Transcript

7.17.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post. It is Thursday,
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July seventeenth of twenty twenty five. Your reader is Alice Stainer,
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with the reminder that RADIOI is an organization for those
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blind with disabilities making it difficult to hold or read
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printed material. And I will start with the front page
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of today's Washington Post. And it shows thunderstorms in the
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area for there today. And we had friends over for
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the afternoon and they departed just before the thunder and
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the lightning took over in our backyard last night, heavy
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rain and lightning and storm. So the front page left
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comes paint grim picture of Florida facility reports of limited
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water relentless mosquitoes at Migrant Detention Center by Laurien Rozas,
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David Oval and Rachel Hatzip Panagas. That is to the
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left in the middle of the front of the paper,
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above the white House push for Voda Dota Royal's local
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offices is a picture. And I had not noticed how
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it is now a gold in the Oval office with
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a gold mantle, gold design around the fireplace, golden urns
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and a clock with gold around it. The gold lamps,
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the gold frames around the picture and tents of gold
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in the rug, table and sofa, and it is of
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Trump whose finger is pointing. Everybody's looking towards one person.
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The only person I recognize is Reserved Chair Jerome Well,
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he's not even in there is the only president recognized,
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President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. There is
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a cameraman reflected in a mirror with the pictures of
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others that must be talking to. And in the foreground
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is a hand raised like he's asking to speak or something.
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And then one, two, three, four, five, five visible six
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visible places and a set of legs in the far
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right of the picture. And that says President Donald Trump
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said the oost of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Pals
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highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud. So
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that is the underneath the picture in the middle of
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the front page, and to the right is the article
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Trump toys with firing. Powell floats idea with GOP lawmakers,
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but he backs off and denies that plans are underway
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by Andrew Ackerman. Below the fold to the left, order
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halting some studies over road NIH Career staff by Hannah Nattison,
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Carolyn Y. Johnson and Joel Achenbach. In the center is
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a picture of a building that has been bombed in Syria,
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and it says Syria's Defense ministry in Damascus was the
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target of repeated Israeli air strikes on Wednesday. Israeli strikes
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stoke Syrian conflict. By Salamon George's Kareem Fain, Mohammad l
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Chama and Cheeseman. And then to the right, inside the
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Silicon Valley quest to breed super babies, genetic firms foresee
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a blessed generation that will avoid disease, many scientists are skeptical.
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By Elizabeth Darskin and Jogana Turbarti. I'll start with Trump
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floats firing FED chair with GEOP lawmakers, then backs off.
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Trump denied reports that he was planning to fire the
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FED chief Jerome H. Powell Andrew Ackerman. President Donald Trump
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denied Wednesday that he's planning to fire Reserve Federal Reserve
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Chair Jerome H. Powell. A day after asking Republican lawmakers
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at the White House whether he should remove this Central
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Bank chief, Trump asked lawmakers for their opinion on firing
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the dead chief, which stay backed. He told reporters two
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people familiar with the meeting, One of them a senior
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administration official. Both speaking on the condition of anonymity to
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discuss a private meeting, said Trump indicated he was likely
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to move ahead with the firing, but when pressed Wednesday,
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Trump called reports that he's planning to Firepower not true.
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We're not planning on doing anything, Trump said to reporters.
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I don't rule out anything, but I think it's highly
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unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud. The reversal
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came as Trump faced mounting pressure from Republicans on several fronts,
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including his administration's refusal to release files related to deceased
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sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Host Republicans had come to the
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White House for a meeting on pending cryptocurrency legislation that
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some of the lawmakers had concerns about, but the discussion
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veered into other matters, including firing Powell. Stocks initially sank
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on the news of a potential firing, that they rebounded
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after Trump's denial. The diwdron's industrial average abruptly lost in
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more than three hundred points before recovering. It seems to
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be seen whether Trump will follow through on the threat
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to fire Powell. A frequent target for the President. Trump
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has attacked Powell repeatedly, arguing lower rates would make it
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easier for the United States to finance ballooning deficits. Some
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administration officials appear eager for Trump to act. Bill pult,
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a federal housing regulator who has spent weeks attacking Powell
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and calling for him to resign, gave Trump a draft
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letter to fire the chief earlier this week. According to
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a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of
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anonymity to describe the private encounter, firing a sitting bedchair
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would be an unprecedented move and probably self defeating. Investors, economists,
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and lawmakers warned it would rattle confidence in the Fed's
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independence and its commitment to fighting inflation, pushing interest rates
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higher as investors demand greater returns for the added risk
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of holding US assets. Playing around with the Fed can
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often have adverse consequences of the absolute opposite of what
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you might be hoping for. It is important they be independent,
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said J. P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Diamond, speaking to
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reporters on Tuesday. Congress structure the FED to be insulated
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from short term political pressure. That's because presidents and other
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elected officials often prefer lower interest rates to spur immediate growth,
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even if it risks higher inflation down the line, which
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could ultimately harm the broader economy. A large body of
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economic research shows central banks that function independently tend to
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have the best outcomes for their countries. If you want
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low inflation and a rapidly growing economy, you want to
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have an independent FED, said Douglas holst Eken, who was
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chief economist for President George W. Bush's Council of Economic
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Advisors and as president of the American Action Forum, a
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conservative leaning think tank. While Trump is long toyed with
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the idea of seeking to fire the FED chairman, Wednesday's
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episode went beyond any of his prior threats. Meanwhile, Trump
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suggested Wincy he could attempt to remove power for cause,
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arguing that the FED spent too much money on a
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massive renovation of its offices in Washington. The project, which
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aims to create a modern campus for the Central Bank
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along the National Mall, has been plagued by cost overruns,
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fueled at least in part by an increase in the
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costs for building materials coming out of the pandemic. The
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price tag for the project has swelled to nearly two
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point five billion, up from an estimate of one point
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nine billion before the pandemic, which triggered a jump in
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the price of steel, cement and other materials. The FED
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has said. The Supreme Court signaled recently that Trump couldn't
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fire power because of policy dispute, such as over interest rates,
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but only for cause interpreted to mean some form of
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malfeasance or dereliction of duty. Fad watchers say the criticism
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about the renovations reflects a thinly veiled effort to add
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to a month's long pressure campaign against the Fed, but
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the acknowlogy could provide a potential legal justification for Powell's removal.
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In the past, Trump has stopped short of seeking Powell's
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osta after advisers convinced him that he lacked the authority
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and that dislodging a sitting FED chief could royal markets.
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The Fed's short term benchmark rate influences what millions of
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consumers pay for mortgages and other types of loans. Specifically,
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Trump says he wants the FED to cut rates by
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as much as three percentage points to reduce the cost
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of financing federal deficits. Central banks typically don't dramatically slash
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rates outside of an emergency. After cutting rates by a
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four percentage point between September and December, the FED is
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in an extended pause mode and isn't expected to resume
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rate courts until September at the earliest. Power has insisted
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he won't leave before his term as chair expires in May,
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though past chairs typically don't overlap with their successes, Powell
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could elect to remain on the fed's seven member board
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until twenty twenty eight. Trump's attacks on the FED came
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as he's preparing to name Power's successor as early as
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this month, looking to install a more closely aligned Central
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Bank chief. Kevin Hassett, the White House's top economic adviser,
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is emerging as the front runner, according to people who
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have discussed the matter with White House officials, who spoke
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on the condition of anoninity to disclosed private conversations. The
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selection process remains fluid with several contenders, but Hassett, who
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leads the National Economic Council, was a key economic advisor
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during Trump's first term, making him one of the few
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advisors who has remained loyal to the president. While staying
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in his good graces. Hassett faces competition for the job
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from former Governor Caven Kevin Walsh, Treasury Secretary Scott Vescent,
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and FED Governor Christopher Waller. Sorry. During Trump's extended comments
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about the FED on Wednesday, he appeared to forget that
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he initially appointed Powell to serve as FED chair during
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his first term as president, falsely blaming President Joe Biden
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for placing him into the position. Tromp nominated Powell to
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serve as FED Chair in November twenty seventeen, and Powell
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took office in February twenty eighteen. Biden renominated Powell to
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the position, and he was sworn in for a second
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four year term as chair in May twenty twenty two.
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The Fed's independence from political pressure, though written into law,
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wasn't firmly established until a nineteen fifty one stand off
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with President Harry S. Truman, when the Treasury Fed accord
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affirmed the Central Bank's authority to set interest rates free
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from political interference. Two decades later, President Richard M. Nixon
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took a different approach, privately pressuring FED chair off the
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Burns to keep rates low ahead of the nineteen seventy two.
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Election aides even leaked folks negative stories in the press
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to pressure Burns, who ultimately complied. The move helped Nixon
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politically but contributed to the runaway inflation of the nineteen
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seventies that later forced painful hike rates. Our second article
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DJ hit states with broad requests for voter rolls election data.
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Election clerks in both parties already facing harassment and lawsuits
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over Trump's false twenty twenty election claims. Worry about efforts
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to examine voting machines by Patrick Marley and von Wingett Sanchez.
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The Trump administration and its allies have launched a multi
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pronged effort to guide the data on voters and inspected
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voting equipment, sparking concern among local and state election officials
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about federal interference ahead of the twenty twenty six mids terms.
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The most unusual activity is happening in Colorado, a state
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that then candidate Donald Trump lost by eleven points, where
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a well connected consultant who says he's working with the
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White House is asking clounty clerks whether they will allow
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the federal government or a third party to physically examine
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the election equipment federal agencies have long offered technical assistance
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in cybersecurity advice to election officials, but have not examined
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their equipment because election loss tightly limit who has access. Separately,
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the Justice Department has taken the unusual step of asking
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at least nine states for copies of their voter roles,
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and at least two have turned them over, according to
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state officials. In addition to DOJ lawyers have asked states
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to share information about voters to implement a Trump executive
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order that would shift some power over elections from the
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states to Washington. Courts have temporarily blocked key provisions of
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that order, including change in male ballot deadlines and requiring
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voters to provide proof of citizenship. The DOJ attorneys have
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asked to talk about a different provision, which has not
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been halted, about the courts focused on sharing information. The
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information's efforts, fueled about Trump's false claims that the twenty
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twenty election was stolen, have rattled state and local election
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officials from both parties, who have spent years contending with threats, harassment,
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and litigation. Under the constitution, states are responsible for running
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elections and the federal government plays a limited role, such
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as about dictating when states must offer opportunities to register
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to vote that must be spelled by by Congress. Election
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officials fear the administration could try to build a national
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file that includes personal information about voters, or impose rules
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that would boot eligible voters from the roles and make
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it harder to cast ballots. This is an extraordinary imposition
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of federal power over states election processes that, if it's
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accepted by the states in this context, will be absolutely
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used by Democrats in another context, said David becka executive
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director of the nonprofit sent Up for Education, Innovation and Research,
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who worked in the Justice Department's voting section under Presidents
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Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. A Justice Department spokesperson
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declined to comment on the activities. The White Hose did
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not answer questions whether it was working with Jeff Small,
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an operative who has been contacting Colorado clerks, but said
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the president is committed to helping states insure voters on
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the rolls are citizens. Republican election officials in Colorado fielded
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calls and messages last week from Small, a consultant who
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has worked for members of Congress, most recently serving as
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chief of staff to represent the dublar in Bobert, Republican
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of Colorado, Small told more than a half a dozen
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GOP county clerks spot phone or text that he was
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working with the Trump administration to insure the integrity of
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elections and to advance Trump's election agenda. County officials told
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The Washington Post to me, it felt like they were
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wanting to intervene before twenty twenty six, said Justin Grantham,
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the Republican clerk in Fairmont County. Five other Republican clerks
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raised similar concerns. That's a hard stop for me, said
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Carly Cope, a Republican clerk in Wild County, who said
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she rejected Small's overtures to allow federal inspection. Nobody gets
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access to my voting equipment for security reasons. More than
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three hundred and fifty election officials from at least thirty
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three states joined a conference call Mundy to learn more
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from Becker's group and Democratic and Republican lawyers. I beat
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the potential implications of the administration's news. Election officials have
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long bristled at the notion of federal intrusion. In twenty seventeen,
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during Trump's first term, officials from both parties declined to
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give a Presidential Commission detailed information on voters, with Mississippi's
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GOP's Secretary Area of State telling the task force to
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go jump in the Gulf of Mexico. In a Saturday
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social media post, Trump made clear he remains focused on
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election policies and his twenty twenty falsehoods, writing that Attorney
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General Pam Bondi is looking into the rigged and stolen
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election of twenty twenty. His administration's latest push for voting
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data comes a year and a half before the midterms,
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when Democrats hope to take control of the House, chip
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away at the Republican majority in the Senate, and win
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more governorships. President Trump and his allies are trying to
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lay the ground work to interfere with the free and
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fair election in twenty twenty six, said Samantha Torrazi, CEO
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of the non partisan Voting Rights Lab. The Justice Department's
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outreach has differed from state to state, according to agency
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letters and emails. In Colorado, it made a sweeping request
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for all records related to its election. In Alaska, it
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questioned why no voters had been removed from the roles
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for mental incompetence in several states. It asked detailed questions
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about the process to remove non citizens and other ineligible
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voters from the rolls. Grantham, the Fremont County clerk, said
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Small asked him if he would allow a third party
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to review whether his voting machines complied with federal law.
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Grantham declined the request, he said, citing state laws that
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restrict access to voting machines. Election officials have been on
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edge in Colorado since twenty twenty, partially because of Tina Peters,
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a format mesa county clerk who was sentenced to nine
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years in prison last year over a scheme to let
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an outsider into security areas of her office to copy
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election data. This spring, the Justice Department made an unusual
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move to assist Peters with her appeal, further worrying election officials,
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and last week, Small contacted clerks claiming to have ties
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to Trump. I am reaching out on a timely election
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integrity project. I'm working with the White House on and
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was hoping that to chat. Read one text message from
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Small to a county clerk. A message to another clerk
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said the outreach is from Stephen Miller, the White House
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Deputy Chief of chat Staff. Steve Schleiker, the Republican clerk
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of El Paso County, said Small told him he was
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working with the Justice and Homeland Security Departments to team
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up with clerks on election security. Soon after their conversation,
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Schleiker said he got a call from Homeland Security official
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who wanted to review his election equipment. We would like
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to test the voting equipment to see if there's any gaps,
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the official said. According to Striker Jenner Griswold, Democrat, liken
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the efforts to Trump's unsuccessful push to reverse a twenty
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twenty election, which ended with his supporters rioting at the
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US Capitol on January sixth, twenty twenty one. This is
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the twenty twenty playbook on steroids. Griswold said, this is
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all a part of a big employ to further undermine
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app voting in this country. They are actively in a
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power grab, she said. Matt Crane, a Republican and the
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executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said the
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election officials from both parties resistant attempts to examine their equipment.
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Anybody he was asking for access to the voting machines
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outside of the law that automatically raises red flags in
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terms of their intent, Crane said. Small hung up on
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a Post reporter Tuesday and did not respond to messages
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seeking comment after this article published. Small said in the
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text message Wednesday that he had been asked to contact
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county clerks by officials working on the president's executive order.
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He did not name the officials or provide other details
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about his work. A spokesman for Bobert declined to comment
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on the outreach to clerks by her former chief of staff.
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A Homeland Security spokesperson said that the agency works closely
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with others on election security, but that we don't disclose
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every single conversation we have for them separately. The Justice
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Department recently asked some states for copies of their voter lists.
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Those inquiries went to a mix of Republican and Democratic
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controlled states, including Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire,
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New York, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. According to copies of the
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letter and information from state election officials, some information contained
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in voter roles, such as names of voters and elections
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in which they have participated, is commonly available. Other information,
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such as the last four digits of voters social security numbers,
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is not Colorado and Florida have provided the Justice Department
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with information from their lists that is generally available to
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the public, while most other states said they were reviewing
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the requests. Federal law gives the Justice Department the ability
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to ensure states have procedures in place to remove illegible
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voters and otherwise properly maintain their roles. It does not
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give expressly the agency authority to review the voter roles themselves.
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States routinely checked their roles to identify people who are
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ineligible because they are not citizens, have moved to another
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voting jurisdiction, have been convicted of a felony, or have died.
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The administration could do its own checks with copies of
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the voter roles, but I would need versions with dates
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of birth and other identifying information to properly match that
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of a citizenship, death and court records, according to experts,
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and Jacob's, chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said she
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worries the federal government could try to use the information
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to justify new rules that would make it harder to
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cast ballots. The slapping use of data can result in
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inaccurate matches. They give election skeptics opportunities about exaggerated claims
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of ineligible voters appearing on roles. Jacobs said voters deserve
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answers about why the administration wants information about them and
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what it plans to do with it. She said, particularly
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when federal laws are supposed to protect social security numbers
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and other private information. Jacobs, a Democrat, said, is this
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a backdoor way to get access to the data that
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the statutes have said they're not entitled to have. The
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Justice Department's Voting Section last month sued Orange County, California,
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to obtain drivers' licenses, numbers, and signature images of people
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who have been taken off the county's roles because they
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were not citizens. The lawsuit has worried election officials elsewhere
27:58
because it signals the Department wants to access personal information
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that is usually protected. Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School
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professor who advised the Biden White House on voting rights,
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called the requests for voter roles exceptionally unusual and said
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they probably violate federal privacy law because the administration has
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not given full of public explanations for why it wanted them.
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He also worries about the security risks of the federal
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government housing sensitive data on one hundred and seventy four
28:34
million registered voters in a centralized system. He said, it's
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one thing if a county's voter fil gets hacked. He said,
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it's much a much bigger problem if the federal government
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is amassing a national voter fil that gets hacked. Now,
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the article inside Alligator Alcatraz detainees report were lentious, mosquitoes,
29:03
limited water. Former guards at the facilities cited limited fresh
29:09
water and clods toilets among the problems at the remote
29:12
detention center. And there is a picture inside a Mirgrant
29:18
detention center dubbed Alliged Alcatraz at Dade Collier Training and
29:24
Transition Airport in a Chopee, Florida, on July first, and
29:30
there is a cage, a wire fence cage with bunk
29:34
beds inside the rows of four rows of about four
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beds each bunk beds in it. By Laurie Rosa, David Oval,
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and Rachel Hazepan Nagas two weeks after it opened a
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temporary migrant detention center in the Everglades is facing expensive
30:01
logistical challenges. Portable toilets routinely backed up, sewage needs to
30:08
be collected and trucked, and swarms of mosquitoes attack detainees
30:14
and staff alike. Without permanent structures, electricity or running water,
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drinking and bathing water has to be brought in several
30:22
times a day but is still in short supply, and
30:26
rainwater leaks into the tents that protect detainees' chain link cells.
30:31
According to interviews with three former guards and phone interviews
30:36
with detainees, The air accounts offer details of conditions inside
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the four hundred and fifty million dollar detention center, which
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has become a symbol for the Trump administration's aggressive immigration
30:49
enforcement policies and been dubbed Alligator Alcatraz by Republicans. Five
30:57
other states are considering using the SITISM model, said Homeland
31:01
Security Secretary Christy L. Nom as Immigration and Customer's Enforcement
31:07
prepares to double the nation's immigrant detention capacity to one
31:12
hundred thousand beds. The location and makeshift construction of the
31:17
center has prompted an outcry from Democrats, environmental activist, local
31:23
tribal leaders, and immigration attorneys who say it is inhumane
31:28
and costly. State officials, who have not permitted independent inspections
31:34
at the camp requested by lawmakers, dispute the claims. The
31:39
plumbing and sewage claims are false. The facility is in
31:43
good working order, and detainees have access to drinking water, showers,
31:47
and clean facilities for hygiene, said Stephanie Hartman, Deputy director
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of Communications for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said
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in an email. There's a map of where this is located.
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It's below Fort Myers, just above the Everglades National Park,
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close by the Dave Kallia Airport, and it shows photos
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of the spread out detention, tense recreation area, intake area,
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supplies and storage and staff places, the borrow pit, and
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airport runways. Three former guards at the facilities said they
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were attracted to the job because of its pay. The
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online ads and a hiring document reviewed by The Washington
32:45
Post showed they were offered twenty six dollars an hour
32:49
plus generous overtime totaling thirty nine dollars an hour. The
32:55
Post is not identifying them, as they cited fears of
32:58
retribution or having signed nine disclosure agreements. Two of the
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guards said they were hired by Critical Response Strategies, a Jacksonville,
33:09
Florida based consulting company, to work on a rotation of
33:13
between twenty one to twenty eight days, with seven to
33:16
fourteen days off in between. According to one hiring agreement
33:21
reviewed by the Post, prison guards in Florida typically earned
33:25
about twenty two dollars an hour. According to the state's
33:28
Department of Corrections. One former guard said she left her
33:33
job at another South Florida correction facility because the pay
33:37
at Alligator Alcatraz was so enticing. She quit after about
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a week because she grew upset about the conditions for
33:45
staff and detainees. Both of the former guards hired by
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CRS said they were asked to begin working the same
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day they applied online. CRS did not return her request
33:59
for common CRS has a seventy eight million dollar contract
34:05
to help manage the facility, including providing a warden, camp manager,
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and correction officers. According to Florida's contract website, staff members
34:19
are issued a can of mosquito repellent their first day
34:23
of work, but detainees are sprayed only when they arrive.
34:28
According to three former contractors hired as detention guards. The
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mosquitoes are filling the bathrooms, the showers. You go in
34:37
the shower, you shower with the median mosquitoes. They give
34:41
you bugs break, but that still doesn't help, said a
34:45
retired South Florida County jail officer who worked as a
34:48
contracted guard for nearly two weeks before she was fired
34:53
by her r as supervisor for reasons she said were
34:57
not explained to her. She spoke on the condition of
35:00
anonym due to fear of retribution by state officials and
35:05
supporters of President Donald Trump's immigration policies. In phone interviews
35:11
facilitated by family members and their attorneys, detainees described the
35:16
mosquitoes in the South Florida wetlands as relentless. Most of
35:21
us have skin irritations from mosquitoes. They don't give us pray.
35:26
All of us worry that we'll get a disease because
35:29
of the mosquitoes, said Anderson Miranda, twenty five, who came
35:35
to the United States from Guatemala when he was sixteen
35:38
years old. The mosquitoes don't let you sleep, said Juan
35:43
Javier Gonzalez, forty nine, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic
35:49
Florida Governor Ronda Santis, Republican, used emergency powers to seize
35:54
a little used airfield in the Big Cyprus National Preserve
35:58
next to the Everglades National Park to build what he
36:01
said is a makeshift detention space to host people arrested
36:07
by ICE agents. The state spent eight days erecting the site,
36:13
tends to hose detainees, sleeping pods for guards, and generators
36:18
to pump the power of the camp, which state officials
36:21
have said will cost one hundred and fifty million dollars
36:26
a year to run. That's eight days erecting one hundred
36:30
and forty one hundred and fifty million dollars. The detention
36:35
camp has been enthusiastically endorsed by Trump and other Republicans,
36:39
who point to the natural surroundings, namely alligators, as deterrents
36:44
to escape. The toilets are opened area. There are three
36:51
open toilets with inside the cage with the beds on
36:58
either side of it. Estimate the concerns raised by detainees
37:03
and former gods, The state defended conditions at the Everglades
37:07
Detention Center, saying that detainees have access to potable water
37:13
and that full size showers are available daily without restrictions.
37:18
Each individual is issued a personal cup they can refill
37:21
at any time, and bottle of water is provided at meals.
37:26
Tanks are regularly sanitized, flushed, and tested to ensure water quality,
37:31
Hartman said in an email. There have been no heat
37:36
related or life threatening incidents, Hartman said, adding that detainees
37:41
have access to phone and video calls with their attorneys.
37:47
The center has a workforce of more than a thousand people,
37:52
state officials say, including workers drawn from ICE and Florida
38:00
National Guard, as well as guards hired by private contractors.
38:05
The state and the Department of Homeland Security have refused
38:08
to say how many detainees are hosed there, whilemakers who
38:12
toured the site's Saturday said they were told it was
38:15
more than seven hundred and fifty. Florida Republicans who visited
38:19
the facility described it as clean and well run. Several
38:25
noted that they tested the beds and found them comfortable.
38:30
What I saw was a pretty typical footprint in the
38:33
emergency management disaster space. State Senator j Collins, Republican of Tampa,
38:39
said in an interview. These are well built, well developed
38:43
tents that are put down in a very safe manner.
38:46
There's plenty of logistics. I saw backup generators. I saw
38:50
a supply structure in depth and breadth. As you stepped
38:55
into the facilities, they were incredibly clean, well maintained. Democrats
39:00
who took the tour said they experienced a stage sanitized
39:05
version of the camp that left them still concerned about
39:08
the welfare of detainees. They were dressed in orange jumpsuits,
39:13
with some shackled to a bench. Some lawmakers said each
39:17
wore wristbands indicating what kind of offense they allegedly committed,
39:22
read for a violent offense. They were crammed in like
39:26
sardines in the cages with more than thirty other detainees.
39:31
Representative Daddie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida said in an interview.
39:38
After more than two hours, the lawmakers were hustled off
39:41
the grounds once it appeared there would be rain, Several
39:44
of them said in interviews. Some lawmakers asked to stay
39:48
so they could see if they would be flooding, but
39:50
were told to leave. State Representative Angie Nixon, Democratic Jacksonville
39:56
said some of the detention camps, softly sited tents started
40:01
to flood during a visit by Trump. According to videos
40:04
shot by local medium, lawmakers should be allowed to return
40:09
for unknownst visits. Nixon said what we saw wasn't the
40:14
day to day reality, she said, but we did see
40:17
a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. Nixon and four fellow
40:22
lawmakers who were denied entrance to independently inspect the facility
40:27
have sued to gain access to the site. The Trump
40:31
administration is increasingly relying on soft sided facilities like the
40:38
ones used in the Everglades Facility for immigration detention, including
40:43
tents that have hosed migrants in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay and
40:47
on the premise of Miami's overcrowded Chrome Detention Center. Despite
40:52
being less permanent than brick and mortar detention, scientists, these
40:56
facilities tend to be more expensive because of the cost
41:00
to quickly assemble staff and insure them against the higher
41:04
likelihood of possible risks, said Jason Jose, who was IF
41:09
chief of staff from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty three.
41:13
Florida authorities have said Alligator alcatrast could hose about three
41:18
thousand migrants this year at a cost of about four
41:21
hundred and eleven dollars per bed a day. By contrast,
41:26
I said last year that detention beds cost an average
41:30
of one hundred and fifty seven dollars and twenty since
41:32
per day. Staffers I host in smaller portable units that
41:38
one form of God described as a five y five
41:41
cubicle with a bunk bed. The walk to the latrine
41:45
was long and terrifying, said one of the guards, who
41:48
did not sign a non disclosure agreement but also spoke
41:52
of the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
41:57
They told us about alligators and Florida panthers and venom
42:01
mistakes and different types of creatures, and if we walk
42:05
at night, they said, just to have a buddy with us,
42:08
just in case, she said. She and other former guards
42:13
said the porta potties for staff have backed up, the
42:16
prepared food is generally cold, and they were required to
42:20
stand for the entirety of their twelve hour shifts save
42:23
for a soul fifteen minute meal break. Conditions have also
42:28
been grimmed for some detainees, according to guards. Detainees and
42:33
their relatives who have talked to them by phone and
42:36
described water pooling on the floors, meals of cold ham
42:40
sandwiches and lack of hygiene basics such as deodorant, toothbrushes
42:45
and toothpaste. The air conditioning stops working sometimes in the
42:49
middle of the day, and the portable communal toilets and
42:52
the cage cells have backed up on occasion, causing an
42:56
unbearable stench. The former guards said to pass the time,
43:02
detainees had created a soccer ball out of a towel
43:05
or a crafted dominoes out of pieces of cardboard cut
43:09
from lunchboxes. According to a FOMA guard and immigration attorney,
43:14
a recreation yard made up of AstroTurf placed over concrete
43:18
under a tennis also available. They're lying down all day,
43:23
one former guard said of detainees. Some detainees were sick,
43:27
but staffers were told not to wear masks because it
43:31
was going to cause a frenzy about the possibility of
43:34
spread of sicknesses, she said when detainee said he went
43:39
four days without a shower. According to a call recorded
43:43
by the wife of another Cuban born detainee, who spoke
43:46
on the condition of anonymnity due to fear of retribution,
43:51
that was shared with the Post, another reported being taken
43:55
to shower facilities, only to find no running water. The
43:59
condition are worse than the county jails they were transferred from.
44:03
Some said. And there is a picture of a member
44:08
of the Micoscookie tribe of Indians in Florida walking in
44:14
the Gaverglades close to the front entrance to the Alligator
44:17
Alcatraz on Thursday. She is abraided hair, she looks like
44:22
she's in blue jeans, and she is waiting in water
44:26
that looks like a swampy area. Facing questions about conditions
44:31
at the facility. This week, DeSantis defended the detention center,
44:36
which he has taken to calling Alligator. The state has
44:40
paused plans to set up more detention centers until Alligata
44:44
Alcatraz is filled up. Desantas said during a news conference Wednesday,
44:50
I'd rather just channel everyone to alligat them. We're not
44:54
doing this just to let people have food in shelter,
44:57
although they do get that all the minimums days are upheld.
45:01
But the reality is it's there to be a quick
45:05
processing center. We have a runaway right there. They can't
45:09
just be flown back to their home country. The scientist said.
45:15
Below the fold, Trump officials halt dangerous research overriding NIH
45:21
career scientists. The Trump administration's actions on NIH gain of
45:27
function research have raised concerns among scientists, who argue the
45:32
move could block experiments that are safe and potentially lead
45:37
to new treatments and medicines. And there is a picture
45:41
of people outside the National Institute of Health building with
45:45
the logo on the wall, and they are walking toward
45:51
or away from a bus shelter. It looks like and
45:55
the National Institute of Health is in Bethesda, Maryland. Hannah Nottison,
46:01
Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Joel Achenbach wrote this article. In May,
46:08
President Johnald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office,
46:12
surrounded by his top health officials, vowing a crackdown on
46:17
dangerous gain of function research on viruses and pathogens that
46:22
he alleged was occurring in the United States with inadequate oversight.
46:27
It's a big deal, Trump had said, alluding to the
46:30
highly contested theory that the COVID pandemic was caused by
46:34
a lab leak related to such research in China. Soon after,
46:40
researches at the Natational Institute of Health spent weeks assessing
46:45
experiments for risk and preparing a report for the White
46:49
House on what studies to halt, according to internal emails
46:53
obtained by The Washington Post and interviews with two career
46:57
staffers familiar with the process, but after the director of
47:01
National Institute of Health Infectious Disease in signed off on
47:06
the findings, the politically appointing number two in command at
47:10
the NIH, Matthew Mamoli, overrode career staff. According to the
47:16
emails and staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity
47:20
because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, nearly
47:26
a dozen tuberculosis studies that relied on long standing research
47:31
methods deemed saved by the reviewers were then added to
47:34
the list. For many years, the scientific community has wrestled
47:39
with the question of what constitutes dangerous research. The Trump
47:45
administration's recent actions have raised concern among some scientists that
47:49
politics is playing too big a role in that debate
47:52
and could block experiments that are safe and potentially lead
47:56
to new treatments and medicines. The administrationations moves are part
48:01
of a full embrace of the lab leak theory for
48:04
the origin of the coronavirus. The origin remains unknown, and
48:10
the issue has divided the intelligence community. The scientific community
48:16
largely favors a natural origin via a spillover from wild
48:20
animals sold in the market. A July third draft memo
48:25
from Momoli to White House officials said the NIHS in
48:29
the process of suspending funding for forty experiments involving a
48:34
range of pathogens because of fears that the research might
48:38
be dangerous airing on the side of caution. All projects
48:45
potentially meeting the definition are being suspended, Momoli said in
48:49
the memo, which was first reported by the journal Science Inland.
48:55
With President Trump's executive order, the nih is conducting a
49:00
careful in science driven review of research that may meet
49:04
the definition of dangerous gain of function research, which could
49:09
result in significant societal consequences. Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for
49:16
the Department of Health and Human Services, said Wensday, adding,
49:21
as part of that process, and as directed by the
49:25
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, MH is
49:30
casting a wide net in identifying projects that have the
49:34
potential to result in dangerous gain of function research. Gain
49:41
of function research is not easily defined and has been
49:44
controversial within the research community for many years, predating the pandemic.
49:50
It involves the manipulation of viruses or other microbes to
49:55
anticipate what might then evolve naturally to become more trans dismissible,
50:01
or pathogenic, or have different attributes. Scientists say it's rarely
50:07
done and subject to review boards and strict biosafety measures
50:13
during the review of experiments, and that each employees had
50:16
to go through as many as one hundred awards each,
50:20
according to two staffers familiar with the review and the
50:23
emails obtained by the TOAST. At the end of the review,
50:27
officers managing research into tuberculosis identified five studies that seemed
50:33
to involve gain of function techniques as defined by Trump's
50:37
executive order. They also identified eleven other studies that could
50:43
technically be classified as gain of function, but which involved
50:47
common techniques that have been widely used by microbiologists for
50:51
decades and are not unsafe, According to the emails and
50:55
staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they
50:59
were not authorized to speak publicly, The career staff flagged
51:06
these eleven studies to the acting director of National Institute
51:10
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Jeffrey Todd Benberger, at a
51:15
June twenty third meeting According to the emails and staffers,
51:19
tobn Berger agreed that the eleven should not be classified
51:23
as gain a function and should not be paused. But
51:27
then on July second, ton Nenberger emailed with an update.
51:32
I've talked to Matt Mamoli, he wrote in a message
51:35
obtained by the Post, I have some clarification. Momoli wanted
51:41
all sixteen tuberculous studies classified as dangerous gain of function
51:47
now we call it DGOF and paused, not justify studies
51:54
that staff had flagged as potentially problematic. Tolln Berger wrote
51:59
his emails almost afforded the staffers, who were instructed by
52:02
an administrator to suspend these additional awards, per Toldenberger's instructions,
52:10
According to more messages obtained by the Post, a few
52:14
days later, on July ninth, the NIH sent letters halting
52:18
funding to the eleven additional tuberculosis researchers. According to messages
52:23
obtained by the Post, Tobenberger did not immediately respond to
52:28
messages seeking comment in days. Since the research is targeted
52:34
to have their work halted by NIH staff, they fear
52:38
will be harassed labeled as imperiling public safety by their
52:42
local communities and the news media when staff said. Sarah
52:47
Stanley is a researcher at the University of California at
52:50
Berkeley who studies tuberculosis, a bacterial infection that killed more
52:55
than one point two million people globally in twenty twenty three.
53:00
One of her grants that already ended in May was
53:03
marked for suspension. A second grant was glad, she said,
53:07
because she uses standard microbiology techniques to try to create
53:12
mutant virgins of TV that are less virulent and less fit.
53:17
She conducts the research in a biosafety level three laboratory
53:22
under the oversight of an institutional biosafety committee at her university.
53:27
Every one of my protocols gets scrutinized, betted, and reviewed.
53:32
It's a decades old technique. The goal is to find
53:36
vulnerabilities in the bacteria that can eventually be used to
53:39
develop new drugs. Stanley sind renewing debate over COVID's origin.
53:46
The unknown origin of COVID nineteen, which has killed more
53:49
than a median Americans, has intensified the debate over the
53:53
risks and rewards of research on pathogens. There is no
53:57
evidence that the coronavirus star's co v two or its
54:03
immediate precursor, was in any laboratory before the outbreak in
54:08
late twenty nineteen. Peer review papers and scientific journals have
54:13
said the virus most likely began infecting people via wild
54:17
animals sold illegally in Muhan, China market, but the latest
54:22
actions by the NIH reflect the administration's muscular promotion of
54:26
the Lablik theory. The White House redirected the COVID dot
54:31
gov site to a web page showing the Trump framed
54:34
by the words lab leak and offering bullet points pointing
54:39
to what the page called the true origin of COVID.
54:43
Public opinion poets have shown growing support for the Lableik theory,
54:48
advanced by independent internet sleuthsen later in lengthy reports from
54:52
Congressional Republicans. The president's partial budget request to Congress earlier
54:58
this year, which called for cutting forty percent of the
55:01
appropriation for the NIH, mentioned NIH funding that supported experiments
55:07
at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a focus of lably conjectures.
55:13
While evidence of the origins of the COVID nineteen pandemic
55:18
leaking from a laboratory is now confirmed by several intelligence agencies,
55:23
the NIH's inability to prove that its grants to the
55:27
Wuhan Institute of Virology were not complicit in such a
55:31
possible leak, or get data and hold recipients of federal
55:36
funding accountable is evidence that NIH has grown too big
55:41
and unfocused, the document budget Documents, stated Jay Bacchucharya, the
55:49
director of the NIH, endorsed that view in an interview
55:53
with Laura Ingram on Fox News, saying the agency he
55:58
now runs helped fund mad scientist experiments in a Chinese
56:04
lab in Gruhan. That experiment went astray, it leaked in
56:09
cause the habit that we faced for years, he said.
56:14
Concerns over gain of function research extend beyond the debate
56:18
over COVID's origins. Experiments in the US and the Netherlands
56:22
on influenza viruses and the attempt to publish the results
56:27
created an intense controversy about gain of function experiments more
56:31
than a decade ago. Critics of the research feared that
56:35
terrorists to other bad actors could use the findings to
56:38
generate bio weapons. The federal government in twenty twenty fourteen
56:45
put a moratorium on gain of function research, pending on
56:48
an update of biosafety and biosecurity guidelines. In twenty seventeen,
56:54
after new guidance for research had been adopted, the notorium
56:58
was lifted. GoF research is important in helping us identify, understand,
57:05
and develop strategies and effective countermeasures against rapidly evolving pathogens
57:13
that pose a threat to public health, an NIH news
57:17
relief said at the time. Robert Gary, a virologist at
57:22
Tulane University who co authored a twenty twenty Nature Medicine
57:27
paper saying the virus was not engineered, said researchers already
57:32
followed bios safety guidelines when studying biases. Urologists are concerned
57:38
about biosecurity and biosafety. Gary said, we live with the
57:44
viruses every day. Nobody would want their staff and their
57:49
students to get infected. And that does conclude today's reading
57:55
for RADIOI the Washington Post Again. Today is the seventeenth
58:00
of July of twenty twenty five. I hope you have
58:04
a good Thursday and Friday, and I will be back
58:09
on Saturday. Stay dry, bye and please continue listening to
58:16
extended RADIOI programs. Bye.