Transcript

3.18.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to a reading of The Washington Post
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for Tuesday, March eighteenth, two thousand twenty five. Your reader
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today is Bill Sally. As a reminder, RADIOI is a
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reading service intended for those who are blind or for
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those who have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. Be reading from the front page articles
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in today's edition, the first of which is entitled Court
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conflict nears a boil. White House seeks judge's removal hearing
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on deportation flights turns contentious. This article is written by
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Justin Juvenile, Natalie Allison, Ann E. Marima, and Mary Anne Levine.
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The Trump administration's battle with the federal court system escalated
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sharply on Monday, with government lawyers calling for the removal
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of a judge who blocked the deportation of alleged Venezuelan
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gang members and refusing to adder or some questions in court.
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The administration for weeks is questioned the authority of courts
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to constrain the president harshly attacking judges who issue nationwide
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injunctions in finding ways to circumvent certain adverse rulings. Some
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legal experts describe the pushback as a breakdown in the
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fragile balance of powers between the branches of government, which
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includes lower courts making initial rulings about executive initiatives that
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can be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Other experts offered more modulated assessments of the Trump administration's
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aggressive legal posture, which acknowledging the judicial system was being
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put under intense strain. Steve Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor, said,
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the country is seeing quote, an unprecedented degree of resistance,
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willful or otherwise, to judicial mandates against the federal government.
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It's hard to imagine that this is going to get
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better before it gets worse, Vladek said in an email.
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If the government is correct that these orders are legally flawed,
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it should be appealing them, not resisting them. The showdown
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reached a climax at a testy hearing Monday evening, at
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which James E. Boseberg, the chief judge for the U. S.
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District Court in the District of Columbia, demand did the
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government explain why it had appeared to flo out his
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Saturday evening order requiring planes to porting migrants to turn
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around mid flight. Boseburg had barred the Trump administration from
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using a controversial wartime authority called the Alien Enemies Act
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to speedily removed alleged members of the Trend and Arragua
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gang with the usual due process. He sounded incredulous when
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Justice Department lawyer Abhishek Kumbli said Bosberg's verbal order to
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turn the planes around would only have had force if
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he had put it in writing. A heck of a stretch,
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the judge said. The government also suggested that it was
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restrained from providing the court with further information about the
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flights because of security concerns. Bosburg appeared puzzled, noting that
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he reviews classified information frequently, and the judge appeared to
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grimace when Cambley questioned his authority to order planes to
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land once they were outside US airspace. Boseburg asked if
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Cambley was quote saying that the president has extra powers
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when a plane is over international waters. We believe we
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complied with the order, Cambley answered. Hours afterward, US Attorney
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General Pambondi called Boseburg's order a quote intrusion on the
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president's authority. These are foreign terrorists. The president has identified
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them and designated them, she told Fox's Genie Piro, and
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we will continue to follow the Alien Enemies Act. Justice
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Department lawyers wrote an unusual letter to the Federal Appeals
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Court in d C before the hearing, accusing Boseburg of
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quote micro management, and seeking to remove him from the case. Quote.
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The government cannot and will not be forced to answer
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sensitive questions of national security and foreign relations in a
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rushed posture without orderly briefing and a showing that these
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questions are somehow material to a live issue, Deputy Assistant
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Attorney General Drew Enson, wrote to the clerk of the
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Appeals Court. Michael J. Gerhardt, a professor of constitutional law
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at the University of North Carolina School of Law, said
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the administration's response to Bosburg's order could be one of
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the first real assertions of judicial defiance by the president.
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Quote we might just be there, Gerhardt said, calling the
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administration's rationale for allowing the deportation flights to complete their
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mission quote really hard to believe. Trump secretly signed the
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proc clamation Friday invoking the Alien Enemies Act of seventeen
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ninety eight to deport without the normal due process Venezuelans
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aged fourteen and over, who the government said belonged to
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the Trend de Aragua gang. On Saturday, five Venezuelans filed
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suit to block their deportation under the order, and Bosburg
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issued to stay on their removal. The judge then extended
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his order to block the deportation of all Venezuelan migrants
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using the Act, which had only previously been invoked during wartime,
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including to imprison tens of thousands of Japanese Americans during
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World War II. By then, two flights had already taken
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off containing deportees. A third left after Bosburg issued his ruling,
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according to a timeline assembled by The Washington Post, though
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Trump officials said in a court filing Monday that those
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on the third flight were deported under a different legal authority.
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All three flights landed after Bosburg gave his ward for
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any flights using the Alien Enemies Act deportation authority to
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turn around. Trump officials said Sunday that one hundred and
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thirty seven alleged gang members were deported under the Act.
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On Monday, Bosberg ordered Trump officials to provide by Tuesday
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a sworn declaration that no one was deported under the
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authority of the Alien Enemies Act. After his verbal order
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was made to turn the planes around. The judge also
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ordered officials to detail when the order was issued and
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provide account of how many alleged gang members still in
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the United States are subject to the order. The plan
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to send the alleged gang members to El Salvador was
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hatched by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller
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and Department of Homeland Security specialist Christy L. Noum. According
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to a White House official who spoke on the condition
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of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, Trump's advisers argue that
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they are merely making use of legal mecachanisms that are
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already in place for the president, despite the fact that
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some like the Alien Enemies Act, have hardly been used
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in modern history. Quote, but it's on the books, set
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a second White House official, speaking on the condition of
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anonymity to discuss the administration's thinking. On Sunday, a flurry
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of posts by Trump aligned social media influencers and White
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House officials themselves cheered the administration's actions, sharing video clips
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set to hip hop music that showed tattooed, shackled men
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being let off planes and shaved inside. The megaprism in
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El Salvador. White House staff quickly mobilized its network of
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influencers and allies to boost the content a way to
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quote flex our muscles, the second administration official set. While
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some of the White House's public statements were viewed by
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Trump critics as flippant and defiant of the judge's ruling,
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administration officials consulted with lawyers and top leaders of the
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National Security Council, the Departments of DAT, eight, Defense, and
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Homeland Security, and other entities about messaging ahead of making
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some of their social media posts and remarks, The second
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White House official said. Top White House advisers say they
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are confident in the actions they're taking and believe Trump's
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team is being sufficiently cognizant of the forthcoming court fights. Quote.
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I say this with no disrespect to any of the
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previous administrations, and I'm trying to phrase this as delicately
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as possible, the second official said, this White House has
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the balls to do it. Josh Blackman, a professor at
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the South Texas College of Law in Houston, said it
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was extraordinary for a judge to order the flights back
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to the United States. Boseburg, he added, should have given
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the government a chance to reply to his ruling. Quote
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turning the planes around in mid air may seem like
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a fair request from a judge, but in reality, there
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are complexities that the government never had a chance to explain,
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Blackman said. Nicholas R. Pirio Aleyale Law School professor has
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written extensively about the powers of the federal court's over
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administration officials. It's not uncommon for agency compliance with court
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orders to be quote imperfect and fraught, he wrote in
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an article for Just Security, especially when an order requires
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action that is quote costly or complex. Plaintiffs in other
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cases have also accused the Trump administration of violating court orders.
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Attorneys for Rasha Alloway, a thirty four year old kidney
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transplant specialist from Brown University, say the government quote wilfully
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violated a ruling barring her deportation. Olowey was sent back
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to Lebanon on Friday after a cousin petitioned a judge
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in Massachusetts to keep her in the country and won
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a restraining order. The cousin said in court filings that
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Alowah had a valid visa. Government officials responded in a
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Monday filing that the Customs and Border Protection Watch commander
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was not notified of the ruling until after Alloway had
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been deported, and that CBP would never quote fail to
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abide by a court's order. Attorneys for global health groups
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that have sued to restart billions of dollars in foreign
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aid payments from the United States Agency for International Development
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said in a status report Friday that the Trump administration
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had yet to fully comply with a judge's order, despite
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repeated rulings mandating payments in recent weeks. Quote, the District
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Court was crystal clear that this is unconstitutional for the
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administration to impound foreign assistance funds appropriated by Congress, said
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Lauren Bateman, an attorney for some of the health groups.
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The government has told the court it is analyzing the
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order to expand the foreign assistance funds and quote will
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do so in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget.
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Last month, US District Judged John J. McConnell Jr. In
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Rhode Island ruled the administration had violated the quote plain
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text of his order, lifting a temporary freeze on trillions
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of dollars in federal grants and loans. The administration has
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faced initial setbacks in court over its blitz of executive orders,
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which have triggered more than one hundred twenty lawsuits. Judges
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have blocked many of the administration's highest profile efforts. While
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the court challenges proceed including Trump's orders to end birthright citizenship,
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fire thousands of probationary federal workers, and dismantle some federal
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diversity initiatives. Trump administration officials have chafed at those rulings,
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particularly nationwide injunctions issued by federal district judges. Vice President j.
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D Vance has said judges quote art allowed to control
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the executive's legitimate power, while el Musk has called for
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judges to be impeached. Georgetown University law professor David Super
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said the administration has tried to circumvent some rulings by
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shifting the la legal rationale for its actions. After being blocked.
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In some they have tried to justify their non compliance
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by advancing wildly implausible interpretations of the court orders. Super
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said in an email. For example, they have invented new
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rationales for doing what they were ordered not to do
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and claimed that the injunction only applied to their previously
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stated reasons. The administration rallied against judicial power in a
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recent Supreme Court filing that asked the justices to allow
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Trump's ban on birthright citizenship in some states, leaving his
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order paused by lower courts only in states that have
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specifically stopped to sue it. Quote, This court should declare
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that enough is enough before district Court's burgeoning reliance on
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universal injunctions becomes further entrenched. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote,
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then she paraphrased a social media post by Musk from
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weeks earlier, which itself was an adaptation of a famous
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statement about justice by the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior
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in his quote letter from Birmingham Jail. Years of experience
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have shown that the executive branch cannot properly perform its
13:12
functions if any judge anywhere can enjoin every presidential action everywhere,
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the court filing said, Ben Brash, Jonathan Edwards, Justine McDaniel,
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Perry Stein, and Aaron Schaeffer contributed to this article. The
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next article from the front page of Today's Washington Post
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is entitled The Battle of the Autopen. Trump has a
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new target in his campaign against Biden, the autopen. The
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President has recently made baseless claims that Joe Biden routinely
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used an autopen and that his unelected aides used the
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executive power of the presidency without his knowledge. This article
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is written by Matt Visser. President Donald Trump, who's railed
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against Canada for its trade policies, blamed Ukraine for being
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invaded by Russians, and criticized judges for ruling against him,
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has found a new enemy on which to focus his hire,
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the autopen. Previous presidents have used the relatively mundane technology
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to affix a presidential John Hancock on documents when there
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are too many to sign or it's logistically difficult to
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do so. It's something akin to a real estate deal
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via docu sign, but occasionally with much bigger consequences. The
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autopen is a machine that uses real ink to duplicate
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a human signature. It is commonly used for greeting cards, certificates,
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and printed sales pitches. Trump recently claimed that Joe Biden
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routinely used the device and suggested without evidence that his
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unelected aids sometimes did it without his knowledge, illegally usurping
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the executive powers of the presidency. Quote, it looked like
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we had an autopen for a president, and we would
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have been better off if go ahead. Probably, Trump told
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reporters around midnight Sunday as he flew back from Florida.
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Did he know what he was doing? Did he authorize it?
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Or is this somebody in an office, maybe a radical
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left lunatic, just signing whatever that person wants. Trump also
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said the documents Biden did not physically sign were quote
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null and void, potentially setting up a legal battle, even
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though a number of reviews had concluded that the autopen
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signings are just as legitimate as ones where a handheld
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pen is applied to paper. Quote. That'll be up to
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a court. But I would say that they're null and void,
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Trump said, because I'm sure Biden didn't have any idea
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that it was taking place, and somebody was using an
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autopen to sign off and to give pardons to as
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an example, just one example. But the j six Unselect
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Committee think of it. They gave pardons with an autopen.
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I don't think Biden knew anything about it. By Monday morning,
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Trump said he would not honor the pardons Biden made
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just before leaving office, in particular those of members and
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staff of the Joint Select committee that investigated Trump's role
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in the January sixth insurrection, including former Republican Representatives Liz
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Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinsinger of Illinois, and Representative
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Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland. The pardons, Trump wrote in
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a tooth truth social post were quote hereby declared void, vacant,
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and of no further force or effect because of the
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fact that they were done by autopen. Senator Adam Schiff,
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Democrat from California, one of the most prominent members of
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the committee, responded by writing, quote, the members of the
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January sixth Committee are all proud of our work. Your
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threats will not intimidate us or silence us. The Justice
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Department did not weigh in Monday on Trump's declaration that
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Biden's pardons were voided, nor did it rescind to two
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thousand and five internal Justice Department memo that deemed presidential
16:57
documents signed by Autopen legitimate. When White House Press Secretary
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Caroline Levin on Monday did not answer directly on whether
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Trump wanted Justice Department officials to pursue those Biden had pardoned.
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She was also pressed about the lack of evidence that
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Biden was unaware of the orders authorized during his presidency,
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but offered none herself. Levitt cited a New York Post
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story in which an anonymous former Biden administration official suggested
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that an unnamed staffer had significant authority over which documents
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to auto sign with Biden's signature. Quote. I think it's
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a question that everybody in this room should be looking into,
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because certainly that would propose perhaps criminal or illegal behavior
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if staff members were signing the President of the United
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States autograph without his consent, Levitt said. A spokeswoman for
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Biden declined to comment on those claims. The focus of
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Biden's signature can be traced to the Oversight Project, a
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research arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation. It posted on
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social media March sixth that it had examined a wide
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range of documents with Biden's signature that were all the same,
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but much of their initial analysis relied on documents in
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the Federal Register, which the posts the text of executive
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actions but a digital signature rather than the original. Because
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the hard copies which would contain the actual signature belonged
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to the National Archives, it's difficult to determine precisely how
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many times Biden's White House used an autopen. Mike Howell,
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executive director of the Heritage Oversight Project, said the group
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has tried to obtain original scans of the documents, which
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could cost around twenty thousand dollars, but the group has
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also narrated its focus to pardons, which House says are
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right for legal challenges. The organization is also questioned the
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validity of a set of pardons from December thirty, twenty
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twenty two, when Biden was on vacation in the US
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Virgin Islands, that includes a signature listed as having been
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made in Washington. Quote. We're just considering hiring a handwriting
19:07
expert should the need arise. Just to buttress this, up
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Hal said. Almost from the birth of the nation, US
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presidents have used devices to assist their handwriting. Thomas Jefferson
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owned several polygraphs, an invention that allowed for several pens
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to make simultaneous copies as the author wrote and use
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them daily, while President John F. Kennedy was said to
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use one, and Lennon B. Johnson was photographed with one.
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The National Inquirer in nineteen sixty eight published an article
19:39
suggesting that he was not in control with the headline quote,
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one of the best kept secrets in Washington the robot
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that sits in for the president. The device was often
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used for correspondence and was a subject of fascination by
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autograph collectors, but did not appear to create any legal consequence.
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The Justice Department, in an opinion issued in two thousand
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and five, advised President George W. Bush that there was
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nothing legally problematic about using an auto pen. Quote. The
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president need not personally perform the physical act of affixing
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his signature to a bill and decides to sign in
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order for the bill to become law. Howard C. Nielsen Junior,
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the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel,
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wrote in the thirty page opinion, quote, we emphasize that
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we're not suggesting that the president may delegate the decision
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to approve and sign a bill, only that, having made
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this decision, he may direct a subordinate to affix the
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president's signature to the bill. He added. While Bush never
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used an auto pen to sign legislation, Barack Obama utilized
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it a number of times, including in twenty eleven when
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he was in France and authorized an extension of the
20:51
Patriot Act. Obama used it again in Indonesia to sign
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an appropriations bill to keep the government funded, and in
20:59
Hawaii to sign a tax bill. In some instances, Biden's
21:04
aids went to great lengths to bring documents to him
21:06
for his signature. In January twenty twenty three, a White
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House staffer shuttled a one thousand, six hundred and fifty
21:14
three page spending bill in three carry on bags to
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Saint Croix, where Biden was vacationing, so that he could
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sign it. According to Politico, the prior year, an AID
21:25
flew to South Korea so that Biden could affix his
21:28
signature to legislation authorizing forty billion dollars in aid for Ukraine.
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But there were also times when he used the auto pen.
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White House officials acknowledged in May twenty twenty four that
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Biden had used it to sign a one week extension
21:44
of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. In that instance,
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the President was traveling in San Francisco, seeking to ensure
21:52
that there was no lapse in funding on major pieces
21:56
of legislation. Biden, like his predecessors, held ceremonial events at
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the White House, signing the parchment and passing out the
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pens used to do so. While conservatives have pointed to
22:08
similarities in the signatures, it has not been confirmed that
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Biden used an autopen on the pardons Trump had focused on,
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but a solicitor general in nineteen twenty nine wrote a
22:21
memo to the Attorney General concluding that the president's signature
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was not required for pardons. Quote. Neither the Constitution nor
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any statute prescribes the method by which executive clemency shall
22:35
be exercised or evidenced. It is wholly a matter for
22:38
the President to decide as a practical question of administrative policy,
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The memos stated, quote, custom and proprietary require that the
22:48
pardon man be given some token to show he has
22:50
been pardoned. That need not have the President's autograph. If
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it shall bear the facsimile signature and be certified by
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an official having charge of the records as having been
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issued by the President or his direction, that will be
23:05
sufficient to burden the President with the labor of signing
23:09
the warrants, as is, as a matter of law, wholly unnecessary.
23:14
Trump has often made a major display of signing documents.
23:17
He typically calls reporters into the Oval office and with
23:20
a thick black marker affixes his signature to legislation or
23:24
executive orders and then holds it up for the cameras.
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A White House official who is not authorized to speak publicly,
23:31
said Trump's policy has been to hand sign every legal, operational,
23:35
or binding document. Trump on Monday afternoon told reporters that
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he has used an autopen quote only for very unimportant papers,
23:44
such as when people write in and request a response.
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We may use it as an example to send some
23:50
young person a letter because it's nice, he told reporters
23:53
the previous evening on Air Force One. We get thousands
23:57
and thousands of letters and letters of support for young people,
24:00
for people that aren't feeling well, et cetera. But to
24:03
sign pardons and all the things that he signed with
24:05
an auto pen is disgraceful. Jeremy Roebuck and Perry Stein
24:10
also contributed to this article. The next article from the
24:14
front page of Today's Washington Post is entitled President's economic
24:20
endpoint unclear. Trump has a plan to remake the economy,
24:24
but he's not explaining it very well. Investors, business leaders,
24:28
and consumers may not be willing to wait. This article
24:33
is written by David Jay Lynch. President Donald Trump acknowledges
24:38
that his economic plan is causing short term pain while
24:41
the nation advances to a new quote Golden age, but
24:45
administration officials have been much less clear about what that
24:48
destination will look like and how long it will take
24:51
to get there. The President talks about re industrializing the Midwest,
24:56
while his Treasury secretary emphasizes weaning a Americans from an
25:00
unhealthy reliance on government spending. Trump's Commerce secretary is keen
25:05
to balance the federal budget. His top White House economic
25:08
advisor touts the virtues of tax cuts and quote massive deregulation.
25:14
Amid signs of investor on ease. The Trump administration insists
25:18
it aims to help Main Street, not Wall Street, But
25:21
so far the administration's discordant chorus is not satisfying either one.
25:28
The erratic pace and tone of Trump two point zero
25:31
is taking a toll on the stable economy the president inherited,
25:35
denting growth prospects and leaving Americans more downbeat than they
25:39
have been in years. On Friday, a closely watched consumer
25:43
confidence index sank to its lowest level since November twenty
25:47
twenty two, when inflation was near a forty year high.
25:51
The stock market, meanwhile, is losing altitude as investors feared
25:55
that the president means what he says about using tariffs
25:58
to reverse decade of globalization. Quote. It is a bit
26:03
of muddle right now what they mean. Each of the
26:06
economic spokespeople speaks in different ways, and I'm not even
26:10
saying they're speaking in different ways about the same thing.
26:13
They're just speaking about different things, said economist Glenn Hubbard,
26:17
who was President George W. Bush's top economic advice. It's unsettling.
26:23
Trump's voice, of course, is the loudest and the most authoritative.
26:27
The president describes his objectives using the salesman's best case superlatives.
26:32
His economic plan will produce quote the highest quality of
26:35
life and make the country quote the wealthiest and healthiest
26:38
of any in the world, he told Congress this month.
26:41
Trump has left it to his aides, particularly Treasury Secretary
26:45
Scott Bessant, to articulate a more complete description of his
26:49
economic overhaul. In a New York speech this month, the
26:53
former Hedge Fund executive said the administration would spur the
26:56
economy by easing regulations on banks and crafting a new
27:00
approach to trade. And defense burden sharing. Stephen Miran, the
27:05
chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, likewise wrote late
27:09
last year that Trump's second term offered the quote potential
27:13
for sweeping change in the international economic system through innovative
27:18
trade and currency policies. If the administration's plan succeeds, the
27:23
thirty trillion dollar US economy would be remade already less
27:27
dependent on the outside world than most major nations. The
27:30
United States would become even more self sufficient, producing more
27:34
of its energy, lumber, steel, and computer chips than before.
27:39
Manufacturing would supplant financialization, creating millions of blue collar jobs,
27:45
and government spending, which now accounts for more than one
27:48
third of the economy, would shrink, perhaps to the two
27:51
thousand level of twenty nine percent of GDP. This is
27:55
a whole new way of thinking. It's a new economic model,
27:59
said Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former chief White House strategist.
28:03
The president's radical remaking of the economy addresses real problems
28:07
a chronically unbalanced global trading system and unsustainable government finances.
28:13
The Chinese government's policy of subsidizing exports and discouraging consumer
28:18
spending has flooded global markets with inexpensive products and contributed
28:23
to a record US trade deficit of more than one
28:27
point two trillion dollars. At the same time, the Biden
28:31
administration spending on pandemic relief and ambitious industrial policies left
28:36
the government with an unusually large annual buffet budget deficit
28:41
of one point eight trillion dollars, or more than six
28:44
percent of gross domestic product. Debt held by the public meanwhile,
28:48
has soared to twenty nine trillion dollars, or nearly one
28:52
hundred percent of GDP. Relative to the size of the economy,
28:57
the government's accumulated financial obligations are off track to surpass
29:01
their historic high at the end of World War II.
29:05
Trump's proposed remedies to the economy's ailments, especially the most
29:09
widespread use of tariffs in nearly a century, are audacious,
29:13
and some economists say unrealistic. Policy execution has been uneven,
29:19
with the president announcing and reversing tariffs within a single day.
29:24
It's also not clear how tariffs can simultaneously achieve multiple goals,
29:29
including discouraging the purchase of foreign products, reshoring manufacturing, coercing
29:34
foreign governments, and raising revenue to offset the cost of
29:38
Trump's proposed tax cuts equally unclear how the budget gap
29:42
can be narrowed while taxes are cut? Quote, what are
29:46
they trying to do? They don't have a strategy, They
29:48
don't have a clear goal for these policies. Set economist
29:52
Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute, a right of
29:55
center think tank in Washington. I think what we're seeing
29:59
is in competence. On Wednesday, High Frequency Economics, an economic
30:05
analysis firm, headlined its daily research email quote, global financial
30:10
markets brace for another day of chaos from Washington. After
30:15
often citing stock market results to validate his first term performance,
30:20
Trump and his team now wave off market worries. The
30:23
real economy, not Wall Street, is the administration's focus, Besant
30:28
told CNBC on Thursday. Some Trump allies interpret such remarks
30:33
as signaling an overdue change from equating the stock market
30:37
with American standard of living. Stock values rose by more
30:40
than fifty percent under President Joe Biden, for example, but
30:44
the increase did Democrats little good in the twenty twenty
30:48
four election. That may be because stock ownership is tilted
30:52
toward the wealthy. The bottom three fifths of US households
30:55
today own a smaller piece of the stock market than
30:58
they did when the Berlin walked came down. In late
31:01
nineteen eighty nine, those typical American households held almost nine
31:05
percent of all stocks and mutual funds, according to Federal
31:09
Reserve data. By late last year, their share of the
31:12
total had fallen by nearly one third, while the portion
31:15
held by the richest Americans grew. Quote. The stock market
31:19
is an absolutely horrible indicator of the health of the
31:22
working class. There is very clearly a disconnect between Wall
31:25
Street and the working class economy, said nick Ia Covadl,
31:30
executive vice president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America,
31:35
a non partisan group that is closed to the administration.
31:39
Even Trump's allies concede that he cannot complete his promised
31:44
revolution before his term ends in January twenty twenty nine.
31:49
It will take several years and cost billions of dollars
31:52
for companies to build new factories in the United States
31:55
and to identify domestic suppliers that can replace their overseas vendors. Likewise,
32:01
shrinking the mammoth government budget deficit will require painful spending cuts.
32:07
The administration so far has concentrated on relatively modest, easy
32:12
to mock government grants and what Vessant calls quote excess
32:16
employment in the government. But the estimated savings claimed by
32:20
Elon Musk's US DOGE service has been overstated and marred
32:24
by errors, and while federal government employment of three million
32:28
individuals is up more than nine percent over the past decade,
32:32
it remains lower than when President Ronald Reagan left office
32:35
in nineteen eighty nine. Federal salaries also amount to less
32:39
than five percent of the government's outlays. The budget's real
32:44
money is in entitlements and defense, but the president has
32:48
publicly put Social Security, Medicare, and defense off limits. Completing
32:54
the transition to the new economy that Trump and visions
32:56
will not be quick or easy. The President has concluded
32:59
that it will involve quote a little disturbance, while Bessent
33:03
forecasts a quote detox period as the economy sheds its
33:07
addiction to government cash. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS
33:12
News recently that the president's plan was quote the most
33:16
important thing America has ever had and would be worth
33:19
implementing even if it produced an early recession. Initial public
33:24
reaction to Trump's second term policies, however, has been negative.
33:28
The S and P five hundred index is down eight
33:30
percent over the past month, and fifty six percent of
33:33
adults in a new CNN poll said they disapprove of
33:37
the president's handling of the economy, a greater share than
33:40
at any time during his first term. Still, Trump shows
33:44
no sign of changing course. One reason may be the
33:47
lack of vocal opposition to the risky course he has selected.
33:52
Unlike his first term team, which was split between establishment
33:55
Republicans and populist true believers, his current line up advice
34:00
is unified behind his vision. Trump two point zero is
34:03
very different from one point zero. Everybody in a senior
34:07
position was genetically selected to be folks who don't prevent
34:10
the president from doing what he wants to do, said
34:13
one prominent Republican who spoke on the condition of anonymity
34:17
to avoid angering the president. Even the chief executives of
34:21
the nation's largest corporations have shied away from verbalizing their
34:25
fears that Trump's tariffs will sever supply chains, cloud investment plans,
34:30
and shrink profits. Last week, the President met with corporate
34:34
leaders assembled by the Business Roundtable. Many are deeply skeptical
34:38
that global supply chains developed over years can or should
34:42
be quickly unwound, But the closed door session with the
34:46
president was devoid of fireworks. Quote. They don't want to
34:49
get Zelenskiyd, said the Republican who attended the meeting, referring
34:54
to Trump's public humiliation of the Ukrainian president during a
34:58
recent overall oval office meeting. Some business leaders hope to
35:03
redirect Trump from attacking Canada and Mexico to a more
35:07
narrow focus on combating China's trade practices. Foreign companies already
35:11
see their presence in China as under threat given President
35:15
Xi Jingping's efforts to boot his country's self reliance, so
35:19
they're prepared to see Trump erect further trade barriers on
35:22
Chinese goods if they can salvage their manufacturing footprint closer
35:27
to the United States. This person said. The president's mercurial
35:32
nature and limited time in office also makes them cautious
35:35
about dramatic changes in their supply chains or operations. Some
35:39
are hoping to run out the clock on Trump's economic revolution.
35:43
The President's not going to be around forever, said another
35:46
Republican business executive. In four years, you have a different administration.
35:52
The next article from the front page of Today's Washington
35:55
Post is entitled Trump Putin call set for two day
36:00
over cease fire talks, Kremlin confirms. President Donald Trump announced
36:05
the call Sunday and said there would be concessions over
36:08
land and power plants. This article is written by mary
36:12
Ilhyushina and Dan Lamoth. President Donald Trump and Russian leader
36:17
Vladimir Putin are set to speak in a phone call
36:20
Tuesday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin
36:23
confirmed Monday, as the United States seeks Moscow's support for
36:28
a thirty day ceasefire proposal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said
36:33
Monday that the call will be mainly about settling the
36:35
conflict in Ukraine, but is also quote an important step
36:39
that sets the tone for the movement to revive relations
36:43
between the States. Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine began
36:48
in twenty twenty two. Trump announced the plan call Sunday,
36:52
saying there was quote a very good chance of reaching
36:54
a deal. We are doing pretty well, I think with Russia,
36:58
he told reporters of board Air Force One. We'll see
37:01
if we have something to announce, maybe by Tuesday. When
37:05
asked what concessions Russia would make in a potential deal.
37:09
Trump said, discussions have taken place about quote divvying up assets.
37:13
We will be talking about land, We'll be talking about
37:16
power plants, he said, I think of a lot of
37:18
It has already been discussed at length by both sides,
37:21
Ukraine and Russia. Last week, US officials said, quote, the
37:26
ball is now in Russia's court after Ukraine Ukraine agreed
37:30
to the ceasefire deal. Putin has so far resisted fully
37:33
endorsing the US proposal, citing quote nuances that require quote
37:38
painstaking research, as his troops seek to push Ukrainian forces
37:43
out of the southwest and Russian region of Kursk and
37:47
strip Kiev of a key bargaining chips in the talk.
37:50
Putin said Thursday that Russia would agree to a cease
37:53
fire only if it leads to long term peace, hinting
37:57
at conditions such as barring Ukraine from receiving US military
38:01
aid or mobilizing new forces. He also questioned how such
38:06
a ceasefire would be enforced. Russia has consistently put forward
38:10
maximalist demands that Ukraine views as unacceptable. In June, Putin
38:16
said Russia would immediately stop hostilities if Ukraine surrenders for
38:20
southeastern regions that Russian troops partially occupy, and if it
38:25
renounces plans to join NATO. Moscow also diminished proposals from
38:30
Western countries to deploy foreign peacekeeping forces in Ukraine as
38:35
a guarantee of its long term security. It remains unclear
38:39
what security assurances Ukraine would receive to protect itself from
38:44
future attacks, or whether Trump would secure any meaningful concessions
38:48
from Putin. Steve Witkoff, an envoy for Trump, said Sunday
38:53
that his most recent meeting with Putin was quote positive,
38:56
and that differences between Russian and Ukrainian officials appeared to
39:00
have quote narrowed. I was with the President all day yesterday.
39:04
I'll be with him today, Whitcoff said of Trump, speaking
39:07
on CNN's State of the Union. We're sitting with him
39:10
discussing how to narrow it even further. Whitcoff, when asked
39:13
whether Putin is the impediment to a piece deal, said
39:17
I don't want to put words in President Putin's mouth,
39:19
but I think he's indicated that he accepts the philosophy
39:23
of President Trump. President Trump wants to see an end
39:26
of this. Whitcoff said he doesn't disagree with Trump's assessment
39:30
that a peace deal could be reached within weeks. This
39:33
is a highly, very complicated situation, Whitcof said, and yet
39:38
we're bridging the gap between two sides. Senator Mike Rownds,
39:42
Republican from South Dakota, struck a more cautious note. Moments later,
39:46
on the same television program Time Will Tell, rownd said,
39:49
whether Putin is deceiving us, Rounds said, Putin started the
39:54
war and as the aggressor in it. If Putin is
39:58
changing his mind and recognizing the day damage that his
40:01
war has done to his economy and military, Rams added,
40:04
there may be a way to move forward as long
40:08
as there is an quote enforceable peace. Whatever agreements we make,
40:12
they have to be enforceable or they will not work
40:15
when we're dealing with mister Putin, he said. Ukrainian Foreign
40:19
Minister Andrei Schebayna on Monday outlined what he called Kiev's
40:23
non negotiables. Quote these are fundamental issues, Shabiah said in
40:29
an RBC Ukraine interview. Ukraine will never recognize occupied territories. Second,
40:36
no country has the right to veto the choice of
40:38
the Ukrainian people or Ukraine's decision to join any alliances,
40:43
whether it's the European Union or NATO. US National Security
40:48
Advisor Michael Walls said Sunday that Ukraine's permanent membership in
40:52
NATO is quote highly unlikely, echoing Defense Secretary Pete Heads's
40:57
remarks last month, the membership was not on the table
41:00
in recognition of quote hard power realities on the ground.
41:05
When asked what other security guarantees Ukraine would seek, Sabia
41:10
said that while alliance membership quote remains the most effective
41:14
security guarantee, other measures may include air and naval patrols
41:19
performed by allied forces and continued support for Ukraine's defense industry.
41:25
France and Britain have led the effort to create a
41:27
quote coalition of the willing countries that would help guarantee
41:31
any agreement, including by putting troops inside your Ukraine. British
41:36
Prime Minister kier Stromer's spokesman said Monday that more than
41:40
thirty countries had joined the coalition. This will be a
41:44
significant force, with a significant number of countries providing troops
41:48
and a larger group contributing in other ways. He said.
41:52
Western leaders have called on Russia to reciprocate Ukraine's agreement
41:55
to a cease fire quote on equal terms, and threatened
41:58
to further excerpt pressure on Moscow if it hijacks the proposal.
42:03
According to a statement released following the Foreign minister's meeting
42:06
of the Group of Seven Nations in Clervaux, Canada, the
42:11
ministers quote discussed imposing further costs on Russia in case
42:15
such a ceasefire is not agreed, including through further sanctions,
42:19
caps on oil prices, as well as additional support for
42:23
Ukraine and other means, the statement said, adding that the
42:26
West may go ahead with a plan to use interests
42:29
generated from frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine. One
42:35
of the most significant measures Russia faced since the two
42:39
thousand and two invasion was the freezing of more than
42:41
three hundred billion dollars in Russian Central Bank assets held
42:45
in the West for the European Union, which last year
42:48
adopted a plan to funnel revenue to Ukraine if needed.
42:52
It was a way to pressure Moscow without inviting legal
42:55
challenges or undermining trust in their financial systems. Putin condemned
43:01
this strategy as quote theft. Paris has recently proposed using
43:05
the assets as collateral, allowing them to be seized if
43:08
Moscow were to violate a potential cease fire agreement. The
43:14
next article from the front page of Today's Washington Post
43:17
is entitled What Went Wrong The Night Altadena burned? A
43:23
Washington Post analysis shows that some officials knew of the
43:27
fires westward spread hours before evacuation orders were sent to
43:32
residence in western Altadena. This article is written by Joyce
43:37
Shawn Lee, Joshua Partlow, John Muiskin's, Samuel Oakford, Sarah Caplan,
43:45
Breonna Sachs, Aaron C. Davis, and Imogen Piper. The power
43:53
had gone out at Erleine Kelly's house and the wind
43:57
was howling overhead. But as the eighty three year old
44:01
peered at her son in the pale glow of her flashlight,
44:04
she insisted that she was not afraid of the eating fire.
44:08
She had no reason to be. Erlein said the brush
44:11
fire that broke out four hours earlier had started more
44:14
than two miles away. Authorities hadn't yet issued an evacuation
44:19
warning for her neighborhood, and in the nearly six decades
44:22
she'd lived on Tania Avenue, no wildfire had ever posed
44:26
a threat. It was almost eleven PM on January seventh,
44:30
and her son, Trevor was exhausted. As he prepared to
44:34
leave her home. He urged her to come to his.
44:37
Trevor still had power. He also lived closer to where
44:40
the fire had started east of Altadena. Why would I
44:43
go over there, Arlene said, I'm safe here. By the
44:49
next morning, the blocks around Earlan's Blue Ranch house would
44:53
become the tragic center of the fires that burned across
44:56
Los Angeles County in January. Of the twenty nine people
45:00
who died in two blazes at different corners of the area,
45:03
seventeen perished within one and one half miles of Ierlein's home.
45:08
Some authorities knew about the fire spread into western Altadena
45:12
for more than four hours before residents there were sent
45:16
evacuation orders. According to a Washington Post analysis of radio
45:21
traffic and interviews with more than fifty residents, firefighters, and
45:25
first responders. It was also found that fires had come
45:28
within hundreds of feet of many victims' homes before the
45:31
alerts went out. This account of the Eton fire offers
45:35
a cautionary tale for other communities. In an era of
45:38
climate fueled firestorms that can overwhelm first responders, delays to
45:43
evacuation alerts can prove catastrophic. The first fire reported west
45:48
of Lake Avenue, a main thoroughfare that became a dividing
45:51
line in the area, was at ten fifty pm. Twenty
45:55
nine more would be recorded before evacuation orders were sent
45:59
to those neighbors hoods at three twenty five am and
46:02
five forty two am. The Post found by that time
46:07
trees and power lines blocked exit routes. Thick black smoke
46:11
made it hard to see. People were getting lost on
46:14
streets they had known for years. The Post listened to
46:18
more than thirteen hours of radio traffic from the Eaton
46:21
Fire radio command channel and plotted all the times a
46:25
fire was reported. It compared the spread of the fire
46:28
with the two types of alerts sent to residents, a
46:31
fire warning meaning people should prepare to leave the area,
46:35
and an evacuation order, meaning to leave immediately. The command
46:40
channel captured calls for help for at least three people
46:43
who died in the fire. As an unincorporated part of
46:47
Los Angeles County, Altadena doesn't have its own communication system
46:52
to reach residents or an established evacuation plan. According to
46:56
Dorothy Wong, who represents Northwest Altadena on the Town Council,
47:01
residents rely on Los Angeles County's Office of Emergency Management
47:05
for evacuation alerts. In November, the county signed a contract
47:09
with Genesaes, whose software integrates with a federally managed system
47:14
that can buzz cell phones with wireless emergency alerts. Richard Danforth,
47:19
the CEO of GENATSIS, said in a statement that quote,
47:23
community members were receiving the notifications within three to fourteen
47:27
minutes of officials approving the message. Fire officials said decisions
47:32
on evacuation orders were made with the Los Angeles County
47:36
Sheriff's Office and the Office of Emergency Management. They said
47:40
officials discussed where spot fires were occurring and which areas
47:44
of Aaltadena seemed most in danger. The Sheriff's office would
47:47
make the final call. They said. The Sheriff's office referred
47:51
questions about evacuations to the county's Coordinated Joint Information Center.
47:56
That office declined to comment on a detailed set of
47:59
questions from the Post, but said county agencies are quote
48:02
cooperating fully with an independent review of evacuation and alert
48:06
policies by the Mecrystal Group, a consulting firm, quote, as
48:11
we focus intensively on helping our residents recover and rebuild
48:15
from the worst fire disaster in modern La County history.
48:20
Many of the people who took part in that effort
48:22
to save Altadena insist little more could have been done
48:25
against wind gusts of eighty to ninety miles an hour
48:28
that hurled flaming embers for miles, But a confluence of
48:32
other problems from a lack of water, jammed dispatched channels,
48:36
and winds grounding key aircraft made things worse. Following protocol
48:42
to protect firefighter lives, senior officials decided to keep crews
48:46
away from the front of the fast moving fire, which
48:49
traversed the foothills above the town and then poured down
48:52
into the residential streets, ultimately burning more than nine thousand structures.
48:58
There was no stopping that fire, said Pasadena Fire Department
49:02
Chief Chad Augustine, one of the commanders coordinating the initial response, quote,
49:07
we would have killed a bunch of firefighters trying to
49:09
save homes that weren't going to be saved. Even as
49:13
Trevor Kelly pressed his mother to evacuate. Earline insisted she
49:17
was far more worried about what was happening at her
49:19
son's home. She had just seen on the news that
49:22
his neighborhood had received an evacuation order, though hers had not.
49:27
Trevor tried to call his wife, Kimberly, to check, but
49:30
the cell phone reception at his mother's house had always
49:33
been fickle and the call didn't go through. Earline insisted
49:37
he go quote, I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning,
49:40
he said, he would later dwell on that moment, Trevor
49:44
was certain Earline would have left had she received an
49:47
evacuation order. Instead, her expression was placid as she waved
49:52
him off. God is in control, she said. Next the
49:57
first flames, When the spark that would grow into the
50:01
Eton Fire first appeared, the fire fighting capabilities of the
50:04
Greater Los Angeles area were already under siege. Forty miles
50:08
to the southwest, flames were racing into Pacific Palisades. Waves
50:13
of reinforcements arrived to aid firefighters battling to save homes.
50:18
Five miles from Eaton Canyon. Robert Garcia's firefighting force stood ready.
50:23
After a decision to hold back the engines and extra crews.
50:26
Heat amast ahead of the week's forecasted winds. When Garcia,
50:31
fire chief for Angelus National Forest, heard reports of flames
50:35
and smoke coming from Eaton Canyon near Altadena, he wanted
50:40
to see for himself. The US four Service sounded the
50:43
first alarm and rolled a full convoy of one hundred
50:46
people out of the headquarters in Arcadia, east of Altadena.
50:50
Garcia arrived with seven fire engines, two water tenders, two
50:54
flatbed trucks carrying bulldozers, and two hand crews, each of
50:59
which had twenty five firefighters to dig ditches and set
51:02
fire lines to help contain the blaze. Early heading into Altadena,
51:07
Garcia was shocked by the growing intensity of the wind
51:09
and damage it was doing. Halfway along the ten minute drive,
51:13
a tree branch crashed through the windshield of one of
51:16
his deputy chief's trucks. Within minutes of arriving, he and
51:20
his battalion chief radioed headquarters to sound a second alarm
51:23
and request almost all resources still available. Quote. I knew
51:28
it was going to be a big one, Garcia said.
51:31
About an hour had passed by the time Garcia the
51:34
fire chiefs from Los Angeles County, Sierra Madre in Pasadena,
51:38
and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna convened over maps
51:42
spread out on the tailgate of a pickup truck at
51:44
Farnsworth Park, a neighborhood gathering spot on Lake Avenue. Each
51:49
new report from the scene deepened their concern. They soon
51:52
realized that the number of reinforcements would require a new
51:55
command post. They could smell smoke and knew they were
51:58
not on safe ground, but one key resource was missing.
52:03
Shortly after eight pm, all aircraft were grounded because of
52:07
wind turbulence, depriving officials of an aerial view of the fire.
52:12
About nine pm, according to radio traffic, the chiefs decided
52:15
to pull back nearly four miles to the Rose Bowl
52:18
Stadium complex in Pasadena. About a half hour later, an
52:22
official on the radio said two bulldozers would start digging
52:25
a fire break line just north of Farnsworth Park. The
52:29
trucks and flashing lights had begun to draw neighbors who
52:32
were wondering what to do. The chiefs told them to
52:35
prepare evacuations were possible. One elderly woman came up and
52:39
caught Garcia's eye. She said her husband was disabled and
52:43
wasn't easy to move. Garcia urged her to get ready
52:46
to leave if necessary. Quote, the fire is going to
52:49
get here tonight, he said. Next, begging for help for
52:54
the firefighters facing the plains, there was no time to plan.
52:58
Los Angeles County Fire came. Captain Jeff Barlow arrived about
53:01
fifteen minutes after the initial call to the far east
53:04
side of Altadena. There were already burning buildings and flaming trees,
53:09
with embers flying everywhere. Quote seemed like the world was
53:12
on fire. Barlow said his team started dousing flames in
53:17
their immediate vicinity. Other fire fighters were clearing trees and brush.
53:22
County Sheriff's deputies, along with fire volunteers, directed traffic and
53:26
told people to evacuate. When Forrest's Service Captain Danny Flores arrived,
53:33
he switched his radio to the county's dispatch command frequencies
53:37
to get an initial assignment. Because of quote overwhelming radio traffic,
53:41
he said he couldn't reach the incident commanders, a group
53:45
of top officials who coordinate the response. After waiting more
53:48
than an hour for an assignment, his crew fought the
53:51
fire in front of them, saving three homes. Despite fire
53:55
engines and water tenders streaming to the scene, firefighters said
54:01
it wasn't enough. Quote. Our priority quickly shifted to we
54:05
need to evacuate as many residents as we can, said Augustine,
54:09
the Pasadena fire chief. In those early hours before the
54:13
blaze moved west over Lake Avenue, fire fighters mentioned at
54:17
least nine times on the command channel that they were
54:20
stretched thin. All my resourcers are committed right now, a
54:24
fire fighter said at nine o nine p m. We've
54:27
been begging, borrowing, said another at ten thirty three p m.
54:31
From the time the fire started, the wind monitor at
54:34
Henninger Flats in East Canyon recorded gusts greater than sixty
54:38
eight miles per hour and as high as ninety miles
54:40
per hour for twelve straight hours. Considerable air turbulence made
54:44
it hard to know where the fire would go without
54:48
intelligence from aircraft. Quote, you're making your best estimates using
54:51
maps and the boots on the ground, Augustine said, next,
54:55
leaving without her from the roof of his Pasadena condominium building.
54:59
Trevor Kelly, a fifty nine year old golf instructor, watched
55:03
in horror as fire spread across the hills. By nine
55:06
p m. The smell of smoke was pervasive and the
55:09
sky glowed orange. Quote. I would say the fire is
55:12
about half a mile from me, Trevor narrated into his phone,
55:16
it's wild out here. Bro. His daughter, Brianna Navarro, and
55:20
her family lived at his mother's house. She called to
55:23
tell him she was leaving. What did grandma say, Trevor recalled,
55:27
asking she didn't want to go, Navarro said, maybe you
55:31
could go check on her. For Irleene Kelly, her house
55:35
represented a form of success and stability she could never
55:39
have found in her hometown of Monmouth, Illinois, where the
55:42
only job she could find was at a meat packing plant.
55:46
When she attended high school in the nineteen fifties, black
55:49
couples weren't allowed to dance at the prom. When Howard Kelly,
55:53
Arlene's husband and high school sweetheart, enlisted in the Navy,
55:56
it was her ticket out of Monmouth. After stints and
55:59
mary Land, Land and the Mohave Desert, the couple and
56:02
the two young children moved to Los Angeles in search
56:05
of their first home. They found the perfect spot in Altadena,
56:09
one of the few La County neighborhoods were black families
56:12
could become homeowners. In nineteen sixty eight, Their jobs scooping
56:16
ice cream at a thrifty drug store barely paid enough
56:19
for the Kellys to afford the mortgage, But the modest
56:22
house was Erlein's quote, pride and joy, Trevor said. Howard
56:26
worked his way up the corporate chained to become an
56:28
executive at thrifty, which is now owned by write Aid,
56:32
and Erlins spent decades as a pharmacy technician. The job
56:36
introduced her to almost everyone in Altadena. People stopped on
56:40
her on the street to chat so often that her
56:42
family joked she could have become mayor. People always say
56:46
this about their moms, Trevor said, but she was special.
56:50
As Trevor drove toward her home, he noticed fewer and
56:53
fewer signs of the emergency that was unfolding just a
56:56
couple of miles away. Most homes still had power, and
56:59
people were at out walking their dogs. Erline shared her
57:02
neighbor's nonchalance, laughing at her granddaughter's hasty departure. Quote. They
57:07
packed up like they were moving out, she told Trevor.
57:10
After Trevor could not persuade Erleine to leave with him.
57:13
He went to meet his wife at the hotel where
57:15
she had evacuated. The first flames were reaching the west
57:18
side of Altadena at ten fifty pm, blaze on East
57:22
Calavera Street, about a mile from Erleine's house, according to
57:26
radio traffic. Just after midnight, tever Trek texted his mother
57:31
one more time before he went to sleep. She told
57:33
her son that she had moved to the living room
57:35
by the heater and was sleeping on the couch. He
57:38
asked if she was warm. She said yes. Winds had
57:42
picked up again. She rode at twelve sixteen am next
57:47
the evacuation. All across Altadena, people were choosing stay or go,
57:53
pack or run. Firefighters focused on those who couldn't leave
57:57
on their own, including hundreds of ss in nursing homes
58:01
and assisted living centers. Those who responded to the terraces
58:05
at Park Marino, just to the south in Pasadena found
58:08
dozens of seniors and wheelchairs and hospital beds in the
58:11
streets waiting to be loaded onto transit buses and ambulances.
58:16
Dozens more were huddled in the lobby of the burning building.
58:18
Sprinklers raining water down on them. Chief Augustine estimated that
58:23
more than one thousand people were rescued during the fire,
58:26
and unfortunately, due to time constraints, we will have to
58:29
end our reading of Today's Washington Post. At this point,
58:33
your reader today has been Bill Sally. Thank you so
58:36
much for listening, and now after a short break, we
58:39
hope you'll stay tuned for sports news right here on
58:43
Radio I