Post Reports
1,462 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★ - 4.7K ratingsPost Reports is the daily podcast from The Washington Post. Unparalleled reporting. Expert insight. Clear analysis. Everything you’ve come to expect from the newsroom of The Post, for your ears. Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi are your hosts, asking the questions you didn’t know you wanted answered. Published weekdays around 5 p.m. Eastern time.
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Episodes
Americans love supplements. Here's what you should know.
June 13, 2024 20:58Dietary supplements are enormously popular in the United States. A new federal survey found that a majority of Americans are taking them, with many consuming multiple kinds on a regular basis. And yet, supplements are shrouded in misconceptions. Supplements have less oversight than pharmaceutical drugs and are regulated differently. While people may take them to be healthier, we often don’t think about possible side effects or interactions. We also assume we know what we’re getting. Toda...
FTC Chair Lina Khan vs. Big Tech
June 12, 2024 21:19Since Lina Khan was appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission in 2021, the FTC has become more ambitious in its efforts to curb alleged unfair business practices. The agency has banned most non-compete agreements, has begun to scrutinize the proliferation of AI and has initiated lawsuits against massive tech companies like Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post).The FTC under Khan’s leadership has drawn bipartisan support in Congress, but also t...
A farm on the edge of Gaza
June 11, 2024 21:17Today on “Post Reports,” the story of Ashraf Omar Alakhras and his family farm and an exclusive investigation into the destruction of food and agriculture in Gaza. Read more: Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza more than seven months ago, Gaza’s food and agricultural system is on the brink of collapse. Airstrikes and bulldozers have razed farms and orchards across the region, according to a Washington Post investigation comparing satellite imagery before and after the start of the war. Exper...
Could housing be the sleeper issue of 2024?
June 10, 2024 20:27Housing has become increasingly expensive around the country. And while it’s traditionally seen as a local issue, housing could be a major factor in the 2024 presidential election. Read more: In polls, voters often say the economy is one of the top issues they’ll consider when voting in the 2024 presidential election. But what exactly does that mean? For a lot of people, the cost of housing — rent or a mortgage payment — is the main way they feel fluctuations in the economy. That cost can...
The Campaign Moment: Swing voters on Trump's verdict plus Biden's border order
June 07, 2024 20:51It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign. This week, we hear directly from some undecided voters about how Donald Trump’s criminal conviction lands with them. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Washington Post's new Campaign Moment newsletter, and Isaac Arnsdorf, who covers Trump and the MAGA movement for The Post, sit down with co-host Martine Powers. The...
Why Netanyahu is facing an ultimatum
June 06, 2024 21:01Eight months into Israel’s war in Gaza, a string of standoffs, schisms and ultimatums have brought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet to the brink of collapse and raised the prospect that his own coalition could follow, possibly leading to new elections. Externally, the embattled prime minister is under growing pressure from the public to bring home Israel’s remaining hostages and from the Biden administration to reach a cease-fire agreement with Hamas. Within his uni...
A gun, a memoir and the trial of Biden’s son
June 05, 2024 21:22In Hunter Biden’s 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” he writes: “I’ve bought crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, DC, and cooked up my own inside a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles. I’ve been so desperate for a drink that I couldn’t make the one-block walk between a liquor store and my apartment without uncapping the bottle to take a swig.” Federal prosecutors this week used these words and other excerpts from Biden’s memoir against him, as they attempted to convince a jury that he lied a...
The battle over Fauci's legacy
June 04, 2024 22:12On Monday, Anthony Fauci – a former health adviser in the Trump and Biden administrations – testified in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, a panel devoted to investigating the federal response to covid-19. The contentious hearing came amid a battle between the panel’s Republican and Democratic leaders over how to understand Fauci’s legacy in shaping the U.S. response to the covid-19 pandemic, as well as the popular understanding of the virus’s origin. Host ...
Inside TikTok's extraordinary almost-deal with the U.S.
June 03, 2024 21:58TikTok offered the Biden administration a kill switch. Today on “Post Reports,” why the U.S. government declined. Read more: In 2022, TikTok offered the U.S. government an extraordinary deal. The social media app – owned by a Chinese company – said it would let federal officials pick its U.S. board of directors, would give the government veto power over each new hire and would pay an American company that contracts with the Defense Department to monitor its source code. The Biden admin...
The Campaign Moment: The politics of the Trump guilty verdict
May 31, 2024 20:15It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign. This week is a special episode dedicated to the questions raised by having a presidential candidate and former U.S. president who is now a felon. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post's new Campaign Moment newsletter, and Ashley Parker, his colleague on the politics team, sit down with Post Reports co-host Elahe...
Donald Trump, convicted felon
May 31, 2024 00:11A New York jury convicted former president Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his hush money trial. Tonight on “Post Reports,” the scene in the Manhattan courtroom. And what comes next. Read more: Donald Trump is now the first former U.S. president to be tried and found guilty of a crime, after a New York jury convicted him on Thursday of falsifying business records in his hush money case. The trial lasted seven weeks. The 12-person jury unanimously agreed ...
The escalating attacks in Gaza
May 30, 2024 20:11How far-right Israeli settlers are blocking aid to Gaza. And, why humanitarian aid has become politicized. Read more: Right-wing Israeli settlers stepped up their attacks on aid trucks passing through the West Bank this month, blocking food and aid from reaching Gaza as humanitarian groups warn that the enclave is sinking deeper into famine. The Post’s Loveday Morris went to a border crossing to see these blockades in real time. Today, we break down what this means for the ongoing humani...
Get ready for a hot AI summer
May 29, 2024 21:11Crypto, AI and clean-tech manufacturing are pushing America’s power grid to the brink. Aging utilities can’t keep up. On today’s episode of “Post Reports,” we look into who will be left to pay the price. Read more: Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power this summer, as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories eat up what the country’s aging power grid churns out. Today on “Post Reports,” business reporter Evan Halper explains what’s p...
India’s historic election
May 28, 2024 22:27India’s general election ends this weekend, with Prime Minister Nerendra Modi leading the polls. Today on “Post Reports,” we unpack where Modi’s support comes from and what a win for his party would mean for the world’s largest democracy. Read more: For more than a month, people across India have been voting in this year's general election. It’s the largest the world has ever seen, and Prime Minister Nerendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party are ahead in polls by a wide marg...
Deep Reads: In Milwaukee, a patio becomes a battleground for Black public housing tenants
May 27, 2024 10:00 - 34.8 MBA community organizer and several residents of public housing in Milwaukee are trying to get attention from their representatives in government. Low-income Black voters, like those at College Court, are often discussed by political pundits as key to President Biden’s reelection campaign against former president Donald Trump. The residents are facing issues like bedbugs, violence, public spillover of mental illness and backlogged maintenance issues, which are all seemingly intractable to an o...
The Campaign Moment: Down-ballot Dems try to lift Biden
May 24, 2024 19:56It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post's new Campaign Moment newsletter, is out sick this week, so national political reporter Michael Scherer and White House reporter Tyler Pager join Martine Powers this week. They talk about how the Biden campaign may need more popular Democratic candidates down ballot to boos...
The ripple effects of the coup in Niger
May 23, 2024 20:53Niger has been a key U.S. ally in West Africa in the fight against growing threats from Islamist extremist groups. But a military coup last July soured that relationship. Now, the U.S. says it will withdraw from the country by mid-September. For more than a decade, the U.S. military presence in Niger has enabled U.S. intelligence gathering, monitoring and support to Niger, as it works to contain extremist groups. After last year’s coup, many Nigeriens support their country’s new leadersh...
A vote for the soul of the Republican Party
May 22, 2024 22:35In a place with a long history of hate, a rebel Republican bloc mobilizes against far-right extremism within the local party. Read more: A generation ago, community activists were able to bankrupt and push out a white supremacist hate group that took root among the tall pines and crystal lakes of North Idaho. It was a hard-fought triumph — one North Idaho residents took pride in. But today, some of those activists and residents worry that hateful ideologies are returning to their region....
The Young Thug trial and how it could reshape music
May 21, 2024 21:08Popular rapper Young Thug is on trial in Atlanta on racketeering charges, along with other members of his rap group, YSL. Today on “Post Reports,” why the trial will soon be the longest in state history and how his lyrics are being used against him. Read more: The popular rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, skyrocketed to fame over the past decade, headlining festivals, winning a Grammy, and building up a successful record label and the rap collective YSL. But in ...
The death of Iran’s president
May 20, 2024 21:57Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, along with other top officials. Today on “Post Reports,” the reactions to his death from within Iran and worldwide – and what it will mean for the country’s leadership. Read more: The deaths of two of Iran’s top officials brought shock and celebrations from within Iran and among the country’s diaspora. Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were killed along with other offic...
The Campaign Moment: Trump accepted Biden’s debate proposal. Now what?
May 17, 2024 20:37It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post’s new newsletter by the same name, and national political reporter Michael Scherer join Martine Powers this week. There is a lot to dig into about the debates agreed to this week by President Biden and former president Donald Trump. Also on the must-chat list: the latest from ...
What to know about inflation right now
May 16, 2024 20:18Today, what’s really happening with inflation in the United States. And what the public perception of the economy could mean for the 2024 presidential election. Read more: While inflation in the United States is still higher than normal, a streak of discouraging data finally broke in a report released Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation is now slowing — from 3.5 percent in March to 3.4 percent in April — after months of hotter-than-expected reports. But it’s too earl...
Rethinking identity in a fractured America
May 15, 2024 20:07As trust in institutions plummets and as many people search for shared values, what is the state of American identity? Today, in a special episode of “Post Reports,” we feature a live discussion about the importance of identity in a changing world. Read more: In a live podcast taping, “Post Reports” hosts Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi sit down in Seattle at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival with Post Opinions columnists Shadi Hamid and Jason Willick. They rethink American identity and wheth...
Body positivity in the age of Ozempic
May 14, 2024 21:36People are turning to drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight – but where do they fit in the body-positivity movement? Today on Post Reports, what some fat activists think of these drugs and how one doctor is talking about these medicines with her patients. Read more: Some companies are marketing GLP-1 drugs to body-positive influencers in the hopes that they’ll market their products to their followers. Shane O’Neill is a style reporter at the Post and writes the Style Memo newslett...
The end of Google search as we know it
May 13, 2024 20:22Google is changing the way its search feature works, feeding users AI-generated replies to their questions rather than directing them to other websites. Read more: At its annual developer conference this week, tech giant Google is expected to tout big changes to its signature product, search. Instead of directing users to a list of websites or showing them an excerpt, Google’s AI will craft paragraphs of text that tries to answer users’ questions directly. AI reporter Gerrit De Vynck sa...
Is the Drake-Kendrick rap beef good for hip-hop?
May 11, 2024 16:00In today’s bonus episode, we break down Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud, the biggest beef in recent rap history. Read more: In the past few weeks, a long-standing feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake has boiled over. The two artists have released songs taking shots at each other at a rapid clip, astonishing fans with salacious allegations. On today’s show, The Post’s Joseph Ferguson explains the beef that caused the recent frenzy and how this moment has reignited the hip-hop indu...
The Campaign Moment: Trump trial delays, boos for MTG and Biden’s red line on Rafah
May 10, 2024 21:49It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post’s new newsletter by the same name, and national political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf join Elahe Izadi this week. They talk about how Stormy Daniels’s testimony this week could affect former president Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial and voters’ perception of him. Also, the...
Will U.S. threats change Israel’s war?
May 09, 2024 22:02Tensions are rising between the United States and Israel over the war in Gaza. President Biden has threatened to withhold arms if Israel advances into Rafah in southern Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then vowed that Israel would “stand alone.” Read more: This week, Israel began its long-promised military operation in Rafah, a city that houses upwards of a million displaced Gazans. Israel has taken control of the Gazan side of the border crossing, blocking aid deliveries amid a wo...
Stormy Daniels takes the stand (and Trump curses)
May 08, 2024 20:26This week in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, Stormy Daniels gave explicit and disturbing testimony and sparked an angry reaction from Donald Trump. Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress at the center of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, testified against the former president Tuesday. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, recounted details of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. Her testimony was met with muttered profanities from the former president. At o...
How Pope Francis opened the Vatican to trans sex workers
May 07, 2024 21:44When Francis became pope in 2013, it was clear that he would be an unconventional pope. He was more casual than his predecessors, and often rejected the fineries of his office. In particular, he made a splash when, early on in his papacy, he responded to a question about gay priests by declaring, “Who am I to judge?” Since then, Francis has moved to make the Catholic Church more welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, including approving the blessing of same-sex couples, and allowing transgender...
Can U.S. aid to Ukraine make a dent in the war?
May 06, 2024 21:34Today, whether the U.S.’s long-delayed aid to Ukraine will impact the outcome of the war. Read more: After months of stalled negotiations, Congress passed a foreign aid package that included $61 billion in aid to Ukraine. With low supplies and exhausted soldiers, the war-torn country is in desperate need of funding and weapons. U.S. officials hope the aid will buy time for Kyiv to replenish its military ranks and strengthen battlefield defenses, but The Post’s Missy Ryan reports that even ...
Deep Reads: One man threatened Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Here’s what happened next.
May 04, 2024 21:00 - 34.4 MBIn a time of rising anger and threats, one man in Endicott, N.Y., in the throes of a mental health crisis threatened Rep.Marjorie Taylor Greene, telling her “You spread hatred, and you’re gonna pay for it.” Here’s what happened to him. This story is part of our Deep Reads series, which showcases narrative journalism at The Washington Post. It was written and read by Ruby Cramer. Audio production and original music composition by Bishop Sand.
The Campaign Moment: Campus protests, a jail threat for Trump and Kristi Noem’s late dog Cricket
May 03, 2024 19:49It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments during the 2024 campaign. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post’s new newsletter by the same name, and White House reporter Cleve Wootson join Martine Powers this week. They talk about how President Biden responded this week to the campus protests over the war in Gaza and what that could mean for his support, whether voters are paying ...
The unprecedented health-care hack that may affect you
May 02, 2024 21:35In February, a massive cyberattack nearly brought down the entire U.S. health system. Doctors are still reeling, and many patients don’t even know their data has been exposed. Today, Dan Diamond traces what went wrong and the new scrutiny in Congress. Read more: Even if UnitedHealthcare isn’t your health insurer, the company has probably interacted with you or your data in some way. UnitedHealth Group is both the nation’s largest insurer and its largest employer of physicians. It owns phar...
The precarious power of Speaker Mike Johnson
May 01, 2024 22:02Six months after becoming speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson’s job is on the line. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore Johnson’s rise to power and his potential ouster at the hands of his Republican colleagues. Read more: Mike Johnson became House speaker following the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy in October. After three weeks of infighting among Republicans, Johnson emerged as the only viable candidate, in part because Johnson was relatively unknown. Before becomin...
India's secret assassination plot on U.S. soil
April 30, 2024 21:47India is rising as a competitive global power. It is also joining a club of nations that aggressively target dissidents on foreign soil. Today on “Post Reports,” we dive into India’s assassination plots. Read more: It was a split-screen moment: As the Biden administration hosted a White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022, an officer in India’s intelligence service was relaying instructions to a team hired to kill one of Modi’s most vocal critics in the Uni...
What to know about the new bird flu outbreak
April 29, 2024 21:34For the first time, a virulent strain of bird flu has been detected in U.S. dairy cows. Fragments of the virus have also been found in commercial milk. Today, health reporter Lena Sun shares the latest on the outbreak and why the risk to humans remains low. In recent years, H5N1 bird flu has become widespread among wild birds around the world and has spread to mammals like seals and squirrels. It can be fatal and has resulted in the deaths or cullings of tens of millions of chickens in the...
The Campaign Moment: The GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problem
April 26, 2024 20:43Elahe Izadi chats with Aaron Blake, author of the Post newsletter The Campaign Moment, and national politics reporter Colby Itkowitz. They delve into the most important political moments of this past week. Listen for these conversations most Fridays during the 2024 campaign. It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Post...
One woman’s failed abortions led another to motherhood
April 25, 2024 19:21A young woman in Texas desperately tried to terminate her pregnancy before ultimately choosing adoption. Today on "Post Reports," how abortion restrictions and fate collided to entwine two women’s lives. Read Amber Ferguson's story and watch the video here. Today’s show was produced by Charla Freeland. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
The mounting antiwar protests on college campuses
April 24, 2024 22:04Today, a look inside the pro-Palestinian protests taking root on college campuses and why universities have been struggling to respond to them. Read more: Over the past week, protests over the Israel-Gaza war have spread and intensified on college campuses across the country. Pro-Palestinian student demonstrators across the country, including at Yale and Columbia University, have been arrested and removed from tent encampments on their campuses. Other encampments have been set up at many...
TikTok might get banned. For real this time.
April 23, 2024 21:54The Senate is expected to pass a bipartisan bill that would force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a national ban. How did Congress finally achieve consensus on this? Read more: The Senate spent the day debating a bill that would provide billions of dollars in aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. But something else is also tucked into the bill: an ultimatum to TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the popular app or see it effectivel...
Can cities fine unhoused people for sleeping outside?
April 22, 2024 21:22Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the most significant legal challenge to the rights of unhoused people in decades. On “Post Reports,” we hear from a correspondent who visited the city at the center of the debate. Read more: In the small city of Grants Pass, Ore., hundreds of people are living outside, with many camping in the public parks. The anti-camping laws in Grants Pass allow the city to fine those living in public spaces. But unhoused people in the city say that the ...
Deep Reads: Riding the baddest bulls made him a legend. Then one broke his neck.
April 20, 2024 21:00 - 48.3 MBArguably the greatest bull rider who has ever lived, J.B. Mauney was thrown from a bull in September 2023 and forced to retire. Mauney lives on his ranch in Stephenville, Tex., with his family and the bull that ended his career. The former bull rider has led an uncompromising life. Now, not only has he accepted his fate, but he’s made friends with it. This story is part of our Deep Reads series, which showcases narrative journalism at The Washington Post. It was written and read by Sally J...
The Campaign Moment: Trump jurors and Biden on Israel
April 19, 2024 19:54Elahe Izadi talks with Aaron Blake and Liz Goodwin about Week 1 of Trump’s first criminal trial, how Israel is dividing Democrats in Congress, and whether GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson’s strategy to approve aid to Ukraine could cost him his job. Read more: In Friday’s episode of “The Campaign Moment,” we look back at the political news of the week and dive into how it could shape the 2024 election. This week, senior political reporter Aaron Blake – who also writes The Post’s newsletter o...
America’s toxic tap water problem
April 18, 2024 21:41Despite being the world’s wealthiest nation, the U.S. has communities that are still exposed to toxic tap water. Today, we hear how a city in New Mexico has struggled with high levels of arsenic in its water — and how its residents are fighting back. Read more: Fifty years after the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is supposed to limit toxins in Americans’ water, many people around the country cannot safely drink from the tap. Drinking water samples tested in Sunland Park, a...
How a narco revolt pushed a peaceful nation to the brink
April 17, 2024 21:03A high-profile prison escape. A TV station takeover. An assault on police. Today on “Post Reports,” how powerful gangs in Ecuador pushed this historically peaceful nation to the brink and led its new president to declare war. Read more: Ecuador has long been an ecotourism hub and a safe haven, mostly immune from the guerilla violence endured for decades in neighboring Colombia and Peru. But the country has experienced a shift in recent years, becoming a center for drug trafficking and org...
Will Israel “take the win”?
April 16, 2024 21:44On Saturday, Iran directly attacked Israel. Now, Israel’s war cabinet is weighing possible responses as the U.S. and others have called for restraint. Read more: Ninety-nine percent of the more than 300 missiles and armed drones Iran launched against Israel were intercepted by Israel and its allies, according to the Israel Defense Forces. But the direct attack has also raised concerns about a broader war between Iran and Israel, and whether Israel would be able to fight two wars at once...
Day 1 of Trump's first criminal trial
April 15, 2024 21:21Today on Post Reports, we’re on the scene at the Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump is facing trial in the first ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president. Read more: Jury selection began today in the trial to determine whether Trump broke state law in New York by falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment in 2016 to keep adult film actress Stormy Daniels quiet about their alleged affair. Isaac Arnsdorf and Shayna Jacobs are at the courthouse and tell Ma...
The Campaign Moment: It’s 1864 in Arizona
April 12, 2024 20:22It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments during the 2024 campaign. Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, the author of The Post’s newsletter by the same name, chats with Martine Powers and our Arizona-based democracy reporter, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, about the Arizona abortion ruling threatening to upend the 2024 election. The Arizona Supreme Court this week ruled that a near-total abortion ban ...
How will O.J. Simpson be remembered?
April 11, 2024 21:47O.J. Simpson has died at 76. He became a a football star, but a 1995 murder trial made him infamous. Simpson was eventually acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife and her friend – a verdict that split the public. How will he be remembered? Read more: Simpson grew up in a poor neighborhood in San Francisco, and eventually rose to NFL stardom playing for the Buffalo Bills and later the San Francisco 49ers. He was one of the most well- known and well-liked personalities off the field, too, an...