Thursday, August 7th, 2025 - Putin’s peace pitch; Trump’s tariff tantrums; RFK Jr.’s war on mRNA; Library of Congress “coding error” & more

Today’s Headlines: Putin wants to meet with Trump next week to talk about ending the war in Ukraine, and Trump says he’s hoping to follow that up with a three-way summit with Zelensky. While that’s brewing, Trump’s playing tariff hardball—he just doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% to punish them for buying Russian oil (which… they already said they were going to keep doing). He also announced 100% tariffs on imported semiconductor chips unless companies build in the US, but Apple’s apparently promised $100B in US investments, so they’re cool. In Georgia, a 28-year-old Army sergeant shot five fellow soldiers at Fort Stewart before being tackled by other troops. Everyone’s expected to recover, and the Army’s investigating. The Library of Congress had to admit that major sections of the Constitution—like habeas corpus and the emoluments clause—were missing from their site due to a “coding error.” Sure. RFK Jr., now head of Health & Human Services, just canceled $500B in contracts for mRNA vaccine development because he doesn’t trust the science. Meanwhile, OpenAI inked a $1 deal to give the federal government access to its AI tools next year. And for some good news: crime in the U.S. hit a 20-year low in 2024, and early 2025 data says it’s still going down. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: Axios: Putin proposed summit with Trump: White House AP News: Trump to put additional 25% import taxes on India, bringing combined tariffs to 50% WSJ: Trump Exempts Tech Companies That Invest in U.S. From 100% Chip Tariffs AP News: Army sergeant shot 5 soldiers before he was tackled and arrested at Fort Stewart, officials say Axios: Library of Congress blames "coding error" for missing sections of online Constitution NBC News: RFK Jr. cuts $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts, dealing major blow to promising area of research Wired: OpenAI Announces Massive US Government Partnership Axios: Nation's violent crime rate fell in 2024 to lowest in 20 years: FBI Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices