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The Washington Post

Post 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.

Post Reports

Friendship is vital for our health and happiness, but we don’t always prioritize it. The Optimist’s Maggie Penman goes on a journey to make new friends and learn why so many of us are craving connection.

Today’s show was produced by Maggie Penman, with help from Ted Muldoon, who also mixed the show. It was edited by Allison Klein. 

For more stories from The Optimist, subscribe to our newsletter. If you want to hear more stories like this on the weekend, send Maggie an email at maggie.penman@washpost.com. 

﻿If you want to check out Billy's book, it's called We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

How to make – and keep – friends

The House Oversight Committee released a tranche of emails from the estate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that give us more information about his relationship to President Donald Trump. Today on the politics roundtable, we’ll unpack what these emails say and how the White House has responded.

And, after 43 days, the federal government is back open for business. As the dust settles on the longest shutdown in history, we’ll talk about what lawmakers learned – and whether another shutdown could be right around the corner.

Colby speaks with Dan Merica and Matthew Choi, who are co-anchors of our politics newsletter The Early Brief. 

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff and Josh Carroll. It was edited by Peter Bresnan and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Trump's renewed Epstein problems, plus takeaways from the shutdown

For months, the relationship between the United States and Latin America has been fraught. President Donald Trump has targeted enemies in the region and propped up MAGA-friendly allies. We’ve now reached an inflection point, and the world is watching for what’s next.

Today, two of The Post’s experts on the region, national security correspondent 

Karen DeYoung and Mexico City bureau chief Samantha Schmidt, join host Colby Itkowitz to unpack the latest developments in Latin America, and the throughline of the Trump administration’s ultimate policy objectives.

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon and Ted Muldoon, who also mixed the show. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick. Special thanks to Ben Pauker.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

What's behind Trump's moves in Latin America?

It’s an improbable path, from al-Qaeda to the West Wing. The U.S. had once designated Ahmed al-Sharaa a terrorist. He fought U.S. forces in Iraq and was even imprisoned. Sharaa spent years in northwest Syria leading an Islamic militant group that was affiliated with al-Qaeda until he cut those ties. 

Last year, al-Sharaa led rebel forces that took down Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad, ending decades of repression. As Sharaa looks to gain international favor and trust while rebuilding the country and its security, the 43-year-old met with President Trump on Monday, in the first visit by a Syrian head of state to the White House. Afterward, Sharaa sat down with The Washington Post for an exclusive interview to discuss the historic meeting, the future of Syria and his plans to work with Americans he once fought. 

Today on “Post Reports,” Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with the Post’s international correspondent Susannah George about Syria, al-Sharaa and their conversation. 

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Alan Sipress. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

From al-Qaeda to the White House

Kathryn Bigelow has been thinking about the threat of nuclear war ever since she was a kid. “I come from the era of duck and cover,” she says, “where when I was very little, we had to hide under the desk in the event of an atomic bomb blast.”

Over the last 40 years, she’s been directing tightly-paced thrillers such as “The Hurt Locker” (which won her the Academy Award for best director) and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Her latest film, “A House of Dynamite,” takes on a question that has been on her mind for decades: What would happen if the U.S. were targeted by a nuclear missile? 

The film, which is out on Netflix, has struck a nerve with audiences, becoming the streamer’s most-watched movie in the world and igniting conversation about the accuracy of its depiction of the U.S. missile defense system. 

Today on Post Reports, Elahe Izadi speaks with Kathryn Bigelow and with the film’s screenwriter, Noah Oppenheim, about why they chose to make this film in this moment, and about how they responded when they saw news that the U.S. could restart nuclear testing for the first time in decades. 

Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan and Josh Carroll, with help from Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Kathryn Bigelow on ‘A House of Dynamite’ and the nuclear ‘elephant in the room’

After weeks of holding out, a small group of Senate Democrats voted with Republicans over the weekend to start the process of reopening the government. Since the U.S. government closed its doors on Nov. 1, services like federal food assistance have suffered, and Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service help lines have paused as those workers face furloughs. 

But Democrats had maintained that the pain was worth it, in order to extract more money from Republicans to fund health care subsidies for people who access insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Now, that demand has fallen by the wayside.

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with national political reporter and Senate expert Liz Goodwin about what it will still take to reopen the government, and why this funding compromise has further divided Democrats.

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy with help from Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Laura Benshoff with help from Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Why some Democrats defected to end the shutdown

Jordie Poncy was about to start a job counseling cancer patients when he learned he had cancer himself. Three years later, his health is stable — and he’s finding meaning by helping others fight.

If you want to hear more from The Optimist, follow our newsletter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

How far can a sense of purpose take us?

Kate Barr ran for state Senate in North Carolina’s 37th District as a Democrat last year, expecting to lose. She even branded her campaign with the words “Kate Barr can’t win.” She ran the unconventional campaign to make an argument against gerrymandering — a tactic used in her state and across the country by politicians who have redrawn congressional maps to favor their party. But now she is switching tactics and running for U.S. Congress as a Republican. 

Host Colby Itkowitz sits down with Barr to talk about her chances this time around and what she thinks of redistricting efforts around the country that are making congressional elections even less competitive.

Today’s show was produced by Reena Flores, Josh Carroll and Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Laura Benshoff and mixed by Sean Carter. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

She couldn't win as a Democrat. Will running as a Republican work?

This year, taxpayers will spend about $193 billion to compensate almost 7 million disabled veterans. Some of the conditions prevent veterans from working or doing everyday tasks – but a Post investigation found that many are receiving money for easily manageable ailments like acne, eczema and sleep apnea. Others are filing fraudulent claims to get money for conditions they either don’t have or from which they’ve already recovered. 

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with investigative reporter Craig Whitlock about the antiquated rules that have left the system vulnerable to abuse and the failed attempts to enact reform.. 

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sam Bair. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

How some veterans exploit the VA disability system

There was little suspense after polls closed yesterday. Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the governor’s office in New Jersey, Abigail Spanberger easily defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears for the same office in Virginia, and Californians voted to redraw congressional maps to give Democrats an edge in next year’s midterm elections. In New York City, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani was elected the city’s next mayor after defeating established Democrats like former governor Andrew M. Cuomo in the primary. 

Host Colby Itkowitz talks to Dan Merica, co-anchor of The Post’s Early Brief politics newsletter, about the lessons learned and major takeaways from each of these contests.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Josh Carroll. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy. 

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

How Democrats swept Tuesday’s key elections

Heather Long on why President Trump’s presumed nominee stepped away from the Federal Reserve Board. DeNeen L. Brown on the enslaved African woman documented in Jamestown. Plus, Rachel Hatzipanagos on co-workers of color who are confused for each other.

Why the president's probable nominee for the Fed backed out

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