Geoff Bennett:
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the design for President Trump’s proposed 250-foot arch in the nation’s capital. The panel is now made up entirely of President Trump’s appointed allies, and today’s action moves the arch one step closer to being a reality.
Preliminary surveys and testing of the site started last week, though a group of veterans and a historian have sued the Trump administration to block construction. Speaking to reporters today, President Trump said he plans to move forward with or without the support of Congress.
President Donald Trump:
We just got approval from Fine Arts. That’s fantastic.
Question:
Right, but do you need Congress to sign off on it?
Donald Trump:
No, we don’t. No. No. We’re doing it. It’s — the land is owned by Secretary — by the Interior Department. We don’t need anything from Congress.
Geoff Bennett:
The proposed site of the arch, Memorial Circle, is located between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. It is managed by the National Park Service, a bureau within the Interior Department, as Mr. Trump says. But that land is also considered protected land under federal law that says any monuments built there require congressional authorization.
President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are escalating their rhetoric toward Cuba, reviving warnings about possible U.S. intervention. It comes a day after the administration announced criminal charges against former leader Raul Castro.
During that Oval Office event, Mr. Trump said, while previous administrations have considered action, he’ll be, in his words, the one that does it.
And on his way to a NATO summit in Sweden, Secretary Rubio told reporters he has little expectation of reaching any agreement with Cuba.
Marco Rubio:
The president’s preference is always a negotiated agreement that’s peaceful. That’s always our preference. That remains our preference with Cuba. I’m just being honest with you. The likelihood of that happening, given who we’re dealing with right now is not high.
But if they have a change of heart, we’re here. And, in the meantime, we will keep doing what we need to do.
Geoff Bennett:
Cuba’s foreign minister quickly accused Rubio of — quote — “lying once again to provoke military aggression.”
Separately today, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the U.S.-owned port business in Cuba whose property was confiscated by Fidel Castro’s government back in 1960. The ruling opens the door for similar claims from other American companies and individuals.
A judge in Minnesota sentenced the former leader of a nonprofit to nearly 42 years in prison for her role in a $250 million COVID era fraud case. Appearing in court today, Aimee Bock said she failed the public and her family. Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which claimed to have provided millions of meals to children during the pandemic.
But the Justice Department says she oversaw the single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country. President Trump used her case and others to initially justify a controversial surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis area last winter.
In Virginia, a judge dismissed all charges today against a former vice principal who was accused of ignoring warnings that a 6-year-old had a gun. Ebony Parker had faced eight felony counts of child neglect after the student shot and wounded his teacher, Abby Zwerner, at Richneck Elementary school in Newport News back in 2023.
Parker’s lawyers had argued she was unaware the child had a gun and the judge said today her actions were not a crime. The student’s mother was sentenced to almost four years in prison for related charges.
The Trump administration is rolling back Biden era rules that require grocery stores and air conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their refrigerating equipment. During that Oval Office event today, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the move is meant to help lower food prices.
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator:
Many Americans were expressing a lot of frustration and anger of this rushed, frantic, reckless sprint by the Biden administration to phase out reliable equipment for grocery stores, for restaurants and for homes.
Geoff Bennett:
Under the new rules, companies will no longer be required to update their equipment to reduce hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. Those are considered super pollutants and are a major driver of global warming. But it’s unclear how much of the projected savings the companies would pass on to consumers, if any.
In Central Africa, concerns over an Ebola outbreak took a violent turn today in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Gunshots)
Geoff Bennett:
Local police fired warning shots as tensions flared when friends of a young man who died of Ebola tried to retrieve his body from a treatment center.
According to local officials, after health authorities refused access, the group responded by lobbying projectiles at the treatment center tents, causing a fire to break out. Separately, a rebel group that controls Eastern parts of the country said today that a person died from the disease some 300 miles south of the outbreak’s epicenter.
Authorities have reported at least 148 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases so far, though officials in Geneva said today the reality could be far worse.
Jane Halton:
I have described this outbreak as being like an iceberg. We have seen the top of the iceberg. The WHO is now into the many hundreds of cases and hundreds of deaths, but the truth of the matter is the real numbers welcome be much bigger than that.
Geoff Bennett:
Meantime, a new rule from the Department of Homeland Security took effect overnight that requires all inbound passengers who have recently traveled to the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan to arrive first at Dulles Airport for enhanced Ebola screening. Only then can they continue on to their final destination.
On Wall Street today, stocks posted modest gains, as oil prices eased. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed around 275 points on the day. The Nasdaq added around 20 points. The S&P 500 also ended a touch higher.
And Robert Woodson, a leader of the Black conservative movement, has died. His efforts to address racism, poverty and crime made him a sought-after voice among Republican leadership over his six-decade career. In 1981, he founded the nonprofit Woodson Center, which today called him a visionary leader whose life’s work transformed communities from the inside out.
Robert Woodson was 89 years old.
And NASCAR driver Kyle Busch has died. In a social media post, NASCAR said today that they are saddened and heartbroken at the passing of the two-time Cup champion. Busch was in his 22nd full-time season in NASCAR’s top division and was considered a future Hall of Famer.
Just hours earlier, his family had said he had been hospitalized with a severe illness. His death has been described as a staggering blow to the motor sports community. Kyle Busch was 41 years old.
