Good morning. Sunny with a high temperature around 82 today. A low near 58 overnight. The Mystics host the Indiana Fever at CareFirst Arena tonight, and the Nationals open a three-game visit to San Francisco. 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:
Paolo Angeli, “Telon.” Angeli plays a prepared and effected chiterra sarda—a guitarlike Sardinian instrument from which he wrests some fascinating sounds. He plays Rhizome tonight with Kiyan Saifi.
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: Iran and Israel traded attacks early this morning, the latest threat to the ceasefire that’s been in place in the region since April. (AP) President Trump said Sunday that he had instructed Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate after Tehran launched missiles at Israel, saying it was a response to an Israeli attack in Lebanon. (Axios) Before Israel attacked, Trump claimed, “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.” (Reuters) The Houthi rebel group, which Iran backs, said it would attack Israeli ships in the Red Sea. (New York Post)
Meanwhile: Trump claimed he never pledged not to start any new wars during a fractious interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker. (NBC News) Trump left the interview after being challenged on that and other statements and exaggerations. He also said he’d like to find a way to reinstate the $1.8 billion slush fund for people who feel they were victims of government “weaponization,” like January 6 rioters. (Washington Post) Here’s an accounting of his lies and exaggerations in the exchange, which included other unfounded claims about the war he started with Iran in February. (NBC News)
Health news: Health Secretary RFK Jr. “has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department,” preferring to concentrate on his fixations on vaccines and what Americans eat rather than his department’s vast portfolio of responsibilities. (NYT) His MAHA movement has “largely stayed out of the races that will determine the makeup of Congress.” (Politico) Women in that movement, which helped tip the 2024 election to Trump, are especially disenchanted with the administration. (Politico)
Administration perambulation: The New World screwworm has appeared near the US-Mexico border. The parasite’s return is “the latest obstacle clouding Republican goals to rein in consumers’ grocery bills and calm anxiety in farm country.” (Politico) David Rush, the CIA official who federal prosecutors say had $40 million worth of gold bars in his house, “allegedly created a fake, highly classified intelligence program that he used as a conduit to funnel millions of dollars for his personal use.” (Washington Post) The Defense Department did not include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its recent list of Christian faiths, a snub that’s rankling Utah politicians. (Salt Lake Tribune) Trump is said to be considering trying to buy the Chagos Islands, which host a key military base shared by the US and the UK, from Mauritius. (Guardian) Trump pardoned Stephen Buyer, a former GOP congressman convicted of insider trading. (NYT) What prompted the administration’s recent about-face on green cards? A “quiet but extensive lobbying effort” by US industry leaders and trade groups. (Washington Post) Former US Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon, who was forced out of office amid accusations of sexual assault, died Saturday. He was 93. (NYT) Iran said the US denied visas for “key managerial and administrative members” of its World Cup team. (ESPN) A lawsuit aims to thwart the UFC match scheduled to take place at the White House Sunday. (NYT)
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ike Allen:
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
💍 David Rubenstein and Caryn Zucker got married in a surprise ceremony Friday. And we have an exclusive report on the wedding of the journalists Liz Landers and Jim Acosta, who got hitched in Arlington.
• The Kennedy Center lost the lawsuit it filed against the musician Chuck Redd, who canceled a concert there last year after Trump slapped his name on the building. And an expert we spoke with questioned whether the center may be defying a court order about the planned closure of the complex, which appears to be in limbo.
• We probably won’t know who won DC’s primary elections on June 16 for days.
• University of Maryland researcher Kan Cao and the entrepreneur Jasmin El Kordi started a skin-care company after Cao discovered the antiaging effects of a compound called methylene blue.
• A dermatologist debunks popular skin care “hacks.” And here are three skin-care treatments that work.
• Here’s our list of top plastic surgeons in the area, as well as a report on how facelifts are changing.
Local news links:
• Janeese Lewis George holds a strong lead over Kenyan McDuffie in a recent Washington Post poll about the mayoral primary, though many voters say they’re still making up their minds. (Washington Post)
• I could explain why, but you’re probably too busy to listen: Rockville Pike made a list of the nation’s Top 10 “most passive-aggressive roads.” (WTOP)
• Some USDA employees in the area have until the end of the month to decide whether they’ll relocate. (Maryland Matters)
• Members of the public have until next Monday to submit comments on Trump’s planned Triumphal Arch near Arlington Cemetery to the National Park Service. (WTOP)
• DC Water CEO David Gadis will step down. Gadis led the agency during a recent massive sewage spill. (DC News Now)
• Brendan Banfield, who murdered his wife and a stranger he lured to his house in Herndon as part of an elaborate plot to be with the couple’s au pair, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. (Washington Post)
• The drive-in chain Sonic “has developed an urban concept without car-hop or drive-thru service” and is looking for a location in the District to test it out. (WBJ)
• A Virginia state trooper rescued a kitten from I-395 in Alexandria on Friday. I’m not really a cat guy, but this little tyke is very, very cute. (NBC4 Washington)
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.
