Post Reports

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The Uber Files Jul 11, 2022

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Today on Post Reports, we dig into the findings of an explosive new report about Uber, and reveal the human cost of Uber’s quest for rapid growth.

The Uber Files is an international investigation into the ride-hailing company’s aggressive entrance into cities around the world — while frequently challenging the reach of existing laws and regulations. Documents illuminate how Uber used stealth technology to thwart regulators and law enforcement and how the company courted prominent political leaders, Russian oligarchs and media conglomerates as it sought footholds outside the United States.

The project is based on more than 124,000 emails, text messages, memos and other records that a former top lobbyist for Uber, Mark MacGann, provided to the Guardian. It shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which helped lead the project, and dozens of other news organizations, including The Washington Post. Journalists from 29 countries joined the effort to analyze the records over four months.

Today, reporter Doug MacMillan tells the behind-the-scenes story of the tactics Uber used as the company expanded rapidly, and the human cost for drivers.

The next abortion fight is over state lines Jul 08, 2022

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The president is taking steps to safeguard abortion access, even as some lawmakers are talking about blocking patients from seeking the procedure across state lines. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore abortion’s next legal battleground.

Two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection to abortion in the United States, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding abortion rights. This includes measures to ensure access to abortion medication and emergency contraception, protecting patient privacy, and bolstering legal options for those seeking access to such care.

These measures will potentially help people who already face obstacles to getting an abortion. But they’re also a defense against new laws that could be coming in antiabortion states. Some antiabortion lawmakers are looking to prevent people from traveling to other states to obtain abortions. Caroline Kitchener brings us behind the scenes with some of the key players in the interstate legal fight.

Boris makes his Brexit Jul 07, 2022

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It’s official: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. We review the scandals that led Johnson here and try to understand what happens next for his party. Then we discuss WNBA star Brittney Griner’s guilty plea and why it’s not surprising.

After a week of government resignations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday that he is stepping down as the leader of the Conservative Party.

The calls for Johnson to resign came after the discovery that the prime minister had promoted a lawmaker to a position of power, despite knowing of accusations of sexual misconduct against the appointee. After a long string of scandals throughout Johnson’s term, cabinet members said they could no longer trust the prime minister. So we asked London bureau chief William Booth: Where does this leave the future of the British government?

Later in the show, Dave Sheinin, a sports reporter for The Post, breaks down the guilty plea of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner, who remains detained in Russia on a drug charge, submitted the plea in court Thursday. Meanwhile, pressure mounts on the Biden administration to make larger strides to get her back to the United States.

A rescue mission outside of Kyiv Jul 06, 2022

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Many of those who are covering the war in Ukraine also call it home. Today on Post Reports, the story of a reporting trip to Chernihiv that also became a rescue mission for one of our colleagues.

As the battle for the east of Ukraine intensifies, we take you to a city north of Kyiv that survived weeks of Russian siege. It also happens to be the hometown of Kostiantyn Khudov, a Ukrainian journalist who has been working for The Post since before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February.

The relationship between foreign and local journalists is a crucial one — as Kostiantyn and The Post’s Siobhán O’Grady explain, it allows the world to see what’s happening in cities like Chernihiv.

Today we go there with Siobhan and Kostiantyn, and learn what it’s like to cover a war so close to home.

How do you punish a mass shooter? Jul 05, 2022

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Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about the chaos and terror at July Fourth celebrations over the holiday weekend. Then, we break down a big decision point for the Justice Department on whether to seek the death penalty in another recent mass shooting.

In Highland Park, Ill., a holiday parade became a scene of horror as a gunman opened fire on the crowd.

At other celebrations in cities nationwide, the booming sounds of fireworks were apparently mistaken for gunshots, sending scores of revelers fleeing for cover.

“I think a big piece of what we saw on Monday is this loss of trust over the last several years,” reporter Marc Fisher said.

The rise of mass shootings in America has brought up so many complicated and sad questions: How are we supposed to live in a society where we have to be so fearful? What will it take to prevent these shootings from happening? And how do we punish the people who perpetrate unthinkable acts of violence?

Today, we are diving into that last question, in an interview with our colleague David Nakamura.

In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Buffalo, the Biden administration must decide whether to pursue the death penalty for the 18-year-old suspect. When he visited Buffalo last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland assured survivors and victims’ families that a full investigation was taking place. It’s a “death penalty eligible crime,” Garland said in a news conference. But this Justice Department is conflicted — civil rights advocates have long opposed capital punishment, saying that it is inhumane and disproportionately used against racial minorities.

Freaking out about the economy? Let's talk. Jul 04, 2022

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Gas prices are high, unemployment is low and the tools the federal government has to fight inflation could cause a recession. So how should we think about the economy right now? We asked our econ reporters and a personal finance columnist for advice.

Businesses and consumers are increasingly worried the U.S. economy will tip into a recession. There are already growing signs that Americans are starting to spend less on dining out, vacation plans and even such routine services as manicures and haircuts. Today on “Post Reports,” we take some of your questions about the economy, and get answers from economics correspondent Abha Bhattarai, personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary and reporter Rachel Siegel, who covers the Federal Reserve.

Miscarriage, abortion and the legal gray area for doctors Jul 01, 2022

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Doctors are worried gray areas in new abortion bans force a choice between breaking their oath and breaking the law. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to an OB/GYN about what those decisions are like. Plus, how to cover your digital trail if you seek an abortion.

Health and science reporter Ariana Eunjung Cha recently wrote about the fear and confusion many doctors are facing since Roe was overturned.. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) joined numerous other professional organizations and medical journals over the past few days in warning that the ruling will affect health care beyond abortion, creating new risks for patients and potentially increasing maternal mortality. We interviewed Nisha Verma, an OB/GYN in Atlanta who is also a fellow at ACOG. She talked about the gray areas these laws and restrictions don’t cover.

“These laws don’t make any sense,” Verma told Elahe Izadi. While lawmakers point out that there are exceptions for the life of the pregnant person, Verma says it’s very unclear what that means.

“There's not a moment in time. This line where someone goes from being completely fine to dying. It's a continuum. People get sicker and sicker. And so we have to be able to make decisions in that continuum with all of the training that we have without having to worry about whether the person was sick enough or whether we're going to get in trouble under the law,” Verma said.

Also on the show, tech reporter Heather Kelly explains how to protect your privacy if you’re seeking abortion care — and why period-tracking apps are best avoided.

A SCOTUS term like no other Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court — just after the court delivered a blow to President Biden’s climate plan. Today, we talk about the divided court and what it means for the future of our democracy.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court sharply cut back the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to reduce the carbon output of existing power plants, a major setback for the Biden administration’s plans to combat climate change.

The vote was 6 to 3 — like many votes were this term — with the court’s conservative supermajority voting together on blockbuster issue after issue, including gun control and abortion.

“Any one of these would have been a big decision on its own,” says Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes. “The fact that there were so many of them this term is what I think has really put the Supreme Court in the public eye in a way that it hasn't been for years.”

Congress passed gun control. Will it last? Jun 29, 2022

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Congress notched a major legislative win last week by passing gun control legislation. But will a recent Supreme Court ruling on a concealed-carry law blunt the victory?

One day before Congress sent a landmark piece of gun legislation to President Biden’s desk, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on New York’s concealed-carry licenses that could weaken the law. Then, the morning of the bill’s passage, the Supreme Court announced another landmark decision, overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Leigh Ann Caldwell, anchor for Washington Post Live and the co-author of the Early 202 politics newsletter, joins us to talk about how those two rulings affected Congress. And she explains what’s in the new gun control bill that was signed by President Biden last week, and how Republicans in the Senate came on board for a genuinely bipartisan effort.

The most damning Jan. 6 testimony yet Jun 28, 2022

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On Tuesday in a surprise hearing, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson gave the most damning testimony to date on President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

It didn’t take long to find out why the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol chose to hold a surprise hearing on Tuesday: Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided what quickly became clear was the most damning testimony to date on President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.

Reporter Aaron Blake says her testimony is particularly important when it comes to just how much Trump cultivated and even desired the insurrection itself — and whether, crucial from a legal standpoint, his effort to overturn the election was corrupt.

Hutchinson stitched together repeated warnings — some involving Trump himself, including that he was warned that his Jan. 6 rallygoers had weapons — about what might happen. Despite these warnings, aides struggled to talk Trump out of a plan to march to the Capitol. And despite warnings about weapons in the crowd the morning of Jan. 6, Trump still directed people toward the Capitol in his speech.

Hutchinson, a former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, said Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had advocated for a march to the Capitol after Trump’s speech on the Ellipse. She said this prompted Meadows to worry “things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”

Follow all The Post’s coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings here.

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