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- [00:04]
Hannah Jewell
The Senate rejected a resolution to stop U.S. strikes on Iran. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, March 5th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. President Donald Trump launched strikes against Iran last weekend without the consent of Congress. Yesterday, for the eighth time since June, Congress failed to advance a war powers resolution that would have forced Trump to stop the strikes. One Republican, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted for it. One Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against. Meanwhile, the expanding conflict shows no signs of stopping. At a briefing yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said US And Israeli forces will obtain complete of Iranian skies within days and said they will soon begin another massive air assault, dropping 500 and 2,000 pound bombs on targets.
- [01:11]
Pete Hegseth
We're playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly. Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be.
- [01:37]
Hannah Jewell
The fallout from the war extends far beyond the Middle East, Hegseth said Yesterday a US Submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. And countries across Europe and Asia are facing a potential energy crisis after an Iranian drone strike shut Qatar's exports of liquefied natural gas. This week, Our second story is a Post exclusive. ICE is taking steps to shut down an immigrant detention camp at Fort Bliss. Camp East Montana in El Paso opened less than eight months ago. The center, which is near the Mexican border, was heralded as one of the Trump administration's biggest immigration projects. But according to an internal document seen by the Post, preparations are being made to close it. The document, distributed to agency staff this week, indicated that ICE is drafting a letter to terminate the facility's contract. It did not give any timeline or reason for the decision, but the center has struggled to provide safe and humane housing for thousands of people. Detainees have complained of physical abuse by guards, inadequate food and substandard medical care. And last September, ICE's own inspectors found dozens of violations of federal standards. Thousands of public comments slammed President Trump's White House ballroom plan. That's number three. Later today, a federal planning commission will review Trump's $400 million ballroom project. It is the final procedural hurdle in Trump's effort to remake the White House. The review will have to confront tens of thousands of public comments on the project. More than 35,000 comments were sent to the National Capital Planning Commission, according to a Post review. More than 97% of comments were critical of the president's plans. The comments represent a departure from how Trump has depicted the ballroom. He has argued it is popular and necessary. But polls have found that most Americans oppose the ballroom 58% of respondents said they opposed tearing down the East Wing to build it.
- [04:13]
Pete Hegseth
Number four the question is now on motion number two from Representative Mace. This deals with Attorney General Bondi.
- [04:25]
Hannah Jewell
The House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mr. Chairman, on this vote, the ayes are 24, the nays are 19.
- [04:36]
Pete Hegseth
The ayes have it and the motion is agreed to.
- [04:39]
Hannah Jewell
Pam Bondi has faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans over how the Justice Department handled the release of files from the investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Yesterday, after South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace introduced a motion, the committee voted to subpoena the attorney general. All of the Epstein files were supposed to be publicly released by December 19 last year under the Epstein Files Transparency act, but some files have still not been made public. For her part, Bondi said last month that significant resources had been devoted to complying with the law, including over 500 attorneys and reviewers who spent thousands of hours reviewing documents. She also said that millions of documents had been released. The vote to subpoena Bondi could set up yet another clash between House Republicans and the White House over the Epstein files. A new poll shows who Americans trust more than the CDC on vaccines. That's our fifth story. According to a survey from the University of Pennsylvania released today, Americans are more likely to accept vaccine recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics than from the cdc. They also express greater confidence in federal career scientists and independent medical groups than in the political leaders running U.S. health agencies. The new findings come after the Trump administration in January took the unprecedented step of overhauling the CDC's routine childhood immunization schedule. The administration bypassed the government's traditional advisory process to instead advance Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. S longstanding effort to reshape pediatric vaccine policy. Number six Science shows that dietary supplements can't do much for your heart health. Most Americans take some kind of vitamin, mineral or other supplement to try and boost their health. But when it comes to heart health, there may not be much point. Even when these pills and powders claim to have cardiovascular benefits like preventing heart attacks, studies show that supplements can't treat or prevent high blood pressure or high cholesterol like medication can. To take one example, fish oil is one of the most well studied supplements marketed for heart health, but big clinical trials showed it did not lower the risk of cardiovascular problems. Psyllium, meanwhile, showed a little more promise. That's basically a fiber supplement, and fiber is good for your heart. But the best thing you can do for your heart is to eat a heart healthy diet and to get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week. And most of all, whatever you do, don't smoke. Number seven Today is bad news for anyone who likes blasting music out loud on planes. United Airlines said it would remove people from planes who don't wear headphones. The airline already had a pro headphone policy in place, but last week it updated its contract of carriage. That's the rules a passenger agrees to in order to fly, so now it's explicit. Passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content could be removed from a plane or not allowed to board. Other airlines have their own policies encouraging or requiring headphones, though most do not come with the threat of enforcement. United, though, seems to mean business, and that has some customers cheering. So if you're listening to this on a plane, make sure those headphones are plugged in or connected. As much as I'd love the hundred people sitting around you to get to know the seven podcasts from the Washington Post. Alright, you're all caught up. But before you go, a reminder that if you're a subscriber to the Washington Post, you can get access to our shows ad free in Apple Podcasts. All you have to do is find the Washington Post channel in Apple Podcasts and connect your post subscription. If you're not a subscriber, this is a great time to start. You can sign up at our channel in Apple Podcasts or through the link in our Show Notes. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.
- [09:41]
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