10.16.26

WEBVTT
1
00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.379
Welcome to the reading of the New York Times for Friday,
2
00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:10.960
October 16, 2026. As a reminder, Radio Eye is a
3
00:00:11.019 --> 00:00:14.529
reading service intended for people who are blind or have
4
00:00:14.689 --> 00:00:18.570
other disabilities that makes it difficult to read printed material.
5
00:00:19.149 --> 00:00:23.010
Your reader for today is Blanca Michael Ward. We begin
6
00:00:23.089 --> 00:00:28.910
with Merriam-Webster's word of the day, Zenith. Zenith, a noun
7
00:00:29.030 --> 00:00:36.780
spelled Z-E-N-I-T-H, what it means. Zenith refers to the strongest
8
00:00:36.979 --> 00:00:42.770
or most successful period of time for a person or thing. Example,
9
00:00:43.310 --> 00:00:48.229
at its zenith in the 1980s, the company employed more
10
00:00:48.289 --> 00:00:54.909
than 300 people. Merriam-Webster's word of the day. We continue
11
00:00:54.990 --> 00:00:58.750
with the New York Times bestsellers in combined print and
12
00:00:58.950 --> 00:01:04.329
e-book nonfiction. In first place, New This Week, One Hell
13
00:01:04.349 --> 00:01:08.829
of a Ride by Michael Douglas with Shane Salerno and
14
00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:14.409
Michael Fleming Jr. The Hollywood icon shares stories about his
15
00:01:14.530 --> 00:01:20.829
career and relationships. In second place, New This Week, Blockers
16
00:01:21.189 --> 00:01:25.670
by Michael Lewis Smith. The author of The Fifth Risk
17
00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.700
tells the story of President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency
18
00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:36.239
through the lens of six public servants. In third place,
19
00:01:36.739 --> 00:01:41.000
two weeks on the list, The Steps by Sylvester Stallone.
20
00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:46.019
The Hollywood icon describes the challenges he encouraged during his
21
00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:51.060
childhood and the start of his career. In fourth place,
22
00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:55.760
three weeks on the list, Swan Song by Charles Spencer.
23
00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.540
The ninth Earl Spencer shares personal stories about his sister
24
00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:06.579
Diana from childhood through her untimely death. And in fifth place,
25
00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.740
also new this week, Devil on My Shoulder by Alice
26
00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:15.120
Cooper with Daniel Rickler. The Rock and Roll Hall of
27
00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:22.349
Fame inductee describes his struggles to overcome his demons. We continue.
28
00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:28.099
with the New York Times bestsellers in combined print and
29
00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:33.090
e-book fiction. In first place, new this week, The Witch
30
00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:39.250
by Freda McFadden. Circumstances force Julia Barlow to retreat to
31
00:02:39.310 --> 00:02:44.849
her family's estate, which contains the dark energy of a
32
00:02:44.849 --> 00:02:49.949
1692 witchcraft execution. In second place, two weeks on the list,
33
00:02:50.469 --> 00:02:55.819
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarrow's. 13 short stories set in
34
00:02:55.879 --> 00:03:00.129
the Empyrean world in which cadets compete to earn the
35
00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:04.169
bond of a dragon. In third place, new this week,
36
00:03:04.969 --> 00:03:09.280
Other Worlds Than These by Stephen King and Peter Straub.
37
00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:14.139
In the finale to the Talisman Trilogy, an older Jack
38
00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:18.919
Sawyer faces off against a gang of infected teenagers and
39
00:03:19.139 --> 00:03:24.830
other destructive forces. In fourth place, new this week, Parita
40
00:03:25.270 --> 00:03:30.389
by Barbara Kingsolver. When she receives an unexpected phone call
41
00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:34.789
from an old lover, Livia contends with memories she put
42
00:03:34.849 --> 00:03:39.150
aside many years ago. And in fifth place, two weeks
43
00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:43.659
on the list, The French Illusion by John Grisham. When
44
00:03:43.689 --> 00:03:46.560
a couple is kidnapped during a honeymoon trip in the
45
00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.150
French countryside, A young lawyer is used as part of
46
00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:57.870
a CIA operation. We continue with today's headlines from the
47
00:03:57.930 --> 00:04:03.469
front page of the New York Times. When a scandal comes,
48
00:04:03.849 --> 00:04:08.569
it's the women who exit. Trump's ouster of Guilfoyle fits
49
00:04:08.629 --> 00:04:16.569
a pattern. Ukraine resumes refinery strikes defying the U.S., chancing retributions.
50
00:04:17.019 --> 00:04:21.660
Zelensky rebukes Trump over deal for diesel. It's a mistake.
51
00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:28.180
Stream of gunman's execution is called off by the president.
52
00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:31.899
Families of victims of Fort Hood shooting can view it.
53
00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.240
Age seven at a deportation hearing with no lawyer. Many
54
00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:44.019
migrant children are left to answer judges alone. Disparate left
55
00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:50.000
is posing test for Mamdani. Restaurant favored by Dickens is
56
00:04:50.079 --> 00:05:00.610
assured great preservations. We begin with this story. The Disappearing
57
00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:06.250
Women of the Trump Administration. This was written by Erica L. Green.
58
00:05:07.449 --> 00:05:11.829
The ouster of Kimberly Guilfoyle, who until this week was
59
00:05:11.910 --> 00:05:16.819
the U.S. ambassador to Greece, was surprising in its particulars.
60
00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:21.740
It was announced on live TV during the first-ever briefing
61
00:05:21.939 --> 00:05:26.639
by the new White House press secretary. But Ms. Guilfoyle's
62
00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:30.899
forced resignation also was part of a larger pattern in
63
00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:35.939
President Trump's second term. The prominent figures who have departed
64
00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:43.649
the administration, either voluntarily or involuntarily, overwhelmingly, are women. Ms.
65
00:05:43.709 --> 00:05:47.560
Guilfoyle was the latest high-ranking woman to leave this year.
66
00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:52.980
In the spring, four of Mr. Trump's eight female cabinet-level
67
00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:58.810
officials resigned or were fired in just three months. Attorney
68
00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:04.029
General Pam Bondi, Lori Chavez de Riemer, the Labor Secretary,
69
00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:10.149
Homeland Security Secretary Christy L. Noem, and Tulsi Gabbard, the
70
00:06:10.189 --> 00:06:15.720
Director of National Intelligence. Ms. Guilfoyle was asked to resign
71
00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:19.439
after the Wall Street Journal reported that she had asked
72
00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:24.199
a donor to pay off her $ 100, 000 American Express bill
73
00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:30.139
before her confirmation vote. Ms. Guilfoyle has denied the allegation,
74
00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:34.579
but on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that while Ms. Guilfoyle
75
00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:38.550
was doing a good job, he didn't like what I read.
76
00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:44.029
He also downplayed the idea that he had any substantial
77
00:06:44.089 --> 00:06:47.750
connection with Ms. Guilfoyle, who is one of the president's
78
00:06:48.089 --> 00:06:52.009
staunchest defenders and was at one point engaged to Donald
79
00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:56.149
Trump Jr., the president's eldest son. She wasn't a member
80
00:06:56.209 --> 00:07:00.490
of my family, he told reporters. She, I guess, dated
81
00:07:00.589 --> 00:07:04.310
my son a long time ago. The women in Mr.
82
00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:08.519
Trump's orbit do not seem any more inclined to controversy
83
00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:13.389
than the men. His male appointees have repeatedly drawn scrutiny
84
00:07:13.470 --> 00:07:18.069
and calls for their ouster. Kash Patel, the FBI director,
85
00:07:18.410 --> 00:07:22.290
has been forced to confront questions about his conduct, including
86
00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:27.360
allegations of excessive drinking, assigning a SWAT team to protect
87
00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:31.800
his girlfriend, and using a government plane for his personal use.
88
00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:38.360
He has denied the allegations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick surfaced
89
00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:42.240
in files released by the Justice Department as one of
90
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.120
the visitors to the private island owned by Jeffrey Epstein,
91
00:07:46.540 --> 00:07:52.480
the sexual predator. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed secret war
92
00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:57.009
plans in a conversation on a private messaging app that
93
00:07:57.189 --> 00:08:03.579
inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic. Mr.
94
00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:08.600
Trump did punish one male appointee related to that text chain,
95
00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:13.379
Mike Waltz, the national security advisor who had added the
96
00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:17.879
journalist to the chat. But Mr. Waltz had a soft landing.
97
00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:21.160
He was appointed to serve as the ambassador to the
98
00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:25.160
United Nations, a position that Mr. Trump had promised to
99
00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:31.839
his longtime female ally in Congress, Elise Stefanik. Ms. Stefanik
100
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:39.009
a self-proclaimed ultra-MAGA warrior, ended up politically adrift and ultimately
101
00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:45.389
decided not to run for re-election. Experts on presidential appointments
102
00:08:45.450 --> 00:08:51.570
said the single-gender exodus was highly unusual. I've never seen
103
00:08:51.669 --> 00:08:55.429
a situation where all of the first set of cabinet
104
00:08:55.470 --> 00:09:00.090
departures have been of one gender, all women, said Catherine
105
00:09:00.129 --> 00:09:04.870
Dunn Tempest, a visiting fellow in governance studies and the
106
00:09:04.909 --> 00:09:09.409
director of the Initiative on Improving Interbranch Relations and Government
107
00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:15.840
at the Brookings Institution. Women in the Top Ranks As Mr.
108
00:09:15.899 --> 00:09:21.679
Trump assembled his top brass shortly after clinching the 2024 election,
109
00:09:22.299 --> 00:09:27.279
several women were among the ranks. He appointed Susie Wiles
110
00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:30.019
as chief of staff, the first woman to hold the
111
00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:35.639
powerful cabinet-level position. Carolyn Lovett was the youngest person to
112
00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:39.750
serve as White House press secretary before she left her
113
00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:43.490
job in August to raise her two young children. She
114
00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:48.789
was replaced by another woman, Katie Zachariah. In a statement
115
00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:53.090
for this story, a White House spokeswoman said that President
116
00:09:53.149 --> 00:09:58.389
Trump has assembled the greatest administration in history, selecting each
117
00:09:58.490 --> 00:10:03.669
member of his incredible team based on one criterion, their
118
00:10:03.750 --> 00:10:09.929
ability to deliver for the American people. Unlike the identity
119
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:17.460
politics-obsessed Democrats, the president judges individuals on merit and qualifications differently.
120
00:10:18.009 --> 00:10:23.919
not immutable characteristics, added the spokeswoman, Taylor Rogers. At a
121
00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:28.820
Women's History Month celebration last year, Mr. Trump declared that
122
00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.740
he was thrilled to say that we have more women
123
00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.960
in our Cabinet than any Republican president in the history
124
00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:40.259
of our country. That is no longer the case. There
125
00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:46.559
are now four women remaining in Cabinet-level positions. In many instances,
126
00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:51.039
the female officials who departed appeared to have failed some
127
00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:55.679
kind of loyalty test to Mr. Trump. Ms. Bondi came
128
00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:58.809
under fire for her handling of the release of the
129
00:10:58.970 --> 00:11:03.350
Epstein files and for falling short of Mr. Trump's demands
130
00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:09.409
for retribution against his enemies. Mr. Trump was also dissatisfied
131
00:11:09.470 --> 00:11:15.179
with her performance in congressional hearings and on television. Testimony
132
00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:19.230
before Congress also appeared to be a catalyst for Ms.
133
00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:24.649
Noem's firing, particularly her statement that Mr. Trump had approved
134
00:11:24.850 --> 00:11:28.750
of tens of millions of dollars of government ads in
135
00:11:28.830 --> 00:11:36.190
which she was prominently featured. Mr. Trump denied that account. Ms.
136
00:11:36.210 --> 00:11:40.149
Gabbard resigned to care for her ill husband, but her
137
00:11:40.230 --> 00:11:44.299
announcement came amid a strained relationship with the White House.
138
00:11:44.769 --> 00:11:49.000
and after she refused to testify to Congress that Iran
139
00:11:49.029 --> 00:11:53.039
had posed an imminent threat, as Mr. Trump had asserted
140
00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:57.639
to justify his war against the country. Mr. Trump said
141
00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:01.899
she was softer on that issue than he was. Ms.
142
00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:06.679
Chavez de Reimer resigned after becoming embroiled in scandal and
143
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:13.039
amid allegations that her agency was rife with toxicity and dysfunction,
144
00:12:13.659 --> 00:12:16.919
and that she had grossly abused her power by having
145
00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:21.759
an inappropriate relationship with a staffer and by using public
146
00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:26.950
funding for private purposes. But even some of Mr. Trump's
147
00:12:27.049 --> 00:12:30.370
fiercest critics, who were glad to see the female cabinet
148
00:12:30.409 --> 00:12:34.370
members go, called out what they saw as a glaring
149
00:12:34.669 --> 00:12:41.639
double standard. Is he out of women? Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
150
00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:45.259
Democrat of New York, said after the departures of Ms.
151
00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:49.139
Bondi and Ms. Noem when asked by a reporter whom
152
00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:53.139
the president should fire next. Trump only seems to have
153
00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:59.500
the capability to fire female secretaries. Representative Jasmine Crockett, a
154
00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:03.639
Texas Democrat who is a frequent target of the president's mockery,
155
00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:08.580
wrote in a social media post that Mr. Hegseth should
156
00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:11.980
be the next to go. I see a theme, she
157
00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.889
wrote of Mr. Trump, he will throw the incompetent women
158
00:13:16.070 --> 00:13:20.370
under the bus a lot faster than the incompetent men.
159
00:13:21.389 --> 00:13:27.559
In April, Representative Madeleine Dean, Democrat of Pennsylvania, grilled Mr.
160
00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:32.240
Lutnick about the double standard during a congressional hearing, pointing
161
00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:37.590
to revelations about his connection to the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
162
00:13:39.330 --> 00:13:43.490
Is the president concerned about your continued relationship that you
163
00:13:43.570 --> 00:13:47.490
had with Mr. Epstein, she asked. I am not going
164
00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:52.769
to discuss conversations I have with the president, Mr. Lutnick replied.
165
00:13:53.690 --> 00:13:58.480
President Trump has just fired three cabinet secretaries, three women, Ms.
166
00:13:58.529 --> 00:14:02.419
Dean responded. If President Trump has even a shred of
167
00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:08.080
concern about accountability for Jeffrey Epstein's enablers, he would fire you, too.
168
00:14:09.110 --> 00:14:13.350
Mae Mailman, director of the Independent Women's Law Center and
169
00:14:13.389 --> 00:14:16.309
a former senior White House official in both of Mr.
170
00:14:16.350 --> 00:14:20.820
Trump's administrations, said that there were plenty of powerful women
171
00:14:20.940 --> 00:14:24.960
serving in key roles. She pointed to Ms. Wiles as
172
00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:29.419
well as to appointees like Erica Schwartz, who was recently
173
00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:34.500
confirmed to lead the Centers for Disease Control, and Harmeet Dhillon,
174
00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:38.860
who leads the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.
175
00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:45.120
There's no loneliness of the female conservative in the Trump administration, Ms.
176
00:14:45.179 --> 00:14:49.980
Mailman said. There's only empowerment. You're a necessary member of
177
00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:56.070
the team for who you are, not your sex. In
178
00:14:56.110 --> 00:15:01.210
a related story, we continue with this. Katie Zachariah admits
179
00:15:01.370 --> 00:15:05.539
failing Barr but defends calling herself a lawyer. This was
180
00:15:05.620 --> 00:15:11.129
written by Sean McCreesh. Katie Zachariah, the new White House
181
00:15:11.190 --> 00:15:15.509
press secretary, confirmed on Thursday that she had never passed
182
00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:20.149
a bar exam or been an attorney, even while maintaining
183
00:15:20.289 --> 00:15:24.029
in her first extended interview since taking the job that
184
00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:29.549
she had not misrepresented her legal career. Four days into
185
00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:34.480
her new role, Ms. Zachariah appeared on Real America's Voice
186
00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:40.000
before a friendly interviewer addressing some of the controversies already
187
00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:45.090
swirling around her. She explained why her debut briefing was
188
00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:49.610
so short and why she seemed unprepared. She also revealed
189
00:15:49.750 --> 00:15:53.470
who she hoped might play her on Saturday Night Live.
190
00:15:54.190 --> 00:15:59.450
The interview was conducted by one of the Trump administration's
191
00:15:59.570 --> 00:16:05.809
favorite right-wing influencers, Jack Posibic, who rose to prominence online
192
00:16:06.350 --> 00:16:12.629
by stoking conspiracies about pedophilia and democratic elites, theories that Ms.
193
00:16:12.889 --> 00:16:18.649
Zachariah once helped spread. In the interview, Ms. Zachariah said
194
00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:23.730
she had sat for a bar exam but failed. Despite that, Mr.
195
00:16:23.789 --> 00:16:28.009
Trump has described her as an attorney. The president has,
196
00:16:28.289 --> 00:16:33.700
over the years, repeatedly ridiculed Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris
197
00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:39.639
for failing a bar exam. Both women eventually passed. Ms.
198
00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:44.080
Zachariah has identified herself in the news media as a lawyer,
199
00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:47.519
and much of her defense of how she has represented
200
00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:51.269
herself seemed to rest on what she maintained was the
201
00:16:51.350 --> 00:16:57.610
difference between a lawyer and an attorney. Many legal experts
202
00:16:57.629 --> 00:17:00.909
have said this week that because she does not have
203
00:17:00.950 --> 00:17:05.710
a license to practice law, she is neither. Under California law,
204
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.000
One has to be licensed by the state bar to
205
00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:13.289
practice law or hold oneself out as entitled to do so,
206
00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:17.750
said Jeremy Fogle, a retired federal judge who leads the
207
00:17:17.809 --> 00:17:23.250
Berkeley Judicial Institute. A person who has graduated from law
208
00:17:23.309 --> 00:17:28.119
school obviously has legal training, but the law doesn't authorize
209
00:17:28.180 --> 00:17:32.880
them to represent that they are an attorney or a lawyer. Ms.
210
00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:37.089
Zachariah told the New York Times on Wednesday evening that
211
00:17:37.150 --> 00:17:41.049
she was once advised by a president of Pepperdine University
212
00:17:41.430 --> 00:17:44.269
that it was okay for her to identify as a
213
00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:49.230
lawyer on television. She told Mr. Posebik on Thursday that
214
00:17:49.329 --> 00:17:53.190
she consulted for a very long time many people in
215
00:17:53.230 --> 00:17:57.390
the field and was told it was absolutely acceptable to
216
00:17:57.450 --> 00:18:02.119
call herself a lawyer. I never came across as someone
217
00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:05.390
who was an attorney at law, she said. In her
218
00:18:05.490 --> 00:18:10.910
brief conversation with the Times, Ms. Zachariah declined to say
219
00:18:11.089 --> 00:18:15.470
which president of Pepperdine had advised her. She graduated from
220
00:18:15.549 --> 00:18:19.990
law school there in 2011. Andrew K. Benton was the
221
00:18:20.099 --> 00:18:25.960
university's president at that time. In 2019, Jim Gash became
222
00:18:26.019 --> 00:18:30.109
the president. Mr. Benton said in a phone call on
223
00:18:30.170 --> 00:18:33.349
Thursday that he was not the one who advised her,
224
00:18:33.869 --> 00:18:37.650
though he did call her a young woman of high integrity.
225
00:18:38.470 --> 00:18:42.670
A representative for Mr. Gash said he does not comment
226
00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:47.759
on private conversations but released a statement from him. Pepperdine
227
00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:52.099
is proud to count Katie among our alumni, former colleagues,
228
00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:57.079
and friends. As she takes on this significant responsibility, We
229
00:18:57.140 --> 00:19:00.680
pray that God will grant her wisdom and courage. We
230
00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.589
look forward to seeing her use her incredible gifts and
231
00:19:04.670 --> 00:19:09.589
extensive experience in service to our nation. In the interview
232
00:19:09.670 --> 00:19:14.730
with Mr. Procebik, Ms. Zachariah also described the harried process
233
00:19:14.769 --> 00:19:18.410
of her hiring, hinting that she wasn't really ready for
234
00:19:18.470 --> 00:19:21.019
what was about to happen when she stepped up to
235
00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:24.730
the White House lectern for the first time. She said
236
00:19:24.809 --> 00:19:27.549
she was taking her young son to a pumpkin patch
237
00:19:27.609 --> 00:19:31.079
last Wednesday when she got a phone call from the president.
238
00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:35.140
I was very excited by this phone call from the
239
00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:39.619
president and basically, in short order, flew out on Thursday
240
00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:43.049
to meet with him on Friday and accepted the job
241
00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:46.730
on Friday, she said. The next day, she said she
242
00:19:46.809 --> 00:19:49.970
flew back to California to pack up all my suitcase
243
00:19:50.779 --> 00:19:54.099
because I was only in D.C. with a carry-on bag
244
00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:59.200
at a hotel and packed up two suitcases. Monday was
245
00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:02.460
a federal holiday, but he asked me to be in
246
00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.000
office on Monday, and Monday I showed up, she said.
247
00:20:06.579 --> 00:20:12.660
The next morning, she was standing before a room of journalists. Typically, Jack,
248
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.900
briefs are in the afternoon, 1 p.m., 1.30 p.m., where
249
00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:21.509
the press secretary has ample amount of time to prep,
250
00:20:21.569 --> 00:20:24.289
she said. I woke up at 3 in the morning
251
00:20:24.390 --> 00:20:27.650
on Tuesday to prepare with what I had, she had,
252
00:20:28.210 --> 00:20:31.730
she added. She took questions for less than six minutes
253
00:20:32.230 --> 00:20:35.789
and from only three outlets. She said this was because
254
00:20:35.849 --> 00:20:38.549
her new boss was scheduled to depart the White House
255
00:20:38.630 --> 00:20:42.269
later that morning, and she figured he'd want some quality
256
00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:47.640
time with the press, too. It was absolutely my goal
257
00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:52.779
to keep it short, considering he is his own best spokesperson,
258
00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:55.920
and he would love and does love gaggling with the
259
00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.190
media as he goes to Marine One. and so I
260
00:20:59.259 --> 00:21:03.480
wanted to give ample deference and not barge into his time,
261
00:21:03.579 --> 00:21:08.759
she explained. The press secretary was upbeat in her interview
262
00:21:08.819 --> 00:21:12.549
with Mr. Procebik, but did seem to understand that she
263
00:21:12.589 --> 00:21:17.029
was in the center of a full-blaze media bonfire. I'm
264
00:21:17.069 --> 00:21:20.250
not watching anything right now except what he's doing and
265
00:21:20.329 --> 00:21:23.710
focusing on, what the president's up to and trying to
266
00:21:23.849 --> 00:21:27.200
amplify that, she said. I do not want to see
267
00:21:27.450 --> 00:21:32.769
any of the other X or Instagram or TV right now. Mr.
268
00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:37.009
Posebik surmised that Saturday Night Live was likely to take
269
00:21:37.069 --> 00:21:39.890
a whack at her and asked whom she would like
270
00:21:39.950 --> 00:21:44.190
to be portrayed by. I know it's coming. Yes, she said.
271
00:21:44.769 --> 00:21:47.569
Who would I like to have play me? Maybe a
272
00:21:47.829 --> 00:22:01.200
Scarlett Johansson type character. We continue with this story. Defying Trump,
273
00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:06.630
Zelensky says Ukraine will resume Russian refinery strikes. This was
274
00:22:06.710 --> 00:22:14.190
written by Cassandra Vinograd and Francesca Regalado. President Vladimir Zelensky's
275
00:22:14.450 --> 00:22:18.339
anger at the Trump administration burst into view on Thursday
276
00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:22.380
when he said he would no longer abide by President
277
00:22:22.420 --> 00:22:27.339
Trump's demand to stop striking Russian oil refineries. It was
278
00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:32.079
a remarkably vocal expression by the Ukrainian leader of frustration
279
00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:36.240
with the United States as Kiev grapples with what it
280
00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:41.880
sees as a betrayal by Washington. Mr. Zelensky's remarks in
281
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:46.210
an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday brought
282
00:22:46.269 --> 00:22:50.710
to a head days of mounting tensions with the Trump administration.
283
00:22:51.490 --> 00:22:55.650
It drew expressions of support from European allies in Brussels,
284
00:22:56.089 --> 00:22:59.509
but could be a risky move for a country that
285
00:22:59.549 --> 00:23:04.950
has depended heavily on U.S. support. In the interview, Mr.
286
00:23:05.009 --> 00:23:10.380
Zelensky appeared baffled by Mr. Trump's decisions, criticizing Mr. Trump
287
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:14.259
for making deals with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia
288
00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:20.509
and for openly admiring dictators who have clung to power. Mr. Putin,
289
00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:25.470
the Ukrainian leader said, is real evil. How can Trump
290
00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.460
be friends with him, Mr. Zelensky added. I think it's
291
00:23:29.500 --> 00:23:34.359
a mistake. The Trump administration has long blown hot and
292
00:23:34.460 --> 00:23:37.720
cold when it comes to Ukraine. But a new round
293
00:23:37.900 --> 00:23:42.190
of friction emerged last week when Mr. Trump said he
294
00:23:42.250 --> 00:23:47.289
had reached an agreement to immediately import Russian diesel fuel
295
00:23:47.349 --> 00:23:52.549
to the U.S. markets. Ukraine said the move would help
296
00:23:52.650 --> 00:23:58.779
fund Moscow's war effort. Mr. Trump upped the ante on Sunday,
297
00:23:59.299 --> 00:24:05.200
unilaterally declaring an energy ceasefire between the two warring sides
298
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:10.009
and calling for Mr. Zelensky to be replaced. While Ukraine
299
00:24:10.109 --> 00:24:15.380
shrugged that idea off, It stopped striking Russian refineries even
300
00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:21.059
as Russia continued to bombard Ukrainian energy infrastructure. But Mr.
301
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:27.140
Zelensky's public expressions of frustration became more pointed amid concerns
302
00:24:27.539 --> 00:24:32.779
that Washington might cut off intelligence sharing that helps Ukraine
303
00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:37.880
detect Russian attacks. Then, Ukraine said on Wednesday that its
304
00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:42.250
forces had lost some critical access to a military-grade version
305
00:24:42.769 --> 00:24:47.930
of the Starlink satellite network, a pillar of its battlefield
306
00:24:47.990 --> 00:24:53.670
communications that the Pentagon pays for. Mr. Zelensky now appears
307
00:24:53.730 --> 00:24:58.160
to have had enough. That's it. The block is out. Mr.
308
00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:02.220
Zelensky said when asked by the Financial Times how much
309
00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:07.299
longer Ukraine would maintain the pause on targeting refineries. He
310
00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:11.140
did not say what had tipped his decision or when
311
00:25:11.390 --> 00:25:17.109
the strikes would resume. On Thursday, Pavel Malkov, the governor
312
00:25:17.289 --> 00:25:22.049
of Razan, a Russian region southeast of Moscow, said on
313
00:25:22.130 --> 00:25:25.640
social media, that a fire had broken out at an
314
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:31.279
oil refinery after a drone strike overnight. A Ukrainian official,
315
00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:36.609
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified military operation,
316
00:25:37.109 --> 00:25:43.529
confirmed that Kyiv was behind the attack. Questions about U.S.
317
00:25:43.569 --> 00:25:47.690
support for Ukraine in the war against Russia grew after
318
00:25:47.750 --> 00:25:53.809
a meeting this month between Ukrainian officials and top U.S. negotiators,
319
00:25:54.430 --> 00:25:57.650
in which some who were present said they thought the
320
00:25:57.710 --> 00:26:04.180
Americans made a veiled threat about curbing intelligence sharing. U.S.
321
00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:07.900
officials said this week that Washington had not cut back
322
00:26:08.019 --> 00:26:13.799
on intelligence sharing with Ukraine and denied making any threat
323
00:26:13.859 --> 00:26:20.349
to withhold such support. But Mr. Zelensky said in his
324
00:26:20.490 --> 00:26:25.630
interview that U.S. military officials had threatened to withhold intelligence
325
00:26:25.710 --> 00:26:31.099
if Ukraine did not stop attacking Russian energy infrastructure. He
326
00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:36.000
also reiterated that while Ukraine's Western partners have often used
327
00:26:36.059 --> 00:26:41.579
satellite data and other sources to warn of impending Russian attacks,
328
00:26:42.450 --> 00:26:45.650
There was no advance warning about some of the Russian
329
00:26:45.690 --> 00:26:52.519
ballistic missile launches this week, including overnight on Wednesday. That's
330
00:26:52.579 --> 00:26:59.069
when Russia launched dozens of ballistic missiles hitting Ukraine's energy
331
00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:05.069
infrastructure and leaving 600,000 people in Kyiv without power. Reports
332
00:27:05.150 --> 00:27:08.289
that the use of the military version of Starlink had
333
00:27:08.329 --> 00:27:13.430
been restricted for devices Traveling faster than 100 miles per hour,
334
00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:18.430
the speeds needed to intercept some Russian drones came later
335
00:27:18.710 --> 00:27:22.859
that day. The restrictions were seen in Ukraine as a
336
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:27.660
way to limit the fighting ability of Kyiv's forces, part
337
00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:32.240
of the Trump administration's broader pressure campaign. Mr. Trump has
338
00:27:32.339 --> 00:27:37.190
pushed Kyiv to stop attacking Russia's oil refineries so that
339
00:27:37.309 --> 00:27:41.549
Moscow can send more diesel to global markets as high
340
00:27:41.650 --> 00:27:47.630
prices threaten the Republican Party's prospects in the midterm elections. Mr.
341
00:27:47.670 --> 00:27:51.470
Zelensky has acknowledged that he felt betrayed by those moves.
342
00:27:51.990 --> 00:27:55.289
He told Piers Morgan, the British TV host, in an
343
00:27:55.509 --> 00:27:58.930
interview on Wednesday, that it was a pity we are
344
00:27:59.049 --> 00:28:02.490
losing a strong partner and that this is not the
345
00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:07.089
right side of history. In his remarks to the Financial Times,
346
00:28:07.170 --> 00:28:11.269
in which he also questioned how Washington could seek business
347
00:28:11.349 --> 00:28:16.329
deals at a time when people are surviving, fighting, dying, Mr.
348
00:28:16.380 --> 00:28:20.380
Zelensky went further. It was a notable shift from the
349
00:28:20.440 --> 00:28:27.779
largely conciliatory and less confrontational position his government has adopted
350
00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:34.839
since a disastrous February 2025 Oval Office confrontation. After that meeting,
351
00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:42.150
the Trump administration briefly suspended intelligence sharing. Analysts said that
352
00:28:42.210 --> 00:28:48.049
was because recent events, including Mr. Trump's announcement about diesel exports,
353
00:28:48.529 --> 00:28:52.259
which came as Ukraine's delegation was in Miami for talks,
354
00:28:52.859 --> 00:28:59.799
amounted to a substantive setback and political humiliation that Mr.
355
00:28:59.859 --> 00:29:05.539
Zelensky could not let slide. The cautious approach, according to
356
00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:11.529
Maria Zolkina, a Ukrainian political analyst who works at the
357
00:29:11.569 --> 00:29:17.809
Democratic Initiatives Foundation, was clearly no longer working. So Mr.
358
00:29:17.869 --> 00:29:23.250
Zelensky changed the calculus. She said that Mr. Zelensky is
359
00:29:23.490 --> 00:29:27.049
undoubtedly taking a big risk to find Mr. Trump, who
360
00:29:27.109 --> 00:29:31.930
could hit back. But Mr. Zelensky's harsh words were likely
361
00:29:32.069 --> 00:29:36.809
less about insulting the U.S. president than making clear that
362
00:29:36.930 --> 00:29:40.640
Ukraine will keep striking oil refineries so long as the
363
00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:45.880
balance is tilted in favor of Russia, she said. Still, Ms.
364
00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:50.750
Zulkina acknowledged that the approach could backfire if Mr. Trump
365
00:29:50.849 --> 00:29:55.529
decides to penalize Ukraine for defying him. The comments in
366
00:29:55.549 --> 00:30:00.410
the Financial Times were published hours before Mr. Zelensky arrived
367
00:30:00.450 --> 00:30:05.470
in Brussels, where European leaders mostly expressed support for his
368
00:30:05.569 --> 00:30:11.220
decision to resume attacks on Russian refineries. The faster all
369
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:15.579
the Russian refineries and ability to sell energy will be
370
00:30:15.660 --> 00:30:20.660
blown to smithereens, the better, because Russia is funding the
371
00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:26.000
war with that Prime Minister Kristen Michael of Estonia told reporters.
372
00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:31.460
That backing, however, wasn't unanimous. I don't support strikes on
373
00:30:31.740 --> 00:30:37.269
any refineries, Prime Minister Rumin Radev of Bulgaria told reporters.
374
00:30:38.930 --> 00:30:43.789
With the exception of Mr. Radev, the European leaders also
375
00:30:43.869 --> 00:30:50.049
criticized the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel.
376
00:30:50.900 --> 00:30:55.029
This ridiculous diesel deal won't do anything at all for
377
00:30:55.109 --> 00:30:59.269
prices on the world market, said Rob Jetton, the Prime
378
00:30:59.309 --> 00:31:04.220
Minister of the Netherlands. It does, however, fill Putin's war chest,
379
00:31:04.660 --> 00:31:07.720
so it's really a very bad choice on Trump's part,
380
00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:12.559
and he'd be better off abandoning it. There was no
381
00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:16.809
immediate response from the White House to the remarks by Mr. Zelensky.
382
00:31:17.369 --> 00:31:22.650
In the meantime, Officials from Ukraine's Defense Ministry said they
383
00:31:22.690 --> 00:31:28.930
were working to verify whether Starshield's connectivity for devices in
384
00:31:29.009 --> 00:31:34.569
motion had been restored. Ukraine's embassy in Washington, though, said
385
00:31:34.670 --> 00:31:45.069
services had resumed. We continue with this story. Trump Cancels
386
00:31:45.190 --> 00:31:50.559
Planned Livestream of Fort Hood Shooters' Execution. This was written
387
00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:55.440
by Katie Rogers, Tyler Pager, John Ismay, and Greg Jaffe.
388
00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:01.750
President Trump on Thursday canceled the Pentagon's planned livestream of
389
00:32:01.809 --> 00:32:05.869
the execution of the Army officer who was convicted in
390
00:32:05.930 --> 00:32:12.230
the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting. Pentagon officials said last week,
391
00:32:12.759 --> 00:32:18.109
that the execution of Major Nadal Malik Hassan, who killed
392
00:32:18.109 --> 00:32:21.869
13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas,
393
00:32:22.369 --> 00:32:27.210
would be broadcast via livestream, a decision Mr. Trump initially
394
00:32:27.309 --> 00:32:32.430
said he supported. But in private, Mr. Trump quickly began
395
00:32:32.490 --> 00:32:36.940
to deliberate with his advisers amid widespread criticism of the
396
00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:41.779
decision and learned after the announcement that that Mr. Hassan
397
00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:45.779
is paralyzed, according to several people familiar with his thinking.
398
00:32:46.549 --> 00:32:51.670
The president's main concern was whether broadcasting the execution would
399
00:32:51.710 --> 00:32:55.609
deter other mass shootings, according to a White House official
400
00:32:56.049 --> 00:33:00.779
who was granted anonymity to discuss his thinking. In a
401
00:33:00.859 --> 00:33:04.880
social media post on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he still
402
00:33:04.940 --> 00:33:09.279
believed that a televised execution would be a strong deterrent
403
00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:13.579
for the world, to witness how America deals with terrorists
404
00:33:13.740 --> 00:33:18.309
and scum, but that many very good and well-meaning people
405
00:33:18.710 --> 00:33:22.289
would rather not watch him die through streaming or through
406
00:33:22.450 --> 00:33:28.089
any other visual device. Mr. Trump added that only immediate
407
00:33:28.150 --> 00:33:33.099
families of Mr. Hassan's victims could watch the execution in person.
408
00:33:33.980 --> 00:33:38.619
The president and his advisors remain adamant that Mr. Hassan
409
00:33:38.660 --> 00:33:43.109
deserves to be executed but the president's decision to change
410
00:33:43.210 --> 00:33:48.099
course constituted a rare retreat in the face of enormous
411
00:33:48.220 --> 00:33:54.859
public pushback. The criticism came from Democrats, Republicans, military officials,
412
00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:59.960
and faith leaders who maintained that broadcasting the execution would
413
00:34:00.019 --> 00:34:04.599
turn it into a barbaric source of entertainment that violated
414
00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:11.070
core democratic principles. The decision to is also likely to
415
00:34:11.150 --> 00:34:16.710
fuel questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth's leadership of the Pentagon,
416
00:34:17.170 --> 00:34:21.789
which has drawn heated criticism from Democrats and some Republicans.
417
00:34:22.710 --> 00:34:27.760
Many top Pentagon civilian officials and the military's joint staff
418
00:34:28.610 --> 00:34:33.480
were surprised and shocked by Mr. Hagseth's plan to broadcast Mr.
419
00:34:33.539 --> 00:34:39.199
Hassan's execution, and many expressed relief at Mr. Trump's reversal.
420
00:34:39.820 --> 00:34:44.519
according to two senior U.S. officials. A spokesman for General
421
00:34:44.579 --> 00:34:48.300
Dan Kane, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
422
00:34:48.760 --> 00:34:54.250
declined to comment on the matter on Thursday. Sean Parnell, Mr.
423
00:34:54.309 --> 00:34:58.090
Hegseth's spokesman, said in a statement that the president and
424
00:34:58.110 --> 00:35:03.159
the defense secretary agreed that the broadcast should not go forward.
425
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:10.059
President Trump and Secretary Hegseth spoke about the decision to
426
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:15.880
not livestream Hassan's execution ahead of the true social announcement, Mr.
427
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.110
Parnell said. The secretary supports the president's decision, and they
428
00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:27.050
are completely aligned. In recent days, Democrats and Republicans in
429
00:35:27.170 --> 00:35:32.690
Congress panned the plan to livestream the shooting, and even
430
00:35:32.750 --> 00:35:37.050
Vice President J.D. Vance expressed doubt about it. I'm not
431
00:35:37.110 --> 00:35:40.510
going to watch it, he said. I don't know that
432
00:35:40.550 --> 00:35:44.969
that's actually going to happen. The plan to broadcast Mr.
433
00:35:45.030 --> 00:35:49.190
Hassan's execution, which the Pentagon has said is scheduled for
434
00:35:49.190 --> 00:35:53.349
1 p.m. on December 3rd at the same army post
435
00:35:53.389 --> 00:35:58.480
where the massacre took place, had also drawn widespread condemnation
436
00:35:58.539 --> 00:36:03.119
from retired military officials, religious leaders, and even some of
437
00:36:03.159 --> 00:36:08.710
the wounded soldiers who survived. This episode highlights the impulsive
438
00:36:09.150 --> 00:36:13.590
and dysfunctional civilian leadership from the White House and U.S.
439
00:36:13.630 --> 00:36:17.670
Department of Defense, said Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island,
440
00:36:18.130 --> 00:36:23.139
the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Secretary Hegseth
441
00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:27.360
deserves to be admonished for his lack of judgment, lack
442
00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:31.400
of strategy, and poor communication, not just in regard to
443
00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:37.000
this one episode, but throughout his disastrous tenure as Secretary
444
00:36:37.139 --> 00:36:42.119
of Defense. Mr. Hegsa's plan to livestream the killing of Mr.
445
00:36:42.179 --> 00:36:48.309
Hassan prompted dozens of retired admirals, generals, and other officers
446
00:36:48.769 --> 00:36:53.949
to publish an open letter opposing the plan. Livestreaming this
447
00:36:54.150 --> 00:36:58.730
execution would clearly violate the basic human dignity of the
448
00:36:58.769 --> 00:37:03.030
condemned prisoner, they wrote on Wednesday. It turns what should
449
00:37:03.090 --> 00:37:06.030
be the solemn and grave punishment of a member of
450
00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:10.820
our society for committing the most serious crimes into a
451
00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:16.139
carnival for the enjoyment of voyeurs and spectators. This type
452
00:37:16.519 --> 00:37:23.119
of exploitative broadcasting that debases human dignity will taint the
453
00:37:23.239 --> 00:37:26.579
honor of the military that employs it and a nation
454
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:30.750
that allows it, they added. In an interview with Real
455
00:37:30.829 --> 00:37:35.780
America's Voice, Mr. Hagseth has said he supported the public
456
00:37:35.980 --> 00:37:40.920
execution of Mr. Hassan because people need to understand that
457
00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:45.239
there are serious consequences for these types of things. More
458
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:49.820
than any of his predecessors, Mr. Hagseth has posted video
459
00:37:49.900 --> 00:37:56.369
clips online highlighting the lethality of American forces. These videos
460
00:37:56.789 --> 00:37:59.869
are part of what Mr. Hagseth has described as an
461
00:38:00.110 --> 00:38:08.130
effort to restore the military's warrior ethos and intimidate U.S. enemies.
462
00:38:09.610 --> 00:38:12.889
The clips, posted by the Pentagon as well as the
463
00:38:12.949 --> 00:38:18.190
White House, have celebrated U.S. military aircraft blowing up boats
464
00:38:18.250 --> 00:38:23.380
in the Caribbean and destroying Iranian forces. In one video
465
00:38:23.480 --> 00:38:29.360
shared by the White House, battlefield explosions in Iran are
466
00:38:29.500 --> 00:38:34.099
interspersed with footage of Mr. Hagseff giving a priest briefing
467
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:40.250
set to Metallica's Enter Sandman. Another video shows U.S. fighter
468
00:38:40.309 --> 00:38:44.510
jets hitting targets to Here Comes the Boom, a song
469
00:38:44.650 --> 00:38:49.269
by Nelly. In the grainy videos released by the Pentagon,
470
00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:54.300
the enemy fighters' faces are not visible. The carnage is
471
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:59.429
obscured by plumes of fire and smoke. Still, The video's
472
00:38:59.489 --> 00:39:05.079
casting of deadly military actions as entertainment have left some
473
00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:11.480
senior military officials uneasy. One concern expressed by current and
474
00:39:11.559 --> 00:39:17.099
former officials is that such gleeful celebrations of battlefield bloodshed
475
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:22.159
gloss over the horrors of war and undermine support for
476
00:39:22.179 --> 00:39:27.440
the military campaign at home and overseas. in an essay
477
00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:31.599
to be published in the November-December edition. issue of Foreign Affairs,
478
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:37.280
William H. McRaven, a retired admiral who oversaw the raid
479
00:39:37.340 --> 00:39:42.360
that killed Osama bin Laden, described the importance of articulating
480
00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:47.380
clear moral objectives. Although the moral high ground does not
481
00:39:47.460 --> 00:39:54.099
guarantee military victory, It is a foundation on which success rests,
482
00:39:54.360 --> 00:40:06.250
he wrote. We continue with this story. Seven years old,
483
00:40:06.829 --> 00:40:12.929
no lawyer, migrant children face deportation hearings alone. This was
484
00:40:13.030 --> 00:40:18.889
written by Jasmine Aloa and Madeline Ngo. The faces of
485
00:40:18.969 --> 00:40:23.469
the six migrant children beamed into a Manhattan courtroom on
486
00:40:23.530 --> 00:40:28.800
large screens. All had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone. All
487
00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:34.699
were facing potential deportation, and none had lawyers. The minors,
488
00:40:35.139 --> 00:40:39.840
five boys and a girl ages 13 to 17, fidgeted
489
00:40:40.019 --> 00:40:45.010
in their seats, dressed in jeans, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. as
490
00:40:45.070 --> 00:40:50.329
an immigration judge ran through her script. Where were their parents?
491
00:40:50.969 --> 00:40:54.809
Were they afraid to return home? Had they found a lawyer?
492
00:40:55.789 --> 00:40:59.969
At times, a lawyer, acting as a court advisor, interjected
493
00:41:00.050 --> 00:41:03.650
from another screen to recommend that the judge grant the
494
00:41:03.690 --> 00:41:09.010
children more time to find counsel. The judge, Lisa W. Ling,
495
00:41:09.429 --> 00:41:13.820
pressed ahead, often with little more than a nod. Do
496
00:41:13.880 --> 00:41:18.289
you want the voluntary departure, she asked a 15-year-old boy
497
00:41:18.349 --> 00:41:23.889
from Guatemala during the September hearing. Yes, that's fine, he replied.
498
00:41:24.469 --> 00:41:27.849
It was unclear if the boy knew. That meant he
499
00:41:27.889 --> 00:41:33.099
was giving up on obtaining legal immigration status and agreeing
500
00:41:33.179 --> 00:41:37.219
to leave the country. The scene in Manhattan has been
501
00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:42.260
playing out in courtrooms nationwide for months. In Texas, A
502
00:41:42.340 --> 00:41:46.880
seven-year-old agreed to voluntarily leave the country without a lawyer
503
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:52.619
present to explain the legal consequences of the decision. In Arizona,
504
00:41:53.079 --> 00:41:57.969
an immigration judge ordered a one-year-old baby appearing without a
505
00:41:58.010 --> 00:42:02.909
lawyer to file an asylum application, according to court filings.
506
00:42:03.550 --> 00:42:09.489
The baby's mother, a 17-year-old who is an unaccompanied minor herself,
507
00:42:09.730 --> 00:42:14.760
appeared with the child in court. Unaccompanied minors went without
508
00:42:14.860 --> 00:42:21.590
legal representation in about 55% of nearly 50,000 immigration cases
509
00:42:22.030 --> 00:42:28.320
completed as of August this year, the highest percentage since 2019,
510
00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:32.599
according to an analysis by the Vera Institute of Justice,
511
00:42:32.820 --> 00:42:39.389
a nonprofit research group. Deportation orders for the children who
512
00:42:39.429 --> 00:42:47.150
Vera identified as unaccompanied minors, have also surged, topping 7,300
513
00:42:47.230 --> 00:42:52.650
in July, up from 3,500 in Maine. By comparison, that
514
00:42:52.750 --> 00:42:57.469
number was 2,000 in January 2025, according to the group.
515
00:42:58.449 --> 00:43:03.400
The surge in deportation comes amid a months-long contract battle
516
00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:08.480
between the Trump administration and the network of non-profits that
517
00:43:08.519 --> 00:43:12.920
have long provided legal services to migrant children who have
518
00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:16.739
arrived at the southern border without their parents or guardians.
519
00:43:17.420 --> 00:43:23.550
Vera held the federal legal services contract until December 2023.
520
00:43:23.550 --> 00:43:27.889
For decades, the young and vulnerable population has posed deep
521
00:43:27.989 --> 00:43:34.550
humanitarian and political challenges for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
522
00:43:35.369 --> 00:43:40.769
the miners make perilous journeys north alone, facing higher risks
523
00:43:40.869 --> 00:43:45.530
for trafficking and exploitation along the way and once in
524
00:43:45.570 --> 00:43:51.340
the United States. A New York Times investigation in 2023
525
00:43:51.340 --> 00:43:56.480
found thousands working dangerous jobs at meatpacking plants and construction
526
00:43:56.559 --> 00:44:02.019
sites in violation of child labor laws. Inside the nation's
527
00:44:02.139 --> 00:44:08.099
immigration courts, they face another set of vexing obstacles. Many
528
00:44:08.179 --> 00:44:11.980
children do not have adult guardians to guide them through
529
00:44:12.179 --> 00:44:16.719
complex legal claims, and because many may be in pursuit
530
00:44:16.760 --> 00:44:21.590
of work or schooling, motives that do not qualify for asylum,
531
00:44:22.179 --> 00:44:26.710
they may be unshielded from deportation unless a lawyer can
532
00:44:26.809 --> 00:44:31.949
identify other protections. Although migrant children do not have a
533
00:44:32.030 --> 00:44:37.730
right to court-appointed representation, under a 2008 law meant to
534
00:44:37.789 --> 00:44:43.119
protect children against human trafficking, the federal government is required
535
00:44:43.179 --> 00:44:49.880
to ensure unaccompanied minors have representation to the greatest extent practicable.
536
00:44:51.420 --> 00:44:57.110
That responsibility lies with Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR.
537
00:44:58.059 --> 00:45:02.179
part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Officials
538
00:45:02.260 --> 00:45:05.650
say they have sought to overhaul their contract to enforce
539
00:45:05.789 --> 00:45:11.289
basic oversight of legal services as they push to clear backlogs,
540
00:45:11.710 --> 00:45:16.860
curb fraudulent claims, and increase vetting to protect migrant children
541
00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:22.460
from abuse and trafficking. ORR has been in a dispute
542
00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:26.110
with the Acacia Center for Justice a group that had
543
00:45:26.170 --> 00:45:31.139
a $ 200 million contract with the agency to provide legal
544
00:45:31.239 --> 00:45:36.630
services for migrant children. The agency allowed that contract to
545
00:45:36.730 --> 00:45:41.099
expire at the end of July. arguing that Acacia had
546
00:45:41.179 --> 00:45:44.610
refused to share new data to allow it to verify
547
00:45:44.730 --> 00:45:50.010
its legal services. Acacia and its nearly 100 legal services
548
00:45:50.110 --> 00:45:55.570
subcontractors said the data the administration is seeking is privileged
549
00:45:56.070 --> 00:46:01.440
attorney-client information and assert that the government had improperly cut
550
00:46:01.539 --> 00:46:08.239
off funding. Child advocates say the contract dispute has resulted
551
00:46:08.340 --> 00:46:14.940
in unrepresented minors filling courtrooms across the country at a
552
00:46:15.019 --> 00:46:19.320
time when the administration is speeding up immigration cases with
553
00:46:19.400 --> 00:46:24.090
little notice, with many judges saying they are under intense
554
00:46:24.210 --> 00:46:28.769
pressure to deport more people. Many minors have been stranded
555
00:46:28.849 --> 00:46:32.610
in detention for longer periods of time, and others have
556
00:46:32.650 --> 00:46:38.369
been returned to dangerous home countries, lawyers said. In response
557
00:46:38.429 --> 00:46:42.710
to questions about the number of minors going without representation,
558
00:46:43.269 --> 00:46:47.929
Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department,
559
00:46:48.409 --> 00:46:53.230
said claims that unaccompanied children are being sent to immigration
560
00:46:53.329 --> 00:46:58.300
court without access to legal support do not accurately describe
561
00:46:58.510 --> 00:47:03.820
ORR's role or the legal services available to eligible children
562
00:47:03.980 --> 00:47:08.809
in its care. Dedicated public servants are working around the
563
00:47:08.869 --> 00:47:13.250
clock to safely reunite these children with their families, she said.
564
00:47:14.110 --> 00:47:18.159
The contract dispute has prompted a turbulent search for a
565
00:47:18.239 --> 00:47:24.159
new legal services provider. In August, officials awarded a contract
566
00:47:24.219 --> 00:47:30.849
to Our Rescue, an anti-trafficking group with little immigration court experience.
567
00:47:31.510 --> 00:47:35.860
The Acacia Center, which most recently held the contract, filed
568
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:41.980
a formal protest temporarily blocking our rescue's contract. Officials then
569
00:47:42.039 --> 00:47:48.449
considered hiring Pentagon lawyers before abruptly scrapping the plan. In
570
00:47:48.510 --> 00:47:53.030
a quiet federal notice published in late September, the administration
571
00:47:53.090 --> 00:47:56.530
indicated it planned to use Health and Human Services' own
572
00:47:56.570 --> 00:48:01.730
lawyers to represent migrant children, a move that former department
573
00:48:01.789 --> 00:48:06.050
officials say would be a conflict of interest. For now,
574
00:48:06.349 --> 00:48:11.530
ORR has hired the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants,
575
00:48:11.750 --> 00:48:17.579
or USCRI, to provide legal services through December, but the
576
00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:22.320
organization's lawyers had formerly represented only 12 children as of
577
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:27.559
early September and a few dozen children by mid-month, according
578
00:48:27.619 --> 00:48:32.550
to court testimony and filings. Instead, in the vast majority
579
00:48:32.650 --> 00:48:38.980
of cases, USCRI lawyers have appeared as friend-of-the-court advocates or
580
00:48:39.079 --> 00:48:43.460
neutral voices who can inform children of their rights but
581
00:48:43.559 --> 00:48:49.090
do not represent them. Back in the Manhattan courtroom last month,
582
00:48:49.630 --> 00:48:55.849
the limitations were clear. A USCRI lawyer remained silent for
583
00:48:55.909 --> 00:49:00.019
much of the morning, at times reminding Judge Link, that
584
00:49:00.059 --> 00:49:03.619
the contract dispute had kept the agency from being able
585
00:49:03.699 --> 00:49:08.239
to secure lawyers for unaccompanied minors on her docket. In
586
00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:11.409
the cases of the six children who appeared in a group,
587
00:49:11.929 --> 00:49:15.590
two of the boys agreed to voluntarily leave the country
588
00:49:15.789 --> 00:49:20.719
at their own expense. A 13-year-old girl from Honduras refused,
589
00:49:21.260 --> 00:49:25.380
saying she did not fear returning to Honduras, but that
590
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:28.079
she had never known her parents and hoped to go
591
00:49:28.139 --> 00:49:32.980
to school in the United States. Although Judge Ling noted
592
00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:36.809
the girl might be eligible for a special immigrant status
593
00:49:36.869 --> 00:49:42.369
for abused abandoned and neglected children. She said that process
594
00:49:42.409 --> 00:49:45.699
could take years through a state family court, but the
595
00:49:45.760 --> 00:49:48.719
girl would need a lawyer to file the case there.
596
00:49:49.500 --> 00:49:53.199
Based on what you are saying, you are only eligible
597
00:49:53.260 --> 00:49:57.500
for voluntary departure, Judge Ling told the girl. When the
598
00:49:57.539 --> 00:50:03.269
child still refused, the judge ordered her deportation. For years,
599
00:50:03.710 --> 00:50:08.920
both Democratic and Republican federal lawmakers sought to ensure all
600
00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:15.739
children and teenagers in U.S. immigration custody receive shelter, social services,
601
00:50:16.099 --> 00:50:21.039
and access to a fair legal process. But that bipartisan
602
00:50:21.099 --> 00:50:26.800
consensus cracked as hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors crossed
603
00:50:26.860 --> 00:50:30.929
the southern border during the Obama and first Trump administrations,
604
00:50:31.510 --> 00:50:36.989
fleeing rising poverty and violence in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador,
605
00:50:37.639 --> 00:50:40.800
Many came to reunite with relatives or in the hopes
606
00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:46.500
of finding work. In his second term, the Trump administration
607
00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:50.070
has put up new barriers for young migrants to obtain
608
00:50:50.110 --> 00:50:56.210
deportation protections and increased its vetting of immigrant relatives and guardians,
609
00:50:56.610 --> 00:51:01.210
discouraging many from coming forward. It also has sped up
610
00:51:01.269 --> 00:51:06.769
children's asylum claims, sometimes with only a day's notice, lawyers said.
611
00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:13.530
Robert Carey, who served as ORR director in the Obama administration,
612
00:51:14.190 --> 00:51:20.090
acknowledged that not all unaccompanied children were eligible for immigration relief,
613
00:51:20.769 --> 00:51:23.530
but he saw the contract dispute as part of a
614
00:51:23.630 --> 00:51:31.179
systematic dismantling of guardrails meant to guarantee them a fair process. Essentially,
615
00:51:31.679 --> 00:51:35.550
there was a wall between enforcement and child protection. and
616
00:51:35.610 --> 00:51:40.130
that wall has fallen pretty dramatically, he said. He added
617
00:51:40.150 --> 00:51:45.340
that ORR operated under a simple premise during his tenure.
618
00:51:45.889 --> 00:51:51.159
Not every child deserves asylum, but every child deserves to
619
00:51:51.219 --> 00:51:56.139
be heard. For 17-year-old Heidel, one of the six on
620
00:51:56.199 --> 00:51:59.460
the screen in the Manhattan courtroom, the search for a
621
00:51:59.500 --> 00:52:03.949
lawyer was an urgent scramble against a tight deadline. He
622
00:52:03.989 --> 00:52:06.489
had told the Times at a prior hearing that his
623
00:52:06.550 --> 00:52:09.960
family had paid smugglers to drive him north in a
624
00:52:10.059 --> 00:52:13.900
series of van trips from Guatemala. He was afraid to
625
00:52:14.260 --> 00:52:17.940
return home, he said, and he and an older cousin
626
00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:22.030
had been desperately searching for counsel. The boy asked that
627
00:52:22.090 --> 00:52:28.789
his full name be withheld for fear of retaliation by U.S. authorities. Now,
628
00:52:29.269 --> 00:52:33.730
Before Judge Ling again, he asked for more time, saying
629
00:52:34.110 --> 00:52:36.880
they had just found a lawyer whose name he could
630
00:52:37.090 --> 00:52:42.760
only remember as Kevin. Judge Ling granted him two more weeks.
631
00:52:44.559 --> 00:52:52.099
We continue with this story. London's oldest restaurant, A Haunt
632
00:52:52.239 --> 00:52:55.940
of Dickens, is protected for the future. This was written
633
00:52:56.000 --> 00:53:02.170
by Amelia Nirenberg. Some restaurants safeguard part of a city's soul.
634
00:53:02.849 --> 00:53:07.260
New Yorkers have Sardi's, the theater district mainstay where Broadway
635
00:53:07.320 --> 00:53:13.059
types have long hobnobbed over stirred martinis and cannellini au gratin.
636
00:53:13.699 --> 00:53:17.199
In Paris, the honor for a time belonged to Les
637
00:53:17.260 --> 00:53:22.849
Deux Magots, where generations of writers scribbled, fretted, and gossiped.
638
00:53:23.730 --> 00:53:27.230
As for London... One could make a case for Rule's,
639
00:53:27.289 --> 00:53:33.590
a 228-year-old institution with a game-forward menu, a hearty wine list,
640
00:53:33.690 --> 00:53:38.969
and antlers on seemingly every wall. Founded by Thomas Rule
641
00:53:39.139 --> 00:53:43.780
as an oyster bar in 1798, it has as good
642
00:53:43.800 --> 00:53:47.599
a claim as any to being the oldest restaurant in London.
643
00:53:48.320 --> 00:53:54.949
Its patrons have included Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Ava Gardner,
644
00:53:55.190 --> 00:53:59.739
and Liza Minnelli. Now, it plans to keep serving its
645
00:53:59.940 --> 00:54:07.420
English Fair into perpetuity. The National Trust, a British charity
646
00:54:07.460 --> 00:54:12.400
that protects and preserves the country's heritage, announced Wednesday that
647
00:54:12.599 --> 00:54:17.019
it is the new owner of a 3435 Maiden Lane,
648
00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:22.099
the building and covent garden that houses rules and of
649
00:54:22.139 --> 00:54:28.219
the restaurant's uniquely ornate interior. The trust has been given
650
00:54:28.300 --> 00:54:32.650
the site by its owner, John J.P. Mayhew, who said
651
00:54:32.690 --> 00:54:35.969
in a statement that he wanted to ensure the restaurant
652
00:54:36.110 --> 00:54:40.739
and two centuries' worth of stories would be protected forever.
653
00:54:41.449 --> 00:54:46.059
The property value of the gift is over 11 million pounds,
654
00:54:46.300 --> 00:54:51.309
or about $ 14. 6 million, the trust said. and the terms
655
00:54:51.449 --> 00:54:55.130
of the lease dictate that it can only be used
656
00:54:55.489 --> 00:55:01.469
as a restaurant. The restaurant's proprietor, Ricky McManamy, who has
657
00:55:01.550 --> 00:55:05.719
worked there for over 30 years, said the thinking was simple.
658
00:55:06.320 --> 00:55:12.400
The restaurant industry faces crisis after crisis. London rents are punishing,
659
00:55:12.920 --> 00:55:16.699
and while Mr. Mayhew is committed to rules, a future
660
00:55:16.860 --> 00:55:21.710
owner might not have the same vision, said Mr. Mac Minami,
661
00:55:22.150 --> 00:55:26.650
who will operate the restaurant as a commercial tenant. There
662
00:55:26.690 --> 00:55:29.969
would be nothing necessarily to stop them from turning the
663
00:55:30.030 --> 00:55:34.420
building into apartments, he said, but now the restaurant is
664
00:55:34.519 --> 00:55:40.519
protected as a living, breathing thing, not fossilized, not kept
665
00:55:40.590 --> 00:55:44.679
in aspic, he said, but preserved. The trust, he said,
666
00:55:45.139 --> 00:55:48.840
shares the same care and attention to detail to want
667
00:55:48.880 --> 00:55:53.340
the building to remain at its best. In the century
668
00:55:53.420 --> 00:55:56.960
since it opened in the heart of Covent Garden, the
669
00:55:57.039 --> 00:56:01.809
restaurant has served London's wealthy and wordy, its royals and
670
00:56:01.989 --> 00:56:06.929
its regulars. King Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 until
671
00:56:06.949 --> 00:56:13.550
his death in 1910, frequented its storied tables. As a
672
00:56:13.610 --> 00:56:16.659
young man, when he was still the Prince of Wales,
673
00:56:16.780 --> 00:56:22.699
he wooed his mistress, Lily Langtry, within its walls. Yes, indeed, Mr.
674
00:56:22.940 --> 00:56:29.239
McManamy confirmed. In fact, rules were so important to Langtry
675
00:56:29.610 --> 00:56:33.789
that she commissioned, signed, and donated a painting that still
676
00:56:33.869 --> 00:56:40.769
hangs over its cocktail bar. Dickens was a regular. Graham Green,
677
00:56:40.869 --> 00:56:44.349
who wrote a century later, stopped by for every birthday,
678
00:56:44.570 --> 00:56:48.050
the National Trust said. Rules has named one of its
679
00:56:48.130 --> 00:56:53.980
private dining rooms in his honor. Green featured the restaurant
680
00:56:54.239 --> 00:56:58.800
in The End of the Affair, published in 1951. The
681
00:56:58.860 --> 00:57:02.239
tortured couple at the heart of the post-war novel share
682
00:57:02.280 --> 00:57:06.150
their first kiss after a dinner there. Is it possible
683
00:57:06.230 --> 00:57:09.840
to fall in love over a dish of onions? It
684
00:57:09.940 --> 00:57:13.960
seems improbable, and yet I could swear it was just
685
00:57:14.099 --> 00:57:18.980
then that I fell in love, the narrator Maurice Bendrix muses.
686
00:57:19.840 --> 00:57:24.409
Many other fictional Brits have come to visit. M, played
687
00:57:24.469 --> 00:57:28.949
by Ralph Fiennes, dines there in the James Bond film Spectre,
688
00:57:29.489 --> 00:57:34.199
and the show Downton Abbey shot several scenes here. John
689
00:57:34.280 --> 00:57:38.440
Le Carre used to drop by. Rules featured briefly in
690
00:57:38.519 --> 00:57:47.449
his novel, The Russia House. In 1971, John Benjamin defended
691
00:57:47.570 --> 00:57:51.199
rules from plans to raise it to widen a nearby road.
692
00:57:51.860 --> 00:57:54.980
In a speech at a planning meeting, he compared the
693
00:57:55.059 --> 00:57:59.150
restaurant to a site of worship, a place which has
694
00:57:59.269 --> 00:58:03.849
constantly been used by actors, managers, and famous people, as
695
00:58:03.929 --> 00:58:09.269
rules has, acquires an invisible atmosphere, just as a church
696
00:58:09.510 --> 00:58:15.599
frequented by praying people acquires an atmosphere. This concludes the
697
00:58:15.679 --> 00:58:18.619
reading of the New York Times for today. Your reader
698
00:58:18.659 --> 00:58:22.940
has been Blanca Michael Ward. If you have any questions, comments,
699
00:58:23.079 --> 00:58:27.340
or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
700
00:58:27.400 --> 00:58:33.449
us at 859-422-6390. Thank you for listening, and now please
701
00:58:33.469 --> 00:58:36.889
stay tuned for continued programming on Radio Eye.