WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch
From the award-winning opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal, Paul Gigot, Kim Strassel, Bill McGurn and Kyle Peterson discuss the latest from Washington. Get critical perspective and the analysis you need on developments from the nation’s capital. Join them every weekday. Send your feedback to pwpodcast@wsj.com
Episodes
April 24, 2024 • 25 mins
Grants Pass, Ore., wants to enforce a prohibition on public camping, but a lower court said no, citing the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. What does the Constitution say, and don‘t cities have the right to keep their streets clean and safe? Plus, the Justices also hear a challenge by Starbucks to a power of the National Labor Relations Board.
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April 23, 2024 • 25 mins
After New York police cleared an encampment on the Ivy League campus, arresting more than 100 people, the school says it will offer hybrid remote learning for the rest of the semester, while similar protests also engulf Yale, NYU, and other elite colleges. Why are university presidents apparently so reluctant to draw a hard line, especially considering the antisemitism on display?
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April 22, 2024 • 23 mins
House Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line in seeking floor votes on bills to provide weapons for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. It paid off in victory, as bipartisan majorities united to pass the bills and defeat a rump group of GOP opponents. Will the same coalition be willing and able to save Mr. Johnson from a motion to vacate the Speaker's chair?
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April 19, 2024 • 27 mins
The first week of Donald Trump's hush-money trial concludes with the seating of 12 jurors, while the former President fumes about a gag order by Judge Juan Merchan that bars him from criticizing jurors, witnesses and court staff. Plus, the Senate summarily dismisses the impeachment articles passed by the House against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
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April 18, 2024 • 23 mins
Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead with bills supporting Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan against their enemies. What's in the bills, what are their prospects for passing, and could they cost Johnson his job as a small group of Republicans threaten to move against him?
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April 17, 2024 • 26 mins
The Supreme Court hears an appeal from a former Pennsylvania cop, who says his conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6 does not qualify as obstruction under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Prosecutors have charged more than 300 people using that law, but are they stretching it too far? Plus, the Justices rule that a local $23,420 permitting fee is covered by the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause.
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April 16, 2024 • 23 mins
Jury selection starts in New York, as the former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records, tied to a 2016 payment to Stormy Daniels. But has Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought a weak case, with potential legal avenues for appeal, given that to convict on these felonies he must prove that Trump intended to commit or conceal a second unrelated crime?
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April 15, 2024 • 30 mins
Paul Gigot interviews Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, about Tehran's attack on Israel, whether it was really a 'win' for the Jewish state, how Israel is likely to respond, and whether U.S. policy toward Iran will finally change.
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April 12, 2024 • 29 mins
President Biden touts the IRS's new Direct File pilot program in 12 states, after Sen. Elizabeth Warren stuck it into the Inflation Reduction Act. But do Americans trust the agency to get it right? And if the complexity of the tax code is the reason that people turn to expert tax preparers, why isn't the answer just to simplify? Plus, the House passes a reauthorization of the Section 702 surveillance program, as FBI Director Christ...
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April 11, 2024 • 25 mins
Higher prices make a comeback, roiling markets and complicating plans by the Federal Reserve for cutting interest rates. How big a threat is inflation to President Biden's re-election?
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April 10, 2024 • 23 mins
Nineteen Republicans break with Speaker Mike Johnson by blocking a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, after Donald Trump comes out against. Section 702 lets the government collect communications from foreigners overseas, which can include messages with Americans. What reforms to this power are enough to ensure accountability?
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April 9, 2024 • 27 mins
The House comes back to town facing a big decision on military assistance for Ukraine, as well as Israel and Taiwan. Will Joe Biden show the leadership needed to get funding over the finish line, and will Donald Trump intervene? Plus, Marjorie Taylor Greene intensifies her criticisms of Speaker Mike Johnson in a scathing letter to her colleagues calling for him to be replaced.
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April 8, 2024 • 25 mins
Conservatives expressed their disappointment with Donald Trump after he said abortion should be left up to the states instead of a federal ban. Was this a wise political move for his election campaign? Plus, Joe Biden announces another student loan forgiveness plan, which may end up in the courts again.
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April 5, 2024 • 26 mins
New reporting by “60 Minutes” puts a spotlight again on Havana Syndrome, the debilitating neurological symptoms reported by U.S. government security agents and diplomats around the world. Plus, after months of trying to organize a 2024 unity ticket as an alternative to Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the group No Labels throws in the towel after no viable candidate emerges.
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April 4, 2024 • 27 mins
Relations between Israel and the U.S. continue to deteriorate following an IDF strike that killed seven relief workers in Gaza. This comes as President Biden faces mounting pressure from the left to more forcefully condemn Israel and restrict military aid. Meanwhile, Iran vows to retaliate after an apparent Israeli strike that killed top Iranian generals at a consular building in Syria. As the conflict spreads throughout the Middle...
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April 3, 2024 • 26 mins
Four states go to the polls, including Wisconsin, where 13% of Republicans vote for Nikki Haley and 8% of Democrats say they're uncommitted. Does this signal weakness for Donald Trump and Joe Biden? Plus, the Badger State bans "Zuckerbucks," and a report on the IRS's expansion plans shows the agency struggling to hire as it tries to ramp up audits on the wealthy.
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April 2, 2024 • 24 mins
The state justices let Gov. Ron DeSantis's six-week abortion ban go into effect, while approving a ballot initiative that will ask voters whether to protect abortion in the Florida constitution. Could this boost Joe Biden's turnout against Donald Trump, making Florida a swing state? Plus, the House tax bill faces warranted skepticism in the Senate over an expansion of the child tax credit.
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April 1, 2024 • 28 mins
The Environmental Protection Agency's new rules mean that 25% of long-haul truck sales might have to be electric by 2032, a target that the industry calls unachievable and that could shift costs onto drivers and consumers. Plus, as Joe Biden calls for tax increases to make the wealthy pay their "fair share," recent IRS data says the top 1% paid 46% of income taxes in 2021.
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March 29, 2024 • 26 mins
Can states reject mail ballots if voters fail to fill in the date next to their signatures? Some federal judges have said no, but the Third Circuit appeals court now sets a precedent that could help stabilize the 2024 election rules. Meantime, Lara Trump says the GOP needs to play the early turnout game, plus FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is sentenced to 25 years in prison for crypto fraud.
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March 28, 2024 • 26 mins
It’s been one year since Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested and imprisoned in Russia by Vladimir Putin, and the world shouldn't forget him. Plus, Sen, Joe Lieberman dies at age 82, leaving a legacy as a foreign-policy hawk that is hard to find among Democrats today. He was also a leader of the No Labels third-party movement. Is that now unlikely in 2024?
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