Good morning. Rainy with a high of just 79 today. Rain is likely overnight, with a low near 72.
Weekend sports: The Nationals will visit the Los Angeles Angels all weekend. The Washington Mystics are at the Dallas Wings on Saturday. D.C. United will host Nashville SC at Audi Field Saturday. Loudoun United FC will host the Charlotte Independence on Saturday. The Washington Freedom will play the San Francisco Unicorns on Saturday.
You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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I can’t stop listening to:
The Slickee Boys, “When I Go to the Beach.” This was one of the first singles I ever bought, and just hearing its lo-fi, acid-washed take on surf music is a nostalgia trip I’ll cherish all weekend. The Slickee Boys will reunite to play Rosensteel Hall in Silver Spring Saturday with Switchblade and Rock-a-Sonics. It’s a benefit for the After Dark Fund, a nonprofit cofounded by NBC4 Washington reporter Mark Segraves that helps area musicians who are experiencing tough times.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I’ve made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of my daily music recommendations this year.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
War of word: President Trump sent letters to CNN and the New York Times that claimed the news outlets had defamed him when they reported on a preliminary intelligence assessment that appeared to contradict his claim that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated” by strikes he ordered last weekend. “No apology will be forthcoming,” Times lawyer David McCraw responded. (NYT) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yelled at reporters during a press conference Thursday, saying, “Because you cheer against Trump so hard — in your DNA and in your blood, cheer against Trump — because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes.” (Politico) Hegseth joined three other Trump officials to brief senators about the strikes’ efficacy. Democrats said it didn’t sound like Iran’s program was obliterated; “Some Republicans spoke as though they had attended a different briefing.” (Washington Post) Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, currently reportedly on the outs with Trump, didn’t attend the briefing. Senator Tom Cotton has proposed slashing her department. (NBC News) “I think now we’re in this really terrible doom loop where we’re having a conversation — this battle between obliterated and not obliterated — and in fact, we’re obliterating the nuance in the way that this conversation is going,” said Beth Sanner, who used to deliver Trump’s daily briefings, in a thoughtful interview about the nature of preliminary intelligence. (Politico)
Inject and serve: A CDC panel that Health Secretary RFK Jr. emptied of experts and restocked with vaccine skeptics “voted on Thursday to walk back longstanding recommendations for flu vaccines containing an ingredient that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism.” (NYT) The ingredient is thimerosal, a preservative that’s rarely used but whose elimination “would probably make the shots more expensive and harder to receive in parts of the country.” (Washington Post) More health news: “States can block the country’s biggest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid money for health services such as contraception and cancer screenings, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.” (AP)
College daze: The Justice Department has demanded that University of Virginia President James E. Ryan resign, saying he hasn’t dismantled diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to its satisfaction. (NYT) DOJ also announced it would investigate the University of California system over its plans to increase diversity. (Sacramento Bee) Johns Hopkins’ storied research tradition—e.g., “a surgeon at Johns Hopkins created the rubber glove”—is at risk from federal budget cuts. (NYT) House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan demanded documents from Harvard in an investigation into tuition prices. (Harvard Crimson)
Balls back: Edward “Big Balls” Coristine “has returned to government shortly after resigning.” (Wired) Another reminder that DOGE still exists: The former Elon Musk project has installed staff at the ATF “with the goal of revising or eliminating dozens of rules and gun restrictions by July 4.” (Washington Post) “I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” a former DOGE guy says. (NPR)
Administration perambulation: The US Supreme Court will issue its final rulings of this term today. (SCOTUSblog) A magistrate judge in Tennessee decided to keep Kilmar Abrego García in custody “over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly detain him and try to deport him again,” but Justice Department officials said he’ll get a trial first. (AP) Former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro got disbarred in New York over his role in Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden. (NBC News) Trump’s support among white voters didn’t change in 2024, but he gained support from Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters, a Pew analysis found. (Washington Post) The AC broke at Department of Labor HQ yesterday. (NBC4 Washington) The House wants to cut GAO’s budget nearly in half. (Government Executive) Big State Department layoffs could happen today. (NBC4 Washington)
One snazzy open house this weekend:
Stanley Asrael, now 101 years old, bought this five-bedroom, five-bath Tudor-style house in Silver Spring with his wife, Evelyn, in 1962, and over the years worked with designer Sidney Millman Moore Margolis to reimagine it. They filled the home with contemporary art and furnishings, fabricated by the likes of the Renwick curator Michael Monroe and the woodworker George Nakashima. In recent years, Stanley donated much of his collection to museums, but some of the commissioned pieces convey with the sale, including the stair railings fabricated by a local sculptor, Barton Rubenstein. It’s listed at $2.4 million. See more of our open house picks for the weekend.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• A fire has closed the Mexican restaurant Chicatana.
• Yet ANOTHER anti-Trump statue appeared on the Mall. We spoke with someone who claims to be involved.
• Eight takeaways from Usha Vance‘s interview with Meghan McCain.
• Can pizza shop activity near the Pentagon actually signal war plans?
• Beyoncé, “Carmina Burana,” the Smithsonian Folklife Festival—your guide to cultural activities next month.
• Frances Tiafoe will join three US Open champions at the Mubadala Citi DC Open next month.
• Alex Ovechkin held a goat for the cover of our new print issue. Here’s how the shoot happened.
Local news links:
• A guide to how every member of the DC Council feels about the stadium deal. (Washington Post)
• Martin Austermuhle breaks down the budget doings inside the John A. Wilson Building. (The 51st)
• A Montgomery County teacher sued the school board, saying a principal wouldn’t allow her to display a Palestinian flag sticker in her classroom. (BethesdaToday)
• Demolition on what’s left of Baltimore’s Key Bridge will begin soon. (WTOP)
• Elroy Harrison was convicted of the 1986 murder of Jacqueline Lard. (WUSA9)
• An Egyptian man was deported after he kicked a dog at Dulles. (BBC News)
• MoCo officials removed 23 dogs from an unlicensed daycare. (WTOP)
• Some people want to swim in the Yards Park Canal Basin. Others do not want them to. Dismay results. (NBC4 Washington)
• Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill were once roommates in DC. (Elle)
• Northrop Grumman donated $10 million to the Air and Space Museum. (WTOP)
• Who is attaching potatoes to signposts in Georgetown, and can we hang out? (PoPville)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: The Savannah Bananas bring their viral traveling exhibition games to Nats Park today and Saturday.
Saturday: Signature Theatre and Wolf Trap come together for the fifth annual Broadway in the Park at the Filene Center.
Sunday: Indian playback singer Shaan performs at the Theater at MGM National Harbor.
See lots more weekend picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
We’re now taking suggestions for this year’s “Most Powerful Women” list. You can nominate someone here. Know someone we should consider for our Tech Titans feature this year? Put their name forward here. Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
