Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Debra Kamen. I'm an investigative reporter at The New York Times. What I do is I look at the people running the real estate industry, who for so many years have been relatively invisible. And the more that I look into it, the more that I find there are people in the real estate industry operating unethically. And their unethical behavior affects every single American.
At The New York Times, we're always looking a little bit deeper to help readers better understand the world. You can subscribe to The New York Times at nytimes.com slash subscribe.
From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, February 27th. Here's what we're covering.
Well, I have just finished testifying. I answered every one of their questions as fully as I could.
In a closed-door meeting yesterday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat for a deposition that stretched more than six hours as members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee questioned her about Jeffrey Epstein.
returned to answer questions repetitively, literally over and over again. I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island. I never went to his homes. I never went to his offices.
Clinton, along with her husband, the former president, had spent months trying to fight congressional subpoenas to testify, calling them invalid and politically motivated. They only agreed to appear after they were threatened with contempt of Congress. At that point, they asked for their testimony to be public so anyone could watch. Republicans refused.
But yesterday, a Republican member of the committee, Representative Lauren Boebert, leaked an image of Clinton from inside the room, which was immediately posted to social media by a right-wing podcaster. That almost derailed the whole session. Clinton abruptly paused her testimony before eventually agreeing to continue.
We are sitting through an incredibly unserious clown show of a deposition where members of Congress and the Republican Party are more concerned about getting their photo op of Secretary Clinton than actually getting to the truth and holding anyone accountable.
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Chapter 2: What did Hillary Clinton say during her deposition regarding Jeffrey Epstein?
By total chance, New York City's mayors, Oran Mamdani, happened to be on his way to the White House for an unrelated meeting with President Trump. In social media posts, Mamdani said he raised the arrest with the president. Trump later told him she would be released, and she was.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, says her deportation case is still active because she does not have a valid student visa. DHS has also disputed Columbia's version of events, saying the agents were wearing badges and had verbally identified themselves. It's simply shocking. It shocks the conscience. True.
Some New York officials, meanwhile, condemned the agents for entering school property under what they said were false pretenses. And in a statement, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, quote, no one should disappear at the hands of the government.
In Texas, for the second time this month, the FAA has closed a pocket of American airspace over concerns about a high-energy laser that the government's been using. The Department of Defense used the laser yesterday to shoot down a drone over a small border town near El Paso.
It's very similar to what happened in early February when the same technology was used to take down what Customs and Border Protection thought was a drone but turned out to be a balloon. The laser's an example of increasingly powerful anti-drone technology that's raised concerns over what could happen if it's used near commercial airplanes.
In both cases, the laser was used without the FAA's approval, and the agency then abruptly closed the nearby airspace out of caution. The first time, the entire El Paso airport had to be temporarily shut down. Critics say the incident show a communication breakdown inside the government.
And yesterday's use of the laser may underscore that further because The Times has learned that the drone the Pentagon shot down was a U.S. government drone. Four people who were not authorized to speak publicly said it was from the Department of Homeland Security.
It's not clear what the military thought it was aiming at, though federal officials have said that drug cartels have flown tens of thousands of drones near the border in recent years. The FAA, Defense Department, and Customs and Border Protection issued a joint statement saying they would, quote, continue to work on increased cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future.
In Silicon Valley yesterday, there was one of the clearest signs yet of how artificial intelligence is set to radically upend the American workforce. The financial technology company Block, which owns Cash App, the streaming service Tidal, and Square, the card payment system you see at stores across the country, announced it's cutting roughly 4,000 jobs. That's 40% of the company.
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Chapter 3: How did the deposition of Hillary Clinton impact the Republican-led House Oversight Committee?
The answer? The head of the FBI, who is a hockey player himself and a big-time fan, Kash Patel. Patel has defended making the trip to the Games in Italy, saying it was in part to help oversee Olympic security. But critics say it's just the latest in a string of questionable uses of taxpayer funds.
Last year, Patel used a government jet to fly to a private hunting ranch in Texas, a Scottish golf resort, and to Pennsylvania, where his girlfriend, who's a country singer, was performing at a wrestling match. And last question, on Wednesday the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its list of nominees for 2026. It's intended to be a measure of who has stood the test of time.
You're not even eligible until 25 years after the release of your first recording. Unlike in previous years, where the Hall has been criticized for being very thin on nominations for women, this year there are a half dozen in the mix. We're going to have you guess a few of them, but because these are huge artists with famous songs, we are going to play you the songs backwards.
No secret messages here, just trying to give you a challenge. First one.
Next one And last track
The answers, Pink with So What, Shakira with Waka Waka, and Mariah Carey with her holiday mega hit, All I Want for Christmas is You. Bells, bells, we're trying to tell you something. That is it for this week's news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, our email is theheadlines at nytimes.com. I'm Tracy Mumford. The Headlines will be back on Monday.
Thank you.
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