Transcript

10.15.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Thursday,
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Speaker 1: October 15th, 2026. As a reminder, Radio Eye is a
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Speaker 1: reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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Speaker 1: other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Speaker 1: Your reader for today is Roger Hampirian. Today's front page
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Speaker 1: headlines from the Washington Post are as follows. First, report,
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Speaker 1: reflecting pool liner failed in 85 places. Next, in tight
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Speaker 1: races a key issue arises, Social Security. Next, Omar home
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Speaker 1: search flouts DOJ norms. Next, Ukraine says limits placed on
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Speaker 1: its Starlink. Next, DHS rejects use of auto-activated body cams.
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Speaker 1: And finally, prices spiked sharply in September. The first article
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Speaker 1: from the front page of today's edition is titled, Reflecting
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Speaker 1: pool liner failed in 85 places after flawed renovation, inspection found.
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Speaker 1: The damage identified by an inspection the contractor commissioned is
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Speaker 1: far more extensive than has been previously reported, a document
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Speaker 1: obtained by the Post shows, by Meg Kelly, Clara Auerbach,
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Speaker 1: and Amy Britton. The blue coating applied to the bottom
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Speaker 1: of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool this summer was failed
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Speaker 1: in at least 85 places because of errors in the renovation,
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Speaker 1: including the premature refilling of the basin before the liner
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Speaker 1: had fully dried, according to an inspection report obtained by
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Speaker 1: the Washington Post. The August 6 report, commissioned by the
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Speaker 1: contractor that did the work, documents far more damage than
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Speaker 1: has been previously reported. President Donald Trump has generally attributed
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Speaker 1: the damage to vandals, but the report makes no mention
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Speaker 1: of vandalism to the liner and blames the problems on
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Speaker 1: the use of improper materials and a rush to complete
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Speaker 1: the job. The administration wanted the project finished in time
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Speaker 1: for the celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary. The 75-page
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Speaker 1: failure analysis by Atlantic Coding Inspection includes scores of photos
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Speaker 1: documenting the liner's deficiencies, ranging in severity and including blisters, peeling,
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Speaker 1: and cracks. and identifies their likely causes. The blue coating
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Speaker 1: buckled along eight of the ten expansion joints that divide
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Speaker 1: the concrete slabs of the pool's basin, according to the report.
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Speaker 1: Blisters appeared in nearly 40 places due to moisture or
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Speaker 1: chemical fumes trapped beneath the liner. Peeling occurred in nearly
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Speaker 1: two dozen spots where layers of coating separated from each
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Speaker 1: other or detached from the basins. Some of the peeling
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Speaker 1: probably occurred because workers were still applying the coating the
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Speaker 1: day before the pool was refilled with water on June 4th,
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Speaker 1: even though the material needed 72 hours to cure or
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Speaker 1: dry completely, according to the report. The extensive failures at
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Speaker 1: the pool occurred after Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, AIC, completed
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Speaker 1: the $ 14. 7 million renovation under a no-bid contract awarded by
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Speaker 1: the Trump administration this spring. The administration justified skipping competitive
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Speaker 1: bidding by asserting in an Interior Department memo that only
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Speaker 1: a limited pool of contractors possessed the qualification and equipment
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Speaker 1: necessary for the job. The contractor offered a repair plan
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Speaker 1: in its own report to the federal government later in August,
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Speaker 1: summarizing the failures found by the inspection. In its August
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Speaker 1: 14th report, AIC described the majority of the failures as cosmetic,
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Speaker 1: but noted that others were systemic. The cost of the
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Speaker 1: needed repairs, which the company has said it would cover
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Speaker 1: under its warranty, was not included in its report. The
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Speaker 1: contractor blamed human oversight, adding that workers probably misapplied or
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Speaker 1: did not spray enough primer. That August 14th report, obtained
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Speaker 1: by the Post and previously reported by the New York Times,
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Speaker 1: does not list the number of damaged spots or include
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Speaker 1: some of the causes found by the inspections. Neither AIC
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Speaker 1: nor the unaffiliated company it hired to perform the inspection
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Speaker 1: and produce the August 6th report responded to questions or
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Speaker 1: requests for comment. In a statement Tuesday, an Interior Department
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Speaker 1: spokesperson said AIC is contractually obligated to fix the reflecting
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Speaker 1: pool and is well on its way to doing so.
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Speaker 1: The spokesperson said the contractor will ensure the work is
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Speaker 1: perfect and will replace sections of damage by vandals who
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Speaker 1: repeatedly ripped at the coating. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers
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Speaker 1: did not address the inspection report's findings, but said in
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Speaker 1: a statement that the pool had been neglected and that
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Speaker 1: the repairs are another example of President Trump restoring our
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Speaker 1: nation's capital for the American people. The reflecting pool has
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Speaker 1: had problems with algae and leaks almost from the time
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Speaker 1: construction was completed in the early 1920s. In 2012, a two-year,
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Speaker 1: $ 34 million renovation shored up its floor support system to
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Speaker 1: prevent the pool from sinking and added a new filtration system.
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Speaker 1: In April, Trump vowed to clean up what he called
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Speaker 1: the filthy water in the pool by resurfacing the more
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Speaker 1: than 300,000 square foot basin with a color Trump called
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Speaker 1: American Flag Blue. The contractor began work late that month,
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Speaker 1: leaving a small window to complete the job in time
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Speaker 1: for the America 250 anniversary events. The pool was first
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Speaker 1: resurfaced with a light blue primer called Rhino 406. That
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Speaker 1: was followed by a dark blue coating called Rhino Pipeliner 5000.
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Speaker 1: Contracting documents show the federal government specified the use of
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Speaker 1: those materials. By early June, the pool was refilled. Within days,
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Speaker 1: a massive algal bloom turned the water green. Then flakes
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Speaker 1: of peeled blue paint began to poke through the water's surface. Publicly,
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Speaker 1: Trump and other senior administration officials blamed vandals for the
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Speaker 1: pool's failures. An internal report compiled by the National Park
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Speaker 1: Service late that month, when the pool was still filled
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Speaker 1: with water, listed 13 damaged areas along the outer edge
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Speaker 1: of the pool, as well as a slash through the
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Speaker 1: foam joint around the pool's perimeter. The document, which was
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Speaker 1: reviewed by the Post and has not been previously reported,
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Speaker 1: said the damage at four of those locations could possibly
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Speaker 1: have been caused by vandalism. It estimated repairs at those
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Speaker 1: locations and the perimeter joint, which the report said had
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Speaker 1: been cut as the pool was refilled, would cost more
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Speaker 1: than $ 49, 000. In July, federal prosecutors brought charges against four
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Speaker 1: people they accused of damaging the liners. including a felony
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Speaker 1: indictment against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn. Those charges were
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Speaker 1: later dismissed, and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro faulted officials at
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Speaker 1: the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, for initially
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Speaker 1: providing less than fulsome information about the causes of the
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Speaker 1: pool's failures. Prosecutors would not have indicted Hearn if they
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Speaker 1: had known contractor error was to blame, she said. the U.S.
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Speaker 1: Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Speaker 1: The pool was drained following the July 4th activities, and
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Speaker 1: AIC tasked Atlantic Coding Inspection with doing what the August
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Speaker 1: 6th report calls a 100% inspection of the pool's liner
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Speaker 1: to identify even the smallest defect. The inspection identified the
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Speaker 1: 85 points of failure. It also documented 88 additional instances
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Speaker 1: of damage that it said the Army Corps of Engineers
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Speaker 1: caused while testing the strength of the liner after the
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Speaker 1: pool was drained. Most were surface-level damage, but 12 cut
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Speaker 1: to the concrete, according to the report. The Army Corps
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Speaker 1: of Engineers did not respond to the post's request for comment.
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Speaker 1: The most significant damage attributed to the flawed renovation was
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Speaker 1: peeling along the pool's interior expansion joints. Each of those
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Speaker 1: joints extends about 80 feet from the edge of the
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Speaker 1: pool to its center, and is designed to widen or
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Speaker 1: narrow with temperature changes to prevent the concrete basin from cracking.
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Speaker 1: Before the renovation began, the inspection report said, AIC was
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Speaker 1: instructed by the coatings manufacturer on how to layer the
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Speaker 1: dark blue coating over the expansion joints to create a
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Speaker 1: seamless finish. The San Diego-based manufacturer, Rhino Linings, did not
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Speaker 1: respond to requests for comment. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted
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Speaker 1: on X at the time that the final expansion joint
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Speaker 1: materials passed a test with flying colors. But the material
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Speaker 1: was not flexible enough for the dynamic movement of the
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Speaker 1: expansion joints, the inspection report said. For other areas of
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Speaker 1: the liner that peeled or split, the report cited three
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Speaker 1: possible contributing factors. Improper mixing of materials in the application gun,
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Speaker 1: mist from sprayed material drifting onto dried coatings, and insufficient
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Speaker 1: drying time. Photos in the report from June 3rd, the
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Speaker 1: day before the pool was refilled, show crews still applying
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Speaker 1: the liner. The work continued as the pool started to refill,
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Speaker 1: including along the edge of the pool near the area
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Speaker 1: that Hearn was accused of vandalizing, an Interior Department video shows.
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Speaker 1: That area was later found to have 22 defects, according
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Speaker 1: to the report. An additional photograph in the report shows
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Speaker 1: crews continuing to apply coating from spray guns the day
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Speaker 1: after water began flowing into the pool. Caulk applied between
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Speaker 1: the basin and the expansion joint that runs along the
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Speaker 1: perimeter of the pool also came loose from the concrete
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Speaker 1: after it was prematurely submerged in water, according to the
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Speaker 1: inspection report. That caulking requires five to seven days to cure,
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Speaker 1: the report said. The report does not address who made
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Speaker 1: the decision to refill the pool or whether there was
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Speaker 1: any discussion about whether it posed a risk to the
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Speaker 1: new lining and caulking. Blisters on the liner, mostly located
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Speaker 1: on the southwest side of the pool, appeared to have
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Speaker 1: been caused by moisture or chemical gases trapped between layers
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Speaker 1: of coating, the report said, potentially as a result of
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Speaker 1: unspecified issues with mixing the two parts of the material.
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Speaker 1: The inspection report distilled the lessons learned to two points.
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Speaker 1: Curing time guidelines should be met, and products used for
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Speaker 1: coating should be tested before they are applied. Days after
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Speaker 1: the August 6th report was completed and the vandalism charges
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Speaker 1: against Hearn were dropped, Trump continued to insist that the
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Speaker 1: Olympian had damaged the pool. As with many jobs, there
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Speaker 1: was also some contractor error done by rushing the job
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Speaker 1: for a July 4th opening, Trump posted on Truth Social
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Speaker 1: on August 9th. But it was a very small area
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Speaker 1: of this massive pool, and it was relatively inconsequential. In
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Speaker 1: its August 14th report, AIC detailed how it would adjust
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Speaker 1: its approach as it repaired the pool. AIC wrote that
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Speaker 1: the dark blue Pipeliner 5000 would not be reapplied over
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Speaker 1: the expansion joints, allowing a more flexible material to move
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Speaker 1: with the joint. It wrote that it would also use
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Speaker 1: a different primer for most of the repairs after Rhino Linings,
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Speaker 1: the manufacturer, revised its prior recommendation. The contractor added that
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Speaker 1: it would also use a smaller crew to work in
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Speaker 1: concentrated areas of the pool. This would ensure more supervision,
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Speaker 1: the contractor wrote, leaving the pool as close to perfect
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Speaker 1: as possible. AIC warned that the warranty would be voided
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Speaker 1: if water touches the repaired surface within 24 hours of
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Speaker 1: installation or the perimeter caulking joint within seven days. Last Tuesday,
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Speaker 1: as the repairs were nearing completion, Trump told reporters that
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Speaker 1: the latest fixes would make the pool as vandal-proof as
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Speaker 1: you can get. The next article from the front page
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Speaker 1: of today's edition is titled, Social Security emerges as a
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Speaker 1: key issue in midterm battleground districts. Democrats are trying to
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Speaker 1: unseat Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, in one of
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Speaker 1: several competitive races to focus on Social Security concerns, a
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Speaker 1: post-analysis shows, by Steve Thompson and Lydia Sidham. At 78,
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Speaker 1: Betty Fondalowicz still works a couple of days a week
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Speaker 1: as a hospice chaplain and lives comfortably enough that she's
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Speaker 1: able to give to charity. but she worries about the
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Speaker 1: coming shortfall in Social Security, which could cut her benefits
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Speaker 1: by nearly a quarter. I'm just waiting for somebody to
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Speaker 1: come up with a good idea as to how we
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Speaker 1: can supplement what is going to be taken away, Fondalowicz
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Speaker 1: said of the cuts forecast for 2032. So on a
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Speaker 1: recent morning, Fondalowicz joined several dozen other retirees in a
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Speaker 1: grassy park in this borough across the Susquehanna River from
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Speaker 1: Harrisburg to support Janelle Stelson, the Democrat challenging incumbent Representative
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Speaker 1: Scott Perry, Republican, in a critical midterm contest that could
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Speaker 1: help determine control of Congress. The candidacy of Stelson, a
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Speaker 1: former local TV anchor who failed by a single percentage
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Speaker 1: point to unseat Perry two years ago, is viewed as
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Speaker 1: a strong opportunity for Democrats to flip a Republican seat
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Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. She has been running on a platform of
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Speaker 1: lowering the cost of living and targeting political careerism in Washington.
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Speaker 1: But Stelson also has made a pledge to protect Social Security,
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Speaker 1: a centerpiece of her campaign. At the LeMoyne rally, she
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Speaker 1: accused Perry of supporting cutting your Social Security benefits, increasing
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Speaker 1: your Social Security taxes, and increasing the retirement age to 69.
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Speaker 1: Perry says he wants to fortify Social Security for those
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Speaker 1: who already earned it, and so that younger Americans compelled
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Speaker 1: to pay for it can also rely on it. In
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Speaker 1: a statement, he accused Stelson and other Democrats of attacking
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Speaker 1: me and anyone else looking for answers, all in the
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Speaker 1: name of scoring cheap political points. On top of the
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Speaker 1: campaign trail rhetoric, the race is one of more than
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Speaker 1: a dozen across the country where candidates and outside groups
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Speaker 1: have spent more than $ 1 million on ads mentioning Social Security.
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Speaker 1: According to a Washington Post analysis of more than 8,000
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Speaker 1: ads aired by October 5th in 63 competitive races, tracked
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Speaker 1: by the ad tracking firm Ad Impact. The Post analysis
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Speaker 1: found that Social Security is one of the most frequently
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Speaker 1: mentioned economic issues by Republicans in competitive races, with the
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Speaker 1: GOP spending about seven times more than Democrats on the issue.
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Speaker 1: Republicans have spent more on ads mentioning Social Security even
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Speaker 1: than ads mentioning grocery prices and health care costs three
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Speaker 1: times as much, utility bills four times as much, and
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Speaker 1: gas prices five times as much. The ads typically focus
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Speaker 1: on reminding voters that President Donald Trump's one big beautiful
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Speaker 1: bill created a temporary $ 6, 000 tax deduction for people 65
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Speaker 1: and older, a provision they call no tax on Social Security.
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Speaker 1: Ads supporting Perry, for example, say he cut taxes for
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Speaker 1: Social Security recipients. Perry also has accused Stelson of calling
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Speaker 1: for higher taxes on working families and on Social Security. Democrats,
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Speaker 1: by contrast, spend more on ads focused on day-to-day economic
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Speaker 1: concerns such as groceries, utilities, gas, and health care costs,
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Speaker 1: the analysis found. On Social Security, they typically promise to
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Speaker 1: protect benefits and question whether Republicans can be trusted with
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Speaker 1: the program. Stelson, for instance, has run ads focused on
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Speaker 1: a Perry proposal from 2016 calling for a combined mix
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Speaker 1: of benefit reductions and tax increases to shore up Social
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Speaker 1: Security's finances. The plan called for raising the cap on
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Speaker 1: income subject to the payroll tax that funds Social Security,
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Speaker 1: raising the retirement age from 67 to 69, and adjusting
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Speaker 1: benefit checks to reflect need. You earned your Social Security,
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Speaker 1: and I'll fight to protect it, Stelson says in an
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Speaker 1: ad that shows her hugging a worker in a hard hat.
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Speaker 1: Perry and Stelson are vying to represent a central Pennsylvania
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Speaker 1: district that encompasses the state capital of Harrisburg and suburbs
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Speaker 1: like Le Moyne. Trump carried the district by five percentage
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Speaker 1: points in 2024, when Perry prevailed over Stelson by about 5,100 votes.
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Speaker 1: This time around, with polls showing the race once again
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Speaker 1: rated among the most competitive in the country, the Department
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Speaker 1: of Homeland Security last week issued a press release accusing
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Speaker 1: her of employing as a canvasser an undocumented immigrant arrested
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Speaker 1: by immigration officials after allegedly exposing himself. The release linked
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Speaker 1: to a news report that quoted a conservative activist who
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Speaker 1: asserted the association. Stelson has denied any connection with the man.
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Speaker 1: saying he's neither an employee of the campaign nor a volunteer.
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Speaker 1: At the Le Moyne rally in a wooden pavilion by
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Speaker 1: the sparse shade of a black locust tree, Stelson told
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Speaker 1: those gathered that Perry's support for the war in Iran
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Speaker 1: could divert needed cash from the program, money that could
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Speaker 1: be used to take care of the people here at
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Speaker 1: home who tell me they are struggling with their bills
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Speaker 1: every day. Social Security's Retirement Trust Fund is projected to
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Speaker 1: run dry in just six years. At that point, monthly
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Speaker 1: benefit checks would shrink by about 22% unless Congress acts.
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Speaker 1: Closing the gap would require nearly $ 500 billion in fresh
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Speaker 1: funds in 2033 alone, and the shortfall would grow every
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Speaker 1: year thereafter. A decade ago, Perry's plan for shoring up
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Speaker 1: the program with both tax increases and benefit cuts was
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Speaker 1: close to mainstream. A 2010 debt reduction plan from President
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Speaker 1: Barack Obama's bipartisan campaign Bowles-Simpson Commission also called for raising
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Speaker 1: the payroll cap, raising the retirement age to 69, and
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Speaker 1: trimming benefits for wealthy retirees. But then Donald Trump promised
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Speaker 1: never to cut the program, warning in 2023, under no
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Speaker 1: circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from
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Speaker 1: Medicare or Social Security. Trump's stance has created a dilemma
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Speaker 1: for Republicans like Perry and whose website today says only
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Speaker 1: that he knows that we must keep our promise to
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Speaker 1: our seniors by preserving and protecting Medicare and Social Security.
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Speaker 1: His statement to the Post offered no specific solutions, but
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Speaker 1: he said that the longer we ignore this, the harder
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Speaker 1: the solution becomes. Stelson, too, has offered few specifics. At
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Speaker 1: the Le Moyne event, she said, I think a lot
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Speaker 1: of it is cutting waste and stop spending money on
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Speaker 1: places where we don't need to spend it. asked in
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Speaker 1: April about a proposal to make high earners pay more
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Speaker 1: into the program, Stelson said, I would try to keep
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Speaker 1: things where they are. That aligns with the thinking of
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Speaker 1: Betty Fundalowicz, who also thinks cutting government waste could help
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Speaker 1: solve the problem. A Stelson supporter since 2024, Fundalowicz thinks
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Speaker 1: Stelson cares about the district and will work in a
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Speaker 1: bipartisan fashion toward solutions. Others at the rally had different ideas.
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Speaker 1: Eileen McNulty, 74, relies mainly on the pension she earned
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Speaker 1: working for Pennsylvania state government, including two stints as secretary
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Speaker 1: of the Department of Revenue. But it's her Social Security check,
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Speaker 1: she said, that keeps her fixed pension from losing ground
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Speaker 1: against inflation. There's a couple of things that need to
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Speaker 1: be done, McNulty said, one of which is to increase
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Speaker 1: the amount wealthy people contribute. She said she dislikes Perry's
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Speaker 1: ads boasting that he has never voted for a tax increase. Where,
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Speaker 1: she wonders, does he think the money for his own
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Speaker 1: government salary comes from? Jim Meade, 81, said, Another Stelson
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Speaker 1: supporter also wants to see the wealthy contribute more to
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Speaker 1: Social Security. Meade spent two decades running the local Blue
20:17
Speaker 1: Cross Blue Shield insurer, then moved into venture capital, investing
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Speaker 1: in health care companies. For much of his career, he
20:24
Speaker 1: earned well above the cap on income subject to the
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Speaker 1: Social Security payroll tax, currently set at $ 184, 500. Once Meade's
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Speaker 1: pay crossed the cap, the deductions stopped. a policy he
20:37
Speaker 1: called unnecessary. I didn't need that money, particularly at my
20:42
Speaker 1: level as the CEO of a company. Why not raise
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Speaker 1: that cap, Mead said. When you're higher paid, you've got
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Speaker 1: an obligation. While Mead said cutting benefits is just a
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Speaker 1: red flag for people, he said he could live with
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Speaker 1: smaller checks for wealthier retirees like himself. I should get
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Speaker 1: something back for what I paid in. That's only right,
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Speaker 1: but maybe I don't get as much back, he said.
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Speaker 1: Whatever happens, Meade said the nation should not add Social
21:10
Speaker 1: Security's shortfall to the nation's credit card bill. If you
21:14
Speaker 1: go down my list of fears for generations that succeed me,
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Speaker 1: our debt load is already frightening, so I would not
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Speaker 1: borrow the money, he said, adding, it may be that
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Speaker 1: we just ultimately have to raise taxes. Miles away at
21:28
Speaker 1: a diner outside the city of York, Bruce Reiner took
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Speaker 1: a break from his part-time job in industrial battery sales
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Speaker 1: to smoke a cigarette. A 75-year-old who supports Perry, Reinert
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Speaker 1: says he still works 25 to 28 hours a week,
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Speaker 1: but that Social Security is my main income that keeps
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Speaker 1: me going. Reinert defended Perry's stance on Social Security. He
21:51
Speaker 1: didn't say do away with it, okay? He said he's
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Speaker 1: open to some of Perry's ideas, including raising the retirement age.
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Speaker 1: People are living longer, Reinert said. Stelson, he said, has
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Speaker 1: misrepresented the incumbent on Social Security, adding that Perry, too,
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Speaker 1: wants to protect it, looking down the road at what's
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Speaker 1: going to happen. But Reiner has his own solution for
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Speaker 1: the retirement program's money troubles. I think part of it
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Speaker 1: is that we've allowed so many illegals to be on
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Speaker 1: Social Security that should not be on it, he said.
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Speaker 1: In reality, the effect of undocumented immigrants on the program
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Speaker 1: runs in the opposite direction. They generally contribute payroll taxes
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Speaker 1: to the program but cannot collect benefits. Social Security officials
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Speaker 1: have cited Trump's restrictive immigration policies as one reason the
22:40
Speaker 1: program's financial outlook has gotten worse. Another factor, the One
22:46
Speaker 1: Big Beautiful Bill's tax cuts, which will cost Social Security
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Speaker 1: about $ 169 billion over a decade, the program's chief actuary
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Speaker 1: has estimated. Reinhart said what bothers him most about Social
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Speaker 1: Security is his sense that the deal is changing. For me,
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Speaker 1: it's upsetting because I've contributed to Social Security my whole
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Speaker 1: working career, he said. It was a good program to
23:09
Speaker 1: be on when it started. The next article from the
23:12
Speaker 1: front page of today's edition is titled, How the Pre-Election
23:16
Speaker 1: Search of Representative Ilhan Omar's Home Breaks Justice Department Norms.
23:22
Speaker 1: The agency has historically avoided taking public action in investigations
23:27
Speaker 1: involving politicians in the weeks before elections, by Perry Steins.
23:32
Speaker 1: When federal immigration officials executed a search at Representative Ilhan
23:37
Speaker 1: Omar's Washington home on Monday morning, it brought renewed attention
23:41
Speaker 1: to a vague but longstanding Justice Department principle, the 60-day rule.
23:46
Speaker 1: Under the rule, which is not law and which officials
23:49
Speaker 1: have interpreted in various ways, federal prosecutors historically have refrained
23:54
Speaker 1: from taking public steps in politically fraught cases, such as
23:58
Speaker 1: executing a search warrant, or seeking an indictment in the
24:01
Speaker 1: run-up to an election. The aim of the unwritten rule,
24:05
Speaker 1: also known as the blackout period, is to ensure that
24:08
Speaker 1: law enforcement actions do not influence elections and are not
24:12
Speaker 1: perceived as attempting to sway elections. But the search in D.C.,
24:17
Speaker 1: just 22 days before the U.S. congressional elections in Minnesota,
24:21
Speaker 1: where Omar, Democrat, will be on the ballot, was the
24:24
Speaker 1: latest in a long line of actions demonstrating how the
24:27
Speaker 1: Justice Department during President Donald Trump's second term has upended
24:31
Speaker 1: long-standing norms intended to ensure that investigations are not politicized
24:36
Speaker 1: or seen as such, according to legal experts. Administration officials
24:41
Speaker 1: defended the timing of the search and noted that a
24:43
Speaker 1: judge signed off on the warrant used to justify it.
24:47
Speaker 1: Democrats criticized the move. and legal experts questioned the decision
24:51
Speaker 1: to act only weeks before voters cast ballots. If they
24:55
Speaker 1: don't have some particular reason why they would need to
24:58
Speaker 1: execute this warrant at this particular moment, this strikes me
25:01
Speaker 1: as not a wise decision, said Jonathan Kravis, a former
25:05
Speaker 1: prosecutor in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section during the
25:09
Speaker 1: Obama and first Trump administrations, who now works at the
25:13
Speaker 1: law firm Liu Shi Kravis. At the very least, this
25:17
Speaker 1: could be perceived as them trying to hurt her chances
25:20
Speaker 1: in the election. At worst, maybe that is what they
25:23
Speaker 1: are trying to do, and that would be very, very bad.
25:27
Speaker 1: Federal law enforcement officials are investigating whether Omar or her
25:30
Speaker 1: father may have lied on government forms decades ago to
25:34
Speaker 1: secure legal status and eventually U.S. citizenship, the Washington Post
25:38
Speaker 1: has reported. Born in Somalia, Omar fled the country's civil
25:42
Speaker 1: war with her family when she was a young girl
25:45
Speaker 1: and immigrated to the United States in 1995. She became
25:49
Speaker 1: a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000. On Monday, Omar wrote
25:54
Speaker 1: on X that Trump had targeted her with baseless lies.
25:58
Speaker 1: She called the search the latest escalation in his campaign
26:02
Speaker 1: of political intimidation. Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of
26:08
Speaker 1: the Department of Homeland Security, executed the early morning search
26:11
Speaker 1: of Omar's Northeast Washington home. The Justice Department confirmed that
26:16
Speaker 1: it secured a court-authorized warrant for a law enforcement action
26:19
Speaker 1: that morning. Allegations regarding Omar's immigration history have circulated in
26:25
Speaker 1: conservative circles for years, though federal officials who have promoted
26:29
Speaker 1: the claims have not provided substantiating evidence. Critics of the
26:33
Speaker 1: Trump administration have said that the public could question the
26:36
Speaker 1: legitimacy of the investigation, in part because the president has
26:40
Speaker 1: publicly excoriated Omar over a period of years and because
26:44
Speaker 1: the probe appears to be gaining momentum so close to
26:47
Speaker 1: her election. Trump on Monday called Omar a terrible person.
26:52
Speaker 1: Omar won the Democratic primary for Minnesota's fifth congressional district
26:56
Speaker 1: in August and is seeking her fifth term representing Minneapolis.
27:01
Speaker 1: The general election is in November and Omar is expected
27:04
Speaker 1: to win reelection in the heavily Democratic district. In response
27:09
Speaker 1: to questions about the 60-day rule, a Justice Department official
27:12
Speaker 1: said that the law enforcement agency is not bound by
27:15
Speaker 1: it and that written prosecutorial guidelines say that the agency
27:19
Speaker 1: is only barred from choosing the time of a law
27:22
Speaker 1: enforcement action to sway an election. Officials contend that they
27:26
Speaker 1: are not trying to influence Omar's election. The 60-day rule
27:31
Speaker 1: is an informal practice, not written policy, a Justice Department
27:35
Speaker 1: official said in a statement. The standard is purpose, not
27:38
Speaker 1: proximity to Election Day. Department policy does not require the
27:43
Speaker 1: Department to stop ongoing work during an election season. The
27:47
Speaker 1: rule is part of a sweep of post-Watergate practices adopted
27:50
Speaker 1: at the Justice Department to ensure that politics does not
27:54
Speaker 1: intertwine with criminal investigations and to maintain some distance between
27:58
Speaker 1: the White House and the law enforcement agency. The Trump
28:02
Speaker 1: administration has eroded many of these norms, with the president
28:05
Speaker 1: openly talking about whom he wants to be prosecuted and
28:09
Speaker 1: Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that the president has a
28:12
Speaker 1: duty to identify who should be investigated. In recent weeks,
28:16
Speaker 1: Blanche also has spoken at Republican campaign rallies, highly unusual
28:20
Speaker 1: appearances for the nation's most powerful law enforcement official. A
28:24
Speaker 1: government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to
28:28
Speaker 1: discuss an ongoing investigation defended the execution of the search warrant.
28:33
Speaker 1: saying that law enforcement officials adhered to guidelines on politically
28:36
Speaker 1: sensitive investigations by first consulting the public integrity section as
28:41
Speaker 1: required in instances in which the timing of an investigation
28:45
Speaker 1: could be called into question. Blanche also signed off on
28:48
Speaker 1: carrying out the warrant, the officials said. Former Justice Department officials, however,
28:54
Speaker 1: questioned whether those consultations and approvals provided the same kind
28:58
Speaker 1: of safeguards as they have in the past. Under the
29:01
Speaker 1: Trump administration, the public integrity section has been gutted, with
29:05
Speaker 1: scores of experienced prosecutors being pushed out or fired. Only
29:10
Speaker 1: a small number of attorneys remains in the division, and
29:13
Speaker 1: they have largely been cut out of sensitive political investigations,
29:17
Speaker 1: according to multiple people familiar with the office. Legal experts
29:21
Speaker 1: said there are generally accepted exceptions to the 60-day rule,
29:25
Speaker 1: including when prosecutors fear that evidence could be damaged or moved,
29:29
Speaker 1: or in instances of public safety concerns. The legal experts
29:33
Speaker 1: interviewed said that based on what has so far been
29:36
Speaker 1: revealed publicly, those exceptions do not appear to apply in
29:39
Speaker 1: the search of Omar's home. The 60-day rule is part
29:43
Speaker 1: one of the post-Watergate efforts to improve not only the
29:46
Speaker 1: reality but also the perception of the Justice Department by
29:50
Speaker 1: keeping it isolated and insulated from the political process on
29:53
Speaker 1: the eve of an election, said Philip Allen Lacovara, the
29:57
Speaker 1: deputy solicitor general during the Nixon administration, who later served
30:02
Speaker 1: on the Watergate special prosecutor team. Traditionally, at least in
30:06
Speaker 1: the last 50 years, there has been a high degree
30:09
Speaker 1: of sensitivity in trying to avoid these types of actions.
30:13
Speaker 1: Trump previously stressed the importance of the 60-day rule. As
30:17
Speaker 1: a criminal defendant in 2024, Trump complained that the Justice Department,
30:22
Speaker 1: under Attorney General Merrick Garland, violated the rule as it
30:25
Speaker 1: prosecuted him for allegedly trying to obstruct the results of
30:29
Speaker 1: the 2020 election. In that instance, less than 60 days
30:33
Speaker 1: before the presidential election, a federal judge unsealed a massive
30:37
Speaker 1: filing from special counsel Jack Smith that contained damaging evidence
30:42
Speaker 1: against Trump. Smith made the filing to comply with the
30:45
Speaker 1: judge's deadline. At the time, Justice Department officials argued that
30:50
Speaker 1: once a case is in front of a judge, they
30:52
Speaker 1: must follow the court's schedule. even if that schedule collides
30:56
Speaker 1: with a presidential election. Still, Trump contended that was in
31:00
Speaker 1: violation of the policy. For 60 days prior to an election,
31:04
Speaker 1: the Department of Injustice is supposed to do absolutely nothing
31:08
Speaker 1: that would taint or interfere with said election, Trump wrote
31:11
Speaker 1: on Truth Social in 2024. They disobeyed their own rule
31:16
Speaker 1: in favor of complete and total election interference. I did
31:19
Speaker 1: nothing wrong. They did. The 60-day rule also came under
31:24
Speaker 1: intense scrutiny in the days before the 2016 presidential election
31:28
Speaker 1: between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On October 28, 2016,
31:35
Speaker 1: 11 days before voters were set to head to the polls,
31:38
Speaker 1: FBI Director James B. Comey publicly announced he was reopening
31:42
Speaker 1: an investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server.
31:47
Speaker 1: The move was later denounced by the department's inspector general,
31:50
Speaker 1: and the FBI ultimately did not change its recommendation that
31:54
Speaker 1: Clinton shouldn't be prosecuted. At the time, Trump campaigned on
31:58
Speaker 1: that disclosure, accusing Clinton of being too irresponsible and careless
32:02
Speaker 1: to serve as president. The next article from the front
32:06
Speaker 1: page of today's edition is titled, U.S. Warnings So Confusion,
32:11
Speaker 1: Alarm in Ukraine Over Intelligence, Starlink Access. The reports of
32:16
Speaker 1: restrictions on the Internet service used for military operations, including
32:20
Speaker 1: interceptor drones, came as President Volodymyr Zelensky said missiles hit
32:24
Speaker 1: Kyiv without any warning from partners. By Francesca Ebel, John Hudson,
32:30
Speaker 1: Sari Morganoff, and Alex Horton. Ukraine's Starlink access has been
32:36
Speaker 1: restricted without warning, adding to growing confusion about whether the
32:40
Speaker 1: United States has begun limiting intelligence and military aid to Ukraine.
32:45
Speaker 1: a senior Ukrainian military advisor and others with ties to
32:48
Speaker 1: the country's defense ministry, said Wednesday. A flurry of contradictory
32:52
Speaker 1: reports over possible restrictions on access to Starlink, the satellite
32:57
Speaker 1: internet surface, and to U.S. intelligence followed claims by Ukrainian
33:01
Speaker 1: President Volodymyr Zelensky late Tuesday that Ukraine had not received
33:06
Speaker 1: warnings from its Western partners on incoming ballistic attacks for
33:10
Speaker 1: two consecutive nights. Starlink is operated by SpaceX, a company
33:15
Speaker 1: owned by Elon Musk, who threatened in 2023 to cut
33:19
Speaker 1: off the Ukrainian military's access unless the U.S. government paid
33:23
Speaker 1: for it. The Pentagon agreed to pay. Ukraine's armed forces
33:28
Speaker 1: rely on a secure, militarized version of Starlink Internet service
33:32
Speaker 1: called Starshield for military operations, including their mid-range strike campaign
33:37
Speaker 1: in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Starlink is also vital for the operation
33:42
Speaker 1: of Internet-connected interceptor drones that can normally reach speeds of
33:46
Speaker 1: over 180 mph. Ukrainian officials said their military has experienced
33:52
Speaker 1: speed restrictions. I confirmed that SpaceX implemented speed restrictions on
33:57
Speaker 1: Starlink terminals while in motion last night, Sergei Beskresnov, presidential
34:02
Speaker 1: advisor on military technology, said in a post on social media. Currently,
34:08
Speaker 1: the restriction applies to the Starshield military service package and
34:12
Speaker 1: limits speed to 100 miles per hour, Beskresnov posted. It
34:16
Speaker 1: is obvious that this move cannot be a coincidence and
34:19
Speaker 1: is linked to the current political situation. Previously, these systems
34:24
Speaker 1: operated without speed limits, allowing Ukraine to swiftly and effectively
34:28
Speaker 1: hit complex targets. Limits could create major problems for logistics
34:33
Speaker 1: as well as the operation of drones and other fast-moving
34:36
Speaker 1: unmanned systems. The connection might be cut off when these
34:39
Speaker 1: systems exceed the limit during operation. Sergei Sternenko, who runs
34:45
Speaker 1: a foundation supplying drones to Ukrainian forces and previously served
34:49
Speaker 1: as an advisor to Ukraine's defense minister, also reported the
34:53
Speaker 1: Starlink speed limits and later said that the speeds were
34:56
Speaker 1: being limited even further. It is likely that the company, SpaceX,
35:01
Speaker 1: resorted to such measures at the request of the Trump administration,
35:04
Speaker 1: Sternenko said on the messaging app Telegram. Ordinary satellite communication
35:09
Speaker 1: terminals are currently operational. An employee of Ukraine's Defense Ministry
35:15
Speaker 1: told the Washington Post that the claims regarding Starlink speed
35:18
Speaker 1: limits were still being assessed. The Defense Ministry themselves doesn't
35:23
Speaker 1: yet know whether these restrictions are the result of a
35:25
Speaker 1: policy change or a technical limitation, said the employee, who,
35:29
Speaker 1: like others in this article, spoke on the condition of
35:32
Speaker 1: anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. They're still trying to
35:37
Speaker 1: figure it out, the employees said, adding, this was not
35:40
Speaker 1: necessarily some malicious attempt to ground everyone. Wednesday's outages disrupted
35:45
Speaker 1: military operations, creating immediate dangers to troops and civilians, according
35:50
Speaker 1: to Ukrainian service members. Starshield connectivity was severed among personnel
35:55
Speaker 1: focused on air defense, leaving them unable to intercept drones
35:59
Speaker 1: and missiles, according to a Ukrainian soldier whose unit is
36:02
Speaker 1: fanned out across eastern Ukraine. The loss of connectivity also
36:07
Speaker 1: grounded attack drones that targeted Russian logistics and command posts,
36:11
Speaker 1: the soldier said. Musk has not publicly commented on whether
36:15
Speaker 1: the claims on restrictions are accurate. In a post on
36:19
Speaker 1: X over the weekend, he appeared to support President Donald
36:22
Speaker 1: Trump's call for Zelensky's removal last week. Zelensky has gone
36:27
Speaker 1: too far, Musk wrote. In another post Wednesday, Musk clarified
36:31
Speaker 1: that Starlink is controlled by SpaceX and while Starshield is
36:34
Speaker 1: controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or
36:38
Speaker 1: usage are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately POTUS,
36:42
Speaker 1: he wrote. He added, Starlink is a commercial service owned
36:46
Speaker 1: and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to
36:50
Speaker 1: civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive
36:54
Speaker 1: military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a
36:57
Speaker 1: commercial company. The alarm in Ukraine over possible speed limits
37:02
Speaker 1: followed claims from Zelensky's office that ballistic missiles hit Kyiv
37:06
Speaker 1: without warning Monday and Tuesday night, endangering the lives of
37:09
Speaker 1: civilians who rely on air raid sirens to get to
37:12
Speaker 1: safety in nearby bomb shelters. A Russian ballistic missile attack
37:17
Speaker 1: on Kyiv. Once again, no early warning from our partners.
37:21
Speaker 1: The main target was energy infrastructure, Zelensky said in a
37:24
Speaker 1: statement late Tuesday. During the large-scale attack overnight Tuesday, Russian
37:30
Speaker 1: ballistic and cruise missiles hit six different energy facilities across Ukraine,
37:35
Speaker 1: including Kyiv's main power plants. Zelensky said Wednesday morning that
37:40
Speaker 1: 39 ballistic missiles and 120 attack drones had been deployed
37:45
Speaker 1: and that 600,000 people were without electricity. There were rolling
37:49
Speaker 1: power cuts across the capital Wednesday, and electric public transportation
37:53
Speaker 1: in some parts of the city had been suspended. The
37:57
Speaker 1: overnight attacks on Kyiv left at least four dead and
38:00
Speaker 1: 25 injured, according to city authorities. Zelensky's office and Ukraine's
38:04
Speaker 1: air force later confirmed, however, that in subsequent waves of attacks,
38:09
Speaker 1: Ukraine's partners had shared intelligence. At around 10.40 p.m., we
38:14
Speaker 1: reported that we had received no warnings from our partners
38:17
Speaker 1: about ballistic missiles, Yuri Einat, head of communications for the
38:21
Speaker 1: Ukrainian air force, said on national television. However, during the
38:25
Speaker 1: next three waves of attacks, our partners did provide warnings
38:28
Speaker 1: about the use of ballistic missiles. The contradiction and confusion
38:32
Speaker 1: around the lack of intelligence appears to have originated from
38:36
Speaker 1: behind-the-scenes threats made by U.S. officials warning Ukraine to stop
38:40
Speaker 1: attacking Russian refineries or risk being cut off from critical U.S.
38:44
Speaker 1: weapons and intelligence. The U.S. threatened to withhold intelligence from
38:49
Speaker 1: Ukraine on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
38:53
Speaker 1: US intelligence officials warned the Ukrainian embassy in Washington that
38:58
Speaker 1: if there are more strikes on Russian energy sites, the
39:01
Speaker 1: US would immediately halt all intelligence sharing. US intelligence has
39:05
Speaker 1: not been cut off, at least not in full, but
39:08
Speaker 1: the threat remains, the person said. The warnings were so
39:12
Speaker 1: widespread that anyone with a Ukrainian-sounding last name got a call,
39:16
Speaker 1: the person said. The type of missile that hit Kiev
39:19
Speaker 1: has evaded alert systems previously. but not recently, the person said.
39:24
Speaker 1: Zelensky confirmed in an interview Tuesday with NPR radio that
39:28
Speaker 1: Ukrainian military officials had received warnings and threats regarding intelligence sharing,
39:33
Speaker 1: but that threats had not yet been acted upon. Trump
39:37
Speaker 1: also told reporters Tuesday that intelligence sharing would continue. We
39:42
Speaker 1: are helping them, and we are sharing intel. We want
39:45
Speaker 1: the war to end, he said. An EU diplomat based
39:49
Speaker 1: in Kyiv told the Post that Zelensky has interests in
39:52
Speaker 1: suggesting that the intel has been stopped. The anti-US wing
39:56
Speaker 1: around Zelensky is pushing this narrative, but I can also
39:59
Speaker 1: imagine that Trump is eager to push Zelensky. In my opinion,
40:04
Speaker 1: both scenarios are possible. It was not the first time
40:07
Speaker 1: that Ukrainian radar systems missed ballistic missile attacks, the diplomat noted.
40:13
Speaker 1: Russia is barred from using Starlink on the battlefield today.
40:16
Speaker 1: but has attempted to use illicit terminals in its war
40:19
Speaker 1: against Ukraine. The Kremlin said Wednesday that it was too
40:22
Speaker 1: early to draw conclusions about whether Washington would continue to
40:26
Speaker 1: support Ukraine militarily. On the one hand, there are statements
40:30
Speaker 1: that assistance continues to be provided. On the other hand,
40:33
Speaker 1: there are claims that various technical problems have arisen and
40:36
Speaker 1: the information chain has been interrupted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
40:43
Speaker 1: Regarding potential Starlink restrictions, Peskov said that it would be
40:47
Speaker 1: better if such brilliant technologies were not used for military
40:50
Speaker 1: purposes at all. Ukrainian officials said that Russia's overnight attacks
40:55
Speaker 1: on Ukraine's energy infrastructure were a message. Ukrainian Foreign Minister
40:59
Speaker 1: Andrei Sebiya said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered
41:04
Speaker 1: yet another negative response to the proposal for an energy
41:07
Speaker 1: ceasefire announced by President Trump. Trump had announced the ceasefire
41:12
Speaker 1: between Russia and Ukraine in a Truth Social post on Sunday,
41:16
Speaker 1: though neither side appeared aware. Zelensky said Monday that he
41:19
Speaker 1: was ready to sign an energy ceasefire, but would retaliate
41:23
Speaker 1: if Russia were to continue attacking Ukrainian power grids. A
41:28
Speaker 1: targeted Russian ballistic missile strike specifically against energy infrastructure, the
41:33
Speaker 1: very infrastructure covered by the ceasefire announced by the American president,
41:37
Speaker 1: Zelensky said Wednesday on social media. The strike was entirely
41:41
Speaker 1: deliberate and demonstrative in its scale. Russia has never before
41:45
Speaker 1: shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States. The next
41:51
Speaker 1: article from the front page of today's edition is titled,
41:54
Speaker 1: DHS Rejects Watchdogs Call for ICE to Use Auto-Activated Body Cameras.
42:00
Speaker 1: The Government Accountability Office said the technology would improve oversight
42:05
Speaker 1: and public trust. ICE officers have not had body cameras
42:08
Speaker 1: activated in recent shootings. By David Nakamura. The Department of
42:13
Speaker 1: Homeland Security is pushing back on a recommendation from a
42:17
Speaker 1: government watchdog urging the agency to automatically activate body-worn cameras
42:21
Speaker 1: when federal immigration officials pull a firearm or stun gun,
42:25
Speaker 1: arguing that such technology could cause privacy concerns if the
42:29
Speaker 1: cameras are accidentally turned on. The agency's stance came in
42:33
Speaker 1: response to a new report Wednesday from the Government Accountability
42:37
Speaker 1: Office that found U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S.
42:41
Speaker 1: Immigration and Customs Enforcement have failed to update plans to
42:44
Speaker 1: deploy and monitor body-worn cameras, despite significant changes to the
42:49
Speaker 1: program during the Trump administration. The GAO recommended that ICE
42:54
Speaker 1: adopt automated activation technology, which CBP already uses in cases
42:59
Speaker 1: when officers draw their firearms or activate emergency lights on
43:03
Speaker 1: their vehicles. By contrast, the GAO reported ICE's lack of
43:08
Speaker 1: automated controls presents the risk of personnel not capturing footage
43:12
Speaker 1: of incidents when they are required to do so. The
43:15
Speaker 1: auditors wrote that the inability to capture footage could negatively
43:19
Speaker 1: impact prospects for public engagement, successful data, enforcement, and other partnerships,
43:25
Speaker 1: including a loss of public confidence and transparency. The GAO
43:29
Speaker 1: report comes amid mounting public scrutiny of ICE's tactics in
43:33
Speaker 1: the wake of a spate of recent officer-involved shootings, including
43:37
Speaker 1: of a Venezuelan man in Austin last month. The officer
43:41
Speaker 1: who fired his weapon was a recruit who was issued
43:44
Speaker 1: a body camera but was not using it during the incident,
43:47
Speaker 1: in which Wilbur Garces Perez, 28, was shot and wounded
43:51
Speaker 1: during a traffic stop. DHS officials responded to the report
43:56
Speaker 1: by saying they concur with six of the GAO's seven recommendations,
44:00
Speaker 1: including implementing results-oriented goals and measures to assess the effectiveness
44:04
Speaker 1: of the body camera program. But Jeffrey M. Bobich, DHS's
44:09
Speaker 1: Executive Director of Financial Management and Systems, said in a
44:13
Speaker 1: response contained in the report that his agency did not
44:16
Speaker 1: concur with the GAO's recommendation about automated camera activations. Automatic
44:21
Speaker 1: activation presents significant operational risks, including advertent or false activations
44:27
Speaker 1: during routine movement, he wrote. Such triggers could result in
44:30
Speaker 1: the unauthorized recording of sensitive interactions with informants or victims
44:35
Speaker 1: or the recording of bystanders engaged in protected First Amendment
44:39
Speaker 1: activities in areas where camera use is restricted. DHS did
44:43
Speaker 1: not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on
44:47
Speaker 1: whether it remains opposed to automated activation of body cameras
44:50
Speaker 1: for ICE officers. ICE Acting Director David Venturella said over
44:55
Speaker 1: the summer that the cameras would be disseminated to every
44:58
Speaker 1: officer by the end of August following the deaths of
45:01
Speaker 1: two immigrants shot by officers who did not have cameras
45:04
Speaker 1: recording when they fired. One of those officers was a
45:07
Speaker 1: recruit who had a volatile history according to relatives and
45:11
Speaker 1: court records. An agency spokesman told the Washington Post in
45:15
Speaker 1: late August that DHS had enough body cameras to equip
45:19
Speaker 1: all ICE officers nationwide. But in early September, Homeland Security
45:24
Speaker 1: Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen said at a news conference that
45:27
Speaker 1: the cameras had not yet been fully distributed and that
45:30
Speaker 1: only officers assigned to make arrests in the field would
45:33
Speaker 1: be given the devices. The GAO report, which was done
45:37
Speaker 1: at the request of congressional Democrats, found that through June 2026,
45:42
Speaker 1: CBP had issued approximately 11,500 cameras, nearly all of them
45:47
Speaker 1: to Border Patrol, and ICE had deployed 4,800 cameras split
45:52
Speaker 1: between enforcement and removal operations and Homeland Security investigations. The
45:57
Speaker 1: auditors found that CBP had not updated its plans for
46:00
Speaker 1: the cameras since 2022, and ICE had not updated its
46:04
Speaker 1: policies since 2024. The lack of current program plans that
46:09
Speaker 1: are clearly defined and aligned with organizational objectives makes it
46:13
Speaker 1: difficult for both component programs to plan for and communicate
46:16
Speaker 1: with stakeholders about needs to respond to changing operational requirements
46:20
Speaker 1: and constraints, the GAO report said. The auditor said both
46:25
Speaker 1: CBP and ICE have oversight policies, including requiring officers to
46:30
Speaker 1: provide a statement to superiors if they fail to activate
46:33
Speaker 1: the cameras during an encounter. CBP had issued one written
46:38
Speaker 1: reprimand for noncompliance with camera policies, the report said, and
46:42
Speaker 1: ICE had not issued any through September 2025. By implementing
46:47
Speaker 1: control activities related to camera activation, such as automated camera
46:51
Speaker 1: activation technology, ICE would have an improved mechanism to ensure
46:55
Speaker 1: that footage is captured in accordance with policy and enable
46:59
Speaker 1: the agencies to promote public confidence and provide increased transparency
47:03
Speaker 1: into operations, the report said. Without reliable control activities, ICE
47:09
Speaker 1: risks gaps in documentation and video evidence that can make
47:13
Speaker 1: reviews of incidents more challenging. The next article from the
47:16
Speaker 1: front page of today's edition is titled, Prices Increased Sharply
47:21
Speaker 1: in September in Last Inflation Report Ahead of Elections. Energy
47:25
Speaker 1: Prices Drove the Hotter-than-Expected Increase, by Rachel Lerman. Inflation rose
47:32
Speaker 1: to a 3.7% annual pace in September. extending a relentless
47:37
Speaker 1: climb this year pushed by surging energy prices, which have
47:40
Speaker 1: soured Americans on the economy as they head to the polls.
47:44
Speaker 1: Gas and energy prices spiked sharply, driving a hotter-than-expected increase
47:49
Speaker 1: in the last inflation report before the election, released Wednesday
47:53
Speaker 1: by the Labor Department. The increase in the Consumer Price
47:56
Speaker 1: Index adds pressure to the Trump administration and Republican candidates
48:01
Speaker 1: as one of the final economic tests before the midterm elections.
48:05
Speaker 1: Affordability is a key issue for voters in this election,
48:09
Speaker 1: and GOP candidates have been acknowledging to dissatisfied voters that
48:13
Speaker 1: economic conditions are poor, even as the Republican Party controls
48:17
Speaker 1: the White House and Congress. President Donald Trump was elected
48:21
Speaker 1: on a pledge to bring down prices for Americans, but
48:24
Speaker 1: many Americans have said they are frustrated by inflation, as
48:28
Speaker 1: gas prices have skyrocketed since the United States and Israel
48:31
Speaker 1: carried out strikes on Iran. When stripping out volatile food
48:36
Speaker 1: and energy increases, core inflation was 2.6% in September. The
48:41
Speaker 1: gasoline index climbed 9.1% from the month before and made
48:46
Speaker 1: up more than half of September's increase. Energy prices overall
48:50
Speaker 1: climbed more than 20% in the past year, putting pressure
48:54
Speaker 1: on household budgets. Fuel oil, which is used to heat
48:58
Speaker 1: some homes, surged 74% in the past year. The S
49:03
Speaker 1: & P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes fell slightly in
49:07
Speaker 1: morning trading, and the 10-year Treasury yield rose. Higher prices
49:12
Speaker 1: have already been playing a big role in the midterm elections,
49:15
Speaker 1: as voters lose confidence in the Trump administration's handling of
49:19
Speaker 1: the economy. About 25% of registered voters said they approved
49:23
Speaker 1: of Trump's handling of the economy, according to a Financial
49:27
Speaker 1: Times focal data poll out this week. Trump has been
49:31
Speaker 1: trying multiple avenues to aid U.S. consumers, including exploring a
49:35
Speaker 1: diesel export ban and sending checks to millions of Americans,
49:39
Speaker 1: but he faces significant roadblocks and many people's concerns have
49:43
Speaker 1: not been assuaged. The Trump administration has put in place
49:47
Speaker 1: an aggressive pro-growth economic agenda, White House spokesman Matthew Middleton
49:52
Speaker 1: said in an emailed statement Wednesday following the inflation release.
49:57
Speaker 1: The president has always been clear about temporary disruptions as
50:00
Speaker 1: a result of the Iran conflict, but this administration will
50:04
Speaker 1: continue to deliver economic wins for the American people over
50:07
Speaker 1: the next two years, he wrote. The economy has consistently
50:11
Speaker 1: ranked as the leading issue for voters this election season,
50:15
Speaker 1: and the Trump administration has tried to make a last-minute
50:18
Speaker 1: push to make finances more favorable for people. Democrats have
50:22
Speaker 1: seized upon voters' dissatisfaction, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars
50:26
Speaker 1: into ads about the economy. Gas prices, one of the
50:30
Speaker 1: most visible measures of inflation, were above $ 4. 30 on average
50:34
Speaker 1: this week, according to AAA. and diesel prices remained above $ 6. 20
50:40
Speaker 1: per gallon, near a record high. Prices for gasoline had
50:45
Speaker 1: been falling before the war with Iran began, but have
50:48
Speaker 1: surged since, exasperating Americans. Gasoline prices climbed 34% in the
50:54
Speaker 1: past year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and
50:58
Speaker 1: diesel prices eventually make their way into higher prices on
51:02
Speaker 1: the shelf, because the fuel is used to power everything
51:05
Speaker 1: from farming equipment to refrigerated trucks. That gets into the
51:09
Speaker 1: price of almost everything else, said Diane Swonk, chief economist
51:14
Speaker 1: at KPMG. Wednesday's report shows that prices for used cars, clothing,
51:19
Speaker 1: and airline fares have also increased, showing that elevated energy
51:23
Speaker 1: prices are creeping into other sectors. The price of toys
51:27
Speaker 1: accelerated especially sharply. rising 4% from the month before as
51:32
Speaker 1: the holiday season approaches. It is clear that as long
51:35
Speaker 1: as geopolitical risks lead to higher energy costs, there will
51:39
Speaker 1: be cost pressures on many businesses that force them to
51:42
Speaker 1: pass the inflation hot potato onto other consumers and companies.
51:46
Speaker 1: Chris Ruppke, chief economist at Forward Bonds, a financial research firm,
51:51
Speaker 1: wrote in an email Wednesday, Inflation has stayed well above
51:55
Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve's 2% target for more than five years.
51:59
Speaker 1: weighing on Americans' budgets and making people feel increasingly dreary
52:03
Speaker 1: about the economy. The Federal Reserve, tasked with keeping the
52:07
Speaker 1: economy growing while taming inflation, raised interest rates at its
52:11
Speaker 1: last meeting to curb inflation. Accelerating inflation may prompt them
52:15
Speaker 1: to raise rates again in the near future, experts say.
52:19
Speaker 1: And Americans have seen no real wage growth on average
52:22
Speaker 1: since Trump took office in 2025. Wages have not kept
52:27
Speaker 1: up with inflation. Real average hourly earnings fell 0.5% from
52:32
Speaker 1: August to September. The monthly consumer price index from the
52:36
Speaker 1: Labor Department is just reinforcing what people already know, that
52:40
Speaker 1: inflation remains high, said Kathy Bostanchik, chief economist at Nationwide.
52:46
Speaker 1: It's like putting a little more salt in the wound,
52:48
Speaker 1: she said. Still, a resilient, if uninspiring, labor market with
52:53
Speaker 1: low unemployment has stabilized many households, even as wages fall
52:57
Speaker 1: behind price increases. Consumer spending remains strong, a critical piece
53:03
Speaker 1: of the economy that makes up about two-thirds of the U.S.
53:05
Speaker 1: gross domestic product. Some households are buoyed by the strong
53:10
Speaker 1: stock market and stable employment, while others are dipping into
53:14
Speaker 1: savings or putting more money on credit cards to keep
53:16
Speaker 1: their spending up. People feel miserable about it, but they
53:21
Speaker 1: keep spending, Bastanchik said. There's a divide between the overall economy.
53:26
Speaker 1: which is still growing at a hearty pace, and how
53:28
Speaker 1: many Americans are experiencing it, Swank said. People have been
53:32
Speaker 1: weighed down by several years of elevated inflation and wages
53:36
Speaker 1: that haven't kept up with price increases. We've got resilience
53:40
Speaker 1: that doesn't resonate, she said. Inflation hits 100% of households.
53:45
Speaker 1: Everybody sees the price of gas. The next article from
53:49
Speaker 1: today's edition is titled, U.S. Doctors Are Aging, Raising Concerns
53:53
Speaker 1: About Patient Safety. Proposals to assess older physicians have collided
53:58
Speaker 1: with fierce professional resistance, legal challenges, and debate about the
54:02
Speaker 1: value of cognitive screening. By Katherine Ellison, Knowable Magazine. Richard
54:08
Speaker 1: David Heakin's long career as an orthopedic surgeon ended catastrophically.
54:13
Speaker 1: Heakin stepped down at 65 after patients accused him of
54:17
Speaker 1: continuing to operate while impaired by a progressive neurological condition
54:22
Speaker 1: that affected his balance in speech. Within three years of
54:25
Speaker 1: his 2020 retirement, at least 522 lawsuits had been filed
54:30
Speaker 1: against him at Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
54:36
Speaker 1: Plaintiffs charged that the hospital knew of the surgeon's declining
54:39
Speaker 1: condition but allowed him to keep operating. The damage described
54:43
Speaker 1: in the lawsuits was severe. One patient died after Hekin
54:47
Speaker 1: allegedly fractured her femur during a hip replacement. Others accused
54:51
Speaker 1: him of fracturing other bones or rupturing tendons and severing nerves.
54:55
Speaker 1: Hekin died in May 2026. The hospital has accepted liability
55:00
Speaker 1: in some, but not all, of the cases. Extreme as
55:04
Speaker 1: his case may be, it reflects a fear preoccupying health
55:07
Speaker 1: care administrators, patient advocates, and researchers. What happens when aging
55:12
Speaker 1: doctors continue practicing as their abilities decline? It's becoming a
55:16
Speaker 1: bigger issue with each passing year, said clinical neuropsychologist Victor
55:21
Speaker 1: DelBene of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who has
55:25
Speaker 1: warned of a looming public health crisis as an aging
55:28
Speaker 1: physician workforce combines with a persistent undersupply of doctors. Nearly
55:33
Speaker 1: 47% of active U.S. physicians are now 55 or older,
55:35
Speaker 1: up from about 38% in 2007. There are sound reasons
55:37
Speaker 1: for concern. On average, many aspects of cognition decline as
55:47
Speaker 1: people age. Processing speed, working memory, and attention are particularly vulnerable.
55:54
Speaker 1: And diseases that can affect someone's ability to function well
55:57
Speaker 1: are also more common with advanced age. The frequency of
56:00
Speaker 1: mild cognitive impairment rises with age from 8.4% among adults
56:04
Speaker 1: between ages 65 and 69 to 25.2% among those ages
56:05
Speaker 1: 80 to 84. according to the American Academy of Neurology.
56:16
Speaker 1: Many serious neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and the
56:21
Speaker 1: rarer disease from which Hekin reportedly suffered, progressive supranuclear palsy,
56:26
Speaker 1: are also more prevalent in older individuals. Still, people vary
56:31
Speaker 1: dramatically as to when such changes begin and how rapidly
56:34
Speaker 1: they progress. There are people who show very few of
56:38
Speaker 1: the hallmarks of brain structural aging into their 70s and
56:41
Speaker 1: who show relatively shallow rates of aging-related cognitive declines when
56:46
Speaker 1: measured across their 70s and 80s, said Simon Cox, a
56:50
Speaker 1: University of Edinburgh cognitive scientist leading a large study on
56:53
Speaker 1: cognitive and brain aging in older adults. But there are
56:57
Speaker 1: also folks who decline a bit more steeply. This variability,
57:02
Speaker 1: and what some researchers describe as underreporting, may help explain
57:05
Speaker 1: why scientists have yet to provide conclusive evidence that age
57:09
Speaker 1: itself leads to worse performance by physicians. A widely cited
57:13
Speaker 1: 2005 review of 62 studies found that nearly four dozen
57:18
Speaker 1: associated increasing physician age or years in practice with poor
57:22
Speaker 1: performance on some or all measures, including, in three studies,
57:27
Speaker 1: higher patient mortality. Their results suggest that physicians with more
57:31
Speaker 1: experience may paradoxically be at risk for providing lower-quality care,
57:35
Speaker 1: the authors wrote, yet they drew no conclusions about the
57:38
Speaker 1: effect of advanced age itself. Due to time constraints, we'll
57:43
Speaker 1: need to end this article at this time. This concludes
57:46
Speaker 1: the reading of the Washington Post for today, Thursday, October 15, 2026.
57:50
Speaker 1: Your reader for today has been Roger Hampirian. If you
57:56
Speaker 1: have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please
58:01
Speaker 1: feel free to call us at 859-422-6390. Thank you for listening,
58:08
Speaker 1: and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio Eye.