Good morning. The Times obtained more than 1,000 pages from Cornell University's internal inquiry into rape accusations by "Jane Doe." The woman was initially embarrassed by what happened at a fraternity party in 2024 but soon concluded, "I was assaulted." Read the story of what happened. And a Tennessee woman sentenced to death survived two doses of lethal injection last night, before state officials gave up and took her to a hospital. There's more below. But first, let's go to Washington.
Dark arts President Trump wants to leave his mark on Washington, D.C., sometimes literally. He's building a huge new ballroom and bunker complex in the White House. He has a shiny new helipad out back. He talks about his huge triumphal arch for Memorial Circle, which would also be a sniper hide and place to launch drones. And the U.S. Institute of Peace is now the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts reflects Trump's insistence on approval and recognition more than any place in the capital. "We're going to make it hot," he said at the start of his second term. My colleagues Elizabeth Williamson and Julia Jacobs chronicled Trump's odyssey with the Kennedy Center.
When Trump returned to office, he fired Biden-era appointees on the center's board and installed his chief of staff, the vice president's wife and the commerce secretary's wife. The new board ousted chairman David Rubenstein, who had given $111 million, and named Trump to that position. Richard Grenell fired dozens of staffers and drastically pruned the fundraising office. Performers began canceling shows, and ticket sales plunged. The Kennedy Center turned to MAGA programming, offering discounts to conservative groups and letting FIFA run the World Cup draw. Trump made himself the M.C. of the new Kennedy Center Honors, jokingly calling it "the Trump Kennedy Center."
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing