Transcript

8.21.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of today's Washington Post newspaper. It
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is August the twenty first of twenty twenty five. You
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reader is Ala Stainer with the reminder that radiois a
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service for those blind or with difficulties making it difficult,
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with problems making it hard to hold and read printed material.
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And I'll start with the front page on the far left.
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Putin had a good hand, then it got overplayed. His
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hardline approach at Alaska summit doesn't align with Trump's goals.
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Robin Dixon, Catherine Belton, and Francis Ebel. To the right
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of that is a picture of a bus stop, and
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there are police talking to two people sitting in the
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bus stop. One eye looks like a homeless person hugging
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her belongings and looking fairly disheveled, and the other gentleman
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is just sitting there waiting for a bus. And it's
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entitled Week two of Trump's law enforcement takeover in DC,
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and it's Metro Transit police officers interview people at an
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Anacostia bus stop Wednesday. National Guard personnel and federal agents
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have been working alongside police as part of President Donald
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Trump's push to curb crime in DC and that takes
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up about three quarters of the front page, and then
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to the right of that, in bigger print and deeper letters,
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hegseets security strains agency staff pulled from crime problems his
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large blended family threat environment cited by Terror copp Alex
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Horton and Dan Lemouth. Below the DC transit picture, d
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C restaurants suffer amid federal crackdown by Tim Kerrman and
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Warren Rojas. Owners were put dropping reservations, absent staff during
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vital summer era. And then below the fold on the
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left do OJ demands sweeping info on Kia for transminers
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by Casey Parks and David Ovals o'valley. In the Middle
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Hamas signals new willing list to compromise by Claire Parker,
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Chim Somalik and Heba Farrouk Mafus out of Jerusalem. And
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here above those headlines is a picture of a young
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person who literally looks like she had been buried in
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sand on the beach. Only her head is showing. It
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is covered by a piece of cloth as workers around
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her try to get her out of the rubble. It says,
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people rescue a Palestinian woman who was trapped to Wednesday
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under the rubble of a host that was hit in
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an Israeli strike in newsat in Central Gaza strip and
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then the final article to the right of the young woman.
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Most DC residents oppose takeover of police. Poll finds strong
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disagreement with Trump's rhetoric of a city overrun by crime.
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By Joheim, Scott, Clement, and Guskin. We'll start with Putin
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had a good hand in Alaska, but the DC's summit
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shows he overplayed it. Putin's hard line approach to resolving
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the Ukraine conflict doesn't fit with the White House's desire
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for a quick solution. This is again by Robin Dixon,
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Katherine Belton, and Francesca Evel. The dueling summit so with
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the Fate of Ukraine, held in Alaska, in Anchorage, Alaska,
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and then Washington over the last few days, yielded dramatically
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contrasting results for Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicating, at least
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for now, he overplayed his hand in attempting to woo
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the United States to his view of the conflict. Despite
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the opportunity for a peace deal, Putin's resistance to compromise
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and has potentially misplaced confidence in military victory over Ukraine,
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risk missing the chance to capitalize on his warm vide
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with President Donald Trump while dragging at a war that
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is killing thousands every week and undermining Russia's economy and
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its global strategic position. Since the summits, Russia has continued
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to throw obstacles in the way of any measures recommended
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to advance the process, suggesting Putin is not willing to
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move at the same case as Trump. On Wednesday, Russian
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Foreign Minister Sherazi Lavrov made clear that Russia expects to
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have a veto over any security arrangements Europe and the
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US come up with to defend Ukraine from future attacks.
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The risks are still growing over Putin's recalcitrants. Putin knows
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that in the last weeks he's been facing a crisis.
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He since the danger the red went off, a Criminin
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insider said before the summit, when Trump was still threatening
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tougher sanctions and Putin realized he needed to mandatize. He
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really wants to stop the war, but he needs to
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stop it in a way that looks like a victory,
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he added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss
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sensitive matters. Putin did by time and stave off sanctions
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after he persuaded Trump on Friday to abandon his pressure
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for a ceasefire and instead pursue the Russian preference for
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a comprehensive peace deal that could take years to negotiate,
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allowing Russia to fight on without the risk of tough
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new US sanctions. But Trump's subsequent genial White House meeting
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Monday with Ukrainian President Volodima Lenski and the Europeans showed
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the perils for Putin. Facing determined European backing for Ukraine's
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fight to remain independent with a strong army, The summit
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marked a setback in Putin's decades long goal to gain
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dominion over Ukraine and in his efforts to peel the
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US away from Europe. The Washington meeting shifted the owners
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back onto Putin to take the next step in the
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peace process and meet with Zelensky, disappointing nationalists Russian commentators
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who were convinced that Putin had persuaded Trump at the
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Anchorage summit to force a disadvantageous deal on to Zelensky.
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I don't know what the thinking is inside the Kremlin.
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If the goal was to manipulate trumpet anchorage. I think
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they didn't do a very good job of it, said
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Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign
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Relations and to form a senior director for Russia on
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the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration.
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Putin also did not appear to succeed in luring Trump
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into a broader conversation about the benefits of economic cooperation
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between Russia and the US, a card he'd hope to
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use to sway Trump into accepting Moscow's view of the conflict.
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Said to Tinius Stanovia, a senior fellow at the Carnegie
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Russia Eurasia Center, a lot didn't work out. The White
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House now expects an imminent summit between Putin and Zelensky,
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but Russia has sent very different signals in a dynamic
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that characterized the pattern of misunderstandings and the discussions between
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Washington and Moscow over the war. White House Press Secretary
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at Caroline Levitt said Tuesday that Putin and Zelensky had
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both shown a willingness to set down with each other
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and that preparations for the meeting were underway, but that
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same day, Livrov played down the meeting, saying that any
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contacts between top officials would have to be prepared very thoroughly,
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an argument that Russia has used for years to deflect
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any meeting with Zelensky and the top There was a
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picture of Putin and President Trump. Here is a picture
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of Trump with Ukrainian President Dolensky and European leaders at
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the White House on Monday, of which they were one, two, three, four, five,
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six seven, with Zelensky prepared to support him in this
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deal or meeting. Putin is unlikely to accept an imminent meeting,
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according to a Russian academic close to senior Russians and diplomats,
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because it would confer a certain legitimization of the Ukrainian
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political regime by Moscow, which would present problems. Ussian position
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maintains that the meeting can only come once the terms
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of a deal have been worked out, which for Russia
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involves Ukraine's capitulation. Lavrov meanwhile referred Zelensky on Tuesday as
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an untrustworthy character. Putin has previously called Zelensky illegitimate and
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depicted his administration as drug addicts. In Neo Nazis with
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such views on Zelensky and insistence on addressing root causes
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of the conflict, which means turning Ukraine back into a
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client state. Russia is sticking to maximalist goals in the
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conflict and has not been opened to the compromises needed
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for a Trump led peace agreement. Part of the reason
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that Russia is unwilling to bend reflects the fact that
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Ukraine is basically Putin's white twail. This is what he wants,
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and he's not going to stop until he gets it,
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or until he's convinced that he can't get it, said
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Nate Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for
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International Peace and former Russian director at the National Security Council.
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At times, he said, Russia seemed to struggle to get
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its message through to the Trump administration. The Russians, to
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some extent, probably have been surprised by a couple of things.
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One that they can't get the US to understand what
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they're asking for, and two that they can't get the
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United States to accept it. Putin and his advances keep
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coming out of these meetings with US interlocators, who then
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highlight what seem to be misunderstandings frankly about rushington what
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Russian demands are, said Reynolds. Lavrov said Tuesday that Trump
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and his team increasingly showed in understanding that it is
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necessary to eliminate the root causes. But when Trump was
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asked the day before all but his understanding of the
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root causes of the crisis, he avoided answering. Moscow's demands
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that Ukraine see territory not yet captured by Russia and
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that it would be permanently shut out of other alliances
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and groupings have been dismissed by senior US officials, including
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Vice President JD. Vance in May and Secretary of State
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Marco Rubio in recent days. Russians conditions for peace were
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spelled out in a June second memorandum, and there is
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no indication that it is back down from them, including
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kerbing Ukraine's sovereignty, drastically downsizing its military, and dictating what
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internal organizations it can join. The demands are designed to
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force Ukraine into a close, unwanted economic and political partnership
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with Russia. Putin sees Russians and Ukrainians as one people
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in Ukraine as a real country, making any kind of
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peace deal difficult. The true sovereignty of Ukraine is possibly
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only in partnership with Russia, he wrote in a twenty
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twenty one essay. While Trump has compared the conflict to
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a struggle of a prime ocean front property, analysts say
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Russia sees it as more than a conflict between the
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two countries, but as a chance to relitigate the Soviet
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Union's humilitating loss of the Cold War and to transform
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Europe's security architecture. There is no war between Russia and Ukraine.
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There is a war of United Globalist West against Russia
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at the hands of its Ukrainian neocolonial regime. It is
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impossible to negotiate peace with Lizinsky, a puppet of the
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neo colonial regime. Peace can only be achieved through negotiations
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with the master of this neo colonial regime, wrote Sara
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g Markov, a pro Kremlin analyst. There was probably a
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misunderstanding over the matter of security guarantees that Trump envoy
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Steve Whitkoff said Moscow had agreed to. According to Graham,
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Putin's understanding of security guarantees and with coughs of very
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different things. According to a twenty twenty two peace draft
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agreement with Ukraine, Russia be a co guarantee to any
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security arrangement, giving it an effective veto of any response,
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which is not quite what Ukrainians would have in mind
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and not what Witkof understood. On Wednesday, Lavrov said that
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any security arrangement had to include Russia. Discussing security issues
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without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere.
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Putin's goals and power had been to rebuild Russia as
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a great global power, which to him entails the subjugation
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of Ukraine. His emotional investment highlights the perils of failure
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in a highly charged peace process that Graham says could
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take months or even years. The idea that you're going
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to get a comprehensive peace deal anytime soon, that's delusional.
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The issues are too complex, he said. Meanwhile, Russia is
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confident that it will win on the battlefield and doesn't
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really need a peace process, said Rynolds, a position that
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is not likely to endear it to the US administration
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hoping for a foreign policy win. They basically have two theories,
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he said. One is that the West gives up and
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walks away, and the other is that political center in
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Kiev collapses under Prussia, but neither one of these things
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is rurally under Russia's control. Ram Again is the Distinguished
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Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Senior
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Director for Russia on the National Security Council during George W.
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Bush's administration. Hag Seth's expansive security requirements tax Army Protective Unit,
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the agency tasked with protecting Defense Department leaders, is under
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significant strain, and the Secretary's a typical needs are becoming untenable,
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Officials say. And there's a picture of Defense Secretary Pete
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Hegseth and his wife Jennifer visiting the Wharf, a popular
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waterfront shopping district in DC last week. Nie Hegseth has
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his coat over his arm, thin tie, in a suit,
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and life is in a short pink dress above the knees,
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cute skirt, pocketbooks, and then security people around him, with
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one soldier in combat dress standing next to him by
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Terra copp, Alex Horton and Dan Lemouth. Defense Secretary peaked
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Hagseth's unusually large personal security requirements restraining the Army agency
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tasked with protecting him as it pulls the agents from
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criminal investigations to safeguard family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee, and DC.
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According to numerous officials familiar with the operation, the sprawling,
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multimillion dollar initiative has forced the Army's Criminal Investigation Division,
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or CID, the agency that feels security for top Defense
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Department officials, to staff weeks long assignments in each location
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and at times monitor residences belonging to the hag Seth's
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former spaces, the official said. One CID official, who likes
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some others, spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing a
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fear of reprisal, characterized heg Seth's personal protective arrangement as
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unlike any other in the agency's recent history. The official said,
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I've never seen this many security teams for one guy.
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Nobody has. This account is based on more than a
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dozen interviews, including with CID's staff, current and former Defense officials,
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and others familiar with heg Seth's activities, and review of
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documents revealing the Trump administration's apparent unwillingness to meet the
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Army's requests for additional funding and personnel for the mission.
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The Washington Post withheld several sensitive details gathered in the
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course on reporting this art, including the size of heg
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set's protective details and the precise locations where they are assigned.
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Army CID has faced significant snapping and budgetary shortfalls for years.
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The new demands since heg sas arrival in January have
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put added pressure on the agency. Officials said, we have
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complete inability to achieve our most basic missions, one person said.
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The Pentagon declined to address several questions submitted by the Post.
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A spokesman Sean Parnell said in his statement that any
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action pertaining to the security of Secretary hag Sessoned his
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family has been in response to the threat environment and
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at the full recommendation of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
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CID's chief mission is to investigate serious crimes within the
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Army that includes contracting fraud GAUD, which the Trump administration
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has decried as wasteful government spending, sexual assault, and other
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violence crimes, such as the recent mass shooting of US
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soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia. The agency's other mandate
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is to provide security for the Defense Secretary, the Chairman
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of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Secretary, and
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other current and top defense officials. CID agents serve as
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advanced teams, according to Security head of Public Appearances. They
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also staff motorcades and provide security during travel at home
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and abroad. Historically, about one hundred and fifty of the
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agency's approximately fifteen hundred agents serve on VP security details,
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according to people familiar with the matter, who said that
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when Hegseth took office a call when for many more.
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Now there are hundreds of sea to personal protective duty,
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these people said. One person characterized the figure as four
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hundred in going up, another said it's over five hundred.
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In a statement, Army CID acknowledged the agency operates within
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existing resource constraints and said it proactively adjust its efforts
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to address emerging threats and pertains a robust security posture
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in both the investigative and protective realms. Citing unspecified safety concerns,
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the agency said specific details regarding threat assessments, security protocols,
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resource allocation, and budgetary matters related to either investigative or
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protective operations are considered sensitive and cannot be publicly disclosed.
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The demand for additional resources is not only because of
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heg Seth's large blended family, including one child with wife
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Jennifer Hegseth, her three children from a previous marriage, plus
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three children from heg Seth's second marriage, but also arise
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in politically motivated violence as the nation has become more splintered.
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The U. S Secret Service, which coordinates personal security for
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the president, vice president, and their families, among others, faced
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seering criticism after an attempt on Donald Trump's life during
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last year's campaign. A separate incident involving an alleged gunman
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at Trump's Florida golf course weeks later was thoughted by
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Secret Service agents softly after. Shortly after Hegseth was nominated
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to become Defense Secretary, a bomb threat was made against
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his home in Tennessee. Two people told The Post the
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incident prompted an increase in security. These people said. Heg Seth,
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forty five, a former National Guard officer and Fox News personality,
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was among Trump's most polarizing camera cabinet selections, and his
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tenure thus far has been mirrored in tumult. The Defense
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Department Inspector General is scrutinizing his handling of highly sensitive
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national security information. The White has intervened after his office
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targeted senior Pentagon officials with polygraph tests, and top political
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staff have either fled or been fired amid in fighting
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at that time. Heg Seth's security demands have required CID
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to pull agents off investigations to send them instead for
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long term assignments in Tennessee or Minnesota, but heg Seth's
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second wife resigns. People familiar with the matter said the
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agency also has had to activate military reservists to help
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fill some staff in gaps. These people said. One CID
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official express frustration with the situation, saying agents were being
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taken off investigations doing what we're supposed to be doing,
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to sit on luggage instead or sit in cars on
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the driveway. It is literally taking away from CID's law
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enforcement mission. You are taking hundreds of people out of
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the field to provide this level of protection, the official said.
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Hegseth frequently has his children appear with him, including his
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year's White House Easter egg roll and a Pentagon reception
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for NASCAR driver Ross Saints Chanstein. The CID's security assignments
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can entail accompanying the children to school and walking the
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perimeter of the homes to provide around the clock surveillance,
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said people familiar with the agent's duties. CID protection on
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has on occasion extended to beat heg Seth and for
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Hegseth's foremost faces to protect the children, two of the
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officials said. Two other officials called this arrangement unusual. Another
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said it was something they had never seen before in
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the many years at the agency. In its statement, Army
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CIDs said Hegseth did not request the additional coverage. The
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secretary has never affected CD's recommended security posture. This statement
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says the government's protective agencies all have faced greater demands
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as the country's political climate has turned so combustible. The
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Secret Service protects Trump's large, geographically dispersed family, including his
25:42
adult children and grandchildren, and secures his properties in New York,
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New Jersey, and South Florida. Upon leaving office, Joe Biden
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ordered temporary extensions for his children's security details and for
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his former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro make Majorcus, but Trump
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canceled their protection about two months into his term. Trump's
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Homeland Security Secretary, Christie Ilkno, also has boasted the size
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boosted the size of her protective detail and in an
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unusual move taken up residents rent free at a military
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base in d C. Her spokeswoman has said that Gnome
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requires additional security because she regularly received death threats as
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a result of the agency's counter terrorism and counter narcotics mandates.
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Even the US Marshall Service, which protects members of the
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federal judiciary, has assigned security details to judges and their
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families at levels not seen in decades amid arise in threats,
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current and formal official said Parnell, The Pentagon spokesperson, called
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it astonishing that the news media would examine this issue, and,
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in emphasizing his point, mostly accused the post of resealing
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sensitive personal information about knowing the Homeland Security Secretary. In
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his statement, par Now called hag Seth's security protection appropriate
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and that when the media scrutinizes Capet Secretary's security protocolls
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and movements, it lives at risk. It puts lives at risks.
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CID's protectives at risk has been undistrained since at least
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twenty twenty, after Trump, during his first term in office,
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ordered the killings of a prominent Iranian general. Top security
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officials at the time faced death threats for years afterwards.
27:45
Shortly after Trump took office for a second time, the
27:48
administration stripped security details from several people, including retired Joint
27:53
Chiefs Chairman General Mark A. Milli and former Defense Secretary
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Mark T. Esper. Administration's officials said at the time that
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Malay security was taken away as a means to hold
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him accountable for perceived disloyalty. The President has said he
28:11
has an abiding disdain for both men, whom he hand
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selected for their post in his last administration after they
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criticized him or questioned his fitness for office. The two
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CID officials said that training and travel have been canceled
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to preserve funds, and that staff received emails from the
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agency's leadership seeking to ten to fifteen agents to fill
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at last minute requests to cover d C, Tennessee and
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Minnesota for anywhere from two weeks to ninety days. I
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see while they're doing it, one officials said, describing the
28:50
no fail mission of executive protection. But at the same time,
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you take an agent out of the field for two
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weeks to ninety days, those aren't getting reassigned, and if
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they are, there's very minimal work getting done on that
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security needs for the heg Seths are also high in DC,
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even though Hegseth opted to rent government housing within a
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secure military base. In late July, for instance, the heg
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Seths wanted to take their family to a Washington Nationals
29:22
baseball game, but didn't pursuse seats in a private suite,
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which could have lessened the burden on those assigned to
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protect them, said two people familiar with the matter. And
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there is a picture provided by the Defense Department of
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heg Seth and his family seen at the Washington Nationals
29:40
baseball games with his three children, and they have on
29:45
sunglasses but are surrounded by personnel and in the background
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all the people attending the game. Typically, the Pentagon can
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arrange for a complimentary suite if the event is an
29:56
official appearance and part of heg Seth's duties as Defense Secretary,
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But even though it was Space Force Day at the ballpark,
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Hegseth was not part of the official program and initially
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did not have a suite, those people said. Instead, the
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family purchased seats in the section of the ballpark that
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did not allow for private access, which required the protective
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detail to cover a larger and more exposed area, people
30:25
familiar with the matter said. A video taken by the
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news site That eighteen twelve shows in one frame, multiple
30:33
agents watching after the family. The security team can be
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seen creating a b area around the hag Seths as
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the family leaves their seats and walks through a crowded
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concourse before as visiting into the stairwell. Ultimately, the Nationals
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offered heg Seth an empty suite on the recommendation of
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the team's security, according to a person familiar with the process.
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Photos of the event released by the defense departments show
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that heg Seth and his family did interact with the
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troops who were recognized during the game. It is unclear
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whether heg Seth paid for his family to use the suite.
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His office did not address the question, and the Nationals
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did not provide comment. With its staffing and budgetary challenges,
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CID has in some instances had to call in highly
31:22
trained agents to backfield security for Hegseth and his family.
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One of the CID officials said, depending on their tenure
31:29
in government service, CIDs salaries typically range from about fifty
31:34
thousand to one hundred and thirty five thousand dollars, not
31:37
including additional pay agents can receive depending on where they live,
31:41
or overtime pay. The crush has been building for a
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few years since the agency underwent restructuring and brought on
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a number of former Secret Service personnel who were accustomed
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to working with greater resources. One CID official said the
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officials who coordinate hegseth'ecurity approached the assignment like there is
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just a bottomless pit of agents and money, this person said,
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adding I don't think anybody is holding them accountable for it.
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The agency's director, GREB Ford, a career Navy and Criminal
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Investigative Service officer who became head of CID in twenty
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twenty one, is due to depart this month. In his
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exit message to CID employees, a copy of which was
32:30
reviewed by the Post, Ford said he is leaving for
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a combination of professional and personal reasons. He did not elaborate.
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The message does not mention the security details of staffing levels,
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and Ford's office declined an interview requests. His office did
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offer to provide some written responses to questions that had
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not done so before publication. In its budget request for
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the coming year, the has sought to hire as many
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as two hundred and fifty additional personnel exclusively for executive
33:07
protection details, plus a boost of up to two hundred
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and fifty three million dollars to help ensure all core
33:14
investigative responsibilities can be met. According to mockuments reviewed by
33:20
The Post, those requests are unlikely to be fulfilled. The
33:25
documents indicate of the almost seven hundred and sixteen million
33:29
dollars requested by the agency, the Trump administration is supporting
33:33
about four hundred and sixty three million dollars. The document said.
33:39
Of the almost forty five million dollars sought for executive
33:42
protection details, about twenty million has the administration's backing. The
33:47
documents shown similar request made for physical twenty twenty five,
33:52
the last year of the Biden administration, also were not
33:56
fully met. Lawmakers will consider defense spending legislation in September
34:02
when Congress returns from summer recess. We asked six hundred
34:08
and four d C residents about Trump's takeover. Here's what
34:13
they said. Though crime continues to be a concern, most
34:18
residents strongly oppose Trump's actions and don't think they'll make
34:23
DCS safer. A Washington Post charter school polled phoned There's
34:29
a picture of National Guard troops walking along the National
34:33
Mall in d C on Tuesday. There's four of them,
34:37
one carrying a water bottle, and behind them people and
34:41
tourists in front of the Washington Monument that Joheime, Scott Clement,
34:47
and Emily Guskin. Washington, d C residents overwhelmingly opposed President
34:54
Donald Trump's decision last week to take over the DC
34:57
Police and order federal law enforce Horseman and the National
35:01
Guard into district seats, streets, and sixty five percent don't
35:06
think his actions will make the city safer from violent crime.
35:10
According to a Washington Post Charter School polled, thirty one
35:15
percent of district residents say crime is an extremely or
35:21
very serious problem in the city, down from fifty percent
35:25
in May and sixty five percent in spring twenty twenty four.
35:30
While the latest poll finds strong opposition to several tactics
35:34
Trump has employed, residents shows some agreement on one view.
35:39
Just under half think increasing punishments for convicted teenagers would
35:43
reduce violent crime. The vast majority of residents, though, don't
35:50
want Trump controlling law enforcement efforts in this city. About
35:55
eight and ten DC residents opposed Trump's executive order to
35:59
federal lies for law enforcement in this city, with about
36:03
seven in ten opposing it strongly. Residents of the district,
36:09
where Trump won just six percent of the vote in
36:12
the twenty twenty four election, disagree with the president's many
36:16
characterizations of the city as overrun by crime. On Monday,
36:21
Trump said Washington had been the most unsafe place anywhere,
36:26
but seventy eight percent of residents say they feel very
36:30
or somewhat safe in their neighborhoods. This is similar to
36:34
seventy six percent in May, but the percentage you feel
36:38
very safe is up from twenty six percent then to
36:42
thirty nine percent now. Trump's overheated rhetoric about DC crime
36:49
has evoked strong feelings among many residents offended by such
36:53
characterizations of their city, said Mark Roselle, dean of George
37:00
Mason University's Charter School of Policy and Government, which co
37:04
sponsored the poll. Roselte said a federalized takeover of any
37:11
aspect of a city's operations will naturally create a backlash,
37:16
and that is clearly happening here. Residents are saying that
37:20
it is not as bad as the President claims, and
37:23
they want to reclaim their image of their city against
37:27
a presidential narrative that is tarnishing DC's reputation. The poll
37:34
of six hundred and four d C residents was conducted
37:38
over four days starting Thursday, in a week that began
37:41
with Trump signing an executive order declaring an emergency for
37:46
the DC area District of Columbia citing out of control crime.
37:52
But in response to an open ended question about what
37:55
they see as the biggest problem facing the district, residence
38:00
are about as likely to say Trump as they are
38:03
to answer crime. Twenty four percent named Trump is takeover
38:08
of DC police or federal overreach as the biggest problem
38:12
facing the city, double the percentage you named the President
38:16
or a related issue in May, while twenty two percent
38:21
cite crime as the city's top problem compared to twenty
38:25
one percent in May. Trump's actions also appear to have
38:30
spurred support for statehood among residents, with seventy two percent
38:34
saying the district should become a state, more than any
38:39
of the dozen polls since nineteen ninety three, when the
38:42
Posts first asked the question. Relatedly, fifty five percent say
38:48
it's extremely important for the district to govern itself without
38:52
oversight from the federal government. Joseph Clay eighty nine, a
38:58
native Navy veteran who has lived in his Northeast Washington
39:02
home since nineteen sixty six, says he strongly opposes the
39:06
president's takeover of law enforcement in the district. We're becoming
39:11
a police state. I'm afraid of that. I really am, Clay,
39:15
who is black, said in an interview Tuesday, adding I
39:20
wonder if they're looking at blacks and browns and if
39:23
I myself could be stopped and asked for my credentials.
39:27
Clay describes his neighborhood as excellent and said he hasn't
39:30
been a victim of crime since the early nineteen nineties.
39:34
The only crime I hear about is what I read
39:36
in the Washington Post, he said. Nearly nine and ten
39:40
Washingtonians say their neighborhood is an excellent or a good
39:43
place to live, including forty six percent who say it's excellent.
39:49
Those numbers have risen consistently across seven Post posts since
39:53
nineteen eighty eight, when fifty six percent rated their neighborhood positively,
39:59
including eighteen teen percent who called it excellent. Residents responses
40:04
in this month's polls are at odds with the picture
40:07
painted by Trump Attorney General Pambondi and the US Attorney
40:12
for the district at Columbia, Genine Puro, of a dirty
40:16
and lawless city overrun by thugs and drugs. DC residents
40:23
say they are concerned about crime, but they believe the
40:26
situation is improving. Fifty four percent say DC's crime problems
40:32
are getting better, up from twenty nine percent who said
40:35
this in May. Compared with last year, Significantly fewer DC
40:40
residents say now that they worry about being a victim
40:44
of carjacking, theft, home burglary, or assault. Violence. Crime in
40:50
DC has been declining since twenty twenty three, part of
40:54
a nationwide drop over the past two years that in
40:57
twenty twenty four brought homicide rates to their lower level
41:00
in decades. For Courtney Priby, who is white and has
41:05
lived in Northwest Washington for three years, Trump's decision to
41:09
take over law enforcement in the district has made her
41:12
more fearful, not less. It is honestly striking more fear
41:17
into residence than making them feel safe, said Prevy twenty nine,
41:22
saying it feels like to show a force to distract
41:25
from other things. Over half of DC residents, fifty five
41:29
percent say they've noticed more federal law enforcement offices in
41:34
d C since Trump issued his order. Among those who
41:37
have noticed more federal agents, sixty one percent say this
41:40
made them feel less safe, while eighteen percent feel safer
41:44
and twenty percent say it hasn't made a difference. Specific
41:49
steps taken by the administration are also unpopular with people
41:53
living in this city. About seven and ten residents say
41:58
DC police should not help with federal deportation efforts. Also,
42:04
more than six and ten Washingtonians opposed the city's shutting
42:07
down homeless tent encampments and requiring people to move elsewhere
42:12
sixty four percent while twenty five percent support. This opposition
42:18
is up from May, when fifty five percent of DC
42:21
residents opposed it and thirty three percent were in support.
42:26
Christopher Brossman, forty five, who works for the federal government
42:31
and has lived in northwest Washington for six years, said
42:35
he doesn't want DC police assisting in deportation efforts and
42:39
called the administration's removal of homeless encampments the wrong approach
42:43
to fixing the problem. He also opposes the federal takeover
42:48
of DC police. I feel like it's against American principles
42:53
and DC's self rule, said Brossman, who is white. Overall,
43:00
about two thirds of DC residents sixty five percent say
43:04
Trump's recent actions will not help compact violent crime. There
43:09
are some steps that they believe could help, though, majorities
43:14
of district residents think crime would drop in response to
43:17
increasing economic effort opportunities in poor neighborhoods that's seventy seven percent,
43:24
stricter national gun laws seventy percent, increasing the number of
43:29
DC police officers on patrol sixty three percent, and violence
43:34
interruption strategies fifty seven percent. Almost half or forty seven
43:41
percent think the same about increasing punishment for teenagers convicted
43:46
of crimes. The poll finds that about four and ten
43:50
DC residents support treating fourteen year olds accused of assault
43:55
and carjackings like adults, and nearly six in ten say
43:59
the same for young murder suspects. Brendon Clark, who lives
44:04
with his husband in the Noma neighborhood near North Capitol Street,
44:09
says he voted for Kamala Harris in twenty twenty four,
44:13
but he supports the takeover of the police and the
44:17
National Guard presence. My day to day experience living in
44:22
DC proper over the past three years honestly has been
44:25
the worst experience of my life, Clark, who is white,
44:28
said in an interview. Clark, thirty seven, said his husband
44:32
had to hide when a man in a wheelchair said
44:35
their apartment building pointed a gun at someone walking behind him.
44:39
The couple paid thirty seven hundred dollars a month for
44:43
a two bedroom apartment. Riccark says they're both afraid to
44:47
walk in their neighborhood because there are lots of gangs
44:50
in people walking around smashing windows. Thirty five percent of
44:55
city residents say they a family member or a close
44:58
friend have been victims of c I'M in the past
45:01
five years. Support for Trump's actions rises to thirty four
45:05
percent among DC residents who know a recent crime violent
45:09
crime victim, but sixty percent in that category still opposes actions.
45:14
Among those who don't know a crime victim, just eight
45:17
percent support Trump's actions. Park said he doesn't agree with
45:23
everything Trump does and obviously doesn't think he's very presidential,
45:29
but he supports the law enforcement push and thinks the
45:33
president is making things happen that in my view benefit
45:37
people like me, Younger people, who don't have generational wealth.
45:42
Though he said he has felt safer in the few
45:44
days since Trump took over law enforcement in the city,
45:47
he doesn't think he'll stay. I'm actually working on plans
45:51
with my husband to move back to Oklahoma, where I'm from,
45:55
He's said. Support for DC Mayor Muriel Evows, a Democrat,
46:01
is unchanged since May. A small majority fifty three percent
46:05
of Washingtonian's approve of how Bowser is handling her job,
46:09
while forty one percent disapprove. About half of Washingtonian says
46:14
she should do more to oppose Trump, forty eight percent,
46:17
three in one says she's handling this about right, thirty
46:21
percent and twelve percent says she should do more to
46:25
support Trump, a figure that is up from five percent
46:28
in May. D C Police maintain similar approval ratings. Fifty
46:34
four percent of residents say they're doing an excellent or
46:37
good job, while thirty nine percent rate them not so
46:40
good or poor. Those ratings are nearly identical to twenty
46:45
twenty four, but down from seventy four percent positive in
46:49
twenty seventeen. I found that the city is a peace
46:53
living city, says Michelle Jones. Seventy a lifelong district resident
46:58
who lives in southeast Washington. She thinks d C police
47:03
could do a better job and be more proactive in
47:05
areas where there is high crime. But Jones, who is black,
47:09
strongly opposes the president taking trol of the police and
47:13
ordering National Guard troop into the city. He has shown
47:17
he's an authoritarian, has demonstrated this is an authoritarian jurisime
47:22
across the country. To make these grandiose statements that the
47:27
city is filthy and filled with gangs, I don't understand it,
47:30
Jones said. The poe was conducted by the Post and
47:35
the Shriff's School of Policy and Government at George Mason
47:38
University by telephone August fourteen through seventeen among a random
47:43
sample of six hundred and four adult residents in Washington,
47:47
d C. With seventy percent interviewed by live callers, including
47:51
fifty one percent on cell phones and nineteen percent on landlines.
47:56
Thirty percent completed the survey online via a self phone
48:00
text invivitation. Results have a margin of era plus or
48:07
minus four point one percentage points. Sampling, fieldwork and data
48:12
processing is by Braad Research of Princeton University. The City
48:19
is Dead DC restaurant reservations drop amid federal crackdown. Local
48:27
restaurant owners hope for a restaurant tweak boost, but the
48:31
heavy law enforcement presence in the city is keeping some
48:34
diners away. There's a picture of two FBI agents in
48:40
flack jackets and they were on Fourteenth Street in north
48:44
West Washington on Sunday after a person was detained for
48:48
destruction of property in a restaurant. And you see two
48:52
police officers talking to a man in the background, but
48:58
Tim Carmon and larn Rojas. Since President Donald Trump announced
49:04
his takeover of the d C Police Force last week,
49:08
restaurant reservations have dropped in this city by as much
49:11
as thirty one percent year over year for a single day,
49:15
according to restaurant booking data. Business owners are concerned that
49:19
the continued surge in law enforcement could impact their revenue
49:23
during a vital period of the summer. Several operators say
49:27
the decline does not bode well for them or the
49:30
three hundred and eighty establishments participating in somewhat Restaurant Week,
49:35
which started Monday in the Greater DC area. The bargain
49:39
dining promotion is considered a lifeline for restaurants hoping to
49:43
survive the dold rooms of August, when Congress is on recess,
49:48
locals are on vacation, and many local restaurants or residents
49:53
are gearing up for back to school season. One of
49:56
the goals with promotion, says Sean Tonsen, president of and
50:00
chief executive of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, is to
50:05
help the industry make it to Labor Day when d
50:08
C springs back to life. This August has been particularly
50:13
tough on DC restaurants. Numerous operators told The Washington Post
50:18
they were already dealing with a number of destabilizing issues,
50:22
rising labor and ingredient costs, soaring rents, federal workers layoff
50:28
US Immigration and Customs enforcement audits. When the President announced
50:33
last week that he was sending in troops and federal
50:36
agents to deal with a city where crime is totally
50:39
out of control, despite local and federal statistics showing otherwise.
50:46
It's like drowning and then someone throws one hundred pounds
50:49
weight to you, texted one d C restaurant tour who
50:53
asked that his name not be used because he said
50:55
he was just focused on keeping my business alive. This week.
51:01
It's difficult to get an exact read on the state
51:04
of DC dining since the federalization of local police. On
51:09
the day of Trump's announcement, the number of online reservations
51:12
in Washington dining rooms ropped by sixteen percent from the
51:16
same date the previous year, according to open Table. Since then,
51:22
reservations had dipped almost every day, falling as much as
51:26
thirty one percent in a single day compared to the
51:29
same period in twenty twenty four. But on Monday, the
51:33
first day of Restaurant Week, Open Table reservations were up
51:36
twenty nine percent compared to the same day of the
51:39
previous year. Some of the decline in reservations could be
51:43
attributed to timing the first week of the takeover August
51:47
eleven to seventeen, and did one day before restaurant Week began.
51:53
Those same dates in twenty twenty four fell during restaurant Week,
51:57
when presumably reservations were increased as dinas scrambled to secure
52:01
the discounted three course meals. Tomsen with RMW, which organizes
52:10
the semi annual promotion, says that none of the three
52:13
hundred and eighty restaurants involved in this year's event. A
52:17
record number have reported a drop in reservations for the
52:20
seven day run, but at least two participating restaurant proprietors
52:26
told The Washington Post that their numbers are well below
52:29
last year's bookings. Reservations are low, low, low compared to
52:35
last years, said Mauricio Fargar Rosenfeld, co owner of Elsicreto
52:41
de Rosa on U Street near sixteenth Street northwest, across
52:46
the street from a police station, where he said federal
52:49
troops have often assembled a fore fanning across the city.
52:54
The city is dead, Fargo Rosenveld said, if you walk
52:59
on the street, there's no feeling people are scared. You
53:02
don't see any Latinos on the street. Nick Pomenttel, co
53:07
founder of l in the Pleasant neighborhood, said he's seen
53:12
a significant drop in walk in traffic and reservation since January,
53:17
but the bottom fellow this month compared to last year's
53:21
Summer restaurant week reservations and even Winter restaurant Week in January,
53:26
it's looking like we dropped more than fifty percent, the
53:30
Mintel said. The numbers suggest He added that this would
53:34
be the slowest August in ELL's seven year history, including
53:38
during the pandemic affected summer of twenty twenty. Seeing law
53:43
enforcement armored and plane clothed in the neighborhood, casing our
53:47
building and looking into our windows definitely puts guests and
53:51
staff on edge. Mintel said, Mount Pleasant and the nearby
53:56
Columbia Heights and the Fourteenth Street areas have seen several
54:01
arrests of food delivery workers, including a Saturday morning incident
54:05
in which six mostly masked agents wearing police vest tackled
54:11
a food delivery driver outside of a coffee shop. The
54:15
President and d White House are disputing the numbers. During
54:19
a Tuesday call into the Box and Friends morning television show,
54:24
Trump said his orders have transformed Washington into just an
54:28
incredible place in literally four days. Did you see what's
54:33
happening with the restaurants. They're bursting there are all closing
54:37
and going bankrupt, Trump said. On Monday, Trump disputed local
54:43
and federal statistics that show crime as declining in the city,
54:46
claiming in a social media post that DC gave fake
54:51
crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety.
54:55
A White House spokesman sent a statement to The Washington
54:58
Post along with a news story indicating that fifty two
55:02
restaurants closed in Washington in twenty twenty three, in part
55:06
due to crime. Dozens of DC's small businesses, restaurants, and
55:10
local shops have closed their doors due to the violent
55:14
crime that has plagued the city. President Trump's bold leadership
55:18
will restore our nations capital by creating opportunities for business
55:23
to flourish without fear of criminals looting and destroying their property.
55:28
President Trump is delivering on his promise to make DC's safer,
55:33
which will inherently make DC more prosperous, spokeswoman Taylor Rogers
55:39
said in a statement. And there is a picture of
55:44
people as members of Busboys and Poets attending an Anacostia
55:49
Coordinating Council monthly meeting at Martha's Table in March. Bus
55:55
Boys and Poets, a chain of community oriented restaurants, has
55:59
seen a small collective drop in August sales among the
56:03
five locations in Washington, while its three suburban outposts are
56:07
enjoying an uptick, said founder Andy Shallal. The street seem
56:12
to be a little bit thinner in certain parts of town.
56:16
There is a little bit of mo knees in the city.
56:19
I think people are just frustrated and just not in
56:22
a good mood, Schalal said. Shalal and others say federal
56:27
checkpoints are scaring some people from visiting Washington, regardless of
56:31
their legal status. The unexpected traffic stops may also be
56:35
preventing workers, particularly back of the house cooks and dishwashers
56:40
who often hail from Latin American countries, from showing up
56:43
to their ships. I think people would much rather stay
56:47
where they are and not have to deal with this.
56:50
A lot of our customers are immigrants that have either
56:53
newly immigrated to America or have been naturalized Americans. In general,
56:57
they'd rather not exposed people or exposed themselves to those
57:01
kinds of conditions or situations they may put them in
57:04
harm's way, Schalal said. Council Member Charles Allen, Democrat of
57:10
Award six, has spoken to nearly a dozen restaurant owners
57:13
in his district, which includes Capitol Hill and the Nomon neighborhood,
57:18
and said they are telling him the same thing. In
57:20
the last week, they're seeing less foot traffic. Reservations are
57:24
being canceled, employees, especially back of host staff, or not
57:28
showing up for work, leaving restaurants shorthanded for evening ships.
57:33
Some restaurant owners are hesitant to complain publicly for fear
57:37
being targeted by federal agents. I haven't heard a single
57:41
restaurant say this is great for business. Allan said, our
57:47
businesses are suffering by what they're doing here. The council
57:51
member added, it's an unwarranted, absolutely ridiculous, unnecessary step that
57:56
the federal government's doing. It is sure is there's more
58:00
than just immigration issues. This is impacting bread and butter
58:05
local businesses. And with that I concluded the reading for
58:10
Today's Washington Post for the twenty first of August of
58:14
twenty twenty five. I love my DC days, but I
58:18
don't think i'd be moving back there right now. I
58:22
really enjoyed my eight years living there. Have a good weekend,
58:26
stay dry. I hope it rains and I'll be back
58:30
to after tomorrow. Bye.