Good morning. Mostly sunny with a high around 77 today, and clear with a low around 54 overnight. The Capitals will host Montreal for Game 2 of the playoffs tonight, and the Orioles will visit the Nationals, who smoked their neighbors 7-0 last night. 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:
Ebo Taylor, “African Woman.” The 89-year-old Ghanaian legend plays the Howard Theatre tonight with Pat Thomas.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Leaving so soon? Elon Musk told people on an earnings call Tuesday that he’ll cut back on the time he spends in the Trump administration to focus on Tesla. (Politico) Musk’s car company’s net income plummeted by 71 percent in 1Q, and the company saw “a steep decline in automotive sales, including double-digit percentage drops in crucial markets such as the U.S., China and Germany.” (WSJ)
Market change: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calmed the world’s roiling financial markets a bit after he told people at JPMorgan Chase that a trade war against China is “unsustainable.” (AP) President Trump said he didn’t plan to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell and implied he’d lower tariffs against China, which further calmed investors. (WSJ) “Taken together, it marks Trump’s biggest economic climbdown since, well, the last one, and is another indication of just how badly most of this stuff is landing.” (Playbook) The administration says it’s close to agreements—but not actual trade deals—with Japan and India. (Politico)
The Pete bog: The information about US fighter pilots that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared in “to at least two group text chats” came from information shared with him via “a secure U.S. government system” and included “details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger.” (NBC News) At the Pentagon, Hegseth “surrounded himself with advisers who quickly turned into vicious rivals for power — whose bitter brawl has now unraveled into revenge power plays, surprise firings, accusations of leaking and embarrassing headlines that are blowing up the Pentagon, distracting from Trump’s agenda and possibly jeopardizing Hegseth’s job.” (Politico) Some of the chaos that surrounds Hegseth’s office originated in a phone call from Politico reporter Daniel Lippman. (Drop Site) Hegseth went on Fox News yesterday to dispute some of the allegations flying around him, but people in the White House saw his appearance as “as only calling more attention to the story rather than tamping down the coverage.” (CNN) Veteran Action, a group that boosted Hegseth’s nomination, “has all but gone silent.” (Politico)
Media corner: Sarah Palin lost her libel trial against the New York Times. (NYT) The executive producer of 60 Minutes, Bill Owens, announced he would resign, “citing encroachments on his journalistic independence.” (NYT) Shari Redstone, who owns CBS’s parent company, Paramount, has “sought to know which upcoming 60 Minutes stories were about President Donald Trump,” who is suing the network over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that he claims was deceptively edited. (Semafor) A US District judge blocked the administration’s dismantling of Voice of America. (AP) Ryan Lizza says Politico’s lawyers demanded he take down a post from his new publication that they claimed disparaged the company. (Telos)
Abrego García update: US District Judge Paula Xinis accused the administration of “willful and intentional noncompliance” in the matter of Kilmar Abrego García, the Maryland man it mistakenly deported. (Politico) Meanwhile, in Charlottesville, plainclothes ICE agents raided a courthouse and spirited away two men without warrants. (Daily Progress)
Kristi Noem bag update: Surveillance footage from the Capital Burger shows how a man was able to nick the Homeland Security secretary’s bag, which contained her passport, work ID, and $3,000 in cash: He “sat down at an empty table next to Noem with his back facing her and used his left foot to slide the bag away,” according to a law-enforcement source. (CNN) The Secret Service has shared a photo of the suspect with local law enforcement. (NBC4 Washington)
Administration perambulation: The National Science Foundation has “canceled more than 400 active awards,” and most of them are “from the agency’s divisions of research on learning and equity for excellence in STEM.” (NYT) The Justice Department “canceled hundreds of grants to community organizations and local governments, including funding for gun-violence prevention programs, crime-victim advocacy and efforts to combat opioid addiction.” (Washington Post) The Department of Health and Human Services intends to cut a suicide hotline for LGBTQ youth. (Mother Jones) EPA began to eliminate hundreds of jobs this week. (NBC News) VA Secretary Doug Collins has asked staff to “report colleagues for instances of ‘anti-Christian bias.’ ” (The Guardian) Three federal prosecutors who worked on DOJ’s case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams resigned “rather than admit wrongdoing by their office after it refused to abandon the case.” (NYT)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Jokes that JD Vance killed the pope are mean and inaccurate. Let’s take a look at some.
• A pop-up speakeasy with a banned-books theme will open in Alexandria today. It’ll only be around for a few days.
Local news links:
• The US Supreme Court appears ready to side with Maryland parents who object to storybooks with LGBTQ themes. (NYT)
• Senate Democrats plan to try to block Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin as DC’s US Attorney. Martin has served in an acting role since January. (CBS News)
• Automatic click: “The Virginia State Police has opened a criminal investigation into the actions of the vice mayor of Purcellville, who also happened to work as a police officer.” (WUSA9) Ben Nett was under internal investigation and “was fired April 4. On April 8, he and three other council members voted to eliminate the department to save the town money.” (NBC4 Washington)
• A fire late Monday left a dozen people without homes. (NBC4 Washington)
• A billing servicer for Brookfield Properties “admitted they were overbilling some tenants for utilities.” (WCP)
• The Potomac Water Taxi—for which, full disclosure, my oldest son works—announced a Navy Yard route. (Alexandria Living)
• A small lab in Loudoun County creates yeasts for craft beers. (Northern Virginia Magazine)
• Attention Washingtonian food critics: I can connect you with several knowledgeable Scots if you try this new restaurant. (Axios D.C.)
• Agreed: This is a really good goose. (PoPville)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• The annual Smithsonian Craft Show begins at the National Building Museum.
• Indie-rock trio Cheekface plays the Black Cat.
• It’s Day 1 of the annual Georgetown House Tour.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here. Enter our Cutest Dog Contest 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.
