Fed Governor Legal Fight, DNC Summer Meeting, Taylor Swift Engaged

0:00Can I just, uh, in the morning. Yeah. You're a very loud typer. It's like you stand on business. Oh. Let me do a little imitation. Okay. You do. And then you know the intro is good.

0:17President Trump repeats his concern about a governor of the Fed. We need people that are 100 % above board. He also says outright that removing her would give his appointees a majority of the board. What's his plan? I'm Steve Inskeep with Layla Foddle, and this is Up First from NPR News. The chair of the Democratic National Committee spoke at his party's first big gathering since Trump's return to the White House. I'm sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight. So what does the party plan to do as it grows more unpopular with voters? And Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey are engaged.

0:59I don't think anyone else's engagement would make it into the news you need to start your day. Stay with us.

1:13This message comes from NPR sponsor, Walmart. Did you know that Walmart is one of Fortune's 100 best companies to work for in 2025? It's no surprise. Walmart is investing$1 billion in training and development to help associates build lasting careers with or without a degree. In fact, 75 % of Walmart management started in hourly roles. With benefits like health care, paid parental leave, and tuition support, Walmart isn't just a place to work. It's a place to grow. Learn more at walmart.com slash spark. For world-renowned cellist Joshua Roman, long COVID caused an identity crisis. That was probably the lowest point.

1:56No confidence in my ability to recover. Crisis of faith about what music meant. On the TED Radio Hour, how he found his way back to music and a new sense of self. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Is the American dream a scam? Alligator Tears, a new memoir by Edgar Gomez, tackles that question. Who are the people who are benefiting the most from this idea that we need to keep working, that we need to keep our heads low, that we need to keep going out and risking our lives? You can hear more about that on Code Switch from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. As soon as today, an attorney for Lisa Cook plans to file a lawsuit challenging a, quote, illegal action by President Trump.

2:47Lisa Cook is on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, an independent agency that Trump wants to control. He claims to have fired her for cause. She says no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to fire her. A Trump appointee accused Cook of giving a false answer on a mortgage application, and Trump expressed concern about that during a cabinet meeting. But now she seems to have had an infraction, and she can't have an infraction. It's the latest example of the president using the levers of government to pressure or punish those who disagree with him. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith joins us now with more.

3:26Good morning, Tam. Good morning. So what did you hear from the president? He dismissed the threat of a lawsuit and did say that he would honor court orders. But he said he already has somebody in mind to fill Cook's spot on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. And the context here is important. The Fed is supposed to maintain independence, but Trump is months into an intense pressure campaign to get the Fed to lower interest rates. He has been badgering Fed Chair Jerome Powell as too late. He actually went to the headquarters a few weeks ago and accused Powell of mismanaging a major renovation project.

4:01And now there's this effort to fire Cook, which Trump said outright would get him closer to his goal. We'll have a majority very shortly, so that'll be great. Once we have a majority, housing is going to swing and it's going to be great. People are paying too high an interest rate. That's the only problem with housing. We have to get the rates down a little bit. Okay, so being very clear that he wants people who agree with him in control of the board, is there an outbreak of mortgage fraud or is something else going on here? Well, there is certainly an outbreak of allegations of mortgage fraud.

4:36After referrals from a Trump ally, the Justice Department is publicly investigating California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James for claiming more than one property as their primary residence. In normal times, we wouldn't know about an investigation until there were charges filed. In this case, you had a Justice Department official posing for photos in front of James's Brooklyn home. Schiff led Trump's first term impeachments. James prosecuted Trump while he was out of office and his company was found liable for fraud. But they are hardly the only people on the wrong side of Trump to get hit with what sure looks like retribution.

5:18Trump stripped security clearances. Prosecutors who led January 6th cases have been fired. Trump signed executive orders going after law firms that worked for Democrats. He has said broadcast licenses should be stripped from TV networks he disagrees with. and now the FCC is investigating them. And this is a very incomplete list. Incomplete. And that was a long list. Did anything else stand out to you about this very, very long cabinet meeting? Well, it was very, very long. According to Factbase, which tracks these things, it was the longest Trump event ever, longer than any other cabinet meeting.

5:53And it was effusive. Cabinet secretaries took turns showering Trump with praise, like the Labor Secretary, who said Trump should come over to the department to see the banner they now have hanging on the side of the building of his, quote, big, beautiful face. NPR's Tamara Keith. Thank you, Tam. You're welcome.

6:19The Democratic National Committee wraps up its summer meeting today in Minneapolis. According to surveys, the party is unpopular with voters. Its challenge now is to highlight Trump administration policies that, according to surveys, are also unpopular. DNC Chair Ken Martin told his colleagues Democrats need to make a change. I'm sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight. We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore. We've got to stand up and fight. Here with an update from the DNC's meeting is NPR's Stephen Fowler. Good morning, Stephen. Good morning.

6:53OK, so this is the first major gathering of the DNC since President Trump's return to the White House. What's the mood? Well, Layla, depending on who you talk to, there are big feelings about the election. And that election could refer to 2024, 2025, 2026 or 2028. After spending months searching for the right tone and message or frankly, any tone or message in response to Trump, there was a noticeably aggressive and provocative attack from Democratic leaders this week, including DNC Chair Ken Martin calling the president a, quote, dictator-in-chief, who said the administration is, quote, fascism dressed in a red tie.

7:31Martin also said, as you heard, that Democrats have been bringing a pencil to a knife fight and have been too focused on winning arguments about policy rather than winning elections. You know what winning the argument gets you? Maybe a nice round of applause and a few likes on Instagram. But the reality is it doesn't make life any better for any person. OK, so what do Democrats see as their proverbial knife in this situation? How do they plan on connecting with voters after a pretty tough election in 2024? Martin's version of the DNC has been in the background, not in the spotlight. They've focused on sending money and resources and attention to state level parties who in turn have been using those resources.

8:14is how they see fit? I mean, there is not a leader of the Democratic Party the way Trump is for Republicans. So there's been a lot of leeway with messaging and messengers. Big themes are opposition to Trump's so-called one big beautiful bill and the cuts it makes to social services. They've been highlighting the blatantly partisan redistricting fight going on in several states and being pretty explicit in their view that Trump isn't just violating norms, but Democrats argue he is subverting Congress and the Constitution in a way that is fascism. This meeting is a small group of party insiders focused on debating changes with how the party operates.

8:54Anything notable on that front? Well, the Rules and Bylaws Committee started the process of starting the process of figuring out the rules for the 2028 presidential primary calendar. They are planning to meet several more times in the coming months to hash out how they are going to decide who gets to go first. There was also a discussion about the party being more active in voter registration and outreach efforts after some folks have sounded the alarm about the party falling behind in key states and polls show them falling out of favor with voters. It's still pretty far off from the midterms, but Democrats are pointing to a string of special elections where they have overperformed expectations, including Layla just yesterday, where they flipped an Iowa state Senate seat that was represented by a Republican and now have broken the Republican supermajority there.

9:44That's NPR's Stephen Fowler. Thanks, Stephen. Thank you.

9:54A CBS White House correspondent was caught on camera responding to a news story. For her, it was the news story. Oh my God, it's on her Instagram. It's on her Instagram. It's on her Instagram. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. I feel like Paul Revere right now. Almost like Paul Revere, she was soon on TV live, spreading news of the engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. He is the Super Bowl winning tight end for Kansas City, and she is Taylor Swift. Enough said. NPR Music's Isabella Gomez-Sermiento joins us now to talk about the announcement. Good morning, Isabella.

10:29Hi, Layla. Okay, so Swift and Kelsey announced the engagement on Instagram. Very big ring. Swifties are freaking out. Why is this engagement such big news resonating with so many people? Well, I mean, you could say no one writes about love quite like Taylor Swift. For nearly two decades, her personal heartbreaks and disappointments have fueled dozens of major pop hits. One of the most famous examples is her 2012 breakup song, All Too Well.

11:02But Swift has also been dreaming and singing about her fairytale wedding since she was really young. Her 2008 song Love Story has this Romeo and Juliet theme about forbidden lovers that eventually do end up together. You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess. It's a love story, baby, just say yes. So, you know, Taylor Swift's love life has always been a big source of intrigue, not just because she's a major celebrity, but because it plays a huge role in her music. She's been really vulnerable about those ups and downs in her lyrics, and this engagement news honestly just feels like a really big win for the fans that have been following along all these years.

11:41So I only figured out who Travis Kelsey was when he started dating Taylor Swift because, you know, my sports knowledge is so great. When did he come into the picture? So it was 2023. Swift was on her record-breaking heiress tour when Travis Kelsey went to one of her concerts. He then made comments on New Heights, the podcast that he co-hosts with his brother Jason Kelsey, about how he had wanted to make a move. If you're up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it. Not right now.

12:12Well, she ended up getting wind of this anyway, and they started a very public relationship. She attended a lot of his football games, which actually led to a spike in NFL viewership among women. And then there were a few songs on Swift's last album, the Tortured Poets Department, where it felt like she was explicitly referencing Kelsey.

12:36That's the song The Alchemy, which is one of a few that contains references to football. So, you know, this romance is already making its way into her music. Yeah, and they actually announced her new album together, right? Yeah, Swift recently appeared on the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelsey. She opened up about her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, and it felt pretty new for her to involve a partner in a big announcement like this. She said this is an album about what her inner life was like during the Ares tour and she described it as very upbeat, hinting that a lot of that has to do with this relationship.

13:05So I think in typical Taylor fashion, we're going to learn a lot more about her engagement era once we start hearing the new music. That's NPR's Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

13:20And that's Up First for Wednesday, August 27th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Steve Inske. For your next listen, consider this from NPR News. Up First gives you three big stories of the day. Consider this drills down on one. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Dana Farrington, Megan Pratz, Jacob Gantz, Hazel Sills, Lisa Thompson, and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.