Good morning. Sunny with a high around 88 today. A low near 71 overnight. The Nats wrap up a three-game homestand against the Royals this afternoon. The Mystics visit the Connecticut Sun this evening. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
DC primary update: Janeese Lewis George has a substantial lead over Kenyan McDuffie in the race to succeed Muriel Bowser as DC’s mayor, but the Associated Press has not yet called the race. Robert White will succeed Eleanor Holmes Norton as the District’s non-voting delegate to Congress. Elissa Silverman appears to be on track to win the Democratic nomination to be an at-large member of the DC Council, and Aparna Raj has a strong lead in the Ward 1 race.
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I can’t stop listening to:
The Fiery Furnaces, “Navy Nurse.” This song dates back to 2007, but the line “If there’s anything I’ve had enough of, it’s today” is timeless! Fiery Furnaces play the Miracle Theatre tonight.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this year’s music recommendations. Here are 2025’s songs (Apple, Spotify), too.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
The deal world: The text of the US-Iran framework for an agreement to end the war President Trump started in February has leaked. In it, Iran “reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons,” the US says it will lift its blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran says it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz. (Bloomberg News) Iran will be able to sell oil immediately, and it has a pathway toward ending sanctions and accessing billions of dollars’ worth of frozen funds that depend on commitments it will make regarding its nuclear programs. (WSJ) Iran also stands to get access to a $300 billion “prosperity fund” established by Gulf states and some South Asian countries, a provision that could be “politically explosive.” (Axios) Unnamed administration officials said the document “didn’t reflect critical back-channel commitments Iran has made to the US, which they argued gave them more confidence in signing on to the arrangement.” (CNN) Trump now has to make the case that this agreement is superior to President Obama‘s 2015 deal with Iran, which Trump discarded during his first term. (NYT) Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate narrowly defeated another vote on Trump’s war powers. (NYT)
DNI-yi-yi: Trump announced overnight that he would delay Jay Clayton‘s nomination to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence until the Senate confirmed James McDonald to succeed Clayton as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He also said he wouldn’t sign an extension of FISA Section 702 unless the Senate attached a voter-ID bill to it. The abrupt rug pull is “a disaster” for Senate Majority Leader John Thune. (Punchbowl News) Bill Pulte will remain in the acting DNI job while this all gets worked out. (AP)
Lots of plots: Federal prosecutors in Minnesota announced charges against 15 people who protested against the administration’s violent immigration crackdown there earlier this year. The charges include “conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer.” (NYT) Protests ensued outside Minneapolis courthouses, where many demonstrators said they felt the charges were politically motivated. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) US Attorney Daniel Rosen “would not say whether any federal officers were actually harmed” during a press conference. (TPM) Meanwhile, the FBI announced it had foiled a plot to attack Trump’s birthday UFC fight on the White House lawn, saying the five people in three states it charged “hoped to detonate explosive-laden drones over the White House, causing the crowd to scramble, and then shoot into the crowd as people fled.” (WSJ) US Secret Service officials who worked with the FBI on the indictment are reportedly steamed that FBI Director Kash Patel announced the charges before all the suspects were arrested. (MS Now)
Administration perambulation: Invoices from the contractor building Trump’s ballroom show that taxpayers are funding at least half of the project, which is contrary to the President’s claims. (Washington Post) The administration plans to shift the Education Department’s special-education and civil rights functions to other agencies, part of a longer-term plan to shutter the department. (NYT) Such a move would put Health Secretary RFK Jr., who has promoted questionable science about autism, in charge of disability education. (Mother Jones) The Department of Homeland Security didn’t consult with the State Department before it ended deportation protections for Haitian people in the US last year, “calling into question whether the department followed the required legal process.” (NYT) Trump “quietly invoked the Defense Production Act last week” to force defense companies to produce more weapons to replace the US’s depleted stockpiles. (NBC News) Staffers for the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees visited the prison in Texas where convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is being held. They’re looking into her transfer to the facility amid a broader investigation into the crimes of Maxwell’s co-conspirator, the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Politico) Former CIA officials are worried that the arrest of David Rush in what authorities say was a plot to steal $40 million worth of gold bars will expose “legitimate clandestine operations.” (WSJ)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• The Kennedy Center’s new tarp is just the beginning of the legal weirdness that now envelops the arts complex.
• When a DC gay bar’s beloved spider mascot came down for a refresh, rumors began to swirl it had been stolen. The inside story of how Trade turned “Tarangela Bassett”‘s vacation into a whole thing.
• The New York Times gave DC’s Albi four stars—the first time that’s happened for a restaurant outside the New York area.
• In an effort to fight algae (and perhaps some embarrassment over how this project appears to be going), the administration’s Reflecting Pool squad has poured in hydrogen peroxide.
• The phone-free bar Hush Harbor has closed on H Street. Owner Rock Harper says it will reopen elsewhere.
• Urban Garden Brewhouse, DC’s first brewery owned by a Black woman, will hold its grand opening on Friday.
• How well do you know DC geography? Play our daily geography game and test whether you really are as hot as you like to think.
Local news links:
• A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to make a plan for staying open past July 5. (NYT)
• Recreational weed sales in Virginia will begin next July under a compromise agreement between state lawmakers and Governor Abigail Spanberger. (WTVR)
• Cops in DC fatally shot a man aboard a Metrobus yesterday morning. They say he had fatally shot a woman on Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest. (WTOP)
• Kim Jackson will be the interim chancellor of DC’s public schools, Mayor Bowser announced yesterday. Jackson will run the system while DCPS searches for a replacement for outgoing honcho Lewis Ferebee. (WUSA9)
• A bus went out of control in Bethesda Sunday and side-swiped several cars, “leaving an almost half-mile trail of damage.” (NBC4 Washington)
• Search crews have recovered the body of Nazir Bell, a 20-year-old student at Towson State who had been missing since Sunday. Bell was swimming in the Potomac near the Billy Goat Trail. (Fox 5)
• Dark-green rectangles now cover the spots on the National Mall where some rascal or group of rascals imprinted the phrase “86 47” on grass. The FBI continues to investigate. (NBC4 Washington)
• There won’t be any flights at National Airport after noon on July 4 due to the Trump rally/fireworks display that will take place on the Mall. (WTOP)
• The Office of Personnel Management hung a banner on its DC HQ that purports to quote Teddy Roosevelt. But historians say Roosevelt never uttered those words. (Washington Post)
• Sean Penn will direct a movie about the January 6, 2021, violent assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. Bradley Cooper may star as a cop. Penn says the main character is “based on a real person.” Perhaps his name sort of rhymes with “Ramone”? (AP)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• Watch “The Matrix” at Hedy’s Rooftop Pool’s “Dive In Movies” series.
• Participants in the Clipper 2025-26 Round the World Yacht Race make a stop at the Wharf.
• Catch Ousmane Sembène‘s 1966 masterpiece “Black Girl” at AFI Silver.
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.
