Jim Tucker could hardly believe what he was hearing. It sounded like fiction, a nightmare too outlandish for an unassuming town like his.

It was July 2023, and Tucker was hosting a meeting of the board of Heartland Tri-State Bank, a community-owned business in a small Kansas town called Elkhart. Heartland was a beloved local institution and a source of Tucker family pride: Tucker served on the board with his elderly father, Bill, who founded the bank four decades earlier. All of the board members — the Tuckers and several other farmers and businesspeople — had known one another for years.

That evening, however, they were gathering to discuss what seemed, on its face, an epic betrayal. Over the past few weeks, the bank’s longtime president, a popular local businessman named Shan Hanes, had ordered a series of unexplained wire transfers that drained tens of millions of dollars from the bank. Hanes converted the funds into cryptocurrencies. Then the money vanished.

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This week, President Trump proposed two deals that would require allies to put his needs ahead of their own.

Times’ Journalists Michael Barbaro, Catie Edmonson, Maggie Haberman, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs discuss how, in both cases, Trump got what he wanted.

Guest: 

• Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.
• Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.
• Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

Background reading: 

• Here’s what’s in the House Republican budget, and what comes next.
• What we know about the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: The New York Times.

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During his decades-long path to become America’s highest-ranking military officer, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. won the crucial support of President Trump.

That all changed when Mr. Brown publicly talked about a subject that is taboo in Mr. Trump’s government.

Helene Cooper, who covers national security for The Times, explains why General Brown was fired and why it has rocked the military.

Guest: Helene Cooper, who cover national security issues for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• President Trump fired General Brown amid a flurry of dismissals at the Pentagon.
• Democratic lawmakers and retired military officers expressed concern about politicization of the military under Mr. Trump.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Shawn Thew/EPA, via Shutterstock

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Today, as the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas enters its most fragile phase, no one knows who will control the future of Gaza.

Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, talks through this delicate moment — as the first part of the deal nears its end — and the questions that hover over it.

Guest: Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Gaza’s truce could end in days, with no extension agreed. What happens next?
• Alarmed by President Trump’s Gaza plan, Arab leaders brainstormed about one of their own.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Saher Alghorra for The New York Times

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Warning: This episode discusses sexual themes.

Artificial intelligence has changed how millions of people write emails, conduct research and seek advice.

Kashmir Hill, who covers technology and privacy, tells the story of a woman whose relationship with a chatbot when much further than that.

Guest: Kashmir Hill, a features writer on the business desk at The New York Times, covering technology and privacy.

Background reading: 

• She is in love with ChatGPT.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Helen Orr for The New York Times

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Warning: This episode contains mentions of suicide.

Since President Trump took office, his plan to deport millions of undocumented people has kept running into barriers. That has forced the White House to come up with ever more creative, and controversial, tactics.

The Times journalists Julie Turkewitz and Hamed Aleaziz explain why some migrants are being held in a hotel in Panama.

Guest: 

• Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Bogotá, Colombia. Her recent work has focused on migration.
• Hamed Aleaziz, who covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy in the United States for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• As President Trump “exports” deportees, hundreds have been trapped in a hotel in Panama.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Federico Rios for The New York Times

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When David Muhammad was 15, his mother moved from Oakland, Calif., to Philadelphia with her boyfriend, leaving Muhammad in the care of his brothers, ages 20 and 21, both of whom were involved in the drug scene. Over the next two years, Muhammad was arrested three times — for selling drugs, attempted murder and illegal gun possession.

For Muhammad, life turned around. He wound up graduating from Howard University, running a nonprofit in Oakland called the Mentoring Center and serving in the leadership of the District of Columbia’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. Then he returned to Oakland for a two-year stint as chief probation officer for Alameda County, in the same system that once supervised him.

Muhammad’s unlikely elevation came during a remarkable, if largely overlooked, era in the history of America’s juvenile justice system. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of young people incarcerated in the United States declined by an astonishing 77 percent. Can that progress be sustained — or is America about to reverse course and embark on another juvenile incarceration binge?

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This week, President Trump falsely claimed that Ukraine started the war against Russia, ordered federal agencies created by Congress to answer directly to him and installed himself as the leader of Washington’s premiere cultural institution.

The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Charlie Savage and Elisabeth Bumiller sit down to make sense of it all.

Guest: 

• Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times,
• Charlie Savage, who writes about national security and legal policy for The New York Times.
• Elisabeth Bumiller, a writer-at-large for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Trump flipped the script on the war in Ukraine, blaming Volodymyr Zelensky, not Vladimir V. Putin.
• The president’s moves to upend federal bureaucracy touch off fear and confusion.
• Trump said he would install himself as the new Kennedy Center chairman.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: The New York Times

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.