Trump to Address the Nation About War Plans, and TMZ Goes After Congress

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0:32From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, April 1st. Here's what we're covering.

0:43I just landed in Houston. This is where NASA's mission control is for its first moon mission with humans on board in more than 50 years. My colleague Katrina Miller is on the ground in Texas to track the launch of the Artemis II mission. It's currently scheduled for tonight, barring bad weather or other complications. The capsule, which will be carried into space on a 300-plus-foot rocket, is set to travel around the moon, taking the astronauts farther from the Earth than anyone has been since 1972. Four astronauts are flying aboard the spacecraft. They will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

1:21They will loop around the Earth and then do a translunar injection burn toward the moon. Loop around the far side of the moon and then around day 10, they will splash down off the coast of California. The crew will get to see and photograph the far side of the moon, the part that we never see from Earth with their own eyes. But ultimately, Artemis II is a test flight in a series of missions by NASA to return humans to the surface of the moon and then hopefully eventually someday travel beyond it. The U.S. has found itself in a space race once again, as China has said it's planning to try and land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

2:02NASA, for its part, is hoping to pull that off by 2028, if this Artemis mission and the next few go according to plan.

2:14We're finishing the job, and I think within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer, to do the job. In the Oval Office yesterday, President Trump said the U.S. will end its military campaign in Iran in the next few weeks. And he promised to address the nation tonight with what the White House says will be an important update on the war. I had one goal. They will have no nuclear weapon. And that goal has been attained. They will not have... Trump declared that the U.S. has completely eliminated any nuclear threat from Iran, a claim that is not backed up by any evidence. Iran still has nearly 1 ,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a nuclear weapon.

2:56Also, it's unclear whether decimating Iran's nuclear program is even a true focus of the war. While Trump talked it up when he announced the operation, lately his top officials have been narrowing the stated goals. I hear a lot of talk about we don't know what the clear objectives are. Here they are. You should write them down. This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave an updated list of what he said were the administration's aims in Iran. Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two, the destruction of their navy. Number three, the severe diminishing of their missile launching capability.

3:29And number four, the destruction of their factories so they can't make more missiles and more drones to threaten us in the future. Rubio's list, which didn't address the uranium, seemed to be an attempt to give the U.S. an off-ramp from the conflict, effectively lowering the bar so that Trump can declare victory. Rubio also didn't mention anything about regime change, another claim Trump has been making. Iran's hardline government is still running the country. Yesterday, the stock market surged amid hopes of the war ending soon. Trump's address is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern tonight.

4:09Meanwhile, in Lebanon. Israel has issued these sweeping evacuation warnings for much of southern Lebanon, about 10 percent of the country. But our reporting has shown that in private, they're giving a more targeted message. Christina Goldbaum covers Lebanon for The Times, and she's found that Israel isn't telling everyone to leave from the areas it's targeting. Israeli military officials have been calling several Christian and Druze communities and assuring them that they can stay, and that they're actually only focused on driving Shiites out. Shiite Muslims are from the same sect as Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group Israel's fighting in Lebanon.

4:47I went to Calcaba, a Maronite Christian town near the border with Israel. It's a town that had taken in around two dozen Shia families who had been displaced from their border village. When we were there, we were talking to the deputy mayor who was telling us how other villages nearby had gotten these calls from Israeli military officials, telling them that if they had Shia living in their towns, they needed to tell them to leave. Otherwise, their town would not be safe from Israeli bombardment. And she was telling us how she had gone to these displaced Shia families, told them to prepare themselves, that if they got a call telling them to expel their Shia residents, the town would do so.

5:28And later that day, the mayor of the town got the call from Israeli military officials. And within 24 hours, they had put those displaced Shia families on buses heading north out from Calcaba. Having spoken to Shia residents, to municipal leaders, to other local leaders who've been receiving these calls, it's become clear to them that Israel is not only intent on changing the geographic map of southern Lebanon, but also the demographic one. The message that they understand is that Christians and Druze will be allowed to stay. And now, Shia Lebanese who have fled the South are increasingly concerned that they may never be able to return to their homes.

6:18Now back to Washington for a few quick updates. At the Supreme Court yesterday, the justices handed conservatives a major win in a case about so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors. In an 8-to-1 decision, the court threw out a Colorado law that banned mental health professionals from using talk therapy to try and change kids' sexual orientation or gender identity. The justices said the law was a, quote, egregious assault on free speech and the First Amendment. The court's decision has implications for more than 20 other states that have similar laws barring conversion therapy, which critics and major medical organizations say is ineffective and potentially dangerous for young people.

7:03Also. We're going to be signing an executive order. I believe it's foolproof. And maybe it'll be tested, maybe it won't. President Trump is stepping up his efforts to take more federal control over elections, signing an executive order yesterday that would create a national list of eligible voters and restrict mail-in ballots. It's part of his ongoing effort to promote his false claims of widespread voter fraud. And it could violate the Constitution. The president has no explicit authority to manage elections, a power the Constitution gives to states and Congress. Trump's previous executive orders around elections, including one requiring proof of citizenship to vote, have largely been blocked by the courts.

7:49And last update. Basically he's saying I need congressional approval. And he's so wrong. President Trump is vowing to fight an order from a federal judge that's temporarily blocked construction of his ballroom. In the decision, which was handed down yesterday, the judge wrote that work on the massive White House expansion has to stop, quote, unless and until Congress blesses this project. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has been leading the court battle against the ballroom, has raised concerns about the breakneck speed at which it's moved forward and how it's being paid for.

8:26Hearings about it have been going on for months, and the judge appeared to lose patience with the government's lawyer, asking him at one point to, quote, be serious, and back off claims that the$400 million undertaking is comparable to minor renovations that previous presidents have done, like adding a tennis court.

8:51And finally. Every picture we get of a Congress man or woman vacationing in the next two weeks, we want those pictures. The Hollywood tabloid TMZ, which is known for sending paparazzi and tipsters after celebrities, is turning its sights on Congress. We got Ted Cruz leaving this morning. The site's founder, Harvey Levin, said that since lawmakers started jetting off on their spring recess last week without reaching a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, he wants every picture people can send in of senators and representatives out there living it up and not funding the government.

9:30TMZ has posted pictures of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham at Disney World and Democratic Representative Robert Garcia in Vegas. In response to their photos being posted, Graham said that his Florida trip was part of a meeting with administration officials, and Garcia said he was visiting his dad in Vegas. Garcia posted online, though, quote, Actually, I don't mind what TMZ is doing here, saying he didn't think congressional leaders should have sent lawmakers home with no deal in place. Those are the headlines. One big story to watch this morning. The Supreme Court will hear arguments about President Trump's push to end birthright citizenship for many immigrants.

10:11You can follow along with live coverage in the New York Times app or at nytimes.com. I'm Tracy Mumford. The headlines will be back tomorrow.

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