Good morning. Sunny and less humid today, with a chance of a shower or two this morning and a high around 82. A low near 66 overnight.
Weekend sports: The Nationals host the White Sox this weekend. D.C. United will host the Philadelphia Union at Audi Field Saturday. Loudoun United FC will host the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Segra Field on Saturday. The Washington Spirit will host the Houston Dash at Audi Field on Sunday. The Washington Commanders will visit the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
Our new print issue is on newsstands now. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.
I can’t stop listening to:
Tyler Childers, “Oneida.” I’m still getting my head around Childers’s new Rick Rubin-produced LP, “Snipe Hunter,” but this song requires no effort to love. Childers plays Jiffy Lube Live Saturday with Medium Build and Soma.
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:
Things are not especially great this Friday morning: Lindsey Halligan delivered one of the indictments President Trump demanded publicly over the weekend, securing a grand jury indictment of former FBI Director James Comey in the Eastern District of Virginia after career prosecutors said the case was too flimsy to pursue. The filing alleges Comey made a false statement to Congress and obstructed a congressional proceeding; the grand jury in Alexandria rejected a second charge of making a false statement. (NYT) “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice,” Comey said in a video statement last night, “but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent, so, let’s have a trial.” (Politico) The indictment “could well go down as a moment when a fundamental democratic norm — that justice is dispensed without regard to political or personal agendas — was cast aside in a dangerous way.” (NYT) Former Chicago US Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald will represent Comey in the matter. (Washington Post) Comey’s son-in-law Troy Edwards resigned from the Department of Justice after the charges were filed. (AP) Here’s a good timeline of the Trump-Comey relationship. (AP) Related: Attorney General Pam Bondi fired federal prosecutor Will Rosenzweig this week, apparently for posts he wrote about Trump in 2017. He’s the third prosecutor in Florida’s Southern District to be fired since Trump took office. (Miami Herald) Aakash Singh, a top lawyer in the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, directed US Attorney offices in several US cities to investigate George Soros‘s Open Society Foundation, going “as far as to list possible charges prosecutors could file, ranging from arson to material support of terrorism.” (NYT) Trump “ordered his administration to investigate what he claimed were rich people and organizations funding left-wing political violence around the country.” (NYT) Senior officials at DOJ want charges filed against John Bolton this week. (CNN)
Heavy duties: Trump announced he will impose “taxes of 100% on pharmaceutical drugs, 50% on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30% on upholstered furniture and 25% on heavy trucks” on October 1. (AP) The tax on trucks was “designed to level the playing field for America’s truck-making industry that has been hit relentlessly by the White House’s compounding tariffs.” (CNN)
Shutdown watch: As the deadline approaches for Congress to fund the US government, “both Republicans and Democrats seem unnaturally comfortable with their positions.” (Punchbowl News) The White House threatened to impose massive layoffs in the event of a shutdown, but Democrats “noted that Mr. Trump continued his assault on the federal bureaucracy even after they agreed to fund the government in the spring.” (NYT) White House budget director Russ Vought is “well positioned to further execute his long-held views on government spending if federal cash stops cold.” (Politico)
Administration perambulation: Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defense, “has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year.” (Washington Post) Hegseth also declared that soldiers who participated in war crimes in the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee would keep their Medals of Honor. (AP) The National Archives released personal information, including her Social Security Number, of US Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey to an ally of the Republican she faces in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race. (CBS News) Trump signed an order “that he says will allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.” (AP) The US Capitol Police budget will likely rise to more than $1 billion. Some members of Congress say that’s not enough. (Politico) Amazon settled an FTC complaint and will pay $1.5 billion to customers and $1 billion in penalties. (AP) The estate of former Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein gave Congress “unredacted calendars, call logs, and cash ledgers,” records the House Oversight Committee plans to release after it redacts names of the disgraced, deceased financiers’ victims. (Politico)
One snazzy open house this weekend:
This six bedroom/five-and-a-half bath mansion in Potomac boasts a renovated kitchen with German-imported cabinetry, a wine cellar that holds over 1,000 bottles, a lower-level gym, and a fire pit behind the patio. It’s listed at $3,399,000, and you can see it Sunday. Here’s Emma Sullivan‘s list of open houses you won’t want to miss this weekend.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• The Psychiatric Institute of Washington is dangerous and rife with abuse and neglect, according to lawsuits and accounts from patients and ex-staffers. The company denies the allegations. DC Health’s director says the law doesn’t offer “much specificity around patient safety.” Luke Mullins investigates what one former resident calls a “patient mill.”
• Cheeky, politically themed cocktails were everywhere during Trump’s first term. But now they’re hard to find. “Things are a lot more serious this time around,” one bar owner says.
• We spent an evening with a local activist who’s documenting Trump’s law-enforcement surge in DC, which continues.
Local news links:
• Trump ordered Bondi and US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro to pursue death penalty sentences in cases in DC. The District abolished the death penalty in 1981. (Washington Post) Pirro would need to convince local juries to impose such sentences. (Martin Austermuhle/Bluesky)
• Some DC residents criticized Pirro when she appeared before them to tout declines in crime rates during Trump’s law enforcement surge. (WTOP)
• Fairfax County’s public schools are among three systems nationally that will lose federal grants because they refuse administration demands to change policies about bathroom use. (NYT)
• Brianne Nadeau will not seek reelection to the DC Council, and her “announcement could kick off a crowded scramble to fill her seat next year.” (Washington Post)
• Residents of Urban Village Apartments in Columbia Heights say the complex’s owners have neglected the properties and are trying to force them out, despite promises they made when they took over a few years ago. (WCP)
• It looks like the Dulles Expo Center will become an Ikea. (The Burn)
• Longtime Northern Virginia reporter Vernon Miles has left Local News Now. He’ll join Fox 5. (ARLnow)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: The All Things Go Music Festival kicks off at Merriweather Post Pavilion with sets by Lucy Dacus, Doechii, Noah Kahan, and more.
Saturday: Fiesta DC takes over Avenida Pensilvania.
Sunday: It’s Lovettsville Oktoberfest time!
See lots more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our fabulous Things to Do newsletter.
Noms, Noms, Noms: Know a local hero? Nominate them to join our next class of Washingtonians of the Year. We’re looking for anyone who makes our area a better place. Nominations are due by September 30. We’re also seeking nominations for our 500 Most Influential People list. Those are due by December 5.
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.
