Fed Governor Fired, Trump Expands National Guard, Abrego Garcia Back in Custody

0:02President Trump wants to fire a Federal Reserve governor. one of his political appointees found an allegation against her. This lady, I don't understand how she can be in charge of setting interest rates for our country. Lisa Cook says Trump can't fire her, so what's the law say? I mean, Martinez, that's Stephen Skeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. The mayor of Washington, D.C. defends cashless bail, letting out suspects without posting bond. I frankly think that that has worked better than any system. Cashless bail is not a new phenomenon in the district. So why is the president demanding that the district change the policy, and can he persuade Congress to do that for him?

0:40Also, a judge stopped the federal government from deporting Kilmer Abrego Garcia again. She wants him to have a hearing before he's sent to Uganda. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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2:23President Trump has moved to fire a member of the Federal Reserve Governing Board. It's the latest escalation in Trump's effort to exert more control over the central bank. Now, the Fed is designed to be insulated from political pressure from the White House, so Trump's move may face a legal challenge. NPR chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley joins us once again. Scott, good morning. Good morning, Steve. Okay, the president made this announcement in a social media post regarding Fed Governor Lisa Cook. What's going on? This is ostensibly a reaction to claims made by Trump ally Bill Pulte, who oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

2:58Pulte accused Cook of making false statements on a mortgage application back in 2021 before she joined the Federal Reserve. Pulte says Cook applied for home loans on two different properties weeks apart in two different states and said that each one would be her primary residence, which would typically result in better loan terms. Now, if true, that certainly raises eyebrows. Pulte told CNBC last week he thought it was enough to remove Cook from her post at the Federal Reserve. I don't know what cause is if that's not cause. I mean, this lady, I don't understand how she can be in charge of setting interest rates for our country.

3:33And here she is potentially lying on her applications to get better interest rates. He says potentially there. So far, this is just an allegation. And Pulte's leveled similar charges at other Trump antagonists like Adam Schiff, the senator from California, Letitia James, the attorney general from New York. The president said in a social media post he does not have confidence in Cook and that that's enough cause to remove her. By law, governors at the central bank can only be removed for cause, which is designed to protect the Fed from political meddling by the White House. Well, if that's what the law says, what is Lisa Cook saying?

4:07Cook says the president has no authority to fire her, and she's vowing to carry out her duties as a Fed governor. A statement from her attorney, Abby Lowell, says Cook will take whatever actions are necessary to prevent what he called this illegal firing. Democrats are rallying around Cook, who was appointed by former President Biden. For instance, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who's the top Democrat on the committee that oversees the Fed, called Trump's effort to remove Cook an authoritarian power grab and said it must be overturned in court. I'm trying to get the context here, Scott Horsley.

4:39we have seen in recent days the Department of Justice go after people the president doesn't like. We know other parts of the federal government have made a point of doing that. The Federal Communications Commission goes to mind targeting media organizations the president doesn't like. In this case, we have a housing agency that has repeatedly come up with issues with people the president doesn't like. And he's made no secret of the fact that he wants the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. How's this fit in? Yeah, Trump has really taken a sledgehammer to the protective barriers that are supposed to insulate the Fed.

5:12He's been very critical of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. He's attacked the central bank over cost overruns. If he succeeds in removing Cook from the board, that would create another vacancy for Trump to fill with someone more likely to do his bidding. By the way, economists are virtually unanimous that an independent central bank works better than one that's under the thumb of the president. Just yesterday, the National Association for Business Economics released a survey about this. Courtney Schubert, who's with Macro Policy Perspectives, talked about the results. Around 95 % of economists are concerned about the Federal Reserve's independence being compromised over the next several years.

5:48And three out of four economists surveyed said the president should play no role in setting interest rates. Scott, thanks for your insights as always. You're welcome. That's NPR's Scott Horsley.

6:05The president is seeking to expand his weeks-long military intervention in Washington, D.C. He's threatening to punish the city and others around the country for abolishing cash bail, and he's hoping to expand the National Guard's role in policing. Let's talk about this with WAMU senior D.C. politics reporter Alex Coma. Alex, good morning. Hey, good morning. Cashless bail is going to be a new concept to some people. So how's it work, and why is the president so focused on it? Yeah, well, the basic idea is that, you know, if you're accused of a crime, you're being held in jail before trial. You don't have to post a money bond in order to get out.

6:42The decision is entirely in the hands of the courts or, you know, the judges to decide, you know, whether you're a risk to community if you be released. And D.C. hasn't had, you know, a cash bail system since 1992. The reform was sort of made because I think lawmakers recognized that it disproportionately impacted poor black people stuck waiting in jail until their trial because they couldn't afford to pay. And the president objects to this. Why? It seems soft on crime. Yeah, I mean, his claim is that it lets murderers easily walk free, but that's extremely rare. I mean, just four percent of all people here in D.C.

7:19were released before trial were accused of violent crimes last year. So, you know, this is something that has not really had negative consequences for D.C. Studies show that something like 90 percent of D.C. defendants still show up to court, which is a major mark for proponents of cash bail. Very few are rearrested while awaiting trial. And these are numbers that hold across all states and cities that have abolished the system. So how are people in the District of Columbia responding as the president says, I want this policy changed and we may impose some kind of consequences on your funding if you don't do it?

7:51Yeah, many doubt that what he wants to do is even legal. I mean, as we saw with the rescissions fight, there are real questions whether he can take money that's been already appropriate by Congress. And, of course, Congress can overturn D.C.'s past laws here, but the president can't just because he passes an executive order saying he doesn't like them. So D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has also observed that the city recently gave judges more leeway to hold people in jail as they await trial after a contentious debate last year. And that speaks directly to Trump's concerns about, you know, are people accused of violent crimes being released?

8:26I frankly think that that has worked better than any system. Cashless bail is not a new phenomenon in the district. You know, still, that being said, you know, local leaders are still on edge here because Trump has been meddling with the city's affairs a lot recently, including seizing control of the police department, sending in the National Guard and other federal agents. What more does he want to do now with the National Guard? Yeah, so he says he wants to train a special unit of the Guard dedicated to public safety in D.C., and he can do that because he does have command of the Guard here.

8:57D.C. is in the state, so there's no governor who'd be in charge of it. Trump also wants to send similar resources to the Guard in other cities to assist in responding to quote-unquote civil unrest. But the Guard is, of course, limited by what it can do to patrol American cities. You know, troops can respond if they're attacked, but they don't have police powers or even really the training to assist police. So, you know, no one is really sure how this part is going to work. How much of this can the president replicate in other cities where he would have less direct authority than he might have in Washington, D.C.?

9:30Yeah, I think California points the way here. You know, he can claim some sort of emergency pretext, as he did in Los Angeles and set in federal troops, but he'll ultimately run into guardrails. You have governors that have standing to sue, such as Gavin Newsom, who did. And, you know, then it can play out in the courts. D.C., you don't have the same situation, and I think that shows why he's doing things here. The city lives in perpetual fear that, you know, he's going to team up with Congress to revoke what limited self-governance the government does have here. And that situation is going to remain unchanged, regardless of the president or party in power, unless the city is someday made a state.

10:05He has much less influence in other places unless Congress happens to step in. Senior D.C. politics reporter Alex Coma of our member station, WAMU, one of hundreds of NPR stations and communities across this country. Alex, thanks so much. It was so great to be here.

10:29Kilmar Abrego-Garcia is back in federal custody and waiting to find out how long he may remain in the United States. He was deported by mistake to El Salvador, then returned to the U.S. Now, the U.S. government says it will deport Abrego Garcia again, this time, though, to the African nation of Uganda. A judge says not yet. NPR's Jasmine Garst covers immigration, and she's covering this story. Jasmine, good morning. Good morning. We've been following this case for months now. Where does it stand today? So, Alti entered a mandatory ICE check-in in Maryland yesterday. Abrego Garcia was immediately taken into immigration custody again.

11:06And now his attorneys are fighting to stop him from getting deported to Uganda, which his lawyers say is a purely vindictive move. And yesterday's court hearing, Federal Judge Polizinis gave a stern warning to the Department of Justice. Until Abrego Garcia has had a chance to challenge the deportation in court, the government is absolutely forbidden from removing him from the U.S. Now, she said she's asked lawyers on both sides to agree on an expedited schedule for his case by today, and she said she would move as fast as is just. I'm looking at the wording that you gave us there, absolutely forbidden, the judge's words.

11:49I guess from her perspective, she would have reason to be stern on this point. What's the background of this case? Abrego Garcia's detention was really one of the first high-profile immigration cases of the Trump administration's crackdown. And at its center are questions about due process for undocumented immigrants. Some background. Abrego Garcia came from El Salvador to the U.S. illegally in 2011. He was 16 years old. He says he was escaping gang death threats there. Since he came to the U.S., he has not been convicted of any crimes. The Trump administration has accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which he has repeatedly denied.

12:31More recently, the government has indicted him on charges of human smuggling. He also denies that. And what's really important here is that in 2019, an immigration court ruled that he cannot be deported back to El Salvador because of a well founded fear of gang persecution there. And then what is the way that he came to the attention of the Trump administration this year? So the Trump administration sent him to a notorious prison in El Salvador. They admitted that his removal was a mistake. And after a lot of back and forth in the courts, he was eventually brought back to the U.S. in June to face new unrelated charges of human smuggling, which stemmed from a traffic stop in Tennessee in 2022.

13:19He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. He was released from federal custody last week pending the criminal trial. And now he's in detention again. And just to understand the legal background here, the thing the government was forbidden to do was send him to El Salvador, where he faced a threat. So far as we know, they may well have the right to send him anywhere else in the world, Uganda, Costa Rica, anyplace else, right? Absolutely. You know, the U.S. has an agreement with Uganda. And right now, that is what is being challenged in the courts. NPR's Jasmine Garst, thanks very much. Thank you so much, Steve.

14:02And that's Up First for this Tuesday, August 26th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Martinez. How about listening to Consider This from NPR? We hear it up first, give you the three big stories of the day, or consider this colleagues, take a different approach. They dive into a single news story and what it means to you, and you can learn all about it in fewer than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts. Today's Up First was edited by Padma Rama, Rafael Nam, Eric Westervelt, Lisa Thompson, and H.J. Mai. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Mansi Khurana, who was our director this morning.

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