attorney arguing to uphold birthright citizenship,
- 18:07indicating that the case might not be a slam dunk.
- 18:11The decision is expected by June or July. Trump's policy
- 18:16remains blocked until then by lower court orders solicited. General
- 18:22d John Sowell, who argued for the government, said the
- 18:25framers of the Fourteenth Amendment could not have anticipated the
- 18:29modern crush of illegal immigration in the United States, saying
- 18:33it called for a new approach to citizenship. But Chief
- 18:37Justice John G. Roberts Junior swatted that idea down. Sower said,
- 18:43we're in a new world now dot dot We're eight
- 18:47million people are one plane ride away from having a
- 18:51child who's a US citizen. Roberts retorted, well, it's a
- 18:57new world, but it's the same constitution. The quip drew
- 19:01last from the packed crowd in the chamber. Justice Elena
- 19:06Kagan sounded a similar note of caution at another point,
- 19:10telling Saura that his contention that the Fourteenth Amendment did
- 19:14not apply to people who did not have permanent immigration
- 19:17status was hard to square with its language. Kagan said
- 19:23the text of the clause I think does not support you.
- 19:28I think you're sort of looking for some more technical,
- 19:31esoteric meaning. The only justice who appeared to firmly back
- 19:36the administration was Conservative Samuel A. Alito Junior. He, like Saura,
- 19:42suggested the exceptions to the Fourteenth Amendment could be expanded
- 19:47to a come for new realities that didn't exist at
- 19:50the time of its ratification in eighteen sixty eight. Alito said,
- 19:56what we're dealing with is something that was unknown at
- 19:59the time, illegal immigration. Trump entered the Supreme Court chamber
- 20:06through a side entrance at nine forty seven am, wearing
- 20:10a dark suit and red tie. He sat near Attorney
- 20:14General Pam Bondy, White House Counsel David Warrington, and Commerce
- 20:19Secretary Howard Lutnik. When the justices took the bench at
- 20:23ten a m. Trump rose with everyone else. The justices
- 20:28did not appear to acknowledge his presence and never mentioned
- 20:32him being in the court during the arguments. Trump was
- 20:35not visible from the media area during most of the arguments,
- 20:39but left about halfway through. Afterward, he posted on truth
- 20:44Social we are the only country in the world in
- 20:49capitals and bold stupid enough to allow birthright citizenship against
- 20:59Trump would be the latest of several setbacks for the
- 21:02President at the Court in recent months. The Court struck
- 21:06down Trump's tariffs in February and blocked his deployment of
- 21:10National Guard troops to Chicago in December. Those decisions, especially
- 21:15on tariffs, have prompted Trump in recent weeks to increasingly
- 21:19lash out at the Supreme Court. Trump swiped at the
- 21:22justices again Monday in a truth social post that also
- 21:26derided birthright citizenship.
- 21:30Speaker 2: The world is getting rich.
- 21:31Speaker 1: Sells citizenships to our country, while at the same time
- 21:35laughing at how stupid our US court system has become. Tariffs,
- 21:42Trump wrote, without explaining what he meant by selling citizenship.
- 21:47Dumb judges and justices will not a great country make,
- 21:52Trump wrote. The latest reversals for Trump at the Court
- 21:57come after he won a string of victories on the
- 21:59Justice emergency docket in the opening months of his second term.
- 22:04The Justices allowed him, on a temporary basis, demand transgender
- 22:08soldiers from the military, got the Education Department, Council Foreign aid,
- 22:13and removed the.
- 22:14Speaker 2: Heads of independent agencies.
- 22:16Speaker 1: As one of the first acts in office in his
- 22:19second term, Trump issued an executive order in January instructing
- 22:24government agencies to stop issuing citizenship documentation to children born
- 22:29to families with a permanent immigration status on or after
- 22:34February nineteenth, twenty twenty five. Souer's arguments for Trump's order
- 22:40turned on the phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof in
- 22:45the Amendment. That phrase invokes a political allegiance to the
- 22:49United States, which children of those present illegally or temporarily
- 22:53can't demonstrate because their parents haven't established that they planned
- 22:57to stay in the United States permanently or be domiciled
- 23:02here in legal parlance, he said. He also told the
- 23:07justices that despite its broad language, the fourteenth Amendment was
- 23:11only meant to extend citizenship to the formerly enslaved in
- 23:15their children. Granting birthright citizenship to nearly everyone drives the
- 23:21illegal immigration and birth tourism traveling to the United States
- 23:26to have a baby, said, the child can be a
- 23:28US citizen, Saura said. He added that migrants who take
- 23:33advantage of birthright citizenship undermine.
- 23:35Speaker 2: The rule of law.
- 23:37Speaker 1: It means the priceless, profound gift of citizenship, Saur told
- 23:43the justices.
- 23:44Speaker 2: But Conservative Justice Neil M.
- 23:46Speaker 1: Gorsuch said that none of the debates around the drafting
- 23:51of the fourteenth Amendment made reference to a parent's legal
- 23:54status or their intention to stay in the country permanently
- 23:58as a basis for a determined a child citizenship. The
- 24:02absence is striking, Gorsuch, said Cecilia Wang, an attorney for
- 24:10the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to block Trump's order,
- 24:15told the justices that the administration's reading of the fourteenth
- 24:18Amendment flies in the face of its plain meaning, the
- 24:22eighteen ninety eight Supreme Court ruling, legal history, and decades
- 24:27of practice by the government. Wang said the framers of
- 24:32the fourteenth Amendment meant to have universal law of citizenship,
- 24:37subject to narrow exceptions. She said the phrase subject to
- 24:43the jurisdiction thereof has been long understood to cover children
- 24:48of diplomats and similar rare cases. She also argued Trump's
- 24:53order undermines an ideal that she said has made America
- 24:56a beacon for people around the world, that children of
- 25:01immigrants have the same rights and opportunities as people who
- 25:05have been in the country for generations. Several justices skeptically
- 25:10asked Wang. While the justices who ruled in the Kim
- 25:13Wong kim Ark case repeatedly circle back to the domicild
- 25:19concept in their decision if they did not intend for
- 25:22it to be a factor in determining a child citizenship,
- 25:26Wang pointed at a requirement to be domoicild was never
- 25:31part of the court's holding in that case. A ruling
- 25:35for Trump's ban on birthright citizenship could have vast and
- 25:39unpredictable consequences. Roughly two hundred and fifty children would be
- 25:45born without citizenship in the United States each year if
- 25:49Trump's order were upheld, or about five million by twenty
- 25:54forty five, according to a Friend of the Court brief
- 25:58filed by dozens of professors, Some would probably be left stateless.
- 26:04Ending birthright citizenship would create an undocumented underclass, a swath
- 26:11of society with limited access to education, health care, and
- 26:15safe social safety net programs, they said. They also told
- 26:20the court that such a change would damage the American economy,
- 26:24which is boosted by immigrants. The professors wrote, the creation
- 26:30of this caste would disrupt one hundred and fifty years
- 26:34of inter generational upward mobility for immigrants and would reverberate
- 26:39broadly through the US economy and society. The United States
- 26:45is one of roughly three dozen countries across the world
- 26:48that have birthright citizenship. Most nations follow lineage based rules
- 26:54requiring parents to be citizens or permanent residents for their
- 26:58children to obtain thisenship. This is not the first time
- 27:03birthright citizenship has been before the Justices. In a separate
- 27:08case in June, the Trump administration did not ask the
- 27:11Court to weigh in on the merits of the policy,
- 27:14but to rule on the narrower question of whether lower
- 27:17courts could issue nationwide injunctions, and as six' three, ruling
- 27:23The justice sincided With trump officials and limited such. Orders
- 27:28soon after that, decision a group of individuals represented by
- 27:33THE aclu filed a class action lawsuit In New hampshire
- 27:37Against trump's.
- 27:38Speaker 2: ORDER a federal judge is due.
- 27:40Speaker 1: To preliminary injunction in that, case but before an appeals
- 27:44court could render a, decision administration officials petitioned The Supreme.
- 27:48Speaker 2: Court to hear the. Case at the end Of.
- 27:52Speaker 1: April The justices will hear another major immigration related case
- 27:57dealing with whether The trump administration came and ended deportation
- 28:01protections for hundreds of thousands Of syrians And.
- 28:05Speaker 2: Haitians the ruling.
- 28:07Speaker 1: Could effect tens of thousands of other migrants whom The
- 28:11trump administration has tried to strip of what is known
- 28:15as temporary protected. Status congress is in no rush to
- 28:22Authorize trump's ballroom after judge's. Ruling The president doesn't appear
- 28:29interested in seeking lawmaker's approval for his four hundred million dollar,
- 28:34project and they're not inclined to give.
- 28:36Speaker 2: It and there's a picture of the.
- 28:39Speaker 1: Construction crews on the side of The White house's former
- 28:42east wing where the ballroom is proposed to be, built
- 28:46and it kind of looks like the big dig In
- 28:49lexington from a couple of years ago Before Senna city was.
- 28:54Built and there's concrete, area a big hole crane truck's
- 29:01people to the construction site By Dan diamond And Jonathan.
- 29:07Edwards President Donald trump is in inclined to See congress's
- 29:12approval for his controversial four hundred million Dollar White house,
- 29:15ballroom and many lawmakers.
- 29:18Speaker 2: Are not inclined to give.
- 29:19Speaker 1: IT a federal judge Ruled tuesday That trump must obtain
- 29:25congressional authorization to complete his ballroom, project which The president
- 29:30has sought to fund with private. Donations The White house
- 29:34immediately appealed the, decision And trump's duck struck a defiant
- 29:39tone in remarks to reporters and on social. Media in
- 29:45the ballroom, case the judge, said we have to get congressional.
- 29:49Approval he is, Wrong capitol and, Bold trump Wrote tuesday
- 29:55on his truth social, platform Adding congressional approval has never
- 30:00been given on anything in these, circumstances big or, small
- 30:05having to do with construction at The White. House in
- 30:09interviews With The Washington, post lawmakers and aids said That
- 30:13trump was wrong About congress's, rule pointing to decades of
- 30:17examples of legislators approving changes to The White house, grounds
- 30:22including setting aside funding to construct The White house's Original
- 30:27east And west wings more than a century.
- 30:30Speaker 2: Ago what happens.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Now if the law is, followed is That trump is
- 30:36forced to do the thing he hates the, most actually
- 30:39play the, rules play by the, rules and go Through,
- 30:43congress Said Representative Jared, Huffman, california the Top democrat on
- 30:49The Host's Natural Resources. Committee that committee has historically overseen
- 30:55construction in national, parks including the park surrounding The White.
- 30:58House lawmakers and staff also said they expect any legislation
- 31:04around The White house ballroom to spark a fight In,
- 31:07congress noting pollings showing the project is unpopular and Many
- 31:12democrats opposition to. It fifty six percent Of americans said
- 31:17the disapproved Of trump's renovations to The White, house according
- 31:21to an Economist Slash yugov poll Conducted march twenty seven through,
- 31:27thirty while twenty eight percent said they supported. Them members
- 31:32of the public sent more than thirty five thousand comments
- 31:35about the project to a federal commission reviewing the, project
- 31:39and A post analyst found that more than ninety seven
- 31:44percent of those comments were critical of the president's. Plans
- 31:48Multiple democrats have opened probes Into trump's use of private
- 31:52donors to fund, construction and even Some republicans have acknowledged
- 31:57concerns about the pace and size of the plan ninety
- 32:01thousand square foot. Project trump has insisted that a ballroom
- 32:06is necessary to ENTERTAIN vip. GUESTS a federal, panel Which
- 32:11trump has, backed packed with his, allies is set to
- 32:15Vote thursday on whether to approve the. Project the final
- 32:18procedural hurdle outside of the legal challenges before The trump
- 32:23administration plan to. PROCEED gop leaders have largely steered clear
- 32:28of the, topic weary of engaging with a unpopular issue
- 32:32in a midterm election. Year Senate Majority Leader John, Thinne
- 32:37republican Of South, dakota has not said anything publicly about
- 32:41whether The senate will take up legislation to authorize construction
- 32:45of the ballroom or to fund. It Several republican lawmakers
- 32:49declined to Comment, wednesday saying they didn't want to engage
- 32:53on hypothetical legislation tied to a controversial.
- 32:57Speaker 2: TOPIC i think it's How trump is.
- 33:00Speaker 1: Doing it that makes it, toxic said his senior, host Gop,
- 33:05aid speaking on the condition of anonymnity because they were
- 33:09not authorized to. Comment the aide sight of the project's
- 33:13size and, cost as well As trump's decision to disregard
- 33:17precedent on working With congress and. Preservationists lawmakers also noted
- 33:23the distinction between congressional appropriation of, funds where The trump
- 33:28administration would seek potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to
- 33:32pay for the ballroom and probably spark an extended funding,
- 33:36fight versus authorization of the, project where lawmakers could more
- 33:41easily Approve trump's existing plans to rely on private. Donations
- 33:46Some democrats said it didn't make a. DIFFERENCE I m
- 33:51a hell no On Donald trump's vanity, ballroom Said Senator Richard,
- 33:56Blumenthal democrat Of, connecticut adding his reckoning ball destruction of
- 34:01The East wing an attempt to construct a giant eyesaw
- 34:05or a gigantic, eyesaw has rightly been halted as illegal
- 34:09because he failed to come To congress for. Authority Now
- 34:13congress should stop. Him The White house did not directly
- 34:17respond to questions about whether it would now Ask congress
- 34:20to approve the, ballroom but noted that it immediately APPEALED
- 34:24Us District Judge Richard leon's ruling to halt the. Project
- 34:30President trump has clearly the legal authority to, modernize, renovate
- 34:36and beautify The White, house just like all of his predecessors,
- 34:39Did White house Spokesperson Davis ingall said in a, statement
- 34:45adding that the administration was confident we will prevail in
- 34:49the legal.
- 34:50Speaker 2: Challenge trump is.
- 34:52Speaker 1: Barreled forward on the, project demolishing The East wing last
- 34:55year without waiting for required federal reviews and soliciting donationtions
- 35:00from private companies to fund the most significant change to
- 35:03The White house grounds in.
- 35:05Speaker 2: Decades leon A GEORGE.
- 35:08Speaker 1: W bush, appointee Wrote tuesday That congress was required to
- 35:12have oversight of Significant White house construction. Projects he also
- 35:17Cited congress's role approving past, projects such as lawmakers appropriating
- 35:22funding for a New White house perimeter fence about a decade,
- 35:26ago as a model for what The trump administration should do. Now,
- 35:31unfortunately for, defendants unless and Until congress blesses this project
- 35:37through statutory, authorization construction has to.
- 35:41Speaker 2: Stop leon, Wrote but here is the good.
- 35:44Speaker 1: News it is not too late For congress to authorize
- 35:47the continued construction of the ballroom. Project legal experts said
- 35:52That trump appeared to be girding for a continued court
- 35:55battle rather than embarking on a new legislative.
- 35:59Speaker 2: Fight there's two routes.
- 36:02Speaker 1: Right one would be pausing the litigation and Asking congress for,
- 36:07approval and the other is, appealing Said andrea So Syria,
- 36:13katz a professor At Washington University school Of law In
- 36:17Saint louis who studies the. PRESIDENCY i think the administration
- 36:22has every incentive to continue through the appellate, route hoping
- 36:27that they're going to find a sympathetic. Voice some experts
- 36:32also noted that if The trump administration tries to pursue both,
- 36:36routes simultaneously appealing the case while also seeking approval From.
- 36:42Congress judges could decline to intervene and.
- 36:46Speaker 2: Defer to the.
- 36:47Speaker 1: Legislature going inside of the, Paper trump issues order attempting
- 36:56to change rules for mail in. Voting calls for limiting
- 37:01mail ballots and using federal data to compile lists of eligible,
- 37:06voters moves experts say exceed his constitutional. Authority By Patrick
- 37:15marley And CLEVE. R, Woodson President Donald trump issued a
- 37:23sweeping executive Order tuesday that purports to change rules for mail,
- 37:28ballots even though the president has limited authority of. Elections
- 37:35the order directs THE Us Postal service to send ballots
- 37:39only to voters who appear on a list of citizens
- 37:43to be compiled by The department Of Homeland security with
- 37:47the assistance of The Social Security. Administration the order also
- 37:52specifies what types of secure envelopes are to be used
- 37:57for mail. Ballots experts called the order legally questionable and
- 38:04noted that courts blocked the major provisions of an executive
- 38:08order on elections he signed last. Year The constitution gives
- 38:13states over sight of elections while Giving congress the power
- 38:17to establish national standards for. Them it does not give
- 38:22the president unilateral authority over how voting is. Conducted trump
- 38:27predicted a legal challenge to the.
- 38:30Speaker 2: Order they'll probably.
- 38:32Speaker 1: Challenge, it he, said you find a rogue, judge a
- 38:36lot of drug, judges rogue, judges very bad bad, people
- 38:41very bad. Judges and hopefully we will win on appeal
- 38:44if it is. Challenged upon its, agreed a challenge was
- 38:49all but. Certain this executive order is plainly unauthorized and,
- 38:54unlawful said WYN. D, wiser a vice president of The
- 38:58Brennan center For justice At New York, university adding the
- 39:03president has no authority to regulate. Elections he tried to
- 39:07do something like this a year. Ago dot dot, dot
- 39:10we and others actually.
- 39:11Speaker 2: Sued we. Won we expect the same result this.
- 39:15Speaker 1: Time trump is long assailed voting by, mail which he
- 39:20has claimed without, evidence is riddled with fraud and which
- 39:24he blames for helping him lose the twenty twenty. Election
- 39:28he has Pushed congress to pass The Save America, act
- 39:32A gop backed bill that would require every voter to
- 39:36provide proof of citizenship to register to, vote and photo
- 39:41identification at the ballot. Box the bill has been stalled
- 39:46in The, senate Frustrating trump and many of his, supporters
- 39:49who have embraced his accusations about widespread voter. Fraud critics
- 39:54say the legislation and other efforts to restrict voting would
- 39:58disenfranchise millions Of. Americans the executive order comes As trump
- 40:04has pushed A republican led states to redraw their congressional
- 40:09maps to favor THE gop and toted a wide Ranging
- 40:13Justice department probe related to the twenty twenty. Election The
- 40:18Justice department recently seized ballots from that election In georgia
- 40:23and obtained a trobe of data about it From. Arizona
- 40:28the administration has also sued twenty nine states to try
- 40:32to get copies of their voter, rolls which include voter's birth,
- 40:36dates driver's license, numbers and partial social security. Numbers courts
- 40:43have blocked the administration from getting voter lists in three
- 40:46states and have not yet.
- 40:48Speaker 2: Ruled in the.
- 40:49Speaker 1: Others the new executive order is far less ambitious than
- 40:54what the president has promised to deliver in the.
- 40:57Speaker 2: Past for, months he.
- 40:59Speaker 1: Has seid he would issue an executive order on, elections
- 41:03saying In august that he would lead a movement to
- 41:07end the use Of mayo ballots and voting. Machines trump
- 41:11allies have pressed the president to do that by declaring
- 41:14a national, emergency But tuesday's executive order came well short
- 41:19of making such a. Move Edward, foley a professor of
- 41:24election law At Ohio State, university said The constitution and
- 41:29federal law are clear in saying, states not postal, authorities
- 41:34determine who is eligible to receive. Ballots that portion Of
- 41:38trump's executive order seems very legally suspect to, Me foley.
- 41:45Said Richard, hassen A ucla law professor and director of
- 41:50the School's Safeguarding Democracy, project said presidents don't have the
- 41:55power to create lists of who is eligible to receive.
- 41:59Speaker 2: Ballots there is no authority for any of. This hassen.
- 42:04Said even if courts allowed.
- 42:07Speaker 1: The executive order to go into, effect federal agencies and
- 42:11The Postal service would not have time to implement it
- 42:15in time for the midterm.
- 42:16Speaker 2: Elections hasen said.
- 42:19Speaker 1: The executive order is just a Fancy that's WHY i.
- 42:23Speaker 2: Think this isn't. Serious hassen.
- 42:26Speaker 1: Said a year, Ago trump issued an executive order aimed
- 42:31at requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to.
- 42:35Vote states and voting rights groups, sued and courts blocked
- 42:40the major.
- 42:41Speaker 2: Elements of the.
- 42:42Speaker 1: ORDER a week, Ago trump voted by mail in a
- 42:45special election Between Democrat Emily gregory And Republican John maples
- 42:51for a seat in The large Of State. Legislature according
- 42:54to The Palm Beach County supervisor Of elections, Website trump
- 42:59did Not.
- 43:00Speaker 2: I'd have to vote by.
- 43:01Speaker 1: Mail he was In Palm beach during one of the
- 43:04weekends when early in person voting was. Scheduled trump defended
- 43:09his use of a mail in, ballot saying his duties
- 43:12as president required.
- 43:13Speaker 2: IT i used a mail in. Ballot you know, Why.
- 43:17Speaker 1: Because I'm president of The United, states and because of
- 43:21the fact That I'm president of The United. STATES i
- 43:24did a mail in ballot for elections that took place
- 43:26In florida BECAUSE i FELT i should be, here he
- 43:31said during a cabinet meeting at The White.
- 43:34Speaker 2: HOUSE Us Forest service will move headquarters from D c To.
- 43:41Speaker 1: Utah the reorganized agency will be based In Salt Lake,
- 43:46city echoing the move of The bureau Of Land management
- 43:51in the First trump. Term and there's smoke billowing from
- 43:56a prescribed burn on the Bitter Root National Forest News, Victor.
- 44:00Montana In april of twenty twenty. FIVE Us Forest service
- 44:05employees carry out springtime prescribed burns in order to reduce
- 44:11wildfire fuels before the hot summer. Months and there's a
- 44:16flag flying in front of the snow covered mountaintops above
- 44:22the burn area with smoke billowing from that.
- 44:25Speaker 2: Area By Jake spring And Marianna.
- 44:29Speaker 1: Alfaro THE Us Forest service will relocated its headquarters From
- 44:34washington To Salt Lake, city moving hundreds of positions as
- 44:39part of a broader agency reorganization The trump administration says
- 44:44would move officials closer to forest. Communities the move threatens
- 44:49to hollow at the current staff of The SERVICE'S dc,
- 44:52headquarters who may not decide to move To. Utah President
- 44:57Donald trump had similarly moved The bureau Of Land management
- 45:01headquarters To colorado in his first, term leading ninety percent
- 45:06of the staff to leave the, agency only for it
- 45:10to return To. Washington in its, announcement The Agriculture, department
- 45:15which oversees The Forest, service did not say how many
- 45:19staff would be. Relocated agency leadership told employees that roughly
- 45:24two hundred and sixty positions would be. Moved according to
- 45:28two sources familiar with the, matter who spoke on the
- 45:31condition of anonimnity because they were not authorized to speak
- 45:35to the, media the agency would be reorganized around fifteen
- 45:40directors overseeing one or more states from offices throughout the.
- 45:44Country THE usda did not immediately respond to questions about
- 45:49how many staffers would be. Moved Agriculture Secretary Brooke rawlins
- 45:55said in a, statement moving The Forest service closer to
- 45:59the forest we manage is an essential action that will
- 46:03improve our core mission of managing air forest while saving
- 46:07taxpayer dollars in boosting employee. Recruitment Utah Governor Spencer cox
- 46:14praised the decision to move The Forest service. Headquarters cox
- 46:19said on X with nearly ninety percent Of Forest service
- 46:25lands west of The, mississippi moving THE Us Forest service
- 46:29headquarters To Salt Lake city will put leadership closer to the,
- 46:33lands communities and challenges they. Manage critics of the move
- 46:38said it would undermine the. Agency the decentralization process in
- 46:43disguise is an attempt to destroy the capacity and effectiveness
- 46:49of agencies like The Forest, service said Char, miller a
- 46:53professor Of Environmental analysis And history At Pamuna. College miller
- 46:59argued that in order to carry out the functions of
- 47:01The Forest services meant to, do A washington office is
- 47:05needed because that's Where congress is that makes the budgetary
- 47:10decisions that drive the mission of the organization and what
- 47:14it can. Do Steve, ellis a Former deputy director of
- 47:19The bureau Of Land management And Forest service, employee said
- 47:23The Forest service needs people In washington to form relationships
- 47:27with counterparts In congress and The office Of management And
- 47:30budget to ensure the agency gets the resources it. Needs
- 47:35The bureau Of Land management moved To Grand, Junction, colorado
- 47:39also led to the brain dream of experienced staff leaving
- 47:43the agency who didn't want their children to change schools
- 47:47or their spouses to leave their jobs In. Washington ellis,
- 47:51said if you want to downsize the federal government and
- 47:55get federal employees to, leave that is one way to do.
- 47:59It he, said you're losing a lot of seasoned, talent
- 48:05a lot of institutional knowledge when you do. That The
- 48:09biden administration later MOVED blm back to D. C trump
- 48:16Endorses republican plan to END dhs. Shutdown the plan would
- 48:24fund ice And Border patrol for three years Without democrats,
- 48:28help while relying On democratic votes to fund the rest
- 48:33OF dhs By Raley began and Theodoric. Mayo President Donald
- 48:39trump endorsed a Plan wednesday to end the nearly seven
- 48:43week old shutdown of The department Of Homeland security by
- 48:47going Around democrats to fund parts of the. Agency trump
- 48:52Urged republicans to send him a party line bill By
- 48:56june first to fund two agencies within The, Department immigration
- 49:01And Customs ENFORCEMENT ICE ice And Border patrol using the reconciliation.
- 49:08Process the approach would allow him to Bypass, democrats who
- 49:13have spent weeks demanding new guardrails on those agencies in
- 49:18exchange for voting to fund. Them, Instead republicans could pass
- 49:23a funding bill with a simple majority and avoid A democratic.
- 49:26Filibuster we're going to work as fast and as focused
- 49:30and as possible to replenish funding for our border AND ice,
- 49:34agents and the radical Left democrats won't be able to stop,
- 49:38Us trump wrote in a social media. Post lawmakers have
- 49:42been at an impass OVER dhs funding for forty seven,
- 49:46days in the longest partial shutdown on, record which the
- 49:50public has mostly Encountered through long security lines at. Airports
- 49:55prussia has been building to resolve the, shutdown with polling
- 49:59indicating That republicans are shouldering more of the. Blame democrats
- 50:04had been demanding new restrictions on federal immigration agents operating
- 50:08in major cities after they killed TWO us citizens In
- 50:12minneapolis In. January the approach That trump Endorsed wednesday would
- 50:18also fund the rest OF, dhs which includes The Transportation
- 50:22Security administration THAT'S, tsa The Federal Emergency Management AGENCY, freema
- 50:30and The Coast guard Through. September Then republicans would start
- 50:35work on the reconciliation process to fund ice and border,
- 50:39patrol which would take. Weeks last, Week Senate Majority Leader John,
- 50:45Thune republican Of South, dakota struck a similar deal With
- 50:49Senate democrats to FUND dhs except for ice and border,
- 50:53patrol but that plan ran.
- 50:56Speaker 2: Into opposition in The.
- 50:57Speaker 1: House Host Speaker Mike, Johnson republican Of, louisiana Acknowledged wednesday
- 51:03that The chambers bill could not pass The, senate Where
- 51:07democrats had declared their dead un. Arrival, Instead Thunin johnson
- 51:12planned to use reconciliation to fund ice and border patrol
- 51:15for three years to insulate them from future attempts by
- 51:19The democrats to defund those, agencies they said in a joint.
- 51:24Statement Senate Minority Leader CHARLES. Z, Schuma democrat Of New,
- 51:29york said in his statement That, Houst republican's refusal to
- 51:33accept The senate bill for days had derailed about partisan
- 51:38agreement Making american families pay the price for their. Dysfunction
- 51:43House Minority Leader Haquem, Jeffrey's democrat Of New, york in a,
- 51:48statement called For congress to fund every part OF dhs
- 51:51that does not relate To Donald trump's violent mass deportation.
- 51:56Machine if, Successful publicans' plans would mark a novel partisan
- 52:03approached To congress's most fundamental role appropriating full year funding
- 52:09for federal agencies that gives an awful lot of authority
- 52:14to the executive branch to determine what to spend where
- 52:18they want to spend, it and no, guidance quite, frankly
- 52:21from the legislative branch on how the money for each
- 52:25agency ought to be allocated and, spent.
- 52:30Speaker 2: SAID. G William, hobland.
- 52:32Speaker 1: Senior vice president at The Bipartisan Policy center and a
- 52:37former advisor To republicans on The Senate Budget, Committee democrats
- 52:43refuse to fund ice and border patrol Until republicans agreed
- 52:47to pass legislation forcing federal agents to obtain judicial warrants
- 52:52before they can enter private property to make, arrest and
- 52:55barring them from wearing, masks among other. Demands agencies have
- 53:00been able to continue operations during the shutdown using one
- 53:04hundred and fifty billion dollars The republicans sent them last
- 53:08year in a separate reconciliation. Bill republicans have been mulling
- 53:14a second reconciliation package ahead of the mid term, elections
- 53:18but have struggled to coalesce around policies that could get
- 53:22enough support to pass in both, chambers Which republican control
- 53:26with slim. Margins using the reconciliation process to FUND dhs
- 53:32could create a political incentive For republicans to unify behind nude,
- 53:37legislation but it won't be. Simple multiple factions in the
- 53:41party would probably seek to attach their preferred policies to the.
- 53:47Package some lawmakers could feel pressure to cut popular programs
- 53:52to balance additional, spending Plus democrats could force multiple politically
- 53:58uncomfortable votes in the. Process reconciliation is never, easy always,
- 54:05complicated seeing told Reporters, friday even as he endorsed the.
- 54:10Approach Senator John, Hoven republican Of North, dakota Said monday
- 54:16That republicans should FUND dhs for the next three years
- 54:19through reconciliation to avoid contentious negotiations With democrats in the.
- 54:24Future hoven told, reporters we are not going through this
- 54:29again with The. Dems Other republicans in both chambers have
- 54:34also endorsed the. Idea Representative Tom ema Of, minnesota the
- 54:40number three Has, republican TOLD cnbc On wednesday that IF
- 54:44dhs hasn't been funded by the time lawmakers return To
- 54:49washington On april, fourteenth you'll see a skinny reconciliation bill
- 54:54moved very. Quickly Senator Ted, Cruz republican of Ten, texas
- 55:00said he had urged his colleagues to make a more aggressive,
- 55:04approach using reconciliation to FUND ice for ten years and
- 55:09giving the agency ten percent more money than current funding.
- 55:12Levels Elizabeth warren And charles Z schumer right now are
- 55:18crowing to the. Left AHA, a we got everyone to DEFUND.
- 55:22Ice look how successful we, Are cruz Said munday on
- 55:26his Podcast verdict With Ted. CRUZ i want to say
- 55:31stick it where the sun don't. Shine the effect of
- 55:34your ridiculousness is you increase funding for ice by ten
- 55:38percent and got it funded for ten. Years The senate
- 55:42could pass the bill to FUND dhs except for ice
- 55:46and border patrol as soon As, thursday when The chamber
- 55:49is scheduled to convene for a brief ceremonial. Session Host
- 55:54democrats have indicated they will not block the, legislation but
- 55:58at least Some House republicans are already against the. Plan
- 56:02Representative Scott, Perry republican Of, pennsylvania described it as caving To.
- 56:07Democrats funding for ice and C pb must never be
- 56:14separated FROM dhs. Funding Representative Keith, Self republican Of, texas
- 56:20run on social, media adding If republicans, isolated they're handing
- 56:25out border and ice agents straight to the, radicals who
- 56:28will defund and dismantle them every chance they. Get the
- 56:33proposed approach is not the first time the administration has
- 56:36bypassed traditional appropriations. Processes last, year unilaterally froze grants and
- 56:43other spending for democratic states and clawed back billions of
- 56:46dollars without congressional. Approval trump's endorsement of using reconciliation to
- 56:52FUND ice And border patrol comes as lawmakers have been
- 56:56under pressure to resolve the Shutdown Long airport line and
- 57:00finally eased off this week After trump decided to PAY
- 57:03tsa officers without waiting For congress to strike a. Deal
- 57:08OTHER dhs employees have continued.
- 57:10Speaker 2: To work without.
- 57:11Speaker 1: Pay while The coastguard's forty four thousand members have been
- 57:18paid through the, shutdown it's ninety five hundred civilian employees
- 57:22have night Not Several Some coastguard employees worried After trump
- 57:27decided to PAY tsa offices it would reduce pressure on
- 57:31lawmakers to strike a, deal according to A coastguard official
- 57:36who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the
- 57:39mood inside the. AGENCY, tmz the celebrity gossip news, site
- 57:45has asked readers to send in photos are members Of
- 57:48congress since they Left washington last week without reaching a.
- 57:51Deal the site has published photos of lawmakers outside their
- 57:56states and, districts Including Senator Lindsay, graham A republic Of South,
- 58:00carolina voting The Space mountain ride At Disney, world And
- 58:04Representative Robert, Garcia democrat Of, california at A Las vegas.
- 58:09Casino graham said in his statement that he traveled To
- 58:12South florida On friday to meet With Steve, Whitkoff Trump's
- 58:16special envoy to The Middle, east and went To orlando
- 58:19afterward to meet. Friends garcia wrote on x that he'd
- 58:23been having lunch with his, father who lives In Las,
- 58:26vegas and with THAT i sadly, conclude let me see
- 58:31if there's Any.
- 58:32Speaker 2: Oh, Well i'll finish.
- 58:32Speaker 1: It thirty six percent Of americans Blame republicans most for the,
- 58:36shutdown and twenty nine percent Plane, democrats according to an
- 58:40economist You go poll conducted Between friday And. MONDAY A
- 58:44cnn poll conducted Between thursday And monday found that in
- 58:48thirty nine percent Of americans Blame trump And republicans while
- 58:52most while twenty five percent Blame. Democrats but Fewer americans
- 58:57described the current shutdown as a crisis than the one
- 58:59In Our toba when the entire federal government was shut.
- 59:02It according TO cnn, polling the homeland security issue is,
- 59:07important but not the biggest, One wyden said in an.
- 59:10Interview he Is Senator Ron, Wyden democrat Of, oregon who
- 59:14has held several town hall meetings this week and he
- 59:17has gotten more questions about issues such as the war
- 59:20In iran than the.
- 59:21Speaker 2: Shutdown thank you for.
- 59:23Speaker 1: Listening please continue listening To RADIO i programs throughout the.
- 59:27Speaker 2: Day i'll be Back. Saturday back