Good morning. Finally, a bit of a break: Sunny with a high near 86 and *decreasing* humidity today. A low around 67 overnight. The Nationals will host the Reds this evening. 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:
Bluem, “Walking in DC.” A very solid tune from a local band I can’t find out much about online, but they’ll play Fort Reno tonight with Time in the Wilderness and Bohemian Waxwing.
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:
Today in Epstein: Maria Farmer, who used to work for the disgraced, deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, says she told the FBI in 1996 to “take a broader look at the people in Mr. Epstein’s orbit, including Donald J. Trump.” Farmer says she was concerned about what she called Epstein’s “pattern of pursuing girls and young women while building friendships with prominent people, including Mr. Trump and President Bill Clinton.” (NYT) Indeed, the Daily Mail reported Saturday that Clinton sent a birthday letter to Epstein for the same book that the Wall Street Journal reported Trump sent a drawing of a naked woman with his first name written to approximate pubic hair. (Daily Mail) Trump sued the Journal, owner Rupert Murdoch, and others Friday, saying the report was false and defamatory. (NPR) At Trump’s behest, the Department of Justice asked a judge in Florida Friday to release grand jury testimony about Epstein. (CNN) Such testimony “cannot be released without the permission of the federal court responsible for overseeing the criminal case” and could take months to surface. (Politico) But in case you think this mess what will finally bring Trump down, remember: “Despite the clamor surrounding Epstein from within the president’s political base and beyond, there is no indication so far that this is the scandal that will sink Trump any more than the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape of 2016, or being found guilty in a criminal trial last year over hush money payments to a porn star.” (Washington Post)
Annals of subject-changing: Trump had quite a weekend online. He threatened to insert himself into the Washington Commanders’ potential stadium deal unless they revert to their old name. (Reuters) He also posted an AI-generated video that purports to show Barack Obama getting arrested. (Daily Beast) And he posted many more times, including “a three-minute, captionless video with clips of a bikini-clad woman picking up and tossing a snake; a man somersaulting around a dowel down a stairway; a red Lamborghini careening beneath a truck, Clark Griswold style; a man jumping a fence and coming face to face with a speeding train; a woman break dancing; an optical illusion of a conference room; a billiards trick; a man hacking away at some rock formation; a dirtbiker stunting on a trail; a jet ski; a man ascending an obstacle course with a ladder; a man jump-roping; a man pulling a block from a still-standing massive Jenga tower; a man tossing trash into a dumpster from his balcony; a man doing a flip; a person carrying a heavy object on their shoulders; a man juggling a dropped package of paper towels; and a man doing a skateboard trick.” (Politico Playbook)
Administration perambulation: The administration scoured contracts with Elon Musk‘s companies after the billionaire broke up with Trump, but officials “determined that most of the deals were vital to the missions of the Defense Department and NASA.” (WSJ) A new poll shows Trump’s overall approval in the low 40s. (CBS News) Another aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth got the hook. (CBS News) Hegseth said Friday that he would remove Vice Admiral Yvette Davids as the head of the Naval Academy. (Washington Post) Vice President JD Vance will visit the UK for his family vacation. (Telegraph)
The best thing I ate last week, by Ann Limpert
Yes, I am here to rave about another burger. I’ve been eating A LOT of them over the last few months for our August issue’s cover package (unexpectedly, I’m not sick of them at all). So this weekend, when I went to visit my kid at sleepaway camp and there was a lull in the schedule, I jumped in the car and drove 40 minutes to Front Royal. There, I finally tried Spelunker’s, a burger/frozen custard joint that I’ve heard about for years. The cheeseburger is compact and easy to eat in the way most fast food burgers are, but made with a thicker, juicier griddled patty you actually want to taste (the beef is ground in-house every day). Worth the schlep? Absolutely—It definitely rivals the best burgers in DC. (116 South St., Front Royal, Virginia.)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• In Arlington, robots.
• Gayle King tells us what it was like to return to the University of Maryland and give a commencement speech.
Local news links:
• Silver Spring and Great Falls saw significant flash floods Saturday when more than five inches of rain fell. (Washington Post)
• Shon Hopwood, who became a professor at Georgetown Law after he was imprisoned for bank robbery, was convicted of assaulting his wife. (NBC4 Washington) Flashback: Tiffany Trump worked as a research assistant to Hopwood during her father’s first administration. (Washingtonian)
• A proposed Republican spending bill would prohibit traffic cameras in the District and impose other changes on DC. (Martin Austermuhle)
• Kevin Gash of Rockville opened a sausage truck after losing his job at USAID. Its name? Plan B. (NBC4 Washington)
• A teenager was stabbed during a melee at the Pentagon City mall on Friday. Police said they took two teens into custody. (ARLnow)
• Children’s National Hospital, citing “escalating legal and regulatory risks,” said it would “no longer provide gender-transition care for patients, leaving families reeling.” (Washington Post)
• The National Science Board will discuss the National Science Foundation’s controversial planned move out of its Alexandria headquarters during a meeting Wednesday. (Alexandria Living)
• RIP Edwin J. Feulner Jr., the former head of the Heritage Foundation. (NYT)
• Winston Lord and Tim Ma will lead an effort to revitalize Chinatown. (WBJ)
• Ikea may open a full-service restaurant in Chantilly. (WBJ)
• Finally, here’s a photo of Tim Kaine in his swimsuit. (Daisy’s at Tredegar)
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.
