Post Reports

In 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 about his drug use when purchasing a firearm in Delaware in 2018.

The president’s son faces three felony charges related to the gun purchase. 

Today on “Post Reports,” Justice Department reporter Perry Stein and host Martine Powers break down the charges Biden faces in his federal trial, why the prosecution is using his memoir as evidence and what impact the case could have on his father’s reelection campaign. 

Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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On 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 Martine Powers speaks with health reporter Dan Diamond about why this hearing catapulted a retired Fauci back into the headlines.

Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sean Carter.

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TikTok offered the Biden administration a kill switch. Today on “Post Reports,” why the U.S. government declined.

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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 administration, however, went its own way. 

Today on “Post Reports,” tech reporter Drew Harwell takes host Elahe Izadi behind the scenes of the U.S. government’s decision to pass on TikTok’s proposal. 

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here and check out this story about the health consequences of loud restaurants.

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.

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 Izadi. 

They talk about the politics of Donald Trump’s guilty verdict, how Republicans and Democrats are reacting to it, and the politicization of the rule of law. 

Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Renita Jablonski and Mary Jo Murphy. 

Subscribe to Aaron’s newsletter, The Campaign Moment, here. 

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A 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.

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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 on the verdict after deliberating for two days, finding that Trump falsified records to cover up a $130,000 payment made to an adult-film actress before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with him years earlier.

Politics reporter Isaac Arnsdorf was in the courthouse as the verdict was read. Tonight on “Post Reports,” he talks with host Elahe Izadi about that moment, and what comes next.

Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Renita Jablonski. 

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How far-right Israeli settlers are blocking aid to Gaza. And, why humanitarian aid has become politicized.

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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 humanitarian crisis in the region, and how aid has become so politicized. 

Today’s episode was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks also to Erin Cunningham.

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Crypto, 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.

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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 putting the power grid under so much strain, what solutions the government and Big Tech are proposing, and who will foot the bill. 

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Peter Bresnan, with help from Monica Campbell. It was mixed by Sean Carter. 

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India’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.

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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 margin. A lot of Modi’s support is coming from women – largely because they are in favor of his Hindu nationalist platform and because his party has encouraged women to work. He has also been able to reach young voters through his social media campaigning. 

But many see India’s struggling economy and his Hindu nationalism as reasons to vote him out – particularly because attacks against Muslims have increased during his time in office. An alliance of more than two dozen parties is running against him, but they’ve struggled to stay organized and make gains. 

Correspondent Karishma Mehrotra reports from New Delhi on what it’s been like on the campaign trail and what it could mean to have Modi lead for a third term.

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon and Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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A 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 overwhelmed housing authority. The promise of public housing, where rent was typically capped at 30 percent of tenants’ incomes, appears to no longer include safety. The reasons lie in a tangle of acronyms and funding streams, regulations and deputy directors, good intentions followed by fine print and excuses. 

This story is part of our Deep Reads series, which showcases narrative journalism at The Washington Post. It was written and read by Jose A. Del Real. Audio narration comes from our partners at Noa, an app offering curated audio articles.

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'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 boost turnout in key battleground states, Donald Trump’s claims that President Biden was prepared to “take me out” when the Department of Justice raided Mar-a-Lago in 2022, and the controversy swirling around political-flag-flying at Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s homes.

Today’s show was produced by Ted Muldoon and Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Renita Jablonski and Mary Jo Murphy and mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy. 

Subscribe to Aaron’s newsletter, The Campaign Moment, here. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.