Good morning. Showers are likely this morning, then it’ll be mostly cloudy today with a high around 63. More showers are possible overnight, and there’ll be a low near 43. The Wizards host Detroit this evening, the Commanders visit the Giants, and the Capitals visit the Devils.
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I can’t stop listening to
Jodeci, “Forever My Lady.” The ’90s sensations play the Theater at MGM National Harbor this evening.
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
Sinking chips
Republicans in Congress want to know why the US Commerce Department allowed Nvidia to sell chips to a Singapore-based company and to China despite warnings from US intelligence that its CEO, Jensen Huang, was having an affair with an “executive suspected of being a Chinese asset.” (Politico) More to the point, Democrats, who will of course take control of Congress soon, would like some answers from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller too. (WSJ) Huang admitted to one affair but “also had an extramarital relationship with an executive who reports to him.” (NYT) Nvidia’s board is getting ready to cut Huang loose. (WSJ) Some in the administration now claim they had qualms about Huang’s close relationship with President Trump. (WSJ)
Won Mississippi
The Associated Press called Mississippi’s US Senate race for Scott Colom, who will be the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction and the first Democrat elected there since 1947. (AP) Colom’s opponent, incumbent GOP Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, prevented him from a taking a federal judgeship in 2023. (NYT) He’ll be the Democrats’ 55th vote in the chamber, with the Alaska Senate race as yet undecided. (Reuters)
The Pete-ist thing
A sentinel at Arlington National Cemetery chastised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s party for giggling and talking near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a Veterans Day photo op yesterday. (CNN) The soldier “correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said. (Politico) Democrats in Congress are irked that 11 members missed a chance to vote on impeachment articles that outgoing GOP Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky filed against Hegseth. (Washington Post) Dems are also split on whether to risk a government shutdown by cutting off funds to Trump’s war with Iran. (Washington Sun) Families of Navy personnel aboard a strike group tasked with enforcing the US’s blockade of Iranian ports confronted Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao at a meeting in Norfolk over the weekend. (MS Now)
Administration perambulation
Federal prosecutors filed a felony charge against a man who briefly worked as a bodyguard for US Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Abdullahi Mohamed‘s lawyer says the prosecutors wanted him to inform on Omar and told him their investigation was “100 percent being run by 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” (NYT) Vice President JD Vance may attempt to negotiate an end to the stalemated war with Iran hard-liner Mohsen Rezaei. (WSJ) A US Attorney in Texas announced he’s investigating US Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut over Blumenthal’s investigation into donors for Trump’s planned White House ballroom. (NBC News) White House counsel Will Scharf threatened congressional Democrats with criminal investigations if they investigate the President. (NYT) The administration “has formally unveiled plans to sell public land.” (Bloomberg) Will the NBA champion New York Knicks visit the White House when they play the Wizards here next month? Don’t bet on it. (Intelligencer) Taxpayers have spent more than $1 million flying Rubio to watch his son’s football games at the University of Florida. (Washington Post) The State Department abandoned a plan to pay Vanilla Ice more than $150,000 to perform during Rubio’s upcoming trip to India. (Washington Sun)
Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen
The name La Baguette Antojitos suggests the full range of options available to you at this Rockville bakery and breakfast spot: a full cabinet of elaborate French and Central American-style pastries, along with a full complement of pupusas and tamales. The Honduran baleada here—refried beans, cheese, eggs, crema, and avocado on a thick flour tortilla—is superb. Baleadas sometimes resemble store-bought flour tortillas. Not here. La Baguette’s is rich, flaky, translucent, and stretchy, like the kind you find at the best burrito shops in Sonora.
Take Hidden Eats with you! This November, I’m grateful for our staggeringly popular map that shows which Hidden Eats—the out-of-the-way mom-and-pop eateries Ike highlights in this newsletter and in our print magazine—are nearby.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com
• We spoke with Donick Cary about his film “Hail to the Breadsticks!,” which plays at the Alexandria Film Festival Friday and which examines the Washington Commanders’ old name via interviews with Native Americans.
• Quinn Bradlee talks about his new mezcal brand, Bonded Roots, and getting into the family business—no, not journalism. The ancestral family business of distilling.
• Soup season is finally here. Try these autumnal bowls around town.
Local news links
• A profile of DC Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George, who’s likely to have a different governing style than her predecessor, Muriel Bowser. (Washington Sun)
• Trump wants to slap his “Golden Age of America” slogan on his proposed Triumphal Arch near Arlington Cemetery. (Washington Post)
• Authorities in Arlington found a body near the Spout Run Parkway yesterday. (ARLnow)
• Federal prosecutors say a DC man reprogrammed key fobs to steal sports cars. (WTOP)
• Ottawa Senators forward Nick Cousins is out for a week after a thundering hit from Caps defenseman Jakob Chychrun during Tuesday’s game. Chychrun’s hit was legal. (ESPN)
Things to Do
• Nick Paumgarten discusses his new book, “The Intangibles,” with Evan Osnos at Politics and Prose.
• Hannah Khalil‘s “My English Persian Kitchen” opens at Mosaic Theater Company.
• It’s Day One for the DC Holiday Market in Dupont Circle.
See more picks for the week 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.
