Photo illustration by Emma Spainhoward with photograph by Getty Images.
Good morning. Cloudy with rain chances after 1 PM and a high around 56. Rain overnight, with a low near 48.
Sports this weekend: The Wizards are at Toronto tonight for an NBA Cup match and at Chicago Saturday. Power FC host Carolina Ascent FC at Audi Field this evening. Good luck to the Washington Spirit, who head to California Saturday to play Gotham FC in the NWSL Championship finals at 8 PM ET. Howard University hosts Norfolk State University at Audi Field Saturday. The Capitals host Tampa Bay Saturday. The Commanders have a bye week.
You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’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:
Otherlands Trio, “ “Diadromous” This weekend’s music pick comes courtesy my one-man show-recommendation algorithmJohn Rickman, who writes in, “Rad jazz, not dad jazz: Otherlands Trio (Stephan Crump,Darius Jones, andEric McPherson) defy expectations and classification atRhizome Saturday.”
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I’ve made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of my daily music recommendations this year.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Chicago blues: Federal prosecutors in Chicago will dismiss charges against Marimar Martinez, a woman Border Patrol officials shot five times after claiming she and another person rammed their cars. Martinez’s attorneys averred that it was in fact the feds who rammed Martinez’s vehicle and produced Signal chat records in which an agent bragged, “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” (NBC News) US District Judge Sara Ellis excoriated immigration authorities yesterday, writing that “over and over, body-worn camera footage from the agents undermined what was eventually put in their use-of-force reports” and that footage showed one agent using ChatGPT to write a report, which “further undermines their credibility and may explain the inaccuracy of these reports.” (Chicago Tribune) The feds claimed yesterday that a “system crash” deleted surveillance footage from an immigration facility in suburban Chicago after people sued over their treatment there. (404 Media) Yet another judge blasted the government as he dismissed five cases tied to President Trump‘s immigration crackdown in Chicago, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz. (Chicago Sun-Times) The feds have filed no charges in a shooting they claimed occurred two weeks ago. (Sun-Times) Catholic priests and nuns filed a lawsuit against the administration, saying it has prevented them from ministering to people it has detained via immigration arrests. (Religion News Service)
North Carolina is a border state now? US Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina called for oversight of Department of Homeland Security operations in his state, which began in Charlotte this week and have spread to Raleigh and other cities. By contrast, US Representative Tim Moore of North Carolina said he was proud of DHS for “what these men and women are doing to keep our border secure.” Charlotte became a cause célèbre on the right after a US citizen killed a Ukrainian immigrant there this summer. (Charlotte Observer) The immigration-crackdown tour is headed to New Orleans. (AP) Here in DC, US District Judge Jia Cobb ordered the US to halt its deployment of National Guard troops, who have been standing around in Washington since Trump ordered a crackdown on crime this past summer. Her ruling won’t go into effect for three weeks. (Washington Post)
Peace Prize update: Trump, the likely recipient of FIFA’s upcoming “Peace Prize,” claimed Democrats in Congress who recorded a social media reminding troops not to obey illegal orders had committed treason, an act he said was “punishable by death.” His posts “were difficult to square with his recent calls to lower the temperature of political rhetoric in this country.” (NYT) Trump’s spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the President didn’t want to execute lawmakers despite him explicitly saying he did, and she chastised reporters for asking about Trump’s statements rather than “what brought the president to responding in this way.” (NBC News)
Administration perambulation: The US Coast Guard reclassified swastikas, nooses, and the Confederate flag: They’re no longer hate symbols but “potentially divisive,” the service said. (Washington Post) US Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said, “Life is lived forward” after the CDC changed its website to display bogus claims about vaccines and autism. Cassidy was a key vote in the confirmation of Health Secretary and vaccine crank RFK Jr. (Politico) Republicans in Congress have begun to ever-so-gingerly reassert their power in their relations with Trump. (NYT) Vice President JD Vance said it is “going to take a little time for Americans to feel” changes in the economy, a considerably different message than the one being pitched by his boss. (CNN) The administration wants to drill for oil off the coasts of California and Florida. (Politico) The Department of Justice is investigating whether people working at the direction of Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte or DOJ official Ed Martin “impersonated federal agents in mortgage fraud probes of prominent Democrats.” (CNN) Only 7 percent of the air traffic controllers who worked without pay during the recent shutdown will get $10,000 bonuses that Trump touted. (Axios) DOJ officials in the faltering prosecution of James Comey claimed a grand jury had seen their full indictment a day after they admitted it hadn’t. (ABC News) The administration threatened to withhold federal funds for Pennsylvania, claiming the state has “illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants.” (AP) US Representative Cory Mills of Florida consorted with sex workers in Tbilisi, Georgia, before he was elected, sources say. (NOTUS) Fugees star Pras Michel got 14 years in prison for illegally funneling millions of dollars’ worth of foreign contributions to former President Obama’s reelection campaign. (AP) NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will visit the White House today, which should be interesting. (NYT) Leavitt defended Trump calling a female reporter “piggy,” saying the American people appreciated his “frankness.” (Washington Post)
One snazzy open house this weekend:
Photograph by HD BROS.
The architecture firm Cunningham | Quill reimagined this 1979 kit house in McLean. Set on 1.4 acres, it boasts a two-story living room with floor-to-ceiling windows and a wood-burning fireplace, an all-white chef’s kitchen, a two-car garage, and wooded views from the patio. It’s listed at $2,500,000, and you can see it Sunday. Here are our choices for the rest of the weekend’s best open houses.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• A look at how protesters in DC have used art to help make their points, from cartoons in the late 19th century to “Sandwich Guy” murals today.
• Call Your Mother sued Call Your Bubbi, a New Jersey deli, over what the DC chain says is trademark infringement.
• Holiday light displays have begun to sparkle. Here’s a guide to some of the best in the region.
Local news links:
• Democrats in the US Senate have opened an investigation into spending at the Kennedy Center and deals its Trump-appointed management has made with presenters such as FIFA and the American Conservative Union Foundation. (NYT)
• A federal judge overseeing the administration’s continuing attempts to deport Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego García called one official’s testimony “a zero.” (CBS News)
• Maryland resident Rabbiatu Kuyateh was deported to Ghana, a country to which she has no ties, in shackles, where video shows her being dragged by officials there. (NBC4 Washingtonian)
• Police in Fairfax arrested Koby Berry, who they say assaulted people and committed other offenses on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail in Reston. (WUSA9)
• Another Dulles mobile lounge crashed Wednesday. (Washington Post) Flashback: Why do we still have these things? (Washingtonian)
• A woman police say drove into an American Girl shop in Tysons has been cited for reckless driving. (WUSA9)
• A weird story about how things can work in local government: A citizen’s association in Alexandria’s Rosemont neighborhood, which is almost as good a place to live as neighboring Del Ray, claims the entire neighborhood opposes bike lanes based on a poll of 59 people. (The Alexandria Brief)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: ZooLights returns; the annual holiday display will be on view select nights through January 3.
Saturday: The Downtown DC Holiday Market opens this weekend.
Sunday: It’s the last day of the Maryland Christmas Show.
See lots more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Senior editor
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.