Good morning. We’ve still got little except pollen to complain about, weather-wise: Sunny with a high around 82 today. A low near 64 overnight. The Nationals host the Marlins this afternoon. The Washington Spirit will host the Vancouver Rise FC Academy this evening at Audi Field in a Concacaf W Champions Cup match. 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:
Pulp, “Got to Have Love.” A lot of aspects of modern life have diminished since the 1990s, but not Pulp’s ability to write a massive chorus, which you can enjoy on their recent album, “More,” or live this Saturday when they play the Anthem.
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:
The Epstein story has returned: Up to 100 survivors of sexual abuse, most of them victims of disgraced, deceased financier Jeffery Epstein, will attend a rally on Capitol Hill today “as a bipartisan Congressional effort gains steam to force the U.S. Department of Justice to make public its controversial files on the disgraced sex trafficker.” (Miami Herald) The House Oversight Committee released tens of thousands of documents it received from DOJ Tuesday night, though US Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, estimated that “97 percent of the documents contained information the Justice Department and other law enforcement agencies had already disclosed.” (Washington Post) The Epstein situation is a “political quagmire that continues to plague Speaker Mike Johnson this week after the month-long congressional recess.” (Politico) Six Epstein survivors urged the government to release more documents and asked President Trump—a former friend to Epstein who reportedly wrote “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” drew a naked lady, and signed his name in a manner to suggest pubic hair in a birthday book for the financier, though Trump denies it—not to pardon Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who said in unusual testimony that she was innocent and never saw Trump engage in any unsavory behavior. (NBC News) US Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, was “visibly upset” after she left a meeting with Epstein survivors yesterday. (The Hill) US Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said he and Rho Khanna, a Democratic representative from California, “would forge ahead with a discharge petition to force the disclosure of investigative files” regarding the matter. Three GOP reps signed onto Massie’s petition yesterday. He needs two more. (Politico)
Trump, too, has returned: The President, at a press conference yesterday, disputed accounts that he had died, pointing to his vigorous online posting schedule over the weekend as proof. (NYT) Trump claimed that a viral video that showed objects being thrown from a White House window was “AI,” though the White House had indicated it was real. (AP) Trump called the rumors about his health “crazy” and mocked his predecessor, Joe Biden. (Axios) The prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket, to which Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. is an adviser, allowed bets over the weekend on whether Trump was alive. (Citation Needed)
Troops and consequences: A federal judge in San Francisco forbade Trump to direct National Guard troops to perform law enforcement functions, which he’s done in Los Angeles and here in DC. “In a 52-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer warned that Trump appears intent on ‘creating a national police force with the President as its chief.'” (Politico) If the ruling stands, Trump’s plans to send troops to more Democratic cities could be affected. (NYT) And yet: Trump said yesterday that he’s preparing to send troops to Chicago and Baltimore, over the objections of Illinois’s and Maryland’s governors. (AP) Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said yesterday “that he believed President Trump has timed planned immigration enforcement actions to coincide with Mexican Independence Day festivities in Chicago.” (NYT) Meanwhile, here in DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser “ordered indefinite coordination between the city and federal law enforcement officials.” (Washington Post) A DC grand jury refused to indict a New York woman accused of making threats against Trump, with a magistrate judge saying her words “appeared to be the ‘rantings’ of someone with mental illness but no ability to actually carry them out.” (WUSA9) Another grand jury declined to indict another man accused of threatening the President. It’s the latest in a string of extraordinary court losses for the feds as they’ve sought harsh penalties during Trump’s crackdown. (AP)
Administration perambulation: The US military killed 11 people in a strike on a speedboat in international waters that Trump claimed was carrying drugs headed for the US. The boat appeared to be headed to Trinidad from Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated. (NYT) An appeals court panel forbade Trump to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport people the administration accuses of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. An appeal is likely. (AP) A federal appeals court blocked Trump’s firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. The administration will appeal that ruling, too. (Axios) “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges.” (AP) The pediatrician Paul Offit, who has criticized Health Secretary RFK Jr., was blocked from serving on an FDA vaccine advisory committee. (Washington Post) Trump plans to move US Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. (Politico) E.J. Antoni, who Trump nominated to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after he fired its previous head following a dismal jobs report, ” said that women’s IQs generally clustered around average scores” last year. (Washington Post) An email sent by former Social Security Administration chief data officer Chuck Borges disappeared from employee inboxes after he said he was forced out “after filing a whistleblower complaint.” (Wired)
Get yourself to a literary festival this weekend, by Daniella Byck:
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Hush Harbor is a new phone-free bar from Rock Harper and Danny Hogenkamp. Flashback: We profiled Hogenkamp earlier this summer; our reporter introduced him to Harper.
• We’re calling it now: Sandwich Guy will be the DC Halloween Costume of the year.
Local news links:
• Longtime CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller died Saturday. He was 73. “For decades, everyone in the White House press corps knew him as the unofficial presidential historian and statistician.” (CBS News)
• US Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey got engaged to his girlfriend, Alexis Lewis. (Washington Post)
• DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb will run for reelection. (Axios D.C.)
• The DC Council will allow the removal of 31 “heritage trees” as part of the redevelopment of the RFK campus. (WTOP)
• A man walking his dog in Alexandria spotted an airplane seat in the Potomac. Suspecting it was a relic of the January air disaster near National Airport, he called police. It’s now with the NTSB. (NBC4 Washington)
• A bogus report of an active shooter at the University of Maryland yesterday is part of a nationwide trend. (WTOP)
• Arlington will pay Amazon $81,000, the first revenue the online retail giant will receive from its slow-moving installation of HQ2 in Crystal City. (Washington Post)
• “Real Housewives of Potomac” star Karen Huger was released early from jail in Montgomery County. (NBC4 Washington)
• Arlington police arrested 15 people suspected of shoplifting in Pentagon City on one day last month. (ARLnow)
• Former US Attorney Jessica Aber died in March from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, a medical examiner ruled. (NBC4 Washington)
• Calvert County Public Schools repealed its anti-racism policy. (NBC4 Washington)
• The driver of a Lexus crashed into an Aldi in Germantown. No one was hurt seriously. (ABC 7)
• Arlington hopes to replace the elevator at the Courthouse Metro station. (ARLnow)
• Bananas, which are not native to this region, keep appearing in trees in Capitol Hill. (PoPville)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• John Legend is at Wolf Trap.
• Browse Taste of Western Market.
• Do outdoor yoga at Island Time Bar and Grill—a tiki drink is included.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
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.
