Transcript

1.31.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Saturday,
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January thirty. First, it's the last day of this month
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of January of twenty twenty six. Your reader is Ali
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Stainer with an apology for the mix up last Saturday.
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It just was a bad morning for me, and I
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apologize again. And we will start off with the front
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page of Today's Washington Post. On the very left is
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the picture with people in pufferork with fur collars around them,
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hoods pulled up. There's a big ben of bread, hats, gloves,
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and it's a line and it says in Kiev, left
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out in the cold, Keiev residents without power to their
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homes following Russia's airstrikes wade in land to receive free
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hot meals in the city's downtown amid freezing temperatures. On Friday.
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Russia said Friday that a moratorium on attacking Ukraine's energy
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infrastructure pushed by the United States would expire on Sunday,
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that is tomorrow. To the right of that in big
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bold letters, Justice Department opened civil rights probe of pretty
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shooting Reversalfolla's widespread criticism. Investigation initially was limited to review
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by DHS by Jeremy Roebuck and Perry Stein. Below that,
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also in a little bit smaller caps, big Bold DOJ
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releases another cash of Epstein papers disclosure of three million
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more pages. Contay comes a month after the deadline, again
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by Perry Stein and Amy b. Wang. To the left
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of that, and underneath the picture of those in lane
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for meals in Kiev ICE's detention Network plan Rattle's Communities
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by Jonathan O'Connell and Douglas McMillan. It's a bid to
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buy warehouses across the US draws a safety humanitarian concerns,
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and below that on the left, bomb cyclone is set
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to drive bitter winds and brutal chill into d C
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by Jason Semnow and Ian Livingston. And then a picture
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of Katherine O'Hare. Katherine O'Hare a comedy star with a
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flair for the absurd and sweet from the beginnings in
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improv to roles in Home Alone, Shits Creek and Moore.
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Katherine O'Hara born nineteen fifty four died twenty twenty six
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by Harrison Smith, Samantha Cherry and ele Izadi. And there's
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a big ture of her in black with a multi
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colored necklace around her and black background and is just
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her face and hands are highlighted. And to the right
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of that, Trump selects Kevin worsh as next chair of
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the Federal Reserve, Andrew Ackerman and Jacob bow Gage. We'll
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start with Justice Department opens civil rights investigation into Alex
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Pritty's shooting. The marrive comes after Republican senators criticize the
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initial decision to limit the investigation to a homeland security review.
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And there's Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaking at a
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news conference Friday in Washington. He is in front of
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a flag with the eagle and the shield and Justice
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is a Justice Department flag. He's in a blue suit
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with a white tie, standing at a podium his hand
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his right hand is stretched out as if he's gesturing.
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Jeremy Roebuck and Perry Stein wrote the article. The Justice
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Department said Friday it has opened a civil rights investigation
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into the shooting of Alex Pretty by federal agents in
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Minneapolis last weekend, a reversal from its handling so far
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of shootings involving agents during the Trump's administration's immigration crackdown
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in Minnesota. We're looking at everything that would shed light
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on that day, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in
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the news conference Friday. Blanche said FBI investigators will continue
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to work with the Department of Homeland Security, which has
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been conducting its own use of force investigation into whether
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its agents followed protocol during the incident. But even as
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he disclosed the existence of the new inquiry, Blanche sought
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to downplay its significance, saying he did not want to
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always state what's happening. This is what I would describe
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as a standard investigation by the FBI when there are
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circumstances like what we saw last Saturday, and that investigation,
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to the extent it needs to involve lawyers at the
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Civil Rights Division, it will involve those, he said. Still
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comments from the Justice departments number two official marked in
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about face with the Trumpet minuteistration's previous rhetoric surrounding Petty's death. Initially,
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administration officials said no civil rights investigation was warranted, a
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position that sparked national outrage and calls, including one from
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some Republican lawmakers fact use me for an independent probe.
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Excuse me. Blanche's remarks Friday came just hours after President
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Donald Trump maligned Pretty and defended federal officers. In a
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social media post, he labeled Pretty an agitator and perhaps insurrectionist.
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After federal officers shot Pretty on January twenty fourth, administration
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officials said DHS would lead an internal use of force
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review with assistance from the FBI. The first signs and
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a shift in the administration's strategy emerged Thursday evening, when
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Homeland Securities six Terry Christi l Nom told Fox News
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host Sean Hannity that the FBI was now leading the investigation.
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Noam said, we will continue to follow the investigation that
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the FBI is leading and giving them all the information
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they need to bring that to a conclusion and make
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sure that the American people know the truth of the
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situation and how we can go forward and continue to
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protect the American people. A DHS spokesperson did not immediately
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respond to requests for comment on the reasons behind the
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decision to let the FBI take the lead. Stephen Schleiger,
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an attorney for Pretty's family, said the family's focus was
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now on a fair and impartial investigation that examines the
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facts around his murder. Gnam, in her interview with Hannity
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distanced herself from earlier statements she made in the hours
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after Pretty's death, in which she called him a domestic
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terrorist and accused him of brandishing a gun and seeking
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to massacre officers. In their statements in the days after
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the shooting, we were using the best information we had
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at the time, seeking to be transparent with the American
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people and get them what we knew to be true
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on the ground, nom said A Washington Post analysis of
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the videos that captured Pretty's shooting from several angles showed
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Pretty stopping to help a woman who had been knocked
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down by Border Patrol agents. Federal agents then rustled him
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to the ground. An agent had secured a handgun Pretty
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had in his possession before two officers shot him multiple times,
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Administration officials said in a court following earlier this week.
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Videos released Wednesday showed that eleven days before his death,
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federal officers had wrestled Pretty to the ground after another
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incident in which he kicked a tail light off their suv.
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A representative of the Pretty family said the family knew
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about the incident, and said Pretty sustained injuries in the
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altercation but did not get medical care. Bland said Friday
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that FBI investigators were re reviewing those videos and interviewing
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witnesses as part of its probe. Federal offices and agents
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in the Minneapolis area have been involved in three shootings
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in the span of a few weeks. Minneapolis resident Renee Good,
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a thirty seven year old mother of three, was fatally
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shot by an immigration officer while behind the wheel of
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her SUV on January seventh. The Post reported that the
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FBI briefly opened a civil rights investigation into the Good
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shooting before changing course under direction of top Justice Department
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officials to investigate Good's partner instead. Blanche previously said he
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saw no basis to open a civil rights investigation into
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Good's death. Federal prosecutors in Minnesota, who typically would be involved,
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have grown increasingly frustrated with the department's handling of the
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Good in pretty cases. The Post reported Thursday that many
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confronted the Trump appointed US Attorney for the State, Daniel Rosen,
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this week, indicating they are on the forge of resigning
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from the Justice Department over its handling of those matters.
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Amid the tumult the recently installing acting head of the
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FBI's Minneapolis field office Jared Smith was reassigned this week,
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according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke
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on the condition of Annie innity to discuss non public
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personnel moves. The exact reasons behind that decision were not
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immediately clear. Friday, after Good shooting, Department leaders made the
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highly unusual decision to back out of an evident sharing
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agreement to investigate the death alongside state and local authorities.
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They barred local investigators from assessing the scene of Pretty
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shooting last weekend, prompting Minnesota officials to obtain a federal
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court order borring DHS and the FBI from destroying any
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evidence tied to the case. Blanched sidestepped reporters' questions on
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Friday on whether, after its reversal and Pretty, the Justice
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Department had also now opened a civil rights probe into
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the Good shooting or was considering doing so. There are thousands, unfortunately,
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of law enforcement events every year where somebody is shot.
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The civil rights This vision of the Department of Justice
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does not investigate every one of those shootings. There has
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to be circumstances or facts that warrant an investigation, Blanche said.
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Law enforcement officers are rarely charged for having used lethal force,
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in part because the law provides significant leeway for officers
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to decide when use of forces needed. Law enforcement experts
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have said, however, that an accurate conclusion can only be
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reached if officials examine all relevant state and federal laws
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and their application to the facts. In the case, ICE
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spies warehouses for mass detention network, rattling locals, the Trump
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administration has moved to acquire industrial buildings in at least
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eight states. DHS brought to this month one in Maryland
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for one hundred and two million dollars and another in
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Arizona for seventy million dollars. And there's a picture of
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taking this month of ICE officials who toured this nine
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hundred and twenty thousand square foot warehouse. In Kansas City, Missouri,
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the city council passed a resolution to try to block
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new detention systems in the city by Jonathan O'Connell and
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Douglas McMillan. One industrial building the federal government plans to
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overhaul into an immigration detention center in Roxbury, New Jersey,
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draws groundwater from a small town that uses nearly all
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of its daily limit. Another proposed detention site is in
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a warehouse in Oklahoma City that would hold up to
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fifteen hundred people in little more than a mile from
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an elementary school and a Pentecostal church. A third location,
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previously an auto parts distribution center in Chester, New York,
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became so unbearably hot during summer months that two people
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who used to work there said it was akin to
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being stuck inside an aluminum shed. Those are a few
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of the logistical and humanitarian concerns raised by residents and
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local officials in some of the twenty three towns where
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U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to convert industrial
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buildings into detention centers that combined would hold up to
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eighty thousand people. ICE has offered few details about its
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plan since The Washington Post first reported on it last month.
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As specific sites have surfaced in news reports, people in
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those communities have taken steps to block the projects. I'm
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not sure that this is the type of detention that
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is humane, Quentin Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri,
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said in an interview of BY plans to transform a
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warehouse there into an ICE facility that could hold up
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to seventy five hundred people. On January fifteenth, the same
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day that local news photographers documented ICE officials inspecting the building,
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this city council passed a five year man on all
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new non municipal detention facilities. ICE expects to hold between
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fifteen hundred and ten thousand detainees in each of these
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twenty three warehouses at a time, according to documents and interviews,
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but some experts have warned that it will be difficult
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to bring the industrial buildings up to federal standards for
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detention facilities in the short time before ICE plans to
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begin housing people in them. The expansion of ICE's detention
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system would help fulfill President Donald Trump's goal of deporting
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millions of people by creating a hub and spoke model
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capable of booking migrants into processing centers for a few weeks,
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then transporting them to large scale facilities where they would
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await deportation. Trisia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department
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of Homeland Security, declined to answer questions about specific properties
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or whether they can be converted to meet standards, but
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said the agency has new funding to expand detention space
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to keep these criminals off American streets before they are
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removed for good from their communities. It should not come
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as news that ICE will be making arrest in states
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across the US and is actively working to expand detention space,
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McLaughlin said in the statement. DHS bought two warehouses this month,
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one in Williamsport, Maryland, fo one hundred and two million,
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and another in Surprise, Arizona for seventy million, deed records show.
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In recent weeks, ICE officials have also begun notifying warehouse
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owners and local officials in several other cities of their
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interest in specific properties located in areas zoned for industrial
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uses near interstates and airports. Most of the buildings under
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consideration are currently vacant shells little more than walls, a
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thick concrete floor, and a ceiling supported by dozens of
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internal beams, according to promotional materials and commercial real estate databases.
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Last month, the DHS official rode to Oklahoma City's Planning
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Department of its intent to purchase, occupy, and rehabilitate a
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twenty six point eight acre ware his property into an
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ICE processing center. The agencies and renovations may include the
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construction of holding spaces, offices, visitors, areas, cafeteria's bathroom and
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medical units. According to the letter, which was first reported
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by The Oklahoma on Thursday. Following pushback from residents, Oklahoma
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City Mayor David Holt said in a Facebook post that
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he had spoken with the building's owners, who told them
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they are no longer in talks to sell the building
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to the federal government. DHS also wrote to planners in
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Hanover County, Virginia about plans to purchase an overhaul a
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five hundred and fifty two thousand, five hundred and eighty
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seven square foot facility in Ashland. According to a cop
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the letter provided to the Post and to the media,
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the warehouse was recently built on the site of a
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former cattle farm fifteen miles north of Richmond. Following the
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publication of this story on Friday, Jim Patterson Developments, the
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Canadian company that owns the Ashland warehouse, said in a
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statement that the transaction will not be proceeding and provided
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no other detail. The company's representatives did not immediately respond
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to her request for comment. Earlier this month, television cameras
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filmed David Vinorella and Ice Senior Advisa, leaving an almost
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forty four thousand square foot building in Orlando as part
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of a review of the building. He described the local
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television station's WFTV as exploratory. Orlando officials told the Post
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that federal government has not contacted them about plan. In Williamsport,
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a town with a population of two thousand just outside
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of Hagerstown, Maryland, community members found out debate plans for
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a detention center only after Ice purchased an eight hundred
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and twenty five thousand plus square foot building there. The
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federal government is not required to get local approval as
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other developers might, because the US Constitution generally exempts it
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from local laws when it is carrying out a federal duty.
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Local leaders in Maryland say DHS notified them two days
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before the purchase in a January fourteenth letter to the
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county planning Department that describes some of the agency's proposed
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changes to the property. According to a press release, planning
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a detention facility behind closed doors is not governance, It
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is intimidation. Representative April McLean Delaney, a Democrat, said in
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a press release on Thursday. The purchase was first reported
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by Project Saltbox, a Baltimore newsletter. Virginia McGovern, a spokeswoman
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for the City of Surprise, Arizona, said the city was
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not notified but for DHS's purchase of foury eighteen hundreds
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and four hundred square foot newly constructed warehouse in the
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suburb northwest of Phoenix. The transaction was first reported Thursday
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by a z Central ICE experts. The buildings in Williamsport
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and Surprise began to ICE expects the buildings in Williamsport
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and Surprise to begin accepting detainees by April, according to
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a person briefed on the plan, who spoke on the
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condition of anonymity to discuss internal agency matters. Local officials
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in Roxbury said DHS informed them of plans to buy
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a building there, and an ICE official joined a recent
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werehouse tour in Social Circle, Georgia. According to The Post
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analysis of photos of the visit, The Post obtained a
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spreadsheet that lists nearly two dozen properties that ICE officials
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apparently planned a tour this month, but could not verify
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its authenticity. Dhs I did not respond to questions about it.
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The Post, however, confirmed ICE's interest in eight of those facilities,
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and several building tours occurred at the time and locations
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specified in the document, and there is a list of
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buildings targeted by ICE in Georgia, Missouri, Williamsport, Maryland, Virginia,
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New Jersey, Florida, Arizona, and New York. In at least
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fifteen communities, residents have staged protests or packed town council meetings,
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overwhelming local local elected officials with questions about the pros facilities.
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Locals have shown up at locations identified on the unconfirmed
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ICE list, which has circulated on social media with cameras
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to document tours. When Salvador la Bruna learned from local
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news story that ICE planned to take over the former
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Pep Boys Auto parts warehouse near his home in Goshen,
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New York, he drove his sixteen year old son to
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see the building. La Bruna, forty seven, said he used
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to pack brake pads, struts, and motor oil containers into
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plastic tubs when he worked there a summer after college
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more than twenty five years ago, and that the building
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sweltered because of poor benilation and minimal cooling systems. David Delasandro,
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thirty seven, who worked there from twenty twenty to twenty
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twenty two, said he routinely had to bring an extra
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shirt to replace them when he would swept through. It
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doesn't seem like it would be suitable for housing people
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in any way, La Bruna said. The Autoparts distribution center
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was closed in twenty twenty four. The property's owners said
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in a promotional flier that it recently completed three million
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dollars in improvements, but did not specify them. The owner
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did not respond to requests for comment. Some state and
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local officials have begun girding for battles over the proposed
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detention centers, saying they would overwhelm local infrastructure, violate zoning laws,
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and potentially threaten the safety of their communities. Because the
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Autoparts warehouse is in a floodplain, DHS was required to
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file a public noticed that it intended to buy and
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rehabilitate the building. The county government responded with a legal objection,
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saying the plan would violate zoning, deprived the community of
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tax revenue, and overwhelm its sewage system. Lucas, the Kansas
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City mayo, said he is prepared to defend the city's
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new moratorium against local challenges against legal challenges, comparing it
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to a previous ordinance banning landfills. The property built with
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eighty million dollars in incentives from the Kansas City Port Authority,
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is advised by the Port Authority as having advertised by
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the Port Authority as having tax advantages for stored goods
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and access to Class one freight rail services from the
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Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern iss planned envisioned in a
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December draft. A solicitation document previously reported by the Post
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calls for an expansive overhaul of the twenty three properties
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by adding housing units, kitchens, the dining areas, medical care rooms, pharmacies, bathrooms,
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religious service rooms, mail rooms, phone systems, low libraries with
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the Internet access, attorney meeting rooms in indoor and outdoor
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recreation areas with basketball hoops and exercise equipment. Despite the
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need for extensive upgrades, ICE expects facilities to begin accepting
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detainees within thirty to sixty days after final design approval
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and construction start. According to the solicitation document, Meeting federal
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standards for immigration detention, which were not written envisioning the
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use of large open warehouses could be costly and challenging.
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For some of the buildings, ICE is targeting said Units,
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an attorney who advocates for immigrant detainees at the American
27:04
Civilral Liberties Union's National Prison Project. For example, the standards
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require specialized rooms with negative pressure ventilation to treat people
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suspected of having tuberculosis. Rehabbing a warehouse to ensure sufficient
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airborne infection isolation may be difficult, cho said Officials in cities,
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including Social Circle in Roxbury have raised concerns about the
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lack of water to adequately supply the plants facilities, given
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their size. If water is not available from a community's source,
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a state laboratory would have to test samples to comply
27:48
with potable water standards. The federal standards say. The contractors
27:53
operating ICE's makeshift tent encampment in the Florida Albergades deliver
27:59
drinking water to the site in two thousand gallon and
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six thousand gallon tanker trucks, According to a state planning
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document included in court records. ICE already struggles to uphold
28:12
standards at some existing facilities. In September, its own inspectors
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found sixty violations of federal standards at Camp East, Montana,
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a series of large tents erected on a patch of
28:28
desert in El Paso and the span of a few months.
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The facility is now the county, country's largest ICE detention center,
28:39
with thirty eight hundred detainees. Most owners of the twenty
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three buildings on the list did not respond to the
28:46
Post inquirease or declined to comment on any discussions with
28:50
the agency. Terry Anderson, co president and co founder of
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Kansas City, Wherehouse owned a platform benchres, said he had
28:59
completed negotiations to sell its nine hundred and twenty thousand,
29:04
four hundred square foot building and that the company does
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not question perspective buyers on their intent after close and
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we will not engage in public conversations involving speculation over
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future uses. P n K Group, the company that owns
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the Georgia property and newly built one million square foot warehous,
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said it had heard from several interested buyers and that
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any future use of a property following its sale is
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determined solely by the purchaser. ICE has faced local opposition
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in the places where it operates detention centers, including during
29:44
prior administrations, but few towns have successfully stopped their development.
29:50
Courts have frequently sided with the federal government's authority to
29:54
circumvent local laws when it can argue that those ordinances
29:59
obstructed some to carry a federal policy, said Rick Sue,
30:03
a law professor at the University of North Carolina. Seeing
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the building in chest in New York again recently and
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talking about it with his son, La Bruna, said the
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structure now feels like a symbol of how Trump's had
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immigration crackdown, would soon be shaking up his normally quiet
30:21
town in the Hudson Valley. It definitely makes it feel
30:25
very close to home, he said. Next article, Trump taps
30:32
FED critic Kevin Walsh to succeed Jerome Powell as chairman.
30:38
The Wall Street veteran once held hawkish views on interest rates,
30:43
but has recently signaled a stance more in line with
30:46
the president's public demands. And there is a picture of
30:50
Kevin Walsh, who is a former federal governor, or FED governor,
30:56
and Wall Street veteran. He's in a sort of a
30:59
blue gray suit with a green time and sort of
31:03
goldie pattern on it. He's in front of a microphone
31:09
with a microphone attached to his tap. He has got
31:13
dark hair, brown eyes, and a rather nice looking by
31:21
Andrew Ackerman and Jacob Bogage. President Donald Trump said he
31:26
would nominate Kevin Worrish as the next chair of the
31:29
Federal Reserve, putting a former FED governor and Wall Street
31:33
veteran at the helm of an institution the President has
31:36
repeatedly attacked for not cutting interest rates more aggressively to
31:40
spur growth. I have known Kevin for a long period
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of time and have no doubt that he will go
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down as one of the great capitol letters FED chairman,
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maybe the best, Trump said on his social media platform
31:55
early Friday. On top of everything else, he is central
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casting and he will never let you down. Worsh fifty
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five was passed over in twenty seventeen when Trump instead
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elevated Jerome H. Powell, previously a FED governor from two
32:12
thousand and six to twenty eleven. Walsh was the youngest
32:16
in the institution's history at thirty five, and served as
32:20
the key Wall Street laison during the financial crisis. He
32:24
also served as an economic advisor to President George W. Bush.
32:29
He is a partner at the family office of investor
32:32
Stanley Drunkenmiller. That FED sets the direction for interest rates
32:38
or the cost of borrowing money. The current head of
32:41
the Central Bank, Powell, will continue to serve as chair
32:45
until that term expires in May. Trump has been talking
32:49
about naming a new chair since he took office, and
32:52
has suggested he would try to fire Powell. Until a
32:56
few weeks ago, the leading candidate to be Fed chief
32:59
had been largely assumed to be White House Economic advisor
33:03
Kevin Hassett, a frequent guest on Fox News who often
33:07
blamed the Fed and Power for keeping interest rates high
33:11
for too long. But after news broke earlier this month
33:15
that the Justice Department had opened an investigation into Powell,
33:19
political observers and administration insidus, including former Trump's strategist Stephen K. Bannon,
33:27
concluded Hassett was no longer the strongest candidate, pointing to
33:31
some Republican lawmakers who viewed him as too closely aligned
33:35
with the White House to approve his nomination. Trump, for
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his part, praised Hassett's ability on television and said he
33:42
was too good to leave the White House that narrow
33:47
the field to wash. Black Rock executive Rent writer and
33:51
Christopher Waller, a sitting Fed governor Trump who, in a
33:56
separate post, said writer Waller and others would have been ed.
34:01
Was particularly taken with Warsh's television appearances. According to a
34:05
person familiar with the selection process who spoke on the
34:09
condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. On screen, Trump's
34:15
had worship appeared young and quick witted, said one person.
34:19
Trump viewed other candidates as appearing older or more deliberative,
34:22
the person said. The person added, what He's looking for
34:28
is the best person who can communicate to the media.
34:31
He wants people that he can crank up and knows
34:34
they'll be good on televisionsh the person said, was also
34:40
able to take the policies Trump advocated while convincing the
34:44
President he arrived at the ideas on his own. The
34:47
White House officials and GOP lawmakers are keenly aware of
34:51
the difficult needle Worsh must thread during his confirmation process,
34:57
retaining Trump's support while illustrating maintain the Central Bank's independence.
35:03
In explaining the decision, the White House framed Trump's choice
35:08
as a corrective to what it called recent leadership failures
35:12
at the Central Bank, with spokesman Kush de Si saying
35:16
the President prioritized competence and experience in selecting Warsh to
35:23
lead an institution whose decisions ripple across the global economy.
35:29
If confirmed, Worsh would inherit one of the most difficult
35:33
jobs in government, steering monetary policy at an institution designed
35:38
to operate independently while navigating the demands of a president
35:43
unafraid to publicly pressure the central bank for lower rates.
35:48
Trump has also sought greater control of a FED leadership
35:52
by attempting to fire another top official, Lisa Cook, for
35:56
the first time. The next bed is likely. Next chair
36:02
is likely to face intense scrutiny from financial markets and
36:06
from within the FED itself, as officials and investors assess
36:10
whether political loyalty might come at the expense of the
36:14
central bank's credibility in fighting inflation. Stocks traded lower Friday
36:19
after investors learned that Trump's pick would be Worsh. Major
36:24
indexes fell, while the dollars strengthened and long term bond
36:28
yields rose. Walsh's nomination would prompt scrutiny of his historically
36:34
hawkish views on inflation, favoring keeping interest rates higher to
36:39
prevent prices from rising, as well as his criticism of
36:43
the Fed's expanded balance sheet. Walsh has argued that years
36:47
of low interest rates and large scale asset purchases blurred
36:52
the line between monetary and physical policy, encouraging unsustainable government spending,
36:58
a stance that would tip placed him at odds with
37:01
the White House pressing for faster growth and looser financial conditions.
37:07
More recently, however, he has recalibrated that argument, calling for
37:12
sharply lower interest rates if the Central Bank simultaneously reduced
37:17
its holdings of treasury and mortgage backed securities, a position
37:22
more closely aligned with the president's public demands. Questions about
37:28
the Fed's independence also figure prominently in his critique Worsh's
37:33
had the Central Bank undermined its own credibility by failing
37:37
to keep inflation in check during the pandemic and by
37:41
pursuing initiatives he characterized as accommodating political priorities, including work
37:47
on climate related issues. The Fed's current wounds are largely
37:53
self inflicted, he said last week last spring in Washington,
37:58
when competition to replace Powell was already heating up. Ties
38:03
to Republican circles in Wall Street remained central to his profile.
38:08
Walsh has worked as a partner at the Family Office
38:11
of investor Stanley Drunken Miller, and previously held senior roles
38:16
at Morgan Stanley Drunken Miller. Also counts Treasury Secretary Scott
38:22
Bissett as a former employee and protege outside government. Walsh
38:28
is married to Estelda Heiress Jane Lauda, and has spent
38:32
the years since leaving the bed as a lecturer at
38:34
Stamford Graduate School of Business and a scala at Stamford's
38:39
Huba Institution. Trump elevated Powell to the job in twenty seventeen,
38:46
but quickly came to requit it, complaining at the time
38:49
that Powell was steadily rising rates instead of keeping them
38:53
at historically low levels. Questions about perceived loyalty to the
38:57
President intensified after disclosed January eleventh that the Central Banking
39:03
receives the penis as part of a criminal investigation into
39:07
a costly renovation of its headquarters overlooking the National Mall,
39:12
and Palell's testimony about the construction. Powell criticized the characterized
39:19
the move as an effort to crimp the Central Bank's independence.
39:23
The episode upended succession calculations and sharpened concerns about political
39:29
influence over the FED, particularly on Capitol Hill. Senator Tom Tillis,
39:35
Republican of North Carolina, said he would oppose any nomination
39:39
for Pale's successor until the legal matter is resolved, a
39:43
position he reiterated on Friday morning. Tillis's concerns are significant
39:49
because he holds an effective veto on the Senate Banking Committee,
39:53
where Republicans have a narrow edge. Kevin Warsh is a
40:00
qualified nominee with a deep understanding of monetary policy. Till
40:05
has said, However, the Department of Justice continues to pursue
40:10
a criminal investigation into Chairman Jerome Powell, based on committee
40:14
testimony that no reasonable person could construe as possessing criminal intent.
40:21
Asked whether the Senate could confirm Warrish without Tillis's support,
40:26
Senate Majority Leader John Tyne, Republican of South Dakota told
40:32
reporters probably not, according to Politicode. Meanwhile, Powell has declined
40:39
to say if he plans to leave the FED entirely
40:42
at the end of his chairmanship in May. He could
40:45
elect to remain on the Fed's board as a regular
40:48
governor through early twenty twenty eight. Since there is uncertainty
40:54
of a Palell's board seat and no other immediate vacancies
40:58
on the bed board. Orsh could replace Stephen Moran, another
41:02
Trump economic advisor, at any point after his term expiresed
41:07
this week. Orsh could then later be elevated to chairman,
41:11
beginning in the second half of May. Powell's tenure is
41:17
likely to be remembered for beating back the worst inflation
41:20
spike in four decades, a surge that neared double digits
41:24
in twenty twenty two, while steering the economy through that
41:28
fight without triggering the deep recession many had feared, effectively
41:32
shielding the United States from what could have been a
41:35
far more severe economic downturn. Even with inflation now far
41:40
below its peak, Powell's successor will inherit the long running
41:45
challenge of guiding it all the way back to the
41:47
Fed's two percent target, a goal central bank has missed
41:51
for nearly five years. I'm going inside the paper now.
41:58
Man twenty nine races against time to preserve voices of
42:03
Holocaust survivors. There's not that many survivors left that I
42:08
can be picky, said Jerry Klok, who doesn't let distance
42:13
or travel get in the way of reaching Holocaust survivors
42:16
around the world. And there's a picture of him in
42:20
a black and white sort of like Hawaiian shirt with
42:24
Holocaust survivor Rosalie Simon in New York in August of
42:29
twenty twenty five, and missus Simon has on a red
42:34
sweater or a red jacket with a scarf around her neck.
42:38
Both have very nice smiles and missus Simon's got her
42:43
wonderful creak, clean eyes and age marks around her very
42:48
smiling face. By Kyle Melnik Jerry Klok and that spelled
42:55
g jay j a Ikluk. Kluc volunteered to help a
43:03
group of Holocaust survivors living near his home in the
43:06
Czech Republic when he was just sixteen years old. As
43:11
he helped them buy groceries and clean their homes, a
43:14
few showed him the prisoner number tattoos they received at
43:18
the Auschwitz death camps. They recounted the days when Nazis
43:22
killed their family members, knowing they could be next at
43:25
any moment. It wasn't until a few years later, when
43:30
some of those survivors died around twenty eighteen, the Kluk
43:34
recognized how precious their stories were. I realized that these
43:39
people will be gone, Kluk twenty nine told The Washington Post,
43:44
and if their stories will not be preserved, we might
43:48
forget so. Kluk, who now runs a tur guide company
43:53
in Prague, began devoting his free time to what is
43:56
essentially a race against the clock by in interviewing Holocaust
44:01
survivors around the world. Kluk said he has recorded about
44:07
seven hundred testimonies from Holocaust survivors and World War Two veterans.
44:13
He sometimes posts small biographies about his interview he's on
44:18
social media, but he eventually wants to preserve all of
44:21
the interviews and documents he's collected in one place and
44:25
make them available online, in museums and in books. And
44:31
there's a picture of him with Holocaust survivor Dita Krauss
44:36
and World War Two veteran Harry Humerson. And survivor Dida
44:43
Kraus has on a red sweater with a white blouse underneath,
44:47
as does Kluk has on a red sweatshirt, and World
44:51
War Two veteran Harry Hummerson has on his coat and hat.
44:56
Each are holding pictures of them during World War II.
45:00
Missus Klau survivor with a very young picture of her
45:04
as is mister Hummerson's with his uniform on for now.
45:11
Kluk says he feels an urgent need to interview as
45:13
many Holocaust survivors as possible before they're gone. He has
45:18
spent thousands of hours and dipped into his pocket to
45:21
spend thousands of dollars to do this. I take it
45:25
as a duty, and a lot of Holocaust survivors take
45:28
it as a duty to tell their stories, Cluck said.
45:32
Cluk began by tracking down the remaining Holocaust survivors in
45:36
the Czech Republic. He asked everyone he interacted with it
45:40
they knew survivors, and sometimes Cluk drove between nursing homes
45:44
in search of people who lived through World War Two.
45:48
After he interviewed dozens of survivors, he said he interviewed
45:52
survivors of the Therenstadt ghetto known in Czech as Terzen,
45:58
who moved across the globe. In twenty eighteen, Klok planned
46:03
a vacation to the Miami area. Before leaving, he learned
46:08
Ernest Simon, a Holocaust survivor from Klorolov Veri, Czechoslovakia, lived
46:14
in Seth, Florida, Florida, before Clok left for Miami. He
46:19
asked Karlovy Ferries Maya to write a thank you letter,
46:23
which Kluk hand delivered to Simon as a surprise while
46:27
interviewing him on the trip. Cluke said that since that
46:32
trip he has saved his money to travel across Europe,
46:35
North America and Australia for interviews. He also raises money
46:40
through online fundraisers. Klok, who speaks Czech, Slovak, English, and Russian,
46:48
said interviewing survivors for hours in person is important to
46:52
developing relationships and trust. He began by recording survivors with
46:58
a voice recorder before while upgrading to his phone and
47:02
now he uses a Sony video camera. Clok decided around
47:07
twenty twenty two that he would not let distance or
47:10
travel get in the way of reaching survivors. There's not
47:14
that many survivors left that I can be peaky, Kluk said.
47:19
About six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. The
47:24
Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, a nonprofit that
47:29
secures compensation from the German and Austrian governments for Holocaust survivors,
47:34
said in reports last year that about twenty two twenty
47:40
two one hundred and eighty thousand Holocaust survivors were still alive,
47:47
but seventy percent of those survivors would be gone by
47:51
twenty thirty five. A handful of organizations record and collect
47:57
testimonies from Holocaust survivors, including the USC Shawa Foundation. Susan Popla,
48:05
president director of Poplar. Popl E r, Director of the
48:09
collection's program for the Foundation, said the group is grateful
48:13
for people who conduct their own interviews with survivors, as
48:18
those conversations often reveal new details and antidotes. People that
48:24
do it are people who really caribrate the survivors in
48:27
history and the cause. Popula said. Some survivors, like Rosalie Simon,
48:35
said they want to share their experiences with as many
48:38
people as possible. Simon, who is not related to Ernest Simon,
48:43
whom Kluk interviewed in Florida, spoke with klukelus summer in
48:47
New York. Simon, who is from Czechoslovakia, said she was
48:51
twelve years old when she was taken to Auschwitz, where
48:54
she saw her mother, Regina and teenage brother William for
48:58
the last time. Short after arriving. Simon survived. She recalled
49:04
only because a red haired woman discreetly took Simon's place
49:08
in a group destined for a gas chamber because the
49:11
woman decided to die alongside her daughter. It is difficult
49:16
for me to speak of it the past, said Simon,
49:19
now ninety four. The memories are still very painful, but
49:24
feel it is my obligation to carry on the message
49:26
of the Holocaust. Clok hopes to be among those carrying
49:31
on Simon's message and testimonies of other survivors for decades
49:36
to come. Cluk said that around the beginning of twenty
49:41
twenty five, he was interviewing survivors and veters in Melbourne, Australia,
49:46
when he met Annetta Abel's family, who told Klok that
49:50
Abel was hesitant to discuss her time being experimented on
49:55
at Austrowitz by Nazi doctor Josef Mengel. The clerk said
50:00
he was both honored and horrified when Abel told him
50:03
about the forced blood transfusions and injections she and her
50:08
twin sister, Stephanie endured. While visiting Los Angeles in November,
50:14
Cloks had Renee Firestone, who's from Czechoslovakia and survived Auschwitz,
50:19
opened up to him partly because she had not had
50:21
a conversation in check in years. Because of his financial
50:26
constraints and the knowledge that survivors might die before his
50:30
next visit, Clok said he often conducts two or three
50:33
interviews per day on his trips. Sometimes that takes a
50:37
toll on him. In the Miami area, in April, Cluk
50:42
interviewed David Schrechter, who told Klok that one hundred and
50:47
four of his relatives died in the Holocaust. The dread
50:51
of that story and the weight of completing multiple interviews
50:55
resulted in Clok going into the hospital with his skin infection,
50:59
he said was triggered by stress. While the conversations can
51:03
be difficult, Cluk said he tries to find hope by
51:06
asking survivors about their lives after the war. Hearing how
51:11
they moved in new places, invested money, started families, learned
51:16
new languages, and found jobs is inspiring, Kluk said. Kluk
51:23
wants to cast his Gnat Twider and in interview at
51:26
least one thousand Holocaust survivors and World War Two veterans.
51:30
He hopes to make the interviews available to the public,
51:33
a project he said he plans to work on for
51:36
the rest of his life. Building relationships with survivors who
51:41
often have just months to live is emotionally challenging, Cluk said,
51:45
but he's hopeful his work will keep their memories alive.
51:50
They will be with us in the future, not just
51:53
in person, but through testimony they left for us, Kluk said,
51:58
who wonderful interview. An interesting article on the fate of
52:04
Colorado River hangs in balance as political battle brews. The
52:10
fight over the dwindling Colorado River has long been nonpartisan.
52:16
Now an unprecedented meeting of governors over the issue raises
52:21
the political stakes. And there's a picture of a horseshoe
52:25
bend in the kal Rado River along the Colorado in Page, Arizona.
52:33
And there's a picture of a boat going around the
52:35
horseshoe bend by Joshua Partlow. For a life sustaining natural
52:42
resource relied on by tens of millions of people and
52:47
fought over by seven states in two countries, the fate
52:51
of the Colorado River often lies under the national political radar.
52:57
The struggle over how to share the dwindling river has
53:00
mostly been hashed out in the insular world of water
53:03
managers experienced technocrats who often keep their jobs as governors
53:09
come and go. Alliances among Colorado River Basin states cross
53:14
parksan lines, and even though the federal government controls the
53:18
flow from reservoirs, the White Eyes generally stays out of
53:22
the fray that may be changing. Interior Secretary Doug Bergham
53:29
on Friday hosted most of the governors from the basin states,
53:33
a rare, if not unprecedented gathering during the past two
53:36
decades of haggling over how to address the drought and
53:40
warming temperatures that have drained the country's biggest reservoirs to
53:44
near disaster levels. Governors don't really get involved in this stuff, typically,
53:50
said one participant in the negotiations. For months, the states
53:55
of the upper basin Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico,
54:00
and the lower basin Arizona, California, and Nevada have failed
54:04
to reach agreement on new rules over how to divvy
54:06
up a rival that sustains major farming regions and cities
54:10
such as Phoenix and Los Angeles. The meeting with Burgham
54:15
was an attempt to break the standoff ahead of a
54:17
Valentine's Day deadline set by the Interior Department for states
54:22
to reach a deal. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat
54:26
who has pushed for the Trump administration to get more
54:29
involved in finding a solution, described the meeting as productive
54:34
and that all states want to deal and recognize that
54:37
everyone needs to do more. One common refrain, she said,
54:42
was about the need for federal funding to help states
54:45
ease the burden of cutting back on their water use.
54:48
Interior officials showed a clear understanding that that federal funding
54:54
is important and a willingness to work with us to
54:57
secure that money, Hobbs said in an inner While there
55:01
was no breakthrough in the meeting, participants said it was
55:04
useful to talk through the key obstacles to a deal.
55:07
Each date presented its issues, and Burgham moderated a discussion
55:12
on possible solutions. Bergham stressed the urgency of finding agreement
55:16
in coming weeks so states could control their own destiny
55:20
on sharing the river. Participants said this is one of
55:24
the toughest challenges facing the West, but the Department remains
55:29
hopeful that by working together, the seven basin governors can
55:33
help deliver a durable path forward, Burgham said in a
55:37
statement getting governors directly involved raises a new risk of
55:41
injecting national political calculations into an issue that has been
55:46
widely considered relatively non powerson in recent years. The Trump
55:51
Administration's favor doesn't fall evenly across this wide swath of
55:56
the West or the states most stubbornly at odds Colorado
56:01
and Arizona. While both have Democratic governors, President Donald Trump
56:08
has been feuding with Colorado, a state Trump lost three times.
56:13
The state has refused to free a convicted election denial,
56:18
and Trump is vetoed bipartisan legislation to funderwater project. Arizona,
56:23
facing potentially the largest cuts to its water use, is
56:27
a key swing state and one Trump won twice, But
56:32
if the Colorado River turns into into a partisan prize fight,
56:36
it is unclear who would win. Colorado's upper basin allies
56:41
include powerful Republican Center senators on natural resources issues in
56:46
Wyoming and Utah, and for the past few years, Arizona
56:51
has been lined with its neighbor California, which uses more
56:54
of the river's water than any other state and is
56:57
often a Trump administration nemesis. California Governor Gavin Newsomb Democrat,
57:03
was only one of the seven governors who did not
57:06
attend the meeting. Newsom had a family event out of state,
57:10
said the state's Neutral Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who attended
57:15
in his place. I've been pleased that this really has
57:19
not evolved as a partisan issue, Crowford said in an interview.
57:23
There was really no discussion on any of the broader
57:26
political issues that might debad us. Crawford said. Many governors
57:30
talked about how bad it would be if the dispute
57:34
devolved into litigation. They also discussed the roughly one billion
57:38
dollars that Interior could potentially allocate to facilitate a deal.
57:44
In recent months, the governors of the Upper Basin states
57:47
have met among themselves to discuss the Colorado River issue,
57:51
according to people close to the negotiations, but the wider
57:55
group has not convened. It is pretty unprecedented, said John
58:01
regional policy manager with Western Resource Advocates and environmental nonprofit group.
58:07
It shows the elevation of where things stand and how
58:10
important it is for the states to reach an agreement.
58:14
The Interior Department has urged the states to make a deal,
58:17
but has not threatened specific consequences if they don't. The
58:21
Bureau of Reclamation this month published an environmental review of
58:25
Colorado River operations that showed that deep cuts in water
58:29
use would probably be unavoidable. And with that in today's
58:34
reading of the Washington Post for Saturday, the last day
58:38
of January, January thirty first, twenty twenty six, Please stay
58:44
warm in these temperatures. Please continue listening to RADIOI. I
58:49
will be gone next Thursday and next Saturday. Bye,