Good morning. Cool this morning, then this partly sunny day will warm to a high of around 59. Cloudy overnight with a low near 48. The Washington Spirit will host Utah Royals FC this evening, and the Wizards will visit the Utah Jazz. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and ther e’s a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here. I can’t stop listening to: Nate Scheible, “04.” Scheible will join Dead 4-Track and Double Dash tonight at Rhizome for “Rayfest,” a tribute to the late Ray Barker. Barker, who died in 2024, was an archivist at the DC Public Library who documented the District’s music scene. All proceeds from tonight’s show will go toward Rhizome’s campaign to build out its new home. 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: War news: Working through Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir of Pakistan, the US has delivered a peace proposal to Iran, “reflecting the Trump administration’s eagerness to find an offramp from the conflict as it grapples with its economic fallout.” (NYT) At the same time, the US plans to send thousands of US paratroopers to the region. (Reuters) Iran, perhaps not unreasonably, views all this as mixed signals. (Axios) The plan has 15 points, including extracting a promise that Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Publicly, at least, Iran’s armed forces “scoffed at the diplomatic efforts and launched more attacks Wednesday on Israel and the Persian Gulf region.” (AP) Iran has its own demands. (WSJ) President Trump gets a daily video briefing about the war, which one official described as a montage of “stuff blowing up.” (NBC News) Trump joked yesterday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “didn’t want” the war “to be settled.” (Washington Examiner) He also claimed he’d received a “very big present worth a tremendous amount of money,” a sign he took to mean the US was speaking to the “right people” about ending the war. It is not clear what Trump meant. (AP) The US isn’t fighting this war on its own, though. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu “is concerned Trump might strike a deal that falls well short” of what it hopes to accomplish with this war. Other officials there “were skeptical Iran had actually offered the concessions the U.S. claimed.” (Axios) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—who had a Washington Post journalist murdered and whom Trump feted in DC last year alongside tech billionaires and Cristiano Ronaldo—wants Trump to continue his war, arguing the US should send troops to secure Iran’s energy facilities and help topple its government. (NYT) Oil, gas, and money: Iran said it would allow ships that don’t have ties to the US or Israel traverse the strait. (FT) The markets have reacted favorably so far to to the prospect the war may end. (CNBC) But oil customers in Asia are paying top dollar for certain grades of crude, which could drive up prices elsewhere in the world for a long time. (WSJ) Gas prices continued to rise in the US—the national average cost of a gallon of gas rose to $3.983. (AAA) Meanwhile: Markwayne Mullin was sworn in as the Department of Homeland Security’s new leader yesterday. (Fox News) Alan Armstrong, an energy executive, will replace Mullin as Oklahoma’s junior senator. (Politico) Mullin’s department is still shut down. Democrats and Trump were cool to a plan GOP lawmakers believe could end the standoff over ICE’s tactics in Trump’s brutal crackdown on immigration when it circulated yesterday. (Politico) The proposed deal wouldn’t fund ICE’s enforcement operations, something some Republicans hope to do separately in a reconciliation bill—which could avoid a Democratic filibuster—that would also include pieces of a voter ID law Trump very much wants. (Punchbowl News) A lot of things would have to line up for such a gambit to succeed, and other Republicans are skeptical about it. (Politico) Airport chaos continued yesterday across the US, as ICE agents deployed to airports, purportedly to aid TSA operations strained by the shutdown. Delta announced it would suspend the perks it extends to members of Congress, which are kind of eye-popping to read about. (NYT) Administration perambulation: Trump-backed candidates didn’t have a terrific Tuesday. Emily Gregory beat Jon Maples in a Florida state legislature special election for a district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and home. (NBC News) In North Carolina, Republican Phil Berger lost a primary by 23 votes to Sam Page. (Politico) A new poll shows 62 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s presidency. (Reuters) Americans aren’t crazy about the war, either. (AP) Minnesota sued the administration, saying it didn’t follow through on promises to share details of investigations into immigration officers’ killings of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good during a recent immigration crackdown. (AP) Speaking of which, ousted Border Patrol honcho Gregory Bovino spoke to the New York Times about his retirement, criticizing his superiors and denying that he resembled Sean Penn‘s character in “One Battle After Another.” (NYT) A prosecutor in US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro‘s office admitted to a judge that the administration didn’t have evidence in the office’s probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. (Washington Post) Anthropic’s suit against the government over the Pentagon’s attempts to punish the company got off to a poor start for the government. (Axios) The New York Times says the Pentagon’s new media rules are an “end run” around a judge’s order. (NYT) Perambulation, continued: Two people in Jeffrey Epstein‘s inner circle told congressional investigators the government never interviewed them about the deceased, disgraced financier’s crimes. (Politico) Jack Smith‘s investigation into Kash Patel, who now works as the FBI’s director, “was more extensive than previously reported.” (Reuters) Dr. Robert Malone, one of a group of people a judge called “distinctly unqualified” to serve on a vaccine panel organized by Health Secretary RFK Jr., resigned yesterday and offered a torrent of invective about his gig. (NYT) A profile of Jacob Reses, a top adviser to Vice President JD Vance. (Intelligencer) Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified in the money-laundering trial of his former friend David Rivera. (Washington Post) The White House will soon announce a visit by King Charles III. (Punchbowl News) Trump has chosen internet troll and outspoken Hooters fan Nick Adams to “be a new diplomatic envoy for American tourism.” (NYT) Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • At 14,000 square feet, the Vowell-Smith House is one of Old Town Alexandria’s grandest properties. It sold for $7.1 million this week—a record for the neighborhood. Take a look inside. Local news links: • ICE personnel have been spotted at National and at Dulles, though not at BWI. (Axios D.C.) • Two people have been arrested in the shooting of a US Park Police officer shot in DC Monday. The officer is out of the hospital. (NBC4 Washington) • DC Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a bill that would compel the release of body-cam footage from incidents where feds shot at people in the District—but vetoed a bill that would require DC cops to “document the presence of federal law enforcement officers at the scenes of arrests or in the event they used force.” (Washington Post) • A fake newspaper is promoting Virginia’s redistricting referendum. (ARLnow) • Maryland plans to clean up the “mattresses all over the place” along its highways, along with other litter. (WTOP) • Maryland state Delegate Eric Bouchat shows up to work, votes present, places a bust of Aristotle in his chair, and leaves. It’s been going on for almost a month. (WBFF) • Area man to publish memoir. (Axios) • Someone drove a car into a yard in Capitol Hill. (PoPville) • Metaphor alert: There’s a sinkhole on the National Mall. (WUSA9) Wednesday’s event pick: • “Travesty,” Sasha Velour‘s “secret queer history of a single spot throughout time,” opens at Woolly Mammoth. See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.The post Trump-Backed Candidates Had a Rough Night, Bovino Says He’s Nothing Like Sean Penn, and There’s a Sinkhole on the National Mall first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less