Transcript

8.19.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of The Washington Post from Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: August nineteenth, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radio I
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Speaker 1: as a reading service intended for people who are blind
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Speaker 1: who have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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Speaker 1: printed material. Your reader for today is Marianne Miranda. Today's
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Speaker 1: front page headlines from The Washington Post are US debt
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Speaker 1: is set to hit forty trillion dollars this week. Lost
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Speaker 1: revenue from Tromp's tariffs has forced faster borrowing fallback for
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Speaker 1: US wide in Gulf, smaller footprint after Iran War. Pentagon
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Speaker 1: hents it may not rebuild bases as before. Whistleblower politics
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Speaker 1: drove Ivy League probes. Forest protections could be in crosshairs.
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Speaker 1: Trump seeks to repeal two thousand one rule opening millions
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Speaker 1: of acres to Rhodes. L say Ed's Michigan win snarls
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Speaker 1: Democrats plans the party's path to a Senate majority relies
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Speaker 1: on holding the state. The first article from the front
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Speaker 1: page of today's edition is titled U s debt is
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Speaker 1: set to hit forty trillion dollars months earlier than expected
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Speaker 1: as bond yields rise. Faster borrowing driven in part by
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Speaker 1: lost revenue from invalidated tariffs, means the next debt limit
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Speaker 1: fight is also likely to arrive ahead of schedule. By
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Speaker 1: Steve Thompson and Riley Began, the US national debt is
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Speaker 1: likely to surpass forty trillion dollars this week, months earlier
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Speaker 1: than forecasters previously expected, in part because of billions of
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Speaker 1: dollars in lost revenue from President Donald Trump's invalidated tariffs.
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Speaker 1: The lost revenue has forced the Treasury Department to borrow
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Speaker 1: more rapidly to cover the nation's bills. Six months ago,
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Speaker 1: the non partisan Congressional Budget Office CBO projected that total
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Speaker 1: borrowing would top out at thirty nine point four trillion
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Speaker 1: dollars this fiscal year, but on Monday, Treasury reported that
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Speaker 1: the debt stood at thirty nine point nine trillion dollars
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Speaker 1: in counting. The faster accumulation of debt comes at a
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Speaker 1: perilous moment. An array of concerns, including inflation, the war
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Speaker 1: in Iran, the rising debt levels around the world, are
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Speaker 1: driving investors to dump government bonds. On Tuesday, the interest
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Speaker 1: rates that investors demanded on thirty year US Treasury bonds
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Speaker 1: spiked to their highest level in nearly two decades. This year,
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Speaker 1: annual interest payments on the debt are projected to top
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Speaker 1: one trillion dollars, according to the CBO about the size
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Speaker 1: of the Pentagon budget. More rapid borrowing also means the
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Speaker 1: next deadline for raising the legal debt limit is likely
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Speaker 1: to arrive ahead of schedule. Just last year, Congress set
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Speaker 1: the debt limit at forty one point one trillion dollars.
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Speaker 1: Budget analysts now say borrowing could hit that threshold by
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Speaker 1: early next year, forcing lawmakers either to suspend it or
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Speaker 1: raise it again to avoid the risk of an economy
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Speaker 1: shaking default. The article features a graph entitled the National
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Speaker 1: Debt is closed. It on forty trillion dollars. It has
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Speaker 1: a caption which reads, as of August fourteenth, twenty twenty six,
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Speaker 1: the US public debt stood at thirty nine point ninety
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Speaker 1: three trillion dollars. The source is the US Treasury Fiscal Data.
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Speaker 1: The graph shows a rise of the national debt from
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Speaker 1: approximately five trillion dollars in nineteen ninety five to thirty
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Speaker 1: nine point nine to three trillion dollars on August fourteenth,
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, and indicates a rapid rise from ten
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Speaker 1: trillion to thirty nine point ninety three trillion dollars between
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Speaker 1: twenty ten and twenty twenty six, The article continues, Trump
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Speaker 1: has already focused on the debt limit, which has repeatedly
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Speaker 1: plunged Washington into a dangerous game of legislative chicken. Late
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Speaker 1: last month, the President urged the Senate to address ever
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Speaker 1: looming debt sealing disaster before leaving town for its August recess.
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Speaker 1: Senate leaders did not comply, but Majority Leader John Thune,
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Speaker 1: Republican South Dakota, told report at the time that we'll
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Speaker 1: have to be dealing with it. He added, forty trillion
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Speaker 1: dollars in debt seems to me that should get our attention.
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Speaker 1: For the past quarter century, the national debt has grown
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Speaker 1: under both parties, through the tax cuts of the George W.
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Speaker 1: Bush era, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Great Recession,
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Speaker 1: the twenty seventeen Trump tax cuts, and the nearly two
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Speaker 1: trillion dollars bid An administration initiative to prop up the
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Speaker 1: economy during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump pledged during his first
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Speaker 1: campaign in twenty sixteen to eliminate the debt within eight years. Instead,
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Speaker 1: it has doubled since he first took office. This year,
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Speaker 1: the gap between spending and revenue was already expected to
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Speaker 1: approach two trillion dollars, the CBO reported in February. Days later,
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Speaker 1: the U. S. Supreme Court trunk struck down Trump's Liberation
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Speaker 1: Day tariffs, cutting federal revenue by an estimated two hundred
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Speaker 1: and fifty billion dollars. The Treasury has also increased borrowing
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Speaker 1: lately to build up its cash reserves. Military spending tied
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Speaker 1: to the conflict with Oury one could add more to
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Speaker 1: the debt in the months ahead. According to the Bipartisan
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Speaker 1: Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington think tank that tracts federal spending,
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Speaker 1: our current fiscal trajectory is plainly unsustainable, and that's the
5:13
Speaker 1: best case scenario. B PC president and CEO Margaret Spelling
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Speaker 1: set in a statement. AI disruption, a recession, global war,
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Speaker 1: or any number of other events could quickly push us
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Speaker 1: over the edge from a challenge into a full blown crisis.
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Speaker 1: Even in the rosiest scenarios were speeding toward a cliff
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Speaker 1: and refusing to turn the wheel. In an email, White
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Speaker 1: House spokesman Pushed de Sie said that the Trump administration
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Speaker 1: remains focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse across the
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Speaker 1: federal government while accelerating economic growth, policies that will get
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Speaker 1: America's debt to GDP ratio trending in the right direction.
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Speaker 1: So far, Washington lawmakers have raised or suspended the debt
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Speaker 1: limit every time it has been reached, but often after
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Speaker 1: dramatic deadline pushing partisan battles. The These near misses have
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Speaker 1: rattled markets and carried a price stand in Poores, Fitch,
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Speaker 1: and Moodies have each downgraded the credit rating of the
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Speaker 1: US government debt since twenty eleven, moves tied at least
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Speaker 1: partly to debt ceiling brickmanship. The article next features a
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Speaker 1: photograph and a caption which reads the Peter G. Peterson
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Speaker 1: Foundation National Debt Clock in Atlanta in June. Photo by
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Speaker 1: Derek White Getty Images for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
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Speaker 1: The image shows a billboard which reads the national debt
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Speaker 1: and the number thirty nine trillion, two hundred sixteen billion,
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Speaker 1: nine hundred thirty million, three hundred nineteen thy twelve dollars
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Speaker 1: and the website address PGPF dot org. The article continues,
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Speaker 1: Congress last raised the debt limit in quieter fashion, adding
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Speaker 1: five trillion dollars to the debt ceiling as part of
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Speaker 1: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Republican's Marquee tax
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Speaker 1: and spending law. Measures to raise the debt ceiling often
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Speaker 1: include spending cuts aimed at reducing the annual budget deficit,
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Speaker 1: but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed
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Speaker 1: in July twenty twenty five, did the opposite. That law
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Speaker 1: added four point seven trillion dollars to projected deficits over
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Speaker 1: the next decade, according to CBO estimates. According to preliminary
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Speaker 1: projections by the BPC, Washington is on track to hit
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Speaker 1: the next debt limit between late winter and Midsummer twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty seven. Based on the latest borrowing figures, the Centre's
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Speaker 1: estimate is trending toward the earlier end of that range.
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Speaker 1: Shy Acbas, the Centre's vice president of Economic policy, set
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Speaker 1: in a statement hitting the debt ceiling would not by
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Speaker 1: itself trigger a default. Once the borrowing limit is reached,
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Speaker 1: Treasury can pay bills by drawing on its own cash
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Speaker 1: reserves and using stop gap accounting maneuvers known as extraordinary measures,
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Speaker 1: which typically buy another six to nine months. According to
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Speaker 1: the BPC. Only after that runs out does the government
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Speaker 1: reach what is known as the X state, when the
7:59
Speaker 1: Treasury risks run out of cash and defaulting on its obligations.
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Speaker 1: If Republicans lose one or both chambers of Congress in
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Speaker 1: the November third mid term elections, they could attempt to
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Speaker 1: raise the debt limit in the lame deck period during
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Speaker 1: November and December before the new Congress is seated in January. Otherwise,
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Speaker 1: they could be forced to make policy concessions to Democrats
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Speaker 1: that Republicans and the White House would prefer not to make.
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Speaker 1: But raising the debt ceiling could prove challenging even under
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Speaker 1: total GOP control, especially in the House, where the GOP
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Speaker 1: holds a slim majority. Party leaders would be forced to
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Speaker 1: win over their fiscal hawks, who who have previously revolted
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Speaker 1: when a debt ceiling increase was not accompanied by an
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Speaker 1: agreement to cut spending. You have to raise the debt
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Speaker 1: limit just the same way that you have to pay
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Speaker 1: your credit book card bills, said Mark Goldwine, senior policy
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Speaker 1: director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a
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Speaker 1: non partisan group focused on deficit reduction. It reflects spending
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Speaker 1: choices you've already made, he said, But if you keep
8:57
Speaker 1: getting credit card bills that are more than you can
9:00
Speaker 1: it's probably a good idea to reassess how much you're spending,
9:03
Speaker 1: or to get a second job. Right. Annual interest payments
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Speaker 1: on the debt now consume about nineteen percent of federal revenue,
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Speaker 1: according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan group
9:14
Speaker 1: that tracks the debt and advocates for fiscal discipline, and
9:17
Speaker 1: are projected to climb to twenty six percent by twenty
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Speaker 1: thirty six. Interest costs are paying for your past, not
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Speaker 1: paying for your future, said Peterson Foundation Chief executive Michael Peterson,
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Speaker 1: and they unfairly burden future generations. The article next features
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Speaker 1: a graph which bears the title Federal debt held by
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Speaker 1: the public as a share of the economy. Debt held
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Speaker 1: by the public as a percentage of GDP quarterly since
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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy. As of quarter one, twenty twenty six, the
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Speaker 1: ratio stood at ninety eight point seven percent. The source
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Speaker 1: of the information is the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint
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Speaker 1: Louis series fygf G D Q one eight eight s.
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Speaker 1: The graph show oose federal debt held by the public
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Speaker 1: a share of the economy, ranging from approximately twenty eight
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Speaker 1: percent in nineteen seventy to ninety eight point seven percent
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. The article continues, it's a moral
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Speaker 1: to year after year, trillion after trillion, just keep borrowing
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Speaker 1: the money, not paying your bills for immediate consumption, and
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Speaker 1: deferring not only the principal balance, but the interests cost
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Speaker 1: onto our kids and grandkids, he said. Peterson pointed to
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Speaker 1: Social Security as a preview of what happens when Washington
10:35
Speaker 1: puts off big problems. Unless Congress acts, the program's trust
10:39
Speaker 1: fund is projected to become insolvent in twenty thirty two,
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Speaker 1: triggering an automatic twenty two percent cut in benefits. Can
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Speaker 1: a democracy that's run by all of us collectively make
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Speaker 1: tough decisions to sacrifice in the short term for the
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Speaker 1: long term benefit, Peterson said the political system hasn't risen
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Speaker 1: to this challenge in recent decades. Theodric Meyer and Jerald
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Speaker 1: Dillard contributed to this report. The next article, Pentagon weighing
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Speaker 1: smaller US military presence engulf once Iran war ends, An
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Speaker 1: analysis which the Defense Department said was not yet a
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Speaker 1: formal review, will help address whether to rebuild strike battered bases,
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Speaker 1: said people familiar with the manner. The article is written
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Speaker 1: by Noah Robertson, John Hudson, and Susannah George. It begins
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Speaker 1: with a photograph which features President Donald Trump standing on
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Speaker 1: a stage in front of an American flag and a
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Speaker 1: sign which reads peace through Strength al Yudide Airbase, Cutter.
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Speaker 1: The caption President Donald Trump during a trip to al
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Speaker 1: Udeid Air Base and Cutter on May fifteenth, by Alex
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Speaker 1: Brandon of the AP. The Pentagon is evaluating its military
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Speaker 1: footprint in the Middle East, in an early sign of
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Speaker 1: the Iran wars potential to transform the US presence in
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Speaker 1: the region. According to eight people, including officials and others
11:56
Speaker 1: familiar with the manner, one of the key areas the
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Speaker 1: Defense Department is assessing is whether to pull back troops
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Speaker 1: from the Persian Gulf, where Americans large overseas military bases
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Speaker 1: have been battered by months of Iranian strikes. Two people
12:08
Speaker 1: familiar with the ongoing analysis said the damage to these
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Speaker 1: facilities have prompted a once in a generation chance for
12:15
Speaker 1: the Pentagon to reconsider its presence in the region. The
12:18
Speaker 1: Defense Department has already signaled that it might not rebuild
12:21
Speaker 1: its bases as they were before the conflict. The article
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Speaker 1: next features an infographic entitled US Military Bases in and
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Speaker 1: Near the Middle East. This includes seventeen military bases controlled
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Speaker 1: by the US or with significant US presence been killed
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Speaker 1: since the Iran War, and five bases where the U
12:42
Speaker 1: S troops have been killed since the Iran War as
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Speaker 1: of August seventeenth. The infographic features a map of the
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Speaker 1: Middle East and includes language indicating that the US has
12:52
Speaker 1: pledged to withdraw from Iraq by September thirtieth, and that
12:56
Speaker 1: Campelomonnier in Jibouti is the largest US military base in
12:59
Speaker 1: a ostas operated by the US Africa Command. The sources
13:03
Speaker 1: for the infographic are Post Reporting and the Council on
13:06
Speaker 1: Foreign Relations. It was created by Dili Moriarity the Washington Post.
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Speaker 1: The article continues the evaluation is being led by Pentagon's
13:16
Speaker 1: Policy Office, through a senior Pentagon official, who, like others,
13:19
Speaker 1: spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive analysis,
13:22
Speaker 1: said that the Joint Staff and US Central Command were
13:25
Speaker 1: also studying the issue. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not
13:29
Speaker 1: yet ordered a formal review of US posture in the region.
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Speaker 1: The official said. Instead, the official casts the analysis as
13:35
Speaker 1: prudent planning that could eventually inform how the administration addresses
13:39
Speaker 1: whether to rebuild the basis damage during the war. Decisions
13:43
Speaker 1: are going to have to be made on some of
13:44
Speaker 1: this stuff, the official said. US Central Command, which runs
13:48
Speaker 1: US military operations in the Middle East, normally stations about
13:52
Speaker 1: forty thousand troops across almost twenty sites in a one
13:55
Speaker 1: thy five hundred mile arc from Jordan to Oman. Since
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Speaker 1: earlier this year, where the military has surged warships, fighters,
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Speaker 1: air defense assets, and other scarce military equipment to the
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Speaker 1: region to defend US forces and carry out more than
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Speaker 1: thirteen thousand strikes against Iran. America's largest and most permanent
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Speaker 1: bases in the Middle East are in the Persian Gulf,
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Speaker 1: where Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the U S Fifth
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Speaker 1: Fleet and where other states such as Kuwait, house army
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Speaker 1: and air force assets. Allies in the Gulf have for
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Speaker 1: decades dependent on US forces for their defense. Any regional
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Speaker 1: drawdown could leave states unable to defend themselves against Iranian attacks.
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Speaker 1: Investing in domestic capabilities or partnering with other powers to
14:35
Speaker 1: offset the shortfall could take months. To years. People familiar
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Speaker 1: with the Pentagon's analysis said the issue is likely to
14:42
Speaker 1: intensify a debate between camps within the administration that support
14:45
Speaker 1: military interventions and others that have argued the Pentagon should
14:49
Speaker 1: curtail some of its security commitments to refocus on defending
14:52
Speaker 1: the U s homeland or deterring more powerful adversaries like China.
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Speaker 1: The decisions have also involved Admiral Bradley Cooper, the head
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Speaker 1: of US Central Command, who supports deliberations about potentially moving
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Speaker 1: US troops west from the Persian Gulf, said a US official.
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Speaker 1: A spokesperson for the US Central Command declined to comment.
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Speaker 1: Before the start of the war, in February, US Central
15:14
Speaker 1: Command evacuated many of its bases, judging them too vulnerable
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Speaker 1: to Iranian missile and drone attacks to maintain normal staffing levels.
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Speaker 1: Some of the shifts away from the major golf facilities
15:24
Speaker 1: might last after the war. A person familiar with the
15:26
Speaker 1: posture adjustment said, Aron thinks we are in the traditional places,
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Speaker 1: the person said, declining to specify the changes so as
15:33
Speaker 1: not to put US service members at risk, and we
15:36
Speaker 1: are not. The article next features a photograph with the
15:42
Speaker 1: caption Trump and first Lady Milania Trump in Dover, Delaware
15:45
Speaker 1: on March seventh, as a U. S Army team moves
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Speaker 1: a flag draped transfer case containing the remains of a
15:51
Speaker 1: service member killed in a March first attack on Port
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Speaker 1: Shuaiba and Kuwait. Voto by Anna Moneymaker getting images. The
15:58
Speaker 1: photograph portrays President Trump wearing a white baseball cap with
16:03
Speaker 1: the USA in gold, saluting the casket while the First
16:07
Speaker 1: Lady looks on solemnly. Six US service members were killed
16:13
Speaker 1: in a March strike on Port Shuaba, a military facility
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Speaker 1: in Kuwait, and more than two hundred US facilities have
16:18
Speaker 1: been damaged or destroyed during the conflict, the Washington Post
16:22
Speaker 1: reported in May. While defending its personnel in the region,
16:25
Speaker 1: the US military has also expended more than one thousand
16:29
Speaker 1: sophisticated air defense interceptors, draining the Pentagon stockpile of Patriot
16:34
Speaker 1: and Terminal high altitude air defense missiles, the Post reported
16:37
Speaker 1: in March. The war really did highlight the vulnerability of
16:41
Speaker 1: US forces in the region, said Michael Ratney, a former
16:44
Speaker 1: diplomat who served as the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
16:47
Speaker 1: and the Deputy Chief of Mission and cutter moving trips
16:50
Speaker 1: and equipment further west to Jordan, Israel, or the Red
16:53
Speaker 1: Sea coast of Saudi Arabia could help alleviate some of
16:56
Speaker 1: the pressure, he argued, while noting the added distance wasn't
16:59
Speaker 1: a perfect solution to the problem. Iran has already demonstrated
17:03
Speaker 1: to strike far away targets in Jordan and Israel. Last month,
17:06
Speaker 1: an Iranian attack on Jordan killed four US service members.
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Speaker 1: Tehran's retaliatory attacks against Basis in the Persian Gulf plunged
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Speaker 1: the region into crisis and are stoking frustration among core
17:17
Speaker 1: U s allies there who feel they are not properly
17:19
Speaker 1: consulted by the Trump administration before starting the war. Alice
17:24
Speaker 1: and Minor, who served during the first Trump administration as
17:26
Speaker 1: the Director for Arabian Peninsula, effects on the National Security Council,
17:31
Speaker 1: so the Golf countries could maintain elements of their security
17:34
Speaker 1: partnership with the US, such as arms sales and intelligence sharing,
17:38
Speaker 1: while hosting a smaller troop presence, But you need to
17:41
Speaker 1: be discussing all of those comprehensively and not just the
17:44
Speaker 1: question of the sheer number of troops, she said. The
17:47
Speaker 1: Pentagon has publicly estimated that the war's cost will reach
17:50
Speaker 1: about thirty seven point five billion dollars by the end
17:53
Speaker 1: of September, but that price tag does not account for
17:55
Speaker 1: the money it will take to rebuild bases in the region.
17:58
Speaker 1: Jules Hurst, the Third, the Defense Department's comptroller, told the
18:02
Speaker 1: Senate in May that the reconstruction costs were being left
18:04
Speaker 1: out because the administration had not yet decided how it
18:07
Speaker 1: wants to rebuild from the damage. The article next includes
18:11
Speaker 1: a photograph with the caption Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
18:14
Speaker 1: with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on
18:19
Speaker 1: February fifth, weeks before the start of the Iran War.
18:22
Speaker 1: Photo bi Manuel boss Seneta of the AP The photograph
18:26
Speaker 1: features both Netanyahu and heg Seth standing in front of
18:32
Speaker 1: an open door. Hexeth has his hand over his heart.
18:37
Speaker 1: In April, the center right American Enterprise Institute estimated it
18:41
Speaker 1: would cost five billion dollars to repair the U S
18:43
Speaker 1: bases that have been targeted. Multiple people familiar with the
18:46
Speaker 1: Pentagon's analysis cautioned that any permanent changes to the US
18:49
Speaker 1: posture were still distant and would require the approval of
18:52
Speaker 1: senior administration officials. In June, President Donald Trump signed a
18:57
Speaker 1: preliminary peace deal with Tehran and signaled that the war
18:59
Speaker 1: was coming to a close. The agreement later collapsed, and
19:03
Speaker 1: the two sides have sporadically exchanged strikes in the months since.
19:07
Speaker 1: A recent policy proposal from Defense Priorities, a think tank
19:10
Speaker 1: that it advocates for military restraint, calls for closing US
19:13
Speaker 1: bases and close striking range of Iran's missiles and drones
19:16
Speaker 1: such as Kuwait. The proposal also calls removing forces dispersed
19:20
Speaker 1: in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Bahrain to more
19:23
Speaker 1: secure facilities, such as the Prince Sultan Air Base near Ryad.
19:28
Speaker 1: More hawkage voices in Washington have sought to influence the
19:31
Speaker 1: Pentagon's planning by proposing the movement of US troops in
19:34
Speaker 1: the region to Israel. A report by the Pro Israel
19:36
Speaker 1: Group Jewish Institute for the National Security of America in
19:40
Speaker 1: March called for more U s military assets to be
19:43
Speaker 1: moved to Israel's Ovda Air Base this winter. In the
19:46
Speaker 1: run up to Operation Epic Fury, Washington sent F twenty
19:50
Speaker 1: two Raptor fighter jets to the base, and a sign
19:52
Speaker 1: of deepening US Israel military relations, there is disagreement within
19:56
Speaker 1: the Trump administration over that recommendation concerns that an expanded
20:01
Speaker 1: US presence there could pose a counter intelligence vulnerability amid
20:05
Speaker 1: the Pentagon's growing concerns about Israeli espionage. Also, the Office
20:09
Speaker 1: of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has launched
20:13
Speaker 1: a public review of the America's military presence in NATO
20:17
Speaker 1: after the Trump administration announced it was pulling thousands of
20:20
Speaker 1: troops out of Germany and Poland. The study is set
20:22
Speaker 1: to conclude in December. Tara Copp contributed to this report.
20:28
Speaker 1: The next article from the front page is entitled Politics
20:31
Speaker 1: Drove Anti Semitism probes against Ivy League schools DJ Whistleblower
20:35
Speaker 1: says a former Justice Department attorney cast out on claims
20:39
Speaker 1: of systemic anti Semitism at Brown, Harvard and Columbia by
20:43
Speaker 1: Jeremy Roebuck and Daniel Douglas Gabrielle. The article features of
20:48
Speaker 1: photograph bearing the caption Poe Palestinian protesters at Brown in
20:52
Speaker 1: April twenty twenty four, voted by Joseph Preziosi AFP Getty Images.
20:59
Speaker 1: The photograph shows a number of students holding protest signs
21:02
Speaker 1: of Palestinian flags in front of a building on Brown
21:08
Speaker 1: University's campus. The Trump administration task force charged with investigating
21:13
Speaker 1: anti semitism on Ivy League campuses pressured universities into punitive
21:17
Speaker 1: settlements despite turning up little to no evidence of systemic abuse,
21:21
Speaker 1: according to a whistleblower complaint made public yesterday. The complaint,
21:25
Speaker 1: filed by Hailey van Aram, a former career attorney in
21:28
Speaker 1: the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division who said she was
21:31
Speaker 1: involuntarily detailed to work on the probes last year, alleged
21:34
Speaker 1: that the outcomes of investigations into schools like Harvard, Brown,
21:37
Speaker 1: and Columbia were predetermined without regard to the evidence, in
21:41
Speaker 1: a politically mandated effort to suspend their government funding and
21:44
Speaker 1: grab headlines. When career attorneys raised objections that the evidence
21:48
Speaker 1: did not support the administration's position or the tactics it
21:51
Speaker 1: was pursuing, including targeting Muslim professors for interviews, they were
21:55
Speaker 1: overruled and ignored, she said. Miss van Aram and other
21:59
Speaker 1: Dogs Day assignees reportedly warned that funding suspensions lacked legal
22:03
Speaker 1: basis and the evidence did not support findings of violations
22:06
Speaker 1: at Brown. Van Aram's attorneys wrote in the twenty five
22:09
Speaker 1: page filing, adding, in the case of Columbia and Harvard,
22:12
Speaker 1: no complete investigation was conducted. Van Aram left the Justice
22:16
Speaker 1: Apartment in May twenty twenty five, her attorneys said, because
22:19
Speaker 1: she was unwilling to be made vulnerable to further participation
22:22
Speaker 1: in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law.
22:27
Speaker 1: Her disclosures Tuesday could bolster concerns raised by critics that
22:31
Speaker 1: the administration's self proclaimed push to combat anti Semitism on
22:34
Speaker 1: campus was in fact an effort to punish schools it
22:37
Speaker 1: deemed ideologically opposed to its agenda. Man Aram's account raised
22:41
Speaker 1: questions about past settlements the administration has struck with universities
22:45
Speaker 1: under investigation, as well as pending probes that have yet
22:47
Speaker 1: to be resolved. A spokesperson for the Justice Department said
22:50
Speaker 1: it stands behind the integrity of these investigations. Man Aram's
22:54
Speaker 1: attorneys compiled her complaint Monday with the Republican chairs and
22:58
Speaker 1: Senate senior democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
23:02
Speaker 1: The document was released Tuesday by Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland,
23:05
Speaker 1: the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. From a
23:09
Speaker 1: start of the Trump administration's ferocious attack on universities, it
23:12
Speaker 1: has been apparent that its investigations have been structured deliberately
23:15
Speaker 1: to harass and intimidate, rather than to protect anyone from discrimination,
23:19
Speaker 1: Raskin said in a letter to Harmit K. Dillon, head
23:21
Speaker 1: of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Since President Donald
23:25
Speaker 1: Trump's returned to the White House last year, he has
23:28
Speaker 1: waged an aggressive campaign to crack down on anti Jewish bias,
23:30
Speaker 1: as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion at the nation's
23:33
Speaker 1: most prestigious schools, cutting off billions of dollars in research
23:37
Speaker 1: funding and bringing to bring universities to heal. Large scale
23:40
Speaker 1: pro Palestinian protests erupted on many college campuses following the
23:44
Speaker 1: October seven, twenty twenty three terrorist attacks by Hamas and
23:48
Speaker 1: Israel's scorched earth retaliatory invasion of Gaza. Amid those demonstrations,
23:53
Speaker 1: some Jewish students have alleged schools have done little to
23:55
Speaker 1: protect them from targeting and harassment. Universities have generally said
23:59
Speaker 1: they are working to find the right balance between the
24:01
Speaker 1: First Amendment rights of protesters and the safety of the students.
24:05
Speaker 1: The effort has also divided the Jewish community, with some
24:08
Speaker 1: members welcoming Trump's high profile push against anti Semitism and
24:11
Speaker 1: others criticizing it as pretext to undermine free speech and
24:15
Speaker 1: educational institutions. These attacks unleashed an unprecedented wave of vile,
24:20
Speaker 1: antisemitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in
24:25
Speaker 1: our schools and on our campuses. Trump wrote in an
24:28
Speaker 1: executive order establishing the task force just days into his
24:31
Speaker 1: second term. Dj and the other agencies involved, including the
24:35
Speaker 1: Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, made it
24:38
Speaker 1: clear their first priority was universities. Attorneys for van Aram
24:42
Speaker 1: said in her complaint that she was among a member
24:44
Speaker 1: of the Justice Department lawyers involuntary pulled from jobs investigating
24:48
Speaker 1: pressing civil rights matters and detailed in February twenty twenty
24:51
Speaker 1: five to AHHS to pursue anti semitism concerns. Her complaint
24:56
Speaker 1: primarily focused on the group's investigations of three Ivy League universities, Harvard, Columbia,
25:02
Speaker 1: and Brown. In the case of Brown, van Aram alleged
25:05
Speaker 1: her team was surprised to discover that the administration had
25:08
Speaker 1: blocked more than five hundred million dollars in federal funding
25:10
Speaker 1: to the school before its investigation was complete. In the end,
25:14
Speaker 1: she alleged her team did not find evidence to support
25:17
Speaker 1: the administration's claim that university leaders had systematically violated Titles
25:21
Speaker 1: six of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based
25:24
Speaker 1: on race, color, or national origin in its dealings with
25:27
Speaker 1: Jewish students. But a top HHS official on the task
25:31
Speaker 1: force general she reportedly told as members that there's no
25:34
Speaker 1: way we're going to get a letter of no violation
25:36
Speaker 1: cleared by administration higher ups, and pushed the task force
25:40
Speaker 1: to pursue it settlement with the university instead, van Aram's
25:43
Speaker 1: lawyers said. Van Aram also said she and other task
25:47
Speaker 1: force members were asked to interview Muslim professors on the campus,
25:50
Speaker 1: not because of any complaints lodged against them, but to
25:53
Speaker 1: see what they might say in hopes that it could
25:54
Speaker 1: be cast as anti Semitic. Brown in July twenty twenty five,
25:58
Speaker 1: opted to settle with the Justice Department, agreeing to spend
26:01
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars over ten years on workforce development programs
26:04
Speaker 1: in Rhode Island, where the school is based, while admitting
26:07
Speaker 1: no wrongdoing. An HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to
26:12
Speaker 1: requests for comment on Van Aram's claims Tuesday. Brian Clark,
26:16
Speaker 1: a spokesperson for Brown, did not comment on the whistleblower's allegations,
26:20
Speaker 1: but in a statement Tuesday, he stressed that Brown was
26:22
Speaker 1: never informed of any finding that the university had violated
26:25
Speaker 1: the law, despite its decision to settle a freeze on
26:29
Speaker 1: funding for the university's federal sponsored medical and health sciences
26:33
Speaker 1: research had posed enormous challenges for Brown's research mission and
26:36
Speaker 1: financial sustainability, and if left unaddressed, would have undermined our
26:40
Speaker 1: ability to conduct life saving research and to offer our
26:43
Speaker 1: students a world class education, Clark said. In the case
26:46
Speaker 1: of Columbia, Van Arams said DOJ's representatives on the task
26:50
Speaker 1: force were given only hours to review claims that the
26:53
Speaker 1: officials hope to cite to justify an administration finding that
26:57
Speaker 1: the university had violated Jewish students civil rights. In some cases,
27:01
Speaker 1: she suggested the claims involved little more than activists expressions
27:04
Speaker 1: of support for Palestinians. My main concern is that a
27:08
Speaker 1: lot of these examples involved protected speech, and this document
27:12
Speaker 1: should not imply that those incidents are the basis of
27:15
Speaker 1: a Title six violations. She wrote at the time about
27:18
Speaker 1: Columbia allegations in a message quoted in her complaint. Nevertheless,
27:23
Speaker 1: the task Force pressed on securing a settlement from Columbia
27:26
Speaker 1: in July twenty twenty five, with the school agreeing to
27:29
Speaker 1: pay more than two hundred million dollars over three years
27:32
Speaker 1: for the alleged violations, a deal that resulted in the
27:34
Speaker 1: restoration of nearly four hundred million dollars in research grants
27:38
Speaker 1: that had previously been frozen by the administration. Trump administration
27:42
Speaker 1: officials hoped similar pressures would convince officials at Harvard to settle.
27:46
Speaker 1: Van Aramsatt. According to her complaint, early drafts of a
27:49
Speaker 1: proposed settlement with the school included provisions that went well
27:52
Speaker 1: beyond addressing anti Semitism, such as ending DEI programs, installing
27:57
Speaker 1: a provost to oversee curriculum, and putting into dowment money
28:00
Speaker 1: into trust the governments could cease. Sean Covini, then the
28:04
Speaker 1: General Council at HHS, told Task Force members he believed
28:07
Speaker 1: Harvard would settle because they are over a barrel, man
28:10
Speaker 1: Aram said. Kevini has since left the agency and now
28:13
Speaker 1: serves as Chief Council at the US Food and Drug Administration. Harvard, however,
28:18
Speaker 1: took the case to court and won, and in many
28:21
Speaker 1: respects van Aram's claim Tuesday supported the argument's University lawyers
28:24
Speaker 1: had been making in court for months that the task
28:27
Speaker 1: forces accusations were driven by political considerations. Last year, a
28:32
Speaker 1: federal ju judge reversed more than two point six billion
28:35
Speaker 1: dollars in cuts in federal research funding to the school,
28:38
Speaker 1: accusing the Trump administration of using anti Semitism as a
28:41
Speaker 1: smoke screen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this
28:45
Speaker 1: country's premier universities. Last week, another judge dismissed an administration
28:51
Speaker 1: lawsuit accusing Harvard of ignoring harassment of Jewish students, saying
28:55
Speaker 1: the incidents described were too isolated an episodic to support
28:59
Speaker 1: claims of system violations. Harvard's legal victories and van Aram's
29:03
Speaker 1: statements could affect the responses of universities still facing scrutiny
29:06
Speaker 1: by the task Force. Last year, the task Force set
29:09
Speaker 1: warnings to sixty schools and promised to visit ten campuses
29:13
Speaker 1: as part of its investigations into incidents of alleged anti semitism.
29:18
Speaker 1: As Tuesday, to comment on van Aram's complaints, several of
29:21
Speaker 1: those schools, including the University of California at Berkeley declined
29:25
Speaker 1: to comment. The next article from the front page of
29:30
Speaker 1: today's edition is titled forest protections could be in crosshairs.
29:34
Speaker 1: Trump seeks to repeal two thousand and one rule, opening
29:37
Speaker 1: millions of acres to rhodes by Jake Spring. The subtitle reads,
29:43
Speaker 1: the Trump administration proposed to repeal at the two thousand
29:45
Speaker 1: and one roadless rule, raising concerns among environmentalists that already
29:49
Speaker 1: threatened woodlands could be further fragmented. The article begins with
29:53
Speaker 1: a photograph with the caption of road winds through the
29:56
Speaker 1: Shoshone National Forest last year in Land of Wyoming by
30:00
Speaker 1: Matt McLane of The Washington Post. The photograph shows a
30:05
Speaker 1: dirt road winding across a mountain side, flanked on one
30:08
Speaker 1: side by a forest a blue sky overhead. The Trump
30:14
Speaker 1: administration Tuesday proposed a full repeal of a rule that
30:16
Speaker 1: for decades had prevented road building and logging inside tens
30:20
Speaker 1: of millions of acres of near pristine national forest, a
30:23
Speaker 1: move that environmental advocates fear could fragment already threatened woodlands.
30:27
Speaker 1: The Agriculture Department said that the two thousand and one
30:30
Speaker 1: roadless Area conservation rule often called the roadless Rule, was
30:34
Speaker 1: outdated and that greater flexibility was needed to combat the
30:37
Speaker 1: growing threat of wildfires on public land. Roads can provide
30:41
Speaker 1: greater access for firefighting crews and can serve as fire breaks.
30:46
Speaker 1: Our forests can't afford another decade of inaction across the country.
30:50
Speaker 1: We've watched preventable conditions, overgrown stands, insect out breaks, and
30:54
Speaker 1: disease turn healthy landscapes into tender boxes, Agriculture Secretary Brook
30:58
Speaker 1: Rollands set in the statement. For too long, outdated restrictions
31:02
Speaker 1: have kept tens of millions of forested acres off limits
31:05
Speaker 1: to the varied treatments that improve forest health and reduce
31:08
Speaker 1: wildfire risks to our communities. She added. The existing rule
31:12
Speaker 1: also prohibits commercial logging in areas that the Forest Service
31:15
Speaker 1: is officially designated as inventoried roadless areas, or areas of
31:20
Speaker 1: national forests deemed to be generally undeveloped. Advocacy groups criticize
31:25
Speaker 1: the move as opening up vast areas of largely untouched
31:28
Speaker 1: forests to degradation. They argue that the changes could lead
31:32
Speaker 1: to more fires, as humans, who are the cause of
31:35
Speaker 1: nine out of ten fires gain easier access to remote
31:37
Speaker 1: areas of national forests through new roadways. Opening our back
31:42
Speaker 1: country forests to more roads and development and therefore more
31:45
Speaker 1: ignitions is not a wildfire's solution and never will be,
31:48
Speaker 1: Josh Hicks, Conservation campaign's director at the Wilderness Society, said
31:53
Speaker 1: in a statement. Wildfires have become an increasingly large part
31:57
Speaker 1: of the Forest Service's job as climate change ramps of
31:59
Speaker 1: the US intensity of the blazes. In mid July, federal
32:03
Speaker 1: fire officials declared the highest level of fire preparedness, the
32:06
Speaker 1: earliest they eraised the alert level that high in ten
32:09
Speaker 1: years earlier this month, major fires in Washington State forced
32:13
Speaker 1: evacuation since Spokane. The proposal will be open for public
32:17
Speaker 1: comment for thirty days, after which USDA can make revisions
32:21
Speaker 1: and finalize the policy. The repeal of the rule is
32:24
Speaker 1: sure to face legal challenges if it is finalized, as
32:27
Speaker 1: several groups vowed to sue after Rollins said last year
32:29
Speaker 1: she intended to rescind the policy. The protections currently applied
32:33
Speaker 1: to more than forty four million acres of inventoried roadless
32:36
Speaker 1: area out of the one hundred ninety three million acres
32:39
Speaker 1: in the National Forest System. According to USDA, which houses
32:43
Speaker 1: the Forest Service. Rescinding the rule would also open up
32:47
Speaker 1: these areas to logging. More than ninety five percent of
32:50
Speaker 1: those areas are in the western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada,
32:57
Speaker 1: New Mexico, Oregon, us Ua, Washington State, and Wyoming. The
33:02
Speaker 1: Department said the proposed repeal would not affect Colorado and Idaho,
33:07
Speaker 1: which have state level roadless restrictions. Repealing the roadless rule
33:11
Speaker 1: goes further than policies from President Donald Trump's first term
33:15
Speaker 1: to allow development in national forests. In twenty twenty, the
33:19
Speaker 1: Trump administration exempted Tongas National Forest in Alaska from roadless protections,
33:24
Speaker 1: which Alaska Republicans argued would help the state economy, opening
33:27
Speaker 1: up nine point three million acres to logging. USDA said
33:32
Speaker 1: in its statement that the repeal would allow individual forest
33:34
Speaker 1: managers to make decisions tailored to the land they are overseen,
33:38
Speaker 1: without mandating road building or timber production. Last year, Trump
33:44
Speaker 1: issued in executive order mandating that the Agriculture and Interior
33:47
Speaker 1: Departments increased timber production to reduce wildfire risk and boost exports. Montana, Utah,
33:53
Speaker 1: and Wyoming's governors praised the repeal and adjointment statement with
33:56
Speaker 1: USDA for twenty five years. The heavy thumb washing Shington
34:00
Speaker 1: d C has hindered Montana's ability to properly manage wildfire
34:04
Speaker 1: risk and road development on nearly sixty percent Forest Service
34:07
Speaker 1: lands across the Treasure State. Montana Governor Greg Gmfort said
34:11
Speaker 1: today's long overdue decision will empower states like Montana to
34:15
Speaker 1: pursue proper forest management on federal lands with local communities
34:18
Speaker 1: in mind. Environmental advocates where this flexibility will essentially remove
34:22
Speaker 1: a barrier to mining and logging that will destroy critical
34:25
Speaker 1: wildlife habitat. The roadless Area conservation rule is the only
34:29
Speaker 1: thing preventing much of our wildest remaining national forests from
34:33
Speaker 1: industrial development, said Alex Craven, forest campaign manager at the
34:37
Speaker 1: Sierra Club. These forests offer critical habitat for wildlife, provide clean,
34:42
Speaker 1: fresh air and water from millions, and contain vast swaths
34:45
Speaker 1: of the last remaining old growth forest in this country.
34:47
Speaker 1: Craven set. The next article from the front page of
34:53
Speaker 1: today's edition is titled LSA ed's Michigan wind snarls Democrats' plans,
34:58
Speaker 1: The party's path to a senn majority relies on holding
35:01
Speaker 1: the state by Theodoric Meyer. Abdel el Sayed's victory in
35:06
Speaker 1: Michigan's Democratic primary has complicated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's
35:10
Speaker 1: plans to help Democrats retake the Senate in November, tying
35:13
Speaker 1: his party's fortunes to a candidate. Some Democrats in Michigan
35:16
Speaker 1: say they cannot support, even if it means costing Democrats
35:19
Speaker 1: the Senate majority. Michigan is crucial for Democrats. The party's
35:24
Speaker 1: path to a Senate majority relies on holding the state
35:26
Speaker 1: and all of its other seats, as well as flipping
35:28
Speaker 1: four Republican held seats, including at least two seats in
35:32
Speaker 1: states that Donald Trump won by double digit margins in
35:34
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. If l Saied loses in Michigan, which
35:38
Speaker 1: Trump carried by less than two points in twenty twenty four,
35:41
Speaker 1: Democrats would need to flip a fifth Republican seat in
35:43
Speaker 1: deep red territory. Schumer backed Representative Hailey Stevens over el
35:48
Speaker 1: Sayed in the primary, saying he thought he had a
35:50
Speaker 1: better chance of winning in November. The New York Democrat
35:53
Speaker 1: endorsed l Sayed after the primary, and the two men
35:56
Speaker 1: have spoken about working together to hold the seat, but
35:59
Speaker 1: they have pronounced differences about Israel. Schumer, the first Jewish
36:03
Speaker 1: Senate leader, has spoken out against rising anti Semitism in
36:06
Speaker 1: both parties. He's a long time ally of Israel, even
36:09
Speaker 1: as he castigated Israeli Prime Minister of Benjamin Netanyahoo. El
36:14
Speaker 1: Sayeed has said that he is as committed to Jewish
36:17
Speaker 1: safety as he is to the safety of his daughters,
36:19
Speaker 1: but his blistering criticism of Israel during the primary alarmed
36:22
Speaker 1: many Jewish voters in Michigan, who say that he has
36:25
Speaker 1: not done enough to denounce antisemitism. El Sayed's challenges run
36:30
Speaker 1: deep enough that three Democratic donors in Michigan are hosting
36:33
Speaker 1: a fundraiser for his Republican opponent, former Congressman Mike Rodgers,
36:37
Speaker 1: on Tuesday evening, according to an invitation obtained by The
36:40
Speaker 1: Washington Post. One of them, Brian Hermelin, wrote in an
36:44
Speaker 1: email to potential donors last week that El sayedst rhetoric
36:47
Speaker 1: on Israel and towards Jews meant he could not support him.
36:51
Speaker 1: A party has to understand that there are consequences when
36:54
Speaker 1: it moves away from the values that brought us to it.
36:56
Speaker 1: Hermelin wrote for me, the Senate race is that point.
37:00
Speaker 1: In an interview, Schumer acknowledges that he disagreed with El
37:03
Speaker 1: Sayed on Israel and other issues, but said they would
37:06
Speaker 1: work together to win in Michigan. He did not answer
37:09
Speaker 1: directly when asked whether he viewed anything El Sayed has
37:11
Speaker 1: said or done as anti Semitic. I think he makes
37:14
Speaker 1: an effort to find anti Semitism, even though his views
37:17
Speaker 1: on Israel are much different than mine, Schumer said. The
37:21
Speaker 1: article next features a photograph with the caption Schumer acknowledged
37:25
Speaker 1: he disagreed with El Sayed on Israel and other issues,
37:27
Speaker 1: but said they could work together to win in Michigan.
37:30
Speaker 1: Photograph by Demetrius Freeman of the Washington Post. The image
37:35
Speaker 1: features Schumer holding a Manila folder standing in an office building,
37:41
Speaker 1: presumably in Washington. Some Jewish voters in Michigan are not convinced.
37:48
Speaker 1: How can a leader like Schumer not even talk about
37:50
Speaker 1: concerns that he has. Asher Lopetin, a rabbi in suburban
37:54
Speaker 1: Detroit who said he typically votes democratics, said in an interview,
37:58
Speaker 1: it has been very disappointing, to say the very lead
38:00
Speaker 1: I think has been infuriating for Jews here. Other Jewish
38:03
Speaker 1: voters in Michigan's support Alsayed or remain open to voting
38:07
Speaker 1: for him, but losing even some of the state's Jewish
38:09
Speaker 1: voters could endanger Democrats hold on the seat in a
38:12
Speaker 1: closed race. Jewish voters represent about one point four percent
38:15
Speaker 1: of the electorate in Michigan, according to Brandeis University's American
38:19
Speaker 1: Jewish Population Project. Senator Eliza Slatkin, Democrat of Michigan, won
38:24
Speaker 1: her race in twenty twenty four by less than point
38:27
Speaker 1: four percentage points. The race has put Schumer in a
38:30
Speaker 1: tough position. On one hand, he has called out those
38:33
Speaker 1: on the left who are too complaisant forgiving about those
38:36
Speaker 1: who exhibit anti Semitism within their ranks. On the other hand,
38:39
Speaker 1: he often describes Democrats as having a big tent party,
38:43
Speaker 1: capacious enough to include Senator John Fetterman, Democratic Pennsylvania and
38:47
Speaker 1: ardent defender of Israel, as well as the country's critics.
38:51
Speaker 1: Elsayed's public criticism of Schumer, whom he suggested during the
38:54
Speaker 1: primary that he did not want to see remain as
38:56
Speaker 1: the Democratic leader in the Senate, has not made it easier.
39:00
Speaker 1: If you're Chuck Schumer, I'm pretty damn dangerous, el Sayed
39:02
Speaker 1: said last month. El Sayed's campaign declined an interview request.
39:07
Speaker 1: The Senator Schumer and I may have a deep disagreement
39:09
Speaker 1: on a number of important issues, we both understand how
39:12
Speaker 1: critical it is to win Michigan and defeat Mike Rogers,
39:15
Speaker 1: El Sayed said in a statement to The Post. I
39:17
Speaker 1: appreciate his pragmatism a crucial Senate race. Michigan is not
39:23
Speaker 1: the only primary that has not gone Schumer's way. Main
39:26
Speaker 1: Governor Janet Mills, whom Schumer recruited to challenge Senator Susan Collins, Republican,
39:31
Speaker 1: suspended her campaign before the primary, ceding the combination to
39:35
Speaker 1: Graham Plattner, an oysterman and Marine Corps veteran who criticized Schumer.
39:40
Speaker 1: Plattner's campaign imploded last month after he was accused of
39:43
Speaker 1: sexual assault. He has denied the allegations. Democrats replaced Platner
39:48
Speaker 1: on the ballot with Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president.
39:52
Speaker 1: Like Plattner, Jackson has criticized Schumer, telling The New York
39:55
Speaker 1: Times that he would not support him as the Senate
39:57
Speaker 1: Democratic leader, but Schumer has a embrace Jackson, describing him
40:01
Speaker 1: as a much stronger candidate than Platner. There's so many
40:04
Speaker 1: negative issues against Collins. She's always going to try to
40:07
Speaker 1: change the subject, and with Platner she had ample opportunities
40:10
Speaker 1: to change the subject. Schumer said in the interview. She's
40:13
Speaker 1: going to have a rough time attacking Jackson. The two
40:16
Speaker 1: poles conducted since Platner dropped out have found Jackson with
40:18
Speaker 1: narrow leads over Collins. Blake Kernan, a Collins campaign spokeswoman,
40:22
Speaker 1: said in a statement that Collins is not all consumed
40:25
Speaker 1: with attacking her opponent and is focused on contrasting her
40:27
Speaker 1: record in office to Jackson's. Schumer's other recruits have fared better.
40:32
Speaker 1: Former Governor Roy Cooper is leading in polls in the
40:35
Speaker 1: race for an open Republican health seat in North Carolina.
40:38
Speaker 1: Two other Schumer recruits, former Senator Sharon Bown in Ohio
40:42
Speaker 1: and former Congresswoman Mary Poltola and Alaska, have helped making
40:46
Speaker 1: those Republican leaning states into battle grounds, and Democrats are
40:50
Speaker 1: running competitively in two other red states, Iowa and Texas.
40:54
Speaker 1: Leader Schumer has put Democrats in a very strong position
40:57
Speaker 1: to take back the Senate. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat out
41:00
Speaker 1: of Rhode Island, said in a statement the map was
41:03
Speaker 1: unthinkable a year ago. But Michigan, where Democratic Senator Gary
41:07
Speaker 1: Peters is not running for re election, has emerged as
41:10
Speaker 1: a potential problem for Democrats. The state has not elected
41:13
Speaker 1: a Republican senator in more than three decades, but a
41:16
Speaker 1: Fox News poll of registered voters conducted after the primary
41:19
Speaker 1: found Rogers leading El Sayed fifty one percent to forty
41:22
Speaker 1: seven percent. Ten percent of Democrats that they were extremely
41:26
Speaker 1: concerned that El Sayed, a progressive endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders,
41:30
Speaker 1: independent of Vermont, holds positions that are too extreme, and
41:34
Speaker 1: eight percent said they plan to vote for Rogers. The
41:38
Speaker 1: article next features a photograph bearing the caption El Sayed's
41:41
Speaker 1: supporters at a unity rally in michiganj Nalio Cherry for
41:45
Speaker 1: The Washington Post. The photograph features a gentleman wearing a
41:49
Speaker 1: blue shirt holding up two signs, one of which reads
41:52
Speaker 1: elect Democrats, the other reads all in for Michigan. El
41:57
Speaker 1: Sayed's victory over Stevens has given Republicans renewed confidence that
42:01
Speaker 1: they will hold the Senate majority, even as Trump's approval
42:04
Speaker 1: reigning languishes and gas prices remain high. If Republicans slip Michigan,
42:08
Speaker 1: it is nearly statistically impossible for Schumer to recapture the majority.
42:12
Speaker 1: Alex Latcham, who runs Senate Leadership Fund, the flagship Republican
42:16
Speaker 1: super pac in Senate races, said in an interview. Schumer
42:20
Speaker 1: said he was confident Elsi edwould win, citing the enthusiasm
42:24
Speaker 1: of his supporters. Still, Schumer and J. B. Parsch, the
42:27
Speaker 1: president of the Senate Majority Pack, the lead Democratic super
42:31
Speaker 1: pac in the Senate races, both disputed that Democrats had
42:34
Speaker 1: no shot at retaking the majority without Michigan. A pass
42:37
Speaker 1: to wanting back of the Senate clearly goes through Michigan.
42:40
Speaker 1: But we have a whole bunch of different paths, Schumer said,
42:43
Speaker 1: a backlash in Michigan. Few Democrats have spoken out more
42:47
Speaker 1: forcibly against anti Semitism than Schumer, who published a book
42:51
Speaker 1: last year Anti Semitism in America, A Warning witnessing growing
42:55
Speaker 1: anti Semitism on the Left in the wake of the
42:57
Speaker 1: October seventh, twenty twenty three attack on Israel and the
42:59
Speaker 1: war in Gaza, Shimer wrote has been extremely painful. The
43:04
Speaker 1: politics of Israel have shifted rapidly among Democrats since twenty
43:07
Speaker 1: twenty three, and al Sayed's calls for ending unconditional military
43:11
Speaker 1: aid to Israel and other countries are popular. Fifty five
43:15
Speaker 1: percent of Michigan voters supported cutting off military aid to Israel,
43:19
Speaker 1: forty four percent oppose it, according to the Fox News poll.
43:22
Speaker 1: In interviews, though Jewish voters in Michigan said their concerns
43:25
Speaker 1: were rooted in how El Sayed talks about Judaism and Israel.
43:29
Speaker 1: El Sayed has not directly said whether he believes Israel
43:32
Speaker 1: has the right to exist, though he said on CNN
43:35
Speaker 1: after the primary that he believes in equal rights to peace, dignity,
43:38
Speaker 1: and self determination for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians alike. Jewish
43:43
Speaker 1: democrats also criticized El Sayed for campaigning with Hassan Piker,
43:47
Speaker 1: a streamer who has said that Hamas, the Palestinian militant
43:50
Speaker 1: group responsible for the October seventh attack, is a thousand
43:54
Speaker 1: times better than Israel, and I questioned his response to
43:57
Speaker 1: the March assault on Temple Israel and the Detroit side.
44:01
Speaker 1: El Sayed condemned the attack on Temple Israel at the
44:03
Speaker 1: time saying anti Semitism has no place in our communities.
44:07
Speaker 1: But he also pointed out that members of the attackers
44:09
Speaker 1: family had been killed in a recent Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
44:13
Speaker 1: Hurt people, hurt people, El Sayed said in March, which
44:16
Speaker 1: some Jewish voters saw as justifying the assault on the synagogue.
44:21
Speaker 1: Hand and Lie, one of the Democratic donors who was
44:23
Speaker 1: hosting the fundraiser for Rogers, said those comments made it
44:26
Speaker 1: impossible for him to support El Sayed. I don't think
44:29
Speaker 1: that the Democratic Party should seek to gain a majority
44:32
Speaker 1: in the Senate with people like Abdul, who said some
44:34
Speaker 1: Jewish voters in Michigan are supporting El Sayed, including Andy Levin,
44:38
Speaker 1: a former Democratic congressman who's been working to help shore
44:41
Speaker 1: up El Sayed's support with the Jewish community. Like me,
44:44
Speaker 1: he hates the Natanyahu government, thinks it's a disaster, thinks
44:48
Speaker 1: it's committed genocide, thinks it's just doing bad things in
44:51
Speaker 1: Lebanon and so forth, Levin said of El Sayed, but
44:55
Speaker 1: I think he can communicate that he thinks both the
44:57
Speaker 1: Jewish people and the Palestinian people deserve self determined nation.
45:02
Speaker 1: El Sayed has spoken with at least some Jewish voters
45:04
Speaker 1: since the primary. He sat down with a small group
45:07
Speaker 1: last week in Detroit, according to Jessica Decky Alexander, the
45:10
Speaker 1: chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, who said she
45:13
Speaker 1: left the meeting in between hopeless and hopeful Peters, who
45:18
Speaker 1: endorsed Stevens but is now backing el Sayed said he
45:21
Speaker 1: heard from a lot of Jewish Democrats after the primary,
45:24
Speaker 1: but he predicted Elsa Ed would prevail in a state
45:26
Speaker 1: where Trump is unpopular. We're going to have a good
45:29
Speaker 1: democratic year, Peter said. There's going to be a tailwind,
45:32
Speaker 1: and I'm confident Abdul will be able to catch the
45:34
Speaker 1: wind and run a strong campaign. The front page also
45:38
Speaker 1: features a photograph bearing the caption the latest in a
45:41
Speaker 1: month's long saga. Work to correct the cracking and flaking
45:44
Speaker 1: liner at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool is underway, weeks
45:48
Speaker 1: after the government dropped charges against people accused of vandalizing
45:51
Speaker 1: the fabled basin siding instead the botched renovation efforts story
45:56
Speaker 1: on page A six. The photograph shows an emptied reflecting
46:00
Speaker 1: pool and individual is working using a pressure washer to
46:05
Speaker 1: clean the bottom of it. The Capitol and Washington Monument
46:08
Speaker 1: are in the background. Vicking ring was arranged. That article
46:17
Speaker 1: on page a six is entitled workers start latest prepares
46:21
Speaker 1: to reflecting pool liner. Months after rehab began, the power washers,
46:26
Speaker 1: beef flowers and brooms are back in use within the
46:28
Speaker 1: famed drained basin by Mara Judkiss and Meg Kelly. Work
46:33
Speaker 1: to correct the cracking and flaking liner and the Lincoln
46:35
Speaker 1: Memorial Reflecting Pool is underway weeks after the government dropped
46:39
Speaker 1: charges against people accused of vandalizing the pool, siting instead
46:43
Speaker 1: the botched renovation efforts. It's the latest and a month's
46:46
Speaker 1: long saga that began with President Donald Trump vowed to
46:49
Speaker 1: clean up the attraction, saying it was disgusting and garbage ridden.
46:52
Speaker 1: Under his predecessors. The renovations Trump had boasted could last
46:56
Speaker 1: for one hundred years. They lasted barely a few weeks.
47:00
Speaker 1: Workers could be seen power washing the pool's basin and
47:03
Speaker 1: using qualk applicators on the perimeter expansion joint. Some workers
47:07
Speaker 1: ripped up large sheets of damaged liner and use leaf
47:10
Speaker 1: blowers and brooms to sweep up smaller pieces of liner debris.
47:14
Speaker 1: The article features a photograph with the caption A National
47:17
Speaker 1: Park Service worker stands near a pealing paint section of
47:20
Speaker 1: the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Tuesday by Kevin Lamark
47:24
Speaker 1: of Reuters. The image shows the interior of the drained
47:28
Speaker 1: reflecting pool and an individual driving a small vehicle is
47:34
Speaker 1: climbing back into it having exited it. The vehicle is
47:38
Speaker 1: driving on the surface of the reflecting pool, and the
47:42
Speaker 1: photograph also shows portions of the liner ripped up from
47:45
Speaker 1: the floor. Asked about the work, the Interior Department referred
47:50
Speaker 1: the Washington Post to new signage posted at the east
47:52
Speaker 1: end of the pool. Those signs of the National Park
47:55
Speaker 1: Service and contractors are repairing areas damaged by vandals and
47:58
Speaker 1: completing a historic effort to clean, fix, and beautify the
48:01
Speaker 1: Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Memorial Pool. The second Memorial is an
48:05
Speaker 1: apparent typographical error. The feature is called the Lincoln Memorial
48:09
Speaker 1: Reflecting Pool. The sign continues since nineteen twenty two. Prior
48:14
Speaker 1: administrations have neglected this iconic landmark, evidenced most recently by
48:18
Speaker 1: more than half of the pool's pipes being clogged and
48:20
Speaker 1: the sidewalks and granite coping stones being filthy dirty. The
48:24
Speaker 1: reflecting Pool will remain drained. While this work proceeds so
48:27
Speaker 1: that it can truly reflect the beauty, dignity, and grandeur
48:30
Speaker 1: of our nation's capital. Some areas of the perimeter expansion
48:34
Speaker 1: joint that runs along the inner edge of the pool
48:36
Speaker 1: appeared to have been removed. The perimeter joint is the
48:39
Speaker 1: area of the administration alleged vandals had cut with a
48:42
Speaker 1: blade earlier this summer, although officials did not specify where
48:45
Speaker 1: those cuts were made and change their description of those
48:48
Speaker 1: cuts and their links multiple times in public remarks. The
48:53
Speaker 1: article next features of photograph with the caption at the
48:57
Speaker 1: Reflecting Pool on Monday, Julia Demarray Nickinson at the ap.
49:02
Speaker 1: The image depicts a drained reflecting pool, multiple vehicles driving
49:06
Speaker 1: on its surface, and an individual with a pressure washer
49:10
Speaker 1: working on the surface. A trailer displaying a logo for
49:14
Speaker 1: Atlantic Industrial Codings, the contractor that worked on the pool
49:18
Speaker 1: earlier this year, was parked inside the pool. Experts cited
49:21
Speaker 1: in a post analysis published last month said the pattern
49:24
Speaker 1: of how the blue liner was peeling probably indicated problems
49:27
Speaker 1: and how the material was installed. Representatives from Atlantic Industrial
49:32
Speaker 1: Codings did not immediately respond to a request for comment
49:36
Speaker 1: on July thirty, first federal prosecutors moved to drop a
49:38
Speaker 1: criminal charge filed against former Olympian David Hearn, who had
49:42
Speaker 1: been accused of vandalizing the reflecting pool, suggesting that the
49:45
Speaker 1: damage was instead due to a botched installation. The Justice
49:48
Speaker 1: Department also dropped misdemeanor charges against three other people. Trump
49:53
Speaker 1: and in August ninth True Social Posting acknowledged that there
49:56
Speaker 1: was some contract or error, but continued to blame vandals,
49:59
Speaker 1: though he wrote that the there is no video or proof.
50:01
Speaker 1: Trump repeatedly lashed out at US Attorney Jeanine Piro after
50:05
Speaker 1: she dropped the vandalism cases. In April, tromp announced that
50:09
Speaker 1: he would fix the reflecting pool and tint it American
50:11
Speaker 1: flag blue as part of his broader DC beautification projects,
50:15
Speaker 1: but the fourteen million dollar project encountered delays, and soon
50:18
Speaker 1: after water flowed back into the pool in early June,
50:21
Speaker 1: it experienced its biggest algae bloom in at least five years.
50:26
Speaker 1: A post analysis found after the algae was remedy, pieces
50:29
Speaker 1: of liner started to flake off from the bottom and
50:31
Speaker 1: the pool was drained again following the fourth of July.
50:33
Speaker 1: It has remained fenced off ever since. The article concludes
50:38
Speaker 1: with a photograph with the caption people passed near the
50:41
Speaker 1: drained reflecting pool on Monday Julia de Moray Nickinson of
50:44
Speaker 1: the AP. The image shows a drained reflecting pool Millingham
50:49
Speaker 1: Memorial in the background. Returning to the first page in
50:55
Speaker 1: the News Midterm Elections. For news and analysis of primaries
50:59
Speaker 1: from Florida, California, Alaska, and Wyoming, go to Washingtonpost dot com.
51:05
Speaker 1: Migrant crackdown. Minnesota's attorney general sued Texas's governor, alleging he
51:10
Speaker 1: is refusing to extradite an ICE agent charged with shooting
51:13
Speaker 1: a migrant in Minneapolis. Page a eight. The Nation, Pennsylvania
51:18
Speaker 1: will limit data center development and expand the review process
51:21
Speaker 1: page a four. An alleged leader of a penn State
51:25
Speaker 1: drug trafficking ring was arraigned and denied bail page a six.
51:29
Speaker 1: The World. This school teaches Senegal's brightest girls to push
51:33
Speaker 1: back against patriarchal norms, page a ten. Russians are pulling
51:37
Speaker 1: billions from banks fearing the Kremlin will seize their deposits
51:40
Speaker 1: page a eleven. The economy as Elon Musk turns his
51:44
Speaker 1: focus to other adventures, such as SpaceX. Some of his
51:47
Speaker 1: biggest backers are wondering whether Tesla has become an afterthought.
51:50
Speaker 1: Page A twelve. Wall Street pulled further from its all
51:54
Speaker 1: time high as AI stocks got back to sinking. Page
51:57
Speaker 1: A four eight fourteen Style w NBA rookie Olivia Miles
52:03
Speaker 1: plays basketball with certainty and savoir faire. She dresses the
52:06
Speaker 1: same way. Page B one sports Eric begin to me,
52:12
Speaker 1: chief's offensive coordinator is back at camp after the shooting
52:14
Speaker 1: of his wife and arrest of their son. Page B seven.
52:18
Speaker 1: The region. A federal judge barred the White House from
52:21
Speaker 1: scrapping plans to relocate FBI headquarters to Maryland. Page B thirteen.
52:26
Speaker 1: Food Dining out with kids can be taxing, but it
52:29
Speaker 1: can also be a positive experience. Servers and experts offer
52:32
Speaker 1: these tips. This concludes the reading of the Washingtonton post
52:37
Speaker 1: for today, Wednesday, August nineteenth, twenty twenty six. Your reader
52:41
Speaker 1: for today has been Marianne Miranda. If you have any questions, comments,
52:45
Speaker 1: or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
52:48
Speaker 1: us at eight five nine four two two six three
52:52
Speaker 1: nine zero. Thank you for listening, and now please stay
52:55
Speaker 1: tuned for continued programming at Radio I