The News Roundup For October 24, 2025

25:53Previous administrations have not been happy when military officers make end runs around the department's personnel, but it's not something that's been enforced. And seeing that enforced, should that come to be, will certainly be an interesting crackdown to watch. All right, lots more to come after the break, including addressing a question from one of you who asks about bulldozing part of the White House. That's just in a moment.

26:20We've been talking about President Trump's aggressive overhaul of the government, but it's not just limited to mass firings of workers. He's now bringing that approach to the actual White House. The entire East Wing has been demolished to make room for a 90 ,000-square-foot ballroom. We're getting some questions and comments about that. Question from Helen in North Carolina. Most of Trump's destruction has been metaphorical on institutions, but now he is bulldozing the White House. Why are we Americans allowing this? And I want to just, Zoe, I'm going to add Tim's question in Pennsylvania. Isn't it a crime to destroy government property?

26:58Yeah, so I had to do some digging because I too— The White House is not the president's personal property, we should note to everyone, right? It is not. And, I mean, there have been, let's just say, like there have been a lot of questions about this. This week there was this exchange with a White House press corps. Remember, maybe even Taylor was there and Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, where the reporter basically is like, does it just mean that, you know, any president can go around Washington, D.C., just, you know, breaking things down? Could he, you know, tear down the Washington Monument was the question.

27:29Caroline Levitt, the press secretary, then kind of came out and pulled photographs of what other presidents have done to the White House trying to kind of, you know, say that this kind of thing happens all the time. But look, there is this committee. It is the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. That is just an advisory body, though. And the White House is actually exempt from the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as is, actually, I will note, the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Supreme Court building. So I think a lot of folks are going like, wait, is this allowed? And I think people are asking, how is there not a law?

28:07And I think it's because, well, folks haven't tried this, right? Like, this is all about these sort of bending of norms that we have seen. And then a lot of folks' first question is like, well, you know, why isn't there a law for this? And it's like, well, laws get written after things happen. And this just hasn't happened before to the extent, to the extent, I will say, that we are seeing with this East Wing demolishing. And because, again, too, we should note, it was originally said it was going to be one thing, right? And now it's the entire East Wing. Taylor, what has it been like in the White House briefing room this week?

28:43So the property for months has been incredibly active. This is not the first and won't be the last. There's been multiple things that have, yeah. Yeah, there are so many projects. Back in June, I was part of the White House press pool the day that two giant flagpoles were getting installed on the North and South Lawn. And the president stood out there with us for 40 minutes, kind of marveling at the project while also taking questions about whether or not we were going to bomb Iran. So that's how the president is sort of juggling his history as a real estate developer and as a builder with also being the commander in chief.

29:14It's been very busy. And this East Wing project is definitely the largest one. The Rose Garden renovation was a significant one, too. And the Rose Garden has been paved over, basically made to look like a copy of the president's patio at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. They have the same umbrellas. I've seen them. It's like concrete umbrellas. Yeah. Yeah. And so and, you know, there has been legitimate conversations about how Rose Garden events were tricky if it had rained because it was grass. And especially if you were wearing shoes or wearing high heels, they could get stuck in the mud. So that was one thing.

29:46The East Wing has gotten a lot more attention because of the amount of demolition that was required. They have set up a huge construction perimeter on the White House property that prevents most public views of it. earlier in the week, I actually went to the south side of the Treasury Department and I was able to get a shot with my phone through a tiny fence hole that has since been closed off. But you could see the demolition there. And to build on Zoe's point, I interviewed a former president or former chief historian of the White House Historical Association this week. And he told me that, first off, this isn't new that presidents do renovations at the White House.

30:19Some have done pretty elaborate ones. Some have done smaller ones. He said what's different with this one is, one, Congress was not involved because the president didn't try to get get it paid for with taxpayer dollars. That's where you need congressional approval. The president has repeatedly said he's gotten private donors to fund this in its entirety and that he might even himself contribute his personal money to it. So this historian told me that if that's the case, he doesn't need Congress's approval. And then, you know, the White House is protected by a lot and the president does have a lot of power.

30:48So technically he can go forward in doing this. But to Zoe's point, what changed is both the price of this project and also the extent of it. The president said back in July that the White House residence itself would not be touched or impacted by this. Some people debate whether the East Wing is technically part of that because it was only added in 1902 and then renovated to its current shape in 1942. So technically the formal White House, the rectangle that everybody recognizes in pictures has not been impacted by that. But the president said back in July that the project would only cost$200 million.

31:20Then this week he said$300 million. When I was in the White House pressful on Thursday, he said maybe$350 million. So there are just questions about, you know, the lack of transparency in this project and the striking visuals of it. And we did get this question from Georgia, Massachusetts. What are the ethical concerns regarding the private financing of the White House renovation? Can I just add, Megan or Taylor, if one of you want to weigh in, what are the legal restrictions on accepting private donations for something like this? Do we know? So I think this gets into, once again, sort of unprecedented territory.

31:52Presidents have privately fundraised for things like their inaugural events and for their presidential libraries. President Obama is building his library right now. What is different about this is the size and scope of it. And certainly there are concerns about a pay-to-play aspect of this. Trump has really cultivated support among billionaires. We remember them, particularly tech billionaires. We remember them all sort of being behind him at the inaugural luncheon just eight, no, 10 months ago, I guess. It feels a lot longer ago than that. But are we going to have a ballroom brought to you by Amazon Web Services?

32:39Or, you know, it is a really new and fresh terrain. I'm not sure of the legal ramifications here because, as Zoe said, you know, laws are made after things happen. And this particular thing has not happened before. If I could just add one more thing real quick, just the other reason I think this project is getting so much attention is the physical size of it. The White House residence itself is 55 ,000 square feet. This ballroom is going to be nearly double at 90 ,000 square feet. And there have been interviews with former White House social secretaries published this week where they've said there is a legitimate argument for a ballroom space.

33:19If the president is hosting a state dinner and a world leader is coming in, in previous administrations, they've had to set up a tent on the South Lawn of the White House. And it looks, you know, maybe a little less glamorous than you would think. But because this is now going to dwarf the physical White House, and it was kind of done without a lot of transparency, I think that's also striking. And that historian I spoke with, he said many other presidents have made changes. They've added floors, they've added balconies, but the main White House structure has always maintained its integrity. And this will be the first dramatic change to that.

33:50And that's what he, this historian said, feels different and is unprecedented in that sense. While we're talking about the president, unprecedented and ethical concerns. Can I, Zoe, ask you one other thing about what happened this week? Trump is asking the Department of Justice to pay him$230 million in taxpayer money as restitution for several federal investigations into him during his first administration in the Biden administration? Yeah, I mean, again, I guess the term this hour is unprecedented because it is. There's really nothing to compare this to in American history, Nyla. Just the amount of ethical questions and complications it raises, right?

34:31That the Justice Department, which this president has taken such power over, being the one to sort of be responsible for this decision. And then not just that, but the fact that the department and the person most likely who would approve this, because if it's over$4 million, which again, as you note, we're talking hundreds of millions, would be actually approved by the former personal lawyer of the president. The Trump administration did win big in court this week. Judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the president can send the Oregon National Guard into Portland. The ruling overturns a lower court order barring the troops' deployment, but troops won't be in the streets immediately.

35:17Megan, what's stopping the National Guard from heading to Portland right now? Sure. Well, there are actually two cases, and the second one has not yet been resolved. So there are troops in the state, but they are in a holding pattern at the moment. They cannot immediately be mobilized until this second case is settled. There have been a lot of concerns raised by the governor, Governor Tina Kotek, who has said, you know, these troops have been pulled from, they're not all from Oregon, they're from, you know, California, they're from other states, have been uprooted, are now, you know, National Guardsmen have civilian jobs.

35:56So they have been, you know, they're on leave from their civilian jobs to essentially sit and wait as this court, this second court case plays out. Right. The ruling in the Oregon case comes as the Trump administration agreed to a 30-day extension of a federal judge's temporary block on deploying National Guard troops to Chicago while the Supreme Court considers that case. Zoe, can you tell us what's the legal battle happening in Illinois and how it's different than what we've just been talking about with Oregon? Right. So, I mean, like, let's just remember for folks that these are two separate cases happening.

36:31So it can sound really confusing when you hear that it sounds like one side gets a win and then you hear news later in the day. Well, wait a second. I thought they already figured this out. And it's basically different states, different cases, different legal questions. But what we're seeing happen here in Illinois, as you note, is that the president, the administration, has already now asked for a decision from the Supreme Court. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in theory, would raise up to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett first, right? That's sort of the district that she oversees.

37:04But this is what we've been talking about, Nyla, on the program, right, like for months now, which is that in the end, this was going to wind up in front of the Supreme Court. On Thursday, President Trump reversed a decision to send troops to San Francisco. Taylor, why do we know about how that happened, that about phase? Yeah, so this was interesting because we haven't seen this happen before. San Francisco does have a Democratic mayor, but he is very well connected to a lot of powerful people in Silicon Valley. And those powerful people have President Trump's ear. And the president talked about this yesterday after the San Francisco mayor released a statement saying he received assurances in a late night phone call from both President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that they were going to hold off because he essentially made an argument to them of like, hey, trust me, I got this.

37:50And I'm going to make the city safer and show you that we can improve our numbers before you send troops in. And the president said he not only from that conversation, but from powerful donors and Silicon Valley types who called him up, people who he trusts, he said, all right, I'll give you a chance. And so for now, he's saying the surge that was apparently supposed to happen on Saturday is going to be held off. But he the president said on Thursday that he's still kind of, you know, keeping the right to push it forward if he feels it's necessary. But I think it's a reminder that this is a president who very much values insight from people he personally likes and has a relationship with.

38:27And so if somebody who is a powerful figure in a certain city that he's considering sending troops to calls him up and says, hey, hold off for a bit. San Francisco is the first example of that happening. So it could be a blueprint for other Democratic mayors and Democratic governors who are trying to balance both protecting their cities and their states, but also if they don't want troops to come in, you know, kind of going the different route compared to Illinois, where Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have been fighting President Trump very publicly tooth and nail over this.

38:57So it was interesting to see. But for now, San Francisco will not see these troops. And I want to point out, too, as we talk about all these court cases, the Trump administration is doing two things at once. There are the cities where the National Guard is being deployed, but then there are cities where there are federal law enforcement agents and ICE agents, immigration and customs enforcement agents, already on the ground doing these increased operations without the troops. So in Chicago, that's happening. In Memphis, that's happening as well. And so while these lawsuits are holding up the National Guard in certain ways, there's still a federal law enforcement.

39:29It's not stopping ICE, right? Yeah, there's still a federal presence in a lot of these cities. That's legally allowed. One last story for the hour. Virginia Giuffre was Jeffrey Epstein and Geeling, Maxwell's most outspoken victim. She took her own life in April of this year but left behind a memoir she insisted be published. Nobody's Girl was released this week. Giuffre has told her story many times, including in court. But Megan, Zoe, what did we learn? Megan, if you want to add an after from anything new from this posthumous memoir. It's heartbreaking. Yeah, the excerpts I've read are tough to read.

40:03I want to just name that. It is really tough to read. We find out that actually it sounds like she was abused by her own father even before she met Jeffrey Epstein. She goes into more detail about the alleged abuse at the hands of Prince Andrew. Virginia is the one who's in that sort of infamous photo, right, of Prince Andrew. He has his arm wrapped around this teenager. That is Virginia. You know, she goes into, you know, allegations and details of assaults against her. And I think just yet again, the big takeaway, too, is just how many places she was with so many people who just seemed uncurious about the fact of why a young woman was 17.

40:49You know, a child was at these events at the side of this man. and just how many times over and over people sort of seemed to accept it or possibly be aware and did nothing. Megan, as Congress editor for Bloomberg News, I'm just curious what people are talking about in Congress with this latest chapter in the Epstein files. Sure. Well, I should say it's pretty quiet in at least one half of the Capitol. also. But certainly we do have this, the discharge petition that I brought up earlier. And that is what is going to greet House lawmakers when they do finally return to town. And that discharge petition is sort of an end run around the speaker who controls the House floor.

41:40And there are enough Republicans who have teamed up with Democrats to essentially force the House's hand to take a vote on the release of many of these files. So that will be something to certainly watch for. The House, we don't know when they're coming back, but they do eventually have to return to Washington. Well, we have to leave the domestic portion of our news roundup there for now. I want to thank our guides for today, Megan Scully, Congress Editor for Bloomberg News, Taylor Popolars, National Political Reporter based at the White House for Spectrum News, and Zoe Clark, Political Director for Michigan Public.

42:17We'll have all the global headlines from this week right after this.

42:26Now let's turn to the international edition of the 1A News Roundup. The revolving door of U.S. lawmakers to Israel continues this week. We'll get into the details of Vice President J.D. Vance's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Uncertainty clouds the next steps of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, and later the brazen heist of irreplaceable jewels from the Louvre in Paris has raised serious questions, especially among French citizens. Our expert panel on this trip around the globe, Felicia Swartz, is the diplomatic correspondent at Politico. Hi, Felicia. Thanks for having me.

43:00Robbie Grammer, national security reporter at The Wall Street Journal, is always joining us. Robbie, always great to see you. Great to be here. And James Kitfield, senior fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency in Congress. who's also the author of In the Company of Heroes, the inspiring stories of Medal of Honor recipients from America's longest wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Welcome, James. Good to be with you. As step one of Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza continues, this week it was U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who was in Israel to shore up support for the plan and keep it on track.

43:36He was joined by President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law. And despite a deadly burst of violence over the weekend, the vice president reiterated the administration's stance that the ceasefire is on track. I want to say that there is this weird attitude I've sensed in the American media, in the Western media, where there's almost this desire to root for failure. That every time something bad happens, that every time that there's an act of violence, there's this inclination to say, oh, this is the end of the ceasefire. This is the end of the peace plan.

44:07It's not the end. It is, in fact, exactly how this is going to have to happen when you have people who hate each other, who have been fighting against each other for a very long time. We are doing very well. We are in a very good place. We're going to have to keep working on it. But I think we have the team to do exactly that. Vance also visited a new center in Israel for civilian and military cooperation that was set up as part of the peace plan. Felicia, this week, the bodies of more hostages were handed over to Israel. Israel in turn released the bodies of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.

44:41What progress has been made at this phase? What is still left before we move on to the next one? I think that we are not fully through. So basically when the president's team was briefing on the ceasefire, they described that this kind of naturally would be broken into two phases. A first phase with the hostage release and the prisoner exchange. an increase of aid and then the second phase would be turning to these more thorny questions of rebuilding Gaza disarming Hamas figuring out who will govern the strip stabilizing it and so all of the living hostages in Gaza have come out but there were about or there were believed to be 28 deceased or bodies of hostages who either died on October 7th were killed in captivity They are still in Gaza.

45:34Hamas is handed over about half of those. And basically, phase one calls for, or it's not technically phase one, but this beginning phase calls for all of those bodies of the deceased to be handed over. We've heard from the Trump administration that they think that Hamas is doing the best they can, that they will need heavy equipment and things to find these bodies. But this is a very, very emotional issue in Israel. and certainly puts a lot of pressure on the situation. The ceasefire, which I'll remind everyone, took hold on October 10th, does remain in place despite reports of clashes in Gaza, accusations of violence from both sides.

46:16In a Truth Social post this week, the president said allies were ready to, quote, straighten out Hamas if the agreement was violated. Felicia, how steady is the ceasefire ground based on what we've seen happen this week? I think this is probably as steady as we could expect it. You know, Israel and Hamas have fought five wars since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip more than 20 years ago. So I think it's to be expected that there will be these clashes. But I guess the question going forward is, you know, will both sides be able to hold it? As I mentioned, you know, Netanyahu's under a lot of pressure.

46:56I was speaking with an Israeli source yesterday who said, you know, people are still fighting and dying on the yellow line. That puts him under a lot of pressure. In Gaza, of course, people are not really seeing increased food deliveries. The situation there is very bad. So I think it really, these are very fragile few weeks, and that's why you see all this American attention to the situation. Right. And so in his visit to Israel, the U.S. vice president eased concerns that the Trump administration was dictating terms to its closest ally in the Middle East. Here's the Israeli prime minister in advance speaking to reporters.

47:32We have a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values and common goals. We can have discussions. We can have disagreements here and there. But on the whole, I have to say that in the past year, we've had agreement. agreement, not only on goals, but how to reach them. Look, we don't want in Israel, we don't want a vassal state, and that's not what Israel is. We don't want a client state, and that's not what Israel is. We want a partnership. We want an ally here. And the president believes very strongly that if Israel takes, Israel, honestly, with our Gulf Arab allies, can play a very positive leadership role in this region.

48:10Robbie, we get readouts on things. Can you give us an instant readout of what you think those comments we just heard mean? Yeah, I mean, this was a counter to this narrative. There's this new term that some officials here in Washington have dubbed babysitting, where Trump is basically sending some of his top officials back and forth to Israel nonstop to make sure. And the narrative here is that maybe Trump doesn't trust that Netanyahu will abide to the Gaza ceasefire deal, which is obviously so important to his foreign policy. So he's sending these emissaries to Israel to keep an eye on the prime minister, you know, make sure it goes through.

48:50Obviously, as you heard from Netanyahu, from Vance, you're hearing from other officials in the Trump administration, they're strenuously denying this narrative, saying, you know, this isn't about, you know, sort of babysitting or micromanaging the Israeli side. This is about just making sure that there is still this momentum to keep these really difficult and delicate and technocratic talks going on what Gaza will look like after in the aftermath of this devastating war. I mean, I think it's also clear that Vance, you know, Rubio, who's in Israel today, are thinking about seizing on the momentum of this ceasefire to try and lay the groundwork or strategize about expanding the Abraham Accords, this landmark agreement from the first Trump administration that normalized officially Israeli ties with some Arab countries, and they're looking to expand it.

49:44So they're juggling a lot right now, and that's why you're seeing this increase in this increased tempo in senior Trump officials just going in and out of Israel a lot. Right. And of course, we are expecting U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the region later on Friday. James, can I ask, the Trump administration is developing the second phase of the Gaza deal, which would, as Robbie was just talking about, establish this multinational stabilization force to ensure that Hamas disarms and Gaza remains demilitarized. Israel has vetoed the deployment of Turkish and Qatari troops to Gaza. This is probably one of the most complicated aspects of the deal.

50:26What are we hearing from Netanyahu's right-wing government about this foreign presence? Well, I mean, it has been an extraordinary week where you see this stream of senior U.S. officials go through, and that started that whole BB-sitting narrative. But we have to remember that this sort of deal, the ceasefire deal that the Trump administration achieved, turned sort of normal diplomacy on its head where you get everything, all your I's dotted and T's crossed before the leaders come in there and sign the final agreement. They went right to the signing and left the rest of it for later. And so we are in a very fluid and fragile period where the hard part is yet to come.

51:11The hard part, as you mentioned, is going to be a stabilization force, the stand-up of some sort of governing, Palestinian governing entity that fills the vacuum now. And so the hard part is still to come, and this, I think, is a sign that all these officials coming there is saying that, and I give them credit for that, that they should be there and reassuring all signs that this momentum isn't critical and we've got to keep it going, keep hitting some milestones So you do keep the momentum going. And I think I give them credit for it. The hard part is yet to come. And as I said, it's not going to be easy.

51:54The flow of aid and food to Gaza has increased since the ceasefire deal. This father of four, Indir Albala, is finally able to provide food for his children safely. By the grace of God, we finally started receiving relief aid. I headed to the marketplace and got some canned vegetables. I started to see meat and chicken at affordable prices compared to the past. I can now put food on the table. On Wednesday, the International Court of Justice said that Israel is obligated to allow aid provided by U.N. agencies and other organizations into the Gaza Strip. The court also said Israel cannot invoke its security concerns to justify suspending humanitarian aid there.

52:38But this week, Israel began unprecedented steps to deregister major non-governmental aid groups. That's according to several officials of humanitarian organizations. Felicia, what's behind this and how could it affect aid reaching people in Gaza? There are a few things going on here. I think, one, there were allegations during the war that some of the members of UNRWA, that's the UN Works Relief Program, it's the Palestinian Relief Agency at the UN, that they were responsible for or helped assist in carrying out the October 7th attacks. I think the relationship between Israel and international aid organizations has long been frosty.

53:22They accuse them of anti-Semitism. They're concerned about their staff in Gaza and the West Bank. So I think some of this is driven by some security concerns. But I think a lot of this is just an opportunity to crack down on what has long been an irritant. I think in the case of UNRWA, or I guess UNRWA is what Israelis call it, UNRWA as we would call it. But basically, they think that since it's a Palestinian refugee organization, it perpetuates the conflict by calling them refugees, right? but this suggests that there's a right to return, which I think right-wing Israeli governments have more or less rejected.

53:57But the problem here is, of course, many of these organizations have been operating in Gaza for a long time, and they actually know how to operate in what is an extremely challenging environment. Hamas still controls the Gaza Strip. They still control the public works and the governing facilities and institutions to the extent that they still exist, and there are relationships there. So just rejecting them wholesale is like completely flies in the face of the intentions of the ceasefire agreement. So under the ceasefire agreement, as we've been talking about aid, let's talk about rebuilding. The Gaza Strip is set to be redeveloped for the Palestinian people, but it remains unclear when reconstruction will begin and who will finance the effort.

54:39This week, an official from the United Nations Development Program said it had already cleared some 81 ,000 tons of rubble, but it has not even scratched the surface. Juma al-Safdi's family was killed in an Israeli strike near their home in Gaza City in November 2023. Since the ceasefire was announced, he's been trying to clear the rubble to recover their bodies. No one can describe the extent of loss I am living through. You are talking about a father, a mother, a brother and a sister, and that you have lost the most precious thing that you can possess, something that cannot be compensated. It's my duty to retrieve them from under the rubble and put them somewhere where we can honor them.

55:25Thursday, as the vice president left Israel, he said Rafa in southern Gaza could be rebuilt in two to three years. Robbie, that's been the first mention we've seen of any sort of rebuilding timeline. What do you make of those comments? Yeah, you're right. They're significant. This is the first broad timeline we've heard so far. And what's significant here is he said Palestinians should be able to move into a, quote, Hamas free zone in southern Gaza in the next couple months, even as this rebuilding of Rafa takes two to three years. I mean, you know, there's just a really difficult thicket of diplomatic and legal and financial issues to get through when it comes to actually rebuilding Gaza.

56:10as you said, who's going to fund it? How will they and can they disarm Hamas and get Hamas to agree to step back? Who is going to fund it? Well, right now, Trump has— Oh, sorry. I was just going to say, we're talking about$70 billion? Yes. And Trump has alluded to this. He has not so subtly signaled that these very wealthy, powerful Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar could play a big role in funding them. But these countries still, you know, they're really mindful of this tenuous security situation. And no country wants to start throwing in billions to Gaza if it's just going to erupt in conflict again.

56:49So the administration is facing this real catch-22 of we need funding, we need financing to rebuild, but we also need the security situation to stabilize and you can't have one without the other. So it's a difficult situation. Vance left this trip with a real optimistic note. Everyone I've talked to in the administration behind the scenes is still somewhere between pessimistic and cautiously optimistic on the rebuilding plans as they're trying to sort out what this post-war security situation and security force in Gaza could look like. Right. And let's talk about Hamas. In the nearly two weeks since the ceasefire took effect, the group has sought to violently reassert its authority over the Gaza Strip.

57:33They have deployed armed police officers to the streets, clashed with rival clans and staged at least one public execution. President Donald Trump addressed the issue on Monday at the White House while meeting with the Australian prime minister. This is a violent group. You know, you probably noticed over the last hundred years, this is a very violent group of people. and they got very rambunctious, and they did things that they shouldn't be doing. And if they keep doing it, then we're going to go in and straighten it out, and it'll happen very quickly and pretty violently, unfortunately. James, from what we know or what we've seen this week, is Hamas intent on reasserting its authority, or will they relinquish control?

58:19Yeah, that's the million-dollar question. And the short answer is we're not sure, but clearly that execution video, that horrible execution video that everyone saw is an indication that there are parts of Hamas that are not ready to link for control. Now, we should say that there is a power vacuum, so we don't know exactly what the people did that they executed. Was it a criminal group? Was it a clan that's been fighting Hamas? But the million-dollar question is, will Hamas basically disarm itself? And the answer is, I don't think that Hamas is really a cohesive group anymore. As J.D. Vance said when he was in the region this week, it's something like 40 different cells now that are kind of acting semi-autonomously with the leadership gone.

59:11So when you say Hamas, it's not really a cohesive group. It sounds like a cohesive group, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That doesn't sound like one. But this is going to be the big question is can you – because there's – as Robbie said, the people who – the countries who are going to establish the stabilization force, the Arab countries, Muslim countries, are not going to want to go into a situation where they're going to be fighting Hamas. That would be a very bad look for them and untenable situation. Before I move on, I have a question I wanted to pose to all three of you and just take a step back and look at how the war and the ceasefire have changed pressure points on Israel.

59:52During the war, you'll remember that the EU announced sanctions against the Israeli government in response to famine and acts of genocide. Those are now paused. State-sponsored settler violence in the occupied West Bank and the expansion of settlements like the E1, which are illegal under international law and once condemned, are now underway. On Thursday, the Israeli Knesset voted in favor of annexing the West Bank. Trump administration officials have called that move an insult and counterproductive. Felicia, can I start with you what you make of how all of these pressure points on Israel have changed?

1:00:28I think there has been a hope from the Israelis and the Americans that, you know, once the fighting is over, that Israel could kind of win back some of its international legitimacy. intimacy but i think we're seeing that one i don't know that we're ever going back to the way things were and two you know like the europeans have held off on some of their sanctions for now causing a lot of consternation there um the u.s side you know trump made a promise to arab leaders that israel would not annex the west bank um and you know he keeps getting questions about that this weekend he keeps repeating it so i still think there's a ton of international pressure on israel you know, their reputation has really suffered.

1:01:11And I don't think this is going to go away anytime soon, especially if the reconstruction and everything languishes. James? So I think that, you know, we should watch for the next steps. I mean, basically, I did take note this fact this week where Secretary Rubio announced this new coordination monitoring senator, the United States is setting up with 200 troops, State Department officials, to modern next steps. Clearly, the right wing, which is basically a definition of Netanyahu's current coalition, had a dream of annexing the West Bank, had a dream of annexing Gaza. The peace deal has been a big blow to them.

1:01:54And so you're seeing a lot of tension there because Trump himself has said, you know, annexation of the West Bank is a nonstarter. We won't get any partners to help us with the stabilization of Gaza if we do that. So there's a lot of tension between the right wing of the Israeli part of the Israeli body politic and the Trump administration's peace plan here. And that tension is going to remain for the foreseeable future. Robbie, what about you? And I'm thinking as James has been talking so much about the Knesset forces inside Israel, what about within the broader Arab world? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was in Israel traveling with Rubio just last month, right before this ceasefire deal.

1:02:36And what you saw there was this big warm embrace by Netanyahu, Rubio, Netanyahu repeating that Israel has never had a better friend than Trump. and Rubio went right to Qatar afterward. And it's clear that they're really working hard with these really important and influential Arab powers to get this ceasefire implemented and move on to the next phase. I think what the administration officials say and what is a very compelling argument is that no one wants to be seen as the side that breaks the ceasefire, that there is immense public pressure. There is, you know, Trump is watching closely And be it the Israeli side or Hamas or, you know, the powers that seem to have influence over Hamas, if you can still call it a monolithic group, none of them want to be the one that is blamed by Trump, by the U.S.

1:03:28administration for ruining this ceasefire deal. You know, this momentous, potentially really generational change chance at peace and importantly, a chance at Trump solidifying his legacy as a global peacemaker. And that deterrent effect is what the administration officials are really counting on as they try to muddle through these really difficult conversations about what comes next. Let's move on to Russia and Ukraine. On Wednesday, President Trump announced significant new sanctions that target Russian oil companies. They're massive sanctions and sanctions on oil. The two biggest oil companies among the biggest in the world, but they're Russian.

1:04:07They do a lot of oil. And hopefully it'll push. Hopefully he'll become reasonable and hopefully Zelensky will be reasonable, too. You know, it takes two to tango, as they say. That was Trump on Wednesday during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. The announcement comes after the two leaders were supposed to meet in Budapest as Putin and Trump. But talks fell apart. Trump said that the talks with Putin, quote, don't go anywhere. Felicia, we have been heard talk of the sanctions for a long time. What do you make of the timing of why this was finally implemented now?

1:04:45I think that the kind of falling apart of the Budapest meeting really had a lot to do with it. I think Trump has given Putin so many chances. You know, he's said in the past that he really thought his relationship with Putin would help bring about a change. But Putin has made clear that he's not changing his desire to take all of the Donbass or he doesn't want to make the kinds of concessions. Trump this week has been calling for freezing the conflict on its current lines. And so I think that Trump's team has said in the past that putting on sanctions would close the window for diplomacy. I think that he's coming around to the argument from Ukraine and, you know, some of the European countries that actually putting tough sanctions on Putin is the only way, that putting, you know, significant pressure on him and showing that the U.S.

1:05:35is behind Ukraine in this way is the only thing that will get Putin to the table. Robbie, how has Russia responded to these sanctions? Well, I'll note that right before Trump announced these sanctions, Russia launched a massive drone and missile salvo on Ukrainian cities, including hitting a Ukrainian kindergarten, which showed that even as Trump was talking about, oh, we're going to set up this summit in Budapest that later fell apart, Russia's doubling down on its war, doubling down on hitting civilian targets across Ukraine. Putin told Russian reporters, you know, he did downplay it. He conceded the sanctions might cause some economic losses, but said no country ever bows to pressure.

1:06:20So at least for now, he remains defiant. I think the key next step and the next question is whether the U.S. follows up with other sanctions. My colleagues and I reported after talking to some senior administration officials that Trump was presented with a menu of sanctions options, A harshest option that targeted senior Russian leaders, more subsidiaries, secondary sanctions, this middle option of just sanctioning Lukoil and Rosneft, these two Russian major oil companies, and a lesser option. And he chose the middle option. So he is still – that signals to me that he still wants to talk to Putin.

1:06:58He's still really interested in making a deal. Rubio has said that they still want to keep these conversations with Russia open. and Hungarians are saying the Budapest summit isn't fully canceled. It might be delayed, but there's still talks of bringing it on. So even as Trump sends this economic shot across the bow to Putin, he still wants to talk to him. And there are still tools in his toolbox that he has thus far not used against Russia, including escalating secondary sanctions, targeting Russia's so-called shadow fleet of illicit oil tankers that tries to circumvent sanctions and oil price caps, and not sending Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which has been a big talking point by Trump in the last month.

1:07:39Felicia, I want to get back to the European leaders. You mentioned this are working with Ukraine on a 12-point peace plan to bring an end to the war. The plan would make Trump chair of a peace board overseeing the implementation of the plan. What else do we know about the details of this plan? I think they're trying to harness the energy of the Gaza ceasefire because he instituted that board of peace. But basically, this plan calls for returning deported children to Ukraine, prisoner exchanges, security guarantees, a path for Ukraine to join the European Union, a path for sanctions on Russia to be lifted while using these frozen Russian state assets to pay for reconstruction.

1:08:22So it's not that different than what's been in the works before. but they're trying to put it in this Trump-friendly 12-point plan. It's got a peace board to appeal to him. Do you think there's been any renewed energy around this because of what's happened in the Middle East? I definitely think so. I think Trump also has returned attention to it, and Ukraine, and that's why Zelensky came to Washington. He's really trying to capitalize on this momentum to kind of bolster Trump's reputation as a peacemaker. We've covered this several weeks in a row on the Roundup. Russia's continued and increasingly effective targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of winter.

1:09:00Analysts say Ukraine's national infrastructure is better protected after nearly four years of war. That's leading Russia to target regional plants with overwhelming force, which often comes in the form of drones. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials are showing off their revamped Sea Baby this week. The unmanned boats are a type of drone, and Ukraine says they can hit any target in the Black Sea. James, we know this drone warfare between Ukraine and Russia represents the cutting edge of military technology. What is Ukraine Security Service or SBU able to accomplish with these sea baby boats? They basically made the Black Sea inoperable for much of the Black Sea fleet of Russia.

1:09:43I mean, we all remember back in early in the war where they sank the Moskva, which was the flagship of the Black Sea fleet. Now, that was with cruise missiles. But since then, they've attacked the Kerch Bridge with these maritime drones. They've hit 11 of Russia's warships. And this new upgrade they talked about this week announced they increased the range of their Seababy drone by roughly from 600 to 1 ,000 miles, which puts most of the Black Sea in its range. And they've put different kinds of payloads on it, including multiple launch rocket systems. So Ukraine's cutting edge in terms of drone warfare.

1:10:24They've been really amazing. And this is the next step. It's made, you know, we thought for a while that Russia would be able to basically blockade Ukraine. They couldn't get grain in or out. And that has just not been the case because of this really innovative use of sea drones. Robbie, this week your colleagues at The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration lifted a key restriction on Ukraine's use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies. This enables Kiev to step up attacks on targets inside Russia, increase pressure on the Kremlin. The president has rejected this report.

1:11:04Of course, you'll remember Zelensky left the White House last week without securing Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. These other British Long Range missiles the White House reportedly approved aren't a game changer on the battlefield. But why do you think it's worth noting? Yeah, well, I mean, I think this goes into this, what we've been talking about, the Trump administration just growing frustrated, growing impatient with Putin. after months and months and multiple second chances of trying to get Putin to seriously negotiate on ending the war and him refusing at every turn. Yeah, as you mentioned, Trump sent out a true social calling this story fake news.

1:11:43But I'll note that what he denied isn't actually what the Wall Street Journal reported. He said in the White House, you know, this story said, I gave Ukraine permission to shoot missiles deep into Russia. I didn't do that. That's not what the journal reported. The journal reported that the U.S. has enabled intelligence sharing for European-made missiles that Ukraine controls to hit targets deep inside of Russia. So beginning last spring, the Pentagon insisted on reviewing Ukraine's use of long-range missiles, including the storm shadow missile that you mentioned, to strike targets inside Russia.

1:12:21No such missiles were actually used for this purpose until the authority to prove the attacks was shifted back to U.S. European command in Europe and outside of Washington. So that's a very long-winded, kind of complicated technocratic explanation. But the broad step back takeaway here is that the U.S. is doing intelligence sharing, helping enable Ukraine to strike important strategic military targets inside of Russia, even if it's not with U.S. missiles and even if it's not with, say, express U.S. permission of you can strike this target and that target inside of Russia. And Ukrainians say this is really important militarily, to stop Russian supply lines, to stop important Russian logistical and military depots, to help backstop its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

1:13:14And as I said, it comes against the backdrop of this bigger question of like what type of pressure can the U.S. and its Western allies put on Russia to bring Putin back to the negotiating table in a serious way. One last question, Felicia, for you. Just as we wrap up this conversation on Russia-Ukraine, I just want to start where we began, just talking about the idea of a deal. Trump posted on Truth Social after a tense meeting with Zelensky on Friday at the White House, it's time to stop the killing and make a deal. What have we heard from Zelensky this week on all of this? He has, you know, I think that there have been a bunch of reports that that meeting was quite tense, that, you know, that all of the sides left pretty frustrated, but he has branded it positively.

1:14:02He said, you know, Trump is on the same page as us. The line should stop where they are. Putin, of course, is demanding that Ukraine cede more territory to Russia than even what Russia has captured. So I think that basically Zelensky is trying to strike a positive note. I think he was very hardened by the sanctions. So he, you know, I think he is showing, European leaders met with him as well. So I think he's feeling and he's signaling that, you know, the world is on his side still. Let's move on to some recent elections and what their results signal about an ongoing global political shift to the right, starting with Japan.

1:14:39The country elected its first female prime minister on Tuesday. Sanahi Takaichi is a hardline conservative. Her work as prime minister begins immediately and includes a visit from Donald Trump as soon as the next week. Felicia, what do we know about the new leader of Japan? So I think important for Trump, she's a protege of Shinzo Abe. He's the late Japanese prime minister who was in office when Trump was there in the first term. And those two really got along great. So I think this bodes well for her. You know, like you said, she's a security hawk and she's been championing Japan first. You know, like Trump, she's tapped into populist anti-immigrant sentiment.

1:15:20She's coined this phrase, Japan first. She's vowed to prioritize Japan's national interests and economy. But yeah, as you mentioned, a Trump visit right off the bat, there were reports that her predecessor spent 30 hours wargaming and planning before he first saw Trump at the White House, she's got basically like three or four days to turn this around. And, you know, the U.S.-Japan relationship is extremely important to both countries. And Japan is the world's fourth largest economy, Felicia. What is it about the country's current and political economic situation that made her so appealing to Japanese voters?

1:15:57I think they're, you know, the economy has been a challenge. They want to, you know, this trade deal, of course, has ruffled feathers. and I think that, you know, this has been such a great and significant period of turmoil for Japan. They've had like four prime ministers in the past five years or perhaps I've bungled that and switched the statistic around. But the point being, I think that she really appeals to kind of this like stabilizing the country at a moment of like great global turmoil and prioritizing the country as well. In Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz has become the first conservative to win a presidential election in the country in 20 years.

1:16:37He takes over after two decades of rule by the movement towards Socialism Party, founded by former Bolivian president Ivo Morales. James, what do we need to know about Rodrigo Paz and how significant is this victory? Well, the fact that it's 20 years of the leftist party has ruled and suddenly they are out just shows you that they're at this sort of right, sort of center-right to right-wing populist movement. that we've seen around the world is certainly affecting Latin America. You saw it in Argentina, obviously, and now this is another example of that, I think. And driven by the same thing, which is the economies in Latin America are not very good.

1:17:21Bolivia had four decades of sort of an economic crisis, and they have rampant inflation. And this was just another example that the wind is at the back of these populist movements. Robbie, I did want to ask you that, what you think these recent elections tell us about global politics shifting to the right. Yeah, I mean, I think it shows how there is a way for the MAGA brand to go global. I mean, obviously, as Felicia mentioned, Japan's, as they're dubbing her, Japan's Iron Lady is using this Japan first. You know, there's this groundswell of populist right wing political sentiments. I think the Bolivia here has bucked the trend, as James mentioned, of what's been you've been seeing in Latin America for years and years.

1:18:16And so it's just a matter of whether you call it, you know, MAGA or make Japan great again, et cetera. of how this type of MAGA brand, these things that Trump has unlocked in parts of the American electorate, other politicians in other countries are really seizing on that. Before we end, I know I'm not the only one that has been completely fascinated by this story that has captivated much of the world this week. Seven minutes is all it took for thieves to steal more than$100 million of Napoleonic jewelry from the Louvre Museum in Paris As alarm bells rang around them, they grabbed nine of the museum's most valuable treasures, one of the most precious items.

1:18:57A crown that Napoleon III gave his wife, Empress Eugenie, was dropped by the thieves as they sped away on high-powered scooters along the banks of the Seine. The Louvre reopened after two days. Some tourists outside the building said this. Very exciting. No. Like Ocean's Eleven. Disappointing. Well, it's something surprising. It seemed that fiction became real, because we didn't think that they were going to steal such precious jewels so easily. It certainly increased our fascination with the area. We're not typically museum individuals, but knowing that there had just been a heist pulled off in broad daylight has certainly increased the profile of the gallery, no doubt.

1:19:42The robbery has raised significant questions about whether one of the world's most famous museums could have been better protected. On Wednesday, the museum's director offered to resign. Investigations continued this week with the recovery of DNA, but some French politicians have suggested the incident was both a tragedy and a national embarrassment. Before we go, I do want to take a look. We have a little bit of time for people to peek into your reporter's notebook, or maybe you want to just talk about this heist story. Felicia, I noted the, I saw very funny this morning, the German Lyft company that the thieves used has made a commercial now out of the Lyft that was used, capitalizing on this.

1:20:25But what do you want to talk about, Felicia? Well, you'll definitely have to send me that link. I just need to bring up that Trump has decided to completely upend trade negotiations with Canada because of an advertisement that the province of Ontario ran, like quoting Reagan, dissing tariffs. It is, you know, this is obviously such an important trade relationship. They were set to talk about renegotiating some tariffs, particularly aluminum tariffs, which are pretty important to the American economy. And, you know, it's just a fascinating kind of, I think the Canadians have put in a lot of work to try to right-size this relationship.

1:21:01And yet Trump seems very fixated on it and, you know, and inserting some drama into it. So I just really want to see where this goes. James, what about you? You know, I just want to call out my colleagues and former colleagues who covered the Defense Department and the Pentagon who were asked to basically sign an agreement that signed over their free press rights to become basically a propaganda arm for the Secretary of Defense. And almost to a person, the legacy media and a lot of the current media, including Fox News, refused to sign it. And they were kicked out of the Pentagon. And as of spending a lot of my career as a defense reporter, I've just never been more proud of my colleagues.

1:21:46Robbie, just on that story, before we get to your notebook, I would love for you to weigh in as a national security reporter. What effect do you think this may have on reporting and journalism out of the Pentagon with a press corps no longer based there? Well, there is a new press corps the Pentagon did announce this week that will be based there. Yeah, look, I mean, it's always easier to report if you can go into the building and get face-to-face time with officials. But I don't cover the Pentagon quite as much as some of my other colleagues. But my colleagues at this paper, other outlets, there are really great Pentagon reporters out there.

1:22:18And they've made very clear through their statements, through some of their recent great reporting, even the past week, that they are still covering the Pentagon. You know, they're still really interested in accountability journalism for this massive federal agency. And that's not going away just because they're kicked out of the building. Yeah. Robbie, what's in your notebook? Well, first of all, Trump's heading off to Asia on Friday for a very, very big trip. He's expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. There's also some reports in South Korean media that he might make a push to meet Kim Jong-un during a trip to South Korea up at the demilitarized zone up there to meet North Korea's leader.

1:22:59But since we are also close to Halloween, I want to end on kind of a brighter note. There was a giant pumpkin regatta in Portland where people hollowed out giant pumpkins and paddled in a river in them. and you can watch the videos online. I'm kind of obsessed with it in addition to being obsessed with this Louvre story. So you guys should all check that out after reading all the national security news of the week. Okay, we have lots of links to send each other in our group chat. A big thank you to our panelists today, Felicia Schwartz, diplomatic correspondent at Politico, Robbie Grammer, national security reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and James Kitfield, senior fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency in Congress.

1:23:43It's always such a pleasure to spend time with you all, rounding up all the international news. Thank you. And a big thank you to our wonderful hosts here at Michigan Public, especially Zoe Clark, Rusty Brock, and Marshall Verbski. Thanks for having us. My Kid is our sound designer and engineer. Chris Castano is our digital editor. Maya Garg is our senior managing producer. Alexandra Boti is our senior supervising producer. Aileen Humphries is the editor and producer of 1A On Demand, and Barb Anguiano produces our podcast. Special thanks to Matthew Simonson and Zoe Kazanzidis for additional support this week.

1:24:18This program comes to you from WAMU, part of American University in Washington, distributed by NPR. I'm Naila Boodoo. Let's talk more soon. This is 1A.

1:24:40Bye.