Transcript

4.23.26 · Washington Post

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Thursday,
0:05
April the twenty third of twenty twenty six. Your reader
0:10
is Alastainer with the reminder the radio eyes for those
0:14
blind with difficulties reading or holding printed material. And I
0:20
start with the front page of today's paper, of which
0:24
the top one four six is taken up an overhead
0:31
view of the White House with the construction site of
0:35
the former East wing of the White House. Oh, as
0:39
seen from the top of the Washington Monument. And you
0:43
see this completely construction area with the cranes on the background.
0:50
Behind it the front lawn, lots of green trees, and
0:57
very in viral looking White House. And that article is
1:03
entitled Trump's secret terms for ball room donors revealed by
1:10
Jonathan Edwards and Dan Diamond. The judge ordered release of
1:16
agreement governing gifts for the four hundred million dollar project
1:24
to the right of that in the last two columns
1:26
six months to rid hermus of minds. Pentagon assesses oil
1:32
prices could be high late into the year. Unpopular conflict
1:37
has fractured Trump's base by Dan Lemouth, Noah Robertson, and
1:45
Ellen Nakashima, and below that on the right hand side,
1:52
Trump weighs tradeoffs that gave Obama grief. Sticking points are
1:58
sanctions in Richmond, risk of empowering Iran by Michael Bernbaub.
2:08
Below the article on the ballroom. On the far left,
2:12
no payoff for GOP in tit for tat map battle.
2:20
Trump team defends redistricting offensive in wake of Virginia defeat
2:26
by Isaac Arnsteff. To the right of that and in
2:32
the middle China Titans grip on AI firms that try
2:37
to exit by Rebecca Tahan and Lyricle And below that
2:44
is a picture of our Secretary of Health and Education,
2:52
Robert F.
2:52
Speaker 2: Kennedy.
2:54
Speaker 1: He's being grilled on the hill to top GOP Senators
2:59
who are our physicians pressed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy
3:04
Junior about his controversial record on vaccines in their first
3:09
public meeting in over seven months. And to the right
3:15
of that, as a Navy family member, Phelan out as
3:20
Secretary of Navy after thirteen months. Officials say billionaire and
3:26
Trumpdona clashed repeatedly with headseth by Dan lamonth Tera Copp
3:33
and Noah Robertson first article, Trump fought to keep the
3:41
ballroom fundraising contract secret.
3:45
Speaker 2: Here's what's in it.
3:47
Speaker 1: The agreement governinging hundreds of million dollars in private donations
3:54
was kept secret until a watchdog group sued and a
4:00
judge ordered it disclosed. And there is a picture from
4:04
the opposite end of the White House at the west
4:07
wing side construction cranes loom over the area where the
4:12
East wing of the White House once stood. By Jonathan
4:18
Edwards and Dan Diamond. The Trump Administration's contract governing hundreds
4:25
of millions of dollars in private donations to build President
4:29
Donald Trump's White House ballroom shields donor's identities, excludes the
4:35
White House from conflict of interest protections and was disclosed
4:39
only after a lawsuit and a judge's order. Records obtained
4:44
by The Washington Post show the agreement establishing the legal
4:49
and financial framework for the planned four hundred million dollars
4:53
undertaking the most significant change to the White House in decades,
4:58
was signed in early October, less than two weeks before
5:03
demolation crews started destroying the East wing. Public Citizen, a
5:09
government watchdog organization, sued to obtain the contract between the
5:14
White House, the National Park Service, and the Trust for
5:18
the National Mall, the nonprofit managing donations for the project,
5:24
and shared the document with the Post. The Trump Administration's
5:30
failure to disclose this contract was flatly unlawful, said Wendy Lieu,
5:37
a public citizen attorney and lead council on the lawsuit,
5:42
filed after the Park Service and the Interior Department failed
5:46
to fulfill a public records request for the document, adding
5:51
the American people are entitled to transparency over this multi
5:56
million dollar project. The secrecy surround funding the contract mirrors
6:01
the administration's broader approach to the project. White House officials
6:06
have declined to disclose the total amount raised, the identities
6:11
of all donors, or, until recently, basic details about the
6:16
building's design. Court documents show Trump knew he was going
6:21
to tear down the East Wing at least two months
6:24
before doing so, but he never told the public. The
6:28
contract provisions, taken together, allow wealthy donors with business before
6:34
the federal government to contribute anonymously to a sitting Presentstan's
6:40
pet project, while exempting the White House from key conflict
6:45
of interest safetyguards and limiting scrutiny by Congress and the public.
6:51
White House spokesman Davis Ingall said in a statement defending
6:56
the administration's process.
7:00
Speaker 2: Trump is working.
7:00
Speaker 1: Twenty four to seven to make America greats again, including
7:04
his historic beautification of the White House at no taxpayer expense.
7:12
White House officials said not publicly posting the agreement was
7:17
standard practice for contracts involving the executive residents, citing security concerns.
7:25
They also said offering anonymity for donors was standard for
7:29
significant projects, and framed the use of private funds as a.
7:34
Speaker 2: Boon for taxpayers.
7:36
Speaker 1: The administration did not respond to questions about failing to
7:40
respond to public records request for the contract or fighting
7:45
the release of the document in court. Trump has said
7:48
that the administration has raised about three hundred million dollars
7:52
for the project. The contract resembles templates used by the
7:58
Park Service for more routine fundraising partnerships, with several notable differences.
8:06
Provisions peppered throughout the agreement prevent the signatories from revealing
8:11
the identities of anonymous donors one and two a review
8:16
process for detecting conflicts of interest with the Park in
8:20
Service and Interior Department makes no mention of doing the
8:24
same for the President, other White House officials, or the
8:28
fourteen other executive departments he oversees dozens of the projects.
8:34
Known donors, which include Amazon, Lockheed, Martin, Pallanteer and Google
8:41
collectively have billions of dollars in federal contracts before the administration.
8:47
Speaker 2: In parentheses.
8:49
Speaker 1: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the post in parentheses. Critics
8:55
have argued that allowing anonymous gifts to a sitting president's
8:59
signature price creates precisely the kind of conflict the contract
9:04
itself states it seeks to prevent. This document reveals that
9:11
anonymous donations are the heart of this agreement, said John Golinger,
9:17
a lawyer and public policy advocate with Public Citizen, adding
9:22
who are these anonymous donors.
9:25
Speaker 2: And what are they hiding.
9:28
Speaker 1: Charles Tiefer, a retired law professor at the University of
9:32
Baltimore who spent three years on congressionally authorized commission scrutinizing
9:38
wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the innimity provisions
9:45
potentially set up the Trump administration to block congressional increase
9:50
into the project's funding. If Congress knocks on the door,
9:55
the White House is going to slam it shut and
9:57
say you're not allowed to know these owners. Tiefer said
10:02
the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions
10:07
about the agreement.
10:09
Speaker 2: The Trust for the.
10:10
Speaker 1: National Mall said the Park Service asked to accept and
10:14
manage private donations for the project, and that is not
10:19
involved in the fundraising, planning, design, contracting, or execution of
10:24
the ballroom. Spokeswoman Julie Moore said in an email, donations
10:31
are subject to the same vetting process the Trust uses
10:34
for other park projects, and donor names are disclosed in
10:38
its annual report, website and tax filings, she added, except
10:44
those who don't want to be. Moore said, some donors
10:48
may wish to remain anonymous, and we respect donor wishes
10:52
while in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
10:58
Speaker 2: The Trust has.
10:59
Speaker 1: Performed similar role on previous White House projects, including First
11:03
Lady Milania Trump's Rose Garden restoration and tennis pavilion during
11:08
her husband's first term. The contract excludes the White House
11:13
from its conflict of interest review, which explicitly obliged obligates
11:18
the Trust in the Park Service to ensure that fundraising
11:21
does not give rise to an appearance of a loss
11:25
of integrity or impartiality, but the executive residence at the
11:30
White House, The party responsible for identifying and referring donors
11:34
to the trust, and which the Trump administration has said
11:37
in court filings, is helping manage the overall Ballroom project,
11:42
is not required to face that scrutiny. Kathleen Carlark, a
11:48
government ethics lawyer and law professor at Washington University in
11:52
Saint Louis, called the agreements review process nothing more than
11:57
a sham because it mandates the Trust to conduct a
12:01
narrowly scoped conflict of interest examination while ignoring the vast
12:07
majority of the federal government. Meanwhile, companies and individuals could
12:12
be anonymously donating tens of millions of dollars as they
12:16
stand to gain billion dollar government contracts, want to avoid
12:21
a Justice Department criminal investigation or rid their companies of
12:26
onerous label or environmental regulations. She said the contract was
12:33
signed as work on the project Ballroom project was already underway.
12:40
Crews have begun clearing trees and foliage from White House grounds.
12:44
In September, twelve days after it was signed, demolition crews
12:49
started tearing.
12:50
Speaker 2: Down the East Wing.
12:51
Speaker 1: The existence of the contract was not disclosed at the time. Trump,
12:57
who says the ballroom is needed to host BPS at
13:01
larger functions, is pushing to finish it before the end
13:05
of his second term in twenty twenty nine. Congressional Democrats
13:11
have pressed the Trust for months to share more information
13:15
about the project. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts and
13:21
colleagues send a letter in January demanding to know how
13:24
much money had been raised, whether donors had been promised
13:28
special access or other perks, and whether the organization had
13:33
internal controls to prevent preferential treatment. The Trust declined to
13:39
disclose the amount raised, but said it was hearing adhering
13:44
to all Park Service guidelines. Senator Richard BLUMENTHALCRAT of Connecticut
13:53
and the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and
13:56
Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, demanded answers from dozens
14:03
of ballroom donors and contractors about their involvement, and questioned
14:07
the rapidly changing in secret terms of Trump's planned ballroom.
14:14
He also sent letters to several people who attended a
14:17
White House dinner in October, which Trump held to honor
14:21
ballroom donors. Bloomenthal asked whether they had contributed and under
14:27
what terms, noting that the administration had acknowledged it had
14:31
not publicly identified all donors, Blumenthal said in a statement
14:38
to the Post. At every turn, President Trump has sought
14:43
to conceal the facts about his monstrous, multimillion dollar ballroom.
14:48
Speaker 2: His administration has.
14:49
Speaker 1: Kept the contract under wraps, the identities of big donor
14:53
dollar secret, and the American people in the dark about
14:56
what big corporations have to gain by funding this boondoggle. Blumenthal,
15:04
Warren and other Democrats have introduced legislation to man anonymous
15:08
donations for the ballroom and other projects on the White
15:11
House grounds. Warren told the Post there's only one good
15:17
explanation for while Trump ultra wealthy ballroom donors want to
15:21
stay anonymous, they have something to hide. A federal judge
15:27
last month also criticized the Trump administration's approach to soliciting
15:32
private donors through its contract with the Park Service, calling
15:36
it a rude Goldberg contraction that allowed the president to
15:42
avoid Congressional oversight while building the ballroom. US District Judge
15:47
Richard Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled
15:53
last month that construction must be halted on the ballroom
15:56
until Congress authorizes the project. The Trump administration has appealed
16:02
that ruling, and a three judge penel at the US
16:05
Court of Appeals for the DC's Circuit has allowed construction
16:09
to continue while the case proceeds.
16:12
Speaker 2: The White House.
16:13
Speaker 1: Has repeatedly declined to release the government contracts with the
16:17
private companies designing, engineering, and building the ballroom top on
16:24
the right hand side. Clearing straight of Hormuz of mines
16:29
could take sixth months, Pentagon tells Congress. The Pentagon assessment,
16:36
shared in a classified briefing for lawmakers, suggests gasoline and
16:41
oil prices could remain elevated through the midterm elections. Bundane Lemouth,
16:48
Noah Robertson, and Ellen Nakashima it could take six months
16:53
to fully clear the straight of Hormuz of mines deployed
16:57
by the Iranian military, and any such a operation is
17:00
unlikely to be carried out until the US War of
17:03
the run ends. The Pentagon has informed Congress an assessment
17:09
that means the conflict's economic impact could could extend late
17:14
into this year or beyond. A senior Defense Department official
17:19
shared the estimate during a classified briefing Tuesday for members
17:23
of the House Armed Services Committee. Said three officials familiar
17:28
with the discussion. The timeline met with frustration by Democrats
17:33
and Republicans alike. Two of these people said, is the
17:38
latest sign that gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated
17:42
long after any peace deal is reached, beyond any economic
17:49
ramifications such as an outcome. Also could have significant implications
17:54
politically in the US, particularly for Republicans as members mid
18:00
term elections draw neil. President Donald Trump's decision to start
18:05
the war has proved unpopular with most Americans' recent polls
18:09
have shown, and it has fractured his political base, which
18:14
voted him into office based in part on his repeated
18:17
promises to avoid foreign military entanglements and focus more on
18:24
domestic issues. On Wednesday, the average cost of a gallon
18:29
of gas in the United States was four dollars and
18:32
two cents, according to Triple A, up from two dollars
18:37
and ninety eight cents just before the war began in February.
18:41
Trump is vacillated on the question of when gas prices
18:45
may come down, saying this month that they could be
18:49
the same, or.
18:50
Speaker 3: May come down or maybe a little bit higher by
18:56
the mid terms, before declaring that they could be much
19:00
or before the election.
19:02
Speaker 1: His secret Treasury Secretary Scott percent said it could be
19:07
late September before we can have three dollar gas again.
19:14
Three officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of
19:18
the discussions sensitivity, said lawmakers were told that Iran may
19:23
have implaced twenty.
19:25
Speaker 2: Or more minds in and around.
19:27
Speaker 1: The Strait of Homews, a vital waterway for the movement
19:31
of Middle Eastern oil through the Persian Gulf. Some were
19:34
floated remotely using GPS technology, which has made it difficult
19:39
for us to detect the minds as they are deployed,
19:42
the senior defense official told lawmakers. Others are believed to
19:47
have been laid by Iranian forces using small votes. The
19:52
Pentagon declined to address questions about the military's assessment for
19:57
how long it could take to clear the mines. A spokesman,
20:01
Sean Parnell issued a brief statement acknowledging that the disclosure
20:06
was made in a classified briefing for lawmakers and calling
20:10
the information inaccurate. By deciding to publish these false claims,
20:17
the Washington Post has made clear they care more about
20:20
advancing an agenda than truth. The statement says US Central Command,
20:28
which overseas operations in the region declined to comment. The
20:32
White House referred questions to the Pentagon. The stifling of
20:36
shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as
20:39
an enduring flashpoint in the war, with Ran declaring it
20:43
closed and even attacking some ships as a way of
20:46
inflicting plane on the global economy and the Trump administration,
20:51
as Washington and Tehran each pressed their demands to end
20:55
the wall. Before the war, about twenty percent of the
20:59
world's oil moved through the strait, with Japan, South Korea, China,
21:03
and other Asian nations among those heavily reliant on Middle
21:08
Eastern energy. Trump has insisted that Iran end its nuclear program,
21:14
turn over all of its highly enriched uranium, and fully
21:19
reopened the strait, threatening further military action if Tehran does
21:24
not agree. Iran has said it will not continue negotiating
21:28
with US officials unless Trump ends a naval blockade he
21:33
imposed this month to choke Iran's oil based economy. Iran
21:39
began laying mines in the strait in March as US
21:43
and Israeli forces continued their attacks on the country, a
21:46
detail reported earlier by CNN. Trump in return, Or in
21:52
turn threatened that Iran could face consequences at a level
21:58
never before seen unless it removed any minds that may
22:03
have been placed. The Pentagon in subsequent days highlighted an
22:08
effort to attack Iranian vessels that could implace mines. Defense
22:13
Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking on social media, said US forces
22:18
were destroying those ships with ruthless precision and that the
22:22
United States will not allow terrorists to hold the Strait
22:26
of Hormus hostage. Iran's deputy Foreign Minister, Majid Tique Rabanci,
22:34
responded by denying that Iran was laying any minds. The
22:38
New York Times, citing US officials, reported this month that
22:42
it appears around is unable to find all the minds
22:45
that laid The Pentagon's latest assessment was shared with lawmakers
22:52
after Trump said on social media that Aran, with the
22:56
help of the USA, has removed or is removing all
22:59
sea minds from the Strait of Hormuz. That assertion, made
23:04
to Friday amid a flurry of messages posted by the
23:06
President on his truth social platform, coincided with his apparent
23:11
efforts to calm markets and project confidence that had deal
23:15
to the end of the wall was near. Trump on
23:20
Tuesday said that he was extending a two week ceasefire indefinitely.
23:25
Auran's leadership, he said, is seriously fractured and needs to
23:31
come up with a unified proposal. His comments came amid
23:35
indications that Iranian officials were reluctant to meet for another
23:40
round of negotiations. CNN reported in March that an assessment
23:45
by the Defense Intelligence Agency found that Iran could keep
23:49
the straight closed anywhere from one to six months, with
23:53
mans relevant as one factor. Parnell, the Pentagon spokesman, told
23:58
the network that a six month closure of the Strait
24:02
of Hormuz is an impossibility and completely unacceptable to Hegseth.
24:08
It is unclear what planned the US military would implement
24:12
to go about a mind clearing operation. Officials have raised
24:16
the possibility of using helicopters, drones, and explosive ordnance disposable divers.
24:25
Some commercial vessels moved through the Strait of Hormuza this
24:29
month during the seat fire, but shipping traffic against all
24:32
this past weekend, after Iranian forces opened fire on tanker
24:36
ships and declared the waterway closed again. Richard Nephew an
24:42
expert on Iranian diplomacy and senior researcher at Columbia University,
24:47
said the six month time frame to clear the strait
24:51
of mines is likely to jot oil and gas markets.
24:55
Given the concern insurance stip owners and captains will have
24:59
a moving through through a mind seer lane, You're not
25:03
going to have many people wanting to run that risk,
25:07
Nephew said. The presence of minds might not cause a
25:11
total disruption, he said, but the consequence of a two
25:16
track state being partially unusable could be significant. An in
25:22
conjunction with that article about the Navy and the strait
25:26
of horm mows, John Phelan forced out as Navy's secretary
25:32
after thirteen months. The billionaire was a significant contributor to
25:38
President Donald Trump's campaign, but official said he clashed repeatedly
25:43
with Defense Secretary Pete hegseth By, Dan Lemouth, Terror Copp
25:50
and Noah Robertson.
25:54
Speaker 2: Secretary.
25:54
Speaker 1: Navy Secretary John Phalan will depart the Trump administration effective immediately,
26:01
Official said Wednesday evening. An abrupt exit after thirteen two
26:07
millis tumultuous months at the Pentagon. Sean Parnell, a spokesman
26:14
for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the news on social media,
26:19
saying that heg Seth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg
26:23
wished Phelan well. Five officials said that Phelan, a billionaire
26:28
art collector and fundraiser for President Donald Trump's re election campaign,
26:34
was forced out after repeated clashes with both hag Seth
26:38
and Feinberg over his management of shipbuilding and a variety
26:42
of other issues. One administration officials, who like some others,
26:47
spoke on the condition of an inemnity because of the
26:50
issue sensitivity, said Phelan was asked to step down. Spokespeople
26:57
for heg Seth and Feinberg did not respond questions about
27:01
the move. Spokespeople for Phelan and the White House referred
27:05
questions back to.
27:06
Speaker 2: Head Seth's office.
27:08
Speaker 1: Navy Under Secretary Hung Chou, a Navy veteran and former
27:13
candidate for House and Senate seats in Virginia, will become
27:17
the Services acting Secretary. Parnell said in his announcement. Hegseth
27:23
has ferd Chow for the role for some time. Official
27:26
said Phalan's exit is the latest departure of his senior
27:31
political appointees so far this year, after Trump, contrary to
27:35
his first term as president, mostly resisted making said to
27:39
moves early on in this administration. Others who have been
27:44
hosted or resigned under pressure since the beginning of March
27:48
include Homeland Security Secretary Christie Ohnom, Attorney General Pam Bonding,
27:54
and Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez Demmo.
27:58
Speaker 2: Hegseth, by contrast, has.
28:00
Speaker 1: Overseen a near continuous purge of military's most senior ranks.
28:05
The high profile oasters, often made with little public explanation,
28:11
include the top generals and admirals of every branch of
28:14
service except for the Marine Corps, several military lawyers, and
28:19
even the head of the Army Chaplain's Corps. A disproportionate
28:24
number of those he's removed are women and other minorities.
28:30
Disputes between Phelan, Hegseth, and Finberg are part of a
28:34
broader pattern of infighting that has occurred during heg Seth's
28:38
tenure leading the Pentagon. The Defense Secretary is also applished
28:43
repeatedly with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll over Hegseth's moves to
28:48
fire some generals and block others from promotion. Parnell, in
28:54
his statement earlier this month, claimed that Hegseth maintains excellent
29:00
working relationships with the secretaries of every military service branch,
29:06
but numerous officials said that is not the case. One
29:11
US official familiar with the issue said Wednesday night, they've
29:15
been out to get Driscoll and.
29:17
Speaker 2: Phalan for a long time now.
29:21
Speaker 1: One source of disagreement between heg Seth and Phalan centered
29:24
on Phelan's initial chief of Staff, John Harrison, and the
29:29
manner in which he exercised his authority inside the Pentagon.
29:33
Officials familiar with the matter said Harrison was hosted by
29:37
heg Seth in October, just after Chile was confirmed by
29:41
the Senate as the Services Under Secretary. Charles supported the move.
29:46
Official said Harrison and Chow did not respond to requests
29:51
for comment. Even after months of internal tension, the timing
29:56
of Valan's departure still managed to catch defense officials surprise.
30:01
Those familiar with the matter said Phelan, they noted, had
30:05
visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon to meet with the
30:08
Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, just hours before
30:13
his departure was announced. In a statement, Wednesday evening, Senator
30:19
Jack Reid, Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate
30:23
Armed Services Committee, called Phelan's departure troubling. Reid said, arguing
30:33
that I am concerned it is yet another example of
30:37
the instability and dysfunction that have come to define the
30:41
Department of Defense under President Trump and Secretary Hexcess, adding
30:46
this kind of disruption at the top sends the wrong
30:50
signal to our sailors and marines, to.
30:53
Speaker 2: Our allies, and to our adversaries.
30:57
Speaker 1: A spokesperson for Senator Roger Wicca, Mississippi, the committee's Republican chair,
31:03
did not immediately respond to reach for comment. The administration
31:09
has gone increasingly frustrated that the lack of progress from
31:13
Falan's office in turning around the American shipbuilding industry, a
31:18
top priority of Trump's, three US officials said. One of
31:23
them said that many of the Navy programs were behind
31:26
scheduled and that Balan had failed to make major changes
31:30
or progress while in the role. Feinberg had taken greater
31:34
control over some shipbuilding programs, in an unusual sign of
31:38
the Pentagon's top leadership becoming directly involved in the service's
31:42
marquee purchases. There was a sense that Navy leadership resisting
31:47
the Trump administration's intended direction for the service that contributed
31:52
to Phalan's removal, the official said, noting that others should
31:56
interpret the secretary's removal as a warning. Hunter Stiers, who
32:02
served as maritime strategist to Navy's Secretary Carlos del Toro
32:07
during the Biden administration, said that Phelan committed a grave
32:13
strategic as well as political error this week by signaling
32:18
his openness to outsourcing production of the Navy's warships to
32:23
shipyards abroad. Everything's on the table, Phelan said during an
32:29
appearance at the Sea Air Space Conference outside Washington, according
32:34
to The Navy Times, adding we just need to look
32:38
at it, understand it, understand the implications behind it, and
32:43
decide if we think that makes sense or not. Stires
32:47
said the comments directly undercut a biased partisan strategy for
32:53
shipbuilding championed by the Trump administration that aims to incentivize
32:58
shipbuilders to invest in modernizing and expanding U S shipyards.
33:03
Phalen's exit, Steyers said, should be read as a stark
33:08
and welcome signal that outsourcing US naval construction is and
33:13
must remain a non starter. There also was tension between
33:19
heg Seth and Phalen after heg Seth directed the Navy
33:22
Secretary in December to determine whether Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat
33:27
of Arizona, a retired Navy captain, should face repercussions for
33:33
appearing in a video that advised service members of.
33:36
Speaker 2: Their duty not to follow illegal orders. Officials familiar with the.
33:41
Speaker 1: Matter said heg Seth had Palin review whether Kelly's involvement
33:47
in the video should merrit any action by the Pentagon.
33:50
Whalen provided his recommendation to heg Seth in mid December,
33:55
though the Navy did not disclose publicly what he advised.
33:59
Speaker 2: Heg Seth later.
34:01
Speaker 1: Unknowns the Pentagon was escalating the review into a full
34:05
command investigation, which was later blocked by a federal court.
34:10
The Fence Department said it intends to appeal the decision.
34:16
Continue with Iran, Trump eyes Iran deal with many of
34:21
the trade offs. He blasted Obama for accepting. As US
34:27
en boys pursue peace talks, the president confronts persistent sticking
34:32
points one sanctions relief, two enrichment limits, and three the
34:37
risk of empowering Tehran by Michael Birnbaum, Beings and frozen assets.
34:45
Speaker 2: May be handed back to Iran.
34:48
Speaker 1: Agreements to limit Tehran's nuclear program may eventually expile, and
34:53
some of the same hardline leaders who crushed nationwide protests
34:57
in January could end up better resourced than they were before.
35:02
President Donald Trump unleashed crushing airstrikes more than seven weeks ago.
35:09
After a decade of fiercely attacking a previous deal with Iran,
35:13
Trump pursuing away out of a war he launched, has
35:17
authorized US negotiators to consider a bargain that involves many
35:22
of the same trade offs one of his predecessors confronted,
35:28
though talks appear paused for now following Trump's decision on
35:32
Tuesday to extend the ceasefire indefinitely. While i Ran comes
35:37
up with a unified proposal, the President will likely face
35:42
the same challenges no matter when negotiators eventually sit down
35:47
with each other. With the conflict on a hold, an
35:51
uneasy truce could solidify, but shipping through the Strait of
35:56
Hamuz has not returned to normal levels, a mere to
35:59
continuing un u S blockade of Iranian ports and Iran's
36:03
insertion of control over the shipping lanes that has created
36:07
a drag on global energy markets. Iran retains control over
36:12
its trove of highly enriched uranium, which Trump has previously
36:17
said is unacceptable in potential terms of a deal. The
36:23
potential terms of a deal have Trump making efforts to
36:28
store up his hardline support as Iran. Hawkes warned that
36:32
the President should not be too eager to strike a
36:35
deal pallets of cash without the palettes. Peter Dorin, a
36:42
senior adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies,
36:46
wrote on x reviving a long use Republican criticism of
36:50
parrech Barack Obama's Iran deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
36:55
Action or jcpoa comprehension plan of action to attack the
37:04
proposals currently under destruction under discussion. Trump and other Republican
37:10
critics of that twenty fifteen deal have spent the past
37:13
decade blasting it for handling, for handing pallets of cash
37:18
to Iran, of reference to one point seven billion dollars
37:22
that the Obama administration agreed to send to Tehran. That
37:26
was the resolution of a decade's old business dispute. Obama
37:31
administration officials later acknowledged they hoped the money would ensure
37:36
that Iranians held to their side of the bargain. Trump
37:39
pulled the United States out of the agreement in twenty eighteen. Now,
37:48
the Trump administration is floating the possibility of unfreezing twenty
37:52
billion dollars in part proceeds from Iranian oil sales that
37:57
sations have locked up in banks around.
37:59
Speaker 2: The world world.
38:01
Speaker 1: The money would be a barberining chip to secure around
38:04
stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But O thought elements of
38:08
the deal are still in question, including points that unsettle
38:13
some of those who criticized the earlier agreement. They are
38:17
running into the same fundamental hurdle that shaped the long
38:21
decade plus and negotiations that finally led to the JCPOA,
38:27
which is that the Iranians are completely immovable on the
38:31
question of enrichment of nuclear fuel, said Suzanne Maloney, vice
38:37
president of the Brookings Institution, who is an Iran expert.
38:42
Speaker 2: Iran has long denied that it.
38:44
Speaker 1: Seeks a nuclear weapon, but argues that it has a
38:48
right under international law to enrich uranium or other nuclear
38:52
materials to run a civilian nuclear program. The Iranians are
38:59
prepared to accept certain compromises in terms of timelines and
39:04
level of enrichment and what happens to the stockpile, Maloney said,
39:09
adding that they are completely unwilling to simply give up enrichment,
39:15
and that was one of the core critiques of the
39:19
twenty fifteen deal. Trump publicly insists that his deal won't
39:25
share the flaws he denounced in his predecessor's agreement. The
39:30
twenty fifteen deal was a guaranteed road to a nuclear weapon,
39:35
which will not and cannot happen with the deal we're
39:39
working on, Trump wrote on Social Truth Social on Monday,
39:44
adding the deal all caps that we are making with
39:48
Iran will be far better all caps. If a deal
39:54
happens under Trump all caps, it will guarantee peace, secure, purity,
40:00
and safety not only for Israel and the Middle East,
40:03
but for Europe, America and everywhere else. It will be
40:08
something that the entire world will be proud of, Trump
40:12
wrote on Truth Social. The political risks, however, are significant,
40:18
both for Trump and for Vice President J. D. Bantce,
40:22
who has taken a leading role in the negotiations. As
40:25
he contemplates his desire to win the presidency in twenty
40:30
twenty eight. The Vice President, longer proponent of maintaining a
40:35
restrained approach to US military action around the world, was
40:40
among the most skeptical of launching a war with Iran
40:43
in the lead up to the February attacks by the
40:46
US in Israel. Now he has been charged with ending
40:50
it and potentially owning whatever painful compromises may be necessary.
40:57
Speaker 2: The White House efforts to.
40:58
Speaker 1: Seek a deal have put a big supporters in a
41:01
tricky place, especially while money is being floated as a
41:05
bargaining chip, you fall into a slippery slope where you
41:10
forget the money is fungible, and so you know whether
41:14
it's twenty million or ten billion or six billion. In
41:18
the end, if it's a regime that is not giving
41:21
you a concession on a key illicit activity like sponsoring
41:26
terrorism or producing something of a threat, there will always
41:30
be an argument that did you free up x amount
41:33
of money here to pay for this, said Richard Goldenberg,
41:37
who worked on Iran issues in front first Trump administration
41:41
and worked on Trump's National Energy Dominance Council for part
41:45
of last year. Goldberg said, then you free up that
41:51
amount of money over there to pay for something else,
41:54
and so you know, there will always be an argument
41:57
that you're indirectly subsidizing the activities that they have not halted.
42:04
But Goldberg said that if Trump can secure the highly
42:08
enriched uranium and dismantle a deeply buried under nuclear buried
42:14
nuclear facility under construction at an Iranian site known as
42:18
Pickaxe Mountain, that's pretty game changing. You basically, at least
42:23
for now and for the next several years, have eliminated
42:26
the nuclear threat that Iran proses.
42:31
Speaker 2: In addition to the.
42:32
Speaker 1: Nuclear issue, Trump wants a new deal to tackle issues
42:36
that Trump's negotiators, let me repeat that or restart. In
42:42
addition to the nuclear issue, Trump wants a new deal
42:46
to tackle issues that Obama's negotiators left aside. The Obama
42:52
era deal was always limited in scope to Iran's nuclear program.
42:58
It left untouched Iran's miss program and the regime's support
43:02
for regional proxies, including Hamas and Hezblah, which Trump has
43:07
said he wants a new deal to cover. The president
43:12
has also said he hopes to bar Aran from any
43:15
nuclear enrichment at all if Iran were to agree to
43:19
a temporary moratorium. That would be stricter than the twenty
43:23
fifteen deal, which allows Aran to maintain its civilian enrichment
43:28
program for use in its power plants. The ass spy
43:33
Iran are going to be greater than they were in
43:36
twenty fifteen, in part because the administration is trying to
43:40
do so much, said Wendy Sherman, who was the lead
43:44
US negotiator with Iran under Obama. She added, It's not
43:49
clear to me what Trump's bottom lines are. Is it
43:52
a stockpile, is it in Richmond? Is it missiles? Is
43:56
it proxies? Is it the Strait of Hormus? If he
44:00
gets a suspension of ten, fifteen, twenty years of enrichment,
44:04
we did not get a suspension of the enrichment program,
44:08
so that would be more than we got on that element,
44:10
Sherman said, but added.
44:13
Speaker 2: How will it be verified?
44:15
Speaker 1: It's totally unclear to me or anybody probably to him,
44:18
and what will Trump have to give in return? Complicating
44:23
matters further, the world has changed in the eleven years
44:27
since Secretary of Straight John F.
44:29
Speaker 2: Carey.
44:30
Speaker 1: An Iranian foreign Minister Mohammad Javid sharf Strode smiling out
44:35
of a genteel hotel in Vienna. Having struck a deal
44:39
after years of talks, Iran agreed in twenty fifteen to
44:43
accept strict limits on its nuclear enrichment in exchange for
44:47
gradual relief from economic sanctions. Back then, Iran had no
44:53
highly enriched uranium. In the years since Trump pulled out
44:57
oft the JCPOA, it built to stockpile of about nine
45:02
hundred and seventy pounds of uranium enriched to sixty percent,
45:07
just short of weapons grade level, according to the International
45:11
Atomic Energy Agency. Iran's current government is also more hardlined
45:17
than the reforma's leaders who made the deal with Obama.
45:22
Tehran has been deeply weakened by aggressive military action over
45:26
the past year, first the twelve day war with Israel
45:31
in June that was punctuated by Trump's strikes on nuclear facilities,
45:36
and now the US war that Trump says has destroyed
45:39
much of Iran's military, along with its top ranks of leaders,
45:44
its regional proxies hamas, and has a far weaker a
45:48
major bacco. Russia is distracted by the war in Ukraine
45:53
that could soften the ground for a deal, but Iran
45:56
two has bargaining chips. The Iranian regime has demonstrated its
46:01
staying power. It has unleashed a powerful new ability to
46:05
throttle shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, driving up
46:09
energy prices around the world, including the United States. Facing
46:14
withering US attacks, some hardliners in Tehran may be more
46:18
inclined to seek a nuclear weapon, increasing pressure on Washington
46:23
to address the uranium stock power. There are also dynamics
46:28
that may make Tehran less inclined to strike a deal,
46:32
said Richard Nephew, a former State Department official who helped
46:36
craft the sanctions regime against Orian under the Obama administration
46:42
that built pressure for an agreement. In a funny way,
46:47
the war almost releases some of the pressure on Iran,
46:50
said Nephew, who is now a senior research Skala at
46:53
Columbia University. Nephew said, they have demonstrated that they can
47:00
take a punch and that they can respond accordingly, rather
47:04
than fearing what form US pressure on them might take,
47:07
he said. And the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the more
47:11
hard lined part of RAN's ruling elite, is now firmly
47:15
at the fall, eliminating the tension with moderates that previously
47:20
created space for negotiations. Nephew is a proponent of the
47:25
twenty fifteen deal, but he said that he was leery
47:28
of striking a fresh agreement with the new group of
47:31
Iranian leaders. Nephew said, I'm not so sure. It's a
47:36
fabulously great idea that after the January protest, we should
47:42
be looking to do major sanctions relief for the Iranian
47:45
government that killed all those people. And on to redistricting.
47:52
Trump team defends redistricting push as GOP faces limited gains
47:59
after Junior voat pushes seats towards Democrats, Republicans turned to
48:04
Florida and the courts to clawback and edge by Isaac Arnsdorf.
48:11
President Donald Trump's political team is defending its push to
48:15
redraw congressional districts mid decade. A break from historical practice
48:21
that provoked partisan retaliation cost hundreds of millions of dollars
48:26
and so far has left Republicans no better position to
48:30
retain the hosts. Virginia voters set back Trump's effort on
48:35
Tuesday by approving a new map that shifts four seats
48:40
towards Democrats. Some Republicans are now openly questioning the wisdom
48:45
of opening this new front and partisan trench warfare since
48:49
Trump pressured the Texas GOP last year to read district
48:53
for a second time. Since the latest census, the ensuing
48:58
votes between blue and red states have proved Democrats prospects
49:03
in nine districts nationwide compared to eight or nine for Republicans,
49:08
endangering GOP control of Congress as polls show public confidence
49:13
declining in Trump's handling of the economy, on.
49:17
Speaker 2: The war in Iran. When you go down the path of.
49:22
Speaker 1: Starting to do these things mid decade, these are the
49:26
kinds of outcomes you're going to run into. Voters are
49:30
going to decide, and they did last night. Obviously not
49:35
in our favor, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of
49:41
South Dakota, said Wednesday. Trump's political team defended the campaign
49:47
in interviews, insisting the party will still benefit court challenges
49:52
and the other new map in Florida could yet gield gains,
49:56
according to a senior member of Trump's political operation who
50:00
spoke on the condition of anonymnity to discuss internal deliberations,
50:05
citing lawsuits over some of the maps. The political team
50:10
also said Republicans will benefit from trading some expensive races
50:14
in southern California and suburban Texas for cheaper districts in
50:19
Missouri and North Carolina. What I expect is that when
50:25
all of this redistricting sort of continues this cycle, is
50:30
that there will be a narrow advantage for Republicans. James Blair,
50:34
the White House Deputy Chief of Staff who's on lead
50:38
to run Trump's political operation, said Wednesday on CNN's Inside
50:43
Politics with Dana Bash. Democrats started this like years ago,
50:48
and they do it through the courts. Beyond the effect
50:53
on this November's midterms, Trump's gambit took lawmakers' efforts to
50:57
intrench their own power to a new level, establishing a
51:01
new normal in which parties Jerrymanda every cycle instead of
51:05
once a decade. Trump's political operation denied firing the first shot,
51:11
arguing that Democrats already were using litigation to win more
51:15
favorable maps and benefited from the Voting Rights Act requirement
51:19
to have some districts where most voters were our minorities.
51:24
The Supreme Court is widely expected to overturn that requirement
51:28
this year, which Trump's team argues will open the door
51:32
to further Republican gains. Democrats have ended in so many
51:38
other states for so long. John Fredericks, a pro Trump
51:42
talk radio host who campaigned against the Virginia maps, said
51:46
in an interview, adding, it's now all our partisan war.
51:51
Best we fully engage now and get in the game.
51:56
Democrats win in Virginia ramps up the pressure on Florida
51:59
to delcounter punch, but GEOP gains there may be more
52:04
modest than Trump's team hoped. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Republican,
52:09
is working on a proposed redraw of the host map
52:12
that could result in one to three more Republican districts,
52:16
according to a person familiar with the conversations also spoke
52:20
on the condition of anonymity to describe private planning. Some
52:25
Republicans had previously floated a four or five seat pick up,
52:29
and right wing influences on Wednesday continued to suggest that
52:33
was a possible as a way to count Virginia. Others
52:38
were that such an aggressive effort would jeopardize other districts
52:41
in a tough election year and make redistresting more vulnerable
52:46
to court challenges. Leaders in the Florida House have said
52:50
they will pass whatever map the governor produces, The person added,
52:55
another person familiar with the redistricting discussions, said the state
53:00
seems resigned to passing to santiss plan, assuming the White
53:06
House doesn't have a concern about whatever the governor comes
53:09
up with. Katie Betta, a spokesperson for the Florida Senate,
53:15
said lawmakers expect the governor's office will share its proposal
53:19
by the end of the week. Historically, state legislatures redraw
53:25
congressional maps once a decade, following the tenure census. Last year,
53:31
Blair argued that Republicans could improve their footing in the
53:34
midterms by drawing fresh maps in GOP controlled states, arguing
53:40
that the twenty twenty census overcounted several blue states and
53:44
undercounted red states like Florida and Texas. Blair, whose nickname
53:49
from Trump is Brilliant James, became so strongly identified with
53:54
the mid decade redistricting campaign that it's sometimes called Blair May.
54:02
There has been a race to the bottom, but only
54:04
on one side, the senior member of Trump's political team said, adding,
54:10
what we said out to do was say we're not
54:12
going to take that anymore. At Trump's instigation, republic Texas
54:19
Republicans passed a new map designed to put five more
54:23
seats into GOP hands. California Governor Gavin Newsom, Democrat, responded
54:28
with a ballot initiative to redraw that state's lands for
54:32
five more Democratic seats, with more than one hundred and
54:36
twenty nine million dollars spent in favor against thirty five
54:40
million against. Republicans picked up another likely seat in Ohio
54:46
and made a second one riter They added two more
54:49
seats in Missouri and North Carolina, bringing the total to eight.
54:53
But in Indiana, Republican state senators bunked bucked Trump, and
54:59
refused to adopt that would have eliminated the state's two
55:03
Democratic held US host seats. Trump's team voy to punish
55:08
the Republican state senators who voted no in the state's
55:13
primary on May fifth. Trump has endorsed challenges for eight
55:18
of those lawmakers, and his political operation expects to win
55:22
at least four of those races. The challengers received financial
55:28
support from allies, including Indiana Governor Mike Baum, Senator Jim Banks,
55:35
Republican of Indiana, and the Club for Growth, but not
55:40
Trump's flagship super.
55:42
Speaker 2: Pac MAGA Inc.
55:45
Speaker 1: Maryland Governor Wesmore Democrat proposed a map that would have
55:49
eliminated his states one Republican held seat, but the state
55:54
Senate leader, also a Democrat, refused to go along with
55:57
the plan, arguing that it would backfire and court, and
56:00
that cherry mandering was unhealthy for democracy.
56:04
Speaker 2: If you're going to pick a fight, at least win it.
56:07
Speaker 1: Aery Fleischer, White House Press Secretary for George W. Bush
56:11
said on X the other so I will always fight back.
56:16
All this was foreseeable and avoidable. We should not have
56:19
started this fight. Trumpet viser Chris Sibizo Karl Fleischer's post.
56:26
Speaker 2: Old land thinking.
56:28
Speaker 1: Wait to get attacked. We don't operate that way. We
56:31
initiate contact. Virginia Houst minority leader Terry Kilgore, Republicans said
56:38
National Republicans should have provided more resources. Democrats raised at
56:43
least sixty five million dollars to support the state's redistricting referendum,
56:49
versus about thirty three million dollar raised by the opposition.
56:53
The reprimendum passed with about fifty one point five percent.
56:57
As the tally was still being finalized. Insteat for ten
57:02
million or twenty million more dollars, we could have been
57:05
in play. We were able to bring this close without money.
57:11
Kilgore said Republicans took some encouragement from the narrower result
57:16
in the state that Kamala Harris won by five point
57:18
eight points in twenty twenty four. Blair argued on CNN
57:23
that if Republicans performed it quivalently in November, they could
57:28
keep the hosts. The senior member of Trump's political team
57:33
also said primarily voting data showed the referendum prevailed. Preliminary
57:41
voting data showed the referendum prevailed by less than a
57:45
point in three of the new left winning districts and
57:48
failed by less than a point in the fourth, suggesting
57:51
the new districts are not safe for Democrats Virginia Democrats.
57:57
Speaker 2: Can't redraw reality.
58:00
Speaker 1: Said Representative Richard Harris, Republican of North Carolina, chairman of
58:05
the host go p's campaign ORN, which did not spend
58:08
money against the referendum. Adding, Hudson said this close margin
58:14
reinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn't be
58:17
represented by a severe partisan gerrymander.
58:21
Speaker 2: And with that our.
58:22
Speaker 1: Close to day's reading of the Washington Post. Please continue
58:26
listening to programming on Radio I by