Photo illustration by Emma Spainhoward with photograph by Getty Images.
Good morning. Warmer today—partly sunny with a high around 57. A low near 40 overnight. The Wizards host Detroit tonight. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Chicha Morada, “Rumble.” An appropriately hazy take on theLink Wray classic from this DC “psychedelic cumbia” band. Chicha Moradaplay Songbyrd tonight with theMaka SticksandDon Q.
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: Iran attacked oil and natural gas production facilities in the Middle East overnight after Israel attacked its South Pars gas field. Energy prices resumed their skyward trajectory. (AP) Israel also said it had killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib. (CNBC) President Trump supported the attack on South Pars, which he claimed the US was unaware of (Israel said otherwise), and said Israel wouldn’t do it again. (Reuters) Trump also said the US may attack South Pars itself if Iran attacked natural gas facilities in Qatar. (Axios) The strikes “could have a years-long impact” on energy production. (Guardian) The national average price for a gallon of gas climbed to $3.884. (AAA) The US is now experiencing its biggest jump in gas prices since Hurricane Katrina. (NYT) Trump is “considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East.” (Reuters)
How did we get here? Both Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe said yesterday that Iran “was years away from developing missiles capable of hitting the United States,” contradicting administration officials’ claims for why Trump went to war with Iran. (NYT) Gabbard argued yesterday that “It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” which is an interesting way to look at the job of intelligence agencies. (Axios) Gabbard also said Iran’s leadership “appears to be intact” nearly three weeks into the war. (NYT) Joe Kent, who resigned over his qualms about the war, told Tucker Carlson “key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president” in the run-up to the war. (AP) The FBI has opened an investigation into Kent “focused on allegations that he improperly shared classified information.” (Semafor)
Meanwhile: Trump attended the dignified transfer of remains of US service members who were killed. This time, he didn’t wear a baseball hat he’s selling on the Trump Organization’s website. (AP) The Pentagon asked the White House to approve a request to Congress for $200 billion more for the war effort. (Washington Post) That could upset the GOP-controlled US Congress’s attempts to stay out of this thing. (Punchbowl News) The US national debt passed $39 trillion yesterday. (AP) The House rejected a symbolic measure that would have required the US to keep a balanced budget. (Politico) The White House is thrilled with the tacky videos it’s released to try to build support for the war online. (Politico)
Mullin it over: The US Senate’s consideration of Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, got off to an awkward start when Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky asked Mullin about the times he called him a “freaking snake” and cheered an assault on him. Mullin refused to apologize. Mullin also “left senators perplexed about the secret trip he said he made some years ago to a foreign country.” (AP) Mullin told the panel his goal for DHS is that it won’t be the “lead story every single day.” (Washington Post) Mullin also said he’d rescind a policy by his predecessor, Kristi Noem, that required the DHS secretary to personally approve expenditures over $100,000. Republicans say he’s “a lock for the job.” (Politico) Binky promise: Mullin carries “pink rubber bouncy ball everywhere he goes,” calling it his “pacifier.” (USA Today)
D’oh J: Democrats walked out of a closed-door briefing about the Department of Justice’s handling of its files on the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. They want Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify under oath. (AP) Bondi said she would “follow the law” when subpoenaed. (ABC News) Republicans accused Dems of grandstanding; US Representative Robert Garcia of California contended the briefing was “‘some kind of fake hearing’ to avoid Bondi testifying under oath.” (Politico)
Administration perambulation: Multiple drones have been spotted over Fort McNair, the DC base where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio live. (Washington Post) The FBI and the IRS will investigate nonprofits “that may be funding domestic terrorism or political violence.” No one will say which groups it will put under the microscope, but Bondi has asked federal agencies “for intelligence on antifa groups.” (CBS News) Some Republicans in the House are not happy about Trump’s bid to extend his surveillance abilities. (Politico) GOP lawmakers are also pushing to eliminate mail-in voting, a practice Trump hates. (NYT) New research says many more Americans than previously reported died from Covid in the pandemic’s first years. (Scientific American) A panel composed of Trump appointees will decide whether to issue a commemorative gold coin featuring his likeness. It’s anyone’s guess how they’ll vote! (Washington Post)
Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen:
Photo by Ike Allen.
The Hong Kong-style dining room Noodle King has been tucked beside a parking lot facing away from a lonely stretch of New Hampshire Avenue in Colesville for decades, but I recently tried it for the first time. Stick to Cantonese staples like stir-fries, crispy noodles, roast meats, and veggies, and you’ll be rewarded. In particular, the stir fry of chicken and flowering chives—one of the restaurant’s signatures—had that unplaceable savoriness and smoky aroma of good wok cooking.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Whispers about drinking, a parade of consultants with British accents, a “third newsroom” that turned out to be “vaporware”: Paul Farhi takes a thorough look inside Will Lewis‘s dismal tenure at the Washington Post.
Local news links:
• Republicans in Congress advanced a bill that would get rid of traffic cameras in DC. (NBC4 Washington)
• The administration will reinstall a statue of Caesar Rodney removed during the 2020 racial reckoning, plonking the slave owner’s likeness in Freedom Plaza. (Washington Post)
• Howard beat UMBC yesterday and will go on to the NCAA tournament. (DC News Now) VCU plays Carolina tonight. (CBS Sports)
• Keith Pettigrew, the head of DC’s Housing Authority, will leave to run Chicago’s housing authority. (WUSA9)
• Gianni Robinson got ten years for planning a string of robberies of the Chinatown Walgreens. (WTOP)
• The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office says a former employee of the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center sexually assaulted three women there. (NBC4 Washington)
• Jonah Michael Poole, 19, pleaded guilty to the grisly murder of garden-center owner Edward Stephen Koza last year. (WUSA9)
• Devin Sinclair Buries, a Falls Church man who fled to Ukraine after police found child sex-abuse material on his home computer, got ten years. (WUSA9)
• Police in Montgomery County are looking for a peeping tom who spied on a woman at the Pike & Rose H&M. (BethesdaToday)
• A tree fell on I-395 last night, snarling traffic. (DC News Now)
• The National Park Service will close the lawn at Meridian Hill Park this summer, endangering drum circles (or, depending on your POV, improving things). (Axios D.C.)
• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vibes: Manassas Regional Airport may change its name to something like “Washington Manassas Airport.” (WTOP)
• Polymarket will open a pop-up bar in Foggy Bottom this weekend. (Axios D.C.) Arlington could get a women’s sports bar. (ARLnow)
Thursday’s event picks:
• The DC Environmental Film Festival opens.
• Erik Larson discusses his book “The Demon of Unrest” at Sixth and I.
• Ibram X. Kendi talks about his book “Chain of Ideas” at the Lincoln Theatre.
See lots more picks for today, tomorrow, and the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Join the conversation!
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.