Transcript

8.14.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of today's Washington Post. It is
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August fourteenth of twenty twenty five, a Thursday. Your reader
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is Alistaina, with the reminder that Radio I is an
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organization for those blind or with disabilities making it difficult
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to hold or read printed material. And I will read
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today's headlines for the front page to the Washington Post,
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although I'm not going to read every article on the
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front page of the Washington Post. Top left, Europe's plea
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do not trade Kiev's land, leader's work to shape Trump's
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thinking ahead of summit with Putin by Ellen Francis out
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of Brussels in the middle with some pictures of a
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journalist captured, and I'll bring Austin Holmes sign and picture
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of his parents inside thirteen years search for Tye the
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journalists captured in Syria Basuad Mechinet, Ellen Nakashima, Joanna Slata
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and Aaron Schaeffler of Damascus, Syria. On the far right,
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troops agents surge into d C. Trump seeks twenty four
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to seven long term mission. Bowso rebukes rhetoric, welcomes help
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on crime by Megan Flynn, Jenny gathwrit Emma Uber and
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Aaron Cox. Below the picture of Austin Tice with Trump
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as host center to honor kiss and stallone by Travis
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m Andrews and Janey Kingsbury. To its Right. Federal effort
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to tackle DC crime in nineteen eighty nine shows pitts
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falls and a very bottom mother's flea, workforce easing, pandemic gains,
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strict return to office mandates, layoffs have taken a toll
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by Abba Batari. And there is a picture of a
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woman holding her a young child. Emily Santoni left her
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high paying job this year to stay home with her children,
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who are one and three. Europeans, Zelensky cite unity with
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Trump ahead of Putin's summit in Alaska. European leaders set
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in a call with President Donald Trump was unifying and
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that he agreed Ukraine should be part of adding negotiations
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of a territory, but some still worry he could give
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in to Russian President Vladimir Putin. There's a picture of
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Zelenski welcoming being welcome to Berlin by German Chessler Chancellor
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Frideric Meritz for our call with European Union leaders and
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President Donald Trump on Wensday. This is by Alan Francis
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out of Brussels. European leaders on Wensday implored President Donald
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Trump to keep one key point in mind when he
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meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The United
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States cannot must not negotiate away Ukrainian territory, especially for
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nothing in return. As Trump floats land swaps, keeves European
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backers have rejected a Russian proposal to trade Ukrainian land
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for an undefined troops. European leaders pressed their priorities in
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a call with Trump organized by German Chancellor Fridrich Meritz
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on Wednesday. They spoke first with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky,
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who traveled to Berlin, and then Trump joined. The call
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was intended to shape Trump's thinking before the Alaska summit
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on Friday. With the anxious Europeans well aware that Trump
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in the past has seemed to fall under Putin's spell,
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European leaders emerged heralding the conversation as unifying. French President
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Emmanuel Macrol said Trump was very clear on Wednesday that
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he wants to obtain a ceasefire, and he said that
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Trump agreed that Ukraine should be involved in any talks
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on territory, Macrol said. Trump also assured the Europeans that
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he would later seek a trilateral summit with Putin and Zelensky.
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Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he hoped to arrange a
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three way meeting after Alaska, and he praised the call
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with Europeans and Zolensky. I would rate it at ten,
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you know, very friendly, Trump said during a visit to
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the Kennedy Center. Trump also repeated his claim that the
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war would not have happened if he had been in office.
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This isn't my war, he said. It is what it is,
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and I'm here to fix it. But he's strongly down
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plague expectations that the meeting with Putin would yield an
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immediate breakthrough. There's a very good chance that we're going
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to have a second meeting, which will be more productive
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than the first, because the first is I'm going to
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find out where we are and what we're doing. Trump
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said certain things can be gained in the first It's
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going to be a very important meeting, but it's setting
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the table for the second meeting, which he said would
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include Zelensky Mertz. A post called news conference with Zelensky
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called the European meeting constructive and said they were all
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very much in agreement. He said European leaders insisted on
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their conditions for any negotiations with Putin, including that Ukraine
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must sit at the table and that a ceasefire must
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be the starting point. There is hope for movement, Mert said, Still,
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he was noncommittal when asked if Trump had agreed the conditions,
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such as providing security guarantees for Ukraine. Zelenski told reporters
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in Berlin that there was a very positive United mood.
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He said he told Trump that Putin was trying to
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create the impression that Russia can occupy the whole of
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Ukraine to gain the upper hand in negotiations. That is
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a bluff. Zolensky said. The Europeans have insisted that Moscow
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agreed to a ceasefire before negotiations over territory. If such
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negotiations occur, a European counteroffer has pushed the idea that
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any retreat of Ukrainian forces from Ukrainian controlled territory should
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be matched on an inch for an inch basis by
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Russia's withdrawal from occupied Ukrainian territory. According to three people,
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briefed on the discussions. European and NATO allies have often
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failed to sway Trump's thinking or even be heard by
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the US president ahead of big policy decisions, such as
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to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, and they are frequently dismayed
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by Trump's policy moves, such as his unilateral imposition of tariffs.
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The Europeans recognize they can only do so much to
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influence a president who often veers off script and likes
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nothing more than to declare deal. But on Ukraine they
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recently have met with some success, for example, by persuading
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Trump to allow them to transfer US weapons to Ukraine
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and purchase replacements for themselves. In recent days, especially after
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a meeting with Vice President jd Vance in Britain, they
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have found the US administration receptive to some of their
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red lines. After that weekend meeting, Vans, in a television interview,
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endorsed at least one European position that the current line
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of contact in eastern Ukraine should be the starting point
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of any any talks, rejecting a Russian demand that Ukraine
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surrender its entire eastern Donbas area. Some European officials have
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expressed guarded optimism as the administration has lowered expectations for
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the summit in Alaska that Trump would not simply give
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in to Putin or carve up Ukraine alone. There appears
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to be more of an understanding from the Americans that
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you can't just go for land swaps, which would somehow
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give a prize to Russia, said one European official, who,
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like others in this article, spoke on the condition of
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anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. Still, the official added, it's
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clear that there are sort of discrepancies, and as we've
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seen it in the US system, by now, you have
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one man who will decide. Even with Trump making an
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effort to consult allies, there has been confusion over whether
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Putin is even willing to swap territory. Official said the
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administration understood that a partial Russian retreat might be possible
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after US Envoy Steve Whitkoff returned from a meeting with
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Putin in Moscow last week. However, I should offer, apparently,
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calls for a Ukrainian surrender of territory that Russian forces
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don't even control as a precondition for a ceasefire. The
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people briefed on the talk said Wednesday's call with Trump
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caps of fluore meetings and statements organized by the Europeans
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to rally around Kiev since the Alaska summit was announced.
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In a post on truth Social before the call, Trump
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described European leaders as great people who want to see
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a deal done. The virtual summit, hosted by Germany included
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the leaders of France, Britain, Italy, Poland, Finland, the EU
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and NATO. I have many fears and a lot of hope,
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this week. Tusk
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said that recent commitments indicate Trump was increasingly understanding of
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Ukrainian and European views on the war, but that he
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was not so sure that would hold. Trump has repeatedly
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balked after threatening to pressure Russia into a ceasefire as
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recently as last week. The president's mounting frustrations with Russia
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stalling on a ceasfire and his threats of fresh US
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sanctions gave way to his invitation to Putin to meet
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on US soil. European leaders who won't be in Alaska
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have little sway over the diplomatic spectacle, even as they
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have become Ukraine's chief military and financialbacco. Most proposals for
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a truce also envision a role for European nations in
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enforcing any deal that would reshape the continent's future security.
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In the scrambled to sway Trump, European officials have also
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stressed that any deal must give Ukraine a bulwark against
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future attacks, not NATO Secretary General Mark Root has suggested
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deal could involve acknowledging de facto Russian control of some
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of Ukraine's regions without Kiev officially seating them. If Trump's
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meeting with Putin advances to full scale negotiations, Root said Sunday,
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territory would have to be on the table, as would
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security guarantees for Ukraine. Rout said talks should involve no
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lamentations on its military or on NATO's posture in Eastern Europe.
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Freezing the current front lines, we'd leave about one fifth
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of Ukraine's territory in Russian hands. Ukraine meanwhile, has little
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leverage for a landswap, holding a small toehold in Russia's
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east western Kursk region since a faltering offensive. Europeans can
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say what they want, but in the end Ukraine and
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Russia will have to agree It's unlikely there's a piece
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deal now where Putin says, okay, I'm going to withdraw
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from all of Ukraine, said a second European official. The
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chief diplomat for the twenty seven nation EU Kaya Klas,
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told the block's foreign ministers last week that the initial
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hanctors of a deal between Washington and Moscow had seemed
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to focus on territory only, and that the Ukrainians are
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very worried. According to a copy of a written note
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seen by The Washington Post, Klas warned against a fragile
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ceasefire that would solidify Russia's gain in more than three
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years of war. The EU official said they didn't see
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willingness from any Kiv or many of its staunch European
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allies for trading territory within Ukraine, citing distrust with Russia,
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which is pressing its advances in the East. We have
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to understand the Ukrainian position. They have a million men
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who've been fighting for years now, so it's also something
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that President Zelensky wouldn't be able to have domestically accepted,
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the official said. Though Poles show war reary, Ukrainians increasingly
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favor a settlement to end the fighting, it would be
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tough to sell succeeding territory, home to thousands of Ukrainians
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and where forces built up defensive line over years, for
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a ceasefire that can't be guaranteed. But even as europe
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insists that Ukraine must receive security guarantees, its own ideas
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of what those guarantees would look like remain fuzzy. Ukraine's
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chief backers say guarantees should start with pleasures of more
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weapons and training for its army, and that they will
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reject any Russian demand to limit Kiev's military. A Ukraine's military,
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Kiev's top aspiration NATO membership remains far fetched, and a
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plan for European troops in Ukraine remains on a back burner.
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Karl Built, a former Prime minister of Sweden, said European
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governments can shape the talks. As Ukraine's chief suppliers of
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arms in cash that box the possibility for Trump to
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make any concessions to putin on what I think is
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among the most port of his demands to halt the
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flow of Western weapons to Ukraine. Built said European leaders
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also still control billions in Russian frozen assets that will
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factor into negotiations, as well as the battery of sanctions
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that Russia once lifted. Yet Camille Grand, a fomer NATO
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and French defense official, noted the limited European role from
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the sidelines of the UFCOMI talks. Grant told French public
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radio the Europeans today provide the bulk of humanitarian, economic
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and military aid and have now accepted to pay for
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American weapons. While in the negotiations they can at best
16:18
hope to influence the American position or to support Ukraine.
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DC to see more federal troops as Trump pushes to
16:29
extend emergency. Mayor Bowser condemned Trump's rhetoric, but said she
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welcomed the federal police resources. By Megan Flynn, Jenny Gathright,
16:43
Emma Uber, and Aaron Cox, A split screen emerged in
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the first forty eight hours of President Donald Trump's deployment
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of federal law enforcement and the National Guard onto d
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C streets. Rhetoric from the President painting the city as
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a crime adult wasteland, which d C Mayor Muriel E. Bowser,
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a Democrat, condemned, and on the ground a surge of
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federal resources bolstering d C police, which she and the
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chief police. Police chief welcomed the impact of Trump's federal
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actions came into view Tuesday night, with National Guard troops
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on the ground and agents from numerous federal agencies roaming
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d C streets from the National Mall to busy corridors
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and Columbia Heights. At a checkpoint in northwest Washington, local
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and federal officials, including immigration and customs enforcement agents, pulled
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over drivers for seat belt violations or broken tail lights
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as protesters showed it at them. The White House said
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the overnight operation would soon become a twenty four to
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seven affair with a significantly greater National Guard presence, and
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Trump's had tended to ask Congress to extend the emergency,
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allowing him to federalize DC police beyond thirty days. We're
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going to be asking for extensions on that, long term extensions,
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because you can't have thirty days, Trump said on Wednesday,
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adding that his administration would be pushing a crime bill
18:20
to use the city as a very positive example. Spokespeople
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for Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwab, Democrat, declined to comment.
18:32
Trump's executive action represents the most extraordinary federal intervention into
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the city's home rules in decades, coming as violent crime
18:42
is at a thirty year lows following a historic spike
18:47
in twenty twenty three, according to DC police data. So far,
18:52
top DC officials said the order was playing at as
18:56
more of a collaborative partnership, even as they feared that
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Trump's repeated denigrations of the nation's capital as a dirty
19:03
city unsafe for residents and visitors could do permanent damage
19:08
to its image on the national stage. Bowser encapsulated the
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parallel reactions as she deployed dual messaging in two public
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appearances over the course of fifteen hours between Tuesday evening
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and Wednesday morning. Speaking to community leaders on Zoom on
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Tuesday night, Bowser called Trump's actions an authoritarian push in
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her firmest condemnation yet, as she began to more forcefully
19:37
dispute the disparaging characterization of the district that Trump has
19:43
repeatedly painted. We don't live in a dirty city. We
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are not seven hundred thousand scumbags and punks. We don't
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have neighborhoods that should be bulldozed. We have to be
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clear about our story, Bowser said. She added, we do
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need to do what we can in our space in
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rolane to protect our city and protect our autonomy to
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get to the other side of this guy. But appearing
20:13
on Fox five on Wednesday morning, a more temperate Bowsa,
20:17
along with DC Police Chief Pamela A. Smith, said a
20:21
boost in law enforcement efforts from federal partners could help
20:25
the city further drive down crime and to get more
20:28
guns off the street, mirroring the kind of pragmatic approach
20:32
the mayor presiding over a deep blue city has taken
20:36
for months in the second Trump administration. What we want
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to do is to make sure this federal surge is
20:45
useful for us, and that's what the chief has been
20:48
very good in working to accomplish. Bowser said, you're talking
20:54
about five hundred additional personnel in the District of Columbia.
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Smith said, we're down in members with their DC Police officers,
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so this enhanced presence is going to impact us in
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a positive way. D C Council Chairman Phil Mendelssohn. Democrats
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said in an interview Wednesday that there were two realities
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at play. One asserted from the White House lectern, where
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Trump said the federal takeover of DC Police would rescue
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the city from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squala, and the
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other being what's actually happening. By all indications, he said,
21:35
federal agencies were not trying to boss MPD around, and
21:40
in fact with soliciting ideas about how they could be helpful.
21:44
The type of collaboration Mendelssohn said he agreed with Bowser
21:48
is welcome. Smith said Tuesday that she provided a strategic
21:54
plan to drug enforcement administration had Terry Cole, whom Trump
21:59
tap tooled over deep sea police. I think collaborating with
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the MPD and providing additional resources can be only for
22:08
the good. But the president has a national platform and
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he's painted the city as a cesschool of crime. We
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know that's not true, but that is damaging to as city.
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Mendelssohn said. Trump continued targeting DC on Wisday as he
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touted his mission to make the city safe and beautiful.
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During an unrelated event at the Kennedy Center, he said
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he expected Republicans to unanimously approve an extension of the
22:38
emergency in DC through a joint resolution, although they typically
22:44
are subject to the Senate filibuster and would require support
22:47
of Democrats, but he added, I don't want to call
22:51
a national emergency. If I have to, I will, suggesting
22:55
he could consider an alternative route to go around Congress.
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Trump said that his administration was working with DC police
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in Bowsel a very nice woman, but that we got
23:08
to do the job. She's been here for many years,
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and the numbers are worse than they ever were, Trump said,
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dismissing that DC officials have been citing. He called the
23:18
movement for statehood ridiculous and said he would make the
23:23
most beautiful capital city in the world. Calling the city dirty,
23:28
He said he would put a small amount of money
23:30
toward fix ups, including road and median improvements. We need
23:35
a beautiful topping by a very talented asphalt type person,
23:39
somebody that does the job. When I get contractors, I
23:43
use great contractors, he said. The strategy guiding the federal
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law enforcement surge seemed in flux Wednesday. The surge has
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surpassed one hundred arrests since the operation began Thursday, According
23:57
to a White House official. The tally from the White
24:00
House includes serving ten warrants and twenty three immigration enforcement actions.
24:06
A White House official said Wednesday that there was no
24:09
estimate of how many National Guard troops are expected to
24:12
be in DC on Wednesday night, although they had originally
24:16
said more than four hundred. Operation details are constantly subject
24:21
to change, they said when it comes to measuring the
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federal operation's success, Bowser said on Fox five that in
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her meeting with Attorney General Pambondi and other federal partners Wednesday,
24:35
no clear metric for success was offered. She said it
24:40
could include sweeping more illegal guns off the street. We
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certainly want to know what we're being measured against, and
24:49
they regarded as his success to have more presence and
24:52
to take more guns off the street, and we do too.
24:55
That's what MPD works on every single day, is taking
25:00
more guns off the street. Bauser said agents and officers
25:04
detailed to the surge have received assignments on a day
25:08
to day basis. According to multiple people familiar with the matter,
25:12
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details,
25:18
in most cases, federal agents less familiar with policing the
25:22
city have been paired with DC police officers or officers
25:26
with the US Secret Service Uniform Division. The people said
25:31
about one hundred and thirty FBI agents have been detailed
25:34
to the effort, including agents dispatched on temporary assignments from
25:38
Viro's Philadelphia and Baltimore field officers. Two people said on
25:43
the first two nights of the operation they conducted joint
25:46
patrols with DC police officers or assisted in arrest tied
25:51
to open warrants. FBI Director Cash Battel said on x
25:56
that agents have been involved with local partners in making
25:59
it lead least eighteen arrests since Monday evening, including apprehending
26:04
one suspect wanted for murder, as well as others wanted
26:07
for dui theft, assault, and violating a restraining order. Agents
26:12
also detained several people for illegal gun possession. He said.
26:18
Roughly half of the eight hundred National Guard troops who
26:21
were mobilized have processed in, and some of those troops
26:25
are already on DC streets, said an army official who
26:29
spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details
26:33
that had not yet been made public. Those troops began
26:36
working Tuesday night via the US Park Police station in
26:40
Anacostia Park and on patrols near high visibility areas, including
26:46
the National Monuments. The troops were not carrying guns, but
26:50
had weapons available if needed. The official said, the use
26:55
of the National Guard brings to bear the threats that
26:57
Trump has lobbied at the police city's autonomy for months.
27:04
Maybe that again, the use of the National Guard brings
27:07
to bear the threats that Trump has lobbed to the
27:10
city's autonomy for months, and critics sphere exposes residents potentially
27:16
unpredictable encounters with a domestically deployed military force. While the
27:22
National Guard was preparing to activate, bows has spent an
27:26
hour Tuesday night answering residents' questions in a video live
27:30
chat streamed on social media. She acknowledged that she did
27:34
not know exactly how the federal resources would be deployed,
27:39
but she said her expectation was that the National Guard
27:42
troops would be deployed to federal parks, monuments, and federal buildings,
27:47
while federal law enforcement would be deployed to higher crime
27:51
areas of the city. Even while Bowsa and Smith have
27:56
cented positive notes about collaboration, concerns about the potential consequences
28:03
of having federal law enforcement on city streets and interacting
28:07
with residents or intimidating children. The mayor pledged to create
28:11
an avenue for people to report concerning behavior by federal officers,
28:16
and she said she would think about ways to make
28:18
the police presence feel less intimidating. She encouraged parents to
28:23
keep close tabs on their children, voicing her weariness that
28:27
any misbehavior involving large groups of teens would become a
28:31
political target during Trump's operation. I think we have some
28:36
kids that are not criminals, but they are getting together
28:39
in big groups and causing some Really they're causing destruction,
28:44
she said, And so this is the type of thing
28:47
that makes for good TV and to be candid. That's
28:50
part of the motivation, I think is to get some
28:52
good TV and arrest in DC. So don't let your
28:56
children be a part of that, described an apparent attention.
29:03
While she said she was really ticked off about the
29:06
Trump's administration's incursion on her turf, she also felt the
29:10
moment demanded pragmatism. My jobs are many right now, and
29:15
part of it is just practically managing us through this crisis.
29:20
Bowser said. Trump to host Kennedy's sent To Honors, which
29:26
will go to Stallone. Gaya kiss and Moore, George Strait,
29:32
and Michael Crawford will also receive the award. The annual
29:36
production may see significant changes under Trump, who reveal the
29:40
honorees during a visit to the Arts Complex Wednesday, Travis M.
29:46
Andrews and Jenney Kingsbury. President Donald Trump announced the recipients
29:52
of the forty eighth Kennedy Senner Honas on Wednesday, the
29:56
first class of honorees since he took over the Arts
29:59
Complex this year, and a major change to the ceremony.
30:03
He'll be the host. Speaking from the center's Hall of Nations,
30:08
Trump revealed the twenty twenty five honorees by unveiling five
30:12
portraits draped in velvet. The group glam metal band Kiss,
30:18
Broadway and West End star Michael Crawford, country music legend
30:24
George Strait, actor Sylvester Stallone and singer Gloria gaynom actor
30:30
Tom Cruise was offered the Honest but declined because of
30:34
scheduling conflicts, according to several current and former Kennedy Center employees,
30:40
who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were
30:43
not authorized to publicly discuss event plans. A spokesperson for
30:48
Cruise declined to comment. Before naming the honorees, Trump said
30:53
he always wanted the award himself, but was never able
30:56
to get one. I waited and waited and went and
31:00
I said, the hell with it. I'll become chairman and
31:03
I'll give myself an honor, he said, drawing chuckles from
31:07
a crowd that included Kennedy Center President Richard Grinnell, Senator
31:12
Lindsey Graham Recovered of South Carolina, and members of the
31:17
White House staff. Next year will honor Trump? Okay, the
31:22
choices may surprise some Trump critics. When Trump took over
31:26
the Kennedy Center and overworked joke circulated on social media.
31:31
Here's the political analyst Larry Sabado's version. He's at the
31:36
University of Virginia Law School. Can you imagine forthcomings Kennedy
31:42
Center honors for Lee Greenwood, The Village People, and Kid
31:46
Rock inevitable with Trump as chair. Prepare your stomach. It
31:51
certainly seemed as if Trump had major plans in store
31:54
for the honorees. At a board meeting in March, Trump said,
31:58
we'll go slightly more conservative if you don't mind with
32:02
some of the people. There are people out there that
32:04
would not be considered that are much bigger stars than
32:07
the ones that were being honored. He even suggested offering
32:11
honors to deceased icons, and widening the scope of possible
32:15
recipients to include athletes, business luminaries, and politicians. Perhaps the
32:21
most surprising thing about Trump's class of honorees is how
32:24
comfortably it fits with those that came before it. A
32:28
less actor check, aging, rock band check, Broadway star check.
32:35
The Washington Post previously reported that the CINNA was seriously
32:40
considering Straight Crawford and Kiss. Trump said he was very
32:45
involved in selecting the twenty twenty five honorees and turned
32:49
down names he didn't approve of. I would say I
32:52
was about ninety eight percent involved. They all went through me,
32:56
he said. I had a couple of worksters. We have
33:00
great people. This is very different than it needs to be,
33:03
very different. Not all of the artists have supported Trump,
33:07
including the face that is the tongue of Kiss bassist
33:12
Gene Simmons, whom Trump fired during the first season of
33:16
The Celebrity Prentice back to Trump doing his first term,
33:20
but soon changed his tune. Look what that gentleman did
33:25
to this country and the polarization got all the cockroaches
33:28
to rise to the top, Simmons told Spin of Trump
33:32
in twenty twenty two. Once upon a time you were
33:35
embarrassed to be publicly racist out there with conspiracy theories.
33:40
Now it's all in the open because he allowed it.
33:43
I don't think he's a Republican or a Democrat. Simmons
33:47
added to the president, he's for himself any way you
33:50
can get there, and in the last election, over seventy
33:53
million people bought it. Hook line and Sinko. Simmons bandmate
34:00
Stanley appears to have had a more favorable view of Trump.
34:04
Days after the twenty twenty four election, Stanley wrote on
34:07
X it's oval if you're a candidate lost, it's time
34:11
to learn from it, accept it, and try to understand
34:14
why there'll be no building bridges to those you don't
34:17
agree with by being condescending, insulting, talking at them, or
34:24
removing yourself. Gainer, a Grammy Award Woming Woman Award winning
34:30
singer from New Jersey, rose to fame during the Disco
34:34
era era of the nineteen seventies. While she isn't known
34:38
to be political, her hit song I Will Survive has
34:42
become an anthem from marginalized groups, particularly within the LGBTQ
34:47
plus community, and was named the Library of Congress National
34:51
Recording Registry in twenty fifteen. If Trump's personal taste align
34:57
with any of the picks, it would be Crawford. Trump
35:01
is famously a fan of the nineteen eighties Broadway Hicks,
35:06
particularly the Phantom of the Opera, the title role of
35:10
which Crawford originated. Trumpet often plays songs for the musical
35:14
at his rallies. Stallone, though, has emerged as a prominent
35:19
Trump booster. In November, the Rocky actor gave a warm
35:23
up speech for Trumpet mar Largo, where Stallone described him
35:27
as the second George Washington, called him a mythical character
35:32
and compared him to Rocky Balboa. In January, as President elect,
35:38
Trump named Stallone, along with Mel Gibson and John Boyd,
35:42
as Special Ambassadors to a very to a great but
35:47
very troubled place, Hollywood, California, and tasked them with bringing Hollywood,
35:53
which has lost much business over the last four years
35:56
to foreign countries, back bigger, better, and longer than ever before.
36:02
Those last words were in capital bold letters straight. Meanwhile,
36:09
is a country legend, a genre that soundtracks many Red States,
36:15
but he has long kept fairly mum on his political leanings.
36:20
The ceremony will take place December seventh, and will later
36:23
be broadcast on CBS. During the news conference, Trump spoke
36:29
about an array of topics, including crime, his upcoming summit
36:33
with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the landscape of DC.
36:39
We're going to make it so beautiful again, he said,
36:42
to the city, whose police he has placed under federal control.
36:46
When you look at the parks where the grass is old, tired, exhausted,
36:50
We're going to redo the grass with the finest grasses.
36:53
I know a lot about grass because I own a
36:55
lot of golf courses. He also made unsubstantiated claims that
37:00
since becoming chairman of the Kennedy Center, we have completely
37:04
reversed the decline of this cherished national institution. We ended
37:09
the woke political programming, and we are restoring the Kennedy
37:13
Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in
37:16
the country, anywhere in the world. Trump said as of
37:21
earlier this summer, subscriptions to the Center's programming were down
37:25
from last year, and several artists have both quitted the center.
37:29
Trump said of the columns supporting the center, when you
37:33
see them next time, they'll be magnificent, before praising the
37:37
bones of the building outside the Center Wednesday, about a
37:41
dozen demonstrators gathered with science and bullhorns to protest Trump's
37:45
involvement in the arts. Since returning to office in January,
37:49
the president has targeted prominent arts and cultural institutions, including
37:54
the Smithsonian, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the
37:59
Library of Congress. There will be potential changes to the honors,
38:03
according to the current and former employees. The SENNA has
38:07
contacted the jeweler Tiffany and Company about redesigning the medallions,
38:12
which have traditionally depicted President John F. Kennedy on one
38:16
side and the building on the other, with a rainbow
38:19
colored ribbon meant to represent different artist's skills and talents.
38:24
The annual dinner at the State Department may be moved
38:27
to the White House. The White House and Tiffany did
38:30
not respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, Don Plus Dusted
38:36
or Done plus Dusted, the production company that produced the
38:40
past several Kennedy Center Honors, as well as recent Mark
38:44
Twain Prizes for American Humor. The center's other big televised event,
38:49
pulled out of producing this year's honors. Matthew Winner, the
38:53
center's internal executive producer of the honors has resigned from
38:57
the Center, along with Emmeline Carlisle, the producer and honorey manager.
39:03
Even in less tumultuous years, the Kennedy Center Honors are
39:07
a complex logistical undercaking. The show usually consists of seventy
39:12
or more other artists celebrating the honorees. Last year, the
39:16
two and a half hour show featured Queen Latifa, David Letterman,
39:21
Robert de Niro, Dave Chappelle, Cheryl Crowe, Al Pacino, and
39:25
Martin Scorsi, many of whom are outspoken Trump critics. With
39:31
so many performers avoiding the sinner, who will be there
39:34
on the actual life, where will Lee Greenwood, The Village People,
39:39
and kit Rock come in? Going into page two, appeals
39:47
court says Trump officials can withhold billions in foreign aid.
39:53
The ruling is a significant, if possibly temporary, victory in
39:58
Trump's push for greater authority over spending mandated by Congress.
40:03
And there's a picture of pallets of food for children
40:07
marked for disposal at a warehouse in Poola, Georgia on
40:10
July thirtieth. Parts of tons of expired food in the
40:14
warehouse that must be destroyed because it is past its
40:18
exploration date. They are wrapped boxes with cellophane around them
40:25
on pallets by justin juvenal. A federal appeals court on
40:31
Wednesday ruled that Trump administration can withhold tens of billions
40:36
of dollars in foreign aid, handing the President a significant,
40:41
if possibly temporary, victory in his push to excise greater
40:45
authority over spending mandated by Congress. A panel of the
40:50
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted
40:53
a federal judge's preliminary injunction that ordered the Trump administration
40:58
to appropriate them money for food, medicine, and development. The
41:03
two to one ruling came over the sharp objections of
41:06
the only Democratic appointed judge on the panel. The panel majority,
41:12
which included judges appointed by Republicans George H. W. Bush
41:17
and Donald Trump, found international aid groups that sued over
41:21
Trump's sweeping freeze on foreign assistance did not have standing
41:25
to bring a lawsuit. The district court airred in granting
41:30
that relief because the grantees lack a cause of action
41:34
to press their claims, they wrote. Plaintiffs quickly announced they
41:39
would ask for a review by the full fifteen judge
41:43
DC's Circuit Court. They have accused the Trump administration of
41:47
seeking to withhold the funding until it expires at the
41:50
end of the fiscal year in September thirtieth, as more
41:54
than sixty thousand metric tons of food aid some rotting
41:58
sits undelivered in warehouses. The three judge panel did not
42:03
rule on the broader issue of whether Trump had the
42:06
power to impound spending approved by Congress, which has emerged
42:10
as a major flashpoint in Trump's second term as he's
42:14
held up allocations across the government. Critics have accused Trump
42:19
of usurping Congress's constitutionally mandated power of the purse. Judge
42:26
Florence Y Pan, an appointee of President Joe Biden, echoed
42:30
that argument in her dissent back Bottom. The Court's acquiescence
42:36
in and facilitation of the executive's unlawful behavior derails the
42:41
carefully crafted system of checked and balanced power that serves
42:46
as the greatest security against tyranny. The accumulation of excessive
42:51
authority in a single branch, Pan wrote, partially quoting a
42:55
previous ruling Trump anknownst Freeze on bing millions of dollars
43:00
in foreign aid as one of his first acts in
43:04
office in January, saying the spending was not aligned with
43:08
American values or interest. The move prompted lawsuits by international
43:12
aid groups and warnings of a humanitarian crisis. A recent
43:17
study in The Lancet predicted that cuts would lead up
43:21
to fourteen million additional deaths, including four million to five
43:26
million children under the age of five, by twenty thirty.
43:30
AIDS cases were also expected to spike in Africa. Today's
43:36
decision is a significant setback for the rule of law
43:40
and risks further erosion of basic separation of powers principle.
43:45
Lauren Bateman, an attorney from one of the plaintiffs, Public
43:49
Citizen Litigation Group, set in a statement, adding in the meantime,
43:55
countless people will suffer disease, starvation, and death. The Trump
44:01
administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development, which administered
44:07
much of the aid, and folded it into the State Department,
44:11
laying off thousands of employees. The administration also counseled more
44:16
than ten thousand foreign aid awards issued through USAID and
44:20
the State Department. The U S District Judge Emir Ali
44:25
announced a temporary restraining order on part of the freeze
44:29
in February, which resulted in a major legal showdown. ALI
44:34
found that Trump administration had failed to restart the flow
44:38
about two billion dollars for work already completed, eventually setting
44:44
a thirty six hour deadline for Trump officials to comply.
44:49
The Trump administration appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court,
44:52
which stayed the deadline, but ultimately found ALI could order
44:57
the Trump administration to restart the funding. ALI issued a
45:01
preliminary injunction against the funding freeze in March, finding Trump
45:06
did not have the authority to withhold the aid and
45:09
did not have any intention of spending it. Ali said
45:12
Trump officials had to reallocate the billions of dollars for
45:16
the ten thousand eight awards they canceled. Trump officials said
45:22
they planned to comply with any court orders, but they
45:25
have done little to allocate the money in the five
45:28
months since the order was issued. Trump's chip deal sets
45:34
new pay to play president for US explorers. The president
45:40
expanded his unorthodox trade policy and reversed his previous national
45:45
security stance by having chopped top chip makers pay the
45:50
government for permission to sell to China. By Garrett Dervinik
45:56
and Jacob Buggage. Donald Trump's agreement with two leading American
46:03
producers of computer chips to take a cut of their
46:07
revenue in exchange for permission to export products to China
46:12
introduced a striking new tactic to his transactional trade policy.
46:18
In one fell swoop, the President indicated that he believes
46:22
companies can be expected to pay their own government a
46:26
slice of overseas sales despite a constitutional prohibition on export taxes,
46:32
and overrode years a bipartisan concern about China's threat to
46:38
American leadership in artificial intelligence. The deals will see in video.
46:44
The world's top producer of chips for AI and competitor
46:49
Advanced micro Devices hand the US government fifteen percent of
46:55
their revenue from selling certain chips in China. And national
47:00
security experts expressed concern Trump might use similar deals to
47:06
ring concessions from other American tech firms or exporters. I
47:12
imagine the c suites of many companies and many industries
47:17
around the US are now evaluating the potential that this
47:21
kind of approach could be used against them, said Scott Kennedy,
47:26
a long time China expert who was a senior advisor
47:30
and trustee chair at the Center for Strategic and International
47:34
Studies think tank. It would represent a real significant break
47:39
with the way US government and businesses interact with each other,
47:44
Kennedy said. Liza Tobin, who was appointed China Director on
47:49
Trump's National Security Council in twenty nineteen and continued in
47:53
that role under President Joe Biden until twenty twenty one,
47:57
called the deals a dangerous These are national security restrictions
48:03
on sensitive technology, and now we're basically putting them up
48:07
for sale where major corporations can pay a fee and
48:11
get rid of them, she said. Trump and his allies
48:15
argue that it is reasonable for American corporate successes overseas
48:20
to also benefit the US government, and that keeping China
48:23
reliant on US technology will help American innovatives stay ahead.
48:29
Trump described the deal he's struck with Nvidia during comments
48:34
at a White House news conference Monday, saying that he
48:37
told of the company he expected something in return for
48:40
permitting it to resume sales of its Age twenty chip
48:44
in China after his government blocked exports in April. I said,
48:50
if I'm going to do that, I want you to
48:52
pay us as a country something because I'm giving you
48:55
a release. Trump said he credited Invidia CEO Jensen Wang
49:03
with talking him down from an initial proposal that the
49:06
government take a twenty percent cut of the company's Chinese
49:10
revenue for H twenty chips. White House officials confirmed the
49:14
deal also applied to AMD, which makes its own version
49:18
of the AI chips, known in the industry as graphics
49:22
processing units for GPUs. The deal unlocks billions of dollars
49:28
in potential sales for both companies. Nvidia previously said it
49:33
would have sold about seven point one billion dollars worth
49:36
of H twenty chips in its financial quarter ending in
49:39
late April, but lost on about a third of that
49:43
when Trump banned exports. Under its new deal with the president,
49:48
the company would have received all that revenue but owed
49:51
one point one billion of it dollars of it to
49:54
the US government. We follow rules the US government sets
49:59
for a participation in worldwide markets. While we haven't shipped
50:04
H twenty to China for months, we hope export control
50:08
rules will let America compete in China and worldwide, a
50:12
spokesperson for Nvidia said Monday. Spokespeople for AMD did not
50:18
return a request for comment. After details of the Nvidia
50:23
and AMD deals emerged, legal experts pointed out they appear
50:27
to conflict with the US Constitution, which explicitly bans government
50:32
from taxing exports. It is so far unclear where any
50:37
legal challenge might come from. Shareholders could sue the companies,
50:42
alleging executives gave up potential revenue by greening to Trump's deal,
50:48
but the same investors might calculate it was far better
50:51
for the company to receive some revenue from China than
50:54
to be cut off completely. Leading industry groups, often vocal
50:59
on trade policy, opted to stay quiet after details of
51:03
the deals merged. The US Chamber of Commerce, which has
51:07
been critical of Trump's tariffs, on Monday, did not issue
51:11
its statement about the deals or respond to rare requests
51:14
for comment. Representatives from three of the most prominent tech
51:19
trade groups, the Information Technology Industry Council, Consumer Tech Association,
51:26
and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, also did not
51:31
respond to requests for comment Monday. A spokesperson for the
51:35
Semiconductor Industry Association, which has lobbied for tariff exemptions for
51:40
US manufacturers, referred to an August seventh statement that expressed
51:45
hope trade deals would be designed to help the chip
51:49
industry be globally competitive personal diplomacy. Trump has repeatedly used
51:57
trade policy and legal and political threats to share the
52:00
tech industry to his will since taking office in January,
52:04
with top tech CEOs becoming regular visitors to the White
52:08
House for public events and private meetings. Shortly after his inauguration,
52:13
Trump dropped a lawsuit alleging Meta had censored him online
52:18
after the January six, twenty twenty one attacks, when the
52:21
company agreed to pay twenty five million dollars settlement, most
52:25
of which will go toward his presidential library. Apple, Nvidia,
52:30
and other tech firms have announced hundreds of billions of
52:33
dollars of investment to the United States after Trump has
52:37
repeatedly threatened tariffs on their Asian supply chains at rates
52:42
as high as one hundred percent. The deals with Nvidia
52:46
and AMD break new ground, ending years of relatively bipartisan
52:50
US policy on chip exports that had been dominated by
52:54
national security concerns and supported by many leaders in the
52:59
tech industry. As artificial intelligence became more important to the
53:05
tech industry and Pentagon, Trump's first administration began to tighten
53:10
export restrictions on selling advanced computer chips into China. Biden
53:16
continued to ratchet up the controls, and Nvidia responded by
53:20
designing special, less powerful AI chips for China to comply
53:24
with the export rules. After further rounds of AI breakthroughs,
53:30
including the debut of Chat GBT Piden in twenty twenty four,
53:35
and then Trump this year tightened the export rules again,
53:39
banning the China focused chips. Trumps in April shut down
53:44
Ninvidia's sales of its H twenty chip, which the company
53:49
said caused it to miss out on a two point
53:51
five billion dollars of revenue in the first quarter. AMD
53:56
told him bestors this month that it had to write
53:59
off eight hundre undred million dollars worth of inventory. In July,
54:04
the White House reversed course, allowing companies to request new
54:08
export licenses for their chips. The loosening of restrictions came
54:13
after the announcement of a trade framework between the US
54:16
and China which rolled back Chinese controls on exports of
54:20
rare earth minerals to the US. The deals, confirmed Monday
54:25
by Trump and the White House officials, seem to have
54:27
emerged from negotiations for obtaining those chip export licenses when
54:33
visited the White House on August eighth. The policy flip
54:38
is in part the result of internal fighting among Trump's allies,
54:42
some of whom want to completely cut China off from
54:45
advanced technology, while others support US businesses who want to
54:49
sell to Chinese firms. Set a person who works closely
54:53
with the administration but spoke on the condition of anonymity
54:57
to avoid retribution. Tobin, the former US Security Council officials,
55:03
said the shift harmed US interest its short term visible
55:07
economic game in exchange for laying out the red carpet
55:11
for China to lead the world in AI, she said.
55:15
Trump officials, including David Sachs, the presidents AI and cryptos
55:20
are said some geoolytical analy analysts have argued that it
55:26
is better for the US to supply Chinese technologist. The
55:30
argument goes at allowing exports reduces the pressure on China
55:34
to improve its own chips and AI technology. Advocates for
55:39
that idea point to how despite the US allies placing
55:43
restrictions on Chinese Telecompanyhaiwi, it still became a world leader
55:49
in the latest generation of mobile technology, known as G five.
55:54
This is our chance to make the Hawaii Wei mistake again,
55:58
to not make the Hawai We mistake again. Western companies
56:02
had the lead in telcom. We squandered it, and they
56:05
ended up building the global telecommunications network, said James Andrew Lewis,
56:11
a distinguished fellow at the Center for European Policy analyst.
56:16
Now we're building the global data center of the AI network.
56:20
And who would you rather have builded? Us or them?
56:24
Some chip exporters, including in Nvidia, have seized on this idea.
56:29
America cannot repeat G five in US telecommunication leadership. America's
56:34
AI tech stack can be the world standard if we race,
56:38
Nvidia said in its statement Monday, and response to questions
56:42
about the deal with Trump. The President, in his comments Monday,
56:46
said giving China access to Innvidia's H twenty chips wouldn't
56:50
hurt the US in the AI arms race because it
56:53
was an old chip that Chinese companies had already replicated
56:58
with their own technology. Racent days, State Media and China
57:02
has begun to cast aspersions on the AGE twenty, suggesting
57:06
it might be a security risk for Chinese companies, but
57:10
the huge demand in Vidia has reported for the chip
57:13
in China, suggests that country's AI developers believe it can
57:17
help them advance. There's still really good trips, said Chobin,
57:21
the former White Housed national security official. Chris Miller, a
57:26
professor of international history at the Fletcher School at Tufts
57:30
University and author of Chipwall, a History of the Geopolitics
57:35
of computer chips, said it is unlikely that regaining access
57:39
to American chips will slow down or stop China from
57:42
developing its own domestically produced alternatives. The country's government has
57:46
spent years subsidizing research and development in semiconductors. Even if
57:53
China buys larger numbers of GPUs in the short run,
57:57
the desire for self efficiency remains quite strong, and they're
58:02
going to keep investing to build out their own internal
58:05
capabilities in the long run. Miller said. That is the
58:10
end of that article and also the end of today's
58:13
reading for August fourteenth of twenty twenty five in the
58:17
Washington Post. Thank you for listening. Please continue listening to
58:23
Radio I throughout the day, and I'll be back on Saturday. Bye.