Hey there, Pawel Poundstone here. When you're done listening to this podcast, check out my new show, Live From the Poundstone Institute.

I mean, you could try listening to this show and my show at the same time, but that might drive you insane.

Find Live From the Poundstone Institute on Apple Podcasts or the NPR1 app.

So things have usually changed by the time you listen to the podcast, but every once in a while things have changed before we've even posted the podcast.

And that is the case today. We recorded the weekly roundup around 1 o'clock, but later in the afternoon, word broke that special counsel Robert Mueller is now using a Washington, DC grand jury in connection with his investigation.

This is a significant step in any sort of criminal investigation, but it probably shouldn't be read as a major game changing development.

Just to sign that the investigation is pretty serious.

In response to the news, the White House has released a statement from Ty Cobb, the new special counsel to the president.

He says, quote, grand jury matters are typically secret. The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly.

The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr. Mueller. And the White House statement adds that former FBI director Jim Comey said three times the president is not under investigation.

And we have no reason to believe that has changed a spokesman for Mueller declined to comment to NPR. So there you go. And now here's the rest of the show, which again we recorded around 1 o'clock on Thursday.

Hey there. It's the NPR politics podcast here with our weekly roundup of political news. It's been a relatively quiet few days in the White House at least compared to the standards set last week.

Hi bar. How much of that has to do with new chief of staff, John Kelly. We'll talk about that. Plus how Congress has clearly moved on from healthcare for now.

And we'll look at all the ways President Trump has been trying to appeal to his base lately. I'm Scott Detero. I cover Congress for NPR.

I'm Tamer Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Susan Davis. I also cover Congress.

And I'm Dominican Montenarro political editor. I don't usually like to shush, but that was that was that you. Yeah, it was me. I don't I'm not a shusher and I don't like shushers.

And yet you shushed. I did. However, we were trying not to jinx knock on wood. Is that better? Yeah.

And we will now have to do five more podcasts between now and all right.

All right. So let's start this off with the White House. John Kelly comes in. Anthony Scaremucci gets the boot.

We talked about that last episode. But what are the other sides we've seen or heard about how Kelly is changing things of the White House?

What we've been told is that he has taken control of the door to the Oval Office and is trying to control and seemingly succeeding thus far. Now it is only Thursday at sort of controlling the information flow to the president.

He's also made some staffing changes. Not just the mooch.

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