Letters from an American - Covering Up

Starting point is 00:00:06 June 16, 26. A Reuters Ipsos poll showed that even before a fighter launched a slur at former First Lady Michelle Obama, and even before the site of the corporate branding at the event, only 16% of Americans thought it was appropriate to hold an ultimate fighting championship fight at the White House. Today, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Cash Battal, who has been in trouble with Trump over stories of his drinking, said the FBI discovered and foiled a plot to attack the UFC fight. The FBI alleged in an affidavit that 19 attackers planned to target the fight with drones laden with explosives and then to shoot at the fleeing crowd. Jude Jaffe Block, Lisa Hagan, and Audrey Newellian of NPR noted in 2024 that Patel often peddled in conspiracy theories,

Starting point is 00:01:04 and, since taking on the directorship of the FBI, has tripped himself up in the past by announcing things that he later has to walk back. That history meant that social media users greeted the announcement with skepticism. Tonight, the Justice Department announced the arrest of five people in four states. Mark B. Wang, Amy B. Wang, and Victoria C. C. C. C. Quinn, Deputy Director of the Washington Post, reported that Matthew C. Quinn, deputy director of the Secret Service, told reporters that the Secret Service had led the investigation and that the UFC fight was never at risk due to the great investigative work. In what appeared to be a reference to Patel, he added,

Starting point is 00:01:48 in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it. Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee today issued a press release, announcing they are launching an investigation into Patel's alleged misuse of FBI funds. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat of Maryland, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, says they have received information that Patel had directed more than $1 million in bonuses to agents close to himself. These payments raise serious concerns that FBI funds are being used to reward political loyalty rather than merit and professionalism, the Democrats wrote. The FBI is part of the Department of Justice, and it too is undergoing a crisis of confidence in its work. In Chicago, a case against six protesters for interfering with a federal agent and conspiring to interfere with a federal agent at a detention facility protest.

Starting point is 00:02:54 fell apart in May when the judge discovered that prosecutors had talked to individual grand jurors outside the courtroom and removed those jurors who refused to indict, as well as apparently overstating the strength of the evidence against the defendants. Then the prosecutors tried to hide evidence of their misconduct by redacting the transcripts from the grand jury. As Julie Bozeman of the New York Times reported, U.S. District Judge A.S. District Judge April Perry dismissed the case against the Broadview Six, saying, I have read hundreds, if not thousands of grand jury transcripts involving prosecutors who are the most junior of prosecutors to several U.S. attorneys who appeared before the grand jury. I have never seen the types of

Starting point is 00:03:44 prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts. Today, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Daniel Rosen, announced his office was charging 15 people with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers over their behavior during the federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis last year that led to the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretty. Rosen alleges that the defendants are part of two Antifa groups that violently oppose immigration law enforcement. At the press conference about the charges, prosecutors introduced a Facebook post from one of the accused that said, We need to become ungovernable. Journalist Aaron Rupar noted, oh, so they have nothing, nothing. It's actually even more embarrassing than that. Trump attended the Libertarian National Convention in 2024 when its theme was become ungovernable and stood in front of the banner, that slogan. So the idea that the phrase is part of a criminal conspiracy will be awkward to argue.

Starting point is 00:05:01 From Minneapolis, Matt Sepik of NPR News reported that Rosen said the people were charged not for what they said, but what they did. But Rosen did not answer questions about whether any law enforcement officers were injured and said evidence would come out later. Seepic notes that federal prosecutors charge 36 people with assaulting or impeding immigration agents in December and January, but have now dropped 18 of the cases entirely and 11 more through non-prosecution agreements. Seepic notes that Magistrate Judge David Schultz in April called one of the prosecutors' charging documents a false affidavit. At the time of the good and pretty killings, open measures which tracks the spread of harm social media activity, noted that right-wing social media personalities tried to redirect public outrage

Starting point is 00:05:58 by claiming that community organizers using group chats on signal were threatening the safety of federal officers. As those claims spread, right-wing media amplified old stories that those opposing ICE agents were Antifa, or part of a radical left. They demanded such chats be invested. investigated. Today's charges cited messages sent in signal chats. Reporter Christopher Matthias of MS Now noted that while the Department of Justice is going after Minneapolis protesters, Greg Bovino, the commander at large of the Border Patrol during the Minneapolis crackdown that cost good and pretty their lives, has appeared on a white nationalist podcast as he teases a bid for the presidency.

Starting point is 00:06:50 journalist Kat Abagazale, who is one of the Broadview Six, commented, as the government raids Antifa groups in Minneapolis, with the same charges levied against myself and the rest of the Broadview Six, we need to be asking how they got this indictment. And as the charges hopefully get dropped, we must remember the process is the punishment. But today's charges have redirected at least some media energy, from the details emerging about Trump's deal with Iran.

Starting point is 00:07:24 While the U.S. has declined to publish details of what appears to be a memorandum of understanding that participants hope will lead to a final agreement, Dove Lieber, Summer Saeed, Alexander Ward, and Rebecca Feng of the Wall Street Journal, report that the agreement says the U.S. will waive sanctions to allow Iran immediately to sell oil and to access the banking, transportation,

Starting point is 00:07:49 and insurance systems it will need to do so. Elena Trine and Kevin Liptack of CNN report that U.S. negotiators are downplaying the significance of the language in the Memorandum of Understanding, claiming that language that seems to favor Iran is designed to give cover to Iranian officials back home. But Philip Wegman and Lindsay Wise of the Wall Street Journal report that the vagueness of the language of the agreement is not fooling Republican Warhawks who stood behind Trump in his attacks on Iran. They are calling early reports about the deal disturbing and utterly disastrous. There is other news the administration would likely prefer to cover up as well. Sarah Blaskey and

Starting point is 00:08:37 Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post reported today that even as Trump was assuring the American public that private donors would pay for his ballroom, the White House had already approved tens of millions of taxpayer money for the contractor building the addition. With access to project summaries, the journalists were able to show that internal cost estimates have been significantly higher than the administration officials have acknowledged in public comments or court filings. They also show that the work was projected to rely heavily on taxpayer dollars from the moment it was announced. And Trump's renovation of the reflecting pool by the Lincoln Memorial is having the effect experts warned of. Because of the dark paint on the floor of the pool, the sun heats the water up even faster than it did before,

Starting point is 00:09:32 and the resulting algae bloom has turned the pool bright green. Today, workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool to try to kill the algae. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.

Letters from an American - Covering Up

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