Good morning. Hot, mostly sunny, and muggy with a high around 92 today. Thunderstorms are possible after 5 PM. Showers and storms are likely until about 10 tonight, with a low near 74.
Sports this weekend: The Nationals host the Reds today, Saturday, and Sunday. The Washington Spirit hosts the North Carolina Courage at Audi Field on Saturday. Loudoun United hosts the Charleston Battery at Segra Field on Saturday.
🌎 How well do you know the District? Play our new geography game and test your local knowledge. 📫 You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.
I can’t stop listening to:
Anna Moss, “Love You Anyway.” The fun Louisiana musician plays Jammin’ Java Saturday with Sabine McCalla.
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 war: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan will sign a deal to defend one another today “as the United States struggles to contain regional threats.” (Reuters) President Trump toned down recent proclamations about the Strait of Hormuz, saying it was “sort of open right now.” (AP) Iran’s nuclear capability “is largely still there” after five-plus months of war. (NYT)
So what about this possible Iran-Oman deal? To get the strait reopened and stand a chance of addressing Iran’s nuclear program, Trump “may need to do something out of character — compromise.” (AP) Internal politics in Iran are affecting negotiators’ ability to strike a deal to end the conflict: In Tehran, “hard-line factions in the government appear to be holding sway.” (WSJ)
Back at home: Trump ordered investigations into leaks about the US’s dwindling supply of weapons because of the war. (WSJ) Senate Republicans pressed Vice President JD Vance on the war during a meeting yesterday. (Politico) “Trump administration officials have increasingly accepted that the conflict likely will still be going on in some form by the time of the midterms.” (Reuters)
Try, try again: Trump issued new executive orders aimed at birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court rejected an earlier attempt to narrow the eligibility of people born in the US to claim citizenship, which is covered under the Fourteenth Amendment. (Axios) “It was not immediately clear how the twin orders could realistically be enforced.” (NYT) “The latest orders are also likely to be challenged in the courts.” (Politico)
Be true to your pool: A judge in DC formally dismissed the political prosecution of David Hearn, an Olympic canoeist whom Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro had claimed vandalized the Reflecting Pool, which in fact was damaged by Trump’s botched renovation attempts. The case theoretically could be brought again. (NYT) Interior staffers describe a “culture of secrecy” under Burgum and say the department, which Pirro blamed for her bungled prosecution, is poorly run. (Politico) A deep dive into how the shallow Reflecting Pool “became a striking reflection instead of the second Trump administration’s willingness to skirt laws, expend millions of dollars, ignore facts and punish truth tellers in service of the president’s demands to put his mark on the capital.” (NYT)
Administration perambulation: US Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska will oppose Todd Blanche‘s nomination to become the US attorney general. His “fate is now thought to come down to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.” (Politico) The FCC ended a cap on the number of local TV stations broadcasters may own, a “a big win to media companies aligned with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.” (CNN) ICE officers will now wear body cameras. But the agency plans to release footage from them only when it decides that doing so ““is in the best interests of the agency.” (AP) A prosecutor in Minnesota asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to extradite an ICE officer accused of shooting a man in the leg. (Washington Post) Trump announced more tariffs, this time against inexpensive products made with polysilicon, such as solar panels. (NYT)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Tony P‘s online fame is waning. A profile of an early DC influencer as he searches for a new way forward.
• The trouble with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History isn’t that it’s too woke, Sylvie McNamara writes. It’s that its exhibits are “so tediously over-explained.”
• A preview of Croix, a polished rooftop Caribbean restaurant near Audi Field that will open next Friday.
• Fair season is upon us! Here are ten state and county fairs to put on your calendar.
Local news links:
• The family of a man with Down syndrome who was trapped inside a Metro station for six days in 2023 has sued WMATA. (Washington Post)
• DC police announced a youth curfew zone in Columbia Heights this weekend. (DC News Now)
• The owner of a DC hauling company pleaded guilty to stealing Covid relief funds. His company, District Logistics, recently accused the District of not paying it for snow removal. (WUSA9)
• The ACLU of Virginia filed a suit against the King George, Virginia, school board, saying it blocked the creation of a club for LGBTQ+ students. (Virginia Mercury)
• What are your neighbors complaining to 311 about? Alyssa Fowers got the data. (City Cast DC)
• A Maryland state senator struck a parked vehicle and parked on a tree. (WBFF)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: EleFest—a celebration of the calf Linh Mai, as well as other prominent pachyderms, gets trunked up at Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Saturday: Catch “Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise,” a juried exhibition of Washington-area artists, at the Phillips Collection.
Sunday: It’s your last chance to see “CrazySexyCool–The TLC Musical” at Arena Stage.
See more picks for the weekend 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.
