The Headlines - Inside Trump’s Crypto Dinner, and Kennedy’s Plan to ‘Make America Healthy Again’

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Plus, the end of the penny.On Today’s Episode: Hundreds Join Trump at ‘Exclusive’ Dinner, With Dreams of Crypto Fortunes in Mind, by David Yaffe-Bellany and Eric LiptonTrump Administration Says It Is Halting Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students, by Michael S. Schmidt and Michael C. BenderJudge Blocks Trump Administration From Revoking Student Visas, by Chris CameronKennedy and Trump Paint Bleak Picture of Chronic Disease in U.S. Children, by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Dani BlumGlobal Forest Loss Hit a Record Last Year as Fires Raged, by Hiroko Tabuchi and Harry StevensEnd of the Penny Grows Near, by Alan Rappeport and Karoun DemirjianTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today is Friday, May 23rd. Here's what we're covering. Last night, hundreds of guests done up in black tie arrived at President Trump's golf club in Virginia for what the marketing materials called the world's most exclusive invitation. The protesters outside called it the Crypto Corruption Club, chanting shame as the attendees pulled up.

To get in the door for the dinner of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut, the guests, many of whom flew in from overseas, had to buy up massive amounts of Trump's personal cryptocurrency. The top 220 buyers made the cut, some spending more than $40 million for the chance to meet the president. While expensive galas are often used as political fundraisers, this was not a fundraiser. The arrangement directly enriched the president's family, which earns money every time Trump's crypto coin is traded. That's led critics to call it one of the most blatant acts of corruption by any president in American history.

The attendees, for their part, weren't shy about what they wanted in return. Several of the guests told the Times they went with the explicit intention of influencing Trump about cryptocurrency policy, with the explicit intention of influencing Trump about cryptocurrency policy with the potential to shape regulation in their favor. The president spoke briefly at the dinner, touting crypto investment and saying, quote, we're honored to be working on helping everybody here. I do it for a reason, not for me. I really do it because I think it's the right thing to do. At a news conference earlier in the day, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt rejected any suggestion

Trump was acting inappropriately by hosting the dinner, saying, quote, It's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency. president is profiting off of the presidency. In a major escalation of its pressure campaign against America's elite universities, the Trump administration says it's cutting off Harvard's ability to enroll international students effective immediately. The decision could have a profound impact on the school. More than a quarter of Harvard students this academic year were from abroad. In some of its graduate programs, like the Kennedy School of Government,

that number is nearly 60 percent. The decision, announced yesterday by the Secretary of Homeland Security, came after the department claimed that Harvard failed to turn over records about foreign students. The government has demanded students' names and disciplinary records as part of an investigation into anti-Semitism on campus. Harvard said that request exceeded what was required by law. It was the latest example of Harvard pushing back

against the Trump administration's aggressive efforts to force the school to fall in line with the president's agenda. Last month, Harvard sued the administration after it froze billions in federal funds to try and make the school overhaul its curriculum and hiring practices. But behind closed doors some Harvard officials tell the Times they're worried that fighting the Trump administration is a losing battle and that the school won't be able to avoid more investigations,

funding threats, and potentially even criminal inquiries. Meanwhile, four Harvard's international students, yesterday's decision, set off a shockwave of fear and confusion. They'll be forced to transfer to another school or lose their immigration status, throwing them into limbo in the middle of getting their degrees. One student from Wales who just finished his freshman year told the Times, everyone's freaking out, no one knows what to do, adding, quote, we're being used like pawns in some game we have no control over.

At the same time, a federal judge in a separate case said the administration likely exceeded its authority by targeting international students for deportation. In the past few months, thousands of students across the U.S. have had their visas revoked. In some cases, they've been involved in pro-Palestinian activism. Others had years-old legal infractions on their records, like DUIs. The judge ordered a temporary halt to the widespread crackdown while a class action lawsuit works its way through the courts writing that government officials likely quote acted arbitrarily and capriciously. At the White House yesterday. At its core this report is a call to action for

common sense. We've relied too much on conflicted research, ignored common sense, or what some would call mother's intuition. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled a report outlining his vision for how to make America healthy again, or MAHA, starting with American kids. There is a reason that the MAHaha mom sided with you, President Trump. It's because this administration has the bravery to tell the truth and solve problems through innovation and not in any state. The report paints a really bleak picture of the health of American children.

It says American children are the sickest generation of children in history. It talks about how 40% of American children have at least one chronic disease. By chronic disease, they are thinking of asthma or an autoimmune disease or obesity. My colleague Cheryl Gay Stolberg covers health policy for the Times. She says the administration's report, which was prepared by Kennedy's Maha Commission, puts the blame for rising chronic disease in kids on several factors. Among them are ultra-processed foods, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity, and excessive use of prescription drugs, including antidepressants. Some of those are factors the broader medical community agrees on, like the focus on ultra-processed

foods. By one count, nearly 70% of the calories kids in the U.S. consume come from ultra-processed foods, which have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions. And Sheryl says some public health experts were encouraged that Kennedy was willing to call out the influence that corporations have had on setting federal policy, pointing out lobbying by the food industry, along with chemical and pharmaceutical companies. I think the report demonstrated really a willingness to take on industry, at least in words. The report is more of a blueprint for a vision of what's to come.

It doesn't offer any specific policy recommendations at this point, but it does suggest avenues of research. And the commission will now spend the next 80 or so days coming up with a strategy to pursue this agenda of reversing the childhood chronic disease epidemic. Notably, the report did contain a level of vaccine skepticism that worries some experts. The report implies that the current recommended number of immunizations for kids may be harmful. In reality, vaccines are largely responsible for the sharp drop in deaths among children under five. in deaths among children under five. New data tracking the world's forests shows that they're disappearing faster than ever. Using satellite imagery, researchers at the University of Maryland and the World Resources

Institute found that the planet lost a record amount of forests last year. Basically, the equivalent of 18 soccer fields of forested land disappeared every minute. The amount of forest intentionally cleared for things like agriculture and cattle farming spiked, but for the first time since record keeping began, the leading cause of forest loss was fire. That appears to be in part because tropical forests, which used to be too wet to burn, now are catching fire more often because of a warming climate and human activity. Scientists are warning that the loss of forests is

setting off a kind of chain reaction. Forests are crucial sponges for carbon dioxide, and when they burn they release that carbon, which in turn drives more global warming. And finally, someday in the future, a small child may run up to you, clutching a strange little copper disk that they found in the dirt. It has a bearded man's face on it and some words. They're almost too small to read. They'll hold it up and they'll say, what is this? And you'll tell them, that is a penny. Okay, I'm getting a little

nostalgic about it, but the Treasury Department is officially winding down the production of pennies. The department has now ordered its last batch of blanks, which it stamps into one cent coins. Once the blanks run out, penny production will end as part of an executive order from President Trump earlier this year. It's a cost saving measure. The coins have long been more expensive to manufacture

than they're worth. They cost almost four cents to make. And the Mint estimates that the plan will save taxpayers at least $56 million. But penny fans do not fear there are still plenty of the coin to go around. According to the Treasury, about 114 billion pennies are still in circulation. At least one billion of those are under your couch. Those are the headlines, but remember to stick around after the credits for the Friday News Quiz.

Today, on The Daily, how people in Israel are reacting to the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers this week in Washington, D.C. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford, original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson,

Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Katie O'Brien, and Paula Schuman. Now for the quiz. This month month we've been giving you a chance to test your news knowledge on Fridays. So we've got questions about three stories The Times has covered this week. Can you answer them all? First up. On this vote the yeas are 215, the naser 214, with one answering present. The bill is passed. Tucked into what President Trump has called the big beautiful bill that passed the House of Representatives yesterday, there was a nice little bonus if you're a baby. It calls for every American baby born over the next four years to receive $1,000 from

the government that would be invested on their behalf in the financial markets. Once they grow up, they'd be able to get access to it for college or buying a house, etc. It was going to be called a MAGA account, but Republicans changed the name of it at the last minute. To put a finer point on it, the MAGA baby bonds are now going to be named... What is the new name of the proposed program? *** I'll give you a second here.

*** The answer? If they happen, they will be called Trump accounts. Apparently the president got his way, and these new savings accounts will be named in his honor. Okay next up. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea. While being questioned by Congress this week about how the Trump administration is handling

deportations. The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, got the definition of habeas corpus, a key constitutional principle, wrong. Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to... Habeas corpus, excuse me, that's incorrect. Let's see if you can get it right. habeas corpus is give you three options here.

A prohibition on unreasonable searches, a protection against unlawful detainment, or the right of children born in the US to get citizenship. The answer is the second one. Habeas Corpus is the right of people to challenge their detention by the government. The Trump administration's been discussing trying to suspend it to speed up deportations. And I need you to trust me. Last question. One last time. After almost 30 years, eight films,

and more threats to humanity than I can keep track of, the final installment of the Mission Impossible series opens in theaters today. It's called Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning. And in it, like in all the movies, Tom Cruise does a lot of his own stunts. Legend has it he once fired a safety guy who told him something was too dangerous.

So in honor of those stunts, I'm gonna list four extremely nerve-racking acts, and you tell me which one of these Tom Cruise did not do for a Mission Impossible movie. A, dove into an underwater storage facility that required Cruise to learn how to hold his breath for six and a half minutes. B, hung onto the outside of a military aircraft

as it took off from a runway. C, rode a rocket 62 miles above the Earth's surface into low orbit before dropping back down in a special capsule. Or D, drove a motorcycle off a cliff and then parachuted into a Norwegian valley? So that's A, holding your breath for six and a half minutes, B, holding onto a plane during takeoff, C, blasting into low orbit, or D, the motorcycle parachute

combo. The answer is C, Tom Cruise did all of those stunts except the rocket. That is actually a Katy Perry stunt. Last month, the singer and five other women made a 10-minute trip into space aboard a rocket from Jeff Bezos' company. Tom Cruise, as far as we know, has not been to space yet, though a few years ago he did have early discussions with NASA to shoot a movie on the International Space Station. That is it for the news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, if you're enjoying the quiz,

you can always email us at theheadlines at ny times.com. The show will be back on Tuesday after the Memorial Day holiday with my colleague Will Jarvis hosting, and we'll try a few more questions next Friday.